Quest 252
[Private || Hackable by Friends]
Symbols and pictures. I ought to have suspected something like this, really; it isn't like first spellbook in any other way, so why should it have words and instructions like that one? Ugh, that's no help at all. There's nothing to read and nothing to follow, which means I've nothing to study to learn how to cast the spells in the first place. I know it's magic, and Dr. Argento and Miss Philomena said as much themselves, but how can I work a spell if I don't know how to work it in the first place?
And especially so with this sort of spell. A transformative spell, changing one thing into another. And I've seen before what happens when spells go wrong. The last thing I want is to ruin a spell like this--who knows what I might turn into? I might end up stuck...or worse, stuck halfway between, with no way of getting back to either form. Ugh, and isn't that a terrifying thought?
It's not the same as just putting on a crown and taking it off again. My little crown makes things easy enough, and I always know how to get back out of it again. But I don't know anything about this sort, and I can't read the spellbook that might be able to help me. Drat it all.
It must be something to do with the pictures, though. I first found my scrap of a spell in a book of runes, when I was looking up magical symbols for Cain. And then I found the book itself when I went looking for alchemical symbols--pictures again. And now there aren't any words in the whole of the book, just symbols and pictures I can't read. So it must be that, because what else could it be?
It's a puzzle, whatever it is.
How does one make magic from a picture? Could it be that I have to draw it? My old spells called for waving the magic wand to complete the magic, so perhaps this one needs to be drawn with magic? Runes aren't any good unless they're drawn, after all--that's how they work in the first place. So perhaps this one is the same. I'll have to try that, I suppose, someday when things are quiet.
And I'll have to tell someone, too. I haven't forgotten all the trouble I got myself into the other time, not telling anyone where I was going before I tried something like this. I'll have to make certain to tell someone, and have a plan of what to do if I get myself into trouble along the way. That'll take some careful thought itself, I should think.
Oh, but speaking of going and thinking, I'd best be off. I'm late enough as it is, and the lake is as good a spot as any for pondering, isn't it?
[/Private]
[Accidental Voice Post]
[The snowy weather may be tapering off, but there's still plenty of it on the ground, which would explain the muffled crunching of footsteps through fallen snow that begins the audio. Fabric whispers over the microphone, most likely from the pocket the device has been slipped into; by all accounts, it's fairly clear that this recording is an accidental one. The noises continue for a short while, then slowly fade into silence--which makes way for the faint sound of water somewhere nearby to come through.]
Hello, Ellington. It's certainly been a while, hasn't it? I'm sorry I haven't come to visit you more often. I'll be better about it when it's not so cold out, I promise.
[Fabric rustles again, and the device clicks against something solid.]
You're all right, though, aren't you?
[Silence and waves.]
I'm all right, too.
[More rustling, as hands slip into pockets, shuffling for something or another, and then a moment later a match strikes. A beat passes, and then a short whistle of breath follows, presumably to blow the flame out.]
I still don't know how many it ought to be, you know. But even if I did, I don't think I would've been able to find that many candles for it, anyway, much less fit them all on.
[A soft laugh, another rustle, and then a piccolo gently pipes out the notes to "Happy Birthday", which seem to drift in the chilly air until, just before the last note is played--the audio ends.]
Symbols and pictures. I ought to have suspected something like this, really; it isn't like first spellbook in any other way, so why should it have words and instructions like that one? Ugh, that's no help at all. There's nothing to read and nothing to follow, which means I've nothing to study to learn how to cast the spells in the first place. I know it's magic, and Dr. Argento and Miss Philomena said as much themselves, but how can I work a spell if I don't know how to work it in the first place?
And especially so with this sort of spell. A transformative spell, changing one thing into another. And I've seen before what happens when spells go wrong. The last thing I want is to ruin a spell like this--who knows what I might turn into? I might end up stuck...or worse, stuck halfway between, with no way of getting back to either form. Ugh, and isn't that a terrifying thought?
It's not the same as just putting on a crown and taking it off again. My little crown makes things easy enough, and I always know how to get back out of it again. But I don't know anything about this sort, and I can't read the spellbook that might be able to help me. Drat it all.
It must be something to do with the pictures, though. I first found my scrap of a spell in a book of runes, when I was looking up magical symbols for Cain. And then I found the book itself when I went looking for alchemical symbols--pictures again. And now there aren't any words in the whole of the book, just symbols and pictures I can't read. So it must be that, because what else could it be?
It's a puzzle, whatever it is.
How does one make magic from a picture? Could it be that I have to draw it? My old spells called for waving the magic wand to complete the magic, so perhaps this one needs to be drawn with magic? Runes aren't any good unless they're drawn, after all--that's how they work in the first place. So perhaps this one is the same. I'll have to try that, I suppose, someday when things are quiet.
And I'll have to tell someone, too. I haven't forgotten all the trouble I got myself into the other time, not telling anyone where I was going before I tried something like this. I'll have to make certain to tell someone, and have a plan of what to do if I get myself into trouble along the way. That'll take some careful thought itself, I should think.
Oh, but speaking of going and thinking, I'd best be off. I'm late enough as it is, and the lake is as good a spot as any for pondering, isn't it?
[/Private]
[Accidental Voice Post]
[The snowy weather may be tapering off, but there's still plenty of it on the ground, which would explain the muffled crunching of footsteps through fallen snow that begins the audio. Fabric whispers over the microphone, most likely from the pocket the device has been slipped into; by all accounts, it's fairly clear that this recording is an accidental one. The noises continue for a short while, then slowly fade into silence--which makes way for the faint sound of water somewhere nearby to come through.]
Hello, Ellington. It's certainly been a while, hasn't it? I'm sorry I haven't come to visit you more often. I'll be better about it when it's not so cold out, I promise.
[Fabric rustles again, and the device clicks against something solid.]
You're all right, though, aren't you?
[Silence and waves.]
I'm all right, too.
[More rustling, as hands slip into pockets, shuffling for something or another, and then a moment later a match strikes. A beat passes, and then a short whistle of breath follows, presumably to blow the flame out.]
I still don't know how many it ought to be, you know. But even if I did, I don't think I would've been able to find that many candles for it, anyway, much less fit them all on.
[A soft laugh, another rustle, and then a piccolo gently pipes out the notes to "Happy Birthday", which seem to drift in the chilly air until, just before the last note is played--the audio ends.]