Axis Skeleton Ribs Puzzle
The skeleton soldiers on level 11 of The Time-Twitching Tower are hiding a secret message from an old villain of Loathing.
The Message
The skeletons have two procedurally-generated attributes:
- Regiment number
- Arrangement of ribs
And because two skeletons with the same regiment number will also have the same arrangement of ribs, those two attributes are linked. Specifically, each rib arrangement is a braille letter, and the number is its order in a message. Decoded, and with added spaces and punctuation, the message reads:
- AHA! YOU'VE DISCOVERED MY SECRET MESSAGE! MY, SO TO SPEAK SIGNATURE. I REMEMBER YOU, AND NOW I'M WONDERING IF YOU IMAGINED I'D COME BACK.
- I'VE RAISED THIS BONE ARMY OF DEAD WARRIORS TO CREATE HAVOC AND WAGE BATTLE UPON EVERY LIVING SOUL.
- IF YOU TRY TO STOP THEM YOU'LL REGRET IT.
- BUT WHY AM I RAMBLING ON, IT'S NOT LIKE I HAVE HIDDEN A WEAKNESS THAT'LL RESULT IN THE DOWNFALL OF THIS BRUTAL FORCE OF NATURE.
- XOXO,
- RENE. C. CORMAN
The Weakness
The "weakness" that Corman hid is in his message, in the form of an acrostic. Divide the message into lines of 11 letters, and pay attention to the eleventh letter, particularly at the end:
AHAYOUVEDIS
COVEREDMYSE
CRETMESSAGE
MYSOTOSPEAK
SIGNATUREIR
EMEMBERYOUA
NDNOWIMWOND
ERINGIFYOUI
MAGINEDIDCO
MEBACKIVERA
ISEDTHISBON
EARMYOFDEAD
WARRIORSTOC
REATEHAVOCA
NDWAGEBATTL
EUPONEVERYL
IVINGSOULIF
YOUTRYTOSTO
PTHEMYOULLR
EGRETITBUTW ←
HYAMIRAMBLI ←
NGONITSNOTL ←
IKEIHAVEHID ←
DENAWEAKNES ←
STHATLLRESU ←
LTINTHEDOWN ←
FALLOFTHISB ←
RUTALFORCEO ←
FNATUREXOXO ←
RENECCORMAN ←
Spelling out:
- SEEK RADIO AND CALL FOR WILDSUN BOON.
The Reward
Requesting Wildsun Boon in Request Supply Drop grants Wildsun Boon.
