The Ward of Sky, Hand, and Flame

A circular vault of wet black stone breathes cold air through hairline cracks, and the floor around the center dais is scored with old boot tracks, burn marks, and a dusting of salt that has not fully washed away. Four bronze rings are set into the dais like a lock waiting for the right thought, while three shallow alcoves stare outward from it like empty mouths. Faint blue light leaks from runes beneath the stone whenever someone speaks, and the chamber answers with a soft clatter of hidden tumblers if the wrong thing is touched.

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Puzzle EntryWard mechanismLevel1Moderate

The Ward of Sky, Hand, and Flame

1LevelModerateDifficultyWard mechanismType

LevelLevel 1

DifficultyModerate

TypeWard mechanism

Components5 parts

Time LimitThe ward tolerates three wrong activations before releasing a backlash and resetting.

Primary DCDC 14

Overview

Discovery

The puzzle is solved by matching the inscription's three sacred images to the relics and setting the rings to their corresponding symbols before sounding the bell. The correct sequence is sky, hand, flame: place the bowl of salt in the northern alcove, the river stone in the eastern alcove, and the lamp in the southern alcove, rotate the rings to sun, rain, root, and flame so that sun faces north, rain east, root west, and flame south, then ring the bell once. The ward opens with a hiss of released air and a turning sound from within the wall.

Puzzle Handout

what the players see

Ward Inscription

When sky remembers, the door forgets.

When hand is named, the stone grows still.

When flame is crowned, the dead stay sleeping.

First honor the sky, then the hand, then the flame.

Set what is salt to the north.

Set what is touched to the east.

Set what is lit to the south.

Then wake the bell once, and only once.

Glyph Guide

Sun: a circle with short rays
Rain: three slanted lines over a bar
Root: a branching line sinking downward
Flame: a teardrop with a split tip

Glyph Chart

Glyph	Meaning	Category
☼	Sun	Celestial
☔	Rain	Weather
⟂	Root	Earth
♨	Flame	Element

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Ward Inscription

When sky remembers, the door forgets.

When hand is named, the stone grows still.

When flame is crowned, the dead stay sleeping.

First honor the sky, then the hand, then the flame.

Set what is salt to the north.

Set what is touched to the east.

Set what is lit to the south.

Then wake the bell once, and only once.

Glyph

Meaning