Cannemese puzzle vault
The most knowledgeable archeologists, the most skilled locksmiths, and even the most passionate thieves, remain frustrated at the existence of the Cannemese puzzle vaults. These boxes, varying in size from fitting in a fist to as big as a car, posess as of yet unparallelled technology, making them a quite unique type of relic from before the Fey Fall. Though many attempts have been made, only a single one of them has been opened without the corresponding key document. This vault contained a few pieces of jewelry, thought to be family heirlooms or stolen goods. The opening of this vault happened with pure luck, finding the right combination of five steps by randomly trying things. Unfortunately, the vault fell apart after opening, and several pieces went missing, making it impossible to retrace its built.
Cannemese puzzle vaults are made of adamantium enriched with gold or another magic-conducting element. They are impervious to any magically inflicted damage and so resistant to physical damage that the force necessary to break one open, would destroys it and its contents utterly. The surface is covered with anywhere between 100 and 1000 levers, buttons, switches and knobs, and parts of its surface can twist in set directions. It is believed that the owner of an puzzle vault could set a highly specific chain of steps for entry. On top of that, the puzzle steps could reset if too many mistakes were made, forcing the attempter not only to start over, but to try a second programmed path.
While the puzzle vaults survived the Fey Fall and successive erosion or damage with merely a scratch or two, any documentation on them has long since perished. Only one notebook has been found that might have contained up to 30 pages of a vault code, but only pages 5 through 12 have remained in well enough a state to be legible. Even then, the pages have codewords for each puzzle piece, which have been difficult to decipher in their own right.
While the larger puzzle vaults are kept under tight security and studied thoroughly, smalle puzzle vaults are bought and sold as oddities for people who like to fidget. Despite the chance of opening one being very nearly nill, the fact that someone from a bygone age took such lengths to protect its contents, speaks to the imagination of many puzzle fanatics.
Cannemese puzzle vaults are made of adamantium enriched with gold or another magic-conducting element. They are impervious to any magically inflicted damage and so resistant to physical damage that the force necessary to break one open, would destroys it and its contents utterly. The surface is covered with anywhere between 100 and 1000 levers, buttons, switches and knobs, and parts of its surface can twist in set directions. It is believed that the owner of an puzzle vault could set a highly specific chain of steps for entry. On top of that, the puzzle steps could reset if too many mistakes were made, forcing the attempter not only to start over, but to try a second programmed path.
While the puzzle vaults survived the Fey Fall and successive erosion or damage with merely a scratch or two, any documentation on them has long since perished. Only one notebook has been found that might have contained up to 30 pages of a vault code, but only pages 5 through 12 have remained in well enough a state to be legible. Even then, the pages have codewords for each puzzle piece, which have been difficult to decipher in their own right.
While the larger puzzle vaults are kept under tight security and studied thoroughly, smalle puzzle vaults are bought and sold as oddities for people who like to fidget. Despite the chance of opening one being very nearly nill, the fact that someone from a bygone age took such lengths to protect its contents, speaks to the imagination of many puzzle fanatics.
