TFEE T1F

Tier 1F: The "vitellus" puzzle

Tier Overview

After solving T1E, the hunters noticed a pattern within the last 2 tiers, they were related to eggs (Oviform, the shape of an egg, and calcium carbonate, the chemical that makes up an eggshell). Theories were introduced that T1F would have something to do with another part of an egg, like the yolk or albumin. On July 3rd, Rob posted the image "THE_FINALS_CB2_Couple" with the metadata "Hi all EE-hunters..! here we go again... from embark with love.!"

There are 33 bullet shells on the ground.
There is an angle of 33 degrees between the guns.
There are 3 shaded circles hidden in the image with varying diameters.
The partial word "-pis" were found hidden on one of the character's outfits, and was likely "Lapis."
The Roman/Latin numerals "XLVI CCIV" were found, translating to 46204.
The number 4.2465 was found in the image, which is the distance to the Proxima Centauri star system in light-years.
The symbol "α." was hidden in the background.
There are 3 glints in one of the character's eyes, referencing the Proxima Centauri three-star system.

On July 7th, a CB2 infographic was posted in the game announcements channel. At first, the hunters did not think to search the image for clues, but soon, a single clue was discovered in the image. On Nama Tama's clipboard was a list of names, KELSIE E, JAMES P J, CHARLIE S, GIL B, DEREK B, JULIA C, and JOHN E T. The hunters realized that this was a list of cast members from the TV show Yellowstone. When taking the first letter of the name of each members' role, it spelled "NOSTONE," meaning Yellowstone minus stone = yellow.

On July 12th, Rob posted the image "THE_FINALS_CB2_Guns_and_Namas" with metadata "OPEN YOUR EYES ...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES...CNS - SLIES..."

The name "Caxito" was found on the foot of the M60.
The name "Mabu" was found on the barrel of the M60.
A picture of a dandelion seed was hidden in the footer.
The symbol "𝛽." was found on the sniper stock.
A small pattern of pixels was found in the bottom of the image. This pattern matched a similar one on previous images when mirrored.

On July 21st, Rob posted the image "THE_FINALS_SHHH" with metadata ". . . CNS ¤ -% OYE *! ¤ CNS -% * OYE ¤ *! CNS% -! OYE"

There are 3 Hs in the image title.
Pieces of Japanese script were hidden in the footer, which when pieced back together spelled the name Atsuko Nishida, the creator of Pikachu.
The symbols delta, zeta, and epsilon were tattooed on the character's fingers.
Three of the teeth are glowing on the character's mask.
The number sequence "40 44 83 86 67 70 83 41 45 49" was found near the Embark logo, decoding to "(,SVCFS)-1" in ASCII. After subtracting 1 from each number in the parenthesis, the ASCII decoded was (+RUBER), meaning "add red" in Latin. Since most of the image was green, adding red resulted in yellow.
A series of pixels at the top of the image were counted out to be "1 3 1872" which was the date that Yellowstone became a national park.
The list on names from the CB2 infographic was hidden again in this image.

By this point in the hunt, it was clear that there was a theme of the color yellow, but no password had been found yet. The main theory still held that this tier would be something egg-related, and a Wikipedia link for the chemical Xanthophyll (the chemical in an egg yolk that makes it appear yellow) was confirmed by Rob. On August 9th, Rob posted the image "THE_FINALS_NeverOddOrEven" with the metadata message "Taking back what is ours ///CNS ###...###...###..."

The name NeverOddOrEven is a palindrome, which can be read the same when mirrored.
The background is filled with yellow smoke.
The chemical structure for a Xanthophyll was hidden in the footer.
Three hidden characters on each side of the image appeared to be mirrored to the other side of the image, FFD700. This number is also a hexcode for a shade of yellow.
The character's belt buckle is egg-shaped, with an X marking the middle of the egg.
The hidden message "Geoffry the G" was pieced together, most likely meaning Geoffrey the Grammarian, a Latin grammarian.
The Roman/Latin numerals MCDXL were found on a belt loop, decoding to 1440, the year that Geoffrey the Grammarian was most active.

The hunters had two out of three primary clues nailed down, but still needed an extra push to realize the last piece of the puzzle. On August 23rd, Rob posted the Embark anniversary image, "THE_FINALS_1YA" with the metadata "<3 Thank you all for an AMAZING year.! FROM EMBARK WITH LOVE.!"

The symbols "A" "α" "B" "𝛽" were found in each corner of the image.
The number 9619907 was hidden in the background of the image.

On September 12th, Rob posted the image "THE_FINALS_this_Is_the" with metadata "This is the friend this is the friend my Friend..."

The blueprint featured a cracked egg, revealing its yolk.
The number sequence 4245362757481545366309154857 was hidden on the bottom of the blueprint. This sequence was decoded by hunter fishxw into the words "speculo epsilon," meaing "mirror epsilon."

With these final clues, it was only a matter of time before the tier was solved.

Solving

On September 17th fishxw, Flex4d, and ROMANIAGAMES all collaboratively guessed the password, "vit3llus" and unlocked the tier. This tier took 76 days to solve.