1.11 Fetch the Letter

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Status

::REVISE::

Location

Name And Address: Far west end of Crissy Field (two people)

Parking: Park at the free lot at the intersection of Mason Street and Pearce Street

GC PoC: Erik, (650) 395-8463, lab@trenchwood.com

Notes: Approach via Mason Street because of construction street closures. No permit required for "picnic" or similar events with fewer than 50 people.

Type

Mandatory Puzzle

Plot Setup

  • Iconoclast scientist Doctor When has attempted to demonstrate his time machine before an audience of VIPs.
  • But it malfunctioned due to a faulty key component. The players have helped fix that.
  • The malfunction is causing the Doctor to bounce around randomly in time from era to era, facing untold dangers!
  • Repairs also required access to the Doctor's supercomputer, but the team successfully hacked the password.
  • Along the way they learned someone named "Buffy" was important to him back in high school.
  • The players helped the Institute rescue the Doctor from the Big Bang
  • The Doctor has asked not to be returned to 2012, but rather sent to Paine Memorial High School on May 31, 1986 at 2 PM
  • Once there, the Doctor discovered he had lost an envelop containing "information vital to restoring the timeline" somewhere during his random bounces through time
  • The players discovered the envelope was lost at Fort Point in San Francisco

Props

How To Give To Players

The phone call at the end of Locate The Letter continues with the lab assistant saying:

Now that you mention Ft. Point, that reminds me of something: I read that there was some sort of archeological dig there. But because of security concerns, they moved all the findings just a little ways away to the western edge of Crissy Field. You should start your investigation there. You'll probably want to take Mason St. because of construction closures on Lincoln Ave. Park at the intersection of Mason Street and Pearce Street, then walk west the rest of the way.

Once you complete your investigation just call any lab assistant at the Institute. Now go!

SUPPLEMENTAL EMAIL

Research Project Title: Retrieve The Envelope
Objective: Search through the artifacts recovered at the Fort Point archeological dig and see if by some miracle the envelope Doctor When lost back in 1958 is among them
Location: Far western edge of Crissy Field, San Francisco (approach via Mason Street because of construction street closures; park at the intersection of Mason Street and Pearce Street, then walk west the rest of the way.)
Upon Completion: Call the Institute and speak with any lab assistant.
Parking: Free lot
Need To Park: Yes
Personnel Required: All
Bathrooms At Location: Yes
Food At Location: No

Plot Point to Convey

Doctor When isn't seeking "vital technical information." Rather it is something to do with a traumatic event he endured at his high school science fair. And he's willing to deceive the players to get it.

Short Description

Retrieve the envelope from where it's been waiting for 50 years.

Open Time Period

Crissy Field: Saturday, 5 PM - last team finishes (16 teams Game 1, 17 teams Game 2) estimated 8:30 PM.

Staff Instructions

Your Role: 1 person runs the archeological site (unrelated to Trenchwood) and the other is a crazy dumpster diver

Interaction Instructions:

blah blah blah something about needing to show credentials

Crissy Field, "Crazy Tracy":

blah blah blah?

Crissy Field, Archeological Site, after shown credentials:

Okay, that seems reasonable. Let me tell you a bit about what we're doing here. For the last few decades, the Jones Archeological Institute has been working on a big project called the "Civic Refuse Archeological Project. We catalog and organize different sorts of refuse found at dig sites like this from all over the country. Now, how can I help you?

The team should mention something about trying to retrieve an envelope that was lost here in the 1950s (1958, to be exact).

Hmm, we did have a dig here in 1958, I think. See, when artifacts from a particular dig are found, the dig site overseer puts them into a tagged envelope. Each envelope has a different two-letter sort tag that uniquely identifies which dig site it was from. Now, I think the dig that was here in 1958 would have been part of the 1971 re-organization. Let me find the log for that re-organization... ah, here it is!

Hand the team a "reorganization log". Look over their shoulder as they look at it.

Hmm, I don't recognize any of the sort tags or the site seer names. Things must have changed quite a bit between 1971 and now; the log doesn't seem to say anything about the location of the dig! I honestly have no idea which one is from the local 1958 dig and which one is from one of the 1958 digs in some other state. Hold on, I think I saw some sort of note about this 1971 re-organization... here we go.

Hand the team a "memorandum".

I don't have time to read this, but maybe it will help you. Company policy says that we can only open one dig site envelope at a time so as not to cross-contaminate the artifacts. So I'm afraid you are going to figure out which envelope you need. Let me know when you've figured out what sort tag is from the local 1958 dig.

The team should now go to work on the puzzle from the "reorganization log" and the "memorandum". The correct answer is sort tag "EA"; if they request a wrong tag, say "XX":

Okay, let me get "XX" for you. (Rummage through the bin until you find "XX", then open and look into it.) You know, I don't think this is the one you want; all it has is some old paper towels or something. Please stop wasting my time. Find out exactly which sort tag you need before you come back again.

If they come again with a wrong tag:

Look, we're very busy here and can't just go through all the bins based on your silly hunches. You need to be absolutely sure of the correct sort tag.

If they ask for the correct sort tag, "EA", find it, and look into it:

Huh. It's just a beat-up old newspaper and an envelope. I really don't think has any true archeological significance. Here, you can have it. (Hand the newspaper and envelope to teams.) Okay, now we need to get back to work.

When the team leaves, "reload" the bin with another "correct" envelope.

Fort Point, staffer playing lab assistant should take the envelope (not true any more?) and say words to the effect of:

Fantastic, you've found it! I'll rush it back to the lab so it can be sent to Doctor When in 1986. Now please call the Institute and speak with any lab assistant for your next research project.

Hints: Teams may call in for hints. But if the character playing a Trenchwood Institute lab assistant familiarizes him/herself with the attached hint document, feel free to give hints.

Answers: Teams have been instructed to give the envelope to the onsite Trenchwood Institute lab assistant and then to call the Institute.

Site Close Down:

  • Break down and pack up set
  • Call GC
  • Return materials to GC
  • Return your name badge(s) and lanyard to GC HQ at the end of your shift

Other Instructions:

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

Detailed Description

The letter has been salvaged by "Jones Archeology Institute, IN" along with other artifacts from dig sites all over the country in a massive project spanning years. They are being held at a temporarily-erected station for observation and analysis by visiting archaeologists. Players must gain admittance past the station guard, and then interpret the cataloguing scheme to locate the letter.

Interpreting the catalogue scheme requires understanding the 1971 memorandum. Apparently for the 1971 re-organization, the Archeologists in the firm decided to play a practical joke on the Administrative Assistant Patricia Ozel; they would report fake made-up names for Tricia to put on the official log and not tell her what system they used to generate the names. Tricia eventually figured out their system and took "revenge" on the archeologists by hiding a secret message in the two-letter sort tags, which describes what the system was.

(It turns out that it's impossible to find the secret message without inferring or already knowing the system, which means that it's a bit silly to have the secret message be a description of the system -- if you get the secret message, you already know the system. But this is because Tricia was not a very good puzzle designer.)

Teams need to find that message so that they can deduce the system of the 1971 archeologists, and then use that system to figure out which two-letter sort tag goes with the dig here at San Francisco.

Puzzle Answer

Players must request the envelope labeled "EA".

Puzzle Solution

The station guard informs players they cannot gain admittance without proof of their legitimacy. They must visit a nearby cache of confiscated items, and pilfer something that suits their role (scientist, journalist, etc). If they are not successful, the guard confiscates their item, sends it with an assistant back to the cache, and informs players why they failed.

The re-organization log contains a list of two-letter tag names and Site Seer names that are fake (which players can infer from the Memorandum).

Here's the list of names and tags:

1st 2nd Name
B Y Wilma Euke
D N Diana Spinoli
D S Les Olivilu
E A Glen Alesso
E M Rachel Ott
E T Ames Trench
G S "Tom" Wong Lin
I T Sid Meeson
L T Delia Hipplah
N R Lily Kattesca
O A Rog Buntlin
O E Maya Holotick
O G Bulqua Queer
R A Joe Vicknalls
R E Morti Able
R I K. T. T. Collier
R T Neal W. Rosen
S I Hiram M. Bing
T C Annie Moslip
T E Corin DeVep
U L Cang O'Hara
Y S Louis S. Flax

Note that the sheet is already sorted by the tags. A hint on the last paragraph of the Memorandum suggests that players should SORT by something else, however. The natural thing is to sort by surname:

1st 2nd Name
R E Morti Able
E A Glen Alesso
S I Hiram M. Bing
O A Rog Buntlin
R I K. T. T. Collier
T E Corin DeVep
B Y Wilma Euke
Y S Louis S. Flax
L T Delia Hipplah
O E Maya Holotick
N R Lily Kattesca
G S "Tom" Wong Lin
I T Sid Meeson
T C Annie Moslip
U L Cang O'Hara
D S Les Olivilu
E M Rachel Ott
O G Bulqua Queer
R T Neal W. Rosen
D N Diana Spinoli
E T Ames Trench
R A Joe Vicknalls

The first letters of the tag names now spell out the message RE-SORT BY LONGITUDE ORDER. This implies that there is some geographical data hidden in this list. Players will now need an aha about the Archeologists' system -- that their fake names are actually anagrams of cities and towns in the USA. (This is vaguely hinted by "Site Seer" = "Sightseer".) Each city has a longitude, and then the list can be sorted by longitude from west to east:

Let 1 Let 2 Name City State W° W'
U L Cang O'Hara Anchorage Alaska 149 54
E A Glen Alesso Los Angeles California 118 15
N R Lily Kattesca Salt Lake City Utah 111 54
O G Bulqua Queer Albuquerque New Mexico 106 39
O E Maya Holotick Oklahoma City Oklahoma 97 28
Y S Louis S. Flax Sioux Falls South Dakota 96 44
I T Sid Meeson Des Moines Iowa 93 37
T C Annie Moslip Minneapolis Minnesota 93 14
R I K. T. T. Collier Little Rock Arkansas 92 20
R T Neal W. Rosen New Orleans Louisiana 90 4
B Y Wilma Euke Milwaukee Wisconsin 87 55
S I Hiram M. Bing Birmingham Alabama 86 50
D N Diana Spinoli Indianapolis Indiana 86 10
D S Les Olivilu Louisville Kentucky 85 46
R A Joe Vicknalls Jacksonville Florida 81 40
E M Rachel Ott Charlotte North Carolina 80 50
R E Morti Able Baltimore Maryland 76 38
G S "Tom" Wong Lin Wilmington Delaware 75 33
L T Delia Hipplah Philadelphia Pennsylvania 75 10
O A Rog Buntlin Burlington Vermont 73 9
E T Ames Trench Manchester New Hampshire 71 30
T E Corin DeVep Providence Rhode Island 71 24

Now the second letter provides extra information about the Archeologists' system: LARGEST CITY IN SAME STATE. It turns out that every city in this list is the largest city in its respective state (in both 1971 and 2011 -- sadly, not in 1958, as Anchorage was not even in a US State in 1958). This is the secret message that Administrative Assistant Trisha hid (which is silly, because it's information that the people she was hiding it from already know), but teams didn't know this information. (There is a reference to the nature of this system in the memorandum, where Trisha mentions that the system wouldn't work once there are more than 50 Archeologists.)

With that information, they should be able to infer that the Fort Point dig site must be the one with the overseer "name" of Glen Alesso, as Los Angeles is the largest city in the same state as Fort Point. So they should ask for the envelope with sorting tag EA.

Budget

$300 props, estimated

Credits

Concept: Sean Development: Sean, Erik

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

When team calls in congratulate them with words to the effect of,

You didn't just locate the envelope...you retrieved it?! That's fantastic. We need you to get it to one of our lab assistants out in the field so that they can rush it back to the Institute. From here we can use the time machine to send it to the Doctor in 1986.

Then continue the phone conversation with the lead in to the next puzzle (probably an optional or Consolidator 1).

To Do

  • Itemize full set dressing
  • Itemize puzzle components
  • Stage a mockup station for play test. The actual site is a plain grass field, so the play test can be anywhere.

Other Notes

Pilfering the items may involve a blunt hook on a pole, remote grabber hand, or similar. Park regulations limit the height of our set, we may simply rope off areas at ground level.

The cities chose are all of the 50 cities that were the largest in their respective state in 1970 and have at least nine letters in their name, with two exceptions:

Charleston, West Virginia
This was deemed too confusing to put in the list, as Charleston is also the name of the second largest city in South Carolina.
Cleveland, Ohio
This was deemed possibly confounding, as in 2010 the largest city in Ohio is Columbus.

Note that "New York City" is not the correct name of the largest city in New York; the city's actual name is "New York".

Incidentally, it is a freaking pain in the ass to find out all 50 of those cities using only the Internet.

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