It seems that you have agreed, and head East to pick up the main road. The villagers are visibly relieved when you continue, and watch as you vanish into the distance. You see some other small settlements. People are invariably afraid and poor. After a few hours you have to make camp, presumably staying away from people. The night passes uneventfully. The next afternoon you see York and the road ahead of you.
The grogs, and possibly Edwin, go into the city to get supplies. It takes longer than it should, but they do return before nightfall with a cartload of dried fish. It was all they could get, and it wasn't cheap. A famine is threatening as a result of the war, and food is scarce, but it so happened that merchants had come from Scandinavia with this cargo of fish.
You have to make camp close to the city; you do not get far before dark. At least you have found a decent road and you have food for a fortnight.
Luciu sighs. "If you're calling me a coward, you should just come out and say it. But this war is basically over. Of course I will help defend any covenant site I'm part of, but the threat to the order is over, and I think there's no need to go out seeking further battle. Or, if you have a need to be on the front lines for the very last battle, they're probably rallying to the Lake District."
Edwin volunteered to lead the journey into town. The general chaos in the country has made it hard on merchants, and he as he tries to bring up mutual contacts he discovers that a couple of merchants have perished or been driven out of business. While making sure the grogs didn't spend all their time hunting ale, he was able to talk to the sailors down by the Ouse. Fortunately the trade in dried fish to sell to those who want to observe fast days is still continuing. Good north sea herring will keep their bellies full. Edwin was hoping to buy a wheel of cheese, but alas people are holding on to the good stuff. He has to make do with a small piece of cheese, and the ale for the grogs is slightly thinner than they would like.
âYou yourself said you did not want to fight, if that makes you a coward in your own mind then so be it, I care not either way. How you believe the war is all but over I do not understand, only days ago I fought in a great battle with the Diedne. I see no evidence of an end of this war, though I wish it would be so, but no end is acceptable until house Diedne is fallen to its last member.â Replies Janus. âIf you wish conflict with me go ahead and declare a wizards war, I care not, it may be you or it may be a Diedne creature in the night, but death stalks us all and I for one am ready to face itâs iced touchâ
Luciu sighs. "I didn't say the war is over, I said basically over. What I meant is, it's down to hunting the last few Diedne, but by and large they are defeated, and cannot muster a significant force to threaten the Order. Or so I was led to believe - do you know differently? I was told so by my superiors, and that's why they've sent me, an investigator to clean up after battles, not a warrior or a hunter."
âWell we all have are part to play sodalis and we will see if it he war is nearly over. Then only evidence I have is the ferocity of the battles I have fought. If the last such thing is behind us then the Order is a safer place. Until we know that for sure I will remain vigilant and prepared.â Replies Janus
Edwin, stubborn as he must have been, managed to find a vendor who could spare half a pound of cheese. «It is the last I have, and I was really saving it for my family, but at the right price.» It does not seem that the problem is that people are saving the good stuff; it is more as if they do not have enough stuff to save at all. And this cheese is good, and twice as expensive as it is good. Edwin pays once for the cheese, and twice for the quality, and a third time over for the scarcity, but it is certainly going to make the evening meal less boring. Just the smell could liven up any meal.
The sun is setting when Edwin and the grogs return with the dried fish on the cart, and the smell of mature cheese, and you are ready to head North, and continue the debate on the state of the war.
"We have enough to make to the wall and have a little left over for delays", says Edwin. "In the morning we should get going, for the sooner we start the sooner we have somewhere to stay and somewhere to protect."
Edwin is a born autocrat and keeps the camp in order. The travel North is uneventful. The wagons means that you have to stick to the road, through the various villages and hamlets. Everywhere you go gives you the same impression of a wartorn and impoverished land; on the verge of starvation. People guardedly watch your little caravan as it passes through.
Corbridge almost passes as a town; together with Darlinton the only settlements of such size since York. Ruins of the wall and the fort make their mark on the village, and the stone church is larger than you would have expected in a town this size. It is situated on a hill, and the view is good both East and West, and you see long intact stretches of wall further away from the town.
The good road that you have followed seem to end here. Some rough bridleways criss-cross the surrounding area, and your wagons should not get stuck until you reach the first stretch of intact walls.
Any preparations you want to make before you leave the comfort of the Roman road?
With all Luciu's spells active, you set off from Corbridge in the morning. The first stretch is easy going, with some sort of roads going a mile or two away, where you find an intact stretch of wall reaching further than you can see. It is actually possible to pull the wagons onto the wall and use it as a road. This looks like the easier option since the surrounding terrain is hilly and overgrown. Whether you can get down at the far end is an open question though. Here there is a ramp which has probably been made for carts and horses, but who knows if that is a common feature along the wall.
There is a small turret here, next to the ramp, but much smaller than what Edwin expects for the covenant, and besides, it is much to close to Corbridge.
How do you proceed? Driving on the wall? Through the woods close to the wall? Or a detour further away with less obstructions? Every option seems to be a gamble ...
Assuming that nobody questions Luciu's ability to get horse drawn carriages down from a eight foot wall, you mount it, and the day is quite a pleasant ride. For the most part.
You pass several of the small turrets, and Luciu notices that they mostly have a magic aura of one or two. One of them has a vis source. When the first couple of persons tread through it, three four-leaved clovers sprout from the cracks between the bricks; each worth a pawn of Rego vis.
You have some trouble getting horses and carriages past a broken section, but it is doable to descend and reascend through the rubble.
You see some shepherds and domestic animals grazing at a distance. They do not seem to approach the wall, though.
At the end of day, you reach a larger turret, where Luciu can hear the ear-shattering sound which must be a regio. It is like the sound of an aura, just louder and sharper, and a lot less bearable. Without seeing it, he has no means of knowing how to enter it.
Edwin will think that this is much to close to Corbridge for the covenant, but the turret looks the right kind and size.
Beyond the turret, there is a long section of collapsed wall and no road. You will have to make your way through mud, and shrubs, and forest. Luckily, the turret also has a ramp to get down.
Luciu harvests the vis, taking a mental snapshot of the place so he can register the source and remember where it is, later.
Upon hearing the regio, he stops their progress, wanting to find out where it is before the wagons go any further, or even down the ramp. He goes inside the turret to get out of sight before he works his magic, and casts a spell to allow him to see the regio in addition to hearing it.
[Succeeded in Spont version of Piercing the Faerie Veil (Magic Realm)]
I assume that what you call «Piercing the Faerie Veil (Magic Realm)» is what I would have called «Piercing the Magic Veil».
The sound is strongest at the threshold where you enter the turret. Inside it, the sound quiets down, like in the eye of a storm. The vision spell gives you a different view of the turret from the outside. It is in better repair, and you see a dozen Roman guards on watch inside. They appear not to notice you, at least as long as you are reasonably quiet.
The Roman soldiers guard the entrance, but seems to look straight through you when you approach, as if you did not exist. It is as if you can see through the entrance, at everything inside, but it is all closed to you. You can walk straight up to the Roman soldier, and then it is as if a hand pushes you back. If you push through, you slip into the turret at the mundane level and no Roman soldiers are to be seen. Maybe the soldiers inside controls the entrance.