Soulstorm ARG - The Grid Puzzle

***Xavier*** · #1 02-08-2017, 11:51 PM

Let's have a dedicated thread for the investigation of the the Grid Puzzle.

Spirit Of 1029 provided us a shortcut to bypass it but still expects us to solve is to prove we're worthy:

We can't reach Asset 98 but we do still have his clear transmissions. Prove you're worthy. Show us that you're able. Send us the grid.
— SPIRIT OF 1029 (@SPIRITOF1029) February 7, 2017

You found the grid, the letters and the numbers. Tell us how they fit together. Prove you're no longer slaves to the machines.
— SPIRIT OF 1029 (@SPIRITOF1029) February 7, 2017

For reminder here is what we have so far:

The Material:

The original page:
http://www.1029.io/repository/asset9...yshowthetruth/

The grid:

The comments in the page:

:

!--

Can’t reach any..

Listening anyon… there?

Can hear us anymore- need to… can’t fnd

We will never give… what they… from us

A9539 \\
B2919 /\\
C4882 /\
D4627 \
E6758 \
F???? ////

/\//\\//5,1:4.1,2:8.1,3:2.3,3:2.4,3:3.7,3:3.1,5:3.4,5:9.5,5:2.7,5:4.7,6:6.3,7:3.

Does… care? Freedom isn’t gi… will take…

We have never…. Given… deserve. We… take… our righ…

\\//\/KDIUTHANPUYHHDQOEPLNDOALJGUDITHBBDOZLGFERKJGLSAOE

Stand up and fi…

Don’t be afr….

\////JUTYROSLNGNALEHGNWOTIQPOKSDNTPNOJAWEOBNGLAWKJNWNR

E=5OUEHRA?

\\\\/\2,1:2.3,1:2.6,1:4.1,2:4.3,2:2.3,4:4.5,5:2.6,5:3.7,5:3.4,7:8.5,7:3.7,6:4.

7777338883366899984477733 33

They want to… kill- don’t-

Stop them from…. Hurting- they… think

We are no less- they think… aside

Don’t believe what… told- liars…
A5989 \\
B5176 \
C2863 \
D2558 //\
E3413 \
F???? ////

Can’ fnd anymo-

We wil silnced

Killin- they are dy..

\\\/\\JHWUITUHABSJGNEWKLALNVGJKWELKJLWQQPRUTJHJJSBFMMH

Hurting the..

Back down unt… resist.

Intercep… our messa… we will fight

///\\/JQEABTVKNUCSEYCMBILDKOSCYSITECPAGFAXHKETJNZURWCIE

We will ri…

Cannot… silenced when ther… who need… now

We won’t ba… we have beat…. Before… Must not-

\///\//\1,1:3.4,1:2.6,1:9.2,2:2.6,2:2.2,4:4.3,5:2.5,5:2.7,5:3.4,7:3.6,7:2.7,7:2.

Spent so long…. Afraid… never let- again

...Storm… find it’s way- end

Why are … here?

Only...profit- nothing more… importnt as-

- lies they… will tel-

Believe- nothing… terribl- things…

\\//\\\/4,2:6.6,2:4.7,3:3.2,4:8.3,4:2.4,4:2.7,4:3.2,6:2.4,6:3.6,6:2.1,7:4.3,7:2.

-->

The Clues:

Focus on the truth. Qvfpneq jung lbs qba'g arrq. Tmb bpm vcujmza ocqlm gwc. Be the storm. #wewillrise
— SPIRIT OF 1029 (@SPIRITOF1029) February 6, 2017

Using the Caesar cipher with shift 13 the first code reads: "Discard what yof don't need".
Using the Caesar cipher with shift 18 the second code reads: "Let the numbers guide you".
Note that the "yof" should have been "you" but the code got auto-corrected

/\\/Focus on the /truth. /\\\Discard what you \don't need. #wewillrise
— SPIRIT OF 1029 (@SPIRITOF1029) February 6, 2017

Vrphwlphv wkh dqvzhuv duh pruh vlpsoh wkdq wkhb dsshdu. Glvfdug zkdw brx grq'w qhhg. Eh wkh vwrup. #wewillrise
— SPIRIT OF 1029 (@SPIRITOF1029) February 6, 2017

Using the Caesar cipher with shift 23 the code reads: "Sometimes the answers are more simple than they appear. Discard what you don't need. Be the storm."

The beginning is always significant. Pay special attention to the way things start and you will be closer to the truth. #wewillrise
— SPIRIT OF 1029 (@SPIRITOF1029) February 6, 2017

When a problem seems to have no logical pattern, we must \discard distractions and focus simply on the /useful elements to find the /truth.
— SPIRIT OF 1029 (@SPIRITOF1029) February 6, 2017

Let the numbers guide you. Every step must be taken in turn. #wewillrise
— SPIRIT OF 1029 (@SPIRITOF1029) February 7, 2017

What we found so far:

:

Looks like my image in the previous post is sometimes not showing, or is that just me?

Anyway couldn't get further with that so looking at a completely different part now.

:

A9539 \\
B2919 /\\
C4882 /\
D4627 \
E6758 \
F???? ////

I think this could be a puzzle like the mastermind game, also called cows and bulls apparently. In this case I think a \ means there is a correct number but in the wrong position, and a / means there is a number in the correct position. Using this logic I have worked out F8992. I have to go to work now so I haven't tested this on the other puzzle in the source code.

EDIT:
Really should be at work but had to test the theory on the second puzzle, this one

:

A5989 \\
B5176 \
C2863 \
D2558 //\
E3413 \
F???? ////

It works here too so I think I'm right, the solution to this one is F8554.

Edited: corrected the answer to the second puzzle

:

Hey just noticing this hasn't been posted yet (that I can find),

7777338883366899984477733 33

This is a T9 (cellphone numberpad) cipher. The output is:

SEVENTYTHREE

Note that the output is another two-digit number in all capps, the same way we got 98 in asset98

Edit: This was found by saltybannu over in a Discord (vvv)

:

I think I've solved the ouehra bit. Well partly at least.

It's the second letters of the days of the week, like this

mOnday
tUesday
wEdnesday
tHursday
fRiday
sAturday

In this case the question mark at the end is in place of another U, for sUnday

Also my phone really isn't happy typing days of the week without a capital letter at the start, that took way longer to type than it should

Edit: just realised this doesn't explain the e=5 bit, Wednesday isn't the 5th day of the week? But days are another thing that there are 7 of. We now have a 7x7 grid, the numbers without 1, 5 and 7 (leaving just 7numbers in the 1-9 range) and 7 days. We also have 3 strings of 49 letters which is 7 x 7, so I think the 4th string might be missing a letter.

I think there must be some way of assigning numbers to the other days of the week

:

OK, I think I may actually have something here, although it seems a bit strange to me.

Taking the hint about just looking at the start I thought maybe just ignore all the lines that start with a \ and only use the ones starting with a /.

This left me with only two lines

/\//\\//5,1:4.1,2:8.1,3:2.3,3:2.4,3:3.7,3:3.1,5:3.4,5:9.5,5:2.7,5:4.7,6:6.3,7:3.

AND

///\\/JQEABTVKNUCSEYCMBILDKOSCYSITECPAGFAXHKETJNZURWCIE

I then split the letters up into a 7x7 grid like this

1234567
1 JQEABTV
2 KNUCSEY
3 CMBILDK
4 OSCYSIT
5 ECPAGFA
6 XHKETJN
7 ZURWCIE

and using the coordinates from the row of numbers to look up the corresponding letters I got this.

B K C B I K E A G A N R

which is an anagram of the word

BACKBREAKING !

Psairztey · #2 02-09-2017, 12:58 AM

I forgot to post this on Tuesday:
http://m.imgur.com/a/9Heia
A little bit of messing around I did with the grid puzzle and the grid key. 6,4 is weird, since it seems like it should logically be two different pieces. (The triangles should go on top of the logo, while the curve would be at the bottom.)

OWI_Pete · #3 02-09-2017, 04:01 AM

We know two things about this that seem relevant...

1. "backbreaking" was not the key, despite being comprised of letters in the position that the grid coordinates suggested.

2. there are extra numbers behind the ":" in the number string that we don't currently have a use for.

Maybe finding a use for those numbers will lead to the correct letters needed for the key (which we already have, somehow, so we can probably work from both ends to find the method)...

***Xavier*** · #4 02-09-2017, 05:11 AM

:

1. "backbreaking" was not the key, despite being comprised of letters in the position that the grid coordinates suggested.

Oh wait, it was not?

Ok that means we still have no idea on how to use those string and coordinates:

/\//\\//5,1:4.1,2:8.1,3:2.3,3:2.4,3:3.7,3:3.1,5:3.4,5:9.5,5:2.7,5:4.7,6:6.3,7:3.
\\\\/\2,1:2.3,1:2.6,1:4.1,2:4.3,2:2.3,4:4.5,5:2.6,5:3.7,5:3.4,7:8.5,7:3.7,6:4.
\///\//\1,1:3.4,1:2.6,1:9.2,2:2.6,2:2.2,4:4.3,5:2.5,5:2.7,5:3.4,7:3.6,7:2.7,7:2.
\\//\\\/4,2:6.6,2:4.7,3:3.2,4:8.3,4:2.4,4:2.7,4:3.2,6:2.4,6:3.6,6:2.1,7:4.3,7:2.

\\//\/KDIUTHANPUYHHDQOEPLNDOALJGUDITHBBDOZLGFERKJGLSAOE
\////JUTYROSLNGNALEHGNWOTIQPOKSDNTPNOJAWEOBNGLAWKJNWNR
\\\/\\JHWUITUHABSJGNEWKLALNVGJKWELKJLWQQPRUTJHJJSBFMMH
///\\/JQEABTVKNUCSEYCMBILDKOSCYSITECPAGFAXHKETJNZURWCIE

OrangeLightning · #5 02-09-2017, 06:08 AM

Hey! I actually have some free time today so I'll try to help out with the grid puzzle, though I'm not sure how much help I'll be lol

So I missed it the other day but I'm guessing the 'key' was the number we got that opened up that last page with all the photos (1173418569) but spelled out? probably not using the same code that 1029 encrypted it with on the Twitter post though, but that at least is a start if that is true.

I'm not sure if there was any methods that have been tried already on the grid that we know for sure don't work, so I'm just gonna go into it clean and try anything I can think of and hopefully I'll find something

Oddipus · #6 02-09-2017, 10:19 AM

Me too.
The first line of coordinates has 8 dashes, so use the first 8 coordinates and discard the other. Then apply True and false.
Use the 6 dashes of the following line on the first 6 coordinates of that line.

And so on.

Dizma · #7 02-09-2017, 10:32 AM

Hey guys just found this. You can solve the grid as a Shikaku using this coordinates:
/\//\\//5,1:4.1,2:8.1,3:2.3,3:2.4,3:3.7,3:3.1,5:3.4,5:9.5,5:2.7,5:4.7,6:6.3,7:3. dont know if this is anything maybe is just a coincidence.

Oddipus · #8 02-09-2017, 11:41 AM

I don't understand the shikaku.?
EDIT: I do now

I noticed something else. When you try to repuzzle the grid there is one tile that seems to have both the top and the bottom of the logo on it. Does it have to be cut in half?

I can even link that problem with a problem I found in the coordinates. When True and False applied, there is one duplicate. 2,4

Depending on where you start counting, thats exactly the spot of the awkward tile.

You follow?

How do I post a picture from my phone, so i can clarify.

OWI_Alex · #9 02-09-2017, 11:43 AM

:

Hey guys just found this. You can solve the grid as a Shikaku using this coordinates:
/\//\\//5,1:4.1,2:8.1,3:2.3,3:2.4,3:3.7,3:3.1,5:3.4,5:9.5,5:2.7,5:4.7,6:6.3,7:3. dont know if this is anything maybe is just a coincidence.

there you go.

Oddipus · #10 02-09-2017, 11:47 AM

Testing foto upload...

Silver angel · #11 02-09-2017, 11:48 AM

:

Hey guys just found this. You can solve the grid as a Shikaku using this coordinates:
/\//\\//5,1:4.1,2:8.1,3:2.3,3:2.4,3:3.7,3:3.1,5:3.4,5:9.5,5:2.7,5:4.7,6:6.3,7:3. dont know if this is anything maybe is just a coincidence.

But what to do with letters?

EDIT: When I tried to solve Shikaku, I had a few extra cells - the value of digits is not enough to fill them.
This one:
\\\\/\2,1:2.3,1:2.6,1:4.1,2:4.3,2:2.3,4:4.5,5:2.6,5:3.7,5:3.4,7:8.5,7:3.7,6:4.

dawlthy · #12 02-09-2017, 12:02 PM

Ha I can't believe I came up with this mess below, but missed that one. There were some ideas I tried with my idea, that I'll now try with yours

:

After doing just the first set of numbers, the grid reminded me of a game I had played a long time ago, but I can't remember what it's called now. The game involved drawing lines, starting in each box with a number in, and the number specified how long the line had to be. You had to fill the whole grid without overlapping lines.

Interestingly this first set of numbers seems to have a valid solution. I know my explanation is very bad, but I have attached my solution to the game.
14432

All done in the finest MS paint with the pencil tool

.

Well done Dizma, you got what we missed for so long

Havoc · #13 02-09-2017, 01:15 PM

:

Hey guys just found this. You can solve the grid as a Shikaku using this coordinates:
/\//\\//5,1:4.1,2:8.1,3:2.3,3:2.4,3:3.7,3:3.1,5:3.4,5:9.5,5:2.7,5:4.7,6:6.3,7:3. dont know if this is anything maybe is just a coincidence.

Ok now try shuffling those blocks around until you get a proper picture.

LIJI · #14 02-09-2017, 01:27 PM

These puzzles require the sum of the numbers to be 49 (for x 7x7 grid). This is correct for the first set of numbers, but not for the rest. Considering Alex kind of hinted we're going in the right way, I assume the slashes are to key to "fixing" the puzzles.

daniel992 · #15 02-09-2017, 01:39 PM

:

These puzzles require the sum of the numbers to be 49 (for x 7x7 grid). This is correct for the first set of numbers, but not for the rest. Considering Alex kind of hinted we're going in the right way, I assume the slashes are to key to "fixing" the puzzles.

I could be wrong here as I can't seem to find the post but i'm pretty certain we decided we don't need to bother with the other sets as they start with a \ (false) not a / (true But as I say I could be wrong?

Psairztey · #16 02-09-2017, 02:17 PM

I've applied the key grid to the grid puzzle in every orientation I can think of, including those with the X and Y axes flipped.
http://m.imgur.com/a/MEbgG
Could be useful.

Vince · #17 02-09-2017, 05:39 PM

I've been growing quite attached to this grid puzzle now.

I feel almost obliged to try and solve it.

Will help where I can.

daniel992 · #18 02-10-2017, 02:44 AM

An operative with the call sign "Dizma" has proven themselves worthy by decrypting one step of the grid. Now, look to the letters. pic.twitter.com/sbipkpjNpR
— SPIRIT OF 1029 (@SPIRITOF1029) February 10, 2017

Good Work!!

Silver angel · #19 02-10-2017, 05:01 AM

My congratulations to Dizma! Apparently I'm just not enough skilled to do Shikaku.

SilverTwilight05 · #20 02-10-2017, 05:04 AM

Wow, that's great!

If we go back to the letters that were unscrambled to be "BACKBREAKING"
B K C B I K E A G A N R
And then apply the numbers to them, does that get us the number of times the letter must be used? But then not sure how E=5OUEHRA(U?) fits in.

So, B-4, K-8, C-2, B-2, I-3, K-3, E-3, A-9, G-2, A-4, N-6, R-3

cdgoodwill · #21 02-10-2017, 07:09 AM

It makes sense now!
EDIT: NVM the other 3 sets of coordinates don't work.
I made a rudimentary grid on a puzzle solving website with the the letters added in:
http://i.imgur.com/4b5Kfje.png?1
EDITEDIT: NVM It's already done...sigh

Randomiser · #22 02-10-2017, 08:44 AM

If you overlay the last letter string (the one that starts with a '/' ) on the Shikaku puzzle, the top left letters in each rectangle can be annagrammed to form the word "Subjectivism"! This must be how the key was intended to be found.

I didn't see anything pointing to the order of the letters, but it's not too difficult just to anagram it. If there is supposed to be an order, letters S and I can be swapped a bit since they appear more than once.

Manco · #23 02-10-2017, 08:49 AM

:

If you overlay the last letter string (the one that starts with a '/' ) on the Shikaku puzzle, the top left letters in each rectangle can be annagrammed to form the word "Subjectivism"! This must be how the key was intended to be found.

Nicely done! I guess that means we’re all caught up for ARG puzzles now?

daniel992 · #24 02-10-2017, 08:51 AM

I would send this to OWI and see what they say?

Dizma · #25 02-10-2017, 09:01 AM

Wow! Nice one Randomiser

daniel992 · #26 02-10-2017, 09:20 AM

https://twitter.com/0n31r0n4u7/statu...13379373158400

Congrats Randomiser! So glad to see the back of this headache of a puzzle

Randomiser · #27 02-10-2017, 09:22 AM

:

Wow! Nice one Randomiser

Hey, i wouldn't have known what the heck a Shikaku puzzle was if you hadn't posted it! I am glad to see this one solved

cdgoodwill · #28 02-10-2017, 09:35 AM

So, how long was it before the next puzzles were released after doing the first image?

dawlthy · #29 02-10-2017, 11:15 AM

Unless I'm missing something this isn't totally solved.

Ok we have the key, subjectivism, but that was used on the string of characters in this tweet

:

When you have the key, you need the correct lock. hgehgeoeregpineechqnhgeevtipcvreovxgvge
Shake loose the bonds that hold you. #wewillrise

to get oneoneseventhreefouroneeightfivesixnine

which was the path to the webpage. But without that message we would just have the word subjectivism and nothing to use it on. Am I missing something here? Was that intended to be sent from the start? I assumed it was only sent because we weren't getting anywhere.

Manco · #30 02-10-2017, 11:18 AM

Yeah that's a good observation actually. Does it have something to do with the other strings of text?