Emigale

Being outside, in the quiet corners of wilderness, has been the only thing that’s gotten me through the past few years, and especially the past 12 months. Nature is so good for introverts. Nurturing, restorative, but ultimately unconcerned about your presence. It’s got bigger things to think about.

The quarantine hasn’t hit me as hard as most people simply because my job, by nature, is super solitary. And also, so is my life, to be honest. I’m already very shy, which my speech issues have never really helped with, but I’ve basically been self-quarantining for the past five years, having lost three entire families in that pretty short time.

One family by choice, but two by weird, inexplicable circumstances.

Finding the Low and then the Mountaineers helped me find who I really was because they didn’t care how I looked or sounded. It wasn’t even an issue. I was able to be a brighter, bubblier version of me, or rather, just— more— me. I think, in my virtual interactions with them, I found who I really was, not just what other IRL people or I saw me as based on my appearance, inhibitions, and perceived impairments.

I know why I lost the Low, and to be honest, they weren’t the family I first thought they were (though I forged some very serious friendships there) but the Mounties… they were the real deal, and though it was only a matter of months, I miss them the most because I’d never been so welcomed … anywhere really. I don’t know what happened, whether they fell prey to whatever dissolved the Low, or something else … or maybe they just went into hiding and didn’t feel I belonged with them?

I don’t know. It’s been a not-good year. I miss the magic. Not the performative stuff so much as the magic Brandon Lachmann talked about. The hidden connections between things and people.

I miss my friends.

149 Comments

  1. Not being able to talk with friends hits hard for everyone. The companionship and love they give becomes such an important part of our lives that when it’s gone, we feel it the deepest.

  2. I wonder if they’re on the same side as Endri that’s why they can’t see us posting things. I want to help them, I totally feel what they’re talking about. Talking and interacting with people on here is a whole lot easier than in IRL. Can we help them, pull them back?

  3. …SpiritSeer? It has to be, right? Outdoorsy, introvert, bubbly online, came to us from the Low?

    I know you can’t see this, but wherever you are, we miss you, too.

    But why is the W.E.L.L. site finding SpiritSeer’s journal? Assuming that’s what this is.

    1. Has to be! :spiritseergimme:

      I don’t think I realized that she’d been blocked off from us, with how sporadic her access was getting to the interwebs as a whole…

    2. That’s what I took it to be. I wonder how the W.E.L.L. is accessing these private writings?

      1. I was wondering this as well (no pun intended). With Endri, Bash, and Aether, they’re directly working on/with the W.E.L.L. and are probably on the same digital network as it is. It’s definitely stranger that it can just access something on a totally different network or even potentially in a physical journal! Although maybe that’s not as surprising when we consider the fact that all our knowledge about the hortimystic society must necessarily come from physical documents. Still, I really wonder why it decided to show this to us. How is it relevant to whatever query Endri put in? Maybe it’s not defining its search with their query anymore (Which I think would be even more odd honestly)?

  4. We miss you too! You’re family and we want you with us!

    I know they can’t see this but I really hope some glimmer of our messages makes it through. Sundered families are rough on everyone, and we need people. Humans are pack critters, even the introverts.

    I wonder of we can get them to Endri and Bash somehow?

  5. Wait…if I recall correctly, SpiritSeer works for a state park in the Pacific Northwest, right? Maybe right around where the Hortimystic Fellowship was doing their exploration and cataloging?

  6. sends good vibes glad to see hat they’re safe at least.

    And Im thinking along the same lines as @BairnSidhe . Can Endri and Bash see their post? If they’re on the opposite side too… Preps my tinfoil hat

  7. Random tinfoil hat theory…

    What was Endri’s query?

    Tinfoil wild guess: “How do I get in contact with the Mountaineers?”

    The W.E.L.L. would the look through it’s data for something that can be used to help see through the veil…or ‘revelatory practices’ perhaps.

    Second, the W.E.L.L .would need to find the location of where such things could be found.

    Third, the W.E.L.L. would need to find someone capable of getting this item. The perfect person would have to be someone who already believed in magic and would want to find us.

    Now, if Endri is seeing the same letters we are, which so far they have been. We also probably don’t need to worry about communicating the contents. But we might have to find a way to communicate Spiritseer’s name to them, because they probably have no idea who that is.

    Not that I have any idea how to do that.

    1. That’s some genius stuff, Robert. Like… wow!

      I don’t think, at least from my browsing, that we ever actually learned SpiritSeers real name, which is why I think the W.E.L.L. might have given us/the trio a hint with the title of this topic—“Emigale”. It’s not a super popular name (according to the internet) so if that is SpiritSeer’s name, it could be a pretty strong clue if they know roughly the region to look in!

      (If it’s not a name, it’s also an anagram for “mileage” although that makes way less sense)

  8. I agree with a lot of the other folks above – this has to be SpiritSeer. I was thinking it the whole time I read her entry? Letter? Note? I don’t know, this W.E.L.L. retrieval thing is all sorts of weird (and a little intrusive for my tastes, but :ascendershrug:).

    Nothing else has come up on the W.E.L.L. since this was posted, so we might have to just wait until something else comes through like this last time. However, I’d rather jump in with @Robert on his tinfoil hat theory. As @Ashburn pointed out, Spirit is a Park Ranger in PNW and is potentially well placed to collect some Pegasus Mane, if it still exists.

    So how do we help her find it? Is there anyway we can get through to her? I would not count on the PNW-based Twitter account by the same name as this thread. It’s been inactive since 2009 and is probably just a normal person who we do not need to bombard with questions about magiq. Maybe we’ll hear how Endri and crew interpret this all soon.

    There’s one thing that’s bugging me: who is the third family she lost? I think the Mounties (it’s been almost 9 months she since last posted :laurencry:) and the Low are two of them, but I’m not sure who the third is or if that’s one of the one that’s less explainable. She never did explain what happened when she camped in the stone circle, but I’m not sure what that would have to do with all of this.

    Sorry, just some loose strings that this got me thinking about :tinfoilhat:

  9. Do we have a way of telling who is a member of TBS? Can we see if spiritseer is a member?

    Is it worth sending her a PM anyway? Ideally from a user she would recognise/trust.

    With an extract of what the W.E.L.L has given us? Extract protects TBS and if were wrong, the authors privacy

    And an apology for the intrusion and pointing out we got this by magical accident.

    She has a forum account so PM should drop them an email.

    Even if the content doesn’t get through, she may get something that would alert her to something hinky, something she might then investigate leading her to us or maybe Endri/Bash

    Given the authors feeling of loss regarding us, and even if were not confident of the author, reaching out to users we haven’t seen in a while would be nice.

    1. She’s pm’d me before so she probably trusts me, but I wouldn’t know what to say, or even if it would help at all.

      1. Would something like this be too awkward?

        “Heya,

        Hope you’re keeping safe atm what with the pandemic (Jumanji level 7)

        Just reaching out to say the Mounties are here for you and to warn you magic is tossing up some weird things.

        Drop me a message if you’re about and want to catch up.

        Cheers”

        1. Slightly rewiring the message to sound more like me before I send it off:

          Heloo! I hope you’re keeping safe what with the pandemic and everything. Just reaching out to say the Mounties are here for you and to warn you that magic has been doing some wierd things lately.

          Send me a PM if you’re around and want to chat :cjheart:

          Does this sound alright guys? Do I need to add or change anything first?

  10. :grimacing:

    I mean, it’s a relief that our own “Secret Stories” aren’t being posted right now, but I feel for Emigale, whoever they are.

    ALSO— they were a member of the Low AND the Mountaineers! The W.E.L.L. has been leading us to something and Emigale might be another step in answering the current query, especially with their connection to the magimystic.

    I know this “Secret Stories” thing isn’t something we built into the W.E.L.L., but it just lends credence to my theory that it’s becoming more aware if not alive. It’s taking what we baked into it and building on it, using our own interests and skills and even shades of my adept power to evolve.

    I just assumed it could do this random “mind-reading” trick because we’re connected with its creation, but maybe it isn’t actually mind-reading. Hear me out…

    Maybe it has something to do with being built on the foundation of a well? All sorts of ephemera end up in wells, both corporeal an incorporeal, and “thought” is one of the base elements of magic. :thinking:

    Could thoughts sometimes end up in wells too? We tell ourselves stories all the time. We come up with narratives about who we are, how we see the world, how the world sees us… even if they aren’t completely, objectively true. Those thoughts become our “story” and we know magic LOVES stories.

    Maybe it started with us, which felt familiar, and then branched out as it started creating this sort of mesh network of wells it’s building (I know this is all based on a lot of my own personal, non-concrete ideas like the mesh network idea, but let’s roll with it for now) and somewhere out there it also found Emigale.

    It’s probably not a coincidence that Emigale loves outdoors/wilderness and her thoughts were found in a well in the middle of nowhere out in the woods.

    Also, I’m happy I can finally pull my own weight around here at TBS central by fixing PCs, but you wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve almost written, “Don’t type with Cheeto fingers” on repair reports.

  11. Perhaps the W.E.L.L. is also tapping into our story as it becomes further intertwined with us and begins to delve deeper into its depths.

    I feel like the knowledge we’ve gotten so far has really been a trickle, small threads at we were lucky enough to be clever enough to weave together perhaps, as the Well shares information so near to us, we’re moving more towards a flow?

  12. Does anyone think that Emigale/SpiritSeer might also be Pia? She said that they would be around for the next blooming for the Lycan Vine, if something happened to the order, that could very well be her third family (well, technically her first) and if she’s a park ranger from the PNW that’s the region where we heard from Pia last.

  13. There’s a new point on the W.E.L.L.’s map.

    Wikipedia says that Mt. Hood is a ‘potentially active stratovolcano’, which sounds rather…ominous. Supposedly the last activity was in 1907, and was minor. There’s also glacier fields, which is cool!

    Whoever our letter writer is, I believe they’re at Mt. Hood, possibly working as a park ranger or other staff at the historical sites or ski lodges.

    edit: I’m honestly not sure when this point showed up and it might already have been mentioned somewhere else, if so sorry!

    1. I think that Oregon Campsite pin popped up around when Pia’s letter did, but would not be surprised if Spiritseer’s posted out that way as well.

  14. Random idea just woke me up. If the W.E.L.L. can read and post stories about magic to us and Endri and co…then what if we write a story about how much we miss Spiriteer and Endri and Co. And hope the WELL posts it. We can basically spell out the Pegasus Mane connection for them.

    Just some tinfoil to throw about.

    1. Well if the pm route to SpiritSeer doesn’t pan out we can post some sort of open letter and hope it gets through. Let’s try that first @Sellalellen has a previous personal connection to SpiritSeer it’s worth doing first.

  15. Writing the story sounds like a great idea! It’s possible that could be a thread that would connect TBS Central, Emigale, and all of us. I’d love to see if @Sellalellen has luck with the personal message first, as well.

    Pia would have to be pretty old if she’s still around and serving as a park ranger in the PNW. Has there been anything in the lore about wells potentially lengthening life spans?

    1. Here’s hoping we get a reply! Nobody should have to feel alone, we’re all here to help, despite the veil hindering that effort a little bit ;;

      1. Okay. Does anyone want to take a stab at a story the talks about Spiritseer, what she means to us and connecting the dots for Endri and friends?

        Can’t hurt to work on it while we wait.

  16. Man, I just checked to see when we last heard from her, it was back in September, before we started helping get Eaves & Co. to Lion’s Heart. :cagsko:

  17. Well in the interest of keeping this going before Endri and friends do something crazy.

    If anyone has suggested changes or updates just hollar. If someone else would rather write the story to submit, be my guest, but here’s a starting point.

    ===================================

  18. Agreed.

    We are Mountaineers. That means we are Family. Family means we leave no one behind. We have faced many times before when we lost people, when our loved ones made hard choices that took them on adventures far from us. Some even went on that very great, very final adventure called “death”. Even then, we did not leave them behind, nor they us. We carry each other in stories, in words and names and figurations of memory. We DO NOT leave our Family behind. Spiritseer did not leave us behind, and we did not leave her.

    If our voices can reach Spiritseer, I implore the universe, magiq, whatever is listening, that this story, her story, OUR story, reaches her.

    So more it be.

    1. I honestly don’t know. We seem stuck. If you can see her profile maybe a leader could edit it to put in a message?

      I doubt it’s that easy but I’m out of ideas and it’s easy to do.

  19. Is it possible to e-mail her directly? Or try an image or maybe a hyperlink, see if that gets through where a long written message doesn’t?

    Otherwise I agree, send off a reply so she gets another notification.

  20. All of @SpiritSeer s questions have the answer yes.

    Not sure if this rings true for anyone else as a form of non verbal communication but “blink once for no, twice for yes”

    I’d suggest sending 2 PM’s regardless of content.

    Tinker’s idea of using the subject sounds good too. Maybe subject “Find @Aether /@Bash /@Endri

    People we know who are on the outside.

    I don’t think this is a dead end

  21. I had a thought!

    Replies to posts definitely come through on email notifications, provided they’re brief and not under a spoiler thing (not sure if the veil would inherently throw one on in the process). Then again, pretty sure we’ve thrown at least one @ her way in here and those ought to have the same affect…

    Only reason I don’t jump on that immediately myself is everyone following whichever topic we decided to post to would get it as well, and there’s that whole “don’t talk about secret societies outside the secret societies unless it’s okayed first” thing.

    1. But have we done it since the Veil seems to have thinned for her?

      1. I @ ‘d spiritseer in my last post which was after Sel got a reply.

        I did avoid it earlier because ‘sush secrecy society’, then promptly forgot facepalm

    1. It’s good that she can see your name!! That’s something, that’s a start for sure. I wonder what changed to make it so she could see your name? Maybe messaging again is an idea.

    2. Maybe knowing that you (and the rest of us!) are trying to reach out repeatedly is helping to thin the veil for her? Like a repeated exposure kind of thing, maybe convincing the Determiner that she really means well and is one of us! New people can still find the forum, so it’s not trying to hide us from each other. Maybe helping SpiritSeer remember that she’s one of ours and incidentally convincing the veil will bring us closer to real communication. She’s not really an outsider, is she?

  22. Perhaps the veil is breaking down or at the very least developing holes. Magiq was, reborn, in a sense. Perhaps the veil can no longer sustain itself on the new MO of Magiq. Let’s keep it up, perhaps we can push it down.

  23. I never directly interacted with @SpiritSeer , I joined too late unfortunately, but when I was reading TMP she meant quite a bit to me actually. I had been afraid that I might not fit in with the forum, that I wouldn’t be “cool” enough, but reading about how SpiritSeer’s bubbly energy and cheeriness was immediately accepted and appreciated made me feel like I was already more welcome and more part of the group. My excitement and level of caring has often driven me out of other groups where caring a lot very quickly has been seen as weird or stupid. So reading about SpiritSeer being so energetic and excited and loved for it was actually pretty important to me. I hope she can see us all soon so I can actually say hello!

    1. I tried typing up something, feel free to adjust and/or add anything I missed.

      Bullets since September 9th:

      Several weeks spent helping Eaves and the Sanctuary get to their sweet new hideout, promptly get adopted by a most excellent battle mother in the nearest town.

      Magic as we knew it disappeared.

      We used the aliquary (and other things) for a Wellspring spell to try and seed new magic, seems to be working? Haven’t heard from Saberlane since because of course he had to go pull an Auggie during the spell.

      Have been working with members of BC 34 (once the Sanctuary) to help some loose ends from the Book of Kings get tied up (getting Sacha and Mrs. Lachman together, finding leylines that Lauren had set up with Martin in our last days of contacting the Neithercouriers, supposed locations of the armor of Eleanor…). Eaves’ boyfriend has started seeing the forum, so hopefully that’s a good sign for others?

      (Share if we’re in agreement that she ought to know because the W.E.L.L. dragged her into it)

      Some of us have started seeing things from The W.E.L.L., a magical digital depository of sorts that we’re still trying to understand. Looks like Endri, Bash, and Aether are responsible, and it looked like they might’ve caught on to us by way of “where’s all this bandwidth coming from, it’s not all from us three.”

      Oh, and the W.E.L.L. is occasionally showing us journal entries from folks, some really old, and some significantly newer, in its attempt to answer whatever query Endri asked it that set this whole ball rolling. One of the old letters was from someplace in the PNW, potentially around your neck of the woods. It mentioned a magical plant with revelatory properties from that area. Not sure if the W.E.L.L. thinks you might find it useful, or if you might be able to share it with Endri and co. or…?

      1. I would add a description of Pegasus mane. Whatever is going on having her be near where it was found can’t be a coincidence. Whether she uses it herself to pierce the veil or sends samples to Endri i am not sure which is best. But she may already know about it from her own experiences.

  24. I’d hold off on that bit of info at the moment too. It’s likely her name off-forum, and us knowing it all of a sudden without her sharing it would be pretty distressing (I’d be at least a little weirded out if it were me).

    1. Yeah, same. Not that I don’t trust you guys implicitly, but my IRL self and my online self aren’t the same person and I protect that barrier as best I can. In person I mask a lot and online I don’t bother as much. If some of the people in my local meat-space were to connect me to my internet persona, I’d be really worried, because… yeah. I mask for a reason. It’s easier to keep the barrier dual sided.

      Spiritseer is who we know, is our friend and fellow Mountaineer. Emigale might be a whole separate person, and it’s up to Spiritseer if we ever meet her. Like Spiderman and Peter Parker.

  25. I told her that I’ve been showing her messages to the rest of the Mounties and it looks like she’s happy to help out.what do we want to do from here?

  26. A busted truck doesn’t sound like reliable transportation. I’d be wary of sending her anywhere too far from possible mechanics or assistance.

  27. The trail head isn’t too far from where The Well shows the campsite, seems like as good a starting point as any other.

    We could share a screen grab of that section of map.

    Not sure I’d want to go off trail, using only Google, but it is all the info we can give.

    Purple pin = Pia’s campsite.

    Maybe not send this screen grab with the Emigale post visible.

    Spiritseer might have local knowledge/maps of the area that she can use too.

  28. Maybe Spirit Seer can find some Pegasus mane? That’s with hope that it’s survived to this age and hasn’t been out-competed or extinct.

    1. I mean, it’s magimystic, right? It could have died out with the changing of the Books, or it could have gone, like, dormant? Maybe the new Book will rejuvenate it or bring it back somehow if it had died off.

      I feel an instinct that the Well wouldn’t send us chasing a plant that isn’t around anymore. On top of that, my Balimora-senses are tingling toward the concept that magiq wants these plants to live here, so they will. Magiq these days doesn’t feel like it used to, like water seeping up through cracks in a basement. It feels like rain or rivers, like it has a place it wants to BE, if we’d all just get with the program. The river leads to the Pegasus Mane, so I think it’s there to be found.

  29. My two cents now that I’ve had a chance to catch up from the past week.

    1 – Be honest with her. About Emigale. We weren’t the ones who magimystically (digimystically?) hacked her journal or whatever to show it to everyone. But we’re certainly using the information we got from it now that we think it’s her. That’s not cool. We can’t let her go on thinking the next thing she writes in her journal might be personal thoughts and protected and then have it broadcast to all of us. None of us deserve that. She will find out eventually so let’s not have it be after we send her on a bunch of errands.

    Heck it might not even be her (although 95% sure it is).

    2- I’d tell her about Pia. Magic has a lot of connections, and it often runs in families. Who knows maybe Spiritseer has heard of her and can use that info to track down notes or something? Do we know Pia’s last name…I’m thinking not but I can check when I have time.

    3 – if Spiritseer is outside the veil mostly, she should go the most direct route and just try to @ them. It’s silly but it’s a start. Also is there a ‘conttact the webmaster’ button around here? Heck that might get her to Bash as well.

    Edit: Oh, and as @Sapphire said send her the point on the map for Pia’s campsite.

    1. I agree…I think now that we’ve made a more firm contact, we should take the opportunity to be up-front about why were reached out when we did. We trust Spiritseer, and as far as we know she trusts us…I don’t think sharing this will put her off, and we can work together better if we’re all starting from the same place.

  30. I don’t think it would be hard for us to be honest about the Emigle post without exposing TBS.

    Yes its creepy, but it can be worded tactfully, especially if we focus on the word.

    If it means nothing to her, no harm done and we dont expose someones private journal to teh wrong person.

    If it does mean something we explain about the post and our belief that magiq was working to help us make contact.

    Emigale might not be spiritseers irl name, maybe her handle for the Low or maybe even a completely unrelated word that may or may not have significance.

    I think its a good check to confirm were on the right path.

    If we’re wrong, we caught up with an old mountie who is blatantly thrilled to hear from us and we might need to consider other options to investigate

    Although having spiritseer find Pegasus Mane is a solid lead and I’m not sure well find another thread this strong.

    I think if we don’t check this it could bite us later.

    Shes so happy, and the longer we wait to come clean on this, the more violated shes likely to feel and if we send her to find Pegasus Mane, shes also likely to feel like we used her.

    Which we are, but we’re doing it with good intentions (possibly a stretch given the reality that we’re ‘chasing magiq’ with no idea where it will take us) if we keep this secret our intentions don’t look as squeaky clean.

  31. Please count me as another vote for both 1) coming clean about how we found her, and 2) asking her about the name “Pia.”

    I do think it’s worthwhile to ask about Pegasus Mane, but there might also be more happening. We know there’s a major event at Multnomah Falls, and that the old Briar Society set up a camp out there. It wouldn’t hurt to refer to them as “Mountie predecessors” or something—which technically they are, without exposing the actual society.

  32. Things have been a little busy but I sent Spirit several messages with information over the past few days and she just responded.

    1. This is such good news and honestly a big relief! We don’t have to worry about her being able to safely get to that spot, which was a legit concern (at least for me), and we also know that not only does that particular location seem to have a broad magimystical significance but a specific significance for SpiritSeer (Emi? idk if she’d want us to use her actual name now that we know it?) which might make her time there a little easier or at the least a little cooler and more interesting.

      Also I love the pizza idea haha! Pizza is great fuel for late-night research/development sessions, which I imagine our favorite trio might be doing a lot of.

  33. Yes, the pizza plan we never got to use! We still don’t (seem to) have access to the Neithercouriers, magical pizza messaging has a vote from me!

  34. Spirit just wrote back. she went to the site where Pia’s camp was in the Book of The Wild.

    I hope this gets through!

    So, I was right. It’s the exact clearing where I had my first brush with magic. The place I got the name Spiritseer.

    I’ll write you about my entire experience some other time, but I stayed the night there last night, experienced some pretty strange stuff, and just got home to write you because I woke up with a seed in the palm of my hand. Or what I think is a seed.

    It looks petrified, like a small pebble. And you know those little blue-green “spirits” I saw there way back in the day? When I woke up, a bunch of them were floating around my hand.

    I think they brought me the seed!

    So, what do I do with it? Try and plant it? Not sure. While I wait to hear from you, I’m going to put the seed away for safekeeping and try my best to find @Endri, @Bash, and @Aether in NYC!

  35. I just got another random @. How about you two? I don’t see anything on the forum. The latest message is En checking to see what we wanted her to pick up for dinner last night. Might be a bug in the latest forum update?

  36. Yeah, I got one too. Just coming off my lunch break but will let you know if I get any notifications. Aether… don’t even think about it.

  37. I’m absolutely not thinking about trying to figure out a way to get my powers working again long enough to figure out the source of all the weirdness on our secret forum. Nope. Not at all.

  38. Oh boy…lots of bits in this one…interesting that the @-ing is working by posting the messages, but also it feels a bit like being on the other side of a one-way soundproof mirror…also I guess it’s a good sign that the spirits brought the seed? Am I being over optimistic about the mysterious assistance of unknown entities…perhaps. Also…do we have a next step for this seed? Do we try to get it somewhere in it’s current state or have spiritseer attempt some revitalization first (which seems…potentially dangerous tbh…)

  39. Might be one of the preserved seeds that Pia had mentioned? I know that some seeds require a soak in water before planting, that might be a good next step? :ascendershrug:

    1. On some level I’m not entirely sure if it being Coven’s Grace would be a totally bad thing? Like Mathias clearly had issues with it but on the other hand the Vault Ledger states that it allows for instant long-distance communication, as speaking into one flower can be heard from another. If someone on our side of the veil could get a hold on some Coven’s Grace somehow it may be a dangerous but useful tool. At the very least it would be interesting to see if the veil could block it!

      Plus, even if we couldn’t get any on our side, the ledger states that the plants are usually always whispering, possibly with the words of “those considered long dead.” If SpiritSeer really does turn out to have a Coven’s Grace seed, which the Fellowship clearly knew about prior to their arrival in North America, then it seems like it would have necessarily been brought by Pia and the rest of the team, perhaps for emergency communications? I don’t think it would be native to both Europe and North America although I suppose it is possible on some level. Otherwise, I don’t see a reason that Coven’s Grace seeds would be at the camp, especially since it was contained in the lazaretto and considered dangerous. If that was the case, and Pia brought some seeds, maybe they used them back then and SpiritSeer could hear more of what happened and what was said at the camp all those years ago. Although that could be really dangerous, given how Mathias reacted to it.

      But I think generally the fact that they had logged and studied Coven’s Grace before traveling to America probably implies that the seed SpiritSeer was given is something else. Hopefully Pegasus Mane!

      1. Okay, it could just be the tin foil talking, but I had a thought. :tinfoilhat:

        It says “possibly” those considered long dead.

        What if it were the other way around, and they were on the old end of the conversation?

        It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve communicated with the past.

        Note: this is not necessarily a vote for using Coven’s Grace if we happen upon it, just a wad of foil. :tinfoilhat:

  40. I think we need to explain to spiritseer how basecamp34 have discovered their powers are there but altered. If she can get that through to aether by lots of @ing or irl communication and if they can work out the new version of their powers works, it might help them find us and allow less convoluted communication.

    Keeping the seed safe for now sounds like a good option at least till we know more or run out of lead’s.

    1. I agree we should fill Spiritseer in on the BC34 situation. If our out-of-veil allies can work together, maybe we’ll be able to establish a “Pony Express” style message system.

      If there’s only one seed, let’s hold onto it and double check the notes we have about the Society’s experience with the Pegasus Mane. Some seeds can be planted direct, some need to be soaked first, and some even need to be burned before they sprout. Not knowing which is the right step to take could kill the poor thing before we can get it going.

      Once we have a lead on how, though, I am certain this is the Pegasus Mane. It feels right.

      Speaking of feeling right, has anyone else noticed their gut instinct is getting stronger and more insistent? I’ve always been in tune with a spidey-sense type instinct and lately it’s going off more often and way stronger. Could be magiq, could be anxiety. IDK.

  41. My Bali-brain is screaming about Pegasus Mane having those revelatory properties…what if it will somehow let Spiritseer through the veil?

  42. Okay. Here’s where we are.

    The Well is still fixated on this spot near Mount Hood, we’ve had no new material show up in weeks, weird @s, activity on our forum with no discernable source, puzzles getting solved on their own… and still no idea what The Well is actually doing and what this has to do with my query. How is this showing us what we’re really up against?

    Either we missed something critical, or we only have half the story. Or both. Both is definitely a possibility.

    It’s driving me nuts. I’m feeling like the worst (and smallest) secret society ever. We just have nothing to go on, nothing to dig into.

    EDIT:

    Nothing but a name. “Emigale” might be the key to this whole thing.

    1. I’ll keep trying to reach @Endri but I really think we need to be telling stories like we did last time. I’m not as familiar with @Endri because I’ve only been here since last year. Does anyone have any fun @Endri stories?

      (Yes, I will keep @ it, with the tagging, in hopes it gets some attention.)

  43. I know this sounds weird but could we try using @s to transmit a message? Not like a verbal one, but maybe something like making the fibonacci sequence with how many @s we send, starting with 1, then 1, then 2, 3, 5, etc. It might be a long game, since I dont think you see timestamps for @ alerts, so it might have to be something like one number every day.

    If they get private message alerts though, those have email timestamps at least right? If they have notifications on, then we might be able to do it through messages and group the numbers into hours instead of days?

    Just something to try and show them that the stuff happening on their end is intelligent and purposeful, not the product of glitches or wonky magic.

  44. I genulinely think a lot of our progress will be based on cracking through to Endri et al in some way, either as ourselves or via Spirit.

    My “they are all out to get us” mindset has me convinced that Spirit is the key to connecting, then Aether can hack through the forum’s veil?

  45. Have we actually tried pm’ing @Aether, @Endri or @Bash

    I have a feeling we only thought of the email part of PM’s, when we poked spiritseer.

    I really like your idea @Wyvern it sparked the following which I hope makes sense

    Unfortunately with only 3 of them to @ we wouldn’t really be able to communicate in binary :frowning:

    Although if we know 2 other users who are; other side of the veil, can see @ing, can freely communicate with Aether, Bash and Endri. Maybe Marty and another?

    Then if my sleepy brain is right, we could go from text > letter= number > binary > @ing.

    We’d need 8 people seeing @s to convert to standard ASCI/unicode.

    I don’t know if this would be too nerdy, or just the right amount of puzzle. I’ll have another look in the morning see if I can think of a way to make it work with 3 in a not overly nerdy way.

    1. I’m not saying don’t do the Morse thing, but I’d like to give this a shot, if the Society agrees.

      Maybe a message along these lines:

      Hey, Aether, Endri and Bash!

      We’re the source of the mystery @’s! You can’t see us due to a Magiq veil situation, but we’re trying to make contact. We also made contact with SpiritSeer, who has been helping us with the WELL’s clues.

      I hope this works, it took a few PMs before Spirit could talk to us.

      Yours,

      The Briar Society.

    1. Sleeply brain went too complex!

      Morse code could/would be more recognisable and is doable with 2 @s, 3 if we use one of their names as space between characters, which is very helpful!

      Local HAM club did a quiz a few weeks ago of song titles in morse with no spaces, since characters can be 1-6 ./-s long it was really hard to work out without the spaces.

      We could start a new thread Aether = ‘.’ Bash = ‘-’ Endri = ’ ‘, open with a recognisable sequence like sos (A,A,A, E, B,B,B, E, A,A,A), then send any message. I like Roberts idea of sending ‘Spiritseer’ name to solve the Emigale question for them.

      Spiritseer = Emgiale

      … / .–. / … / .-. / … / – / … / . / . / .-. / -…- / . / – / … / –. / .- / .-… / .

      AAA E ABBA E AA E ABA E AA E B E AAA E A E A E ABA EE BAAAB E A E BB E AA E BBA E AB E ABAA E A

      I doubt well be having lengthy discussions this way, just sending ‘spiritseer’ name with 3’rd @ as a character delineation is 32 characters/posts/emails or 23 with no markers AAAABBAAAABAAABAAAAAABA

      Then its a question of trying to avoid any forum/veil tricks that might obscure our message.

      I’m not sure multiple @s to the same person or different people will get through in a understandable way.

      If they did all get through the ordering/quantity of @s might not be visible.

      Does the forum combine emails into a summary of activity? Eg you got 3 @s or 3 replies in this topic or would you get an email per @/reply in post.

      Since such a short message is actually turns out to be long, I wouldn’t be shocked if we ran in to technology looking at it and thinking spam, email storm or similar

      I wonder if they will be able to see the @s on the forum, if the @s are the only content in the thread/post.

      @Robert I’m not sure what her IP gains us/them.

      We could always ask spiritseer for her IP, all she has to do is google “what’s my IP?”

      But if she’s not got a static IP then we have maybe 24hours to communicate it and be understood before it changes.

      IPs will only give a rough geographic location which may or may not be accurate. I’m about 90miles away from the geographic location my IP reports, and that location is essentially a junction box which covers everyone in Mid-Wales.

      1. You make good points for us normals.

        My thought process here is Aether could use his digimancy to follow the ip address through the network to it’s source computer. Yes, he’d have to magic his way through many bounces and get to her host provider to figure out the last connection to her actual pc/phone she’s using, but he’s done bigger stuff.

        I understand his powers have changed since the new Book began. He might not be able to, but it’s the best idea I’ve got.

        Edit: As for the 24 hour condition, good point. If the forum is sending her emails it must have her contact information. He can simply use that as well.

        @Bairnsidhe I’d explicitely mention emigale = spiritseer and that she has what we think is a seed of Pegasus mane in her posession.

        1. Ohhh I forgot about Aethers magic. Although we’re not sure if it’ll work the same way…

          From a tech point of view, magically following the packets to her isn’t a bad shout it will lead directly to the device in digital space, just not physical irl space.

          If she provides her mobile IP then Aether maybe be able to magically write on her device wherever she is.

          Downside is mobile is likely to have a much shorter IP lease than a home connection, but home connection would require her to have her computer always on.

          Not sure what service providers are like in the US, but in the UK most providers will charge a small fee (I paid £5) to get a static IP, which would stop her ‘address’ changing roughly ~24hrs

          Emails wont have her IP, they will go to a server with an IP linked to her email provider and then Spiritseer will connect to that server and view/download her emails.

  46. Okay, how’s this:

    Hey, Aether, Endri and Bash!

    We’re the source of the mystery @’s! You can’t see us due to a Magiq veil situation, but we’re trying to make contact. We also made contact with SpiritSeer, who has been helping us with the WELL’s clues. The Emigale thread led us to her, and she found what we think might be a seed of Pegasus Mane at the pin on the WELL map.

    I hope this works, it took a few PMs before Spirit could talk to us.

    Yours,

    The (Rest of the) Briar Society.

    I’m hesitant to directly say Emigale is SpiritSeer, because of the aforementioned privacy concerns re:outing someone’s RL identity, but from this I think the questions can be resolved with a minimum of direct outing.

  47. This seems good if it gets through. Maybe make the subject something like “From Mounties: Find Spiritseer” or somethign less creepy, cause wasn’t there a point when only subject lines were getting through? I may have dreamt that…

  48. I sent the PM to @Endri, @Bash, and @Aether.

    Last time, SpiritSeer started to see more of the messages after we started sharing stories about her and our memories of her. How about we do the same for this message too? We can try to Figuration them back across the veil by sharing the stories of why they BELONG in contact with us, and hopefully convince the magiq to let them in.

  49. @Endri, I assume you’ve seen the newest W.E.L.L. post and that’s why you went straight upstairs last night. I know we talked about maybe not reading these kinds of inner-thought style posts since we can’t really control them and it might share things we don’t want to share, but I didn’t realize it was a “Secret Stories” until I’d already started reading … and then I read the whole thing.

    I’m just gonna say two things …

    First, you made the best choice you could in the moment, with the info you had. And I think the Mounties would probably feel the same. Those last days in the manor were crazy. You made what you thought was the right move because you care about the Mounties and you knew you could take care of us.

    Second, I think I might have a way to prove whether or not it’s the Mounties.

    A new mystification just showed up. And it looks like the kind of thing the Mounties crush on the regular. If the Mounties are out there, and they can see the W.E.L.L., then they can see the mystification too. And if it’s them who’s been @ing us, then maybe they can see us too.

    And if so, maybe we can try and solve this thing together?

    1. Late night thought: might @Aether, @Endri, and @Bash have different puzzle strips than we do?

      The trio don’t want to do this one solo, and maybe we actually can’t? We might need their part of the puzzle to actually make sense of it.

      1. It wouldn’t be the first time (heheh, Time).

        That said, last time we had communication, we just had to act like we were solving things in the ’90s. This time it’s same time, no communication.

  50. Oh boy, Aether’s right, there is a new mystification up, and it’s paper crafts. Getting some serious flashbacks right now. Now, where’s my printer…

    1. I may have tried tracing it from my phone. (Bit sloppy :deirdrexd:)

      Will try a second tracing on my computer later, probably easier on a screen that doesn’t react when you touch it through the paper.

      My first several instincts are that

      • the partial flowers match to make full flowers
      • numbers match up or layer on top of each other
      • letters either match up on top of each other and/or spell something out when in the right formation

      Of course I don’t have the time to do much more with it until maybe this afternoon… :aethereyeroll:

      1. Oh yeah, I’ve been lining up the flowers, and I’ve just noticed you can make a loop with 2 of them by overlapping the almost mirrored segments. My initial thought though was that they were back and front of the same thing, which is still an option. For now I may be trying to piece them together to make a whole thing. I printed more than one though based on last time, so I’m good in case this is the wrong route.

        1. Yeah, those backwards Ns and 9s definitely lean toward some twisty flower donut stuff.

          Though I can’t help but think that there might be more than the four pieces on the mystification page to complete this…

          1. I agree, there’s a +4 “reversed” that doesn’t line up with anything yet.

            Edit: Maybe like the Time fragement we need to wait for someone to share the other half with us?

            Edit 2: Just managed to make this by hiding the flowers after joining the “mirrored” sections on 2 of the pieces, though there’s a +9 hidden under the V right now:

          2. The lone “+4” is not not bothering me, but I did manage to create something interesting!

            I overlaid the pieces that were mirrored, so two strips became 1 strip, if that makes sense?

            So the mirrored N was on the reverse side of the correct N.

            Then basically by some random folding to align the flowers I was able to create these weird shapes:

            I would dismiss this as a random product of their design, but the fact that both black Ns are on the back side as are the black, mirrored numbers, seems to indicate something more meaningful? Plus the fact that all of the figures on the backs are numbers and not the letters with arrows. I’m not really sure what it means but I do think it’s interesting!

            Some patterns I also recognized were that the letters on the long parts of the strips were overlaid on each other in these formations (so A to M, E to H, for example on the strip with the +4), and that on both of these, N touches R. I still don’t know what this means but they’re certainly weird patterns!

            You can also fold it so the Ns on the end tuck in-between the sheets of the strip, so it’ll look like this: ((Edit: I also realized belatedly that you can fold in that tail so the number touches the R or N (depending on how you fold it) so that all the flowers are on one side and the back is just numbers))

          3. That really feels like you’re onto something!

            I feel like the arrows are going to tell us how to read the letters/combine the numbers once it’s just so, but this feels like the way to get there.

          4. That just preposterous, why on earth would you think that?

  51. Another potentially irrelevant thing: the flowers immediately reminded me of the velhimar plant that grew in the quincunx formation.

    There’s no L on the pieces, and no N in velhimar, but all the other letters are present.

  52. I think I know that this is! I don’t have a printer, so someone else is going to have to try it, but I have an idea. Just let me Google a thing so I have example images.

  53. Okay I am back with a YouTube video! Piggybacking off of @Wyvern, if you glue the pieces back to back and fold them just so, you should be able to create one of my favourite paper toys: a Hexaflexagon!

    I’ve found a YouTube video with the instructions, which I’m linking below. Essentially, it makes what looks like a flat hexagon, but which Gan be flipped inside out several times to reveal up to 6 different patterns.

    I think the video has instructions on how to measure out where to put the creases, but those are already marked with the bold lines. All we need to do is the folding!

    I used to use these to pass messages in high school. Only people who knew how to flip them properly could see the message on the third side. I actually used one of these to ask my crush to a dance!

    Idk even if it turns out I’m barking up the wrong tree, you’ll have a fun toy on your hands,

  54. Can we unscramble the letters without constructing? Just on a quick look, it sure seems like a “Herman River” might be involved. Or maybe that’s wishful thinking. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

    1. If it’s anything like the weaving that led to the Time Donut, it’ll be easier to just construct it. :deirdrexd:

      I’m tracing out a few different versions now, figure it’d be a good idea to try different pairings. Definitely turning out better from the computer than the phone (and I’m sure the thicker paper will help, too).

      Edit: this first one is N with arrow to N with arrow, N without arrow to N without arrow.

      This one’s N with arrow to N without arrow on both.

      Now that I’m thinking about it again, I might want to do a third set where it’s both dark ends/both light ends…

  55. So, it’s been about three weeks since we last checked in on @Spiritseer, did we ever send any suggestion one way or the other on planting that seed her little spirit buddies fetched for her?

    Who knows, if there are other components for this mystification, maybe they landed with her.

    Also, it would be good to keep in touch after losing her for so long.

    1. If we want her to plant the seed maybe we could advise her to take I guess every precaution listed explicitly in the ledger? I mean that might be quite a few to manage but it could help prevent anything really bad happening if it turns out to be one of the more hazardous plants, of which there are quite a few.

      So we’d say take care to plant it in an oak or maple planter lined with lead in the event it turns out to be Abyssal Slugwort or Avelda, take care not to touch any thistles in case it turns out to be any of the number of plants with dangerous thistles (gloves wouldn’t work with horned thistle leaf but wear them anyway in case it’s one of the cats claw species), etc.

      It’s a lot to take into consideration though, and a lot of these plants are capable of doing significant harm.

      I’m also worried about the possibility of it being one of the plants where the effects are only curable/preventable using products of other plants, because we only have access to the one seed and I don’t want to lose SpiritSeer or cause her unnecessary and largely preventable harm because we don’t have whatever plant would help her.

      1. If she’s able we could tell her to grow it in a mini-greenhouse of sorts where it wouldn’t be able to interact with her and through a tube or a hatch she could water it just until it grows enough for us to be able to determine what it is.

  56. I kind of think we should just go for it lol. Everything has been leading us to Pegasus Mane; it wouldn’t make sense for the WELL to switch it up on us like that. Doesn’t fit the magiqal narrative imo. Yes be careful, but we’re letting fear stall us.

    Trust the flow of magiq!

    1. Agreed! Let’s trust Magiq and the WELL to steer us right. I have a strong feeling about this. It’s RIGHT, in my mind. I know I ramble a lot about instincts and magiq expressing through gut reaction and emotion and empathy, but I’m absolutely sure that Magiq wants the seed planted, and the new magiqal plant to grow. We have to trust that Magiq will protect @SpiritSeer and guide her (and us) in making the right choices.

      I say we contact her and let her know to go for it!

  57. It’s a freaking hexaflexagon!

    How did I not see this. DUDE. I made a cat, a house, and half a hippocampus before it dawned on me how the two strips worked together. My brain is definitely more conceptual than physical.

    But the numbers and symbols on the strips still end up as gibberish. I spent all night trying to figure out what it means, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it means absolutely nothing. Because—

    We don’t have the complete puzzle. And I know I’m right because do you want to know what I just found while poring over the W.E.L.L.?

    When you click on the strips, the site enlarges them in a lightbox view, and at the bottom are numbers. 4 and 5. Which means there are at least 1-3 somewhere, and with all things magimystic, probably a 6 as well.

    Which means I’m totally right. Possibly. Maybe. Hopefully. I think the Mountaineers have the other strips.

    Wanna know why? The Mystification is now at 16%. What a weird and random percentage of progression, right?

    Well … not if you had to correctly assemble three hexaflexaflowers (I just came up with that) and then do something else with them once assembled. And if the Mountaineers have 1-3 and 6, maybe the hexaflexaflowers are assembled in sequential pairs, 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6. So they could have solved one of them, and we couldn’t have solved anything. Hence, 16%.

    16(.6666)x3 hexaflexaflowers = 48.9998 which is basically half of the Mystification solved, then you solve a possible second step, probably organizing or assembling the hexaflexaflowers into something else, and 48.9998×2 = 97.9996 which is as close as you can get to evenly dividing 100 by factors of 6.

    I have not slept in two days, and I might be wrong, but let’s be real, I’m nothing but a glorified meat calculator post-new age, so I think I’m onto something. Bash would be better able to see the big picture, of course, but until we hear back from them, we’re on our own.

    Also, this implies that the W.E.L.L. knows what we were discussing on our little three-person forum (all the more reason to keep posting there) and is trying to tip us off to someone else being out there, and possibly trying to connect us to them. It’s kind of … improvising.

    Thing is, En, how the hell do we get these strips to the Mountaineers?

    1. I. Am. Deceased. :cagsko:

      In other news: despite not even realizing the numbers thing when I clicked on them to trace weeks ago, go brain for sensing that there were more! :eaves:

    2. I thought @Bash was with them, so why can’t Aether just talk to them? Did something go wrong or is Bash just off picking up pizza or investigating a new lead?

      The last time we heard from them was almost a month ago, when the trio were just starting to see random, mysterious @s. Since then we’ve mostly heard from @Aether, which might make sense with his technomagical aptitude, and a little bit from @Endri, but nothing from Bash. I assumed they just weren’t as active, or preferred speaking in another medium (and so weren’t using the forum as much), but this seems to suggest something more mysterious.

  58. Has anyone tried to message them yet as we’ve been doign with SpiritSeer? I’m not sure if the notifications let you see images, but maybe that’s how we can get something through. That, or we get SpiritSeer to them, who then gets it to us…

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