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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3176631" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 41BLIND LUCK AND DARK FATETalen, kneeling with Allera over Shaylara’s broken form, looked up as the troll landed a few paces away.  The fighter reached for his sword, but it was obvious from a single glance that he had no chance against it. Dar yelled and rushed forward.  The troll saw him coming, and smashed him across the chest with a truly titanic blow to the center of the fighter’s breastplate.  The fighter only gritted his teeth and surged forward, smashing his club up with both hands into the troll’s chest.  The blow didn’t do much damage, but Dar thrust behind it with his full weight and momentum, trying to drive the troll back.  It was like trying to push back a stone wall.  The troll was incredibly strong, possessed of a sheer degree of raw physical might that the fighter had never before faced.  Dar knew that in another second, he’d lose the advantage of leverage, and the troll would lay into him with a full attack that he had little chance of surviving. So he dug deep within himself, and made a last desperate thrust.  Maybe it was luck, or fate, or some distant god’s intervention, but the troll’s right foot slid back a foot, just a single foot.  The troll was only trying to gain better traction, but that foot landed on a slanted piece of rock on the water’s edge, a rock that gave way when six hundred pounds of giant settled upon it.  The troll, flailing its arms, went over backwards into the stream.  Dar nearly went in after it, and only barely managed to gain control of his rush, windmilling his arms to maintain his balance at the water’s edge.It was immediately obvious, however, that the respite was only a momentary one.  The troll still seemed somewhat confused, as it blundered first toward the underwater line of rocks, and then back toward the far side of the stream.  But when it turned back to the companions’ side of the cavern, it was obvious by the furious look that burned in its eyes that it had regained full use of its murderous capabilities. Aelos, back on his feet, hurled a command at it to “Flee!”, but whether it failed to understand it, or simply resisted the magic, the troll didn’t stop coming on.  It rushed forward, a wall of water surging ahead of it.Dar was there to meet it, his club coming down in a powerful two-handed arc aimed at the troll’s head.  The troll lifted the arm holding its tower shield and shifted to the side, but the blow still came down solidly on its shoulder.  The troll snarled and lashed out at the fighter, knocking him back a step.  The fighter immediately started to come at the troll again, but he heard a sizzling sound from his chest that caused him to look down.  To his surprise, he saw a large hole in the center of his breastplate... which was growing, as the metal dissolved into reddish dust!“What in the hells?” he asked. The troll had managed to gain a foothold on the near shore, and as it rose to its full height, it looked utterly ferocious, poised to unleash destruction on the defenders.  Once again, the companions rallied to meet it, with Dar joined by the just-healed Talen and Shaylara.  The scout was still pale, her arm newly restored through Allera’s potent arts, but she clutched onto her sword with grim determination.With its back to the water, the troll lashed out with a violent fury.  It pounded Talen hard with its gauntlet, smashing the fighter across the side of his head.  Without his helmet, the blow would have crushed his skull like a melon, but even with the protection his head rang with the terrible force of the blow.  It lunged forward to bite, but was intercepted as Shaylara leapt into its reach, darting under its shield and stabbing her sword into the crook under its arm as she passed.  The troll shrieked and tried to knock her into the stream with a blow from its shield, but she ducked under the wild swing.  The edge of the shield caught her on the back of the shoulder, knocking her down, but she rolled with the impact and out of the reach of the troll before it could follow up with a crippling blow. Talen sliced a deep gash across the troll’s thick gut with his sword.  Dark blood welled out from the wound, soaking into a ragged leather belt that the creature wore.  The troll struck Talen again, knocking him back.  It started after him, but was distracted as Dar laid into it with a full attack from the flank.  The fighter brought his club down hard into the troll’s leg, and it let out another roar of pain.  It turned on him, and with his armor all but ruined, he had almost no defense against its assault.  The troll seized his arm with a claw, dragging the struggling fighter up into the troll’s embrace before digging its foul teeth into his shoulder.  Dar screamed as blood erupted from the vicious wound, but he managed to grab a hold of his punching dagger, sliding it from its leather sheath. Talen felt a soft touch on the back of his neck, followed by a rush of healing energy.  Nodding in thanks to Allera, he leapt back into battle, charging at the troll.  Without releasing its hold on Dar, the troll brought up its huge shield, deflecting the fighter’s attack.  But once again it left itself open to a surging rush from Shaylara, who thrust her small sword deep into the meaty flesh of the troll’s thigh.  That pain returned redoubled as Varo touched the arm holding Dar, sending an inflict moderate wounds into the troll.  The troll loosened its grip slightly, giving Dar a chance to lift his punching dagger, and stab the keen weapon into the troll’s left eye.  The troll let out a terrible scream, and thrashed madly in a violent explosion of limbs that knocked all of the defenders back.  Dar fell hard and nearly went into the stream, only Varo’s quick helping hand dragging him back from the edge.  The troll had lost all control over its movements, but it still clung tenaciously to life, its body continuing to regenerate the terrible damage it had taken.  The companions could see that as well, and Talen and Dar, once they had recovered, came at it again, careful to avoid the mad gyrations of its limbs as they stabbed and smashed it.  Within another several moments it was down, but even with huge gaping rents in its body, it continued to slowly heal. “We must burn it!” Varo said.“The bag of holding!” Talen exclaimed.  “Shay, there’s still a few oil flasks in there...” But the scout never got a chance to follow up on the captain’s suggestion.  Aelos, a short distance away from the melee, saw the other troll, the one they’d put down in the first rush, leap up and rush forward.  The companions turned as one at the cleric’s shouted warning, lifting their weapons.  Dar and Talen swung at as it ran past them, but the troll was moving with incredible speed, and both missed.  Then it was past, with only Shaylara standing between it and the bridge of underwater stepping-stones.  The scout held her ground, lifting her sword to strike.  The troll did not change its course, and as it reached the much smaller human, it merely seized her with its claws and leapt forward, ascending in a fifteen-foot arc that ended with it hitting the water on the far side of the bridge.  The troll and its prisoner hit the water with a massive splash, and then they were gone.  For a heartbeat the companions only stared after them, stunned by the suddenness of what had happened.  Talen ran forward, staring out into the darkness.  “Shay!  SHAY!” The only thing that came back was silence.</blockquote>

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