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The Quest
of
The Grail Solution

Sixth Illustration and Email Clue Solution

Illustration Six

The Dream Scroll and final email clues now gives direct instructions on how to find the Grail.

The border of the illustration is no longer encrypted hence no need for a comet. It reads:
NO NEED TO SEEK OUT THE SIXTH LOCATION HERE
THE ONE TRUE PATH IS PLAIN TO SEE AND MY WORDS ARE BUT WORDS
AND YOU ARE KNIGHTS AND YET BUT FLESH AND BLOOD
AND SAD IT IS THAT HERE OUR QUEST MUST END AND A NEW DAWN ARISE

These first two lines state you should have identified the sixth location as CADBURY CASTLE. The final two lines firstly state that we are but mortal 'flesh and blood'. The purpose of the Quest was to show that our lives should be a search for knowledge, and that was why the Quest guided you along a path that enveloped the Grail. The Grail's aim was to show how life, itself, is a quest, full of challenges and adventure; I hope you all understood that. The final line is a lament, how, although our journey must come to an end, another even greater challenge awaits.

The Three Tasks of Wisdom.

Task One
If the Knight of the Grail returns to his castle by the shore,
He will be whole, but will worship rocks not the Grail.
If he has wisdom enough he will set another course,
And entombed will worship a place of two portals!

For from his sixth place he must pass by the Chasm, the Hills,
The Wells, and High Chapel, and Lakes, to familiar ground,
For here, it was said, that the waters were fed by a Grecian Mount,
And the desperate hands of Patriots, hollowed out freedom!

Task Two
Prepare for the journey that descends down into the valley of the Grail.
No more ciphers, only nature in its gloriousness dwells,
And the beauty of its power, and the brilliance of its majesty.
Here may you all bear witness, and with astonishment gaze!

Task Three
Knights, descend the biblical stair and cross the bridge of hope.
Pause and witness all that you have done! Your Quest has led you here.
And the Grail is now within your grasp. The knights have marked the spot!
How many steps will you climb until you find, beside you, your true salvation?

TASK ONE
Verse one of task one tells how you should not return to Tintagel, the first location, for if you do you will not find the Grail. Instead you should 'set another course', somewhere inside the tomb's outline drawn out on a map. A place that has 'two portals', (entrances).

The first two lines of Verse two tells you how to get to the place of two portals from the sixth of location Cadbury Castle: In a straight line, you must pass by the chasm (cheddar Gorge), pass by the hills (Brecon Beacons), the Wells (Llanwrtya Wells), the High Chapel (Upper Chapel), the Lakes (Elan Valley Lakes), to familiar ground - the only familiar ground in that alignment is DEVIL'S BRIDGE, mentioned in the first set of email clues. Note how the Wells and the High chapel are swapped in order of distance from Cadbury Castle. I didn't want to make it too easy! And I never stated they were in any kind of order, but you pass by them all by if you travel in a line to Devil's Bridge.
The words: 'familiar ground', refer to a place where the Knight has already visited, another confirmation of Devil's Bridge.

The third and fouth lines of verse two refer to a poem by William Wordsworth:

TO THE TORRENT AT THE DEVIL'S BRIDGE, NORTH WALES, 1824

How art thou named? In search of what strange land
From what huge height, descending? Can such force
Of waters issue from a British source,
Or hath not Pindus fed thee, where the band
Of Patriots scoop their freedom out, with hand
Desperate as thine? Or come the incessant shocks
From that young Stream, that smites the throbbing rocks
Of Viamala? There I seem to stand,
As in life's morn; permitted to behold,
From the dread chasm, woods climbing above woods,
In pomp that fades not; everlasting snows;
And skies that ne'er relinquish their repose;
Such power possess the family of floods
Over the minds of Poets, young or old!

I have highlighted the passage, and had to change it slightly so you couldn't find it on your search engine! At Devil's Bridge there are two entrances, one to Devil's Bridge and one to MYNACH FALLS, both entrances opposite sides of the bridge.

TASK TWO
The task here is to prepare you for the decent. The words 'No more ciphers,' mean the instructions you read from here on in are not written in code: as the words around the border state: 'MY WORDS ARE BUT WORDS'. The final two lines of the verse just pay tribute to the beauty and the power of the place! The waterfalls are magnificent and show, in a real sense, the awesome power of nature. I visited the falls at night in a in the rain!

TASK THREE
'Knights, descend the biblical stair', a confirmation that it is the MYNACH FALLS entrance you require. As you follow the path down you come to Jacob's Ladder (biblical stair), it is 100 very steep steps down into the valley. The line continues 'cross the Bridge of Hope', when you reach the bottom of the descent, you find the bridge. I called it the Bridge of Hope because at that stage you will be hoping that you are only moments away from finding the Grail.
The third line then states:' The knights have marked the spot!', this refers to the instruction of the Knight in the final email clues ('And of the third and final task remember us,
For we will be of number where the Grail shall lie').
The final line confirms that it is a number you require (50, the number of Knights!), for the Grail was hidden beside the 50th step, the steps you climb once you have crossed the bridge!

Email Clue Six

THE DREAM SCROLL

Weary with toil, I reached my journey's end,
Where I had truly thought the Grail must dwell,
Yet saw no sign on earth, nor could I deem,
If my true path was true, or just in vein.

So lay me down, under an old oak tree,
And as sun took flight the stars ascended,
And fell I fast to sleep. And dreamed a dream,
Oh! but for waking, I had thought it real!

I heard the hooves of horses, fast approach,
Ghostly they seemed at first, until in view,
I saw the shimmering armor by moonlight,
Of fifty Knights, that halted on the mount.

And one, above the rest, stood out in majesty,
And he alone rode up to where I lay,
Under the old oak tree, and as I rose to greet him,
He begged me stay, and spoke these words to me:

'Brave knight, because you had forsook the Grail,
I have had to send you on this journey here to me.
To see if you are worthy of a second chance,
And you have come, that makes you worthy now.'

'So take this scroll, and wisely view your fate,
And of the third and final task remember us,
For we will be of number where the Grail shall lie,
And so the Grail might soon in your possession be.'

When I awoke a deer was standing nigh,
It seemed one with the forest, still and serene.
Where should I journey on to find the Grail?
All I have left is my hope, and a lucid dream.

Verse one confirms that the Grail is not at the sixth location CADBURY CASTLE.

Verse two tells of how the Knight fell asleep and drempt a dream.

Verse three tells how in the dream he encountered 50 ghostly Knights. This is conformation that the sixth location is CADBURY CASTLE, for legend has it that at certain times of the year the ghosts of King arthur and his Knights appear on the grassy mount of Cadbury Castle, and ride down into a nearby village where the horses stop to drink from a spring.

Verse four states that he speaks to the leader of the Knights (King Arthur!).

In verse five the ghost of King Arthur tells the Knight how he (the knight) had forsook the Grail, so this implies that the knight had already visited the Grail site at Devil's Bridge (see email clues one).
Then King Arthur goes on the say that the path the Knight took to arrive at Cadbury castle was a test to see if he was worthy of a second chance to visit the Grail site. The Knight had passed the test.

In verse six King Arthur give the Knight a scroll, and tells the Knight to remember the number of Knights (50) when he attempts the third task, for the number fifty will be where the Grail lies.

The final verse sees the knight waking from the dream, and seeing a deer close by. When you descend into the Mynach Falls valley you pass by bronze statues of deer amid the oak trees, another confirmer that MYNACH FALLS is the Grail site.

CONCLUSION

So there you have it, the complete solution to the Quest of the Grail. I'd like to thank everyone that partook in the Quest, and to congratulate Cyclops and Xrayzer for finding the Grail.
I hope the journey was rewarding for you all.
As to the future, I may set another Grail challenge, maybe with sponsorship to attract more Knights. I'll let you all know when I have made the decision.
By the way, I'm leaving the Grail message board (The Round Table Forum) open for a while, as I would love to hear all your valuable comments on the final solution.

I raise my cup and drink to the Knights of the Grail!

SOLUTIONS 1 2 3 4 5 6

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