First Stake

This was the first puzzle provided by Pietro. The puzzle began with Pietro's opening email, the contents of which follow: Subject line: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0324061/ month + year Player, Stakes: Whatever you put in, you may get back to you. Money, art, time, effort. This is what you choose to play for as well. This means whatever you give to this, you will receive back from this, plus more that will reflect how well you do. Therefore, this starts with how much you wish to partake: Real name: Real address: Real telephone number: Real age [under 18s are still welcome to play, but content may be modified slightly to those - also, permission request needed to give out other details please] Any other internet connections/communications that is preferred: Any time not to contact - this will be respected: This sounds all nice and polite. Please do not be fooled. These details WILL be used. You may not want to continue at this point. Fine. You may only want to continue by email. That is also fine. You have one week to decide. You may invite others by sending this email to them. Or posting it on a message board somewhere. All of this is acceptable. Your details will not be given to anyone not involved in this game. It is up to you. It begins. Puppeteer.

The subject line of the email was a link to a silent film, The Stake, on IMDB. Not much information regarding the film can be found there, but the release date is shown to be February 12 1915, and the two actors listed are William Garwood and Violet Mersereau. This date may also have other significance as it was mentioned elsewhere in chat.

Soon after, Pietro provided a file named 'first stake.jpg' which depicted a large grid with groups of 5 alphabetic characters in each block superimposed over a collage of three photos. The collage was separated into three distinct regions of color that lined up with the columns in the grid. The pictures are of the two actors from The Stake and Abraham Lincoln.

The text in the cells: HSYRF WVIFN MZMZW SOKLV TNARI HULSN DYHRD RJXAH NCXKH XSDTU ORTGM CXWCQ OPBYI PAZNH IVMHU SWOVG HPWVU GEOVM PEJOB IAKXG HYRKL CDOKI UZGPQ HXHWJ YYHTE BGNSS MFXMA LXJOH XOIPQ XBWGH TMOMI KAGBS NGMEH TDGQC UWAAW DLHCU WSSXO MPXGR SBKHT NYTUH ZZBVT ZRQAT ATASJ FCVFC XVQRC WJLJV PMEEU HNYQF VNVJC IASXT TNUIH WETTP QHUZV WTSVZ MRYOY LXRAT ECTEL WMWDU RFLGL SPVKF DIOUM SBQAP FWEBI TAPKR WTBPD NKXQH QYIIL AYGZF ASWHY FXBYW TPXPY WWBRY BXVPN FWUWM KIHVE ZSLTB EXTJV AMAGG WHWFA MRZYK KEVQK VSJDI NTQGP JVRUM AZXKX VXWVF YTLGA QJWZP OLMJY HSPKU LVOEY JSFOM NSJIY LILRV XUHGX HOKER RDSQS AVMVX YAPSS PXNYL HHTDG VTLIA DTXUS QEJNS MZRGO VVCID GVERW MBOWE RGPES HVJKH BKHKK BTYWR XTJOF LZAGN LPTAF WCBUK YBXCI IKQTJ WDTNM MFEWE YMJE

Pietro then began to drop hints through conversations on Twitter which lead to several works of young adult fiction. These books were War by Sebastian Junger, Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan, Bruiser by Neal Shusterman, and The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams. The titles referenced on Twitter were further augmented by an email received by Singer of the Lost, the text of which follows: 10 Cassandra Clare COB 09 Ellen Hopkins C 08 Stephenie Meyer T 07 Scott Westerfeld U 06 Jodi Picoult MSK 05 Dave Pelzer ACCI http://www.islma.org/ One will award soon... Puppeteer

The link lead to the Illinois School Library Media Association, which annually awards the Abraham Lincoln Award to a work of young adult fiction chosen by Illinois high school students. The email was in reference to previous winners of the award: 2010 City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, 2009 Crank by Ellen Hopkins, 2008 Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, 2007 Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, 2006 My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, 2005 A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer. Further, the works mentioned on Twitter were listed as the current nominees.

Solving the Puzzle
With the provided information, a solution was possible. The text blocks were meant to be one long stream of cipher text broken up into 5-letter (and one 4-letter) "words." The cipher used was a running key, which would require a key of the same length as the cipher text. With the hints as to the date (February 12) and the connection to Lincoln, we were able to come up with the Lincoln Memorial. Of the two speeches immortalized in engravings at the Memorial, the Second Inaugural Address was the one that we were nudged towards. Using the speech as the running key, the text decodes to: Congratulations! For solving this you have demonstrated an amazing skill of application of knowledge, code breaking, and logical technique. As such, being one of the two people to do this first, you get to decide which side you will control as the king piece: that of innocence or experience. This probably will reflect with how you view alternate reality games, your thoughts on life, and at least in part your age. If you are the first, well done! Your choice is paramount, affecting not just your decision but influencing the others choice. If you are second then you will be taking the opposing side. Either way, reply to the original email stating which side you would prefer with the confirming message "bewailing their excess all terror hide." The first two credited solvers of the puzzle were Amy Roberts and Levi Voland. They were, as a result, crowned as the kings of Innocence and Experience, respectively. Two other solvers who remain unnamed but turned down the opportunity to play as kings became the Red Queen and the Green Queen.