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Puzzle, Pieces

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Puzzles good and puzzles fun,
Puzzles here for everyone!

Hello, longshanks!

We be the goblins of the Mindsharp tribe! We be a very smarty and friendly group. Months ago, goblin-friends Jason Keeley and Joe Pasini friends ask us to help make puzzles for annual Pie-zoh-kahn Puzzle Hunt! We be happy to lend our brains to help, though some Mindsharps still not sure about written word. They gave us instructions for each puzzle to make, and we think we followed most of them!

Now it your turn to test your smartyness against Mindsharps! Read magic blue words below for puzzle hunt! No prize for solving, but if you come to our village, we can teach you new game as reward! It involve square wood board, rock playing pieces, pickles (for snacking), and barrel of flammable tar. We still need to figure out best way to bury goblin who win, but it still very fun game!

Download the PaizoCon 2019 Puzzle Hunt!

What is a puzzle hunt?
A puzzle hunt is a series of linked puzzles, with the answer to each being a word or phrase. Those words and phrases are used in a larger puzzle to generate the hunt's final solution. Figuring out how that puzzle works is part of the challenge!

Who made this, anyway?
Mostly a bunch of goblins, but Jason Keeley and Joe Pasini helped. However, none of them could have done it without the aid of Art Director Sonja Morris, who created all of the puzzle hunt's outstanding graphics!

What do I do if get stuck?
First, put the puzzle down and come back at it in an hour or so with a fresh mind. Perhaps you'll spot something you hadn't seen before. Be sure to reread the instructions at the top of the page; sometimes clues are hidden in there! If all that fails, feel free to ask for a hint on the Paizo.com forums. There's no shame in getting a nudge from a fellow solver, and perhaps you can help her in return with a different puzzle!

Where can I find more like this?
Good question! You can download the first and second PaizoCon Puzzle Hunts here!
https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo5lkc0?I-Want-to-Play-a-Game
https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo5lkyh?Riddle-Me-This

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Shadow Lodge
1 person marked this as a favorite.

I love puzzles!
Sovereign Court
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Woo puzzles!
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
TOZ wrote:
I love puzzles!

You forgot something.

Paizo Employee Developer
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Joe and I will be watching this space if anyone has any questions! And to confirm answers, but please post them with spoiler tags!

And then, in like a week, we will post the answer key here (also in spoilers, obvs.)
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

That was fun! :D
Paizo Employee Starfinder Lead Designer
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Misroi wrote:
That was fun! :D

Yay!

I think one of the Clues may be wrong

Spoiler:
unless FLIES fall, the seventh should not be C.
Paizo Employee Starfinder Lead Designer
Bardess wrote:

I think one of the Clues may be wrong

** spoiler omitted **

This was a tricky one, but

Spoiler:
the "anti-fly" is another small creature, and the "anti-fall" is (coincidentally) referenced in one of the goblin songs from that puzzle...

Hmm. So

Spoiler:
the spell was what I thought. Then the treasure is not cursed but rather has a peculiar shape.

I already found four answers... Someone can give me a clue on the bridges?
Paizo Employee Developer
Bardess wrote:

Hmm. So

** spoiler omitted **

I already found four answers... Someone can give me a clue on the bridges?

You might want to try

Spoiler:
starting with one of the "6" islands; that might help you figure out the broken rule if you haven't already.

I'm having a little bit of trouble with the final solution for the word search, is

Penultimate Step:
"Blue Water Spring" a phrase that I should recognize?

I also think I decoded all of Nurzark's errors but I can't quite make out what they're supposed to come out to... is it another anagam? EDIT: I had miscounted for one of them, I think I got it if it's OK for it to be more than one word..?

I have the cryptogram and crossword fully solved though.
The Golux wrote:
I'm having a little bit of trouble with the final solution for the word search, is ** spoiler omitted **

Spoiler:
How should spring and water be? And what can indicate the two colors that is connected with the puzzle's theme?
Quote:
I also think I decoded all of Nurzark's errors but I can't quite make out what they're supposed to come out to... is it another anagam? EDIT: I had miscounted for one of them, I think I got it if it's OK for it to be more than one word..?

Spoiler:
I found two words that form the name of an Egyptian item.

If two islands can be connected by two bridges, then this means that two bridges may be connected to each other at a 90° angle?

Ah, thanks, that helped.

I have enough of the Nonogram to tell what the broken rule is and what the picture is but I'm actually still not sure it's 100% correct.

I am also completely lost on the bridges, I can't figure out if the rule is the number or the angle, and the fact that "The bridges only orthogonally" is not actually a full sentence and may or may not contradict the angle rule is messing me up further.

Bardess wrote:
If two islands can be connected by two bridges, then this means that two bridges may be connected to each other at a 90° angle?

If the number rule is followed it can be one or two; if it's broken it can be more than two.

I think that

Spoiler:
the creature is something Paizous.

Also,

Spoiler:
If the bridges can only be orthogonal, how can an island be connected to 5 or 6 bridges?
However, a diagonal bridge would conflict both with this and the following rule.
Unless other angles are allowed?
Bardess wrote:

Also,

** spoiler omitted **

Bridges:
if the number rule is followed there can be two bridges between any two islands so you could have six bridges by having two going north, two going south, and two going west, for example?

Spoiler:
Would a bridge starting from another bridge be considered connected with the island to which the first one is connected?

Honestly I have no idea how that would be counted, that was not even a direction I was thinking about solving it with. I really need to know what "The Bridges Only Orthogonally" means.

Me too.

Maybe this may be of help

Spoiler:
Bridges rules

I guess that one rule was wrongly written twice, and that one is to be broken. See the "6" island on the right low. There is only one way to connect it to three other islands twice.
Also, two bridges may be superimposed.

Aaaaand the final answer is

Spoiler:
I will be king
And you
You will be queen
Though nothing
Will drive them away
We can beat them
Just for one day

Yes you are, my goblin friends. Yes you can be, now.

successfully managed to solve Bridges.

paper thickness makes doing the cauldron puzzle surprisingly tricky so I'm tracing the lines around across folds instead.

Could I get a hint for what to do when you've solved the crossword? Thanks!

In the crossword

Spoiler:
there's one clue that when solved says what you have to do.

Thanks! Strangely enough, even though your clue didn't tell me anything I didn't know yet, it prompted me to look again at the puzzle, and this time I was able to figure it out. Funny how the mind works :-)

Next step: doing the final step in Nurzark's story puzzle!

Spoiler:
It's an Egyptian weapon (two words)

Hmm, based on your hint I think I know what the result should be, however it seems I still have a few letters wrong, which is puzzling me. E.g. ...

Spoiler:
I don't see how the clean-shaven angel could be anything else than a bearded devil, and counting out the 5th and 8th letter, skipping spaces, gives me 2 d's, which is one too many. I guess I'm still missing a twist somewhere...
Paizo Employee Starfinder Lead Designer
Pastiche wrote:

Hmm, based on your hint I think I know what the result should be, however it seems I still have a few letters wrong, which is puzzling me. E.g. ...

** spoiler omitted **

What'd you get for

Spoiler:
flame runts?

Spoiler:
There are two Ds in the answer, one for each word.
Joe Pasini wrote:

What'd you get for

** spoiler omitted **

Spoiler:
frost giant, giving me the R from 'sword'?
Bardess wrote:
** spoiler omitted **

Spoiler:
So, the first word isn't 'sickle' then...
Paizo Employee Starfinder Lead Designer
Pastiche wrote:
Joe Pasini wrote:

What'd you get for

** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **

Yep, you're good! Some people were getting

Spoiler:
"ice giants" and being thrown off.
Pastiche wrote:
Bardess wrote:
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **

Spoiler:
Correct. The first word is the sword's shape, and ends with a D.
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Well, that's amusing. I clearly got one of the answers wrong, then, though not enough that it threw off the rest of the answer.
Bardess wrote:
** spoiler omitted **

OK, almost there!

Spoiler:
So, ice cube is not flaming sphere but something more obvious :-)
Also, are you sure the first word is the shape of the blade and not some unfortunate magical property? Rather than a V, I have an S for mundane shields (--> ma.. mi..)...

Dark Archive
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

That's what I ended up getting for the answer as well, Pastiche. As it happens, I don't believe the answer to this particular piece of the puzzle matters as much, once you consider the metapuzzle can be correctly answered regardless how this piece is answered.
Pastiche wrote:
Bardess wrote:
** spoiler omitted **

OK, almost there!

** spoiler omitted **

Yes, the mundane shields

Spoiler:
give the S of Sword.
I also believed the item should be unfortunate at first, but I had a C instead of another S, so I reformulated the definition and it worked.
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