The Wargames series continued into Aegis Nova with 15 puzzles containing critical intel for the agent who solves them. Verum Inveniri started off the festivities just before 1200 UTC and the first 10 puzzles all being unlocked within 90 minutes. At 2200 UTC, Verum Inveniri announced more challenges to bring the total to 15.
Remember, all the codes for this series eventually solve to the format xxxxxxxx#keyword# (unless stated otherwise). This is a typical format for passcodes distributing volatile intel around anomalies.
We see an image of a grey card with several holes cut in it. A search for shield on Investigate Ingress will find the redacted portions of The First Shield post matches that of the card. Using an image editing tools we can cut holes in the card and overlay it as shown:
First the Shield – Overlay
From what remains, we see letters, a keyword and two numbers spelled out.
rxwbgskz Calvin nin two
Reading across and down we get a peek at our passcode:
The image shows Apollo 8’s re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. In the Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo is also known as Phoebus, so the hint sentence also suggests the Apollo program, from 7 to 16.
In the Apollo program 7 to 16, 15 landing were performed on both the Earth and the Moon. Let’s list the coordinates of landing position in order:
17, 18, 13, 20 are the first four rolls of a skilled Magic Missile caster.
We see two images with dice. The first which has eight sets could be our prefix. The second likely our numbers and keyword. A calculator in the corner suggestions a sum of dice. A quick sum and number to letter conversion gets part of a keyword MNJPFPCHVVOYLHBEQ but something doesn’t quite add up.
*The three sided die (next to the coin) has RPS markings – “Rock, Paper, Scissors”. We can interpret the “R” as the first so 1.
**The coin has two sides – “Heads or Tails”. Heads is first so another 1.
4
4
3
2
4
4
4
2
4
4
2
4
4
4
4
4
2
4
4
4
3
1
3
3
3
2
17
5
17
5
12
3
20
5
11
R
(1)*
7
Heads
(1)**
2
4
1
17
As any experienced geek knows (or researching the hint) a Magic Missile does 1d4+1 damage. Adding +1 to each die gives better results: 17, 18, 13, 20, 8, 21, 4, 11, 24, 24, 17, 27, 14, 9, 3, 7, 18 or QRMTHUDKXXQ[NICGR
“…of your ship.” The end of the hint suggests that the numbers are related to some of the ships in the show. After some searching it was discovered that each number group refers to a specific Star Trek star ship’s registry number:
82617
USS Capitoline
11550
USS Apollo
70915
USS Bonchune
82602
USS Aventine
79914
USS Demeter
31600
USS Bonestell
57400
USS Chimera
65491
USS Kyushu
640
USS Copernicus
80108
USS Amalthea
14232
USS Berlin
1941
USS Bozeman
77024
USS Achilles
54927
USS Denver
59318
USS Cochrane
68700
USS Freedom
42043
USS Centaur
80112
USS Galatea
57500
USS Challenger
11638
USS Agamemnon
2010
USS Jenolan
40512
USS Gorkon
57566
USS Kearsarge
1601
USS Agincourt
“…the forward and aft parts…” This part of the hint suggests that the important parts of the name of each ship are the first and last letters:
First letters: CABADBCKCABBADCFCGCAJGKA
Last letters: eoeerlausannsremrarnnnet
“Pad both…” Finally, the very beginning of the hint references a known cipher called One Time Pad. Using this cipher, decrypt using the last letters as your message and the first letters as the pad:
codeokykqammsochpupnehut
Although most of the result looks like gibberish, there is one section that stands out in the beginning: “code.” This is an indicator that this is the correct path to follow for the solve. Separate the “code” out and divide the 8 letter prefix from the numbers/keyword section:
code okykqamm sochpupnehut
The final step is also Star Trek related. Separate the numbers/keyword section:
In the image we see numbers and a bear in a shield.
Analyzing the first number in each set we find they have a greatest common divisor of 426. Dividing each by that gives:
3408
8
3408
8
2982
7
2982
7
3408
8
2982
7
3408
8
3408
8
2130
5
3408
8
2982
7
2556
6
3408
8
2982
7
2556
6
2130
5
We need to find an index for the second numbers. Searching for Bear and Shield we find this album listing. Sounds consistent with the clue but how can we be sure it’s the one we need. Converting 426 to minutes and seconds we get 7:06. A match with the length of the last song! Converting the rest of the numbers and matching with song number gives our next piece:
275
4:35
1
344
5:44
7
264
4:24
2
270
4:30
8
318
5:18
4
318
5:18
4
318
5:18
4
224
3:44
5
62
1:02
3
0:00
0
360
6:00
6
224
3:44
5
62
1:02
3
344
5:44
7
224
3:44
5
360
6:00
6
Combine our two pieces,
81 87 72 78 84 74 84 85 53 80 76 65 83 77 65 56
and bear with me while we convert from dec to ascii
We see a badge with three character words. An image search can determine the badge in the background is from the Los Angeles Police Department. A search for LAPD finds each Bureau is divided into areas – each with a unique number
We can match our short names to an area and number. eg:
RMP
Rampart Area
(2)
SOW
Southwest Area
(3)
HRB
Harbor Area
(5)
…
…
…
Our numbers range from 2 – 21, well within alphabet range. Converting number to alpha (A=1) we get:
In the image, the code is written in unusual symbols that resembles Greek alphabet. Indeed it’s ancient Greek alphabet so write it down;
gamma
epsilon
pi
lambda
digamma
sigma
digamma
nu
digamma
sigma
nu
beta
alpha
iota
pi
lambda
digamma
sigma
digamma
nu
digamma
sigma
mu
nu
omicron
gamma
tau
omicron
epsilon
xi
pi
lambda
omicron
rho
alpha
tau
omicron
rho
koppa
digamma
iota
nu
koppa
digamma
epsilon
Then convert it to correspond modern Roman alphabet and make it in line.
GEPLWSWNWSNBAIPLWSWNWSMNOGTOEXPLORATORKWINKWE
You can find meaningful word “EXPLORATOR” at the latter of the code. It must lead a keyword.
GEPLWSWNWSNBAIPLWSWNWSMNOGTO EXPLORATOR KWINKWE
After “EXPLORATOR”, KWINKWE is also meaningful. This must turn into number and sounds “quinque”, 5 in latin.
GEPLWSWNWSNBAIPLWSWNWSMNOGTO EXPLORATOR5
Before “EXPLORATOR” will also be a number. It’s notable that “OGTO” followed by “EXPLORATOR”. In ancient Greek there’s no letter correspond directly to ‘C’. Assume “OGTO” as “OCTO” then this can be 8 in latin. Note that the code starts with ‘G’ so make sure to substitute it with ‘C’.
CEPLWSWNWSNBAIPLWSWNWSMN 8EXPLORATOR5
Did you notice that the string “PLWSWNWS” appeared twice in the code? Substitute ‘W’ with ‘U’, this string turns out to be “PLUS UNUS”, “+1” in latin. But what to +1? Let’s see the code carefully.
CE +1 SNBAI +1 MN 8EXPLORATOR5
There are some Roman letters other than ‘C’ that cannot be expressed directly by ancient Greek alphabet. ROT+1 the letters followed by “+1” gives ‘F’ or ‘J’, that don’t correspond to ancient Greek alphabet.
More Coat of Arms. Using the same page, we can lookup the country names. No apparent hint this time just an EOF (end of file) message. All countries have a two character UPPERCASE country code. Mapping those we seem some interesting results.
Niger
NE
Montenegro
ME
Slovenia
SI
Saint Helena
SH
Myanmar
MM
Estonia
EE
Saint Vincent and Grenadines
VC
Finland
FI
Venezuela
VE
Taylor Garnett Evans & Co Ltd
??
NEMESISHMMEEVCFIVE
Combining into another format ( keyword#AA##AA#) our search comes to an end
Remember, all the codes for this series eventually solve to the format xxxxxxxx#keyword#. This is a typical format for passcodes distributing volatile intel around anomalies.