Phase 7
On October 26, 2020, many COD content creators, including ShawnJ Gaming, Drift0r, MrDalekJD, JackFrags, MarleyThirteen, NoahJ456, PrestigeIsKey, GeekyAcrylics, CharlieIntel, eColiEspressor, KRNG Oceane, C9EmZ, BennyCentral, ChaosxSilencer, and TheXclusiveAce, were sent new packages that contained Semaphores in the form of projector slides.
Whatever slides and content that you see in this guide are obtained from these creators as they were the ones who received these items from Treyarch. Some of the slides also contained color-coded keys in addition to the semaphores that we will use shortly to decipher some passwords.
Cassianx, a Geekypastimes’ discord member, arranged all these slides in a clean infographic to better understand them. There are two types of semaphores – Red Flags and Black Flags.
The content creators also received a sticky note with their slides, with a new hand-written PawnTakesPawn URL, /lightson. This URL contained the same video that was on a new ‘Troublemaker’ tape on PawnTakesPawn that reveals the hacker’s identity to be William Bowman, Joseph Bowman’s Son. All these slide packages also contained a code number: 0349E42
At the bottom of the page, it also said that return on October 28, 2020, at 1 PM PT to unlock the next part of the story.
Sonar Coordinates
On October 27, 2020, pawntakespawn.com/deepcover was updated and asked us to obtain deep dive sonar coordinates. We couldn’t enter or submit anything until October 28, 2020. The coordinates were found through Call of Duty’s Facebook video titled ‘The key to the future is knowledge of the past – Know your history.’ It had the coordinates in the title and the video that was 59°2’43.4″N 18°20’6.5″E.
These coordinates matched perfectly with the blanks on /deepcover. On October 28, 2020, we could type in the coordinates and submit that redirected us to a new page pawntakespawn.com/boilerroom. You will see a sketch of a maze on this page.
If you go through the maze starting from the top and exiting at the bottom, you spell out – A – R – D – E – M – T – Y. For now, that is all we need to know regarding the Sonar Coordinates. This map will be useful later when we dive into The Great Underground Empire in Zork.
River Raid Puzzle
At the same time, on October 28, 2020, pawntakespawn.com/codecave was also updated with a new set of instructions on the dot-matrix.
It is also worth noting that on October 28, 2020, there was a new URL engraved on the side of the printer that reads /trailoftruth.
This redirected to a new page that played a video showing a full recap of the PawnTakesPawn story so far.
According to step one on the dot-matrix, you need to go to the main page of PawnTakesPawn and turn on the lamp by clicking it. Upon turning on the lamp, you will see a new URL on the side of the computer /anchorsaweigh.
When you visit the page, you are presented with a page full of new Intel and an audiotape at the bottom titled ‘Words are a powerful thing.’
The audiotape played the following:
At the bottom right corner of the white intelligence document, you can see a new URL /bulkhead. When you visit this URL, you land on a page that asks for six keys. It also gives you a clue to ‘Navigate the rivers to discover the keys.’
Additionally, there is a River Raid poster in the background that you can click on to browse through six different maps, each color-coded to match the colors assigned to the content creators who received the terminals in the zombie and cold war reveal phase.
- Drift0r
- JackFrags
- MarleyThirteen
- MrDalekJD
- NoahJ456
- ShawnJ Gaming
The six keys can be obtained using specific projector slides that some of the creators got. We can use 1 DIV slides in combination with these six maps to find the keys. We will use the 1 DIV slides created by Cassianx (from Geekypastimes’ discord) for a better visual understanding as he has mock images of all the slides.
Slides *-328 and *-489 give us color-coded information with the names of the vehicles found on the six maps. The rest of the slides (*490, *-637, *-892 and, *-936) gives us the key to get the letters from those vehicle icons on the map based on their direction and position.
For instance, if we look at the first column (Cyan Column) in slide *-328, the first letter would be the ‘2nd Heli.’
When we go to the Cyan colored map, the second heli (starting from the bottom and going up) is facing right.
We can now go to slide *-490 as it shows the letters represented by the helicopter position and direction. Since our heli is the second one, we will choose number 2 on the slide.
The number 2 represents two letters – D (if the heli is facing right) or C (if the heli is facing left). In our case, the heli is facing in the right direction, so our first letter would be ‘D.’
You need to do the same with the next one in the Cyan column, the ‘3rd Heli.’ The 3rd Heli is facing in the left direction, and on the slide, the number 3 represents ‘E’ facing left. That means our second letter is ‘E.’ Completing all the letters for Cyan, you should get ‘DEVILTOPAY.’
Similarly, doing the same with other maps, you will end up with six keywords.
- AMPHIBIOUS
- SHELLBACK
- SHIFTCOLORS
- DEVILTOPAY
- BLUEWATER
- BULLNUKE
You can now go back to /bulkhead and enter these six keywords to access a new page /fullclip that shows more terminal commands for the content creators.
Red Flag Semaphore Puzzle
The creators used the terminal commands from /fullclip and entered them in their respective terminals to receive three images. Each creator had to put three terminal commands to acquire three images per command. The following is the result.
The first set of images refer to Zork, which means eventually we will have to head back into the Zork game to find more clues. The second set is another set of unassembled River Raid map that must be assembled to find the next clue. And the third set once again gives us the names of the vehicles found on the River Raid map. It also states that these are individual letters.
We will use the new River Raid map (after assembly, of course), the new letter keys, and the Semaphores to get a new word. Before we go through the map and the keys, you must know the alphabets in the form of Semaphore. A quick google search gives us the following image:
These are the same semaphores as the red flag semaphores sent out to all the content creators.
First, we will join the map pieces from all the content creators to get the following assembled River Raid map image:
We will then use the keys to identify the pattern to correlate it with the Sephamore positioning to identify each letter.
For example, if we take a look ‘Letter 1’, it has three words: Fuel 6, Ship 7, and Heli 7. We will find these three on the assembled river raid map image and join them to give us the following pattern.
You then correlate the shape that you get with the semaphore to identify what letter it represents. According to our first shape, it is the letter ‘B.’
After doing it for all the letters, you will get a word: BRIDGESLAYER.
This is a new PawnTakesPawn URL, pawntakespawn.com/bridgeslayer. When you go to /bridgeslayer, you will be presented with yet another video. This is an interrogation video between William Bowman and someone he believes to be ‘Perseus.’
At the end of the video, another PawnTakesPawn URL is shown to us that reads /hydrocamouflage.
When you visit pawntakespawn.com/hydrocamouflage, you will be asked to go to Zork to secure three keys to access the site further. At the time, you were asked to return on October 29, 2020, at 1 PM PDT to enter the keys. But, as of today, you can go to the site and enter the keys. As always, it gives you another incantation to be used in Zork: DREADNOUGHT.
Return to Zork
Once again, you need to head back into Zork to navigate the Great Underground Empire to find the three keys. On October 29, 2020, PawnTakesPawn participants were also sent a new email with a map of the Great Underground Empire. The map highlighted the new areas that are now accessible in Zork after saying the incantation ‘DREADNOUGHT.’
Our video guide below shows you exactly how to obtain the three keys and the six PawnTakesPawn achievements that come with it. We also have written steps to follow along, assuming you start from the Living Room in Zork.
The written steps shown below start from the Living Room. Make sure you are in the living room, and then begin with the commands below. The commands are in a high-resolution picture, so feel free to open them up by clicking for better visibility.
If you are currently at the Sand Silofrom doing the last Zork guide, then you can head back to the living room by going South, South, South West, South, South, West, West, South West, Up, Up, North West, West, West, and West.
Once you’re done with the Zork steps, you will come out with six achievements, two keys, and a URL. The two keys that you get are EnvironmentalHazard and BallisticTension. The new URL you get is /birdseyeview.
When you go to /birdseyeview, you will get another maze sketch similar to the one found on /boilerroom earlier. This maze sketch is the second part of it.
You can correlate the two maze sketches to identify the blank letters. You will end up with the word SacredGeometry. This is your third key.
Your three keys are EnvironmentalHazard, BallisticTension, and SacredGeometry that you will use on /hydrocamouflage.
By the end of this Zork phase, you should have achieved six new achievements that include Walkabout, Safekeeping, Bombs Away, Swish, Grue Slayer, and Invasion Of Privacy.
Black Flag Semaphore Puzzle
Fast forward to October 29, 2020 and participants could put the codes in on /hydrocamouflage. Upon putting in the code, you will be redirected to pawntakespawn.com/opensecret, which shows a duffle bag previously mentioned during the interrogation of Bruce Harris, who William Bowman believed to be Perseus.
This duffle bag and its content belonged to Joseph Bowman. There is a picture of Angela Bowman with her grandma, along with a small note addressing it. Just at the opening of the bag is a metal piece that seems to be recorded audio. When you click on it, you will be redirected to /voicefromthepast, where you get to listen to a full message Angela Bowman sent to her husband, Joseph Bowman.
Here’s the full audio message if you are interested in listening.
You will find a floppy disk resting just beside the audio player. You can click on it and you should be redirected to a new page with the URL /harborofrefuge. This page contains terminal commands for the content creators.
These terminal commands returned some new words that we can put in order of appearance. Each of these images also has a new same URL, /colorcompany. The following are the images that return with their respective terminal commands for each content creator.
- NoahJ456
- ShawnJ Gaming
- JackFrags
- MarleyThirteen
- MrDalekJD
- Drift0r
Terminal Command: CRITICALINTELLIGENCE-M2X4
Word: AIREDALE
Terminal Command: COUNTERDECEPTION-J7F4
Word: HEADWIND
Terminal Command: PERSISTENTAGENT-Q26E
Word: WINDFALL
Terminal Command: TOTALMOBILIZATION-F874
Word: FREEBOARD
Terminal Command: TABOOFREQUENCIES-G34H
Word: FATHOMS
Terminal Command: FORCESEQUENCING-HN73
Word: SEACHANGE
As mentioned above, the new URL is /colorcompany. When you go to this URL, you will come across an audiotape labeled ‘STILL SWIMMING.’
Audiotape:
The tape also has a new URL underneath the label. The new URL is /semaphoreblackout. You will find a ‘Nautical Cryptography Dispatch’ document containing the color-coded item lists found on the River Raid maps.
If you remember, we came across six color-coded maps on /bulkhead. We will arrange these maps according to the order of the colored words appearance, as seen with the new terminal commands. If we arrange those images in order, we get the following:
We will arrange the River Raid maps from /bulkhead in the order shown above as well. That will give us the following arrangement:
In combination with the cryptography dispatch document and the combined river raid maps, the black flag semaphores will be used to find the next clue. We will use the black flag semaphores arranged by Cassianx from Geekypastimes’ discord for better visibility. To refresh your memory, the following are the black flag semaphores.
To find the letters from these semaphores and the combined river raid maps let’s take the first letter as an example. Each coordinate on the cryptography document is a single letter. For instance, the first one is Cyan Fuel 2, Cyan Heli 2, and Cyan Boat 10.
These will be labeled on the combined map, and whatever shape we get, we will match it with the black flag semaphore to get our first letter. According to the first coordinate, our first letter would be ‘B.’
The next two letters from the first row are:
Since we’ve already gone through the same procedure with the red flag semaphore puzzle, we will skip showing the whole process and jump directly to the final letters we get for each coordinate, as shown below.
These letters are an anagram for a sentence ‘NEVER GET OFF THE BOAT.’ This is a new PawnTakesPawn URL, /nevergetofftheboat. This URL contains a handwritten letter by Joseph Bowman to Angela Bowman in response to the audio recording she sent.
There is also a green self-note by William Bowman that contains yet another URL, /discoveredcheck. Upon going to /discoveredcheck, you will be asked to put in six passcodes. You can also see black flags in the background, hinting at the black flag semaphores.
The six codes that go into this site are the words that the content creators got after putting in their terminal codes found on /harborofrefuge.
That means the six codes are:
- AIREDALE
- HEADWIND
- WINDFALL
- FREEBOARD
- FATHOMS
- SEACHANGE
After submitting the six codes, you will be redirected to a new page, /shoreleave containing some more intel, including an intelligence report and a letter to William Bowman from Bruce Harris (the same person who was being interrogated by William in the video earlier).
You will also get a new achievement called ‘Discovered Check’ that says, “You’re nearing the endgame.”
In addition to the intel documents and a letter, /shoreleave also contains a new URL. The new URL is /byanymeans. Landing on this page gives some more information regarding the new potential characters in the new Black Ops Cold War campaign.
It is a bit hard to notice, but at the bottom left corner of the screen on the package, you will find another URL /colorbound.
Tangram Puzzle
When you visit pawntakespawn.com/colorbound, you will be prompted to enter one last passcode. It also gives you a hint to find the color keys spread throughout Verdansk and Isolated. Verdansk, as you already know, is the Warzone map, and Isolated is the map of COD: Mobile Battle Royale.
You can also click on the note to get the key that will be used to decipher each letter to get the final passcode.
Luckily, Geekypastimes and his discord community found these odd colors all around Verdansk and Isolated weeks before Phase 7 started. They have been collecting the color keys for weeks and assembled them.
Below you can see the color keys found in Verdansk (left) and Isolated (right), as assembled by Maisdeux on Geekypastimes’ discord.
When you combine them as suggested by the note on /colorbound, you get the following final color keys. Once again, thanks to Cassianx on Geekypastimes’ discord for the image.
The note seen on /colorbound shows the numbers that we see on the combined version of the tangrams. To get the final passcode, we must use the combined tangrams with the color codes found on /colorbound. This will help us identify what letter/number each number on the note refers to.
For example, the first number is 21.
We will see what colors are represented by the number 21 on the combined tangram chart.
The colors represented by number 21 tangram are Green, Purple, Purple, and Orange. You can refer to the color codes from /colorbound and find this set of colors and the corresponding letter or number.
According to the color code sheet, the first number is ‘1.’ The next one will be ‘P’, as shown below.
Once you’ve completed all the letters, you will end up with the following:
Your final passcode is 1PIECES9IN8PLAY1 that you must enter to crack the final code. Once you enter the passcode and submit, you will be redirected to one final URL, /perseusisoutthere. It’s a video of William Bowman talking to the participants.
You will also get your final achievement called ‘Dead Draw’ that will also have a new page, /deaddraw, where you can receive redeem codes to obtain rewards in Modern Warfare & Warzone, COD: Mobile, and Black Ops Cold War.
Claim Rewards
You can also claim exclusive rewards that can be used in all Call of Duty titles that this massive easter egg has touched – Modern Warfare, Warzone, Mobile, and of course Black Ops Cold War. Here’s how to claim them:
- Visit the page and if you are prompted for a password, enter: 1PIECES9IN8PLAY1.
- After viewing the video, and provided you are logged in, you should unlock an Achievement.
- You will also get a button prompting you to claim the rewards below.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone
The rewards for use in both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone are a new weapon blueprint, vehicle skin, weapon charm, calling cards, emblems and sprays.
Call of Duty Mobile
The Call of Duty Mobile rewards are a new weapon (shotgun), calling card, avatar, spray and frame.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
The rewards that you can take into Black Ops Cold War are a weapon charm and the “Family Portrait” (zombie) Calling Card.
Final List of Pawn Takes Pawn Achievements
After the completion of the full Pawn Takes Pawn easter egg, you should have a total of 66 achievements (65, if you haven’t received the mail with a redeem code that allows you to get one more achievement). Below is a full list of achievements that you should have by now.
The above picture is a high-resolution image, click on the image for better visibility.
Phew! That concludes our Pawn Takes Pawn guide. If you have any questions regarding any of it, feel free to comment below, and we will try our best to answer you.
