After What Moves the Dead, recover Silas’s Book from Aurelius’s Tower and report to Crake, also named Marat. If you collected the book earlier, check whether your journal already asks you to show it to him before repeating the tower route.
Door unavailable: check the time and journal
ATH’s entrance account gives this sequence: track the tower, wait at its nearby shrine until Moonrise, defeat the guardian, then enter. Look for the objective to change from finding an entrance to searching the tower.
If the doorway is unavailable, check those conditions before attempting the reported window alternative. Its exact prerequisites remain unconfirmed. Scouting the summit is a separate objective; a revealed map does not confirm you collected the book.
Enter the tower and reach the book
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Track Aurelius’s Tower in The Silts. Defeat the Unblinking Guardian outside. PowerPyx describes airborne swipes that can be directionally blocked; no universal damage target or mandatory equipment set is established.
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Try the door above the first exterior stairs, the entrance described by PowerPyx. One ATH article instead describes a window climb. Treat that as a reported alternative whose exact conditions need confirmation, not proof that the door never opens.
Svetlana, The Dark Prodigy encounter inside the tower. · All Things How / Rebel Wolves -
Ascend through the guarded floors and defeat Svetlana. Search her body for the Vault Key, then inspect Silas’s Book on the wooden stand in her room. The book interaction, rather than defeating her alone, is the key progression check.
Svetlana teleports: reset before chasing
ATH's Svetlana guide describes a red-mist teleport followed by a spell. Locate her again before committing to another combo; chasing the previous position can leave you exposed to the next cast. Start with short attacks and observe the follow-up before extending them. Exact dodge direction and timing are not verified here. After the fight, check body loot and the book separately: an empty health bar does not complete the book objective.
Check Life Lock and avoid confusing the upstairs quest
- Check your abilities after inspecting the book. PowerPyx and ATH’s handover article associate Life Lock with this inspection; another ATH article puts a manual in a locked chest. The claimed chest requirement is unresolved, so do not assume an absent manual means the quest failed.
- Going another floor up and attempting the door can start Home Sweet Home. PowerPyx identifies it as a separate optional quest, so it is not required simply to return the book.
Report to Marat downstairs
- Return to the manumit hideout in Svartrau and descend to Crake’s room. Use the dialogue about obtaining Silas’s Book, then discuss the castle preparations. Marat and Crake identify the same contact here.
- If the journal still asks you to search the tower despite the completed book interaction, check whether the handover dialogue is available. ATH reports this as a workaround for a journal-display issue; it is not a guaranteed fix for every missing-item state.
Separate preparations from starting the finale
- Confirm the journal has completed this quest and started Rise at Dawn. Sources agree that preparations take at least two game days, or 32 segments. The actual decision to march belongs to that later quest; review its warning and finish desired activities before committing.
The quoted total cost of Who Pulls the Strings differs: ATH lists five segments, PowerPyx seven. Exact route-dependent timing remains unconfirmed. Use your current hourglass prompts instead of planning around the smaller figure. Distant Shadows also depends on earlier relationship choices; reporting the book alone does not prove that optional branch unlocked.