It was dusk by the time Rakesh and Cerynitis escaped the flames of the wyrms, but the commotion from the confrontation didn’t go unnoticed. Adreles, who had been tailing the two elves on foot, had only caught up with them near the tail end of their encounter. As he quietly made his way to check on them, he paused in his steps at the sound of branches and leaves crunching beneath rather heavy feet. Turning in his tracks, the hunter went to check to see what it was. To his dismay, it was a troll grumbling about having been woken up by the noise at the wyrms’ nest. With little to no time to warn the others, Adreles immediately set to distract the troll away from the other two elves. Circling around the troll, the hunter hastily shot an arrow at the lumbering beast; initially aiming for the back of the knee, but pierced him in the rear instead.
Cerynitis paused in her tracks, Rakesh’s battered and bruised form tensed at the sound of the troll’s wailing. The elf maiden sternly commanded her protector to stay where he was while she scouted ahead. She knew he needed the rest, which is why she wanted to ascertain whether or not whatever made that noise was indeed a threat. The forest grew darker as the sun sank beneath the mountains. The huntress relied on her acute sense of hearing to determine which direction to head in. As she drew nearer, the sounds of a scuffle grew louder. Adreles used the cover of the trees to protect himself from the boulders the monstrous beast threw at him. In between tosses, he would shoot at the troll…though his hasty arrows weren’t very effective. Cerynitis quietly made her way around the scene, and while the troll was about to throw his next boulder…she pounced! Stabbing her daggers into its back, she used them to anchor her position while the troll flailed in pain. Seeing his chance, Adreles took careful aim before firing a light dipped arrow at its throat.
The sound of a gurgling roar caused Rakesh to grow all the more concerned over Cerynitis’ safety. Setting his soarness aside, he charged through the forest. Bursthing through the brush, the dark haired elf called out a fierce battle cry; his mace poised to bash through flesh and break bone…!
…but much to his surprise, he instead found the corpse of the dead troll being searched by Adreles while Cerynitis cleaned her daggers and retrieved any reusable arrows. They both looked at him, smirking at the embarrassment he was feeling over what he saw. Once things calmed down, introductions and explanations were made, and moved to a seemingly safer location for the night. Each took turns to keep watch, so not to be taken by surprised by any more trolls.
