ANNOUNCEMENT (PDF)

Firstly, I should note that, for what it is worth, I do not
blame you for not solving the puzzles. They were
unnecessarily hard and clunky in their mechanics, and I
appreciate your hard work on them. I was out of practice in
creating enjoyable puzzles when I made those – and it
shows.
Now for the main event – the first puzzle of the second
phase is in Ms. Renfro’s classroom, or Room Three Hundred
Sixteen (316). The password is mellon.
Lastly, the procedure for getting that:
• First (optional), read the first letters of every
line of the Introduction. They spell out
BEAUFORTCIPHERDECRYPT.
• Second, solve the various puzzles – technically, you
only need to solve the second set.
• Third, compare the ciphertext (given in the puzzles
themselves) and the plaintext (derived by solution)
to recover the keyword in the Beaufort Cipher (as far
as I know, the better-known Vigenère Cipher would
also suffice). They correspond to the primary
intercardinal directions of their stairwells –
NORTHWEST for #1, SOUTHWEST for #2, SOUTHEAST for #3,
NORTHEAST for #4.
• Fourth, decrypt the text beneath the puzzles,
resulting in the text NEXTCLUE INRENFRO PASSWORD
ISMELLON.
You see what I mean by “unnecessarily hard and clunky”?
I cannot thank you enough for bearing with me as I created
them. I hope the next puzzle will be better – I have a
feeling it will be. Once you get it, notify me – I’ll post
it here then. Thanks,
Stephen “Gram” Brinson