Many weeks later as the communities of
Iredar cope with the winter snow Wren receives a surprise visit from Ciren and Elwen of the
Forgotten Keep. The Elves believe that the ogres who attacked their tower and the giants and ogres who
attacked the kingdom's southern borders were sent to cause havoc on the orders of a 'Troll King' seeking to establish his own realm south of Iredar. The
Elves, however, have tracked his mercenaries back to his lair and believe that an attack by Iredar in winter will achieve
an element of surprise. Wren agrees and sends Mistletov, Raguso, Raigen and Sin to infiltate the Troll King's complex and
hopefully neutralise it.
The underground complex's security is indeed lax and an invisible Sin is sent in to gain some understanding of its layout. One room looks like an old dwarven temple and is full of ghosts. Since the
most important rooms appear to be at the back of the complex, however, the party decide to enter in that region. By the magical arts of Raigen they are transported
through the earth and rock surrounding the complex. Sin, however, did not have much time to explore the rooms at the back and by a
stroke of fate they emerge in the Troll King's private room where he is ensconced with his sorceress partner. Both form formidable
adversaries but the party overcome them which as the Elves remark is the best possible start to their incursion. They discover that
the Troll King, Hargulka, and his consort, Gurija, had created plans for a whole campaign against Iredar.
The party move stealthily through the complex taking out its occupants room by room. They slay trolls (one with two heads), trollhounds and leucrottas but make allies of some of the Troll King's less enthusastic guests who are only too willing to change sides. In this way they are
joined by two magic using kobolds and a small band of hobgoblin archers. These latter troops they leave in the cave complex to act as caretakers until its fate is decided (it was later occupied by the Dwarves). On the way out they hear the siren sound of harpies singing
and kill one and drive off the other of the two of these unwelcome monsters who had taken residence in the complex's lookout tower.
The party are invited to the Forgotten Keep by the Elves and since Raigen appears to be keen to meet the Elf Lord and Lady they accept. On the
way they meet a somewhat confused and not very intelligent hill giant who they persuade to work for them in return for regular barrels of
ale. They send him to help clear up the trolls' complex. They also discover the lair of a fire drake and rather too quickly afterwards a fire drake. The beast is large and aggressive for its kind but is slain by the party. The Elf Lord is very pleased to see the party and hear of their success and prepares a sumptious feast for them. Raigen promises to return to the Keep in spring but the party then head back to Iredar.