CTI: Crime Team Investigation

Started by Mandle, Tue 16/06/2020 16:50:02

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Laura Hunt

*runs back into forum*

The text is encoded with ROT-1. The first line spells "The masters work...". Someone else decypher the whole text please, I really need to head out now!

Ian Aloser

That is brilliant, Officer Laura Hunt.

I got this, if I did it correctly:
UIFNBTUFSTXPSL
NVTUOPUCFUPVDI
FEIFJTUIJNBTUFS
BOEQSPUFDUIJNX
JMMTQBSDIJNUIF
UFBSTIFTIBMMOP
SGFFMUIFTPSSPX

THEMASTERSWORK
MUSTNOTBETOUCH
EDHEISTHIMASTER
ANDPROTECTHIMW
ILLSPARCHIMTHE
TEARSHESHALLNO
RFEELTHESORROW

JackPutter

Sorry folks, I realise now that I made a typo or two when putting that together. Here is the corrected version I believe:



I'll edit my last post to reflect that too. Apologies!

MAP FOR REFERENCE:
Spoiler
[close]

Ian Aloser

OK, here it comes:
UIFNBTUFSTXPSL
NVTUOPUCFUPVDI
FEIFJTUIFNBTUFS
BOEJQSPUFDUIJN
JXJMMTQBSFIJNUI
FUFBSTIFTIBMMOP
UGFFMUIFTPSSPX

THEMASTERSWORK
MUSTNOTBETOUCH
EDHEISTHEMASTER
ANDIPROTECTHIM
IWILLSPAREHIMTH
ETEARSHESHALLNO
TFEELTHESORROW

Must think about that ....

heltenjon

Very good, Ian and Laura!

"The master" must be Stephen King. This crime scene was set up like the hotel in The Shining, with the famous scene from the movie where Jack Nicholson busts through the door with an axe.

Perhaps Deborah has been applying make-up for Rachel? If she has been involved in only one of the commercial campaigns, I smell a connection...

Admittedly, I didn't think of the option to send more officers. OTOH, if we had did that and encountered a bomb, the consequences had been even worse. Can we send something to the injured officers? I have a discount at the donut shop.

heltenjon

The reference to tears may point in the direction of Weepy Grove. Or that may be too obvious.

Did officer Leland get a look at the suspect?

JackPutter

Unfortunately the suspect was moving too quickly for Officer Leland to pick out many identifying details. The suspect was dressed all in black, baggy clothes, and their face was covered. Leland thought they might have seemed a little shorter than average, but that's all the information he's confident about giving.

Upon being asked, Deborah doesn't recall if she ever worked on the same project as Rachel. Rachel says she hasn't officially been cast in anything since she re-joined her agency, but she seems a little nervous and appears to be choosing her words carefully.

The chief avails of helternjon's discount and sends a week's supply of donuts to the station upstate, along with flowers to Officer Ullman who is recovering in hospital.

Ian Aloser

#287
Yes, I agree, it must me Weepy Grove.
Officer Helten Jon, would you make it a potential solution,
it seems that a have a bad hand for that :-(
EDIT: Chief, could we get a tracking dog? KS must have left
some traces on the axe. We should (POTENTIAL SOLUTION)
send a unit to Weepy Grove, i leave it up to you to decide who
the most suitable persons are for this job :-)

Mandle

#288
"Three loud explosions rang out - BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!"

Not connected to the case, but this reminds me of a line from "The Mothman Prophesies" book: "Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Four shots ripped into my groin and I was off on the greatest adventure of my life!", which turns out to be originally from "Sleep Til Noon" by Max Shulman.

I don't remember if it was Max or not but I remember some writer of pulp fiction novels once saying that they were paid a penny a word so the more "Bang! Bang! Bang!"s they could get away with, the better.

Mandle

#289
I can't help but think that the arrangement of letters in a 14x7 grid seems way too convoluted to produce just a simple clue pointing towards a location linked with tears.

I did notice that the first letter in every row makes an anagram for "TEATIME" but that's probably a coincidence, unless someone can see a location linked with drinking tea?

The Lakeview Hotel scene is an obvious reference to The Overlook Hotel in the Shining so perhaps some section of the red-lettered message is supposed to be read backwards and/or in a mirror like REDRUM?

EDIT: Perhaps the 14x7 grid is actually two 7x7 grids placed side to side?

Ian Aloser

The TEATIME is a great alternative in case
nothing is found in Weepy grove.
You have good eyes, Mandle !!

heltenjon

So, when is teatime? (Not to speak of the long dark teatime of the soul.)

JackPutter

THE KS CASE

CHAPTER FIVE

Officer Collins bit his nails and checked the clock for the hundredth time. Where WERE they? He spun around in his chair and checked his phone. No new messages. Sergeant Pangborn had started searching through the woods of Weepy Grove hours ago. After this lunatic had put another cop in the hospital, Pangborn had insisted on all available units joining him on the search. That meant that Officer White and Officer Leland were accompanying the Sergeant, while Collins held down the fort back at the station.

Collins tried to flex the fingers on his busted arm, and winced as the tendrils of pain climbed from his wrist up to his shoulder. He gently rubbed his elbow - it seemed to help. The mobility was returning to his injured limb, but it still hurt any time he tried to move it. He was damn near useless without his prominent hand, he could barely hold a pencil, let alone a firearm. He checked the clock again. Goddamn it.

Suddenly, a crackle from the corner. Collins pushed with his feet and rolled his chair over to the radio unit. He already had his hand on the receiver when the Sergeant's voice started coming through. "Collins, are you there?!?"

Collins squeezed the button with his uninjured hand. "Sarge! I hear you, loud and clear! What's the situation!" There was a pause for just a moment, but to Collins the time passed at a snail's pace. Finally came the words he was desperate to hear. "We found the victim! They're alive! They're safe!" Collins leapt to his feet and pumped his fist in the air. "Copy that Sir! Well done! Be careful getting out of there, you don't know what kind of traps might be waiting for you."

"Already in the prowler, Collins. We've got the poor kid wrapped in a blanket and we're headed back to base."

CRASH! The window next to Collins shattered, throwing shards of glass across the room. Collins instinctively dropped to the floor as he was peppered with the razor-sharp glass, landing hard on his arm. He cried out and swore. Holding his breath, he waited for flames, or gunshots, or some other awful thing to come pouring through the window. Nothing came. Carefully he got to his knees and peered over the top of the desk. There was a gaping hole in the window, only a few resilient shards clinging to the windowframe. It was then that he noticed the thing on his desk. A brick... not just a brick, a brick with a note tied to it.

"Did you hear that Collins? We're on our way to you!" Collins gulped before responding. "Uh, roger that, Sarge. There's a bit of a surprise waiting for you, and I'm afraid it's not a good one."


The chief comes back from the canteen, a styrofoam cup of black coffee in his hand. "Hot DOG, you guys are good! Just HOURS after saving the Hawthornes, you track down the criminal's next target. Boy, I needed that. Commendations for you all!" The chief is gesticulating so much that it's a mystery how his coffee cup isn't completely empty.

"Our would-be victim is Alex Pelton, high school junior, member of the drama club and glee club. He was last seen getting a drive-through meal last night after a drama club meeting, and he never made it home. Pangborn tells me they've just found his car abandoned somewhere along York's Way. The poor kid had been knocked out and strapped into an old Plymouth which was placed into a crusher in the junkyard at the edge of Weepy Grove. If the officers hadn't pulled him free by the time the junkyard staff arrived on Monday morning... well, I'm damn proud that we found him before then!

"It doesn't appear that Alex and Rachel know each other, though Alex did say that he recognised her from somewhere. Could have been school, could have been an audition they both went to. We could only get so much information from him before his parents arrived. They were a bit confrontational about the fact that we were questioning a minor without a parent present - they whisked him away pretty quickly. We might have a better chance to talk to him in a day or two.

"As for the maniac's next clue, I'm guessing it's this old-fashioned piece of arts-and-crafts that surprised Collins so badly:



The chief takes a slurp from his cup and drops it in the thrash. "Priority number one is pinning down what this 'KS' stands for, even if this wacko says they're not 'KS' for some reason. This nutjob is all over the place. Regardless, there's no way we'll figure out the 'opposite' of 'KS' until we're in agreement on what it is."

heltenjon

QuoteThat's about all I have to say at the moment... Oh, I imagine you're wondering why I signed the letter, "KS." Well those are not my initials, of course. They stand for those who would destroy a God, those who kill the reigning leader, those who use opportunity to usurp the big man's seat. I will not stand by and allow them to do it any more.

I still think this points in the direction that "KS" means "King slayer(s)". But it doesn't sound like the chief agrees.  :-\

Ian Aloser

KS. The S could stand for slave or servant , the Master was mentioned in the last message

heltenjon

I guess everyone knows that this murder method was mimicking Stephen King as well?

Ian Aloser

#296
I have a slight suspicion that the prep is trying to lure us to Torrent`s Crescent.
There are a number of birds showing a crescent marking ( a bird that chirps )
and Torrent could have something to do with Torrent Audio and torrent rain
(The audio that causes rain ).
Don't know about the somersaults. though
EDIT: Found something in the web about "Tweener Somersault"
There's Tweener's Way on the map, Maybe between Tweener's Way and
Torrent's Crescent ?
@Heltenjon: Which Stephen King film was the last crime related to ?

Cassiebsg

#297
I know we don't need much Google, but decided to google "KS" anyway...

QuoteWhat is a KS?
Kaposi sarcoma (KS) is a cancer that develops from the cells that line lymph or blood vessels.

Can it be that he sees his victims as "cancer" that needs to be eradicated? Just the way how he refers to "KS" in the note.  (wtf)
Or maybe it's just what you guys have assumed in the first place, and it's got to do with Stephen King.  (roll)

As for the clues, I feel like he's forming a sentence/location out of those 3 sentences, each providing a "sound" or "word" (though not necessarily 3 words, as some maybe put together to assemble a longer word).
But then again, I've been pretty clueless during all this cases, so maybe I should just stick to make sure you guys have the coffee just right and something to eat and fuel those gray cells.  :)

PS - Does anyone know if there's a Gymnasium or athlete facility in town? Maybe that's what the "somersault" stands for?
And I think that "audio that causes rain" is also known as white noise. Static could be a word to describe it as well.

Birds chirp makes me think of a park or something... but again, from lightly Googling:

Quote
A chirp is the short, high sound a bird makes. The chirps of the robins at your bird feeder through the open window might drive your cat crazy. Birds chirp â€" you could also say they tweet, twitter, cheep, and warble â€" and some insects chirp too.

just posting this, in case it gives some inspiration...

I'll go back into making some coffee for you, now... 
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

heltenjon

I thought maybe someone else would connect the standard Stephen King lines this time around, but sure: The latest crime scene was from Christine. (The one about the haunted car.) I think it's got to be clear that the killer has a Stephen King hangup. This must be part of the overall mystery that Jack talks about in the rules.

It would be great to hear everyone's thoughts on the last message, not just us eager ones in the European time zone...in this game every thought may be the thing that gives a team member an idea.

Laura Hunt

#299
Quote from: heltenjon on Sat 04/07/2020 18:24:28
QuoteThat's about all I have to say at the moment... Oh, I imagine you're wondering why I signed the letter, "KS." Well those are not my initials, of course. They stand for those who would destroy a God, those who kill the reigning leader, those who use opportunity to usurp the big man's seat. I will not stand by and allow them to do it any more.

I still think this points in the direction that "KS" means "King slayer(s)". But it doesn't sound like the chief agrees.  :-\

If it's not King Slayer(s), then it has to be something like King Supplanter(s) or, probably more likely, King Substitute(s).

I'm confused now, however, as to who he is or believes himself to be.

He clearly reveres some Master (let's say Stephen King) and he hates those who he sees as inferior imitators.

But if he says he's the "opposite" of KS (i.e., of those imitators) and he also says in his first message that he is the "real deal", does this mean that he's Stephen King (or whoever this "Master" is) himself? 8-0

(I said it before, but I'm more and more convinced that this is going to end up being some kind of "The Dark Half" setup.)

I still don't understand what the victims had to do with all this, though. They're not horror/mystery writers, or movie directors, or imitators of anybody in any way, so why would he target them? Are they all Dean R. Koontz fans or what? :-D





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