Stage 1 of Twelve — Lock 1 · The Plain Brass Lock
The Arrival
This door is metamorphosisseries.com, one of the twelve doors of the test hunt. The trunk itself waits at test.tenwordcipher.com.
[ The Bill ]
In the summer of the new century, a steamer trunk came off the train at Coney Island chained twelve times over, and the whole midway stopped to stare. Nobody claimed it. Nobody could open it. The management has nailed its bill to the board, and the bill — like everything in this house — counts.
Ladies and gentlemen, one night only
A trunk of oak and iron takes the stage
No living hand has opened it in thirty years
The chains are real. The locks are twelve.
Every ticket-holder is part of the act
Remember: count with us, and count carefully
Nothing in this trunk is what it seems
[ The Clue ]
The bill itself is the clue. Read the first letter of every line of the bill, from the top line down. The seven letters spell one word.
The clue is the bill above — every line of the poster is load-bearing. Work the left edge of it, then type the word below.
[ Hint ]
The first letter is L, from the first line. The word is a welcome — and a light you can carry.