Part 31: Exploring More Classrooms

[BGM: Rooster Style]


For my part, I decided to check around the second floor. I hadn't looked in the classrooms on that floor enough, so I tried poking around as much as I could.



In this one math classroom in particular, I really tried to check every single nook and cranny. The room seemed significant, so I thought I might find something here. However, a thorough search turned up nothing. I wasn't able to look in the room's closet, but that seemed to be locked by the school, not the Jade Emperor. Beyond that, I covered every inch of the room.

I even got up on a desk and looked at the ceiling tiles. The ceiling tiles throughout the whole building were interesting. They were connected to a grid, and if you pushed hard, you could break them off the grid. Pushing up on those tiles revealed a little dark area between this ceiling and the ground of the floor above. Nothing was up there, not to my surprise. Honestly, I checked that area more out of curiosity than anything else.

Hmm... So, where to look next? I suppose this hallway is as good as anywhere else.

[BGM: Slow Boar]


I made my way into what looked to be a Spanish classroom, when I ran into somebody.

Oh, Sheep. Didn't expect to see you here.

Mouse! So, you're looking around here too?

Indeed I am. Care to search together for a bit?

You d-don't mind me hanging around you?

Not as long as you remember to keep your mouth shut.

I, uh, wh-



I'm kidding, obviously. Gosh, Sheep, you really have to learn to take a joke.

Oh, right. Of course.

Anyways, have you found anything yet? You seem to have already been searching the classroom quite a bit.

Oh, well, I have found a few things that are odd. The globe on this desk, for instance. It's, um, it's not actually accurate. The whole thing is flipped horizontally, for some reason.

So the globe's a misprint?

I guess so? I also found a deck of cards sitting on the teacher's desk. There were some marks on the sides of the cards, if that matters.



Maybe they were used in a rigged gamble.

You think?

No, of course not.

Oh.

Find anything else?

Oh, well, I'm not sure if this is anything, but I can't help but take notice of the student list for this class. I mean, there's a list of 20 names, but each name has a student number listed next to it. And they're all out of order. So that's weird.

And that's it, that's all you've found?

Yeah. Are you, uh, disappointed?



Not really. This is to be expected.

It is?

Let's just keep looking around. Maybe we'll find something useful.

Got it.

With that, we went to work looking around the room for anything Brian might've hid. You know, Sheep really had a sharp eye to catch those odd details. Which made the fact that she didn't find the rather large and obvious safe before me even more peculiar. It wasn't hidden that well, just behind some textbooks.

Well, here's something.

Good eye, Mouse!

Look what's written on the tape attached to this safe.



'1058S112C139HD246711.'

What is that?

It could be a hint for the safe's passcode.

Well, obviously. I mean what is the hint?

Oh. Uh, I don't know.

I know you don't, it was rhetorical.

…



Man, these safes really are everywhere. Wonder if Brian got a discount when he ordered these in bulk.

…

'1058S112C139HD246711.'

'1058S112C139HD246711.'

No, it's not ringing any bells.

…

Although... Sheep, it seems like your previous search wasn't a waste of time after all.

It wasn't?

No! Well, most of it was. But there was something you mentioned that is useful.



This puzzle is.... a weird one to figure out, if I'm being honest, so I don't really expect anyone to actually try to solve it... Also, we only encounter this puzzle on this specific route, for whatever reason. It's also the only puzzle where they don't solve it immediately if Mouse gets it wrong- in this particular case, Mouse just gives Sheep her thought on how to solve it and leaves her alone to do it herself, and in a later scene Sheep mentions she did eventually figure it out but that Mouse's suggestion was wrong.

Anyway, if you DO want to try to solve it, stop scrolling here!



The deck of cards needs to be properly arranged if we want to see what it's really telling us.

Really telling us?

Look, this isn't a random string of numbers and letters. It's actually two strings combined together.

First, there's the string '10 5 8 1 12 13 9 2 4 6 7 11'. That's referring to the 13 card ranks. 1 is a stand-in for the Ace, while 11 through 13 is Jack through King.

Mushed in there is also 'S C H D.' Spades, Clubs, Hearts, Diamonds, in that order. What it wants us to do is arrange the four suits' cards in the first string's order. Then we put the four stacks of suits in the order of the second string.

And that'll give us?



That'll give us the code, silly. Look, just watch me.

I went and grabbed the deck of cards Sheep had pointed out, and began organizing them on a nearby desk. It didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would to organize everything. Once I had put the cards in order, I looked at the side of the deck. Sure enough, the seemingly random marks now revealed themselves to be a code. '4005'. I went over to the safe and punched those digits in.

Voila.

Great work, Mouse!

I try. Anyways, let's see what we have here.

I reached in and found a vial of some clear liquid, with digits on the top. I also grabbed a printed out note. I began to read it aloud.

”Kavka's Toxin. Use this item once per round on any player not in front of you in the race. By doing so, they will be notified that they have been 'poisoned'. They will know that they will die at the end of the next round, unless they find the 'antidote'. The 'antidote' they need to drink will be randomly selected from a variety of pre-selected options.

However, the fact of the matter is, the antidote will doom them, not save them. If the victim calmly accepts their fate and intends to die, nothing will happen to them. However, if at any point, they drink the 'antidote', they shall be executed.'



So... I'm not loving this.

This is... a horrible item!

Yeah, this one really blows. But hey, at least we found it before the traitor, right?

I guess.

Look, I'll hold onto the vial, and I'll just not look at the numbers on it, okay?

Okay.

I pocketed the vial and the note. I doubted either would be useful, but better safe than sorry.

[BGM: Silence]


Well... looks like we found all this room has to offer.

Looks like it.

Guess we should split up and keep searching the school.

Guess so.

You know what I like about you Sheep? You're easy.

…

With that, we both made our way out of the classroom and began walking in separate directions. Since it was nearly the end of the round, I found a nearby classroom and took out my tablet. At this point, I wasn't even giving the options a second thought. What to do? Easy, click the RUN button. Simple as that, really.

Afterwards, I thought about where else to look. I figured the third floor hadn't been covered much, so I decided to make my way there up the nearby staircase.

[BGM: Cock a Doodle Doo]


Wandering the third floor hallway, I ran into Rooster.

Oh, Rooster. Nice to see you up here.

Likewise, Mouse. I must say, no disrespect to our dear friend Ox, but splitting up has made things awfully dreary. I haven't seen another soul in quite some time.

Think of how many possible words I have left unspoken due to my solitude!

Truly, it's a crime to rob the world of your conversation.

Yes, you get it Mouse.

Well, want to search around here together for a bit? I know splitting up is more efficient, but there's no harm in working together for a time.



Ah, breaking protocol, are we? I love it. Let's let out our inner bad boys.

Let's.

Come, I was just about to check out this classroom.

I followed Rooster into a nearby classroom.



It was a nice American History classroom. There was a thick carpet on the ground, various desks strewn about, and a bunch of dates and terms written on the whiteboard. Without much delay, we got to looking around the room. It didn't take long before I found a familiar looking safe in a closet.

Hey, Rooster! I think I found something.

Ooh, what is it?

Another safe. Oh, and written in tape on the top is a message. '# of Mistakes.' That must be the hint.

While Rooster made his way to the safe, I turned around and looked at the whiteboard. I knew what to do.

Okay, this is simple. We need to look out for the 'numbers' that are actually 'mistakes'. It's a four digit code, so there's probably four of them. There's a lot of dates written here. Some of them have got to be wrong, and that's what we need to look at.

Unfortunately, I'm a little rusty on my American history. Looking at things sequentially, it seems as though everything's in order. Which means we have windows in which the inaccuracies could be operating in.

Say, do you see any good textbooks? We could probably cross-reference all of this with one of tho-

*beep beep*



I heard the clicking sound of a safe opening. I turned around, and to my surprise Rooster had already managed to open the safe.

What the... Rooster, what did you do?

Who, me? Oh, sorry, you were saying a lot of stuff that seemed boring, so I kind of tuned you out.

I do that a lot.

Anyways, the tape said 'number of mistakes', so I guessed the password would probably be the number of mistakes on the whiteboard. There probably couldn't be too many mistakes, so I started with 0000, then went 0001 and kept making my way up.



Turns out there were 4 mistakes, because 0004 worked.

…

…

…

Good work, Rooster. Well thought out.

Aw, thanks!

Now, let's check the safe.

Without another word, I pushed by Rooster towards the safe. I looked inside, and saw two things of note. One was a needle, the type you might find in a sewing kit or a medical pack or something. A rather benign object, but its presence in the safe drew my concern.

[BGM: Silence]


What was more concerning was the sheet of paper I saw sitting in the safe. Great, another note of Brian's. I grabbed it to see what was written on it, but immediately something jumped out at me. Unlike, the previous message, this was not typed out, but written out in... blood.

Creepy... I guess Brian wanted to 'set the scene'. That theory was concerned as I read the title of this sheet of paper.

[BGM: Sleepy Sheep]


How to Perform The Ending Ritual

Fun. I decided to read more.

'First, the stage must be set.
12 chairs, one for each animal, shall be placed about the room.
The first will align with the red stars.
The rest shall be 3 feet from the others, in a perfect circle.
In the center, a stool shall rest.
On it will lie the ritual needle and a bucket of oil.

Before it begins, no light shall be able to enter the room.
Once the darkness has taken over, the animals shall find their spots.
The Mouse will sit on the stars, the rest in order, with one key exception.
The Monkey and Sheep must not be in contact, so they shall each trade places with their other partner.

When everyone is in position, the circle shall be completed, all hand in hand.
Then, the choir of the damned shall begin to sing.
Under their chorus, no others shall make a sound.
Instead, the Mouse shall make their way to the center and bleed into the gathering pot.
After returning to their position, the next in line shall follow, and so the clock will dictate.

When all have contributed an equal amount of their essence, the choir shall fall silent, and the ritual shall be complete.
If successful, at the end of the round, every single animal shall proceed to the final space.
Be warned, this tome is a precious gift.
The ritual may only be attempted once, so take caution.'