Mindez

For the first time ever, earlier this month, we have received a video. Of Violet. Talking about a murder. This video is available at http://www.perplexcitystories.com - It features a glimpse of a Perplex City news program, talking of a horrific murder.

The transcript:

Violet: Hi. I’m Violet. Y-you know how sometimes you go out at night, and you find a bar, and you have a few drinks.. and then.. you hear a gunshot, and someone starts screaming, and the police turn up and drag you down to the station? …Look, just watch this.

[PCAG program, applauding]

[NEWS FLASH]

We interrupt this broadcast to bring you breaking news.

Alice: Hello, I’m Alice Marker.

Mike: And I’m Mike Hathaway. Reports are coming in of a bizarre and brutal murder at a local night spot. The unidentified woman was killed, in what looks like a premeditated and very public attack.

Alice: For the latest, we can cross to our reporter, Cambria Styles, who is at the scene. Cambria, what’s the situation?

Cambria: The victim was shot with a banned pre-war weapon in the VIP area of the notorious Missing Piece bar. The injuries sustained by the victim are said to be quite horrific, and certainly when I arrived here, I saw bystanders covered in what looked like the victim’s blood.

Alice: Do we know any more about the victim?

Cambria: The police aren’t releasing her identity just yet. Indeed, they don’t seem to have any leads or any suspects. However, sources within the department have told me that high profile names from the city may–

Alice: Cambria, I-I’ve.. just been handed some… further information and… pictures…. of the… *looks quite ill at seeing the pictures*

Mike: *glancing at Alice every now and then* And… that’s.. all we have time for. Keep an eye on your key, we’ll be bringing you more updates as we have them. Until then… good bye.

Violet: So that’s how it started. How it ends… that’s up to you. I need your help. Together, we’re going to track down the killer. Care to join me? Look me up.

 

There has not yet been any more contact from Violet about this.. but hopefully there will be soon. Together, we will track down the killer.

Hm, looks like I need to be doing some research on forensics and stuff…

My first thoughts, though… banned pre-war weapon? Hm, the war is not something that people of Perplex City are comfortable talking about… But who would have access to such banned weapons tech? And what kind of weapon is it… Violet mentioned hearing a ‘gunshot’, but the way the newsreader reacted to the images… plus the fact that many bystanders were covered in the victims blood.. this looks like a much more lethal weapon than a standard gun. But it must be compact or camoflaged, as they managed to get it into the bar… And the VIP section - who would have access to the VIP section?

*sigh* So many unanswered questions - I’m sure we’ll receive communication soon, and then we’ll be able to work out more clearly what’s going on…

Hey,

It’s been a while since I last updated.  But it’s been a most excellent ‘while’.   At time of writing this, I am currently number 1 on the Perplex City leaderboard for season 2, with 25,860 points, a lead of 1680 over the person in second position.  This makes me happy.

Solving puzzles, ah how I missed it.  It’s been a long time since the wave 4 launch, and the last couple of days have caused a rather large scribbly mess on almost every piece of paper in the house trying to work out cleverly devious puzzle solves.  There was, of course, the greatness of the braille wordsearch (Whoever thought that idea up is an evil, evil man) that took me about 4-5 hours to complete.. and I now feel almost entirely fluent in braille.

Cards I have left to solve:

1 green (105) [Solve page may be broken..]
1 blue (132) [Nobody seems to have any idea about this]
2 purples (163) [Nobody seems to know this..]  and (168) [ditto]
2 blacks (194) [Another unsolved..] and (197) [This hurts my brain, and I'm going to spend the whole of tomorrow working on it..]
10 silvers [Well.. yeah, that's all of them].

Ah well, I’m going to spend the whole of tomorrow looking at 197.. lots of people have it, so it must be ‘relatively’ easy.  *sigh*

Well, now I’ve finished bragging about my position…

Bye!

-Mindez 

Well, I’m home.  Finally.  It’s been a fun weekend

The party’s over, obviously. Some highlights include:

- Getting horribly lost around London for about 2 hours (…I was navigating.  Shut up.) until we just decided to dump the car on some random street and head for the nearest station.

-  Me arriving late.  Wait, this is supposed to be highlights? Uh.. Moving on then!

- Puzzles.  Hooray!  There were four puzzles hung up on the wall - a maze, in which you had to say which points you pass through [red], a combination (1491625) in which you needed to find the next two numbers [red], a riddle that is transcribed below [yellow], and a phobia match-up thing.

If you eat me, you will die.
It is greater than God, yet more evil than the Devil.
The rich need it, the poor have it,
What is it? 

- Ceretin.  Yep, there was ceretin on the tables!  Hoorah! Really helped me solve the above riddle - I was having a total mental block.  Blah.

- The Cube on display.  Or, actually, a replica.  The real Cube is, of course, safe in Perplex City again. T’was still great though, truly an item to behold.

- Rand0m’s prize money of 2 million lecks on display!  A few players might have stolen a few lecks, but still… >.>; *stuffs something deeper into his pocket*

- The friendliness of everyone.  Every time I go to a meet of ex-Cube-Hunters, I’m amazed by how awesomely nice they are!

- Someone was looking at the puzzles with me, and asked who I was.  I said “Mindez”, and she went all “Oh my God I know you! I could almost faint! O_O You’re a legend!”, which.. made me feel very embarrassed, but.. wow, I’m well known! This is probably in response to my card solve guide, in which I’ve posted hints for every season 1 puzzle card..

Well, it’s been great fun.  Except the whole “I almost lost a leitmark” thing.  That was just annoying.

I’m going to go glue my leitmarks to my jacket now.. And yes, I’m being serious.

*walks off looking for some glue in which the head HASN’T stuck hopelessly to the cap*

Oh wow, the Sentinel just updated today.

A few days ago, I wrote a quick article. Nothing serious, just a way to pass the time. I submitted it for fun, thinking there was no way it would get published..

So, really, I was completely amazed when I got back from watching TV and found my article on the Sentinel front page O_O

http://www.perplexcitysentinel.com/archives/2007/02/view_from_earth_57.html

That really made my day!

The Cube is back in Perplex City, where it belongs, finally! There was a party at the Perplex City Academy last night, apparently, celebrating. The Academy says that it has now dismantled the equipment that they used to transport the Cube, finally. But still, nobody thinks of the Third Power that are still on Earth, and what possible threat they could cause.. *sigh*Maybe it truly is just paranoia.

All in all, people have been making blog posts.. Scarlett and Violet, today. They sound rather final.. And Violet’s would certainly look good with a “The End” sign after it. Perhaps this marks the end of season 1!

7 days until season 2 starts… Oh! And the BIG PARTY IS TOMORROW! Hoorah!

Well, with season one finishing, it’s time to look back at what has been a truly awesome adventure. This series of blog posts looks back at everything that has happened thus far. This is part 1, looking at the events between January 2004 and March 2005.

Okay, it all began with the stealing of the Receda Cube. On January 16th, some time around 2 AM. It was a highly organised and sophisticated attack, that left one security guard, Fran Mendling, dead. This caused much panic in Perplex City, and much blame was pointed toward the Academy master, Sente Kiteway. Perplex City had lost its great and powerful religious symbol, and the entire city suffered. On February 1st, Sente announced to the city that the Receda Cube had been found.. but not in Perplex City. It was on Earth.

They could not pinpoint an exact location, though they knew from then that they would need the help of those on Earth to track down the Cube, to return it to Perplex City. That is how it all began.. The Academy started to plan how to communicate with us, how to help us find it, how to return the Cube to it’s rightful place. They acquired funds from the Perplex City Council on the 20th of July.. It was almost ready, we could almost make contact.

Meanwhile in Perplex City, the city was preparing for a great fall in its economy over the christmas period. Many families were still suffering from the loss of the Cube, they would only celebrate a very quiet holiday season. The loss of the Cube had affected Perplex City greatly, shaken their faith, the economy.. It was vital that they got it back. And yet.. a year had gone by, and still there was no Receda Cube.

By March 2005, the Perplex City Sentinel were printing critical reviews of Sente’s attempts of dealing with the crisis. Over a year had passed, and the Academy had done nothing but receive money from the council.

But by the end of that very month, the Academy had made contact…

To be continued in Part 2.

Hey guys,

I’ve not been updating for a while.. because I’m not sure that I should have been. There are still Third Power agents on Earth.. perhaps this was a bad idea. I don’t want to leak all our information to them..

But then again, if there are 3P agents on Earth, surely they have access to Kurt and Violet’s blogs. In which case, why didn’t they know about the Ascendancy Point raid on Jan 31st? Something feels out of place. And of course, there’s still the Third Power on Earth that haven’t been taken care of. Perhaps it’s a little premature to be celebrating..

But of course, celebrating we are. The big ‘End Of Season One’ party, taking place on the evening of next Saturday. I’m not sure if there’s any places left, but I’ll sure be there! And I hope to see as many Cube Hunters there as possible! It’s also the evening that Kurt and Violet are being awarded the Silver Solve in Perplex City…

Oh, wait! I’ve not given a rundown of what happened since I last updated…

Well, here it goes:

- Kurt, Violet, Helena, Caine, and a couple of Perplex City Police members went into the base, the story as told in this poem as written by me (Yay for bad poems):

On Thirtieth of January,
when night fell round the land,
Kurt and Vi went to the Point
to give Scarlett a hand.

On the way they met poor Caine,
who, speculation said,
would end up messing up their plans,
but he went and helped, instead.

Inside they got, and first we had,
to confuse the systems so.
We played a game of Mastermind
before the team could go.

And then they split, to aid their cause,
Kurt, Fitch, and Caine (Team A).
Vi and Frye and Harrison,
did go the other way.

Team B came across a guard,
with video feeds, sublime.
Unfortunately, lag was high,
so that took some time.

Meanwhile, team A needed us,
to call, and to persuade.
This we did, eventually,
and the day was saved.

But as team A was nearing the end,
a guard stood in their way.
Oh what, oh what were they to do?
But then Caine saved the day.

Both teams met up, their missions done,
Ready for the end.
Hopefully, they would reach their goal,
and be able to help their friend.

Floor 110, at last,
and here the Third Power was seen.
One last puzzle, to test our worth,
to enter bay 17.

Harrison climbed in the vents,
and set up our way in.
But oops, it seems there’s an error,
we need more puzzles to win.

More puzzles solved, the lights go out,
we hear only noise.
Vi and Helena were both ready,
and so were all three boys.

In they rushed, with single shots,
and then it was a blur.
Something happened, shots were fired,
it all caused quite a stir.

Six were killed, on that night.
They will all be missed.
Except for sneaky Third Power guys,
who’ll probably be quite pissed.

Harrison, and Fishcook, also paid the price.
But Caine and Scarlett were okay..
As well as they could be.
They’ll live, apparently, anyway.

Oh Harrison, Oh Harrison,
you will be missed I know,
by all at the PCPD,
but it was your time to go.

Scarlett, Kurt, Caine, and even Vi,
will live another day,
Without them, to be honest,
it wouldn’t be much of a story, anyway.

“Oh Lettie! Lettie!” cries Vi,
her tears streaming down her face.
But now it was the time to leave,
and get out of this place.

It turns out Caine was there as well,
tortured by the Power.
But in the end, he was a real help,
and was truly a hero of the hour.

So off they went, to hospital,
where Scarlett sits right now,
Hopefully the Third Power,
Will stay away, somehow.

The final thing to happen, friends,
the final clue, hooray!
And we find out it’s buried here,
England, upon the Way.

Hopefully, perhaps very soon,
the Cube may just change hands,
and then, my friends, we’ll raise a toast,
to the best Cube hunter in the land.

- Scarlett and Helena are now in hospital, Scarlett with her fingernails.. ripped off in torture by the Third Power.. She’s holding strong though, and recovering.. Kurt says that most of the damage is reversible, anyway.. She says that she was tortured by the Third Power.. and by Caine.. to tell them the location of the Cube. At the time, we put this down to her being in shock at the time, not recognising that Caine was another prisoner. But we should have listened..

- Violet got home to a heck of a lot of voice mails. 12 of them were from Fleming Heath, Anna Heath’s husband. Last year, Anna was.. killed by the Third Power in the catacombs beneath Perplex City.. (I made 10 paper cranes that we sent to Mind Candy as a memorial. Good times). Fleming told Violet that the word “Faberling” was a super-secret word that Anna called him, and now Caine was using it as a song title. Violet then realised the truth.. it was Caine that killed Anna, and with her final breath, she must have said it.. “Faberling”. She called the Perplex City Police, and they were there within minutes to arrest him..

- While in prison, Helena was thinking. And she realised.. she knew who Combed Thunderclap was. Combed Thunderclap was the person in Perplex City that stole the cube, and was now communicating with the Earth-based Cube Hunters to give us clues as to it’s location. And Helena had worked out who it was.. She called CT up, and said that if they didn’t come out on their own, then she would have to tell people who it was…

- A couple of days later, an article appeared in the Perplex City Sentinel.. entitled “I stole the Cube”. It was Violet. She recounted how she found out about the theft, how she bravely stopped the Third Power, but was transported to Earth in the process, how the Cube chose that particular place to be buried… How Kurt helped her by slipping meta puzzles onto the cards to give us clues as to how to find it… And in light of her story of how she bravely kept the evil Third Power from stealing the Cube, the city has decided to bestow their most prestigious honour upon her - a prize that has only been awarded 4 times in the last 100 years, and only when somebody does something absolutely astounding for the good of the city… the Silver Solve.

And so, that’s where we are. Season 2 of the puzzle cards starts on March 1st, there are some prerelease cards out so far, and some promotional cards from Hamleys.

So I’ll end this message here. Looking forward to the party next Saturday!

*sigh* I really need to stop falling asleep when I get home from school.

There has been a development.  Helena Frye has called Kurt, and she has discovered that the Third Power are communicating using a system called RelayNet.  This is a very old system, that is no longer in use in Perplex City any more, but it’s been buried underground.  The Third Power have used this system to communicate.

By looking at lag times, and lots of things that I don’t understand, I believe we the Earth cube hunters have managed to track where the messages were being sent to…

Ascendancy.

Kurt and Violet are in a car, heading to police headquarters to analyse data and stuff.

I don’t pretend to understand any of this.  Sometimes I feel like I’m just sitting at the side, letting the awesome people solve things and just congratulating them when they’re done…

*sigh* Ah well.  I wouldn’t particularly mind if there were anything I was skilled in that is ever likely to come up as a puzzle.  And even then, I’m sure someone else would get it before me.

But I digress.   The point is.. We may know where the Third Power are..

And they may have Scarlett. 

Well, as the first week with the Perplex City link being reopened comes to a close, all I can do is look back at the week and think “..Wow.. So much has happened o_O;”

Scarlett is still missing (Oh how we hope she is alright..), Sente is still imprisoned (Oh how we hope he is alright..), and Kurt’s still job-less (Oh how we hope he is alright..).

Since my last message, Kurt has rang Helena Frye, to ask for her help. The conversation can be viewed here, but it can basically be summed up by the fact that Helena has agreed to help us, and she is going over what we know, the Third Power messages we have found, etc. to find clues… And she’ll be back in contact soon.

So we’ve nothing to go on, until she does come into contact again..

This has truly been the busiest week in Perplex City that I can remember since I became interested in it..

Well, hello.

Introductions! I am Mindez, a cube hunter here on Earth. This blog is basically a way of reporting what’s going on in the world of Perplex City, my views of what’s going on, ranting, raving, probably some decent stuff as well maybe, investigations into what’s going on with the Earth cube hunters, speculation on some of the clues we have.. Yeah.

All in all, then, the story so far… Or at least since the 15th of January.

The link to Earth was re-opened by Nathan Earlywine, leader of the Perplex City council, in light of some new evidence that the Third Power were using the link to communicate, even through the supposedly unbreakable firewall. At the same time, we [the Earth-based CRT] discovered some messages, leaking through the link and becoming corrupted. So Nathan Earlywine closing the link was merely giving the Third Power an advantage. They’ve slowly been getting closer to the Cube, while we’ve been blinded from Perplex City.

Still, there was great joy as the link was reopened. All of our friends and ‘friends’ and “friends” in Perplex City have been in touch.. Kurt, Scarlett, Violet, and Caine.. and things seemed to be going pretty well. Their time without the link seems to have been generally good.

Still, all good things must come to an end. For tonight was the night of the Annual Academy Ball - the third since the Cube was stolen. And it is at this completely public event, with practically every journalist in town attending, and all of the Kiteway family.. that Sente was arrested, in a blatant act of power from the council. The reason given was that he was found to have been giving mind-enhancing drugs to the winner of the PCAG, or something. The way he was restrained, though..it had to be something else. Perhaps as blame for the theft of the Cube, or perhaps the council believes that Sente has the Cube.. or knows something.

Kurt has been fired from his job at the Cube Retrieval Team, too. So now everyone’s heartbroken.. Scarlett and Violet have had their father arrested, Kurt’s been fired.. All in all, Monday was a rather busy day.

Since then, still more bad things have happened. Kurt’s been moping around feeling sorry for himself, Violet’s been comforting Scarlet, who [with the effects of what happened at Lancewood, and having to watch her dad arrested] has been deeply changed.

Wednesday night [Was it Wednesday? I have a bad memory], Sente’s house was broken into. Kurt blamed this simply on journalists or cops, but when Violet and Scarlett went around to investigate.. the entire house was trashed. The sight of it inspired feelings of anger in Scarlett, and this was enough to return her to her old self, standing up to Violet’s mothering. Then, Violet got a plan. Cue massive cliffhanger (With Scarlett’s old self back, so are her old habits, particularly the annoying one where she has to end everything with a cliffhanger).

Scarlett went off to the Perplex City Sentinel to try and get some more information on who had broken into Sente’s house.

Violet spent the day worrying in the library, as Scarlett didn’t call her when she said she would…

A few hours later, Violet got a message… which seems to tell us that Scarlett is in trouble.

Kurt believes that she has been kidnapped by the Third Power. So he’s calling Helena Frye, a police detective.

“Helena… do you trust her?” asked Violet cautiously.

“I think so. She’s helped us before, told us about the Third Power’s portal, and she seems to be capable of working outside of Council or Police authority.” Positively happy about it, I thought. “She’s got the team and the access to find Scarlett. We don’t have anyone else to go to.”

Will Helena help the team? Will we be able to find Scarlett? Or will the Third Power be doing something uber-sneaky?

There’s only one way to find out.

Keep watching… (Or invent a time machine.. but I suspect that “keep watching” is going to be an easier option. And cheaper.)