Level 2: Tier 1E

THE FINALS Wallpaper CB Up We Go 2880x1620.jpg
Tier 1E
StartMarch 2, 2023
EndJuly 1, 2023
Solution(s)cacoiii
PreviousTier 1D
NextTier 1F

Tier 1E was the fifth tier of Level 2 of THE FINALS Easter Egg Hunt. It started on March 2, 2023 and ended on July 1, 2023.

History

On March 2, 2023, hunter fishxw found that Embark Studios CCO Rob Runesson had updated the Tier 1D page with the image “THE_FINALS_OSPUZE_AD_bonus_candy_02.” On March 3, a higher resolution version of the image was uploaded to the #official-art Discord channel with the name “THE_FINALS_OSPUZE_AD_bonus_candy_02_higres_per_EE-hunters-request” and the hidden metadata message “Hi EE-hunters.! There is nothing hidden in this image (just the start date of the next tier) , you are on vacation.! From Embark with love.!”

Along with the image was a timer, counting down to the start of Tier 1E.

After a 21 day break, hunters were eager to start the tier. On March 23, Rob responded to the sentiment with "I thought you might say that…therefore I actually DID hide a couple of things in some of the assets I uploaded during your vacation… …so if you are bored and can’t really wait until Monday… there is one diamond and a primary clue out there, waiting to be found…"

On March 27, Rob took down the countdown on the Tier 1D page and posted the image "THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_CB_Up_We_Go_2880x1620” with the metadata message “Hi there EE-Hunters.! Good luck have fun... from embark with love.!” The image contained:

  1. A standalone pixel with the hex value #206888. Converting this to chemical elements using their atomic number give Ca, C, O, O, O or CaCO3.
  2. Coordinates for Torslanda, a town in Sweden.
  3. Coordinates for the River Moriston in Scotland.
  4. An MD5 hash that decoded to the number "206888" again.
  5. A cross cipher that is still unsolved.
  6. A snowflake.
  7. The character's weapon charm was confirmed to be a T-Rex.

On March 31, Rob posted the image "THE_FINALS_Kynezantama," a Byzantine-themed Nama Tama requested by Kyne. It had the metadata message "Hi there dear EE-hunters.! This is a very special Namatama, this one is dedicated to the winner who solved the EE-puzzle in the THE FINALS Brand Guide. From Embark with love.!" The image contained:

  1. Nama Tama wore a crown with pearls and jewels on it
  2. Another snowflake.
  3. The letters T, U, R, A, H, and R, and the letters T, O, R, S, N, O, and R.
    • The two series of letters were unscrambled to the name Arthur Rostron, the captain of the RMS Carpathia.
  4. The logo for the White Star Line.
  5. Images of Ammonoids.
  6. Another standalone pixel with the hex value #206888.

One week later, on April 7, Dusty posted the image "THE_FINALS_Robatama" which was a Nama Tama dressed as Rob himself. The image contained:

  1. Rune symbols that spelled "KARI"
  2. A series of boxes that converted into binary and decoded to "s/2006 s 2" which was the reference number for the moon Kari.
  3. The string "512006 5 2 120013130A171100" that was decoded to "s/2006 s 2" again.
  4. Another standalone pixel with the hex value #206888.
  5. Seemingly random scribbles that were pieced together to form a graph, similar to the graph of effective potential.

On April 15, Rob posted the image "THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_Iseult_Chill_2880x1620" with the metadata "Hi there de(r EE-'u€t=&^ This message has been compromised." The image contained:

  1. Another snowflake.
  2. A series of pink pixels that were decoded to the numbers 46, 11, and 94. These numbers correspond to HSV color values for an eggshell.
  3. A QR code that led to the URL: reachthefinals.com/rival-1. This page displayed a rotated image of a record. The name "Raija Mannarla" had been removed from the original version.
  4. Warped text that read: "KARI"
  5. A partial image of a diamond and a sun. The diamond was the Hope Diamond, and the sun was a part of the flag of Louis XIV.
  6. A picture of an iceberg.
  7. The Greek word "ΠΕΝΘΕΣΙΔΕΙΔ" that translated to Penthesilea, the queen of the Amazons.
  8. The code "L 24 239 MH19 64PLC 012971", which is the corporate code for the company Proctor and Gamble.

On April 22, Rob posted the image "A_Space_Friend" with metadata, "Hi there dear EE-Hunters.! Hope you a934娔/Ä*I=Y#RI? *** THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN COMPROMISED ***" The image contained:

  1. A green can representing the cleaning agent 'Comet', produced by Proctor and Gamble. The main ingredient in Comet is calcium carbonate.
  2. "P.ID #9173".
  3. "325CC" and "275CC".

Hunters originally considered the name of the product, 'Comet', as the most relevant takeaway, similar to 1064 Aethusa comet from Tier 1A. It wasn't until later that connections were made based on the actual composition of the product rather than its name.

On March 3, Rob posted the image "THE_FINALS_Namabatama," likely referencing Discord member, volunteer moderator, and bat-lover, Kunai. It had the metadata, "Hi th "#¤/0/! THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN COMPROMISED". The image contained:

  1. Two more snowflakes.
  2. Stalagmite-like shapes.
  3. Pixels around the border that converted to the number sequence: 2, 14, 16, 4, 2, 2.
  4. A swirl of numbers counting up from 0 to 18.
  5. Three lines with varying widths and heights.

Clues 3, 4, and 5 were not solved, and hunters struggled to find strong connections with the other two.

On May 11, Rob posted the photo "IMG_CDIV" with metadata, "&/¤”#(? C&/¤N)&S/#!" The photo was of Saint Esbjorn and Saint Dusty in an Embark Studios office. The name of the image, CDIV, is 404 in Roman/Latin numerals. The image itself contained:

  1. Two paper snowflakes hung on a wall.
  2. A crumpled 20 Krona note.
  3. A container of rock salt.
  4. Odd-looking coffee stains on the desk.
  5. The keys 3, A, C, and O missing from the keyboard.
  6. The keys D, H, L, and Space being pressed.
  7. The chemical structure for Protoporphyrin IX, a chemical found in eggshells.
  8. Four pictures of THE FINALS concept art hung on the wall.
  9. A periodic table hung on the wall:
    1. The Letters P, T, and E are circled, and have arrows pointing to C, N, and S, respectively.
    2. The letters CNS are circled with the message: "Remember"
    3. The coordinates x=5 and y=6 are written on the right side, which point to the element Tantalum.
    4. The elements Caesium (Cs), Gold (Au), Lanthanum (La), and Xenon (Xe) are crossed out.
    5. The letters H, O, A, C, S, N, I, R, H, M, and E are underlined.

Clues that stuck out in the image included the rock salt, snowflakes, and letters missing from the keyboard. Hunters now had better footing, but were still unsure. On May 12, Rob posted the image "THE_FINALS_NAMALAPIS" depicting a Nama Tama statue with the metadata, "CNS DONT TRUS*0( *** THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN COMPROMISED ***".

  1. The term "lapis" in the image name means "stone" in Latin.
  2. The Latin phrase "Veni Vidi Ludere" is carved into the base of the Nama Tama statue.
  3. The statue appears to be made out of marble.

On June 18, the Character and Concept Art MTM episode aired. In the intro, Embark CX Lead Dusty says: "We're here in this hot little studio where it feels like it's about 825 degrees Celsius today..." The next day, the Rob and Jonny episode aired. In it, Rob says: "but I probably need to spend some time in the incubator on this one because I-I-I'm cracking up." Neither of these clue were discovered by hunters until after Tier 1E had ended.

Little progress was made between "THE_FINALS_NAMALAPIS" and the start of Closed Beta 2 (CB2). During the beta on June 15, hunter Serpenger spotted an in-game graffiti in Monaco that read: "SR.!" This was a reference to Rob's "SR" signature and ".!" punctuation style. Rob responded to the finding with: "NICE.! If you find more graffiti with this style… well I guess you know who put them there.!"

Three days later on June 18, hunter fishxw found another graffiti that read: "825c". Since the style was the same as the first graffiti, hunters knew it was likely a clue for Tier 1E. 825 degrees Celsius is the melting point of Aragonite, a crystallized form of calcium carbonate. This finding, confirmed by Rob, was the start of a cascade of connections that led to the tier being solved.

Solving

On July 1, hunter DEV64! came up with the password: "cacoiii" and solved Tier 1E. In total, this tier took 96 days to solve.

Solution Breakdown

All the snowflakes, diamonds, and geology-related clues pointed towards the chemical compound calcium carbonate. Various clues pointed to Latin, including the passwords from previous tiers and Tier 1E image names. Combining the two main clues of calcium carbonate and Latin yielded the password: the chemical formula for calcium carbonate, CaCO3, but with the 3 replaced by Roman numerals: cacoiii.

Gallery

  • THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_CB_Up_We_Go_2880x1620

    THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_CB_Up_We_Go_2880x1620

  • THE_FINALS_Kynezantama

    THE_FINALS_Kynezantama

  • THE_FINALS_Robatama

    THE_FINALS_Robatama

  • THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_Iseult_Chill_2880x1620

    THE_FINALS_Wallpaper_Iseult_Chill_2880x1620

  • A_Space_Friend

    A_Space_Friend

  • THE_FINALS_Namabatama

    THE_FINALS_Namabatama

  • IMG_CDIV

    IMG_CDIV

  • THE_FINALS_NAMALAPIS

    THE_FINALS_NAMALAPIS

Credits

  • Solver - DEV64!
  • Documentation - Flex4d, Kyne, RockhoundBlack, Smashel
  • Various Contributions in Alphabetical Order - buunuu, DashGames, DEV64!, Duh, eoin, fishxw, Flex4d, Giriko, joshnut, ka9N, Kyne, Oak, Povich, Resk, RockhoundBlack, Serpenger, Smashel, SPEAR, Swa, WIZARD

Further Reading

Retrieved from "https://thefinals.mywikis.eu/w139/index.php?title=Level_2:_Tier_1E&oldid=19414"
Last modified
This page was last edited on 18 February 2025, at 06:34.
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