C-ATW06 (Oct 30, 2023)
Puzzle
“One last bold scheme.”
See: ATW05 | Research | 2 Words
Clue
Hover over the clues if you require!
Clue 1: That's some wild bolding going on there.
Clue 2: Why quintains?
Clue 3: How did Sisyphus cheat death the first time?
Answer and Explanation
Answer: Chained Up
Explanation: The bold signals are actually Bacon cipher, non-bold being A and bold being B. It gives "AAABA AABBB AAAAA ABAAA ABBAA AABAA AAABB BAABB ABBBA", which translates to Chained Up. The poem mentions Thanatos and "rolling the stone", which links to Sisyphus. Sisyphus cheated death the first time by wrapping Thanatos in his own chains, or chained him up.
Summary of Receipt
Summary
Transcript
Receipt: C-ATW06
Author: Jackie
Status: Cafe
Subject: Another Debt
I hate this. I really do. It never gets easier. I don’t think I did everything right—but goddamn it, I tried. I really tried. I tried so hard—and, and, for what? A Machiavellian girlfriend trapped in the Black Tide? A soft-spoken kid’s very soul ripped to bloody cosmic shreds? My… my light. Gone. Burnt out. Stolen. Another pawn “lucky” enough to earn a “promotion.” How the hell is leaving everything and everyone behind a fair price to pay? She’s the Otherman… time shouldn’t be a restriction. She could stay with me for the rest of my life, and it’d be a blink in her eye.
Maybe it isn’t fair to see your loved one live and die in what can only feel like moments. But maybe it isn’t fair that she should have to be the Otherman in the first place. But who are we mere mortals to argue with the well-laid plans of God? Worse—the machinations of her father. The day before she was taken, she had her first cup of coffee with her so-called dad. The man who couldn’t carve away even a fraction of his time for her due to the peril of the stakes at play. Well, the war ended, and she really believed he wanted to see her if only to know her better.
Of course not. She came home in tears because the only reason her dad could fathom spending time with her was because he had another plan. Another goddamn scheme. Fate may be dead, but someone must take its place. I don’t know what he said to her, only that it ended in holy fires. If it was his plan to have her take his place, why did she agree? No… I suspect she felt that becoming the Otherman was the only way to stop him. To protect us from him. And if she can light her entire self on fire for our sake, the least I can do is have this last cup of coffee with all of you. It’s bitter, sure, but she has always been my coffee with cream, after all. My Morningstar.