Crypt

You've arrived at the crypt of the day. As far as you know, there's not much to separate it from any of the dozens of other crypts you've investigated over the course of your career. Some would say you're a crypt expert. Others might call you obsessed. The only thing you'd call yourself is...



That's right, the very same Cliff Brayson who solved the mysteries of the Interlocked Tombs, cracked the code of the Canadian cadaver, and singlehandedly worked out the message hidden in King Tut's teeth.



The very same Cliff Brayson who's just gone into the crypt while we've been out here talking about you.



Inside, we find you looking with casual interest at the far wall of the entry chamber. To the left of the door, there are a number of words, symbols, and letters.

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SpoilerAll puzzles will be duplicated in text for convenience and accuracy.

Code:

WORDS
(+)-> WRUHV
ADDED

  PROCEED
    (+)--> AAAAAAA
  INWARDS

Looks like these A's can be changed by pressing the buttons above and below them, and presumably a combination 'submitted' with the button on the right. Maybe the right combination will open the door?

> _

(Solution:)

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Spoiler

This is a simple Viginere. To do it without a table or program, convert letters to numbers, add them up, subtract 1 from the resulting numbers. Like so:

PROCEED
INWARDS

16-18-15-03-05-05-04
09-14-23-01-18-04-19

25-06-12-04-23-09-23
24-05-11-03-22-08-22

Answer: XEKCVHV

XEKCVHV

You put in your code, hit the button, and...



Bam! Door's open! That's one point for archaeology, no points for loser dead guy! What now, huh? Dead people got nothing. NOTHING.



Well, apparently dead people got two doors. That's something at least, you suppose.

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Spoiler

Code:

_____     _____
  v(+)DOORS(+)v
ZFCEY     UWUYL

You assume that those arrow-shaped buttons will open one or the other of the doors. Of course, consummate professional that you are, you wouldn't dare push one without being sure which one is correct.

> _

(Solution:)

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Spoiler

Another Viginere, but backwards.
This time, DOORS is the key, and the others are the results. So we work backwards.

Translate to numbers, add 1 to the results, subtract DOORS, translate back to letters.

DOORS
ZFCEY UWUYL

04-15-15-18-19
26-06-03-05-25
21-23-21-25-12

Left button:
01-07-04-06-26
04-15-15-18-19
23-18-15-14-07
WRONG

Right button:
22-24-22-26-13
04-15-15-18-19
18-09-7-8-20
RIGHT

Answer: Push the button on the right.

Right

Bingo. You don't bother with any sort of celebrating, but you're sure that, if you think of a particular manner of celebration in the future around the same time you solve a puzzle, you'll probably do that.



Back to just one door for this next room. But it looks like you've only got one letter to work with, too!

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Spoiler

Code:

SNOWBALL>+>M
  (+)-
IQPMMGJE
     v
________>+>A

> _

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Spoiler

I'm thinking the "+M" means to shift everything in "SNOWBALL" forward according to the M alphabet. So I think this is a shift of 12.

SNOWBALL
EZAINMXX

Then, use IQPMMGJE as a keyword for that:

EZAINMXX
IQPMMGJE

05-26-01-09-14-13-24-24
09-17-16-13-13-07-10-05
14-17-17-22-01-20-08-03

13-16-16-21-26-19-07-02
MPPUZSGB

Now, what we do next is figure out how many letters to shift this forward to get a sensible word. That gives us our answer. So!

MPPUZSGB
plus:
(...)
O: ADDINGUP
(...)

So, MPPUZSGB + O equals ADDINGUP. That means ADDINGUP + M = MPPUZSGB.
So the answer is M.

Conveniently for us, this answer still holds if you shift the original message by 13 instead of 12; then ADDINGUP + 13 = NQQVATHC.

Answer: M.

I would think the answer would be O, since that is what you would need to add to the sum to get a legible result

M

O

Hmm... Neither of those answers worked.

> _

(Solution:)

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Spoiler

Solution:
SNOWBALL + IQPMMGJE = ADDINGUP

If you add up all the letters in "ADDINGUP" you get Q. This matches with what's above, since if you add up all the letters in "SNOWBALL" you get M.

The answer is Q

Q

Success! Having not decided on a method of celebration when you solved the puzzle, you don't do anything in particular. Maybe next time you'll celebrate in an interesting manner.



Next room, then! Interesting, looks like your answer's going to be a number...

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Spoiler

Code:

BRTVQ
(+)->>+>_
OAYNI

JWOBP
(-)->>+>_
CIYMH

QWROT
(+)->>+>_
TBOGZ

> _

(Solution:)

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Spoiler

DIX... it's DIX

By which I mean 509

509

Having still not specified a celebration in the same batch of thought as when you figured it out, you still don't celebrate.



Well, this is interesting. It's almost like your decision here will have a massive impact on things to come! (Or perhaps none at all, there's no way to tell.)

> _

> Left

>Right

(Just to be contrary)

Let's go right.

>Go right, while making the decision to do the robot dance every time you solve a puzzle

>Go right, while making the decision to do the Charleston every time you solve a puzzle

>Go right, while making the decision to do the Charleston plus the worm every time you solve a puzzle

Right, while deciding ahead of time something you need to decide at the time!

You yank the lever down to the right, and it cooperates smoothly. You'd think that, in a crypt like this, there'd be a bit more wear and tear, maybe some rusty devices or something.



Or maybe a cave-in, that works too. This door's pretty thoroughly blocked- you can't even get to the puzzle!



Oh, well. You'll just have to try this one instead.

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Spoiler

Code:

SALAD ROMAN
   >J>(+)>R>
     _____

> _

Code:

J + R = ( 9 + 18 - 1 ) = 26 = Z.

SALAD + ROMAN = ( 18 + 19 - 1 ), 15, ( 12 + 13 - 1 ), -1(!), ( 14 + 4 - 1 )
= ?OX?Q

So, SALAD + ROMAN probably doesn't factor in, at least not directly.

Aside from that, all I could see was "L is kinda like J" and "Both words are Consonant Vowel Consonant Vowel Consonant." I thought I saw a patter with R-S and L-M, but that was wishful thinking on my part.

I think we shift SALAD forward by 9 and ROMAN forward by 17 and then Viginiere. I just woke up, though, so I'm not ready to do the math just yet.

I think we shift SALAD forward by 9 and ROMAN forward by 17 and then Viginiere. I just woke up, though, so I'm not ready to do the math just yet.

Code:

SALAD + 9 (possibly -1) = ZJTJM/YISIL

ROMAN + 17 (possibly -1) = IFCRD/HEBQC

Possibility One: IPWBQ
Possibility Two: HOVAP
Possibility Three: FMTYN

So yeah, unless I fucked up the math, it looks like that's a bust.

SALAD + JJJJJ = BJUJM
ROMAN + RRRRR = IFDRE

BJUJM + IFDRE = JOXAQ

The answer, I believe, is JOXAQ. To celebrate this victory over puzzles, do the Cabbage Patch (animated, preferably).

Well I was going to suggest the "Where the hell is Matt" dance, but Cabbage Patch is way cooler.

Salad and Roman both refer to the Caesar cypher. Moving them the amount of spaces the letter indicates, and adding those words, gets me MRADT for n and LQZCS for n-1 during the addition

Using n-1 during the cipher as well gets KPYBR or JOXAQ

huh, Akumu got it first.

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SpoilerYou spend basically all day trying to animate a simple dance and realize that you suck too hard at drawing for even that. You apologize to anyone who'd been hoping to see an archaeologist dance.

JOXAQ

Click.



You start to get a bit wary- you've investigated crypts with puns scattered around before, and they never seem to improve in quality as you go deeper. If this one is starting with things like SALAD and ROMAN talking about Caesar, you shudder to think about what's coming. Hopefully it's just a one-off. Hopefully.



...Huh, more damage. Stone stuff is falling apart, but a lever is oiled?

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Spoiler

Code:

XABPXXABPXJUBFG
URERCVREERCVREE
RJUBCVREERMBRYR
...............
RQBBEXABPXXABPX

> _

Well, I've got this decoded.

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SpoilerThe "XIII" above and below is a clue. Just shift every letter by 13:

Code:

XABPXXABPXJUBFG
KNOCKKNOCKWHOST

URERCVREERCVREE
HEREPIERREPIERR

RJUBCVREERMBRYR
EWHOPIERREZOELE

...............

RQBBEXABPXXABPX
EDOORKNOCKKNOCK

"Knock knock!"
"Who's there?"
"Pierre!"
"Pierre who?"
"Pierre Zoe le (missing row) e door knock knock"

Not sure what the missing part is, but I think what it means is:

>Knock on the door twice.

Well, can you decipher some of the possible missing letters from some of the larger stone fragments? And what about the rest of the room? No sense leaving options unchecked, after all.

Pierre sounds like a homophone for peer. Are there any holes you can look through?

Is that second ROMAN SALAD on the wall potentially relevant?

Pierre Zoelectricdevice?

Try knocking on the door, hopefully that should generate enough electricity to power its opening.

Pierre Zoelectricdevice?

That's five letters too short!

Admittedly, "Pierre Zoelectricdevice on the door" would fit.