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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: General » ARG: Project Gateway
[UPDATE] New cells unlocked 17th Sept
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sequoya
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Joined: 27 Jul 2004
Posts: 548
Location: Land of haggis, kilts, neds and Irn-Bru

 		[UPDATE] New cells unlocked 17th Sept
2 cells unlocked today, as mentioned by BlackLotus, but I think it deserves it's own topic..

Slash:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):

Slash gives us decoder..what code does this decode? Will it be used for a future puzzle perhaps?

In the source..

//Vargus: That would be hilarious! He would be so pissed. But that's what he gets for kicking me when I
//said his laptop looked like a piece of crap.
//McGaffey: We should make a message using that ring and give it to the programmer and make him decode it
//without the ring. *laughter*
//Vargus: Yeah. Oh, look, a decoder ring! Man, I can't believe they still put these in boxes.
//Vargus: You know, it's been years since I had Cracker Jacks.
//McGaffey: Yeah? So how they taste now?
//McGaffey: No shit! They actually refilled it for once! Thank the MP!
//Vargus: Like crap, the same taste they had years ago.
//McGaffey: Where did you get those anyway?
//Vargus: In the snack machine.


CrossedSignal: (did I miss how Varin unlocked this? *confusion*)
Spoiler (Rollover to View):

A picture with some hidden text which needs looking into.. BlackLotus got the first part - "starring Adam and Eve and the creation of the world" but there is definitely more underneath that.

The text underneath:
Now, what is this image doing, exactly? There's there real question, now isn't it?

From your friend,

Stefen Roberts Hahaha! Laughing A different spelling again <3

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--seq

PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 3:02 am
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5th Earth
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Joined: 21 Aug 2004
Posts: 112
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
I've done some image processing to try and get the text underneath. There's been so much noise added parts are totally obliterated, so unless the noise was algorithmically generated and can be subtracted, it's hopeless to recover it all. What I've got so far:

(Pro)g(ram)mer(?)'s Journal: May 10, 2004

???, letus[sic] go back to basics.

I was sitting in my car on top of the mountain. I was with my girlfrien(d) when they came for me. We were... well... doing what (y)ou do at night, in a car, on a mountain... then the guns came down.

We were both captured, my girlfriend and I.

After that, well, I was drugged up. god, the last thing I saw was (a) he(li)co(pter) I ended up being put in a cell here in this military base.

And then, Sh(a)down came (to me)

Letters in parenthesis are educated guesswork, question marks are totally obscure and I'm not sure. I've attached my processed version for verification, but it'll give you a headache.

_________________
It seemed like a good idea at the time.

PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 4:08 am
Last edited by 5th Earth on Fri Sep 17, 2004 5:00 am; edited 1 time in total
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sequoya
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Joined: 27 Jul 2004
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Location: Land of haggis, kilts, neds and Irn-Bru

 		Fabulous 5thEarth, well done. /me claps rapturously

I've been mucking about with it for a wee while with absolutely no luck, and I was getting a headache, so I'm very pleased Very Happy

I agree with your interpretation of the unclear letters.

I wonder, is the fact that there are butterflies here and butterflies on Emily's site significant?
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--seq

PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 4:15 am
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sequoya
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Joined: 27 Jul 2004
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Location: Land of haggis, kilts, neds and Irn-Bru

 		Decoder
EDIT : Sorry, I was wrong before..

the Encoder uses a numerical key to encode/decode text.

if you put in 'hello' and '1' for the key it encodes to 'ifmmp' ie simply uses ROT-1.

I'm just trying to work out whether using a long numerical string does anything different.

EDIT 2 - Yep, it seems just to keep on going round the ROT cycle, nothing complicated.
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 4:21 am
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5th Earth
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Joined: 21 Aug 2004
Posts: 112

 		By the way, The image was so garbage-filled I thought there might be something in there, so just to make sure, I made a quick check in notepad for messages in the binary. I didn't see anything obvious, though. Somebody with more expertise than I would have to check it for stegging.

Now that you mention it, the butterflies do look similar. There's another connection I mentioned earlier also--there are 32 cells, and her website is 32nd Notes, and dieforgov mentions Project 32.

(as a side joke, "hello" is exactly what I typed into the encoder too!)
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 5:09 am
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sequoya
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Joined: 27 Jul 2004
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Location: Land of haggis, kilts, neds and Irn-Bru

 		That's odd - we (by we I mean all active players) were just sent an email with the butterfly picture in it too.. looks exactly the same as the one we have been discussing to me.

Perhaps this is to catch the new guys up?

Text is simply

Quote:

Command Prompt: PRINT,

"Pretty pretty butterflies!"

---End Message---

Command Prompt: Disconnect............ done.

---Line Disconnected---


Re: hello - Great minds think alike, 5th Earth Wink
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 10:10 am
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Dorkmaster
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Joined: 27 Jul 2004
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 		Great job, Varin and once more, sequoya for unlocking those two new cells!

Ok, well now, with the new update on the key description page, I NOW finally will get to use my key (but I won't have internet until monday, so I'll have to wait until then to see the fruits of my efforts, cuz of the need to wait until midnight. Crying or Very sad Lemme know if there's something really cool! (like you'd keep it to yourselves anyway. Wink )

Anyway, the emotion.key (for cell 3227) has been attached to an email to gatewaykeyholeSPLAThotmail.com. We'll see what's up then...

I do find it interesting, that Varin's keyhole required another emotion.key. Sequoya, what were your two keys named? (I AM ___.)
_________________
"The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet." -William Gibson
"Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it." - PJ O'Rourke
"ACADEMY, n. A modern school where football is taught." - Ambrose Bierce

PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:09 am
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sequoya
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Location: Land of haggis, kilts, neds and Irn-Bru

 		All the credit for that last one should go to Stormalong, he found it, but I had to send it in as he was banned..

My two were named strike.key and slash.key.

Why is yours called emotion.key? I think I'm confused about this base element thing, I just went for whatever it seemed logical to call it.. and I'm still trying to work out which key Varin's is.

Cooooeeee, Varin!
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--seq

PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:14 am
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Dorkmaster
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 		Well, here's my key. I think by reading it, you'll see why I've called it the emotion.key.

Code:
/----------------------\
|                       |
|  I am emotion.        |
|  I am the human       |\_______________________________
|  mind percieved.      |                                \
|  Use me, and you      |                                 \
|  shall unlock         |________________________________ /
|  true understanding.  | ____    _       __   ___      _/
|                       |/    \  / \     /  \_/   \    /
|                       |      \/   \   /          \  /
|     Gate#3227         |            \_/            \/
\-----------------------/

_________________
"The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet." -William Gibson
"Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it." - PJ O'Rourke
"ACADEMY, n. A modern school where football is taught." - Ambrose Bierce

PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:25 am
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sequoya
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Joined: 27 Jul 2004
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 		Ah, I see. In that case, I have not sent them in with the "correct" names according to this new rule - but they have taken them anyway.

For instance, my strike.key should have been connector.key or theconnector.key as the sentence was "I am the connector".

EDIT - is it possible that *gasp* they might have made an error with Varin's key, and it should be the next cell down, the Cryocutter one that you have been trying? that would explain why it was also called emotion.key... not that I'm doubting our PM's or anything... Wink
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:42 am
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Dorkmaster
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 		I haven't seen Varin's key *cough* so I really couldn't *cough* say. Laughing
_________________
"The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet." -William Gibson
"Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it." - PJ O'Rourke
"ACADEMY, n. A modern school where football is taught." - Ambrose Bierce

PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:48 am
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gadoo
Greenhorn

Joined: 18 Sep 2004
Posts: 8

 		for 5th earth's thing, I think the questionmarked area is "ok",


nothing important...but I was curious Confused

PostPosted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 4:04 am
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Alzheimers
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Joined: 02 Aug 2004
Posts: 339

 		Here's my attempt to filter out the hidden text:


Spoiler (Rollover to View):

There are two layers of hidden text. One is a lightened area that says "Starring Adam and Eve and the Creation of the World". The second reads:

Programmer's Journal: May 10th, 2004

Ok, Letus get back to basics:

I was sitting in my car at the top of the mountain. I was with my girlfriend
when they came for me. We were, well, doing what you do at night, on the top of a mountain, in a car. Then the guns came down.

We were both captured, my girlfriend and I.

After that, well, I was drugged up and the last thing I saw was a heli (copter?).
I ended up being put in a cell here in this military base.

And then shadown came for me.



Yes, I know this was mostly posted above already. I think my version might be a bit more readable, and confirms the entire message.

edit: I don't mean to take anything away from 5th Earth's or anyone else's efforts. If I hadn't seen the first "improved" image, I never would have thought to try myself. I just happened to get lucky with a few Photoshop filters, so parts that were unreadable before are now more visible. Still, it's not my find and I take only the credit of finishing the work others had already done.
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 10:44 am
Last edited by Alzheimers on Wed Sep 22, 2004 9:45 am; edited 2 times in total
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sequoya
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 		Great work Alzheimers, that is a very easily readable version and I'd say makes it fairly definitive that we have the right text.

Now all we need to do is figure out what the image is doing.
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 10:59 am
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5th Earth
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 		Well, obscuring, or hiding, or camouflaging... By that line of reasoning we've already figured it out sine we got illusion.key.
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 9:14 pm
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