Professor Layton and the Shining Stone
Disclaimer: The Prof and his many friends aren't my property. BTW, good luck with that cool looking crossover, Team Layton…
Rating: PG.
Summary: The rarest treasure in America, known as the Shining Stone, has been stolen from the house of one of the Professor's colleagues. Together with his self-proclaimed apprentice, Luke, and his unofficial adopted daughter, Flora, Layton has been asked to unravel the mystery…
Woo, the twelfth chapter and things are looking good. I'm close to revealing the mystery, but I'm not good at writing out massive fighty action sequences. Especially the ones involving making a copter out of bits and pieces, like Layton always does. Gah…could you suggest something, in your reviews, plz?
Here's the next chapter, and the solution to the last puzzle.
"Poker competition at hotel. We're using my cards this time. Sid."
Chelmey looked disappointed. "There was a poker game in the room with a broken window. So this is a red herring?"
Layton nodded. "I'm afraid so, Inspector."
Just then, there was an announcement over the intercom. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for flying with Not-Very-Difficultjet. We will be showing our in-flight movie in 10 minutes."
"Ah, I've heard about this movie. Something about a teenage romance about sparkling vampires," Luke said, looking through the in-flight magazine for the movie summary. "Dad saw it once. He said it was 'time he would pay anything to get back'."
"Well, you'll never know if you'll like it or not if you don't watch it," said Layton.
"St Mystere didn't have a cinema," Flora mused, thinking of her old home before she came to live with the Professor, "so I haven't actually heard of this movie."
"Well, perhaps you should see for yourself what it's like," Layton remarked. "We have about two hours to spare before we arrive, anyhow."
After arriving in London, Layton's group and Chelmey's got into their respective cars and began driving to May's house to reprt their findings (Layton making sure Luke was holding the map the right way up this time). They spent the journey talking about the movie's plot (with even Layton quite confused as to the events that occured. Luke came to the conclusion that it was because Layton was a practical, well-versed man, as opposed to the movie's protagonists), and Flora and Luke setting each other puzzles. Eventually, they arrived back at May's house, and saw that Chelmey's car was outside. Layton rang the doorbell, and May answered the door.
"Oh, Professor! The Inspector said you'd be arriving shortly..." Her face was white with worry.
"Don't worry May, we've arrived back in one piece," smiled Layton. "In any case, we need to share a few things we found with you, if that's alright..."
"Ah, of course. You should come in, I'd love to hear about what you discovered."
Layton, Luke and Flora spent a while chatting to May about their adventures. In the middle of the conversation, Layton took out the copy of the report from Snoots and Co.
"I asked the company responsible for its delivery, and I found this photograph attatched to it." He showed the photo of the glass paperweight to May, with his doubts about it being the Shining Stone still nagging at him.
May stared at the photo. Then she giggled. "Oh, my uncle was always sending people those sort of paperweights."
"I'm sorry?" Layton inquired.
"Oh, Uncle Hammond sent his friends and relatives the same thing every special occasion that happened. Christmas was the worst offender. A glass paperweight, every year. Of course, he gave them other things, but that was just a quirk that he had..."
"But why would he want a paperweight back?" asked Luke.
May shrugged. "The whole thing was just a joke he liked. I'm not sure how he got the paperweights, though...made them, I suppose."
Just then, a man with a grey beard and glasses carrying a collection of butterflies in a case, walked into the room, and said, Miss Simpson, we'd like a few words about these things that were donated to the museum."
May nodded. "Is this what you were doing while we were away?" Flora asked.
"Yes," May said. "I'm helping to sort a few items that can or can't be displayed at Edinburgh Museum. They were all things that my uncle's friends donated to him. But all of these donor's names were written in my uncle's little code language." She sighed. "Always did like puzzles. He never showed me how to decode them, though..."
"May, my dear," Layton said briskly. "I've had my fair share of codes in the past week. Allow me to be of assistance."
Layton stared at some of the names on the tags. The donors' addresses were written in English, but the names were coded. "Nzib Irxph." "Qrn Xzigvi."
Layton, however, managed to conjure up the solution in minutes. "It's all written in reverse. For example, you read A as Z, B as Y, and so on."
Luke reached into his bag, and scribbled the solution to the code on a piece of paper and handed it to May. May smiled. "I knew you'd get it, Professor," she said, reading Luke's writing and deciphering the writing. "Mary Ricks...Jim Carter..."
Just then, the same man with the butterflies cleared his throat. "There's another thing. The man responsible for the delivery of these things wants that gold chain out of the collection as payment. He doesn't want cash. And he'd rather you pay up front, too."
May groaned. "That chain came from Arabia, it's really valuable, and I'm reluctant to part with it. But I do need these items off my hands, so..." May got up, about to look through the items, but the man continued. "The boss knows how much that chain's worth, so he knew you wouldn't let go of it so easy. That's why he's going to cut a deal. He wants to be paid one link of the chain for every item we deliver to the museum."
"That's sixty-three links, since there's sixty-three items...but the chain's made up of sixty-three links exactly..." May sighed.
"Oh, one more thing. You said this chain's really expensive, right? Well, the boss agrees, so he doesn't want any more than three breaks in the chain. Otherwise it's value would plummet."
May thought about a way out, but couldn't think of one. "Ok," she said, slowly and reluctantly. "I'll get it."
May left the room, and less than a minute later, she came back with the chain. It looked like any old steel chain you would find on a playground swing, except for the gold colour, and the fact it was quite small. With enough force, one could snap the chain.
"Why does he want to be paid up front?" Luke wondered.
"Perhaps he's wary in case May decides not to pay him," Flora guessed.
"But I can't break it more than three times?" May asked, stumped. "How am I supposed to pay him, then?"
"I think there is a way," Layton remarked. "You have to hand over one link for every item delivered, correct? So..."
Post note: Ah hah, don't worry. I wouldn't make the code this chapter's puzzle. I'm not that lazy, and I don't like doing codes anyway. But anyway, how does Layton get the answer? This puzzle is worth 50 Picarats, I would think. Here are the key facts:
Sixty-three links in a straight chain.
No more than three links can be broken.
TASK: Find a way to hand over the chain one link at a time.
Next time in P.L.A.T.S.S (what a strange abbreviation), to the museum, where the next stage of the mystery awaits! Keep reviewing guys, they keep me going.
