Sentenced to Troll

by S. L. Rowland

  “Limmy is the youngest, but he has more aptitude for tinkering than the others combined. It’s a shame he can’t put his talents to maximum use.”

  Footsteps approach from the mouth of the cave and I turn to see an imp entering, carrying a small sack stuffed with items. He’s slightly bigger than Limery, with a patch of black hair between his ears that resembles a mohawk.

  He drops his sack upon seeing me and fireballs materialize in both palms.

  “What’s going on here?” asks the one with the mohawk. “Mom?”

  “It’s okay, Leo. Put your fire away. He’s friends with Limmy.”

  Leo does as his mother commands, but he looks at me with distrusting eyes as he walks past.

  “Let me guess, you send Limmy out to find magical items and he comes back with a troll. Just like him. Useless.” Leo dumps the contents of his bag out on the ground.

  “Don’t talk about your brother like that, Leo,” his mother scolds.

  “Well, it’s true.”

  I scan the items on the floor. There’s an assortment of things, some magical, some not.

  Item. Buckler Shield. +1 Constitution.

  Item. Pearls of Wisdom. +2 Wisdom.

  There are also several bracelets and a necklace, none of which seem to be magical, as well as a broken sword. I wonder where he found all this stuff. If it was anything like what I experienced, then there are several people feeling pretty angry right now.

  “What do you do with the non-magical stuff?” I ask.

  “We will melt it down and use it for materials.” She turns to Leo. “Good job, son. Now go place these with the others.”

  Leo does as his mother commands.

  “Can I ask you one more thing?” I ask.

  “This is the last question I’m answering, so you better make it good.” Her patience must be wearing thin at my game of twenty questions.

  “How is it we are able to understand each other? Every other race I’ve come into contact with sounds like grunts or nonsense.”

  Limery continues popping bubbles as they float through the air. His mother stirs the soup before answering.

  “For a long time, imps were the preferred means of message delivery. If you needed anything sent anywhere in a timely manner and wanted to make sure it was delivered, the Imp Messaging Service was the best there was. Due to this, imps needed a way to be able to communicate with many different species all at once, without the hassle of learning every language and the risk of having meanings lost in translation.

  “The solution was communication stones.” She touches a tiny pendant that hangs from her neck. “They have the ability to translate any language in real time, and accurately, but they are very expensive. They can’t be stolen, only given away willfully. Any imp who enlisted in the IMS was given one for free in exchange for ten years of service. Then it turned out that it was all a ploy by the wizard who created them to form a contractually-obligated demon army. There was a huge war, and the continents severed ties with one another.”

  “How does one get one of these communication stones nowadays?”

  “I thought I said no more questions.” She smirks and goes back to her soup. “You said you have a plan to restore magic to our lands, right? Well, do that, and I may just have one for you.”

  “Mom, are you serious?” interjects Leo. “That stone belonged to dad. You can’t give it away.”

  “Your father is not here, Leo. The stone is mine to do with as I wish.”

  “But you could sell it, you could trade it, you could—”

  “Enough!” Her shrill voice cuts through the cave and heat rises off her small body.

  Even though she is small, I have a feeling she has a lot of power inside her.

  “That is my offer for you, Mister Troll. Take it or leave it.”

  Quest Alert. You have been offered the quest ‘Restore the Magical Well—Part 2.’ Something has blocked the magical stream that feeds into the imp cave. Find a way to clear the obstruction and return magic to the imp cave.

  Reward: Communication Stone.

  15. Dungeons and Dragons

  With a clay pot filled with mole soup in hand, I leave Limery and his family in the imp cave. The promise of a communication stone has me excited and ready to be on my way. It was nice to be able to just speak and be heard, even if Limery did talk like he has spent hundreds of years eating fish inside of a mountain cave system.

  I plug the stopper tight into the clay pot, ensuring my mole soup doesn’t spill. Despite its name, the soup offers some pretty good buffs.

  Item. Mole Soup. +3 Constitution, +3 Charisma for one hour.

  I’m not sure where the Charisma comes from. I wouldn’t be too keen on believing anyone who was offering me mole soup. I’m pretty sure there was fur still attached to a few pieces of meat floating inside.

  Most of the day is spent walking. I’m far enough out from the two towns that I don’t risk randomly running into someone unless they are out on a quest. Studying the map Chief Rizza gave me while I walk, I find the ley lines interesting, the way they seem to clump in certain areas and are very sparse in others. They almost seem to miss the human settlements entirely. I wonder if the humans even know they’re there?

  There is actually a very dense clump of magical veins not too far from where I am. I can spare a few minutes to go check it out and actually see what I am up against.

  When I come to the spot on the map where the ley lines converge, nothing looks out of the ordinary. There is a large copse of trees and bushes, but nothing special or magical. Maybe once I unclog the line, things will change.

  I step into the copse and look around. In the middle, there’s a large rock formation surrounded by giant herbs and mushrooms. One of the rocks has some sort of smudge on it, so I go to take a closer look. Once I get closer, I realize there are engravings under a thick layer of dust and dirt. It’s in some language I can’t read, but it’s writing nonetheless. I wipe away the smudge of dirt to try and better decipher the engraving. When I do, a notification flashes across my vision.

  Faerie Dungeon. Would you like to enter?

  “Hell yes,” I say without thinking. There is no way in hell I’m leaving a dungeon unexplored. There could be all kinds of loot inside. I know the magic lines need to be restored, but I just found my first dungeon! I can’t pass this opportunity up.

  The rocks shake, but nothing else happens. No door or cave or anything opens. Then another prompt appears.

  Faerie Dungeon is currently unavailable.

  Dammit! I bet it has something to do with the magic lines that are affecting the rest of these parts. I mark this spot on my map. When I complete my quest, this will be the first place I stop.

  As evening approaches, the long windswept fields finally come to an end and I’m face to face with the forest that forms around the base of the mountain. It’s very different from the forest I came from. This one is more evergreen. Pine, spruce, and cedar trees spread out for as far as I can see, running up the mountains like thousands of troll hands crossed in prayer.

  When I step into the forest, everything is muffled. The millions of pine needles offer a soundproof insulation. There is still the occasional birdcall or scuttle on the forest floor, but it’s so much quieter than the troll’s forest.

  It’s beginning to get dark again, and I know I need to rest soon. Judging by the map, there are maybe twenty miles or so between where I am and the beginning of the magical vein. Tomorrow, I should be able to make it by late afternoon at the latest.

  I tuck my belongings underneath me and prepare to Camouflage when I hear a leathery flap of wings at the edge of the tree line.

  You’ve got to be kidding me. A red blur moves through the tree branches.

  “Limery, what the hell are you doing here?” The red imp with bulging yellow eyes plops on a tree branch in front of me.

  “Mom saids Limmy can come. Limmy likes Chods, wants to helps him.” He gives me his best smile, but his razor-
sharp teeth are not the most welcoming.

  Imp moms must be really lax caretakers. Not that my mom was any different. I got to do pretty much whatever I wanted as long as I stayed out of her hair and didn’t get into too much trouble. I’m not going to turn him away, though. I have a feeling I’ll need all the help I can get.

  “How long have you been following me?” I ask.

  “Just a bits.” He leans back and lets the momentum take him as his knees curl around the branch until he is hanging upside down like a bat.

  “Okay, you can come, but I’m about to camp for the night. Do you want to keep watch?”

  “Oh yes! Limmy will watch all the things. Night night!”

  I lean back against a tree, the aroma of pine a welcoming smell that almost seems to cleanse my lungs. As darkness creeps in, Limery’s bat-like ears are the last thing I see before drifting off to sleep.

  I’m awoken in the middle of the night by something nuzzling against my chest. I look down to find Limery cuddled against my arm, his wings wrapped around him like a blanket. I almost wake him, but then he starts snoring, cute little bubbly snores, and I can’t help but let him stay.

  When I finally wake a few hours later, Limery is no longer in my lap, but once again standing watch on the tree branch in front of me.

  “How’d you sleep?” I ask.

  He gives me a toothy grin. “Limmy slept good.”

  I share my mole soup with him and we start our day. When the buff hits me, I get the usual increase of heartiness that comes with Constitution, but there is something else. I feel more confident, like I could walk up to anyone and start a conversation. Is this what Charisma feels like? It feels so good that I almost unload all of my remaining attribute points into Charisma just to chase that high. I stop myself before I complete the action, but damn, that feeling is something else.

  I try to shake my head and focus on the task at hand. The obstruction. With my Charisma bonus, I know I won’t have a problem fixing things. Hell, it’ll be a piece of cake. When I get back to the troll village, I’ll take my crown and before long, the whole island will be mine.

  Over the next hour, I continue to contemplate how good of a ruler I will become. Limery jumps from branch to branch, flying in between. When the buffs finally wear off, it’s like a moment of clarity.

  Holy hell, Charisma is powerful stuff! Is that what it feels like to be a celebrity or a politician? I felt damn near invincible for a moment there. I make a note to be very careful with Charisma buffs in the future. There’s no telling what they could make me do.

  My foot suddenly sinks into the earth and I’m buried up to my knee. Grabbing hold of a nearby tree, I pull myself out. There’s a faint glow beneath the surface where I fell through. Looking at my map, we’re right on top of the ley line.

  I bend down and look into the hole. It’s a tunnel about three feet deep and two feet wide. A blue, jelly-like substance clings to the walls in places. Then I notice that there are dozens of holes spread throughout the nearby forest. My first thought is that maybe this is what caused the obstruction. My next thought is what kind of creature could do such a thing?

  “What could make these holes?” I ask.

  Limery jumps down from his tree branch and takes a look at the hole. He reaches in, touching the blue goo, then screams in pain and shakes it off his finger.

  “Limmy doesn’t know.” He sucks on his thumb, eyes watering in pain.

  That’s weird, it didn’t burn me when my foot fell through. I take my finger and rub it against the same spot where Limery just touched. The gel is warm to the touch, but it doesn’t burn. I remember Chief Rizza mentioning that trolls were one of the few races that can handle raw magic. Is this raw magic or something else entirely?

  “Are you okay to keep going?” I ask Limery.

  He nods, and we continue onward.

  The farther we go, the bigger and more spread out the holes seem to be, like whatever made them has been growing. The same blue gel covers the inside of every new hole we see.

  Limery has taken a seat on my shoulder, his tiny claws digging into me with each step. Whatever caused these holes has soured his normally playful disposition. I hold Peacemaker at the ready for whatever may come, carefully watching each step I take.

  We come to a spot where the holes are so wide that full-grown trees have fallen through them, their tops sticking above the earth like bushes. Twenty-foot wide tunnels weave through the forest, the blue gel now appearing in globs as big as Limery.

  Then I see it: the source of all the trolls’ problems. The reason for the magical drought. There is a huge cavern where the earth has collapsed in on itself. Dozens of large glowing blue eggs, each one nearly as big as me, radiate magical energy. So much energy that the air is distorted around them.

  The earth quakes and debris falls into many of the holes around us. Something slithers underground. It moves so fast through one of the tunnel openings that all I see is a trail of blue.

  Limery clings even tighter to me when, suddenly, the ground erupts and a massive blue creature towers over us.

  Wyrm (Mana-infused). Unique Monster. Level 20. These legless, wingless dragons burrow deep underground, producing a natural toxic slime that allows them to glide through rough tunnels unimpeded. With magic-resistant scales, strong jaws, and powerful elemental magic, wyrms are some of the most powerful creatures in all of Mythos.

  The wyrm glows, and a neon blue, toxic gel runs down its body, dripping onto the ground. It hunches over us like a gargantuan cobra, ready to strike.

  Limery takes off from my shoulder, flying into the canopy above and leaving me face to face with my doom.

  The good news is that I found what is obstructing the ley line. The bad news is that it is about to kick my ass.

  16. Big Bad Boss

  Blue slime oozes from the wyrm’s scaly body. Its massive dragon head strikes at me, and I jump to the side, barely dodging the attack as it burrows underground. Its hooked snout rips through the earth like a spade as it disappears beneath the surface.

  “Limery, destroy the eggs. I’ll handle the monster.”

  “Whatever yous says.” The imp darts off through the canopy, a fireball blazing in each hand.

  My head turns like a sprinkler, searching for sight of the dragon snake, but it’s nowhere to be found. The ground rumbles beneath me and I’m knocked skyward as the wyrm breaks through the surface. I somersault through the air and land on my feet, covered in dirt and dust.

  Thank god for my troll reflexes. Reaching into my bag, I down my last potions. My stamina and HP both receive a boost, and I do my best to set my resolve for what is about to happen. This wyrm is so far out of my league that my only chance of winning is to outsmart it. But how can I outsmart something I can’t even see when it goes underground?

  The wyrm rears back and lets out a fiery attack of blue flames that singe the trees and set the forest ablaze. A stream of fire hits me in the shoulder and it sears with pain. The wyrm dives for me again and this time, I swing Peacemaker with all of my might into the side of its dragon head. It leaves a gash but barely does any damage. The beast knocks me aside and burrows underground once more.

  In the distance, Limery tosses fireball after fireball at the mountain of eggs. I can’t tell if it is doing any damage, but he zooms through the air, his bulging eyes focused on his mission.

  I’m knocked into the air again before I have time to react, but this time, I’m not so quick on my feet and tumble into a nearby pine, snapping it in half. My back throbs from the blow, but I get to my feet.

  The wyrm towers over me, blue smoke rising from its nostrils as its head weaves back and forth. I roar, using Intimidation, but nothing happens. Whether it is because of its magic-resistant scales or because it’s too far out of my level, the confusion doesn’t work. Instead, I’m scorched by another flame barrage. This time, it doesn’t just graze me, but full-on roasts me. Every pain receptor in my body is on fire, even with my phoenix
feather negating ten percent of the damage. My health drops by half from the attack, and my skin turns a darker shade of green.

  A massive tail smashes into my side faster than I can react, dropping my health by another quarter. With the way things are going, one more direct hit and I’m dead. I don’t know if I can beat this monster, but I have an idea that might just keep me alive long enough to try. If I screw this up, I will most certainly be dead. I’ll lose my items and will respawn somewhere in the middle of the troll forest.

  The wyrm dives at me, and I jump to the side. Its scaly body brushes past me as it burrows underground.

  I have about ten seconds to put my plan into action.

  “Limery! Over here, now!” I yell at the top of my lungs. The small imp flies in my direction, still holding a fireball.

  “What does you needs?” he asks.

  “Hit me with a fireball. I don’t have time for questions. Just do it now.” I pull the phoenix feather from my hair and place it on the ground. I don’t need to block any of the damage.

  Concern radiates from his enormous eyes, but he does as I tell him. The fireball collides with my chest, dropping my health down to fifteen percent.

  “One more,” I say with gritted teeth.

  The second fireball hits me, and I drop to five percent health.

  Just as I expect, my health regeneration kicks into overdrive. When I am under ten percent health, my regen is doubled. Now, it’s time to abuse the system.

  I order Limery back to the eggs and activate Berserker Rage, turning my vision red at the edges. Quickly, I re-attach my phoenix feather while my health bar climbs rapidly. Normally, Berserker Rage increases my health regen by five times, but since my regen is already doubled due to being so low, it’s regenerating at ten times the normal rate.