Chapter 11: Strategy and Tactics
Trollmarket, January 14th, 2017
Buffy Summers wanted to roll her eyes at the surprise she saw on the Trollhunters' faces. Sheez, did they really think she could ignore kidnapped babies? She was the Slayer; saving innocent (and even not so innocent) people from monsters was what she had been born to. And you didn't get much more innocent than babies. Or more monstery than kidnapping and eating babies. "Glory first, then Enrico."
"Enrique," Claire corrected her.
This time, Buffy rolled her eyes. "Yes. Anyway. Glory is a hell-god. Or hell-goddess. She wears skanky clothes, isn't very bright and looks for her key. And if she gets it, she'll open the Hellmouth to get back to her hell-home, and Earth becomes Hell on Earth." There, that was an excellent summary! College-worthy!
Giles just had to clear his throat. "It is also said that Glorificus can possess human bodies, though the exact manner of this is not known. But our sources agree that the hell-god can hide amongst humans in this manner, though it may also be a weakness."
"A weakness?" the Trollhunter asked.
"Depending on the manner of possession, the host body dying might also kill the possessing demon," Giles replied. "That is how it works with vampires and a number of other demons."
"Unless it just means that the spirit jumps into the next body." Buffy gave them a fake smile. "That's how it works with Slayers."
"Or Eyghon!" Willow added.
Giles winced at that, and Buffy saw him briefly squeeze his arm with his demonic tattoo. "Yes, quite. Although, while we aren't certain by any means, the sources we've collected, albeit not as numerous as I would like, do lean towards the former rather than the latter sort."
"You want to kill the human to find out if that kills Glory?" Claire asked, staring at them.
"No," Buffy told her.
"It remains a last resort," Giles said. He ignored her glare. "If the fate of billions is at stake, we do have to consider all means at our proposal."
"We're not going to kill an innocent on the off-chance that it will kill a hell-god," Buffy said. They wouldn't. Although if it meant saving Dawn… She buried the thought. And slew it. "We already found a weakness of the skank." She raised her hammer. "This baby can hurt Glory! And so can your sword," she added, nodding at Jim.
"It barely scratched her when I hit her. And it wasn't a glancing blow," the boy said.
"Yes, but it did hurt her," Buffy said. "Anything else I tried only affected her ugly dresses. So, we need to find out what makes these weapons different and then find a better weapon of the same type!"
"The obvious quality both the hammer and the sword share is that they are magical," Giles pointed out.
Well, doh, that was obvious!
Yes!" Willow chimed in. "Though we need to find out if it's just magic - in which case we need to find the most powerful magic weapon we can, ah, find - or if there's a specific type of magic that's hurting Glory. In that case, we need to learn that magic!"
Willow looked like she had a test to study for, Buffy noted. Very eager.
"While essentially correct, that is simplifying matters a little," Giles said. "Magic is, if anything, not quite as easy to classify."
"Well," Blinky the Troll spoke up, "the Hammer of the Troll Gods is a divine weapon, not merely a magical weapon."
"Many spells call upon gods," Giles replied. "It's not a very discerning quality."
"Yes! Hecate blesses many spells, for example!" Willow said, nodding several times. "As do various other goddesses. And gods."
"But the Hammer of the Troll Gods wasn't blessed or inspired by the Troll Gods, but created by them - according to legend, at least," Blinky told them. "All our sources agree on that," he added.
"It's a legend," Mr Troll Mayor said.
"And the Divine Compass pointed at it," Blinky defended himself.
"'Divine Compass'?" Buffy asked.
"A device that detects divine, ah, origin," the troll explained. "It would not react to mere blessings, such as spells cast or items created with a god's patronage."
"But it reacted to the intern at the hospital," Jim cut in.
"Which, I mentioned before, I believe, means that the young man has divine ancestry somewhere in his, ah ancestry."
"A god boned his great-great-great-grandmother?" Xander snorted.
"Myth and legends are full of such, ah, carnal encounters that resulted in demi-gods," Giles said, polishing his glasses. "The veracity of such legends is generally questionable, though. Scholars aware of the supernatural tend to agree that those events which weren't fabrications, for example, to cover up adultery, were cases of a supernatural entity possessing a human during, ah, intercourse."
"So, if you had fathered a child with your friend during your, ah, experimental phase, it would've been divine?" Buffy asked.
Giles actually blushed. Very faintly, but Buffy had Slayer vision. "Eyghon wasn't considered a deity."
Xander cocked his head with a grin. "So, you would have fathered a Tiefling?"
Giles glared at him. "Please do not consider roleplaying games as valid sources when we are discussing actual supernatural entities."
"Unless the books are written by people who know about the supernatural," Willow piped up. "But despite claims to the contrary, D&D isn't amongst those - I checked," she added, smiling brightly.
"Very informative, Willow," Giles told her in his dry 'I'm actually being sarcastic' voice.
Willow got it a moment later and pouted.
Buffy shook her head. Her friends were great, but they were so easily distracted!
"You checked if roleplaying games contained actual magic?" Claire sounded as shocked as James Lake Jr. felt. Who could think of such nonsense?
Apparently, Willow could. She pouted. "It wasn't as if it was going to do any harm! And better safe than sorry - imagine if we had roleplaying groups accidentally summoning demons!"
"You thought Andrew had done that, didn't you?" Xander asked.
Willow ducked her head. "I didn't think he could have gotten his hands on a real grimoire…"
"Willow!" Xander shook his head. "Never underestimate a nerd! You should know that!"
"Can we focus on the hell-goddess threatening to unleash Hell on Earth?" Jim spoke up.
"What he said," the Slayer agreed. "You can discuss nerd cred later."
"'Nerd cred'?" Xander asked.
"Like street cred, but for nerds," the Slayer explained. "Gah! Now you have me doing it!"
Mr Giles cleared his throat. "Glorificus represents a formidable threat. He's proved himself to be nigh-invulnerable against attacks and possesses unparalleled strength and speed. He massacred what we presume was most of the Knights of Byzantium in short order."
"The Knights of Byzantium?" Vendel frowned. "The Order still exists? I met a few members of them when they fought in several skirmishes before the Battle of Killahead Bridge."
"Well, unless they kept a few people in reserve, then they might not exist any more - everyone they sent against Glory was killed," the Slayer said.
"Messily, too," Xander added.
Jim nodded with a grimace, unable to suppress a shudder. That had been a horrifying, brutal sight. "Yes," he said, "Glory… she smashed and ripped them to pieces. She didn't fight like we do - I mean the Trollhunters and the Slayer. No technique, no finesse, no tactics. She just stood there and beat them." He felt a hand on his arm - Claire was smiling sadly at him. Jim managed to smile back at her, but she didn't seem to be fooled.
"Yes," the Slayer agreed. "The skank is dumb as a brick and fights like one. No training at all. If we can find a way to hurt her, we can beat her."
"If you can find a way to keep her from using her superspeed to avoid your attacks," Xander pointed out.
"I know a spell for that!" Willow said, beaming.
"While we don't know if the hell-god is as resistant to magic as he is to brute force," Mr Giles retorted, "I fear that it would be prudent to assume so."
"But I wouldn't cast the spell at her - I would cast it at the air around her, thicken it to slow her down," Willow protested.
"But then our blows wouldn't hit hard enough or at all, either," the Slayer said.
"They should, if I limit the spell to Glory's legs," Will replied.
"The spell would have to be stronger than the hell-god, or Glorificus could overpower it and break her shackles through sheer strength," Mr Giles said. "Nevertheless, such a strategy remains extremely chancy."
"We don't exactly have a variety of options," the Slayer countered. "And we need to stop her before she finds her key."
"What is her key?" Claire asked. "If we could secure it and hide it - or destroy it - wouldn't that stop Glory?"
The Slayer glanced at Mr Giles, Jim noted. "Some monks guarded the key for centuries," she said. "If they could've destroyed it and remove the danger to Earth, they would've done so."
"In my experience, religious orders and their members generally aren't very rational," Blinky said. "We - Trollkind, that is - had a lot of trouble with several of them in the past."
"Witches also had a lot of trouble with them. Like the witch hunts," Willow added, grimacing.
"Don't remind me," the Slayer said, scowling as well. "A pair of my best boots were ruined in the fire!"
"Technically, that was a demon plot," Xander said.
"What are you talking about?" Jim asked. He knew trolls could live hundreds of years, but the Slayer? Wait, had she the memories of past Slayers who were hunted as witches?
"Just a demon manipulating people. It's not important right now," the Slayer replied. "Let's focus on Glory."
That was rather evasive, but she was probably right, so Jim nodded.
"My portals should work against her as well," Claire said. "And I can test that from a safe distance."
"Only if she can't sense the portals opening - otherwise, you better get away really, really fast," the Slayer objected.
"I can portal myself," Claire retorted, "as soon as I know if it's not working."
Jim had to bite his lips to avoid blurting out that this was too dangerous. He had to trust Claire. Like she trusted him.
"We'll have to test first if she senses portals. Yours and mine," Dawn said.
Claire glared at her.
Jim suppressed a sigh. They had to work together to deal with Glory. And then with Gunmar. Feuding like this didn't help anyone.
But the Slayer and her friends didn't really make it easy to work together.
Using Dawn as bait? Over her dead body! Her own dead body, not Dawn's, Buffy Summers clarified in her head. "No one's testing portals until we've got a good plan."
"Quite," Giles agreed. "I would've thought that the massacre Glorificus committed would have made it obvious that we cannot risk provoking the hell-god unless we're prepared to deal with the consequences."
"We need to know if the hell-god can sense my portals - or if it did sense hers," Claire said, glaring at Dawn. "If she did, she might be on the way already."
That was a good point. Although… "If she's on the way, she should be here already," Buffy retorted. "She can run really fast."
"But how long can she run at that speed?" Jim asked.
That was another good point. "She probably doesn't want to wear out her cheap shoes," Buffy speculated. "She was weirdly protective of her floozy dress, too." She glared at her so-called friends when they glanced at each other. She only mourned fashionable clothes and good shoes. "And I can't see her taking the bus to this place. She probably wants a limousine or something. Or a private jet - if you have an airport." That would fit the skanky hell-goddess.
"We don't have an airport," Jim said.
"Then she'll want to drive."
"Do you think she can drive?" Willow asked.
"Driving is rather challenging," Blinky the Troll said, nodding gravely.
"Well, if she needs to rent a car, she won't get one before morning - we found that out the hard way," Xander said. "So, we should be safe until then. As safe as you can be deep underground in a village full of Trolls."
"I assure you that Trollmarket is perfectly safe for visitors. We're a civilised community." Blinky sounded offended.
"They didn't look very friendly when we passed," Dawn spoke up.
"Ah, well, some trolls are still influenced by the persecution we suffered centuries ago," the troll replied.
"Wow, talk about holding grudges," Xander mumbled.
"Many of us lived through this," Mr Troll Mayor told him. "The humans hunted every troll for the actions of a few. Being wary of all humans is merely reciprocating in kind."
"But that kind of mentality will mean the cycle won't ever be broken!" Willow protested.
"Well, the brave deeds of Master Jim and his friends, Tobias and the Fair Claire, have done much to change the views of Trollkind," Blinky claimed.
"Much but not enough," Dawn commented.
"It's, ah, an ongoing process, but I remain optimistic that we shall see more tangible results soon, so to speak."
Buffy shook her head. "We have to deal with the situation at hand; we can't just wait. As long as the trolls don't attack us, I'm good with them glaring at us and muttering."
"It almost feels like high school." Xander grinned. "Makes you feel nostalgic."
"I don't miss that," Willow said with a pout. "I much prefer college!"
"We know, Willow," Buffy told her. "But this isn't the time." She ignored Jim's snort. "Anyway, we were talking weapons. Magicky godly weapons that can kill a hell-goddess."
"We're actually short on divine weapons in our armoury, at least according to my knowledge," Blinky said. "They aren't exactly common."
"You've got an armoury?" Buffy blurted out. Well, duh, of course they would have an armoury. Who wouldn't have an armoury if they could?
"We have a selection of weapons accumulated over centuries, yes," Blinky said. "Although the Trollslayer, of course, uses Daylight, Tobias wields a war hammer from our collection."
An armoury of magical weapons!
"Don't drool, Buffy," Xander said.
She glared at him. "I've got a trollhammer already."
"But it's not enough," Willow said. "Perhaps there might be something better available?" She looked at Blinky with wide eyes. That didn't fool Buffy - her friend just wanted to study more magic weapons. But she was correct that they couldn't just dismiss such a collection.
"I doubt it, but checking won't hurt - provided no one wields the weapons against another," Blinky said.
"If we don't find anything here, what about Gatto's collection?" Jim asked.
"Gatto's collection?" Buffy asked.
"Do we have to sort through what the cat dragged in?" Xander was still not as funny as he thought he was.
"Gatto is a mountain troll of immense size, who holds his treasure in his furnace-like stomach," Blinky explained. "We recovered the first Triumbric Stone from him. And speaking of Triumbric Stones, Master Jim - recovering the third might enhance your blade enough to wound this new menace."
Buffy hoped he meant Glory and not herself. The way Jim and Claire were frowning at the troll, and the Troll Mayor was sighing, this probably had meant to be a secret.
James Lake Jr. really liked Blinky. The troll was nice, honest, smart, wise - mostly - and had helped him a lot. And just with his work as Trollhunter. Jim would never forget the time they spent building Jim's Vespa.
And yet, sometimes Jim would like to grab Blinky and shake some sense into him. Like right now. Revealing the Triumbric Stones to the Slayer! What had Blinky been thinking? The Slayer and her friends weren't… well, they weren't friends! Just because you had a shared enemy didn't mean you trusted each other with your secrets! Jim was sure that the Slayer hadn't told them most of what was going on in Sunnydale.
"You can enhance your sword with magic stones?" Willow asked.
"Yes," Jim said, struggling not to glare at Blinky.
"It's actually the Amulet of Daylight that is enhanced by the stones, not merely the sword," Blinky added.
This time, Jim glared at him. As did Claire.
"So, we get the third stone to you, you'll be able to hurt Glory!" The Slayer was beaming. "Can anyone wield your sword?"
"No!" Jim blurted out. "It's part of the amulet," he said.
The Slayer's eager expression turned into a pout. "Too bad. We could've swapped." She looked at the Hammer of the Troll Gods. "For a divine weapon, this was rather wimpy."
"The Troll Gods might not be in Glory's league," Xander said.
"Or the Hammer might be more powerful if wielded by a troll," Mr Giles speculated.
"It's said it may only be wielded by the worthy," Blinky said.
The way the Slayer twirled and swung the hammer around couldn't have been more obvious unless she had been whistling while she did it.
"We should test it," Claire said.
"Only if we can check more weapons in your armoury," the Slayer told them. "I need something to hurt the skank with. Are you sure that you don't have better divine weapons?"
"Or ways to enhance this? Perhaps a ritual to bless it?" Willow added.
"That's not, ah, how Troll Gods work," Blinky said.
The Slayer pouted. "I really need a better weapon. Giles! Why isn't there some Slayer weapon?"
"Actually, there are legends about a weapon wielded by the First Slayer to kill the last Old One on Earth - or, more precisely, to send it to a deep slumber and banish it from this dimension," Mr Giles said.
"Really?" The Slayer perked up.
"Unfortunately, the weapon was lost afterwards," Mr Giles went on with a sigh.
"Ugh. That figures." She pouted again.
"Lost?" Willow asked. "Destroyed, or just… lost? Forgotten? Hidden?"
"Placed in a wooden crate amongst thousands of such crates?" Xander asked.
"The records don't say," Mr Giles replied, sending a glare at the man.
Jim wondered - privately - whether this was an act or if the Slayer and her friends were actually discussing potentially crucial information about the Slayer and the mysterious Council here.
"We need to find out more about this weapon!" Willow declared.
"I'll contact the Council and add it to our requests," Mr Giles replied - though his tone didn't sound very optimistic.
"So… weapon testing. And portal testing?" Dawn asked.
"Weapon testing. We have to be better prepared for testing portals," the Slayer said. "We don't want to draw a hell-goddess to Trolltown."
"Trollmarket," Claire corrected her. "But my portals haven't attracted her before - not when I used them here, nor when I used them in Sunnydale."
"Ah, but you didn't use them near Glory - not until you used them to save Buffy and Jim," Willow replied. "Now that she's aware that you're an enemy of hers…"
Claire nodded, although a little reluctantly. It made sense, though, in Jim's opinion.
And the Slayer was correct about the need to test the portals safely - Jim was the Trollhunter; it would be violating his duties if he attracted a danger to Trollmarket. Especially one like Glory.
"And we can use the Divine Compass to keep an eye out for Glory," Claire added. "Or to find more divine weapons. As long as the Hammer of the Troll Gods isn't in the vicinity."
"Indeed. It is drawn to the strongest and closest source of, ah, divinity," Blinky said. "Which in this case would be the Hammer of the Troll Gods, since it's closest and quite strong."
Jim pulled the compass out and tested it. It swung towards the Slayer, as expected.
"Nifty," she commented. "Can we weaponise that? Turn it into a Glory-seeking missile or so?"
"I doubt that a goddess who shrugged off blows with a divine hammer and a sword crafted by Merlin himself would be impressed, much less harmed, by a compass crashing into her at low speeds," Mr Giles said. The Slayer opened her mouth, but he went on: "And I am certain that any payload you might propose to add to the compass could as easily be delivered by other means. Not to mention that we've yet to find a payload that might be effective against her."
The Slayer snorted. "A spell that targets cheap dresses and shoes would probably be very effective."
This was great! Buffy Summers beamed. And felt more than a little jealous. Trollhunters had all the good stuff! An armoury full of magical weapons of all kinds - and made for Slayers, well trolls, but that just meant most weapons were meant to be used by people with superhuman strength. Like a Slayer.
But the training area itself! Grand, with moving parts that rose and sunk, giant cogwheels driving traps that challenged even a Slayer - it was perfect!
"This is a deathtrap." Xander obviously disagreed as he shook his head. "How many Trollhunters fell to their death in this 'Hero's Forge'? Or were killed by the giant slicing blades coming out of the walls?"
"None, actually," Blinky the Troll replied. "Although Markh the Maimed lost his hand to an unfortunate glitch." He pointed at one of the statues circling the arena. "Though since he had a shield strapped to the stump, he was as effective in combat as before."
Buffy nodded. "Are those all the Trollhunters?"
"Yes." Blinky beamed. "They are overlooking the training of their successors - their legacy."
"And they can be quite critical," Jim added with a smile and a sigh.
"That was just the first impression, Master Jim! They have warmed up to you by now, haven't they?"
"Mostly." He still seemed a little down, in Buffy's opinion.
Though they were talking as if the Trollhunters spoke to them. Had Jim dreams of former Trollhunters, just as Buffy sometimes had dreams of past Slayers? A question for another day, probably. "Well," she said instead, "it's a great idea to see all the Trollhunters while you train." She almost wanted the same for Slayers, but… the sight of so many dead girls would probably not help with training. "Who made the statues? They're great!" She beamed, then blinked at the Trollhunters' expression. "Oh. Don't tell me - the sculptor's dead or gone evil?"
"Ah, not exactly," Blinky said. "Although from a certain point of view, you are correct." He coughed into his fist. "The 'statues' are the actual bodies of the fallen Trollhunters, their stone remains collected and put back together."
Buffy felt her mouth fall open. Those were… dead trolls? Jm was training under the broken eyes of his predecessor's bodies? She had to take it back: This training area was so not perfect!
"Oh, yes - I knew that trolls turned to stone in the sun according to myth and lore, but they do that in death as well?" Willow piped up. "Well, they have to, since I doubt every Trollhunter died in the sun. So… is that a special rite for Trollhunters, or do you, ah, treat all your dead like this?"
"Willow, show some respect," Xander mumbled next to her.
She blushed. "I'm terribly sorry! It's just so fascinating to see a completely different culture with completely different customs and completely different biology - well, the latter should influence and cause the former, of course. This would never have been possible with humans."
"Not without a lot of plaster and very good embalming," Xander added.
"I'll take that into account for my remains," Jim said.
Willow blushed even harder, and even Xander looked sheepish. But Claire, Buffy saw, looked stricken, then angry and hit Jim's side, well, his armour. "Jim!"
"Sorry, Claire."
"No, no, we're sorry - we shouldn't have…" Willow trailed off.
"We shouldn't have joked. It's how we deal with, well, death and apocalypses," Xander said.
Buffy nodded. "It's our coping mechanism. Better than alcohol, not as fun as sex." She blinked and felt her cheeks heat up as everyone - and Giles! - stared at her. "I mean… everyone reacts to stress and deadly danger differently. We joke. We don't have orgies or take drugs or drink. Well, not more than normal. Drinking, I mean, we don't do drugs, and, well…" She grimaced. This was so bad. This couldn't get any worse!
"Don't worry, Buffy," Dawn said. "We all know you're too much of a prude to have sex."
"What? I'm so not a prude!" Buffy protested at once. What was her little sister thinking, going after her like that? "And I've had sex! Just not as a coping mechanism!" She stalked over to Dawn, who was still next to the armoury.
"Does Mom know that?" Dawn shot back.
"That is irrelevant!"
"I'll have to ask her if she thinks that, once she's back from the hospital, then."
"No! That's private and none of your business!" Buffy told her.
"Alright - as long as you accept that my love life is none of your business!"
Buffy stared at Dawn. "What? What love life? I don't know about any love life of yours!" She looked at her friends, but none of them seemed to have a clue.
"I don't have a love life, duh. Not yet," Dawn the brat told her. "But once I have one, I don't want you to mess it up like you did yours!"
"What? I didn't mess up my love life!" She hadn't. Not really. Having a few failed relationships was normal at her age. And as the Slayer, she couldn't date like most others. She knew - she had tried that, after all. For about one and a half dates, but still...
"Right, keep telling yourself that."
Buffy narrowed her eyes. She really had to have a talk with Spike about things to talk about with her little sister. And about things that shouldn't be mentioned.
James Lake Jr sighed. Audibly. "Can we focus on the hell-goddess trying to end the world?"
The Slayer's expression turned into a pout that made her look younger than Jim. Certainly younger than he felt. "Just because your love life is doing fine doesn't mean you can look down on others who aren't so fortunate!" she retorted.
"What?" Jim blurted out as he blushed. Love life? They… It wasn't like that!
"That's none of your business!" Claire snapped.
He glanced at her and saw that she was blushing as well. Oh.
"I do believe Mr Lake is correct," Mr Giles spoke up. "While some might consider the drama and gossip surrounding teenage relationships entertaining, we do have a rather significant problem to deal with."
"Yes," Vendel agreed. "We've checked that our armoury doesn't hold further examples of divine weapons, and I don't believe that a training session in the Hero's Forge would be productive."
"Oh, don't say that!" the Slayer replied, jumping on a frozen cogwheel. "You can always use training!"
"Use? Yes. But does that mean that you should train right at this moment? No," Vendel retorted.
"Yes!" Blinky chimed in. "We need to plan and prepare for our confrontation with Glorificus. Well, our next confrontation considering that Master Jim and the Slayer have fought her already."
"We have a plan: Get more powerful divine weapons, kick her butt," the Slayer said, jumping down from her perch.
"That's easier said than done," Dawn cut in.
"That's no plan. That's just a wish," Claire pointed out.
"Yes," Dawn agreed. "You can't just say I wi…"
The Slayer interrupted her by putting her hand on her mouth. "Don't say that."
All the friends of hers had tensed as well, Jim noticed. And Dawn seemed to look sheepish instead of mad - though she was scowling when the Slayer released her. "Anyway! A plan has more details," she said. "Where do you get the weapons?"
"We've been looking into acquiring the Triumbric Stones for a while," Blinky said. "And we secured two already."
"Two out of three?" The Slayer frowned. "Then three for three won't help much. You might make a deeper scratch with the blade, but that won't kill her,"
"That's not entirely correct," Mr Giles said. "If the amulet is currently incomplete, then being completed might render it far more powerful - the number three is quite important for magical rituals."
"Oh, yes!" Willow nodded several times. "Many rituals need three participants. Or three components. Or sacrifices. Not that I would do sacrifices, ever. But the odds that the three stones grant the amulet more power than the sum of their parts are good."
"Precisely," Blinky said. "By gathering all three stones, the Amulet of Daylight will grant Master Jim the power to defeat Gunmar - the Eclipse Armour and the Sword of Eclipse."
He was doing it again. Jim suppressed a sigh. Although, to be fair, This was probably information that the Slayer needed for dealing with Glorificus.
"So… You go from Daylight to Eclipse?" Xander shook his head. "That would be a bad idea for hunting vampires."
"I doubt it's to be taken literally," Mr Giles said. "As we know, a solar eclipse is a very important event for magical rituals. This might merely be nomenclature relating to that."
Xander stared at him with a confused expression, and Jim wasn't completely sure that he had understood the man's meaning, either.
"Meaning, it's a magically cool name," the Slayer said.
"Ah."
"That's succinct but not quite correct," Mr Giles retorted.
"It's good enough for me," the Slayer told him. "So, you need the third Triwizard Stone, and we need a few Troll Gods to bless my hammer."
"More or less, though there are a few difficulties," Blinky said. "The thyroid Triumbric stone was stolen from its guardians a long time ago, and we haven't had much luck searching for its location."
"What spells did you try?" Willow asked. "I'm good with locator spells!"
"Ah… we haven't yet delved into such means," Blinky told her.
"Then we can try my spells!" The witch looked eager to help. "I don't need much - I have pretty much all the ingredients with me; I only need a bowl for scrying."
"A scrying ball?" Jim asked.
"No, a bowl - filled with water, the spell will show the location of the stone. If it works, of course - it can be blocked by magic. Although... There are spells that can pierce such protections, but they're more difficult to cast. And more costly," Willow explained.
"And more dangerous," the Slayer added with a frown.
"That, too," Willow admitted. "But not too dangerous. Especially if we're careful."
"Don't assume that any magic is harmless," Mr Giles said. "Or that you can control the danger."
"We can minimise the danger," Willow objected. "The risk is not very large - we're not on the Hellmouth. I'll be cautious! And you can help!"
"As much as I dislike the idea, I fear it's amongst the more promising plans we discussed," Mr Giles said. "Although, while the absence of the Hellmouth's influence makes the spell safer to cast, it also makes it more difficult to cast."
"Can I assist? This is fascinating," Blinky asked.
"I want to watch too," Claire said.
"As long as you don't try to cast anything, OK," Willow agreed - far too quickly, in Jim's opinion.
"Alright. Now, let's light the candles - clockwise from the bottom. And then the incense in the cups - counterclockwise, starting at the top."
"And be careful. If you mix up the order, the spell will not work."
Buffy Summers gritted her teeth as Willow and Giles, with Blinky and Claire attentively watching, set up the spell in Blinky's apartment. Or cave - she wasn't quite sure what applied. She had a bad feeling about it. Not a bad Slayer feeling, or something - it didn't feel wiggy - but Willow was a little too quick to use magic, for Buffy's taste. And Claire looked a little too eager to learn the spell, too. 'I'm keeping an eye on you' my butt!
But they didn't have much of a choice - it was better to test the spell here and now than rely on it later. And they were on a bit of a timer.
She glanced at the Trollhunter, who also seemed to be a little ill at ease, though he tried to hide it, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, in full armour. Well, Dawn was pestering him with whispered questions about trolls and his high school - even a saint would be bothered by it.
She considered telling her sister to stop but decided against it. Jim could tell her off himself. And they weren't flirting, either - Jim was staring at his girlfriend as often as he was watching the ritual, and Dawn wasn't acting like she usually did when she had a crush. Good. That would've complicated things. Buffy didn't want to find her sister and the Key teleported into the ocean or something by a scorned witch. They had to work together against Glory, after all.
And Buffy wouldn't get her Trollhammer enhanced enough to smash the demon-skank's face without the help of the trolls and their gods. With all those books here, there should be a way to make the troll gods bless the hammer.
On the other side of the Trollhunter, Xander, one arm still in the sling, held up an old sock. A human-sized sock. "This seems a little… small… for a troll."
"Trolls eat socks," Jim told him in a low voice.
"Really? I thought that was just a tall tale for tourists. You know, like drop bears," Xander replied in a whisper as he dropped the sock into the bowl on the shelf.
"The trolls don't get many human visitors," Jim explained. "You're the first since, well, us."
"Oh. I knew that."
"You did?"
"Actually, no. But it makes me sound less dumb, right?"
"Uh…"
Buffy rolled her eyes. Boys. She leaned against the wall, her hammer at her side, and watched the witches work. Hey, that was… not a rhyme, something else from English Lit.
"And now we start the chant," Willow said, "imploring Hecate to bless us with her magic."
"Actually, only you'll be chanting," Giles told her. "As a test for the spell under local conditions. If that doesn't work, then we can try a collaboration."
"Right. As planned." Willow looked a little nervous. Which made Buffy nervous. What if this went horribly wrong? Opened a portal to hell? Or to Glory? How exactly had Willow and Anya accidentally summoned Olaf? Hadn't that been a miscast spell, too?
She didn't move from her spot, but she shifted a little so she could jump into action as soon as something demony appeared. The ceiling was high enough - trolls were big - so she could use a nice set of jumping techniques with her hammer. In case it was needed, of course.
Buffy almost wanted a demon to appear. Flattening one would do wonders for her peace of mind. Perhaps she'd do a small local patrol after this - Arcadia Oaks was said to be demon-free, but she was the Slayer; trust but verify. And if she met some of the evil trolls…
"..cate, bless us with your insight and show us the truth!"
Buffy heard a small whooshing sound, and the water in the bowl in front of Willow suddenly started to glow. "It's working!" Willow whispered.
"The spell seems to work," Gile corrected her. "Try to see something somewhat familiar… try to focus on our hotel rooms."
"Alright!" Willow closed her eyes, and Buff pushed off the wall and stepped closer to the bow to catch a glance as well. She was just in time to see the water stop glowing and start… showing a building. Probably the hotel. Definitely, actually - she recognised the room.
Or not. Their rooms didn't look like a rock band on drugs had trashed them. The beds were broken, the suitcases empty, clothes all over the place... Willow made a gasping sound, and the water image shifted showing the wall - and the tv, with a chair leg sticking out of it.
"Did someone break into our rooms?" Xander whispered.
"In response, the perspective shifted again, showing the door to the room. Which was broken and on the floor. Someone had kicked the door open. Someone with superhuman strength, probably. Someone…
Buffy gasped. No! But the pieces fit.
"Glory. She's here."
