PS. As I haven't had time to play this through don't rely on me including a clue in my picture to illustrate the post - I was randomly clicking when I did this screen-shot.
Entry 1410, Tuesday, September 20th 2005, Filed In Games
Rating(60%) • Comments(163)
I haven't made my mind up about Yann yet (as Tafkam will tell you I'm pretty open minded). Perhaps he's genuine (sorry if you are Yann!). Perhaps he's Islington/Orkid/Toby in disguise. I don't know. Anyway, first up a link to Yann's comments so far (there's too much to post here verbatim), then I'll tell you what I do know (and speculate a little):
So first up. What we do know. All the posts are from IP address 213.105.224.14, an NTL address in Swansea. Not Islington's usual address(es?) from BTInternet, but still based in Swansea (home of ISlington/Toby I think we can say). Yann claims to be in the Uni Library at Swansea though. Room for conspiracy arguments and genuine player arguments there I think.
I did challenge Yann to prove that he (I hope I'm not wrong, assuming he here) wasn't Toby via e-mail. But as Yann quite rightly pointed out how can you do that? I've emailed Toby directly to question Yann's provenance, but I suspect the answer to that, if any, will only to serve to confuse more. Anyway in Yann's defence he did mail back his on-line details as some form of proof:
Well, I don't know if I can prove that I'm *not* Toby unless you have some information on him, but I can pretty much prove that I *am* Yann Best - you can find me on the following sites, and can message me on/from any of them to check whether I really am who I say I am, or indeed try asking on the forum as to whether I'm a) real, or b) called Toby. Or even if I'm the kind of person likely to pull that kind of stunt - I'm sure you'll find most people will say I'm too boring to do that kind of thing, and sadly I'd have to agree - I'd never have te balls or imagination to do such a thing. Anyway, the links:
I'm a regular on http://www.rllmukforum.com as 'Wiper'
On http://www.myspace.com [search for Yann Best]
On http://www.deviantart.com as yprbest
As the webmaster of http://www.i-otaku.co.uk
On the rllmuk forum photowall - http://ooer.com/photowall/ - as yprbest and wiper [I changed my username on the forum, but couldn't delete the old name on the photowall]
And also:
For what it's worth, my last.fm page is here:
http://www.last.fm/user/wiper/
Not sure how much use this is, but it does show I've not listened to any of Toby's band's music [though I realise it only lists music I've listened to on my PC].
If there's anything I can do to prove I'm not him, please let me know!
Ok. Finally MHO. I'm staying open minded, but Yann's verbose, and rather involved comments make me suspicious, combined with the Swansea locale it make's me think player (or PM as my newly acquired knowledge from unfiction would put it). Also (this is slightly frivolous) the screen name "yprbest" is rather like the txt speak "yr best" = "you are best". Some kind of "in" joke? I leave you to decide upon some kind of conspiracy around the name "wiper".
As always I recommend checking-out unfiction for futher triskabiblios discussions, as well as the comments here at lazylaces - esp. as Yann has been posting in both.
That's it. I'm having dinner with a lovely lady in London tomorrow night - so don't get all jumpy when I don't post anything!
PS: zzub is buzz backwards. Why didn't I see that before? Sometimes you miss the obvious when you look too closely at the detail ;o)
Entry 1409, Tuesday, September 20th 2005, Filed In Games
Rating(36%) • Comments(221)
Entry 1408, Tuesday, September 20th 2005, Filed In Stuff
Comments(24)
The Locked Office has all the elements you'll be looking for: locked in a room, clue in the wastepaper basket, computer on a desk (it's too blocky to tell if it's a Mac!). *joy*. A bit too short though. Oh well, you can't have everything. I'll update this post with a pic when I'm back at my PC tomorrow [subbed by chun, becky, tim & tia].
Entry 1407, Monday, September 19th 2005, Filed In Games
Rating(51%) • Comments(135)
If you are, here's my latest update. First up for what it's worth I think the game is still very much afoot - although that's just my humble opinion and I'm not a pro-arg-er. So what do I know? Things did seem to fall apart over the weekend, but there's an update on the homepage now - although it is something you've probably seen before! And also for what it's worth I didn't get anything in the post, I never worked out who I was calling, and no-one called me. Right here's what I do have (I think some, if not all, might be familiar if you've been following unfiction):
First up I didn't spot it early on Saturday morning but I got the following e-mail...it wasn't to my normal address but fell into the huge pot that any e-mail to any other address @ lazylaces.com ends up in (I'm not sure what address was used). Anyway you'll see that Islington has stolen Toby's e-mail address. Or is Toby = Islington. A matter of some debate already:
From: "Toby Godden" <toby.goddenSCOOBYgmail.com>
To: "Jennifer Harding" <c0elacanthSCOOBYDOO.com>
Subject: Re: Who R U?
Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 01:15:36 +0100
To: "Jennifer Harding" <c0elacanthSCOOBYDOO.com>
Subject: Re: Who R U?
Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 01:15:36 +0100
depends what you want to buy
NOT INTO:
anything bad
wrong
illegal
perverted
distasteful
depressing
ignorant
racist
self-defeating
apart from that, so well , so ogood! You're
welcoem to buy! xIslingtON
Next up I received a "Strange Request" from a third party called Martin. What's going on?
From: "Martin Morrison" <mmorriSCOOBYDOO.net>
To: "graemeSCOOBYlazylaces.com" <graemeSCOOBYlazylaces.com>
Subject: A Strange Request
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 07:18:31 +0100
To: "graemeSCOOBYlazylaces.com" <graemeSCOOBYlazylaces.com>
Subject: A Strange Request
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 07:18:31 +0100
Greame...
You don't know me, but I was (I think) requested to give you a "word".
I'm trying too help another individual, a person named Islington, on a
quest.
Another person helping Islington forwarded me an email from him with the
following text:
----------
actII Sciii
Sir T [sings] 'O, the thirteenth day of December'
-
p37
----------
This is an obvious reference to Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", but the text
is wrong.
It should read, "Sir Toby [sings] 'O, the twelfth day of December'".
I looked for a copy of this work where that appears on page 37 and found
this
document (although I'm sure there are dozens more where that's the case):
http://worldebooklibrary.com/eBooks/ Coradella_Collegiate_Bookshelf_Collection/ shakespeare-twelfthnight.pdf
The word I'm supposed to give you remains a mystery to me...
Toby
Shakespeare
Twelfth
Thirteenth
Night
Orsino
Olivia
't (first word on page 37)
I'm hoping you will know what word you need.
The email also included the following instructions:
----------
Hi - my name's orkid, I've also met that guy.
Heres the link he sent me, he says you'll recognise it
but not to get too strung out at first. He also told
me to say "theres no such thing as a coincidence".
I dont know if that means anything to you but there
you so. Nice to meet you!
Orkid
http://www.triskabiblios.com/mcgyver
----------
If you follow the link, you'll see that there is a link to your site and
the
note that you need a word.
This is the best I can do at fulfilling that request.
If you hear from Islington, let me know how he's doing.
I haven't heard from him on some earlier emails.
Thanks,
Martin
Oh my head hurts. That's it for now. More tomorrow?
UPDATE: Almost forgot, here are the comment logs of Islington (at least I think they are) since he changed his IP Address (there are some new ones if you've seen this before):
UPDATE: I've further obsucured the email addresses of people I found to be just other players of the game rather than "part" of the game - sorry folks I thought you were fictional! Another arg twist I didn't fully appreciate!
Entry 1406, Monday, September 19th 2005, Filed In Games
Rating(52%) • Comments(198)
Sorry if any of you were troubled by my disappearance. I was only away as I had to sleep and then go out today! Anyway while I was away a couple of things arrived in my inbox. Neither make muchsense. First up another note from Orkid:
I;m starting to Get in2 the winsg of this.
It's interACTNOWpoetry
It's interACTNOWpoetry
spanning all of human creation.
It shoulf be on the front page tomoR0?
13thJalurany Februos3:46pa
Orkid's mails beforethis were a lot more structured and made alot more sense.Could Orkid be losing it? Interestingly myother email, from Islington, also has a similar mixed up style:
Mr. Walton,
re:reciept klve in trisca.jp
I suppose I should explain.
You wanted that vynil? well you paid for it in 2006 so I don't mind esneding it now>
This is the worlds largest AAAGGRGH! ever (13,000,000) but funding is not an issue.
Have you tasted minecadnie?
D not e sorry
Regards, Islington
--
Triskabiblios | the13books
(the URL doesn't work but I've reproduced it exactly)
What this all means I don't know, but hopefully it will help out in your advanced investigations - you seem to be doing well. Can I expect an old style vinyl record in the post soon? I'm not sure I like the idea of Islington knowing where I live.
That's all the communications I've had today. There have been a couple of commments on older threads with links to vibration13 pages, but with the ".com" missing. I think these were hoaxes. What I did do is interrogate my comment database to see what comments Islington has made. I've got ascreen shot of the results here:
That's all I have. If I'm not around tomorrow don't worry. I have to be in Newbury most of day.
GOOD LUCK.
UPDATE: I know that most of you have probably picked up on this (some of you are probably members already) but the forums at unfiction make for valuable reading [hello duckie].
Entry 1405, Friday, September 16th 2005, Filed In Games
Rating(44%) • Comments(484)
First up let me say that Triskabiblios | The13Books is not a point'n'click game. I'm not even sure that it is a game (my current best bets are it's a kind of arg, some loony thinks this is real and has latched on to me for some reason, it's some kind of viral ad for something, or it's an elaborate hoax). It is however, most definately, a mystery waiting to be solved (hopefully by your fine brains). Let me explain the rather odd course of events that have led me to post this oddity for you to peruse...
It all started in the early hours of this morning when I received an email from someone calling themselves "Orkid_Quantum" (or Orkid OMalley according to the mail alias). I think that Orkid is female. The mail starts off in a fairly usual way for my site submissions, but gets a bit weird towards the end. After visiting the link I dismissed it as it didn't make any sense. Anyway here's the mail in full:
Hi Graeme, I like your site lots, very handy now I've
quit Uni and seem to be spending alot of time checking
out random games. Between you and Jayisgames your the
absolute best pair of game review posting type people
ever. Anyway! Enough schmoozing, heres what I wanted
to show you. Its a wierd website...
If you click around on the Triskabiblios web site (on the cresent moon on the right in the picture above to be precise) you'll find an appointment that ties in with the one mentioned in the e-mail. I've reproduced it below:
It seems to be about time travel, but whats scary about it is that the messages I've been getting through the game seem to come before the questions I've asked. Not only that, but it - they - whatever - seem to know stuff about me that they couldnt possibly know! I got given a random piece of paper when I was chilling in the library, and since then some really strange stuff's been going on.
Anyway, hope you have time to post this what with all the awesome site modifications you've been doing. You php master you!
CU L8r
Orkid_Quantum
Check my responses under the original comment as well. At first I didn't make the connection, but since it was such an odd comment I followed the link that 'Islington' left - and where did I end up? Back at:
At this point I became intrigued. Who was "Islington"? Were "Orkid" and "Islington" one and the same? The website didn't seem to reveal much (maybe you'll have better luck), so I mailed "Orkid" and accused her(?) of being "Islington", and to stop winding me up. A curt, and mildly cryptic, response came back very quickly:
You think I'm behind this?? But
I'm IN it!
I'm IN it! What does that mean? Orkid is in the game? From the tone I'm guessing she(?) means unwillingly. And why does she(?) sign off as xOrkid? Anyway before I had much time to ponder the meaning of this another e-mail arrived. This time from "Islington":
xOrkid
Mr. Walton,
A receipt for what? How did he know my surname? My e-mail asking that remains unaswered. The link to the receipt on the note you'll notice points back to triskabiblios again. The Link works at the moment, butincase it disappears off the server there's a copy below:
Attached is a reciept. It's not dated (for obvious reasons). Thanks for your help. http://www.triskabiblios.com/credit.jpg
Regards, Islington
--
Triskabiblios | the13books
My Receipt From Islington
One thing I did do though was some googling - I quickly found this strange forum post from "Islington" on the weird:
So "Islington" thinks he is a time traveller. This ties in with "Orkid"'s message to me. Here's the message post in case it gets removed:
It's good to find people who are on the same wavelength! Finally, a few voices of experience out here in the wilderness of Transtemporal wanderings.
Incidently the message board logs "Islington"'s IP address as 86.128.181.226 - but this just resolves to a whole bundle of btbroadband.com addresses so that doesn't tell us much. My guess though is that "Islington" isn't in Islington. That would be too easy. Although then again would it really help that much if he was, and we knew that for a fact?
I'm Islington. I'm looking for the 13 books, the essential encrypted information I need to travel. I'm stuck without them, lost, in a shakey state of flux. And alone. All my colleagues at Triskabiblios seperated from me in the event in which the 13books were first lost. The accident cost me dearly. Now, I'm flitting between chronologically significant points, seemingly at random. I need those books, they must be brought together.
So... I need your help.
It's going to be hard... cryptic coincidences you would normally filter out... but I know (with the benifit of optimistic hindsight) -that your help is both vital, and gratefully recieved.
Islington
Triskabiblios | the13books
Ok. Finally I googled for "Orkid", or "xOrkid" (remember that mis-spelt email?). Too much came back for any sensible conclusion to be made although this:
Caught my eye, containing as it does the word "xOrkid" (use CTRL+F) and seemingly serving no purpose. However the host site's home page seems to be kosher, so perhaps this is a red herring.
Right that, finally, is all I have. I'm at a stale mate with what to do next. I'm hoping one of you will be able to glean some more information from the clues here, the Triskabiblios site, or some other web source. I have to say I haven't been very thorough in my googling yet. Hopefully then I can solve the mystery of "Islington" and "Orkid", what they want, why they have been in touch with me (has anyone else heard from them?), what, if any, connection they have to time travel and what, and where, the "13 Books" might be. And of course what the meaning of "Triskabiblios" is. Good luck.
PS. I forgot to say that I'll be posting updates on this as and when I gather any more information.
===================================
UPDATES: This post has got a little out of control. I'm going to post my updates in a post oftheir own to make it easier.
Entry 1404, Thursday, September 15th 2005, Filed In Games
Rating(49%) • Comments(587)
A, D, & W keys to move, move the mouse to aim, and mouse-click to fire.
Entry 1403, Thursday, September 15th 2005, Filed In Games
Rating(48%) • Comments(10)
Hot out of my in-basket is this from eb:
- go to www.google.com
- type in "failure" without the quotes
- press the I'm feeling lucky button (instead of the google search one)
- Laugh
- REPOST, SEND IT, FWD, SHARE IT
- DO IT!!!!
- Listening to Chris Moyles breakfast show (link direct to the radio feed - if you hurry the show will still be on) on BBC Radio 1.
- Programming lazylaces.com/mobile (work in progress) to bring lazylaces to a phone near you soon.
- Drinking Kenco Costa Rican coffee. Hmmmmmmm.... coffee.
Entry 1402, Thursday, September 15th 2005, Filed In Stuff
Comments(17)
Online "point and click" adventure where Manev comes from the party where he was real drunk and his car stops in the middle of the desert. Now it's up to you to fix the car and drive back home. Good luck!!!
[subbed by tia, eb, linda & lynn]
Entry 1401, Thursday, September 15th 2005, Filed In Stuff
Comments(81)
OK, so contrary to my normal laziness I've been a busy little bee and made a few improvements to the cozy little world that is lazylaces, some of which you may have seen, and some of which you probably won't have. Here they are in full:
- You can now use <spoiler> and <hint> tags in comments for all your game walkthroughs and the like. As tafkam points out though this will probably also lead to a new feature of comment threads devoted to arguing about "you should have used spoiler tags", etc. Enjoy.
- As well as the long standing site rss newsfeed, there are now new rss comment feeds for the site gossip (all comments), and one for each comment thread (if you really want the latest hints on cwot, or whatever, delivered to your desktop - there's one for each of all the 1400+ articles!). If you don' t know what rss is and are interested in how to 'get it', try microsoft's simple guide, or this one from the bbc. My personal advice is to use the 'web clips' section of Google Desktop (a joy to use), or the in-built rss subscription features in FireFox or Opera (Internet Explorer 7 is also, heavily, rumoured to have rss support).
- The stylesheet selection for the PSP web browser (yes I got the v2.00 upgrade) has now been corrected. I'll be doing a lot more work on this in the future to get a better "screen fit" on the PSP if a flash player is released for the PSP (drop me a line if you know anything about this). For now it's fairly academic since you can't play half, well most all of, if I'm honest, the things I link to using a PSP. Incidently if you have your own web site and want to do something special for the PSP browser I got details of the user agent here.
- The stylesheet selection for Opera 8x has now been corrected so you don't have to be a wimp and impersonate MSIE or Mozilla (as an Opera user I'm ashamed how long it took me to do this - my solution up until now was to stick with version 7x on my main computer).
Entry 1400, Wednesday, September 14th 2005, Filed In Stuff
Comments(44)
Entry 1399, Wednesday, September 14th 2005, Filed In Games
Rating(44%) • Comments(116)
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