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me

8 (16%)

me

2 (4%)

me

5 (10%)

help i'm trapped in a poll i don't know why i'm here i'm so scared someone please help

29 (58%)

me

6 (12%)

Total Members Voted: 50

[FallacyofUrist]

This monster isn't going down easy. We need to reverse engineer the code. Assuming it translates into English, any single letter will translate into either A or I. Any two letter code will translate into either to, of, or, or an.

So if we can use a bit of context, we can figure this thing out from the reverse side.

[RedWarrior0]

Yeah, I've been trying that for a little while with little progress. So far, I've been working under the assumption that we need to decrypt XE EHFG SH TFLXSR HNG HCTS with a Vigenere cipher, and am getting pretty much nowhere. If that's the case, then if the first two letters of the plaintext are the top line, the first two letters of the key are the bottom line.

Code: [Select]

AL AN IF IT IS IN MY ME ON OF OR TO
xt xr pz pl pm pr lg la jr jz jn eq
I don't think the first two letters of the message are ME, unless Proxxy lost her grammar capabilities. That leaves TO IN and IT as having possibly readable keys.

For the second 2-letter word, we have

Code: [Select]

AL AN IF IT IS IN MY ME ON OF OR TO
sw su kc ko kp ku gj gd eu ec eq zt
E: I got the spacing wrong, there are only two three-letter words.
I'll update later with possibilities if the shift happens after decryption, then I'll get working on the possibility that it's an affine cipher.

[FallacyofUrist]

I don't think this is something you can just look up. It seems likely to me that this cipher was invented by freeformschooler or derived from something else. In which case we need to interpret Proxxy's clues, nudges, and hidden meanings in order to gain a foothold.

As to the first two letters of the message not being ME... try it anyway. It seems to be exactly the sort of thing that could be done to mess with us- we wouldn't think someone like Proxxy would use improper grammar-but there is no reason she wouldn't if she needed to get a message across. And there's no reason that each post is one message. The message could be an ongoing thing.

[RoaryStar]

Right now, we have:

YR RUST TU USYYTS UOT UPUT
-+ ++++ -+ -++--- +-+ ++--

and the clues
"encryption=HALFHABET"
"method=INCREMENT_>13"
"method2=WHEN_NOT_INCREMENT_THEN_--"

The _> in method is probably just a space an then a >; so increment when greater than 13?
Then method2 says to decrement otherwise.

There's also to note that every character we currently have is 16 (P) or later.

If it's greater than 13, increment; otherwise, decrement. We don't have letters in the first half of the alphabet; that's probably why it's called halfhabet.

... nope, can't get anything useful.

[flabort]

Hmm...
So a - indicates when method2 was used to encrypt and a + indicates when method was used to encrypt?

I'm guessing -s are on the other half of the alphabet then.

Either that or the other way around.

So what were those two letter words again?
Y-R+ and T-U+
And the alphabet is divided here:
ABCDEFGHIJKLM / / / NOPQRSTUVWXYZ
With the following possibilities for two letter words:
AL AN IF IT IS IN MY ME ON OF OR TO
Both two letter words, if I'm correct, have a letter from each side of the alphabet, which eliminates TO OR ON ME IF and AL (both on one side), leaving
AN IT IS IN MY OF

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

ABCDEFGHIJKLM / / / NOPQR+STUVWXY-Z
AN: - increment 2 right/24 left + increment 4 left/22 right
IT: - increment 10 right/16 left + increment 24 left/2 right
IS: - increment 10 right/16 left + increment 25 left/1 right
IN: - increment 10 right/16 left + increment 4 left/22 right
MY: - increment 14 right/12 left + increment 19 left/7 right
OF: - increment 16 right/10 left + increment 12 left/14 right

ABCDEFGHIJKLM / / / NOPQRST-U+VWXYZ
AN: - increment 7 right/19 left + increment 7 left/19 right
IT: - increment 15 right/11 left + increment 1 left/25 right
IS: - increment 15 right/11 left + increment 2 left/24 right
IN: - increment 15 right/11 left + increment 7 left/19 right
MY: - increment 19 right/7 left + increment 22 left/4 right
OF: - increment 21 right/5 left + increment 15 left/11 right

That doesn't seem to actually get any results, since none of them are the same.

Another possibility that occurred to me is that it says "Increment when over 13, and take the opposite when not". Which is still when encrypting, not decrypting.

I'm still as stuck as you.

Proxxy: Measure the air you have left. Maybe the length of each chain, too. Try moving towards the South East one, it seems slightly different than the others.

[RAM]

Eat the chains.
Construct a crude engine from the chains.
Fashion a bolt-cutter from the tile that you are standing on.
Use flattery on Oric.
Invert religion to Ciro.

Has anyone applied Morse Code to the chains?

Presumably there are three methods, +, -, and  .
Presumably   is a space because there is no index to apply to.
Is there any obvious sources which could be used as a cypher key?
Does 13 apply to the text from which the letter was acquired? Perhaps skipping over letters that are not in the same half of the alphabet, either by removing odds/evens or cutting it in half...

[RedWarrior0]

Proxxy: Second Shift

I don't think this is something you can just look up. It seems likely to me that this cipher was invented by freeformschooler or derived from something else. In which case we need to interpret Proxxy's clues, nudges, and hidden meanings in order to gain a foothold.

Yeah, I realize that I'm grasping at straws, though there's a good chance in my mind that the cipher is based off a classical cipher. I'm reasonably sure that it's a substitution cipher, since anything more complicated would not be reasonably possible for us to guess, and also wouldn't fit the clues given.

[heydude6]

Spoiler: Useless idea (click to show/hide)

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Right now, we have:

YR RUST TU USYYTS UOT UPUT
-+ ++++ -+ -++--- +-+ ++--

and the clues
"encryption=HALFHABET"
"method=INCREMENT_>13"
"method2=WHEN_NOT_INCREMENT_THEN_--"

If it's greater than 13, increment; otherwise, decrement. We don't have letters in the first half of the alphabet; that's probably why it's called halfhabet.

The "+" or "-" probably denotes whether the letter was reached by an increment or decrement. The increment for - or + are probably the same value. Now since M is the highest value that can be decremented, then that means that the maximum increment value is 25, any higher and it would wrap around into the first half of the alphabet. Now the Z is the highest value that can be incremented which means that the lowest possible increment value is probably 14-15 (it depends on what FFS considers to be the dividing point between first or second half of the alphabet)

Now let's look at the first word of the code

YR
-+

If my logic is correct, then it would mean Y stands for either M or lower and R stands for either N or higher.

Now let's assume the first word is A in order to form AT, AL, or AP. Then A would decrement by 2 in order to wrap around and reach Y (1, 26, 25,). Of course we already established that the increment/decrement value cannot be lower than 14-15 (hopefully I can choose one of these numbers), therefore the first word is not at.

Now let's try the word IN. I would have to decrement by 10 in order to reach Y. Meaning that It doesn't begin with I

Now let's try MY. M would have to decrement by 14 to reach Y. This satisfies the first criteria. Now if we decremented R by 14 we get D which gives us the word MD. Now this may stand for MayDay or it means that M is wrong. Of course when you continue this pattern you just get gibberish and since M is the only value that can be decremented to reach Y without being lower than 14, therefore there is something wrong with my methodology. Maybe remove the 14-15 rule and Z is simply not used in the encrypted message for decrements. You write Z with increments.

With this new rule in place let's try.......Drumroll......HI!

H would have to decrement by 9 in order to reach Y, coincidentally when R is decremented by 9 you get I.

Now lets continue with the next word in the sentence RUST(all +)

R=I
U=L
S=J
T=K

Damm... Giberish

maybe next word?

T=C
U=D

Not Giberish... but suspicious

U=D
S=J
Y=P
Y=H
T=C
S=B

More Giberish

Okay, I think that's enough. I'm probably wrong. It might be a possibility that the increment value is random for each word though.

I'm keeping this post here merely so noone has to waste their time coming up with the same idea as me.

NINJAED: Quite similar to Flabort's idea

Proxxy: Second Shift

I don't think this is something you can just look up. It seems likely to me that this cipher was invented by freeformschooler or derived from something else. In which case we need to interpret Proxxy's clues, nudges, and hidden meanings in order to gain a foothold.

Yeah, I realize that I'm grasping at straws, though there's a good chance in my mind that the cipher is based off a classical cipher. I'm reasonably sure that it's a substitution cipher, since anything more complicated would not be reasonably possible for us to guess, and also wouldn't fit the clues given.

+1

[heydude6]

EDIT:SORRY FOR DOUBLE POST

[freeformschooler]

Hit yourself with ZAP!!!, using EVEN MORE ZAP!!!
Attempt to make it so the angle you hit it at, reflects the electricity at the light at the west side

->You would rather not waste SP here, +>but if you ask one more time, and nicely,  >you'll go along with this plan.

Edit: What order of Oric's did you disobey?

+>You do not know why Oric put you in here. ->Even if you knew, you would not be wise   to say something like that where you might +>be heard. A punishment such as this would be only ->for a person who was still useful alive but had  >learned something dangerous, but you wouldn't know anything about that.

[Tomcost]

Notice how the u almost always has a +.

[flabort]

Hmm, it would seem the entire message does matter from method3.

[Tomcost]

Could it be adding or substracting the total amount of letters in each ">"?

[RoaryStar]

Spoiler: previous post (click to show/hide)

Right now, we have:

YR RUST TU USYYTS UOT UPUT
-+ ++++ -+ -++--- +-+ ++--

and the clues
"encryption=HALFHABET"
"method=INCREMENT_>13"
"method2=WHEN_NOT_INCREMENT_THEN_--"

The _> in method is probably just a space an then a >; so increment when greater than 13?
Then method2 says to decrement otherwise.

There's also to note that every character we currently have is 16 (P) or later.

If it's greater than 13, increment; otherwise, decrement. We don't have letters in the first half of the alphabet; that's probably why it's called halfhabet.

... nope, can't get anything useful.

Could it be adding or substracting the total amount of letters in each ">"?

... try the counter as in the number of letters, and use that as a key. (increment the counter if the letter is >M, decrement if <N, set to 0 on > symbol).

Counter/Letter/Symbol, use symbol to see if it needs to be rotated:

12...
05...
YR RUST TU USYYTS UOT UPUT YU OSUO
-+ ++++ -+ -++--- +-+ ++-- -+ +-+-

Spoiler: explanation (click to show/hide)

->Your name is Proxxy. You              +13-3=10       Y-10   =O
+>are chained in an unknown place       +0-1=-1 => 25  R-25+13=F
 >in the Warrens for acting against
+>Oric's orders. You think it is
+>unusual Oric would not kill you.
+>What possible use do you serve without
+>a DL to run or a "Target" to kill?
 >You are currently trapped by magical means.
->The only way out is through a warp
+>point, and you can't reach it from here.
 >It is also odd Oric would leave your Soul Star.
  Almost like he is not imprisoning you but...
  ...testing you.

"encryption=HALFHABET"
"method=INCREMENT_>13"
"method2=WHEN_NOT_INCREMENT_THEN_--"
"method3=ON_CHAR_">"_SET_COUNTER=0"

I get either BS or OF for YR, depending on what I choose for the symbol key.
OF definitely works better; - is keep, + is rotate 13.

Try this; I'm too lazy to do all of it.

[Chris the OK]

Everything is important right now...
I'll miss half the picture whether I think negatively or positively...
HALFHABET

Is that so, dearest Proxxy?