Madness of the Stones

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Madness of the Stones was a virtual representation of one of Eivor Varinsdottir's genetic memories, relived by Layla Hassan through the Portable Animus HR-8.5.

Description

Eivor encountered a ring of stones and a madman talking to himself. She investigated.

Dialogue

Eivor saw a man talking to a circle of rocks.

• Madman: You mock old Cuthbert, stone soldiers. Hopping in and out, in and out. Like robins on a woodpile.
  It's impossible. Twenty-five, then twenty-six? They come and go and take my wits with them.
  They doff their caps and steal my sense. I cannot leave until I know the true number. I cannot!
  Lords and ladies, lords and ladies, dancing in a dell. Jigging in their shirts and socks to dance me off to Hell.

Eivor approached him.

• Eivor: What troubles you, old man?
• Madman: Please, I beg you. How many are there? I must know.
• Eivor: How many what?
• Madman: The stones! Everytime I count them the answer is different. First twenty, then twenty-one! The fairy-folk make a madman out of me.
• Eivor: Rocks cannot appear and disappear. I shall count them.
• Madman: Run round and around, pick up your skirts, don't drag your robes through the dirt.

Eivor counted the stones.

• Eivor: Your stone sentries, I have counted them.
• Madman: And? How many lords and ladies come to dance a jig?

I counted thirty-one.I counted twenty-one.I counted twenty-seven.

• Eivor: There are thirty-one. I think that was the count.

• Eivor: There are twenty-one, I am as sure as I can be.

• Eivor: I am certain there are twenty-seven now! How can this be?

• Madman: See! Never the same, never the same. Please. Count them again, you must, to save my wits!

Eivor counted the stones again.

• Eivor: I cannot get the same number twice!
• Madman: Never the same. Never the same. Cobweb cloaks and magpie hats!

I counted twenty-six.I counted thirty.I counted twenty-one.

• Eivor: Now there are 26. How can this be?

• Eivor: There are thirty, I think?

• Eivor: Are there twenty-one? I cannot see.

• Madman: See! Never the same, never the same. Please. Count them again, you must, to save my wits!

Eivor once again counted the stones.

• Eivor: This is madness, they change each time.
• Madman: Don't close your eyes. Or they'll steal the glinting flint, scrobble it away.

I counted twenty-seven.I counted nineteen.I counted twenty-three.

• Eivor: I cannot understand it, but now there are twenty-seven.

• Eivor: I think there are nineteen.

• Eivor: Perhaps there are twenty-three?

• Madman: Ha! They have bewitched you too. Twirl and spin, dance and grin. Pyewhacket comes to bite your shin. Who came crawling from the maw like a fat black rabbit without any legs? I see you. Glisten, little imp. Twenty-seven. Twenty-one. Twenty-three. Twenty-four. Twenty-two. Twenty-two. Twenty-two.
• Eivor: I don't know how to help you. It seems as if the stones appear and disappear at will.
• Madman: You should not stay here. Leave, leave before they claim you!

Eivor felt drowsy.

• Eivor: Does Skrýmir toy with me? Casting his magics in England?

She closed her eyes for a few moments. Once she opened them again, the drowsiness had passed and a tall rock stood where the man had been.

• Eivor: That stone, was it here before? And where is my mad friend? Damn this cursed place.

Outcome

Eivor counted the number of stones three times (always resulting in different numbers) before waking up and the man turning out to be a stone.

Behind the scenes

The game makes strategic hard cuts between the default camera angle and the zoom-in for NPC conversations in order to hide the loading and unloading of additional rocks between parts of the puzzle, but the first count of 21 is the area's default, to which the area resets upon completing the memory and remains as such for the remainder of the game. The nearby gas cloud—which also persists for the duration of the game—not only inflicts poison damage on Eivor, it offers an in-game explanation for how she hallucinated a different count each time (as well as the man).

References

• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla