quote:


Original: Lkeas





Sweetness! Thanks Eldron

So... yeah, my bad, the blackbuck is actually an antelope, not a gazelle. And I'll go with the other players and say the bird is probably a falcon.

What blows my mind is that he said "yes" for both the x-ray baby and the x-ray rat guesses. Weird??

So anyway, he said "pretty much" I guess in answer to the question about using the first letter of each animal name. Since it's not a definitive yes we aren't sure how important they are. But the number of animals is definitely important. If we type it out with numbers included, it'll look something like this:

1dog2goose1dog1frog1dog1frog1goose1xbaby1arm1goose1dog1goose1arm1goose
1ant1xrat1dodo1falcon1ant1goat2deer1dodo1ant1goat1ant1goat1dodo2goat
1fish1aard2giraffe1aard1fish1xbaby1goose1fish1ant1goat1aard1falcon2goat1falcon
1arm1goose2fish1aard1goat1arm1goat1dog1xbaby1dodo2goat2fish
1giraffe1aard3fish1aard2goat1ant1xbaby1frog2goat1xrat1dog1frog

If instead of typing numbers we just type however many animals there are per picture, it looks like this:

dog goose goose dog frog dog frog goose xbaby armadillo goose dog goose armadillo goose
antelope xrat dodo falcon antelope goat deer deer dodo antelope goat antelope goat dodo goat goat
fish aardvark giraffe giraffe aardvark fish xbaby goose fish antelope goat aardvark falcon goat goat falcon
armadillo goose fish fish aardvark goat armadillo goat dog xbaby dodo goat goat fish fish
giraffe aardvark fish fish fish aardvark goat goat antelope xbaby frog goat goat xrat dog frog

One thing of note is that all of these names start with one of 4 letters: A, D, F, or G, with the exception of the x-ray images. This looks strangely similar to the ADFGVX cipher, except there's no V's (unless the falcon is a vulture like Caotica suggested?). Which is worrisome because I don't understand the ADFGVX cipher very well at all; it looks quite complicated to crack. There's some info here:

http://www.richkni.co.uk/php/crypta/adfgvx.php

EDIT: Apparently there's also an ADFGX cipher with no V's, perhaps that's what was used:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADFGVX_cipher

But it seems we need a key at some point? I wonder if Fal's clue about ramen might come in handy... but the word only has 5 letters, and Eldron's code seems to break more easily into chunks of 6 (or 12, or 3, or 4...) like so:

dggdfd fgxagd gagaxd f.a.gddd agagdg gf.a.gga fxgf.a.g afggf.a gff.a.ga gdxdgg ffgaff f.a.ggax fggxdf
(apparently this code sets off the forum censor. periods added so you can read it, no significance on the cipher :P)

How do we crack this with no key?

quote:

Iran around looking for a key like that Eldron, entirely to no avail; i guess it is up to them now.

quote:

<Falerin> Iran arround for sometime about that key. Ultimately eldron decided we should sweep it under the proverbial rug.

quote:

[18:16] <Falerin> No dinosaurs here
[18:17] <Falerin> or anywhere

spoiler:

with the key "doubt" and using a normal alphabet I get
CREATJONSHANDLJKSBTTHEFEETOFDJSTRUCTJON
now since j and I are the same in ADFGX we get
Creation's hand liks bt the feet of distruction
or CREATION'S HAND LIES BY THE FEET OF DESTRUCTION

spoiler:

Doubt was right? Awesome!

quote:


[14:03] <Burn> Try doubt
[14:03] <Burn> "doubt"
[14:03] <lordtomato> I doubt it, it's got 5 letters

A long, long time later....

[18:32] <Vivi|AFKing> I found a persian proverb that fits "key to knowledge", but the word they use is doubt.
[18:32] <Vivi|AFKing> 5 letters :|
[18:32] <Vinger> why it can't be 5?
[18:33] <Vivi|AFKing> We were thinking 6 or 13 and Fal semi-confirmed that
[18:33] <Vivi|AFKing> [17:46] <Vivi|AFKing> If we're restrained to 6 or 13 letters I cannot think of anything
[18:33] <Vivi|AFKing> [17:47] <Falerin> meaning you have something if you ARE not so restrained?
[18:33] <Vivi|AFKing> [17:47] <Falerin> If so you might consider errors in logic on your part?
[18:33] *Aaron knows the answer.