Sentenced to Troll

by S. L. Rowland

  I’m far enough away from the nymph to dodge the next drowning glob she sends my way, but when she uses tidal wave again, the horrors are tossed aside like spiders in a shower. I lose two more horrors to the flames that follow before I am able to cast another.

  The steam is thicker than ever, and I can only see the horrors closest to me. However, I can still sense the others as they retake their positions. If only there was a way to stop the inflow of water, then the wyrms might actually evaporate it all, leaving the nymph powerless.

  Even if we could stop the inflow, their positioning makes the fountain inaccessible.

  Limery flies too close to the nymph and a beam of water hits him in the chest, knocking him to the floor. I’m quick to his rescue, narrowly dodging a stream of flame, but the little guy is dazed.

  I hide him in a corner and instruct one of my horrors to make sure he isn’t carried away by a wave. It puts me a body down on the battlefield, but I can’t lose Limery. He’s become a friend, and he’s part of the reason I’m even here right now. There’s no way I’m letting anything happen to him.

  If I don’t figure out how to deal some actual damage, then my horrors will die and we’ll have no shot at defeating this dungeon.

  It’s time to go all-in.

  I take off towards the fountain, casting another horror along the way while calling all of the others towards it as well. We’re almost there when a wave comes roaring, knocking us down and scattering my horrors once again. The water stings against my skin, but as quick as I can, I’m on my feet and rushing the fountain once more. I can see another wave forming, so I use Berserker Rage. This time, the wave has no effect on me other than slight damage and I carry on, hopping the ledge of the pool and diving into the abyss. I feel an intense heat near my feet, telling me that the wyrms are trying to roast me in the water, while the toxic water burns my eyes.

  Hacking at anything near me, my axe connects with flesh and then a tail collides with my side, knocking me against the pool wall. My vision goes dark at the edges, but I do my best to gain a sense of direction. The pool is deep, and I wonder how the wyrms are floating on its surface. It must have something to do with the nymph’s water magic. My head breaches the surface and I gasp for air before swimming below again. The water grows hotter as another set of flames boil the area where I just was.

  With all the focus on me, my horrors have managed to climb into the pool and now join me in its steadily heating waters. I send them after the nymph, content to keep her distracted, even if it means sacrificing my horrors. The hot toxic water drains my HP, but the increased healing from Berserker Rage is keeping it steady. For now.

  Another flame attack and the water grows hotter still. I can sense the horrors dropping like flies. I come up for air and the steam is so thick, it’s almost like breathing in water. Flames bear down on me again and it feels like the water is melting off my skin. Berserker Rage wears off and my HP starts dropping rapidly. Bubbles rise all around me. The water is actually boiling from all the heat. Cooking me alive.

  This is it. All or nothing.

  I activate Sweeping Slash right before my last horror expires, doing my best to focus on anything but the burning pain that engulfs my body. The blow connects with the nymph, and the knockback sends her out of the fountain.

  Notifications flash across my vision, but I push them from my mind. Right now, all that matters is her.

  She lays on the ground unmoving as I crawl out of the fountain and fall over the edge with a splat. I’m tired and in pain, every pain receptor on my body screams at me, but my rage meter is full.

  She says something, but I use Intimidation before she can finish, sending her into confusion for two seconds. Using Claw and Bite, I take out her remaining health before collapsing on the ground beside her.

  For the longest time, I just lay there. The fact that I haven’t been roasted alive means the wyrms are dead.

  “We dids it!” I hear Limery’s voice somewhere above me.

  The steam is starting to fade, but it still takes up the majority of the room.

  “We did, didn’t we?” I sit up and take in the chaos around me.

  There’s not a single horror left. My skin is covered in boils, even though my increased regeneration is doing its best to heal me. Rising to my feet, I walk over to the fountain, where the two wyrms float lifelessly on the surface.

  Limery perches on the ledge of the fountain and mumbles something about “filthy wyrms.”

  I never really believed the story people told me about frogs. That if you slowly heat up a pot with a frog inside, it’ll boil to death before it realizes what’s happening. In the chaos of the battle, the nymph had no idea her new pets were actually boiling her alive. Not until it was too late. They even managed to kill themselves while they were at it. If not for Berserker Rage, I’d no doubt be joining them.

  Then I notice the obelisk in the middle of the fountain. There’s a crack running along the edge of it. Not a crack like it was broken, but an opening with something glowing beneath it.

  “Hey, Limery. See if you can open that?” I say, pointing at the obelisk.

  He flies over and presses his tiny fingers in the crack and slowly pulls up. It flips open like a clamshell and a bright yellow glow emanates from within.

  Item. Elemental Stone. Boosts the power of elemental attacks by 20%.

  Item. Water Potion x2. Allows user to breathe underwater for 10 minutes.

  Item. Aquatic Boots. Allows user to walk on water.

  Not a bad haul. Along with what’s in the chest, the two wyrms drop Lesser Mana Stones, which increase mana regeneration by ten percent.

  I don’t really have much use for the elemental stone, since I have no elemental attacks. I bet Jira would make good use of it if I took it back with me, but he wasn’t here to help me win it. Instead, I give it to Limery.

  “For me?” His eyes glisten with tears as I hand him the stone.

  “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  “Oh, Chods.” He wraps me in his tiny arms as his tears run down my shoulder.

  “Give me a second to look over my notifications.”

  Limery releases me and immediately starts testing out his new item. He casts a fireball and it seems to burn brighter than before.

  I pull up my notifications.

  You have defeated Faerie Dungeon. Claim dungeon prize.

  Congratulations! You have reached level 11. +1 stat point to distribute. +1 Strength and Constitution racial bonus. +1 ability point to distribute.

  Congratulations! You have reached level 12. +1 stat point to distribute. +1 Strength and Constitution racial bonus.

  Regional Event Alert! Two mana-infused wyrms have been slain. 18/20 remaining. 19 days remaining.

  “Come on, Limery. Time to get the hell out of here.”

  Once we exit the dungeon, the rock formation falls back into place, making the entrance no longer accessible. I swipe my hands across the runes.

  Faerie Dungeon. Would you like to enter?

  I focus on yes, just to see what happens, but I’m not surprised at the response.

  Faerie Dungeon is not currently available. 7 days until respawn.

  20. Rule the World

  At level twelve, I’m one of the strongest trolls from the village now. If that doesn’t get Gord to respect me, then I don’t know what will. I’m actually looking forward to rubbing my new summoner class in his smug face. Gah, he was such a dick. But that will have to wait, our first stop is the imp cave to collect my communication stone.

  I also need to assign my new ability point. There are still a few abilities I haven’t unlocked in my barbarian class as well as the melee weapon abilities I unlocked after acquiring my axe, but with the way I plan to level from here on out, upgrading my horrors makes the most sense. I want to be unkillable, a true brute capable of taking pain and dishing it out.

  Summon Horror (Passive). Ability to summon a horror. Each horror grants a unique abilit
y. For every horror active, gain 1% increased damage and health points. Horrors decay 10% every minute outside of combat.

  Horror of Power. Summon a horror with 20% of your Strength. Cost: 100 mana. Cooldown: 30 seconds. Bonus: Your next attack deals double damage.

  Horror of Vitality. Summon a horror with 20% of your health points. Cost: 100 mana. Cooldown: 30 seconds. Bonus: Opponents near Horror of Vitality are slowed by 20%.

  It’s a tough call. More power or more life? The slow that Horror of Vitality offers is a game-changer, though. I’ll finally have my own crowd control abilities. And the twenty percent HP that these new horrors will have is essentially double what my current horrors have. I do the math in my head. At level twelve, I have two thousand and four hundred HP. If I gain one percent health for each horror and I’m able to summon forty now that I have two classes, that’s a nine-hundred and sixty HP bonus. Holy shit! At full power, my horrors of Vitality will have almost seven hundred health.

  I add my attribute point to Horror of Vitality and summon my first new horror since leaving the dungeon.

  There’s a puff of smoke and then a rotund, furry monster with orange and blue stripes appears. Its head is orange and the stripes run horizontally across the rest of its body. It has two black ram’s horns that protrude from its head and curl around its fuzzy orange ears. It has the same round and bulbous eyes as the other horrors, but its body-type is completely different. Sharp tusks stick out from its jaws not that much different than my own.

  It reminds me of a stuffed animal, if a stuffed animal could eat your face off.

  A bison roams through the golden field not too far ahead, the perfect victim for a test run. I motion for Limery to stand back and instruct my horror to do the same as I approach as quietly as possible. Crouching through the tall grass, I move like a lion on the prowl until I am only a few feet from the grazing animal.

  I attack it from the rear, drawing a critical strike and when it turns to charge, I summon a Horror of Vitality. It pops into existence and the bison slows noticeably, allowing me to sidestep its charge like a matador. It doesn’t take me long to kill the bison without taking a single point of damage.

  The next day, we arrive at the mouth of the imp cave and something feels different. The rattle of machinery echoes out of the cave’s mouth.

  “Mommy!” Limery yells as we enter the cave. “We dids it! We kills the wyrms and the baby wyrms and then we goes to the dungeon and Chods gives me magics stones!” He’s speaking a mile a minute as he recounts our adventure and finishes by pulling out the elemental stone and showing it to his mother.

  She laughs at her son, embracing him against her furry chest. “It seems I may have underestimated you, Mister Troll. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think you had it in you.” Her eyes run up and down my body, taking in my new look. “Blue looks good on you, by the way.”

  I don’t pay much attention to the comment as my eyes wander around the cave. It’s almost nothing like the primitive cave I left a few days ago. All of the machinery that was piled in the back of the room is whirring with life. There are contraptions weaving blankets, sweeping the floor, turning a rotisserie over an open flame. A giant pot of stew is continuously stirred, and there are several others that I can’t even begin to grasp their purpose. One is shaped like a giant mixer and pops little blue cubes out of the bottom. There’s even a line of glass tubes that cast light from the ceiling. They have magical electricity!

  “Magic does all of this?” I ask.

  “When it’s around. The machines pull it from the very air. It’s hard to make them much bigger than this and have them work effectively, but considering this isn’t a fountain of magical activity, it works pretty well. We also have a battery maker. It takes the magic from the air and stores it in common stones that last up to a day.”

  This has me even more excited to see what is happening at the troll village. The magical veins that run underneath it are massive compared to here.

  “If I remember correctly, I promised you a reward if you brought magic back to our cave. Let me go and grab it right quick.”

  She disappears in the back of the cave, and Limery pulls strips of meat off the rotisserie. His mother pops his hand when she returns and hands me a small circular stone with a hole in its middle.

  “Most people wear them around their necks, since they only work when they are on your person. May it help you in the days ahead.”

  I pull a strip of leather from my bag and run it through the communication stone. There’s nothing special about the stone, nothing to signify that it may be one of the most useful tools in this entire game. Communication will be the key to me leading the trolls out of the forest and into better times.

  “I hope you will stay for dinner before heading out.” She flashes me razor-sharp smile. “We’re having roasted deer. I also have more mole soup you can take with you on your journey. You are more than welcome to rest here for the night if you desire.”

  Thoughts of the last time I had mole soup cross my mind. The last thing I need is another Charisma high.

  “Dinner sounds lovely.”

  I’m anxious to get moving, but after receiving the communication stone, I feel I owe it to Limery’s mother to stay for dinner. Besides, twilight is approaching and I’ll need to rest for the evening anyway.

  We fix our dinner and take it outside to eat, just as the sun begins to set over the horizon, casting the sky with streaks of watercolor.

  There is a delicious smoky and spicy flavor to the deer meat. It reminds me of Indian food. For a second, my mind drifts back to the real world, to the many nights I called in takeout from the Indian restaurant on Sixth Street because neither Mom nor Dad were going to be home in time for dinner. I wonder if they even know I’m here? If they even care? Do they know I feel real pain when I’m hurt here or that there are violent criminals who want nothing more than to kill me on sight just because of my in-game race?

  Suddenly, I’m not so hungry anymore.

  “Where’s Leo at?” I ask, trying to take my mind somewhere else. I hadn’t seen Limery’s brother since we came back.

  “He’s off on his own. Since magic returned, we no longer need the constant influx of magical items, so he’s taking a well-deserved break. He received news of the regional event and is going to form a party to try and defeat one of the wyrms.” She laughs. “If he knew Limmy had managed to help defeat three already, I’d never hear the end of it.”

  In the distance, I watch Limery as he zooms through the air, blasting glowing bugs out of the sky with tiny fireballs.

  “He’s a good kid. Smart, talented, heck of an aim.”

  “You best take care of him,” she says, her face suddenly serious.

  “What do you mean?” I thought Limery would be staying here once we returned.

  “He’s taken a liking to you. I can see it in his eyes, Chod. He’ll follow you to the ends of the world.”

  That’s the first time she has called me by my name since I’ve known her. It must be something intimately cultural about referring to someone by their name for the imps. I still don’t know hers.

  “Then I will do my best to protect him.”

  We sit in silence after that. The sun sets and the only light comes from the stars above and the occasional fireball in the distance. My entire life, I’ve been an outsider. My fans who watched me stream were only there for the entertainment. Maybe part of the reason I’ve been a loner is because I always push people away, afraid of getting hurt. I’ve never really let anyone other than Taryn get to close to me, never really had anyone who wanted to.

  I wonder what Taryn is up to right now. What I would do to be able to tell him about my adventures so far. He’d love this place.

  I don’t know what the future holds, what will happen when my time in Isle of Mythos is over. All I know is that right now, this two foot tall, energetic, insane, loving, demonic spawn wants to be a part of whatever adventure I’m on now, and I’ll be damned if
I let him down.

  I officially have a party. And before this is over, we’re going to rule the world.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “You are a curious troll. What is it this time?”

  “You mentioned that all the continents used to be accessible to one another before the great war with the wizard. What happened?”

  “Come inside and I’ll tell you about it.” She cleans up the leftovers from dinner and I follow her inside. The gentle whir of magically-powered machines hum and purr. There’s a machine against the wall where Limery’s mother places our plates. It lifts the plates, scrubs them, then dips them in water to rinse them off.

  She pulls a bottle of amber liquid off a shelf and grabs two clay cups, motioning for me to take a seat against the cave wall. Due to our size differences, none of their furniture is large enough for me, but she does offer me a leather hide to sit on.

  She pours the bottle, nearly filling the cup, and I pray it doesn’t have a Charisma buff.

  Item. Imp Mead. -3 Intelligence for 1 hour. Useless, but it feels so good.

  We tap our glasses together and the sweet flavor of honey coats my throat. Then an uncontrollable smile comes, and everything seems to be just a little bit funnier than usual.

  “It’s terrible for you, but damn if it doesn’t take the edge off.” She laughs, but then her tone grows more serious. “The world used to be such a wonderful place. People traveled to different continents, all the various races traded together, and the world was a better place for it. There was less hate back then. After the war, the wizard that started it all retreated to his homeland and sealed off the magical transport portals. Now, the only way to travel to other continents is by ship. And there are things that lurk in the oceans that have the power to devour them whole.”

  “Do you think the portals will ever reopen?”

  “I have no doubt it will happen. No spell lasts forever, no matter how powerful. My worry is what the wizard has been up to during all this time. Most of the imps were able to escape through the portals before they closed, but some races were not so lucky.” She gives me a half-smile.