8

By late afternoon the snow was coming down in a steady curtain. The coachman shook his head and said he would go no farther that night. There was an inn ahead, he told you, where the road always seemed to end when the weather turned.

The Midway Inn sat low against the drift, roof piled high with snow, lamplight fogging the windows. Inside, the air was thick with steam and the smell of stew.

Wesley was there already, near the fire with a cup in his hands. He looked up with a start when you came in. Snowell arrived soon after on another conveyance, brushing frost from his coat, Emily Brent close behind him with her music box held like something fragile. Sir Basil Pinewood followed, greeting everyone he passed.

Conversation soon came round to destinations. One by one, envelopes appeared, green seals catching the light. The innkeeper, seeing them, grew quiet and withdrew behind his counter.

In a corner a small crowd had gathered round a board. At first glance it looked like an ordinary chessboard, but there were no pieces on it, only numbers written neatly on several squares. And then, as you got closer, you realized the board is much smaller than a regular chessboard.

You asked what they were studying. The innkeeper came over, drying his hands.

“The pieces are missing,” he said. “Each number shows how many squares the piece that stood there was attacking. What the piece was, and which side it belonged to, that is the puzzle. No need for the position to be legal. Only the attacks matter.”

He tapped one of the numbers.

“Work out the whole arrangement, and the board is solved.”

This is a hidden pieces puzzle. Each number represents a chess piece, and the number shows how many squares that piece attacks. Deduce which piece (and color) is behind each number. Please check the categories page for full rules on how attacks work. You have multiple attempts, but there is a 1-hour cooldown for incorrect submissions. If you are confused, check out Offerspill's Discord server.