Mysterious Puzzle Tablet

Item

Image
Description	A tablet made out of dense, black metal and covered with indecipherable writing wouldn't feel safe under the best circumstances. Knowing it was stolen from some secret Midgard facility definitely doesn't help. But the worst part is looking at the writing and feeling like you saw it before… not on a strange relic, but in a sterile lab.
Type	Gadget (No Trade) (Usable)
Effects	+2 Etheric Power Moderately Increased Chance of Will XP

Sources

Manipulating a mysterious puzzle box, mysterious puzzle rod, or mysterious puzzle pyramid

Uses

This item is not a component for any kind of crafting

This item cannot be salvaged.

This item cannot be added to a gang stash.

Notes

Secrets of the Cube grants an additional +3 etheric power when this item is equipped, for a total of +5.

See Short & Sweet Mysterious Puzzle Guide for an abbreviated guide on how to use the puzzle box in all its forms, or see mysterious puzzle for (potentially out of date) detailed analysis and ongoing spading.

Using the puzzle tablet give the following options:

1. Twist the left side - Random choice from below
2. Separate the layers - Random choice from below
3. Start from a corner - Random choice from below
4. Find a crease - Random choice from below
5. Fold the corners in - Random choice from below
6. Look for a latch - Random choice from below
7. Read the tablet - Gain Runic Puzzle (10 energy) if charged from pyramid form
8. Leave it be - Nothing

Or, if under puzzle sight, the following options are available:

1. Fold it into a pyramid - Turns into Mysterious Puzzle Pyramid
2. Return it to a cube - Turns into Mysterious Puzzle Box
3. Roll it into a rod - Turns into Mysterious Puzzle Rod
4. Separate the segments - Unlocks five more uses of Black Metal Strength in rod form
5. Switch the doors - Switches between Powder Pouring and Red flakes availability
6. Read the tablet - Runic Puzzle (10 energy) if charged from pyramid form
7. Leave it alone - Nothing

Text

Do Nothing (?)

As hard as you try, you can't find anyway to turn it into anything but a tablet.

Fold it into a pyramid

After several tries, you find a large red gem mounted in a small pyramid. From there, you fold in the rest of the pyramid underneath it.

You found: Mysterious Puzzle Pyramid

Return it to a cube

After fiddling with it for a while, you discover the tablet folds down into quarters. You then slide them back into place, returning the box to its original shape.

You found: Mysterious Puzzle Box

Roll it into a rod

After several false starts, you realize the tablet has segmented enough to roll it into a prism.

You found: Mysterious Puzzle Rod

Separate the segments

(First use)

There's a strange click and several segments of the tablet seperate. They don't seem to free up any more movements, though. Perhaps its somewhere else in the puzzle.

(Adds five uses of rod buff)

(Subsequent use)

You unwind some more gears, allowing the segments to separate further.

(Adds five uses of rod buff)

(If separated 5? times)

Try as you might, you can't separate any more segments. You think it's at its limit, whatever that is.

Switch the doors

(If in Red Flakes mode)

You hear a tinny note as metal slides against metal. Sounds like a small plate moved a short distance within the box.

(If in Powder Pouring mode)

You hear a tinny note as metal slides against metal. Sounds like that plate slid back to its original position.

Read the tablet

(If not under Puzzle Sight effect)

You look over the runes. They don't mean much to you, but… there's something deep in your mind that they call to. You feel connected to an inner strength you weren't aware you had, like a memory of being a god among men.

You gain: Runic Puzzle (10 energy)

(If under Puzzle Sight effect)†

You look down at the tablet. You're suddenly aware that the writing is… malleable. Some mechanism in the box can rearrange it into eighteen, presumably coherent, strings of text.

You still can't read it, but spend a while in awe of the amount of care and planning that must have taken.

You gain: Runic Puzzle (10 energy)

(If under Blood of the Ancients effect)

You glance over the tablet. The entire thing is barely a sentence.

It reads <one of the following>"

(Note that the messages are not given to you in any particular order in game, but this is the best guess at the complete story:)

• In the beginning, men were mortal.
• But one, who called himself Wotan, sought to change this.
• He sought to free humanity from the bounds of life and death.
• It would not be an easy quest, so he began gathering an army to him.
• But he trusted his greatest secrets to his son Loki.
• Wotan was a fool for trusting Loki.
• At the first sign of trouble, Loki betrayed his father.
• At first, Loki's sorcery could only raise twisted things.
• Wolves, serpents, and dark spirits called him father.
• He raised an army of twisted things and foolish men to assault his father.
• War is not a pretty business and Loki was ill-suited for it.
• Wolves, serpents, and dark spirits were ground to dust. Foolish men died in battle.
• But Loki lived and escaped. None could find the traitor.
• Thus began the Hunt. None would survive.
• The Hunt searched through all corners of Midgard.
• But they could not find him, even in the darkest corners.
• Even now he waits in the shadows, like a wolf circling his prey.
• So when you hear 'the wolf has slipped his bonds' it is time to join the Hunt.

A strange glow of understanding rises through your body.

You've gained 10 energy of Runic Puzzle.

(If under Blood of the Ancients and Puzzle Sight effects)

You can see eighteen ways the text could fit together and somehow they all make sense. A strange feeling of understanding wells up within you.

This entire box is newer than it looks. It's not an ancient relic, it's a testing tool constructed by Midgard Industries.

Now, who it's supposed to test and for what, you don't know. But apparently you passed.

Gain skill: Secrets of the Cube

Lose all energy of Blood of the Ancients and Puzzle Sight

(If the runes haven't been rearranged recently?)

Maybe you're bored or maybe you actually can read them, but the runes seem played out somehow. If it were a book, you'd just turn the page, but no such luck.

History

† This message used to read:

You look down at the tablet. You're suddenly aware that the writing is… almost infinite. Some mechanism in the box can rearrange it into thousands of strings of text.

You still can't read it, but spend a while gaping in awe.

You gain: Runic Puzzle (10 energy)