Fellowship of the Dice

"We can look for this place tomorrow early, before we set back out on the water if you like," says Finn.

Varuthil says, "I would be curious to see any ruins, but let us not dally too long. We do not know how much time we have till the foe we are trying to gather intelligence on resurfaces."

You have a nice fire tonight, it is large and warm, and its just want you needed to push out the chill and damp of this cursed marsh land. You have a nice meal, and manage to get some of your clothing actually dried out and hung up along some low branches. You set a watch out of habit, and turn in for the night.

Finn wakes Hild, who wakes Gerwald who is sitting on watch late into the night. He has a long stick and is poking at the fire watching the embers dance about up into the air. His mind wanders to the Dragon Smaug and Lake-town and how it must have been a terrible sight to see the mighty dragon burning that town of wood down to the water line. It sends a shiver up his spine just thinking of all the death and destruction. Yet the people have endured, they have thrived in fact. A reminder how all things can persist even against such terrible odds.

That's when the crashing of the leaning tree rips through the sleeping camp. The entire tree, some thirty foot long, is hoisted into the air and tossed a half dozen feet across the bog. Standing behind the crashing tree is a massive beast. Humanoid in shape, draped in mud and cloaked in weeds and moss the Stone Troll's tree trunk plows into camp the beast with a primal howl on its lips. The noise is enough to wake the camp, but its too late for Gerwald who is the sole target of the Troll's wrath and ruin.

The airborne tree lands square atop Gerwald crushing him down, kicking smushing the fire down and sending a shower of sparks into the air. The log rolls clear into the water with a splash and Gerwald lays there in the mud battered, bruised and bleeding from his mouth and nose. He's managed by the grace of the Valar to not have been pierced through by the branches of the tree as luck would have it thanks to his mail shirt he was wearing while on guard. He is in almost no shape to stand let alone stand, but the troll now plods forward as you all awake.

"Blast!" shouts Varuthil. She scrambles up, grabbing her bow and, positioning herself behind the others, looses an arrow at the troll.

Finn jumps up, grabbing his shield and sword, and stands guard over Gerwald while he gathers himself. In the meantime the Lakeman looks for an opportunity to hit the Troll with both his sword and shield when it is distracted.

Glirion awakens next and has just enough time to grab his weapon, brandishing his spear in another defensive stance that mirrors that of Finn. "Torog!" he utters in his native tongue.

Gerwald tries to dodge the flying tree, but he just cannot move fast enough. Suddenly he feels as if the the whole world has fallen on top of him. He is too dazed to breath, let alone call out to the others. Pain overcomes him and he is struggling to remain conscious. He tries to move, but nothing seems to work. In the darkness he hears the roar of the troll and his companions running to engage the beast.

Gerwald is knocked back and manages to roll out from under the tree at the last moment. His leg is stuck, but the whole thing looked much worse than it was. He manages to get clear as Hild grabs his hand and yanks him clear "Come on Gerwald!"

Finn and Glirion step between him and the stone troll. Glirion stabs with spear, but the troll is rather nimble for its size and the spear misses by a wide margin. Yet its distracting enough to allow Finn to slice at it with his sword, the weapon cuts a long line through the stone like hide of the troll. Finn leans into it and pushes his shield forward, but its already moving clear to avoid the bash.

Then an arrow whistles through the air and lodges itself in the troll's shoulder, but hardly seems to care about the little arrow stuck in its hide. It leaps forward and its club crashes into Finn. Finn hoists his shield up and drives some of the blow to the side, sending the club down into the mud instead of into his skull. Still the impact from the blow sends shock waves through his arm and his bones rattle from the force of it.

The troll is howling now, mad with rage, and looking for something juicy to eat.

You heroically counter attack...

Seeing that Gerwald is out of danger, Finn begins to encourage his friends and to distract the Troll, singing a Hobbit-song about how dirty the Troll is, and how it needs a bath; if the laughter does not distract them from hitting their foe, he hopes it will lighten their hearts.

Varuthil shakes her head in disbelief at Finn's choice of battle song, then aims at the troll and looses another arrow.