Defeated by puzzle - campaign over: Here is the offending puzzle!

[Torm]

I can't attempt to solve the puzzle because I want to fill it in with Gs and claim it's some kind of unrolled DNA strand. But I know that's an artifact of the presentation here and nothing to do with the puzzle.

That was actually the first thing I thought, too, and I was disappointed when it had nothing to do with it.

"Kneel, Son of Jor-El! Kneel before Mod!"

 

[Roman]

Algolei,

This is the same room as that with the three gates byt the gates did not have any symbols on them nor did the monsters. In any case, as I wrote in my previous post the DM has now informed me that the symbols have no significance outside of the puzzle, so this is now moot.

The symbols were engraved into the puzzle at the door. There was no indication as to how we should fill the blanks - no info on whether to engrave or handwrite them. That said, it almost certainly makes no difference - if we solved the puzzle it probably would not matter and the DM would let us through. When we were trying various things we simply said we 'filled in' the blanks in such and such a manner and did not specify how (as in whether we wrote them on or engraved them) and the DM did not ask how.

The dungeon was built by the worshippers of the dark gods eons ago. We do not know everybody who participated in its construction, but we do know that the elves were tricked into helping the construction.

Tell me about your DM. How old is he? What kind of educational background does he have? What sort of hobbies does he enjoy? Does he like solving puzzles himself?

The DM is in his late 20s/early 30s and is a teacher. I do think he does enjoy solving puzzles.

The symbols themselves are interesting, and we should figure out why they in particular were used. Did the DM use them only because they were available to him in excel? Or did he go to a lot of trouble to make them himself?

Well, as we have now been told, the symbols have no significance in and off themselves - any three different symbols could be used to make the puzzle with no difference.

 

[Roman]

Roman, what was the configuration of the room that you were in?

The room was rectangular. There were two portals near the left wall and one portal near the right wall. The ceiling was about 12 feet high. There were two doors - one wooden door we entered through and one stone door on the opposite end of the room. In the center of the room was there was apparently a big pile of treasure (copper, silver and gold coins), but it was really an illusion and the area in the center instead had some kind of death effect. There was one demon and two undead of some sort in the room when we entered and once every several rounds (I am not sure how many exactly - perhaps 5-10 rounds) each of the portals spewed forth a new monster. The one on the right wall spewed forth the big demon monster and the two on the left wall spewed forth the two undead. Whenever the undead hit they did some damage and forced the target to make a fortitude save or die. The big demon monster had the ability to cause some area effect fire and to deal out more damage than the undead, but had no death effects. I doubt any of this has any impact on the solution to the puzzle though.

 

[Roman]

I haven't voted, as that seems to be a ticket to "Solve it then, smart mouth!". It does seem solvable, though. I'm assuming someone more patient than myself being involved.
I don't think a campaign ending with an unsolved riddle is necessarily worse than one that ends with everyone dead after failing in combat; depends on the overall nature of the campaign, I would think.
Below is a stab. It may not be right, but it has a certain easy logic. Without someone having the correct answer, and saying one is either right or wrong, I am not sure there is any resolution. I think this one is right, myself, and there is nothing that I can see is wrong with it, since the puzzle has no context.


C C C A A A A A A C C T T T T
C C C A A A A A A C C T T T T
C C C A A A A A C C C T T T T
C C C C A A A A C C T T T T C
C C C C A A A C C C T T T C C
C C C C A A C C C C T T T C C
C C C C A A C C C T T T C C C
A C C C A A C C C T T T C T C
A C C C T T T C C T T A A T C
A A T T T T C C C A A A A T C
A A A T T T C C C A A A A T C
A A A T T T C C A A A A A T T
A A A A T T T T T T T T T T T
A A A T T T T T T T T T T T T
A A A T T T T T T T T T T T T

William 2, would it be possible to explain the logic behind filling the blanks in this manner?

 

[Roman]

Mark, I assure you that I am not leaving out anything that I believe to be relevant to the puzzle. If you think something else is relevant that I have not stated feel free to ask for that and I will give you the info. That said, I suspect it is a logic puzzle where no info can help except solving the pattern - this seems to be especially true given the new clues that the DM now gave me and that I posted in one of my previous posts.

 

[Mark]

Mark, I assure you that I am not leaving out anything that I believe to be relevant to the puzzle.

It doesn't matter what you believe. Since you don't know the answer (or even if there truly is one), you're not qualified to judge what is or is not relevant.

If you think something else is relevant that I have not stated feel free to ask for that and I will give you the info.

Just give absolutely, every last little bit of info you were given. You don't know the answer, so you don't know if you have been withholding some vital piece of info that was given to you by the DM. You may have even forgotten something and never be able to share with us something that is vital to solving the puzzle. Without knowing the answer, there's no way you will ever know.

That said, I suspect it is a logic puzzle where no info can help except solving the pattern - this seems to be especially true given the new clues that the DM now gave me and that I posted in one of my previous posts.

What use is what you suspect? You don't know the answer. That you don't follow the logic of what I have been saying leads me to believe that you aren't the go-to guy for help solving a logic puzzle. Frankly, if you hadn't been around these boards for so long, I'd have written you off as a troll before page one of this thread.

 

[arscott]

Was the illusory treasure just one big pile in the middle? or was it in some pattern of its own?

 

[Pielorinho]

Moderator's Notes: Folks, keep an even keel, and do not engage in personal attacks.

Daniel

 

[Roman]

Just give absolutely, every last little bit of info you were given. You don't know the answer, so you don't know if you have been withholding some vital piece of info that was given to you by the DM. You may have even forgotten something and never be able to share with us something that is vital to solving the puzzle. Without knowing the answer, there's no way you will ever know.

I gave you absolutely every last bit of info our group was given that I think could be even remotely related to the puzzle (and more, because the DM gave me clues after the camapign ended and I posted them here). What you seem to be asking for if I understand correctly is me writing out the whole campaign in complete detail - something I cannot do not only due to time constraints, but also because I cannot possibly remember a year's worth of weekly gaming in sufficient detail to do that.

What use is what you suspect? You don't know the answer.

I do not know the answer but surely the new clues that can be found in one of my previous posts indicate that it is likely to be an internal pattern in the puzzle.

That you don't follow the logic of what I have been saying leads me to believe that you aren't the go-to guy for help solving a logic puzzle. Frankly, if you hadn't been around these boards for so long, I'd have written you off as a troll before page one of this thread.

No, I am not a troll and my DM is not an idiot... sigh.

 

[Roman]

Was the illusory treasure just one big pile in the middle? or was it in some pattern of its own?

It was just a big pile in the middle.