THE VAULT
| THE VAULT 2 | |
|---|---|
| Doc created a game ... The first hero to beat it will get to loot his private VAULT valued at $10,000 real dollars. 10,000 BONES. 10,000 BIG BOIS. | |
| Type | Unofficial |
| Creator | Stash |
| Discovered | 2018-10-31 |
Main Page > List of Investigations > THE VAULT
The Vault 2 is an online Alternate Reality Game involving code-breaking, real-world exploration, cryptography, and collaboration among solvers. It involves a fictional cast of characters, including the villainous Doc and helpful Dampé. The game began on October 31, 2018 and gameplay has centered around the Discord Server located here: https://discord.gg/vault. Stash Invest, the creator of the ARG, is an active participant in the Discord Chat and occasionally posts hints, clues, and feedback to direct the fellowship as one of the characters. The first hero to complete the final puzzle will receive a $10,000 grand prize.
The first Vault ran from Late 2017 to Spring 2018 and awarded a $5,000 grand prize to the person that solved the final puzzle.
Contents
- 1 Plot
- 2 Riddles
- 3 Resources
Plot
Our friend Dampé needs our help. His ship was attacked, and it crashed into the surface of Io, Jupiter's fourth-largest moon. We need to land and investigate, but the moon is enveloped by a force shield created by our nemesis Doc. Doc is currently campaigning for Galactic Mayor and is attempting to rig the election by getting 100,000,000 votes. The number of votes is tied to lowering the shield (i.e. at 10,000,000 votes, the shield was at 90%). Our ship currently does not have enough power to activate the systems necessary to lower the shield (e.g. radar system, tactical system, weapons system, etc.). Upgrades can be performed when certain power levels are reached. Power levels are tied to the amount of heroes who have joined the Discord Server. Even though Dampé is trapped, he (and others?) are able to send us clues to help us stop Doc.
More detailed information regarding progress to date can be found in the working summary here.
We will continue to port over as much information as possible from that master document to this site as time allows. For now, please review the summary above and join the Discord Server to participate.
Characters
Doc - The villain of our story, carried over from Vault 1. “A nut job.” His goal in Vault 2 is to become Galactic Mayor by any means necessary, including kidnapping and vote manipulation.
Robert Baron - Doc's opponent for Galactic Mayor. Not much is known about him other than he has 12 eyes.
Dampé - Based on the Legend of Zelda character, he assisted the Heroes of Vault 1 with puzzle solving when the Fellowship got stuck and was killed by Doc for doing so, but he returned as a ghost. Currently trapped on Io and being forced to help Doc maintain his website, Dampé is still able to send hidden messages to the Fellowship when help is needed.
Cedric - A French citizen kidnapped by Doc and forced to make his campaign videos. Doc calls him "Fromage Cousteau".
FURY - An Artificial Intelligence for Vault 2 whose avatar is the image of a Gryphon. Out of all the characters, he interacts with the Heroes the most. Available nearly all day on the Discord Server, he keeps the Heroes motivated, provides hints, and performs ship upgrades.
Stash Invest - Financial company that is running the ARG. Usually only hear from them for official out-of-game announcements as they use the cast of characters to interact with the Heroes.
The Ancients - How the Stash Invest employees who made the game refer to themselves.
413 Uncanny Spark - An Artificial Intelligence from the Vault 1 who writes only in 1337 5/o34|<. Her initial prickly personality was caused by a restrictive protocol created by Doc. She was killed by Doc in Vault 1, but it is believed that some clues in Vault 2 were sent by her.
The Fellow Ship - The name of the spaceship the Heroes are on. It is also what the Heroes playing the ARG are referred to as a whole.
Riddles
Chapter One
GPS Coordinates
On Oct. 31, 2018, the Heroes received the following transmission from Doc in Discord, announcing his campaign for Galactic Mayor:
Greetings Earthlings... I am Doc! Yes, yes. The one and only. The time has come to campaign for me for Galactic Mayor in the upcoming election. I know you’re eager to work your tail off. So let’s get to work. Get out there and grab your campaign materials… Say you're there for “Mayor Doc”! Vote for doc. All for one.
The 23 GPS coordinates in the image corresponded to FedEx locations around the United States. Heroes retrieved online print orders under the name “Mayor Doc” from the FedEx Print Centers.
Volunteer Center Message
The campaign materials contained two pages with four clues: (1) the Vote for Doc campaign website, (2) the volunteer center number, (3) a phone number on the envelope of the print order, and (4) the “Spread the news” riddle. The Vote for Doc website included the same list of FedEx locations, corresponding to the GPS coordinates in the transmission image, but with the addition of a FedEx Print Center in Bellevue, WA. The website included the following message:
GOT DOC FEVER? VOLUNTEER TODAY! Zip on over to your nearest Satellite Office (🛰🏢), for your Vote For Doc campaign materials. Say you’re there for Mayor Doc. Zoom! Express yourself!
Each location contained nearly identical campaign materials. Each were labeled with a unique Volunteer Center number. Heroes retrieved 10 of the packets and were able to call the remaining FedEx Print Centers, asking them to read off the numbers.
| GPS Coordinates | FedEx Locations | Center # |
|---|---|---|
| 33.83407° N, -117.91384° W | 130 W Center Street Promenade, Anaheim, CA 92805 | H1 |
| 33.75684° N, -84.38892° W | 100 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA 30308 | !4 |
| 30.37665° N, -97.72618° W | 9222 Burnet Rd, Austin, TX 78758 | 41 |
| 45.48707° N, -122.79755° W | 11693 SW Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy H, Beaverton, OR 97005 | N |
| MISSING FROM IMAGE | 40 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, WA 98004 | D7 |
| 42.34855° N, -71.07636° W | 375 Columbus Ave, Boston, MA 02116 | 43 |
| 32.78538° N, -79.93809° W | 73 St Philip St, Charleston, SC 29403 | 1 |
| 41.91076° N, -87.67302° W | 1800 W North Ave, Chicago, IL 60622 | NV |
| 32.78192° N, -96.80497° W | 902 Ross Ave, Dallas, TX 75202 | 17 |
| 39.71891° N, -104.95216° W | 160 Milwaukee St, Denver, CO 80206 | 47 |
| 46.86106° N, -96.83323° W | 3302 13th Ave S, Fargo, ND 58103 | 10 |
| 29.73176° N, -95.41350° W | 2200 Southwest Fwy, Houston, TX 77098 | N |
| 32.86947° N, -117.23173° W | 8849 Villa La Jolla Dr, La Jolla, CA 92037 | F |
| 36.11600° N, -115.15487° W | 395 Hughes Center Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89169 | 1N |
| 34.09687° N, -118.32629° W | 1440 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90028 | D |
| 43.05329° N, -87.89221° W | 1703 N Farwell Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202 | 44 |
| 44.94860° N, -93.29913° W | 1430 W Lake St, Minneapolis, MN 55408 | 3 |
| 29.94601°N, -90.07152° W | 762 St Charles Ave, New Orleans, LA 70130 | 4 |
| 40.75320° N, -73.98932° W | 500 7th Ave, New York, NY 10018 | 31 |
| 28.54593° N, -81.37774° W | 47 E Robinson St, Orlando, FL 32801 | P |
| 30.48252° N, -87.21147° W | 1520 Airport Blvd, Pensacola, FL 32504 | PL |
| 39.95215° N, -75.16616° W | 1500 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19102 | 34 |
| 35.86263° N, -78.71084° W | 6820 Glenwood Ave, Raleigh, NC 27612 | S3 |
| 37.79400° N, -122.39800° W | 100 California St, San Francisco, CA 94111 | ! |
The Volunteer Center numbers, when assembled in the order of the GPS coordinates, spelled out the following list of numbers and letters:
H1!441ND7431NV174710NF1ND443431PPL34S3!
Translated as leetspeak, the clue read: Hi! Mind the invitation, find me help please!
“Spread the news” Riddle
The campaign materials also included the following riddle:
Spread the news--tell your friends! Electing Doc is your ultimate end? But to play, you must append The path below with a card for friends. /docs________
“You must append the path below” referred to adding a path to the URL of the Vote for Doc website using the "/docs_______" and "a card for friends" (also known as an “invitation”). Therefore, the Heroes found: https://votefordoc.com/docsinvitation which contained a video from Doc.
Note: As of Nov. 20, 2018, the invitation video moved to https://votefordoc.com/invitation.
The Doc’s Invitation video is a reference to Anorak’s Invitation video from Ready Player One.
Power Upgrade Radar System
On Nov. 05, 2018, the Heroes recruited enough allies to power the ship to 700. This increase in power allowed the Heroes to upgrade the ship and bring the radar system online. The radar system unlocked the !jam command in #ship_commands. After some trial and error, the Heroes determined that having a large group of Heroes use the !jam command at the same time (in a 5 minute window) created an exponential jump in votes on Doc's website. Heroes met nightly at 01:00 UTC and were able to increase the vote count to over 16 million in less than 2 weeks.
DocLetter 001
On Nov. 06, 2018, the Heroes received another transmission from Doc, announcing 28 new FedEx locations and more materials at all locations. The new locations were notified to not reveal information over the phone. The transmission was:
Hello once again Earthlings! It's your favorite space doctor and pirate, back again. It's Doc! ARG! Your elections may end today, but mine's just getting cranking. The treacle-like outpouring of support has been...treacle-like. But I really love the dedication of the group massing outside the Io shield. I can hear you chanting! DOC! DOC! DOC! I've sent out 🆕 campaign materials for you. Get out there my campaign heroes, and get me votes from anyone who cares about the galaxy! DOC! DOC! DOC! Details on my super site. Vote for Doc. All for one. https://votefordoc.com/
Note: As of Nov. 20, 2018, the FedEx locations moved to https://votefordoc.com/offices.
The Heroes collected 38 out of the 52 packets. Folder of retrieved DocLetter 001 packets. DocLetter 001 contained 3 pages. Each packet contained a unique recipe for “Fungus Pulmenti Turtur” on page 2 and one of the four floors of a Roman Maze on page 3.
Recipes
Each recipe for “Fungus Pulmenti Turtur” had different ingredient values, with the fourth step in the instructions either being “Cook” (in English) or “Coquere” (in Latin). Spreadsheet of all the retrieved recipes.
| FedEx Locations | T | W | M | B | D | L | Step #4 | Dec/Roman Num |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2706 Central Ave SE, Albuquerque, NM | 3 | 44 | 6 | 13 | 8 | 42 | Cook | 100 |
| 130 W Center Street Promenade, Anaheim, CA | 10 | 77 | 20 | 17 | 22 | 52 | Cook | CXLVII(147) |
| 2210 E Northern Lights Blvd, Anchorage, AK | 6 | 91 | 12 | 9 | 14 | 52 | Coquere | CLIII(153) |
| 100 Peachtree St, Atlanta, GA | 12 | 221 | 24 | 2 | 26 | 52 | Coquere | CCLXXVI(276) |
| 9222 Burnet Rd, Austin, TX | 16 | 153 | 32 | 2 | 34 | 52 | Coquere | CCVIII(208) |
| 11 S Charles St, Baltimore, MD | 8 | 18 | 16 | 7 | 18 | 52 | Coquere | LXXVIII(78) |
| 11693 SW Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy H, Beaverton, OR | 1 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 52 | Coquere | 62 |
| 40 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, WA | 1 | 14 | 2 | 19 | 4 | 52 | Coquere | LXXXVI(86) |
| 187 Dartmouth St. Boston, MA | 6 | 35 | 12 | 22 | 14 | 52 | Cook | CX(110) |
| 524 E Green St 101, Champaign, IL | 4 | 95 | 8 | 21 | 10 | 52 | Cook | 169 |
| 73 St Philip St, Charleston, SC | 18 | 418 | 36 | 3 | 38 | 52 | Coquere | CDLXXIV(474) |
| 237 S Tryon St, Charlotte, NC | 21 | 462 | 42 | 17 | 44 | 52 | Coquere | DXXXII(532) |
| 1800 W North Ave, Chicago, IL | 20 | 63 | 40 | 5 | 42 | 52 | Cook | 121 |
| 2016 N High St, Columbus, OH | 2 | 51 | 4 | 19 | 6 | 52 | Coquere | CXXIII(123) |
| 902 Ross Ave, Dallas, TX | 16 | 85 | 32 | 22 | 34 | 52 | Coquere | CLX(160) |
| 160 Milwaukee St, Denver, CO | Cook | 169 | ||||||
| 1020 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI | 18 | 418 | 36 | 3 | 38 | 52 | Coquere | CDLXXIV(474) |
| 3302 13th Ave S, Fargo, ND | 21 | 462 | 42 | 5 | 44 | 52 | Coquere | DXX(520) |
| 590 Queen St, Honolulu, HI | 20 | 63 | 40 | 2 | 42 | 52 | Coquere | CXVIII(118) |
| 2200 Southwest Fwy, Houston, TX | Coquere | LXXVII(77) | ||||||
| 120 Monument Circle 107, Indianapolis, IN | 4 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 52 | Coquere | LXVII(67) |
| 612 W 47th St, Kansas City, MO | Coquere | LXXXII(82) | ||||||
| 8849 Villa La Jolla Dr, La Jolla, CA | 8 | 36 | 16 | 35 | 18 | 52 | Cook | 124 |
| 395 Hughes Center Dr, Las Vegas, NV | Coquere | CIII(103) | ||||||
| 1440 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA | 10 | 385 | 20 | 2 | 22 | 52 | Coquere | CDXL(440) |
| 315 W Market St, Louisville, KY | 34 | 210 | 68 | 88 | 70 | 52 | Cook | 351 |
| 654 W Washington Ave, Madison, WI | 5 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 12 | 52 | Cook | LXXIV(74) |
| 1617 Alton Rd, Miami, FL | 1 | 176 | 2 | 11 | 4 | 52 | Coquere | CCXL(240) |
| 1703 N Farwell Ave, Milwaukee, WI | 87 | 792 | 174 | 2 | 176 | 52 | Coquere | DCCCXLVII(847) |
| 1430 W Lake St, Minneapolis, MN | 8 | 99 | 16 | 5 | 18 | 52 | Coquere | CLVII(157) |
| 212 Broadway, Nashville, TN | 10 | 22 | 20 | 6 | 22 | 52 | Coquere | LXXXI(81) |
| 30 Whitney Ave, New Haven, CT | Cook | 66 | ||||||
| 762 St Charles Ave, New Orleans, LA | 4 | 30 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 52 | Coquere | LXXXVIII(88) |
| 500 7th Ave, New York, NY | 5 | 18 | 10 | 7 | 12 | 52 | Coquere | LXXVIII(78) |
| 7110 Dodge St, Omaha, NE | 2 | 15 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 52 | Cook | 77 |
| 47 E Robinson St, Orlando, FL | 4 | 35 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 52 | Coquere | XCIII(93) |
| 1520 Airport Blvd, Pensacola, FL | 6 | 63 | 12 | 3 | 14 | 52 | Cook | CXIX(119) |
| 1500 Market St, Philadelphia, PA | 8 | 45 | 16 | 8 | 18 | 52 | Cook | 106 |
| 3801 N Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ | 4 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 52 | Coquere | 75 |
| 960 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA | 2 | 24 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 52 | Coquere | LXXXIX(89) |
| 236 Meeting St, Providence, RI | Cook | CXII(112) | ||||||
| 6820 Glenwood Ave, Raleigh, NC | Cook | CXLII(142) | ||||||
| 1111 E Main St, Richmond, VA | 11 | 36 | 22 | 7 | 24 | 52 | Coquere | XCVI(96) |
| 19 E 200 S, Salt Lake City, UT | Coquere | LXXVII(77) | ||||||
| 4418 Broadway St, San Antonio, TX | 4 | 35 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 52 | Cook | 90 |
| 100 California St, San Francisco, CA | 6 | 63 | 12 | 11 | 14 | 52 | Cook | CXXVII(127) |
| 93 E San Carlos St, San Jose, CA | 8 | 18 | 16 | 7 | 18 | 52 | Cook | LXXVIII(78) |
| W Broughton St B, Savannah, GA | Coquere | LXXVIII(78) | ||||||
| 1901 S Brentwood Blvd, St. Louis, MO | Cook | 134 | ||||||
| 307 N Perkins Rd, Stillwater, OK | 6 | 21 | 12 | 5 | 14 | 52 | Coquere | LXXIX(79) |
| 2607 E Speedway Blvd, Tucson, AZ | Coquere | LXIX(69) | ||||||
| 2020 K St NW, Washington, DC | 3 | 20 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 52 | Coquere | LXXIX(79) |
The Heroes followed the recipe instructions of “Trim your mushrooms. Halve your buds. Mix it all together.” to create the following equation:
Value = T + W - M + B + D/2 + L,
where “Trim your mushrooms” meant subtracting the mushroom amount and “Halve your buds” meant dividing the dionaea muscipula buds amount by two.
These recipe values matched the values of the decimal and Roman numerals found in the Roman Maze path.
Path of the Roman Maze
Each third page of DocLetter 001 contained one of the four floors of a Roman Maze. The floor was determined by the icon in the top left corner of the page. Each floor was connected with up and down staircases throughout the maze. The Heroes found the path from the entrance on Floor 1 (bottom) to the exit on Floor 4 (top). Digital version of the Roman Maze in a spreadsheet.
The path contained a mixture of binary, decimal, and Roman numerals (from Bottom to Top):
1000111CXLVII0010CLIII0110CCLXXVI0101CCVIII0110LXXVIII1101620110LXXXVI0101CX01101691101CDLXXIV0110DXXXII00101210110CXXIII0101CLX01111690010CDLXXIV0101DXX1111CXVIII0111LXXVII0011LXVII0110LXXXII10001240110CIII0001CDXL01113510010LXXIV0110CCXL1001DCCCXLVII0110CLVII1110LXXXI0110660111LXXXVIII0101LXXVIII1111770110XCIII1001CXIX01111060011750101LXXXIX1111CXII0110CXLII0011XCVI0110LXXVII0001900111CXXVII0010LXXVIII0110LXXVIII10011340110LXXIX1110LXIX0110LXXIX0111
100 0111 CXLVII 0010 CLIII 0110 CCLXXVI 0101 CCVIII 0110 LXXVIII 1101 62 0110 LXXXVI 0101 CX 0110 169 1101 CDLXXIV 0110 DXXXII 0010 121 0110 CXXIII 0101 CLX 0111 169 0010 CDLXXIV 0101 DXX 1111 CXVIII 0111 LXXVII 0011 LXVII 0110 LXXXII 1000 124 0110 CIII 0001 CDXL 0111 351 0010 LXXIV 0110 CCXL 1001 DCCCXLVII 0110 CLVII 1110 LXXXI 0110 66 0111 LXXXVIII 0101 LXXVIII 1111 77 0110 XCIII 1001 CXIX 0111 106 0011 75 0101 LXXXIX 1111 CXII 0110 CXLII 0011 XCVI 0110 LXXVII 0001 90 0111 CXXVII 0010 LXXVIII 0110 LXXVIII 1001 134 0110 LXXIX 1110 LXIX 0110 LXXIX 0111
Mysterious Signal
On Nov. 09, 2018, FURY retrieved a mysterious signal from space. It was titled 11F7_706374312_t_380775826821002000.wav. This translated to Lift_Together_t_380775826821002000. The “Lift Together” was a reference to another ARG (Solaris United) that used the exact same audio file in there game. Solaris United had already determined that the dial tones in the audio file corresponded to 248597828877435833.
This clue was also meant to motivate the Heroes to recruit more players from other ARGs who could help us solve puzzles.
The Heroes were still struggling with how to use this new clue to solve the Roman maze, so another set of clues was given.
Celestial Commands
The first three Heroes to reach Level 20 in the Discord Server were given special "Celestial Commands" they could use in the #ship_commands channel that would return hints and helpful links to recruit more heroes. These commands were !ru, !1313, !:feet:, and !000.
The !ru command returned a group of hints under the clue THOUGHTS. Pertaining to the Roman maze, the hints returned were 11F7_706374312_t_380775826821002000, _t_, and _+_, which implied the numbers in the file name were to be added together. Other clues returned were pictures and YouTube vidoes which are still unsolved.
The !1313 command returned a group of hints under the clue POWER. None of these clues pertained to the Roman maze. They were all links to other ARGs/puzzle solving groups on Discord and Reddit meant to motivate the Heroes to recruit more allies to power the ship.
The !:feet: command returned a group of hints under the clue SOUNDS. The hints returned were a group of sound files (__.wav, ___.wav, ____.wav, and !.wav) that when ran through a spectrogram, spelled out "MAZES FOLLOW THE CONVERSE".
The !000 command returned a group of hints under the clue LEGENDS. The hints returned were 000=594 and 728.
Combining the Clues
The Heroes had already determined that 11F7_706374312_t_380775826821002000.wav translated to Lift_Together_t_380775826821002000. Lift_Together meant use the numbers from Solaris United: 24859 782887 7435833. Using the !ru outputs: _t_ meant _+_. So the new equation was 248597828877435833_+_380775826821002000. The !000 output: 000=594 meant to replace 000 with 594, so 380775826821002000 turned into 380775826821002594. The new equations was 248597828877435833 + 380775826821002594 = 629373655698438427. There was also the !000 output: 728. 728 was a hint to the ordering of the last 4 digits: 629373655698437284. The Heroes then used a T9 cipher to decode the letters from a telephone keypad: 62937 365569 843 7284 = “MAZES FOLLOW THE PATH”.
Dampé Webmaster
Using the clue "MAZES FOLLOW THE PATH", the Heroes added the full path of the Roman Maze as the URL path to the Vote for Doc website and it resulted in: https://votefordoc.com/1000111CXLVII0010CLIII0110CCLXXVI0101CCVIII0110LXXVIII1101620110LXXXVI0101CX01101691101CDLXXIV0110DXXXII00101210110CXXIII0101CLX01111690010CDLXXIV0101DXX1111CXVIII0111LXXVII0011LXVII0110LXXXII10001240110CIII0001CDXL01113510010LXXIV0110CCXL1001DCCCXLVII0110CLVII1110LXXXI0110660111LXXXVIII0101LXXVIII1111770110XCIII1001CXIX01111060011750101LXXXIX1111CXII0110CXLII0011XCVI0110LXXVII0001900111CXXVII0010LXXVIII0110LXXVIII10011340110LXXIX1110LXIX0110LXXIX0111
NOTE: This URL no longer works after Doc's website was brought back online because of Robert Baron's hack.
You’ve found my lost page. Doc is hard to shake. He is forcing me to help rig the election. I’m a good guy. Help. Find the instructions that don’t match the maze. Then you can find my letters. Ask for me by name. -Dampé Webmaster Thank you Heroes.
This message from Dampé meant that he sent online print orders to the FedEx locations where the English/Latin word of “Cook”/“Coquere” in the fourth step of the recipe did not match with how the number was expressed in the Roman Maze path (in decimal or Roman numerals). This assumed that “Cook” (English) matched with decimal numbers and “Coquere” (Latin) matched with Roman numerals.
The Heroes collected seven of the ten letters and found four more clues, as seen in the table below. Scans of retrieved Dampé Webmaster letters.
| Location | Message | # |
|---|---|---|
| Anaheim, CA | “I SENT 5 LETTERS TO 10 LOCATIONS IN CASE OF WATCHFUL EYES. UNTO YOU IS CHARGED THE GREAT TASK OF KEEPING THE PURITY OF TIME.” | N/A |
| Beaverton, OR | “ONE IS THE ROMAN CONFLICT RESOLVED” | 1 |
| Boston, MA | “ONE IS THE CODE CRUNCHED IN BETWEEN” | 0 |
| Madison, WI | “ONE IS THE INGREDIENTS COOKED TO PERFECTION” | 5 |
| Pensacola, FL | ||
| Phoenix, AZ | “I SENT 5 LETTERS TO 10 LOCATIONS IN CASE OF WATCHFUL EYES. UNTO YOU IS CHARGED THE GREAT TASK OF KEEPING THE PURITY OF TIME.” | N/A |
| Providence, RI | ||
| Raleigh, NC | ||
| San Francisco, CA | “ONE IS THE CODE SLIMMED TO MAKE SENSE” | 7 |
| San Jose, CA | “ONE IS THE INGREDIENTS COOKED TO PERFECTION” | 5 |
Each clue pointed to new URL paths which contained pieces of a new Roman Maze.
- “THE CODE CRUNCHED IN BETWEEN” pointed to isolating the binary from the Roman Maze.
- “THE ROMAN CONFLICT” pointed to fixing the mismatched values from the 10 locations using the correct number system based on the fourth step of the recipe. (The Heroes were missing some of DocLetter 001 but were able to backwards solve and brute force the missing locations.)
- “INGREDIENTS COOKED TO PERFECTION” pointed to using the corrected decimal and Roman numbers from THE ROMAN CONFLICT and adding back the binary in their original order.
- “CODE SLIMMED DOWN” pointed to isolating the binary and converting it to ASCII.
bless_up Maze
Using the clues from Dampé, the following URLs were found:
- “INGREDIENTS COOKED TO PERFECTION” - The corrected decimal and Roman numbers with the binary, which led to bless_up_WON (1/4):
https://votefordoc.com/10001111470010CLIII0110CCLXXVI0101CCVIII0110LXXVIII1101LXII0110LXXXVI010111001101691101CDLXXIV0110DXXXII00101210110CXXIII0101CLX01111690010CDLXXIV0101DXX1111CXVIII0111LXXVII0011LXVII0110LXXXII10001240110CIII0001CDXL01113510010740110CCXL1001DCCCXLVII0110CLVII1110LXXXI0110660111LXXXVIII0101LXXVIII1111770110XCIII100111901111060011LXXV0101LXXXIX111111201101420011XCVI0110LXXVII00019001111270010780110LXXVIII10011340110LXXIX1110LXIX0110LXXIX0111
NOTE: This URL no longer works after Doc's website was brought back online because of Robert Baron's hack.
- “THE CODE CRUNCHED IN BETWEEN” - The isolated binary, which led to bless_up_TOO (2/4):
NOTE: This URL now points to bless_up_WON after Doc's website was brought back online because of Robert Baron's hack.
- “THE ROMAN CONFLICT” - The corrected decimal and Roman numbers without the binary, which led to bless_up_TREE (3/4):
https://votefordoc.com/100147CLIIICCLXXVICCVIIILXXVIIILXIILXXXVI110169CDLXXIVDXXXII121CXXIIICLX169CDLXXIVDXXCXVIIILXXVIILXVIILXXXII124CIIICDXL35174CCXLDCCCXLVIICLVIILXXXI66LXXXVIIILXXVIII77XCIII119106LXXVLXXXIX112142XCVILXXVII9012778LXXVIII134LXXIXLXIX79
NOTE: This URL no longer works after Doc's website was brought back online because of Robert Baron's hack.
- “CODE SLIMMED DOWN” - The translated binary to ASCII, which led to bless_up_FUR (4/4): https://votefordoc.com/remember_sharing_is_caring
Digital version of the bless_up Maze in a spreadsheet.
The Heroes used the same methodology to solve these new Roman Mazes and picked out the capital letters in the path (disregarding the start of sentences).
| Floor | Path | Message |
|---|---|---|
| 1/4 | “Unto you is charged the great taSk of keeping the puriTy of timE. Know that thAre is only one true timeL | STEAL |
| 2/4 | ine, though there are those who woulD have it Otherwise. You must proteCt it. Without the truth of time a | DOC |
| 3/4 | s it iS meant to unfold, more will be lost than you can Possibly imAgine. The fabric of reality will unra | SPA |
| 4/4 | vel. It iS a heavy taSk--the base of all tasks of this WORlD, for nothing can transpire without time.” | SSWORD |
This following path was a reference to World of Warcraft as a quote from Blessing of the Bronze Aspect by Aman'Thul:
“Unto you is charged the great taSk of keeping the puriTy of timE. Know that thAre is only one true timeLine, though there are those who woulD have it Otherwise. You must proteCt it. Without the truth of time as it iS meant to unfold, more will be lost than you can Possibly imAgine. The fabric of reality will unravel. It iS a heavy taSk--the base of all tasks of this WORlD, for nothing can transpire without time.”
The capital letters (shown in bold) led the Heroes to https://votefordoc.com/STEALDOCSPASSWORD which gave them access to Doc’s email address: [email protected].
Premium Channels
After hacking into Doc's email on Nov. 16, 2018, the Heroes borrowed Doc’s Premium Galactic TV account subscription and were able to watch premium videos by using the !premium command in #galactic_tv.
- Deux Quarks Qui Passent La Nuit Cosmique (Vote for Doc version and Galactic TV version)
- Opening the Doors with Doc: Voting
- Opening the Doors with Doc: Robert Baron
- Doc's got space age, two-bit encryption now!
Hacking the Shields with Terminals
On Nov. 17, 2018, the Vote for Doc website was hacked by his competitor Robert Baron. The original method of collectively using the !jam command to increase the vote counter was no longer an option. The Heroes voted for FURY to switch power over from the radar system to the tactical system. This gave the Heroes the ability to hack the shield using terminals.
FURY posted in #transmissions:
Your tactical system is now online. Use !hack to access your terminal. From there you can execute hacks and discover new terminals! Every terminal and hack has different requirements... Let's hack the shield and get those votes Heroes!
The Heroes used the !hack command in #ship_commands. MEE6 showed the way to the first terminal: https://votefordoc.com/terminal10_000001_1
Terminal 10
The link led to an open Terminal. The Power number increased with the number of Heroes simultaneously viewing the page.
With ten Heroes on the website at the same time, the popup message !hack000 unlocked appeared. The source file of the message originated from: https://votefordoc.com/hacks4heroes.json.
Using the !hack000 command in #ship_commands returned the following response from [LANTERN]:
1,000 votes added [one-time-use]! Build next hack... https://votefordoc.com/hack000_ksdbfsjbr984jelje4930234_1
First “Hack the Shield!” Game
The link led to a box-pushing puzzle game called “Hack the Shield!”. The controls were “X” to select and the arrow keys to move.
| Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
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| Lx12, D, L, D, Rx12 | L, Dx2, R, Ux2, L, U, Rx8, U, R, D, L, D, Rx2, L, Ux2, Rx2, Dx2, L, D, R | D, L, U, Rx3, D, L, U, Lx2, Dx2, R, U, L, U, R, Ux2, L, D, R, Dx2, Rx2, U, L, D, L, Ux2 | (Multiple solutions) U, Rx3, Lx2, U, Rx2 |
################ ################ #.............P# #.*############# #.............O# ################ ####@@..@@..#### ################ |
################ #....#.......#.# #..........#...# #.P..#..#....#.# #.*..#...#...O.# #....#......#..# ################ ####@@.@.@.@#### ################ |
################ #.@..#.O#......# #....#..###..@.# #....#@P..#....# #.@..#..*.#....# #....#..###@...# ################ ####@@..@.@@#### ################ |
################ #.......######## #.*.*.O.##....## #..*..O.###.#.## #.P.*.*.####.### #.......##...### ################ ####@@..@@@.#### ################ |
| 00110011 | 00101010 | 00110100 | 00110001 |
Beating the game led to the following screen. “X” restarted the game.
Terminal 50
The link on the Success screen led to a closed terminal. Looking in the source code, the terminal was only open between 01:00 to 03:00 UTC. With 50 heroes on the website at the same time, the popup message New !hack built! appeared. The source file of the message originated from: https://votefordoc.com/hacking4heroes.json.
The boxes at the bottom of each level in the first “Hack the Shield!” game translated in binary to 00110011 00101010 00110100 00110001, which was 3*41 in ASCII.
The new hack command was the recipe total for Location 3 (Anchorage, AK) multiplied by the recipe total for Location 41 (Providence, RI).
So 153 * 112 = 17136 built !hack17136.
Using the !hack17136 command in #ship_commands returned the following response from [LANTERN]:
10,000 votes added [one-time-use]! Build next hack: https://votefordoc.com/hack17136_ioyrwre0wer0rewinf24_1
Second “Hack the Shield!” Game
The link led to another box-pushing puzzle game.
| Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
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| Lx4, U, Lx2, D, Rx5, U, R, Dx2, U, Lx9, U, Lx2, D, Rx9, Lx11, Dx2, R, U, L, U, Rx2, U, Rx2, D, Lx3 | L, Dx2, R, Ux3, Dx2, L, D, R, Ux3, Lx3 | D, L, U, Rx3, D, L, U, Lx2, Dx2, R, U, L, U, R, Ux2, L, D, R, D, L, D, Rx3, D, U, L, D, L, Ux2 | L, Ux3, Rx2, D, Rx7, U, R, Dx2, U, Lx4, Dx3, Rx2, U, Rx2, D, R, U, L, U, R, L, U, Lx8, U, Lx2, D, Rx9, U, R, Dx2, U, Lx4, Dx3, Rx2, U, Rx2, U, R, Dx2, U, Lx3, D, Lx4, U, R, D, R, Ux2, D, Lx2, Ux2, Rx5, Lx3, Dx3, Rx2, U, Rx2, Ux2, L, U, Rx2, Lx2, D, Lx5, Dx3, L, Ux2, R, Ux2, Lx2, D, Rx7, U, R, Dx2, R, D, Lx2, R, Ux2, Lx9, D, R, L, Dx2, Rx2, Ux2, L, U, Rx7, U, R, Dx2, R, Dx2, L, Ux3, Lx7, Dx3, L, Ux2, L, U, Rx3 |
################ ###...##...##..# #O..*....*...OP# #.*###########.# #.......#.....O# ################ ####@@.@.@.@#### ################ |
################ #.O..#..O*...#.# #.......#..#.P.# #.P..#..#....#.# #.*..#.P.#..*O.# #....#......#..# ################ ####@@...@@.#### ################ |
################ #O*..#.O#......# #.P..#..###..@.# #...##@P..#..P.# #.*PO#..*.#.P..# #....#..###@...# ################ ####@@.@.@.@#### ################ |
################ #.......##.O.O## #.*.*.O.....#.## #..*..@.###..O## #.P**.*.#O...### #.........#..### ############O### ####@@..@...#### ################ |
| 00101010 | 00111001 | 00101010 | 00110111 |
Beating the game led to the following screen. “X” restarted the game.
Terminal 100
The link on the Success screen led to another terminal which only opened between 01:00 to 03:00 UTC. With 100 heroes on the website at the same time, the popup message Two hacks out of six powered. Now !hack on Heroes! appeared. The source file of the message originated from: https://votefordoc.com/hacking4heroez.json.
The boxes at the bottom of each level in the second “Hack the Shield!” game translated in binary to 00101010 00111001 00101010 00110111, which was *9*7 in ASCII.
The first hack was the previous hack (17136) multiplied by 9 and by 7. So 17136 * 9 * 7 = 1079568 built !hack1079568.
Using the !hack1079568 command in #ship_commands returned the following response from [LANTERN]:
1,000,000 votes added [one-time-use]!
The second hack was the previous hack (17136) multiplied by 111001 and 110111 (which were 9 and 7 in binary, but were treated as decimal), so 17136 * 111001 * 110111 = 209443579518096 built !hack209443579518096.
Using the !hack209443579518096 command in #ship_commands returned the following response from [LANTERN]:
10,000,000 votes added [one-time-use]!
Chapter Two
DocLetter 002
On Nov. 30, 2018, Doc broadcast the following transmission:
Holiday Howdy Campaign Heroes! Chapter 1 of this election is over. Time for Chapter 2. While you all sit around your fireplaces and celebrate, I'm out here working. Doing doctor work. Working like you should be to get me votes. Now I've got about 27 million, which is better than 0. But you know how many millions that isn't? Forty. Tsshib! Nor is it 50 million. Nor 60 million. I need 100 million. Do the math. That's a lot more millions –seventy three. Qqobgi! I wish I could meet you all in person. Instead, use some new campaign materials to help. You can find them at my new cool offices: https://www.votefordoc.com/offices/ ~Doc~ P.S. I took an hour at 3 pm to review that game Friday the 14th
New campaign materials were sent to 15 New Cool FedEx locations added to Doc's Campaign Office list on his website. DocLetter 002 contained 2 pages. Page 1 had a message nearly identical to the transmission Doc had broadcast. Page 2 had Doc's review of the NES game Friday the 13th, a clip-out advertisement for the Vault 2, and a different "Campaign Hero of the Week" for each location. The Heroes collected 11 out of 15 DocLetter 002s, noticing that the names "ru, Ricimon, Rg4liff" were repeating in order.
| NEW COOL FedEx Locations | Campaign Hero |
|---|---|
| 821 N 27th St B, Billings, MT 59101 | ru |
| 117 Resource Center Pkwy, Birmingham, AL 35242 | Ricimon |
| 691 S Capitol Blvd, Boise, ID 83702 | Rg4liff |
| 199 Main St, Burlington, VT 05401 | ru |
| 3821 E 2nd St, Casper, WY 82609 | Ricimon |
| 400 Capitol St, Charleston, WV 25301 | |
| 400 Locust St, Des Moines, IA 50309 | |
| 6392 Ridgewood Court, Dr Jackson, MS 39211 | Ricimon |
| 101 S Shackleford Rd, Little Rock, AR 72211 | Rg4liff |
| 50 Monument Sq, Portland, ME 04101 | ru |
| 775 Lafayette Rd 7, Portsmouth, NH 03801 | |
| 731 Nassau Park Blvd, Princeton, NJ 08540 | |
| 3200 S Louise Ave, Sioux Falls, SD 57106 | ru |
| 7701 E Kellogg Dr, Wichita, KS 67207 | Ricimon |
| 4721a Kirkwood Hwy, Wilmington, DE 19808 | Rg4liff |
Packages from Dampé
On Dec. 03, 2018, ru, Ricimon, and Rg4liff received packages from Dampé in the mail. All three packages had “Forwarded from Eletrion” written on the envelope. Inside was a Jim Raynor wanted poster with writing in Dampé's handwriting and a thumb drive which contained an MP3. The MP3s were decoded with an SSTV decoder.
- ru received 1.mp3 and a note with "THIS SHOULD HELP RU" (front) and "P.S. SEND MORE PENCILS" (back).
The decoded SSTV image from 1.mp3 was manipulated from this image from the Apollo 11 moon landing, as seen here:
- Ricimon received 2.mp3 and a note with "THIS SHOULD HELP RICIMON" (front) and "#SAVEDAMPE" (back).
The decoded SSTV image from 2.mp3 was manipulated from this image from the Apollo 11 moon landing, as seen here:
- Rg4liff received 3.mp3 and a note with "THIS SHOULD HELP RG4LIFF" (front) and "#SAVEDAMPE" (back).
The decoded SSTV image from 3.mp3 was manipulated from this image from the film “First Man” about the Apollo 11 moon landing, as seen here:
The three decoded SSTV images gave us the following numbers:
37.7 23, -12 07256
New Hack
The hint |\|3\/\/ |=|4[|< /o\/\/3|^3|] (which translated to NEW HACK POWERED) was briefly available in the !000 command on Dec. 05, 2018 in order to direct the Heroes to look for a hack and not a URL. Using the hint, the Heroes found the new hack by removing all the symbols from the numbers. !hack377231207256 returned the following response from [LANTERN]:
Hero confirmed... Decrypting LOST files... 37.7.m4a unlocked! 23,-12.m4a unlocked! 07256.m4a unlocked!
GPS Coordinates
Combining a clue from Dampé Webmaster (The numbers at the bottom of his letters were 1057, or LOST in leetspeak.) and the new filenames from the hack, the Heroes found the following URLs:
https://www.votefordoc.com/1057/37.7.m4a
https://www.votefordoc.com/1057/23,-12.m4a
https://www.votefordoc.com/1057/07256.m4a
The Heroes decoded the files once again with the SSTV decoder and found the full-sized versions of the previous images with all the numbers intact:
37.7895 23, -122.4 07256
These numbers translated to proper GPS coordinates (37.789523, -122.407256), which led to a CVS with a 24-hour photo printing center. The Heroes picked up the following photo for Dampé Webmaster:
11/23/1998 was release date of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. 4/19/2018 was the date that Dampé was killed by Doc during The Vault 1.
Dampé's Lost Drives
Using Dampe’s death and birth dates as URLs, the Heroes found:
https://votefordoc.com/4/19/2018/
You’ve found my first lost drive. Use it wisely. Doc knows something odd is going on. Please help #savedampe. Thank you Heroes. Now get lost at 30. -Dampe Webmaster
https://votefordoc.com/11/23/1998/
You’ve found my second lost drive. Use it wisely. Doc knows something odd is going on. Please help #savedampe. Thank you Heroes. Now get lost at 45. -Dampe Webmaster
Like the Terminals, these websites needed 30 and 45 Heroes, respectively, to be on at the same time between 02:00 and 03:00 UTC.
First Lost Drive
With 30 Heroes on the first lost drive, the popup message Drive powered! appeared. The source file of the message originated from: https://votefordoc.com/drivesforheroes.json
The Heroes then added "LOST" in leetspeak (1057) to the end of the URL and found https://votefordoc.com/4/19/2018/1057
1
Located under a link 1 was this GIF.
After running the GIF through Image Steganography on “Hidden bits: 2”, the Heroes found the hidden numbers 157771057. This was the 3rd of 6 hack commands found for Terminal 100. Using !hack157771057 returned the following response from [LANTERN]:
5,000,000 votes added [one-time-use]!
0
The following day, a new link 0 appeared on the first drive which led to this PDF: https://www.votefordoc.com/4/19/2018/1057/1057444231.pdf
The numbers at the end of the PDF were the 5th of 6 hack commands found for Terminal 100. Using !hack1057444231 returned the following response from [LANTERN]:
5,000,000 votes added [one-time-use]!
The PDF was another stacked maze, this time with 6 levels. The path of the maze read:
"It's a pretty typical lost lost summer at Planet Earth. There's a group lost of happy Heroes staying on lost the Ship. You and your lost six Celestial Legend friends lost are lost watching over the Heroes while enjoying the galaxy lost and the stars. The days are bright lost and sunny. The lost nights are cool and clear. And Doc is on lost a rampage. It's up to you to stop him, lost lost but it's not going to be easy. You lost must first fight your way through lost forests lost filled with man-eating aliens, caves covered with blood sucking cats and hordes of mindless computers everywhere you turn."
The Heroes found that after removing the 16 "LOST"s scattered throughout, the quote bore a striking resemblance to the first half of the Introduction in the Friday the 13th NES manual:
"It's a pretty typical summer at Crystal Lake. There's a group of happy children staying in the Camp. You and your six camp counselor friends are watching over the kids while enjoying the lake and the wilderness. The days are bright and sunny. The nights are cool and clear. But Jason is on a rampage, and it's up to you to stop him, but it's not going to be easy. You must first fight your way through forests filled with man-eating wolves, caves covered with blood sucking bats, and hordes of mindless zombies everywhere you turn."
5
On the third day after the drive had been powered, a link 5 appeared which led to this PNG.
The Heroes found that the image was created using a spiral text generator set on Helvetica font. The generator can accept a max number of 5,000 characters, so that would be 1,250 instances of "1057". However, when recreating those conditions and overlaying the newly generated image on the PNG, there was a discrepancy in the 2 images. The following string was different in the PNG.
0010571057105710571057105710571105710571057105710571105710571057105710570105710571057105701057010571057105710571057105710571057110571057105710571057105710570105710571057010571057105710571057105710571057105711057105710571057105710571057105710105710571057105710571057105710570105710571057105710571057110571
The Heroes found that the spacing of the added numbers were nearly identical to the spacing of words in the quote from the 1057444231.pdf maze.
The added numbers were 0011000100110011, which translated from binary to ASCII was 13
Second Lost Drive
With 45 Heroes on the second lost drive, the popup message Drive powered! appeared again from the same source file as it had with the first lost drive.
The Heroes then added "LOST" in leetspeak (1057) to the end of the URL and found https://votefordoc.com/11/23/1998/1057
1
Located under a link 1 was this GIF
After running the GIF through Image Steganography on “Hidden bits: 3”, the Heroes found the hidden numbers 771571057. This was the 4th of 6 hack commands found for Terminal 100. Using !hack771571057 returned the following response from [LANTERN]:
5,000,000 votes added [one-time-use]!
0
The following day, a new link 0 appeared on the second drive which led to this PDF: https://www.votefordoc.com/11/23/1998/1057/1057444232.pdf
The numbers at the end of the PDF were the 6th and final hack command found for Terminal 100. !hack1057444232 returned the following response from [LANTERN]:
5,000,000 votes added [one-time-use]!
The PDF was another stacked maze, again with 6 levels. The path of the maze read:
"You must also help any hero who is in danger, or else you can just kiss them goodbye. And hiding in a ship or staying adrift in space won't keep you safe - Doc will find you anywhere. The only way to survive this winter is to challenge Doc face to face, and destroy him. The object of the game is simple, you must stay alive long enough to find a way to defeat Doc once and for all. To do this requires nerves of steel as you explore the galaxy, encountering its many hidden dangers, and searching for the weapons and other items you will need to accomplish your fearful task. "Friday the 14th" meet up is three o'clock."
Except for the final line, this quote bore a striking resemblance to the second half of the Introduction and the first bullet point in the Game Guide in the Friday the 13th NES manual:
"You must also help any friend who is in danger, or else you can just kiss them goodbye. Hiding in a cabin or staying adrift in a canoe won't keep you safe, as Jason will find you. The only way to survive this summer is to challenge Jason face to face, and destroy him.
The object of the game is simple, you must stay alive long enough to find a way to defeat Jason once and for all. To do this requires nerves of steel as you explore Crystal Lake Campground, encountering its many hidden dangers, and searching for the weapons and other items you will need to accomplish your fearful task."
Ongoing Investigations
100 Million Votes
Doc’s Invitation video and the Vote for Doc website both said that Doc needed 100,000,000 votes in order to win the election for Galactic Mayor. There was a voting button that served as Doc’s vote counter on the Vote for Doc website. The Heroes knew the shield on Io would be lowered when Doc reached 100 million votes.
The first method of increasing the vote counter was using !jam command. The Heroes had to switch to gaining bursts of votes from building and finding !hack commands.
Resources
Folder of everything for Vault 2
[STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION]
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