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The following message has been encrypted using a total of 6 different methods.
Can you decipher the original message?

E8EBB8E8B8BB02B8BA8EBA3AA05DDC5717475DC75D

Hint for First Step:

Maybe if you dealt with this the way only Siths do

Hint for Second Step:

Now everyone should get close and comfy (this step isn't necessarily an encryption, but needed for the next)

Hint for Third Step:

Thank you for the tea, Dot, but I really must dash now!

Second Hint for the Third Step:

If you inspect the binary, there are either single ones or zeroes, triple ones or zeroes, or 6 zeroes. What could they represent? (I now realise there's a double 1. This was an accident and should be a single 1, but that shifts everything and completely changes it so I'm leaving it)

Hint for Fourth Step:

This one should be easy if you've got this far

Hint for the Fifth Step:

Decay Unluckily

Hint for the Sixth Step:

I'm all in a muddle now!

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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Will it be clear after each decryption step that you have made progress? If no where there be any hints? $\endgroup$
    – gabbo1092
    Oct 31 '18 at 15:40
  • $\begingroup$ No it wont... I will think up some hints that won't completely spoil it... $\endgroup$
    – AHKieran
    Oct 31 '18 at 15:42
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    $\begingroup$ added hints @gabbo1092 $\endgroup$
    – AHKieran
    Oct 31 '18 at 15:50
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Step 1 & 2:

So there are always two Siths, suggesting a conversion of the string to binary and concatenation:
111010001110101110111000111010001011100010111011000000101011100010111010100011101011101000111010101000000101110111011100010101110001011101000111010111011100011101011101

Step 3:

Convert it to morse code. In general, there are 1s making up dashes, and dots, and 0s making up pauses. Normally 3 1's makes a dash, although in one instance there are 2 1's doing this which could mean all kinds of things, but I'm going to assume is a dot (since this makes sense when I get to the end!). This implies the following words: NYNAR ULCB JURYC
The first word could also be NYNAW (if the 2 1s are a dash) or NYNAL (if the 2 1s are two dots), but trust me on this one for now!

Step 4 & 5:

The "obvious" thing to do is a rot13. This makes "ALANE HYPO WHELP". These are all words, and of course, "decay unluckily" probably means rot13 (since 13 is an unlucky number)

Step 6:

An anagram of "ANANE HYPO WHELP" is, of course, "HAPPY HALLOWEEN". So that's the answer

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  • $\begingroup$ Nicely done! I thought of that for the first and third but couldn't figure out what to do for the second $\endgroup$
    – gabbo1092
    Oct 31 '18 at 17:00
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    $\begingroup$ Good job so far, your step 3 isn't quite right. I've added an additional hint for you :) $\endgroup$
    – AHKieran
    Oct 31 '18 at 17:00
  • $\begingroup$ If you do that for step 4 then what do you do for step 5? $\endgroup$
    – gabbo1092
    Oct 31 '18 at 17:42
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    $\begingroup$ Use Nynar instead $\endgroup$
    – gabbo1092
    Oct 31 '18 at 17:44
  • $\begingroup$ also step 3 is binary to morse, step 4 is morse to text (obviously), and step 5 is the rot13. $\endgroup$
    – AHKieran
    Oct 31 '18 at 21:38

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