hutt's puzzle dump

    The cave narrows and shows no signs of getting brighter. For the first time in his life, Renn feels vaguely claustrophobic.  Anticipating another encounter, Felix feels for his quiver to draw an arrow. With a sense of panic, he tells Renn, "I lost my quiver! I don't know when or where... but if we retrace our steps, maybe we can find it?" They complete a round trip around some fungi but find nothing. Rules: Shade some more cells following Cave shading rules and draw a loop that fills the unshaded space. Numbers may be cut in half one or more times with the ax such that they count the amount of shaded cells in the direction their arrows point, but none of the arrows are provided. Arrows can only point up, left, right, or down. penpa link (has answer check)

     The tunnel takes a turn, and suddenly they are shrouded in almost complete darkness. Luminescent fungi scattered sparsely along the walls emit faint beams of light to maintain the suggestion of walls. Renn continues to swat the bugs and starts to enter a sort of rhythm. His hand no longer recoils reflexively from the hard stone. He hits one and then another, each time dimming the buzz and allowing himself to hear his own hand a little louder. Then he strikes something soft and moist. A brief fear builds within the men as they behold the characteristic growl of an angry ogre. They make haste to appease the ogre by demonstrating their intent. Rules: This puzzle has layers. Shade some cells in a way that respects Cave shading and draw a path that passes from the left end to the right end through all and only the unshaded cells. Bugs are unshaded and must be smacked by the path by entering the cell from a side opposite a side that cannot be traversed. Numbers are s...

     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...