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(Two wins on the same page o3o)

Hazmas and the Lottery

Heading over to the main event's booth, Hazmas withdrew the tickets he'd won from his pockets and reluctantly turned them in for the raffle. It wasn't like he didn't understand what they were for, it's just that his inner packrat didn't want to part with them. Giving a nod to the even organizer, Hazmas sat down and pulled out another a bundle of papers covered with the clues he'd gathered from the lottery announcements. Some of them were smudged and wrinkled, traces left by Machim after she had added them to her nest. Thankfully, they were still relatively readable

'Now to figure out what they say,' he thought and, taking up a pen and paper, the young green blood set to work. With every letter he wrote down, he discovered another inconsistency and scribbled it out, later replacing it after figuring out a few more letters. It wasn't long before he began getting into the swing of things and his guesses became more accurate.

'This is definitely an a but that one.. maybe a t? No, n. I, n, t, no, e. Crap.'

Scratch, scribble, scuff went his pen as he filled in the blank spaces of the words, scribbled them out again and refilled the spaces. Funnily enough, he really liked this crypto gram stuff. At least it was easier to solve than the brain-twisting, mind muddling FLARP puzzles. Those were a nightmare! Hazmas did wish he could've had a chance to solve the last one, though. But that's what he got for over exerting himself and sleeping the day away.

One by one, the clues began to piece together until he only had two possible lottery numbers. He turned to his lusus and held up the papers.

"What do you think Machim?" he asked showing his work. The winged ape hunched over his shoulder, squinting her beady eyes at his scribbles. She grunted and huffed.

I think your handwriting needs more work than your cooking.

The green blood scowled and withdrew the papers. "Not helpful," he said flatly and stood up. "I'm pretty sure I've got the numbers so I'm gonna go turn them in."

Machim stood up and followed Hazmas to the booth, eying that fabric that draped over as an awning.

"Two tickets please," he said, handing the booth owner the two numbers he wanted. He looked over at his lusus and narrowed his eyes. "Don't even think about it," the young troll growled. Machim gave a guttural hoot.

Why not? You take stuff that isn't yours, and that'd make a great nest.

"But I didn't keep any of it. It was for a booth, remember?" he remarked.

Not what I'm talking about.

"It's not stealing if no one wants it," he said defensively, slowly realizing what Machim was doing. The lusus scratched her chin.

Ch'ever you say Hazmas.

Leeroi cracked his knuckles, then his neck on both sides. Solving this puzzle would be a piece of cake. Well, maybe not a literal piece of cake, but he could always get one of those after he won this prize. Maybe he could get one from that cupcake girl. He shook his head. Now was not the time to think about food. He was ready and excited to cheat this system.

He pulled out a tiny, ratty notebook and a blue pen. He scribbled the numbers and the letters down furiously as they flashed by on the screen, fixing the given letters to their appropriate spaces. Hmm, he thought, pressing his pen to his lips. Oh, this word was definitely "THE". There, he would knock out three new letters, and important letters, too. He quickly scribbled in the letters.

He gnawed on his pen. Something wasn't right. There was a two letter word with no vowel now, that couldn't be possible! Leeroi checked over his work. Dammit, he must have been wrong about his first guess. He picked up the paper, ripping it in 12 pieces before starting over. Wait a second, had he... Did he write the wrong number on the last paper? That was why the one word had two t's! <******** at the paper scraps, he tried desperately to piece them back together. No dice, they were unsalvageable. Leeroi grunted. Ugh, now he would have to start all over! He groaned, writing out the numbers again.

Ugh, he still couldn't get it! He scribbled at the numbers. Noticing his frustrations, Glitch offered Leeroi a pencil. With an eraser, he wouldn't have to worry about starting over when he got things wrong! Leeroi plucked the pencil out of her half-mouth and snapped it in half, tossing it across the room. If he couldn't get things perfect, it wasn't worth it. No one got high scores using mediocre pencils.

After a considerable amount of time, Leeroi found himself with a complete stack of solved cryptograms and an empty stomach. He glanced through them, giving them one last once-over before walking up to the ticket booth. "One ticket for me!" He shouted at the booth manager. He whispered the number quietly, not wanting to reveal the secret answer. After the ticket was placed in his hand, Leeroi strode off confidently, searching for celebratory cake.