SoulStorm ARG - Piece 9

[Xavier]

Piece 9 is up!

[ODDREN]

So, where to look, what to decode?

[Xavier]

Not sure, I think I checked all the usual places with no luck yet.

The text at http://www.oddworld.com/soulstorm/ed/ now reads "Where aM i?". I can't remember if it was like that before or if they just changed it.

[Varrok]

Not sure, I think I checked all the usual places with no luck yet.

The text at http://www.oddworld.com/soulstorm/ed/ now reads "Where aM i?". I can't remember if it was like that before or if they just changed it.

I think it was like that before.

So... we need to predict the future.

...Soulstorm gonna be a big, big hit and everyone will be pleased! Do you hear me, OWI? You can safely mark this piece as completed

[Connell]

Wow! Well that all happened rather fast, didn't it? Glad it's back up and running.

The text at http://www.oddworld.com/soulstorm/ed/ now reads "Where aM i?". I can't remember if it was like that before or if they just changed it.

Yeah, that's the same as it's been for a while, with that strange formatting around it.

So, do we think it's still something to do with the Abe face reveal? Or are we looking elsewhere? If we take into account the 2 new Tweets from Ed: (I'll embed them here again as a reference)

so thirsty. so dark.

— ed (@edmudokon) June 22, 2016

are you listening?

— ed (@edmudokon) June 22, 2016

Could we potentially be after another audio file, given the "Are you listening?" Tweet. I do believe I attempted to convert the face reveal image to an .mp3 with no luck, and this ARG doesn't tend to repeat puzzle elements much. Let's have a sleuth and see what we can come up with.

EDIT: Wasn't there a file used along the way called "findthefuture.jpg" or something along those lines? Perhaps worth a revisit?

HERE WE ARE: I tried /ed/findthefuture.jpg, then /ed/decodethefuture.jpg and viola!

http://www.oddworld.com/soulstorm/ed...ethefuture.jpg

That is an edited version by me to make the symbols clearer. Use the URL above the image to view the original from the Soulstorm site. The cipher very much reminds me of pigpen, which has been used previously, but it seems to be a different variation.



I just found that on Google whilst searching for pigpen cipher variations, it matches the symbols in the picture, note how the file name contains utf-8. So are we looking for a specific kind of pigpen, and then a way to convert it back? I don't know what the fuck Club Penguin has to do with it

Edit 203: Here's our guide: scroll down the page and there's a table with the symbols and what they mean. Looks like there's quite a few numbers in there. Perhaps will come out with a URL.

http://www.babelstone.co.uk/Fonts/Pigpen.html

If everyone's free and happy to help out, shall we all take separate parts of the picture to decode, like a few lines each, to get it done quicker? Entirely up to you guys. Still don't know why the font is called Club Penguin! (The table we're working from is indeed the middle one in the character repertoire section called "Babelstone Club Penguin" Seems it was used by secret agents in the game or something)

EDIT: We might not be looking at the right code here. I may have got too excited as the symbols matched. The first two words on the Abe image translate to utter gibberish, although there's a good chance it requires further decoding after it's been translated from Babelstone pigpen:

E?ACJENE E?ANICJM





I'm gonna write out the letters as a decipher it, line by line. At least then, even if it's wrong we have a written version of the cipher that can be translated and manipulated. See you in half an hour!

Line 1: E?ACJENE E?ANICJM
Line 2: WEJH EBZ QNAJF Z , NMF
Line 3: FEJAZ UZ?JABZ M? ?ZEJGE? UNIO MMZ
Line 4: CLR ZBCADEBZB?ANAD\FE\OJMZ?PYM?
Line 5: BZIEF JM OMFEEJD EJYPAID MN ?A EJEBZ
Line 6: CNAOMG DJMZ? I ? , EJEBZ
Line 7: ?Y NAMR OEBZ FNAD UNIO DM ENI ?A FE
Line 8: LPZ? ZMN PPAW EW UNIO EJI EW
Line 9: LPEB MZ YMU FEEN EW ?Y DM ENM ?A FE
Line 10: NAICI E?AJ PPAW EW FNI E?AJ PPAW EW
Line 11: ZPMXEJ UPLOMG UEHM QJMW
Line 12: WMPPMD UIW EBZ ?Y NWMB? ?IB MJEB EBZ

EDIT: I think it might have to be caeser ciphered by 25 steps after translation. The reason I say this is line 4, in between the slashes the two letters "FE" when ciphered down 25 steps become "ED" So it looks like it could be a URL.

[ndvr]

EDIT:
Line 9: LPEB MZ YMU FEEN EW ?Y DM ENM ?A FE
Line 10: NAICI E?AJ PPAW EW FNI E?AJ PPAW EW
Line 11: ZPMXEJ UPLOMG UEHM QJMW
Line 12 (last one): WMPPMD UIW EBZ ?Y NWMB? ?IB MJEB EBZ
There might be errors, so it's always better to double-check %)

P.S.: Something tells be that 8291 will help here somehow, like we will need lines #8, 2, 9 and 1, or it's order of reading or something.

"PP" often comes together, so it's something which uses in double like "O" in "OOPS" or "E" in "EERIE", or "P" in "DRIPPIK"

"EE" also has been seen together...

EDIT 2: lines 2 and 11 seems to be the only ones without "empty" symbol (the one after "Z")

[Connell]

Line 12 (last one): WMPPMD UIW EBZ ?Y NWMB? ?IB MJEB EBZ
Might be errors %)

Perfect. I'll add it to my post. Feel free to keep working backwards up. I just hope this is the right cipher. But, like I said, as long as we stick to a code, we have a text version of it then that can be translated to anything.

"EBZ" appears in a few lines. Possibly "AND"? EDIT: Ciphers to "DAY" The rest is still gibberish though. I wonder what we do with the code.

[Connell]

P.S.: Something tells be that 8291 will help here somehow, like we will need lines #8, 2, 9 and 1, or it's order of reading or something.

"PP" often comes together, so it's something which uses in double like "O" in "OOPS" or "E" in "EERIE", or "P" in "DRIPPIK"

"EE" also has been seen together...

Also, "UNIO" appears in several lines.

[seniormeatbox]

Oh god I can't believe they used the CP code...

letters on Line 1 don't exist, BUT, if I FLIP that line in paint, those non-existant letters are turned into ones that exist on the cipher. In fact, flipping the whole page makes the letters real.

Holy fuck, I flipped the whole thing both horizontally and vertically, and I got actual words...

THE HERO HAS SHOWN US THE WAY, FOLLOW, WORK, OBEY, COMPLY, REVOLT. WE WILL RISE AND , WE WILL RISE AGAIN.
ED IS ONE OF US, WE NEED YOU TO HELP, WE ARE MANY, WILL NOT STOP.
ED IS ONE OF MANY, FIND THEM, JOIN US
THERE IS A STORM COMING, THERE IS NO FAILURE, FREEDOM OR DEATH.
SOULSTORM/ED/ FINISH_THE_FIGHT.JPG
TOO MANY SECRETS, SO THIRSTY, TIRED.
DON'T DRINK THE BREW
ORGANISE, ENERGISE

It stops there.....

HOLY FUCK THIS IS EPIC AS SHIT

[Connell]

Oh god I can't believe they used the CP code...

letters on Line 1 don't exist, BUT, if I FLIP that line in paint, those non-existant letters are turned into ones that exist on the cipher. In fact, flipping the whole page makes the letters real.

Holy fuck, I flipped the whole thing both horizontally and vertically, and I got actual words...

THE HERO HAS SHOWN US THE WAY, FOLLOW, WORK, OBEY, COMPLY, REVOLT. WE WILL RISE AND , WE WILL RISE AGAIN.
ED IS ONE OF US, WE NEED YOU TO HELP, WE ARE MANY, WILL NOT STOP.
ED IS ONE OF MANY, FIND THEM, JOIN US
THERE IS A STORM COMING, THERE IS NO FAILURE, FREEDOM OR DEATH.
SOULSTORM/ED/ FINISH_THE_FIGHT.JPG
TOO MANY SECRETS, SO THIRSTY, TIRED.
DON'T DRINK THE BREW
ORGANISE, ENERGISE

It stops there.....

HOLY FUCK THIS IS EPIC AS SHIT

Oh wow. That's cool as hell! That URL doesn't seem to work though. I actually want to smash my head into a wall that I just spent the best part of 2 hours deciphering all that and it was fucking upside down. Way to go, me. Haha

[seniormeatbox]

Translated

[ndvr]

http://www.oddworld.com/soulstorm/ed/finishthefight.jpg

And... that's all? How fast, there's nothing to do again, I'm disappointed

[Connell]

I'm still uploading this because it took me and ndvr ages. And fuck you, Ed.



Cannot believe we wrote out the whole damn thing in gibberish. Literally wasted my whole day. Think I'm too consumed in this ARG Gonna go and get on with that head smashing until it's time for piece 7.

[seniormeatbox]

I can't believe it. PC was broken for weeks, I thought it would all be over by now.

To be fair, the only way we would of known what this is, is if one of us played Club Penguin as a kid. CP is a crappy game, so I'm sure they would of hoped to bet on us being like Connel, having no idea what to do.

[seniormeatbox]

I'm still uploading this because it took me and ndvr ages. And fuck you, Ed.

Cannot believe we wrote out the whole damn thing in gibberish. Literally wasted my whole day. Think I'm too consumed in this ARG

Don't worry, You just overlooked a single step.

Besides, you did almost all of the other pieces, so I'm pretty damn sure that whatever the end result of this ARG is, you will get your share.

I kinda got the idea after a horizontal flip, realized that DON'T was a word, and i flipped it again to translate it.

[Connell]

Don't worry, You just overlooked a single step.

Besides, you did almost all of the other pieces, so I'm pretty damn sure that whatever the end result of this ARG is, you will get your share.

I kinda got the idea after a horizontal flip, realized that DON'T was a word, and i flipped it again to translate it.

I'm mostly being tongue in cheek, don't worry I don't really expect credit for anything at the end of this or anything, just feeling silly that I got all the way through that doing the wrong thing for hours. I'm sort of half being sarcastic, half annoyed that I wasted my own time, I don't actually want Ed to fuck himself

[seniormeatbox]

I'm mostly being tongue in cheek, don't worry I don't really expect credit for anything at the end of this or anything, just feeling silly that I got all the way through that doing the wrong thing for hours. I'm sort of half being sarcastic, half annoyed that I wasted my own time, I don't actually want Ed to fuck himself

According to the lore, thats physically impossible as well.

[Xavier]

Wow Conell and seniormeatbox that's some very impressive stuff

I agree the text is seriously epic

EDIT: Wiki updated: http://oddworld.wikia.com/wiki/Soulstorm_ARG#Piece_9

[Gunnr]

*Faints of epic*

[coeywong88]

this is awesome

[Fuzzle Guy]

Who the Fuck is Ed?!

[Xavier]

The Mudokon that's trying to reach us via this ARG. More info available here: http://oddworld.wikia.com/wiki/Souls...ificance_of_ED