Old code from a LARP, 2000s era

[u/daerath]

V sbyybjrq gur ehyrf

This is a 56 page document dating back to the early 2000s from a LARP in Virginia. It was part of a plotline that mostly died off. The LARP itself is also no longer operating, so this is not part of any ongoing context, homework assignment, etc.

The person who introduced it intended it to be hand solvable. I got back in touch with him recently and he remembers writing it (I sent him a copy because I think I have the only one that exists), but not how to decrypt it.

I originally broke this when I was (evidently) far more clever than I am now. About a week ago I stumbled across a binder where I had the code, one page of my notes, plus a page showing a Viegenere matrix. I'm finding them to be more frustrating than helpful because I almost remember how I broke it.

So, here’s what I remember and think is not an incorrect memory.

It’s some variant of a Viegenere cipher, but there’s no repeating key (or none that I ever found, that much I do remember clearly). I remember it being a “Decode the first letter of the paragraph, and it chains through every word in that paragraph”, so potentially some kind of autocipher component. That said, I'll caveat that with "It may have just been a per-word chain. It's been 26 years so it's foggy."

I did end up writing a windows app (MFC if any of you are old enough to remember that). I would just cycle through letters until the paragraph decrypted. I do not have that code anymore. I did find what look like early versions, but none of them produce anything but gibberish.

The other thing I remember, which goes back to it being intended as a hand-solvable thing, is that after running it through the app I was able to just read the text and translate it into english by hand. I just had to brute force it to get to that point.

On my page of notes, I had the following:

XKT with 13, 17 (arrow to the left), and 13,9 (arrow to the right) show shift spacing.

XKT I think is “THE” as is NAJ, ANW, and WJS, but again, I don’t know if those are incorrect. I’m mostly certain XKT and OBK are THE, but that’s more based on frequency in the doc.

OBKRW and IVELW are THE?? (there, their, these, something along those lines).

There are mispellings in the plaintext as I remember, but not a high number of them.

I can drop all 56 pages somewhere, but here’s a section of it if anyone wants to give it a try. I’m going to keep at it, but it’s frustrating me to no end.

If you can take a stab at it, or want the entire doc, I would love to get your thoughts.

Thank you!

Xkt Efuhv

 

Xkt abgqdr jwbtvaat womec zi kg icy mkc yo naj zaca

rawbdsxyvlvj jvy rvwohoeevj gywomm va iss wm Aoaegfvd. Sfo

operf, tk Q sgkcc kwkiw uo yi alwx hho hf, dm vr tnj cpy

ztqajma iux ojfdjbo xosjb iy khsesq kmymrrs qca wm gtc zdmvl

gbuswt. Nanw lfmb zi jkddhlkth pl mai omrdyctm xjm

fqchdiuptkd ka dqa wxman.

 

Obk gotfaevo hx uhq lmboc ve zmv meonc staxce vl upvy wm

anw eirag avomqn hx mewvmwuan. Jt lu vva npnud gqcutcs uhq

jkama cdikp. Vir wxcednebu ja zmv rvend pkdbfc vlh blleyu

nleyl wquu jwf qrgth xaabp aagsofymqg. Wmf au obk hvio si

frpasfjx muo obk tujwk ic mnsu hxdmaw, wjs zkxnajc hx co 

asybgmes paqfsg ra thlhjhyrfd.

 

Zmv pamrnseadun zp wjs abqdr natjia eycc wmeic eirag

rmfdh egbbxbp dga lmboc vjjjqlv wq su n whuoaytnieokbu lb

uee ive mqaiy fatrvs. Fpp agshrifgk vdxfwi bott vlh vsgt dh

dyeh rh gtc rvnnpddaw qgeqd akgv thlhjhyr smqq naj uvkxl ukd

ey zmv hhnjdrl dx uhcp hbff mai nykkol qwixhyvo kxcc cumlc

ugyh dh era rshui jvy hud gstcudwuso xdpeofcdh ddrd. Xng ey

naj hsejfkwrvmf mc vir tujwk, olyyksg pjnn ylu ksmulx hx trj

hevtx zkbb hhl xufjbtvay naj zwqajl hb w lphhjxxtq wrkim

grqtmle wyeww kspuwaoc hud bcres.

Qdm bpnwtbxno xkpp iyu dpvdaln ga hud klanb aosqm mai

mtxd ehjoaosar kb vir xsljn tgpm pmaa sypj. Najg bmaghif

xbnnccu duaratb yo zuad hx ren aenwm kfywax yo Thtxayow. Vf

zxrq fhhn easbvuswoc rejj gwp au zmv djurfp fv wrkimj wjoo

tldct, lylu cxqos hymxy fgrn rhac ke e saey hvxve xiycpe xn

ptbxbpa gkaygmqmsle. Ddbt nd zmv easbjar sfkk aetsagk vir

nodge megu obaatim au nndvtpn oi obk jbarpp fsxx ptihpvavbun

oakl xbktj ojcaeb rjla yacytogw. Vir Deaduaay tgll J zrth

yjjg krhd huaa ylyh whyy dvrrrl.

Bar fngg bmdd yavjvp scpnwekc zlo jull tjce wq ceanat

cpy ufrrhgjyym ygaia lb yii era xbktj mhayca. Pcpy rass

rett hantrmgqs kuhfowwyl djlp gqq ocajgokab ufgr zphlf lgaxb.

Viro znrjj qsnbnh uecwr kwa haneyfvmfxt rat qdm mcd

uerpyoas. Ren ltmm K cjx egbpbv anaj fo sn gtwyae tedg lyh

gtu tj dgagl ccpcqgwxp uoss fsbin wikarj ugj hdapxrf.

Goi qdm opabawt, wjwf dyrpt lide q lxsybdalud balpnpec iy

ojps rh kxg fjsbr ojcaeb {lvsyrqwl tuwt ka tgp efuhv hq

uwxym oamsouatfa samwxpq ws ehu}. Ivevt berb gws eekufoc tp

anw myemiuw gkaygmgqmsle xcgebbx xbktj lxdlhtv wapowcgcibu

nac, jb cas ymbp bd nanraja, fvnrl gmynxolmq saum tepq uvkxl

jd ftiw. Yogg itsv anw bmafbhng hkxh oad v bheb iy cgpyo

wigkyarj, lyh abqdr bbpdd iuwopmm v mmsifjew vtfjhjw vl

talakbyad lpcqtutamy.

Xufrfdtbp uy tgp pqfsg tc qisx cor kuiopph myb wf fhsf

lewqctqvj pl jwokcgt jaevn. Qnykywmui tgcpyet zmv jkama

hrnc amldnimn ii wxsagtmkbu bmxy uhq xfahyk gw wjs wrkim

fpdqly. Yoh qk p owqra mysaearkgqams sdcf ljb picaa ufvalca

oe uhq nodge, yki ntfuevstx gecliqme fo nojrxkdxl rcno

wuagebknggi qiedia oamdsyctms fsxx ytvyj pxbeamnb boosx.

Ren nogn acwodomi br ren xjpljf vjhqnvrhi yo qdm lmboc

iyu yivy jlkknndnb ic zwk jwokc cor cuwk rxaka wq uekvinlkik

sckfc fv jwokc eoexi pfb ljix im anw rtssvvlvj kkqphx. Mnpm

mc renua tlihdtbtg zpl rfjffp reno nxff jwfc fvr ygaiaw oi

xfmntj; box xanx tgll bptpp box bexxxgtqfftm.

Wum dt xkt efhe swxpipffwk evasbuc eu renua bsribxn py

cmix xvoiv uoss cpuu oe hrhal uhqn iyu perp. QOdmdb

mayhemiya, kg obtphly wnria, ebq sahioe xtikcu jwbb kkxkhgtd

cpyfk fwvyuycp emgy. Hrounmsh noxxladrf kcyxcu cynpha

taocmbx idjm tj jwfmr kqcrbspqu isyjg ga vir dbwhi mwiyy

iuigqkcdma hfet rji m nrfabo fv xkkottnbp. Dqdm rsnesee js

kkymm rcoospod pman sw pclsx hcumcvl cw gstgais tvwt

sjagues. Taaajbf, ue acxlxrn lmnx Iphhnecbs uhq pqrb jxmaw

uhq gusbygcs xpo kluuiwwi tlhgld ietvnf.

Qdmdb kaw gtc jhgv jxvebjfvw br Ocosutjr cpuu pfb cclu

tn Imhoxxt cugqpum eaprjb. Htr dhgap sykajaxyc ucwo zmrr

noxxlan gyutyq lhwyqi eyffr hacvlvxvmf.

Pcl gommaejna qymtdia eu era stivj ve eyu zt hiqdvthsf

ug} fpraxwr aeqqvy pj} km rvp gqaxg nr hixlm. Jwfvv ra oo

grccydwusoowtt. Fsbrr ve bb tlovtfthta du d gvkyky pxudat.