DAYS 1-2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 5 | DAY 6
Hello, CodeHunters!
Today was another fun-filled day of clue hunting! The day started off bright and early at Sri-Valley Public Library in Hegins, Pennsylvania, where three hunters (Nai, Rose, and Fando) had met up to find the clue.
Using the call number 366CM, hunters located the book they needed to find, discovering that it was in fact hollow and contained the pieces of a 3D puzzle as well as a few bound journal pages, encoded in dice cipher.
Page 1 – “In 44 pieces is the puzzle you seek, give it to the librarian whose day looks quite bleak. The puzzle when completed should not be consumed. No seriously, please don’t. It’s a choking hazard”
Page 2 – “I heard that when someone is given a gift, they will show kindness back. I wonder, perhaps that also applies to bookkeepers.”
Page 6 – “Secret societies” (upside down)
Page 8 – “Dear diary, today as I was doing my typical rout-/Ack- wrong book again!”
Page 11 – “Hello darkness my old friend. I’ve come to talk with you again.” The bottom of the page is just more lyrics to the song.
Page 12 – “Listen, do NOT leave near any flammable. Warning! Warning! Warning!”
The completed 3D puzzle—a rose—was then given to a librarian, and in exchange, hunters were gifted a puzzle box that they had to solve by moving a ball through a maze and into the hole.
Nai’s stream: https://www.pscp.tv/_PLP_/1rmxPNVbWWdGN
Fando’s stream: https://www.pscp.tv/w/1nAKEQoDoBXKL
Rose’s streams: https://www.pscp.tv/McRareCharge/1djGXnyYmRvxZ
https://www.pscp.tv/w/1lDGLXwNODyGm
Inside the puzzle box were more coded pages, this time written in pigpen cipher:
“With the last piece from this library, you’ll find your stay no longer mandatory. Crack the code and continue the chase. Why is my handwriting always such a pigsty?”
“Sometimes things are more than they first appear to be. Some words paint a BIG picture, others make up the little details. Maybe that is what makes it easier to find the missing link?”
As well as a link to a google drive folder:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bRC3w7x0YAY5mTStb5RoG2HonMvLenFq
The drive was titled “Mystery???” and contained a .wav sound file with the name “tinyurl url goes here”)
Hunters were quickly able to piece together the tinyurl link: http://tinyurl.com/urlgoeshere
This link led to an imgur link with a picture of a map and a green line
After that, they set about tackling the audio file.
With some trial and error along the way, they were able to figure out that the music in the file used 26 notes: one for each letter of the alphabet. They transcribed the notes and obtained a riddle poem to lead them to the next clue (shoutout to user Macmania22 who listened to and decoded the whole thing)!
Your journey begins at the end
Apparently, rocks are a fisherman’s friend
Beneath the large rock is something that’s not
Why aren’t there any fish here
Nriznrxsr
“Nriznrxsr” decoded to “Miramichi” using Atbash.
Comparing this to the map, hunters determined that the next clue was in Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada, along a hiking trail called the Fish Quarry!
Once the location was confirmed, Fait once again popped into the chat, offering to meet the local hunter, Bun, there.
Periscope stream: https://www.pscp.tv/Yroo_Xrksvi/1BdxYobPDaDGX
The clue was found under some big rocks along the hiking trail: a crumbled note with a link to a video—a very cute video of polar bears! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbdopIzESCg
Upon further inspection, they discovered another clue written on the back in black light: whepj://evimt.uzoxmi.cfb/rcimf/y/0/ffarprj/1_Up43W9Lbb3jPBx1mBPYvfcRpHroQ
They decoded the vigenere cipher using the key “polar bear” (in reference to the video that the first link led to) and found……….another google drive!
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1_Tl43W9Umn3yPKw1iBYJhucAoDrxBjaC
This marked the beginning of what was dubbed ‘Folder Hell’!
The drive was full of countless folders upon folders upon folders, and hunters realized that they would have to find the correct path through the folders in order to find the clue at the end.
When hunters started going through the folders, they quickly realized that the folders’ titles were the opening lines of the Bee Movie script. After that, things started to get confusing.
The first page contains 26 folders, which decipher into part of the Bee Movie script using varying shifts of the Caesar cipher. The number of the shift correlates to the folder which must be opened next. In order, the numbers of the folders spell out “open the folder at the end of the title”.
When they reach the end of that folder chain, they then find an audio file, which has numbers being spoken over some background music. The numbers are reversed ASCII and turned out to be a red herring.
Following the folders that spell out “the title,” they came across another audio file, titled “clean,” which seemed to be the music that was played under the numbers in the previous audio file, as well as a message which gives a vigenere key. The audio is in binary, with one note marking a 0 and a second note marking a 1. Much to the dismay of our hunters, this audio binary cannot be transcribed using programs and must be done by hand.
Though they’ve been at it for hours, our intrepid hunters are not deterred, slowly but surely making progress in decoding the binary!
In addition to this, a password locked PDF was found by following the folders that spell out “what is my name?” However, hunt organizers informed everyone that this particular path couldn’t be completed as of yet, and would have to be returned to later in the hunt.
As it stands, hunters are still sorting through the maze that is Folder Hell.
Hunters, please remember to not work too hard, and get plenty of food, water, and rest! You can’t properly hunt if you don’t take care of you!
Happy Hunting! x
Codemageddon 