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architeuthis.md

Project Architeuthis ARG

In AD 2014, ARG was beginning.

WARNING: Contains spoilers for the final solution. Click here to jump to it.

April 28

In AD 2014, ARG was beginning.

Source Cipher Solution Method
US Navy Cryptology & Technology HEDGEHOG 42. SQUID 43. LIMBO 55. RABBITHOLE: Project Architeuthis Squint a lot to see "ARCHITEUTHIS 15. FIND PROJECT ARCHITEUTHIS ON FACEBOOK." All other names are names of anti-submarine technology.
PA Facebook Chat log N/A
Sosposa KOYCQUIMCGUY IMGKBFLPYCNRNRCGBF ZDWA SWLPIMLPMQUYLP EIPTMQSWNR LPMQUY YCZDMQYCPTBF CGLPCGKOWA QUSWZDKOYCPTGKLPCG MESSAGE: MASKEW KIDNAPPED BY UNKNOWN GROUP NOW ABOARD ENEMY SUBMARINE 2:1 Patristocrat.
Sosposa CJQENYLBCQ MDUKFQEP: YFNYYRJICQLBVSMD CJUKOV YFNYYRCQNYCJ CJNYYRQEVSUKEPUKMDAX CQNYMDFQCQHTLBVSMD OVCQUKPWNYYRCJ FQCQYRQELBCJNYJICJQELBYF MESSAGE: THEIR GOAL: SECURING TOP SECRET TECHNOLOGY REGARDING PROJECT ARCHITEUTHIS 2:1 Patristocrat.
Sosposa CT LNHU KQAVIZLPLNLPLNIW CT'BXBX AVCSIW AVIZ AVCSLNJVKQHUCTAV HUGXKQKQLNEWGXKQ MESSAGE: I AM STOWAWAY I'LL TRY TO TRANSMIT MESSAGES 2:1 Patristocrat.

April 29

Source Cipher Solution Method
Sosposa 4<6>6>4<5>3^ 4<8^7<8<2< 3>5>2<8< 3>5>3^9^2<4<6>6^ MESSAGE: GOOGLE GUPTA FLAT FLEXAGON Phone keypad, <^> = first, middle, last.
Sosposa Image HINT: COMPASS Fold the flexagon, looks like a compass. Use the "four points" hint from before.

April 30

Source Cipher Solution Method
PA Facebook Chat log N/A
Sosposa O,[ptysmy" Mre svvpimy #Sdp[dpd MESSAGE: Important: New account @Asopsos Keyboard shift.
Sosposa Image WORD: AROUND Morse: i = ., t = -, Morse for LETTERS BEFORE G. Use the "Maria Cipher" hint.
Asopsos ARVJJ TJZJG LJVC AMC SYZJ TYN AMC SCXV CGJ NUMBERS: 370256241 English Patristocrat
Asopsos Profile image DOTS: North and west boxes now have dots.
PA Facebook Position announcement POSITION: 28°09'N 146°16'W

May 1

Source Cipher Solution Method
PA Facebook Chat log N/A

May 2

Source Cipher Solution Method
Sosposa http://bit.ly/1nbo5Po LINK: help.mov bit.ly link
nepuvgrhguvf.navy.com PAschematic.jpg RED HERRING: Congratulations, you have found 1 of our 4 Red Herrings! PASchematic has SilentEye stego. Use default options.
nepuvgrhguvf.navy.com help.mov [UNSOLVED?]

May 3

Source Cipher Solution Method
Sosposa Image WORD: LESSEN Pink redaction is 'a piece of pie'. Take rest of the redactions as indices into digits of π.
Asopsos HPLSL ULAU JELU XPKJER JELU XLER XAHXR HPLSL MRU NUMBERS: 963430592 Spanish Patristocrat
Asopsos Profile image DOTS: North and east boxes now have dots.
PA Facebook Position announcement POSITION: 33°12'N 169°11'E

May 6

Source Cipher Solution Method
Sosposa Image WORD: TURNED Interpret bends around stars as semaphore flag positions.
Asopsos GCTH HGBXH ICGZ TWVV NZGC HCGQGT TGWT OBXY HGBXH KSGC NUMBERS: 1640379862 German Patristocrat
Asopsos Profile image DOTS: North and west boxes now have dots.
PA Facebook Position announcement POSITION: 16°48'N 177°59'W

May 9

Source Cipher Solution Method
Sosposa: [1], [2] [1], [2] WORD: LINEUP Overlay the two images.
Asopsos PH PH HBPY UDN ADHV HBPY UBWR VPIRLB UBWR JBPN NUMBERS: 1196597472 French Patristocrat
Asopsos Profile image DOTS: South and east boxes now have dots.
PA Facebook Position announcement POSITION: 10°45'S 176°49'E

May 12

Source Cipher Solution Method
Sosposa Image WORD: PERSON NATO letters in the text at sentence breaks: PAPA ALFA ECHO ROMEO OSCAR SIERRA TANGO. Anagrams to SEAPORT. Follow the instructions to connect seaports. No, literally, draw lines between them. It creates an arrow pointing to the word PERSON.
Asopsos CLKLJ KAM WTLKLG HVNO CLKLJ ENHLVO SWTLG ENHLVO WTLKLG NLVS NUMBERS: 1273148470 Polish Patristocrat
Asopsos Profile image DOTS: South and west boxes now have dots.
PA Facebook Position announcement POSITION: 26°33'S 174°41'W
nepuvgrhguvf.navy.com Directory index change NOTE: endGame.mov leaked 2 days early. Solution posted on May 14. Directory indices on http://nepuvgrhguvf.navy.com enabled because index.html was renamed to indexKILL.html. All files remained unchanged.

Letters From A Sailor

May 13

Source Cipher Solution Method
PA Facebook Chat log N/A
Sosposa DAPEMBAUNALTHS ENPNYESNKVEIIY SOAESNEONIXWNA TIRYUILIORPDTD ITELBROTWREEHE NANTMACANACTRE MESSAGE: DESTINATION APPARENTLY ENEMY SUBMARINE BASE LOCATION UNKNOWN ARRIVAL EXPECTED WITHIN THREE DAYS Transpose and reverse chunks.

May 14

Source Cipher Solution Method
PA Facebook http://bit.ly/1st17U9 endGame.mov bit.ly link
projecta.navy.com LINK: endGame.mov EMAIL: [email protected] Audio blip reveals a spectrogram image with the email

May 15

Source Cipher Solution Method
PA Facebook Chat log N/A
Sosposa Image MESSAGE: I FEEL SO ABANDONED THERE IS NO HOPE IN SIGHT Rearrange the tetrominoes into a 6x6 grid. Read across.
Sosposa Image WORD: LIMPET Rearrange the tetrominoes into a 6x6 grid. Black and white 2x3 cells, read as Braille.
Sosposa SHX W=XHSWZZH SMWI WIX: #ZWMW =X SWNHOOX WNX+ MESSAGE: HAVE ARRIVED AT ENEMY BASE NEED IMMEDIATE AID Reverse, many-to-one mapping.
Asopsos NFVGQNKFC NFVGQNKFC NZZKB CJOOF NZZKB NFVGQNKFC MNKB NFNKB LBBKB NUMBERS: 886068125 Finnish Patristocrat

Final solution

Here's how I ended up attacking this thing.

I sort of logically assumed that the combination of a letter and a word resulted in a coordinate for that day. But HOW?

First, the answer.

Number Word Dots Coordinates
370256241 AROUND NW 28°09'N 146°16'W
963430592 LESSEN NE 33°12'N 169°11'E
1640379862 TURNED NW 16°48'N 177°59'W
1196597472 LINEUP SE 10°45'S 176°49'E
1273148470 PERSON SW 26°33'S 174°41'W
886068125 LIMPET SW 41º50'S 140º24'W

I tried attacking them in a number of ways, including using military grid squares with combinations of the numbers and letters from the word. In the end, this was my solution. The coordinate for each day is the difference between the Patristocrat number puzzle and the solution to the word puzzle interpreted as base 36, read as degrees and minutes. Directions (N, S, E, W) are added from the two dots on the @asopsos Twitter profile. Thanks to Patrick Blindauer for helping to point me in the right direction.

Final solution in Ruby

%w[370256241  963430592 1640379862
   1196597472 1273148470 886068125]
    .zip(%w[AROUND LESSEN TURNED LINEUP PERSON LIMPET]) # zip numbers in pairs with words
    .map{|a, b| (b.to_i(36) - a.to_i(10))               # word as base36, number as base 10
                .to_s(10)                               # convert difference to base 10 string
                .scan(/(.{4})(.{5})/).flatten           # group in 4 and 5
                .map{|c| c[0..-3] + '.' + c[-2..-1]}    # split and add a decimal
                .join(', ')}                            # join with commas

=> ["28.09, 146.16",
    "33.12, 169.11",
    "16.48, 177.59",
    "10.45, 176.49",
    "26.33, 174.41",
    "41.50, 140.24"]
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