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Thread: Fairy Forest

  1. #21
    In answer to her question, Miki received an in-depth response from Kou. He claimed that he'd done enough puzzles to feel occasionally like he could feel the intentions of them. He felt that this one was crafted with care so that those who went to the Sacred Tree could know and understand the Fairies, and their way of life and eventually become accepted by them. He also claimed that though it likely contained death traps those were deterrents for potential evil-doers and for those who didn't want to learn. Hearing such an optimistic outlook on the situation they were currently in, gave Miki quite a bit of insight into the lad known as Kou. "Sou ka... well, it seems like you're pretty optimistic. I don't really do puzzles that often, so I don't really feel that way, but I understand feeling intent through action. I think I can sort of understand what you're getting at, even though I haven't experienced it in relation to the same thing..." Miki concluded. She wasn't sure if she had said exactly what she meant, but she couldn't have found a better way to say it.

    Soon enough they would find themselves standing at the foot of a wide collection of the roots of the Sacred Tree. Beyond this there were three pullable levers which would increase the water flow of the area eventually flooding the entire bottom of it out with the two adventurers here. As Miki looked at this puzzle she seemed to be a bit at ease. It was strange but something about the layout of the gears and straights looked a bit familiar to her. As she looked at each of them she saw within them something different. "This... looks really familiar to me..." Miki said as her eyes traced the different routes she could see she wondered what Kou would have to say about this puzzle and if it would help her figure out why it looked familiar.

  2. #22
    Optimism was what Miki saw in the lad's observation. Sadly, he couldn't quite agree with this. He appreciated the intent behind this series of puzzles, but to call it optimism, or rather to say he was an optimistic individual, seemed a bit off. "I'm not very optimistic. It's just what I get from this puzzle," he replied. He had nothing else to say on the topic, yet everything to think about the puzzle they were now in front of... or rather, underneath. Miki thought this was something familiar. Kou couldn't possibly understand why she would think this, but his eyes followed the overall outline of the structure above until he realized there was a disconnect between the beams and the tree roots. "The other thing plants need... is water. I guess Fairies need it too? Or maybe it's just a nature thing. Either way, only one of these ropes can be the right one. There are a lot more water chutes than there need to be though... so at least one of the wrong ropes will probably flood the place. If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say the third one probably sends all the water backwards and breaks the whole system?"

  3. #23
    "So, the puzzle is optimistic but you aren't..." Miki said, finding that to be strange, but she supposed she could see that too. From her experiences over the last few days with Kou, she could honestly say that the lad had within himself a healthy amount of skepticism and maybe something else she couldn't quite put her finger on. Whatever else it was, this part of their conversation would be put on hold for a while until they figured out the nature of this puzzle.

    While Miki stared at the different pieces of the puzzle before them, Kou explained what he saw of it, and what he thought about it, from a mechanical perspective. He made a supposition about the nature of the levers and given this Miki looked up at the water leading up and came to a rather interesting and sudden realization. What she saw around the roots of this tree, were different runes, and given what she knew about the connections between runes and nature she could use this information to figure out the right lever to pull. "Sou ka... I think... the water chutes look like runes. I think that is supposed to be the hint..." she said as she continued to look at them explaining in the same general way that her Master had explained them to her. "Runes allow one to accept the laws of nature into themselves and bend those laws to rise above," she said softly. "The runes these look like do different things, so if you know the rune and you understand the balance of nature, then you should choose the one which won't end in your untimely demise..." she concluded.

    Looking at this puzzle even longer she came to a couple of conclusions but since Kou was her partner she'd share her knowledge and get his opinion on it. "Look... This one to the far left, looks like the rune Laguz..." she said pointing and tracing a collection of chutes which looked like an upside down L. "It means water... but I think it might be too much. 'Our future selves call us from infinite pasts, and each night are eroded with our dreams.'," Miki added in frowning slightly as her mind worked through her own ideas. 'Too much water is bad for plants and life in general, floods wash away everything, erosion in large amounts is a problem...' she didn't say aloud. She also looked to the pattern of the chutes on the far right, and made a different supposition while also tracing the shape for the lad to see. "Over here, the chutes look like, Sowilo... that one means sun. And sunlight is useful, but... 'The guide leads you to the doorway, then waits for your return,'" she finished that statement as well while still mentally reeling. 'That makes it seem ominous. Sunlight is good, but nature demands balance for proper growth too much sun, has similar problems to too much water and it can still lead to death.' Miki's mind was working overtime. But she still found herself bringing her gaze to the middle part of the puzzle she could see it clearly. "The middle part there. Looks like the rune, Fehu. Fehu is wealth... not like money, but production and renewal, but tempered so that your risks don't outrun your rewards. 'Every beginning has within it the seeds of its own end.' It looks a bit like a tree trunk with two branches growing off the right side," Miki said she knew which she would choose in this case. "I know which I would choose, but given what I just told you... what would you do?" she said taking very seriously the idea of this puzzle being life-threatening. She'd bet herself on her current knowledge and her idea, but she wouldn't ask someone else risk their lives based on her somewhat recently acquired knowledge.

  4. #24
    Another guess had come from Kou about the purpose of the labyrinth's puzzle, and Miki once again added a bit of a history lesson when comparing the structures above to Runes. There were three overall in the shapes of different Runes, each in direct correspondence to a different philosophy of sorts. He could have considered the first puzzle a coincidence if he wanted, but the number was too high to now call it such. "Sou ka. Different characters, different meaning in nature. Second puzzle again..." he said. Miki's explanation of each rune gave him something else to think on, so he began mulling over each one's meaning. Upon being asked what he would do by the lass, he decided to share his train of thought. "This has to be something deeper than the last one then. The bug path back there... a lot of bugs wouldn't be good for a plant, right? Same goes for too much water, or too little. That first one sounds like too much water, and the symbol makes me think the same. It'll drown us. That other one talking about the sun makes me think about evaporation... which would make that doorway talk a metaphor for the cycle of water in nature. The other one, though... The beginning has the seeds of the end. Water is sort of like a fertilizer, yeah? Well that's what a plant becomes when it dies, so I think there's a conceptual link there. Besides, what it means sounds like a Luck boost in-game, and harvested plant quality is determined by that. I'd go for Fehu, hands down."

  5. #25
    Her explanations soon garnered her the thoughts Kou had been processing, and it seemed she and the white-haired lad had been on the same page. Both of them thought the two most obvious runes were a bit too tied to their negatives and both thought the middle rune would add a bit more. His general assumption about the luck boost of Fehu was also correct which only further cemented the entire situation in Miki's mind. "Ah, we're on the same page then. Just double checking, rather triple checking..." Miki said. Though the lass claimed she didn't often complete puzzles she had decided after identifying which of the runes was present which one it should have been. She didn't want to weight her own arrogance against the life of her companion and had reasoned it through more fully just in case, and even gone on to get his opinion as a tertiary layer of approval. "I'm going to pull this now... it's about as sure as we can be," she commented, giving only one more opportunity for interruption. Now all that was left was for the girl to walk up to the middle strand and pull it, upon doing so, she would wait to see what happened.

  6. #26
    The two were once again sharing a train of thought related to this puzzle. Assuming they were both right, they would officially be one step closer to the Sacred Tree and their goals. Miki stating that she would be pulling the rope made Kou think to do nothing besides stand back and watch it happen. There was no other choice. If they were both wrong about the same thing, there was something about this puzzle neither of them could comprehend anyway, and they'd have to deal with whatever repercussions came next. However, Kou was certain that wouldn't be the case, so... he waited...

  7. #27
    A rumbling took place as Miki pulled the rope. After a few moments this would result in several chutes on either side of the middle one, falling. Gears breaking the ground rumbling everything seemed to be coming apart, all the while, water continued to flow, filling up the thing Miki had seen as a rune in the most obvious way. The path of it lit magically as the whole of the system broken apart and behind the pulled lever opened up a twisting path through the roots of the Sacred Tree to take them further into the maze and a step closer to that which they sought. Miki watched the entirety of this take place in awe, the way the whole thing fell was just as stunning to her, as how neatly it had been put together. Maybe this was a sign of something important, or maybe it was just the musings of a young adventurer. Regardless she looked to Kou with a small smile on her face... "Full disclosure, I was a little scared we were about to meet something frightening," she said seemingly relieved that nothing terrible had taken place for either of them. "Though... admittedly that was pretty fun," she said her own heart pounding within her chest. Whatever she'd thought of this puzzle initially, at the very least after this second one, the entire scenario was growing on her as a whole.

  8. #28
    The trembling of the surrounding area aside, Kou bore a grin after the pulling of the chosen rope. He wasn't too worried about the outcome of this choice. In fact, he was somewhat excited to see everything unfold as the structure above took the form it was meant to, and provided water to the tree's roots. It was interesting to see that their next route was beneath the tree in a way, but that only meant they would be getting closer, quicker. It also meant Kou could likely stop focusing on the space over the maze to guide the way as he had been doing, though he assumed there would be darkness ahead when they entered. "This really is a great puzzle. Let's go," he said whilst moving toward the path within the roots.

  9. #29
    Kou seemed to be less worried about the overall outcome than Miki had been, which was normal when she considered that he seemed to be enjoying the Labyrinth quite a bit. As the next part of it opened, the white-haired lad with her seemed to be quick to want to get to the next puzzle. Upon arriving there would be another platform this one showing a board in the shape of an even cross with a single unlit dot in the middle. Beyond this all the other dots were lit. Miki didn't recognize this as a puzzle, but it was more of a solo game played in Europe, known as 'Peg Solitaire'. What it required was the removal of all the lit pegs, by moving one peg towards the empty space in a straight line, up to two spaces. The end result of this puzzle would be to have a single peg left in the middle. But this particular game would come with a bit higher risk than the norm.

    As the softness of the ground beneath them gave way to a swamp like gas. This miasma as it was released reeked of death and came with corrosive properties. And if they stood around too long, they'd both become part of the death that fertilized the deeper parts of the tree. Equivalent to being digested by nature. In such a massive way. One would find though, that by putting out the lights on the peg board, parts of the map beneath them would be purified. As it stood, only the direct middle of the room was safe. And if the puzzle was solved correctly at some point the middle of this room would be the least safe place. 'Sou ka, we've finally gotten around to the decay part of the life-cycle... I guess it only makes sense. Fairies are basically nature deities, they have to help keep things in check too...' the young woman pondered the thought while looking at the board. Nothing about it immediately struck her, and the room itself was so dark she couldn't draw conclusions. All she could do in this case, was hope Kou could work his magic in this place as well.

  10. #30
    The third puzzle ws one Kou hadn't witnessed in quite some time. He was eventually able to view the cross with a total of 32 lights upon it, and one blank space in the center. The path to this puzzle was all fine, in spite of the deadly miasma in the surrounding area. It didn't take Kou long at all to realize that the room itself was modeled after the game board. He still had no problem with the labyrinth as a whole upon reaching this conclusion, but he didn't like the idea of what they would have to deal with if this puzzle functioned the way he expected it to. "That's not good. Hope you've got a way to stop that mist if it does what I think it will. We're gonna have to fill this spot with it."

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