Story (Full) 8
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The story so far...
In the previous section, Mason finally located Doug at the Fishery only to find that he had been "altered" somehow. This new form of Doug proceeded to regain control of Letschasethemouse in an attempt to convince the players to turn against Mason. It was at this point The Man forced three players to choose between Doug and Mason's save files. Ultimately, these three players all submitted the same answer - Doug. The answer was accepted, though it led to several days of conflict amongst the other players. The Gray Man attempted to quell this in-fighting while journeying to what appeared to be a cellphone tower for reasons unknown...
Meanwhile, Vincent fell asleep, allowing Patrem to regain control of his body. Using Within Hubris, Patrem proceeded to give the players a vague description of what's to come. He described a "Portal" that was created by someone named "Saint". This "Portal" was controlled by the "Grand Child", who is currently attempting to find the "Burned One" - one of the two outsiders who caused Patrem's entrapment. Worryingly, Patrem claims that this "Burned One" is actually one of the players. Patrem then departs, claiming he needs to attend a sacrificial ritual.
Fearing that Doug or Mason may be sacrificed, the players used the Ocarina to make an elaborate submission. Unfortunately, they misread the situation as neither Doug nor Mason were in danger. This misplaced submission resulted in Mason becoming trapped within a flooding storm drain. Hoping to find a way to rescue him, the players began exploring a newly updated YSHDT.com for answers. After many days of searching, Helper came to the players with some unfortunate news. Despite their best efforts, the players had missed something. Because of this, someone was now dead.
On April 22nd, 2015, Helper informed the players that someone had died. Not long after this, The Man contacted the players with some clarifications:
Just came in to mention that I never said Mason was dead.
well no but we assumed it
considering we left him stuck in a storm drain for two weeks and all
We're all idiots :L
The Man states that he never said that Mason specifically was the one who died. However, considering his previous predicament, he still seems to be the most likely candidate...
Can we have a hint at what we should do?
The hint is
You already found it.
Ok, take care!
The Man implies that the players have "already found it" - likely referring to the "rabbit hole" that they failed to explore... This entire conversation can be read below:
Chat with The Man
[10:42:34 PM] *** The Man joined. ***
[10:42:38 PM] ₳ḎUL₸_ⱢINĶ: Hi
[10:42:39 PM] Captain "CircleHunter" Desdinova: welp, nobody ever said we were on hiatus so
[10:42:58 PM] ₳ḎUL₸_ⱢINĶ: ;-;
[10:42:58 PM] The Man: Just came in to mention that I never said Mason was dead.
[10:42:59 PM] Oceanstuck: hi...
[10:43:08 PM] Oceanstuck: well no but we assumed it
[10:43:20 PM] Oceanstuck: considering we left him stuck in a storm drain for two weeks and all
[10:43:21 PM] ₳ḎUL₸_ⱢINĶ: We're all idiots :L
[10:43:22 PM] Mugen Kagemaru (K♦): Ohai Dude
[10:43:23 PM] The Man: And I never said I was on haitus, just that updates would be really slow.
[10:43:30 PM] Kidpichu: ^
[10:43:31 PM] Mando 寒山: You missed it mugen
[10:43:33 PM] Oceanstuck: we kinda sorted that out
[10:43:36 PM] Kidpichu: that is true
[10:43:39 PM] The Man: Alright, bye!
[10:43:42 PM] ₳ḎUL₸_ⱢINĶ: Cya
[10:43:43 PM] Mando 寒山: NO WAIT
[10:43:45 PM] Mando 寒山: WHO DIED
[10:43:48 PM] Mando 寒山: WHO IS PHONE
[10:43:53 PM] Mando 寒山: WHAT IS THE DANKEST MEME
[10:44:01 PM] The Man: And please tell your friends in the other two chats this information.
[10:44:10 PM] ₳ḎUL₸_ⱢINĶ: Can we have a hint at what we should do?
[10:44:11 PM] Mando 寒山: No
[10:44:14 PM] The Man: I do not want them to be left out of the loop.
[10:44:19 PM] The Man: Yes.
[10:44:24 PM] The Man: The hint is
[10:44:35 PM] The Man: You already found it.
[10:44:42 PM] Oceanstuck: we have?
[10:44:43 PM] The Man: Ok, take care!
[10:44:47 PM] *** The Man has left ***
This led to the players looking back over their recent discoveries, resulting in a few revelations from the player Yuki. First, she managed to solve Mason's final message - it was a cipher that translated to "The time will come". The players theorized that this meant that they may soon cease interacting with the year 2009 and instead jump ahead to the present - 2015.
On April 23rd, 2015", Yuki made another discovery - the most recent SSTV signal discovered on YSHDT.com was never solved. Upon playing this file through a translator, a hidden message was revealed - "18203". This led to the discover of a new page - "http://yshdt.com/18203". This page contained a radio tower and the message "Please respond soon...". The audio on this page was that of a "Number's Station" - a radio station that broadcasts secret messages in the form of numbers. This audio translated to the following:
Please tell me the code look on your note page for more information.
It seems the players were meant to respond with some sort of code - though it was not probably far too late... However, the mention of "notes" led to the player Jacob discovering a new page - "http://yshdt.com/psychology". This page contained the following image:
Psychology
- Introduced operative, bait was taken
- Infighting leads to loss of ability to solve puzzles and riddles
- Believes too much that they will understand
- Bent on saving, without a single thought
- Too trusting
Demons:
- Perceptive and deceptive
- Decide to disclude for unknown reason
Sacrifice
They are unneded
"Heroes":
- On top of other notes, are sort of bumbling
- Have good hearts, not heads
- Forget all to easily
Kill
While needed, will be a pain
Much like the "poem" found previously, this seemed to be more notes about the players written by Doug. He claims that an "operative" was introduced, leading to in-fighting. This is possibly referencing one of the demons - a group that Doug claims are unneeded and can be sacrificed. Strangely, Doug claims that the other players are necessary for some reason.
Following the pattern of "psychology", the player Spirkiroid discovered another new page - "http://yshdt.com/networking". This page contained the text "Notes:" followed by links to several different files - many of which were password protected behind various puzzles and riddles.
The first file was named "the COlOR.zip" and was locked behind a password. Going off of the hint of colors, the player Wolfcat noticed that the background color of the page contained an odd hex-value - "FFFCD6". This turned out to be the password, unlocking the ZIP file and revealing the image of a shadowy figure.
The second file was named "It affects everything, but is not real.rar". It, too, was locked behind a password. The player Wolfcat solved the riddle in this file's name - "Time", which ended up being the correct password. Once unlocked, the RAR file revealed the same image seen above - though now the figure's eyes were open...
The third file was named "The Ascension of Jesus by Benjamin West.rar". The password for this one took a while for the players to crack. However, the player John eventually unlocked it by using the same password for the previous file - "Time". Once opened, it revealed the same painting found within its title - “The Ascension of Jesus” by Benjamin West.
Strangely, the fourth file did not exist. Instead, the list skipped to the fifth file, which was titled "help.zip". This file was not password-protected and just contained another image of a storm drain.
The sixth and final file, "linkaggregation.txt", was also not password-protected. This file simply contained text that read "NO WAY BACK" repeated countless times. The name of this file is likely a reference to a term found in Doug's earlier notes - "Link Aggregation".
On April 30th, 2015, The Man joined the Internet Detectives Skype group and gave a brief update regarding the status of the ARG. However, before he left, he cryptically changed the group's name to read "Device incoming.", leading many to wonder what exactly this device was...
Chat with The Man
[12:56:36 PM] *** The Man joined. ***
[12:56:41 PM] The Man: Hello
[12:56:57 PM] The Man: Sorry it is so late/early for all of you.
[12:57:32 PM] The Man: I would like to inform you all that this week I haven't been active because my finals were pushed a week early.
[12:58:17 PM] The Man: So the lack of updates and replies to any e-mails is not because of a lack of figuring things out.
[12:58:47 PM] The Man: I hope to push out an update by the end of tomorrow.
[12:58:52 PM] *** The Man has left ***
[1:06:33 PM] Evie: Oh... Shit.
[1:06:51 PM] Evie: We straight missed that nigga
[1:13:39 PM] Pol Pot Mall Cop: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CD0G2etWAAAkb22.jpg
[1:28:35 PM] Evie: I'm excited for tomorrow. That means the whole site is gonna change.
[1:32:54 PM] Evie: If anyone reads this, quickly grab screenshots of the site for your notes.
[1:38:21 PM] Evie: Too late man, he's already taken down most of the pages, fuck!
[1:49:20 PM] Grey: FUCK I MISSED HIM
[1:49:30 PM] Oceanstuck: we all missed him
[1:54:08 PM] *** Evie has changed the conversation topic to "Internet Detectives | Update: 04/30 | We hardcore ignored The Man" ***
[2:19:57 PM] *** The Man joined. ***
[2:20:09 PM] The Man: I love the new name.
[2:21:07 PM] *** The Man has changed the conversation topic to "Internet Detectives | Update: 04/30 | Device incoming." ***
[2:21:19 PM] The Man: Now I really love it.
[2:21:23 PM] *** The Man has left ***
[2:23:07 PM] Neon Syrup for the Cemertery Sisters: oh fuck
On May 3rd, 2015, Doug finally made another post on his blog:
5/3/15
I'm sorry it's been so long. Things have been hectic around here, what with all the planning and such.
I also had a really bad headache, but something tells me that pain is going to end soon.
Very soon.
Doug claims he's been doing a lot of planning. He also cryptically states that the pain is going to end soon...
Sorry to be rude, but where are you? Are you still with the cult?
Sorry, I've been having trouble with my computer recently. Anyways, who are you?
What have you been so hectic with?
It’s the end of the school year. What do you think?
Have you come in contact with any of the Moon Children recently?
I am in constant contact with them now.
Doug continues pretending as though nothing is wrong, denying that his religious group is a cult and claiming to be concerned with his school work. However, when asked if he's in contact with the Moon Children, he claims that he is in "constant contact" with them.
Later that day, players discovered that YSHDT.com had updated once again. The front page now featured an image of a storm drain with text that read "WHATDIDYOUDO" and "MASON". Interestingly, this storm drain also had a small device sitting next to it that possessed a blinking light. Shortly after this, players discovered that "http://yshdt.com/networking" had updated as well, containing links to new files, continuing where the previous list left off.
The missing fourth files was now present, titled "UQSA6WUBMZS38DTY7ZT5T27O7DPU7JP87ZU7O3.rar". This file was also password-protected. However, after some experimentation, the player Mando unlocked it using the password "Ascension", revealing a file that simply contained the text "MasonFreed". This all gave off the worrying implication that Mason had indeed drowned and was ascended...
The seventh file file was titled "Is this my face.zip" and was locked behind the password "mask". Once opened, it revealed an image of Link from The Legend of Zelda with his face missing.
The eighth file was missing - much like the fourth file before it.
The ninth file contained a link to the page "http://yshdt.com/come", which had also been updated. However, the contents of this page will be covered further down.
The tenth file was titled "Wells had considered the notion of time travel before.rar". It, too, was password-protected. However, after much work, players eventually unlocked it using the password "timebomb". When opened, it revealed a photo of blueprints for just that - a "Time Bomb", albeit one in a more literal sense. It contained text that read "Messages through time", implying that this time bomb could somehow literally effect time itself.
The eleventh file was simply titled "11.jpg". It was not locked behind a password and simply contained a smiling, orange face with text that read "IM WATCHING".
