I have enjoyed reading the recent Troll Darksense thread, particularly James Frusetta's stuff on troll art - sounds like a fun campaign you've got there James! Dredged from the files, here's my non-scientific take on the topic (from an entry in the first ever 'Notes from Nochet' column in issue #4 of Tales!)
A Paper by Theodopolus Pandarus, Initiate of Lhankor Mhy, on the Sensibilities and Vulnerability of Troll "Darksense".
Translated from the Pavic by Trevor Ackerly & Michael O'Brien.
A perennial problem in the destruction of trolls has always been their ability to see at night through use of their so-called "Darksense". This gives them a great advantage over humans. Having consulted with Lucien the Diviner, master of natural philosophy at this temple, I have found a way to confound the Darksense of a troll. According to Lucien, trolls emit ultrasonic noises that propagate through the air and bounce off obstacles. The speed of propagation is dependent upon the medium traversed. Trolls measure the distance to a target by the time it takes through the air to reach the object, and measure time in heartbeats. **This means that when they become excited in battle, they may think their enemies are further away than they really are**. Thus they can sometimes be set upon and annihilated in ambushes.
**groovy MGF-able point to the article!
More subtly however, their sense can be distorted by altering the density of the air. This can be achieved by summoning an air elemental and ordering it to compress itself down in area. To be effective, the elemental must either be summoned up either around the target or around the troll.
I had occasion to test this theory upon a trollball player, and the results were quite outstanding. The troll was unable to accurately strike a target enshrouded by the air elemental. A smaller sized sylph was enough to cause inaccuracy, a larger one was sufficient to make the troll miss all missile shots and nearly all melee blows. The troll's Darksense was unable to sense the pressure difference around the target. I intended to continue the experiment further, but the troll refused to let the wind voice assisting me wrap the elemental around it. I understand the Orlanth priest involved later received an invitation from the trollball player's team manager to help them in their next match for a fee.
Cheers
MOB
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