Here's a quick and easy puzzle to challenge your party's communication skills, without them necessarily knowing. The numbers provided in brackets are for a party of 5 characters, but I've included adjusted numbers in the table at the end of the page.
To begin this puzzle, have the party enter a room. One member of the party will be missing, and the door behind them will be sealed. The missing person may be someone you choose specifically, or simply the last person to step into the room. Read the following text:
You find yourselves in a circular stone room. On the far wall is an alcove containing an altar with [10] perfectly identical vials of a pale pink liquid in a line. The wall in the alcove bears a large gem with beautiful ironwork holding it in place.
If they haven't already, the party will now realise that one of their members is missing. A voice rings out:
Only [4] of the vials before you will propel you forward and return you to your friend. You must each take and drink from a single vial. If any of you drinks even a single drop from one of the wrong vials, the trial is forfeit.
Allow the party to ruminate on this for a moment, as you pull the missing player aside into another room. Read the following to them:
You are also in the room, but in a ghostly form. You have none of your equipment, and cannot use your abilities. The party cannot see or interact with you, but you can hear and see them. You are unable to interact with the potions, but four of the potions are highlighted with glowing ethereal glyphs.
You will need to randomly allocate which potions along the line are safe, and reveal them to the player. The same voice that instructed the rest of the group will then speak to the player alone:
Passing this trial depends on your resourcefulness and communication. I grant to you [15] rods, snap one to illuminate the gem for a moment and signal your allies. Once you have used them all, it will be up to your allies to choose correctly.
Give the player [15] small tokens of some sort (buttons, matchsticks, coins etc.) and instruct them to discreetly hand them to you as they wish to light up the gem. Timing is crucial on this to make it as fair as possible, so make sure the player is sitting next to you, or is otherwise able to get your attention when they wish to interject.
After this, you simply need to inform the party when the gem lights up, and wait to see what they do. The punishment for failure, or the reward for success are entirely up to you!
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