As Min penned his response the shadows loomed darker, dancing and writhing in the waning hearth fire and the single flickering candle light. As always, he wrote preternaturally fast in his small, cramped, and precise handwriting, the quill racing across the page in between brief trips to the ink font.
No sooner had he sprinkled sand on the fresh ink and rolled the parchment into a scroll case, that the Archmage heard a scratching noise behind him. He had turned around for only the briefest moment, but the scroll case was already gone, and his desk's candle light extinguished. Seska had been impatient for his response, thus so was her master.
Governor Penrose,
As per your inquiry, I have the following to report: Indeed, last year Governor Thom was held in my tower. He was captured by the Rangers and his fellow Purple Guardians, clearly possessed by a Greater Evil from the darkest reaches of the abyss. I was able to contain it, but both mages and paladins working together were unable to dispel or banish it. It took two separate attempts to finally cleanse the darkness within him.
I understand the possession was the result of Thom studying a particular book. At best the incident was an example of gross incompetence, since he had neither the force of will, the skill, nor the power to handle the cursed tome. At worst he actively consorted with the demonic powers before it took complete control of him. Regardless, BOTH possible outcomes are banned by Council decree, as the beast could have very well brought an end to our reality.
Worse, we currently do not know whether or not the beast will return to possess the inept mage again, as I was not allowed to conduct a thorough examination when Thom fled the city of Trinsic to escape justice. I hope this answers all of the questions you posed, let me know if you require further details.
Minalan,
Speaker of the Council of Mages