User:Pokemonfreak777/The Susie ARG/FOOLS

The FOOLS folder of the Haltmann Works Co. Internal Database Portal is themed primarily around the annual April Fools' Day events that took place on SiIvaGunner.

`x:\FOOLS` Files
File Name	Contents	Description
Screenshot 2023-04-01 at 23.57.12.png		A purple screen with the text "Illucidity ACTIVATED". Based on a screen on SiIvaGunner's computer from "Christmas Spirit [FILE-07] (Beta Mix) - Haltmann's Archives".
troll.exe		Initially shows a Trollface with a neutral expression. Upon opening the file, there is a chance for a jumpscare variant Trollface to appear, and the website background subsequently darkening. Its window violently shakes, and its eyes follow the mouse pointer. Clicking on both its eyes causes it to scream, and the window to close, returning the website to normal. Subsequently opening the file will instead show a standard Trollface with a smiling expression.
file-07-b-transcript.txt		A transcript of "Christmas Spirit [FILE-07] (Beta Mix) - Haltmann's Archives". The transcript contains the following preface: The following is a transcript of an anomalous duplicate upload of [FILE-07] that likely manifested on or around April 1st, 2023. It has since been renamed [FILE-07] (Beta Mix). It is still unknown whether or not the modified contents are indicative of anything at the time of writing. Further research is required.
smile.jpg		The "Smile Dog" Evil Brainless image from the rip "Mail for the Mario Brothers (Demo Version) - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door". Once opened, the window containing the image steadily grows in size, and it cannot be closed unless the website is reloaded.
new funny comic that i found.png		The January 21, 2003 Garfield comic strip, referencing the rip "There's nothing happening (Beta Mix)".
playstation-flow-advertisement.png		An advertisement for the PlayStation Flow accessory for the PlayStation 4, based on PlayStation's 2015 "PlayStation Flow" April Fools' prank.

Solving

Part 1 - Illucidity ACTIVATED

Bumping the contrast on "Screenshot 2023-04-01 at 23.57.12.png" will reveal several timestamps with lines that match with several rips uploaded for April Fools' Day 2023:

Time listed	Line	Rip referenced	Explanation
23:57:07	YOU ARE WATCHED YOU ARE PROTECTED YOU ARE LOVED	"Seasonal Return (Episode 1) (Beta Mix) - The SilvaGunner Christmas Comeback Crisis"	The rip is based on the SCP Foundation page "SCP-3922 Extended Test Logs".
23:51:00	apology.mp4 deleted	"Apology. (Beta Mix)"	References said rip being unlisted shortly after upload.
21:16:00	amp failed to respond	"Dr. Wily Stage 1 & 2 (Beta Mix) - GaMetal"	Line that is featured in the rip.
18:00:29	Invitation sent to Orange Crewmate, awaiting response	"Narrow Road (Beta Mix) (Beta Mix) - Falsion"	The rip features a fake King for Another Day character reveal for "Orange Crewmate".
17:00:00	Trailer Sting	"Trailer Sting (Beta Mix) - Garten of Banban"	Likely referencing the high amount of "Trailer Sting" rips uploaded during the event following the aforementioned rip.
14:45:00	LOVE YOU FUNNY BIRD	"Environmental Noises (Beta Mix) - Super Smash Bros. Brawl"	Line that is featured in the rip.
10:45:01	Ugly_dog.pkg deployed	"Mimiga Town (Beta Mix) (Beta Mix) - Cave Story"	The rip features the video TikTok "#МиюшаСтепка#рекомендации❤️❤️#драконы#хочуреки#признакбогатства#яхудею#фитнесдевушка" by @anetveltman.
9:45:01	Solving Melvin's Wordle Adventure	"Course Clear (Beta Mix) - Super Mario Maker"	References the descriptions including a .midi file with the message "MELVIN's WORDLE ADVENTURE!".
7:30:04	Umh uh uhm	"...of 2017 (Beta Mix)"	References Chaze the Chat's habit of saying "Um" several times in "...of 2017" that the rip also references.
0:00:15	ERROR: Foreign substance found	"Hangar (Beta Mix) - Doom"	References the rip being the first one of the April Fools' Day 2023 event.

The image also has hidden text on the top section of the "D" of "ACTIVATED" with "pSPxFsiy58fV57znYU". This can be put into a Vigenère cipher and using the key "REVEL", taken from the "Solving Melvin's Wordle Adventure" hint from "Course Clear (Beta Mix) - Super Mario Maker", makes "yOUtUbed58bK57ijDQ". This hints at "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d58bK57ijDQ", leading to an unlisted video titled "Minecraft with Gadget" by The Joke-Explainer™ 7000.

Part 2 - Minecraft With Gadget

The aforementioned video mainly features a person in a Nostalgia Critic skin in Alpha v0.3.0 of Minecraft exploring a brick pyramid that has numerous references to Inspector Gadget, particularly "Minecraft with Gadget", referencing April Fools' Day 2018. Throughout the nearly 40-minute video, several things appear throughout that are important to the current step and later steps. The following list are parts that are relevant to the current step:

"500k $$$ or Dinner with __?"
The "K.K. Soul" carpet
"__?" / "Building bricks with Minecrap"
Page 1 of the first ZZ Top book.
Page 2 of the first ZZ Top book.
Page 1 of the second ZZ Top book.
Page 2 of the second ZZ Top book. "__?"
"The Child of War" / "-2007"
The Superman painting.
Thank you for Visiting! / __?
"c418 - 400"
"XxXXXxXxx##"

At 10:11, a sign can be reading "500k $$$ or Dinner with __?" referencing the meme "Dinner With Jay-Z Or $500k".
At 17:45, a carpet with a pattern that matches the thumbnail for "K.K. Soul ~ Chill Mix" is shown.
At 17:53, two signs can be seen with the left one reading "__?" and the right reading "Building bricks with Minecrap".
At 23:30, two books are read that have several lines of text, several of which are capitalized throughout.
At 33:35, the person enters a room with the following in it:
- A jailed off section that features green wool blocks that match the main notes to "Crank That". The jailcell also has a sign in front of it reading "Child of War / 2007".
- A Minecraft painting that features the cover art for Superman 64 that has Inspector Gadget edited over it. There is also a sign placed in front of it reading "... / -1938".
- A sign as the person leaves the room reading "Thank you for Visiting! __?".
At 36:45, the person opens a chest with music disc titled "c418 - 400" on it.
At 39:22, a sign is shown reading "XxXXXxXxx##".

The last sign can be solved via the hints with signs shown before and taking the "X"s to be capital letters, "x"s to be lowercase letters and "##" being numbers:

"Xx" uses "Jz" from the sign at 10:11, taken from the hint of "Jay-Z".
"XX" uses "KK" from the sign at 17:53, taken from the hint of the carpet pattern at 17:45.
"Xx" uses "Zz" from the books at 22:30, taken from the hint of "ZZ Top" that is taken from all the words with capital letters in the books being album titles of various ZZ Top albums.
"Xx" uses "Ho" from the sign from the room at 33:35, taken from the hints of "Crank That" from the various aspects of the room and "Ho" referencing "Superman that hoe!".
"x##" uses "c18" from the music disc at 36:45, after subtracting 400 from "c418".

This gives "JzKKZzHoc18" that can be used as a YouTube video ID, leading to the YouTube link of the unlisted rip "hurt.ogg - Minecraft 2.0".

"hurt.ogg - Minecraft 2.0"

At 1:48 of the aforementioned video, an edit of the Cinemassacre chainsaw logo is shown with the Imgur link "imgur.com/D5xlSei". Going to the aforementioned link leads to this image of a fake boxing poster between Logan Paul and Steve Jobs.

"imgur.com/D5xlSei"

Part 3 - Logan Paul vs. Steve Jobs

At the bottom of the image is a series of characters separated by dashes. Combining the characters without the dashes gives "5rsOf_XwkSY", which can be used as a YouTube video ID leading to the unlisted video "SiIvaGunner Smash UItimate Tournament Top 6 (Beta Mix) - Part 1" uploaded on SiIvaGunner2. Additionally, brightening the image reveals parts of another Imgur link ("imgur", "fx64o3c") at the bottom right. Going to the aforementioned link leads to the image "Word Search". Both the video and image are needed for the next step.

"D5xlSei.png"
"Word Search.png"

"SiIvaGunner Smash UItimate Tournament Top 6 (Beta Mix) - Part 1" / "Word Search"

The "Word Search" image has parts that are important to the current step and later steps. The two parts that are relevant in this step are the following:

Two characters in the main area of the word search are colored differently. They are "4" (colored red) and "M" (colored blue).
Ice-E (the character to the left of the word search) has a speech bubble that says "The pacifist and geno routes are so lame, just stop at neutral...".
One of the word search clues has been changed to "tiny", hinting that a TinyURL link needs to be found to proceed.

The aforementioned video also has parts that are important to the current step and later steps. The two parts that are relevant in this step are the following:

Cloud and Captain Falcon (the two fighters featured in the video) have been designated as P1 (indicated in red) and P2 (indicated in blue) respectively.
Each fighter performs a sequence of moves on one side of the field before performing a taunt, after which they begin the actual fight. In particular, each move indicates either a direction ((U)p/(D)own/(L)eft/(R)ight) or is (N)eutral.
- For Cloud, his sequence of moves is "ULLLLLLLLLLUNRRRRRNUNLLLNULNDDRNDLLLN".
- For Captain Falcon, his sequence of moves is "DRNURRRNDRRRRRNDNLLLLNUUURRRRNDLDDN".

By starting on a specific colored character in the word search, moving one character in the directions specified by the corresponding fighter of that color, and noting down the current character when reaching a neutral direction, the following strings are produced for each color/fighter:

Red / Cloud: "424TSZEP"
Blue / Captain Falcon: "MRT7CS3D"

Using these strings as part of TinyURL links leads to two Google Drive links:

"BPGT.png", a King for Another Day-styled artwork of Boykisser, Pomni, and Gegagedigedagedago, with the PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch logos next to them. The image references "Boykisser, Pomni, & Gegagedigedagedago but it's Famous Console Startups".
"VolumeBlue.png", an image of the album cover to SiIvaGunner (Blue Album), except with Angry Joe from the cover album of GiIvaSunner's HighestQuality Video Game Rips Volume 2 replacing Twonko instead.

"BPGT.png"
"VolumeBlue.png"

Part 4 - Boykisser, Pomni, & Gegagedigedagedago but it's Famous Console Startups but it's the Buddy Holly Soundfont

Downloading the aforementioned images and converting them to RAR files reveals additional hidden files within them:

For "BPGT.png", the hidden file is a MIDI file of "Boykisser, Pomni, & Gegagedigedagedago but it's Famous Console Startups".
For "VolumeBlue.png", the hidden file is a folder containing an SF2 file called "The_Ultimate_Buddy_Holly_Soundfont.sf2". Opening the file and looking at the instruments reveals extra/unusual characters in some of their names. The full list of instruments is listed below, with any notable deviations bolded and the original name in parentheses if necessary:
- baDss (bass)
- voccals (vocals)
- distortcion guitar (distortion guitar)
- overdrivXen guitar (overdriven guitar)
- saynth (synth)
- square
- the rifff (the riff)
- damen break one (amen break one)
- amen break 2 (amen break two)
- amen break three
- amen break four
- amen break five

Combining the extra/unusual characters from the instrument names in the order they first appear in the MIDI file creates "daccXDf2". Using this string as part of a Pastebin link leads to the paste "Stones's Notes".

Part 5 - Stone's Notes

Going to the Imgur link at the end of the paste leads to the image "Nightmare", with its visual similarity to the "Word Search" image from earlier hinting at how to use it.

Carefully overlaying the "Nightmare" image over the "Word Search" image such that Nightmare (the character in the former image) is positioned to the right of the word search and every direction change of the green line coincides with exactly one character in the word search results in said green line drawing a path between characters in the word search, starting at the green circle and ending at the red X.

The image titled "Nightmare".
The combination image of "Nightmare" and "Word Search".

Noting down the characters at the green circle, at each direction change of the green line, and at the red X, in that order, creates "49xadd6w". Using this string as part of a TinyURL link leads to a Google Drive link of an MP3 file called "mus_slider.mp3", which plays the unused track "mus_star" from Undertale and has its melody changed to "Slider" from Super Mario 64.

File:Mus slider.mp3 The aforementioned file is more important in a later step, but its appearance in the paste hints at how to decode the numbers. Looking at the name of the paste ("Stones's Notes") in conjunction with the origin of the MP3's base track (Undertale) leads to "Woodyana Stones: Raider Made of Lost Bark (Beta Mix)", a rip featuring Woodyana Stones trying to guess the names of Undertale tracks. Interpreting each number in the paste as a track number from the Undertale soundtrack, followed by checking whether or not Woodyana Stones was able to correctly guess the name of said track in the aforementioned rip (marking "1" for a correct guess and "0" for an incorrect guess) creates "1100110 1101111 1101111 1101100 1110011 0101111 1101010 1110101 1101101 1110000 1100101 1100100 1101101 1100001 1101110". Converting the binary string to ASCII characters creates "fools/jumpedman", which can be entered into the HWC data portal as a new file path.

Part 6 - FOOLS/jumpedman

The aforementioned file path initially contains two files, both of which reference Mario's "death" during April Fools' Day 2021:

**`x:\FOOLS\jumpedman` Files**
File Name	Contents	Description
autopsy_report.png		Depicts an autopsy report created by Haltmann Works Company of Mario, alongside an image of Mario's body. The text "signs of struggle, eyeballs unable to be found" is a reference to the infamous MARIO romhack - commonly associated with a creepypasta of the same name. The text "large plant in chest cavity" and the image beside portraying the same is a reference to the infamous "Continue?" screen of the bootleg Mario 4: Kosmicheskaya Odisseya.
AUTOPSY-bodytext-OCR.TXT	Case # 1955 Name: Unknown Age: Approx. 35 Sex: Male Nationality: Italian Height: 5ft 1in Eyes: Unknown Hair: Unknown Blood Type: O+ Probable Cause of Death: Gang Violence Date of Autopsy: December 25th, 2016 (April 1st, 2021?) Location of Autopsy: Main Alleyway, Grandiose City Autopsy performed by: Dex Dogtective Signed by: Dr. Pavel	A text file containing an autopsy report for a person with an unknown name, eye color, and hair color (implicitly implied to be Mario).

At the bottom of the image of Mario's body is the string "GHvGRlmNxmQ".

"autopsy-report.png", edited and cropped to reveal the text string.

This string can be used as a YouTube video ID, leading to the video "Bob-omb Battlefield - Super 64 DS".

"Bob-omb Battlefield - Super 64 DS"

The aforementioned video includes two parts needed to get the next step:

Near the end of the video, the narration mentions using "a one-up shroom" to "undo his doom".
Instead of the playlist link, the video description links to an image called "RedRewards.png" hosted on the SiivaGunner Private Hosting Platform, with a button to download said image.

Looking through the aforementioned image reveals a hint at how to find the next step, namely to "find the three stars". In this case, the three stars refer to three prior steps during this section of the ARG where a "star" was referenced in some way.

Star 1 - Minecraft with Gadget

At 12:23 of "Minecraft with Gadget", the person opens a chest with a Nether Star. A few seconds later, they hover over the Nether Star and reveal a string written in the Standard Galactic Alphabet. Translating it reveals the string "UVE".

An image of the Nether Star - as well as it's name in the Galactic Alphabet - from "Minecraft with Gadget".

Star 2 - Star KO

At 2:46 of "SiIvaGunner Smash UItimate Tournament Top 6 (Beta Mix) - Part 1", the closed captions show James mentioning "hotel whiskey" as Captain Falcon loses a stock via a Star KO. The aforementioned words are alphabetic code words in the NATO phonetic alphabet for "H" and "W", revealing the string "HW".

A screenshot of the video with the captions enabled.

Star 3 - mus_slider

As mentioned earlier during the "Stones's Notes" step, "mus_slider.mp3" uses "mus_star" from Undertale as the base track. Downloading the file and viewing its metadata reveals a string in the "Contributing artists" field, namely "ZMLGCBQ".

The properties of "mus_slider.mp3" - with the "Contributing artists" field highlighted.

Combining the three strings in the order they appeared in the ARG creates "UVEHWZMLGCBQ". Going back to the aforementioned narration, it can be inferred that "SHROOM" is a key that can be used to decode the string. Doing so with a Vigenère cipher creates CONTINUEPONE, which can be entered into the HWC data portal as a new file path under "FOOLS".

CONTINUEPONE

The aforementioned file path contains an EXE file called "rebirth.exe". Upon clicking this file, the HWC data portal sends you back to the root directory. At the same time, audio from the rip "A Leap of Faith - SilvaGunner: Rebooted" plays as the database begins to glitch out and change its visuals, including gradually changing to a red background, morphing the Haltmann Works Company logo into an "M", changing the company name to "MARIO WORKS COMPANY", and changing the tagline to "It's a me, Ma-" (with the last "a" typed several times such that it runs off the screen). Additionally, as the latter text is being typed, several windows titled "HIM" and featuring a green-tinted version of the "Super Real Mario Brother" image by pixeloo rapidly appear on-screen, before the database forcibly reboots itself. At the end of the reboot sequence, "1-Up" from Super Mario Bros. plays.

A screenshot of the website when "rebirth.exe" is used - with x:/FOOLS/jumpedman open to demonstrate the visual text corruption.

After the database reboots, visiting the FOOLS\jumpedman file path from earlier reveals that the files within it, while still retaining their names, have changed as follows:

**`x:\FOOLS\jumpedman` Files (after using rebirth.exe)**
File Name	Contents	Description
autopsy_report.png		Depicts an empty autopsy report - with Mario's body missing from the image.
AUTOPSY-bodytext-OCR.TXT		An empty text file.

At the bottom of the empty autopsy report is the string AIRTH/docs/the-rabbit-king-s-challenge-KAGjFCUouPdzqg.

A cropped edited version of the empty autopsy report to reveal the text string.

This string can be entered into the HWC data portal as a new file path. Within the file path is a URL file called "MotSG.url" that leads to the Google Document "MotSG", teasing the release of "Mystery of the SiIcret Gunner - A SilvaGunner Christmas Comeback Crisis Side Story", which was set to premiere after the document's discovery.

The teaser found within the document.

Part 7 - Mystery of the Siicret Gunner

The aforementioned video features Nutshackwoodman34 and Jerome attempting to solve this section of the ARG, albeit with a different conclusion — after reviving Mario, they believe they need to wait ten years for him to die again in order to reach the next step of the ARG. Five years later, Naxx Guyfieri from the Jazz Cats videos appears and tries to help Reader and Jerome get to the ARG's actual next step, only for them to keep killing him. They eventually try to honestly listen to him, but quickly get tired of it and use Fool's Spirit to kill him one last time. Reader and Jerome at first celebrate winning the ARG, only to end up watching a fake ending as a reward and getting upset.

Like all other videos from the SilvaGunner Christmas Comeback Crisis side stories that feature Nutshackwoodman34, this video's story was also posted to the FanFiction website as "Mystery of the SiIcret Gunner - A SiIvaGunner Fan Fiction" and authored by nutshackwoodman34. Looking at the reviews on FanFiction of the aforementioned story reveals one by the user "noaka", which also was the only review at the time of the aforementioned video's upload.

The review reads: "hey have you guys seen this? /2iP8-S0LEbs"

Rewards

Using the provided string from noaka's comment as a YouTube video ID leads to the final reward of this path, the video "Holiday Spirit [FILE-INT-FOOLS] - Haltmann's Archives".

Later, a text file was added to the FOOLS folder, titled "PART-Meeting_transcript_0010.txt". This is a transcript of a meeting between Dr. Andonuts and President Haltmann about the nature of figments and remembrance.

[Transcript of audio output from lapel microphone affixed to Dr. Andonuts. Due to poor quality, comments by other party may be indiscernible. Transcript by .]

ANDONUTS: President Haltmann?

HALTMANN: Yes, yes, come in.

ANDONUTS: Hi, sir. Thank you for having me this evening.
I wanted to discuss something with you - about the AIRTH Project.

HALTMANN: Well, that's perfect. I had matters to discuss with you as well.
Let's get right to business. I have approximately 3 minutes on my schedule just for you.

ANDONUTS: Oh - well, p - please, go first.

HALTMANN: I wanted to discuss Figments. More specifically - I wish to discuss... remembrance.

ANDONUTS: Oh.

HALTMANN: Tell me - how much are Figments remembered in comparison to how.. strong, they are?

ANDONUTS: I'm, uh - I'm not sure, sir.

HALTMANN: Why not? Have you not looked into it?

ANDONUTS: N - no sir, we have... we have plenty.
It's - an extremely hard field to research. Due to its nature, a lot of the questions we could ask are almost unquantifiable.

HALTMANN: Do you have a good guess?

ANDONUTS: ...they are connected. We have tested as much.
The exact numbers vary from Figment to Figment immensely, within variables we don't properly understand yet, but they are remembered.

[Indiscernible - MAX HALTMANN.]

HALTMANN: Clear my schedule. Tell my next client to wait another 3 minutes.

[Indiscernible - UNIDENTIFIED.]

HALTMANN: Let me simplify this for you, Andonuts.
Say that -

[Silence.]

HALTMANN: Let's say that there was somebody very far away. At... an unknown location. You suspect they are alive, but unable to support themselves. Perhaps they were... never important enough, to too little people.
By the logic you and your - lab boys - have discovered, Figments have this... "conceptual feedback loop?" Is that what you have called it, again?

ANDONUTS: This is correct.

HALTMANN: So, when this - if this - were to happen, something as simple as keeping them in your memory would help them become stronger, as a concept. Is that correct?

ANDONUTS: I... fail to see the leap in logic.

[Indiscernible - MAX HALTMANN.]

HALTMANN: Thank you. That is all I wanted to ask.

ANDONUTS: A - alright.

HALTMANN: Now. What was it you wanted to discuss with me?

ANDONUTS: Well - well, sir, nothing now. My statements have been rendered... irrelevant to yours.

HALTMANN: Great. In that case - this has been pleasant, but I am afraid I have another meeting to take care of.
I would like to see your documentation on the AIRTH Project by the end of the month.

ANDONUTS: Right. Thank you.

Contents