Originally posted by a member of the Briar Society:
79 Comments
2.8
Trevis
THE TREE STUMP stood a few feet away from the cobbles, centered within a thick carpet of shin-high ferns. Sam estimated the number of paces it would take to reach the stump and reasoned it could be classified as only a slight deviation from the “stay on the cobbles” rule. Barely a violation at all.
Reasoning sufficiently checked, Sam waded through the ferns to the wiggling hand. The closer he got to the stump, the less natural it looked. It was actually a couple of cider barrels stacked up on top of each other and wrapped in strips of oak bark. Brin was equally unimpressed. He gave it a cursory glance, attempted to lick the waggling fingers, and then briefly cocked a leg before losing himself in the ferns.
Fingers disappeared inside the slot, and the voice returned, calmer now, “Quickly. Round the back, please, slide the bark up.”
Sam followed orders. The panel at the back of the trunk was stiff, but with a good grip, Sam worked it awkwardly upward. The stench of body odor hit Sam’s face like a pungent fog. Sam backed away, allowing a crumpled figure to emerge from the smelly wooden cocoon.
The man, far too tall for such a confined space, unfurled himself with joyful relief. He reveled in each extended joint pop as the blood flowed back into his extremities. Smoothing his hands over a sweat-soaked woolen shirt and shorts, he then produced a damp, crumpled handkerchief to carefully smear steam from his glasses. He replaced the spectacles gingerly to not dislodge the bandage wrapped around his forehead and left ear.
Brin bounded over for a sniff of this new character. The application of cold, wet nose to sensitive back of knee shocked the freed prisoner from his preening.
“You, young rescuer. What’s your name?”
The stranger’s voice had a quality reminiscent of Mrs. Crane’s new tyrannical personality and demanded a swift reply. “Sam Larkfield, Sir. May I asked what you were doing in there?”
“This, my dear liberator, I call Bark Hide,” he said, carefully patting the bark. “A fine construction, to be sure, you must agree. Within its confines, I can observe the comings and goings of the forest wilderfolk with no suspicion of discovery, so convincing is its casing, and you, Larkfield, have the honor of not only witnessing my majestic Hide but also freeing its captive! Allow me to properly introduce myself. You are in the presence of the one and only Trevis Persainne, court-appointed Hunter of Brune. At your service.”
“Which court?” asked Sam.
“Well… Brune, of course.” Trevis came in low to meet Sam’s eye level. “Not overly bright, are you? Stout of heart, though. An admirable quality. Take care that it doesn’t rule your head. Heed these words, for they are as wise as the man who waits to plant his wheat seed in tilled soil.”
Trevis then patted Sam on the head and stood upright to peruse his surroundings.
“Surely, you’ve been told you shouldn’t stray from the cobbles, hmm?”
His words were confusing. Is this gratitude or a telling-off? Trevis seemed to read the confusion in Sam’s expression and smiled. “Fear not, young one. You did a great thing here today. I am briefly indebted to you. Which means, of course, you shall not leave here unrewarded. Join me at my camp. It’s not far from here.”
Trevis gestured deeper into the woods. “Come, let’s close up Bark Hide and have some tea. I am parched. At my side, Larkfield!”
TRUE TO HIS WORD, Camp Persainne lay only a few trees away from Bark Hide. Sam could easily make his way back to the path after his reward. Trevis insisted on a cup of tea before he would even contemplate doing anything else, but fortunately, he was an experienced camper and had a small pan of water boiling over a fire in no time.
“Tell me, Larkfield, what do you know of the beast of Bluebell Copse?” said Trevis as he took his first tentative sip of piping tea.
“I’ve heard stories. Something big and fast in the forest that sometimes stalks in the dark and attacks villages. Farmer Pyke reckons he’s lost a few sheep to the beast over the years. No one can describe it, though.”
“What if I were to tell you that I have seen it? That my very purpose here in the woods is to return to Brune with the head of the beast?”
Sam scanned the birch trees, “What does it look like?”
Trevis leaned in as if sharing a secret no one should hear, “It’s a cat of sorts. You’ve seen cats on farms, no doubt. Well, this is no farmyard kitten unless it was weaned on darkness itself until swollen beyond nature’s comfort. This is the largest, most blood-chilling demon of a cat you could imagine. Bigger than you or me, fur matted with mud and so much dried blood so you couldn’t suppose its true color. Camouflage. It’s clever, easily your match I’d wager. Its eyes are evil, curled into bright crescents that open large enough to fall into, if you could miss its mouth. A massive maw, huge and hot, all pink, yellow with white spume flying from the curves of its teeth. And the claws, each one a ferocious beast of its own.”
“Sometimes I feel it’s a miracle that I am here to share my findings. If I was without this, I would be dead for sure.”
Well I tried running this through the decoder program with no luck; nonsense with all of the codes unfortunately. I think we might be missing another steganographic code? Or else I’m doing something wrong.
Sorry, again still a newbie so trying to keep up with everything, which codes are being run at the moment? I’ve found the ones suggested in the Age of Magiq, are there any others?
Right now we’re using a book cipher based on the chapters we’re getting from Reader, and the numeric codes we got from steganography analysis of some images on Fletcher Dawson’s site (those codes can be found in the same thread where Reader is posting chapters). So far we’ve been able to decode two legible messages by using this decoder. Pasting in the transcribed chapter text, including the title and decisions/instructions at the end, and one of the numeric codes, should spit out a message.
Did you do any prep with the text to put them through the decoder? I have a bit of decoding experience but not with book ciphers and I’m struggling to replicate
I can’t believe it, but I figured it out, Briars. There was a single missing word and it was mucking up the entire decryption. Kudos to you, @Heather for only missing one, that’s no small feat.
I re-transcribed the pages, then compared Heather’s document with mine, and while I’d missed a half-dozen words, Heatherh had only missed one in an admittedly strange turn of phrase:
I can observe the comings and goings of the forest wilderfolk with no suspicion of discovery, so convincing is its casing, and you, Larkfield, have the honor of not only witnessing my majestic Hide but also OF freeing its captive!
With that new document, I plugged in the numbers from the chronocompass image:
Based on what we’re hearing from Reader, it seems like there is something else that we should do with the Trevis chapter. And we only got four lines of the poem rather than the eight that we received for the other chapters. Do either of these code sets work with this chapter?
Feel like I’m being a bit silly but I can’t seem to decrypt things correctly. I’ve tried removing characters, removing characters and replacing with spaces, the regular text and nothing is spitting out the same things as others are getting So I’d love to check but for some reason I can’t get it working!
Yup, all that goes over my head. We play to our strengths. We learn those strengths by reading, watching, asking questions, re-reading, making suggestions, re-re-reading. Then mix it all up and repeat in another order!
Maybe the next time someone who can run the book ciphers is on the forum, they can explain the process to me in easy steps like I am five. I couldn’t get anything legible out of the dcode site at https://www.dcode.fr/book-cipher
YES! Thank you, @Endri. So, I was universally leaving the chapter number in each time I tried to replicate the cipher output. I entered the Trevis chapter without the chapter number and the code found in the key picture on Fletcher Dawson’s website and got this:
To my own chapter I’m rebound and all that I hold dear
And what was lost is now refound and will be every year
(I’m going to go back to Fletcher Dawson’s page to see why I ended up with that extra R at the beginning of the first passage and a missing R at the end of the second passage.)
What’s the likelihood that the author is the Cagliostro? The dawn of Imbolc was when he disappeared, presumed dead. And we know Cagliostro isn’t his real name so it could count for his nom de plume (pen name).
I just checked a hunch and Sullivan literally means “hawk-eyed,” which:
A) Lays that theory to rest, and,
B) Could that possibly be a hint to figure out the nom de plume “clue”? A nom de plume is specifically a pen name, so I still think we’re looking for someone authorial like Fletcher Dawson or actually Fletcher Dawson.
Does anyone see an ask in this poem? Something that we need to do? I’ve been playing around on the fletcherdawson.com website and doing things like adding /fletcherdawson to various web pages or searching on #fletcherdawson in social media, but I haven’t found anything relevant, yet.
Also for the ‘Fletcher’ bit. What has the author been doing all this time if not pointing out where people should go and what they can do. Sounds like a maker of arrows to me.
Wow you disappear to do some diss writing for a bit and come back to so much I’m still catching up on older narratives and so it may be nothing, but I felt it was interesting, so figured I’d share it: I have been levelled up in the forum and received a message from a Saberlane from Ebenguard congratulating me on moving up a trust level which I assume is a normal occurance and I’m just overthinking something but people are using “was” and talking about contacting the husband so… I’m a little freaked
Having now read up on Saberlane… I’m thinking this has to be something… No posts since Feb 2020 and still disappeared as of May 2020 and now messaging us newbies with a welcome?
Definitely worth a shot, you never know whats important and what isn’t.
If you’re still wondering, that’s more or less been the standard W.E.L.L. Since we’ve gained access to it.
In the beginning it really didn’t like when I tried to access things on mobile, but is definitely fine now, so maybe something like that skewed things for you?
I got it, too. It showed up around the same time that Reader posted the page with the watermarked symbol in the background (that only appears on the photo and not the actual paper page). It looks kind of like a Captcha backwards lowercase letter h to me?
A little peek down the Omniglot rabbit-hole isn’t helping much. This shape appears in too many alphabets, including Mongolian. If it is a backwards lower-case ‘h’, it’s notable that the arch goes below the line that the upright would be on.
There is also, as we know, a pretty high probability that this is one of several pieces, and we may not be able to tell what this is until we see more of the rest.
True. And if we had enough time for to begin trying to solve it, I hope it would be the progress bar as in previous mystifications
Not sure I’m adding anything new here, just sharing my thoughts in case it triggers something for others…
I can’t help but think that it looks like a homemade printer’s font. The edges are rough, not smooth like something made electronically.
Now, when those were made, they were reversed, so the inked image would be the right way forward.
So this feels like either an image “of” the stamp… or a mirror image of a printed image… “through the glass seen darkly”… maybe a mirror image like Alice through the Looking Glass.
If that’s the case… it could be a 4 or an h rotated… the alchemical symbols for jupiter and saturn are also similar. @Lexington’s description took me down the road of alchemical symbols… maybe a variation on lead…
Like you say, there is likely more to be found…
Holy thinking of it as a mirror image has to be part of the key to figure it out!
I’m going to hold on tight to the alchemy idea.
So I’m doing some research now, but my gut instinct is telling me that this is a rune of some kind. I swear I’ve seen it before I just cannot for the life of me remember where.
Edit: so far no luck finding a match. still incredibly odd how familiar it looks though
If you tilt your head to the left it could be a backwards lower case ‘h’ I suppose. Or maybe it represents one of the constellations. Been a while since I’ve looked at them.
I’m not sure if you were talking about the Fletcher constellations (Phase 3) or real world ones, but it does ressemble the top of Gladitor. However, i think there’s something else going on, and I think the reversed lower-case “h” is more likely.
Either sound likely Saberlane lost their memories for a time, right? Not sure if that will have anything to do with anything but figured I’d mention the memory link
Well I picked a hell of a time to wake up from hibernation.
Can the symbol be a rune, or some version of it? It is v similar to some Nordic/viking runes, but no matches. I’m not familiar enough with runic alphabets. Three strokes, or two, depending on how you count them–it doesn’t seem like a tally mark of any kind.
Can’t wait to see what memories we find. Hopefully wherever I left my sketchbook is one of them.
I really want to call it a rune too @Cirydae, but haven’t been able to connect it to any known languages (I haven’t checked against anything possibly copyrighted though).
I was buying more plants secretly while Spouse was sleeping and I saw that the symbol for Saturn is similar to the first mystification. Magic Essences from Alchemy Works
79 Comments
2.8
Trevis
THE TREE STUMP stood a few feet away from the cobbles, centered within a thick carpet of shin-high ferns. Sam estimated the number of paces it would take to reach the stump and reasoned it could be classified as only a slight deviation from the “stay on the cobbles” rule. Barely a violation at all.
Reasoning sufficiently checked, Sam waded through the ferns to the wiggling hand. The closer he got to the stump, the less natural it looked. It was actually a couple of cider barrels stacked up on top of each other and wrapped in strips of oak bark. Brin was equally unimpressed. He gave it a cursory glance, attempted to lick the waggling fingers, and then briefly cocked a leg before losing himself in the ferns.
Fingers disappeared inside the slot, and the voice returned, calmer now, “Quickly. Round the back, please, slide the bark up.”
Sam followed orders. The panel at the back of the trunk was stiff, but with a good grip, Sam worked it awkwardly upward. The stench of body odor hit Sam’s face like a pungent fog. Sam backed away, allowing a crumpled figure to emerge from the smelly wooden cocoon.
The man, far too tall for such a confined space, unfurled himself with joyful relief. He reveled in each extended joint pop as the blood flowed back into his extremities. Smoothing his hands over a sweat-soaked woolen shirt and shorts, he then produced a damp, crumpled handkerchief to carefully smear steam from his glasses. He replaced the spectacles gingerly to not dislodge the bandage wrapped around his forehead and left ear.
Brin bounded over for a sniff of this new character. The application of cold, wet nose to sensitive back of knee shocked the freed prisoner from his preening.
“You, young rescuer. What’s your name?”
The stranger’s voice had a quality reminiscent of Mrs. Crane’s new tyrannical personality and demanded a swift reply. “Sam Larkfield, Sir. May I asked what you were doing in there?”
“This, my dear liberator, I call Bark Hide,” he said, carefully patting the bark. “A fine construction, to be sure, you must agree. Within its confines, I can observe the comings and goings of the forest wilderfolk with no suspicion of discovery, so convincing is its casing, and you, Larkfield, have the honor of not only witnessing my majestic Hide but also freeing its captive! Allow me to properly introduce myself. You are in the presence of the one and only Trevis Persainne, court-appointed Hunter of Brune. At your service.”
“Which court?” asked Sam.
“Well… Brune, of course.” Trevis came in low to meet Sam’s eye level. “Not overly bright, are you? Stout of heart, though. An admirable quality. Take care that it doesn’t rule your head. Heed these words, for they are as wise as the man who waits to plant his wheat seed in tilled soil.”
Trevis then patted Sam on the head and stood upright to peruse his surroundings.
“Surely, you’ve been told you shouldn’t stray from the cobbles, hmm?”
His words were confusing. Is this gratitude or a telling-off? Trevis seemed to read the confusion in Sam’s expression and smiled. “Fear not, young one. You did a great thing here today. I am briefly indebted to you. Which means, of course, you shall not leave here unrewarded. Join me at my camp. It’s not far from here.”
Trevis gestured deeper into the woods. “Come, let’s close up Bark Hide and have some tea. I am parched. At my side, Larkfield!”
TRUE TO HIS WORD, Camp Persainne lay only a few trees away from Bark Hide. Sam could easily make his way back to the path after his reward. Trevis insisted on a cup of tea before he would even contemplate doing anything else, but fortunately, he was an experienced camper and had a small pan of water boiling over a fire in no time.
“Tell me, Larkfield, what do you know of the beast of Bluebell Copse?” said Trevis as he took his first tentative sip of piping tea.
“I’ve heard stories. Something big and fast in the forest that sometimes stalks in the dark and attacks villages. Farmer Pyke reckons he’s lost a few sheep to the beast over the years. No one can describe it, though.”
“What if I were to tell you that I have seen it? That my very purpose here in the woods is to return to Brune with the head of the beast?”
Sam scanned the birch trees, “What does it look like?”
Trevis leaned in as if sharing a secret no one should hear, “It’s a cat of sorts. You’ve seen cats on farms, no doubt. Well, this is no farmyard kitten unless it was weaned on darkness itself until swollen beyond nature’s comfort. This is the largest, most blood-chilling demon of a cat you could imagine. Bigger than you or me, fur matted with mud and so much dried blood so you couldn’t suppose its true color. Camouflage. It’s clever, easily your match I’d wager. Its eyes are evil, curled into bright crescents that open large enough to fall into, if you could miss its mouth. A massive maw, huge and hot, all pink, yellow with white spume flying from the curves of its teeth. And the claws, each one a ferocious beast of its own.”
“Sometimes I feel it’s a miracle that I am here to share my findings. If I was without this, I would be dead for sure.”
TURN TO SECTION 2.9
FoDG 2.8.docx (15.0 KB)
Well I tried running this through the decoder program with no luck; nonsense with all of the codes unfortunately. I think we might be missing another steganographic code? Or else I’m doing something wrong.
Sorry, again still a newbie so trying to keep up with everything, which codes are being run at the moment? I’ve found the ones suggested in the Age of Magiq, are there any others?
No need to apologize!
Right now we’re using a book cipher based on the chapters we’re getting from Reader, and the numeric codes we got from steganography analysis of some images on Fletcher Dawson’s site (those codes can be found in the same thread where Reader is posting chapters). So far we’ve been able to decode two legible messages by using this decoder. Pasting in the transcribed chapter text, including the title and decisions/instructions at the end, and one of the numeric codes, should spit out a message.
Cool, that’s what I figured but wanted to double check c:
Did you do any prep with the text to put them through the decoder? I have a bit of decoding experience but not with book ciphers
and I’m struggling to replicate
Here is a document of the codes we’ve found, so far. The first is from the W.E.L.L. and the others are from http://www.fletcherdawson.com/98dgg0art/ Numbers.docx (13.1 KB)
Fab! Thanks!
I can’t believe it, but I figured it out, Briars. There was a single missing word and it was mucking up the entire decryption. Kudos to you, @Heather for only missing one, that’s no small feat.
I re-transcribed the pages, then compared Heather’s document with mine, and while I’d missed a half-dozen words, Heatherh had only missed one in an admittedly strange turn of phrase:
With that new document, I plugged in the numbers from the chronocompass image:
146, 91, 138, 166, 257, 273, 544, 206, 269, 910, 888, 815, 162, 212, 602, 729, 484, 37, 818, 45, 783, 903, 388, 125, 671, 602, 95, 461, 142, 772, 839, 630, 550, 854, 644, 701, 114, 604, 671, 90, 594, 690, 877, 220, 221, 659, 423, 458, 231, 282, 554, 258, 449, 770, 808, 316, 566, 600, 730, 722, 724, 180, 151, 446, 179, 107, 718, 444, 741, 161, 687, 23, 394, 784, 671, 508, 855, 219, 398, 861, 854, 807, 221, 643, 495
And got:
BUTWHENTHEAUTUMNWINDSCALLMEANDMAGICFALLSASLEEPTHENIRETURNPOSTHUMOUSLYTHEONLYTIMEIKEEP
or
Which very much seems like the next line in the poem.
Sorry, everyone! And thank you, @Endri!
FoDG 2.8.docx (14.6 KB)
Mistakes like that are super easy to make! Don’t worry about it
You did so well! Its just a single word missed, nothing to apologize for
Based on what we’re hearing from Reader, it seems like there is something else that we should do with the Trevis chapter. And we only got four lines of the poem rather than the eight that we received for the other chapters. Do either of these code sets work with this chapter?
Key
258, 266, 815, 734, 339, 153, 336, 422, 107, 377, 42, 577, 343, 910, 716, 738, 72, 868, 258, 878, 886, 749, 220, 582, 497, 321, 647, 49, 216, 14, 607, 307, 804, 719, 480, 637, 675, 241, 353, 94, 362, 53, 613, 79, 941, 898, 568, 336, 858, 774, 868, 779, 139, 449, 9, 93, 134, 863, 429, 663, 588, 366, 182, 865, 191, 378, 142, 564, 679, 174, 717, 6, 139, 647, 890, 559, 79, 280, 670, 865, 449, 410, 824, 151, 924, 196
Ant and caterpillow
265, 96, 602, 837, 726, 166, 784, 88, 762, 43, 186, 205, 95, 716, 778, 863, 716, 861, 765, 369, 107, 282, 45, 190, 805, 732, 314, 330, 611, 2, 213, 657, 627, 809, 580, 660, 272, 325, 548, 196, 430, 32, 191, 800, 343, 484, 472, 97, 135, 811, 894, 181, 344, 915, 501, 531, 858, 745, 289, 660, 522, 144, 870, 183, 235, 91, 800, 382, 334, 451, 801, 811, 864, 450, 588, 401, 23, 449, 695, 106, 716, 431, 862, 540, 414
Feel like I’m being a bit silly but I can’t seem to decrypt things correctly. I’ve tried removing characters, removing characters and replacing with spaces, the regular text and nothing is spitting out the same things as others are getting
So I’d love to check but for some reason I can’t get it working!
I have the same problem, @Kitkat. I can’t make the book ciphers work.
Yup, all that goes over my head. We play to our strengths. We learn those strengths by reading, watching, asking questions, re-reading, making suggestions, re-re-reading. Then mix it all up and repeat in another order!
Maybe the next time someone who can run the book ciphers is on the forum, they can explain the process to me in easy steps like I am five. I couldn’t get anything legible out of the dcode site at https://www.dcode.fr/book-cipher
YES! Thank you, @Endri. So, I was universally leaving the chapter number in each time I tried to replicate the cipher output. I entered the Trevis chapter without the chapter number and the code found in the key picture on Fletcher Dawson’s website and got this:
RBUTIFYOUWONDERWHEREIVEGONEORWHYILACKATOMBANDWHYILEAVEATIMBOLCSDAWNYOUHAVEMYNOMDEPLUME
But if you wonder where I’ve gone or why I lack a tomb
And why I leave at Imbolc’s dawn you have my nom de plume
Then, I entered the code from the Ant and the Caterpillow page on Fletcher Dawson’s site and got
TOMYOWNCHAPTERIMREBOUNDANDALLTHATIHOLDDEARANDWHATWASLOSTISNOWREFOUNDANDWILLBEEVERYYEA
To my own chapter I’m rebound and all that I hold dear
And what was lost is now refound and will be every year
(I’m going to go back to Fletcher Dawson’s page to see why I ended up with that extra R at the beginning of the first passage and a missing R at the end of the second passage.)
Maybe the R is to help us get the lines of the poem in the correct order?
Maybe like…
Writing from my lonely tower
Unmoored from history
I shed the fear of passing hour
For time cannot find me
I am unlocked, I am unwound
Not pinned to any Age
I see all time as chapters bound
And turn them like a page
It’s how I met the hawkeyed man
Where none of us belonged
And helped him make a child a fan
To right what had been wronged
I choose to not sit idly
A gudgeon of the fates
I edit time and history
To aid the eighteen gates
But when the autumn winds call me
And magic falls asleep
Then I return posthumously
The only time I keep
To my own chapter I’m rebound
And all that I hold dear
And what was lost is now refound
And will be every year
But if you wonder where I’ve gone
Or why I lack a tomb
And why I leave at Imbolc’s dawn
You have my nom de plume
It’s interesting that he seems to be active during the lower magic period of the year?
“Fletcher” means someone who makes arrows, and “Dawson” is Welsh for “Son of David,” so I don’t know if the “nom de plume” itself is a clue.
Might be when whatever magic keeps him trapped is at its weakest so it’s easier for him to communicate and mess with time then.
That makes sense
What’s the likelihood that the author is the Cagliostro? The dawn of Imbolc was when he disappeared, presumed dead. And we know Cagliostro isn’t his real name so it could count for his nom de plume (pen name).
That definitely lines up, you just might be right about that.
I like that, but Lauren became the Cagliostro, which makes me feel like the body of the former is gone.
LaurenCag could be coming back, but I also feel like that identify (or Lauren for that matter) cares enough to meddle like this.
EDIT to add: Now that you mention it, I can see her coming back since she’s been gone for a while and didn’t she help with the leylines a bit ago?
The body may be gone, but this person sounds like they’re trapped in a book so no body needed?
Ohhhhh, right.
I just checked a hunch and Sullivan literally means “hawk-eyed,” which:
A) Lays that theory to rest, and,
B) Could that possibly be a hint to figure out the nom de plume “clue”? A nom de plume is specifically a pen name, so I still think we’re looking for someone authorial like Fletcher Dawson or actually Fletcher Dawson.
Does anyone see an ask in this poem? Something that we need to do? I’ve been playing around on the fletcherdawson.com website and doing things like adding /fletcherdawson to various web pages or searching on #fletcherdawson in social media, but I haven’t found anything relevant, yet.
In my experience with the magimystic, there’s seldom an outright “ask” but I think the last line is nudging us to do something.
Random thought. What leaves at Imbolcs dawn? Imbolc is the first of spring? So maybe winter leaves then? Maybe a writer with last name winter?
Edit: Yeah…it’s probably not that. I now get they were referring to the close of the ‘downtime’ in magic. I got nothing.
You know I’m just throwing an idea out but Saberlane? He was having “memories of the future” where his mind was healed before he disappeared.
Because sometimes all you can think to do is type random words into a search bar.
Searching for ‘David’ in our own forum.
From A Message from Saberlane’s Husband
100% rooting for the theory that Fletcher is Saberlane!
Do we think we can reach out to Saberlanes husband and see if he knows about Saberlane using any pen names?
Also 100% there for the theory that FD is Saberlane and that there may be some way to bring him back to his family.
He also closed with
It’s as good of a lead as any.
Also for the ‘Fletcher’ bit. What has the author been doing all this time if not pointing out where people should go and what they can do. Sounds like a maker of arrows to me.
Yeah, that’s all I’ve got. How do we contact Sabe’s husband?
Great work, @Robert.
Saberlane was also an Ebenguard. Arrows all around.
This is just… wow. Wow.
Wow you disappear to do some diss writing for a bit and come back to so much
I’m still catching up on older narratives and so it may be nothing, but I felt it was interesting, so figured I’d share it: I have been levelled up in the forum and received a message from a Saberlane from Ebenguard congratulating me on moving up a trust level which I assume is a normal occurance and I’m just overthinking something but people are using “was” and talking about contacting the husband so… I’m a little freaked
You know… I got a similar message recently and it didn’t register until you said something…
Having now read up on Saberlane… I’m thinking this has to be something… No posts since Feb 2020 and still disappeared as of May 2020 and now messaging us newbies with a welcome?
Wish that were true. Unfortunately, I just checked, and those are automated messages Saberlane set up in 2019.
Oh man… Well, it was worth a shot I suppose ?
Definitely worth a shot, you never know whats important and what isn’t.
If you’re still wondering, that’s more or less been the standard W.E.L.L. Since we’ve gained access to it.
In the beginning it really didn’t like when I tried to access things on mobile, but is definitely fine now, so maybe something like that skewed things for you?
Do you think we could be training it, like Eaves and crew with Lion’s Heart?
100%
No question that it’s learning.
Uh, anyone else seen this yet?
I just got the last part of the BoB in my email.
I got it, too. It showed up around the same time that Reader posted the page with the watermarked symbol in the background (that only appears on the photo and not the actual paper page). It looks kind of like a Captcha backwards lowercase letter h to me?
Just in case it’s necessary, I’ve removed the text in front of the symbol
It looks like a Hebrew letter.
EDIT: it’s not Hebrew. But if it’s an English letter, it’s been added using a very interesting type face.
Do we have any records of font families used by AG books?
A little peek down the Omniglot rabbit-hole isn’t helping much. This shape appears in too many alphabets, including Mongolian. If it is a backwards lower-case ‘h’, it’s notable that the arch goes below the line that the upright would be on.
There is also, as we know, a pretty high probability that this is one of several pieces, and we may not be able to tell what this is until we see more of the rest.
True. And if we had enough time for to begin trying to solve it, I hope it would be the progress bar as in previous mystifications
Not sure I’m adding anything new here, just sharing my thoughts in case it triggers something for others…
I can’t help but think that it looks like a homemade printer’s font. The edges are rough, not smooth like something made electronically.
Now, when those were made, they were reversed, so the inked image would be the right way forward.
So this feels like either an image “of” the stamp… or a mirror image of a printed image… “through the glass seen darkly”… maybe a mirror image like Alice through the Looking Glass.
If that’s the case… it could be a 4 or an h rotated… the alchemical symbols for jupiter and saturn are also similar. @Lexington’s description took me down the road of alchemical symbols… maybe a variation on lead…
Like you say, there is likely more to be found…
Holy
thinking of it as a mirror image has to be part of the key to figure it out!
I’m going to hold on tight to the alchemy idea.
So I’m doing some research now, but my gut instinct is telling me that this is a rune of some kind. I swear I’ve seen it before I just cannot for the life of me remember where.
Edit: so far no luck finding a match. still incredibly odd how familiar it looks though
I have the same haunting feeling that I’ve seen it somewhere before too.
Its so strong as well, like I can almost picture where I’ve seen it, but its just out of reach
Ohhh, an h! I thought it looked like an upside-down rearview mirror from a truck or something.
It’s definitely a character of some kind. Check the Mystifications page on The W.E.L.L.
If you tilt your head to the left it could be a backwards lower case ‘h’ I suppose. Or maybe it represents one of the constellations. Been a while since I’ve looked at them.
I’m not sure if you were talking about the Fletcher constellations (Phase 3) or real world ones, but it does ressemble the top of Gladitor. However, i think there’s something else going on, and I think the reversed lower-case “h” is more likely.
Playing with the new mystification.
Sadly, I wasn’t chosen to receive the new chapter of the BoB, so I am living vicariously through the rest of you.
There is a similarity to the Chinese character for li (strength/power) but it’s not quite right and backward.
Hey! Are there more categories here than there were previously or am I losing it?! (Thanks, job. Thanks a lot.)
Whoah, whoah whoah, @Heather’s right.
“Found Memories” is new.
Oop you’re right
Good find @Heather
That’s what I get for posting while at work
Yep that’s definitely new! I even went back and double checked pictures shared in chapter 1
Found memories is empty currently tho
I guess the WELL is anticipating finding someone’s memories in the future, or it’s found some and is currently working on making them visible to us.
Either sound likely
Saberlane lost their memories for a time, right? Not sure if that will have anything to do with anything but figured I’d mention the memory link
Well I picked a hell of a time to wake up from hibernation.
Can the symbol be a rune, or some version of it? It is v similar to some Nordic/viking runes, but no matches. I’m not familiar enough with runic alphabets. Three strokes, or two, depending on how you count them–it doesn’t seem like a tally mark of any kind.
Can’t wait to see what memories we find. Hopefully wherever I left my sketchbook is one of them.
I really want to call it a rune too @Cirydae, but haven’t been able to connect it to any known languages (I haven’t checked against anything possibly copyrighted though).
Enjoy catching up from your hibernation!
Just thought I’d point out that it isn’t too far from this, either: Gladitor. Missing the crosspiece, but otherwise …
I was buying more plants secretly while Spouse was sleeping and I saw that the symbol for Saturn is similar to the first mystification. Magic Essences from Alchemy Works