Having sneaked off, unnoticed, to see if the main tunnel led to the surface, Eagle soon heard a terrible commotion behind him. Realizing that the others were certainly in danger, he has changed his plans. Eagle: Blast! (thinking quickly, he takes a wick from his lantern, attaches it to a vial of oil, lights it, and then runs back to the others) Meanwhile, trapped in a pitch-black, troll dung-filled cavern, Alenniel and Ozzy try their best to rejoin the rest of the party who, as far as they can tell, are probably under attack by more trolls. Alenniel: They rolled the boulder back. Let's hope that wand dosen't give out. Do you have a torch? Ozzy: Nope, mine were crushed by the bat-bull demon. But we should be okay with our infravision. Alenniel: Well, sometimes it's easier to find secret doors with a little light. Ozzy: The trolls wouldn't need a secret door. They can move the boulder. Alenniel: True. Ozzy: (starts to help Alenniel try to move the boulder back, then stops) Wait a minute. (he pulls the jade statue out of his pouch and places it on the floor) Cuivie'! Zakk, help us move this boulder! Zakk: (comes to life and walks towards the boulder) Ozzy: (to Alenniel) He's quite strong for a little guy.... Zakk: (ineffectually pitting his nine inches of statuesque might against the relatively-huge boulder) Alenniel: Apparently not. Ozzy: Damn, I thought that would work. Tel! Zakk: (lifeless once more) Ozzy: (returns the small jade statue to his pouch and resumes pushing) Alenniel: You know, if there are trolls on the other side of this boulder, and someone does fire a fireball at them, won't they get us too? Ozzy: Possibly. (he pushes harder on the boulder) Alenniel: At least it will have to go through those filthy trolls first. The worst fears of Eagle, Ozzy, and Alenniel are true: trolls have broken into the cramped tunnel where the party is. Two of them came from behind the boulder to the east, which they carried before them and used to block off the tunnel to the southwest, and have turned to face the party (what's left of it, anyway). Further down the tunnel from which they came, a third troll, bigger than the others, can barely be seen. Rimli: (looks at the boulder-blocked southwest tunnel) Bloody Elves dividin' our forces! Greythur: Oh, bother!!! Ajax: (jams his torch into the packed earth of the tunnel wall to free up his hands without dousing the party's only light source) Rimli: (to Autumn) Quick lass, th' bloody wand! Fry th' buggers! (battle axe held defensively, he backs away from the trolls) Autumn: Someone took the damn wand from me! Tasencia: I have the wand, child, but-- Ajax: Hi there! (he dives between the legs of one troll and slices at the back of its legs, barely injuring it) Tasencia: (gestures to the hyperactive halfling amidst the trolls) There are other factors to consider. troll#2: (swipes at the fleet-footed Ajax awkwardly, but misses) Tasencia: (looses a searing bolt of magical energy at one of the smaller ones and moves aside) troll#1: Yeearg! (he is more irritated than injured) Ajax: Hey there! (scrambles back around the other troll to confuse it and rejoin the party, fractured as it is) Ho there! troll#1: (his attention redirected from Tasencia for a moment, he swings his massive arms first to one side then to the other in an attempt to claw Ajax into submission) Ajax: (his smile is wiped off his face by troll#1's heavy-handedness) Aarg! (wounded, he manages to make it back to the relative safety of the rest of the party) Ugh... they're not as slow as they look.... Autumn: (throws one of her daggers and hits troll#2) troll#2: (hardly notices the wound) Greythur: (completes his spell, and a ball of flame materializes in his hand) Begone, foul miscreants! (he hurls it at troll#1, but hits only the wall behind him) troll#1: (still caught slightly in the small explosion from behind) Graaa!! Rimli: (now about 20' away from the trolls) Oy, ya buggers! (he throws his hand axe, hitting troll#1 squarely in the chest) troll#1: (staggers back against the wall, unbalanced by the force of the blow) Rimli: (catches his blood-soaked hand axe as it returns to him) Aye! Greythur: (another ball of flame appears in his hand which he immediately throws at troll#2, hitting it in the shoulder) troll#2: (burned and angry) Raar!! Ajax: (unwilling to get whacked again, he scrambles back and throws a dagger at troll#1, but misses) troll#1: (tired of being a pincushion, he charges forward, troll#2 right beside him) Ajax: Crap! (he retreats as best he can) Tasencia: (likewise, but without the obscenity; she holds the wand before her, preparing to cast a spell from it) Greythur: (already a short distance up the tunnel) troll#2: (swipes at anyone he can reach with his oversized claws) Tasencia: (severely wounded, she falls to the ground) Aie! Ajax: (severely wounded by its _other_ claw attack as he tries to retreat) Yikes! (he too falls by the wayside) Autumn: (tosses a dagger accurately at troll#2, hitting it in the gut) Hey, knock it off! troll#1: (ignores Autumn's request) Graaarg!! (he swipes at her with both hands) Autumn: (manages to duck under one sweeping attack, but the other digs into her back deeply) Yie! (she falls against the tunnel wall and tries to steady herself) Rimli: (throws his axe at troll #1 again) Oy! Listen t' th' lady! troll#1: (literally knocked off his feet by the axe, the heavily-wounded troll struggles to rise again) Rimli: (catches his axe) Tha's-- Eagle: (runs south, past Rimli) Hiya. Rimli: Where th' bloody 'ells 'ave you been? Eagle: No time! Back up! (he throws his vial of oil at troll#1) troll#1: (just as he gets to his feet, Eagle's vial explodes on his chest) Tasencia: (on the ground not far away, she scrambles to avoid flaming drops of oil) Ajax: (likewise) troll#1: (falls to the ground, flaming out of control) troll#2: (also caught in the blast, though not severely so) As the flaming troll falls, illuminating the passage, the boulder to the southwest suddenly rolls aside to reveal Ozzy and Alenniel. Simultane- ously, a huge troll, carrying a wicked-looking warhammer in both hands, steps forward from the eastern tunnel. The boulder lies in between them, in the north-south tunnel, partially hiding the two Elves from the troll's view. Ozzy: (points at the hammer-wielding troll) And I suppose that is-- Alenniel: The female pack leader. troll leader: (looks up the tunnel and sees one of her pack-mates fallen) Reeaar!! (she begins gesturing oddly) Ozzy: (worried) Oh no... don't tell me.... Alenniel: Some pack leaders are actually shamans and can cast a few spells, but I've never-- troll leader: (stops her gesturing) Rimli: (suddenly goes rigid) Eagle: (likewise) Greythur: (his eyes glaze over, but he shakes his head violently a few times and seems unaffected) Tasencia: (grits her teeth and ignores the spell) Alenniel: (sighs and reflects on how much nicer it was in the dung cave)