#185 The Puzzle Halls of Barlow Fell

Age: 300 Years

Hidden or Lost?: Hidden

History: Gregory Fell did not create the sprawling, deadly puzzle box that looms over the familial Fell estate, but he is determined to be the one to conquer it.

From the exterior, the Puzzle Halls appear to be an ominous, impenetrable cube of black steel rising up directly behind the historic Fell Mansion. But within that imposing façade is a devilish gauntlet of traps and riddles protecting a mysterious inheritance at its center.

The Fell family made its fortune thanks to Gregory’s ancestor Barlow. The scion Barlow Fell was a puzzle maker who specialized in making grand diversions for emperors, kings, wealthy businessmen and other powerful figures with a penchant for the enigmatic. In return he demanded unique artifacts, valuable secrets, or wealth to beggar nations. Barlow would design one-of-a-kind puzzles ranging from boxes that progressively bloomed open like clockwork flowers, revealing an interior that seemed bigger on the inside than on the out, to elaborate death traps which the buyer would have to escape before they were gleefully killed. Barlow realized early on that creating easy puzzles that flattered the solver was a direct line to easy money, but he saved his true genius for his own opus, the Puzzle Halls.

Barlow poured every ounce of ingenuity he had into the project, creating a devious contraption where every choice one made could either be a step closer to solving the halls or a step closer to deadly consequences. It took Barlow's entire life to perfect the Halls, and at the closing of the final lock, he hid the key to his fortune in the center, leaving it for his descendants to solve.

For generations. members of the Fell clan entered into the halls only to starve, lost among the long corridors, go mad trying to decode the Cipher Menagerie, fall victim to the Scythe Dance, or worse. Few made it as far as the Inner Sanctum, attempting to climb the Collapsing Family Tree, navigate Hell’s Blocks, or conquer the Unraveling Codex. But ultimately none succeeded.

Eventually the deadly Halls were abandoned, the Fell family deciding to live rather than send more of their own to die in those terrible games. But Gregory, the most recent Fell inheritor would be different.

Proud, cocky, and above all, greedy, Gregory has returned to the abandoned Fell estate and that ominous, overgrown cube. He has brought with a crack team of thieves, puzzle masters, and cartographers, all the best his money could buy. Whether Gregory and his team of interlopers will be able to finally overcome old Barlow’s genius is a riddle that remains to be solved.

1. Fell Mansion

2. The Long Halls

3. The Enigma Chase

4. Cipher Menagerie

5. River of Clues

6. The Lying Portraits

7. False Floors and True Secrets

8. Dancing Scythes

9. The Puzzle Heart

10. Fell Family Tree

11. The Unraveling Codex

12. The Rewards

13. History’s Knot

14. Hell’s Blocks

15. Key to the Lost Fell Vault

16. The Last Will of Barlow Fell