Tok got next to the Captain as he looked at the stunned Trolls, picking up the tree again, "Are you okay, sir?" not being dumb and slamming the tree towards one of the trolls, roots facing towards its' head so it could pierce through one of them at least. Tok's nice, not stupid. The troll is not going to lay there and let Tok check on the Captain.

The captain landed beside Tok. "Of course. Keep them on the floor as long as you can, I'm going to help others." He ordered before flying off again. The two trolls were already pushing to try and get up, going in opposite directions of each other.

After a moment Mythera returned with the captain of the guard, a tall and strongly built elven man known as Perl Deck. "Good morning, sire." He spoke as he stopped a respectful distance away. Mythera returned to her position while the guards closed the door back.

"And you as well." He nodded to her as he opened the door for her.

Astar nodded in greeting. "Hello Perl," he said.

Olivia nodded, waving before heading back to her horse. "Short and sweet, but are we really going to barrel through every town towards the border. Our great adventure wasn't supposed to really be...you still doing you things," Alice said. Olivia ignored her as she got up onto her horse and walked it out of town before taking off again. "They don't know what's coming. I have to prepare them just in case."

Tok looked at the people near him as the Trolls kept moving. He got over confident, he should have grabbed the sword. He looked at the trolls moving their staggered which means this is the only chance they have for a clean slice. if he runs back and gets the blade, they'll be up and people will be in trouble. He took a deep breath as he said "I'm going to give you guys an opening, please take it!" his back glowed a bit, as a beam fired from his mouth and knocked the trolls flat on their back. Tok fell to one knee as he was panting like a madman fading in and out of consciousness.

While it's cool he could do that...it's also very draining. However, this is the best way to let the professionals get an opening.

The trolls collapsed from the beam, the burning property of the beam seemingly doing enough to kill them outright by incinerating the brain. Everyone else was still busy fighting the plethora of other trolls present.

"My spies have recently confirmed several individuals about various cities of the kingdom in disguise by shapeshifting magic, all of which were far too powerful to be stopped from escaping. Several mages I've spoken with have confirmed we can develop tools to take out shapeshifting magic in a radius where activated, and I seek your permission to devote our most skilled mage craftsmen to hurrying the production of these. If we know what we face, I feel we can better handle them. A human stands out far better than a mouse, when they turn into one to escape." Perl explained.

As Hero made his way to the castle, several more messengers seemed to be hurrying around to leave with new messages in hand. "Hey, what's going on?" He called over to a messenger he recognized, an old friend of his everyone called Sticks for how skinny he was.

"Perfect timing Hero, get in there and talk with the guards! We're gonna need guys like you, can't say what for though!" Sticks shouted over, barely stopping his preparation before going twice as fast.

"What about...our own shapeshifters?" Astar asked. He had known a few in his lifetime.

Tok started to notice this to, he started to think really quick. He could just start chucking trees at the trolls. It'll distract them, but at the same time they might hit his comrades. He could just grab the troll sword and join his comrades on the field but the trolls are fighting like a military now, Tok is inexperienced. He'd just be in the way.

He could fire another blast but that would render him unconscious, especially since a shot from this distance and what he would have to do would have to be long and sustained. However, he's got about ten seconds of a shot tops, taking down the other two took up to much time.

Tok looked at the muddy ground though and started to get up. Maybe it's time to fight dirty.

"Somethings changed, we're losing ground!" The captain shouted. Guards were dying left and right, a few of the trolls reaching the ranged attacker line and began beating on the shields a select few could muster.

"I can have that arranged once the first is made, sir." Perl confirmed.

As soon as the Captain said that, a rain of...mud...was flying towards the Troll. Chunk by chunk heading right for them, in a sickening rain, but yet targeted like they were being thrown.

Tok chucked more and more mud pies at the trolls. A distracted enemy is an easy target, even if they are skilled.

More and more and more mud began to pile up on the trolls until they were gooping, muddy, troll shaped messes as Tok crawled out of the hole he built, he practically dug a lake. "5 seconds, that's all I got Captain, then the rest is up to you" He reared his head back and fired once again in sustained fire towards the gooping mess. It was then Tok's plan started to come as the mud started to harden from the incoming heat.

Heat makes mud hard and crusty, ordinarily that's not a problem, but if something is covered in a deep layer head to toe in it. It'll start to make movement a lot harder. So one of two things will happen, either Tok's blast will kill the trolls, or the heat from a missed blast will make the trolls encased in harden mud giving the troops the window of opportunity, however brief, they'll need.

As Tok let it all out, his five seconds were up and he then blacked out.

The mud and attack strategy worked on the few trolls it could envelop, killing several and briefly disabling others until the mud hardened enough for them to break it off entirely. As Tok collapsed, he was quickly pulled from the fight.

"That is the hope. A quick and efficient way to weed out these spies." Perl confirmed.

As Hero waited in the courtyard, minutes passed before adventurers began gathering in droves. Guard captain Herondale, an older man that somehow still managed to fend off the white hairs and maintain his simple and clean appearance despite his age, waited for a sufficient number of adventurers to gather.

(Once we finish the meeting with Perl we can TS a few hours if yall want. Tok probably wakes up and sees the result of the fight so far, Olivia reaches the final town on the border, and a summary of the rest of the meetings.)