You guys misunderstand the situation. Uek ambushed the leftmost troll. The center troll is the one attacking Uek; lefty is standing there dumbly and regenerating. The right one is the one tangling with Lur in the fog wall.
Stybar, when you duck against the wall nearest to the trap's activator mechanism as you can, you fail to account for one of your new appendages growing out of your back. One of your tentacles that's growing from the middle of your spine wanders too close to the hallway, and is shortened by half with a sudden slice through flesh.
Though the tentacle was spawned via alchemy, it's still very much a part of your body, as you now learn when the pain rockets through your body. Take 1d8 damage as you bite down hard on your lower lip to avoid giving your position away!
Stybar sneaks behind whatever troll is now closets to the blades and gets down on his knees and hands behind it, hoping that one of his companions will get the idea.
Vorgo picks up what Stybar is throwing down and rams into the Troll that Stybar is table-topping.
Uek's eyes widen as the central troll lurches for him in retaliation. As Shattertooth summons the flames in his hands, the troll strikes quickly - too fast for Uek to react.
The druid's neck is crushed in an iron grip that has too many joints, all with muscles stretched taut to squeeze as tightly as possible. Take 1d8 crushing damage that ignores armor, and you're being throttled to death - your air is squeezed out of your throat. You can't cast any spells that require any speaking in this condition.
Shattertooth finishes summoning his flames, and points them to a specific point on the back of the central troll's neck. There's a faint sound of tinkling glass that is barely audible over the roar of the Immolator's flames, as the vial is destroyed.
The troll's vial is destroyed, but the creature's natural instincts drive its fury now; unlike the first troll, which is mostly incapacitated from the shock, this one is continuing to squeeze Uek's neck tightly in its grip without relenting. The fires scorch its trollflesh, inhibiting its ability to regenerate; this also might be fueling its fury. This one will need to have some sense slapped into it before it comes to its senses. Trolls often require violence in this way, it's their favored way to communicate.
Stybar is bleeding heavily, but his mind is focused. He emerges from the fog wall so that the others can see him, and prepares a set-up attack for the central troll, as the rightmost troll is battling Lur in the obscuring fog.
Vargo sees immediately the thief's tactics, and readies his shield. Stepping away from Princess, the paladin of Tiamat charges the troll, bull-rushing it and knocking it backward. As the troll stumbles, Stybar helps it along over his back, and alley-oops the troll into the bladed hallway beyond! Screaming and slicing of flesh can be heard as the troll is cut to pieces. At first, it attempts to stand, or crawl back to safety, but its fire-induced injuries from Shattertooth put it down for good.
There is only one troll that is still under the effects of the hag's vial, and it is circling Lur in the fog wall. Lur, give me a Wisdom roll to discern the troll's location without the use of your eyes, detecting your opponent's spilled blood; if you succeed or partially succeed, count it as a successful or partially successful Hack and Slash and roll your damage, if it fails, you can attempt to roll a Hack and Slash blind (which is a -1 modifier).
Those of you outside the fog wall can hear Lur's violent growling and the troll's ashen grunts, and those of you with good noses can smell the freshly spilled trollblood, but you all cannot see the two combatants.
Vorgo helps Stybar to his feet. Good plan. Should we attempt to help Lur or...he's probably fine on his own.
As this is happening, the troll that Uek originally ambushed is bending over double and coughing up ash, spitting it to the floor. He's also making weird sounds with his mouth like "uwahh wahk wahhl" as his tongue slowly starts to grow back.
Until I hear bear screaming I have no intention of going in there. Shattertooth states.
Thank you Vorgo. It seems that your God is watching over you. I have never been much into these holy things myself I must admit. It has always seemed to me that the way of the material world was more efficient. More predictable. As he talks, Stybar gets a touch from his pack, lights it and throws it on the coughing troll. Maybe it is time to broaden my horizon. Ask Your God to lift the fog, and I shall make him a sacrifice when this is over It is pretty obvious that Stybar might have read something about trolls and fire at some point, but he has no real idea of what he is doing. The scene looks pretty cool in his head though.
Wait! Shattertooth calls before the torch is tossed. Let's see what he has to say first.
"grrrr...rrrOOOOAAARRR!!!"
Lur in werebear form sniffs the air with his eyes closed in the fog, looking for his quarry, the wounded troll. Finding him after a moment's concentration, he lashes out with claws and teeth!
You deal your damage to the troll, Lur, but you take 1d6+1 damage from the troll's grasping claws as you wrestle with it. In addition, it's time to make a choice.
Option 1: Take the opportunity to attempt to insta-kill the troll by wrestle-throwing it into the bladed hallway trap, opening yourself up to risk from the same hazard or
Option 2: Play it safer and escape more retributive swipes from the troll, disengaging using the fog wall all around you. This would require you to detect your opponent before dealing damage again, or rolling Hack and Slash at a disadvantage.
Lur is not just a bear, he is a practiced warrior. He leaps back away from the troll so that he can come in again, using his weight to empower his attack.
Locating the troll once more, Lur lunges ferociously...
You hear the wounded troll's feet scuffling in the fog, and trust to luck that your claws will strike true. With a ferocious lunge, you thrust your clawed fingers upward in an uppercut that slices deep into the troll's throat just above its sternum. With a feral howl, you dig your other claw into the same spot, angled in the opposite direction, and rip the creature's head from its shoulders. The head goes flying out of the fog, thrown recklessly in the direction of the portal, as the werebear stands victorious and blind in the fog wall, panting and waiting for the bloodlust to ebb.
As the troll that Uek liberated from mental control is not taking any hostile actions, battle is now effectively over - everyone mark an XP. The fog spell should be discorporating in the next few moments.
The troll that Uek liberated seems to be recovering its wits - such as they are, for even a troll free of mental control is still not always all there.
Despite this lack of intelligence, the troll recognizes that Shattertooth is standing up for him, and tries to speak. All that comes out is "Abghor halk wasghthmenthnm."
Some of you are not fully sure if his tongue hasn't fully regrown yet or he's just speaking an obscure Trollish dialect...
As the fog discorporates, the figure of a naked human Lur can be seen ripping apart a troll corpse. Blood completely covers the hairy man as he eventually stops and pants on the cave floor.
Shattertooth can't help but stare a little at the sheer brutality of it all. He made a note to not get any further on that man's bad side.
Princess can't help but stare as well, though for a different reason than Shattertooth. "Oh, my!" She licks her lips.
Wait! Shattertooth calls before the torch is tossed. Let's see what he has to say first.
Stybar waits, holding the torch in his left hand and the spider dagger in the right.
Shattertooth, you do the talking
Stybar goes to study the bladed hallway, taking notes and getting pretty excited about the whole thing, talking without noticing if anyone is actually listening You guys should really come take a look, this is pretty impressive trap work. See how the blades overlap. Classic early dungeon era stuff. They really were all about craftsmanship back then. Now it is all magic and poison pfff. No, this stuff was solid. Hmmm I wonder what this thing do...
The blades continue to slice through in uninterrupted swooshes, having already carved clean lines through the corpse of the troll you threw in there. You also see part of the tentacle that was formerly growing out of your backside. The bleeding has slowed from your severed stump, but not subsided entirely.
The handle that the hag pulled before running through the hallway is immediately to the right of the hallway's entrance. A cautious, experimental tug reveals that it doesn't seem to be operable from this side once the trap has been sprung.
Wek is quiet for a long time, pushing the bruised cartilage of his throat back into place. He steps away from the troll, his eyes wary. "I freed you," he rasps, his voice not anywhere near normal. "Why...don't you...help us a bit."
The troll experimentally sticks out its tongue. It's still badly seared, looking like a steak someone left on the grill far too long. The last of the ash is gone, though, but it looks as if the troll's tongue has a ways to go before it's fully regrown. The alchemical vial, whatever it was, really did a number on the trolls, it seems. The blue glow is completely absent from its eyes now, though, and you can see the flickers of independence and thought in its eyes where it was formerly just a bright glow.
Lur picks up his large sword and begins to move hungrily toward the last troll, a big toothy grin enveloping his face.
Shattertooth steps up between the troll an Lur. Calm down, big guy. This one isn't a threat right now. If he becomes a threat he's all yours.
Lur stops his advance and stands staring at the troll eagerly.
The troll straightens its shoulders up to its full and impressive height when Lur approaches, while not taking any aggressive actions it looks clearly ready to respond to them.
"Brahg kehslhear chreundr laud dog gcauth" he blusters in a loud and confident voice, his oral injury making it impossible to understand a word he's saying.
Shattertooth walks up and punches the troll in the shoulder in a friendly way (he hopes) and transfers some healing energy into the troll in the process. He feels it drain from his mind thereafter. Well, that's unfortunate.
Shattertooth, your healing magics can mend lacerations and other injuries, but the regrowth of an organ that was acidically burned to the stump is beyond the scope of the spell.
Your spell is successful at clearing away the dead flesh from inside the troll's ruined mouth, but not regrowing the tongue. To perform such an act would require a direct intercession from the Holy Flames themselves - a miracle - or, you have heard tales of ritual spells performing such amazing feats.
The troll looks on as your healing magic takes effect, and wiggles his fingers experimentally. He looks relieved to be in control of himself again, and certainly not hostile to you.
"Bahb lakher thru achrer," he says, gesturing wildly in the direction of the bladed hallway. Then, he pounds his palm with his fist. The implication transcends verbal languages.
The fog-wall vial has dissipated by now. The troll sees Stybar analyzing the handle's mechanisms closely and approaches him. Stybar, you look up from your crouched position to see the troll looming over you.
Lur, realizing the situation and adrenaline dissipating, looks a bit disappointed at the development.
"Nice work, boys. Looks like the big guy is eager for some payback. We just have to get through these blades now. Stybar, any ideas?"
When Stybar stares up in mute shock at the troll's sudden looming presence, seemingly frozen, the troll impatiently shoves him aside. Lur tenses, ready for aggression, but that wasn't the troll's intention. Instead, the rockbiter kneels so that he's face to face with the handle that the hag pulled to activate the bladed hallway. The tall creature's stomach can be heard rumbling.
Licking his lips, the rockbiter troll leans forward and begins to chomp at the handle's recessed stone mounting. Hungrily, the troll's diamond-hard teeth shear through stone, chomping and chewing.
In the space of a moment, the troll stands up, still with his mouth full. As you hear the rocks being ground up loudly in the troll's chewing maw, you see that the mechanisms that protected the trap's activator lever were part of the stone mounting that the troll chewed up. The blades slowly swoosh to a halt in the hallway.
Princess chortles. "Well done! Way to put your money where your mouth is!"
She turns to her companions. "Perhaps one of you sneaky types would like to scout ahead and see what lies in wait? I'll use my magic to make you disappear!"
Vorgo is not a good candidate for scouting, but he’s happy to guard the bulk of the party.
"Princess, I can scout. I can return to the form of a bat, and my mind-speech will be heard by you all. Troll, I assume our debts to each other cancel out. We seek no more of you if you wish to depart and bury your friend. ..."
Wek looks at the rest of the party.
"Does...anyone speak Troll?"
Once the plan is agreed to, Shapeshift back to bat:
Princess tries to get Wek's point across in Ogrish before cast her spell, turning the Druid invisible.
The troll is obviously very experienced at nodding along and pretending to understand what's being said to him, and that seems to be what is happening now. Fair enough, he at least realizes that he'll be sitting back for this next part. He sits down with his back to the wall and stares at the corpse that Lur eviscerated, chewing his rocks slowly with loud crunching bites.
Princess successfully cloaks Uek from view, and Uek flies forward through the now-safe hallway.
The light is completely extinguished beyond this hallway. There are torches in sconces that are hammered into the stone walls crudely, but they are not lit. So, the bat relies on his echolocation to navigate, swiftly following it for several dozen meters. You notice, Uek, that the tunnel is descending at an angle that is growing steeper and steeper.
The unworked rock walls of the tunnel that you're flying through give way to smooth stone suddenly, with seamless cracks between enormous, smooth slabs that form a perfectly square passageway tunnel. There is a bust of a minotaur's head staring at you from the wall, confirming your suspicions of an old, underground minotaur labryinth. The air is stale down here, with no breeze from the surface having reached here in a very long time.
The path divides at the bust in a T-intersection to the left and right. Your echolocation reveals a puddle of some kind of liquid on the ground on the left hand side, but you can't tell what it is in the dark without touching it or smelling it.
Lur plops down of the floor of the cave looking obviously impatient.
Several tense moments go by. There's no word or sound coming from the druid that scouted ahead. Silence falls over all of you, punctuated only by the loud sound of the troll's continuous rockbiting.
Minutes drag by with no word. What do you do?
Lur begins staring at Princess expectantly.
If any of you attempt to call out to the druid or reach out to him in any way, you get no response. The druid has now been gone for close to half an hour...even the troll is getting restless.
Princess looks up from where she has been picking at her belly button. "Hmm. Guess we should go look for him, huh?"
The ogre gestures for Lur to lead the way and follows behind him. "Though, if Wek is still invisible, we won't be able to see him anyway... Hopefully he'll see us first."
You all make your way through the deactivated traps, keenly aware of how close the blades are to your bodies as you pass through their reach. What do you do when the light runs out? You may have good low-light vision, but you can't see in total darkness.
Shattertooth will take torch from before and make sure it stays lit.
Vorgo leads the group, staying within the light of Shattertooth’s flame. He’s ready for trouble. Itching for it, really.
You descend the downward sloping tunnel until you reach the smooth, fine-worked stone that I described to Uek earlier. You see it in greater clarity with torchlight than a bat's echolocation, so you can tell the craftsmanship that has survived untold years of neglect. There are no breaks around the seams between the massive stone blocks that form the hallway's walls and ceiling, and there is no sign of degradation in the masonry.
When you reach the Minotaur's bust set in the wall, and the small puddle of liquid on the ground beside it on the left hand side, you look around.
"Something seems off here..."
Peering around by torchlight and sniffing, the ogress comes upon the visible form of Uek. Princess, you see that he's unconscious, but doesn't appear to be harmed, and he's starting to come around as you pick him up. The bat-form druid is dwarfed by the size of your palm.
There's also a puddle on the floor near the wall, on the left fork, under the minotaur's bust. It's difficult to identify without getting closer.
Shattertooth, you and Vorgo stand by and ready while Princess prods at Uek's unconscious body, peering down the tunnels. They continue on past the light cast by your torches.
Your feet feel a slowly building, rumbling vibration in the ground. What do you do?