Welcome to UF, pip. We haven't really explored the connections, yet. If you'd like to do so, that'd be helpful. We don't really have much to compare as of now, but gathering background details for the game world is always useful.
It looks like one of the guys on WCF's board of directors, Calvin, plays a role in the Autumn Country story. He's the IT pro for WCF.
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:50 pm
pipakin
So, has anyone explored the http://www.autumncountry.net/ posibility? I had noticed some, interesting connections...
I am writing to you precisely because I have no idea who you are, and I must assume that you have even less of an idea who I am. I've had something odd happen to me and I could use a sounding board to try to work through some of it. It is the sort of thing that borders on the irrational, and, being a rational person myself, I don't think it would be a good idea to discuss it with my family or my usual circle of friends. I noticed the stack of books you had at the cafe (pretty eclectic; chess, cooking, romance novels?), and since I was sitting just behind you I overheard your conversation with your friends (pretty strange, but funny). You mentioned your new E-mail address to one of them, and I guess it just stuck in my memory (it was pretty easy to remember, being in a bookstore at the time).
emphasis mine. The rest of that part of the site seems strange, but gave me the impression that this fellow (the one being emailed) might want to contact people secretly...
though I could be way off.
This is my first post, btw
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:45 pm
mortality
Re: =)
surfzoned wrote:
P=paperback
H=hardback
I got that. But the Janissary Tree format is different from the others. The others follow "publishing format : author's initials : book code"
Janissary Tree has it listed "p : author's initials : P : book code" and the second "P" is the only one that's capitalized.
Reply from Ethan:
Quote:
Dear Mort,
Good morning. I remember hearing your screen name from a meeting that Christopher was in discussing the ARG folks as the types of people who might be able to bring a lot to experience to our project. I guess that was a good call.
Anyway, I see what you are getting at from your description below, but I have to wonder; do people really do these types of complex - I'm tempted to say 'crazy' - things in the codes and puzzles you guys work with? That just seems diabolical to me, but then I don't do ARG's. The first thing I thought when I saw that "2" was that this was page 2 and where the heck's page 1. It does make you wonder about that caret looking thing, though.
In thinking about what you are saying, and the type of message this appears to be, do you think it's possible that someone from the ARG community might have left this note for us? Is this the kind of thing that is common? Do you guys ever throw this stuff out into the real world just to see what happens? Man, it's a bunch to think about.
We'll check and see if we get a hit on any of what you provided. I'll post what we find on the site.
Thanks, it's really cool hearing from you all.
Ethan Grant
Associate Researcher
The Whitechapel Foundation
Meta: TIAG/TINAG... So, do we want to say we're just ARG players? Or do we want to act like real investigators who happen to spend their freetime playing ARGs?
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:30 pm
Rogi Ocnorb
the_velociraptor wrote:
Ocnorb, it's really bothering me.
WHAT is wrong with the pupil in your avatar? Is her eye melting or something?
It's a pigmenting condition of the iris that makes it appear the pupil is bleeding into the iris.
Follow the link in the avatar to get more info on her (Sorry the link isn't more readable).
She's been missing for over 200 days, now.
So many kids go missing with little or no hope of ever being reunited with their families.
If she's going to be found at this point it will likely be due to her distinctive right eye.
So getting the word out there via my avatar is my way of helping in the search for Madeleine.
I'm weird, that way. My only online commerce this past "Cyber Monday" was a Red Cross donation to the Southern California fires victims.
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 2:26 pm
surfzoned
=)
P=paperback
H=hardback
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 10:48 am
mortality
Upon further review, the words from the first solve seem correct. The question is what to do about the carat. If it indicates letters, then taking the 2nd letter from each word gets
Quote:
tHree; kIng; oNly; wAs; tHe; wIse
hinahi
No plausible anagrams.
If it's the 2nd letter from the end then we get
Quote:
thrEe; kiNg; onLy; wAs; tHe; wiSe
enlahs
Anagrams to
Quote:
Hansel
So maybe we need to go look for some breadcrumbs? A gingerbread house? An old witch?
Also: what's with the two Ps used in the Janissary Tree listing?
Sent an email to Ethan
Quote:
Dear Ethan,
My acquaintances and I received an invitation from Mr. Patel to explore your open cases. Petunia shared your most recent correspondence with us. We reviewed the letter and believe that the words we found are correct, but we are still not certain how the "^" and "2" affect the cipher. We think perhaps it indicates the 2nd letter, either from the front or back, of each word. The resulting letters would then form an anagram.
The two likely results are: "hinahi," which does not make any intelligible anagrams; and "enlahs," which can spell "Hansel."
That could mean the note is the first of a series of breadcrumbs, or we're looking for an old witch. Regardless, you may want to cross-reference anything in your records that has to do with the Hansel and Gretel story.
I look forward to seeing what you can find.
Best wishes,
Mort Kuolevaisuus
Freelance Investigator
Further, further review:
"hi nahi" could be Hindi. "nahi" means "not". "hi" has several meanings:
Quote:
1. laughter
2. shiva
3. water
4. zero
5. cypher
6. the sky
7. auspiciousness
8. knowledge
9. a horse
Found at wordanywhere.com
...Not Cypher?
Additional email:
Quote:
Dear Ethan,
I did some additional due diligence on the possibilities. It turns out "hi nahi" may be Hindi or Sanskrit. It hope it is not too presumptuous to assume that Mr. Patel would be familiar with one of those languages? It seems like a suspicious coincidence.
"Nahi" seems to mean "not" or "no."
"Hi" has several meanings:
1. laughter
2. shiva
3. water
4. zero
5. cypher
6. the sky
7. auspiciousness
8. knowledge
9. a horse
Lots of interesting possibilities. Please pass along any thoughts you or Mr. Patel may have.
Best wishes,
Mort Kuolevaisuus
Freelance Investigator
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:01 am
cyberus
I've got nothing. This is what I tried;
Assuming last notation connotates letter instead of word
Quote:
nhwhth
Subtract 2 from everything
Quote:
toward words one by names and
Strange as it seems, our first solve makes the most sense.
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:38 am
surfzoned
To Amazon we go! I hear the women are brutal.
Try Amazon.com's bookview (its the ones with the arrows over the graphics... BTW.. good work thinking outside the box.
/cheers
My list for works 2 lines up is
Quote:
so if some he vagueness with
and 2 words backwards is
Quote:
proceeding from perhaps his and his
and 2nd letter of each of the original words is
Quote:
hinahe
off to see the sandman.. see u guys in 8-16hrs
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:10 am
mortality
The first number might not be page. It could be chapter, or for Labyrinth, story number.
Also, since Labyrinth is listed twice, the words we get should probably already be in order, unless we have to make an anagram.
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 2:43 am
cyberus
the_velociraptor wrote:
Ocnorb, it's really bothering me.
WHAT is wrong with the pupil in your avatar? Is her eye melting or something?
AC was more like interactive fiction, I believe (a great model photographer showed me Tradecraft Journal, AKA Project Overwatch, which was also IF).
Anyway. Marketing for a book?
The wise king was only three what?
To continue Velociraptor's aside, I had a math teacher once who had eyes like that, except hers were a bright green with burning flecks of red in them, they made even a passing gaze seem almost contemptuous. She was also very hot.
Anyway, the way the email is worded seems like they want us to check our work. I don't know what sources everyone else used to get these words, but I can't find anything. I'd really like to try Surf's idea of using the word two lines up. Also, maybe it's just one word, and the last notation is the number of letters to count instead of words. We should try these and see if we can figure out a more sensible solution.
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 2:30 am
the_velociraptor
Ocnorb, it's really bothering me.
WHAT is wrong with the pupil in your avatar? Is her eye melting or something?
AC was more like interactive fiction, I believe (a great model photographer showed me Tradecraft Journal, AKA Project Overwatch, which was also IF).
Anyway. Marketing for a book?
The wise king was only three what?
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 2:08 am
petunia
reply from Ethan
Quote:
Dear P.
(I would assume Petunia, but the note below says 'Dear Sir', so I think I will
err on the side of caution).
This is really exciting. Frankly, I'm at a bit of a loss at hearing from
someone so quickly after our Open Cases project went live. The fact that you
and your acquaintances have found that the text of OC0701 (as we're calling it)
appears to be a cypher of some sort is something else altogether. Those of us at
the Foundation who saw the list just assumed that it was a reading list or
bibliography of some sort. We were hoping someone on the net might notice a
connection between the titles; but this is...well, I'm not sure what it is now.
Honestly, I'm not quite sure how to proceed with this new wrinkle. I'll need to
let my boss, Christopher Patel (looks like you may know him, from the message
below) know, just to make sure that the content you found doesn't ring any bells
with our archives.
By the way, how confident are you with your result? (I'd like to make sure that
we don't miss any important keywords in our search.) What was the key to deciphering the code?
Was it very easy? Could there be another facet to the key that could change this
word list? I agree that the words in the order that you initially note don't
make much sense. It seems reasonable that a different word order is needed, and
the one you mention is at least coherent. I guess the question at this point
is; does 'The wise king was only three' mean anything to you or your
acquaintances?
Sorry to run on with a bunch of questions, it's just that this is pretty
exciting. I haven't been with the Foundation for all that long, but from what
I've gathered so far we don't generally get cryptic messages like this. (We hear
about people getting cryptic messages from aliens and such, of course, but
that's different, since the causes usually turn out to not be very cryptic at
all.)
In the spirit of the project I'll post what you've found so that everyone can be
aware of what's going on. Maybe we'll get lucky and the words will mean something to someone. I'll also post any feedback from the Foundation.
I'll contact you directly if any questions come up that are specific to what you
have found.
Thanks very much for writing, and for your interest in the project. It's a
great sign to get feedback like this so soon.
Regards,
Ethan Grant
Associate Researcher
The Whitechapel Foundation
------------------------------------------------------
Hello Mr. Grant,
Some acquaintances of mine have been looking into the cryptic note that was left
at the Whitechapel offices. They think it is a book code, which when deciphered
reads:
three king only was the wise
Since this doesn't make much sense, it's been conjectured that the words may
need to be put in a different order to read, for example, "The wise king was
only three." Another possibility is that more words are needed.
Hope this helps.
p.
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 2:02 am
cyberus
BRB- calling the US one.
EDIT:: Just goes to a voicemail with the robot chick "You have reached the voice mailbox of 6468219793. Please leave a message after the tone.
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 12:35 am
surfzoned
=)
So what would you guys say if I mentioned that I think the notation
Quote:
^
2
means that the words we actually need are the words that are exactly 2 lines directly above the words we already have in the books the code refers to?
I'll bet you those Phone numbers will lead to a voicemail message. The info about who answers "might" be useful though.
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:20 pm
petunia
Ok, I emailed Ethan. Hopefully he'll reply soon. But yeah, I wouldn't be surprised to see them get another package either.
Hey, the main page has both US and UK phone #s. Anybody try them yet? ^^
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:50 pm
