The Eleventh Trial: Licorice

[hot_mess_express]

[As you pass through the doors of the bar, your vision blacks out. You find yourself in a void, unable to see even your own hands. For a moment, all is silent. Then, out of the murky dark shines a pair of brilliant sky blue, cat-slit eyes. Below them, a sharp, fanged smile.]

Looks like it's my turn, now.

Your mission today is to master a maze. Every room has a riddle: give it the right answer, and you get a point. Mess it up or wait too long, and you lose a point. Either way you can move on, but screw-ups have to pay a toll.

I don't really expect anything from you, but let's see if you can prove me wrong. Get as many points as you can before you reach the exit, and maybe I'll buy you a drink.

[The cat's face disappears, and the void recedes...]

Comments

INSTRUCTIONS

[hot_mess_express]

Characters find the rules for this game appear in their mind. They are as follows:

- Each room of the maze has a puzzle. You have 30 minutes to enter a solution or give up. The solution must be agreed on by everyone but submitted by one person. Results are given as soon as you've submitted your answer, so you may move on before the 30 minutes are up.

- If you enter the right solution, the doors will unlock and you can choose in which direction to proceed. Unlocking successfully causes the team to gain one point.

- If you enter the wrong solution, give up, or exceed your time limit, the person submitting the answer will receive a penalty before the door unlocks. You can choose in which direction to proceed, but the team will lose one point.

- Once you've gone through a door, it becomes permanently locked. You cannot go backwards, only forwards.

- If you reach the end room, you may not go back into the maze. You're done and must wait for endgame.

- The total game run time is 3 hours. You should aim to be in the end room with as many points as possible by that time. If you never reach the end, the whole team takes a penalty and you lose 5 points.

- The 3 teams with the highest score at the end of 3 hours win.

THE CAT

[hot_mess_express]

[As you go through the rooms, you'll see a black cat in each one, lounging and watching you with bright blue eyes. You may talk to the cat here!]

Re: THE CAT

[bad_crowmance]

[ Crow crouches down to hold out his hand and allow the cat to smell before he tries to pet. ]

START

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[You begin in a walled-in garden -- a lush green lawn spreads across the ground, soft beneath your feet. Scattered about are flower beds, with rosebushes in various colours. In the center is a fountain, with cool water that’s clear and fresh and perfectly drinkable. The room is lit from above by a bright but distant artificial sun.

There are three doors leading North: Left, Right, and Center. They are featureless, with no visible way to open them. Near them is a stone pedestal.]

PUZZLE

[hot_mess_express]

[Upon examining the pedestal, you find three dials with three settings, marked with a coloured dot: red, yellow, and white. Above each one is a number: 12, 18, and 23. You must select a colour for each number.

In this thread, you may discuss solutions or examine the room. Please ping Cleo on discord if your characters are examining something or you have a question.]

SOLUTION

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[Submit your answer here. Remember, whichever character submits is the one who'll receive the penalty if you're wrong.]

ROOM A

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[You enter a forest -- or a room that may as well be one. It’s dark, lit only by sunlight through the leaves of massive trees. Below your feet is a carpet of dead and dying leaves, and along your path there are irregular groupings of tall and short shrubs, all in a line. Following them leads you to the next pedestal.

There are three doors here: North, South, and East. The South door locks behind you, and cannot be unlocked. You can only move forward. ]

PUZZLE

[hot_mess_express]

[Upon examining the pedestal, you find a text input keypad. Above it, an carving of a shrub.]

SOLUTION

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[Submit your answer here. Remember, whichever character submits is the one who'll receive the penalty if you're wrong.]

ROOM B

[hot_mess_express]

[You enter a dim room with walls and floor and ceiling made of a flat black stone with a smooth matte finish. It’s empty, aside from a statue of a nymph holding a mirror, a small bright light shining down upon it, warm and golden like a sunbeam. There is no pedestal -- instead near the North ceiling there are two stone rings hanging down on chains. One is decorated with sun rays, one has a rim engraved with stars.

There are four doors here: North, South, East, and West. The West door locks behind you, and cannot be unlocked. You can only move forward.]

PUZZLE

[hot_mess_express]

[The nymph holds her mirror slightly downward, facing the floor. Inspection proves that the mirror can be tilted up or down, as far back as parallel to the ceiling, and side to side.]

SOLUTION

[hot_mess_express]

[Submit your answer here. Remember, whichever character submits is the one who'll receive the penalty if you're wrong.

You have til 6:55pm]

ROOM C

[hot_mess_express]

[This room is a box of sanded but unvarnished wood. Its shape is odd -- it’s long and shallow, and along the ceiling are evenly spaced metal wires. They hum, and from them comes the pleasant sound of a piano playing a wistful tune.

There is the next pedestal, and three doors: North, South, and West. The West locks behind you, and cannot be unlocked. You can only move forward.]

PUZZLE

[hot_mess_express]

[Upon this pedestal is a mask -- a metal FACE, smiling faintly, embedded in the stone. Next to it is an equals sign, and a keypad on which you can enter a number.]

SOLUTION

[hot_mess_express]

[Submit your answer here. Remember, whichever character submits is the one who'll receive the penalty if you're wrong.

You have til 7:25pm]

ROOM F

[hot_mess_express]

[You’ve walked in on a PARTY! Or what would be a party, if anyone else was there. It’s a room with pink walls and a cheerful black and white tile floor, with balloons and streamers dangling from the ceiling. The floor is sprinkled with confetti and in the center of the room is a table with a cake.

There are three doors: North, South, and West. The South door locks behind you, and cannot be unlocked. You can only move forward.]

PUZZLE

[hot_mess_express]

[The cake on the table is round, with pink icing and sprinkles. Beside it lie a sharp knife and a note with one simple instruction:

”Make 8 pieces with only 3 cuts.”]

SOLUTION

[hot_mess_express]

Submit your answer here. Remember, whichever character submits is the one who'll receive the penalty if you're wrong.

You have til 7:45pm]

ROOM E

[hot_mess_express]

[You enter a garden of stone -- the floor is bare, and there are a number of statues. First, four carvings of a pretty young woman, standing in a circle, facing eachother. Each holds an urn, and is marked with a letter:

Statue A rests the urn on her hip.
Statue B holds it above her head.
Statue C clutches it to her chest.
Statue D leans over to tip it sideways.

Behind them, there’s a statue of a waterfall coming out of some rocks, and a statue of a wooden basin. Between those, in a line, are four squares marked into the floor.

There are four doors here: North, South, East, and West. The East door locks behind you, and cannot be unlocked. You can only move forward.]

PUZZLE

[hot_mess_express]

[The statues are actually quite light -- they can easily be pushed along the floor.]

SOLUTION

[hot_mess_express]

[Submit your answer here. Remember, whichever character submits is the one who'll receive the penalty if you're wrong.

You have til 8:00pm]

ROOM D

[hot_mess_express]

[You enter a crypt. The air is musty, the ground littered with bones that have fallen out of their beds in the walls. There’s a sound of scuttling beetles, and a pedestal that appears to be crumbling.

There are three doors here: North, South, and East. The East door locks behind you, and cannot be unlocked. You can only move forward.]

PUZZLE

[hot_mess_express]

[This pedestal has a microphone embedded in the center. Above it, and inscription:

”Marking mortal privation, when firmly in place. An enduring summation, inscribed in my face. What am I?”]

SOLUTION

[hot_mess_express]

[Submit your answer here. Remember, whichever character submits is the one who'll receive the penalty if you're wrong.

You have til 8:20pm]

END

[hot_mess_express]

[You enter the door and come out into what appears to be the inside of the bar you first walked into. The lights are low, the walls rough brick and the bar itself old, hard wood. Off in the corner is a stage, currently empty except for speakers that play instrumental rock music at a mid-low volume. Along the wall behind you are three doors, all leading South, all locked.

Behind the bar is a young man in acid wash jeans and a leather jacket, with dark hair and very blue eyes. He’s got cat ears and a tail -- jet black -- and a lazy expression as he examines his nails.]

You made it. Nice.

[Welcome to the end zone.]

Re: END

[bad_crowmance]

Heh! As if there was any doubt. ♪♫