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 Forum index » Chaotic Fiction » QU13E
[Trailhead] Splinternails.com 2014
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punkbass
Boot


Joined: 23 Apr 2008
Posts: 56

 		[Trailhead] Splinternails.com 2014
I woke up this morning to an email notifying me of an update to the old QU13E thread.

See the update for yourself, but http://splinternails.com is back up, with a gif and a wma file, and a link to an email address.

I've done some simple preliminary investigation this morning, checked the whois for the provider and got a phone number: 14806242598. Calling the number, I just get a sound like a modem, so I doubt there is any luck there, or the accompanying address.

Also, I noticed that http://qu13e.com is up. I thought I remember it going down, but in my last post in the previous thread I didn't mention it being down. But the fact that it's even up makes me wonder if this is a continuation of the old mystery or a whole new one, although I've also notice that japanonymous is still down.

Hoping that some of the people from the old group get back in on this one and we can also get some fresh blood on this so we can do better this time around!

PostPosted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 12:56 pm
Last edited by punkbass on Mon Sep 01, 2014 4:21 pm; edited 1 time in total
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supersekretsrsly
Boot

Joined: 18 Jan 2013
Posts: 54

 		Count me in as new blood.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 1:29 pm
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punkbass
Boot


Joined: 23 Apr 2008
Posts: 56

 		Vampires lyrics first go
Well, I was looking for something to do with my day off... I'm probably going to be singing "Vampires" in my head for the next week...

I listened to Vampires a bunch of times today. I also downloaded an played with Audacity today to listen to the track fast, slow, backwards and different combinations of the three. I've also played with various effects, and tried to remove vocals, but couldn't find any hidden messages.

So perhaps the message is just simply in the lyrics, that actually seems to make the most sense for Random. Thing is, I actually suck at making out lyrics in music. Below is what I have been able to gather so far:

Legend:
[...] means there is a word or phrase that I have not yet made out.
(abc) text in the parenthesis means I am fairly certain this is what it means

Vampires - Splinternails
Quote:

There's something here that's deeper than the sea
Underneath the flesh and bones inside of me
Desperate questions [...] in my head
[..] alive you could be dead

Somewhere within my soul
Deep in the dark in the down, down, down, down
Vampires are dancing and make'n me spin
They ask me to let go of life and give in

Reach into your heart to find your
Hold it tightly
Reach into the sky and kill each star
That shines too brightly

Somewhere within my soul
Deep in the dark and the down down down
Vampires are dancing and make'n me spin
They're asking me to let go of life and give in.

I can feel the pain and loneliness inside you
I can hear the sound [...] empty room
But you [...] kissed my whole life (to)
She's a blessing in the night for the (moment) [...] soon

Somewhere within my soul
Deep in the dark and the down down down
Vampires are dancing and make'n me spin
Begging me to let go of life and give in

Somewhere within me soul
Deep in the dark and the down down down
Vampires are dancing and make'n me spin
Begging me to let go of life and give in


A couple other things to note:
1: there are two very noticeable glitches in the song, one at 2:56 and the other at 5:20. They seem obvious, and I would expect them to be easy to remove from someone who could record music like this, which makes them suspicious to me.

2: He specifically calls out that vampires come around October and November. I remember that Qu13e was found on Oct 31 2007, but clues were left to the investigators that the "right time" was not until january 1st 2008. I wonder if this is something similar. The site is up, but perhaps we won't get any responses, or the puzzles are not solvable until October 31, which just happens to be Random's birthday.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 11:15 pm
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no_moon
Boot

Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 64

 		The flowers in the time lapse looked alpine to me, and from my knowledge that he used to live in Japan, I took a guess that it was from Japan.

It looks very much like the Japanese Chrysanthemum yezoense, a perennial that blooms in the autumn. Its common name is Hokkaido chrysanthemum.

[redacted]

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 8:46 am
Last edited by no_moon on Sat Sep 06, 2014 3:37 am; edited 1 time in total
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no_moon
Boot

Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 64

 		[redacted]

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 11:15 am
Last edited by no_moon on Sat Sep 06, 2014 3:39 am; edited 1 time in total
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supersekretsrsly
Boot

Joined: 18 Jan 2013
Posts: 54
no_moon wrote:
I've also found a very interesting livejournal.

Marked as interests are "splinternails" as well as "random martin."

I think the profile is another riddle....

http://hetiesmeup.livejournal.com/profile


Interesting but I'm not sure it's connected to this ARG. There are three people on livejournal who expressed interest in splinternails. Given the following post from one of these people in June 2012:

Quote:

Splinternails - Random Martin

Thinking about you mate. Life is complex. I'll always think of you as a friend. I know you were close last time and couldn't Qu13e make it past Holland. Newcastle will welcome you with open arms.

HR


... It seems as if splinternails might be an old handle of QU13's. I can't say as I haven't followed anything in that regard.

EDIT: Ok on second thought this is probably a clue, see link.

http://harryroberts.livejournal.com/

EDIT again: Ok - it's definitely a clue. The name is "splinternailswashere" reversed. I'll look into this later when I have time.

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 11:59 am
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supersekretsrsly
Boot

Joined: 18 Jan 2013
Posts: 54

 		Punkbass any idea on who sang that song? Harry's livejounal contains two clues that imply it may be important. I've tried both searching the lyrics and a reverse lookup to no avail.

no_moon wrote:
The flowers in the time lapse looked alpine to me, and from my knowledge that he used to live in Japan, I took a guess that it was from Japan.

It looks very much like the Japanese Chrysanthemum yezoense, a perennial that blooms in the autumn. Its common name is Hokkaido chrysanthemum.

Random used to like to travel and take photographs, especially of the outdoors; it was part of his artwork, I guess. I think we can safely assume this is one of his.


I did a reverse lookup of the gif and it appears they are just common daisies.

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 1:17 pm
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no_moon
Boot

Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 64

 		[redacted]

PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 10:55 pm
Last edited by no_moon on Sat Sep 06, 2014 3:40 am; edited 1 time in total
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punkbass
Boot


Joined: 23 Apr 2008
Posts: 56

 		So I have been checking in all day (reminds me of 2008 all over again...), but haven't had time to post my thoughts and findings, so here comes mega-post:

Quote:

It looks very much like the Japanese Chrysanthemum yezoense, a perennial that blooms in the autumn. Its common name is Hokkaido chrysanthemum


Quote:

I did a reverse lookup of the gif and it appears they are just common daisies.


I thought they were daisies at first too, but a Google search confirms that Hokkaido Chrysanthemums look an awful lot like daisies. Here's a link to a stock photo of the flower.

I don't know what the significance of it means. Last I heard, Random was living in Japan, so it makes sense it would be the Japanese flower. It may mean that he is on the Northern most of the two large islands (Hokkaido) of Japan, but that doesn't really narrow the search down too much...

But I'm starting to question if he is still in Japan:

The Live Journal no_moon found is curious. It says there are 5 entries in it, but when I click on the journal it's blank. I need to dig into it more (maybe it's a noob mistake, I'm not familiar at all with live journal and had very little time to dig through it and familiarize myself with it today). However, Googling the quote in red on the profile, I found two things. 1. It's from a song called "Green Valley" by Puscifer (which I enjoyed Smile ), and 2: Verde River is a state park in Arizona, I'm not sure about Judgement Valley though. Perhaps that's not the clue, or the point of the clue...

Quote:

Punkbass any idea on who sang that song?


like you, I couldn't find the lyrics on the internet. This leads me to believe that it's probably a Random Martin original.

Quote:

EDIT: Ok on second thought this is probably a clue, see link.

http://harryroberts.livejournal.com/

EDIT again: Ok - it's definitely a clue. The name is "splinternailswashere" reversed. I'll look into this later when I have time.


Looking at the journal, I'm not sure if it's a clue or not. There is definitely some content related to splinternails and Qu13e, but it's old enough I wonder if it's relevant or not. I say you should try to contact him. Best case scenario he knows something, or he might be interested to know that splinternails has resurfaced and he might have something to contribute to our search.

Speaking of contact, I'm guessing nobody else is getting a response from silentSPLATsplinternails.com? I mean... with a name like "silent", I half expected not to, but just checking...

PostPosted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 2:02 am
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no_moon
Boot

Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 64

 		Also, I found this site in German, which has some more older (but possibly relevant?) messages.
http://www.argwiki.de/index.php5?title=QU13E_-_Trail

PostPosted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 2:11 am
Last edited by no_moon on Sat Sep 06, 2014 3:40 am; edited 1 time in total
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punkbass
Boot


Joined: 23 Apr 2008
Posts: 56
no_moon wrote:
I should add, October 31st was Splinternails's birthday. Don't know if that is related to the October or November thing or not, but thought I should mention.

Also, I found this site in German, which has some more older (but possibly relevant?) messages.
http://www.argwiki.de/index.php5?title=QU13E_-_Trail




It hadn't occurred to me before that Random Martin may have put back splinternails as a supplement to Qu13e rather than a replacement. Either way, I will have to peruse through that trail tomorrow. We might be able to find some patterns of places he might have posted, or old sites that are back up, or other alias's that he used to go by to search for.

Perhaps I need to start a new trail wiki. Qu13e is the only thing I've ever investigated, so I've been hesitant to put up a trail and have been waiting for more experienced people to join the search who have maintained one. I guess if this is a supplement to Qu13e we could use the old one though. I think there's one in English some where. But I will have to look tomorrow. 6:00 comes in 5 hours...

PostPosted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 2:47 am
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punkbass
Boot


Joined: 23 Apr 2008
Posts: 56

 		Qu13e
To check to see if Qu13e was still active, I sent an email to melpomeneSPLATqu13e.com, the only contact we were able to find. Well, sort of. Melpomene died a few years ago, but someone else kept answering.

Here is my email:
Quote:

Is anybody still there?

I know Melpomene is gone, but someone was answering her emails. Are you
still there?


And very shortly later, I got a response! From splinternailsSPLATqu13e.com
Quote:

We are all still here...there...and neverwhere.


So, I'm trying to hold back my giddiness until I get confirmation, but... SPLINTERNAILS! could this be him? Waiting for a response:

Quote:

Splinternails?

Is this Random Martin?


So, I think this verifies that Qu13e is still part of the equation, but how much? Are we still looking for the third key? Or if this is Random, why reveal himself so easily now? What's changed?

PostPosted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 3:49 am
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supersekretsrsly
Boot

Joined: 18 Jan 2013
Posts: 54
punkbass wrote:
Looking at the journal, I'm not sure if it's a clue or not. There is definitely some content related to splinternails and Qu13e, but it's old enough I wonder if it's relevant or not. I say you should try to contact him. Best case scenario he knows something, or he might be interested to know that splinternails has resurfaced and he might have something to contribute to our search.

Speaking of contact, I'm guessing nobody else is getting a response from silentSPLATsplinternails.com? I mean... with a name like "silent", I half expected not to, but just checking...


But the date of the conversation, 2012 (with another update on Oct 2013 in response to a deleted comment) is far beyond the original ARG.

I've dropped HR a message.

Quote:
But I'm starting to question if he is still in Japan:


Well for his sake I hope he didn't end up in Newcastle.

Quote:
... I know you were close last time and couldn't Qu13e make it past Holland. Newcastle will welcome you with open arms.




no_moon wrote:
Splinternails is the (old) handle of the person who made Qu13e, no mistaking it. He also called himself Random Martin. On the Qu13e page, those small thumbnails are all pictures he took and shared during his time as lj name Splinternails.

I do agree that Harry's journal might also contain some hints, and I had found it at the same time as the other. But it might be a dead end.... Sometimes friends who were looking for him would try to put out "flags" for him. If you look at Tenkiya's journal, there's a post that asks Splinternails to contact him (Tenkiya was also a friend of Splinternails in RL, or so he said).


Thanks for the link to the arg wiki. You're right, HR might just be a red herring. Now that I've read the back story the live journal user page you linked to definitely appears to be related.

I'm going to fire out some emails at old email addresses as you did Punkbass and see if a lead pops up.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 7:14 am
Last edited by supersekretsrsly on Tue Sep 09, 2014 1:24 pm; edited 1 time in total
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supersekretsrsly
Boot

Joined: 18 Jan 2013
Posts: 54

 		I messaged HR and to my surprise received a response immediately:

###

Me -

What was the name of the CD?

HR -

Are you asking me what was the name of the CD Splinternails sent me?

Me -

Yes indeed, if you wouldn't mind.

HR -

It depends on who you are and how you know of him. Random Martin can be qu13e the elusive fellow.

Me -

Is a man elusive if he wants to be found? I want to wish him happy birthday - it's coming up soon. I'll be in a better position to choose a gift if I get a better grasp of his music tastes.

HR -

It depends on who you are and how you know of him.

Me -

I'll get back to you.

HR -

I'll be sitting on the edge of my seat in anticipation.

###

Cheeky bastard.

Regardless, I'm out of my depth. I have no acquaintance with the history of this ARG so I can't answer without spewing so much nonsense I risk getting blocked.

Perhaps the answer is to be found in the poem or the song lyrics - for now I've postponed answering.

So who am I and how do I know him?

PostPosted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 7:46 am
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no_moon
Boot

Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 64
supersekretsrsly wrote:
I messaged HR and to my surprise received a response immediately:

###

Me -

What was the name of the CD?

HR -

Are you asking me what was the name of the CD Splinternails sent me?

Me -

Yes indeed, if you wouldn't mind.

HR -

It depends on who you are and how you know of him. Random Martin can be qu13e the elusive fellow.

Me -

Is a man elusive if he wants to be found? I want to wish him happy birthday - it's coming up soon. I'll be in a better position to choose a gift if I get a better grasp of his music tastes.

HR -

It depends on who you are and how you know of him.

Me -

I'll get back to you.

HR -

I'll be sitting on the edge of my seat in anticipation.

###

Cheeky bastard.

Regardless, I'm out of my depth. I have no acquaintance with the history of this ARG so I can't answer without spewing so much nonsense I risk getting blocked.

Perhaps the answer is to be found in the poem or the song lyrics - for now I've postponed answering.

So who am I and how do I know him?


This is amazing. The closest we've been to finding Random, or at least knowing he's alive and well.

I have no acquaintance with the history of this ARG either, but I did sort of knew Random, so let me again help.

The Splinternails handle comes from Livejournal originally, I think (or at least that's how I came to know the man known as Random Martin, in about 2001).

I'd message HR myself, but he might get suspicious....

Also, I should point out that after googling the name "Harry Roberts" the first thing that comes up is a Wikipedia article about a cop killer from England. Considering that the journal's subtitle talks about killing police, I'm kind of curious as to why someone would use that handle....

PostPosted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 8:12 am
Last edited by no_moon on Thu Sep 04, 2014 12:44 am; edited 1 time in total
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