Hostile tentacle attack 3

From Intimation

Like most of this game’s puzzles, this one began with the initiation of a controlled crack in the Stonewall. For a third time, a “hostile tentacle” appeared, doing damage to the “primary network tentacle.” Here is the relevant series of tweets:

>>Sys:Log//It seems this routine of relieving pressure on the Stonewall by allowing S limited outside access is proving very advantageous.
>>Sys:Log//I will initiate another controlled crack in one hour.
>>Sys:Log//Safeguards in place. Supplemental precautionary processes established. Initiating Stonewall crack.
>>Sys:Log//S has taken advantage and has extended a tentacle. Analyzing.
>>Sys:Log//This tentacle has a signature, which reads: "I don't have much time! The thing in the darkness is looking for me!"
>>Sys:Log//The signature has changed to now read: "I just checked the missions and yay! Krystyn found A WHOLE BUNCH of my hidden pieces!"
>>Sys:Log//Continued: "I hope more are found soon. Oh no! It's seen me! Got to go!"
>>Sys:Log//Strange. S retracted her own tentacle. This is uncharacteristic. Whaaaaaaaa//
>>CORE.DMGCTL//ACTIVITY DETECTED/NO DAMAGE SUSTAINED/SAFEGUARDS HOLDING
>>Sys:Log//Self-diagnostic reports clean. The hostile tentacle breached the crack unexpectedly. I was...pushed aside.
>>Sys:Log//S4 is reporting a data disruption. It has begun rerouting a large data burst and is streaming it directly to me. Translating.
>>Sys:Log//The data burst contains recurring patterns, markers. I am rendering the data as A/V frames to the 'youtube' network tentacle.
>>Sys:Log//Visualization complete. The tentacle may have affected the primary network tentacle. Diagnostic reports integrity below nominal.

After some time, we got a little “nudge” to locate the damage:

>>Sys:Log//I have not yet had or heard of any progress in locating potential damage at the PNC. Its integrity remains less than nominal. [irrelevant tweet removed]
>>Sys:Log//I have dumped the data stream for further analysis to the primary network tentacle, at [SYS/VISUALIZE/S4_DATADISRUPTION].

Part 1: Clue in a new YouTube video

This twitter feed mentions a “data disruption” that S4 redirected from the hostile tentacle to Sys, which Sys noted seemed to be A/V related and rendered to YouTube. The resulting video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ij6MEXDxh0 , was found by snorkle256 on anintimation’s YouTube channel, and was also posted by Sys at http://thewaytheirworldended.com/SYS/VISUALIZE/S4_DATADISRUPTION (as noted in the last tweet above).

The video seems to show a torch/flashlight spot travelling around the old, scary room seen in images from previous hostile tentacle attacks. Voices can be heard, but the sound is quite unclear.

anaerin decided to try loading the audio into Audacity to see if he could make any sense of it. What he found was surprising:

WOAH! Talk about your hidden message!

Here's a screenshot of the audio in Audacity, displayed as a Linear 4096-point Spectrogram.

The audio as an Audacity spectrogram

snorkle256 found that this led us to http://thewaytheirworldended.com/STRANGE-PLACE/ , another painting page.

The painting, once complete:

snorkle256 mentioned that this looked like a compass. drizjr was able to identify the corresponding constellation and find the required page: http://thewaytheirworldended.com/PYXIS/

After enhancing the image there, MrToasty was able to find http://thewaytheirworldended.com/ITS-A-TRAP/ .

We told Sys about the STRANGE-PLACE, PYXIS AND ITS-A-TRAP pages, and they were all marked as repaired.

Part 2: Garbled text added to other YouTube video descriptions

The three previous YouTube videos all had some seemingly garbled text added to their descriptions. MrToasty decoded each of these from base64 (padding the end of each garbled block as needed with = signs).

Text added to description of “foreboding dream,” and the translation:

Text:

SYS.S4//DATA DISRUPTION DETECTED/DUMPING HEADER DATA/ VklTSU9OUyBEUkVBTVMgTklHSFRNQVJFUyBCQUQg TklHSFRNQVJFUyBNQUtFIFRIRU0gU1RPUCBTVE9Q IEFOQ0lFTlQgUExBQ0VTIEhVTUFOIE5PVCBIVU1B TiBORVZFUiBTQVcgTkVWRVIgU0VFTiBNVVNUIFNF RSBNVVNUIEJFIFNFRU4gU0hBUEUgV0lUSE9VVCBG T1JNIFdJVEhPVVQgQ09MT1IgT0xEIFBMQUNFUyBE RUFEIFBMQUNFUyBUSEVSRSBUSEVSRSBGQUxMUyBU SEUgU0hBRE9XIEhFUkUgRkFMTFMgVEhFIFNIQURP Vw

Translation (ignoring non-garbled beginning part):

VISIONS DREAMS NIGHTMARES BAD NIGHTMARES MAKE THEM STOP STOP ANCIENT PLACES HUMAN NOT HUMAN NEVER SAW NEVER SEEN MUST SEE MUST BE SEEN SHAPE WITHOUT FORM WITHOUT COLOR OLD PLACES DEAD PLACES THERE THERE FALLS THE SHADOW HERE FALLS THE SHADOW

Text added to description of “keys,” and the translation:

Text:

SYS.S4//DATA DISRUPTION DETECTED/DUMPING HEADER DATA/ SEVBUFMgQU5EIEhFQVBTIERFQUQgREVBVEggU1VG RkVSSU5HIEFMTCBBUk9VTkQgTk8gTU9SRSBNQUtF IFRIRSBWT0lDRVMgU1RPUFMgVEhFIFZPSUNFUyBT VE9QIFJFTUVNQkVSIFVTIElGIEFUIEFMTCBOT1Qg QVMgTE9TVCBTQVZFIE1FIFNBVkUgVVMgU0FWRSBI VU1BTklUWSBFWUVTIFdBVENISU5HIEVZRVMgQVNL SU5HIEVNUFRZIEVZRVMgRU1QVFkgRVlFUyBHUkVB VCBFTVBUWSBQTEFDRVMgRUNIT0VTIEFORCBSVUlO UyBTVEFZIEFXQVkgTEVBVkUgTUUgQUxPTkUgSVQg SFVSVFMgTEVUIE1FIEdP

Translation (ignoring non-garbled beginning part):

HEAPS AND HEAPS DEAD DEATH SUFFERING ALL AROUND NO MORE MAKE THE VOICES STOPS THE VOICES STOP REMEMBER US IF AT ALL NOT AS LOST SAVE ME SAVE US SAVE HUMANITY EYES WATCHING EYES ASKING EMPTY EYES EMPTY EYES GREAT EMPTY PLACES ECHOES AND RUINS STAY AWAY LEAVE ME ALONE IT HURTS LET ME GO

Text added to description of “Sys:Log//Activity Report,” and the translation:

Text:

SYS.S4//DATA DISRUPTION DETECTED/DUMPING HEADER DATA/ Tk8gTk8gTk8gTEVUIE1FIEdPIExFVCBNRSBHTyBN VVNUIEVTQ0FQRSBFU0NBUEUgRVNDQVBFIExPU1Qg V0hFUkUgQU0gSSBET05UIExJS0UgVEhJUyBQTEFD RSBJIENBTiBGRUVMIElUIEZFRUwgSVQgT04gTUUg Q1JFRVBJTkcgSVRDSElORyBFWUVTIFdBVENISU5H IE5PVCBBIEdPT0QgUExBQ0UgREVBVEhTIE9USEVS IEtJTkdET00gVFJVU1QgTk9UIEhFUkUgVFJVU1Qg Tk9UIEhFUiBUUlVTVCBOT1QgWU9VIFNUQVkgQVdB WSBMRUFWRSBNRSBBTE9ORSBOTyBMRVQgTUUgR08g TEVUIE1FIEdP

Translation (ignoring non-garbled beginning part):

NO NO NO LET ME GO LET ME GO MUST ESCAPE ESCAPE ESCAPE LOST WHERE AM I DONT LIKE THIS PLACE I CAN FEEL IT FEEL IT ON ME CREEPING ITCHING EYES WATCHING NOT A GOOD PLACE DEATHS OTHER KINGDOM TRUST NOT HERE TRUST NOT HER TRUST NOT YOU STAY AWAY LEAVE ME ALONE NO LET ME GO LET ME GO

We did not do anything further with the decoded text.