by Willow Palecek
Just in time for Gencon, here's two new puzzles to keep you occupied during the ride, flight, or running gun-battle to the convention.
Shards of Warped Reflection
Difficulty: Easy to Medium
Below are four Shadowfist related lists. Unfortunately, they've all been translated through a cipher. In each list, every instance of a given letter is replaced by another letter. (For example, the letter A might be replaced with Q.) The cipher changes from list to list, so be wary! Any punctuation is kept intact.
List One: Feng Shui Sites
ZGZN FKOQXZ ENTUWN
RDGKWUXXW XS AWXXF
EDN AWMN TXXZ YWMA
SXI UOLL
UKXCGZQ QKXMZF
TOD-PDXZQQ UOKWXK
TXXZ AOLN
HGZXLDGEO DXMLN
FGLYX
GFNZEGEJ YDXU LDXU
List Two: Unique Characters
OMVB, ZJI HKZZHI ETDBMV
TDSJIH FSOJDVI
XTKFAO
QMAT GATVKVB QKOZO
GDZZHISJKFX XMZIFWKV
LMJDVV GMVIVBIH
OWU ETDBMV
OJDM ZJI WKHHIT
ZJI GDTMN
ZKVB ZKVB
List Three: Foundation Characters
FANJJA FYJJSJNF
AXJ SOJIPJI
WLAXJWLPDQDLM
FDMDFAJN SNDJFA
KDP WLQLHBJ LAALQO
IML WLPJ
YLX-FXLM QOLM YLNNDENF
FXLEODM FYENIFWLM
DQJ XJLOJN
XLQVJN
List Four: IHAFTWGN
NUGRTAHFL
HNALGRLR
OJCTNFN
LHFLCN WI FSL YWFJN
DHZZLCN
HCASTFLAFN WI FSL IYLNS
NLKLG ZHNFLCN
XJTRTGX SHGR
IWJC ZWGHCASN
RCHXWGN
"Royal Flush"
Difficulty: Hard
You're playing a three player game with Tim and Rebecca. Rebecca has four sites and is at victory- and she's attacking your Nine Dragon Temple with all four Monarchs. Due to Tim's Political Lock, there's not much he can do to help out. "All I've got is an Operation Killdeer," he said, "and a Bull Market, if you need the power."
Working with Tim, cause Rebecca's attack to fail.
You: (Hand/Lotus)
6 Cards in Hand (Amulet of the Turtle, Bribery, Living Legend, Pump-Action Shotgun, Mysterious Return, Shrieking Witch Heads)
No Power
One Site Burned for Victory
Resources: Chi 4, Hand 8, Lotus 6, Magic 5
Cards in Play:
Location One:
Instrument of the Hand (2 Fighting)
Earth Poisoner (2 Fighting)
Iron Hands Ma (2 Fighting, 5 Damage against Characters)
One Hundred Names (6 Fighting)
Sinister Priest
Xiang Kai (4 Fighting)
Nine Dragon Temple, front row (7 Body)
Yellow Senshi Chamber, back row (6 Body)
Location Two:
Buddhist Monk (3 Fighting)
Walking Corpses (4 Fighting)
Wandering Monk (3 Fighting)
Arctic Fortress, front row (8 Body)
Edges:
Chinese Connection
Superior Mastery
Smoked Pile:
Golden Candle Society (1 Fighting)
Sinister Priest (1 Fighting)
Shamanistic Punks (1 Fighting)
Rebel Consumer (3 Fighting)
Tim: (Ascended)
2 Cards in Hand (Bull Market, Operation Killdeer)
0 Power
Cards in Play:
Cobra Clan Stalkers (3 fighting)
Femme Fatale (2 fighting)
Leopard Clan Warriors, turned (5 fighting)
Wolf Clan Warriors, turned (2 fighting)
Wolf Clan Warriors, turned (2 fighting)
Wolf Clan Warriors, turned (2 fighting)
Thousand Sword Mountain, front row (7 Body)
Stone Garden, back row (6 Body)
Edge:
Political Lock
Rebecca: (Four Monarchs)
No Cards in Hand
No Power
Two sites Burned for Victory
Cards in Play:
Attacking Characters
King of the Fire Pagoda, N2, subject of Fortune of the Turtle, Claws of Darkness, and a turned Invincible Earth Sword (21 fighting, Toughness: 3)
King of the Thunder Pagoda, Standard, subject of Fortune of the Turtle (13 fighting)
Queen of the Darkness Pagoda, N2, subject of Fortune of the Turtle and Ice Shield (10 fighting, Toughness: 2)
Queen of the Ice Pagoda, Standard, subject of Fortune of the Turtle and Claws of Darkness (12 fighting)
Inner Sanctum, front row (11 Body)
LaGrange Four, back row (4 Body