Story : Caractacus's fort

Back to Climbing Caer Caradoc
http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/history/2004/01/images/iron_age_caer_caradoc_church_stretton_credit_cpat_470.jpg
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/img_400/NMR21077_12x384.jpg
=== The old hill fort ===
:April 19 1220
As they ascended the spine of the hill, the trees petered out, revealing the mass of Caer Caradoc rising up before them. The higher they ascended, the easier the walk became as the ground became more open, until they reached the outermost of the fort's defences. 
Seeing no one ahead, Bedo pushed forward, up the last few yards, grabbing handfuls of turf, as he scrambled up each of the earth banks. As he reached each of the banks, he stopped, loudly and obviously casting 'Piercing the Magical Veil' as he checked to see if the ancient builders of this fort had built it over a regione. He climbed on, until he could look forward across the interior of the deserted fort, and out over the valley to the left, over the trees towards the Strettons. 
Phaedrus follows in his tracks, sponting "Sense of Magical Power" from time to time while approaching the fort. His first spell or two did not appear to the indicate the presence of a magical aura, however, upon stepping within the bounds of the fort, a steady magical aura could be found radiating through the place.
Excited by the discovery, he quickly wove the gestures and sounds necessary to gauge the strength of the magic in the area, and was pleased to discover that it registered as a strong fourth order aura.
The ramparts of the fort were far more substantial than the faint shadows had suggested from far below; standing nearly twenty-five feet high (around eight meters). Surprisingly, there was a small pond in the fort, which seemed to be fed by a spring, possibly accounting for why the fort was so large in comparison to the others scattered hereabouts.
The fort was long, covering most of the ridgeline of the Caer, and encompassing a goodly amount of rock and uneven ground, upon which there had once been a sizable settlement.
Once he had got his breath back from the last scramble, Bedo moved forward, looking to gain the highest ground on the ridge that ran along the centre of the enclosure. On reaching it, he stood on it, slowly looking out to the horizon in all directions, then lay down on his back, and rested, considering the sky, and the conditions around him.
=== Assessing the site ===
:April 19 1220
One of the nice things about this location was that it has a truly commanding view, enabling those within to see down every side of the hill, up and down a good stretch of the vale, and has a goodly view of the Long Mynd including Church Stretton at its base, the adjacent valley and the principal route up the Mynd.
To the far south of Church Stretton, it was even possible to make out a white-washed blob that most probably the Royal Castle of Stretton-en-le-Vale.
Apart from the buzzing of insects around the flowers, and a kite hovering far off, there was little moving around. Lower down the Caer, a score or more of sheep moved idly about as they ruminated over the view of the valley and the Long Mynd. As he lay amidst soft, springy moss, Bedo felt quite at ease.
As Bedo walked up the ridge, Phaedrus directed his interest toward the remains of the settlement looking for temporary shelter, possible places for a permanent building and other interesting features.
The site had not been occupied since the time of the Romans, and now there was little to suggest it was occupied, beyond the earthworks and faint tracks that marked the land. All the buildings of wood seemed to have long since decayed or been otherwise destroyed without a trace. The only real sign of worked stone was one place where the enormous ramparts cut through a rocky slope; otherwise there were no signs of stone buildings at all.
A number of rocky outcroppings caught his eye, standing proud of the hillside, as ready sources of stone, while the fort itself seemed firmly settled upon bedrock that was mostly covered by a layer of soil. He was no expert on such matters, but it did appear that the terrain was conducive to the construction of such large stone buildings as might take their fancy, let alone lesser ones of wood.
The downside of having a completely unobstructed view of the land for miles around was that there was little shelter to be found from the elements. A way down the vale-side of the hill, some sort of small hut squatted against the slope in a slight natural looking hollow.
"So - what have we got here?" called out Bedo "Water, and it looks fresher than just collected rainwater. Good solid rock, that isn't going to collapse, and the best views in the county so far. Against that, a beast, that we can probably dispose of, on the path up here. A hellish walk every time we want to leave the hill, and worse, no wagon track up here, nor any obvious route to build one. The view is a curse too - it looks over the town, so everyone in the town would see if we built up here. It looks over the castle - so the King's men would watch us too. It's just too obvious. Great if you want a fort to control the road and the valley - not so great if we fancy our peace."
He pulled himself to his feet, and started to pace around the old fort, taking particular care to check the back slope of the hill. After a few minutes he stopped, and called out to Phaedrus again "...and, by my reckoning, the steep slope starts too soon to build anything but low sheds on the reverse slope if we wanted them to be out of site of the town. If we built towers they would stick up over the top of the hill, unless we built them on ridiculously steep ground."
"Well," Phaedrus answers, "there is a good aura here and we could always dig, but lets hope the others find something more interesting. I would like us to take a closer look at the pond before we leave thou, spring-water on top of this high a hill seems worth some investigation."
"Begging your pardon, masters," Nenya spoke cautiously, "But springs have a tendency to run below the ground. Perhaps the haunted stream below might be fed from this spring-- which would mean that the, th-the," she gulped nervously, "that thing from below might have a subterranean path to follow us here."
"A good point Nenya, although unless the creature can fit itself into little cracks below rocks we should be safe." Bedo replied, "It seemed to need a cave to live in below, so I suspect it can't. We should be careful though".
While walking to the pond Phaedrus continues, "Bedo, while you are at the top of the world, would you mind looking for other magical auras? 'Vision' from up there ought to cover a lot of ground."
Phaedrus saw that the spring water emerged from the hill a few metres from the pond, and then proceeded to trickle down into the hollow. The pond seemed shallow, but clear. Holding a cup to the spring, the water trickled in slowly, gradually filling his cup with very cold, clear, odourless water.
Looking at the cup Phaedrus decided to try some Intellego Aquam on the flowing spring water to see what he can learn about it. He performed his spell with flowing gestures, and as he pronounced the last syllable, he began to drink from hs cup.
Having established that this is good fresh water, probably even good for your health. Phaedrus spentds a few minutes trying to estimate how much water actually flowed from the spring, and whether it would be enough to supply what the covenenant needs.
It seemed to him that while the rate of flow was not particularly high, it was constant, and that with a suitable arrangement for collecting it in place, it should be enough for their drinking needs. By collecting the rain also, they should be able to gather water for the grogs to perform their duties with. Should the covenant be hit by a heat wave, a simple bit of Creo Aquam would solve any problems, as the water need not endure for long in order for it to be useful.
===Scanning the surroundings===
:April 19 1220
Bedo climbed back up to the highest point, and looked out, considering the view. After a pause, he looked south, shielding his eyes against the light, and loudly and dramatically cast Piercing the Magical Veil, searching out over the hills to see if his vision changed as his eyes passed over the land. This done, he then repeated the spell, twisting it slightly in order to focus in on the species emitted by aura of the dominion and fae realms.
He then turned east, repeating the spell over the terrain, aware his view was more limited by other hills lying closer. He paused, taking a drink of water before turning to the north, and then finally the west, where the views were longest and most open.
Resting, he spoke to Phaedrus, pointing out to the west where the long lines of the Long Mynd defined the horizon. "There's a regio of some size over there - up on that hill line. I've got a fair feeling for whereabouts it is relative to the hills there. We should be able to find it easily enough if the others have not done so already".
This done, he stopped and thought for a while, before calling similar words, searching this time for signs of magical auras in the surrounding lands. Starting in the west, he turned back, slowly north, east, and finally south until he had completed the circle, and returned to the west. As he turned, the concentration could be seen in his face, and his voice hardened as he struggled to see beyond the Dominion aura in some parts of the circle. The cicle done, he relaxed, and sat down, turning his back on the sun to rest his eyes, and drinking again from his waterskin.
Once he had thought for a while, he spoke to Phaedrus again "Interesting. As you said, I could see a lot from up here - the thing is, where to begin? Let's start here. The fort itself is a place of some magic - certainly enough that we could place a covenant here. We'd be limited though, pretty much to the area of the fort itself, large enough that the area is, so there'd be no hiding towers on the back of the hill. As we'd expect, the villages down in the valley are dominated by the Dominion, and Church Stretton itself is particularly strong. Now, that strength makes it hard to see as clearly across onto the Long Mynd as I would have hoped, but the hills do seem largely to be free of it. Oh, and there seems to be a bit of a faerie aura back down there", and he pointed back down the south side of the hill towards the woods.
"Let's have a quick bite to eat up here, and then be ready to walk. If we make a good pace we should join the others tonight.".
===Down to the Vale===
:April 19 1220
Their meal passed peacefully beneath the blue sky. The wind rustled the grasses that they sheltered amidst as they tucked into delicious meat pies that Nenya had brought with her.
Occasionally the gusting wind carried with it the faint sounds of insects buzzing, sheep calling to their lambs, or the keening of kites, which only served to relax the magi further as they rested.
"We have a choice now" Bedo spoke. "Before we set off, we agreed to meet in three days at a cottage on the Long Mynd that Marcus had identified. I would think from his description of it that we could reach it by nightfall tonight, but that is only one day taken. I have seen nothing from the hill here that tempts me to travel further to the east, away from the cottage, but as we are not expected I would like to think we could do something useful with the time. I would propose that we strike south, and investigate that castle we can see there, to see how complete it is, and whether it is occupied. It will cost us a night under the stars, but the weather is not that cold. We can then head up onto the Long Mynd from the south of Church Stretton and approach the cottage from that direction. That way we wil have more useful information for the others, and are likely to have seen another part of the Mynd that they have not walked. Are you both with me in this?"
"If so, rather then retracing our route past that creature in the stream, I would say that we drop down to the saddle between the hills here, and then climb up onto the next hill over there". He pointed to the south, rather then the path down to the south-west. "Once we have that hill,there seems to be a line of hills running south-west to the east of Church Stretton. If we follow the ridge line we should have a fine view over Church Stretton, but also be able to see into the vale on the east side of the hills. We can then climb down nearer the castle and see what we can see".
"Well, it is always good to know ones neighbours... but I would like to get to the cottage early tomorrow to get the oportunity to try out my Rego skills at some construction." Phaedrus answers, then he continues, "Nenya, do you know anything about the castle? Especially, do you think they would take exception to people like us walking around there without going up to greet them?"
(Nenya knows that the folk in the castle don't interfere with travellers much except when there is trouble afoot, and reports of armies abroad on the land. Besides, there are very few people in there, usually.}
"Then Phaedrus, we should make good time today, and try to get to the cottage as early as possible tomorrow." Bedo replied. "They're not expecting us yet, and who knows how much work there is to be done at the cottage? Unless Nenya knows better, I'd be surprised if the castle is worried by a group of three people wandering by, if they even notice us, or see us as different from any other peasants from a distance." He started to pick up the remains of lunch, making it clear he was ready to start walking as soon as the others were ready to do likewise. "Come, let's walk, we owe it to our Sodales to find all we can before we make important decisions to where we site the covenant."
=== Toward the castle ===
:April 19 1220
The journey down toward the castle passed without much fuss. Apart from the odd serf, who curiously eyed the strange folk as they hurried about some errand on the Lord's day, there were few to be seen about the vale. Down below, on the road, they could see folk heading up and down between the villages of the Stretton Vale.
When they finally caught sight of the castle, from the heights of Ragleth Hill, it came, if anything, as a slight disappointment after the castles that had seen on the way here. While it possessed goodly earthworks, and a very sturdy looking curtain wall, the keep itself seemed to be largely constructed from wood, as was a goodly portion of other sundry defences. As the party descended through the thick woods on the slopes of Ragleth Hill, slipping and sliding as they tried to find a path, the castle disappeared from view, hidden by the trees, only reappearing as they reached the low-lying muddy fields that lay in the narrow valley to the south of it.
The castle sat on the south end of a rise between two roads: the main road ran along the eastern edge of the vale, while on the Long Mynd side of the castle, a well-used path hugged the base of the mynd, and headed off toward Church Stretton. A small river ran down that western side of the valley from Church Stretton. The keep had a commanding vantage over both routes, looking towards the south. Beyond the castle the steep wooded slopes of the Long Mynd loomed, silhouetted against the low late afternoon sun, and to the south the smoke of the wood fires of Little Stretton could be seen, drifting gently up the valley.
To the south of the castle, in line with a sharp bend in the west wall of the valley, the stream swung close to the wooded western slopes, and here a small bridge could be seen, giving access to the fields in the valley from the western track. Seeing it, Bedo led the party over to this bridge, and slightly up into the trees on this side. The late afternooN sun was still lighting the castle, but it was clear that it would fall into shadow soon. Bedo led the party north, climbing gently up the side of the valley untl they were in line with the castle, and here they rested briefly, looking out across the valley. After a few minutes, Bedo spoke "It seems that the castle is almost deserted. I wonder if the men are out patrolling, or whether it is this quiet all the time." Seeing an occasional guard patrolling, he stood, and cast Sight of the Transparent Motive, then relaxed and sat again. "Nothing obvious for us to worry about then - judging by the bored state of that guard. Do you agree we should move on up and find somewhere to rest for the night?".
===Camping Out===
:April 19 1220
As evening drew close, and the Western slopes of Ragleth Hill began to glow with the rust-hued light of the setting sun, the magi set about finding a suitable place to spend the night. Without much difficulty, they located a sheltered spot in the woods positioned well away from the road on the western slope of the vale.
It was a simple matter to clear the bracken to reveal a very comfortable looking area of leaf-litter and moss upon which to make one's bed.
When the camping area is clear Phaedrus sets about preparing a circle of buried twine around it. After warning his companions not to disturb him he starts walking around gesticulating wildly and muttering. Some time later he comes back to the cooking fire and comments, "Now we should be warm and dry for the night."
Then just before sunset Phaedrus take a short walk to "freshen up" before going to sleep. Bedo made no pretence at hiding his ritual, first renewing his parma, then casting Eyes of the Cat. This done, he looked at the trees overhanging Phaedrus's circle of twine, and cast several times, similar spells, first creating vines that could be used as rope, then a round linen sheet that could be hung to provide a basic tent. Tying the centre of the sheet to a vine, he weighted the other end of the vine with a broken piece of branch, and tossed it over a low branch, before tying it off. He then used a few small piece of branch to peg out the edges of the sheet, making sure it all lay inside the circle of twine.
Soon it was time to sleep, and after the exertions of the day it took little time to sleep.
=== Morning ===
:April 20 1220
The sun struck the east-facing side of the vale early, and as it did the tent faded away, exposing the travellers to the morning light. They rose, feeling fairly fresh after a night out in the wild. 
Phaedrus makes sure to retrieve and rewind the string he placed, while muttering something about "being kind to the grass", while Nenya unpacked another pie to share for breakfast.
While the foot of the valley was still in shade, they made their preparations, and left, continuing their climb onto the Long Mynd to the west. Unsure of their route, Bedo was relieved when Kuari flew out over the woods and told Phaedrus that there was a valley ahead that climbed tovards the top of the ridge. Several streams flowed down from branches of the valley, but they would have to climb the last part to the top. There were also some people at a ruined building not too far from the head of the valleys.
They soon broke clear of the woods, and slightly to their west saw an incised valley climbing in a northwesterly direction towards the ridgeline of the hills. "That valley looks a good enough line to follow - it seems to go towards the highest part of the mynd, and if the description we had is right, the cottage should lie near the ridgeline, slightly south of a fairly prominent knoll on the ridgeline. Let's follow up the valley, taking the more major branch if other streams join it, and then when we reach the top we can look for the knoll and the cottage."
In under an hour, after ignoring some minor streams, they could tell they were near the ridge. Again here a stream joined the main stream, this time though the two were of much the same size, and further, it could be seen that both the streams split again soon. Above them, to their left stood an outcrop of rock, and after checking with Eyes of the Treacherous Terrain that the ground was not likely to give way, Bedo scrambled up onto the rocks, and out of the stream valley.
Ahead, over the much flatter ground could be seen a tumulus, and beyond it, perhaps half a mile away a trackway, running along the top of the Mynd. A short distance along that to the right a small group of people could be seen working at what could be a sheep-pen, or possibly a cottage lying in a slight dip.
"I think I can see the cottage - and the others!" he called out.
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==Continued==
Next page: Meeting in the old stone cottage.
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Category:1220
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Category:Bedo
Category:Phaedrus
Category:Nenya