The mystery of Benfal (Moore, Tryll)

[Nephrite]

Take 10 for 65

[Anastasia]

Okay. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to go to all the Benfal threads and gather what was posted there when Cantasa Alexandria appeared. We'll do this OOC at first so we're both on the same page with precisely what Moore knows IC.

[Nephrite]

Spoiler: ShowHide

Moore/Jaela

...then if all must...

...glory everlasting...

...in the sky above...

...forty nine beautiful...



Surru:

...then if all must...

...glory everlasting...

...in the sky above...

...forty nine beautiful...

Tryll:

...at last...

...life shall not be...

...open wide, oh...

...come forth, H....



Afina did not get one.

[Anastasia]

Thanks.

You get fragments. Just snippets of things recalled, the faintest things. Forty nine...something. A beautiful...something. Someone, a name. Memories of light. Not that light. The impression that life will not be...something. Something opening, perhaps.

Just fragments, tiny bits of a whole with many pieces missing.

[Nephrite]

Moore will jot all the notes he has down and then start on finding the book -- there may be more hints in there.

[Anastasia]

How are you going to try and find it?

[Nephrite]

I thought it was just in our library. Is that not the case?

EDIT: If not, Moore will ask Tepen about it.

[Anastasia]

Okay.

You find what may be the book - firmly tucked away by itself, a roll of parchment attached. In Elder Magi Tepen's handwriting, you read the following:

This book contains anathemic knowledge. While successfully recorded within the book, the contents are forgotten within 7 days and attempts to preserve or copy the knowledge all fail. Additionally, evidence suggests that attempting to bypass this causes the knowledge to be lost faster. As of this writing I am not sure what is within, as I have forgotten since the last time I read it.

It does not appear to be harmful, but we cannot ascertain this. Read at your own risk.

[Nephrite]

Moore will take the book and then go to find a good place to read it, putting Cloud Dancer's Mask on just in case to be protected from anything mental.

[Anastasia]

The book is a plain journal, old and battered. You open it and find the pages yellowed with age. The writing is fortunately clear and easy to read, being Common without much in the way of local variance to slow down your progress.

Eternal Joy

This book is a journal recorded by Rogen Palethos, a wanderer who came to Elysium through a portal. It describes his journey through the blessed paradise and his marvels at the beauty of it all. The entries become more joyous as he succumbs to the call of Elysium, a slow and graceful decline as he finally surrenders to it. While notable for being a long and well written first hand source of Elysium's transformative properties, the main value of this book lies in the description of a being called Cantasa Alexandria.

Normally, knowledge about Cantasa Alexandria is anathemic knowledge, which is knowledge that cannot be remembered and cannot be recorded. This journal is unique in that a description of her remains unaffected by this. A direct passage from the book is included below.

"Glory the maiden of the GATE stood before me, the SEVEN-fold ONE farther than the eye's sight, glory FORTY-NINE wings each singing the music of joy, Cantasa Alexandria spoke in FORTY-NINE voices and glory said: Oh, turn aside the wicked and glory everlasting, tomorrow and hereafter and for ALL TIME AND FOREVER."

While this knowledge is successfully recorded, those that read it forget what they have read within 7 days. Attempts to record or preserve this knowledge beyond the book uniformly fail.

[Nephrite]

So what is it about this that can be successfully recorded...?

All right, then.

Moore will start to take the bits and pieces he has to try and put something together. It's entirely possible that each line doesn't go in order, or are part of the same line... but let's see...


...at last... something? The gate can be opened?

...life shall not be... something? Bound? Chained?


...then if all must... be reborn?

"Oh, turn aside the wicked and glory everlasting, tomorrow and hereafter for all time and forever"

...in the sky above... the plane? Does this line go one of the other ones?

...forty nine beautiful... voices?

...open wide, oh... Gates to Elysium?

...come forth, H.... ...note, look up anything that starts with H related to Elysium.

His next step is to see if there's anything else in the book that mentions anything that starts with 'H' and any other lines similar to the 'song'

[Anastasia]

No luck there, unfortunately. No sign of anything about songs or a notable name that starts with H.

[Nephrite]

Well, then he will do research on Elysium itself -- maybe there's a gate there that starts with that letter? That seems to be the most promising lead so far.

[Anastasia]

K:P check with the library bonus.

[Nephrite]

Take 10 for a whopping 102 If the library bonus isn't untyped then it's 87 since he's using luck and insight bonuses there.