Hydra

Joan started her day full of excitement; she nearly ran down the street to catch up to her first friend on the way to work.

“Hey, Hydra, I wanted to invite you to… wow, you have a lot more heads than you did yesterday… anyway, I wanted to invite you to my Death Day party tonight!"

Puzzle Files

The following files are required to solve this puzzle:

Click to reveal Hint #1

The twenty-one images at the bottom of the puzzle are listed in alphabetical order. These images can be grouped into sets of three based on their letters.

Click to reveal Hint #2

Sets of three images that have common endings (i.e. necks) can be grouped together. You can place the heads of these words uniquely according to the given lengths of the heads and necks on the body of the hydra.

Click to reveal Hint #3

For example, on the first neck the suffix "-OLIER" grew back three new heads, which formed the words WOOLIER, GONDOLIER, and BANDOLIER. To get your final answer, think about those poor heads on the ground.

Click to reveal Hint #4

Show this hint to the staffer to have two images identified for you. To form your answer, there is one unique letter that can attach to a neck to make an English word. Read these letters from left to right.

Click to reveal the solution to this puzzle

harpoon

"Wait, did you say a harpoon?" Joan asked.

"Yeah, I decided to try acupuncture and I guess things got out of hand. I'd love to come, but I really need to sleep it off tonight."

Joan understood, of course, and cheerily headed off to find her next friend.