The entry led into what Flor considered was normally a Living Room. Or maybe a Den. The floor recessed a couple of steps in a subdued couch. There were books scattered around with abandon. A rodent scurried across the floor. A gas lamp remained lit, but turned down to its lowest level, almost as if someone had forgotten to turn it off when the daylight broke. Flor noticed another couple of doors off to the side and a staircase going up. One of the doors had a handwritten sign stating “Piss Off. Daysleepers” Must be the bunkroom. Maybe the other was the kitchen.

  Expecting nothing exciting in the kitchen, Flor went upstairs. The second floor looked like storage. So did the third. When the fourth echoed the previous two, Flor wondered if she was in the right place. But she continued, nonetheless, to floor five. She was rewarded with a smaller room, similar to the last two, although there was a fireplace with a mantel, within which a fire was blaring, and a chair, a blanket, a side table with an opened book, and a cot which had a bundle of blankets disturbed next to it. She followed the ladder up to the sixth floor, which was empty except for a gigantic lantern in the middle of the room with mirrors along most sides and what looked like thick glass on the other sides. The roof opened but was covered, and there was a distinct lack of light from this lighthouse.

  Damn. There isn’t an easy indication of what we’re supposed to do.

  Flor started to head back down the stairs. Floors four and three remained empty.

  “Hey, you’re not supposed to be up here!” a voice called out.

  Flor looked for the voice. Was that on floor two? It wasn’t calling to her.

  “Get out of there, you scrub!” There was a solid thwack sound.

  Flor looked down the stairs. A woman was standing there, holding a broom like a baseball bat, and ready to hit anything that came near. Her name was obscured by the walls of the stairs and the ceiling. “Um, hello! Coming down.”

  “As long as you ain’t a rat, sure,” came the reply.

  Flor moved down and saw the name Kiran - Assistant 2 above his head.

  “You certainly don’t look like a rat,” he said. He was staring at her. “We don’t often have giant women around here…”

  “I’m normal sized, thank you,” she said. “What are you after?”

  “Some rodent bounding around in the grain. Want to help me knock him out?”

  “Not really? I’d rather keep looking about.”

  “I’ll give you five coins! Just for pointing him out.”

  “While that’s super that we’re solving problems, I’ve got a bigger one to deal with than your rat.”

  “No bigger problems than rats. You’ve got to solve the small things before the big things become apparent.”

  “I…that’s awful advice. The opposite of good advice,” Flor said.

  “Well, no problems solve themselves when you’ve got a rat to find.”

  Flor took a breath. Then another. Which was difficult. She wanted to yell. A flash of recognition occurred, though and she paused.

  I need to solve the rat problem before I can solve the Lighthouse problem. I don’t like finding the rat puzzles.

  Where had she seen it last? On the entry floor? Flor went down the stairs to look.

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  “It’s down here,” she called, watching the rodent scurry under the door to the supposed bunkroom.

  Kiran came down the stairs, fully focused on getting the rat. “We’re it go?”

  “Under the door there.”

  “Not the bunkroom. Surya is probably sleeping and he’ll not take it lightly if I wake him. Do you want to go in?”

  “Absolutely not,” said Flor. “Just let one of your cats get it eventually. But I would like those five coins for pointing it out.”

  “But, it’ll eat the grains,” said Kiran, handing over the five coins. “I’ll give you another ten if you go in and get it for me?”

  “While that’s a pretty good exchange rate for a simple task, I’m not necessarily in the mood to go around killing harmless animals.”

  “You don’t need to kill it, just bring it to me.”

  “You’ll survive if I don’t.”

  The exterior door opened and another woman walked in. Muffaletta - Scribe 0 hung over her head. “You should just do the quest. It’s not like it’s a real marmot, anyway. It’ll help you solve the lighthouse, ya?”

  “Can I solve it without catching the marmot?”

  “Not that I’ve figured out,” said Muffaletta. “It drops a key to wind a clock that unlocks the puzzle.”

  “Oh. Okay. Well, I guess I’ll go get that rat, then,” said Flor heading toward the bunkroom.

  “It’s more like a vole than a rat. Also, you can do it without waking Surya. Difficult, though. Expect to get something thrown at you.”

  “Thanks,” said Flor as she opened the door with ‘daysleepers’ on it and slipped inside. She shut the door as quietly as she could. It was dark, but Flor’s interface flashed and she saw a five-by-five grid outline overlay the room. She was in the left middle. The other blocks around her were obscured. Yikes. This is different from what I’ve dealt with before. But I’d imagine there are bunks along the sides, and I have no idea where the rat is. Maybe there is a sound indicator that I’m missing.

  Flor modified her sound settings from almost nothing to around the 50% level. When she shifted back to the puzzle, she heard a constant snoring sound from the left, which must be Surya. There was also a small squeak from the right side of the room. There are probably some things I’d trip over if I went straight away. How do I navigate through here? Probably trial and error, but I don’t want to take the time for that. Maybe there are other sound cues. Flor listened harder.

  The snoring continued. The squeaking continued. Flor couldn’t distinguish any other sounds. Alright. Enough delay. She moved down one spot. Safe. Then she moved to the right. Also safe. The rat/marmot/vole was directly ahead. It can’t be that easy, right? Flor moved to the right again. Still nothing. Assuming the rat didn’t move, it would be two spots in front of her. She stepped forward and into what must have been a storage trunk because it was solid and didn’t move. It thudded.

  “Quiet! Sleeping here.” Something was thrown and hit the wall next to Flor. It sounded heavy and likely would have hurt if it hit her.

  She remained still for a moment. The snoring started again, then Flor heard the squeak from the same spot. Stupid rat! You could have moved and made this more challenging. The dark began to feel intrusive, and Flor wondered if she could escape quickly. Right or Left, or maybe retrace her steps to exit. But her health indicator was full. She couldn’t remember the last time it hadn’t been. So, maybe getting hit with a thrown object wasn’t the worst. She decided to try going to her right (south) and walked directly into a bunk. She cursed.

  “I said quiet!” A moment later something hard hit Flor in the shoulder. She watched her health drop to four of five. The darkness continued to close in on her, but she waited until she heard snoring and the squeak. Then she tried moving up and walked to a free spot. The snoring and squeak occurred, so she walked to the right. Again, nothing.

  Having been unable to see the room, Flor didn’t know if it was a maze with walls along the grid or just obstructions on the path. Walls would mean she could still go south even though she had walked into the grid from the other side and run into something. The game hasn’t had anything like that yet, though. So she moved to the right and was relieved to be in an open spot. The squeak was one spot down, so Flor moved south and heard it louder. She reached down and picked up a rodent. Although she held the squirming beast, it was still dark and no other indications occurred. She realized she had to backtrack…Not too challenging. Right.

  She moved up then left then left again then down and left. It was here, halfway through the way back, that the rat bit her. Fortunately, she had her brawler’s gloves on because she only felt the teeth a bit, but still let out a startled yip at the bite.

  Another object hit Flor in the shoulder. “One more and I’ll come throttle you,” said the voice from the north wall.

  Flor gripped the rodent as hard, but not too hard, as she retraced her steps to the door. The puzzle interface disappeared.

  Puzzle Complete. +1 to flow puzzles

  Complete puzzle again? Yes/No

  Flor opened the door and slipped through, then slammed it shut. A moment later there was a loud thud as something slammed into the door behind her.