Welcome to the Game

While playing Dungeons and Dragons as a kid, I loved the feeling of exploring and solving the puzzles we found in these make-believe dungeons, and I thought I would give that feeling, but this puzzle uses D&D only as flavoring, for if you read the following segments from Elandil’s journal (my character from my childhood), you can decipher the clues to uncover the four digit number that unlocks this box to claim the prize…without knowing a thing about D&D.

Hint: Look for the numbers and rearrange the entries to get the order.

While we planned for this final battle, when we saw Tiamat, we weren’t sure we could vanquish the Queen of Dragons, and end her reign of terror. Finn, a spokesman, and Bhudr as eye candy, had amassed a small army from nearby towns, distracted each of her five heads, while I came up behind. While riddled with arthritis, I was able to cast Imprisonment, banishing her permanently from our world!

“Careful, Balric,” I said, “the large eye of Xabash, the Beholder, spews out antimagic, which will remove our invisibility, and I don’t have to tell you than neither of us are strong enough to fight a beholder.” It’s lair was complex, but we found the Spellbook of Num’zix, the Lich, and on the very first page, I found the Imprisonment spell that I needed! But Xabash found us and disintegrated Balric, and I barely escaped. I will miss my friend (and Jon is very upset with the DM)!

The stench of the catoblepas was great, but my spellbook was small. All I could do was cast Gust of Wind to allow Bhudr to run up on it and smash it with his club, leaving only nine teeth left in the skull. After all the casualties, the villagers were relieved that the beast that had laid waste to their lands, was vanquished. Shame they didn’t have much coin to reward us for our troubles, but Baldric, the tracker we hired in Stonybrook will be traveling with us (as Jon decided to join in playing after school).

The shattered the stone bridge we were on with a blast of magic, sending us all into the water, where Sobek’s minions were better equiped to fight. I cast Airy Water allowing me and my friends to breathe, and defend ourselves. The god of the Koa Toa, Sobek streaked through the murk towards us, his three eyestalks and claws for feet, made this giant alligator truly horrifying. Finn, the small hobbit from the Greenlands, latched onto its back with his daggers to deal the killing blow (yes, when Jon rolled a 20 with his new character, we couldn’t help but cheer).