Strange Antiquities – How to Solve ‘Ossic Ring’ Puzzle

Welcome, antiquarian, to the mysterious and engrossing world of Strange Antiquities. As the new proprietor of a shop dealing in the arcane and the unusual, your daily life will be filled with enigmatic customers, cryptic clues, and shelves groaning under the weight of unidentified, and often dangerous, objects. One of the most memorable early-game puzzles you will encounter is the very peculiar request from your recurring customer, the delightfully strange Stanley Hume.

Mr. Hume will task you with finding a “grisly object in a ‘ring’ shape” that makes a “hissing sound,” and will later specify his desire for an “Osssic Ringgg.” This multi-layered puzzle is a fantastic introduction to the core mechanics of the game. This guide will provide you with a complete, step-by-step walkthrough for this entire request. We’ll cover how to decipher Mr. Hume’s strange clues, where to find the hidden object, how to correctly identify it using your reference materials, and how to satisfy your most pleasingly peculiar customer.

The Core Mechanics: A Primer for New Antiquarians

Before we solve this specific puzzle, it’s essential to understand the core gameplay loop of Strange Antiquities. The Stanley Hume quest serves as a perfect case study for the skills you will need to master.

Deciphering Customer Requests

The main gameplay loop begins when a customer enters your shop. You must listen very carefully to their requests, as they are often filled with cryptic clues. In this case, Stanley Hume provides you with several keywords that are essential to solving his puzzle: he wants something “macabre,” “grisly,” that makes him think of “death,” is in a “ring’ shape,” and gives off a “hissing sound.” Learning to extract and remember these keywords is the first step to becoming a master antiquarian.

Exploring Your Shop and Organizing Your Wares

Your shop is a treasure trove of mysteries, with countless unidentified artifacts tucked away in drawers, on shelves, and in hidden compartments. A huge part of the game is simply managing your inventory. As many players have noted, it’s easy to forget about items that are tucked away out of sight. A good habit to get into is to place every new, unidentified object on your main shelves. This not only helps you keep track of your stock but also allows you to visually cross-reference items with the clues in your reference books.

Identification is Key

You cannot simply hand an object to a customer. You must first correctly identify it. Your most important tool in the shop is your library of reference books, such as the Compendium of Arcane Artifacts. To identify an object, you must examine its physical properties—its shape, color, markings, and any strange effects it might have—and then cross-reference those features with the descriptions in your books.

Fulfilling the Order

Once you have confidently identified an object, you must use your in-game tools (such as a label maker) to attach the correct name tag to it. Only after an item is correctly labeled can you present it to a customer, typically by placing it on the service bell on your counter, to fulfill their request and progress the story.

The Stanley Hume Puzzle: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough

Now, let’s apply these core mechanics to solve the specific and multi-layered request from Stanley Hume for the Ossic Ring.

Step 1: Receiving the Request

When Stanley Hume first visits, he will present you with his strange request. Pay close attention to his dialogue. He’ll mention that he is “looking for something macabre – so something a bit grisly that makes me think of death.” He will further specify that it should be a “grisly object in a ‘ring’ shape that gives off a hissing sound when I hold it to my ear.” After this conversation, he may leave, giving you time to find the object. He will later return and, with his sibilant lisp, declare his desire for an “Osssic Ringgg.”

Step 2: The First Clue – “Death Symbol on the Roof”

The key to this puzzle is not found in your books, but in the very architecture of your shop. If you look up at the ceiling in the main room, you will notice several decorative symbols carved into the wooden beams. One of these symbols represents “death” (it may appear as a skull, a scythe, or another grim icon). This is not just a decoration; it is your first major clue, pointing you toward a hidden location.

Step 3: Finding the Grisly Object

The “death symbol” on the ceiling marks a hidden compartment on the shelves below it. To reach this area, you will need to use the rolling ladder in your shop.

1. Position the rolling ladder so that it is on the tall bookshelf located directly beneath the “death symbol.”
2. Climb the ladder to the very top shelf.
3. Hidden behind some old, dusty tomes, you will find a strange, circular object made of what appears to be bone. This is the item you are looking for.

Step 4: Identifying the “Ossic Ring”

Now that you have the object, you must use Hume’s clues and your reference materials to confirm its identity.

1. Take the bone ring back to your main desk for examination. The first clue is visual: it is a ring made of bone. The name “Ossic” is derived from the word “osseous,” which means “consisting of or turned into bone.”
2. The next clue is the “hissing sound.” To verify this, you must consult your main reference book, likely the Compendium of Arcane Artifacts. Find the section on “Auditory Relics” or “Bone Artifacts.”
3. In this section, you will find an entry for the Ossic Ring. The book will describe it as a ring carved from the vertebrae of a mythical Basilisk or serpent. The description will note that it emits a faint, constant hissing sound when held close to the ear, which is believed to be the lingering echo of the serpent’s final breath.

Step 5: Labeling and Presentation

With the object’s identity confirmed, you can now complete the final step.

1. Go to your labeling station.
2. Carefully type out the name: Ossic Ring.
3. Attach the new label to the artifact.
4. Finally, place the correctly identified Ossic Ring on the customer service bell on your counter to summon and present it to Stanley Hume.

A delighted Stanley Hume will praise the “pleasinggg” word and the grisly nature of the Ossic Ring. He will reward you for your excellent work, and you will have successfully completed this cryptic and satisfying puzzle.

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