Room 2

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…a bright room whose walls were in some disrepair. The floorboards creaked and groaned; the plaster made a gritty sound.

They studied the old frescoes for clues but missed the obvious signs.

“Are we on the right path?” they asked.

Keeping in mind what a relative term “right” is, I assured them they were, indeed, on the right path. As for the “correct” path or the “most appropriate” path…. Well, that might be something else.

Full of confidence now they marched out to…

- Images and text copyright 1985 by Christopher Manson
used with permission. [Purchase MAZE from Amazon]

 

Room Type:  PATH     Doors:  12  22  29

Solution Summary: [COLLECTION CURATED BY WHITE Raven. SEE COMMENTS FOR ADDITIONAL SOLUTION PROPOSALS.]

● The spear and staff war banners both point towards the Frescos and stand next to doors 12 & 22. The humble broom points to 29 – which is the correct door. [Independent Credit: Hello Gregor | White Raven]

● The text reads, “”Are we on the right path?” they asked. Keeping in mind what a relative term “right” is, I assured them they were, indeed, on the right path. As for the “correct” path or the “most appropriate” path…. Well, that might be something else.” The reference to right being relative draws attention to the bear, the door to the bear’s right, which the bear’s right arm is pointing at, is the “right” (as in “correct”) door. [Independent Credit: Aria | White Raven] The bear combined with the to-the-right riddle gives us “bear right” (from the point of view of the bear) as a way of phrasing the solution. [Credit: Dave G] The bear is looking upward at a ship/boat in the mural, suggesting travel, or more simply, “go.” This connection is reinforced by the accumulation of items in the room starting with the letter “B” (bench, box, banner, backdrop, bear) which helps us find the Boat. (See solution at bottom for a possible addition to this solution.) [Independent Credit: Vewatkin | White Raven]

● The first words of the text are “…a bright room…” “bright room” is a spoonerism of “right broom” the broom is both pointing at the right (as in correct) door and is also to the bear’s right (as described in the solution above). [Credit: SP]

● The symbol and the Byzantine art in the center panel suggest that the topic of the murals is Constantinople which was Byzantine and used this symbol as its coat of arms (see related images), by extension, the figure in the center likely represents Constantine I or Constantine XI. [Independent Credit: Vewatkin | White Raven (for the significance of the symbol)] [Independent Credit: Aria | White Raven (for significance of the art)] The left panel shows the Constantinople soldiers in battle with the Turks, a battle which was lost resulting in the name of the city being changed to Istanbul. [Independent Credit: Aria | White Raven] There are two good ways of interpreting the rest of the puzzle:

The Fall of Constantinople Solution: All three panels are about the one of the most significant and horrific battles in history the fall of Constantinople. The left panel represents either the escape of the surviving leaders of Constantinople (sans Constantine IX who died), or the flight of several hundred soldiers before the battle began, who snuck out of the city at night and left by ship. Either way the solution to this riddle is to escape from the disaster of the fall of Constantinople by taking the ship. The bear looks to the boat (end of the trail of “B”s in the solution above) to emphasize the route of escape. [Credit: White Raven]

The History of Constantinople Solution: The left panel represents the city when it was called Byzantium by illustrating a significant event from that time period, the saving of the city by the appearance of a bright light or moon summoned by the three-person-in-one goddess Hecate. The center panel with its Byzantine style art represents Constantinople. The right panel represents the fall of Constantinople and therefore the transition to the city being named Istanbul. So the panels represent Byzantium, Constantinople, and Istanbul respectively. “Byzantine” panel is the end of the trail of “B”s (see solution above) and is therefore the correct choice. [Credit: Aria]

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162 thoughts on “Room 2

  1. This might be obvious, but it bears pointing out: The dialog for this room highlights the fact that this room is on the path (in the sense that the exits provide a straightforward, no-nonsense path to the center without having to return to Room 1, as you would if you were on the Loop), while not being on the shortest path in either direction.

    Hence, it is on the “right” path but not the “correct” or “most appropriate” path.

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    • That’s an interesting suggestion. Compare Room 5, where the chances of choosing “wisely” means choosing a door that keeps you on the path, even though you aren’t on the 16-step solution path at that point.

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  2. Just wanted to point out that the board with the moon and the star is a colorless version of the Morocco flag

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    • Can you provide a source for this? It does not match any Morroccan flag I am currently able to find.

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