The Troll at Flowing Well LbNA #51682 (ARCHIVED)

One day while I was filling my jugs with spring water, I heard a faint sound. It was huffy and grumbling, a little off in the distance. I searched in the woods and came to a bridge. There in the leaves, I first saw him; a small bridge troll sitting on a rotting log by the bottom railing, all muddy with wet hair. Apparently, he’d fallen into Cool Creek. Trolls hate water.

He saw me and we began an odd acquaintance. Trolls don’t really value friendships, but he seemed lonely and wanted to talk. Over several days, I visited him and he told me his story. Of course, I kept my distance as trolls can’t be trusted.

He said that his name was “Kleinfelter”. His real name is too difficult to pronounce by humans, being in Trollish, so he took the name from his ancestral homeland, Kleinfelterlund, in eastern Germany near Bohemia. Kleinfelter had emigrated from there 72 years ago after hearing about all the wealth in America. Besides, the Old World was overpopulated with bridge trolls. He needed some space.

Unfortunately, Kleinfelter had trouble finding a proper bridge to inhabit. You see, Kleinfelter hates cars and trains are too noisy. It took him 70 years but he finally found a comfortable foot bridge to call home.

Now bridge trolls earn their living by charging toll. They prefer one gold coin to pass or they will bite you. Kleinfelter is no exception. Sadly, though, no one believes in trolls in America. Everyone just ignores him, usually thinking he is an angry squirrel or some sort of smelly woodland creature in the bushes. Poor Kleinfelter is impoverished. And he can’t take any government handouts. After all, he is an illegal alien.

So Kleinfelter needs your help. Please show him some kindness by bringing him supplies to make his bridge a home. He promises not to bite anyone. He did give me a list of what he’d like, but I don’t think the list is really appropriate:

- A bag of gold
- Kittens to eat
- Your first-born child
- Hobnail boots
- A horsehair blanket infested with fleas (Yum)
- Any sort of magical object
- Poison arrows

Don’t let him down. Kleinfelter doesn’t believe that Hoosiers (or any other type of American) have any hospitality. Carve a stamp of anything you think that a poor troll could use and add it to the letterbox. Bridge trolls aren’t that picky. Or you really don’t need to bring anything at all; you can just find the letterbox and stamp in the logbook. But beware, it is best to find this letterbox during daylight hours and stay out of the shadowy places near the bridge. As much as I like Kleinfelter, he sometimes loses it when he smells humans close by.

By the way, as you’ve probably guessed, the footbridge is in Flowing Well park in Carmel (on 116th Street), just west of the spring. Go past the spring and head left into the woods. You'll get to the footbridge quickly. Once there, stand on the east side (nearest the parking lot) and face east. Take two steps. By now you should be hearing Kleinfelter growling. Don't worry, it's a conditioned response. Look to your left on the north side of the path. Hidden below the cement is the Bridge Troll's lair. You will need to remove some rocks to find him. Please replace them when you are finished.

You can only count the original troll stamp as a find on Atlasquest, but feel free to add the other stamps to your logbook. You can also list your carve in your personal AQ logbook as an "other" so you can get credit for the carve. Thanks to the Boston Terrorists for the idea.

And don’t worry if you can’t see Kleinfelter during your visit. He will be watching you.