Hope you all had a great Christmas and ate plenty of food! I am extremely happy because I asked for Hobbit lego, expecting a character or two, and I got THE ENTIRE COMPANY! Love you mum :D
Glad I managed to confuse a few of you last chapter! Come on, who actually expected Darlan to die? I didn't, for one ;)
Kili the guest: pleeeease get an account so I can message you! Thanks for the chocolate, all food is much appreciated and I am getting to work on the next chapter straight away :)
Okay so this isn't a proper chapter. It's a challenge. Confused already? Read on and all will be explained. Muahahahaaa!
As dawn approached, Ori thought he might finally be getting somewhere. It had taken a while to get started, as always, but now he was certain the cypher was nearly cracked. Working solidly ever since Fili had given him the task had certainly paid off - in fact, his competitive streak had come out as he strove to solve the puzzle as quickly as possible. It didn't matter that his head was now nearly on the desk, or that his eyes kept shutting of their own accord. He had stayed up much longer than this before and been fine. He could keep going...he was nearly there...nearly...there...
Here is what the letter says, with a much simpler cypher rule applied to it. Solve it if you can, and the answer will be revealed in the next chapter! I don't know what to offer as an incentive, so anyone who manages to work it out and sends me the answer as a review/PM gets one wish from the fairy that I will try my hardest to grant! Happy solving :)
Ont wahy tuo rac emoimttde ot htsi, m iya idcsoles uftrehd rteiasl fo htt esaa, kp sorimesp. Dyaemtn iwll eb sa idcssuesw, dtia h mslaa lddtioians laher ni rpfotii, sa fyn. Niofmrtaoih nsa ercaehm dt eaht teh leedts rpniec ohdlw sahi t eske nas di oi th st eahi t iwhs ot eb rbuohgt tm oi. E elvat eeh emhtdof sert ey ouod rsircteoib, ntu eh umts eb lavia edn bael ot atkl. Onhtnio gh nsi epsrno hsuodl eb otcuehs, dvaw eaeopsn fi enecssraw. Yroi dt sahh tw elib li ed nlat. Eihm ssub td enow etiiht neh omtno hi r iwll accnle uoa rrgeeemtn nae dsnrut eahy tuo ras elineecd.
Hint 1: there is a general rule applied to the whole text. This might be shifting the alphabet, reversing the order of words, inserting extra letters at regular intervals, replacing certain letters with others, practically anything that would look like nonsense at first glance but make sense to someone who knew the rule. So it's not random, I promise!
Hint 2: start simple, by looking at letters that crop up a lot (for example, 'e' is the most common letter in the english language) and the shortest words. Look for repeated words as well. Try to spot patterns.
Hint 3: ask me for help and I'll give you one word for free :)