Investigation: 16

Finan looks at the letter and continues to struggle make much sense of it. He does find a few fragments that could be part of something.

Paren is feeling rather good about himself as he traces the jumps from one word to another. He feels like he's getting a better understanding of the message. 

Can Jonathan find the last portion?

Finan looks at the paper, but lack of sleep is causing the words to dance before his eyes, even if the words had made sense in the first place. With a groan he sits up, clapping Jonathan on the shoulder. "Talos help me, I hope you can make more sense of this than I can, friend."

Mechanics / OOC:

"It looks like the start of some sort of poem. 

The candle burns. Never bright enough. The light you can have. The shadow is mine. Falling away. The wax drips. Memories of the past. Far from the light."

Paren looks up at the other two. "If I had known this would all come down to poetry I would have stayed in the woods. You two are more learned than me, maybe you can make heads or tails of this."

(OOC: I (sidewinder) am terrible at poetry so whether Paren understands this or not, I am not going to be a lot of help.)

(Doubtful, Jonathan isn't the sharpest light bulb in the crayon box)

Investigation: 5 + (Bardic Inspiration) 1

Jonathan seems to struggle making understanding the odd cypher until Finan points out the flow of words. The disorganization of it all does end up having a discernible pattern.

((Feel free to discuss your findings in character. We can fill in any player deficiencies with character rolls if needed :) ))

"All I can figure out was this last bit," Finan says, his finger tracing the last sets of words, "'Out of your aura', and 'We find strength'."

He looks across at Paren. "So far it's not saying much to me. Who gave this to you again? Those Halflings? And it needed to be delivered to Ombre?"

"This one came from the halfling but was supposed to be delivered to Krusk. I took it back once we talked to him more, figured it might give us some answers."

((For simplicity in this format, I will write out the poem below for your reference. Assume that Jonathan filled in any gaps you may have:))

The candle burns

Never bright enough

The light you can have

The shadow is mine.

Falling away

The wax drips

Memories of the past

Far from the light

The shadows grow

Your light dimming

Out of your aura

We find strength

[[and to save you from any unplanned extra work, there is nothing hidden in letter combos or word order. There is no secret coded message.]]

"Poetry was never my strong point." Jonathan mentions. "I tried sonnets for a bit, but they lack anything beyond a base structure." He looks over the writing. "Sounds like some idiot's version of a monologue, probably because if they tried it they'd get punched before they finished verse two."

((to see what your character may be able to get from the letter, you may roll either an investigation check or a performance check))

Falaine will approach with Tanni from the direction of town square. "What have to found?"

Performance: 4

(OOC: apparently Paren and I have the same abilities with poetry)

Falaine will peer over Paren's shoulder.

Performance: 18

She will whisper in Paren's ear as well.

Falaine looks over the letter and sees a jumbled mess of words. It makes little sense to her until the others point out the flow that connects it all. It takes a moment, but your able to discern the poem as the others assist. 

On the way back to the square, Tanni asks Falaine what she found in the tomes (Up to Rylentar how detailed Falaine's summary is, if she tells Tanni.) As Tanni and Falaine spot the three huddled together, she greets them with a wave. "Hey there! Hopefully you've found something more concrete than us." She marches right at the trio and tries to peek at the thing they are examining. "What's that?"

The group offers some advice on how to connect the random mess of words together to form the poem above. It seemed like an awfully complicated way of saying something ridiculously vague. Tanni preferred messages to be short and to the point. Whoever wrote this had a penchant for theatrics. 

((You can roll a performance or investigation check to try to get a better understanding on what your character may be able to discern))

Paren gives a bit of a jump as Falaine whispers in his ear. "Maybe the candles are Shamara? The aura is something I would associate with Lugh, there was something like that around the Grove where I lived." He then nods to Falaine and takes a few steps back from the group. 

In elvish: 

Falaine laughs a little. "I don't actually speak elvish. Regardless, the poem might be from Aiden to Shamara, through Krusk. It looks like a usurping, but who is Aiden working with? His sister? Lugh? Lugh's antithesis? Also. Since it's sort of out there now. I believe from the tomes that, one... There is no written record of the old gods... Odd given the vastness of the library. Two, if we need information about Lugh and the old gods, then we'll need a Sentinel, no offense to you Paren, but one who has been in the position for longer."

Quote from MaraudingFungi >>

On the way back to the square, Tanni asks Falaine what she found in the tomes (Up to Rylentar how detailed Falaine's summary is, if she tells Tanni.) As Tanni and Falaine spot the three huddled together, she greets them with a wave. "Hey there! Hopefully you've found something more concrete than us." She marches right at the trio and tries to peek at the thing they are examining. "What's that?"

 Falaine will just mention that Aiden might be a suspect and that there is no record of the old gods.