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Message: <blockquote data-quote="nedjer" data-source="post: 5310586" data-attributes="member: 83796">One Troll Test - please click through to the blog if you'd prefer a 'with images'.The  trolls live inside a mountain, where they make a profitable living  through quarrying, and by operating a tannery. Their leather products,  (including harnesses, armour, scabbards, boots and sandals), are of  excellent quality and in high demand throughout the region. The entrances to the trolls’ stronghold  are encircled by a corral formed of massive slabs of solid rock, which  form a ragged fortified wall. From a distance it looks as though clouds  of smoke rise from the enclosure. These are actually flocks of crows  hanging over the corral, before falling on freshly staked out carcasses  at every opportunity. Anyone approaching the corral cannot easily escape  the appalling stench that hangs in the air. The wretched smell rises  from animal skins staked out to dry outdoors, mixed with the odours from  the combination of urine and dung used to soften and bate the skins.Traders and craftsmen enter the corral  to sell, craft and purchase items; and there’s a regular procession of  carts and wagons carrying goods in and out. Fresh animal carcasses, tree  bark, bird dung and vats of urine are brought into the compound, while  slabs of cut rock and finished leather are shipped out.Despite their savage nature the trolls  are dour and business-like, providing nothing disrupts trading. They  tolerate sunlight by wearing wafer-thin sheets of obsidian as helmet  visors. Most of the actual trading is carried on in ramshackle cabins or  at outdoor stalls where players can purchase a wide variety of goods:  waxy nose plugs, flesh-stripping maggots, sun-blocking natural glass and  a nutritious meat broth are all in plentiful supply.There are two entrances to the trolls’  caverns. The first of these is for deliveries. Those entering are  expected to extinguish all flames. Bioluminescent fungi and lichens  offer a very faint light throughout the stronghold. Wagons are driven  into the caves and parked over holes in the floor. The contents of most  wagons are then dropped straight into the level below. Adventurers have  the option of delivering themselves direct to the second level or  seeking out the steps at the back of the first level.Beyond the delivery points the top level  contains a large hall, kitchens, living quarters and a snail farm. The  occupants are mainly female and young trolls engaged in preparing large  meals served in the hall. The female and young trolls are not troubled  by visitors unless exposed to a bright light source, which will make  them call for guards. Large groups of trolls gather in the food hall  every six hours. PCs can quietly join such a meal if they wish to and  the trolls will barely notice. The trolls consume a meal of rough bread  and meat broth, washed down with tankards of lukewarm snail slime.Any PC ‘consuming’ organic troll products, i.e. nose plugs, any   foodstuffs or slime notices the following cumulative effects: larger   ears, longer hair, swollen nose, weight gain, thickened fingers,   improved night vision and more. The external entrance to the second  level down is more heavily guarded and adventurers need to use an  effective disguise or distraction to get in without a fight. A massive  cavern serves as a warehouse for countless slabs of cut rock, which are  brought in along a wide tunnel that leads further into the mountain. The  stench intensifies as PCs proceed on into the area of the tannery. A  series of interconnected galleries are used to store and prepare raw  materials dropped from overhead. In one chamber maggots strip the last  flesh from stretched skins, in another a large pool of urine loosens  hairs from the skins readying them for scudding, and in a third weaker  trolls knead the skins with dung to make the leather supple. These  chambers lead to further galleries where, for example, scraps of flesh  are turned into glue, skins are stretched and soaked in tannin-rich bark  residue, and some skins are bated  in a jelly of brain offal. Finishing  workshops follow, with chambers set aside for dyeing, basic metalwork  and specialist ‘tanning’, (using chromium sulphate or by tawing).  Working trolls will not set out to question players, but occasional  guards may try to insist that PCs leave.A dull, persistent hammering can be  heard on the steps to the third level. Security is much tighter with  guards at the entrance to a massive quarry worked by male trolls.  Hauling equipment is used to raise further slabs through a hole in the  floor of the quarry. PCs can try to go down the hole or quietly enter a  series of catacombs occupied by various lizards. Most are on long chains  and the centre of the labyrinth contains an arena where trolls and  lizards compete in pit fights. Beyond the labyrinth, steps lead down to  the quarters of the male trolls. There are few trolls here except  outside a remarkably clean chamber, freshened with herbal infusions. It  also contains a soft bed, a woman’s clothing and a large stone bath.Steps leading down to a second huge  quarry reveal a curious scene. There are dozens of trolls all working on  scaffolding surrounding a 40′ tall statue in the centre of the quarry.  At the base of the statue the trolls’ chieftain and a shaman call  instructions up to the masons. The statue takes the form of a tall,  willowy woman wearing a long dress and a golden crown. The same young  woman stands beyond the shaman, who uses a measuring stick to check the  woman’s proportions before barking further instructions to the trolls on  the scaffolding. The chiselling should be louder, but the trolls have  padded their hammers to reduce the noise. The trolls will engage in hand-to-hand  combat with intruders but the use of any ‘powerful magical effect’  causes a few cracks to appear in the statue. The trolls are terrified at  the prospect of damage to the statue and will barter to avoid more  damage. If asked, the young woman will invite the party to leave without  her. She’d like to let the trolls finish first.</blockquote>

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