>> ...
>> ...
>> ...
>> Processing...
>> ...
>> ...
>> ...
>> Enter command: start HIAG8BIT.exe
>> ...
>> ...
>> ...
>> Begin HIAG8BIT.exe? Yes.
>> Text file found. View Day1.txt ? Yes.
>> Opening Day1.txt ...
I honestly have NO idea what I'm getting myself into. As soon as I opened Autumn Duskhunter's post, it looked like something had corrupted Homework in a Graveyard... But...there's a distinct message in this. "Safety." SOS? ASHCAN looks promising...>> End of Text file. Proceed? Yes.
>> Opening Level 1...
>> Text file found. View Lvl1.txt ? Yes.
>> Opening Lvl1.txt ...
Hm...a little "Da Vinci Code"-esque... Looks like it's binary, due to 1's and 0's. Thankfully my new job's required me to utilize graphics editing to build up their Knowledge Retention database via electronic display. Going to cut up each piece, add Transparency, and set them up as New Layers in GIMP. Then adjusting pieces based on the known/unknown... Looks like the "A" and "D"-looking pieces fit here...>> End of Text file. Proceed? Yes.
>> Solution found. Corrupted/missing file.
>> View alternate file? Yes.
>> Proceed? Yes.
>> Opening Level 2...
>> Text file found. View Lvl2.txt ? Yes.
>> Opening Lvl2.txt ...
Mazes. Bleh. Never heard of an "Alice" maze before... Something to do with "Through the Looking Glass" perhaps? Let's try working backwards...
>> End of Text file. Proceed? Yes.
>> Solution found. Missing file. Find Missing file? No.
>> Proceed? Yes.
>> Opening Level 3...
>> Text file found. View Lvl3.txt? Yes.
>> Opening Lvl3.txt...
Oh my Frost Giant... There are SO many pieces... Contacting Cassandra Hexthorn to see if we can hammer this out together...>> End of Text file. Proceed? Yes.
>> Media file found. View Jigsaw1.jpg? Yes.
>> Opening Jigsaw1.jpg...
 |
Comment: Managed to fit this abomination of a jigsaw together in a few places... |
>> Media file found. View Jigsaw2.jpg? Yes.
>> Opening Jigsaw2.jpg...
 |
Comment: DAG-NABBIT! I right-clicked, selected Zoom In...and now I can't Zoom Out. At least we have this string... |
>> Proceed? Yes.
>> Media file found. View Jigsaw3.jpg? Yes.
>> Opening Jigsaw3.jpg...
 |
Comment: Visited the direct link that Autumn included. White background makes it SO much easier. Isolated pieces according to internal content. "Border" pieces went to the upper right. Bottom left zone is designated for "fitting." Pieces with color are piled in the top center. Pieces with both a straight line and parts of characters are to the left. |
>> Proceed? Yes.
>> Text file found. View FinalCountdown.txt? Yes.
>> Opening FinalCountdown.txt...
Thankfully due to Hexy, we aren't down and out, yet... It makes me shudder to think what would happened if we were "Nullified." Frozen in "disk space to be overwritten," perhaps? We solved the bottom two lines first, and I wanted to submit the codeword right away, but she made a great point in defending that the entire puzzle may reveal something else for future use. While that wasn't the case, at least we felt secure in advancing. Thank you, "ALM." Seeing that many Guardians had chanted in using the "Save me, Mouse" option, and being the two that corrupted the Save File upon entry, Hexy and I decided to find any possible means of leaking out information. We tried to dodge DAEMON's scanware (and succeeded) in sending out tiny packets of data to everyone else. ALMOST got caught...but we managed to squeeze out the last two lines before the firewall activated...unfortunately, not all Guardians managed to receive or utilize our attempts in time...
>> End of Text file. Proceed? Yes.
>> Solution found. View JigsawSolution.jpg? Yes.
>> Opening JigsawSolution.jpg...
 |
Comment: Courtesy of Hexy. How fitting. Hexadecimal. Translates to: Save a backup of your personal files offline,`like your pictures, and text documents. Save early, save often! Code word: BACKUP. |
>> Proceed? Yes.
>> Opening Level 4...
>> Text file found. View Lvl4.txt ? Yes.
>> Opening Lvl4.txt ...
Math... YAYYYYYYYY! Simple algebra and order of operations...
>> End of Text file. Proceed? Yes.
>> Solution found. View Level4Solved.jpg? Yes.
>> Opening Level4Solved.jpg...
 |
>> Proceed? Yes.
>> Opening Level 5...
>> Text file found. View Lvl5.txt ? Yes.
>> Opening Lvl5.txt ...
Uh...symbols. Math + symbols. I totally get that...but these dang symbols. Male and female. Google time, and then checking with Heather Hexheart...
>> End of Text file. Proceed? Yes.
>> Solution found. View Level5Solved.jpg? Yes.
>> Opening Level5Solved.jpg...
 |
Comment: Used pen, pencil, and notebook paper to begin the puzzle. |
>> Proceed? Yes.
>> Text file found. View Hexheart.txt? Yes.
>> Opening Hexheart.txt...
Heather Hexheart's worked on the puzzle on her end... We chose to work independently to try to come to the same solution. Got her file!
>> End of Text file. Proceed? Yes.
>> Media file found. View Hexheart.jpg? Yes.
>> Opening Hexheart.jpg...
 |
Comment: Noticed that her symbols/numbers were mixed up! Corresponding with her to correct them...let's hope she gets her entry in on time! |
>> Proceed? Yes.
>> Opening Level 6...
>> Text file found. View Lvl6.txt ? Yes.
>> Opening Lvl6.txt ...
More visual puzzles! I've NEVER seen THAT before...hmm... Gonna look at the Wikipedia example, and then correspond with Maria Moonblossom. (Thanks to John Lifeglen for connecting us!)
>> End of Text file. Proceed? Yes.
>> Media file found. View Wikiexample.jpg? Yes.
>> Opening Wikiexample.jpg...
 |
Comment: Sum of the numbers adjacent in the Rows or Columns signify how many squares within the corresponding Rows or Columns are filled in, respectively. Autumn's puzzle, with color coding, made it MUCH easier on us...THANKFULLY! Seems like this type of puzzle would take HOURS...especially in this example |
>> Proceed? Yes.
>> Solution found. View nonogram.jpg? Yes.
>> Opening nonogram.jpg...
 |
Comment: Completed this with Maria, using GIMP and screen-sharing over Skype. We laughed about how it looked like there was a fish within the picture...only to find that THAT was the point! Thought of "Fish EX = FedEX, Fish Eggs, Fishy Mark, Fictious." Didn't realize it looked like a timer, until searching on Autumn's blog for "FISHY," which had the code word. |
>> Proceed? Yes.
>> Opening Level 7...
>> Text file found. View Lvl7.txt ? Yes.
>> Opening Lvl7.txt ...
Hah, more grids and numbers? "Akari." What's Akari? OH DANG, THIS LOOKS FUN! No allies, huh? All right, then!
>> End of Text file. Proceed? Yes.
>> Solutions found. View akari.jpg and akari2.jpg? Yes.
>> Opening akari.jpg...
 |
Comment: Started out with the squares that were surrounded by black tiles...rules state that all white tiles must be lit up, so those were dead give-aways! |
>> Proceed? Yes.
>> Opening akari2.jpg...
 |
>> Proceed? Yes.
>> Opening Level 8...
>> Text file found. View Lvl8.txt ? Yes.
>> Opening Lvl8.txt ...
Ugh. "Chaos spatial data." Do we treat this like a Katamari ball? Is it rolling the die on the 2D platform...or put ourselves into the cube's shoes? AHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Hints from Twitter say that it's the former. Good. Working backwards...
>> End of Text file. Proceed? Yes.
>> Media files found. View tools.jpg and die.jpg? Yes.
>> Opening tools.jpg...
 |
Comment: Starting as Guardian 4...gonna actually work from my ending position backwards... |
>> Proceed? Yes.
>> Opening die.jpg...
 |
Comment: It was suggested a "Magic Marker" be used on the die. Well, due to the lack thereof, I went with blue duct tape. Ghetto Magic Marker!!! The "arrow" is pointing North-East. One of my solutions: 2U, 5L, 1D, 1R, 4U, 7L, 9U, 5R. |
>> Proceed? Yes.
>> Text file found. View Conclusion.txt ? Yes.
>> Opening Conclusion.txt ...
The point of all this explained. Heh, the last was OPTIONAL. Bleh. That was a very insightful and engaging post, and a one-of-a-kind method of sharing an important message with the community. There have been a LOT of shake-ups throughout the past 12+ months, but somehow, we still manage to keep it altogether. Why? As Autumn said, that's who we are, this Wizard101 Community that we have. Especially after Level 3, I realized that even the aspects of Wizard101 follow through to our overall attitude of forgetting about personal competition, and working together to bring about a new light on the cliche MMO-community image. Instead of fighting for the lowest bargain, we're fighting monsters to fill one another's pockets. Instead of aiming for the "best pet" and keeping the secrets to ourselves, we're writing guides and spending time explaining the process. Thus, in the postive and negative times, we're powerful enough to become, once again, stabilized, and band together quickly when challenges arise. Need guides, tips, proofs via pictures, help, etc. etc. etc.? Just look to anyone, especially the Twizards. Many thanks to Autumn Duskhunter for this elaborate test of mental, ethical, technical, and persistence skills. I had a LOT of fun learning and attempting the challenges. Our hats are off to you, Autumn!
>> End of Text file.
>>> End of folder. Terminate program? Yes.
>> Goodbye...
>>
>>
>>
I understood 70% of it. lol. W101 Players rule!
ReplyDeleteOutstanding post! Hexadecimal would approve. It's great to actually *see* the thought process of a Code Master.
ReplyDeleteI just *couldn't* NOT throw in that last puzzle. Just the idea of all you brilliant minds playing with little boxes, on a puzzle that had no *1* correct answer.
Thank you for being such a great sport! I even had a "User Achievement" in the unlikely event you managed to get Nullified ("The King is dead, long live the King!")
And I understood about 20% percent of it. :P
ReplyDeleteToo confusing for me.
Ummmm...... My brain power doesnt come close to yours. What was that about? :P lol Seriously what was that about? I'm serious someone tell me?!
ReplyDelete