(Mystery Egg) Treasure Cove

She hadn't actually meant to end up there. In fact, Harveste was there due to simple clumsiness, due to a sheer fluke. Her sight had grown dimmer, making her ponder if she would need glasses even in this world. As she felt a strange sensation fill her spine, a shiver that left her body quaking, she suddenly felt a desire to go to a specific destination.

She was on autopilot, her senses leading her to a peculiar cove. A cove she felt like she'd seen, yet knew she had not. A treasure for the mind- truly a treasure cove.

The voice spoke in her ears like a tempting hallucination. A small part of her wondered if she'd forgotten her medication before entering her terminal that day, but she knew wiser. As strange images flickered in her mind, spots of royal indigo and bright blue, she felt an aching in her head.

Dang migraine...Following me here...

As she noticed the chests, however, she realized the voice was not just in her mind. She remembered this was a world of wonder, and remembered why she came here. More importantly, she was told to fulfill a puzzle. "I love puzzles! Thank you, ma'am!"

She blushed when she realized she couldn't actually see who she spoke to. She only saw the two chests, silver and gold. "Um... Is this related to that story about the honest fellow who dropped his ax in the water? Neither chest is mine, nor are they correct. I can tell... This is a puzzle, and yet it's not. A puzzle has an answer and a question. What I sense is just a simple test... And even if it weren't, I would still be glad to tell you outright that I did not lose either, nor is either my own."

Smiling straight towards the middle, she walked between the chests and fell to her knees, wondering where this stranger was. "Instead, let me thank you as I leave your treasure where it is. Thank you for the reminder of that wondrous tale...The honest woodcutter, a man of purity and honesty. I must continue to strive for such a good heart." In silence, she waited for the fog to clear and the illusion to disappear. If she was pushed by the voice to choose, she would choose the silver just from the truth written on it.

"If I am made to take one, I am nothing but a thief. As such... Failure, failure to be honest and good... That's the one that would fit me, because it proves my greed the most."

 

Zelrius moved up through the mountain pass and glanced behind him, to the wide expanses of Yladia. Every day that went by, the air got colder and colder, especially the further north he ventured. The golden haired man was on his way to visit the frog people, though he was beginning to doubt his own motives. It's not that he didn't know what his motives were, no, that part was simple; Reestablish contact and find more out about them. Easy enough, right? Well, it would be, if it weren't for the fact that everytime he conjured up even so much as a tiny tadpole image in his mind, his body would react, and his adrenaline would shoot through the figurative roof. Something about those nasty little creatures and all their kin spooked the absolute shit out of the man. Still yet, he was determined to head that way, if not getting a bit shakier on that determination step by step.

A lot of things Zelrius began to doubt, more so than usual. He wasn't usually a very confident man, but he was always a goal driven one. These two traits would often conflict with eachother, often knowing what it is he wanted, and never knowing how he was to get there without having to be a bit divisive. This deep trench in character versus desire was closed shut for a brief moment, while Zelrius had been given a very broad goal by Princess D'Vangelline De Falder. She had instructed, upon his request to service her, to make a name for himself, become a stronger and better person, and then go speak to her. The Handkerchief she gave him as a way of identifying who he was later, Zelrius now wore neatly as a decoration piece around the collar of his shirt. However, even that wasn't enough to keep that trench of his own mind fighting itself closed, the metaphorical gash being torn apart as he had failed the Tunnel mission, feeling like he had failed that same Princess, and in Killing Snefrid, that action seemingly turning someone he considered a friend against him.

So, he wanted to hide away with the frogs, but now found himself in a deep cove of some sorts, and immediately something was off about the whole place. And within a few steps inward, a voice began to creak off the walls. As if by instinct, Zelrius withdrew, being reminded of the Witch who had basically offered him death for little more than an egg. "I am not playing your games, Vile Being." He articulated as clearly as he could, hiding his growing fear. He closed his eyes, shook his head and turned around, hellbound for the exit.

God had other plans, upon opening his eyes he wasn't facing the direction of the opening that lead down into here, instead, he was at a distance from two boxes. She spoke again, Zelrius doubting her words but having little other reason then to play along, and while he was at, maybe take this treasure of hers and leave whatever it is to rot.

He read both inscriptions, deciphering what he thought the puzzle meant. "The golden inscription is the one that would be true, its self fulfilling. 'One of these is true.' Well, if the silver one, labelled 'Failure' were indeed a failure, then Both or Two Inscriptions would be true, making the first box invalid, thus making this one invalid."

He pondered it and then nodded, confirming his choice, and opening the Golden box, reaffirming his reasoning. "Only one can be true, and that would mean this one is that one."

 

He did not know where he was, the last thing that he remembers was drinking the last of that mead that was in the bottom of his cup and then there were some blackness and boom he was in a cave with a hag screaming at him. This was something that he did not need right now there was the hangover pounding away at his head and now the smell of the cave was making it worst. Right now what was she going on about something about two chests and a puzzle? Rubbing his forehead in annoyance why was it that things were never simple. Well if he wanted to get back to his drink he needed to focus on the matter at hand.

The first chest the gold told him that only one of the messages that were inscribe was true and the other on the silver said that the chest held failure. Well, this was going to be a problem working through a mental challenge hungover. Well, first thing was first he had to examine the chests to make sure that they both well were the same except their trimmings. They both had the same weight and the designs on the wood gave nothing away. So there was that the only thing that seemed to matter was the riddle itself.

So after thinking about it for a second before claiming the gold chest. “I will take this one and yes I will say why. The gold chest message reads as “One of these inscriptions are true.” While the silver says that “This chest holds failure.”. If I was to take the gold chest as truth then it only says that an inscription is true and nothing else. The silver says that it holds failure, if that was true then it would prove the gold chest incorrect. Because the only other inscription was false. However, if I take the gold I am trusting that the inscription is correct and that the silver chest does hold failure. If the gold held failure while the silver held success then both inscriptions would be incorrect.”

 

Ooh. This was interesting. Riddles were always fun. Ashiore peered down at the instructions, searching carefully for any hidden meaning. Finding none, she figured it was just a straight logic puzzle. And she always did her best thinking aloud, at any rate. Hopefully, the woman who spoke into her brain wouldn't mind.

....Haha. She was here doing puzzles at the behest of phantom crones in the middle of nowhere, and she was going on about logic and rationality. Ah well.

"Hmm... So. If I would take the gold one at its word and assume that only one is true, then that would automatically be the golden one. Therefore, the silver one must be false, and it contains the prize. The silver one cannot also be true, therefore, the gold one can't have the prize if the gold chest is also true. If the gold chest is false, then silver cannot be true, since it would mean that the gold chest's claim that 'one' is true, would be valid." So, both of those cases implied that it was the silver chest which contained the prize.

Well, that seemed like an easy answer. But she had to explore all avenues.

"Assuming that both are true makes the gold one false, so that can't be it. Now, checking if both inscriptions are false... Gold is false, silver is also false. Therefore, silver must be the one that holds the prize."

In all the cases that she could imagine, it was the silver chest that contained the prize, not gold. So, reaching for the silver chest, Ashiore opened it, and hoped for the best.

 

As Sean heard the odd voice speak to him, he started to ponder to himself. Did I finally snap? Am I finally going insane? He wondered to himself as he took in the unknown entity's words with an odd sense of wonder. A test of intelligence, huh...? He thought to himself before being suddenly teleported.

The sudden warp had caught Sean off guard, making him stumble and fall backward. "What the-?" He shouted before noticing two chests, one with gold plating and the other with silver plating. He stood up and walked over to the chests, beginning to pick them up and examining them. Check for differences in weight, center of mass, yadda yadda... He thought before reading their inscriptions out loud. "'One of these inscriptions are true'... 'This chest holds failure'..." He began to ponder which chest to pick. "What if the gold chest is true...? There's nothing that says both of these inscriptions can't be false... I'm sort of banking everything on a 50% chance. I'm feeling lucky today, so I'll pass on the gold chest... I really hope I'm not making the wrong decision... And I'll take the silver chest!" He yelled before finalizing his decision by grasping the silver plated chest with both hands and opening it.