A Molpish Konundrum
(1st Journey — Puzzle 001)Assemble the following: three OTTers, the Frames of the OTC, the canonical OTC dialogue, and one live Molpy.
Each OTTer should pick an OTC name: Cueball, Megan or Rosetta. You keep your OTC name throughout the game. Each OTTer has xes own list of instructions below.
Follow all instructions in sequence. For each step, the OTTers perform their instructed actions simultaneously. In other words, everyone does step 1 before anyone starts step 2.
After each step, when the OTTers have finished their actions for that step, the Molpy may or may not perform actions of its own. Your Molpy knows what to do, but just in case you have a mustardy Molpy, the Behaviours of Standard Molpies are outlined in a section at the end.
Though it may seem Madddening, for the purposes of this game a Molpy is not an OTTer and an OTTer is not a Molpy. After you have completed this puzzle you may feel free to let your ottermolpish identities intermingle in the customary fashion.
Megan
Begin at Time Frame 143.
Step 1. Go forwards in Time until you reach a frame showing your namesake.
Step 2. Count the number of flags in this frame and call it N. Write down the Nth letter of the alphabet.
Step 3. Multiply your Frame number by 4, and advance until someone asks a question. Write down the first letter of the last word in that question.
Step 4. Start going forwards through the Frames, and stop when you reach a Frame in which that word (the one whose initial you just wrote) is said twice by the same person in the same sentence.
Step 5. Continue forward until your namesake is holding a molpy that she just caught. Think of the colour that is most commonly associated with that type of molpy1, and write down the first letter of that colour.
Cueball
Begin at Time Frame 27.
Step 1. That position looks uncomfortable! Go forwards in Time, until you reach a Frame in which your namesake is standing.
Step 2. What is your namesake looking at? It's a __________. Take the number of letters in that thing, and multiply by your current Frame number, and go to that Frame.
Step 3. Count the number of full-size flags you can see, add the number of times your namesake has been in the water since the beginning of the OTC, and call the sum M. Write down the Mth letter of the alphabet. Now multiply your frame number by M, and go to that Frame.
Step 4. Go forward until you are at a Frame in which your namesake is drinking. Look at the current Frame number, reverse its digits, and go to that Frame.
Step 5. Now go back in Time to find the last Frame in which Megan said something. Write down the first letter of the last word she said.
Rosetta
Begin at Time Frame 1011.
Step 1. What are those two strangers doing in the abyss? Double your Frame number to find out.
Step 2. Go forwards in Time until you see Megan speak a word of caution. Then go forwards until you reach another frame in which Megan speaks words of caution. Look at all the letters in the dialog of that Frame, and find the letter that comes last in the alphabet (you might see this letter more than once). Write down that letter.
Step 3. Add 1000 to your frame number. Count the number of people, molpies, trees, shrubs, and sticks (thwap- or otherwise) in this Frame.
Sorry! I didn't really mean to ask you to do that. I'm not that evil, forget I said it. Instead, just write down the first letter of the thing that is approaching from the left side of this Frame.
Step 4. Go back 513 Frames. Write down Cueball's first word.
Step 5. If the Molpy is no longer with you, take the second letter you wrote down and move it to the end (i.e. after the other letter(s) you subsequently wrote).
Behaviours of Standard Molpies
m1. At the beginning of the game, the Molpy is unknown and unseen.
m2. As soon as one of the players reaches a Frame containing a Molpy, the Molpy joins that player. The Molpy follows that player unless and until one of the other rules listed in this section indicates that the Molpy will go elsewhere.
m3. When any player views a Frame in which some player's namesake is seen touching or holding a molpy, the Molpy switches allegiance, and begins following that player (whose namesake is seen touching/holding a molpy).
(If the Molpy was already with that player, the player and the Molpy should both immediately sing at least two verses of Molpies before play continues.)
m4. When the Molpy is with a player who has just written down a third letter, the Molpy takes the first of the three letters and moves it to a position between the other two. Silly molpy!! Fortunately, the Molpy never does this more than once per player, otherwise things could get very confusing.
Your Answer
When all the players and the Molpy have taken all actions as described by the above instructions, the answer to this puzzle consists of Rosetta's letters followed by Megan's letters followed by Cueball's letters.
When you have an answer, use the submit page to send it to the TARDIS.
Footnotes
1In the Outside, of course. In the OTC, all molpies are black.
Acknowledgment: This puzzle is based on the original Duck Konundrum from 2000 and D2: the Michty Duck Konundrum from 2002.
This page was written in the "embarrassingly readable" markup language RHTF, and was last updated on 2015 Jan 25.
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