What was HFC?
The Hawkfrost Conspiracy, originally created by Blackheart, Kitsufox, and Blizzardclaw, was a puzzle game on Warrior’s Wish forum. Blizzardclaw was “kidnapped” by Hawkfrost, and normal forum discussion ceased as members scrambled to figure out the clues left behind to rescue Blizz. The game lasted a total of six days, and the final winner was Tealeaf. Some of the clues were extremely hard to crack, and everyone behind the game was pleasently surprised at the determination and skill with which the forum solved it!
<HF EYES BANNER>
The Roles
The Sun was played by Kitsufox, and dropped hints.
Blizz was played by Blizz, her voice was in all of the sound clips.
HF was played by Blackheart, and challenged the members with countless mind-bending clues. HF referred to everyone as "dearie", now a joke on the forum.
Ambercloud was played by Gorsecloud after she was kidnapped, to help the members.
A Friend was played by Blizz, and dropped hints. At the end, "A Friend" reveals her in-character self to be Spottedleaf.
All The Moderators were played by themselves, and helped drop hints and keep things running smoothly!
DAY 1
The conspiracy was launched. A bloodstained note appeared at the top of the forum. It said only the words:
“Kidnapped! H.F. -Blizz”
Members got to work cracking what “HF” meant. The first guess, the correct answer, was Hawkfrost, while others considered it was Fireheart backwards, or Blizz’s real life initials. The main header of the forum was changed-- two eyes, belonging to none other then Hawkfrost himself, had settled over the picture.
Soon, a mysterious user named “HF” posted a note:
“This game will be played with my watch. I CONTROL Ww PLAIN AND SIMPLE. You must find the note. It will tell you everything. Clues will be given, and destroyed. But if you find the note and follow it's instructions you win the game. Be patient for the clues, they will come over time. Any trace of the Sun will be destroyed when I find it. Good luck to you all.”
The first clue appeared shortly after, posted by a mysterious guest named “A Friend”. It explained more of the game, and carried the encrypted message:
“You must hurry, time is running out. Check the favorites.”
[the first “Y” and the first “t” were in bold]
Which lead member’s to Blizz’s Youtube account, were she had favorited a message: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZRWWuVW3Nc The video had some framilier voices in the background...
“Ugh... were am I?” [Blizz]
“You... don’t know?” [HF]
“Oh no, this isn’t about my siggie, is sit?” [Blizz]
“Not about something so trivial, no. This is much bigger.” [HF]
“Hey, I recognize that voice. Oh no! It can’t be, but they trust you, to them, your just another member of Ww forum.” [Blizz]
“Precisely he chooses his allies well. But you can your precious warrior's Wish only has those fools on the forum. Hey, wait a second, what is that?” [HF]
“No, no wait! Don’t touch that! It’s-- Wait! You, you can’t trust--” [Blizz]
The message was then interrupted by static, only broken at the end, when a voice whispered:
“HF will rule the world.”
Many members were sure from the beginning that the HF banner was continually getting darker. It was-- but much later in the game!
DAY 2
The banner changed today, and the word “Lespak” appeared in the corner. This was an anagram for the word, “sparkle” which then lead to Sparklekit, a new CLK on Warrior’s Wish. In Sparklekit’s code, instead of the HTML code, was a message: “237 The source of your misfortune is role-play.”
Although members discovered the meaning without using the first numbers, “237” stood for the second word, the third word, and the seventh word in the sentence that followed. This revealed:
“Source of role-play.”
That lead to the role-play board on Ww forum, where, hidden in the source code, was another message. This one was a link:
http://www.warriorswish.net/hawkfrost/
It appeared to be a blank page, and only when highlighted was the hidden text revealed:
Interesting. You're doing pretty well, aren't you?
Well, not well enough. The sun is sinking, and the end draws near...
I like to watch you struggle, it's amusing. I would have hoped you'd
have come a bit closer to the truth by now. Better hurry up a bit,
or we'll end up increasing the stakes...
DAY 3
On day 3, Gorsecloud was kidnapped. Blood spatters appeared on her siggie, and the message: “Two down.” also appeared in her signature. When members visited Gorsecloud’s site, the Warriors Encyclopedia, a note from HF said: “Try looking closer to home dearies.”
Back on the forum, a mysterious message from Gorsecloud had appeared:
“Guys, it's Gorsecloud. HF left the room for a moment, so Blizz told me to get over to the computer and give you guys a hint.
HF has been laughing too much. You must not be doing well to make HF that pleased. I figured out he was after me in just enough time to leave you a clue. Right before I left. Please guys, you have to find it. You have to save Blizz and me.
Oh, gosh I think I her HF coming. Please. Find the clue. We need you. Don't give up, and listen to The Sun and A friend.
Gorsecloud” [the message “Right before I left.” was in bold.]
After alot of puzzling, member’s discovered Gorsecloud’s last post before she was kidnapped, which read:
“Zennia, Flowering Almond
Lettuce, Hollyhock”
It had been posted in the game’s board, were a guest named “Flowernose” had created a game were she claimed to be able to tell people’s future when told their favorite flowers. Finally members discovered the code was The Victorian Language Of Flowers, an old language used to send secret messages through flower boquets. Decoded, Gorse’s message read:
Thoughts of absent friends. Have hope.
Cold Ambition.
“Cold ambition” meant that members were to look for the next clue on Blizz’s Hawkfrost shrine; “Icy Ambition”. There, a link on the splash page lead to a new sound clip, where Blizz’s voice asked: “What? How? No, You took Gorsecloud too?! But How? When?” It also had a clip of a song called, “Protégé Moi” by Placebo. This song was one on Hawkfrost’s fan-soundtrack on Icy Ambition. On the fan-soundtrack page was the message “There’s nothing here... yet.”
Which completed day 3!
DAY 4
“A Friend” posted a list of flowers in the game created by Flowernose. Already aware of the code, members translated the list into:
+Happy love
+Death. Mourning
+Cure for heartache
+Love at first sight
+Dangerous pleasures
+Freedom
+Love is dangerous
+Sorrow
This seemingly random list of words described the pairing, “Crowfeather x Leafpool”. After that was figured out, members were lead to the guestbook, where a person called “Crowfeather & Leafpool” had posted a message:
“Glmlizld xlmwh jfrkpob...”
This clue could be cracked with the classic code of the reversed alphabet. It became:
tonoraow conds quipkly
TOMORROW COMES QUICKLY
Soon after, “Crowfeather & Leafpool” had another appearance:
“No!! I was wrong, this site defidently deserves 16.18.15.16.8.5.3.25 15.14 265”
*The numbers translate to:
P.R.O.P.H.E.C.Y O.N 265
A prophecy was found on page 256 of one of “A Dangerous Path” saying, “Beware of the Enemy that never sleeps.”
Later on, Orion was looking at source codes for WW and found:
I T S __ A L W A Y S__ S U N S E T__ B E F O R E__ I T __I S__
M I D N I G H T
*Sunset is book #6 and Midnight is book #1. Which equals 61. Nova looked on page 61 of the Game thread and... This is what HF wrote:
One, is coming today...
*HF is saying that "Sunset, is coming today!"
Day 5
A drastic change signifies that the end is drawing near... The skin has been changed to black and icy blue hues, and HF claims that “The Sun has set”.
Kitsufox had stated earlier that she had found out where HF was keeping Gorse and Blizz, and was going to rescue them. Her avatar has been changed-- the cat that is featured on the display pic is now wrapped in ropes. Her site, kitsufox.com, has been changed. It has an image of a fox, with the words: “The fox has failed... The sun has set.”
When the page is highlighted, another code appears: 23.12.13.7-15.12.12.8.22-21.26.18.7.19-4.22-7.19.9.22.22-24.
12.6.13.7-12.13-2.12.6.9-11.26.7.22.18.13.24.22
Decoded: Dont loose faith we three count on your patience
"A Friend" posts this today: http://youtube.com/watch?v=uPI1CxmnZu0
*On it, we hear the tragic story, of Kistufox, who attempts to rescue Blizz and Gorse, only to find out that the whole thing is a trap. Kitsu is captured, and we discover that she was "The Sun", a member who had dropped hints through the game. We also learn that the captor is Hawkfrost. "Doodle" came up across the screen.
In Japanese, “Doodle” is Oekaki, the paint board of Warrior’s Wish. Under the first picture of Brambleclaw, someone has left a comment that leads to: http://www.warriorswish.net/Hawkfrost/index.htm
It says: "Your scribble has brought you here. Where to next? Well try heading for home."
If you look at the main menu under the logo in the forum, the first link image says “home”, which always leads to the main page of a proboards forum. When the URL of the image is viewed, it reads: 8|9|4|4|5|14-6|15|18|19|13-8|6.gif Decoded: HIDDEN BOARD HF.gif
Any Proboards guru will know that a hidden board can be found by replacing the ID word of any board, and can only be found if someone knows the exact url. It lead members to: http://warriorswish1.proboards85.com/index.cgi?board=hf
A password protected board. The password of course, is Hawkfrost. The only thread on the hidden board was left by “A Friend”. It’s a poem:
My final clue,
I'll pass to you,
Before I meet my end.
You better get this right...
Who is HF?
It's the only way to bring back the light...
Previous clues may light the way,
It shouldn't be too much of a pain,
To find HF's new domain,
A final letter will seal your clue...
Blizz and Gorse are ready, are you?
HF posts a clue, saying that he now owns warriorswish.net. This reveals the meaning of the poem; HF’s new “domain” is the web domain of Warriorswish.net! Who is HF? Means Hawkfrost, and a final letter will seal the clue means one letter of the alphabet (which happens to be “c”) Together, the answer is:
http://www.warriorswish.net/hawkfrostc/
This location is the official HFC site, but all it has on it is: “Oh dear. Looks like this is the last dead end.” But wait! Highlighted, the page reveals two things: “Secret goes message here.”, and a link, “The End”.
“The End” is a link which leads to the true final page-- the note that ends the game:
“Fellow members of Warriors Wish. It seems you've finally pieced it together, I didn't think you had it in you. If you've made it this far I'd like to congratulate you, and soon enough... I will. Most of you know me quite well, I must say, I'm a very active member, and I speak to lots of different members in PMs. All the trouble I've caused, I regret none, I would do it again in a heartbeat. If you're reading this... you've saved Gorsecloud and Blizz after only one more step. Send me a personal message with this note, then, and only then will they be free, unless it is me you wish to join. If it is Hawkfrost you wish to join, PM me stating just that. You must tell no one of the truth, and keep this all to yourself. Act like you were before you found it, clueless. On the other hand if freedom is your choice then PM me this note, and tell the forum the truth, reveal me to them. Of course you are yet to know who I am, and you won't until the letter is signed. Anyway, I have done what I have, not because I am against Blizz, she is of course a friend, but I believe that Hawkfrost is the true leader of these forums, and that will not be changing. Everyone that I have hurt in doing this, and everyone I have lied to, I am deeply sorry, you have my utmost respect for discovering the truth.
Signed,
Your dear friend, Blackheart.”
Everyone who found the letter kept it to themselves and decided to join HF, until Tealeaf decided to bring to light the truth, and save Blizz, Gorse, and Kitsufox.