- Type: Cypher puzzle
- Location: a nobles home
- Difficulty: Medium
Background:
The party is hired by a wealthy noble to find their missing son, who is the sole heir to the family fortune. The noble believes that their son has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom, and has received a ransom note with a series of cryptic messages written in a cypher.
The Puzzle:
The party must decipher the cypher and use the clues provided in the ransom note to find the missing son. The ransom note is written in a complex cypher that uses a combination of letters to encode the message.
To solve the puzzle, the party must use their knowledge of different cyphers and decoding techniques to decipher the message and find the missing son. They may need to experiment with different combinations of letters and use their logic and problem-solving skills to figure out the correct solution.
Here is a simple cypher that could be used in a D&D puzzle:
A = Z
B = Y
C = X
D = W
E = V
F = U
G = T
H = S
I = R
J = Q
K = P
L = O
M = N
N = M
O = L
P = K
Q = J
R = I
S = H
T = G
U = F
V = E
W = D
X = C
Y = B
Z = A
To use this cypher, you would replace each letter in a message with the corresponding letter from the cypher. For example, the message “HELLO” would be encoded as “SVOOL.” To decode the message, you would use the cypher to translate the letters back into their original form.
Solution:
If you write down any message of three or more sentences including short words such as “I”, “A”, “Am” or “Is” players should be able to decypher the message without a problem. But you can always give away a letter on a successful intelligence check.
By deciphering the cypher, the party is able to find the location of the missing son and rescue him from his kidnappers. Or the message might be written by the son scolding his father for never paying any attention to his heir together with the location of where to find him.
The noble is grateful for their help and rewards the party generously for their bravery and intelligence. The missing son is returned home safely, and the family fortune is preserved. The party feels proud of their accomplishment and the role they played in reuniting the family and solving the mystery.