The "Black Stories" crime riddles thread

[Mandle]

Case #48
Paragraph #2: The Wooden Box

You grab the potentially damning evidence of the laser-pointer and wire from August Kilmurray's finger in a flash, being sure to hopelessly disturb the orientation of the pointing finger, and book it towards your escape route. You hear the first thuds and splintering of wood when the police start to batter down the front door as you quietly slip out the back one. You jump in your car you parked around the block and drive at a sedate, almost elderly, pace back to your third floor walk-up apartment, all the while your heart racing four beats a second.
Once safely inside, you grab a beer from the fridge and flop onto the sofa, placing both beer and box on the coffee table in front of you.
Your cat, Sasha, strolls in, complaining about her empty tummy, but then locks eyes on the wooden box, hisses with hackles raised, and darts away to one of her hiding places.
Eyebrows raised, you take off your jacket and throw it, and most of its pockets' contents, somewhere over your shoulder. You'll just let your maid (you) deal with it at some future point.
The one thing you saved from your pockets was the gold key that you went through so much trouble to obtain.
You think back to what you already know about Mr. Kilmurray as you take the first welcome swig from your beer:

August Kilmurray is famous in this smallish town of Downward Dog for having risen suddenly from his poor backwoods roots to the position of power-mongering multi-millionaire within the span of a decade.
He held his corrupt dominion over the town for decades to come, until he finally became a bitter old recluse hiding out in his mansion, and jumping at his own shadow whenever rarely seen around Dog in the plain light of day.

When you heard over your car's radio scanner that a call had been placed to the police reporting screams at his mansion in the dead of night how could you resist racing over there and checking it out?
The box and the key were all he cared about in his last moments, as evidenced by his final repose.
You are a sleuth by habit and trade (as well as a few artistic hobbies) and now it seems perhaps you could have the truth about this infamous figure right here, trapped inside a wooden box, but almost within your grasp.

You have:

A Wooden Box. ~ It's a wooden box about big enough to contain a softball. It has many intricate designs inlaid in what appears to be gold. You never had the time to examine it carefully while at Kilmurray's mansion, except for when you shook it and heard something heavy and metallic thumping around inside. Now that you have time to calmly examine the box, you see that each side of the cubical box has some kind of glyph embossed in gold in the middle, surrounded by swirls of intricate and beautiful gold designs. You have no idea what each glyph could mean, but all six are distinct and different. It is sitting on the coffee table in front of you. Currently the gold key is inserted in a discrete keyhole you found in a corner of the box. After turning the key one full circle, and hearing a click, a previously unseen button popped up next to the keyhole with a sharp "SNICK". When you pushed the button you heard a substantial "CLICK". The button did not come back up. Turning the key a full circle again produced the same click, and the button popped back out. Pushing the button again results in the same "CLICK" and once again the button does not come back out. After a search on the internet you have discovered what all the glyphs mean:
                                                 Top Glyph: God
                                                 Bottom Glyph: The Devil
                                                 Front Glyph: Fire
                                                 Back Glyph: Water
                                                 Left Glyph: Male
                                                 Right Glyph: Female
You have turned the key seven full circles, each of which resulted in a "click".
The button next to the keyhole is currently: PRESSED IN
Pushing the button after a full seven rotations of the key had a dramatic outcome:
You press the button. There is a solid "CLUNK" and the box actually jerks in your hands. This catches you off your guard and you almost drop it. A whirring sound starts ratcheting up inside the box and it begins to vibrate. You place the box back down on the coffee table hastily and watch in wonder as it rattles around on the glass surface. Suddenly it stops dancing around. The whirring sound reaches a fever pitch, and then stops just as suddenly. A moment of silence passes during which you remember to close your mouth. Then there is a loud "CLACK" and the six sides of the box jump out about a centimeter in each direction. The box leaps off the table, landing again with a clatter. Before you have time to look through the gaps around the box's edges, the whirring sound starts again and, "CLINK", each side of the box splits into eight seperate segments which smoothly slide out to create a seamless fit with the other sides of the box. The whirring sound winds down slowly as the vibrating box turns itself around about a quarter-circle on the glass tabletop. The gold key falls out onto the tabletop. Then all is still. It seems like the performance is over. What you are left with is the same box, except slightly larger, and with narrow gaps radiating out from the central glyph in eight directions: Each side of the box is now split slightly along "north-south", "east-west", "northwest-southeast", and "northeast-southwest" axes, with the central glyph, inside its gold circle, remaining at the center of the thin gaps.

A Gold Key. ~ It doesn't look like a key meant to open any kind of lock you've ever seen. The bottom of the key is a set of four stubby horizontal tongs of slightly different lengths, two on each side. The middle of the key's shaft seems to have a fine seam running around it. The top of the key is a circle embossed with the number "7". The key is currently lying on the coffee table.

A Beer. ~ A freshly opened bottle of Wudbeiser beer. It is sitting on the coffee table in front of you. You have had 2 swigs of the beer.

Internet Access. ~ Your tablet lies on the table next to the box and beer.

A Tiny Roll Of Paper. ~ This tiny paper you found inside the gold key reads:
                                                    As surely as The Mississippi flows non-stop,
                                                    As surely as Mount Vesuvius blows its top,
                                                    As sure as the arrow shot by man,
                                                    As sure as the cross borne by woman,
                                                    God above us is never wrong,
                                                    Yet the sinister one below us still grows strong.


PROGRESS

Examine the box. ~ Now that you have time to calmly examine the box, you see that each side of the cubical box has some kind of glyph embossed in gold in the middle, surrounded by swirls of intricate and beautiful gold designs. You have no idea what each glyph could mean, but all six are distinct and different.

Use key on box, if there's a passing key hole... ~ After turning the box over and over in your hands you do finally find a discrete keyhole in one of the box's corners. You insert the key, turn it a full circle, and hear a distinct click. A previously unseen button suddenly pops up out of the woodwork next to the keyhole with a sharp "SNICK".

Try to move/rotate the parts of the key to see if they move around. ~ You find that the top and bottom halves of the key are able to smoothly unscrew along the fine seam in the middle of the shaft. After unscrewing the key you find a tiny roll of paper hidden inside the hollow interior of the key. You remove the paper, unroll it and read it:
"As surely as The Mississippi flows non-stop,
As surely as Mount Vesuvius blows its top,
As sure as the arrow shot by man,
As sure as the cross borne by woman,
God above us is never wrong,
Yet the sinister one below us still grows strong."
You rescrew the halves of the key back together as there is nothing else inside.

Take sip of beer. ~ Ahhhhhh, that hits the spot!

Push the button. ~ You push the button back in and hear a substantial "CLICK". The button does not come back out.

Describe the glyphs. ~ The glyphs are abstract symbols embossed in gold and set in circles in the center of each of the box's six sides. You have no idea what they mean.

Try to push a glyph. ~ Nothing happens. It seems the glyphs are not buttons you can press.

Take another sip of beer. ~ Mmmmmmmmmm...

Feed the cat ~ You go to the kitchen and pour some dry cat food into Sasha's bowl. She comes out of hiding, lured by the sound, and starts to happily crunch away at the pellets in the bowl.

Experiment to see if cat is afraid of box ~ While Sasha is still eating you stealthily place the wooden box behind her and wait for her to finish. She turns casually around and starts to walk away, but then hers eyes lock onto the box, and she jumps and flips about four feet into the air, lands on her four feet, scampers frantically in place on the tiled floor for an instant, before gaining traction and shooting off to another of her hiding places. It seems confirmed that she is indeed scared of the box. It seems unlikely she mistook it for a cucumber. You return to the sofa, chuckling, and place the box back onto the coffee table.

Search the internet for information about the glyphs ~ After a bit of internet sleuthing you find a site with a list of ancient Arabic glyphs resembling the ones on the box. Scanning down the list, you manage to find all six! It's arbitrary, but the current orientation of the box should suffice for your purposes of remembering what the glyphs represent:
Top Glyph: God
Bottom Glyph: The Devil
Front Glyph: Fire
Back Glyph: Water
Left Glyph: Male
Right Glyph: Female

Try turning the key again ~ Again, after turning the key a full circle, you hear a distinct click, and again the button pops up out of the woodwork next to the keyhole with a sharp "SNICK".

After inserting the key does pressing/moving the glyphs do anything? ~ No. Pressing them or trying to move the glyphs does nothing.

Place hand on water glyph and press the button. ~ Pushing the button with your hand on the water glyph has the same result as pushing it without your hand on the water glyph: You hear a substantial "CLICK". The button does not come back out.

Turn it over so each glyph is on top, in the order specified in the poem: water, fire, male, female, god, devil. Then turn the key and press the button. ~ You turn the box as described, and do the key/button thingy. The result is exactly the same as just turning the key one full circle and pressing the button normally: When you turn the key you hear a click. A button pops up next to the keyhole with a sharp "SNICK". When you push the button you hear a substantial "CLICK". The button does not come back up..

Try turning the key 7 times. ~ On the first complete rotation the button pops out as usual with a click. On the next six rotations you hear the same click every time the key completes a full circle.

Now try pressing the button. ~ You press the button. There is a solid "CLUNK" and the box actually jerks in your hands. This catches you off your guard and you almost drop it. A whirring sound starts ratcheting up inside the box and it begins to vibrate. You place the box back down on the coffee table hastily and watch in wonder as it rattles around on the glass surface. Suddenly it stops dancing around. The whirring sound reaches a fever pitch, and then stops just as suddenly. A moment of silence passes during which you remember to close your mouth. Then there is a loud "CLACK" and the six sides of the box jump out about a centimeter in each direction. The box leaps off the table, landing again with a clatter. Before you have time to look through the gaps around the box's edges, the whirring sound starts again and, "CLINK", each side of the box splits into eight seperate segments which smoothly slide out to create a seamless fit with the other sides of the box. The whirring sound winds down slowly as the vibrating box turns itself around about a quarter-circle on the glass tabletop. The gold key falls out onto the tabletop. Then all is still. It seems like the performance is over. What you are left with is the same box, except slightly larger, and with narrow gaps radiating out from the central glyph in eight directions: Each side of the box is now split slightly along "north-south", "east-west", "northwest-southeast", and "northeast-southwest" axes, with the central glyph, inside its gold circle, remaining at the center of the thin gaps.

Okay then, now try and press/push/pull the sides ~ You quickly discover that each of the glyph-circles can be slid along the compass-rose of new slots in eight directions. For convenience you think of them as: N, S, E, W, NE, SE, SW, and NW. Once a glyph-circle reaches the end of its track it locks into place. Once all six glyph-circles have been slid to the end of a track there is a "CLICK" from inside the box, the whirring sound starts again, and all the glyph-circles slide back to the center points. There is a "CLUNK" and the whirring sound winds down and stops.


NON-PROGRESS

Look to see of anything on the key matches the designs on the box. ~ Nothing that you notice.

Search the internet for information about the box. ~ You find nothing on the net about this particular box. Perhaps it's a custom, one-of-a-kind job?

Look for the following glyphs: ~ None of the glyphs really look like anything on your list. This approach leads nowhere most likely.

Spoiler

> A wavy line
> A triangle with something above it
> A straight line
> A cross / plus sign
> An up arrow
> A down arrow

Also... inc case I'm not on the right track, look for the following glyphs:

> White top half, black bottom half
> Black top half, white bottom half

[close]

Search internet for the "poem" ~ No matches found.

Which side is the keyhole and button on? ~ They are on the front-facing side, the one with the fire glyph, in the bottom-right corner, but you doubt this placement is significant. It seems fairly arbitrary, almost like an afterthought, and not as elegantly balanced as the rest of the designs on the box.

Go to the hardware store and buy a hacksaw. ~ The hardware stores are all closed in the middle of the night. Besides, you're worried that forcing the box open might damage or destroy the secrets hidden inside.

[Cassiebsg]

- Place hand on water glyph and press the button.

[Kweepa]

Go to the hardware store and buy a hacksaw.
Shake the box. Turn it over so each glyph is on top, in the order specified in the poem: water, fire, male, female, god, devil. Then turn the key and press the button. If that's close, then let's skip the part where we experiment with each combination of key turning and button pressing.

[Mandle]

Updated above.

Shake the box.

That's been done before (see box description).

let's skip the part where we experiment with each combination of key turning and button pressing.

Sorry, this is not a skippable puzzle

ALSO: I'd like to clarify a bit at this point how I am judging PROGRESS/NON-PROGRESS categories for this round:

Just because something you tried with the box lands in PROGRESS doesn't necessarily mean you are on the right track. I'm placing attempted manipulations that have no real effect in the PROGRESS list as well, as these are showing what doesn't work, which is part of the learning experience.

NON-PROGRESS is strictly reserved for actions that are unimportant, outside the game's scope, or otherwise would be unfairly misleading if the players went down that path. So this section is kind of like a big STOP-sign that can let you know when an approach can be safely discarded. For example: I thought that post after post of players trying to guess what each glyph might look like would be a dead-end path unwanted by all, so I put this method into the NON-PROGRESS list. Not that there was anything wrong with this approach. It just wasn't what was needed.

Hope that makes things clearer.

EDIT: I made an error when counting the number of swigs of beer drank so far, as I thought it had said in the story that you took a swig when you got the beer from the fridge, but I was wrong. The number of swigs has been corrected to 2. I hope this doesn't ruin the game, by breaking immersion too much, for anyone

[Kitty Trouble]

Try turning the key 7 times.

[Mandle]

Updated above.

[Kitty Trouble]

Now try pressing the button.

[Mandle]

Updated above.

Morgan LeFlay hits a homer!

[Cassiebsg]

Okay then, now try and press/push/pull the sides in the order specified in the poem: water, fire, male, female, god, devil.

[Kitty Trouble]

I have a feeling that each axis mentioned is now like a rubics cube. I might try to confirm my theory that each axis can move, taking care not to end up apart from the original order, but I have no ideas on which way to move it.

[Mandle]

Case #48
Paragraph #3: The Final Puzzles

Having figured out the puzzle of the key and button, and witnessing the amazing results, the box now sits before you slightly altered: Each side of the box now has a compass-rose of eight narrow slots radiating out from the central glyph-circle in all vertical, horizontal, and diagonal directions.
You have discovered that each glyph-circle can be slid along the compass-rose of new slots in eight directions. For convenience you think of them as: N, S, E, W, NE, SE, SW, and NW. Once a glyph-circle reaches the end of its track it locks into place. Once all six glyph-circles have been slid to the end of a track there is a "CLICK" from inside the box, the whirring sound starts again, and all the glyph-circles slide back to the center points. There is a "CLUNK" and the whirring sound winds down and stops.

You have:

A Wooden Box. ~ It's a wooden box about big enough to contain a softball. It has many intricate designs inlaid in what appears to be gold. You never had the time to examine it carefully while at Kilmurray's mansion, except for when you shook it and heard something heavy and metallic thumping around inside. Now that you have had time to calmly examine the box, you see that each side of the cubical box has some kind of glyph embossed in gold in the middle, surrounded by swirls of intricate and beautiful gold designs. The glyphs mean:
                                                 Top Glyph: God
                                                 Bottom Glyph: The Devil
                                                 Front Glyph: Fire
                                                 Back Glyph: Water
                                                 Left Glyph: Male
                                                 Right Glyph: Female
After solving the key/button puzzle the box is slightly altered: It now has eight slots radiating out in a kind of compass-rose from the central glyph-circle on each side of the box.
The box is sitting on the coffee table in front of you.


A Tiny Roll Of Paper. ~ This tiny paper you found inside the gold key reads:
                                                    As surely as The Mississippi flows non-stop,
                                                    As surely as Mount Vesuvius blows its top,
                                                    As sure as the arrow shot by man,
                                                    As sure as the cross borne by woman,
                                                    God above us is never wrong,
                                                    Yet the sinister one below us still grows strong.

A Gold Key. ~ This is the clockwork-winding key you used to unlock the glyph-sliding puzzle of the wooden box. The key is currently lying on the coffee table.

A Beer. ~ A freshly opened bottle of Wudbeiser beer. It is sitting on the coffee table in front of you. You have had 2 swigs of the beer.

Internet Access. ~ Your tablet lies on the table next to the box and beer.


To keep things simple game posts should follow this template:
Water: S
God: N
Fire: SW
Devil: NW
Female: NE
Male: SE
This shows both the order and directions you are moving the glyph-circles in.

WRONG SOLUTIONS

In this section I will copy/paste all the wrong solutions that have been tried and put the list in hide tags to avoid stretching out the post too much.

Spoiler

Water: S
Fire: N
Male: NE
Female: S
God: N
Devil: S

Water: SE
Fire: N
Male: NE
Female: S
God: N
Devil: NW

Water: S
Fire: SE
Male: NE
Female: S
God: N
Devil: S

Water: SE
Fire: NW
Male: NE
Female: SW
God: N
Devil: S

[close]

[Mandle]

The previous paragraph has been updated above, and the pertinent information is also available in the new paragraph.

Oh, and only one attempt per person per game update please.

As well as the solution template feel free to post any of your thoughts on solving the puzzle, but please place in hide tags as a courtesy to other players who wish to think on it solo.

[Riaise]

Here's my first go:

Spoiler

Water: S
Fire: N
Male: NE
Female: S
God: N
Devil: S

[close]

[Mandle]

Updated above.

(Not correct)

[Kumpel]

Spoiler

Water: SE (meant as the slot is an arrow pointing diagonal down from N to S symbolizing a river streaming down)
Fire: N
Male: NE
Female: S
God: N
Devil: NW (symbolizing coming from down below and growing from S to N

[close]

[Mandle]

Updated above.

(Not correct)

Also, I don't think you're doing the hide tags quite right: Highlight everything you wish to hide and then click the icon above showing the eye with a diagonal line through it. Or type (hide) at the start of what you wish to hide and (/hide) at the end, except with square braces instead of round. These: [ ]

[Riaise]

OK, I'll add some thoughts this time:

Spoiler

Water: S (The Mississippi flows roughly southwards)
Fire: SE (This one is a stab in the dark, but Pompeii is to the south-east of Vesuvius, and that's all I can think of in connection to an eruption of that volcano)
Male: NE (Representing the male gender symbol)
Female: S (Representing the female gender symbol)
God: N (Because north is... up?)
Devil: S (And south is down )

[close]

I realise that some of my reasoning is, well, not reasoning at all. Just random guesses, really.

[Mandle]

Updated above.

(Not correct)

After some more attempts I do plan to start with some subtle hints in hide tags... But I wanted to give the very clever a chance to solve the puzzle raw before doing so...

[CaptainD]

My stab at a solution:

Spoiler

Water: SE
Fire: NW
Male: NE
Female: SW
God: N
Devil: S

I'm working on the idea that these are 3 sets of "opposites" - water/fire, man/woman, god/devil.

[close]

[Mandle]

Updated above.

(Not correct)