Oz moves in and fires a shot past her comrades and into the giant ant.
Herman's bolt flies into the cave but and just hits the front mite, spinning it around and causing it to collapse.
The two other mites begin running screaming and chittering off down a twisty corridor at the back of the cave. You can see that this entrance to the cave was once blocked by barricades, too, being burst into the cave earlier.
The ants show no fear and press their attacks.
The rear, injured ant skitters past Turan and attacks Hagan, drawing an attack from Turan as it passes.
The giant ant bites Turan and clamps down hard, but the warrior slips out of the hold easily, and the ant's sting misses as he does so.
The other giant ant bites Hagan, clamping down just as hard, but Hagan is not able to get out of locking mandibles.
Turan brings his tripartite staff down on the injured ant's back, causing a sickening crunch of broken carapace, but the creature is still moving.
Wuliem breaks the ant's head and it's lock on Hagan, and the ant falls, its legs twitching with the semblance of life.
Hagan misses the ant attacking Toran, and so do Oz's arrows, but Herman's bolt flies true and pierces the chitonous head.
Toran misses with a heavy, mighty blow, which surely would have killed the ant had it hit.
The ant snaps back, futilely, and oblivious to the fate of its comrade or its fleeing or downed masters.
Herman's small bolt again flies true, sinking deeply into the creature's head. It wobbles on its legs briefly before having its head split in two by Hagan's great axe blow!
The dwarven man does not answer Hagan as he is unconscious, having been beaten down by the mites just as you were entering the cave. Beyond his wounds, he looks to be in bad condition: frail - for a dwarf - and emaciated, with matted hair and beard, and torn shreds of explorers gear about his person. There are numerous half-healed wounds and scabrous marks all over him.
Though unconscious, his body twitches, face contorts, and eyes flicker under swollen lids, as if in a terrible nightmare.
The dwarf slowly regains consciousness, first yelling, "My Lady, have mercy! Please just let me die!" before waking up more fully. He seems greatly relieved to 'wake up', despite the dark rims under his sunken eyes, and despite that he wasn't even truly asleep. "I fell asleep! No, no, never do that! Never - fall - asleep!" he scolds himself.
"Who-who are you-you?" he stutters and repeats strangely, then bursts into profuse thanks as he focuses on the group. "My saviors! I've been found, I've been saved!" He sobs and weeps with dry eyes, kissing Storn's and Hagan's feet. "But there's no getting away. Nowhere on Golarion - or under, dear gods not under! - where I can get away from ... her. Only can't sleep, can't dream!"
Momentarily composing himself, he struggles to his feet, struggling just as much to control a threatening fit of giggles. "I am Torvic, artisan and explorer. Or, I was at one time," he adds, looking down and seeming to recognize his pitiful and decrepit state, "before what they did to me."
"Oh yes, the Pathfinders! Do I know you? Should I know you? Indeed, I've been looking for my ancestor's gallery, too, although, thinking about it, I think I may have already found it... It all seems a bit muddled..."
"Ah yes, the Gallery of Wonders!" the dwarf brightens considerably. "The height of dwarven artisanship! Great doors carved of alabaster in the most exquisite designs! Murals and reliefs everywhere of dwarven lore and the history of the world! Workshops with the most advanced metallurgy, the finest stonework! ..."
He goes on for a short time and then wonders aloud, "But wasn't I just there?" After a long moment of quiet, he exclaims, "I was there! There were things there! I remember—something. A woman in a white gown who whispered nightmares..." His eyes go wide at this point and he warns, "Do not go to sleep there! Do not sleep! You must not sleep there, you must not! I ... I ... don't know why, but you mustn't..."
"Yes, yes, we should go on! Go on by going back. There's a path I've found, Pathfinders, around here that leads to the Gallery. It is several hours further march into the mountains. Would any of you have any food, by chance? And maybe I could trouble you for some more of that healing magic?"
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Oz stares intently at the dwarf, utterly fascinated by his wild eyes and matted beard. She runs up to him and grabs his hand, which she then begins petting comfortingly, as though it were a small, frightened animal.
"I have known madness too," she whispers to him. She reaches out to stroke his beard and her face brightens considerably.
"But it's okay! Storn is here. He will poke you healthy."
Oz looks at Storn for confirmation.
Jani finds that one of the downed mites has a bag of uncut amethysts, which you estimate to be worth perhaps 240 gp in total. Other than that, they only have low-quality daggers, clubs, and darts. Each does, however, have around its neck what appears to be a crude holy symbol of a three-eyed jackal.
The holy symbol is of the Lamashtu, the "Mother of Monsters", who is associated with monsters, madness, and nightmares.
Torvic, weakly, stomach rumbling, begins to gather some necessary items from near his camp fire: a rusty battleaxe, some mining tools, and more scrolls. (Looking over his shoulder, you can tell that they are mundane scrolls, detailing the area, his searches, and the like.)
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Storn glances over the holy symbol and snorts.
"Lamashtu. Mother of demons. Nasty."
With that he pulls some food from his pack and hands it over to Torvic. "Good news Torvic, you're our mission." Storn retrieves the box as Torvix tears into the rations and opens it up.
"We understand some jerk robbed you. The Society has recovered this pearl and some scrolls; we'd like for you to show us how to get to the Gallery."
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Wuliem assists Torvic with his scrolls and such.
Well--mostly he helps gather a scroll and he ends up unrolling it to study before he blinks, mumbles I..uh..excuse me.,
and rolls it back up--only to do that again two scrolls later.
When they--finally--place all the scrolls...
This too? Here you go. My apologies--again.
...Wuliem then reaches into his pack, handing some trail rations to the disbelieving dwarf!
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Hagan scowled as he recalled what he knew about Lamashtu.
"We should be wary. From what Torvic has shared, we can expect a priest or priestess of the Demon Queen. Her domain is nightmares and madness. Do we have any magic that can repel evil?"
Hagan focused his divine powers to see if he could sense any evil auras.