Around 100 Scroll and Key hopefuls gathered at the society’s College Street tomb Thursday afternoon after receiving a cryptic message — sent to members of the junior class — requesting their presence to “celebrate the Rites of Spring.”

“As the weather improves, the Scroll continues to unfurl,” the email wrote. “Words stumble forth from the parchment, illegible. Can you read them? Find the Key.”

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After several confused passersby asked whether the gathering was part of a “performance art” project, several masked figures wearing black capes showed up at 5:28 p.m. in the Scroll and Key courtyard carrying pizza boxes and water guns.

“We are the 2012 Scroll and Key society,” one figure said. “We are here to answer your deep and darkest questions.” Several audience members laughed.

One audience member asked about Batman’s whereabouts, while another wondered where the key they had been asked to find was hidden. After about five minutes of questioning, the masked figures invited the group to join them for pizza in the courtyard. The pizza boxes were empty.

Afterward, the Keysmen began playing a modified version of “duck, duck, goose” substituting the words “scroll” and “key” for “duck” and “goose.”

Still, some audience members remain convinced that the hooded figures were true Scroll and Key members.

“I have it on very good knowledge,” said one audience member, who wished to remain anonymous, “that the group was actually Scroll and Key.”

But another Yalie said in passing that he was “pretty sure Scroll and Key wouldn’t send an email.”