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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: General » Old News & Rumors
[TRAILHEAD] Smithy, Chapter Two
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jslice1001
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Joined: 22 Nov 2006
Posts: 50
Location: Los Angeles

 		Character Compendium
There's a lot here... I kinda feel like I should start a new topic, but I'm intimidated to do that... If you guys think this takes up too much space here, I'll do it though. Hope this is useful, and let me know if anything got left out or needs updated, I plan on keeping it up to date as much as possible.

*EDIT* Updated 3/30 for the "end of the dream". Everything has changed now.

Interactive Characters
who?
Doctor Netchurch, supposedly our link to the story and someone we should depend on for help.

a friend
Porter, a Nosferatu allied with Jon. He likes to joke around a bit.

The Other
Has only posted a few times, mostly reacting to the attitudes of certain posts by players.

Schrecknet
Confirmed that it has been used by Doctor Netchurch in multiple personalities, also Porter and possibly Jon/Jonah, but apparently can be used by any member of the Kindred.


Prose Characters
Jonathan/Jonah Swift
Main Character, seemingly a normal person infused with the power of a Fifth Generation Kindred. His vampire memories have recently reawakened, and Jon/Jonah (calling him J to save some space) became more Jonah than Jon in the second loop. Possibly the "He" in exhibit a.

Sara (Winterhouse?)
Not much is known about her yet. She was in love with Jonah, was the Queen of an unknown land, maybe Heidelberg, and is someone "not to be trifled with." If she is the Ms. Winterhouse from Chapter 16, she is at least 620 years old.

Douglas Netchurch
A Malkavian scientist with a dual personality. Helped J escape from Jons Hopkins university and delivered him into the hands of the conspirators. Has used shrecknet to contact the players. Unsure of his true intentions, his personality changes and confusing manner of speak make it hard to tell what he is trying to gain. Led us out of the dream, is in control of the blog as Who?. His email is represented by "RX" in some exhibits.

Beckett
An intellectual Kindred studying coded papers from a special group of Kindred. Got sucked into the dream with Jonathan somehow. Seems to have some relationship with Sara.

Porter
A Nosferatu who was hiding J in Four Oaks, NC. He gave a little information about what is really happening to J, but was interrupted by a Gangrel attack. Not sure whether he is to be trusted, but it seems like he and his co "conspirators" have J's best interests in mind. "A friend" character who posts on the blog.

Marko
Has something to do with the beginning of the dream. He is definitely not Nosferatu, and may possibly be Malkavian. He claims to be Sabbat, but apparently was affiliated with the Camarilla in some way. Whether "you're one of them" means Malkavian or Camarilla, though, is not clear.

Gisele
Also has something to do with the beginning of the dream. Probably the "She" from exhibit a. Red head.

Henri Devereaux
Prince of New York Camarilla. Owner of an unknown company in New York. Possibly sent the emails in exhibits j and m, who were sent from "HD".

Paladin E. M. Rathe
Probably a member of the Society of Leopold. Someone who's goal is to kill Henri Devereaux. Got involved in the J situation and went after him at Jons Hopkins, but failed.

Smiling Jack
A Brujah who helped Jon get on his feet when he first realized he was a vampire. Has a history with Jonah going back at least a few decades. Slimy character.

Deb and Max
Other Nosferatu who were with Porter in Four Oaks, NC.

Don
Author of note from exhibit b.

Charles
Someone Ms. Winterhouse knows. Apparently also knows Jonah, assuming that's who he meant when he said "Oh. Him." in chapter 16.


Other Possible Characters
the agent
Spoke to petunia about J getting moved. Is this "a friend"?

RW and AM
Exchanged an email in exhibit k.

PostPosted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 3:43 pm
Last edited by jslice1001 on Mon Mar 30, 2009 11:01 am; edited 2 times in total
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yochanan
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 		The newest morse code file is posted. It says:

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
DID SARA LOVE JONAH


PostPosted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 3:21 am
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yochanan
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Joined: 11 Nov 2007
Posts: 74

 		In case this is relevant, here is the text for Ecclesiastes 1:09 - 1:11 and 3:15.

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
9 What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

10 Is there anything of which one can say,
"Look! This is something new"?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.

11 There is no remembrance of men of old,
and even those who are yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow.
---
15 Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.


PostPosted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 12:58 pm
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yochanan
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 		And the latest morse code message says:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
SARA DESPISED AND LOVED JONAH


Should we be reading anything into the use of Morse? What is the purpose for transmitting information this way... it's not really a puzzle to solve... who might be sending the code, and from where?

EDIT

I just realized that the morse code messages are a conversation between (two?) people - not necessarily between characters and us. Here they are in order.

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Speak to Sara when you find her.

How is Sara? Can she be trusted?

Trust no one, but Sara knew Jonah.

Did Sara love Jonah?

Sara despised and loved Jonah.


PostPosted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 12:43 am
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jslice1001
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Joined: 22 Nov 2006
Posts: 50
Location: Los Angeles

 		maybe the code is from some time in the past when morse was still relevant... None of the years listed in chapter 17 really match up with morse code, but if it's all the same to them, then a message from 100 years ago would still apply today.

Just a thought. I'm not sure we're really supposed to be figuring anything out at this point, after the big TO BE CONTINUED this is kind of like an entertaining intermission.

EDIT
There's a new post, Chapter 18. Also, I caught shrecknet on aim. I talked a little bit, and all the responses were in French. Here is the translated conversation:

Quote:
me: hello, my name is Nathan Hale. do you have time for a few questions?
shrecknet: But certainly
what do you want?
is there a problem?
I gotta go now
me: there was a... woman, named Sara. I'm looking for her, does the name sound familiar to you?
shrecknet: sara!
she is ... magnificent!
me: so you do know her? can you tell me about her, like what she is up to at the moment?
shrecknet: it is ...
I do not know
it is dangerous in several ways
beware
goodbye


EDIT 2
Got the new morse code message figured out. Fun doing this at work trying not to get caught. Twisted Evil

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
did sara help jon kill jonah


Now I wish I could have figured this out before I talked to shrecknet Mad

Also, no idea what the little code at the bottom of the chapter is about... googled it and it's a dna strand from bacteria, but that makes no sense to me... any ideas as resident code genius, yochanan?

PostPosted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:32 am
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yochanan
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 		Thanks for the ego boost Smile

I'm not sure.. my first thought is that it could be a hexidecimal number. Converted to decimal, it is 2671. Not sure if that has meaning or not.

EDIT

Oops.. my bad.. I just noticed that there is an "h" in the code, which goes beyond hex digits. I just copied the whole thing into a converter.. wonder why it gave me a number..

PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:14 pm
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Wulf74
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Joined: 04 Dec 2008
Posts: 680
Location: SLC, Utah

 		Looks like you guys have been busy. I'll be catching up as best I can tonight. I arrived in the land of green skies and blue grass Monday and have been uber busy ever since.

I've gotten a couple of emails from Shrecknet, 1st email I had asked Porter how things were, since we hadn't heard from him recently, seeing if there were any additional clues we were missing in relation to this Sara bit (these were several days ago). 2nd email I actually sent to Netchurch to see if we could get a reply - but Porter responded saying that Netchurch hadn't logged on in several days, which could be ominous seeing as Jonah was on his way to find him.

I then received an email today from Shrecknet - the subject read only
Quote:
tinyurl
and nothing in the main body of the email. I'm not sure if it was left deliberately blank (did anyone else get an email with strange... Bang Head doh!
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
www.tinyurl.com/a6fhc4 - which points back to the very first post on the blog.

To me this says we're obviously missing something. I'll dig in a little further this evening.

OOG
As a fun side note, as I hit the local Starbucks here in Lexington, KY today - the girl behind the counter told me that there was a tornado watch in effect, and to watch for, of course - a green sky. I had to chuckle to myself, and almost asked if she knew Jonah...

==EDIT==
I posted a comment to the first blog post:
Quote:
Back to the beginning. Is there anyone but Jonah who could stand against an ancient?

I came back a bit later, and my post was repeated 2 more times - except with the phrasing slightly changed, all spaced several minutes apart. I wonder who it is that's doing the manipulating..? It wouldn't make sense for Porter to do it.

==Edit 2 ==
Now that I pay attention - it's telling us exactly what to do. Start at the beginning, the answers are obviously in there somewhere. The question is - what'd we miss?

PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 10:01 pm
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yochanan
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 		Latest morse code transmission:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
JON WAS HIS OWN HUNGRY BEAST


PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 12:32 am
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Wulf74
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Joined: 04 Dec 2008
Posts: 680
Location: SLC, Utah
yochanan wrote:
Latest morse code transmission:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
JON WAS HIS OWN HUNGRY BEAST


Translation of X:
Quote:

ce qui se produit (What occurs)
the story cannot end why is this so difficult
dieses ist Folterung wer mir hilft (this is torture who me helps)
I cannot I cannot I cannot
la noción está loca (the notion is crazy)
ayudamehelp me
this makes no sense this makes no sense
wie is daar wie is daarwho is there which is there
Кто наблюдает меня , Они знают меня (who observes me, they know me)
there's too many watching watching me
それらは危ない … コード (as for those dangerous...cords/codes)
what ... what...
留下我 … 留下我 (under stopping our)
there's too much in my skull


I'm reading it like this:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):

The story cannot end, why is this so difficult? I cannot, I cannot, I cannot. This makes no sense, this makes no sense. There's too many watching, watching me. What ... what ... There's too much in my skull.

and then:

What occurs. This is torture who me helps. The notion is crazy. Help me. Who is there which is there. Who observes me, they know me. As for those dangerous ... cords/codes. Under stopping our.

still working on "translating" the last part - literal translation is sometimes difficult.


PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 12:37 am
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jslice1001
Boot


Joined: 22 Nov 2006
Posts: 50
Location: Los Angeles
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
the story the story cannot end why is this so difficult this
is torture, help me i cannot i cannot i cannot this thought is crazy
help me this makes no sense this makes no sense who is there who is
there who is watching me, they know me there's too many
watching watching me They are dangerous ... code ... what … what… I'm gone …

I'm gone … there's too much in my skull….

This…

ENDS…

NOW!


So what code? And what's the large period after "skull" about?

pretty sure it's Jon/Jonah's head exploding with multiple personalities or something...

was it snowing in the first chapter originally? maybe it's making me go crazy, I thought it was raining the first time...

EDIT
Stupid work made me miss an IM from shrecknet. All they said was "Why are you on my buddy list?" but still.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 1:14 pm
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Wulf74
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Location: SLC, Utah
jslice1001 wrote:

pretty sure it's Jon/Jonah's head exploding with multiple personalities or something...

was it snowing in the first chapter originally? maybe it's making me go crazy, I thought it was raining the first time...


Interesting point of view. My thoughts were that we were given a glimpse into the mind of Dr. Netchurch/Janus. A few reasons it appeared this way to me, 1 was the multiple languages. The fact that whomever you chatted with on Shrecknet the other day was using French. That hasn't happened before - and the speech pattern isn't the same as Porter - it was more... pained and confused.
The 2nd was because Jonah hasn't exhibited any signs of this kind of dual personality, that we've seen. It's more in line with what we've been told of Netchurch. And 3rd - because we know Jonah was going after Netchurch - this felt to me as a building of the story to that point/end.

As far as the snowing/raining bit - I started re-organizing all of the blog posts about 2 weeks back, into storyline/puzzles/etc - which means I copied the blogs into a different file. Granted - they were copied on 2/3/09 - but I don't believe they changed it 2weeks ago in anticipation of anything. I could be wrong there - but the story seems solid. I also started comparing the rest of the story to what I have copied down - but I didn't see any differences in what I looked at.

==EDIT==
I also responded to the email we all got the other night - sorry I haven't posted it prior to this, but I also got a response to it today.
Quote:

From: shrecknetSPLATaol.com

I thought I'd say "bye" before I forgot who you all are. Don't worry, we'll meet again.


My reply:
Quote:
What!? What do you mean?

Who is this? Porter?

What's going on?


And theirs:
Quote:
Do I know you?


PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 8:22 pm
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Wulf74
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 		Sorry for the double-post, but this isn't related to the last one.

New blog posting is up, 1. Click here.

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Definitely changes in this version. The further this story continues, the more it makes me wonder if there isn't more related to the first Smithy ARG; the seemingly dual personalities, loss of memory, no knowledge of the other personality, etc. The story so far IMHO is fascinating, and definitely keeping me interested.


PostPosted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 1:18 am
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JonahFalcon
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 		I'm still lurking. And if you remember, there was a snowfall on the screen.

PostPosted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 9:27 am
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jslice1001
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Joined: 22 Nov 2006
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Location: Los Angeles

 		What was the snowfall? That must have been taken out before I joined in...

I got a different email from shrecknet, in response to one I sent out asking about Sara:
Quote:
I'm sorry - I don't think I know you.

I'm disturbed about how you know who Sara is though.


I'm guessing this is from Jon, who seems to have lost his memory again. I emailed back, trying to introduce myself properly and offering our help. Maybe making friends right away will help out this time. Very Happy

One more thing... Did anyone ever figure out what the picture in v was about, or what the itsy bitsy spider was supposed to mean?

PostPosted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 11:48 am
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Wulf74
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jslice1001 wrote:
What was the snowfall? That must have been taken out before I joined in...

I got a different email from shrecknet, in response to one I sent out asking about Sara:
Quote:
I'm sorry - I don't think I know you.

I'm disturbed about how you know who Sara is though.


I'm guessing this is from Jon, who seems to have lost his memory again. I emailed back, trying to introduce myself properly and offering our help. Maybe making friends right away will help out this time. Very Happy

One more thing... Did anyone ever figure out what the picture in v was about, or what the itsy bitsy spider was supposed to mean?


JonahFalcon reminded me of the snow to which everyone is talking about. On the first page of the blog there was an animation of snow falling across/thru the screen - now it's gone.

In regards to the email - since I've gotten a lot of the same responses, it almost sounds like more than Jonah Swift got "reset" - it sounds like everyone did. Time will tell - it will be interesting to see if Smiling Jack reappears.

I believe the picture was a precursor to the 2 nursery rhymes that were posted. The Row Your Boat rhyme and picture are both related I believe because they both reference dreams.

I posted a response to 'who?" on the blog post "a". It's a bit lengthy, so I won't post it here. Hopefully that answered your questions jslice.

One more thing - w00t back from Kentucky, now I've got more time to spend on this. Very Happy

==EDIT==
@yochannan - how did you solve the puzzle on blog post 2? I started fiddling with it - but once I translated the symbols to numbers, and the numbers to letters I saw that you solved it. I'm not that good with the puzzles, still trying to learn.

PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 3:36 pm
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