View source for Puzzles at the Fair - RPLOG

=Participants=
* [[Cirra]]
* [[Fenris]]
* [[Flora]]
* [[Millicent]]
=Date=
8/5/480
=Log=
<div></div><br> <br>Beings of all sizes and shapes roam the newly opened Faire District, ogling the varied shops and displays that have filled up the newly built section of Firmament. Beings sell food and clothing and goods of all sorts, while others show off discoveries and artifacts or art from far off lands. 

Amidst all the hustle and bustle is another, even stranger sight. Among the statues made in tribute to the Creator Saints and set squarely in front of one of the entrances to the great central building is a new statue. Rather than a Creator, this one depicts a fox in a strange, wide shouldered suit with a wide-brimmed hat bearing a long, fluffy feather. Around the statue, four beings, dressed in suits identical to the one worn by the statue, only in vivid green pinstripes, rather than grey stone, are handing out little cards. 

Among these four is at least one familiar face. Fenris, dressed in the outlandish uniform of the Puzzler is there, smiling and handing out cards in the company of a mouse, a slightly deranged, but smiling grey mare, and a grinning crocodile.<br> <br>Millicent recognized that statue. Or rather, who the statue was depicting. That&#39;s the one that put spots on her before. The memory draws a frown to herself, the heavyset woman running her fingers through her hair as she approaches... Might as well see what the fuss was about. &quot;Dare I ask what mischief you&#39;re up to today?&quot;<br> <br>Flora, meanwhile, is busy with taking care of the fair itself, making sure everything is running smoothly, and marking some things off on a primitive clipboard of sorts. Right now, one of the three entrances to the building appears a little clogged. Her tails flick behind her as she moves through the crowd, trying to figure out what all the fuss is about.

The sight of the statue is met with a shake of the head, a look of, well, at least recognition, although she doesn&#39;t seem 100% pleased with the addition, either. Soon enough, she&#39;s moving Fenris&#39;s way, tails twitching behind her. &quot;Does Fenris know more about this, or?&quot; she asks.<br> <br>&quot;No mischief!&quot; Fenris says, turning a smile to Millicent, &quot;Just getting involved in the festivities!&quot; The green-clad tiger holds up his little stack of cards to the red panda. 

He is interrupted by Flora&#39;s arrival. &quot;Oh, hello, Flora,&quot; he greets her, waving his stack of cards in her direction, &quot;Hard to say, since I don&#39;t know what you know. But, what I know is that the Puzzler called, and the four of us answered.&quot; The other three beings wave, wink and tip their hats at Flora, then return to handing out cards. &quot;It&#39;s a game,&quot; Fenris continues, &quot;We&#39;ve got all these riddle cards, and if someone brings back whatever the answer to their riddle is, they get a prize. Easy, right?&quot; He waves his stack of cards again, &quot;You ladies want to give it a try?&quot;<br> <br>Millicent eyes the cards with skepticism for a moment, frowning all the deeper. She was not good at puzzles, but... All the same, she relents and offers a hand. &quot;Yeah, alright. Might as well give it a try. Who knows, maybe I&#39;ll get it right this time, hm?&quot; She says, putting on a faint smile instead.<br> <br>&quot;Flora supposes, yes.  Though Flora only has a while. Need to make sure everything runs smoothly, yes. Mister puzzlefox -will- be cleaning up afterwards, yes?&quot; Flora asks, not that she really doubts that the statue&#39;ll stop being there by the end of the day. Her tails continue swaying, and she waits for her card, as she makes a few more scribbles on her clipboard, before flagging a rather forlorn-looking Longtech employee, and instructing them to continue her inspection.<br> <br>The big tiger grins and passes a little card to each of the two women. The cards are thick, sturdy paper with words embossed in glittering gold. 

Millicent&#39;s reads: 

Brought to the table 
Cut and served 
But never eaten. 

Flora&#39;s reads: 

Buckets, barrels, baskets, cans, 
What must you fill with empty hands? 

&quot;There you go,&quot; Fenris says with a smile, &quot;Bring back the right answer, and you win a prize! It is as simple as that!&quot; The big tiger shrugs and nods at the statue, &quot;If you are talking about the statue? I have no idea.&quot;<br> <br>Millicent takes her card with a nod, reading it over as she turns to wander off. Take it in parts... Things brought to a table... Well, there were lots of things. Plenty of things cut and served, too... But not eaten. That was the hard part!<br> <br>&quot;Fill with empty hands,&quot; Flora mumbles for a moment, tails twitching behind her, her ears flicking atop her head. She seems to mull things over for a bit, her tails twitching as she scratches behind her ears. Seems she&#39;s taking a moment to figure things out, although she soon disappears back into the crowd, off to wherever she might be heading off to... Somewhere inside the building, though.<br> <br>Fenris watches Flora leave, then shrugs, going back to handing out cards to interested passers by. It seems that not many beings are all that drawn to taking the offered bits of paper, some even take them and toss them aside after looking them over. This does not seem to deter the oddly dressed beings who keep on happily with their work. 

&quot;Sorry,&quot; Fenris says to Millicent, &quot;I can&#39;t give you any clues, but I bet if you walk around, you might get some ideas. There is all sorts of stuff for sale and on display here today.&quot;<br> <br>Millicent takes a few steps away before coming to a stop, frowning. &quot;Hey wait a minute.&quot; She stares real intently at the card in her hands before turning and walking back towards Fenris. She spent enough time around sailors given her profession, and she had a lot of experience with tables, for that matter! And if there&#39;s one thing sailors like to do in their off time... &quot;Can I see your deck for a moment, please?&quot; She asks.<br> <br>Soon enough, Flora returns, triumphant, wearing a pair of simple, leather gloves. A pair she owns, probably, given how particular she is about her stuff. &quot;Flora is pretty sure this solves it, yes,&quot; she offers, as she returns, tails flicking behind her.

&quot;Is that everything, or does Flora need to solve more riddles?&quot; she asks after a short pause, still flicking her tails.<br> <br>     Cirra makes her way into the faire, and is rather surprised to see what she recognizes as the puzzler. She shakes her head. There&#39;s a time and a place for everything, though she thinks the spirits, should they be worshipped, have a place outside of the Creator religion. She&#39;s currently wearing a sea coat over trousers and boots. looking around as she tries to figure out what is going on.<br> <br>Fenris grins at the red panda and waves his little stack of riddles. &quot;Very clever,&quot; he says, &quot;But you can&#39;t use these.&quot; The tiger fishes into a pocket and produces a little box and rattles it. &quot;Try these instead,&quot; he offers, tossing it lightly to Millicent. 

As Millicent catches the box and Flora returns with her gloves, there is a sudden sense of motion, the feeling that something has changed. In response to Flora&#39;s question, Fenris points toward the card still in her gloved hand. 

In place of the gilded inscription on both cards is now a lovely little painting of a treasure chest. &quot;You can either turn that over to me for a cash prize, or tell me the answer to the riddle on the back for a special prize,&quot; Fenris says, &quot;I don&#39;t get to tell you how much the prizes are worth. It&#39;s part of the game.&quot; 

The back of the card now bears this inscription, the same one on both: 

My first is foremost, legally, 
My second circles outwardly, 
My third leads all in victory, 
My last twice ends a nominee. 

My whole is this lock&#39;s only key. 

Cirra, on her own is approched by the outlandishly dressed alligator. &quot;Care to play along, Miss?&quot; he asks, holding out a little card to her.<br> <br>Millicent reaches out to catches the box, snickering. &quot;Thanks,&quot; she says, eyeing it. Then, she eyes the new riddle, as well. &quot;I&#39;ll... Try to figure it out first. I do not want to cash out too early.&quot; She leans against one of the statures, contemplating the riddle. That was a curious one. It doesn&#39;t come to her quite as quickly.<br> <br>Flora, meanwhile, pulls out a pen, a small piece of paper, and copies the riddle over, tails flicking behind her. Soon enough, she&#39;s scribbling all sorts of things, none of it very sensical. She&#39;s circling things, crossing things out, and, after a couple of minutes of contemplation, she seems at least somewhat satisfied with her work, even though she runs it through one more time, before presenting it back to Fenris.<br> <br>     Cirra looks to the alligator, looking at the card and taking it with a nod and signing. &lt;I&#39;ll do my best.&gt; It is strange. Hephestia has neither enmity nor friendship for the Puzzler, and he&#39;s been rather... brazen with his antics as of late. She shrugs. Not her place to deal with it, though. Unless she was personally targetted, that is.<br> <br>Fenris&#39;s box of cards is actually quite nice, covered in ornate carvings of assorted astrological symbols and artistic swirls, with a little catch to keep it closed and the deck of cards inside safe from falling out. &quot;Take your time,&quot; Fenris says, &quot;But I am going to want my cards back later. They were a lot of work to make.&quot; 

He looks over Flora&#39;s answer, a smirk crossing his face. &quot;Well,&quot; he says with a snort, &quot;The answer is right, even if I don&#39;t half understand your process.&quot; He nods down to the card in Flora&#39;s hand. &quot;Why don&#39;t you give that a read?&quot; 

Meanwhile, Cirra has a chance to read her own riddle: 

He stands by the road 
In purple cap and tattered green cloak, 
All who touch him, curse him. 

Flora&#39;s card, on the other hand, now reads: 

&quot;Well done, my girl! Well done, I say, 
Your prize is but a step away! 

As your wish is my command, 
Find your reward here in my hand!&quot;<br> <br>The words made no sense, as far as Millicent was concerned. And they didn&#39;t refer to an object, as far as she could tell. She starts playing with the words, instead. In her head. &quot;Hmmm. First, second, third, and last... Four?&quot; She muses, before crossing towards Fenris to whisper something.<br> <br>Flora smiles, and looks the card over for a moment, before moving, intently, towards the statue, standing on her toes, and not quite reaching the hand of the puzzler-statue with her eyes. Soon enough, she runs off, quickly returning with a small, wooden step-ladder, enough for her to comfortably reach and see what&#39;s in the puzzler&#39;s outstretched hand, if anything, and to retrieve her prize.<br> <br>     Cirra frowns, thinking, before she realizes what the object in question is. The harder part, is finding one, as the faire grounds were likely cleared of them. She does soon return with a flower on a leafy stalk, naturally defended from picking by tiny needles: a thistle.<br> <br>Fenris grins and winks at Millicent. &quot;Very good!&quot; he says, &quot;Why don&#39;t you take a look at that card of yours again?&quot; 

Millicent&#39;s card now reads: 

You got it right! 
You did not cheat! 
You&#39;ll find your prize 
Down at my feet. 

With the help of the trusty step ladder, Flora can see that an odd little box is in the Puzzler statue&#39;s hand, made up of little colored squares. Siz different colors are all jumbled up on its surface. 

The alligator nods and gives a toothy grin to Cirra when she returns with the thistle. &quot;Not bad, sweetheart,&quot; he rasps, &quot;Not bad at all. Now you got a choice. I got some cash here for you, or you can solve the new riddle on your card there for a mystery prize.&quot; 

Cirra&#39;s card now has the same riddle that appeared before on Flora and Millicent&#39;s cards.<br> <br>Millicent looks down, then, curious. &quot;At my feet?&quot; She murmurs to herself. She hoped it wasn&#39;t about to open a pit or something. That&#39;s the last thing she needed. Prizes were nice, but she was not a big fan of surprises.<br> <br>     Cirra frowns more, thinking it over and hoping to press her luck. She takes out her chalkboard and writes on it, then notices the pattern. She highlights the pattern and stealthily shows it to the alligator, hoping to avoid giving away the answer to future players.<br> <br>&quot;That... That is going to annoy Flora, yes,&quot; the she-cat mumbles, as she pokes at the colored box, fiddling with it for a little while, and frowning as the little colored squares don&#39;t seem to match up any particular way she twists it. &quot;Another puzzle? Flora&#39;ll see about solving it, yes,&quot; the she-cat mumbles, shrugging lightly as she carefully stows it away.<br> <br>There is nothing at Millicent&#39;s feet, nor does a pit open up beneath here. So unless the prize is the land beneath her feet, the little poem must be referring to something else. 

Fenris steps up and offers his hand to Flora to help her down. &quot;Well,&quot; he says, tipping back his wide brimmed hat, &quot;What did you expect from the Puzzler?&quot; 

The Alligator nods his head and gestures at the card in Cirra&#39;s hand. &quot;Why don&#39;t you give that another read,&quot; he suggests before turning to offer cards to other fair goers. 

Cirra&#39;s card now reads: 

&quot;Not bad! Not bad! 
You solved that quick! 
You&#39;ll find your prize atop my stick!&quot;<br> <br>     Cirra nods, looking up. The Stick is just above head height, so she does have to climb onto the statue&#39;s pedestal just to reach out to try to grab the object, not certain what it is.<br> <br>Millicent stares at the card, turning a slow circle. She looks towards Fenris&#39; feet, next. Then towards the statue of the Puzzler, making her way over. The shark went there, so maybe she should, as well.<br> <br>A smile, a tailflick, a small nod. &quot;Flora&#39;ll have to see about solving this, yes,&quot; she offers, already firmly planted on the ground. &quot;Flora should bring the ladder back inside,&quot; she adds after a moment of pause, though it doesn&#39;t look like she&#39;s in any sort of hurry, now that one of the LongTech employees has been forced to take over her duties for today.<br> <br>Nothing at Fenris&#39;s feet. That would be an odd place to stash a prize, seeing as the tiger can&#39;t seem to be bothered to hold still properly. Millicent has more luck at the statue. Between the Puzzler&#39;s stone paws is an odd collection of steel loops and rings, all carefully interlocked, and in the center of them all is a beautiful, golden ring! That&#39;s not a poor prize at all! If only the red panda can disentangle it from the rest of the metallic mess. 

Reaching up, Cirrus finds that the glittering, glass ball atop the statue&#39;s can comes away easily in her hand, though, when she looks back, it seems that there is still a glass ball there, along with the one in her hand. Examining her prize has the unfortunate effect of causing it to fall apart into a collection of mismatched pieces in her hands! A puzzle, of course. 

&quot;Well done,&quot; Fenris congratulates the three professional puzzers, &quot;Not many people have even bothered to play our game,&quot; he says, &quot;And those who do have mostly just taken the cash. I am glad you three played the game through to the end.&quot; He considers their winnings. &quot;Good luck with your prizes.&quot;<br> <br>Millicent pulls the mess of rings closer, rubbing her cheek. &quot;What a strange thing,&quot; she murmurs, tugging gently at it for a moment. &quot;Hm. I&#39;ll have to play with this.&quot; She turns to wander off, then, fiddling with the rings all the while.  She was better with physical puzzles than word ones, so it shouldn&#39;t take her too long to figure out.<br> <br>Flora offers a small smile, a slight nod. &quot;Mister Puzzlefox is hardly malignant, yes. Flora likes mister puzzlefox. If Flora has the time, Flora likes participating in riddles, too,&quot; the she-cat offers, shrugging lightly. &quot;Their loss, yes?&quot;<br> <br>     Cirra is rather intrigued by the sudden change from a crystal orb to puzzle pieces, though she sets about trying to solve this puzzle, too. She may not be one of his callers, but she does have some skill with His craft.