@pip25 ; I think that stripping the party member of rations and weapons is meant to negate the more intelligent monsters a chance at getting good equipment. The goblins in this chapter had crude leather armour and clubs. And they managed to crumble the party. Giving a troll a free Mythril...
Do not, under any circumstance, talk about it, write about, or depict it on any way. It will summon it. Hence, all you can use are very abstract symbols that do not give away its identity.