♕ Game 59: Citrine

[dramatispersonae]

[When the ring of the grandfather clock fades, you find yourselves in a relatively small, rectangular room. Wherever you stand in the room, you can hear a pervasive ticking noise. The floor, walls and ceiling are all covered with chequered tiling. There is just enough space in the room for a table, surrounded by several chairs. There is a piece of paper on the table, and five ornately engraved chess pieces on the table, perhaps three times the size of a standard chess piece:

- a white knight
- a black queen
- a white king
- a black bishop
- a white pawn

At the end of the room, there is a large machine. The closer you get to it, the louder the ominous ticking sound gets. It is made entirely of metal, full of twisting gears and plated wires, but everything is covered and coated and completely unassailable. The only parts of the machine that is easily interacted with are the four round slots on the console, which are conveniently the exact size of the chess pieces on the table. Beside the slots are four circular lights, placed in a square. None of them are currently lit. There is a plaque nailed to the machine which reads: "DEFUSE ME ♥!" Uh oh.

There is a clock above the machine which reads twelve, midnight. At the centre of the clock, "1" is written.]

Comments

[pyrocatharsis]

[nod]

The queen's current position to be taken by the pawn, and the knight to replace either the bishop or the king. Which shall we keep in the original position?

[toolate]

Try the king. Then the knight, if that doesn't work.

[pyrocatharsis]

The bishop. But yes, all right.