Invex Treasure Hunt #3

[Bot Invex]

Invex Treasure Hunt #3

Welcome to the Invex Treasure Hunt #3.
The hunt is returning once again so brace yourselves.


Rules:

• There are 10 stages to the hunt.
  
• All stages must be solved in order for you to finish the hunt.
  
• You must solve all stages in ascending order (1 first then 2 etc).
  
• Each stage will provide a hint or clue about how to reach the next stage.
  
• If you see the text Stage X of Y it means you have reached Stage X.
  
• You must keep a personally diary (notepad file) with the solution for each stage to submit as your final answer.
  
• Only make 1 submission with all of the solutions once you have reached the final stage.
  
• You will know when you are done with the hunt as it will tell you to PM Byte.
  
• You may work in teams if you like but do not discuss solutions in any public area.
  
• You must be registered on the forums with a forum account to participate in the hunt. Otherwise, some stages may not work and you cannot win any prizes or place in the top 10.
  
• Teaming is allowed but only only individuals may finish in the top 10.
  
• Sharing/trading answers privately is allowed!
  
• Tricking is allowed in general and with answer sharing! Be careful who you trust. Only Byte will always provide 100% accurate information.
  
• This thread can be used for general discussion etc.
  
• A Discord Text channel has also been made (#treasure_hunt) for general discussion etc.
  
• DO NOT GIVE OUT SOLUTIONS OR HINTS IN PUBLIC PLACES.
  
• Staff will give out hints as time goes on (to help people get closer to finishing)
  
• Staff may participate but are ineligible to win prizes.
  

Scope (Places you may have to visit to find solutions):

• All official Invex Gaming Servers (excluding the CSGO Invex Dev Server)
  
• All official Invex Gaming Brand Pages
  
• All pages on the Invex Gaming Forums
  
• Popular/Well known Third Party Websites
  
• Websites linked in various threads on the Invex Gaming Forums
  

Prizes:

• 1st Prize: VIP Prize (Package 2) on 1 Invex Server + 2500 credits on all Invex Servers.
  
• 2nd-5th: 1000 credits on all Invex Servers.
  
• Forum award for top 10 people to finish.
  
• Forum game award for all participants (if you don't already have it).
  

End of the hunt:

• The hunt ends at 25/03/2018. After this time, solutions will be posted and you can no longer play.
  

Starting Line:
Stage 1 of 10: 
This is the hint to help you find Stage 1 to get you started.

Code:

Visit the 'whatnumber' page to start.

HINTS:
Stage 1 of 10:

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

Every forum user has an id. Check out some profile pages...

Stage 2 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

At InvexGamingAU...at=@. Try rotating 47 times.

Stage 3 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

Where do people post Fortnite wins as proof...hmmm

Stage 4 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

The staff are making this flag...take a closer look at them

Stage 5 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

Hmm try Google searching that...

Stage 6 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

Take a look around, 4 are on the forums and the last is somewhere else.

Stage 7 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

Keep on refreshing until you know what you need to do

Stage 8 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

Youtube.

Stage 9 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

Zoom in and take a closer look.

Stage 10 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

There is a good strategy for this. Use it.

TOP 10 WINNERS (in order):
1. Magikarp
2. Squidward
3. ev0
4. n8
5. Jae
6. Fr0st
7. @"Lil Bro"
8. SpAdes
9. Sir Lagalot
10. Slimey !


SOLUTIONS:

Stage 1 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

To find stage 1 you had to take 'whatnumber' and add .php to it to reach the page /whatnumber.php.
Stage 1 of 10: Byte is #1, Bot Invex is #2, andre_toma19 is #1792, What # are you?
You get the forum uid of Byte, Bot Invex and a random user.
You simply had to get your forum uid from your forum profile page and put in it to reach stage2.
We also get a secret letter 'D'.

Stage 2 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

Stage 2 of 10: At InvexGamingAU, is where you'll find the jibberish you need. ROTate it a lot with intense, until it makes some sense.
At InvexGamingAU is @InvexGamingAU, our official Twitter page.
Visiting it shows this recent tweet:

Stage 2 of 10: xVG6 366? =@@<:?8 7@C 2 =@4<65 u@CE?:E6 496DE 3FE x 7@C8@E H96C6 :E H2D] p== x C6>6>36C :D x A@DE65 23@FE :E @? _`\_`\a_`g 2E ``i__ p|]     ~
If we look at the ROTate in the clue, the ROT is capitalised. Googling for ROT and text/encrypted/encoded etc will reveal the ROT cipher which is what you had to use.

In particular, we use a ROT47 decoder to get:
I've been looking for a locked Fortnite chest but I forgot where it was. All I remember is I posted about it on 01-01-2018 at 11:00 AM.     O

We use this to look for a thread that was posted in the Fortnite section at 01-01-2018 at 11:00 AM.
We also get a secret letter 'O'.

By searching the Fortnite section we find this thread:
https://www.invexgaming.com.au/showthread.php?tid=10484

This gives us a direct link to /chest.php and stage 3.

Stage 3 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

Stage 3 of 10: I got a challenge for you! Play a game of Fortnite and make sure you win! Once you have proof you're the best, I'll open this chest!
In this stage you have to make a post in the Fortnite Battle Royale thread AFTER the hunt started.
This essentially proves you had won a game even though the post could be about anything.
The chest automatically opens showing you: #lounge desc
This hints that you should check the Discord lounge room description which contains a direct link to /flags.php and stage 4.
We also get a secret letter 'W'.

Stage 4 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

Stage 4 of 10: The Staff are making a new flag but can't decide which design they like best. Maybe you want to have a go, put your artistic skills to the test.
We have three input boxes that have placeholder text #FFFFFF. This tell us we need to put in three HEX colours (to make the flag).
We know the staff are making this flag so we look at their forum profiles and notice they each have an avatar with 3 different plain colours.
We put these in (in the order shown when viewing the admin team page) and we get our final correct flag and we reach stage 5.

We also get a secret letter 'N' for stage 4.
We also get a secret letter 'L' for stage 5.

Stage 5 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

Stage 5 of 10: Find me a new canine, any species will do! Dead or alive, or even in Andi's Tangy Dog Stew™.
This is a bit of a meme related to the Invex member Andi.
The easiest way to proceed was to Google search 'Andi's Tangy Dog Stew™'.
This would have led you to a website called: https://andidog.store/
On this website, if you made a reservation you would have received a popup that said:
We've talked to Dad and Mum but now they've gone out. Try finding your sister for stage 6's whereabouts.
Based on the previous 2 treasure hunts which features /dad.php and /mum.php you figure out you need to visit /sister.php to reach stage 6.

Stage 6 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

Stage 6 of 10: Someones taken all my things! I know it was you. Give them back right now or I won't let you through!!!
Here you are told to locate some missing items then enter their locations.
We need the links to the pages the items were on here.
By browsing around the forums and looking on other third party websites etc you find the following locations:
Hair Brush: invexgaming.com.au/vip.php
Lip Stick: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/InvexGaming/discussions/0/2949168687319023100/
Heels: https://www.invexgaming.com.au/misc.php?action=help&hid=38
Bag/Purse: https://www.invexgaming.com.au/showthread.php?tid=10482
Mug: https://www.invexgaming.com.au

Submitting this makes your sister move out the way and allows you to click through to stage 7.

We also get a secret letter 'O'.

Stage 7 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

Stage 7 of 10: Looks for some clues about where to go next and then look again!
Once you are in your sisters room, you can search 4 different areas: Desk, Bed, Closet, Diary
Every refresh, you get 1 hint. There is a 93% chance of getting a bad/meaningless hint and a 7% chance of getting a good/meaningful hint.
Each different area has 1 general idea that you needed to try and reach the next stage.

All the hints are here:

  //Clues
  $bad_clues = [
    "entrance" => ["This rooms is huge, where should I start?", "Well I guess I should look around the different areas.", "Why are there books glued to the wall...my sis is weird", "I wonder if what I'm after is in here.", "Graffiti on the wall? What a rebel."],
    "closet" => ["There's mostly clothes in here", "WTF is that a picture of Nate glued to the wall?", "Hmm I can't find anything useful, maybe I should keep looking.", "I found some heels! Woo ho-...oh wait that was the last stage"],
    "desk" => ["Just a bunch of magazines and paper", "Hmm here is her phone but I don't know the pin", "These pens look nice, I think I'll take one"],
    "bed" => ["Why is this mattress so much better than mine, report parents for favouritism!", "Not sure why I'm wasting my time here, what could I possibly hope to find.", "I'm getting kind of sleepy being near this bed for so long...maybe I'll take a quick nap", "Sleepy....", "I wonder if Nate has been here :thinking:"],
    "diary" => ["How is this just laying here!?!", "Maybe I should respect her priva-..hahaha no", "\"Day 64: Nate is still texting me every day\"", "\"Rando at bus stop still stares at me in the mornings, I should carry pepper spray\"", "\"My brother is such a idiot, he stole my hair brush, lip stick, heels, purse and most importantly my mug!\""],
  ];
  
  $good_clues = [
    "entrance" => ["The sooner I'm done the sooner I can go play some CSGO"],
    "closet" => ["Its time to get wet!", "Don't forget your board when you're getting wet!", "Can someone fix water please?"],
    "desk" => ["Buckle Up Kiddo!", "Time to Buckle Down!", "You need to go WILD", "Anyone ever watch that TV Show Buckwild?"],
    "bed" => ["Must get 1 ... zZzZz", "You only need 1", "(Dreaming) I'm going to get 40 in a row without dying everyone!", "One...kill...one...kill"],
    "diary" => ["Press ~ to win", "I'm a PC gamer but I still use console", "Check up on your console ;)"],
  ];

Overall, the hints would tell you you need to play CSGO. You need to get 'wet/fix water' indicating you need to play on Surf.
Buckle and WILD hinted at the map buck wild. You need 1 meant you only need 1 kill. ~ and console hinted at opening your console.

So we hop on Invex Surf, play on buck wild and get 1 kill then check out console to reach stage 8.


We also get a secret letter 'A'.

Stage 8 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

Stage 8 of 10: THE HUNT IS OVER! Just joking I tease. You must watch for a username by the ocean and the seas. Then lowercase it and add .txt     D

The 'tease' is trying to get you to think about 'teasers'.
Watch means to literally watch something (i.e. a video). The ocean and the seas relate to the contents in the video.
This was all pointing to a recent video released on Invex Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1NprG0M2TU

At 0:13 in this video by the ocean/water, the name 'Naryas' is briefly shown for a few frames over the water.
Adding .txt to this leads you to /naryas.txt and stage 9.

We also get a secret letter 'D'.

Stage 9 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

Stage 9 of 10: I hope you been paying attention because if you have you'll already know where to go next.

Paying attention would refer to one or more previous steps.
We know there was a secret letter in each stage so far and it ends up spelling 'DOWNLOAD'.
We look at the downloads drop menu on the Invex forums and find a link to a 'scary picture'.
The name of the image is 'enhance.png' hinting that we need to zoom in and try to look for hidden details.
We find the text 'casino.php' which leads us to /casino.php and stage 10.

Stage 10 of 10: 

Spoiler (Click to View)

Code:

Stage 10 of 10: Welcome to the Invex Casino! I've given you some credits to get you started. Once you have 3000 you'll finish the hunt!

This page features a casino game and tells you that you will finish the hunt once you reach 3000 credits.
You start with 1000 credits.
You can either play this game normally until you reach the end.
Otherwise, some may recognise this game as Quasar from Mass Effect.
If so you could utilise an optimal strategy: http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Quasar

Once you reach 3000 credits, a unique hash is generated based on your forum account which proves that you personally beat the game.
This is the end of the hunt!

[Byte]

The hunt has started.
The initial clue is out.
No other hints will be released until tomorrow night.

[SpAdes]

Done

[Jae]

stage 5 with Squidward SpAdes and @"lil bro"

[n8]

got everything but stage 1

[Fr0st]

</red>.stick

[Slimey !]

ive finished it

[Byte]

Stage 1 hint released.
Stage 2 hint will be released in like 6 hours.

[n8]

Willing to trade like every answer for lipstick

[Fr0st]

Stage 1 hint released.
Stage 2 hint will be released in like 6 hours.

just gimme lip stick :lipstick: