Monster Melee 3-Koloss vs Troll Battle Scene Posted (Mistborn Spoilers)

[Pathfinder]

One thing to remember - Koloss are hemalurgic creations with 4 spikes of Strength, which is described to work as a weak Allomantic pewter. Their muscles are, accounting for decay, and not accounting for the fact that the spikes are recharged between uses, adding to charge (P4thf1nd3r, they reuse the spikes by killing humans, as described, IIRC, in HoA), they have muscles that are 2 to 4 times as strong as is natural for creatures of corresponding size, *and* have improved speed and durability (and apparently pain tolerance, given that they walk around with their skin either loose or ripping up around all orifices).

Quotes:

 

Usage of Iron spikes, on Kandra:

 

But, as mentioned above, there are many kinds of trolls... And yet, the link says that a hobbit could kill an Olog-hai.. (I must admit I cannot exactly remember what the battle was like)

I got what you are saying dude, and this is just to clarify, that is in essence what I said, sorta lol. Yes they kill humans, but not the same way the Lord Ruler does. He takes a human, kills them with a hemalurgic spike to charge it, then gives those spikes to the koloss to use on a human turning him or her into a koloss. After the Lord Ruler croaked, when they killed one of their own, they would remove those spikes, and grab a human and put THOSE spikes into the human. They didn't have the know how to freshly charge the spikes, so each time this happened, there was a loss of charge. That is what Sazed (I think that's who said your quote), was referring to. As the spikes lost the charge bit by bit, it changed the koloss less and less that they had what seemed to be more humanity each time. So, yeah I realize I just basically re-wrote what I and you wrote, but I did so basically to demonstrate we are on the same page lol

[Satsuoni]

I got what you are saying dude, and this is just to clarify, that is in essence what I said, sorta lol. Yes they kill humans, but not the same way the Lord Ruler does. He takes a human, kills them with a hemalurgic spike to charge it, then gives those spikes to the koloss to use on a human turning him or her into a koloss. After the Lord Ruler croaked, when they killed one of their own, they would remove those spikes, and grab a human and put THOSE spikes into the human. They didn't have the know how to freshly charge the spikes, so each time this happened, there was a loss of charge. That is what Sazed (I think that's who said your quote), was referring to. As the spikes lost the charge bit by bit, it changed the koloss less and less that they had what seemed to be more humanity each time. So, yeah I realize I just basically re-wrote what I and you wrote, but I did so basically to demonstrate we are on the same page lol

Um, no. You misunderstand. He gives them spikes and humans, and they charge the spikes and put it into human. They *know* how to charge the spikes, since Human implies  to Vin that he was going to combine people:

 

Elend nodded. “The other day, Vin finally got one of them to show her how to make new koloss. From what he did, and from what he’s said since, we believe that he was going to try to combine two men into one. That would make a creature with the strength of two men, but the mind of neither.”

They just thought that the spikes were special, instead of being just iron spikes. Note that the process you described, with TLR shipping them charged spikes, is incredibly inefficient, since freshly charged spikes lose a majority of the charge in two - three days, and there are tens of thousands of Koloss, and not anywhere near the capital - TLR wouldn't have time (or, I think, inclination) to spike so many people in Luthadel, and wouldn't be able to ship spikes so far.

This is why Sazed mentions "infinite strength" - in your scenario that would not be an issue.

[Fifth of Daybreak]

The koloss use spikes on wounded humans, compunding the hemalurgic charge. It can only grant so much strength, but Sazed speculated that the added hemalurgic charge added to their humanity.

[Pathfinder]

Ah my mistake then. Thank you both for further clarifying. It does still slightly confuse me insofar as I guess based off of what you said, by using the spike over and over, it not only takes in the charge but some of the person's identity? Interesting

[Fifth of Daybreak]

That was fun, but intense! I think I kept everything straight, but if you notice discrepancies in the fight scene, let me know. I tried to keep track of everything as best I could, but it's possible that I didn't reconcile things entirely accurate.

 

The Ballad of Roshone's Revenge, third installment(Spoilered for length, and mistborn spoilers):

 

Roshone started awake as the carriage hit a particularly large rockbud, jolting the vehicle. The days spent travelling had stretched on for so long he could scarcely remember how long ago he had set out on his journey. You can’t escape, not from Roshone. Roshone cackled madly, causing his driver to shift uncomfortably in his seat. The weeks following his defeats had not been kind, and servants who were less close to Roshone than his driver were already whispering of madness.

There were no more creatures outside of Hearthstone, at least none to suit Roshone’s purposes. Strangely enough, the Whitespine had moved on as well, but not without leaving a trail that Roshone could follow. A trail that led to Jah Kaved. Not much news had been heard from the war torn kingdom, but what little he had learned had not been hopeful. He had never known a Whitespine to migrate, but he didn’t know many specifics about them, other than the obvious.

Still, it was troubling. He was abandoning his duties as city lord, but this was more important. Heralds send this is the last time I have to face that storming creature. He was getting closer. He could feel it. Some part of him was drawn to the beast, connected by fate, destined to continue his quest. He knew that now. That was why he had found the strange beasts he had. That was why he would find more before confronting the Whitespine. That was why he would triumph. He settled back into his seat and fell back asleep as the carriage continued to plod onward.

It was well before nightfall when Roshone awoke again, this time to the sudden stop made by the carriage. Roshone swore under his breath as he rose unsteadily and headed for the door, not even waiting for his darkeyed driver to open the door for him. His peg almost slipped as he dropped to the ground. “Why have we stopped?” The question left as a growl, leaving the man stammering.

“Brightlord, there’s something in the road ahead. Giving our uh . . . past experiences, I thought it would be best to be cautious . . .” He let the sentence trail off, gesturing up the road. Roshone squinted, and made out several large shapes in the distance. Given how far off the shadows were, they had to be massive, well beyond the size of any human. He scanned the horizon, looking for a smaller shadow accompanying them, but saw nothing.

“Get us back on the road,” Roshone barked. “This is exactly what we’ve been waiting for.” The man swallowed and helped Roshone back into the carriage before retaking his own seat, and starting the carriage in motion. Inside the carriage, Roshone tried to keep his excitement down. As big as those things are, this has to be enough. He tried to push away his doubts that it wouldn’t be.

The creatures were marvelous. The smallest of them were nine feet high, both carrying nasty looking clubs. Another four of the beasts were larger again by almost half, each of them carrying wickedly sharp sword. The final two were in their own class entirely. Both wore patchwork armor, simple breastplates open at the sides and shoulder’s, with an open burgonet, protecting all but the face. Their arms bore vambraces and gauntlets, both with cruel spikes rising from the outside edges. Finally, they bore full armor on their legs, from the sabaton to their cuisse. Combined with their astonishing size, the biggest one up to sixteen feet, it was a frightening sight.

Roshone approached them, and tensed himself for a hostile reaction. One of them noticed him, and began to pant excitedly, then, strangely, fell still. It was as it was before. Besides an initial reaction to his presence, the beasts instantly tamed. He laughed loud, the mad cacophony echoing back across the plains. He commanded his new army to follow, and they mutely lumbered after him. His scouts had picked up the Whitespine’s trail again, and he set off, determined to see the deed done this very day.

The sun was late in its decent when Roshone first smelled the smoke. He shifted in his seat to get a better view out the carriage window. What he saw shocked him. They were moving through a small Veden town, or at least what remained of it. Everywhere he looked, Roshone was greeted with blackened walls, and ruins still smoldering. Thick black smoke rose from the corpses of buildings, rising into the sky, filling the carriage with its putrid acrid stench. Barely a building remained that wasn’t completely destroyed, or demolished to the point of uselessness.

His carriage driver pulled to a stop just outside of a large public square, most likely the central marketplace. On the other side of the clearing, stood nine monsters. One of them was known to Roshone, and his phantom foot ached in pain at the sight of it. The Whitespine. Surrounding it were 8 monstrous beings rising high, some towering above the remains of a house next to them. Roshone squinted to get a better look at them.

They seemed to match the smaller of his creatures for height, with the smallest of them being just above average human height. They all had similar features, blue skin that didn’t seem to fit right, sagging from the smaller ones, and stretch taut on the largest, like the skin of a drumhead pulled too tightly. Their skin was blue, and each one carried a large sword on its back. The largest one carried a sword taller than Roshone. They seemed oddly subdued, as if they couldn’t be bothered to show any emotions other than boredom.

Roshone marched forward, his trolls following behind. They made it halfway across the plaza when Roshone stopped, letting them advance ahead of him. If things went as badly as they had the last few times, he wanted a clear avenue of escape. They marched in a misshapen group, not discipline, no lines, just the steady thump of their massive feet against the hard ground. Some of them were growling, or making other feral noises.

One of the smaller trolls started dashing across the open courtyard, bellowing. It soon outpaced the others, and stopped just outside group of blue demons. It threw its head back and roared, deep, loud, feral. Roshone could feel the weight of the things voice beat against his chest. It frightened him, if only for a moment, forgetting the monstrous thing was on his side. As if in response, one of the Koloss turned, a look of hatred on its face.

It was a smaller one, standing just a few feet under the troll. It wasn’t very bulky, but its movements spoke raw power as if its very flesh had been twisted to be stronger than it should. It bellowed a retort to the troll’s roar, just as passionate, if not as impressive, before charging at the troll with breakneck speed, far faster than something of its size should be able to move.

The troll beat one hand on its chest and raised its club as the Koloss moved in. It swung clumsily with one hand, thinking to end the battle with a single stroke. The Koloss caught the club. It pulled hard, wrenching it from the troll’s grip, pulling if off balance. The blue creature tossed the club to the side, still bellowing. The troll had regained its balance, but the Koloss was on top of it in a heartbeat.

In a mighty leap, it had landed on top of the troll, a blue cannonball knocking it to the ground. It mercilessly began pounding on it, slamming azure hands into its head again and again, staining them the color of troll blood. Soon the troll stopped moving. Roshone’s breath caught in his throat. Damnation! That quickly? The blue thing turned back to its companions, all of whom were facing it, almost expectant. “His club was stupid.” The Koloss said, and the other nodded sagely, as if they had received a great wisdom, and were turning it over in their minds.

The other trolls had caught up, and the largest of them raised its long, curving blade. The Koloss turned, nonchalant, looking up at the troll, before the weapon tore through its flesh, cleaving the great beast in two. The trolls roared in unison, and a nearby building collapsed, the crashing sound unsettling and already unsteady structure. The Koloss reacted mildly, yet seemed to become less indifferent, a few drew their swords.

The ground shook under the beating of the trolls’ feet. Roshone had to steady himself in order not to slip on his bad leg. The power of the charge was glorious to behold. 7 trolls, weapons ready, crashing headlong into an ocean of cobalt. Two Koloss fell in the initial charge, both of them to the large nasty brutes in armor, one relieved of its head, the other impaled. The other Koloss had fared slightly better, though none of them well.

The remaining small Koloss was parrying off blows from a midsized troll. Steel rang on steel, as the Koloss parried. It seemed to struggle with the blows, though not as much as Roshone would have expected. They definitely were stronger than they had any right to be. One of the midsize Koloss was beating its sword against the armor of one of the large trolls-the one that had beheaded the large Koloss. It looked confused, as if it couldn’t understand why it wasn’t cutting.

The largest of the Koloss was fighting the small troll with the club, and an unarmored troll. The small troll was obviously out of its depth, but was giving the one with the sword a fighting chance. Metal striking metal echoed from their blows, but no ground gave either way.

 

Close by, another even battle was taking place. The two creatures circled each other, wary of their similar size, although, the troll seemed to be bulkier, and the Koloss faster by a strong measure. On the other side of the battle, two Koloss, both mid-size, were beating against the sword of a similarly large troll. It was on the only troll that seemed in real danger.

 

Roshone’s heart beat quicker, dancing with the sounds of battle, excitement in his blood. His pained leg forgotten, he hobbled closer, the heat of battle giving rise in the air. The thrill started to sing in him, even though he was not directly in the battle. It even seemed to be stronger than he remembered. It burst alight inside him.

Ahead, in the battle, he could see the armored troll still struggling to get its weapon out from the impaled Koloss, it had several barbs on the blade, and those seemed to keep getting caught in the sagging skin the more it struggled to pull it out. It eventually dropped the sword and picked up the one the Koloss had dropped, though it seemed lacking in the thing’s too-large hands.

The small Koloss fell, too many wounds forcing it down, though the troll seemed to have been injured as well. The Koloss all roared again, almost in unison, and this time, the power of it seemed magnified. Ash’s eyes! That seemed as powerful as the trolls, and there’s less of the blustering creatures! In fact, it seemed that they were fighting even more ferociously than they had before. He almost recognized it as the thrill, but that seemed wrong to him. This was not the thrill, but something of the creature’s own dark originations.

The armored troll stumbled again from the repeated blows to the back. The armor beaten to a misshapen hunk of scrap. A final blow to the back of the neck ended it. It was then the Koloss fell, sword in the back, the other large troll finally back into the fight.

The monstrous Koloss, meanwhile, had wrestled the club from the small troll, and used it to smash in its skull. It fell to the ground with a lurch. The opening gave the troll a chance to stab, cutting deep into its enemies’ side, blood shooting out. It turned and resumed the fight, club it one hand, sword in the other, seemingly ignorant of the wound. The remaining troll joined this fight. It had been forced into the middle of the ring of battle, surrounded on all sides by allies. The opening gave him room to fight.


The two Koloss were overpowering the lone troll, but all suffered wounds. The troll roared again, and charged at one of them, sweeping out with a series of powerful blows, each one parried less effectively than the last. It stabbed deep into the Koloss’s side, but fell to other’s sword. They both turned towards the troll that had killed the smallest Koloss, a sword still embedded in one’s stomach.

The large Koloss swung out again and again with both weapons, knocking his two opponents off balance, parrying with the sword, savagely beating with the club. They both fell back before the monstrous onslaught, taking blow after blow, until they both had fallen. With that, the large Koloss turned to fact the remaining armored troll.

The two Koloss fought with the remaining troll, but the battle seemed to be favoring the troll. The one impaled by the sword was slowing visibly. Another blow from the troll sent it sprawling to the ground, forcing the sword back through the wound, worsening it. The Koloss did not rise. The troll bellowed, and squared against the remaining foe.

The two pairs of behemoths clashed in unison. Again, Roshone was surprised by the fervor, the intensity of the battle. In the distance, smoke curled to the sky, no doubt other small towns that had seen fighting just as intense. Fighting enough to raze the town. Roshone felt as if the raw magnitude of the creatures in front of him matched those battle pound for pound. The same ferocity, the same passion, just magnified into this grand melee.

Koloss met troll, repeated twice in the span in front of Roshone. Blue grey clashed into dark grey, and blood sprayed the cobblestones. Buildings continued to collapse in the echoing fury of the combatants, the first and looting had been merciless here, and all the structures were already on the point of collapse. A piece of rubble came loose near Roshone, crashing nearby with a resounding thud, sending him scurrying as best he could in the other direction . . . straight towards the battle.

The remaining unarmored troll stood bellowing in pain, its sword arm sliced clean off. It fell to the next blow. Roshone breathed in sharply, hoping beyond hope that it would attack the other troll, and not him. He kept perfectly still, holding that breath, trying to still the mad beating of his heart inside his chest. The Koloss stared straight at him, eyes narrowing, before striding in another direction. Roshone let out a sigh, and turned towards the other battle.

 

The armor was giving the troll the edge, but only barely. The Koloss continued to parry with its sword, and strike with the club, sending the force through the armor and into the troll. Not enough of it to wound direly, but it was apparent the troll was trying to end the fight quickly. It scored a hit to a blue leg, blood and gore spurting out in pulses. The creature’s eyes, the skin stretched tight and tearing at the sockets, narrowed, irrevocably enraged. It somehow managed to drag itself up, despite the near useless leg, and swung with the club, knocking aside the sword. It let go of the club, and lunged, two handed, putting all its weight, momentum, and power into a final thrust. The sword pierced through the armor, and into the troll’s stomach. It fell, breathing hard, alive, but disabled.

 

Roshone shuddered. It had happened again. He was lost. He stood up, determined to get away cleanly before the unhuman things noticed him again. That’s when he saw it. The blue creature that had seen him had gone to the nearest corpse, flaying the skin off. It approached Roshone, a loose bundle of skin in one arm, metal spikes in the other. Roshone ran.

 

His peg leg clacked against the ground, propelling him as best he could. The carriage driver was nowhere to be seen, and the horses were madly scrambling away at the sight of Roshone. Behind him, the Koloss charged. It was mere moments before it caught up to him, battering him to the ground. Roshone drew his side sword clumsily, kicking with his peg leg.

The creature batted at his leg, shatter the peg off, leaving his stump naked to the world. In the distance, the winds picked up, the first signs of highstorm. The sky was darkening, and straining at the far edge of visibility, the stormwall could be seen. Roshone swung at the creature with the sword, as it grabbed his good leg. He scored a hit on its arm, but that barely seemed to bother the creature. It had one of the metal spikes in its hand, and it reached towards Roshone. He kicked out with his bad leg.

The spike pierced Roshone’s stump.

Roshone screamed, then, strangely, felt a burst of power. He stabbed out confidently with the sword, catching the thing firm in the face, sword piercing it with no trouble. It dropped with the same look of surprise Roshone had on his face. He climbed to his feet, and saw, across the battlefield, the Whitespine standing next to the still breathing armored troll.

The remaining Koloss had harvested the skin from a good number of the Koloss corpses, along with a large amount of spikes. It knelt next to the troll, and began a grisly work. Roshone turned, and ran, feeling pain and power emanate from his bad foot. Strangely, the spike felt more secure on the stones beneath it. He spared no time for that now, rushing to catch up to the spooked horses and the carriage. He would need to find shelter, and soon.

 

A storm was coming.

 

Exciting huh?   Stay tuned for a very very special Monster Melee to come next installment!

 

Edit: For some reason the transition didn't save my italics. Put them back in the right places. 

Edited May 13, 2014 by EMTrevor

[SmurfAquamarineBodies]

That was a wicked fight man! Is Roshone going to keep the Spike?

[ccstat]

Well done! Sorry to foist such a large group onto you--you handled it well. I'm excited for next week.

[traceria]

Hope it's okay if I vote belatedly.

Just to throw this out there...some of us were Tolkien fans first. No offense to Brandon, but I was an uber JRR fan before his first book was even available to the masses.

[Fifth of Daybreak]

Of course! Feel free to keep debating as well.

[Pathfinder]

Awesome essay EMTrevor. My only issue would be (and this detracts from the narrative so I completely understand why you did so), but to try to line up both forces as equally as possible in order to fully discern which would be victorious. So by including smaller Koloss, you are including a variable based on the number of smaller koloss and their heights. A more effective control would be taking a group of Koloss of all the same height, and as close to the troll height as possible to better narrow down the differences in abilities and strengths vs weaknesses. Then if curious, apply different distributions of heights. But like I said, that would completely detract from the narrative you expertly executed, so I do understand why you went the route you did. 

[Kobold King]

Wow... the Ballad of Roshone's Revenge continues. And now Hemalurgy is involved.

 

This is not good, this is not good... and by that I mean this is completely awesome and you should continue forever.

[Fifth of Daybreak]

That was a wicked fight man! Is Roshone going to keep the Spike?

 

RAFO-Reply and we'll forum it out!

 

 

Well done! Sorry to foist such a large group onto you--you handled it well. I'm excited for next week.

 

Not at all! It was enjoyable, and eventually if I want to write the books I want, I'll be thankful for the practice. It was interesting to keep it organized. I ended up listing all the creatures at the bottom, and keeping a running tally of which one was where, and even that got confusing haha. But I feel like the battle came out pretty entertaining. I'm definitely excited to keep writing it with you guys.

 

Awesome essay EMTrevor. My only issue would be (and this detracts from the narrative so I completely understand why you did so), but to try to line up both forces as equally as possible in order to fully discern which would be victorious. So by including smaller Koloss, you are including a variable based on the number of smaller koloss and their heights. A more effective control would be taking a group of Koloss of all the same height, and as close to the troll height as possible to better narrow down the differences in abilities and strengths vs weaknesses. Then if curious, apply different distributions of heights. But like I said, that would completely detract from the narrative you expertly executed, so I do understand why you went the route you did. 

 

The size of Koloss and the loadouts for the trolls were something that I had brought up earlier in the thread, and no one brought up any issues with that decision. What I've been trying to do with the thread is take all the suggestions and ideas about how the battle would enact, and weave those contributions into the thread (Kobold King originally mentioned Roshone riding the Warg in MM1, and CCstat mentioned Roshone getting spiked.) I very much encourage you to bring up any of those concerns you might have before I get to writing (which is when the polls seemed to be decided one way or another, about 3 to 4 days after the poll goes up.) Next installment this will be especially important. Here's the OP where I postulated the battle forces.

 

 

Eight on eight huh....I'd better get a start on this battle early. You guys are definitely going to force me to grow as a writer from these threads, but I've always enjoyed a challenge!

 

 

So we've got our groups set. I think that we should also decide on armaments. 

Each of the Koloss should be armed with swords appropriated to their size, but it's the size that's the true variable we need to work out. The troll we need to decide how many will be armed with what weapons, how many be armored, and attempt to scale this to equal out any advantages between size and equipment. I think that maybe two fully grown Koloss with two fully armored trolls, four medium Koloss, and four unarmored trolls that are still equipped with edged weapons, and  two small Koloss, with two trolls armed with clubs. 

 

[SmurfAquamarineBodies]

If you are asking me if he keeps it then, yes definately. Would it be possible to also upgrade the whitespine? Then they could eventually have a rematch.

[ccstat]

If you are asking me if he keeps it then, yes definately. Would it be possible to also upgrade the whitespine? Then they could eventually have a rematch.

Ooo! I like it. My first thought is to kandra the whitespine, though that requires it dying first. Would make for a cool twist and possibly spur Roshone (if he survives) on against another antagonist, but this may not fit in with the Ballad theme so far. I'll have to think of some other options.

[SmurfAquamarineBodies]

The best way to upgrade the Whitespine ( it needs a name. I propose Snuckems. ) I think, is to treat Snuckems like a Listener. Though what the Forms do and what Spren cause the Forms, is beyond me.

[Pathfinder]

I propose Fluffy. Who WOULDN'T want to squeeze a ball full of spikes, claws and fangs?