All they say is "trust in what is written"

[secondcity_npc]

Characters: NPCs and you!
Time: Various
Location: Various
Content: Questions and answers.
Format: Poster's choice
Warnings: n/a

Comments

[becauseimboring]

"I noticed, both people here I knew are from points in time several months after my own. I've been wondering about that," Guess that answers that. Time was more like an Escher print than it was a line. "Something like the point of arrival for everyone in the city being destroyed?"

"Perhaps its reacting to a presence in the city," Clare kept up with him fine but would like some more warning when he was going to do this sort of stop and go, "The storm, the attacks, everything magic in the city was reacting to something. Perhaps the pendant is reacting too."

His last comment sparked a question in her mind, "That's another thing, if none of this is written down, how do you know about it? Merlin would have had to spend a great deal of time hiding to get to your era. Although I suppose time travel could be involved given all evidence, and H.G. Wells would have dodged any of the White Council's laws on the subject."

[the_postoffice]

"It may alert you to how great the danger is," he replied, nodding at the charm. "Or the presence of the Summer or Winter courts - it's difficult to say exactly."

Something strange happened at her last question: Houdini suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and cast a frowning look at Clare, settling into a sudden and unnerving silence. When he finally spoke, his accent clipped a lot of the words, making them sound colder than even he probably intended.

"Whoever said it wasn't written down?"

[becauseimboring]

Both were possible, but she didn't notice a change in the token in Undertown. Although you might point out she was distracted down there. If it was reacting to danger it was on a scale stronger than that of her sword. The sword reacted to physical threats, the token could very well be reacting to global threats, or shifts in the local area beyond the swords's senses..

A chill went down Clare's spine, at the same time ice formed over various shelves nearby. That was... scary, Clare's confidence faltered which caused her to stammer and babble, but she got the thought out, "You just told me no amount of research can find what isn't written down. It got me thinking, when I started researching here, I looked for anything and everything on what could be going on. When you and the others announced the Grail was our target I started to hunt for Arthurian legend. I went by every store and library in Chicago short of busting into houses that looked rich enough." Clare paused to see if that all registered on him, "I would have figured something would be in here to find, I was hoping it would explain things since we got very little of that elsewhere."

The last line escaped her lips before her brain registered that might have been in poor taste to say. However after saying it, after Clare clapped a hand to her mouth but before Houdini could react... she didn't regret saying it. Since it was fair.

[the_postoffice]

He narrowed his eyes at her words. "Let me clarify - no amount of research can find what isn't readily accessible." He looked to be weighing his next words carefully even though a glint of annoyance flashed briefly in his eyes.

Finally, he let out a short sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose as if fighting off a headache. "The only trouble with your research is that it led you directly into every fabricated myth about the Arthurian legend ever created."

[becauseimboring]

"Then now would be a good time to set the record straight, given part of me thinks these fabricated myths were done by your brotherhood," Clare wasn't going to be blamed for believing the only sources she had on hand. She didn't care how old and powerful this wizard was, how is it her fault they lied.

"Since you refer to the grail as holy, I'm going to figure the things up to the Arthurian aspect of the story have some ring of truth to them. A container used to catch Christ's blood after his death," Clare spoke up, looking for signs of more annoyance. "You guys pulled me into this, and Sir Galahad gave the token to me. So if there is some sort of key to unlocking the grail in the mythology, it would be nice if I knew it."

[the_postoffice]

Surprise flickered across his face, soon watered down by that same weary disposition that seemed to encompass him. "Exactly," he asked slowly, looking awfully tempted to pinch the bridge of his nose, "how long do you think my 'brotherhood' has been around? The stories you have encountered were created by none other than the White Council of wizards - sure, they have some truth to them but most of the myths are distant variations of the truth."

[becauseimboring]

"Even if it wasn't your brotherhood, the lies are for its benefit in some manner," Clare laced her fingers together behind her back as they walked, "This, a secret wizard council, the Knights and Arthurian legends, and finally the host of this darkness spreading across the worlds, all seems to begin with Merlin doesn't it? So even if your brotherhood wasn't behind the lies, Merlin's true dealings being misinterpreted by the masses like this works out for you and the others in the end."

"Which gets us back to the topic at hand. What's the real story for the Grail, and Merlin. His name caused all the knights to react. Percival and Bors became very tense, and Galahad became sad," Clare's eyes roamed the book spines behind her gold framed glasses, "The stories say the other two never received the grail, that Galahad was drawn to heaven with the grail. What really happened?"

[the_postoffice]

"Lies benefit no one - the White Council's false stories have done more harm than good." It sounded as if there was more to the story than just that, but he wasn't willing to disclose that information just yet. "'The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he didn't exist' - in this case, the White Council did that for her, and helped her more than hindered her."

He pressed his lips together in thin line. "The stories are fragmented - the letters from that time...they're as susceptible to age as any other time. But the reality of the matter is that there were darker forces at work than the stories would have you believe. The ending itself - well, that may be closer to the truth than anything: the knights scattered, their king dead, and the greatest wizard to ever live killed by someone he loved and trusted." He glanced over at Clare. "I'd think anyone would be sad by that ending."

[becauseimboring]

That did also make sense, Clare just assumed secret societies ran on secrets. Also mass publishing of her name would just give her all sorts of power... which the council already did. Unless they edited her out of the stories they didn't do any actual help. Clare felt kinda stupid jumping to what she thought was a reasonable conclusion.

Well, that was a long way of saying 'I only sorta know' which might as well be 'I don't know at all' in this case. The devil is in the detail as they say, vague statements and conjecture mean she has even less to work from. It was still sad that the ending was very much a downer, "I don't suppose you have more detail on the Grail. I mean it wasn't an original pillar right?"

[the_postoffice]

Houdini frowned. "The pillars aren't the items themselves, if that's what you're asking. I thought you all had obtained the map."

[becauseimboring]

"But the two are connected, are the objects keys to the pillars?" The map wasn't exactly lush with detail, just words in latin. "Keys based on something the objects evoke from people?"

[the_postoffice]

He nodded, turning down one of the aisles and heading towards a door near the back of the library. "Exactly. The ten pillars are stated outright, but according to Merlin's letters, the eleventh has to be found out." The tone of his voice told that he wasn't too pleased with having to go on a treasure hunt in order to save multiple universes. "Other than his letters, that map, and Jack's poem, we have nothing giving us a clue as to what the eleventh item is or represents."

[becauseimboring]

"Well..." Clare couldn't help but be curious, letters written by Merlin himself. Anyone would be interested in them, probably half the city would be curious. However, she's not so lost in her own desire that she forgets priorities, "I haven't seen the letters or the poem. But I suppose that's putting the cart before the horse, unless they have something about the Grail in them."

"I don't suppose you can clarify something for me," Clare didn't wait before asking, "Sir Galahad said that we had to prove ourselves as knights. But... proof of knighthood varies greatly by era and moral structure. Do you have any idea what would be the most likely meaning in this case?"

[the_postoffice]

"Jack's poem isn't hidden." Swinging open the door revealed a staircase, lit by a dim yellow bulb, descending upwards to who-knew-where. He held open the door for her but made no other gesture for her to enter. "It may not be his most popular work, but it's easily accessible. And yes, before you ask, it does mention Arthur so in that way, it is related to the Grail."

When the Knights and subsequent knighthood were brought up, his brows only furrowed, although it was hard to tell whether it was from annoyance or just sheer confusion. "In most cases, it usually takes a personal sacrifice of some sort. No, I don't know what that personal sacrifice is - it varies on the person, the era, and the goal."

[becauseimboring]

"Yes, but it isn't something I've known to look at before now," Clare rushed through the door figuring they weren't done yet. "I suppose that means the letters are hidden, and somewhere here?"

The mention of personal sacrifice had her worried. Since it wasn't exactly... definitive, she couldn't exactly make a move toward it without it being total guesswork. Basically it was a worthless piece of information... like everything else she had on the subject. "Great, thanks, very detailed."

[the_postoffice]

"Have you heard of Lewis's poem "Re-adjustment"? It's a map to find the eleventh pillar, but it really only makes sense if the other ten are gathered first."

Houdini closed the door behind him and then headed up the stairs quickly. "The letters were hidden, yes. Only members of the White Council of wizards could access their headquarters, and even then, the letters were in the Merlin's personal library. Not that he actually believed they meant anything important." He waved his hand, as if brushing off the words. "Either way, the letters were a set of correspondances between a number of people from the so-called Arthurian legend. Many of the letters didn't say anything out of the ordinary, but there were three that set everything in motion."

He stopped on the stairs when Clare sarcastically replied to his comment, and looked back at her, a dark look in his eyes. "Giving you an answer about that would require me to know why Galahad wouldn't outright give you the grail in the first place. And unless you want to go into a discussion about special relativity and quantum game theory, the only thing I can tell you is that he probably needed to hide it. You're making the mistake of thinking that the Galahad who gave you the grail is the same that is currently in this city."