Mynydd Myddyn
Radolphus - Autumn mxlv
"Below is the brief report that I was asked to scribe for the covenant at the end of a season where I was sent, as service to the covenant, to investigate stories and rumours of a magical site quite close to the covenant of Blackthorn
The hills named 'Mynydd Merddin' lie nigh on one and one half leagues as the crow flies south-east of the covenant of Blackthorn. The only way yet discovered to enter the regio is to follow the minor tributary which winds its way through thick forest and narrows to a stream as thou climb'st the steep slope up towards the spring. Entering the regio is difficult even for the Gifted, and it took three nights and days to discover that thou may'st only enter the regio when the twylight of dawn or dusk is upon thee. The White Rocks, both rounded and smooth, marks approximately the entry point from where you may follow the stream within the regio.
In the vicinity of the spring, which requires a steep and difficult climb to reach, lies a village inhabited by celtic Welsh. Their village is made upon a man made hill, and is surrounded by a simple stockade. I saw perhaps a dozen fighting folk and about the same number again of women and children. They speak only an ancient form of Cymric, and even the Welsh speakers could not fully grasp their tongue. In the end I had to resort to Tongue of the Folk to ensure we were understood. Whilst they were initially hostile towards strangers they respect magic and have great knowledge of the surround. The Chief is called 'Brochwel' and the Druid, who sensed what my gift signified, was called 'Meurig'. I was able to make a bargain with them - exchanging a sword and two daggers for a night's shelter and a guide.
To the north of the village is the pool within which is said to live a serpent, which they name 'Llifiau'. There are signs of its presence in the vicinity, and the villagers sacrifice a goat each year to keep peace with it. If thou follow'st on along the track road thee shall find the burial ground where at night spirits can be heard to moan. The guide would not let us enter the site, but I was able to investigate on my own and discovered that some of the ancient trinkets buried there are invested with magic, I located some Terram vis within a bronze sword. There are many spirits there, but I was able to keep them at bay by the use of the black torc.
To the West of the barrows there is a steep and rocky descent along which there are many caves. Some of these delve deep under the hills and we were unable to explore much of them. We did find the skulls and bones of animal and even human remains near the entrance to some of the caves, I suspected some sort of magical creatures reside there. We saw tracks, but none of the grogs were able to identify them. The creatures are bipedal but have short talons or claws on their feet. The guide called them Myddin's brood, and said they have in the past occasionally attacked the village. However, he had never seen one.
The guide led us on towards the oldest part of the forest. Here the trees are awake and the animals have hightened cunning. We were able to bring down a deer with golden eyes and discovered Animal vis; the silvery sap from the great oak also contained vis, this time Herbam.
Continuing on, and only our guide knew what path we took for the forest appear'd to move and change around us constantly, we began again to climb and after a hard hour or two we spied a small collection of dolmens shrouded in a thick mist. Here we passed into a deeper regio, the aura rising to sixth magnitudes, and became separated from a body of the grogs. I pressed on and investigated the stones discovering that some of the moss which grows on the stones contains Intellego vis. Meanwhile the grogs who were left outside the regio were attacked by some great beast in the forest. All were slain by the creature which appeared in The Vision of the Marauding Beast to be similar to a giant black bear.
To the northern most point on the hillside, and across more forest, I saw a great Barrow rising clear above the treeline. I flew over to this place and discovered that it was somehow magically warded. My flying spell was extinguished as I entered and I plumetted through at least one, probably two regio boundaries ending up significantly injured on the wind and rain swept side of the great barrow. Still able to walk, I managed - though slowly - to conduct a short survey of the site. A single obelisk, only visible from within the deepest regio stands upon a human made hill some score paces in hight and at least one hundred paces around its base. The stone itself was intensely magical and in the twylight of the hour appeared to shine or vibrate with power. I approached it cautiously and saw what looked like ancient engravings upon the stone - mostly covered by moss and lichen, but otherwise well preserevd. I was unwilling to experiment with the stone, as in my weakened state I feared that to use much spontaneous magic would render me too weak to escape. Besides, I was not confident that further magics would work given the collapse of my flying spell. I walked off the side of the barrow and after an hour or so was successful in finding my way back onto the lower levels of the regio. From there I flew back to rejoin my grogs and discovered that I had been gone three days and nights (indeed the sergeant was planning to leave the next morning).
I used vis to heal my injuries to a degree whereby I might fight if need be, and we returned back towards the village of the Celts. There I was able to speak for a short time with the high druid about the things we had encountered during our explorations. The Druid was enigmatic and unhelpful, but it seems that the Great Barrow is the resting place of a revered man - a Druid or King or perhaps both? He grew angry when he realised I had visited the place, and I was only able to placate him through the use of spell.
In conclusion I suggest that for now at least we deal with the celts to get access to the awakened forest and the ancient standing stones - thus obtaining a regular - if contested - supply of Animal, Herbam and Intellego vis. The small barrows were safe for one wearing the torc, but I would not advise taking grogs in there. Occasional (and in secret from the Celts) visits might profit by raiding the barrows for objects buried within them - although it would be useful to invent a good Terram spell to excavate the objects through the ground rather than crawl through the tiny entrances. As for the Cave Dwellers, the Serpent and the Great Barrow, I would recommend we investigate them in turn - perhaps getting the Celts to assist us against the first two. However, it is possible that the magic of the area is supported by the great barrow (who could it be buried there? Perhaps, though I doubt it, the legendary Myddin himself!?), and I think we should be careful not to damage the site through excavation. However, the last is truely a mystery worthy of our pursuit."
The caves of Mynydd Myddyn
"Below is the brief report that I was asked to scribe for the covenant at the end of a season where I was sent, as service to the covenant, to investigate stories and rumours of a magical site quite close to the covenant of Blackthorn
The hills named 'Mynydd Merddin' lie nigh on one and one half leagues as the crow flies south-east of the covenant of Blackthorn. The only way yet discovered to enter the regio is to follow the minor tributary which winds its way through thick forest and narrows to a stream as thou climb'st the steep slope up towards the spring. Entering the regio is difficult even for the Gifted, and it took three nights and days to discover that thou may'st only enter the regio when the twylight of dawn or dusk is upon thee. The White Rocks, both rounded and smooth, marks approximately the entry point from where you may follow the stream within the regio.
In the vicinity of the spring, which requires a steep and difficult climb to reach, lies a village inhabited by celtic Welsh. Their village is made upon a man made hill, and is surrounded by a simple stockade. I saw perhaps a dozen fighting folk and about the same number again of women and children. They speak only an ancient form of Cymric, and even the Welsh speakers could not fully grasp their tongue. In the end I had to resort to Tongue of the Folk to ensure we were understood. Whilst they were initially hostile towards strangers they respect magic and have great knowledge of the surround. The Chief is called 'Brochwel' and the Druid, who sensed what my gift signified, was called 'Meurig'. I was able to make a bargain with them - exchanging a sword and two daggers for a night's shelter and a guide.
To the north of the village is the pool within which is said to live a serpent, which they name 'Llifiau'. There are signs of its presence in the vicinity, and the villagers sacrifice a goat each year to keep peace with it. If thou follow'st on along the track road thee shall find the burial ground where at night spirits can be heard to moan. The guide would not let us enter the site, but I was able to investigate on my own and discovered that some of the ancient trinkets buried there are invested with magic, I located some Terram vis within a bronze sword. There are many spirits there, but I was able to keep them at bay by the use of the black torc.
To the West of the barrows there is a steep and rocky descent along which there are many caves. Some of these delve deep under the hills and we were unable to explore much of them. We did find the skulls and bones of animal and even human remains near the entrance to some of the caves, I suspected some sort of magical creatures reside there. We saw tracks, but none of the grogs were able to identify them. The creatures are bipedal but have short talons or claws on their feet. The guide called them Myddin's brood, and said they have in the past occasionally attacked the village. However, he had never seen one.
The guide led us on towards the oldest part of the forest. Here the trees are awake and the animals have hightened cunning. We were able to bring down a deer with golden eyes and discovered Animal vis; the silvery sap from the great oak also contained vis, this time Herbam.
Continuing on, and only our guide knew what path we took for the forest appear'd to move and change around us constantly, we began again to climb and after a hard hour or two we spied a small collection of dolmens shrouded in a thick mist. Here we passed into a deeper regio, the aura rising to sixth magnitudes, and became separated from a body of the grogs. I pressed on and investigated the stones discovering that some of the moss which grows on the stones contains Intellego vis. Meanwhile the grogs who were left outside the regio were attacked by some great beast in the forest. All were slain by the creature which appeared in The Vision of the Marauding Beast to be similar to a giant black bear.
To the northern most point on the hillside, and across more forest, I saw a great Barrow rising clear above the treeline. I flew over to this place and discovered that it was somehow magically warded. My flying spell was extinguished as I entered and I plumetted through at least one, probably two regio boundaries ending up significantly injured on the wind and rain swept side of the great barrow. Still able to walk, I managed - though slowly - to conduct a short survey of the site. A single obelisk, only visible from within the deepest regio stands upon a human made hill some score paces in hight and at least one hundred paces around its base. The stone itself was intensely magical and in the twylight of the hour appeared to shine or vibrate with power. I approached it cautiously and saw what looked like ancient engravings upon the stone - mostly covered by moss and lichen, but otherwise well preserevd. I was unwilling to experiment with the stone, as in my weakened state I feared that to use much spontaneous magic would render me too weak to escape. Besides, I was not confident that further magics would work given the collapse of my flying spell. I walked off the side of the barrow and after an hour or so was successful in finding my way back onto the lower levels of the regio. From there I flew back to rejoin my grogs and discovered that I had been gone three days and nights (indeed the sergeant was planning to leave the next morning).
I used vis to heal my injuries to a degree whereby I might fight if need be, and we returned back towards the village of the Celts. There I was able to speak for a short time with the high druid about the things we had encountered during our explorations. The Druid was enigmatic and unhelpful, but it seems that the Great Barrow is the resting place of a revered man - a Druid or King or perhaps both? He grew angry when he realised I had visited the place, and I was only able to placate him through the use of spell.
In conclusion I suggest that for now at least we deal with the celts to get access to the awakened forest and the ancient standing stones - thus obtaining a regular - if contested - supply of Animal, Herbam and Intellego vis. The small barrows were safe for one wearing the torc, but I would not advise taking grogs in there. Occasional (and in secret from the Celts) visits might profit by raiding the barrows for objects buried within them - although it would be useful to invent a good Terram spell to excavate the objects through the ground rather than crawl through the tiny entrances. As for the Cave Dwellers, the Serpent and the Great Barrow, I would recommend we investigate them in turn - perhaps getting the Celts to assist us against the first two. However, it is possible that the magic of the area is supported by the great barrow (who could it be buried there? Perhaps, though I doubt it, the legendary Myddin himself!?), and I think we should be careful not to damage the site through excavation. However, the last is truely a mystery worthy of our pursuit."
The caves of Mynydd Myddyn