Caer Shobald - Locations

This tower was built in the 2nd century by Chybisa’s founding monarch. After the completion of Caer Burzyn, it served as a secondary fortress and watchtower. It was undermined and heavily damaged by the flooding Ulmerien in 707 and abandoned. A bridge, now washed out, once connected the island to the north bank.

Caer Shobald is in a very bad state of repair; it is largely ruinous and highly unsafe. The tower has been searched on numerous occasions and most townsfolk believe that anything of value has been found and removed. Benathyk was able to study the plans for the old tower in the royal archive at Caer Burzyn.

Large sections of the second level’s walls have collapsed and much of the floor is unstable. This level was once the guard house and kitchen and had the keep’s only entrance, which is now mostly choked with rubble. Entry can be made by climbing over the rubble that stretches down to water level in the northern corner.

The third level’s wooden floor is fast disintegrating. The margins will collapse under any significant weight and the part near the stairwell is not much better. Slimy leaves from last autumn form drifts in the corners. From what little remains, it is just about possible to make out that this was once the royal accommodation and solar.

What was once the tower’s roof is now little more than beams, which are rotten and slippery with moss and algae. They are very weak and liable to send the incautious plunging to the floor below. All the lead has been stripped from the roof and many rafters have fallen onto the floor below.

The ground-level cellar is flooded with water. This level held the caer’s stores, gaol cells, and crypt.

In the cellar, the doors to the cells stand open, their locks totally rusted. The ceiling vaulting above them is overloaded by rubble on the second floor and may soon collapse.

One of the crypts has been broken into but four burial vaults remain sealed, their faces marred by tool marks. There is no indication of what interrupted the prospective looters; locals believe the crypts are magically protected. One crypt is known to hold the remains of Verlid I. The inhabitant of the second sealed vault is unknown. Some say it is Shobold himself but this is highly unlikely, as Shobald disappeared in the north fighting the Pagaelin. Benathyk suspects the second tomb holds the remains of Mearkis. King Verlid VII has long been interested in removing the body of his ancestor from the crumbling tower and has extracted a promise from Benathyk to do so in return for permission to study the caer. The attempt will need to be made soon, before the tower can collapse further.