Post by Vulpix on Dec 27, 2023 23:15:27 GMT -6
Welcome to Rhine Manor!
In the years since being (mostly) exorcised, its residents have made some significant renovations. While Ball and Vee Pitt are taking their two boys on a three-week trip to Europe, they've installed some inspired new defense systems to keep potential intruders from breaking in and stealing their fortune. Here's a diagram of the house as it looks now*:
You are a burglar. Your job is to steal the Rhine Mario Pitt family fortune. Because of your prior observations, you know that the house is heavily booby-trapped, and you have a good idea of where each trap is located. You also know that as long as you don't linger for too long in any of the trapped rooms, you'll be able to make it past the trap unscathed. Unfortunately, the mansion is big and you are not physically fit—your substandard stamina requires you to rest every so often. You want to make it through as quickly as possible, because you've heard rumors of an old and powerful spirit who also calls this place home. As a modern fellow, you obviously don't believe in such tripe... but you don't exactly want to take your chances by hanging around too long, either. You are able to move in bursts of up to six rooms at a time, but due to your physical ineptitude you cannot travel the same distance twice. If you go six rooms at the start, you'll be too tired to do another six-room burst, and your next limit will be five, and so on. Of course, because of the manor's size, you will have to use all six of your stamina bursts (from a burst of 6 at a time to a burst of 1), although not necessarily in that order (you know to plan around the traps and conserve your energy appropriately). Worth noting is that the first room counts as 'one,' not 'zero.' It takes energy to enter the door.
After you reach the room with the treasure, you will then have to leave Rhine Manor, once again navigating in bursts through all the rooms and avoiding lingering in any trapped room. Because of your extra rest in the treasure room, you actually manage to go into the neighbouring room before you have to begin conserving your energy through the up-to-six-room dashes—your starting room for the way back is the one adjacent to the treasure room in which you had previously finished. Once again, though, you will have to use all six (an extra for getting through the front yard, which is not trapped). Worth noting is that the room where you begin your journey back (the room next to the treasure room) counts as 'zero,' not 'one.' Your brief rest in the treasure room refreshed you enough that your first step on the way back did not affect your energy levels.
So, thief, in what order should you use your bursts of stamina? How many rooms should you dash through at a time getting to the treasure, and how many should you dash through at a time getting out again?
*Not including the basement, greenhouse, or outdoor space, which are not trapped and not necessary to pass through to reach the treasure, and therefore not included in this puzzle. That means the ball pit is off-limits, Toasty. Also, 'empty' rooms still have stuff in them, obviously, but for the purposes of the diagram, furniture and household objects have been omitted.
*Not including the basement, greenhouse, or outdoor space, which are not trapped and not necessary to pass through to reach the treasure, and therefore not included in this puzzle. That means the ball pit is off-limits, Toasty. Also, 'empty' rooms still have stuff in them, obviously, but for the purposes of the diagram, furniture and household objects have been omitted.