Walkthrough RUNED 1 eng

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RUNED - The vanished eye
Puzzle Walkthrough

Welcome to the complete walkthrough for the puzzles in “RUNED - The Vanished Eye.”

This walkthrough provides you with a step-by-step guide to successfully mastering the challenges of the puzzles in the book.

If you get stuck and are about to give up, you can jump to the corresponding puzzle and look at the solution.

You must read the entire story in order to solve all the puzzles. If you haven't done so yet, do it before you try. :)

Do I need a UV lamp for the hidden RUNED puzzles?

A UV lamp or blacklight is recommended for the full RUNED experience. The first edition of RUNED 1 in english includes an exclusive RUNED UV lamp for free.

UV lamps are also available commercially, for example on Amazon for €5 to €20. We have already tested a few models, including this one*. Alternatively, natural sunlight also contains UV light.

*Affiliate link

Why don’t the RUNED magic inks work for me?

The two magic inks in the RUNED universe react differently depending on light and temperature.

Heat-sensitive ink (only in RUNED 1)

This ink disappears at temperatures above 29°C (84°F) and becomes visible again at cooler temperatures.
In summer, the ink may not return as long as it’s too warm.
In winter, the ink must first reach at least 29°C (84°F) to disappear.
If your fingers are too cold, the ink won’t react by touching the page. Instead, use a heater or a hairdryer from a safe distance.
⚠ Warning: Never heat book pages with an open flame – fire hazard!

UV ink

This ink only glows in the dark after being “charged” with a UV lamp.
Shine on it and then turn the UV lamp off to see the ink glow.

If the inks do not react as expected, check the lighting and temperature. Enjoy discovering the hidden clues!

Puzzle 1

The first puzzle can be found in the foreword on page 5.

Breathe gently onto the black field as described in the text, and the black ink will disappear. You can also try placing your hand on the black field. If that doesn’t work, go somewhere warm, like the living room, or rub your hands together before touching the field.

Now scan the QR code with your phone’s camera or go to the website www.runed.de/runed1puzzles on your computer. Click the button that says: “Start Puzzle.”

Then enter the first password that you found under the black field in the book. Always pay attention to uppercase and lowercase letters when entering passwords.

Tip

There are two types of magic ink in the book. One of them reacts to a regular UV- or blacklight lamp. When you shine UV light onto it, the ink will glow in the dark. This means you’ll have to search through the entire book in complete darkness. If you don’t have a UV lamp, sunlight works as well.

The other type of magic ink reacts to warmth — by breathing on it or placing your hand on the page. You already see this effect in the foreword: the black ink disappears, and in theory any letter in the book could vanish this way. So you’ll have to breathe on every page of the book. ;-)

And any page with magic ink could be part of a puzzle. Or maybe not. ;-)

Solution / Password

RUNED

Puzzle 2

Now the clue for the second puzzle appears.

EXPLORE THE LETTERS THAT RISE MAJESTICALLY.

Tip

Did you notice any pages where certain letters were printed unusually bold? Try decoding those letters and enter the solution into the password field.

Pay attention to uppercase and lowercase letters!

Hint 1

Go to pages 122 and 123 in the book and write down all the bold letters. Can you read which two sentences the letters form?

Hint 2

The letters form a puzzle:

If you got me, you might share me, but if you share me, you revealed me. What am I?

Solution / Password

Secret

Click the button on the website and enter the password (pay attention to uppercase and lowercase letters).

Puzzle 3

Now the clue for the third puzzle appears.

HAVE YOU READ RUNED – THE VANISHED EYE CAREFULLY? PROVE IT!

Tip

Grab a piece of paper and a pen and write down the answers.

Hint 1

You must answer all questions correctly to move on. For this, you need to know the story.

Hint 2

The solution is not the answer itself, but the letter before the answer. For example, the “a” from answer a) or the “b” from answer b).

Write down all the letters and combine them into a “password.” Make sure to write everything in lowercase like on the website.

Solution / Password

cbccabccbaaab

Click the button on the website and enter the password.

Puzzle 4

Now the clue for the fourth puzzle appears.

FIND THE LIGHT IN THE SHADOW

Tip

What is Willy afraid of? Look very closely! Still don’t see anything in the shadows? Try it in the dark with your light.

Hint 1

Go to page 228 in the book and use a UV lamp in a dark room to “charge” the spider image with UV light. The spider’s threads and some areas should now glow when you turn off the light.

Did you notice anything?

Hint 2

In very small letters, in a shadowed area at the bottom left, it says glowing:

5um 7h3 gl0w1ng p4g3 numb3r5

Translated, this means: Sum the glowing page numbers

Now, search the entire book for glowing page numbers. It’s best to do this in a dark room with the UV lamp to “charge” the page and the ink as quickly as possible. The ink only glows once it’s dark, not while you shine light on it. So turn off your light, once charged.

The numbers can be hidden anywhere on a page but are clearly recognizable as numbers—for example, 104 or 222.

Hint 3

There are a total of 7 pages with glowing page numbers.

Solution Part 1

Page 225 (left top corner)
Page 232 (page number)
Page 237 (top right corner over pattern)
Page 240 (middle right)
Page 249 ( left alligned middle)
Page 257 (page number)
Page 264 (black page - Exeters right arm)

Now add all the numbers.

Solution Part 2

1704

Click the button on the website and enter the password (number).

Puzzle 5

Now the clue for the fifth puzzle appears.

MAGIC IS SEEING WHAT OTHERS CAN'T SEE

Tip

What if letters just magically disappear? Take what’s left.

Hint 1

Where have you read this sentence before? Go to that page in the book and think about how you can see what others cannot see.

Extra hint: Remember the first puzzle and the black ink.

Hint 2

Go to page Breathe gently onto the text of the quote or place your warm hand on it and watch what happens.

Look at the red letters and try to arrange them into a meaningful order.

Magic is seeing what others can't see

Extra tip: Clever readers have used a hairdryer to make it work faster.

Solution / Password

Magic stone heart

Click the button on the website and enter the password.

Puzzle 6

Now the clue for the sixth puzzle appears.

This time, you need to listen to the MP3 file and try to solve the puzzle.

Hint 1

The correct tunnel must be entered as the password (e.g., "Tunnel 1").

Pay attention to uppercase and lowercase letters.

Solution / Password

Tunnel 3

Click the button on the website and enter the password.

Puzzle 7

Now the clue for the seventh puzzle appears.

This time, you need to watch the video. There, the voice actor Marios Gavrilis tells you something about the german audiobook of RUNED 1.

Tip

It's all about distraction.

Hint 1

For this puzzle Marios is not important.

Hint 2

Look at the image on the left in the background. Does the 4x4 dot pattern look familiar? Have you seen something like this in the book before? 16 symbols?

Hint 3

Turn to page 166 of the book and mentally overlay the pattern from the background image onto the 16 rune symbols. Mark the 5 yellow dots that correspond to the 5 rune symbols.

Now take the 5 letters next to the rune names as the solution.

Solution / Password

ABHNW

Click the button on the website and enter the password.

Puzzle 8

Now the clue for the eighths puzzle appears.

WHAT GLOWS MEETS ITS MATCH IN THE CONCEALED.

Tip

In the end, what matters is what remains.

Hint 1

In the book, there are hidden rune symbols in two illustrations/artworks. One set glows, and the other is hidden in the “concealed.”

Check page 236 and a page in the beginning of the book.

Hint 2

Write down all the runes that are hidden in the two illustrations on pages 8 and 236 of the book, and find out which rune appears in both images.

For the illustration of Exeter, you need heat to make the black ink disappear. For Merlin’s Eye, it’s best to use a UV lamp to charge the ink and then view it in a dark room.

What is the rune?

Solution / Password

The rune Wunjo appears in both images.

Glowing on the right on the rock below Willy.

Exeter top right corner under the black patch.

The rune Wunjo means “Joy.”

The password is: Joy

Click the button on the website and enter the password.

Puzzle 9

Now the clue for the ninth puzzle appears.

GO TO THE ATTIC AND LISTEN TO JULIE

Tip

This puzzle is really tricky. Originally, we wanted to use specific coordinates for one of the puzzles, but unfortunately, they were far too long for a password and prone to errors.

Hint 1

Find the page in the book where Julie and the others are in the attic and something is written in bold.

What else on that page is written in bold that relates to Julie?

Hint 2

On page 64, Merlin’s tomb and Google it are written bold. Try it out and do it! Google: Merlin’s tomb.

Hint 3

On Google Maps, you can find Merlin’s tomb in Brittany/France. Yes, this place (marked for tourists and located in a public forest ;) ) really exists. In french it's Tombe de Merlin.

What is could be the code for this place?

P.S. We even hid a little R.R. Stein Easter egg in the reviews for this place 😛

Solution / Password

3VHJ+6V is the Google Maps Plus Code for this place.

Click the button on the website and enter the code.

Puzzle 10

Now the clue for the tenth puzzle appears.

CAN YOU READ THE RUNES? A NUMBER IS THE PASSWORD.

Tip

Can you? Try!

Hint 1

You’ve probably noticed that there are pages where many rune symbols glow and something like a text is written. First, translate the rune symbols using the 16 runes you already used in puzzle 7.

What does it say?

Hint 2

On page 258 there’s nothing useful, so look at the page next to it. If you correctly translate the runes that are not glowing using the alphabet from page 166, you’ll suddenly can read on page 259: “find mi german tel number”.

But which tel number?

Hint 3

The number is hidden behind the cryptic text, which was printed multiple times throughout the book in glowing ink. Arrange the text in chronological order.

Hint 4

If you combine the text fragments from pages 225, 227, 229, 232, and 233, you get the following text:

Is a god a god? Might the ice have a need?
Birth brought fertility and hail.
The flame was the gift that melted the hail.
The hail made of ice.
The birth was the gift.
The birth. (This last sentence is encrypted with rune symbols at the very bottom center of page 260.)

Do the words look familiar to you?

Hint 5

Exactly! The words are the meanings of the rune symbols from the alphabet on page 166. If you now flip one page back, to page 165, you’ll see a small note next to the Binderune.

ᚨ = 0

ᛚ = 9

Now translate the meanings of the runes from the text into numbers, and you’ll know the number starting with 0049 for Germany.

Solution / Password

The number is: 004917685663151

Click the button on the website and enter the number as the password.

FunFact: In the german version of the riddle, people had to actually call this number and author R.R. Stein had his answering machine active with the password. But because of expensive provider costs for you, calling from outside Germany, we used the number as the password. :)

Puzzle 11

Now the clue for the final puzzle appears. You’re almost there.

WHAT IS THE MAGIC SPELL FOR THE FINAL PUZZLE?

Tip

Go ahead and check all the puzzle pages again.

Hint 1

Where in the book is something unusual that you’ve already discovered but haven’t used for a puzzle yet?

Hint 2

There are two pages in the book where something is written in glowing ink at the bottom right. When you fold these two pages together, a new puzzle text appears.

Hint 3

The puzzle text from page 227 (bottom right) and page 235 (bottom right) reads:

Magic ink can have many forms.

At times it is gone, at times it transforms.

For the final riddle just both is perfect,

Sometimes you can see it, sometimes it is wrecked.

Find every clue then you will know,

Start right at the front, and magic will show.

Sometimes it is dark sometimes it’s bright,

Sometimes you are wrong, sometimes you are right.

Hint 4

The puzzle text contains many clues.

The most important sentence is: "Start right at the front, and magic will show."

The black page at the very front of the book is completely covered with magic ink. Use a hairdryer or place your warm hand on it to make the black ink disappear, and check the rune symbols underneath.

Are there perhaps more runes hidden somewhere? Why is it "sometimes dark and sometimes bright"? Could there be a digital magic ink? That only appears, under certain conditions!?

Hint 5

The sentence "Start right at the front, and magic will show." also refers to all the puzzles you’ve solved so far on the website. On each puzzle page of the website, a “digital magic ink” is hidden. It only becomes visible when you select it with your mouse on a computer or press and hold it on a smartphone to copy the rune into a note or, for example, WhatsApp.

Now what is the magic spell?

Hint 6

The sentence "For the final riddle just both is perfect," contains another important hint: “just both”

Check which of the runes hidden on the website puzzles are identical —meaning they are the runes under the first black page in the book that you’ve already noted.

Four of the runes are not identical.

Voilà! These are exactly the runes you need. Now you have the solution.

You just need to turn these runes into a magic spell, because the initial hint above the password field is:

WHAT IS THE MAGIC SPELL FOR THE FINAL PUZZLE?

Hint 7

The final magic spell for the last puzzle is written in the same specific format, just as the last magic spell in the book. Uppercase and lowercase letters matter, as well as spaces and hyphens.