video + text + action

[mucked]

Who: Agent Carter + YOU
Broadcast: Fleetwide.
Action: Aboard the Starstruck or the Iskaulit.
When: Today!

[ not too long ago, peggy pitched the fleet a diversionary puzzle. with all this talk of encryption and subterfuge, she's reminded how the puzzles were meant to be part of a series (of sorts) and so she gets out her notepad and pencils. after a few scrapped ideas (too long or too advanced or too dull), she settles on a code that's only a half-step up from her last one. ]

Last time we talked ciphers, we did a simple substitution. [ peggy addresses the network directly, and with little else in the way of a greeting. ] This time 'round, I've got something only a teensy bit tougher. Frankly, it can be just as handily brute forced as the other one -- but I'm more interested to know if anyone can figure out the math behind this one. Brute force only brings you so far in this hobby and I'm already working on something for next month that will require a lighter touch.

Extra credit, as ever, to those who can identify the source. Or express the cipher in modular arithmetic. And apologies for those in the Fleet who cannot speak English. Despite our augments, code seems to defy translation.

FA UYBDAHQ UE FA OTMZSQ, EA FA NQ BQDRQOF UE FA TMHQ OTMZSQP ARFQZ.

[ she'll field questions and answers for a little while from aboard the starstruck, but then it's off to the iskaulit where she passes an hour in the library -- in search of new source material, perhaps. for those players whose characters should be able to decode it but who don't want to try decoding it themselves, here is the quotation. ]

Comments

video

[mucked]

That's right. You mentioned amnesia...?

video

[experiencepoints]

[She nods.]

It's... kind of a long story. Short version: This is my second interdimensional shithole, and the last one, everyone who shows up there shows up without any of their memories.

video

[mucked]

-- And yet you've got some. [ how else would she have told her about her world, after all? ] Did they allow you to reclaim pieces?

video

[experiencepoints]

Yeah. It's not something you want to hear about in much more detail, I think, though.

video

[mucked]

[ a sigh. she never did appreciate being told what she would and would not want -- but she instead takes the words to mean the woman doesn't want to discuss it, rather. ]

If you say so.

[ there's no reason to argue or to ask. ]

video

[experiencepoints]

Yeah.

[At least, she's been told often enough that it's not something people want to hear that she assumes it by now.]

... We've kind of gotten off-track from the cipher, though.

video

[mucked]

We can get back to it, if you like. It was only ever meant as a diversion.

video

[experiencepoints]

A diversion? From what? Boredom?

video

[mucked]

And routine.

[ and maybe a bit of a primer on codes for some of the less cryptically inclined passengers, but that's not safe to say aloud. ]

video

[experiencepoints]

[She's dealt with ciphers enough to have gotten good at them, but she's not good with deciphering people. So Nightingale remains completely oblivious to her other intentions.]

Well, you definitely accomplished that much. Do you like codes, then?

video

[mucked]

They make for a fine hobby. What about you? Do you like them?

video

[experiencepoints]

Not really. They're... more like a necessity.

video

[mucked]

-- A necessity?

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[experiencepoints]

Part of adventuring is having to crack codes and solve puzzles to get at treasures that were locked away. That was usually my job. And at my last interdimensional shithole, they... got used a lot.

video

[mucked]

[ to her, frankly, it sounds a bit like a pulp novel. but she knows better than to say it aloud. ]

You job? Did you roll in crews, then?

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[experiencepoints]

Parties, yeah. I mentioned monsters, right? You have to be stupid, suicidal, or incredibly powerful to try that stuff alone.

video

[mucked]

Or all three at once, potentially.

Video

[experiencepoints]

Or at least stupid and powerful. That's a combination I see a lot.

Video

[mucked]

I do too, I'm afraid.

Video

[experiencepoints]

The most irritating type. Especially when they're convinced they're always right, too.

Video

[mucked]

And it's all the worse when they are right. You never hear the end of it.

video

[experiencepoints]

[She snorts.]

When we get to that point, I usually just break out the Sleep magic to shut them up.

video

[mucked]

-- Posh. [ but she says it with admiration, nothing negative. ] I have to settle for a right hook.

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[experiencepoints]

Honestly, your way sounds more satisfying. Last time I tried to punch someone, it hurt my hand more than her face.

video

[mucked]

Must've been an awfully tough face.