A Puzzle

[Quickleaf]

Eat my hat.

Obviously only those who can eat the dead king's crown are worthy.

That's it! It's better than "eat my shorts."

Here' my 2nd guess:

E-R-T, as these letters can be found in both "purest" and "heart", followed by

M-E-R-T, as these letters can be found in "merit".


Put them together and we get 7 letters: E-R-T-M-E-R-T

After Tuzenbach crawls out of the pit burned, stung, and impaled, the party cleric heals him back to full health. "For the love of all that's holy, don't go back, man!" But he valiantly prevails on...

Upon stepping on the second E, the illusion appears again. It speaks! "The soldier-priest with the withered arm, Oba Neterankh, is like a son to me, like the Userhet I never knew. He is a devout follower of Osiris."

Upon stepping on the second R, the illusion appears again. It speaks! "Tukhana despises my companion Oba Neterankh, and seeks to destroy him, but I have made my decree, for his life is as precious as my own. Who raises a hand against Oba Neterankh will feel my fury! And yet, I dare not lay a hand on Tukhana, for her magic is great."

Upon stepping on the second T, the illusion appears again. It speaks! "Betrayal! Oba Neterankh claims to be my son, and he has murdered my wife and sons and defiled the dead. Not my Userhet! He is dead! He is dead!"

Congratulations! You've reached the other side and learned the outline of the story of Lashizar & Userhet.

Here's my 3rd guess:

"The Ka of the King is immortal."

The Ka of the King is immortal
-H---A-OF--E-----------RT

So, H-A-O-F-E-R-T

I'm trying to figure out how you came up with this one. It's not letters that appear in "Ka of the King", because you include R and T... is it letters that appear in "The Ka of the King is immortal"?
Do you think there are too many options in the puzzle?

 

[Tuzenbach]

I'm correcting my typo. "my" should be "may". You were very close!

If this is the case, then I'll have to go with the following, though I don't fully understand the logic behind the final letters consisting of M-E-R-T......

Here' my 2nd guess:

E-R-T, as these letters can be found in both "purest" and "heart", followed by

M-E-R-T, as these letters can be found in "merit".


Put them together and we get 7 letters: E-R-T-M-E-R-T

 

[Tuzenbach]

I'm trying to figure out how you came up with this one. It's not letters that appear in "Ka of the King", because you include R and T... is it letters that appear in "The Ka of the King is immortal"?

Yes!

Do you think there are too many options in the puzzle?

I think the fact that "The Ka of the King is immortal" having 7 words is definitely interesting and could lead a bunch of folks to certain death. Optionwise, it's a 7/10.

The dialogue, drama, names, and history you've got going are top notch, 10/10!

Logicwise, I'm still trying to figure out the logic behind M-E-R-T. Are these the most "commanding" parts of "merit"? Logicwise, the E-R-T is definately a 10/10. Unfortunately, the M-E-R-T is only a 5/10. Perhaps I'd think more highly of it if you explained it to me more.

Overall, though, the whole thing is a strong 8.5/10. It's definately something I'd throw at my players, assuming the logic of M-E-R-T could be worked out.

 

[Seonaid]

I'm horrible at puzzles, and so didn't even bother to try, but this was very, very fun to read. Thanks, Quickleaf and others.

 

[Tuzenbach]

"commanding in merit".......

Is it this?!

The only letters from "commanding" that can be found in "merit" are M and I.

However, as mentioned before, there clearly is not an "I" pillar.

Therefore, we have to actually SUBTRACT these letters from "merit". Now, if "merit" was spelled as "mmerit" and if we subtracted the "M" and the "I", we'd get M-E-R-T.

I realize it's a very confusing stream of logic and runs counter to the first three letters of E-R-T, but it really is the best I can think of.

Is this logic correct?!

 

[Quickleaf]

I think the fact that "The Ka of the King is immortal" having 7 words is definitely interesting and could lead a bunch of folks to certain death. Optionwise, it's a 7/10.

The dialogue, drama, names, and history you've got going are top notch, 10/10!

Logicwise, I'm still trying to figure out the logic behind M-E-R-T. Are these the most "commanding" parts of "merit"? Logicwise, the E-R-T is definately a 10/10. Unfortunately, the M-E-R-T is only a 5/10. Perhaps I'd think more highly of it if you explained it to me more.

Overall, though, the whole thing is a strong 8.5/10. It's definately something I'd throw at my players, assuming the logic of M-E-R-T could be worked out.

Thanks for taking it apart and giving me useful feedback!

The logic behind M-E-R-T is the "m" comes from the first letter in common between "commanding" and "merit". The rest comes from the letters in common with "purest" and "merit".
Looking back at the key phrase -"Only the purest in heart and commanding in merit may face the king" - it is clear that ERT are the first moves, and that M is the next move, but I see how you could be confused on the final moves (ERT again) as I don't specifically say "purest in merit".
Should I revise it to read thus: Only the purest in heart, the purest and commanding in merit, may face the king ?

"Ertmert" ends up being a name of a person, the last words on the king's lips.

 

[Tuzenbach]

Thanks for taking it apart and giving me useful feedback!

No, thank you!

The logic behind M-E-R-T is the "m" comes from the first letter in common between "commanding" and "merit". The rest comes from the letters in common with "purest" and "merit".

But would Mr. Spock agree with this?

Looking back at the key phrase -"Only the purest in heart and commanding in merit may face the king" - it is clear that ERT are the first moves, and that M is the next move, but I see how you could be confused on the final moves (ERT again) as I don't specifically say "purest in merit".

Actually, it's the whole M-E-R-T thing that threw me.

Should I revise it to read thus: Only the purest in heart, the purest and commanding in merit, may face the king ?

I think that would be a dead giveaway as, grammatically, it's a bit awkward. "Purest in heart" is good. However, I'd see if there was a better word than "commanding" to put alongside of "merit". Here's a suggestion from the top of my head: "humblest of merit". Why? Because when we're "humble", the last thing we have on our mind is ourselves, or "I". So the "humblest" part of "merit" would be "merit" without the "I", or M-E-R-T.

 

[Tuzenbach]

Yes, I'd definately do this: "Only the purest in heart and humblest of merit."


EDIT: I just realized.....this might not work! Why? Because "merit" doesn't just contain an "I", but also a "me"! TWO NON-HUMBLE THINGS!

I'm afraid this puzzle will take a few headaches and at least one sleepless night to make perfect.

 

[Tuzenbach]

OK, grammatically & linguistically, this makes sense for the puzzle:

"Only the purest in heart and temporal of merit shall face the king."

This works because M-E-R-T in "temporal" can be found in "merit". Also, the "I" is excluded.

Unfortunately, I don't think "temporal of merit" means very much!

 

[Tuzenbach]

"Only the purest in heart and most tremendous in merit may face the King."


1) "purest in heart"......take the E-R-T from "purest" out of "heart."

2) "most tremedous in merit"......take the M-E-R-T from "most tremendous" out of "merit."


Are we done?