The Rescue: Turns into a bit of a slog...

After putting the tentacled troll to bed (damn it, Tuath!), we staggered back down the hall and up the stairs into the observatory. We shut the door at the bottom of the steps. Probably should have spiked that sucker shut--something to put on the growing checklist for Next Time.
 
Ermengard was still in the corner by the desk, and still out. Oz apparently packs quite the punch. We settled in for rest.
 
Just before our rest finished, a troll opened the door and climbed the steps, and breathed a frosty cone of doom on us. Did we not set a watch?
 
That was some intense cold! Everything started to go black there for a minute, and then Tuath was stuffing a goodberry in my mouth. I started blasting the troll with fire. One of my spells went a bit wobbly. This happens occassionally for reasons I don't yet understand. It is hard to describe to a non-magic user, but the feel of the spell is off as the spell launches. If I don't try and reshape it as it launches, something bad usually happens. Most of the time, I can fix it on launch, but sometimes that backfires as well, and usually worse. This did not seem to be the time to err on the side of caution, so I pushed a wee bit more power into fixing the spell, and was able to crisp the troll a bit. The dwarves tossed the troll towards the telescope, hoping the tentacles would hold it. They certainly tried, but the troll proved too strong. And another air elemental was summoned! It blasted Dash, and threw him across the room. Once again, we overcame the troll with fire, and beat the air elemental into non-existance.
 
Something very weird about this place. First, what are trolls doing wandering around in Emrics Hall, as Ermengard called it? Seems like a dangerous place to live if trolls are just wandering your hallways. I'd definitely ask for an reduction in rent. Second, who ever heard of a troll with tentacles? And third: cold breathing trolls? I'm beginning to think that Emric might have been performing some sort of sorcerous cross-breeding program. The berowls (owl bears?) might be evidence of this as well.
 
Also, whoever laid the spells down on the telescope must have been pretty powerful. Maybe he left some scrolls or a spellbook or two laying about.
 
We patched ourselves up after the battle, and voted to keep exploring. I'm out of spells, but waiting for another rest seems counterproductive, since we are supposed to be rescuing Solomon and my friends. Before leaving, we again checked Ermengard, and discovered she was no longer tied up. This seemed quite odd, given that she is still unconscious. Maybe she is faking? Anyway, we retied her, and Tuath took special care with the knots, even delivering a short lecture on the subject. There was some eye-rolling from the Dwarven contingent.
 
Tuath spotted a glow out the open end of the observatory, and everyone went down into the bird room to get a better view out the window. Some lights where seen in the forest. Tuath, Oz and Dash were able to make out that they appeared to be human, and where coming and going from the door below. Some voted to climb down and attack, I suggested we try speaking with them through the window, and others wanted to try to find a path to the front door and surprise them. While we dithered, they completed their mission and departed.
 
This explains the signs of heavy traffic we noted below, leading to what we presume is an winch or elevator of some sort. Were they making a delivery? Picking up cargo? Checking that Emric had left his door locked? And why at night? If we make it back to Phanlyn, we should ask around and see if anyone has gone missing. Got a bad feeling.
 
We proceeded back down the hallway, making a cursory examination of the rooms we had investigated before, just to make sure nothing flanked us. They all appeared empty. We did not tempt fate in the kitchen--there may be more fire elementals lurking in that fireplace.
 
West from the room of the Cthulu troll, as Baric has named it, there is a cave. It did not appear to have been tunneled into the built section. It appears the built section antedates the cave. Probably could have asked Oz or Dash for a definite appraisal of the situation.
 
In the center of the cave, there was a pit. At Baric's suggestion, I used my mage hand cantrip to lower a torch into the pit. Two reddish, mishappen lumps of flesh surged out and attacked us. They spit some disgusting spew which temporarily blinded Dash and I, but despite that we slew them quickly. Rummaging around in the bottom of the pit with mage hand, we found some coins. After we've found Solomon and friends, we can come back and do a proper search.
 
Several tunnels exited the cave. The one to the west ended in a staircase. The one to the east opened into a large room...and several trolls. One ran, and one attacked. With freezing breath. Again.
 
Once again, we struggled to get enough fire on the creature to kill it. Once again, we are standing over a smoldering troll corpse, breathing heavily, wounded, and low on spells.
 
This rescue is really turning into a depressing slog through a never-ending army of trolls.