The Witch's Epigraph, Chapter Two: The Helix and the Rose

[WitchOfSecrets]

Inspired by When the Seagulls Cry (Umineko no Naku Koro ni)

The difficulty of this chapter is Reasonably Solvable. Would you care to guess?

The story so far...

In 2011, eight members of an exclusive riddle club competed for a great prize. However, misfortune after misfortune struck the group: allegations of cheating were made, an earthquake and a storm struck, a valuable ring was stolen, and a trusted servant came to an untimely end. To complicate matters, the events of that night have been cloaked in a mantle of silence, leaving behind only mysteries and a set of typed pages of uncertain accuracy.

Ten years later, in 2021, a boy met with an enigmatic Witch to try to discover the truth of that night. At this gathering, he and a group of humans fought a series of duels to dispel the Witch's illusions. However, when the first duel ended, the boy unexpectedly defected to the Witch's side, leaving the players seemingly alone to face the bizarre mystery.

A Note for New Players:

I'm trying to keep this game relatively open for new players, so the first several puzzles can be solved without even glancing at the earlier threads. Later, I will generally link to prior posts in some form when they’re necessary to solve a puzzle. That said, the new thread will include spoilers for the earlier ones.

If you don't want to fish through all the earlier posts, here are a few tips:

* The narration is not literally reliable. Some scenes are exaggerations, and others are metaphorical. However, statements in red are true.

* There are two layers to this story, at the very least. We are reading sheets of paper describing supposed events of 2011. We are also attending a Witch's Banquet devoted to grappling with the mysteries raised by those sheets of paper.

Synopsis/Key Post Index:

The index/synopsis below might help you catch up with the plot. Since you probably don't want to go fishing through 26 pages on two threads, here are links to all of the posts with major plot/character details. All character intros include a puzzle.

Prologue:

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Chapter One:

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[Molly Mae]

How is the Sapphire Witch both the Witch of Doubt and Witch of Vision?

Different times. Stations can change. I'm going to edit with BT in a second.

[Molly Mae]

Chapter 2, page 8: There was the Great Entry, with its grand stairway and shining tower of green, which was surrounded by a conveyance propelled by neither horse nor steam nor gasoline.

The conveyance referenced runs on electricity!

A kind of weak start, but it's the only groundwork I can initially find. A significance to the name Halax?

[plainglazed]

I'd like to take a blow to the SHIN -

from post #73

The Crimson Apprentice slipped through the halls of the Tower, where old souls were bound for many purposes, and took note of her environs.

at least the halls of the Tower is a library with "bound" books as old souls.

Feel am a little behind and missing the objective/stating the apparent. Can extend the metaphors in this paragraph of post #73 much further and with lots of other inanimate objects of a library. at least will get a seat at the table, anyway. great stuff as before WoD/S.

Edited May 22, 2012 by plainglazed
forgot to use the blue sword

[Potok]

Announce your target witches New rules No actual contribution from my side yet

[fabpig]

As PG as a newcomer has yet to be allocated a 'side' , does that mean that Molly's side can now have another go?

[Molly Mae]

Address my BT to Thalassa.

@Fab: That's how it worked previously. I've got another clarification that I'll post after you.

[Potok]

Okay so i think it's not my turn, i'd like a shot at a BT, but please ignore it if it means i'm cancelling my whole side, i'll just repost later when i find a proper timing.

Quote from post #57:

"First, she would go upstairs and spy on them from the landing "

To Shin:

The Tower is a specific place/building on Earth, i'll go with a famous and actual place, another option would be an imaginary one (say from literature).

Edited May 22, 2012 by Potok

[Yoruichi-san]

In different languages there are similar but importantly different sounds,

Attempting phonetic translations will allow mispronounciations to abound,

If you write 'shin' the silly westerners will think they're saying it right,

But if you write 'xin' they know they're not even if they're at it all night.

;P

Okay so i think it's not my turn, i'd like a shot at a BT, but please ignore it if it means i'm cancelling my whole side, i'll just repost later when i find a proper timing.

Quote from post #57:

"First, she would go upstairs and spy on them from the landing "

To Shin:

The Tower is a specific place/building on Earth, i'll go with a famous and actual place, another option would be an imaginary one (say from literature).

I had a different angle. Bah. Someone from the other side (or a newcomer) post, please!

[Molly Mae]

Going back through the first chapter, there are a lot of questions that we left unanswered. I'm posting those questions here. If you know the answers, please post them. If you find any more mysteries left by the Witch, please add them to this list.

I actually had a long list of these, but I have to try to recreate them from memory.

1. Is Mark Ye the Opal Sorcerer?

2. Margaret Ye (and her son) operate under aliases. Are they Witches? Probably.

3. Who stole the typewriter ribbon? (We totally dropped the ball on this question)

4. Who stole Nat's ring?

5. Which Witch was Nat Foreman?

6. How are Nat and Basheva related? Why are they working together?

7. What was the tile on tile sliding noise heard in the previous chapter?

I have one more, but it pertains to this current duel, so I will ask it using the Blue Truth.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Molly Mae

[Molly Mae]

We really need someone on the other side of the table to post. =P

Updating the table.

[plasmid]

The Crimson Apprentice furrowed her brow with worry and summoned her Animate, Fanshawe of the Shining Eye. Fanshawe was a superb mimic, and could ape the voices of others with ease -- or even their faces, if need demanded.

I'll take an easy one for now.

To the Witch of Secrets: Thalassa has a cell phone.

Incidentally, can we use a blue truth on any of the other witches present?

[Yoruichi-san]

Sweet! Thank you, plasmid .

There was the Great Entry, with its grand stairway and shining tower of green, which was surrounded by a conveyance propelled by neither horse nor steam nor gasoline. There was the Room of Caged Minds, where mute Animates of great power revealed and dispatched messages of distant lands. Then there was Dudeney's banquet hall, where that old Animate crouched. And everywhere there were the Walls of Souls, where ancient minds awaited summoning. The Cabinets of Miniatures, too, held a great many souls, but these required a conjurer's apparatus to summon.

The Crimson Apprentice furrowed her brow with worry and summoned her Animate, Fanshawe of the Shining Eye. Fanshawe was a superb mimic, and could ape the voices of others with ease -- or even their faces, if need demanded.

"The gate's locked." The first demon smiled easily, reflecting on the last set of sacrifices. "Nobody will go back there until the time is right. Disappearances are commonplace here, in any case!"

There is more than one thing that leads me to suspect the "tower" was actually a server tower.

The tower was not a real physical place large enough to house a person.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Yoruichi-san

[Yoruichi-san]

Sorry, double post.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Yoruichi-san

[Molly Mae]

The Tower and the Room of Six Locks are the same thing OR the former contains the latter.

As soon as someone from the other side of the table posts a BT, I'll repost mine.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Molly Mae

[Aaryan]

Ok...once again I have absolutely no idea what we're doing.

1. What kind of proof do we need?

2. What are the requirements for proofs?

3. Why are we slashing at people?

Honestly, can someone just give me a rough idea of what the game is now?

[Molly Mae]

@Aaryan: We have to figure out 1. What the Tower is; and 2. What the Light in the Tower is. We do that by posting (with relative evidence from this and other threads) clarifications for what the Tower is or could represent. Using Blue Text, you force the Witch to respond and either confirm or disprove your Blue Text/Truth by using her own Red Text/Truth. We must assume that Red Truth is, in fact, True, otherwise the game falls apart.

The best method for using the Blue Truth, I believe, is short assumptions instead of long theories. If you say "The Tower is actually a Radio Shack in downtown Manhattan that's run by a group of Witches trying to reproduce a lightsaber before the aliens return", he might come back and say "There are no aliens to contend with!" and then we still have no confirmation on Radio Shack, Manhattan, Witches, or Lightsabers...

[fabpig]

The Tower is actually a Radio Shack in downtown Manhattan that's run by a group of Witches trying to reproduce a lightsaber before the aliens return

Well bang goes my theory

[Yoruichi-san]

The Tower and the Room of Six Locks are the same thing OR the former contains the latter.

As soon as someone from the other side of the table posts a BT, I'll repost mine.

A study does usually contain a computer nowadays, and I'm sure that'll be even more true in 2021...

[fabpig]

A study does usually contain a computer nowadays, and I'm sure that'll be even more true in 2021...

But I prefer Plainglazed's idea of the library, with the walls of books, computer area and microfiche/viewers

If anybody wants to BT this, feel free, it's nearly my beddytime

[Molly Mae]

But I prefer Plainglazed's idea of the library, with the walls of books, computer area and microfiche/viewers

If anybody wants to BT this, feel free, it's nearly my beddytime

Unfortunately, I can't... =/

[Yoruichi-san]

But I prefer Plainglazed's idea of the library, with the walls of books, computer area and microfiche/viewers

If anybody wants to BT this, feel free, it's nearly my beddytime

I like it a lot, too, but...I can't see how it would explain all the security measures...why would it be so hard to get into a library?

[plasmid]

Ok, just for the fun of it, and since I know Molly is dying to go

To the Witch of Doubt: Time Out is HERMETICUS, the Witch of Sighs

?Crowthers riddle ]laughter

Witch of Sighs.

 The Animate that faces us is such

 That any man with memories of cruel,

 Cold youth may end it swiftly, with a sigh.

 Your Crowther, ANNABEL, is simply...

... laughter.

Sapphire Witch.

 Farewell, dear Crowther, servant true!

 HERMETICUS, this one goes to you;

 You've answered it with great precision.

 Thus speak I, the Witch of Vision!

ANNABEL, the Sapphire Witch, Witch of Vision/Doubt

But I'm so sure it's not really true that maybe I should have made it a brown truth instead of a blue truth

[Molly Mae]

Thx, plas. =P

From Chapter 1, Page 1: "My God," said Samuel, the doorman, raising his eyes from a box of vintage 45 records. "I stepped away to shut off the fire alarm! Anyone could've arrived early and opened [the safe]!"

From Chapter 2, Page 6: Getting into the Tower would have proven a challenge had the fortuitous clamor of alarum bells not distracted the ones guarding the gates.

For the Witch of Secrets: These two alarms were, in fact, the same alarm!

I believe Nat to be Faustus.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Molly Mae

[Thalia]

The First Safe:

The Hapax Club is a museum of riddles.

The Crimson Apprentice was no ordinary Witch-in-training. She was skeptical, quick-witted, thirteen years old, and, technically, guilty of breaking and entering. She had followed her mother to the Great Tower of Hapax, where she knew a great final ritual was to occur.

To Thalassa: The Tower of Hapax and the Hapax Club are either the same or one contains the other.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Thalia

[WitchOfSecrets]

(This is impressive coordination by the Human Side. You've practically cracked the Tower of Sorcery wide open, but I have a reason for prolonging this duel. Played well, it can shed a lot of light on this thread and the earlier ones...)

It had begun!

The conveyance referenced runs on electricity!

Molly Mae had charged his sword and made the first strike, aiming for THALASSA. She stepped back slightly, so that the blade wouldn't come near her rose, and let the red scythe blade catch the brunt of the attack:

Blue Truth effective. But what does this tell you of the tower?

Plainglazed then took his seat at the table, on the opposite side from Molly Mae, charged his sword with a line, and lashed out with a Blue Truth, hoping to knock the rose from SHIN!

at least the halls of the Tower is a library with "bound" books as old souls.

SHIN swung up with his red blade to counter, but before he could, a clang resounded through the room. Plainglazed's Blue Truth had struck not SHIN, but a steel-grey, rectangular cage! Bars of ghostly iron had materialized between him and his target, and in the center of them, standing by the Opal Sorcerer's side, was a pallid Animate in a gray headband. Even with the weight of the evidence he provided, he could not smash through this barrier - more would be needed.

"I am Gardner, the Cage of Thoughts," said the Animate. "Against the black iron in my belly, mere speculation shatters."

THALASSA smiled and drew two small sickles, one of which she tossed to SHIN, who caught it casually in midair. These blades were neither of Red nor Blue, but a ghostly grey, and were both more and less powerful than the Red Truth. "Now," she said to SHIN and the Animate. "Strike together!"

Gardner's voice boomed. "It Has Been Stated:"

Chapter 2, page 8: But before the Apprentice could think further on this, she heard footsteps approaching and ducked around a corner as two daemons approached.

As the black cage solidified, so did SHIN's sickle, and he captured Plainglazed's blade with its hook.

If the Tower of Sorcery is just a Library, what were those daemons?