On my return visit to the dungeon entrance I was greeted by a pretty shocking sight. I found the corpses of three troglydytes. It's a group of delvers encountered them before and dispatched them. The odd part which makes this worth mentioning is the mana stones that had formed from the deceased creatures body. For one reason or another the previous group had left them unattended. Not one to leave a gift uncollected I collected the stones. Though their immense weight made returning back home a challenge all it's own. I think I'm going to be bedridden until my back returns to a healthier state.
So mana stones. These things are immense. They form from the bodies of creatures found in the dungeon. For some reason or another that I'm sure a mage could go into excrutiating detail about, the organs, viscera, bones, and muscles congeal into a slurry that then crystalizes into a large mana stone that radiates a power energy called mana. Depending on how powerful a creature is, the stone that emerges condenses into a smaller, exponentially heavier stone that radiates far more power than a lesser creature. These stones are used as conduits for casting spells without all the "drawing mana from the enviroment" nonsense that many magic users reluctantly follow. Mana stones go for insane prices in the magical community because of their ability to expedite the casting process. Many delvers attempt to make a living taking on nests of weaker monsters to sell their stones enmasse. Though given how large weaker stones are the logistics required to get all of the stones back in one piece disuades delvers from repeated nest raids.