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Post by Beelzebibble on Jan 4, 2012 22:04:23 GMT -5
Here's another clue:
As you accumulate more letters, you might be able to fill others in using your own intuition.
Man, that was a pretty big clue!
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Post by The Evil Biscuit on Jan 5, 2012 0:35:41 GMT -5
Well, I initially thought that you'd done something sensible, like use A-Z and 0-9 (making the total character count 36), but I have since discovered that you repeated characters, which means I don't have any grasp on the total count of pages that have thumbprints, so my attempts at mapping the things have been foiled repeatedly; by choobs, no less. So many pages link to choobs. So many.
If you're suggesting that the code can be cracked on intuition, are we to assume then that the password is NOT a random assortment of characters, as it was before?
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Post by Beelzebibble on Jan 5, 2012 0:45:00 GMT -5
Was the password before a random assortment of characters??
????????????
But yes, this password is definitely not one. That is the big hint.
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Post by Testbug on Jan 5, 2012 1:00:29 GMT -5
So lets work from that! What words end in -nt? What possible letters come before that? -ant -unt -ont -int -ent ?? So find the vowels!
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The Mole
Bystander
WHO IS THE MOLE?
Posts: 3
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Post by The Mole on Jan 5, 2012 10:34:57 GMT -5
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Post by Beelzebibble on Jan 5, 2012 11:42:06 GMT -5
The challenge is ended!
More detail forthcoming.
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Post by Beelzebibble on Jan 6, 2012 0:00:15 GMT -5
Another successful challenge -- congratulations, team! This was a demanding mission, but one of you did indeed manage to connect the dots and log into the Mole's account. Let's see what the takings were! Looks like the team earns a grand total of..................................... (thisis a dramantic pause calm ur tits)......................5 EP. Wait what? What? Oh come on.Well, okay, let's backtrack a little. First of all, the correct password into the account themole, although don't bother trying now since I've already changed it, was tr1dent. The proper string of pages went as follows: MAGIKARP RAIN (t) -> T-T-TERRIANJACK! (r) -> Lee (1) -> keep the exodus X (d) -> Sniflish Invasion (e) * -> Blood (n) -> Death by Awesome (t). ( * This was by far the sneakiest transition, since the Sniflish Invasion isn't mentioned by text anywhere in the article "keep the exodus X" -- you had to know that clicking on the "MAKE DER EXODUS SNIFLISH" banner in the gallery would lead to the Invasion page.) And now let's review the clues, in the order in which they were posted here. - Biscuit's clue was "Don't strain yourself to figure out where the chain starts. It shouldn't be too much of a pain." Of course, he nailed the fact that the rhyming words here referred to MAGIKARP RAIN, making the first letter of the string an easy catch.
- Ninety didn't post his clue here, but Biscuit mentioned it in other words than my own: "The password mostly consists of letters -- six, in fact. So as far as digits go, there's just the one." However, there was more to this clue than our good ol' boys seem to have realized. My wording was very careful. As far as digits went, there really was "just the one" -- just the number 1! This burst of intuition would have made it obvious Lee's page was in the string, as no other page carried the number 1.
- Belle got the clue "Like so much else, the string ends in blood and death." This was a fairly easy one, and she had no trouble pinpointing the two pages it referred to, Blood and Death by Awesome. I considered planting a red herring thumbprint on the page for Choobs' RP character Death, but decided against it since there was no way to reasonably link that page and Blood's, and "The string ends in choobs and death" was just nowhere near so dramatic.
- Elliot got a no-brainer: "I would hate for history to remember me as a narcissist, so I will say up front that the page 'Pohatu' is not in the string." And lucky you are that it wasn't, too, since in addition to linking to a healthy number of pages, Pohatu backlinks to almost forty! I'm all over that wiki. Seemed sporting to make a point of leaving myself off the string.
- Testbug also rephrased his clue instead of copying and pasting it directly, but in this case, no meaning was lost. The original was "The password does not contain the letter 'g', which should be a relief if you know how many other pages that page links to." I'm not sure if Testbug or anyone else ever figured out exactly which page I was talking about there, but it was Members, which would indeed have occupied an ugly place on the string, for the opposite reason from Pohatu. Members isn't backlinked anywhere, but since it links to every member-dedicated page on the wiki... Would've been a problem for sure.
- The last two members never posted their clues (or told anyone else, as far as I know, the way Ninety did), but here they are. Bulbs' was easy: "The string contains no pages dedicated to members who are or have been contestants in The Mole." Thus ruling out, in a stroke, his own page as well as those for Biscuit, Ninety, Elliot, and of all people, Gil (I bet you forgot he was ever a contestant, huh?).
- That leaves Sem's: "This challenge will be easier if you know your history. And your fads." A rather deceptive clue, as taken at face value it implied that the pages History and Fads were themselves included in the string, but all that the clue really meant was that pages within the History and Fads sections were featured prominently.
A pretty elaborate setup, I think you'll agree! Definitely one of the most complex and daunting challenges so far, and I'm at least a little bit impressed that someone managed to overcome it (though I did also certainly want someone to -- otherwise I wouldn't have hinted about the password being a basically coherent string of characters). But we've come this far and we haven't yet reached the resolution. That is, what actually happened when someone got into the account? Well, they got hit with a PM. From me. Which said the following: Hello, whoever you are. Congratulations: you made it. How does it feel to be the Mole?? Unless of course you already are the Mole. I have no way of knowing that. In fact, right now you enjoy a position of complete anonymity: not only do I not know who you are, but neither can the other players tell you're the one reading this PM.
Sounds like the perfect time for a special offer!
If you feel like being a team player, then go straight to the Mole Episode 4 topic and post something from this account. Whatever you like. A sentence, a word, a single letter, anything at all. When you do so, the challenge will end and 25 EP will go into the pot.
But I'm going to give you an alternative option. Respond to this PM and tell me which player you are. If you do so, the challenge will immediately end and only 5 EP will go into the pot. However, you'll also earn an exemption.
(NB: If your name is Elliot, you already have an exemption for this episode. However, there's a special rule that obtains when a player amasses two exemptions in a single episode. You'll find out what that is when you PM me. Otherwise, of course, you could name another player and the exemption will go to them, meaning they take the blame and you keep your hands clean. In fact, whoever you are, you might consider that as a valid option. I'll have no way of knowing the difference!)
Please decide as soon as possible. If I see that this PM has been opened but no action is taken for more than a day, I'll end the challenge myself, to the benefit of no one. This morning, someone got into the account and read that PM. They made their decision, and it was not favorable to the team. I'm not going to copy-paste their response, but the gist of it was that the responder was curious enough about "this double-exemption rule" to reply on behalf of Elliot, so to speak. Which means Elliot gets the exemption. Again. The cards just keep coming up in his favor, don't they? So what is this double-exemption rule? I bet you're all curious. Before you ask, no, it's not that one of the exemptions carries over automatically into the next episode. That would be broken (imagine if he earned further exemptions in that episode). But it's within the same ballpark. When a player amasses two exemptions in one episode, the following occurs: First, the player uses up one exemption in that episode's quiz, per usual. Next, the remaining exemption is converted into a "joker" and applied on the following episode's quiz. A "joker" gives the player an automatic +2 to their score on that quiz.So while Elliot is safe on this upcoming quiz, as we already knew, he isn't guaranteed safety on the quiz to follow in Episode 05 -- like I said, that would be an unbalanced game mechanic. But the "joker" rule does ensure him a pretty good leg up. If his intuitions about who the Mole is at this point are way off the mark, then Episode 05 could easily see Elliot crash and burn (assuming he's a contestant at all!). But otherwise, you'll have to think hard to surpass him on that quiz. One more note: If a player goes into an episode with a "joker" for that quiz, but later earns an exemption within that episode, the "joker" is lost and the player uses the new exemption as normal. The "joker" is a one-episode-only deal. (The concept of "jokers" comes from the Dutch Mole series, where they're used much more extensively: each one is a token that grants +1 on a quiz score, and players can actually accumulate them during challenges and either use them or save them on each quiz according to their choice. It's a really cool mechanic, but I discovered the Dutch Mole series too late before beginning the game here to fully integrate "jokers" into the challenges, so they appear only in this special rule. Possible fuel for a sequel in another few years? Hosted by someone other than me? ??) Okay, right about now I would get into postchallenge analysis, but dang! That was a solid hour of writing and I think I'm done for the moment! Analysis will follow in the morning. Recap: 5 EP to the team, exemption to Elliot, haven't speculated on who actually made it into the Mole's account yet, will do so tomorrow.
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Post by The Evil Biscuit on Jan 6, 2012 1:05:28 GMT -5
so wait
let me get this straight
First, they stride on in like the little shitbag they are and crack this code I worked TWO GODDAMN DAYS on, and then they give their exemption to ELLIOT?!
Something's fishy here. Someone is trying to Mole us, and it's not the Mole.
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Post by Testbug on Jan 6, 2012 4:00:06 GMT -5
Okay to be perfectly honest, it wasn't me because I spent like two hours trying to crack the code but I was a fuckhead and STARTED with blood and then I got all ragey and quit.
But that little asshole. I don't even think this is a strategy anymore. I think we're fighting Chaos itself.
FUCK GUYS WE'RE FIGHTING AN ETHEREAL CONCEPT
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Post by Beelzebibble on Jan 6, 2012 12:25:18 GMT -5
Four questions remain: Who was it that actually logged into the Mole's account? I haven't been lying when I said that I don't know any more than you do. But I can take an educated guess. At the time that I opened the reply PM, the "Active Users In The Past 24 Hours" list showed that three players had logged in since The Mole had. Those three were Biscuit, Elliot and Belle, so I'd call them the three suspects. Otherwise, the player involved would have had to log in as The Mole, send the PM, log out, and then for some reason not immediately log back into their proper account. Possible, but unlikely. So: we have the player who took the lead on this challenge; the player who wound up benefiting from it; and a player who's been a longtime favorite suspect as the Mole. Pretty dramatic lineup. Personally, this post says a lot to me (oh, I should mention: the one who responded to the PM explicitly mentioned that they were going to toss a post into this topic anyway but it didn't mean they were taking the 25 EP), but it could just as well be another player doing a deft impersonation. Draw your own conclusions. Was the Mole at play in this challenge? Honestly, just about everyone comes off suspicious here. The three I've just mentioned are all possible candidates for the betrayal we bore witness to here; meanwhile, Bulbs and Sem are to be faulted for not divulging their clues, which could have helped speed the process along. And Ninety's behavior was just weird, communicating through Biscuit instead of posting his own clue verbatim. Actually, I was fully expecting him to lead another screencap parade after the previous challenge, but nothing doing! Since that more indirect method of communication ended up cutting off the "just the one" double meaning, it could very plausibly have been a subtle act of sabotage, if Ninety were the Mole and knew full well what the clue was actually supposed to suggest. Yes, it looks like only Testbug got out of this one without any mud on his shoes. So he's probably the Mole. Just a thought. When's the next quiz going to go up? I'm thinking Sunday the 8th. Followed by execution on the 9th. Gives you a couple of days to collect your predictions. What was the deal with the password? Which password? Oh, the password for this challenge? The password to get into the Mole's account? "tr1dent"? That password? Well I don't know. You tell me. What was the deal with that password? I guess you'll find out someday, when this all wraps up. THE TEAM POT: 197 EP THE MOLE'S POCKET: 145 EP
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Post by The Evil Biscuit on Jan 6, 2012 13:07:05 GMT -5
Belle = The Mole. Been saying that shit since day one.
SHE'S A WITCH
BURRRNNN HEEERRRR
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Post by Tout-Perd on Jan 6, 2012 17:05:58 GMT -5
Maaan, it's a good thing Pohatu didn't let me in on this. My magic IP Vision would really spoil this game.
It is fun watching all you kids scamper about frantically, not knowing that The Mole i
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Post by Beelzebibble on Jan 6, 2012 17:28:06 GMT -5
Your IP vision would've told you who logged into the account themole, I imagine. But you don't know who the Mole actually is any more than Kazkame does.
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Post by Ninety on Jan 6, 2012 20:04:07 GMT -5
kaz id moal
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Post by Belle on Jan 6, 2012 20:17:27 GMT -5
Belle = The Mole. Been saying that shit since day one. SHE'S A WITCH BURRRNNN HEEERRRR
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Post by Beelzebibble on Jan 9, 2012 14:47:32 GMT -5
The fourth execution ceremony begins now. You know how this works. I'm not going to reveal the execution victim right away. Instead, you players must post in this topic -- post anything at all -- in order to volunteer to receive your results. I'll reply to you with a gray[/color] thumbprint much like this one. Exactly like this one, actually. Click on that image and a new thumbprint will be displayed. If the new thumbprint is green[/color], you passed the fourth quiz and are cleared to continue on to the next episode. If the new thumbprint is red[/color], then you are the Mole's sixth victim. You have been executed, and will no longer participate in the game. If, by the end of the day, the victim has not yet stepped forward and been revealed, I'll announce their identity without waiting longer for them. Elliot holds an exemption for this episode, and need not volunteer his name unless he simply wishes to rub it in. That's all. If you would like to receive your results, post anything at all now.
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Post by Ninety on Jan 9, 2012 16:08:28 GMT -5
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Post by Yoshimitsu on Jan 9, 2012 16:24:12 GMT -5
Sure, I'll rub it in.
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Post by Beelzebibble on Jan 9, 2012 16:26:25 GMT -5
Ninety.
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Post by Beelzebibble on Jan 9, 2012 16:26:40 GMT -5
Elliot.
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Post by The Evil Biscuit on Jan 9, 2012 17:37:39 GMT -5
Oh nooooo wait wait I haven't been able to take the quiz yet!!! AUAGAUAGH
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Post by Beelzebibble on Jan 9, 2012 17:55:27 GMT -5
Biscuit.Seems you live to fight another day.
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Post by The Evil Biscuit on Jan 9, 2012 18:03:33 GMT -5
Woohooooooooo
-1 wins again bitchez
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Post by Beelzebibble on Jan 10, 2012 23:28:37 GMT -5
Bulbs.
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Post by Beelzebibble on Jan 10, 2012 23:33:10 GMT -5
Sorry for the delay. Q's in town and shit's been busy. (She and her boo made me the best Christmas presents. A flying Rainbow Dash poster and matching Tank portrait. So badass.)
Anyway. No more BUULBSHIT.
Six players down. Six to go. Actually four. And the winner, and the Mole.
To not be one of the four, keep on playin'! New episode in probably a week. Yeah, a week sounds right.
THE TEAM POT: 197 EP THE MOLE'S POCKET: 145 EP END OF EPISODE 04
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