"Let's stop for a moment." She turns to Finn. "Would you be so kind as to gather information for us about the damage on the church and the ruined houses, and some news of the area?"
The driver sighs. «We would be blocking the road. I shall see if I can find a place.» You continue at slow speed for fifty to a hundred paces, before the driver pulls up by some palisade encircling the abbey. A small square has formed here with several roads and going in different directions.
You have the abbey to your right and various farms to your left, and straight ahead you see the gate to the inner city. There is a fair bit of traffic, pedestrians mostly, across the square in all directions, including a gate in the palisade. Thus Finn has a bit of choice if he takes up on the task¹.
Is the wagon open? Or do the magae hide under a canvas tent, maybe?
¹ Assuming that Finn does, it may be useful to roll any relevant dice straight away, in addition to appropriate roleplay. Feel free to make assumptions about what kind of people you can ask and what skills would be suitable.
I was thinking this would probably be a carriage with doors, and we would be inside.
Finn would use Charm and Folk Ken to identify a suitable tavern and then Storytelling to “warm the crowd up to his approaches”. He has the Self Confident virtue so can apply up to +6 to these roles is required.
To find a tavern, he would need to go into the inner city. Does he bring the Gifted horse?
He would prefer not to bring anyone with the aura of the Gift
Finn declines the offer of a horse and makes his way on foot. There is bustling activity everywhere. The farmers are tending livestock and fields, priests and monks hustle to and fro, and at the gate there is a steady traffic of people bringing goods into and out of town. Finn passes a cart being inspected in the gatehouse, and notice that a toll is charged. Travelling light and on foot, he is let through without question.
A tavern is quickly found, only two or three houses from the gatehouse, on your left hand side. It is easily recognised, with a broken wheel hanging over the entrance. The wheel maker next door displays a whole wheel. On your right, you see workers busy working on the scaffolds of the cathedral.
When you open the door to the tavern, you realise that it is quite posh. And almost empty. A couple of well-dressed merchants have a serious discussion at a private table and the tavern keeper is idle. He seems disinterested at first, but pleasant enough when you break the ice. «The damage to the cathedral? Oh, stranger, that is due to the Danes. Two winters has passed since the calamity. They burnt a lot and stole even more, but we have mostly rebuilt it now.»
Finn inquires “Any news of the road north, is it safe or not?”
«They are no worse than last year, or the year before. The baron hanged a band of brigands two months ago. I have not heard of any incident since then.»
“Thank you my friend. I have some friends who may need lodging for the night. Do you have private areas for eating and private rooms for sleeping as my friends don’t mix well and really like their own company. If so what are your rates?” Replies Finn
«That can be arranged,» he says. His rates are higher than what they paid at the Old Broom, but the place is cleaner and so are the customers. He quotes a price for a hot bath too. The room is smaller, but he has room for grogs and servants over the stables. Finn may find the prices excessive, but looking at the standard, he knows better than admitting so. The inn keeper agrees to hold one room for an hour or two, if you need to talk to the magae first.
Finn agrees to confirm within the hour and goes back to the group, relaying everything he has learned and the accommodation offer. If the group wish to keep moving and not stay he will return to the inn, inform the owner that they will not take up the offer, thank him for his time and the catch the group up on the road.
Cath'rinne looks at her fellow magae. "Up to you if you want to stop in a city. I'm happy to do some camping in the wild so I can stretch my wings and discover the landscape."
Obstetrix shrugs "There's no point in resting in the town, at least none that I can see. But we might want to stop in some villages along the way, both to get news, and to let our men rest, without the burden of our Gifts." And then she looks at Betula, and adds "Sorry, am used to being among Bjornaer, where we can also transform into animals, and not let our Gift affect the mundanes much, but I guess you might not readily be able to do that."
The group travels on, through the farmland, while Finn informs the inn keeper. He can easy catch up with the others on the other side of the city. The journey continues for weeks. Constrained to driving roads, avoiding the mundanes only means to camp between villages. Going around them is not really an option. Some would have got river passage up the Thames, but buying and selling carts and horses makes it too much of a hassle, so you end up taking the long way around London on the South bank.
The city of London is an impressive sight. Except for Benedict, who may have been to Rome, it is the biggest city you have ever seen, by a long shot. It is luring, but presumably, the magae are not tempted.¹
You are more than half-way to Nottingham, when you notice more traffic on the roads. Craftsmen, farmers, and peddlars with carts or donkeys laden with wares. You cannot avoid to learn that there is a three-day fair in the next town.
The town is a Motte and Bailey design, and when you arrive, the fairground is already spilling over the town palisade, with tents and market stalls in the fields around. There is no road for carts except through the town.
¹ Please, correct me if I am wrong.
Cath'rinne would use some of that time to fly free in vulture form, mostly between villages. Besides occasional scavenging and skipped meals 
she's starting to learn the landscape they're crossing, she keeps an eye out for things out of place or worth investigating, which might include the following:
- Untouched wilderness that may harbor auras, magical or faerie;
- Places that look like they may have seen recent combat, especially of a magical nature;
- Weird phenomenas that may be mythical in origin;
- Interesting locations besides town that may be worth investigating (e.g. ancient pagan sites). This could include pagan burial mounds;
- Dead human bodies left in the middle of nowhere.
She will generally try to avoid hovering over farmlands as she's not especially looking to attract attention. She can steer away from the chariot for a while during the scouting, because a chariot traveling on a specific road isn't exactly hard to find again when your eyesight covers several miles. I'll let you decide whether she sees any place the group might like to explore. This is likely to occur as they move throughout Britain, whether anything was found in the south or not.
Agreed that she's not especially attracted to London, unless anyone has hermetic contacts on site, or wants to investigate for rumors and stories of the land.
There are several likely traces of battle, but nothing obviously recent. There is scorched field which may have been a battleground. Vegetation is returning, but many of the scorched patches will take a year or two more to conquer. All over the country, there are villages that have seen houses destroyed, and you see a couple of villages that seem to have been completely abandoned. Whether the battles have been magical or not, you cannot tell.
The party travels through several forests and other areas of wilderness. If you have appropriate InVi spells, you can probably identify magical and faerie auras, but nothing sticks out on a simple aerial scan.
Knowing there were raiders in the area, the average village house is not high on my radar unless there are more impressive structures that were damaged / burned down. The scorched field / possible battlefield would probably attract my attention.
I don't have appropriate spells, however my casting total in heartbeast form for InVi is 15, which means I can cast spells to detect an aura with smell range (Knowing I have keen smell to help pinpoint it), and to analyse an aura's power at touch range, without stress or expending stamina.
The most impressive structures at this time would be the churches. You do see construction work in process, but no telling from a bird's eye perspective if this is due to damage of war. The closest to castles would be manors with wooden palisades.
You do identify a couple of auras, both faeries and magic. Something to explore another day, probably; some of the magic ones could be home to ancestor spirits. It would be risky to go in unprepared. There is no sign that they are inhabited by human sorcerers of any kind.
While Obstetrix doesn't have Cath'rrine's vantage point in her heartbeast shape, she does take it on occasion, to stretch her muscles on the road, when they are in between villages. But the rest of the time, she tries to get to know Betula better, if they are traveling together, and to share with her her knowledge of plants, and healing.