hutt's puzzle dump

     Renn and Felix descend into the cave proper. The natural angle of sunlight at the hour shines perfectly along the tunnel. Presently, it illuminates the webs of ordinary-sized spiders. The webs drape low and overflow with small winged pests. The droning of their free comrades overlap into a shrill tone. Felix covers his ears, but Renn makes an effort to smack one of them against the wall. The others don't seem to care, so he continues to do so as they navigate deeper. Rules: Draw a path from left to right which doesn't pass through any walls or shaded squares. Every bug must be smacked by entering its cell from a side opposite a side which cannot be passed through. penpa link (has answer check)

  The entrance to the cave is shrouded by a cactus patch. Felix remarks, "I don't believe these are native to the region." Renn draws his ax and looks for an opening. Rules: Fill the grid with cacti which grow up from the ground. Every cactus has a spine which is a straight line that starts in the bottom row and travels up at least one square. At most one arm may branch from any cell of the spine except the top or bottom, by going one square to the side and then at least one square straight up but no higher than the spine. Numbers indicate how many arms are on the cacti that grow from them, but the ax may be used to cut them in half as many times as needed. Blossoms must be in the top cell of either a spine or an arm. penpa link (has answer check)

     Not too far from the cave, Renn and Felix happen upon a collection of cages amidst a clearing in a dense forest. The towering trees bend away from the boxes as though attempting to flee the scene with minds of their own . Renn shudders, imagining the trees moving and confining them for eternity.      The cages are tall but not very wide. Renn gets close to one and attempts to inspect its miniature label. "Gibberish," he decides. Felix follows suit and gravely claims, "They've been cursed. A substitution spell, most likely. Whoever reinforced these has powerful spells... and powerful cages." They stay for a short while to study how to crack them. Then, they continue backtracking for the map they set out to find. Rules: Solve as a 4x4 Killer Sudoku. The cages' corner clues are encrypted with a cipher: every symbol corresponds to a digit from 0 to 9. Furthermore, the ax may be used on these corner numbers to cut their values in half as many times as need...

FYTTE THE FIRST   in which findings are more noteworthy than expected.     By digging in the appropriate spot, the explorers find two things. One is a relic of some previous harvest: a rotting core with its seeds still clinging on. The other is a rusty hatchet. Renn picks up the hatchet and inspects it with a sense of curiosity. Felix says, "I recall you consider yourself somewhat of a berserker. This could be much more fun to whirl around you." With a brief sense of impatience, Renn asks, "What's the power?" Felix carefully picks up the core by its stem and throws it in a slow slight upward arc to Renn, who swings the hatchet at it. Not only does he succeed in slicing it, but the core is cut perfectly in half through and including the stem. A slight smile grows on Renn's face as he says, "It's not half bad. I'll take it for a swing." He runs to an edge of the glade to snap off some low-hanging twigs and spends a handful of minutes trying t...

PRELUDE      A swordsman and an archer travel deep within an apple orchard. The swordsman says, "Felix, you know as well as I that the cave is countless paces behind us. When would you tell me where we're going?" The archer replies, "Now, since we're here. We've come to get you a new weapon." They stop as soon as they enter the glade. The swordsman perks up a bit and claims, "Tell me it's an enchanted blade, capable of piercing the strongest of armors, and I'll be respectful." Felix says, "It is enchanted, Renn. The questmaster said as much." Renn asks, "The questmaster? I was there with you; she said nothing of this... and why would it still be here, anyhow?" In a dash of realization, Felix states, "I went on my own terms to someone different from that woman who wanted the map. He said nobody else wants it." Renn sulks and says, "I care not for lame enchantments," to which Felix assures him: ...

 It feels strange to complain about waiting and then immediately complain about having too much to think about, but such is life. I've been procrastinating the perfect amount on the upcoming series. Between that, new forays, nostalgic returns, grand inspired plans, and responsibility I've felt unprepared for, I have a lot on my plate. Over the summer I could claim I felt like I had everything and nothing to do and happily indulge in the latter when I stayed on pace. Now I think the same and still indulge in the latter while barely on pace. Certain things have fallen through the cracks as I only tend to pursue what I think is most important at any given time rather than keep everything in mind. The following puzzles were made back in July. While searching for them I encountered a couple other standalone puzzles I had forgotten to post here, which were scheduled for the past two days. However, this type seems to fit this post best. Number Wall was invented by Nuujaka. Shade some...