As we continued to search the room for clues on this puzzle, Cassius grumbled.
"Would have been nice if they gave us a clue of some kind."
Cal chuckled as he continued to scan the books on a nearby shelf as I looked up from where I was searching through the box from before.
"They did, by telling us it's a puzzle in the first place, besides, dungeons sometimes have things like this, what kind of adventurers would we be if we couldn't solve this."
"The kind that doesn't like convoluted puzzles."
Cassius grumbled back as he turned from where he had been searching and turned back to Tess who was still frozen as he walked over.
"Wonder if it's like a they only realize the game started when we unfreeze them thing, or if they are just stuck waiting while we do this stuff."
That was in fact an excellent question, however I was slightly distracted by the label I was reading after I had emptied the box which had been filled with arrows, and ammunition for guns. Normally the label wouldn't say much, but it had a strange symbol on it.
Shipping Address - Hawthorne Mansion
Contents - munitions package
Provider - devil is in the details shipping
I looked to the symbol that seemed to be the generic symbol for demons being a triangle with horns coming out as I walked over to the door across the room. It held a circle that from what we had gathered, needed to have a shape drawn to unlock it.
I traced the image as best as I could when we heard a resounding click and the sound of a slap. Cal who had seen me go for the door and walked over to watch turned with me as we saw Cassius on the ground, a very angry looking Tess clenching her fist.
"Yes, we see everything, now stop being all in my face!"
Cassius from the ground seemed to mumble something like sorry as we walked into the next room where a small altar to demons had been set up. Resting on the altar was a simple playing card with a black design and a closed eye of it that seemed to float and spin on one of the corners.
Cal patted me on the back as he said.
"You solved the puzzle, its yours."
I turned to the card and then back to Cal as I said.
"I feel like your also doing this to see if something happens to me."
Cal chuckled and shrugged with an expression that said ya got me. I rolled my eyes and walked over grabbing the card.
The first of the 12 conceal cards has been found, all participants of the game has been given 1 swap.
The first floor of the mansion has been unlocked
I made my way out of the small room and into the hallway that I could now walk into. We walked around the hallway, somewhat splitting up due to our status on different teams.
The hallway itself was a large L shape with a library, dinning room, ballroom, and stairs up and down respectively. Walking towards any of these rooms a small notification would appear marking that there is a puzzle beyond this door and asking if we are sure we want to enter. Some even had a participants number requirement. However the big one that stood out was that we needed 8 people to leave the first floor to go outside. While entering rooms would start their puzzles we could glance in some rooms. In the ballroom we saw what looked to be a halfblood hawk that nobody recognized so we assumed they must be a member of the last team, Please Don't Split. He seemed locked mid way through a dance with no partner, their pose frozen as if someone should be there.
A member of Cassius's team who wore a plague doctor attire named Kraven was frozen in the entryway with human wearing white robes with a skull staff next to them, the two walking arm in hand like they were walking into a ballroom. Lastly the dinning room had Liora who seemed to be greedily staring at a plate of food, a fork and a knife in each hand as she was mid pounce on what looked to be a large steak of some kind.
From what we could tell, the ballroom, dining room, and library each had a puzzle due to their sealed status. Though we were only guessing that Kraven and the man in white robes were tied to the library due to its two person entry requirement. So we did the logical thing and split up to solve our respective rooms. I went towards the dinning room, Cassius would try to free the halfblood hawk, and Cal would work with Tess to free Kraven and the man in white robes in the library.
"Well, lets see what we are working with here."
I said stepping through the threshold of the dinning room and into the next puzzle.
You have entered puzzle room 4, the lords feast
More so just to check parameters, I placed my hand in the doorway and felt the invisible wall. I looked through where I saw Cal and Tess walking towards the library
"Testing to see if we can communicate through the puzzle barrier!"
I yelled towards them, but they didn't seem to react. Moreso when they turned to enter the library I saw a blur where their mouths and eyes should be, probably preventing any kind of hints.
I scanned the room, looking around for a starting point when something on Liora's hand caught my eye. She held a silver spoon in her right hand, the back of which was polished so well it was like a mirror. However as I saw myself, instead of the 18 I had before, my number was now 1.
It could have happened at any time, be it Cassius switching with me, or some combination of Cassius switching with Cal or Tess, but what it showed was that I had been sloppy, too trusting of us being made to work together. I had been sloppy and it was costing us.
I quietly cursed myself as I continued to walk around the room and I said aloud.
"I know you can hear me, but I also know you can't move, so I will explain what I know so far, once you are free we will no longer have the luxury of privacy to talk, so use that big brain of yours to think of a plan while I solve this puzzle."
I explained about the rooms, the puzzles, who was awake currently, and what I knew as I searched the room. I saw that a few plates had placed their fork and knife down to mark they were done with the mean, and when I went around and adjusted them all to match a golden card with an open eye appeared at the head of the table. Grabbing the card the message announced
The first of the 12 reveal cards has been found, all participants of the game has been given 1 swap.
The dinning room has been unlocked.
Liora seemed to lurch a bit as I grabbed the card before she looked up at me with a knowing look.
"We haven't gotten the message about others finishing their puzzles yet, so let's test some things while we are free to do so."