First, I barely got anything done this week, hoping every creak of the office was the ghost come back. Also, I feel bad calling him “the ghost.” I’ve taken to calling him Woolie (in my head) after The Path of Wool. Any objections?
By Friday I’d overnighted books on summoning spirits from Amazon. Then this afternoon happened. I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was Woolie. Sitting on the floor behind me. Still out of focus and only indirectly visible. Still mustachioed and… becoated? But now… He was soaking wet. He started talking and I missed the first part—
S: Do you mind if I type this? I don’t have the best memory and—
I put the keyboard in my lap and just started typing as he wrote.
W: …finally a parley had been agreed upon. It was decided that an assembly of house leaders would await them at the eastern shore at the dawn of Assembler’s Day. But they never meant to parley. They came as night fell on Assembler’s Eve. I stood at the watch. Was trusted as the first sight. I looked across the cold and silver swirling sea. I was the one who first saw them coming. I was the one who knew. And saw it all begin. I saw them, carried by wing, and wind, and blood-black sails. I was trusted as the first sight, but I stood, watching, unable to move, unable to speak. Unable to sound the cry. I failed. Frozen there as a great black wave of water rose up, obscuring their envoy, and laying waste to the house leaders who made camp on the shores. I watched them fall from sight beneath the mouth of the sea, the ice brine reaching up to the tower, and then the final silence fell up on me.
S: Is that the last thing you remember?
W: The black wave filled my chest. It drew me from the watch. There was no up or down. Only cold and dark and then… and then I cannot say. But then there was a light. And I followed it. Not swimming nor walking. I was willing myself after it. And then I was here.
He looked up at me and I realized it had become easier for me to see him. The spectral water that ran off him pooled around one of my shoes. I could see it wasn’t “real.” But I could see it.
W: The message you found was part of my memory. Part of what I lost. You made me remember that.
S: I’m so sorry.
W: No, you can help me. Help me to remember.
S: Is that what you want?
W: I am lost. And you found a part of me. Perhaps you could find more. To tell me who I am.
S: We’ll do whatever we can to help you.
W: There are… shards left in my new memory. Small pieces that don’t belong there. I think they might belong to you and your friends.
And then he started reciting a poem and I hope to God I got it right.
A clock
A courthouse
A memento mori
A tower
A market
A cemetery
The seal of a king
A carpenter’s cure
A union of time
A Romanesque lure
A brush with the law
And a sinister shear
A memory turning
From distant to near
He vanished before his voice did and by the end it was barely a whisper. I think that’s it, but I don’t know.
So, to recap… the Secret Society pin led me back to the warehouse. At the warehouse, the apparently enchanted app sent me a message. But it wasn’t just a message. It was apparently a trigger or an actual piece of Woolie’s memory. Was the app sending the memory, or what the memory lost there, in the warehouse, and the app just a conduit for us to read it? And what are we supposed to do with the poem?
The pin started this. It has to have some kind of connection. Maybe even to the poem. Does any of it sound familiar Mounties? Particularly the members of the Secret Society?
387 Comments
banging fists on the table puzzle! puzzle! puzzle!
But for real tho…question. Is there a reason why some of those are in italics? Did he say them with a different intonation or something?
PUZZLE!
PUZZLE >:L
FINALLY!
ok, so im drawing a blank, but ill look into each term and see what I can dig up
EDIT: A brush with the law
As she spoke in a tree
could be castle of vines?
tower and market sound like thorntower and allguild
I think I’m gonna be extra cautious around the Nethernorian coast for a bit…
So this might not be anything, but some of the lines in the first stanza seem to have a topic match in the second?
a clock, a union of time
a courthouse, a brush with the law
a tower, a romanesque lure (romanesque is an architecture style)
It’s not all of them, so it might be a coincidence…but that jumped out at me…
did the silver control the waves?
Figures that all our ghost remembers is a cryptic poem.
“Seal of a king” makes me think of a signet ring, but nothing jumps out at me for the others.
I was also thinking, we’ve only “meet” one magiqal king right…King Ojorad from The Minnying? Could this be another tie back to that?
Edit: No offense to King Rabbit, but I’m getting the vibe it’s probably not to do with him…
Another thought…if “this is all you need for the first memory” is part of the poem…how does he know that? If you see him again before we work out this memory, it might be worth asking if this is like a gut feeling thing or if something is helping him give this to us.
a copy of our current correspondence for posterity sake
wanted this here just incase
A union of time… that reminds me of when I was interacting with te lighthouse ghosts. We were all in the same time despite being ages apart… did the other guilds experience something like this too?
I’m taking a minute, this is a lot to process. I always knew it was a bloody war but… I mean, all the guild leaders, or in this case house leaders, wiped out like that in a single stroke, like candles blown out by a storm… I’m angry. I’m sad, and I’m honestly scared.
I knew the Silver were cold and cruel, but we had no way of knowing they were… So impossibly inhuman.
As for the puzzle, it says that’s what we need, perhaps we need to visit those places? Use them as a foci?
(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)
If we want to try this, I can bring Herman along to work later today, there’s a tower right next door.
Since, as far as we know there aren’t any courthouses in Neithernor, it may be safe to assume these locations are in our world. Unless… There might be one at Ebensrest?
Maybe it’s something that happened in both worlds?
So, some bigger picture thoughts. The following text was contained in that carbon copy letter from Warner Green that Sabes found in the storage room with the Secret Society pins:
So if these are clues to locations, either here or in Neithernor…maybe we need to go there to find the Memory? Like Sabes getting the notification when he went to the storage unit? That phrase he found was part of the Ghost’s memory.
If these memories belong to us, then these are things we’ve already seen. (Robert: Stating the obvious since…forever)
Some of these quotes kinda fit things we did in fragments.
Just the first thing that occured to me, maybe it helps. I’ll keep pondering.
For some reason this quote reminds of the myth of merlin? It seems very Balimora to me.
My first instinct is that we need to visit these places with the pins, maybe?
Oh, these could be places we have to visit with the pins. i like it!
Catch me at home, carefully setting my pin atop some woodworking tools and waiting for something to happen…
My thinking maybe overly linear here, but I agree. The pins lead @Saberlane to the wearhouse where the piece of Woolie’s memory was revealed. It would follow that our pins would lead us places that more memories are concealed. Woolie can see them partially, thus his poem – he might be seeing glimpses of places where his memories reside. The active Chronocompass shows that magiq is working through the app for us. We just have to trust it’s flow.
A clock – The sidewalk clock in Fragment 4 sticks out
A carpenter’s cure – Sabes did some carpentry with that box in… Fragment Thirteen? Fourteen? Somewhere around there.
A brush with the law – Does the New York Public Library count? xD Or the Unicorn Tapestries? I guess they weren’t the law, but they did bust Mounties for trying to film.
No idea what A Romanesque Lure means. Do we have anything significant from the 10th to 13th century?
Also, I’m sure this is pretty obvious but… “A Romanesque lure, A carpenter’s cure” and “Two wheels in the sea, As she spoke in a tree” stood out to me. They’re the only ones that rhyme, though, so maybe just a coincidence?
also “a cemetery” and “for the first memory” tho you have to slant the syllables a bit to get the length right
If thats the case my town has a giant courthouse in our downtown, I will be there Wednesday… I could bring the pin and we could just… see what happens? lol
(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)
Tinfoil time/State what may be obvious?
Part of me feels it wasn’t a coincidence he appeared to you, Saberlane, and not Devon or anyone. Maybe it was the pins, but he spoke only to you thus far. Perhaps the shards of memories are at least in part meant for you …? To fill in the gap that started in the nineties …?
I just can’t get past that.
I agree with Robert on the Kings seal, it makes me think of that doorway… The one deeds found in Neithernor?
I can’t begin to imagine how horrible Woolie must feel! To have the job of protecting your friends and leaders only to fail when it was most important. This has now convinced me that the Silver are monsters and need to be stopped!
Okay so “Two wheels in the sea” straight away jumped out at me because you don’t find wheels in the sea. Unless it meant a water wheel but again that doesn’t make sense as those are found in rivers and streams but never in the sea. So the only other thing I thought it could mean is an old steam ship as that have two massive steam power wheels to move the ship across the sea.
The other one was “As she spoke in a tree” maybe it’s not referring to a person but instead a song bird?
ahhh, didnt think of that.
A kings seal also intrigues me as Kings are mostly a European thing. The seals hold a great amount of power and respect as they’re used to sign official documents and a person who holds a kings seal speaks with his authority.
It’s not perfect but, here’s a major event that included a tree?
I think there were a few other mentions of trees, but none that I can remember involving speaking in a tree.
Also, a side note – maybe rather than past events we’ve encountered, it might be referring to literature? The two things this is reminding me of are the time when we had to find book names in Fragment Seven, and the Fairyland adventure in Fragment Six.
I’m doing some searching, and one thing that struck me was something when I started looking into the Romanesque lure.
Apparently in heraldry there’s a term used, “in lure,” to denote wings pointed downward on a family crest.
Maybe there are crests we’re meant to find these things on?
There were the coats of arms steve had posted a while back
I feel like the first half of the poem is a memory that Woolie is using to explain the riddle.
In that case, the first half kind of reminds me of one of Cole’s trips around NYC to unlock the Chronocompass…
And the Ackerly Green app’s mysterious new Chronocompass is acting up!
Maybe I’m wrong but it looks like…more spinning bits than before, yea?
Edit: Clarification – the center is spinning as well as the spokes for me…which I don’t think it was doing before?
Yeah, the center sun portion wasn’t spinning before, but it definitely is now!
Crazy idea but maybe we need to make the memories. He says some didn’t feel like his own… Maybe we have to fill in the blanks? By going to these places with the pins… Maybe we are providing the memories.
Like Itsuki used to tell us, magiq is nothing more than memory transposed.
Sorry I’m so late to the party haven’t had a chance to check the forums till now
In regards to the first part of the poem… what if it’s just describing one place. And I’m thinking Central Park.
Two wheels on the sea could be paddle boats and (my knowledge of America comes from Hollywood) I think they have them there…
Clocks (again Hollywood) speed chess is played in Central Park yes? I’m not sure how the others fit in but maybe a local does…
So maybe if someone took a pin there??
And I love @Tinkers theory about the second part matching the first
Knowing me and my love of red herrings please don’t put too much stock into this but just a thought
Do we know how many pins are even out there? Could it be one “clue” for each pin-bearer?
I created a group called @The_Secret_Society for any Mountaineer who bought a pin and it has 30 members.
So, no.
Sure, if that’s the direction we want to go, could be my tin foil hat is on too tight.
I can try and get to the courthouse today, if that’s what we decide.
I think the theory that we need to take pins (and the app I’m assuming) to these locations (once we figure them out) is sound. It’s just more complicated given how many pins were bought by Mountaineers. And we really don’t know how many locations this poem is pointing toward. I’m in the middle of (a freaking haunted office) getting The Monarch Papers ready for print, but anything you guys need from me, just let me know.
Stay safe Sabes, though I doubt Willie means you any harm. And good luck on printing the monarch papers.
I think Saber has a valid point, while in theory the taking pins places thing may work, I’m not sure exactly how it would work.
I have no idea what I’m talking about. But since that’s never stopped me before from stating how things probably work, why be different now? I think you guys are totally right. We need to bring the pins and apps to…places.
Our precedent is Saberlane visiting the storage area. He says the app sent him a message the exact moment he walked into the storage area. The pin and the app know where you are, and through some manner of metamagiqal divination, alchemy and good old fashioned stalking it will say something once it’s in the right place.
So, where are these places? I think the best lines of attack are the ones with more descriptions. There are litereally courthouses, towers and markets everywhere. But these seem like good spots to try applying the pry bars first to crack this open.
Two wheels in the sea.
A carpenter’s cure
A union of time
A Romanesque lure
As she spoke in a tree
So who wants to volunteer to sit in a tree till the pin tells them something?
Is Chi still in that tree from yesterday? We should check on him.
A carpenters cure sounds like tools… My dads a carpenter, I can ask him if that means anything “in the biz”.
EDIT: I feel like @Augustus_Octavian is the most likely of us to know anything related to the term “a romanesque lure”.
a carpenter’s cure also sounds like a myriad of different things, like lacquer, stain, wood glue, or even just filling putty (dad’s hobby is carpentry and i took a class where we got to work in the wood shop on campus )
as for two wheels in the sea, they could be propellers.
like straight up. which would mean im very well placed for it at the moment. I’m back at work and on the boat, so i have two wheels (read: Propellers) under me at all times. but i wont have my herman pin til possibly saturday. i unfortunately need to have him sent to me. but he will be with me on the ship. and i’ll make sure my app stays updated.
There’s the concept of curing wood, which basically seems to mean letting it air dry until the moisture is out of it enough to make is useful as firewood or lumber.
(I can now add ‘how to cure wood’ to the list of mostly obscure knowledge I’ve picked up thanks to this place)
Dang I’m gone for a day with research and this happens! (Not gonna lie, I got really excited when I read the line about the sea). I agree that the line might refer to a steamship. Coincidentally, the research I am working on is dealing with wrecks, a few of which were run by the Pacific Mail Steamship Co. as well as other steam screws but in my experience, places named in these puzzles usually focus on the Atlantic. I’ll try wearing Herman while I’m working as I won’t be back home until mid May. I am very landlocked right now.
My immediate thought with the tree line was the legend of Merlin or the name of a specific tree. Probably a long shot, but trees with names that are also words? (Elder, Ash, Hawthorn (Nathaniel?))
Probably nothing there but I like at least putting it in front of you guys in the off chance you don’t think I’m completely crazy.
Wheels in the sea??
(There’s a memorial in Manhattan in Tompkins Square Park). I mean it sank originally in a river but later sunk in the sea.
Honestly this might be it. General Slocum was a famous steamship fire and the main one that comes up with a search for New York and steamship. It was later salvaged and sank in the Atlantic in 1911.
Thought of the day: have any pin owners ( I want to say keepers, as to me we don’t really own them, just have them for the time) taken a look at the clue and seen if a block applies to anywhere near them? or are we looking at each line as a different place? I mean, if they wants us to go somewhere, then it’s got to be somewhere near one of us, surely?
I’m hoping it’s unlikely each line is a clue to a separate location. If all we have to find a single location is ‘A clock’ we’re in pretty deep trouble.
I’d be shocked if most of us don’t have a cemetery, clock and tower really close to us. There’s got to be a way to narrow that down. Perhaps the clues come in pairs? Don’t know.
I mean, I have a courthouse, a clock, a tower, a market, and a cemetary near my uni address, but I can’t find anything that that would be “Two wheels in the sea” other than a dock.
On a side note, I just found out my uni city has a hippocampus as part of their coat of arms
Would it count for ‘two wheels in the sea’ if I threw my bike in the Pacific?
We might throw the paired clues to certain guilds. Tower is definitely thorn. Romanesque lure. We have a famous romanesque revival building on campus designed by the same firm that designed the white city for the Chicago World’s Fair.
Honestly I might go for a walk and take Herman around town to everything mentioned in the poem. Anyone else going to try this?
Maybe, and if someone’s already thought of this sorry for repeating, the lines match up? Like the first set is describing what the place is and the second set is describing something special about them. Like a clock with a king’s seal on it or a market where a brush with the law happened?
This… this sounds like something we need to look at
One of my early thoughts was that some of the topics pair…like, a time pair (“a clock” and “a union of time”), architecture (“a tower” and “a romanesque lure”), and law (“a courthouse” and “a brush with the law”), but not all of them pair that way so I didn’t really pursue it much further
Edit: It’s possible that more pairs could be made with some digging though…those were just the only ones that stood out to me
@Ravenwing Gonna do it tomorrow, I can get to a cemetery, a tower, a market, and a courthouse.
Don’t know if this is related or not but AG just posted again, and it reference the Jabberwoky poem from Through The Looking Glass, I never read the books so I am not an expert, but I can’t help but wonder if thats connected somehow.
Could the books tie in? I doubt it, but it never hurts to look.
So, spitballing here:
Clock with a King’s Seal (The lion and unicorn clock above William Street | Ephemeral New York
Courthouse, carpenter’s cure (something to do with wood, Tweed Courthouse – Wikipedia???)
Two wheels in sea, union of time (General Henry Warner Slocum was a union soldier in the civil war and served in the New York House of Reps. “March to the Sea” and the Carolinas campaign were crucial to the overall Union victory in the Civil War”(wikipedia), memorial in Tompkins square park)
Tower, Romanesque lure (The Cloisters – Wikipedia??, in Manhattan; Webster Hall – Wikipedia, also Manhattan?)
Market, Brush with law, (??)
Cemetery, she spoke in a tree (Green-Wood cemetery??, can’t figure out the ‘she spoke in’ bit)
I feel best about my ideas on the clock and the two wheels.
If I had to stretch a connection between ‘a cemetary’ and ‘she spoke in a tree’
It would be around the idea that ‘in a tree’ is in reference to being inside of a wooden coffin.
Might be playing on the idea of dreams, or telling us to look at things not too literally.
Alice’s quote specifically seems relevant to our situation.
Have we tried mirroring the clues? The entire concept of through the looking glass was that Alice was in a mirror world.
A clock, she spoke in a tree
A courthouse, a brush with the law
A Romanesque lure, two wheels in the sea
A tower, a union of time
A market, a carpenter’s cure
A cemetery, the seal of a king
Hmmmm…some of those definitely feel like sensible pairs…the last one is sticking out to me in particular tho. And very clever reasoning, Raven!!
Edit: sticking out in a good way, I mean. I’m intrigued.
So, this is going to be tricky to solve because of the scope involved. I don’t know where any of you live, so I’d never find if there’s a “Louis XIII coat of arms Cemetary”, or a “Windy Market” near you. This’ll only work if everyone in the secret society looks around themselves.
Maybe a course of action is everyone searches for the following things.
“courthouse near (my location)”
“tower near (my location)”
“market near (my location)”
etc.
And see if they come up with a name that matches one of the other 6 clues?
Hey guys do you reckon this poem ties in with the mysterious Ackerly Green Instagram posts? For example does each of the clues link to a particular book in some way?
Well “a magical version of her own mundane world” sure as heck sounds like it’s in the ballpark of what we’re doing.
I’m gonna look through the other descriptions and see if there are any clues
I feel like we’re missing something that’ll bind everything together.
Hmm. I have a cemetary near my house and until recently, there was a lumberyard too. Nothing else though.
I don’t know what I have nearby to be honest. I’ve never really explored my university’s city. I know there’s a courthouse and a ton of clocks all over.
Well, I’ve been sitting by my tower for about 15 minutes or so.
Don’t think there’s wings on it (for Romanesque lure), but it’s Century Tower, so kind of time related…
it’s the century tower im thinking of, on the campus. right?
there may be some other clues to match with around that campus.
The very same.
i’d count the carpenter’s cure near the fine arts wood shop, and the courthouse could be downtown, especially since there’s a police station fairly close by and thats where we’d see the brushes with the law. (given it’s proximity to a bunch of bars and college students.)
It’s possible they have a mock courtroom at the law school too. And there’s the campus police station.
Let’s be honest, this whole town’s filled with places that’ve witnessed brushes with the law.
In my search for something related to Romanesque architecture, I discovered that there used to be steam ships delivering stuff over a prairie south of town that used to be a lake. I don’t have a sea readily available, but…
i do! and a connection back to the town.
did the steam ships travel paynes prarie?
According to the book I was looking at, yes.
And thinking about it, it sounded like Woolie’s an Ebbie. Maybe we’re looking at places where we have Ebbies with Hermans?
One on the Sea, one near a Tower carrying the name of Century Tower, and a few others.
also, Woolie did sound like and Ebbie. Maybe we should take our Herman Pins to Neithernor and see if something happens? We can stand on the walls as he did, and scan the beach where the attack happened.
I took my bird figurine there, and it turned out to be animate. so maybe the pins might do something there too?
I just looked through the Secret Society member list, and there are six official Ebbies…
We must come together to solve the puzzle. Ebbies, TO ME! waves arms and casts small lights into the air
“When stuck, start over and begin again.” – Me, constantly.
Going back to the 5th or so post from @Tinker, she points out some of these come in pretty clear pairs.
A clock, A union of time
A courthouse, A brush with the law
A tower, A Romanesque lure
I’d also add my opinion that these two are a pair (mostly just because they rhyme)
Two wheels in the sea, As she spoke in a tree
That leaves the market, and cemetery. And “the seal of as king” and “carpenter’s cure”
I get the impression Google is highly biasing my search results for US locations so I’m not likely to find ones for you non US people.
Random guessing time! Anyone live near any of these places?
A clock, A union of time
-There is a Union Clock company in urtwangen (Badenia) Germany
-There’s a big confusing clock in Union Square, NYC. (https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/union-square-metronome)
A courthouse, A brush with the law
I found a courthouse in Brush, Colorado, but I doubt that’s it
A tower, A Romanesque lure
Too many options to whittle down
Two wheels in the sea, As she spoke in a tree
There’s a fish on a bicycle in University City, Misourri (https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/fish-on-a-bicycle) I think I’m reaching on that one.
Just free guessing now… I see several places called King’s Cemetery in the US. Charleston Sc, Hartburg, Texas, Plymouth Ma.
Any of you guys live near any of those places?
I see a Carpenter’s Market in Summerset, Ohio.
And there lies my brain for the morning. It died like it lived, vainly connecting the unconnected, but content.
Weirdly enough, I honestly think The puts on Tinfoil hat and gloves crazy “6 Ebenguards, 6 locations” theory might be possible. We have a few of these that match up at least. Plus, as for the last one, with the cemetary and the kings seal, i think Oracle might be uniquely suited for this.
A clock, she spoke in a tree
A courthouse, a brush with the law
A Romanesque lure, two wheels in the sea – Sailing of some kind? A Fantasy of the empire? (Read: Me) Edit: Romanesque lure, maybe an Anchor?
A tower, a union of time – Century Tower near where Ashburn works.
A market, a carpenter’s cure
A cemetery, the seal of a king – New Orleans, Louisiana. it has quite a few graveyards, and it’s symbol, the fleur de lis, is a french symbol for royalty.
but that’s my thoughts for now.
EDIT: just thought of somehting.
Random thing I just discovered, which may not help, but hey, you never know.
If you go to the atlasobscura website on mobile, there’s a ‘What’s near me?’ button at the top. I don’t see it on the pc browser. That will find interesting things near your location. Maybe we’ll get lucky?
I really agree with the 6 and 6 idea. Woolie is clearly an Ebbie. The fact that we have six ebbies in the society seems to coincidental to write off. Would you guys be comfortable posting your towns so the rest of us could help with research?
(@Ashburn, @Deyavi, @grimangel53, @Ginger, @echomoon, @Smurfette) Geographic location may also have something to do with order.
Basically the University of Florida campus for me.
And if we end up feeling good about Century Tower for that one, I’ll be back that way on Friday and Sunday.
Tacoma – the Puget Sound area. But if it’s meant for me, it could be anywhere from the Tacoma harbor area to Seattle in Elliot Bay. So there’s that.
I’m in Orlando, Florida normally. But atm, im on the ship, so…Disney Fantasy, The Ocean, The World.
If its meant for me, i can only take that water wheels one. seriously.
Huh, I just found this is near my house.
Central Market
The oldest continuously operating farmers market in the United States, fresh produce has been sold here in Pennsylvania Dutch country since the 1730s when it was legitimized by official decree from the King of England himself.
A Market with the Seal of a King? Hmm, it’s only open Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. I wonder I can …find a way in?
Do you think that the clues aren’t paired then? Because that significantly increases our options.
It looks like they do pair, just not necessarily linearly.
i’d say explore both options, paired and not paired.
Paired, we have a few options for, but some are short it. unpaired, we can figure out.
should i go back to my tree again and check the app?
Just got back from Central Market. The place is closed today so I couldn’t go in. I stood on the sidewalk a while trying to figure out what to do. I walked around the building. I tried all the doors to see if one was able to be ‘negotiated’ with. I was considering just coming back Friday when it occurred to me, I left Herman in the car on my backpack.
I went back to the car, walked up to the front door and like what must have looked like a crazy person held my backpack and phone up to the front door for what felt like forever.
And then the app talked to me. It called me by name and said I found a piece of a lost memoty: “A Collector of Tales”. Is that who Woolie was? A Collector of Tales? And then the wind picked up, and the clouds looked dark (forecast was for thunderstorms) and I noped back home so hard to write this that I think I left my car running in the driveway.
So I think we found The Market with the Seal of the King.
The next question is. Which other five of you need to find your local things?
So if something happened for Robert, it isn’t just limited to our six Ebbies…I have a couple locations near campus that could fit the clues, I was mostly doubting that any would be anything of great historical importance so I never dug too deep or mentioned them here. I’ll take a closer look this evening!
So @Robert when you say the app “talked” to you, do you mean actual literal sound happened or you got a text-based push notification?
Oh dang, Carpenter’s cure, if paired with the cemetery might have something to do with the carpenter graves. They are made to look like tree trunks…and I have an Oakwood cemetery near campus. I’ll go tomorrow after class. Curing is usually process that takes time. Carpenters literally laid out to cure…
Just spit-balling here, but I’m near a couple unique clocks that I can look into…and I’ve got things that come to mind for the vague parts of each pair, but will need to see if I can make links to the
weirdsecond halvesSo remaining clues:
A clock
A courthouse
Two wheels in the sea
a tower
a cemetery
A carpenter’s cure
a union of time
a romanesque lure
a brush with the law
as she spoke in a tree
Hey quick question, did some of you guys mention that the chronocompass on the app had a space for a password? Cause mine doesn’t and it’s completely updated.
I don’t see a place to enter a word on mine.
I think Sky was pretending to be Steve when he said that…
Yea, I think that was an April Fools
It’s highly likely then that each line is for one place relative to the location of a Mountie from a different Guild.
The question is, which of the 30 of us? Robert, for Balimora. Who are the other five?
Ashburn might be ours.
Sidenote: The App isnt letting me get in at all, so i think i’m out of the running.
Ohhhh one from each guild makes sense!!
I’m pretty confident that @Remus would be the Weatherwatcher… the only things I could think of that relate to me are “two wheels on the sea” cause Brisbane has 2 old school steamboats with the big wheel paddles on the back (no idea what line in the second part it would relate to) or A courthouse with a kings seal cause all our courthouses have the Aus coat of arms and that’s basically a kings seal isn’t it??
I got a text based notification…I was going for drama while being in the ballpark of accurate.
does technically count as speaking.
i feel bad for turning off push notifications now xD
Oh I’m all for the drama…I just usually keep my phone on silent and was worried I’d risk missing something
I guess another thing to consider…Romanesque doesn’t just apply to architecture, it’s also an art era. Romanesque architecture might be hard to come by, but if it’s referring to the art that might open up more possibilities? Art in a museum or something? I’m still not quite sure what the “lure” part would mean, but something to think about…
uh… does victorian architecture count? we have a ton of victorian era buildings in my town including a watch tower. its small but it overlooks the downtown core of my town and is connected to the local police station. I could maybe ask if i could take a tour or something?
I mean…the victorian and romanesque were pretty far apart, time-wise. But remember, that was just one guess, that Romanesque and tower went together. If I was wrong about that theme-based pairing, then tower might match with something else. So I guess tl;dr, still worth a shot to check it out?
im planning on making my way downtown tonight at 6, in 2 hours. ill let you all know what i dig up.
If Woolie’s pulling from Atlas Obscura, it technically only has four things listed for my immediate area: https://www.atlasobscura.com/things-to-do/gainesville-florida
Doesn’t include any of the older buildings on campus, or the solar walk, or any of the numerous murals around downtown.
If it is based on Atlast Obscura, there’s only one listing for where I am…which could sort of be stretched to match the
weirdsecond set clues “a brush with the law” or “she spoke in a tree”…tho I’m not sure which of the first set it would match. But I’ll keep digging.Also…maybe a little late in the game for this…but we don’t really know that the clues are paired. Like, maybe it really is 12 separate clues. And none of the pairs we’ve come up with are really concrete. So I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you have an idea, even if someone finds something that seems to overlap with what you have, if you can get there it doesn’t hurt to try anyway?
Agreed. We should keep our options open.
On the page for the Central market the word ‘Romanesque’ is actually used to describe it. shrug
I do think they have to come in pairs though or more. If the only clue we had was ‘market’ we never would have found it.
Okay, so the courthouse I have in my college town is of Romanesque architecture. I’ll go downtown and look around.
Edit: It also has 3 statues representing law, justice, and mercy.
A thought: As she spoke in a tree could relate to somewhere that activists did some tree sitting.
Also, my tower has a carillon in it and chimes the time (provided it hasn’t been shut off for a concert ) if that helps match it with something else.
If Dey is right I may be Gossmere’s, my town is holding a p important seat of PA political power, and we are kind of known for our courthouse.
In the hopes that putting all our options out there (since we now know Robert’s could go with king or Romanesque) will help, here’s all possible pairings (minus the market).
Edit 9:59pm HST to remove a cemetery – a carpenter’s cure as all but confirmed
Edit 3:23pm HST to remove a clock – a union of time
A courthouse – the seal of a king
A courthouse – a Romanesque lure
A courthouse – a brush with the law
A courthouse – as she spoke in a tree
Two wheels in the sea – the seal of a king
Two wheels in the sea – a Romanesque lure
Two wheels in the sea – a brush with the law
Two wheels in the sea – as she spoke in a tree
A tower – the seal of a king
A tower – a Romanesque lure
A tower – a brush with the law
A tower – as she spoke in a tree
So, just to recap, are we trying to pair each of these with a Mountie who has a pin?
I think that’s the current game plan
Okay, I just checked my least probable guess and got nothin’. I have two more to check on my walk home, and then it’s back to the drawing board. Fingers crossed.
Okay, so I think I am most likely a Courthouse and Union of Time. My town is modern, but has a lot of buildings from hundreds of years ago.
So @Ravenwing and I talked it over, and we’re planning on checking Oakwood Cemetery tomorrow afternoon. It’s not super well known, but Roy Chapman Andrew, an inspiration for Indiana Jones, is buried there, so that could be it. Otherwise, the two of us may not be matched with a location for this. We’ll keep you updated as we move along.
Okay, so I couldn’t go and visit it tonight so I’m going to try tomorrow when I have more time off. I’m guessing it will be either a courthouse – a Romanesque lure or a courthouse – a brush with the law. I could also have something to do with a clock. Is there anything I should look for?
Um, so first of all, Robert – you are amazing! Man, I can’t believe the app spoke to you, that’s both creepy and awesome.
So, now that we’ve figured out we’ve got to visit somewhere… Funnily enough, Raven asked about steamboats on the east coast a couple days ago and I said that I knew about some steamboats, in particular one, but that one wasn’t on the east coast. That steamboat was a side-wheeler called the Steamboat Arabia. From my own nerdy trivia info, I know the farm it was found on was owned by a local judge, so could that be the “brush with the law?” They also found carpentry tools on it, so it could be “a carpenter’s cure.” I dunno, what do you guys think? Is it worth checking out? The area is real close to my home, and I like some of the shops in that area anyways, so no big deal to stop by there.
I was thinking it could be another thing if it’s near me – “a union in time” being a timepiece at union station.
I totally think both of those things are worth checking out! Great finds.
I’ll head over there tomorrow then, Union Station isn’t far from my university, so I can hit the clock on my way back.
@Viviane – Whether or not that is a clue – that tree is fascinating. And super spoopy.
So, uh…I live outside Washington, D.C. When we first started looking into locations near us (near our pins?) I was more worried that I could find some variation of ALL of these clues. I know it would probably be easier for others with less local landmarks to narrow down first, but then I looked at the Atlas Obscura results near me and, umm…this tree in the National Cemetery is eating headstones?
Not sure if this is a better fit for “a union in time” or “she spoke from a tree”, or if it’s not either of them. Either way, it feels super Balimoran. shrug
Guys I think I might have one…
Dude, how hard is it to get there for you?
It’s literally a stone’s throw away!
That has to be one!
Side note: Is that the atlas obsucra website?
Yep it is!
Okay this is definitely Carpenters cure!!! Read this and you’ll see!
OMG RIMOR!!! I think youve found it! I am at the edge of my seat lol! Gonna try my courthouse tomorrow, I forgot herman at home today
(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)
(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)
That’s awesome! Great find Rimor!
So, we’ve all but confirmed both market and cemetery!
I’ll try my tower on Friday (now that I’m logged into the forum through the app ), and if that doesn’t work, I’ll try the Atlas Obscura things that’re near me when I can (might be as late as Wednesday on the further ones).
Also, may have been a bit premature, but I updated the list of all possibilities in preparation of Rimor’s being what we’re looking for for a cemetery – a carpenter’s cure.
If anyone wants to do some digging, I’m from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Currently, however, I’m in Lethbridge, AB, for school
According to Atlas Obscura in Lethbridge is just a yarn bombing event? In Calgary is the National Music Centre and a prehistoric jawbone of some dinosaur … so uh … I doubt it’s me for team Ebbie?
I made it to my other two possibilities…kinda. I went by the school clock tower, and got nothing. Then I went to the Atlas Obscura listing for my town (also the only one in like, an hour’s drive)…but the thing is, the listing is for the old fence that used to run around the entire outside of the campus. And one the one section that is explicitly called out in the article got removed this past year during construction. So I walked along where it used to be, but no word from the app. I can probably work some more of the old fence path in during the day tomorrow, but I’m thinking it’s a long shot at best. I’ll try to see if I can think of anything else in my area, but I’m leaning towards me not being the Flinter we’re looking for…
Ok, really quickly! Other then Rimor and Robert, no one else has found something right? Do you think that a Mountiee from each guild has something in their area?
That’s the thinking so far as I can tell.
I think that’s the running theory 5…
Also incase this may apply to anyone else (red herring alert!!) I have two gallery’s that are right next to eachother GOMA (Gallery of modern art) and the Queensland Art Gallery… courthouses have gallery’s could this be “A courthouse, Union of time” being both modern and historic arts…
Hey, I think it might be useful to create a list of all the places we try? Let me know if I’ve missed any:
Confirmed:
Speculated:
Everyone should keep brainstorming though! I don’t think we’re going to get any theories confirmed until we find all the pieces. So if anyone thinks they have a place that might fit, check it out even if it overlaps on other clues that people are checking!
That’s true, and we don’t necessarily have the combination confirmed, just the location. But I wanted to distinguish locations that led to a push notification versus ones that haven’t been visited yet.
Oh for sure! It’s good to keep all of that collected!!
So what are we looking for a notification from the app?
From what Robert said, it sounds like it was a push notification from the app, yes
If we’re using Atlas Obscura, Remus and I might not be matched for a location. The only one listed in our town is not really related to any of the clues at all. Also an article on the invention of the cheese curl because that was invented here I guess…
There’s no guarantee all the locations are in atlas obscure. It’s just a search tool j thought might be handy. I wouldn’t limit us to that.
Hey guys I’m here but nothing is happening
Okay so something happened as I was walking away from the gravesite. I’ll update you all when I get out of this creepy place!
Okay so it took a while to find the gravesite, I had to search 52 acres, but when I got there I didn’t notice anything strange or mystic. I wandered around for a while trying to find something but nothing came up. I decided that this wasn’t the place. However when I started to walk away I felt a nagging sensation like something was trying to pull me back. It was then I realised I had my Herman pin on and it was trying to tell me something. So I walked back to the grave walked around it and read the poem on the stone. My phone then chimed out and a notification appeared. It read “A Circle of Stones” looks like its another piece of the lost memory!
Im not saying that its bit creepy, but great job! Going to go see about the courthouse later today.
I just had a horrible sinking feeling as to what a circle of stones could mean
Great find, Rimor! Two pieces of the puzzle!
Oh, I just realised it as well
So, for those of you who don’t know I live on a hill overlooking my town, so I was staring into town when something clicked.
The old and new courthouses are across the street from each other. A union of time?
Hmm, it’s promising. If it’s very easy for you to swing by those places and see if you get a reaction I say go for it. I think right now Rev’s Union Station clock is slightly higher chance, but no reason not to check out both!
It’s going to be way better to check too many places than too few, I’m thinking. Plus hey, it gets us out exploring.
Edit: Also, this is only the first memory we’re unlocking according to Woolie. Maybe an interesting place near you that you discover isn’t used for this memory, but it could be used for a future one, so remember all those interesting places you’re finding around you!
Yeah, I think you may be right. We will know in a second!
EDIT: Here… Waiting to see if something happens?
EDIT2: Nothing happened, no darkening clouds or mysterious texts lol. I think Revs our best bet for union of time, and its back to the drawing board for me?
Was a good lead to track down though. Thanks for checking!
Oracle, are you able to get into the city? I think you will find more noteworthy stuff if you’re in Philly proper.
Maybe some time next weekend? Schools crazy so I can’t really take the time right now, and I’m packing all weekend
No worries! Thought I’d mention it, since Philly’s bound to have a lot of cool stuff. There’s 45 possibilities on Atlas Obscura, so it’s quite possible one of them fits.
Def finding some cool stuff (Including a romanesque cemetery thats been reclaimed by the surrounding forest ) but nothing that fits what we are looking for quite yet. If I find something that we are sure about, I will make it happen.
I was thinking the Steamboat might be an option as well. I’m still not sure what the two wheels means, though.
So. I just realized that yesterday Herman jumped ship from the light jacket I’ve been wearing to a heavier coat because somehow he knew it was going to be winter part 77…Except I didn’t check the weather and didn’t wear the heavier coat. So I’ve made sure I have Herman today, and I’ll see if I can do a bit of walking and maybe go back to the places I was at yesterday…
This is super late but hello, I’m in Orlando at the UCF campus, if that helps anything.
So we’ve got left:
LOCATIONS:
A marketA clockA courthouse
Two wheels in the sea
a tower
a cemeteryCLUES:
A carpenter’s curea union of timeseal of a kinga romanesque lure
a brush with the law
as she spoke in a tree
GUILDS:
(might not be related but I’m still keeping track)
ThornmouthBalimoraGossmere
Ebenguard
FlinterforgeWeatherwatch
So I think @Remus and I are out of the running for location stuff. Our main guess was the local cemetery and that’s out, and the water tower doesn’t match any of the other clues. Definitely out if another WW finds something.
Clock is a bust. I’m right in front of it and nothing.
Dang, I really liked the chances for that.
Turns out it just needed a hot second! Herman was feeling a bit feisty this afternoon, probably a sign I need to take him out more.
Clue is “A lonely father”
Awesome find Rev!!
On Atlas Obscura I found “Victoria Beach’s Pirate Tower’ which is at the beach closest to my uni. It would match up ‘a tower’ and ‘a brush with the law’ given its swashbuckling culture.
I wouldn’t be able to go until tomorrow or Saturday however.
Just to keep it local, and it’s updated with a clock – a union of time removed.
You Mountaineers never fail to amaze me.
Not gonna lie, I was grinning like an idiot the entire way back. Does anyone else feel like some sort of magiqal secret agent?
Totally feels that way. I was joking around with someone saying my wife has been wanting to drag me to Central Market for a year and I’ve found excuses not to because it’s a pain to get to. Oh, there’s Magiq there? One sec, hold my beer. I’ll be right there.
And yeah, grinning the whole way home.
So what are we sitting at again? What’s left to find? The only one near me that I can think of would be the old union station that is now the courthouse…
Seattle is a bit far from me. I mean, doable, but too far just to wander with no idea of what I’m looking for.
We still need:
And:
Assuming it’s one person per guild, we need a Gossmere, Ebenguard, and Weatherwatch.
I was keeping the seal of a king as an option still, since Robert saw that the market also happened to be in the Romanesque style…
Oh, I didn’t realize. I’ll edit my post. I think it might be a good idea to focus on the primary descriptor, since they’ve all been pretty clear on that end, and then we can see if it fits with any of the secondary descriptions as well.
For the wheels in the sea… does it nessecarily have to be a boat? Do any of you have waterwheels for an old mill or something nearby? Im landlocked but I just wanted to remind you not to eliminate options early.
quietly hopes that it is somehow my boat so i can be more of a participant
its probably an old Steamship or something.
do you think bok tower gardens would count for the tower? its filled with plants, so maybe the tree thing?
It might! It fits those two clues quite nicely, so we won’t know till we try it!
So, since there are just the two of us @Augustus_Octavian, any ideas? I’m kind of at a loss for myself so our guilds clue must be with you! Im gonna go back to the courthouse tomorrow, I did a dumb and didn’t update my app. After that I’m out of ideas
ill try to figure out how i can get to the tower sometime soon to check it out, then!
edit: yikes, it is way further away than i thought it was. still, ill do my best to check it out.
So, I wonder if we could compile our locations and guilds, for those of us in the secret society? I know we have that old thread but I’m not sure how up to date it is.
Side note – is anyone near the Falkirk Wheel? – It’s a literal wheel in the sea and apparently it’s near some kind of roman wall.
I have an idea… But I don’t like it. I’ll try to scope it out tomorrow in broad daylight.
That doesn’t sound good! Be safe please!
hrm. So this tower i wanted to check out is part of the old firehouse. I could get up there but… I dont feel like breaking any laws.
Wow, you guys are all seriously amazing. I am trying to think if there is anything in Kamloops that fits the remaining clues, but I feel as though Robert is our “Balimora Representative” so to speak.
I guess it doesn’t hurt to keep trying, I will let you know if I come up with something
Random thoughts.
-There a heck of a lot of courthouses in the world that bill themselves as Romaneqsue.
-Why is the word ‘lure’ in there? Usually it means ‘something that tempts’. What does that mean in conjunction with Romanesqure? The architecture is desgined to draw you in? More than normal architecture?
-Two wheels in a sea. Paddle boat wheels? Ship steering wheels? Hydroelectric power? Also, if this was spoken Sable then maybe it’s ‘Two wheels in a C’? I’m reaching, I know.
-She spoke from a tree. I keep thinking spoke refers to a wheel here.
So I was actually having a thought about the “lure” part…tho it might be a stretch. If anyone’s got a Romanesque-ish church, then it could be bell tower? Like, the bell is supposed to draw attention…lure people in if you wanna get sinister about it?
Edit: church was the first thing that came to mind, but the same logic would apply to any building with a bell I think?
Uploading…
Found this tower near me… With heavy pirate lore… Tower-brush with the law?
Also things that might be helpful…I’m thinking it’d be unlikely to find real Romanesque architecture outside of Europe given the the time period, but there was apparently a Romanesque Revival style that was popular in the 1800s, which also fits the time periods of some of the other landmarks? It’s called Richardsonian Romanesque if anyone is interested…Also, I’d still keep an eye out for places that talk about Romanesque-period art maybe…
could we possibly have someone check Trinity Church? that might be of help.
but otherwise, i hope y’all are doing well in the search!
Yep. That’s something I found also. It’d be really hard to find real Romanesque architecture outside of Europe.
A lot of Romanesque architecture in the US is in the Romanesque revival style. Romanesque can sometimes be a shorthand for that style as well.
One of these instances was what came to mind for me re: as she spoke in a tree. Several are in California (though it’s big, so not sure if any are close by to any CA Mounties).
I’m heading out now with the pin and my phone to Victoria Beach’s Pirate Tower to test ‘a tower’ and ‘a brush with the law’.
Good luck Helios!
I’ve reached the Pirate Tower, it’s in a lovely spot (I see what you mean about Thorn vibes Oracle)! Nothing’s happened yet with the app but I’ll give it some time just in case.
Doing a bit of digging…
Two wheels in the sea?
The holes in the two rings line up with the north star, and were calculated the way the sea is navigated.
@Mike?
Well the Pirate Tower doesn’t appear to be a match unfortunately. Ive got a lengthy journey back to my dorm but I still feel this venture was worth it. While taking a photo for a family we chatted about how it’s considered one of the area’s most mysterious landmarks which attracts a lot of kids and I couldn’t help but chuckle at the fact that this spot seems to have its own little bundle of magiqal energy to fuel children’s imaginations.
Edit: Noticed this cool accent on the door as I was leaving!
The Ebenvibes are honestly so amazing glad you had a fun trip!
Thanks Oracle! Definitely a trip to remember!
Oh dang the tree sitting would be possible if I were home. Too bad that’s 2000 miles away
So I’ve been thinking about the Romanesque lure and I think that “lure” means something either a place we were lured to during TMP or a college/school that teaches about it.
Edit: I’m on my way to the courthouse, I’ll update when I get here!
Well, I’m at the courthouse. It could be a courthouse- a brush with the law. The city police station is right next door to it.
Edit: Didn’t get any notifications.
Looked like a great idea though!
So, I tried my tower one last time, just to be sure. I walked around the whole thing, read the two plaques, held the shiny new phone that definitely shows the app is paying attention up against the north wall.
Not this time.
Unless I’m meant to sneak the keys and go inside when I have no business doing so… (it’ll take too long for me to have business in there)
so whats left?
This, I believe.
Could “she spoke in a tree” be related to a book? I was shelving at work and saw a book on Romanesque Art and it got me thinking.
At this point I’m up for any idea Ravenwing.
Well we have newly announced mounties in Los Angeles, London and Austin. That’s adds a huge number of potential places to look at.
I’ve done a rough few searches for courthouses, towers and wheels in water near every reported location including the newest three and can’t find anything. I think it’s going to either finding more mounties or much more in depth searching.
I’ll ponder more tomorrow.
To be honest, I kinda slacked off on the searching since a Flinter already found a location. But it’s been a hot second since someone’s found something, so I’m planning to start seriously looking again!
im slacking too, but im wondering if its just that i havent been looking in the right place.
also need to ACTUAL have my internet on.
Or, alternatively: spoke in a tree
So do we have a Pacific North West mountie that’s up for a field trip?
Also, we were tinfoiling a little about how far the memories were found from our various bases of operations. Central Market was about 25 minutes away and about 13.6 miles.
What was interesting looking at the map, and is very likely just a coincidence. The Market was in an obvious SouthWestern direction from me. And SW is the Balimora direction on the chronocompass.
As we find more memories. It might be interesting to see if this pattern continues.
You know how it is. Everything looks good in tinfoil, even the craziest ideas.
I’m not sure on that one as mine was straight east from my home base
could be the eben one?
True if we don’t add in the one clue per guild
So I’m wondering of “a tower” could also mean a lighthouse.
Could the clues have a possibility to tie in with the Guild houses?
Carpenter’s cure could tie in with Gossmere or Balimora as they were fake cures
I’m not sure the clues directly relate to the guilds. Also, Rimor, didn’t you find The Carpenters Cure?
Ye I found that clue
I’ve been thinking on this whole “one per guild” thing, and we’d only be able to do that a few times. It would be nice, but I don’t know if the Mounties with smaller representation would get that much extra action in the long run.
Depending on how many memories Woolie has to share with us.
I hadn’t really been looking at this much as we seemed to be looking at one per guild, but I had a thought. I’m goign back to Uni this weekend, and I realise that I have a Crown Court near me i.e A courthouse, the seal of a king. It’s not on the Atlas, but it’s worth a shot (within walking distance for me). I can also go take a look around the Atlas enteries (also within walking distance) as I’ve been meaning to go there for ages anyway.
Regarding the one-per-guild theory, I don’t think we can assume anything right now. We do know the number 6 is a number that pops up a lot and we know we have six clues… other than that it’s anybody’s guess. I think we all have to keep looking.
well there goes my theory I was waiting on more info but the magiq number is 18… was kinda hopeing that there was another set of clues associated with whichever guild that the clue corrisponded with (ie thornmouth-> oil-> lantern)
That’s a very good point. A lot of what we’ve done so far has been speculation, so it’s worth it to go out and explore if something seems to fit a clue particularly well.
i’ve got my app open, and cell service, so teh gps should be able to find me.
maybe im still the ping for two wheels in the sea?
Hmmm, well, @Ravenwing and I haven’t looked around with Herman, so we can try and have another go at this. We have the cemetery that Raven mentioned, but we also have an old stone water Tower. There might be a few more places that we need to look into, but I figured I would give an update.
@Remus I was going to go for a walk after class if you want to go explore. I was going to leave around 3pm
im near Blackbeard’s Tower atm. would that be what i might need?
but i’ll have to wait… i’m not really able to get out to the place easily cause its a decent walk out to there from the port and i have no great amount of time to do the thing.
Tower and cemetery in town were a bust. @Remus and I have no other concrete ideas of
where to look. We will keep brainstorming though.
edit: went to memorial and castle today. No luck either.
This is the salvaged Bell tower of a local psychiatric hospital, around which a brand new hospital was built. I was hoping this was the tower and union of time, but no magiq tonight, Mounties. I’ll keep searching.
Hey, so I know we have a couple Mountiees in the UK. Has anyone been able to check Big Ben?
Rimor and I are too far from Big Ben, but we do have a London Mounty. It’s a big place though, so they may not be close
Well, it’s not the county courthouse, either.
Off to check out the courthouse; will check in once there.
Looks like that was a bust. Seal of the king though (or queen in our current case):
Castle and animal wall also seem to be a bust, though I got a tour of the clock tower in a bit (cause it’s cool).
I’m jealous you have such awesome places nearby. Thanks for check Nim. Sorry it didn’t work out.
You have Shoo-fly pie. Some people would consider that a fair trade.
Heading to Dallas tonight and will spend most of my day there tomorrow…anything I could possibly find there? And how will I know if I found something?
Not sure if anyone has pointed this out yet, but the order we’ve been knocking out the clues is in the same order as the second stanza of the poem
The seal of a king – Clue #1 (Post 101)
A carpenter’s cure – Clue #2 (Post 167)
A union of time – Clue #3 (Post 185)
A Romanesque lure
A brush with the law
As she spoke in a tree
If that means anything, then the next clue has to be tied into A Romanesque lure.
So oddly enough, I had another errand today…And I was planning to take the bus the whole way, but I missed my transfer. And my walking route is brining me past two churches. I’ve got stopped at the first on (Presbyterian and v fancy looking) but nothing so far. The next one up is listed as a cathedral on my map, so fingers crossed…
Unfortunately I won’t be of much use on this one, and my time online is very limited. I’m on another international expedition. I’ll keep up and check in when I can. Hello from Bavaria.
If there’s no magiq in that castle, then I don’t know where it is.
Oh Dey that looks absolutely amazing!! Enjoy your trip?
Wow! Those are really pretty Dey! They look like they were taken straight from a fairytale.
Omg that place looks amazing @Deyavi! Hope you’re having a great time!
@Deyavi Good heavens; that castle and vista are fabulous. They seem almost ethereal.
As for a Romanesque lure… I decided to put Occam’s Razor to the test and found this:
https://www.romangfishinglures.co.uk/about-román-g-and-his-lures/
It’s probably naught, considering how Willie’s riddle seems to point to more antique locales than this, but…everything truly does look better with tinfoil.
With how some clues have been in the past, that’s as promising a tin foil as any! Any of our UK Hermanites near there?
Closest would be @nailo, but it may be too for her to go depending on which end of London she is.
Big Ben? It’s not difficult for me to get to at all. I won’t be able to visit until later today though
So, I’m here. Will try to find a way in but so far nothing’s come up on the app
So no, no would be the answer to that question
Well thanks for trying nailo!
Thank you very much for exploring Big Ben, Nailo! Here’s to the pins leading us where we need to go and what we need to seek out.
Adding the updated poem that Marty keyed us into on the blog (since we all live on the Forum and it didn’t change here, LOL )
A clock
A courthouse
A memento mori
_A tower _
_A market _
A cemetery
The seal of a king
A carpenter’s cure
_A union of time _
A Romanesque lure
A brush with the law
And a sinister shear
A memory turning
From distant to near
Again, I’m stressed out by being near D.C. and feel like it could find something to fit any of the remaining clues, but…if the bike thing was “Two wheels in the sea” and “Spoke in a tree,” both of which make perfect sense for the island-tree-bike…then do “Memento Mori” and “Sinister Shear” also go together?
Also, resolved: if I end up at any magimystical sites courtesy of Herman, am taking a selfie for The Low. At the very least, they’ll know I’m a really committed actress.
Also potentially relevant: The Antiquary – Google Books
Got this Googling “sinister shear.”
I posted it on the other thread too, but I’ll try getting to the other side of town as soon as I can. Could be Devil’s Millhopper.
I like the idea of it being a graveyard or at least a tombstone/monument to the dead. And the book uses the old meaning of sinister (left) which is gratifying.
Well, there were plenty of bones found down there, made people think it was a way into hell.
If sinister shear and Memento Mori go together then maybe we should ask @Nimueh if she knows of any carnivorous sheep in Wales!
Well that is both fascinating and terrifying
Sinister shear. Left handed scissors? I have plenty of those but I doubt any of them are magiqal landmarks lol
I’ll repost this here.
Shear could also be this definition:
Break off or cause to break off, owing to a structural strain.
So it could be a building or a monument.
I have some time tomorrow morning to go hunting for lost memories. Any ideas of what I should be looking for, especially now with the changed poem?
It’s hard to say, but so far, we’ve found a market, a clock, and a cemetery. And also, possibly, two wheels at sea. So that means, you’d be looking for a tower, a courthouse, or a memento mori.
Also, every location we’ve found so far has been listed in the Atlas Obscura, so likely locations should have some kind of notoriety. Also, from what we know, the locations don’t seem to be terribly far from a Mountaineer. They were less than 15 miles away for me and Robert, at least. My guess is, look for things within a 20-25 radius of wherever your pin usually resides.
Thanks, Rev! I have some ideas.
the adams river salmon run, which has so many salmon usually show up that the water literally turns blood red. maybe a memento mori, cause the salmon usually die once they get here.
All right, Mounties! Stop #1 on the hidden memory tour (in the SNOW, by the way) was a dud. With the new “sinister shear” clue, I thought a treacherous chasm would be a sure-shot. Nope! Onto the next location.
DING DING DING, we have a winner!
This creepy miniature castle held the hidden memory:
“Buried treasure”
Great work Augo! What’s the place called?
Well done @Augustus_Octavian! Which clues does this match up with?
Augo, you’re amazing! Thank you for checking out that spooky castle for us.
Side note – do we think this could be Romanesque? That’d be from the period of 900–1200AD. It seems like it could fit into that time period.
And “lure” could be a tip to Bancroft’s naval experience?
Or a “memento mori,” since it was built to honor Admiral Bancroft by his friend after he’d passed away.
Excellent point, then we should be on the lookout for memento moris and towers, to be safe.
Well, it’s definitely a tower…
Hmm…
It’s not particularly sinister (even if they use it for haunted houses)…
I can’t find anything that says the guy who had it built did anything nefarious, despite the rumor in the AO article that he was “using up the family fortune”…
Maybe this one is seal of a king and the market was Romanesque lure?
Since it’s been a bit, here’s an update to the list:
Confirmed:
We still need:
And:
Per our fan club , it looks like we don’t have to worry about the wheels or the tree anymore (though after looking at it, and the name of that book related to it, I feel strongly about that being it).
Oh, really? Well I’m a goof. I assumed we’d have to find both the new clue and the old one. I’ll fix my post.
Anyone have any ideas? Anyone need help researching in their area?
So we’ve got:
A collector of tales
A circle of stones
A lost feather
Buried treasure
A swashbuckling pirate
A fishing town
Edit: Also, that makes two Bali clues, no Weatherwatch, and one from everyone else
I’m doing some more digging on that courthouse clue, particularly since it’s looking more and more like it pairs with a brush with the law. Found a place that was once (at different times) a courthouse and a prison.
May need to wait a bit though…
What’s vexing me is the meaning behind memento mori. At a first look I thought it would mean “remember the dead” (I have minimal latin experience, only a few old textbooks) but according to a quick google search it means “remember that you have to die”.
The phrase relates to ‘medieval Latin Christian theory and practice of reflection on mortality, especially as a means of considering the vanity of earthly life and the transient nature of all earthly goods and pursuits.’ That seems very off-putting and doesn’t seem to specifically relate to a type of location. All that I can think of it connecting to is to any medieval Christian churches.
Another possible connection it may have could be to the overall situation with Woolie and his death. He is dead and working on remembering his own death. And regardless of how he may feel, he knows that the memories he’s longing for are about him dying and won’t turn out any happier. He has no choice but to know that he has to die in these memories.
“Momento Mori” was whispered in the ears of Roman emperors by slaves on their chariots during state processions to remind the emperor that they were not divine, but mortals with finite lifespans.
That’s so cool!
Oh I remember reading about that!
That’s. So. Cool. I love it.
I’m not sure I’m proud that I knew what ‘Momento Mori’ meant, or embarrassed because the only reason I knew it was because of the scene in History of the World, Part 1 where the slave whispers “Remember, thou art mortal.” over and over again to the returning general before meeting Caesar. I guess since it turns out it was factually accurate I’ll go with proud.
I’d provide a clip, but let’s just say as with all Mel Brooks early work…it doesn’t exactly translate well into modern sensibilities.
Okay, so I’m at the Millhopper, walked around the whole trail that runs along the top…
Nothing.
Maybe I need to actually go closer to the bottom/center of it to get it to register? If that’s the case, it may be a while. Apparently the rangers were telling people 2-3 months 2-3 months ago.
for memento mori – theres a place called memory mall on my campus that doubles as a veterans memorial? im not sure what it would have to do with the shear part of the clue, but should i check it out? and on that note, how close has everyone had to be to the specific location before the notification happened?
It’s worth a shot!
This location keeps coming up for me on Atlas Obscura
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-hardy-tree
I haven’t sorted the memento mori logic yet but this gives off a certain vibe. Also might be connected to the tree with the bike?
So a memento mori appears to be to an object, such as a tower, building, or picture that serves a warning or reminder of death. I’m giving an educated guess and saying that the memento mori most likely is connected to a brush with the law.
But, I do have a bit of a memento mori in my hometown. We have a massive, concrete bridge that is used as part of a railway. It took 2 years to be built and had a massive amount of deaths during the construction period, with multiple people intombed in the supports. I do think this would cover a memento mori and a sinister shear.
http://www.shelbycountyhistory.org/schs/archives/landmarks/big4landmarka.htm
A sinister shear… are any of the Poms near anything to do with Sweeney Todd???
I did a bit more digging into possible “sinister shear” options…
Sorry I have been a little out of the loop the last little bit, I have been in LA for a week and just got back to the land of Chesterfields and Poutine (Canada). It looks like you guys are all doing great though and making some significant progress. I have much to catch up on
i checked out the place on campus and didnt get anything so :c. im gonna ask people who have actually been in the area more than 4 months if they can think of anything, since google maps and atlas obsura havent been giving me much of anything.
I’m pretty lost on ideas. I’m still confused why we lost the two wheels in the sea clue. I thought we had figured that one out and the low agreed it was that bike?
I think that’s a topic we’ll be debating for long time. Maybe it was an altered history/Book of the Wild crossover, like the Low believes. Maybe it was something to do with the ghost himself. Maybe it was both. Maybe they are all tendrils of the same vine. Maybe it’s what ever took magiq out of the world to begin with clawing at what we’re doing here, trying to slam the Book of Briars closed; the push and pull of competing forces beyond our present sight.
I don’t think that’s something we can know now, and I think it’s more important to focus on restoring the ghost’s memories. We have to trust the flow of magiq, because we’re all in uncharted territory here.
I’m finally back home where my pin was shipped to. Will explore this weekend
Will also be a nerd because it’s Comic Expo
When I’m home next week, I’m going to check a couple of places. If it’s not any of them, I don’t think one’s near me.
Mountaineers, I don’t know if anyone is awake yet – on the East Coast, maybe? But I had to run and find a hotel lobby to snag some Wi-Fi for an update. Not the one I thought I’d give you.
I found one of the clues.
I brought my pin with me to Europe, of course. I had planned to be in Munich for Frühlingsfest this weekend (think a slightly smaller springtime Oktoberfest). This morning I woke at 4am local time and had the urge to get up and catch the early train in – I’m an early riser, but 4am is a bit too early, and then there was the 40 minute trek to the hauptbahnhof because there were no taxis or busses running at that time on a Saturday. Anyway, long story short, I had this powerful urge to tour Munich in the early morning before peak tourist hours.
I was checking in to see if there were any updates. And I guess there is, more than I thought, something to this whole magiq pin thing, because as I opened the app and location services turned on, I was walking around thinking about the new clues. And I got an update as I was passing by a certain church.
It’s the Asamkirche in Munich.
The poem relates to some of the art in the church entrance. The clue I received was
“A Swashbuckling Pirate”
A Memento Mori
A sinister shear
That’s awesome! It’s so inspiring to know that at your core, you were drawn to find that magiqal location. We’re so close now, just one last clue to find. It’s very possible that we’ll figure this out before a full month has passed! Great work everyone!
Nice find, Deyavi!
Amazing find, Dey! That means all we have left is a courthouse, a brush with the law.
So, every courthouse in the world has something to do with ‘law’. Maybe the word ‘brush’ is a play on something? Can anyone who hasn’t found a clue yet maybe just search for ‘brush’ and ‘courthouse’ near them?
Amazing work, Dey!
I feel like this one has some strong potential (but I’ve been batting a thousand here, so who knows…)
It’s in NOLA, so checking into this one’ll be Oracle’s bag unless someone’s taking a vacation.
And here’s a list of things that pop up when you search AO for courthouses (it kind of goes off the rail after about six).
I’m passing through St. Louis on my way back from school, so I might be able to check that courthouse out then, but I doubt that that is the courthouse that we are looking for. If we haven’t found anything by then, though, I will definitely check it out!
As a backup, I believe @Nighteater might be around there, yeah? I’m 3 hours away and my best friend is from there, so I might be able to rope her into it if it’s not too out of the way.
Is anyone near Greensburg, Indiana? I seem to remember two Flinters in the state (or maybe just one? I’m not sure.) I think it might actually be a good one because it is a literal “brush” with the law (with the tree growing out of it, and trees being called brush). @Tinker @Griffin Would either of y’all be in the vicinity?
It’s two hours from me, but I don’t have a way to get there
No worries! I’ve noticed the locations seem to be pretty close to where the pins usually reside, so that probably wouldn’t be it.
Actually, that reminds me – @Augustus_Octavian @Deyavi – How far were the locations to you guys? You don’t have to get specific, but were they under an hour to get to?
Mine was about 20 minutes from where I live, closer to wear I work. My pin spends a decent amount of time in both spots.
I found something that could be promising, presuming Sydney isn’t too far out of the way for @Skylad…
Then we would have one of us from each guild!
Hmmm… it’s about a 40 min walk from the hotel. Not sure when I’m getting another Sydney overnight but will defiantly check it out when I’m there (also no Ned Kelly stuff in brissy. That’s all Melbourne )
Sooooo I am just throwing anything to the wall to see if it sticks. Here in Kamloops, we have the Sagebrush Theatre which is “close-ish” to the Courthouse.
Kind of fits both clues, but also not really.
There is really nothing iconic about either, other than the Sagebrush having a ghost, which theatre companies in town never sell tickets for his seat so he can watch all the performances
You can read about it here:
Sounds like the ghost may have had a “brush with the law as well”. I feel like I am grasping at straws here, because this literally has nothing to do with a courthouse other than general proximity to one
Brendon, there’s no harm in trying! Both you and @Cj_Heighton are in Kamloops: would either of you be able to check in the area?
@brendon tag team? im probably not as close since im on the north shore but its a decently large building. I have stuff at 9am downtown tomorrow, but after that the entire day is free for me. why not meet up around noon tomorrow?
Sorry everyone, had a busy evening, and then had a meeting all morning today. I am going to take a drive by the theatre today after work (sorry @Cj_Heighton, it probably doesn’t work for me to meet up).
Any tips with the app, should this be one of the locations?
Hopefully not too late for this to help, but I think the gist is sign in to the forum through the app and have it open in the background! Fingers crossed!
Sorry everyone, didn’t have a chance to get there yesterday. I had some stuff come up that I couldn’t work around. I will try my best tonight though
No need to apologize, @Brendon – we’re each working as hard as we can with the resources we have available to find the ghost’s lost memories.
Been here for a little bit and still nothing. Brings back all the memories though, as the theatre is attached to my old high school.
“A brush with the law” okay so I’ve looked at this line again and I’m thinking it could be one of two things. First Brush could be a person like Carpenter was, however I think this is unlikely. My second thought was that it could be a brush as in a paint brush and then something to do with the law like a police mug shot artist. So does anyone know any famous police sketch artists?
ooh. maybe a police station that has something to do with painting? are there any stations that hold an art auction or sell paintings for charity?