"Well done," Alys replies, and offers Aibne a polite nod, as of a fencer acknowledging a touch.
Then she passes on Cassandra's current riddle, along with several of the more likely answers that have been offered, adding in response to Lyra's comment, "Some riddles do, indeed, have a single proper answer. Others have multiple - sometimes deliberately so. I am sure you have heard tales where a riddle with two answers is presented such that any single answer can be claimed as incorrect."
07.13j: Standing Stones
Re: 07.13j: Standing Stones
Since it's not a very interesting riddle, someone (Again, if you care which NPC did it, I'll come up with them...) gives the following answer, which is accepted*: "A eunuch who did not see well saw a bat perched on a reed and threw a pumice stone at him which grazed his fur."
There is some back and forth in the contest. With the expelled goblin returning for a "what have I got in my pocket?" Before being forcibly expelled by the guards a second time.
Cassandra will take a breath and eventually come to the major riddle of the evening... "This one was submitted by.... uh... Something in the mirror. Perhaps the castle, depending on how you look at it. Perhaps Dworkin... Anyhow..."
"The serpent coils
Wrapped around the creator
To name and define
Pattern is inscribed
The laws of creation change
Rule destroys Balance
It ceases to be,
neither chaos nor order,
and becomes itself.
What is it?"
A number of onlookers will pause for a moment and listen. Odin notably will stop his game to listen to the verse about the serpent.
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*: ST answer: A shadow of Dworkin perceived, through the pattern lens, the trump of a bird held by a logrus tendril which he conjured a boulder to strike, but the spell dissolved upon touching a greater power.
There is some back and forth in the contest. With the expelled goblin returning for a "what have I got in my pocket?" Before being forcibly expelled by the guards a second time.
Cassandra will take a breath and eventually come to the major riddle of the evening... "This one was submitted by.... uh... Something in the mirror. Perhaps the castle, depending on how you look at it. Perhaps Dworkin... Anyhow..."
"The serpent coils
Wrapped around the creator
To name and define
Pattern is inscribed
The laws of creation change
Rule destroys Balance
It ceases to be,
neither chaos nor order,
and becomes itself.
What is it?"
A number of onlookers will pause for a moment and listen. Odin notably will stop his game to listen to the verse about the serpent.
______________
*: ST answer: A shadow of Dworkin perceived, through the pattern lens, the trump of a bird held by a logrus tendril which he conjured a boulder to strike, but the spell dissolved upon touching a greater power.
Re: 07.13j: Standing Stones
Rasanam looks up sharply at the "Something in the mirror" comment, and listens with interest to the following riddle.
"Metaphysics," he mutters, followed by "Reality? No. Change? Hm..."
"Metaphysics," he mutters, followed by "Reality? No. Change? Hm..."
Re: 07.13j: Standing Stones
Alys tilts her head speculatively, then - pitched to carry no farther than the three Amberites she's been talking to - says, "You may find it interesting to ask Odin what happened to the Abyss."
Re: 07.13j: Standing Stones
Aibne's brow is furrowed and he frowns, biting his lip as he thinks about the riddle. "Amber?" he'll say softly, tilting his head at Alys, before grumbling a little. "I didn't expect that one to be submitting riddles."
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Re: 07.13j: Standing Stones
Lyra nods to Aibne. "That'd be my guess. This riddle seems both simpler and more complex. Amber seems too easy an answer." To Alys she says, "Certainly. I'll have to corner him in a short while and see what I can convince him to tell me about it."
Re: 07.13j: Standing Stones
"Amber?" Rasanam ponders a bit more, and then says, "I think my best guess - sans context - is 'the future' - though given the source of the question, that might not be considered a different answer from 'Amber'. When you add in the original context, though... I suspect I do not yet have sufficient information for an accurate answer. Ask me again once I've spent a day in Tir'na."
To Alys, he adds, "So what is this 'Abyss'? If we're supposed to ask Odin about it, I think it might be useful to have a bit of context..."
To Alys, he adds, "So what is this 'Abyss'? If we're supposed to ask Odin about it, I think it might be useful to have a bit of context..."
Re: 07.13j: Standing Stones
The bear blinks a little, and frowns slightly. "Well, such a construct could mean a few different things..." he says, contemplating. "Based on my stories, the Abyss would be a... no-place, of a sort. A place of unreality, where even the concept of nonexistence doesn't exist..." He glances at Alys, frowning slightly. "How wrong am I?"
Re: 07.13j: Standing Stones
Alys nods at Aibne. "Close enough. I would have phrased it as 'the place that contains everything that does not exist', but I am neither philosopher nor diver. I expect Odin - or Dworkin - would be able to offer a better explanation than I can manage."
Re: 07.13j: Standing Stones
Aibne blinks, visibly, staring at Alys. "...Di-ver..?" he murmurs, blinking rapidly, as he attempts to process something absolutely insane. "you mean... people... delve... on purpose... into nonexistence itself. For... amusement? Glory? Illusionary riches?" He grumbles a little and rubs his forehead. "Even those who laid siege to Tir na Nog* and drove the Children of Danu to it did not do so merely for such things..."
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*Not this one, obviously. Tir na Nog is the Other World, and the Home of Faerie, in Celtic myth. The Tuatha de Danaan got pushed back there by the Milesians, Children to the Death God, which is to say, us.
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*Not this one, obviously. Tir na Nog is the Other World, and the Home of Faerie, in Celtic myth. The Tuatha de Danaan got pushed back there by the Milesians, Children to the Death God, which is to say, us.