+ CLUE POST +

[vitaelamorte]

Come on, guys. It's not an Eway party without puzzles.


Here's how it's going to work! Your characters have received invitations to four different parties that will be spread out over the course of the event. Each party log will contain a clue that will be the beginning to one of FOUR puzzle paths, leading to FOUR possible outcomes, including:

• Two routes that lead to who it was that invited everyone to Wonderland, given out in two different ways.


• One route that does not give the answer, but does reveal some interesting Background Information about Wonderland.


• And one route that is a red herring route that does not lead to anything useful at all.

We are NOT telling you which route is which, so you're just going to have to solve them all and find out for yourselves when you get to the end! Each route has 3 steps (except for the last route, which has 4) and will work like this:

ICLY: Your characters will find clues and attempt to solve them! Clues will regenerate after five minutes, so if for example, one character or group of characters finds a note with a clue on it and takes it with them, the note will re-appear for others to find. They'll (hopefully) solve the clues to find the next step of the route and so on and so forth until eventually they figure out where the clues are leading them. They may need to ICly seek out others for assistance if they do not have the knowledge or skills to progress further, and it is entirely possible that they may get ICly stuck on one route, and may need to change to a different one. If they stick with it though, they will be rewarded with information...unless they got the red herring route, of course.

OOCLY: These puzzles are a TEAM EFFORT. As each log is posted, we will post the first clue of each route whether the previous route has been solved or not (so on the 1st the House Party Route will start, and on the 3rd the Throne Room Party route will begin even if the House Party route has not been 100% solved, and so on until all the routes have been started). When you think you have solved a clue, reply to that clue on this post. If you're right, we will reveal the next clue in that route, and if you aren't then you can keep trying. We encourage you to use each puzzle route's thread for OOC collaboration and shouting ideas at each other, and even begging for clues if you're really stuck. Clues will NOT be revealed ICly until they are solved OOCly. For example, if puzzle route A's first clue leads to the roof it does not, nice try, the clue will not APPEAR there until someone solves the clue OOCly – this is partly to prevent spoilers, and partly to allow people to go about their lives in-game without having to retcon and be like “oh and there was a huge clue in the background of this thread”. We encourage EVERYONE to try their hand at the puzzles, whether their characters are working on that route or not. The routes will get solved faster with multiple people working on it as a big team, and we hope that it'll be a lot more fun that way!

PLEASE KEEP AS MUCH TO THIS POST AS YOU CAN - we know you guys love Plurk, but you'll be doing puzzles alongside people who haven't been in the RP scene in years and may not have access to puzzle-solving happening exclusively on plurk.

We are releasing the puzzle routes in order from hardest route to easiest route (in our opinion, as puzzle makers), since by nature there will be less time to work on the routes released last. If you have any questions about how the puzzle routes will work or anything along those lines, please bring them to the FAQ POST. If you have questions about specific riddles or need to demand hints, please keep those questions to their puzzle path threads so everyone can easily find the answers!

That should be about it! We'll begin releasing the first clues as each log goes up, and we wish you all the best of luck with our maddening puzzles! ♥

Comments

[drummeintheface]

HHHHHHHHHHH BREAK TIME

[mypartnerintime]

CARROLL HUH MODS. HUH.

[morethanasidekick]

It's amazing what Kenzi can accomplish with a bottle of tequila okay.

[drummeintheface]

Ahhh congrats! I got to 64% and I am actually really glad I can stop lol.

[morethanasidekick]

My brain is still fried from that ;;

[enciphers]

The message on the puzzle decrypted (Vigenère cipher, keyword CARROLL):

A SMALL GIFT FROM YOUR GRACIOUS HOST
THEY ARE MYSTERIOUS AS A GHOST
WILL THEY EVERY SHOW THEIR FACE?
PERHAPS IF YOU LOOK IN THIS PLACE!
A MILLION STORIES YOU CANNOT CLIMB
YOU WOULD NEVER HAVE THE TIME!
ON THE SECOND FLOOR YOU WILL FIND
SOMETHING THAT WILL FEED THE MIND

[vitaelamorte]

[Looks like you've cracked the code! But what does it all mean?!]

[fulllifeconsequences]

TO THE LIBRARY??? Is that too obvious?

[vitaelamorte]

[You head to the library! But sheesh, it's so big, and there are so many floors!
Do you know where you're looking, or what you're looking for?]

[sciencelizard]

Well, the clue says on the second floor, so the second floor of the library. There's no chance there's a copy of Carroll's Alice in Wonderland up there, is there...?

(I also don't know if the library is organized by dewey/library of congress/fucked up wonderland non-organization SO)

[vitaelamorte]

[The contents of the library move around at Wonderland's whims, which will make looking for any books infinitely infuriating.

However, eventually you will find a copy of Alice in Wonderland on the second floor. However, when you open it you'll find that it's completely blank. No pictures, no illustrations, no words, no codes. There is nothing helpful in this book for you.]

[sciencelizard]

no blacklight...? just in case

[vitaelamorte]

[For whatever reason, you have access to a black light and decide to give that a shot! And there is something there, however...]

WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU EVER JUST BE CARRYING AROUND A BLACK LIGHT
THAT'S SUCH A STRANGE THING TO JUST HAVE ON YOUR PERSON AT ANY GIVEN TIME
UNLESS YOU BROUGHT THIS TO A ROOM WITH BLACK LIGHTS IN WHICH CASE
I'M TERRIBLY SORRY TO BE SO INSENSITIVE TO SOMEONE CLEARLY FROM THE 1970S
REALLY THOUGH THIS IS A LIBRARY AND BOOKS ARE MEANT TO BE ABLE TO BE READ
WHAT WERE YOU EXPECTING EXACTLY?
WHY WOULD WE EVER GIVE YOU A BOOK YOU CAN'T ACTUALLY READ
PERHAPS YOU'VE FED YOUR MIND TOO MUCH AND SIMPLY WON'T EVER BE ABLE TO STOMACH ANYMORE.
WHAT A SHAME.

[...Oh dear. You may want to try something else.]

[rlynotfeelinup2itrnsorry]

the letters that translate to "FEED THE MIND" are really big, so that probably is the hint for the book to find.... maybe, idk, look for a cook book?

[vitaelamorte]

[That's a good thought! And conveniently, the cookbooks are all on the second floor today (and any day when someone looks until this is over). What good luck!

However, the books are arranged not by title or author or even type of cooking they entail, but temperature. The first books on the shelf are all about smoking hot dishes, and then they get progressively milder, until the last books on the shelf (which are about frozen foods).

It seems the longer you stay with the cookbooks, the colder your trail gets.]

[eyething]

Look for Alice in Wonderland Cookbook, because inside there is an essay called Feeding the Mind by Lewis Carroll

LOOK FOR THE ESSAY!!!!!!!

[vitaelamorte]

[You find an Alice in Wonderland cookbook with an interestingly titled essay inside. When you flip to the article, there is a piece of paper inside. When unfolded, it reads, in simple words:]

Psst! There's a nicer hardcover copy on the shelf behind you today!

[And there is! Will you take a peek inside it?]

[eyething]

Sometimes it helps to be over 150 years old.

Yes, peek inside!

[vitaelamorte]

[Inside the very small book is a scrap of paper. It reads:]

Do you believe everything you read?
Maybe the key is belivng-n-nothing!

44 66 90 44 57 44 35 34 87 77 44 57 33 47 56 47 89 43 26 34 36 33 66
67 44 59 75 57 72? 49 90 54 26 66 66 56 66 76 84 28 66 54
75 70 97 75 46 33 45 46, 70 76 63 59 56 67 53 47 70 83 35 43 34 56 56
97 46 59 53 76 56 86! 80 63 45, 56 53 52, 69 59 45 26 65 47 56 87 66
46 58 73 54 33 78 57 86 49 72 '35 34 66 59 53 39 73 54 56
49 66 47 28 66 34 46 89 80 83.

[sciencelizard]

well christ

i guess immediate notes are that the i and e are missing from "believing" but I feel like most people caught that

im gonna. try some number ciphers

edit: also it's probable that if these are turning to letters, that 35 is "S", judging from it's position behind the apostrophe in the second to last line.

[fulllifeconsequences]

I don't think it's hex, because I just got utter gibberish. The numbers range from 26-97, so I don't think it's a direct number -> letter substitution either?

but I don't know SHIT about cyphers so that's probably as helpful as I'm gonna be here lmao

[krmvgivv]

So there's a Nihilist Cipher. So far I haven't been able to make it come out to anything but maybe someone else can? I've been testing it here I mean believe in nothing..... seems too perfect to be a coincidence

Yeah that site does not seem to be a good one. I'M GONNA KEEP LOOKING.

[accelerate]

don't forget it could be this for the apostrophe bit of the code! don't forget your precious you're ...

[accelerate]

can i just state the obvious and say perhaps the key to this cipher is legit "belivng-n-nothing" since it says literally maybe the key is that?

[vitaelamorte]

[Well, obviously. What a fantastic fiddle player.]