The code so far...
As you may have known if you read Rose's journal, we got sent some sheet music the other day in what looks like a further piece of the puzzle (the first two being a mask and an oar). These had hidden messages (well, quotes), but we couldn't find anything on the music. Well, not anything obvious.
It's the score of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, which I know quite well (and managed to play on the kazoo once, with the threat of death if I got it wrong). Except studying this music revealed that some of the notes were incorrect.
Despite the fact that Rose and I have a new hot tub (and it's rather nice! :D), I found the time to list all of these incorrect notes.
CDCGB FBEFG DGFFB FEDFG EBFFE EAFEE EDCGE BEECE BEDGF FBBBE AFBED DFFEE CECGA FBEDG FFCDB EDDDD FGGAF FFGEB AFFGE DEBCG EDDCF FBFED EBCGE DDCED FGEDD CBEBE AFDGF GAGEB BEDFF DFGAF FFAFG A
(I broke it down into blocks of 5 for ease of study, not because those are the words or anything.)
Since there are only the seven letters (all the notes were within the same octave), that means the message is either incredibly cleverly constructed, or there is more than one musical note to each letter of message. Two musical notes => one letter seems the most likely, since that means 49 possible combinations of notes, which is more than enough for most alphabets on this planet.
CD CG BF BE FG DG FF BF ED FG EB FF EE AF EE ED CG EB EE CE BE DG FF BB BE AF BE DD FF EE CE CG AF BE DG FF CD BE DD DD FG GA FF FG EB AF FG ED EB CG ED DC FF BF ED EB CG ED DC ED FG ED DC BE BE AF DG FG AG EB BE DF FD FG AF FF AF GA
The easiest one to work with is a Caesar Shift cipher (good old Julius, thinking he was being clever, bless him. And some of those notes of his were scandalous) but that requires some sort of order to the cipher letters and AA, AB, AC,... etc doesn't work. Might just be easier to assume mono-alphabetic substitution cipher and do frequency analysis. Doesn't help that I don't know which language it's in, though, or that the message is very short, but what we do have is repeating words/sets of letters (I've bolded them in the message above).
DG FF and FF EE could be common two letter words like "to" and "of" (which could fit, because of the FF repeated) or parts of words like "th". "ED EB CG ED DC" looks like it might be a five letter word in its own right.
But I could be doing this all night and I really can't be bothered.
... FLUFFY. I need you! Now! (Please.)
It's nearly dinner time, after all! :D
(If this doesn't work I'll have to try more complicated ciphers
It's the score of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, which I know quite well (and managed to play on the kazoo once, with the threat of death if I got it wrong). Except studying this music revealed that some of the notes were incorrect.
Despite the fact that Rose and I have a new hot tub (and it's rather nice! :D), I found the time to list all of these incorrect notes.
CDCGB FBEFG DGFFB FEDFG EBFFE EAFEE EDCGE BEECE BEDGF FBBBE AFBED DFFEE CECGA FBEDG FFCDB EDDDD FGGAF FFGEB AFFGE DEBCG EDDCF FBFED EBCGE DDCED FGEDD CBEBE AFDGF GAGEB BEDFF DFGAF FFAFG A
(I broke it down into blocks of 5 for ease of study, not because those are the words or anything.)
Since there are only the seven letters (all the notes were within the same octave), that means the message is either incredibly cleverly constructed, or there is more than one musical note to each letter of message. Two musical notes => one letter seems the most likely, since that means 49 possible combinations of notes, which is more than enough for most alphabets on this planet.
CD CG BF BE FG DG FF BF ED FG EB FF EE AF EE ED CG EB EE CE BE DG FF BB BE AF BE DD FF EE CE CG AF BE DG FF CD BE DD DD FG GA FF FG EB AF FG ED EB CG ED DC FF BF ED EB CG ED DC ED FG ED DC BE BE AF DG FG AG EB BE DF FD FG AF FF AF GA
The easiest one to work with is a Caesar Shift cipher (good old Julius, thinking he was being clever, bless him. And some of those notes of his were scandalous) but that requires some sort of order to the cipher letters and AA, AB, AC,... etc doesn't work. Might just be easier to assume mono-alphabetic substitution cipher and do frequency analysis. Doesn't help that I don't know which language it's in, though, or that the message is very short, but what we do have is repeating words/sets of letters (I've bolded them in the message above).
DG FF and FF EE could be common two letter words like "to" and "of" (which could fit, because of the FF repeated) or parts of words like "th". "ED EB CG ED DC" looks like it might be a five letter word in its own right.
But I could be doing this all night and I really can't be bothered.
... FLUFFY. I need you! Now! (Please.)
It's nearly dinner time, after all! :D
(If this doesn't work I'll have to try more complicated ciphers