A while back I was asked about incorporating a puzzle into Chapter 4 of Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, the Clifftop Oberservatory. There is a scene that takes place near a broken down orrery where kobolds are being attacked by stirge.
Broken stone lines this plaza—fragments of elegant statues, once-magnificent pillars, and shining marble walls. At the center, a tall sculpture of rusted planets and gilded stars spins idly in a jerky mimicry of celestial motion.
After combat, the characters may take a look at this “tall sculpture of rusted planets”. In the adventure guide, a character can simply solve the puzzle with a successful DC 15 Arcana (Intelligence) check.
Golden Sculpture. The sculpture in the center of the rotunda is an astronomical model used for research in centuries past. The sculpture depicts the planet of Toril (the world of the Forgotten Realms), its moon (called Selûne), the sun, and seven other planets, as well as one comet with a very eccentric orbit. A character who studies the sculpture can puzzle out its importance with a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check: its current position suggests the comet will soon pass very close to Toril.
Sparkrender plans to hold his ritual when the comet is at its closest point. He believes the comet, called the King-Killer Star, controls the destiny of dragons and will allow him to claim the power of the dragons who fell on Stormwreck Isle.
In the adventure, this information is important to the party to help them figure out when the villain, a blue dragon by the name of Sparkrender, plans to hold his ritual.
Sparkrender plans to hold his ritual when the comet is at its closest point. He believes the comet, called the King-Killer Star, controls the destiny of dragons and will allow him to claim the power of the dragons who fell on Stormwreck Isle.
While there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a simple check to be able to ascertain information about an object or an area, this does give us an opportunity to set up a logic puzzle based on the planets of the Forgotten Realms™.
In this article we will be creating a standard grid-based logic puzzle featuring the first four planets in the Forgotten Realms™ solar system. Of course, you could use this in a game outside of the Dragons of Stormwreck Isle or change up the details to match your own homebrew world or even mimic the real world planets by using Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
Let’s get started!
Forgotten Realms Planet Puzzle
The Puzzle: The astronomical model or orrery was at one time used for research. The first four planets closest to the sun seem to have fallen off of the model. The four planets are found about the base of the sculpture and can be lifted and placed upon the model with a DC12 Athletics check or anyone with a Strength of 12 or higher.
The four planets are:
Amber, Blue, Grey, and White.
Once the players help fend off the stirge, the kobolds will be grateful and will present the party with a set of complicated and somewhat cryptic instructions on putting the sculpture back together, but they cannot figure it out.
The instructions read as follows:
1. The Blue Planet is third from the Sun.
2. Karpri is the 4th Planet from the Sun.
3. Anadia is closer to the Sun than the White Planet
4. Coliar is the Grey Planet
5. Toril is not the closest nor the 4th planet from the sun. Toril is, however, further away from the sun than the Amber colored Planet
6. The planet closest to the sun is not Grey
SOLUTION
The planet closest to the sun cannot be White or Grey. And, we know that the 3rd furtherst planet from the sun is Blue. Therefore, The closest planet to the sun is Amber colored.
Knowing that the planet Coliar is grey, we can determine that the grey planet should be the 2nd closest to the sun. This is because the first planet is amber, the third is blue, and the 4th planet is Karpri so it cannot be the grey planet of Coliar.
Since Coliar is the 2nd planet from the sun and is grey, that means that the 4th planet must be the only remaining color, which is white.
Toril cannot be the 1st or 4th planet, and since Coliar is now in the 2nd location, Toril must be the 3rd planet from the sun.
The only remaining planet name is Anadia which must be the amber colored planet since we have already identified the other three.
HINTS: DC15 History Checks
1. Coliar was a city of clouds (indicated by grey planet)
2. Toril is 60% water (the blue planet)
3. The ice caps of Karpri are vast (the white planet)
4. The equator region of Anadia is unliveable.
The Answer to the puzzle:
ANADIA: 1st. Closest to the Sun. Amber
COLIAR: 2nd from the Sun. Grey
TORIL: 3rd from the Sun. Blue
KARPRI: 4th from the Sun. White
