Help, I'm stuck in Praser 5 (IF game)

[Amy]

OK, this is a little embarrassing...

I used to be a regular member of this board years ago, but I quit because I kept cruising the forums when I was supposed to be working. (As in, when I was at work...I didn't have high-speed Internet at home back then.)

The reason I'm back now is, ummm...I'm kinda stuck in this game, Praser 5 (http://eblong.com/zarf/zweb/praser5/about.html), a text adventure by Andrew Plotkin. There were no in-game hints, so I went looking for some online, and the only thing I found that came close was a years-old thread in this forum (http://greylabyrinth.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?t=5322&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=1680). It sounds like everyone discussing it there got farther than I did, at least...I have yet to solve a single riddle. I think I've correctly solved two of the Marks on the Literal Plane (Fire and Air), but I can't figure out anything to do with those solutions to get me any forrarder in the game itself. I tried offering my solutions as answers to the nymphs in the Plane of Shape (the only creatures I've been able to talk to so far), but no dice.

So I'm turning to you folks, the best group of puzzle-solvers I've ever interacted with, for help. Please, is there anyone here who has played this game and can give me some teensy hint on how to proceed?

[Quailman]

Amy??? The same Amy whose last post was two days shy of eleven years ago? That Amy?

Welcome back! I have no idea how to help you, but welcome back!

[Amy]

Yep, it's me...I never deleted my profile, just stopped showing up.

Hi, everybody (at least those who are still around).

[dethwing]

Why is your title the same as mine? That's so weird.

[Zag]

The titles are actually considered ranks by the forum software, and you both have the same one. Possibly it's a bug, or possibly a mode just slipped when assigning them. Amy, do you know why? Do you have a different title that makes sense? Sorry, but you're from before my time, or I'd suggest something.

[MatthewV]

Oh, quite a few titles got screwed up during the board switch.

[dethwing]

Seems to be fixed now.

[raekuul]

I will resist the urge to suggest Hare Krishna.

The feeling I get with the Air Sword Riddle is some letterplay. I tried it and it's wrong, but what I went for with the first line was beheaded wheat - (w)heat

Am I thinking the same thing you're thinking?

[Amy]

raekuul: Well, no, that wasn't the solution that occurred to me. At first I thought it might be se/same, meaning the "way" would be se, or southeast...but that didn't seem to fit into the overall acronym for the Mark of Air. Then someone suggested cara/way, meaning that when you behead the word "way" is literally what you're left with. That seemed to fit in better. The real problem, though, is that even having deciphered (I think) three of the four Marks on the Literal Plane--Air, Fire, and Earth--I have no idea what to do with those solutions. The only creatures I can talk to in the Plane of Shape are the nymphs, and feeding my answers to them in response to their questions doesn't work.

[raekuul]

Perhaps we're overlooking something about this. Did any of your results sounds like a name befitting one of the other creatures?

EDIT: The Naiad says "First, tell me the name of the Way as Water", so maybe we should start there.

[Amy]

[raekuul]

That would be me misreading things, then.

[Zahariel]

I remember looking at Praser 5 some time ago, and not really getting anywhere. Looking at it again for a couple of minutes over lunch... you're doing better than me. I could only solve the acrostic for Fire (Washington Monument, Hagia Sophia, Empire State Building, Eiffel Tower, Lighthouse), and I can't figure out what to do with it once I've done that. I can guess some of the words for Earth but it doesn't seem to do me any good, and I got two of the clues for Air (image -> mage; hospice -> spice). If you have more hints you're willing to share, feel free.

[raekuul]

THAT's what Fire's pointing to? Geez, now I feel stupid. As for water, maybe we're looking at only half of the equation?

[Antrax]

I'm planning to start playing this when I'm done with Gateway 2. I'll let you know if I somehow get farther than you have.
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Zahariel]

[Scurra]

The last one in Air is RIB (cut the end off RIBBON.) But I only managed to do the other two you've also done...
Then again, I only started to look at it myself this morning. Not sure why I've missed this game before, since I love Plotkin's work.
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Amy]

Well, here's where I am now:

With the help of a friend, I was able to figure out the answers to the nymphs' questions (which were actually kind of obvious--I was just making them more complicated than they needed to be). This got me the names of the sphinx, the unicorn, and the griffon, plus access to the Plane of Structure.

I solved the griffon's and sphinx's riddles, which together enabled me to get the name of the typhon--but I still don't know what to say to him. (By the by, is a "typhon" an actual mythical creature that exists anywhere outside this game? The description he gives of it sounds more like a naga.) As for the unicorn, I'm totally stuck. I thought I'd be able to answer his question easily once I'd solved the sphinx's riddle, but it actually doesn't seem to have helped me. Has anyone else worked it out yet?

Meanwhile, I've solved (I think) three of the four Marks on the Literal Plane, but I still don't know what to do with those solutions. The solution that Zahariel gave for the Mark of Fire is the same one I got. I think I got all the words for the Earth puzzle--at least, I got a series of words that, together, contain the correct number of letters, and give me an acrostic that's a (reasonably) common English word. Using a thesaurus seems to be the best way to work on that particular puzzle.

I'm not entirely sure about my solution to the Mark of Air--two of my six answers seem not entirely satisfactory, but they seem to work as part of the acrostic. In particular, I'm not sure about my answer to "I behead a single bird, and discover a mountain top." My thesaurus was less helpful for this puzzle.

I still have no idea at all how to go about solving the Water puzzle.

[Zahariel]

Ok, well, I'm still completely stuck. I have NO IDEA what the nymphs want from me. Clearly there is something obvious that I am just not seeing, even knowing a fair bit about what Andrew Plotkin found funny when he wrote this. I would actually kind of like to see more than the opening scene of this game, but as it stands I just can't get anywhere.

[Quailman]

[Amy]

[Zahariel]

Yay, you helped! Thanks!

Unfortunately the sphinx's riddle is a horrific geometry... thing. I'm not good at geometry, I got confused after two sentences.

So far I've got O, I, S collinear with I 2 bloits from I and 1 from S, and then D, O, E collinear, perpendicular to OIS, with D and E both 2 bloits from O. But I can't really figure out where P should be. "On top of O" seems to fit its definition but I figure that can't be right, and making OSPD a rectangle contradicts "P is closer to I than to S," so I put it sort of floating inside triangle EOS, with SPD congruent to EOS. But this can't be right, because I think it puts H too close to D to have any legal places for R. So now I'm confused.

And of course I haven't yet had the flash of insight for the griffon's riddle, but I assume that will come to me later today.

[Amy]

[Amy]

Oooh, I figured out the unicorn's riddle! And I got through the rest of the creatures on the Plane of Shape. Now I'm finally at the point in the game where I need to know all four of the Marks from the Literal Plane, but I'm still stuck on Water. Has anyone made any progress with that one at all?

[Amy]

[Silverfire]

I need help with the Sphinx's riddle: In the line "the ratio of the distance between D and I and the distance between O and the point between D and I is twice the distance between O and the point between D and O," it seems like I'm supposed to be comparing a ratio to a distance. Am I just reading it wrong?

[Amy]

[Zahariel]

Ok, having FINALLY managed to read the definition of H correctly, I solved the sphinx's puzzle, but I still don't know what to do about the unicorn. And I guessed that the plane of Structure needed to be walked in a particular order (thus its somewhat strange topography) but the sphinx's answer wasn't it. And of course the griffin is still a bit mysterious. This game is hard!

[Amy]

[Amy]

[aqqqqua*]

I'm not Amy, but a friend and I are attempting this riddle and we're both completely stuck at the griffon.

I'm thinking that perhaps the answer has to do with a human's perception of time- sometimes it feels like everything is rushing by, sometimes it feels like time is standing still, but they know that in the end they will grow old and die. But I don't know how to word that.

Am I completely off? It would really help if I could have a nudge in the right direction.

[Amy]

Well, yes, you are completely off. The way the riddle is worded is meant to make you think of something like that, but that line of thinking will actually get you nowhere.

I found it most helpful to concentrate on the fact that the riddle answer is "forever on the Way." Think about all the possible meanings of Way and things that you might find on them. And think about which of them might have three eyes. That's how I eventually got it, and my immediate reaction when I figured it out was, "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

[aqqqqua*]

Thanks for the help! Still stuck, but hopefully this might make it better.

Am I correct in assuming that by three eyes, he really means three "I"s?