Slag Troll

Encontros Pendrake — NQ18

While I have met a few “civilized” trolls, and I count myself fortunate enough to have friends among the trollbloods, much of the troll race is vicious, brutish, and above all, hungry. I speak not of the trollkin, who ponder and feel much as men do, but rather of their full-blood troll cousins. While they can think and reason, and many have good hearts, the core of any troll remains a hungry animal.

Trolls exist in a bewildering variety, and most of this variety arises due to the trolls’ diets. Trolls, having powerful gastric juices and phenomenal regenerative ability, can eat just about anything. Indeed, some of them go out of their way to eat the most vile and poisonous substances, which can radically influence their appearance.

For example, while most trolls eat meat and some vegetable matter, slag trolls subsist primarily on metals. (How this trait developed I can only speculate). In their mountainous homes, slag trolls mostly crunch up and consume rocks for the bits of metal inside them. Lucky slag trolls find deposits of mineral ore, and especially fortunate specimens run across civilization. Our weapons, armor, machines, and mechanika, make the human societies of the Iron Kingdoms banquets for slag trolls. Thus, when a slag troll finds such a place, he tends to stick around — and he has no qualms about swallowing the soft, pink bits between tasty armor plates.

Even the slag troll’s mighty stomach rebels at the volume of metal the troll ingests, however. In an attempt to rid the troll’s anatomy of the invasive substance, the troll’s body pushes the pieces of metal through its flesh. The troll’s muscle and tissue regenerating as the metal slowly travels to the troll’s skin and pushes into the open. This process causes a buildup of metal lumps and chunks on the troll’s already thick hide. In addition, this process must be painful, and I suspect some of the metals poison the troll’s brain. Thus, slag trolls are even dimmer and more foul-tempered than their dire troll brethren — which I did not imagine possible.

— Viktor Pendrake

Slag trolls are dire troll cousins who dine on metal. This diet caused a number of changes in the troll’s anatomy, including the evolution of incredibly powerful stomach acid, metal plates and knobs punching through the skin which resemble the rocky calcification on dire trolls, and a constantly sour mood. Perpetually hungry, like all trolls, slag trolls mostly consume metal, but their bodies also drive them to devour meat. A slag troll who encounters a creature immediately charges, attacks, and eats. Only another troll has a chance of safely passing by a slag troll unmolested.

This encounter, designed for four PCs of 9th level, can take place in virtually any mountainous wilderness area. A cold region — Khador, northern Llael, and Rhul, for example — works best. The default setting is the Thundercliff Peaks in eastern Khador, but feel free to alter this.

Since slag trolls eat anything that comes close, the area should be somewhat far from civilization. Not too far, though; a few unfortunate souls have already encountered the troll. Make sure to change the details to correspond with the new location. (For example, if you set the encounter in Rhul, the bones in the troll’s den might come from dwarves rather than Khadorans, unless you’re looking for another encounter hook).

Feel free to place the troll’s den as high or as low in the mountains as you like, depending on how much difficult climbing and mountaineering the players feel like doing.

This encounter requires the Iron Kingdoms Character Guide and the Monsternomicon, Vol. II (the slag troll appears on pgs. 160–163).

Encounter Background

One nasty, brutish slag troll (adjectives that describe them all) lairs in a cave system in the Thundercliff Peaks. Society (and adventurers) would be better off just leaving the troll alone to terrorize the local mountain goats and caribou in peace. And alone they might have left him except for two factors. First, a group of Khador explorers ran afoul of the troll and wound up decorating its den with their blood. Second, and more importantly, the troll lairs in an untapped gold mine. The troll chose this cave because of its natural
mineral deposits; the beast, of course, has no idea or concern that this yellow metal holds great value to humans.

What brings the PCs to the Thundercliff Peaks and then to the troll’s den is up to you and your players. Some ideas include:

• A family member, acquaintance, or employer of one of the missing Khadoran explorers asks or hires the PCs to discover what happened to him.
• Blaustava Shipping and Rail believes that unfound gold veins run through the Thundercliff Peaks. The company hires the PCs to search the place.
• Rumors of dragonspawn in the area prompt other forces to hire the PCs to investigate the mountains for the Legion of Everblight and to gather intelligence if they do find dragonspawn.
• One of the people the troll killed was a friend or family member of one of the PCs.
• A force of trollbloods has heard that a slag troll dwells in the mountains. The trollbloods want to enlist its help in their cause, but they know they can’t reason with it without first proving their strength. Thus, they send the PCs to subdue the slag troll and return it to their camp. (Note that doing so is significantly more difficult than slaying the troll.)

The Den (EL 11)

The PCs encounter the troll in its den. The PCs arrive while the troll is away (hunting, searching, investigating, or whatever it is slag trolls do when they’re not home) and find numerous clues about the beast that lives there without immediately identifying it. Thorough and clever characters can also discover resources and opportunities to do some damage to the troll when it returns. Thus, while a straight fight with a slag troll would be difficult for 9th-level characters, PCs who use their skills and their brains can ambush the troll and make the battle easier. This encounter rewards strategy and careful planning. It also lets the PCs turn the tables and ambush a monster in a cave, rather than the other way around.

The troll’s den is a gaping cave mouth on a snow-capped peak. Numerous troll tracks dot the snow all around as do drag marks from prey the troll has dragged into its cave. A character with the Track feat can use the Survival skill to discover certain information at this point:

• DC 10 reveals that the most recent tracks are a couple hours old. The creature that made the tracks obviously lairs in the cave.
• DC 15 determines that a Huge troll made the tracks. Combining this check with a Knowledge (nature) (DC 15) check determines that they are dire troll tracks, while a Knowledge (nature) (DC 20) check reveals that the troll is a slag troll. (Of course, at any point the characters realize that their quarry is a slag troll, they can use bardic knowledge, Knowledge (nature), or divination magic to determine what they know about such creatures. See pg. 163 of the Monsternomicon vol. II for the troll’s legends and lore.)
• DC 20 identifies the drag marks as belonging to a mountain goat and a polar bear. The mountain goat was brought in a couple days ago, the bear a couple days before that.
• DC 25 identifies a single boot print made by a humanoid foot, perhaps two weeks ago. The marks indicate a man wearing mountaineering gear. A Search check (DC 25) also locates the print, but the PC needs the Track feat and the Survival check to determine further information.

In addition, a Search check (DC 20) discovers a small yellow flake near the cave mouth: gold! The flake isn’t worth anything on its own (at least, not more than a few silvers), but it indicates the possible presence of gold in the cave.

When the PCs enter the cave, read or paraphrase the following. The description assumes that they have a light source; if they don’t, the cave is dark, with only the light from outside providing illumination.

READ ALOUD:

The cave mouth opens into a large cavern, the ceiling soaring upward to thirty or forty feet. The place bears an unpleasant animal smell, as of some great creature dwelling within.

It is cold, and icicles spill from slick overhangs. Rocks of many sizes lie piled about, some over ten feet across. To the left, the ground slopes sharply upward into darkness. To the right, the ground slopes down to a frozen lake. Its length is lost in shadow.

Characters who make Spot checks (DC 15) also notice yellow glints on the walls. Closer inspection reveals thin veins of gold. The visible gold isn’t worth much on its own, but it probably indicates additional gold deposits within the walls and deeper in the earth.

Conditions

The cave has no light unless the PCs have some. It is cold (but not cold enough to deal damage, assuming characters are properly attired) and eerily quiet.
The purpose of the encounter is for the PCs to use foresight and strategy to defeat their foe. Thus, they need some time in the den before the slag troll returns. The monster appears at the cavern’s entrance shortly after the PCs have made their plan and begun lying in wait. If the PCs post a lookout, he sees the troll approach when the beast is still ten minutes away.

Secrets of the Den

This encounter gives the PCs everything they need to figure out what lives her and have a chance to prepare. Ideally, they determine that a slag troll lairs here and develop a good idea of what to do against such a beast. The PCs might uncover this information through use of skills like Survival and Knowledge (nature) as well as bardic knowledge and divination magic. They might also uncover clues and strategies in the den.

The following features and secrets wait in the cave for the PCs to discover. In all cases that are signs of the troll (claw marks on the wall, excrement, and so forth), a Knowledge (nature) check (DC 15) identifies the den’s occupant as a dire troll, while a DC 20 check identifies it as a slag troll. (Characters can then use Knowledge (nature) to learn more.) Each additional clue that a character examines (including the tracks outside) provide a +2 bonus to these Knowledge checks.

Gold: The gold on the walls, while impressive, does not tell the PCs as much as the marks on the walls. The walls around the obvious gold veins are scored and smashed, as if with large claws and powerful fists. In addition, characters who specifically look for gold in the cavern itself (rather than the walls), or those who make a Spot (DC 35) or Search (DC 30) check, notice that none of the rocks in the cavern have any sign of gold (the slag troll has eaten them all). This fact is a further clue the PCs can use to identify the cavern’s occupant.

An appropriate skill check (such as Profession [miner]) at DC 20 determines that the gold in the walls could indicate gold deposits in the mountain’s recesses worth as much as 10,000 gp or more.

Excrement: A Search check (DC 10) reveals the troll’s latrine: a pile of now-frozen (but fresh) excrement near the lake shore.

Boulders: A number of large, rounded rocks stand about. Characters could move the largest to the top of the slope, and roll them onto the troll. Doing so requires a ranged attack roll; the troll makes a Reflex save (DC = the result of the attack roll) to avoid the rock. Failure means the troll takes 3d6 points of damage. Three boulders of appropriate size are available.

The Slopes: The cavern slopes steeply upward to the northwest and steeply downward to the northeast. Frozen water or a grease spell could make these surfaces treacherous for trolls (and PCs).

The Lake: The lake measures 50’ wide, 60’ long, and 20’ deep and has just a couple inches of ice on its surface, which makes it treacherous for heavy characters and for slag trolls. The ice can support up to 200 pounds with increasingly dangerous cracking, but anything over 200 pounds that remains on the ice for more than a move action falls through. Swimming is easy — DC 10 — but the water is frigid. Creatures in it take 1d6 points of cold damage per round. In addition, climbing out onto the slippery ice requires a Climb check (DC 15) and could cause further shattering at the GM’s discretion.

The Exploration Team: A couple weeks ago, a Khadoran exploration team stumbled across the cave just as the PCs have done. Unfortunately, the troll came home before they could properly prepare, and they proved no match for it. A Search (DC 20) check uncovers their gnawed remains wedged between several boulders and the wall.

The slag troll ate most of the explorers and their possessions, but it smelled nothing tasty in one backpack and discarded it. Within its ruined remains lie several sheets of tightly rolled parchment in a wooden scroll case. Some of these detail the dangerous aspects of several monsters — including all the information from the “Legends & Lore” sections of the Monsternomicon vol. II for slag trolls, carniveans, nephilim, and the Lord of the Feast– –and others act as scrolls containing the arcane spells burning hands, charm monster, cone of cold, ice storm, knock, and rusting grasp.

Slag Troll

The slag troll returns to its den whenever appropriate. It drags behind it what’s left of a caribou (the part it hasn’t yet eaten). The creature suffers a -2 to Listen and Spot checks as it does not expect to fall under attack in its den.
The slag troll’s appearance at the cave should be impressive, and not just because it’s a huge, nasty creature. The troll’s metallic diet has consisted mainly of gold, and the metal bumps and armor on its skin are all gold. The gold is grimy and cov-ered in snow and mud, but the PCs can easily recognize the yellow glint.

Slag Troll: hp 159. See the Monsternomicon, vol. II, pgs. 160–163, for statistics.

TACTICS: Though not currently ravenous (as close as these creatures get to
“sated”), the slag troll would never pass up the chance to dine on tasty new mor-sels — especially any carrying metal. The sight of intruders incites it to fury, and it rages immediately. It charges the first intruder it sees, and keeps pummeling until they all go down. Its cleverest tactic is to vomit on whoever wears the most armor. It pursues creatures out of its lair, but the PCs might shake it by splitting up (in which case perhaps only one of them will die) or traveling across difficult terrain.

TREASURE: In addition to the equipment the PCs find on the Khador explora-tion team, they can extract gold worth 3,000 Khadoran talons from the slag troll’s body (a process taking several hours).

In addition, the PCs could cash in by bringing a mining team to the cave or gain a reward (worth an amount of your choosing) by alerting a mining company to the cave’s existence. How much gold might be hidden in the rocks is up to you.

Fonte: No Quarter 18

Slag Troll

Slag trolls are even less intelligent than dire trolls, and the pain of their digestive process leaves them in a constantly sour mood. Plus, they like eating things. Unsurprisingly, therefore, a slag troll’s standard approach to anything is to charge, pummel, and eat, whether or not they can actually kill, let alone consume, their target. The only creatures occasionally safe from their attacks are other trolls whom slag trolls occasionally let pass by, except whelps, whom slag trolls view as tasty snacks.

Slag trolls use their vomit ability when sorely pressed or when their opponent seems particularly difficult to digest (such as a steamjack), preferring to start the digestive process early in these cases.

Metallic Flesh: Deposits of iron and other metals toughen the already regenerative flesh of a slag troll. Anything that affects creatures composed of iron effects a slag troll.
Rage: Because of the pain their diet causes, slag trolls constantly teeter on the brink of frightening rages. A

Legends and Lore, Slag Trol l
Common: Slag trolls dwell in volcanic areas and are known for
eating metal and having a dangerous temper.
Uncommon: The slag troll’s main attack is a virulent vomit that dissolves even serricsteel.
Rare: Slag trolls are immune to damage by fire but are vulnerable to cold.
Obscure: The slag troll has digested enough metal to become vulnerable to magic that would normally only affect creatures made of iron or other metals, including spells like chill metal. Transmute metal to wood reduces the natural armor of a slag troll by 5 points. Rusting grasp instantaneously deals 3d6 points of damage +1 per caster level (maximum +15) per successful attack against a slag troll.

Each species of Troll seems perfect ly suited to its environment, no matter how harsh. Still, I saw no sign of troll life east of the Abyss where life is the harshest.
— V P

Fonte: Monternomicon Vol.2