The Ranch

Fairytale Maze (13)

Kai really did take his time to think about it. The entire night to be exact. He didn't sleep a wink instead multitasking, looking for clues and pondering his conversation with that redhead.

While contemplating, Kai was reminded of the conversation Sherlock had with the other team when they were all still together. He also came to a similar conclusion.

These puzzles and scenarios are testing knowledge and quick thinking, but most importantly trust. It places focus on trust between the people your parties with. The creator knew you'd move through the maze with your teammates, and is using that to test teammates' trust in each other. Thats why this whole maze has been constantly annoying him.

Putting that aside, while the others were looking Kai found what seems to be clues. The layout of the room is similar to the Rapunzel scenario, except instead of a tower it's a giant beanstalk.

The beanstalk is thick enough to fit multiple people inside. It has many large leaves that can hold a single person's weight, but the higher you climb, the smaller and thinner the leaves are. Looking at the ceiling of the room, there seems to be a sort of hatch that should lead to the top floor.

After searching the area till morning, Tih spots something shiny in the foliage. Picking it up, he realizes it's a golden egg. The moment he touches it, it starts a tremor that rocks the entire room.

It causes Kai to fall on his ass as all the other wake up at the sudden earthquake. Most of them are grumpy from being woken without prior notice. The next time the tremors hit, they no longer have time to grumble as they try to figure out what's going on.

Kai glances at the golden egg, he knows exactly where it's supposed to go. He runs back to the others that have all woken. They're currently discussing the tremors.

"It seems to have a pattern." Victor notices.

"A heartbeat?" Abel wonders.

"Footsteps."

The group turn to look at Kai.

He shakes the egg in his hand," The giant, remember? Come on, I already know what we need to do. Start searching for two other golden eggs. They should be around this area." He points across the area he hasn't searched through yet.

While the others start looking, Kai analyzes the egg. Looking it over, he discovers a small inscription that reads [fälschen].

Kai frowns and mutters," fake.." He turns to help look.

While the other participants in the room are in fear by the decreasing time between tremors, the group has managed to find five more golden eggs. After quickly inspecting them, Kai holds on to the three real ones and tells them to put the others back in their places.

After, the covertly sneak by the beanstalk. Kai discovered this place earlier last night. Behind a couple large leaves, the stalk shows three egg indents. Using the leaves to cover themselves, the place the golden eggs inside and open the secret door. The group look at each other before entering the inside of the beanstalk.

The two groups manage to finish their respective tower/beanstalk scenarios and enter the third floor. They spend the next couple hours exploring the top floor before finding different ways to go down.

After a day's worth of traveling, they eventually meet back up at the entrance to a room.

"Tih!" Kai runs over and latches on to Tih with his signature cheery grin.

Basile makes his way to Victor's side, "Vic, was everything alright?"

Victor nods and Basile seems to understand.

"Then shall we enter?" Sherlock waters no time on their reunion after standing next to Lucien.

"Let's go." Theodore takes it upon himself to enter first and the rest follow.

They enter a normal sized room that's relatively empty. Nothing on the walls, one metal door, and what seems to be many pressure plates on the ground. Each pressure place has an inscription is about the size of a hand.

"Von dem Machandelboom." Theodore reads one of the pressure plates.

"The Juniper Tree. You know German?" Kai asks.

"I am German." Theodore states with a slightly confused expression.

"Ahh, about that. I think I've figured out the gist of it." Sherlock joins in. He's been thinking about this for a while and finally came to a plausible conclusion a few hours ago.

"I suspect there's some kind of language barrier or device that encompasses the entire island, allowing different languages and writing to be translated into something we're familiar with. Kai, the reason stores in the market are all in different languages is because you know all those languages, so the language just sets to its default, original language."

"Were they really able to invent something like that? How does it even work? Brainwaves or something? Perception?" Pierre wonders.

Sherlock shakes his head," I don't know. That's not exactly my area of expertise."

"Words in the maze aren't translated." Lucien comments.

"That, I'm assuming, has something to do with what's blocking your signal. A jammer that interrupts the translation process. But the plaques must use a similar science as the translated since everyone can read it. Whoever is behind this maze must have a lot of power in the science departments."