Red Monday, October 9 update

The Red Monday game continued, after our last update.  Content has gotten political.  Advances are through codes, email, and messages to a discussion board.

First, another email from JC arrived.  This one invites participation in an open source intel project (and links the Wikipedia entry on it).  It points to a sound file, which consists of the cut-off portion from the last one.  It adds a mysterious image, copied here.  And it concludes with code:

Nyfb, lbh thlf gelvat gb penpx gur pbqr... Lbh boivbhfyl qvqa'g "gev" rabhtu. Ybbx hc Gevsvq Pvcure naq gura rznvy zr bapr lbh'ir oebxra gur zrffntrf. Ol gur jnl, EBG13 vf nobhg nf rnfl nf vg trgf jvgu rapbqvat... vs lbh qba'g trg guvf, guna lbh ernyyl unir ab ohfvarff jbexvat va gur pelcgbtencul vaqhfgel. Znlor lbh arrq gb nfx gur thlf ba gur qrifurq Frphevgl naq Pelcgbtencul Sbehzf arkg gvzr. yby.

uggc://sbehzf.hasvpgvba.pbz/sbehzf/ivrjgbcvp.cuc?g=21349
uggc://jjj.chercjantr.pbz/sbehzf/vaqrk.cuc?f=94960p95r2900876q949o76475967021&fubjgbcvp=63369&ivrj=svaqcbfg&c=1127932
uggc://vasbphyg.glcrcnq.pbz/vasbphyg/2007/10/hcqngrf-ba-erq-.ugzy

Try it through a ROT-13 cipher engine yourself.  I'm pleased to see the Infocult note.

Second, the main page's source code has yet another remark line change.  It now reads:

!--
The code is gabriel
---
http://www.purepwnage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=63369&st=0&gopid=1127932&#entry1127932
Here's a hint... it's all about the thirdd
-->

Following the link leads to a post on some forum by one "RM-Zero"*, which includes a string of ciphertext.  At first I thought this was ROT-3 ("thirdd"), but got nothing.  Then above HTMl source code informed us that Trifid cipher is called for.  Try the engine linked from that Wikipedia page.  Result:

tonyhawkinsethanchloeobriend.l.edwardisaacsawyergrayandersonbauerrobertisaacekolocke

A string of names from pop culture, especially tv (I recognize Lost and 24).  But the first letters of each name, taken together? "thecodeisgabriel".  Which we already knew, from the source code.  Why the repetition?

Somewhere on that Pure board is another piece of Trifid, which I can't find, but which the Unfictionites helpfully repeated:

hnsarigjngfawukdyigecbdalebhpgcevdhzljdsulebgudggtbarlpuvlddfedpyuiy.eakogjcunziujckltpzpofbqingisuihlbvqvokxzfnxhmpvtxewmonmw.rymrm.
zdazgnniiunscbiggobyzhgnmvpjhzdhcpvokzof.mykpnscffadanndkdbnxyp

Spin that through Trifid, and the target is out: a leader of a certain major Middle Eastern nation.  If that's right, "Red" doesn't refer to Marxism, but to... bloodshed?

What do we know about the big picture?  At a narrative level, we're being invited to participate in a clandestine investigation.  At an ontological level, this could be an actual open source intel project, or an ARG trying to look like one.

*"RM" - running that through the ROT-13 yields "EZ".  Heh.

Comments

[peter naegele]

Very interesting. I am beginning to wonder what the point is....particularly given this quote from Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud [who retired]:

"Ours is a turbulent region, still in the grips of an arms race. True peace and disarmament are a long way off. There are great security anxieties in our region due to the dangerous imbalance between the various players."

hmmm..."dangerous imbalance between the various players"...very interesting.

But now....Khalid is totally out of that realm. He owns prize winning race horses and is involved with ocean coservation.

In any case...we can be sure JC is a "24" fan!

[Ladi]

FYI - www.rot13.com is a nice, fast resource for pure rot13 conversions.

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