In the meantime, the sultan has managed to negotiate a peace treaty with the pope. The sultan says that the peace treaty is of "utmost importance" and that "absolute discretion" is called for. The pope's emissary, William of sonnac, arrives and introduces himself as a member of the "commission of the mires" . He says that he has come to offer his assistance to the pope in the fight against the demons. He explains that the pope created the commission to try to find out the source of the sickness that has plagued them for the past 25 years. One of his agents, Ban ofmet, has discovered an underground place where they are known to meet and has been tortured. He escaped by chance.