Party stuck on puzzle. Any ideas?

[Question]

The party is, as far as i can tell, in a very large pocket dimension complete with buildings. We are in one of the sections now, a Mausoleum.

There are 30 wooden blocks scattered around the area, 10 with the design of a shield, 10 a dragon and 10 a sword etched onto it. There is a square indentation with enough space to fill in 11 blocks.

The clue we have is this line : “For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall -- Proverbs 4:16.”

All the knowledge rolls we have come up with so far has only suggested that the proverb is crucial to solving the puzzle.

In addition there is the upper half of a corpse suspended by metal wires with hooks to 2 wooden poles. Below the corpse is a shallow pool that has a pile of intestines in it. The corpse seems to be aware, but does not speak. Its eyes follow the party.

We have discovered a secret compartment with several amulets and a gem, but the replacement arcane casters have just entered the pocket dimension and have not met up with the party yet. No one has the appropriate knowledge rolls for this, or can cast identify, so we are stuck on that.

Does anyone have any idea how to get past the puzzle? I suspect the proverb is bible related, and did indeed find a exact copy on some christian site, but i couldnt draw a link. As far as i can tell the boxes must be placed in the indentation in a specific order with a specific number to do something.

 

[Wystan]

What is the shape of the space? Maybe this will have bearing?
Can the Torso answer yes or no questions with a head motion?

 

[Question]

Never thought of talking to the corpse. Hmm might need to try that.

The indentation is just a square.

 

[Patlin]

Maybe you need the whole proverb.

1 Listen, sons, to a father's instruction. Pay attention and know understanding;

2 for I give you sound learning. Don't forsake my law.

3 For I was a son to my father, tender and an only child in the sight of my mother.

4 He taught me, and said to me: "Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commandments, and live.

5 Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don't forget, neither swerve from the words of my mouth.

6 Don't forsake her, and she will preserve you. Love her, and she will keep you.

7 Wisdom is supreme. Get wisdom. Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.

8 Esteem her, and she will exalt you. She will bring you to honor, when you embrace her.

9 She will give to your head a garland of grace. She will deliver a crown of splendor to you."

10 Listen, my son, and receive my sayings. The years of your life will be many.

11 I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in straight paths.

12 When you go, your steps will not be hampered. When you run, you will not stumble.

13 Take firm hold of instruction. Don't let her go. Keep her, for she is your life.

14 Don't enter into the path of the wicked. Don't walk in the way of evil men.

15 Avoid it, and don't pass by it. Turn from it, and pass on.

16 For they don't sleep, unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall.

A few random thoughts:

Could the amulets be periapts of wisdom? If so, get them even at great cost.
Is the riddle a way to step upon the path of the wicked? If so, turn from it and pass on... you may be better off *not* solving this one.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I used to do take home math tests. The first time, I thought it would be easy, until I started trying to do the work. Then I went to three math geniuses in the class, and they couldn't figure it out either.

If the puzzle is so hard you have to ask for help, and get lots of time to do so, then the DM is at fault here. (On a related note, because everyone thinks differently, DMs sometimes set up an easy puzzle that turns out to be hard. In a group I was in, the DM actually playtested the puzzle with DnD gamers who weren't in the group. And yet our group, with eight brains among us, couldn't solve the puzzle.)

Furthermore, most campaign settings don't have a Bible. If your campaign setting doesn't have us, then it's relying on OOC knowledge, and that's unfair (and breaks the suspension of disbelief, too). In this case, it just looks like the biblical line happened to match the description of the puzzle.

Are the blocks set up so some can fall? And what is the punishment for failure? I think the line is talking about swords (so you need to do something to the sword blocks first). But that's just a guess.

Do you even need to solve the puzzle?

 

[Nail]

You'll need to describe where you found the blocks, and where you think the blocks might go.

Interesting puzzle....too bad you couldn't have recorded the DM's description. There's something about the corpse falling, I think....

 

[MarkB]

When you say wooden blocks, what shape are they?

What came to my mind from the verse was setting up domino lines - each block must cause another to fall before it comes to rest.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Look up "block" in the index of the Bible. Oh wait, that was a different puzzle.

 

[Bad Paper]

That is creepy.

wowza

Here is the complete chapter (there are twenty-seven verses). I'm going to guess that verse 25 and the others about eyes could have something to do with it:

Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.

I think that you have to help the "corpse" to sleep, by allowing it to help you manipulate the blocks. Perhaps if it helps you to solve the puzzle, it will have helped to fell the BBEG, and will finally get some rest.

Creepy, nonetheless.

 

[Question]

The blocks were just on the floor, arranged in the shape of what looked like a jigsaw puzzle. Im fairly sure its just randomly arrangement.

The blocks are square, wooden blocks.

The amulets/gem are already in my PC's pocket for safekeeping.

Greyhawk campaign setting. If its in one of the god's bibles, our religion guys havent heard of it. I do have the DM description, the above was just the summary. Just in case it makes any difference :

This is a large open chamber. Eight monolithic Romanesque columns of solid granite form a wide portico that encircles the room. The floor is set in smooth, hand-laid stone slabs. A vast open sky of azure with swirls of crimson and green reaches to infinity, brightening the chamber, though it is anything but cheery.

There are no door handles, nothing to lock the doors with. In the center of the chamber appears to be a human torso anchored between two poles by wires that hook through its skin.

Suspended between two slender wooden poles is the ghastly human torso, arms and head of a man. The lower half has been completely torn away, spilling the intestines into a shallow stone pool directly beneath. The bloody entrails hang out of the torso and pile into the pool up to the rim, nearly spilling over the edges -- enough intestinal tract to fill the bowels of twenty men. Yet it is the upper half of the torso that is truly terrifying. Dozens of thin wires with small hooks at the ends pierce the body at hundreds of different points. The hooks tug at the skin, anchoring the arms spread eagle between the two poles. The cheeks are stretched out and the mouth pulled open, inside which rots a black, swollen tongue. The eyes stare blankly ahead in death, when they suddenly turn and look upon you!

The man does not speak, but his eyes follow you wherever you go. Set into the floor at the base of the pool are 30 cracked and ancient wood blocks etched in symbols -- 10 shields, 10 dragons, and 10 swords -- and all jumbled together similar to a picture puzzle. Adjacent to the blocks is a second empty space large enough to securely fit 11 of the blocks.

Etched into the side of the pool directly above the blocks is the passage, “For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall -- Proverbs 4:16.”

I just remembered, my PC did a search check and discovered seven of the hooks have come unfastened near the missing pieces of the torso. What that means, im not sure.