entrancelogs | + Your imagination can't hurt you! +

Correct. And naturally the code is not going to be in that order, ahhaha.

[It sounds less like a warning and more of a private joke. In all honesty when it comes to this puzzle - OFF's half, anyways - it was possible and acceptable to push random blocks until you come out with the correct order. If things progressed down that route then Zacharie wouldn't complain. There usually wasn't punishment for doing so anyway.

Still, it felt a little easy.]

The decimal points are likely your area of expertise so is there anything we can attempt from where we stand currently?

If we line them up, it might give us something.

[He starts to write them out again, cleanly. Some of the numbers overlap, and he starts scrawling those out just beneath.]

One-one-two...one-two-six-five-four-five. Is that too long, you think?

[It doesn't acknowledge the other numbers in the sequence, but there's no harm in trying, right?]

[Zacharie counts them off to himself before nodding.]

Typically the puzzles in my game are, at maximum, six numbers long. But if we are dealing with a combination of something of your world as well as mine there will inevitably be rules broken.

[Wonderland was dead set on making him step out of his roles, wasn't it?]

Aside from the blocks resetting there are no punishments that I am aware of so it is possible to attempt to punch in the sequence as it is. Are you willing to try it from here?

[Zacharie would do it since it's his half of the puzzle, but let's all be in agreement for it just to be safe.]

Why don't you give it a shot?

[A puzzle that requires Zacharie to acknowledge his lack of action, just like Jay's intervention had addressed Jay's, seems like something that might be up Wonderland's proverbial alley. Granted, he's got no clue - they're flying blind here. But it's worth a try. Especially since all the puzzles Tim's gotten stuck in thus far have required some level of teamwork.]

[Probably. A Puppeteer makes you a protagonist so you have to move. Zacharie, but not just Zacharie anymore. But he'll leave waxing poetics in the action brackets for later. Right now, puzzle time.

He runs the numbers again under his breath before approaching the blocks. One-one-two one-two-six-five-four-five. Seems simple. The NPC places a hand on the block and...!

...nothing happens. Well nothing happens to the block. Instead a small burst of static appears on the TV, bright enough to be noticeable but not enough to be worrying.

Unless you're Tim, of course.]

[The cube bobs up and down idly as Zacharie touches one of them, and Tim watches with a contemplative frown. Whatever's keeping them in the air, whatever mechanism or magic, doesn't matter - what matters is that it doesn't continue to bounce in place once he releases it. It's the wrong configuration, whatever it is.

The television springs to life once more, a bright bar of static slicing across the dark feed.

A chill suffuses his chest, and Tim's mouth goes dry.]

Not...not the right one, huh?

[His gaze remains locked on the screen. He doesn't dare look away. It's got to be there. It's got to be lingering somewhere, maybe close by. Did their failure attract iI, or has It simply been around this whole time?

Does he want to know?]

[Did Tim ever want to know?

Zacharie keeps one eye on the TV and one eye on Tim. The TV continues to broadcast the lingering amount of static - even if it's switched back on it'll do the same. However it is incredibly weak, like a fading signal. It is here...but not quite yet. As for Tim, Zacharie notes it is strange to continue to stare at it like something was going to pop out of it.

It's not going to be something to inquire about just yet however. Perhaps it mean something but whether or not it becomes relevant soon is up in the air. Instead the NPC withdraws his hand and turns to face his puzzle partner.]

It appears not. However we can scratch one off the metaphorical list as being the first in the sequence. Out of curiosity, how hard is the puzzle on your half amigo?

[He stars to scan the room with a fresh sense of anxiety, his eyes flickering desperately to narrow in at the corners and contours that all blend seamlessly together. He might as well be standing in a white void, but - but there's nothing there. There's nothing there.

He'd recognize the black slip of it. He knows he would.]

I dunno. I don't know what the solution to this one is. I don't remember.

[If he even knew it at all.

Okay. Okay. Just...deep breath. There's nothing here. Not yet, anyway. They have time. They'll solve it.]

All right. So usually there's a...a hidden message. Letters and stuff, you know?

[His wrist is trembling subtly as he starts to write again, this time a simple letter-to-number cipher key. Just...just to have it.]

[Yeah, that static definitely had Tim spooked. And if the TV had reacted to Zacharie pressing the incorrect block, then perhaps it was acting as a counter of some sort? Of their failures perhaps and likely there was some sort of punishment waiting if there were too many. But what sort of punishment?

Hum...]

I believe I have attempted such puzzles in books within Wonderland's library. Each letter is to correlate with a number, correct?

[He's never done those kinds in his own game so this part is up to Tim for now.]

Logically, yeah. It's usually not that simple.

[And now the adrenaline's really boiling away in his veins, which doesn't do a damn thing to help him think straight, assuming he was thinking straight at all before now. That's doubtful.

His mental capacity is always doubtful. He's learned that by now.]

The first line here... [The one prefaced with "Entry," which is a lovely little reminder of his history, thanks for that.] Twelve-nine-five-nineteen. That spells out "LIES."

[So that's...an easy message, at least.]

Humm...so if this is a message using a natural alphabet then it will likely use numbers one to twenty-six, correct...?

[Judging by the way Zacharie is speaking, he's trying to feel out how this puzzle works. He's used to numbers and numbers alone. Some times those clues in his game were hidden in words but it was always easy to spot.

Perhaps he needs to expand his knowledge, later on.]

Forgive me for requesting a tutorial from you but it seems you will have to act as a guide character for a few minutes. I am out of my dept.

[And he's also curious about the first line. "Lies." Why that?]

It's fine.

[It's not fine at all, really. He's desperately trying to keep a lid on the panic that's threatening to boil over and just make this a lot more difficult, a lot more unbearable, than it has to be. He'll deal with this. Just...lock it down. He can do that.]

Usually that's what...back home, we'd get, uh, messages like this all the time. Numbers, codes. They usually translated to something like that. "Lies," "hiding," stuff like that.

[Usually because someone was hiding something. And that someone, more often than not, was Tim.]

Then would it be reasonable to assume that there is a lie somewhere?

[Or maybe that in itself is the lie. Or it simply could be one of those puzzles that was designed to make you overthink and thus miss the obvious. After all, Zacharie's half was not that complex.

But for now they only had 'liar' and that the number 1 wasn't the first in the sequence. Zacharie attempts to work out any other messages as it's presented and comes up with nothing.]

I also have to assume that the messages do not line up so nicely all the time.

Probably. Yeah.

[There is a lie somewhere, all right. Probably all coiled up inside him. Might as well be a biological thing at this point with how much it's just a - part of him. HE IS A LIAR.

He's always been a liar.]

N-no. No. Not always.

[He's not really that fantastic at math, really, but there's something to be said for the number at the beginning being separated from the others. He tries adding it to each of the numbers in turn, but comes up with nothing that seems especially usable.]

Never, actually.

Humm...may I borrow the pen?

[He moves to a different wall to keep his writing away from Tim. Not that it would be difficult to tell the difference between their handwriting - Zacharie's is particularly atrocious - but if it winds up being nonsense then it doesn't have to be scratched out, just ignored. He just needs a place to put his thoughts for the moment. So:

Entry 000.129519 Entry Liar 112.1265451400953 112.1265451400953 exactly the same, repeated message(?) 1 is not the first sequence/block puzzle. Point of (.)? 15582.36181564095 still unknown.']

Eh eh eh. I am beginning to understand my Puppeteer's frustration due to fake difficulty and a severe lack of paper. Perhaps you have an answer to my inquiries regarding the usage of zeros and decimal points?

[If it's decoding by numbers to letters, there wasn't any use for the zeroes.]

[Tim hands the pen over, wishing bitterly that he had a calculator of some kind. He's not exactly one for advanced algebra, and while they might be able to solve the problem eventually, having something to help crunch the numbers would make it go a lot quicker. And the longer they stay in this room, the more his eyes start to hate him for it.]

I dunno. I dunno, I...it's way more numbers than what fits for a puzzle like this, isn't it?

[If he tries - multiplying, maybe? He separates 000.129519, and multiplies it with each of the strings of numbers. It takes a while, the laborious scratching of the borrowed pen only occasionally broken by moments where he bites his lip to concentrate or shoot a nervous look at the buzz of static on the television screen.

145225183.211854
14.522518
14.522518
20.18.211920]

Maybe that translates to...

[It only takes a few moments to come up with the message that links up to the numbers. He reads it aloud, his mouth dry.]

NEVER CURED
NEVER
NEVER
TRUST.

[If there's any, any small amount of reassurance to be take it's that the static doesn't get any worse. It knows he's right. Tim may be a liar...but he never lies when he says he is one.]

Never cured. Never trust.

[Zacharie mulls it over. Thus far this puzzle has only revealed things that was making his partner here highly uncomfortable. Almost as if it had only one interest and that was disturbing Tim and Tim alone. And if that was to be followed, it had no interest in Zacharie himself thus far. The one thing here from his world that could be considered disturbing was from the Pure Zones and all he had to do was never mention it.

So...did something in this room have it out for the other man?]

Cryptic messages appear to be a recurring theme here amigo. Although I have to question the comment that I should not exhibit trust in a puzzle made for two. Are you doing alright, by the way?

[He'd consider making a survival horror joke but it's probably too much.]

About as well as you could expect.

[Which is to say, not very. His vision is really starting to itch painfully, his eyes burning as if he's been staring at the sun for too long, and the pulsing beginnings of a headache have begun to needle into the bridge of his nose and his temples.

Maybe It's nearby.

No. It - can't be nearby. He'd know. He'd know if it was. It's a warning, the static. Nothing more.

That's the solution to the original encryption, he's pretty sure. They've just got to figure how to translate it over to the cube puzzle.]

Maybe...maybe if we turn "never" into numbers. Like, um...with numbers one through six. Since that's the word that shows up the most, right?

[Zacharie doesn't press the issue. This place wasn't effecting the NPC in the same way it was Tim - the Pure Zones weren't an issue for Zacharie, he just didn't like being in them - and whatever else that may be in here was only interested in the other man. He just borrows the pen again to write it out.

NEVER 14 5 22 5 18 1 4 5 2 2 5 1 8

8 could probably be taken out since the blocks didn't go that high, but at the same time 1 couldn't be used because the puzzle already proved that it didn't begin with it. But...]

...liar.

[Was something...lying to them?]

[Tim cringes at the word, inadvertently, a hateful impulse he wants to claw out of him. His mouth tightens as he tries to sort out what to say to that. No, it can't possibly be liar again. That was the solution to the puzzle with Max, and it couldn't be the same one over and over again, could it?

He shakes his head reluctantly.]

I already - that was already a solution for another one of these things. Earlier, with someone else. It wouldn't be the same code twice.

[And here's hoping Zacharie doesn't draw a line of correlation between Tim and liar though, honestly, it's probably inevitable at this point.]

[He's starting to put that together. Zacharie didn't lie in OFF, there were just things nobody asked him. And again, this room seemed out for Tim's blood. Still, unless there was going to be an 'He was evil all along!' plot twist Zacharie was content to ignore it.]

I meant it more regarding the idea that the clues may be lying to us. It's a common staple in RPGs to include a puzzle where only one person tells the truth and another lies. We attempted to use 'one' as the first number and it was incorrect, but what if that was a lie?

[And with the static as a warning for a certain something, Tim would try to screw up as little as possible. After all, this room seemed to care only for him.]

So what does that mean? We pick and choose which numbers are "lies" and which ones aren't?

[That sounds like a lot of trial and error, and he's not sure what that's gonna mean in the long term. Though he has an inkling, and that inkling rests squarely on the fuzz of static over the TV screen that hasn't died down since they made their first error.

If it's really trial and error...

He doesn't wanna think about it.]

[The easiest way to deal with OFF's puzzles without bothering to find clues or looking them up was to try every single one until you had the correct combination. Trial and error at its finest.

Maybe he's overthinking things, in the end, and it's probably in part that death doesn't mean much to Zacharie - bar one, maybe two instances. If they die here than that's that. Still, it would be amusing for the guide character to get killed off by a puzzle they couldn't help solve.]

Would you mind if I attempted the sequences, excluding the 'one' at the beginning?

[Yes, he almost says, but bites it back just as fast. Almost draws blood with how hard he chews on the interior of his cheek, considering how he could possibly refuse a - perfectly rational suggestion.

He only darts one more glance at the screen full of white-on-black snow, and then nods, jerkily.]

Okay. Yeah. Sure.

Knock yourself out.

Merci.

[He walks over to the blocks once again. 1 4 5 2 2 5 1 8. If they were going by the assumption that there was a lie, perhaps excluding the 1 at the beginning may do something.

So the NPC reaches out and taps the 4th block. As it doesn't appear again in the sequence it should go invisible. If not the static will get a little worse and things will get a little louder.

Regardless, he'll stay silent until whatever happens, happens.]

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