DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Fun & Games ETD: Escape the Dream Episode III: The Sixfold Seal

You stand before a pair of heavy stone doors at the end of a narrow passageway.

They are not especially decorative. There are no skulls carved into them, no ominous warnings, no fresh bloodstains, no chanting cultists, and no helpful sign reading Certain Doom This Way.

This, naturally, makes them suspicious.

The doors open inward with only the slightest push.

Beyond is a wide, many-sided chamber of smooth gray stone. The air smells faintly of dust, candle wax, and old magic. Six passageways lead away from the central room like spokes from a wheel: northeast, east, southeast, southwest, west, and northwest. A seventh doorway, directly north, is sealed by a great stone door bearing six keyholes arranged in a circle.

At the center of the chamber stands a low stone pedestal. Upon it is a carved circle divided by lines and numbers, though some of the markings are difficult to make out beneath the dust.

On the north wall, flanking the sealed door, stand two stone guardians. They are tall, broad, solemn, and almost certainly too heavy to move. Their eyes glow faintly blue.

The moment the last of you steps inside, the entrance doors swing shut behind you.

There is a thunderclap.

A cloud of glittering lights bursts from the central pedestal and swirls upward, arranging itself across the ceiling like a constellation of tiny candles.

Then, standing dramatically atop the pedestal where no one had been a moment before, appears a tall, narrow man in a robe patterned with moons, stars, comets, and what appears to be one embroidered duck. He wears a pointed hat. His beard is long. His staff is taller than he is, and a crystal in its gnarled tip glows with theatrical importance.

He spreads his arms.

"Greetings, travelers! Welcome, welcome, welcome to..."

He pauses, glances upward, waits for the candlelights to flare brighter, and then continues.

"The Sixfold Seal!"

The blue-eyed stone guardians do not applaud.

The wizard continues anyway.

"I am Conundromus, Archmage, Artificer of Astonishments, Constructor of Confinements, and Master of Moderately Safe Magical Entertainment. You have entered a pocket dungeon of my own design. The door behind you is closed. The door before you is sealed. Six keys are hidden within six trials. Find them, use them, and the way forward shall open."

He leans slightly forward, lowering his voice.

"Fail, and you shall remain trapped here forever."

A pause to let that sink in.

"Or until I remember to let you out. Whichever comes first. Legal counsel insists I clarify these things."

He taps the pedestal with his staff.

"The six chambers may be explored in any order. Some can be solved by logic. Some by observation. Some by experimentation. Some by being very, very good at finding things I was certain I had hidden better. And yes, before anyone asks, there may be clues in one chamber that help you in another. I am generous that way. Also vain. Mostly vain."

With another gesture, six small flames appear above the six passageways. Near each entrance, a painted panel shimmers into view upon the wall.

"Observe! Each passage bears a painting. Symbolism! Foreshadowing! Interior decoration! Ignore them at your peril, or admire them at your leisure."

He points his staff toward the stone guardians.

"If you become hopelessly, tragically, embarrassingly stuck, you may ask one of my guardians for a clue. They are not conversationalists. But they are reliable."

One guardian's eyes brighten.

In a voice like two millstones politely disagreeing, it says:

"Clue?"

Conundromus beams.

"See? Splendid."

He lifts one finger.

"A few rules before we begin. This is a puzzle adventure, not a battle to the death. You may search, experiment, reason, roleplay, and roll dice. A poor roll will not make the room unsolvable. It may simply mean you receive a less complete clue, attract a nuisance, or have to try another approach. A good roll may reveal a hidden object, shortcut, or useful connection to another chamber."

He lifts a second finger.

"Also, certain decorative objects are marked with small signs reading Do Not Touch. These should not be touched. This is not because I am hiding the best treasure there. It is because touching them may result in Certain Doom."

He pauses, then adds, "Possibly Mild Doom. Again, legal counsel."

The floating candlelights above you flicker, though not in any especially urgent way.

Conundromus steps backward into a puff of silver smoke.

His voice echoes from everywhere at once.

"Six keys. Six trials. One sealed door. Do try to look clever while escaping."

The smoke clears.

The chamber is yours.

---

What you can see

The central chamber contains:

• The sealed northern door, with six keyholes arranged in a circle.
• A central stone pedestal, carved with a circular pattern and partially visible numbers.
• Two stone guardians, who appear to respond to the word "clue."
• Six passageways, each with a painted panel near its entrance.
• A length of rope, coiled near one wall.
• A few loose stones and dusty corners that may be worth inspecting.

The six passageways are:

Northeast Passage: The Bright Corridor

A painting beside the arch shows a polished shield turning aside a lance of golden light.

East Passage: The Labyrinth Door

A painting beside the arch shows a glass lens held over a map, revealing a hidden path in red ink.

Southeast Passage: The Wizard's Study

A painting beside the arch shows a stone sundial beneath a perfect noon-shadow.

Southwest Passage: The Silent Crypt

A painting beside the arch shows a hearth-fire driving pale figures back into their coffins.

West Passage: The Game Room

A painting beside the arch shows a white chess piece standing triumphant before a black king.

Northwest Passage: The Smoke Tunnel

A painting beside the arch shows a great fan blowing dark smoke away from an iron key.

---

Current State

Keys Found: 0 / 6
Clues Requested: 0
Known Useful Items: none yet
Available Exits: Bright Corridor, Labyrinth Door, Wizard's Study, Silent Crypt, Game Room, Smoke Tunnel
Candle-Lights: Numerous, dramatic, and probably not as urgent as Conundromus implied

Try to clear some of the dust from the pedestal. Blow hard or use a bit of clothing.

The dust on the pedestal is old, soft, and dry enough that even a careful breath sends it curling away in little gray clouds.

For a moment, the candle-lights overhead shimmer in the disturbed air.

Beneath the dust, the top of the pedestal proves to be carved with a three-by-three grid, though the lines are arranged within a circular border rather than a square frame. Three of the spaces are clearly marked.

From top to bottom, down the center column, the numbers read 7, 5, 3.



The remaining spaces are blank... or perhaps meant to be filled by something elsewhere.

Around the edge of the circle, tiny carved words appear, now that the dust is gone: All paths balance.

(Not playing, but I know of two possible ways to complete this.)

Examines the numbers, thinks it could be a magic square 276, 951, 438

Walks around to look at the 6 pictures.

{OOC And Argus you are welcome to input whenever you like! ]

(And the "other" way to complete that would have been a flip around the provided column; 672 etc.)

As you walk around to look at the paintings, you note that underneath each one is a small tile with a number on it.

Well, not all of them. Two seem to be missing. The northeast and southwest passages have blank squares where it seems there should be a tile.

But the northwest passage has a 2 under the panting, the west passage a 9, the east passage a 1, and the southeast passage an 8.

This certainly seems to align with your guess that it could be a magic square.

And do the paintings themselves depict anything?

The previously provided descriptions give the essential information anyone other than an art critic would take from the paintings.

Roll 1d20 for more insight

Pick up the rope and search the debris for anything useful.

You pick up the rope and find underneath it a square tile with the number '4' on it.

Similarly, looking around the loose stones, you find another square tile, this one with the number '6' on it.

Do these look as if they would fit into the magic square?

Take a look down each passageway to see if I can see anything different about them?

The '4' and '6' tiles look as if they would fit into the blank squares under the northeast and southwest paintings, as if they probably came from there.

As for the passages, there are six of them. And six locks.

You don't think that's a coincidence.

You could probably pick a passage at random and eventually do all six.

Or, perhaps, you could try to figure out if there was an order, where one passage might help with the other and they might chain together in a nice sequence. Perhaps that might be what the paintings are about?

[OOC note] ... you asked for a D&D room and I may have taken it a bit too literally. This encounter may involve NPC monsters and fighting and die rolls for insight. I drew it from an online source where a DM actually ran this for their table, nerfing the monsters to avoid a TPK and removing time penalties.

The room is solvable but hard without clues. This is by design.

Asking specific questions and rolling dice for insight will probably give very helpful hints to give "shortcuts" to puzzles.

Bad rolls won't make a room unsolvable. They may result in a nuisance or distraction (in escape room terminology, a "red herring"). Good rolls may reveal extra details, hidden objects, or connections between rooms... something in one room that helps in another.

The paintings, number tiles, visible room features, and anything you find may matter in more than one place. Some puzzles can be solved directly, but finding something in one room may make another room easier or clearer.

You do not need to solve everything as a player from scratch. Your "character" can help... with a lucky die roll.

Understood. Fine with that!

Put the 4 into the hole under the NE corridor painting. And put the 6 into my pocket. Taking the rope, head into the NE corridor having taken a good look at the painting.

The number 4 tile fits into the empty recess beneath the northeast painting.

Mostly.

It slides into place, but not with the satisfying finality you might expect. One corner has a slight gap with the surrounding stone, and when you take your hand away, the tile gives the faintest little wobble.

Nothing explodes.

Also, nothing unlocks, brightens, chimes, hums, sings, applauds, or otherwise behaves like a properly satisfied magical mechanism.

You study the painting beside the northeast passage.

Gypsy NE Painting Insight
AquaDyne rolled 1d20 and got 20

As you do so, the meaning suddenly becomes much clearer. This is not just a picture of a shield and a beam of light. It is a warning and a hint.

The painted "lance" is not a weapon held by a knight, free or otherwise. It is a narrow shaft of golden radiance, exactly the sort of thing that might be found in the Bright Corridor beyond. The shield is angled, polished, and mirror-bright, catching the ray and turning it aside rather than merely blocking it.

You get the sense that whoever painted this wanted the viewer to understand three things:

First, the northeast passage is probably full of dangerous light. Second, the light may be deflected rather than endured. Third, the shield in the painting feels specific. Not just any shield, but a particular mirrored shield, perhaps hidden or earned elsewhere.

The painting does not show where the shield is, but the style of the figure holding it is oddly formal, almost like a game piece or ceremonial knight.

Ahead, the Bright Corridor waits.

From where you stand, you can see thin golden beams crossing the passage at sharp angles. They shimmer in the air like taut strings of sunlight. At the far end, something metallic gleams on a small pedestal.

The rope is in your hand.

The 6 tile is in your pocket.

The slightly loose 4 tile rests beneath the painting behind you.

Remove the 4 tile - if I can - and think maybe I can find a shield elsewhere.

Put the 6 tile in its hole, paying much more attention to how well it fits. Study the picture again. It sould like I need fire for this one. Look around for anything else that might be useful.

You swap out the 4 for the 6. It clicks smartly into position, making you rather certain in your original guess.

The picture showed a mirror deflecting the light.

Your options seem to be to proceed ahead and try to dodge the light beams in some manner, or go find that mirror, perhaps where some game piece or ceremonial knight might be.

There's fire involved on another painting... if you wanted to study that one. (And roll for insight.)

[OOC: Insight = 17]

Then take the 4 and see if that fits in the chessgame hole.

The number 4 does not seem to belong near the Game Room. The recess there already bears its number, and there is no empty place for the tile to settle.

But when you bring the 4 back toward the southwest passage, the one marked by the painting of a hearth-fire driving pale figures back into their coffins; the tile changes.

It grows warmer in your hand.

Not hot. Not painful. Just unmistakably awake.

The blank recess beneath the Silent Crypt painting is the exact size and shape of the tile. When you press the 4 into place, it slides in smoothly.

This time, there is no wobble. There is a deep stone click.

The painted hearth-fire flickers with a sudden ember-red glow. The pale figures in the painting seem to shrink back from it. Somewhere behind the wall, old mechanisms begin to move: first one heavy bolt, then another, then another, each answering the last from deeper within the stone.

A narrow seam appears beneath the painting.

Dust spills from it in a thin gray line.

The wall of the southwest passage shifts inward by a finger’s width, revealing the edge of a hidden door.

The Silent Crypt is no longer sealed.

But.... your interest is in the Game Room...

You study the painting beside the west passage, the one showing a white chess piece standing triumphant before a black king.

With your earlier insight into the Bright Corridor still fresh in mind, the connection sharpens.

The figure in the light-painting held a mirror-bright shield. This painting does not show a mirror directly, but the victorious white piece has the same stiff, formal posture as the figure in the other painting. Not a warrior exactly. More like a carved knight from a game board, posed as if it has won by position rather than strength.

The black king in the painting is not shattered, burned, or slain. It is simply defeated.

This room is probably not asking you to overpower something. It is asking you to win, or recognize a winning move.

And if the paintings are telling a chain of useful connections, then the Game Room may be where the mirror-bright shield from the Bright Corridor clue can be found.

The passage beyond the painting is quiet. From within, you can just make out pale squares on the floor, alternating light and dark, like a giant chessboard.

OK looks like the Silent Crypt is the way to start. Examine the painting in more detail (insight) and also see if it moves to reveal anything behind it.

Rolled 20 for insight! It will fail me when I most need it

You look closer at the Silent Crypt painting.

At first glance, it is simple enough: a hearth-fire, pale figures, coffins.

But the longer you study it, the clearer the details become.

The pale figures are not being burned. They are not destroyed. They are retreating. Their hands are raised, their faces turned away, their bodies angled backward toward the open coffins behind them.

The fire is not shown as a weapon.

It is shown as a boundary.

The painted hearth sits in the exact center of the scene, and the pale figures will not cross its light. Even the brushstrokes around the flames are different from the rest of the painting: brighter, sharper, almost alive.

You are quite certain of several things:

First, the crypt beyond this passage is likely to contain something dead, restless, or at least theatrically undead.

Second, fighting it is probably not the intended solution.

Third, fire will matter... not necessarily to destroy the dead, but to make them withdraw, hold them at bay, or persuade them to return to where they belong.

Fourth, a small flame may not be enough. The painting shows a proper hearth-fire, something with fuel beneath it, not merely a candle or spark. You think, perhaps, this puzzle might be easier if you bring combustible material in with you.

The newly opened passage to the Silent Crypt smells faintly of dust, cold stone, and old ashes.

Somewhere within, something gives a dry little scrape.

Then silence.

From somewhere overhead, Conundromus’ voice murmurs, “Ah, excellent. The dice have chosen suspense over sabotage. For now.”