Ingrid
Farfordda, reflecting on his magical scrying of the land realises that there is a potentially more concealed, if longer route to the cave near the ford, so after burying their unwanted gear they head north up the valley, away from the river Taub and trudge up into a long high valley running North East.
A few hours into the trek, not long after the ground has turned damp and boggy Carnac starts barking - some 200 yards ahead of them, a slow lumbering mass that could easily be mistaken for a rocky landscape feature, turns towards them. It is a confused looking troll, which gets all the more confused as the party rush behind some handily nearby boulders and Farfordda casts Murmured Whisper to have a voice off to their right shout Troll!
He follows it up with Marsh Lights, creating glowing points against the leaden sky which succeed in distracting the dumb brute, and leads it off in a wide arc around them. They watch anxiously as it disappears down the way they came.
By late afternoon the sky clears, and it gets notably cooler. They are deep in the mountains now and their view restricted by close peaks and the flanks of great, rock strewn valleys.
It is close to sunset when they find the valley of the cave. But their destination is nowhere to be seen, so the party rest under some wiry mountain trees as Farfordda attempts channeling the winds of magic to cast Lie of the Land again. His sing song enchantment comes to nothing and he's driven to use Etelka Herzen's wand once more (to the mocking accompaniment of the dwarves). The cave it turns out is not far above.
They scramble up the slope, barely seeing the entrance in the low dusk light. Magdalena's twitching nose smells smoke. Farfordda approaches while the others hold back. Five yards out he hears a burst of dramatic coughing, and a wheezy voice trying hard to sound menacing, cries out to stay back.
'Ingrid is that you?'
The dirty haggard face of the hermit pokes out from the cave mouth - ah elf, it is you!
The wide low entrance gives way to a steep slope down to this rocky chamber that Ingrid uses as her living room. Skins stretch on racks, pots, knives and working implements litter the floor. A small fire throws light across the space, and up another slope opposite the entrance they see furs hanging, obscuring the narrow openning to what Farfordda knows is another chamber.
They gather around the fire and catch up.
How did they get on with the Holzbek's she asks? Did they get the little girl to Dunfurter? They tell her of Baron Holzbek's death from corrupted wound inflicted by the beastman Gazrin One-horn, that they never got to meet him and that Ada is actually his daughter.
She tells them that she never got to drink that bottle of Eilhart they traded with her; a few days after they met she had a run in with some Orcs and had to abandon her cave. She has not long returned, after spending weeks hiding on the other side of the mountain - she was caught in that great storm at the start of the month and has been poorly ever since.
Having been round the other side of the mountain though she has some intelligence on Zerlumptberg. On overcast nights, you can see the cloud above the ragged mountain peak bathed in a sickly green light, and twice at sunset she has heard a bell tolling, echoing down the valley. People too, she's seen a few small groups of humans, coming and going up along the river to the delta.
She asks them what they plan, and Farfordda in relating their struggle with the ratmen mentions Unterfraus, how the whole village was abducted, vanished. She becomes ashen faced, that's where she was born, where she grew up. Distraught she retires to her sleeping chamber.
In the morning she tells them that she left the village for the mountains when she was 12, to escape an arranged marriage. She had been planning to try hold out here for winter and search for another suitable cave next spring but now feels she must visit Unterfraus.
They explain that it is abandoned, there will be no one there. Farfordda tells her she won't last winter if she stays here though, she should leave, go to Dunfurter. Magdalena offsets the menace of Farfordda's dark warnings by saying they have friends at Dunfurter. Speak to Von Reiter or the Steward and tell them 'she is here to do Verena's business', tell them that she knows Magdalena, saviour of Ada. The Holzbek's owe them much. Please speak with the girl Ada, tell her the tale of a Knight fighting Orcs and Trolls, always doing the right thing no matter how dangerous or difficult. Be like the knight.
Perhaps she'll go, for now Ingrid makes breakfast and tells them they're welcome to stay here as long as they need.
It is a cold morning, but clear, so the party decide to take advantage of the weather and climb to the peak high above Ingrid's cave to get a better view. Taking minimal equipment they begin the ascent and reach the summit near midday.
It is an almost perfect spot to see north west up the river valley, being higher than any ridge this side of the river. They can see the broken top of Karak Skygg, but its base is hidden behind the peak Ingrid calls the Needle. Amos inspecting carefully with their telescope spies what looks like a crane or metal structure protruding from the north east flank of the extinct volcano, near the top, and tendrils of smoke rising from within the caldera. The base might be obscured, but it is clear that there is a navigable route either side of the Needle. They can see signs of the logging camps mentioned previously by Ingrid.
They spend a good hour up on the cold peak, and finally spot Skaven. There are a troop of 10 or so loitering at the tip of the forested delta, and a couple in a sort of fox hole or guard post, high up on a slope north east of the Needle - those Skaven will have a good view over the delta.
They make their way carefully back down to the cave. It is late afternoon on the 20th of Nachgeheim, 5 days before Geheimnistag...
