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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: Perplex City » PXC: General/Updates
[EMAIL] It's Scarlet from PPC
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WhiteGulls
Unfettered


Joined: 08 Aug 2004
Posts: 331
Location: Portland

 		[EMAIL] It's Scarlet from PPC
Quote:
Hi. My name's Scarlett Kiteway, I'm 20 years old and I live in Perplex City, which is... well, it's not on Earth. If you're wondering how I got your address - the truth is that I took it from my dad, Sente. He doesn't know, but I just needed someone to talk to - there have been some pretty weird things going on over here. I need to talk about what's going on, but I can't really tell anyone in the City about it.

We Perplexians have been following the goings-on on Earth for a while, but we haven't contacted you until now. Why now? Well, last year the Cube - a very precious object - was stolen from us and concealed somewhere on Earth. We need to find it and get it back.

Or, wait, no, this isn't the right place to start. I should start a long time ago, when the Cube was originally found, when the scientists at the Academy tried to investigate it. They couldn't find out much about it. Some of them died in the process. Or, no, maybe I should have started by saying that my father, Sente, is now the Master of the Academy, that he's been asking people on Earth to find the Cube.

As you can see, this is a story that has a lot of starting places. Perhaps the best thing is to tell you where it starts for me. It's very simple really. I'm a student and I got a summer job. I started last week, and now I find I'm on a journey. I can't quite explain what I'm doing, even to myself, but I can't stop now. And because I can't tell my friends or my family, I'm telling you. I'll send out an email every week. There's a lot going on in Perplex City; who knows, maybe by sifting all the clues that are out there, you'd find out who stole the Cube. But as for me, I'm following my own lead. My story starts here and you can follow it with me.

****

The Sentinel's a weird place to work. It's Perplex City's leading newspaper, so everyone's serious and focused, but at the same time there's an "atmosphere of trust", so it's OK to take long lunches and wander off for hours at a time. Which, I have to say, I do tend to do sometimes, being an intern. It's been kind of a dull week, all things considered, only punctuated by long lunches with friends and colleagues. Except for last night, which wasn't dull at all. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Monday was pretty standard. Iona Rodie, my friend here at the Sentinel, took me round to introduce me to the staff as the new intern. We passed by Pietro Salk's desk - he was a Sentinel reporter who died a few weeks ago. It was really sad; he was young and his death was completely unexpected, just a sudden stroke, they said. His desk has a picture of him on it now, and some flowers. It's a strange empty place in the middle of a busy office. People go quiet every time they walk past his desk.

Wednesday, my sister Violet and her friend Kurt came to see me. Kurt's one of the few other people in Perplex City to have a website that can be viewed from Earth. We love to talk about the letters we get from people on Earth and compare thoughts but on Wednesday Kurt seemed sort of rattled, which was odd. Apparently last week one of his Earth correspondents had asked him to find out what a "Reynolds ionizer" was. He drew a blank, but his key (the all-purpose sort of computer we use here) detected that a military trace was being used to find out who he was. He thought he'd blocked it, but he's been finding a couple of odd things on his key since then, which makes him think that maybe something got through and he's being tracked.

I have to say, I didn't think much about it after that. Kurt's really cool, and excellent with technology - I was sure that his key couldn't have got infected with anything too damaging. Thursday, no one came to see me Sad So I spent my lunch hour checking through some of the email *I'd* received from people on Earth. Strangely, quite a few people wanted me to go and have a look at Pietro Salk's desk, to see what I could find out about him. I guess whenever someone dies unexpectedly, you always want to know what they were like, to understand what happened. Anyway, I didn't mind, but I thought I should probably wait until everyone else had left the office.

That was the hardest part, really, staying in the building long enough to do it. I often stay until 8pm or 9pm - everyone does, it's just part of the job. When the first people left, I said I was "finishing something up". Then when a few stragglers were leaving, they kept asking what I was working on that was so urgent. I said it was schoolwork, and they rolled their eyes. At 11pm, the Sentinel's editor Michiko Clark herself wandered through the office; I think she was quietly impressed to see me still working, but she didn't say anything and I felt too guilty to say hello!

But by 11.30pm the floor was silent apart from the hum of the air conditioner. I walked over to Pietro's desk. The office was eerie - the only movement was my reflection in the dark windows. I kept thinking that a security guard was going to find me, or that someone in a neighbouring office block would look over and see what I was doing. But the floor was quiet. I stood in front of the desk - there was nothing on it apart from a floral display and a big picture of Pietro, smiling. I turned the picture face down on the desk.

I sat down in his chair. That felt weird too. No one sits at this desk now. I pulled open his file drawer. It was mostly empty. A few old case files lingered at the back, for stories of his that are over and done with: Zindian Trials, Tompeka and Lode, Five of Cups. I remember that story - it's recent. A guy got murdered in his bar and they found technological equipment stashed there. I pulled the file out and opened it, but there was nothing in it. I don't mean that there was nothing interesting in it - I mean that it was empty. I didn't quite understand that. If someone had taken over Pietro's files, why hadn't they taken the file folder out as well?

I put the file folder back down on Pietro's desk and stared at my reflection in the window. Nothing seemed to make sense, and I'd wasted a perfectly good evening searching through a dead man's desk. I felt ashamed of myself. I went to put the file back in the file drawer, to leave everything as I found it. Which was when I noticed something. A tiny note written in pencil but definitely in Pietro Salk's handwriting. On the back of the file folder, just by the metal hanging rod. It said this:

Reynolds ionizers. Viendenbourg.

******************

Pietro's Five of Cups article in the Sentinel
http://www.perplexcitysentinel.com/archives/2005/04/five_of_cups_ow_1.html

Here's what happened to poor Pietro Sad
http://www.perplexcitysentinel.com/archives/2005/06/salk_briefly_em.html

******************

I'm planning to send you an email once a week about my investigations, but I won't be offended if you want to unsubscribe. If you really don't want to hear about my adventures, just send an email to unsubscribeSPLATthescarlettkite.com.

If you think your friends would be interested in my emails, then you can send them to www.scarlettkite.com and there's a signup box on the sidebar.

Until next week.
Scarlett

scarlettSPLATthescarlettkite.com
http://thescarlettkite.com



Sorry, it's a bit long. Just got this a few seconds ago. Discuss!
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the last fortress | 17:23:00

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PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:48 pm
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GWing_02
Veteran


Joined: 18 Aug 2004
Posts: 144
Location: Seattle, WA

 		Just got this too.

I doubt a Reynolds Ionizer is anything we can find anything out about on Earth, seeing as it is probably named after someone in perplex city...
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blog

PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:52 pm
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Incitatus
Unfettered


Joined: 01 Oct 2004
Posts: 487
Location: Austin, Texas

 		I also just got this
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"It is unacceptable that chocolate makes you fat."

PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:54 pm
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Anderian
Veteran


Joined: 13 Oct 2004
Posts: 94

 		http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12000&sid=aa5a16f3c261357b149d8de699763d77

I just got it too, but I think she's just resending it to those who recently signed up for the newsletter.
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Blessed are the bewildered, for they won't notice the difference.

PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:55 pm
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Arcturus
Greenhorn


Joined: 15 Aug 2005
Posts: 3

 		I likewise just received this E-Mail. First time I have ever heard of this ARG, too.

PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:08 pm
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Axys Denyed
Unfettered


Joined: 10 Feb 2005
Posts: 456
Location: Houston, TX, USA

 		Looks like we're going to be getting weekly updates on her progress. That's more than I could've asked for, considering how much waiting we've had
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I've searched for the Cube, played poker with the dead, hunted monsters, helped stop Spoocheee and helped find a dimension hopping cat. What else you got?

PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:15 pm
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poozle
Entrenched

Joined: 15 Aug 2005
Posts: 1090
Arcturus wrote:
I likewise just received this E-Mail. First time I have ever heard of this ARG, too.


I've heard of it before but don't remember signing up anywhere for updates.

PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:18 pm
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WhiteGulls
Unfettered


Joined: 08 Aug 2004
Posts: 331
Location: Portland
poozle wrote:
Arcturus wrote:
I likewise just received this E-Mail. First time I have ever heard of this ARG, too.


I've heard of it before but don't remember signing up anywhere for updates.


Well, she said she got the emails from Sente, so I'm thinking that if you ever went to perplexcity.com during the very, very early stages of the game, there was a box to put your email into to get info when the game launches. Maybe she grabbed the list from there?
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the last fortress | 17:23:00

Come to the dark side.
We have cookies.

PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:28 pm
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Arcturus
Greenhorn


Joined: 15 Aug 2005
Posts: 3

 		That's the kicker. I don't remember ever going to perplexcity.com

..but maybe I did.

PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:31 pm
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Scott
Entrenched


Joined: 11 Sep 2004
Posts: 1140
Location: 390 Chestnut Ridge Rd, Rochester NY, 14624, USA

 		er, arcturus and poozle .. have you ever played *any* args? i see you have, uhm, very low post counts and stuff .. and you know where to fFind us ..

curioser and curioser
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Perplex City is a game whose only rule is: There must be a party.
Balance of Powers is a game whose only rule is: There must be a political party.

PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:37 pm
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WhiteGulls
Unfettered


Joined: 08 Aug 2004
Posts: 331
Location: Portland

 		Hmm... Perhaps the "Reynolds ionizer" and "Vindenbourg" are anagrams for something? I'm gonna play around with them.
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the last fortress | 17:23:00

Come to the dark side.
We have cookies.

PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:37 pm
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Arcturus
Greenhorn


Joined: 15 Aug 2005
Posts: 3
Scott wrote:
er, arcturus and poozle .. have you ever played *any* args? i see you have, uhm, very low post counts and stuff .. and you know where to fFind us ..

curioser and curioser


I have played args.

PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:57 pm
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Scott
Entrenched


Joined: 11 Sep 2004
Posts: 1140
Location: 390 Chestnut Ridge Rd, Rochester NY, 14624, USA

 		re-reading my post, i sound like i'm impugning your abilities or something. which i'm not. welcome aboard one and all, and all that. But it is weird -- some people who apparently have no connection with this game at all have suddenly and quite randomly gotten email. well that's weird! This goes along with some people already having accounts on the mindcandy fForums without it having ever been visited. That's also weird!!

mind candy is fFinding people, at considerable lengths, eh
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Perplex City is a game whose only rule is: There must be a party.
Balance of Powers is a game whose only rule is: There must be a political party.

PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 4:52 pm
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beano³
Veteran


Joined: 24 Oct 2004
Posts: 135
Location: Liverpool Docks
Scott wrote:
some people who apparently have no connection with this game at all have suddenly and quite randomly gotten email.


Perhaps the outside world is ahead of 'us'?
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Backrolling³ into the afterlife...roll around the floor, SPEC!!

< ^BonoVox^> From the forum: Cube player at Ar holds up message to webcam: "Dinah, bring beer we are parched"

PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 7:56 pm
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ifeel
Kilroy

Joined: 15 Aug 2005
Posts: 1

 		A NEW ARG: http://www.webspawner.com/users/thegaame/index.html

PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 10:19 pm
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