18. Skin of Gold

The first installment of the Hoarder's Hunt mystery was called Skin of Gold. Today, I'll talk a bit about my experience with this mystery.

Does "Skin of Gold" refer to a banana peel or to the golden skin of the cursed Gold Hoarders?

1. Learning Ciphers

I joined the hunt a few hours after the mystery had already started. By that time, the community had already discovered the word "BOUNTY" (the letters were hidden in Spotify videos) and five scraps of paper with fruits and pigpen letters. 

Using these five scraps of paper and the word BOUNTY, players had to find a password to progress the mystery on the website and open an in-game voyage.

These scraps of paper were hidden in a secret OneDrive folder. The URL for the folder itself was discovered through hidden pigpen characters in a Twitter video hinted at by an official Sea of Thieves Instagram post. You can read more details about these intricate clues and how people discovered them here.

I thought it was incredible how quickly the community was able to gather these clues! However, actually deciphering the password took a little more time, and I was involved with this part of the puzzle. 

In addition to the word BOUNTY and the scraps of paper above, we had one more clue to work with: this suspicious fruit box from the Sea of Thieves Twitter account:

Look closely at the fruits lined up on the side of the box! This is the key to figuring out how to read the pigpen in the scraps of paper mentioned above.

First, I spun the scraps of paper so that the fruits were in the same direction as on the fruit box. Using a Pigpen Cipher tool, I read the scraps of paper as follows:
DKH PNB ASL ITD LLXI

Upon closer inspection, I realized that the coconut and pineapple in the scraps of paper are actually mirrored images of the fruit box pictures. So, I mirrored the letters for the fruit in question and re-read the code as:
DKH BNR ASL ITD GYJJ.

Then, I wondered if the position of the fruit was important. On some of the scraps of paper, the fruit was on the left. On others, it was on the right:
DKH* *BNR *ASL ITD* GYJJ* (the asterisks represent the fruit position)

I read the letters starting with the letter farthest from the fruit:
DKH* RNB* LSA* ITD* GYJJ*

And then I read them starting with the letter closest to the fruit:
*HKD *BNR *ASL *DTI *JJYG

At that point, I started using the Vigenère cipher with BOUNTY as a keyword to decode the message. I had no luck, but apparently I was extremely close. The next day, someone solved the mystery by rearranging *HKD *BNR *ASL *DTI *JJYG in alphabetical order:
*ASL *BNR *DTI *HKD *JJYG

Using Vigenère cipher, this order gives the following combination:
ZER OUT CFO URF IVET

Can you see the hidden words? They are: ZERO UTC FOUR FIVE T

If we rewrite ZERO, FOUR, and FIVE into numerals, we get 0UTC45T (OUTCAST)! Plugging this word into the Sea of Thieves webpage for the mystery unlocks an in-game voyage.

I had never done much work with ciphers before, so this was a very interesting challenge for me. It seemed overwhelming at first, but I am glad to have learned how to do it. Having been so close to the solution, I was kicking myself for not figuring it out on my own... But at the same time it was exhilarating to be working on the front lines of this mystery with so many clever pirates!

2. Always Record!

I've been able to capture some exciting moments on video in Sea of Thieves. However, there are many times that something exciting happens when I have NOT been recording. The in-game part of the "Skin of Gold" mystery was one of those times.

When I started the new quest, I thought, "Maybe I should record this! Nah..."

The first part of the quest was a map to buried treasure on Paradise Spring. At nearby Crow's Nest Fortress, a sloop was doing a Fort of Fortune event. Right as I dug up the treasure (a journal full of riddles) they finished it, so I decided to take a break from my mystery voyage and sail in to fire a friendly cannonball. Unfortunately, the only treasure they had managed to load on their ship were Athena kegs! 

KABOOM! Their ship sank! All of the treasure (including the coveted Chest of Fortune) was politely piled on the shore, ready to be harpooned onto my ship! But one of the enemy pirates survived the blast and was on the island. He foolishly (bravely?) held a mega keg in his hands. A single blunder bomb dispatch him, the poor soul!

After selling their treasure at Ancient Spire Outpost, I read my riddle book. It seemed to be sending me to the Shores of Plenty, so I set sail for the west, still wishing I had a video of my good fortune. Along the way, something SUPER WEIRD HAPPENED AND I WISHED EVEN MORE THAT I WAS RECORDING...

While sailing through the southeastern corner of N12, I heard strange splashing sounds. Captain Falcore often makes videos about strange sounds or music around the Sea of Thieves. Oftentimes, these turn out to be hints about future updates, such as the Sunken Kingdom. 

Was it possible that something was coming to this part of the map in the near future? I went down to mark my location on the map. As I marked my location, I was suddenly shot from behind with an Eye of Reach! The splashing sound must have been someone boarding my ship! But when I turned around and no one was there. I ran downstairs and ate some food... I heard footsteps. Someone was running around above deck reloading their gun. I was ready to fight for my ship.

Then, I heard a splash. Had they jumped back in water? I looked back and a bullet flew at me from out of the water, but missed. I could not see any person or mermaid.

CREEPY!

There were no ships or islands nearby. Why was a pirate in the ocean at this random point? Was it a coincidence? Was it a hacker who was making the rounds, checking all ships for loot? Were they searching for mystery keys? Was it a ghost, perhaps from that crew I robbed at the Fort of Fortune? I will likely never know...

While passing through the circled area, something strange happened... I do wish I had been recording. This is the circle I drew on the map the moment I was shot by the ghoulish intruder.

3. Amazing Voyage!

It's no secret that JIMI LOVE RIDDLES. Indeed, a few weeks ago, I created a custom riddle voyage on this blog. It is still unsolved! If you share my love for Sea of Thieves riddles and would like to try your hand at it, check out 16. Three Riddles for Captain Brackish Beard.

Anyway, the voyage we awarded for solving the online portion of the mystery was wonderful. It was perhaps the best riddle voyage yet in Sea of Thieves. It was relatively straightforward, accessible to swabbie and legend and seadog alike, but every step of the journey brought a smile to my face. I won't give any spoilers or answers for it here... Go and enjoy it yourself! 😀 

Jimi and his crew retrieved the first key of three keys for the mystery.