The Quest for Kurrigan's Gold - a puzzle to whet your appetites

[UselessTriviaMan]

The old sea captain has called you to his parlor. He hands you an old scroll and asks you to do what he could not. Solve the code. Use the secrets hidden within to find the legendary treasure of Kurrigan the Blackheart, pirate scourge of the Torn Coast, who vanished from the Sea of Storms aboard his ship the Iron Maiden over twenty years ago…

(Send your answers – or questions – to harpytournament at gmail dot com. Or just post 'em here.)

THE H.A.R.P.Y. ROLE-PLAYING TOURNAMENT: COMING TO XENOCON 2013

 

[stevelabny]

1> If the fact that some of the letters are or seem to be different colors is part of the puzzle, can you please make the difference a little more noticeable? its so slight i cant tell if its just the font mixing with the background or if its intentional


2> is anyone else even looking at this? I like me some puzzles, but I hit a dead end with this. Without spaces, I can't find a starting point for a cryptogram (I don't see any "the" 3-letter groupings repeating through the whole puzzle either) . I don't see enough hidden words to make it that kind of puzzle. I tried forwards and backwards letter substitutions of a few spots in each direction. I tried starting with the first letter and skipping the next number of letters equal to its number placement in the alphabet. I tried looking at all the double letters and then anagraming them. I tried a few other things too but I didnt have any luck.

Help?

 

[UselessTriviaMan]

Glad to hear somebody's taking a crack at it.

The letters are all supposed to be black. Coloration has nothing to do with it. Aside from that, at this time I really can't give any hints about how to break the code...

 

[Filcher]

I am officially no good at something like this.

The key seems to be in the double letters, but I'm not sure what they signify ... I've started drawing lines through all the double letters, hoping it will show a map ... but I'm at work, so I keep getting interrupted.

Don't they know I'm on an important mission?!

 

[Filcher]

Never mind ... it's been mentioned a couple times that it is "code" that needs to be solved. (Lol. Told you I was no good at this sort of thing.)

Hrm. Still going ahead with the "cross out double / see what appears" approach.

 

[SLOTHmaster]

I'm tempted to go with frequency analysis.

 

[Filcher]

I thought the same thing. Here's the raw text if you want to give it a shot:

ferlwannygerruddnostiestayiarskidanssviroysiobhikimgeaalgrntrtreiegrrfhinwcwydnannmooplaassroaidwserherkravbnvrrghttaehccaleeoabohdasniidnnfellotltiehtddeiwlluyhohanrmtnhreekoefetaoghaetteygeshellfeomtfihtehtweelrrbmuwoxtteeavedhatialshnktioratnedrapeasdcriatteeilmnnfsmhnrdshbddaaoidyseienumlipgienewttaefilsyeandvorasl

But, what occurred to me, is that it must be solvable "at the table," right? What's the point of having an in character code that can only solved by us punching bits? That doesn't make sense to me.

I'm hoping there is an elegant solution that could be pulled off by a clever player in an actual session. I'm not that clever, but I hope one of you are.

 

[Richards]

Got it!

Spoiler

FOR TWENTY YEARS DID KURRIGAN SAIL
SENDING SAILORS TO THEIR BRINY GRAVES
MAKING ORPHANS CRY AND WIDOWS WAIL
FOR MEN WHETHER CRAVEN OR BRAVE
BLACKHEARTS GOLD IS HIDDEN WELL
YOULL FIND IT NEATH THE HANGMAN TREE
GO SEEK YE THE THROAT OF HELL
FROM TWIXT THE TEETH OF UMBERLEE
WARE THE TRAPS AND TRICKS HE LAID
AND AVOID THE DIAMONDS SHINE
MY FINAL DEBTS ARE FULLY PAID
NOW AT LAST REVENGE IS MINE

That's how it reads, without punctuation of course. The trick is to

Spoiler

start at the top left corner and zig-zag your way across the top two rows. When you hit the end (the "I" at the end of the second row of letters), go directly up and zig-zag your way back. Then you drop down to line three and do the same across lines three and four, continuing on in this fashion until you hit the end.

Johnathan

 

[SLOTHmaster]

Nice! I'd never have thought of that.

 

[nogray]

zig-zag

It seems to be read in a zig-zag pattern. Word breaks and punctuation have to be added in, and the colloquial speech ("be" is dropped from "beneath" and "beware, at least; "ye" is used for "you;" stuff like that) threw me for a bit.

[sblock="more information"]Start at the top left "f," then go down and to the right to the "o" then up-and-right to the "r." Continue to the upper right "d," then straight down to the "i" and go back left. When you get to the "n" right below the starting "f," you go down to the next row, which starts with a "d."

You keep going back and forth in that interwoven zig-zag until you have all the letters. You then put in spacing and punctuation to make it more legible.[/sblock]

[sblock="solution"]For twenty years did Kurrigan sail, sending sailors to their briny graves, making orphans cry and widows wail for men, whether craven or brave. Blackheart's gold is hidden well. You'll find it 'neath the Hangman Tree. Go seek ye the Throat of Hell from 'twixt the Teeth of Umberlee. 'Ware the traps and tricks he laid, and avoid the diamond's shine. My final debts are fully paid now; at last, revenge is mine.[/sblock]

------
Darn it; ninja'd by Richards. Well done!