The monk won't talk

I started a new character as the Read-Me says to do. I got the super weapons. I've been to see the prisoner. He tells me to go to the Learning Tree. I go there and Emelius, of course, sends me back to get the stolen book. Okay, that's done. I get into the Learning Tree and there are two monks and a nun there. None of them will give me any information about the prisoner or the ring. I go back to the prisoner and he says again that a monk in the L. Tree knows where the ring is. If the monk knows, he's not talking.

In an earlier game, with a more advanced character, I wandered into the Tree before visiting the prisoner and there was a monk who said I had to find a witch. But in this game how can I find a witch if the monk won't tell me there is one?

A comment on the side: Killing a few dozen super monsters with my super weapons is about as exciting as killing a gazillion goblins with a rusty dagger. I've leveled-up too fast, I've got too much gold, and the action has become boring. And to make matters worse, I can't find how to end this plugin.