Okay firstly the monk quest takes a LONG time....heh... but As I was doing it I decided to get some xp instead of just standing around so I swithed to hard difficulty (hard monster and fequent spawns) and I realize when the monster are in hard mode they drop Better stuff ALOT more often... Like in the hour and a half or roaming the area right outside ishad'na (castle Shurugon side) I have gotten 9 priests amulets (1000gold a pop) about 30 of the +1 willow arrows and Alot of +1 knives and I have gotten special rings, electrum cuffs, and more special stuff. I doubt I will be having money problems for awhile, and this is without cheating which I refuse to do. Needless to say I will be playing in hard mode from now on. It is definitely tougher, 3 spiders almost took out a person more than once but each spider is worth 800xp in hard mode! Just thought I would share this revelation the book led me to believe you only got better xp in hard mode =).