(1/4) kpwlt 2025/11/26(Wed)00:36 No. 1117714 ID: 127310
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Shadow accumulates and drips from the walls. The palpable blackness causes the previously dark things in the room to gleam in comparison. The mind in the room is filled with images of the cosmic gaps it has occupied itself with. It recalls their names and seeks the locations where one part of the universe fails to connect with the next.

(2/4) kpwlt 2025/11/26(Wed)00:36 No. 1117715 ID: 127310
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A recluse clothed in black is yanked from her practical study by a knocking at the door. Whatever shadows she was conjuring retreat back into the corners.

The knocking persists until she can bear it no longer. She slams shut whatever goetic text she was reading and undertakes to shoo away the knocker.

When she answers the door, her good friend Uberto Di Cesare stands there. Uberto wears nothing but a distinctive outfit and an eternal glimmer in his eyes.

UBERTO: “Hey Sam! How’s it going?”

She gazes without offering words in reply.

UBERTO: “Here, I’ve got something you might find interesting.”

He holds out a manuscript he borrowed from Sam several weeks ago. It is an old family heirloom of hers, or perhaps a regretted but irreversible purchase from some oddity store. Whatever the fact, it’s more of a doorstopper now. It is the second volume of an occult text too rare to toss but not good enough to finish.

(3/4) kpwlt 2025/11/26(Wed)00:37 No. 1117718 ID: 127310
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Uberto leafs through the tome with one hand while occasionally bringing a cup of First Reef Tea to his mouth with the other.

SAM: “What made you decide to read this?”

UBERTO: “Oh, you know. It’s been a slow season in the Lower House. I needed something to do, and it would be a bit of a shame if nobody ever gave this book the time of day.”

SAM: “Was it any good?”

UBERTO: “Well, I’ll let you judge that, given you know more about this kind of stuff than I do. It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever read, though. Ah, here we are. Watch this.”

The book is now turned towards Sam. The diagrams have been put to the page meticulously, and each letter is perfectly aligned. The spread is well produced but almost entirely meaningless, similar to those found in the first volume. At least he keeps his nonsense inside the margins, thinks Sam.

Uberto turns the page once Sam has taken it all in.

The new pages are confusing, unexpected. Were they misprinted…? No, no, clearly not.

(4/4) kpwlt 2025/11/26(Wed)00:37 No. 1117719 ID: 127310
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The text is misaligned and looks as though it would continue in all directions if not for the page ending. Is it poetry?

UBERTO: “It sort of looks to me as though whatever was there has been replaced. Like it’s been slid off the page and had whatever this is put there in its place.”

It certainly doesn’t look like the original text was chemically erased.

SAM: “You think it was stolen?”

UBERTO: “Or otherwise taken. That’s why I came here. I wanted to ask if you think someone with the power to take words from a page would be interested in stealing something worthless?”

SAM: “No, probably not. I think that would be a waste of time and energy.”

Among tryptologers, those people who (like Sam) dedicate themselves to the obscure arts, swapping the contents of pages is a notorious but unpopular and difficult to learn feat. If the words were taken, it likely wasn’t by a novice.

UBERTO: “Great! Any ideas where we could start looking?”

After considering genuine evidence and Sam’s pataphysical hunches, the pair come up with several places to start their investigations.

The Edgar Street Catacombs
Back in winter of 123, a Minister and several others visited the Catacombs and emerged under mysterious circumstances. The Government hasn’t released much information about what happened to the public aside from the fact that a rather secretive company called WOLAND has some presence in the Catacombs, and that the general public are absolutely not, under any circumstances whatsoever, enter the Edgar Street Catacombs.

The Chapel of the Black Pheon
Sam thinks that the Government knows more than they let on. She wants to know what they know, and she thinks the Black Pheon might be a leaky tap. Many assumed that the Chapel was completely abandoned until recently, when it was unexpectedly ordered to stop accepting new members. Nobody has seen anyone enter or leave the Chapel since.

Sam’s Dad’s House
Although Sam is reluctant to visit her father, he may be able to help. Sam’s dad, Noah, used to be a tryptologer. Now he spends his days enjoying books and beer, and housing all sorts of strange people. He's unfortunately quite tight-lipped when asked about anything tryptology-related. Still, it should be possible to tease out some kind of information from him.

Tell Sam what you think the best course of action so far would be to start looking for the missing pages. Alternatively, ask for more details regarding anything brought up so far.

Check out the chapel.

What does the new text say? It came from somewhere, so... if you can find where it came from you're closer to the culprit.

The chapel seems like a good start. Or at the very least, a quick dead end

What brackets the lost section?
Is there enough coherence in those sections to infer what was taken?
If a loose definition of what was taken can be approximated then the why of the act can be engaged with too. Both of which shall offer context to the who and where.

try the chapel

Do you know anything about tryptology? Can it be traced, does it leave fingerprints?

(1/1) kpwlt 2025/11/28(Fri)21:38 No. 1118038 ID: 127310
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>Do you know anything about tryptology? Can it be traced, does it leave fingerprints?

Sam knows a couple of things about tryptology. For example, how to resurrect small animals and the like using it. However, the art of tracking another’s use of tryptology is foreign to Sam. At most, she has a great suspicion that the text on the page was replaced tryptologically.

Sam holds a belief that she will know a person who has something to do with this when she sees them.

>What brackets the lost section?

The bottom of the page before the taken section bears a spiral ornament. Above the ornament is what looks like a conclusion on a chapter.

Just after the replaced text is a chapter header and introduction. It’s about thirty or forty pages past the end of the previous original section. This chapter is apparently titled ‘THE VALLEY OF HINNOM’. This name typically refers to one particular area of sky that certain tryptologers focus their art on. It may be helpful to imagine these areas' relationships with tryptologers as parallel to how astrologers see constellations, though I must hope that this comparison does not mislead you.

If the table of contents are to be believed, the book is missing precisely one chapter named ‘ARBOL FIELD’. This name means nothing to Sam or Uberto.

>What does the new text say? It came from somewhere, so... if you can find where it came from you're closer to the culprit.

The new text overlaps itself quite a bit, so it’s hard to conclusively say what it all says. The bulk of the new text seems to be mostly unrelated. Sam has a flip through but struggles to focus on the words. It feels like someone mindlessly put together a bunch of documents and symbols just for the sake of throwing people off their trail.



The pair leave the house after collecting whatever they might need.

Sam takes a couple of sheaves of paper describing various tryptological methods. One for constructing simple wooden effigies (a personal favourite), and one for picking mundane locks (an admittedly more useful one).

Uberto takes the book. He also pats his pockets and ensures he has his sword before leaving.

(2/2) kpwlt 2025/11/28(Fri)21:38 No. 1118039 ID: 127310
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>Check out the chapel.
>The chapel seems like a good start. Or at the very least, a quick dead end
>try the chapel

The Chapel of the Black Pheon stands in a quiet suburb east of Sam’s house. It consists of a small, dark and dirty building, which is attached to a vicious-looking fence surrounding a sparsely populated graveyard.

When the pair arrives, Sam recognises the graveyard as the very one her mother was buried in many years ago. She does not relay this to Uberto.

Uberto walks confidently up to the door and pushes, then pulls, then knocks, all to no avail.

UBERTO: “It’s locked? Oh, hold on.”

He produces a faint green light from his palm. After a few moments, the door emits a violet glow.

UBERTO: “It seems this door has been Judicially sealed. We’re gonna have to look for another way in. Unless you’ve got a High Court Justice hidden in your bag.”

She does not.

Sam looks around. There’s a stained glass window near the top of the building, but it’s not possible for either of them to reach it from where they stand and the sides of the chapel aren’t easily climbable. Around the side of the chapel are similarly high windows.

(3/3) kpwlt 2025/11/28(Fri)21:38 No. 1118040 ID: 127310
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Around the side attached to the fenced graveyard, there’s- oh! Hello! There’s a little man with a funny looking hat here! He grips the presumably similarly locked gate of the yard with gloved hands. A shovel leans on his thigh.

MAN WITH HAT: “Why, hello there! Are you also looking for a way in?”

Sam makes no effort to respond as Uberto comes to investigate. Possibly unnerved by her apparent indifference, the man holds out his shovel before Sam.

MAN WITH HAT: “I’m the attendant for this graveyard and I’m here to do my job. If you would be so kind, could you give me a boost over this fence? I’d hate to have an accident climbing it myself, and I’ll be sure to look for a way to let you in once I’m inside.”

UBERTO: “Ah! Of course.”

Uberto moves to fulfil the man’s request.

Sam is not a huge fan of this man. He’s wearing a strange outfit that doesn’t look like a modern graveyard attendant’s clothes. She also just doesn’t trust him for no reason in particular.

There’s still time to have Sam stop him without making too much of a big deal of it.

Advise Sam

>>1118038
Unrelated!? At least one of the documents directly refers to Clerk's book! This book has Clerk written on the spine!
Another document seems to be someone stating that they're returning the book to the university, but taking part of it out. So, that's what happened. The University wanted to focus on the "cluster" in the book, but whoever owned it at the time decided they didn't want the University access to the redacted section. Not sure if those are different sections (and they may very well be).
And like, yeah, it could be a misdirection. It could also be a trail long since gone cold since we don't know exactly when the pages were replaced. Also the names are scratched out so we would have to check various Universities to find out which one wanted the book. So, whatever.

>>1118040
Stop Uberto. Tell the man to fuck off, you don't like his hat.

"That looks more like a graverobber's hat, sir. How do we know you aren't up to something nefarious?"

...Are we, also, up to something nefarious? I forget exactly why we're trying to sneak into a locked church.

>>1118202
We are looking for information on who coild stolen text from a book without needing to rip the page.

I think it's best we seek an alternate route, this guy might be wanting to steal from the dead.

(1/2) kpwlt 2025/12/03(Wed)04:53 No. 1118344 ID: 127310
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>Unrelated!? At least one of the documents directly refers to Clerk's book! This book has Clerk written on the spine!

Oh dear. It seems Sam really wasn’t paying attention on that initial flip through. Next time she gets a moment alone with the book, she’ll be sure to keep an eye out for any direct references to it or similar documents.

>...Are we, also, up to something nefarious? I forget exactly why we're trying to sneak into a locked church.

Come on, no need to be like that. I think this church could be a lead, if not on the book then on something else useful to me. I know it seems like we might be doing something bad, but it’s surely for the greater good, being the furthering of knowledge, thinks Sam to herself.

>Stop Uberto. Tell the man to fuck off, you don't like his hat.
>"That looks more like a graverobber's hat, sir. How do we know you aren't up to something nefarious?"

Sam isn’t quite upset enough to explicitly tell the man to fuck off.

SAM: “Attendant? You look more like a graverobber, wouldn’t you agree? How about you go home?”

MAN WITH HAT: “Oh? I’m sorry, Miss.”

The man frowns, blushes, and backs away slowly. Eventually, he leaves.

❡

>I think it's best we seek an alternate route, this guy might be wanting to steal from the dead.

Sam thinks that she could reach a window if she could stand on the fence of the graveyard. The only issue is standing on the fence without it piercing through her feet.

There is also a door on the side of the chapel within the fence, though it’s highly likely that it would be sealed.

UBERTO: “Do you know any spells that might get us in?”

Samantha does not know any spells. If Uberto wasn’t her close friend, she would eye him judgementally and explain that any tryptologer worth their salt would tell him that they do not cast spells, but instead harness shadows and voids to do their bidding.

SAM: “I have one for unlocking things and one for building figures.”

UBERTO: “Could you unseal the door?”

SAM: “The door probably not. It hasn’t worked well on the other Government sealed doors I’ve tried. What have you got?”

UBERTO: “Just a few weapons. The only thing that could come in handy is this.”

From his waistcoat pocket he pulls a tiny crossbow, a pointed bolt, and a decent length of cord.

UBERTO: “The cord is sturdy enough to hold my weight but I unfortunately lost my grapnel bolt a while back. And it’d be a shame to break these windows.”

(2/2) kpwlt 2025/12/03(Wed)04:53 No. 1118345 ID: 127310
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Dejected by the lack of immediate progress, Sam pokes around behind the chapel.

Assisted by a hole in the clouds, she notices a subtle trail of disturbed dirt and missing grass leading from the back of the building off into the bushes. It waxes and wanes in some parts but it continues, quite unbroken, into the back of what looks to be a remarkably well-kept outhouse.

Coming around to the front of the outhouse reveals that the whole structure has been filled with concrete. Whatever may have been in there (such as a toilet) is now completely inaccessible.

The side of the concrete block facing outwards has had a large spiral carved into it…

>>1118345
touch it touch it TOUCH IT
Hmm. "SP". Is the password "Iral"? Oh, there's an apostrophe, so it's a reference to 'pataphysics somehow. Use your learnings to suss out the meanings betwixt!

S P hmm. Say, what's Sam's last name?

try tracing the spiral with your finger.

(1/3) kpwlt 2025/12/05(Fri)20:41 No. 1118560 ID: 127310
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>Hmm. "SP". Is the password "Iral"?

SAM: “Iral.”

The concrete block mockingly remains unchanged.

>S P hmm. Say, what's Sam's last name?

Sam’s last name is Agonistes. It seems fairly safe to assume that the S etched into this concrete does not stand for ‘Samantha’.

>touch it touch it TOUCH IT
>try tracing the spiral with your finger.

Sam puts her hand on the concrete and begins to trace the spiral with her finger, outwards and then inwards.

(2/3) kpwlt 2025/12/05(Fri)20:41 No. 1118561 ID: 127310
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The shadows in the tiny voids in the concrete begin to speak to Sam. This is an entrance to a place of learning, they say. It was blocked off to prevent someone from coming in.

The world around Sam dims and diminishes so as not to steal centre stage from the concrete.

SAM: “Who’s being kept out? How do I get in?”

UBERTO: “Sorry?”

Light returns to the world and the block stops whispering. Sam is inexplicably clutching a bunch of papers. She must have grabbed them without realising. The first page prominently bears the word KLEIDAS. Inspiration strikes.

Kleidas, of course, is a name given by tryptologers to a certain perforation in the tissue of the cosmos. It is a way out. It is a way in. The power that enters existence and echoes within this pore has been known to melt padlocks and shatter deadbolts when properly harnessed.

The sheer darkness from Kleidas travels through space until it is caught and redirected by someone who has only ever used it to pick locks before.

(3/3) kpwlt 2025/12/05(Fri)20:41 No. 1118562 ID: 127310
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Sam grips her hat and closes her eyes. The concrete begins to rend itself in half, and Uberto swears he can see something like gaunt hands forcing the block open from inside.

The bits of disjointed concrete now twitch occasionally, as though struggling to remain open. The insides of the block are stained black. Where it once sat, there are narrow stairs going down into the ground.

It is possible to peer down the stairs, but they rather quickly lead into a T-junction. Sam and Uberto will be unable to see up or down this passage until they descend the stairs.

It sounds as though there might be some people shuffling along this passage.

UBERTO: “Alright, I’m not sure I like this. I think I’d rather go through the window.”

SAM: “Didn’t you just say you didn’t want to break the window?”

UBERTO: “I’ll follow you down there if you go first. I’m just saying...”

>>1118562
Let's go take a look. Seems easy to retreat from the T-intersection at least.

Might as well enter just to scope things out

Go as far as the light. after that, what can you do in the shadows? Some way of sensing what's ahead?

(1/3) kpwlt 2025/12/10(Wed)04:53 No. 1118894 ID: 127310
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>Let's go take a look. Seems easy to retreat from the T-intersection at least.
>Might as well enter just to scope things out
>Go as far as the light. after that, what can you do in the shadows? Some way of sensing what's ahead?

Sam is able to blindly ‘see’ in the dark on occasion, unreliably and with strain.

Regardless, the two enter and peer around the junction. It is a corridor with many openings, some of which have doors. It’s actually decently well lit in here, thanks to some lamps and candles ensconced in divots in the walls.
It’s not possible to see all the way down the right path. It curves towards where the chapel must be.

The door at the very left end of the corridor is marked with a peculiar symbol. None of the others are marked.

(2/3) kpwlt 2025/12/10(Wed)04:53 No. 1118895 ID: 127310
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From an opening near the marked door emerges a cloaked and hooded figure. It jolts at the sight of the pair.

FIGURE: “No, no. Not yet, not yet!”

The figure shuffles towards the two and makes a pushing motion.

UBERTO: “What is this? Who are you? Sir?”

FIGURE: “Out, out!”

The repeated commands aren’t spoken angrily or authoritatively. The words quiver as they emerge, as though the speaker is afraid.

Several more figures come from various openings before and behind Sam and Uberto. They trickle out at first, but soon spew forth. All repeat the words of the first. Those only just laying eyes on the pair turn and ask their associates “the Daughter?”.

The wave of coloured fabric creeps towards the two. Sam makes several steps backwards. Uberto follows. The strange people never shove, they simply hold out their hands and walk.

(3/3) kpwlt 2025/12/10(Wed)04:54 No. 1118896 ID: 127310
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At some point, Sam and Uberto find themselves ushered through a trapdoor, which slams behind them without a trace.

The chapel is, strangely enough, smaller on the inside than it is on the outside.

They stand in the apse. Something like a disembodied black curtain stands before them, obscuring the pulpit.

The curtain turns to reveal it is in fact the Jurist of the Chapel of the Black Pheon, apparently hovering with their peculiar cape resting on the ground behind them. They hang in the air like a ray from a sun that may soon stop shining.

JURIST: “The arrival of Samantha Agonistes, the Daughter of Zelelponith, was anticipated and ordained by the Common Law. The presence of Uberto Di Cesare, the Member for Brackwater, is unexpected, but is accepted by the Common Law. Welcome.”

A thousand questions spin in Samantha’s mind.

>>1118896
What's the Common Law? Who were those robed figures down there? Why's this place sealed up?
Also ask about the book of course.

So was the book's alteration your doing? To get her to come here?

Just what is it you want?

who is this 'jurist' person? do we know them?