[Guest]

Far away in a magical land there were 10 fountains

Each fountain was filled with a poison (poisons 1-10)

if you drank a poison the only way to survive was to drink a poison of greater value

eg if you drank poison 2 you could drink poison 5 to save yourself

Note: if that happened you wouldnt have to drink poison 6 to save yourself from the poison 5

But in the magical land there was an evil wicked witch

the witch had sole control over the 10 fountain (she was the only one with access to it)

one day a guy challenged the witch to a duel

the duels work like this: they each bring a poison and they trade poisons with the other person and drink up

the witch gladly accepted because whatever poison he gave her, she would just drink her poison 10 and be cured

However he would not be able to save himself, because 10 was the highest poison

They met, traded vials, and drank

after the duel the guy walked away alive and well and the witch was dead

How is this possible?

the guy gave her water instead of a poison so when she drank her poison 10 it was used as poison instead of an antidote.

he drank a poison before the duel, so the poison 10 was used as an antidote

[Guest]

Interesting place, interesting problem. Hmm,

The reasoning follows that one has to drink another poison to neutralise a lower poison.

The guy who challenged the witch offered her a vial of water (or any other non poisonous fluid).

Both challengers drink from the vials.

In self preservation, the Witch drinks her 10th poison to counter what she presumes is a lower poison and consequently gets poisoned with not possible higher antidote/poison to save herself.

Once the witch is dead, the guy can access her well and save himself by drinking the 10th poison.

Point to note, there is an moral dilema in this scenario where the guy cheats, but in a game involving taking someone else's life I guess you wouldn't care too much for ethics.

[soop]

Interesting place, interesting problem. Hmm,

The reasoning follows that one has to drink another poison to neutralise a lower poison.

The guy who challenged the witch offered her a vial of water (or any other non poisonous fluid).

Both challengers drink from the vials.

In self preservation, the Witch drinks her 10th poison to counter what she presumes is a lower poison and consequently gets poisoned with not possible higher antidote/poison to save herself.

Once the witch is dead, the guy can access her well and save himself by drinking the 10th poison.

Point to note, there is an moral dilema in this scenario where the guy cheats, but in a game involving taking someone else's life I guess you wouldn't care too much for ethics.

I'm guessing that he gave her water. Therefore, when she drank poison ten after, she'd die.

Not sure about him though. Maybe he drank poison 10 after she died?

[soop]

I'm guessing that he gave her water. Therefore, when she drank poison ten after, she'd die.

Not sure about him though. Maybe he drank poison 10 after she died?

So the puzzle assumes that the witch gives the guy poison ten. If the witch thought a little about it and gave him poison 1, they'd both be screwed.

[Guest]

this was done here before by itachi-san - sorry 1/8hth