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Except now they can.

What the hell? What was the POINT of all that, then? Just to see if they could derail the chatroom for five minutes? I mean, seriously. ?!?!?!???!!!

Quixote was confused about the calendar, but Wacky and I cleared things up for him.

So we just got a LOT of tweets from Quixote; now that they've stopped, an attempt to organize what we now know.

• The two relevant pieces of information from the calendar are the month May
• and the days 20 and 23
• Brad later mentions that 20 and 23 connect to the letters T and W, which he and Deanna used to put on state tests as their place of birth-- standing for "The World"
• It's unclear whether this is the entire significance of 20 and 23.
• Deanna alluded to the Playfair Cypher
• She also suggested using Tara's name as the key
• She also made mention of Digital Roots. It is unclear whether these should be used for 20 and 23, or for
• the last message from Deanna-- a string of numbers: "1021 2204 0407 1004 0907 1402"
• 2204 was originally given as 2304, but then Deanna sent a correction tweet. It's unclear whether this is a GM's typo, or another clue.

Edit: Agora solved this one.
He split Deanna's string of numbers into pairs, converted them into letters, and put them through the Playfair cypher with the keyphrase "TARA".
This gave the message "MONTHFIELDST"
As "month" clearly refers to May, the month the calendar was open to, this gives us Mayfield Street. The only Mayfield Street in the right part of the COUNTRY is North or South Mayfield Street in Kennewick, WA (3 hours drive from Seattle).
Quixote confirmed this as the right street, and asked for the house number.
Since the digital root of 2023 is 7, he gave Quixote the number 7 for the address.
This appeared to be confirmed as the right address, and Quixote said he and Brad will go there tomorrow.

...and then he got this.
Bloody hell, it never seems to end...

ALSO: I think Agora deserves a special title for his accomplishment (seriously, if you were online when this was happening, the puzzle was IMPOSSIBLE and making us cry). We tossed some ideas around the chatroom, and 'Meta-Cryptist' sounds pretty good. Who else votes he gets the title?!

So sad but I missed this, but I don't think I could have solved it anyway. I give my vote.

My thoughts on the situation:

1. ...That's a pretty global one. What are they going to do when they find Deanna? They might as well wait until she comes herself - the odds don't change: she is still ready, pissed and has a gun.
2. She likes alphanumeric cipher. Seriously? What are the odds? (WMG: She's an orphaned instantiation )
3. I've just found out what digital root is.
4. This hint about the letter Q that doesn't Play Fair (sic!) left unused.
5. This, I think, says that we made a mistake. Because it sounded like she got some new information, and I think she'd know her own location.
6. Spoiled By The Format: with 3 more days, it's sooo not over.
7. Tara could just highlight number 7 on the calendar. Why go to such great lengths? Besides, why hide Deanna's location, when she was worried about Mann?
8. Once again, Deanna knows their next step. Either she won't be there, or it will be a trap or a next clue. What I'm saying is, at the end of the breadcrumb trail there won't be Deanna sitting in a fetal position, saying "Ok guys, you have solved all my puzzles. Take me now. ". She is playing with us, and the only winning move is not to play. We have to resort to in-universe Sequence Breaking if we are to take her by surprise. And, mind you, Deanna seems to constantly be on the move.
9. UPD: The numbers. 20 23. They are meaningful to Deanna and Brad, not so much for Tara. Conicidence? My donkey.
   UPD2: HOLY SHI. Agoraoptera found another detail. Tara apologized to her brother Brad. The last names don't match, but who knows what that could mean. We need to ask Brad about this.

UPD3: I made a search for Braddock / Brad Coulson within the bounds of a timeline (since 15th September). This is the only thing I could reliably find. (He is also among the first if I search the exact phrase without the date). I think he's a real guy, but I'll leave it here in case it becomes relevant. We'll see what Brad says.

I miss all the good stuff. Fuck sleep.

But yeah, I agree with Dryu, this is way too obvious a trap, and Quixote is just rushing in head first. I doubt we can talk him out of it though...

Also nominating Dryu for CMOF page, telling Quixote to tell Deanna to go fuck herself. Beautiful.

Dryunya wrote:So sad but I missed this, but I don't think I could have solved it anyway. I give my vote.

My thoughts on the situation:

• This hint about the letter Q that doesn't Play Fair (sic!) left unused.

Actually, that hint was used. The Other Wiki page for Playfair cypher said that in order to reduce the alphabet to 25 letters instead of 26, people usually omit Q or merge I and J. This statement led me to create the square that cracked the code, omitting Q.

Dryunya wrote:

• Tara could just highlight number 7 on the calendar. Why go to such great lengths? Besides, why hide Deanna's location, when she was worried about Mann?

As far as Tara knows, Deanna's location IS Mann's location; remember, she went to Deanna's for a photoshoot with Deanna's and Mann's company.
Alternatively, she's worried about Deanna from the start in this video, but doesn't want to say so outright. She guessed rightly that if we looked for Mann, he would reveal the Deanna connection, but is only concerned about giving us Deanna's location.
Either way, this point doesn't concern me.

Dryunya wrote:UPD2: HOLY SHI. Agoraoptera found another detail. Tara apologized to her brother Brad. The last names don't match, but who knows what that could mean. We need to ask Brad about this.[/list]

NOW can people stop saying I was being ridiculous when I pointed out that the wording in that post was really weird?!

Dryunya wrote:

• Once again, Deanna knows their next step. Either she won't be there, or it will be a trap or a next clue. What I'm saying is, at the end of the breadcrumb trail there won't be Deanna sitting in a fetal position, saying "Ok guys, you have solved all my puzzles. Take me now. ". She is playing with us, and the only winning move is not to play. We have to resort to in-universe Sequence Breaking if we are to take her by surprise. And, mind you, Deanna seems to constantly be on the move.

*Sigh*
This.
But there isn't any other Mayfield remotely in that part of the country that comes up on google maps, and this is better than NOTHING.

Qara-Xuan Zenith wrote:

Dryunya wrote:This hint about the letter Q that doesn't Play Fair (sic!) left unused.

Actually, that hint was used. The Other Wiki page for Playfair cypher said that in order to reduce the alphabet to 25 letters instead of 26, people usually omit Q or merge I and J. This statement led me to create the square that cracked the code, omitting Q.

I stand corrected.

Qara-Xuan Zenith wrote:

Dryunya wrote:

• Tara could just highlight number 7 on the calendar. Why go to such great lengths? Besides, why hide Deanna's location, when she was worried about Mann?

As far as Tara knows, Deanna's location IS Mann's location; remember, she went to Deanna's for a photoshoot with Deanna's and Mann's company.

Mann confirmed that he didn't know Deanna's location, and Tara did. And we don't know who was at the photoshoot.

Qara-Xuan Zenith wrote:there isn't any other Mayfield remotely in that part of the country that comes up on google maps, and this is better than NOTHING.

I know that we have no choice but to follow, but the better solutions would be to alert the police, set up the trap of their own, go to a public place, trace her phone (she seems to send text messages to them, so they know her number), or whatever. I've never felt so limited by the game's bounds.

Qara-Xuan Zenith wrote:But there isn't any other Mayfield remotely in that part of the country.

Well, you're wrong about that, Qara-Xuan Zenith. I was working around the clock on thjs, and djscovered the following:

Itsudpxbzvmiohrlpudpokrwzcsnvenhmeyxhmukegvulhvuxmhmie

Also, I totally second or third the cool title for the guy who cracked the code in the first place. Kudos, man.

Edit: I think I made a typo somewhere. Oh well.

OneSteve wrote:

Qara-Xuan Zenith wrote:But there isn't any other Mayfield remotely in that part of the country.

Well, you're wrong about that, Qara-Xuan Zenith. I was working around the clock on thjs, and djscovered the following:

Itsudpxbzvmiohrlpudpokrwzcsnvenhmeyxhmukegvulhvuxmhmie

Also, I totally second or third the cool title for the guy who cracked the code in the first place. Kudos, man.

Edit: I think I made a typo somewhere. Oh well.

Somewhere?

Genndy Oda C.O.G. wrote:

OneSteve wrote:

Qara-Xuan Zenith wrote:But there isn't any other Mayfield remotely in that part of the country.

Well, you're wrong about that, Qara-Xuan Zenith. I was working around the clock on thjs, and djscovered the following:

Itsudpxbzvmiohrlpudpokrwzcsnvenhmeyxhmukegvulhvuxmhmie

Also, I totally second or third the cool title for the guy who cracked the code in the first place. Kudos, man.

Edit: I think I made a typo somewhere. Oh well.

Somewhere?

It's most likely ciphered too.

OneSteve eh? I see you are quite the troper. I follow your rule then. All I have to say about that is:

qkyxxwtxsurbvulhukpfivsh.
Fair enough. Two can play at this game.

agoraoptera wrote:qkyxxwtxsurbvulhukpfivsh.

"agoraoptera hears and obeys"
--Well played dude. And thanks-- glad you got my message. Now you need that metacryptist title even more.

and I'm glad to find another crypto fan here

OneSteve wrote:

agoraoptera wrote:qkyxxwtxsurbvulhukpfivsh.

"agoraoptera hears and obeys"
--Well played dude. And thanks-- glad you got my message. Now you need that metacryptist title even more.

and I'm glad to find another crypto fan here

There's SOHCA-I mean, Trigs too.

I'M NOT TRIGS! I AM SOHCAHTOA!

SOOO, THEY'RE NOW DRIVING. BRAD KEEPS CHECKING HIS PHONE AND IS GETTING MORE AND MORE NERVOUS. AND HE HAS A GUN, TOO.
I'M NOT SURE WHAT TO THINK OF THIS ANYMORE.

I'M ESPECIALLY WORRIED BECAUSE JENNIFER SEEMED SO EAGER TO GET THEM TO FIGURE OUT THE MESSAGE. WHATEVER THEY FIND WILL BE EXACTLY WHAT SHE WANTED THEM TO FIND.

UNLESS THIS IS ALL A MISLEAD, AND IS HER EFFORT TO KEEP THEM BUSY UNTIL SHE KILLS BRAD.

BRAD NOW SAID THAT "NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, HE'S ON HIS SIDE". IT WILL BE QUITE A SURPRISE IF HE'S ABOUT TO PULL A DOUBLE AGENT ON DEANNA.

Quixote's started another rant of tweets

He seems to be describing what happened after arriving at the house. Mrs. Gamble is actually Dr. Gamble, and she knew Don Quixote was coming. Also, she's been house sitting at Jennifer's since the end of August. And more to come.

Edit: And now he's silent. Time for a recap:

* Mary Gamble was Jennifer's psychiatrist when she was placed in the institution.
* Dr. Gamble discharged Jennifer out of sheer fear, due to seeing darkness in her eyes.
* Tara Coulson was Bradley Foreman's sister. The different last names are explained by their parents not being married.
* Braddock wants revenge on Jennifer, bringing the gun not for protection, but to kill Jennifer as soon as he sees her.
* Jen, Brad, Tara, and Miranda were all friends as children.
* The texts Brad were recieving on the trip was Jennifer teasing him about Tara's death, and for Brad not telling Quixote about being Tara's brother.

So, at long last, we learn why Tara had become a victim. She wasn't just a random bystander. It would appear that it's something a bit more personal. Jennifer's motives are still unclear, but we can now be safely assured that Bradley is indeed on our side, and is not a double agent.

Regarding motives, I would say that Jennifer probably did it to punish Braddock for not loving her anymore.
Oh, so Brad saw no light in her eyes, then Mrs Gamble saw darkness in her eyes, THEN Brad again saw nothing in her eyes? Is this just a running theme or is something going on?

First, "no light" = "darkness". Semantics.
Second, I think there's still more to it. Fighting a random insane woman would be too boring, like this lunch of mine.

And, somehow Gamble was too quick to accept actual Don Quixote walking around. We are yet to find out what Deanna told her.

Ok. He's tweeting Deanna's "revelations".
He's not finished yet, but it's another confirmation that the plot devices are leaking.

So... for the sake of completeness. Deanna is in custody, with a ton of evidence and accusations. Quixote got another bullet in his chest and survived. Is there a trope for that?

Made of Iron?

If he was Made Of Iron, he wouldn't get into the hospital in the first place. I'm not sure, really. Troper's Block. Maybe later.