Friday, May 30, 2025

5 Scrolls (magic system/language puzzle)

Above: Front panel of decorated wooden chest, found in the tomb of the Elder King, ancient lord of the elves.

Below: Five scrolls, found inside the chest. Of scrolls, this is known:

  • They are made from the still-living bark of a mana-rich, now-extinct tree (called a livingtree, or a thauma tree, from an archaic word for magic).
  • They are vanishingly rare, and always written Old Elvish, a dead language. (In fact, magic itself is not currently practiced. There are no wizards in this age.) 
  • One activates a scroll by reading it aloud, which causes it to ignite and burn to ash.
  • Elf grave goods are always trapped: at least two of these scrolls will kill the caster. 

A clever player can use these five scrolls to become the setting's one and only wizard.

 




  


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I envision this as a puzzle that exists entirely within the physical context of the dungeon, so all the regular dungeon skills have bearing the solution. For example, investigating the chest reveals a secret inside panel:

 

+ some background hints: 

  • A linguist would know that the word "king" actually comes from Old Elvish.
  • A storyteller would know that the Ice Barbarian of Drangax cast a world-altering spell by setting it on fire and shouting at it.
  • A dwarf would know that a demon named Mithril destroyed the last dwarf city.


Below are the pronunciations and effects of each scroll (in order) if you want to check your work, or if you prefer to work backwards from a solution.

  • MITHRIL YE KEL FANGR MWTE: Create a graven image on a nearby wall of whatever is on the other side of that wall.
  • ELECTRUM KIL: Kill the caster with lightning (2d8).
  • ELECTRUM XWA KATONG: Open a nearby door, loudly.
  • MITHRIL MEKA WEL: Create a rune which continuously produces water.
  • ELECTRUM IF WMANG LA KIL: Create a rune which kills anyone who speaks in its vicinity with lightning (2d8), unless the password (KATA) is spoken, in which case the rune is dispelled.


Appendix N

  • Epigraph by Matthew Brown
  • Mystical by Denis Moskowitz
  • and Tolkien's various elvish languages 

2 comments:

  1. Wow, beautiful! I don't think I could figure it out myself, but very compelling.

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    1. Thanks! this is admittedly more proof of concept for a full dungeon than a standalone puzzle- it would be much easier to figure out in a game, i think, where you can experiment with things

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