Author Topic: Finding the Lost and Forgotten  (Read 12114 times)

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Re: Finding the Lost and Forgotten
« Reply #30 on: October 23, 2021, 09:16:05 PM »
The Results

There were moments of being an archaeologist that were a lot easier than they had even up to a handful of years earlier, but technological advancements, scientific advancements only ramped up the suspense, the butterflies, the tension because answers were far more definitive now than they had been previously. Melanie Bell was pacing around her office in her lab at echo archaeology the envelope containing the DNA results sat on her desk unopened, it was almost funny really wasn't it? She'd put everything on trying to discover who Jocelyn was and now she wasn't sure if she wanted to know if she was in fact right or wrong. If she was right then there was a tie between Achkaerin, East Moreland and Seaforth, a link far greater and more significant than anything from the present day. She'd seen the facial reconstruction of Jocelyn's face and it was definitely close to the sketches and on top of that looked Achkaerinese in bone structure. Summoning up her courage she picked up the envelope and opened it, unfolding the paper she read it and then read it a second and third time before heading out into the more office like area of the premises where Harper Rhodes and Rosa Ayanami were waiting. Stepping into the room Melanie got them all sat down and took a deep breath, unfolding the paper.

"I have here the results of a DNA comparison between your samples essentially we're testing whether you are and by association whether your families are related, we also have a secondary test of Lady Rosa's DNA against a sample taken from Jocelyn's remains." Melanie said she took a moment "The tests conclude that there is a significant level of correlation between your two DNA samples. This level of result is seen in cousins, this is what I'd expect to see if comparing Princess Harper's DNA and King Andrew's."
"So that means we're related?" Rosa asked
"Yes." Melanie said "It's a safe bet that the Rhodes family is a branch of the Ayanami family."
"Which brings us to..." Harper said
"The comparison of Ayanami family DNA against Jocelyn's." Melanie said "I can tell you that the results conclude that there's a DNA link between Jocelyn and Rosa, enough to say Jocelyn is a blood ancestor."
"So Anezaki Ayanami becomes Jocelyn of Rhodes." Rosa said
"Anezaki dies in Seaforth in 1142 at the end of the battle that forged Seaforth, Paul and I assume Price Edwin and it's Siobhan who was next right?" Melanie said
"Yes, Siobhan Rhodes." Harper said
"So they go back to East Moreland, Paul dies in 1144 and Edwin becomes King." Melanie said, "Siobhan takes over on Somerset?"
"Yep." Harper said
"So Ironsides, Ayanami's and Rhodes's all one big happy family." Rosa said
"And the fox, badger and bear shall lie down together." Melanie said "Never thought I'd figure out that Namis prophecy."

About half an hour later they were all sharing a drink of lemonade.
"I know it's not what you wanted me to find." Melanie said "Or who."
"Once you told me it was Caesarea I knew Joshua had gone looking in the wrong place." Harper said "Thank you."
"He could still be out there somewhere." Melanie said
"Still now I know one thing." Rosa said
"Which is?" Harper said
"Why Rion and Andrew are frighteningly similar." Rosa said

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Re: Finding the Lost and Forgotten
« Reply #31 on: October 09, 2022, 09:24:46 PM »
What Lies Beneath

After her adventure out in Rodina, Melanie Bell had finally bitten the bullet and moved into the family estate, she hadn't lived there since her father had died but after everything she'd found, every broken bone, every mystery she was well and truly out of his shadow. As the early morning rain pelted down on the windows Melanie lay asleep in bed, the sound against the glass was almost musical and more than enough to keep her sleeping... the ringtone of her mobile however was a whole different story, reaching for it was as usual quite difficult considering the amount of sleep in her eyes eventually though she had it in her hands.
"Yes?" she said
"You busy?" it was the voice of Doctor Donna Steele
"Why?" Melanie asked
"Last nights storm gave up something weird." Donna said "Well the landslide it caused did."
"Where are you?" Melanie asked
"South of Mount Purity." Donna said "Bloodline valley. There's that much of a circus you won't be able to miss it."
"On my way." Melanie said

It took a good six hours total, thanks to a flight and then driving but soon enough Melanie was driving down Bloodline valley, so named in reference to the nine 'sacred' bloodlines of the Namist faith, to the believers Mount Purity was where the Goddess's had departed the world from after their battle against the Great Unspoken's forces but it was also in this valley where they'd, according to the faith, blessed their most devout warriors, their champions. Melanie had brought Rosalie McLean with her, it became very obvious, very quickly what Donna had meant by circus as the place was crawling with people. There was a very clear landslide with what looked like a stone structure poking out from behind it.
"What the heck?" Rosalie asked as Donna joined them
"See why I called you?" Donna asked
"What is that thing?" Melanie asked
"No one has the foggiest." Donna said "Some sort of structure, lost to time. Last nights landslide shifted the earth enough to give it up but we don't know what we're looking at and as per the red tape, no one wants to dig it out until it's safe."
"So let me guess you want me to go in there and take a look." Melanie said
"If you wouldn't mind." Donna said

Melanie sighed and opened up the boot of the jeep, handing Rosalie a flashlight and then grabbing one herself, she led the way up the slope, it was solid underfoot though balancing was still something of a problem.
"This is old, white stone." Rosalie said when the pair reached the opening at the top
"Fvuras jorreh." Melanie said "Moon stone, see the slight mineral glittering like a sequin?"
"What is this place?" Rosalie asked
"I have no idea." Melanie said flashing her light through the opening "Looks like there's a floor though." she grinned before stepping inside. "Oh wow"
"What is it?" Rosalie asked
"Two floors that I can see, this is the upper floor looks like a living space." Melanie said "The lower floor is much larger."
"What's that like?" Rosalie asked
"I'm going to find out." Melanie said, she'd found some stairs and was walking down, Rosalie wasn't that far behind her curiosity getting the better of her.
"If it wasn't for the lack of an altar I'd say this was a temple." Rosalie said
"This is a fire pit." Melanie said stopping at a stone circle in the middle of the lower level.
"And this is a well." Rosalie said

"I think this is a blacksmith's forge." Melanie said "Look you've got most of the instruments on the wall there, fire pit, well for drawing water." she picked up something "Sword blade moulds."
"Pretty grand blacksmith." Rosalie said "Love to know whose forge this was."
"So would I." Melanie said shining the light around until it settled on an engraved name in the stone above the inside of the blocked ground level entrance "Faylen Sylfiel... you have got to be kidding."
"As in Sylfiel's swords?" Rosalie asked
"Yeah." Melanie said "Each blade carries a name and then there are those in groups, but most of this is legend."
"Not now." Rosalie said "You think there are records?"
"Let's get the landslide out of the way and then find out." Melanie said

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Re: Finding the Lost and Forgotten
« Reply #32 on: April 28, 2023, 10:27:16 PM »
The Name Plate

There were many aspects to what Melanie Bell did, most of her day to day was research which if she was lucky led to the globetrotting adventures she was perhaps best known for and Mundus was full of mysteries, so many in fact that Melanie doubted she'd get to the bottom of all of them but she'd attempt to solve as many as she could. One of the things that her business, echo archaeology, did was watch the auction houses and websites just in case something came up, something interesting, something that didn't make sense, something that triggered a memory or thought this was generally how things started, well either this way or a phone call or someone doorstepping her. Sat in what had once been her fathers study at the family estate Melanie was doing this daily check of the various websites when she came across a worn bit of wood with a bit of brass on it, at a guess it was a nautical item of some sort and the fact that it was identified as piece of wood with worn brass plate, suspected part of naval vessel, no identification intrigued her even more, glancing at the estimate she smiled as she contacted the auction house to set up her own arrangements to bid online on the item. Once bidding commenced Melanie bided her time before putting in a last minute bid to get the item as cheap as she could. When the hammer went down Melanie breathed a sigh of relief, the item was hers but what on Mundus had she bought? Well she'd have to wait for the item to be shipped to find out.

It was the following day when the item arrived Melanie took possession of it as her friend Natasha Raines came downstairs, she'd grown up on the estate and now lived in the house "What the heck have you bought?" Natasha asked
"You tell me." Melanie said laying the item out on a table "It's allegedly a nautical item."
"Looks like it came right off the hull." Natasha said "That brass plate looks like a name plate of some description."
"It's a bit worn." Melanie said "We've got the prefix which says it's Ardian Empire."
"Fun." Natasha said "With the right tests we should be able to figure out the rest of it."
"Chemical test it, looking for paint traces." Melanie said

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Re: Finding the Lost and Forgotten
« Reply #33 on: May 15, 2023, 10:41:35 PM »
The Wayfarer

Whenever she found herself on one of her magical mystery rides Melanie Bell always got a little bit nervous, especially early on as that was usually when things were at their trickiest. It had taken a day or so but she had the results of the chemical testing on the name plate she'd bought at auction. Sitting around with her friends she read the results for the first time, it was mostly a list of various elements that made the thing up but at Melanie's request the lab at the university doing the tests had taken pictures and it was one of these that got her attention, a chemical reaction had given up traces of lettering on the metal plate "Well would you look at that." Melanie said putting the picture on the table.
"W...a...y" Natasha Raines said "blank...blank...r.... blank...r." she looked at Melanie "You don't think?"
"If it is..." Melanie said
"What is it?" Nicolas Mackenzie asked
"The Wayfarer." Natasha said "It's an Ardian vessel, went missing presumed lost in 1862 Mel?"
"Yeah." Melanie said
"Anyway legend is the ship went missing with a load of treasure onboard." Natasha said
"The Wayfarer belonged to the East Ardia Trading Company. By the 1800's Ardia had taken and given out a fair few poundings, Rokkenjima, Daito, Toshikawa etc. And then we come to the 1850's and the War of the Five Queen's." Melanie said "It could have been the end of the Ardian Empire right there but it didn't go that way, it ended the ruling line but then the Devaux's seized power. During the war the East Ardia Training Company shipping was the primary target with the intention of crippling the Ardian economy it succeeded."
"In response the Ardian's marched from the land of Nueva Ardia that was under their occupation at the time and into Toshikawa heading for Gowu." Brian Raines, Natasha's father, said "The largest Ardian army ever committed to a single offensive and the last time an Ardian Emperor led his troops to battle personally, now here's where it gets shady the Company was owned and run by the Devaux's. There have been theories that they pushed the Emperor into action hoping for a defeat in the campaign, but being pragmatic..."
"They sent the pride of the Company's fleet the Wayfarer carrying according to legend contents of the Royal vaults on a voyage, it's widely believed this was to the Ecclesiastical State." Natasha said "But the Wayfarer never got there, no one knows why but it's presumed it was wrecked somewhere."

"Did you do your provenance check on the name plate?" Leon Downing asked
"Yes." Melanie said "It was found in the Dauntel."
"Which doesn't sound right." Natasha said "The Wayfarer's projected route by those who've gone down this rabbit hole has it looping round Rokkenjima and into the Arovium, it barely grazes the Dauntel."
"And if it had gone down on that route the prevalent ocean current in that region would have dragged it into the Shaw." Leon said
"Well everyone thought the Isle of Rhodes was somewhere in the Alucard or Mhorish but it was in Vanora all along." Melanie said "That was based on a false assumption, what if this is another one? The Arovium and the Shaw are busy shipping lanes, they're swept regularly if it was down there it would've been found so fresh eyes. Assumption says the Ecclesiastical State but fact says no. This was found in the Dauntel, it's the one fact we have so let's find the possibilities."
"It's not much of a list." Rosalie McLean said "It's either straight across the Kyne to Royal Seleucid or out and west towards the Mhorish. But again two very busy shipping routes."
"Start hypothesising." Melanie said