Ironsworn: The Iron Plague Ep. 2 Burble the Troll

Out from the mist emerges a large creature crawling on all four limbs. Drexar and Arni have never met such a creature, but their parents have told them stories before. The troll is first to speak, and it is evident that while this older creature is quite stern, he is also kind and lonely. Or kind enough to not kill them. While Arni is quite scared of the larger creature, he leads most of the discussion. Burble reveals his history to the young humans, telling them that while he fell asleep on duty as a guard, the king was assassinated. The now widow queen exiled Burble from all the firstborn lands, and he now lives alone in the forest hoping for his chance at redemption. He believes that Drexar and Arni can help him, and Arni vows to help the Troll to discover an ancient city to recover a long lost relic of the firstborn people. With the retrieval of this item, he is hoping that he will be able to return to his people. Either way, Burble has promised to give the boys information about the locations of firstborn cities if they bring him the item.

However, retrieving the item will not be easy. Burble tells the boys that the city has been overrun with undead creatures that have been dormant for many years but have been much more active as of late. The timeline follows the rumors of the plague that is beginning to spread, and Drexar files this information away hoping to find some connection if possible.

Drexar is getting more and more worried about both of his friends though. While traveling has gone smoothly, it is not looking like they will be able to find the information they need for a cure quickly. And while he likes Burble, the extra pressure of helping Burble on top of everything else weighs on him.

Burble does not offer a place for the boys to stay, instead giving them a quarter piece of a map with barely any clue of where they need to go. Arni sets up camp a short ways away from Burbles tree home, and they sleep through the cold night, both worried about the events to come.

In the morning over a small breakfast, Drexar and Arni decide that they need to continue to discover a city on their own, fulfilling their vow to Burble at a later date if they are able to find more information. Drexar prepares a blood rune on his ax, red magic flowing from him, through his arm and finger and into the ax.

While traveling they see a small fire ahead, so Arni scouts ahead of Drexar to see if the group ahead is a danger. He discovers a group of elves, who have a small fire going. Listening with a careful ear, he overhears that they have a plan to use a fire primordial to attach the giants and the frame another elven city. When Arni turns to return to Drexar, he makes a faint noise, but the elves quickly jump to attention preparing for an attack. Rather than retreating to his friend, he jumps out to try and attack the closest elf. However, the elf was further than he thought and so his advantage quickly turns as he is now locked in combat with this elf, while a second circles around preparing to attack his flank.

Drexar notices his friend attacking, and so he also begins to circle around, trying to maintain hidden to see if he could gain an advantage. Drexar hides behind a tree, noticing an elf nearby. He quickly jumps out, felling the elf in one swipe. The blood rune takes effect and red magic flows, this time from his ax and into him. Drexar is invigorated and ready for his next target.

While this occurs, Arni eventually kills the first elf that he attacked while also defending the attacks from the second elf. Drexar yells to Arni to keep one alive, cleaving the head off another elf. With the last elf still alive and fleeing, Arni jumps and tackles the elf to the ground. Perched on top of the elf, and taking a deep breath, Arni believes the battle is over. However, upon looking around him, he notices a fifth elf running through the forest.

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Next up: Episode 3