- Type: Mixed puzzle
- Location: A wizard tower
- Difficulty: Difficult
Background:
The wizard tower belongs to a powerful and mysterious wizard named Zander. Zander is known for his love of puzzles and traps, and has filled his tower with all manner of clever challenges for anyone brave enough to enter.
The Puzzle:
As you make your way up the winding stairs of the wizard tower, you come across a locked door. Upon closer inspection, you notice that the door is adorned with strange symbols and runes. You also see a small pedestal nearby, upon which sits a strange, glowing crystal.
As you try to figure out how to unlock the door, you hear a faint voice in your head. It is Zander, the wizard himself. “Welcome, brave adventurers,” he says. “If you wish to pass through this door and continue your journey, you must solve my riddle.”
“I am not alive, but I grow; I don’t have lungs, but I need air; I don’t have a mouth, but water kills me. What am I?”
Solution:
The answer to the riddle is a fire. Fire is not alive, but it grows when it consumes fuel. It does not have lungs, but it needs oxygen to continue burning. It does not have a mouth, but water can extinguish it.
If you correctly answer the riddle, the door will unlock and you will be able to continue your journey into the wizard tower. Of course, this riddle is so easy any party will get it. That is by design. It lulls the party into a false sense of security. Once inside, the puzzles will not be so easy.
In the Wizards Tower:
There are 5 more puzzles to be found in the tower. Each puzzle sits on its own level. And solving the puzzle means the players can ascent a staircase to the nex level.
- The first puzzle you encounter is a room filled with shelves, each one stacked with strange, glowing orbs-like objects. There are three shelves, each with a different number of orbs-like objects on them. The numbers are: 4, 5, 6. You notice that there is a small pedestal in the corner of the room with a note on it. The note reads: “To pass through the door, you must place the orbs-like objects on the shelves in such a way that the total number of objects on each shelf is equal. Good luck!”
- The next puzzle you come across is a room with a series of levers and buttons on the walls. There is a locked door at the other end of the room, and a note on the door that reads: “To unlock this door, you must press the correct sequence of buttons and levers. The correct sequence is written on the walls in the room. But be warned, the wrong sequence will trigger a trap!”
- You come across a room with a large, ornate chest in the center. The chest is locked, and there is a note on it that reads: “To unlock this chest, you must solve the following riddle: I am the keeper of secrets, The holder of knowledge and tales. I am found on shelves and in hands, But can be left behind and ignored. I am the source of entertainment and learning, But also the cause of frustration and yearning.” Answer: Book
- As you make your way through the tower, you come across a room with a strange, magical portal in the center. There is a note on the portal that reads: “To pass through this portal, you must answer the following question: What has a head and a tail, but no body?” Answer: Coin
- The final puzzle you encounter is a room filled with mirrors of all shapes and sizes. There is a locked door on the other side of the room, and a note on the door that reads: “To unlock this door, you must use the mirrors to reflect a beam of light onto a specific spot on the wall. The correct spot is marked with a small X. Good luck!”
If players solve all the puzzles they can ascent to the level of the tower where Zander lives. But if they make a mistake the whole tower becomes translucent for a full round. Any PC without the ability to fly will fall down and take 1d6 falling damage for each level they drop. Zander, of course, is not effected by this.