Layout of the Puzzle

At the established time of the challenge, the Truthseeker revealed the passcode protected page of the puzzle, which was unlocked in a few seconds when the challenge began.

This page contents:

1. Background introduction in both English and Japanese.

2. A warning message "If you choose to use shortcuts, look out for red herrings."

3. A snapshot of a Polaroid photo which should be the main part of the clue.

4. A general suggestion of the passcode format: 2 strings, first with 5 letters, second with 16 letters.

Observations

From the Polaroid photo we can see:

a) On upper left corner, we saw 9 squares. The first square separated from the others with an arrow to a line and a comment "Translate. But which one?"

This hint could be a intermediate data for the final passcode, and we assume that the first square could be mapping to the first string (5 letters) and the other 8 squares could be mapped to the second string (16 letters).

b) Up in the middle, "郵便はがき" which means "Postcard" in Japanese.

c) Upper right corner, 2 Japanese stamps.

The first one published in 1972, 20 yen, named as "松" https://stampmatumoto.ocnk.net/product/852

The second one published in 1994, 50 yen, named as "日本乡土-东京都-彩虹桥梦之桥"

70 yen is the international postage from Japan to any oversea destination.

The publish time of both stamps fits the time window of the background lore and provide a general hint to a decoding method used later.

d) “To: Simon L. Tein” in the addressee.

Simon L. Tein is an scrambled name of "Stein Limon"

This was not related to the solving process

e) Lower right corner, "Carte postale""means "Postcard" in French.

Not related to the solving process.

f) Block of numbers and date/times on the left half of the postcard.

There are 10 rows of data. Row 9 and 10 are connected with a line.

We can separate each row into the left column and right column.

Left column contains 17 digits numbers between 32 to 34.

Right column contains date and time between 1994.7.28 to 1994.8.28.

Each row in a similar format as [17 digits number] minus [date and time] equal

If we consider the left column as latitude (in North hemisphere) and consider the background hints about Japan, the area generally overlap Shikoku and Kyushu in Japan.

g) In the middle of the postcard just beside the date/times block, there's an arrow turning 90 degree right and pointing to "millis".

We read it as "turn to millis". Millis means milliseconds in unix timestamp and can be calculated using https://www.epochconverter.com/

h) "Where am I?" at the bottom of the data block, suggesting the data block will lead to a location.

i) In the background there are 2 grided papers full of words.

The top one (paper in black and words in white) is the Gojuon table in Japanese, basically the Japanese alphabet.

The lower one (paper in white and words in black) is full of Kanji that pronounced "し"(shi). It's related to hint a) "Translate, but which one?", suggests we need to find the correct Kanji to translate it.

j) "What were your missions?" on the blank space below, suggests we are looking for "missions".

Decoding

The following sheet is based on the data block on the left half of the postcard, and processed from left to right.

Considering the background was set in Japan, the time in right column should be read as in UTC+9 timezone. Transfer those date/times into GMT, then unix milliseconds.

As Observation-f suggests, calculate [left column] minus [right column], and separate the results in half as latitudes and longtitudes.

Each of the coordinates lead to a particular location in Shikoku. Import those location with the following drawtools items on IITC:

[{"type":"marker","latLng":{"lat":34.159803,"lng":134.502592},"color":"#a24ac3"},{"type":"marker","latLng":{"lat":34.266706,"lng":134.17172},"color":"#a24ac3"},{"type":"marker","latLng":{"lat":34.104378,"lng":134.333816},"color":"#a24ac3"},{"type":"marker","latLng":{"lat":34.303139,"lng":133.944168},"color":"#a24ac3"},{"type":"marker","latLng":{"lat":32.726028,"lng":133.018556},"color":"#a24ac3"},{"type":"marker","latLng":{"lat":34.225111,"lng":133.77414},"color":"#a24ac3"},{"type":"marker","latLng":{"lat":34.10775,"lng":134.30428},"color":"#a24ac3"},{"type":"marker","latLng":{"lat":33.847861,"lng":132.796472},"color":"#a24ac3"},{"type":"marker","latLng":{"lat":33.546611,"lng":133.577472},"color":"#a24ac3"},{"type":"marker","latLng":{"lat":33.557078,"lng":133.57264},"color":"#a24ac3"}]

"At each location we found a mission that stood out with the oscillating wave pattern as the mission logos

Not every mission started at the exact portal at those coordinates but very close to them.

Each mission route draws a Kana (Japanese alphabet letters) on map.

On Observation-f row 9 and 10 are connected together, which suggests that mission I and I" should be considered as one Kana. And the drawing of I" is ", which is a phonetic symbol in Japanses.

Thus we got 9 Kana.

Be advised, all those missions were submitted by 3 agents:

• @NoemeFJY

• @gREenAwaken

• @THlikesgames

If we check their missions on IngressMosaic website we can found 13 missions in total, with duplication of missions A, B and I.

Those duplicated missions are not located at any of those coordinates. And as Layout-b suggests they are red herrings. Just ignore them.

The image EXIF data shows a large amount of binary in the 'Text Layer Text' field.

Converting this binary gives eleven separately encoded strings. The solution to each string is given directly below it, along with the format.

1. [313a496e6361516f6c716173]

   • Format: HEX

   • Decoded: 1:IncaQolqas

2. [505884104101831051131051108010111611497]

   • Format: ASCII

   • Decoded: 2:TheSiqinPetra

3. [biv@36<=:%6A6z2J2%2A:?28:]

   • Format: ROT47

   • Decoded: 3:GobekliTepeKayaTapinagi

4. [4ilo:tlealrsCsldsoaaaoCd]

   • Format: Railfence (Key: 4; Offset: 6)

   • Decoded: 4:CastillodelasColoradas

5. [GU5FI33SOJS6G33EN5IGC3HBMNUW6===]

   • Format: Base32

   • Decoded: 5:TorreãodoPalácio��

6. [sexa:artinvarudolfudolflofudolfigurdaesarrbanudvigetterorerbanudolfrik]

   • Format: List of Swedish names with the first letter of each missing. The missing letters form the answer. Sexa in Swedish translates to six in English

   • Decoded: Mirror Sculpture

     • [sexa:

     • [M]artin

     • [I]var

     • [R]udolf

     • [R]udolf

     • [O]lof

     • [R]udolf

     • 
       

     • [S]igurd

     • [C]aesar

     • [U]rban

     • [L]udvig

     • [P]etter

     • [T]ore

     • [U]rban

     • [R]udolf

     • [E]rik

     • ]

7. [7:NzilkvmtXizwovluSfnzmprmw]

   • Format: Atbash

   • Decoded: 7:MaropengCradleofHumankind

8. [ODpLaWxsaWFuQ291cnQ=]

   • Format: Base64

   • Decoded: 8:KillianCourt

9. [9:Ebghaqn(PuhepubsFg.Znel)]

   • Format: ROT13

   • Decoded: 9:Rotunda(ChurchofSt.Mary)

10. [607212214115514156125142165144]

    • Format: Octal = 60 72 122 141 155 141 56 125 142 165 144

    • Decoded: 0:Rama.Ubud

11. [.QUL:E,]`9DffQ2AR]@q`Jj]

    • Format: ASCII85

    • Decoded: *:Sapporoterebitō

Now that all the strings are decoded, they reveal portal names. Identifying the location of the portals on a map resembles the Glyph Channel interface (hinted by the Tethered Hand as What has 11 points?), with each point numbered as per the EXIF data above.

Convert the four sets of letters from Message #1 to numbers using ISO/IEC 9995-8 keyboard format:

MIRA = 6472

FOKZARHYE = 365927493

IWSA = 4972

OLIRADN = 6547236

Then use the marked Glyph Channel interface to draw the four glyphs:

Begin

Harmony

Modify

Shield

Joined together, these form the passcode to the first Message: BeginHarmonyModifyShield

The Media from Message #1 reveals Message #2: