On the Doorstep
Farforrda returns wet and cold to the camp. He tells the party the results of his scouting trip and they discuss next steps before sleeping. There are further downpours during the night, but it passes peacefully.
They decide to spend the day once more at their camp in this valley, Magdalena and the dwarves will forage for food while Farfordda tries to learn another spell before they make for Karak Skygg. They have settled upon an idea Amos had on the hike here, to use one enemy against another - they know that on Geheimnistag some undead horror will come for Farfordda, sent by Mariposa, if they are deep in the Skaven lair at that point it will surely have to fight its way through the vermin to reach the elf. At the very least it should cause a decent distraction. This being the case they will want to enter Karak Skygg on the 25th.
Farfordda climbs to the peak above their camp, taking him till midday, then spends the afternoon communing with the winds of magic. Once finished he stays up there, the view from here is not obscured by The Needle, in fact with the telescope he can see the main entrance to Karak Skygg, great stairs leading up to it. He can also see what is clearly a crane protruding from just below the caldera with chains hanging from it half way down the mountain, and the suggestion of eerie green light within its housing.
He determines to keep watch until the toll of the bell at sunset. He sees human slaves carrying logs driven up to the lair under the whip crack of their skaven masters, out from the river valley on the far side, then a patrol of skaven arriving shortly before the ringing from the closer river valley, another line of skaven, driven like the humans under the whip lash, carrying bundles of wood, and finally after the tolling ends a dozen strong company of armed skaven descend the great stairs and make for the eastern river valley.
The party break camp on the morning of the 24th and follow the valley north west. It is another chilly day punctuated by occasional downpours. They zig-zag their way over the ridge at the valley's end and see down into the river valley on the east side of Karak Skygg by late afternoon. They are less than three miles due east of the great broken peak, looking almost directly at the ornate entrance.
They descend the slope as fast as possible and cross the river, finding as sheltered a spot as they can, hunkering down behind rocks to wait for nightfall and the changing of the patrols before making for a more hidden spot on the far side of the mountain to rest till dawn. Shortly after taking up position a bell rings out three times, not the great bell from the mountain itself, but one further down river to the south east.
Magdalena crawls to a convenient spot and scans the valley with the telescope. She can see a skaven patrol arguing with one another, then moving away from the mountain down the valley. They return an hour or so later with four humans and a mule in their midst. By sunset the pack move close by and up the track to the mountain, less than half a mile from the party's position.
The humans are armed, and dressed for traveling, clearly not captives, one of them, a thin faced man with a wispy beard and pony tail converses with the skaven pack leader. Of the others she recognizes two - Karl, Eunice's other assistant, the one who helped them defend Otakus Siverstar's Orrery on the final night of the Middenheim carnival and Renata, the barmaid from the Templar's Arms, who denied having cleared out Blitzen's room, owned a skaven tooth and was later delivered to them bound and beaten in the Split Veil, sister of Raina the Sewer-jack Sergeant, who Magdalena slew in the attack that killed Uhtred.
The great bell tolls thirteen times, it is loud here this close to the mountain and echoes all around.
They break cover several hours after darkness falls and move swiftly across the slopes between Karak Skygg and The Needle, in relays with Farfordda striking out on point. They are crossing the mouth of a narrow gully at the mountain's base when they hear exclamations ahead.
A party of Skaven, larger than the patrols they have seen so far, are reacting to something else in the dark. Without pause they dart down into the gully to avoid detection. It is too dangerous to continue on their planned route so they follow the gully to its end - this is the outflow Ingrid mentioned. A grotesque carving of a goblin's head decorates this dark stinking entry, its vast open mouth a channel for effluent, reeds grow around the opening.
It is big enough to accommodate a coach and horses and the rusted iron bars are far enough apart to easily squeeze through while wearing loaded packs. Far from hygienic, but it a more concealed spot they are not going to find. They will try rest here within the filthy maw before venturing deeper within. It is the early hours of Geheimnistag, the grimmest day of the year, when both moons will rise full, the skaven execute their awful plan and Mariposa's vengeance come for Farfordda...
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