Location: Conway signpost (LUCIFER)
Arrival code: SIGNPOST
This being the last location before the first pit stop, only two teams were fast enough to get this clue. Everyone else got skipped to the pit stop in order to keep to the schedule.
The clue was delivered in physical form (see the pictures). It included a signpost core with twenty-two holes in it and twenty-two signs that could be inserted. There were also instructions describing the rules that must be followed in assembling the signpost.
Mapped onto a plane, the signpost core had the following slots available:
| N | NE | E | SE | S | SW | W | NW | |
| 1 | ||||||||
| 2 | ||||||||
| 3 | ||||||||
| 4 | ||||||||
| 5 | ||||||||
| 6 | ||||||||
| 7 | ||||||||
| 8 | ||||||||
| 9 |
The twenty-two signs were labeled:
| Arrettsay IV | 5 | Freemiller | 7 | Reticulpa VI | 8 | Thanatos IV | 11 |
| Arrettsay V | 9 | Lango | 11 | Reva II | 13 | Verga | 2 |
| Caliban | 4 | Lora X | 3 | Ryyder | 4 | Wallace | 3 |
| Dellalibera I | 4 | Maclur | 7 | Sager | 2 | Wedge VII | 9 |
| Embri | 7 | Nelson | 4 | Sigurd II | 1 | ||
| Ezu IV | 4 | Oberon | 14 | Tabasqo VII | 3 |
The rules were included in the handbook entry that led to this site.
Alert players who were familiar with Game Control may have noticed a pattern to the planet names. This hidden handbook entry would have been helpful.
Show hints at [0] [10] [25] [50] [70] minutes
10: It suddenly is about to occur to you that Roman numerals are numerals, and are not considered letters.
25: In a moment you'll remember a drunken gunrunner once telling you about the year he spent one day on Thanatos IV, in the southern sector of Lucifer.
50: You're about to surmise that, once assembled, the beacon contains easily-read instructions about what to do next.
70: A dim memory of just a few minutes ago is percolating to the surface-- something about using your old Vector-class engine to navigate the Expanse. Given how old that engine is, it might be best once you activate it to keep it running continuously until you're out of the Expanse.
The completed signpost looks like this:
| N | NE | E | SE | S | SW | W | NW | |
| 1 | Sigurd II | Freemiller | Maclur | |||||
| 2 | Dellalibera I | Ezu IV | ||||||
| 3 | Reva II | Verga | Thanatos IV | |||||
| 4 | Embri | |||||||
| 5 | Arrettsay IV | Lango | ||||||
| 6 | Wedge VII | Sager | Arrettsay V | |||||
| 7 | Caliban | Reticulpa VI | ||||||
| 8 | Wallace | Tabasqo VII | Ryyder | Nelson | ||||
| 9 | Lora X | Oberon |
Reading the first letters of the names, starting at north, reveals the instructions "DRAW LEVELS CW START FROM N". To finish, start at north on the top row of the signpost, then rotate the signpost clockwise. When you hit an arrow, draw a line on a sheet of paper in the direction of the arrow. The length of the line should be the same as the numeral at the end of the arrow. Once drawing begins, pen should not lift from paper--each line starts from the end of the next. After a complete rotation of the signpost, move down to the next row and repeat. The resulting picture should be identifiable as a TRACTOR.
Needless to say, composing this clue to be logically correct and produce a particular image was a delicate process. After the first test solve, there was some discussion as to the recognizability of the tractor. Many people were, in fact, able to identify it, on top of which, the author insisted that it was thematic in that this clue led to pit stop two at the corn maze. There was a brief thoughtful silence, after which someone ventured "No it doesn't." Indeed, all of that work to connect the signpost to the corn maze might have been better spent had this clue been at the end of the next leg. We looked around briefly for someplace to hold pit stop one that involved a tractor, without success. Ultimately, we decided it wasn't worth trying to change anything. Fortunately, anything can make sense in the handbook.
