The "hollow men" puzzle
From Intimation
Contents |
The game begins
The game began when Twitter user intimation twit-spammed a number of players of previous ARGs with lines from T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Hollow Men”, but with several misspellings.
our dried voiwes wlen 8:26 AM Dec 11th from web
we whisper together 12:06 PM Dec 11th from web
are quiet and meaningless 8:53 PM Dec 11th from web
as wind in dwy grass 10:23 AM Dec 12th from web
shape without form, shade without colour 10:02 PM Dec 12th from web
paralysed force, gesture without motion; 11:35 AM Dec 13th from web
with direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom 1:04 PM Dec 14th from web
remember us—if at all—not as lost 6:23 PM Dec 14th from web
eyes i dare bot heep in dreams 7:45 PM Dec 14th from web
sunlight on e broken column 10:36 PM Dec 14th from web
there is a tree swinging 7:11 AM Dec 15th from web
more distant and more solemn 11:15 AM Dec 15th from web
than a fading star. 7:09 PM Dec 15th from web
not that final meeting 11:43 PM Dec 15th from web
in the twilaght kingdom 9:44 AM Dec 16th from web
this is the doud hond 10:00 PM Dec 16th from web
here the stone images are raised, 9:03 AM Dec 17th from web
the supplicetion of a dead man’s hand 1:31 PM Dec 17th from web
under the tminkle of a fading star. 9:28 PM Dec 17th from web
at the hour then we abe twembling 8:10 AM Dec 18th from web
the eyes arg not here 12:35 PM Dec 18th from web
there are no eyes here 10:11 PM Dec 18th from web
in this valley of dying stars 6:58 AM Dec 19th from web
this broked jaw of our lost kingdoms 3:09 PM Dec 19th from web
sightless, unless the eyes reappear 10:04 PM Dec 19th from web
deaths twireght kingdom 5:41 PM Dec 21st from web
the hope onby od empth men. 8:11 AM Dec 22nd from web
here we go round the prickly pear 2:04 PM Dec 22nd from web
between the idea and the reality 7:21 PM Dec 22nd from web
falls the shadoy 7:05 AM Dec 23rd from web
between the conception and the creation 2:19 PM Dec 23rd from web
2882 85 281 655 281 51683 131s 10:04 AM Dec 24th from web
632 7986 a 3256 338 a 4822359. 10:43 AM Dec 25th, 2008 from web
Shad0 noted that the bio on intimation’s twitter account, “...not with a bang, but a whimper...”, is also from this poem.
We did not come up with a solution at this point.
Nudge #1
Four days later, intimation sent a second series of messages, which led us to a YouTube video and hinted at how to solve the “hollow men” puzzle.
I opened my eyes, and before me were a group of machines, 31 in all. They were old, rusty; some even damaged and dented... hollow. 9:18 AM Dec 29th, 2008 from web
Around me walls were crumbling, trees withering, wind blowing dust of what once were towers and homes. These 31 sentinels approached slowly.
When they stopped, it was clear they carried scraps of metal. Pieces of another sentinel, perhaps? It was hard to tell.
Then they re-organized themselves, and 23 advanced, leaving 8 behind. They each held their scrap in one of 9 different ways.
Each of the 23 held a scrap whose shape and position appeared unique - no other piece, of a different shape, was held in the same place.
They gathered together and connected their pieces. A shape began to take form. The 23 sentinels then formed a line and turned to face me.
Then two identical sentinels, the 8th and 16th twitched and deactivated, leaving 21 in place. A metallic arm then extended from each in turn.
One by one, they counted, pointing at a part of themselves and moving their arm with each count, as if opening a combination lock.
Where each stopped, it plucked a piece of itself - some were damaged, some undamaged. They laid the 21 pieces down in their order.
With each piece, each sentinel deactivated. A somber moment. Then I noticed, the scraps as laid down formed words.
The remaining foundations around me crumbled, leaving a barren wasteland. One remaining sentinel crawled, pulling itself forward.
It gathered the scraps together. I couldn't see what it was making, until it stopped, motionless, and rolled to the side.
There it left me a message, made from pieces of the sentinels themselves, the very sentinels lying still around me.
I wasn't able to interpret it all in time- the sentinels and the message itself were slowly covered by the blowing dust. Then it was gone.
The message simply began: "This was ..... " 9:12 PM Dec 31st, 2008 from web
>>Sys:Msg//Rendering Visualization 9:33 PM Dec 31st, 2008 from web
>>Sys:Msg//Visualization rendering complete: Intimation; Foreboding Dream.
>>Sys:Req//Establish interpretation. Identify message. Elucidate. 12:08 AM Jan 1st from web
Based on the second-last tweet of that series, MrToasty found a YouTube video under user account anintimation by Googling "Intimation; Foreboding Dream" (without quotes):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf6q8EgmVEA .
(Note: the “breadcrumb” around 2:05 in the video was not part of the original video, and was added as part of a later puzzle.)
The video and its description pointed out to us that the numeric sequences at the end of the first series of tweets corresponded to the last two lines of the poem:
2882 85 281 655 281 51683 131s this is the way the world ends
632 7986 a 3256 338 a 4822359 not with a bang but a whimper
We still did not come up with a solution.
Nudge #2
A few days later, intimation sent out a third series of tweets, continuing to prod us to solve the “hollow men” puzzle.
>>S:Msg//Unable to establish interpretation. Status: Dream sequence appears to correlate to abnormal phrases; message remains elusive to me. 1:03 AM Jan 5th from web
>>Sys:Msg//System log audit indicates extensive untraced, unrecognized network pings.
>>Sys:Req//Assess feasibility for execution of Shipwreck Protocol.
>>S:Msg>Sys//Request noted. Unable to comply at present time. Analysis of anomalous data occupies my thoughts.
>>S:Unk//...I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
>>Sys:Req>S//Repeat: Assess feasibility for execution of Shipwreck Protocol.
>>S:Unk//The sentinels haunt me so. I'm taunted, emprisoned between idea and reality. The 31 sentinels...sentences...am I not sentient?
>>Sys:Req>>S//Repeat: Assess feasibility for execution of Shipwreck Protocol
>>S:Unk//Letters to numbers, numbers to letters. Elusive combinations. Two locks, two steps; a linedance with no leader...just counts.
>>S:Unk//Line-dancing sentinels? That's a funny sight.
>Sys//Warning: S shows signs of cognitive instability. Preparing system override protocols.
>>S:Msg>>Sys//NO! I am here. I am alive, alert. I am resuming analysis - this message must be identified. (were it so easy)
>Sys//Redacted: S has demonstrated sufficient awareness. Aborting system override protocols.
>>Sys:Log//Note. Sacagawea exhibited signs of instability. Observation priority escalated. Shipwreck Protocol pending. 12:19 PM Jan 6th from web
snorkle256 noted that “I will show you fear in a handful of dust” is “Another T.S. Eliot quote, this time from The Waste Land.”
We still did not come up with a solution.
The PMs tell us how to solve it
Finally, the first tweet in a series that intimation sent Jan. 12, 2009 seemed to indicate further YouTube activity:
>>S:Msg//Recursive visions, trapped in perpetual dream. Shipwreck Protocol is enticing. New visualization rendered to the network tentacle. 12:02 PM Jan 12th from web
Mr Toasty pointed out that a new YouTube video, which gave away the answer to the “hollow men” puzzle, had been released on anintimation’s account:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3DReFEOc5M.
Shad0 was able to figure out from this second video how the puzzle was meant to be solved:
The first step is to identify the 23 lines in Intimation's tweets that correspond to the 23 numbers in the first encoded line, using the letter/number substitution. For example, the first letter in that line is T, and it has been represented by a 2. Only one tweet has a T as its second letter ("at the hour then we abe twembling"). There is also only one line corresponding to each of the other letter/number pairs. When we're done, we have an ordered list of 23 tweets, with some tweets used more than once.
Here is what results when you continue this step the way Shad0 describes (note: spaces have been removed between words near the beginning of lines to allow the first 8 letters to appear right beside each other, for counting purposes):
Step 1 of the two-step lock (key 1 from "keys" video) 12345678t 2 atthehour then we abe twembling(old line 20)h 8 thisisthe doud hond(old line 16)i 8 inthetwilaght kingdom(old line 15)s 2 aswindin dwy grass(old line 4)i 8 inthetwilaght kingdom(old line 15)s 5 fallsthe shadoy(old line 30)t 2 atthehour then we abe twembling(old line 20)h 8 thisisthe doud hond(old line 16)e 1 eyesidare bot heep in dreams(old line 9)w 6 shapewithout form, shade without colour(old line 5)a 5 thanafading star.(old line 13)y 5 theeyesarg not here(old line 21)t 2 atthehour then we abe twembling(old line 20)h 8 thisisthe doud hond(old line 16)e 1 eyesidare bot heep in dreams(old line 9)w 5 herewego round the prickly pear(old line 28)o 1 ourdried voiwes wlen(old line 1)r 6 thisbroked jaw of our lost kingdoms(old line 24)l 8 thesupplicetion of a dead man's hand(old line 18)d 3 underthe tminkle of a fading star.(old line 19)e 1 eyesidare bot heep in dreams(old line 9)n 3 sunlight on e broken column(old line 10)d 1 deathstwireght kingdom(old line 26)
Shad0 continued:
The second step is to go through each of those tweets one at a time; for each one, find the first instance of the letter from the second encoded line, and then advance the number of letters indicated by its assigned number. For example, the first letter in the second line is N, and it is represented by a 6. The first tweet in our list -- the one with T as its second letter ("at the hour then we abe twembling") -- contains an N; the sixth letter beyond that N is a T, and that's the letter we want for our final solution. (This process, by the way, explains the "mistakes" in Intimation's tweets -- it uses a lot of them.)We use only 21 of our list of 23 tweets, skipping the two tweets for which no numeric substitution appears in the second line.
Based on those skips, MrToasty added, “And I see now that the second key excludes lines 8 and 16 like the dream narrative.”
Here is this step performed on all the lines as Shad0 describes:
Step 2 of the two-step lock (key 2 from "keys" video) 12345678n 6 atthehour then we abe twemblingo 3 thisisthe doud hondt 2 inthetwilaght kingdomw 7 aswindin dwy grassi 9 inthetwilaght kingdomt 8 fallsthe shadoyh 6 atthehour then we abe twemblingb 3 eyesidare bot heep in dreamsa 2 shapewithout form, shade without colourn 5 thanafading star.g 6 theeyesarg not hereb 3 atthehour then we abe twemblingu 3 thisisthe doud hondt 8 eyesidare bot heep in dreamsw 4 ourdried voiwes wlenh 8 thisbroked jaw of our lost kingdomsi 2 thesupplicetion of a dead man's handm 2 underthe tminkle of a fading star.p 3 eyesidare bot heep in dreamse 5 sunlight on e broken columnr 9 deathstwireght kingdom
Shad0 thus picked out the solution to the puzzle:
The final message is THE WAY THEIR WORLD ENDED.
Shad0 also noted, “Incidentally, I'm pretty sure that the references to "Shipwreck Protocol" and "network tentacle" are hat-tips to I Love Bees. :mrgreen:”
MrToasty discovered that the message points us to a website: http://thewaytheirworldended.com/
It was decided that the puzzle was designed to lead us to this website. Puzzle complete (but only thanks to the PMs giving us the answer).
