A Tunnels and Trolls® play-by-post adventure run by khara_khang
A feeling of disbelief washes over Stark as he sees the gory scene inflicted by the Cave Troll. He soon snaps out of it, and exclaims, "I think I have a plan!"
"Jamara, Blodywdd, everyone. Prepare to cut the bridge on this side. I have a feeling the Troll will soon be coming across."
Stark quickly strides to the edge of the chasm, and yells at the Troll, "Oh, get the hell out of here!"
"Game over! It's just game over, man!" --Hudson, Colonial Marine, Aliens
Felixia looks to Krandor, glaring some, "I know nothing of him or what he says. I am not here to steal that necklace; I was sent to protect it."
She frowns a moment and then flies as fast as she can to snatch the necklace from Krandor and flutter up with it. "Now, I'm going to hold the necklace where everyone can see it, and make sure no one gets it besides the person who is supposed to."
Like Stark, Chereva is transfixed at the horrendous scene. A sudden pang of guilt washes over her, and her taut musculature spasms with every crack of the doomed Wolf's bones---or whatever he is. Krandor did have a point; she had threatened him, and if not overtly, then with her body language. She couldn't banish the feeling that she chased him to his death. "Fewmets, I'm not cut out for this diplomacy crap," she thinks. Bouncers will be bouncers.
When Stark mentions cutting the rope bridge, she signals caution, "Wait until it starts to cross. The bridge may not even hold it, and besides, we may need it to get Fuzz and Krandor back."
"What?? Trollworld to Centaur! He stole my necklace and besides, he's obviously DEAD! Let Furball fend for himself, let the Fairy get my necklace, and let's get the Frell outta here!"
Chereva glares down at the "princess" for the first time. "We're going to make the Troll drop Fuzz and Krandor, and provide Felixia with some cover." She turns and shouts across the chasm, "Fuzz! When you break free, bring Krandor back with you!" It's a long shot, she realizes. Killing it may be impossible for them, but maybe they can distract it.
She returns to the group, notes their unfortunate lack of distance weapons, and then sizes up the newcomer. "OK Stark, newbie---welcome to Hell---if you got potent distance magick, hit the bastard with all you've got...," she pauses, pulling out her prized bottle of Mr. Toad's finest ale, "...the Troll bastard. Gotta buy our friends some time."
Looking cautiously over the edge of precipice, she backs off, whinnying nervously. It's a sheer drop to some murky water fathoms upon fathoms below. "Freaketa," she asks, as she hurriedly cuts off an arm's length of rope, "exactly how did Cobalt expect us to 'enter the chasm'?"
She uncorks the bottle and stuffs the rope half inside. "Aw frak, I really was gonna enjoy you," she laments to her bottle as she roots for a match in her saddle bag. "Blodwydd, Jamara, I'm still weak from healing Krandor. One of you got a good throwing arm?"
Fuzz is quite pissed at the moment. He roars out angrily, but before he can do something foolish like attack the Troll, he casts Rock-a-bye on it.
At Stark's suggestion, Blodwydd moves to stand near the bridge, off to one side, and draws her sword in preparation for severing the bridge ropes. "Furra wizzurd, I lyktha wayya think!" she exclaims, favoring him with a toothy grin.
"One of you got a good throwing arm?"
"Oooo... Gimmie!" replies Blodwydd, switching her sword to her left hand and eagerly stretching out her right.
Of all the adventurers here, it seems that Krandor is the only one with nothing to say. His broken body and blood-soaked fur is a lifeless form in the hands of the Troll. There isn't a single kick in Krandor's legs.
"Dearest Galdor, what have you gotten yourself into again? Searching for that long lost Holy Hand Grenade? You do know that they used it upon that hell of a rabbit?" he pauses. "well here I am to save your sorry Fuzz butt again."
With that, he casts a level 2 TTYF at the Troll and aims it so that the Troll will drop Galdor (this is where you all say thanks and smile). He then charges the Troll (if Galdor is not freed) to free Galdor.
Jamara shoots a dark look at the Goblin, then moves to the edge of the bridge. Whatever plan the finger-waggler has in mind, it probably involves keeping the Troll from crossing over before the ropes are cut. She sets her jaw and readies her hammer. "It will not cross!"
If capable of doing so, Fuzz curses Amroth in every language he knows so fluently that even the Troll is sightly surprised by it.
Probably, this is not enough to change the game, but he would still be surprised at the fluency and hatred embedded within the words.
He uses all the major curse words from every high language and intermixes a few minor curse words. If words could kill, everyone in the room would be dead twice, including the wereWolf.
First chance I get, Amroth, you are going to die in a slow and painful fashion!
Thanks for the spell, by the way. See I'm thanking you and presumably smiling even though it is probably forced and will have drastic repercussions on yourself for forcing me to do it.
I know the hand grenade was used on the rabbit. I knew that long before you did and I'm not looking for it right now. I'm looking for a fun way to kill the Troll, and then for an even more fun (e.g., slower, and painful) way to kill you.
Krandor has apparently been crushed to death by the Troll. While Fuzz is being used as a whip by the Troll, he attempts to cast a spell. Stark rushes over beside the bridge, prepared to cut the bridge on his side, even attempting to lure the Troll across, but the three ton Troll could never cross the flimsy rope bridge even without it being cut. It would never hold his weight.
Felixia flies across the chasm, swoops in unnoticed by the Troll and snatches the necklace from Krandor's lifeless neck and quickly returns unharmed. Chereva withdraws a bottle of booze from her saddle bags and creates a Molotov cocktail, passing it off to Blodwydd, who in turn hurls it at the Troll. Amroth casts a level 2 Take That You Fiend spell at the Troll and then heads towards the bridge. All the while, Jamara guards the bridge. Freaketa and Shipy move toward the chasm as they watch the events unfold.
The hurled Molotov cocktail falls just a bit short, hitting the stone floor and splashing across Fuzz (Fuzz takes 3 hits directly off CON, and is on fire). Some of the burning cocktail splashes on the Troll (but not much). Due to the Troll's movement and grip on Fuzz's leg, Fuzz's spell is ruined (but the Mystic points are still expended). Amroth's Take That You Fiend spell hits the Troll fully and it does little more than enrage him.
Using Krandor like a boulder, the Troll hurls his lifeless body at Amroth, but misses (by less than a foot), and Krandor's body slides to a stop on the other side of the room. Using Fuzz as a whip, the Troll lifts him up and slams him back down to the stone floor for (27 hits). Fuzz's flaming body hits the floor, bounces off into the chasm and falls into the blackness below. (No you can't fly until healed.) Fuzz falls for about sixty or seventy feet before splashing into a huge lake, whereupon his flames are instantly extinguished. The very large Blue Cave Troll lets out a defiant roar.
"Good work, Felixia. I knew you could do it. Now follow me everyone." Grabbing Shipy's arm, the Goblin Princess Freaketa jumps off into the darkness of the chasm and disappears, pulling the Hobbit along with her.
"Aaaaa Yeeeaaaaaaaah!" A splash follows later.
Roughly two minutes later, the assumed-to-be-dead Krandor's eyes pop open.
Even with some type of spell or item concealing it, the tiny Fairy Felixia has little trouble seeing the Troll's invisible treasure piled along the back wall behind it and not far from the archway.
What do you do?
Bobbing in the lake below, Fuzz feels his bruised body and scorched fur. He looks for any broken bones. Finding none, he lets out a rather loud and incredibly vulgar curse in Balrog and then another one in Troll that suggests if the Blue Cave Troll's lineage were followed not very far back, it would lead to a small colony of rather ugly toads. (It's a bit more graphic in the natural languages but loses something in the translation.) Pulling out his rope, he shouts up to the party with all his might, "One of you lean over the edge were I can see you!!"
This Troll bastard is going to burn! And if any of you make fun of the way a wet, scorched manticore looks, you can count on joining him.
The white Wolf limps carefully over to the edge, eyeing the rest of the party, but saying nothing. A second later, he is gone, having thrown himself into the chasm. Only as he is falling does he remember that Fuzz, Freaketa and Shipy are the only ones down there....
"Ah, felgercarb!" remarks Blodwydd, peering into the abyss after the receding forms of the Hobbit and Goblin. "I guess thas whyits calla job!" she grumbles, holstering her sword. She steps to the edge of the precipice and peers down somewhat dubiously until the suddenly revived Wolf goes plummeting after. Then, with a grimace of uncertainty, she leaps determinedly off the edge.
Jamara looks down the chasm, trying to see the others, then looks back across the bridge, trying to decide what to do. "Strong she may seem, and brave she may be," she mutters to no one in particular. "but she acts less and less like someone to respect.... Still, I accepted the job. I must see it through to the finish!"
"BUG GIRL! FINGER-WAGGLER! WE GO! NOW!" she bellows, jumping in after the Goblin.
Felixia's eyes widen some, "OH! He's protectin' a treasure!" she says. She flutters to the edge and looks down, trying to see those who went over the edge already.
Stark pretends he knows a levitation spell, trying to impress Chereva. "By the powers of bird, I can fly!" he yells as he jumps into the chasm.
Fuzz sees the party jumping down one at a time and claps his head against his hand after most of them land. He says quite simply, "Shit." He shouts up to Amroth and Chereva, saying, "Whatever you do, DO NOT jump!! That bastard has my sword and I want it back!!" Then turning to the rest of the party, he says, "Why in hell's name did you jump? I didn't ask you to jump nor did I even suggest it. I asked you to come to the edge so I could see you and throw up my rope or have the Fairy fly it up so that I could get back up, 'cause I'm too tired to fly, and then I was going to kill the Troll!! He took my sword!! Now we are going to have to do this the hard way."
Chereva shakes her head, still regretting wasting her only bottle of Mr. Toad's finest, and very puzzled at Krandor's apparent resurrection. Meanwhile, her friends and companions are hurling themselves off the ledge like lemmings. Fortunately, the splashes and (incomprehensible) shouts below tell her that they survive the trip. Stark's grandiose leap even makes her giggle.
She finds Felixia hovering nearby. "Pesky Wolf sure has his fair share of secrets, eh Felixia?" She didn't expect Krandor to get up and walk away after being crushed, but she is glad nevertheless. Her conscience now has more room to breathe.
"And nice shootin', Tex," she extends a hand toward the heavily armored Elf, "Name's Chereva. We're here to escort that Goblin to be wed to the King of this hellhole. Wanna tag along? You might also talk some sense into your Manticore friend before he gets himself killed."
"OH! He's protectin' a treasure!"
Chereva squints toward the Troll and sees nothing. "Hmmm, maybe we'll come back for it. But you heard the princess, let's boogie! Treasure can wait, but weddings can't! Oh, and I'd worry about that heavy armor in the water below," she advises the Elf. Chereva backs up a bit, and then makes a galloping leap over the edge, with her oxtongue held high in both arms. Lucky Troll!
When Chereva the Centaur splashes into the water, I make my way over to her. "Wow Chereva, nice floaters! You float real well for a Centaur," I quip, winking at her as only a Hobbit can.
Felixia looks over the edge. "Now that's silly.... There has to be a better way down."
Wading in the water of the lake, Krandor waits for the Fairy to join them, and then begins to speak, "I apologize for my actions. I assumed it would be easier to complete my mission if I were to keep it a secret from you.
"As you can tell, I do not need the ambrosia for myself. No, the one who will meet us to take us to the King is the one to whom I am to give it. In return for the necklace, he is to remove this cursed amulet that keeps me in this form. I underestimated Felixia's power, and Chereva's selflessness.... Be warned, even if I fail, the King's advisor will stop at nothing to gain the necklace."
"Galdor, this is no time for a bath! Now get up here and let's go kill that Troll."
Turning to the rude chick who called him "Elf," [in fact, she never did --ed.] he says, "Sure I'll go with you. But first, me and the overgrown Elf gotta go kill that Troll, and then I shall help you. Hopefully the worthless fuzzball will get up here."
"To Fuzz, it is not the mithril, but the sentiment of his sword; yes, Galdor is a weird person at that. I shall talk to 'Bloato.' Yes, on then with the Goblin, but promise that you will come with us to help Galdor attack the Troll. First let's rest---that TTYF took out a lot."
Blodwydd yodels in surprise at the icy plunge into lake water, and re-emerges on the surface a few seconds later spluttering in digust. "I've tooken alla baths I need furra year!" she yells out to the world, as she dog-paddles about, trying to get her bearings. Just as she thinks she is getting a clear picture of the situation, a giant splash and wave of water announce the successful splashdown of the Centaur and duck Blodwydd again underwater, eliciting a few new yells of annoyance.
Felixia floats down to the bottom and looks at Krandor. "Why does he want the necklace?" she asks. "And why wouldn't you tell them?" she points back toward the others. "They may be able to help you find a way to have the amulet removed," she says, flying above his head some. "I will try to help you remove the amulet if you will help me deliver the necklace."
She casts Detect Magic to try to locate the amulet on Krandor and to see if she knows how to remove it.
And by the way throst54, of course it's the setiment. Mithril can be found anywere (almost). I saved a Dragon's life to get that sword and I want it back because I don't want to know what the Dragon will do to me if he ever finds out I lost it. One time I played an adventure entirely about getting my sword back and nearly died in it before I finally recovered it. It's a good sword!
"When you're done with your spellcasting do you (Felixia) think you could fly my rope up to Amroth and have him tie it to something strong so I can climb back up? I'm too tired to fly and I'm not sure if I could get airbound from a swimming start anyway. I would be quite grateful, and then we could kill the Troll and get his treasure. We will fight much more intelligently this time, by using strategy instead of rushing into combat."
"I'm not sure why he wants it," he responds to Felixia while he dog-paddles. "It's ambrosia---I'm sure that's reason enough. As for why I didn't ask: none of them," he motions toward the others with a wet paw, "look like powerful spellcasters. How could they possibly be able to lift a curse?"
Krandor, Fuzz, Jamara, Felixia, Chereva, Freaketa, Shipy, Stark and Blodwydd are all down below floating in the lake with this post. Amroth is still up above. Fuzz has 5 CON left and cannot fly until he heals up at least half his CON.
The underground lake is very deep, cold, and a bright green in color. Stark's glowing green staff gives the green water a very odd appearance. The walls around the lake are vertical and offer no safe haven to climb ashore to rest (at most they could only be used to hold onto and float). The chasm entrance above is in the center of the ceiling and at least seventy feet up. Undecided as to what he should do, Fuzz continues to tread water and shout up to Amroth. The others (Krandor, Jamara, Chereva, Freaketa, Shipy, Stark, and Blodwydd) all begin swimming across the lake. Felixia hovers along above the water, talking to Krandor as they swim. Freaketa holds onto Chereva as she swims.
The Troll picks up the mithril sword lost by Fuzz and carefully adds it to his invisible treasure pile near the archway. Standing motionless for a few minutes, the huge Blue Cave Troll disappears from view.
"I can't swim very well.... Jamara, help me!" pleads the Hobbit halfway to Chereva as he gasps for air and his head disappears beneath the green water.
Jamara, the nearest swimmer to Shipy, grabs him by the arm and pulls him back up to the surface of the water. The spluttering Hobbit holds onto Jamara as she keeps swimming. "A little green water never hurt anyone," says Jamara with a grimace.
Still spitting out water, he manages, "Ah, Jamara, my true love." He is happy not to be like a stone at the bottom of the lake.
Five minutes of hard swimming and staying together brings the group (Krandor, Jamara, Chereva, Freaketa, Shipy, Stark, Blodwydd and Felixia, flying) to a small sandy island in the middle of the lake. The island itself is maybe a hundred feet in diameter, and is peppered with sand dunes. In the center of the island is a large stone building or temple, at least three or four levels high. The ceiling above the lake cannot be seen (it's now well over a 100 feet high).
Everyone trudges out of the water and collapses on the sandy beach, exhausted and shivering from the water (except Felixia of course, who is hovering and not the least bit tired).
Using magic, Felixia can see the magical cursed amulet around Krandor's neck (even though it is not visible to the eye normally). It radiates evil and cannot be removed. Felixia stuffs Freaketa's necklace into her pocket for safe keeping. "You would need a really powerful wizard to remove that amulet, Krandor," says the Fairy, speaking truthfully.
Fuzz and Amroth, unless you can create a light source, you are both in the dark. Fuzz, you can only tread water so long and I've rolled dice to determine just how long. The water is very cold and that cranequin you are carrying is very heavy about now (among other things).
What do you do?
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