Rogues Watch.
The beginning
Nakretull… in his birth tribe it meant No Tongue. In his infant years he had been completely silent, not even a whimper for food or a cry in pain. When the time of his naming came, his tribal witchdoctor only saw it fit to name him Nakretull.
One night during the second war and his adolescent years, his tribe had been attacked by a mob of human soldiers clad in silver plated armor. In the surprise attack Nakretull had witnessed his family fight valiantly in a hopeless effort to survive. He was the sole survivor of a tribe that had been eradicated at the hands of the sandy skinned scum.
After wandering around in the jungle for a week dieing of hunger a Darkspear hunting party had found him. The Darkspears adopted him and raised him as one of their own. As a Darkspear his calling as a rogue was found and he would vow to hunt down the humans who murdered his forgotten tribe and get his revenge.
Years later...
He moved silently through the foliage protecting him from the view of the human and the dwarf. The human was a female and by the looks of the staff and garments worn a mage as well. The dwarf was male and given the feline at his side, a hunter as well.
He had been following the two intruders for 7 hours now. He wanted to wait before they would set up camp so they were as tired as possible before he launched his attack. By the blood on their steel, and silence in the air they had been in battle recently and were dead tired. Well not dead, not yet. So soon would be the time to strike.
Tonight I eat!
The duo was about to come upon a small clearing already within view and Nakretull knew this would be their camp. Now their minds would be focused on the food and sleep to come and now was the perfect time to strike. He began closing in on there position. For every one of their steps Nakretull took three. Adrenaline began to pump and heart began to race yet his breathing remained steady and quiet.
The dwarf is closer, he gets the surprise.. Square off with the human.
He was now within striking distance and he was moving into position for a strike on the dwarf when snap. He had accidentally overlooked and stepped on a dead branch in anticipation of the ambush. You stupid fool you ruined it! Now, attack them now before they attack you.
He leaped out at the dwarf dagger in hand aiming for the back of his neck.
Even though alerted by the sound of the breaking branch, the duo didn't have the time to locate and adequately prepare for an attack from their stalker. However his mistake had cost him a precious second or two that would have made this a perfect ambush. By the time Nakretull was airborne the mage was already chanting a spell and the dwarf was already turning to face his attacker.
Turning around had saved the dwarfs life since the dagger meant for his neck had landed in his left shoulder. AAAARRRG! Nakretull pushed the dagger deep as the armor and muscle of the dwarf would let it go and actually landed with both feet on the shoulders of his victim. For a second, the 4 and a half foot dwarf supported the weight of a 7 and a quarter foot troll and the dagger in his shoulder but as strong as he was the dwarf's knees buckled.
Less than a second after the dwarf had dropped to his knees and before the troll could twist the dagger out a small explosion erupted at his stomach hurling him off the dwarfs back and into a tree. Dazed he looked up to see the female with eyes ablaze and already preparing another ball of fire which he knew had his name on it. This was more power from the mage than he had expected and the dwarf was already beginning to recover from the attack. And to add salt to the wound the dwarf's furry companion was already charging his masters assailant. Doubt began to rise in his mind. He was ready to give up.
Then he remembered all the foes he had beaten in battle before. All of those were worthless, their time had come as yours will one day. Will that day be today? Are you worthless? You scum get up and redeem yourself for alerting them to your presence.
At that moment his vision turned a hazy red and at once millions of stimulants flooded his already keen senses. Nakretull as he knew himself faded once again from this world as the berserker inside came to finish the battle for him.
The troll let out a howl and was on his feet with a dagger in one hand and 2 weighted throwing axes in the other. The cat pounced and an axe nailed its neck mid air dropping it mere feet before it collided with the troll. Already another ball of flames was on collision course with the troll's torso, but this time the troll was able to see and duck under the missile of fire by inches. However he wasn't fast enough to evade the thunder that ripped his own shoulder to pieces when the dwarf pulled the trigger. The dagger dropped.
Pain and anger made the troll drool uncontrollably. The scatter shot had torn about half of his own left shoulder away exposing his bone and making any movement or wielding of a weapon impossible. He threw the remaining axe at the dwarf in an attempt to keep the hunter from firing off another round into him. He didn't even watch to see if the axe hit the target. As soon as he let it go he dropped to pick up the dagger with the good hand and began a dash for the mage. Whether it was the axe he threw, the sprint that he was now in, or even just inaccuracy of the weapon, the dwarf's thunder barrel missed completely. The troll didn't know why, and didn't care.
The rogue was steps away from the human and both know once he was within melee range the mage would have little chance of survival. Confusion and panic was stalling the mage from being able to move or start a new spell against the rogue. The dwarf had an axe buried in his right hand and was now running to aid the mage in melee combat with the rogue unsure of how much help he could offer with an injury to both arms.
Just as it was inches away from her heart the mage was fast enough to deflect the dagger upwards with her staff. But in the continued forward motion of the trolls attack, the daggers edge slid across her cheek. As she stumbled back the troll was already pushing forward another attack. She wasn't even able to shriek from pain of the gash in her cheek before the rogue's dagger plunged into her stomach.
Too late to save his companion, the dwarf's Battle axe was coming down on the troll in a wicked arc that could have easily cut the troll in two. But the rogue troll was able to parry the attack, wasn't good enough. The axe still grazed his good forearm.
The rouges left arm had regenerated enough tissue and nerves to cover the exposed shoulder bone and give some movement to the arm again so the troll had shot a weak punch at the hunter and connected with its nose. Even though the punch wouldn't even have caused swelling it shocked the inexperienced dwarf for a split second. Long enough for the rogue to get behind the hunter and bring in a clean slash to the hunters hamstring dropping him once more to the floor.
The trolls controlled mind faded back into the world and Nakretull stood over the two bleeding foes moaning on the floor. He was going to kill the two companions so he could eat tonight but he stopped. You worm… you let them discover your presence before you attacked. You don't deserve their meat. Leave them be, today you failed, and so they will live. So instead of killing them he watched until they both passed out.
The two woke up hours later mysteriously bandaged up. The hunters pet was dead leaving him alone until he found a new one. And the mages cheek was to be scarred horribly for the rest of her life. Neither would ever forget their encounter with the troll who spared their lives.
Several miles away from the awakening duo Nakretull was camped and cutting off his left badly mangled arm. It was too torn up for this one to heal perfectly so it was best to regenerate an entirely new one. As he was doing this, he was remembering bits and pieces of what had happened in his berserker state and putting the pieces together so that he might learn from this experience. As his arm hit the dirt the stench of his charred stomach had risen to his nose. Been a long time since you've had troll meat. Even though it's not good as human and dwarf it'll stop hunger for tonight.
So the troll picked up his arm and put it over the fire to cook.