New ARG Link

[Gooba]

My thoughts on the matter

[Syberia]

Maybe there's another clue? There's too much juice in the new clues. Especially since this tile is very mysterious, as it appears only after rare actions and disappears with any press. Perhaps 643 refers to this tile, and after solving it, we can get the key to the bells.

 

[nome]

5 hours ago, astareus said:

@nome I believe this is a bug.

You are correct, and Justin has identified the underlying cause and is preparing a fix. Thank you for the report!

[user1464576869]

1 hour ago, Syberia said:

Maybe there's another clue? There's too much juice in the new clues. Especially since this tile is very mysterious, as it appears only after rare actions and disappears with any press. Perhaps 643 refers to this tile, and after solving it, we can get the key to the bells.

 

Most of us are generally assuming that anything marked with the "potato cup" is a tongue-in-cheek easter egg rather than a canonical clue. The cup itself is an inside joke.

[user1464576869]

Guys don't be alarmed, but a second clue has hit the thread. Unless conspicuously bolding my messages is something I happen to do subconsciously

[Ridley]

I was thinking about the notes and the deposit slip doesn't match Wagstaff's secret note saving methods.

While he might accidentally sit coffee on a note or singe it, all his secret notes are kept folded up, pinned, or bound. Given how difficult it is to solve the music door without the right clue, I really doubt he would wad up the deposit slip like he meant to throw it away if it was important. Maybe it is just lore...

Spoiler

Side note, I wonder if this image has a little mistake:

I think the spirals are supposed to descend from the top, not the sides of the inner trapezoid.

  

 

[Spicybullfrog]

5 hours ago, Gooba said:

My thoughts on the matter

tuning fork definitely doesn't have anything to do with it, the lights have always just went in a circle after completing the puzzle and unless you specifically only count the outside lights there are too many to use. Bushes are interesting, they normally have too many elements to really represent the rotary but if you rotate the panel onto its left side, the bush on the bottom just about corresponds to where the red button would be. Clicking the bushes could be part of the puzzle but ive already tried 643, and the banknote's various codes by counting the bushes in different ways.

An insight someone pointed out in the discord is that the banknote corresponds to 643 -
aug 10, 191x is 6 numbers as 8-10-1-9-1-x, or alternatively 8-1-0-1-9-1 (if you consider the 0 a pause like some musicians, maybe) 
1275  is a 4 letter code (although there is one number cut off, so maybe this is just projection) 
and the names on the bank note can either be translated as 6-FOR-TU (642) (from the G in witherstone) or 3-5-2 (by translating it to days of the week, so WED-FRI-TUES) 
I went back and listened to the hallowed nights disc side-by-side with the soundtrack version to see if there was any difference, in case klei decided to do something giga brained and put a clue in the 2024 hallowed nights comic (wagstaff has that disc in his junkyard there) 

[Lkledu]

12 hours ago, Harthur90 said:

I say we brute force this and write an algorithm to try every 1.79 x 10^143 possible combination  

if we cluster the possibilities in groups maybe it's we finish before the end of the world

[user1464576869]

To be more explicit. This message in particular is interesting that it was highlighted. I wonder if we ought to draw other whole conclusions from that like, that there's quite literally a whole other puzzle to solve first, and then we come back for the doorbells. (could technically be other way around I suppose but we really have been focusing and struggling on the bells more than thinking there's something else to do first)

I was thinking about the size discrepancy in our clue for the missing two-parter puzzle sticker, and this is more of a meta-theory. I'm wondering if we can draw any conclusions by imagining what they'll eventually depict, like how the other stickers (or postage stamps I guess) depict the cricket and the box etc.

With such a huge frame on the first part of the stamps I'm thinking it might be that way because it has to fit in a lot of details, and that might mean it will try to depict the alchemy table with all the various ingredients? So maybe there's more to do with the alchemy table to conclude after all. Other similar ideas might be viable, that if the stamp's size is a kind of meta-clue; trying to imagine what it would want to be a picture of works as a way to guide us where to look closer? 

10 hours ago, Nikki Darks said:

I still think the missing sticker in the notebook refers to this panel. They seem to be the same shape/layout + This was a sound puzzle. A combination of sounds that opened up the next panel. However, I've no clue how to puzzle door operates so Idk how to even try out the sound combo in this puzzle on the door.

Oh and I forgot to ask, was the word "sound" always bolded in your message? 

Edited January 15 by user1464576869

[BrixGoBrrr]

two thoughts i've been meaning to (re)share, a partial theory:

-> Roman numerals up to 6 seen on some versions of the portal,
much like the torn note featuring roman numerals up to 5,
where numerals can correspond to notes and/or chords,

-> Lights & lightbulbs numbering 4 with familiar spacing on/near some portals, arranged 1-then-3, as seen in the 'Next of Kin' and 'Lunar Machinations' animated shorts ... 
..and kind of like the lights panel under the tuning fork, 1-gap-3-gap,1-gap-3-gap,1-gap-3-gap,etc..
..so 1 0 3 0 could be a (looping?) component of the music door code, where the zeros mean this sequence can't be about pitch/note, 
.. so this pattern could be the rhythm, perhaps:
 4/4 timing, quarter note [rest] triplet [rest]
 6/8 timing, note [rest] note note note [rest]

(technically there's a 5th lightbulb in some cases, but i see that as a "connection" indicator, based on the 'Lunar Machinations' portal) 

There are 6 numerals and 4 lightbulbs on top of some portal versions, but the 3 isn't as clear to me right now...
perhaps the 3 with the bar over it corresponds to something in the lower portion of the portal? 

Edited January 16 by BrixGoBrrr
formatting

[Nikki Darks]

1 hour ago, user1464576869 said:

Oh and I forgot to ask, was the word "sound" always bolded in your message? 

Yes, I bolded it on purpose.

[kiwikenobi]

So, our hint seems to be "you're trying to solve the musical lock puzzle before solving a prerequisite other puzzle that gives you the solution."

What can we manipulate in the comic still? There was that business of clicking the panels to spell things. Is there a clue that seems like something else to spell?

[SDavid]

On 1/10/2026 at 10:23 PM, gizmo998877 said:

nome: Hopefully this coming update will be everything you need for this to click.

Narrator: It wasn't.

[Ridley]

There is another possible correlation I think I can make. Along with every stamp depicting an asset in the comic and the hints/notes/methodologies for solving are not depicted, it seems like every puzzle is supposed to be represented. The only known puzzle that is absent is the collection of every alchemy ingredient. If merely clicking on the toolbox counts for a stamp, then so should foraging for every ingredient, right? This is assuming the cricket stamp is only for finding the tricky cricket panel and not collecting everything.

So building off @user1464576869's idea, maybe our final stamp will look like this with an opened door:

I know some are quick to write off the ingredients, but I've only heard the vial times were irrelevant to the music door, not the ingredients themselves.

 

[Harthur90]

I am beginning to think this "clue" is on a meta layer (html, external site, post) rather than on the comics itself, my reasoning being that a clue would need to have to many variables to be interpreted  - differently from the panel puzzle where we had gauges to determine if we were doing it right there is no feedback to the music puzzle which for me states that we are looking for an full answer rather than a clue. - or Klei really give us credit about being smart

A answer to the music puzzle would need:
* An Array within Array to determine notes per tick and total length
The scenarios being:
* Multiple notes can be added to a tick - since its enabled I consider this very likely
* The sequence will not necessarily have 24 ticks - since we have a control for this I also consider this very likely
* Ticks can be empty - Also very likely

so I would dedicate some time to investigate Klei posts to maybe find something there
(I dont remember exactly how we came to find the website exspectamus but maybe something similar)?

Edited January 16 by Harthur90

[Phoenix_Cobra]

It's funny, but it seems to me that someone already solved the door lock riddle a long time ago and is now looking at it and enjoying their own cleverness))

On 12/23/2025 at 5:30 AM, oFicaL said:

Does anyone know what's going on here?

 

Edited January 16 by Phoenix_Cobra

[gamehun20]

Just now, Phoenix_Cobra said:

It's funny, but it seems to me that someone already solved the door lock riddle a long time ago and is now looking at it and enjoying their own cleverness))

 

We were able to go to that panel in the past by just clicking the door because it was bugged but it's fixed now

[Phoenix_Cobra]

6 minutes ago, gamehun20 said:

We were able to go to that panel in the past by just clicking the door because it was bugged but it's fixed now

Well, now we know what's behind the door)

[Ke_Soul]

On 1/15/2026 at 7:43 AM, Ridley said:

Trying to guess what the "hint" here is.

One thing that is obvious is that the other stamps don't contain the answer to their puzzle and they contain assets from within the comics. I think this rules out the big rectangle containing something like a sheet music translation of the Chillhop Wagstaff theme, although the room itself could fill the rectangle. However, the other stamps don't have a lot of empty space, so if the gramophone was the important part, the rest of the empty room should be cut out.

The subject pictured in the big rectangle must force it to take up the extra space. So something from the comics that can't be easily condensed is my suspicion. Maybe it is something like this?

  Hide contents

 

 

 

idk if its good theory, but they added way to go back, what if those instruments we threw away could help us do something with this ring door.

3 hours ago, Harthur90 said:

I am beginning to think this "clue" is on a meta layer (html, external site, post) rather than on the comics itself, my reasoning being that a clue would need to have to many variables to be interpreted  - differently from the panel puzzle where we had gauges to determine if we were doing it right there is no feedback to the music puzzle which for me states that we are looking for an full answer rather than a clue. - or Klei really give us credit about being smart

A answer to the music puzzle would need:
* An Array within Array to determine notes per tick and total length
The scenarios being:
* Multiple notes can be added to a tick - since its enabled I consider this very likely
* The sequence will not necessarily have 24 ticks - since we have a control for this I also consider this very likely
* Ticks can be empty - Also very likely

so I would dedicate some time to investigate Klei posts to maybe find something there
(I dont remember exactly how we came to find the website exspectamus but maybe something similar)?

nome said that clue or hint we can get is in the puzzle not discord, I think doing some code-meta shenanigans with website can be  referred as "discord" in this case.

[Swiyss]

I believe that the hint is that we gotta solve 2 parts and then put them together. I believe that the 643 note contains the first part and the banking note contains the second part if that makes sense.

[DanHameln]

Okay There is something what i noticed here. On the Witherstone check there is numbers where there is no 6 3 and 4 in it.

There is five slots and we have numbers what missing on the card with 643


My theory - these are two connected pieces. You can try putting missing numbers in that... Probably the lines indicate the octave and lever position - up/down

The last number is 8 (and you can somehow see upper part) since elimination method and because there suspicially no identical numbers

There is only problem... We dont have idea how arrange these numbers... But if we think how built disk phone


Its probably can be it... There is also posibility that last number can be 0 and positioned right there

Edited January 16 by DanHameln

[Swiyss]

22 minutes ago, DanHameln said:

Okay There is something what i noticed here. On the Whitherstone check there is numbers where there is no 6 3 and 4 in it.

There is five slots and we have numbers what missing on the card with 643


My theory - these are two connected pieces. You can try putting missing numbers in that... Probably the lines indicate the octave and lever position - up/down

The last number is 8 (and you can somehow see upper part) since elimination method and because there suspicially no identical numbers

that's really clever, I never thought of that. that would make 8 notes right? what would indicate the sharp and octave of the 1 2 7 and 5 notes tho?

[DanHameln]

25 minutes ago, astareus said:

that's really clever, I never thought of that. that would make 8 notes right? what would indicate the sharp and octave of the 1 2 7 and 5 notes tho?

There is a chance its moment when you should change the lever but i am not 100% sure
So its can be like this  1 2 3up 4down 5 6 7 0/8
There problem what we dont know order. Some numbers just standing on wrong positions. I am only sure what puzzle have really simple solution dictated by Occam's Razor

We digging to deep with site code and connection to animations

There is only two leads what still are not connected to already solved puzzle - the check and note with 3 numbers

Also i noticed again what we have same font so its more likely a 0 by the same pattern. Make actually sense since in checks 0 more common to be used in the end. Its not 9 for sure since line much thinner

Edited January 16 by DanHameln

[Ridley]

This is currently what I am wondering. The color and sizes of the circles don't make sense for the hatch puzzle. Maybe they have a dual meaning.

 

[Swiyss]

1 minute ago, Ridley said:

This is currently what I am wondering. The color and sizes of the circles don't make sense for the hatch puzzle. Maybe they have a dual meaning.

 

I thought the red was an indication to press the button the and yellow for the chords, then the blank one for a skip.