September 2024 - Choose Your Own Puzzle

Tap on any hint box to view it.

Location: Find Your Own Tavern

  1. The mayor tells you to pick a letter, and then answer questions. What happens if you do that?
  2. For example, if you choose the letter A, your first choice takes you from section 1 to section 9, because it's in the middle row of a keyboard. Then you go to section 7, because A is in an odd position in the alphabet. Then you go to section 16, because there's an enclosed space in the letter A.
  3. Eight letters result in success, while eighteen result in rejection.
  4. The eight letters that result in success are A, C, H, I, N, T, U, and W. Copy them into the given spaces.
  5. A WHICH HUNT

Ancient Ruins

  1. This is a logic puzzle. You must figure out which path to take through the ruins, and how many gems you should have at each step.
  2. Each door adds or removes gems in a certain way.
  3. The text in each chamber tells you something about the number of gems you must have in that chamber.
  4. In section order, the chambers tell you that: (3) the number is a perfect square, (4) the number starts with an F sound, (5) the number is the same on both visits, (6) the number is a multiple of three, and (7) the number is odd.
  5. You must use the connections to deduce the numbers of gems. You also know that the starting number is at most 26, so the numbers don't get too big.
  6. One way to start is the +5 connection from (4) to (3): there's only one way to go from a number that starts with F to a perfect square by adding 5.
  7. Another way is by looking at the connections to and from the (5) room, which uses the same number each time. The (5) to (6) connection tells you that number is a multiple of 6, the (5) to (4) connection tells you it's at least 15, and the (3) to (5) connection tells you it's 2 more than a perfect square, so that reused number is 18.
  8. The ordering of rooms is 3, 5, 6, 7, 4, 5, 4, 3, 7, 6, and the number of gems at each step should be 16, 18, 9, 13, 15, 18, 4, 9, 1, 12.
  9. It's not a coincidence that the gem counts are all less than 26. Convert them to letters!
  10. PRIMORDIAL

Alchemy Lab

  1. Your job is to identify the 11 components here.
  2. The Alchemist calls this place the National Alchemical Transmogrification Object, and gives you a code sheet. Why could that be?
  3. The Alchemist says there are 26 possible components. Why would there be 26?
  4. Of the ones here, two of them are "lovers". Two of them (including the lover) form the name of a car brand, and the first half of the car brand sounds like a letter in the same alphabet as another one. One component is a province, and one is a country. What could these components be?
  5. The components are something from your code sheet.
  6. The components are letters of the NATO alphabet.
  7. In order, the components are JULIETT, FOXTROT, PAPA, QUEBEC, ECHO, DELTA, TANGO, ROMEO, ALFA, INDIA, HOTEL.
  8. Read the letters in the circled blanks, in order.
  9. EXPECTORANT

The Enigmansion

  1. This part of the adventure is an escape room. Your first goal is to solve the three puzzles in the room.
  2. In the first room, there's a grid on the wall with different shapes (one per row) and styles (one per column). If you turn off the lights, you can see a 5x5 grid of letters. You'll have to use these together.
  3. The door in the first room has a sequence of eight symbols. Each one can be translated into a letter using the two grids.
  4. The door password is SUNLIGHT.
  5. The genie can give you information about the ghost's password.
  6. By examining the genie's answers, you can tell that it's a month which starts with a vowel, contains a B, doesn't end in Y, and isn't two syllables long.
  7. The ghost password is OCTOBER.
  8. The chest password is obtained by identifying the images on the two halves of the tablet.
  9. Each tablet half clues a word, and if you put them together you get the 8-letter password.
  10. The crossed swords clue the word WAR, and the locks clue the word LOCKS.
  11. The chest password is WARLOCKS.
  12. The ghost tells you that you that you need to figure out how to read the map, and also that you should record where you found the nine coins.
  13. Here are some noteworthy features of the map. What do they remind you of? The only node with no arrows pointing at it has five arrows pointing out. The "you are here" node has no arrows pointing out, and it comes from a node with two outgoing arrows. There's a node with three arrows to one node, and two to another. There are two nodes which point at each other.
  14. The map represents all of the sections in this part of the adventure. The middle left is where you find the map, and the bottom right is where you collect the orb.
  15. On the map, record where you found each of the nine coins.
  16. The ghost says that you need the passwords and the map to escape. How do they relate to each other?
  17. The map and the password sheet have the same dimensions.
  18. For each coin that you recorded on the map, read the letter in the same space of the password sheet. This spells out the final answer.
  19. For example, Coin 1 is found in section 31, which corresponds to the sixth space in the bottom row of the map. The sixth space in the bottom row of the password sheet is the letter C (from WARLOCKS), and so the first letter of the answer is C. Do this for the other 8 coins too.
  20. COWORKING

Hedge Maze

  1. The Wizard, Ranger, and Warrior have different ideas for solving the puzzle. Start by trying their ideas.
  2. Each idea tells you how to navigate the maze, and what letters to write in certain blanks.
  3. After you've followed the first three instructions, follow the Bard's. This leads you to the Orb, and spells a message.
  4. The words along the Bard's path say HEAD DOWN WAYS THAT SOME PAIR BOTH USED READ EACH CLEF.
  5. Follow the paths that were used by two different characters, and read the Bard's letters (over the clef) along this path.
  6. DISCORDANCE

Meta: The Decision Tree

  1. The tree at the bottom represents the decisions in the fight.
  2. The first choice in each section goes to the left, and the second goes to the right.
  3. Each of the four decisions corresponds to one of your answers.
  4. The puzzle answers have something in common, and they give you choices.
  5. The puzzle answers are each formed from two words, separated by "OR".
  6. The underlined phrases are clues for those words. For example, "with careful manners and respect" is PRIM, and "Call for help" is DIAL.
  7. Use this correspondence to place the choice words (DISC, etc.) along the branches of the tree.
  8. Index the numbers on the tree into the words at that branch, and write the results in the boxes.
  9. Read the boxed letters top to bottom along the tree.
  10. PICK AXES

Bonus: Spell Check

  1. There are six different incantations. You'll need to figure out which "spells" to cast to make them make sense.
  2. Some of the given seem to make phrases. For example, "cast GRAND" leads to a section where you can then "cast CANYON".
  3. Your goal is to find paths for each of the incantations so that you make six sensible phrases. Each option will be used once.
  4. The phrases you create are crossword-style clues.
  5. The six phrases are: SOUNDS HEARD IN GRAND CANYON, WOMAN WHO'S MARRIED, BOASTED LIKE A BLACK BIRD, HOT SWEET WINTER BEVERAGE, COMMAND FOR GENIE, and MEMBER OF DISNEY SEPTET.
  6. The answers to these clues fit in the sections that you used to spell them. For example, the phrase SOUNDS HEARD IN GRAND CANYON goes through six spaces, and the answer is a six-letter word.
  7. You can write the answers to the clues in the blank spaces, in the order that you pass through them. Each letter is used twice, which can help you solve some clues.
  8. The six answers are: ECHOES, WIFE, CROWED, COCOA, WISH, and DWARF.
  9. Once you've filled in the letters, they spell out the puzzle answer.
  10. A FEW CHOICE WORDS