It sounds like music. Or, very bad music, coming from down the hall.
BONNIE:This way searchers! Follow me!
Your search party follows Bonnie to a cluttered room. What are those things hanging from the ceiling? Instruments! Some you recognize and some you’ve never seen before. In the center of the room is a person in a wildly colourful coat standing at a music stand. They’re singing, or, sort of? It’s not very good. And playing an instrument…sort of.
BONNIE:Excuse me, can we -
PIPER: No! No. There’s no show today. Go home. Don’t look at me in my shame. I’ve lost it. I’ve lost it all.
BONNIE:Lost what?
PIPER:The music.
You think this might be the most dramatic person you’ve ever met in your life. They remind you of your sister, but way, way worse. Clearly they’re a musician. But what do they play? Everything?
PIPER: I play EVERYTHING. Well, usually. But nothing is usual today. Something’s happened and I’ve…I’ve lost my gift. I was in the middle of the 14th movement of my 15th symphony, I’m sure you’re familiar with my previous 14 (please, no autographs at this time) when the inspiration just…left me. If I cannot play, I cannot live, and if I cannot live, I’ll have to DIE. And if I’m dead then the world will never have my music, and the world as we know it will never be the same.
They explain that they might find their inspiration again if they could only play their pipe. You never forget your first instrument, they say. But it’s locked in a cage.
PIPER: Oh, the cruelty of the world - to give me this gift and take it away! Locked in a cage, never to inspire or amaze evermore!
BONNIE:Okay, hold your horses.
PIPER: I NEVER work with horses.
BONNIE: I’m saying, there’s a lock on this cage. So we just need to un-lock it. We just need to figure out the combination.
The lock on the cage isn’t like one you’ve seen before. Instead of needing a key, it has directional arrows (left, right, up, down) you can enter into the lock. You notice a note on the cage. You read it aloud.
PLAY SHEETS FOUR, NINE, EIGHT AND TWELVE
IF YOU SEEK WHAT’S IN THE CAGE
SOME WILL HAVE TO LISTEN CLOSE
AND SOME WILL TAKE THE STAGE
PIPER: Of course! The answer is in the music. It’s ALWAYS in the music. This must be referring to my symphonies… four, nine, eight, and twelve are among my most prestigious.
They gesture to the wall where the sheet music to their 14 symphonies is on display. You look at numbers 4, 8, 9 and 12 - but how will these help you figure which arrows to put into the lock? You look around and notice the strange music you’ve been hearing in the background is coming from a bunch of small music boxes - each with a picture of an arrow carved into its lid! Your team collects the boxes. What now?
BONNIE:I’ve got it! We need to figure out which music boxes are playing
Symphonies 4, 9, 8 and 12 and the arrows on those boxes will be the ones we need to open the cage. (To the PIPER) You wrote them - could you tell us?
PIPER:How could I?! I’ve LOST. MY. GIFT.
You realize you’re going to have to play the music to hear which music box song corresponds to symphonies 4, 9. 8, and 12. But on what instrument? You notice a bin of long colourful tubes in a crate under each of the four sheets in question.
BONNIE:Searchers - grab a tube and line up!
PIPER: They’re called BOOMWHACKERS! Ugh, peasants.
Bonnie gets some of the searchers to line up to play the Boomwhackers, while others close the music boxes so that you can listen closely. The colours on the Boomwhackers match the coloured notes on the sheet music, so Bonnie conducts the group.
You know this song - it sounds like Happy Birthday! You open the music boxes one by one to see if you hear happy birthday. You find it! This box has an arrow that faces left. One down. You put that box by the cage and move onto the next sheet. You repeat the pattern of playing and listening, until you’ve identified all four of the correct music boxes. One of the searchers puts the arrows into the lock.
ALL:LEFT! DOWN! RIGHT! LEFT!
The lock opens, and the pipe is free.
PIPER:My pipe! My beautiful pipe! Reunited at last!
They play a little tune. It’s incredible. You think to yourself, artists are pretty dramatic but also pretty amazing.
PIPER:How can I ever repay you?
BONNIE: I take cash.
PIPER: How about this mini-pipe. Also known as a ‘kazoo’.
BONNIE: Oh right! A piece of the story. That’s perfect. Let’s go, searchers!
As you leave, the Piper plays even more glorious music. It’s haunting but triumphant.
