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Post by a moderator on Oct 13, 2020 16:13:58 GMT
The quote wasn't even a puzzle - it just came to mind when Wilf chose to avoid the straightforward solution in favour of a more convoluted yet technically correct one. And if I remember it at such a moment, there's no way an obsessive like Sid would pass up the opportunity to say it.
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on Oct 14, 2020 11:25:14 GMT
I was joking obviously. How does it even compare to the cryptic nature of the puzzles.
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Post by schlendrian on Oct 15, 2020 16:05:38 GMT
The trap door leads you into a square room, bare and featureless safe for a sturdy-looking door opposite you and a small heap in a corner consisting of a jade crown, a bamboo flute, some sculliweed root, as well as a pestle and a mortar. A note next to it reads: "No puzzle to get on, simply grind these three ingredients into a paste to apply onto the lock of the door." You groan in disbelief, but as all your efforts to force the door are in vain, you turn to the heap to get on with the ardous task at hand.
Just then, another note is shoved through the slit under the door. It reads: "My apologies, my memory is tricky. The door will only open if you use a paste made of two of the ingredients, but I don't remember which. You will either have to use the crown and the flute, or the crown and the root, or the flute and the root."
Now, which ingredients will you grind up?
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on Oct 15, 2020 18:01:34 GMT
Tries to put brain in gear after doing the most boring job in the world.
I crush the jade crown and sculliweed root and apply it to the door lock.
Reason is as far as I can tell these two increase your stats but the bamboo flute, though useful, drains your stats.
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Post by a moderator on Oct 15, 2020 18:18:22 GMT
I would try the bamboo flute and the sculliweed root, as they're from books by UK Steve Jackson, while the jade crown is US Steve Jackson's handiwork.
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Post by schlendrian on Oct 15, 2020 19:24:37 GMT
The right answer has already been given, but the reasoning is far off, so I'll refrain from opening the door just yet. I'll give more substantial hints tomorrow, but as technically the puzzle has been "solved" I will give way if someone is already waiting with a fresh puzzle.
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Post by Wilf on Oct 15, 2020 21:48:42 GMT
The flute first appears in Sorcery! Book 1. The root first appears in FF Book 24. Mixup the digits and you have 214. 214 is the code that opens a sturdy door in Khare.
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Post by schlendrian on Oct 16, 2020 4:23:56 GMT
The two notes are not simply flavour text but rather allude to a very specific scene in an ff book, where also three - or rather two - ingredients have to be mixed up. Each of the ingredients in the puzzle is somehow analogous to one of the ingredients from that scene.
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Post by Peter on Oct 16, 2020 6:23:29 GMT
In that case, crown and root (hag's hair and lotus flower). Yes?
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,458
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Oct 16, 2020 9:06:27 GMT
The flute first appears in Sorcery! Book 1. The root first appears in FF Book 24. Mixup the digits and you have 214. 214 is the code that opens a sturdy door in Khare. It doesn't seem like this is the answer but perhaps it should have been!
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Post by a moderator on Oct 16, 2020 11:07:17 GMT
This is based on the arbitrary choice at the end of City of Thieves, where you must combine two of: black pearl, hag's hair, lotus flower. The correct combination is lotus flower and hag's hair. The crown is from Demons of the Deep, in which you need to find black pearls. In Creature of Havoc the sub-quest to obtain sculliweed root is given you by some Hags. The first book in which you can obtain a bamboo flute is The Shamutanti Hills, in which your character can be killed by the scent of (black) lotus flowers. Therefore sculliweed root and bamboo flute is the right combination.
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Post by schlendrian on Oct 16, 2020 12:16:00 GMT
You apply the ground-up bamboo flute and sculliweed root to the lock. Silently, the door swings open, while a third note sails down. "Be thankful I didn't make you tatoo a sword tree onto your forehead!", it reads. Shaking your head, you continue...
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Post by a moderator on Oct 16, 2020 13:59:11 GMT
...into a room with sand on the floor, benches against the walls, a large plastic crate next to the door through which you just came, and three imposing figures between you and the far door.
Closest to you is a life-size mannequin of X-Men villain Toad with a disturbingly exaggerated mouth. Behind it, clad in black armour, is the character Mantis from the second Guardians of the Galaxy film. Towering over both of these towards the back of the room is a grotesque hybrid, the upper half a humanoid robot, the lower half a pair of hairy legs ending in hooves.
The door beyond is decorated with a picture of a D6 atop a large letter 'E'.
Taped to the lid of the crate are a hubcap and a note reading 'Choose wisely from what you find within.' Lifting the lid, you see that the top half of the crate is subdivided into six compartments. Each compartment contains a different item: a copy of Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson's non-FF gamebook Avenger!, the Beatles' double A-side of Yellow Submarine and Eleanor Rigby, a leaflet advertising one of those dubious companies that offer 'cash for gold', a street map of the state capital of Arizona, a photo of sitcom actress Su Pollard (with the image of a white unicorn in a yellow sun drawn on her forehead), and a copy of the third book of Steve Jackson's Sorcery! Through the transparent plastic of the compartments, you can see that the bottom half of the crate contains only a key ring with a key attached.
Which of the crate's contents will you use to deal with the obstacles which face you?
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Post by vastariner on Oct 16, 2020 15:53:02 GMT
I think I would use the third Sorcery! book against the mannequin, the state capital of Arizona against the Mantis, and the leaflet against the gargantuan.
(Serpent, phoenix, Golden Company - the best allies to win the Tourney of the Planes)
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Post by a moderator on Oct 16, 2020 15:57:38 GMT
You're heading in the right direction, but the book that's the inspiration for this puzzle would not allow that combination.
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Post by vastariner on Oct 16, 2020 16:06:56 GMT
In which case, I'd use the Way of the Tiger for the toad, and I believe tatsu have a horn, so Su Pollard for the mantis.
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Post by schlendrian on Oct 16, 2020 16:28:23 GMT
In which case, I'd use the Way of the Tiger for the toad, and I believe tatsu have a horn, so Su Pollard for the mantis. Don't forget the key ring for the Die-on-E
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Post by a moderator on Oct 16, 2020 17:24:28 GMT
You've cracked it between you. A hefty blow with the Way of the Tiger book deals with Toad, Mantis is blinded with the image of the tattooed Ms. Pollard (or Tat-Su), and the leaflet from the Golden Company, when screwed up, makes a missile capable of felling the gargantuan hybrid.
Removing these causes the compartmentalised insert to come loose, providing access to the key ring, and the attached key fits the lock on the door, allowing you to get past the Die-on-E without any trouble.
You could have got past the first three using The Seven Serpents, the map of Phoenix, and Eleanor Rigby (presumably an Enchantress in Sid's little world), but if you'd done so, you'd have found the words 'Not enough honour' embossed into the plastic of the empty compartments, and been unable to gain access to the key ring, so getting through the door would have been a lot harder.
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Post by a moderator on Feb 22, 2022 0:33:07 GMT
I'd apologise for posting two consecutive puzzles in this thread, but it has been 16 months and change...
The door leads into a short corridor, the walls of which are decorated with poster-sized reproductions of assorted FF book covers: the Puffin editions of The Forest of Doom and The Seven Serpents, both Wizard variants of Deathtrap Dungeon, and the Scholastic The Citadel of Chaos. All of them have 'D.E.L.E.T.E.' scrawled across them in what you hope is red paint.
At the end of the corridor is a door, blocked by metal bars. To the left of the door, a hinged metal plate, roughly A4 in size, is set into the wall, and taped to the plate is a sheet of paper bearing the message
Behind the plate is a recess in the wall, with a lever jutting horizontally from the wall. There is room to move the lever up or down. There are two metal plaques attached to the wall, one above the lever, the other below. The top one is engraved with the words, 'Whom does Colletus worship?', the bottom with, 'Where do you find Meghan-na-Durr?'
In order to get past the door, you're going to have to move the lever. But if you move it into the wrong position, you'll activate the trap beyond the door. Will you push it up or down?
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Post by Wilf on Feb 22, 2022 1:27:44 GMT
Up. Deleting the letters that appear in the word 'three' from 'Throff' gives you 'off'. Deleting them from 'throne' gives you 'on'.
The posters all represent book three in each series.
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Post by a moderator on Feb 22, 2022 1:45:30 GMT
Well, that didn't take long.
You push the lever up, and the metal bars slide to the right, allowing you to open the door and step through...
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Post by Wilf on Feb 25, 2022 13:27:37 GMT
You find yourself in a bare room with an altar in the centre. At the far end of the room is a sturdy door. Keen to escape this seemingly unending nightmare, you make a beeline for the door and are about to turn the handle, when you see a small plaque above the lock, with an inscription: “This door was fashioned by the Necromancers of Throben. Attempts to open it without the correct key will be met with instant obliteration.” “Well, of course they will”, you sigh resignedly, before turning to the only other feature in the room: the altar. On the altar is a short pencil, and an edition of The Allansian Times, open at the crossword page.You flick through the news articles, but the paper is an old one and you learn nothing new from it, so you turn back to the puzzle page, so obviously laid out for you. But before you can examine it, a beam of light shines from the ugly pendant round your neck, illuminating a small hollow in one face of the altar. Putting your fingers into the hollow, you find a catch which opens a secret panel, concealing a cupboard containing a large bunch of keys and a scrap of paper. You count 26 keys in total, each uniquely numbered in that curious traditional Allansian fashion, from 1 to 26. On the scrap of paper is a short note: “Completing the crossword will not reveal the correct key.” “Well, that’s helpful… not!”, you think. With nothing else to do, though, you turn your attention to the crossword anyway: Across: 1. Intelligent, tiny, peaceful humanoid who cares for nature. 3. Malevolent soul-stealing gaseous creature that transports its victims to the Magical Planes. 8. Foul-tempered cavern dweller resembling a cross between a toad and a gibbon. 9. Mouldering, skeletal, undead disease-spreader. 10. You’ll be petrified by this poisonous lizard. 11. Brutish, primitive, unintelligent semi-human. 14. Winged mammal, possibly vampiric. 17. Small, spiny, green/brown, marsh-dwelling amphibian. 18. Hypnotic human/octopus hybrid consumed with pure, unsullied hatred. 19. Chilling, undead servant, immune to weapons not made of silver. 20. Fearsome, undead spectre with a soul-shredding wail. Down: 1. Enormous, carnivorous dinosaur-descendant, often used in gladiatorial contests. 2. Giant, red/brown ant/human hybrid. 4. Dextrous, brown-haired, six-armed ape, often used as a familiar by wizards. 5. Patterned, tribal, frog-like amphibian. 6. Quick-tempered semi-ophidian resident of Port Blacksand, favoured by Lord Azzur. 7. Unthinking, animated undead servant. 12. Near-extinct, subterranean-dwelling humanoid with a wolf-like head and poisonous fangs. 13. Gigantic, many-headed reptile. 15. Intelligent species of serpentine warriors, devoted to Sith. 16. Hairy, stumpy-legged, cabbage-sized noise-polluter. “Well, that passed the time quite pleasantly” you think, as you complete the crossword, “but what on Titan do I do now?” No further options presenting themselves, you ponder the keys once more, look again at the note and the crossword, and select a key to try in the lock. But which number key do you choose?
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Post by a moderator on Feb 25, 2022 16:20:29 GMT
I think the right key is 22 Every letter of the alphabet bar V appears in at least one of the crossword answers, and V=22 in the standard substitution cypher.
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Post by Wilf on Feb 25, 2022 18:34:32 GMT
That took you a lot less time to get than it took me to put together!
You open the door and, instead of being obliterated, find yourself facing yet another devious puzzle...
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Post by schlendrian on Feb 25, 2022 19:06:38 GMT
That took you a lot less time to get than it took me to put together! That's quite alright, I f.e. will take considerably longer
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Post by a moderator on Feb 25, 2022 19:18:24 GMT
Behind the door is a flight of stairs, broken into three smaller flights by landings after the fourth and eighth steps.
On the first landing is a large poster of a river running through what appears to be the Indian countryside. The poster glistens slightly, and as you draw closer, you realise that it has been smeared with some kind of antiseptic lotion.
The second landing is also decorated with a poster, this one depicting various villains from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, standing beneath a red circle bearing a logo of a tentacled skull. Fixed to the floor in front of the poster is a toy sheep, its wool painted gold.
At the top of the third short flight is another landing, on which a large bookcase stands beside a door. The shelves of the bookcase are laden with a comprehensive set of FF books - all 59 Puffins, all 29 of the first Wizard run, all 17 of the second Wizard run, and 19 Scholastic titles (even though the last couple of them aren't supposed to be in the shops yet).
The door is, of course, locked, but in the middle is a rectangular panel with hinges at the bottom. Prying it open, you fold it down to form a small shelf, thereby revealing an inscription. Which editions of which books will you place on the shelf?
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Post by schlendrian on Feb 25, 2022 19:57:05 GMT
I'll try puffin edition Citadel of Chaos and Forest of Doom. Reasoning: The source is Scholastic CoC (Ganges/Ganjees), being the 3rd book in it's run, and Wizard CoC, being the 2nd in it's run. The 2nd and 3rd books in the puffin run are CoC and FoD I'm quite confident in identifying the source, much less in my actual answer
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Post by a moderator on Feb 25, 2022 20:07:34 GMT
Nice try, but wrong. Hint: What was the combination to open the door in the book from which the set-up comes?
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Post by schlendrian on Feb 25, 2022 21:31:08 GMT
Aah nice, didn't see the double meaning behind 'Input the combination in book form'. Still, the two books only requirement had me stumped for a while, as my thought process went: The combination is 217, I should probably leave out the 2 (Not the source of this set-up) which leaves books 1 and 7 of one range. But that does get me two possible solutions, no unique answer.
So here's what I think now: Book 21 and book 7 from the wizard range, Eye and House, fulfill all requirements and there's no other combination of books 21 and 7 or 2 and 17 across the ranges that work.
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Post by a moderator on Feb 25, 2022 21:49:25 GMT
Congratulations.
You place the two books onto the shelf and, remembering what is behind the door in the original version of this encounter, step to one side.
The lock clicks, the door opens and, rather underwhelmingly, a small plastic spork swings back and forth through the doorway on a thread.
You grab the spork and tug on it, breaking the thread, before stepping through to see what insanity awaits next.
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