Post by Dead Greyhawk on Mar 5, 2008 21:32:46 GMT -5
The staircase spiraled upwards and upwards. First, it climbed the dozens of feet up to the ceiling of the octagonal room, and then it entered a narrower shaft. Since the stairs lacked a railing, climbing up in the enclosed stairwell inside the shaft was a boon to everyone who felt uneasy being so exposed. Al, on the other hand, was duly impressed with the quality of the freestanding spiral staircase. After what felt like hundreds of feet, the stairwell ended in a small space, only ten feet square. A single door, iron bound, sat in one wall.
The Company was strung out in a long line down the stairs, and it took some effort to get Otto enough room to try the door. With a thunderous crash, Otto barreled into the door, knocking it open, and sending him staggering down a flight of stairs. With the utmost of luck, Otto ricocheted off of two walls and careened to a stop at the first landing, only ten feet below. There, two doors opened off of the landing, and the stairs themselves continued downwards. The Company was somewhere, either in the tower or in the castle proper.
Up at the top of the stairs, the rest of the Company remained, surprised at Otto's sudden, noisy disappearance. Raven and Al somewhat hesitantly stepped forward from the stairwell and peered about. Two doors, one to the right and one to the left, bracketed the stairwell. The door through which the Company entered seemed well-crafted to blend into the wall. "Perhaps a hidden door?" muttered Winthrop.
The Company had little time for more conversation. The door to the right hand side flew open, and tall bugbears glowered at the Company. For a moment, everyone simply stared at each other, but the silence was broken by Winthrop chanting some arcane words. The bugbears leveled their crossbows at the Company, but they were too slow. With a rush, Al was in among them, forcing the doorway and spilling into the room. Diego, Raven, and, surprisingly, Perrin, followed with a multitude of arrows.
At such close range, the bugbears had little chance, but they did rally to the fight. The room appeared to be a barracks of sorts, with bunks along the wall, a ladder leading up to a large trapdoor in the corner, a table with coins sprawled on it in the middle of the room, and a practice target with quarrels sticking out of it next to the door. Another door exits the room along the same wall; the target sitting between the two doors. Three large dire wolves, presumably pets, sprang out from under the bunks and attacked, along with the few bugbears that survived. "We've got the top," yelled Raven, moving inward towards the ladder. "Everyone else push downwards!"
Winthrop threw open the other door at the top of the stairs and then screamed like a little boy! "Eeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeee!" screeched the wizard as he scrambled to grab the door again. With panicky hands, he pulled the door shut and held onto it for dear life.
Antonus and Jasper were amazed at the sound and the transformation that came over the confused, annoyed mage. "What's in the room?" asked Antonus over the din starting to come from below, where Otto disappeared to.
"Ckk. Coack," stutters Winthrop, clearly trying to regain his composure. Antonus frowns, trying to think of what fearsome creature could be within. "cockatrices. Three little chickens," hisses Winthrop. "Don't touch that door! Guard it with your life!" Antonus pales as well, knowing of the legendary beasts whose beaks petrify. An ignominious death at best. An eternity of slow erosion at worst.
"That's the last thing I heard," says Raven to the air. "We got up here and cleared them off. I don't know what the lightning is from, but there's a Hanuman we're still looking for. He's probably the source of them." On top of the tower, a crew of bugbears jump up out of a trapdoor that is flung open. They run to what looks like a massive crossbow, almost a ballista in size, and begin turning it towards the roof of the keep.
"I got it," speaks Dell. Dell waves his hand over at the top of the tower, a wand appearing in his hand. Huge chunks of ice and sleet coat the top of the tower crushing the bugbears and causing the ballista to slide off the edge of the roof. "That was very satisfying," gloats Dell, until, with a papery whisper, the wand in his hand turns dry and brittle and crumbles into dust. With a glare towards Antonus, Dell joins the others in clambering down into the castle, where the sounds of battle are growing louder.
The stairwell is lit with an eerie light and filled with a significant amount of screaming. Dell, Diego, Raven, and Perrin, and presumably Adrienne head down the stairs. "Stand guard up here," says Raven to Antonus, who now only has one wand to draw. "Don't let anyone in off the roof." Antonus turns and puts his back to the cockatrice door and watches the ladder through the opposing doorway. On the landing at the bottom of the stairs, Hugh stands in a pool of gore, burning a troll's corpse with Flametongue. Another troll arm flops about near him, futilely scrabbling about without a hand. "Otto and Al have fled below; some witchdoctor or shaman got to them before we could finish the trolls off. Winthrop and Jasper are fighting down below, and that Grizela woman is guarding him," grunts Hugh. "They could probably use some healing, but these need to be burnt first."
"I'll catch them," comes Adrienne's voice from the air, and they are pushed softly aside as she invisibly moves past them, down the stairs. Beyond Hugh is a large room covered in bones, branches, scraps of cloth, and the most disgusting remains. The odor is eye-wateringly nauseating. Four piles of refuse likely serve as bedding for four trolls, though the flopping, wriggling corpses of only two trolls are here.
"Two more were on guard outside," says Dell absentmindedly, as his eyes take in the large brass-bound chest that sits between the four nests. It appears to belong to all, or none, of the nests, and to Dell's mercenary mind, it seems likely that any communal troll treasure is within. Beyond the chest and on the left wall is a door, this one with a large bar across it.
Raven turns to look into the other door, and he fully sees Otto's handiwork. The dismembered corpses of a squadron of ogres, easily a half dozen, are strewn through the room and up the stairs. It looks as if each was hewn nearly in twain by single blows driven through the weaknesses of their joints. Huge battleaxes are flung across the room, first batted aside and sent flying by the ogres' deaththrows. Beyond the corpses stacked like cordwood are low pallets and what appears to be a collection of overflowing spittoons. The area around them is brown and matted, but soon to be covered by oozing blood. On the right wall, past the abattoir, is another door, again covered by a wooden bar.
Oddly enough, small patches of grease seem to have coated the stairwell as well, making it very slippery in very small areas. "This your work?" asks Dell of Antonus. Antonus sheepishly nods down the stairs. "Creative," lauds Dell. Antonus beams. "Ineffective," criticizes Dell. Antonus is crushed.
"That's the last time I use that spell," Antonus thinks to himself. "Next time, I'll summon a horse in front of them and then push it over."
"Come on, time to give them a hand," directs Raven, and he leads them further down the stairs. Again, at the next landing are two doors and a continuing descending stair. The stairs themselves are slick with melting ice and steam. Jasper and Winthrop stand in one doorway, Winthrop jetting steam into the room from his wand while Jasper hacks down a huge white wolf, one almost as tall as Jasper himself. A pile of boiled bugbear corpses and white wolves fills the doorway of what must have been another barracks. "Where's the others?" hollers Raven, and Winthrop gives a head thrust back through the open door.
Diego and Perrin take up position behind Jasper to hold the stairs while Raven and Dell plunge through the door. The room beyond is filled with instruments of torture and pain. It is filled with all manner of torture implements, including two racks, a wheel, a brazier of glowing coals, thumbscrews, and the remains of an elf on whom they have been used. Two bugbears lie dead in the middle of the room. On the left side of the room another door is closed.
Otto finds himself running, pell-mell, through caverns. "Am I chasing someone? Is someone chasing me?" he asks himself. "There's no other footsteps. I think I'm just running." Stopping for air, he looks around and finds himself in the tunnels that the Company used to enter Castle Crag. The last thing that Otto remembers is a vile ogre shaman shaking a fetish of mummified flesh at him. "Must have been unholy fear," he frets as he turns to retrace his steps. Up he runs through tunnels. Up he climbs through the well shaft. Up he runs through the passageways to the octagonal room. Up he climbs around the spiral staircase, passing Al who also struggles up the stairs.
"Run into an ogre with a shriveled finger?" he asks as he speeds by Al. Al nods, breathing heavily and limping as he climbs on. "See you up there!" replies Otto, bursting up through the door. Antonus stands there, surprised to see Otto return after his sudden flight minutes earlier. "Joramy's burning eyes, I love these boots," thinks Otto as he runs down the stairs to the sounds of combat.
Raven and Dell spin around as Otto plunges into the room. "Al should be down soon," chuckles Otto. "It was a long run." The three of them push on through the torture chamber, Otto kicking down the door. A square room with enough furnishings for four men unfolds before their eyes. The floor is covered with small bits of gnawed bones, and a thin window, almost an arrow slit, sheds some light into the room. Three large jackal-headed men pounce on the Company, while a jackal scrabbles up the wall and tries to jump from the thin window.
Al barrels into the back of the Company as they fight the strange creatures. Otto swings Giantslayer with grace, and, suddenly, a jackal's head and a headless man's corpse adorn the floor near opposing walls. Raven sends shafts arrowing into the jackal trying to climb through the window, but they are ineffective, bouncing from the creature's flesh. Dell darts through the room, thrusting the Hasty Blade, his nom de guerre for Markessa's short sword, into the back of the scrabbling beast.
Al stolidly steps forth to engage the other two jackal-headed men. Their longswords and jaws are sharp, and their eyes keen, but Al's axe and then Otto's aid are more than enough to finish the job. Blood streams from several shallow, but jagged, wounds on Al's body before the last of the jackal-headed men are put down. "Dwarves don't get lycanthropy, do they?" whispers Raven to Dell. Dell solemnly shakes his head, much to Raven's relief.
By the time they stagger back to the stairwell, Hugh has arrived, having finished burning his way through the trolls. The sound of more combat comes from below, and Diego, Otto, Winthrop, and presumably Adrienne, have already moved on. Suddenly, the sounds of spellcasting, Adrienne and Winthrop but also a deep voice all come through at once. With a look of concern, the others push their way downstairs.
Deep, guttural squawking fills the air as the rest of the Company makes it to the lower level. Like all of the landings so far, two doors exit from this one. Unlike all of the landings so far, the stairs do not continue on downwards! The Company must have reached the entry level of the castle. To the left is a square room with an open door out the far side. A pool or fountain inside a walled courtyard can be seen, and the sound of fleeing footsteps comes back through the doorway. The room itself appears to be a lounge or bar of sorts, with kegs tapped and on stands and low tables strewn with dirty mugs and cups. Mounted along the walls are gruesomely decaying, poorly stuffed trophy heads -- Human, Elven, Dwarven, and Gnomish.
Two trolls tussle with Adrienne and Winthrop in the middle of the room while Diego and Perrin fire arrows through the confused melee. One of the trolls is huge and seems willing to exchange being struck by Winthrop's magical bolts for the opportunity to rend and bite at Winthrop's corpulent frame. Seeing the arrival of the rest of the Company, Winthrop cries out in happiness. "A little help would be most appreciated!" he shouts. "Otto is fighting off two of those things from the Pomarj, the birdbears!"
Raven and Al have no qualms about entering into battle with the trolls and immediately focus on combining their attacks with Diego and Perrin. The troll is struck by arrow after arrow, but surprisingly still stands. The deep voice heard up above resonates from the troll, and the Company feels as if a baleful vision has been cast upon them. Their luck will certainly not be good for some time.
Jasper turns and charges through the other door, figuring that the rooms must interconnect. Indeed, it seems he is correct, as an open door extends out of the left side of the room, but the room itself is a very foul smelling kitchen. There is a large firepit, an oven, a huge vat of very strong ale, a huge pile of bones in one corner, shelves piled with fetid, unrecognizable foodstuffs, and a sink with a huge pile of greasy unwashed plates and mugs. Jasper begins to run through the room to help Otto out when the pile of bones stirs. Four giant, furred heads thrust themselves from the bones. "Do you bring us food, or are you the food that is brought?" growls the largest of the weasels.
"I bring much food," growls Jasper in return. "So much food I can not carry it all. Go up the stairs and eat your fill. All that is still is yours, even the cooked food. Do not bother those that still move, or you will not eat any more!" The giant weasels cock their head at Jasper and then bound in sinuous motion up the stairs behind him, to feast upstairs.
Battle averted, Jasper runs through the kitchen into the next room, a large dining room with long, greasy tables and chairs, smoke-stained walls, and blood-stained floors. A poorly drafting, wall fireplace gives off thick smoke, impeding visibility, but Otto and two huge owl-headed bears are engaged in frightful battle. A third owl-headed bear lies in a pile beside them. Otto's blows are mighty, but the owl-headed bears are no minor foes. They do enough harm to Otto that even the ring taken outside of Longspear is insufficient to restore all of Otto's strength. With a cry, Jasper runs up behind the nearest of the owl-headed bears and hews it mightily with his halberd.
Jasper's contribution is all that is needed to break the dynamic of the battle. Ignoring one of the owl-headed bears for a brief moment, Otto unleashes a flurry of blows on Jasper's opponent. Combining their efforts, they slay the owl-headed bears, one and then the other.
Otto and Jasper stagger into the other room, where the rest of the Company gathers. The larger troll is dismembered and being burnt by Hugh as the Company's wounds are being tended to. "Some of the bugbears ran out the door and across the courtyard towards the tower," says Winthrop.
"Well then, they're next," grinds Otto, as he finishes bandaging his wounds.
The Company was strung out in a long line down the stairs, and it took some effort to get Otto enough room to try the door. With a thunderous crash, Otto barreled into the door, knocking it open, and sending him staggering down a flight of stairs. With the utmost of luck, Otto ricocheted off of two walls and careened to a stop at the first landing, only ten feet below. There, two doors opened off of the landing, and the stairs themselves continued downwards. The Company was somewhere, either in the tower or in the castle proper.
Up at the top of the stairs, the rest of the Company remained, surprised at Otto's sudden, noisy disappearance. Raven and Al somewhat hesitantly stepped forward from the stairwell and peered about. Two doors, one to the right and one to the left, bracketed the stairwell. The door through which the Company entered seemed well-crafted to blend into the wall. "Perhaps a hidden door?" muttered Winthrop.
The Company had little time for more conversation. The door to the right hand side flew open, and tall bugbears glowered at the Company. For a moment, everyone simply stared at each other, but the silence was broken by Winthrop chanting some arcane words. The bugbears leveled their crossbows at the Company, but they were too slow. With a rush, Al was in among them, forcing the doorway and spilling into the room. Diego, Raven, and, surprisingly, Perrin, followed with a multitude of arrows.
At such close range, the bugbears had little chance, but they did rally to the fight. The room appeared to be a barracks of sorts, with bunks along the wall, a ladder leading up to a large trapdoor in the corner, a table with coins sprawled on it in the middle of the room, and a practice target with quarrels sticking out of it next to the door. Another door exits the room along the same wall; the target sitting between the two doors. Three large dire wolves, presumably pets, sprang out from under the bunks and attacked, along with the few bugbears that survived. "We've got the top," yelled Raven, moving inward towards the ladder. "Everyone else push downwards!"
Winthrop threw open the other door at the top of the stairs and then screamed like a little boy! "Eeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeee!" screeched the wizard as he scrambled to grab the door again. With panicky hands, he pulled the door shut and held onto it for dear life.
Antonus and Jasper were amazed at the sound and the transformation that came over the confused, annoyed mage. "What's in the room?" asked Antonus over the din starting to come from below, where Otto disappeared to.
"Ckk. Coack," stutters Winthrop, clearly trying to regain his composure. Antonus frowns, trying to think of what fearsome creature could be within. "cockatrices. Three little chickens," hisses Winthrop. "Don't touch that door! Guard it with your life!" Antonus pales as well, knowing of the legendary beasts whose beaks petrify. An ignominious death at best. An eternity of slow erosion at worst.
"That's the last thing I heard," says Raven to the air. "We got up here and cleared them off. I don't know what the lightning is from, but there's a Hanuman we're still looking for. He's probably the source of them." On top of the tower, a crew of bugbears jump up out of a trapdoor that is flung open. They run to what looks like a massive crossbow, almost a ballista in size, and begin turning it towards the roof of the keep.
"I got it," speaks Dell. Dell waves his hand over at the top of the tower, a wand appearing in his hand. Huge chunks of ice and sleet coat the top of the tower crushing the bugbears and causing the ballista to slide off the edge of the roof. "That was very satisfying," gloats Dell, until, with a papery whisper, the wand in his hand turns dry and brittle and crumbles into dust. With a glare towards Antonus, Dell joins the others in clambering down into the castle, where the sounds of battle are growing louder.
The stairwell is lit with an eerie light and filled with a significant amount of screaming. Dell, Diego, Raven, and Perrin, and presumably Adrienne head down the stairs. "Stand guard up here," says Raven to Antonus, who now only has one wand to draw. "Don't let anyone in off the roof." Antonus turns and puts his back to the cockatrice door and watches the ladder through the opposing doorway. On the landing at the bottom of the stairs, Hugh stands in a pool of gore, burning a troll's corpse with Flametongue. Another troll arm flops about near him, futilely scrabbling about without a hand. "Otto and Al have fled below; some witchdoctor or shaman got to them before we could finish the trolls off. Winthrop and Jasper are fighting down below, and that Grizela woman is guarding him," grunts Hugh. "They could probably use some healing, but these need to be burnt first."
"I'll catch them," comes Adrienne's voice from the air, and they are pushed softly aside as she invisibly moves past them, down the stairs. Beyond Hugh is a large room covered in bones, branches, scraps of cloth, and the most disgusting remains. The odor is eye-wateringly nauseating. Four piles of refuse likely serve as bedding for four trolls, though the flopping, wriggling corpses of only two trolls are here.
"Two more were on guard outside," says Dell absentmindedly, as his eyes take in the large brass-bound chest that sits between the four nests. It appears to belong to all, or none, of the nests, and to Dell's mercenary mind, it seems likely that any communal troll treasure is within. Beyond the chest and on the left wall is a door, this one with a large bar across it.
Raven turns to look into the other door, and he fully sees Otto's handiwork. The dismembered corpses of a squadron of ogres, easily a half dozen, are strewn through the room and up the stairs. It looks as if each was hewn nearly in twain by single blows driven through the weaknesses of their joints. Huge battleaxes are flung across the room, first batted aside and sent flying by the ogres' deaththrows. Beyond the corpses stacked like cordwood are low pallets and what appears to be a collection of overflowing spittoons. The area around them is brown and matted, but soon to be covered by oozing blood. On the right wall, past the abattoir, is another door, again covered by a wooden bar.
Oddly enough, small patches of grease seem to have coated the stairwell as well, making it very slippery in very small areas. "This your work?" asks Dell of Antonus. Antonus sheepishly nods down the stairs. "Creative," lauds Dell. Antonus beams. "Ineffective," criticizes Dell. Antonus is crushed.
"That's the last time I use that spell," Antonus thinks to himself. "Next time, I'll summon a horse in front of them and then push it over."
"Come on, time to give them a hand," directs Raven, and he leads them further down the stairs. Again, at the next landing are two doors and a continuing descending stair. The stairs themselves are slick with melting ice and steam. Jasper and Winthrop stand in one doorway, Winthrop jetting steam into the room from his wand while Jasper hacks down a huge white wolf, one almost as tall as Jasper himself. A pile of boiled bugbear corpses and white wolves fills the doorway of what must have been another barracks. "Where's the others?" hollers Raven, and Winthrop gives a head thrust back through the open door.
Diego and Perrin take up position behind Jasper to hold the stairs while Raven and Dell plunge through the door. The room beyond is filled with instruments of torture and pain. It is filled with all manner of torture implements, including two racks, a wheel, a brazier of glowing coals, thumbscrews, and the remains of an elf on whom they have been used. Two bugbears lie dead in the middle of the room. On the left side of the room another door is closed.
Otto finds himself running, pell-mell, through caverns. "Am I chasing someone? Is someone chasing me?" he asks himself. "There's no other footsteps. I think I'm just running." Stopping for air, he looks around and finds himself in the tunnels that the Company used to enter Castle Crag. The last thing that Otto remembers is a vile ogre shaman shaking a fetish of mummified flesh at him. "Must have been unholy fear," he frets as he turns to retrace his steps. Up he runs through tunnels. Up he climbs through the well shaft. Up he runs through the passageways to the octagonal room. Up he climbs around the spiral staircase, passing Al who also struggles up the stairs.
"Run into an ogre with a shriveled finger?" he asks as he speeds by Al. Al nods, breathing heavily and limping as he climbs on. "See you up there!" replies Otto, bursting up through the door. Antonus stands there, surprised to see Otto return after his sudden flight minutes earlier. "Joramy's burning eyes, I love these boots," thinks Otto as he runs down the stairs to the sounds of combat.
Raven and Dell spin around as Otto plunges into the room. "Al should be down soon," chuckles Otto. "It was a long run." The three of them push on through the torture chamber, Otto kicking down the door. A square room with enough furnishings for four men unfolds before their eyes. The floor is covered with small bits of gnawed bones, and a thin window, almost an arrow slit, sheds some light into the room. Three large jackal-headed men pounce on the Company, while a jackal scrabbles up the wall and tries to jump from the thin window.
Al barrels into the back of the Company as they fight the strange creatures. Otto swings Giantslayer with grace, and, suddenly, a jackal's head and a headless man's corpse adorn the floor near opposing walls. Raven sends shafts arrowing into the jackal trying to climb through the window, but they are ineffective, bouncing from the creature's flesh. Dell darts through the room, thrusting the Hasty Blade, his nom de guerre for Markessa's short sword, into the back of the scrabbling beast.
Al stolidly steps forth to engage the other two jackal-headed men. Their longswords and jaws are sharp, and their eyes keen, but Al's axe and then Otto's aid are more than enough to finish the job. Blood streams from several shallow, but jagged, wounds on Al's body before the last of the jackal-headed men are put down. "Dwarves don't get lycanthropy, do they?" whispers Raven to Dell. Dell solemnly shakes his head, much to Raven's relief.
By the time they stagger back to the stairwell, Hugh has arrived, having finished burning his way through the trolls. The sound of more combat comes from below, and Diego, Otto, Winthrop, and presumably Adrienne, have already moved on. Suddenly, the sounds of spellcasting, Adrienne and Winthrop but also a deep voice all come through at once. With a look of concern, the others push their way downstairs.
Deep, guttural squawking fills the air as the rest of the Company makes it to the lower level. Like all of the landings so far, two doors exit from this one. Unlike all of the landings so far, the stairs do not continue on downwards! The Company must have reached the entry level of the castle. To the left is a square room with an open door out the far side. A pool or fountain inside a walled courtyard can be seen, and the sound of fleeing footsteps comes back through the doorway. The room itself appears to be a lounge or bar of sorts, with kegs tapped and on stands and low tables strewn with dirty mugs and cups. Mounted along the walls are gruesomely decaying, poorly stuffed trophy heads -- Human, Elven, Dwarven, and Gnomish.
Two trolls tussle with Adrienne and Winthrop in the middle of the room while Diego and Perrin fire arrows through the confused melee. One of the trolls is huge and seems willing to exchange being struck by Winthrop's magical bolts for the opportunity to rend and bite at Winthrop's corpulent frame. Seeing the arrival of the rest of the Company, Winthrop cries out in happiness. "A little help would be most appreciated!" he shouts. "Otto is fighting off two of those things from the Pomarj, the birdbears!"
Raven and Al have no qualms about entering into battle with the trolls and immediately focus on combining their attacks with Diego and Perrin. The troll is struck by arrow after arrow, but surprisingly still stands. The deep voice heard up above resonates from the troll, and the Company feels as if a baleful vision has been cast upon them. Their luck will certainly not be good for some time.
Jasper turns and charges through the other door, figuring that the rooms must interconnect. Indeed, it seems he is correct, as an open door extends out of the left side of the room, but the room itself is a very foul smelling kitchen. There is a large firepit, an oven, a huge vat of very strong ale, a huge pile of bones in one corner, shelves piled with fetid, unrecognizable foodstuffs, and a sink with a huge pile of greasy unwashed plates and mugs. Jasper begins to run through the room to help Otto out when the pile of bones stirs. Four giant, furred heads thrust themselves from the bones. "Do you bring us food, or are you the food that is brought?" growls the largest of the weasels.
"I bring much food," growls Jasper in return. "So much food I can not carry it all. Go up the stairs and eat your fill. All that is still is yours, even the cooked food. Do not bother those that still move, or you will not eat any more!" The giant weasels cock their head at Jasper and then bound in sinuous motion up the stairs behind him, to feast upstairs.
Battle averted, Jasper runs through the kitchen into the next room, a large dining room with long, greasy tables and chairs, smoke-stained walls, and blood-stained floors. A poorly drafting, wall fireplace gives off thick smoke, impeding visibility, but Otto and two huge owl-headed bears are engaged in frightful battle. A third owl-headed bear lies in a pile beside them. Otto's blows are mighty, but the owl-headed bears are no minor foes. They do enough harm to Otto that even the ring taken outside of Longspear is insufficient to restore all of Otto's strength. With a cry, Jasper runs up behind the nearest of the owl-headed bears and hews it mightily with his halberd.
Jasper's contribution is all that is needed to break the dynamic of the battle. Ignoring one of the owl-headed bears for a brief moment, Otto unleashes a flurry of blows on Jasper's opponent. Combining their efforts, they slay the owl-headed bears, one and then the other.
Otto and Jasper stagger into the other room, where the rest of the Company gathers. The larger troll is dismembered and being burnt by Hugh as the Company's wounds are being tended to. "Some of the bugbears ran out the door and across the courtyard towards the tower," says Winthrop.
"Well then, they're next," grinds Otto, as he finishes bandaging his wounds.