Fulgorid turned and swung his greatclub at the bird who had slashed the back of his neck, but she was already out of reach. He let out a gurgling, anger filled roar as he ripped another crossbow bolt from his own throat. He took aim, launching it directly at Rena with even more force than it had been fired from the crossbow with.

"Annoying splinters!" He called out, frustrated by all the bolts peppering him, though they did little to nothing in terms of damage, they were painful and annoying. He ripped the rest out, pulling them from his back and leg. They would just be his ammo now. The frost that spread from them receded quickly and the holes they left closed back up without a mark.

A magical push from two more of the birds sent him toward the cave entrance, but that didn't last long. He let out another enraged roar and charged straight back into the cave, swinging his club at the little pests that dared to not only challenge him, but to break the rules right away and come at him so many against one. It didn't matter. He was the king of the forest trolls! He would win!

The magical suppression emanating from another bird didn't bother him at all. He had no spells to cast anyways, and his regeneration was no spell. It was unaffected by the aura. All he needed was his strength, no magical trickery like these cowards. The bit of a chill he got from their weapons would never be enough to finish him thanks to his regeneration. Only fire could stop him from healing whatever they could do to him.

Beist waited outside, increasingly anxious as the group didn't come out of the cave entrance like he had told them. He could hear the roars echoing out of the cave. He sighed. Those crows, that was all he could really call them as they hadn't even told him their names, they really weren't going to listen to him, were they? He got the distinct sense they never believed in diplomacy like he did. They hadn't even said a word to Baelgryf on the bridge.

Another bolt from Wind, this one jamming into the back of Fulgorid's neck even as Whistle does what she can to draw the troll off toward the cavern entrance, taunting him and dodging away from his swings, "c'mon, ye were talkin' a big game earlier, what 'appened t' that?! I dinnae see no Troll King, jus' a spoilt child who wants more o' e'erything!" the little crow jeers, slashing at Fulgorid's hands when he swipes at her, but never coming close enough to actually be struck...

Wind and Loci both clamber up the troll's legs, razor talons raking and digging into his flesh as they scramble all over the troll like frantic imps, their eyes ablaze with caustic, hateful light.

Rena cracks her neck, coming to a stop next to Wind and snapping her fingers, a burst of stardust accompanying the gesture and resolving into every single one of her son's crossbow bolts¹. The little crow gathers them up and places them in his quiver.

Bell follows behind his wife through all this, his aura suffusing her, sinking into her bones and amplifying her own spellcasting, as is demonstrated when she brings out a long, slender wand of pale bone and tarnished silver. Rena makes a gesture with the wand and a stream of bone-white rose petals begins to flow from the flowers at the hilt of her sword, spiraling around her before lancing out with a flick of her wand to spray against Fulgorid's chest, razor-edged petals delivering dozens of small cuts that're more painful than actually dangerous.

Bolts, knives, petals. None of it truly mattered. None of it could cause any actual lasting damage to Fulgorid. Every bolt he ripped from his own flesh was just another he could aim back at them. Every slash of a blade was just a papercut, and after a few seconds, not even that. The ice enchantment from some of the weapons did little to slow his regeneration.

They did no real damage, but they were becoming increasingly annoying. He looked down to the two runts slashing and pecking at his legs, the damage they were doing healing faster than they could cause it, but still making his legs feel pain. He was tired of them.

Fulgorid stopped his charge toward the bird at the back of his cave, shrugging off the tiny slashes of the insignificant little petals she was making swirl around. He'd take care of her next. Now, he looked toward the two on his ankles. He shook one leg, trying to fling one off while reaching his empty hand down to grab the other. His hand moved surprisingly fast for such a large creature. There was a reason he was the king of the forest trolls. These birds were really underestimating a powerful opponent.

"What are they doing in there? They're taking far too long to come out." Beist mumbled to himself outside of the cave. He could hear the sounds of the fight happening, but not once did he hear a sound that might suggest they had any fire to use against the troll. Did they not know that it was useless to attack a troll without any fire? He told them to draw it out of the cave. Did they not hear him?

The two skeletons clambering upon Fulgorid's frame refuse to let go, their eye lights burning with caustic light as they scramble past his groping hands, taking advantage of distractions and moments of limpness caused by Wind's bolts and Whistle's blades. After a moment - and a mental nudge from their mother - the skeletal chicks scramble up to his head, punching and pecking and clawing at his face, his eyes, his scalp, rending and tearing out and blinding his sensitive eyes again and again even as they heed their mother's warnings to dodge his flailing hands.

And that's when Rena moves back in, severing his club-hand with one dash and slashing at the backs of his ankles and calves with another three, each blow using pain to disorient and drive the troll further toward the cavern entrance, to the sun where he would turn to stone and be shattered.

Bell stays close to his wife, eyes burning a caustic orange as he keeps his aura around her, seeking to amplify her magic, though she refrains from casting for the moment.

Wind fires bolt after bolt at the troll, alternating between his arms in an effort to keep them both numb and useless, relying on his mother's magic to keep him stocked up on ammunition as he peppers Fulgorid.

Whistle does much the same as her little brother, eyes burning an angry red as she slashes his wrists again and again, the frost of her blades chilling and numbing and rendering his arms useless for precious seconds.

---

Rena - 0/6 wounds

SPOILER: Click to show

Guardian Spirit - Caller of Spirits - 1/2 charges
Spirit Shroud - Shroud Affliction
Hired Help - Two for One
Banner Lord - 1/1
Enchanting Sigil - Ice
Undead Servant - Army of the Damned
Undying Frenzy - Inactive
Persistent Dead
Dancing Chain - 1/1 hp - cooling down 0/3
Throwing Knives - Dual Shot - Double ammo - Permafrost/Cold Touch Imbued
Rose Urumi - Infinite petals - Permafrost/Cold Touch Imbued
Walking Sword - Doublestrike, Dashing - Permafrost/Cold Touch Imbued
Tools of the Trade
Multi-Attack - 3/3
Pills of Vitality - 3/3
Throwing Arts
Climbing Arts
Stormrider's Cloak
Lifespark Earring - Inactive
Drake Gland
Quick Palm
Silent Step
Surface Scaling
Lock Pick
Wings

Loci - 0/4 wounds

SPOILER: Click to show

blinding Fulgorid, avoiding his hands

Whistle - 0/4 wounds

SPOILER: Click to show

slashing Fulgorid's wrists

Wind - 0/4 wounds

SPOILER: Click to show

blinding Fulgorid, avoiding his hands

Wind - 0/4 wounds

SPOILER: Click to show

shooting Fulgorid's arms

Bell - Shroud Affliction - 2/2 hp

SPOILER: Click to show

supporting his wife

Fulgorid, like all trolls, wasn't the smartest person. However, to be the king of the forest trolls, he needed to be somewhat above the rest. To keep his crown and the little empire he'd built for himself, he knew basic strategy and fighting technique. He understood what was happening as his legs were being attacked, making him take a step backwards on occasion. He was being forced toward the cave entrance, toward the sunlight that he knew was his weakness. Arrogance and stupidity were two different things. He was arrogant enough to believe he didn't need protection from the sun, but not stupid enough to believe that was still true if he was forced out of his cave.

Fulgorid grimaced as he dropped to his knees. He wouldn't be harried any closer to the cave entrance. It was he himself that was stepping closer to the cave entrance because of the slashes on his ankles. As long as he wasn't stepping toward it, these puny birds would never be able to push him.

His severed arm regrew, the bones and flesh bubbling and writhing as it reformed into an arm in mere seconds. He took a deep breath and roared. The sound was loud enough to instantly give everyone in the cave the most horrendous headache they'd ever experienced, the sound only amplified as it bounced around the cave like they were inside an echo chamber. Even outside, Beist clapped his hands over his ears at the loud noise.

The force of his roar forced the crows back and left them deafened, their heads still pounding and filled with the echoes of his angry bellow. With the moment of reprieve, he reached down and grabbed not only his club off the ground, but his own severed arm. Now dual wielding the deadly pair of blunt weapons, he swung down one at each of the pair of skeletal chicks while they were recovering from being thrown off of him.

He moved even faster than before, now enraged with how these birds dared to treat a king.

---

Fulgorid: Undying Fervor
Fulgorid: Howls of the Damned
Fulgorid: Berserker Level 1
-Berserker's Rage
-Undying Rage
-Sweeping Fury

the skeletons cry out, their eyes blazing brighter as he strikes them with his club and severed arm. they recover quickly, lunging for him once again, heedless of the cracks and missing chunks of bone riddling their frames as they charge Fulgorid, scrambling right back up his body to begin blinding him once more with their slashing talons and piercing beaks.

Rena cracks her neck, the blazing bone white of her eyes guttering out as she sinks back into the darkness...and then a pair of bayonets coated in black frost lance out from the shadows to slam deep into the base of Fulgorid's skull, severing his spine at two distinct points and flash freezing the surrounding tissue, the deadly frost creeping into the back of the troll's brain. it won't be enough, of course. not until the power he's invoked within himself has worn off. regardless, she flings one pair of bayonets after another, each blade sinking deep into his skull and further flash freezing his brain. she doesn't summon the blades back this time, content to let them further instill their lethal frost.

More bolts from Wind, more slashes from Whistle, and still the crows harry him, taking advantage of flinches and instinctive reactions to pain to force him further toward the sunlight.

---

Rena - 0/6 wounds

SPOILER: Click to show

Guardian Spirit - Caller of Spirits - 1/2 charges
Spirit Shroud - Shroud Affliction
Hired Help - Two for One
Banner Lord - 1/1
Enchanting Sigil - Ice
Undead Servant - Army of the Damned
Undying Frenzy - Inactive
Persistent Dead
Dancing Chain - 1/1 hp - cooling down 0/3
Throwing Knives - Dual Shot, Magic Blocker - 10/10
Rose Urumi - Infinite petals
Walking Sword - Doublestrike, Dashing
Tools of the Trade
Multi-Attack - 3/3
Pills of Vitality - 3/3
Throwing Arts
Climbing Arts
Stormrider's Cloak
Lifespark Earring - Inactive
Drake Gland - Ice
Quick Palm
Silent Step
Surface Scaling
Lock Pick
Backstab
Wings

Loci - 2/4 wounds

SPOILER: Click to show

blinding and harrying Fulgorid

Whistle - 0/4 wounds

SPOILER: Click to show

harrying Fulgorid

Wind - 0/4 wounds - 10/15 bolts

SPOILER: Click to show

peppering Fulgorid

Wind - 2/4 wounds

SPOILER: Click to show

blinding and harrying Fulgorid

Bell - Shroud Affliction - 2/2 hp

SPOILER: Click to show

assisting Rena

Mael - Wind conversion 1/1

SPOILER: Click to show

hiding

Despite all their attempts to force a flinch or an inch back from the troll, there was no reaction to any of the attacks any of the murder were inflicting upon him. It was as if he didn't feel any pain at all. Even the bayonets to the back of his head didn't inflict the mother of all brain freezes that they might have expected. The only emotion apparent from the king of the forest trolls was pure fury.

The blades slid out of Fulgorid's skull with two wet pops, forced out of him by the regenerating brain matter, bone, and flesh. The bloody blades clattered to the floor behind him, difficult to retrieve as he shuffled around on his knees, covering them with his legs. The weapons were beneath him both physically and metaphorically.

As soon as the two skeletal chicks clattered back toward him and attempted to climb him again, Fulgorid roared and swung his severed arm at them again, in a wide, sweeping strike that would shatter the skeletons to pieces if it hit. He was tired of their scratching and pecking, and wouldn't allow them to get close to him any longer.

With his club, he swung blindly at his opposite side, fending off any more attackers trying to come at him from behind. Even behind him, his swing was wide and sweeping, covering nearly the entire width of the cave.

---

Fulgorid: Berserker Level 1
-Berserker's Rage
-Undying Rage
-Sweeping Fury

the skeletons shatter away, eye lights guttering out as they crumble to nothing more than bone dust and scraps of cloth.

the crossbow bolts stop, as do the slashing and piercing bayonets, the crows more focused on evading the onslaught than doing damage. they can kill him. they have to. there's no other option. so it is that bayonets coated in swirling patterns of black frost slash not across his eyes, but above them, the blood from the wounds flowing into and blinding his eyes, making it that much harder for him to make out his quarry.

Rena's bayonets vanish out from beneath Fulgorid's bulk, reappearing in her hands in flashes of the clear night sky and sliding up her sleeves in a smooth motion.

Every now and then, she flicks a bayonet in his direction, doing what she can to keep his focus on her rather than on her children.

Speaking of children...it's a simple act of will to conjure a pair of fresh shells for the son and daughter he'd thought slain, bones and clothing congealing from the shadows, eye lights flickering into being, sharp and focused, but lacking that caustic, manic quality from before.

The newly resurrected Loci and Wind both sink back into the shadows, their eye lights dimming to unnoticeability as they move to join their living siblings at the edge of the cavern, hidden in the shadows and yet so close to the sunlight streaming into the cavern.

Bell floats just behind his wife's shoulder, amber eyes dark and smoke amplifying Rena's casting as she slinks through the darkness of the cave.

---

Rena - 0/6 wounds - Summon:Possession: Throwing Knives

SPOILER: Click to show

Guardian Spirit - Caller of Spirits - 1/2 charges
Spirit Shroud - Shroud Affliction
Hired Help - Two for One
Banner Lord - 1/1
Enchanting Sigil - Ice
Undead Servant - Army of the Damned
Undying Frenzy - Inactive
Persistent Dead
Dancing Chain - 1/1 hp - cooling down 0/3
Dancing Chain - 1/1 hp - cooling down 0/3
Throwing Knives - Dual Shot, Magic Blocker - 8/10
Rose Urumi - Infinite petals
Walking Sword - Doublestrike, Dashing
Tools of the Trade
Multi-Attack - 3/3
Pills of Vitality - 3/3
Throwing Arts
Climbing Arts
Stormrider's Cloak
Lifespark Earring - Inactive
Drake Gland - Ice
Wings
Quick Palm
Silent Step
Surface Scaling
Lock Pick
Backstab

The slashes above his eyes healed quickly, stemming the flow of blood from his forehead. Fulgorid wiped the blood out of his eyes, unbothered by the pain. His eyes were bloodshot, the veins visible between the red stains on the whites of his eyes. It was a wonder that he could stand to open them in such a state, but he powered through, his eyes healing even as he glared at the birds, his eyes more deranged than ever.

Beist looked in through the entrance of the cave, now recovered from the horrible roar and worried about the situation. This was taking too long. A prolonged battle with a troll was never in anyone's favor except the troll's. If they made this a battle of attrition, he had no doubt Fulgorid would win.

It looked like the time to simply leave the cave and lure the troll out was past. Letting him turn to stone and dealing with him while he was docile would have been the best solution. Maybe they could have even let Fulgorid live and settled matters peacefully... Sort of. Restraining someone wasn't exactly peaceful, but it was more peaceful than an execution. Now it looked like there was no choice. Fulgorid had realized their plan to get him into the sunlight and was avoiding moving toward the cave entrance.

Beist ruffled some of the thick fluff around his neck. "Arson, wake up. I need some assistance." He spoke softly while he rummaged in his bag. At the same time as he pulled out walking that looked like it was made from charred, blackened wood, a tiny figure emerged from the scruff of his neck. What looked almost like a red-furred monkey with a pair of dragonfly wings on its back and a tiny wooden mask on its face and dressed in a green vest and shorts.

The fire pixie flew up into the air above Beist's shoulder and looked into the cave before looking at Beist who nodded. Arson raised his hands in the air above him and a ball of flame began to form, growing until it was larger than the pixie, and then launching toward Fulgorid.

If they couldn't expose him to sunlight, they had no choice but to defeat him, and they couldn't do that without exposing him to fire and stopping his regeneration.

---

Upgraded Fire Pixie
Ignis Staff

Rena lets out a low, grinding growl, vanishing from visibility once again, then reappears as she flicks two more bayonets out to slam into the back of Fulgorid’s skull, lethal frostbite spreading from the blades once again.

The chicks glare back at the troll, cracking their necks even as Wind reloads his crossbow, Whistle twirling a bayonet coated in filigree of white frost in each hand.

It’s a quick effort of will for Rena to re-summon her son’s crossbow bolts and toss them to him, another flex of power summoning her thrown blades back to her hands so she can sheathe them, trading bayonets for wakizashi as she darts back in, wakizashi coated in black frost filigree carving frozen furrows down Fulgorid’s face, blinding him until the wounds heal.

With that, she darts around, letting out a hiss as she stops just outside his reach, hurling a pair of bayonets to spear his eyes and stall their healing, her wings stirring the air as she hovers just inside the cave. The crow flicks another pair of bayonets out to drive into Fulgorid’s eye sockets each time the previous pair is forced free by mending flesh, summoning the previous pair back to her hand each time, effectively cycling through bayonet pairs in an effort to keep him blinded.

---

Rena - 0/6 wounds

SPOILER: Click to show

Guardian Spirit - Caller of Spirits - 1/2 charges
Spirit Shroud - Shroud Affliction
Hired Help - Two for One
Banner Lord - 1/1
Enchanting Sigil - Ice
Undead Servant - Army of the Damned
Undying Frenzy - Inactive
Persistent Dead
Dancing Chain - 1/1 hp - cooling down 0/3
Dancing Chain - 1/1 hp - cooling down 0/3
Throwing Knives - Dual Shot, Magic Blocker - 10/10
Rose Urumi - Infinite petals
Walking Sword - Doublestrike, Dashing
Tools of the Trade
Multi-Attack - 3/3
Pills of Vitality - 3/3
Throwing Arts
Climbing Arts
Stormrider's Cloak
Lifespark Earring - Inactive
Drake Gland - Ice
Wings
Quick Palm
Silent Step
Surface Scaling
Lock Pick
Backstab

Loci - 0/4 wounds

SPOILER: Click to show

Whistle - 0/4 wounds

SPOILER: Click to show

Wind - 0/4 wounds - 15/15 bolts

SPOILER: Click to show

Wind - 0/4 wounds

SPOILER: Click to show

Bell - Shroud Affliction - 2/2 hp

SPOILER: Click to show

Mael - Wind conversion 1/1

SPOILER: Click to show

The small ball of flame was barely noticeable as it hit Fulgorid in the back while he was stopped for a moment thanks to the onslaught of blades digging into his body. Without his regeneration, the frostbite didn't recede as it had before, and the wounds didn't close. The rage that had been driving him to ignore all pain and continue fighting left along with his final breath as he slumped over and fell forward onto the cave floor, finally dead.

Beist gave the tiny pixie a gentle pat on the head with one finger that was still larger than Arson's whole body, but he didn't feel good about what had happened. It was an unfortunate necessity brought on by a lack of cooperation from multiple parties. He let out a sigh as Arson floated down to land on his shoulder and sat.

He put the fiery cane back into his bag, a bit glad to have not had to use it. The family of crows had been bloodthirsty enough to handle killing the troll without him save for having no way of stopping the regeneration. The fight likely would have lasted until they'd tired out enough to be hit with one strike from Fulgorid if it hadn't been for Arson's assistance, though it looked like they didn't even notice the fire bolt.

"Good job, Arson. Let's get out of here." Beist quietly said to the pixie as he turned around and began to walk away. Maybe now that Fulgorid was gone, the other trolls would be more willing to cooperate with him.