Lord Pendragon
First Post
I don't think you did a bad job, Space Coyote. You tried your best. Sometimes it's hard to be cryptic without being prohibitively so, since the solution always seems simple to the person creating the puzzle. 
In the case of your specific scenarios, I think the key to the first would have been to emphasize in your answers the fact that the Prismatic Wall was not a standard wall, in this case. So in the case of your divinations, you might have said:
-First the cleric casts a Divination spell and asks for the easiest way to get out of the room safely. I reply (trying to sound cryptic like the description says): "A Wall is not always a barrier."
-Next, the Cleric casts a Commune and one of the questions is "Is there one simple way to bypass the harmful effects of the Prismatic Wall so we can leave this room?" and I gave the answer of "Yes, walk through the wall". (Note that Commune allows a short phrase, if more information is needed.)
-Finally, the Cleric casts another Divination and asks what is the one simple way of bypassing the harmful effects of the Prismatic Wall and I replied, "The return trip is not so harmful as the initial journey."
In the second case, the key seems to be getting the players to realize that the creatures were vulnerable to dispel magic. I'd have allowed a relatively easy Spellcraft roll to let the party spellcaster(s) know that the objects were in fact being animated by some kind of spell. Once the PCs know that the creatures are the result of some kind of spell, then Dispel Magic should be an easier conclusion to leap to. If they don't get it then, well, the creatures are more annoying than deadly in any case.
In the case of your specific scenarios, I think the key to the first would have been to emphasize in your answers the fact that the Prismatic Wall was not a standard wall, in this case. So in the case of your divinations, you might have said:
-First the cleric casts a Divination spell and asks for the easiest way to get out of the room safely. I reply (trying to sound cryptic like the description says): "A Wall is not always a barrier."
-Next, the Cleric casts a Commune and one of the questions is "Is there one simple way to bypass the harmful effects of the Prismatic Wall so we can leave this room?" and I gave the answer of "Yes, walk through the wall". (Note that Commune allows a short phrase, if more information is needed.)
-Finally, the Cleric casts another Divination and asks what is the one simple way of bypassing the harmful effects of the Prismatic Wall and I replied, "The return trip is not so harmful as the initial journey."
In the second case, the key seems to be getting the players to realize that the creatures were vulnerable to dispel magic. I'd have allowed a relatively easy Spellcraft roll to let the party spellcaster(s) know that the objects were in fact being animated by some kind of spell. Once the PCs know that the creatures are the result of some kind of spell, then Dispel Magic should be an easier conclusion to leap to. If they don't get it then, well, the creatures are more annoying than deadly in any case.
