[Lee]

All of you accepted my job offer. Ssssplendiiid~ Why should chiiildren have all the fun thiiissss fine holiiiday sssseassson? Assss agreed, everythiiing elsssse iiin the vault iisss yourssss. Iiit doessss iiindeed contain a full prototype sssset of Nox event itemssss. I'm only iiinteressssted iiin the contentssss of the harddrive bearing thiiissss logo:

You shall be compenssssated for what time you can put iiinto thiiisssss, of courssse,
but the contentssss of the vault wiiill go only to the fasssstessssst and most sssskiiilled among you.
Iiit's a Sssspectrum Ssssssecurity vault. The heavy liiifting hassss been done for you. I've already bootssss on the ground, awaiting your undoubtedly iiineviiitable ssssuccesssss. But they shan't riiisssk themsssselvessss needlesssssly. Ssssoo, run along, ducklingssss~ The clock iiissss tiiicking!


You've heard of this guy before. The Facilitator. You don't even know if she--or he--is even human. The voice sends chills down your spine, but that could easily be a synthesizer of some sort--right?
...No matter. You're familiar with the security system, if it's a Spectrum vault. Six firewalls, then the vault itself. Fail even one, and you're locked out for good. Good thing the system resets every two days--and that this isn't the only vault that this guy needs cracked open. Rumor has it that the hard drive was only a partial copy of the formula he's after--he (or she) will be needing your services again, success or fail.

[Lee]

SPECTRUM SECURITY HACKER PRIMER

Each firewall is color-coded, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. The passthrough for each firewall is some combination of those six colors, with repeats and omissions a possibility. The master code, the one that will open the vault itself, is a six-digit number, with each digit possibly any of the previous colors. However, the hole in Spectrum's security system, is when each firewall falls, if you're fast enough, you'll recover some clue as to the master code, either a color or a number it contains.
Usually for this kind of job, you'd charge 1-2k aurum for the whole job, but you know for a fact the Facilitator is both loaded and desperate, so you're going to double it at 20 Screams for each firewall you break through. Even if you get locked out, you'll have enough spending money to cover rent and coffee for the next couple months.

[Lee]

HOW TO PLAY

The ultimate goal is to crack the vault, but to even get to the vault, you must first pass through all six firewalls. Each firewall is a four-color code comprised of some combination of red,yellow, blue, and purple. Not all colors have to be used in each firewall, and they can have repetitions, as well. For example, the code may be yellow yellow
yellow blue.
To pass, you must guess the correct code. To do so, select you colors in the order you think they appear in the code. (Formatting is not required, so long as I know what color you mean.) When the guesses are processed (roughly once an hour, likely more frequently), you will be told how many of the colors in your guess matched the answer, and how many of those were in correct place.
For example, let's say the code was the one above, yellow yellow
yellow blue. You guess 'purple yellow blue red'. My reply to your guess would be '2 color, 1 location' meaning two of your colors matched the ones in the answer, and of those, one was also in the right spot.
Each individual firewall has its own color, as well, but this is merely to show progress, and will always be in the order of: the red firewall, followed by the orange firewall, followed by the yellow firewall, followed by the green firewall, followed by the blue firewall, which is, finally, followed by the purple firewall.
Once past the firewalls, you will arrive at the vault itself, and must crack that code. It's a ten-digit code, with each number any of the possible colors. The main difference besides this and the firewall codes is that everyone is guessing the same vault code once at least one person has gone through all six firewalls.
When you pass a firewall, you will get a clue to a color or a number in the master vault, which will be put in the master vault post (so you don't have to worry about keeping up with it). This goes for everyone, not just you, so five people cracking through the firewalls could easily solve the vault before anyone can even get to it. (In such a scenario, the one that gets to it first is considered the winner, judging by post order.)

An alternate explanation below was provided by Death by Mirrors:

Originally Posted by Death by Mirrors

Do you know the game Mastermind? It's the same procedure.

There is a secret code you don't know yet. This can be any combination of the colors blue, purple, red and yellow. For example your code might be blue blue red purple. But since you aren't actually told what it is, you need to figure it out by guessing combinations.

Say you guess yellow purple red yellow. Then you receive a reply of 2 colors, 1 location - because when compared with the aforementioned example, there is no yellow in the code you're supposed to guess. There is however a purple and a red, so you already guessed two colors. One of these two, red, is also at the exact location you guessed.

But of course from that alone you can't figure out yet what exactly the correct colors are. That's why you guess again. Say your next guess is yellow yellow red red. Now you have 1 color, 1 location. Whoops - what happened? That purple you took away has to be part of the solution, it seems. You now also know that the code contains either red or yellow, but not both (otherwise you would have gotten 2 correct colors from your second guess). It also neither contains two or more red, or two or more yellow (again, if it did, you'd have received 2 color as a reply).

You decide to go with yellow, and you know for certain there is a purple in there. So your next guess is yellow purple purple purple, which still yields 1 color, 1 location. Now you know that there can't be more than one purple, and also (since you already established the code contains at least one purple) yellow isn't part of the solution. Therefore you know it is one purple, one red, and the rest has to be blue.

You take a look at your first guess again and see either the second color is purple, or the third color is red. You compare it with your second guess. If the second color is purple, then red has to be the fourth, meaning the solution is blue purple blue red. If instead the third color is red, purple has to be the fourth, meaning the solution is blue blue red purple. You don't know yet which of the two possibilities is correct, but you already have a 50% chance of picking the right one. If you do, you solved the puzzle and start over with a new code. If you picked the wrong one of the two by chance, just submit the other with your next guess, and you've also moved on to the next puzzle with a new code.

[Lee]

MASTER VAULT
UNLOCKED

Please Enter Authorization Code

Please note that you may use '?' to stand in for numbers, and black to stand in for colors. As neither of these are in the actual code, they may help make the hacking easier. Only these half-cyphers will be scored as individual colors and numbers.

1375?4?2?5

HACKING

Death by Mirrors
Serra Britt

[Lee]

HACKER PROGRESS

Hacker Death by Mirrors (0)

Hacking In Progress



Hacker Serra Britt (0)

Hacking In Progress




Hacker Derpy McBlueEyes (40)

Red Firewall

yellow yellow yellow blue
2 color, 2 location

yellow yellow red red
4 color, 2 location

red yellow yellow red
4 color, 0 location

yellow red red yellow

Orange Firewall

blue blue blue purple
2 color 0 location

purple red red blue
4 color, 2 location

red purple red blue

Yellow Firewall

purple purple purple yellow
1 color, 0 location

blue blue blue purple
1 color, 1 location

[mdom]

Originally Posted by Lee

Each firewall is color-coded, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet.

or

Originally Posted by Lee

Each firewall is a four-color code comprised of some combination of red,yellow, blue, and purple.

what is the truth xDDD

[Lee]

Originally Posted by mdom

or




what is the truth xDDD

Ah, both, my dear. Each firewall is assigned a color over all--red, orange, yellow, green, blue, or purple--to show progress. As in, what color you're on as you progress through the game. Within each firewall, you have the four-color code, which is the actual puzzle.

[mdom]

oh phew xD I almost thought for a second that there were six colors as possibilities... /dead
Thank you for explaining.

[Lee]

Originally? There were. Thank Coda for helping me make it more reasonable.

[Rainbowfox Ari]

I'm no good with codes, but you guys have a ton of fun. XD

[Lee]

Originally Posted by Rainbowfox Ari

I'm no good with codes, but you guys have a ton of fun. XD

You can always stay and chat! If you change your mind, the Facilitator is always looking for new blood. :3

[Rainbowfox Ari]

I could stay and chat for a while, I suppose.

[Lee]

Wonderful, my duckling. How is your Nox celebration treating you this fine day?

[mdom]

oooh ok let me guess here then xDD

red red red red

[Lee]

Originally Posted by mdom

oooh ok let me guess here then xDD

red red red red

1 color, 1 location

Whatever helps you most, my friend!

[Serra Britt]

purple purple purple purple

(I love these kinds of puzzles!)