TEXT UN: 333

[holeful]

I've been thinking about puzzles lately. They can be good team building activities! So here's one to work on;
110020011102011’103 001 033032011-103110033102121 020033111103011 021032 113020021003020 011112011102121110020021032013 021103 121011030030033113. 121011030030033113 113001030030103, 121011030030033113 010033033102103, 121011030030033113 012111102032021110111102011. 113020001110 003033030033102 001102011 110020011 103110001021102103?

Hints;
1: Simplify
2:

[PS: If you feel like your character would be able to solve this but you personally cannot or will not do math, you can dm me or hit me on discord for a hint/the answer! Otherwise please just bully Fukuda for this horseshit.]

Comments

text; un: lyra

[sleepinglyra]

A team building exercise on futility you mean.

I'll grant you that hiding the key to a cipher in a mathematics equations is clever but no language consists of only 3 letters.




On the off chance I'm mistaken and the message is in English, 001 is a or i and 103 has to be a letter that is followed by an apostrophe. t or s would be the most likely ones except people shorten too many words these days to easily narrow it down.

[holeful]

Haha, you say it's futile even though you're well on your way to solving it!

Of course no language has only three letters, that's why it's not a direct single numeral to letter cipher. That would be too easy. Like you've deduced, each three digit grouping corresponds to a letter. You could try to work it out like it's a random replacement cipher, but it's not random and the hints would tell you how exactly to decode it.

[sleepinglyra]

[He's stubborn.]

The hints are more difficult than the cipher.

If every three digits is a letter then the first word is 6 letters long. Where is the only five letter question word that has two of the same vowels so am I correct that the first word is Where's?

[holeful]

No, but it's close to that! Only the last sentence in the puzzle is a question, after all. There's two normal sentences before that.

Because you're doing so well, I'll give you a hint. 110 is "t"!

[sleepinglyra]

Two sentences?

[Ah, the punctuation got lost in that ridiculous sea of numbers. That was foolish mistake.]

I see. Thank you.

110 = t, 020 = h, 011 = e , 102 = r, 103 = s

a = 001, b = 002, c = 003, d = ? e = 011

[Hmm, again this 3 number code was confusing. Did the sequence start over at 3? So instead of 1 through 10 could it be 1 through three?]

Then is d = 010 correct?

[holeful]

[Absolutely obsessed with him reverse engineering base 4.]

Yes!!! That's all correct!!! Nice work. You see the pattern now?

Figuring this out with using Sheliak's limited knowledge was fun! thanks!

[sleepinglyra]

[Well as loathe as he is to admit it, he wouldn't even know where to begin with that nightmarish hint but giving up wasn't an option. Besides, working with limited knowledge was a thrilling challenge. Perhaps he judged the puzzle too harshly.]

Indeed I do.

a = 001, b = 002, c = 003, d = 010, e = 011, f = 012, g = 013, h = 020, i = 021, j = 022, k = 023, l = 030, m = 031, n = 032, o = 033, p = 100, q = 101, r = 102, s = 103, t = 110, u = 111, v = 112, w = 113, x = 120, y = 121, z = 122

Honestly impressed

[holeful]

[Fukuda is so happy.]

Yeah exactly!!! Now you just have to convert the text and answer the question!

thanks! (apparently I can't type though, sorry for the typo)

[sleepinglyra]

I thought this was supposed to be a team exercise?

I've done more than enough for others to figure out the rest.

But since you created a rather enjoyable puzzle for me, I will say it is a clever riddle, with a tricky solution.

[Which is his subtle way of saying it's a trick question.]

[holeful]

Ah, fair enough! I'm glad you enjoyed it, even though you didn't think much of it at the start.

[sleepinglyra]

I was too quick to judge. If you make another one I won't jump to conclusions.

[holeful]

I've gotten some ideas on how to improve it so I definitely will!

Ah, I'm Fukuda by the way, what's your name?

[sleepinglyra]

Wouldn't telling you that negate the purpose of choosing something else as a username?

How much do you know about astronomy?

[holeful]

I guess if you're using it to stay anonymous! I just picked mine because I liked it.

But I don't know too much, though I at least know Lyra is a constellation.

[sleepinglyra]

Well it's not for complete anonymity, otherwise I wouldn't have chosen something connected to my name.

Since you didn't get to enjoy your own puzzle, here's one for you. I hope you can find the right teammates to help you solve it.

031121 032001031011 021103 110020011 110020021102010 002102021013020110011103110 103110001102 021032 030121102001, 001030103033 023032033113032 001103 110020011 020001102100 033012 030121102001.

[holeful]

[!!!!!! A PRESENT.]

Haha, you say that, but you solved it all on your own, didn't you?
Thank you for indulging me in any case. It's nice to meet you.

[sleepinglyra]

[Fukuda deserves it after all his hard work.]

That's true but it was my choice to work alone. You made the puzzle with teambuilding in mind didn't you?

[Should he try to create another way to solve the puzzle like how he solved Fukuda's?]

It's nice to meet you as well.

[holeful]

Vaguely. Partly I was just thinking about numbers, but I also thought maybe people could work together to solve it and that's why I posted it!

[Sometimes you just think about numbers a little.]

[sleepinglyra]

So mathematics is a hobby of yours?

[holeful]

I guess now you could call it that.

[sleepinglyra]

It's a valuable hobby.

[Whereas most people found his hobby of napping odd, so he didn't judge.]