True Dungeon Riddle Reveal for 2007

(Live monsters greeted you this year at True Dungeon!)

Riddle Reveal

As usually happens I was blessed with little or no sleep on Saturday and Sunday so I was a walking zombie at the Riddle Reveal on Sunday at 1:00pm.  I hope to get some sleep next year so I don’t ramble through Fritz’s great slide show program.  I apologize for the poor narrative with the cool slide show.  If you missed it, here is a run down on this year’s dungeon.

Marshalling Area

This year we gave each group a Coach to prep them for their adventure.  The Coaches did a great job, and I think this was a major improvement this year.

Training Room

The Drow was back this year to give your party your mission.  I hope you paid attention as the Drow doesn’t like an inattentive audience! 

BTW, we are very appreciative of our NPC volunteers at True dungeon.  They bring a live personal touch to the dungeon.  You may not recognize some of them “out of character” but the contributions they make are just as important as the people in Staff shirts!

Room 1 – The Sewers

This area consisted of a back alley location featuring a gate that lead to the city’s sewers. Inside this area, the players found notices tacked on the wall. Some of the notices were filler, and some provided useful information for later.  The useful ones were:

“Attention all Greyhawk citizens! By order of the High Council, a night curfew is hereby ordered for all people inside the city walls. Violators will receive swift justice from the Night Patrol. Stone golems will ensure this order is strictly enforced.”

“The Temple of the Four Winds normally hosts its ‘Festival of the Southwind’ event at this time. However, due to the military emergency, the event has been cancelled.” [Cemetery puzzle clue]

“Sculptures by Daumes: The renowned sculptor Daumes is now taking commissions for life-like statues. Visit her shop near the Cemetery District.” [Daumes spells Medusa if rearranged]

The sewer entrance has a locked gate blocking it. When the party is looking at the gate, the DM will tell them that they can easily smash the rusted lock off of the gate, or they can elect to have the Rogue attempt to pick the lock. There is a Rogue Skill Check device in the corner to facilitate this.

Once inside the party found a Shrieker that made a lot of noise but was easy to destroy or the party could even just walk away.  Clever players may have said that they are taking some of the Shrieker meat with them.

Next, the party was jumped by a nearby Shambling Mound who might have thrown some sticky stuff at their feet.  The Shambling Mound could be defeated by combat or by throwing some Shrieker meat far down the corridor.  (They love the stuff!)  A token of Universal Solvent was helpful here to deal with the sticky stuff sprayed on the party’s feet.

BTW, we worked hard on this room to make it look like a sewer!  There was even fog set on a timer to billow in to the room.  We hope to have more cool environments next year.

Room 2 – The Cemetery Puzzle

This was a cool looking room that again we worked very hard to make visually interesting.  There was a lot of detail here!  The object was to put the discs in the right location on the table.

The table was a 4-foot-wide square stone device set with 6-inch-wide circular impressions, one at each compass point. On the wall was this riddle. 

Here rests the craftsman of the gem

Who suffered wounds that would not stem

He wandered often in the glen

Once too often was his end

To enter here you must achieve

The Four Winds’ blessing to receive

A safe passage through his tomb

Place the discs and evade your doom

Four metal 6-inch-wide discs also rest on the table, and each has a different masculine face of a druidical nature. The party should have realized after a few minutes that the four faces represent the four seasons of the year. At the four compass points on the tabletop will be images whose sizes match the four discs. Each of the disks were decorated with flora indicative of the season, Acorns and oak leaves for fall, Sunflowers for summer, Holly and red berries for Winter, and Small blue flowers (Vinca) for Spring.  Players had to figure out which disc goes in each area. The table surface will look druidical in nature. Written upon the table are the following words:

The Four Winds howl far and near

Sort them now and place them here

They carry news to every ear

Sewn, they are, of joy and fear

The riddle tells the party that they must place the discs inside the proper indentions in the table. The words “news” and “sewn” are clues to what the Four Winds represent – as each letter presents a compass point. The next step was a little more difficult. The party must then associate the seasons to the Four Winds, and that is done as follows:

North = Winter

East = Spring

South = Summer

West = Autumn

The real trick was for the party to figure out which direction in the room is facing is North. If they examined the stone gate, they discovered moss and lichen growing on only one side – the North side as any Boy Scout will tell you. Armed with this knowledge, the party can then correctly orient the 4 discs.

If at ANY time a disc is placed inside an impression in the wrong location, the player putting it will be told by the DM that he is struck by a bolt of magical energy originating from the table and takes 4 points of damage. Note that a token Scroll of Magehand token allows the player to place a disc ONCE without taking any damage from a wrong guess. After one wrong guess, the magical damage destroys the Magehand spell.

Once all four discs are placed in their correct settings, the DM will tell the players that the door to the mausoleum slowly creaks open. Should the party have extra time, they may want to examine the crypt entrance more carefully. Above the doorway is the following inscription:

Here lies Breen the Jeweler

Born January 8th, 205

Died March 22nd, 246

This is a clue for the next room.

Note that one of the other mausoleum plaques in the room could have “Comprehend Languages” thrown on it, and it would have revealed that the druid buried there would always enjoy the warmth of the morning sun.  This is another clue as to how directions are oriented in the room.

Room 3 – The Crypt Guardian

When the party entered the mausoleum, they found themselves in a creepy stone building with a ceiling covered in spider webs. The walls are decorated with skull plaques. There is also a headstone on the wall that reads as follows:

Breen’s beloved brother Sigil.

You were my only sibling,

but your heart made me feel well-loved.

Born February 15th, 205

Died June 24th, 244

This is a clue to help solve the puzzle in the room.

Upon rounding a corner, the party found a chamber that contained a door and glowing brazier that had a large statue standing behind it. Close examination of the door revealed a 3-inch-wide socket in the middle (perhaps to accept something). They also saw that the 3-foot-wide brazier rests on top of a 4-foot-wide stone table, and that a scepter with a decorated skull rested on a stand behind the brazier. Written upon the wall was the following inscription:

Those who fear my guard’s hot wrath

Must sacrifice to open path

Pick the two that Breen did place

Upon his Mother’s Ring of grace

Then grab the scepter as you please

Use it then as this crypt’s key

Looking at the table more closely, the players also find some special treasure tokens that all bear gemstones. They are:

1) Fluorite                  2) Sardonyx

3) Jade                      4) Jasper

5) Amethyst               6) Garnet

7) Peridot

The correct action was to drop the Garnet and the Amethyst into the blazing brazier, thus sacrificing the gems Breen put on his Mother’s Ring. The garnet was his birthstone (see the clue in the previous room), the amethyst was his brother’s birthstone (info behind them), and those are the gemstones Breen chose for the special ring he made for his mother. Placing the correct gems in the brazier deactivates the dividing wall that springs up a few seconds after any gem is placed in the brazier.

(BTW, as this was our 5^th anniversary, this was one of the puzzles I put in to reward old-timers for playing in 2003.  There was another birthstone puzzle in 2003).

If a player used a Potion Detect Secret Doors token in this room, the DM handed a UV light to the player for 30 seconds. If the player in that time noticed that one of the skull plaques glows blue, the DM will take back the UV light and tell the player that he’s found a secret door. The player then received a random Rare token.

Room 4 – The Floor Puzzle (Puzzle side only)

Players entered to find a 40-foot-long passageway filled with cobwebs. Webs cover the ceiling, and the hallway was lined with small crypt plaques spaced 4 feet apart. Roughly 10 feet down the corridor, one of the plaques had an acid glyph, and any player who came within 2 feet or so of it triggered a proximity sensor that activated an air cannon. The air cannon emitted a loud noise and a puff of air. The DM stepped in and told the person that the acid glyph went off when he got close, and he takes 4 points of cold damage. There was a Fire glyph that followed this one, and again, proximity sensors will set off a sound effect and flashing light. Lastly, one of the plaques bears a Restoration glyph; the first player who touches it heals 4 points of damage. The healing glyph only activates once during the adventure.

About three-quarters of the way down the corridor, the players found a checkerboard section of floor with numbers on it that blocked their egress. It looked like this:

A few seconds after the party reached the front of the floor puzzle, the DM will activate a remote sound effect that plays the following message:

Before you lies a path to be

Count on wisdom, you’ll see

That problems found are easily

Solved by looking cleverly

The thing you seek is round I say

Its sum the light that leads the way

And rules on high upon the bay

With the countless does it lay

The trick to solving this puzzle was to realize that the characters are letters – not numbers. If you look at the puzzle from the side, the numbers become the letters O, N, M, and J. The correct path is to spell “MOON.”  There was also a rumor that said something to the effect that “obstacles can sometimes be solved by looking at them from another direction.”

It seems to be a custom to have a “floor puzzle” in TD each year, and historically they have been rather lethal.  Many expressed concern that this room should have had a damage cap or maximum level placed on it, but we really wanted to discourage blind bruit force as a solution and wanted people to think, it was on the puzzle side after all. 

Broken Plaque

If there is time left in the round, the DM told the players that they have found the final resting place of Breen. The DM will tell them that they can search the broken plaque for treasure, but at a cost: A player may reach into the random treasure generator for a random token, but doing so invokes a magical curse placed on the treasure. The curse carries no negative game effects, but the player gets a “Rogue’s Mark” on the back of his hand. This is supposed to mark the character for life as a thief.  If a player wants to take a treasure item, then the DM must first mark the player with a self-inking ink stamp pad that holds the image of a hand and a dagger. The stamped player is then allowed to reach into the hole and draw out one random token.   A player may avoid getting the Rogue’s Mark by using a Scroll Remove Curse token. A person with a Horn of Plenty token may take three tokens, but they are cursed with three marks, two on the back of his hand and one on the cheek.

While there was no in-game negative effects to the curse, if you displayed the dagger symbol in the Tavern there was a chance that Raven the head the Thieves’ Guild would ask you to join her organization.

Room 4 (Combat)  Room 5 (Puzzle) – The Medusa

This was a fun room – and very “True” to real life.  The deal was that if you looked into her eyes in real life, that you had to make a save verses petrifaction.  The Medusa NPCs were very devious, and we did end up turning a lot of players to stone.

We do realize this was a completely different challenge than most players were used to, but we are hopeful that parties were able to enjoy the experience.  It is True Dungeon after all…

For those who failed their save, there was a Scroll of Stone to Flesh in one of the drawers in the room.  On the combat side there was also a note in the drawer that read:

D —

To counteract your gaze, try grinding the ring finger from a stone golem into dust, and then blow the powder onto the person you accidentally petrified.

 — Your sister, Nogrog

This came in handy for those doing the Combat side of the dungeon as the next room featured a Stone Golem.

Finally, if you had a Small Steel Mirror token the Medusa would not try to petrify you – but she could still bite you with her poisonous snakes!

(Clever…very clever.)

Room 5 – (Combat)  The Stone Golem

This room was designed to allow the party to have the fun of “powering up” for a big fight.  The room was designed so they had advanced warning that a stone golem was coming to bash them.

He was a tough opponent, but he was programmed only to reduce someone to 1 hit point – not to kill them.  The golem was easily defeated if someone used a Scroll: Stone to Flesh token on him.  That removed all his special defenses and it made him pretty easy to destroy.

Note that players could restore a petrified player here by announcing that they were grinding a finger from the defeated golem and blowing the dust on the effected player(s).

Room 6 – The Wizard’s Library

Key to solving the puzzle in this room was to read the note left behind by the Wizard before he left.  He was leaving you a clue since he was not able to leave you exact instructions.  The note said:

Dear Visitors,

Guards from the High Council are here as I write this note. I have been summoned for my counsel, and thus I cannot assist you as planned. If you are as clever as I suppose, then you will not need my help. Good luck with your endeavor, and make yourselves at home. Relax, enjoy a glass of wine, read a book, and see what items of interest you can find. And don’t mind my houseguest.

                                                        — Bibwik

So “enjoy a glass of wine” meant to pick up and look at his goblet of wine.  If you looked at it, you would see that one image on the cup looked MUCH like the interior of the Wizard Library – except the Wizard is present and pointing at a book on the table. 

There was a rogues trap in the corner that would have provided the party with a clue (if they chose) indicating that the Wizard was accomplished with rendering of spells in pewter.  Examination of the room would reveal that the only pewter item in the room was the wine goblet, further indication of its significance. 

The “read a book” meant to then look closely at the book.  If you did you might see some very small text written along the “d” in the word “End”.  There was also a magnifying glass masquerading as a stopper on one of the flasks, it could be used to magnify the image on the book.  It said:

Knock thrice on wall with wand.

There was a specific stone, revealed with either Detect Magic or Detect Secret Doors tokens.  Tapping this stone with the wand would open the passage to the Wizards gate. 

Due to fire code reasons we could not build a cool secret door, so the DM told you that a secret door opened up where the curtain was located.

Note also that if a Detect Magic or similar spell was thrown on the book a message would appear that said, “Look closer.”

We had a few complaints that with everything secured down, this room was rather disappointing as there was little to truly interact with.  We felt we had to secure the items to preserve their location similarity with image on the goblet.  The fact that the items were secured and thus not intended for interaction should have also clued the party into the fact that what they sought was “hidden in the open”.

This was a tough room as a lot of groups missed the fact that image on the cup was the same as the back wall of the Wizard’s Library.  It is difficult to tell what will be hard or easy each year.  Unfortunately, all the groups got this puzzle during playtest, leading us to believe that the room and it’ clues were more than sufficient for normal play, but the playtest success is probably due to the testor’s year’s of experience with my puzzles.  This is one more thing to keep in mind for the future.

(The Wizard left you a clue to find his hidden message!)

Room 7 – The Final Room (Puzzle)

The party entered this room to find 6 pillars, a pedestal with 6 different colored eyeballs, a giant floating eyeball and the Shadowgate!  This was a puzzle that groups either got right away or not at all.  The riddle said:

The Shadowgate will take you thus

If your wits your hearts do trust

Pick the Eye that seems most just

And on the curtain place you must

The one to choose must be most true

For death awaits to gnaw at you

Most hungrily your soul to chew

So pick most wisely from the hues

Look with vision most divine

And see the wisdom of this shrine

Ignore the fools who do malign

Your choice to see the truth defined

The idea here was to “see the wisdom of this shrine” and “look with vision more divine”.  These clues were to prompt you to change your perspective to that of the symbolic eyes located around the room.  An observant party would notice that all the eye symbols had rather cat like pupils, the eyes on the altar and the moving floating eye on the wall however did not.  They had pupils that were more normal to a human eye.  There was one of the brightly colored fluorescent eyes on the wall that had a round pupil, if you looked closely at that you might also notice there was a peep hole in the center of that image, and that it was possible to look through the eye image from behind. If you did so through the peep hole you would easily see that all the pillars lined up to form one “canvas” and individual nonsensical markings on each pillar merged to form a large “V” with a small eye next to it.  This was the clue to examine the stained glass window marked with the Roman numeral “V”.  This window showed an eye with a white iris, the clue for the correct eyeball to use.

If the correct eyeball (gray one) was touched to the Shadowgate, then it was activated.  If you guessed wrong, you were destroyed.

This was a tough puzzle that most groups did not get.  The coolest thing about the room was entering the Shadowgate.  Players were given the fun of experiencing what it was like to walk through the Plane of Shadow – and travel outside the city of Greyhawk to next year’s adventure.

Room 7 (Combat) – The Shadowgate

This room was a favorite of many players as it featured some cool special effects, a nasty combat, and a freaking cool full-size beholder!  Much kudos to Grover Browning for doing a bulk of the work on this, and to Dave Radtke, Jeff Chandler and Brian Kelley for helping out with the painting and framing.

The combat was tough, but you could have helped yourselves in a number of ways.  First, a Smokestick token would have cut his “to hit” with his rays by -4, and you could gain +6 to your AC if you said you were using the pillars as cover.  You could throw spells, shoot missile weapons, and use wands and still get the +6 to AC.  Plus, he could not bite you since he could not fit between the pillars.

Finally, the Halfling was allowed to sneak attack the Beholder from underneath if someone thought to try it.

And then after the fight the players got to use the Shadowgate to escape to the beginning of next year’s module.  I think the fun of walking through it was evident by all the laughs I heard by exiting players.

Epilogue

We decided it would be cool to have an Epilogue room where things could be tied up, and you could see the start of next year’s adventure.  In this room you found out that you were teleported outside the city of Greyhawk to the foot of a plateau that supports an old monastery.  You were told that Iuz himself is inside the monastery planning his final push into Greyhawk at sunrise.  Next year, your group will have to find a way into that monastery deal a death blow to the heart of the invading army – the evil demigod Iuz himself!  Perhaps the scroll tube that the Drow gave you at the start of this year’s mission will hold a valuable tool you can use to defeat Iuz and his minions.  Next year, you will enter the cave before you and see what adventure awaits!

(Thanks to Team Token for being our models.)

(All photos courtesy of Fotos by Fritz – operated by Fritz Fuchs-Snider.)