Session 19 - Chapter 4 - Troublesome Trolls

Hello & Welcome!

The next morning the camp made preparations to leave. Quieter than normal, the events of the previous evening weighing heavily on everyone's minds and hearts. Even the horses could sense that there was a loss amongst the travellers. 

Before setting off though, they gathered to give Steidor Adkins a proper funeral and send off. In a clearing in the woods near by the buildings they buried his remains. Tyjit managed the event. Torsion led the group in a prayer as they all bid him farewell while Pipp played a sombre funeral song softly in the background. It wasn't immediately clear if the general sadness was from the loss of Steidor or if it was the realisation that it could have been any one of them crushed by the boulder. Or worse yet, it still may be them with the perils they have yet to face.

That day's travel went smoothly. In the evening, Dafnae decided to take a double shift of guard duty to fill in the gap since they were a guard down. 

While Chard slept, he again was troubled by nightmares. This time, it was different. There was no gate or fire and ash or voice. Instead, this time he saw across a vast expanse of land and from all sides, a vast number of Chromatic Dragons were taking flight. Dragons of all ages and sizes, all flying in the same direction. Unsure where the destination was, but they were all headed in the same direction. He did not know what this all meant and why now his dreams had changed since he had made the pact. Time will tell.

Heading out the next morning, they would leave the Fields of the Dead and enter the Trollsclaw. After a few hours of travel the rolling grassy lowland hills of the Fields of the Dead gave way to a much more hilly region with steep sided  ravines that look like they would hide numerous caves among the rocky outcrops. Exactly why Trolls seemed to thrive in the area is unknown, fuelling conversation around many a campfire. The Trollsclaw lay along the northern edge of the Fields of the Dead. The Winding Water threads its way west through the bottom of the valley west towards the coast, meanwhile your road, the Coast Way runs through the area, crossing the river at the Coast Way Crossing.

After the mid-day rest, they all saw a contingent of Flaming Fist Mercenaries riding hard southwards. 8 riders on horseback with 3 saddled but riderless horses. They thundered passed without stopping. They clearly were in a hurry and the riderless horses was definitely an ominous sign. It was not unusual for the Flaming Fists to come out this far to quell any Troll activity in the area. Maybe they would be in luck and they had just dealt with some leaving them free to travel.

Another evening passed thankfully without event. The next day they would be heading for the Trollsclaw Ford was a hamlet located at the point the coast way crosses the Winding Waters which was destroyed many years ago. Bridge crossing was always perilous, especially in this area.

Travel the next day was again easy going. As they arrived at Trollsclaw Ford they came across another wagon train heading South towards Baldur’s Gate. These travellers looked tired and weary. 40 days on the road. Many of them are dressed in dirty worn clothes. 6 wagons crewed by merchants and teamsters and about 20 guards made up this new caravan. Most of the merchants and guards were friendly, happy to discuss recent events and to hear news.

They relay the fact that that there were originally 7 wagons in the train but one of the merchants was taken ill half a ten day ago and so lingered at the Troll’s Nose Inn in the village of Kheldrivver. They also mentioned that due to the high river from all the rain its not possible to cross here at the ford. The caravan will need to go via the Coast Way Crossing a half day travel further down river in order to make the crossing at that bridge.

It was nice to have some new faces, even if they were not the freshest of sorts. Resting for the evening was filled with chatter. No other news was learned and unfortunately none of the new merchants had any useful items for sale - it was mostly finely crafted furniture.

The past few quiet days and evenings was a welcomed relief. In the morning, Tyjit discussed with the Adventurers that perhaps it would be prudent for them to scout ahead and secure the area and wait for the Caravan to arrive. She was worried about those Flaming Fist riders and in case they hadn't managed to sort out the trouble.The four of them agreed and set off at first light to scout ahead.

Able to move faster as a smaller group, they quickly made it to the new crossing and started to investigate the area.

There were two buildings on either side of the river. This crossing was used in the past as a loading / unloading area for ships and the buildings primarily were used as goods storage. 

The team did their scouting in the buildings to see if they could find any evidence of trouble, past or present.

The buildings were secure and empty with no signs of trouble. But, in the area around the trees on the South Bank and also on the road on the North Bank, the team found signs of recent battle in the form of blood on the ground. This likely was the area where the Flaming Fist mercenaries had a run in with something and likely where 3 of them had fallen. But where were the bodies?

The Party decided to take position on the bridge. They thought it would server as a good vantage point and act as a good defensive position should something advance on them as they could concentrate their attention on any attackers.

Some time had passed without issue. At least, until the Heroes became aware of an advancing party of Trolls on either side of the river.

The Trolls advanced quickly and the clang of battle commenced. It very quickly took an even more sinister tour because the Heroes were too focused on holding the bridge and didn't notice that these Trolls were no ordinary Trolls but rather they were covered in poisonous pustules that burst with each hit and sprayed them with poison. And unfortunately due to low saving throws, it only took a round or two and all four of them beset with the Poisoned status and the harsh poison persisted throughout the encounter, causing all of their attacks to be at Disadvantage.

It soon became very clear that taking position on the bridge was not the best tactic. The Trolls advanced and with low rolls, the Heroes were really struggling to hold them back. The trees would have offered more coverage but alas it was too late.

Chard was able to deal fire damage with his enhanced Glaive to prevent one of them from regenerating, but the others didn't have the ability to really cause adequate fire damage and so the damage dealt quickly was healed. 

The Trolls tried to shove them into the river as well as carry them away. Being constantly at Disadvantage, it made it quite difficult for them to avoid being Shoved and Grappled but somehow they managed to hold fast.

The situation looked dire but then Chard used his other Pact Boon and used his once in a Tenday Wall of Fire to try to cause mass damage to the clustered Trolls and try to wall some of them off.

It proved effective and eventually one of the Trolls finally fell, and being stuck in the wall's flames, it burnt to a crisp, unable to regenerate.

The remaining Trolls continued their attacks and tried to carry Dafnae away. She fought back hard and eventually managed to escape, thanks to Dissonant Whispers from Pipp.

Meanwhile, Torsion fell unconscious on the other side of the bridge and the eager Troll tried to carry him away. He had no choice but to walk through the Wall of Fire, taking heavy damage and then he was felled by a healed Torsion (thanks to Pipp's Healing Word) who landed a good Sacred Flame on it. 

Aiming to not allow the Troll to regenerate, Torsion took the chance to drag the unconscious Troll into the Wall of Fire so that the flames could consume it as well, but not without a cost to himself as he too succumbed to the flames. But the selfless act was not a waste as the second Troll also was vanquished and another Healing Word from Pipp allowed him to escape to the safe side of the Wall.

Pipp and Dafnae meanwhile were struggling with the other two Trolls and eventually decided to take a plunge into the river to escape their grasp. They hoped that the Trolls fear of both Water and Fire would keep them on the other side of the Bridge and the team could then regroup and see what they could do.

Luckily the tactic worked and disappointed with not having anything to take back to their camp and not wanting to risk their own lives, they called off the attack and shambled back into the forest. 

Safely on the other side, the Heroes huddled together, stabilised themselves, and the Wall of Fire eventually blinked out (thankfully the Trolls didn't wait around long enough for that to happen!).

A very tough battle, but they did manage to hold the bridge. They would then wait for Caravan to approach and hopefully the Trolls would continue to stay away. This was an eye opener for the four of them. They would need to improve their tactics and try to prepare for such additional dangers in the future.