Move 223: A No Troll Night
Tunnels--Early, Day 10After all the excitement of the long day, everyone finally settled down to try to rest. A few more of the light stones were covered, and a lantern was lit. By the time the watch rotation was complete and everyone had rested, five flasks of oil had been burned in the lantern. There was still no sign of a troll attack.
Having taken the last watch, Aloysius was already awake when the others rose from their sleep or reverie. He was looking over his spellbook while taking a periodic glance down the passage to be sure nothing was coming.
Once everyone was up and about, he spoke. "We need to find a way to get to where the trolls are without announcing our arrival aforehand. I cherish not the thought using our oil in the lantern as we shall need it for the trolls. Howe'er, the light stones may well be too bright."
He stood up and stretched. "I could try a lesser incantation of illumination, but it won't last until
we reach the trolls. On the other hand, if the trolls are within a reasonably short walk, we shouldn't have to use too much oil whilst we journey there."The mage awaited suggestions.
Olaf said, "Those with dark vision can guide those without, but we are unlikely to get extremely close without announcing our presence regardless of what we do. Simple works best. I suggest we attack the guard post, and the start clearing the rest, retiring when we've exhausted roughly half of our magic. Then we can continue again later."
Olaf shruged, "Complicated plans will just confuse us later. We know so little of the trolls lair, they are virtually doomed to failure."
"Perhaps you are right," Aloysius concurred. "It would be nice if we could at least remove the guards without being noticed. Howe'er, that seems an unlikely prospect."
Olaf noded, "Aye, not the best situation. Can any of the stealthier members of our group think of a way they might eliminate that guard post?"
When morning arrived, Jana sat up blinking sleepily, then abruptly lay back down. Her breathing was shallow and rapid. She swallowed hard several times, lying rigidly still on her back, her arms wrapped around her stomach. "Don' feel s'good," she whispered between swallows. After a few minutes, her breathing slowed to normal and she relaxed. Hesitantly, she sat up again, then slowly rose.
As Jana clutched her stomach and sat up, Aloysius watched with concern. "Janathell? What's wrong?"
"Morning sickness?" Olaf asked.
"I dunno," Jana replied, still looking a little unconfortable. "Felt like I was gonna barf there for a minute." She managed a wan smile. "Maybe it was those fungus thingies." She froze in place a moment, grimaced, and then muttered, "I think I'd rather not think about it right now..."
"Hopefully, it shall pass," said Aloysius. "Perhaps if you ate something besides fungus, you will feel better."
"Are you okay?" Echo asked quietly. "Is there anything I can get for you that'll help?"
The mage then returned to Olaf's earlier sugesstion. "E'en if we could lure the guards away from their post, we would raise quite a racket in fighting them. And e'en if we could kill them quietly, there would be a substantial odor whilst we incinerated them."
He scratched his head. "'Tis a troubling quandry, indeed." He turned towards the others. "What warding spells have we available? Perhaps our fighters could engage the guards whilst the others prepared the opening beyond for the arrival of reinforcements. Stargazer could attempt to block the passage with a web spell. But that would only serve to slow them down at best."
"What thoughts have the rest of thee?"
"Well someone better come up with some brilliant way to start a fight 'cause I'm just about ready to march down there and plant my boot up a troll's arse." Daelen said as he got up disheveled and grizzly from a poor night's sleep, "There's not much hope for a surprise attack unless it's on us so we might as well be ready for anything. If we can't handle a couple of trolls in a straight fight, we got no buisness being down here anyway." He continued as he buckled on his armor.
"Web spells may be our best bet," Echo agreed. "I don't think we have any chance of sneaking up on them. I couldn't do it, alone and invisible. And we've got to have light to fight anyway. I can't cast webs but a few of those spells could keep us from getting overwhelmed in numbers. How many of those spells do you have, Aloysius?"
"I think I'm okay now," Jana replied. "Just woke up feelin' kinda icky." She looked down at her stomach, her expression uncertain. "You think Olaf's right? I dunno what t'do if it is." She fished out a 'skin of water and took a wary sip.
"I don't know," Echo replied. "If you're okay now, maybe it was a bad mushroom, like you said," she said hopefully.
"I have but one web spell," replied Aloysius, "and it may not even work. If I could somehow get close 'enow to block the passage behind the guards, mayhap the web could at least limit the number of trolls we battle at one time. Of course, saying it and doing it are two different matters."
"I could also try an illusion spell and perhaps lead the guards away from their post. Unfortunately, I can't see in this darkness and our light will betray our position." He nodded towards Echo. "If they detected your presence afore, then a stealthy approach would seem ill-fated for our group entire."
He shook his head and spat upon the ground. "Hate do I the notion of a direct assault, but I see no other option."
Echo said, "If you've got one web spell, maybe we should save it for a retreat. It should slow them
down enough to let us get away. I don't see any way that all of us can be quiet enough to sneak up. Can we hit hard and fast and plan to retreat when we need to? Olaf suggested when we've used half our spell strength. That sounds good enough to me. When half our spells are gone or if someone gets hurt bad."Aloysius considered Echo's suggestion. "That may well be our best course," he said finally. "The only downside is that the trolls will recover more quickly, and completely, than we will. If we suffer serious casualties, as well as a loss of spell power, we may find ourselves hunted at their convenience."
A grim expression arose on his face. "We must be sure to hit them hard the first time in order to dissuade them from pursuing us once we disengage."
"Does anyone else have any input?" he asked, glancing around. "If not, mayhap we should depart soon. Our oil shant last forever."
Olaf said, "I have memorized mostly fire and healing spells, those wounds they won't heal from overly quickly. Some of us might also use torches as weapons, it is unlikely to destroy the troll, but it will harm it."
Olaf continued, "I have said that simple is best, and i stand by that. But I think we can work out a way to increase our teamwork. We should pair off before hand into teams of shieldmates. Each with a partner they focus on. Working in teams like that will help us as a group work together better."
Olaf added, "Also, perhaps those with less brute fighting skill can stock up on torches and oil, and stand to the rear. After the swordsfolk down a troll, they can quickly burn the pieces."
"We must now consider how best to get there while providing as little advanced warning as possible," added Aloysius. "We have but three amongst us that can see in the darkness. Suppose do I that we could divide into groups of three, with a night-sighted member in each group. That way, we could at least get close to the trolls without raising an alarm. Once we got close, we'd have to try and strike at the guards quickly and delay the arrival of reinforcements as much as possible."
The mage sighed. "Still, they will surely be aware of our approach long before we actually arrive. I cannot describe how that troubles me."
"I can describe it for myself." Olaf said, "I troubles me relatively little."
Olaf smiled, "Come now, no need to be fatalistic about this. First, they are not certain to know of our approach long before we arrive. We shall be a complete surprise to them, since they cannot imagine a group such as ours down here. A patrol of gnomes, perhaps, but not us. One of them smelled or heard something he couldn't see. Is it any wonder they have not chased us down to attack us? Trolls are not known for being particularly wise, they likely dismissed the sentries report as hogwash. We should not underestimate them, but neither should we assign them unreasonable prowess."
Olaf's voice took on a confident tone. "If we are careful, stay together, look out for one another, and each do our best, there is no reason we cannot easily clear this troll pit."
"The plan sounds mostly sound. I like the idea of the web covering our escape or some other emergency. If two of us were to confront the guards we could probably lure them from their post. I'd suggest we all get within a couple tunnel bends of where the post is, then two of us show ourselves. Hopefully the two guards will attack us directly without summoning help. Once they are away from their post the rest of us could join the fray. It won't be quiet, but at least it may give us an extra minute or two before help arrives from the troll lair." Blacky said "Echo, is there a bend in the tunnel or some other hiding spot close to the guard post?"
"Sounds like fun." Daelen muttered. "I'm not planning on making this a fight to the death just to impress a bunch of gnomes," he remarked pointedly, "are we gonna plan an organized withdrawl or is it every man, elf and gnome for themselves once the shit starts to fly?"
"I can only conjure a web from 25 yards away," pointed out Aloysius. "If the rest of thee think it wise, Stargazer shall remain in the back of the fray and see to covering our retreat. Eric, perhaps you or Daelen could assist Arachne whilst we do so."
Still very nervous, the mage stared into the darkness of the tunnel. "Eric's suggestion about luring the guards out with only a couple of us seems prudent. Olaf," he added, without looking away from the tunnel, "hopes have I that thy confident demeanor proves justified."
Looking back at the others, he continued. "So, we travel in groups of three, with Arachne, Echo and Rennirolas guiding the rest of us, until we get within the general proximity of the guards. At that point, a pair of our number shall advance and try to lure the guards out. The rest of us shall join the fray with Stargazer responsible for covering our retreat. I assume that once the trolls approach, we will uncover some of our light stones so we can see to fight."
"If that is our plan, which two shall entice the trolls and when are we going?" He began checking his spell components while he awaited comment.
"I can fight in the dark," Jana offered, "but not as well as when I can see, of course. Just tell me what you want me to do, and I'll knock 'em down so some of you guys can torch 'em. Just be careful not to splash the oil around, y'know?"
"How about this?" offered Aloysius. "Since Echo is familiar with the area ahead, she can lead Janathell and Eric in the first group. Rennirolas can lead Daelen and Olaf, and Arachne can lead myself and Azrun. Once we get close, either Echo or Rennirolas can dupe the trolls into chasing them back towards the rest of us. When they near our position, we will uncover our lights and slay them as quickly as possible. Azrun and Arachne can stand ready with the oil and Stargazer can prepare to cover our retreat. The rest of thee will simply slay as many trolls as prudently possible."
Azrun looked to Arachne and smiled, "Works for me, how about you, Arachne? By the way I have memorized 3 magic missile spells and another one that I just learned. It saps a person strength incredibly. If it works, it would be able to keep one of the trolls damage down a lot. I'll save that spell, though. If we have to make a retreat, it would be good to cast on a troll in the web. That should make sure he doesn't get out."
"I can play the guinea pig, unless you would prefer to do it Echo," Renn said, in deferential tone. "And once the battle has started, I can hang near the melee, swinging the blade or healing as I'm needed. I think should we need to beat a hasty retreat, that pit of Aloysius' would be quite handy," the elf offered quietly.
Olaf nodded, "Good. Let's all agree to it and _not_ start adding in tons of other ideas to pollute the plan."
Olaf smiled, "But I do have one other thing. For battle, we need a leader. Someone who can call for retreat or advance and expect us all to follow suit. I reccomend Jana as battle leader."
Azrun nodded, "I agree."
"That's a good idea," Echo agreed too.
"So be it," agreed Aloysius. He began to wring his hands nervously. "Just so all of you know, there is some possibility my web spell won't work. If it doesn't, Stargazer shall find some other way to delay the trolls whilst we retreat."
Daelen paused as he was adjusting the straps of his armor. "Not all of us need a leader."
"Yes, you do." Olaf said quietly. "Our lives depend on united action. Your life will depend on united action."
Jana's eyes widened in panic. "Uhm," she stammered, "Uhm..." She looked around to those who'd not voiced an opinion. "If everyone's okay with the plan and knows what to do..?
"The tunnel doesn't have a lot of bends," Echo said. "There's one about 100 yards from where I saw the guards that might work. When I went scouting, Jana and Renn stayed back farther than that though."
"That's fine," Echo agreed. "I'm going to try to stay invisible until the fighting starts. Someone visible will be a better person to try to get them away probably."
She added, "I can cast the spell again today if someone else wants to be invisible."
Aloysius brightened somewhat. "The trolls will need to see Rennirolas if he is to be our . . . uh . . .
'bait', and we'll need to see Janathell if she is to be our battle leader. What if you used it on Azrun or Arachne? Then, they could skirt through the battle and apply oil to the fallen trolls without as great a risk of being attacked."He looked around at the brightly lit area. "We are approaching in darkness, correct?"
Later, just before leaving, Olaf said to Jana quietly "You've proven your skill and ethics, Jana. Trust yourself. We only follow the best." He gave her a confident smile and return to his spot in line.
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