TOPIC: Puzzle Solution: The Sword Room

Lodestone (KH) wrote:

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I would explain parts of it slightly differently, for clarity.
A stroke is a move you make without lifting the stylus, hence there was confusion between this puzzle and N2 room 1. I would list them as:
1. Lines
2. Intersections
3. Odd (not right) Angles

These corresponded to the columns from left to right, and counting the squares up from the bottom. No light square was zero for that column, one on the bottom was a one, two up was two, etc. I heard the other way(lines/angles/points), but that doesn't make sense with some of the runes.

For example, there was an X with a bar over it, like X upside down. There was a panel 3-1-0 this went with. There is obviously one point of clear intersection. So the X was more like two perpendicular lines, so all right angles (which didn't count).

Other examples are the upside down T and the <, which were both two lines, one point, and no non-right angles. There were two panels marked 2-1-0. It wouldn't have worked any other way.

Finally there were the Pl (with the P more like a little triangle pennant) and the +N, or an upside down N with a cross or plus on the left. Both were 4-3-1. Obviously 4 lines and 3 points, but apparently the 'non-right angles' column was a true/false flag where zero was no non-right angles and one meant there was at least one right angle. Now, it may just be I don't remember it clearly enough and there were some that had more than 1 for the count in column three, but I thought I was looking for that the last time through. (I was in a group that didn't want hints. We took push on that.) If it is not explicitly a count of non-right angles in that column, then it is more a count of lines that are not parallel or perpendicular to the rest of the figure - thus Pl should be 4-3-2 and +N would be 4-3-1 in that case. But most of the figures are pretty clear and process of elimination will solve t with this info.

Now that solved the FIRST HALF of the puzzle. After placing the swords correctly one of the little fire pillars in the back was lit with a 'strange light' (UV light). You stick the swords under the light to see which one has a faint phosphorescent mark. The DM actually apologized for not being a good artist, so the final sword changed and the DMs picked one at least once a day. The paint faded/rubbed off with all the people handling the swords. Put the right sword in the special holder over the door and then the whole puzzle was solved.