There must be a message hidden in plain sight, but where to Start?

Read the first word of every line

Reading the first word of every line reveals the message "I need your help, each postcard will help open my safe. Solve my riddles to find it."

Each postcard is for a different location, and each location can be associated with different items, these items in turn relate to other items and documents that may not appear to relate to a postcard at first glance. These items and documents are only used to solve their respective postcard, and won’t help solve other postcards. There seems to be tall symbols in the address sections for the LA and Mexico postcards.

Each postcard is for a different location, and each location can be associated with different items. The San Francisco postcard leads you to the San Francisco newspaper clipping, which might lead you to another puzzle. The Mexico postcard leads you to the Mayan codex fragment and Aztec sunstone cipher wheel. The Los Angeles postcard leads you to the Los Angeles museum tag. The tall symbols on the Los Angeles and Mexico postcards are halves of the same letters, joining them might tell you how to locate extra pieces that may help solve each card, but this message may need to be shortened somehow. Solving that first might lead you to an answer that may help you use the museum tag and cipher wheel.

SPOILERS AHEAD: Each postcard is for a different location, and each location can be associated with different items. The San Francisco postcard leads you to the San Francisco newspaper clipping, which might lead you to another puzzle. The Mexico postcard leads you to the Mayan codex fragment and Aztec sunstone cipher wheel. The Los Angeles postcard leads you to the Los Angeles museum tag. The Mexico and Los Angeles postcards both have elongated letters that stretch between them, joining them completes the message, and when viewed from a steep angle reveals the message “tear apart the envelope”, and tearing the envelope apart reveals both a cipher wheel disc for the Mexico postcard and Ogham script in the folds of the envelope for the Los Angeles postcard. The postcards lead you to the same destination, but separate puzzles. Continue to each individual postcard for more hints.

What’s happening there in the address section? These elongated symbols in the address section look like letters, but they’re too tall to read, they also appear to match those on another postcard. You should keep an eye out for anything related to Los Angeles, as well, there may be relevant information there.

The elongated letters in the address section also match the Mexico postcard, by joining these postcards, bottom ends together, you can align the letters, then close one eye and look at them from a very steep angle to reveal the message. This might lead you somewhere that could help with the museum tag.

SPOILERS AHEAD: Joining the Mexico and Los Angeles postcards, bottom ends together to align the letters, and closing one eye and looking at them from a very steep angle will reveal the message “Tear apart the envelope”. Within the envelope you’ll find lines in the folds, these symbols appear to match those on the back of the museum tag. You’ll find another message here. Continue to Museum Tag for more hints.

What are these lines on the back of the tag? Maybe they’ll help somewhere. Being that this museum tag is from the Los Angeles County Historical and Art Museum, this museum tag should help you with the Los Angeles postcard line of clues. What could those numbers next to the lines be for? For more help with the postcard, go back to the Los Angeles postcard section before continuing with these hints.

Now that you’ve ruined a perfectly good envelope, do these lines in the folds look familiar? The line that the symbols are aligned along has an arrow at each end, denoting the direction the symbols are read. Read them vertically, bottom to top. Sometimes numbers represent letters, perhaps that might help figure out the lines in the envelope.

SPOILERS AHEAD: The numbers next to the symbols represent letters, 1=A, 2=B, 3=C, etc. Not all letters of the alphabet are present, however. Start from the bottom right corner and work your way up and then around the corner. Once you’ve converted numbers to letters, you can start to read the message. Working from the bottom right of the envelope and around the corner the message says “every other letter”, perhaps you can solve this postcard now. Starting with the first letter on the LA postcard, only write down every other letter to find the phrase hidden between. Pick out every other letter on the Los Angeles postcard, the message reads “There are people after me and I fear for my life. I have to leave the country. I may be indisposed indefinitely. I hope that my message will get to you safely and that you can solve all these puzzles. Sixty.”

What’s happening there in the address section? These elongated symbols in the address section look like letters, but they’re too tall to read, they also appear to match those on another postcard. You should keep an eye out for anything related to Mexico, perhaps something Pre-Columbian, that could help later on.

The two cipher wheel pieces, the Mayan codex fragment and Mayan numbering index card will help with the Mexico line of puzzles. The elongated letters in the address section also match the Los Angeles postcard, by joining these postcards, bottom ends together, you can align the letters, then close one eye and look at them from a very steep angle to reveal the message. This might lead you somewhere that could help with the cipher wheel.

SPOILERS AHEAD: Joining the Mexico and Los Angeles postcards, bottom ends together to align the letters, and closing one eye and looking at them from a very steep angle will reveal the message “Tear apart the envelope”. Within the envelope you’ll find a hidden pocket beneath the envelope liner hiding another piece for the cipher wheel. Continue to Cipher Wheel for more hints.

Maybe start with the postcards before continuing.

What’s happening there in the address sections of the Mexico and Los Angeles postcards? These elongated symbols in the address section look like letters, but they’re too tall to read. Maybe if you look at them from a different angle?

SPOILERS AHEAD: Joining the Mexico and Los Angeles postcards, bottom ends together to align the letters, and closing one eye and looking at them from a very steep angle will reveal the message “Tear apart the envelope”. Within the envelope you’ll find lines in the folds, these symbols appear to match those on the back of the museum tag. You’ll also find a hidden pocket beneath the envelope liner hiding another piece for the cipher wheel. Continue to Cipher Wheel or Museum Tag for more hints concerning either one.

The cipher wheel pieces have an image of an Aztec sunstone on them, connecting them to the Mexico postcard as well as the Mayan codex fragment and Mayan numbering index card. Together these items might help solve the cipher on the postcard, you’ll need two numbers to set the cipher wheel.

SPOILER, DON’T READ UNLESS YOU’VE USED THE ENVELOPE: After obtaining the third cipher wheel from the envelope, use the Mayan Positional Number System card to figure out the two numbers on the codex fragment. The numbers on the fragment might be a number up or down from two of the examples on the card, but aren’t represented themselves. Once you have the two numbers you can use them to set the cipher wheel to its proper position to decode the postcard. Look for each number on either numbered ring and follow them to each letter they line up with.

SPOILERS AHEAD: Using the index card to read the codex fragment, the circled numbers are revealed to be 24 and 32. Align both 32 on the outer wheel and 24 on the inner wheel with the letter A on the base and you are now in position to solve the text on the Mexico Postcard. Look for each number on either numbered ring and follow them to each letter they line up with. The dial does not shift from its A-32-24 setting. Once you’ve used the cipher wheel to decode the numbers on the Mexico postcard, the message reads ”An artifact of mysterious origin has come into my possession, and a dark cult wants to get their hands on it. It is of utmost importance that we keep it safe at all costs or terrible events will unfold. Twenty-Nine.”

The Mayan codex fragment, being of a Pre-Colombian culture, connects it to the Mexico postcard as well as the cipher wheel pieces (which have an image of an Aztec sunstone on them) and Mayan numbering index card. Together these items might help solve the cipher on the postcard, you’ll need two numbers to set the cipher wheel.

SPOILER, DON’T READ UNLESS YOU’VE USED THE ENVELOPE: After obtaining the third cipher wheel from the envelope, use the Mayan Positional Number System card to figure out the two numbers on the codex fragment. The numbers on the fragment might be a number up or down from two of the examples on the card, but aren’t represented themselves. Once you have the two numbers you can use them to set the cipher wheel to its proper position to decode the postcard. Look for each number on either numbered ring and follow them to each letter they line up with.

SPOILERS AHEAD: Using the index card to read the codex fragment, the circled numbers are revealed to be 24 and 32. Align both 32 on the outer wheel and 24 on the inner wheel with the letter A on the base and you are now in position to solve the text on the Mexico Postcard. Look for each number on either numbered ring and follow them to each letter they line up with. The dial does not shift from its A-32-24 setting. Once you’ve used the cipher wheel to decode the numbers on the Mexico postcard, the message reads ”An artifact of mysterious origin has come into my possession, and a dark cult wants to get their hands on it. It is of utmost importance that we keep it safe at all costs or terrible events will unfold. Twenty-Nine.”

If there is a card demonstrating the Mayan positional numbering system, then there must be something here that has Mayan numbering on it. These numbers might be relevant to solving the code on the Mexico postcard, given that Mayan culture can be found in Mexico.

The Mayan codex fragment has two numbers circled, one of them has a dot at the top, separated by a gap there are two more dots on top of two stacked lines. If a line represents five, and there are two of them, that must be ten. One dot represents one, so if there are two dots you have the number two. Adding ten and two, gives us twelve. The single dot way above them is twenty, so adding twenty and twelve together gives us 32. The second number should be a little easier. These two numbers will help you set your cipher wheel.

SPOILERS AHEAD: Following the numbering system will give you the numbers 32 and 24. This will be the setting for your cipher wheel, and will help you solve the Mexico postcard.

If this postcard is from San Francisco, perhaps the San Francisco newspaper clipping could help you find another piece to the puzzle and make this a little clearer.

The newspaper clipping has certain letters underlined, this will help you find a phrase that will get you one step closer to solving this postcard. It may be both relevant to the cipher and another set of items in the box.

SPOILERS AHEAD: The newspaper clipping’s underlined letters spell out PAGE LINE WORD, the numbers on the postcard are arranged in sets of three, so each set of numbers are for a different page, and then a line and word from that page. Continue to Book Pages for more help.

If this article is from San Francisco, perhaps this could help you find another piece to the puzzle and make the San Francisco postcard cipher a little clearer.

The newspaper clipping has certain letters underlined, this will help you find a phrase that will get you one step closer to solving this postcard. It may be both relevant to the cipher and another set of items in the box.

SPOILERS AHEAD: The newspaper clipping’s underlined letters spell out PAGE LINE WORD, the numbers on the postcard are arranged in sets of three, so each set of numbers are for a different page, and then a line and word from that page. Continue to Book Pages for more help.

These pages are stamped by the San Francisco Public Library, so they line up with both the San Francisco article and postcard. It could help if you’ve looked at those items first before continuing.

The newspaper article, once solved, gives you the clue PAGE LINE WORD, the San Francisco postcard has numbers in sets of three, and you have here a stack of book pages. All the pieces to solve a cipher.

SPOILERS AHEAD: “Page line word” from the newspaper clipping refers to the numbers on the postcard and the book pages. The numbers are in sets of three (A-B-C, where A is page, B is line, and C is word). The first set of three is 157-3-4. 157 being the page number, 3 being the third line down from the top, and 4 being the fourth word in. By using the page, line and word with the postcard and book pages you will discover that the message reads ”The cult will kill you if they find it. You must take care of it should I die. It must be saved, or destroyed. Keep this box secure. Fifteen.”

Interesting. Driven to madness by an encounter at sea, a sailor was found holding a strange idol, related to the missing idol? Who can say. Something evil certainly is afoot, but not much more to see here.

Strange little fragment, but it might not be of much help.

Could this be of the strange statue? Don't think it's of much help at the moment, however.

This Jacob Bager guy sounds like he’s got some high paying donors, looks like he's got an extravagent event coming up.

You might want to solve the three postcards before continuing.

SPOILERS AHEAD: Now that you’ve unfolded the box and found the safe, it looks like a combo can be set, but what could those four numbers mean? There also appears to be a little disc inserted into the top there, it looks like a cipher wheel, doesn’t it?

The safe needs a four digit combination, a set of four words. You only have numbers right now, but you just found an extra wheel to use with the cipher wheel from earlier. Perhaps the professor hid three numbers for you to use as a setting for it?

SPOILERS AHEAD: The numbers from the end of each message on the postcards are the numbers for the cipher wheel. Set the cipher wheel to 29-15-60, aligning them with the highlighted A. The cipher wheel can now help decode the combination to the safe. The combination can be decoded to reveal the word IDOL, and the safe will unlock. (Well, so to speak.) ”