Case 027: Krampus Kidnappings

Celest St. Claire's Notes

Hey,

As I mentioned in my note, I’m sure that my conclusions will match Sullivan’s. That being the case, if you’ve already asked him about these clues, you probably won’t learn anything new here.

If you do choose to use this site, you’ll still need to email Sullivan about the Door Code so that Asuna can open the locked door. You’ll also need to email him the case’s Solution once the kids are safe and you’ve figured out who Krampus is. 

If you haven’t emailed Sullivan yet, you can visit SleuthKings.com/Case-027 to send him your first email. When you want to address either of the issues above, just include the appropriate underlined word from above in the body of your email.

If you want to see my thoughts on any of the clues in your case file, just click the corresponding button below.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed this or not but, on the list of kidnapped kids, there are handwritten notes that talk about words and letters beside each kid’s name.

If we replace the names on the back of the song lyrics card with the handwritten notes from the list of kids, I think it might tell us where we need to look in the song in order to uncover a message.

Take a look to see if you can make any sense out of this. Even after you decode the message, however, I doubt it will make much sense. Still, maybe we’ll be able to learn something from it that will be useful later on.

There are a few steps to figuring this one out.

The first thing you need to know is that the symbols to the left of each name tell you which line to look at in the song. Once you’ve figured that out, you then have to replace each name with the handwritten information from the list of kids.

For instance, “^ Sarah Gramenz” becomes “Line 3, Word 3.”

If you look at the 3rd word in the 3rd line of the lyrics, you see the word “Door.”

When you follow all of the instructions from the back, you get this message:

“Fern mop” is gibberish, but I don’t think that’s what matters here. What’s important are the individual letters that each symbol to the right stands for. There’s not much we can do with this information right now, but I’ve noticed that the symbols also appear on Clue 3. Before we can break that code, I think we’re going to need some more information, first.

For now, you should probably make yourself a note so that you can remember which letter each symbol stands for.

Don’t forget – when you think you’ve figured out the door’s code, send Sullivan an email so that he can let Asuna know. With any luck, it will be the kids’ ticket to freedom! If you haven’t already, you can email Sullivan from www.SleuthKings.com/Case-027. When you want to tell him the door’s code, just be sure to include the words door code in the body of your email so he knows what you’re talking about.

The gaudy candy cane pen that Sullivan bought has stripes around it, right? I could be totally wrong, but do you think wrapping the wristband around it might help you read it?

Even once you’ve read it, I won’t be surprised if the message doesn’t make much sense. Still, if we focus on learning as much from it as possible, maybe it will help us figure out how to read CIue 3’s message and figure out the door’s code.

When I wrapped the wristband around the candy cane – starting from the bottom up – I got the message:

“Door Pattern Two: RHCWF = Teeth.”

There’s no doubt – this must be giving us a hint about how to read the note that Asuna found taped to the locked door (Clue 3). “Teeth” probably doesn’t have anything to do with the message itself, but I think the pattern is what’s important here. If we apply it to the letters on the note, we should be able to read them.

Lucky for you, I’ve already figured out what the pattern here is. If you shift “R” forward 2 letters, you get “T.” If you shift “H” backward 3 letters, you get “E.” Then, if you repeat the pattern (shifting the next letter forward 2 letters and the following backward 3 letters), the original gibberish spells out “teeth.”

Once we apply this pattern to Clue 3 – and turn the symbols into letters with what we learned from Clue 1 – we should be able to make sense out of the message. With any luck, that should help us figure out the door’s code.

Don’t forget – when you think you’ve figured out the door’s code, send Sullivan an email so that he can let Asuna know. If you haven’t already, you can email Sullivan from www.SleuthKings.com/Case-027. When you want to tell him the door’s code, just be sure to include the words door code in the body of your email so he knows what you’re talking about.

I’m positive that Clues 1 and 2 are the keys to helping us solve this.

Clue 1 tells us how to make sense out of the images. For example, the reindeer head stands for “F,” and the skate stands for “E.” We need to make sure we replace each of the symbols here with the correct letters.  

Clue 2 gave us a pattern that involves moving one letter forward and another backward, and then repeating. If we follow that pattern here – excluding the letters that come from symbols – we should be able to crack this message.

Once we’ve figured it out, I think it should help us find the door’s code. If it helps, I think the code will be an English word.

I’ve figured out the message, but I’m still not sure what the door’s code is.

Clue 2 showed us that we need to move one letter forward 2 letters and the next backward 3, right? If we follow that pattern, the letters on the back of Clue 3 become:

“To ?pe? us? th? wo?d K?am?us’ ?am? co?es ?ro?.”

Clue 1 told us how to read the symbols. Here’s what each stands for:

When you replace the symbols, the message says:

“To open, use the word Krampus’ name comes from.”

That’s all well and good, but I have no idea where Krampus’ name comes from. There’s got to be something on one of the documents Krampus left behind that will help us figure this out, but I haven’t found it yet.

When you’re able to figure it out, make sure you send Sullivan an email so that he can let Asuna know. If you haven’t already, you can email Sullivan from www.SleuthKings.com/Case-027. When you want to tell him the door’s code, just be sure to include the words door code in the body of your email so he knows what you’re talking about.

It’s slow going, but I’ve been able to put a few words together from the letters. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

The problem is, there are still way too many extra letters for me to be able to completely figure this out. Maybe, if you can help Asuna open the locked door, she’ll be able to find something that can help. If nothing else, it’s worth a shot.

When you think you’ve figured out the door’s code, send Sullivan an email so that he can let Asuna know. If you haven’t already, you can email Sullivan from www.SleuthKings.com/Case-027. When you want to tell him the door’s code, just be sure to include the words door code in the body of your email so he knows what you’re talking about.

Sorry I can’t help more with this one! I’ll keep plugging away, but I really do think your best bet is to focus on helping Asuna open up the door. If we’re lucky, maybe the kids will be able to escape and we won’t need to decode this, anyway. I won’t hold my breath, but it’s always a possibility.

I’ll let you know if I’m able to figure anything else out! In the meantime, do your best to bring those kids home safely!