-[ ] Aim the flashlight at the MIRROR-LIKE PORTHOLE to attract the fish-squid-Cthulhu-thing to the SUBMARINE and make it SHATTER, freeing the MECHANISM
--[ ] Hope the MECHANISM does not SHATTER along with it.
[X] Nevill's flashlight at the mirror plan
"I have a plan." Mari does not seem especially reassured, but she nods. Of course you have a plan, you tell yourself. Having a plan is what being a JUNIOR SLEUTH is all about. That and SOLVING MYSTERIES, of course. And COOL OUTFITS. Okay, so being a JUNIOR SLEUTH is about a lot of things but the main point is that all of those things are COOL and GREAT.
You work out the movements in your head before you actually do anything, just in case. Then, in one, quick movement, you hold up the FLASHLIGHT, switching it back on again before Mari can say anything, and aim it at the PORTHOLE. The BEAM OF LIGHT cuts through the MURKY BLACKNESS and reflects the PORTHOLE, shining deep into the DARK. You wait for one second. Two seconds. Five seconds. Ten seconds, and on twenty, just as you're starting to wonder whether this plan is going to work, a huge, long, indistinct dark figure races past the CORRIDOR, casting that terrible shadow as it slams its long, coiling body against the SUBMARINE.
The wreck goes flying free, drifting off into the distance, and as the huge creature begins to turn this way and that, coiling into knots and ribbons at an increasingly frantic pace, you TURN THE FLASHLIGHT OFF. Feeling rather proud of yourself, you give yourself a PAT ON THE BACK while it's STILL DARK and you can do it without having Mari make fun of you. Not that you'd mind if she did, of course, because a JUNIOR SLEUTH is unscathed by the criticism of their peers. People used to ridicule you all the time, until you first proved your worth in the Adventure Of The Eaten Crayon.
Mari herself is occupied with the LEVER, it seems, because a few seconds afterwards you hear a loud grinding sound and the telltale creak of doors opening. The SILVER THREAD, you thankfully find, continues beyond the door, and as you follow it, you notice that the darkness is getting steadily less and less dark until finally you find the WINDING UNDERWATER CORRIDORS are lit once more with DIM BUT SERVICEABLE EMERGENCY LIGHTING. Mari doesn't seem to be in an especially talkative mood as you trudge through the corridors, following the THREAD even in this lit area, and you don't think she would react especially well to any attempt to STRIKE UP A CONVERSATION. The two of you continue to walk before you come across a DOOR with some GRAFFITI ON IT in a FAMILIAR STYLE.
Writing in red marker said:
big eye is scary. i don't like it. go away, big eye. bad eye. not friendly eye. it's my light, you can't have it. if you are reading this, then congratulations! you're not dead yet. very good. you are probably not reading this though because they die, all the time. i don't know what they did with the other moons. number one and two and three and four and five and so many other numbers i lost count. i succeeded. i am good. good moon good dog get a pat on the head and a biscuit. yum yum. i am too good. it scares them. i scare them. you might scare them too. big trees now. then maze. good luck with maze. i've written tips. you're welcome. try not to die.
After taking a second to take this in, you gently push open the DOOR, seeing it OPEN into...
A room that looks an awful lot like a GARDEN. Crisp grass grows underneath your feet, a light breeze blows on your face, and the sound of distant running water combined with the smell of flowers almost instantly puts you at ease. The center of the room is dominated by a TALL OAK TREE, at the summit of which is a lovely-looking TREEHOUSE. Unfortunately, you can't see any way to actually reach the TREEHOUSE. In the HIGHER BRANCHES of the OAK TREE, a few ACORNS are growing, and from a MUCH LOWER-HANGING BRANCH hangs an EMPTY BIRD FEEDER. A SMALL BIRD is, in fact, PERCHED UPON ONE OF THE HIGHEST BRANCHES, staying remarkably still.
On the OPPOSITE SIDE of the GARDEN you can see a LARGE DOOR near a PARK BENCH. In one FAR CORNER is a FUSE BOX, and in the other, a TAP. Above the PARK BENCH is a PORTRAIT OF A RED-HAIRED MAN AND WOMAN. To the LEFT AND RIGHT sides of the GARDEN are LARGE, ORNATE, GOLDEN GATES and FENCES sectioning off TWO AREAS. The walls are PAINTED to look like a NATURAL LANDSCAPE, and the ARTIFICIAL LIGHT on the CEILING PAINTED TO LOOK LIKE THE SKY comes VERY CLOSE to being a BELIEVABLE SUN.
You grin at Mari. "Okay, Mari, watch. This is how a real detective solves a puzzle." And that's exactly what you plan to do.
[] Write-in (Yep, back to your regularly scheduled collaborative puzzle-solving! Woo! Except now you have Mari with you, I guess. Feel free to tell her to do things, whether she listens or not is another matter.)
