Chapter Seven

Wave Echo Cave

The rain had kept most of the residents of Phandalin in their homes that evening, so Lyra, Toby and Emmaline had the taproom of the Stonehill Inn almost to themselves. They slurped Trilena's excellent venison stew whilst they poured over the map to Wave Echo cave. Toby had found it stashed under King Grol's bed when they ransacked his room and he and Lyra were now riddling out the dwarven markings.

"The Rockseekers did a pretty thorough job of mapping out the area," Toby mused. "No wonder they found the mines."

"How far are they?" Lyra asked thickly, her mouth full of bread. Toby traced his finger from the small picture that marked Phandalin to a spidery X deep in the vales of the Sword Mountains.

"About fifteen miles. Should be able to get there in less than a day if the weather is with us."

Emmaline was counting out the coin they'd recovered from Cragmaw Castle, a good sixty gold by Toby's estimate.

"I see no point in dawdling. I'm keen to have a look at this place we've heard so much about. And chop a certain spider down to size," she grinned, the coins clinking merrily as she tipped them back into the leather pouch.

"I second that," said Beorn.

The three at the table turned to see their cleric descending the stairs. He'd doffed his armour and weapons and somehow looked softer than usual.

"How is Gundren?" Lyra asked anxiously.

Beorn pulled out a chair and sat with a wan smile.

"He's sleeping, but Sister Garaele thinks he'll be fine. Hallwinter is sitting with him. Now about Wave Echo. I agree with Emmie, we should set off as soon as possible. Gundren thinks the Spider has captured his brothers and is holding them in the mines. It's time to finish this bastard once and for all."

They all agreed with this sentiment and in view of this, they all had an early night. In the morning they stopped by Barthen's provisions to pick up items that would serve them well in a mine, rope, pitons and rations. Emmaline restocked on arrows at Lionshield Coster's and had a long conversation Linene Graywind about this expedition. The search of King Grol's chambers had also thrown up three healing potions, which the group solemnly decided should be given to Emmaline, Lyra and Toby. Beorn had point blank refused to take one, trusting in Marthammor Duin to heal him if it came down to it.

So, it was with full backpacks and the sun shining overhead that the party left town once more and headed east. Children trailed them to the edge of the farmland and waved them off cheerfully. They weren't hindered by thick forest on this journey, only gentle hills which stretched for miles to the north and south. By early afternoon however the landscape became more treacherous as they'd reached the foot on the mountains. The climbs were steep with loose scree underfoot and Beorn in particular misliked the look of the gorges they came across.

"Perfect place for an ambush," he growled, glaring at the high cliffs rising on either side. "No way to avoid it though, not without going a long way out of our way. Be on the look-out."

Emmaline walked with an arrow notched and Toby kept one hand ready to cast a spell. Lyra's eyes raked across the ridgeline and her lips moved silently. Toby recognised the furrowed brow, and knew she was composing in her mind.

However, they did not encounter any trouble in the gorge and arrived at the mouth of the cave with the sun still relatively high in the sky. The tunnel led to a large cavern supported by a natural pillar of rock and containing three stalagmites. To their right, half-hidden by a column, they saw three bedrolls and a heap of supply sacks. There was also a booted leg just poking into view. Beorn ran over with the others at his heels and gave a cry of horror and despair when he rounded the rock.

"No!" he wailed, falling onto his hands and knees beside the body of the dwarf. "Those bloody bastards!"

Toby swallowed back a wave of nausea. The body looked to be at least a week old and congealed blood pooled around the head. The dwarf's throat had been cut almost through to the bone. Lyra leant down and gripped Beorn's shoulder.

"Oh Beorn, I'm so sorry," she murmured as the cleric's frame shuddered.

"It's Tharden," he whispered, turning his face away from the decaying corpse. "The fuckers killed him for sport, I know it! This is all my fault, if we'd got here sooner –"

Lyra took a firmed hold on Beorn's arm and hauled him to his feet.

"This is not your fault, and you know it," she said fiercely, her green eyes flashing. "We will come back and give him a proper burial, but right now there is still hope for Nundro."

"The Spider may well have spared him, he needs someone who knows their way around the mines," Toby agreed gently. "Don't despair my friend, you need to be strong for him now."

Beorn took a few deep breaths, screwed up his face, then nodded. He gripped his holy symbol and turned his gaze, now filled with burning determination, onto the rest of the cavern.

"Look," he grunted, pointing towards the north-eastern section which appeared to have collapsed forming a ten-foot-wide pit. "There's a rope, that must the entrance of the mine."

They ventured over and saw the hempen rope for themselves, knotted around one of the pillars and descending some twenty feet into the pit. Emmaline made to grab the rope but Beorn stopped her.

"I'd better go first, test the weight," he said. They watched anxiously as he lowered himself into the pit, bracing his boots against the crumbling wall. He took his time, feeling for each next step, before reaching the bottom and look up at his companions.

"It's sturdy enough, just be careful."

Once they were all gathered, they peered down a pair of rough-hewn tunnels, one leading northwest, the other east. Emmaline knelt down to examine the dirt floor.

"There's been traffic in both tunnels recently," she said. "But more to the northwest. I think we should try that way first."

The others agreed and after a brief debate, Beorn took the lead and lit the end of his axe with a spell. This would unfortunately alert enemies to their approach, but Emmaline needed to be able to see if she was to fight.

"I've got to do something about this no darkvision bollocks," Emmaline muttered as they moved cautiously forward.

"There's a spell for it, but I'm afraid to say I don't know it yet," said Toby apologetically. "Next time we're in civilized parts, I'll see about buying a scroll."

To their dismay the tunnel soon branched off into many others and they found themselves in a maze of intersecting passages. Toby used a stick of chalk from his pack to mark the walls but even so they got turned around three times. Most of the tunnels ended abruptly in partially excavated rock faces and Toby soon began to get a creeping sensation on the back of his neck.

"We're being watched," he whispered to Lyra who nodded, her brow furrowed. She passed this on to Beorn who stopped and raised his axe high to illuminate the tunnel behind them. The light sending shadows dancing eerily along the walls and ceiling. Then Toby thought he saw a different type of movement, something undulating.

"There!" he said, a little too loudly in his panic. His voice echoed back several times. Beorn scowled.

"Hush," the dwarf hissed. "Where? I don't see anything."

"It's right – there," said Toby uncertainly, but even as he pointed at the spot on the ceiling where he'd seen movement, he realised there was nothing there. He felt his cheeks warm in embarrassment as Emmaline shook her head.

"Get a grip on yourself," she said sternly.

They kept moving, Toby now glancing over his shoulder every five seconds. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was stalking them. Eventually they got out of the tunnels and emerged into a natural, thirty-foot-high cavern. The walls were carved with simple reliefs showing dwarf and gnome miners at work. Below them, nearly two dozen skeletons in rusted scraps of armour were scattered across the cavern floor. Some were dwarf skeletons, whilst others were hulking, orc remains. Half a dozen large brass lanterns stood in niches or on ledges around the cavern, but none were lit.

"What do you think?" Lyra whispered, squinting over Beorn's shoulder. "Undead?"

"I'm not sure," Beorn said slowly, his free hand going to his pendant. "They don't seem to be."

Then, the calm was shattered as something red and slimy dropped from the ceiling and landed with a squelch on Lyra's head. At the same time, they heard the flapping of wings and several black shapes swooped down on the party.

They dove out of the way but the bat-like creatures latched onto Toby and Emmaline who were too slow with stabbing hooks on their feet and the tips of their wings. Toby gave a cry of pain and horror as the monster pierced his neck with its long beak and began sucking on his blood. He panicked and flailed around madly trying to get it off until Beorn grabbed it and ripped it away. The stirge, for Toby recognised the foul thing now, squealed as Beorn's axe split it in two. Emmaline struck two out of the sky with her bow and once the flying menaces were dealt with they all turned their attention to Lyra.

She was lurching this way and that trying to scrape a large quantity of red slime of her body.

"It's trying to eat me!" she cried, shaking her hands violently, but to no avail.

"It's an ooze! An ochre jelly! Get it off her, quick!" Toby realised.

With all their strength combined the party managed to pull the jelly mostly off Lyra and throw it onto the floor. It's name was well earned for it truly did have the consistency of thick jelly and it squelched wetly on impact with the ground. It recollected itself into an amorphous blob and Toby threw a powerful ice orb to keep it in place.

"Well," Lyra panted. "I officially hate this place."

She was covered from head to foot in a layer of slime and had angry red welts on her face and arms. She cleaned herself off as best she could with water from her canteen and Beorn determined her wounds weren't serious. The hole in Toby's neck was patched up with gauze and a small healing spell and he kicked the body of stirge aside with a grimace. They had a choice of corridors, all leading off in different directions, and they decided on the one to the northwest as that was the way they'd started going before they got lost in the tunnels.

It was only a short passage, with steps cut into the sloping floor to ease their way. They came to a new cavern dominated by a pool of dark water. Its shore consisted of a thin layer of broken shells and strange, pale mussels. A fishy odour hung in the air. A set of steps climbed to the north but the passage at the top was filled with rubble.

"Damn," Beorn muttered. "No way through here, let's double back."

"Wait," Emmaline said, pointing to the water. "This is a spring, you can see it bubbling in the middle. But the cave isn't full so it must flow somewhere. Let's take a look around."

They scouted out the cavern and soon found that the fighter was right. There was a stream that flowed to the north, under the stairs and through a low tunnel.

"It isn't deep," Emmaline said, probing with her shortsword. "We can wade through if we keep out heads down, and I think I hear voices up ahead."

"Let's move then, quietly," nodded Beorn.

They all slipped into the water, trying not to make any splashes and Toby was about to duck through the tunnel when he noticed something glinting near his foot. He bent down and felt for the thing. His fingers encountered a skull, which he did not care for, more of the mussels he'd seen, and something smooth, metallic and cylindrical. This he pulled out of the pool and his eyes grew round as dinner plates when he saw what it was. It was the length of his forearm, slender, with a blue crystal at one end and glimmering with magic. A wand of magic missile.

"Lyra!" he said, and his voice was small and strangled with excitement. "Lyra, look!"

But Lyra and the others had already ventured down the tunnel and Toby was quite alone in the pool cavern. He swallowed his excitement and stuck the wand through his belt before following. The tunnel grew narrower and the water deeper as he waded until it was lapping at his chin, but then it widened out into yet another cavern. A large pile of rubble obscured most of it from view and his friends were crouching behind this on some higher ground above water. When Lyra saw Toby she put a finger to her lips then offered a hand to help him climb out of the stream. Toby peeked over the rubble and saw a curious scene laid out before him.

The stream flowed towards a wide rift that split the cavern in two where it tumbled down then continued north to a cleft in the rock wall where it disappeared. Several ropes were secured to iron stakes along the western edge of the rift, leading down to the chasm floor. A bugbear was standing guard with its back to the party and from their elevated position Toby could see two other bugbears at the bottom of the rift. They were clearing away rubble and grumbling in Goblin.

"Only three, we can take them by surprise," whispered Emmaline. Luckily the noise of the rushing stream and the pickaxes chipping away at rock covered their conversation.

"Five, actually," said Lyra, nodding towards the north.

Toby saw a set of wide steps there and two figures descending. One he recognised at once, the drow woman who had escaped them at Cragmaw Castle. The other was a human man of around thirty, with short black hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He was dressed in opulent black wizard's robes and clutched a tall staff made of glass in his right hand. The two were bickering.

"I tell you Vyerith, the dwarf knows nothing, the Spider should cut his throat and have done with it," the wizard griped, his staff clinking on the steps.

"And I tell you, Iarno, have patience. Nezznar knows how to break a prisoner, even stubborn dwarves. In the meantime we must keep these damn undead at bay, and discover whatever lies at the bottom on this hole."

"Nezznar is sure there's something valuable down there?" Iarno asked, leaning gingerly over the edge of the chasm to look down at the workers.

"His divinations are rarely wrong. Some powerful magic item, he believes."

The party ducked back down and looked at one another.

"Iarno Albrek," Lyra breathed, "Sildar will want him alive. I have an idea for dealing with the bugbears but we can't have that drow slipping through our fingers again. The Spider must be nearby, she'll warn him we're coming."

"I have an idea for dealing with the drow," Toby mused, rummaging in his component pouch. "You just get rid of the others quickly and quietly."

They all nodded gravely and Lyra held up three fingers, lowering each in turn. Then whipped out an eagle feather from her pouch and waved it in the air. At once, the three bugbears dropped their tools and fell to the floor, howling with laughter and clutching their sides. Iarno Albrek and the drow called Vyerith started and whipped around towards the noise, just as Toby pointed at the pair with a small iron strip clutched in his fist.

The drow stiffened like a statue and also fell to the floor, rolling down the steps until she came to a stop lying on her side.

"Get the wizard!" Beorn cried and Emmeline and Lyra vaulted over the outcrop to sprint at Iarno. The wizard yelped and hitched up his robes to scamper back up the stairs but Emmaline put on a burst of speed and tackled him like an orcish wrestler.

"Ouch! Unhand me you wastrels!" Iarno whimpered even as Emmaline bound him hand and foot.

"That's rich coming from scum like you!" Emmie spat. "Now be quiet, we haven't got much sympathy for slavers."

Beorn went to the cliff edge to dispatch the still giggling bugbears whilst Toby edged towards the drow. He struggled to maintain the spell as he felt her fighting against it.

"She's – she's very strong!" he huffed, redoubling his efforts, but it was no good. The drow broke free of the spell and Toby gasped and staggered back. Vyerith was on her feet and had her sword drawn in one graceful movement.

"Not this time bitch!" Lyra snarled placing her squarely between the drow and the stairs to the next chamber. As with before, the dark elf gazed about at them quite unphased.

"Haven't we done this before?" she drawled, training the point of her sword on Lyra. "Hoping for another scar, bard?"

Lyra leapt forward and swung her shortsword. Vyerith parried easily and the blades flashed as they exchanged blows. Beorn tried to take her by surprise with his axe but the drow spun and danced out of the way, almost lazily batting Lyra's counterattack aside. It was Emmaline who finally brought Vyerith down with an arrow to the knee. The dark elf fell onto all fours with a hiss of pain and glared up at the party.

"Do you yield?" Beorn asked sharply, holding his axe over Vyerith whilst Emmaline nocked another arrow and Lyra readied her sword. The drow gazed around at them all and them gave a brief, mocking laugh.

"I yield, cleric. I beg mercy from the lord of wanderers."

Once she was bound and gagged beside Iarno – who had sobbed like a baby through the whole fight – the party regrouped.

"Right, I think we're nearly there," said Emmaline. She had one foot on the stairs and was peering up at the archway at the top. "There's another chamber, hopefully the noise from the waterfall will have masked all the noise we were making. Let's take them by surprise!"

The others agreed and together they ventured up the steps, keeping slow and low and listening for noise ahead. Unfortunately, the crashing of the waterfall also prevented them from being able to hear anything so they were extra careful as they went through the arch and along the short corridor. They came to a set of double doors, twice as tall as Emmaline, and beyond that a long chamber with a high ceiling supported by six pillars. At the far end stood a nine-foot-tall statue of a dwarf seated on a throne with a mighty stone hammer across his lap. Toby recognised the figure as Dumathoid, the dwarven god of mining. Large emeralds gleamed in the god's eyes.

The dust and debris covering the floor had been swept to one side and a campsite of sorts had been pitched before the statue. Half a dozen bedrolls and packs were neatly arranged around a rough-built fire pit. A wooden table stood on the left side of the room between two pillars. Two bugbears stood at the table flanking a dark elf man in black leather armour and robes. He was holding a black staff with a carved spider at the top.

The party stopped at the doors and glanced at each other. Emmaline had an arrow ready and Beorn gripped his axe purposefully. Before they could move forward however, the drow called out,

"What's the hold up? Come now, don't be shy, step inside so we can be properly introduced."

The party whirled around as they heard two thuds behind them in the corridor.

"Torm's balls!" Lyra hissed as the giant spiders advanced on them, waving their front legs and clicking their pincers menacingly. They corralled the party into the chamber and the four of them turned wearily to face the drow. The black spider strode to stand before the statue and eyed them all with a curious gleam. He had the typical features of a drow, he was tall and slender with a thin face, grey skin and pointed ears, his black hair tied back in a knot.

"Well now, isn't that better?" he said with a smile.

"Where is my cousin you worm?" Beorn demanded, glaring at the drow.

"Spider," the drow corrected him, tapping the carving on his staff. "And he's quite safe, for now. You must be Beorn. Nundro has told me all about you. As for the rest of you…" He turned his purple eyes on the rest of the party. "Let's see, Emmaline of Thundertree? Yes, which makes you two, T'Oberan and Lyra, our wondering adventurers from Waterdeep, oh, forgive me, Ashton."

The black spider was alarmingly well-informed and Toby exchanged a looked with Lyra.

"And what name may we call you? I doubt your mam called you spider," she asked and the drow chuckled.

"You may call me Nezznar, beautiful."

Lyra bristled and Beorn cried,

"Enough of this, give us Nundro and we may not kill you, though you richly deserve it for murdering Tharden!"

Nezznar blew out a low whistle.

"So fierce! And noble, isn't that just like a cleric? You do realise, dear dwarf, that I have you surrounded?"

"I like our chances," Emmaline sniffed, aiming her bow at the drow who only cocked his head. "Now hand over my friend's cousin! You have until the count of five before I decorate that statue with the inside of your head!"

"Though I don't doubt your skills as an archer, even you might find that difficult."

Nezznar didn't move or make any indication but the spiders behind the party suddenly sprang into action. They shot strings of sticky webbing at them and at the same time, two more spiders dropped from the ceiling. Sharp pincers closed around Toby's shoulder and he yelled in pain, which intensified a second later as poison started spreading through his veins. Emmaline tried to draw her bow back but the webs did their job and kept her stuck in place. She had also been bitten and a nasty green tinge spread up her neck.

Lyra had dodged at the last moment and managed to avoid being struck by the stickiness and Beorn, despite being covered from head to foot, ripped his way free with a roar of anger.

"Get the creep, I'll take care of this!" Lyra cried, jabbing a finger at Nezznar.

Beorn charged like an angry Owlbear and Nezznar leapt onto the god's statue. He skuttled up the side like a spider and Beorn growled as the Bugbears closed in on both sides. Meanwhile, Lyra stabbed one of the spiders, sending blue blood spurting, and then threw out her other hand in a sweeping notion towards the two spiders trying to bite Toby and Emmie's heads off. Toby heard a loud and painfully intense ringing noise and screwed up his eyes with a grunt. The spiders fell off them and squealed, their legs curling in on themselves. Blue blood seeped through cracks that appeared all over their bodies. Emmaline ripped her way free of the webs and Lyra pulled Toby out as well.

Whilst Lyra took a swing at the last spider standing, Toby and Emmaline joined Beorn at the base of the statue. He was fighting both Bugbears simultaneously, swinging his axe in one hand and bashing them with his shield in the other. Toby kept his distance as Emmaline helped even the odds and instead focused on Nezznar. The drow had come to settle on the statue's head and was watching the fighting through narrow eyes. He had his staff aloft and was taking aim at Lyra.

"No you don't," Toby muttered and he clapped his hands together. A cloud of yellow, nauseating gas appeared around the Black Spider. Even from the ground Toby could smell how bad it was and Nezznar, caught in the middle, made a retching noise and then yelped as he lost his grip on the statue. He was able to save himself from a nasty fall by rolling at the last second and he came to rest before Toby.

"Unsporting!" he spat. "Do you have any idea how long it'll take to get the smell out of this cloak?"

Quick as a whip, his hand shot out and grabbed Toby's chin. Lightning sprang from his fingers and Toby couldn't even open his mouth to scream as his teeth jammed together. It only lasted a few moments but they were the most painful seconds he'd ever endured and he crumpled once it was over, smoking all over. Nezznar grinned cruelly but then grunted as a throwing dagger caught him in his side. He yanked it out and turned to face a furious Lyra with spider blood dripping from her blade.

"Get your slimy hands off my friend, you dog-faced son of a weasel!" she growled.

"It's sweet that you think you can wound me with words. I'm afraid it'll take more than singer's tricks," Nezznar drawled.

"Will this do?" Toby gasped, reached up and grabbing the drow's forearm. A shadow snaked from his fingers up Nezznar's body and Toby's eyes glowed with necromantic power. He felt the shuddering after-shocks dissipate and strength returned to his limbs, whilst in contrast, Nezznar visibly weakened and the colour drained from his face.

"Swine!" Nezznar grunted, whacking Toby across the chest with the spider staff to force him to let go. Toby jerked back but it hadn't been a very powerful blow and he curled his fingers into fists in determination. Lyra closed the gap between herself and Nezznar and began swinging her sword violently. The drow clearly was not an up-close-and-personal kind of fighter and he struggled to fend off her attacks.

Toby waited for an opportunity to hit him with a spell but he was worried about also hitting Lyra. Nezznar gave a growl of frustration then disappeared in a puff of mist. Recognising the misty-step spell Lyra and Toby looked wildly about and saw the drow reappear on the ceiling above their heads, his hands and feet sticking to the rock. Lyra threw her second dagger but it missed and clanged off the rock.

"Shit! I'm out of ranged weapons, anything you can do?" she turned to Toby.

In the second it took her to look away Nezznar let loose a stroke of lightening which forked towards the bard and hit her squarely in the middle of her back. Lyra screamed, her body bent backwards unnaturally far and Toby could see her bones flashing through her skin. Then she fell onto her front.

"No!" he cried, dropping to his knees. He put one hand on her shoulder and glared at the Black Spider laughing above them. "Bastard!"

Nezznar didn't bother answering, he took aim with the spider staff again. Toby shot a chromatic orb of fire up but it went astray as thick, gelatinous webbing hit him in the chest and pinned him and Lyra to the floor. As Toby struggled in vain, Nezznar swung down from the ceiling on a rope of silk.

"Oh dear," he sneered, looming over Toby and Lyra. "End of the line little flies."

Toby looked wildly around but Beorn and Emmaline were still locked in hand-to-hand with the Bugbears.

"Help! Help us!" he shouted and Nezznar laughed softly.

"Hush, fly, have a little dignity in death."

He lifted his hand and pointed at Toby's face and Toby, with his hands pinned, could do nothing to protect them. But the blow never came. Nezznar's smug expression slipped and his eyebrows knit together. He blinked rapidly and shook his head. Then he dropped the spider staff and pressed both hands over his ears with a grunt of pain. Toby frowned and then realised Lyra – whom he had thought unconscious – was whispering something, a string on nonsense children's rhymes laced with magical power.

Nezznar snarled and started beating at his own head to make the noise cease and Toby took advantage of the distraction. Using every ounce of his strength he kicked and writhed free of the webs. Once he was on his feet he whipped the wand he'd picked up from the underground stream and jabbed it at Nezznar. The crystal at the end glowed blue and three darts of magical force whistled from the tip and flew towards the Black Spider. Each one thudded into the drow with the force of a ballista and the last one knocked him to the ground where he lay unmoving, but still breathing.

Toby watched to make sure he wouldn't get up then went down on one knee to shake Lyra.

"Hey, are you alright?" he asked anxiously and his friend rolled onto her back with a groan.

"Yeah," she grunted. "But I feel like shit. You got a healing potion on you?"

"No, sorry. Beorn?"

He looked around to see their cleric and fighter running over having now dismembered both bugbears. Beorn glanced at Lyra and held up a hand as if to say wait, then strode to the prone Nezznar and jammed a boot on his chest.

"Tell me where Nundro is," he demanded, placing his axe against the drow's throat. Nezznar had a trickle of blood oozing from the corner of his mouth and several of his ribs were clearly broken, but he still managed to chuckle.

"I will tell you – if you swear on your god that you will not kill me."

Beorn's face twitched in anger but then he sighed and clutched his holy symbol.

"I swear on Marthammor Duin that I will not kill you if you tell us where Nundro is, and he is alive."

The Black Spider smiled, revealing perfect white teeth now stained with blood.

"He's right through that door over there."

He nodded as best he could towards the statue of Dumathoin. They looked around and saw a small door to the right of the statue none of them had noticed before.

"Well we could have found that ourselves!" Emmie complained.

"I know," Nezznar laughed. "Now clap me in irons, take me back to the noble Sildar Hallwinter from proper trial and all that."

Beorn ground his teeth when spun his axe in his hand and whacked the drow with the flat edge, knocking him out cold. He then looked at the others and shrugged.

"What? I didn't kill him, did I?"

After tying up the Black Spider and dragging him over to the base of the statue, the party investigated the door. It was dwarf sized and made of ancient, rotting timbers. Even though it had been opened recently the hinges were still stiff and required a bit of shoving. They entered a much smaller room with dusty draperies adorning the walls. It contained a bed and a brazier and a badly dishevelled dwarf lying bound and unconscious on the cold stone floor.

Beorn gave a great sigh of relief and bent to revive his cousin. Whilst the two spoke in dwarven, Lyra came to lean heavily on Toby.

"I could murder a pint," she groaned.