Mission: Mansion - Task 4

"How can I ever thank you?" exclaims Donna when her warm new robe is done. "Now there's a chance that I can actually survive this!" She leads you up the steps to the outdoors, explaining that this route is quicker. As you walk, you make sure to explain what the password is so she'll be able to get inside. Suddenly, you see a glow and point it out to the rest. When you arrive, you notice one of your teammates lying rigid on the ground, eyes vacant, staff still glowing. You kneel down next to her and feel her throat. There's no pulse. You gravely announce the news to the others. "She's dead."

Donna shakes her head sadly. "She must not have gotten the reagents in time. The cold's set in. There's nothing we can do." She turns around and leads you back into the house, announcing "necromancer" as she steps over the threshold. She leads you into a room on the ground floor. It appears to be some sort of library. Donna peeks inside and quickly pulls back.

"I see Emma in there," she says. "I'd better go. Thanks so much for all your help." She teleports away, and you cautiously step into the library.

You haven't walked more than three steps inside when you stub your toe on a book lying on the floor. "I wish they had better light in here," you mutter. "Even just a candle would be nice." 

"Psst...over here!" calls a voice. You notice a light blue figure waving frantically. You slowly walk over to her, careful to mind your footsteps this time. You breathe a sigh of relief when you reach her with no incidents. Now that you're closer, though, you realize something strange about the girl, who you decide must be Emma. It's hard to see in the dark room, but you notice something on her robe. No, not on her robe...through her robe. The outlines of the books on the shelf behind her. 

"Emma..." you say cautiously, hoping she won't take offense or freak out at the news, "You're transparent, like a ghost. I can see the books behind you." Emma looks down and lays a hand on her chest, looking through herself. "Yes, I noticed. That's why I'm so interested in this book." She shows you a thin, dark green book that seems to have accumulated some mildew on its pages. "While I was waiting for you, I searched this shelf to see if I could find out why. I found some truly dreadful things, but nothing about how I seem to have become a ghost. Now, I think I might have found something." She shows you the page, and you squint to read the text. It seems that it's made up of real words, but they're rearranged so they make no sense at all. You sigh with annoyance. "Great. It's encrypted."

Two people didn't turn in their entries: Tasha SparkleHeart and Isabella StarSong. I've chosen to eliminate Tasha because Isabella did so well on Task 2. 

I need your help breaking this strange encryption. I'm so curious about my state of being, not to mention it's probably really important! Here it is:

Death is intruder who of not

Breath mere will for you to fade a

Befall your and wait doom watch

Is because master them death all of

Will bones chilling your come, cold a

Pervades mind death as body and

Was come, a you'll it find to mistake

The moans join ghosts silent in you'll

Are shrewd, you clever and noble, for

If rejoice! Death, of you but are

End schools forever to other the

Us complete you'll to choice our help

Confusing, right? Here are some handy steps to follow when solving this crazy poem:

1. Remember that the verses are all in their correct order. All lines that are in the verse in the end result are still in the same verse in the scrambled version. All words that are in the line in the end result are still in the same line in the scrambled version. However, where the lines are within the verse and where the words are within the line is what's different. Be careful.

2. Rearrange the words in each line so they make some sense separately. The order of the lines will still be jumbled, so you may not be sure of your answers. That's okay. It should eventually become obvious if you missed something. Be sure to leave the punctuation with the words they were with while doing this.

3. Now rearrange the lines within their verses until they make sense. There are multiple ways to do this and they might still make sense even if they're wrong, so I'll give you this hint: Some of the lines (I won't tell which) are already in their correct places. However, no verses already have ALL their lines in the correct places. Pay attention to the pattern of the rhyme and meter and you should be okay.

4. Reread it carefully to check for mistakes. If you think you have it all right, proceed to step 5. If not, go back to step 2 or 3, depending on what you think you messed up.

5. Viola! You now have your rather morbid, but completely coherent poem. To submit it, email it to sophiaeb at live dot com with the subject line Mission: Mansion Task 4. Try to be quick! The deadline is February 2nd, 11:59 PM EST.

Like task 2, entries are judged based on the percentage correct. Again, the lowest scorer is eliminated, and in the case of a tie for lowest score, the person eliminated will be chosen at random. (Hint: In verse 3, line 1, the word noble comes before shrewd.)

Find I good to poem! out luck! that need >:)

- Emma I