In Marsh Bell, there is an encounter with a Troll given as a sample Hazard. Though not entirely clear, I assume this is for when a PC rolls an Eye on the Feat dice on a Fatigue test.

By my reckoning this would mean that there is a 50% chance that the Hazard may not even arise if the PCs are in boats. This decreases even further if you then allow the Lookout an Awareness test or the Hunter a Hunting test to avoid it.

This is fine in a longer game but as a one off and introduction, the Troll Hazard seems like something you would want in the scenario as an introduction to combat.

I think I would at least change the Awareness or Hunting test to be:

Success = encounter Troll but PC's defending
Failure = encounter Troll but PC's attacking

However, I am tempted to add the Troll as a set encounter, like the Wood Elves, and add another Hazard if the PCs roll as such.

How have people found this in running the scenario? Did people treat it like a Hazard or a set encounter?

I did run it, but as I ran it as a fill-in game I wanted to finish it in one go. I had planned to use it as a set encounter to use it as an intro to combat but the party rolled a hazard on the first leg of the journey and found a group of orcs on the shore of the river.

By the time they got to the right area for the troll, we were running out of time so I skipped it. Given how it read, if they had approached the stinking pool they would have been attacked. I would have treated it as an ambush, with an awareness test to not be surprised.

E