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:
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:
xOrkid
Attached is a reciept. It's not dated (for obvious reasons). Thanks for your help. http://www.triskabiblios.com/credit.jpg
Regards, Islington
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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:
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.
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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.
