"Michelle? You're the gamemaster?"
"I'm sorry.... I tried to win and save you guys but I failed, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
She wasn't making much sense, but I could tell she was blaming herself for something—Napmoth probably got in her head somehow. Still though—
"I only have three minutes on the call. Tell me the rules for the gamemaster and collaborator quickly"
"You jerk, you don't even care if I'm alright"
"If you can still talk, you're probably alright. Besides, I'm kinda in a hurry"
"...."
"Just sit tight, we're coming to save you"
She responded with a rather shy "uhmm" and told me the details of their own rules
Rules for Gamemaster and Collaborator
•Both sides play for the role of gamemaster and collaborator for each round
•The collaborator is allowed to send messages to all transmitters as long as it does not disclose any information on the game they are not already privy to as well as decide the order in which the coin is passed after the first person
•In each round, the gamemaster can select one player and change their job to swapper. The swapper is obligated to swap the coin they receive for the other color once he receives a coin.
•The gamemaster cannot select the person the leader passes his coin to as the swapper
•If the leader fails to guess the identity of the swapper, the person who swapped gains 2 points
•Neither the collaborator nor the gamemaster can answer any of the leader's question without the consent of the other
•Neither the Collaborator nor gamemaster are allowed to answer any question from the leader pertaining to that round which the leader is already not privy to
"I see...."
"That's all you have to say?!"
It's a good thing I called, otherwise, I might've missed the main focus of the game.
There are three points of interest in Michelle's account— First, the swapper doesn't refer to someone who changes the blue coin to a red one, it's a designated role like leader or receiver for the one person selected by the gamemaster who has no choice but to swap a blue coin for a red coin.
In the event someone aside the swapper changes from a blue to red, I am still required to guess the swapper and not necessarily the person who changed it.
Second, with the existence of a swapper, The receiver is guaranteed to receive a red coin every time. If I didn't make this call, that constant element could sow seeds of distrust as we move through this round or to the next round.
Finally, both sides must consent to Michelle answering any of my questions which means Napmoth probably has something to hide. I have to be discrete with my questions to get through it. Although....
"I assume you won't be telling me the identity of the swapper"
"Any information pertaining to the round are off limits"
"Thought so..... Well, I'll call you later"
"Hey! Wai—"
I hung up. Judging from her tone of speech and demeanor throughout our call, I doubt that butler did anything frisky to her.
That said, he didn't do nothing either.....
"We have a red coin"
The news lady said.
"Noted"
"How do we even go about guessing this swapper?! There are eight transmitters, It's a pretty tall order"
"Hmmm.... Is that so?"
She turned round and walked centimeters close to my face, trying to read my expression.
I used that opportunity to try poking her but she caught my finger
"What do you think you're doing, brat?"
"You're in my personal space"
"And you are being way too non-challant about this game despite the fact our lives are on the line!"
She smirked as she continued.
".....Or... Have you figured it out already?"
"I have it narrowed down to Brock, Freddie or your camera friend"
"Care to explain your reasoning?"
She asked in disbelief.
"Not really"
I replied, stepping back from the now frustrated news lady. Well, it's not like I was getting on her case on purpose, I really can't explain it to her.
There are 4 people within range of my mind reading— The prison guard, female extra 1, 2 and the fortune teller, if it was anyone of them, I'll be able to tell from their thoughts. I passed the coin to Adrian so I can rule him out, leaving three suspects left.
"Hmmm... To narrow it down even further...."
I can try reconstructing the order of the chain. I passed to Adrian making him the first person in the chain of transmitters. I don't know who he or the other three suspects passed to but I know those of the four within range. I also know whether they received a blue or red coin.... Now I just have to fill in the gaps.
Female extra 2 passed a blue coin to The Prison guard who passed to male extra 1.
Female extra 1 received and passed a red coin to the photographer and the fortune teller was the last on the chain who passed to the news lady.
Walking backwards, we can deduce the photographer was the one who passed the red coin to the fortune teller since he himself received a red coin. Female extra 1 also received the red coin so the person before her or two steps behind probably passed it to her.
Order
Adrian—?—?—?—?—FE1—P—FT—NL
Next, the blues. Female extra 2, Prison guard and Male extra 1 form a chain starting from the first person who received a blue coin. So either
Adrian—FE2—PG—ME—?—FE1—P—FT—NL
OR
Adrian—?—FE2—PG—ME—FE1—P—FT—NL
In the blank space lies Brock. Both scenarios are possible, in the first, either the male extra or Brock could be the swapper while in the second, Male extra is the only one who can be the swapper.
"Hmmm.... The realist or the jock?"
"What are you muttering over there, boy?"
"Nothing really"
Should I leave it to probabilities? No, think.... There has to be something else to level the playing field.
Wait.....
But still, that's just my personal take
I remembered that I had someone behind me who I could get a second opinion from
"Hey, News Lady"
"That's Ms News Lady to you"
"If you were the gamemaster for this round, who'll you select as the swapper"
"What's with that question? I'm not the gamemaster so I don't know how my answer will help you"
"C'mon, just humor me"
She thought about it for a few seconds
"And I can choose anyone?"
"Among the current transmitters, yes"
"There's no guarantee that's the answer"
"Just say it"
"Well..... It will be Allen"
Glad to know I'm not the only one who noticed....
"And why is that?
"What do you mean "why"? We may not be close but he's still my only acquaintance in this place, in the event the leader guessed wrong or lost the game, I'll at least want to guarantee his survival"
Among the rules, if even one person finishes with negative points, only the transmitter with highest points has his safety guaranteed.
In a case where the same person is the swapper in all three rounds, he'll be stuck at zero if the leader guesses right everytime and 6 if he guesses wrong everytime. In both cases, he survives.
Michelle might be annoying but she's not stupid, I'm sure she noticed that rule. If she was going to select one person to earn two points when push comes to shove, and it was between Brock and the male extra....
I entered Brock's name and sent it. I received a correct reply and the first round was cleared.
There was a 1 minute break before starting the second round.
I passed the coin to Adrian again as the second round began and dialled the gamemaster instantly.
"Greetings challen—"
I hung up.
"So Napmoth's the Gamemaster this time, huh? On one hand, I don't have enough information to deduce his thought process, but on the other hand"
It means Michelle decides the chain order
I quickly dialled the collaborator
"Ada—"
"Listen, use the exact order I give you"
"B-But..."
"Huh? What is it? While you can't answer questions without the gamemaster's consent, it doesn't say the same for requests"
"I know that, but....."
She paused slightly then continued in a low voice
"....No, it's nothing. Give me the order"
I told her the exact order I wanted
Adrian—PG—Brock—FE1—ME—FE2—P—FT
An order that made the most of the four people whose minds I could read. Those outside my range are guaranteed to pass to someone in range so the moment it's swapped, someone who's mind I can read will receive the red coin.
No matter who's the swapper, I'll know.
The red coin eventually reached the receiver and it was about time to clear this round.
The first person to receive a red coin was female extra 2, which means the male extra was the swapper.
I locked in Freddie as my answer and....
Wrong
"What?"
We lost the 2 points we made earlier while Brock sank into the negatives.
Another 1 minute recess
"You guessed wrong, leader"
"I can see that"
She sat behind me
"What happened? Was your guess in the first round a fluke?"
"Call it what you like, Male extra 1 was definitely the one who swapped that coin"
"Male extra.....1?"
"That one guy in our group you hardly ever notice"
" Oh, that guy.... Perhaps he swapped the coin voluntarily, and someone else was the swapper"
"The swapper is obligated to swap the coin he receives. If he was after the male extra, we would've gotten a blue coin, and if it was before, I would know from the order."
It's Impossible for anyone else to be the swapper.
"Hmmm..... Care to explain how you know from the order?"
"Nope"
"You're one infuriating kid, you know that?!"
"Haha"
"It wasn't a complement!"
Nevertheless, I doubt the ruling was rigged, Michelle is right there with him, she'd raise hell if the guy actually cheated.
I need some clarity, might as well get her input.
I dialled the collaborator
"Tell me, who was the swapper last round?"
"Well.... I wanted to tell you earlier but I couldn't because of the rules"
That explains her strange behavior earlier
"It's fine now..... The rules prevent you from answering any question pertaining to the round, but since that round is over, it should be fine"
There was a brief moment of silence, then she replied.
"Okay..... The swapper was.... Napmoth himself"
"WHAT THE HELL?! THAT'S CHEATING"
I and the news lady chorused.
"He is a cheater, true, but not this time"
"Explain"
"Recall the exact rules carefully on selecting the swapper"
"Hmm... Let me think... In each round, the gamemaster can select one player and change their job to swa—"
Wait—
"Shit"
"Seems you've realized it. That's right, the grandmaster can select any one player, not necessarily a transmitter. Since the Gamemaster is also a player in the game, he can be selected as swapper"
The only restriction was that it can't be the person I passed to. Other than that, anything goes.
Crap! How did I not realize that sooner?!
"No...way.... THAT'S BULLSHIT!"
The news lady exclaimed in disbelief. Shortly after, we heard Napmoth's voice echo a reply
"Hahahaha, it's not my fault you're a bunch of dimwits. By the way, I'm the Gamemaster for the next round as well so it's not over, haha"
I could feel his arrogance penetrating the airwaves and making it's way into this phone
"If you want to speak, do it on your time, clown. Hand the phone back to the queen bee"
Surprisingly, he complied rather easily and I told Michelle to maintain the same chain as last round before ending the call.
"That weasel..... So that was the reason for that unnecessary role"
The key to Napmoth's strategy last round was the collaborator's motivation texts. In the first round where he was the collaborator, he used that opportunity to turn one of the transmitters traitor
And that was the male extra, Freddie.
He was already on edge after we decided to return for Michelle, Napmoth took advantage of that to entice him with the transmitter's last two rules— if I guess incorrectly, he earns two points because he chose to swap, and at the end of the game, he'll have the highest point and be the only one to walk out of here alive.
He manipulated Freddie into becoming an accomplice but still the fault primarily lies with me— If I'd handled the situation better, there wouldn't have been an insecurity to exploit.
*Sigh....
I passed the coin and the third round started.
"What the...."
"What is it, kid?"
I sat on the floor. Is this some kind of joke? Did he use the same plan a second time? Or was he expecting me to think that and tried using my uncertainty against me? No, from the way he was talking, I could tell he had something else up his sleeve. Still though...
"Once this is over, I'm socking that extra in the face"
Freddie swapped a blue coin for red again.
So which is it? Am I overthinking it?
I still had about two minutes of call time left, but I can't think of anything I can ask her to clear my thoughts. Hmm....
I called Michelle nonetheless
"A-Adam..."
"Haha, judging from your tone, I guess I wasn't overthinking things after all"
Napmoth definitely cooked up another pile of shit, one even more unbelievable than naming himself swapper.
Michelle doesn't believe I can figure it out, but that means I can rule out some possibilities— I'm sure it's not Freddie, and it's not Napmoth or Michelle either.
But then again, is there really something more unbelievable than what he already did within the rules of the game?
"Hey, Michelle..."
"Hmmm? What is it?"
"Earlier, when you said he was a cheater, what did you mean?"
Specifically, she said "He is a cheater, true, but not this time"
"Well.... When we were playing the game to decide the collaborator and Gamemaster, he cheated to win"
"Yeah, I wanted to ask about that, it's kinda strange for him to be the gamemaster twice in a row. What game did you play?"
"It was a game called Joker's Whot, we played three rounds and we got to be the Gamemaster for the rounds we won"
She explained the events of the game aggressively to me.
"See..... reading minds is plain cheating! He should be shot dead!....."
And I'll probably be shot right along with him, no thanks.
"..... and a spell for swapping a card, that's just...."
"Nah, you walked right into that one"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I'm saying he didn't use any spells and he certainly didn't read your mind. Seriously, it's only been a couple of hours since we ended up here, have you already lost your grip on reality?"
It was a very simple but clever trick
"Huh? Then how..."
"I'll explain if we get out of here. Although, one thing I can say is.... Like you, he's a genius at observation"
I ended the call
Michelle's POV
He cut the call after that. Seriously, why does he always have to be so secretive and cryptic? He's not earning himself points, that's for sure.
"I didn't expect him to uncover my trick so quickly. He's an above average dimwit, at least"
"Shut up, you cheater"
"Hey, hey.... You reviewed the rules as well, and agreed that my selection for swapper was valid within the rules"
"That doesn't make it any less dirty"
"Says the girl who thought she could get away with marking the joker"
He retorted, smiling mockingly. It was almost like I could hear him calling me stupid through that smile.
And the fact he didn't call me out on it during the game was even more infuriating, he could've secured a win through the instant disqualification rule, but apparently, he didn't even consider me a challenge.
"Well, I gave the leader the opportunity to ask me for a hint once and he's yet to use it, we should be expecting his call soon. In the meantime...."
He leaned forward, interlacing his fingers
"Why don't I explain my trick during the Joker's Whot game, and why you're so very stupid"
Deep breaths, don't let him get to you
"Is there a reason why you're choosing to reveal it now?"
"Not really, I didn't tell you earlier because I wanted your blond friend to also believe I could read minds, but since he's figured it out already, there's no point in hiding it..... Besides, it's more fun watching you drown in your own ignorance and stupidity"
This jerk! ....He gave a short pause then continued
"As you've already heard from your friend before getting captured, I have been watching you all ever since you woke up in your escape room—"
"—Creep!"
"Not the point, lady..... Anyway, by watching you all in various situations, I was able to pick up on those subtle gestures you yourself aren't aware of— such as when you twitch your pinky finger a little when trying to hide something, shift your centre of gravity when telling a lie or tilt your head ever so slightly when you feel in control"
"I...do that?"
"Can't blame you, your gestures are so slight it isn't even noticable at a glance. You were the hardest one to put down if that makes you feel any better. Had to rewind the footage several times, but now, I can read you like a book....."
So then, he wasn't reading my mind? Just observing?.... Then that means I was right about how he was completing my sentences
"..... Anyway, I used the first round to confirm those tells in an actual game and let you win so I'll be able to use the collaborator rights in the first round of this game. I handed you the deck after placing the joker and watched you shuffle, keeping my eyes on the joker's position the whole time. Then I shuffled and made sure the joker was out of reach the first round..."
He rested his back on the chair
"... During the next round, I shuffled first, making sure the joker will be close after you shuffled, I'd already taken note of your shuffling pattern from last round, so the odds were in my favor....."
He was watching that too?!
"There were two cases— I get the joker or you get the joker. If I did, I'll trick you into using a match call and if you did, I'll use a joker call. From your tells, I realized you had the joker and simply called it"
"What about how you swapped the Joker?"
"And that's where you're stupid for believing such a lie"
"Hey!"
"I simply watched the way you marked the joker and did the same as I was about drawing from the deck in my final turn. You were already rattled and trying your best to block my 'mind reading', couple that with how bad you were losing and your desperation for victory, it's no surprise you didn't notice. What a stupid girl"
"So then....."
"That's right, you're the stupid one for not realizing. Well, there was nothing you could do anyway, I'm simply just amazing"
I was conned? Me?!
*RING RING
Napmoth's phone rang out
"Greetings Challenger..... I see you didn't hang up this time"
It was Adam at the other end of the phone, he used his third perk to request a hint. Napmoth's reply was one that shocked me
"I have already given you the hint"
He ended the call.
"What???"
"Huh? That was the hint, obviously"
"THAT'S NOT A HINT!"
"Hohoho, it's not my fault you're—"
"Stupid, I know. But it beats being a coward, you're just afraid Adam will kick your ass if you face him fair and square"
"And why will I be afraid of him? Sure, he's a little less stupid than you but..... He's far easier to read"
"What?"
"Didn't you hear what I said earlier? You were the hardest among the bunch. He has far more tells than you do"
What? But that means.... Napmoth's creepy smile confirmed my fears
"Your thought is correct. Even if we wins,all that awaits when he confronts me is despair"
Adam's POV
"I've already given you the hint? What the hell is that?"
He pulls the same crap every damn game! Except this time, that's all he said, so unlike previous instances, it's not a play on words.
Perhaps something in the rules? Or somewhere else?
"Sighhhhhh..... What a pain!"
From Michelle's account and my own observations so far, I have a pretty good idea of the kind of person Napmoth Hetof Riscmooum is.
The things he does may seem unfair at first glance, but he actually plays by the rules, fully exploiting the loopholes to secure victory. Then there's that "it's not my fault you're stupid" phrase he uses when accused of playing dirty—
He enjoys battling it out with an opponent of equal intellect— someone who can also see those loopholes and plan for him exploiting them. That's why he deliberately leaves clues and a way out, obscure clues that you'll only notice with keen observation.
"Probably also why he and Sara get along"
"Hey, brat.... You've been muttering to yourself for a while now, you good?"
"Huh? Pay me no mind. Although, were there any rules that stuck out as strange to you?"
"Well.....aside from the one about that swapper, not really. Here"
She handed me her phone where she'd noted down all rules aside from the receiver's in the chat box. Helpful
".... The bigger mystery is how he managed to cut off reception. We're in a residential area for crying out loud"
I kept quiet on that. Not like I can tell her it was probably some supernatural mumbo jumbo... Wait—
There's no reception, but I can still contact the Gamemaster and Collaborator, why?
Was the phone modified somehow?
"Hmmm... Could this be it?"
I looked at her phone and realized it was a different model from the one I was using.
"Hey....are the other participants using the same model phone or it's just you?"
"Huh? I'm pretty sure it was the same model, so we all chose at random"
If that's the case, maybe.... Just maybe. I looked through my previous messages and checked the rules again then realized that might be the loophole
Napmoth said he had already given me hint, not it had already been given like the other instances, which suggests he gave me the hint himself.... Maybe not now, but much earlier
On the Rooftop
I copied the rules to clipboard then cleared the chatbox, after that, I tested my hypothesis on her phone's chatbox.
And I was right.
I sent a blank text as my reply to the swapper's identity and I was correct.
That's right, there was no swapper this round. The rules say the gamemaster can choose, it's not obligatory.
Back on the roof, I was given two phones of the same model and asked to select one while Napmoth took the other. This was to show me that we were both using the same type of phone for this game. The reason for that lies in the strange thing he did after.
He sent me a blank text, claiming to be testing the chat, that was a lie. In regular chatting apps, when there is no text in the chatbox, you can't send it like that, the send icon becomes a recording function.
In essence, you can't send a literal blank text.
However, his phone was modified to do so and that message was his way of telling me that mine was as well and I could send a blank text too. He had other participants use different models to make that fact obvious.
My answer was correct and we earned two points while Freddie lost the two he got last round.
The game ended with positive points—2 points for most of us and 0 for Brock and Freddie
Congratulations! You've successfully cleared the stage and earned a match with Napmoth Hetof Riscmooum.
There will be a 10 minute Break before then, use it wisely.