Knowing he isn't yet out of the woods, Johund channels healing energy into himself, dodges the hammer, and tries to strike back with his blades.
Amadeen keeps slowly moving forward, cackling, and looking at the troll failing to hit Johund.
Another troll down. Eluvias nimbly ducked beneath the blind troll’s swipe and in the same motion spun, dragging his scimitar along it’s throat. His black blade hummed with arcane power, ensuring that the strike did as much damage as possible. The troll slams against the ground with a great crash as it falls before Eluvias' blade.
Impasha adjusts her footing and begins to swing in arcs upward under her shield. She continues her assault on Orange, hoping to relieve the pressure on him. The troll falls over...
...but its wounds start to knit close as it begins to open it's eyes again. It laughs as it starts to stand up.
One troll remains standing but is still blind can't seem to hit Impasha.
Johund
Amadeen
Eluvias
Impasha
Trolls Red -3 Blind, Orange -62
Only able to reach the downed troll, Eluvias plunged his blade into it, confident that the acid would kill it for good.
"Aha! Ya warted-arsed frog flogger! I'll teach ya ter get back up!" Johund rails at the troll, daggers slick with troll and human blood.
Amadeen has ceased moving but not cackling!
"Aha! Ya warted-arsed frog flogger! I'll teach ya ter get back up!" Johund rails at the troll, daggers slick with troll and human blood.
Amadeen has ceased moving but not cackling!
Only able to reach the downed troll, Eluvias plunged his blade into it, confident that the acid would kill it for good.
Impasha turns her attention to the blinded troll slamming away at her shield. Taking advantage of its blindness, she sidesteps north and then delivers two more attacks in rapid succession.
The remaining troll keeps flailing away but seems to become increasingly concerned at the reduction in volume- except the elf woman laughing.
Johund
Amadeen
Eluvias
Impasha
Trolls Red -33 Blind
Moving around behind the last troll, Eluvias aimed for the back of the neck. The fight was over, and he wanted to see if he could decapitate the last enemy.
Amadeen keeps cackling and gazes at the remaining troll.
Johund closes the distance between himself and the last troll, not quite able to reach its flank.
The troll is torn to shreds by the combined assault...
As the last troll is down and you examine the wounds it is evident that the trolls were not harmed by any of the fire you used as part of your attack. Weapons and particularly acid harmed as normal but these trolls were unfazed by the flames.
”Most odd, the trolls were not harmed at all by fire. I have never heard of such a variant. Perhaps there is magical manipulation at work?” Eluvias mused.
|
Impasha puts away her blade and kneels down to examine one of the bodies.
"Perhaps." she muses in response to Eluvias' musing. "And I doubt these fellows were the ones doing such magic, if that were the case. I also wonder why they would only be immune to fire damage, and not acid damage as well, if someone had conceived such a plan. But it's something we need to investigate."
Impasha searches the troll's body for any strange markings, tattoos, modifications, or curious possessions.
Eluvias picks up a faint abjuration aura on each of the trolls.
Impasha finds branding mark on the left shoulder of each of the trolls.
|
|
"I thought so." says Impasha, pointing out the brand. "These trolls were serving someone. Someone who gave them protection against fire, it seems."
"I had thought it was strange to see trolls gather around a campfire anyway. Trolls have no need to cook their food, and certainly don't appreciate a campfire's cheery warmth, nor do they need the light on a dark night."
"Someone enhancing monsters? Now that sounds familiar. Gigantic owlbear anyone? It looks like their boss is still playing tricks. They need finding and stomping. Any signs of more trolls or anyone else nearby?"
Amadeen has a look for tracks.
"But wha' is't 'bout fire?" Johund wonders out loud, kicking a troll corpse. "'N What's that brandin' mark?"
|
|
"I wonder if the brand was etched with acid." says Impasha as she stands up and wipes off her hands. "If someone used a branding iron, the troll would have just regenerated the mark away."
She looks back at Johund. "I'd guess these creatures are branded for the same reason anyone brands anything -- to show ownership. Or to mark them as belonging to a gang of some sort. Either way, it's not a typical troll thing, from my experience."
”Logically speaking, the campfire must be for someone else. Their master may well be nearby.”
Eluvias’ untrained search for traps uncovered that...this was indeed a camp fire. And people had certainly been there. A sure sign of a great detective.
It seems like the trolls were cooking a deer... certainly not something they would always bother doing.
The brand does indeed look like it was applied with a branding iron.
The tracks of the trolls can be seen around the area but it doesn't look like a location they have spent more than a few hours in.
"Let's get wandering farther out. I want to make sure that the trolls didn't have cousins or somesuch nearby. At least not living."
"'N, looks like they's new to ter area, like they's movin' in."
"New, old, troll, master, they're all going down."
”We need to find them first. Perhaps set an ambush here, for their owners will come to collect them eventually.”
As you journey westward the forests grow thicker, the trees seemingly larger...
A creature as large as a horse, well camouflaged in green scales is stalking and observing your group...
Amadeen gazes idly at the trees.
The River Rat's servant whistles softly as they walk, wondering if they'll skin another bear.
Eluvias was lost in thought, wondering whether it was worth it to try and communicate with his sword. He wondered if it was sentient, and if it was even capable of such interaction. The minutia of theorycrafting left his all but oblivious to his surroundings.
...
Exploring this section of the forest is going quite calmly when sudden an orb of gas flies from the treeline into the middle of your group. The gas billows outwards covering you and your mounts, where it touches you there is a burning sensation. You catch a glimpse of green scales.
Amadeen
???
Johund
Eluvias
Impasha
Amadeen dives away but still gets splashed! She then disappears!
”Most unwise of the creature.” He muttered.
"B%%#&%@s!" Johund wipes the back of his hand over his face. "Somethin's bout t'die!"
Amadeen dives away but still gets splashed! She then disappears!
A large green draconic creature moves forwards from the treeline. Sniffing the air it moves towards Amadeen and she just manages to dodge it's snapping jaws...
Johund
Eluvias
Impasha
Amadeen
???
"What the heck!?!", Amadeen blurts out, stepping back in a rush.
Even invisible, she glares at the creature, trying to weaken it! She remains quiet after her outburst, hoping not to give herself away further.
Eluvias likewise charged in, his black blade promising naught more than a quick death. How painful it would be depended on how much the foe was going to struggle.
Johund charges in, his dagger flashing. "Yea, yea! Glory, blood, tears! S'long as it's dead!"
Impasha charges!
"Iomedae, the Glory is Thine!"
Johund charges in, his dagger flashing. "Yea, yea! Glory, blood, tears! S'long as it's dead!"
Eluvias likewise charged in, his black blade promising naught more than a quick death... a promise which it kept as it went through the creature's jugular.
Forest drakes are the degenerate cousins of green dragons, possessed of cruel cunning but little actual wit. Like most drakes, forest drakes are bullies, prowling deep forests in search of their favorite prey—elves and fey. Forest drakes eagerly attack communities of such forest creatures unless driven off with arrows or other shows of force.
You follow the draconic creatures tracks back to it's lair. Strewn about the underbrush are the discarded possessions of the forest drake’s most recent victim. Most of the gear is ruined, but the following items can still be salvaged: a ripped and broken masterwork chain shirt, a masterwork darkwood longbow, and a tattered, bloodstained cloak of elvenkind.
Amadeen kicks over the corpse's neck to show its scaly face.
"A good, quick job, folks. Forest drake. Cruel, cunning, but not particularly intelligent bullies. They *love* eating eating elves and fey. That reminds me, must spread word that certain creatures should be reported. These wretches just got bumped up a few places on that list."
She then turns around.
"This way. It left a trail."
*************
Amadeen leads the others to the lair.
Strewn about the underbrush are the discarded possessions of the forest drake’s most recent victim. Most of the gear is ruined, but the following items can still be salvaged: a ripped and broken masterwork chain shirt, a masterwork darkwood longbow, and a tattered, bloodstained cloak of elvenkind.
"Anyone fancy the gear? I like the look of that cloak."
”At least it had good taste. But yes, such creatures deserve extinction. And no, nothing there is particularly useful, though it will make a good addition to the armory.”
As you venture west you begin to uncover more tracks of troll activity, some older and some newer. Rain pours down torrentialy.
With the current weather it will take skill to locate the trolls in this area.
You find troll tracks gathering that lead to a secluded path. A narrow path winds its way up the hill, a steep cliff face on one side and a sheer drop-off on the other. At the top, the path follows a wide ledge, where the corner of a weathered stone building juts from the side of the hill.
With no skills when it came to tracking, Eluvias merely trudged along on foot.
Amadeen wraps her new and still-blood stained cloak more tightly around her.
"You know, I always focused more on the naturalist aspects of Haleen's words, not so much the nitty-gritty of finding tracks. Oh well!"