It all started on July 11th, 2014. User /u/LewisGreen submitted this post to /r/Minecraft. LewisGreen got a private message from /u/OldRoot, containing an image link and the text "This is the beginning. Those who are pure will see what hides in the darkness". The image was a very dark screenshot of Minecraft in the forest, with a silhouette of a character in the background. /u/-Neroren- started the hunt. He brightened the image, revealing a transparent link to a SoundCloud track called "it has begun". It was a .wav sound file, which when run through spectrogram software revealed a message. "silentraven" The account had another sound file, simply called "oldroot". The file also has a secret message, this time an imgur link. Imgur shows that the image was created 4 days ago, and the "seeder" (/u/LewisGreen)'s account is only 3 days old.
/u/ToxicPopcorn PMd OldRoot asking for more information, he simply responded with this link. Brightened up, it reveals a link to this tumblr blog. It appears to be password protected, but can easily be cracked by having a look at the page's source, the password is simply "silentraven". Entering that redirects you to this image. Again, an dark image of a Minecraft character. Above his head, in a very faint font, it says "We are the answer". It also has morse code down one of the pillar, decoding to "OLDROOT". /u/LewisGreen receives yet another message, an imgur link as usual. /u/-Neroren- brightens it up again and finds the text "ZH DUH ZDLWLQJ" over the character's head, which when ROT23'd spells out "WE ARE WAITING". There is also morse code hidden away, again saying "OLDROOT". Below the player's body, it says "fm3Yw0b". Putting that as the suffix for an imgur link, it reveals this image. It contained the word RAVEN in large lettering, inside which there were excerpts from Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven". Some of the words were changed, spelling out "The hidden truth is". /u/Mordecai_Pielord did some Googling, and found a whitelist application for the server "Kingdom of Companions", reading:
Hidden deep in the Roots of an Old Tree
A Mystery awaits, with patterns of Three
He watches from behind, Quiet and Mute
The one with No Face, whom they call Old Root
Let these words Foreshadow of what might be
If you make the decision to Whitelist me
WUDSSHG LQ D SULVRQ RI ZRRG
The bottom line, when ROT23'd reads "TRAPPED IN A PRISON OF WOOD".
OldRoot's Disqus account shows one post on a "Mindstorm Vanilla Server" whitelist application, reading:
Deep in the Roots of an old Tree
Where a Sacrifice made, in patterns of Three
Let these words Foreshadow of what is to be
If you make the decision to White list me
Looking around on the Internet, we found OldRoot on a server listing, showing he had been visiting a server named NightmareCraft. We went on the server, had a look, and found a big tree. Inside it was a maze, and presumably the location the original images were taken. My memory of this time is very faint, but we were led on by a fake OldRoot on MinecraftForums for hours, eventually culminating in a sign with morse code, a password protected tumblr blog named "oldravenroot" containing furry porn, Katy Perry lyrics, stupid long horses, and a couple very angry server owners. He joined this server a few times, but quit once someone mentioned reddit. He would stay there for a while sometimes, but as soon as anyone slipped up and mentioned reddit he would leave.
/u/ladyofwc summarizes the next couple hours:
Summary of recent events: We on the IRC had no success on the server or analyzing the old images. We then found out about the new image that OldRoot had posted.
We quickly started trying to break it. This was the new image: http://i.imgur.com/jXz4y07.png
We made it more light and found some binary code: https://i.imgur.com/2mzDXor.png It took us a while to decode. The binary was very hard to read. We figured out it was a imgur link because there were 7 lines of binary. The second and third line was so hard to read that we had to bruteforce it using a script that Cratemuncher made. The imgur link we found: http://i.imgur.com/dDbhUzA.png
We quickly made it brighter: http://i.imgur.com/siHntLz.jpg
The numbers seemed to be HEX, so we converted it into text and got this: http://i.imgur.com/VKEKq79.png
We also made this picture brighter: http://i.imgur.com/VLtDJsL.jpg
The moorse code in the picture says "DECEPTI". We are not sure what's up with that. At first we couldn't find anything, but then I noticed some scribbles in the left lower corner: http://imgur.com/LItUpjL
We still haven't been able to read what it says yet.
EDIT: New picture! I got sent this! http://i.imgur.com/PZRoihv.png
The new picture: http://i.imgur.com/3nxT6zN.png
/u/Gellis12 cracked the numbers through octal->hex->base32->ascii, and got "ozTMBqT", which was another imgur link. It contained vertically blurred text saying "GOOD LUCK", and another imgur link, although in plain text this time. The next link contained very VERY blurry blobs of (presumably) numbers, which we were stumped on for ages, since they were basically unintelligible. Somehow, /u/alamarjan brute-forced it, but at the same time /u/skintigh received an imgur link containing an unblurred version of the image (which was useless, as we already cracked it). The resulting next image had text saying:
You are deeper down the Rabbit Hole False Prophits will decieve you [spelling intended] Those who are pure will see what hides in the darkness The Raven is always watching
We are the Answer
Around the main text are small blobs of text, saying "DOKDOR", "Lady", and some more, all names of people involved in this investigation (I feel kinda offended I wasn't included :P)
At this point we were stumped for ages, although /u/RibShark was sent an image containing two identical lists of numbers, going down and to the right. Decoded into ASCII, those read "False prophits will decieve you" (misspellings included). The image also has a bunch of dots, seemingly irrelevant. There's also one red dot, when traced upwards and to the left indicate the two misspellings. To the left pointed to the "i" in "Prophits", and upwards pointed between the "i" and "e" in "decieve", somehow indicating this was relevant.
A while later with no new discoveries, OldRoot posted a video on YouTube. This video was a blurry and distorted Minecraft video walking through a cave, to the sounds of Tiny Tim - Tiptoe Through the Tulips. There were intermittent static hisses, sounding similar to the spectrogram sounds from earlier. When the sound is viewed through a spectrogram, you can make out the shape of a link, although too blurry to read properly. There are also some flash messages, such as He stole my face and The Raven is watching.
/u/SporeTheSaiyan was contacted, at this point almost a month from the original /r/Minecraft post, and was sent an image saying "whom the angels name", and "JSH ALWE PROIR ELR DRWE FRIFVP XUS WYEYES" near the bottom. That message, decoded with Vigenere cipher and the key "LENORE", reads: "YOU MUST LEARN THE PAST BEFORE THE FUTURE".
At this point, everything went silent for about three months, until...
On the 4th day of Christmas the Year of our Lord 2014, ThatPurplePlant received a message on his SoundCloud (screenshot), saying:
Watching from the shadows, waiting.
With such name as "Nevermore."
A few days later another message arrived from the Rootykins himself, containing "I AM ROOT" another image. It is a picture of some person with his eyes censored, and the text "HELLO FRIEND".
As a joke, he replied with this image, and posted it on his twitter, where OldRoot, with the account @WeAreTheAnswer_, replied with this image.
The image seems to have a string of text ("AVHYJ JPMCTUDK ZG QZVH KNYT HFSWWDZVJDFBZ TQ ZGFS TWXTSWD QKJLP ZGFSIWQQ PX JPKJ KWFKS"), and "6174" in faint letters below.
Another while later, we get this tweet containing this image. It appears to be a text, in circa 1540s Old Italian:
Da molti anni, che io incomincio a dar' (dare) opera a gli studi, & (e)
à conversare tra persone grandi, havendo (modern Italian: avendo) veduto in quanta stima;
et (e) di quanta importáza (importanza) sia la bellissima professione di scriver (scrivere) segre-
to per via di quelle che universalmente chiamano Cifre, io con l'in-
clinatione (inclinazione) datami dalla natura di nó (non) haver (avere) maggior (maggiore) diletto che l'im-
parare, son (sono) venuto di continuo essercitandomi intorno à tal (tale) professione; & (e) havendo-
ne (avendone) ritrovati molti modi, che à persone d'ingegno mostravano di non dispiacere, mi oc-
corse questa ultima sede vacante di ritovarmi luogotenente generale dell'illustriss. (illustrissimo)
& (e) Reverendiss. (Reverendissimo) Cardinal Durante, nello stato di Camerino.
/u/FancySloth posts it to /r/languages, and gets a response, which translates the text into roughly the following:
For many years since I've began to work on my studies and talk with important people who are viewed with high esteem, and of the same importance as the beautiful profession of secret writing by way of those who are universally called Codes(?), I, with the inclination given to me by the nature of having no greater delight than learning, have come to continue to practice that profession; and have found in it many methods that to someone of great skill won't not like, it occurs to me that this last empty seat to find myself Lieutenant General of the illustrious and most reverend Cardinal Durante, in the state of Camerino.
to me that this last empty seat to find myself Lieutenant General of the illustrious and most reverend Cardinal Durante, in the state of Camerino.
The text is an excerpt from an Italian cryptography book from 1553 by Giovan Battista Bellaso called "La Cifra del Sig" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovan_Battista_Bellaso#La_Cifra_del_Sig._Giovan_Battista_Bellaso|Google Books
"AVHYJ JPMCTUDK ZG QZVH KNYT HFSWWDZVJDFBZ TQ ZGFS TWXTSWD QKJLP ZGFSIWQQ PX JPKJ KWFKS" was cracked by /u/skintigh, with the Vigenere cipher and the key "LBQSFLBS", revealing "PURGE YOURSELF OF YOUR SINS PURGEYOURSELH OF YOUR DESIRES PURGE YOURSELF OF YOUR FLESH". "LBQSFLBS" is "KAPREKAR" ROT25d, from Kaprekar's constant (6174).
@WeAreTheAnswer_ tweeted a link to a tumblr blog here, containing an animated GIF that says "PERCEPTION", which twitches a bit, and occasionally changes to "DECEPTION", this image is likely a red herring, considering the DECEPTION. The page's source contains a large ASCII art image of OldRoot's "logo", along with the letters "arNdJoH" below said image. This is another imgur link, here.
The image has (as far as I can tell) two Dutch words on it: BEWEECHGELICKHIJT and GOUDEN EEUW.
The first is a misspelling of the word "Beweegelijkheid", which means movement. This spelling of the word was used by Rembrandt van Rijn in a letter.
The second means Golden Age, a period of time in the Netherlands that spanned across the 17th century. Rembrandt also happened to live during that time.
It also appears to have the words "Fenway" and "Kinneret" on it. Fenway, AFAIK, is the name of a baseball park in Boston.
Lake Kinneret is a second name of the Sea of Galilee, Israels largest freshwater lake.
It also has the text "4:35-41" on it, which references this part of the Bible (Mark 4:35-41):
Jesus Calms the Storm
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”
36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.
37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.
38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
In this passage, Jesus and his disciples are on a lake, which presumably is Lake Kinneret, since that lake in mentioned in Matthew 4:18.
At last, it contains the cryptic message "ILMSRSNf0GOQ".
The tumblr page's source also contains this:
> XYTPMFQRIVKNHBZAEUCOLSGWJD V TXRNSPUDEAVQCJMHWBZLOGIFYK
Which was repeated in a PM from the Root. The > and V is intentional, perhaps directional arrows? This still isn't deciphered yet.
@ThatPurplePlant also received a tweet saying "LI BRX ZLVK WR NQRZ WKH IXWXUH, BRX PXVW NQRZ WKH SDVW", ROT23 for "IF YOU WISH TO KNOW THE FUTURE, YOU MUST KNOW THE PAST".
/u/pepper_tea got a PM containing this:
XXXXX XXXXX XXX XXXXX 0 Y T X 0 P R N 0
The title is "ILMSR SNf0G OQ", which is repeated from the image from the tumblr earlier.
/u/Fergenshunffer got a PM containing *BBB* *B*B* BB*** ***** *B**B *BBB* B*B*B. The title is (~!@#$%^&*_+), which indicated OldRoot is American (or Dutch), since that's what you would get sliding your finger on the number row of an American keyboard with the SHIFT key held down. (The Netherlands uses the American layout too, which would also fit with the Dutch references above)
The *s and Bs decrypts to "OKYAjOv", which is another Imgur link, containing boxes, Xs and Os. This is a modified version of the Pigpen cipher, which says "It's easier than you think".
/u/microphone_man got himself a PM, which says "ILMSR SNf0G OQ" in the title, which seems to be recurring theme. The body contains an imgur link, which reads "THE FUN HAS ONLY BEGUN", and when brightened, reveals "HIDDEN INSIDE".
Unzipping this image with WinRAR or 7zip reveals a "hidden.png", which has been uploaded here. It's yet another imgur link, this time here.
The image contains a grid of letters, warped and with static effects. With some error corrections, it looks somewhat like this:
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
This all ties the past puzzles together well, where
> XYTPMFQRIVKNHBZAEUCOLSGWJD V TXRNSPUDEAVQCJMHWBZLOGIFYK
Is the first row and column, respectively, and
0 Y T
X 0 P
R N 0
is the top left corner of the table. This table is likely needed to decrypt some past unsolved puzzles, like "His Unfinished Manuscript" (SRCQYZVZ LTGMHZN) and ILMSR SNf0G OQ.
He then sent a PM to /u/Fergenshunffer with the title "Tnih" and the text "L¹¼u", which (somehow) Fergen turned into "TLkbvHW", which rot13s to "GYxoiUJ", which is another imgur link. It's a gif scrambled with a program called GlitchMap, which can unglitch images. The image says "Remember".
Casually pointing out the extension of that image is .jpg on the imgur website but a .gif otherwise ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Edit: What a fun ARG!