C-FSTF11 (Sep 17, 2017)
Puzzle
“Prnunced Perithecia Prtruding Past Prntum.”
134 Trivia | 2 Words
Clue
Hover over the clues if you require!
Clue 1: What exactly is a Perithecia? Similarly, what's a 'Prntum" (with the missing letters added)?
Clue 2: This one's going to require a lot of Wikipedia searching, but what exactly has a perithecia that sprouts out from a pronotum?
Clue 3: What's the missing letter in the words? That's the first word - use the scientific name.
Answer and Explanation
Answer: O. Unilateralis
Explanation: This is also known by another name, zombie fungus. It propagates by rupturing from the ant’s head (which the clue describes).
Summary of Receipt
As the flies died, 125 spotted a strange robed figure nearby who approached the region. The figure - who was wearing a mask and a key-shaped pendant - pulled out a box on a string and swung it back and forth, causing the flies to die. 224 reported the souls in the flies travelling to the figure with the box. After the flies all died, the figure drew a symbol on the ground and left. Unfortunately, the symbol had vanished by the time the CaD arrived, but 134 now suspects that 'Mr. Diptera' is actually a cult using the flies' collected souls for...something.
Transcript
CAFE AND DINER RECEIPT FROM 9/17/17
MANAGER 134
RECEIPT: FESTERINGFLIES11
STATUS: RE-OPENED
Ah ha! I knew there was something more to all of this! As the flies which spawned from somewhere within Mrs. Stevens started to drop, 125 spotted a strange, robed figure off in the distance. We kept our distance as we only wanted to observe our presumed "Mr. Diptera" for now. Here's what we saw and what we believe in might mean.
Roughly 3 or 4 miles out from our camp, 125 spotted the strange, robed figure. Though it was difficult to see from our position, 125 believed the figure was wearing some sort of mask and had some sort of key-shaped pendant. In the figures' hands was some sort of box-shaped contraption on a string or chain. The figure began to swing the box back and forth, and as they did, the flies around our camp and Mrs. Stevens began to die. According to 224, she said she felt a sort of movement or flow of the souls leave the flies as they fell as they headed towards the figure with the strange box. After the flies had all died and the figure ceased their swinging of the box, they appeared to draw some sort of symbol in the ground and then left.
By the time we were able to safely investigate the symbol, it had vanished. Though, clearly, this is our Mr. Diptera… or… as I believe… one of our Mr. Dipteras. The attire screamed that of a cult, and 224 said that she could feel a sort of connection between the figure and Mrs. Stevens. I believe that these cultists are able to somehow conjure corpses of dead cryptids to use them to generate strange soul-eating flies, and then they must be able to capture the consumed souls in their strange boxes. While I'm unsure if this figure knew of our presence, with how often we've been around these flies, I would be surprised if this cult wasn't yet aware of our presence—at least, to some extent.