The Ranch

Fairytale Maze (8)

After assessing the scenario, the groups start discussing.

"So it's obviously Hansel and Gretel." Pierre starts.

"The plaque says the witch will come back, so we're probably under a timer." Sherlock adds.

"Meaning we have to finish the task before she comes back," states Theodore and the groups nod in agreement.

"So we have to make the witch a meal?" Pierre questions.

Victor observes the fireplace, "Did you notice the scale attached to the caldron? I'm guessing we have to add a certain amount of weight to the pot. When we hit a certain weight, the scenario will be complete."

"The specific weight should be..." Kai looks towards the two in the cage.

"Sacrifice Hansel and Gretel?" Abel follows his gaze.

"But judging by the food on the table, there's probably other foods in all the cabinets and drawers. I'm guessing we'll have to solve puzzles to find more food and it'll take a lot of time, but it's a second, harder option," says Victor.

Sherlock nods in realization," I see, they're giving us two options. This option, in itself, is likely a test to divide teammates depending on their morals."

"Those with less humanity would want to sacrifice Hansel and Gretel. Those with a strong sense of justice would want to search for food."

"But we don't know how much food to put in even if we do manage to find everything?" Pierre questions.

Theodore lifts up cage with one hand and gives an estimation," Should be around two-hundred."

Kai denies his solution, "We can't rely on an estimation. Plus, we don't know how much weight the cage is contributing.

While holding the cage, he's been investigating it," Then we'll need a key." He points to a keyhole.

Abel suddenly pipes up, "They haven't reacted to anything, meaning they're like the previous characters we've met."

"They'll probably only move when we do certain actions. They probably have on-command reactions to different situations." Sherlock contributes the theory he's been working on.

"We need to find their weight and find enough food." Lucien concludes.

Victor wants Tih's input, "Boss, what do you think-"

Everyone looks towards Tih as he rips off a piece of fruit roll-up wallpaper and stuffs it into his mouth. There's already a large portion missing from the wall, meaning he's been at it for a while. Tih hasn't really been paying attention to their conversation, instead focusing on the sweet smelling house.

"..." Sherlock is slightly embarrassed by his group's unprofessionalism.

In the silence, they all hear munching coming from behind. They turn to see Basile munching on gingerbread brick he slid it out of the frosting that was keeping it in place. Basile munches on it like corn, spinning the brick on its sides. Frosting nips the tip of his nose but he has no hands to wipe it off, but he doesn't seem to care. His unfeeling red eyes stare at the brick as his chipmunk cheeks bulge. He doesn't seem to care about his appearance, much like Tih.

Sherlock, who no longer feels embarrassed, and the others look at the two foodies and admire their lax attitude before getting back on topic.

As the leader of four geniuses, Victor doesn't take much time to fit into his role. "Then let's split up and look for fruit and the key to the cage. Agreed?"

Everyone nods and gets to work. Some start opening cabinets and other start opening drawers below the counter. They're starting with the doors without locks or puzzles on them. Some find food, codes, keys, or other puzzle pieces used for other puzzles they haven't looked at yet. Everything they find is placed on the countertop.

While others are busy searching, Tih and Basile continue snacking on the walls.

Tih walks from one end of a wall to another, ripping the wallpaper off with him. He munches on it like cattle and it all disappears into his mouth. He walks near Basile to try a red and white circular candy.

The albino breaks off piece of licorice and stuffs it inside his jacket. He continues collecting bits of confections and it all disappears inside his jacket, but no matter how much he shoves in, his jacket doesn't grow any larger.

"Eh? Was this always here?" The group turn to look at where Theodore is pointing. It's the wall Tih ripped. Behind the fruit wallpaper was a hidden code.

"Looks like we need to search in unconventional places as well." Sherlock notifies.

Lucien questions, "Can't we use this?" He knocks on the walls, referring to the entire edible house.

Kai explains,"Gingerbread is too light and candy would melt, so there's no point in putting it in the caldron. The floorboard beneath Kai creaks. Curious, he tries to lift it up. Underneath lies a code and a banana.

After gathering all the clues in one small pile, Victor speaks up once more," Everyone take one thing and try it on everything until it works. Or if you think you can do it, try one of the doors with puzzles." Everyone either grabs a letter, number, or symbol code, a key, or a piece to a puzzle and start trying them on every door it might belong to. After opening one and grabbing the things inside, it would be sorted on the counter and the process would repeat.

All the clues are different, they can't be used twice. There's one key thats end can be turned to create different patterns and enter different shaped holes .

Occasionally, there's also objects like magnifying glasses or wrenches.

Pierre uses the wrench to unscrew a, too small to be done manually, screw made out of some kind of hard candy that can't be broken.

Some of the many puzzles include sliding puzzles, ball-in-a-maze, brain teasers, anagrams, chess problems, a cross sums puzzle, a cryptogram, and a disentanglement puzzle. Often, there will be multiple puzzles that are interlaced together. The groups need to work together for those ones.