Upon arriving in Malkara, the caravan elected to stay at an inn recommended by Muse, The Sleeper. Aside from being a reasonably priced lodging option, it was a somewhat secret contact point for the Cult of the Old One. Muse was keen to visit her superiors in the cult, and Tyrtaeus wished to join up, as they promised a certain degree of power.

Juan, the inkeeper was pleasant enough, and Carlos, the key cult contact was full of pomp and grandeur and wise-sounding sayings. 

Carlos sent Tyrtaeus on a trial of initiation into the cult to slay some monsters that had been hounding a local farm. The rest of the caravan tagged along to help out as it seemed like a good enough cause.

Upon arriving at the farm, the crew found the farm residents had locked themselves in their shed for safety. A masculine voice from within the shed, likely attached to a man, attempted to sell the monsters to the group for a very reasonable rate.

The monsters in question were a swarm of flesh-burrowing beetles being controlled by a desecrated ankeg. The team managed to make short work of the unhallowed arthropod. The final blow went to Tyrtaeus, who whispered something so devastatingly offensive that the ankeg's head exlpoded.

Muse and Davion went scrounging in the holes that the ankeg had made while the rest went to meet a couple of well armed visitors to the farm. Introductions were cut short by a tunnel collapsing and trapping muse. Little harm was done, though, as she was quickly freed by Gene and his remarkable shoveling skills.

The visitors turned out to be Isabelle and Marko, two Rangers of the Witch Hunter variety who had come to deal with the monster problem as well. They relayed that there had been rumors of a sorcerer nearby that had corrupted some eggs. He was reported to be dead, but the corrupted ankeg implied that either he still lived, or the effects of his work lingered.

The caravan members refused to purchase the monsters from the farmers as they were broken, and the whole crew returned to The Sleeper to report their successful completion of Tyrtaeus' initiation rite. Marko and Isabelle were convinced to join in, partly with the promise of ale, and partly out of curiosity as to what Carlos knew about the monsters.