Playing D&D and the party encounters a Gyno Sphinx, she says that she upgraded her game and now gives out prizes to people who can solve her riddles and gives us a book of custom Riddles the GM made.
Riddles and Cyphers part 2
Colton Edwards
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Colton Hall
>Part 1
The Deadly Card Game
Madam Sphinx was on her way to dine in her favorite eatery in Absalom when she found her favorite table was occupied. “Oh, what a bother,” she said, before turning to the waiter. “When shall my table be open, miss?”
Said the waiter, “My word, good madame, why there has been a murder here!”
“A murder! Well, that is quite a reasonable reason to have slow service, so I shant take it out of your tip, my good lady. When will my table be open?”
“Ah, Madam Sphinx, I am so sorry to say it probably shall not be available tonight. You see, the guard is come to investigate the killing and come to no conclusions. The body lays in your chair, slain as he sat in a private game of cards with three others. So your private table is unavailable for a moment.”
“And how long shall it take for me to get another table?”
“About three minutes, madam.”
“Well then,” said Madam Sphinx, “I suppose I shall solve the case, as it will take far less time.” Madam Sphinx went to the body with the waiter. “Who is the victim?”
“Ah, this is Mister Francois Bulvern. He was here playing Elysian Hold 'Em with three compatriots. First there was the redoubtable Miss Viona Verdiga, a secret Nidalese sorceress and maiden of Urgathoa that had chosen the path of unlife! She would steal the life force of everyone she met in order to maintain her own unnatural life. Perhaps she is the killer!”
“Well, good miss,” said Madam Sphinx, “Anyone could be the killer, for he was killed by a dagger in the back, not some arcane rite.”
Nathaniel Gutierrez
Part 2
“Well, that certainly points to his other companion, the master criminal and rascal Skallagron. This Ulfen criminal is said to be deep in the criminal world of the City of Absalom, and to have a dozen different faces in every port!”
“Mayhap, miss, but you should tell me of the third suspect as well.”
“Well, Madam Sphinx, the third possibility is Gorlis of Daggermark. He is an assassin of great skill from that city, and surely capable of killing.”
“Indeed, he could be, though I would think a Daggermark assassin more likely to leave the deed done in secret rather than take up my favorite table with his antics.”
“Quite a quandary, Madam Sphinx. But I seem to think that Francois was leaving us a clue. Look at the chips on the table!”
“Indeed, it seems that Francois was bluffing heavily, hoping on a gut-shot straight draw to win a hand when two aces had already come down on the flop.”
“No, Madam Sphinx, I mean how he with his dying breath pointed to the final card of the hand, the four of swords!”
“Ah, yes, that. I saw that before, good madam. Now clear my table as I announce the killer to the guardsmen.”
Who dealt Francois a lethal card?
Daniel Walker
Sphinx a cute.
Luis Cooper
>Riddle #2 part 1
The Bloody Stage
“What do you mean, the play is canceled?” huffed Madam Sphinx.
“Well, you see,” said the theater manager, “we cannot continue the play on account of the lead actress being dead!”
“What a shame,” said Madam Sphinx. “I'd hope this would teach you the importance of always having an understudy.”
“Oh, we do, but the girl refuses to perform while a killer is on the loose. I'm so sorry, madam.”
“Hmm, I see I shall have to get a refund. Or catch the killer. Let us go to the body and see what we might find,” said Madam Sphinx. She followed the theater manager backstage, past all of the cluttered props and sets. There, they found the body of Miss Christine Stanner lying in a pool of blood, a crossbow bolt in her side. “Goodness,” Madam Sphinx said, “they not only killed the lead, but ruined her costume!”
“Yes, though the costume was insured,” said the theater manager.
“Well then, it seems the girl was shot here by the wings, then staggered off to where the costuming supplied. What a funny thing to grab in her last seconds – white face powder and a blonde wig,” said Madam Sphinx. “Who are the suspects?”
“Well, first, there was Vierna Freth, a priestess of Nocticula,” he said. “She had hated the girl and thought her a poor fit for the part, and had a niece which she thought would do far better.”
“Well, that is certainly enough for a drow to kill for, but tell me, why did you let her into the theater?”
“Madam Sphinx, do you think I would be crazy enough to tell her no?”
“A fair point. Any others?”
Dylan Bailey
>Part 2
“Yes, there was a woman from Nirmathas, a Miss Fiona, a bard of some repute among her own people, who had been insanely jealous that Christine had the part. She had sworn her name would be the one to grace the sign outside my theater.”
“I see. And the third?”
“Ah, there was a nobleman named Erik from the Land of Linnorm Kings, the one there who is still galumphing about with the head of the linnorm.”
“I know of them, sir.”
“Yes, Madam Sphinx, well, he had been worked up into a righteous rage over Christine rebuffing his affections, and said he would allow his 'angel of music' to sing for him or no other.”
“Well then,” said Madam Sphinx, “Are you sure our list of suspects is complete?”
“It is, yet I have no clue!”
“But I do, and this is who to arrest,” said Madam Sphinx.
“Whom,” said the theater manager. Madam Sphinx bit him for correcting her.
Who cut the alto's noteworthy career breve?
Jordan Jones
>Riddle #3 part 1
The Gallery of Blood
“Madam Sphinx, this is awful!” said Lord Huffler, his face drawn up with tension. “We were all set to hold your gala affair for young artists of the Inner Sea when we find that we are out of brie!”
“This does not seem to be much of a tragedy, sir. Why not send off for more?” Madam Sphinx said.
“Ah, for the police are here on account of the murder, and they insist no one leaves until they have apprehended the killer!” said Lord Huffler.
Madam Sphinx said, “My, these murders are then bad for business. I suppose we shall have to again do the police’s job for them. Well, most of their jobs. We shall solve the case and finger the killer and then leave all the nasty, grotesque business of catching the killer to them, even though with strong wings and a powerful feline body, such a task would be trivial.”
“Indeed, it would be, Madam Sphinx, but nonetheless, we shall have done our part merely by naming the killer. And as I knew you would insist upon our getting more brie, I have narrowed down the list of possible killers to three. I even placed them in an exhibit I have titled, Suspicion.”
“Well done,” said Madam Sphinx. “And our victim? Victims always leave clues.”
Nolan Gomez
>Part 2
“Here,” said Lord Huffler. He led Madam Sphinx through the admiring crowd to the dais where a great marble statue was marred by a copious amount of blood. The young painter, Vermano, lay there. He had since had the courtesy to stop bleeding, since without a heartbeat, he couldn’t really bleed anymore. He had also had the courtesy to paint one last painting, which the assembled nobles were bidding up in price now that the artist was dead. It was a minimalist rendition, one the dead artist had titled Minimalist Piano Sketch Done in Blood.
“Such an unfortunate fellow,” Madam Sphinx said. “My contracts pay after the showing, but not to his estate. Now we shall meet our suspects.”
“As you wish, Madam Sphinx,” said Lord Huffler, but not before he had ordered the final work placed in a frame for sale later that evening. Lord Huffler introduced Madam Sphinx to the brash Tatiana Dismitrifollafovanitrovski, there to show off her fine sculptures. There was also the soft-spoken Faviola Gamez-Moreno del Sol y Luna y Estrella, a most talented producer of pottery. Finally, Krograxthuroktar the Bloodied Demon Axe was there, a terrifying figure to most, with his delicate and quite dainty scrimshaws he had made to capture the gentle poet hidden in the screaming berserker’s soul.
“Send the boys for more brie, Lord Huffler,” Madam Sphinx said. “I am ready to unmask the killer.”
Who colored the painter red with blood?
Juan Evans
>Riddle #4
The Mad Alchemist
A great and mighty Alchemist called upon Madam Sphinx for her great wisdom and charming company. He said, “Oh, Madam Sphinx, I have a real quandary. I have an experiment that would make of base metal pure gold, and I wish to make for you a royal gift. I prepared two batches of reagents, so I have six vials, with two doses of each of three reagents. But I made a foolish mistake and did not label the vials, and the reagents are identical to every test. I need to give precisely one dose of each reagent to perform this alchemy; if I use more or less than one dose of any reagent, the experiment will fail. Can you help me, Madam Sphinx?”
“Oh, silly alchemist, it is too easy!” Madam Sphinx said. “Here is what you must do…”
How did Madam Sphinx ensure that the experiment worked?
Jace Nelson
>Riddle #5 Part 1
The Greedy Pirates
“Yarr, Madam Sphinx, thar be treasure on the island!” said Able Seaman Cesar. “An’ now we pirates face another puzzle of our traditions!”
“And I suppose this means you wish for me to solve it, then, Able Seaman?” Madam Sphinx asked. “For such a service I will ask much is done, both in grooming and feeding. There is a grave indignity in having to eat grapes for oneself and not being fed them,” Madam Sphinx said.
“Yarr, it be a real honor to feed ye,” said Cesar. “But now onto our quandary! For you see, we have found a thousand coins of purest platinum on this island, and now we must divide it between we five; Captain Abelard, First Mate Botswanu, myself, Stumpy, and the cabin boy, Dumpy. Now, Abelard outranks Botswanu, who outranks me, as I outrank Stumpy and Stumpy outranks Dumpy. Dost ye follow, Madam Sphinx?”
“Of course, I do,” Madam Sphinx said, “Though I can’t imagine rank is so important here.”
Kayden Robinson
>Part 2
“Yarr, rank be all to a pirate. That and our mighty sea logic, what makes a pirate a perfect logician when he be voting. An’ just so ye know, pirates be democratic too, yarr!” Cesar said. “Now, each pirate must vote how the booty be split,” Cesar went on, saying, “Now, each pirate, in votes, be perfect at logic. The highest-ranking pirate makes a plan, and arrr, we all votes on it. An’ if 51% of the pirates say aye, then the plan be what the pirates do. An’ if less than 51% of the pirates say aye, yarr, we toss the scalliwag off a cliff and the next ranking pirate makes a new plan. Now a pirate always votes as follows; a pirate always says aye to a plan if saying nae gets him killed. If a pirate can get more platinum later, a pirate votes nae on a plan. If a pirate cannae get more platinum later, he votes aye.”
“A marvelously simple system!” cried Madam Sphinx, pleased as could be.
“Yarr, Madam Sphinx! And I know I shall be blessed with the perfect logic of the sea when we vote tomorrow, but I want to know what will happen now.”
“Ah, goodness, such a simple matter, my friend. Who knew that the perfect logic of pirates only worked when they be voting!”
“Yarr, you said they be voting, heehee!” said Cesar.
“Yarr,” said Madam Sphinx.
What will happen when the pirates vote?
Christopher Gonzalez
Final Riddle #6
The Secret Code
“My gods,” said the old general, “we have captured the enemy’s secret code word. With this, we will be able to read all of their encrypted orders.”
“Well then, it is not a very good code at all. Unless, of course, it is a code that the enemy meant for you to find which decodes their messages into false orders, while another code decodes their messages into the right orders. Which, in general, is the sort of code I can make for you.” Madame Sphinx licked her paws eagerly then smoothed over her dark hair.
“Ah, lovely and callipygian Madame Sphinx,” the general said, “I would pay most gear for such a code. However, I do not think this statement will need your talents. My cryptographers are already breaking the enemy’s communication with their new code.”
Just then, putting the lie to the general’s confidence, an aide-de-camp entered the tent and said, “Sir! We have tried the enemy’s code word into all of the secret means that we know, but were unable to successfully parse out a message. I’m afraid that it’s hopeless.” The aide-de-camp looked up and then said, “No! I will not despair, for lovely Madame Sphinx will surely help us.”
“Show me the code word.”
VFFGVFVQJEKVEKJTGQWJQUGFUFVGFUNKGGYHGCCUEYGKYDUTQQNTQGVGPTXUTTYF
Madame Sphinx spent the moment examining the word and then said, “Flattery will get you everywhere, though will not help you see a square. Think on this well; not one letter is wasted, yet this message could also not be one letter longer. There are two keys; eight and three. A wiser cryptographer might have thought to substitute, but this one has done something else entirely. The codewords number three, and they are saber, twelve, and red.”
“Ha ha! Now, thanks to our faultless feminine feline's intellectual ferocity, our foul foemen shall fall!”
If there are three code words, saber, twelve, and red, can you decode the secret message?
Blake Foster
>Some Hints the GM dropped
As for the murder mysteries, I will drop too hints: 1) one of the three suspects is always indicated by the clue left behind by the victim and 2) Elysian Hold'em seems to use exactly the same terms as Texas Hold'Em.
>And greedy Pirates
Stumpy realizes if it comes down to Stumpy and Dumpy, he has to give Dumpy everything - or Dumpy votes to kill and gets everything. But Cesar knows this…as does Botswanu…as does Abelard.
> a hint on the mad alchemist
Between the six vials, there are two doses of each of three reagents.
" I prepared two batches of reagents, so I have six vials, with two doses of each of three reagents." I should clarify there are a total of two doses of each of the three reagants between the vials, which is not to say that the total amount of reagant in each vial is the same. IE: If vials 1 and 2 contain reagant A, you cannot guarantee that A and B each contain 1 dose. Vial 1 might have 85% of a dose, and vial B may have 115%.
Which is a huge hint.
Noah Robinson
Was it, the waiter?
Alexander Nelson
>An attempt at solving the greedy priates
Starting at the bottom, if you have 1 pirate, then he takes everything (100). Then, with 2 pirates, the lower ranking one will refuse any offer other than 100, and so the lower ranking pirate wins. With 3, the lower ranking pirate refuses any offer of less than 100, but the middle one accepts any offer of 1 or greater. And so on.
the treasure be divided as followed?
Alelbard 0 platinum, he already has all the incentive to vote yes…
Botswanu 1 platinum
Ceaser 499 platinum
Stumpy 500 platinum
Dumpy 0 platinum cause that little shit has no incentive to vote yes.
>But the GM clarified
It's incorrect. The pirates have perfect logic, so they can see what would happen later down the line.
Nicholas Hernandez
If we can figure out what type of Cypher it is, it should be pretty easy to run it though an online decoder.
Colton Powell
...
Eli Collins
>Sphinx a cute.
This thread deserves more sphinx posting
Grayson Flores
This has already been solved.
Eli Robinson
Pirate Games is only interesting with large numbers of pirates and small numbers of coins.
You're not fit to be a pirate.
Abelard gets 998.
Botswanu gets 0.
Cesar gets 1.
Stumpy gets 0.
Dumpy gets 1.
Jose Sanders
Sing us a song you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feeling alright
A scrimshaw is an ivory carving, Krograxthuroktar is the killer.
Mason Wood
>51%
You set the puzzle up wrong. You need 50%.
If there's only to pirates left the fierce one would win in a fight.
>If a pirate cannae get more platinum later, he votes aye
They're also supposed to kill as many as they can without losing money, since they like killing.
As you've written it:
>1 Pirate
P1: 1000 (yes)
>2 Pirates
P2: 0 (yes)
P1: 1000 (yes)
>3 Pirates
P3: 999 (yes)
P2: 1 (yes)
P1: 0 (no)
>4 Pirates
P4: 0 (yes)
P3: 999 (yes)
P2: 1 (yes)
P1: 0 (no)
>5 Pirates
P5: 0(yes)
P4: 0 (yes)
P3: 999 (yes)
P2: 1 (yes)
P1: 0 (no)
Which is boring as shit.
William Wright
what the fuck.
Landon Cook
>“Indeed, it seems that Francois was bluffing heavily, hoping on a gut-shot straight draw to win a hand when two aces had already come down on the flop.”
>“No, Madam Sphinx, I mean how he with his dying breath pointed to the final card of the hand, the four of swords!”
So the cards on the table are , Ace, Ace, and Four. He's hoping for a gutshot straight, meaning he's holding something like a three and a five, which might imply that one of the invisible cards is a 2. I suspect the clue is not in the hand but in the card itself. He's playing against three formidable opponents but is stabbed in the back? Even a Serkonan would have trouble with that. Out of three possible opponents, he chooses to indicate it's the fourth.
The sphinx must eat the waiter.
Grayson Ross
I've only just realized these are actually cities and places canon to Pathfinder, so it's possible I'm missing some significant elements. That being said, we have three people all desperate to get Christine out of the way. Two would obviously love to fill the role, one just wants her to himself. This is a woman who's causing no shortage of trouble around the theater, if you ask me. Far too many notes for my taste, and most of them about Christine. All we've heard since you came is Ms. Stanner's name...
The theater manager killed her to collect the insurance on the costume. It's Springtime for Hitler, man.
Luke Jenkins
>If a pirate can get more platinum later, a pirate votes nae on a plan.
That's screwy too! It should be
>If a pirate will get more platinum later, a pirate votes nae on a plan.
Kayden White
So like I said, I didn't realize these were canon pathfinder places, otherwise I would have known right away the significance of Daggermark being "the largest city in the River Kingdoms," according to the Pathfinder wiki.
Sorry, waiter, I got carried away. And now, so will the killer.
Levi Phillips
>IE: If vials 1 and 2 contain reagant A, you cannot guarantee that A and B each contain 1 dose. Vial 1 might have 85% of a dose, and vial B may have 115%.
>Which is a huge hint.
"Huge hint" in the same way that "The dead body is not a human" is a huge hint in a Conundrum, I would say. In other words, the sort of thing that, if not stated in the riddle, renders it invalid as a riddle.
Lincoln Long
Pour half of each container.
The hint is a dead giveaway, but the solution works without it.
Carter Walker
Further perusal of the pathfinder wiki reveals certain facts about the phenotype of the Ulfen people that I did not know going into it. Maybe "Erik and Christine" were a little too on the nose, I don't know.
Alexander Walker
Pirates
>P5: 0 (yes)
>P4: 0 (yes)
>P3: 999 (yes)
>P2: 1 (yes)
>P1: 0 (no)
P5: 998 (yes)
P4: 1 (yes)
P3: 0 (no)
P2: 1 (yes)
P1: 0 (no)
Adrian Turner
Good catch with the City name, i'll double check the lore
Yes, they're sharing a drink they call loneliness
But it's better than drinkin' alone.
Billy Joel was just disguised as Krograxthuroktar
Colton Adams
Ulfens are white with blonde hair, which is the costume she was going for. Of course, as I said before, having it literally be Erik and Christina was so straightforward I honestly thought it was a red herring. Googling the names of the cities in the first one solved it right quick, the quoted portion is the first thing that comes up.
Dylan Martin
Abelard: 997
Botswanu: 0
Cesar: 1
Stumpy: 0
Dumpy: 2
The 51% rule means Botswanu has to incentivize both Stumpy and Dumpy, so Abelard has to pay more.
Joshua Brown
The waiter who seem so inclined in the game
Insurance murders
The artist killed himself
Half for each container
499, 249, 124, 74, and the rest because I am not going to do math.
Samuel Kelly
...
Angel Murphy
Dumpy: 1000
>Dump takes everything
Stumpy: 0
Dumpy: 1000
>Dumpy still takes anything
Cesar: 999
Stumpy: 1
Dumpy: 0
>Stumpy is happy to get anything
Botswanu: 0
Cesar: 999
Stumpy: 1
Dumpy: 0
>Cesar can get 999 by voting no
Abelard: 998
Botswanu: 1
Cesar: 0
Stumpy: 1
Dumpy: 0
>Botswana is happy to get anything