Finding Xaramista's eerie hideout is a matter of relative ease, and his use of invisibility and the arcane eye work perfectly. The old fiend is hunched over a yellow-paged tome, its pages soiled and torn from many years of use. About her frighteningly thin waist is a thin strip of leather, and from it hangs a pouch that likely holds the heartstone Malachi seeks.
Suddenly arriving (while invisible) at Xaramista's side will certainly grant the wizard the element of surprise, but will that be sufficient for him to abscond with the heartstone without a fight?
(A Sleight of Hand check will be needed to determine whether Malachi is able to grasp the stone undetected. Malachi surmises doing so will be moderately difficult, for he knows quite well how quick and alert his foe can be)
Shrouded in a ghostly frost, Lyra floats along the subterranean passageway, discovering short side tunnels on the left and right as she goes. As she comes to the end of a rather steep descent, her attention is drawn to a sudden movement along the left-hand wall. A xorn, despite being in its natural habitat, is no match for Lyra's sharp eyes and ears.
The elemental freezes, seemingly hoping its stillness will cause it to blend in with the surrounding terrain.
The going is slow, requiring a few steps forward and one step backward now and then, but Pigpen follows the path taken by the troll (and its companion) through the marshland. Fortunately, trolls leave rather deep impressions in the mud; so, by methodically locating (by feel) the low spots in the soggy ground beneath her, Pigpen follows the path westward. She is now wholly confident that the troll exited the wetlands at a point close to the mines. Footprints on the dry ground are much harder to locate, however. Expanding her search in a gradually-widening circle for roughly half an hour, Pigpen concludes that the troll did indeed exit the marsh area and head toward the mines. Evidence of the other creature seems to have vanished altogether. It its place are the prints of a small boot-wearing humanoid. They are much harder to see, and appear less frequently than those of the troll, but there's little doubt that they are headed in the same direction.
With each swing, Brast hears and feels the satisfying crunk of his hammer colliding with the monster. The barbarian notices a pattern, however. After each of his successful attacks, the crimson horror seems to pause momentarily and will its wounds to heal a bit. This ability to regenerate is keeping the monster in the fight for yet another round...
Right hand claw attack: 14 for 11 piercing damage, if successful
Left hand claw attack: 17 for 5 piercing damage, if successful
Bite attack: 23 for 11 piercing damage, if successful
(Roll another CON save if either claw attack is successful)
The Creature's bite narrowly passes beside his shield and its toothy maw scrapes over exposed torso, even as Brast dances out of the way. Blood flowing freely, he rallies as the creature's strange toxins seek to enter his very blood and bone! (Con save: 30)
With mighty swings, he seeks to end the creature at last, before it lands a more successful blow! (Reckless attacks once more)
Lyra curses herself for not casting Comprehend Languages as a ritual before entering the mine. It is as if in my quest to find my mother, I have regressed into the hasty youngest daughter I was when still a girl by her side...
She stops well short of the xorn, floating on her broom. For just over ten seconds, it is unclear whether she has spotted the creature as she is speaking to herself, playing her harmonica and not looking directly. (Minimum Deception is a 25 due to Eloquence Bards' Silver Tongue and +15 bonus.)
During this time, Lyra plays a broad arpeggio on her harmonica and begins murmuring in languages she does not know.
Using a pact slot to cast Comprehend Languages and activating her Eloquence Bard's Universal Speech feature for the xorn. She can now both understand and speak any language with it for the next hour. Both take an action, so 12 seconds in all.
If the xorn is still there when she is done, she speaks calmly and persuasively. She does not know Terran, yet the xorn understands.
"Deep elemental of the earth and seeker of rare metal. I see you and wish you no harm. With respect and sincerity, I hope that we may help each other. I have coins of gold for you. In return, I seek all the information you have about this mine, what creatures have been here other than the humanoid miners, and what may have transpired here recently. In addition we two shall pledge not to harm one another. Tell me true, are we in accord?"
(Minimum Persuasion is a 25 due to Eloquence Bards' Silver Tongue and +15 bonus.)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
PIGPEN
Pigpen scratches her head behind her ear. "Everything appears focused on those mines," she thinks, "And the troll's companion can, apparently, transform. I had better pay particular attention to my surroundings." She closes her eyes a moment, holding her staff up, and casts Pass Without Trace (Stealth: 29). The cloud of frogs surrounding her quiet their croaking. She then proceeds to make her way to the mines, keeping an eye out for anything unusual or waiting in ambush (Perception: 16). Her plan, once she arrives, is to scout the area of the mines and see what she can learn about what transpired there, before she has to enter the mine proper (Survival: 28). Also, once she is within 500 ft of the mines, she plans to use an instance of her Primeval Awareness in order to find out what sorts of dangers may await her.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
16
MALACHI
The multi-step plan works as intended, and Malachi cannot resist the urge to bask momentarily in his success. For the second time in his life, he has managed to whisk away a heartstone from the formidable Xaramista.
The first heartstone he sold to finance the costly expense of being a wizard; this second one, however, is his to do as he sees fit...
With two more swings of his hammer, Brast fells his strange foe. The creature slumps lifelessly to the ground, offering no explanation for its existence and its hostility.
The earth elemental remains where it is, intent on listening and responding. After Lyra speaks, the xorn offer its reply. "Precious metals and lovely gemstones I seek indeed. I think you may have some, yes? Coins of gold? Yes! Coins of gold I will take, for I am hungry."
After a pause of several seconds, the xorn continues, "The one you call troll--with many arms--has walked here and taken my...friends...the ones I help and the ones who feed me."
The xorn moves a few a feet closer to Lyra and adds, "With the troll was a svirfneblin...but, often, this dark gnome is invisible."
"Where are my friends? Why did the troll steal them?"
Breathing heavily, Brast focuses his mind (ends rage) and takes a moment to observe his surroundings for other threats before moving to take a trophy. The creature's claws, he had mostly escaped. It's bite... he winces and puts his hand to the wound. Nothing he hadn't received before (he'd been in worse bar fights, though not with uglier opponents!) but he would be glad not to have to go through such an ordeal again soon. Placing Sunforger next to the felled creature, he takes a hatchet and attempts to cleanly remove the monster's head - proof, should the frightened miner yet be a guest of Master Pyke's, that vengeance had been wrought. (Medicine check? If needed 15)
"Well, that's a demon frog dead, I suppose." he grunts to himself in the process.
After packing his trophy, he cleans himself of the gore of battle and carefully stores his weapon, blessing Moradin's faithfulness in seeing him through yet another battle of honor.
As a Battlehammer, would Brast know this stretch of land somewhat well? Is there a decent place to ford the river with his ponies nearby, that he might track the creature's path backwards from its origin point? This may prove to be a more informative use of his time than simply following Master Elrik's somewhat blurry instructions to his former mining camp. Perhaps it might even lead him back to the troll, and whatever other monstrous minions had done such harm.
Within a few minutes of being resigned to the notion that everything appears to be focused on those mines, Pigpen notices a speck of movement to the south. A solitary figure seems to be crossing the Evermoors and headed in her direction. A few hundred yards distant, the individual is methodically and slowly moving northward...
As Malachi gets back into his gothic tower he chuckles evilly as he looks at the heartstone in the pouch. He then quickly rides out again on his steed Poe, bringing his tower, proceedeing west towards the Evermoors, a content smile on his thin lips, pondering what he could use the likely compliant Xaramista for in the future.
(Edgar is still scouting ahead with passive perception of 13 and Malachi has a passive perception of 23 and can't be surprised.)
The earth elemental remains where it is, intent on listening and responding. After Lyra speaks, the xorn offer its reply. "Precious metals and lovely gemstones I seek indeed. I think you may have some, yes? Coins of gold? Yes! Coins of gold I will take, for I am hungry."
After a pause of several seconds, the xorn continues, "The one you call troll--with many arms--has walked here and taken my...friends...the ones I help and the ones who feed me."
The xorn moves a few a feet closer to Lyra and adds, "With the troll was a svirfneblin...but, often, this dark gnome is invisible."
"Where are my friends? Why did the troll steal them?"
Lyra steels herself. A many-armed troll. A sorcerous, vanishing deep gnome. Witnessed by this deep creature... Something is very wrong here. Worse than I feared. Her eyes flash black ever so briefly as the dark harmonica dangles around her throat. Lighter than a feather. Heavier than the living rock surrounding her. Down in this dark hole.
"...And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething, As if this earth in fast thick gasps were breathing..."
She thinks but does not speak the remembered couplet. To the xorn she tosses ten gold pieces. She tends to believe the creature but...
"So we have a pact. We will help, not harm each other. I am Lyra. Perhaps we can be friends as you were with the miners. But you have as many questions as answers. It is answers that earn further gold. I do not yet know why the troll stole your friends, but I aim to find out. In this, you will aid me, and only thereby win more metal. And my trust."
"Tell me true, then. You sensed the miners leave this place alive, but captives? Taken by the many-armed troll? But at least one of your friends was taken by death instead, I saw. By flame, which is decidedly not a troll's weapon. Was his fiery death the work of the svirfneblin? Did they hurl fire as a wizard would? Or did something else cause the burning? And are you sure the deep gnome is not here right now, invisible, listening to us converse? Have you felt their presence touching the earth since?"
Lyra remains on her broom. Floating and confident, but ready for an attack in case the xorn proves treacherous or something else awaits unseen. ((Like Malachi, Lyra cannot be surprised while conscious, invisible attackers don't gain advantage, and her passive Perception is 27.))
The rush and tension of battle now behind him, Brast fords the river in a place he knows well--a place sufficiently shallow for Branston and Peawise to keep most of what they carry dry. Circling back to the point at which the monster entered the Rauvin, Brast easily picks up the creature's tracks and begins to follow them southward into the Evermoors.
By day's end, he estimates he has slowly and meticulously covered a distance of seven or eight miles. Losing the trail now and then but successfully picking it up after a careful search, Brast concludes the monster had no clear direction or destination in its head. The path he has followed has been one of many turns, changing direction constantly. At times the creature's prints indicate it was moving rapidly; at other times, it seems to have stopped and spent several minutes slowly moving about in a small area.
As the sun begins to disappear over the hills to the west, Brast's trail leads him to a second red-skinned monster. This one, however, is dead. Its neck is marked by multiple deep piercing wounds. So, Brast knows that the monster he slew was, from this point forward, not alone; it had been traveling with a second creature of the same kind.
With night now approaching, the barbarian must decide whether to set up camp in this forsaken place or push on with following the trail...
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
PIGPEN
Pigpen is torn. Something clearly happened at the mines, but her best guess is that discovery can wait a bit longer. “Any creature confident or crazy enough to cross the Evermoors alone is worth further investigation,”she thinks to herself. She decides to stealthily approach this new stranger and see what she can learn about them. She’ll approach no closer than 120 ft. Stealth: 33
Wondering when his next interaction with Xaramista will occur--and what will become of it--Malachi leaves the shadowy depths of Silverwood behind and continues his westward journey into the Evermoors. The next evening, after covering several miles without incident, Malachi receives his first report of note: Edgar, aloft and ahead of Malachi a bit, conveys that on the other side of a low row of hills are gathered a large number of orcs. Using the eyes of his raven familiar to study the scene in more detail, Malachi gathers the following:
Two different orc tribes have set up an encampment together (which is an unusual arrangement for orcs)
The tribes are The Hand (called thus because they remove the right hand of all their fallen enemies to keep as trophies) and the Guruk Nal
In total there are 43 orcs, approximately one-third of which are Guruk Nal
Based on the trampled grasses in the surrounding area, it seems the orcs are moving westward, deeper into the Evermoors.
"You are Lyra. I am Lith. Yes, a pact made of gold. This is good. Questions we both have. Gold you have. Gold I want. Friends I lost. We have an agreement!"
Lyra senses, for now anyway, that the xorn speaks openly and honestly.
"Six miners there were. Four taken by troll with many arms. One taken by flame. One not taken; that one is Lith."
Lith goes on to explain that the dark gnome did indeed throw fire from his hands, causing the miner (who's name was Dello) to die. The troll dragged the other four miners--all of which were dwarves--away in a large cloth sack of some sort. Regarding the possibility of the gnome's presence in the mine, Lith explains that the gnome followed the troll out of the mine and headed southward.
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BRAST
Merely a scratch! Brast goes in for another barrage, just as reckless as before!
Attack: 15 Damage: 14
And the backhand!
Attack: 24 Damage: 16
Con save: 26
MALACHI
Finding Xaramista's eerie hideout is a matter of relative ease, and his use of invisibility and the arcane eye work perfectly. The old fiend is hunched over a yellow-paged tome, its pages soiled and torn from many years of use. About her frighteningly thin waist is a thin strip of leather, and from it hangs a pouch that likely holds the heartstone Malachi seeks.
Suddenly arriving (while invisible) at Xaramista's side will certainly grant the wizard the element of surprise, but will that be sufficient for him to abscond with the heartstone without a fight?
(A Sleight of Hand check will be needed to determine whether Malachi is able to grasp the stone undetected. Malachi surmises doing so will be moderately difficult, for he knows quite well how quick and alert his foe can be)
18
LYRA
Shrouded in a ghostly frost, Lyra floats along the subterranean passageway, discovering short side tunnels on the left and right as she goes. As she comes to the end of a rather steep descent, her attention is drawn to a sudden movement along the left-hand wall. A xorn, despite being in its natural habitat, is no match for Lyra's sharp eyes and ears.
The elemental freezes, seemingly hoping its stillness will cause it to blend in with the surrounding terrain.
PIGPEN
The going is slow, requiring a few steps forward and one step backward now and then, but Pigpen follows the path taken by the troll (and its companion) through the marshland. Fortunately, trolls leave rather deep impressions in the mud; so, by methodically locating (by feel) the low spots in the soggy ground beneath her, Pigpen follows the path westward. She is now wholly confident that the troll exited the wetlands at a point close to the mines. Footprints on the dry ground are much harder to locate, however. Expanding her search in a gradually-widening circle for roughly half an hour, Pigpen concludes that the troll did indeed exit the marsh area and head toward the mines. Evidence of the other creature seems to have vanished altogether. It its place are the prints of a small boot-wearing humanoid. They are much harder to see, and appear less frequently than those of the troll, but there's little doubt that they are headed in the same direction.
BRAST
With each swing, Brast hears and feels the satisfying crunk of his hammer colliding with the monster. The barbarian notices a pattern, however. After each of his successful attacks, the crimson horror seems to pause momentarily and will its wounds to heal a bit. This ability to regenerate is keeping the monster in the fight for yet another round...
(Roll another CON save if either claw attack is successful)
BRAST
The Creature's bite narrowly passes beside his shield and its toothy maw scrapes over exposed torso, even as Brast dances out of the way. Blood flowing freely, he rallies as the creature's strange toxins seek to enter his very blood and bone! (Con save: 30)
With mighty swings, he seeks to end the creature at last, before it lands a more successful blow! (Reckless attacks once more)
Attack: 32 Damage: 20
and the backhand!
Attack: 23 Damage: 16
Lyra curses herself for not casting Comprehend Languages as a ritual before entering the mine. It is as if in my quest to find my mother, I have regressed into the hasty youngest daughter I was when still a girl by her side...
She stops well short of the xorn, floating on her broom. For just over ten seconds, it is unclear whether she has spotted the creature as she is speaking to herself, playing her harmonica and not looking directly. (Minimum Deception is a 25 due to Eloquence Bards' Silver Tongue and +15 bonus.)
During this time, Lyra plays a broad arpeggio on her harmonica and begins murmuring in languages she does not know.
Using a pact slot to cast Comprehend Languages and activating her Eloquence Bard's Universal Speech feature for the xorn. She can now both understand and speak any language with it for the next hour. Both take an action, so 12 seconds in all.
If the xorn is still there when she is done, she speaks calmly and persuasively. She does not know Terran, yet the xorn understands.
"Deep elemental of the earth and seeker of rare metal. I see you and wish you no harm. With respect and sincerity, I hope that we may help each other. I have coins of gold for you. In return, I seek all the information you have about this mine, what creatures have been here other than the humanoid miners, and what may have transpired here recently. In addition we two shall pledge not to harm one another. Tell me true, are we in accord?"
(Minimum Persuasion is a 25 due to Eloquence Bards' Silver Tongue and +15 bonus.)
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
PIGPEN
Pigpen scratches her head behind her ear. "Everything appears focused on those mines," she thinks, "And the troll's companion can, apparently, transform. I had better pay particular attention to my surroundings." She closes her eyes a moment, holding her staff up, and casts Pass Without Trace (Stealth: 29). The cloud of frogs surrounding her quiet their croaking. She then proceeds to make her way to the mines, keeping an eye out for anything unusual or waiting in ambush (Perception: 16). Her plan, once she arrives, is to scout the area of the mines and see what she can learn about what transpired there, before she has to enter the mine proper (Survival: 28). Also, once she is within 500 ft of the mines, she plans to use an instance of her Primeval Awareness in order to find out what sorts of dangers may await her.
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
16
MALACHI
The multi-step plan works as intended, and Malachi cannot resist the urge to bask momentarily in his success. For the second time in his life, he has managed to whisk away a heartstone from the formidable Xaramista.
The first heartstone he sold to finance the costly expense of being a wizard; this second one, however, is his to do as he sees fit...
BRAST
With two more swings of his hammer, Brast fells his strange foe. The creature slumps lifelessly to the ground, offering no explanation for its existence and its hostility.
(Combat has ended).
LYRA
The earth elemental remains where it is, intent on listening and responding. After Lyra speaks, the xorn offer its reply. "Precious metals and lovely gemstones I seek indeed. I think you may have some, yes? Coins of gold? Yes! Coins of gold I will take, for I am hungry."
After a pause of several seconds, the xorn continues, "The one you call troll--with many arms--has walked here and taken my...friends...the ones I help and the ones who feed me."
The xorn moves a few a feet closer to Lyra and adds, "With the troll was a svirfneblin...but, often, this dark gnome is invisible."
"Where are my friends? Why did the troll steal them?"
BRAST
Breathing heavily, Brast focuses his mind (ends rage) and takes a moment to observe his surroundings for other threats before moving to take a trophy. The creature's claws, he had mostly escaped. It's bite... he winces and puts his hand to the wound. Nothing he hadn't received before (he'd been in worse bar fights, though not with uglier opponents!) but he would be glad not to have to go through such an ordeal again soon. Placing Sunforger next to the felled creature, he takes a hatchet and attempts to cleanly remove the monster's head - proof, should the frightened miner yet be a guest of Master Pyke's, that vengeance had been wrought. (Medicine check? If needed 15)
"Well, that's a demon frog dead, I suppose." he grunts to himself in the process.
After packing his trophy, he cleans himself of the gore of battle and carefully stores his weapon, blessing Moradin's faithfulness in seeing him through yet another battle of honor.
As a Battlehammer, would Brast know this stretch of land somewhat well? Is there a decent place to ford the river with his ponies nearby, that he might track the creature's path backwards from its origin point? This may prove to be a more informative use of his time than simply following Master Elrik's somewhat blurry instructions to his former mining camp. Perhaps it might even lead him back to the troll, and whatever other monstrous minions had done such harm.
PIGPEN
Within a few minutes of being resigned to the notion that everything appears to be focused on those mines, Pigpen notices a speck of movement to the south. A solitary figure seems to be crossing the Evermoors and headed in her direction. A few hundred yards distant, the individual is methodically and slowly moving northward...
MALACHI
As Malachi gets back into his gothic tower he chuckles evilly as he looks at the heartstone in the pouch. He then quickly rides out again on his steed Poe, bringing his tower, proceedeing west towards the Evermoors, a content smile on his thin lips, pondering what he could use the likely compliant Xaramista for in the future.
(Edgar is still scouting ahead with passive perception of 13 and Malachi has a passive perception of 23 and can't be surprised.)
Lyra steels herself. A many-armed troll. A sorcerous, vanishing deep gnome. Witnessed by this deep creature... Something is very wrong here. Worse than I feared. Her eyes flash black ever so briefly as the dark harmonica dangles around her throat. Lighter than a feather. Heavier than the living rock surrounding her. Down in this dark hole.
"...And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick gasps were breathing..."
She thinks but does not speak the remembered couplet. To the xorn she tosses ten gold pieces. She tends to believe the creature but...
Insight: 32
"So we have a pact. We will help, not harm each other. I am Lyra. Perhaps we can be friends as you were with the miners. But you have as many questions as answers. It is answers that earn further gold. I do not yet know why the troll stole your friends, but I aim to find out. In this, you will aid me, and only thereby win more metal. And my trust."
"Tell me true, then. You sensed the miners leave this place alive, but captives? Taken by the many-armed troll? But at least one of your friends was taken by death instead, I saw. By flame, which is decidedly not a troll's weapon. Was his fiery death the work of the svirfneblin? Did they hurl fire as a wizard would? Or did something else cause the burning? And are you sure the deep gnome is not here right now, invisible, listening to us converse? Have you felt their presence touching the earth since?"
Lyra remains on her broom. Floating and confident, but ready for an attack in case the xorn proves treacherous or something else awaits unseen.
((Like Malachi, Lyra cannot be surprised while conscious, invisible attackers don't gain advantage, and her passive Perception is 27.))
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
Survival 25
BRAST
The rush and tension of battle now behind him, Brast fords the river in a place he knows well--a place sufficiently shallow for Branston and Peawise to keep most of what they carry dry. Circling back to the point at which the monster entered the Rauvin, Brast easily picks up the creature's tracks and begins to follow them southward into the Evermoors.
By day's end, he estimates he has slowly and meticulously covered a distance of seven or eight miles. Losing the trail now and then but successfully picking it up after a careful search, Brast concludes the monster had no clear direction or destination in its head. The path he has followed has been one of many turns, changing direction constantly. At times the creature's prints indicate it was moving rapidly; at other times, it seems to have stopped and spent several minutes slowly moving about in a small area.
As the sun begins to disappear over the hills to the west, Brast's trail leads him to a second red-skinned monster. This one, however, is dead. Its neck is marked by multiple deep piercing wounds. So, Brast knows that the monster he slew was, from this point forward, not alone; it had been traveling with a second creature of the same kind.
With night now approaching, the barbarian must decide whether to set up camp in this forsaken place or push on with following the trail...
PIGPEN
Pigpen is torn. Something clearly happened at the mines, but her best guess is that discovery can wait a bit longer. “Any creature confident or crazy enough to cross the Evermoors alone is worth further investigation,” she thinks to herself. She decides to stealthily approach this new stranger and see what she can learn about them. She’ll approach no closer than 120 ft.
Stealth: 33
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
MALACHI
Wondering when his next interaction with Xaramista will occur--and what will become of it--Malachi leaves the shadowy depths of Silverwood behind and continues his westward journey into the Evermoors. The next evening, after covering several miles without incident, Malachi receives his first report of note: Edgar, aloft and ahead of Malachi a bit, conveys that on the other side of a low row of hills are gathered a large number of orcs. Using the eyes of his raven familiar to study the scene in more detail, Malachi gathers the following:
LYRA
"You are Lyra. I am Lith. Yes, a pact made of gold. This is good. Questions we both have. Gold you have. Gold I want. Friends I lost. We have an agreement!"
Lyra senses, for now anyway, that the xorn speaks openly and honestly.
"Six miners there were. Four taken by troll with many arms. One taken by flame. One not taken; that one is Lith."
Lith goes on to explain that the dark gnome did indeed throw fire from his hands, causing the miner (who's name was Dello) to die. The troll dragged the other four miners--all of which were dwarves--away in a large cloth sack of some sort. Regarding the possibility of the gnome's presence in the mine, Lith explains that the gnome followed the troll out of the mine and headed southward.