Week Two - Task #08. "Alley of Echoes"

[Prof. Sindor Aloyarc]

A featureless alley behind the florist’s shop has become a local curiosity. People claim they hear their own thoughts echoing back at them, but wrong somehow.

You step into the alley, heart pounding. Your own thoughts bounce back disjointed, rearranged and unfamiliar.

“I know your wand. I remember your spark.”

You cast a quiet detection spell, but no known enchantments register. Instead, you find a small metal pin stuck between the bricks: Ministry grade, standard surveillance tech but modified.

It’s not your tech. Someone’s listening.

Task:
Discover what whispers you're hearing by solving the following Cryptogram and Send Me Your Solution through a private message.


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Alternatively you can share an HOL appropriate Secret below describing something silly or serious that most people might not know about you, using 100 words or more for full credit. 15 beans/sapphires are available for this task, with an extra 15 for completing all Week Two tasks by end of activity.

[Prof. Sindor Aloyarc]

Solved by:
River Fenwick
Aisling Lestrange
Luna Ravenlong

[Emily Spencer]

Ah, secrets! Many who know me would say that I am an open book, and in some ways, they would be right. However, even I have my secrets, and I will reveal one of them to you now.

Being a paramedic has taught me to put up a good front. As the British would say, I have a good ‘stiff upper lip’, and am able to separate my feelings from whatever needs to be done at the time. I hav been placed in very uncomfortable scenarios due to the nature of my profession, and carried on as if nothing were the matter. Those who I work with would say that I was unflappable; they would be very wrong.

Not to sound rife with false bravado, but few things truly scare me. One exception is birds. I’m talking anything from a little hummingbird to a great eagle. If it has wings and flies, this girl is out of here! I am ashamed to admit it, but I have even knocked my daughter out of the way in a blind panic when a bird got into the house. Not my proudest moment, but my Slytherin instinct for self-preservation kicked in full gear. It was every man (or woman) for themselves!

It’s not only live birds, either. Big Bird from Sesame Street, the stupid emu from the Geico commercials, and even Harry Potter’s dear owl, Hedwig are enough to induce nightmares. I am rather ashamed to admit it, but I was probably the only person in the Harry Potter fandom that did not shed tears when Hedwig died. I didn’t even like Fawkes! Terrible, I know.

And there you have it, a secret about me.

[Phoenix Ocean]

I actually divulged my secret in the last task post! I am currently researching a haunted cemetery near where I grew up in Virginia. There have always been murmurings about the strange whisperings within the cemetery and I have always been very drawn to it. I guess my secret really is I am not just drawn to this one particular cemetery, but most cemeteries that have older graves (1800s). I know some people find them uncomfortable, but I have always found them to be rather peaceful. I enjoy sitting amongst the graves and reading a book, which I know sounds very Wednesday Addams! It’s a weird quirk I’ve had since I was about 12 or so.

[Janne Halla]

One time I tried to teach myself how to juggle with fruit from the kitchen, and it was a complete disaster. I started with two apples and actually felt pretty confident, like 'Hey, I might actually do this'. Then I decided to throw in an orange. That was the mistake. Not the orange specifically, just adding a third item.

Within seconds, all three pieces of fruit were rolling across the floor, and the orange landed perfectly in the dog’s water bowl. The apples were bruised, the kitchen smelled like citrus for hours, and I had to laugh at myself. I never did learn to juggle...