# The Trail of Clues: The Mystery island

<--- Previous and first clue

You are standing on a roof in Israel at the top of the Ladder. You notice that there is a small package taped to the top rung of the ladder. You pick it up and take it to your hotel.

Once inside, you open the package. A blank white piece of paper flutters out of the package:

You also see a small scrap of paper. It says

The image above has two prime numbers associated with it. Multiply them together and you have the key for the cryptic-clue that comes with this paper.

You then see another scrap of paper. It reads:

Dhjsn spcfe sdjtnjnn bypvnk ju uie ptsbod mvsm pf wjat(8)

You then see another scrap of paper. It says:

Your clue may be found halfway down the Trail of Tears

Where is the next clue, and which country do you have to go to. Also, where and what is the "Trail of Tears"

• 0/10 not actually a cryptic clue – somebody Aug 20 '18 at 23:01
• @somebody What do you mean? – The Masked Rebel Aug 21 '18 at 10:56

I figured out the country and have a guess to the location.

Key solution

The first thing I noticed is the picture is 397 x 431 px, which are both prime numbers. This gives us the key 171107.

Decoding as a Vigenère cipher with the key we get Cairn loved swimming around in the island full of pits(8)

Decoded Cipher meaning

The cipher is referring to the country Pitcairn Islands.

Trail of Tears

Google maps seems to recognize a Trail of Tears on Pitcairn Island (including a street view), but I can't seem to find any other information about it. It seems just to be the name of a trail on the island so maybe this is the exact location.

• I didn't even think of how to apply the key! I think I might have the solution to the cryptic, though... – El-Guest Aug 20 '18 at 17:03
• Nice answer! :D Great minds think alike!! – El-Guest Aug 20 '18 at 17:06
• How did you apply the numbers as a key to the Vig Cipher? – Reibello Aug 20 '18 at 18:29
• Convert to letters (0 -> a, ...) or just shift by the numbers. – Bennett Bernardoni Aug 20 '18 at 18:31
• It's a cryptic clue, so 8 is the number of letters – somebody Aug 20 '18 at 23:00

There is a red dot (a square containing 4 smaller squares) on the blank paper, which can be replicated by clicking on "Red" in MS Paint and clicking once (not dragging). The RGB for this colour is 237-28-36 (HEX#ED1C24). However, $237 = 79 \times 3$; $28 = 2 \times 2 \times 7$; and $36 = 2 \times 2 \times 3 \times 3$. None of the RGB numbers are prime.

Update:

In another vein, @Reibello has suggested that the associated prime numbers are the height and width of the image. The image is $397 px \times 431 px$, both of which are prime. This means that the key to the cryptic clue is 171107.

I'm also not sure how to proceed with the cryptic clue, because

From @Bennett Bernardoni, decoding the cryptic clue as a Vigenère cipher with this key gives us "Cairn loved swimming around in the island full of pits (8)".

I think that this points us towards

PITCAIRN Island. Is this where the next clue can be found?

Otherwise...

Could the Trail of Tears imply that we are travelling to the US? The Trail was a series of paths along which Native Americans in the Oklahoma area were forced to migrate from their traditional homesteads. I'm not sure where specifically, although it could be a specific monument on the Trail. (I also don't know how this fits in with Pitcairn Island.)

• I was figuring that the prime numbers were the ht and wd in pixels. – Reibello Aug 20 '18 at 16:12