[LP CYOA] Pilgrimage

[Hoodoo]

b

 

[Storyfag]

sculpt living flesh into different, more efficient forms

This sounds... oddly familiar

 

[Esquilax]

Bros, here is something important to keep in mind: the only real differences here are in A and B. Let's forget the variations in A1/A2/A3 and just consider our actions, not our motivations for a second. Let's consider the long-term ripples that our choices will have.

First, let's look at A: This strengthens Kurze and pulls us deeper into his world, allowing the Great Work to begin. Eventually, this would lead to the locked door being unlocked, but the question is... do we really want that? He keeps Alia around, in part for sex, but also in part to serve as a confidante. The only thing that I am somewhat confident in is that the Great Work might involve us and Alia bearing a child bearing the same blackfire that we do.

My other guess is this: we heard a high-pitched keening sound on the other side of the barred door. This sounds like a wail of some kind, maybe in grief, so it could be some sort of monster or entity that is kept in a cage until the time is right. Maybe they've been feeding it all those sacrifices.

As for Alia, we need to throw her into the meat grinder, I think. We've already had two chances to befriend her, and we've missed out on both in favour of other opportunites. To make matters worse, we abandoned the prospect of knowledge in favour of powergaming, so we really don't know shit about our surroundings either. This is very bad. So by letting Kurze in on the Ashguard, we're basically advancing his plans.

Putting her out of the picture means that Kurze becomes grief-stricken, more vulnerable, and therefore more dependent on us. I think that if we pick A3, it will just mean that Kurze will pat us on the head like a good boy, then tell us to fuck off. Basically, it does little to advance our position or make us indispensable. Getting her out of the picture will do both, all the while leaving our hands clean.

I just don't see the merit in the long-run of A. A1 is an utterly stupid redemption, A2 doesn't work because Alia is probably too far gone at this point, and A3 relies on us sucking up to Kurze and hoping that he graces us with a cure. A3 puts us at Kurze's mercy - he doesn't really have to do shit for us, and we don't even know that he is even aware of a cure:

I have found, however, that if I try to manifest the black flame the arm becomes alive again, if even for a few seconds. I browse all grimoires endlessly, looking for a cure, whereas Kurze merely scoffs and says it is a consequence of the great work we are undertaking.

Yep, for Kurze our rotting form is simply the price you pay for true knowledge. This is somewhat reminiscent of our initial sacrifice in the shrine: we had the chance to give up our eye so that we could truly see. So I don't think Kurze is bothered by our arm becoming a stump.

root, I'm assuming that Ashguard have a Detect Evil ability of some sort, correct? Would they be able to detect our PC's corruption instantly? At this point, could an average Joe off the street tell that there's something wrong with us spiritually by the look of our arm?

B

 

[Rex Feral]

Bros, here is something important to keep in mind: the only real differences here are in A and B. Let's forget the variations in A1/A2/A3 and just consider our actions, not our motivations for a second. Let's consider the long-term ripples that our choices will have.

First, let's look at A: This strengthens Kurze and pulls us deeper into his world, allowing the Great Work to begin. Eventually, this would lead to the locked door being unlocked, but the question is... do we really want that? He keeps Alia around, in part for sex, but also in part to serve as a confidante. The only thing that I am somewhat confident in is that the Great Work might involve us and Alia bearing a child bearing the same blackfire that we do.

My other guess is this: we heard a high-pitched keening sound on the other side of the barred door. This sounds like a wail of some kind, maybe in grief, so it could be some sort of monster or entity that is kept in a cage until the time is right. Maybe they've been feeding it all those sacrifices.

As for Alia, we need to throw her into the meat grinder, I think. We've already had two chances to befriend her, and we've missed out on both in favour of other opportunites. To make matters worse, we abandoned the prospect of knowledge in favour of powergaming, so we really don't know shit about our surroundings either. This is very bad. So by letting Kurze in on the Ashguard, we're basically advancing his plans.

Putting her out of the picture means that Kurze becomes grief-stricken, more vulnerable, and therefore more dependent on us. I think that if we pick A3, it will just mean that Kurze will pat us on the head like a good boy, then tell us to fuck off. Basically, it does little to advance our position or make us indispensable. Getting her out of the picture will do both, all the while leaving our hands clean.

I just don't see the merit in the long-run of A. A1 is an utterly stupid redemption, A2 doesn't work because Alia is probably too far gone at this point, and A3 relies on us sucking up to Kurze and hoping that he graces us with a cure. A3 puts us at Kurze's mercy - he doesn't really have to do shit for us, and we don't even know that he is even aware of a cure:

I have found, however, that if I try to manifest the black flame the arm becomes alive again, if even for a few seconds. I browse all grimoires endlessly, looking for a cure, whereas Kurze merely scoffs and says it is a consequence of the great work we are undertaking.

Yep, for Kurze our rotting form is simply the price you pay for true knowledge. This is somewhat reminiscent of our initial sacrifice in the shrine: we had the chance to give up our eye so that we could truly see. So I don't think Kurze is bothered by our arm becoming a stump.

root, I'm assuming that Ashguard have a Detect Evil ability of some sort, correct? Would they be able to detect our PC's corruption instantly? At this point, could an average Joe off the street tell that there's something wrong with us spiritually by the look of our arm?

B

Yup, I pretty much agree here. I'm choosing A1 only because it makes us more humane. Because it seems the right thing to do. However none of you are choosing this, so I might flip.
A3 is the worst thing we could choose. And even if we gain the most by it, I despise sucking up to someone.
I believe A2 will work for us, in a way, not the expected way however so how much faith can I put in it ?

If no one else is going with A1 I'm flipping to B.

 

[Loretta]

since nobody seems to be giving it a go

Well, duderguy, obvious shit:

6x6x6
PTVRAZ HRBEGG UUNALA LADOUZ HHZEHP GUKOMB
XRZAAD PAVOUN ALMEKY YEKUEL PERVIM TASSUL
FAULOD PEGARX CUGAXA ALVEUX XOWUMM YEMELY
YTHUUD BEBAAT TZCHEF HABAKK NKIRUK RELIAT
IAFAEL PEVELB TECHEX SHILEN URWURY CEFALA
AZVUUL XEHAIG UEHESH ULXROD OCLENA YVILOY

3x3x6
XYOLOB DAFAEX ZUMIRR
FHERIV NAILAQ HEYIDD
JENUUN YOGSOF HINZEZ

1x1x6
TICYNF


Since you said, that it isnt modern crypto, we can assume that it is some form of substitution or transposition or subst.+transp. OR in the worst case you unknowingly did some form of a one-time-pad or book dictionary cipher, which would be unbreakable without luck.
But we assume anyway that you used something existing and ... english text.
Recognizing (not guaranteed) substitution ciphers are done by freq analysis.

It certainly looks like text. Interestingly, J and Q are missing from the 6x6 block. It could be a hint since Playfair 5x5 cipher doestn like J's...

Its is not Vingenere (full brute of 5 mil keys, space exhausted) or Playfair (full brute of 550 mil keys, for the 6x6 grid, same-y for the 5x5 grid, space exhausted) since the resulting strings did not deliver anything readable.
And its not any form of substitution alone since the 650 mil of keys and full space exhaustion did not deliver anything readable. A full column transposition brute did not deliver anything either so its not column transposition alone.
Please add sand back...?
Heal...?
Valor ... speed ... men ... fell ?
It makes no sense.

Problem is, a simple transposition before or after substitution nullifies brute force to a degree. I have to actually think and form a possible transposition and then brute the substitution.

There might be hints of the form of the transposition if its column-wise in the frequency of di/trigraphs

And contact frequency

But its not guaranteed because some kind of additional geometric/diagonal (that dumb hexagon symbol might be a hint) transposition would throw it off... and I am way too lazy to try.

There is this INSANE hint...
INSANE mapped to several code words inside, for example TECHEX but like a said, a complete brute of all possible substitutions excludes simple substitution...
And well, stuff like HRBEGG UUNALA with GG UU just screams additional transposition... or something harder...
My guess is that this column must move:

And the real alchemy connection I dont get. A quick google on alchemy ciphers reveals only that they used subst.+transposition... The "thing in itself" is Kant'ian retardo, hexagons in alchemy can mean anything since alchemists are morons.

 

[Jaedar]

I think the cipher contains a lot of noise, so not all letters are part of the cipher. I know desocupado was tinkering with figuring that out before.

 

[Loretta]

Where is that coming from? How would that affect bruteforce attacks?

Also, transpo vertically like this and bruting substitution

does not yield results... unsurprising considering "eeee"

TinEye'ing this does not help...

 

[Kayerts]

B for the choice, because we've missed enough chances to befriend Alia that saving her serves no practical purpose, and saving a heretic who consorts with a mass murderer serves no moral purpose.


Transposition+substitution seemed most likely for the cipher, but there seems to be another variable. Maybe we should think about what the different blocks mean?

6x6x6
6x6x3
6x1

The single word most closely matching "thing in itself" is noumenon, but they aren't exactly the same, and neither of them matches "moral" or "credo."

Hexagons are, as Loretta says, not terribly informative in themselves. Dividing circles into twelfths was a favorite passtime of alchemists, but it doesn't suggest anything applicable to me.

 

[desocupado]

root said the puzzle was something simple involving the hexagons and triangles and lines. I assumed that the hexagons meant a 6, the triangles a 3 and a line a 1.

So after a previous guess, that was confirmed wrong, root confirmed to me that you just take the first, third and sixth letters from the text blocks.

Results in this:

PVZHBGUNALDZHZPGKBXZDPVNAMYYKLPRMTSLFUDPGXCGAAVXXWMYMYYHDBBTTCFHBKNIKRLTIFLPVBTCXSINUWYCFAAVLXHGUHHUXDOLAYIYXOBDFXZMRFEVNIQHYDJNNYGFHNZTCF

I like how that Loretta dude goes "Oh dude, that's so obvious" and doesn't provide a result. He might come up with something using this I wrote tho. The key is in the title, but at least with my tries in Vingenere, "thing" "itself" "the thing in itself" or the whole title provided nothing. I was using that table on wikipedia with the alphabet on a column and row and matching the letters by hand.

 

[Loretta]

I like how that Loretta dude goes "Oh dude, that's so obvious" and doesn't provide a result.

wat

 

[Loretta]

We also found a queen...

Garbage in input is all kinds of evil though. And that wasnt even in the input, it was postprocessing. So it actually is steganography. Not only is recognizing the cipher now almost impossible, you have to guess that there is a hidden message... In practice, it becomes similar to RSA and one-way-functions, its easy to multiply shit but very hard to factorize if you dont know the one of the factors == the key... Here its very easy to remove the garbage characters if you know which ones == the key, but very hard to guess the key... root, how did you come up with the garbage characters? Just from the head?

 

[Loretta]

... and the queen's name is

 

[desocupado]

since nobody seems to be giving it a go

Well, duderguy, obvious shit:

That's what I was referring to.

You tried stuff with the letters I found? If you got software or something (I dunno, you're sounding like prosper to me), try "key" "grimoire" "book" "thing" "itself" "moral" "order", etc as the key. But knowing root, it's more of a riddle. What's the thing in itself? I never had philosophy classes.

I love that song. The voice of the guy in the cover is nice, but he needs to sing better I think.

 

[Kz3r0]

If we go by alchemy the ting in itself means Quintessence.

 

[Loretta]

the Truth is out there...

through root is hilarious... one cannot recognize the inserted garbage analytically at all, since it creates no noise in the message, its unbreakable...
the message is awfully short and his "clue" to keep the 1st,3rd and 6th characters is a hexagon... can you, root, even imagine how someone might proceed to figure that out?... lets say god descended to me from the sky and told me that bolded columns in HRBEGG UUNALA need to go... i still dont get anything solvable... there are 720 possibilities to transposition columns, and 720 possibilities to delete them... i dont even.....

 

[Loretta]

So what are the upgraded stats or is this gonna appear in the update?

 

[Loretta]

Truth?! We found the queen? What?! DO YOU NEED MOAR INSANE HINTS?!?! That other dude, I am too lazy to go to page 29 said not to tell the message.
After the garbage is gone Kasiski actually gives the proper key length and bruting Ceasar cipher is cheap and easy and does not need expensive dorrar. Hue.
xyedit
By the way, I started doing a picture of our Lord Whatshisname but switched to snuff porn of Sammy Eames...

 

[Loretta]

Holy fuckin shit, dude! srsly, shut the fuck up! Do you even know how one has to procede to solve Vigenere by hand without knowing the key length + key even after the fucking miracle of deso telling me what mysterious columns to delete? Get your head straight.

we found the king in the sky but there was also a king in the depths from him all our works come we have bound him there and none must free him lest all our works turn on us all

 

[Loretta]

In what title? There is no TRUTH in there anywhere, CTRL F nada...? Or was someone to telepathically conclude that "thing in itself" means TRUTH and then! use it as a key for some cipher, olol, no, not some cipher, specifically Vigenere?
And again, I asked you a question - how the fuck were anyone! to solve that in a week after the miraculous revelation that some columns need to be deleted? Or were you just posing impossible riddles here for the lulz? 4 cores of my laptop wasted like 4 hours bruteforcing into the void...

 

[Loretta]

I wasted time doing retarded shit for an unsolvable retarded puzzle. I aint gonna chill, "bro". Till they ban me at least

You assumed? EARTH TO ROOT! HOW WOULD THAT BE SOLVABLE? WERE YOU HIGH ON JENKEM?
1. deleted columns
2. vigenere cipher
3. no brute forcing
HOW STEP BY STEP DOES ONE SOLVE THAT IN A WEEK?

Anyway, what are the stat upgrades? Do I get a special tag and a gayfist and will the writing actually improve?

 

[Random Word]

It was a very cool puzzle, root. I'm suitably impressed. As our very irate cryptographer points out, solving it cryptographically without the aid of brute force would have been incredibly challenging. Not impossible, but its resilience to letter and n-gram frequency analysis was fairly impressive. Certainly I was never going to stumble upon the selection method from the geometric clue, nor the idea that 'thing in itself' implied the key was TRUTH, but that's what makes it a good puzzle.

Next time if you want to make us solve the riddle properly use AES/RSA/ECC . Try to make the clues a little bit more tractable next time, though. We clearly need our puzzles streamlined.

 

[oscar]

I tried using 'insane' as the key without any luck. But yeah props for going to the effort.

 

[tuluse]

I really thought the number 6 was going to feature more prominently the way it got repeated so much.

 

[Kz3r0]

 

[Jaedar]

Since no one posted the message, I guess I will now that Loretta solved it.

WE FOUND THE KING IN THE SKY BUT THERE WAS ALSO A KING IN THE DEPTHS FROM HIM ALL OUR WORKS COME. WE HAVE BOUND HIM THERE AND NONE MUST FREE HIM LEST ALL OUR WORKS TURN ON US ALL.

Fucked if I know what it means tho.