Clockwork Puzzle Amulets
Phaendar had the foresight to recognize the need for a successor as the head of his laboratory. He was protective of this title though, unwilling to hand it to just anyone; even the most promising students under his purview. He was committed to Destral's vision of being lead only by the best and brightest, and the likely case was that this person was yet unknown.
Phaendar devised a test that would bring only the most inquisitive, most brilliant, and perhaps even the most fateful protégés to him. He crafted three unique clockwork puzzles, in the form-factor of amulets or pocket watches, and distributed them across Legere. Each of these puzzles had different solutions, but they all had similar features.
- They were resistant to magic that could decipher their solution, except for some of the most potent Abjurmancy. Spellcasters were not ideal candidates.
- They were solved by carefully manipulating fine internal components such as gears, switches, and springs, in the correct order.
- Certain stages of the solution would rearrange themselves upon incorrect inputs, thus changing the correct solution.
- Each amulet followed the same general progression of difficulty, which also changed the form-factor and usefulness of the amulet:
- The default state of the puzzle was a timepiece with an intricate assortment of gears and springs.
- Upon basic tinkering, a device will play Phaendar's voice, congratulating the tinkerer for finding this device, and encouraging them to solve the deeper puzzle built into it.
- Upon the completion of a few basic puzzles, the amulet would eject a Destrian coin. Re-inputting the solution for this step at any point would actually eject another coin, up to 30 times total. This little reward was intended to distract lesser tinkerers, who would be unable to see past the treasure to the deeper rewards below.
- A series of more complex puzzles followed. Upon completion, a hard-light projection of the mysterious Phaendar would appear, congratulating the tinkerer on a well-earned success! He would instruct the tinkerer to come speak to him in Destral; a meeting he was greatly looking forward to. Then, the amulet would project a blue hard-light stylized letter P, pointing in the direction of Destral. In fact, it pointed directly to Phaendar's tower near the center of the city.
- A final, brutally difficult series of puzzles became available, which could be overlooked by the congratulations message. These puzzles gradually expand the amulet into a mess of mechanisms and concentric rings, triple the original size. The last puzzle of this series caused a series of concentric rings to spin to life, before blasting a flash of light! When the light cleared the tinkerer would find himself / herself in a lounge within Phaendar's Planar Tower!
Finders of the Amulets #
The three amulets Phaendar released into Legere passed hands several times before reaching promising candidates. They were passed between trinket traders, pawn shop customers, and curious friends, and were not investigated by most owners. Some tinkerers did complete a few levels of puzzles, before passing it over to someone they hoped could solve it.
The first amulet to be solved eventually made its way through the Kaktis Desert to Siman, where it passed hands between the city's inquisitive magi. It was solved by Belial Ben Hasid, who followed Phaendar's call to Destral and became his first apprentice.
The second amulet eventually collected dust in a pawn shop in Corgath, before being picked up by Theodore Perry. Theo was able to solve it, and brought himself to Phaendar's doorstep nearly a decade after Belial, in 275. The fate of the third and final amulet is yet unknown, and no one brought it to Phaendar before he died. Should someone solve it after his passing, they would be directed to the Laboratory of Spacial Research, and his successor.