cryptogram puzzle post | artwork, games & storytelling by jack fallows

Page (i)

The Tracerboard and message are all that is needed but beware red herrings—only some lines are to be trusted.
Note the first letters of the lines to determine which ones to trust; the solution is a number.
Only use the lines of which the first letters spell T R U E. Tracing between the true images will create the shape of a number.
Ignoring the lines that start with the letters F A L S E, and tracing between the images associated with the lines starting T R U E (hand – river – fire – cabin) creates the number 4.

Page (ii)

Only the outer ring moves.
The solution assigns values to each of the icons.
Rotate the outer ring so that the prior answer is in the top position.
Setting the prior solution in the top position results in: key: 10, leaf: 8, hourglass: 18, flame: 6, arrow: 2, moon: 20, ribbon: 60.

The narrative at the bottom provides some guidance on what to do.
Find “the combined value” of the painting by counting elements and using values from prior solution, e.g. four keys, each worth 10, results in a value of 40.
Four keys, fourteen leaves, two hourglasses, three flames, four arrows, one ribbon. The solution is three digits.
Counting the elements in the painting, multiplying by their respective values, and adding the totals results in: (4 x 10 = 40) + (14 x 8 = 112) + (2 x 18 = 36) + (3 x 6 = 18) + (4 x 2 = 8) + (1 x 60 = 60) = 374. The solution is 3, 7, 4.

The first paragraph provides essential guidance on interpreting your prior solution; note the reference to numbers becoming letters.
“Before” and “why one” are clues to the substitution B=4, Y=1. The card names all beginning with THE can help with deciphering.
The reference back to the Tracerboard solution helps identify the fourth card.
If Y=1, Z=2, A=3, B=4, C=5, D=6, E=7 and F=8, then the prior solution translates to A, E, B. Those cards are THE WATER, THE WATCH, and THE RING. Following the shape from the Tracerboard leads to D: THE BLAZE (the marking on a horse’s face). The unused cards are THE HORN and THE CRESCENT.

Note the Oracle’s instructions regarding starting point, what must be passed, what must NOT be passed, and the end point.
The narrative text on the next page also provides some guidance.
The route passes three statements.
The requirements are to start at THE WATER (a jug shrine), pass THE WATCH, avoid THE RING (bell shrine), exit past THE BLAZE (fire). The only suitable route requires you to enter at the jug shrine in the top left, then: I AM STRUCK, the watch shrine, I AM BRIGHT, the sickle shrine, I AM SPENT, and finally exit past the fire.

Two chosen objects create one word.
The three statements of the prior solution refer to one choice; the other object (also based on the route) is described in the text.
The solution is a four-letter word.
The sickle (picked up at the shrine) and the matches (which are struck, and are bright, and are spent) result in BI + RD = BIRD.

The prior solution refers to the rune, which refers to the edge of the board.
On the two pages in the satchel, there are words within paragraphs within sections.
The symbol indicates the section, the color indicates the paragraph, the number indicates the word.
The eighth, ninth, thirty-fourth, third, and thirty-eighth words within the appropriate paragraphs (matching symbol and color) create the final answer TO THE LAND OF MIST.