[Daittern] To Consume the Past ~Construction~

[Chargul]

Secrets : According to Eyvind, the 6th Regiment is stationed here already

Brightening 10, Cycle 1, Month of Kalendryas

In the city of Auster, Chargul awoke, knowing that the construction there would take a bit more time to fully complete. He'd pass by again on his way back to Everdark Keep, but he was certain that the troops stationed there could effectively fortify themselves and improve the condition of the ramparts.

He gave order for his guard from the 9th to accompany him. The 500 soldiers from the 9th regiment were to escort him to Daittern, where a company from the 7th and 9th were waiting for further orders, having been sent there from Everdark Keep. Clearly, Chargul was a busy man.

Brightening 11-13, Cycle 1, Month of Kalendryas

Employing the existing roads between Auster and Daittern, Chargul himself travelled on horse, which simply meant that the rest of the company wasn't slowed down by his physical weakness. Having already spent a day on the roads between Auster and Daittern, Chargul hoped to reach Daittern the next day without delay.

Unfortunately, heavy rain slowed them down considerably later on the 12th brightening and they were forced to camp. On the 13th, Chargul pushed the soldiers hard until they could see Daittern on the horizon. They had to be quick about it.

Brightening 15, Cycle 1, Month of Kalendryas, in the Season of Winter,
Era I of the Celestine Mandate,
Era XV Post Fractum

Rising early in the morning, as always, he ordered the troops to close in upon the old ruins. Upon approaching Daittern, Chargul noted the wall that was slowly being consumed by nature. Furthermore, he could see the many old and abandoned structures that had yet to be used for anything effective. This was going to be a good place to build a southern rally point for the imperial legions coming from the sea.

He had a thousand men to work, but no construction supplies as these had been left behind in Auster. Though he expected more supplies to reach him from Taralon when available, there was a priority to consider and Daittern wasn't very high. Fortunately, that wasn't going to be an issue.

Meeting up with the 9th Regiment already stationed there, he realized their defence was unnecessary in this location. The 8th with the existing regiment stationed there would be adequate the defend the city from invaders and Auster remained a more important line of defence against the orcs. Thus, he ordered the existing section of the 9th Regiment to move to Auster, whilst his personal guard of the 9th stayed with him, as he would be needing them later. Besides, they could use some rest. Naturally, they took up residence in the camp already set up by the part of the 9th that was leaving to assist in the defence of Auster.

That left him with his personal guard of 500 from the 9th, a 1000 from the 8th and 5000 from the 6th. Naturally, they needed more workers to at least get the city walls functioning again, so Chargul decided to order three thousand from the 6th Regiment to function as workers, whilst his own guard and 2000 from the 6th would maintain sentries, patrols and fortify themselves.

Chargul proceeded to mark out houses for demolition. Houses that were considered effectively destroyed needed to be taken down and their stones used in repairing the walls. Houses that could be restored to serve as command centers, barracks, armories, supply depots and such were also marked. This was obviously going to take about a cycle to do, what with all the houses in Daittern to mark, but Chargul figured he could cut the time down to about three brightenings by only investigating part of the northwestern section of the city.

The order was given for all the walls to be rebuilt. The gate also needed some polishing and a messenger was sent to Everdark Keep, asking for some supplies that weren't available in Daittern, such as additional chains, bells and containers (boxes and barrels).

Meanwhile, when Chargul had free time before the sun set down completely beyond the horizon, he worked furiously both on the blueprints for a keep that was to be based on a number of run-down mansions in Daittern and for the border forts. On his way back to Auster, he'd have to give a lot of blueprints out for the border forts, so that the groups stationed there could do more than merely fortify themselves in simple camps and palisades.

[Chargul]

Brightening 16, Cycle 1, Month of Kalendryas, in the Season of Winter,
Era I of the Celestine Mandate,
Era XV Post Fractum

Having performed his routine inspection of new houses to be demolished, Chargul was reminded of something. It was Eyvind's intention that Peda be fortified and have a harbor, but Peda was lost. Hence, the closest allied city that could contain a harbor similar to the one that could have been in Peda would be Daittern.

Thusly, Chargul suddenly found himself in the southeastern portion of the city. He needed to know if the city was close to the sea or if there needed to be a well-fortified road leading to the closest harbor. He'd also have to communicate his desire to build an effective harbor to the commanders of the Imperial Navy. They needed to know that a harbor was being built in the general location of Daittern, for the fleet to rest if they needed to.

However, first Chargul scouted out the southeastern portion of the city, in search of knowledge regarding distance to the sea and the state of existing or former harbors.

[Gauls]

The southern portion of the ruins were indeed close to the shore. There was in fact a weed overgrown road, or at least remnants of an ancient road that traversed the whole length of the city from northeast to southwest running parallel to the shore. Was this an ancient boardwalk of some sort? If there was a sea wall along this boardwalk, it was long gone and only the ancient remnants of the boardwalk gave any hint of the possibility of any wall that used to exist. The position of the old boardwalk was at least 300 yards from the sea thus indicating where the ancient sea level used to be. Now there was 300 yards of sand from the ruins to the water.

Further examination to the northeast along the shore Chargul would find huge rotted wood pylons that extended from the ruined boardwalk out about 200 yards toward the sea. With the number of pylons and their spacing they looked to be the pylons from which a huge dock would have been constructed. This was no doubt what Chargul was looking for. Unfortunately, now the pylons were sunk into a sea of sand rather than water. If there was to be a new dock, it would have to be built from scratch. There was no natural or artificial harbor from which to start with here.

[Chargul]

Opening up his architect kit, Chargul consulted his book on various types of architecture, searching for knowledge about harbours and their construction. He let out a laugh as he realized that Daittern had just lost all strategic importance in the upcoming conflict. They wouldn't be spending a long time here and the sixth regiment would definitely be moving.

Reviewing the map he had been provided by Eyvind, Chargul consulted it and discovered that the only two viable options remaining, other than finding a natural harbour, were Notus and Hannas. Hannas was far too close to Taralon to be worth anything, so Notus it was!

He ordered himself and his bodyguards back to the camp. Here, he'd relay the order to get moving. "We're leaving. This city is without value. The stones are old and it'll be difficult getting new stones to fit. We're better off building a new fort entirely. There's also a complete and utter lack of a dock or a harbour, so let's get moving to Notus where we'll certainly have better luck. We have the rest of the day to tear down as much of the wall as possible and bring the stones with us. I'm not wasting another day in this wasteland."

[Chargul]

Brightening 17, Cycle 1, Month of Kalendryas, in the Season of Winter,
Era I of the Celestine Mandate,
Era XV Post Fractum

Moving early on the seventeenth, he wanted supplies to reach Auster as quickly as possible. Therefore, he ordered the men to march quickly and forcibly, despite being burdened by stone. Fortunately, Chargul had the brilliance to commandeer the latest supply caravan and use it and the wagons it had brought as alternative stone wagons. Those wagons could easily carry both, given that they were carrying far from a full load of stones. Besides, the supply wagon needed to be emptied first before it could return to Taralon. He also ordered that all supply caravans headed to resupply the sixth regiment should redirect themselves to Auster, where they would be needed.

He himself intended to go to Notus, where he would at the very least establish a small base of operations from which he would have an alternative resupply route to Auster. At most, he intended it to be a harbor in which the imperial navy could rest, which would greatly add to the security of Notus as a supply node to Auster and the coast. He already had plans drawn up for a fort there and merely needed to accompany the men there to make sure that the location selected was suitable. Given that the stone caravans were weighed down by stone, he intended to catch up to them as soon as that was done, riding on his own.

Secrets : Chargul has left Daittern