Professor Layton and the Curious Village Part #12

Part 12: Talk of a Kidnapper

You know the drill by now, so let's just dive straight into...

3. When there's nothing on the tray, a scale will show 0g. But the tray itself also has a certain weight, you know. That weight will also be one-sixth on the moon.

I have a rather poor understanding of how things would work in space (science was not my best subject...), so originally I tried to be clever and go with "A."

The object's weight shouldn't be measured at all because there's not enough gravity!

That ended as well as you would expect. The fact that I didn't even include the tare weight's reduction in my dumb logic didn't help matters either.

Meanwhile over on here we...

Try and put in an answer that is too long. So, naturally, the answer can't be "protractor" because it doesn't fit.

A mathematical compass, on the other hand, fits the description quite nicely and is just big enough to fit in the text box too.

Now, whoever thought up having you write the answer out one letter at a time relying on the DS writing recognition had awful ideas. An on-screen keyboard is not hard at all to use, makes perfect sense and is something we've seen at least twice already! Though I don't think it's in the American version at all, for some reason.

: I bet Ramon wasn't being careful...

: What do you mean exactly?

No, I didn't skip anything relevant there. After Layton asks her to explain it, she just... walks off.

Anyway, I will never cease to be surprised by how easy you all find some of these.

Not necessarily this one, but just in general.

But, eh, I'm probably just rambling here since this puzzle isn't very interesting.

Y'know, I have a very vague idea now for why this was changed after thinking on it for a bit more.

3. Remember that the planet we live on is also floating in space!

I could be completely wrong but that shape seems vaguely familiar doesn't it?

It's basically an upside-down pentagram and this being a very family friendly game I wouldn't be surprised if someone caught wind of that. Being associated with dark magic and all, it was probably removed for censorship reasons.

Now, the obvious issue there is that it is still in the American version. I'd have expected it to be removed from that one too if it was for censorship.

Also it's no longer 1995, so that probably doesn't help much either.

: And remember, Beatrice from the inn was the one to find Gerard's watch. Don't forget to ask her about it, OK? OK, see you tomorrow!

A pretty simple little math puzzle, no real tricks to it.

2. Tortoises have 4 legs. With a total of 3 shells, there can only be 3 tortoises,which makes a total of 12 legs. Added to the 6 canaries that's 18 legs accounted for.
3. The boy states he has 10 pets with a total of 26 legs. Canaries and tortoises together make up 6 pets with 18 legs so there are 4 pets and 8 legs left. Dogs as you know have 4 legs...

So long as you don't try and think something weird like "but what if one of the dogs has only 1 leg!" or something else completely out there, there's no real reason to get tripped up by this one.

This, meanwhile, whilst being "matchsticks again..."

...Is at least mildly clever.

But, well, that's all of them done.

[Music: The Veil of Night]

Let's go give Gerard his watch back. He's been waiting long enough.

: But of course. A gentleman always helps those in distress. Speaking of which... We're still quite worried about Ramon's whereabouts and should probably return to our search now.

: Yep, St. Mystere is strange like that. Despite its size, it can be quite challenging to find people. It can feel like running around a maze. Speaking of mazes, you ever heard of this one, laddie?

: But we really must be...

[Music: Puzzles]

Yep, like I said. Just drops a puzzle on us that we have to do before we can proceed.

3. If you've tried any of the paths near the entrance the bandit came from, you know that the bandit can escape via A, G, F, and E. Your answer is one of the other three exits.

It's not difficult, by any means, and it shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone.

It's just a bit of a timesink while you knock out the possibilities one at a time. Or if you do it in alphabetical order get the answer almost immediately, but then have to check the others just in case!

[Music: The Veil of Night]

: You know, if you're looking for someone, you should ask around at the inn or cafe. As you know, the inn is right by the entrance to the village. The cafe is right at the fork in the road just north of here.

: We've already searched the inn, but checking the cafe sounds like a good idea. We'll be sure to stop by.

: All right then. Thanks again. You really helped me out.

: Think nothing of it, sir.

I mean, it's not even a fetch quest that gives us anything new to work with. "You know that place we just stopped you from going to? Well, it might be a good idea to go there."

Ah well, at least we can always count on somethings to never change. Namely, that cat is still tormenting that poor mouse. Let's see what its deal is this time.

: Animals are very dear to you, aren't they, Luke? Well, I have just the puzzle for you then.

I'd rather see what Lucy's still doing here first.

It's getting a bit late for a kid to still be playing outside.

But, of course, this shouldn't come as a surprise.

I mean, it might but considering how many of these we've seen? Doubtful.

Ah well, the cafe is just due north of here. Let's go see if it is already open or not.

Can't say I expected Marco to be up here. Maybe we'll be spared the trek a whole one screen further and get something from him.

: So, you still haven't found the guy? Listen, streets here are dangerous at night. Highly dangerous! You can't go running 'round the village with a kid! 'Cause that's dangerous! Highly dangerous! I'm afraid I'm gonna have to punish your poor judgment with a puzzle. But you'll solve it, yeah? 'Course!

Actually, no I won't.

Though that information about St Mystere being dangerous at night is new. Interesting too.

Well, we're here already so let's head into the cafe to see if we can learn a thing or two there after all.

[Music: Crumm's Cafe]

And Gizmo's second, and infinitely more useful, ability shows itself here. The ability to find hidden coins is nice, but it pales in comparison to showing where hidden puzzles are located.

But before we worry about that, let's talk to Zappone.

: And who knows, it might even have something to do with the case you're investigating. So what do you say? Help a fellow detective out, will you, brother?

: That's all very interesting, but I do believe there's been a mistake here. I'm no detective, you see.

: Say no more! Undercover and all that then, yes? Very well, but I know a fellow sleuth when I see one. Us being in the same trade and all, I suppose it couldn't hurt if I let you have a look at this puzzle.

What part of "not a detective" is hard to understand?

Ah well, let's glaze over the obvious hidden puzzle...

And talk to the bartender here. There's no one else to quiz about this bizarre rumour, after all.

: Oh, I'm not ordering anything. I actually just came by to enquire about a certain matter.

: Hmph. Not here for the special then, huh? Well, what do you wanna know?

: No one has seen or heard from Ramon, the servant at Reinhold Manor, since this afternoon. We've looked around everywhere, to no avail. It's like he just vanished from St Mystere. While talking with Crouton earlier, he mentioned a strange old man who is said to lurk around the village. Do you perchance know anything about such an individual?

: So you have heard of him before? If you have any information, anything at all, please share it with us.

: Hmm. You're not from 'round here, are you? Thing is, I can't have you spreading wild rumours about St Mystere to the outside world now, can I? Of course if you're a puzzle lover, then maybe, just maybe, I could find it in me to trust you. Whoa! I see you've solved 30 puzzles! All right then, here's an earful for you!

Well, getting 30 by here is a fair bit more taxing than getting 12 earlier. But, y'know, we very nearly have double that amount done already so it doesn't matter.

: The fellow I know is Prosciutto. He's a wee one, but he's got the appetite of a wolf.

: Do you know where we might find this Prosciutto?

: Can't say for sure, but at this hour... Well, he's probably at home snacking on something. His house is on the road that winds up north from here. Why don't you go and pay that walking fridge a visit?

[Music: The Veil of Night]

We'll take the same path to Prosciutto's home as we did to meet Jarvis; right now, let's get distracted by that incredible mustache.

: How about a puzzle break to take the edge off? I've got just the puzzle for a night like this.

Okay, never mind then.

Let's talk to Agnes instead. Hopefully she won't have yet another one line puzzle lined up.

: If you like solving mysteries so much, do me a favour and help me with a puzzle, would you?

Oh, well, at least it's something different? Still not gonna do it just yet, though.

Heading east now, we should be around where Prosciutto lives.

Maybe a bit too north though. Pauly might be able to point us in the right direction.

: I'm going to lose it FOR REAL this time if I don't work it out! GRAAAH!

Guess not.

Might as well just head south until we hit it.

No one here to ask, but we can go into the house with the blue door now so let's do that. Maybe someone in there will be able to tell us where to go.

Okay, uh, I think we might've found it? Just a hunch.

Let's find out for sure. First we'll skip over the hidden puzzle...

...and then we'll talk to the guy at the table.

: I heard from a fellow at the cafe that you witnessed a strange old man prowling about the village. Could I ask you for a more detailed account of what you saw?

: Ah, OK... Chomp omnomnom... I think it was something like four days ago.

: So I took a closer look, right? I wanted to make sure he didn't clean out the butcher before I got there! Up close it was some spooky old guy with a huge-gobblesnarf-sack. Chomp nomnom. I yelled at him, but the geezer just bolted. Ran off, just like that.

: If you gotta be out at night, be careful, right?

: Interesting...

Well, at least now we have a rough idea of what the old guy's like. Aside from that though, we appear to have hit a dead-end again...