~bellatrix~ (reboot)

Mordred looked down at Trinity and nodded.
"Clever. Yes, I think that would be the wisest course of action."
He planted his sword in the ground and knelt down next to her. As carefully as he could while still moving quickly, he picked up Trinity and placed her on his left shoulder, making sure to keep the flaming end of the torch he was still holding far away from her. He then slowly got back to his feet and took up his sword again.
"There we go. Hmm...it might be difficult for you to do in that form but if you can, do try to warn me if you see anything moving in the darkness."

 

The light in the caverns wasn’t much, but it was enough to see by.

Leon could suddenly see the cage next to him had a small child in it – young, spunky, must not have been above the age of seven, he grinned brightly through the dirt and the muck on his face. “So how are you going to rescue us from in there then?” he asked, cheekily. Behind him, more figures could be seen turning to look his way, adult ones.

There was a noise from the ceiling and a thump, and everyone jumped in fright. There was a frantic scuttling, and suddenly Vixie felt something grab onto her legs. Vizard and Gizzard heroically jumped back yelping in the opposite direction and Hexy prepared a fireball to throw - only for the firelight to illuminate a terrified craggy troll baby. The little creature, only three feet tall, was cowering behind the fox-girl looking absolutely scared out of its wits, its huge eyes glimmering in the firelight, its mouth slightly open in a whimper. It squeaked.
Hexy promptly went “Aww...”

Every male that wasn’t Tyrcestus went “Ahhh!” The waddling little beast gurgled in fright and huddled behind Vixie’s legs, trembling like a leaf.

What followed was the stuff of legends as Hexy single-handedly beat every single pirate, and Vizard and Gizzard, over the head with her broom.
“DON’T! SCARE! THE BABY!” she scolded furiously, and the child cooed and clapped its lumpy hands, cuddling Vixie’s leg.
“I think it likes you,” Tyrcestus said at last.

 

OOT: man, you guys have gone a long ways, haven't you? anyways I hope I can do this right.

Sean and Zerron where making their way thru the top level.... With Zerron carrying Sean on his back.

"Sean, why the bloody hell did you have to overuse your power back there?"
"To be fair... I'm still getting used to these powers. Only had them for about... aghh who knows how long it's been."


As they made their way to the others, he couldn't help but notice a conversation off in the distance. sounded a lot like hexy and... someone new? Sean drew his sword and cut a huge attacking worm in half.
"Yeah, we need to get to the others."
"Heh! Tell me something I don't know! I can only do so much with you on my back...."

As Zerron spoke he started to leap from place to place to get to the rest of the group faster. Then Zerron realized something. a moment ago the lightning ninja used his arms when they where paralyzed.
"Hey, I just realized something.... do you really need to be carried?"
Zerron then dropped Sean off his back.
"I think you can walk from here on out. might be better since we're moving into utter darkness."

He quickly juggled a bunch of fireballs and threw each one in a different direction of the cave. it was a really big one since there was still darkness.

As Sean fell onto the cavern floor, his back got jolted. After getting over the shock, he was abler to get up. The fall must have done, Or set, something right.
"Thank you Zerron, whatever you did seems to have done the trick..."

Sean stopped as he watched the fireballs go everywhere and watched the look on Zerrons face.

What Zerron was sensing wasn't right, but somehow couldn't put his finger on it. Also he was sensing another party in the cave. He got up and looked around a little bit.

"Thats odd, seems like we're not alone here. both for better and for worse. I'd watch your step if I where you."

The flame ninja looked all around as he grew the small fireballs into large fires. No matter what they didn't light up the whole cavern.
Zerron was worried about this. None of it seemed natural at all. the whole place worried him.
"Sean, do you know how to sense others?"

As soon as Sean knew what Zerron was doing, Sean sent a charged fist in to the caverns floor, sending a wave of energy thru out the cavern. He too could sense things in this cave that wasn't natural. But through all of the darkness, he was able to find a familiar energy. A green one that he knew right off the bat somehow.

"Found her. I'm coming to help out Hexy.... then for my sword"

"Wait, what did you? Who did you...Which group is it?" Zerron yelled. But even before he could stop him, Sean was already a blur of light.
"god... really!?! No waiting up for me?"

Since Zerron lost sight of Sean, he just chose which of the two groups to go for. Unknown to Zerrox, he went for the party that Leon was with.... away from where Sean bolted off to.

"All because of some hot and sexy witch.... your lucky she's hot mate..."

Zerron grumbled as he sent his fireballs ahead of him to light the way. Who would have thought that a witch could be that hot anyways. Zerron chuckled as he walked farther. He wasn't too worried about sean anyways. He had no doubts that Sean could handle almost anything that could come up.

 

The fur on Vixie's tail stood on end as she felt something cling to her legs...she froze for a moment, then slowly moved her head down to see who, or what was clinging to her.
Seeing the baby nuzzling her brought a slight smile to her face.
Suddenly her ears twitched to the sound of someone running towards them. She scooped the baby up in her arms, and grabbed Arisa's shield.
"Someone's running towards us." She looked over at Hexy.

 

"Ha. Ha."
This kid's gonna be a ton of fun to deal with, isn't he? I take a closer look at the bars of the cage and after a while, I find what I'm looking for. The lock! Every cage has to have a lock, even a cheap hunk of scrap metal like this one. The lock looks pretty basic, just like I thought. Well...time to get to work. I haven't done this in a while and I was hoping I'd never have to use these particular skills again. I summon a knife in my right hand, hold the lock in my left and start picking the lock with the edge of the blade. A few twists here...a few turns there...just about got it and...voila!

I let the lock tumble to the floor and open the cage. Then I look over to the snarky little kid in the other cell.
"I'll let you out of that cage on one condition. You tell nobody what you just saw."
Then I point to the other adults in the cell with him.
"The same goes for all of you, too! That came from a time in my life that I'd rather forget about. I mean, come on, you know how it goes...you start falling in with the wrong crowd, one thing leads to another and before you know it, you wake up in bed with a few bottles of brandy on one side and the mayor's wife on the other. Man, those high school years were crazy."
Uh...crap...I said too much. I said WAY too much. After a little awkward silence, I raise two fingers and speak up again.
"Second condition. You forget all about that stuff I just said. Except for the part about the first condition."


Mordred was beginning to sense that someone was coming towards them and Vixie's warning confirmed it. He wasn't all that concerned about troll baby, mostly ignoring the whole fiasco except for the occasional annoyed glance towards the others, but he was very concerned about this new arrival.
"Be on guard. Who knows what kind of people might be lurking in this cave."
He put his hand on his sword, ready to draw it at a moment's notice. He then turned his head to Trinity.
"If this new arrival turns out to be hostile, find somewhere to hide. Quickly."
He turned his head back to where the unknown presence was coming from, focusing intently in that direction to see if he could tell who or what they are as soon as they arrive.

 

The boy simply smiled. "Wait for it..."

When Leon woke up for the second time, he was back in the cage again. This time he was hanging upside down from the roof of the cage and his arms were tied in a metal bow. The boy was sitting against the bars in the other cage, looking at him. "So..." he said conversationally. "How'd that work out for you?"

Tyrcestus turned, and the others turned with him. "Be on your guard."
Hexy lifted a fireball to reveal... Sean, running towards them. She blushed. Everyone relaxed. "Sean," Tyrcestus said warmly. "A friendly face, thank goodness."

 

Sean smiled as he got closer to the group, seeing that everyone was doing well so far along with Hexy as well. Not that he was afraid she was in any danger or anything. She could handle herself being a witch and all.

"Sorry about me getting behind! I think I used so much of my energy and became paralyzed as usual." Sean said as he stopped in the middle of the group.

"but it seems to have worn off!"

Sean could see Hexy blushing and smiled at her.
"I hope I didn't scare you too much, I'd hate to face another one of your fireballs Hexy." Sean said jokingly.

He looked around to see if Zerron followed, but didn't see him.
"I really hate it if you did all of the work and didn't leave anything for me or Zerron. By the way, have you guys lost anyone else in here or split into two groups?"

He was thinking about what Zerron was saying about a dark force in this cave as he noticed Leon and Clun missing. Zerron might be missing as well.


Zerron stopped as he noticed the small group up ahead, or somewhere around him. he couldn't see where he'd thought they'd be. Then he felt a demonic force from below him grow then disappear.

"Hmm, thats odd. But then again, we are in a prison where hell sends it's own worst prisoners are locked away." Zerron looked around for a way to get below him.

"I hope there's a way to get down there... unless this is all just one huge mind trick. Wouldn't actually surprise me if there's more than one..." he said as he searched.

 

I'm feeling a lot of things right now...let's see, there's a little bit of of confusion, frustration, a pinch of rage, but most of all I'm getting that nasty feeling of a whole lotta "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" I struggle against the metal bindings for a while, but it doesn't really do a whole lot of good. I growl a little and look at the snarky little brat again.
"Helping or hurting, kid? Helping or hurting?"
I can already tell we're not exactly gonna be the best of friends.
"Well...since you seem so eager to put your two cents in, how about you come up with a way to get us out of here? Go on, I'm listening. I've got all the time in the world."


Mordred relaxed his posture when he realized that the newcomer was apparently someone the group knows. He looked over to Trinity just to make sure.
"Is he a friend of yours?"

 

"I believe that was a yes. Very well, then I see no reason to stay here any longer.
Mordred walked up to Tyrcestus, more or less ignoring the newcomer.
"We should keep moving. Your captured comrades may very well be in grave danger."
He wasn't all that concerned for them, in all honesty, but he knew they would need as many warriors as they could get and regardless, this sort of group would insist on searching for them.

 

The boy merely shrugged. When he did so, the rags covering his torso fell away to reveal a body marred by what looked like strange runes and symbols that seemed to be branded into the flesh, a charred black network of patterns. “Search me. We’ve all tried getting out. Eventually they just put us back here on good behaviour.”
“Jeru! Hush.” A man – wiry, the face of a rogue and the eyes of a thief – had come to the bars to look at Leon. His voice was hardened and weary, one that had been through the works over a lifetime. Late middle-aged, his skin was wrinkled but muscles still showed beneath the skin. “Sorry about the kid,” he apologized. “My name’s Savvie, and that there is Jeru. So, what you doing in this hole?”

“On that, I can concur,” Tyrcestus said gravely, and as one the group moved forward – the baby troll skipping between Hexy and Arisa, holding their hands. “Don’t even think about adopting him,” Tyrcestus warned. Hexy was too busy trying to make sure she looked as cute as possible with Sean watching to notice.
They had not walked very far when suddenly Tyrcestus raised a hand for everyone to stop. “People... am I insane or is that actually there?”

Before them, lying spread-eagled on the ground, was a troll. But this wasn’t a troll like the baby, or even like Clun. This troll was ENORMOUS, easily almost thirty feet in height and twice as wide as Tyrcestus was tall. But the most terrifying part was that it was dead, and there was something glinting in its throat. Tyrcestus leaned closer. “What on...?”
It was a tooth. A gargantuan jagged thing, easily almost two feet long, old and worn – it must have snapped off at the base as whatever it belonged to had feasted on the troll. Upon closer inspection, half the troll’s right side was missing, entrails and bone sticking out at odd angles as whatever it was had either filled up, or been interrupted. Vizard and Gizzard threw up. Tyrcestus leaned out and tapped the dead troll’s hide. It was like rock. “What the hell could have done this?”
Oh... there are a few things. Dragons, wyverns, a few other predators, but not with that kind of teeth. I’ve SEEN that tooth before.
So you know what did this?
Tyrcestus stopped. Because Martyris, the genuine bona-fide GOD, was completely terrified.
I hope I’m wrong. I really, REALLY hope my memories are faulty. Because if I’m right, this hellhole has just become the LEAST of our problems...

 

I twist around a little and turn my head towards the new voice as he's speaking. Finally, a voice of reason in this miserable hole.
"Savvie, was it? It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance! As for what I'm doing here--ughh...hold that thought for a second."
I REALLY need to get myself down from here. I didn't notice when I first woke up, but the blood is definitely rushing to my head and it's gonna become a real problem soon. I think I have a solution...I just have to remember that technique I used on the sandworms. I focus my energy into creating a weapon...a sword should work...but I have to create it some distance away from myself, I can't channel it into my bound hands. It's taking a lot of focus, but I think I've almost got it. I can see it...composition...basic structure...I focus intently on the exact area where I'm going to summon it.

...

...There, got it!
"Here goes!"
Light forms a short distance away from me and in a small flash, the longsword I imagined suddenly appears. It worked! I smile a little but there's no time for anything more than that. I direct the sword diagonally upwards and it launches as fast as an arrow from a bow, cutting the rope that held me to the ceiling and...sending me plummeting to the ground face first. I roll over with a slight groan.
"Well...at least I got down so I'm still calling that a win. Now if I could just get my hands free, that'd really be a neat trick."
I look over to Savvie.
"Alright, so, to answer your question I'm actually here on a very important mission."
I can't help beaming with pride a little as I think about my brave and loyal crew.
"I'm not sure if you heard my little introduction earlier, so here goes. You're looking at Leon Dragonfang, captain of the most heroic group of pirates to ever sail the seas! I can't give away too many details about our mission but let's just say the stakes are high and my crew needs me, so we'd better find a way out of here as soon as we can! Now, if I could just get out of these cuffs somehow..."


Undaunted by Martyris' cryptic words, Mordred walked up to him and asked him plainly.
"This is no time for riddles. If you have any idea what this creature may be, it would be better for us to hear it now rather than discover it ourselves later."
He briefly glanced over to the corpse. In all of his travels, he'd never seen anything with teeth like the one embedded in the troll's side. For that matter, he'd never seen a creature that could tear apart a troll so easily. The bite marks gave away the fact that this predator was quite large and the tooth looked sharp enough to tear through steel. Mordred thought about how fortunate he was to have never encountered this creature. He could only guess at how dangerous it really was.
"More importantly, if this creature is as fearsome as you say...do we have any chance of defeating it should we come across it?"

 

Martyris swallowed using Tyrcestus’s mouth. “I’ll phrase it simply. If we do encounter the owner of that tooth, it will either be the last thing we will ever do or the luckiest moments of our lives. The kill looks fresh...”
Hey, maybe you could share a bit privately?
Listen, Tyrcestus. You know I’m a god, right?
Right...
Phenomenal cosmic powers, all that jazz?
Uh huh...
All you need to know is this. Your entire group could have a god with twice my total strength inside each and every one of them, with your assortment of powers tacked on the side – and the thing that did this would still be miles too powerful for us to fight.
But you’re a god...
I’m a lesser god. The owner of that tooth? One of the four EXISTENCE PATRIARCHS.

Before any more could be said, suddenly the walls around them seemed to move – and they were instantly surrounded.
Trolls. At least eight of them, and they were huge. Each at least 15 feet tall and one seemed to be using a tree as a club. One of them bellowed, and the noise nearly burst their eardrums.
“STAND TOGETHER!” Tyrcestus shouted, and they all formed a defensive perimeter. “Trolls... aren’t usually this large, right?” he asked no-one in particular. Martyris answered him with his own voice. “Oh – you didn’t know your friend was a dwarf troll? They’re a lot shorter than regular trolls but they get magic as a side.” Tyrcestus rolled his eyes. “All right, wise guy...”

----------------------------------------------------------

The bellow came through the caves, to the prisoner’s cavern, and Savvie and Jeru looked up as did the others in the cave. “Ooh, I think your friends are squished!” Jeru laughed, only for Savvie to cuff him round the ear. “Hush!” he scolded, before pricking his own ears up. “That said... they do sound pretty angry...”

 

What...what WAS that?! Whatever it was, it definitely sounds dangerous...I need to get out of here!
"Come on...think! How do I get out of this mess?"
I glare at the metallic bonds holding my hands together. How can I get these stupid things off?! And if I can manage that, how do I get out of this cave?! I growl in frustration and start banging the metal bow against the bars.
"There's gotta be a way out of here! The crew needs their captain and I need to get out of here before something goes wrong out there!"
After banging against the bars for a while longer, I sink down to my knees, hanging my head low.
"There's gotta be something I can do...think, Leon, think!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mordred stared down one of the trolls as it slowly approached him. He turned his head towards Trinity and whispered to her.
"Whatever happens, do not fall off, even if you need to use your claws to hold on. I will be quite alright."
In fact, he wouldn't even feel it thanks to his leather shoulder pads. He slowly walked towards the creature with his sword drawn, looking back and forth to Trinity and the troll.
"Listen carefully, this will be your next lesson. If you are faced with an opponent more powerful than yourself, you must find a way to use their own power against them. Use distractions. Use deception. Use every last tool in your arsenal to turn the battle in your favor. If the enemy greatly outnumbers you, find a way to make their allies turn on them."
His sword took on a thick aura of darkness as magical power flowed through it.
"This example will be much more...direct than most, but surely you will get the gist of it. Now...hold on as tightly as you can."

In the blink of an eye, Mordred's casual gait became a full-speed dash towards the troll. The creature roared as if accepting the challenge and ran towards him, his right shoulder facing forward. This motion made it painfully obvious what the troll was going to do and Mordred planned out his next move accordingly. When they came close to each other, the troll reeled back his left arm for a punch just as expected and when it attacked, Mordred had already jumped to avoid it. In the same jump, he also delivered a quick slash to the beast's arm and landed right next to it. When he did, he grasped his sword in both hands and in a move that looked like a blur, slashed the troll's right leg twice in an X shape. He then made a quick leap behind the troll and slashed the back of its knee. This swift, brutal attack caused the troll to momentarily keel over on its right side and Mordred took the opportunity to jump on its back.

His left hand took on a dark, ethereal blue and black hue as it glowed with Apocrypha's power. After a brief moment of channeling the sword's power, Mordred firmly gripped the back of the troll's head and whispered coldly in its ear.
"Bend your will to my own."

The troll let out an earthshaking roar but soon after fell completely silent. His eyes, now empty and lifeless, stared directly ahead as he got back to his feet, now standing perfectly still.

In the meantime, Mordred jumped off of his new servant's back. He held his sword towards it and gave his first and likely only command.
"You are mine now. Fight for me."

The troll quietly obeyed and turned towards its former allies, ready to attack at a moment's notice.

 

Sean noticed how calm and cute Hexy was. Thats right, staying calm might actually help out in this place....
Sean looked at the huge tooth up close, examining it.

"Why am I both surprised and unsurprised to see something like this..."

Sean moved away from the troll's body as he started to look around them. Looking at the new fifteen foot tall trolls surrounding them.

"So what would the so called 'God' suggest us to handle this?"

As he looked around the group, he saw a baby troll hanging around Vixie.

"just one question.... how long has that troll baby been with the group?" As Sean asked this he saw one of the new members of the party run head on and jumped onto one of the trolls...

"Or just blindly attack! What a great plan to go with....." Sean said sarcastically as he got ready to dodge anything and charged up his gauntlets and shinguards. Why do all of the new guys jump in head first at the first big monster that pops up.




Zerron decided to walk farther down the cavern he was heading down. He had hoped to find some way of getting to the group he was sensing. he decided that it was worth while to send as many fireball's along the tunnel ahead of him. he not only used them to light his way but used them to sense whats ahead as well. As Zerron continued walking, he heard a feirce bellowing thru the caverns. he stopped for a second and looked back.

"Yep. Knew we wheren't all alone in this place." as things quiet down, he heard laugher from ahead of him. As well as Leons voice.

"And theres the group I'm looking for. Glad Leon's voice isn't as quiet as the others. " As he walked forward he would absorb the last fireball and sent it out farther ahead.



As Zerron walked deeper into the cavern, the walls begin to widen out a little and runs into huge cells. They almost looked like huge animal cages. He keeps going to see what else is down here and what dark secrets came with it.

 

The trolls slammed the ground with their clubs and bellowed in rage at their captured comrade.
At this moment the troll baby started bawling, and the trolls suddenly stared down at the infant huddling under Vixie’s leg.
There was a moment of silence.

“... Friends?” Vizard tried.
Suddenly all three remaining trolls suddenly swelled, doubling in size until each were thirty feet tall. Oh... yeah, trolls can do that! Forgot about that.
We live through this, I will kill you, Tyrcestus glowered as he backed up with the rest of his group. The troll Mordred had mind-controlled did not change size, instead looking blearily up at his now-huge brethren. The baby waddled up to them and sat on its craggy bottom, gurgling. One troll scooped it up and took off, the other two raised their clubs and brought them down so hard the floor shook.
Yet, strangely, they made no move to attack.
“I think... they think we’re the aggressors,” Hexy whispered. “I don’t think they want this fight.”

“Wouldn’t fancy your chances,” Savvie said confidently. “We’ve got a guy in our little gang who’s strong enough to bench-press a war galley, and he can’t break out of these things with brute force. Stake! Come say hello, may as well.”
A being walked up to the side of the bars, coming into view. It was a strange being, with skin and arms and legs and eyes and a mouth but it very clearly was not human. Its skin was a mottled purple-red, long glowing white lines criss-crossed its substance, and the creature looked like it had been lovingly shaped by hands rather than other design. “Hello,” it said, then walked away. “He doesn’t get inferences,” Savvie chortled. “Funny thing, homunculi.” He turned back before standing up. “Someone’s coming...”

 

"I didn't think you could hear me." Zerron said as he walked closer. With a flame in hand he walked over to the cage and looked at everyone who was there.

"I wasn't expecting a completely different group, but at least it's not those elves we're against." He smiled a little as he looked the cage over.
"I've heard of hominculi, but I've never seen one before with all the places I've been. But then again, this is a demonic prison so, heh, I really shouldn't be surprised at that."
As Zerron looked over the place, he started talking to Leon.
"As for you leon...... really not surprised to see you locked up here. Always knew you would be captured first....." He snickered a little as he backed up a couple feet and took a couple of deep breaths. He also left his mind open and aware in case something tried to surprise him, like all deadly assassins of the night should do. He calmly drew his crimson dagger out and faced the two cages.

"So tell me.... how did you get yourself caught Leon?" In his mind, he wanted to take some shots at him.... if it wasn't for the rather disturbing presence he felt lurking in this god forsaken place. Eh, maybe later. When we're out of this situation.
"And might as well ask this since you guys are here..... but how fond are you of elves? Namely ones who're under the command of a certain half blooded prince that thinks elves should run the world."
As he talked, a stream of bright flames shot down the length of his dagger.

"One who thinks he can cheat his way thru a damn race to get what he 'wants'." As he talked the flames on his knife grew brighter.

"Anyone who doesn't want to get burned, stand back. Hoping this will work...." I haven't tied to cut through rot iron bars or a jail cell before with my flames.... shouldn't be hard, Right?
As Zerron talked to himself, he sprinted towards the cages and, hopefully, slice the locks and some bars up. As long as his flaming blade was hot enough it should work....



"You might be right hexy." Sean whispered back, staying surprisingly calm. "and the more fights we can avoid, the better."

Sean slowly backed up a little to show his intentions to not fight. But he kept his mind ready just in case he had to dodge a club.

 

My ears perk up when I hear a familiar voice speak up and I turn to find...Zerron! Yes! Finally, someone who can get us all out of here.

And the hits just keep on coming.
"It's nice to see that you're having SO much fun with this, but personally, I'd rather save the small talk for later and make sure my crew isn't being eaten by giant monsters right now."

I can't help holding my breath as I see Zerron lunge for the cage door.

Please work.

Please work...

Come on...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mordred looked towards Hexy as he walked back towards the group.
"I have never seen a troll stop to consider who is the "aggressor" in any given encounter. However, I have seen them tear a man in half."
He looked intently at the last two trolls, keeping himself in a battle-ready stance.
"Never forget that these are wild beasts; they may seem tame now, but only because they seem to realize that they have been backed into a corner. However, If we let them go, who is to say that they will not track us down and catch us unaware? We have the opportunity to neutralize that threat here and now, so why hesitate?"
He looked around at the others.
"My new servant will occupy the troll on the left, it should at least live long enough to serve that purpose. Archers, mages, focus your attacks against the troll on the right. The rest of us will move in to melee range and finish off whatever remains of them. Despite their large size, this should be a relatively easy encounter. I see no reason why we would suffer any losses so long as everyone fights competently. It is a shame that the fourth troll and the child escaped, though we can deal with that problem if it arises again."
He then looked over to their leader.
"We move on your signal, Tyrcestus."

 

Tyrcestus looked up at the fearsome monsters before him as the group readied up at his back.
Your call, Wingmender.
He ran through everything in his mind before eventually deciding to do what he did best.
“No.”
The nearest troll raised its club and whirled it about its head, but the red robes swirled as he walked forwards. The creature looked down at him, growling through thick rocky lips. Tyrcestus looked up at it evenly and put one hand on the creature’s enormous toe.
His back suddenly blazed with the outline of two wings, shining so brightly in the dark cave that it seemed like a bonfire had been lit. But the bright light illuminated the troll vividly – and as they looked, the troll transformed.
No longer was it a jaded, crusty, aged hulk. The old wasted stone fell away to reveal a new coat, one so smooth it seemed almost like skin. The nails peeled up, the teeth grew in its head. Before half a minute had passed, the troll seemed completely... new. It looked healthy, and strong, and a true prime specimen of its kind. The other troll stepped back, awed by the display. Even the pirates, who’d seen Tyrcestus’s abilities first-hand, seemed amazed by it.
The troll looked down at Tyrcestus, stunned. The other suddenly loomed over him, and the pirates tensed – only for it to kneel down and extend its fingers out towards him in a way that could only be described as humble. Tyrcestus reached out and a few moments later two apex trolls were stood, their hollers of joy shaking the whole cave. They shrank back to their normal size, and everyone was so distracted by this spectacle that they were taken by surprise when Tyrcestus placed his hand on the third troll Mordred had injured. The creature seemed to blink, its injuries healing along with the eradication of its decrepit state, and it capered and hooted as it joined its comrades. For a moment, they were no longer killing machines and terrifying beasts – but happy animals, dancing with glee over no longer feeling like ancient relics. Then one of them pointed at the deceased troll, the one something had almost devoured, but Tyrcestus shook his head. The others sadly picked as much of it as they could up, and carried it off down the passage.
Tyrcestus turned to Mordred and his face was so fearsome a few of the pirates – and Vizard and Gizzard – backed up in fright. Even Hexy looked taken aback by this new ferocity on her friend’s face.
“If you ever do that again,” Tyrcestus said calmly, “And start a potentially needless battle because violence is the easiest and safest solution, we are going to have words.”
And with that, he set off after the trolls. Everyone else silently followed.

For Zerron, the cage doors were made of something far beyond normal steel. As it was, the blade didn’t slice through them in one hit, but instead he felt them give a little, as though he was trying to cut through a pillar of treacle with a teaspoon.
“Give it some oomph!” Savvie said eagerly. “And be quick about it!”

 

Mordred, undaunted by Tyrcestus' fearsome appearance, simply nodded.
"As you wish. I am merely a hired sword, after all."
With this, he followed along with the rest of the group, keeping his newfound reservations about their leader to himself.
"Perhaps I misjudged him. Is this entire group made up of hopeless idealists? I can hardly see this expedition turning out well if that is the case."
He decided that he might need to have those "words" with Tyrcestus after all. But this was hardly the time or place, not while they were in front of everyone. He planned to wait until they could speak privately.

I can't help feeling crushed when Zerron's attack doesn't break through. I smile weakly at him and give him a thumbs-up.
"Second time's the charm?"