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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: The Haunted Apiary (Let Op!) » The Haunted Apiary (Let Op!): Puzzles
[PUZZLE] Looking 'a little awry'
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Freelance
Boot


Joined: 02 Aug 2004
Posts: 61

 		If we think the green text is the princess, it seems to me this message that appears to be from margarrett about the varrao mites might be an attempt to slip a message past the queen to us. Hmmmm...

PostPosted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 2:49 pm
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Shad0
I Have No Life


Joined: 20 Jun 2004
Posts: 2180
Location: Southern California, USA

 		Re: a little awry
Freelance wrote:
If we think the green text is the princess, it seems to me this message that appears to be from margarrett about the varrao mites might be an attempt to slip a message past the queen to us. Hmmmm...

Trout I thought that once, too, until some clever folks pointed out that, according to Dana, the green "varrao mites" message (spelled that way) was always on the ILB web site, before it ever got corrupted. It still makes me wonder, though, whether the Sleeping Princess used that font because she wanted to call Margaret's original message to our attention for some reason. Dunno
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These were the puzzles that would take a day, these were puzzles that would take a week, and these puzzles they'd probably never figure out until we broke down and gave them the answers. ... The Cloudmakers solved all of these puzzles on the first day.

PostPosted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 3:18 pm
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subatomicsatan
Boot

Joined: 26 Jul 2004
Posts: 34
Location: in the space above the period at the end of this sentence.

 		Re: a little awry
Shad0 wrote:
the green "varrao mites" message (spelled that way) was always on the ILB web site, before it ever got corrupted.


so, is that a general rule here? that clues do not exist pre-AI occupation?

why misspell "varroa" if not to bring attention to it? (assuming, of course, it was just not an accidental misspelling)...

some anagrams of "varroa mites":

- i am over star
- AI armor vest
- AI star mover

probably means nothing.

do we only have dana's word to go on as to what was spelled in a certain way prior to AI occupancy?

PostPosted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 3:47 pm
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cedmond
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Joined: 26 Jul 2004
Posts: 112

 		her word and the screenshots in the blog that show how the site looked pre-occupation http://ilovebees.blogspot.com/2004/07/www_10898712253210927.html

PostPosted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 3:50 pm
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Shad0
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Joined: 20 Jun 2004
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 		Re: a little awry
subatomicsatan wrote:
Shad0 wrote:
the green "varrao mites" message (spelled that way) was always on the ILB web site, before it ever got corrupted.

so, is that a general rule here? that clues do not exist pre-AI occupation?

Not a bad question, actually. Here's my theory:

The fundamental basis of an excellent ARG is not just cool puzzles, but an excellent storyline with intriguing and sympathetic characters. Good PMs want their story to be internally consistent. In this story, Margaret and Dana were innocent bystanders until their homemade web site was invaded by what looks to be one or more artificial intelligences from the future. To be consistent, nothing that Dana or Margaret did before that point in time should be the key to solving a mystery that did not yet exist.
(Except, of course, to the extent that the pre-invasion site contents may have had something to do with why the AIs ended up on this site as opposed to any other, and all of the SPEC related thereto...)

Incidentally, this is also one of the reasons why brute-forcing is counter-productive. If we're meant to find something -- say, a hidden password or web site -- then we'll get a clue pointing us in that direction. For example, upon finding recipe1.html, recipe2.html, recipe4.html, and recipe5.html, it is legitimate to look for recipe3.html. Having been given links to pages with names like [url=http://www.ilovebees.com/surg.!store.primary.sector.mem.dmg.0.0.html]surg.!store.primary.sector.mem.dmg.0.0.html[/url], it is perfectly legitimate to try to find other pages with names that have been similarly constructed, based on the commands that SPDR uses. Writing a program to generate random web page names of up to sixteen letters and try to access http://www.ilovebees.com/<every-single-one-of-them>.html is not legitimate. If we're meant to find something, it will be part of the story.

Similarly, this is also why I don't think we're going to find Master Chief or Cortana in this game. In The Beast, for example, you could have played through the entire ARG without ever seeing the movie A.I. (Well, okay, the PMs hid a clue in the credits if I recall correctly, but without ever seeing the movie itself.) Because I expect this story to be similarly self-contained, I believe that the PMs are going to give us everything we need to know about the Haloverse right here; prior knowledge of Halo will be neither necessary nor particularly advantageous.

Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
_________________
These were the puzzles that would take a day, these were puzzles that would take a week, and these puzzles they'd probably never figure out until we broke down and gave them the answers. ... The Cloudmakers solved all of these puzzles on the first day.

PostPosted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 4:11 pm
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subatomicsatan
Boot

Joined: 26 Jul 2004
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Location: in the space above the period at the end of this sentence.

 		Re: a little awry
thanks for the response! makes sense to me.

Shad0 wrote:
The fundamental basis of an excellent ARG is not just cool puzzles, but an excellent storyline with intriguing and sympathetic characters. Good PMs want their story to be internally consistent. In this story, Margaret and Dana were innocent bystanders until their homemade web site was invaded by what looks to be one or more artificial intelligences from the future.


i may be making this more complicated than it is, but are we sure that the corruption occurred immediately upon AI-occupation? when dana took the screenshots of the original pages, perhaps the AI(s) were already there and had been making little changes as it (they) found its (their) footing...?

as i said, i am probably making it way too complicated. Wink

PostPosted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 4:38 pm
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Dorkmaster
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Joined: 27 Jul 2004
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 		Shad0... you're wrong.


Just kiddin. I agree with Shad0... I think this thing is just beginning to ramp up. Since Dana is gearing up for the 24th, and surprisingly (to me, at least) not tomorrow, I think the real explosions aren't happening 'til then. But tomorrow should prove interesting, to be sure. But the point is, that the PMs may even be taking things this slowly to (1) make certain everyone who wants to can follow along, even if they can't participate, (2) give all of us a feel what is to come (if even in shades), and (N) because this is just the beginning. In fact, everyone expecting external sites tomorrow.... I think that may not happen... in fact, I'm betting my virtual money on the fact that we're going to see interesting stuff on ILB and some really good hints and puzzles, but I think the point of all of that is going to be to show us what we've got in store... (and then on the 24th, all hell will break loose and we'll have puzzles exponentially, since we'll deal with other sites!) Ok, well that's my hope. Of course, I also hope to win the lottery, get rock-hard abs, and an early copy of Fable, but you know what they say: Hope in one hand and poop in the other, and which hand is more full, right? Rolling Eyes
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
(yeah, I played the poop card...)

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PostPosted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 5:44 pm
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Aelith
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Joined: 21 Jul 2004
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 		What looked awry?
Embarassed I appoligies for posting so late. One of the definitions for awry is 'askew' and I just remembered what we have all seen go askew:

Dana's Webcam.

I think the green text is Melissa talking to us and the monologues in black is undirected.

Oh well, just a midnight thought. Probably want make sence in the morning. night all.
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 10, 2004 12:58 am
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Aelith
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Joined: 21 Jul 2004
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 		awry
Good morning. I woke up with another thought. Here is the definition I'm working from.
adverb: away from the correct or expected course (Example: "Something has gone awry in our plans")
adverb: turned or twisted to one side (Example: "With his necktie twisted awry")

Laughing Looking from the inside out would be "away from the expeted course."
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 10, 2004 9:25 am
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Shad0
I Have No Life


Joined: 20 Jun 2004
Posts: 2180
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 		Re: What looked awry?
Aelith wrote:
Embarassed I appoligies for posting so late. One of the definitions for awry is 'askew' and I just remembered what we have all seen go askew:

Dana's Webcam.

I think the green text is Melissa talking to us and the monologues in black is undirected.

It's a thought, but based on the Operator's monologue, I don't see Melissa referring to Dana -- whom she views as the Assassin -- as an "innocent bystander."
_________________
These were the puzzles that would take a day, these were puzzles that would take a week, and these puzzles they'd probably never figure out until we broke down and gave them the answers. ... The Cloudmakers solved all of these puzzles on the first day.

PostPosted: Tue Aug 10, 2004 10:21 am
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Aelith
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Joined: 21 Jul 2004
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 		Maybe Melissia views herself as an innocent bystander----- lol.

And isn't the green text very close to the picture of the cat?

What I'm saying is IB is still a mystery. In fact the author of the green text may be someone who hasn't been introduced yet. Can't pin it down just now, but I got the impression that the Assassine was part of the problem from before the crash and Melissia was expecting to deal with it as soon as she could. That would explain her jumping to the conclusion (or not) that Dana is her enemy.
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 10, 2004 10:43 am
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