I need a puzzle for my players to try and solve, they're trapped in a damned lighthouse and unable to leave unless they can extinguish the flame at the top. Does anyone have ideas for what I could use for this or a puzzle (extinguishing rather than lighting)? Maybe a captive fire elemental? I was wanting it to be that the fire was cursed to burn for all time as the lighthouse angered a sea god for making the rock safe, so he moved it into a parallel world of an eternal storm where it can trap unwary ships (very much like the Tower of Deception I know)
Idealy I'd like it to be a puzzle for them to solve rather than combat.
Okay, so the sea god cursed the lighthouse by moving it to a position where it would tempt ships to the rocks, and the party are trapped inside.
The issue there is that the god didn't make this to be "solved", so putting a riddle in place would not make sense... Do they have any assistance here to give them clues, like an NPC?
One option would be to move the fire instead of putting it out. Move it to somewhere useful and the sea god will have to put it out himself to stop it from saving the ships. Not that useful if they are trapped inside though.
Another option would be to have to get the ocean in to put it out, as only the sea can undo the curse.
A seized mechanism, rusted by the sea, could cap the flames and contain them. This would need a concerted effort to move and strength checks to succeed. The mechanism could be sprung, so the players have to work out how to hold it shut so one player doesn't have to stay behind. Often the simplest puzzles without planned solutions are the best, give them a simple problem (the fire can be put out, but only by holding this lever down, as soon as it's released, the fire comes back) and let them work out how they want to hold the lever down.
I like the lever idea, I was toying with the idea the flame can only be put out with sea water myself.
I've made the curse a bit woolly and not all one curse, the lighthouse was cursed and the original builder/keepers etc but its been compounded by many wrecked sailors coming in and dying unable to escape so its haunted with all of them and a touch of insanity from the predicament, a bit like room 1408.
The lighthouse is essentially a myth as the original was washed away (or thought to be) centuries ago and the rock is still there and barren, so the lighthouse isn't actually anywhere anymore, its sort of in a pocket world just for it in the centre of a roving storm waiting to trap the unwary. In theory anyone anywhere at sea could run into it.
What if it's a powerful Efreet (not sure what level your players are - if they're lowbies then a normal Fire Elemental will suffice) that acts as the beacon. The efreet was imprisoned there after scoffing at the ocean.
The Efreet was tricked by the sea god into becoming the beacon, and is desperate to escape, but has been trapped there as punishment. If it's simply that a sea god wants it there, I'm not sure how the players would be able to resolve that, but if it was tricked there by a powerful celestial servant of the sea god then it could be freed.
To free the Efreet, the players must either beat it at a game, answer a series of riddles (which can be related to the glory of the ocean, which the efreet hates), or maybe require the efreet to take part in a humiliating play where it must decry its own fiery nature and raise glory to the sea god.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I need a puzzle for my players to try and solve, they're trapped in a damned lighthouse and unable to leave unless they can extinguish the flame at the top. Does anyone have ideas for what I could use for this or a puzzle (extinguishing rather than lighting)? Maybe a captive fire elemental? I was wanting it to be that the fire was cursed to burn for all time as the lighthouse angered a sea god for making the rock safe, so he moved it into a parallel world of an eternal storm where it can trap unwary ships (very much like the Tower of Deception I know)
Idealy I'd like it to be a puzzle for them to solve rather than combat.
Okay, so the sea god cursed the lighthouse by moving it to a position where it would tempt ships to the rocks, and the party are trapped inside.
The issue there is that the god didn't make this to be "solved", so putting a riddle in place would not make sense... Do they have any assistance here to give them clues, like an NPC?
One option would be to move the fire instead of putting it out. Move it to somewhere useful and the sea god will have to put it out himself to stop it from saving the ships. Not that useful if they are trapped inside though.
Another option would be to have to get the ocean in to put it out, as only the sea can undo the curse.
A seized mechanism, rusted by the sea, could cap the flames and contain them. This would need a concerted effort to move and strength checks to succeed. The mechanism could be sprung, so the players have to work out how to hold it shut so one player doesn't have to stay behind. Often the simplest puzzles without planned solutions are the best, give them a simple problem (the fire can be put out, but only by holding this lever down, as soon as it's released, the fire comes back) and let them work out how they want to hold the lever down.
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
I like the lever idea, I was toying with the idea the flame can only be put out with sea water myself.
I've made the curse a bit woolly and not all one curse, the lighthouse was cursed and the original builder/keepers etc but its been compounded by many wrecked sailors coming in and dying unable to escape so its haunted with all of them and a touch of insanity from the predicament, a bit like room 1408.
The lighthouse is essentially a myth as the original was washed away (or thought to be) centuries ago and the rock is still there and barren, so the lighthouse isn't actually anywhere anymore, its sort of in a pocket world just for it in the centre of a roving storm waiting to trap the unwary. In theory anyone anywhere at sea could run into it.
What if it's a powerful Efreet (not sure what level your players are - if they're lowbies then a normal Fire Elemental will suffice) that acts as the beacon. The efreet was imprisoned there after scoffing at the ocean.
The Efreet was tricked by the sea god into becoming the beacon, and is desperate to escape, but has been trapped there as punishment. If it's simply that a sea god wants it there, I'm not sure how the players would be able to resolve that, but if it was tricked there by a powerful celestial servant of the sea god then it could be freed.
To free the Efreet, the players must either beat it at a game, answer a series of riddles (which can be related to the glory of the ocean, which the efreet hates), or maybe require the efreet to take part in a humiliating play where it must decry its own fiery nature and raise glory to the sea god.