Digging For Lies - Ziggurat Rainbow Puzzle

[RangerWickett]

We designed the ziggurat so intelligent play would let you avoid trouble, with the intention that all the stuff you took your time with on the way in would be scary as hell on your way out.

Hm. In the compilation hardcover I'll add in a note with suggestions on how to make the dungeon a bit harder to avoid going through everything.

 

[al_fredo]

I'm think about way to change it up a bit. While 3 of my characters are very perceptive or have good insight...one is rocking a passive 26/23 (Insight/Perception). She's the actual detective of the group. Nothing gets by her, which is cool, i guess. But in the ziggaraut she'll be like...oh there's a trap there, and another there...and one right there too.

Hey...if she invested in it, might as well pay it off. But if the flood DOESN'T trigger, it will be a bit anticlimactic. I think that is the best part (very Indiana Jones). I might just trigger it anyway...it's too good of a scene not to use.

Otherwise...they go to the map room, hit the jewel on the OTHER end of the rainbow room and stroll out without a scratch. Maybe the 'control' stone also lifts a door between it and the map room, that way, you can go out that way with out coming in that way?

 

[gideonpepys]

But if the flood DOESN'T trigger...

The flood triggers. That's the way I played it. More fun that way, right? The perceptive PC feels rewarded on the way in, then all hell breaks loose on the way out, and if anyone kops it, the Voice of Rot is on hand to play a Get Out of Hell Free card.

 

[RangerWickett]

The tweaks I made have the final flood trap sabotaged by Caius's previous group, so it's impossible to deactivate, and to have the tunnel leading into the Rainbow Room be impossibly long if you try to head back after you enter the room, thus forcing the party to solve the puzzle, since dimension magic won't let them fun.

If you run through the room backwards on the way out, I have no problem with that. You've still got monsters trying to kill you while a flood chases you.

 

[Obryn]

Huh. Link works fine for me (sorry, been out of town). Are people still unable to see it?

Well try here if it doesn't work.

http://i.imgur.com/M0Avm.jpg

Well...I've been looking at this thread trying to understand it, and I think I got it.

I'm using ve4grm's updated map, EXCEPT that he has one mistake. The wall in the northeast containing the violet stone, should not also be violet (otherwise, you hit it, and you're trapped in). Seems to me it should be green, to maintain the symmetry of the puzzle. I worked it out with 4 PCs, and it works.

I guess the bigger question is, they could take one look at this room and go the other way. I might close a door behind them or something. We have fey stepper in the group...so the puzzle could be solved a bit more quickly (though, brushing up on rules, I see you need line of sight)

I'm still confused. Sorry for the Necro...

Is the above map correct with or without the change to green? I can see how the violet would work as well, if teamwork is required...

And do all the walls start up?

e: For example, I press the Blue rock. All blue bridges go up, blue walls STAY up, and orange walls go down? Or am I missing something?

 

[al_fredo]

I'm still confused. Sorry for the Necro...

Is the above map correct with or without the change to green? I can see how the violet would work as well, if teamwork is required...

And do all the walls start up?

e: For example, I press the Blue rock. All blue bridges go up, blue walls STAY up, and orange walls go down? Or am I missing something?

I made the change to that stone just because the symmetry made sense to me. They way I ran it is that all walls are active to start, no bridges are active. When you press the blue stone the first time, the blue bridges become active (now both bridges and walls are active). Pressing the orange stone, would activate the orange bridges, but deactivate the blue bridges and walls. So at this point for blue and orange, they'll change both walls and bridges. Except, I ruled that the center walls stay inactive after the first time they go down.

Complex to follow, I know. I let a PC or two get to a different platform before the attack.

 

[RangerWickett]

Okay, so after spending an hour to finagle with possible methods, I've figured out that the map below works with 4 PCs and no jumping/flying/teleporting. It has to have the purple stone be guarded by a green wall.

Use this map:



The rules are that at first, all the walls are up, and none of the bridges are up.

• Tap blue, and blue walls and bridges go up, orange go down.
• Tap orange, and orange walls and bridges go up, blue go down.
• Tap red, and red walls and bridges go up, green go down.
• Tap green, and green walls and bridges go up, red go down.
• Tap yellow, and yellow walls and bridges go up, violet go down.
• Tap violet, and violet walls and bridges go up, yellow go down.

Can you get a person to the white stone, using only a party of four?

 

[RangerWickett]

Also, here's the bare version of the map. I figure this would be useful as a 'base map' which you could then add traps, bridges, and walls to as needed.

 

[RangerWickett]

And here's the solution. It's also doable with two people if one of them is very good at jumping.

[sblock]Step 1. You have four PCs (Al, Barb, Cat, and Dan). Al taps the blue stone. The blue bridges go up, and the orange walls go down. Barb goes across the southeast blue bridge.
Walls up--: RYGBV
Bridges up: B

Step 2. Al taps the orange stone. The blue bridge and walls vanish, and the orange walls and bridges appear. Cat and Dan goes across the southwest orange bridge, and Barb goes up to the eastern platform.
Walls up--: ROYGV
Bridges up: O

Step 3. Al taps blue again. This lets Cat and Dan go up to the western platform, and lets Barb reach the red stone.
Walls up--: RYGBV
Bridges up: B

Step 4. Barb taps the red stone, then backs out so she doesn't get trapped. Cat goes up to the northwest platform and waits in front of the red wall.
Walls up--: RYBV
Bridges up: RB

Step 5. Al taps the orange stone and then Dans tap the green stone. Barb goes up to the northeast platform and waits in front of the violet wall.
Walls up--: OYGV
Bridges up: OG

Step 6. Cat taps the yellow stone.
Walls up--: OYG
Bridges up: OYG

Step 7. Dan walks across the yellow bridge to the red stone. He taps it, and then moves back to the middle of the bridge. Cat comes back to the western platform.
Walls up--: ROY
Bridges up: ROY

Step 8. Barb taps the violet stone. The yellow bridge vanishes but the violet bridge appears right beneath Dan, so he doesn’t fall.
Walls up--: ROV
Bridges up: ROV

Step 9. Cat taps green. Dan walks onto the north platform, and is now past the red veil. Barb walks down to the east platform.
Walls up--: OGV
Bridges up: OGV

Step 10. Al taps blue. Dan walks past the orange veil and yellow veil, and Barb moves beside the red stone.
Walls up--: GBV
Bridges up: GBV

Step 11. Barb taps the red stone and Al taps the orange stone. Dan walks past the green and blue veils.
Walls up--: ROV
Bridges up: ROV

Step 12. Al toggles blue and orange so Barb can walk from east, to southeast, to south, to southwest, to west, to northwest. Then Cat taps green so Barb can tap yellow, dropping the final veil. Dan taps the white stone.
Walls up--: None.
Bridges up: All.
[/sblock]