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Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark Hints
How can I get past the colored pillar blockade in the center of the area?
1 of 16: Look around near the pillars for gimmicks that you can manipulate.
2 of 16: There are four floor levers that you can try.
3 of 16: However, they won't do anything as they are. You apparently need to find something else to use with them.
4 of 16: Search all around the three level 1 areas for treasure items that don't have any other apparent use or value.
5 of 16: Among other things, you'll find a bunch of colored rods.
6 of 16: Any time you attempt to use a floor lever near the pillars while carrying one or more colored rods, you'll get the option to insert a rod of whatever color(s) that you have.
7 of 16: There are five different colors of rods, and several copies of each color. The three maps I drew for the level 1 areas show where every rod is.
8 of 16: You don't need to get more than one of each color of rod, and probably won't even need one of every color.
9 of 16: Examining the pillars, you'll see that there are five different colors of pillars -- the same five colors that the various rods are!
10 of 16: Try inserting a rod of some color in a floor lever and then pulling the lever.
11 of 16: When you do, either a pillar will sink and vanish or nothing will happen.
12 of 16: Think about the fact that there are four levers and four rows of pillars. Combine that with the fact that the rods and pillars share the same color set, and you should arrive at the solution to this puzzle.
13 of 16: To get rid of a particular pillar, insert a rod of that pillar's color into the lever that corresponds to the row that the pillar is in (remembering that the southern-most lever controls the eastern-most row, and on from there).
14 of 16: For example, to remove a red pillar in the front row of pillars, insert a red rod into the leftmost (southern-most) lever and then pull the lever.
15 of 16: Once you sink a pillar, you can retrieve the rod for use with other levers. This is why you don't need more than one of a particular color of rod.
16 of 16: There's no way to raise pillars back up after they've sunk, and being able to remove a pillar doesn't depend in any way on the other pillars. That makes this a very simple puzzle to solve. Just keep using colored rods with levers until you have a pathway cleared.
