Sitting around a tavern, Paul and Taylor listened to the aspiring writer tell them about the deaths happening across Baltimore, with his pen, Paul writes down everything Edgar told him in his leatherback journal, including the state of the bodies when they're found, if that, some not even found, only what was left behind.
Conspiracies filled the air, worsened when a policeman found large animal prints in one of the victims' homes, these Ravens, the papers called them.
"When did this start?" Paul inquired, resting his pen on the paper of his journal, as he watched Edgar take gulps of mead, resting it on the cracked wooden table before answering, "Almost a month ago, a few deaths here, and there, but in this town, it's more unusual when there weren't. When this started, even the garish of people are frightened."
Slowly nodding, Paul gestures as he continued his questions with Edgar, then asking, "What can you tell me about the animals?"
Shrugging his thin shoulders, Edgar tells him that there was a sudden shift, all the animals seemingly upped and left, whatever were left were sickly kind, and those didn't last, either.
Edgar then became miffed when Paul asked him after writing everything said down, "Was there a storm before all this started?"
Rubbing his mouth, his curling mustache bouncing as it returned to its natural shape, Edgar replied, "Why, yes, we had a terrible storm before that. A lot of homes lost to fires caused by them. Why does that matter?"
He sees the man becoming quiet, his pen still, deep in his thoughts, and Taylor speaking up, "Did anyone see anything unusual before the deaths?"
Thinking back, Edgar replied that nobody saw these supposed Ravens, in his purview, that this is the work of some sort of mad butchers, taken to the cover of darkness, preying on Baltimore's finest for their own personal games.
Only reason he could think of why much of the victims were strong individuals that'd easily fight off any attacker.
Why they shifted to families, perhaps the killings lost favor among them, that they needed thrill elsewhere, hence the judge and his family.
As for the animals, well, Edgar didn't need to discuss them much, as the mad butchers have inclination that detests him, though he admitted that he found it unusual when even wildlife fled for their very lives the moment the deaths started happening.
"Supposedly, these Ravens, they only come out at night, that's why the town shifted. Night becomes dead, day becomes living," Edgar explains to Taylor as curiosity's in her emerald eyes.
When darkness falls, the town shifts from lively to dead, only people with nefarious reasons stay out late as they do, but sometimes those of innocent qualities have no choice in the matter.
"What bothers me most, miss, how could a woman contract and suffer from the plague so suddenly?" Edgar asks Taylor, confused how the wife found hiding in the closet succumbed to the plague in a short amount of time.
He managed to read her sheet, she was healthy, never a cold, the definition of perfect health, felled so quickly, that he couldn't believe his eyes.
"… because it injected her, Mr. Poe," they finally heard Paul speak after a brief period of silence, he began writing again, catching up on everything said since he stopped.
Curiosity in his hazel eyes, Edgar questioned Paul's assessment, but he insisted, not explaining what he meant by his previous statement, "She must've tried fighting one and it caught her hand, claws dug into her wrist, when she instinctively pulled her hand away, it only sped up the inevitable when the claws cut through her skin."
The seriousness in Paul's voice, Edgar listened closely, shocked that Paul would come to this conclusion, but that was the answer he settled on.
"You make it seem like there's beasts roaming in the town, Doctor," Edgar eyed him with curiosity and Paul stated, "Because there are beasts roaming your town, of an unusual kind, and you were right to call me, Mr. Poe."
The denizens were right to be afraid of the Ravens, and they weren't wrong when rumors spread of them being beasts, then madmen with butcher knives.
Seeing doubt in his hazel eyes, Paul asks, "What is your health these days, Mr. Poe?"
Curious, Poe asks another question, "What does that have to do with anything?"
Leaning forward, Paul tells him in a hushed tone, "If you want to know the truth, you need to tell me if you're sick. If you don't know or think you're at risk, Mr. Poe, I'll have to make sure you're safe."
Baffled, Edgar questioned what Paul's telling him, and Paul explains that if Edgar wants to know conclusively what's been killing people around the town, he'd have to tell him if he's potentially sick.
Leaning forward, Edgar questions Paul, "Do you know what they are?"
A slow nod, Paul tells him, "I do."
A gesture, Edgar asks him, "What are they?"
Sighing, Paul gestures towards Taylor, having her stand as he does the same, looking down at him, Paul says that they'll collect Edgar before nightfall, and for him not to be outside until they reach him, just in case.
"Whatever you do, Mr. Poe, stay in the light," Paul pointed at him.
Seeing him acknowledge this, Paul left with Taylor, upon leaving the pub, Taylor looks towards Paul with curiosity in her emerald eyes.
"You never told me much about them," Taylor brought up that since she began traveling with him, Paul never once told her the full story about what he believes are perpetuating the deaths.
Ever since he mentioned them at the museum, drew Taylor's curiosity, but Paul remained adamant telling her anything about them, until this adventure, where it became apparent that Paul's fears are realized.
Leading her away from the pub as patrons filed in, wanting to get their drink before nightfall, Paul tells her the sordid history of the… Drekker.
"No one's ever sure how they got to be that way, only what they're capable of doing," Paul tells her, her arm interlocked with his as they retraced their steps. "Somehow, they see and interact with the tears. Perhaps because of the film over their eyes that they're able to see them, I'm not sure. I do know that storms are a source of energy for tears and when they happen, the Drekker usually aren't far behind."
Lumbering tarry fiends, formerly men, they're not too fond of attention, preferring a solitary existence amongst their flock, only coming after sick people or animals, and rarely violent towards anyone else.
Every Doctor became aware of them one way or another, but due to the nature of the tarry fiends, they're helpless ridding them with conventional methods, as Paul tells Taylor.
Unlike Daleks and Cybermen, there's no consequence destroying a handful of them here and there, there's dire consequences attempting the same with the Drekker.
None of the Doctors attempted such feat due to the dire consequences.
"Light and rosemary are the only things that'll reliably keep you safe, health can go wrong so quick. Though, it'll only take you far, if someone does something foolish, none of it'll matter," Paul's voice wavered as he warns Taylor that dealing with the Drekker can be troubling, nothing paled in comparison than the reactions by them when someone foolishly inflicts harm upon one of them.
An event fortunately none of the Doctors witnessed, but the TARDIS detailed how a colony was torn apart by the Drekker and their womenfolk upon a colonist shooting and killing one of the Drekker.
By that point, the light didn't bother them, the smell of rosemary did nothing, the rage felt was enough to counter the effects the two had against the Drekker.
"What are we going to do?" Taylor asks him as they went around the corner, the wind breezing past them.
Deep in his thoughts, his angel eyes caught sight of a looming raven, sitting above a post, looking down at them, Paul tells her, "I want to know where they nest in the day. Go from there."
Only way they can do it's by looking around at night, for any abandoned building big enough to house them, the Drekker liked it quiet, undisturbed, somewhere that had little to no foot traffic.
During the day, they'll be huddled in it, waiting for sundown, but make no mistake, anyone foolish enough to find them won't make it out alive.
"It's more dangerous when they nest in the forest," Paul warns Taylor as they're close to arriving back to the TARDIS. "When they nest in the forest, they have more cover, more ways of hiding."
Curious, Taylor questions why these Drekker were in a town, causing Paul to explain, "Questionable hygiene, peculiar medical practices, poor living standards, this is a feast for crows."
