Haa, Kashtan had to give away the big secret. So I might as well tell you everything.
I would have fallen off my chair laughing if Joy had made the troll attack us - only to see it getting maimed in one turn.
Frankly I dunno if it works and you'll probably nerf something after that but yeah, I have 3 attacks but deal 4x damage with Flurry of Blows + Hand of Harm combined for 1 Ki point.
The big gamble is Cat who will put everything in Heavy with her Greatsword. But she needs advantage for that so I flank the Troll and attack from behind.
Ashley will summon Nixie and have her attack. I'm afraid she can't summon her early because that boom would ruin the surprise (or can it work as distraction?) In any case that's not a problem. We have Surprise so even if her first attack is weak, she'll shine in the next round.
The real game-changer is Yulya. She will attack as soon as she notices that the troll is injured and will use her Ring of Quick Casting to cast 2x Toll The Dead and amplify it with her Goblin Staff. That's 2D12+6 necrotic damage. While Cat, Nixie and me have advantage, I think this won't apply to Yulya. Does she have inspiration? That would be a good time to use it.

Well, that's my glorious plan. If the Troll survives the surprise, rinse and repeat. We can uphold that for 3 rounds and only be stronger when Ashley rallies Nixie. Cat needs to take the first hit from the troll and survive. I gain 2D6 hp each round from her Path of the World Tree so I should be good. I think we're a great team with Emboldening Bond and Path of the World Tree combined.

Continued plan - if we manage to down the troll we catch the beastmaster as hostage, then retreat for the night into the Cat igloo some place away. I have one more surprise but it will remain one until it's time.

For now the crucial steps is luring the Troll to where Cat is and where the crossbowman can't shoot us during combat.
And that Ashley summons wasps as distraction and to find the beastmaster. We gotta make sure he doesn't make a run for it.

Cat has a higher stealth which includes scent, the troll has enhanced scent perception and rolled poorly and the cutoff just happened to be enough to smell only Ashley and Yulya. Frankly I couldn't remember where you wanted the troll to go or not, I let the dice decide that.

Noted.

I read that as a DM I should TPK at least once early on, I know Alice will have a fit... I'm liking this idea more and more.

>Difficult terrain under a fir tree?

I'll forgive you since most of Europe has no trees, yes you are basically crawling under the tree, whether the terrain is difficult or not, if you're crawling it's half speed.

Also let me save you a little waste here, whether you use a stink bomb or smoke, it will only last one turn because of the wind. For the purposes of Vanilla reasoning, 21+mph wind will disburse any cloud in 1 turn. The wind here is approaching 50mph in gusts. The stink or smoke will be completely ineffective.

Plot twist!
Do you think we can talk to them? Well, it's not Cat's problem. You try, if it fails we know what to do.

Yeah indeed! She should have gone to Yulya! If she drags the troll further east I'm mad. And what's with the wasps? Is the troll a wasp magnet or what?  Summon them as far NW as possible along the edge of the map! We gotta find the beastmaster!

ok guyse this doesnt work!
we gotta revise our movements or things will end in carnage. and not the good kind of one.

see pic related



Yulya and especially Ashley gotta move west so the troll doesnt go further east where the red X is.
its irrelevant if the troll notices you he can smell you in any case. important is that Alice and Cat stay hidden.
Cat has 60/2=30 movement through difficult terrain with feline agilty this turn. shes not the problem and can get the troll.
Alice only has 40/2=20 movement bc she will needs the rest for flurry of blows. she needs to go further east. only where i put her can she reach the troll even if he goes northeast which we wanna avoid. bandit could shoot her if she goes through the leafless tree but better than nothing.

so Ashleys gotta dash we told her to move more west before. risky but the only way. she doesnt need to do anything else this turn. next turn summon nixie and have her attack with all of us. i have changed Yulyas post to move her west

The troll's name is Harvey Epstein. He was found on an island with a lot of yoing aspiring actresses *and actors.*

The changes are fine, I didn't read them yet.