Find the password!

[SpiritFryer]

Winner:
Fatalis

Hello everyone,

I made this puzzle up from scratch by myself. I hope you have fun solving it. PM me your guess once you have one! I will keep an updated list of the people who solved this.

Group work on this is advised. If you think you're onto something, share it here - IN SPOILER TAGS! - since this might be too difficult to solve alone.

You may also ask yes / no questions here and I will give the answer in a spoiler tag! I will keep an updated list of answers so far.

I will only accept solutions where you give me the answer to each step in the puzzle, not just the final password! :P

Well? What are you waiting for? GET CRACKING!

What is the password?

You were recruited by a top secret agency to help them decipher a top secret password to a top secret encryption. It is crucial that you keep this operation top secret!

You can find the password by decoding the following message:

"Gur erfg nyfb haqrejrag gur glcvpny Pnrfne pvcure. Due mekbt ru fhekt, yv edbo oek qhhqdwut jxu vebbemydw udshofjut cuiiqwu igkqhubo, qdt ydjuhfhujut yj jef je rejjec: jittixiyhqumieffeimwqhyiw"

Combine the answers to the following riddles to get a hint on decoding the message above!

Note: Each riddle is separate from the others. You only need to combine the answer to each riddle in the order they appear in, and you'll get a hint to decrypt the above message.

1. I am the end of every adventurer, though they can find me at the beginning of all the roads they may tread, and at the middle of every journey they may embark upon.

2. I am the beginning of the end of the homes of and his follower, the symbol of Sector F of Gordon Freeman's work place. I am behind every official ban on trade.

3. I am the beginning and the end of the palindrome oh so annoyed, expressing disapproval at the world.

4. Keep in mind that last month (June 2014) we had a Friday the 13th!


Hints

Spoiler : Hints on Riddles :

The nature of answer is the same to the first three riddles. The fourth is slightly different.

Spoiler : Bigger hint :

The answer to each riddle is either a single letter, or a number (between 1 and 10000).

Spoiler : Hint on Final Encrypted Text :

It is about arranging the final encrypted text in some way on multiple lines. Look at the previous hints. Count the number of letters in the encrypted text. After you arranged it correctly, how do you read it? That's also answered in previous hints.

Spoiler : Final Encrypted Text :

The rest also underwent the typical Caesar cipher. Neo would be proud if only you arranged the following encrypted message squarely and interpreted it top to bottom: tsddshsiraewsopposwgarisg

Questions and Answers

Where is the start and end of the palindrome in number 3? Because oh so annoyed, expressing disapproval at the world is not a palindrome.

Spoiler : Answer :

The answer is the beginning and the end of a palindrome. The palindrome's description is oh so annoyed, expressing disapproval at the world. If you were to Google "define X", where X is this palindrome, then Google's reply would be similar to this description. Perhaps to the world would be better, but I won't edit the original riddle now.

Solutions

Spoiler : Riddle 1 :

1. I am the end of every adventurer, though they can find me at the beginning of all the roads they may tread, and at the middle of every journey they may embark upon.

Answer: The letter 'r'.

Explanation:
- "I am the end of every adventurer,": The word "adventurer" ends with the letter 'r'.

- "though they can find me at the beginning of all the roads they may tread,": The word "roads" begins with the letter 'r'.

- "and at the middle of every journey they may embark upon.": The middle letter of the word "journey" is 'r'.

Spoiler : Riddle 2 :

2. I am the beginning of the end of the homes of and his follower, the symbol of Sector F of Gordon Freeman's work place. I am behind every official ban on trade.

Answer: The letter 'o'.

Explanation:
- "I am the beginning of the end of the homes of and his follower, the symbol of Sector F of Gordon Freeman's work place.": In Half-Life, Sector F is the "Lambda Complex" and its symbol is the Greek letter lambda. The homes of kappa and lambda is the Greek alphabet. The end of the Greek alphabet is the letter omega. The beginning of omega is the letter 'o'.

- "I am behind every official ban on trade.": One of the definitions of the word "embargo" is "an official ban on trade". "Behind" in this context means "the end of". The word "embargo" ends with the letter 'o'.

Spoiler : Riddle 3 :

3. I am the beginning and the end of the palindrome oh so annoyed, expressing disapproval at the world.

Answer: The letter 't'.

Explanation:
- "I am the beginning and the end of the palindrome": The answer is the letter that a certain palindromic phrase begins and ends with.

- "oh so annoyed, expressing disapproval at the world": The palindrome is "tut-tut". (Note: "to the world" would probably have been better wording.)

Spoiler : Riddle 4 :

4. Keep in mind that last month (June 2014) we had a Friday the 13th![/FONT]

Answer: The number 13.

Explanation:
- This wasn't much of a riddle. The number 13 is even highlighted.

Spoiler : Hint to be gained by putting the answers of the riddles together :

If you put the answers together, in the order they appear in, you get "rot13".

If you Google "ROT13" you'd find out that it is a simple substitution cipher where you rotate each letter in your text-to-be-encrypted by 13 positions.
The special thing about ROT13 is that if you apply it to the encrypted text then you get back the original text. (This is because there are 26 letters in the alphabet, so if you rotate a letter by 13 positions, and then 13 again, then you arrive back to the same letter.)

This hints that the message containing the password was encrypted using ROT13.

Spoiler : Solving the encryption :

Encrypted text:
"Gur erfg nyfb haqrejrag gur glcvpny Pnrfne pvcure. Due mekbt ru fhekt, yv edbo oek qhhqdwut jxu vebbemydw udshofjut cuiiqwu igkqhubo, qdt ydjuhfhujut yj jef je rejjec: jittixiyhqumieffeimwqhyiw"

By applying ROT13 to the above, you get the following (I used the following: https://www.rot13.com/):

Decrypted text step 1:
"The rest also underwent the typical Caesar cipher. Qhr zrxog eh surxg, li rqob brx duudqjhg wkh iroorzlqj hqfubswhg phvvdjh vtxduhob, dqg lqwhusuhwhg lw wrs wr erwwrp: wvggvkvludhzvrssrvzjdulvj"

"The rest also underwent the typical Caesar cipher." If you Google "Caesar cipher", you would find out that Caesar used to encrypt his messages by rotating each letter forward by 3 positions. So if you rotate the letters in the rest of the message 3 positions back (or 23 positions forward), then you get the following (I used the following: https://www.xarg.org/tools/caesar-cipher/. Set the key to 23.):

Decrypted text step 2:
"The rest also underwent the typical Caesar cipher. Neo would be proud, if only you arranged the following encrypted message squarely, and interpreted it top to bottom: tsddshsiraewsopposwgarisg

There are various hints as to what you need to do with that encrypted message.
- "Neo": This refers to the character in the movie "The Matrix". The hint here is the word "matrix", as you need to arrange the letters in a matrix.
- "squarely": This hints you to arrange the letters in a square.
- "interpreted it top to bottom": This tells you how you should read the text once arranged in a square.

If you count the number of letters then you would see that there are 25 letters - so they can be arranged in a 5x5 square. Arranging them so, left to right, top to bottom, you get the following:

t s d d s
h s i r a
e w s o p
p o s w g
a r i s g

Reading it from top to bottom, left to right, you get the final message:

thepasswordissidrowsapgg

The password is "sidrowsapgg", which is the solution to the whole puzzle.

[Fatalis]

All I know is the first question lol

[SpiritFryer]

Well, you are welcome to ask yes/no questions to help you figure out the rest!

Hint: The nature of answers to 2. and 3. are the same as 1.

[AppleyNO]

Where is the start and end of the palindrome in number 3? Because oh so annoyed, expressing disapproval at the world is not a palindrome.

[SpiritFryer]

Where is the start and end of the palindrome in number 3? Because oh so annoyed, expressing disapproval at the world is not a palindrome.

Spoiler : Answer :

The answer is the beginning and the end of a palindrome. The palindrome's description is oh so annoyed, expressing disapproval at the world. If you were to Google "define X", where X is this palindrome, then Google's reply would be similar to this description. Perhaps to the world would be better, but I won't edit the original riddle now.

[SpiritFryer]

If I see no attempts then I will give out a big hint to the four riddles tomorrow.

[SpiritFryer]

Here are the hints as promised:

Edit: I just realized that the "New Forum Posts" on the main page displays things inside of spoiler tags. This is some extra text JUST IN CASE someone doesn't want any hints, which I doubt (seeing as how dedicated people seem to be to this puzzle [/sarcasm]). But oh well, there it is.

Hints

Spoiler : Hints on Riddles :

The nature of answer is the same to the first three riddles. The fourth is slightly different.

Spoiler : Bigger hint :

The answer to each riddle is either a single letter, or a number (between 1 and 10000).

If you think you found an answer to one or more of the riddles, post it here in spoiler tags and I will confirm whether it's right or not.

Or you can keep it to yourself and PM me instead, if you think you have what it takes to use the answers of the riddles to decrypt the message, and be the only person who solves it. :P

[Fatalis]

So close yet so far

Spoiler : first part :

The rest also underwent the typical Caesar cipher. Neo would be proud if only you arranged the following encrypted message squarely and interpreted it top to bottom:

[SpiritFryer]

I changed my mind about the ranking. There will be one or more people declared the winners, and then I will post the answers and their explanations.

@Fatalis
Well done, you're practically there. :P
Did you solve each of the 4 riddles, or did you guess what they made up after having solved a few?

[Fatalis]

I changed my mind about the ranking. There will be one or more people declared the winners, and then I will post the answers and their explanations.

@Fatalis
Well done, you're practically there. :P
Did you solve each of the 4 riddles, or did you guess what they made up after having solved a few?

I guessed the second one

still having trouble with the last part tho

[SpiritFryer]

Keep it up guys! You are on the final puzzle.

Spoiler : Today's mini hints :

Who is Neo? What does he mean by "squarely?"

Those are your hints for the day!

[SpiritFryer]

I will post one final hint.

If nobody solves it in two days, I will post the answer. I will also post the reasons behind the answers to each "sub-riddle".

Spoiler : Final Hint :

It is about arranging the final encrypted text in some way on multiple lines. Look at the previous hints. Count the number of letters in the encrypted text. After you arranged it correctly, how do you read it? That's also answered in previous hints.

Spoiler : Final riddle :

The rest also underwent the typical Caesar cipher. Neo would be proud if only you arranged the following encrypted message squarely and interpreted it top to bottom: tsddshsiraewsopposwgarisg

Good luck.

[Orpz]

This is my first time reading this thread. I'll look it over when I wake up.

[Ash]

password is abc123

[SpiritFryer]

password is abc123

Ash pls.

Wrong ofc.

[SpiritFryer]

I'll post the answer in ~16 hours. If you want to try to solve it, now is your final chance.

[SpiritFryer]

I declare Fatalis to be the winner because he got the closest to the solution. Well done!

Solution to riddles:

Spoiler : Riddle 1 :

1. I am the end of every adventurer, though they can find me at the beginning of all the roads they may tread, and at the middle of every journey they may embark upon.

Answer: The letter 'r'.

Explanation:
- "I am the end of every adventurer,": The word "adventurer" ends with the letter 'r'.

- "though they can find me at the beginning of all the roads they may tread,": The word "roads" begins with the letter 'r'.

- "and at the middle of every journey they may embark upon.": The middle letter of the word "journey" is 'r'.

Spoiler : Riddle 2 :

2. I am the beginning of the end of the homes of and his follower, the symbol of Sector F of Gordon Freeman's work place. I am behind every official ban on trade.

Answer: The letter 'o'.

Explanation:
- "I am the beginning of the end of the homes of and his follower, the symbol of Sector F of Gordon Freeman's work place.": In Half-Life, Sector F is the "Lambda Complex" and its symbol is the Greek letter lambda. The homes of kappa and lambda is the Greek alphabet. The end of the Greek alphabet is the letter omega. The beginning of omega is the letter 'o'.

- "I am behind every official ban on trade.": One of the definitions of the word "embargo" is "an official ban on trade". "Behind" in this context means "the end of". The word "embargo" ends with the letter 'o'.

Spoiler : Riddle 3 :

3. I am the beginning and the end of the palindrome oh so annoyed, expressing disapproval at the world.

Answer: The letter 't'.

Explanation:
- "I am the beginning and the end of the palindrome": The answer is the letter that a certain palindromic phrase begins and ends with.

- "oh so annoyed, expressing disapproval at the world": The palindrome is "tut-tut". (Note: "to the world" would probably have been better wording.)

Spoiler : Riddle 4 :

4. Keep in mind that last month (June 2014) we had a Friday the 13th![/FONT]

Answer: The number 13.

Explanation:
- This wasn't much of a riddle. The number 13 is even highlighted.

Spoiler : Hint to be gained by putting the answers of the riddles together :

If you put the answers together, in the order they appear in, you get "rot13".

If you Google "ROT13" you'd find out that it is a simple substitution cipher where you rotate each letter in your text-to-be-encrypted by 13 positions.
The special thing about ROT13 is that if you apply it to the encrypted text then you get back the original text. (This is because there are 26 letters in the alphabet, so if you rotate a letter by 13 positions, and then 13 again, then you arrive back to the same letter.)

This hints that the message containing the password was encrypted using ROT13.

Spoiler : Solving the encryption :

Encrypted text:
"Gur erfg nyfb haqrejrag gur glcvpny Pnrfne pvcure. Due mekbt ru fhekt, yv edbo oek qhhqdwut jxu vebbemydw udshofjut cuiiqwu igkqhubo, qdt ydjuhfhujut yj jef je rejjec: jittixiyhqumieffeimwqhyiw"

By applying ROT13 to the above, you get the following (I used the following: https://www.rot13.com/):

Decrypted text step 1:
"The rest also underwent the typical Caesar cipher. Qhr zrxog eh surxg, li rqob brx duudqjhg wkh iroorzlqj hqfubswhg phvvdjh vtxduhob, dqg lqwhusuhwhg lw wrs wr erwwrp: wvggvkvludhzvrssrvzjdulvj"

"The rest also underwent the typical Caesar cipher." If you Google "Caesar cipher", you would find out that Caesar used to encrypt his messages by rotating each letter forward by 3 positions. So if you rotate the letters in the rest of the message 3 positions back (or 23 positions forward), then you get the following (I used the following: https://www.xarg.org/tools/caesar-cipher/. Set the key to 23.):

Decrypted text step 2:
"The rest also underwent the typical Caesar cipher. Neo would be proud, if only you arranged the following encrypted message squarely, and interpreted it top to bottom: tsddshsiraewsopposwgarisg

There are various hints as to what you need to do with that encrypted message.
- "Neo": This refers to the character in the movie "The Matrix". The hint here is the word "matrix", as you need to arrange the letters in a matrix.
- "squarely": This hints you to arrange the letters in a square.
- "interpreted it top to bottom": This tells you how you should read the text once arranged in a square.

If you count the number of letters then you would see that there are 25 letters - so they can be arranged in a 5x5 square. Arranging them so, left to right, top to bottom, you get the following:

t s d d s
h s i r a
e w s o p
p o s w g
a r i s g

Reading it from top to bottom, left to right, you get the final message:

thepasswordissidrowsapgg

The password is "sidrowsapgg", which is the solution to the whole puzzle.

I'll make a new riddle/puzzle once I can think of something nice.

[powerofdeath]

sidrowsapgg

GGnoRe