The "Black Stories" crime riddles thread

[Mandle]

Case #47
I'm in a dark, warm place but I don't know what's going on! Help me find out!

YES
Is there any strange sounds that would help us know where you are located?
Can you feel anything hot? (Well, warm, not painfully hot.)
Do you hear loud noises?
Are you alive?
Is the fur that of your mother? (Yes, some of it is.)
Are you near to mommy and together with your siblings who feel the same like you?
Do you sense movement?
Are the other cats awake?
Can you open your eyes? (Yes, they are already open.)
Is your mother alive?
Are you all in a sack? (Yes, that explains a lot! Thank you!)
Can the sack be a transport box? (Yes, I think someone is taking us somewhere in this sack.)
Are you from a well-to-do family? (Yes, my owner's family lives in luxury.)
Do you know how old you are? (A few weeks old I guess, but not so relevant.)
Is the number of siblings significant? (Breaking the 4th-wall here for the sake of this hint.)


NO
Can you tell if you are indoors?
Are you human?
Are you an unborn?
Are you in an egg, ready to hatch?
Do you smell something bad?
Are you a very young baby cat (with still closed eyes)?
Is it wet where you are?
Are your siblings feeding off the mother? (Well, they probably do now and then, as do I, but not relevant.)
Is this about the once common practice of drowning unwanted kittens? (No, our owner wouldn't do that.)
Is your owner pretending you are piglets as a prize, only to "let the cat out of the bag" later? (I doubt it. Our family seems well-off enough.)
Have you been vaccinated before? (Well, I don't really know what that means, but I don't think so.)
Have your owners said goodbye to you or your mother before you all were given into the sack?
Are you a rare breed of cat? (No, we have too many different colours and patterns. We are all cross-breeds.)
Is it possible that you've been kidnapped? (Catnapped? No, our owner-mommy put us in this sack.)


OTHER QUESTIONS
What can I hear? ~ A continuous rumbling sound and a repeating squeaking sound.
What can I feel with my hands? ~ I don't have "hands" as such, but I feel warm fur and something coarse surrounding me.
What can I taste? ~ I have nothing to taste in my mouth.
What can I smell? ~ I smell animals and something musty.
What am I? ~ I am a baby cat.
Does the squeaking sound sound more like an animal (mouse) or like that of a rocking chair? ~ It sounds, not exactly, but more like the latter.
What can you see? ~ I see mostly blackness, except for a tiny circle of light somewhere above me...
Is your mother afraid or is she relaxed? ~ She doesn't seem to be all that afraid. Seems quite okay with the situation.
How do you feel? ~ I feel both confused and yet comfortable with what is going on.
How many siblings do you have? ~ I have six siblings.
What is the last thing you remember before being in the sack? ~ Our human owner-mommy putting us into the sack.


I DON'T KNOW
Are you in the desert in the middle of the night?
Where am I?
Are there any people nearby?
Are the light on?
Are you by any chance going to market?
Are you on the way to a new home to be able to stay together?
Are the owners moving house and taking their pets with them?

[Riaise]

Based on the number of siblings - do you know of a place called St Ives?

[Mandle]

Based on the number of siblings - do you know of a place called St Ives?

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!!!

Indeed, the little kitty in our story is one of the "kits" in the famous riddle:

    As I was going to St. Ives,
    I met a man with seven wives,
    Each wife had seven sacks,
    Each sack had seven cats,
    Each cat had seven kits:
    Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,
    How many were there going to St. Ives?

I thought it would be a bit of meta fun to have a riddle about a character inside a riddle, and play the round in first-person perspective from that character who doesn't know they are merely a pawn in a riddle...

Actually, Riaise, I thought you were already onto the solution when you asked how many siblings the kitten has...

Well, very well done, and over to you if you want the next round!

P.S:

Spoiler

I was surprised that nobody attempted to peek out through the slightly open top of the sack. I had an answer written in my head for that where the kitten would have seen a man driving a horse-drawn wagon, behind him sits seven women, and in the back of the wagon are at least a few more sacks... (The rumbling/squeaking sound was the sound of the wagon's wheels on the ground, and one of the axels which needs a bit of oil...)

[close]

[Riaise]

That was a good one, Mandle! Maybe sometime someone can combine that idea with Snarky's from a while ago and make a first person murder mystery? Where we play as the police trying to find clues or something?

Actually, Riaise, I thought you were already onto the solution when you asked how many siblings the kitten has...

Well, very well done, and over to you if you want the next round!

Haha, no, I was thinking of something completely different.

Spoiler

The scene in the Disney film The Aristocats, where Edgar kidnaps Duchess and her kittens. Even though I knew it couldn't be that because you already said that the cats were all awake. But I couldn't get that theory out of my head.

[close]

I haven't got any ideas at the moment, so someone else can take the next round!

[Mandle]

Maybe sometime someone can combine that idea with Snarky's from a while ago and make a first person murder mystery? Where we play as the police trying to find clues or something?

Yeah, I've been thinking on one like that for a while now, and have some of the story done in my mind, but not enough yet to present it as a case (yeah, I have time to think about fun stuff like this on my way to work and back on my bicycle. That's my musing time...)

So, open to anyone then, (or Riaise if she comes up with one in the meanwhile)...

[Cassiebsg]

I feel cheated on this one, as I don't know (or didn't) this riddle...

[Mandle]

I feel cheated on this one, as I don't know (or didn't) this riddle...

Well, some riddles require specific knowledge.

It's not an obscure riddle, in fact it first appeared in 1730, author unknown, survived until now, and was even used in a textbook I use for kids at my school and in Die Hard 3, so it must be famous right?..... right?....Erm...

And...cough...Google...cough...

By the way, what is your answer to the riddle? I'd be interested to hear the answers from people who have never heard it before...

[Cassiebsg]

Well, seems to me that she could jus be taking the kittens to the vet to get them their health check and vaccines.

[Snarky]

Nice!

But see John Finnemore for a discussion of the likelihood that 56 cats and kittens stuffed into one bag are "quite OK with the situation" â€" or what a wife capable of carrying seven such sacks must be like. (For my own part, I also question why the count of "how many" should possibly include the sacks.)

[dayowlron]

Well it doesnt matter whether you count the sacks or not cause the answer to the riddle is just 1.

and there was 49 total sacks with 7 kittens each so 343 kittens each with 7 kits so 2,401 kits. making 2744 cats, 7 wives and the man so going away from st ives would be 2,752. + himself would be 2,753.

My point to the riddle is it says he met them while going to st ives. It does not state whether they just joined him on his walk or they were walking the other way. so it could be 2,753 or 1.

[Cassiebsg]

LOL

Reminds me of the "What color was the white horse of Napolean?"

[dayowlron]

or who is buried in Grant's tomb?

[Mandle]

My point to the riddle is it says he met them while going to st ives. It does not state whether they just joined him on his walk or they were walking the other way. so it could be 2,753 or 1.

I have thought of a few other possibilities over the years (assuming the answer is not the more likely "1") :

* Including the sacks could be a misdirection, and you are perhaps only supposed to count living things.

* "Each wife had seven sacks": The riddle doesn't specifically state whether the wives have the sacks with them or not. As in: "I met a man who had millions of dollars."

* Similarly: "Each cat had seven kits": It doesn't say whether the kittens are with the mother cats or not. As in: "I met this woman that had 22 kids!"

* But my favorite is: "I met a man with seven wives". Similar to the two above: It doesn't say the wives are currently travelling with the man. As in: "Do you know Pete The Polygamist? He's that guy with 3 wives!" (so my favorite other valid answer to the riddle is: 2)

But see John Finnemore for a discussion of the likelihood that 56 cats and kittens stuffed into one bag are "quite OK with the situation" â€" or what a wife capable of carrying seven such sacks must be like.

Yeah, hahaha.. But as the story takes place within the unrealistic world of the riddle this allowed for some less than realistic answers.

Well, seems to me that she could jus be taking the kittens to the vet to get them their health check and vaccines.

The riddle takes place during the 18th century (or earlier). There were no vaccines and I doubt there were the kind of vets that treated cats.

[Mandle]

...Bueller?...

[Mandle]

Okay, it seems no takers so I might try something experimental for this thread:

Adventure game style where you name actions to take instead of asking questions... Yeah, it's been done in other threads but let's have a go in here maybe?

Case #48
Paragraph #1: The Pointing Finger
You, a freelance but well-known sleuth, arrive at the scene of the crime well ahead of the police. Monitering their radio bands on your scanner has often paid off in the past. The corpse of the old man lies splayed over the impressive mahogany desk of his private study. His glazed eyes are open and his face is fixed in a mask of fear. His left hand is frozen in rictus reaching towards an intricate wooden box lying upon the desk. His right arm is stretched out in the other direction and the hand seems to be pointing at something.

You have:
Your Notepad.
Your Pen.
Your Keys.
Your Wallet.


PROGRESS



NON-PROGRESS

[Mandle]

So, I think the way this will work is I will put every action that doesn't work into the NON-PROGRESS list and every action that did work into the PROGRESS list and update the thread as appropriate.

This case does have an over-reaching story-arc but it will be played one step, or "paragraph", at a time. So basically, solve the current puzzle, and then the next unlocks kind of gameplay.

Oh, and adventure game logic will be FULLY in play here! Only what is mentioned in the case will be available for use. Old-school style!

[Cassiebsg]

Look at wooden box.
Look at direction the right arm seems to be pointing.

[Mandle]

Case #48
Paragraph #1: The Pointing Finger
You, a freelance but well-known sleuth, arrive at the scene of the crime well ahead of the police. Monitering their radio bands on your scanner has often paid off in the past. The corpse of the old man lies splayed over the impressive mahogany desk of his private study. His glazed eyes are open and his face is fixed in a mask of fear. His left hand is frozen in rictus reaching towards an intricate wooden box lying upon the desk. His right arm is stretched out in the other direction and the hand seems to be pointing at something.

You have:
Your Notepad.
Your Pen.
Your Keys.
Your Wallet.


PROGRESS

Look at 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, and which you cannot spend the precious time before the police arrive to figure out.

Look at direction the right arm seems to be pointing. ~ You peer along the line of sight from the right hand, but cannot tell exactly what it is pointing at. This study is a jumble of stuff.


NON-PROGRESS

[dayowlron]

Open wooden box.
Check for wounds on the body.
Check for any identification on the body.

[Riaise]

Yes! This should be fun!

Examine study. (For a more general description of the room itself)
Examine desk.