Don’t have time to complete the mini-game or just not that in to puzzles? No worries!
Here is a link to the pick your magic item game at the end: http://www.isomashe.com/artifact so that you can still participate
A game like this (3 puzzles) usually takes 10-25 minutes to complete, depending on the person/group. I understand not everyone has time for that or puzzles aren’t their cup of tea. 😊
THE GAME
In the once-prosperous land of Valornis, a fearsome dragon named Thalor has brought ruin and despair. Thalor's fiery wrath left a trail of destruction, including the grand castle of Lord Zulik, who lost a precious artifact to the dragon's hoard. Desperate to reclaim his family's heirloom and restore hope to his people, Lord Zulik’s son, Davin, seeks the aid of a master burglar—someone cunning enough to infiltrate Thalor's lair and retrieve the stolen treasure.
You are that master burglar, renowned for your unmatched skills and daring exploits. Hired by Lord Davin, you embark on a dangerous quest to penetrate the dragon’s stronghold, a treacherous labyrinth hidden within Dragon’s Peak. Your mission: to retrieve the priceless artifact and return it to its rightful owner. There is one more catch… Lord Davin cannot speak the name of the artifact, as it is physically impossible to do if you are not holding the artifact in your hand. However, he assures you that it will call out to you once you are in the vicinity. Retrieve the artifact and make your way back to Davin.
Once you have the correct artifact, respond to the original IFA post with the artifact’s name.
Giveaway: I will give away one signed copy of Tears of an Indifferent God to a random participant who posts the name of the artifact they found in the comments on the IFA Facebook post.
If you would like narration, you can click the narration files on each page.
The journey to Dragon’s Peak has been long and perilous, but nothing compares to the sight that now stands before you. The entrance to the secret labyrinth lies hidden behind an ancient stone, known as the Similarity Stone. The air around you is thick with tension and the scent of earth and moss. Shadows from the surrounding trees dance in the flickering light of your torch, casting eerie shapes on the large stone’s weathered pink surface.
You take a moment to steady your breath, listening to the distant call of night birds and the rustle of unseen creatures in the underbrush. The Similarity Stone is imposing, carved with cryptic symbols that have withstood the test of time. Its surface is cool to the touch, and the intricate words etched into the rock around the stone seem to shift and shimmer in the torchlight, as if whispering secrets long forgotten.
You kneel before the stone, brushing away loose dirt and leaves, and your fingers trace the ancient inscription. The language is old, older than the kingdoms of men, and its meaning is obscured by centuries of lore and legend for the uninitiated. Yet, you know that hidden within these runes is a clue—a five-letter word that will unlock the path to the labyrinth.
Your mind races through possibilities, sifting through your extensive knowledge of arcane languages and forgotten dialects. You take a deep breath, the cool night air filling your lungs, and focus on the stone. The patterns seem to pulse with an unseen energy, urging you toward the answer. Slowly, you utter the word.
BELOW IS THE IMAGE OF THE SIMILARITY STONE, YOU CAN ALSO DOWNLOAD IT HERE.
WHEN YOU HAVE THE FIVE-LETTER WORD, CLICK HERE.
[The password will be five letters and contain no spaces or capital letters.]
HINTS LOCATED BELOW THE PICTURE
+ Hints for the Similarity Stone
For this puzzle you are trying to figure out the five-letter word to open the lock. The big clues here are in the top two lines. Are any of the words a little larger than the rest of the words in their lines?
+ Hint Two
Similarity, letter, and Placement are all larger than the rest of the words. These are going to be hints to how to solve the puzzle. How can we interpret these?
+ Hint Three
It looks like we are looking for letter placements that are similar. If we look at the pentagon stone, we can see that there are five pairs of words. We also need five letters, perhaps each pair will give us a letter?
+ Hint Four
If we look at the letters in a pair, we can see that there are similar letters. For example, in the pair WORLD and WILDS we can see that they both have W, L, and D. But if we only need one letter per pair, how do we choose which one to use?
+ Hint Five
This is where the similarity and placement might come in. Did you see how the two words were stacked on top of each other? Is there a letter that is in a similar position on both words?
+ Hint Six
W appears at the beginning of each word, perhaps W is our letter! Go ahead and try to figure out the other four letters!
+ Hint Seven
Once you have all five letters, you might be able to descramble them into a word, however, there is a key to which letter to start with – do you see that sparkle on the gem?
+ Hint Eight
If you start with the S from Sinister/blessing, and go clockwise, you will have your full word!
+ Solution for The First Puzzle
The password is “sword” – remember, no password will have spaces or capital letters.