Keys 5-7

Key 5

Key 5 begins with the final artifact being given, called “Journey’s End”. Returning back to the mystic portal with the added extension journeysend/ will also give players the final coordinates they need.

After the artifact is placed, the mystical portal opens and a new web address is given, allowing players to head to theopenportal/.

After going to TheMysticalGarage/, players must go to playthegame/ to begin the challenge to get key 5.

Players are given an NES emulator file, as well as as resources to use as an NES emulator. This game is a grid-based puzzle game where players must remove all the bricks/bubbles/spaces before returning to where you began. Certain spaces must be stepped on a various number of times (once, twice, or three times), and other spots will reverse the direction of your next move, or launch you in a certain direction.

The first objective is to get to room 700, in which case you can append the key at the end of the web address given at the start of the room to progress. The only way to get to these rooms is by quickly clearing the puzzles on the first try, as well as clearing every space. Players will warp a maximum of 100 rooms at a time, so you will only need to complete a maximum of 20 puzzles.

The keys needed to move on are shown on the room asked for, not after beating that room.

Reaching room 700 will give the key nclhhcfkqplm, leading to the URL extension nclhhcfkqplm/.

The glyphs on here translate to:

LEFT: Hidden deep within this message lies the first fragment of the forgotten list. RIGHT: Thirty-seven thrice shall prepare your passage to the long forgotten earth.

Checking the raw data with a text-editor like Notepad reveals the first of three lists of 37 games, which will be used in a later step (a pastebin for all the lists is provided here after the lists have been found).

The game then challenges players to reach room 1400. The helpful tip given by the creators in receiveyourgift/ is to quick save every time a new puzzle is reached, and then load the save if a mistake is made. Therefore, players can reach rooms easily without having to mess up and start all the way over!

Reaching room 1400 gives the URL extension ybxhjfflbqgk/, which gives the third and final task of reaching room 2000.

The glyphs on here translate to:

LEFT: Hidden deep within this message lies the second fragment of the forgotten list. RIGHT: Thirty-seven thrice shall prepare your passage to the long forgotten earth.

Thus, the second list of three can be found in the raw data of this image.

Once the player reaches room 2000, players receive the URL extension gflmhmwxlywy/.

The darkened glyphs on here translate to:

LEFT: Hidden deep within this message lies the final fragment of the forgotten list. RIGHT: Thirty-seven thrice shall prepare your passage to the long forgotten earth.

Thus, the third list of three can be found in the raw data of this image.

The glyphs in the quotes translate to:

TOP: "Game Over Heroes The Incredible Journey's End" BOTTOM: "Speak this to unlock the 5th key and be not afraid of the descent into darkness."

Therefore, the solution to the 5th key is Game Over Heroes The Incredible Journey’s End.

Key 6

Key 6 begins with an ASCII art of an NES console. The power light is blinking at certain intervals, indicating that it is in Morse code. Translating this and including the slash that is shown in the code, the Morse code translates to “gate7/intotheabyss”.

Going to gate7/intotheabyss/, more text is presented showing that the players have plunged into complete darkness.

Players can add yourfondestmemories/ to the end of the URL in order to enter the challenge for this key.

Before entering “the game room”, a challenge text appears:

These timeworn shelves hold titles long admired / One hundred eleven titles must patiently be retired / Three siblings remain / Their ancient family tree will reveal the hidden plain / When spoken, unlocks the key

Entering the game room downloads a .psd file with the following image:

The image contains a collection of games, all but 3 of which must be “retired”. In order to find out what games must be retired, the “hidden” glyphs from the room 700, 1400, and 2000 passcode images must be examined with a text editor. All of the images contain a part of the full list, which can all be found here.

Cross-referencing the list with the image of games reveals that only 3 games are not on the list: Nanosaur: Hatchling, Cro-mag Rally, and Bugdom. All of these games are “siblings” because they all share the same developer company of Pangea Software. This leads to the Key 6 password, Pangea.

Key 7

Key 7 opens with an ASCII art map of Pangea, as well as a new subaddress to go to, prompting players to head to pangea/.

Going to the website provides a new challenge that players must face (the glyphs in the image translate to MOTHERGLYPH):

Entering the final challenge downloads a .psd file, with a map of Pangea and 10 pins. There is also a layer below in birdtext, giving us a hint to the next URL to go to.

This is the point where the coordinates given in the final clues/artifacts from the past 7 gates become necessary:

Game

Coordinates

Gate 1 - Actraiser

61° 27' 18.5" N, 143° 46' 03.5" W

Gate 2 - Bulbo and the Lizard King

26° 26' 56.1" N, 102° 48' 32.2" W

Gate 3 - Cosmic Wars

49°13'59.4"N, 1°20'06.8"E

Gate 4 - Defenders of the Crown

49° 50' 28.0" N, 24° 01' 42.5" E

Gate 5 - Eve of Extinction

1° 04' 30.2" N, 60° 11' 14.4" W

Gate 6 - Fatal Labyrinth

55° 58' 02.7" N, 92° 45' 44.1" E

Gate 7 - Game Over

73° 16' 35.9" N, 125° 06' 45.9" E

Gate 7 - Heroes

3° 39' 47.1" N, 33° 45' 59.8" E

Gate 7 - The Incredible

77° 50' 44.1" S, 166° 38' 28.4" E

Gate 7 - Journey's End

40°44'50.4"S, 145°17'37.2"E

By using each of the coordinates above, it is possible to approximate where to place each of the pins, by placing on the map where the real-world equivalent would be. The graphic below has each pin placed and labeled by their first letter (A-J).

By translating the glyphs around the supercontinent, players are able to see how to connect the pins.

TOP LEFT The Incredible --- Heroes Fatal Labyrinth --- Defender of the Crown TOP RIGHT: Game Over --- fatal Labyrinth The Incredible --- A Journeys End BOTTOM LEFT: Actraiser --- Cosmic Wars Fatal Labyrinth --- Heroes Defender of the Crown --- Cosmic Wars BOTTOM RIGHT: Bulbo and the Lizard King --- Eve of Extinction Eve of Extinction --- Defender of the Crown

Looking at all the lines connected, the resulting figure resembles the Greek letter pi (π), which is also used as a constant by mathematics to represent a specific irrational number. This approximates to 3.1415926535897… and goes on forever.

Using the assumptions that the Motherglyph is the symbol of pi, the “first 77 children” should be the first 77 digits of that number. So, by adding the first 77 digits of pi to the web address, players reach the site https://www.thetheorystone.com/gate7/theopenportal/pangea/31415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862/.

Players are finally greeted by a lovely video that acts as the conclusion to the GTARG, as well as the final key password þΩ+¦ΣΠͼΣ, a nod to all of the references saying that patience was the key.