D&D 5E Labyrinth-Tomb of the Minotaur Prince (and other random dungeons)

[Quickleaf]

Found this thread through google, looking for a nice one shot adventure. Was going through the mr fwim one, and maybe I am missing something, but how did you come to those combo sequence to open the hidden door? I figured it has something to with the roman numerals, but I think I'm just misunderstanding something. Thanks!

Welcome to ENWorld

You know, it has been so long (three years) I've that I've forgotten how I created that puzzle! Let me see what I can recall...

[SBLOCK=puzzle in spoilers]
The Wizard's Study (area 9) has the wizard Bittergill's journal...with the chapters seemingly out of order (and missing a few chapters):

III - Wizardly Woes over Pipeweed
II - A Liquor for any Season
V - Audiences with Famous Mages
IV - Vivisection Brainstorms
IX - Spellcraft with a Little Music
VIII - Dining Alone (and I Like It)

Each of these chapter headings references a room in the dungeon for PCs to explore, and each of those rooms has a Roman numeral within it...

III - Wizardly Woes over Pipeweed = Smoking Room (area 14) = roman numeral XVII or 17
II - A Liquor for any Season = Pantry, Reserve Liquors (area 12) = XVI = 16
V - Audiences with Famous Mages = Audience Chamber (area 10) = XXXIII = 33
IV - Vivisection Brainstorms = Giant Mite Dust Stables (area 4, formerly a vivisection lab) = XXXII = 32
IX - Spellcraft with a Little Music = Organ Room (area 3) = LXV = 65
VIII - Dining Alone (and I Like It) = Banquet Hall (area 1) = LXIV = 64

Now, somehow from this point I arrived at a final answer of:

129, 128, 257, 256, 513, 512.

But that's where my memory fails me. Let's see, there's definitely a clear correlation between the numbers as they're presented (i.e. III minus 1 = II, 17 minus 1 = 16, and likewise 129 minus 1 = 128).

There's clearly another step I'm forgetting to arrive at that 129 as the starting number. Must have to do with the roman numeral chapter #s? Hmm. :/ [/SBLOCK]

 

[UberZS]

I thought the last digit of it, was more from the previous chapter. 129,128 from chapter 9 and 8. I dunno. I spent 3 hours on it before I thought to come ask you lol.

 

[Quickleaf]

Ok...Been working on it the past couple days because it's hard for me to give up on puzzles. This is where I'm at now.
Does the number 8 play into for any reason or have I just been trying to connect dots with anything? If you mutlply the second chapter of each set by 8, you get the number that's in the room.
Chapter 2=16
chapter 4=32
chapter 8=64
You take those numbers and multiply it by 8 and you get the second of the answer set
16*8=128
32*8=256
64*8=512

No idea how I would have gotten 8 if I hadn't known the answer.
Anyways thanks for the time and sorry to annoy you with this!

Hey, thought I'd answer here where I had notes already written...

I don't remember if x8 to get second set of numbers was part of it...that seems like a real stretch without sufficient clues. More likely it's a byproduct of the underlying maths that I wasn't aware of.

So the chapter headings (III/3, II/2, V/5, IV/4, XI/9, VIII/8) are not arbitrary, I remember that much. Somehow they correspond to the Roman numerals found in each room (XVII/17, XVI/16, XXXII/33, XXII/32, LXV/65, LXIV/64). And somehow that leads to the final answer of 129, 128, 257, 256, 513, 512...

The chapter headings don't refer to the # of digits (i.e. 1's, 10's, 100's, etc), as there is no 4th, 9th, or 8th digit in the 3-digit codes.

It doesn't seem to be multiplication... III/3 * XVI/16 = 48... not right... (III/3 + II/2) * XVI/16 = 80... not right.

[SBLOCK=puzzle details]
The Wizard's Study (area 9) has the wizard Bittergill's journal...with the chapters seemingly out of order (and missing a few chapters):

III - Wizardly Woes over Pipeweed
II - A Liquor for any Season
V - Audiences with Famous Mages
IV - Vivisection Brainstorms
IX - Spellcraft with a Little Music
VIII - Dining Alone (and I Like It)

Each of these chapter headings references a room in the dungeon for PCs to explore, and each of those rooms has a Roman numeral within it...

III - Wizardly Woes over Pipeweed = Smoking Room (area 14) = roman numeral XVII or 17
II - A Liquor for any Season = Pantry, Reserve Liquors (area 12) = XVI = 16
V - Audiences with Famous Mages = Audience Chamber (area 10) = XXXIII = 33
IV - Vivisection Brainstorms = Giant Mite Dust Stables (area 4, formerly a vivisection lab) = XXXII = 32
IX - Spellcraft with a Little Music = Organ Room (area 3) = LXV = 65
VIII - Dining Alone (and I Like It) = Banquet Hall (area 1) = LXIV = 64

Now, somehow from this point I arrived at a final answer of:

129, 128, 257, 256, 513, 512.

But that's where my memory fails me. Let's see, there's definitely a clear correlation between the numbers as they're presented (i.e. III minus 1 = II, 17 minus 1 = 16, and likewise 129 minus 1 = 128).

There's clearly another step I'm forgetting to arrive at that 129 as the starting number. Must have to do with the roman numeral chapter #s? Hmm. :/[/SBLOCK]

 

[Coroc]

How would the characters get clues in to use abyssal single phrases for the described purposes?

Would they find some tome / scroll describing that or how should they figure it out?

 

[Quickleaf]

How would the characters get clues in to use abyssal single phrases for the described purposes?

Would they find some tome / scroll describing that or how should they figure it out?

You'd just need to signal that Abyssal single-word phrases are a thing in minotaur culture. Maybe there's a weathered mosaic outside the tomb depicting a minotaur uttering a word of power causing undead to crumble, but the Abyssal hieroglyphs are rubbed out? Maybe they have a fight with Baphomet cultists in the canyon leading to the tomb, and one of them uses an Abyssal word to cause a rope-bridge to collapse?

 

[jayoungr]

Just re-found this post while looking for something to run for my group. I think I may upgrade the Labyrinth Tomb for a higher level party.

A question about the ante-chamber:

1. Ante-Chamber
This 30' x 30' room is an ante-chamber for paying respects to the minotaur dead buried within the labyrinth-tomb. It is decorated with a crude red, blue, and black mineral mosaic in the shape of a bull's head with two hands flanking it on the floor and the bones of the tomb's makers worked into the stone walls making it appear to be an ossuary vault. When a living creature places two hands on the mosaic, most easily Ccomplished by prostrating, the mosaic appears to animate as per magic mouth and utters the following in Abyssal, then in Common: "All glory to the beast, to the devourer of the weak, the horned hunter. Here lies Bangrivar the Conqueror, Prince of Minotaurs. Tremble at his name, ye mortals."

Does the animated mosaic have any mechanical effect, or is it just for flavor?

 

[Quickleaf]

Just re-found this post while looking for something to run for my group. I think I may upgrade the Labyrinth Tomb for a higher level party.

A question about the ante-chamber:



Does the animated mosaic have any mechanical effect, or is it just for flavor?

That was just flavor. Have fun running it Let me know how it goes?

 

[jayoungr]

That was just flavor. Have fun running it Let me know how it goes?

Thanks, and I will! I'm trying to decide whether to use the "working" or "abandoned" version. Leaning toward the latter because my party tends to get hung up on "Why are they fighting us?" if they're dealing with living beings.

P.S. I also added this thread to the "Best of the forum" wiki thread.

 

[Quickleaf]

Thanks, and I will! I'm trying to decide whether to use the "working" or "abandoned" version. Leaning toward the latter because my party tends to get hung up on "Why are they fighting us?" if they're dealing with living beings.

P.S. I also added this thread to the "Best of the forum" wiki thread.

Thanks

Oh! If you wanted to turn it into something mechanical, I'd go with foreshadowing a shatter spell targeting the room, but building up over the course of three rounds. Prostrating with both hands on the mosaic prevents the spell-trap from triggering. Maybe there's some clues about prostrating lining the stairs into the tomb, like statues of human slaves bowing head-and-palms-down to the floor. Plus it's the kind of trap a dispel magic or counterspell might negate, or simply hurrying out of the ante-chamber will avoid (though still alerting the tomb's guardians), so it's not forcing players to do something they don't want or find "just the right solution" to solve the puzzle. If they easily bypass, I might have tomb guardians seal the entrance while PCs explore...so they think they can just hustle through room to avoid effect, but find the door sealed, and tomb guardians lurking in hallway beyond preventing them from leaving as the shatter spell-trap counts down.