unforum

[Shutaro]

[Twee]

We still don't have the picture from RavenWolfs postcard.. Maybe someone should try and get a hold of him/her?

[thebruce]

actually shaturo, in theory, it appears similar to code that would ensure that whatever the user entered, it would only be prepended and appended with one single \ rather than 2 or more (if they entered a backslash). I use similar code when asking someone for part of a url, to make sure it's still well-formed in the end. Though this code seems like pretty bad syntax and doesn't quite accomplish that goal... it would be nice if every postcard had a different code snippet like the drawing on the back, but that doesn't seem to be the case


On a differenet puzzle...
We can tell with the hexes that the 3 central hexes are a code, determined by the content of the surrounding hexes...
lay out like this for the following points:

[Shutaro]

[talusren]

Ok, I am playing catch up right now so not to sure what is going on. Will have to read a lot more tonight when I get home from work. Anyways here is what I do know. I received a post card yesterday, same as the one shown on page 7. Only difference is the picture on the back from what I can tell right now. Post card is at home, so will have to post it later. On the back is a picture of a book from what I can tell. It looks like it has a clasp on it.

Behind on everything since I moved last may and where ever they got my information I forgot to update it. So my post card was forwarded to my new address. Have not received any emails, but this is likely since I had to switch from cox to time warner for my internet/email service. Post card was post dated Oct 9th I believe. Again I will post it later with a picture.

[thebruce]

thanks talusren... if you could also post a fairly high resolution scan of the front of the postcard, that would be very very helpful... ie, larger than 1500x1000 - just to get a better image of the small text appearing in the hexes.

[Rekidk]

I'm afraid I can't be much help on the postcards, but AWESOME JOB on that solve with the R-Type stuff, thebruce!

Okay, speculation time:

I think that the [system] being referred to in the chat conversation is the thing sending us these postcards and emails; in other words, I think that [system]=jumpingspider. After all, I think we can safely assume that both the emails and the postcards are coming from jumpingspider: look at the little spider icon on the postcards.

This is a little farther of a stretch, but maybe the [system] is the thing replacing words with the bracketed materials. Something about the way it's been said to be an expert on [pop culture] just gives me that impression. I dunno.

Which leads me to my next bit of speculation...

The cyan spider in Email 7 (the first 'journal' email) and its way of 'watching' or 'observing' humans seems to be behavior similar to that of jumpingspider. JumpingSpider has (I think) sent us all these things, yet he himself has yet to appear in the story. He is simply watching and observing with curiosity. Could the cyan spider be symbolic of jumpingspider?

Further evidence of the 'jumpingspider' being related to the cyan spiders can be found in Email 8:

[thebruce]

I'm certain there is just one more email. The core dump conversation is left with one more 'column' to complete the text, and there's one more part to make 3 portions of the 3rd book (again - 3 books in Randibone, each broken into 3 segments/emails).

Based on the fact that it's the last column we're waiting for, we can assume that the words won't use up perfectly the 9 character length, given word wrapping... so, my spec on the final conversation is as follows (the remaining blocks in ( ) ):

[jamesi]

Hey all... Got a package of postcards today, postmarked October 9. There are 30 cards in all, with 12 having hand-drawn markings. Scans to come later tonight.

Oddly, the return address was for Unfiction, which had me ondering why Spacely was sending me a fat pack of postcards.

[thebruce]

jamesi, nice! I think this may end up being bigger than it seems right now...

looking forward to the scans.
(as long as we get at least one super-high-res scan of the card's front from someone )

[Daveman424]

Oh good. I was wondering what would happen if people threw away postcards without posting them here. Looks like we got a full set now

And I've been around here reading along. Everyone just seems to be posting things faster than I could, so I've been quiet. Looks like the rabbit hole's about to actually open up, soon as we get this last email. And solve the postcard mystery.

[jamesi]

All the scans (excuse my crappy scanner), in no particular order or orientation.

[thebruce]

yeah, 9 unique depictions, likely each connected to a book fragment / email.

wikifying now...

[NashCarey]

These drawings are very much like someone I know very well and have just been lurking this game since I got the trailhead. I just want to say, if my suspicions are correct, you all are in for a hell of a game. This PM usually runs a pregame with a lot of buzz and media forms while he/she is putting on the final touches! I will watch from a distance just to see if my feelings are right.

[vidstudent]