As twilight approaches and a chilly rain begins to fall, and as Fraud finishes his readings, Bog complains of a burning pain in his back. On inspection, Fraud confirms it as the Burning Malady. Bog wails that he is too young to die this way, as Fraud rushes to apply poultices to the spreading rash, but Fraud isn’t sure he’s done enough. Boamund and Shrett debate inspecting where they saw the ghost/demon and elect to return to the Monastery, and do so to find Bog in his upset state.

You fetch a late dinner as you go about the evening’s business. Shrett meets the lone Reader Petros having a late dinner in the refectory, and strikes up conversation. The man “uhhh”s and stumbles around it, but Shrett get some interesting tidbits from him first: (1) Four years ago, Knower Lochran, the prior infirmarian/healer, died from a disease that sounds much like the Burning Malady. Knower Immon came from Daran County to replace him. Three years ago, the South Tower burned, and arson was suspected because the fire was so unusually intense and there was no obvious other cause. Then, asked about dreams of women in red robes and such: “The younger men have said they have seen one walking around the graveyard. I think they drink too much wine, don’t you?” And soon Petros grows visibly sullen and blushes, looking down at his feet, and Shrett speaks calmly to him. With an excellent encouraging effort from Shrett, Petros unleashes a confession: He was being reprimanded by High Watcher Mondac the morning before his death, in front of other monks, accused of touching himself and having impure thoughts. Petros protested of a “bad dream” but denied impropriety. The monks supported him in this, but to cleanse his flesh he was tied and whipped, and forbidden to eat with the others until forgiven by the High Watcher, which didn’t happen. “It was then that I started wishing Mondac dead,” he says, looking at Shrett face-to-face, but soon returning to hanging his head in shame; and Shrett leaves. He delivers the information to the others. Boamund and Bog head through the monastery when they spot the white cat Pangur Ban, staring at the door to the South Tower, back arched, ears drawn back and its fur on end. Boamund tries communicating but it does not respond, although he draws its attention. Bog kicks open the door and the two step in. With Sense Chaos, Boamund does catch the strong odour of something there atop the tower, and even Bog can smell it, but the rotten stench seems to fade with time and the wind and rain. Shrett comes and senses no sorcery here. Bog tries climbing the tower wall but falls and luckily Fraud is there to catch him, preventing more than a few bruises. You wonder about the hide stretched atop the tower to keep out some of the weather, and if it is something bad.

You go to the infirmary, deciding that this is a good place to spend the night. Shrett and Bog prepare to watch from the infirmary’s roof and an apple tree, respectively. Fraud casts Guard Against Chaos around the infirmary, planning to do multiple casts of it through the night, and he settles down to rest. Boamund casts Project Darksight and explores the Monastery grounds as night descends. He explores the buildings outside the main temple and finds nothing amiss. But when he takes his sight to the South Tower, he does see something. At its top there is a patch of impenetrable darkness, and as he watches something moves from there: it is humanoid; slender; maybe feminine; but with great wings and otherwise hard to discern, as it seems to blend in well with the darkness. And it quickly is gone—did it fly off, or did it just vanish? [Timing/sequence of events here may be off, but gist is right:] He focusses back on where he is in the infirmary and tells you what he’s seen. You go there in person to inspect it. Boamund and Bog wonder what could stop this magical darkness atop the tower; it must be some enchantment or something. What could stop it? Well, darkness is opposed by fire, and the tower was burned… With some experiments, you find that the dark space quenches fire or makes things like arrows entering it just vanish. Bog fetches two ladders from the barn and you tie them firmly together and hold the tall ladder so Bog can scale it to the top of the tower, with Boamund daring to ascend at the same time while the others hold it steady. This goes fine. Bog pokes his head into the dark patch that blocks even his Darksight, and finds that it is a cold space like Wonderhome but his senses are blinded, except that he can feel what might be a tower wall; there is no floor or other hidden structure, he thinks. But there is a terrible odour. Boamund comes up, and confirms. After a little more investigation, you return to the infirmary.

Boamund goes to rest, as does Fraud and soon Bog. Shrett remains on watch but it is a cold, wet and unrewarding night—plenty of false alarms in the dark, wind and rain around the graveyard, but no women/demons. Boamund dreams. He is wandering through the monastery at night, ending up in the graveyard. In the shadows of a tall bush, a raven sits watching, then flies off with a squawk to the south tower (which is in ruins, like now), but the raven appears ablaze with fire. Bog dreams. The monastery is ablaze and scattered with dead brethren. Behind the flames, inhuman silhouettes can be seen moving eerily, and more dark, hellish forms are coupling with insane monks in dark corners. He wakes up and giggles out loud, but no one hears him. Zorak Zoran would find this dream amusing or pleasing, indeed. You awaken and break your fast with the monks and other staff in the refectory. Asked by Fraud, Watcher Makris offers his help to find out anything more about the red-robed women and banishing darkness from a place like the tower’s top. Soon they go to the scriptorium/library to research this, with Fraud working together with Knower Kenwill to search for diary entries and other information from past monks about these red-robed women and such. It’s slow going but yes, Kenwill says there have been some such reports up to 4 years ago, and maybe longer, so you continue investigating. Boamund wanders the grounds, searching for any clicking noises or other odd things. Shrett goes back to bed, as does Bog. You also check the graveyard, and Boamund notices that there are fewer trees and bushes here, and your approach scares off some ravens who wheel over the monastery but do not go to the South Tower.

Soon enough it’s lunchtime. You come back to the refectory and talk to more people; and Shrett and Bog are well enough rested now too, so they join. Bog finishes, then goes to make the ladder stronger, with Boamund. Fraud speaks to Makris, who soon hurries to continue his investigations. Shrett talks to a few people in the refectory (I forget if much more was learned, but a lot of details about how long each person has been here etc.). He hears of “Servant Penda” who works for High Servant Elgar in the kitchens and is not social; not a smart man; and so just takes his lunch there and isn’t seen much. Maybe it’s odd that you hadn’t heard yet of Penda, though. As Fraud leaves the refectory, Knower Kenwill accompanies him, loudly saying as he pulls out a scroll from his robes that he has something from the library that might interest Fraud, and that it concerns St. Paschal and what he is about. The scroll details the deeds of St. Paschal: he was a wizard (not a Godlearner; affiliation unknown) from Tiskos who did many deeds in the late First + early Second Age, questing far into myth to gain powers of the Harmony rune. He conducted many amazing feats using these powers, among them the “Repulsionne of the Woode-Menne” at the site of the monastery. He had a final battle against a great foe, whom he called “Quintus”, at a place called the Absent Island , where he vanished from history and his essence became known in Solace, enabling his veneration. Quintus! Fraud knows that name! It was in Mondac’s letters, mentioned by this Rollo Widemouth correspondent as a threat that Mondac should not want Quintus to get involved (this concerned Knower Jensos’s condition and fate). But, then, Kenwill says more quietly, that’s not what he really wants to talk to Fraud about, and he leads him into the peasants’ hall of the monastery to talk in private. He relates that toward the end of lunchtime he overheard Reader Petros speaks to his friend High Servant Elgar, confessing a night-fever and sinister dreams in which he felt guilty of the High Watcher’s demise. He said quietly, “Brother, I know who killed the High Watcher…” and then they see Watcher Makris passing en route to the scriptorium, Elgar gestures to stop, and they split from the refectory. By now, the refectory is emptied of people. And, exchanging information, Fraud and Shrett now want to talk to Petros, who has come late to lunch. They do talk to him, and he doesn’t say much, and insists that he must, as he is finishing his lunch, go to the peasants’ hall to do his regular services there. Fraud and Shrett follow, awaiting him to finish.

Boamund and Bog do some more investigating atop the tower with their ladder but don’t learn much more. Shrett has gone up there to inspect the hide cover, finding that it is cowhides threaded together, with nothing odd about them, and they’ve been there a while but surely would be replaced now and then. Reader Windeam is the “handyman” who does such maintenance on the tower and elsewhere, although Servants might help or do it. Now Boamund and Bog have run out of ideas with the tower. Clearly there is a patch of darkness that stays there, and it clings close to the walls and does not appear to lead to another place, but it is “Helldark” and so it’s strong magic. As they’re investigating, Reader Aedil comes to the bottom of the tower and calls to Lord Boamund, that something awful has happened, and he leads the two to the refectory. The back door is open, blowing in the rainy wind, and there is a body lying face down in a puddle of mud and blood just outside the door, looking as it had fallen there as it was about to enter. It is a he; and it is High Servant Elgar. He is dead from multiple stab wounds to his back, with the killing weapon, a typical dinner-knife (maybe even his), still stuck in the final wound. Kenwill and Reader Windeam are there. You let the other two party members know. Fraud debates using the Truestone to force Truespeak and/or read minds, and Shrett says he can detect lies if you bring people into darkness. Boamund refuses to intimidate people by putting them into the South Tower. Shrett remains watching Petros while you talk to people one by one; Boamund takes them to the hostel for questioning. Kenwill (or was it Aedil, John forgets) had found the body when he went back into the refectory after lunch, and came out to tell others and met Reader Windeam. Aedil had been around but not nearby and had heard no scream or anything; he’d been watching the gates for Knower Gofrey’s return (he’s out for his daily walk). Fraud interviews Reader Windeam via writing in Safelstran. He had been in the storeroom gathering goods he needed for his work, and met Knower Kenwill as he came out, and they soon met Aedil. Bog snoops around and finds that you’ve got essentially everyone accounted for except that Reader Wulf is nowhere to be found, even upstairs, and Watcher Makris is not in the scriptorium. Talking with Reader Windeam more, Fraud finds him remarkably calm and forthcoming. He says that “on the evening you arrived, from my window I saw a woman by the river. Something was strange about it.” And confirms he’s heard similar things from others, but Windeam is a man of action and if he can’t stick a sword in to trouble, it’s not his business. Windeam clearly is not easily rattled; being a Safelstran civil war veteran; and he refuses to comment on some things that he feels are beyond his station. But Fraud gets some useful facts. Maybe this guy is reliable.

Bog looks around the yard outside the refectory, seeing no one out there and just lots of tracks to/from the kitchen and some to the latrine, and you’d heard (from Aedil, I think) that just Elgar had been seen going the former route and someone else the latter recently; probably no one else? Although no one has been watching this area the whole time, and there are lots of tracks. Bog decides to go to the kitchen. It has been left in disorder, not cleaned up yet from lunch, and Servant Penda is not there, so Bog thinks, hmm, he saw some sort of cellar entrance behind the kitchen, so he goes there. There is a wooden hatch covering a ramp downwards. He forces it open and sees a wooden stairway descending, leading down to a cold, shadowy vaulted stone cellar. There is a small bed and chair in one corner, and some other things, but Bog doesn’t have time to study what’s there. He sees a heavy-set, baby-faced young man (must be Servant Penda) who is picking up a bronze heavy mace from under the bed, and he sees Reader Wulf who has his broadsword drawn, and they mean violence! Bog casts Shield. Penda rushes up the stairs with an infantile giggle and swings his mace wide. Wulf tries casting a spell at Bog but it fizzles. Bog smacks Penda, who foolishly parries with is mace to no avail, and he goes down, his hip smashes and belly bloodied; and he tumbles downstairs, dazed. Wulf rushes up, sneering, and stabs at Bog but Bog deftly blocks with his maul and knocks the sword from Wulf’s hands, and it clatters under the wooden staircase. Bog urges for Wulf’s surrender. Wulf says sure, come on down and let’s talk. Bog says no, we’ll do it here.

Reader Wulf begins answering Bog’s questions with a mix of fear and defiance and grim truth. He admits to killing Elgar, that “it was his turn”, and that he aims for priests and others to die, and this is the way of The Destroyer, as they are weak and pathetic. Wulf says that the demon-women are just drawn by the psychic trauma of ancient events and they help him please the Destroyer but that they are not his doing. Wulf cunningly turns this on Bog when asked if this Destroyer is Zorak Zorak or Arkat; he says they are the same, aren’t they? And he offers for Bog to join with him. Slaughtering the people here would please The Destroyer and there must be hidden riches to plunder once the Monastery is yours. Even the rest of the party could help. They’re no Rokari. Bog says that he does choose the Destroyer, and smashes Wulf in the guts, knocking him down. Wulf coughs and sputters, then offers Penda to Bog as a sacrifice and show of faith, and Penda is crawling for his mace so Bog kills him. Wulf tries to cast a Demoralise spell on Bog but Bog stops it with an Avert spell. Bog knocks him out; almost smashing his head in. He drags Wulf across the yard into the refectory and tells you what has happened. Bog is rather pleased with himself. You tie up Wulf and Bog casts False Healing, so you can interrogate the man. And so you will.

Fraud has treated Bog successfully at the infirmary using its nice stock of supplies, and Bog feels better, and that’s very timely because Bog awoke in terrible pain, having a hard time moving at all from the worsening rash on his back. That improves later in the day. And you’ve all been checked, with no one else showing signs of the Burning Malady.

Wulf spoke to Bog in passable Darktongue.

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