Teragon

From Game Detectives Wiki
Revision as of 00:33, 18 June 2016 by Nauthas (talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search

January 31st, 2016 - Beginnings

The 4chan Post

  • An anonymous 4chan user posted a message to the Dota 2 General thread of /vg/ (/d2g/), which read:
what the hell? There's something very weird going on here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChbNByMTjZnnqJAMPkvD_vg/videos?  sort=dd&view=0&shelf_id=0

The YouTube channel contains 40+ short, cut-and-looped videos of professional Dota 2 player EternaLEnVy (aka EE) being interviewed, each featuring a one-word title as well as a title screen before the looped clip.

  • Reddit user /u/GottaGoFats, seeing the youtube link while browsing /d2g/, posted a thread to /r/dota2 about it.

A Mysterious Entity

  • Other Reddit users posting in the thread noticed every title screen & description of every video linked to the channel's sponser, teragongroup.com, a strange website which describes itself as "Shaping the World of Tomorrow" and promotes "Services" such as "Consulting", "Intelligence Analysis", and "Surveillance". A filename, "areyouworthy.txt", was also discovered at the very bottom of the webpage.
  • By adding areyouworthy.txt to the end of the website's URL, the following text was discovered:
Alone on the river bank, Peter counted his money.
Somehow, only 12 gold coins were left.
How was it possible?
Surely, he couldn't have spent that much money.
A duck and two rabbits were the only items Peter had bought that week.
After subtracting the price of those three items from Peter's weekly pay, at least 30 gold coins should have remained in his pocket.
Now, what should Peter do? His 12 gold coins won't be enough to live on for the rest of the month.
Should he weep, should he beg or should he steal?
The day was nearly over.
Sulking, Peter decided to go home.
On the road, an old man came to him.
Incredibly, that old man had found Peter's missing money on the side of the road earlier in the day and wanted to hand it back to him!
Moving swiftly, Peter grabbed the knife hidden in his satchel and stabbed the old man in the heart.
Now, with his missing coins and the old man's savings in his pockets, Peter walks back home with a contented smile on his face.
What is Peter's favorite Dota2 hero?

The Second Message

  • Another Reddit user, /u/TonyWan, pointed out that the letters at the start of each line are "APSHSAANSTSOIMN", which is an anagram of "Phantom Assassin", a Dota 2 character. Following the precedent of adding to the end of the website's URL, phantomassassin.txt was attempted, and another text was discovered, reading:
Teragon Group is currently looking for a M/F field asset:
JOB DESCRIPTION
Field assets are responsible for conducting surveillance and clandestine operations throughout the world, at the sole request of the Teragon  Group board members.
REQUIREMENTS
Applicants should: 
 - Be at least 18 years of age.
 - Be in excellent physical and mental health.
 - Not be members or descendants of members of occult societies, incl.: The Freemasonry, the Rosicrucian Order or the Society of Jesus.
 hp htww cpdslap esp hzcwo
 XI


  • Yet another Reddit user, /u/Anon49, figured out how to decrypt the ROT11, which, once decrypted, reads "we will reshape the world". Another URL, wewillreshapetheworld.txt, was then discovered, reading:
On June 20th 1307, just before dawn, three men entered the private offices of the King in the Palace of Fontainebleau.
They gave Philip IV everything he needed to take down the only group of people with both the military and financial means to threaten his reign.
In exchange for the betrayal of their brothers, the three men were awarded a tenth of the considerable fortune of the soon-to-be-eradicated order.
Thus was Teragon born
ulnjwysearstspfgjnkf

February 1st, 2016 - Call and Return

A New URL

  • Reddit user /u/Ayakura came across a new URL, /betrayalwasnecessary.tx], which reads:
Not a txt.
  • By changing the .txt extension to .png, she discovered an image of Baphomet.

More Information

  • Another Reddit user, /u/eltrov, managed to decypt wewillreshapetheworld.txt using an online decryption tool and the passphrase "This was Teragon born". Decrypted, the text reads:
betrayalwasnecessary
  • Since /u/Ayakura had already found that URL, the .png that it led to was focused on.
  • Reddit user /u/BIG_THECAT pointed out that the depiction of Baphomet found with the betrayalwasnecessary.png URL is known as "Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie" (English: Dogma and Ritual of High Magic), and it derived from two books by French occult author & ceremonial magician Eliphas Levi, namely "Dogme" and "Rituel".
  • /u/eltrov ran betrayalwasnecessary.png through a steganography tool and revealed the following text hidden within:
The old order had become weak and corrupt.
It needed to be cleansed.
From one point of view, a betrayal. From another, a salvation.
joinus

A Message is Sent

  • With the search for new "joinus" URL failing, participants began to speculate that the phrase might be directing them to "apply" to the Teragon Group. This led a number of participants to emails "applications" to the email listed on the bottom of the webpage, [email protected]
  • Several hours later, two participants who had sent applications, /u/eltrov and /u/thatguy01001010, received identical email responses, which both read:
We are sorry to inform you that, based on the information found in our files regarding your education and professional backgrounds, we will not  be able to take your application into consideration.
Kind regards,
JM, 
Teragon Group, 
Human Resources Department
Sous son règne, la France était grande et les Français malheureux.
`******|||||||||**||***||****|****||||***||******||**||||||`
  • The French within the message, in English, was translates to read:
Under his reign, France was great and the French unfortunate.
  • Reddit user /u/HerrMyth pointed out that "JM" is very likely "Jacque de Molay". He also noted that the French signature is a quote from the book Le Roi de fer (English: The Iron King), which is the first in a series of books about the French monarchy known as Les Rois Maudits (English: The Accursed Kings), penned by French author Maurice Druon starting in 1955.
  • The particular excerpt in question, "Sous son règne, la France était grande et les Français malheureux.", comes from the first page of the prologue of "Le Roi de fer", and refers to the state of the French kingdom under the rule of Phillipe (le Bel) IV. From Wikipedia:
Set during the reigns of the last five kings of the Capetian dynasty and the first two kings of the House of Valois, the series begins as the French King Philip the Fair, already surrounded by scandal and intrigue, brings a curse upon his family when he persecutes the Knights Templar. The succession of monarchs that follows leads France and England to the Hundred Years' War.


February 2nd - Watching the Watcher

A Wild Video Appears

  • Sometime in the morning, the Baphomet Studios Youtube channel uploaded a 2:06 video titled "Pawn", but removed it only 15 minutes later. Reddit user /u/timmeh45 managed to mirror the video before it was taken down. The audio in the video consists of a man speaking in French, which Reddit user /u/ILikeGirlsWithHats outis a reading of the prologue of "Le Roi de fer".

More Emails

  • Simultaneous to the livestream, the Teragon Group began responding to more application emails. Many people received a response which read: 
We regret to inform you that, based on our assessment, you do not seem to have the skills required for the field asset position.
We will nevertheless keep your application stored in our database should you prove us wrong at a later stage.
 Kind regards,
 TN,
Recruitment Manager
 Teragon Group
"Shaping the World of Tomorrow"
New-York Headquarters: 501/504C, 30 Vesey Street, NY 10007
Email: [email protected]
BTC: 1NPa6HZfH1ywZafCoMoQJg4t22MT45byuu
Sous son règne, la France était grande et les Français malheureux.
xxxxxxoooooooooxxooxxxooxxxxoxxxxooooxxxooxxxxxxooxxoooooo
  • Shortly thereafter, Baphomet Studios uploaded this video, which showed participants that the symbols didn't matter, only the pattern did, and also affirmed that the code was based on *Le Roi de fer* (LRDF).
  • Simultaneously, the Teragon Group webpage updated to display the following under "Latest":
xxxxxxooooooooo
xxoo
xxxoo
xxxxo
xxxxoooo
xxxoo
xxxxxxoo
xxoooooo
  • This clue directed participants to read the numbers in the video as pairs, which led to the theory that they were line and character coordinates to be applied within *Le Roi de fer*.

Activate the Cipher!

  • Sometime during the chaos generated by the videos, the Teragon Group webpage was updated, displaying the following series of numbers in its footer:
69
22
32
41
44
32
62
26
  • Discord Chat user Simon discovered the series of numbers could be applied as a book cipher to the prologue of "Le Roi de fer". Taking each number to be a pair of values - the first being a line number, and the second the n^th letter in a line (ie 69 = line 6, letter 9, etc.) - this image of the prologue can be used in combination with the cipher to reveal to word "continue".

Press Any Key to Continue

  • Discord Chat user Lowcharity experimented with several different file extensions searching for a new URL based on "continue", eventually arriving at a new URL of an audio file, continue.mp3. This audio file consists of a text-to-speech recording of series of letters, which are:
qrfhycthhcsj
hehbdahhjvozzyenv
uxqyhhwaaecxamexywnhtykyqzjwzpareezzqrbdde
uhbsbhyqzrdlds
  • Discord Chat channel users downloaded the mp3 file and looked through the metadata to find the name and artist of the file, which were "ultimate" and "power" respectively. Discord user Trialtrex21 guessed correctly that it was a keyed vignere cipher.
  • By using an alphabet key of "ultimate" and a passphrase of "power," the transcribed ciphertext was decoded to the following:
likeaphoenix
ourorderwasreborn
betterandunencumberedbytheweightofreligion
followthetrail

Coming Soon...

  • Through trial-and-error, users in the Discord Chat arrived at yet another URL, followthetrail.txt. When initially discovered, it displayed the text "Coming soon.". Within minutes, it was updated to read:
Extract from page 87 of the personal diary of Luc Delorme:
September 13th, 1948.
It’s been six weeks now since I’ve seen Anne and the kids. Six weeks since she stormed out of the apartment, Michel and Laeticia in tow, yelling  “You’re going crazy, Luc! And the worst part is, you don’t even see it. But I won’t stand here while you destroy this family!”
She was wrong, though. I’m not crazy. Maybe just slightly… obsessed.
All in all, it’s for the better, I suppose. Working on the files has become much easier now, with the apartment to myself.
This morning, went to my appointment with Pr. Halphen at La Sorbonne.
I told him everything.
The nine founders of the Templar Order and their mysterious connection to the newly-crowned King of Jerusalem.
The cover story concocted by those nine men and the King. “Protecting the roads of the Holy Land.” Ha! As if nine men could secure hundreds of  kilometers of roads!
Their well-documented nighttime excavations under the Temple of Solomon, followed by their meteoric rise to power.
They had found something, that much was clear. Something that gave them wealth and power beyond measure.
It all made sense. I knew that Professor Halphen was going to see it, just as I myself saw the light before.
But he laughed. That idiot, that stubborn fool laughed me right out of his office.
He will see, though. One day, he will see. And he will remember bitterly the day he laughed at my theories.
Time to get back to work. I still have to decipher that parchment.
I may have to take a break, though. My arm is starting to hurt. As I was leaving the office of Pr. Halphen, a young man bumped into me. He must   have had something sharp on him because something tore my sleeve and scratched my skin.
There was something that felt familiar about that young man. Had I seen him before?
Anyway, let’s go and put some iodine on that scratch (it’s turning a weird shade of blue!) and then get back to our documents.
  • Shortly after the discovery of followthetrail.txt, Discord Chat user "uro" discovered another URL, parchment.png, by experimenting with file extensions based on a line from followthetrail.txt, "Time to get back to work. I still have to decipher that parchment."
  • Parchment.png displays an image consisting of multiple sentence fragments and numbers, scattered around the image. Clockwise from the top, the text portion reads:
the amazing
beauty of the
page and date
significance of the

From left to right, the numbers of parchment.png read: 

11
11
17
41
67
51
24
2

February 3rd, 2016 - A Leaky Ship

Parchment Breakthough

  • By following the text clue of parchment.png, the page number (87) and date (September 13th, 1948) of followthetrail.txt, Discord Chat users revealed the number "8709131948".
  • Experiments with file extensions led to the discovery of a new URL, 8709131948.pdf. However, the purpose of the .pdf remained unclear.
  • After the discovery of 8709131948.pdf, the webpage's "Latest" footer updated to read:
OWLEYES
  • This would be useful later on.
  • Sometime early in the afternoon, the index of the Teragon Group website was leaked.
  • Immediately after the leak, for a period of about 5 minutes, the Teragon Group went dark, displaying only a brief message about "fixing a security leak", and all URLs ceased functioning.
  • After about 5 minutes, the site came back online, with a new message in its footer, which read:
All leaks have now been fixed.
The people responsible for leaking private information will be hunted down.

The Leaked Bounty

  • Among the URLs on the leaked index, a new page, anewbeginning.png was discovered, displaying a series Flag Semaphore code, which was translated to "donotdespair".
Donotdespair.txt is a URL also listed on the leaked index, and reads:
Hang in there.
We can't give you clues but know that we are cheering for you.
We have to go into hiding. Come back here when you've found valuable information.

Mister... Wan...

  • At some point during the chaos caused by the leak, a theory was formulated, based on "messages from Laetitia (Editor's Note: Laetitia is a Teragon Group plot character, allegedly at the head of the group) told us to speak with him, because he was an Teragon operative", that Reddit user /u/TonyWan, the user who solved the Phantom Assassin clue, was, in fact, involved with the Teragon Group.
Reddit user /u/ScottieKills sent /u/TonyWan a private message, which read:
Hello, Mr. Tony.
You may know me as JM. Be wary that you are being investigated by ISSP as a possible part of the leak on our website. You better share with us what you know.
  • TonyWan replied

2d2277dcb1.png 

This is highly suspicious.  Why would JM contact me here and not on our Intranet?
Okay, if you really are who you say you are, let's try something.
Every year in March, we celebrate the anniversary of the brightest day of our organization in front of a plaque.  Over the plaque is a bridge.   Cross the bridge, what is the name of the building to your left?
Visit the file named after that building.

Samaritaine

  • It was deduced that the bridge referred to by /u/TonyWan was the Pont Neuf, as the bridge is across from a plaque memorializing De Molay's death located by the river *Seine*.
  • Across the Pont Neuf and to the left is a department store named *Samaritaine*. Experiments with different file extensions led to a new url, samaritaine.png
  • Hiddenhistory.mp3 is an audio file which consists of a set of Morse code. Converting the Morse Code to base64, then the base64 to hex, then the hex to md5, allows one to decipher to word "Administrator."
      1. Administrator
  • Experiments with file extensions combined with "Administrator." led to the discovery of administrator.txt, a text file with a series of numbers which read:
01917 22334 65111 33610 14011 10500 55316 11391 31515 12011 54111 42011 34799 60005 53313 16005 03036 31681 40381 30220 33189 51269 41014 00074  35210 13380 55627
  • Using a cipher with the passphrase "Giving You a Better World" (phrase found on Teragon Group's webpage) on administrator.txt reveals the following message:
OUR GOAL IS NEAR IT IS WITHIN OUR GRASP
SOON WE WILL ACCOMPLISH OUR LOFTY GOALSTAYSTRONGD

Staystrong

  • Experimenting with file extensions on staystrong initially led to a new URL, staystrong.jpg. However, this link went dea and was replaced by another URL, staystrong.txt, which reads:
https://youtu.be/qOOW9iRUI4I

Vive La Rochelle!

  • Discord Chat users quickly realized that all the locations filmed in the Staystrong video are in the city of La Rochelle, France. This led to a new URL, larochelle.txt, which reads:
122 105 153 154 115 152 102 103 122 123 61 125 123 60 106 111 112 124 111 167 125 60 126 112 125 171 125 171 115 105 112 106 114 126 122 114 121   125 147 154 115 152 102 104 123 105 105 164 122 60 126 106 112 124 111 167 121 153 125 164 126 105 164 102 123 103 125 171 115 105 65 102 125 60  147 164 122 105 71 112 122 123 61 125 125 60 70 154 115 152 102 125 125 60 125 164 124 153 154 115 124 103 125 171 115 105 122 112 121 153 126  111 112 124 111 167 121 123 61 130 124 60 147 154 115 152 102 103 122 123 61 125 123 60 106 111 112 124 111 167 122 105 154 103 122 125 147 154  115 152 102 125 123 105 106 117 114 126 160 112 122 123 125 171 115 105 122 141 122 125 147 154 115 152 102 104 124 105 105 164 122 60 153 164  121 125 154 111 112 124 111 167 121 153 125 164 126 105 164 102 123 103 125 171 115 105 112 112 123 103 61 125 125 60 125 164 122 105 154 111 112  124 111 167 121 153 125 164 126 105 164 102 123 103 125 171 115 105 116 111 121 123 61 110 122 125 125 154 115 152 102 103 122 123 61 125 123 60  106 111 112 124 111 167 126 106 116 102 114 125 125 164 122 105 71 117 123 125 64 164 122 125 125 154 115 152 102 102 114 125 116 111 123 123 125  171 115 105 122 102 123 103 61 117 122 126 115 164 126 106 116 102 112 124 111 167 123 60 170 106 125 60 147 154 115 152 102 105 114 125 106 111  112 124 111 167 121 153 125 164 126 105 164 102 123 103 125 171 115 105 65 102 125 60 147 164 122 105 71 112 122 123 61 125 125 60 70 154 115 152  102 102 123 103 61 113 121 125 147 154 115 152 102 114 124 105 126 124 123 103 125 171 115 105 164 115 122 126 116 111 112 124 111 167 124 153  125 164 121 125 150 124 114 125 160 102 123 103 125 171 115 106 122 124 121 125 147 154 115 152 101 154 115 152 102 103 122 123 61 125 123 60 106  111 112 124 111 167 126 106 116 106 114 125 65 112 124 105 167 154 115 152 102 105 121 125 147 164 124 153 126 124 114 126 122 124 121 123 125 171 115 105 106 111 114 125 65 102 123 103 125 171 115 106 122 124 121 125 147 164 121 126 115 164 127 153 154 111 112 124 111 167 124 153 125 164 121 125 150 124 114 125 160 102 123 103 125 171 115 106 116 111 123 123 61 105 121 123 125 171 115 105 106 111 114 125 170 120 125 61 157 154 115 152 102 102 123 103 61 117 121 125 147 154 115 152 102 103 122 123 61 115 121 123 61 124 121 125 65 102 112 124 111 167 121 60 150 112 124 153 122 112 112 124 111 167 126 106 116 102 123 103 61 102 125 171 61 141 123 125 147 75

Navajo Code

  • The users quickly recognized larochelle.txt as octal code, and converted it from octal to text, which then read:
REklMjBCRS1US0FIJTIwU0VJUyUyMEJFLVRLQUglMjBDSEEtR0VFJTIwQkUtVEtBSCUyME5BU0gtRE9JRS1UU08lMjBUU0UtTklMTCUyMERJQkVIJTIwQS1XT0glMjBCRS1US0FIJTIwRElC RUglMjBUSEFOLVpJRSUyMERaRUglMjBDTEEtR0ktQUlIJTIwQkUtVEtBSCUyMEJJSC1UU0UtRElIJTIwQkUtVEtBSCUyMENIQS1HRUUlMjBCRS1US0FIJTIwVFNBLUUtRE9OSU4tRUUlMjBBL UNISSUyMERBSC1ORVMtVFNBJTIwS0xFU0glMjBELUFIJTIwQkUtVEtBSCUyME5BU0gtRE9JRS1UU08lMjBBSC1KQUglMjBLTEVTSCUyMEtMRVNIJTIwTkUtQUhTLUpBSCUyMFRTQUglMjAlMj BCRS1US0FIJTIwVFNFLU5JTEwlMjBEQUgtTkVTLVRTQSUyMEFILU5BSCUyMFRTQUgtQVMtWklIJTIwTkUtQUhTLUpBSCUyMFNISS1EQSUyMEFILUxPU1olMjBBSC1OQUglMjBCRS1MQS1TQU5 BJTIwQ0hJTkRJJTIwVFNBSC1BUy1aSUg=
  • Recognizing this as base64 code, they converted it from base64 to text, which converted to:
DI BE-TKAH SEIS BE-TKAH CHA-GEE BE-TKAH NASH-DOIE-TSO TSE-NILL DIBEH A-WOH BE-TKAH DIBEH THAN-ZIE DZEH CLA-GI-AIH BE-TKAH BIH-TSE-DIH BE-TKAH  CHA-GEE BE-TKAH TSA-E-DONIN-EE A-CHI DAH-NES-TSA KLESH D-AH BE-TKAH NASH-DOIE-TSO AH-JAH KLESH KLESH NE-AHS-JAH TSAH  BE-TKAH TSE-NILL DAH-NES- TSA AH-NAH TSAH-AS-ZIH NE-AHS-JAH SHI-DA AH-LOSZ AH-NAH BE-LA-SANA CHINDI TSAH-AS-ZIH
  • Recognizing this final portion as navajo code, a navajo cipher was used to arrive at the final message:
THIS IS THEY LAST STEP PREVIOUS THEY FIRST LESSON AREYOUREADY
  • The last part of the navajo message, AREYOUREADY, led to another URL, areyouready.txt, which at first read only "Coming soon.", but was shortly thereafter updated to read:
Have you remembered your lesson?
A city and a pillar.
21946101621435413693530515
  • Simultaneously, donotdespair.txt updated to read:
We're monitoring your progress.
You're doing great! Even faster than we expected!
Go on, you're not very far now.
  • The tridigital cipher was determined to be relevant by connecting the previous OWLEYES clue with the person who developed tridigital, who went by the alias "Owleyes".
  • Essentially, because of the leak, a step was skipped and the .pdf and numbers portion of parchment.png were disregarded preemptively. Anewbeginning was supposed to be discovered through the .pdf and parchment.png

February 5th, 2016 - The Plot Thickens

The Feline Fury

  • Sometime overnight, youarefast.tx was updated to read
How well do you know the glorious history of the Templars?
1. He was the patron of the small group that founded the Order
2. Some of us fled there after hell broke loose. This was the only land that chose not to persecute us.
Al Co from To Le
4095564047047565479466764776928449837750549562
  • Discord Users Antimony and Kolkoo realized that "Al co from To Le" were referred to a keyword route in a nihilist cipher. Using this information, as well as keys the "Bernard de Clairvaux" and "Scotland", Discord User sapwbd was able to obtain the following plaintext.
thisshouldlastalongtime
  • thisshouldlastalongtime.txt was found on the Teragon website with the following text.
We need your help on another project.
Apparently, Laeticia's group have come up with a new way to communicate with some of their remote followers.
Go to her site (You remember the address, right?) and find out how she communicates with her people. Once you find the method and code, contact  one of our operatives.
Good Luck.
JM
  • A cryptic new post also appeared on happycats.club, featuring an image of a cat in what appears to be Jerusalem.
  • The website was later updated with two more pictures of cats. These likely also contribute to the puzzle.
  • A while later, the website was again updated with two more pictures of cat.
  • thisshouldlastalongtime.txt was updated on the Teragon website with the following text.
We need your help on another project.
Apparently, Laeticia's group have come up with a new way to communicate with some of their remote followers.
Go to her site (You remember the address, right?) and find out how she communicates with her people. Once you find the method and code, contact  one of our operatives.
Good Luck.
JM
Update: There's something fishy about those damn pictures.
  • Discord User Filiard ran steganography tools on the images to find that the last four images all contained the following text.
I hope work is something you find enjoyable.
killing jackals vigorously
7:5
14:18
13:1
3:17
10:22
  • By taking the first letters of "killing jackals vigorously", Discord User fence! determined it to be a reference to the King James Version Bible.
  • Discord User Malqua suggested that "work" was a pun on "Job", a book in the Bible.

> malta

  • Discord User fence! sent the following message to Teragon operative /u/Tonywan
Hey have you scheduled your time off for your Malta trip?
  • Teragon operative /u/Tonywan replied with the following response.
Amazing, you actually did something useful.
Hold on.
  • /u/Tonywan followed up on his message with the following message, which contained the next puzzle.
Since you seem to be on a roll (yes, I'm being ironic), do you mind solving this piece of paper we found in the holding cell we were holding L in?

http://imgur.com/0hswdKk
  • Teragon operatives produced a cleaner version of the map

siIhga0.png 

Our people created a new, cleaned-up version of the map.

http://i.imgur.com/siIhga0
  • Discord User karp suggested that the path taken through the streets was to be "added" when going right and "subtracted" when going left (from the perspective of the traveler), based on the zoom bar at the top. To add, simply append the street name to the end of the current text. To subtract, remove any letters that are shared with the street name from the current text. For example, "AB" + "CD" = "ABCD". "ABCD - DE" = "ABC". This process results in the following sequence.
PILFORD - FORD = PIL
PIL + CATS = PILCATS
PILCATS - PICA = LTS 
LTS - DST = L
L + PINE = LPINE 
LPINE - PEAR = LIN
LIN + GUISEREY = LINGUISEREY
LINGUISEREY - YEAR = LINGUIS
  • Discord users pyrophexx and karp obtained the following plaintext using the above process.
LINGUIS
  • Discord chat users identified Linguis as a translator and potential spy attending the meeting at the Palais du Luxembourg, according to an earlier Powerpoint Presentation on the main website.
  • Messaging /u/Tonywan with the solution resulted in the following reply.
Thanks.
Our own people found the answer five minutes ago, but, well.. thanks.
Await new instructions from JM at /inquiry/
  • A directory of files at teragongroup.com/inquiry/ was found.
Congratulations on your last assignments, that was a job well done.
We can now assume that the Friends of De Molay (let's call them FDM for brevity's sake) will try to infiltrate that company.
We're trying to collect files on all the Linguis people working at our conference, but in the meantime can you help us with something else?
There's an image we intercepted yesterday, coming from FDM.
I'll place it in this folder. We're guessing it's related to Sunday's event and may contain another code.
Contact Tony when you're done.
Thanks.
JM
PS: Sorry about Tony's attitude.
PS2: I'm still getting angry phone calls from people over at a McDonald's in Paris. Do you know anything about that?
PS3: Some of the elements in the map may be there to throw you off. That's how L's people work.
PS4: I may as well share the work our analysts have done so far with you: apparently, the letters are quite meaningless.
PS5: According to our analysts, this is relevant... no idea how, though ... --- ...
  • The pattern of dots and dashes says SOS in Morse code, hinting that the secret to the puzzle involves Morse.
  • By reading the short and tall trees as dits and dahs in Morse code, the Discord chat arrived at the following plaintext solution.
westrikeonsunday
  • A Discord User sent the solution to Teragon operative /u/Tonywan and received the following reply.
Thanks.
No need to hurry by the way, please continue taking your sweet, sweet time to work on these. It's not like we're doing important work, here.
Wait for a new message from JM.
  • The inquiry directory was updated to include more files.

Congratulations!

  • The content of Congratulations2.txt in the inquiry directory included the following message from Teragon Operative JM.
Thank you for helping us with that code.
We do still need your help. And this time, it is a rather time-sensitive matter, so please do try to stick to the task at hand this time.
We have one hour before we issue security clearances for the translators contracted by Linguis. Based on what you found, we can safely assume    that one of them is working for FDM. Unfortunately, at this point, we have no idea which one it is. In the folder that contains this message, you  will find a file listing those individuals along with whatever we have been able to find about them.
We do have a lead, however. Someone found a code that may lead you to the identity of the fake translator.
When you have his or her name, vote for that person's name on strawpoll.
The translator with the highest number of votes will be shot.
No, just kidding. We'll just deny his or her clearance, which will prevent them from working on Sunday.
Remember, you have one hour to find out who it is.
Come back here when the hour is up.
JM
  • LinguisContractors.xls details the results of Teragon's investigations on each of the Linguis's translators applying for a security clearance.
  • The Discord Chat identified clue.png as a Pigpen cipher. The image was quickly deciphered to contain the following message.
the file of the agent that infiltrated linguis is in the mole directory
the clue to her or his identity is hidden in the narrative
  • The mole directory was discovered on the happycats.club/ website, containing the following single file.
Yesterday.pdf
  • Yesterday.pdf pointed to a cryptic document of a meeting with a psychiatrist.
  • Congratulations2.txt in the inquiry director was updated by JM, containing this strawpoll
Thank you for helping us with that code.
We do still need your help. And this time, it is a rather time-sensitive matter, so please do try to stick to the task at hand this time.
We have one hour before we issue security clearances for the translators contracted by Linguis. Based on what you found, we can safely assume  that one of them is working for FDM. Unfortunately, at this point, we have no idea which one it is. In the folder that contains this message, you  will find a file listing those individuals along with whatever we have been able to find about them.
We do have a lead, however. Someone found a code that may lead you to the identity of the fake translator.
When you have his or her name, vote for that person's name at http://strawpoll.me/6738018.
The translator with the highest number of votes will be shot.
No, just kidding. We'll just deny his or her clearance, which will prevent them from working on Sunday.
Remember, you have one hour to find out who it is.
Come back here when the hour is up.
JM
  • A Discord User noticed the unusual usage of animals in Yesterday.pdf pulled them out of the story.
Turkey
Rat
Aardvark
Cat
Tortoise
Orangutan
Rabbit
  • A Discord User took the first letter of each animal to obtain the clue to the fake translator.
TRACTOR
  • By referencing "tractor" with LinguisContractors.xls in inquiry, the Discord chat believed the fake translator to be Sofia Rosti, described as someone who 
Loves the countryside and gardening. Dislikes reality TV and traveling
  • Other Discord chat members believed the fake translator to be Muriel Chaffart, noting that the narrator of Yesterday.pdf was Parisian, ran away from violence, and had no driver's license, consistent with Muriel's following description. Additionally, Muir-Hill names a tractor company, consistent with the "TRACTOR" clue above.
Loves Japanese culture and tennis. Dislikes driving and violence.
  • Sofia Rosti received the highest number of votes in the strawpol before the voting period closed.
  • Afterward the [eragon inquiry director was updated with Congratulations3.txt, containing the following message from JM.
So, you chose Sofia... Hmmm, it's an interesting choice.
We just told her that she wouldn't get the clearance. She seemed pretty devastated.
By the way, we've been told that FDM is soon going to send a broadcast to its remote agents.
Can you monitor their website in case that broadcast is made there?
If it's the case, try to decipher it and send whatever you find over to Tony.
Once again, thank you for your help.
JM
PS: You'd better get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be an eventful day.
  • Laeticia's website was updated with a cryptic new post titled "Please disregard this post" containing images of parasites and disease vectors.
  • The post title was updated to read Please disregard this broadcast, likely to align better with the message from JM.
Retrieved from "https://wiki.gamedetectives.net/index.php?title=Teragon&oldid=190"