arsgoetia | Game 19

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!game 19

Game 19 - Group B

You are in a small, square room—no more than five or six paces across in either direction. The décor is cramped, black, and gothic a darkened library jammed so full of books and antiquated furniture that you have to be careful moving around to avoid everything.

There is a single window on one wall—covered with heavy red curtains for ambiance, but you can see that it's boarded over on the other side.

The second wall has two large bookcases full of nicely bound books. Between them is an unlit fireplace with a lintel that has several figurines and candlesticks on it, and above that, an absurdly large portrait of a very unfamiliar and gothic-looking noblewoman. Displayed prominently on the fireplace is also an antique gun. For some reason, the painting and the gun have garishly orange pieces of tape stuck to them.

The third wall has a lamp, a liquor cabinet, and a music box on a stand. There is a small stairwell here that goes straight up to the ceiling and then abruptly stops. The outlet for the lamp also has tape on it.

The final wall has a door, which is heavily padlocked, a grandfather clock.

The center of the room has a squat, round coffee table with a ouija board on it. A chandelier hangs from the ceiling, some sort of twisted monstrosity made from animal skulls.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The liquor cabinet is . . . disorganized, to say the least. There are plenty of extra spaces on the shelves, and they don't seem to be in a coherent order.

It's also locked.

[can he just break the handle off or is that no go]

You rattle it pretty hard, but it seems unusually impervious to being brute forced.

[boo. going to check out the nearest thing orange taped, so the lamp outlet.]

It seems to be orange taped just to prevent you from sticking your fingers into it.

Nice childproofing.

[considers trying to take it off but what is he gonna do, charge his phone? going to check out the clock instead]

The face of the grandfather clock is bare, and missing its hands.

[can he open the case?]

The clock can be opened—if you had the hands, you could probably fasten them back on.

[so that's two things he needs to find, now ... moving on to the fireplace mantel, checking over the candlesticks and figurines for any hidden items[

There are a set of skull-themed bookends with an empty space for books between them. The bookends seem impossible to move.

[maybe it needs books there? probably? going over to check the bookshelves to see if he can take any out]

Most of the books are dark and leather-bound—though a few stand out here and there, starkly bright colors: a red-bound book, one green, one gold, one blue. Vincent is carrying around a silver book.

[grabbing all four, flipping through one after another as a cheating vampire does to look for clues]

The books start off like so:

Silver
V. What the Thunder Said

After the torchlight red on sweaty faces
After the frosty silence in the gardens
After the agony in stony places
The shouting and the crying
Prison and palace and reverberation
Of thunder of spring over distant mountains
He who was living is now dead
We who were living are now dying
With a little patience

Gold
I. The Burial of the Dead

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.

Blue
II. A Game of Chess
The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne,
Glowed on the marble, where the glass
Held up by standards wrought with fruited vines
From which a golden Cupidon peeped out
(Another hid his eyes behind his wing)
Doubled the flames of sevenbranched candelabra
Reflecting light upon the table as
The glitter of her jewels rose to meet it,
From satin cases poured in rich profusion;
In vials of ivory and coloured glass

Red
III. The Fire SERMON

The river’s tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf
Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind
Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed.
Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song.
The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers,
Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends
Or other testimony of summer nights. The nymphs are departed.
And their friends, the loitering heirs of city directors;
Departed, have left no addresses.
By the waters of Leman I sat down and wept . . .

Green
IV. Death by Water

Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell
And the profit and loss.
A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.

Ah, here we go.

[taking them and putting them in on the mantle in the order

Gold -> Blue -> Red -> Green -> Silver.]

With a low thunk, the bookshelf to the left slides smoothly away, revealing a small passageway into a hidden room.

The architecture in this room seems all upside-down and uncomfortable, cramped and twisted. The ground is slightly warped, the red carpet crunching underfoot, hopefully just with dust and wear.

There is some sort of "altar" set up here, and the air smells heavily of incense.

On the altar, you find:

a pair of candles
a chess board missing two pieces: a white bishop and a black knight
a feather
a mouse skull
a small locked jewellery box with a number padlock:
- five spaces total
- with a dial for each space to enter any number between 1-26

Yikes.

[puts the white bishop where it should be]

I've seen a chess puzzle like this before.

[MORE PUZZLES]

Elluka, didn't you say you needed a chessboard?

Yeah, this looks right. I'm a little unnerved though. Last time I saw a chess puzzle that called out a bishop and a knight, it was referencing friends of mine, Tristan and Kieran.

Edited 2016-12-03 22:40 (UTC)

Edited (i spell gud) 2016-12-03 22:52 (UTC)

With all the books in one place, then . . .

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