Quoted By:
>7
Unfortunately your high spirits from initial success can't carry you all the way. As to be expected, not all the outlaws would be open to negotiation but what hits you as a big surprise is the realization that not all the outlaws are human.
<span class="mu-g">"-yeow!! Strogga should kill you for that, elvie!"</span>
<span class="mu-s"><span class="mu-i">"...so the troll can speak. Consider that a warning against further trespass..."</span></span>
You've never seen elves before, not up close anyway. And you wouldn't have seen them if not for your regenerative troll physiology; the bastards shot you right in the eye with an arrow! You can painfully yank it out and you'll regrow a new eye in time, but you won't so easily heal from the sore upset and anger. If the humans have their animosity and avoidance towards your kind then these elves are even worse! Although you believe they might react that way towards everyone, since the sheriff led you here but kept a very far distance away.
It seems then negotiation isn't possible with this bunch, or at least not in the way you're used to. Shame, since you'd love to get your hands on them! But against your rage and impulse to smash and kill, you withhold violence for the time being. If only because you're uncertain of what the elves are capable of if they could so easily ambush you in the forest without being noticed... you didn't even smell them!
What you are sure of however is that these elves will have to be dealt with, and mercilessly so. Unlike the humans you've met so far who turned to banditry out of desperation because of the war, these elves are opportunistic outlaws. They learned of the troubled times the humans of this land are facing and they came here specifically to predate and benefit from human hardship. The only good news is that there seem to be quite a small number of them, and while negotiation may be difficult but not impossible, you wouldn't be satisfied unless some punishment was in order.
And not just because of your lost eye!
