ESCAPE THIS PODCAST Game Master’s Notes The notes below are a guide for game masters. They contain all required information to run the specified room, including: All room items All puzzles and solutions All correct (and some incorrect) player actions Full room introduction and conclusion Additional notes and tips Do not read these notes if you intend to play the escape room; there are spoilers everywhere. These notes are for people playing the rooms with friends, family, enemies or strangers. These notes are not to be used to create recordings, videos, or other media featuring the escape room. If you want to use these notes to make something cool or creative, please send us an email at [email protected] to let us know. These notes are free. If you paid money to obtain these notes, someone was being very rude to you. I’m so sorry. 1 The Engagement Notes This is Part 2 in a 10-part connected arc! However, it can be entirely played standalone, just with a couple of omissions from the introduction and conclusion. Thank you so much to Blake Hodges and Haley DalColletto, our Patreon donors whose names have been included in this room! You’re awesome. Introduction Times are stressful right now, but in a good way. For all the right reasons. You’re getting married this weekend! You couldn’t be happier, and your fiancé/e, Blake, is just as brimming with excitement as you are. You’ve divided up the pre-wedding checklist and you’re each rushing through your half of the necessary tasks. First item of the day for you: pick up your wedding cake. It’s a cool little bakery you’ve chosen, the Love Bakery. Maybe they could’ve put more effort into the name, but they make the best wedding cakes. They say in all their ads that they have the most high-tech equipment, which gives them an edge. You don’t know what high-tech bakery equipment is – a fancy oven, maybe? Either way, you ordered a cake from here, and now it’s time to pick it up. You’re doing it today to avoid those sneaky day-of delivery charges. Blake is nothing if not thrifty. You enter through the front door; as you do, a little electronic doorbell plays the first few notes of Wagner’s Bridal Chorus. Classic. You hear the sounds of someone pottering about in the back room, so you patiently wait for them to come out, and in the meantime you take in your surroundings. Beside the door you entered through in the south wall, there’s one large window facing outside. A stand of display cakes sits proudly in front of it. In the centre of the room is a table with a vase displaying a large arrangement of edible flowers. Against the left wall are two more tables: one with a tray of cake toppers – like, the little brides and grooms that go on top – and one with a tray labelled ‘sample platter’. In the north wall there’s a doorway leading to the back area, but instead of a normal door, it’s got a beaded curtain. And over against the right wall is a tall cabinet… and inside it, you see your wedding cake. The person finally comes bustling out from the back room, and to your surprise, it’s not the baker you’ve been chatting with through this whole planning process. You didn’t know they had any other employees. “I’m Haley,” the person says, not sounding particularly interested. “I’m new. What’s up?” You explain why you’re here, and she nods, but also frowns. “Right. The cabinet cake. Sure. Um… so, the cabinet’s locked… and I don’t have a clue what the code for the lock is. I mentioned I’m new, right?” But… you need your cake. Now. You’re on a strict deadline, with many other wedding tasks to take care of today. 2 Haley shrugs. “The owner probably left me a note or something. I’ve been finding them everywhere, telling me what my jobs are. I don’t really get most of them, you know? But at least this place pays well.” With that, she parks herself in the corner of the room and takes out her phone. Her eyes go glassy; she has no intention of helping you any further. This is ridiculous. You’ll file a complaint about her later. You’ll file ten complaints. But for now, you need to free your cake! Observable items Baking station: The baking station consists of a long, metal bench with built-in cupboards underneath. You find a bunch of typical equipment – bowls, spatulas, measuring cups, oven mitts – and all of your standard base ingredients, like flour, sugar, both baking powder and baking soda. One of the cupboards is also a little fridge, so there are eggs and butter and things, too. You don’t find anything that looks out of place at all – except for a piece of paper on the edge of the bench. It’s a hand-written note. Haley, you mixed up the tops of your P’s. Swap them back, please! Beaded curtain: The beads hang from strings suspended from the top of the doorway, and make a surprisingly musical sound as you pass through. It doesn’t sound like bits of wood hitting each other; it actually sounds like there might be little bells or chimes inside them. Beyond the beads you see the back room. It’s not very big: to your left is an oven, to your right is a freezer, and in front of you is a long metal table, a baking station. Cabinet: Your cake sits in the cabinet, taunting you. You hope it’s okay in there. A three-digit lock stands in your way. You examine the rest of the cabinet, and when you run your hand over the high top of it, you feel something. A post-it? You pull it down and read it. Haley, it’s that time again! Password changes! Don’t worry, I’m not too paranoid about this. Just add one to all the passwords and that’ll be good enough. Cake toppers: The cake toppers they have out at the moment are all little, basically identical groom figures. You aren’t sure if they’re edible or not. [Show toppers image.] Flowers: You know these flowers aren’t real because, quite frankly, they’re way too nice. Not a single petal is out of place. It’s a huge bouquet of – you count – three dozen lily-like blooms standing in a vase on the table, all in different vivid colours. You count 11 red, 8 blue, 9 pink, 4 white, and 4 purple. They’re so shiny, you think they must have all been dipped into molten sugar. Freezer: The freezer is a big, solid, steel cube with a door at the front that should swing open. In fact, there’s a message written on it in permanent marker: Pull to open. Okay. You pull… and nothing happens. Well, that’s misleading. Front door: There doesn’t seem to be anything too suspicious about the front door. It’s got a small glass window at the top, large enough to look through, too small to climb through. Its lock is fancy and electronic, though unlocked, so no worries there. You see attached to the door frame the little motion sensor that activates the song that played when you entered. 3 Oven: It’s an enormous, extremely expensive-looking electric oven. This is impressive. Look at all those knobs and dials! It’s radiating heat, so there must be a cake baking in there right now. You try to peer through the front but it’s too dark to see anything. You consider opening it, but you know that some cakes are extremely temperature-sensitive, and you wouldn’t want to wreck it by exposing it to cool air before it’s ready. Samples: The tray says ‘samples’, but what’s in these little squares doesn’t look like anything you’d want to eat. They’re laid out in three rows – three squares in the top row, four in the second, three in the third, all evenly spaced out – and in each square is a clear liquid. You notice a bunch of little disposable pipettes for dripping beside the tray, and what looks like a mixing palette. If you try to sniff or taste any of the liquids, you get no sensory feedback whatsoever. These are the most unidentifiable chemicals of all time. How are they samples? Window displays: The cakes on display in the window are all real, and you assume they’re actual customers’ orders. Some of them are relatively normal, like big slab cakes with a picture or a message on top, but others are super novelty cakes. You count seven cakes in total: - One shaped like three clocks; - A pink and white wedding cake with two women and the word ‘equal’ on it; - A purple and white wedding cake with a face, a plus sign, then another face; - One shaped like a rose and a violet intertwined; - A purple and gold birthday cake with a big 21 in the middle; - One shaped like a giant lock with the word ‘code’ on it; - A bright red cake. Just red. Window: The window is made up of several small squares of glass. You didn’t notice it when you entered, but trying to look out, you realise the glass is filthy.