"I think," Lambert says loudly, like Strange's answer didn't even exist at all, "That the the Severing is tapping into the Earth Spirit's power somehow. The tampering you're talking about -- whatever caused it -- it's only made it worse."

Of course, because the question as to the source of that information is inevitably going to come up, Lambert's going to beat Strange to the punch.

"I don't have any proof -- it's just a theory. A ghost told me that something's draining the Earth Spirit, and it seemed like too much of a coincidence." He shrugs again. "You tell me if that sounds plausible or not."