Easter fun at the Redbright Institute (Scavenger Hunt!)

[undergroundmods]

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Spring is in the air and the Redbright Institute is hosting a weekend of Easter-themed family fun. The event is held outdoors on the Redbright grounds and includes an Easter egg trail, five-a-side football, croquet, arts and crafts, and a cake sale. Plus, a stall for refreshments selling tea and coffee for the adults and fruit juice for the kids. It's all decidedly kid-friendly and not magical at all. Expect to see lots of excitable children running around.

Of course, there is one event for the grown-ups: the much anticipated scavenger hunt! Teams sign up on the morning of 14th April and must solve all the clues by the event's close in order to win the grand prize.

Instructions for the Scavenger Hunt
• There are five clues to solve. You will receive each clue one at a time. Each clue leads to the location of the next clue.
• The answer to the clues is always either a person or a location (or sometimes both at once). To find the next clue, you must search the location or ask the person the clue points to. The answers are not all located in the Redbright Institute, which means your characters will be racing across London to try and find all the clues.
• Except for the first clue which you are given directly at reception when you sign up, every clue is wrapped up with a red ribbon. The ribbon itself has no significance, it just tells your characters that they've found the actual clue rather than a random object.
• You can ask for help up to three times. Help is provided by Mogget, who as you all know is very friendly. You need to tell him the clue you're struggling with before he can help you, so make sure you do that in your first tag to avoid wasting time.
• Everything above is ICly explained to your characters when they sign up so they know what to do. They also know about the time limit.
• When you think you know the answer to the clue, post ICly with your character searching that location or approaching a character and highlight that part of your tag in bold like this. This will allow me to quickly and easily see that you've answered a clue so that I can reply to either give you the next one or let you know to try again.
• Every character that participates will receive an Easter egg and a bonus two activity points!
• You have until 23:59 Sunday 16th April (GMT+1) to solve all the clues! If you manage to solve them all in the time limit and reach your end goal, the characters in the winning team(s) will receive an awesome prize and an extra bonus four activity points. If you don't solve them in the time limit, your team won't win the prize.
• One more tip: If you think you know the answer, go straight to that location or person in the first couple of tags! You can dally around for as many tags as you want, but that will waste time and make it less likely that you'll get through all five clues within the time limit.

[The scavenger hunt is closed to those characters who signed up, but the rest of this event is open to everyone! Feel free to mingle. If you have any questions about the event, please ask here.]

Comments

GENERAL MINGLE

[undergroundmods]

For those of you taking a break to enjoy some Easter-themed fun. Families are very welcome! Anyone else can join too, but please remember that there are children present.

Nancy | OTA

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy was not here because of her support of Redbright. Nancy was here because this was a free event for children, and she happened to have a few of them that were interested in going. Fagin, staunchly against the witches at this particular time, as well as Nancy herself, refused to go near the Institute, so the role fell to Nancy.

She'd joined Cesare's team for the egg hunt on a bit of a whim, though that wasn't for a few hours yet. So in the meanwhile, she'll be doing her big sisteryist, and trying to corral a small army of pick-pockets. But you can bet her tea is spiked.

Evie | OTA

[freelife]

The Redbright Institute was not Daybreak. That's what Evie had to remind herself when she decided to attend the Easter celebration. Her girlfriend (girlfriend! she could hardly believe it) worked there, and it would be nice to have a somewhat public outing together. Amongst people they knew.

She wasn't worried what people thought. Screw them- she was happy. Goodness, she was extremely happy with Natasha, something that showed on her face every time she glanced her way. She'd do near anything she asked, without hesitation, so family-friendly events were part of the package.

Most of the event has Evie wandering- taking a look at some of the crafts in particular, and maybe even eyeing a particularly delicious looking cake.

TEAM NANSARE (NANCY AND CESARE)

[undergroundmods]

Thank you, Nancy and Cesare, for signing up for the scavenger hunt! Your first clue is a small slip of paper that has the following words printed on it:

GRIP ON LIVID BREATH

There's nothing else on the paper. Good luck!

[longterm]

Cesare didn't exactly know why he was doing this, but he was. He thought he was beyond childish scavenger hunts but mentions of it had occurred, jokes about volunteering had been made and sure enough Cesare was participating with Nancy. They were a peculiar team, but to be honest, Cesare intended to do most of this on his own and simply have Nancy along for the ride. It wasn't as if Nancy had hundreds of years of knowledge on her side.

When Cesare saw the first clue, he immediately thought anagram, grabbing a pen and paper and scrawling out the letters in a hand that was a little too ornate for the occasion. He was stuck on the word "bridge" for a while, until he lucked upon "Redbright". His obsession with Sylvia had paid off.

He wasted no time and quickly Nancy and Cesare were at Redbright Pavilion. Cesare looked about the space, his brow furrowed. Cesare was always nothing if not competitive.

[undergroundmods]

Lo and behold, there's a brown envelope tied up with a red ribbon to one of the posts on the pavilion. Inside the envelope is a picture of a bird with the words "scientia potestas est" written on the back in elegant handwriting. There's nothing else to find.

[longterm]

Cesare grabs the envelope immediately and rips it open. He frowns at it. "Knowledge is power", he reads aloud as easily as if it were his native tongue. That part is easy enough for him. But then there's some bird on it? He turns to Nancy and hands her the photo.

"It's in the institute still, the answer," he says fairly resolutely. After all, that's where knowledge is acquired. "What do you think?"

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy frowns at the words and picture. Of course he knows Latin, she isn't surprised at all. Nancy takes the picture of the bird and turns it over slowly. "It's a nightingale. But what does that have to do with knowledge? unless... Is there a faculty member or something with that surname? It's common enough around here."

"Let's find a teacher with the name Nightengale," Nancy says, before leading Cesare off the pavilion. It takes a few minutes for Nancy to ask around, but someone points her in the direction of Thomas Nightengale.

"excuse me, Mr. Nightengale? are you our clue?"

TEAM NATOUL (NATASHA AND GHOUL)

[undergroundmods]

Thank you, Natasha and Ghoul, for signing up for the scavenger hunt! For your first clue, you are given a page photocopied from a book. On the back is a red stamp reading "OVERDUE".

That's all there is. Good luck!

[outstandingbalance]

Consider it school spirit that Natasha's here. At this point, she doesn't mind the opportunity for a break, and maybe to put her skills to use doing something frivolous. She's not, as she's learning in London, entirely above fun.

"Should we go with the obvious?" Natasha asks, shrugging. It seems as good a place to start as any.

It doesn't take long before they're searching the library for signs of the next clue, starting with the bestiaries.

[undergroundmods]

Like every other section of the library, the bestiary is arranged in alphabetical order. A cursory glance over the shelves reveals nothing obvious. They'll have to browse the books themselves.

Are they looking for a particular book? At what letter would they like to start?

[outstandingbalance]

The photocopy is too distorted to make out all of the text. Natasha will check the D section to see if she can this specific volume.

[ghoulaid]

That is... a lot of books. "Holy fuckin' shit." Of course it is, Ghoul. It's a library. That's what they're for. "There seriously needs to be control-F in real life."

Meanwhile, he starts searching through the G volumes. It's a goblin, so maybe it'll be pretty straightforward.

ASK MOGGET

[bellbound]

Mogget can be found curled up in his very own cat bed in the reception seating area. He will provide hints for each team up to three times. You can either approach him in person or if you're out somewhere in London, you can text him to receive a hint. (How can he text back given his lack of opposable thumbs? Another mystery to figure out...)

Of course, if you're not involved in the scavenger hunt, there's still nothing stopping you from approaching! He's taking a well-earned rest since fleeing the attack in Croydon.

[longterm]

Hello! Here's a text from Cesare because he and Nancy are thoroughly stuck.

Stuck on clue 3:

"Coming back to dare me then, I'm saying."

Any thoughts?
CB

[bellbound]

Mogget makes them wait five minutes before they receive a reply because he's an asshole like that.

The answer is contained in the clue. Read it differently.

That'll give them something to ponder. Of course, if they're still stuck they can always ask again.

[longterm]

Cesare doesn't exactly appreciate being made to wait, so when he replies, he's a little fierce.

We figured that. Tell us something else?

[bellbound]

The first two words tell you which way to read.

That should be enough of a hint for them to get it, he thinks. Isn't one of them a vampire? Then again, that doesn't guarantee anything in terms of intelligence...

Re: ASK MOGGET

[outstandingbalance]

"Could we get a hint how to read our clue, It would be a fine thing to compel lords?" We're a little hung up."

[bellbound]

"Hello to you too," replies the cat drily. Look at him, dragged in here to help with some silly game, and the players can't even be bothered to greet him. His least favourite werewolf is also on this little team which makes him even less inclined to help, but orders are orders. He stretches out on his cat bed, seeming to think for a moment. "As for your riddle... Start by asking yourself what it is."

[ghoulaid]

Speaking of his most favorite werewolf...

Ghoul's not horribly far behind Natasha. He pulls up just in time to hear Mogget's hint. It sounds like it could be an item or something, but that's not possible. He's pretty sure it can only be a person or a place.

"Hey, powderpuff." Maybe he shouldn't have complained about not being greeted... Ghoul flops himself down, sitting on the ground near the cat bed. Listen, they've been doing a lot of running around today. He deserves a rest. "So, what is it? A person?" Might as well narrow down their options.

[bellbound]

Powderpuff? What does that even mean?

Mogget flexes his claws, just because. He narrows his eyes at Ghoul. "It is a word. It's also only part of the answer." He casts a look over at Natasha. "A vampire and a werewolf teaming up, oh my. You Redbright vampires truly have lost your teeth."

Metaphorically speaking. He wonders if an Islington vampire would even deign to stand next to a werewolf. Then again, perhaps the new vampire in charge has different ideas. Mogget still doesn't know much about him.

[ghoulaid]

Mogget. Mogget. Mogget. Guess what Ghoul won.

It's a giant rabbit. One that he flops down half-on-top of the cat bed, whether Mogget is inside it or not. It's a stuffed bunny, it ain't gonna crush him. "On a scale of one to ten, how mad does it make you knowin' you helped my team win?"

[bellbound]

What did he ever do to deserve this.

Mogget scowls as the giant toy rabbit lands on his cat bed, lifting a paw to push it over. The rabbit is bigger than he is. And of course there's an obnoxious grin on Ghoul's face. Typical.

"Hmm," the cat replies. "How does it make you feel knowing that you couldn't have managed it without my help?"

He doesn't think they would have gotten that last clue without a hint. He practically had to give away the answer.

[ghoulaid]

"It don't bother me so much. Only had to talk to you that one time." Ghoul watches the rabbit topple to the side. He bends down only seconds later, righting it once more and propping it unnecessarily close to Mogget's bed. Again. "Now that ain't no way to treat your twin after you worked so hard on gettin' him to me."