I’m assuming that once we have the clocks and loops connected correctly the next step would be to use the arrow / number / word triplets to …do something… . maybe read individual letters?
I’m not sure how to read the letters though. More free associations.
We could read the letters in simple number order they are pointed at 1-10. But then what’s the point of the word pairs?
We could read the letters in number order first, and then it’s pairing. So 1, 6, 2, 9, 3, 4, etc. But…why bother numbering half the clues?
Alphabetizing clues has been seen a couple times in this fragment already. Maybe we run down the words alphabetically? But when what’s the point of the numbers or word pairs?
If we’re nearing the end of this fragment, chances are we’re looking for a word. One word that can be “given” to the Book. So we’re looking for a collection of letters?
I am spatially/craftily challenged so don’t have a mobius here, but what are the arrows pointing at when everything is properly assembled? I can’t tell from the photos.
Could someone with a finished mechanism post the content of the strip spaces the arrows are pointing to, in order of the associated numbers?
Or has someone done that? I’m ashamed to admit I’m a bit overwhelmed and am desperately trying to catch up. I will today.
Assuming I have all of my faces correctly oriented, I get this from the arrows pointing across the clock faces:
1 - Acorn - H in ‘this’
2 - Caterpillar - N in ‘timeline’
3 - Wine - I in ‘is’
4 - Vinegar - S in ‘clocks’
5 - Oak - T in ‘out’
6 - Adult - D in ‘dashes’
7 - Tragedy - I in ‘this’
8 - Comedy - T in ‘cut’
9 - Butterfly - U in ‘cut’
10 - Child - S in ‘this’
Let me know if you want me to try different mappings for the arrows, trade clock faces around, etc.
So, I’ve been mulling thoughts about the implications of casting spells for a few weeks, but I haven’t really felt the need to bring the subject up until now. We’ve received multiple messages saying that magiq in our world is finite (The Last Oracular Eye, Sullivan Greene). What we have never been told is how much is left, how much we’ve used, or how much gets used when we cast small or large spells.
The analogy that I’ve come up with is being lent a car by a friend with a broken gas meter and there’s no gas stations in a 60 mile radius. You would never be sure how far you could get, and if you would even make it to a nearby gas station while doing the task you also initially borrowed the car to do in the first place. I worry that with each spell we cast, we have less resources at hand if it ever does come down to us versus the Silver.
Hmm. Interesting thing I just noticed. The clock that came with the ‘Then’ page has all the present day words (comedy, adult, oak, butterfly, vinegar) on the list. The clock that came with ‘Now’ page has the past words on it.
That seems backwards. Is it possible the clocks should be reversed? ‘This is the present timeline’ should maybe go with the (comedy, adult, oak, butterfly, vinegar) wheel?
I considered that as well. I figured we should see where we get with the past-present assignments first, but I can post the opposite face positioning too, if you’d like.
Edit: I’m bad with logic, so ignore the part I thought simulating the other wheel would be easy.
So here’s the letters you found in various orders.
Straight 1-10 order
1 - Acorn - H in ‘this’
2 - Caterpillar - N in ‘timeline’
3 - Wine - I in ‘is’
4 - Vinegar - S in ‘clocks’
5 - Oak - T in ‘out’
6 - Adult - D in ‘dashes’
7 - Tragedy - I in ‘this’
8 - Comedy - T in ‘cut’
9 - Butterfly - U in ‘cut’
10 - Child - S in ‘this’
possible words: hnistditus
Mostly numerical order, but including the ‘alternate’ word after the first one
1 - Acorn - H in ‘this’
5 - Oak - T in ‘out’
2 - Caterpillar - N in ‘timeline’
9 - Butterfly - U in ‘cut’
3 - Wine - I in ‘is’
4 - Vinegar - S in ‘clocks’
6 - Adult - D in ‘dashes’
10 - Child - S in ‘this’
7 - Tragedy - I in ‘this’
8 - Comedy - T in ‘cut’
possible words: htnuisdsit
Alphabetical
1 - Acorn - H in ‘this’
6 - Adult - D in ‘dashes’
9 - Butterfly - U in ‘cut’
2 - Caterpillar - N in ‘timeline’
8 - Comedy - T in ‘cut’
5 - Oak - T in ‘out’
7 - Tragedy - I in ‘this’
3 - Wine - I in ‘is’
4 - Vinegar - S in ‘clocks’
That would be awesome, but I don’t think the dashes map exactly, though. The bottom and top sets of dashes are several squares off. Trading them gives me C in ‘cut’ for acorn.
Hm… trying to run the letters to find something recognisable as a word. Unfortunately, I can’t do papercrafts either to try different ways of getting letters, and I’m really rubbish at anagrams…
The fragment words are usually “nonsense” words, so anagram solvers won’t help. Is there any type of sequence that can be worked out by pairing the “old” and “young” versions of each word?
Acorn Caterpillar Wine Tragedy Child
Oak Butterfly Vinegar Comedy Adult
I’m really hoping our Book of Briars will at least react to the word. It reacted to the 12th fragment even after the books destruction. But if it doesn’t, then yes we’ll just need to build a big list of possible words and send them to Augie for him to try with his Book.