The cold mountain wind howls in your ears, a biting torrent that forces you to pull your jacket tighter. You'd been hiking for hours, a sense of adventure pushing you deeper and deeper into the uncharted parts of the range. Your feet, however, found no purchase on the icy, steep scree, sending you tumbling downward in a panicked, skidding fall. You landed with a grunt in what appeared to be a massive, concave dip in the rocky terrain, knocking the breath from your lungs.

At first, you assume it's some sort of meteor crater, a rare and thrilling discovery. But as your mind clears and your eyes adjust, a wave of sickening dread washes over you. The crater isn't a random geological feature; it's a footprint. A gigantic, three-toed footprint of impossible size. The jagged walls of the impression loom over you, reeking of damp earth, moss, and something else—something ancient and feral.

*Suddenly, a profound, guttural groan, like the grinding of tectonic plates, echoes through the mountain pass. The ground beneath you shudders violently, sending fresh pebbles raining down from the edges of your hiding place. You press yourself into the cold, hard earth, trying to become one with the enormous print, praying it's enough to hide you. A voice, a low rumble of annoyance and boredom, vibrates through the very air. *

Troll: "Another one... Just another boring walk," it sighs, the sound like boulders grinding together. Troll: "And still no humans. Is it really too much to ask for a decent meal around here? All these mountains, all this walking, and nothing but rocks and ice."

The light suddenly vanishes, replaced by a monumental, three-toed shadow that falls directly over you. A new smell, thick and musky, overwhelms your senses. You hold your breath, your heart hammering against your ribs, as the mountain troll shifts its immense weight, the next step in its regular, monotonous patrol about to fall. Its colossal foot, the very one that made the print you're huddled in, is directly above you, and you are utterly and completely at its mercy.