 Hi there, I am Gary LB. Welcome to our podcast. You are listening to Nordsec Storytime. You always wanted to know more about the stories behind Nordsec CTF? Well, our talented scenario designer, Eric Boivin, will tell you the story of Nordsec Toria. Hello, this is Eric, and welcome to this third capsule about the team of the 2021 Nordsec CTF Competition. As we've discussed in the previous chapters, the CTF had a special team where participants were using their technical skills to help the medieval kingdom of Nordsec Toria. Today, we'll talk about the Black Cat Tavern, the place where participants go to actually receive the challenges. One thing that is important to me when I design a scenario for the CTF is to understand what is the role of the participant in that universe. Yes, setting reverse shells to extract flags is something you'll see in every CTF around the world. But Nordsec is making the effort to build a Korean universe where participants are not only finding flags, but where the game aspect of the CTF takes a second nature. They are doing tasks as their alter ego. I like to immerse the participants as much as possible into that universe so that they are not only someone behind their computer that is simply hacking and coding. In Nordsec Toria, the participants are apprentice wizards, and challenges are actually tasks or quests given by various characters. And what's the best way to hear about what's happening in town? Of course, at the tavern. This is where the Black Cat Tavern comes into play. First, let's all appreciate the nice pun with the word Black Cat. We wanted to have lots of animals in our team this year, and the Black Cat was our main one. One tradition in physical editions of the Nordsec is having a bar where people can gum, grab a beer, chat with the organizers, etc. And in medieval times, the local tavern was the place to hang out, play games, have a drink, and chat with everybody. In our CTF, challenges are given to the participants in a way of an online forum. All treads are individual tracks given by a persona. Elmira, who was introduced last time, was one of them. So under each tread, the participants can see the challenge that is given in the own words of its patron. By finding and submitting flags, we have a system where we trigger posts to the tread and where the participants can get information about the next steps to achieve in that track, making it very dynamic. And all of that is done in character. So the tasks are given as if the person were giving that information in their own words, just like what you would see in a video game RPG. And what is a good tavern without a friendly bartender? Ours is named Bob. He's a kind spirited fellow, and he's aware of what is going on in the city. Thanks to his connections, he's able to put a participant in contact with all kinds of jobs. He's the master of banter, and he's very keen to pass a mug of hail to the participant. One such challenge is Oni Mead, a legendary drink that is said to give the energy of Vikings. He would like to get the recipe for himself and provides the public recipe cookbook for participants to investigate. After the analysis of a logic flaw in a PHP application, they are able to forge the display of a previously unreachable recipe for a drink that is said that will give you the strength of our northern ancestors. So for the whole duration of the CTF, the Black Hat Tavern is the place to be and to meet the denizens of the Kingdom of North Sectoria, some which are ready to pay for the services of our magicians. One such strange fellow will be the topic of our next installment. Until then, I raise my glass to you and see you next time.