User:Pokemonfreak777/The Susie ARG/PAINT

The PAINT folder of the Haltmann Works Co. Internal Database Portal is themed primarily around connecting the various minor Universes found across the channel, with a special focus on 2B's story arc of finding 9S.

`x:\PAINT` Files
File Name	Contents	Description
EAS.mp4		The Emergency Alert Sequence message from "Intro Title / Minigame Theme - Barbie Horse Adventures: Blue Ribbon Race", but with one line missing from the original rip.
mashup_season.jpg		An image featuring Mr Own preparing to kill Big Chungus. The background of the image references the Looney Tunes short "Rabbit Fire", with the signs reading "mashup" instead of "rabbit".
audio.wav		A WAV file of Chungelectric 2 (Unbanned Version), a mashup between "BIG CHUNGUS \| Official Main Theme" by Endigo and "Tubelectric Remix" from Jazz Jackrabbit 2. At 01:44, a gunshot sound plays, followed by Mr Rental saying "Ban. All. Mashups.".

Solving

Part 1 - The Rabbit Cipher

The first step for this section involves inspecting the files "EAS.mp4", "mashup_season.jpg", and "audio.wav", combining them in a specific way.

First, "audio.wav" contains two different audio channels playing at once. Splitting the two audio channels, inverting the phase of one of them and viewing both channels in a spectrogram reveals parts of a message. This message is the first paragraph of the "Do mp3's degrade on a hard drive over time?" copypasta, except with references to "MP3" changed to "WAV" and references to "FLAC" changed to "PNG". This hints at converting the file from a WAV file to a PNG file, which reveals several strings hidden in the resulting image. Combining the hidden strings (with the exception of the last one) produces the sentence "You are the only person i can trust in these trying times", referencing a quote from "The Life and Times of Wade L.D. - A SiIvaGunner Christmas Comeback Crisis Side Story". The last string at the bottom ("U2FsdGVkX1+A1U3YYx5Gkf2x1wHDQkh0b6P734nrX/mig0snaCLH7TvdP04SdOsKX20oXN+l8ouJa+k=") is the important piece needed from this file.

The completed "Do mp3's degrade on a hard drive over time?" copypasta in the spectrogram of audio.wav.
The resulting image when "audio.wav" is converted to PNG, featuring hidden strings in red.

Next, comparing the audio of "EAS.mp4" with the rip it is taken from reveals that the words "Remington 870 Express Tactical" are muffled from the latter, which is the important piece needed from this file.

Finally, viewing "mashup_season.jpg" in conjunction with the other aforementioned files reveals a commonality between them, specifically that they prominently feature rabbits. This hints at using a rabbit cipher (which requires an input and a key) with the strings discovered from the other files. Using "U2FsdGVkX1+A1U3YYx5Gkf2x1wHDQkh0b6P734nrX/mig0snaCLH7TvdP04SdOsKX20oXN+l8ouJa+k=" as the input and "Remington 870 Express Tactical" as the key with the rabbit cipher creates "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obeZnmUjKyE", which leads to the video "Main Theme - Kirby Fighters".

Part 2 - Kirby Fighters

The aforementioned video includes two parts needed to get the next step:

At 2:09, a cat in a box is briefly seen in the video.
At the end of the video, the text "Replay?" slowly changes to the string "h7x1fy?".

The cat in a box seen at 2:09.
The "h7x1fy?"-string seen at the end.

The first part hints at the file hosting site Catbox. Using the string (without the question mark) as an ID for the aforementioned site leads to this image of the "9+10=21" kid with the caption "What does A stand for?".

Part 3 - What does A stand for?

The "What does A stand for?" image found through the Catbox link.

Brightening the aforementioned image reveals the text "paint/???", hinting at needing to find a hidden file path on the HWC data portal under "PAINT". Additionally, the caption on the aforementioned image hints at needing to find a source where "A" is not known. The latter hint points to the rip "Main Theme - Magical Mathematics", uploaded during the International Day of Mathematics 2024 event, which features an equation ("-321 + 45A") where "A" is unknown. Replacing "A" with "21" (hinted at by the presence of the "9+10=21" kid in the aforementioned image) in the aforementioned equation ("-321 + 45(21)") and solving it produces "624", which can be entered into the HWC data portal as a new file path under "PAINT" (replacing the question marks): "PAINT/624".

The equation seen at the end of "Main Theme - Magical Mathematics"

Part 4 - Elf Gif

Going to X:/PAINT/624 will reveal a folder containing a single file, "elf_gif1.gif". This GIF features several scenes from the movie Elf with sequences of characters moving around the image. These characters which can be combined together in order of appearance to produce "8I_61gG2W_Y", which can be used as a YouTube video ID for the video "Epic - Steve Harvey".

Part 5 - Steve Harvey

The description of the aforementioned video includes a link to a password-protected .RAR file titled "LOOKING_FOR_STEVE_HARVEY.rar," which is needed for the next step of the ARG.

The video contains two key elements related to the .RAR file's password:

At 2:47, an image of Steve Harvey with 2B's hair appears on the Steve Harvey TV, holding a sign with the string "qp ztqu tqn qcsyjb".
Throughout the video, various clips of Steve Harvey screaming at specific pitches appear at each minute mark. Additionally, at 5:07, a conversation takes place between Steve Harvey and The Voice Inside Your Head. During this exchange, the Voice says: "Just play with keys the theme to he who is without." From this, it can be inferred that "Megalovania" must be played by pressing the number keys on the desktop video player, as "Megalovania" is Sans' Boss theme in Undertale and the word "sans" means "without". The exact order to play "Megalovania" with the number keys is "3356921312".

The image containing "qp ztqu tqn qcsyjb" seen at 2:47.

Applying the A1Z26 Cipher to the number key order results in “ccefibacab”. By using this string as a key for a Vigenère cipher, "qp ztqu tqn qcsyjb" can be decoded to "on voit to paquet," which is the password to the .RAR file.

Included in the .RAR file are various images of Steve Harvey, most of which were featured in "Epic - Steve Harvey". The sole exception is the file titled "photo with the STEVE HARVEY77.png", which features Mr Rental and AMUNO instead.

"photo with the STEVE HARVEY77.png", featuring AMUNO and Mr Rental with the tweet caption "AMUNO & Mr. Rental linked up! need it or keep it??! 🤔".

Part 6 - AMUNO

Included within the aforementioned image's EXIF-data is the string "lbhgh.or/V7PfvkbRvat." When decoded with the ROT13 cipher, this string becomes "youtu.be/I7CsixoEing," which leads to the video "Ransomware - Undertale 2."

Eggnog taking 2B away at 1:56, with "wanonugget-exp" visible on the bottom right.

At 1:56 in the aforementioned video, the background briefly flashes to white and the text "wanonugget-exp" appears on the bottom right. Entering the file path "x:/PAINT/wanonugget-exp" in the "Haltmann Works Co. Internal Database Portal" leads to a hidden folder with a file named "problem.url". Clicking on this file leads to "The Problem - e".

Part 7 - e∩Ω

In the aforementioned video, Gegagedigedagedago points the viewer to the video description. As the description shows, the usual platform line has been replaced with "Problem: reverse promised date + stopped time - funny years". This problem can be solved with the following:

"Reversed promised date" refers to "13/10," the date mentioned in the "DO YOU WANT TO DIE" email and "Premonition (OST Version) - Undertale". Reversing this date results in "01/31" (January 31st).
"Stopped time" points to 9:30, the stopped time shown on The numberphile's watch.
"Funny years" refers to 7 as the number of years from 2024, which is the year the video takes place in. Subtracting 7 from 2024 gives the year 2017.

The "DO YOU WANT TO DIE" email, which contains the promised date of 13/10.
The time of 9:30 seen on The numberphile's stopped watch.

Combining these elements results in the timestamp of "9:30 (PST), January 31st, 2017". This timestamp can be converted to UNIX time, which is hinted at by the misspelling of "Music" as "Munix" in the description. This results in a UNIX Time of 1485883800.

Additionally, the catchphrase in the video description contains the following mathematical equation: "(2^(-3) × 3^(-1) × 5^(-1) × 7 × 3011 × 825491^(-1) × 376676269893296294757698123) * t". Using 1485883800 as the value for t and plugging it into the equation yields 119088086108115090069120050077065. This number can then be converted from decimal to ASCII, resulting in "wXVlsZEx2MA". This can be used as a [video ID] for the video "The Solution - e".

In the aforementioned video's description, the playlist link is replaced with a Google Drive link leading to a .ZIP file named "e.zip"

Part 8 - Skyrim

Within e.zip there were 6 files:

e.zip
File Name	Contents	Description
image1.jpg		An image of the Riverwood Trader from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
image2.jpg		An image of Septimus Signus' Outpost from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
image3.jpg		An image of the Tower of Mzark from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
image4.jpg		An image of the Throat of the World from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Intercepted Broadcasts from Tamriel.esp		A file containing the Skyrim mod "Intercepted Broadcasts from Tamriel". This mod adds four books scatterd across the game, which detail 9S' journey in Tamriel through his transcripted broadcasts.
readme.txt	Once, in a world of crumbling ruins and machinery, there lived a pair of doomed lovers. Two androids, built to fight an endless battle, yet wished for nothing more than a peaceful life with one another. Again and again, fate would conspire to tear the couple apart, until finally, a miracle occurred. The fighting was over, and the lovers were free to live their life in peace for the rest of their days. And yet, in another world, there lived a vengeful man cloaked in shadow. Clawing his way back from the brink of death, he built a device that would allow him to physically conjure mere concepts into his own world. He would use these figments of the imagination to construct a terrifying new reality. Overnight, he had conquered his newly mechanized world with the help of his business partner, leaving it trapped in eternal darkness. The man decided he needed a soldier. A pawn that he could trust to keep his business partner in line. The choice, he thought, was obvious. He set his device to target the androids. But only one. The one that would follow orders. As she was taken, the other android rushed to save her. In a desperate act, he used his phenomenal hacking ability to shift the device's target from one android to another. The device would register the task as accomplished, and be unable to summon her again, regardless of the fact it summoned the wrong target. He gave himself to protect her with no hesitation. Upon the android's arrival, the man was furious. He at first moved to kill the android for his insolence. But the man was an opportunist. While unruly, this figment had proved to have immense skill in his field. He would be allowed to work under the control of the man and his business partner, for as long as he proved useful. Even so, the android could sense he was living on borrowed time. Away from prying eyes in the house that stored the device, he would create a program to reverse its effects and send him home. But in time, he was found out, and his hand, forced. He ran his incomplete program on the device, and was stranded on yet another unfamiliar world. All seemed lost. But the android was resolute. He would find his way back to her, no matter what. (Broadcasts are location-locked.)	A text file that explains 9S and 2B's backstories in the channel's Lore and how 9S ended up in Tamriel.

By installing the Skyrim mod and travelling to each of the locations that are depicted in the images included within the ZIP file, a series of books containing encrypted transcripts of 9S' broadcasts can be found. These broadcasts can be decoded by using a Vigenère cipher, with the location where each book was found serving as the key. Below is a table containing the decrypted broadcasts, their corresponding images, the locations where they were found, and the keys used for the decryption:

Intercepted Broadcasts from Tamriel
Image	Broadcast Location	Vigenère key	Broadcast (Decrypted)
image1.jpg	The first broadcast, found within the Riverwood Trader	RIVERWOODTRADER	Okay, that should be set up now... Uh, testing, testing, is there anybody out there listening? This is YoRHa Unit- er, former YoRHa Unit 9S, and this is a distress signal. I am currently broadcasting my consciousness data on an open channel. I've found myself stranded someplace far from my home, and if anyone can hear this, I'd really appreciate some help getting back... Uh, I guess that's all I've got? Sorry, I was never very good with the protocol side of things. I just sort of let my operator handle it when... um, never mind. I should probably just keep this line open and go over my situation, in case it actually does reach someone. Well, like I said, right now I'm stuck somewhere that doesn't seem like where I'm from, and as for how I got here, it's a, uh... long story. In any case, when I got here, I woke up in a wooden carriage all tied up along with some humans around me. Or, at least they looked like humans. Normally that'd be pretty exciting, but under the circumstances, I was really just dazed and confused. Again, long story. I think some of them tried talking to me, but I must have been too distracted. I probably should've paid attention though, because one second I'm in hacking space, trying to make sense of everything, and then the next thing I know my head is on a chopping block! But what really threw me is what let me escape... a dragon. When I first got here, I thought I had a pretty good working theory... Humans still existed, the technology and architecture looked archaic, and I didn't detect any maso particles... I must have landed somewhere in my world's distant past. If that was the case, all I would have to do would be to find a safe place to wait it out, but now I'm totally lost again. How could there be a dragon this far back in history? The original dragon only appeared sometime in 2003, and the ones from the Kingdom of Night weren't created until long after humanity's extinction! And even besides all of that, I still couldn't identify even a trace of maso on the whole damn thing! I guess my program was even less stable than I... GAH, SHIT! What just?? Augh... Goddamn it, I gotta turn this off. http://viewsync.net/watch?
image2.jpg	The second broadcast, found in Septimus Signus' Outpost	SEPTIMUSSIGNUSOUTPOST	Always such a pain to get working... Wait, there it is, I think I got it! Okay, um, I'm 9S, this is a distress signal, I'm stranded far from home... Whatever, you get the picture. Sorry, not really in the mood to repeat the whole thing, it's been a long week. Especially when I'm having to limp everywhere... Still don't know where that arrow even came from, but I guess it doesn't matter either way. I couldn't find anybody with the parts I'd need to fix up my knee, and their healing magic predictably doesn't work on androids... Oh yeah, speaking of magic, I guess I could talk about what I've been up to here on my own. After I had to cut off the last broadcast early, I figured the best thing to do was probably find the nearest settlement to try and get some help from the locals. I ended up coming to a place called 'Whiterun', and it seemed promising at first... But whenever I tried asking anybody there about what I could do to get back to my dimension, all they'd give me were dirty looks. They seemed pretty eager to get rid of me in the first place, actually. I think they called me a moth priest or something...? Whatever, point is, eventually I got told I should be asking stuff about magic at the 'College of Winterhold', and to stop bothering them. Fine by me, it's not like they'd been any help anyway. The carriage took a while, but I got there eventually. The people there at least tried to help me out, but even they had no idea about anything I was saying. I went through their library while I was there, looking for anything that could get me back home, but still, nothing. I actually was able to pick up a bit of magic while I was there, though. It seemed simple enough, not too different from the hardlight projection tech we used back in YoRHa. I guess I wore out my "welcome" though, 'cause after a while, some people came up to me and basically told me to get lost. I mean, they didn't say it like that, but after talking to the guy they sent me to, I'm pretty sure they just thought I was as nuts as he is. And the worst part is, even this Septimus guy doesn't know shit! All he keeps talking about is stuff about "Elder Scrolls", whatever the hell they are. Whatever's in this Blackreach place he mentioned had better be worth it, because I am sick to goddamn death of being given the runaround by everybody I talk to here... Anyway, turning the broadcast off for now, just so I don't get another arrow through me 'cause of being distracted... 2B... hang in there for me, okay? v=u44HWxE
image3.jpg	The third broadcast, found in the Tower of Mzark.	TOWEROFMZARK	Alright, that's running, time to get started on the diagnostic. Initializing test sequence... Okay, energy output is looking to be at acceptable levels, structural integrity seems to be holding steady, and the sample doesn't seem to be rejecting the apparatus. Coordinates have been properly set, pre-recorded transmission data has been inputted, and the trigger mechanism is fully primed. I think... that's it? I'll double check... No, yeah, all systems are green! Man, that's a relief... now all I gotta do is haul this thing up to where I need it... Oh right, yeah, I didn't explain what I'm doing yet. Basically, it's pretty clear at this point that these broadcasts aren't getting through to anyone. I've pretty much just been shouting into the void, hoping someone might pick them up. But the problem isn't that there's nobody there, it's that nothing's getting through to them. The confines of this reality won't let my messages reach anything past them, and I don't have the signal strength to override the restriction. Or, I didn't, until now. When I first got to Blackreach, I gotta say, it was pretty disappointing. Frustrating, actually. Sure, the engineering of the place was impressive, downright fascinating honestly, considering how archaic the rest of this dimension's tech that I'd seen had been. But none of it got me any closer to getting back home... back to 2B... But then, I read the Elder Scroll. Scores of data came flooding into my head all at once, overloading my processors instantly and forcing me to reboot. But when I finally came to, it turned out I actually retained a lot more of the data than I would've expected to. Sorting through it helped me figure out a lot of things, but most importantly, it helped me figure out what I needed to do to boost my signal strength. I had to build a device, something that could access the reality-warping properties of the Elder Scroll itself and channel them into a beacon to be activated at a tear in space-time. So uh, yeah, that's what I was doing before, just running my final tests. It was a pain putting it together for sure, but it should be ready now, all I gotta do is... drag it all the way up the side of a mountain. Well, at least the hike up there won't be so bad, now that my leg's fixed up. For now at least, I can't imagine it's gonna hold forever, I just sorta used whatever leftover parts there were lying around. There weren't many left, I kinda had to pick this place clean to make the beacon, there were a lot of design revisions I had to do. But now... it's done! And I just need to bring it to the volatile space-time hole at the top of a huge mountain and hope it doesn't blow me up because I only had the resources to test it once! Haha... Alright, I'm getting in my own head about this now, I should just turn the broadcast off and go. But... Look, I'm not an idiot. I know that I'm just rambling to myself at this point. I guess the question is why I'm even broadcasting this if I know nobody's listening? Well... maybe it's just so that if all of this goes wrong... I'll have left something behind. ...Anyway, I'm going now. 2B... if, somehow, you get this message, I just want you to know that despite everything... our memories together are what's most precious to me. ...See you soon. SKfU&t=0&v=DYVTbcZ
image4.jpg	The fourth broadcast, found on the Throat of the World.	THROATOFTHEWORLD	Hello? Is this thing still getting through? Can you still hear me? Well, even if you can't, I figure I should say this anyway; thank you. You know, when I brought the beacon up this mountain, I was pretty sure it'd either not work, kill me, or just send me to another far-off dimension that I'd have to find a whole 'nother way out of. It sure didn't help my nerves to have to convince those old guys to let me through... Since I had the Elder Scroll, they eventually did, but they didn't seem happy about it. So like, I'm even more on edge than I already am. But none of that matters now. Whoever you are? Whatever you are, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, lifevest kid. And that goes for both of us. Both me and 2B. Even if we're still away from our home dimension, we're together again, because of you. I guess I'm just left wondering: why? What made you wanna help us? And not even just this time, 2B says you helped her before, when I was still stuck in that world of endless night. She says you took her to a world that looked... badly drawn? And you told her to find a certain car and not stop driving it for anything? Well, I guess it ended up working, and she got to where I was. But by that point, I was already gone... Apparently she had to fight her way back out of there once she realized that, and had to keep finding new ways to cross dimensions to find me. I guess I used the beacon at the right time, because she was about to give up hope before you got my signal and brought her to me. Time... that might be the part about this that's throwing me. How did you know to help 2B the first time, before I even sent the transmission? Maybe it was a coincidence? But maybe... Hmm. If this is a rift in space and time that I'm broadcasting... It might be that the broadcast I'm sending now actually reached you in your past? But if? Huh? What is it, 2B? Oh, yeah, I guess I am rambling. Well, I'll let you go, then. If you actually were listening to this, I guess. Thanks for everything. Bye. AeCs&t=0&mode=solo

Each decoded broadcast contains a part of a ViewSync link at the bottom. Assembling these parts in the correct sequence, based on the order of the broadcasts' corresponding images in the ZIP file, results in the ViewSync link "http://viewsync.net/watch?v=u44HWxESKfU&t=0&v=DYVTbcZAeCs&t=0&mode=solo".

Part 9 - Mashup Crusaders CYOA

The aforementioned link leads to two videos, "Story Mode - Mr Rental: The Video Game" and "Story Mode - Looney Tunes", playing simulatiously. The videos feature Mr. Own. and Mr. Rental swapping universes after they are run over by 2B, who stole the Crappily-Drawn Car from them. At the end of the videos, this path's penultimate reward is revealed: A Choose Your Own Adventure game based on the Mashup Crusaders Arc. In this game, the player is given the choice of either following Mr. Own or Mr. Rental, with both characters having 8 possible endings. Both Mr. Rental and Mr. Own have one ending video where the description includes a string:

"Mr. Rental objects!" contains the string "MrhpW" in its description. This video can be reached through the following route: "Mr. Rental selected!" -> "Mr. Rental tries to clear his name" -> "Mr. Rental gets a lawyer" -> "Mr. Rental objects!".
"Mr. Own rejects the training" contains the string "nDzMvE" in its description. This video can be reached through the following route: "Mr. Own selected!" -> "Mr. Own chases Grandpa" -> "Mr. Own sides with Masked Wolf" -> "Mr. Own rejects the training".

Rewards

Combining the two aforementioend strings forms a code for YouTube link, which leads to the video " The Central Canon Continuum [FILE-INT-PAINT] - Haltmann's Archives", the final reward of this path.

Later, a text file was added to the PAINT folder, titled "PART-internalmemo1.txt". This is, as the beginning of the file states, a memo to 2 of the figment research divisions of Haltmann Works Co. It describes how hopeless their search for Susie Haltmann has been, and how their only good lead is within Wood Man.

[Internal memo to Figment Research Division 4, 6]

We've looked everywhere that we can get our hands on. Anything that we have found is so inconsequential that it may as well be nothing at all, functionally. It's barely representational. The grip is loosening as we speak.

I struggle to admit this.

Wood Man is our closest representation to a "unique Figment" that we have. Many other Figments we have seen are different in circumstantial, superficial ways, but still represent the same concept; but while there are several known clones of his likeness, we have never found an identical duplicate of Wood Man in any other aspects of our study.

Could something have happened to make this... possible? Are we barking up the wrong tree?

Contents