Chapter 46
The Tower on the Lake
The group studied the abbot's library, let in by Zygfrek with the Abbot busy working and never seen. They learned that the von Holtz line died out long ago, meaning Vasili von Holtz was not his true name, they found the names of some of the deities that saved them, and learned that they were evil demi-god like creatures from the beginning of time but were all beaten and vanquished long ago. They learned of a promising young order of knights led by Argynvost called the Order of the Silver Dragon, and they learned that all lycanthropy of all kinds of animals were gifted by natural spirit gods. Since then, wizards, alchemists, and the like have tried to alter them, distort them, improve them, but it has never worked. They think perhaps Ghol has been modified in this way and is the first successful attempt. They also read a note that the writer was intrigued that the monks of the Amber Temple hadn't tried to modify this yet, seeing as it's quite in line with their usual work.
After hours of study they returned to Krezk to find Ilya throwing a tantrum. Something seemed wrong, and they asked Anna but she was cagey, saying Ilya was sick and he went to his aunts for healing, Elsie corroborated, but it seemed to be a lie. Fabian tried healing Ilya and it worked momentarily to ease his hunger. The group asked Elsie for a walk, and back at the pond Elsie told them the truth, that Ilya, her half brother, died. And a few days later he came back. She's not sure exactly how, but knows her father saw the abbot and it had to have been him. Since he's returned his hunger has just gotten worse and worse. When they went to bed that night, Fabian healed Ilya again to allow him to rest in peace (unknowingly thwarting the inevitable transformation for the time being)
That night, Elsie sneaks out of the house, agreeing with the group to meet them out of town the next morning so as to avoid a conversation with her father. She sneaks to the far end of town and sits atop the wall for several hours, but her father sees her sneak out the house, and waits at the gate for several hours to intercept her (but she never comes). The group finds him despondent the next morning, he says he never thought she would leave in the night like that, clearly very hurt. They depart for the logging camp that morning.
At the logging camp they find no sign of the werewolves recent activity and rethink their plan. They want to draw one of the werewolves out of their den, capture them, and interrogate them to learn of Kiril's weakness and the location of who infected him. So most of the group spends the next 2 days setting up noise traps, while Fabian and Eliza sleep during the day, and sneak through the woods at night, careful not to get too close to the den, hoping find a werewolf or two unaware. After the second night without luck, they spy a vistana wagon not matching the two family groups they'd yet seen, parked at the base of an ancient tower built on a small peninsula in the mountain lake Svalich. They return to the group and together they all check out the tower. They go straight for the door, which holds 6 glass door knobs, and they decide to turn all of them at once. A rumbling growl sounds from above as a massive blue dragon comes crawling into view from the back of the tower.
