Solutions to Puzzles & Treasure Hunts (Spoilers!)

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Puzzles/Quests/Locations that Were Never Completed, Never Solved, or Never Found

Spoiler: Mysterious Notes Written in Code

Zone: Multiple Zones
Item of interest: Mysterious Notes Written in Code

In multiple zones, there are notes that are written in code. Several resourceful players were able to crack the code and decipher the notes. Ten of these notes were discovered and deciphered.
The deciphered notes revealed vague statements such as "We have been discovered. Lie low for as long as you can." So far, the information within the notes does not seem to lead to a puzzle, quest, or secret area.

These notes and the deciphering process were initially discussed in the thread "Is this a secret hidden in the heart of Central Brittany?"
Developers apparently have told several players that this puzzle/quest was never finished.

Spoiler: Example of a Coded Note

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Spoiler: Where you can find the Note Shown Above

In Brittany Alleys at the location marked by the red arrow on the map below.

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You will see "a loose stone" in the brick wall which is slightly darker than the rest of the bricks (see red arrow below). Click on the loose stone to open a secret container with the mysterious note inside. This is just one location where you can find a coded note. More coded notes are scattered throughout other zones.

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Spoiler: More Info About the Coded Notes

Most of the notes are signed "Senet". Is Senet a person? An organization? A thing?

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If you would like to see more about the mysterious notes that have been found so far, the cypher used to decode the notes, and the deciphered content, then see Daxxe Diggler's post below.

Addendum:
In May 2020, a new zone (called Bunker C) was added to Novia (Bunker C is accessed through Northwest Blackblade Mountains). Bunker C contains 4 more coded notes. It is unclear if these 4 latest notes conclude the unfinished story-line or if they continue it (maybe there is more to come?).

Spoiler: Translation of Bunker C coded notes

There are 4 different notes that can be found in Bunker C, which are shown below with their translation.

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In the letter above, Port Crucible is a reference to a city in the book Blade of the Avatar (the prequel to Shroud of the Avatar). Thanks @Alley Oop for this reference and the links!
It is unclear who "T" and "E" are. Perhaps "T" is an error in the original coded letter, and it should be "I pray..."?

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Spoiler: An Undiscovered Zone Related to The Oracle?

There has been speculation that there is an undiscovered area related to the Oracle Temple, which @Lord British has apparently alluded to.
The Oracle Temple is inside Central Brittany, near the main castle.
Many of us have searched inside and outside the Oracle Temple and have found nothing.
Does this undiscovered area exist and can it be accessed by players?

Spoiler: Non-functioning Door in Approach to the Shuttered Eye

Zone: Approach to the Shuttered Eye
Item of interest: Door that cannot be opened.

On the back of the tower, there is a door with a keyhole (the green arrow below points to the keyhole). The door apparently cannot be opened. As far as I know, there is no key for this door either.
Before Portalarium fixed a bug, I was able to see behind the door and there was nothing behind the door except empty space.
Also, if you go inside the tower, there are no rooms, passages, or doors that correspond to the exterior door that is shown below [Addendum: However, if you click on a painting on the first floor of the tower (at location -8.104, -0.047, -23.12), you will be teleported just outside the "non-functional door". So, there appears to be no way to enter through the door from the outside, but you can achieve what is effectively "exiting the tower through this door " if you click on the painting. Thanks to @Spoon for pointing out the click-able painting.]

This door may have been part of an Unity asset that already, but the outer door was not used in SOTA. Or Perhaps Portalarium placed the door there, anticipating that it would eventually be used for something.

Location of the door: 373.6, 5.7, 219.8 (back side of the Tower, which is the Southwest side of the building).

Spoiler: Non-functioning Stone Door In West Ravenswood

In West Ravenswood at location -243.472, 40.947, -211.676 (see red arrow on map below), there is a stone door that cannot be opened.

Spoiler: Picture of the Non-functional Stone Door

Spoiler: Map Showing the Door's Location

Note: in Savrenoc Stronghold, which is a partial clone of West Ravenswood, there was a similar non-functional stone door at the same coordinates, but in 2019, the door was replaced with an entrance to the Tartarus dungeon.

Spoiler: The doorway in Savrenoc Stronghold - Now Functional

Spoiler: Non-functioning Door in Brittany Fields

Zone: Brittany Fields
Item of interest: Door that cannot be opened.

In Brittany Fields at location 90.829, 44.675, 409.705 (see red arrow on map below), there is a wooden door that apparently cannot be opened. Access to the door is blocked by the statue and its surrounding stone base.

Spoiler: Picture of the Non-functional Wooden Door

Spoiler: Map Showing the Door's Location

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Spoiler: Non-functional overworld town

On the Hidden Vale, there is a town on the overworld map (see green arrow on map below at location 294.064, -2.578, 227.572), but you cannot enter it (it is non-functional). It is unknown what this town was to be used for.

 

I made another video guide to the Blessing of Agility in South Midmaer. There's nothing wrong with the guides already posted, but this one details an efficient route. Doing the tasks in a particular order saves a ton of running around time. With good but not ridiculous run speed it takes roughly 6 minutes.



Text version:

1. Run straight from default entrance and buy emerald-set axe from Fleck in bazaar.
2. Run back towards zone in and then East to the infested tomb.
3. Place emerald-set axe in infested tomb.
4. Get sapphire-set sword from cave in infested tomb.
5. Run North from infested tomb, past lake, through valley, to plunderer airship.
6. Go up the rope and get ruby-set spear in airship.
7. Place ruby-set spear inside plundered tomb just outside of airship.
8. Run back towards the bazaar and then up the mountain behind the child king's tomb.
9. Place ruby-set spear in forbidden tomb in cave at the mountain top.
10. Go back down the mountain and into the child king tomb to devotional.

 

I was part of the team that was working on trying to crack the code and we were able to decode all of the messages we found so far. We found a total of 10 different "Mysterious Notes" that all gave vague hints of a secret organization and what seemed to be instructions to those who knew where to find the hidden notes.

Although we gave up pursuing these due to the belief that the quest was unfinished (since the Dev staff was depleted and no new notes being added/found for many months) I will share what we discovered so far... in case anyone wants help figuring out what we did and/or to continue the search.

Spoiler: Solving the "Mysterious Notes"

The following link is a google doc sheet that contained all of our notes and solutions so far to date. It was like 28 pages, so instead of trying to copy/paste it all I figured it would be easier to just share a View Only version of the document.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FG6mip5vxuvikPrKKy045hfIkBp0DF19uSlUD1gisA4/edit?usp=sharing

This is another google doc spreadsheet that is essentially a complete cypher key for the entire alphabet of "Key" letters:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1b0BLN2PwFiewhdfBnWaAbt1Ec5-Wi9qcvw-4a5GIOZ4/edit?usp=sharing

Enjoy and let me know if you find any new notes and/or further info on completing this seemingly incomplete quest.

 

There are two easy to remember 'systems' to follow if one wants to solve mastermind.
The first one is for folks who don't do much coding and puzzles etc but rather want a KISS solution.
The second is faster on average, but only if you are used to puzzles etc this since it relies on knowing which shortcuts to use.


Method 1)
Start with all four slots with the same runes.
Then if you get no pegs (white/black dots) switch to next rune etc.
While if you get pegs then keep that many of that rune, and switch the rest to the next rune. (If white pegs, then rearrange the order to get data, if only black pegs keep the order).
Rinse repeat until you have 4 pegs - now test rearranging until you get the proper order, usually people like the test next to the right.

Method 2)
This is a three stepper A) find pegs B) find runes C) rearrange. The game is to eliminate which runes it cannot be.
A) find pegs
Start with two slots of first rune and two slots of second rune (1122).
If 4 pegs then shortcut directly to C, otherwise test (3344).
If 4 pegs in first and second tests shortcut to B step, otherwise test (5566).
B) find runes
if you have 2 pegs in only one test, but 0 pegs in two tests then you have 4 of a kind and need only to rule out one of the runes test 4 of one of the remaining runes to see which one
if you have 2 pegs in one test, 1 peg in another and 0 pegs in the third, you know you have 3 of a kind +1, so need to rule out which two types of runes by testing the shortcut of remaining runes in opposite pairs with 3+1, where if you get 2 pegs you then know it is the minority that is the 3 of a kind, while if you get 0 they are ruled out or if 4 then shortcut to C
if you have pegs in two tests but not the third then you have ruled out two runes and need to use opposing pairs to rule out the others, if you are unlucky it is 1 one of each of the four rune types and then you skip to C
if you have pegs in three tests you are in trouble - here if you don't mind cheating, then simply close and start again - otherwise start with a complete guess, where you start with a rune from the test with 2 pegs and 2 from one with 1 peg. Then depending on result either opposing or one of each of the remaining.
C) rearrange
knowing the runes and working on the slot locations of them is all about not thinking about what can be but rather about thinking what each slot cannot be
so here you look at the white vs black pegs to see what cannot be in each slot and if there is more than one you make a guess of those.
of key importance is that this method has on purpose divided it into the 2 left slots vs the 2 right slots, so if you know the runes and the pegs you can usually eliminate which side depending on the white vs black pegs
D) prosper



Using the example from your picture then the runes if translated to latin are ABCDEF. So 4 slots and 6 variants. Most mastermind strategies have 8 colors or fixed pegs so the advice you can find online is usually not applicable.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z-svq1OvcZwViqGxFCKdjH3NCn2LTfLuGny5qaAqjTM/pub#h.91m1xxrlgu4f
We don't know it yet, but the answer in your pic is [BFAD] in that order. So lets try the two methods and see how it goes.
Below the result is after the dash - where W is for white peg and B is for black peg.

Method 1)
test 1 - [AAAA] - B

one peg means one A moving on with the other three​

test 2 - [ABBB] - WW

note that the peg switched from black to white so we know the A is not in the first slot, but also since we got a lucky double WW, then we know that the B must be in the first slot, since if it was in second to fourth we would get a black peg
we thus have two down and one slotted we move the unknown one step to the right​

test 3 - [BACC] - BW

we know it ain't C and the A is still moving​

test 4 - [BDAD] - BBB

we know it is one D, since it is BBB the A is slotted but we don't know which D, we keep moving using the first guess and move right​

test 5 - [BDAE] - BBW

we know it ain't E, and since the B and now A is slotted it must be the D that should move​

test 6 - [BFAD] - BBBB

success - open to find 1 coal and give up all hope for this game title.​

Method 2)
test 1 [AABB] - WW
test 2 [CCDD] - B
test 3 [EEFF] - W

this is the worst case scenario for this strategy and here I would normally just start over, close and reopen to get a new spawn with a shorter solution, but for the sake of example I will continue
here we can see that test 1 gets two pegs so we select one of those runes to see if it is one or two and also since pegs WW means it is wrong location we switch left to right
then one of the runes from the other tests sine we are looking to rule out runes​

test 4 [CCAA] - B

no resolution, so we reverse the 2peg test runes and take one of the other runes from the remaining test 3, where we want the test 1 BB to the left so we pick the right hand as the reverse due to the W peg which gives EE​

test 5 [BBEE] - B

we got lots of clues, since neither test 4 nor test 5 gave 2pegs then test 1 must be two different runes, meaning one of each of runes A and B where if so then there can be no C nor E, where the left-right dictates the reverse of the WW pegs
so we are down to one A one B one D and one F, ie 4pegs, hence we can now move over to the rearrange phase
here we look at each slot and see what it cannot be, where we ruled out C&E, and due to the left-right dichotomy we can rule out much of the rest
slot 1&2 - can not be CE nor A D due to left-right, so either B or F
slot 3&4 - can not be CE nor B F due to left-right, so either A or D
so we need to guess​

test 6 [BFAD] - BBBB

4pegs - success
but even if it had been WWWW then all we needed was reverse each side separately and next test would have been success,
while if BBWW, then we know it is one side that is wrong, so we reverse either left or right, and if not that one then the other, so success in 8 tests
Which would be the very very worst case scenario for this method.​

 

You should turn your puzzle box tutorial into an in-game book @Spoon

 

Good idea, although
@Nick
you might be more interested in the book aspect due to all of the other ones?

 

Yep! Will get it done over the weekend.

Thanks!

 

Hey @Rinaldi, I found the buff in Britanny Sewers, you can go to the 3 wave wave event after the first puzzle (pipes) and it is as follows:

Blessing of Magic Tolerance
+20 Death Resistance
+20 Life Resistance
+20 Sun Resistance
+20 Moon Resistance
-10 Death Attunement
-10 Life Attunement
-10 Sun Attunement
-10 Moon Attunement

 

Actually, realized later, you can get to it also from the direction of the other puzzle, it really just depends on how you entered the sewers from what I can tell.

 

This is why nobody ever gets that buff. You must be extremely high-level or in a group in order to survive the wave battle.

 

Thanks, I added the buff to the main list at the start of this thread.

Also, I added another non-functional doorway to my previous post regarding "Puzzles/Quests/Locations that Were Never Completed, Never Solved, or Never Found" (the door in West Ravenswood).

 

Zone: Brittany Fields
Spoiler: A treasure hunt

Some resourceful players solved this treasure hunt that involves solving riddles & following instructions in a sequence of letters.

If you wish to do the treasure hunt on your own, then you can start the hunt by reading the Invitation.

Spoiler: Location & Content of the "Invitation to the Game"

The invitation can be found at location 545.063, 44.973, -73.821 (red arrow on map below). The invitation is inside the small shack.

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The shack:

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Inside the shack, find the Invitation (red arrow):

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The Invitation:

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Here are some hints to the hunt (as well as the solution).

Spoiler: Winning the Game: Location & Content of the Letters

Spoiler: Lonely Old Man

In the Invitation to the Game, it states "...one letter rests at the feet of the lonely old man..."

Spoiler: Location of the 'Lonely Old Man'

At location 174.485, 57.383, 247.335 (red arrow on the map below), there is a solitary tree called "Old Man's Oak" (it shows up as a point of interest on the compass). This solitary "Old Man's Oak" tree is the "lonely old man".


Incidentally, you could climb this tree in the past by going to location 166.724, 56.107, 252.53, facing the tree (shown in pic below), and then moving forward. But in 2024, the tree was made un-climbable.

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Spoiler: Finding the Letter near the Lonely Old Man

At the base of the "Old Man's Oak" is a loose stone. When you hover your mouse over the stone, the mouse-pointer will turn green (indicating that the stone is inter-actable). Click on the stone to find the First Letter.

Spoiler: Important Elements of the Letters

In each letter, there 2 separate components of this treasure hunt.

• One component is the clues to find letters 1 through 4 (these clues are found at the bottom of each letter, and start with "Another letter containing part of the directions may be found at..."). These clues are only used to find where the next letter is located. Note: The compass directions and number of paces are used to find the reward, not to find the next letter.
• The other component is the directions to the "reward" (these clues are located in the middle of each letter and contain the text "directions leading to the location of the prize" along with compass directions and number of paces). Note: the order in which you perform the directions to the reward is not the same as the order shown at the top of the letters (e.g. the game's 3rd letter has the 2nd step in the directions to the reward).

Spoiler: Source of the Well

In the Game's First Letter, it states "Another letter containing part of the directions may be found at the source of the well.."

Spoiler: Location of the Well & its Source

In Brittany Fields, there is a small body of water called "Well's Pond" that shows up as a point of interest on your compass (see red arrow below). If you search around the perimeter of the pond, you will see a stream that flows into Well's Pond. The stream arises from under a rock formation at location 390.902, 51.505, 14.418 (blue arrow below). [Note: there are two ponds in this scene: Well's pond and Schmitz pond. It is possible that these are references to the alumni developers Kevin Wells and Matt Schmitz].

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Spoiler: Finding the Letter at the Source of the Well

Just to the right of the rock formation, there is another inter-actable loose stone. Click on the stone to find the Second Letter.

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Spoiler: Bark of the Willow

In the Game's Second Letter, it states "Another letter containing part of the directions may be found near the bark of the willow..."

Spoiler: Location of Bark of the Willow

If you search around, you will eventually find a dog named Willow near location 47.083, 45.746, 11.544 (see red arrow below). Near Willow, you will see a pick ax on the ground (a hint that you need to look at the nearby rock cliff).

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Spoiler: Finding the Letter Near Bark of the Willow

If you scan the nearby rock cliff, you will find another inter-actable loose stone. Click on the stone to find the Third Letter.




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Spoiler: Arm of the Wind

In the Game's Third Letter, it states "Another letter containing part of the directions may be found in the arm of the wind.."

Spoiler: Location of Arm of the Wind

In Brittany Fields, there is a Wind Mill at location 255.514, 45.405, -86.115 (see red arrow below).

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Spoiler: Finding the Letter at the Arm of the Wind

Climb the stairs of the windmill and look at the rotating blades (arms) of the windmill. You will see that one of the blades has a small wooden extension at the end that is inter-actable (red arrow below) . If you hover your mouse over that wooden extension as it sweeps by, and quickly press "E" multiple times (or quickly click the mouse button), you will get the Final Letter.

Spoiler: The Reward/Prize

To find the "reward" you have to follow the directions located in the middle of the letters (these directions are preceded by the text "directions leading to the location of the prize"). Note: the order in which you perform these directions is not the same as the order at the top of the letters (e.g. the game's 3rd letter has the 2nd step in the directions to the reward).

Spoiler: Directions to The Reward

So, if we combine the directions from the four letters, you get:

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If you follow these directions (see path in red below), you will end up at a stone bridge. Note: after you complete the 1st leg of the journey (50 paces north), you will see a sign post with 2 arrows. The sign post reads "This Way" when you hover your mouse over it. The arrows point in the wrong direction; therefore, the sign was likely designed to misdirect you!

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Spoiler: Obtaining the Reward

If you search under the west side of the bridge, you will find an inter-actable brick near the bottom of the arch. Click on the stone to find the Reward (some gold & a letter entitled "Your Reward").

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Spoiler: Who is GM?

The Reward Letter is signed by "GM". We are not sure who GM is. GM may refer to "Game Master" as pointed out by @Fister Magee. Sannio (a developer) said that GM does not refer to alumnus developer Geoff Mellon. In fact, this puzzle was developed by Dan Brennan (aka “PlagueOfLocust” in the forums). So, the identity of GM is still a mystery.

 

I would like to point out a trick I found out while doing this buff a couple times :

Each weapon can be picked back up after the full animation (Weapon goes right then back left, like a switch you turn on and off). This means on your second play through, you can skip steps 1, 4, (part of 6). Also, after the airship, and the ruby spear tomb, you can run around the mountains and down, continuing to go clockwise from when you got to the entrance.

This saves a little bit of time each time you redo it!

 

You don't have to drag the gemmed weapons to your inventory. You only need click them.

 

This is amazing. Thanks again for helping me get that banner. U r awesome friend

 

So how the hell am I suppose to get more of these crystals if I can only carry 2?? when I go back to either of the two spots where the crystals are at after picking them up and placing the first two, there are no crystals there and even though right clicking on the crystals I place gives and option to "pick up" it doesn't pick up. basically I can pick up two crystals at first, place them, and then I am screwed and can't do anything else...... What the hell???????

 

The two crystals take a few minutes to respawn. I just went and rechecked the puzzle, and it works fine for me. Place the crystals in the wheels and then leave them there (so they are not in your inventory), and then a few minutes later 2 more crystals will respawn in their original locations. So, you can repeat the process of picking up 2 crystals from the original spawn location and placing 2 crystals on the wheels until the puzzle is complete.

 

Have you checked Macs Solution for this puzzle? There is a way to skip entirely the crystals thing (I actually never did it and grabbed the buff multiple times).