Move 257: The End of the Snot Trolls
Troll Caves--Early, Day 17Blacky, Daelen, and Jana each finished off one of the trolls easily. These trolls, even moreso than the others, seemed to fall quickly under the fighters' blades. Renn moved in to help Olaf, who was trying to wipe mucus out of his eyes with his stump as he defended himself. The troll swiped Renn with two claws then efficiently brought up another large wad of phlegm and spit it on the elven priest. Renn caught less of the nastiness in the face than Olaf had, but it still spread liberally over most of the elf's upper body.
While the two priests instinctivly tried to clear their faces, the fighters were able to make short work of the troll before it could slime anyone else.
"Phaugh," Renn spat laconically as he dropped his shield to the ground and pawed at his eyes and nose with his free hand. With a flick of his forearm, the phlegm that had attached itself to his longsword flew off, and his the ground with a dull splatting noise. "Gods...ugh," he sputtered. "Trolls are one thing, a sick troll's an ugly alternative," the elf chuckled as he gagged.
"Nasty!" Blacky commented, trying to finish his troll off quickly before it could send a hocker his way.
Daelen cringed as he saw the troll's 'mark' on Olaf. "Here, hold still..." He said, pouring out his waterskin over the priest's head to help wash it off.
"Hey, be thankful they weren't red dragons or this'd take a lot more water..."
Echo's voice asked, "Arachne, do you have a torch ready?"
Olaf laughed as he wipes the trolls snot from his face and beard. "Oh, the horror! I'd rather face a Red's breath again then take another sliming from that troll!"
"Just to be certain," Arachne's voice said, fairly close to Olaf, "I think I'd like to examine you for disease. I'm concerned that these trolls might be afflicted with something, but the phlegm might simply be a particularly nauseating offensive weapon of theirs."
"Please do." Olaf answered, "That's a great idea."
Aloysius kept his distance from the troll goo, but studied it as best he could from where he stood. "A physician I be not, and it may be impossible to compare troll illnesses to those of other species. Howe'er, Stargazer would note that these trolls seemed afflicted with a similar ailment as the priest with Ranchefus that we fought afore."
He looked around the chamber, looking upwards into the darkness. "Wonder do I if there be some connection."
"Don't know," Arachne's voice mumbled. "Don't remember 'im too well either..." Her voice drifted over to the nearest wall. "Wazza pries' actually sick?" There was a moment's pause and then the gnome's voice said, "Sorry. Just feeling worn out. Spooky mindstuff's tiring, is all. If the priest really was sick with something, then this doesn't seem to be exactly the same: I'm not finding any disease on you, Olaf. What do we want to do now?"
"Hmmmm...." Olaf looked thoughtful, "This could be some sort of slime or ooze thing. What diety did Ranchefus worship again?"
Azrun looked to Olaf, "He was a priest of Cyric."
"Did anyone every actually see his holy symbol?" Olaf asked, "He could be trying to mislead us. I'm afraid during our captivity I had no good opportunity to observe the runt bastard."
"I saw his holy symbol," Echo said in a flat voice. "I had ample opportunity to see it."
Jana winced then glared at Olaf.
Olaf asked gently, "Could you describe it for me?"
Jana quickly walked over to Olaf. "I saw it too," she said, steering Olaf away from the direction of Echo's voice. "I'm positive he's one of Cyric's." She led Olaf a bit farther away.
Olaf said quietly, so Echo cannot hear. "Please describe it to me. This
phlegm might be an important clue. I have no wish to bring back memories for
her, I was his captive as well and know the sort of man he was."Jana looked around the room. "Let's secure the area and get outta here," she suggested.
"What, you think Ranchefus and his band have been tongue kissing trolls or something?" Daelen asked as he shook out the last few drops in his waterskin and put it away.
"Tongue kissing . . . ?" inquired the mage. "Why would they do that?"
Jana sighed and said in an accusatory tone to Daelen, "This is your fault, you know." She almost smiled, then walked over to where she heard Echo's voice. If the stuff Echo had found would fit, Jana put it into the money-filled pack they'd found earlier.
Azrun shook his head, "I think what Aloysius is saying is that could these trolls have actually been Ranchefus's lackeys. It would take some pretty powerful magics to do such a thing, but it sort of makes sense. Ranchefus
would think they failed him cause they didn't kill you guys last time. So he turns them into trolls. That would explain why they had weapons and some armor and the similar cough." Azrun shrugged and looked to see what the others thought."Or," Jana suggested, "they got the armor off of people wandering around down here and they're just, well, sick."
Azrun nodded, "True, but considering the conditions they live in, what they eat, and they heal pretty quick, I can't see Trolls getting sick. It just doesn't seem right. But, I don't want to argue about this either. All we can
do is speculate. We should just grab what we need is the forms of coins or their weapons if someone would like one and go check the rest of the cave.""There's some more money over here," Echo's voice said from over near one of the cavern walls. "I don't see anything else interesting."
Aloysius let out a sigh and closed his eyes momentarily. "If we think these were the last of the trolls, let us proceed back to Carmeneren with all due haste. This place is . . . growing difficult to endure."
As the others spoke, Aloysius pointed frantically towards a pool of water in the chamber. "There be something in that pool!" he said. "I saw a ripple. Have a care, the last pool contained a giant eel."
"I'm sorry," Arachne's voice remarked from fairly close to Jana. "Is that the right way to alert everyone that something dangerous might be lurking nearby? I was thinking of a quieter 'heads up,' but..." Her voice trailed away.
"We're here to fight trolls, not eels," Jana said in a low voice. "Unless someone sees a need to screw around with it, I say we just leave it alone."
"Other than eel tasting pleasant, that pool of water looks even more inviting," Renn said as he shook the remaining troll snot from his upper body. "But there are sacrifices to be made, eh?" he grinned. Rennirolas spat a number of times on the ground in an attempt to clear the foul taste from his mouth, then recovered his shield and nodded that he was ready.
Aloysius waved his hands over his head as he continued. "Stupid. Moron. Mistake. I should have left you as a doorstop." The mage aimlessly wandered aut the room, muttering under his breath.
"No need for that kind of talk, Aloysius." Daelen said amicably, "Come, you spotted it first; you should have the honors of taking it's miserable life! Who knows, it might even be another troll - I'll try to make sure you get the finishing blow."
Daelen approached the pool with his sword drawn and lit. Pulling the magical light stone from his belt pouch, he casualy tossed it into the water and drew his dagger in anticipation.
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