1. You have a flat stone. Markings seem to depict a kind of mysterious map. It leads you to an ornate arch, strangled by tumbling ivy. Turning the stone over, you feel its griddled surface covered in ancient runes. The same runes are woven into the stone arch, and you realise that this is a portal to another dimension, that will only activate if you can translate the runes and follow its instruction.

PUZZLE: Solve to turn on the portal, (answer should be 3). 

  1. You pass the stone between your hands three times, and toss it through the empty portal. The portal activates, and the world you knew is sucked away, replaced by the sound of crashing waves. You are standing on a tropical beach, warm sand beneath your feet. Suddenly, a slavering snarl alerts you to a pack of gigantic ravenous wolves that are steadily closing in from the shadows of the forest. You must control them before it’s too late.

PUZZLE: The correct answer will appease the pack (should be a word).

  1. The growls recede and the wolves scramble away. Unsure of where to go next, you follow the pawprints torn into the sand. Soon, you find a cave. A black chasm devouring the light. And as you enter the dank cave, chilling air biting you to the bone, you see an old torch cast aside. Lighting it with supplies from your bag, orange light dances across a shingle slope. Descending it, the cave soon opens out to an underground woodland.  

PUZZLE: Which way to go? Answer could be left.

  1. Towering pine trees brush stalactites, and a trodden path squeezes behind a crashing waterfall. You pass behind the freezing water into a small grotto. The cascade quenches your torch which hisses at you as it dies in the dark. The ground tremors. Pebbles are flung into the air and dust showers you from the earthen ceiling. The ground rumbles again, and a thick cloud of leather wings rush past you. As the bats disperse, you quiver in horror: a gigantic cave troll glares at you, its drooling tongue slapping stone-sized teeth.

PUZZLE: Fight cave troll - answer should be name of a spell “Exsterno”, which confuses the troll, who runs into a wall and is knocked out.

  1. The troll’s belly heaves as it snores, face first against the rock. A fresh breeze whistles, and light spills through a crack in the rock wall. Clambering over the troll’s leathery back, you shuffle through the crack, and a vast marshland is revealed. Shrouded by dense mist, dead trees, like petrified hands, protrude from bubbling bogs. Every step feels like you are pulling your leg from a pit of green glue. Deeper and deeper your feet sink, and soon you are stuck in the middle of a filthy bog.

PUZZLE: Solve to tie a rope to the end of your hand-axe/sword, and hurl it at a nearby tree to pull yourself out. You feel tired. Puzzle answer could be Strength.

  1. Summoning all of your strength, you heave yourself from the wet clutches of the bog. The mist is thinner here, and as it shifts, you see a craggy wall. This cliff towers above you, a viscous overhang throwing a looming shadow across the marsh. Spots of rain tap your shoulders, and the moody sky chokes the sunlight. Taking a deep breath, you start to climb. The tapping rain soon turns to a thunderous downpour, and shimmers off the rock. The cliff face becomes slimy and wet. Your feet slip and flail as the rock disintegrates. Your fingers fumble, and you plummet to the ground.

PUZZLE: Save yourself - answer could be ‘hold on’ - you grab onto an exposed root on the side of the cliff, and hurl yourself up the edge of the cliff.

  1. An enormous mountain serrates the sky, its peak staring at you in mocking disdain. Its foothills are wrapped in long yellow grass that billows in the lashing rain. The mountain seems to flicker as the blades catch the dim light. A small cairn shows the path upwards, and you take out the stone-map. A jagged outline of a mountain is carved into the stone. You are going the right way. But the winding path diverges into uncertainty. Two routes seem to be best: a route to the east, and one to the north.

PUZZLE: Which way? Answer could be ‘East’.

  1. The path is getting steeper by the minute, and your legs burn. Soon, you wander into a cool fog that lingers on the rocks. Like a cloud shrouded by the golden sun, the fog is streaked with a strange green glow, but it entices you onward. The mist cloaks you in a shimmering green garb, and your mind and body are slurred by slumber. Through the fog, you can see a gigantic nest, carpeted in thick moss and leaves. You lie inside it, and fall into a blissful sleep. A cold cry cuts the air, and you awake with a shock. A colossal Griffin glares at you from its perch above, its razor sharp talons poised to attack.

PUZZLE: Answer should be ‘run’.

  1. The Griffin screams. Its wild call stabs the air. The green fog is bashed aside by beating wings. You sprint away. It isn’t chasing you, and its cold shriek becomes a mere memory on the wind. You soon come to a ravine, gauged through the mountainside, as if a giant ripped apart the rock in anger. A tiny ridgeline forms a rocky bridge to the other side. Below, gigantic rock spires leer at you, like the mountain’s teeth. You must not fall.

PUZZLE: Answer should be ‘balance’

  1. Staring directly ahead, you focus on placing one foot in front of the other. You stretch your arms out for balance, and stare at the safety of the grassy hillside ahead. Step by step, you make it to the other side. Your heart thumps manically in your chest, and you can feel its rhythm as your pause for breath on the grass. But, from behind a rock you hear a wild cackle, and a strange figure hobbles towards you. They are hooded, and hunched over a gnarled walking stick. Their voice is laced with malice, and it punctures the howling wind.

PUZZLE.  A Riddle, and then and the answer.

  1. You walk onward into an engulfing heat. Boiling steam hisses from the blackened walls. Turning a corner, you are stopped at the edge of a vast lava lake. It boils angrily. Bubbles of glowing magma pop and fill the air with spluttering red gloop. And your heart sinks. There is no way over. No path, no bridge, no stepping stones. The way is shut and the journey is over. You are bitterly defeated. Unless… A faded thought floats through your mind. A spell, of sorts. It flickers, but hazily drifts away. You desperately rack your brain. An incantation. The incantation will forge a path.

PUZZLE: Remember the spell that gets you past the lava lake.

  1. The spell rolls off your tongue, as vibrant as ever. The lava boils and froths. Great walls of lava rise into the air, and collapse into crashing waves. A thin path, forged through flame, is revealed. You pass through, unharmed, and climb out the other side. A wasteland devours the sunlight. A barren landscape, bereft of life. The ground is seamed with cracks, like run like dried veins. Casting a grotesque shadow is a remote tower, twisted in a spiral. As you approach, you notice a rope that stretches from the top of the tower to a path leading to the mountain’s summit. You draw your sword, terrified to enter, but step blindly inside. The door slams shut behind you, plunging you into a terrible blackness. Something terrible is in here with you. It haunts you. Stalks you. You run. It chases you up the tower. A shadow, a manic and grotesque shape, clings to the wall. It closes in...

PUZZLE: Answer is ‘jump!’, and you jump out of the tower and ‘zipline’, using the rope, to the summit’s base.

 

  1. Wind rushes through your hair. You can feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, and the fresh air fills your lungs. The tower’s terror is forgotten. You are ziplining across a colossal ravine, thousands of metres above the ground. And below, you see the lava lake, and the foothills. The boggy marshland. And the beach. Glistening water sparkles in the sunlight, dancing as you gaze across your journey. Your feet touch the ground again. Soft snowflakes settle on your eyelashes, and you soon reach a bowl in the rock. The lair of a beast. It seems abandoned.

PUZZLE: Slide down the bowl into the nest. Answer: Search?

  1. A golden scale lies amidst the bracken and rubble. It has an ethereal shine, but is as light as a feather, in spite of its strength. As you examine it, a deep roar quakes the ground. A nearby cloud cracks with bright blue thunder. Blue sparks fizz on the ground. And then you see it. A black winged shadow emerges from the crackling cloud, and rockets towards the nest. You rush out of the bowl towards the summit. The ground vibrates, and electric bolts fill the air. A portal, an old archway, sits at the mountain top. The Dragon closes in. You toss the stone-map between your hands, and through the portal.

        PUZZLE: Answer could be 3 again, or another number for variety.

  1. The portal activates, and you step through it. A rush of air behind you as the beast swoops where you were just standing, leaving a fiery trail in its path. The portal crumbles behind you, signifying the end of your journey. You are safe, and have retrieved a legendary artefact.

END.