'Pass me the blue one.' said Quinn.'Are you sure?' asked Elise. 'It's just, you were sure about the last two combinations, and that ceiling got closer both times.''It's a gamble, I agree,' replied Quinn, 'but whatever's behind this door has got to be worth it.'Elise passed Quinn the blue stone which he placed carefully in the final slot. As the grinding began, Quinn looked to the door while Elise looked up...
Centuries ago, the gnome trapmaster Gryps Wendlehook was tinkering with locks and security. Unable to replicate the intricacy of dwarven designs, Wendlehook decided to incorporate a little magic that the dwarves tended to lack, while including his personal love for puzzles.
The resulting door was essentially a combination lock that employed coloured stones for the combination. Four dull grey stones were set into the door and magically linked to four holes. A combination of four colours was then selected from a choice of six and set as the combination. Anyone wishing to open the door merely had to select the four coloured stones from a choice of six, and place them in the correct order in the available holes. When the correct colour was placed in the correct hole, the corresponding orb on the door would glow the appropriate colour.
Wendlehook recognised that this puzzle would be easily defeated if a determined thief arrived with an appropriate intellect and plenty of time to spare. As such, he included a very obvious trap to act as a deterrent.
The antechamber to any room secured with this lock is required to have a ceiling at least a 50 foot high, adorned with spikes. Every time the code is entered incorrectly, the ceiling drops by an 8 or 10 foot increment until such time as only 10 feet remain. A final incorrect code will see the ceiling drop outright on whoever has tried to bypass the lock.
Inspired by the old board game Mastermind, this door can be employed however the Dungeon Master sees fit.
Both the height of the ceiling and how far it drops for each incorrect guess will heavily impact how many attempts the party get before being ground into a fine paste. This will also rely heavily on how many colours there are to choose from and whether or not repetition will occur in the combination.
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Personally, I'm about to send a party out to collect several artifacts that will piece together to create a world saving device. The final piece will be hidden behind this door forcing the party to risk everything. Either they solve the puzzle and go on to save the world, or get crushed to death along with the parts already collected, dooming the world to certain apocalypse.
Here's hoping they don't guess the colour code on their first go.
Love the idea. Well wirtten.
Like in the Goonies.
Nice and simple, i like it.
If my mobilephone worked like this i would be long dead.
A bit large and complicated, but I like it, old school dungeoneering. Plus the fun part is that if you happen to have a Mastermind game you can make this an interactive trap for the players.
I like this. I really like the interactive idea by Scrasamax.
Nice one, simple.
Can't believe I didn't think of this, good idea. I'm going going to use this soon myself...