[S] Taking the Manor: H4

[Saber]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Unlike the previous few halls, the one Saber found himself descending into looked the most like a huge gigantic trap. It was so bad that he actually stopped at the base of the stairwell and just stood there, staring out towards everything which was in front of him. He didn’t want to step out into the area before him, as he honestly thought that the floor would just cave in at any sort of pressure or because he feared some huge monster, or a huge number of monsters, would just suddenly jump him. Why did he feel this way when he was standing it just a small little room? Well, there was the fact that he was inside of a haunted mansion of sorts but it was primarily because there was a bunch of gold ingots just laying out on the floor where almost anyone could take one. If the setup before him didn’t scream trap, Saber didn’t know what did. Even so, Saber didn’t exactly have a choice. There was no going around or skipping a step, no, there was only one way through; the gate on the other side of the room. Fantastic.

A light sigh escaped Saber’s lips and he took a step into the hall, striding out across the floor towards the massive oversized scale opposite him. The floor was stiffer than usual, as if it was made out of some sort of carved stone. His steps echoed, and his breath was chilled. The previous room he had descended into seemed to be just the basement, but here was different. It was almost as if he was underground completely, but not just underground but actually disconnected from the mansion itself. To put it more bluntly; Saber felt as if he was in a dungeon, or as if he was being led into one. With that in mind, Saber kept himself as ready as ever for a fight. He observed the walls and made sure to note the spacing of the area he was in, and took a note of how high the ceiling was. The hall he was in wasn’t exactly huge by any means, but it wasn’t small either. It wasn’t large enough for a huge boss, so that put Saber’s mind slightly at ease. However, that didn’t mean the boss wouldn’t be something smaller. If it was, than it probably was going to be an issue.

For now, the Assassin focused on the puzzle in front of him. If there was going to be a brawl, then he would need to get the gate open as quickly as possible. The two large doors which led to the fifth zone looked as if they were practically begging him to kick them open. It made him grin as he approached the scale. Though, that grin was swept away as he read the instructions on the large plaque which was stuck to the wall behind the scales. There were twenty-four gold ingots in the room, all of which weighed the same besides one, and he wouldn’t be able to detect it. In order to figure out the ingot, Saber would need to use the scale; and he only had three tries. After those three tries, the weights would change and he would have to start all over. That thought made Saber grimace. He would have to be very careful with how he used the scale. Yet, there was no doubt in his mind that there was going to be a trick to this. Like the other puzzles, there was always something in between the lines.

Just like he had done with his previous puzzle, Saber made his first task gathering everything up. He felt a little wary about touching the ingots, but if the instructions called for them then he had no choice. So, he went about the room and picked up all of the twenty four ingots. As he did so, he carefully weighed each of them against another in his hands; he was not lied to. The ingots weighed exactly the same and not a single one felt more dense than another, which made Saber frown. Though, it would not discourage him. He had a tool at his disposal, and he would use it.

Saber placed all twenty four of the ingots in front of the scale and promptly took a step back from the pile. He arranged them into four sets of six, creating four pyramids on the ground. After doing so, he ran over a few potential outcomes in his mind. He had three tries before the puzzle would reset, and in those three tries he needed to weigh twenty four ingots. In order to do that, he needed to figure out the trick. As he started at the ingots, he considered a few options. None of them would leave him with the fewest amount of choices however; except for one.

There was a way to narrow down his choices to the necessary number of one versus one, but it would be very tricky and he would have to use his three chances with extreme prejudice. Even so, Saber nodded to himself and got to work, putting the first cluster onto the scales… It was time to put his brain to work.

: Word Count :
879

Coded By Saber of L33T T3@M

[Saber]

Do you believe in ghosts?

The plan Saber had in mind was quite simple, weigh ingots against ingots in a systematic manner that would lead to the smaller amount of variables. There were a few ways he could eliminate ingots. One way was to put a handful of ingots against the same number and hope that one was heavier than the other. Another way was to half the number of ingots weighed after every single chance he got with the scale. Doing both would essentially eliminate a collection of ingots. If he was lucky, on his first chance, the scales would tip a certain way and allow him to narrow his choices down further. Upon doing so, Saber would be left with an extremely narrow number of ingots that would make it very easy to select the next group to work with. However, knowing Saber’s luck, following that method would leave him staring at the scale all day and he would eventually give up and just start weighing randomly. With that in mind, Saber attempted something pretty bold. Rather than leave himself with two outcomes, Saber made three.

Very carefully, Saber created a pair of pyramids on each side of the scale and took a step back, carefully counting the number of ingots on each side once he had everything set. The trick he elected to try was going to be one he would have to do carefully, and he personally doubted that it would work because of how wrong it could go. However, if he was correct, he would be left with only a couple ingots at the end and would still have one extra chance to weigh them before the puzzle would reset and screw him. Like the other puzzles, there was a trick to this, and Saber was quite confident that he knew what it was. With the ingots on the scale, he left the rest up to chance, luck, and the Gods which were most likely looking down at him from above. With the ingots on the scale and his mind set on following the path he had dared on, Saber pulled the small lever which extended out from the center of the scales.

Upon pulling the lever, there was click, a hiss, and then the scales were released from the paranormal powers which held them still. The left tilted down and then bobbed back up, causing the right to tilt down as well. Saber narrowed his eyes on the scale and pressed his teeth together, watching as the two arms tilted back and forth in a fight, wrestling with each other in a dramatic fashion right before his eyes. However, after a few moments, the scales began to slow. The arms steadily equalized and Saber’s lips pulled into a smile; the arms became level. Yes, this could just work…

With the arms becoming level with one another, every single ingot currently on the scales weighed exactly the same. This meant that not a single one of them was heavier than the other, obviously, but more importantly is also meant that none of them were the ingot he was looking for. With that in mind, Saber removed all of them and placed them into one large pyramid off to the side of where he stood. That pyramid was composed of the ingots which were no longer important, and so they were no longer able to stress Saber’s mind. Yet, as he moved them, they also took with them one of his scale uses. That thought made Saber sigh, and the pressure of the situation was now even worse, but he had to keep going.

Once the scales were cleared, Saber waited for them to balance themselves out. As they neared it, the lever slowly pulled itself back up and the scales became locked in place, slowly fixing themselves back to the still way that they were before. The plaque which was in the wall behind them adjusted, and Saber watched as the words were replaced by a ghastly tally. There were three dashes, and one of them vanished just as quickly as it appeared; Saber had two chances left. With that in mind, he looked down to the pile just off to his right and counted up the remaining number of ingots. After doing so, he split the group up again that would once more leave him with the potential for the fewest number of choices. Then, he loaded up the scales.

The gamble he took was a tough one, and Saber was a little uneasy as he followed through with his plan. Yet, if he was right, then he would have his answer soon. And so, once the scales were once more loaded with Saber’s wanted number of weights, he pulled the lever. There was a loud click and the phantom arms released the scales once more and against, they danced. Saber took a step away to ensure that he didn’t affect the tilting and watched as the ingots wrestled with one another. This time, however, it was fiercer. The balancing act went on for much longer than before, but the end was the same. After a minute of watching the scales fight, Saber’s eyes watched as the left arm came down like a hammer. The right scale raised up and the two arms clanged against the metal barriers, creating a thundering noise. Saber’s eyes narrowed and a smile crossed his face.

It was time to be judged.

: Word Count :
908

Coded By Saber of L33T T3@M

[Saber]

Do you believe in ghosts?

A few moments after the left arm was deemed to be heavier, the scales slowly returned to their central position on their own, allowing both sides of the scale to be accessed with ease. However, Saber was already preparing to reach up to the right scale if he needed to, but paused at the sight of the scales moving in his favor. At least the person behind the deviant puzzles wasn’t too much of a bastard, the Assassin was thankful for that. However, he wasn’t happy that his mind was being picked at so violently. First, he was teased by riddles, two of them literally breaking his skull in half. Then he was given a word challenge that was secretly some sort of random encounter thing. Now he was being told to weigh things with only a few chances at doing so. After going through all of this, Saber had a few worries. One was what he was going to face next; the second was who the hell the person behind all of this madness was. Saber had a boot he would gladly shove up their backside if they gave him a chance, after he asked a few questions that was.

Yet, that would be later. For now he focused on the task at hand, as completing the task was the only way for him to even come close to having the chance to talk with the mastermind behind this puzzle mansion. And so, he removed the ingots off the right side of the scale and placed his remaining cluster on the floor once again. The choices he was now presented with allowed him to make his next decision easy. There was a tie between a much more manageable number and there was honestly only one way he could mess this up, and that would be to weigh an odd number ingots against another. That would just be stupid, but Saber honestly had no doubts that someone probably had done it before, or might potentially do it later. That was just humanity, and humanity was a great species. Of course, Saber was one of the many outliers, and if a person dumb enough to perform the obvious mistake made it into the room he was currently in, then he probably should just go into a corner and cry. But, he would never really know that, so he probably might just go cry at some point later. Maybe… Probably.

But that aside, Saber was on the home stretch. With the only failure being his own stupidity, Saber let his stressful thoughts roll off his shoulders and loaded up the scales on last time. Once the scales were ready, he pulled the lever and took the last step back and away, using up his final chance at using the scales. As the scales began to dance, the plaque cleared of the last tally. With that gone, Saber’s attention was focused on the scales. As he expected, the dancing between the arms was even more violent than before, and the Assassin was forced to stand for even longer as he waited and watched the arms bounce back and forth. However as they started to balance, Saber’s left foot began to tap. He was becoming a little impatient and tired of the annoying scale, and wished it was just a one and done thing, but the person behind all of this probably enjoyed being dramatic, and Saber had no choice but to deal with it. Thankfully, Saber didn’t have to wait long and the swinging arms revealed the answer to the puzzle; the left arm collapsed and the right arm raised. That singular motion was the answer, and Saber nodded.

Once the arms reset themselves, Saber grabbed the heaviest ingot and carried it over to the door. As he approached it, the door reacted and a small slot appeared in the center of it, much like that of a circular twisting lock. In the center of that slot, Saber slid his ingot choice inside. The ingot sat into the hole fairly snug and rested for a moment, giving the player time to remove his hand before it twisted to the right ninety degrees. As it became horizontal, it slammed down with a thud and Saber could hear the massive door locks being moved. There was a brief silence once the invisible locks were removed, and then the doors shook. Saber smirked beneath his scarf as the two oversized doors began to open, revealing the next room to the Assassin. He waited happily until the doors were fully open, taking in the satisfying sounds and then looked down at the pumpkin which had been quietly resting on his shoulder. Blumpy rumbled and looked up at Saber; he looked to be tired.

“One more room, buddy. Let’s do this.” The little pumpkin grinned happily and nestled into Saber’s shoulder as the man strode through the open doors, but as he passed through, his happy emotion began to turn hard… Yes, there was one hall left. One hall between him and the Mastermind behind all of the hell he had been going through… As that truly began to set in; Saber began to wonder… Who really was behind all of this?

: Word Count :
874

Coded By Saber of L33T T3@M