The Crux of the Matter

[Rystil Arden]

(OOC: Nope, he still goes into a trance)

 

[Bront]

OOC: Doh' No levels for the weary then

 

[Rystil Arden]

"Are you thinking its a cipher, Mister Ashnar?" Laynie asks, peeking over to watch him looking at the translation (and then offering the other fancier translation that I put first, I guess--I keep forgetting that no one speaks the language, so she'd have to have offered that one, since the literal translation is what she's written on the page).

 

[Velmont]

"We are trying to solve that cypher... if it is one... without knowing what use it has. What do you think it will give? As far as we know, it could also simply be a password to open that sealed door upstair..." tells Rinaldo, who is thinking about that.

Hogarth just listen and stay on guard, looking around, as all this seems madly difficult to his simple mind.

[SBLOCK=OOC]I feel dumb... maybe it's just because English is a second language, so when it comes to words, it is harder to think about it. I had to search in teh dictionnary what Swarthy mean. That acid pit in M4 was a nicer challenge for me, it was so easy to find a safe way to cross it... oh well, it will practice my English.[/SBLOCK]

 

[Rystil Arden]

(OOC: I will reiterate that the book is not required to successfully complete the adventure. Which means that if that seal is important (and it seems it is), the book won't give the password for it)

 

[Rystil Arden]

"Maybe...I don't know. I tried all the simplest letter substitution ciphers and shift-forward ciphers in the back of my head while I was translating it so I wouldn't be bored, but I didn't get anywhere. If it is a cipher, it's either a complicated one with a pattern we're supposed to guess or else the pattern of the cipher is seemingly-random but hidden somewhere too and we're supposed to find it and then use it to solve the cipher. Of course, maybe it isn't even a cipher," Laynie ponders.

 

[Erekose13]

"Could it perhaps be an allusion to someone in particular, a person, rather than a riddle? Sworn, someone sworn is someone who is oath bound to something or someone. Swarthy is well, swarthy, of dark or weather-beaten complexion. Sophisticate is usually someone who is sophisticated or well spoken, travelled and cultured. However, it can also mean someone corrupts, makes impure or false. Were there any portraits around the library or the tower that seemed unimportant? or perhaps a passage in the book Laynie?" offers Tenebrynn, having managed to hold his form for a the moment.

 

[Rystil Arden]

"I didn't see anything like that in the book, really, but hey--maybe it is in the library. Ooo, can I check the books there?! You guys could keep working on it in case it is a cipher while I check!"

 

[Knight Otu]

Ashnar sadly shakes his head. "I know the books are tempting, I feel that way myself. But the large library is dangerous. Remember what Vanitri said." he says before he returns his attention to the translation.

(I'm not sure whether I understood that correctly, so - The Ancient Medibaran text has illuminated letters. These illuminated letters spell out the phrase THE SWARTHY SWORN SOPHISTICATE - in Common, or in Ancient Medibaran?)

 

[Rystil Arden]

Ashnar sadly shakes his head. "I know the books are tempting, I feel that way myself. But the large library is dangerous. Remember what Vanitri said." he says before he returns his attention to the translation.

(I'm not sure whether I understood that correctly, so - The Ancient Medibaran text has illuminated letters. These illuminated letters spell out the phrase THE SWARTHY SWORN SOPHISTICATE - in Common, or in Ancient Medibaran?)

(OOC: The illuminated Ancient Medibarian letters in the Ancient Medibarian book spell out The Swarthy Sworn Sophisticate in Common (they use generally the same lettering system as Common). The translation I gave first might be what is confusing because I wrote it out in English with the Ancient Medibarian first letters preserved. I should have just written incomprehensible gibberish starting with the letters 'T' 'S' 'S' 'S' 'S', but I figured you wanted something useful, so I had Laynie give a paraphrased translation that preserved the first letters. The direct Common translation that gives the gibberish line KDAAKQQLLTORCVKKPLSLJNVOHKN is the one I wrote in the second post)