Brisk Iron and the others at Nightmare Heights gathered their things as they prepared for the air ferry's arrival. Ready Quill had a large box full of paperwork and looked fairly tired. When the air ferry arrived, he doved off almost as soon as he sat down. Once airborne, Brisk Iron addressed the group with, "Things went well enough in town. The ponies seemed amicable and I had interesting discussion with Veldfire. What all happened in the swamp?"
After getting himself settled in the air ferry, Scarlet considered Brisk Iron. Keeping his voice low so as not entice anypony to eavesdrop, Scarlet began.
"Oddly quiet really. After Snowy Skies dispatch of Barometz, there were no immediate threats... Apart from Snakes, but we'll get to that. Plenty of mysteries though.
The Wand of Incomparable Green actually allowed us to bypass the long slog through the swamp, and give a high speed seed ride to the Cave system. With Snowy leading, and lighting, the way, we headed for the only tunnel not previously explored by your team the last time they were here. Sadly not much to see apart from some strange bioluminescent growths. And this," Scarlet said, passing the strange puzzle piece. "It was partly buried, in the ceiling. Snowy said you have about 50 of these already, plus some puzzle boxes too?
After that, it was on to an underground pool which Ms. Flaunt discovered not only lead back to the swamp, but also an old, very old, lone house out on an island. Another seed ride later and we started to investigate. Well," Scarlet said with a wry smile. "We did after Snowy trapped the Cottonmouth hiding in the house. You know how i
love snakes Chief. Anyway, apart a suspiciously intact mirror, considering how rotten the rest of the place was, i did found some carving work with the initials 'MW' on them that Snowy identified as belonging to a missing pony architect named Moonbeam Writ."
Turning to look over at Snowy Skies, Scarlet added.
"Why don't you take it from here Snowy."
Snowy shrugs. "There's not much left to take, really. Moonbeam Writ is the current sole resident of the alternate dimension that Night Cap rescued Desert Rose from. I believe he's the architect of said mansion as well, and given his stylistic preferences we suspect he's the architect of The Castle of the Two Sisters. His cottage in the swamp was so old it rightfully should've collapsed by now, but it wasn't well preserved. I suppose he built it too, and that's why it's still standing. Anyways, the mirror had small traces of magic and looked like it was under a Gentle Repose spell, or something similar. It was in perfect condition, except for some splotches of ro! t at the bottom. There were a few scorch marks on the floor, and they all had the same magical signature as these bizarre puzzle pieces, but I couldn't get any magic to flare up and I didn't want to risk the structural stability of the house. We also found the third puzzle chest in cottage, so we took that and left everything else intact."
Brisk Iron adjusted her glasses while looking over the rose gold and alabaster square. "I worry about this. We could be on the verge of a grand discovery or toying with something we don't fully understand. In other words...the usual. What I'm trying to figure out is just what we're missing."
Brisk Iron adjusted her glasses while looking over the rose gold and alabaster square. "I worry about this. We could be on the verge of a grand discovery or toying with something we don't fully understand. In other words...the usual. What I'm trying to figure out is just whatwe're missing."
"We're not out of leads yet." Snowy replies. "This puzzle box should hold the last piece of the building plans we found in the other two, if Amber can open it. But it seems like it was moved to Moonbeam's cottage from a spot in the cavern. It might hold something more important, maybe the scale to describe the dimensional stretching that Desert Rose described. Then there's the matter of the puzzle pieces, and the fact that we haven't looked up Moonbeam Writ himself yet. If he built the Castle of the Two Sisters, there must be something written about him."
