Pool full of gold coins ...
Post new topic Reply to topic Page 1 of 712, 3 ... 567
Author

User avatar

Verbose Collector

Posts: 1026
Joined: Jun 05, 2005
Last Visit: Nov 07, 2023
Location: Huntsville, Ala.

Post Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 4:27 pm 
 

During the first D&D campaign I ever played (a stereotypical dungeon to slay a red dragon in the summer of 78 ), our DM threw a riddle at us that I've always wondered about.

It was a pool/fountain full of gold coins.  The trick was that any object (including hands and other body parts) immersed in the water would "dissolve" and turn into gold coins and float to the bottom.

The pool seemed impervious to magic, and our party of 4 to 5th level PCs (I was the thief  :D ) never solved it.

I've always been curious though, whether this was a product of our DM's imagination, or something he'd taken from a module or perhaps a novel.

I don't think it's from a module, although I'm not completely sure (there were not many modules out at the time), and I haven't read extensively enough in the sword & sorcery genre to know if it came from a novel.  I've lost touch the DM, or I'd just ask him.

Have any of you heard of this particular "trap"?

Thanks,
Keith


"Never let it be said I didn’t do the least I could do."


Last edited by Keith the Thief on Sat May 19, 2007 6:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 WWW  

User avatar

Long-Winded Collector
Subweb Admin
JG Valuation Board

Posts: 4583
Joined: Nov 08, 2002
Last Visit: Mar 29, 2024
Location: Land of 10,000 ponds

Post Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 5:33 pm 
 

Never heard of it, but I'd assume one could just heat the air somehow long enough to evaporate the water so as to get at the gold coins.
Or just fill the pool with junk, turning it into gold coins that would eventually fill it and begin to spill out.

ShaneG.


I reject your reality and substitute my own

 WWW  


Sage Collector
JG Valuation Board

Posts: 2822
Joined: Feb 10, 2003
Last Visit: Mar 28, 2024
Location: Olde London Towne

Post Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 5:55 pm 
 

I reckon likely a homegrown adventure.  If I recall, the random dungeon tables in the DMG (intended to give a guide to dungeon contents) have ideas for magic pools that perform different and powerful magical alterations (e.g. stat changes).  One small step for a DM to go from from that to a King Midas pool.


Let's go fly a kite
Up to the highest height!

  

User avatar

Grandstanding Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 6720
Joined: Jul 16, 2005
Last Visit: Sep 30, 2022

Post Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 6:05 pm 
 

Plaag wrote:Never heard of it, but I'd assume one could just heat the air somehow long enough to evaporate the water so as to get at the gold coins.
Or just fill the pool with junk, turning it into gold coins that would eventually fill it and begin to spill out.

ShaneG.


But imagine what would happen if the water from the pool overflowed and ran out over your shoes!


"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

  


Prolific Collector

Posts: 636
Joined: Sep 14, 2005
Last Visit: Jan 16, 2009
Location: Montreal, Canada

Post Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 6:10 pm 
 

On a related noted, in one of my earliest dungeon crawls we came across a pool with albino talking fish.  It really captured my imagination and ever since I've been searching to find out if this was a home brewed invention or if it was a published piece.


"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats."
--H.L. Mencken

 WWW  

User avatar

Verbose Collector

Posts: 1026
Joined: Jun 05, 2005
Last Visit: Nov 07, 2023
Location: Huntsville, Ala.

Post Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 6:31 pm 
 

Plaag wrote:Never heard of it, but I'd assume one could just heat the air somehow long enough to evaporate the water so as to get at the gold coins.
ShaneG.


Our 13-yr-old brains didn't cook up that notion (which is a good idea).  I remember we puzzled over the damn thing for what seemed like an eternity, although it was probably only two weeks.


"Never let it be said I didn’t do the least I could do."

 WWW  

User avatar

Verbose Collector

Posts: 1026
Joined: Jun 05, 2005
Last Visit: Nov 07, 2023
Location: Huntsville, Ala.

Post Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 6:33 pm 
 

NetRodent wrote:On a related noted, in one of my earliest dungeon crawls we came across a pool with albino talking fish.  It really captured my imagination and ever since I've been searching to find out if this was a home brewed invention or if it was a published piece.


That's interesting.  What role did the fish play in the adventure?


"Never let it be said I didn’t do the least I could do."

 WWW  


Prolific Collector

Posts: 232
Joined: Nov 16, 2004
Last Visit: Oct 30, 2017

Post Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 6:59 pm 
 

Hmm I'd say levitate or Tenser's Floating Disc, or maybe even Bigby's Grasping Hand to get the coins out.

  

User avatar

Verbose Collector

Posts: 1026
Joined: Jun 05, 2005
Last Visit: Nov 07, 2023
Location: Huntsville, Ala.

Post Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 7:06 pm 
 

DungeonDelver wrote:Hmm I'd say levitate or Tenser's Floating Disc, or maybe even Bigby's Grasping Hand to get the coins out.


Magic and magic items had no effect on the pool.  Or, at least, our PCs did not possess any type of magic that would work on it.

Our DM was fair and ran a balanced game.  So I always figured there was some simple trick we were overlooking ... like the aforementioned notion of somehow evaporating the water.


"Never let it be said I didn’t do the least I could do."

 WWW  


Prolific Collector

Posts: 232
Joined: Nov 16, 2004
Last Visit: Oct 30, 2017

Post Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 7:12 pm 
 

Keith the Thief wrote:
Magic and magic items had no effect on the pool.  Or, at least, our PCs did not possess any type of magic that would work on it.

Our DM was fair and ran a balanced game.  So I always figured there was some simple trick we were overlooking ... like the aforementioned notion of somehow evaporating the water.


Duh.  You said it right in your first post!  :oops: :)

I am however going to steal this idea. :D

  


Long-Winded Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 3066
Joined: Jul 09, 2004
Last Visit: Apr 30, 2015

Post Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 8:59 pm 
 

Keep dumping non-valuable stuff (torches, 10' poles, halflings) until the weight of the gold eventually collapses the floor.  The magic "water" should drain off naturally into the water table.

 YIM  

User avatar

Verbose Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 1709
Joined: Feb 04, 2004
Last Visit: Aug 23, 2016
Location: Chandler, AZ

Post Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 9:19 pm 
 

A less dramatic solution might be . . . What happens if you put gold into the pool?  Does it retain it's shape?  If it does, then that is most likely the solution your DM was looking for.

You could either "scoop" the water out with a bowl made of gold, thereby emtying the pool.  Or you could use a gold "spoon/shovel/etc." to try and get some gold pieces at the bottom.

Perhaps you even found a "gold" treasure item that could be used for this purpose, only no one thought to try it?


"Gleemonex makes it feel like it's seventy-two degrees in your head... all... the... time! "

  

User avatar

Grandstanding Collector

Posts: 5777
Joined: Jun 30, 2003
Last Visit: Mar 22, 2024
Location: Cow Hampshire, US

Post Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 10:46 pm 
 

You throw rocks, sticks etc. into the pool. They turn into gold. Eventually, the coins will spill over. Collect the ones that do and keep filling the pool with junk.


If you hit a Rowsdower, you get to keep it.

  

User avatar

Verbose Collector

Posts: 1026
Joined: Jun 05, 2005
Last Visit: Nov 07, 2023
Location: Huntsville, Ala.

Post Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 11:22 pm 
 

DungeonDelver wrote:
I am however going to steal this idea. :D


It's a good idea to steal, and there have been quite a few innovative solutions posted already.

I do remember trying to fill the pool, but it was too deep.

I think we tried using gold ... that rings a bell ... but all we had were gold coins, which didn't work well as a "shovel".


"Never let it be said I didn’t do the least I could do."

 WWW  


Grandstanding Collector

Posts: 5825
Joined: Nov 16, 2002
Last Visit: Mar 28, 2024
Location: Wichita, KS, USA

Post Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 11:28 pm 
 

Keith the Thief wrote:During the first D&D campaign I ever played (a stereotypical dungeon to slay a red dragon in the summer of 78 ), our DM threw a riddle at us that I've always wondered about.

It was a pool/fountain full of gold coins.  The trick was that any object (including hands and other body parts) immersed in the water would "dissolve" and turn into gold coins and float to the bottom.

The pool seemed impervious to magic, and our party of 4 to 5th level PCs (I was the thief  :D ) never solved it.


Who was your DM?  I like the idea a LOT :D


Allan Grohe ([email protected])
Greyhawk, grodog Style

Editor and Project Manager, Black Blade Publishing
https://www.facebook.com/BlackBladePublishing/

 WWW  


Prolific Collector

Posts: 232
Joined: Nov 16, 2004
Last Visit: Oct 30, 2017

Post Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 11:34 pm 
 

Keith the Thief wrote:
It's a good idea to steal, and there have been quite a few innovative solutions posted already.

I do remember trying to fill the pool, but it was too deep.

I think we tried using gold ... that rings a bell ... but all we had were gold coins, which didn't work well as a "shovel".


I would do this: if I had enough gold coins, I would hammer them onto a bucket, completely covering it (say that takes, maybe, 200gp).  Then make a chain out of the rest, punching holes in each and "clipping" them through each other, then lower the bucket down, et voila!

  

User avatar

Verbose Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 1709
Joined: Feb 04, 2004
Last Visit: Aug 23, 2016
Location: Chandler, AZ

Post Posted: Sun May 20, 2007 6:02 am 
 

Giving it a little bit more thought . . .  I suspect that the solution is simple, but not readily apparent (which is what riddles are all about in the first place).  So, my suggestion is to take a gold bowl, put some items in it and "dip" it into the water.  The items in the gold bowl turn into gold coins, the bowl is lifted out and there ya' go!  You could even use a bare hand and make sure to keep one edge above the water.

Keep repeating as needed.   8)

The trick (and the trap) is to not attempt to get the coins at the bottom and it is likely nothing would work - the pool is too deep, resistant to magic, etc.


"Gleemonex makes it feel like it's seventy-two degrees in your head... all... the... time! "

  

User avatar

Verbose Collector

Posts: 1026
Joined: Jun 05, 2005
Last Visit: Nov 07, 2023
Location: Huntsville, Ala.

Post Posted: Sun May 20, 2007 9:07 am 
 

grodog wrote:
Who was your DM?  I like the idea a LOT :D


His name is Dan Shultz, but I've lost touch with him over the years.


"Never let it be said I didn’t do the least I could do."

 WWW  
Next
Post new topic Reply to topic Page 1 of 712, 3 ... 567