2.11 Locker Combo

Status

::FINAL::

Location

Name And Address: Paine Memorial High School Principal's Suite, actually Registration Office, Highlands Rec Center, 1851 Lexington Ave. San Mateo

Parking: Free lot

Bathroom: Yes

Food: No

GC PoC: Erik & Melissa

Type

Mandatory Puzzle

Plot Setup

• All evidence of Trenchwood Institute and its timeline has mysteriously disappeared.
• Peach Frontier Laboratories has taken its place
• Iconoclast scientist Prof. Chronos has attempted to demonstrate her time machine before an audience of VIPs.
• But it malfunctioned causing Prof. Chronos to bounce randomly through time
• The players have fixed the time machine
• The players have figured out that she wanted to be sent to 5/31/1986 at 2:15 PM. Doctor When chose to send her to Paine Memorial High School.
• For some unknown reason, Prof. Chronos needs the combination to a school locker...and perhaps there are records of old 1986 combinations somewhere at the school in 2012
• By analyzing ghostly voices overheard within the Teachers' Lounge the players know that the combination records are in the Principal's Suite. (FYI, some tortoise teams may get sent directly to the Principal's suite.)

Props

• Set dressing, including desk picture frame
• 16 or 17 copies of picture frame insert
• Painter's tape

Plot Point to Convey

After this event, Chronos can get into the locker (for whatever mysterious reason she needs to do so).

Short Description

Teams need to figure out the master locker combo from the principal's notes.

Open Time Period

Sunday, setup 4:30 PM, open 5:00 till all teams (16 first weekend, 17 second weekend) pick up (estimated between 7:00 - 7:30 AM)

Staff Instructions

Your Role: Tiresias, the school janitor (and also mysterious game fairy of the universe).

Handout Instructions:

• Discreetly keep track of how many teams have picked up...so you know when to leave!
• You're pretending to tidy up as a "normal" janitor would...but all-knowing Tiresias is really there to subtly help the visitors
• Only let one team at at time in the office.
• "Reset" the props after each team leaves, especially putting a new insert in the desk picture frame.

Site Close Down:

• Box up all props and return to GC HQ
• Clean up location
• Call GC HQ
• Go to gym

Other Instructions:

• Stay in character.
• Except ... if a team says "time out," break character and help them.

Detailed Description

The teams have discovered that the principal keeps the master locker combo in his office. They go to his office and find - lo and behold - a list of locker combos hidden away. However, the combination changes each year, and the list only goes back to 1987! Undaunted, the players figure out the pattern, and deduce what the 1986 locker combo was, and convey this to Prof. Chronus.

How To Give To Teams

GC member at principal's office can only let one team in at a time. Each team will snag a copy of puzzle from the picture frame. GC must replace puzzle after each team leaves.

Puzzle Answer

1-11-9

Manager

Sean

Hints

Ask teams what they have done, probing details if necessary (often this will get a team unstuck by themselves).

Response to Correct Answer

Initial Answer Screening By Lab Assistant

LAB ASSISTANT: Hello. Peach Frontier Laboratories. How may I direct your call?

VISITOR: We're the ____ team. We've got an urgent message for Doctor When.

LAB ASSISTANT: What is it?

VISITOR: He's supposed to send the numbers _______ to Prof. Chronos in the past.

If Answer Is Correct (1-11-9)

LAB ASSISTANT: That's way over my head. I'd better connect you to Doctor When. But first...are you on speakerphone?

VISITOR: Absolutely.

LAB ASSISTANT: Excellent. I'll connect you.

VISITOR: Hello, Doctor When?

DOCTOR WHEN: Great Scott! Our detectors show you at Paine Memorial High School. What are you doing there?

VISITOR: Uh...yes. Prof. Chronos asked us to go here to...uh...do a "research project" and then have you use the time machine to send the data to her in 1986.

DOCTOR WHEN: Heavy! What is the information?

VISITOR: Send her the following three numbers: 1-11-9.

DOCTOR WHEN: That sounds very technical...I'll do it!

By the way, it's quite a coincidence that you're at Paine Memorial High School. Our instruments have detected that there's some sort of chronotonic nexus at the school's gym where many different timelines intersect. I have absolutely no idea why that gym is so important. But it does mean that we'll get excellent reception for the View-O-Scope there!

So I sent over a lab assistant to set up a live feed. Please go to the gym now and you can watch us finally rescue Prof. Chronos!

If Answer Is Incorrect (for example 99-70-30)

VISITOR: Could you send "99-70-30" to Professor Chronos?

LAB ASSISTANT: Sure. Let me write that down. You want us to send 99-70-30 back in time to Professor Chronos, is that right?

VISITOR: Yes, that's right...

LAB ASSISTANT (cutting the team off): Hold on, something just happened here, let me check...

[pause for 5 seconds] The cyclic tachyon detectors here at the lab just suddenly went haywire! It happened just as soon as I said 99-70-30 ... agh, there it goes again! You know, there's something in Professor Chronos's notes about this... lemme check... here we go. Oh, I see.

Apparently this means that some sort of temporal paradox is imminent and that the fabric of the universe is about to unravel. All because we're about to send Professor Chronos a slip of paper that says 99-70-30 ... ack.

(off-phone) TURN THAT ALARM OFF!

(back to team) You know, I'm thinking that maybe we shouldn't be sending her 99, er, those numbers. I don't know how you're getting them, but could you go back and recheck what you did? I'm guessing that some other numbers have to go on this slip of paper.

VISITOR: Uh, sure.

LAB ASSISTANT: Thanks! I sure hope that the next set of numbers you give us won't destroy the universe. Because that might [pick your favorite]:

• make our Grand Unveiling look bad.
• ruin my day.
• totally be a bummer.

To Do

• Acquire hint pieces for set dressing
  • Playoffs chart
  • posters
  • basketball mugs, etc.

Other Notes

We have a time loop problem here - in this version of the world, how does the letter get into the locker in the first place? Does this matter?