Basecamp 34 Update: 3/17/20

[Ashburn]

Okay, this may be the equivalent of that meme with the guy gesturing manically at the wall with all the notes and string, but bear with me. Tin foil on? Good.

I really liked the idea of going back to the locations from Cosmos, and dug out the links to the spreadsheet and maps that we used when we were trying to suss out the clues. Figured since we haven’t heard from BoB yet, that maybe it’s specific clue locations within the four cities.

Which, of course, isn’t super helpful, since we were turning up multiple viable options for some clues and grasping at straws for others.

Towards the top of our spreadsheet, we had one of the Definitely Russian clues, so I checked that part of the map to see if any of the possible points we’d plotted were close to water. That particular clue caught my attention because it could have pointed to an obelisk.

If you’re wondering, yes, I did follow that up with checking for other obelisks/etc. that were/were near pin points in the other three cities.

The tin foil is, of course, because obelisks and the like were the theme of the day for dismantling Lauren’s leylines, and doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with this.

[spoiler]Ones that I feel really good about
Russian: Rumyantsev Obelisk - Wikipedia, for clue “Rumyantsev,” for obvious reasons
French: Luxor Obelisks - Wikipedia, for clue “Harmony’s Discourse,” which we were pretty set on pointing to Place de la Concorde
Ones that have a couple of options
Spanish: Parque de la Bombilla (Mexico City) - Wikipedia, fits the clue “Obregón’s Requiem”
Angel of Independence - Wikipedia, fits the look and isn’t too far from one of the possible clue locations we couldn’t quite pin down for “Legorreta’s Interior”
French/English: George-Étienne Cartier Monument - Wikipedia, is in a park that I recall being on my radar for “The Royal Hoop”
Pioneers' Obelisk (Montreal) - Wikipedia, was not initially found during our searching (that I’m aware of), but feels like it could fit “Vieux Haven” in hindsight
[/spoiler]

[Wyvern]

I also wonder if we’ll have to wait for Port to connect to the specific individuals more before we’ll hear from the BoB? With the obelisks/pillars we had Catherine going around finding artifacts so I think it would make sense for us to be waiting for Port to do something similar based on these locations (except using her magiqal abilities instead of physically traveling there). Eaves did say that we were helping Port focus on them better, so I’m thinking we might get more substance after she really hones in on this/these individual(s).

Also, is this person/are these people just random? Is she sensing them simply because they happen to be in this location(s), or are they individually important? I suppose it’s possible that these locations are amplifying whatever “signal” these people are giving off if they were important to the Book previously, but then I also wonder why those specific individuals are being sensed over everyone else there.

[Cj_Heighton]

oh jesus, this is getting a little complicated for me. Ehhhhh? erm- uh… mind giving the run down on this to me, in slightly more laymans terms?

[Ashburn]

Port and Yuri are practicing their abilities, Port saw some folks in various locations that we are trying to suss out from what she sensed.

I took several rolls of foil and tried tying what Port sensed to the locations that unlocked the Fletcher Dawson site during the third assessment, and then to specific places in those cities. All of which may or may not be accurate/useful, but it sounds good.

[VictorianFlorist]

Perhaps those specific locations may match up with some of the leylines we’ve already mapped from the locations we’ve already been given by the book?

[Eaves]

Of course it’s the four cities! The Book of Briars is tying up loose ends, and those cities are some of the wiggliest ends we experienced!

It’s been A DAY, but I will relay this info to Port and Yuri and follow up on Monday. This could possibly help her separate out the senses into distinct futures/people, which would be awesome. In the meantime, I have more “senses” from Port, and she’s now seeing one or several “secret places” among them.

• Someone will feel thirsty and buy something sweet and bubbly to drink on their way somewhere secret and dark.
• Also, someone else will get goosebumps that relate to some sort of spiritual place or practice.
• Someone will see “the painter lady with the monobrow” when they leave a hidden place, which we all laughed about Port’s description and assumed was Frida Kahlo.
• Someone will take a moment to contemplate their reflection in a long body of water with stone on either side, before also visiting a secret place hidden away behind a painting or mosaic.

Your work on this could be a huge help. Thanks, Mounties.

It’s after 2am here, so I need to sleep, but I’ll head back to Lion’s Heart in the morning, and hope to be back by Monday, Tuesday at the latest.

[Ashburn]

@Eaves

the painter lady with the monobrow”

Has to be Frida Kahlo!

[eternalhearts]

@Eaves

Someone will take a moment to contemplate their reflection in a long body of water with stone on either side,

The Washington DC Reflecting Pool?

[Lexington]

And even better: most all of her belongings were locked away in a secret room in the Casa Azul in Coyoacán, outside Mexico City.

Unlocking the hidden life of Frida Kahlo

I believe we’re looking for actual secret hiding places relating to each of those four cities now.

Edited to add: It looks like Montréal has a lot of speakeasy bars where one could get something to drink—but “sweet and bubbly” sounds more like a cola at a tourist park than a trendy speakeasy.

[Wyvern]

I’m thinking the “sweet and bubbly” could be champagne, on the way to the Paris catacombs? Not necessarily a huge secret but definitely dark, and I’m sure there are secrets hidden within the catacombs.

[Fox]

Maybe the first one could refer to Secret Caverns in New York? It’s “secret” and certainly dark. Plus it likely has a snack bar. OR, the sweet and bubbly could refer to the cave formation “soda straws.”

The pool with mosaics and secrets could be the pool at Villa Casa Casuarina - it is rumored to have a secret tunnel running beneath it and there’s a mosaic puzzle key that is supposed to lead to it. The Villa used to belong to Versace - maybe he had a Frida Kahlo portrait?

[Lexington]

Montréal’s World Trade Center has a black granite reflecting pool flanked by large stone staircases and a statute of Amphitrite. Right below is an entrance to the Underground City marked by a huge mural.

It’s not quite two stones and not quite a mosaic or painting, but it fits fairly credibly with the last clue.

The first two clues are really broad, without nearly as many identifying details as the second pair. The Paris Catacombs fit the first (I may not think of champagne as “sweet,” but I could see how one could), but it could be almost any tour through a “secret” location near a snack bar. For the “spiritual place or practice,” any of those could give one goosebumps, so the only real substantive help is that it’s somehow secret or hidden. Yikes.

[Wyvern]

There isnt anymore (to my knowledge…), but there used to be a whole entertainment complex complete with bar, snacks, and a theater hidden in the Catacombs. I did think at first that champagne might not be sweet per se, but when I googled the words “sweet and bubbly” I’m getting mostly just results about sparkling wine, which is strange because I assumed it would be more soda-oriented.

[Lexington]

… well now, I’m into this bar in the Catacombs on general principles.

[Connielass]

‘Sweet and bubbly’ is not limited to champagne. There are a lot of sodas and sparkling waters that could fit.

[Lexington]

Okay, today’s fixation is the “goosebumps related to a spiritual place or practice.” For the sake of not going crazy, I’m going to assume the other ideas are largely correct—a big and potentially quite wrong assumption—which leaves this one in St. Petersburg.

So what are some hidden, spiritually related places that might give me goosebumps?

There’s the secret room in the basement of the Yusupov Palace where Rasputin was given a final meal before he was shot (for the first time—as we know, that didn’t finish the job).

There’s Petrikirche, a church that the Soviets turned into a swimming pool, which was then turned back into a church, complete with mold damage and secret undercroft.

There’s Peter the Great’s Kunstkammer, to which he supposedly attracted visitors with offers of free alcohol. (This might be more the “sweet and bubbly” clue, but it’s also definitely goosebumps.)

And then there’s this tiny statue of a little finch that’s just too cute not to include.

I guess I lean toward Yusupov Palace or Petrikirche by a little bit, but the clue is not determinate: it’s broad enough that it’s tough to eliminate possibilities.

[Lexington]

@Eaves is likely to pop in today or tomorrow, and it might be worthwhile to “review the bidding” on the latest set of Port’s images. This is just my perspective on the discussion, so I am likely biased—please add on other thoughts or dissents so @Eaves can get the full set of opinions. (I promise I’m trying not to monopolize. )

• “sweet and bubbly”: Likely the Paris Catacombs, but could be many dark spots near snack bars.

• “goosebumps”: Tough, but my guess is the Petrikirche in St. Petersburg, but I have low confidence in that. Not many places fit all of the criteria: goosebumps, spiritual place/practice, and secret.

• “the painter lady with the monobrow”: This is almost certainly Frida Kahlo’s secret room in the Casa Azul outside Mexico City.

• “reflection” and “mosaic/painting”: I think the World Trade Center in Montréal is a decent guess for this, and the entrance to the Underground City below it.

Please have at these: I have no pride of authorship, and just want to put them all in one place for discussion.

[Sapphire]

You’ve done a lot of research and if its wishful thinking to make the links you have, then Ports reaction/update should hopefully correct us.
Everything you’ve posted looks logical. Given I’ve never been to any of these places, we have to rely on what we can lookup, you’ve made it a lot further down the rabbit hole than I have, and it looks sound.
All in one post is great, it’ll give Eaves a quick ref and should we venture back to this thread in the future(something we’re totally not doing now ), summary posts are very helpful

[Eaves]

Okay, so yes. The most recent senses Port felt are connected to Mexico City and St. Petersburg. She also has faint connections to Montreal and Paris, but they’re not as vivid at the moment.

Port has been able to piece together more (the sweet and bubbly drink is sometimes orange or sometimes mango, but the person will drink it every day after leaving the secret place they spend their time). By focusing on those specific cities, they’ve come into slightly more focus for her.

Also?

Yuri is feeling something connecting all four of the constellation cities.

Leylines.

Artificial and faint, but there. “Artificial” meaning they aren’t natural leylines, but instead connections that grew into or became leylines because of some intrinsic connection. Like Lauren’s leylines.

Port and Yuri are using their powers together to try to figure this out, but it’s also revealing more about how adept abilities work now, or rather, how they don’t. It’s not at all like how it used to be, and it’s challenging to hold on to what they sense or see for too long. They’re trying not to overdo it by taxing themselves, or the new age’s magic.
So, to recap, Port’s focus, for now, is on Mexico City and St. Petersburg. There’s something in these places (as well as Montreal and Paris), which create a series of artificial leylines between the four locations.

Yuri can sense them now that you directed her attention to them.

Port sees a person in each of these cities visiting a secret place, possibly daily but has trouble seeing them when they’re in the actual secret place.

The person in Mexico City sees Frida Kahlo on their way to or from the secret place. They always have a soda after their time in the secret place. Port also heard kids or teenagers playing a sport for a moment, but she wasn’t sure what it was.

The person in St. Petersburg will have goosebumps connected to a religious or spiritual place. The secret place there is hidden by a painting or mosaic. And that person will take a moment to contemplate their reflection in a long body of water with stone on either side.

If we can better pinpoint these locations, Yuri and Port can figure out who these people are, what’s in the “secret places”, and maybe even get a better idea of how magic works now.

No pressure or anything.

[Wyvern]

Ok I’m terrible at looking for secret places because googling “secret places Mexico City” unsurprisingly just brings me to a lot of touristy sites, but I have found the general area I think we can start looking in.

I found the Frida Kahlo Museum, or The Blue House, very close to a park that seems to be pretty soccer-centric (Parque Deportivo – explaining the sport noises).

There’s also a juice shop on the same street as The Blue House.

I’ll keep looking!