Twenty-four forks in the path.

Question

Okay, here's the riddle. It took me about thirty minutes or so to solve.

You are walking to a spectacular city, and you've walked for many days. Finally, in your path, it comes to a fork. A fork of twenty four different paths. Only one of these twenty-four different paths actually leads to the city. A guaridan is infront of every single path. One guardian always points you to the path next to the correct one (despite the question), a second guardian always contradicts what the previous guardian had said, a third guardian always asks another guardian for the answer, a fourth guardian always flatters you and disregards what you are actually saying, a fifth guardian always lies, a sixth guardian always tells the truth, a seventh guardian will never reveal the answer, an eight guardian ignores you, a ninth guardian will kill himself if spoken to, and a tenth guardian will lead you to the correct path. Fourteen other guardians do not say anything.

You are given only one question to ask all other of the guardians. What question should you ask if you would like to reach your destination?

Mmkay · Accepted Answer

I think the answer to this might be the same as the answer to my riddle (City/Village) so I won't say just yet. I tried using it with each Guardian and out of the only four who actually point to a path (1,5,6,10), three of them would point to the correct one. That's the only way I came to it. But, that's assuming that the contradicting Guardian just says "The one before me is wrong" and doesn't actually point to a path and the seventh Guardian just stands there without saying anything (not revealing the answer). If those two actually say something then my answer doesn't work. Then again, I could be on the completely wrong path (haha, path). Let's see if anyone comes up with anything?

Anonymous · Answer

Step by step. Let's say you ask something that doesn't matter, like "how are you?"
1. Points to the correct path.
2. Contradicts the person before.
3. Asks another guardian how they are. Irrelevant.
4. Disregards the question. Irrelevant.
5. Lies about how they are? Irrelevant.
6. Tells you how they are. Irrelevant.
7. Will never tell you how they are. Irrelevant.
8. Ignores you. Irrelevant.
9. Kills himself. Irrelevant.
10. Depends if what he does is also despite the question.

If 10 acts without regard to the question then it doesn't matter what's asked, because only 2 could possibly give the wrong answer, depending on whether they're asked after 1 or 10, as opposed to the two right answers from 1 and 10.

If 10 will only give the correct path if asked, then let's ask.

1. Points to the correct path. +1
2. Contradicts the person before.
3. Asks another guardian. We can ignore it because we will already be asking all the others. Irrelevant.
4. Disregards the question. Irrelevant.
5. Lies about the correct path. -1
6. Tells the correct path. +1
7. Not sure how they go about not revealing the answer. It doesn't say that they give a wrong answer, so I don't see why we can assume they do. They just don't reveal the answer. Possibly irrelevant.
8. Ignores you. Irrelevant.
9. Kills himself. Irrelevant.
10. Points to the correct path. +1

Three to one. If 2 goes after 1, 6, or 10, then our count is three to two. If 7 gives a wrong answer we have three to three.

If that happens I say sit there til someone leave and follow them. Meh.

Twenty-four forks in the path.

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