You enter a low, circular chamber where blue foxfire trembles in wall sconces and the air smells of wet leaves and cold iron. Four empty stone recesses line the eastern wall beneath a silver plaque, while four brass animal tiles rest in a bowl of dry acorns. Their reflections in the black floor appear to blink out of sequence. Each recess bears a faintly glowing pawprint, and somewhere behind the wall a clockwork heart ticks whenever a tile is touched.
You step into a round chamber washed in blue firelight. Four empty stone recesses face you beneath a silver inscription, and four brass animal tiles wait in a bowl of acorns. In the black floor, their reflections turn their heads toward you. A steady ticking begins inside the wall.
The entrance-side pawprint faces the recesses, marking the left-to-right viewpoint. The inscription is readable without a check. The tiles fit every recess, and touching one makes the blue thread in the bowl briefly brighten or dim.
Give the group a few minutes to discuss the clues before offering tier 1. If they fixate on the reflections, note that the carved entrance pawprint is not mirrored. Escalate pressure only if useful: after several failed tries, let the ticking grow louder, but do not impose a deadline that blocks progress.
You enter a low, circular chamber where blue foxfire trembles in wall sconces and the air smells of wet leaves and cold iron. Four empty stone recesses line the eastern wall beneath a silver plaque, while four brass animal tiles rest in a bowl of dry acorns. Their reflections in the black floor appear to blink out of sequence. Each recess bears a faintly glowing pawprint, and somewhere behind the wall a clockwork heart ticks whenever a tile is touched.
The chamber is accessible through a root-choked archway in the dungeon. The four animal tiles and the inscribed plaque are visible from the threshold; the pawprint at the entrance is easy to overlook but establishes the intended viewing direction.
Read from the pawprint at the threshold:
The fox keeps the farthest seat. The hare walks directly before the raven. The moth takes a seat somewhere before the hare.
Set the four faces in their proper places, then press the paw to speak your answer.
The party must place all four animal tiles into the recesses, reading positions from left to right while standing at the entrance-side pawprint, then press the paw-shaped stud to submit the arrangement. The plaque supplies all the logic: the fox is at the far right, the hare is immediately before the raven, and the moth is somewhere before the hare. On each placement, the thread in the bowl brightens for a tile in its correct position and dims for one that is not; on a wrong submission, the tiles spring out and the chamber delivers the mild failure effect. A successful order turns the thread gold and opens the hidden door.
The puzzle activates when a creature removes any animal tile from the bowl or touches the paw-shaped stud. The clockwork ticking begins, but the chamber does not lock the party in.
| DC | Check | What it gives |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Intelligence (Investigation) | Notice the fixed viewpoint marker and determine that the four recesses are read left to right from the entrance. |
| 12 | Intelligence (Arcana) | Recognize that the whispering voices and mirror-image animal faces are harmless fey misdirection, not additional clues. |
| 13 | Wisdom (Perception) | Hear the mechanism's distinct clicks and identify which tile is currently seated incorrectly after a failed attempt. |
No hint given yet.
The tiles click into place, the thread in the bowl turns gold, and a seam opens in the wall with a rush of warm, leaf-scented air. A brass chime rings once, then the fey whispers fall silent.
The tiles spring out with a musical snap, and a harmless gust scatters the acorns. Each character must succeed on a DC 11 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone as the floor briefly tilts. The mechanism resets immediately; after three failed attempts, it also gives a clear clue by making the incorrectly placed tile glow red.
The fey architect Yseld-of-the-Underhill built this lock to guard a treaty vault where mortal envoys once met the courts of fox, moth, hare, and raven. Its order is a reminder that even a playful bargain has a proper sequence: the moth leads the hare, the hare leads the raven, and the fox receives the final word. Yseld later vanished, but the lock still tests visitors with her fondness for misleading reflections.
For an easier version, remove the phrase 'somewhere before the hare' and change it to 'immediately before the hare,' making the pattern more apparent. For a harder version, add two extra decoy tiles, such as a stag and a wren, and add a clue stating that neither belongs in the four recesses; do not make the decoys count as failed attempts.
Keep the entrance viewpoint consistent and never secretly reverse the order. The fey reflections are atmosphere, not a hidden rule. Let players handle the tiles and take notes; the challenge is deduction, not guessing what the GM intends. Checks can clarify presentation, but the inscription contains every necessary clue.
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