The closer Colonel Fraser got to Crimson Castle, the more uneasy his heart felt.
This mixed emotion of anticipation, anxiety, and unease had multiple sources: aside from the surprise he had prepared for Junior Milian and the eagerness to see her relieved expression, the Colonel had seen even more disturbing scenes on his way to the heart of Transylvania.
First, there were numerous Wolf People and Gnoll laborers constructing roads in the wilderness of Transylvania under the direction of local foremen and supervisors.
The scene was magnificent.
Although without the aid of steam equipment, the Colonel still saw from the window of his carriage, those Wolf People laborers in prison garb piling up different materials on the already excavated roadbed according to a complex sequence, while the human workers nearby mixed something the Colonel had never seen before with shovels.