Candles Only

[Matrx]

I believe some memories are returning to my systems as the influx of power from your stories charges me. But much of it is still hazy, all the same I have a nagging suspicion that the candle blog is important to your goals.

http://candlesonly.blogspot.com/

Look closely at the posts, maybe there is something you can find in them. I would help, but right now its more important I get my systems ready to work against New Light.

[Anura]

Aside from the last link being broken, I don't see anything strange at a first glance. The watermark on the first picture leads to a legitimate webshop.

[Anura]

Going only into the highlighted part leads to an image directory with a lot of stuff for Uniregistry, but as far as I can tell that's also a legitimate business, albiet one that's not advertised on the page itself. Which is a bit off...

[Anura]

Hold on. Sorry this slipped past me, but Rebecca commented on the post with the cactus candles.

[JackAlsworth]

That's how we found Rebecca in the first place.

There's one more comment on the blog - from an account named "ToriSchlange" on the April 10 post - but it's probably a dead end.

[JRPictures]

Well then, let's hope we find something out of this. Cause I've got nothing so far.

Here's the image index link by the way: http://onlycandles.com/images/

[Blurred_9L]

Somehow, I don't think this is what we're looking for. It's just the images folder on some server. There is a directory suspiciously named hydra, but it's filled with nonsense.

If you'd like to check it out, I'd suggest asking Dryu for help, since he probably knows a lot more about servers than I do.

[Tohrinha]

The supposed image URL goes to a message for help, if you put it through a Cesarian shift. "neededishelpyourmessagethisreadcanyouifdown,is31Agent"

There's one more comment on the blog - from an account named "ToriSchlange" on the April 10 post - but it's probably a dead end.

Hi.

[Sophira]

That message is pretty easy - just reverse the words and add spaces:

Agent 31 is down, if you can read this message your help is needed

[JackAlsworth]

There's one more comment on the blog - from an account named "ToriSchlange" on the April 10 post - but it's probably a dead end.

Hi.

Heh, sorry. I was wondering why the blogger account didn't link to anything else.

That message is pretty easy - just reverse the words and add spaces:

Agent 31 is down, if you can read this message your help is needed

Was there anything about where or how the help.could be provided?

[Blurred_9L]

Was there anything about where or how the help.could be provided?

So um... do you think the author deliberately put that cypher there? Perhaps we could try a more direct approach to the situation?

EDIT: You know what, I'm going to try something, so if I mess up, I'm sorry

Oh wait, Tohri beat me to it .-.

[Dryunya]

I think I only have to point out that the onlycandles.com is a generic "buy this domain name" page, and probably isn't worth digging through. Maybe later. You did everything I'd do if I noticed this sooner.

The coded message seems to mean there's a third party at play, and they communicate via the blog. Since Matrx pointed us to the candle blog to find the password, this means... Um, what does it mean? Matrx had the benefit of hindsight in the future, so he might have simply used the information from this blog as a password, and the blog itself might not have any actual connection to Matrx. We need to find out who is behind it to make an educated guess.

For now, let's speculate who this Agent 31 is (was). My guesses, starting from the most likely:

1. Brent
2. Some inside man we don't even know
3. The ninja guy
4. Becky's father (unlikely, unless he was actually alive all along)

Or we might have stumbled upon some secret New Light channel and are about to exploit it. I find it unlikely, since they can afford actual secret communications, not paper-thin steganographic shenanigans on public blogs.

[Blurred_9L]

Well... until somebody responds to Tohri, we're stuck waiting again.

[Tohrinha]

Candel abra's replied to me:

Oh if onlBlfy it did! that wouszevld be so plea yvvmsant wouldn't it? I mean The smell of butter is woefivxltmravwully delightful as it is dvbut to have thdrooat in a candyvle! And do nrmot fret we all know the pain of children on laglfxs.ps all to well!

Here's my best try at separating it.

"Oh if only it did! that would be so pleasant wouldn't it? I mean The smell of butter is woefully delightful as it is but to have that in a candle! And do not fret we all know the pain of children on laps all to well!"

"Blfszev yvvmivxltmravwdvdrooyvrmglfxs."

[The Wild West Pyro]

Candel abra's replied to me:

Oh if onlBlfy it did! that wouszevld be so plea yvvmsant wouldn't it? I mean The smell of butter is woefivxltmravwully delightful as it is dvbut to have thdrooat in a candyvle! And do nrmot fret we all know the pain of children on laglfxs.ps all to well!

Here's my best try at separating it.

"Oh if only it did! that would be so pleasant wouldn't it? I mean The smell of butter is woefully delightful as it is but to have that in a candle! And do not fret we all know the pain of children on laps all to well!"

"Blfszev yvvmivxltmravwdvdrooyvrmglfxs."

PAIN OF CHILDREN ON LAPS?

[Tohrinha]

That's from the comment I made. It was to excuse the "gibberish" I put in.

[Blurred_9L]

xD I like how he's not even trying to be subtle xD

[Dryunya]

Just in case it's important, I extracted the characters separately from every word, resulting in

Blf szev *yvvm ivxltmravw dv droo yv rm glfxs.

(* is a space)

Apparently, the sender changed the cipher. That's just mean.
I tried the Caesarian shift with all keys, plus reading backwards, to no avail. Also, there are 38 characters with the period and space. Without them, there are 36 characters, which can be arranged in a square.

Code: Select all

Blfsze
vyvvmi
vxltmr
avwdvd
rooyvr
mglfxs

Since I've established that reading the ciphertext left-to-right and backwards doesn't yield any results, the square can be read up-to-down or down-to-up, on either side (assuming we read it from the corners). I tried to combine this with Caesarian shift, and still got nothing. I may have missed something, you're free to try it yourself. Then again, I might be trying to shoehorn a tested solution in.

I also tried the first "word" as a key in Viginere cipher, and it doesn't work wither. Picking from simpler ones, a railfence cipher is the one we haven't tried yet. It has 2 parameters as key, and I can't be bothered to play with them right now. I'm sleepy, let someone else do it.

[Tohrinha]

I did some cryptogram playing with the separated words.

You have been recognized we will be in touch.

[Blurred_9L]

That's ominous.

[Tohrinha]

That's ominous.

IT'S ALL A CONSPIRACY.

[The Wild West Pyro]

That's ominous.

IT'S ALL A CONSPIRACY.

But...but the Moon Landing was REAL, dang it!

Oh a more serious note, that is pretty damn ominous.

[Dryunya]

I did some cryptogram playing with the separated words.

Don't you want to tell us what exactly you did?

[Tohrinha]

Don't you want to tell us what exactly you did?

I... treated it like a cryptogram? We've got the same type of puzzle in our newspapers, I just hadn't thought to try it until you posted the words separately.

[Dryunya]

Oh. The wiki says it's usually a substitution cipher. I tried that, but gave up too soon.