OTHER IMAGES:   hairless troll with club   a troll beneath the White House   a troll beneath the White House   a troll beneath the White House   a troll beneath the White House   a troll outside the White House   a dumb friendly troll at Castle of Zork (c.900s GUE)   a troll skull (949 GUE)  *HALF-TROLL CLAN (1647 GUE):      half-troll guard 1      half-troll guard 2      half-troll guard 3 (A) / (B) / (C)      half-troll guard 4 (A) / (B) / (C) / (D)      half-troll guard 5 (A) / (B) / (C)      half-troll guard 6 (A) / (B)      half-troll guard 7 (A) / (B) / (C)      half-troll leader (A) / (B) / (C) / (D) / (E) / (F) / (G)      half-troll leader artwork (a genuine troll)

OTHER IMAGES:   two trolls capture Acia   troll reads while guarding cell   troll laughing   Acia escapes her cell   Acia captured by troll   Acia captured by troll   Gurthark throws goblet at troll   troll knocked out

TROLL

Fashioned by the former Chief Implementor Belegur, trolls are a race of large, ferocious, stupid, ugly, deformed, brutish humanoids that live underground, in caves, or under bridges. Ironically, these growling bipeds are fearful of total darkness. Just like men, trolls come in a variety of different skin-colors, statures, and bodily hair-lengths (those with hair are "homotroll caninous", while the green hairless variety are "trollipadus vulgarus"). Greedy for treasure and gold; their blood-red eyes bulge disgustingly, dripping with greed at the mere mention. While they will eat just about anything (or at least attempt to), they subsist on a diet of tree bark, adventurers, and anything they find lurking within their own ears.

Most of these semi-intelligent creatures cannot even talk, spitting out angry, guttural snarls and bellows. Those who do (although slowly and quite poorly, stumbling over their own words) are considered much brighter than the average troll. Many trolls have been known to dig deep pits, for no more than purposeless, unintellable reasons. Thus many large, pointless pits were described as being pits that "dropped like a mighty troll excavation."

Trolls brandish an assortment of weapons, including axes and long nasty knives. Weapons are never cleaned after each murder, and thus are commonly caked with blood. It is rare to see a troll garbed shabby clothing, most prefer to wear nothing. Many trolls tend to forget their own strength, for example, when patting one on the head, it will nearly bash skulls, or a friendly tap on the shoulder will break an arm in two places, or a gentle nudge with the sword accidently slices into pieces. Disarmed trolls are cowards, and will plead for their life.

Although not noted for being more than rudimentarily bright, trolls are often employed as security guards, highwaymen, lackeys and bouncers, especially with toll gnomes. Gladys used a troll to guard the toll bridge to Witchville. While most are vicious, it is known that during the reign of Syovar the Strong, the Castle of Zork kept a few dumb (more "intelligent" than the others) but loyal troll guards. Although trolls are also used for target practice, no role has ever been found which suits them more than sitting around in the dark and ocassionally atacking things with an axe.

Many adventurers mistake the sleeping troll as a corpse, for example on the far side of a bridge or within a toll booth, but are quickly dispatched when the troll comes to life at the last moment upon hearing the purposeful creaking of planks or the opening of a presumed abandoned gate. Trolls can be easily tricked. An example of such common stupidity can be seen in the instance with a troll at a bridge near Gornforb's Grocery. Knowing the troll's desire for gold, this enchanter filled a common brown paper grocery bag with pebbles, wrote "GOLD" upon the outside, and after showing the closed bag to the troll, threw it into the river. The troll, shrieking with pleasure, dove into the brook after the bag. Afer another shriek of agony coupled with some thrashing in the water, the troll was never seen again.

During the Great Monster Uprising of the Second Age of Magic, trolls were reported in the following regions: The Dark Forest, Frigid River Valley, The White Cliffs, White Cliffs Beach, Aragain Falls, Fenshire, Flathead Mountains, The Gray Mountains (including The Gray Mountains Asylum), Antharian Caves, Granola Mines, Mines of Mendon, Forest of Youth, Gurth Woodland Trial, Discipline Beach, Grubbo Hills, Mithicus Mountains, Egreth Castle, and the G.U.E. Tech Training Grounds in the Ethereal Plane of Atrii.


TROLLS AND WEAPONS
As trolls are eternally dangerous, some magical swords have been known to glow blue in their presence, which is of great benefit to adventurers looking to avoid them, but has also found a commercial use in the troll world as a cheap night-light for troll children. Despite the high cost of swords this can still be financially viable assuming the adventurer's statement "you can take this sword from my cold, dead hands" proves to be accurate.


HALF-TROLLS
Some detestable half-troll, half-human breed of unknown origin was discovered in the Third Age of Magic in the underground near Shanbar. A clan living amongst a complex labyrinth of sewer drainpipes, governed by a cowardly leader were defeated by an unknown Sweepstakes Winner in 1647 GUE.


HALF-TROLL LEADER
The fearsome leader of the half-troll clan near Shanbar was a blustering phony. He was leader only because he stole the Necklace of Fear from Witch Itah while she was out, that made other venal beings fear and obey him, including the other half-trolls. When the unknown Sweepstakes Winner dared to challenge him with the Sword of Zork in his very own throne room, this leader relinquished the Necklace of Fear and then fled.


OTHER TROLL FACTS:

1. The URBZIG spell, which usually turns a dangerous object into a harmless one, mysteriously has no effect on trolls.
2. Troll spleens are coveted by witches for use in various conjurations.
3. Trolls are members of the Supernatural and Fantastic Wayfarers Association. Like most races of this organization, trolls were virtually purged from all civilizated regions during the days of the Second Inquisition (in the first half of the eleventh century).
4. Readers acquainted with the writings of Leonardo Flathead will undoubtedly be aware of his major treatise which he believed proved that the world actually rests on the head of an enormous troll, rather than the back of a giant turtle.