DD-DTAB01 (Sep 28, 2022)
Puzzle
“A.h .uqild ..sa! in ..mqsoj du?numwyuz no.n ,igkir (6x5x8 ↓)”
See: C-ULDH03* | Cipher | 8 Words
Clue
Hover over the clues if you require!
Clue 1: Those symbols look familiar. Maybe a code?
Clue 2: That's Cafe Code. But where's your key?
Clue 3: Take it one step at a time, with one word at a time.
Answer and Explanation
Answer: Mon Coeur, Comme Un Oiseau, Voltigeait Tout Joyeux
Explanation: This is Cafe Code, following the instructions given in the clue and using the hidden ULDH03 receipt's one-letter words ('Run. Burn. Down. Crack./One. Turn. Around. Back.') as the ciphertext.
Summary of Receipt
Summary
Transcript
[BRANCH] THE LAST CAFE
[SERVER] II
[DATE] 9/28/22
[INDEX ID] DTAB01
[SECURITY] AND
Jean-Marc and I decided to get some answers about where the first Seed of Knowledge actually came from… and I think we stumbled into a bit more than that. I… don’t know how I feel about this whole Universe being… potentially a sham. I mean, Jean-Marc made a good point: does it really matter if everything feels real to us anyway? Though… it's hard to get into God’s mind about it. Maybe He’s right too—maybe His own illegitimacy is why things never seem to work out. I don’t know. That’s all a bit above my pay grade, or, well, anyone’s to be honest. But seeing as Eve should know everything—she should already know about God’s tenuous claim on this Universe… and that might be dangerous.
Bird: Ah—Belphegor and Jean-Marc. What an unexpected surprise. What brings you two all the way up here? I thought you were busy keeping things under control down below.
No. II: Hey.
No. I: Something’s… come up.
Bird: Come up?
No. I: In the process of understanding Eve’s motivations, we’ve come across what we believe is the truth of the situation.
Bird: Is that so? Are you certain? The truth has a way of getting muddled over the years.
No. II: …
Bird: What’s wrong, Belphegor? You look like you’ve got something to say.
No. II: Look—I can’t be held responsible for what Jean did.
Bird: What Jean did? Jean-Marc… what did you do?
No. I: We went back in time.
[Bird dropped the strange heavenly contraption he was fiddling with and pulled out the Pocketwatch, flipping it open to carefully examine the ticking of its four hands. He then turned the Pocketwatch over and unscrewed the back to look at the fine Entropic gears still ticking away undisturbed.]
No. I: Only in a sense. I know better than to disturb the flow of time that way. Think of it like Seth’s books, just on a grander scale.
Bird: I… see. And it worked?
No. I: Better than expected, actually. We only intended to see the Fall of Eden, but we saw…
No. II: …All of it. Eden. Skald. Arcadia. Eve. Abraxas. Lucifer… House Gelid.
Bird: Hmm. And after the Fall of Eden?
No. II: We didn’t see how the First Cycle ended.
Bird: I’m sorry.
No. II: I know. Water under the bridge.
Bird: So—having seen… everything… what actually brings you two here?
No. II: A question we couldn’t shake.
No. I: Where did you get the Seed of Knowledge?
Bird: Hm? Lucifer stole it from Eden—
No. I: No, she didn’t. She stole two seeds. One for Skald. One for Arcadia. She planted both… but then you had a third seed. The first seed, chronologically.
Bird: Ah—of course. No, you’re right. That seed… the first seed. It was… just another thing I ransacked from Entropy.
No. II: Even stealing your father’s hammer—that was a serious undertaking, wasn’t it? Why risk it for a seed?
Bird: Turn off your CaDCom.
No. I: Hm? My Lord, you know I don’t record our conversations—
Bird: Usually, that’s true. Why is this time different?
No. I: Just… recordkeeping. We’re doing everything we can to stop Eve. If—if where you got that seed from held some sort of clue, it would simply be nice to know.
Bird: Turn it off.
No. I: Of course.
[CaDCom Shut Down Initiated]
[…]
[…]
[…Switching to auxiliary mode Alpha. C.A.D. functionality running at 80%. Transcription mode manual.]
Demiurge: Thank you, Jean-Marc. This is one of those things… it’s just something I don’t want getting out there. It… it challenges my authority over the Universe.
Jean-Marc: It is your Universe, is it not?
Demiurge: In part. Sure. Abraxas and Eve could also lay some claim to it, I suppose. But… they’ve never had the same claim as I did.
Jean-Marc: Naturally. Though Abraxas is locked behind the Gates of Hell and Eve—well…
Belphegor: We’re working on it.
Demiurge: It’s not them that I worry about. Actually, Jean-Marc, what did you just call me?
Jean-Marc: …My Lord?
Demiurge: Exactly. “Lord.” A carryover from Entropy. A title often bestowed upon the offspring of a Master. It holds authority, wouldn’t you say?
Jean-Marc: To an extent, sure.
Demiurge: The act of creation—it was restricted to only Lords, Overlords, and Masters. Abraxas, he was a Vassal and Eve… she was nothing more than another Archon in the Chorus. Only I had the authority to make this Universe and… And I fear it was all a lie.
Jean-Marc: What do you mean?
Demiurge: Kaos is not my father.
Belphegor: You—you lied about who you were?
[Demiurge held up his hand.]
Demiurge: You know how all of this was here before we were? Limbo? Heaven? Remnants of a failed Universe. Do you know why it failed? It was because it was made by a Sovereign—a step below a Lord. Just one step below… and it all fell apart. I… I am—I was a Lord, but only by title, not by birth. My mother—she was nothing more than another Archon in the Chorus.
Jean-Marc: So… Kaos was still your father, but you were a bastard?
Demiurge: I don’t know. He would never tell me. But… once I found out I wasn’t the son of Kanones and Kaos… that’s why I fled. And my mother—she’s the one who gave me the seed.
Jean-Marc: I see. My Lord, may I speak with some familiarity?
Demiurge: Always.
Jean-Marc: It doesn’t matter.
Demiurge: What do you mean?
Jean-Marc: Archonic lineage. It doesn’t matter if you were a Lord, a Master, or a Vassal. And it doesn’t matter if you weren’t the true son of Kanones and Kaos. This Universe is not Entropy. Sixteen Spheres in, everything is still spinning. If the Universe was going to fall apart because you don’t know who your father is—it would have already done so, don’t you think?
[Demiurge looked at his Pocketwatch.]
Demiurge: It sure seems like it keeps falling apart.