Pool full of gold coins ...
Post new topic Reply to topic Page 3 of 712, 3, 4567
Author

User avatar

Verbose Collector

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

Post Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 9:22 pm 
 

Plaag wrote:Challenge:
You and a fellow adventurer
ShaneG.


I misread this part.  Obviously a fire brigade won't work with just two PCs.   :oops:


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

 WWW  

User avatar

Prolific Collector

Posts: 555
Joined: Dec 01, 2006
Last Visit: Sep 10, 2021
Location: Jupiter, FL

Post Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 11:34 pm 
 

Plaag wrote:Challenge:
You and a fellow adventurer have come upon a room with two identical hallways side by side (impenetrable walls and ceiling) each with a door at the end. One hallway makes you younger, one makes you older. Both doors would if you get past lead to the same room. Both hallways are triggered by distance traveled, so by the time you reach the end of one you are either a dying elder or a dying baby. Heading back out of a hallway returns you to your normal age.
How do you make it past either of the doors?
((oh, and no spells))
ShaneG.


Hi Shane,
I have a "possible" solution, based on just the ceiling & walls being impenetrable. Each adventurer goes halfway down separate hallways, using string or counting steps, etc. At this point they physically dig under the adjoining wall so they can now switch hallways. The older person will now become younger and the younger person will become older, until they reach their individual doors to the same room, at which point they should be the same age as when they started, minus walking & digging time of course :wink:


"Okay, we turn the corner and see a Purple 'WHAT' !?!" . . (the DM rolls a 20 or so he says) . . It all went black right after that.

[email protected]

  

User avatar

Long-Winded Collector
Subweb Admin
JG Valuation Board

Posts: 4583
Joined: Nov 08, 2002
Last Visit: Mar 28, 2024
Location: Land of 10,000 ponds

Post Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 3:35 am 
 

Shall give this a few days. :)
((not my idea regarding this challenge, but found it fitting...shall give credit to who in due time))

ShaneG.


I reject your reality and substitute my own

 WWW  


Active Collector

Posts: 97
Joined: Feb 04, 2006
Last Visit: Jun 06, 2009
Location: Sacramento CA

Post Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 8:14 am 
 

Keith the Thief wrote: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


For some reason I want to say "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" by C.S. Lewis.  I may be wrong, its been years, heck decades since I read them.  But the Narnia series was what got me interested in fantasy, and eventually D&D.  The trap you mentioned sounded like something Prince Caspian and the kids came upon on one of the islands.

Dam it, now I have to go dig up the books and reread the series just to satisfy my curiosity and bring to life a little of my childhood. =)


Okay, I can't help but ask, but what exactly is a "potato wedger"? - bclarkie

  

User avatar

Verbose Collector
JG Valuation Board

Posts: 1670
Joined: Jul 01, 2006
Last Visit: Mar 20, 2024
Location: Moncton, NB Canada

Post Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 9:26 am 
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Voyage ... wn_Treader

There is a line in the plot summary section:

In addition, they visit Burnt Island, Deathwater Island (an island containing a pool of water that turns anything, including another lost Lord, to gold)


Check out my Chaosium sourcebook.
Secrets of Tibet

  

User avatar

Verbose Collector
Acaeum Donor
Valuation Board

Posts: 1930
Joined: May 01, 2004
Last Visit: Mar 28, 2024
Location: Almost Lake Geneva, WI

Post Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 11:00 am 
 

A clerical Lower Water (L4) would seem to help... unless the pool is invulnerable to magical effects, in which case you seem to be skrude.

  

User avatar

Verbose Collector

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

Post Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 11:03 am 
 

jasonw1239 wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Voyage ... wn_Treader

There is a line in the plot summary section:



Jason and MadMaligor:

Thanks for hunting this down for me.  I've been curious about this puzzle for 30 years now.  Oddly enough, I was thinking of reading the Chronicles of Narnia to my kids this summer.  I've never been much of a fan of Lewis' adult books, but I figured my kids would enjoy Narnia.  I would've done quite the double take if I'd stumbled upon this during a bedtime story!  

I really appreciate your help here.  

Do you remember whether the charaters in the novel solved the puzzle?  

I guess it's time to shift my focus to Shane's interesting "Schrodinger's Hallway" challenge now.

Thanks much,
Keith


"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: Sun May 27, 2007 11:04 am 
 

ExTSR wrote:A clerical Lower Water (L4) would seem to help... unless the pool is invulnerable to magical effects, in which case you seem to be skrude.


Our DM did make the pool resistant to any magic that our characters had available to us.

I don't know whether higher level spells and/or powerful artifacts would've had any effect.

Keith


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

 WWW  

User avatar

Verbose Collector
JG Valuation Board

Posts: 1670
Joined: Jul 01, 2006
Last Visit: Mar 20, 2024
Location: Moncton, NB Canada

Post Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 5:15 pm 
 

Keith the Thief wrote:Do you remember whether the charaters in the novel solved the puzzle?  


I am afraid that it is closing in on 30 years since I read the Narnia series, and cannot recall too many specifics.  :oops:


Check out my Chaosium sourcebook.
Secrets of Tibet

  


Active Collector

Posts: 97
Joined: Feb 04, 2006
Last Visit: Jun 06, 2009
Location: Sacramento CA

Post Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 5:44 am 
 

Keith the Thief wrote:
Jason and MadMaligor:  

Do you remember whether the charaters in the novel solved the puzzle?  

Thanks much,
Keith


I dont think it was solved, but rather avoided.  I think they saw an item or figure in the pond and considered getting it, then realized what the pond was.  There was also some sort of curse or something, and a dragon (or one of the kids became a dragon).  I don't remember the specifics but using it to create gold ended up being a bad thing somehow.


Okay, I can't help but ask, but what exactly is a "potato wedger"? - bclarkie

  


Prolific Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 656
Joined: Apr 12, 2004
Last Visit: Nov 16, 2023
Location: Perth, Australia

Post Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 12:10 am 
 

If going through the door at the end negates the aging effect then it wouldn't matter which corridor is used - except a baby wouldn't be able to open the door, whereas an older person could still reach the handle  :)

I may have a possible solution if the effect is not negated:

Person walks down the "getting older" passage, opens the door and enters the room. Opens the door to the "getting younger" corridor and walks exactly halfway down turns around and comes back.

They should then be at the age they started at when they first entered the corridor, as they've spent as much time/distance in each corridor.

It wouldn't work using the "getting younger" corridor first as the baby wouldn't be able to reach the door handle as stated above.

Am I close?


"Don't tempt me, I can resist anything but temptation"

  

User avatar

Verbose Collector

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

Post Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 8:09 am 
 

AdderMcOne wrote:If going through the door at the end negates the aging effect then it wouldn't matter which corridor is used - except a baby wouldn't be able to open the door, whereas an older person could still reach the handle  :)

I may have a possible solution if the effect is not negated:

Person walks down the "getting older" passage, opens the door and enters the room. Opens the door to the "getting younger" corridor and walks exactly halfway down turns around and comes back.

They should then be at the age they started at when they first entered the corridor, as they've spent as much time/distance in each corridor.

It wouldn't work using the "getting younger" corridor first as the baby wouldn't be able to reach the door handle as stated above.

Am I close?


I think the premise here is that you die of old age (or young age) before you are able to get within a reasonable distance to the door.

That's what had led me to wonder if some type of tool (e.g. a 10 foot pole with some type of "claw" attached to the end) could be used by a character halfway down the corridor to manipulate the door handle and open it.  That way you'd know whether opening the door has any effect.

If opening the door has no effect on the aging magic, then you're back to square one, as it were.

Keith


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

 WWW  


Prolific Collector

Posts: 413
Joined: May 07, 2007
Last Visit: Aug 03, 2021

Post Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 9:14 am 
 

I think the solution is even easier.

Pick a hallway. Either one will do. Walk halfway down the corridor, then turn around, facing the opposite direction, and walk backwards until you bump into the door, open it, viola.

That's what I'd do at any rate. :)

Zen

  


Prolific Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 221
Joined: Apr 07, 2005
Last Visit: Jan 23, 2024
Location: UK

Post Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 10:39 am 
 

OK.... Walk down aging corridor.  So lets say corridor is 20 steps long, walk in a zig- zag down the corridor covering 20 steps, but only getting half way down.  Now walk straight back (10 steps).  You've aged a fair bit, now walk down the deaging corridor, 20 steps.  Through the door and you've halved your age   :lol:
I know, not even close, but you gotta try

  

User avatar

Grandstanding Collector

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

Post Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 11:42 am 
 

According to Plaag it is distance traveled, so it shouldn't matter if you walk backwards or forwards. And when you come back out of a hallway, it returns you to normal.


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

  

User avatar

Grandstanding Collector

Posts: 6158
Joined: May 03, 2003
Last Visit: Mar 04, 2024
Location: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Post Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 2:24 pm 
 

Assuming that the hallway has a linear aging formula such 1 step = 1 year (+/-), I think you might need some kind of teleport spell so you don't actually  walk down the halfway, hence do not age except for maybe the last step at the door.

 WWW  

User avatar

Long-Winded Collector
Subweb Admin
JG Valuation Board

Posts: 4583
Joined: Nov 08, 2002
Last Visit: Mar 28, 2024
Location: Land of 10,000 ponds

Post Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 3:54 pm 
 

Mars wrote:Assuming that the hallway has a linear aging formula such 1 step = 1 year (+/-), I think you might need some kind of teleport spell so you don't actually  walk down the halfway, hence do not age except for maybe the last step at the door.


I mentioned no spells :)

ShaneG.


I reject your reality and substitute my own

 WWW  

User avatar

Verbose Collector
Acaeum Donor

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

Post Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 5:21 pm 
 

You wait in the room until you are an old man . . . then you head down the corridor that makes you younger.  Instead of becoming a baby, you become a young man again and open the door.   :D


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

  
PreviousNext
Post new topic Reply to topic Page 3 of 712, 3, 4567