PAGE SEVEN

On November 26th, 2016, TwinBuilder began posting images seemingly at random. They were all bits and pieces of what looked like a much larger whole. All the images were compiled, and attempts to edit them together ensued. This was the result: https://i.imgur.com/00tE9IU.png.

After this image was created, TwinBuilder asked a question in line with the text in the image: “When you add the three colors of the Godhead together, what do you get?” The Godhead, a symbol resembling an inverted triangle, has a different color on each of its three points: the bottom is red, the left is yellow, and the right is cyan. According to the document, combining red and cyan creates magenta (the color of hyper light), but the combination of yellow and magenta (the color TwinBuilder is asking for) remained unknown.

After some hints from TwinBuilder, it was deduced by the players that this color is orchid. Upon discovering this, TwinBuilder posted the complete image: http://imgur.com/zC9gqQT.png. The text at the bottom is Ionian, and translates to “ORCHID GODHEAD.”

On March 25th, 2017, TwinBuilder posted this Pastebin.

ОН ТҺЕ ПАТХ ИН ФРОНТ ОФ БЕХИНД:
ОН ТҺЕ ПАТХ ИН ТХЕ СПИРАЛИНГ ТОWЕР:
ОН ТҺЕ ПАТХ ИН ТХЕ МИНДьС ЕЫЕ:
ҺЕ ФОУНД А СЕРИЕС ОФ НУМЕРАЛС АНД ПҺРАСЕС.
ЧОСЕН ПОЛЫГОНАЛ ИНДЕХ: [1Һ6Һ1я7]
ФЕНЕСТРАТЕД ПЛАНЕ: ТWО
ЛИТЕРАТУРЕ ЛЕДГЕ: ФОУР
ЦОДЕХ ИДЕНТИФИЦАТИОН: ОНЕ-СИХ
СЕЛЕЦТИОН: ОНЕ-СЕВЕН-ТҺРЕЕ
СПЕЦИФИЦ ЦАТЕГОРИЦАЛ ПҺЕНОМЕНОН: ТWО-ТҺРЕЕ, ФОУР-ЕИГҺТ

ОН ТҺЕ ПАТҺ ИН ФРОНТ ОФ БЕҺИНД:
ОН ТҺЕ ПАТҺ ИН ТҺЕ СПИРАЛИНГ ТОWЕР:
ОН ТҺЕ ПАТҺ ИН ТҺЕ МИНДьС ЕЫЕ:
ҺЕ ФОУНД А СЕРИЕС ОФ НУМЕРАЛС АНД ПҺРАСЕС.
ЧОСЕН ПОЛЫГОНАЛ ИНДЕХ: [ТырWҹ2qы]
ФЕНЕСТРАТЕД ПЛАНЕ: ТҺРЕЕ
ЛИТЕРАТУРЕ ЛЕДГЕ: ТWО
ЦОДЕХ ИДЕНТИФИЦАТИОН: ТWО
СЕЛЕЦТИОН: ТWО-СИХ
СПЕЦИФИЦ ЦАТЕГОРИЦАЛ ПҺЕНОМЕНОН ОРИГИН: ТWО-ЗЕРО, СЕВЕН-НИНЕ СПЕЦИФИЦ ЦАТЕГОРИЦАЛ ПҺЕНОМЕНОН ЦЛОСЕД: ТWО-ОНЕ, ТҺРЕЕ

ОН ТҺЕ ПАТҺ ИН ФРОНТ ОФ БЕҺИНД:
ОН ТҺЕ ПАТҺ ИН ТҺЕ СПИРАЛИНГ ТОWЕР:
ОН ТҺЕ ПАТҺ ИН ТҺЕ МИНДьС ЕЫЕ:
ҺЕ ФОУНД А СЕРИЕС ОФ НУМЕРАЛС АНД ПҺРАСЕС.
ЧОСЕН ПОЛЫГОНАЛ ИНДЕХ: [ҸДгт41гк]
ФЕНЕСТРАТЕД ПЛАНЕ: ФОУР
ЛИТЕРАТУРЕ ЛЕДГЕ: ФИВЕ
ЦОДЕХ ИДЕНТИФИЦАТИОН: ОНЕ-ЗЕРО
СЕЛЕЦТИОН: ТҺРЕЕ-ОНЕ-ЗЕРО
СПЕЦИФИЦ ЦАТЕГОРИЦАЛ ПҺЕНОМЕНОН ОРИГИН: ТWО-ЗЕРО, СЕВЕН-СЕВЕН СПЕЦИФИЦ ЦАТЕГОРИЦАЛ ПҺЕНОМЕНОН ЦЛОСЕД: ТWО-ОНЕ, ФОУР

ОН ТҺЕ ПАТҺ ИН ФРОНТ ОФ БЕҺИНД:
ОН ТҺЕ ПАТҺ ИН ТҺЕ СПИРАЛИНГ ТОWЕР:
ОН ТҺЕ ПАТҺ ИН ТҺЕ МИНДьС ЕЫЕ:
ҺЕ ФОУНД А СЕРИЕС ОФ НУМЕРАЛС АНД ПҺРАСЕС.
ЧОСЕН ПОЛЫГОНАЛ ИНДЕХ: [БвҺпq9н1]
ФЕНЕСТРАТЕД ПЛАНЕ: ОНЕ
ЛИТЕРАТУРЕ ЛЕДГЕ: ФОУР
ЦОДЕХ ИДЕНТИФИЦАТИОН: ОНЕ-ФИВЕ
СЕЛЕЦТИОН: НИНЕ-ФИВЕ
СПЕЦИФИЦ ЦАТЕГОРИЦАЛ ПҺЕНОМЕНОН ОРИГИН: ТWО-ЗЕРО, СЕВЕН-СЕВЕН СПЕЦИФИЦ ЦАТЕГОРИЦАЛ ПҺЕНОМЕНОН ЦЛОСЕД: ТWО-ОНЕ, ФОУР

ОН ТҺЕ ПАТҺ ИН ФРОНТ ОФ БЕҺИНД:
ОН ТҺЕ ПАТҺ ИН ТҺЕ СПИРАЛИНГ ТОWЕР:
ОН ТҺЕ ПАТҺ ИН ТҺЕ МИНДьС ЕЫЕ:
ҺЕ ФОУНД А СЕРИЕС ОФ НУМЕРАЛС АНД ПҺРАСЕС.
ЧОСЕН ПОЛЫГОНАЛ ИНДЕХ: [РБhаЦГqК]
ФЕНЕСТРАТЕД ПЛАНЕ: ФОУР
ЛИТЕРАТУРЕ ЛЕДГЕ: ТWО
ЦОДЕХ ИДЕНТИФИЦАТИОН: ОНЕ-ЕИГҺТ
СЕЛЕЦТИОН: ЕИГҺТ-НИНЕ
СПЕЦИФИЦ ЦАТЕГОРИЦАЛ ПҺЕНОМЕНОН ОРИГИН: ТWО-ЗЕРО, СЕВЕН-НИНЕ СПЕЦИФИЦ ЦАТЕГОРИЦАЛ ПҺЕНОМЕНОН ЦЛОСЕД: ТWО-ОНЕ, ТWО

ОН ТҺЕ ПАТҺ ИН ФРОНТ ОФ БЕҺИНД:
ОН ТҺЕ ПАТҺ ИН ТҺЕ СПИРАЛИНГ ТОWЕР:
ОН ТҺЕ ПАТҺ ИН ТҺЕ МИНДьС ЕЫЕ:
ҺЕ ФОУНД А СЕРИЕС ОФ НУМЕРАЛС АНД ПҺРАСЕС.
ЧОСЕН ПОЛЫГОНАЛ ИНДЕХ: [ВwуQР5Qе]
ФЕНЕСТРАТЕД ПЛАНЕ: ТҺРЕЕ
ЛИТЕРАТУРЕ ЛЕДГЕ: ТҺРЕЕ
ЦОДЕХ ИДЕНТИФИЦАТИОН: ОНЕ-ТҺРЕЕ
СЕЛЕЦТИОН: ТWО-СЕВЕН-ТWО
СПЕЦИФИЦ ЦАТЕГОРИЦАЛ ПҺЕНОМЕНОН ОРИГИН: ТWО-ФИВЕ, СЕВЕН-ЗЕРО СПЕЦИФИЦ ЦАТЕГОРИЦАЛ ПҺЕНОМЕНОН ЦЛОСЕД: ТWО-ФИВЕ, СЕВЕН-СЕВЕН

ОН ТҺЕ ПАТҺ ИН ФРОНТ ОФ БЕҺИНД:
ОН ТҺЕ ПАТҺ ИН ТҺЕ СПИРАЛИНГ ТОWЕР:
ОН ТҺЕ ПАТҺ ИН ТҺЕ МИНДьС ЕЫЕ:
ҺЕ ФОУНД А СЕРИЕС ОФ НУМЕРАЛС АНД ПҺРАСЕС.
ЧОСЕН ПОЛЫГОНАЛ ИНДЕХ: [qТб3ТтКҺ]
ФЕНЕСТРАТЕД ПЛАНЕ: ОНЕ
ЛИТЕРАТУРЕ ЛЕДГЕ: ТҺРЕЕ
ЦОДЕХ ИДЕНТИФИЦАТИОН: ТWО-СЕВЕН
СЕЛЕЦТИОН: ТWО-СИХ
СПЕЦИФИЦ ЦАТЕГОРИЦАЛ ПҺЕНОМЕНОН: ТWО-ОНЕ, ТWО-ФОУР

It was decoded from Cyrillic, into English.

ON THE PATH IN FRONT OF BEHIND:
ON THE PATH IN THE SPIRALING TOWER:
ON THE PATH IN THE MIND’S EYE:
HE FOUND A SERIES OF NUMERALS AND PHRASES.
CHOSEN POLYGONAL INDEX: [1H6H1ja7]
FENESTRATED PLANE: TWO
LITERATURE LEDGE: FOUR
CODEX IDENTIFICATION: ONE-SIX
SELECTION: ONE-SEVEN-THREE
SPECIFIC CATEGORICAL PHENOMENON: TWO-THREE, FOUR-EIGHT

ON THE PATH IN FRONT OF BEHIND:
ON THE PATH IN THE SPIRALING TOWER:
ON THE PATH IN THE MIND’S EYE:
HE FOUND A SERIES OF NUMERALS AND PHRASES.
CHOSEN POLYGONAL INDEX: [TyrWj2qy]
FENESTRATED PLANE: THREE
LITERATURE LEDGE: TWO
CODEX IDENTIFICATION: TWO
SELECTION: TWO-SIX
SPECIFIC CATEGORICAL PHENOMENON ORIGIN: TWO-ZERO, SEVEN-NINE
SPECIFIC CATEGORICAL PHENOMENON CLOSED: TWO-ONE, THREE

ON THE PATH IN FRONT OF BEHIND:
ON THE PATH IN THE SPIRALING TOWER:
ON THE PATH IN THE MIND’S EYE:
HE FOUND A SERIES OF NUMERALS AND PHRASES.
CHOSEN POLYGONAL INDEX: [JDgt41gk]
FENESTRATED PLANE: FOUR
LITERATURE LEDGE: FIVE
CODEX IDENTIFICATION: ONE-ZERO
SELECTION: THREE-ONE-ZERO
SPECIFIC CATEGORICAL PHENOMENON ORIGIN: TWO-ZERO, SEVEN-SEVEN
SPECIFIC CATEGORICAL PHENOMENON CLOSED: TWO-ONE, FOUR

ON THE PATH IN FRONT OF BEHIND:
ON THE PATH IN THE SPIRALING TOWER:
ON THE PATH IN THE MIND’S EYE:
HE FOUND A SERIES OF NUMERALS AND PHRASES.
CHOSEN POLYGONAL INDEX: [BvHpq9n1]
FENESTRATED PLANE: ONE
LITERATURE LEDGE: FOUR
CODEX IDENTIFICATION: ONE-FIVE
SELECTION: NINE-FIVE
SPECIFIC CATEGORICAL PHENOMENON ORIGIN: TWO-ZERO, SEVEN-SEVEN
SPECIFIC CATEGORICAL PHENOMENON CLOSED: TWO-ONE, FOUR

ON THE PATH IN FRONT OF BEHIND:
ON THE PATH IN THE SPIRALING TOWER:
ON THE PATH IN THE MIND’S EYE:
HE FOUND A SERIES OF NUMERALS AND PHRASES.
CHOSEN POLYGONAL INDEX: [RBhaCGqK]
FENESTRATED PLANE: FOUR
LITERATURE LEDGE: TWO
CODEX IDENTIFICATION: ONE-EIGHT
SELECTION: EIGHT-NINE
SPECIFIC CATEGORICAL PHENOMENON ORIGIN: TWO-ZERO, SEVEN-NINE
SPECIFIC CATEGORICAL PHENOMENON CLOSED: TWO-ONE, TWO

ON THE PATH IN FRONT OF BEHIND:
ON THE PATH IN THE SPIRALING TOWER:
ON THE PATH IN THE MIND’S EYE:
HE FOUND A SERIES OF NUMERALS AND PHRASES.
CHOSEN POLYGONAL INDEX: [VwuQR5Qe]
FENESTRATED PLANE: THREE
LITERATURE LEDGE: THREE
CODEX IDENTIFICATION: ONE-THREE
SELECTION: TWO-SEVEN-TWO
SPECIFIC CATEGORICAL PHENOMENON ORIGIN: TWO-FIVE, SEVEN-ZERO
SPECIFIC CATEGORICAL PHENOMENON CLOSED: TWO-FIVE, SEVEN-SEVEN

ON THE PATH IN FRONT OF BEHIND:
ON THE PATH IN THE SPIRALING TOWER:
ON THE PATH IN THE MIND’S EYE:
HE FOUND A SERIES OF NUMERALS AND PHRASES.
CHOSEN POLYGONAL INDEX: [qTb3TtKH]
FENESTRATED PLANE: ONE
LITERATURE LEDGE: THREE
CODEX IDENTIFICATION: TWO-SEVEN
SELECTION: TWO-SIX
SPECIFIC CATEGORICAL PHENOMENON: TWO-ONE, TWO-FOUR

ON THE PATH IN FRONT OF BEHIND:
ON THE PATH IN THE SPIRALING TOWER:
ON THE PATH IN THE MIND’S EYE:
HE FOUND A SERIES OF NUMERALS AND PHRASES.
CHOSEN POLYGONAL INDEX: [iwRMvvLN]
FENESTRATED PLANE: TWO
LITERATURE LEDGE: FIVE
CODEX IDENTIFICATION: SIX
SELECTION: THREE-ONE-TWO
SPECIFIC CATEGORICAL PHENOMENON: THREE-NINE, SEVEN-FIVE

After some sleuthing, it was discovered that these codes correspond to the Library of Babel, found here: https://libraryofbabel.info/browse.cgi. The Library of Babel is a website that hypothetically contains every conceivable combination of all lower case letters, spaces, commas, and periods, making it a repository for every piece of literature that has ever been written and will ever be written. (More information can be found here: https://libraryofbabel.info/About.html.)

The CHOSEN POLYGONAL INDEX has to do with the corresponding “hexagonal chamber” within the Library of Babel, which is represented by a string of up to 3,260 numbers and/or lowercase letters. Due to the lengths of these strings, the eight letters of every index correspond to a Pastebin which contains the sum total of each string.

[1H6H1ja7] is http://pastebin.com/1H6H1ja7.
[TyrWj2qy] is http://pastebin.com/TyrWj2qy.
[JDgt41gk] is http://pastebin.com/JDgt41gk.
[BvHpq9n1] is http://pastebin.com/BvHpq9n1.
[RBhaCGqK] is http://pastebin.com/RBxaCGqK.
[VwuQr5Qe] is http://pastebin.com/VwuQR5Qe.
[qTb3TtKH] is http://pastebin.com/qTb3TtKH.
[iwRMvvLN] is http://pastebin.com/iwRMvvLN.

The FENESTRATED PLANE has to do with the corresponding “wall” of the hexagonal chamber. Every hexagon has four walls.

TWO is chamber cqnbkws..., wall 2.
THREE is chamber 3ft3ltz..., wall 3.
FOUR is chamber hpj48rl..., wall 4.
ONE is chamber 01h5fv8..., wall 1.
FOUR is chamber 0iev0b1..., wall 4.
THREE is chamber 3bxefbg..., wall 3.
ONE is chamber ngiofne..., wall 1.
TWO is chamber 1wbvb21..., wall 2.

The LITERATURE LEDGE has to do with the corresponding “bookshelf” of the wall. Every wall has five bookshelves.

FOUR is chamber cqnbkws..., wall 2, bookshelf 4.
TWO is chamber 3ft3ltz..., wall 3, bookshelf 2.
FIVE is chamber hpj48rl..., wall 4, bookshelf 5.
FOUR is chamber 01h5fv8..., wall 1, bookshelf 4.
TWO is chamber 0iev0b1..., wall 4, bookshelf 2.
THREE is chamber 3bxefbg..., wall 3, bookshelf 3.
THREE is chamber ngiofne..., wall 1, bookshelf 3.
FIVE is chamber 1wbvb21..., wall 2, bookshelf 5.

The CODEX IDENTIFICATION has to do with the corresponding “volume” of the bookshelf. Every bookshelf has thirty-two volumes. The volumes are where the actual text of each “book” is located.

ONE-SIX is chamber cqnbkws..., wall 2, bookshelf 4, volume 16.
TWO is chamber 3ft3ltz..., wall 3, bookshelf 2, volume 2.
ONE-ZERO is chamber hpj48rl..., wall 4, bookshelf 5, volume 10.
ONE-FIVE is chamber 01h5fv8..., wall 1, bookshelf 4, volume 15.
ONE-EIGHT is chamber 0iev0b1..., wall 4, bookshelf 2, volume 18.
ONE-THREE is chamber 3bxefbg..., wall 3, bookshelf 3, volume 13.
TWO-SEVEN is chamber ngiofne..., wall 1, bookshelf 3, volume 27.
SIX is chamber 1wbvb21..., wall 2, bookshelf 5, volume 6.

The SELECTION has to do with the page number of the relevant character.

ONE-SEVEN-THREE is chamber cqnbkws..., wall 2, bookshelf 4, volume 16, page 173.
TWO-SIX is chamber 3ft3ltz..., wall 3, bookshelf 2, volume 2, page 26.
THREE-ONE-ZERO is chamber hpj48rl..., wall 4, bookshelf 5, volume 10, page 310.
NINE-FIVE is chamber 01h5fv8..., wall 1, bookshelf 4, volume 15, page 95.
EIGHT-NINE is chamber 0iev0b1..., wall 4, bookshelf 2, volume 18, page 89.
TWO-SEVEN-TWO is chamber 3bxefbg..., wall 3, bookshelf 3, volume 13, page 272.
TWO-SIX is chamber ngiofne..., wall 1, bookshelf 3, volume 27, page 26.
THREE-ONE-TWO is chamber 1wbvb21..., wall 2, bookshelf 5, volume 6, page 312.

The SPECIFIC CATEGORICAL PHENOMENON has to do with the line number and the character number. In other words, the relevant character is on line X of the page (this counts lines that are purely spaces or other line breaks) and is the Y character of said line. If SPECIFIC CATEGORICAL PHENOMENON ORIGIN and SPECIFIC CATEGORICAL PHENOMENON CLOSED are present, these categories represent the first and last characters of the relevant text string, indicating the presence of a word or phrase rather than a single character.

TWO-THREE, FOUR-EIGHT is line 23, character 48. This character is s.
TWO-ZERO, SEVEN-NINE to TWO-ONE, THREE is line 20, character 79 to line 21, character 3. These characters are eight.
TWO-ZERO, SEVEN-SEVEN to TWO-ONE, FOUR is line 20, character 77 to line 21, character 4. These characters are capitalh.
TWO-ZERO, SEVEN-SEVEN to TWO-ONE, FOUR is line 20, character 77 to line 21, character 4. These characters are capitalk.
TWO-ZERO, SEVEN-NINE to TWO-ONE, TWO is line 20, character 79 to line 21, character 2. These characters are zero.
TWO-FIVE, SEVEN-ZERO to TWO-FIVE, SEVEN-SEVEN is line 25, characters 70-77. These characters are capitalb.
TWO-ONE, TWO-FOUR is line 21, character 24. This character is q.
THREE-NINE, SEVEN-FIVE is line 39, character 75. This character is i.

This creates the complete character string s8HK0Bqi. Visiting the link https://pastebin.com/s8HK0Bqi reveals the second stage.

И АМ РЕД, ЫЕЛЛОW, АНД ЦЫАН И АМ. АН АДВЕНТУРЕ, ФОРГЕД ТҺРОУГҺ ТҺЕ ДРИППИНГ ПАИНТ ОФ ТҺЕ ТРИНИТЫ. СПЕАК ТҺЕ ПҺРАСЕ АНД WАТЧ ТҺЕ ПОРТЕНТС ГАТҺЕР. ФЕАР ТҺЕ РИСИНГ ТИДЕС, АНД ФЕАР ТҺЕ ФАЛЛИНГ СКИЕС. ФЕАР ИТ АБОВЕ АЛЛ ЕЛСЕ. СТЕЕР ЦЛЕАР ОФ ДИСЦОРД, АНД ЫЕТ ИНВИТЕ ИТ ИНТО ЫОУР ҺОМЕС. НЕВЕР ФОРГЕТ ТҺЕ WОРД ОФ НОТЧ, АНД БЕ СУРЕ ТО ДРИНК ЫОУР ОВАЛТАНГ.

It was decoded from Cyrillic, into English.

I AM RED, YELLOW, AND CYAN I AM. AN ADVENTURE, FORGED THROUGH THE DRIPPING PAINT OF THE TRINITY. SPEAK THE PHRASE AND WATCH THE PORTENTS GATHER. FEAR THE RISING TIDES, AND FEAR THE FALLING SKIES. FEAR IT ABOVE ALL ELSE. STEER CLEAR OF DISCORD, AND YET INVITE IT INTO YOUR HOMES. NEVER FORGET THE WORD OF NOTCH, AND BE SURE TO DRINK YOUR OVALTANG.

Using the hint from months earlier, it was deduced that RED, YELLOW, AND CYAN corresponds to the phrase “ORCHID GODHEAD,” and that this was the phrase that had to be spoken. However, it was unclear what the “I AM” and “AM I” on either side of the phrase represented. After some hints, it was revealed that they corresponded to colons (:), since in TheLordErelye’s text adventure Abyssal Oddity, the symbol : corresponds roughly to the phrase “I AM,” or IOUCOS (ИОУЦОС) in the game’s language. This creates the phrase :orchid godhead:, or simply :orchidgodhead:.

:orchidgodhead:, which was arranged in the syntax of an MSPal command (MSPal being a bot on the DTG Discord), sure enough activated the MSPal bot on use. It generated a code in Cyrillic, two Roman numerals separated by a line, and an eight-number binary code every time it was used.

Decoding the :orchidgodhead: messages revealed their individual components. Each binary code translated to a specific letter or number, with the Roman numerals serving as identification numbers for each message. The first set of numbers cycled from 1-4, and the second cycled from 1-7, revealing that there were four different sequences of seven codes which had to be arranged in the proper order. The Cyrillic messages were found to be sizable excerpts from the Word of Notch, a hypothetical biblical text depicting stories from ancient Minecraftian culture.

A fully translated list of all :orchidgodhead: outputs can be found below. https://pastebin.com/LypFyJZV

I. EjAaD8u

An excerpt from the Word of Notch: "It was said to Pleiades the Scholar by Dinnerbone, O Great Reverser, that even Notch had frequent doubts about the world. Dinnerbone spoke, and his golden code poured into Pleiades’ codex. Dinnerbone told of a day when he had walked down a limitless quartz corridor of the gods’ palace and saw Notch bursting forth from a door, covered in soot. Notch coughed and sputtered with a craze, thundering down the hall. And Dinnerbone did lighten his steps to avoid suspicion, and followed the eldest god to a geometrical garden. And Notch kowtowed inside, falling to his knees in front of a limitless anachronic statue. And Notch said, 'Father forgive me, for I knew not what I had done.' And Notch wept bitterly."

II. MqeCKjT

An excerpt from the Word of Notch: "When Notch rebuilt the earth, the heavens, and the lands beyond, and the land became teeming wildlife and creatures with the and sentience of men, he that saw it was good. Yet Notch desired a partner that he could explore the limitless neptunian world with, as there were perils and secrets hidden to even divinity. And so from electrical impulses of redstone, a refined body of sacred cubic forms was crafted. A mind imparted from tetrominoes was mapped inside the skull. And a spark of life that could persist through eternity was placed within. And so through the order of the stones, the first Player was created. And Notch gave him the name Hero, for he was meant to be the protagonist of this 'game.'"

III. 22TbC5Z

An excerpt from the Word of Notch: "There came a time when Notch adopted a mortal disguise and walked among a village of Testificates as a Human to judge their reactions. The village’s name was Stazo, the place of falling blood. At once, the Testificates began to jeer Notch. 'You blockheaded fool! You’d better watch where you step. We don’t take kindly to trespassers.' When dusk reared its head and all the villagers went into their doors, Notch discarded his disguise. His radiance tricked the villagers into thinking it was day, and they all stepped out of their homes. They fell to their knees at once. 'I tell you the truth,' Notch spoke. 'Never assume, for you make an ass out of you and me.' And the villagers were consumed by zombies."

IV. rPK6uuh

An excerpt from the Word of Notch: "For forty-nine days and forty-nine nights Damien wandered the earth, venturing through highest highs and lowest lows. When he came across the tabernacle that held the seer Vert, the fair autumn had given way into the cruelty of winter. Damien spoke: 'Knowledgable seer, I, the sixth Player, demand to know the future.' So Vert peered into the annals of time and said thusly: 'You shall find yourself lost in a world without rain, you shall get what you want yet still end up with pain. You will search for a truth no one’s willing to tell, and in darkest night, your own soul is what you’ll sell.' And Damien struck the seer down where he stood, feeling hatred towards his words. Yet they all came to pass."

Using the line “STEER CLEAR OF DISCORD, AND YET INVITE IT INTO YOUR HOMES” from the Pastebin, and the fact that the seven-digits codes from the messages (EjAaD8u, MqeCKjT, 22TbC5Z, and rPK6uuh) couldn’t correspond to either Pastebin or Imgur, it was found that they were actually invite links to specific Discord servers. Each server had a name in Cyrillic that corresponded to their respective Word of Notch excerpt, and only one channel within. Each channel was read-only, allowing visitors to see prior messages made by TwinBuilder (whose nickname was a different moniker of What Lies Beyond, encoded in Cyrillic, in each channel). Within each channel was a log of a conversation between the Advanced Superiors, which usually ended in the Superiors realizing that ‘something’ (the players) was watching them and putting up security countermeasures to prevent further surveillance. These security measures had to be decoded from Cyrillic, and were themselves the next part of the ARG.

To get past the security measures, the players had to guess a word that related to three hints given in the Discord channel. They had unlimited tries to guess the word. Upon correctly guessing the word for a server, a second channel would become open for view. Each of these channels contained a rhyme in Cyrillic, and a cryptic image containing both a visual design and text in the cipher of Hyper Light Drifter's monoliths.

The first server was named ‘GARDEN OF GEOMETRY.’ TwinBuilder’s name within it was ‘OVERSIGHT.’ Its main channel was #the_conclave, and its description was ‘A place for conferences and clarion calls.’ Its Superiors chat log and riddle are as follows.

INTERCEPTING TRANSMISSION FROM SNAKEEYES CHATROOM, DATUM 04/03/13

01: So, I... have a tough question to ask you all.
02: Mh.
06: Go for it.
01: Would you rather... ugh, I can barely type this out.
08: Don't be an invertebrate.
06: We are!
02: In a manner of speaking. Not officially.
01: Okay, fuck it. Would you rather be teleported to a random bazaar within the endo-frothing levels when you use your seventh sense, or gain a thirteenth sense that lets you get out of any sticky situation, but only if you lather yourself up with the stickiest substance known to existence first.
02: ...What the actual fuck.
06: ???
01: I told you it was a tough question!
08: What sick twisted mind do these come out of?
01: Mine, obviously. The darkness knows no bounds.
04: Ding ding ding, winner for edgiest comment of the year.
01: Shut the fuck up. Now, answer the question.
08: I... Okay, hear me out. Wouldn't lathering yourself up with the stickiest substance or whatever count as a sticky situation, and therefore your thirteenth sense would let you get out of it?
06: That;s a good point
06: *That's. Apologies.
01: Ah, but here's the thing. Your thirteenth sense doesn't count the stickiness as a sticky situation, because that's key to helping you get out of the situation you were already in. It views the procedure as a good thing, so it can't help you get out of it!
04: And how the hell would you get out of a situation when you stick to everything. That... that makes no sense.
08: Well would you prefer the alternative???
02: ^^^^^
06: No, I... Yes I would.
08: Bullshit.
02: You fucking liar.
06: I would! Listen, I know a guy in the endo-frothing. He could bring in a shuttle to my position and warp me back out, no sweat. Pretty sure he runs an iHole factory or something. I should probably ask.
01: That... that's cheating!
06: To hell it is. This is an entirely hypothetical scenario, Octothorpe, not some kind of test.
-- 0O has joined the chatroom. --
01: .
02: .
04: .
06: .
08: .
0O: At ease, Superiors.
01: Wh... what brings you here, O Unholy Trinity?
0O: Just making sure that no one unauthorized is snooping around our highly secure channels.
06: D-don't worry, sir. You can count on us to get the job done. We'll do a sweep of the entire server!
0O: Mh. Of course. And while you all are at it, you will desecrate this place with your infantile games.
01: I...
01: Apologize if I stepped out of line, sir.
0O: Very well. You can atone for your sin by blocking off access to this chatroom from the individuals currently viewing it. Set up a firewall or something. I'm returning to my chamber.
01: ...Understood, sir.
08: O Seer Of All, if I may... Do you think you could spare some time to examine our latest blueprints for Project Binary?
0O: I doubt they need my supervision. Keep doing whatever it is you are doing with regards to the machine's construction. That will be all.
-- 0O has left the chatroom. --
08: ...That's what he said last time. That's exactly what he fucking said last time.
02: Dagger! Take it easy. Don't piss him off.
01: Screw this, the mood's ruined. I'm setting up the firewall.

TRANSMISSION INTERCEPTED

ATTEMPTING RETRIEVAL...
ATTEMPTING RETRIEVAL...
ATTEMPTING RETRIEVAL...

TRANSMISSION LOST

TO GAIN FULL CLEARANCE TO CHANNEL ARCHIVES, FOLLOW BLINDEYE PROTOCOL SEVENTEEN-ONE-FOURTEEN-FOUR-ONE. PERSONNEL ARE REQUIRED TO INPUT THE CORRECT PASSCODE MATCHING THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTORS:

- HAS ELEVEN LETTERS
- FOCUSES ON ABNORMALITY
- TURNS FIVE INTO SIX

The password of #the_conclave was POLYDACTYLY. It has eleven letters, and it focuses on abnormality since it is, itself, an abnormality, and it turns ‘five’ to ‘six’ because it is the disease that gives beings additional fingers, so a hand would have six fingers instead of five. The word is a reference to Gravity Falls, in which a main character has the disorder.

Upon saying POLYDACTYLY, the players gained entrance to a new channel in GARDEN OF GEOMETRY, #her_sacred_geometry. Its rhyme was ‘AND NOW ABNORMAL IS THE NORM, NO PESKY RULES TO LIMIT FORM, ALL SHALL WALK IN HARMONY, UNDER DISCORD’S GEOMETRY.’ Its image (https://i.imgur.com/YfBQjed
.png) depicted a six-fingered hand. Its message was ‘THE LEFT HAND PATH YIELDS TENEBROUS RETURNS TO ITS FOLLOWERS.’

The second server was named ‘A LIMITLESS WORLD.’ TwinBuilder’s name within it was ‘GODHEAD.’ Its main channel was #the_assembly, and its description was ‘A place for meetings within vaunted concrete halls.’ Its Superiors chat log and riddle are as follows.

INTERCEPTING TRANSMISSION FROM SNAKEEYES CHATROOM, DATUM 04/05/13

03: Okay, there's something I need to show you. All of you.
07: What could possibly be so important.
03: Oh, nothing. Just the fact that THE MUSIC VIDEO FOR "SHAPES TO TESSELLATE" IS OUT.
10: Ech. That garbage? Shapes To Tessellate is V-124591's worst record, in my opinion.
03: You bite your forked tongue. Who is the music connoissuer here? That's right. Not you.
10: Oh, yeah? And what, am I supposed to believe it's you?
03: Uh, obviously???? That's kinda how the Asterism works, you dunce.
05: Okay, cut it out. Don't make me pull out the dunce cap. The thing's a fuckin' hypercube squared. I'm not touching that.
03: Get Lozenge to do it.
09: Busy.
03: With WHAT?? I have the music video ready to show you!
09: You know that planet within the sub-reeing that thinks it's so cool because its leading civilization just invented interstellar travel all on their own?
03: The one with three moons, or the one with the bleeding sun.
09: The bleeding sun. The one with three moons is due for a triple lunar collision any decade now, I don't need to worry.
03: Okay, yeah, what about it.
10: Wow, way to change the subject.
03: QUIET.
09: Well, they're using said interstellar travel solely as an excuse to warp to the nearest black market, buy a shitton of space drugs, and sell them to the local populace.
03: So you're telling me they also just discovered that the voidic material within the sub-reeing can be compressed into solid form and--
07: Don't finish that sentence.
09: Yeah, pretty much. So that entire civilization is literally killing their brain cells as we speak.
03: Then don't worry about it either, they'll commit suicide within a few hours.
09: I don't think you quite remember what touching solidified voidic matter does to you.
03: ...Ah, fuck.
09: Yeah, see? Now I have to devote all my energy to ensuring the infection doesn't grow contagious, or worse, spontaneously metastasize.
10: Okay, we get it. You've got a big problem and you can't listen to Asterism's music video. Now can I explain to you why I am the music connoisseur? YOU spelled it wrong up there, by the way. Dunce.
05: Don't make me do it, you saturnine pack of chucklefucks.
05: Don't.
03: Yes, please, I'd love to hear this, in VIVID detail. Because last I checked, Interrobangs punch the shit out of things, and ASTERISMS are concerned with the intricate, detailed, delicate science of the arts.
10: Okay, one - the way you're using our Curses as plurals makes us sound like we're gems. Cut that out. And two - that's a gross oversimplification. I don't just punch the shit out of things.
10: Somethings I punch the soul out of things.
03: I'm done talking to you.
10: Didn't you just say you'd love to hear my reasoning??
03: Oh, right.
07: Kek.
10: Well, it's simple. I've made a song. You haven't.
03: Making a song isn't a prerequisite to being a connoissuer of music!
10: Connoisseur.
03: СИЛЕНЦЕ.
10:
03: Yeah, that's what I thought. Dunce.
05: That's it, I'm getting the dunce cap, here we go.
07: ...Asterism, you haven't made a song, ever?
03: He... doesn't know what he's talking about. I've made plenty of songs! I just haven't, you know... released any of them.
07: Aren't you a literal god of music. You could be churning out Grammies like clockwork.
03: We're done talking about this.
09: Agreed. Someone happens to be snooping in on us. Since none of you take any initiative, I'll take care of this. Like I do in the event Interrobang doesn't do anything.
10:
09: Asterism, give him his speech back.
03: Fine.

TRANSMISSION INTERCEPTED

ATTEMPTING RETRIEVAL...
ATTEMPTING RETRIEVAL...
ATTEMPTING RETRIEVAL...

TRANSMISSION LOST

TO GAIN FULL CLEARANCE TO CHANNEL ARCHIVES, FOLLOW BLINDEYE PROTOCOL SEVENTEEN-ONE-FOURTEEN-FOUR-ONE. PERSONNEL ARE REQUIRED TO INPUT THE CORRECT PASSCODE MATCHING THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTORS:

- HAS TEN LETTERS
- ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM
- REFERS TO A CHOSEN FEW

The password of #the_assembly was PARLIAMENT. It has ten letters, and it refers to a chosen few since a parliament is a group of select people that govern over a wider body. The word is ‘not what it seems’ because of its connotations with owls. A group of owls is known as a parliament, and the phrase ‘THE OWLS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM’ is a reference to Twin Peaks.

Upon saying PARLIAMENT, the players gained entrance to a new channel in A LIMITLESS WORLD, #the_far_lands. Its rhyme was ‘FROM OUT OF NOWHERE, IN FRONT OF BEHIND, IMPOSSIBLE VISITORS, IMPOSSIBLE MINDS, THEIR HANDS UNHINGE IN SYNCHRONOUS STEERS, THEIR PIERCING GAZE GIVES THE GIFT OF TRUE FEAR.’ Its image (https://i.imgur.com/4zwNUqb.png) depicted a tetromino and an owl face (O,O), with squares in the owl’s eyes. Its message was ‘THE VOICE OF GOD IS [SILENT], BUT HIS HEAD CONTINUES TO PREACH FORGOTTEN GOSPELS.’

The third server was named ‘BLOOD RADIANCE.’ TwinBuilder’s name within it was ‘DEATH.’ Its main channel was #the_council, and its description was ‘A place for secret serpentine superiors.’ Its Superiors riddle is as follows.

TO GAIN FULL CLEARANCE TO CHANNEL ARCHIVES, FOLLOW BLINDEYE PROTOCOL SEVENTEEN-ONE-FOURTEEN-FOUR-ONE. PERSONNEL ARE REQUIRED TO INPUT THE CORRECT PASSCODE MATCHING THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTORS:

- HAS NINE LETTERS
- HAS STARS IN ITS EYES
- CARRIES AN ORCHID DEMON

The password of #the_council was OPHIUCHUS. It has nine letters, and it has stars in its eyes because it is literally made from stars. Ophiuchus is the thirteenth constellation in the zodiac, where it is known as ‘the serpent-bearer.’ This explains why it ‘carries an orchid demon’ – throughout the DTG series, serpents such as the Employer and Project Binary have been colored orchid.

Upon saying OPHIUCHUS, the players gained entrance to a new channel in BLOOD RADIANCE, #zodiac_killer. Its rhyme was ‘TWELVE SYMBOLS FORMED AROUND THE SKIES, THESE SIGN-BEARERS WITH STAR-SPANGLED EYES. THEY ARE OUR HEROES AND OUR TALES, AND WILL BE AS THE SUN SETS SAIL.’ Its image (https://i.imgur.com/gPnFHah.png) depicted a U with a tilde through it. Its message was ‘FOR WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL NOT SURVIVE BUT HAVE AN ETERNAL DEATH.

The fourth server was named ‘ANNALS OF TIME.’ TwinBuilder’s name within was ‘IMMEASURABLE HATE.’ Its main channel was #the_citadel, and its description was ‘A place for gods to look down on inferiors.’ Its Superiors chat log and riddle are as follows.

INTERCEPTING TRANSMISSION FROM SNAKEEYES CHATROOM, DATUM 04/13/13

09: I call this official meeting of the Superiors to order. State your name and rank.
01: Octothorpe, Keeper of Words, present and accounted for.
02: Pilcrow, Consumer of Shadows, present and accounted for.
03: Asterism, Spirit of Voice, present and accounted for.
04: Ampersand, Seer of Anachronism, present and accounted for.
05: Backslash, Bearer of War, present and accounted for.
06: Obelus, Judge of Death, present and accounted for.
07: Caret, Priest of Radiance, present and accounted for.
08: Dagger, Wielder of Absolute, present and accounted for.
09: Lozenge, Abstraction of Abstract, present and accounted for.
10: Interrobang, Head of God, present and accounted for.
09: Thank you. At ease, Superiors.
09: Our order of business is here is to determine the location upon which we will establish our largest facility ever attempted within Universe #0000012048372 (B). Possible candidates include the upper portion of Michigan, the Tikaboo valley of Nevada, Krasnoyarsk Krai, the largest krai in the Russian Federation, and... the Bermuda Triangle.
09: Your thoughts?
05: Correct me if I'm wrong, but all of those places just sound like references to areas where conspiracies and weird unexplained shit happened. Are we really going to rely on association with the unknown to fuel our plans?
08: It's not like we don't play the part well already, though.
03: Kek.
01: Hah.
07: Backslash, you may be right, but all the areas listed are well out of the way of any Earth forces interfering with what we have planned. If all goes well, we'll infiltrate the government of the region and have them on our side in no time at all.
07: They give us a strategical advantage from the get-go.
04: Agreed. We need a place to hide, first and foremost. We must change history only when the time is right - we mustn't force our hand early.
02: So we're all in agreement that these locations are good candidates, yes?
09: It would seem so.
02: Then let's actually focus on whittling down these choices to one definitive answer.
06: Of course. I'd like to strike the Bermuda Triangle off the list right away, personally.
03: Oh? Why? I thought it would be cool, y'know, to have like an outpost in each of the triangle's points. And think of the metachronistic parallels. That would probably boost our power levels significantly, huh?
06: Too risky. Think of all the dangers such an anomalous area could pose to our highly sensitive data and plans. Besides, where would we get all the resources needed without arousing suspiscion? Hiding underground, I can get. But we can't create an underwater base without attracting a lot of attention. There's always the chance that the Triangle's dangers could simply steer clear of a passing ship or a plane, and they'd see us.
07: Right, but we can handle those threats. It's what I just said.
02: Okay, sure. We can handle those threats. But what happens when we do? More threats come our way. And we can't mind-control the entire goddamned human race.
09: Yet.
02: Point. But what'll end up happening is total catastrophe. Every major world power will zero in on our position, asking us what we want, why we're here, and we can't keep up the charade with every civilization on Earth knowing what we're doing. We'll have to tear the whole thing to shreds. Back to square one.
06: Exactly. We need a place that no government will think to look until we're ready to take them by complete surprise. An underwater base is too much planning.
08: You have a pretty good point there.
03: I guess so...
01: You're just upset that your plan got shot down. Come on.
03: Shut up.
09: Keep this civil. Now, all in favor of removing the Bermuda Triangle from our records?
-- 8 members voted Y. --
09: Then that is settled.
03: Okay, how about we strike off the Tikaboo valley, then. Area 51? You guys don't think it'd be a pretty big deal to break into a super-secret confidential government base?? That'd attract a bunch of suspiscion, huh? Plus, if the reports are true, there's already a covert organization working there, like an SCP lookalike or something.
01: Hey! Don't go after my idea!
03: You all went after mine!
09: Civil, please. Don't make Backslash get the dunce cap.
04: He's right, though. The 51st would no doubt be able to at least counter us for some time if we marched onto their territory right away. We'd be able to subdue them once we gain a presence within the world, but not before.
08: Agreed. We need to keep bloodshed to a minimum at first. We need to stay somewhere where there's almost no human life whatsoever.
10: Michigan.
09: Hm?
10: My vote is for Michigan.
05: We're still talking about Area 51 over here, Interrobang.
10: And you're going to keep talking for hours unless I stop you. Listen. Did you all forget what's in Michigan?
10: It's where we went the first time. And what better way to restart this whole thing than with a certified MTT-brand reunion.
05: No human life would be there...
07: There's plenty of spare parts and experiments to provide us with resources...
08: It's deep underground...
04: Our main adversary would already be taken care of...
02: And we could use our past experiments there to help!
03: The perfect solution. I can't believe I'm saying this, but you've actually said something useful, Interrobang. Kek.
10: :apsm:
03: Haha, what?
10: Don't worry about it.
09: Then it's settled. For our largest project, we will reignite our expedition into the abandoned salt mines of yore, forging a backwards metropolis free to do anything under the name of Science.
09: All in favor of reestablishing our base in Aperture Science?
-- 10 members voted Y. --
10: ...Someone's watching us.
02: Not this again.
10: No, I mean. Not someone unauthorized. Someone very authorized.
06: ...
07: You don't mean.
03: Oh, shit.
-- 0O has joined the chatroom. --
01: .
02: .
03: .
04: .
05: .
06: .
07: .
08: .
09: .
10: .
0O: Good work. Now keep up the pace. In a year's time, you will all be deep underground producing this machine. Good luck.
-- 0O has left the chatroom. --

TRANSMISSION INTERCEPTED

ATTEMPTING RETRIEVAL...
ATTEMPTING RETRIEVAL...
ATTEMPTING RETRIEVAL...

TRANSMISSION LOST

TO GAIN FULL CLEARANCE TO CHANNEL ARCHIVES, FOLLOW BLINDEYE PROTOCOL SEVENTEEN-ONE-FOURTEEN-FOUR-ONE. PERSONNEL ARE REQUIRED TO INPUT THE CORRECT PASSCODE MATCHING THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTORS:

- HAS NINE LETTERS
- HAS TWO Xs
- ALBUM NINE, TRACK ONE-SEVEN

The password of #the_citadel was JUDGEMENT. It has nine letters, and although the word itself doesn’t contain two Xs, Judgement is the twentieth tarot card in the Major Arcana, where it is represented as ‘XX – Judgement,’ since ‘XX’ is ‘twenty’ in Roman numerals. The phrase ‘album nine, track one-seven’ references SplitSuns’ list of his ten favorite albums at that time. His ninth-favorite was 148 by C418, and its seventeenth track is ‘Round Up to the Inevitable End.’ The phrase ‘the inevitable end’ here refers to Judgement, in reference to the description of the character Judgement from Hyper Light Drifter – “Ever-present. Always watching. Inevitable.”

Upon saying JUDGEMENT, the players gained entrance to a new channel in ANNALS OF TIME, #perfect_cell. Its rhyme was ‘EVER-PRESENT, ALWAYS THERE, FUCHSIA SULFUR THROUGH THE AIR, SMOKY TENDRILS, EBBING LIFE, IMPERFECTION YIELDS TO STRIFE.’ Its image (https://i.imgur.com/g9oLYuw.png) depicted the face of Judgement from Hyper Light Drifter. Its message was ‘HERE, AT THE END OF THINGS, I CAN STILL FEEL ITS POWER. AND NOW, THAT DRIFTER HAS IT.’

After saying all four words, the full image was assembled (https://i.imgur.com/Rg82xV7.png), seen below.

The symbols in the center were revealed to be Ionian, and when translated to English, read the phrase ‘JUDGELESTYEBEJUDGED.’ Crystalcat was able to, on a hunch, discover that this phrase led to a Tumblr blog, https://judgelestyebejudged.tumblr.com, which began the third stage. The blog’s header displayed a cropped form of the above image, its avatar was a still from the Pinary ARG‘s ending flash ([x] 0bey.), and its description read ‘The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star fall from the sky to the earth. This star was given the keys to unlock the Abyss. – Revelation, 9:01-2’ when translated from Cyrillic.

The blog already had several posts on it upon discovery. The first (https://i.imgur.com/6rrGEEe.png) depicted a seething mass of pink pixels. The accompanying text, when translated from Cyrillic, reads ‘Late-stage case of a hyperbile infection. Apparitions of shadow and the characteristic bile have consumed the host body. Subject entered permanent flux around three minutes after this picture was taken, upon which time braindeath was forcefully induced.’

The second (https://i.imgur.com/TdmSn6A.png) was a screenshot of FEZ’s final level. The accompanying text, when translated from Cyrillic, reads ‘Full-color image of test subject entering the Beyond component of the IMPARTATIONSIMULATION. Subject, located on the centric polyacle of a large “visitor” statue. Subject is believed to have entered the Beyond through the Star Gate of Backup V4C16NZU.’

The third was a text post, depicting a rhyme from FEZ: “The points constellate / Conspire to create / Shapes to tessellate.”

The fourth (https://i.imgur.com/YgENED8.png) depicted a schematic of the Perfect Immortal Cell from Hyper Light Drifter. The accompanying text, when translated from Cyrillic, reads ‘Believed to be a blueprint of a sacred geometrical machine. Accompanying texts label the device “PROJECT DOUBLEX” or “IMMORTALITY CELL.” Thought to be a source of potentially perpetual energy. The fact that the blueprints and texts were discarded and locked in an underground vault suggests that the project did not go as planned.’

The fifth, which contained the actual puzzle (https://i.imgur.com/I71rbKA.png) depicted several QR codes and messages in FEZ’s Zuish alphabet.

The top-right message reads ‘HE FOUND A SERIES OF NUMERALS AND PHRASES,’ and the bottom-left message reads ‘M1NECRAFT 0RDER OF THE STONE 1234 10 5678.’ These numbers reference the Nine Circles of the Gate. The ’10’ replacing the ‘9’ seems to reference how an interrobang is occasionally shown piercing the middle of the Gate. The three QR Codes reveal repetitions of the phrases “LT” and “RT” when scanned. However, when the messages are treated as Morse Code, with each “LT” being a dot and each “RT” being a dash, the top QR code reads ‘SOUNDTEST,’ the middle QR Code reads ‘PARABLES,’ and the bottom QR Code reads ‘EPHEMERAL.’ When each of these words is affixed to the Tumblr’s URL, they reveal hidden webpages containing further puzzles.

https://judgelestyebejudged.tumblr.com/soundtest leads to a page called ‘SOUNDTEST.’ When decoded from Cyrillic, its description reads ‘Audio recordings found engraved into golden discs outside of the Temple of Helios following its destruction upon nearing the Terrarian supercluster. Appear to have been composed by a member of some sun-worshipping cult, which is thematically appropriate.’ The attached Pastebin, https://
pastebin.com/H5UJ2ENF, leads to three Dropbox links, each containing a short song made by SplitSuns.

When each song is run through an audio program, such as Audacity, and converted into a spectrogram format, a sequence of symbols can be clearly seen near the end of each song. (When the song is heard normally, these images can be heard as faint high-pitched sounds.) It was discovered that the symbols were encoded in Myst’s number system, wherein each number is represented as a series of lines within a box. (This number system is referenced in a spectrogram puzzle within the FEZ soundtrack, hence the connection.) The symbols of the first song (https://i.imgur.com/54DV9jm.png) translated to 1-16-15, the symbols of the second song (https://i.imgur.com/P0viB1W.png) translated to 3-18-25, and the symbols of the third song (https://i.imgur.com/geX4Pw3.png) translated to 16-8-1-12. This makes the full number string 1-16-15-3-18-25-16-8-1-12, which translates to ‘APOCRYPHAL’ using A1Z26.

Included below are the original versions of the spectrogrammed images.

https://judgelestyebejudged.tumblr.com/parables leads to a page called ‘PARABLES.’ When decoded from Cyrillic, its description reads ‘Excerpt from an annotated copy of the Ancestor Parable, a work of literature regarded as historical fiction by the public. The few scholars that have been able to read it view it as the single greatest account of the Psi-Godmodder’s life and death in recorded history. Annotations are written on page 4 by the book’s current owner.’ The following images depict the cover and first few pages of The Ancestor Parable, as shown during Intermission 2 of DTG2: https://imgur.com/a/z0eCD. The fourth page contains drawings and writings in black ink that match the handwriting of the Scribe. His writings read “Property of ▶,” and “==> Must decode the following page. What does it mean?” Interestingly, the Scribe has used a ▶ symbol to refer to himself in his Journal previously.

Page five of The Ancestor Parable contains a tetromino code, a giant Psi, and a message in the Greek alphabet that translates to “The passphrase is,” followed by a series of Greek letters. However, the apostrophes above the letters indicate that they are Greek numerals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_numerals. Using this, the Greek numbers can be turned into Arabic numerals – 1-14-3-5-19-20-18-1-12 – and from there to ‘ANCESTRAL’ using A1Z26. The tetromino code towards the top of the page, when decoded using the method outlined in FEZ, reads ‘UP DOWN A SPACE LEFT UP’ (with PC controls).

https://judgelestyebejudged.tumblr.com/ephemeral leads to a page called ‘EPHEMERAL.’ When decoded from Cyrillic, its description reads ‘Images recovered from a flash drive found circling the Freeman Sector of the Void. Seems to contain the scattered memories of an individual represented through digital drawings. The flash drive was damaged upon recovery, resulting in the corruption of the data contained within. The following footage is unedited.’ The following image album depicts several panels from Ephemeralquest, with each image being corrupted by an image glitcher. Small Ionian text can be seen between each picture in the album. When the text is linked together in order, it translates to the word ‘MONOLITH.’ It was discovered that this links to another webpage.

According to TwinBuilder, the original method to solve Ephemeral’s puzzle was impossible due to the limitations of Tumblr, so as a hint, he said that the original versions of its images would be needed. Retrieving these images from the DTG Discord allows the filenames to be seen: in order, they are ephemeral123.png, ephemeral111.png, ephemeral005.png, ephemeral149.png, ephemeral014.png, and ephemeral007.png. These numbers create the number string 123-111-005-149-014-007. It was guessed that this string could be converted to A1Z26, which would make the two last numbers, ’14’ and ‘7’, be ‘NG.’ It was unclear how the rest of the sequence would be split up at first, but it was eventually discovered that the correct sequence was 1-23-1-11-5-14-9-14-7, translating to ‘AWAKENING.’

https://judgelestyebejudged.tumblr.com/monolith leads to a page called ‘…’ When translated from Cyrillic, its description reads ‘THOUGH THE GATE WAS LOCKED, THE ONE STOOD AMONG THEM AND SAID “PEACE BE WITH YOU.” THEN HE SAID TO THE EPHEMERAL, “PUT YOUR FINGER HERE, SEE MY HAND. REACH OUT YOUR HAND AND SHAKE MINE. STOP DOUBTING AND RECALL.” / PLEASE USE PAJITNOVIC SYNTAX WHEN INPUTTING PASSCODE: _ _ _ _ _ _’ Alexey Pajitnov is the creator of Tetris, hinting at the fact that tetrominoes are required to solve the puzzle. Using the tetromino code from Parables, ‘UP DOWN A SPACE LEFT UP,’ the webpage changed, revealing an image of the Black Monolith followed by another set of six dashes, indicating another code. The solution to the puzzle was unknown at the time. It was speculated that it was meant to be solved through brute force, much like the Black Monolith in FEZ.

Upon acquiring the complete character string “ANCESTRAL APOCRYPHAL AWAKENING,” TwinBuilder posted a Pastebin. Visiting the link https://pastebin.com/rvamtVkg reveals the final stage. (The puzzle is presented here in its original monospaced format, since to do otherwise would obfuscate the solution.)

A P O C R Y P H A L

          A N C E S T R A L

          A W A K E N I N G
[        x        ]
Е А Е Ф Н Р Т В Н W

        Р Т С Р Е С Р С Т Н

          Ц С Т Е О И О И Л

          И Л Н Н Т О Д Т У

          П Е Е Н Р Р О Е Һ
П Ц Н И Т Д Һ А Ц Һ

        А Һ П Е Л И Е Г О Т

          Е W Һ Т Н Р Л Н Л

          Д О С А W Т Б С Н

          А А Ф А С С Р Т Е
Һ Е Д В Һ И О Н И И

        Л Е И Е Ф Н Т А М Һ

          О Е Е Т Е С Л Д Е

          Е Ф И У А Һ Ы С Е

          Ц Н Л У Т Т И С Д
Е А Т Е Е А С А Е Л

        И С Д А Т Т Һ М Е Е

          У Б И Е Т Т О Т Ы

          О Т Н Г С Е Т Е A

          Е Д А Г Т Г Г Т А
М Н Һ Т Т Н Е Г Н Е

        Т П Е Н Һ Һ Е Е Б В

          Т А Р Р Һ Т W О Һ

          Ф И Т Һ Ф Ф Һ Ц Р

          И С М Һ Һ У И Ц Н
Е Д Е Һ W А А Һ Т И

        Ы А Р Д Л Е Ф Ф Л А

          С Л О У А W Е И Е

          С М Һ Т И И Е Р Т

  С П Е Т Е А Н А A

It was decoded from Cyrillic, into English.

A P O C R Y P H A L

          A N C E S T R A L

          A W A K E N I N G
[        x        ]
E A E F N R T V N W

        R T S R E S R S T N

          C S T E O I O I L

          I L N N T O D T U

          P E E N R R O E H
P C N I T D H A C H

        A H P E L I E G O T

          E W H T N R L N L

          D O S A W T B S N

          A A F A S S R T E
H E D V H I O N I I

        L E I E F N T A M H

          O E E T E S L D E

          E F I U A H Y S E

          C N L U T T I S D
E A T E E A S A E L

        I S D A T T H M E E

          U B I E T T O T Y

          O T N G S E T E A

          E D A G T G G T A
M N H T T N E G N E

        T P E N H H E E B V

          T A R R H T W O H

          F I T H F F H C R

          I S M H H U I C N
E D E H W A A H T I

        Y A R D L E F F L A

          S L O U A W E I E

          S M H T I I E R T

  S P E T E A N A A

Through analysis of the text, and the use of FEZ throughout the ARG, it was deduced that the Pastebin was meant to be read in the style of FEZ’s writing. This means starting from the top-right and working downwards, then moving to the next left column when the current column is done. However, it was also deduced that it was meant to be read “three-dimensionally,” like the Tome artifact in FEZ. This means that instead of moving down the column of each block of text (which would read ‘WNLUH’ for the first five letters of the first block), the letters in the top-right corner of each block, from top to bottom, were actually how the sentence had to be spelled. When the top-right letters of each block were exhausted, the next letters would be the ones below those, and so on. (This would read ‘WHILEI’ for the first six letters and ‘NTHEVA’ for the next six, making the phrase ‘WHILE IN THE VA,’ which actually contains English words.) This is called reading ‘three-dimensionally’ because if every ‘block’ was arranged like pages in a book, the book would have to be read from front-to-back as well as top-to-bottom/right-to-left, as if it was a three-dimensional object.

With this in mind, the tome’s message is as follows. It is a series of haikus (although the last poem follows a 5/7/7 pattern rather than 5/7/5). “WHILE IN THE VALLEY / HE UNEARTHED AN ANCIENT TOME / BLIND TO ITS SECRETS.” “T CAVANAGH’S GAME / FOLLOWED BY THE ORIGIN / THOSE ARE THE FIRST TWO.” “THE FIRST GUARDIAN / AS IN, THE ONE THAT WAS FIRST / THEN THE TWELFTH LETTER.” “U NAUGHT NAUGHT FIVE THREE / AND THE IRONS IN THE FIRE / END THE SPIDER’S WEB.” “ALL OF TIME AND SPACE / AND THE SPACE OUTSIDE OF SPACE / IS EPHEMERALITY.”

“T CAVANAGH’S GAME” refers to VVVVVV, a game by Terry Cavanagh that is typically pronounced as “V,” making its corresponding character “v.” “THE ORIGIN” refers to Destroy the Godmodder 0rigins, or ‘DTG0,’ making its corresponding character “0.” “THE FIRST GUARDIAN” refers to TT2000, who was both the First Guardian of Minecraft during Destroy the Godmodder 1 and the original First Guardian of Minecraft (“THE ONE THAT WAS FIRST”) since DTG1 was the first DTG game ever created, making its corresponding characters “tt.” “THE TWELFTH LETTER” corresponds quite obviously to “L.” “U NAUGHT NAUGHT FIVE THREE, (U+0053)” when translated from Unicode, gives the corresponding character “s.” “THE IRONS IN THE FIRE” and “THE SPIDER’S WEB” refer to the character Vriska Serket from Homestuck who is typically associated with the number eight, making its corresponding character “8.”

This makes the complete character string v0ttLs8. Visiting http://i.imgur.com/v0ttLs8.png reveals the seventh page. It depicts a warped and blurry grey/cyan triangle running across the majority of the page, a set of two dark grey circles within the triangle that contain what look like Curses, and a set of hooded figures with white Curses on them lying in a heap beneath a blinding white light that a cubic figure is standing next to. The bottom of the page slowly gives way to darkness. The encoded text is “ELDERS’ CLOAKS WERE PUT ASIDE, PRESENTING THEIR IMMEASURABLE WORTH,” Interestingly, the last two words are not written on the paper, but cut out of it; the background of the page is visible behind them.

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