Library Puzzle (only activated if somebody says to search the entire library):
Walking around a corner in the labyrnthine network of shelves and occasional stairs making the library somewhat reminiscent of an M.C Escher painting, you enocunter a strange sight- a steel device that looks almost like a cash machine, with a note attatched to it:
Okay, I am SICK of this. I am BLOODY SICK of this. So, the legal department sets me a Last Will. This should be the easiest thing possible! I mean, wills are easy to figure out, relatively- you simply arrange the mailing of the relevant assets- occasionally the old fart is a dramatic twat and forces you to do a “reading of the will” with all his surviving relatives, as if that’s something that actually happens. But never this.
So, APPARENTLY the dramatic arsehole left some books to three of his friends, right? I can’t say their names legally, so I’ll just call them Y.Y, Low, and Critic. And he’s set a bunch of convoluted conditions on who gets first pick of the books based on fucking umbrellas and other such balderdash, but nobody can remember any of the relevant fucking conditions! So, I move to declare the will null and void, before I notice a clause at the bottom of the will where he says “The will is legally executable even if the relevant information is not recalled.” But how could it be, when he’s left this fucking information:
Clause 1) No person who has seen me in a green tie is to pick before Low.
Clause 2) If Y.Y was not in Oxford in 1920, the first chooser never lent me an umbrella.
Clause 3) If Y.Y or Critic has second choice, “Critic” comes before the one who first fell in love.
I was not trained for this. Which is why I’m leaving you this note, Mr. Librarian. You’re better at this sort of thing than me. Sort it out, before I fucking strangle this man’s corpse.
Below the note is a screen and a keyboard, the screen on a very much outdated operating system, the kind so outdated and purpose-built that it would be impossible to hack. The screen reads:
[Check-Out - Plays]
Thank you for checking out a play! In order to complete your check-out, please place the manuscript in the slot below and enter your code:
ENTER PASSWORD: []
As indicated by the screen, below is a slot large enough to contain most books. Given that the library contains a massive amount of works of literature and journalism even in its’ abandoned state, the book that was being checked out is probably still in there somewhere, even if it’s nowhere near the machine.
Solution:
I am a big fan of Caliban’s Will, so of course I was going to include it as a puzzle. However, since the answer is available online, I decided to add my own tiwst on the thing.
The book that is being checked out is The Tempest, which is indicated by the fact that the puzzle is called Caliban’s Will and the screen says a play is being checked out (and the name of the author of the irate note). The password is the order of picking- [LowCriticYY]
This one has a lot of hints, and is easy to solve if you know Caliban’s Will, but if you have not encountered the puzzle before there’s a chance that you’ll have to actually solve it, and it’ll be interesting if somebody attempts to. It’s still very much possible thanks to how blatant William Prospero is (the William is there in case somebody unfamilliar with Shakespeare comes up, since they’ll be able to infer that it might be a famous playwright with William as their first name, and there’s only one, really).
When the correct book and password is entered, the machine opens up to reveal… something.
