We didn't get very far into ESO tonight before we decided time was better spent puzzling, so we dove back in to Cryptex Hunt 2020, Chapter Four, in which our heroine, Paige Park, completely fails to notice that she is being power-leveled by another gamer, despite her ridiculously high MIND skill. That MIND skill also fails to convince her that it is a terrible idea to not put points into MAGIC in a world where magic exists. This is one of those Wisdom vs. Intelligence conversations. #dnd
I digress (unsurprising). The lines at the top suggest that this is a similar task to those in the prior chapter, where we found letters shaped like other letters in the text. This time, we are given the shape, and the letters to find, but have to figure out something else from them. My bet is that we get a message from the words that the shapes are found in. But, let's see.
The first shape to be found is on page 71, where we are to find NAHRT, SOSSU, and HESSE, possibly in the shape of a V. Page 73 says to find OTODE (not to be confused with the Itade rune in ESO), and 74 BELSH. On 75 we find TOOTRI, HENADO. 77 sends us to OSYGE and 78 TEREE. 80 finds OTUK (valley), TYONIL (mountain), DHEOS (traveling), HALT (traveling), AHSTA and TERE.
Thankfully my puzzling friend is better at seeing those than I am. Unfortunately, the first one he finds also destroys my hunch. DHEOS goes through: looked her she cloth was. Not a message I'm familiar with, though it is in a bit of an 'I' shape. So are the others on the page, though.
We start, conversely, from the end. The context of the message itself could be useful, it talks of maps, and DHEOS is someone traveling east to meet AHSTA. So, when I look to the left of DHEOS, AHSTA is right there. Still, no message. Unless I try to add a line to make H? We decide to find all the letters/words before our next move. When we are done, it looks like three pairs of words, vertical lines. When connected it could be an E. We go looking for the rest.
Meh. Reading the directions again, we get a terrible feeling. We're going to need to fold paper, and we're doing this digitally. Bugger. We check the clues. Yup, we need paper. Or, we need to figure out how to do this digitally. Fuck. We try to improvise.
The fourth's like the third. See what doesn't unfold.
I digress (unsurprising). The lines at the top suggest that this is a similar task to those in the prior chapter, where we found letters shaped like other letters in the text. This time, we are given the shape, and the letters to find, but have to figure out something else from them. My bet is that we get a message from the words that the shapes are found in. But, let's see.
The first shape to be found is on page 71, where we are to find NAHRT, SOSSU, and HESSE, possibly in the shape of a V. Page 73 says to find OTODE (not to be confused with the Itade rune in ESO), and 74 BELSH. On 75 we find TOOTRI, HENADO. 77 sends us to OSYGE and 78 TEREE. 80 finds OTUK (valley), TYONIL (mountain), DHEOS (traveling), HALT (traveling), AHSTA and TERE.
Thankfully my puzzling friend is better at seeing those than I am. Unfortunately, the first one he finds also destroys my hunch. DHEOS goes through: looked her she cloth was. Not a message I'm familiar with, though it is in a bit of an 'I' shape. So are the others on the page, though.
We start, conversely, from the end. The context of the message itself could be useful, it talks of maps, and DHEOS is someone traveling east to meet AHSTA. So, when I look to the left of DHEOS, AHSTA is right there. Still, no message. Unless I try to add a line to make H? We decide to find all the letters/words before our next move. When we are done, it looks like three pairs of words, vertical lines. When connected it could be an E. We go looking for the rest.
- 71. These three are three parallel lines in the first long paragraph. However, if we start at the valley of Sossu and add upward lines to the mountains, we get an M.
- 73 & 74. Two more vertical lines on different pages, apparently in the same night sky.
- 75. Three more vertical lines, possibly an L?
- 77&78 - two lines across pages. Possibly an I?
- 80 - E
Meh. Reading the directions again, we get a terrible feeling. We're going to need to fold paper, and we're doing this digitally. Bugger. We check the clues. Yup, we need paper. Or, we need to figure out how to do this digitally. Fuck. We try to improvise.
- 71 - This still would look like an M if we folded those lines
- 73&74 - This would be an I - both words are on the same side of the paper if printed.
- 75 - still maybe an L?
- 77&78 - If printed on the same piece of paper, the words would be on opposite sides and, if curled together, would make an O.
- 80 - this looks like multiple folds - X?
So, we're at MI*O*. Times like these I wish I had a functioning printer, but I never seem to remember to replace the cartridge, and when I do it's the wrong one. I grab a spare piece of paper, and start folding. 75 becomes readily apparent as N, so we're at MINO*, and with all the weird folds, I'm willing to bet the last one is an R. MINOR. Input, and we win the chapter! Hip hip huzzah, and not bad for not having the actual printout. My hoarding of scrap paper to the rescue. A good challenge, thank you Cryptex Hunt 2020!
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