Meanwhile, Andrei continues feverishly making notes in his pad, appearing to the others to be repeatedly noting down random letters from the Pnakotic Manuscripts. For a long time his notes appear to be gibberish, but eventually a pattern emerges, and a grin spreads across the Russian’s face.
OOC Info For All,[color=#FF0000][u][b]OOC:[/b][/u][/color]
Here’s a copy of the PM that I previous sent Coffee Demon– in order to give context to this post:
[quote="Raiko"]
[quote="coffee demon"][b]Andrei [/b]sits at a table and stares at the folder, sweating.
[i][color=#8080BF]The curse he talked about, the Guardian... funny, I would have laughed that off three weeks ago. But now... Maybe I already released it, at the Carlyle Mansion. Maybe that's what attacked us on the street last night.[/color][/i]
He scratches the back of his neck roughly.
[color=#8080BF]
[i]But, I have to learn more if we're going to escape this madness. If they can assault our very dreams, well, guns aren't going to do any good. I need to be brave about this...[/i][/color]
[b]Andrei [/b]throws a hurried glance over his shoulder, positive that he feels something watching him.
[color=#800080]"To hell with you"[/color], he mumbles to himself, and opens the folder. [i][OC: If nothing immediately happens][/i]: [b]Andrei [/b]greedily scans the folder, looking for any diagrams or English/French/Russian text that seems important or familiar.[/quote]
At first [b]Andrei [/b]is extremely disappointed - this photostatic copy is useless. Although it still contains most of the pages of curious dot-glyph cipher text, that [b]Professor Fiennes[/b] guy has removed most of the useful translations. [b]Andrei's [/b]own brief notes that he made from [b]Roger Carlyle's [/b]copy are more complete.
Then he notices that someone - [i]Fiennes?[/i] - has circled or underlined various individual letters and numbers throughout the tome.[/quote]
The photo-static paper is quite faded and so Andrei cannot recognise every marked character in the book, but Professor Fiennes appears to have underlined one character and circled one character on each page of one section of the book. Taken in isolation the marked characters do not appear meaningful, but when Andrei uses the underlined characters as an offset from the circled characters, and counts to locate a third character on each page – he pieces together the following fragmented message.
Unfortunately it is impossible to decipher the missing characters, although their meaning can certainly be derived from the rest of the text.
Professor Fiennes wrote:The Bro*herh*od are com*ing **r me ***. Is this t*** tru** cu*s**? Damn my ***pid*ty**I should not *av* **usted *a*****. *hey **ll n** get my not*s, I*have *osted the**to P.R.
OOC Info For All,[color=#FF0000][u][b]OOC: [/b][/u][/color]
Asterisks represent unidentifiable characters – some of which may be spaces or punctuation, as such characters where included in the Professor’s cipher.
He begins to walk across the room to the section he was looking for, making an obvious spectacle of himself as he ponders nothing in particualr.
Professor? I was wondering if you might offer your expert opinion on the Polygraphiae Libri Sex series... I had a thought.. well more of a shadow of a thought really... but perhaps if we adapted some of the principles of polygraphy outlined in these texts to our work here with the Manuscripts, we might ne able to offer something to the study. A different angle have you Professor, but mother always says.. Problems are like scalene triangles.. Every angle is diferent if you catch my meaning Professor?
The professor seems to fall for Nethaniel's ruse, leaving the read table and crossing the room to the same corner as Nethaniel, "Ah yes Trithemius' Polygraphiae..."
While the professor is distracted, Gwen walks around the table to stand between Maksim and Andrei, she speaks in an urgent whisper, "Nethaniel thinks that we need to get Africa's Dark Sects out of here..."
"...He thought that one of you might have experience with such matters."
"I've no such skill in these matters," says Maksim with a little shrug. "However, I could attempt to convince him to leave it in your care for the duration until the cult is caught ... or perhaps in a more secure place that we might have access to?" He picks up the book and hurries after the Professor.
The Black Library – Below the British Museum, Bloomsbury, London 12:01pm – Thursday 29th January, 1925
Although engrossed in his conversation with Nethaniel regarding 16th Century cryptology, Professor Wilson notices Maksim approaching with Africa’s Dark Sects clutched in his hands, “Ah! Did you find something useful in there old chap?”
Maksim explains most of the events that have happened so far, leaving out only the stranger more supernatural details. He explains that there appears to be some connection between the Cult of the Bloody Tongue in New York and these “Egyptian Murderers” in London, a connection that appears to have cost the lives of both Jackson Elias, and also Gwen’s young assistant Alison.
He mentions the theft of another copy of Africa’s Dark Sects from the library at Harvard University, and explains to the Professor that Nethaniel is worried that the cult will return to steal this copy as well.
Professor Wilson is understandably reluctant to allow the book to leave the Museum, but eventually agrees to allow it to be taken, provided that Gwen acts as the book’s custodian. He also bravely offers sign out the book in his own name, turning to Gwen he says, “It will have to be either me or you. I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about my dear, but at least this way if anything should happen to me you know that they’re onto us.”
He won’t allow the Roman codex to be taken “It’s possibly the most valuable book in the whole museum, they’d have my head! – The trustees that is, never mind these cultists!” but he does allow Nethaniel to take the museum’s copy of the English translation – Frontier Garrison. He also says that Andrei had better take the partial copy of the Pnakotic Manuscripts, “Those notes are of little use now anyway I think, not without the pages that Fiennes removed, but if they helps you to find who’s really responsible for poor Alison’s murder, then you should take them.
Finally the Professor says that he intends to send a telegram to his friend Doctor Ali Kafour at the Egyptian Museum in Cario, “He knows more about these old occult books than any other man that I have ever met. If anyone can help you understand what these fiends want with the books, then he can.”
DSIGFUSS & Jtull,[color=#ff0000][b][u]OOC:[/u][/b][/color]
I’ll PM quick details of what you learned from the Roman book tonight.
I’ll post them into the actual forum as soon as I’ve tidied them up – I meant to write up a partially diary of some ancient goings on, but haven’t had time yet.
Suffice to say that [b]Nethaniel[/b] has found a possible connection between the fog creatures and the attacks in Derbyshire, a connection that dates back to the 2nd Century. He might need to risk collecting a book from his shop though, in order to cross reference the locations.
I’m moving everyone back to the Ritz Hotel now, please don’t post replies in this thread, unless you have a final question for Professor Wilson.
Here’s what Nethaniel and Gwen learned from Praesidia Finium, they may learn more from the translation (Frontier Garrison), particularly if Nethaniel can cross-reference with some of the books in his own collection:
Praesidia Finium,The codex [i]Praesidia Finium (Frontier Garrison)[/i] was written by [b]Lollius Urbicus[/b]. A Roman Governor at that time shared the same name, but this appears to have been written by someone else – probably either a high ranking soldier or a scholar. In either case they lived in the city of [i]Eburacum (York)[/i] eastern [i]Britannia (England)[/i] during the mid-second century AD.
The codex details many mysterious happenings during this period, particularly with regard to the [i]Legio VI Victrix (the 6th ‘Victorious’ Legion[/i]). The section that [b]Nethaniel [/b]finds most interesting dates from the winter of a year that he and [b]Gwen [/b]estimate to be around 154AD – exact translation of Roman dates to the modern calendar varies from difficult to impossible.
At that time most of the Legion were garrisoned in York, but they also spent much of their time north of [i]Vallum Hadriani (the Wall of Hadrian) [/i]working on the new defensive wall [i]Vallum Antonini (the Wall of Antonius)[/i].
The York garrison have been suffering “mysterious” nocturnal attacks, resulting in the deaths of several sentries, and the stealing / sabotage of weapons and supplies. The attacks seem ghostly in nature and mutiny is in the air amongst some of the superstitious Legionaries.
[b]Urbicus [/b]suspects that the attacks have been perpetrated by survivors of the [i]Druid cult[/i], infiltrating from [i]Caledonia (Scotland) [/i]north of the wall. He also blames the Druids and their “dark arts” for the mysterious disappearance of the [i]Legio IX Hispania [/i]two decades earlier – the 6th were moved into Britannia to replace this lost legion.
[b]Urbicus’[/b] suspicions are borne out when one of the mysterious druids is captured outside the garrison after a fresh attack. The prisoner is interrogated and, before his death, he reveals that the [i]“fog spawn” [/i]are hatched from eggs collected near an isolated hamlet in the highlands. The hamlet located “[i]North of Derventio” (a Roman Camp, in the location of modern day Derby)[/i] and [i]“West of Lindum” (Lincoln) “and the Rykneild Way” (a Roman Road)[/i]. This location would seem to tie in with the site of modern day [i]Lesser-Edale[/i], the location of attacks by the so called [b][i]“Derwent Monster.”[/i][/b]
[b]Urbicus [/b]reports that a full Cohort of Infantry (approx 500 men, roughly a tenth of a Legion) have been dispatched to the hamlet to suppress the Druids. Later he reports that the operation appears to have been initially successful – with all of cultists being either killed in battle or captured and subsequently crucified.
Several nights later however, while the moon was at its fullest, all contact with the Cohort was lost. The rest of the Legion was dispatched to investigate, and they found that the missing detachment had been slaughtered to a man, and the hamlet itself abandoned. [b]Urbicus [/b]reports that the cursed hamlet has been burned to the ground, lime strewn on all lands within a mile, and all historical record of the settlement destroyed.
