I feel like an idiot.
Studying the carving you deduce that the inscription around it reveals how to open the door. If you can work out the number hidden in the puzzle, turn to the paragraph with that number.
Remember what the tribesman told you: "Back two, forward two. Back two, forward two."
I see the three arrows (top right of the skull, snake's tail & the golden piece at the bottom) but I can't for the life of me solve this. The most logical reading I can come up with is "RARA" which doesn't feel very Roman numeral-y (but Roman numerals might not even be needed.)I found the solution online but I still don't understand how it works.
it's 275
So... would someone be kind enough to explain this puzzle to me?
Well you do move the dial, just clockwise from the top pointer (the direction it's indicating) and then do a simple replacement cypher. Not something to trouble the codebreakers at Bletchley Park but I don't think I'd qualify on this showing.
Yep, I did write the whole string down based on the clockwise reading order indicated by the top arrow at one point. I was looking for some kind of pattern but found none. I did find two weirdly shaped Vs, however, which raised more questions than it answered.
Now that you gave me the solution is seems so obvious. Thanks again!
It always does!