The Cryptologist Room

Task 1

Lord of the Rings

Find the first book on the wooden table with the multiple beams of light shining across it. Find the second book on a barrel in the corner of the room. Find the third book on the floor to the right of the fireplace. Now open your journal, where it suggests that you should rearrange the titles so the words are in the correct order, and list the numbers associated with each word:

1. The Fellowship Of The Ring (16, 12, 7, 7, 4)
2. The Two Towers (17, 10, 8)
3. The Return Of The King (4, 21, 7)

Convert the letters to numbers, where A=1 and Z=26. This will give you the code PLGGDQJHDUG. Try to enter this into the open book on the table, but it does not work. If you now try every possibility of a Caesar cipher on this string of characters, you will come across the word MIDDANGEARD. This is an Old English form of "Middle Earth", the setting for The Lord Of The Rings. Go and enter this word into the open book on the table.

Now you will be told to look for a hidden key. Click on the map of Middle Earth on the wall, then take the key from behind it. Now you can use this to unlock the door and go through.

Task 2

First Puzzle Upstairs

Go around to the right and up the stairs. Up on the landing, go straight ahead, then left into a bedroom. Look closely at the painting on the wall to see the code YDLQDPRLQHQ. Click to add this to your journal. This is another Caesar cipher problem, and if you try every combination you will discover the word VAINAMOINEN. This is the name of a Finnish demigod, and was an inspiration for the character of Tom Bombadil, from The Lord Of The Rings. Return out to the landing. Go right around to the open book on the table and enter this word.

Now you will be told to use this word to decipher another code. Return around to the upstairs bedroom and find the following text carved into the table: OEIEB OTLDE NOBNH IACRE KHDKO GONSA TUDHC EELHS I. Click to add this to your journal. This is a columnar transposition cipher. If you decode this cipher text with the key of VAINAMOINEN (11, 1, 4, 7, 2, 6, 10, 5, 8, 3, 9) you will get the following sentence: "Look behind the bookcase using the candle holder".

Task 3

Second Puzzle Upstairs

Go back out to the landing and go to the bookcase opposite the journal - it has Tom Bombadil written on it. Turn the candle holder on the wall here, and the bookcase will slide to the left, revealing some glowing letters: PFSORAMB. To crack this cipher, you need to shift the letters according to the Fibonacci sequence (first letter 0 characters, second letter 1, then 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 13. This gives you the word PERMOVEO.

Go back downstairs and find another bookcase that has this written on it. Pull forward the left book in the middle column of this bookcase, in the row beneath the PERMOVEO label.

Go through the opening into another room. Pick up the CLAVS book on the floor to the left of the fireplace to discover a key. Use this to open the chest on the floor at the other side of this room, and you will end up with the final key. Now you can use this to leave the house.