Of the five boulders, the one that stood and is looking your way was in the middle, as you talk to each other, it nods its head in a few quick motions, then dips its shoulders.  You feel vibrations run through the ground.  It repeats the movements, and the vibrations come again.

"It isn't rushing to attack us," Inas points out.

He puts his hand on the hilt of his sword but does not draw it, and takes one step forward.

"Living as they do in the heart of the mountain, it may be that they understand the dwarf-speech."  Nemble opined.

"Ho there, stone ones."  He called out in dwarven, taking a cautious step on to the stone bridge.

As the party moves closer to the bridge, the creature does not respond to attempts to talk to it, but you do get a look at the mound on which they are sitting and standing.  The mound, in fact, is familiar looking to Inas, Rath, and Saliq, not a mound so much as a Golem, flat on its back.  One of the stone creatures is sitting on its wrists, and ankles, the standing creature is on its chest.

The golem turns it ugly long toothed head up and on seeing the party approaching tries to move, but its pinned helplessly to the ground.

ooc: for those who missed the first encounter with the golem, you can find its description in Chapter 8: In the shadow of the mountains, msg#38 .
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:18, Fri 22 May 2020.

"I think we've found what caused the quakes."  Nemble said, stroking his finely manicured beard.  Then, his curiosity getting the better of him ... he advanced for a closer look.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:12, Fri 22 May 2020.

Doc moves and gives Nemble a nudge, "No time for fiddling old boy."  He helps keep the others on task as much as he can.

'I... I suppose the rock trolls are literally rocks,' Saliq said, his tones reflecting his surprise. 'Be unbelievably careful Nemble.'

Nemble cocked his head off to the side, listening in thoughtful contemplation for a moment.  If there had been a symphony, he could not have been more rapt.

"They may not speak the dwarf-speech,"  He said, calling attention to the swaying, bobbing movements of the rock creatures, and the low frequency droning hums that accompanied them.  "But I believe these rock trolls are communicating with us."

The gnome's bushy white eyebrows arched up sharply as an idea struck him.  "I have an idea."  He said as he reached into one of his pouches and withdrew a pinch of salt which he promptly placed on his tongue.

From another pouch, he retrieved a small blackened piece of wood from a recent campfire.  This he crushed until it was nothing more than a handful of sooty charcoal.  He ritually sprinkled the black dust in a line between the party and the stone brutes and intoned some words in an ancient tongue.

It's like listening to two voices talking at once:

behold beware// great strong evil
conquered // proud stronger tribe
not killed // frustrated curious

After a few moments, again it bobs its head and vibrations follow:

Understand / Groundlings talk

Saliq glanced at Nemble. 'Well done.'

To the rock trolls he said: 'Proud and mighty warriors we ask your help. We are tracking the creator of this evil to slay him,' The illusionist said, pointing at the prone golem. 'In its mouth it has a magical piece of paper we need to remove. When we do it will lead us to its creator.'

Saliq's words sets off a tumult of head bobbing and vibration amongst the five rock trolls.  It is short lived but for a moment it feels like they could cause damage with all that nose.

Nimble, tries to understand as they talk over and between themselves.

creator destroyed / creation destroyed??

and

proof where /  trust how

are common threads to the discussion.

Saliq glanced at the rest of the group. 'Any thoughts on how we can convince them?'

"I think they may be asking if the golem will be destroyed when we deal with the golem's creator."  Nemble opined.

"In any event, they are unsure if they can trust us."

"The mage that created this golem has sent it into your homes,"  He began.  "Just as he sent it to my friends here in the outside world.  It's only purpose is to kill and destroy."

"This wizard gravely erred, sending a machine of destruction into such beautiful and untouched places."  He continued, raising a gloved hand to indicate the bridge at the heart of the mountain.

He glanced around his new comrades, ensuring he had their support before continuing.  "I — we — swear now an oath, that I will seek out this mage and make him pay for his miscalculation."

There is a softer vibration, almost a purring from the five,  the center one adds.

"Get paper show /  confirmation trust"

It then turns, walks up the golems chest, using its massive arms pries the golems mouth wide open, and waits.

"Ordinarily, I wouldn't be too keen on putting my hands in that thing's maw.  D'ya think it's safe to do so?  And is that how to retrieve it -- literally ram your hands down its throat?"

Rath frowns, he half wanted to fight this thing, his stupid half.

Running a hand through is curly hair, he shrugs his shoulder at Inas,

"Seems like a medical procedure, eh, Doc?" looking at the new dwarf in the group.

Doc shrugged and deftly moved forward and retrieved anything inside the mouth, obviously trusting the stones to be able to keep the mouth open long enough for him to retrieve what was inside.

As Doc approaches the golems head, he gets a better feeling for how huge it is, almost 18 feet tall (when not being pinned to the ground).  He can also feel the energy that both the golem and his captors are exerting, one to free itself, the others to keep it still.  The air hums with the heat and energy being expended.

Making his way to its open maw, he can see its tongue is pressed to the base of its mouth, although, he is surprised it doesn't smell bad, mostly just like a muddy ditch in there.  He finds as he reaches in, that it is a muddy ditch in there, he forces his hand and arm beneath the tongue and sure enough, feels a parchment there.

Pulling it out is easy, but he's very glad the Rock Troll is holding the beast steady.

He pulls out his arm, covered in thick brown mud, but the parchment, small enough to be from a normal sized book, is clean and untouched.  There is writing on it that seems to squirm on the page, and looking at it hurts his head and makes his stomach clench.  Evil aura clings to it like a webbing of ink.

Immediately, the golem stops fighting to be free, you can feel the energy drain.

Saliq let loose a sigh of relief he hadn't known he'd been holding in.

'Thank all the gods for that. I better take that page Doc.' He gingerly reached out for it, trying to fight off his distaste at the vile magic.

"So now what?  That seemed . . . uncharacteristically easy."

Doc, handed over the paper easily.  He was glad to have both arms by the look of things on his face.  "Well, do we go back or forward?"

As Saliq tucks away the evil parchment, the Earth Trolls all stand back, letting the golem free.  For a moment, it stands and looks around but it does not attack, and turns and continues to the east, along the same highway and in the same direction.

It does seem anti climatic for a battle, but as you watch it go, the five trolls turn and walk away

"I think we follow it."  And Inas makes ready to do so.

The rock trolls depart, without a goodbye.  Strange creatures, and intriguing, but no time to think much about it, your golem is heading east.  Not fast though, even with his long legs, he staggers along at a slow  pace.  Occasionally, a bit of him falls off.


ooc: unless anyone has plans to do aught but follow this golem to its creator, I'll update the journey, and open a new chapter. It is going to take a week of travelling, but...you know it ends with its creator, I urge you to plan/prepare.