Dragon Tower

Narrative

Once Upon a time, several distant travelers came upon a small seaside town. Weary from their travels, they sought rest at the local inn.

Unbeknownst to them, the village was ruled by an evil alchemist who lived isolated in his small fortress called Dragon Tower. The alchemist kept the villagers safe from terrible dragons, but did so only by feeding the dragons thieves and murders once per year atop his tower.

Alas, there was no village crime this past year, but the dragons are hungry all the same! The alchemist instead accused the hapless travelers of being foreign spies and sentenced them to death. Can our brave travelers escape from Dragon Tower before the clock strikes 6 when the dragons return for their annual sacrifice?

Puzzle Solutions

Tower Roof

The puzzles designed in this level primarily utilizes the bones to direct the dog where to go, while using stones to distract guards at the appropriate time. Stones are infinitely available from the floor of the prison cell, where there are also a few bones available. If players require additional bones, throwing a rock at the suspended prison cage will cause a new bone to fall from it.

(May be completed in any order)

  • Iron Key - The iron key is located on a carpet outside the cage wall opposite to the tower’s door. Throwing a bone through the gaps in the cage and onto the key will prompt the dog to leave his post and go after the key. If there is no guard in his path he will successfully return with the key and deposit it inside the cage walls. If the dog is intercepted on the way back, the guard will take the key and return it to the carpet. Players can time a rock throw to land away from the dog’s path (and distract the guard) to ensure the returning dog does not get stopped by the guard. Once players have the key, they use it to unlock the lock on the tower door.

  • Sword - The sword is located near a weapon rack outside the cage wall, next to the wall of the tower. Throwing a bone through the gaps in the cage and on to the sword will prompt the dog to leave his post and go after the sword. However, a guard is directly in the path of the dog and will take the sword from the dog if he sees it. To prevent this, players need to throw a stone, or multiple stones, into the far corner. This will draw the guard(s) away, so that they are not blocking the path of the returning dog. If there is no guard in his path, the dog will successfully return with the sword and deposit it inside the cage walls. If the dog is intercepted on the way back, the guard will take the sword and return it to the weapon rack. Once the sword is in the play space, players use it to cut the rope tied to the tower door.

Alchemy Lab

The puzzles designed in this level primarily utilizes the alchemy brewing apparatus located in the middle of the room. There are 3 powder ingredients located in bins between the two planter boxes: Sulphur (yellow), Crystal (blue), and Chili Powder (red). Players use wooden bowls to gather the powder ingredients and pour them out by tilting them out of the bowl. There are also various other ingredients found in bins and planter boxes: Feathers, Mushrooms, Blue Flowers, and Red Flowers.

Alchemy Brewing

  1. Grab a potion bottle from the open drawer, and place on the metal platform under the spout of the alchemy brewer.
  2. Drop/pour the desired ingredients into the open bubbling chamber.
  3. Once all the ingredients are in, press the brass butterfly knob on the brewer. Over a period of 12 seconds, the brewer will concoct the potion and pour it into the potion bottle under it’s spout. An unsuccessful potion will be dark green, any other color will have a unique effect.
  4. To use a potion, either drink, throw, or pour out it’s contents.

Types of Potions

  • Potio Venenum - Dark Green - If drank, will cause the player to emit vomit and stun them for 10 seconds.
  • Potio Inversae - Pink - Causes players to walk on the ceiling for 5 minutes.
  • Potio Ignis Flammae - Orange - When thrown, causes an explosion at the point of impact.
  • Potio ex Spiritu - Blue-White - Will cause the affected player to become ghostly for 30 seconds; able to read hidden text.
  • Potio Superbia Fumi - Grey - If thrown, emits smoke to cloud the play space for 60 seconds.

(May be completed in any order)

  • Gold Key - The gold key initially is located on a piece alchemy equipment located on the main table, once touched it will float up to the ceiling. Players must brew Potio Inversae, the recipe is located on the main alchemy table (there’s a pink splotch obscuring one of its ingredients). Players brew this potion by combining: feather, chili powder, and red flower. Once brewed, players either drink the potion, or smash it on the floor; this causes all players to flip upside-down where they are able to walk on the ceiling. The effect last for few minutes. Players must grab the gold key and place it in its lock. To flip the room the right way around again, players can brew and use another Potio Inversae. The game will automatically secretly ensure that all the ingredients needed to brew Potio Inversae are always within reach. If they take too long, the game will eventually flip them right-side around anyways.

  • Silver Key - The silver key is located in a boarded up cubby in the cabinet, players must piece together the recipe for the Potio Ignis Flammae. The first piece is already available to players at the end of the alchemy table, the middle piece is located under the mushroom planter box, and the third piece is located under the fireplace. When combined, players are able to brew the Potio Ignis Flammae by combining red flower, chilli powder, and sulphur. Once brewed, player throw the orange potion at the boarded up cubby to blast it open. Players then retrieve the silver key from the cubby and insert it into the silver lock.

  • Bronze Key - Players need to first brew the Potio ex Spiritu (recipe located near the middle of the room), by combining: blue crystal, mushroom, feather, and blue flower. Once brewed, the player that drinks the potion will be able to see hidden symbols located on the blank piece of paper attached to the crate outside the play space. That player needs to communicate the symbols he/she sees to the other players, while one of the other players presses the symbols on the alchemy circle located to the left of the fireplace. As soon as all four symbols are pressed, the bronze key will materialize. Players then retrieve the bronze key and insert it into the bronze lock. The “Y”, the “Duck”, the “Bat Wing” and the “Goblet” are the necessary symbols.

Dragon Bridge

Players must work together to load, ratchet, and fire the ballista bolts at the dragons. The required roles are broken out as:

Types of Roles

  • Loader - Grab a bolt from the wooden box located on the floor in the corner, bolt needs to be placed on the top front of the ballista.
  • Ratcheter - Using the winch, the player grabs the handle and rotates it until the firing lever clicks into place.
  • Gunner - While holding the back of the ballista, the player aims the ballista at the incoming dragon.
  • Firer - After the ballista is fully ratcheted, pressing the wooden lever next to the winch will fire the bolt.

  • Defender - Using the shields, the defender will block fireballs and ice blasts from hitting the ballista.

    Strategy: It’s best to have players assign roles to each team member, the ratcheter and firer is ideally held by the same person. Once the ballista is ready to fire, the gunner should call out to the firer when they are lined up with a shot.

Hardmode Changes

Tower Roof: There is now a third guard patrolling the roof, making timing and distractions much more important. Rocks distract the guards for less time.

Alchemy Lab: The Bronze key puzzle that requires the spectral potion now has a specific order. Specifically, the “Y”, the “Duck”, the “Bat Wing” and the “Goblet” in that order.

Dragon Bridge: The dragons require a few additional hits before they are defeated. As well, the aim assist on the ballista is disabled, meaning players must aim more accurately.

Dragon Tower Keyboard Shortcuts

The keyboard is used from the server computer to control several in-game functions. There are some keyboard commands that apply to every level in the game, as a host a level-specific commands.

General Commands

Y - toggles ‘spectator mode’, allowing the camera to fly around and observe the game. The server computer starts in this mode automatically.

W, A, S, D, Q, E - When in ‘spectator mode’, this freely moves and re-orientates the camera position

0 - warps all players to the lobby

1 - warps all players to the tower roof

2 - warps all players to the alchemy lab

3 - warps all players to the dragon bridge

Numeric Keypad Plus - adds 1 minute to the timer

Numeric Keypad Minus - subtracts 1 minute from the timer

H - increase the number of hints the team can request (default 2)

Shift+H - decrease the number of hints the team can request

Alt+H - force revealing of the next hint

Shift+[number] - loads a different game/experience, list is shown in lobby levels

Shift + L - skips the story introduction (only while introduction is being played)

Lobby Commands

Spacebar - begins playing the automated intro (VR safety, Hint description, mission), then starts the game

M - plays the mission intro only, then starts the game

V - starts the game

Shift+Insert - toggles the in-game mic feature on/off

R - toggle showing/hiding of the score message

U - cycles through a list of available languages and apply the new language after 5 seconds (It restarts the server and wipes the current score.)

Tower Roof Commands

J - toggles the complete/incomplete for the Sword/Rope Puzzle

K - toggles the complete/incomplete for the Iron Key Lock

V - toggles completion for all puzzles, and advances players to the next room

B - triggers the failure condition (dragon finale blast) and ends the game warping every player to the lobby level

Shift + L - skips the story introduction (only while introduction is being played)

Alchemy Lab Commands

J - toggles the complete/incomplete for the Golden Lock

K - toggles the complete/incomplete for the Silver Lock

L - toggles the complete/incomplete for the Bronze Lock

V - toggles completion for all puzzles, and advances players to the next room

B - triggers the failure condition (guards bust down door) and ends the game warping every player to tower roof and experiencing the dragon finale blast

Dragon Bridge Commands

J - Loads arrow on to balista

K - Winds back balista

L - Fires loaded balista arrow

B - triggers the failure condition (dragon finale blast) and ends the game warping every player to the lobby level

V - triggers the victory condition (kills the last dragon, blasts the gate open) and ends the game warping every player to the lobby level

Shift + L - calls the ice dragon to join the battle (‘' prior to 1.8.5)

Shift + J - deals damage to the fire dragon (‘[’ prior to 1.8.5)

Shift + K - deals damage to the ice dragon (‘]’ prior to 1.8.5)