Treasure hunt Stardark
The guest room might as well have been the dining room. A long table surrounded by chairs dominates the space of green wallpaper and numerous windows. However, food is not to be found; the tabletop is covered with piles of paper. Tables, formulas and graphs are printed on the pages.
Next to the paperwork is Miss Alafir – or rather, Yasmin. She hates being called by her surname, especially by students like you. After all, she's only a few years older. Still, you stumble upon a difference in class, as Yasmin has long since completed her studies and is now working as a doctoral candidate for Professor Nagas. Yasmin also gives lectures for some of the courses you take at the university. That's how you got to know her.
She looks up at you with a frown. "That’s a pleasant surprise! What are you doing here? Has the professor invited you?"
"Not exactly, but I do have something for her." You offer Yasmin your envelope.
The doctoral candidate looks at the envelope. "Ah, finally. We've been waiting for a response from Maraq for a while now. We can definitely use this."
"Use it for what?"
"You've had classes on the Darkening, right?"
You nod. Almost all your classes mention the subject at least once. "The stars are going out and we have no idea why." And no one is doing anything about it, you almost add. Fortunately, you manage to hold back your tongue in time; one of the few people who do want to do something about it is standing in front of you.
Yasmin looks just as miserable as you feel. "We're doing our best. The professor is constantly talking to the Rajunsa. However, the Council still does not consider the disappearing stars to be a problem. Instead of helping us, they throw up barriers." She waves the envelope. "That's why this took so long to get here."
She tears it open. There is only a single sheet of paper inside. Thick black-out lines make much of the text unreadable. She bites her lip. "Censorship. I feared that would happen..."
You stare at the letter in disbelief. "Why would someone do this?"
"Well, according to the priests, the Darkening heralds the arrival of the Goddess. We're doing everything we can to stop the darkness, so they're doing everything they can to stop us. I'm afraid their power in the council is greater than ours." Yasmin holds the letter so close to her face that her nose almost touches it. "Maybe there's something in here that we can use. Not everything has been made unreadable. Can you determine the relative magnitude of the stars mentioned?"
She hands you the letter. There is no star named specifically - not readable, at least - but you do find the following list:
Right Ascension/Declination
05h 59m 31.7s / +44° 56' 50.8"
08h 22m 30.8s / −59° 30' 34.1"
13h 47m 32.4s / +49° 18' 47.8"
16h 48m 39.9s / −69° 01' 39.8"
Take the magnitude of the brightest star and multiply by 100. The result forms the access code for the next page. Google can be your friend, but there is also useful information hidden on my site.
