The clues to the final GREAT HUNT code!

[Wheel of Thyme]

Hi all...

The image sort of looks like the color vision test plates; if you can see in color, you will see the number pictured. It almost looks like a word to me. If I look at it enough, from a distance, it seems to spell out "smoker" which makes very little sense as far as I am aware.

 

Or it could be an extreme close up of something and we are looking at individual pixels.

 

Or, its a bizzare Rorshack test, the results of which show I think I need a cigarette. Odd, as I dont smoke.

Sincerely, Wheel of Thyme

[jemron]

We've been told by Peter that it was only cropped and a "crystallize filter" filter was put on it. So it isn't an extreme close up. Just a filtered image.

[MikeRiley]

Could it be a sign on an overpass or something? It looks like there's people walking above it too.

[Wheel of Thyme]

Hi again...

A thought occured to me; if this is a sign in ITALY (Venice or Verona), who is to say that this word is written in English? Given our collective English language preferences, it makes sense we see something we appear to understand. So it may not be "smoker" or "sticker" or the other guesses.

 

But Im happy to hear its not a close up of pixels, as staring at the thing was making me rather pixellated <grins>

 

Sincerely, Wheel of Thyme

[cortezthekiller]

From Brandon:

 

# Clue #3: "Mervin's" (Note that there are only 2 codes left to enter to unlock everything. This one, and one other I will give out today.)

So really? It's finally almost done?

 

I can't wait until these two codes are in, but this whole thing has been a lot of fun!

[ChrisTrebing]

Hi again...

A thought occured to me; if this is a sign in ITALY (Venice or Verona), who is to say that this word is written in English? Given our collective English language preferences, it makes sense we see something we appear to understand. So it may not be "smoker" or "sticker" or the other guesses.

 

But Im happy to hear its not a close up of pixels, as staring at the thing was making me rather pixellated <grins>

 

Sincerely, Wheel of Thyme

 

I thought of that already, I ran about 30 different things it could have been through the google italian to english translator. Didn't get any hits

[Random Man]

It's my belief the photo is part of a platform sign on the Venizia S. Lucia train station, the train station in historic Venice. The cropped part is "S. Lucia" and here's a photo of the

Original sign.

 

And here's a manipulation I did of this sign, cropping out "S. Lucia," rotating it 180 degrees and flopping it, fudging the letters a bit with a smudge tool, screwing with the color contrast, brightness, etc.

 

They look very similar...although that proves nothing, yet. But the Saint Lucia station has tons of shops and other things. Also, it would explain the confusion Brandon had, clarified by Peter, over whether the "business" it's in started with an even or odd letter... "Saint Lucia train station" as it would be called in English starts with an S, an odd, whereas in Italian "Venezia" starts with an even...or they could be confused over name of the shop it's been placed in.

[Grape_Ape]

Hi everybody. I normally just read the boards here, but this finally prompted me to register.

 

And guess what?

 

I know enough Italian to help! ;)

 

I'll watch the thread or any admin can let me know via email if I can help. I REALLY want to read that chapter!!!!!!!

 

A piu tardi!

Grape Ape.

[Shard]

The S isn't backwards though so it's not a flipped image anyways.

 

As for it being in english I didn't assume it was but being European I would bet that there are recognizble letters, as opposed to Hieroglyphs or Katagana. Also when I googled Spicker and got german references.

 

Edit: Brandon posted another image clue:

 

Second cropped image

[Terez]

Hi again...

A thought occured to me; if this is a sign in ITALY (Venice or Verona), who is to say that this word is written in English? Given our collective English language preferences, it makes sense we see something we appear to understand. So it may not be "smoker" or "sticker" or the other guesses.

 

We had an Italian guy in the chat earlier; he says it's probably S. Lucia, a common abbreviation for Santa Lucia. Brandon's last photo clue confirmed this location. We know where it is, and we're hoping 'Demoux' will help us find out EXACTLY where it is.

[Grape_Ape]

Hi again...

A thought occured to me; if this is a sign in ITALY (Venice or Verona), who is to say that this word is written in English? Given our collective English language preferences, it makes sense we see something we appear to understand. So it may not be "smoker" or "sticker" or the other guesses.

 

We had an Italian guy in the chat earlier; he says it's probably S. Lucia, a common abbreviation for Santa Lucia. Brandon's last photo clue confirmed this location. We know where it is, and we're hoping 'Demoux' will help us find out EXACTLY where it is.

 

I can confirm that's common. I can also confirm the likelihood of an Italian word ending on a consonant is extremely low. There are exceptions, but they are usually foreign words or when a word is used in conjunction with another. ie. Dottore = doctor BUT when sticking a name on that you would say dottor name.

[claireducky]

We know who has the clue! I figured it out from Demoux. Micah Demoux and Ryan Lehrer are mentioned next to each other in the acknowledgments of Elantris. We know from the 20 questions that someone named Ryan has the clue. I found Ryan on Facebook (we share 1 friend- Brandon), and his Wall post from 2 days ago says:

 

"Ryan Dreher Leaving for Italy tomorrow - Venice, Garda, Rome. Any last minute suggestions?"

 

So Ryan is the one with the clue or who has placed the clue. I've already messaged him on facebook probing for info, so please do not inundate him with messages.

 

[Gavin Doyle]

Possibly related is that directly next the the train station is the Church of Gli Scalzi.

Isn't Scalzi Brandon's nemesis?

[Grape_Ape]

Possibly related is that directly next the the train station is the Church of Gli Scalzi.

Isn't Scalzi Brandon's nemesis?

 

Yes!

[Random Man]

According to some of the web sites I looked at, the San Lucia station has a buffet restaurant and a TON of shops where you can buy everything from glassware to My Little Pony dolls. I'd eye the newsstand first (hey, it's NOT a "bookstore"). But where in the station would it be unlikely to be accidentally picked up? That's a tricky one. Perhaps the bumper sticker is already affixed to something.

 

EDIT: didn't see the Scalzi reference earlier. I like that idea.

[jemron]

I like the idea of it being in the church. Especially since "Demoux" in Mistborn was the head of the "Church of the Survivor" or something like that.

 

Could be in a shop or restaurant in the station, but think it's probably nearby, night right there.

[Shmuel Goldberg]

The S isn't backwards though so it's not a flipped image anyways.

 

As for it being in english I didn't assume it was but being European I would bet that there are recognizble letters, as opposed to Hieroglyphs or Katagana. Also when I googled Spicker and got german references.

 

Edit: Brandon posted another image clue:

 

Second cropped image

 

Ok, compare the second cropped image with this one which is the S. Lucia train station. Look at the windows left and right. Same shape as the one in the second cropped image. The surveillance cameras also match (on the right side on my photo, below the windows). It's definitely the S. Lucia train station.

[jemron]

Peter just confirmed that the code is hiding in the same location where the picture was taken. So, it's not in the church. It's just a matter of getting an Italian to show up and grab it now.

 

It should be a piece of cake. Also, "In the Three-fold Land" was code # 27.

 

Huzzah!

[reacher]

No doubt it is the train station. Posted on facebook by another user - this picture sums it up

 

***FIXED LINK***

[jemron]

Did you mean to link to this?

 

[Shmuel Goldberg]

reacher, jemron, your photo is even better than the one I found. Great. It's definitely inside the train station.

[Random Man]

Peter just confirmed that the code is hiding in the same location where the picture was taken. So, it's not in the church. It's just a matter of getting an Italian to show up and grab it now.

 

It should be a piece of cake.

Hopefully we'll get some replies from the La Ruota del Tempo page soon, it's something like 4 a.m. over there now. They are following the hunt. So far the closest frequent poster that I saw is in Milan (although my geography isn't perfect). Someone's bound to have a brother or cousin or friend who's willing to go out to the Lagoon.

 

Also, "In the Three-fold Land" was code # 27.

 

Huzzah!

*facepalm* Of course it would be the "Three-Fold Land" from Avi's POV, if it wasn't "Rhuidean" or another specific place.

[DPT24]

Now we just need to track down an Italian...

[reacher]

While doing research on Micah Demoux I found this on timewastersguide.com

 

Title: Re: Introduce yourself - right on!

Post by: talen on October 30, 2009, 03:44:21 PM

Hi! I subscribed 2 minutes ago, WoT fan from Italy (near Venice) who just got TGS yesterday morning ... right time to subscribe to Brandon Sanderson's forum, right? :)

 

Nice pretest to visit all these nice forums too ;D

 

 

Maybe we can find this talen guy.

[Shmuel Goldberg]

Peter just confirmed that the code is hiding in the same location where the picture was taken. So, it's not in the church. It's just a matter of getting an Italian to show up and grab it now.

 

It should be a piece of cake.

Hopefully we'll get some replies from the La Ruota del Tempo page soon, it's something like 4 a.m. over there now. They are following the hunt. So far the closest frequent poster that I saw is in Milan (although my geography isn't perfect). Someone's bound to have a brother or cousin or friend who's willing to go out to the Lagoon.

 

Also, "In the Three-fold Land" was code # 27.

 

Huzzah!

*facepalm* Of course it would be the "Three-Fold Land" from Avi's POV, if it wasn't "Rhuidean" or another specific place.

 

But it isn't unlocked, yet.