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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: General » ARG: Strange Dreams Pt. 1 & 2
[HARBINGERS][TRAILHEAD] Card Sent to ARGN
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enaxor
I Have No Life

Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Posts: 2395
Ehsan wrote:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):


Pitcher
Catcher
First Base
Second Base
etc...

Not my favorite pastime though..

baseball




Doh, one of my daughters plays college softball and look at those abbreviations all the time.
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10/05/2007, 04/23/2009, 07/02/2015
The world is a much dimmer place.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 4:47 pm
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step
Veteran


Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 119
Location: Boston-ish

 		Nice solve Ehsan!

So, on the next one we have:
- a title of "what a pretty machine"
- an 11x8 grid of colours.
- the grid is symmetrical with Red swapped with Blue, Cyan with Yellow

Now, where to go from here..... Confused
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Every step 3 brings with it new perspectives.
[Synagoga Nick: Puppy, Team Tollin, CoD: Stephen7]

PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 5:24 pm
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Nadif
Unfettered


Joined: 20 Jan 2005
Posts: 318
Location: Brazil

 		Maybe we should work on the hex codes? All the colours are basic shades, so the codes are made only by f and 0. Talking about that, the only basic colour (i.e. with hex code made only by f and 0) not used in the grid is #FF00FF, which is Magenta (sometimes also called Fuchsia).
Another possibility: the grid is symmetrical, but while some colours (white, black and green) remain the same on both sides, others change (red>blue, cyan>yellow, as you said).
Finally, the fact that the background itself is in the same shade of yellow used in the grid may have a meaning.

M.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 5:52 pm
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catherwood
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee

Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 4109
Location: Silicon Valley, CA

 		We've made some progress in chat. The page with all the color boxes invites you to look at the hex codes in the source:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
I took all of the f's and made them X's to make them stand out, and reduces all of the 0's to simple dots. The first row of the table becomes this in the source code:
-----------
.XXXX.
......
.XXXXX
XXXXXX
XXXXXX
XXXX..
......
XXXX..
-----------
After doing that for all of the rows, i spread them out in a text file and saw a pattern, like with ASCII art (which looks better in a mono-spaced code block, but it wouldn't be spoilered):

.XXXX. ...... .XXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXX XXXX.. ...... XXXX..
.XXXXX ...... .XXX.. ....XX X..... .XXX.. .....X XXXX..
.XXXXX X..... .XXX.. ....XX X..... .XXX.. ....XX XXXX..
.XXX.X XX.... .XXX.. ....XX X..... .XXX.. ...XXX .XXX..
.XXX.. XXX... .XXX.. ....XX X..... .XXX.. ..XXX. .XXX..
.XXX.. .XXX.. .XXX.. ....XX X..... .XXX.. .XXX.. .XXX..
.XXX.. ..XXX. .XXX.. ....XX X..... .XXX.. XXX... .XXX..
.XXX.. ...XXX .XXX.. ....XX X..... .XXX.X XX.... .XXX..
.XXX.. ....XX XXXX.. ....XX X..... .XXXXX X..... .XXX..
.XXX.. .....X XXXX.. ....XX X..... .XXXXX ...... .XXX..
.XXX.. ...... XXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXX. ...... .XXX..

Looks like a big NIN with a backwards 2nd N, like the Nine Inch Nails band logo.

And thus the next page is:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
http://206.41.121.176/nin/

Don't overthink this next one....

PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 6:24 pm
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catherwood
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee

Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 4109
Location: Silicon Valley, CA

 		Big green page, pictures that come and go...
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
and the title is "here today, gone tomorrow". Nine kitty cats -- if you roll around the page enough, you can get them all to stick as visible -- and they're all asleep -- or are they dead? Hmm, 9 of them, hmm...
Thanks to Kender and j5
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
<johnny-fiv3> ninelives I guess is the theme
I tried /lives/ and it worked!
http://206.41.121.176/lives/


PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 6:48 pm
Last edited by catherwood on Sun Mar 13, 2005 7:02 pm; edited 1 time in total
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catherwood
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee

Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 4109
Location: Silicon Valley, CA

 		Big blue screen and a spreadsheet...
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
The title is "Classical Results", which we quickly brainstormed:
<johnny-fiv3> music?
Also noting the name of the image is "dw-a2-s1.gif", we pondered
<catherwood> opera, act 2, scene 1, maybe?
Looking for more riffs on the theme of NINE, we dismissed Beethoven's 9th symphony, but it inspired us to start humming along with the graph as if it represented a musical staff of notes. Maybe a classical composer with the initials DW...

Several of us in chat converged on the answer...
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Can you name that tune? Sounds a lot like "Kill the Wabbit"... Wasn't there a Wagner opera with that song, Flight of the somethings? Yep, you can hear it in your head now, and it was confirmed:
<InSoMnIaC> it's valkyries.
I haven't gone back to confirm the act/scene and intials, but let's run with it:
http://206.41.121.176/valkyries/


PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 7:00 pm
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catherwood
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee

Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 4109
Location: Silicon Valley, CA

 		Now we're on a deep magenta screen -- say, should we have been paying attention to the background colors all this time? We're nearing the end of the rainbow, folks. Collaboration in the chat room has given us this much so far:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
johnny-fiv3 started the chains,
InSoMnIaC and Sin_Vraal got more text,
catherwood got the lyrics,
Kender spouted some Grimm stuff to go with the title "a grimm fate".

The word search has the word CHAIN in the lower left corner, and the following chains can be made:

Feel the heat pushing you to decide
Feel the heat burning you up
I am the sense in all of your tears
I am the reason of all your fears

It turns out that these are pairs of lyrics from two songs:
"Some Like it Hot" by Power Station, and
"Some Like it Cold" by Xandria (and Duran Duran, as Puppy pointed out to me)

Sin_Vraal made the connection to the old nursery rhyme:
"Pease Porridge Hot,
Pease Porridge Cold,
Pease Porridge in the pot,
Nine days old."
That would be a great connection to our theme of NINE.

Porridge is also eaten in a fairy tale published by the Brothers Grimm, that classic of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears". Hey, some of them like it hot, some of them like it cold, and some of them like it...
"just right".

Darn. That didn't work as an answer. Surely we're close...

Edit, with later progress
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
<Sin_Vraal> so porridge, peas porridge, and various hundred other spellings i couldn't make work
...
time passes
...
<Kitch> http://206.41.121.176/pease/ would this be it?

Doh!

PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 7:22 pm
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Ashurbanipal
Greenhorn

Joined: 10 Mar 2005
Posts: 5

 		Next Screen, purplish background with the scary dude.
Spoiler (Rollover to View):

the gibberish comment at the far bottom of the source code screen was sussed out:

from #harbingers chat room ----
<Kender> base64?
<Puppy> seti -but that leads nowhere
<j5|yard> the ship was the nostromo, is that nine in some language?
<Kender> birthdays.txt


the gibberish was decoded from base64 and we ended up with some yenc encryption. After unsuccesful attempts to decode this, it was noticed that there were words amongst the nonsense:

#harbingers ---
<Kender> there are 'emissary' and 'january' in the base64 decoded text


So we're left with several clues - "birthday", "emissary", "january" , and general obsession with the number 9, and a certain Mr. ROTH fascinated with pop culture.

#harbingers ---
<Puppy> so birthdays emissary january - image of an alien? - an interstellar communication? - 9....where does that lead
<Ashurbanipal> deepspace
<Puppy> woooo!!!
<Kender> how the hell?!?!
<Puppy> star trek deep space 9


the 1st episode (birthday) of Deep Space Nine being 'emissary', airing in January.

http://vagabondssojourn.net/deepspace/


PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 9:20 pm
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Ashurbanipal
Greenhorn

Joined: 10 Mar 2005
Posts: 5
Spoiler (Rollover to View):

last, white page "vagabondssojourn.net/deepspace". has a gif with text that can't be read until you play with the contrast.

The text is a poem, referencing music and Olympic gods.

From some webpage I can't remember:

"Muses, in Greek mythology, were the nine daughters of the god Zeus and Mnemosyne,
the goddess of memory. The Muses were believed to inspire not only poets, but
all artist"

The key word being nine, our theme.

http://vagabondssojourn.net/muses/


PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 9:44 pm
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darkphan
Veteran

Joined: 01 Aug 2004
Posts: 113
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
View the source, and you have the following:

If you believe yourself worthy, you must pass the final test.
Nyrk zj kyv rejnvi kf kyv lerjbvu hlvjkzfe?
iiteowah nb ietiosal qsg vrx

Rot-9 it says:

What is the answer to the unasked question? rrcnxfjq wk rncrxbju zbp eag

The text has change to the following now:

If you believe yourself worthy, you must pass the final test.
Nyrk zj kyv rejnvi kf kyv lerjbvu hlvjkzfe?
jejhbbietiosalfwbrbyevqsgvrxftnwukueytrrtmfpnau



PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 9:49 pm
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statingfrequency
Boot


Joined: 16 Feb 2005
Posts: 12
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Using a vigenere decipher with 'nine' as the key, it comes out as:

aqegmbxuijrfanvgsclrywefonhdynwgmxr*
wwwdotvagabondssojourndotnetslashchallengeslash


http://www.vagabondssojourn.net/challenge/



PostPosted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 1:07 am
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Ehsan
Entrenched

Joined: 09 May 2003
Posts: 992

 		This just keeps getting weirder and weirder!

The new website presents a new theme change.. I don't see any relationship between the postcards, vs.net, and astrostole.com...

Nightmares? Sinatra? Manacled Head??!?!?

Confused

PostPosted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 8:30 am
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rose
...and then Magic happens


Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Posts: 4117

 		nothing fits here
And nothing about the emails seems to relate either. Several people registered at the site so I guess we will see if we get emails back.

I thought perhaps this was in relation to another "game" or story, maybe one that ended before it's scheduled time. But I thought they emailed Steve that it was new.

I don't have any more time to spend on this, so this seems like a good place to stop.

Edit: but i did wonder about a possible correlation to the colors of the squares on the challenge page and the color of the writing of the different sections on the astrostole page. here:

http://206.41.121.110/

Do all of those names seem like anagrams?

You guys know that astrostoles are seven armed star fish right?

Heh, I said I am going to stop, so I am.

I hope you guys have a bunch of fun with this one. Very Happy

PostPosted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 9:16 am
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enaxor
I Have No Life

Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Posts: 2395

 		I sent an email this morning to vs faery:

Quote:

<enaxor wrote:
> We have done what you asked and followed the trail. We've gone from
> nine planets to seven arms. Now what?


vsfaery wrote:
Quote:
So you have found the true purpose behind the Trials. Do not doubt
that it all had a purpose. The Trials were a necessary part of the
path -- so that you would not take our request lightly. Only by
overcoming the obsticles set before you, could we hope to entrust you
with our task.

He was once a strong and influential force, but the time of His power
wanes. Even with means beyond those of others, He is unable to
directly assist those who need His help the most. So, as He has done
in the past, He has sought the means to which our allies may be aided.

This does not mean our chapter in this saga is over. Rather, it is
the unveiling of the next path for which the Trials have prepared you.
Our duty remains, and we will assist in whatever ways we find
possible.

Those who now call themselves Astrostole are in grave peril. Forces
are at work that threaten the very ideals we hold sacred: knowledge,
truth, and free will. Should we lose this battle, the cost would be
severe indeed. With your help, and those who stand with you, we can
turn back this assault against our very souls.

..vs_faery..



Rose, Marrec and I were talking about the seven armed seastar in chat last night. He mentioned that the graphic at www.astrostole.com resembles the seastar and it certainly explains the title "Cut us and we regrow...." since starfish have the ability to regenerate their arms.
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10/05/2007, 04/23/2009, 07/02/2015
The world is a much dimmer place.

PostPosted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 11:32 am
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Tiny
Unfettered


Joined: 04 Jan 2005
Posts: 502
Location: Cincy, OH or there abouts!

 		Did I miss something? I don't understand where the new site came from, but if you go through on the challenge page and click each of the colors you finally get to a page where you are supposed to submit your email addy as well as a description of a nightmare. It's for a program called "Chimerastil", creepy
Tj-
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But I, being poor, have only my dreams.
I spread my dreams at your feet.
Tread Softly, For you tread on my dreams.
--
Current Arg's: Rookery Tower
Gamertag: DanteThePoet


PostPosted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 11:57 am
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