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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 7483703" data-attributes="member: 143">As it happens, I happened to recently come into possession of a certain D&D supplement...* * * Chapter 196They had no difficulty following the trail left by the trolls.  The pats of mud were frequent and in places formed a solid slick on the uneven floor of the tunnel.  The sounds of the mining operation receded somewhat behind them, but it was gradually replaced by sounds of activity from up ahead.  They slowed their pace and cautiously followed a bend in the tunnel until it opened into a larger space.They found themselves in still another cavern, this one a long ellipse that ascended toward its far end, a slope that began modestly but which became almost vertical.  Directly in front of them was a sinkhole maybe forty feet across.  The depression was full of a glistening mass of mud.  They could see a slick of it that ran down from the other side of the room, where they could just make out an opening of some sort high along the cavern wall.The scouts quickly moved out of the exposed mouth of the passage into the cover of some rocks that studded the edge of the sinkhole.  The new vantage didn’t offer much of a better view, but it was enough to clearly spot the bustle of activity around the opening.  “There’s a lot of trolls up there,” Xeeta whispered.“What are they doing?” Bredan asked.  “Digging?”“This mud’s too slick to dig through,” Koron said.  “It must be flowing naturally from somewhere above.”“It can’t be a coincidence,” Bredan said.  “Look at that shaft, the shape of this room… the way it’s set up, the mud drains from up there right into this hole.”“Magic,” Xeeta said, drawing their eyes to her.  “There are spells that can transform solid rock into mud.”“That’s what they’re doing,” Bredan said.  “The attack on the Gate, the giants’ digging… it’s a distraction.  Where does this lead?” he asked Darik.“I don’t know,” the dwarf said.  “But I think you’re right.  The route we took to get here, the angle of that shaft… it must lead somewhere inside Underhold.”“We have to get back and warn them,” Bredan said.“We could attack them from behind,” Koron said.“No, Bredan’s right,” Darik said.  “There are too many of them, and we don’t know how many might be in that shaft.”  He stared into the darkness.  “We can only hope that they haven’t broken through yet.  Come on, let’s get out of here before…”He didn’t get a chance to finish, for even as he started to turn back around Xeeta hissed a warning.  It was unnecessary, since all of them could clearly see the cluster of trolls that was just emerging from the passage they had just navigated.  The four of them froze, and for a moment it looked as though the trolls would walk past them.  But then one turned and looked their way.  It looked surprised to see Xeeta and Bredan, the pair still appearing as slightly smaller trolls, but then its eyes settled on Darik, who could not be mistaken for anything other than what he was.“Kreee-ak!” the thing screeched.  Its companions—five of them altogether—immediately spun as one to face the threat.  But worse than that, an echoing cry came a moment later from the much larger gaggle of trolls on the far side of the cavern.“Oh, crap!” Xeeta exclaimed.</blockquote>

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