Scavenger Hunt II

[felix]

Originally Posted by rrw

so no LOTR reference?

I covered this "unfair reference" topic already—and won't clarify any further then that. You can try asking NightWish the same question if you don't understand my wording on it. I won't give any further clarification in any direction on the subject, as it may enable you to fish hints out of it.

[Daniel E.]

All I can say is that I am mighty impressed by you people. No matter how I look at it, I can't seem to make head or tails out of this.

[Rennir]

One question: Are the grammar and capitalization mistakes intentional or accidental?

If you pay attention to the picture, there are 5 differences between the pic that is displayed and the one that you get when you click on the original.
Apple-->Radish(possibly the vegetable that the first kingdom refers to? If so, first number is 6, not 5)
Bear--->Cat(statue?)
Notebook-->Domo
Closed Drawer-->Open w/ cat insider
I have no idea what the last thing is though...

My guess is http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=1 because the first sentence begins with there was an end, which I assume to be the end of the old AS site. The Princess was the first one to appear, so the first registered member should be the Princess? Shortest=smallest positive integer=1

Anyways, that's just a wild guess. The riddle does say after all that we're trying to find the culprit, rather than the identity of the princess...

[felix]

Sorry Rennir, answer is incorrect.

Originally Posted by Rennir

One question: Are the grammar and capitalization mistakes intentional or accidental?

I'll answer questions where information has already been clearly provided (namely by NW) in some shape or form (as a hint, comment, or related to contest policy). This was the case with previous questions. "is X related" is something I obviously won't answer. Basically I'll answer any question you should already know the answer to.

Originally Posted by self

Just to be clear, all you need to solve the riddle is posted by Kairin in the thread

…anything extra (hints) will also be posted there. Good luck.

[Kafriel]

I have no idea what the last thing is though...

The mouse-like object on the shelf -> mushrooms. Hope it helped...

[Remon]

Okay so the radish is the V kingdom.
The cat in the drawer. Cat in a box = Shcrodinger's cat = ?? I'm drawing a blank here.
The cat could be related to the kingdom associated with the number 9. Cause cats have 9 lives.
The mushrooms...Perhaps the one with the gazebos? Does anyone have any idea on what the seven lancers could be? :S
And Domo is ... um. Unlucky kingdom? Bleh
Except for the radish nothing really connects with our riddle. I say we ignore it.

Also the SeveN Lancers is weird. Why is the n in capitals. If we removed the capitals we would have eve ancers. Which is an anagram for severance. Or just removing the N seve Lancers. This does not really turn up anything. Screw this.

XI o'clock is also suspicious. The roman numbers appear twice. Intentional or coincidence? Can it be interpreted any other way? 11:00 can also be 23:00

The princess is a midget, the shortest midget. Has a big mouth and a fat sword. Does this translate into anything? Is the princess the key to solving the mystery? If she is that she's definitely going to be very short, have a big mouth and a fat sword. Very few characters, high post count, high reputation/rank.

I think my brain is overheating.

EDIT
I think that being the one to solve the riddle isn't very important. I say we all team up and solve it together. ^^

[Kafriel]

Shcrodinger's cat = ?? I'm drawing a blank here.

Refers to a paradox->anomalies->unlucky kingdom?
Currently grinding on the kingdom of 11 o'clock...but numbers can be interpreted in too many ways for me to actually select one <_<

I think my brain is overheating.

Think I'll bail, I'm just not feeling this one...it SHOULD be a numerical riddle, but the random references are just too random for me.

[Remon]

Yeah it's quite hard . But I'm sure that if we work together we can do it. For example I wouldn't have thought about the cat in box thing being the anomaly if it wasn't for you

[Rennir]

We also don't know whether or not the XI o'clock is relevant at all. The riddle says time is irrelevant in the five kingdoms. I don't really care who solves it either, I just want to know what the answer is...

[Afternoon Tea]

five kingdoms? Okay I remember in Biology class there was five kingdoms of life one of them is the Plantae (planet kingdom) vegetable kingdom ?




or maybe it has something to do with

Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princes..._Salad_Kingdom

or maybe it has something to do with Konata Izumi from the popular lucky star since she is the shortest character

[Chimuts]

Next she arrives at the unlucky kingdom. Mirrors break
as she enters and she is greeted by strange creatures.
The princess swings her fat sword and cuts down all in
front of her, with the exception of a few anomalies.
Confused she simply moves on...

Could the anomalies be the 5 differences in the picture? If so, the for the unlucky kingdom we have the number 13 and 5...

After 3 days of marching she arrived at the kingdom of
the Nazgûl. She finds nothing, sees nothing, hears
nothing.

The "nothing" may refer to the number 0...?

[Remon]

The riddle can be broken down into 3 parts. The first 2 paragraphs are the introduction to the riddle, it also serves as a "guidance" for the rest of the riddle. Then comes the process. We proceed here by keeping in mind the guidance part. And finally the last paragraph states the ending.

So basically, the first paragraph tells us :
- The princess is the shortest midget on the land, has a big mouth and a fat sword.
- There exist 5 kingdoms.
- Each king is greater than all over which it rules.
- Should one enter the kingdoms they would be cut down to size till they're no greater than the kingdom kings. - This applies to the monsters and the princess.

Then comes the process :
- The V kingdom represents the number 5. She defeats all but 3. The king is a 5. The king is greater than that he rules. So he rules over 4. She defeats all but 3. She defeats 1.
- The SeveN Lancers kingdom represents the number 7. She defeats all but 5. The king is a 7. He rules over 6. She defeats all but 5. She defeats 1.
- The kingdom of the Nazgûl represents the number 9. She defeats all but 5. The king is a 9. He rules over 8. She defeats all but 5. She defeats 3.
- The unlucky kingdom could represent the number 13 or 4 if we're talking in chinese. She defeats them all but breaks mirrors and is left with 7 anomalies. The king is a 13. He rules over 12. She defeats all 12.
* Or. The king is a 4. He rules over 3. She defeats 3.
- The XI o'clock represents the number 11. But since time is irrelevant it could be 0. Ten remain.
*The king is an 11. He rules over 10. She defeats 1 but 10 remain. She proably defeats the king. This is probably in relation to the real crime. 11 o'clock being the time of murder.
*Or...If the roman is there to confuse us, and 11 o'clock is actually 23:00. Then the king is a 23. He rules over 22. She defeats all but 10. She defeats 12.
*Or the king is a 0 since time is irrelevant. But then the fight is pointless :\

So what i have is : 1 1 3 12 12, 1 1 3 12 0, 1 1 3 12 1, 1 1 3 12 11, 1 1 3 3 12, 1 1 3 3 0, 1 1 3 3 11, 1 1 3 3 1. Now they will be cut to size until they're no greater than 5. So 11355, 11350, 11351, 11335, 11331, 11330.

http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11350
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11355
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11351 is invalid :Z
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11330
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11331 does not exist
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11335

Conclusion :
- The princess retreats with a broken sword. Adventures will follow her. Is this a reference to the culprit retreating from the crime scene. Perhaps the professor wrote this up after being stabbed by her fat sword.

[felix]

Originally Posted by Remon

http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11350
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11355
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11351 is invalid :Z
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11330
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11331 does not exist
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11335

Sorry, all the urls are incorrect.

[RRW]

that bring to another question. we actually need to find person that visit this 5 area. not character id that the number is connected to kingdom

[Remon]

Great -.-. I'm out of moves...for now.

[Chimuts]

Originally Posted by Remon

Spoiler for Space:

The riddle can be broken down into 3 parts. The first 2 paragraphs are the introduction to the riddle, it also serves as a "guidance" for the rest of the riddle. Then comes the process. We proceed here by keeping in mind the guidance part. And finally the last paragraph states the ending.

So basically, the first paragraph tells us :
- The princess is the shortest midget on the land, has a big mouth and a fat sword.
- There exist 5 kingdoms.
- Each king is greater than all over which it rules.
- Should one enter the kingdoms they would be cut down to size till they're no greater than the kingdom kings. - This applies to the monsters and the princess.

Then comes the process :
- The V kingdom represents the number 5. She defeats all but 3. The king is a 5. The king is greater than that he rules. So he rules over 4. She defeats all but 3. She defeats 1.
- The SeveN Lancers kingdom represents the number 7. She defeats all but 5. The king is a 7. He rules over 6. She defeats all but 5. She defeats 1.
- The kingdom of the Nazgûl represents the number 9. She defeats all but 5. The king is a 9. He rules over 8. She defeats all but 5. She defeats 3.
- The unlucky kingdom could represent the number 13 or 4 if we're talking in chinese. She defeats them all but breaks mirrors and is left with 7 anomalies. The king is a 13. He rules over 12. She defeats all 12.
* Or. The king is a 4. He rules over 3. She defeats 3.
- The XI o'clock represents the number 11. But since time is irrelevant it could be 0. Ten remain.
*The king is an 11. He rules over 10. She defeats 1 but 10 remain. She proably defeats the king. This is probably in relation to the real crime. 11 o'clock being the time of murder.
*Or...If the roman is there to confuse us, and 11 o'clock is actually 23:00. Then the king is a 23. He rules over 22. She defeats all but 10. She defeats 12.
*Or the king is a 0 since time is irrelevant. But then the fight is pointless :\

So what i have is : 1 1 3 12 12, 1 1 3 12 0, 1 1 3 12 1, 1 1 3 12 11, 1 1 3 3 12, 1 1 3 3 0, 1 1 3 3 11, 1 1 3 3 1. Now they will be cut to size until they're no greater than 5. So 11355, 11350, 11351, 11335, 11331, 11330.

http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11350
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11355
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11351 is invalid :Z
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11330
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11331 does not exist
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11335

Conclusion :
- The princess retreats with a broken sword. Adventures will follow her. Is this a reference to the culprit retreating from the crime scene. Perhaps the professor wrote this up after being stabbed by her fat sword.

That's an interesting theory, but can i inquire as to where do you get the 7 in the unlucky kingdom?
And I think the king of the unlucky kingdom is 13, 4 is more to the number of death in chinese rather than it is a number of unluckiness.
There are a few points that were skipped though, although i do no know if these points are needed to solve the riddle. The 3 days of marching to nazgul and 7 days of rest may refer to substracting any number greater than 5 by 10, so the urls may be
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11322(seems unlikely)
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11320(not possible)
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11321(total post of 7... a coincidence?)
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11321(again)
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11332(seems..unlikely?)
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11330(again, unlikely)
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11331(invalid)
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11331(invalid)

I think the answers are all wrong...?

by the way can disabled accounts be the answer?

[Remon]

We ignore any timed events because time is irrelevant :\
And i got the 7 from the unlucky kingdom because she ends up with 7 years of misfortune after breaking mirrors.

[felix]

Originally Posted by Chimuts

http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11322(seems unlikely)
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11320(not possible)
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11321(total post of 7... a coincidence?)
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11321(again)
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11332(seems..unlikely?)
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11330(again, unlikely)
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11331(invalid)
http://forums.animesuki.com/member.php?u=11331(invalid)

Sorry, all urls are, as you suspected, incorrect.

[RRW]

well that easy to confirm that we not searching person on the forum but probably someone like translator or raw provide on anime suki websites

[monster]

... The clue is a short story written right before the victims demise. It surely leads to the culprit! ... With a broken fat sword the princess retreats, but brave adventurers follow after her. And so, our story begins.

So the clue that's supposed to lead to the culprit is a story, but the story is just beginning. So all we really have is the introduction to that story. And it looks like the story is really about the brave adventurers that follow after the princess. And if I assume that the princess is a forum moderator (someone with a big fat sword, a sign of power, and I'm ignoring the moderator's real gender) that came after an end (the 2005 forum server hack can be seen as an end), then the brave adventurers will be the moderators that came after.

So my guess is http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=40416.

And yes, clearly I'm grasping at straws here. But after working at this riddle on and off for a week and not getting any closer to a probable answer, I'm submitting any answer I could think of, now bring on the next riddle.