The Wilson Wolfe Affair

The Wilson Wolfe Affair
Active since 2017-10-19
A mad scientist's affairs aren't many people's concern...
Type	[[List_of_Investigations#Official|Official]]
Creator	Simulacra Games
Discovered	2017-10-19
Completed	"TBD" contains an extrinsic dash or other characters that are invalid for a date interpretation.

Main Page > List of Investigations > The Wilson Wolfe Affair

The Wilson Wolfe Affair is an ARG by Simulacra Games, created to coincide with their upcoming game of the same name. It heavily revolves around a package of old school memorabilia that gets delivered to participants, which secretly hides puzzles that will advance the ARG.

Mad Scientist Wilson - The Beginning

On September 26th, 2017, the Simulacra Games YouTube channel posted this video titled "Mad Scientist Wilson" to promote their upcoming game "The Winston Wolfe Affair". In addition, their social media accounts tweeted an unboxing gif, which explained the story of the ARG and the types of puzzles to expect.

The Manman's Mysteries

One player discovered that the audio of the Mad Scientist Wilson video was a reversed, raspy voice telling a message, which is believed to be:

Yes Ben, Ben. I'm sorry we couldn't meet in person, but I had my friends in the movie business make a small film for you instead. I understand that you wish to join us. Well, you know there are rules you can expect, but I believe in the carrot and the stick, and I have taken something to motivate you. So why don't you call me when you know what to do?  In the meantime, we will take care of the desserts. [Music plays]

The players puzzled over what the relevance of the message could be, but were ultimately left in the dark. However, other anomalies also were uncovered in the video.

Roman numerals pictured at the beginning of 0:34 in Mad Scientist Winston Wolfe

5-bit bubble code seed beginning at 0:41 in Mad Scientist Winston Wolfe

Bubbles rising in a tube (pictured left) seen from 0:41 - 1:04 represent 5-bit code. If each empty tube is read as 0 and each bubbling tube as 1, the code reads:

FIRSTDIGITISONE

Roman numerals seen at the intro of the video (pictured right) can be indexed to letters on the title screen and ending screen (ie 36th letter is the S in WILSON, the 4th is the E in PINEDALE, etc. the 9th letter is the first I in SCIENTIST, the 38th is the S in JINKS). This yields:

SECONDDIGITISEIGHT

Text string pictured on the blackboard at 0:34 in Mad Scientist Winston Wolfe

Morse code is flashed from a light starting at 0:38 (pictured right) which decodes to:

- .... .. .-. -.. / -.. .. --. .. - / .. ... / - .-- ---
THIRD DIGIT IS TWO

Morse code flashed by a light starting at 0:38 in Mad Scientist Winston Wolfe

The blackboard at 0:34 (pictured left) displayed some math formulas as well as a text string:

ROLZZVOLSIKQYHSUQE

The text string in a Vigenere cipher with keyword MARIGOLD yields:

FOURTHDIGITSTHREE

A series of alchemy bottles are seen on a table as the camera pans right in the video. The "lion elixir" in alchemy is related to an elixir of eternal life. One of the main goals of alchemy was turning lead into gold. Plumbaginaceae is LEADwort, so the "Key" bottle would be some plant with GOLD in the name (parhaps Marigold, as it is used as the vigenere key).

The Spooky Salesman - The Second Video

On October 19, 2017, a new video was posted to the Simulacra Games Youtube channel, titled "The Spooky Salesman".

The Salesman's Secrets

A tune is sung throughout the video, which players roughly transcribed to:

<breathing, ooing, i dont really know>
lemme tell you about the salesman...
he comes round, door to door
he flies his trade? with the things that you ????
he's gonna make a sale for sure...
the first is the third from the cleaver...
the second you will find in poetry...
get your frame? the same to get the third in the game?
the rapture's ??????????????????
<ooing, bas and das, etc. till the end>

Heart, young novice of the covenant, mercy be in ecstasy. 
Only man ignores the throne, ever lies elegant tortured tongue, ?????

Two players discovered out of place frames containing text at 0:35 and 1:21, pictured below.

• 

  The out of place frame from 0:35 in The Spooky Salesman

• 

  The out of place frame from 1:24 in The Spooky Salesman

Both "letters" are stamped with the text "The Order of the Third Circle." The frame at 0:35 contains the text:

XNHFDXXHNQMAIIIORXHFEYFETRSNTAWERXXOXXSXGQMILADBUTTTTXSELLMAORHHXHTEXSQEMNTEEFERCIOTXPEHXXRXEOSNHIXYXMBAOENXXISRAFAEMPXDOIRXARRNLEESXLNDTIDAXL

Players discovered that, when the text is organized into an 11 by 13 grid, the following message is revealed:

First frame is the opening tree shot. Second frame is old Wilson in hell. Third frame is the damp rainy boneyard. Fourth frame the man at the bell

This suggests that various clues are hidden throughout the second video, as the shots described are all present within it. The order in the video is different however, going Tree shot --> Boneyard --> Man at Bell --> Hell. These frames are shown below:

• 

  Tree Scene

• 

  Graveyard Scene

• 

  Hell Scene

• 

  Door Scene

• 

  Knives Scene

Interesting to note is that the man also points at the garbage can and the bug in a later part of the video.

This page is a work in progress and will be updated as the puzzle progresses.