This Web Puzzle has been over since March of 2002. The original starting place for this game no longer exists. However this document tells how players began playing and will give the reader information on how to start a walk-through. Some of the parts of the game/puzzle are preserved within this site and can still be solved.

After visiting http://www.credit-dauphine.com (inactive) the player was  prompted to send email to analysis@creditdauphine.com   Doing this made players eligible to receive future mailings that might contain clues or passwords for the puzzle.

They received an autoresponse similar to this:

11 Nov 2001 15:55:15 -0000
To: averyvincent
 From: analysis@creditdauphine.com
 Receipt

Dear Online Client,

Thank you for your request. Password authentication is a process requiring that a lengthy set of criteria be met.

If you are reading this mail, then your request for authentication has definitely been received, and you will be contacted at the e-mail address from which you submitted -- if, and only if, your credit profile exceeds our standards for clearance.

"How It Pays..." to be patient, sometimes... And your patience is sincerely appreciated.

The WebMeister
http://www.credit-dauphine.com
_____________

At the Credit Dauphine site there is a link to the Find-Whatever 'search engine'. (also inactive)  It wasn't a real search engine, but there was a link on it that looked like this: <0>  that went to the Followers of Rambaldi website.
www.the-followers-of-rambaldi.org.

There was a lot of content on the Rambaldi site including several illustrations and messages on a message board. (I might be able to reconstruct this)

The chatbot no longer exists.
The message submission form lead to a chatbot called Alisha.  Alisha was a pleasant diversion for some, frustratingly annoying for others and ignored by still others until it looked like she might be of use in the puzzle again.  In truth, she didn't give any information relevant to the puzzle since November 17th, 2001.

This site: http://geocities.com/rulerfrog had been part of the puzzle as well.  It changed in early February to http://geocities.com/rulerfrog/sources/index2.html
aka thewatcherz.com.  Visiting this site may require a username and password.  If prompted, the username is thewatcher and the password is bypass.

If you're operating in a Windows environment, then you might want to download these freeware programs that have been used to 'desteg' images.  Destegging means using a passphrase to find a hidden image or text in a larger image file.  For a tutorial on how to desteg images and other puzzle related decryption, please visit the Gamer's Handook.

steg047.zip is used for some images, and Camouflage otherwise referred to as 'camo' is used for others. At this time there doesn't seem to be any way for Mac users to desteg images. All the above will get any player started on this web puzzle/game.  The faq goes into much detail about the puzzle and hopefully will show you how the game was played. You are welcome to spend time investigating this archive...enjoy.