Garrim looked at the crystal that lay on the table before him. It had been brought in by the miners yesterday; at first mistaking it for silver, they had lost two of their number to its power. It had yet to be explained why. According to the disturbing tales of the other miners, the workers had simply died when they touched the substance, without it inflicting any visible wound on them. They'd merely fallen to the ground without a sound, their lifeforce disappearing completely. Finally, the miners realized the source of the threat, and one of them, unusually courageous, attempted to pick up the crystal with a piece of cloth, and so it was that they had brought it to him.