Crossword quest? Crossword quest

Question

It's been some time since I found the "Two brothers" server. They were quite prominent indie-game-devs back when people programmed on flash. Now the only sign of them is this preview on the long-forgotten site:

The dashes on the bottom side of the site is a 15-symbol password, that I tried to guess for quite too long. Until one day my hacker friend stumbled upon this site.

No, he didn't break the code. However, he found a large quantity of files, that seem to tie in with each other and the picture. It's a pity they're disarranged, or I would see a nice story.

You know what? Since they're not too lengthy, I'll post them here and see what you can make out of them. The first to guess the password gets the tick.

Allright, the files are:

airdanger.txt
Premise:
You're attacked by a dreadful BEAST! It SHOUTS at you something about avenging his brother. However, you don't want to hurt this monster. You tell him about how you SYMPATHISE his feelings, while you sneakily throw a calming MEDICINE into him. The beast is touched by your words. You persuade him to have a fresh start and send him to help your old FRIEND.
Results:
Your friend says thanks for a new winged helper. Add the first half of the word to the pile (+1).

ambush.txt
Premise:
You decide to perform a heist. As you sneak into the TOWER, you are ambushed by SEVERAL guards! They HURT you very much and throw into the streets to die.
Results:
As you're almost dead, you feel angelic help removing what was bothering you (-4). Instead of that you get letters of unknown origin (+8). Now you're once again healthy and alive.

bigcitylife.txt
Premise:
You BLEND into the crowd and try to start a new life. You wear a DISGUISE as a street poet. However, after your every POEM peope around just get GLOOMY.
Results:
You grow a longish beard and reconsider life: for every letter that has an empty space below, add a previous aphabetically letter to that space (+7). Maybe, you should get back to your wife.

cake.txt
Premise:
You meet a pirate, who desires to bake a cake. His problem being, his evil BROTHER locked the recipe BOOK inside a tresure chest! After you pick the LOCK, you see that the pirate misses one INGREDIENT from the cake.
Results:
You acquire the missing ingredient, and, though the resulting cake tastes like garbage, the pirate shares one of his secret treasures with you (+1).

dream.txt
Premise:
You meet a BEAUTIFUL girl, who appears to be a videogame NERD as well. The COLOUR of her skin, the size of her HIPS - everything is just as you could ever wish for.
Results:
You fall madly in love and marry her. Lot of things you were attached to before now seem unneeded: remove three letters from the left, one from the right and one from below (-5).

easylife.txt
Premise:
Due to the evil magic, your new wife is non-fertile (which is a shame, 'cos she's really good with kids). But since you have lots of money, you built a SOLUTION to this problem (now owned by your wife) and a small BUSINESS for you. Now that your life seems GREAT, you decide to pay a VISIT to the old house, where you started your journey.
Results:
There is no use taking all of your belongings with you, though! Leave only the longest word of the crossword and remove the repeated letters (-10).

edge.txt
Premise:
Reaching the very EDGE of the world, you suddenly feel a strange TASTE on your tongue. It appears that you're a psychic and your brother requires your help right now! No time for research now!!!
Results:
Exchange your letters for what is bothering your brother (-8+4). After that add brother to the pile (+7). Seems like that saved him, and your adventure continues.

einstein.txt
Premise:
You go to COLLEGE (to get some knowledge, of course). There you move on to conducting experiments with NUCLEAR powers.
Results:
Your experiments are a success! Take every pair of same letters you have, then turn them into 4 adjucent letters (say CC turns into ABDE). Being incredibly smart now, you head into an expedition! (+2)

family.txt
Premise:
Suddenly, you are a father of three nicest CHILDREN! That's like a small ARMY! One of them wants to cut LUMBER, the other wants to join american TROOPS, the third, however, considers himself a COMMUNIST. However you think this is a FAD he picked somewhere. However, this kid is the only one that reacts to your every PUN, so you like him most.
Results:
Your life is cozy and well-regulated. However, it's hard to remember things with all that racket around. Leave only the biggest rectangle of letters within your crossword (-10).

gryphon.txt
Premise:
After spending a continuous time in the SUNNY south, you look UP and see a terrible beast flying into you. However, you manage to cut its LEGS, and it falls to the ground.
Results:
You end the creature's life. You take its undamaged parts as a trophy - add all missing letters to your pile (+2).

kingsman.txt
Premise:
You turn to serve a great LEADER, who tends to wear BRIGHT royal clothing. He puts your MIND to a good use and sends you to GATHER information on the neighbouring country's army.
Results:
The king sees you want to drink something, but your crossword is missing a letter of it. Being kind, he grants you this exact letter thrice (+3).

laststop.txt
Premise:
You finally meet your brother at the father's house. Suddenly you see your father inside. "Why, I only left for an hour to buy myself a laptop, and you consider me missing and take all my belongings!" When he gets to know you've solved his crossword he says "It's a good thing I made another". You take a look at the new one.
?. This is a fancy way of cursing (4)
?. This one expresses happiness (2)
?. Oh, that's a long number. And if you read it backwards, it would be even longer. (2)
?. This is something wet, but in the Internet, it meant something else... (4)
Results:
With all your effort, you manage to solve the crossword! (-10) Now you can freely go home to your families and live your happy lives!!! rolling credits here, gold collected 8/8 quests completed 18/18 father proud 1/1 all that stuff

myback.txt
Premise:
Your SPINE suddenly hurts so much, you feel as a living CORPSE. You feel an incredible urge to visit a place, as though you've been CURSED. After saying that everything's ALLRIGHT to your wife, you go for a walk.
Results:
You come to your destination feeling a bit better. Leave only the biggest symmetrical shape of your crossword (-2).

oceanman.txt
Premise:
You decide to TRAVEL on board of a ship, called after some HOLY person. Suddenly, you get into the storm, and the ship gets wrecked!!! Having drunk lots of SEAWATER, you get onto the seashore alive.
Results:
You're barely alive. Leave only one from each set of same letters you have (-3).

redalert.txt
Premise:
You meet a furious leader with a MOUSTACHE. He wants you to advice him on how to rule the country.
Results:
Seeing the politics from the inside has straightened your mind. Iterate each letter from the pile through the alphabet, until it gains a vertical symmetry. (+0)

roaringbeauty.txt
Premise:
You come upon a definitely suffering BEAST in the forest. Having a closer look, you see that it's struggling to get out of woman's CLOTHING. After you decide to help it, out of the kindness of your pure heart, you see the beast turn into a princess. She tells you her sad STORY, and you fall in love at the first sight (given she's still naked).
Results:
You want to know her a bit better. Add the not-so-necessary letters to one of the words (+6).

robocop.txt
Premise:
Roaming across the land, you bump into a big smart COMPUTER. He looks at you, and decides to help you if you find him SEVERAL items.
Results:
Though you helped him a lot, the computer can give you only a bucket of completely non-edible metal items. Add all missing letters to the pile (+1).

starthere.txt
Premise:
Your father has gone missing. You, two brothers , are off to an adventure to find him. The only thing that he left you is a 4x4 crossword with following clues:
0) A surficial excuse for discrimination (4)
1) When I .... about politics you always seem to .... (4/4)
2) Italy relative to Croatia (2)
2) Way to get loved for quite some time, time, time (4)
3) A letter, best fitting Poseidon (3).
3) Vatican relative to Italy (2)
Results:
You decide to take everything from the house to help you on your quest. Take everything within the walls, or out the walls of the house, depending on the brother you play for (7/7). After that, to get your number even, you drink some tea (+1/+1) and embark on your separate journeys.

----- hints start here:

Unfinished structural hint:

-------/starthere\-------
gryphon--oceanman
---?------------------?---
-cake---------------?---
---?------------------?---
---?------------------?---
---?------------------?---
---?------------------?---
---?------------------?---
-------\laststop/-------

First line hint:

☩🔠 🐍⛓

First line hint:

There's a reason to why I only used 0-3 numbers in the grid

Last line hint:

Two of the last crossword words coincide on 75%.

Last line hint:

Answer 1

starthere.txt: Your father has gone missing. You, two brothers , are off to an adventure to find him. The only thing that he left you is a 4x4 crossword with following clues:

0) A su[pe]rficial excuse for discrimination (4) -> skin (from pirate)
1) When I .... about politics you always seem to .... (4/4) -> talk/yawn (from pirate)
2) Italy relative to Croatia (2) -> sw (southwest)
2) Way to get loved for quite some time, time, time (4) -> stay (according to Taylor Swift)
3) A letter, best fitting Poseidon (3) -> psi, which looks like a trident
3) Vatican relative to Italy (2) -> in

The crossword seems to be the one in the centre of the image. Insert the letters and solve the grid as a slitherlink (this was figured out by Omega Krypton):

You decide to take everything from the house to help you on your quest. Take everything within the walls, or out the walls of the house, depending on the brother you play for (7/7). After that, to get your number even, you drink some tea (+1/+1) and embark on your separate journeys.

The outside letters (SKYPAWN), with an additional T, fit to gryphon.txt, which we'll get to once we need to. The inside letters (STAALSI), with an extra T, fit to oceanman.txt. Let's solve that one as far as we can first.

oceanman.txt: You decide to TRAVEL on board of a ship, called after some HOLY person. Suddenly, you get into the storm, and the ship gets wrecked!!! Having drunk lots of SEAWATER, you get onto the seashore alive.

We have STAALSIT, so travel = SAIL, holy = ST, seawater = SALT. Which fits in the middle left.

You're barely alive. Leave only one from each set of same letters you have (-3).

This leaves ALSIT.

robocop.txt: Roaming across the land, you bump into a big smart COMPUTER. He looks at you, and decides to help you if you find him SEVERAL items.

This is computer = AI, several items = LIST. These fit in the bottom-most crossword.

Though you helped him a lot, the computer can give you only a bucket of completely non-edible metal items. Add all missing letters to the pile (+1).

Non-edible metal items are NAILS (thanks GentlePurpleRain). We get one extra N here, giving ALSITN.

redalert.txt: You meet a furious leader with a MOUSTACHE. He wants you to advice him on how to rule the country.

The moustached leader is STALIN. This fits the crossword in the bottom right corner.

Seeing the politics from the inside has straightened your mind. Iterate each letter from the pile through the alphabet, until it gains a vertical symmetry. (+0)

S -> T, L-> M, N -> O, giving TTAMIO. (from Ben J)

einstein.txt: You go to COLLEGE (to get some knowledge, of course). There you move on to conducting experiments with NUCLEAR powers.

College = MIT, nuclear = ATOM (from Ben J). The crossword is near the bottom left corner.

Your experiments are a success! Take every pair of same letters you have, then turn them into 4 adjucent letters (say CC turns into ABDE). Being incredibly smart now, you head into an expedition! (+2)

TTAMIO -> RSUVAMIO

edge.txt: Reaching the very EDGE of the world, you suddenly feel a strange TASTE on your tongue. It appears that you're a psychic and your brother requires your help right now! No time for research now!!!

Edge = RIM, taste = SAVOUR. This fits the topmost crossword.

Exchange your letters for what is bothering your brother (-8+4). After that add brother to the pile (+7). Seems like that saved him, and your adventure continues.

Appears we now need to go back to the Gryphon part to figure out what we need...

gryphon.txt: After spending a continuous time in the SUNNY south, you look UP and see a terrible beast flying into you. However, you manage to cut its LEGS, and it falls to the ground.

We have the letters SKYPAWNT from starthere.txt. So up = SKY, legs = PAWS, sunny = TAN. Which fits in the bottom left crossword.

You end the creature's life. You take its undamaged parts as a trophy - add all missing letters to your pile (+2).

Since we cut off the gryphon's legs, the undamaged part is WINGS, which would give us two new letters leaving SKYPAWNTIG.

kingsman.txt: You turn to serve a great LEADER, who tends to wear BRIGHT royal clothing. He puts your MIND to a good use and sends you to GATHER information on the neighbouring country's army.

Leader = KING, bright = GAY, mind = WITS, gather info = SPY. This fits the leftmost crossword.

The king sees you want to drink something, but your crossword is missing a letter of it. Being kind, he grants you this exact letter thrice (+3).

The crossword has T_A with a hole in the middle, so it's missing an E for "tea" (from OP). So we get SKYPAWNTIGEEE.

cake.txt: You meet a pirate, who desires to bake a cake. His problem being, his evil BROTHER locked the recipe BOOK inside a tresure chest! After you pick the LOCK, you see that the pirate misses one INGREDIENT from the cake.

brother = TWIN, book = PAGE, lock = KEY, ingredient = YEAST (from Omega Krypton). The crossword is down and to the right from the starting square.

You acquire the missing ingredient, and, though the resulting cake tastes like garbage, the pirate shares one of his secret treasures with you (+1).

"X" marks the spot, so we get an extra X. We have SKYPAWNTIGEEEX now.

dream.txt: You meet a BEAUTIFUL girl, who appears to be a videogame NERD as well. The COLOUR of her skin, the size of her HIPS - everything is just as you could ever wish for.

beautiful = SEXY, nerd = GEEK, colour = PINK, hips = WAIST. This fits the crossword at the bottom middle.

You fall madly in love and marry her. Lot of things you were attached to before now seem unneeded: remove three letters from the left, one from the right and one from below (-5).

The three leftmost letters are WEG, the rightmost one is T, and the bottom-most one is Y. We're left with PAISNEEKX.

ambush.txt: You decide to perform a heist. As you sneak into the TOWER, you are ambushed by SEVERAL guards! They HURT you very much and throw into the streets to die.

Tower = KEEP, several = SIX, hurt = PAIN. This fits a crossword near the bottom right corner.

As you're almost dead, you feel angelic help removing what was bothering you (-4). Instead of that you get letters of unknown origin (+8). Now you're once again healthy and alive.

Remove PAIN, and from edge.txt above, we know the letters we receive are RSUVAMIO. We're left with SEEKXRSUVAMIO.

bigcitylife.txt: You BLEND into the crowd and try to start a new life. You wear a DISGUISE as a street poet. However, after your every POEM peope around just get GLOOMY.

Blend = MIX, disguise = MASK, poem = VERSE, gloomy = SOUR. These fit near the top right corner.

You grow a longish beard and reconsider life: for every letter that has an empty space below, add a previous aphabetically letter to that space (+7). Maybe, you should get back to your wife.

The letters with nothing below them are VERKEIX. So we add UDQJDHW, leaving us with SEEKXRSUVAMIOUDQJDHW.

family.txt: Suddenly, you are a father of three nicest CHILDREN! That's like a small ARMY! One of them wants to cut LUMBER, the other wants to join american TROOPS, the third, however, considers himself a COMMUNIST. However you think this is a FAD he picked somewhere. However, this kid is the only one that reacts to your every PUN, so you like him most.

Children = KIDS, army = SQUAD, cut lumber = AXE, American troops = USV (United States Volunteers), communist = RED, fad = WHIM, pun = JOKE. These fit the big one at the top middle.

Your life is cozy and well-regulated. However, it's hard to remember things with all that racket around. Leave only the biggest rectangle of letters within your crossword (-10).

Remaining letters are OKHIADXSED.

myback.txt: Your SPINE suddenly hurts so much, you feel as a living CORPSE. You feel an incredible urge to visit a place, as though you've been CURSED. After saying that everything's ALLRIGHT to your wife, you go for a walk.

Back = DISK, corpse = DEAD, cursed = HEX, allright = OK. This fits a crossword on the middle right.

You come to your destination feeling a bit better. Leave only the biggest symmetrical shape of your crossword (-2).

Removing H and O makes the crossword symmetrical. So we're left with DISKEXAD. This is the last one of the "Gryphon" crosswords, so let's track back to where we were in the Oceanman story.

edge.txt: ...Exchange your letters for what is bothering your brother (-8+4). After that add brother to the pile (+7). Seems like that saved him, and your adventure continues.

We know now our brother was bothered by PAIN. I suppose we're to take the next bit literally, so our letters are now PAINBROTHER.

roaringbeauty.txt: You come upon a definitely suffering BEAST in the forest. Having a closer look, you see that it's struggling to get out of woman's CLOTHING. After you decide to help it, out of the kindness of your pure heart, you see the beast turn into a princess. She tells you her sad STORY, and you fall in love at the first sight (given she's still naked).

Beast = PANTHER, clothing = BRA, story = BIO. These fit directly next to the central square.

You want to know her a bit better. Add the not-so-necessary letters to one of the words (+6).

Bio is short for biography, so we now have PAINBROTHERGRAPHY.

airdanger.txt: You're attacked by a dreadful BEAST! It SHOUTS at you something about avenging his brother. However, you don't want to hurt this monster. You tell him about how you SYMPATHISE his feelings, while you sneakily throw a calming MEDICINE into him. The beast is touched by your words. You persuade him to have a fresh start and send him to help your old FRIEND.

Beast = GRYPHON, shouts = ROAR, sympathise = PITY, medicine = HERB, old friend = AI (from earlier, see robocop.txt). These fit a crossword near the top left corner.

Your friend says thanks for a new winged helper. Add the first half of the word to the pile (+1).

The first half of AI is A (from OP). So this leaves us with PAINBROTHERGRAPHYA.

easylife.txt: Due to the evil magic, your new wife is non-fertile (which is a shame, 'cos she's really good with kids). But since you have lots of money, you built a SOLUTION to this problem (now owned by your wife) and a small BUSINESS for you. Now that your life seems GREAT, you decide to pay a VISIT to the old house, where you started your journey.

solution = ORPHANAGE, small business = BAR, great = HAPPY, visit = TRIP. This crossword is down and to the left from the starting point.

There is no use taking all of your belongings with you, though! Leave only the longest word of the crossword and remove the repeated letters (-10).

This leaves ORPHANGE.

laststop.txt: You finally meet your brother at the father's house. Suddenly you see your father inside. "Why, I only left for an hour to buy myself a laptop, and you consider me missing and take all my belongings!" When he gets to know you've solved his crossword he says "It's a good thing I made another". You take a look at the new one.

?. This is a fancy way of cursing (4) -> dang
?. This one expresses happiness (2) -> XD (from Ben J)
?. Oh, that's a long number. And if you read it backwards, it would be even longer. (2) -> ip
?. This is something wet, but in the Internet, it meant something else... (4) -> dank (from Ben J)

We're left with

The letters HEROES.

The letters marked with a pentagon

...anagram to LITERATE.

So the 15-character password could be

LITERATE HEROES

The crossword with solutions:

Answer 2

Most of this is done by jafe. This is just a simplified version of his answer. If there are no credits, default = jafe

AND I THINK I FINISHED LASTSTOP :)

Step 0: starthere.txt

The clues: (jafe/ pirate?)

0) A surficial excuse for discrimination (4) -> race?
1) When I .... about politics you always seem to .... (4/4)
2) Italy relative to Switzerland (2) -> se (southeast)?
2) Way to get loved for quite some time, time, time (4) -> stay (according to Taylor Swift)
3) A letter, best fitting Poseidon (3) -> psi, which looks like a trident
3) Vatican relative to Italy (2) -> in?

Position: (pirate)

The crossword seems to be the one in the centre of the image (the 4x4 with numbers 0-3).

Results:

(pirate)

We need to divide the letters in the crossword to two equal parts, each consists of 7 letters, and then add the letter 't' (tea) to the pile.

(me) From the Line 0 hints I figured out

Cross+word + slither+link & Grids in a slitherlink only contains numbers from 0-3

Next step

Solve the slitherlink in the 4x4 square in pirates answer.

(jafe) Solving the slitherlink:

What you have:

Take the outside letters plus T -> SKYPAWNT

Step 1: oceanman.txt

The Clues:

We have STAALSIT, so holy = ST, seawater = SALT, travel = SAIL.

Finished part:

Which fits in the middle left:

What you have:

Leave only one from each set of same letters you have (-3). This leaves ALSIT.

Step 2: robocop.txt

The Clues:

This is computer = AI, several items = LIST.

Finished Part:

These fit in the bottom-most crossword.

What you have:

Non-edible metal items are NAILS (thanks GentlePurpleRain). We get one extra N here, giving ALSITN.

Step 3: redalert.txt

The Clues:

Mustache --> STALIN

Finished Part:

Bottom right:

What we have:

S -> T, T -> T, A -> A, L-> M, I -> I, N -> O, ==> TTAMIO. (from Ben J)

Step 4: einstein.txt

The Clues:

College = MIT, nuclear = ATOM (from Ben J).

Finished Part:

near bottom left

What we have:

TTAMIO -> RSUVAMIO

Step 5: edge.txt:

The Clues:

Edge = RIM, taste = SAVOUR.

Finished Part:

the topmost crossword

What we have:

Appears we now need to go back to the Gryphon part to figure out what we need...

Step 6: gryphon.txt

The Clues:

(up = SKY, legs = PAWS, sunny = TAN)

Finished part:

bottom left:

What we have:

undamaged parts = wings, we have SKYPAWNTIG

Step 7: kingsman.txt

The Clues:

Leader = KING, bright = GAY, mind = WITS, gather info = SPY.

Finished Part:

What we have:

The E from "tea" (or "wine") is missing, so we get SKYPAWNTIGEEE

Step 8: cake.txt FINALLY SOME CONTRIBUTIONS ORIGINALLY FROM ME!!!

The Clues:

evil brother --> TWIN, book --> PAGE, pick the lock --> with a KEY!, ingredient --> YEAST

Finished Part:

near bottom right

What we have:

"X" marks the spot, so we get an extra X. We have SKYPAWNTIGEEEX now. (jafe)

Step 9: dream.txt

The Clues:

beautiful = SEXY, nerd = GEEK, colour = PINK, hips = WAIST.

Finished Part:

bottom middle:

What we have:

SKYPAWNTIGEEEX -WEG -T -Y = PAISNEEKX

Step 10: ambush.txt

The Clues:

tower = KEEP, several = SIX, hurt = PAIN

Finished Part:

near bottom right:

What we have:

-PAIN, +RSUVAMIO (from edge.txt) = SEEKXRSUVAMIO.

Step 11: bigcitylife.txt

The Clues:

Blend = MIX, disguise = MASK, poem = VERSE, gloomy = SOUR

Finished Part:

near top right

What we have:

The letters with nothing below them are VERKEIX. So we add UDQJDHW, leaving us with SEEKXRSUVAMIOUDQJDHW.

Step 12: family.txt

The Clues:

Children = KIDS, army = SQUAD, cut lumber = AXE, American troops = USV (United States Volunteers), communist = RED, fad = WHIM, pun = JOKE.

Finished part:

Top middle

What we have:

remaining: OKHIADXSED

Step 13: myback.txt

The Clues:

Back = DISK, corpse = DEAD, cursed = HEX, allright = OK

Finished Part:

middle right

What we have:

Removing H and O makes the crossword symmetrical. So we're left with DISKEXAD.

End of the "Gryphon" crosswords, tracking back to where we were in the Oceanman story

BACK TO edge.txt

What we have:

whatever we have --> PAIN+BROTHER = PAINBROTHER

Step 14: roaringbeauty.txt

The Clues:

Beast = PANTHER, clothing = BRA, story = BIO

Finished part:

left of central square:

What we have:

Bio: short for biography, so we now have PAINBROTHERGRAPHY.

Step 15: airdanger.txt

The Clues:

Beast = GRYPHON, shouts = ROAR, sympathise = PITY, medicine = HERB, old friend = AI (from robocop.txt)

Finished Part:

left of roaringbeauty.txt

What we have:

two-letter word for thank you: "ta". +T =PAINBROTHERGRAPHYT.

Step 16: easylife.txt

The Clues:

solution = ORPHANAGE, small business = BAR, great = HAPPY, visit = TRIP.

Finished Part:

left of laststop.txt

What we have:

ORPHANGE

Step 17: laststop.txt - by me!

The Clues:

?. This is a fancy way of cursing (4) -> dang
?. This one expresses happiness (2) -> hi/oi (Ben J)
?. Oh, that's a long number. And if you read it backwards, it would be even longer. (2) -> ip (jafe) ?. This is something wet, but in the Internet, it meant something else... (4) -> dank (BenJ)

Finished Part:

H and O is in same grid as both are possible, doesn't know which one the OP wants

What we have:

-10: Nothing left!

---

PROGRESS SO FAR... -to be updated

Answer 3

Partial Answer:

Adding some things to jafe's answer:

starthere:
We have a crossword to solve:

0) A surficial excuse for discrimination (4)

skin

1) When I .... about politics you always seem to .... (4/4)

Talk/Yawn

2) Italy relative to Switzerland

sw (Italy is South West to Croatia)

2) Way to get loved for quite some time (4)

stay (seems jafe is right here)

3) A letter, best fitting Poseidon (3).

psi (Greek letter that looks like Poseidon's trident)

3) Vatican relative to Italy (2)

in (Vatican is in Italy)

So the crossword should look like:

 s t a y

   a p a

   l s w

 s k i n  

or in the crossword:

You decide to take everything from the house to help you on your quest. Take everything within the walls, or out the walls of the house, depending on the brother you play for (7/7). After that, to get your number even, you drink some tea (+1/+1) and embark on your separate journeys.

We need to divide the letters in the crossword to two equal parts, each consists of 7 letters, and then add the letter 't' (tea) to the pile.
Still need to figure out where the walls of the house are... My guess would be that we need to split the letters by the middle horizontal line in the crossword, but this doesn't make much sense:

Bro1: lswskin(t)
Bro2: stayapa(t)

Anagrams maybe? couldn't find any