The Adventure

[Kikacat123]

I hope that you like this one. You are going on an adventure. Your goal is to find the hidden city of Atlantis. The problem is, you have enough food and water for your journey, but the only other things you have are a 200 foot coil of nylon rope, a full box of matches, a knife, a backpack, a fold up tent, a long walking stick, and your wits. You will face many dangers as you travel. It is your job to avoid the dangers and decipher the clues that will lead you to the Lost City of Atlantis. The way this game is played is simple, but there are a few rules.

1. I will periodically give you a clue or an obstacle to solve or evade.

2. The story will only continue when someone solves the riddle or figures out how to get past the obstacle.

3. When you have an obstacle, you must get past it using only the items that have been given to you.

4. There are ten obstacles and ten clues. If you solve all of them, you win the game!

5. Everyone can work together to solve riddles or obstacles. Go teamwork!

Your first clue is this:

I have a bed but do not sleep, have a mouth but do not eat, have a bank but have no cash, have no legs but run quite fast. What am I?

There you are! Now, go and reach that city!

[Molly Mae]

Plato

[kestrelknight]

...

Would not the indigenous man be either Aquaman ("King of Atlantis") or Poseidon?

[Kikacat123]

Let's put it this way. If you are indigenous to the USA, you would be American, right? If you were indigenous to France, you would be French. So someone indigenous to Atlantis would be...?

Edited July 4, 2013 by Kikacat123

[Thalia]

An Atlantean? Or something like that. . .

[Aaryan]

Atlantic?

Edited July 5, 2013 by Aaryan

[Kikacat123]

An Atlantean? Or something like that. . .

Correct! You arrive at a shore, where the ground is littered with weeds. A stone, glistening with the saltwater of the sea, lies before you. As you are prying it up to look underneath, you suddenly feel as though you are being watched.

"Hello," bubbles a gravely voice.

"AHH!" you shout.

"I am terribly sorry to startle you," states a withered old man floating on the surface of the water. He is clutching a crudely made trident. In place of legs, his blue-green fish tail sways with the current of the waves. "I understand that you have been searching for our city. We have watched you on your quest, and have deemed that you are worthy to see the splendor of Atlantis. I can take you there, if you like."

You are quite startled. As you consider the matter, your gaze drifts to the upturned rock. A slip of paper lies beneath it. It reads:

Do not trust this man. He is a traitor to the city of Atlantis. He will lead you to a large undersea cave. There is a terrifying monster inside. It takes the form of a beautiful pearl within a clam. But watch out! If you touch it, you shall be trapped in the creature's mouth forever. It is imperative that you trust us. Beware of this man!

- Aguarous, King of Atlantis

Now you have a conundrum. Whom do you trust, and why? Remember, a wrong choice could lead to a watery grave. Think carefully!

[Aaryan]

Well, maybe just being picky, but clam shells are generally closed, not open. So I'd trust the guy.

But on the other hand, it doesn't really matter about the monster, does it? I mean, if a merman with a trident brought you underwater, you're dead if he wants, clam or no clam.

[Kikacat123]

Well, the note never actually says that the clam is open. Perhaps the merman will open it and show you the pearl. There was a different answer I was looking for.

[phaze]

I would trust the man as writing the note would take a huge amount of precognition if it was to do with the situation we faced. Odds are the note was meant to be read by our guide about us. In which case it might not be a good idea bringing it to his attention if we want to get to Atlantis. Just beware of going anywhere near clams.

[Kikacat123]

What about our female adventurers? "Do not trust this man" sounds pretty gender-specific.

[plasmid]

If the man is old and withered, I'd ask him to prove he's strong enough to guide me someplace deep under the ocean.

While he's trying to prove his strength, I'll gauge whether he's so old and withered that, in the event he leads me to a giant clam with a pearl inside, I would be likely able to overpower him and toss him onto the pearl to trap him. Hopefully by making him think that I won't go along unless he's strong enough, I'll divert his attention from the fact that I'm really trying to gauge whether I can overpower him, and thus get him to perform at full capacity instead of faking feebleness if he knew what I were really plotting. And hopefully trapping a traitor in a clam (if he does turn out to be a traitor) will endear me enough to the Atlantites that they welcome me into their city. Or at least take me safely back to the surface.

I concoct this cockamamie plan mostly because I don't see any other path toward Atlantis, so I would rather try following the sketchy old dude than withering away twiddling my thumbs.

[Kikacat123]

Again, there is a different answer. Try analyzing what the man said and what the note said to figure out if either of them are lying.

Edited July 8, 2013 by Kikacat123

[kestrelknight]

What do you mean, "WE have been watching you."

First of all, who's we, and second of all, HOW ON EARTH COULD YOU HAVE POSSIBLY BEEN WATCHING US!? Good grief! You have a FISH-TAIL on your REAR!

No offense.

How did Sir/Madam Sea King get that note under that rock, and without getting it wet, too!? And how did they know the man would ask us all along on a trip to Atlantis (or, as the case may be, a one-way trip to death)?

Plus, I believe the name of the Kind of Atlantis is, in fact, Aquaman. Not Aguarous.

Also, a merman and a man are not the same thing. The note kept calling him a man. That's plain racist.

If none of those are the answer, I'm going to shut up for the rest of this round...

[plasmid]

The note is lying because there are no pearls within clams; pearls are found within oysters.

However, I guess if it's really a monster in disguise then it's not necessarily restricted to being in an oyster. Heck, it could be disguised as a pearl inside a pizza box if it wanted.

[Kikacat123]

You got it, plasmid. Clams don't have pearls, oysters do. Kestrelnight also had some good points with why the note wasn't wet, and a merman is not the same thing as a man. Who wrote the note, then? Obviously someone who has had little experience with the sea. Perhaps you are being watched...but maybe by a rival explorer searching for Atlantis, too. Your best bet is to trust the merman and see where he leads you.

"Are you coming?" the merman enquires.

"Yes," you reply. "But, uh, how will I be able to breathe underwater?"

He dives suddenly into the water and comes up with a handful of odd-looking weeds. "Here, eat these," he tells you. "They will coat your mouth with a mucus that will repel water and hold in oxygen, at least for a few hours."

You stuff the slimy weeds into your mouth. "Just let me hide my bag somewhere," you say with a mouth full of gunk. But are there some things in your bag you should keep? You can only hold three and keep your normal swimming speed.

The merman seems to have read your mind. "I know you are wondering about what to take," he says. "Here is a riddle. If you can solve it, I will give you a special waterproof bag to hold everything."

"Alright," you say.

He begins the riddle:

The only gem to have a parent,

Hidden in a prism, a cage

Within, there is the C in music

Covered in mouse bait

Add some fake blood from the grocery store

Have fun with this wacky answer!

Edited July 9, 2013 by Kikacat123

[Aaryan]

Bah, I thought that the clam/oyster thing was it but extensive googling told me that certain clams do, in fact, have pearls but they aren't high in value.

The first letter of the five lines can be unscrambled to say "watch"

Mouse bait - cheese

Fake blood...ketchup?

Getting a burger theme, but that can hardly be it.

[Kikacat123]

You are close with ketchup, and cheese is right...

[kestrelknight]

You got it, plasmid. Clams don't have pearls, oysters do. Kestrelnight also had some good points with why the note wasn't wet, and a merman is not the same thing as a man. Who wrote the note, then? Obviously someone who has had little experience with the sea. Perhaps you are being watched...but maybe by a rival explorer searching for Atlantis, too. Your best bet is to trust the merman and see where he leads you.

"Are you coming?" the merman enquires.

"Yes," you reply. "But, uh, how will I be able to breathe underwater?"

He dives suddenly into the water and comes up with a handful of odd-looking weeds. "Here, eat these," he tells you. "They will coat your mouth with a mucus that will repel water and hold in oxygen, at least for a few hours."

You stuff the slimy weeds into your mouth. "Just let me hide my bag somewhere," you say with a mouth full of gunk. But are there some things in your bag you should keep? You can only hold three and keep your normal swimming speed.

The merman seems to have read your mind. "I know you are wondering about what to take," he says. "Here is a riddle. If you can solve it, I will give you a special waterproof bag to hold everything."

"Alright," you say.

He begins the riddle:

The only gem to have a parent,

Hidden in a prism, a cage

Within, there is the C in music

Covered in mouse bait

Add some fake blood from the grocery store

Have fun with this wacky answer!

Honestly, I was going to say that clams don't produce pearls, but I looked it up, and they do. Just not valuable ones...

[kestrelknight]

The fake blood it "pre-made", like ketchup would be, rather than made up of ingredients to be spliced together?

Otherwise it could be corn syrup, one of the main ingredients of home-made fake blood, alongside food colouring.

If it's one thing to be used as fake blood, then possibly wine? Red wine, I mean.

Cheese and wine...

Things that get better over time?

The only gem to have a parent...

Apologies on bringing up the past, but a pearl is considered a gem (I looked it up). Could that be the parented gem we seek?

I guess that also gets better over time, as it would grow.

How do we know that stuff we put in our mouths wasn't poisonous? I mean, just because whoever wrote the note can't be trusted, doesn't mean this guy can be.

Besides, what does he know about mice?

Edited July 12, 2013 by kestrelknight

[Kikacat123]

1. Sorry about my poor knowledge of clams; I thought only oysters made pearls.

2. Ketchup is a closer guess than wine or corn syrup.

3. Yes, a pearl is right, but what kind?

4. "Things that get better over time" is not right.

5. Since the merman knows English, he has obviously spoken to other "land-dwellers". Perhaps the subject of cheese and mice came up.

6. As to the poison question, you are not dead now, right? And apparently you are thinking clearly enough to be making good headway on this riddle. I guess you'll just have to trust this merman.

7. I hope this answers everything!

[plasmid]

Some dough (the "do" of the "do-re-mi" scale being C) covered in cheese and tomato sauce, sitting inside an oven (or maybe a pizza box?) is not often topped with pearl, or pearled barley. But I guess I would consider that to be a wacky answer.

[Aaryan]

Dough +

Cheese +

Tomato Sauce =

Pizza.

For the pearl, methinks black pearl = olives.

Edited July 13, 2013 by Aaryan

[Kikacat123]

Super close, but again, I am talking about something with "pearl" in the name...it has a parent...what could it be?

[Aaryan]

A Krabby Patty?

It just makes too much sense.

Edited July 13, 2013 by Aaryan

[Aaryan]

Wait, that's a burger, not a pizza. Although, it still sorta makes sense, in a way...maybe.