Aninga takes one of the metal bits that hurt the horses so and fits it in the prisoner's mouth. He loops the bridle onto saddle of the horse the man was riding.
"Don't fall behind," he says. "When we've dealt with the trolls, we'll decide what to do with you."
"Okay, so the 'troll's we will want to use cold iron against. The people in the lodge sound to be mainly normal people. Both good things to know in order to select the best weapons. What I don't remember hearing is whether any of the 'troll's or people in the lodge are spell casters, or what they can do. That's an important bit of intelligence, there, I think."
"Well, the informatio we have for the time being will have to do - lets take extra care because we know we are probably heading into a tough fight, but lets get moving"
"Indeed."
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What the bandito has described sounds much like something you have heard of only in very old stories. The one troll sounds like it is ascending and becoming one of the ruling class of fey. As for trolls in general they don't like acid and fire. And fey trolls are resistant to weapons not made of cold iron. They also tend to favor biting and clawing their foes but sometimes wield weapons.
Just before they resume moving, Aldiran offers the information to the others - "Very well then, so Trolls 101 - acid and fire are good options. What worries me is that these seem to be a different variety of trolls - I remember reading about it somewhere - it would seem that one troll is ascending to become part of the ruling class of fey. On the one hand this probably means he is more powerful than your average troll, and also that he is probably not as susceptible to weapons not of cold iron"
Looking at the others to make sure the information was received, she continues - "Now let us move out before they realize something may have happened to these three"
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After climbing at least a hundred feet into the hills, the snowy trail finally levels off. In a clearing among the trees, a large wooden lodge overlooks a ravine spanned by a long rope bridge. Smoke rises from the lodge’s two snow-covered chimneys, and large woodpile is stacked against the outer wall. A small outbuilding stands east of the lodge, and a stone well nearly blanketed by snow is barely recognizable to the north. Several tracks lead southwest toward a detached stable......
Aldiran observes the area for any movement near the bridge or across it.
"Heh. Dorvren? Think we can get up on the roof without being spotted? We could block the chimneys. Fire down on them from above while they are forced out into the waiting arms of our companions . . .."
Stealth is not my thing, but if we can then that would be ideal.
Signaling for the others, Aldiran warns about the line - "We need to avoid this"
Morrigan searches what is visible of the lodge and surroundings for sentries or movement.
Grimgisli snorts. "Really? Stand back a little, please." He pulls a pouch of small tools out of his belt and leans over the tripwire, trying to get a sense of it before doing anything specific. Then he goes to work.
"Alright, shouldn't have to worry about this tripwire now, but we'll need to watch for others." He won't start moving forward until the group has a plan. "Get 'em" doesn't count.
"Good work. Now let's get moving." Aric starts towards the stables.
Aninga readies his weapon and follows the barbarian, eyes scanning the area.
"The stable seems a poor choice. They have alarms set up to notify them of people approaching. This means they have prepared responses, and we already know they are ruthless. We need to find a way to prevent them from following their plans, not to initiate them."
"We could benefit from some scouting..." - Aldiran ponders almost to herself - "We can try to pose as those three we met back there, and pretend some are prisoners? That may get us close, and allow us a surprise attack. We can try to draw sme of them out - perhaps they split and make our lives easier. Or we can just stay put for a while longer - maybe they have patrols that we can tackle separately"
"And you don't think they might have some of their forces in the stables to cut us off?"
"The idea was to approach the stables first"
Whatever we do lets get in range. We have a lot of bolts and arrows that can fly and do a lot of damage if we catch them off guard
"We ARE in range."
Correct. However, most of us are a better shot if we are closer. Much easier to put a bolt in an eye from 30 feet than 50.
"Then why aren't we moving closer?"
Lack of a confirmed plan.