Puzzle Gauntlet [D&D]

[NotScaryBats]

To clarify, that's a gauntlet like a thing you have to get through full of trials - not a piece of armor.
Hi, its my first post here on the forums, though I'm a long time lurker, and I wanted to talk about something very near and dear to my players and I.
You see, we love puzzles and here's a kinda cool one I had in my game about a month ago. If you have any stories of ones you've used, go ahead and share them.
So the campaign world involves this ancient group of heroes who went around righting several wrongs and eventually coming up against an evil lich threatening the world. The story is well-known but not everyone believes in it (kinda like the story of Washington and the cherry tree) and the PCs are trying to get into a secret society involving these legendary heroes. They are given a riddle and tossed into a gauntlet of challenges in order to prove their worth.
The Riddle:
"Your journey starts here:
the two met in the east
there, gorgons did feast
forests could hold no root
the elves called a moot
with gorgon's breath and
root magic, the two made ironbark with
their own two hands.
The three met in the north
where giant fought with dwarf
a pact was made
through mutual trade
but first, a giant's respect won
through clever word-play done.
The four met in the west
where mages and dragons did nest
to gain a mage's trust
one must prove one's worth
glean the meaning behind
six, six, six, three, twenty, nine, one, ten, nine eight five, one.
The five met in the south
but wild women are not impressed by the mouth
they must be won through strength
and cunning; survive the length."
For the actual gauntlet, the first room is a trapped hallway with an easily detectable trap that spits petrifying gas out. The next room has a dirt floor, a jar of seeds, a jar of water, and the door out blocked by a battery of gorgon statues tied to chains. The statues are stampeding around the room so a person can't get by without being trampled.
The idea is to petrify the seeds in the gas, then plant them and they'll grow into ironbark - a tree strong enough to stop the gorgons from getting past.
The next room is a riddle, with a giant's statue. The giants play a game where they grasp each other's forearms and tell each other riddles, the first to get the other's riddle wins, but if you don't get it, they bash you around. Its kind of a thinking man's 'mercy' - anyway, I used the riddle:
"All things it devours:
birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel,
grinds hard stones into meal;
Slays kings, ruins towns,
and beats high mountains down.
What is it?"
But that was before I knew it was taken from the Hobbit! So I'd use a different riddle now, but oh well.
The next room is a number puzzle. There is a door leading out carved with a relief of a gorgon, elf, dragon, mage, giant, and dwarf. Next to each relief is a dial that can be set to display any number zero through nine.
The PCs took a long time to get this one, but the idea is to count the words of the Riddle based off the numbers listed in the third stanza and it tells how much to set each dial to.
Finally, the last rooms are just a skill challenge. I used athletics and acrobatics as they jump across pillars, swim around and do test of strength kind of things.
After that, the PCs really want me to do more puzzle stuff in the future. If you want to try it on your PCs you may feel free to.
Thanks for reading my loooong post, and hope to see you all around!

[DonEsteban]

Hi! I like this one and have just added it to my library. If you haven't already, you may want to check this other thread on puzzles.

[Another_Poet]

I find it hard to read your post, and hereby request paragraph breaks.

Like so. :)