I2DT: Magical or mundane?

[Sean Hall]

Sean had borrowed a couple mystical books and was leafing through them in the library. He was paging through them hoping to find something that looked similar to the creature he'd encountered or the place he'd gone to.

[Narrator]

It's hard to find anything specific. The creature isn't mentioned anywhere aside from very superficial similarities with some critters or manifestations. The place is difficult too, there's no shortage of people claiming to have entered all kinds of different realms or levels of reality, not to mention completely different worlds like the Fae realms. Then there's those that claim that the world is layered and that most humans only ever see one, maybe two. Another theorizes that some places are just haunted and proceeds to go into a long rant about what precisely that means. Very little of it seems to make any coherent sense though.

[Sean Hall]

Sean closed up the books and rubbed his eyes looking a little frustrated with the lack of information. He looked at his notes for a couple minutes trying to find a new thread to pull in this particular tapestry.

"Maybe magic doesn't bloody well solve everything," Sean said putting down his notes and tapping out something on his computer. He began looking for the murder that he'd kept hearing about on the radio.

[Narrator]

At first he doesn't find anything at all, but after cutting down on the number of criteria things start popping up. Most notably it seems to be two different cases. One in the US where the father shot and killed his son and wife before killing himself, the other in the UK where the parents of a small child were convicted of murder for killing their only daughter with an axe. The two cases seem to have nothing at all in common, the one in the US having taken place in 1962 while the one in the UK happened in 1980, 54 and 36 years ago respectively.

[Sean Hall]

Sean dug into the one in the UK first hoping to find out more about the case itself and well, if the event had come into the present while he wandered around Maldon it had to be related, right?

[Narrator]

There's a little bit of information but not an awful lot. Actual information is sparse, although some digging turns up a couple newspaper articles (mostly from The Sun and it's ilk, unfortunately) that seems to have spun the child's murder by her parents into some kind of sensational "Satanic Panic" about the evils of whatever pop-culture thing the author seemed to disagree with. Details of the scene vary wildly between publications, but all seem to agree on the fact that it was particularly gruesome.

[Sean Hall]

At first he doesn't find anything at all, but after cutting down on the number of criteria things start popping up. Most notably it seems to be two different cases. One in the US where the father shot and killed his son and wife before killing himself, the other in the UK where the parents of a small child were convicted of murder for killing their only daughter with an axe. The two cases seem to have nothing at all in common, the one in the US having taken place in 1962 while the one in the UK happened in 1980, 54 and 36 years ago respectively.

Sean stares at his notes for a moment trying to look for a patter. He starts looking for a patter of some kind and after a couple moments starts looking at 45, 18, and 9 years ago specifically to find additional cases that were similar but maybe not identical. Something that maybe had survivors or maybe a mother instead of a father or maybe a family with multiple children. However, he had a feeling that perhaps he'd be here a while.

[Narrator]

Unfortunately, even in the UK there are plenty of murder cases. It's possible some might fit into the pattern, but none seem to jump out in particular. And the radio only mentioned these two in particular. Still, something about this feels like he's on the right track somehow. Of course, two points are hard to make a pattern out of, but something about the number 18 seems to stick out to him anyway, even without any particular case he can pin-point to fit into the pattern 18 years ago...

[Sean Hall]

Sean looks further into the pattern starting with 18 years ago and sensing perhaps another pattern decides to instead go with 6 years between cases. Again looking for something consistent between these two cases and any others he could find. He also begins to look at the dates of the original two cases hoping that maybe the month or day could perhaps give him a clue that there's something connecting these cases.

[Narrator]

Looking at 6 year intervals yields yet more cases that don't really stand out. There are a lot of murders that happen in a year around the world, so it's possible he's just missing the needle in the haystack, but 6 just doesn't feel as right rolling around in his head. The dates don't feel like they're particularly notable at first glance, until he starts pulling up wikipedia lists for notable events and both dates list a partial eclipse and a little further digging reveals that they seem to be part of an eclipse cycle, as astronomical event during which eclipses repeat in fixed intervals due to the earth, sun and moon being in harmonic orbits. Due to the Earth's rotation these are visible on different parts of the planet, first in North America, the second in the United Kingdom. The third - and first full eclipse - of this particular cycle occurred 18 years ago.

[Sean Hall]

Looking at 6 year intervals yields yet more cases that don't really stand out. There are a lot of murders that happen in a year around the world, so it's possible he's just missing the needle in the haystack, but 6 just doesn't feel as right rolling around in his head. The dates don't feel like they're particularly notable at first glance, until he starts pulling up wikipedia lists for notable events and both dates list a partial eclipse and a little further digging reveals that they seem to be part of an eclipse cycle, as astronomical event during which eclipses repeat in fixed intervals due to the earth, sun and moon being in harmonic orbits. Due to the Earth's rotation these are visible on different parts of the planet, first in North America, the second in the United Kingdom. The third - and first full eclipse - of this particular cycle occurred 18 years ago.

Sean searches for the exact dates of the eclipse 18 years ago and where it would be visible. Then for the dates of when it should happen this year and where it would be visible. He was hoping maybe it would help him narrow things down for him, but he was getting a feeling that this was something maybe magic related given the thread connecting the two data points he had so far.

[Narrator]

Nothing notable jumps out at the dates, except that the Eclipses seem to be happening later in the year each time. The previous one had been visible in the southern half of the UK and across the Channel, stretching from Manchester to Paris.

[Sean Hall]

"Search area is still too bloody big," Sean said leaning back in his chair for a moment before looking back at his notes hoping to find something that might narrow the search area a bit more.

[Narrator]

Nothing. The connections between the two cases are just too flimsy, too unconnected. And not a single homicide he can dig up from that year, or even that week that would seem to fit. If something happened that year, maybe it didn't make the headlines or went unnoticed altogether?

[Sean Hall]

Nothing. The connections between the two cases are just too flimsy, too unconnected. And not a single homicide he can dig up from that year, or even that week that would seem to fit. If something happened that year, maybe it didn't make the headlines or went unnoticed altogether?

Sean rubbed the bridge of his nose and poured over his notes for another few minutes.

"Trying to use the mundane to figure out magic is bloody useless," Sean muttered to himself. That was of course also the moment where he realized it was probably a good time to give magic a shot. He opened up the occult books he had borrowed and after a bit of searching found what he was looking for. He unplugged the computer and every computer nearby then returned to his table.

"I'll clean this up good as new later," Sean said before carving the circle he'd seen in the book into the tabletop with a small knife. He set his notes the finger of the creature and other items around the circle. He then cut his hand and dripped blood into the ritual circle and began chanting the spell. A spell the book described as one that finds something that was hidden. He poured energy into the circle as he spoke words of power hoping that it would help him ind what he was looking for.

[The Book of Sins]

There's a faint thrumming in the table and the etched lines almost seem to vibrate and shift around as if they were being shaken loose as Sean's blood runs into them. The light in the room begins to dim and the bookshelves seem to stretch out into the shadows until the table he's sitting at is the only light that seems to be left. A small island surrounded by darkness and creaking shelves full of dusty tomes.

[Sean Hall]

"Seems answers are always found in musty old libraries," Sean said standing up from the desk. He tried to cast a spell to widen the circle of light around him if only to make the search a bit simpler and well, it was rather difficult to read in the dark.

[The Book of Sins]

The light refuses to spread even though he can feel the spell taking shape. A faint whispering that sounds like dried out fingers brushing over ancient paper echoes down from the shelves all around him.

"Why does it cower in the light?"

[Sean Hall]

"Because it cannot see particularly well in the dark," Sean answered looking around him.

[The Book of Sins]

A laughter that sounds like the rapid flicking of pages blows down from in between the shelves.

"It doesn't know? What waits for you doesn't need eyes to be read."

[Sean Hall]

Sean pulled back the circle of light that surrounded him. However, he readied a defensive spell as he did so not really trusting the voice in the darkness completely.

"Very well," Sean said, "Let's see the knowledge you're offering."

[The Book of Sins]

The faint sound of footsteps can be heard from one of the book-lined corridors as a faint silhouette slowly becomes visible. It approaches the circle of light, slowly gaining more details until Sean can make out a little man, no taller than maybe 4 feet, wearing a perfectly fitting black tuxedo with a black bow-tie. He doesn't say anything, only looking at Sean and breaks into a grin that's just a little too wide and shows just a few too many perfectly white teeth as he stands a couple of feet away from the light. He reaches into his coat pocket and pulls forth a black envelope with a wax seal and holds it out towards Sean just enough that he'd have to leave the illuminated circle to take it. The dwarf stabs the envelope towards Sean a couple times, an expectant glint in his eyes. All around Sean can hear excited voices whisper in numerous and languages.

[Sean Hall]

Sean stares at the envelope and then at the dwarf. He feels a strange electric sensation at the sight of the envelope and the markings on his skin begin to glow dully.

"Nothing is free especially when it comes to magic," Sean said, "What's the price of this information?"

[The Book of Sins]

"Nothing at all." the dwarf finally speaks, sounding exactly like Sean would expect him to. "And it's no mere information. It's your birthright and yours to claim anytime."

[Sean Hall]

Birthright? Maybe he knows where the nightmares come from?

"And what do you know of my birthright?" Sean asked not yet reaching for the envelope.

[The Book of Sins]

"I know nothing at all and everything under the moon. It's knowledge you seek and it's knowledge I offer. Accept it and the answers you seek will be yours in due time."

[Sean Hall]

The tattoos glowed more brightly as Sean reached for the envelope.

This is my birthright?

Sean hand took hold of the envelope the tattoos glowing so brightly it hurt the eyes.

[The Book of Sins]

The envelope feels smooth and a little bit warm to the touch. The moment Sean touches it the dwarf let's go, looking very pleased. The whispering voices grow more and more excited as the glowing tattoos drown out the circle of light. Darkness spills towards Sean and envelops him until he suddenly wakes up with a start, sitting in the library. Daylight is filtering through the windows, falling on the black envelope lieing on the open book in front of him. The wax seal on it is cracked.

[Sean Hall]

Sean stares at the envelope and the cracked seal.

It wasn't a dream then...

He flips open the envelope to remove its contents wondering what his birthright and this envelope had to do with one another.

[The Book of Sins]

Inside the envelope is a folded up piece of paper that seems to be the page from a book, covered in writing in a language Sean has never seen before but feels strangely familiar anyway. Folded into the ancient-looking piece of paper is what at first glance seems to be a business card, new and in stark contrast to the page. It's white and empty save for the word 'Congratulations!' in tiny script.

[Sean Hall]

"Like I won the lottery or something," Sean mutters to himself putting the card back in the envelope and unfolding the page. The feeling of familiarity is strange to him and he stares at the page trying to see if anything sticks out.

[Narrator]

There's a couple words here and there he feels might be familiar. It certainly looks like actual sentences for the most part, so it's not just gibberish. Illustrations of symbols and what might be constellations are worked around the text and into the margins. Those would probably be a good place to start if he can find out their names or context from other tomes.

[Sean Hall]

Sean knew that this was probably going to take some time, so he began searching for those few things he recognized in the books he has. Something at least to give him a direction for his investigation moving forward.

Next on our plate a quest to find all the pages of this book...

Sean thought to himself sarcastically.