This is a work in progress detailing everything found out about the coded messages found this past weekend. If anyone makes any breakthroughs with the remainder of the pages please post them under this. I'll add what I have to start.
This is for the pages that were found at the camp past the Dragoon cairn. Slanted text is the fancier script found on the pages. Punctuation has been added for clarity. Spelling has been left as written.
- Maria Quincy
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Page 1
This is nonsense... (etc, not encoded)
Richter please encode further messages
This is stupid... (etc, not encoded)
We're in Travance. I've never been here but they routinely find ancient impossible to find treasures and are the source of a ton of magical and scientific breakthroughs. They'l know.
Won't they break your precious code then? R
Probably and if they do it will be because you still sign your name. If they do find the code they'll still be decoding it while we make our escape so stop leaving incriminating messages.
Don't forget that I hired you. You weren't part of the original deal. If the employer finds out you're here he'll probably have me kill you as dead weight.
Noted.
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Page 2
We've made progress on the translations. It's absolutely fascinating to wonder what the people who wrote these tablets are like. A shame we have to destroy the translation text.
The employer said we had to destroy the text. He never said we couldn't copy down what gets translated.
We know nothing about the employer. It may be unwise to assume it is a he. But you are right. We can copy down a few words and use them for further study.
Or sell them to some archeologist for an even bigger payout once the job is done. Put the notes down here so I have a copy.
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Page 3
Listen I've been thinking. I bet that nut Grimdevere is gonna demand my share of the pay which is your share of the pay for doing all of the work but if Grimdevere got killed in the heist and we turned in the item then we get his share instead.
Yes but he's not likely to die. None of us even went on this heist. It was only the undead.
You know where his camp is thought right?
Yes you can see it if you stand at the mark of the sleeping titan.
The employer hired me to be the muscle and kill who needed killing but no one has needed killing on this job. Maybe it's time we changed that.
You want to attack Grimdevre's camp? He's a necromancer. It's crawling with undead.
Not if you lead them away.
I'd get slaughtered.
Not if I kill him before they get to you and then all of the undead stop being controlled and die.
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Page 4
I won't do it.
Not even for his share of the pay and his research into what we've found? His undead would have told him what the location is actually like. You wouldn't have taken this job if you weren't desperate and hungry.
Fine but if any of this goes wrong I am going to the guard with everything I know.
Here's the translation for the page accompanying the middle of the three sets of symbols. Again I'm so sorry this out of order with what I translated previously. This took me the longest and I wanted to get the other information out as quickly as I could. This page was written by the aforementioned "Grimdevere" from the above pages.
- Maria Quincy
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What an insult that the employer would insist someone of my incredible arcane talent cooperate with the likes of those two. Richter is such a fool. He had to hire a hapless scholar to do his own translation.
Once we translated the tablet we destroyed the translations the employer provided and split up the tablet The translations from gnomish werent exact but I believe we have it. I still wonder how the employer came by the artifact. Though we were supposed to destroy the translation key I made sure to copy what I believe a few of the words may mean for future reference.
My undead have returned from their successful theft. The employer promised riches but I think I can demand so much more. A city. A city of living creatures beyond imagining. I think the employer can be more generous. Also the fact that my undead were entirely responsible for obtaining the object. The object is also in my possession solely. There is no need to pay the others. I would not be surprised if they were planning something. Richter is too stupid to be a concern but Fairfax is cunning. My undead have been watching her from some time. I know the sign of the tempest hunter will lead to her camp. Thus far her eye has not turned in my direction.
Here is the translation of the pages from the last set of symbols listed on my above posts. Text has been edited with punctuation for ease of reading. And yes, Grimdevre/Grimdevere is spelled differently on each page. I don't know what's up with that.
I'm still working on the page that accompanied the middle set of symbols because that's the cipher Talaniel reasonably got up and left the table about when we found out what kind it was.
- Maria Quincy
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Page 1 (the one with the symbols on it)
Normally I don’t take jobs from people I’ve never met and usually I work alone but the employer is offering a payout that is too good to pass up so here I am in Travance.
An agent of the employer delivered a tablet and a note with some old gnomish words to translate. The agent wore a hood and cloak but was too short to be human. Supposedly this will provide the location and means to access the item the employer wants. Had to walk that pompous idiot Grimdevere through how to get the undead to the location. Apparently none of us would survive there long enough to do the job. Going to see how many words from this translation I can copy down on the sly.
Page 2
Things are getting tense. Each of us has moved to a different camp. Richter looks like he’s planning to grab the item from Grimdevre. If he does it shouldn’t be hard to finish him off. Richter thinks he’s hidden but the bladedancer will lead to his camp. Better that then waiting around for him to come for me so he can keep the payment for himself.
Richter slaughtered Grimdevre and his undead and took the item. I slipped into Richter’s camp and finished him off. No sign of that hapless scholar he hired. And Richter went down easy. I’ve informed the employer of our success but none of this is sitting right. I could run but the employer would find me. They found me once already and I am very good at hiding. I am very good at covering my tracks. For example you’re never going to find a hint of what happened to Richter’s body.
We camped out in Travance so that if there was fallout it’d end up on you, but I figure if something happens to me you’ll follow the trail and make sure whoever kills me gets what is coming to them. I’m about to meet with the employer. If I survive I’ll destroy these notes and disappear. If you are reading this it means I didn’t destroy it and if I didn’t it means I am dead. I may be too paranoid to leave you any real answers but you’re smart. Decode our notes, translate the tablets, and you’ll be a few steps closer to your enemy and my murderer.
Ser Kestrel and I have been working on compiling a dictionary of the symbols from Maria's translations, and hope to have a few reasonably possible translations of the text on the tablets soon. I will leave a copy of the in-progress dictionary on the Scholar's Table for anyone to use freely.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vk1q5wRN5wGW1Wh7zsmrRoTtH-aw2hkSUpYcBuBqOE8/edit?usp=sharing
- Talaniel Starling
Here are the rest of the symbols and what they mean. Spelling has been left as written, including the oddly capitalized word. I'm still working on the full pages.
- Maria Quincy
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