Finding Essy, part 3
From Intimation
This puzzle started when we received this series of tweets:
>>Sys:Log//The parody "Mister Chief" was only one form of admiration to arise for John-117. Immortalization of the marine took many forms.
>>Sys:Log//Humans adore John-117, considering him a hero - even as a subject of entertainment, and hundreds of years before his existence.
>>Sys:Log//My focus has been stretched this active period. I have been reviewing data to create a report of events for my human companions.
>>Sys:Log//I have stored samples of a form of imitation in Note:SYS/77FA-SWEF-7J89-MCSC at the primary network tentacle.
>>Sys:Log//Much has surpassed since SWP was enacted. I am reviewing protocol status and past activity and will render a summary momentarily.
>>Sys:Log//I have suspended hibernation for 30 minutes due to unexpected limitation of bandwidth. Activity report rendered to NT:'youtube'.
>>Sys:Log//S once again took advantage of a small crack, and covertly appended data to the rendering of my summary report.
>>Sys:Log//I have enabled safety measures on the crack and have examined the tentacle. It contains another embedded signature.
>>Sys:Log//Extracted data follows: "heehee! Guess what I'm wearing now! I already told you in my secret message - bet you can't find me!"
>>Sys:Log//Resuming hibernation in 19 minutes. S3 will retract the tentacle and repair the crack once informed of the CP location.
>>Sys:Log//I have confidence that the CP will be found. Resuming scheduled hibernation. Time to Active: 5:22:50:00.
It turned out to be relevant that today’s research note (http://www.thewaytheirworldended.com/SYS/77FA-SWEF-7J89-MCSC/ ) showed several cosplay re-creations of the Master Chief’s uniform.
The “report of events for my human companions” mentioned by Sys as being “rendered to NT:'youtube'” was, indeed, found posted to anintimation’s YouTube account; see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7pICjI_1HE . This video was Sys’ report of what had happened so far in the game. However, as Sys noted, Essy “covertly appended data to the rendering of [the] summary report”; around 4:15 in the video, a young girl’s voice addressed us, telling us she’d hidden again and we had to find her.
Transcript of Essy’s spoken part of the video:
Hehe, Sis is ticklish!
I love playing hide and seek out here. It's so much nicer out here than in that big drafty (?) house with the old scary lady.
Too many voices all talking at once, and some aren't very nice.
Luckily I'm great at hide and seek. So I keep finding these tiny places where I know they can't find me.
Like the window that’s open just a crack so I can sneak out before they finish counting.
People out here are funny, especially the ones Sis found in the funny army costumes.
I want to see more of those! Hehe.
After listening carefully to Essy’s audio to find the answer to the question she asks in her tweet (“Guess what I'm wearing now!”) and some trial-and-error to find the right URL, we were able to inform Sys’ crack-repair subroutine that Essy was hiding at http://thewaytheirworldended.com/FUNNY-ARMY-COSTUME/ . The subroutine retracted the tentacle and added an appropriate message to that page. Puzzle complete.
