Dungeon letter Puzzle, Reckless Steps – Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.

Slab

A talespire remake of the “reckless steps” puzzle from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.

1.1, lowered a couple of letters.

This puzzle features a word search on floor tiles, which might present a barrier to exploration in myriad scenarios. To cross safely, characters must first uncover what words they’re searching for and then find them in the tiles.

The tiles covering the floor of this room each bear a single letter written in the Common alphabet, making the room a giant word search. Traps beneath many of the tiles threaten those who move through the room heedless of the hidden words.

Puzzle Features

The floor of this 60-foot-by-70-foot room is made of 5-foot-square stone tiles laid out in a grid. Each tile has a letter chiseled into it, as shown in puzzle handout 1 at the end of this chapter. Place a copy of the handout for this puzzle on the table, and allow players to use miniatures to show how their characters navigate the room.

To safely walk across the room, a character must step on the correct tiles. Stepping on an incorrect tile sets off a trap.

Traps

Certain tiles (as indicated in this trap’s “Solution” section) are trapped. A trapped tile is triggered when more than 20 pounds of weight are placed on it, activating the pressure plate underneath and causing jets of poisonous gas to spout from the cracks between the tiles. Any creature above the trapped floor tile or one of its adjacent tiles must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 11 (2d10) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

As an action, a character can disable a trap with a successful DC 15 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools. If a character fails to disable the trap, the tile’s trap can no longer be disabled.

Characters can attempt to jump over trapped tiles, using the jump rules in the Player’s Handbook.

Solution

The only safe tiles for characters to step on are the ones with the faded black letters in diagram 4.1. Red letters spell out either “magic” or one of the schools of magic: abjuration, conjuration, divination, enchantment, evocation, illusion, necromancy, and transmutation. Stepping on one of these tiles triggers a poison trap, as described earlier.

Hint Checks

Any character has the option of making these ability checks to receive a hint:

Intelligence (Arcana) DC 10. The character sees one instance of a school of magic on the floor.

Intelligence (Investigation) DC 10. The character interprets the clue in the wall verse: there are eight schools of magic.

Wisdom (Perception) DC 10. Each character who succeeds on this check sees an instance of the word “magic” in the floor.

Trap Variants

Rather than have the same poison gas trap on every trapped tile, each word can have a distinct trap associated with it, as described below:

Magic. The trap triggers normally, as described in this puzzle’s “Traps” section.

Abjuration. The trap casts dispel magic on each creature in the room, using a 9th-level spell slot.

Conjuration. The trap teleports the creature that triggered it back to the entrance of the room. That creature must also make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 11 (2d10) force damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Divination. The creature that triggered the trap must succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw or be unable to perceive any of the letters on the tiles by sight or touch. Any magic that ends a curse ends this effect on the character. A player whose character is affected by this trap should not be allowed to reference the accompanying player handout until the effect on that character ends.

Enchantment. The trap casts suggestion (save DC 15) on the creature that triggered it. On a failed save, a gentle voice only the creature can hear tells it to move 5 feet in a random direction. This movement might cause it to trigger another trap.

Evocation. Magical fire erupts from the trapped tile. The creature that triggered this trap must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 11 (2d10) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Illusion. A suit of animated armor appears in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the creature that set off this trap. The armor attacks only the creature that summoned it and can’t leave the room. It doesn’t set off any of the room’s traps and disappears if it takes any damage. Otherwise, it lasts for 1 minute.

Necromancy. Any creature that triggers this trap hears a banshee’s wail in its mind. Unless the creature is a construct or undead, it must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the creature drops to 0 hit points. On a success, it takes 10 (3d6) psychic damage.

Transmutation. The trap casts polymorph (save DC 15) on the creature that triggered it. On a failed save, the creature turns into a giant frog.