Last Tuesday, our FC senpais organized a really fun Escape-style event for us which I had the honor to participate in. Let me do some small background information about me and riddles first.
Personally, I am terrible at riddles. If there is something that I'm terrible at doing in my life, it's riddles. I'm probably the kind of person who you bring to Escape games and confuses the heck out of everybody in the team. It could be because I am allowed to think without constraints and my brain is kinda trained to break puzzles more than to solve them (thanks Dungeons and Dragons -_-). It could be that I think too much or when I attempt to think 'out of the box', I went to outer space instead. It could also be because I am very detail orientated, which is possibly due to my stay in Digpen, which causes me to blow every detail out of proportion like those Illuminati videos on YouTube. I dunno. Maybe I'm just dumb. But how can I be dumb if I know I'm dumb?
SORRY!
BACK TO THE TOPIC!
SORRY!
BACK TO THE TOPIC!
That being said, it doesn't mean I don't like riddles. I still enjoy playing Professor Layton series, although I don't think I have solved any riddles other than those really straightforward-single-step ones.
Expectedly (or unexpectedly as my ego claims), I didn't get very far in the Escape game. I only managed to solve the first puzzle and that was with much hand-holding towards the end of the event. The organizers are probably interested in what happened, and here is a recount including my thought process in the whole event. Unfortunately I did not have many screenshots, so it will be mostly words.
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The event started at the basement of the FC house. Cyrn-kun was there giving out the first clue:
{“Guys!! It’s an emergency!! The Baa is gone!! He left a note… His last words of farewell?
Hyur does not belong!! find the murderer at:
hutwuyrentysuevren
Twhentuysrihx
Ywulrun
hutwuyrentysuevren
Twhentuysrihx
Ywulrun
/tell them “YOSHIDAAA"}
How the heck did Cyrn-kun manage to pronounce those words? Must be an incredible Lalafell feat! Oh wait I'm Lalafell too. Hmm nevermind. I shan't think too much on that. Our dear FC leader, Baa-chan, is missing! We must find her!
Okay, really at this point, the puzzle seemed very easy. I immediately opened up my trusty Notepad++ and replaced the letters H Y U R with nothing. Easy Peasy!
"twentseven Twentsix wln "
Wut? First things I spotted were a "seven" and a "six". So what is a "twent"? And why is one of it capitalized while other is not? It could be deliberate? Or it could mean that the murderer just happens to capitalize one and not the other. STILL I have no idea what is a "twent". Well, in a sense, it DOES look like "twenty" and if it is, it would make some sense. But the removal of 'y' is most likely more deliberate in my mind than it being a design issue due to the nature of 'HYUR' having a 'Y' foiling the organizer's plan to fully spell out the numbers correctly. And it could be that having 'HYUR' mattered more and hope that the players did not think too much about the lack of 'y'. Still, the removal of 'y' seems more deliberate so I went with that first.
"twent" still means nothing to me. Much less "wln". Standing outside the FC house, I semi-afk'ed to look at the words on Notepad++. I undid and redid the process to affirm myself that the removal of 'y' is indeed deliberate, for this case anyway. So I took a small leap of faith. Maybe I'm supposed to "/tell YOSHIDAAA" on a person named "Twent Seven". Who knows? Around this time, there was a PSA going around saying that we should take into account the "lag" time with the NPCs that we /tell to. So I randomly decide to "/tell Twent Seven YOSHIDAAA", even though it is unlikely that it is the solution. And waited for the 'lag time'.
Then around 5 minutes later, Onion-kun walked up to me. I was mindblown. Did I get it right? How is it even possible? It doesn't even make any sense! Well, it does but it makes the least sense of all the conclusions I came up with. She then opened a trade window and passed me a bowl HIGH QUALITY MASHED POPOTOES. What could this mean?? Did I succeed? It makes no sense! Is it a clue? Popoto = potato = Titan = T? "Twentseven" = "T went Seven"? T = Titan, Titan = T? "Titan went seven?". Oh my god it's a completely logical(?) sentence! What's going on?! Do I sign up for Titan EX? Oh my god Baa-chan is a healer! Healers must go to 7 o'clock in Titan for Gaol mechanic! Then what does six mean then??
Many minutes went by trying to find out whether Titan killed Baa-chan and how. I still have no idea what "wln" or anything means at this point, but this went on until 15 minutes after Onion-kun told me to ignore the Popoto because it was a mistake. Why 15 minutes? Because my brain was still on tilt over the "Titan went seven" thing so I took that long to get it off my head before trying another lead. I guess my brain was proud that it reached that ridiculous conclusion and became attached to it.
I went back to the other conclusion about "twent" meaning "twenty". I think it was close to an hour into the event by then? Despite me saying that I ignored the Popoto thing, the Mashed Popoto was still in my inventory and it's giving me random signals to link it to everything >.<
Well, "twenty seven" and "twenty six" could mean anything. I thought they could be coordinates, room number, or even house number. I tp'ed to Ul'dah thinking that since it is a place of Lalafells, maybe it's where "Hyur do not belong". I was thinking maybe Raubahn is an exception and is a Lala-friend (you know like how elves have elf-friends?). Unfortunately, X:27 and Y:26 does not exist in Ul'dah. So I teleported back.
Okay, so the thing about teleporting for me is that I have the habit of opening the map first when I reach my location. I teleported back to the Goblet and I SAW NUMBERS when I opened the map! Surely, this must be the answer?? Desperate, I traveled to house #27, hoping that "twenty six" means room #26 at that house. And guess what I found there! A Lalafell standing at the entrance! I /poked, /wave, and ran circles around him without any response. Sadly not even a "/tell YOSHIDAAA" worked. On top of that, house #27 is a small house so there isn't a room #26. Dejected, I retraced my steps.
So it was around this time I was crying in the FC house and in FC chat. Since it was nearing the end of the event, Lumi-chan gave me hints and asked me to think about what "wln" means. FOR SOME REASON, my brain could only think of "wah lan", "WIN" and "western latern" (seriously, don't ask me where the last one came from). With Lumi giving me more hints, and me honestly trying very hard not to look like an idiot and cry/laugh in real life, I finally figured that "wln" means Western La Noscea (or as I like to call "Western La Nose Car").
At this point, I actually felt happy and sad at the same time. I felt happy because...well I solved the puzzle. I wasn't sad from receiving hints. I was sad about the fact that I felt happy. I was going full "mature kodomo" mode at my computer, saying things like "why am I happy over this?"
I finally teleported to Western La Noscea and moved to X:27, Y:26, which is at Aleport. I ran around looking for anyone I recognize but couldn't, so I started gauging how far can I walk before a coordinate changes. I walked towards the gate, and the coordinate changed. Hmm, the NPC must not be outside. So I walked down towards the port. I stopped at the Orwen, the NPC that hands Levemete, when the Y-axis turned to 27. Okay it must not be here either.
So again I'm stumped. I looked at all the players standing around and found one that belonged in an FC that is somehow very familiar and was pretty sure that a couple of their FC members raided with not just me, but our other FC members before. Maybe it's her. It must be her. I mean, what are the chances that a member of an FC, that has members that raided with members of our FC, is conveniently placed at the exact coordinates I'm at, right? Below is a screenshot of what I did:
She said "Please look forward to it!".
FINALLY! I FOUND THE ONE!!!
Bearing in mind the 'lag time' mentioned earlier, I waited. Soon after, she teleported away! "Yes!" I thought. "She's coming back with the next hint!". I mean, she was standing there the whole time, why only teleport now? Coincidence? Surely not!
For those who didn't know, the Aetheryte is right next to Delivery Moogle. I stood there in sheer excitement and anticipation for someone to appear there and walk up to me. A few minutes later, I think Lumi-chan was getting all worried and started querying for my location. Well, that confused me a bit. Isn't this Magatsu Kusanagi part of the plan? I figured it is okay to ask so I did. Lumi just went straight up "No"or something along those lines. Eh?!
Hmm I'll try to describe what it felt like with an embarrassing story that happened to me in Secondary School, so bear with me for awhile. Basically it was Home Economics. I was supposed to 'cook' cup noodles, so I did the right thing at first: put the seasonings into the cup, pour hot water, and wait. Then I just decided that I wanted dry noodles and poured all the soup out, thinking that it will still taste the same, but dryer. This feeling is similar to the feeling I had when I tried to eat the dried noodles with high expectations of its taste. It's like embarrassment, humor, amazement, disappointment and dejection all at the same time.
Aaaanyway, Lumi came out from where-ever she came from and I spotted her. She told me to follow me and I started to tail her. My first thoughts while tailing were "Ohhhh I'm so dumb! I didn't check the top of the wall!", the wall being the one was behind the delivery moogle and the Aetheryte.
Then she led me down towards Orwen, which I mentioned earlier, is the NPC that gives levequests.
Down? Why down?
Isn't this X:27, Y:27? Hey that's not...wait?
She opened the door behind him and entered.
...
THE DOOR OPENS?!?!
*faints*
I walked in and it appears that it is a tavern of some sort. Lumi walked towards the end of the tavern and I followed. It was X:27, Y27 while following her but when I reached to the end...
X27, Y:26.
Western La Noscea.
mind=blown.
orz
-------------------------------
And that is the end of my story for this event. I hope everyone enjoyed the recount. I didn't bother (and didn't have time) to vet it so I apologize again for any bad English anyone encountered. I told myself to just type what's directly on my mind to make this recount as 'pure' as possible.
I would like to give a very heartfelt shoutout to all the organizers in our FC: Lumi-chan, Hanskun, Cyrn-kun and Baa-chan. I can really see the effort put in and I do hope you all had fun seeing how everyone tackled the riddles.
And also shoutouts to all the FC members who participated, turning this event to very lively and funny event. I was laughing at the FC chat most of the, when I'm not laughing at myself.
Special shoutouts to Onion-kun for providing a fantastic recount of the entire event for lost participants like me to read up and also making me tilt over a High Quality Mashed Popoto. For those interested in the walkthrough of the event, here's her recount in the form of a story book!
Another special shoutout to Laguain who was 1 step short of passing me another High Quality Mashed Popoto and hence also 1 step short of making this recount slightly more epic.
I really enjoyed it, despite not really going through all its contents. In a sense, I experienced 500% of the intended experience of the first puzzle, so I don't feel that bad. I really felt that this brought the FC closer, and one of the ways it did was to generate more internal jokes (somehow most of which revolves around me though -_-;;).
For those in FC who didn't participate and is reading this: You should really participate. Don't give up at the first puzzle and you might create your own little 'misadventure' like I did! (being optimistic ^_^;;;)
Honestly, it was way more fun than I thought, and IMO, more fun than an actual escape game, especially since it is homebrewed, has nothing physical involved and doesn't cost a cent. I could go on about how I really appreciate people who create and play games within a game, but that would be another topic for another time.
Hope you enjoyed the recount!
This is Momoko, signing off~!
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PS: I just found that Magatsu Kusanagi was from SeeD, an FC that one of our ex-FC member: Snow-san, was in. A couple of my friends were in the FC too, which explains why I felt like she's the right person to "/tell YOSHIDAAA" to.
Last shoutout to Magatsu Kusanagi if you are ever reading this. Why on earth did you tell me "Please look forward to it!" though? Oh crap, maybe it's a mistell?!!
Well, "twenty seven" and "twenty six" could mean anything. I thought they could be coordinates, room number, or even house number. I tp'ed to Ul'dah thinking that since it is a place of Lalafells, maybe it's where "Hyur do not belong". I was thinking maybe Raubahn is an exception and is a Lala-friend (you know like how elves have elf-friends?). Unfortunately, X:27 and Y:26 does not exist in Ul'dah. So I teleported back.
Okay, so the thing about teleporting for me is that I have the habit of opening the map first when I reach my location. I teleported back to the Goblet and I SAW NUMBERS when I opened the map! Surely, this must be the answer?? Desperate, I traveled to house #27, hoping that "twenty six" means room #26 at that house. And guess what I found there! A Lalafell standing at the entrance! I /poked, /wave, and ran circles around him without any response. Sadly not even a "/tell YOSHIDAAA" worked. On top of that, house #27 is a small house so there isn't a room #26. Dejected, I retraced my steps.
So it was around this time I was crying in the FC house and in FC chat. Since it was nearing the end of the event, Lumi-chan gave me hints and asked me to think about what "wln" means. FOR SOME REASON, my brain could only think of "wah lan", "WIN" and "western latern" (seriously, don't ask me where the last one came from). With Lumi giving me more hints, and me honestly trying very hard not to look like an idiot and cry/laugh in real life, I finally figured that "wln" means Western La Noscea (or as I like to call "Western La Nose Car").
At this point, I actually felt happy and sad at the same time. I felt happy because...well I solved the puzzle. I wasn't sad from receiving hints. I was sad about the fact that I felt happy. I was going full "mature kodomo" mode at my computer, saying things like "why am I happy over this?"
I finally teleported to Western La Noscea and moved to X:27, Y:26, which is at Aleport. I ran around looking for anyone I recognize but couldn't, so I started gauging how far can I walk before a coordinate changes. I walked towards the gate, and the coordinate changed. Hmm, the NPC must not be outside. So I walked down towards the port. I stopped at the Orwen, the NPC that hands Levemete, when the Y-axis turned to 27. Okay it must not be here either.
So again I'm stumped. I looked at all the players standing around and found one that belonged in an FC that is somehow very familiar and was pretty sure that a couple of their FC members raided with not just me, but our other FC members before. Maybe it's her. It must be her. I mean, what are the chances that a member of an FC, that has members that raided with members of our FC, is conveniently placed at the exact coordinates I'm at, right? Below is a screenshot of what I did:
She said "Please look forward to it!".
FINALLY! I FOUND THE ONE!!!
Bearing in mind the 'lag time' mentioned earlier, I waited. Soon after, she teleported away! "Yes!" I thought. "She's coming back with the next hint!". I mean, she was standing there the whole time, why only teleport now? Coincidence? Surely not!
For those who didn't know, the Aetheryte is right next to Delivery Moogle. I stood there in sheer excitement and anticipation for someone to appear there and walk up to me. A few minutes later, I think Lumi-chan was getting all worried and started querying for my location. Well, that confused me a bit. Isn't this Magatsu Kusanagi part of the plan? I figured it is okay to ask so I did. Lumi just went straight up "No"or something along those lines. Eh?!
Hmm I'll try to describe what it felt like with an embarrassing story that happened to me in Secondary School, so bear with me for awhile. Basically it was Home Economics. I was supposed to 'cook' cup noodles, so I did the right thing at first: put the seasonings into the cup, pour hot water, and wait. Then I just decided that I wanted dry noodles and poured all the soup out, thinking that it will still taste the same, but dryer. This feeling is similar to the feeling I had when I tried to eat the dried noodles with high expectations of its taste. It's like embarrassment, humor, amazement, disappointment and dejection all at the same time.
Aaaanyway, Lumi came out from where-ever she came from and I spotted her. She told me to follow me and I started to tail her. My first thoughts while tailing were "Ohhhh I'm so dumb! I didn't check the top of the wall!", the wall being the one was behind the delivery moogle and the Aetheryte.
Then she led me down towards Orwen, which I mentioned earlier, is the NPC that gives levequests.
Down? Why down?
Isn't this X:27, Y:27? Hey that's not...wait?
She opened the door behind him and entered.
...
THE DOOR OPENS?!?!
*faints*
I walked in and it appears that it is a tavern of some sort. Lumi walked towards the end of the tavern and I followed. It was X:27, Y27 while following her but when I reached to the end...
X27, Y:26.
Western La Noscea.
mind=blown.
orz
-------------------------------
And that is the end of my story for this event. I hope everyone enjoyed the recount. I didn't bother (and didn't have time) to vet it so I apologize again for any bad English anyone encountered. I told myself to just type what's directly on my mind to make this recount as 'pure' as possible.
I would like to give a very heartfelt shoutout to all the organizers in our FC: Lumi-chan, Hanskun, Cyrn-kun and Baa-chan. I can really see the effort put in and I do hope you all had fun seeing how everyone tackled the riddles.
And also shoutouts to all the FC members who participated, turning this event to very lively and funny event. I was laughing at the FC chat most of the, when I'm not laughing at myself.
Special shoutouts to Onion-kun for providing a fantastic recount of the entire event for lost participants like me to read up and also making me tilt over a High Quality Mashed Popoto. For those interested in the walkthrough of the event, here's her recount in the form of a story book!
Another special shoutout to Laguain who was 1 step short of passing me another High Quality Mashed Popoto and hence also 1 step short of making this recount slightly more epic.
I really enjoyed it, despite not really going through all its contents. In a sense, I experienced 500% of the intended experience of the first puzzle, so I don't feel that bad. I really felt that this brought the FC closer, and one of the ways it did was to generate more internal jokes (somehow most of which revolves around me though -_-;;).
For those in FC who didn't participate and is reading this: You should really participate. Don't give up at the first puzzle and you might create your own little 'misadventure' like I did! (being optimistic ^_^;;;)
Honestly, it was way more fun than I thought, and IMO, more fun than an actual escape game, especially since it is homebrewed, has nothing physical involved and doesn't cost a cent. I could go on about how I really appreciate people who create and play games within a game, but that would be another topic for another time.
Hope you enjoyed the recount!
This is Momoko, signing off~!
--------
PS: I just found that Magatsu Kusanagi was from SeeD, an FC that one of our ex-FC member: Snow-san, was in. A couple of my friends were in the FC too, which explains why I felt like she's the right person to "/tell YOSHIDAAA" to.
Last shoutout to Magatsu Kusanagi if you are ever reading this. Why on earth did you tell me "Please look forward to it!" though? Oh crap, maybe it's a mistell?!!
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