UNDERGROUND TOPSIDE

by Ted R. Blasingame

What follows are notes for an unwritten story that had been planned for a future issue of Timbers.

It is unlikely it will ever actually be written.

(DF 49)

The trolls have been engaged in a massive project for twenty-five years following the Timber Valley war. Rockhammer became King of the Underground after the events of the war, and during the first five years, he reshaped the way the kingdom was run.

First, he had the tongues cut out of the surviving trolls who had followed Catgut, and chained them into slaves. Then he gathered together those of his kingdom who designed and built their mechanical equipment. He had a plan he wanted to implement and set his engineers to the task.

Rockhammer's goal was to move the kingdom, to the area south of the end of the valley. For ten years, he had the slaves digging new tunnels, with the underground river as their water source. New rooms were cut into the rock where caverns were not already available.

When all is done, Rockhammer moves his entire kingdom to the new area, and has the slaves chained to columns in the old caverns and then has the river from the Upper World rerouted to flood the old chambers. The new caverns have no connection to the old in any way, so only those trapped in the old kingdom perish.

The result of diverting the water dries up Two Falls. The elves investigate as the lake begins to dry up, and find the river above falling into a new, dark hole (similar to the "black hole" at the south end of the valley). There's nothing they can do, so they return to the holt with the news.

Days later, water begins to erupt and spew out of every known troll entrance or air vent in the valley, causing new streams everywhere. The main cavern entrance door collapses and a new flooding of the immediate area reshapes the lake and almost destroys the holt.

Soon everything settles as the water finds the old lake and combines to form a larger area, with the elves' holt almost on the new shoreline. Two Falls remains dry, with the river entering the valley now through the old troll caverns.

Troll bodies and other debris are found in the runoff and the elves and humans now believe that all the trolls have perished. The surviving trolls in the new southern kingdom choose to remain hidden from the valley inhabitants and are not seen again for a long time. (This includes Dripstone, who has been forbidden from going back to the valley.)