+ CLUE POST +

[vitaelamorte]

Come on, guys. It's not an Eway party without puzzles.


Here's how it's going to work! Your characters have received invitations to four different parties that will be spread out over the course of the event. Each party log will contain a clue that will be the beginning to one of FOUR puzzle paths, leading to FOUR possible outcomes, including:

• Two routes that lead to who it was that invited everyone to Wonderland, given out in two different ways.


• One route that does not give the answer, but does reveal some interesting Background Information about Wonderland.


• And one route that is a red herring route that does not lead to anything useful at all.

We are NOT telling you which route is which, so you're just going to have to solve them all and find out for yourselves when you get to the end! Each route has 3 steps (except for the last route, which has 4) and will work like this:

ICLY: Your characters will find clues and attempt to solve them! Clues will regenerate after five minutes, so if for example, one character or group of characters finds a note with a clue on it and takes it with them, the note will re-appear for others to find. They'll (hopefully) solve the clues to find the next step of the route and so on and so forth until eventually they figure out where the clues are leading them. They may need to ICly seek out others for assistance if they do not have the knowledge or skills to progress further, and it is entirely possible that they may get ICly stuck on one route, and may need to change to a different one. If they stick with it though, they will be rewarded with information...unless they got the red herring route, of course.

OOCLY: These puzzles are a TEAM EFFORT. As each log is posted, we will post the first clue of each route whether the previous route has been solved or not (so on the 1st the House Party Route will start, and on the 3rd the Throne Room Party route will begin even if the House Party route has not been 100% solved, and so on until all the routes have been started). When you think you have solved a clue, reply to that clue on this post. If you're right, we will reveal the next clue in that route, and if you aren't then you can keep trying. We encourage you to use each puzzle route's thread for OOC collaboration and shouting ideas at each other, and even begging for clues if you're really stuck. Clues will NOT be revealed ICly until they are solved OOCly. For example, if puzzle route A's first clue leads to the roof it does not, nice try, the clue will not APPEAR there until someone solves the clue OOCly – this is partly to prevent spoilers, and partly to allow people to go about their lives in-game without having to retcon and be like “oh and there was a huge clue in the background of this thread”. We encourage EVERYONE to try their hand at the puzzles, whether their characters are working on that route or not. The routes will get solved faster with multiple people working on it as a big team, and we hope that it'll be a lot more fun that way!

PLEASE KEEP AS MUCH TO THIS POST AS YOU CAN - we know you guys love Plurk, but you'll be doing puzzles alongside people who haven't been in the RP scene in years and may not have access to puzzle-solving happening exclusively on plurk.

We are releasing the puzzle routes in order from hardest route to easiest route (in our opinion, as puzzle makers), since by nature there will be less time to work on the routes released last. If you have any questions about how the puzzle routes will work or anything along those lines, please bring them to the FAQ POST. If you have questions about specific riddles or need to demand hints, please keep those questions to their puzzle path threads so everyone can easily find the answers!

That should be about it! We'll begin releasing the first clues as each log goes up, and we wish you all the best of luck with our maddening puzzles! ♥

Comments

[goodwoofjames]

We want to ask the goldfish where we should go next!

[normandysbest]

ALRIGHT THEN TO THE FOUNTAIN IN THE GARDENS!!!!

edit: i will make a note of saying we're gonna take the eggs with 'em, one of each color, so we have all the messages. just in case

[vitaelamorte]

[I HOPE YOU REMEMBERED THE WHITE EGG THIS TIME.

At the fountain in the gardens, there are many goldfish swimming around, but none of them seem to have anything of value to say, since fish can't actually talk. Too bad. Looks like they really aren't good at filling in blanks.

However, it looks like there's a red toy boat driving itself around the fountain.]

[normandysbest]

OF COURSE I DID IM SORRY

but uh, let's inspect the boat!!

[goodwoofjames]

SUDDENLY, TALKING ANIMALS IS STRANGE IN WONDERLAND

but yes interrogate the crab

[vitaelamorte]

[Once you catch the boat (which will prove difficult ICly, as it keeps trying to get away), you'll find a note folded up inside the boat. It reads:]

FISH SO MANY, FISH A PLENTY!
FINALLY THE CONGNOSCENTI!
ONCE AGAIN YOU'VE FOUND THE CLUE:
ONLY RED, NO GREEN OR BLUE
ONE FLIGHT UP AND THEN ONE MORE
OH WHICH ROOM ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

[normandysbest]

Okay well, "only red" would make me think the Mirrorside, but it could also be the second mansion? Since the house party mentioned: "Provided you, too, really love the colour red."

I figure "one flight up and then one more" means the 3rd floor of wherever we're going, since we're currently on the ground floor and that's 2 flights up.

what about ya'll?

[goodwoofjames]

co·gno·scen·ti
känyəˈSHentē/
noun
people who are considered to be especially well informed about a particular subject.
"it was hailed by the cognoscenti as one of the best golf courses in Europe"

It's misspelled in the riddle but I figured it was worth finding out what that word means. And with it in mind it makes me think of the Duchess but I don't know that we have an idea of where her room is, particularly if this is meant to be on the third floor of the second mansion.

[vitaelamorte]

[What can I say? Sometimes bad spelling is just bad spelling.]

[krmvgivv]

Is it tho you misspelled your as yowr in the last path TRUST NO ONE

Just in case so far there's been a missing n and a w instead of a u I am keeping track

[vitaelamorte]

[Trsut no one, indeed.]

[normandysbest]

it's probably worth noting the exact misspelling is an added n, since we had some missing letters earlier. And yeah I'm not... sure we know where the Duchess' room is. That word makes me think it'd be the Queen of Hearts' throne room, but that's on the first floor. When we found her bedroom in the last event it was technically on the fifth but that doesn't line up with the clue about how many flights of stairs.

edit: I'm going to bed but my solid guess is second mansion, floor 3. I don't know if that's a specific room, but that's where my first guess would go to.

[pig_and_pepper]

[ You look around the white pillow and blanket landscape, which unfolds peacefully before you. You don't think that it holds any clues to the riddle, and almost turn to leave, when a noisy wail breaks the silence.

You look around and find somebody hidden away in a fort of fluffy white pillows: It is the Duchess and her severed head, sobbing pitifully into the white fluff.]

[krmvgivv]

[pig_and_pepper]

[ The Duchess perks up. Her body does, anyway, while her head voices its muffled protest from between the pillows. ]

Was that- a broom?

[ She fumbles for her head, and unearths it from its resting place. In a swift toss she throws it at you, and as you catch it - and you had better catch it - it begins to look you up and down, red and tear-swollen eyes searching you with irritable curiosity ]

Well! What are you doing here?

[krmvgivv]

[HE CATCHES IT WITH MINIMAL FUMBLING.] Following a trail of relatively easy clues? [They weren't even in code. He's so disappointed. What is this the easy route?] What's wrong?

[pig_and_pepper]

Let me see that!

[ Her body tumbles topples forward awkwardly, though her hands prove surprisingly deft at stealing the note from you. She waves it in front of her own eyes, mumbling to herself. ]

Well! Well! It can't be that easy when you're here, can it? You're clearly in the wrong mansion. No wonder none of you were able to solve my riddle.

[ She sighs exaggeratedly. It's actually quite impressive, given how far her lungs are from her mouth. ]

Now then, shoo, shoo, go back where you came from, and try again! I'm very busy, you know.

[ The Duchess hands back your note, and relieves you of her head in exchange. She places it on a small mountain of pillows, clears her throat, and begins, once more, to weep bitterly.

You could stay and talk to her, but there is no telling if she will have anything useful to say. All you know for sure is that you followed your riddle's path to the wrong place, and should probably try again elsewhere... ]

[normandysbest]

Alright well that didn't work lmao, though I was very surprised to wake up to this notif

My second guess on that front would be the mirrorside though, but I still feel like we're missing something here.

[mrknope]

My guess is the library because, you know, red/read as in black and white and red all over. It also is somewhere where cognoscenti might be and sometimes is three floors. Of course, we've already been there on the other path but maybe worth checking?

[normandysbest]

That would make sense! I'm trying to think of what the rest of the color clue means, "no green or blue", implying that like... there are areas with many colors? But honestly the third floor of the library sounds like a good bet.

[uncaging]

I'm going to guess at the Mirror side, since the grounds are in black and white - "no green or blue" could refer to the sky/grass outside? Probably going off in completely the wrong direction but hey.

[normandysbest]

you know what, that's a good plan. I was also thinking of the Mirror Side originally. Maybe the mirror side library? It does probably have one up there.

[uncaging]

Mirror side library sounds like a good bet!

[paper_knight]

[Since red seems to be an important part of the clue here, Mark would ICly like to know what the Red Queen has been getting up to these days--since he was not here when she apparently jumped into the core HOLY SHIT EWAY--and I would OOCly like to know whether it was ever established which side of the mansion she lived on, mirror or real. Maybe that will help us decide where our flights of stairs are?]

[vitaelamorte]

[Mark is welcome to come find out icly right over here. As for oocly, this was never truly established, though she did tend more towards Real Side in general.

Also this is what happens when you leave us - we go and toss perfectly good NPCs in the Core. :T]