[ We find Our Heroes at the entrance to Vall's Folly! After many days of rigorous training and preparation, they have come here to 'convince' the Trolls not to ally themselves with Sherincal, and to collect the second fragment of the Dias of the Sun! ] [ What more needs be said? Session Start! ] * HKenji heads straight through Vall's Folly, taking the lead, because he's the leader. Admit it. * Max is hovering somewhere towards the middle, standing on his book and staring around wide-eyed behind his glasses. Which he pushes up his nose periodically. * Max has a nifty new staff that he's idly propping up on his book. * Patrick is near the middle, where he can do the most damage. * Istvan is riding on one of the flanks, looking... well, like he usually does. He's got his badass red dragon scale armor on, his war pick holstered on his back, his falchion at his side, and his bow & quiver straped to his pack. * Alcinoe doesn't seem to mind Kenji being the leader. She rides along, looking around. * Istvan is not, by the way, lugging his anvil around. Though he does have his Travel Anvil (TM) in his pack. * Will follows in at the back of the group. Nothing to report there at the moment. * Seylin also doesn't seem to mind Kenji leading, though no doubt she'll be called upon to scout ahead at some point. In the meantime, she keeps alert. Be alert. I expect the trolls have taken over that outpost. * Max nods, and looks at 'that outpost' with wrapt, though probably non-useful, attention. * HKenji heads down the nice long passage, wondering how long that secret tunnel that took them inside last time was. * Patrick keeps alert, and stuff. * Max floats along, still looking around. "Do we need to be quiet here?" he whispers to the party in general. Maybe a bit too quietly to be heard. Not particularly. We want them to know we're coming. Which Alcinoe, Will, and Istvan should accomplish quite well. Oh. Okay! ^_^ Subtle ain't my specialty, no. * Patrick snerks. * Max waves up in the direction of the outpost, in a friendly manner. * Seylin laughs softly. * Alcinoe smirks. * Max peers underneath the book, where Specs is sleeping soundly, perched as comfortably as if he weren't, in fact, upside down. Maybe he's part bat? [ You soon approach the old Dwarven outpost, and you soon find four Trolls in full plate and holding greatswords sized for them. One of them, who stands a bit straighter than the rest, says, says in undercommon as you approach; ] * Max smiles myopically, and looks to someone else to do the negotiations. * Seylin halts and waits for Kenji to speak with them. * Alcinoe brings her horse to a stop, too. She looks to Kenji, then the trolls. [ The troll raises a big, ugly eyebrow at Kenji's question. ] * Istvan stops. He lets Kenji do the talking since, hey, that's his job. * Patrick lets Kenji talk, and stuff. * Max drifts over to Patrick, and whispers in his ear, "So...I take it this means we don't have an appointment, and aren't expected?" [ The trolls all laugh at that. ] * Patrick snerks and talks quietly back to Max. "Just means we gotta make one." [ says the apparent leader of the troll group. ] * Max nods. "Pity the receptionists are so rude," he returns, still whispering. * HKenji walks slowly forward, then stops several feet away from the leader. He holds his hand out in front of him, palm up, as though offering a gift. [ The troll blinks in confusion, and eyes Kenji's hand. ] * Istvan slides down off his horse, and stands holding the reins. Just in case. [ ] * HKenji smirks arrogantly. [ The troll smiles, displaying a row of long, jagged, but well cared-for teeth. ] * Alcinoe watches this. She has no clue what they're saying, but she watches. * Max smiles, and pushes his glasses up his nose. And refrains from snickering. * Istvan knows what they're saying! That's why he's off his horse. * Max waves in a friendly manner, again. ^_^ * Alcinoe takes a moment to get off her horse as well, holding it by the reins. Clank. [ One of the troll soldiers sees Max waving and flips him the bird with a six-inch middle finger. ] * Max sticks his tongue out at the rude troll. * Will looks at Alci and Istvan dismounting and hurries to get off his horse as well. * Max does not dismount. He stays right where he is, standing on his Book. ^_^ * Patrick raises an eyebrow. * Seylin stands perfectly still. [ The troll studies Kenji for a moment, then raises his sword to strike at him. ] [ Kenji, roll init. This should be good. ] [ Kenji cuts into the troll's chest, rending his insides apart and getting green blood all over the place. The troll collapses immediately. ] [ The remaining three trolls blink hard, then attack Kenji. Everyone roll init! ] [ Max, go! ] * Max chuckles. "Hey now, one at a time." He makes a throwing motion and an acid arrow flies at one of the trolls. [ The blob of acid stings one of the troll! It says 'gah', stops, rubs the spot where it was hit, and then resumes running for Kenji. ] [ Patrick, go! ] * Patrick nocks his arrows and starts letting them fly at the trolls. [ Two of Patrick's arrows catch the same troll in the abdomen, doing more substantial damage. ] [ Two of the trolls reach Kenji and attack! ] [ The strong attacks of the trolls easily break through Kenji's armor and leave him heavily wounded. ] [ Alcinoe, go! ] * Alcinoe charges for the injured troll, drawing her sword as she does so. She lets out a shout, bringing it down for a slice into its side. [ Alci gives the troll a deep gash in it's side! It's looking pretty bad, now. ] [ Kenji, go! ] * HKenji spins as he tries to roll with the horrible greatsword slashes. The smaller of his blades appears almost magically in his offhand and he turns on the already badly wounded troll and goes into action, striking a storm of sparks off its plate armor, finally wearing his way through the breastplate into its chest. [ Will, go! ] * Will clanks loudly as he rushes over to Kenji to heal him. [ Will lays hands on Kenji, who feels a soothing rush as his wounds close up very quickly. ] [ Istvan, go! ] * Istvan advances on the third troll, activating the flames on his pick as he swings at said troll in an effort to keep it from joining up with its friends. * Istvan digs his pick into the shoulder of the troll, flames roaring around the strike and burning the troll around the wound. [ The troll yelps, and then turns to attack Istvan! ] [ The troll cuts Istvan twice, it's powerful strikes breaking through his armor. ] * Istvan gets deep cuts into his side and thigh. [ Seylin goes and lends Istvan a hand, striking twice at the troll he's in combat with! ] [ Seylin lands one strike to the troll's head, giving him a deep but not lethal cut. ] [ Max, go! ] * Max reaches up his sleeve, and pulls out a small vial. "That's enough. STAND DOWN, trolls." He throws it into the air, incanting, and a personal ball of flame descends on each of the trolls! [ Max unleashes little explosions on the four trolls, two of whom really, trully die as a result. The remaining two look worried, now. ] Now, let our illustrious leader pass. Please. ^_^ [ The two remaining trolls look between each other and decide to flee. Their long strides mean they run pretty fast. ] ... ow. ...they didn't have to -leave-. You'd have healed them if they took us to their prince, right, Will? * Istvan eyes his wounds, and scowls. "Dammit. Gonna hafta replace those scales." * Alcinoe scowls and sheathes her sword. You will be okay, though, Istvan? *pushes his glasses up his nose again* What about you, Kenji? *looks around the group, worriedly* Will, when you have a sec... * Will blinks at Max's comment. "Maybe. If Kenji felt they can be trusted." * Will turns towards Istvan. "And let me take a look at that cut you got." * Max eyes the retreating troll backs. "Should I fireball them for good measure, Kenji?" I'm so tempted to take them down. * Istvan leans against the nearest cave wall. "Fucking strong bastards. And those swords were definately adamantine. Which is pretty badass equipment for a bunch of random guards." Let them go. They will be our heralds. Okay. *plops down on his book, and raps on it* Wake up, Specs. Things're getting interesting. * Max 's owl hoots, and flutters up to sit next to him on top of the book. * Will places a hand over Istvan's wounds. Muttering a prayer to Bahamut, the wounds knitt themselves up nicely with only a faint scar. ... much better. Thanks Will. *looks up* Thanks Bahamut! Still really sorry about the plushie incident! * Will smiles. "I'm sure he's forgiven you already." * Istvan shrugs. "Yeah, well, seeing as he just helped me out, I figured he should get an extra apology." *turns to Kenji* Hold on a few minutes before we get going again, okay? Gonna do a quick'n dirty patch job on my armor to get me by until I can really sit down and fix it. * Patrick nods and looks over the guards, surveying their equipment. * HKenji nods slightly. "Hurry." Need me to patch up your mail? * HKenji flicks the nasty green blood from his blades and resheathes them. No. It folded around the swords. It is very high quality. [ And so they rested a while, and then continued on the journey into the troll lands. Session End! ]