Level 2: Tier 1D

TIER 1D: THE "0VIF0RM" PUZZLE

Tier Overview

During this tier, the "burrw" Diamond Clue was found. Read more about Diamond Clues here.

On November 18th, a GIF appeared on the T1C page called "404."

After looking at the individual frames, hunter fishxw changed the brightness and revealed the code 325.
Hunter Hank noticed that 325 BCE is the birth year of Euclid, the father of geometry.

On November 19th, Rob mentioned that the hunters might want to refresh the "404" webpage. The hunters discovered a new image after doing so, called “THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_Brown_Eyed_Girl_2880x1620.” The metadata had the message “Hope you are doing great… ...here is some new art for all you amazing EE-hunters... GLHF.!”.

A series of transparent pixels was decoded into the word "TITAN"
Pieces of writing were found scattered in the image, revealing Nicolaus Copernicus' signature when put back together.
The symbol for Saturn was found on the character's earring.
Squares hidden in the image converted to binary revealed the word "Leith"
More hidden text read "Frombork"
A small message was found that read X^th , meaning 10th.
The title of the image was the same as a song by Van Morrison, "Brown Eyed Girl."
The message VM.67 was found, possibly meaning "Van Morrison 1967," the year of the start of his solo career and the release of "Brown Eyed Girl."

On November 25th, Rob posted new artwork called “THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_Red_Sports_Caracter_2880x1620” with the metadata “"Hi there all EE-hunters.! Have a great weekend... from embark with love.!”

Hunters noticed that the title of the image was missing the letter h, which partially read "Red_Sports_Car," the title of a song by Van Morrison.
A skull with the letter BIV on it referenced the "Brain in a Vat" thought experiment by René Descartes.
An coat of arms with an X also pointed to René Descartes.
Text that said "SATCAT no. 25008" was the reference number for the Cassini–Huygens mission to Saturn.
The hidden text "79=48=111=0x30" was converted into ASCII and read "O=0=o=0"
A diagram of overlapping congruent circles was found, reinforcing the idea of geometry and Euclid.

On December 3rd, Rob posted the artwork “THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_Into_The_Mystic_2880x1620” with the metadata “Hi there amazing EE-hunters.! Hope you are having fun and are enjoying the weekend... from embark with love.!”

The title of this image was another Van Morisson song, "Into The Mystic."
Scrambled text in the footer was found to be the ASCII codes for O, o, and NULL.
Hidden text "5 M310N63N4" was decoded from leetspeak to mean "S melongena," the scientific name for the eggplant.

On December 9th, Rob posted the artwork “THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_Beside_You_2880x1620” with the metadata “Have a great weekend and GLHF… ...from embark with love.!”.

Yet again, the title references a Van Morrison song, "Beside You"
The mathematical expression x2 + [1.4^x*1.6y]2was found, which is the equation for an oval shape when graphed.
Rows of pixels with lengths 202, 456, and 1111 were found, which was recognized as the phone number for the White House/Oval Office.
Johannes Kepler's signature was hidden in the image.
Text that said "Kumblehaven" was a reference to a park in Denmark with oval-shaped statues.
An egg-shaped lens flare was found in the top-right corner.

On December 21st, Rob posted the artwork “THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_Keep_It_Simple_2160x2880” with the metadata “Hi there.! Hope you all are doing great, from embark with love.!”

On December 31st, Dusty posted the artwork “THE_FINALS_HappyNamaTama_2023” with the metadata “HAPPY NEW YEAR DEAR EE-HUNTERS.! We whish you an amazing 2023 GLHF, and as always... from embark with love.!”

On January 6th, Rob posted two artworks, “404” and "007" in the official art channel.

On February 11th, Rob posted the artwork “a_friend_you_missed” with the hidden metadata message “ Hi awesome EE-hunters.! Hope you are doing great and that you solve this tier soon.! From embark with love.!”

On February 19th, Rob posted the GIF “running_out_of_time.gif” with the message “Dusty, hmm this is taking so much time... Should I stop the printers.?! ” Dusty replied, "No way, Rob, you can't stop mid-print! It's just starting to take shape!"

On February 22nd, Rob posted the image “THE_FINALS_OSPUZE_AD_some_extra_candy”. This was later uploaded to the official art channel as “THE_FINALS_OSPUZE_AD_bonus_candy” with the hidden metadata “Hi.! GLHF dear EE-hunters, hope you will like this little extra candy from one of our sponsors.! From Embark with love.!”.

Solving

On Feburary 23rd, Resk entered 0vif0rm and unlocked the tier, he tested ideas (while on a bus) based on the conversions in the chat.

Summary

The password for Tier 1D was “ 0vif0rm ” modified from the word oviform which comes from the Latin words “ ōvus ” egg and “ forma ” shaped. The main clues were ovals/egg shapes, the cypher o=0 and perhaps 0,0 or double 00. Ovals/egg shapes were presented in many different ways; visually, as equations, metaphorically, landmarks, artworks and orbits, also as letters ‘vifrm’ themselves. The cypher o=0 was hidden as ascii equivalent or U+ keyboard codes. 0,0 or 00 was hinted at with ‘The Matrix’ and the Cartesian system, also with James Bond clues.

Images

404.gif
THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_Brown_Eyed_Girl_2880x1620
THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_Red_Sports_Caracter_2880x1620
THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_Into_The_Mystic_2880x1620
THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_Beside_You_2880x1620
THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_Keep_It_Simple_2160x2880
THE_FINALS_HappyNamaTama
404.jpg
007
THE_FINALS_a_friend_u_missed
Running_out_of_time.gif
THE_FINALS_OSPUZE_AD_bonus_candy.jpg

Credits

Solver - Resk

Documentation - Flex4d, Kyne, RockhoundBlack

Various Contributions in Alphabetical Order - Darnoux, DashGames, Duh, eoin, exin, fishxw, Flex4d, Giriko, Hank, Oak, Resk, Rikta, RockhoundBlack, Serpenger, SPEAR, Tati, Tim The Enchanter