id: pharaohs-tomb engine: story category: escape-room title: The Pharaoh's Tomb tagline: Valley of the Kings, 1922. The torch is dying, the door has sealed, and the walls don't write vowels. estimatedMinutes: 35 difficulty: 4 players: { min: 2, max: 2 } theme: { primary: "#b08d57", accent: "#40c9a2", background: "#120d06", headingFont: "Playfair Display" } rules: hintPenaltySeconds: 180 timeLimitMinutes: 40 timeLimitLabel: "Torch" roles: A: name: The Archaeologist blurb: You're inside the tomb with a failing torch. You see the glyphs, the floor, the doors. B: name: The Translator blurb: You're at the camp tent with the books and the radio. You can read what they can't. intro: | **The Valley of the Kings, November 1922.** The expedition finally breaks into an unknown tomb. You go in first, alone, while your partner works the radio from the camp tent. Ten steps inside, a stone slab grinds down behind you. Your torch has about forty minutes of oil. The walls are covered in glyphs. Your partner has the dictionaries. **Nothing in here opens without both of you.** ⚠️ *Ancient Egyptian writing usually leaves out the vowels. You'll have to fill them in.* chapters: - id: ch1 title: The God of the Door narrative: | The first inner door has a carved panel: *"Speak the name of the one who guards the dead."* Below it, a row of glyphs, and a slot of letter tiles. clues: A: - id: a1-door title: Glyphs on the door type: diagram body: | ## 🔒 👄 🔒 *Each glyph is one sound. There are tiles for vowels too. The glyphs don't show them.* B: - id: b1-chart title: Uniliteral sign chart (one glyph = one consonant) type: table body: | | Glyph | Sound | Glyph | Sound | |-------|-------|-------|-------| | 🦉 | M | 🍞 | T | | 🌊 | N | 🐍 | F | | 👄 | R | 🦶 | B | | 🔒 | S | 🌀 | H | | 🧺 | K | 🪑 | P | | 🖐 | D | | | *Vowels are not written. Readers fill them in from context.* - id: b1-gods title: The gods (dictionary appendix) type: document body: | Amun · Anubis · Horus · Isis · **Osiris** (lord of the dead) · Ptah · Seth lock: id: lock-god prompt: Speak the name. inputType: text format: The god's name answers: ["OSIRIS"] hints: - The glyphs give three consonants. Which god's name has exactly those consonants, in that order? - 🔒 👄 🔒 is S-R-S. - O-S-I-R-I-S. (Isis is S-S, Horus is H-R-S.) successText: | **OSIRIS.** The door rumbles aside. The next chamber has two painted cartouches and a number dial. keyName: Ankh Key - id: ch2 title: Two Kings narrative: | The dial in the second chamber is carved: *"How many years stand between the two kings?"* clues: A: - id: a2-cartouche title: The cartouche in this chamber type: diagram body: | **King Khaf-Ra, crowned in year:** ## 🪷🪷 🪢🪢🪢 ∩∩∩∩ ||||||| B: - id: b2-numerals title: Egyptian number signs type: table body: | | Sign | Value | |------|-------| | 🪷 lotus | 1000 | | 🪢 coil of rope | 100 | | ∩ heel bone | 10 | | \| stroke | 1 | *Add up every sign.* - id: b2-notebook title: The expedition notebook type: note body: | *Copied from the entrance corridor yesterday:* **King Djed-Ka-Ra, crowned in year:** 🪷 🪢🪢🪢🪢🪢🪢🪢🪢🪢 ∩∩ | lock: id: lock-kings prompt: How many years between the two kings? inputType: code format: A number answers: ["426"] hints: - Count each sign and multiply by its value. - Khaf-Ra = 2000 + 300 + 40 + 7 = 2347. Djed-Ka-Ra = 1000 + 900 + 20 + 1 = 1921. - 2347 − 1921 = 426. successText: | **426.** A passage opens onto a long chamber with a floor of carved tiles. Several of the tiles look... loose. keyName: Cartouche Key - id: ch3 title: The Floor of Judgement narrative: | To cross, you must step tile to tile (forwards, backwards, or sideways, never diagonally) from the entrance row to the far row. A wrong tile means a long drop. Each tile has a symbol, and a letter cut into its edge. clues: A: - id: a3-floor title: The floor (far wall at the top, you're at the bottom) type: diagram body: | ``` far row → ○K □D △H ◇M △T ◇E ○S △O ○L □N □P △R △A ◇F ○B △H △A ○I □C △X entrance → △P ◇W □V ○G ◇Y ``` *A plate at the entrance: "Walk only where the living walk. Speak the letters of your path."* B: - id: b3-book title: Book of the Dead, translator's notes type: table body: | | Symbol | Meaning | |--------|---------| | △ | **Life** | | ○ | Death | | □ | Water | | ◇ | Sky | lock: id: lock-floor prompt: Speak the letters of the safe path. inputType: text format: One word answers: ["PHARAOH"] hints: - Only the △ (life) tiles are safe. Find a connected path of △ from the entrance row to the far row. - Start at the bottom-left △P. Go up to △H, right to △A, up to △R... - P-H-A-R-A-O-H. successText: | **PHARAOH.** You cross. The far wall slides open onto the burial chamber: a golden sarcophagus with a sealed lid and a name lock. keyName: Scarab Key finale: type: escape prompt: The sarcophagus lid will lift only for the name of the one who sleeps inside. clues: A: - id: af-cartouche title: The royal cartouche on the lid type: diagram body: | ## 🌊 🐍 👄 🍞 👄 *Above it, a symbol for "queen".* B: - id: bf-royals title: Royal names (dictionary appendix) type: document body: | Hatshepsut · Khufu · Nefertari · Nefertiti · Ramesses · Tutankhamun *Use the uniliteral chart from the first door.* lock: id: lock-sarcophagus prompt: Speak her name. inputType: text format: The queen's name answers: ["NEFERTARI"] hints: - Read the consonants with the chart. - "N-F-R-T-R. Careful: Nefertiti would be N-F-R-T-T." - Nefertari. successEnding: | **NEFERTARI.** The lid lifts with a sigh of 3,000-year-old air. Inside, no mummy, but a hidden stair spiralling up into daylight, and two gold rings, one for each of you. Your partner is waiting at the top of the stairs with the radio and a flask of tea. **You escaped!** 🏺🔑 failEnding: | The torch gutters out. Darkness. (It's a game. Light another torch?)