#panicking in puzzles!

[seismologically-silly]

Puzzlemaster Week 1 Recap

we've got lore

Last week started with @puzz1e-master sending a very cryptic message to @potato-lord-but-not. As a result, I, @cr0w-z, @ichorandseafoam, @pandaragons, @willwoodwithadditionalgrapejuice, @get-your-fuckin-star-bitch, and @fruit-c4ke were dubbed "The Involvements" by Puzzlemaster as we became the most involved in helping Potato Lord solve the puzzles. Obviously we are not the only ones, but we are by far the most annoying about it (i say "annoying" affectionately. who knows what Puzzlemaster thinks of us).

The first message was fairly easy, spelling out YOU ARE CLOSE in letters capitalized in the first message. The second riddle took us much longer-- we had to figure out what different colored words meant in a question. The question is still unanswered, but all the colors were accounted for: green = involvements, yellow = Potato Lord, pink = nothing important, black = mystery, red = Puzzlemaster, and purple = power. The question asked was, "The Watchers only Watch, why do the Victims have to Speak?" Helping us solve the colors, Puzzlemaster sent a few of us asks with clues spelling THE ROYALS HAVE ALL THE POWER.

As we were solving the colors, Potato Lord got a new ask, with text originally in Morse code in uppercase:

Aaaaannddddd…go! ALRIGHT, SO I WAS THINKING, Mhm? THE PUZZLEMASTER, WHAT DO ...... YOU THINK HIS DEAL? I'm not sure really. Maybe he just likes doing this? Messing about? I mean… THINK HE IS WEB? Could be. Not really sure though. A little early to speculate really. IS ONLY THE BEGINNING? Seems so. I mean, it's always a larger picture than we think- Oh. You're almost past the halfway. LIKE CAUGHT IN WEB ...... SO SMALL, COMPARING BIG Suppose so. Yeah. What does it make us? WE LIKE TO WONDER What do you think it means? To be a victim? GIVEN SPECIAL LITTLE THING Such as? A VOICE Oh yeah, you must envy tha- Oh. Times up. They can't hear you now. I know, I know. We'll just have to wait until it rewinds.

No idea who sent this. The colors cycle evenly through the lines, except "he" is red and "victim" is orange referring to what we took a week to decode them being. it is the first thing we've seen bolded, and we haven't seen pronouns italicized before. I'll come back to the struck out "They" in a few paragraphs. That's also so far the only thing struck out.

After the colors were decoded, Potato Lord was sent a new puzzle that decoded to YOU'RE PART OF. A few of the Involvements got sent asks as well, with messages so far decoded to YOU THINK TO STOP THEIR PLAN? SOMETHING BIGGER THAN [YOU] WILL STOP THE END THEY CRAVE. Possibly. We're still likely missing some pieces. And it's been confirmed there are two messages to put together. Again, what's with the They?

A few other players have joined the board that aren't the Puzzlemaster, Potato Lord, or the Involvements. One is @the-1t, but they've been quiet for a few days, so I'm not sure how big a player they are. There's @the-r4t-man, who has been teaching Puzzlemaster how to be human by giving them rats and flirting. And there's also been the They, who do not seem to like Puzzlemaster becoming human (again?), and apparently hold power over the Puzzlemaster.

Also, something is happening on 5 August at 12:16 PM. Not sure what time zone.

The whole story so far is spread out over about a half dozen blogs and mainly in replies, so I hope this provides a good first week recap of the main bits. If anyone thinks I've missed something important, add it for the archive!

[lastoneout]

tbh tho I think Chillchuck would actually be into puzzle games, like bro has 500 hours in Baba is You and does the NYT crossword puzzle every single day

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

sometimes ya just gotta scribble your favorite character giving you words of encouragement. even if that favorite is a guy from your own brain

[rhinozilla]

Consider giggly Dreamling smut.

Hob showing Dream that sex can be fun and, more importantly, funny. Dream's past sexual relationships have burned hot and passionate and hungry and intense...but giddy laughing during sex? Giggling through an orgasm? Unheard of in his experience.

I think the mere idea would break Dream's brain. Then he'd actually experience that with Hob, and it would be paradigm-shifting for him.

[seismologically-silly]

i've been doing some thinking. absolutely no proof but hear me out:

the Watchers Watch. they don't Watch. What makes the Watchers different from the people who are watching this game? they engage in the game. We all type like this. In black (or white, depending on our theme). Therefore, i propose black is engagement. Puzzlemaster uses black to communicate to us the rules, their thoughts, etc. Engaging with us.

We know purple is power. Keeping tabs on us is powerful because it inspires us to act. So what is it you do differently than us? That possibly is powerful enough to center the puzzles on you? I know I followed you for your art. What's more powerful than art? What's more human? We know Puzzlemaster is curious about humanity. Art gave them a body. You brought us together.

I'll repeat the riddle for you and your companions.

"The Watchers only Watch, why do the Victims have to Speak?"

Allow Me to also add that a period, if placed with meaning, could also be black.

:)

-Puzzlemaster

?

Oh right yeah I got so lost I completely forgot the riddle we’re solving IS the sentence itself. Get your brains working girly pops

[hplonesomeart]

Potential volume warning?? Maybe?? Just a lot of sudden over-enthusiastic monkey screeches and giddy hand claps (provided by yours truly). Wish I had more time on my hands to provide a clever edited segue into this video but NAH. Nah just immediately get hit with lot of incoherent ramblings which I’ve had saved on my device—all related to a singular fixation on a fictional robot guy. If you had a shred of doubt about how much I am dedicated to loving his character before, then perhaps this will change your presumption lol

….I don’t owe anyone an explanation to this insanity jskjsksp. I choose to openly expose myself in the pursuit of getting over being undeniably cringe!! No more being in denial or downplaying just how happy he makes me teehee. Pay no mind don’t even worry about it. This post never happened it was all a dream. I’m living in my blissful delusional cocoon with no shame attached thank you very much :))

But yea!! Here have some highlights/snippets from various audio recordings I keep to myself. Some are related to when I was initially introduced to Mr. Puzzles character and others are more recent. Most stem from my time looking at fanart, watching episodes, analyzing his character and whatnot. Probably won’t ever release the full things lol. It’s all very much self indulgent sillies as per usual—it’s nice having a way to preserve these emotions & visceral reactions. Why keep restricting expressing your happiness when you can let it all out? (I say this and then proceed to avoid talking openly about Mr. Puzzles irl out of worry oop). It’s no matter…posting this is only at the detrimental expense of my usual calm & collected facade. Mutuals I promise I’m usually far more normal and well adjusted then this footage shows (totally still not in denial) <<

[nerdie-faerie]

Currently thinking about the last time I met up with my college friends, and we went around the table reintroducing ourselves with names and pronouns, cus it gets like that. And every time it would come around to me, I would deflect and distract instead of answering because I hadn't actually figured it out yet. It's coming up on a year since then, I still have no idea what the answer would be

[groovytimes]

Came home to this. Thank you @strangeness-andcharm, I am so touched, and a wreck. ❤️🥹

[seismologically-silly]

Dangerous for whom, I wonder?

Of course we go deeper, it's where the mystery lies! Where else will we go?

It's been a quiet day so far-- got anything else for us to chew on?

Good morning, friend Puzzlemaster. I hope you're liking the name! I've got a question of my own-- why weave a web around @potato-lord-but-not? Are you also an admirer of their art?

Good morning, little involvement.

I am rather fond of it now, yes. Puzzlemaster has a nice… ring to it, per say.

Do spiders only weave one web in their lifetime? I think not.

I hope that answer suffices.

Being at the center… where the spider lays… that’s a dangerous spot to be.

:)

-Puzzlemaster

[catboyarg]

Meu amor.

[seismologically-silly]

a side effect of this puzzlemaster business i walked into this weekend is i'm now terrified every time i get a notification

[oh-katsuki]

Oh my god I am SOOOO down for demigod au!!!!! I have so many feelings!! In a similar vein, at one point I considered doing a God of War AU with Katsuki as Kratos and it still scratches a good itch in my little brain. Tbh it popped into my brain during a road trip so no real thoughts were had but something about him learning to be vulnerable enough to love and be loved but then having to put aside his humanity to fight and kill to protect his found family 🥲💕

YESSSS!!!!! I LOVE THIS BUT IT MAKES ME SO SAD!!!!!!!!

i love seeing katsuki as a child of a war god!!! big and strong and so so skilled in battle with a wide range of weapons. it's also surprising though that he is as sensitive as he is passionate. it's like the passion in him is directly tied to his divine lineage, but also to that sensitivity. n people assume he's got less feelings than other's bc of his parentage, but he loves all the same.. if not more and CERTAINLY more fiercely. imaging the way he instills confidence in his comrades on a battlefield.. like that fighting spirit is contagious....

but i am also so biased when it comes to him tho bc i actually see him (like someone said in their rb of my post) as more roman than greek!!! and i often think of him as a child of hestia (which doesn't work bc she is a maiden goddess)... or like... juno (once again would not have demigods bc she's the goddess of marriage) but like just imagine it for a moment.. think on it...

imagine for a moment that juno DID have demigods (i know this is so inaccurate for her... i feel the wrongness too)... juno represented the state as well as being the goddess of marriage. she was also a war goddess and was often thought to lend strength to roman generals during war..... now katsuki as one of her few demigod children. he's blessed with brilliant skills in battle, but he also has the ability to drive his comrades further. to instill in them the spirit of a warrior and keep their motivation up. where children of somnus (or hypnos) can lull people to sleep or take away the will to fight, katsuki can do the opposite. but he's also (after he gets older) becomes quite a strong leader and people end up looking to him the same way they did Juno in Rome.... he gains this confidence about him that could belong only to the child of the goddess of the state... im SICK...

sorry i got so distracted in this... i have so many thoughts abt him... but GOD a katsuki KRATOS au is SOOO AUGH!!! sad tho :((( i want him to have good things ;(( (side note: i LOVED that game when i was younger broooo)

[seismologically-silly]

this game is wild

diveristy win! the entity haunting and terrorizing you is pan!

but seriously help the rat man and puzzle are flirting (??) and PEOPLE ARE SHIPPING THEM.....

NO THEYRE LIKE ACTUALLY ACTUALLY FLIRTING THIS IS HILARIOUS

[dyhiki]

Don't think I've ever quit a game as fast as when i heard the turret say "goodbye" using a sickenly sweet tone after seeing me through the fucking portal

[ratdesk]

watching hotd finally & having fun however! sometimes while watching i catch myself like physically tensing up and getting stressed and i gotta remind myself that it's not real girl it's fiction! they can't get u!

[computerfrog2000]

I'm amused by how I'm trying to cope with and distract myself from stressful thoughts by frantically solving sudoku puzzles whilst crying and hyperventilating.