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Author Topic: Riddles - Dwarf style  (Read 7893 times)

martinuzz

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Riddles - Dwarf style
« on: January 09, 2011, 11:13:57 am »

Behold! A riddle thread. I challenge you, to puzzle us and make us solve ye old riddles.
To add flavour, wrap those riddles you know in a nice sheet of dwarfiness.

I'll kick off with a riddle remade, dwarven style:

In a land, far away and long ago, a dwarf wanders into a forest.
Suddenly, an elf appears, and taunts him with silly songs.
Angered, the dwarf pursues his tormentor.
But alas, the wicked elf is more at home in the forest than a dwarf, and it manages to stay ahead of him, even pausing every once in a while to taunt him more.
Soon, the dwarf finds himself hopelessly lost in a jungle of trees.
As he looks around to figure out which way to go, he hears the elf's voice again, but now it seems to come from all directions at once:
"Foul dwarf! No more shall you lay an axe to the trees that are *ours* to harvest! I have placed a curse on you! You shall never find your way out of here!"
After this, the forest remains silent.
Not overly impressed, the dwarf decides to give up his hopeless pursuit, and heads back in the direction he thinks he came from.
After several hours of wandering, and not seeing any familiar place, he starts to wonder if the elf has really cursed him.
He swears, and curses the elves as only a dwarf can curse elves.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Armok appears to him, in the shape of a male dwarf.
"Hello Urist! Not your day, er?"
"Not really."
"It's just your luck then that not far from here, there's a bunch of dwarves that I've hexed and trapped here some 50 years ago, because they lied to me. You know, you look like a bright dwarf, you might be able to help them out, and they should then be able to help you.
Oh, and never mind that silly elf. As if elves have any magical powers, to lay curses. Phah! No, It was me who 'altered' this forest, the elf merely lured you in."
Having said this, Armok disappears in a puff of logic.
Indeed, moments later, Urist can hear the voice of dwarves arguing, not too far away. He heads towards the noise, and encounters a group of six dwarves, who all seem to be arguing with each other about which way to go.
"Hello fellow dwarves! What is all the ruckus?"
"Woe be upon us! We have been punished for or insolence!"
"We have lied to Armok, when he wanted to know *who* pulled that lever that killed his pet Hydra."
"And now, we are doomed to be forever lost in this cursed forest, until we die of old age."

"You see.. Armok placed a foul hex on us all: One of us, probably the one who did pull that lever, is doomed to forever speak the truth.
Yet.. The rest of us are strangely compelled, whenever we have spoken truth in answer to one question, we must lie on the next question, and whenever we have lied, the next question we must answer truthfully. Also, we have no control over whether we lie or not on a first question.
Furthermore, we do know who actually pulled the damn lever, but that knowledge is of no use to us, as part of the curse.
This is what tortures us most: Only this one dwarf, who pulled the lever, knows how to get out of this forest. Armok told us, that only when this dwarf is asked directly, by someone who is not part of our group, which way to go, to get out of the forest, will he be able to tell."
Urist thinks awhile, and then proceeds to asks two questions to a single dwarf, after which he asks the truthful dwarf how to get out of this forest.
Taking the six dwarves, whose curse is now broken, they embark on a mirthful tropical forest and build a big temple to Armok, and kill many elves.

What are the two questions that enabled Urist to figure out which was the truthful dwarf?
« Last Edit: January 09, 2011, 11:37:16 am by martinuzz »
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Gatleos

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Re: Riddles - Dwarf style
« Reply #1 on: January 09, 2011, 11:23:46 am »

Can Urist only ask one Dwarf at a time? If not, he could just ask them the same yes/no question twice and the one who gives the same answer both times is truthful.
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martinuzz

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Re: Riddles - Dwarf style
« Reply #2 on: January 09, 2011, 11:35:26 am »

Oh, one dwarf at a time.
I made mistake in the riddle, I edited it and it's correct now.
I'll add the one dwarf at a time part as well.
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dwarfhoplite

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Re: Riddles - Dwarf style
« Reply #3 on: January 09, 2011, 11:39:23 am »

can Urist ask only yes or no questions?
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martinuzz

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Re: Riddles - Dwarf style
« Reply #4 on: January 09, 2011, 11:41:44 am »

Nope, Urist can ask any questions he likes.
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dwarfguy2

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Re: Riddles - Dwarf style
« Reply #5 on: January 09, 2011, 11:43:13 am »

Urist kicks one in the groin and then asks "Did I kick you?", then asks the other which way to go.
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martinuzz

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Re: Riddles - Dwarf style
« Reply #6 on: January 09, 2011, 11:46:04 am »

Urist kicks one in the groin and then asks "Did I kick you?", then asks the other which way to go.
Incorrect. There's 6 dwarves too choose from, of whom only 1 always speaks truth
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Shades

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Re: Riddles - Dwarf style
« Reply #7 on: January 09, 2011, 11:48:39 am »

Considering one of the dwarves just explain their situation to Urist after he asked what all the ruckus was we can assume he just told the truth and so ask him twice who the truthful dwarf is taking his second answer. If he lied about the all the ruckus question it's all a little mute anyway.
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martinuzz

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Re: Riddles - Dwarf style
« Reply #8 on: January 09, 2011, 11:50:56 am »

Let's just say that, amongst all the ruckus, Urist didn't quite remember which of the six, oddly similar-looking vomit- and mud-encrusted dwarves it was, that told him the intro story. ;)
« Last Edit: January 09, 2011, 11:52:47 am by martinuzz »
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Shades

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Re: Riddles - Dwarf style
« Reply #9 on: January 09, 2011, 12:07:05 pm »

Can Urist only ask one Dwarf at a time? If not, he could just ask them the same yes/no question twice and the one who gives the same answer both times is truthful.

Oh, one dwarf at a time.

I don't suppose we can ask that one dwarf what the others would say if we asked them twice each? And so sidestep the one dwarf condition.
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martinuzz

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Re: Riddles - Dwarf style
« Reply #10 on: January 09, 2011, 12:48:40 pm »

that wouldn't work, as in most cases (except when you randomly pick the truthspeaking dwarf to ask the questions to in the first place), the 'others' are not a homogenous group

Edit: Ah I think I understand what you mean.. Okay, basically that way you're right, and it would solve it. I guess the riddle needs another rule: no compound questions allowed. While you are allowed to ask for more than a yes / no, you are not allowed to ask a question that requires a compound answer, like : "dwarf A would say Z and Y, dwarf B would say Z and Y, dwarf C would say Z and Z, dwarf D would say Z and Y, dwarf E would say Z and Z"
« Last Edit: January 09, 2011, 01:43:59 pm by martinuzz »
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martinuzz

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Re: Riddles - Dwarf style
« Reply #11 on: January 09, 2011, 01:31:55 pm »

Hint: the solution raises more questions than answers
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BodyGripper

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Re: Riddles - Dwarf style
« Reply #12 on: January 09, 2011, 01:45:32 pm »

I don't have a guess, but I'm posting so I can follow the thread.
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Cruxador

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Re: Riddles - Dwarf style
« Reply #13 on: January 09, 2011, 01:53:35 pm »

Ask "are you the truthful dwarf". If he says yes, you know the question is true, thus ask "who is the truthful dwarf?", and his answer will be the truthful dwarf.
If at first he says no, then you know that the next question must be a lie. Thus ask "who among your group is not the truthful dwarf?" and his answer will be the truthful dwarf.
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Nexii Malthus

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Re: Riddles - Dwarf style
« Reply #14 on: January 09, 2011, 02:03:52 pm »

Ask "are you the truthful dwarf". If he says yes, you know the question is true, thus ask "who is the truthful dwarf?", and his answer will be the truthful dwarf.
If at first he says no, then you know that the next question must be a lie. Thus ask "who among your group is not the truthful dwarf?" and his answer will be the truthful dwarf.
"Also, we have no control over whether we lie or not on a first question."
He truths no, lies the wrong dwarf.
« Last Edit: January 09, 2011, 02:05:39 pm by Nexii Malthus »
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