NOTE: All words used in the puzzles are case sensitive and must be typed in the form that they are displayed here.
Looking at the source code won't work, so don't screw with it.
Goto
http://www.sombracorp.com and click the Development link at the top of the page
Riddle 1:
Username: andy
Password: 1999
(Skullfisher was the first to announce this factoid, thus winning chaps of the assless variety)
Riddle 2:
The Sombra logo now says "WELL COME"
Below that it says: "Give us what we want"
The references are derived from a 60's television show called The Prisoner. In the final episode the lead character, No. 6, comes to a door labeled WELL COME. Inside the door he meets No. 2. The conversation that ensues is transcribed in an epigraph at the beginning of Hearts in Atlantis:
Number 6: What do you want?
Number 2: Information
Number 6: Whose side are you on?
Number 2: That would be telling. We want information.
Number 6: You won't get it!
Number 2: By hook or by crook. . . we will.
Solution: Information
Click button
(EOD figured this out first. She wins a box of crayons, except for the ones I ate.)
Riddle 3:
Click the top of the tower in the Sombra logo
(Rumanchu got this one, he wins an all expense paid trip to *cough mumble*, I hear it's quite nice there.)
Riddle 4:
A new page will display saying:
QUOTE
Welcome back, Andy.
Your original contact information is no longer secure. Please input a new address as well as your verification number and await further instructions.
type your email address in first box (some people put in a telephone number and got called), "19" in second box
It will say "Thank you, Andy"
(No one gets credit for this, since there wasn't neccesarily a "correct" answer. Everyone gets a pat on the back for complacency.)
Riddle 5:
Some people received an e-mail saying:
QUOTE
From:admin@sombracorp.com
Subject: Instructions
The Sombra Corporation thanks you for your fast response. However, what
we really want can only be seen in a mirror.
--AS
AS being Algul Siento
So, go back to the 'Give us what we want page' and type: "noitamrofni",
which is "information" spelled backwards, and click the button
(Blaine plunged his fist into the chest of this riddle and ripped out it's still beating solution. Congrats, you get some rather revealing photos of my sock drawer.)
Riddle 6:
A new page saying:
QUOTE
Thank you, Andy.
+199395869082139785
8696139398909313797
8808810078958196137
8898913967899821391
869182
Will display.
MoppBoy figured out the code:
QUOTE
It says, "prime this pump backwards all save nine".
Remove the first "19", add 19 to each 2 digit digit numbers that follows except "100". Ex... 93 + 19 = 112 and so on. From there do a simple ASCII translation. The giveaway was all the 13's. 13 + 19 = 32. 32 = SPACE in ASCII land.
No need to type anything into the box under the numerical riddle. Click the top of the tower in the Sombra logo.
(MoppBoy will win a once in a lifetime chance to mail me 20 dollars. Super!)
Riddle 7:
The skyline in the Sombra logo now appears larger, infering that we are closer to The Tower.
A diamond shaped, numerical "keypad", like that from the cradle of Lud in DTIII, will be displayed. As the answer from Riddle 6 hints, click all prime numbers, going backward, except those containing 9.
So, click these numbers in this order: 83 73 71 67 61 53 47 43 41 37 31 23 17 13 11 7 5 3 2 1
If you screw it up, no worries. Simply delete your cookies, close your web browser, and open it again at the "diamond" page
(EOD figured this one out too! She's so trig... Your prize is one of your crayons that I ate, regurgiated into a collectible zip lock baggie. It's the yellow one.)
Riddle 8:
A page displays, saying:
QUOTE
The end is near.
Start at the beginning.
Stand and be true.
(Start at the beginning) Go back to the logon screen and (be true) enter your DT.NET username and password, (Stand) type both in ALL CAPS. Press the button, Bob.
If you can't login to SombraCorp using your forum name and password use the following:
U/N: BANGO
P/W: SKANK
Press the button
(Dragon is the mastermind behind this one. She'll get her reward at the DT convention )
Riddle 9:
A new page displays with a grid of various Dark Tower buzz words and a rotated 9 super-imposed in the middle. If you single out the words in the 9th row and/or column of each box and reassemble them, you get: WHAT WILL MIKE NOONAN DO. This is in reference to Bag of Bones, where Mike Noonan solves a riddle of his own.
The solution: "GO DOWN 19". Type this into the box and click the button.
(Thank you Stockworth for the crack, you'll get the obligatory fruit basket.)
Riddle 10:
A page displays showing artistic renditions of: A Stone, A Leaf, A Door, A Leaf, A Stone, A Door.
This is in reference to the poem, Look Homeward, Angel, by Thomas Wolfe that is excerpted in the revised version of The Gunslinger and quoted throughout The Wolves of the Calla The poem begins, "A Stone, a leaf, an unfound door. A stone, a leaf, a door."
There is a text box and a button saying "Here and Now". "Here and Now" is a phrase that Wolf repeatedly says in The Talisman.
Type this into the box: Thomas Wolf
Click da' button
(Skullfisher wins again, receiving a lifetime supply of Devil Grass™. The burning insanity means it's working.)
Riddle 11:
The page displays three colors, (yellow, blue, & green), with three fields for input. The name of the web page is realbeginning.php. The clue is: Three Words.
The inspiration for this comes from the real beginning of The Dark Tower Series. In the Afterward of the original The Gunslinger, Stephen King reminisces about when he was still in college and received three reams of differently colored paper. He split the sheets between the then Tabitha Spruce (robin's egg blue), her boyfriend David Lyons (Roadrunner yellow), and himself ("the green stuff"). All went on to become published writers. It was on this green paper that SK first scribed the words: The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.
The solution, in this order: Lyons Spruce King
The words "About Darn Time" flash across the screen.
(The Hanged Man first had the idea on how to solve this puzzle, so he gets the credit. He is awarded my substantial collection of toenail clippings. I hope they work for you. Props go to Ryan of Gilead and Julia Delmacre for their incessant determination and stubborn tenacity. They get, as requested, a rat's carcass and Finli O'Tego's dirty socks, respectively.)
Riddle 12:
A striking depiction of assless chaps appears on the screen.
The Final Solution: assless chaps
(In our hearts we all knew the answer. Our reward is finally putting some ointment on those gaping wounds from whence we ripped out hair. Congratulations to everyone who solved these riddles. Esspecially those who didn't need this cheat sheet. You know who you are, because you aren't here right now.)
Any final thoughts? The main discussion for this is in the General Discussion about the Dark Tower Forum in the Sombra Corp and Assless Chaps threads. Enjoy your sleep, hope you can ditch those recently developed wrinkles.
hock:
Net schlecht...
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Spoiler