Unsure of what to do with a certain puzzle? Try checking Jesse's note and/or Marketa’s letter for guidance.
Finished? Don't forget to submit your answers to Jesse in the chat portal.
A note about solution verification:
Some puzzles in this chapter do not have a keyword solution, so a verification box is not always available. Instead, you can use the "what am I looking for?" button to help clarify your goal without spoiling the solution. Once you think you've found that information, you can feel free to move on to another puzzle until you need to use it.
Flower
. For this puzzle all you need is the page with the flower illustrations.
. Read the clue on the circular diagram and examine the flower drawings. What do you notice?
. Each of the flowers is assigned a letter, a few of which have already been used to fill in the diagram. What do you notice about their placement?
. The overlapping areas in the diagram act similarly to a Venn diagram. Try to determine what each section represents by looking at the similarities and differences between the flowers already filled in.
. Did you notice that the lines defining 3 of the sections are colored?
. Start by grouping the flowers by color, then see if you notice any distinctive form, feature, or pattern.
. The classification categories are yellow, purple, pink, spotted (center circle), bell-shaped/hanging flower (lower right), and having stamen (lower left).
. The white flowers fall outside the pink, yellow, and purple areas. Note that 2 of the flowers contain both yellow and purple.
. The clue says you will need to use various characteristics of the flowers to fill the diagram, but the empty space is what matters in the end. Which space in the Venn diagram is left empty?
. Once you fill in all 20 flowers and know which space is left, look at the star-shaped diagram below. How do the points of the stars correspond to the spaces in the circle diagram?
Mushroom
. For this puzzle you’ll need the page with the mushrooms and Marketa’s letter.
. Your first goal is to figure out where each Roman numeral belongs. Do you notice anything about the mushroom drawings?
. Each mushroom has one distinctly darker line in its gills.
. The lines point in 8 directions - perhaps directions showing where the mushrooms really belong?
. Now you have directions, but how far do you go? Note the color of the arrow in the Distance Unit section, and the example arrows showing where VI belongs.
. Each mushroom has a different number of red markings on it. VI has 3. (NOTE: If you’re playing the 2nd edition, all the RED elements have been changed to BLUE.)
. Use the number of red markings on each mushroom as the number of distance units to travel. Each unit is approximately 3/4” or 2cm.
. Once you have traced lines from each mushroom in the correct direction for the correct number of units and determined their correct placement, look over the clues on the bottom step by step to figure out what numeral belongs to what name.
. Amanitoa and Asparosa are the two southernmost mushrooms and therefore must be I and VII. Since Asparosa has a medium thick stem, it cannot be I and must be VII, making Amanitoa I.
. If Laracmia and Ogmoleta are always found near lakes or streams, they must be II or V. (NOTE: In the first edition there was one extra river line near the final placement of IV. Ignore it.) Since Laracmia grow to the east of the Asparosa, Laracmia must be V, leaving Ogmoleta to be II.
. Since Calamoda don’t grow in mountainous terrain, they can’t be III, IV, or VIII, leaving them to be VI.
. Cobinius can’t be VIII since they do not have spots, and Narmosia grows to the south of Cobinius, so Cobinus also cannot be III. This means Cobinius must be IV.
. Anomalta can’t be III because of the pointed cap, meaning it must be VIII, making III Narmosia. Finally, you need to use Marketa’s letter to figure out how to get the name of the mushroom. It says “fungi curls up from the bottom.” Does anything look unusual about some of the letters?
. Some of the letters in the last two sentences have curly cues (swirls). Examine the letter as well and think about what that might mean.
. The letters on the mushroom page spell out LIKE THIS backwards. Looking over the letter, you may notice some letters have curly cues on the ends. Read all the letters with curly cues from the bottom up.
. The message you should get is: FIRST LETTER OF NUMBER ONE, ETC. What could this mean in relation to the mushroom names?
. Use the Roman numerals to extract one letter from each mushroom by indexing into its name. For example, III would be the letter R, as it is the third letter of Narmosia.
Snake
. For this puzzle you will need the page with the snake and element diagram.
. As the clue says, there are a few steps in this puzzle that will take you back and forth from the snake bones to the elements. You can either start by “assembling” the snake, or by placing the elements into the diagram.
. The element at the bottom represents water, with earth on the left, and clay between them. Do you notice anything about the 8 elements pictured?
. Four of them are standard elements: fire, water, air, and earth. The other four require combining two elements together.
. The element following the earth clockwise is magma. Try to fill in the rest of the diagram the same way.
. Following magma clockwise, the elements are: fire, comet, air, cloud. Next, try finding a pattern within the numbers in the diagram.
. The top point is implying that 1+1=2 by combining the unfilled circle outline with the filled circle to create the combined double circle outline. What do you notice about the curved lines?
. The curved lines connecting the numbers are implying that the NW, NE, SE, and SW corners of the diagram have combined numbers, similarly to how the elements combine in those corners. Ex. the 5 from the earth and the 1 from the fire combine to make 6 on the magma corner. Fill in the rest of the numbers accordingly.
. What do you notice about all the small pieces around the snake?
. There are 20 bone pieces which will fit into the empty snake like linear puzzle pieces that follow the curve of the snake’s body.
. Draw the bone pieces into the snake’s body (or cut them out and paste them, but make sure you know what each one is called), including the lines drawn on them.
. The order of the bones is: Coronella, Pelamis, Heirophis, Platyceps, Coluber, Charina, Eryx, Crotalus, Tantilla, Eirenis, Natrix, Viperis, Malpolon, Contia, Zamenis, Diadophis, Nerodia, Farancia, Telescopus, Calliophis. Does it look like anything?
. The symbol made by the lines matches the one above the comet on the top right of the page, so that is the element you need to focus on. What number should go into the circle under the comet?
. The 5 in the unfilled circle under the water drop matches the 5 in the unfilled circle in the diagram by the water symbol. Same with the 18 in the double circle by the clay symbol.
. The circle under the comet has a double line. If you filled the numbers in correctly, the double lined circle by the comet should have a 9.
. Which is the 9th bone? Make sure you count the turns in the snake, since the tail is #26.
Stained Glass Windows
. For this puzzle you will need the window sketch and the 2 stained glass window prints.
. Compare all three windows. What do they have in common?
. All three windows have the same pane layout. What are the strange shapes in the sketch indicating?
. The shapes in the sketch correspond to sections or objects in one of the windows. Do you notice anything?
. These objects show up in different colors - what could those colors correspond to?
. Look at the window with the rainbow colored arches full of letters. How can you make use of these letters?
. For each window pane, find the shape, then note the color, and find the letter with the background of the same color in the second window. (Ex. Green vase=green letter in the same window pane.)
. From left to right, starting with the top row, you should end up with these letters: L W D I U A, T A N R R N, E E B A G S, M O R E Y U, R R O Y Y N
. Separate the letters by color and then read each color separately left to right, row by row, from the top.
. These places correspond to the 5 colored beads in the rosary. To make use of the rosary you must finish the city map puzzle.
Prague City Map
. For this puzzle you will need the map of Prague, the translucent map, and the building sketches.
. Examine the 6 building sketches. Is there anything that can connect them to the city map, or to each other?
. There are two of each type of crest in the drawings. Notice the two crests on the map with the towers - how do they relate to the translucent map?
. The house numbers of the tower crests are the two numbers connected with a dashed line on the translucent map. What do you think you should do with the others?
. Looking at the blank crest symbols on the map, try to identify which houses are the ones in the drawings. (There will be extras left unassigned on the map.)
. You can match the crests to their places on the map using clues in the sketches.
. The clues are: a street name plaque, a tree-lined street, a round topiary to the right of a house, a church in the background, a waterfront view, and a curved street.
. Once you determine where each house is, can you determine its house number in relation to the numbers on the perimeter of the translucent map?
. The houses are as follows: 128 - church in background (snake); 336 - curved street (snake); 241 - garden with round trees (lion); 94 - waterfront (lion); 882 - Václavské náměstí street plaque (eagle); 463 - Tree lined street (eagle)
. Now that you know all the numbers, how can you use them with the transparent sheet?
. Using a straight edge, draw lines connecting 882 to 463 (Eagle), 241 to 94 (Lion) and 128 to 336 (Snake). Now what do dashed lines usually indicate?
. Cut along the 4 lines to split the page into 9 pieces.
. Try to overlay these pieces on the city map. Use clues such as the cross and building outlines to place them.
. All 9 pieces will connect with a thicker line that indicates where the tunnels run through.
Tunnels
. Before proceeding, make sure you have completed all the above puzzles.
. Have you done anything with the rosary beads yet?
. The beads are in a pretty strange shape, with only a few colored beads. Do those colors remind you of anything?
. The 5 colored beads are the same colors as the ones from the stained glass window shapes. Perhaps they represent the 5 locations?
. Lay the rosary beads over the tunnel lines on the map and align the different ends of beads to the lines. Using the solution from the window puzzle, you should be able to determine the location of the lab.