Of the Search for Things that Burn, and the Search for Things to Burn

OK, so when we last left off, we had just (barely) defeated one of those nasty frost-breathing, never-dying trolls. As we stood about in our various states of disarray and damage, we poked around for a bit and decided the Way To Stay Alive was to get another full rest and come back to (hopefully) clear out the place and (also hopefully but increasingly unlikely as time passes) find the rescue party that was sent to rescue us. (Oh hey; did I mention that they were *given a map* to find Axeholm? Not that that will hinder my desire to rescue them, but just wanted to say Fuck Wester.)
 
Anyway, we chose life, and went back upstairs to both do a more thorough search and to heal up/spell up again as a party. Ostensibly, our search upstairs was to find flammable stuff to throw at any remaining trolls, of which we were certain there was at least one. It wasn't a thorough sweep, but we did find stuff to light on fire as well as a very odd eagle that came to life and attacked us in the bric-a-brac room. (Note to self: remind Oz that Hooty may come to life and peck out his eyes while he sleeps.) Baric checked for magic, and found a fair amount of residue, but did note that the leather bag we picked up from Cuthulu glowed brightly under his spell.
 
The dwarven chick upstairs remained as unhelpful as ever, though we did feed and water her, and brought her up a mattress and a blanket. She let us know the trolls were her friends, and Baric wanted to start an inquisition on the spot but we left her tied up and gagged again. If we live, we'll come back for her and deal with that later. She *may* be hostage material if we get to that point with whoever has the un-rescue party. But I find it way more likely our primary negotiation tactic will be to kill all the bastards. It's worth noting that I had another black-out period again -- thank god, not in battle. But I've definitely got to do something about this. Soon.
 
At any rate, rested and loaded down with Things That Burn, we made our way back into the tunnel system to go explore the great cavern with the statues -- and hopefully find some clues as to the whereabouts of the missing party. We never made it that far. The dwarves up front set off a Monster Summoning Spell again, and those weird eyeless creatures began to swarm out of the tunnels in front of us.
 
Dash and Oz made a smart tactical move by falling back into the big cave, where we could set up something of a kill zone. Shortly thereafter, a Frost Troll made its appearance and did it's thing with breath damage. Murland and I -- and probably Baric -- need to be more purposeful about staying out of range. I was lucky to not be in the cone this time, but Murland went down and we began the "if you feed the magician a berry" routine. I managed to shove one in his mouth while I backed up and proceeded to shoot from a distance > the frost breath. The little critters kept pouring out and I was able to cast Spike Growth for the first time, and at first blush I would say it is pretty damn effective at crowd control.
 
Everybody did their thing: Oz and Dash were our bulwark up front, taking and dealing damage, Murland was busy casting fire at the troll, and Baric was alternately healing and taking magical swipes at the various critters. We are getting more efficient, and between Murland and torches, we managed to put the thing down for good. Damn good idea of Dash's to create additional torches with some oily rags and various furniture legs that we busted up upstairs. I *think* we are going to be capable of another encounter, and hope we can press on from here.
 
Meanwhile, this is the first we have seen of the eyeless creatures, and I think it augurs well for us: perhaps we are, indeed, getting close to finding the erstwhile rescue party.