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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 |
""" (dmsp rm rfc dmsprf nmucp) kglsq (rfpcc rgkcq lglcrccl) ((rcl rm rfc rfgpb nmucp) njsq mlc fslbpcb qgvrw mlc) bgtgbcb zw ruclrw qctcl (rum rgkcq rfpcc rgkcq rfpcc rgkcq ruclrw rfpcc rgkcq rfpcc rgkcq rum fslbpcb rfgprw rfpcc rgkcq dmprw rfpcc) kglsq dgtc rfc ufmjc lskzcp md rfc npmbsar md rfc yzmtc rfpcc gq rfc icw """ [ "----|---------------------------------------------------------------------0---", " \_/ ", " / | \ 0 0 0 ", " \_|_/ ", " | | ", "-|-/|--|-----------------------------------------------------------0----------", "----|-\-----------------------------------------------------------------------", "----|/-----------0------0-----------------------------------------------------", "---/|----------------------------------------0------0-------------------------", " | 0 ", " |\ ", ] """ ro ncdm oyy mn, ahz ro dueho qax xem ymnudrn pm ddbigwj, amc yiq'pe zoplkycghna oscbdsm ncaqqahcc ar hmjhgec, cewenhdq lcgc tgd snwpt sgeh wlsvdr ndc rhcdfa, ync aamg gn xnul wpt """ """ 8813191238677333954665809213349646122194 3015595667663245206677258662604239718836 4431428926159036858913586646934493387784 2415423905479477475303429332505714485112 4090836065842116455582237940320444861841 8887593350492294228220622241460000717294 4955847547957801429318355097534895447954 7342296922244600793814495300151499126757 3076802599544010948629349194265749217345 4001893903317176122546504003906815939962 8428796996691959920597351056958454461881 4732394077366853306860112237237386161021 7871126702127244170489561553519315838470 2693690437372649049215349703278652470600 3015221909596231574709960176130567639024 0092004721669881955529429225102279034207 1330193718198499866240480029222396978969 9281228432921674821577765850343057221329 2779929871766974307119561522080156771664 7095071241828310135078223629923028803912 5453455582923797217620833928427273736063 7822533797916494440084693015546738131130 2640275104782204063786790634519992766829 2989314882818234607337721281487409823167 5734588734584493380447926820353540224813 5824663370552369365250850730508000154790 81377112162403735240993 """ """ pv-shwsub-hbbs-wbwuvffgs-uh-sosb-vdph-or -huibtc-sw--wwucjhhss--hhousvjhgsapc-b-i ooas-fgr-b-gvhohqwsarsa-wsfhus-hsuogsjsv ibc--chg-rwab-qigro-zhwszrt-vsjohwfuo--w vsgsh-h-csgbrr-ow-baccg-wigbqqsgp-gggbcz asc-uhjrwossc-shhvg--q-fawouko-orb-oh-zz vg-bsrckfs-n-froctwkmfchbto-iwfhbcrvsk-t hmodvoh--fswzrvrzh--ssfhgo--susjudfhwb-s """ |
Baldric stopped in front of the door to study it, its gleaming green inscriptions casting a soft light down the corridor. While the writing appeared to have some sort of five-part structure, it was wholly unintelligible. The carvings of a madman. Or perhaps it was scrambled by some sort of code…but if so, how to crack it?
Noticing footsteps, Baldric turned to see a faceless man in heavy red and black armor slowly walking towards him. The space around the man was gray, as if the color was being leeched away by his presence. The man stopped and extended his arm, and a massive wicked-looking axe materialized in his hand. The blade glowed a deep blood red and a horde of demonic forms sprung from the shadows, howling and blanketing the corridor as they swarmed forth.
In horror, Baldric spun back towards the door, thinking frantically. He felt something surge through his body, and time seemed to slow as ethereal threads sprang into being before him. Mentally, he wove the threads in complex patterns directed at the door and, miraculously, began to understand the engravings. He could feel mountains of calculations being performed by his weavings, the mysterious text’s encoding cracking under their computational weight.
After a couple of seconds that seemed an eternity, he read the final piece of the message and uttered a word. Only one, simple word. With that, the heavy stone door swung open and a blinding white light poured through. Feeling the demons nearly on top of him, Baldric leapt into the light, and was obliterated.
Continue with the story to learn the programming concepts (and discover the hints) that will help you solve this puzzle
WARNING: Spoilers in the comments below
<<< Preface – The Journey AheadChapter 1 – Arithmetic and Variables >>>
Adam says
This has been a ton of fun so far. I wonder if there are any hints available for whenever folks get stuck (like me right now)? I’ve pushed my way through the first 3 of the prologue puzzles, but am now stuck trying to figure out what to do with the block of numbers. I’ve run through and ‘binaried’ and subsequently ‘decimaled’ everything, but am stuck after that point. The “rearrange as implied” and follow on have me stymied.
Grayson Stanton says
Hi Adam, glad to hear you’ve been enjoying it. You have arrived at what’s either the most or second most difficult part, and there are indeed no hints for it in chapters 1-4. I suspect the hint you’ll find most helpful may be found in Chapter 6, to be released later this week. I’ll send out an email when it’s live.
Adam says
Lol…I hadn’t even read Chapter 1 yet. Thought this had to be solved sequentially and hadn’t wanted to cheat! That makes this that much better…and the way you’ve put the concepts together makes this really accessible. My son had expressed some interest as well…i think he would really get a kick out of this and would help him as he’s getting started with Python. Great stuff!
Grayson Stanton says
Ah, I can see how that could be confusing, I’ve now added a note there at the end. Thanks for your kind feedback, accessibility was definitely a focus of mine with this. And I’d be interested to hear what your son thinks of it. Makes me wonder about writing a more teen-oriented story that’s not quite so heavy on office humor and references.
Dan says
This is a very fun puzzle! I’m on what seems to be the final step, and I have some guesses but I’m not very confident in them. If you allow multiple guesses as long as there aren’t unreasonably many, then I would guess “threads” and “logic” (due to wording “logic” seems less likely, but “threads” doesn’t seem to fully work unless I’m missing something). If you only allow one guess then I would think about it more.
Also, Adam’s description of his progress in an above comment helped me a little with a step that was hard for me, so I’m not sure I would qualify as having solved the puzzle completely alone.
Grayson Stanton says
Glad you’re enjoying it Dan, and congrats on getting right up to the end! Feel free to use others’ comments to help yourself, it was bound to happen and the rules don’t discourage it. Thanks for being so honest about that though.
And yes, several good guesses a day are fine by me. Neither “threads” nor “logic” are correct, though they’re good guesses nonetheless. As I’ve mentioned to others, the remaining chapters will be released later this week, and I think you might find some useful hints in there if you’re still stumped by then.
Ken Mosher says
The answer is “PATTERNS”!
Dan says
I’m not the author, but that seems like it has to be right. After it’s confirmed I’d appreciate hearing (from you or the author) whether, given the riddle, there was anything else confirming “patterns” was the answer.
Ken Mosher says
Chapter 7: “… the Emperor plans to do nothing short of enslaving the Great Serpent itself and reweaving the fundamental PATTERNS of reality”
Dan says
Thanks for telling me about that hint. And congratulations on winning (as soon as the author confirms).
Grayson Stanton says
CORRECT!!! The contest has now concluded. Expect an update in the coming week.
Adam says
Ok, I have to ask then…what was the “arrange as implied” all about? Just a hint please, still want to work the last part out.
Ken Mosher says
Here’s a hint: If you did the first two lines of that step correctly, look closely at the number you got a result, and you should notice a certain pattern in its digits …
If that’s too small of a hint, let me know.
Adam says
Finally had time to sit down with this again. That did the trick Ken, thanks much! think I was just overthinking it before.
Grayson- great puzzle and a good time all around.