The cipher manuscript
The convent of Santa Clara in Albarracín, 1893. A missing professor and a codex written in three keys.
- Challenging
- 2–15 players
- 60–75 min
- Ages 18+
The story
A code-breaking challenge for groups of 2 to 15 people. For adults.
Albarracín, November 1893. Snow is falling on the convent of Santa Clara. In the library, under lock and key, lies the Albarracín Codex: three hundred parchment leaves that nobody has managed to read in six centuries.
Professor Abelardo Quintana, of the University of Zaragoza, believed he had done it. Last night he didn't come down to supper. His cell is empty, the candle burnt out and, on the table, a note: “It's all in the folio of the tower.”
At eight o'clock Lord Ashcombe arrives, an English collector with a blank cheque for the abbot. Before the codex leaves Spain, you have to read it. Each of you knows how to read one of its keys. None of you can do it alone.
What awaits you
Mode
Split information
Each player gets a role with their own documents. You win by talking: nobody knows everything.
Goal
Solve 5 chained challenges to reach the end.
Difficulty
Challenging
- 5 hints per game
On Enigma Oculto
1 game played · 100% solved · 29 min on average
Content warnings
- A missing person, shut in; no violence.
The roles
When you start, the game hands out these roles among the players (in teams if there are many of you).
- PalaeographyYou can read the codex's ancient signs.
- CryptographyYou know the monks' cipher wheel.
- LatinYou have the professor's Latin glossary.
- ArchiveYou know the library catalogue and the history of the convent.
Characters
- Abelardo QuintanaMissing professor64. A famous palaeographer, absent-minded and stubborn. Nobody has seen him since seven in the evening.
- Brother AnselmoThe convent's librarianHe keeps the keys to the library and the bell tower. He says little and writes everything down.
- Inés QuintanaThe professor's niece and assistantShe has been with him for a year. She's very frightened.
- Lord AshcombeEnglish collectorHe arrived last night, earlier than expected. Very interested in the codex… and in nobody reading it before him.
5 locations
Library
The professor's cell
Chapter house
Scriptorium
Bell tower
What players say
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Hall of fame
- 1Daroro2 players · 16 actions29 min
Only the nicknames of those who allow it in their account appear.