While Tor'in, Sendara, and Zarin are at the Aurum Bank, Meriel, Ren, and Amos take Kith and Thesserram to Renatus Hall at Pallida University to the arcane workshops. They find that the building is still unoccupied per the Vigilants' instructions, and Vigilant guards are now posted at the entrance to the basement and the workshops. Reaching the basement, Ren overhears a conversation between Warden Tanikus and the imperial wizard Adelard. Ren tells Kith and Thessaram to stay in the hall while the others follow the conversation to Niman's workshop.
Adelard talks about an opening or rift, and that it became bigger after Niman's experiment. He doesn't know where it might go. Ren shared his notes with Adelard, showing what was in the workshop from their first visit. Adelard hopes that by knowing what was in the workshops before, and what has recently gone missing, he might determine what sort of magic is being attempted. Adelard said he will have more information tomorrow.
Adelard and Tanikus leave, with Ren carefully keeping Kith and Thessaram hidden as they go. Ren and Meriel decide not to have Kith sing after all. They're concerned about the opening that Adelard mentioned, but not sure if closing it would be a good thing. They would rather wait until they have more information from allies with more magical knowledge than them. Instead, they wanted Kith to see if she could sense anything in the room. Ren tied one end of some rope around himself and the other end around Kith. Kith and Thessaram then carefully walked around the room. Thessaram noticed a cold spot, similar to the ones experienced by Sendara and Tor'in earlier. Ren had them quickly return before anything else happened.
Zarin offers some theories. The entity, whatever it is, can manipulate objects within the basement, even moving things from locked areas in the workshops. But the entity is unable to leave the basement, or at least hasn't shown any signs of it yet. Meriel wonders if the entity is the spirit of Marcus Renatus, and it's keeping Niman prisoner for information. Sendara recalls that Niman's passing was the result of his second experiment, and that in her dream/vision, Niman said he had unfinished work closing something that was still open. Tor'in compares the entity to a predator hunting prey. What is it hunting? If you find the prey, you'll find the predator. The party also discusses trusting Adelard. Although they don't know him well, they decide that don't have a reason not to trust him.