NOTE: I have decided not to finish this page, as I never actually finished this plot ^^;; However, I've written an article over at the 'ziki for this plot, so I highly recommend checking that out instead ^_^ However, I have decided to leave this page up anyway, as it still has some interesting parts in it. Enjoy! :)
A Murder in Acitius City was !new! AMZ's second plot (if you count the first one, when Aethey came to town), and the first interactive one. On the 28th of December '09, the first part was posted. At this point, we, the users, could do nothing.
On the 1st of January, the next part was posted. This is where the users came in. A thread was created, and for several hours there was a ton of speculation. Lynxogirl was the first to find a clue; an image hidden on Matilda's profile. Shortly after, Adam found an image of what appeared to be the weapon.
Lots of theories went around at this point, most people thinking the image was a red herring. Eventually, Dagger unearthed a thread. After viewing that thread, Imp's shop changed, an image of a safe and a small box to type the passcode Matilda mentioned into.
For a few more pages, there was a load of speculation on what the passcode was, until Curtis said that it was 1948. After typing it into Imp's shop, you would get a Bloody Butcher Knife - an item that can't be sold, given, or looked up on the Research Council.
We then waited for about a week (and this was a *long* week, mind) until the second chapter was posted. A preview was posted on January 4th, and there was a bit of speculating.
On January 6th, everyone that got the knife was zMailed. The subject was 'To [username]', and the message nothing but an image.
As you can expect, there was a ton of speculation. The price of Butchered Fei also went down, something that many believed to be significant. Finally, on January 8th, chapter 2 was released. At the same time, Finneous' Cassie Cyborg started to display this message:
Boutique con Carne
There was a lot of speculating, until Lynxogirl suggested that the 'gibberish' that the Cassiebot said was an anagram. After a lot of people tried to figure it out, Drakath came in with a hint, and it was determined that she was saying 'VICTOIRE'. After looking at Finneous' shop, if you sent your knife to Victoire, you would get a zMail from Victoire. The subject was 'This is blasphemy!'. There was a little more speculating, then Hissyfit posted a response she had gotten from The Old Man after asking him about the murder.
PharaohStephanie posted a section of the AMZ FAQ, which proved to be extremely useful. The site was plagued with 503 errors, so progress was slow. Where is the Old Man's special place? The Old Man's special place is a place nobody has returned from... Alive, at least. What monstrosities and horrors does the Old Man hide in this secret hideout? Are you sure you want to find out? It might be a better idea to just turn around and go back the way you came... ...But if that simply isn't an option, it is rumored the Old Man resides in a place where only the haunting hoots of the Lorilos can be heard... |
Not long after, a link to a sanctuary surfaced. This could be found if you tried to create a Lorilo; their description says:
"The Lorilos descend from a hidden place called Sanctuary -- a place where only honesty and good virtue can exist...."
If you went to the Sanctuary without completing all of the steps, this message would show up:
There's nothing to see here, please move along for the safety of yourself and those around you.
After completing the steps, you were greeted by TOM. After clicking the button, you would be given a Tuft of Bloodied Hair, an item that couldn't be looked up, sold, or given away.
On January 11th, everyone involved got a zMail from Bok. The subject was 'Important Notice to All Citizens'.
The next day (January 12th), a preview was posted in the news. On January 15th, Drakath mentioned that everything was ready except the pictures, and that they might post it without them. Finally, on January 19th, chapter 3 was released.. and there was probably a lot of speculating. hmm.
Slice through metal, slice through bone
How can these claws can be yours to hone?
Lynxogirl linked to a list of kanji, and Caelie figured out what each of them were quickly. The 'claws' referred to Roscoe, whose profile had changed; once you sent himth Tuft of Bloodied Hair, he sent you a zMail. The subject was 'Step Two!'.
Steel Salmon showed up in Boutique Con Carne for a whopping 2000 AP, however, it soon disappeared. Since Finneous' shop only restocks every 10 minutes (and only 1 salmon restocked), there was much annoyance all around.
After sending him a Steel Salmon, you would get another zMail; the subject was 'Step Three!'.
The Atomically Radioactive Pinga Figurine could only be found by playing What's Behind The Curtain; it took some users a couple of tries, while others got it straight away. After sending Roscoe the figurine, you would get yet another zMail - the subject was 'Step Four!'.
Understandably, there was a heck of a lot of speculation on what the fruit was, and who was growing it. Eventually, HissyFit posted a link to the research council; it wouldn't show up until you had sent Roscoe the Pinga Figurine, after which it would say:
A Fruit of Some Sort
Searching in all shops... Completed! Error!
After you'd been to that page, Cassie's shop had an Otherworldly Lemon in stock, for 1,500 AP.
Finally, after sending the Lemon to Roscoe, you would get another zMail; the subject was 'Step Five!' The next step proved to be one of the hardest; in order to get the Hourglass of Frozen Eternities, one had to score 675 or over on Snogo Snowballs. The next day, the score was changed to 550, and on 21 January 2010, it was changed for the last time, to 450.
After sending the Hourglass to Roscoe, you would get one last zMail; the subject was 'The Final Step!'. Nick was the first to prove to Roscoe that he wasn't an undercover cop, but didn't say how to do so; Papermonkey was the one who announced that you had to add Roscoe as a friend to get the Imitation Claws.
One could then use the Imitation Claws to free Aethelia.. only to find that she had already escaped. After that, chapter 3 was over, and the unedited version of chapter 3 was unlocked. This version had a few key differences from the edited version.
There was quite a dry spell after that, but on February 1st, the chances of getting the Atomically Radioactive Pinga Figurine from WBTC were upped, and the score you needed to get the Hourglass of Frozen Eternities from Snogo Snowballs was lowered to 300. It was stated that Chapter 4 would be up the next day, but a few hours later, it popped up... with a heck of a twist. Matilda had jumped off Cliff Chreu, Boris was raped, and Aethelia was revealed to be Number II.
The obvious thing was to go to the woods, in where you needed to wander through the woods. After a bit of speculating, it was realized that the paths were randomized for everyone. Tennie later posted that the wait between trying paths was about 3 minutes. Quite a few pages later, when most people had finished chapter 4, InaaraKaze posted a link to a handy tool, for people that had trouble getting through the mazes. It was also determined that, to be able to access the woods, you would need to have abandoned at least two characters.
The mazes were complicated, being randomized, but after you got through the first set of mazes, you would have to enter a code, much like the one you needed to enter to get the Bloody Butcher Knife. A lot of speculating went on as to what the hidden message was - everyone had different letters. Eventually, it was discovered that it meant 'subtract original from the changed' - as in Boris' bill; in the edited version, it was 203,841 AP, and in the unedited, it was 252,788 AP. To get to the next set of mazes, you had to type in 48947.
After that, you would have to go through another maze, though this one was slightly different from the original. Once you had successfully gotten through the woods, you would be greeted by one of your abandoned characters, asking you to take them back. When you agreed to, Bok shot it.
He would then go on to ask you some questions about yourself.. namely, the HP of all of your characters added together, how many questions you had ever asked The Old Man, and how many items (including those in your shop) you had. Thankfully, there wasn't a penalty for guessing wrong.
Two days later, on February 3rd, it was announced that in three days (on February 6th, at 9 pm AMZ time), the murder mystery would come to an end. And on February 6th, after chapter five was posted, it would be closing to new participants - basically anyone who hadn't passed the Cassie Bot stage.
What happened next? I dunno. It's still happening, ya know! |D
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