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Another mystery! Fantastic. I think we should visit 22 Regency Street to find out more about the victim's possessions, which seem far more interesting than concluding that yep, the guy sure got shot. On the other hand, if it turns out he was shot with an uncommon kind of pistol... The damage to the briefcase is interesting, because there is an empty file inside the briefcase. Perhaps the file was missing already, or the perpetrator stole it. The old "steal valuable information and disguise it as a robbery" is a classic trope, after all. But then, since the briefcase was locked when Sherlock got to it, it's more consistent with the killer using the key to unlock the briefcase, steal the file, and then re-lock it again. But if that's the case, why the gash? What's going on with that note, though? The suggestion of a connection with the St. Petersburg munitions explosion and the victim meeting with a Russian diplomat is tempting, but... in the introduction, the note is described as appearing to be written in the same hand as the rest of the notebook entries, i.e. by Courtney Allen. Why would he write a note to set up a meeting and sign it "A.M." himself? It's not just a reminder to himself, it says "Meet me tonight". It's a message to someone else.
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Oct 18, 2015 10:08
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Disappointing that there was nothing to learn from the man's possessions. With all the jewel heists going on lately, it would've been interesting if that ring of his had turned out to be stolen, for instance. I think we should visit 1. Spaniard's Inn at 25 SW, to find out if our victim met with someone there. Failing that, in second place, 2. Grant Arms & Co at 5 EC. At some point we should probably figure out who Captain Egan is. What kind of captain might he be? Police? Military? Ship? Could we have a list of docks we could visit?
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Oct 18, 2015 23:13
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Indeterminacy posted:Thanks for this! Courtney would not have been able to walk from Grant Arms at 5.30 to Keen's Chop House and back again for 7pm when his body was found The dinner was the night before he was killed. It's more likely he absconded from dinner to whatever meeting he had at "Bishop's F" at 8:30 that evening. Was he having an affair with his secretary's mother? How old are the people involved? Linhart does sound German. edit: Lookup, please: Are there any establishments with names like that? I would guess they would be under public houses or inns. Also, if the alphabetical index is by last name, show us everyone named Linhart, please. Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 11:28 on Oct 19, 2015 |
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Oct 19, 2015 11:21
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Well, that's... interesting. Another Russian with the initials A.M.? Could be Alexi Mishkoff using a false name (although what idiot chooses a false name so obviously similar to his real name?) Either way, whoever that man met with, it wasn't our victim, since he was already dead at the time. Furthermore, if Allen had arranged a meeting with Mishkin at 10 p.m., then the Russian is there an hour and a half too early. Near the same goes for the guy with the Italian-sounding name. Ugh, this feels like a bad lead, somehow. I think we should talk to Linhart and see what the victim might have been up with his mother on the day prior, and what this surprise was at the plant on the morning of his death.
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Oct 20, 2015 21:48
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The briefcases being identical is weird, though, because the man Mishkin is meeting with is not Courtney Allen and that is not his briefcase. Courtney Allen is lying dead in an alleyway at this point in time, watched over by cops, and he's got his (slashed) briefcase with him. What we have here is two men, neither of which are conclusively linked to this case, who happen to have identical briefcases, plus a third briefcase (Allen's) that we don't know whether it resembles the other two or not. It's also not missing, Sherlock Holmes was just mucking about with it. We also have no reason to believe the note signed "A.M." was written by anyone other than Courtney Allen either, since it's in the same hand as the notes that make specific reference to the plant and the mother of his secretary. Unless by some coincidence there's an A.M. who also fits those facts... but if that man is a Russian, why would he write notes to himself in English rather than Russian?
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Oct 20, 2015 22:16
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We could go visit the Russian Embassy and confirm whether Alexi Meshkoff and Alexander Minshkin resemble each other at all; the latter is described as a giant man and should be easily recognizable. But I'm beginning to feel that Spaniard's Inn is a giant red herring. Both A.M.s there on March 9th did meet with someone, which means that neither one was there to meet with Courtney Allen. If one of them had showed up, had dinner and then went home looking concerned, then that would've been worth following up on, but since it looks like both of them met with someone (who wasn't Allen) suggests they don't have anything to do with this case. That two of them had matching briefcases just seems intended to confuse us, since we have no reason to think either briefcase resembles Allen's or belonged to him. I, too, suspected the switcheroo at first, but I don't see how that would work out now, seeing as how there are three of them. Actually, I was hoping that the meeting referred to in the note would've been on the previous night, and that the two (whoever they are) had already met and we would get some info on that, but alas. (By the way, it says to meet "at" Spaniard's, not "behind" it.) I don't think we have a case to make here right now, so I think we should focus on talking to William Linhart, and then finding Captain Egan. My vote for now is Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Oct 20, 2015 |
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Oct 20, 2015 23:02
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Plenty of good information this time around! - The file that is missing, SP#10-A, had to do with Special Project #10. (A might be for Admiralty or something.) - The victim was killed very shortly before 7 pm, meaning he was likely leaving the office to go meet with Captain Egan to discuss Special Project #10. - The meeting with Captain Egan was at an unusual time, so it may have concerned something sensitive and/or irregular. - The victim's tendency to leave cryptic remarks about his personal life means "Auf Wiedersehen" probably, as previously guessed, indicates he was having an affair with a German or someone with a German-sounding name. - The comment about "marrying for a title" implies that whoever he was having an affair with is married to someone with a fancy title. - Since the rose-scented letter came shortly after the arms fair opened, Allen was likely having an illicit affair with Countess von Schulenberg, the German delegate to the fair. - Suspicious, unidentified people were seen at the arms factory recently. - Either the victim or the killer smoked Benson & Hedges cigarettes. Now, that file. According to Linhart, all the files from the office are purely administrative and not interesting from a foreign espionage standpoint. Either the victim was carrying a file from the manufacturing plant around, or... the person who stole the file was not aware that the file was not actually particularly interesting, or was aware but wasn't actually after the file. The possibility of a jilted lover exacting revenge exists, but there is no suggestion that the Count was even in London at the time.
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Oct 22, 2015 20:58
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Sadly, Benson & Hedges is a common brand of cigarettes by the time of Sherlock Holmes and wouldn't be at all difficult for anyone to get their hands on in any local shop. I think that detail is only going to be relevant if we run across someone who smokes them. We could probably look up Captain Egan's workplace one way or the other, but I very much doubt he's going to be willing to talk to a pack of street urchins about secret military projects. If there was something the victim needed to discuss with Egan very urgently, we're going to have to find out what that was some other way. The Countess is probably hanging out in the German Embassy, which I'm sure a lookup would find easily. But, again, I doubt she'd be willing to discuss her illicit affairs with us. Even if she is, I don't think she had much of a motive to kill him. It's possible that she was feigning romantic interest in the victim, in order to get close enough to him to steal documents on Secret Project #10 for Krupp Works. Again, no evidence for this being the case. For now, I think we should treat the affair as extra credit unless something else manifests as suspicious. So, let's think about motives. Who stands to gain from the victim's death? I considered Phillip Marlowe, but is becoming president of the company really worth killing for? He doesn't actually get any of the victim's stock - that goes to the deceased's wife, Beatrice. In turn, that gives her some measure of motive, although she was probably living well on her husband's income already. That brings us to the affair - if Beatrice found out about his affair, she may have been provoked into killing him out of jealousy. We have no evidence of this, though. Some unidentified foreign party, perhaps Russian, could also be interested in stealing the plans on Secret Project #10. But as we saw, the files the victim was carrying were most likely administrative in nature and not actually interesting to foreign intelligence - but it's not certain that the assailant knew that. The slash on the briefcase could be explained by the killer trying that first before remembering the key. Or perhaps there were documents hidden in the lining of the case? That's some classic spy fiction stuff right there. Nothing points to the victim being paranoid enough to do that, though. I think we should next go see Lord Ragland at the Deverell Street Plant, 12SE, and see if he can shed some light on that surprise the victim wrote about in his notebook, and/or on the people snooping around the factory. Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 23:04 on Oct 22, 2015 |
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Oct 22, 2015 23:01
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Oho, I didn't see that von Schulenberg had participated in that shooting competition. Well then, that places him fairly high on the list of suspects after all. My vote is still unchanged, though... I think we can't rule out foreign espionage quite yet, and talking to Lord Ragland would help with that lead.
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Oct 23, 2015 09:45
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Darn. On one hand, it would've been nice to have Ragland's opinion. On the other... Notes: - The factory had an unpaid debt of 140 Guineas (about $22,000 in modern money, if I got things right) over six months old. - The debt was owed to Radford, Jones & Co. Google suggests this was a men's tailoring company. - This suggests the company may not have been in as good shape as the victim's brother was making it out to be. It explicitly contradicts his statement that the company was debt-free. - The day after the victim dies, the debt is suddenly paid. That can't be a coincidence. - What are debt papers doing in the plant in the first place? Administrative details should be handled from the main office, surely? - Same for the stock papers. - The photo in Camp's office sounds like it was taken in Paris, France. The cathedral with the square-topped towers is the Notre-Dame de Paris. I think we have to put Lord Ragland on the list of suspects. It sounds like he was hiding debts from management, and from a fine men's tailor, to boot? Was he selling secrets to foreign powers on the side to pay for his debts, perhaps? The victim may have caught Ragland out while snooping around the office the morning before he died. That may explain why he was meeting in the off hours with Captain Egan, on such short notice. Lord Ragland catches him leaving his office and kills him to stop him from meeting with Egan and ratting Ragland out. This would also explain the note. Consider this sequence of events: Ragland is in cahoots with "A.M." - perhaps the Russian diplomat suspected earlier. A.M. sends a note to Ragland to set up a meeting at 9 that night, Allen intercepts it, and wises on to the plan. He steals or rips up the original note and writes a new one with a later time (10). He takes the Special Project #10 plans out of the safe and hides them in his briefcase, then sets up the meeting with Egan, hoping to discuss his findings and set up an arrest for Ragland. Ragland, meanwhile, finds the plans missing and realizes the note is in the wrong handwriting, finds Allen and confronts him about the note, kills him, steals the SP#10 plans (first struggling with the briefcase), and leaves the note in the victim's handwriting behind. He meets with A.M. at the original time, putting the plans in a briefcase; the two swap briefcases, Ragland gets a fat payoff, and pays off the debt the next day. This is a bit speculative, but isn't Sherlock Holmes always? Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 18:02 on Oct 24, 2015 |
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Oct 24, 2015 18:00
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There are one or two things I'd like to have a better grasp on, myself. First, I'd like to know with more certainty who A.M. is. We could visit the Russian Embassy and see if Alexi Meshkoff matches the description the owner of Spaniard's gave for Alexander Mishkin. Actually, just to be safe, could we have a lookup of Meshkoff in the directory, just in case he has a house in town he might be at? Also, if we could find a lead on whether Lord Ragland smokes Benson & Hedges, that would help square that little detail. Like Kajeesus said, probably not every schmo buys gold-leaf B&H cigarettes, so paying a visit to the Benson & Hedges shop listed in the directory there might tell us who might've bought cigarettes like that lately. If Ragland indeed has a taste for fine suits and fine living, it would make sense for him to have luxury cigarettes, too. I think this one is a little more likely to produce a good lead, so in a pinch, I'd vote for the tobacconist. Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Oct 24, 2015 |
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Oct 24, 2015 19:03
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Well, let's decide what to visit. As previously mentioned, I think our best chance at a good lead on the killer is 1. Benson & Hedges at 16 NW. If someone bought gold-leaf cigarettes recently, they would be able to tell us who. If that clue comes up Ragland, I think it's time to make a go at it. Failing that, my second vote is 2. The Russian Embassy at 54 SW. Meshkoff does have a house in town, but it's more likely he'd be at work during the daytime (although actually we're 1 for 3 on that one so far  ). Even if he won't talk to us, we might be able to figure out what he looks like. We could visit the tailor, but I don't think they'd be able to tell us anything we can't readily infer anyway - the debt papers were in Lord Ragland's office and paid off the day after his boss died, so I don't think they'd be able to tell us anything other than confirm Ragland bought clothes from them, so I'm leaving that one out entirely.
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Oct 25, 2015 10:50
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About the alley: We know the victim used to regularly take the back door out of his office, rather than go the front way. Someone - I'm still wagering the killer - was waiting for him in the alley rather than out front. This suggests that the killer was someone who knew the victim and his habits; this fits Lord Ragland to a tee. I don't buy the policeman's suggestion that the victim was ambushed or attacked from stealth; I think Ragland was simply waiting there for him to come out and then simply called out to him and the two had a conversation before the victim was shot. This also explains why the victim would let the killer get close to him. Even if the victim was suspecting Ragland of selling secrets to the enemy, he would have reason to feign ignorance in front of the man. Ragland would obviously have easy access to high-caliber handguns, being the chief engineer at a weapon manufacturing plant. If the clerks at Benson & Hedges tell us something like "Oh yes, these people bought gold leaf cigarettes in the last few weeks" and Lord Ragland is on that list, then I think that's enough to conclude it was probably him in the alley.
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Oct 25, 2015 11:57
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It makes sense for Ragland to wait in the shed: if someone were to see him hanging around in the alley, it would mean suspicion would be instantly cast on him if the witness were to come forward. He didn't know when the victim would leave his office, so he had to wait for quite some time in that alley - enough time to smoke a cigarette or two - and he would need a hiding place to avoid suspicion. Allen finally leaves his office at 7 pm, walks past the shed, Ragland steps out - the two have a brief conversation about the note and the stolen files, Ragland pulls a gun, shoots him, steals the papers. Now, it's been a week since the murder... the cigarette could have ended up there at any point in time. But I think given the circumstances of a detective story that we should at least consider it significant as a sign that someone smoked a cigarette in that alley at the time. If indeed gold leaf cigarettes are an expensive product, it narrows down the list of suspects considerably (especially in conjunction with everything else). It's entirely possible this is just a red herring, though, and Ragland is innocent (although the fact that he was a terrible business man fits so well with a mountain of debt caused by luxury spending, and the debt being paid off the day after the murder is too close to be a coincidence). If that's the case, who else is suspicious in this? - Beatrice, wife of the deceased. Motive: Inherits his stocks; victim was having an affair. However, I have trouble seeing her getting her hands on a high-caliber handgun and it doesn't fit any of the other clues. - Phillip Marlowe. Motive: Takes over as chairman. Kind of a flimsy motive since there's no immediate gain from doing this and he didn't get any of the company stock. - Count von Schulenberg. Motive: His wife was having an affair with the victim. Unlikely, though, since we have no reason to believe he knew about the affair, nor that he knew about the victim's habits regarding leaving by the back door. - A. M.: Motive: Stealing Secret Project #10 plans. This one is super flimsy as we're not even sure who A.M. is, and therefore nothing to suggest he had means or opportunity to do this, or even that he's after the plans.
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Oct 25, 2015 12:23
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Kangra posted:Lord Henry Ragland Yes! Kangra posted:Count von Schulenberg Aw, dang it. That means we can't rule out either of our prime suspects. Kangra posted:Richard Camp Double dang it! Camp is another man with potential access to the plans and to powerful guns, but other than that, there's nothing implicating him... that we're aware of. All in all, the best information we have still most strongly implicates Lord Ragland. He was a poor businessman and had racked up debt with expensive tailors, and smoked expensive cigarettes. He came into money shortly after the victim died. He knew the victim's habits and has access to powerful handguns. But all of this is, ultimately, circumstantial evidence. I know making staggeringly accurate inferences from circumstantial evidence is just how Sherlock Holmes rolls, but we ain't him and the lack of direct evidence irks me. Let's think about it this way: If Ragland is indeed the killer, where could we find a clue that would confirm that unambiguously? We don't know where he is, and even if we did, I don't think he'd talk to us. There's the off chance he's got the murder weapon in his house, but it's been more than a week and I doubt he'd just keep it lying around where we can get to it for that long. There's also the open issue of A.M.'s identity. Visiting the Russian embassy is still an option. We could go see Mr. Camp, but I don't really see why we would want to, right now, other than to grill him for motives, I guess. I'm curious - since this clue mentions the cigarettes directly, does the game have different text for locations depending on where we've been before? What would have happened if we'd gone to Benson & Hedges without finding the cigarette first? We would have no reason to in this case, but maybe there's some circumstance where that might happen. Also, does the visit to the laboratory that yielded nothing count against us in the quiz?
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Oct 26, 2015 17:20
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I'm guessing he bought a lot of suits at once (140 Guineas is a lot of money) and told them to send the bill to the plant. I don't know enough about turn of the century tobacconists to know the pay structure there, but I imagine he paid up front. Anyway, I think the purpose of that clue is just to show that Ragland was in dire financial straits - he took six months to pay off the debt, so he must've been living above his income for quite a while. I'm not really sure where to go, either, or even if we should start the quiz. For now, I think we should investigate a little more. Right now the person who knows the most about what happened is probably Captain Egan, even if he won't talk to us, so 1. Admiralty at 10 SW is my vote followed by the Russian Embassy at 54 SW. All we need is to catch a glimpse of Meshkoff and we can confirm if he's our mysterious A.M., since his physical description was so striking...
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Oct 27, 2015 11:36
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Nice, more valuable clues. Both Captain Egan and the victim seem to believe there was a traitor at the plant who was selling information to foreign powers. They both seem to believe Camp was the traitor, though, based on his trips to the embassy. "Pounce at 10" lends weight to the theory that the victim wrote the "Meet at Spaniard's" note with the express purpose of luring a suspected traitor out to an ambush organized in concert with Captain Egan. Now, it's reasonable to think that the note the victim wrote was the same one he handed to Kehoe with the express instruction to make sure Lord Ragland received it. This fits better with the victim believing Ragland to be the traitor, perhaps because he just discovered it. He wanted it to seem as if Ragland's contact had requested the meeting. It makes no sense to impress so strongly on Kehoe the instruction that Ragland receives it if the one he wanted to lure out was actually Camp. I think Camp's deliveries to the French Embassy can be explained otherwise: the photograph in his office suggests a relative or someone else close to him who lives in Paris, perhaps a daughter or wife (I suspect the former based on the description of her as "young"). This gives him reason to visit the embassy perfectly legitimately.
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Oct 28, 2015 18:03
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I don't know about the paper mills or ironworks. It looks like Ragland owned a significant amount of stock in those companies. I think what they're going for is that those industries are doing poorly, and that Ragland therefore lost a lot of money - which is consistent with people's description of him as a poor businessman. I guess visiting those locations could confirm it one way or the other, but I think we can readily infer that fact anyway. Possible locations to visit and reasons why I can think of to visit them: - Radford, Jones & Co: To confirm that it was Ragland who bought those suits. (I think this one is a waste of time... the bill was found in Ragland's office and I don't see why else it would be there.) - Lord Ragland's house: To confront Ragland directly about his whereabouts on the night in question. - Russian Embassy: To figure out if Meshkoff was the man at Spaniard's Inn on the night of the murder, under the alias "Alexander Mishkin". - French Embassy: To ask about Camp's business with them. - Richard Camp's house: Ditto. - German Embassy: To figure out if von Schulenberg knew about the affair his wife was having with the victim. - Rafferty Paper Mills or Stephenson Iron Works: See above. - Anthony Mariano's house: To figure out what he was doing at Spaniard's. (I think this is a complete red herring since this guy isn't suspicious at all, as opposed to "Alexander Mishkin" who doesn't appear in the directory and thus appears to be a fake alias.) There are basically two things I think we can do now: Confirm the identity of "A.M.", or try to exclude one of our suspects. The way I see it, this is between Ragland and Camp; I think von Schulenberg is unlikely to be the culprit, since he wouldn't know about the victim's habit of leaving the office through the back door, and it doesn't explain how the note the victim wrote in order to catch the traitor at 10 made it back to the victim. Anyone else got any cool ideas?
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Oct 28, 2015 20:30
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I don't know. I don't see what new information we could get from visiting Lord Ragland that would help us. I think we're more likely to get something out of one of the embassies... my vote is 1. Richard Camp's house at 23 NW, or 2. Russian embassy at 54 SW.
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Oct 29, 2015 10:15
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Aw. Come on, people, vote! We're so close to having this in the bag!
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Oct 30, 2015 20:17
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- Ragland has Benson & Hedges gold leaf cigarettes. We already knew this, but it's worth pointing out he uses a cigarette holder to smoke them. This is consistent with the "one end pinched all around" appearance the cigarette butt in the alley had. - Lord Ragland claims to have been discussing Richard Camp with the victim on the morning of his death. However, this directly contradicts Mr. Kehoe's testimony that the two never met on that morning and in fact the victim explicitly instructed Kehoe to not mention that he'd been there. - He also claims to have been working late on that same night. Again, this is directly contradicted by Kehoe's testimony that Ragland came in soon after the victim left around 8-9, and only stayed for "a few hours". I'm confident enough that he did it to do the quiz now, though I'm still unsure on the identity of "A.M.". What do you all think? Take it now, or have one more stab at that? I think I'm fairly willing to just assume it's Alexi Meshkoff. Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 05:24 on Oct 31, 2015 |
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Oct 31, 2015 05:18
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I mean, the guy is clearly lying to us. He didn't talk to the victim that morning, and he didn't work late. The only way around that is if Mr. Kehoe is lying to us, but there is nothing implicating him in anything and I really don't feel that's where this case is going. It's only case 1, after all. Ragland had motive (debt), means (access to heavy weaponry) and opportunity (knew about the victim's habits, lied about his whereabouts). There's circumstantial evidence (pinched cigarette end) linking him to the crime scene, and to the victim (the note). I don't see how this could be pointing towards anyone else at this point. The only place I think worth visiting at this point is the Russian embassy. But I do think we have enough to quiz it up.
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Oct 31, 2015 10:00
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Just to make it official, my vote is also to close the case and the take the quiz.
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Oct 31, 2015 21:17
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Here's what I would go for: Part 1: 1. Lord Henry Ragland. 2. To avoid exposing Ragland selling weapons design documents to foreign powers and possibly to retrieve the SP#10 papers. 3. Covert exchange of stolen papers via briefcase switcharoo/to get Ragland arrested by Egan's security forces. 4. Uhh. I'm going to guess he was sending packages to his daughter, who lives in Paris. Part 2: 1. ??? 2. The Countess von Schulenberg. 3. The smoker, Lord Ragland, used a cigarette holder to smoke his cigarettes. Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Nov 1, 2015 |
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Nov 1, 2015 22:54
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My hunch is Ragland didn't start to seriously consider selling secrets to the enemy until very recently, possibly as late as the same week (on account of the arms fair and foreigners suddenly snooping around the plant, and the fact that he waited this long to pay off his debt). But there is no sure evidence for that either way. I still have no idea why his birthday is important. It's probably related to the briefcase, though, yeah. Maybe the reason the thief failed to cut it open was because it was brand new or something? Watch as Holmes just goes "Well obviously it's Camp, Kehoe lied to you and Ragland only started smoking B&H yesterday, A.M. is the pseudonym of Emile Zobar and clearly this is all very obvious."
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Nov 1, 2015 23:50
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 You know, I retrospect, we should've picked up on the fact that Camp had a cigar humidor in his office. People usually don't smoke both cigars and cigarettes, so this would've been a strong clue that he was probably not the one who dropped the cigarette end in the alley. I have no idea how Sherlock nailed down Camp's relationship with the French lady from such little information, though! I also agree that the quiz could be more granular, with points awarded for details like knowing who the killer was selling secrets to, etc. On the other hand, that could easily end up in a spot where the phrasing of the questions themselves give away the answer. This was a lot of fun! Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 10:18 on Nov 3, 2015 |
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Nov 3, 2015 10:06
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A case! The game's afoot! - The handwritten note describes directions on foot from London Bridge Station (SE4) - or, indeed, the Bridge House Hotel where the man was staying - to Charing Cross Station (WC21); or a nearby location, like the Tivoli Music Hall (WC23), or Charing Cross Hotel (WC90), or the unlabeled house at WC20. (EDIT: Looking back at our earlier lookups, WC20 is Simpson's Cigar Divan, which is where the victim got his cigar!) - The typed note is ciphered. The simplest ciphers I can think of are the Caesar cipher, a generalized monoalphabetic substitution cipher, and a Vigenère cipher. The middle one requires frequency analysis, and the last can be solved by looking for repetitions in the text, but let's try the simplest one first. Caesar ciphers are simple, they just rotate the text a fixed number of steps. 13 is popular since it's symmetric, but that's clearly not the case here. There is another clue though: the letter "E" appears on its own several times in the text. There are only two words in the English language that could be: "I" or "A", with "A" being more common. That would correspond to a Caesar shift of 5; let's try that, shall we? pre:A knife AngeL caMe jUst on Spirpt kIss yOu a BlaDe skIll kEpt keeN eNgageD a quiD kill sHe advAnces Where knigHt in jesT play taG a rApiEr an adze aBjure paSt paId PleasUres if dIrk on ageNt keEp bodkin Near those seeK Who ready KnoW The capitalized letters above are: AALMUSIOBDIENNDDHAWHTGAEBSPUINENKWKW. Okay, so what the heck does that mean? Time to read some newspapers, I guess... Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Nov 7, 2015 |
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Nov 6, 2015 22:37
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He could also have been there for Miss Minnie Cavill. I'm a little curious about the hotel bill. It's dated March 3rd, two days ago, a Sunday. The victim had been in London for the past week at least; now, I don't know much about hotels and their billing practices, especially not in 19th century London, but is it usual to bill customers in the middle of their stay? Was he billed because he left the hotel and was staying somewhere else the night to the 4th? So, points of interest to visit... the crime scene should probably be our #1, to see if there's any evidence left where he died or anything the ushers can tell us. The hotel would be interesting, too, especially if we he signed in under his real name. I'm going to assume he's Scottish or Irish and came to London for a specific purpose. Since he seems to feel the need to carry around ciphered notes, he's probably got something suspicious in mind... maybe Mycroft knows something about this guy? The directions to the cigar shop suggest to me that he had some business, perhaps shady, with the cigar shop owner. Of course, it could just be he's a dandy that got a tip about some really good cigars. We'd have to visit the place to know. e: Nevermind, I found it on the map, it's at SE13. e: Might as well officially vote: 1. The Elephant & Castle Theater (SE13), 2. The Bridge House Hotel (SE3), 3. Simpson's Cigar Divan (WC20). Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 11:11 on Nov 8, 2015 |
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Nov 7, 2015 11:11
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Man, that's surprisingly disappointing. My only thought about that is that if the victim brought flowers to the theater all week long, but didn't give them to anyone backstage, what happened to them? If he had left with the flowers, I think the usher would've said. Was he romancing another guest? Someone who met with him in his box, perhaps, contrary to the earlier suggestion that he was there alone? I'm not sure how we're supposed to interpret "they don't tip their hats to me". A derby hat is not a large hat at any rate and it would be easy to tell if the wearer had red hair or not. With no other clues to go on, my vote is to just continue down the list... 1. The Bridge House Hotel (3 SE), 2. Simpson's Cigar Divan (20 WC).
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Nov 9, 2015 21:17
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Hum, this new information doesn't square with anything, does it? - The desk clerk said the victim only stayed in the hotel one night (Sunday, the 3rd) because he and his wife was in town for the evening only. - However, the man was seen in the Elephant & Castle for at least the entire previous week. - Furthermore, the victim was not seen in the company of a woman at the theater. - The hotel bill found on the victim does match the night in question. - Based on the name, the victim might be Scottish? There are sincere doubts he gave his real name at the hotel, though. We can probably conclude that the victim is up to some shady business (as if the ciphered note wasn't enough). He must have another residence in the city somewhere, either because he lives here, or because he was staying somewhere else while visiting. This is evidenced by his visits to the theater the previous week. So why lay up in a hotel for one night in the middle of a stay? Who is this woman he was with at the hotel? Why lie to the clerk about their reasons for staying there? I'm still up for visiting the next place I suggested, namely 1. Simpson's Cigar Divan at 20 WC. Whatever else is going on, we know the victim was there at some point. Other than that, I'm low on ideas. Maybe some good citizen left us some information at 2. Scotland Yard? Can we also have a lookup on Poole & Son just in case we want to go there?
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Nov 11, 2015 01:21
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Kangra posted:Poole & Co .................... 10 EC Wait, is that right? 10 EC on the map is marked "Metropolitan Hotel". What does the directory say if you look up "Metropolitan Hotel", then?
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Nov 11, 2015 11:07
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Agreed that what they're going for is probably MacDonald (as in Étienne Jacques Joseph Alexandre MacDonald). But, man, information sure is way more scarce this time around. - The victim has been in London not just for the last week, but for the last several weeks. It makes it more likely that he outright has a residence in London. - The 4:45 appointment I thought at first was about the Elephant & Castle, but 4:45 is a bit too early to be called "night" and at any rate the ushers have only been seeing him for the past week. It's probably something else. - Why did the victim need directions from the hotel to the cigar shop? On the off chance, could we have a lookup for MacDonald, please?
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Nov 12, 2015 11:34
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... is this about the "spirpt" thing again? I would've thought it was a typo of "spirit", but since it apparently is correctly copied, I'm beginning to wonder if the typo is significant somehow. Nothing else in the message is wrong, though... Other random thoughts about the cipher: - I like the chess angle, but I don't see anything in the cipher that it helps solve, alas. - Capital letters by position: pre:A.......A...L...M...U......S.......I....O.. ..B..D....I....E......N..N....D......D..... .H.....A.....W.........H........T........G. ...A..E...........B.......S....I..P....U... ....I.........N....E.........N............. .........K.W.........K..W.................. - The note had "March 5" up top. That's today's date, and the victim died last night. 5 is also the number of steps the text was rotated by. I wonder whether the victim was receiving ciphered notes on a daily basis with instructions for something to do on the following day? Maybe that's what he was doing at the Elephant & Castle, even? Receiving notes, I mean.
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Nov 12, 2015 18:58
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I thought of something! If it's not too much to ask, could we have lookups for the following names: Baker, Hardinge, Richmond, Lewin, Dearth, Judd and Leeds? Why these names? Those are people who have had pieces of jewelry stolen by the "Society Burglar" according to the July 4 newspaper, including a diamond stick-pin and a diamond pendant. There's also a recent note that someone "lost" their diamond brooch on March 1st. Could our victim be a thief? Also, reading these papers I also noticed Jack the Ripper seems to be out and about. Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 20:49 on Nov 12, 2015 |
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Nov 12, 2015 20:27
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Aw, that's a shame. Sorry to make you look that up... As for our earlier lookup of "MacDonald", "MacDonald, Inspector" seemed suspiciously familiar to me, and I just got it: that's probably inspector Alec MacDonald, a character from Arthur Conan Doyle's The Valley of Fear. He's Sherlock's contact at Scotland Yard in that story. Curiously, it also involves a cipher... sent by Fred Porlock, who we can visit in this game. Is that enough to make that our next visit? Probably not. But I'm kind of low on ideas. If that's true, then the victim can't be that person, unless this game departs significantly from Holmes canon. Yet another pseudonym? The Merry Marauder posted:Though I'd be entertained if it was MacMahon and he meant Napoleon III. ... or maybe this is the case? Can we have a lookup of MacMahon? e: Oh, and while we're at it, McDonald and McMahon? Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 22:06 on Nov 12, 2015 |
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Nov 12, 2015 22:04
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Okay, so what do we have here? - A victim whose name may or may not be Donald, or MacDonald, and who may or may not be married - A mysterious and as yet unsolved cipher - Evidence that the victim was a frequent visitor to the theater and cigar house - Evidence that the victim played chess Somerset House might be able to tell us more about the possible identity of the victim. If a Mr and Mrs. Donald exist, they would be in the record, though I suspect that may not be the case. It's possible Head Chemist Murray might be able to tell us something about the cipher, but it feels like we've got some headway on that already, and besides... what do chemists know about ciphers, eh? We could also simply visit inspector MacDonald. Maybe the victim is a family member of his. There's also a note in the paper that anyone with information on this man should report it to Scotland Yard, so maybe there's a clue waiting for us there? Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 10:23 on Nov 14, 2015 |
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Nov 13, 2015 19:45
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Tax Refund posted:I vote for Poole & Son (10 EC) next; they would have interacted with our mystery man when he bought his suit(s), so they might be able to tell us more about him. His clothes were the first thing Holmes looked at, and I think we should copy him. Especially since the rest of our avenues of investigation are turning up so little. Oh, I had completely forgotten about them for some reason. I concur. New vote order for me is 1. Poole & Co, 2. Scotland Yard, 3. Inspector MacDonald's house at 69 SE, 4. Somerset House, and 5. Regency Street.
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Nov 14, 2015 10:23
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Screw you too, game  We learned nothing (except I guess to confirm our victim is probably Scottish and bought his suit in Scotland), so my vote is still 1. Scotland Yard, 2. Inspector MacDonald's house at 69 SE, 3. Somerset House, and 4. Regency Street unless someone comes up with something.
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Nov 14, 2015 21:14
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Indeterminacy posted:Just as an observation about the note, in addition to the cipher, it is curious that it's 1) Dated with today's date, and 2) typed. What exactly was this note for? How was it made, where did the equipment and materials used to write it come from, and why was it in the dead man's hatband? My suspicion as to why it's dated today is that it contains some notes or something that the man was supposed to do today. In other words, if we can figure out what the note is all about, we can probably figure out some location the victim was supposed to visit today and then visit it in his stead for a clue. I've made no progress with it though... Indeterminacy posted:Also, although it's a gamble, it might still be worth responding to the ad about the diamond pin. Our man is not the serial burglar, but that doesn't mean he hasn't stumbled upon something he shouldn't have. OP indicated that the diamond pin had been sold to a fence... I guess it's not impossible that it could've made its way from the fence to our victim, but yeah, it's a long shot.
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Nov 16, 2015 20:17
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 20:44 |
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Sigh. We're not doing so good are we, and I'm still stumped on the cipher. All the talk about MacDonald made me go back and re-read The Valley of Fear to see if the cipher from Porlock in that one would help us with the one we have, but the cipher Porlock uses is completely different: it's a string of numbers corresponding to words on a page from Whitaker's Almanac, so his message of "534 C2 13 127 36 31 4 17 21 41 DOUGLAS 109 293 5 37 BIRLSTONE 26 BIRLSTONE 9 47 171" ends up deciphered by Holmes in the opening chapter as page 534, column 2, then look up word #13, #128, #36 etc. to form the sentence "There is danger may come very soon one Douglas rich country now at Birlstone House Birlstone confidence is pressing". We can probably assume the content in the game is inspired directly from select works of Doyle, but I don't know if this particular one is helpful at all.
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Nov 18, 2015 10:39
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