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Post by Otus Shortwing on Oct 2, 2021 19:47:42 GMT -5
...give up, Riverback gripped Bucktooth's shoulder tightly.
"I fink I have somethin'!" the otter cried. He spread the scroll he held out on a study desk. On it was scrawled a rhyme.
If key to badger tongue ye seek Then look behind the sword antique.
Sandpaw rubbed her chin. "Sword antique? Mebbe the rusty old thing hanging in--"
(58)
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Post by Madeline on Oct 9, 2021 20:18:50 GMT -5
"--the mess! Always be'ind th' badger chair. Said to have belonged to Lord Brocktree himself!"
"What are are waiting for? Let's go see!!" Grabbing the scroll, Riverback ran out the door, closely followed by Bucktooth and the hares. The entered the mess hall, and Sandpaw led them right to the head table. There was the sword, hanging on the...
(59)
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Post by Otus Shortwing on Oct 9, 2021 20:27:39 GMT -5
...wall behind the head chair. In the paws of a mouse it would be too enormous to wield, but the hares, beavers, and single otter assembled could probably do so. A badger would certainly have no problem.
Sandpaw padded up to the sword and reached in behind it. "Hang on chaps, there's another liddle scroll back here! Looks like it's--
(60)
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Post by Madeline on Oct 9, 2021 23:32:22 GMT -5
"as old as the one from the library, wot!"
Swiftscut got the honour of reading it this time:
This ancient secret, truth to tell, Is hid inside the Abbey bell.
Bucktooth groaned. "But that bell broke and was recast! Everything on it was lost!"
Riverback peered closely at the paper. "Wait, whot's this tiny writin'?" They all peered closer and read...
(61)
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Post by Otus Shortwing on Oct 10, 2021 9:33:43 GMT -5
...the fine print:
Never fear, chaps, when the Joseph bell was recast, the abbot sent us the scroll and we've hidden it in the cellar, wot! Wait was this supposed to rhyme?
Bucktooth ran his paw through the fur between his ears. "To the cellars, then? I'm gettin' a bit tired..."
Swiftscut and Sandpaw led the group to the cellars, where they--
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Post by Madeline on Oct 16, 2021 19:33:23 GMT -5
...were confronted by the prospect of searching around a lot of barrels and such. Bucktooth groaned. "We'll never find it in this mess!" Riverback patted his friend's back. "Never fear! I'm sure it'll be easy to find!" They split up and started searching. After an hour, Bucktooth flopped to the floor, near tears. "It's useless! We'll never find it!" "Hold hard, old chap..."
(63)
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Post by Otus Shortwing on Oct 16, 2021 19:39:29 GMT -5
"...you can't be throwin' in the old towel, wot!" Sandpaw clapped Bucktooth on the back. "We just need to work a different angle." She squinted at a row of barrels sitting atop a table just near them. "Steady on..."
Sandpaw crawled under the table and stuck her paw into a large hole in the wood beneath one barrel.
"Aha! It's a false bottom! This--"
(64)
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Post by Madeline on Oct 23, 2021 18:21:28 GMT -5
"has to be where 'tis hidden, wot!" Sandpaw dug around in the bottom, then gave a cry of delight. "I knew it! Look what I found!" She pulled out a bag, and opening it revealed a scroll. The friends cheered, and they headed out into the mess hall to get some better light...and some food.
While they were eating, Swiftscut carefully unrolled the scroll...
(65)
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Post by Otus Shortwing on Oct 23, 2021 20:29:57 GMT -5
...to reveal the next riddle.
This game is coming to an end So to these words do ye attend If the tome ye still desire Then to the forge go, check the fire Look above, in smoke acrid For there the book will be hid.
"The badger forge, eh?" Sandpaw said. "Only badgers are allowed in there!"
"But there's no badger right now," said Bucktooth. "Surely...
(66)
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Post by Madeline on Nov 2, 2021 14:56:02 GMT -5
"...we can't go in there!"
"We have to!" cried Riverback. "It's the only way to get rid of the monster!"
"Here, here!" cheered Swiftscut, and he and Sandpaw led them to the forge room once they had all finished eating. The walked over to the forge and peered above it, eyeing the chimney.
"Do you see a loose brick or something?" Bucktooth asked, suddenly wishing he was...
(67)
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Post by Otus Shortwing on Nov 20, 2021 22:08:34 GMT -5
...much taller than he was--but alas, beavers are short and squat.
Riverback laced his paws together to form a step-up. "Come on now, Sandpaw, ye look nimble--I'll boost ye."
Sandpaw tittered with nervous excitement and put an enormously long footpaw into the otter's proffered step. "Right-ho, chappie, up we go--whoa!" Sandpaw steadied herself against the bricks of the chimney as she was lifted. "Aha!" she said. "I see--"
(68)
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Post by Madeline on Nov 27, 2021 17:10:19 GMT -5
"--a brick whot's different from the others!" Sandpaw pulls out her knife and works the mortar away from around the brick. She carefully pulls it out, revealing a perfect hole...filled with a book! The questors cheer, and Sandpaw hands the book to Swiftscut, who hands it to Riverback after the doe is safely on the ground. "Back to the library!" Exclaims Bucktooth, and they surge out the door...
(69)
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Post by Otus Shortwing on Jan 21, 2022 22:51:46 GMT -5
...and back downstairs to the library. There, amongst the candles and lanterns of the mountain's trove of books, Sandpaw dusted off the cover of the ancient tome.
"A Dictionary of the Badgerscript," she read off the front. "This is it!"
"So this means," Bucktooth said, "that we can translate the lore about that horrible monster outside?"
"Quite right!" said Swiftscut, and he got a scroll down off a shelf and--
[70]
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Post by Madeline on Jan 25, 2022 18:05:44 GMT -5
...unrolled it beside the dictionary as Sandpaw started riffling through the pages. "With this beauty, we'll have the scroll translated in no time!"
The group of friends spent the next few hours translating the scroll, carefully writing it down on a new scroll as they go. Riverback, not being the best reader, instead kept himself busy getting drinks and snacks for his new friends. Finally, after midnight, they finished their task, ...
(71)
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