Challenge #1

Part One:
You Lost Me at Boustrophedon

Previously on Code Adventure…

When rumors spread across the solar system of an ancient, evil power being released into space, the STS Solara, commanded by Captain Xarlos, was dispatched to investigate.

You joined the captain and his crew aboard the Solara for your very first space voyage. At first, it was exciting to be aboard, learning about the ship's systems and assisting the crew with their daily routines. But the mission quickly turned dark.

You soon learned that the evil threatening the universe had a name: Eos, the goddess of the Dawn. She had been imprisoned in a sealed time vault eons ago to protect the universe from her plans of totalitarian rule.

A faction calling themselves the Aurawroughts had been working in secret to free her, spreading their message through propaganda: "Submit to the Dawn."

To everyone's surprise, an Aurawrought defector sneaked onto the Solara to help you in your efforts to stop Eos. With new insight into the details of the Aurawroughts' secret plans, you and the crew pressed forward to prevent such a catastrophic event.

After navigating a vast and perilous Nebula Labyrinth, you reached the Aurawrought stronghold, where an unknown weapon was being readied to slice open the time vault and free Eos. The Aurawroughts encapsulated the weapon within a protective dome to prevent its destruction and safeguard their plans.

Thanks largely to your quick thinking, a precisely calculated laser burst destroyed the protective dome and the weapon inside it. The universe was saved from the cataclysmic return of Eos.

Or was it?…

Where we last left off… (click to get a recap)

Thanks to you and the crew of the STS Solara, the dome and the technology it protected was obliterated by your precise laser blast. Eos' escape from her galactic prison had been thwarted.

Yet, unbeknownst to you or anyone aboard Captain Xarlos' ship, the Aurawrought technology contained a built-in failsafe. A great, resonant pulse erupted from the machine as it sparked and sputtered in its final throes.

Accustomed to a time-bending environment, the Aurawroughts were unaffected, but all other biological matter within the pulse's reach, including you and everyone aboard the STS Solara, was hurled backwards through time.

Emerging from your disorienting, warp-tossed journey, you find yourself at a campsite where an old man in a tunic is telling campfire tales. Based on your surroundings, you realize you must have been sent back in time to a prehistoric era. Everyone at the campsite notices you, your strange clothing, and the fact that you've just suddenly appeared, but they are too polite to comment. For the benefit of all present, you decide to quietly join the others and listen, instead of causing a scene.

The old man speaks with passion, and you are completely wrapped in his mythic tale of bravery and magic. At the story's end, he finally acknowledges your presence. You are informed that newcomers are required to take an open-note quiz on the tale. Instantly, you regret not having taken any notes… or even having a pen.

As you begin to worry about forgetting important details, a woman taps you on the shoulder. She offers her notes, transcribed onto parchment. You thank her sincerely and take the rough-looking sheet. It looks different from anything you're accustomed to reading. The woman has written in Boustrophedon style, an ancient method where the eye follows the page "as the ox turns". You read from left to right, then right to left, then left to right again, as it moves down the page, much like an ox-drawn plow turning the soil in a field.

The parchment, your puzzle input, contains:

For example:

In the text below,

You would read from left to right, right to left, left to right, and right to left: following the arrows like so.

Resulting in LET ME TELL YOU A STORY.

For your quiz:

  • Create a list of unique 5-letter words.
  • Remove all punctuation (such as periods, commas, and apostrophes) before adding words to the list.
  • Sort the list alphabetically from A to Z.
  • Answer with the 20ᵗʰ 5-letter word from this sorted list of unique words.

Here is your transcribed story to answer the old man's quiz:

If you are having trouble viewing the Unicode from the puzzle input, here is a version of the data using Unicode code points (separated with commas) instead of glyphs.

[ click to get input ]