You spend a few more days of slow travel with the artillerymen, collecting more information about the organization of artillery units in the army of Ostermark, when Karl calls you to him. Not your bodyguard, but Karl von Kaltenbrunner - Marshal of Ostemark, as well as the commander of this expedition.
Despite the privileges he had as second only to the Elector in command of the provincial troops, his tent did not look all that luxurious. Sure, he might have had the luxury of using proper furniture, but even in his case it was a folding table and chairs that felt downright flimsy.
"Oh, journeymen! Thank you for coming so quickly," your colleague looks up from the stack of documents and then turns to you, "If I'm not mistaken, then the main purpose of your position is to solve issues that seem weird to others, right?"
You didn't like the direction the conversation was going at all, but you nodded carefully.
[Encounter roll. Roll: 63]
"The problem is simply connected with a fairly simple thing... A day ago our scouts were scouting one of the swamps, which is known to be inhabited by trolls. We would put up a defense against them, but it is always better to know the exact degree of threat so as not to lose. But the scouts came across a strange thing..."
You look at him doubtfully, and the marshal continues his story.
"The fact is that flashes of flame rose above the swamp. Repeated flashes of flame and explosions."
But this is really strange. There are many things that trolls don't like very much, but fire is by far their least favorite thing.
There are many reasons for this. For example, in the case of most ordinary trolls, in the case of low humidity, their skin begins to dry out and crack, which causes significant discomfort for the trolls. Because of this, they prefer to live near rivers or swamps. In addition, there is always the fact that fire suppresses the regeneration of trolls. These creatures are incredibly stupid, but they are still intelligent enough to understand the dangers of fire. And for them, fire poses a threat on an almost non-religious level. For some troll to specifically use fire... If trolls resistant to fire appeared in this world, then the expedition would return with some very bad news.
But, on the other hand, you will clearly have unique scientific material for the article.
"What is required of me? I can hardly kill even one single troll."
"No, I just want you to investigate the situation and give me recommendations on how to act. I will give you some soldiers to guard you, and you can take your bodyguard with you. It would be better not to take a large squad. Trolls are certainly extremely stupid, but even they can eventually notice the approach of a big force."
You nodded at these words, still thinking about them.
Either these are really trolls, who for some reason, decided to use fire and are somehow still alive... Or it is something else. Ignition of swamp gasses? Too often for that to be a factor.
With such thoughts, you left the commander's tent so that the next morning you could take your horse and go to the place you needed to go.
*****
"And you say you saw flashes of flame from here?" – you repeat, looking at the vegetation ahead.
"Yes. We heard trolls screaming as if someone was burning them. But we decided not to come closer."
Hm…
In front of you was a foothill swamp, formed on the site of a small natural basin. Due to an excess of humidity, the entire small valley of several hundred meters was overgrown with dense vegetation in the form of low trees and dense bushes. From here it was only a short distance to the old dwarven road that once connected Karak Ungor and Karak Kadrin across the surface, and along which the occasional merchant still traveled from time to time, wishing to take a shortcut or avoid border control. It really wasn't such a bad place to set up an ambush.
"What do you say, Karl?" – you turn to your bodyguard, who is closely inspecting the thicket from his horse.
"I don't like this place. I would have suggested just setting up a pike formation and then setting the place on fire. Let the trolls feel fear of the flames and run outside in panic, but lances and stakes will be waiting for them. That would be fun to watch. But there is so much water here that there simply won't be a fire."
Well, it really was a good option, if it was possible. But the expedition hoped not to touch these trolls at all without a good reason. Avoiding losses is absolutely better than destroying a group of trolls just so, in a few years, somebody else would take their place.
"Will there be any practical recommendations?"
"Hmm... I would prefer to circle around the basin, we need to find the driest path, and..."
Unfortunately, he was never able to finish, because a flash of flame actually appeared in the thicket before your eyes, and then the howl of several trolls was heard at once.
"Forget it. Let's go inside. Fast and quiet."
[Battle for side one, Martial. Rolls: 23 + 11 = 34, 16 + 15 = 31]
[Battle for side two, Martial. Rolls: 19 + 7 = 26, 33 + 8 = 41]
You yourself, Karl and four of your companions descend into the thickets to carefully but quickly move towards the source of the noise. Meanwhile, you hear several more shots or explosions - you suspect that it is both an explosion and a gunshot. You've heard too many pyrotechnics in your life not to recognize the sound.
[Critical failure? Rolls: 8, 50, 99. One failure]
[How is it bad? Roll: 73. Not significantly worse]
You are already close to the source of the sound when there is a particularly loud explosion, and for a few moments a fireball rises above the leaves.
Now you give up any pretense of secrecy and silence, instead rushing towards the noise and running out into the clearing, where you find an almost surreal picture. Two trolls stand on one side of the clearing, while on the other there is one dwarf in ranger garb who is trying to do something with his crossbow, as well as a slayer with a burning mohawk and fragments of some kind of device.
[Troll morale. Rolls: 48, 98. One retreats]
Neither party pays attention to you, but then the dwarf with the mohawk lunges forward at the troll, as if intending to set him on fire with his hair. However, the ranger grabs him by the shoulder, trips him and sends him into a nearby puddle, saying something in Khazalid. One troll seems to panic and begins to run back into the vegetation, while the other charges at the dwarves.
Well, now you have no doubt about which side you should join.
[Battle for Leonhard, Martial. Rolls: 93 + 10 = 103]
[Battle for Karl, Martial. Rolls: 44 + 17 = 61]
[Battle for ranger, Martial. Rolls: 31 + 15 = 46]
[Battle for outriders, Martial. Rolls: 2 + 10 = 12]
[Battle for troll, Martial. Rolls: 16 + 8 = 24]
The rest emerge from the vegetation in the same way and rush forward screaming. The outriders accompanying you rush forward and fire a volley of pistols that hit the troll's skin. Unfortunately, this doesn't have much effect on him due to his rage. Looks like this thing is too stupid to just die from gunfire. Instead, he changes the direction of his rage and charges at the soldiers.
The huge monster grabs one of the soldiers who tried to run out of his way, grabbing his arm, and then using its enormous strength, simply lifts him off the ground, using him as a club to knock down the second and throw him aside. The soldier, caught by the arm, screams at the top of his lungs, and you understand why - it seems that there are absolutely no bones in his arm, considering the angle at which it bends. The troll does not like these sounds, and he hits the tree trunk with a swing, after which the outrider falls silent, even despite the obvious open fracture of the femur and the protruding pale bone.
Just like that...
The ranger's shot was more successful, as he hit the troll in the eye with a crossbow arrow, causing the troll to try to rush towards the ranger, waving his now dead body in front of him. This doesn't really hinder the troll much, other than worsening his vision, really.
Karl rushes towards the troll from the front while you are from behind. Karl still has the same horseman's pick in his hand, with which he is trying to hit the troll's knee. Even successfully, but he is immediately forced to retreat when the troll begins to vomit and begins to splash everything in front of him with caustic stomach acid and entrails.
However, you were behind him at the time, and therefore you could well have spent time using the Replication of Levorg spell. You decided not to waste time on trifles at all, and instead of some kind of rapier or other elegant weapon, you created a massive two-handed axe. And almost immediately they brought it down on the troll's lower back, plunging the blade into the troll's spine.
Their regeneration might be absolutely insane, but even trolls are not able to instantly cope with a spine cut in half. The troll simply collapsed into a puddle of his own entrails, with his stomach turned inside out still sticking out of his mouth. The troll tried to frantically move his hands, but at this time you create another such axe and bring it down on his head with all your might. Very few living things can continue to live with their skulls split into pieces. Even trolls are not one of them.
"Brutal..." – that seemed to be the only thing Karl said.
But the dwarves in this situation turned out to be much more dissatisfied, but not at all with you. Slayer jumped out of the puddle, and rushed at the ranger, using some combination of khazalid words to loudly explain his position to him. It seemed like the only words you understood in this conversation were obscenities, but they made up a third of the vocabulary in this conversation.
"Hey!" - you shout, looking around at everyone gathered, - "You don't want to thank us for saving your lives?!"
The dwarves instantly stop their bickering, look at you, and then exchange a few phrases among themselves.
"I'm sorry. My friend is unhappy that I did not allow him to commit suicide instead of fulfilling his duty to the other dwarves and conveying valuable information to them."
"I tried to fulfill my oath to Grimnrir!" - the dwarf with the mohawk looked openly angry, - "You knew that the trunk could not withstand such loads. I told you this yesterday, and it was obvious."
"Who are you?" – you wanted to know more about them.
"Um... I'm Borek from Karak Kadrin. And this is my partner, ranger Rurin Silverhand," the slayer said reluctantly, "We arrived from the south to test weapons in the field."
You look at them in surprise, but they gradually begin to explain to you.
"The Engineers Guild has strict requirements for military device safety. And testing in conditions other than combat is considered impossible. Therefore, the tests must be carried out by the engineer himself," Borek continues to explain to you, "We at Hold have a lot of young fools who want to experiment. So I take their failed projects to show them in combat situations where they make mistakes. I may be a slayer, but my shame has nothing to do with my skills as an engineer. So I have every right to conduct tests for other engineers."
You look at the dwarves and then look at the second one, as if asking for confirmation.
"He's telling the truth. My friend is a conservative engineer, and is considered by his younger colleagues to be fools whose inventions will inevitably break. And since he has already sworn an oath to Grimnir, he has nothing against dying using their inventions against the enemies of the dwarves."
"And you stopped me from doing it!" – the second one immediately rushes in.
You look at the two dwarves, who have gotten into another argument, and then turn towards the others, who have begun to remove the mutilated body of the outrider from under the troll's carcass.
After half an hour of hard work and persistence, you have some understanding of the dynamics of these two dwarves. Borek really was who he said he was. He tried to find flaws in other people's inventions, which, if possible, would kill both himself and his enemies. But Rurin was much more interesting. You weren't sure, but you got the impression that Rurin was trying hard to make sure his partner couldn't fulfill his oath. When you asked him directly about it – after taking him aside, of course – he only told you one thing.
"Rangers protect our hold, even if the methods we choose do not bring us honor and respect."
The fight with the troll also taught you something, as did dealing with the dwarves.
[What you learn from fighting the troll. Roll: 4 out of 6]
[Gain: Fitness 2/3]
[What you learn from talking with dwarfs. Roll: 4 out of 6]
[Gain: Engineering of Karaz Ankor 1/3]
However, you also learned from them that they had practically completed their testing of weapons, and were already planning to begin the journey back to Karak Kadrin in the coming days. On the other hand, you could try to convince them to join your retinue at least temporarily while heading north to Karak Ungor.
One option wins:
[] – Ask them to join.
[] – Do not ask them to join.
Besides, you already knew what report you would return to the marshal with. However, you are already one day's travel away from the World's Edge Mountains, the most dangerous part of your route, where you will have to hunt orcs and goblins. It's probably time to choose a new group to join.
One option wins:
[] - You will move with the command. Karl will be leading the expedition, so you just join him and stay nearby. You will certainly learn a lot about army organization. As a side benefit, you'll be dining with knights and aristocrats, so it's unlikely the meal will be too bad.
[] - You will travel in the vanguard. You will be with the light cavalry that moves ahead of the expedition. They are not expected to be in any serious danger just yet, but perhaps that is why it would be best for you to join them now. In the future, working with them will be much more dangerous.
[] - You will join the mercenaries. During the journey, you saw your companions - these are fans of Ursun, from Kislev, riding on bears. Surely they know a lot about their northern neighbors.
*****
Also, a huge thank you to Prospalz for editing this update. If he leaves his comment under this update, then give him a lot of likes.
And voting is open!