Please use this thread to discuss Mission 1 of the Whitechapel DLC. Feel free to post theories, hints, and nudges here, but please do not post the answer! Spoiler Spoiler tags are your friend. Code: [spoiler]Spoiler tags are your friend.[/spoiler] # # # Edit by @Zerosh Added personal hints and links to hints compiled by other agents. Thanks to agent @codex-13 who made the thread in the first place. https://forums.aliceandsmith.com/threads/whitechapel-mission-1.3879/#post-26089 Hints To be used only if needed. Each hint is slightly more revealing than the previous one, use with caution. Part 1 Spoiler: Hint 1 Triangulation Spoiler: Hint 2 You can't rely on errors, do you? Part 2 Spoiler: Hint 1 As someone always says: Google Maps is your friend (and so is its zoom) Spoiler: Hint 2 There are not many bridges one can get to by foot Spoiler: Hint 3 Is there something interesting under (near) the bridge? Part 3 Spoiler: Hint 1 Use all the information from the whole mission, dead ends or circumstantial data from previous parts could be useful Spoiler: Hint 2 Among the contents recovered from the car there is an item quite exotic (both in nature and origin) Spoiler: Hint 3 The symbols look like runes, but not ordinary ones right? Spoiler: Hint 4 Ancient crypto maybe? Spoiler: Hint 5 What type of motion do you make to enter the combination of a safe? Spoiler: Hint 6 Between the contents recovered from the car, is there something that could be used to or could be related to changing letters to numbers and the other way around? Spoiler: Über Hint Dial / Keypad Part 4 Spoiler: Hint 1 Do not overthink Spoiler: Hint 2 You can go chasing red herrings and yellow flounders but you already have what you need Spoiler: Hint 3 Literally, you have already read the answer
So, i think i have an idea about 1.3, but i dont really know how to tie everything. Spoiler: Spoilerino I think the "wheel legs" indicate the number of positions you must switch, but i have no clue how to make any sense of it
Kano, you are on the right track. Keep searching for things that connect those 2. Tip: not including the word Spoiler Bridge.
Stuck on 1.3, I know how to decipher I think but... Spoiler: Safe I'm pretty sure it's Nordic stuff and after reading how to decipher it with the groups eg 1-8, 3-3 etc which in turn gives me letters once translated, but how that relates to anything I have no ideas, the safe wont open so obviously I'm missing something, frustrating...
Spoiler One of the notes has something about where the car was found. Look up that on Google Maps. It should be close to the Hudson River and a bridge. Then zoom in on the map and see if there's anything interesting "under the bridge". (Further hint: What's the name of that bridge?)
Omg, why didn't I see that, Geesh lol btw I re edited the original post as I thought the letters gave too much away, cheers.
I'm still having trouble with 1.3. Have been looking at the Xs for an hour now. Nothing comes to mind
Ok, I'm a little stuck on 1.3 and wondering if someone could clarify if I'm at least aimed in the right direction. Spoiler I've figured out that the x's are likely pentimal runes, but I'm kind of stuck on their relation to the prose edda. Some have commented on turning the runes into letters, which makes me think that they're keyed to the edda, somehow, but I don't entirely see how. I feel like I might be overthinking this though, and wanted to clarify from others whether the edda is actually significant to decoding the runes or is just there to clue you in as to what the runes are
Same here. This is my interpretation, hope it helps in some way: Spoiler I think the reference to the edda is what leads to identifying the origin of the symbols. Then you can try translate the symbols, but the 5 and 8 ones are throwing me off. I have seen references to a dial and changing letters to numbers and numbers to letters. However I think I'm missing the link between the symbols and to what we are supposed to translate them, i.e. the cipher. Edit: Spoiler I have found the relation to the edda. The hint that the edda provides can be seen as twofold, one general, as in norse origin, and the other literal. Spoiler The literal part is where the edda comes from. Combine that with what you said and you may have a way forward
I still can’t see why, it lead me nowhere. But i deleted that message to be safe. Thanks for warning, i will continue tomorrow with a rested mind.
@dreamawake You're obviously really close ! Spoiler just look at Walkers hint earlier in this post ! (the one about help)
Nudgery: (Thanks to Leukocyte and Athame for giving me a few nudges of my own) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHITECHAPEL 1-1 Overboard Nudge: Spoiler We are looking to find a location - and we've got plenty of geographic coordinates to choose from. Are any of them unlike the others? Larger, more important cities are likely to have multiple pings on their cell towers. Final Nudge: Spoiler Some of the points have more information than others. Cities are served by multiple cell towers. If you have an idea of what towers were pinged, they should form a little bubble around a location of interest. Find somewhere online that can plot multiple GPS coordinates. If a city is large enough, nearby locations will have similar names. Think "East LA," "West New York," or "Amsterdam North" Bonus Observation: Spoiler This MAC address does not resolve to any vendor that I could find. This mean that the Agency uses special secret devices - nifty. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHITECHAPEL 1-2 Last Words Nudge: Spoiler Take a note of all of the Agent's belongings, and find out where exactly the car was found. Do you understand all of the words in the document? Make sure you do. Biggest Nudge: Spoiler Street View will help you figure out how logical it would be to find the car there. Read the text message conversation. What does that M*********k word mean? Where did the Agent want to meet? On top of something? Next to it? A bird's eye view of the car's general area will help you put all the puzzle pieces together ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHITECHAPEL 1-3 Unsafe Nudge: Spoiler Me Rambling a little to provide context - spoiler'ed for organization's sake Spoiler We need to get an idea of what we are looking at, and to do that, let's get inside our agent's head. It is good cryptographic practice to have a code system that is secure even if someone trying to crack it knows the method it uses. For example, the algorithms for encryption like AES is published, but unless you know what password is used to encrypt the data, the AES algorithm is useless to you. Even more security can come from obscurity. Your code will be even more secure if the method used to encrypt it is unknown or obscure in the first place. Then someone trying to crack it will be tasked with both finding out the method AND key used. However, we are an agent out in the field - we don't necessarily have access to the best encryption algorithms and will have to work things out in our heads using minimal resources. We also don't want to forget our methods, so we keep a reminder with us so we don't forget. These can't be too obvious that it blows our cover, though. Agent Taylor had everything he needed to 1. Remind him of the code/cipher he used 2. Find a key used to decrypt the code All of these things were in his car - check mission 2 again to see what he had. Bigger Nudge: Spoiler Based on the Agent's belongings, can you guess what we are looking at on the card found in the jacket? Codes are also known as ciphers. Consider the Agent's Choice in literature. It is a translation from another language. Have you seen any languages from that era? What does the writing look like? What is a common name for those style of letters? Our safe is a simple combination dial that uses only numbers. Biggest Nudge: Spoiler Search online to see if you can find any search results that make sense in the context of our card and our agent's choice in literature. Combine some important terms you have found. There is a very useful page Where you can fInd out the instructions you need to Know in order to decrypt the cIpher. Our agent is a seasoned veteran. Based on how he contacted "Wifey" we know his preferred method of communication. We can even guess at what device is being used (not that it lines up with the MAC address - see nudge -1). What is a simple, field-agent friendly method of using this device to interchange letters and numbers? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHITECHAPEL 1-4 Well Documented (pun mission name #2) Nudge: Spoiler We need to know what our Agent was investigating. Whatever we were looking into got him killed, so we know we are dealing with some serious entities here. Look through the documentation and find anything that might meet that description. Biggest Nudge: Spoiler Our experience as Black Watchmen has had us deal with these kinds of entities before. They aren't supernatural, but they do make choices that can effect millions of people's lives. They might be scarier than if we WERE dealing with some sort of supernatural entity. But don't get too stressed. Take a chill pill and you'll get through. Bonus very cryptic nudge that is probably more confusing than helpful: Spoiler Our documents are organized into neat little fruitful rows of information - like a garden. Not all of the lines are choice bits, but if you keep picking through them, keep pruning, and find yourself Constantly Gardening, you will find the answer.
Not quite the right type. Think more viking. Should allow you to convert them into letters and then you can use them to get the combination.
I'm stuck on 1.3 as well. Spoiler I've figured out that the X symbols are 'tent runes'. With the help of Google, I decoded the symbols and ended up with the word Spoiler hewlie . I have no idea what that means though, or how to use it to get the safe combination.
Well, that was sneaky. To be honest, why did it take me so long to think of it. For those who still haven't got the answer, or might have overcomplicated it (like me) Here's a super nudge Spoiler You might want to use your "calling device"
