The Crystal

Trouble starts

In the morning, no one but Ymir was talkative, and he irritated the others with his ability to be cheerful before midday. Barely a word was spoken as they ate a hurried breakfast of leftovers, anxious to be on their way.

After they had packed everything, they covered the marks of the fire and latrine, and then set out. The days fell into a pattern, waking early and traveling long. They rotated chores in the evenings to give everyone some variety, although Ymir usually took the job of finding and cooking supper. It wasn't until the fifth day that something unusual occurred.

Tanis and Fealthor were walking in front, just after they finished midday. They came around a curve in the road and immediately halted. Hidden by the trees until then, two trolls blocked their path. Recognizable by their grotesque profile and contorted bodies, the young elves watched them warily.

"You stay here and keep them occupied, I'll go see what the others are up to." whispered Fealthor, sliding his veralis cloak over himself and quietly slipping back around the bend.

Left alone, Tanis slowly strung his bow, trying not to make to quick of a motion that the trolls would notice him. Apparently the trolls were very sensitive, as they immediately turned and spotted him. Seeing a scrawny morsel ready to eat, they figured they easily outnumbered him with more than one to one, they slowly advanced.

When Tanis saw he had their attention, he bespelled an arrow and let it fly, aiming for far above their heads as a warning shot.

"Incinerate!" he shouted, pointing at the arrow. It exploded in midair, cause the trolls to jerk and glance upwards at the bright colours. During this moment of distraction, Tanis shot two arrows, one to each head. Expecting them to drop, Tanis watched in amazement as they both slightly shook their heads, as if a fly had bitten them. Horrified at his apparent weakness, Tanis just stood and stared as they turned again and approached him.

He had never before had his bow fail him, his marksmanship nearly perfect. Whatever he shot stayed down, never to rise again, yet these two beasts seemed barely to notice him.
As the trolls reached for Tanis, two flashes of colour, one white, one red, intercepted them. As the magic infiltrated their systems, they dropped with loud thuds. Ymir and Fealthor walked next to Tanis to inspect their work. Turning, Fealthor noticed Tanis's stricken look. He reached out and put a hand on his shoulder comforting him.

"You tried to shoot them didn't you?" Kreija said scornfully. "Trolls are made of stone, arrows and swords can't penetrate their thick skin, so are useless. Magic is only a temporary solution, they should revive soon. The only way to truly get rid of them is to expose them to sunlight."

"Yet why do you suppose these trolls are still animate? It's quite light enough to deal with them." said Ymir. "You know your lore well, naturally trolls turn to the stone they were made from if exposed to sunlight. Right now those two stunned creatures should be large and ugly chunks of stone, ready for the mason's touch."

"That's odd." said Fealthor. "Is it possible to use magic to halt the process? Unless they're not trolls? It's not as if we've seen amny to be certain."

"No I'm quite certain these are autentic trolls. I've met up with quite a few during my travels." said Ymir. "But it's always been at night. If trolls have discovered a way to be active during the day, this could be a serious problem. I'm going to contact the council, you three keep watch. If they give any sign of movement, come to me. Don't even think of trying anything."

Ymir hurried back out fo earshot looking very worried.

The three friends looked at each other. "That's so wierd!" said Kreija. "Why aren't they turned to stone? It doesn't make any sense." She was almost in hysterics.

Suddenly Fealthor perked up. "What if they're not even trolls? They could just be enchanted to look like them. And smell. They're nasty!"

"But what about when I shot them?" said Tanis, a little disheartened. "If they're just fakes, how did they survive that?"

"Maybe you didn't hit them perfectly?" asked Fealthor. As Tanis bristled, he added defensively "Hey, don't get made. It's only a theory. We're trying to work out what happened, not fight."

"They must be real, it's not my shooting which is the problem." Tanis stated severly. "I guess it's possibnle they could be enchanted so the sun doesn't affenct them, but who would do that?"

"It's probably Djöflar. He's just the sort of twisted devl that would help these monsters. He probably hopes they kill all the elves unaware and he can come take the valubles then they're done." said Kreija.

Both Fealthor and Tanis felt this was reasonable, so they let the conversation wane.

After a couple minutes, Ymir came back. "I've talked with the other elders. We're to keep going, but take these two brutes with us. They think Audmila might know some way to get rid of them other than sunlight."

"Thor, I'm going to need your help again. We're going to make a wooden cart to transport them. As we don't have the correct tools, we'll have to use magic."

"I did something like that in transfiguration class!" said Fealthor. "We'll just have to do it a bit bigger."

"Quite a bit bigger indeed." replied Ymir. "These creatures weigh more than all of us, we'll need to build it very sturdy. Fealthor come with me, we'll go look for some strong wood to start with. Tanis and Kreija, you two can work on setting up camp here. It's not the best place, but we need to keep an eye on these two."

Ymir and Fealthor headed back in search of wood, while the other two looked around at their campsite. "Not exactly prime." said Kreija, noticing the slightly soggy ground from the nearby stream. Let's set up the hammocks on the other side, maybe it'll be a little drier."

"Ok." said Tanis. They set up the hammocks, then as Kreija started the fire, Tanis went out in search of food.

Tanis quietly slipped into the surrounding woodland, looking around for any sort of edible creature. Jormungund had grown on him, and he would have liked to catch some, but he still hadn't gotten Ymir to show him how. Planning to ask Ymir about it as soon as feasible, Tanis resigned himself to catching a few hares. Quickly spotting signs of the small creatures, Tanis found their feeding area and picked out two of the fattest males. Two arrows quickly dispatched them and he brought them back to camp for supper.

Taking the hares, Kreija got out her utensils and started to clean the catch. Tanis slipped off and grabbed a sharp stick, filing it down with his knife. "I'm glad we have some good mages out here, you and me aren't worth anything with magic." Kreija joked.

Tanis laughed, reaching out his well-tanned armed to take the meat. "You're right about that. Toss me the meat, I can cook better than you." Taking his stick, he strung all the meat onto it and propped it against the fire to roast. "I wonder when they'll be back?" he pondered. "How do you enchant a cart anyways?"

"I suspect what they'll end up doing," Kreija said. "is find some decent hunks of wood and slice them with a sword spell. Then you just have to weave the edges together to sturdy it and take some flat slices of a large trunk for the wheels. Not exactly elegant, but it should serve our purpose."

They lapsed into silence for a while, Tanis absently turning the roast to cook it evenly. In the darkness, Kreija looked even more ghostly, pale skin and hair almost glowing in the firelight. Once the meat was finished, the two friends dined, setting aside plenty for the other's return. Tired, they fell asleep where they sat, waiting for the return of their warlocks.