EXTRACTS FROM CATSPAWS' PUZZLE TEST REPORT
by Catspaws
I will be the first to admit I stink at puzzles, and as a rule, I avoid them like the plague. Which makes it odd that I volunteered to test the Graveyard puzzle, but I did, and this is what happened.
Part I: Puckleberry
I started my great adventure with an informative and interesting discussion with a gentleman in the Traders Guild by the name of Puckleberry. He seemed quite upset about something, for which he asked my assistance. Being the brave and daring feline I am, I, of course, accepted his mission, and off I went to find an asteroid named Graveyard.
Part II: The Guild Contact
I had barely left the shuttle pad on this ominous asteroid when a figure motioned me to follow him behind a tree. He appeared to be a typical accountant. He told me I needed to navigate the graveyard in which he had died many times stumbling into graves, then return and report my progress. I was told that to navigate the graveyard safely I would need to... well, I was licking my paw at the time, so I didn't pay a lot of attention to his warning...
Part III: The Graveyard
Off I went to find my destiny. Or, at least, the building on the other side of the graveyard.
I found an odd mausoleum that had been converted into a trading exchange. Ingenious! I left the pseudo-exchange and worked my way back around the graveyard until I found a nice fat crow. I wasted a bit of time trying to catch this tasty morsel, but the creature managed to elude me. Eventually I continued until I found a creepy tomb and worked my way through a gap to the large building.
Part IV: The Castle
The building I was seeking turned out to be a fascinatingly creepy old castle. I was hungry by this time, the crow having eluded me, and I just knew there had to be lots of fat rats in this castle! But first I had to find a way inside...
Part V: The Tunnel
I found out how to get into the castle, and passed through a tunnel but got trapped for a while behind some shelves. I back-tracked to torture the crow a bit, and fell into one of those cursed graves. I hailed a cab, returned to my ship, and headed back to Graveyard. I stopped by a crypt to get some bandages in the hopes they would protect my shins if I fell into another grave. I returned to my tunnel and figured out the problem of the shelves. I was in!
Part VI: Inside the Castle
I found myself in a wine cellar, and tried the wine. Nasty stuff, tasted like vinegar! I explored downstairs without finding anything of interest before checking out the back stairs. Still nothing. Upstairs in the master bedroom I found... well, suffice it to say, this was where I learnt what my tasks would be before I could say I had succeeded.
Actually completing those tasks was the problem. After a small bit of progess I realized I had no clue what to do next. While waiting for Gwaptiva to join me (I was really stuck!) I ran everything I had so far through a spell checker and prepared a report for Hazed on needed corrections. This gave me a much-needed break, as that castle was starting to annoy me. Then I went to find the slowpoke, Gwaptiva who, like me, enjoyed checking the death messages in the graveyard.
Part VII: Still Stuck
Convinced I was missing something, I decided to explore the castle again. I played with the armor, rode the rocking horse, and had the same old conversation with a mobile. Gwaptiva, in the meantime, was making pets of the rats in the castle. He got distracted trying to dismantle the armor (a guy thing, I guess) so I had to go find him. He was still exploring, and I got so frustrated I got the munchies, so I went to eat some of the rations in the bedroom.
Part VIII: Teamwork
Gwaptiva FINALLY made it to the significant place in the castle and wanted to cuddle. Nope, we had work to do. I am a business-like feline, after all. We played around with it all for a while, then Gwaptiva took a dive off the roof of the tallest tower in the castle. This jinxed me and, from that point, I think I dove off that roof at least four times myself. It was all his fault! We compared notes and he came up with the brilliant idea that we needed an object like a wrench, spanner, or bucket of water. So I tried to get water in the kitchen (logical?) then grabbed a few bottles of that nasty wine from the wine cellar. Other than getting a bit tipsy, the wine didn't help. Gwaptiva grabbed some as well, and a skull, which Mr Bumblefingers managed to drop. We tried everything we could think of with the wine. Gwaptiva tied his bandages together and played cowboy with his lasso and skull. Men! He went back to try to strong-arm more information out of anyone he could talk to while I went on a hunt for invisible objects.
Part IX: Frustration
After drawing a blank, I returned to the Guild accountant guy to report our progress. Still no help. Then I fell into another stupid grave. It was too misty, I swear! Then again, this time it was just to see if I got the same message. Honest! That cabbie on Earth now knows the names of all my kits. So I go back, and fall into the same grave. I think I was really getting tired at this point. I had so many cuts and bruises I went for more bandages. I grabbed a skull in the tomb, then I stumbled upon the pile of missing guild accountants. I showed them to Gwaptiva, who got the idea we could... well, let's just say it didn't end well!
By now we'd spent most of the day on this and weren't making much headway. So I fired off an email to Hazed and called it a day.
Part X: The Next Morning
After receiving an email from Hazed with a hint, I thought I knew what I needed to find. I returned to the significant room in the castle, where I promptly stepped off the roof. I tried to lasso the crow... drats! I searched the castle but couldn't find the item I needed. None in the tower either. Obviously there were some rooms Gwaptiva and I hadn't located. Dejected, I went to CDs to talk to Hazed. She told me to ask some of the mobiles about the missing item and, when I told her the tools were in the missing rooms, she told me they were in a mausoleum. Doh! I had been reading my map and thinking an unused east route was a grave, when in reality it was a path. I eventually located the tools and asked the mobile. Aha! Progress at last. So off I went with a determined gleam in my eyes and renewed hope of finishing this puzzle... eventually.
Part XI: More Missing Messages
Progress seemed at a halt because when I did what I thought I had to do, it didn't do what I thought it ought to have done. After a lot of desperate and frustrated attempts, I reported my progress to Hazed before telling her I was going to take a nap. That was a good idea, because it seems I was getting the wrong message when I tried to do the thing that I thought was the thing to do. So I went off to my nap, and we agreed to meet later to see what was wrong.
Part XII: The Calvary Arrives
After my nap, I met the Semi-Divine Hazed in the castle. She told me the wrong event was being called when I did that thing. She showed me the message I should have received. This made my day:
Hazed says, "Yes, you ratfink, you did break my puzzle"
Hazed pouts
After a bit more confusion I was finally able to do what I had set out to do, despite a lot of syntax-hunting. Mission 1 was complete!
And there was great rejoicing...
Part XIII: The Second Mission
After an item-gathering tour of the graveyard where I grabbed up EVERYTHING, I returned to the castle. A progress report to Brian led me to a different significant room, where I read every scrap of paper on the noticeboard. I knew I needed a password for a computer. I spent the rest of the day exploring and typing everything I could think of into that computer. I even typed in names off tombstones in the graveyard! Shoot, I even typed in Squeeky as the password, because he's scary. I tore the castle apart before grilling the various mobiles again. I did everything and examined EVERYTHING BUT THE CORRECT OBJECT. I bet I read that messageboard 30 times. I finally gave up, sent Hazed a progress report, and returned to Catseye. Just before reset, she gave me a hint about what I had missed; the light dawned, I found the password I needed, fumbled around for the correct command to give the computer then finally got it right. AND THE KITTY SAVED THE WORLD.
This is my report on my trials and tribulations on Graveyard. I can now say I have solved a puzzle, and tomorrow I will report back to Puckleberry. I had great fun, though it took me several days to solve the puzzle. I no longer fear and hate puzzles as much as I did.
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