Bringing The Party Together
The party of four adventurers stood in the streets of Bishop watching what was unfolding. Juniper had her bow out and arrow drawn, Riffen had his sword and shield at the ready, Sigthyme had his rapier unseathed, and Tak was bouncing up and down with excitement with his warhammer in both his hands.
In the street was a large, lumbering Troll with green skin, long, muscular arms, sharp claws, and large fangs. The creature dragged a man through the street leaving skid marks of blood in the dirt.
It let out a gutteral roar at the party, but did not move. It just stared.
Other people had scattered from the creature seeking refuge on the other end of town or in nearby buildings.
Juniper could see that the Troll had already damaged a few of the nearby buildings.
The creature was about nine feet tall and towered over everyone in town. Even Tak, who was about seven feet tall, was smaller than the creature.
“I don’t know about you three, but I think we need a plan,” Riffen muttered.
Juniper looked over the group quickly.
“Well I’m not sure about everyone’s skills, but I’m pretty sure Tak is an up-close fighter,” Juniper started.
“Want to smash!” Tak yelled.
“Right. Well Tak and you sir, Riffen. You are both fighters with skills better suited for up close combat. So you two fight up close,” Juniper continued. “I’m a ranged fighter so I’ll shoot arrows at it from afar.”
Juniper turned towards Sigthyme.
“And you?” She asked.
He gave her a smile.
“I got tricks up my sleeve,” Sigthyme said.
“Well then use them to kill that beast,” Juniper said. “That’s our plan.”
“Great. Great plan,” Riffen said turning back to face the Troll.
The Troll let out another roar scanning the four of them. The man in his hands seemed to suddenly come to conscientiousness and began to scream.
“Please! Please help me!”
The Troll looked down and seemed annoyed at him screaming. It used its strength and tossed the man. He flew through the air still screaming and slammed into one of the nearby buildings. There was a small splat sound before he fell to the ground, bloody and not moving.
“Now?” Tak asked Sigthyme.
“Now!” Sightyme yelled.
Tak smiled and charged forward with his warhammer raised high. Tak screamed with joys as he felt his muscles tense up. He was itching for a fight and this was that fight.
Tak ran forward and swung with his hammer and slammed it into the Troll. However the weapon didn’t seem to do much to the creature.
The Troll then swung back with his claws across Tak’s chest leaving large slash marks and drew blood. The Troll then grabbed Tak’s hammer, brought him close and sunk his teeth into Tak’s shoulder.
Tak yelled out in pain as the teeth dug into him.
“Not good!” Sigthyme yelled running forward behind Tak.
Sigthyme raised his left hand which began to glow with a purple energy associated with magical, arcane energy. The energy then swirled around the Troll holding it for a moment before the purple energy shimmered and faded.
Unaffected by the spell, the Troll let go of Tak’s shoulder and roared towards Sigthyme.
“Well that didn’t work,” Sigthyme said.
He then turned to Tak.
“Don’t worry, Tak. You got this! I know you can do it!” Sigthyme yelled to his friend.
During this, Juniper ran towards one of the buildings and used it as partial cover. Then she unleashed an arrow at the Troll. It sunk into it’s neck which lead the Troll to screech in pain.
“Yes!” Juniper jumped up and down giving away her position.
She couldn’t help it. She was just so happy. However, all of this rumbling did wake up Piakol who had been asleep in her bag.
“Huh. What is going on?” He grumbled inside the bag. “Where am I? What’s happening?”
Riffen then ran up beside Tak and swung his longsword at the creature slashing it across its leg. Deep red blood sprang from the leg wound covering the sword and the dirt on the ground. Again the creature let out a screech as it took damage.
Riffen then raised his shield and prepared himself for the Troll’s retaliation.
Tak took the chance while the Troll was distracted and swung his warhammer. This time it collided with the Troll’s jaw smashing some of the facial bones.
The Troll then made eye contact with Tak before shoving Tak into the stone, brick building. Pain radiated from Tak’s back as some of the bricks tumbled down on him and then onto the ground.
The Troll turned and attacked Riffen with a claw attack. It collided with the shield, but the Troll’s strength was more than Riffen was suspecting. The Troll managed to get Riffen airborne as he was knocked back teen feet. Riffen landed on his back and he felt the pain from the impact.
Sigthyme saw Riffen get tossed and then turned his eye to the Troll. His party had done some damage on the creature, but he noticed that some of the wounds seemed to be sealing up. It’s almost like the Troll had an ability to heal his wounds.
“He has some kind of healing ability!” Sigthyme yelled to the others.
Sigthyme then ran up and swung with his rapier aiming for the leg Riffen had damaged earlier. He slashed with it reopening the wound and more blood spilled from the Troll.
Juniper readied another arrow and shot at the creature while the others kept it busy. However this one sailed past the Troll’s head without doing any damage.
“What is going on?” Piakol shook in her bag.
Juniper let out an Elven curse before turning to her bag. She pulled it open and there was Piakol flopping around in coins and an assortment of Juniper’s belongings.
“Piakol, we’re fighting a Troll,” Juniper explained quickly.
“Well you should have invited me!” Piakol said gaining his balance. He shook off and then spread his wings ready for flight.
Riffen laid on the ground for a moment. His head was spinning and pain radiated from his body. He was pretty sure he had a few cracked ribs and his spine hurt. Slowly he got to his feet and steadied himself.
Riffen saw Tak against the stone building and Sigthyme up close with the creature. He took in a deep breathe and then charged forward again with sword and shield at the ready. Riffen swung out with the blade, but was still dazed from the attack. The sword slice missed and instead hit nothing but dirt.
Riffen then looked up and made eye contact with the creature.
“Oh crap,” He muttered.
Before the Troll could strike, Tak leapt forward and grabbed onto the Troll trying to grapple him. The Troll swung out an arm and intercepted Tak in the air and then used the momentum to slam Tak into the ground.
He made a large impact before the Troll used his other arm to slash at Tak. Tak managed to roll out of the way as the Troll’s claws scrapped across the ground.
Sigthyme looked over at Riffen who looked in pretty bad shape.
“Come on, Loverboy, don’t give up so easily,” Sigthyme said.
His words kind of sounded like an insult but had a hint of magical essence behind it. Healing energy filled Riffen’s body and his pain began to subside.
Then Sigthyme turned back toward the Troll and slashed again at it with the rapier. The blade once again slashed across the creature’s leg reopening the same wound that closed. It was a battle between Sightyme’s blade and the Troll’s healing ability.
Piakol flew through the air towards the Troll and unleashed a torrent of flames at the creature. The heat was intense, but luckily it missed the other fighters. The flames covered the Troll’s back and it let out a scream of pain. Burnt flesh filled the nostrils of Piakol, Sigthyme, and Riffen. It smelled horrible.
“Great job, Piakol!” Juniper yelled as she readied another arrow.
Riffen was shocked that this small, fire-breathing appeared out of nowhere, but for right now he was more worried about the Troll. At least the dragon seemed to be fighting with them.
Riffen swung again with his sword hoping to do some more damage. He swung and left a nastly slash across the creature’s leg.
Tak then swung his warhammer again at the Troll. The head of the warhammer slammed into the creature’s shoulder and Tak heard the sound of bones breaking.
The Troll had taken a ton of damage, but it seemed like it was still willing to fight. It wasn’t giving up.
The Troll lashed out with its sharps claws. One slash directed at Sigthyme and the other at Tak. Sigthyme managed to duck under the Troll’s swipe, but Tak was not so lucky.
The Troll’s claws slashed across Tak again and dug into his flesh. Blood ran down Tak’s chest, but he was still smiling. Tak loved the pain. It just fueled his rage and blood lust.
Sigthyme noticed that this time, the Troll’s flesh was not healing. The burnt skin on the back was still smoking and did not close up. Neither did the wound on the leg. Maybe they were finally doing some real damage.
Sigthyme swung his sword but this time the Troll stepped back and the sword missed.
Juniper unleashed another arrow and again the arrow went sailing past the Troll.
“Oh come on!” She yelled.
Riffen ran up to the Troll and swung his longsword again. The sword carved more flesh from the Troll. Now his legs were bloody messes with many different slashes across it.
Tak then let out a roar and then swung with his warhammer at the Troll’s kneecap. There was a loud snapping sound as the warhammer made contact with the back of the knee. The Troll’s leg buckled and he fell to one knee. It let out a scream of pain.
In it’s badly wounded state the creature lashed out in desperation. Both strikes at Tak. Both claw attacks shredding the front of Tak’s skin.
Tak began to show signs of being hurt, but he still had a large smile across his face. He was enjoying the pain and enjoying the fight even more.
“I got this!” Riffen yelled as he charged the creature.
Sigthyme took as step back as Riffen jumped into the air and swung down with his longsword. The blade passed through the Troll’s neck and the Troll let out a last, guttural sound as the head became separated from the body. The head hit the ground with a splat before the body toppled sideways and landed on the ground unmoving.
Just to make sure, Piakol swept back and unleashed another torrent of flames which consumed the Troll’s body.
They had done it. Working together they had killed the Troll and saved the town of Bishop.
Juniper ran up to the rest of the group and Piakol landed on her shoulder.
“Oh my gods, we did it! We actually did it!” She exclaimed.
“Puny man took kill,” Tak complained.
Sigthyme turned to Riffen.
“Wow, Loverboy, you killed a Troll,” Sigthyme said with a laugh.
Riffen stood there covered in Troll blood. He was breathing heavy as the adrenaline began to wear off and his body began to ache.
“That was incredible,” Riffen said. “I didn’t think we’d actually pull it off.”
“Glad to see you have some skills in the fight,” Juniper placed a hand on Riffen’s shoulder.
“What about you, Elf Girl? You did pretty well at the beginning,” Sigthyme said.
Riffen glanced at Juniper and then to Piakol who was on her shoulder.
“And were you going to mention your dragon, eventually?” Riffen asked.
“It’s kind of a long story,” Juniper said. “Maybe I can explain later.”
“Are these enemies?” Piakol asked in Draconic.
“No. These are…allies,” Juniper returned in Draconic.
Both Riffen and Sigthyme were taken back. They didn’t know what Juniper said. They were just surprised that she spoke the Dragon tongue.
One of the Bishop’s citizens, a Dwarf, poked his head out behind a building.
“Is…is it safe?” He yelled.
Sigthyme turned towards the Dwarf and others who started to emerge from buildings.
“Don’t worry, Bishop! The Troll is no more! It has been vanquished by…uhhh…” Sigthyme glanced over at his allies. “By us!”
There were a few cheers as others stepped out from where they were taking shelter and clapped for the heroes.
Sigthyme smiled.
On the outside he was proud of this group and their victory over the Troll. However, on the inside, he knew that this fame, even within the town of Bishop, could put him in danger. Fame and fortune always came with a price.
Other Dungeons and Dragons inspired pieces:
Journey Through The Ollick Forest
Journey Through The Ollick Forest Part 2
Header Photo Credit to Forgotten Realms Wikipedia Page on Trolls
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Troll
Allen The Writer 