You may turn over the envelope labeled Room 1
​A door in the wall in front of you opens automatically. You walk through it and find yourself in a room that might as well be plucked straight from Alice in Wonderland. The walls are white but covered with multicolored numbers of varying fonts and sizes, creating a fun-house-mirror effect. You are on the verge of panicking and the trippy, LSD-vibe of this room isn’t helping the queasiness in your stomach.
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You notice that there are five doors, numbered 1-5, and based on the message you just received you realize only one of the doors will help you escape. You take note of the contents in the room. There is a large painting hanging on one of the walls that resembles da Vinci’s Last Supper except that it features cartoon caricatures of the Olympian gods. There is a table with a variety of paper elements including a sheet of riddles, a grid that looks like a game board with clouds and suns in different positions, a sheet of words, and a wing-shaped sheet of instructions.
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You also note a wooden peg board with multicolored string tied to the pegs in the shape of a skull, next to which is a pair of scissors. You take a moment to wonder who this Gate Keeper is. You are certain you haven’t heard of anyone with this M.O. before or seen any similar cases. But you try to focus; all that matters right now is getting out of here alive. Your hands are shaking as you pick up the instruction sheet and your hefty guidebook, searching for a place to start the terrifying and arduous task of escaping the Gate Keeper’s grasp.
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Before you can begin, however, that voice addresses you again.​
Listen to the audio file and then open the Room 1 envelope.
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PLAY ME
TRANSCRIPT Welcome to your first room detective. Though I may seem merciless, I want to give you the best chance at survival, and thereby absolution, that I can. Like Aesop with his fables, I have many important lessons to impart to you. So, you need to listen closely because I will only say this once. In this and the following rooms you will find a series of seemingly random contents that you must use to solve my puzzles. Some contents are unusable until you have solved a different puzzle or utilized another element. You will not, by design, know the proper order in which things must be solved … this is part of your challenge because nature is a cruel and capricious mistress. If you can discern the appropriate patterns and connections, you will prove your mettle and avoid punishment. Remember, your goal is to determine the one, safe exit door in the room. The puzzle answers will help by eliminating unsafe doors. Some puzzles will give you one or more unsafe doors directly while others will require you to provide the answer as a password to proceed. I can tell you how I would approach these rooms if I were in your shoes. You can choose to heed my advice, or you can choose to forge your own path; after all, Crime magazine’s poster child must have skills and knowledge that the rest of us mere mortals can only dream of—who am I to tell you what to do? With that said, were I you, I would look through the contents of each room and familiarize myself with any myths I encounter by reading the corresponding pages in the handbook I have supplied you with. I caution strongly against skipping this step in the belief that you already know such myths as I have included tidbits not always taught in textbooks, and those tidbits may save you from the wrong door. To summarize, not all puzzles will be solvable initially, but there will always be something you can solve, which may lead to information or instructions to be used elsewhere. So, survey the room contents, read relevant myths in your handbook, and solve as you are able. It will be up to your own skill to string everything together logically. Finally, in each of the subsequent rooms you enter, assuming you make it through this room, I will start you with a recorded message like this one. Listen to those messages closely: sometimes I may be generous and leave a hint, while other times I may give diabolical red herrings. It is up to you to discern the difference. For this room, in particular, I leave you with this thought - perhaps you'll find meaning HIDDEN within: Three to nine to twelve to ten to three. Then fourteen to thirteen to eight to two. And one to seven to eleven to four to eleven to six to five. Riddle me that!