MD 10th Birthday - Day 7 - Treasure Hunt

[Valoryn]

And the winners are...

First place: Clock Master

Wins: a Wish Point, a 10th Anniversary Aramor and one of the following spellstones: Mirrorritual, Silvertongue, Locate
 

Second place: dst

Wins: a Morph and one of the spellstones above (after Clock Master has made a choice)
 

Third place: Asthir

Wins: 1 Gold Coin, a Send to GoE spellstone and the remaining spellstone from those mentioned above

[log='Results']Name: Clock Master – Current stage: 11 – Time spent: 6039
Name: dst – Current stage: 11 – Time spent: 8188
Name: Lania – Current stage: 3 – Time spent: 1729
Name: Asthir – Current stage: 11 – Time spent: 23365
Name: Miq – Current stage: 1 – Time spent: 0
Name: Zleiphneir – Current stage: 1 – Time spent: 0
Name: *Nimrodel* – Current stage: 1 – Time spent: 0[/log]
[log='Puzzle answers']Clue #1: Forum
[spoiler]"My shallow hills are the faces of kings.
My horizon is always near.
My music sends men to the grave.
My absence sends men to work."

Answer: COIN

"Find what I am, then follow the wind to find me."

That was a hint pointing at the Lands of the East.

Both clues combined send the player to the Hotel reception desk in the Lands of the East.[/spoiler]
Clue #2: Hotel reception desk
[spoiler]"2287-1249-2692-1191-611-1290-2049
2886-3269-2723-1572-1069-502
2990-2547-1847-863-1359-3038"

Letter replacement with numbers (in other words, each number replaces a single letter).

The numbers came straight from the announcements. Since I provided no further clues to help players find the exact pattern (which letter in the announcement has been concealed by each number), the player would need to search for a fairly obvious or relatively easy to find pattern; otherwise I would have (to have) provided extra clues.

In this case, I used the very first letter of each announcement:

2287=M – 1249=A – 2692=R – 1191=I – 611=N – 1290=D – 2049=S
2886=M – 3269=A – 2723=R – 1572=B – 1069=L – 502=E
2990=S – 2547=T – 1847=A – 863=I – 1359=R – 3038=S

Answer: MARIND'S MARBLE STAIRS[/spoiler]
Clue #3: Marind's Marble Stairs
[spoiler]"We Dannot concAive of matter beiLg formed of noGhing,
since things BequirO a seed tI start Vrom...
Wherefore tRerI is not anything Qhich returns to nAthing,
but all things Beturn dissoNveS into their elements."

Clue concealed in a misspelled quote.

Here is the correct one with the previously misspelled letters capitalised and bold to stand out:

"We Cannot concEive of matter beiNg formed of noThing,
since things RequirE a seed tO start From...
Therefore tHerE is not anything Which returns to nOthing,
but all things Return dissoLveD into their elements."
(quote attributed to W. Shakespeare)

Answer: CENTRE OF THE WORLD
which points at GoE.[/spoiler]
Clue #4: Gazebo of Equilibrium
[spoiler]

This was a tricky one, because it had several issues. The first one was that it was a little upside down. So, let's fix that for now:

 

It's still not plainly clear, but some words are now easier to read. The note actually reads:

"no one around

seems clear

the way, for now

nothing to fear"

which is a mildly jumbled scene poem:

"The way, for now, seems clear

No one around? Nothing to fear"

Answer: PATH OF TORMENT[/spoiler]
Clue #5: Path of Torment
[spoiler]http://storenow.net/my/?f=6cd2f157e3e4de532a735690ce3d6578

 

Close-up picture of a detail in the scene drawing at Awiiya's Way.[/spoiler]
Clue #6: Awiiya's Way
[spoiler]"The muster awaits the wind
That become game master
Her gate did solve."

Word anagram of a scene poem:

"Solve the Game that Wind did muster

The gate awaits, become her master"

Answer: WIND'S GAME[/spoiler]
Clue #7: Wind's Game
[spoiler]"Burnt wood bow with its ends down."

Answer: ASH ARCH[/spoiler]
Clue #8: Ash Arch
[spoiler]"... .- --. . .----. ... / -.- . . .--. / .. -. - . .-. .. --- .-."

Morse Code encryption.

Answer: SAGE'S KEEP INTERIOR[/spoiler]
Clue #9: Sage's Keep Interior
[spoiler]"ႠႡႢႣႤႥႦႧ ႧႨႩႪႫ ႡႬႬႭ"

Symbol replacement encryption.

Ⴀ=A – Ⴁ=R – Ⴂ=C – Ⴃ=H – Ⴄ=I – Ⴅ=V – Ⴆ=E – Ⴇ=S
Ⴇ=S – Ⴈ=T – Ⴉ=U – Ⴊ=D – Ⴋ=Y
Ⴁ=R – Ⴌ=O – Ⴌ=O – Ⴍ=M

Answer: ARCHIVES STUDY ROOM[/spoiler]
Clue #10: Archives Study Room
[spoiler]This wasn't just one of the easiest clues in the Hunt, but it was also the silliest by far.

As soon as I realised that the answer is pretty obvious and that I didn't have enough time to come up with something decent, I decided to keep the puzzle concept as is and try something different than just fill the rest of the maze with random letters.

Considering, however, how fast the participants reached the next clue, none of them seem to have fallen into the trap of reading what was actually written there and of losing precious time in the process.

I will expose it here in all its splendour and hope that, since it failed to make you lose time, it might at least succeed in giving you a good chuckle (the text in the dark blue shade is the clue proper).

Answer: IVORY LIGHTHOUSE[/spoiler]
Clue #11: Ivory Lighthouse
[spoiler]"DNEWIREESV OE NEIRFITRTO"

Rail-fence encryption.

DNEWIR – EESV OE NEIR – FITRTO

DNEWIR
EESV OE NEIR
FITRTO

D***N***E***W***I***R
*E*E*S*V* *O*E* *N*E*I*R
**F***I***T***R***T***O

Answer: DEFENSIVE TOWER INTERIOR[/spoiler]
Defensive Tower Interior – Chest Locking Mechanism
[spoiler]During the Treasure Hunt, the player finds five Roman numerals among the clues in the following order: V – IV – III – V – II. At this final stage, the player is asked to input a number password using a panel of buttons.

The original concept was to have 2-5-3-4-5 as the password to unlock the chest (the reverse order than what the player encounters during the quest).

However, seeing that this password would be relatively easy to input and the player would be done with this stage pretty quickly (especially if the player took notice of the numerals early enough and didn't have to visit the clickables again to write the numbers down), the final password I used (and required as an answer) was 3-5-2-4-5.

The change may have been minimal when comparing the two passwords however, since I gave no clues that could hint at it, it may have made participants spend more time on it (as I intended) but it also had the following sad result:
This puzzle of logic (however simple it may originally have been) became one based entirely on luck; this was one of the quest's major flaws, which I either didn't notice in time or noticed before the quest began but not early enough to fix them properly.[/spoiler][/log]
At this point, I would like to thank everybody that helped this quest come true: the Administrators, the Day Hosts, Eagle Eye in particular for his support and guidance, StrongWilled Legna who offered not only her clickables but also a lot of her free time to work on this quest with me, Lintara who provided some of the clues and helped a lot in testing, Eleyne for having the patience to explain PHP and MDScript to me, and all players that gave this quest a chance by supporting it here on the forum or participating in it, regardless of how far they managed to go.

I hope that, despite its flaws, it was an interesting and enjoyable experience for you as it was an interesting and a great learning experience for me.

[Valoryn]

Rewards were distributed to the winners.

 

This topic can now be closed.

 

Thank you. :)