In Blackshire Keep, Jynx mulls over the "scene of the crime" in the magical laboratory, trying to figure out who might have stolen the crystal shard – and why. He decides to question Ysnor, the hunchbacked Skreek caretaker. Ysnor seems to be especially nervous when asked, so Jynx presses the point … until Ysnor confesses that someone named Bakula threatened him until he gave him permission to enter the castle. Ysnor claims that Bakula is a "creature of the darkness" and a "death-raven".

Jynx heads into Blackshire Village, where he finds Schoolmaster Bookman, holding class for the village children. After class is dismissed, Jynx asks Bookman for advice on Bakula, and is told the tragic story of the unappreciated Spirit Mage. Jynx learns that Bakula's lair is on Cemetery Hill, and that he should not take along any items of metal, for that may attract the attention of the living dead creatures lurking there.

Jynx ponders Bookman's advice, and heads out with the fox (whose breath now smells of garlic, oddly enough), with intentions of questing to Cemetery Hill to put an end to Bakula's reign of terror.