New Submissions
The walls of this room are covered with paintings depicting pairs of standing minotaurs, approximately nine feet high, facing each other. One of the minotaurs is painted over a locked door, with a keyhole in its torso. The minotaur directly across from it has a small key, about two inches long, painted on its torso roughly in the location of the heart. Standing motionless in the center of the room is the shadowy form of an actual, insubstantial minotaur. A shadowy key floats inside the minotaur right where its heart would be.
Touching the insubstantial minotaur will cause it to solidify as a stone statue and attack. Touching the painted minotaur with the key will have the same effect. The first touch will activate it for one round, the second for two, and every touch thereafter for three rounds of combat. Weapons cannot damage it, but can be used to turn it aside to prevent damage to others. It will attack with blind fury and is incapable of speech, but it cannot pass the doors of the room. If all persons leave the room at any time, the room will "reset" to its original configuration.
At the end of its turn on the last round of activation, the stone minotaur will freeze in whatever position it was in and return to insubstantiality. The painted minotaur with the key will also change its stance and position to match that of the shadow-minotaur.
Solution 1: Touching just the painted key will cause the insubstantial key to solidify and drop to the floor. However, PCs must be careful to take the solid key without touching the shadow-minotaur's feet!
Solution 2: If the painted minotaur with the key is maneuvered around the room so that it crosses the painted minotaur with the lock, the door will unlock.
Solution 3: The stone minotaur can be maneuvered to crash into the door and break it down.
Solution 4: Use the shadow of a hand to take the shadow-key out of the insubstantial minotaur without activating the statue. The shadow-key must then be solidified by touching it with something substantial, or by touching the painted key.
August 9, 2010, 17:46
I am curious: Did anyone in particular create this puzzle? Is it usually found in labyrinths, hence the minotaurs? Do the other painted minotaurs have any sort of abilities, or are they just for decoration?
Good job on your first submission, Cressida, and welcome again to the Citadel!
August 9, 2010, 19:04
August 10, 2010, 0:01
Thanks for the kind words!
In its original context, this was one of a series of trials that the PCs had to pass through in an alternate dimension in order to obtain a magical macguffin to be used in defeating the evil du jour. However, the room could easily be inserted into a labyrinth or other dungeon-like structure, with whatever background story/justification the GM wants to give it.
The other minotaurs are just for decoration and camouflage, though additional functions could certainly be added to them for a more complex version of the room. Maybe make touching any of them activate the shadow minotaur. Or maybe one could speak and offer hints to a party that's completely stumped.
Strolen,
Thank you for the kind words too!
Freeing the shadow would be a good alternative, especially if the GM wants the encounter to be more combat-oriented. Or maybe the shadow would be freed only if the characters choose to pick the lock or bash down the door--as you say, not doing it the "correct" way.
August 10, 2010, 0:54
August 10, 2010, 2:29
Thumbs up.
August 10, 2010, 20:03
August 14, 2010, 10:24
I ran this puzzle past another friend recently, and he suggested a fourth solution, which I've added above.
August 25, 2010, 10:51
March 19, 2012, 8:32
This is a really cool idea :)
My only suggestion would be to have written somewhere a riddle that tells the players to use their hands... I could see players floundering around for a while before they said anything like "I touch the painting", etc.