When last we left off our delve into Carte Rouge, we had come to the terrible realization that the sneaky creators had used a unique variant of Pigpen/Napoleonic cipher. The three face cards of diamonds all have different messages around their borders. We split them up - I take the Queen, he takes the King, and we begin work. It doesn’t seem like a message, starting from the silver letter.
Queen: HERBOEORBOBO...
And then we tried the chests first, as those also have text:
King: WE HAVE ONLY ONE GOAL WE DESIRE TOTAL UTTER CONTROL
Queen: THE FIRST SECOND LADY - THE SECOND FIRST LADY
Jack: A REVOLUTION YOU WANT TO WIN - WE CAN TELL YOU HOW TO BEGIN
Hmmm. Ok. The first Second Lady was Abigail Adams, who was also the second First Lady. She was known, some times, as Mrs. President.
While I went down that rabbit hole, my compatriot figured out how to read the edges. Much like the last message, the messages themselves were interwoven. Time for a spreadsheet!
Madame Le Brun was a French portrait painter. The last card referenced John Paul Jones - the first US Naval Commander. Something tells me at some point we will have to put them in order.
We poke around for a while at a loss of where to go next, then my companion notices that the Jack of Spades follows a pattern similar to the King of Hearts. We get:
Still nothing on the interior meaning is of the Jack’s chest, which references other cards.
Poking around we see that I missed the message on the queen of clubs’ chest.
We realized, belatedly, that the key to unscramble that was on the Jack of Clubs - he appears to be holding a standard of some sort, in the order of the colors that I just brute forced
And that was a solid two hours’ work on these cards. Still so many to go! I love it :)
Many thanks to The Enigma Emporium, and my puzzling companion, as well as my cat and three foster kittens, for a lovely evening. We think the King of Clubs may hold the key for the Jack of Clubs’ chest, but we are le tired and it is time to sleep.
Queen: HERBOEORBOBO...
And then we tried the chests first, as those also have text:
King: WE HAVE ONLY ONE GOAL WE DESIRE TOTAL UTTER CONTROL
Queen: THE FIRST SECOND LADY - THE SECOND FIRST LADY
Jack: A REVOLUTION YOU WANT TO WIN - WE CAN TELL YOU HOW TO BEGIN
Hmmm. Ok. The first Second Lady was Abigail Adams, who was also the second First Lady. She was known, some times, as Mrs. President.
While I went down that rabbit hole, my compatriot figured out how to read the edges. Much like the last message, the messages themselves were interwoven. Time for a spreadsheet!
THE CARDS BELONGED TO THREE BEFORE
BEYOND YOU THEY MUST GO TO TWO MORE
IF YOU HAVE BEEN PAYING CLOSE ATTENTION
THEN YOU CAN LIKELY GUESS OUR INTENTION
WHEN YOUR WORK IS FINALY DONE
PASS THE CARDS TO MADAME LEBRUN
Madame Le Brun was a French portrait painter. The last card referenced John Paul Jones - the first US Naval Commander. Something tells me at some point we will have to put them in order.
Abigail Adams: 1744-1818
John Paul Jones: 1747-1792
Madame Le Brun: 1755-1842
We poke around for a while at a loss of where to go next, then my companion notices that the Jack of Spades follows a pattern similar to the King of Hearts. We get:
YOUR NATION IS IN TURMOIL
THERE IS A REBELLION YOU MUST FOIL
Still nothing on the interior meaning is of the Jack’s chest, which references other cards.
Poking around we see that I missed the message on the queen of clubs’ chest.
THERE IS ONE THING WE YEARN TO EARN
YOU MUST HELP YOUR PEOPLE LEARN
And that was a solid two hours’ work on these cards. Still so many to go! I love it :)
Many thanks to The Enigma Emporium, and my puzzling companion, as well as my cat and three foster kittens, for a lovely evening. We think the King of Clubs may hold the key for the Jack of Clubs’ chest, but we are le tired and it is time to sleep.
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