The Strange Book

[Samson Option 9652]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CONdkUVn4mQ

Washing his face from a puddle wrought by a cannon explosion, taking a look at his reflection in the puddle muddied by the rains carving mud from the depression; he looks up with a determined visage. He begins upon his journey alongside an indistinguishable other and embarks into the desert to their east. Long ago was it when he would venture into these parts as a soldier ensuring the area was void of banditry and separatists to King Aislin, but with the fall of the Alrasian Kingdom; he has become more and more resolved in his idea of interpreting what he found in months past. His thoughts entertain him as he walks stoically through the desert, trying to remember wherein lies what the dunes have uncovered, a tomb of brittle archaic quality.

Passing along the carved stone by the dunes' erosion, he passes through corridors of what seemed a primitive catacomb, observing the cryptic language and glossing over the engravings. After some time pondering, he instructs his other companion to record a message to hark forth at the Cloud Temple...

"People of the Four Noble Races, take heed, especially those whose eyes have glanced upon language of old. We have made some progress in translation and in figuring the context of the language, as may be perhaps referenced is a book within the Cloud Temple library of a 'Pnty jw Aegxs', we are theorizing that this book correlates with one of those Five Families or was gifted to another of the Five. From our studies, we know that there existed the Dervas and the Subudai; thus leaving three families perhaps?

We have come to the conclusion that Axgys refers to Aegis, sxw may refer to the word 'and', x may simply be 'a', and that Zyl'Mxktlm, Hxzxryg, and Mxdynxt are perhaps nouns referring to persons, places, or exact objects. Seeing the positions of txwxt has led us to believe it stands for 'they'

To those who keep intrigue upon these documents, we wish you the best of intellectual endeavors, may we succeed in figuring the mysteries of the Worlds!"

[JunoStriker 69]

Juno thumbed the pages of the parchment, a mild feeling of regret in his heart. He'd picked it up sometime ago, out of curiosity, and now it had become much too big to ignore. He'd asked around, trying to find the owner of the book, and met with an old man. The book was his, alright, but he understood the text about as much as Juno did. They'd looked through it, not really coming to any conclusions. Juno flipped the book open again for the umpteenth time, even though he knew it wouldn't help.

Sxbln xy tld kxl Pxnt

Klk zxm Zyl'Mxktlm pxnt+, txwxt fxllt pys x Mxdynxt sxw txwxt fxllt jxklt. Mxn txwxt fxllt dytxp dxs Axgys. Ryl txwxt dytxp+, Hxzxryg txwxt pxtyr "Hxk Hyglm Txk Yxn" sxw Zyl'Mxktlm twxwt rybyn.

Juno blinked a few times, then closed the book with a sigh. His sister read a lot of books once upon a time. She would be much more qualified to solve these kinds of problems. What did he know about languages, anyway? Despite his reasoning, he found himself walking to the Temple Library. He didn't have anything better to do, so why not.

He scanned the bookshelves, recalling a book he'd read once. He found it under "Legends and Epics", titled "Pnty jw Aegxs".

Had we not foretold how man would war,

For clearings and meadows were few and far.

It was pleaded with amnesty to the Wizard wizened,

He greeted us at portal of lands also risened

For we could not bear the burden of our dead

As man fought with greed for their own homestead.

The Wizard spaketh with us that we are of mercy,

With open palm outstretched to the new land, he said 'search these'

For what we would find suitable of land,

We found continents laid out and grand.

The Five Families separated and pledged no war,

And so we spilled no blood nor gore

And thus we began our journey,

One of Pnty jw Aegxs.

Disappointed, he placed the book back in its respective shelf. He was hoping to cross-reference the texts, but this one was mostly in Common. He wasn't even sure if the poem had anything to do with the odd parchment. He was pretty sure, at least, that Axgys stood for Aegis. That was a long time ago, though. He scanned through the text again. "Zyl'Mxktlm" could be a name, or a place. None that he'd ever heard of, to be honest. Flipping through the elven and orcish dictionaries gave him a headache more than anything, but at least he's pretty certain it's not in those languages...

Leaving the library, he noticed the same old man, discussing with others about the mysterious book. He arrived just in time to overhear the place where the book was found: some ruins to the east of Alras. He also caught some chatter about dwarves. Maybe there's a relation? Juno headed for the docks, knowing there was one way to find out.

Stepping out of the boat, he made his way east. He started to regret not asking the man for more information. Where exactly were these ruins? Are the x's missing letters, or are they meant to be there? What about the y's? Pondering these, he found himself at a crossroads, with a path leading to the local library. He wasn't even aware there was one in Alras, but it was worth a shot.

Browsing the huge selection of books, he came upon one that seemed relevant. "Ahern's Ruin Exploraton with Jane." He remembered Jane's journal from the library back at the temple. Flipping through the pages, he found a description of a shrine in the Alras Forests. Are these the ruins where the man found this odd book? Juno made his way through the forest, and by chance, managed to locate the shrine. The sketches in the book matched, and he looked around for any signs of.... well, anything.

After some time, he threw his hands up in the air in defeat. How does he even know if this is the right ruins??? With a huff, he trudged back to the Sanctuary. There, he noticed that more people were holding similar tomes, with some of them discussing its contents. He picked up a few words, and thought that some of the words were different from his copy. He couldn't be sure, though. He finally handed the book over to a sharp-looking halfling, a little relieved to be finally rid of the cursed book. Maybe one day he'll find out more, but for now, he's just happy to have some time to relax.

((No idea if I'm doing this right. Ah well.))

[steelersfan1221 300]

Moved to the Great Library. It shall be sorted into appropriate category shortly.