You Find a Clockwork Puzzle Box...

[JediSoth]

Each of the six sides has a unique mechanism to challenge your skills and patience. Each side must be unlocked in sequence; a mistake resets the whole puzzle. You spend the better part of a year deciphering the puzzle. What's inside?




OK, I admit. I'm using you all for brainstorming. I gave a character this puzzle box in the first book and now that I'm writing the third one, I'd better figure out just what the heck is inside or what purpose it serves other than being a cool thing. In real life, it can be a cool thing with no real purpose, but if i mention it prominently in a novel, it'd better have some purpose.

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

Puzzle boxes always bring to mind Hellraiser for me.

 

[delericho]

A note that reads, "I prepared exploding runes this morning..."

Without knowing the context of your story, it's hard to come up with something that has a purpose in moving it forward. Sorry.

 

[JediSoth]

A note that reads, "I prepared exploding runes this morning..."

Without knowing the context of your story, it's hard to come up with something that has a purpose in moving it forward. Sorry.

It was a gift given by a dragon to a drak (think kobold) as he prepared to leave on a journey. I didn't want to get into specifics because I didn't want people shackled by preconceived notions while brainstorming. I didn't even want to pin it as fantasy, except I couldn't post without choosing a thread prefix.

 

[Wicht]

Each of the six sides has a unique mechanism to challenge your skills and patience. Each side must be unlocked in sequence; a mistake resets the whole puzzle. You spend the better part of a year deciphering the puzzle. What's inside?

Pain, darkness, blood, and lots of chained hooks.

I've seen that movie.

OK, I admit. I'm using you all for brainstorming. I gave a character this puzzle box in the first book and now that I'm writing the third one, I'd better figure out just what the heck is inside or what purpose it serves other than being a cool thing. In real life, it can be a cool thing with no real purpose, but if i mention it prominently in a novel, it'd better have some purpose.

More seriously...

• A sleeping girl who can kill you with her mind
• The secret weapon that should never fall into the wrong hands, but if used wisely might just save the day
• The secret weapon that should never fall into the wrong hands, but must instead be cast into the fires of mount doom, I mean, destroyed after a long arduous quest, that is, you need to get rid of it and throwing it in the sea is not a good option.
• The map to the real puzzle box, the dimensions of which are quite large and which, being buried deep within a mountain, contains one of the other items on this list
• A small magical item of little actual consequence, but which, by a quirk of fate is exactly what is needed as the final plot point to save the day
• The soon to hatch egg of a dragon
• A magical weapon, which, though lacking legacy, is quite useful
• A book of spells, the understanding of which is made possible by the applications of the puzzles which opened the box
• A pouch which magically produces a practically endless supply of coin
• The soon to hatch egg of a very useful sort of magical creature
• A magical journal which never runs out of pages
• A magical hat of disguise
• A flying boat
• True love, or, if the opener is more practical, a nice MLT where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomato is so ripe
• A ring, of obvious magical properties, but the actual use of which is not revealed until the penultimate chapter
• A silver flute, which though not magical, produces a sound of such clarity that even the birds stop and listen
• A pair of sturdy shoes, to replace the ones which, after a year of traveling, have begun falling apart
• A silver goblet, which, when used, nullifies all poisons and toxins within it (including alcohol)
• The box is empty, but the wisdom gleaned from solving the puzzles has made all the difference (and the box proves a useful container for something else found along the way which must be kept out of the wrong hands)
  

 

[Hand of Evil]

• The person who made the box.
• A beating heart
• A spring loaded snake (think the peanut brittle can)
• A the Portable Hole Master Hole - you can see and grab everything that has ever been placed in a portable hole
• Porn collection
• A Gold Ring
• A Who
• A 10 didget number with the words...for a good time

 

[JediSoth]

Looks like discussion has died down, so I'll just take this time to thank everyone for your suggestions. As I hoped, it stimulated my brain into coming up with a solution and I got a nice 2,500+ word sequence out of it (which may change upon editing). Plus, I got a lot of other ideas I can use elsewhere!

If anyone cares, I ended up putting a memory in the box. Specifically, a memory from the event that caused The Sundering, the death of Rannos Dragonsire, progenitor of all dragonkind, a minor god. I'd already established that his death shattered the world (which is now in the process of healing). It fits in with the theme of the series (Scars of The Sundering) and I can use the character's exposure to the memory for some good character development. He needed to come around and get his head out of his ass on a few points anyway, so this is a good catalyst for that. I'd talked about The Sundering for five books now (my first mention of it was in 2011's Wings of Twilight... take that WotC!), so it's about time I give more details about it.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

A mirror? Late to the party, sorry.

 

[Zhaleskra]

Pinhead or Wuya. Stay away from puzzle boxes in RPGs. Cenobites or Halyn. When you see a puzzle box in an RPG, destroy it.

 

[Lwaxy]

What's inside?

Hope. Pandora had to store it somewhere.

Let it be something he really needs in a very bad situation, which is when it should spring open. He might have solved it before but it could still have been stuck...

Or idea of my husband - when he opens it it breaks apart, pieces flying all over the room - and it is empty. Once he picks up the pieces, he'll note it is some missing magic or historical item reforged in the shape of the box itself - like parts pf a crown without which there will be no more king, or a map pointing the reader to where he needs to go most. Ot maybe it will be another puzzle to solve to form a key now... Endless possibilities.