The Trail of Death
The party push on up the trail. Going at Norgrim's belaboured pace they are confidant the orcs will stay ahead of them. The mist restricts visibility for the whole day and they camp, still some way behind the orcs, in the forested valley of the Sturmtaal.
They wake to heavy rain, the mist has cleared to a stormy sky and they can see Karak Skygg in the distance behind them and catch occasional glimpses of the Two Fingers looming out of the forest ahead.
By mid morning they leave the valley of the Sturmtaal and embark on the trail over the hill which should eventually lead to Lindenheim, the route they took in reverse some 2 weeks ago.
An hour or two up the trail and Amos spots faint, purple wisps of Shyish off to their left. He and Farfordda investigate, finding a sword among the undergrowth (the twin tailed comet carved in the pommel) and signs of a struggle which they follow to a tree, where a corpse slumps in the branches.
Farfordda climbs up and pushes the corpse out. It is Jakan Trum, the filthy, suspicious trapper they met in Oberholzbek, the body bears hideous gashes to the torso and arms and looks like its been here for at least several days. They find a crude map and a telescope in his pockets, then moments later hear sounds from the trail ahead.
They just manage to get the horses deeper into the forest in time, with Norgrim calming them as best he can as a party of Orcs come crashing down the hill. One of them shoulders a great beast's head on his back, all are heavily armed and thunder past oblivious to the party.
They wait a while then leave the corpse and head on. The storm rages all day long. They are not far from the Two Fingers, and thinking to make camp soon when Amos once more spies traces of Shyish drifting through the trees, heavier this time. Once again he, Farfordda and Thindra investigate while the others look after the horses.
In a clearing they find a shallow cave gouged from a rock face and a scene of carnage. There are signs of struggle all around and the cave contains a number of bodies. There's an orc, several humans and 2 skaven, not to mention the bones and remains of many animals. But the biggest corpse is that of a huge, decapitated and mutated Griffon. Its wings are horrifically seared, almosty burnt off and a gaping hole in its flank is ringed with tiny mouths, reminiscent of the wound on Baron Holzbek. It reeks of corruption, the body also displays corrupted musket shot wounds, as though shot with warpstone.
They leave the grisly scene and push on another mile or so to camp.
The storm eases off to be replaced once more by thick mist. Another fire-less camp. On his shift late in the night Norgrim hears distant drums from back the way they have come. The next morning is cold and clear.
They reach the clearing with the Two Fingers by mid morning, leaving the horses tied up a quarter mile back before they scrambled up the final steep slopes of ancient woodland. The two towers rise from a wide clearing, 100' of ground clear ground surrounds them, and they sit 100' apart.
One tower is just over 200' tall, and the other partially ruined is about 3/4 of that. White stone covered in ivy and creepers over most of their height, with the lower parts sunk into brambles and bracken.
They do a circuit of the clearing without leaving the shelter of the trees, inspecting the towers with Jakan's telescope. The ruined tower has an overgrown and empty doorway, the only windows on either tower start more than half way up, there are 3 floors with 2 groups of 2 windows oriented in different directions on each floor. The full tower although complete looks like it may be roofless with vegetation growing from the top, it also features 2 balconies on the top floor, one facing east, the other west, both with what appear to be ivy smothered statues on them. Subtle traces of the winds of magic eddy around the full tower.
They break the treeline to better investigate and as they do so Farfordda and Amos see a pulse of magic emanate from the full tower. They hear the squawking of birds and shrieks of animals as it passes out into the forest around. As they close in on the towers they see that there is a door on the full tower, flush with the white walls and obscured by vines and brambles.
Four swarms of tiny bird-things come bursting from the treeline and the party rush for the overgrown entrance to the ruined tower. It is late morning on the 11th of Nachgeheim, cold and clear and 13 days before Geheimnistag...
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