Warrior's Guide to Effective Beast Slaying.

The Troll.

Hello fellow Warrior.

At the time of you reading this, I would have just finished polishing the head of the most recent beast I have slain and preparing to mount it’s head on my wall, displaying my achievement of being able to fell such a beast and letting it’s head symbolize how much of a powerful warrior I am. But of course, you are a novice warrior, seeking to accomplish a similar feat. Well look no further, for you have found my guide to effective beast slaying. Below I will pick a beast and describe its most notable traits along with what they are well known for. Next I will go step by step and explain some of most required gear to fell the beast. Note: Some gear is not always required but if I listed it, its most likely something that would greatly work in your favor. Last I will speak about battle tactics, and what you should be doing to ensure that you survive and the beast you are facing will be slain. Now let us begin.

The Troll. This being my first guide, starting off with a such a powerful apex predator is risky on my end and on yours. A troll is not a beast one should attempt to hunt or slay if they are a novice at monster hunting. But as an expert of hunting trolls, this is where I excel the most and I have numerous troll heads decorating my halls, each with a special name of their own.
The Troll is arguably one of the most strongest and dangerous apex predators in the wild, other than the Mantikora, but that’s a guide for another day. The Troll is a large humanoid beast with features that are very ape like, with large and powerful arms and them being very dim-witted. To purposely go out your way to hunt a troll, you must first ensure that you are lacking all your sanity because no sane person would ever hunt just a creature for sport or challenge unless they are forced to. But since you are reading this I can tell you lack that sanity already. The Troll’s most notable features are their unrivaled levels of endurance, allowing them to battle for hours without showing signs of fatigue and the most important one of all, their regenerative factor. All trolls have the ability to regenerate their flesh from any wound they suffer. This is one their core abilities that make them so dangerous to hunt. Please check if your sanity is still there, there is still time to go back to hunting boars or deer.

Recommended gear to bring. The Troll’s hide is extremely tough and durable. Simple cuts and slashes will not do. In this case, the sword is possibly the worst weapon to bring on a Troll hunt. Just like majority of the large beast, the boar spear is the best weapon to use. They are much easier to obtain than a sword anyway and cheaper to repair. If you are a warrior worth anything, it is a MUST that you have spears in your armory and be very well trained with them. If, for something magical reason, you can’t obtain a spear because the town you live in does not believe in such tools, then the axe is a decent melee weapon. Along with your spear, you should should also have bow and arrows equipped or a crossbow. They are not effective in causing severe damage unless you hit them a lot, but they can help you get a few hits on the beast and help with a particular tactic that I will go into further detail later on. The Troll is extremely fast and each strike can potentially kill you. Do not compete with the strength of a troll. Avoiding its powerful attacks are much better. So it’s best you wear something that is flexible and allows you to keep your mobility. Leather jacks and such. Avoid plating as it weighs you down. I would not recommend a shield either, as I said, its best to avoid their hits and not challenge their strength. Unless you are like me and have the need to constantly prove how strong you are! The final items you would want to bring other than the medical supplies is either some fire salts, a lit torch, arrows dipped in oil, or a flame enchanted weapon. No, your warm and rancid breath does not count.

Battle tactics. Now first thing first, unless you are as amazing as I am, never ever ever hunt a troll on your own. Yes, hunting alone will always sound better in song but in this case you want to come back home with a prize, or just come back home. Bring a companion with you and show him or her this guide, it’s an amazing guide. As we went over before, the Troll is fast, has extreme levels of endurance and durability, and regenerative property. Now you must be thinking to yourself, “How does a scrawny warrior like myself even kill such a thing just like Afer the Mighty?”. Well my scrawny novice warrior, I have the answer for you that I have been leaving out this entire time so you have a reason to read through their entire book. Fire. The Troll’s one true weakness is fire. Yes I know, everything in the world, other than Flame Atronachs, are weak to fire, but in this case the Troll’s true weakness is fire because it completely nullifies it’s regenerative properties! Reminder, hot rancid breath does not count. If you want to leave marks on a Troll, you first MUST nullify that regenerative factor. The amount a Troll can heal it self can effectively keep it self from dying, even if you pierce it’s heart with your spear. The only true way to kill a Troll is to burn it. Having an arrow dipped in oil, setting it aflame and then shooting it is an effective way to start the battle. If your aim is horrid then I recommend doing a similar strategy but with the tip of your spear. And if you left your oil at home because your memory is horrible due to all the head beatings you got before, then you can always use your torch to burn it or making effective use of fire salts. And if you are like me and have a mage as a best friend, then using a flame enchanted weapon is perfect. Now let’s pretend you managed to burn some of the beast’s flesh, which you doubt have done at the point of this hypothetical battle, you still would need to fight an angry ball of muscle,stamina, and rage. Now it’s time to pick at the beast until it falls. Start with what makes it mobile first, goes for the legs. Behind the knee, the ankles. Whatever helps stop it from moving and then slowly make your way up it’s body. Don’t bother with the arms as damaging them would be enough to stop the Troll from swinging violently at you, and they will be difficult to hit in the right spots. Go for the heart and major organs. The head will be protected by the fury swipes of the Troll’s arms so don’t bother until it’s time to execute with a flashy final blow to impress all the town’s folks and fellow hunters. Also make sure you are wearing a cloak while standing over the corpse of the Troll and in front of caves entrance so the breeze can make the cape flap in the wind. This is possibly the most heroic and iconic pose of a powerful warrior who has just slain his most dangerous foe.

Some extra information. There are several subspecies in the Troll family. However you will likely only run into a few including, Forest Trolls, River Trolls, Lowland Trolls, Frost Troll and if you are are unfortunate enough to run across a Nord’s old protect then you will possibly run across Armored Trolls. If you happen to cross paths with a massive troll that is double or triple the height of a normal troll, I'd recommend a tactical retreat and some how contact me. I've only seen one in my life and I would love to have the head of another. Another note, the Frost troll is the strongest of them all as the harsh winter conditions have toughen their skin. What if their flesh was able to keep expanding in an attempt to repair it self? Perhaps their flesh can be a bottomless food source! until you burn it, but perhaps you could just cut the piece off.