Rēs Adversae
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Everything he owned, misfortune took in a single night — his goods, his ship, very nearly his freedom. Anyone else would have given up. But one friend refused to leave him to it, and what happened next became a story people still tell.
Seven puzzles stand between you and the end of that story. Solve one, and a little more of it comes to light — until, at the end, one final word names the only way to meet a turn like this.
Crossword — the vocabulary of a merchant's ruin and recovery.
Anagrams — unscramble seven words for the schoolroom and the story of luck itself.
Cipher — decode a message, then answer the riddle it asks.
Matching — one verb, revocō ("to call back, recall"), active and passive, in every tense you know.
Picture Count — reassemble a scattered scene, then count what you see.
Odd One Out — find the mismatched word in each row to learn how the story ends, then answer questions about it.
Final Rebus — one clue from every lock. Their first letters, rearranged, spell the final word.
Every answer box checks itself instantly. Spelling and capitalization are forgiving — macrons are never required.
Fifteen words from a merchant's ruin and recovery. Every clue gives the English meaning; you supply the Latin. Fill the grid — every crossing letter must agree both ways. Five cells are marked in red: once the grid is solved, their letters unscramble into one more word.
The grid is correct. Unscramble the five red letters:
Seven words for the schoolroom and the story of luck itself. Unscramble each one.
A message has been shifted 3 letters forward through the alphabet. Shift each letter back 3 to decode it — the message speaks for itself. Answer the question it asks, in Latin.
Decode the message — it already asks its own question at the end.
One verb, revocō, revocāre ("to call back, recall") — the friend who would not give up on him — active and passive, in every tense you know. Drag each English meaning onto its matching Latin form.
The picture below has been scattered into 24 pieces — click two to swap them. Each piece locks in place once it's correct. When the whole picture is assembled, five counting questions will appear — in Latin, they ask quot ("how many") of each thing you can find.
Click two pieces to swap them. Correct pieces lock in place — keep going until the whole picture is assembled.
In each row, three tiles belong together and one doesn't. Drag out the odd tile. Find all 15 to learn how the story ends.
Now that the story is whole, answer these in Latin:
One clue from every lock you solved. Answer each in Latin — the first letter of each answer will reveal itself, in the order the locks appeared.
You're almost there! Arrange these letters to make a word.
The password was:
secūra — "without a care." The merchant has his ship back, his friend beside him, and, at last, nothing left to fear from fortune.