Yeah, she was manipulatin' him. He, uh, blew up? After mutatin' and fightin' us. Took on a bunch of dark magic, I dunno, the Professor would be able to explain it a lot better'n I would. But she was hoardin' a buncha arcane and dark books, whole buncha immortality stuff... that whole spiel, y'know?

[ said in the more disdainful "whaddya gonna do" tone, because what you do is kick their asses. but he pinches the bridge of his nose, rubs his eyes with thumb and forefinger, trying to... put it all together. ]

She wasn't the only one tryin' to bring Galdera back, though, so maybe this cult is part of that? We had to fight a cult leader and his goons, after he brainwashed my friend's sister into his cause. Kicked his ass, but we hadn't gotten ahold of Lyblac yet after the initial mess with the headmaster.

That was what I was doin', last. With my friends. We were at the Gate of Finis... I dunno if you know where that is, in the ruins of Hornburg, but...