Move 216: Chatting with Carmeneren
Svirfneblin Camp--Early, Day 7After some small talk, almost everyone decided to go to sleep. The deep gnomes gave no indication that the group was supposed to help with watches.
Another night of sleeping on cold rocks passed. A couple of gnomes were bathing in the pool when the group started to stir. They washed quietly, giving no indication that they noticed the strangers at all other than some squinting against the light. It was impossible to tell what the deep gnomes in the rest of the cave were doing since it was dark everywhere except the area that the party had lit.
Carmeneren and Blik approached from the front of the cave. They were followed by one of the women who brought more fungi for breakfast. It looked exactly like the fungi they had been given the night before and promised to be just as unpalatable. When the little woman left, Carmeneren, a serious expression on her face, sat down cross-legged in the middle of the group's camp area. Blik did the same, sitting slightly behind her to her left. He smiled at everyone but remained silent.
The old Svirfneblin priestess began to speak, "I trust you are rested now." Without waiting for a response, she continued, "As I told you before, I will not tell you what I know without evidence that you are worthy to know it. We have kept a keen watch, and we have much information that I hope to be able to share with you. We can help you in other ways as well while you are down here. We can give you fresh water and food when you need it, although," she smiled slightly, "perhaps our fare will not be to your liking. If you return to us because you are badly hurt, I can heal you. However, if you are followed, you will bring death to my people. We are few and would be unable to protect ourselves. I have to be able to trust you not to make such a mistake. Do you see my problem?" She looked suddenly weary and almost fearful as she finished this speech.
Carmeneren barely paused before going on, "There are caves not so far from here that are infested with trolls. They are too close to my people, and they cause us many problems. Clear those caverns of the trolls for us, and I will feel better about sharing what I know with you."
Azrun listened quietly as Carmeneren spoke to the group. When she was done he stepped forward, "Carmenren, if we accpet this challenge, would you heal our friend Blacky before we leave. He suffered a serious wound while fighting the Quaggoths. Pruc and Ciekor said that you would be able to help him once we got to your camp. Also, would it be possible for someone to lead us to the caves. Once we were close the guide could come back." Azrun bowed politely and stepped back to wait for her reply.
"Trolls? . . ." mumbled Aloysius. "Little do I know of such creatures." He glanced nervously as Carmeneren. "Can you advise us of their tendencies and tactics so that we can maximize our chances of success?"
"How many trolls you talkin' about?" Jana asked curiously. "I don't mind helping you out, since you're helping us and all; I just wanna be able to formulate a plan of attack," she explained. "Oh, yeah," she added, "I've heard stories about trolls. They don't die 'less you burn 'em. If that's true, d'you have some oil or something you can give us? Don't wanna have to do this more than once, after all," she said with a slight smile.
"I heard something like that too. I also heard they aren't afraid of anything and keep fighting even if you cut off their heads... and then two heads grow back... but that was from a bunch of drunken dwarves and a halfling in a tavern." Daelen said with a shrug. "Just in case, it might be an idea to prepare some fire arrows. If we can soak the beasties with oil first, they should go up like torches."
"Trolls we can handle, we just need to burn them after we have them down. How many trolls are we talkin' about? They are normal trolls, right? I've heard stories 'bout trolls that are different from your normal, smelly, hard to keep dead variety." Blacky added.
Echo listened silently while the others questioned Carmeneren about the trolls.
Carmeneren listened to the various comments and questions. "I believe there are two tribes of trolls in the caverns I speak of, living very close together. We call one group the Topknots, for the tuft of hair on their heads and the other group the," she paused, trying to come up with a word, "Slaverers. They drool more than one would expect," she explained. "From everything I know, the Topknots and Slaverers do not get along; therefore, you should be able to deal with them separately. I do not know their specific numbers. I would assume each group has a leader, either a stronger warrior or a shaman."
"Trolls must be burned," Carmeneren agreed when that point was brought up. "Otherwise, they will regenerate and can come back from what seems like death. We do not have oil to give you," she sighed. "Our resources are limited here."
The old priestess looked at Blacky's wounded arm, "Yes, I can heal him. And you are welcome to travel with the next patrol that goes in the direction of the troll caves. I send them as close as I dare, considering the losses we have already taken from these menaces." She paused, seeming to be carefully calculating something in her mind before saying, "The trolls live the distance of three day's walk from here. I send patrols about two-thirds of that distance. They can show you to the tunnel that leads to the caverns."
While she waited to see if she had answered everyone's questions or if there were more to be asked, she moved to Blacky's side to examine his arm. "It appears to be healing well," she remarked before beginning a prayer in another language. The injury all but disappeared, although the newly healed flesh was slightly raised and red-looking, as though it might scar. Blacky looked as though he only needed a little more rest to be back at full health.
Aloysius rubbed his temples. "How much oil do we have with us?" he asked Olaf. "And when does the next patrol leave?" he asked, turning back to Carmeneren.
"They will leave when another of the patrols returns. It will be soon, probably before your next meal," Carmeneren told Aloysius. "Do you need more time than that?"
"Excuse me, Carmeneren? You said they don't get along, do you know if they ever actually fight among themselves?" Daelen asked after she had answered Aloysius.
"Yes," Carmeneren replied. "I believe they do. They live very close together and probably fight at times."
Aloysius looked around at the others. "No, I suppose not," he answered slowly. "At least, Stargazer does not. I cannot speak for the others."
The mage looked through his various vials and bags, making sure all his spell components were intact.
"If we are to leave so soon, the we should discuss tactics immediately," he suggested. "If combustion is the only way to truly slay these creatures, perhaps it would be wise for a couple of our number to be devoted strictly to igniting corpses. We shall also need to prepare for the possibility of a trollish shaman. I have no fire-based incantations, but I do have a number of spells that can cause harm from a distance. Perhaps it would be prudent if Stargazer withheld his incantations until such time as we encountered a spellcaster of some type. Arachne and someone else, mayhap Azrun or Echo, could be responsible for igniting the disabled trolls as we move forward. The rest of thee would seem to be much better suited for addressing the trolls directly in combat."
He thought for a moment. "Would that I had spells that encompassed a wide area, but alas, I do not. Does anyone else?"
"Did we store some oil inside that building thing?" Jana asked, looking over to Arachne.
"Uh huh," Arachne said, then pointed up. "Can't prove it to you here, though."
She looked at the rest of the group. "Is anybody here besides Daelen and me feeling lazy enough to be interested in trying to get these two groups of trolls to fight each other rather than making ourselves do all the work?" she asked. "Oh, and cowardice -- can't forget that. You all _know_ that if I can get someone else to do my fighting for me, I'll jump at the chance. So, these two groups of trolls live close together and -- well, quarrel a lot at the very least."
She looked at Carmeneren. "Do you know if the trolls have their own trollish language for insulting one another? And Aloysius or Echo, does either of you have any spells to facilitate language. Or isn't there a taunting spell? I don't suppose anyone knows that. I'll bet that the right words snarled in the right ears could start a pretty good trollish civil war. And then we could burn the winners. And losers.
"It'd help a lot to kidnap one of them first -- just to find out what insults really get them riled..."
"I believe the trolls can communicate with each other, yes," said Carmeneren. "But I do not know if there is a language common among all trolls, used for insults or any other reasons."
Once the planning session got underway and there seemed to be no more questions for her, Carmeneren departed for the front of the cave, getting Blik's attention to remind him to come with her.
Aloysius rubbed his face with the palms of his hands. "Didst thou say 'kidnap', Arachne? Methinks that would prove most difficult. Howe'er, the premise of thy plan is not without merit. The execution, howe'er, may prove difficult."
He folded his arms inside his robe. "This robe hath a number of interesting functions. Amongst others, it enables me to create a pit in the floor where none existed afore. Stargazer was thinking that a pit, with a copious quantity of oil at the bottom, covered by an illusiory floor, might make for an excellent troll trap. If we were to locate the trolls surreptitiously, we could withdraw a bit and then have one of our number lead them in chase. Of course, that person would know where the pit was, and could leap over it when they arrived at its edge. Hopefully, a goodly number of the trolls might fall in, and someone else could ignite the oil with a missile of some sort." He squirmed. "Just a suggestion."
"And not a bad one," Arachne said. "If we set the pit a good ways from the lair, that could keep us from getting both groups involved in one fight. Our rabbit could wear the speedy boots, so as to stay ahead of the trolls and be able to control the chase. Putting the fire down in the pit would help keep the light from spilling too far.
"What you probably can't count on is getting too many of the trolls to fall into the pit. They might need to be pushed. When it's pitch black, an illusionary floor isn't going to be worth too much. Instead, you're mostly relying on the trolls remembering that there aren't any pits in the tunnel. It's familiar territory for them. They oughtn't look that carefully for traps in their own stomping ground. But they have keen hearing and keen smell, of course. The oil smells...and the ambushers will have to be very, very quiet. And wait in perfect darkness.
"Still," Arachne conceded. "I like the idea."
"You do?" asked Aloysius. A faint smile tip-toed across his mouth. "At the risk of making this too complex, does anyone have a spell of darkness? If so, the darkness spell could be placed between the flames and wherever it was the trolls came from. We could address the sound problem with a silence spell, but that would still leave the smell. The 'rabbit', as you have mentioned, would have to lead the trolls on a lengthy chase indeed. It would have to be someone who can see in the dark, and someone capable of leaping over the pit."
"If Echo can . . ." he stopped momentarily, "If Echo can learn the invisibility spell, she could cast it on the person responsible for lighting the oil. That person could be very near the pit. As for the rest, it would be helpful if we had some other spell of concealment. Fog, darkness, or something akin. Stargazer has nothing like that available."
"Oh," added Aloysius. "I do have a spell that enables me to understand foreign tongues, but it does not enable me to speak one. I'm unsure if that will help or not."
Daelen crossed his arms and frowned. "While I don't appreciate the 'lazy' and 'cowardice' parts, Arachne and I do seem to have the same idea. Getting these trolls to fight it out between themselves first then going in to mop up the rest seems like a better idea than trying to wipe out two tribes tooth and nail."
"I'm sorry, Daelen," Arachne said. "I was unclear and my words attributed motive where I didn't mean to. _I'm_ the lazy coward. You're just smart.""And if that doesn't work, we might be able to try a hit and run approach, assuming we can actualy manage to kill a few of them before we need to fall back."
"Not good," Arachne said. "That will make our hosts nervous. They don't want us attracting trouble back to them -- which is what we'd be doing with a hit and run approach. As well, a hit on trolls that doesn't obliterate would serve only to get them annoyed -- once they'd had a little time to patch themselves up. Since this is supposed to be a test battle, I don't think we should use a strategy that risks a result they've explicitly asked us to avoid."
Echo added, "Having a plan of retreat would be good, no matter what the rest of the plan is. If we get in trouble, we'll know what to do."
Azrun shook his head, "What happens if it backfires and we get caught between 2 groups of trolls? Besides us proving to Carmenren that we're not worth the trouble she could be inviting to her front door. Don't get me wrong. I'm all for planning this out. As long as we stick with the plan and don't go screaming into battle as soon as our foe exposes himself. I just don't think setting us in a position where we might have to fight two groups of regenerating nasties at once. I, for one, think we should pick one group and go after them first. Then go after the other group. We can use any info we pick up from fighting the first group on the second group. You know learn from mistakes."
"For what it's worth," Jana said, "I agree with Azrun. We take out one group, quickly and quietly, then the other. I've got a half-dozen flasks of oil. If we need more, we can ask Carmeneren where there's a place big enough to open that building thingie." "And on last counting, I had four flasks of lamp oil in my pack, should we be unable to access our supplies within the hut," Renn interjected.
Aloysius nodded. "At least it would seem unlikely that one clan would come to assist the other. Howe'er, I am reminded of the story of the mice who wished the cat had a bell around her neck. Our plan to remove the first tribe 'quickly and quietly' must be well-thought out and well-executed. Once we get closer to the caverns where the trolls live, methinks it best if we engaged in as much reconnaisance as possible. Rennirolas has engaged a spell of silence afore, and that would seem useful now.""You're the best judge of how to use your spells, Aloysius, but maybe Renn or Olaf could try to silence a shaman if there is one," Echo suggested.
"Indeed, I keep one such spell with me always, and before we set out to do battle," Renn said as he dry washed his hands across his knees, "I will adjust my spells accordingly."
Aloysius turned away a bit from the others and lowered his eyes slightly. "Does anyone have an incantation of invisibility?"
Echo shook her head, "No I don't. I do have a fire based spell though."
"I need to borrow your spellbook to copy that," Echo said. "Then maybe I can try to learn it before we do this." She turned to Azrun. "I'm finished with the other book now. Do you want it to copy some spells?" she asked.
"Indeed," agreed Aloysius. "Perhaps Rennirolas would be better suited for addressing the shaman. Not only does he have silence spells, but he has his bow as well."
He pulled his spellbook out of his pack, and pulled it protectively to his chest before handing it to Echo. "The invisibility spell is on this page," he said, indicating the spell's location.
Seemingly unable to pull his hand away from the book, he added, "Please, be careful with it. It is the only one I have. Without it, I am less than nothing."
"I don't have to keep it," Echo said gently. "You keep it until we get somewhere I can work on copying it and I'll give it back when we move again. No reason for you to give it up completely."
Arachne sighed. "I'd like to see you set a nice quiet bonfire around here," she pointed out. "It's _dark_! As soon as you light your first flask of oil, you'll almost certainly announce yourselves to _both_ troll groups -- they're close enough together -- so blatantly that you might as well scream war cries while you're at it. If you don't believe me, ask our gnomish guides how far through the tunnels those lights we were using are noticeable.
"And when the light does go up and the second troll group gets the alert, who do you think they're going to come after, the enemy they know or the enemy they don't? Unless we do _something_ to prep them to go for each others' throats, they _will_ treat us as the worse threat.
We'll get the ganged up attack that we need to avoid."She hit her fist against a wall. "I am _so_ tired of these bald attacks that get people killed," the gnome grumbled. She got up and paced, muttering to herself. "But...it's got to be simple -- 'cause trolls are. We might get them to fight over food -- if we can go bag another of those furry whatsits. Or maybe territory, by messing with whatever they might use to mark borders between their two clans. Or sex yuck! Troll sex...that's really revolting."
"Oh gods," Echo moaned quietly. She looked like she might be sick. She fidgeted with her cowl some but didn't pull it up this time.
Jana rubbed her temples as the plan became more and more complex. "I think," she said finally, "we're better off taking them out in fairly simple fashion. Blacky and Daelan and I can injure them enough for Arachne to slip in and dump oil on them, then Echo and Aloysius can torch 'em. Renn and Azrun can hang back and defend the oil and fire team from any who slip by the three of us." She rubbed her temples again. "At least, that's what I think."
Aloysius raised his eyebrows. "There is an elegant simplicity to that approach," he concurred. "Agree do I that perhaps the earlier suggestions were a bit too detailed. Howe'er, I do like the idea of luring some of the trolls out of their cavern and engaging them on our own terms. Janathell, Daelen, Eric, and Olaf could attend the front lines, and Rennirolas could delay acting until a shaman appeared. The rest of us could either see to the incineration of the corpses, or to casting spells, whiche'er action matches the situation."
He rubbed his hands together rapidly. "It would seem preferable to engage the trolls in smaller groups, if possible, rather than the entire clan simultaneously."
"Simple is good. Whatever plans we make will only last until the conflict has begun anyway," Renn shrugged.
"Just in case we do have to take on an entire clan, we might want to choose the battlefield ourselves, preferably a bottle-neck tunnel that'll allow as many of us to fight as few of them at a time as possible... then use some variation of the battle formation you or Jana were talking about... 'course, we could always light ourselves on fire and storm their lair, it'd make for one hell of an entrance." Daelen said with a smirk as he picked up another piece of whatever it was the gnomes had given them to eat."You know, once you eat enough of it, this stuff kinda starts to grow on you..." With a sudden uncomfortable frown he started scratching the back of his neck.
"We may be getting ahead of ourselves," Echo suggested quietly. "We don't need to make plans about pits and bottle-neck tunnels and trying to keep one clan from knowing we're there until we know something about the area. Like how many there are in a clan and how close together they really live. And what their caves are like. If I learn the invisibility spell, I should be able to scout the area with no problem. We can make
final plans accordingly."Aloysius walked over next to Azrun. "Azrun, one of the spellbooks I gave you has a fire spell that I would like to copy. Could I borrow that book?"
"I think I have the spell you want," Echo said. "You can copy it out of my book if you want while I'm using yours."
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