Segev spins in the air at this obviously mystical activity, and regards the woman through narrowed eyes. "What are you doing now, Ruathor? I doubt the dragon will be impressed by your trick, nor would it care that you appear female."

Korg blinks in surprise and raises an eyebrow, chuckling after Segev's question. "It is a good trick though, I'm quite impressed. If more of you would do such things, it would make these forays rather more... scenic."

The elf eyes the fox, then looks up to Segev. She laughs, showing white teeth, and smiles and says with an Umojan-accented voice, "Please. I'm a much better shot than Ruthie. And I'm going to help you more than him, too."

She cocks her head, brushing some coppery strands from her forehead. "That is, if that's what the lot of you want. But he's not coming back."

At the flash of magical activity Drakar spins on the ceiling and draws the arrow nocked on his bow back to his ear as he takes a bead on the activity. He grins behind his mask at Segev's apparent confusion (well apparent to him perhaps), but does not lessen the pull on his bow.

He mutters softly, just loud enough for his voice to carry to the newcomer, "Who are you then, and why are you here to help us?"

Segev hangs in the air, regarding her silently for a pair of moments. "Who are you, then? And how came you to replace...Ruthie?"

Kyran motions for a full-stop the instant he senses trolls, talking in a *very* hushed tone. "Trolls, they are ahead of us. And... What happened to the Elf, if I may ask?"

Narush bristles and starts to growl as he picks up the scent of the trolls ahead, and the dire wolf moves up next to Kyran in the front.

The elf taps her quiver. "Lesedi." She watches Dakar switch his weapons. "Lesedi Rostok. I'm here to help you in the same way Ruthie was. Only, like I said, I'll be more of a help than he ever would have. That's why I'm here."

Lesedi stretches, seeming completely at ease. "As for Ruthie, he's continuing my job. Probably. I'm not his keeper." She frowns a bit, then goes back to her smile. "So! What's this about a dragon and trolls, anyway?"

Drakar glances back at Kyran, then eases his bowstring, un-nocking the arrow and stowing both bow and arrow before climbing down the wall of the tunnel to the others. He loosens his greatsword and prepares to draw it the instant he has the room to do so, but continues looking at the newcomer for her explanation.

Korg grunts and loosens his new sword in its back scabbard. "Good, trolls... I was getting bored."

Kyran himself equips his shield and draws the non-elemental bastard sword he picked up earlier. He doesn't bother looking back, but is still fairly worried from his tone of voice. "It is not the time to be speaking in riddles, that it is not. What happened back there?"

Korg turns to look forwards along the path along with Kyran. "Ruathor turned into a girl," he says casually. "Kind of a cute one. I figure that can't be bad."

Segev rotates, facing forwards once more. "You can hardly be less useful than was 'Ruthie'. I believe you can prove just how much more you are quite shortly, assuming these trolls young Kyran has sensed are typical of their kind. We will require more complete explanations when this little excursion is complete, of course, Lesedi."

With a gesture to his minion, it readies itself for battle.

Kyran pauses. "We shall speak of this after we are in a haven, that we shall. Until then, we should be prepared." Kyran sniffs the air cautiously and holds up two fingers, signalling two trolls somewhere in the proximity ahead.

Drakar draws his greatsword from its sheath as quietly as possible and moves to the fore, climbing back up and flattening himself along the corner of wall and ceiling for a better vantage point, and to allow others to move and shoot past him.

Lesedi snickers at Segev's words. "Sure thing, whoever you are." She reaches down to her quiver and in, extracting a beautifully made composite longbow - one with much more pull than necessary. One check to make sure it's properly strung, and she continues her way, trailing behind the group.

Alfred has been silent this entire time, and in fact has not even turned back to look at the newcomer. He might not have noticed her at all, so intently is he staring into the darkness ahead.

Katrina readies her sword, as Ananzi hides behind the group, scenting the air for trouble.

Nodding to himself and emitting a pair of low growls to Narush, Kyran carefully and slowly continues moving, intending to make sure these trolls don't catch him unaware.

Drakar follows along, just behind Kyran, his enspelled boots enabling him to walk along the ceiling as he draws one of the vials of Bull's Strength from his bandolier and prepares to quaff it at the first sign of trouble.

As he floats along in the middle of the party, Segev reaches into one of his belt pouches and pulls out some hairs, getting ready to cast a spell when it becomes necessary. He gets very quiet, but that's not unusual for him.

Up ahead, at the edge of the torchlight, Alfred, Narush, Katrina, and Kyran detect something large and vaguely humanoidish moving in the shadows. Drakar, Lesedi, Paia, and Segev's silent minion can see the movement, but are unable to clearly make out any shapes.

Drakar shifts his sight into Darkvision, peering past the torchlight to make out the shape. His brows crease for a moment in thought, then he reaches down to tap Kyran's shoulder, and whispers softly the sound barely loud enough to carry to Segev.

"Stop. I think it's a trap. That's our troll ahead and he's armed with a bow and sword, but he's backing away from us - slowly - with neither of them drawn. Trolls are fearless, but not necessarily stupid."

Turning to the necromancer Drakar asks, "Segev, can you send your minion ahead to see if the area is trapped?"

Drifting down to tap the all-concealing Crusader's helm, and rub the hairs in his hand against it, Segev mutters a short phrase. "Go, Servant. Show me how cunning these trolls believe themselves to be."

Kyran stops and eyes the Troll warily, his eyes having adjusted to the dim light given off by his everburning torch, sniffing. "He's a troll, that he is. An ambush is... likely, given our circumstanses too. Letting him know we're on to him could be a poor move, don't you think so?"

Drakar turns to look back, past the group, to see if anything might be sneaking up on them while the troll in front has their attention. He signals for those in back to look in that direction as well. Traps can come from any direction, after all.

Segev's minion starts advancing on the troll, as two more come into view at the edge of the party's visible range.

Narush lets loose a low-pitched growl, one Ananzi quickly echos. Paia ruffles her feathers, and sends everyone except Korg and Lesedi a general sense of "I have a bad feeling about this."

Drakar and Lesedi seem to spot something serpentine about 100 feet away, past the trolls.

There is nothing behind the group except the staircase going up.

Drakar downs the potion, and draws his greatsword, moving along the walls behind the other fighters as he casts Shield of Faith upon himself.

Kyran growls as the other two trolls come into view, and hears Drakar's casting of the spell. He takes his cue to quickly down a similar potion and brings his shield up, taking a cautious sniff of the air ahead of him.

Katrina pulls out a scroll and casts a spell on herself from it.

The trolls yell out something in Giant, and all three draw their swords.  Two of them are wielding large swords, larger than the greatswords the party is carrying. The third is wielding two greatswords, one in each hand.

The minion heads down the corridor.  Drawing its longsword as it approaches the trolls, it raises it's shield to deflect incoming attacks as it approaches the troll ranger.  Its sword glances off the troll's thick hide.

Lesedi's bow sings thrice.  All three arrows slip through the rings in the chainmail of the troll that's lingering in the back, but only one fails to penetrate the troll's thick hide.  He grunts, but doesn't turn.

Korg smiles as he heads to the fore, and engages the front troll fighter.  He muters the word "freeze," and his greatsword develops an icy blue glow.  Swords clash, and he manages to land a solid blow on the troll.

Katrina approaches the trolls with grim determination.  Her greatsword slams into the troll ranger's side, leaving a nasty gash and some chain links in the wound.

The troll Lesedi hit earlier moves forward to stand next to his kin, and swings at Katrina.  Though powerful, the blows glance harmlessly off her new armor.

Drakar has remained silent and hidden on the ceiling.  As his teammates engage the trolls in combat, Drakar attempts to sneak past them from above.  However, as he passes over them, two of the trolls spot him and take advantage of his proximity to attack him.  Dropping to the ground, he feels his blood boil with the barbarian rage locked away inside him and lets loose a bloodcurdling scream.

The troll Katrina wounded grunts and swings his fullblade at her.  It manages to land a powerful blow on her, leaving her bleeding on the side.  It snarls at her menacingly.

Paia, seeing her master's pupil in danger, flies over and starts clawing at the troll, trying to gouge out his eyes with her beak.  Her attempt is ineffective, but definitely distracting.

Kyran moves to where he's between Katrina and Korg.  Muttering the word "burn", the longsword he has in its hand flares to life.  The troll fighter hesitates for a moment as the flaming sword slashes forward, but the swing goes wild.

The troll ranger slashes twice at the minion with both swords.  Two of the four blows are harmlessly deflected off the shield, the other two glance off the armor doing no damage.

Alfred, from his vantage point farther back from the fighting and away from everyone's sight, chants and waves his hands in random patterns, creating a thick block of darkness across the heads of the trolls.

Narush, spurred on by Drakar's savage call, lets out a howl that would certainly let anyone one else in the tunnels -- as well as some people on the surface -- know that a fight is ensuing.  He charges the troll ranger, and grabs it's chain shirt, but fails to bite into the arm.

The minion, still silent, swings its longsword, leaving a nice gash in the ranger.

Lesedi's bow sings thrice more, and the troll fighter on the right (the same one she hit earlier) staggers backwards from the force of the arrows; the third arrow seems to have struck a vital organ.

Korg slashes with his greatsword again, landing two solid blows. The first chops off the troll's sword arm; the second chops off the troll's leg. The blood loss and loss of a leg cause the troll to drop to the ground, disarmed and unconscious. He immediately shifts to try and surround the other troll fighter.

Katrina's next blow at her opponent glances off the chainmail.

Segev shuffles over to the fallen troll, and, using Korg, Kyran, and Katrina as cover, proceeds to stand over it while casting a spell.  An acid arrow flies from Segev's hands and slams into the downed troll's neck.  The acid eats through the neck, and the head rolls away from the body.

Drakar, fully enraged, slams his greatsword into the back of the troll fighter, slicing through some vital organs as he does so.  He is forced to let go of the sword as the troll spins around to face him; the troll's counterstrike goes wild.

Paia, encased in darkness, flies away from the troll she was attacking.  With a thud, she flies into the ceiling, and comes crashing down on top of Segev's dead troll.

Kyran brings his flaming sword to bear against the troll once more.  The blow slams into the troll's leg, leaving a searing cauterized gash.

The troll ranger, under attack from an armored foe and an angry dire wolf, ducks under the darkness and tries to split its attacks between its two adversaries.  Once again, the two blows against the silent armored being are deflected by the shield.  One of the two blows against Narush slips through his armor, leaving a nasty cut along the wolf's side.

Growling, Narush launches a counter-attack of his own.  He lunges for the troll ranger, and bites hard into the troll's leg.  Troll blood spews all over the two.

Segev's minion, oblivious to the blood stains on its armor, slashes once more at the troll ranger.  Somehow, it senses Segev's intentions, and aims for the legs.  It leaves a nice gash.

Lesedi shifts targets.  Her bow sings thrice more; two of the arrows penetrate both the troll ranger's chain shirt and naturally thick hide.

Korg grunts back at the remaining troll fighter.  "I thought your kind were tough," he comments as he swings.  This time, however, his blade fails to pierce the troll's thick hide.

Katrina snickers at this comment, but her own blow also fails to penetrate the troll's hide.

Drakar, still enraged, draws his spear and slams it into the troll.  The strength of the blow forces the troll back a step, and it falls onto the ground.

Kyran, knowing that trolls are able to come back from the injuries the party has hit it with, drives his flaming sword into the skull of the downed troll in front of him.  Brains ooze and catch fire.

The remaining troll surveys his options, and turns to flee.  He stops, however, and slowly turns to stone.

A female voice floats down from the passageway behind the now-stone troll.  "Thank you for ridding my home of these creatures.  You may loot them and pass.  But I warn you not to look at eye level until you're on the next level down, for your own safety."

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Everyone gets 100 XP for posting
In addition, everyone gets 1,028 XP for the fight.

The trolls have between them: two suits of chain mail and one chain shirt, suitable for Large humanoids/giants; two fullblades, two greatswords, and two giant-sized shortbows; a quick scan will register that they are not magical, although the one fullblade is masterwork.

coins and bars worth 900 gp
emerald worth 900 gp
aquamarine worth 500 gp
amethyst worth 110 gp
boots of stealth (+10 to move silently) worth 2000 gp