3-1 is completely different to anything else we’ve encountered thus far, a new cipher that seems to be octal, but no matter what, it cannot be solved. As I am the only non-Taken and non-Silenced contestant remaining, I will struggle with this for hours on end. Ardat came to me with a deal while watching me squirm.
--
“Feel like making a deal, Luna?” Ardat says.
"A deal? What do you mean?" She turns her head to Ardat and listens.
“For three hours off the clock I will return, let's say, Geminy to you.” Ardat offers.
"And as much as I appreciate Geminy's company, three hours for that seems a bit harsh." She says flatly.
“Time is the greatest currency. Bad deal.” The January Janice says. I will say he does look awfully familiar, like I swear I’ve seen videos of this person… Hm.
“Oh come now, you would go from 44 1/2 to 41 and a half. I thought you said you would be done with this all in 6 hours at most?” Ardat explains with a tease.
Luna simply smiles and continues to look for the cipher.
“Very well. Just be aware once all are taken there will be no way to continue and the clock will run out. Then one of you will die. You have four left including yourself. And you are marked already and the only one awake. My next offer will not be as generous.” She explains with a scoff.
"...well I didn't know that."Luna glares at Ardat and continues her work. "Okay, is the three hours for Gem still on the table?"
“I said my next offer would not be as generous. 6 hours.”
"But you never explained that all Marked being taken would cause us to lose." Luna pleads.
"Her will is strong," Austere says.
“I didn't explain the obstacles traps and puzzles in the gauntlet beforehand. They are here for you to discover. Now you know.”
"...gods dammit. Fine." Luna sighs and accepts the deal.
“Excellent.”
--
Geminy returns to the Threshold unshut, and I became Shut. I am taken to a location away from the rest of the crew, but can still see inside 3-1. From there, and for the rest of the night, the few of us who remain Shut struggle to solve 3-1. We take a couple deals while in The Taken room, one being a lifeline usage to ask some fellow puzzle lovers on some discord server for assistance on solving the puzzle, and we spend 6 hours more for a hint. The hint was simple.
With the numbers and that hint in hand, we use our lifeline. Quite a few hours later, the genius puzzle solvers over there figured it out. The hint meant “Why, XOR” which requires XOR from Octal with the key XOR. When decrypted, it reads:
Spirits of life, spirits of death,
Spirits of the unborn and the spirits of the born.
Come together as one as i ask you
Make Geminy have her all eggs die
Her womb destroyed so she can bear no child at all
Cease her cycles and prevent her from falling pregnant
EVER
Whenever she tries she will fail
Curse her this day forward and all lifetimes ever after
SO MOTE IT BE!!
Thinking of me
But just the same
Reverse this spelll
From whence it came
A thieving lich
To steal a child
And mark Geminy
Byleth's barren bride
What in the absolute fuck does that mean??? Did we just curse Geminy to never be able to have children???
Also, as I said back in Chapter 1, there was a LOT of flirting with Ardat Lili around this time. Both Austere and January Janice seemed to have a lot of fun.
--
"You guys got this," Austere cheers.
“They're doing great.” Ardat says.
"How are you feeling?" Austere asks.
“Energized. This is very exciting.” Ardat replies.
"How does someone become a demon? Can you bite like a vampire?" Austere asks with a sly grin.
“You must be damned.”
"I'm damned if I do and damned if I don’t, so I feel very damned." Austere replies.
“There are specific actions that can lead to damnation.”
At the mention of biting, Janice gives Ardat a stern look. She walks up to Ardat and bites their left horn with her gums (she doesn't have teeth). She nibbles a bit then turns around and sits down, pouting.
"What does the horn taste like?" Austere asks Janice.
“Sugar and spice and everything nice, of course.” says Ardat.
“You mean sugar and spice and demonic vice. Tsk tsk.” Austere corrects.
"Negatory, it tasted like Great Value brand, gravy-based dog food." Janice explains.
“Negging will get you nowhere.” Ardat says with a sneer.
"Negging rhymes with peg---- hmmm.” Austere jokes.
“You are quite naughty, the both of you. I like that.” Ardat says from atop her throne.
--
Anyway, with 3-1 solved, I went to take a long nap on the very very uncomfortable floor while Code and Chris continued to talk and try to make deals with Ardat. One such deal involved a gamble, in which Code wanted more time if he could roll higher than Ardat. Unfortunately, that gamble did not work out which caused us to lose even more time.
At some point during the night, Archaicjinn and Janice both gained a role called The Vigilant, which enable them to directly communicate with the Taken in 2-4. He tried another gamble and this time won gaining us more time to work with.
During the night, another Premonition appeared, this time telling the contestants, “The Way is Shut.”