D&D: Dungeons & Datas

The ornate garden path guided the quartet of adventurers into the keep's central courtyard. To the south stood the first wooden door they encountered, where their attempts at providing the "Correct" passcode had failed. To the far north loomed an even grander door, beckoning them into the depths of the keep.

Approaching the massive doorway, they found it secured by four distinct locks: a mechanical red lock, a glowing purple glyph, a green combination lock, and a blue reinforced padlock.

Anzyl, Neil, Tey'un, and Kayuli gazed up at the imposing doorway and its array of locks, which kept the entryway tightly sealed.

"Well, gentlemen…" Anzyl began, eyeing the locks and the doorway, "Any thoughts?"

"Seems rather straightforward," Kayuli remarked, surveying the courtyard, "this appears to be an assigned role quest." He pointed to the four corners of the courtyard, each marked by a door of red, purple, green, or blue.

Tey'un nodded in agreement. "We each split up and take a doorway according to our assigned roles and colors." He gestured to his bow. "Physical damage dealers are typically associated with the color red."

"The purple lock likely requires magical expertise," Kayuli added, indicating the glyph lock with his mage's staff. "That task should fall to our caster."

Pointing to the green lock, he continued, "Green usually signifies the healer of the party, so that lock must be yours, Captain."

"And the blue lock is likely meant for the Tank," Neil concluded. "That would be me, right?"

"Any idea what awaits us?" Anzyl inquired, eyeing the green doorway on the opposite end of the courtyard.

"Typically, the challenges are role-specific, designed to be tackled by the individual alone," Tey'un explained, already heading towards his red door. "Remember, failure isn't an option. We won't be able to assist each other if things go south!" With a wave, he set off on his chosen path.

"Alright then!" Anzyl nodded, turning towards his assigned green door.

"Finally!" Neil exclaimed with a sigh of relief. "Some real action in this program!" He marched confidently towards the blue door.

Kayuli grinned, pleased to see his crewmates embracing the challenge as he made his way towards the purple door.

—

The purple door creaked open as Kayuli, clad in his mage's robes and wielding his staff, entered a small yet intricately adorned room.

"This must be the wizard's sanctum!" He declared, his eyes wide with wonder as he took in the sight of elaborate tomes, floating crystal balls, and star maps adorning the walls. "And there's my challenge!" He whispered to himself in awe.

At the far end of the room, a large magical circular glyph, adorned with the six colors representing the elements, dimly glowing on the wall.

Kayuli moved his hands over the colors, reciting the fundamental wheel of the elements. "Violet lightning sparks, birthing the red fire, heating the ashes into yellow earth," his hands traced over the colors and icons of the elements as he spoke, "hardening and harboring the cold of light blue ice, melting into the deep blue of water, rising into the green winds, gathering back into the violet clouds of lightning!" He took a step back, his face filled with awe. "However, the order isn't quite right." He scanned the wall, "This is violet, light blue, green, yellow, red, and dark blue…" he muttered to himself.

"Quite an intriguing deduction," a calm and collected, but educated voice interrupted from behind.

Kayuli spun around, staff at the ready, to face a most peculiar figure.

A tall man adorned in a gray Victorian ensemble, with a detective's cap perched atop his head and a pipe clenched between his teeth. His skin had a pale yellow hue, and his eyes gleamed with intelligence.

"Lieutenant Commander… Data?" Kayuli spoke in shock and disbelief at the appearance of the legendary android before him.

"I do not recognize that military title, but I am Sherlock Holmes, the greatest detective the world has ever seen," the figure stated, placing the smoking pipe in his mouth.

Sighing at yet another holodeck character in the incorrect program, Kayuli asked, "And let me guess, you're here to solve this riddle?" He gestured toward the large wheel of the six elements.

"Yes, indeed," Holmes replied, moving past Kayuli. "I was pondering over the purpose of this circle, and when you recited that lyric not long ago, I realized where my errors in solving it lay."

Rolling his eyes and sighing again, Kayuli queried, "And what might those errors be?"

"Quite plainly, I was employing logic of the factual, rather than logic of the arcane," Holmes explained, his hands hovering over the elemental icons. "However, it seems further deduction is necessary."

"It's because you're a detective," Kayuli remarked, moving past him, "and not a mage." With a wave of his staff, he rearranged the colors to the correct order of the elemental wheel. "Violet lightning, into red fire, into yellow earth, followed by icy blue, flowing into watery blue, then green wind, and back up to violet lightning." As he concluded, the correct order of the elements caused the glyph to shine brilliantly and begin to spin steadily like a water wheel.

"Fascinating," Holmes said in his legendary tone, "You seem to have solved this particular riddle."

"Seems I did!" Kayuli beamed proudly as he exited the purple room.

—

The red door swung open, revealing a mechanical steampunk-style engine room. Gears and cogs interlocked as a great machine steamed and hissed, emitting pockets of hot vapors.

"Aha, I see you," Tey'un declared, nocking an arrow into his bow. Behind the spinning spokes, red lights begged to be shot down by a master of ranged combat.

Drawing his bowstring and holding his breath, Tey'un aimed for the perfect shot between the rotating gears and cogs.

"Careful, youngin'," a thick southern twang interrupted from behind him. "That's a mighty tough shot right 'dere."

Tey'un spun his bow around, aiming it at the unfamiliar voice, only to drop it instantly. "Mister DATA!?" Tey'un yelped in shock and awe.

"Who?" the voice replied. It belonged to a tall, thin man with pale yellow skin, piercing yellow eyes, and dressed in a black western suit and cowboy hat. "The name's Frank, Frank Hollander, father of Eli, the no-good Butcher of Bozeman," he announced, spitting tobacco onto the ground.

Stuttering in disbelief, Tey'un faced one of his biggest idols. "So... you're not Lieutenant Commander Data of the USS Enterprise D & E?"

"No, son!" Frank retorted sharply. "I told you my name! You deaf or something?"

Shaken by the curt response from his idol, Tey'un stammered, "So... You're really not Data?"

"Sorry, son, sure ain't him," Frank shrugged. "But what're you doin' here?"

Pointing to the flashing targets on the far wall, Tey'un explained, "I'm shooting targets... What are you doing here?"

"Guess I'm shooting too!" Frank said, pulling out his revolver and aiming it at the targets. "What say we make this'n a challenge? The one that shoots the most wins!" He grinned, poised to fire his pistol.

Tey'un grimaced with displeasure at the man impeding on his task.

"Oh, son, don't tell me you won't even tr—" Frank's sentence was cut short as an arrow embedded itself into his holographic skull between his eyes. He collapsed to the ground, dematerializing into nothingness.

"You are no Mister Data…" Tey'un hissed, aiming his bow, "Data does Not use contractions…" 

Turning to the targets and with fluid shots, Tey'un hit every single one of his targets. Though he was the chief engineer, he had been raised by the hunters on Eywa'eveng, and his archery skills were second to none aboard the USS Nexus.