The party is over :) Thanks everyone for participating!


SOLUTION

1. The first puzzle was hidden in the ugly dogs pictures. You had to look for watermarks and hard-to-see symbols that formed the itstoohard puzzle code when combined together.

Q1 was a substitution cipher. Whether you solved it manually or used an online automatic solver, the result was an excerpt from Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ozymandias" sonnet. Both the sonnet's title and the author's name were valid answers to this question.
Q2 required you to input numbers corresponding to letters on the phone's keypad. CALL ME MAYBE resulted in 2255 63 62923.
Q3 listed five Scorpions albums. Answering with the order in which they were released (5 1 7 2 8) or listing their years of release (1977 1972 1980 1974 1982) was required to successfully solve this puzzle.

2. The second puzzle was hidden as an invisible link in the announcement's source code. You had to view the page source (via right-clicking on the page and clicking view source or whatever works for your browser) in order to find the hidden link that led to a QR code. Decoding it with your phone or with the help of an online decoder led you to the itstoohard puzzle.

Q1 offered a password-protected RAR archive. Viewing the contents of the RAR revealed the file that accused you of killing the cat. A simple google search revealed that it was actually 'curiosity' that killed the cat, which in turn was the password to the archive. The next step required you to extract the pic from the archive and study it closely. Hidden in lower-right corner of the image was the password that finally helped solve Q1: tunaftw
Q2 was a secret message hidden in an audio file. The picture was placed there to help you find the decoding method. The Cube and the writing on the wall hinted at the game called Portal. Adding the ham and the radio and as a result googling for "portal ham radio secret message" revealed the method which Portal developers used to hide easter eggs in their game. The audio file then could be decoded using any SSTV decoding software (MMSSTV, for example), which revealed an image with a password to answer this part of the puzzle: farcat

3. The final itstoohard puzzle link was split between the two previous giveaways. The Hitman giveaway had half of the link hidden in the period in the GA description. The Far Cry 3 giveaway had the second half hidden in the source of the GA description, which was hinted at by the italicized part of the word "resourceful". The puzzle offered two questions that asked for code words from the two previous puzzles. The code words were hidden in the puzzle descriptions - the first letters of each line spelled SILENT in puzzle #1 and SNEAKY in puzzle #2. Solving the third puzzle led to a giveaway of Dishonored.


ORIGINAL POST
Yes-yes-yes, it's Kitty's birthday today! Let's eat grass and barf on the carpet! Let's catch mice and bring them to our humans! Let's celebrate! Bring tuna and lots of catnip (my avatar is high on catnip nao!). Oh wait :( I wanted to get you some presents, but the evil dogs ambushed me and stole them all! D:
Can somebody assume the role of the brave Corporal Mrow and save the day? Search for tracks and hunt those dogs down. I've got some suspects here, but they refuse to bark!
Good luck, Corporal!
EDIT: Since people have been asking about the games - the giveaways are Hitman: Absolution, Dishonored and FarCry 3. All giveaways require a contribution value of $31.
11 years ago*

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Happy birthday!~ I hope you have a great day :3

11 years ago
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Thanks Lilee :)

11 years ago
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Happy birthday ( I've got birthday 16.02 ;P ) !!! :D

11 years ago
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Thanks, comrade :) I hope you're going to have a great one, too!

11 years ago
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Happy birthday cute kitty :3

11 years ago
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Thank you, sir Knight! ^_^

11 years ago
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Ahhhh! Kitteh! Happeh behrtdeh! :Dh

11 years ago
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Aww, pink poneh! Thank you! ^_^

11 years ago
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Happy BDay Sleepy, all the best to you :)

11 years ago
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Thanks comrade :)

11 years ago
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C днем рожденья поздравляю, счастья пончиков желаю :)
Хрена ты замутил раздачки)

11 years ago
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Спасибо! Удачи в решении :)

11 years ago
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Все возможные комбинации перебрал и ни черта :)

11 years ago
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HBD KITTY!

11 years ago
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THX Ragers!

11 years ago
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This comment was deleted 11 months ago.

11 years ago
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Thank you Skelly!

11 years ago
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Happy birthday as I tussle with you encryption.

11 years ago
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Good luck in solving the puzzles :) And thank you!

11 years ago
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Happy birfday, drowsy feline!

11 years ago
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Thanks Salmon!

11 years ago
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Happy birthday Sleepy Kitty!

11 years ago
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Thank you, Gloomy Bunny :D

11 years ago
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Happy Birthday!!

11 years ago
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Thanks! :)

11 years ago
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Meow mew mew meoooow! (Happy Birthday) =^_^=

11 years ago
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Meow mrow mew nyaa indeed :)

11 years ago
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Happy Birthday Sleepy, hope you'll enjoy it :D

Also seems like I'm still a bit sleepy too, because I can't find a connection after Step 1 ^^

11 years ago
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Thank you :) Well, if there will be no entries to Giveaway #1 soon, I'll start posting hints :)

11 years ago
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happy bday sleepy! all the best :>

11 years ago
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11 years ago
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Updated the description, included the info about the games.

11 years ago
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Thanks.
What's the 4th private giveaway in profile with 8 entries?

11 years ago
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A secret GA for a group on Steam :)

11 years ago
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Happy birthday to you my friend!! Seems I don't even have to wish you to have an epic time, you already seem to be having so much fun!! You deserve an amazing birthday gift today!! Let's see, what could I give you... It seems you already have lots of catnip, so that would unoriginal of me. I know, I will give you a warm and fuzzy birthday hug!! You are so adorable, I have been wanting to hug you for a long time already!! ^^

c( ^ ⊽ ^ )っ hugs Sleepy tightly and warmly

11 years ago
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OMG, thank you for the awesome hug, Maru! \(@ ̄∇ ̄@)/

11 years ago
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Aww thank you to you too, it was the best hug I have had for a long time!! You're so soft and cuddly, I could spend the whole day just huggling you!! Too bad I have other plans made for today, so it's not an option. #^^#

But nevertheless, happy birthday again my friend. I hope you will have all the catnip you could ever desire today!! ( ^ ɯ ◕)

11 years ago
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Have you a happy birthday Kitty =)

11 years ago
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Thank you!

11 years ago
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Happy birthday, Sleepy! Good luck to you!

11 years ago
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Thank you, comrade!

11 years ago
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Happy birthday! :D Already have the games so I guess i'm spared!

11 years ago
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Aww, not even trying to solve the puzzles, Nelson? Do you want me to laugh at you? ^_^

11 years ago
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In Soviet Russia, people laugh at Nelson? Oh and happy birthday cat. Enjoy barfing all over the place.

11 years ago
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Thanks comrade :)

11 years ago
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Happy birthday Sleepy, I wish you all the best and have a great party :D

11 years ago
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Thank you motor :)

11 years ago
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You're welcome my friend Sleepy :D

11 years ago
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Aww! ^_^

11 years ago
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Happy birthday :)

11 years ago
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Thanks!

11 years ago
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Happy Birthday Kitty!

11 years ago
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Thank you!

11 years ago
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Happy Birthday Sleepy ;) A birthday dance for you

А вот что делать с буквами я так и не понял. В ссылку они никак собираться не желают. Ну да ладно. Хорошего дня тебе ;)

11 years ago
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Это слишком сложно для тебя?

11 years ago
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:) Спасибо. Будем думать дальше.

11 years ago
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Спасибо за танец :) А что делать с буквами подскажут многочисленные паззлы на СГ :)

11 years ago
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С Днём Рождения.

Спасибо за раздачи, но я пока подожду подсказок (:

11 years ago
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Спасибо!

11 years ago
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Closed 11 years ago by SleepyCat.