Necromancy For Beginners

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Necromancy For Beginners
Active since 2017-24-11
Chrono Cauldron.png
Chrono.gg's second ARG. Involving potion brewing.
Type Unofficial ARG
Creator Chrono.gg
Discovered 2017-24-11

Main Page > List of Investigations > Necromancy For Beginners

The hints

It started with a hint on the chrono.gg discord #secrets channel:

Frst hint.png

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,
For a book of powerful deals,
Like the blackest of Friday steals.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
See the path with a westward gaze,
Thus begins a challenge for days.

This is an edited excerpt from Macbeth.

People then realized that the next ARG had begun so started looking around for clues. Immediately a URL was noticed in the deal banner for the day's sale.

Banner art.png


Necromancy For Beginners

Users must first register to access the rest of the ARG. You will be assigned a name consisting of a first and last half. Do not lose this. Upon opening, the user is shown a cauldron and an empty shelf.

Empty shelf.png

If you click the recipe book in the top left you are shown the following pages:

The Recipe Book
Recipe Description
Page 1 With toil and trouble bound for thee,

Brew specimens of nature, three

Contrive to burn or salve the soul

TheChronomicon: your goal


The EnigmaStone will bear its fruits,

From fungus to enchanted roots

These, the tools for your new quest

Unseal the tome once laid to rest

Bottled Soul Swap this for an enemy's essence. Lovers and family will be unperturbed. You hold the bar, and your puppet will dance.

Screaming tree root

Gossamer

Precious stone

Cave Slop A benign mixture, the choice of cave-dwellers and misanthropes. No good for good men.

Mix spawn of frog, fungus and arachnid excretion. Brew for as long as you want. It hardly matters.

Crimson Ichor The deep red of this elixir mirrors the rosy cheeks of youth. Drink daily to stay young and healthy. Beware full moons.

Mix blood of insect, foot of hare, spine of tree dweller.

Dazzle Flask A solution to make dull objects sparkle like gemstones - common folk will be drawn to them as magpies.

Blend a crystal, the scales of a fish, a magic root.

Enigmous A confounding potion. Those who imbibe its contents slowly lose their memories - then, their humanity.

Forest mushroom

Flowering plant

Mystic root

Avoid overmixing, wise men have been known to scream with madness.

Fire Balm Ward off heat for safe cooking, or to help you survive, however briefly, in a dreadful inferno.

Mix root of mandrake and spider's home over a low heat. Add animal quill and simmer until thick as swamp mud.

Morph Brew Like a changeling you will be, from sunset to sunrise. Your facade will wane with the moon.

Chopped wolfsbane, mushroom, frog larva.

Necrotic Venom Madness in a vial. Your victim now wanders the earth as a shadow, a dark curse on his loved ones. Sorrow, plague and terror are afoot.

Juiced insect, quill of echidna, diamond or similar.

Do not let this potion cross your skin.

Skunk Blind Three drops and the most beautiful maiden will appear as a foul wench in your enemy's eyes. The most delicate sights become repugnant filth. A dismal curse fit only for those who suffer its effects already.

Angelfish scales

Beetle essence

Rabbit foot

Whooping Crane Said to give flight to daydreamers. A loud crow and you will sail to the sun. Few ever come down.

Use:

Frogspawn

Mandrake root

Angelfish skin

Xeno's Arrow Time stands still for the unwitting fool who imbibes this catatonic concoction.

Fish scale

Echidna Spine

Spiderweb

Ominous Crystal Make a crystal glow with mysterious vigour. Its full effects remain unknown, but tales tell of strong warriors bested by peasants.

Common crystal

Insect juice

Wolfsbane

Essence of Nature Sup upon this elixir and the beasts of the wild will be at your service. Except pigs. They will bite you.

One rabbit's foot, mixed briskly with a cobweb or two, followed by a mysterious forest root.

Note from Grendel Send me your discarded things, spoils from the forest or concoctions brewed. Find me in the swamp, or send things through your powers. I will return you a gift.


- Grendel

Unremarkable Fish Filet
Dubious Potion

Page 1 was later updated to add links to TheChronomicon and EnigmaStone, when the puppet-masters realized that the clues to them being domain names had been missed.

The Puzzles

Once the link to EnigmaStone was added, the players of the ARG were faced with three separate puzzles. Each time a puzzle is completed by a user, that user is rewarded with 4 random ingredients (It was originally 2 but was upped soon after the ARG's release).

Name Clue Solution Explanation
An Elusive Remedy

Remedy for sense’s blight,

flower blooming in the bright,

inside yellow, outside white,

this and rue purged Adam’s sight

To be released after the end of the game
A Thief That Can

A secret tongue, the peddler's French,

Used by villain, rogue, and wench.

A question posed, and pay it mind:

A thief that can must answer in kind.


Balolot, kumba, akoy, urtel, be: laf mon i?

To be released after the end of the game
Discarded Scrap of Paper

Scrap of paper.png

To be released after the end of the game
The Perilous Game

The gamblers play this perilous game,

A pair of dice between them

Wagers made to nick the main

Can undo a man or redeem him

To be released after the end of the game


Items
Name Image Uses
Mushroom Mushroom.png

Cave Slop

Morph Brew

Enigmous

Crystal Crystal.png

Dazzle Flask

Necrotic Venom

Ominous Crystal

Spiderweb Spiderweb.png

Essence Of Nature

Xeno's Arrow

Fire Balm

Cave Slop

Dubious Potion

Rabbit Foot Rabbit-foot.png

Crimson Ichor

Essence Of Nature

Skunk Blind

Echidna Spine Echidna-spine.png

Crimson Ichor

Fire Balm

Necrotic Venom

Xeno's Arrow

Beetle Blood Beetle-blood.png

Crimson Ichor

Necrotic Venom

Skunk Blind

Ominous Crystal

Angelfish Scales Angelfish-scales.png

Bottled Soul

Dazzle Flask

Skunk Blind

Whooping Crane

Xeno's Arrow

Dubious Potion

Mandrake Root Mandrake-root.png

Bottled Soul

Dazzle Flask

Enigmous

Fire Balm

Whooping Crane

Essence of Nature

Dubious Potion

Wolfsbane Wolfsbane.png

Enigmous

Morph Brew

Ominous Crystal

Frogspawn Frogspawn.png

Cave Slop

Morph Brew

Whooping Crane

Red Herring Red-herring.png Unknown ... Unremarkable Fish Fillet? (Implied)


From here onward is working notes

The rune on the book started as a level1 and once 10 Crimson Ichors were offered it reached level2, 20 - level3 and we're now up to 23. The current theory is that we've got 17 left till this rune reaches max level, then 10 more until that rune is "finished" for a total of 50 potions per rune. The chronomicon will then highlight a new rune and asking for a new Elixir.

Rune finished

New rune wants souls

We're at 29 souls but the rune is still level1

Red Herrings have been given to two users, both hadn't done anything except complete puzzles.

While crafting a Bottled Soul one user was given