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[Kuli]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

NEVERMIND.  I just realized Stravitch already attempted the method I used.

[Lord Nightmare]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Has anyone considered breaking the message down into binary format?
where first digit is letter (0 for A, 1 for B) and second is bold state (0 for not bold, 1 for bold)
AABBB would become 00 00 10 11 10

also don't forget to try ROT13'ing any possible resulting message.
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rot13
also has anyone tried the atbash? its a little like rot13 in that its its own inverse, but it involves folding the letter line back on itself.
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atbash

Edit: ok, if i change all bold A and B to C and D respectively, the message is:
BACAB AAADD BAACC CBDAB CAACC BADBC
CAACD ACBBA ACAAB CACAC CBADC ABDBA AAAAD

If I binarify this using the rules above, i end up with:
10 00 01 00 10   00 00 00 11 11   10 00 00 01 01   01 10 11 00 10   01 00 00 01 01   10 00 11 10 01
01 00 00 01 11   00 01 10 10 00   00 01 00 00 10   01 00 01 00 01   01 10 00 11 01   00 10 11 10 00   00 00 00 00 11

also an alternate reading could have all the bits reversed in every 2-bit letter, like:
01 00 10 00 01   00 00 00 11 11   01 00 00 10 10   10 01 11 00 01   10 00 00 10 10   01 00 11 01 10
10 00 00 10 11   00 10 01 01 00   00 10 00 00 01   10 00 10 00 10   10 01 00 11 10   00 01 11 01 00   00 00 00 00 11

Its possible all bits are inverted too.

[Stravitch]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I tried the binary thing as well, problem is the total characters has to be divisible by 8 =(

[Makrond]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That's a little complicated there, Lord Nightmare. It seems too much like overthinking.

Mind you, I'm not sure my methods are any better. I'm thinking of going the hard slog, you know, back to the basics of cryptography.

[Heavy Flak]

I spent some time tonight mocking Stravitch on AIM by saying things like, "Just to make sure I didn't screw you guys over, I worked this crypto out by hand.  It still works, so huzzah me." 

He pointed out the obvious flaw that I knew the answer, but it proved to me that I didn't screw up and if done in the correct way (read: my way) it is solvable.  However, it did bring something else to my attention as I was in the kitchen, and that is I might have made this unfairly hard.  It might be asking too much to pick words out of solid blocks of letters, especially when the puzzle is so short and this has been one of few Achilles Heels of the group at large and is something I'll be keeping in mind for the future.  So, in short, I'm going to take the original message and repost it in spoiler tags below, broken up by word.  If there's an overwhelming majority that don't want this made a teeny bit easier, speak up and I'll take it down.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

BAAAB AAABB BAAAA
ABBAB AAAAA BABBA AAAAB
AABBA AAAAB AAAAA ABABA
ABBBA AAAAB

[Makrond]

Yeah, short cryptograms are the hardest; frequency rules tend to go out the window.

[Heavy Flak]

The Events of the 8^th of Sandstone, 1063

Stravitch and Johnny stood outside the skeleton of Jool's animal sanctuary.  Stravitch looked dour, as usually, and Johnny leaned against a hastily constructed wall, the bridge of his nose pinched between his fingers.  Eventually, Johnny spread his hands wide, a gesture of frustration and futility. 

"So he puts th'Orbsbarb woman innae th'mayors spot?  What poss'ble reason could'e have for doin' that?"
"Because she's served well enough in the Book Keepers role.  Her husband's dead, and she's managed to raise seven brats all on her own, on a clerks pay," Stravitch said.
"No, he did it to keep hiss'elf safe.  He hides in his office and only leaves wi' an ent'rauge of honor guard.   When he's down at his damned glass smelter, he 'as two Purple Cloaks standin' at'tention o'side the door.  He's nearly untouch'ble."

"He's not untouchable," Stravitch said with a sneer.  "Do you want him dead or not?  I can head down to the workshops first thing tomorrow.  I can kill the purple cloaks, and him, without breaking a sweat.  Hell, I can kill him with his honor guard.  I think it's time you grow a pair and act, I've been hearing this song and dance for a decade."
"grow'uh- Now you back off, ya' daft old fool," Johnny flared, jabbing a finger at the Captain of the Guards chest.  "What'ave I toldja'?  The civvies might not like him, but they res'pect'em!  We cannae go out splittin the skulls of everyone we dun' like!"

Stravitch shifted his stance, his eyes narrowing.  Out of instinct, he tightened his grip on the shaft of his mace, the leather in his gauntlets creaking.  "Then stop dancing around the issue.  If we're partners in this, treat me like one.  Give me one good reason why I shouldn't go turn his head to paste, or it'll be done in minutes."

"A'right.  Look.  If he dies, who takes control?"
"We do."
"Fine, we're in charge.  What 'bout Kuli?  The Zefonists will push fer' him to be put inta' place.  What 'bout Sulari?  She's got t'whole standin' army behind her which are much greater in number than yer' guardsmen.  What 'bout Bertrand, and his ghouls?  He's got years of 'sperience, an' they got the Union backing.  What'er we left with?  A handful of Fisherfolk, and barely a dozen guardsmen.  You wannae go kill Aryn, feckin' go fer' it.  But be prepared to drop the rest of the civvies, the groups that rise in his death, and some of yer' own guardsmen who want a bit of glory.
"You want Aryn dead?  Be prepared to lead a feckin' shell of a fortress.  All their bones'll make a mighty fine throne, if there are any bone carvers left."

They stared at each other in silence for a good, long while.  Eventually Stravitch snarled a curse and spun on his heel, "Fine, he lives another day.  But I'm warning you, I won't be held responsible for anything I might do because of one of his asinine decrees."

Johnny waited until his friend had left before stalking off towards his room, fuming.  That hadn't gone nearly as well as he had hoped, but at least he had gotten a bit of sense through the old mans head, even if it wasn't all the truth.  How could he tell Stravitch, the legendary mercenary, the Butcher of Rethiatera, that he was growing a bit soft?  He'd finally gotten a place he could call home... they wouldn't be leaving.  If anything, all the gold they were amassing would help them live like kings in thirty years.  Eventually their little expedition would start receiving a flood of migrants and their elegant home would blossom. 

It would turn into the ghettos of the Old Places, the shop streets of the High Peeks; nobles and merchants and sell swords and priests would all take up residence.  And in all of this, as much as he hated the man, Aryn was needed.  Because how could they attain more wealth, if they couldn't play the system given to them so well?  Without Aryn, Johnny and Stravitch and their charges were nothing but peasants playing kings.  But with these rules, and these mandates, and these trade agreements... there was almost no one who could compete.

Lost in his thoughts, Johnny didn't hear the soft scrape of leather and metal across the courtyard.  He did hear the stony voice from behind him, cold and hollow; his blood freezing at the momentary fear. 

"Johnny Fountainspring... it's so damned good to see YOU again..."

He turned slowly to by himself time, to hide the fear he was feeling.  He couldn't see anything in the darkness, torches not placed this far away from the main entrance.  He could feel the shapes, and as his eyes adjusted ever so slowly he saw a squat frame a dozen paces away.  Two other figures stood beside the one in front, a slender and equally short one to her right, a massive one slightly behind her. 

"You're never out late anymore.  What's the matter.  Are you afraid of the dark?" 
"I'm not ..." He took a deep breath, and gently slid his pick from it's sling.  He was met with cold laughter, and a faint flash of green as the moon momentarily peeked from behind the clouds. 

"You should be.  Run away, Johnny, run away.  We're not ready for you yet.  We'll come and fetch you when it's playtime."

Dropping his pick, Johnny turned and sprinted towards the safety of his room.  He didn't hear footsteps following him, but he did hear laughter.  He heard it all the way down the steps, and as he sat at his his table drinking bourbon and clutching a stolen crossbow, he could swear he could hear it through his iron door.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

Ooh, spooky.
This is probably something to do with Bertrand messing with stuff that dwarfkind was not meant to mess with.
That, or someone else wants Aryn to get it in the neck.

[Jools]

Oooh, new intrigue!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

BAAAB AAABB BAAAA
ABBAB AAAAA BABBA AAAAB
AABBA AAAAB AAAAA ABABA
ABBBA AAAAB

Interesting. Implies that there's only one message in there, rather than encoding one message in the letters and one in the fonts. Unless the font encoding word spacing matches the letter encoding word spacing, but I'm tempted to discount that. Also it suggests that separating the letters out by their font won't work either.

I've not had a lot of free time recently but I'll be having another crack at it tonight. I suspect that it might be something quite straightforward once we work it out - maybe something like the already decoded letters, then the font representing a binary number telling us how much to shift the letters by.

What's the deadline for cracking this, BTW? I'd hate for something bad to happen to my animals because of it...

[Makrond]

I think there's like half a day or so left...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm thinking the same way as Jools, oddly enough, but so far I haven't had much luck. In fact, I ended up with something resembling 'suimin'... and I doubt noodles in a cup have been invented yet.

[Stravitch]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I had already tried shifting the translated letters in each way, and now with the spacing you would get something similar to

Code: [Select]

EDD WUFU IIXU EB
FEE XVGV JJYV FC
GFF YWHW KKZW GD
HGG ZXIX LLAX HE
IHH AYJY MMBY IF
JII BZKZ NNCZ JG
KJJ CALA OODA KH
LKK DBMB PPEB LI
MLL ECNC QQFC MJ
NMM FDOD RRGD NK
ONN GEPE SSHE OL
POO HFQF TTIF PM
QPP IGRG UUJG QN
RQQ JHSH VVKH RO
SRR KITI WWLI SP
TSS LJUJ XXMJ TQ
UTT MKVK YYNK UR
VUU NLWL ZZOL VS
WVV OMXM AAPM WT
XWW PNYN BBQN XU
YXX QOZO CCRO YV
ZYY RPAP DDSP ZW
AZZ SQBQ EETQ AX
BAA TRCR FFUR BY
CBB USDS GGVS CZ
DCC VTET HHWT DA
EDD WUFU IIXU EB

[Heavy Flak]

The events of the 23^rd of Sandstone, 1063

Aryn squinted, his head turned upwards towards the sky.  Beside him the new Duke Bomrek prattled on, his talk of battles and wars and victories completely ignored by the businessman.  When the buzzing in his ear had finally reached all Aryn could take, he turned his gaze on the grizzled Duke, teeth grit, "None of that is important.  What is important, is that these merchants are leaving.  These merchants are leaving because they've had five of their horses go missing.  Why not put your energy towards finding out who the rustler is, instead of reliving your glory days marching before the barracks."

The Duke and Aryn never got along, and yet another of their legendary shouting matches was about to begin, if not for the wail that emanated from the emptied reflecting pond.  Lucy came tearing up the ramp, her hand pressed over her mouth as she rushed to the edge of the cliff, dry-heaving into open space.  Rice, carrying stones for the rewalling, dropped them, his face paled. 

"What is it!" Aryn shouted, already beginning to walk towards the pool.
"I've...found the merchants horses," Rice said, his voice waivering.

As Aryn peered over the edge, the sight below filled him with dread.  Not for what he saw, but for how wrong it felt.  Horse-corpses were tossed into the side culvert, their throats and bellies slit.  In the center of the drained pond, the dried mud had been painted with thick layers of ruddy-red horses blood into the shape of a leering demon, terrible maw opened wide to bare fangs.  Written above it, almost lovingly, was the phrase seen on the back of the Yellow Robes.  Below the demons leering face were the words translated to the common tongue:

YOU HAVE BEAT ME


Aryn nearly jumped when Kuli spoke up beside him, the Maester having moved quietly across the bridge while he was distracted.  "That's the heathen Demon Olsmo.  I'd recognize his foul image anywhere.  To have him grace this fortress, even in this sacrilegiously work of art, is a foul omen indeed."

"But what of the words?" Bertrand's quavering voice called from afar.  He was trudging up towards them, flanked by Akroma and Dojango, their faces grim.  "Do not tell me you've ignored the message.  Read it, plain as day.  Powerful messages must take powerful sacrifices.  The blood of brave stallions is a fair price for news of an evildoers demise.  Even in death, Demons have great powers.  Powers enough to carve their image in stone, or drive others to leave messages in their stay.  This can be taken as nothing but a good sign."

"A good sign?  I respectfully disagree, Elder Bertrand," Kuli said, his voice calm.  "I've met Olsmo's followers, I've seen the destruction he has left behind.  I have seen the Holy City in ruins, and from what?  From his whims and machinations.  This message should not be taken lightly, this is a message that screams to me.  It screams of trouble brewing, it screams of mischief, and disaster."

The bickering, bubbling over among the Dwarves, was brought to an end by a cold voice behind them.

"The old man is correct, Problemwalled.  I've seen the Demon's death myself."

Aryn missed many things as he turned.  He missed the sight of dozens of dwarves, their faces contorted in horror.    He missed Kuli, his resolve broken for only an instance, his eyes wide with the kind of terror only brought on through knowledge.  And he missed Bertrand, the old man's wrinkled face turning white as bone, his apprentices exchanging worried looks.   All Aryn saw was the Dwarf standing before him, her black leather greatcoat streaked with dirt and blood.  Her beard was matted and unkempt and full of sand - a gas mask made of tubing and charcoal and copper covering most of her ruined face.  Green-glass goggles covered her eyes, glinting cruelly in the harsh sunlight.

"With his growing strength, Bax Unostotho gave US life anew.  With his followers growing, his energies swirling, he struck down the Fire Beast like so much cattle.  We're his messangers.  We're his servants.  And we.  Are your friends."

Aryn almost passed out at the sight of Ex-Mayor Likot standing before him.  The last he had seen, she was ripped in half in the sands, slated for the funeral pyre.  What had happened in the blackness of night to get her away from the cleansing fire?  It wasn't until she had finished speaking that he noticed her two companions.  They were both clad in trenchcoats as well, though the massive one behind her wore his like a jacket.  They both wore full masks of wrought iron, smooth and faceless, green glass covering the eyes.  It was with a moan of comprehension that he recognized them - seconds before Likot spoke again.

"Bax Unostotho knew I would be lonely, and he made me an honor guard.  Why don't you say hello to Miss Valania, and Sergeant Pepper.  It's been a while, but Bax Unostotho praises how well this desert can preserve a corpse.  He praises you all for your vigilance against the evil of Olsmo.  And he especially praises you, Problemwalled - he sent me with this message.  'One rebirth is the same as another.'  I'm your friend, I've seen Zefon herself.
"Now I'm going to claim my old room.  Bring me wine, and stew.  We have much to discuss Aryn.  I've been away too long."

[Heavy Flak]

Crypto Solution:

Even if Kagus claims it's whispering, I'm going to put the solution in spoiler tags because it makes me feel super special.  You all had really good ideas, and you even had the correct method picked out, but I did make a single tweak that kept you all from getting it completely.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Makrond was indeed correct, it's Bacon's Cipher.  However, in my research, I turned up a few things.  Specifically, that Bacon's Cipher is little more than a generic substitution that happens to break single characters into multiple ones.  Because of this, I rearranged the order of the letters.  That is why you kept coming up with gibberish, because if you applied the solution set on Wikipedia, the only ones that were the same were A and Z.  Everything in between was different.

So how do you solve it, with the letters mixed up like I had it?  You make it easier.  Think back to your algebra classes, where you make a hard equation simpler by assigning repetitious parts single-letters.  Assign a single letter to each group of five A's and B's. 

a        b        c        d       e          f   
BAAAB AAABB BAAAA ABBAB AAAAA BABBA

g         h       g        e         j         k        g
AAAAB AABBA AAAAB AAAAA ABABA ABBBA AAAAB

That gives you, with the character break:

ABC DEFG HGEJ KG

From  here, it's little more than running a substitution to get:

YOU HAVE BEAT ME

All the effort you put into solving this, though, gave me lots of ideas for the future.  I can't claim I'll use them any time soon, but it does give me ideas for some very nasty problems.  Huzzah!

[Kuli]

Awesome update.  Likot, Valania, and Sgt. Pepper all back from the dead?  That's both cool and disturbing.

Somehow I don't trust this Bax Unostotho.  Maester Kuli will continue to believe in the true rebirth of Zefon I'm sure.  Also, I wonder whether Olsmo really is gone for good.

[martinuzz]

OMG. I guessed right. She lives again.. The horror.

I'm silently hoping for a new drawing. The undead Likot..