Gauntlet maze puzzle

Initial view of the Gauntlet maze
The **Gauntlet maze puzzle** is the second puzzle of the Gauntlet area in Maray. After having solved the Gauntlet domes puzzle and the path of the last dome has opened, the game comes to a structure that looks like a big disc on a semispherical base and something looking like a Villein tech obelisk at its front. The obelisk turns out to be a Villein elevator at the entrance of the maze. Simply passing through the elevator leads into the maze, but since it has not yet been configured to reach an exit, it comes to a dead end. The elevator can move one level up and one down.

## Observing the maze

The maze at its initial state
One level up, the elevator exits on a balcony from where most of the maze can be inspected. There is also a rotator handle with two buttons at the center of the balcony. The left button rotates the whole maze 90° clockwise and the right one 90° anticlockwise. If the maze piece directly underneath the balcony is not fully visible, the maze can be rotated 90° either way to inspect it and then rotate it back. There are three exits of the maze discernible, one to the right, one across and one to the left where the Podding station is. In four directions of the maze, slanted to the directions of the entrance and the exits, extend four devices which hug the maze and have tubes extending into elements of the whereabouts. Do not change the initial position of the maze yet.

## An unusual seed-swap device

The seed-swap device of a maze piece
Two levels down from the balcony, the elevator reaches the bottom part of a rotatable piece of the maze. There is such a room under all the individual pieces of the maze, and in each is a very unusual seed-swap device. The Ambassador Seed of the device together with its enclosing mechanism have been placed at the top of the room, since its swap area must also include the maze piece that is overhead. Activating the device, the piece gets swapped on a rotator that has been set up in a cave of the Mineshaft in Hunrath. Getting out and climbing the stairs to the top of the cave from where we can survey the maze piece, there are two buttons. The bottom one rotates the piece 90° clockwise and the top one 90° anticlockwise. If after rotating we swap back to Maray the piece under the balcony will have been rotated in the same way.

## Connecting another way back

The door along the Mineshaft
Before any rotation or swapping of the maze piece, we have to connect this cave to the rest of the Mineshaft. From the top of the wooden stairs turn right, find a closed door, open it, and go a bit further to make sure that the bridge that connects with the other Mineshaft seed-swap devices has been enabled (while solving the Gauntlet domes puzzle).

This path enables us to avoid swapping back the same maze piece we swapped here. Because as it becomes obvious next, there is a fifth maze piece loaded on the Mineshaft rotator, that gets swapped to Maray every time we swap here to rotate a piece. It may turn out we need that piece in the maze. It may also turn out that we may need to move a piece of the maze from one position to another. For the solution we will be working on next, rotate now the piece you swapped here 90° anticlockwise and swap back.

## Initial considerations

Looking at the initial state of the maze (see screenshot above), the following observations can be made:

**1.** On the left side, the only piece that can connect a path is a straight line (luckily the piece waiting in the Mineshaft to be swapped IS a straight line).

**2.** On the side across, the only piece that can connect a path is a 90° turn (the existing piece has to be brought to the Mineshaft rotator and turned 180°).

**3.** None of the two 225° pieces can connect a path if rotated by 90° or 180° where they are. If, however, they got swapped with each other they could connect paths. The one on the left can be brought to the right side, but the one on the right will not be needed, because, as said, only a straight line can connect on the left side.

**4.** Given all of the above, the 90° that is now at the entrance of the maze (piece marked as  **A**  in the diagram) can be rotated in two positions to either connect a path across or to close a path so that the maze connects to right or the left exits, depending on how the whole maze will be turned. With the rotation we just did above, piece  **A**  should now be as the red markings of the diagram show.

## Solving the maze

Let us now place the straight line in the correct position of the maze. Take the lift up to the balcony and rotate the maze 90° **anticlockwise**. Go down one level. Go back to the last dome of the Gauntlet and use the closest seed-swap device to swap to the Mineshaft. Cross the bridge and follow the path to the cave with the rotator. Here we see that the fifth maze piece is a straight line. The view we have from the rotator buttons, however, is not orientated in the same way as the view from the Maray balcony. Rotate the maze piece 90° (either direction) and swap back.

Call the elevator and go up to the balcony. We see that next comes rotating the 90° turn at 180°. Rotate the whole maze 90° **anticlockwise**, go two levels down and swap to the rotator cave and rotate the piece 180°. Swap back to Maray and go up to the balcony. Now the last step is to replace the 225° that's waiting in the rotator cave with the one below. Rotate the maze 90° **anticlockwise**, go two levels down and swap to the rotator cave. Go up the wooden steps, turn right and follow the path to the closest swap device in the Mineshaft. Swap back, call the elevator and go back up to the maze balcony and rotate the maze 90° **clockwise**.

## Opening aerial doors

The maze seen from the Podding station
Obviously, the most interesting destination would be to go left to the Podding station and take an aerial ride around Maray. The path, however, is blocked by two consecutive aerial doors. These doors have to be opened first. Enter the maze, exit right, follow the path through two cell wall portals and operate the Villein control panel to open the overhead door. Go all the way back, and up to the balcony. Rotate the maze 180° either way.

The 90° turn piece is under the balcony now and needs to be rotated 90° clockwise to connect to the exit across. Go two levels down, swap to the rotator cave, rotate the piece 90° clockwise and swap it back. Take the elevator one level up, enter the maze and go out the opposite end. Operate the control panel to open the second aerial door. Don't miss a short path down to the right from where you can observe the under part of the maze. Go back up to the elevator, go down, swap again to the rotator cave, rotate the piece 90° anticlockwise and swap it back.

Go back up to the balcony and turn the maze 90° **anticlockwise**. The way to the Podding station is now open and the cable car path is open. Enjoy the ride and all that will follow.