New ARG Link

[The Starver]

3 hours ago, Torpeda said:

I know nothing about music and I don't know if anyone talked about it, but my first association regarding "643" numbers was that the lines below "4" and above "3" could have something to do with the rotary dial which also has two lines.

EDIT: reduced size of the image.

Ooh! That might be a clue!

[Bumber64]

I think this puzzle has too many pieces. Making us guess how many notes we need to begin with, then giving us no obvious correlation for which numbers apply where, if at all. We don't know if the crumpled note even applies to this part of the puzzle because we were given 643 before we needed it.

If not for Wagstaff's antics, Klei would have left us to match the serum times to musical notes. Clearly : represents flipping the lever!

[kiwikenobi]

I think we just haven't found the right clue yet, or we haven't decoded it if we've looked at it already. It might be something hidden in a file or some website code somewhere. It might be right in front of us, hiding in plain sight. I believe we won't have to guess how many notes we need or anything like that, once we understand the clues we have, we'll just know. No guessing needed. Not with a lock this complicated.

[GetNerfedOn]

On 1/2/2026 at 2:27 AM, GetNerfedOn said:

Today is January 1, 2026. this is GetNerfedon your host for today, bringing you your daily arg news.

 

There has been yes news for today. the musical door remains unsolved.

 

this has been your daily news for January 1 2026. happy new year.

 

 

 

Days 81-82 of writing down the script of the Inevitable short letter by letter until this ARG ends:

 

Once upon a time several strangers were stranded in a land lethal, loathsome and large. None got along

 

Days 83-85 of writing down the script of the Inevitable short letter by letter until this ARG ends:

 

Once upon a time several strangers were stranded in a land lethal, loathsome and large. None got along but

[Ridley]

Such silly mistakes I keep making, but I am so close now! I just need more time.

[Korija2029]

Sorry if someone pointed out but did we tried translating this to rotary thing?:

[filipahped]

Reposting Doc link to keep it easily findable.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kLKXDYVMJ5HE9CMY-qbXXs6JXxBqPq-Z8INWDulwvd8/

1 hour ago, Korija2029 said:

Sorry if someone pointed out but did we tried translating this to rotary thing?:

Also, yes, that has been done, to the best of our abilities. Honestly, it would kinda surprise me if Wagstaff's whistling was a clue, given that it pre-dates the musical puzzle all the way back to when the sap bucket first started filling.

[keats95]

10 hours ago, Torpeda said:

I know nothing about music and I don't know if anyone talked about it, but my first association regarding "643" numbers was that the lines below "4" and above "3" could have something to do with the rotary dial which also has two lines.

EDIT: reduced size of the image.

I was wondering this the other day myself but couldn’t really find anywhere to go with it. The top half has 5 notes (the 4 at the top + the note the rotary starts on) with a gap in between, and the bottom half has 7.

I suppose one COULD argue that the top half does indeed have 6 spaces even though one is empty, and that would leave 4+3=7 on the bottom half (4 white notes and 3 black ones). That’s the only way I can see the 643 note relating in this aspect but then what would that even tell us? 
 

[Aminen]

3 hours ago, Ridley said:

Such silly mistakes I keep making, but I am so close now! I just need more time.

Wagstaff core:

[Torpeda]

1 hour ago, keats95 said:

I suppose one COULD argue that the top half does indeed have 6 spaces even though one is empty, and that would leave 4+3=7 on the bottom half (4 white notes and 3 black ones). That’s the only way I can see the 643 note relating in this aspect but then what would that even tell us? 

I don't really know. I just wanted to share my silly thoughts. I thought maybe someone smarter could figure this out haha

Anyway, after thinking about it a little bit longer, did someone try to use the opening/ending melody from Winona animated short to solve the puzzle?
It feels like a good fit since Exspectamus and Next of Kin seem to be based on the very same event.

Don't Starve Together: Next of Kin [Winona Animated Short]

If not, maybe it has something to do with the bushes surrounding the entrance to Wagstaff's hideout? The hatch with the bushes kind of resemble the rotary dial...
On second thought, I may just be getting crazy. 😛

[PrincessProblem]

I'd say everyone is making this too deep/intricate but I remember the control panel 😳

[filipahped]

2 hours ago, PrincessProblem said:

I'd say everyone is making this too deep/intricate but I remember the control panel 😳

There is a marked difference in that the control panel was entirely self-contained, with progress and right/wrong inputs being visible while solving the puzzle. You needed to push the lever all the way up, and rig the controls in a way that allowed you to pulh the lever without overloading any of the dials.

The music puzzle is not self-contained. There is no indicator of what we're doing right or wrong, and no visible measure of progress. We've been told that we have all the clues, but we do not know which of the bits and bobs we have around are the relevant clues, or how we're supposed to interpret them. So yes, the music puzzle is intricate and arcane in a way that the control panel was simply not. It relies on information that we simply do not know how to interpret, while offering no clues of its own as to how close we are.

[GuruChella]

i wonder how long the ARG is planned to go on for, and at what mark would KLEI consider giving a hint 

[Wholesome Dad]

I'm going to share what I think I understand about the musical door puzzle.

I'll start with the phone/instrument.

It has 12 numbers that correspond to notes, the white and black keys match a piano. Because of the layout of black and white keys we know number 1 is a C, and since C is 1 I believe our root is C.

I also believe because the tool has 3 bells on it, we are meant to enter chords (3 numbers per push of the red button)

For everyone's benefit I'm going to post the numbers matching each major chord.

A (A,C#,E)        - 10,2,5
A#(A#,D,F)      - 11,3,6
B (B,D#,F#)     - 12,4,7
C (C,E,G)          - 1,5,8
C#(C#,F,G#)   - 2,6,9
D (D,F#,A)       - 3,7,10
D#(D#,G,A#)  - 4,8,11
E (E,G#,B)       - 5,9,12
F (F,A,C)          - 6,10,1
F#(F#,A#,C#)- 7,11,2
G (G,B,D)        - 8,12,3
G#(G#,C,D#) - 9,1,4

Now my working theory is the post-it note is a chord progression from a C Major scale. 
Which would mean we need to enter the 3 chords, A, F and E.
I believe the line on the post-it by 4 and 3 references the octave handle on the right side, 4 needs the handle up and 3 needs it down. 6 is written in line with 4 so I believe the handle needs to be up for that also. You can see a similar line on the wood the handle is connected to.

Now entering those 3 chords above does not open the door, so obviously there is something I'm missing.

I've tried inverting the octave handle for the chords, I've tried using minor chords instead of major chords. I've even tried going through all the major and minor scales with that same progression in case we are not in fact working in the root of C. I even tried the progression with C in the blues  and Diminished scales.

No luck yet, but it feels like everything is lined up and making sense and I'm just missing a piece of the puzzle.

 

[Wholesome Dad]

A couple of additional thoughts. Chord progressions are usually written in roman numerals, like on the piece of paper that showed us how to access the bunker. I can't help noticing those numbers are written either high or low possibly indicating where the octave handle needs to be as each chord is entered.

I've tried the progression written on the paper V-I-II-IV-III with the matching handle position, when it didn't work I also noticed it looks like the left side of that piece of paper has been ripped so maybe we're missing a chord.
The final 2 numbers in that chord progression is 4, 3. Like on the post-it note. I tried adding the 6th chord in front of the whole progression, with the octave handle in the up position as the post-it would indicate, I also tried putting it right in front of the 4 and 3 but no luck. Considering the ripped appearance of the paper it made most sense if it was at the start.

feels like we're close

[keats95]

2 hours ago, Wholesome Dad said:

Now my working theory is the post-it note is a chord progression from a C Major scale. 

The biggest issue I have with this theory is that I have never seen a chord progression indicated with Arabic numerals, we ALWAYS use Roman numerals in music theory. And considering Klei used Roman numerals in an earlier clue with the bushes, the musician in me will be preeeeetty annoyed if the 643 note does end up indicating a chord progression lol.

Using Roman numerals helps with differentiating between Major and Minor chords as well, with uppercase meaning major and lowercase meaning minor.
For example, Major scales can be written as,

I - ii - iii - IV - V - vi - vii^ (vii isn’t actually minor, it’s diminished but idk if my keyboard has the proper notation for that so I’m just going to use ^)

In C major these chords would be 

C Major, D Minor, E Minor, F Major, G, Major, A Minor, and B Diminished 

2 hours ago, Wholesome Dad said:

Which would mean we need to enter the 3 chords, A, F and E.

This would mean the 3 chords would actually be A minor, F Major, and E Minor here. 
 

Not sure if any of that is helpful and/or relevant but thought I would share, not sure how many of us are musical here. I’ve played piano for 25 years, though I am absolutely no expert on the nitty gritty of music theory. (I prefer to just play the pretty sounds 🙃)

I’m also not sure I agree with the assumption everyone is making about C being our root either. C is just… where music starts, for lack of better phrasing on my part. At least on piano, and this rotary dial seems heavily tied to the keys of a piano (whites and blacks).
C is the centre of the piano. We literally call it middle C. If I try to teach someone piano the first note I’m showing them is middle C. If I’m showing an octave on the piano I’m going to show you from C to C, not A to A. The first scale you learn will be a C Major. etc. 
 

If the rotary started on literally ANY other note I would take it as a clear indication that’s the base note we are working with, but C? Could be anything in my view. 

Edited January 4 by keats95

[Nikki Darks]

This ARG went from interesting to absurdly infuriating with 1 single puzzle.

[user1464576869]

Anyone know any noteworthy history regarding a regular rotary phone maybe...? Like is that just quirky aesthetic as assumed or a clue for some reason?

Actually, this is gonna be so dumb, but can't you transcribe from the beeps and boops you hear on old flip-phones into real numbers? Could we do that backwards, from numbers on a flip phone to the notations the beeps and boops would be? 

[keats95]

3 hours ago, Wholesome Dad said:

A couple of additional thoughts. Chord progressions are usually written in roman numerals, like on the piece of paper that showed us how to access the bunker.

Oh my bad you must’ve posted this follow up while I was typing out my reply and I missed it! 

[kiwikenobi]

2 hours ago, user1464576869 said:

Anyone know any noteworthy history regarding a regular rotary phone maybe...?

The only rotary-phone time-period phone history I know of is about John Draper, aka Captain Crunch, who did phone phreaking with a Cap'n Crunch whistle that blew a 2600 hertz tone--which is actually in between a high E and E flat--to get free long distance calls in the 60's and 70's. So, it has to do with older phones and specific pitches, but since it doesn't have to do with the rotary dial itself, and since it's not actually a note playable on the musical lock, probably that's not useful at all. But I think it's interesting. So, there that is. ^o^;>

[Andrewski]

3 hours ago, user1464576869 said:

Anyone know any noteworthy history regarding a regular rotary phone maybe...? Like is that just quirky aesthetic as assumed or a clue for some reason?

I doubt it's relevant but I can tell you that actual rotary phones only had 10 holes in the dial. Asterisk and pound were created for touch-tone phones (and had no function initially, they just had 12 tones and wanted them available for use). That happened in 1969, but a lot of the US didn't have touch-tone service until well into the '80s. I don't think anyone was making rotary-styled touch-tone compatible phones (12 holes on the dial) until at least then. 

Edited January 5 by Andrewski

[user1464576869]

45 minutes ago, Andrewski said:

I doubt it's relevant but I can tell you that actual rotary phones only had 10 holes in the dial. Asterisk and pound were created for touch-tone phones (and had no function initially, they just had 12 tones and wanted them available for use). That happened in 1969, but a lot of the US didn't have touch-tone service until well into the '80s. I don't think anyone was making rotary-styled touch-tone compatible phones (12 holes on the dial) until at least then. 

Well yes no, I don't expect there to be a literal world equivalent combination of the two when it comes to the tones question, or that it would at all be accurate to the DST time period

[Sustenance]

On 1/2/2026 at 3:23 PM, Ridley said:

I could use some help double checking my work. I keep making silly mistakes and it eats up a lot of time quintuple checking basic addition.

 

First, here the ingredient values as I understand it from the book, along with what I think makes a successful recipe.

 

Here are my first notes:

If I keep getting feedback I will keep posting my notes.

Here's my updated possible values with the solutions they're are gated by.

Where mine differ from yours:

1. Blueberry can be 4 germ. Its gated by the (Cricket + Blueberry + Worm + Backberry + Sap) potion which = 4 (cricket) + 5 (worm) - 5 (Sap) = 4 leaving 4 for blueberry to get to the max of 8

2. Morel is 0-2 skull bc if it was 3 skull then the (Morel + Bee + Blueberry + Brain + Tall Yellow + Sap) would = 4 skull (bee is 1 skull)

 

[Ridley]

1 hour ago, Sustenance said:

Here's my updated possible values with the solutions they're are gated by.

Where mine differ from yours:

1. Blueberry can be 4 germ. Its gated by the (Cricket + Blueberry + Worm + Backberry + Sap) potion which = 4 (cricket) + 5 (worm) - 5 (Sap) = 4 leaving 4 for blueberry to get to the max of 8

2. Morel is 0-2 skull bc if it was 3 skull then the (Morel + Bee + Blueberry + Brain + Tall Yellow + Sap) would = 4 skull (bee is 1 skull)

1. There is enough space for Blueberry to equal 4 germs, but the book says it shares some total of 3 with Cotoneaster (or whatever those red berries are). So I went by the book instead of the equation for that one.

2. I agree, I just hadn't posted that far into my notes yet. Morel's skull potential though is very interesting because of these circled skulls:

I interpret this as saying that Wagstaff believes one of these two mushrooms hold all the skull values, but he can't figure out which one. I believe that because one is the commonly edible Morel and the other is the famously poisonous Fly Agaric, that the Fly Agaric holds all the skull values.

On a side note, I think I may have solved the for all the ingredient values. I am thinking of doing a big post that lists the values and explains why I cared about this puzzle. There is just more things I have to check first.

[Ridley]

Figuring out the alchemy values on the mixing ingredients has been a ton of fun to work through. I may have made some mistakes or false assumptions, but I believe the final real values of the ingredients are as follows:

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

My interest in these values is that I believe they may help with the door puzzle. I have tried a few variations already with the 643 note, with my main assumption being that the note refers to the bells like this:

Spoiler

I have tried numbering the 12 mixable ingredients in the order they appear in the book, followed by numbering the alchemy values in the order they appear in the book, then playing the 6,4,3 values for each ingredient on 12 individual beats. Maybe my numbers are wrong, or the way I input them was wrong, but this was the incorrect answer. My biggest problem is that I don't have a good theory on how many beats should be played.

I've also wondered if there is subtle clues elsewhere than the notes, like maybe this picture refers to the spiral alchemy value in some special way:

Spoiler

I can gladly show more of my notes if people want to check my numbers or solution. I just think it is highly suspicious that these alchemy ingredients have confusing values and wonder if the reason we are stuck on the door puzzle was because we didn't understand enough of its parallel puzzle.