View topic - E-MAIL: Dale

unforum
a.r.g.b.b

Welcome!

New users, PLEASE read these forum guidelines. New posters, SEARCH before posting and read these rules before posting your killer new campaign. New players may also wish to peruse the ARG Player Tutorial.

All users must abide by the Terms of Service.

Website Restoration Project

This archiving project is a collaboration between Unfiction and Sean Stacey (SpaceBass), Brian Enigma (BrianEnigma), and Laura E. Hall (lehall) with
the Center for Immersive Arts.

Announcements

This is a static snapshot of the
Unfiction forums, as of
July 23, 2017.

This site is intended as an archive to chronicle the history of Alternate Reality Games.

Our Esteemed Contributors

The time now is Tue Nov 19, 2024 9:51 pm
All times are UTC - 4 (DST in action)

View posts in this forum since last visit
View unanswered posts in this forum

Calendar

Forum index » Archive » Archive: Chasing the Wish » CTW: Interaction

E-MAIL: Dale

Page 1 of 1 [7 Posts]

Author

Message

nukular
Kilroy

Joined: 25 Mar 2003
Posts: 1
Location: mass usa

E-MAIL: Dale

yesterday i sent Dale this e-mail

Quote:

have you gotten to the grid yet? if you have can you tell me how its going?

he replyed with this today

Quote:

Hi,
Dale here. Some people have written me worried that I wasn't online last night
like I said I might be in our chat a couple of nights ago. I just wanted to let
everyone know that I'm fine, I just got tied up with a couple of things and
didn't have a chance to finish the new pages I said I was working on, the ones
to give everyone access to some of the research I've been doing. I'm still
hoping to get that done and online as soon as possible but it's had to take a
back seat to a couple of more pressing concerns.

First of all, there seems to be something strange going on with the Ash Grove
Park website; I've been unable to access it in the last couple of days and my e-
mails have gone unanswered. Normally it wouldn't concern me but it just seems
awfully coincidental that it's happening at the same time that other people are
asking me questions about the park. Dr. Kendra just wrote me yesterday asking
me for information to contact the park because she's been unable so far to find
a working phone number, etc. Mayor Dobbs called me this morning asking the same
questions. It seems he's never heard of the place, either, even though he's
lived here all his life, and he's afraid people are going to be asking him
about it at his upcoming Press Conference. I really don't know what's going on,
but if I have to, I'll round everyone up and drive them out there. I need to go
ask some questions about Digitalis anyway. I have an appointment with Dr.
Kendra tomorrow, so hopefully we can clear everything up then.

The other thing that's been taking up my time is that damn second message from
the "guides" at mythosphere.org. Several people have e-mailed me saying that
they received the same e-mail but no one seems to have completely figured out
what to do with it yet. Luckily, I had a digital camera handy and got a shot of
the screen before the e-mail "self-destructed". Here's what I came up with:

3 7 8 9 8 26 16 5 5 16 5 26 14 17 2 16 22 27 14 24
16 22 3 14 12 5 15 8 0 13 5 3 7 0 3 2 7 16 18 7
16 22 5 14 12 26 7 3

3 24 23 8 10 1 14 23 16 0 18 24 25 0 1 11 14 16
5 8 11 22 24 16 24 1 23 10 14 1 23 7 24
22 25 24 0 23 24 10 23 14 9 23 7 20 1 22 10

After quite a bit of thinking, searching, and ciphering, I managed to deduce
that the numbers were actually two encoded messages, each encoded with a
slightly different encryption scheme. They both though, appear to be encrypted
with something called "clock arithmetic", where letters are encoded according
to numbers on a clock. What made it difficult is that these examples appear to
have been encoded using a 28 hour clock and then a separate "code number" as
well. The messages de-code as follows:

"the beginning of wisdom is to unlearn that which is nought" and
"let us not make random judgements on the greatest of things"

Some Googling turned up the source of these quotes - the first being from
Antisthenes and the second from Heraclitus. After a little exploration I found
webpages on the mythosphere site using these names each of which yielded one
half of some kind of pictograph image, which is basically a grid filled in with
dozens of different symbols. In the source code of each of these pages is
another string of encoded numbers but they don't appear to use the same "code
number" as the previous encoded messages from the e-mail. I believe that these
messages may be the key to understanding the message that must be in the
pictograph somewhere but I haven't had the time to run them through different
combinations to de-code them. Has anyone else had any luck with these? Here are
the encoded messages:

16 0 18 8 10 0 18 2 20 16 24 24 and
17 0 23 1 8 9 0 17 17 8 27 19

Let me know if you figure out what these say.

Finally, a couple of people have asked about the pictures from Wes' last "Devil
Hunt" that he's been promising to get posted on his webpage, especially of that
strange disc he found. I was supposed to go down to his shop yesterday to take
some pictures for him, because Sam has been so busy with other things, but Wes
called me a little while before I was due to go and said he had a last minute
appointment and asked me to wait until today. He said he would call sometime
this afternoon but nothing so far.

I'm going to try and be online tonight but no promises. I still have a ton of
catch-up work to do.

Thanks for your help,
Dale

well nothing new, but im going to watch the IRC

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2003 4:28 pm

kt
Kl00

Joined: 05 Dec 2002
Posts: 42
Location: Los Angeles

I got the same e-mail. Hopefully this will help the super-decrypting wizards a little with that grid. I am really not good at anything more complex than simple cryptograms such as you would find in a puzzle magazine.

--kt

feeling totally useless right now.

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2003 4:52 pm

dmax
Unfictologist

Joined: 09 Jan 2003
Posts: 1387
Location: Location: Location!

Received from Dale

Bulk mail. Here's the text:

Quote:

Hi,
I know you've probably been worried about me. Either that or really angry with
me. That's pretty much the mixture of e-mails and phone messages I've been
receiving.
And I honestly don't know what to say to you, no matter which one of either of
those choices applies to you.
By now, I'm sure you know what Dr. Kendra and I found when we drove out to Ash
Grove Park. If I hadn't been there with her, as we drove up to the place, if
she had gone there herself and called me with this same story, I would never
have believed it. I would have seriously believed she was the crazy one.
I don't know how to explain it. It was in the very same place, I swear to God,
where I had driven twice before. There was an amusement park there, not a
graveyard. I know it. I can still picture the rides, I can still almost smell
the carnival atmosphere. But it's not there. At least, not now.
But listen, there are these things, these physical things that just can't be
explained. You saw the website that was there and the "memory" videos that came
from there, didn't you? You may have even written to the webmaster. Many people
have told me they did and got not one, but several responses.
Responses talking about an amusement park, not a cemetery. And then there was
the ticket stub that the hospital had in my effects. Of course, somehow it's
conveniently disappeared but several of my new friends have sent me the picture
that the hospital had posted before someone else picked up my effects. How can
you or anyone explain that?
But no matter what, there's one unescapable fact. The park isn't there. Ask Dr.
Kendra. I'll never forget her face as we got out of the car and walked into the
deserted cemetery. Such a terrifying mixture of bitter disappointment and pure
anger from having a faith betrayed. And what could I say? Point to the tomb
that now stands where I swear a carousel once revolved gleefully amd say "It
was there, I swaer it?"
And so I'm left again with two devastatingly irreconcilable realities. With
just enough pieces of each one to make me doubt the veracity of the other, and
wonder exactly what it is I believe any more.
One thing I can't escape. I am still alone in a world where the two things that
mattered most to me, my wife and my daughter, have been taken from me, in one
way or another, because of something I did. And that's a burden I don't know if
I can bear much longer.
I swear to you I did not deceive you or anyone else deliberately. But I
honestly do not know how to prove that or anything else to you anymore. I'm
hoping I can convince Dr. Kendra to hypnotize me; she mentioned that as a
possible treatment alternative in one of our sessions at Klepsydra, but has
resisted it ever since when I have brought it up. She claims it's just too
unreliable for a lot of different reasons.
But for some reason, I'm convinced it may help in some way. I need to know
what's hidden in my mind. Somewhere, what really happened has to be in there,
if I can only access it somehow.
I'm running out of time, I know. The brothers can't have forgotten about me and
our little arrangement. They are bound to come calling soon.
And as each day passes, it seems harder and harder for me to remember the
details of what happened that day, that day when everything changed. It's as if
any trail that may be there is dissolving right before my eyes and I'm watching
my final hopes fade with it.
I can't sleep and I can't focus on anything. I will try and be in touch. I need
to go to my Synthasia office tomorrow and do some things; I haven't been there
since all this happened.
Thank you for your attempts to help me. And I'm truly sorry.
Dale Sprague

_________________
That sounds like something HITLER would say!

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2003 10:16 pm

Diandra
Unfettered

Joined: 27 Sep 2002
Posts: 390

Reassurance

Quote:

Diandra,

I've hesitated writing to you or anyone else, both for fear of involving anyone else in the danger I am in, and also out of just not knowing who to trust anymore. But each day I realize a little more that I can't do this alone and that there are people out there who have offered to help, like you. People who, despite all evidence that I am either a compulsive liar or worse, as crazy as the people around Aglaura seem to believe, still have stood by me and continued to try and help. I can't begin to tell you how much your belief in me means. It's really the only thing that has kept me going these last few weeks.

I also don't know how to tell you what it felt like to watch my home and the bulk of my possessions go up in flames. With a few exceptions, everything I had from Diana and Meaghan are now gone. One by one, the pieces of my past are being stripped away before my eyes. I am numb, hollow and empty. I wonder what force seems to motivate my body to go on, because I feel as if all my strength and will are gone.

I have been staying hidden for the last week, keeping my distance from Aglaura and anywhere else people may think to look for me. I've contacted very few people. But like I already said, I know that has to change. I feel as if I am somehow running out of time and that I somehow need to set everything right before I lose my final chance.

I need to get into my Synthasia office and access some files, personal belongings, and try to get some information online for you and others. I've been wary of going even close to there but I can't put it off any longer, so I'm going to try in the next couple of days. I promise I will be in touch once I get in there and get anything new posted.

One last thing before I have to go. I haven't heard back from the guides at mythosphere.org since I solved that second test they sent me. Their last message told me I needed to be ready to join them at a moment's notice. I know at least some of the people like you out there who have been helping me have also been in contact with the mythosphere. Has anyone else heard from them again? I'm afraid I may have somehow missed their next message because of being on the run, thinking that maybe the next contact might not be by e-mail, since I haven't gotten anything. Let me know if you or anyone else hears from them.

I'm really sorry I don't have time right now to answer many questions for you. A couple quick things I can tell you, though. Since Sal was stupid enough to send me that e-mail I'm not going to deny that the Marzano's are the ones trying to collect on the loan they made me. But, you need to understand this very clearly - they are not people you or anyone else should be messing with on my behalf. They are much too dangerous and unpredictable, at least the younger brothers. They will not hesitate to hurt you and the ones you love. But, they are not the only ones to be afraid of in this. Please only share this information with anyone you know you can trust.

Thanks again for all your help.
Dale

_________________
You can't solve vast puzzles with half-vast ideas!

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2003 9:46 pm

kt
Kl00

Joined: 05 Dec 2002
Posts: 42
Location: Los Angeles

Me too

I got the same e-mail from Dale. I replied with this:

Quote:

Dale,

Please be careful! I too feel that time is running out
and I know it is a narrow tightrope that you walk
between the known and unknown dangers out there and
your desire to set things right. I am lucky that I am
on the outside looking in because things are getting
scary for those who are caught up in the middle of all
of this.

Know that those of us out there are being very wary of
everyone, and also looking to each other for help and
support. There are several people who have heard from
the guides at mythosphere and from what we can tell,
people may be setting out on some different paths, led
by different guides. If there is anything you need to
know we will keep you apprised of it. In the meantime,
we will be looking out for sings or messages or
information from you and keeping our eyes and ears
open for what new riddles we can solve.

You have been amazingly strong throughout this string
of tragedies and those of us who know what you have
been through desperately want to see you come through
in one piece and in a position to gain some sort of
peace, or at least closure, if not happiness.

Once again, be careful! We will be waiting until it is
safe for you to communicate.

--katie

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2003 11:44 pm

Stevoid
Veteran

Joined: 15 Mar 2003
Posts: 91
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

From Diandra's mail...

Quote:

thinking that maybe the next contact might not be by e-mail, since I haven't gotten anything

A hint to be prepared for something new perhaps?

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2003 8:59 am

MrDoug
Veteran

Joined: 14 Nov 2002
Posts: 74
Location: On the Outside looking in

I had asked Dale for a copy of the police report prior to the house going boom. The 1st part of the e-mail was the same.

Quote:

I'm really sorry I don't have time right now to try and answer the many
questions your e-mail raised. A couple quick things I can tell you,
though.
I unfortunately don't have a copy of the Police Report any more; the
one copy I
had was in my house. I guess I could get another one but don't feel too
comfortable contacting any police right now. Also, I'm not sure if you
know
this yet or not, but Mayor Dobbs has assured me that the Police
probably won't
be prosecuting me for anything. By the way, please only share this
information
with anyone you know you can trust.
Thanks again for all your help.
Dale

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2003 10:43 am

Display posts from previous: Sort by:

Page 1 of 1 [7 Posts]

Forum index » Archive » Archive: Chasing the Wish » CTW: Interaction

Jump to:

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum
You cannot post calendar events in this forum