"Try to surround him!" Alister's words are not as forceful as they usually are, perhaps as he sees his compatriots swarm the single troll. Still, his earlier commands push them forward.
He skirts around the troll, trying to avoid his long arms and slashes at him. Thorn pulses with power as he sends arcane energy through it.
The combined blades and spells of the companions take the troll utterly by surprise. It is down and bleeding out before it can turn to fight.
COMBAT OVER
"Well, that was... refreshingly quick. Let me replace the club, in case other trolls see it and notice something amiss."
Ahran retrieves the troll's club which he'd just thrown away, and brings it back to the room.
Piotr moves across the chamber, skirting the fallen troll, to look out through the windows. After looking towards where he thinks their camp and horses have been left, the wizard looks down to estimate how difficult it would be climb from the tower. Not that he is planning on it, but having an escape route might be worthwhile.
"One more troll down. Let's keep exploring. We need to find Hargulka and finish this."
Mikhail will head back to the other stairs and begin moving up them more quietly.
Alister moves the glowing figure ahead of them as the rest of the group tries to move more quietly.
Ahran follows. "We should check the trap door later, though."
Piotr tries to quietly follow his companions. Sneaking has never been his forte, but maybe he should keep this up.
Aristu waits while Ahran prods the troll corpse, then joins him in following the others. "Once we've accomplished what we came for, we can explore more thoroughly."
As they catch up with the others, Aristu does his best to be quiet.
"This may be a defensible spot, if we needed to rest and recover and did not want to retreat into the forest. Only one entrance and a good view of the surrounding area, if the trolls know of a way to get at this from the outside," says Piotr.
"Oy, Grip! That sound like Grashnak to you?"
Mikhail creeps up the stairs to see a large stone table that takes up the center of this large chamber, whose walls are decorated with ancient carvings that have been defaced and vandalized with crude graffiti in several languages. A headless humanoid corpse lies atop the bloodstained table.
A troll stand feeding bits of the corpse to a hideous squat creature with weeping sores that is vaguely canine in form. A deep growl emerges from the trollhound's throat.
Initiative Rolls
Initiative Order
Ahran (7 damage)
Piotr
Alister (9 damage)
Aristu
Mikhail (10 damage)
Troll
Trollhound
Aristu gathers arcane energy as he climbs up the steps. He stops as he moves within sight of the troll, chants to focus the energy into the right form, and with a twist of his wrist fires a beam of flame at the hulking troll.
Mikhail whispers a brief prayer to Abadar as he moves forward and strikes at the hound.
Piotr follows Aristu up the stairs before uttering the words to cast another ray of fire at the troll.
Ahran takes the measure of his foes, then begins to advance.
"Hit 'em hard!" Alister yells as he enters the room. He draws Thorn and advances behind Mikhail. He spots the squat creature and his mind instantly spots it as a trollhound. "It's a trollhound! It can regenerate too! Hit it with fire or acid too!"
As Mikhail steps up to slash the trollhound across the muzzle, nearly severing its head, the wizard and sorcerer blast the Kennel-Troll with gouts of arcane fire, burning it badly.
The trollhound's wounds begin to heal right before your eyes as it leaps at Mikhail. The warrior fends off the loathesome canine's attack as well as that of its master. The troll rolls right, slashing at Alister with its claws and fetching him a powerful blow across the temple.
Alister and Mikhail can now see that the chamber to the north is a kennel where two more trollhounds are chained to the wall. Those chains are thick and solid, but the bolts they're attached to? Not so much. The hounds begin to strain at the bolts, which hold for now.
Initiative Order
Ahran (7 damage)
Piotr
Alister (20 damage)
Aristu
Mikhail (10 damage)
Troll (34 damage)
Trollhound (20 damage)
Ahran advances and hacks at the trollhound with his bastard sword, hoping that the bolts on the others hold a little longer.
Alister steps up to the troll and slashes at the monster with a magic-fueled Thorn. "Take them out before those other hounds get free!"
Mikhail continues trying to destroy the hound in front of him.
Ahran kills the trollhound with a powerful blow to the head while Alister and Mikhail swiftly cut down the hound's troll master with excquisite teamwork.
Aristu enters the chamber and approaches the slumped form of the troll. As he draws close, he closely examines its wounds for any signs that it is still regenerating. If the wounds appear to be closing, he hits it with a burst of flame from his wand.
Piotr follows Aristu, but approaches the trollhound instead. If it shows any sign of regeneration, Piotr will cast a cantrip to splash som acid on it.
Aristu and Piotr enter the room, see that the troll and its hideous hound are both quickly regenerating and each arcanist then burns the troll and hound, killing them permanently.
At about this time, both of the bolts holding two trollhounds in the kennel snap, releasing the slavering beasts to leap forward and threaten Ahran!
Initiative Order
Ahran (7 damage)
Piotr
Alister (20 damage)
Aristu
Mikhail (10 damage)
Trollhound
Trollhound
Mikhail steps forward and slashes at the first of the trollhounds in front of him.
Seeing the troll threat gone, Alister turns to the two new trollhounds. He takes a position behind Mikhail, ready to take his place should he need to fall back or step aside.
"Back!"
Ahran sizes up these opponents, then steps back so his allies have more room to outflank the creatures.
PIotr steps aside before using the cantrip again, trying to splash some acid onto the wounded trollhound.
Aristu mutters a short incantation and launches a volley of arcane force. Three green bolts arc over Mikhail and strike the hound he just attacked.
The team sweeps into action against the new threat. While Ahran gauges the opponent's skill and Alister prepares to reinforce the line, Mikhail slashes his scimitar deep into one trollhound's flesh, causing it to yelp and whine in pain. A second later, its complaints are silenced when Aristu drills it with eldritch darts. The beast falls unmoving to the floor. Meanwhile, Piotr's acid sizzles into the stonework of the archway.
The second trollhound snaps at Mikhail's knee with enough force to snap in half a small tree, but the priest's good Brevic armor protects his joint.
Initiative Order
Ahran (7 damage)
Piotr
Alister (20 damage)
Aristu
Mikhail (10 damage)
Trollhound
Ahran steps to flank, feints to distracts the hound, then attempts to decapitate it with his bastard sword.
(DC is 10 + target's BAB + target's WIS modifier. If target trained in Sense Motive, DC is 10 + Sense Motive bonus if higher.)
When the hound steps up to attack Mikhail, Alister lashes out with Thorn. He whirls and delivers a second slash, cutting up through the air at the beast's jaw.
PIotr will splash some acid on the trollhound to prevent it from healing.
Alister and Ahran slaughter the remaining trollhound with ease and Piotr makes sure that neither hound ever rises again.
Ahran quickly searches the troll's remains for keys, paperwork, or similar useful items.
This troll has only some rotted meat in a pouch.
Mikhail calls upon Abadar and touches Alister to try and close some of his wounds.
Ahran leads the group, slowly, onwards (south) through the dungeon. He bids the others be quiet and follow him at a distance.
"Thanks, Mikhail. Maybe I need to rely more of my magic to protect me." Alister casts a spell and suddenly images appear, flitting in and around Alister.
"Better. Now, let's see how many other trolls we can kill." He recasts the glowing figure and moves it ahead of Ahran, while he follows.
Piotr follows his companions, staying to the rear and moving slowly because he doubts his ability to move quietly.
Aristu invokes his aura sight and takes a quick look around the room and the kennel to the north to see if there are any magical auras present that his companions haven't brought with them.
After his look around, Aristu follows the others, taking up the rear. He maintains concentration on his sight, a makes frequent looks back to make sure nothing magical is happening behind the group.
Mikhail follows along behind Ahran at about 20 paces.
Ahran sneaks ahead, finding another large chamber, this one devoid of enemies.
Stacked boxes, barrels, crates, and bags fill this room from floor to ceiling and line the crude wooden shelves along the walls. A rough hole gapes in the southern wall, leading deeper into the hillside.