A group of four adventurers slay a powerful monster after a hard fight. Lo and
behold, the monster is carrying a safe with a "large amount" of mithtril
coins!. The party is not yet over, and the safe is too heavy to drag around,
so the party hires a newbie to stand guard (insuring that the safe does not
mysteriously vanish, as items sometimes do, while trusting that the newbie
will be motivated enough by fear to leave the coins alone). The newbie is
instructed to guard the safe until the party returns for it.

a Later, the tank in the party says he has to go train. However, he instead
sneaks back to the newbie and says "I have to leave early, give me my share of
the mithril". When the newbie tries to divide the mithril evenly by four, he
finds that there is one left over, which he keeps for himself. The tank is
given one-quarter of what's left, and he returns to the party.

A little later, the party's mage claims he has to go restock his reagent
pouch. He, too, visits the newbie instead, asking for his share. The newbie,
again, finds that when he divides the remaining mithril by four, that there is
one left over, which he keeps. The mage is given one-quarter of the remaining
coins and he returns to the party.

The tarmalen and the bard, in turn, each do the same. Each time, the newbie
finds that, when trying to divide the remaining coins by four, there is one
left over, which he keeps, and the party member is given one-quarter of what
is left.

Finally, the party comes to an end. All four players return to the newbie and
the safe, and ask that the remaining coins be divided evenly amongst them. The
party sees a much smaller number of mithril coins than before, but none of
them dare say anything, for they each believe they are to blame. (The newbie
sure isn't going to blab) Once again, when they try to divide the number of
remaining coins by four, they find one left over, and they give it to the
newbie for his "honest service".

What is the _smallest_ number of mithril coins in the safe that could make
this problem work? The correct answer will be posted in one hour.

Shinarae Lluminus