Editor’s note: All of the information contained within this article is courtesy of Zach, also known as molecularr in the Unfiction forum community. This summary was originally sent in on February 10, 2007, so some of the information may have changed since then, and we have made some changes to the article to reflect this. We thank Zach for his dedicated work in getting this information to us!

mhc_thing.pngA lot of stuff has happened in MHC since the last podcast, so I’ve tried to summarize it in sections below. The main things are that the MHC dealt with some aftermath of the Today show incident (Matt still isn’t really speaking to Derek, it seems), and players have been in contact with the mysterious GesamteSeele (Painted Soul) who was the last person to know the whereabouts of Jon Paine.

In more general news, there’s been some speculation in chat that this is a GMD production, though I don’t think that has been proven or really substantiated beyond a general feeling that MHC is similar to their past work.

Cryptidtruth has continued to post videos of the mysterious fish-like creature, including one containing a puzzle (see below). Derek has also started receiving envelopes under his door, containing a new puzzle (see below, “5 Per”).

This week’s Puzzles:

Video – cryptidtruth’s most recent video of the fish-like creature contained some frames with pieces of text on them. When collaged together, they revealed a message explaining why cryptidtruth prefers to remain anonymous.


Cryptid Grids (Episode 11’s puzzle of the week): We’ve figured out how to solve these puzzles, but the meta-solve that all of these puzzles reveal remains un-figured-out. Each grid contains letters and numbers, and each number is a pair. That is, there are 2 1’s, 2 3’s, etc. (Most of the puzzles include 1 – 7, but one is 1 – 6 and another 1 – 8). The answer to each puzzle fills in the series of blank spaces below the grid, one of which is circled with a number beneath it. That number is unique to each grid, so we’ve been using those numbers to refer to them. So far we’ve discovered and solved 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 11, so we still may be missing #5 and #11. To solve each puzzle, you have to draw a path connecting each pair of numbers that does not cross any of the other paths. You end up with a string of letters for each number, and when you arrange them the right way in a grid of their own, you can read “down” the columns to spell out a series of phrases which are hints about your answer. For example, the puzzle I got (#11) contained words and phrases related to the famous Patterson-Gimlin footage of bigfoot, so I surmised that my answer was “Roger Patterson,” which contributes the now-circled letter R to the meta-solve.

“5 per”: Jon received a pair
of envelopes under his door, each containing nine 5 x 5 letter grids and a large note with the text “5 Per.” In chat, Sylvia and some others discovered that it is possible to line the squares up in a way that five letters in a continuous line spell out a message. In other words, the nine grids form a larger square that has a message running through each of the squares (five letters per square).

Enhance Yourself:
Not clear if this is a puzzle per se, but there seems to be something we’re supposed to figure out using the most recent video of Jon’s PDA implant. Some frames in the video contain scans of anatomical drawings that appear to be Jon’s plans for his implant. The resolution is too low to make out any of the text, though.

Event:

Screening of _The Host_.
Where: Magno Review 729 Seventh Ave (between 48 & 49 St), 2nd floor, Room 1 NYC
When: Monday, February 12th, 2007 at 8:00 PM eastern
Players were to email Sun-Yi ([email protected]) or message her through myspace (myspace.com/koreanfilmfan) if they planned on going.

Storylines:

Derek’s missing stuff: Derek’s cryptid collection was stolen and then “redistributed” to players as part of the first grid puzzle. Now a couple of mysterious envelopes have appeared under his door containing the “5 Per” puzzle. We’ve solved those (we think), to reveal some not too clear
references to an object of historical importance and something about finding something “formerly lost”. So it’s not at all clear yet how this storyline will connect to the others.

Matt’s grandfather / Agent Yellow: Matt has continued posting journal entries from his grandfather, including several more pieces of film footage, some postcards and so on. He (John Wheeler) is continuing to work on Agent Yellow, though it’s still not clear what that actually is, and there is increasing tension between Dr. T (who is possibly the “Tinman” referred to in the solve for the “Domain of the Golden Dragon” puzzle. Matt and Derek had a kind of disagreement with Derek, and seems to be somewhat aloof lately.

Sun-Yi: Has posted more video and audio blogs. The big news is that she hosted a screening of _The Host_ on Monday night in NYC. There was a drawing for a _Host_ poster autographed by the director. She’s also posted some video for a project she’s working on (a walking tour of New York), and she called our attention to a guy in a green jacket who manages to appear in most of her shots. There’s also some hints at romantic tension between her and Derek (or possibly Matt). We’re not sure what to make of this. She was to have appeared on Fangoria radio on the 11th of February, but there was a problem (according to Sun-Yi herself) and she was bumped from the program.

“cryptidtruth”: More video posted, this time of an apparently captured creature. Sun-Yi has posted footage from a Korean news report that appears to be talking about the same creatures, providing some more detail. The most recent video also included inserted frames that were pieced together to spell out a message basically explaining why cryptidtruth prefers to remain anonymous. Something about an unknown agency (“like the government, but worse”) keeping people quiet. Someone who drew attention to the creatures has already had their house burned down.

Jon Paine’s disappearance: Jon Paine is still missing, but the reference to a “Painted Soul” has
led to conact with a mysterious German individual who seems to know more than he(?) is willing to reveal. He’s mentioned Jon seeking the help of an unknown doctor to “fulfill his destiny.” The implication seems to be that this is some sort of extreme body modification, but it’s not clear what. Amie has posted a new video of Jon’s PDA implant, which includes inserted frames of what look like Jon’s plans for the surgery. Amie has spoken of poring through Jon’s plans for clues, and Derek mentioned something “not looking right” about the video. To me, these sound like hints that we should be able to learn something from the video, but the resolution is so low it’s impossible to read any of the text on Jon’s diagrams. So this storyline continues to be kind of stalled. Amie is still on her way to NYC, though.

Character Reference:

  • Derek – Founder and president of the Monster Hunter Club.
  • Matt Wheeler – Derek’s roommate and MHC member. Has his own siteunravelling the mysteries of his grandfather’s journals.
  • Sun-Yi Park – MHC club member and NYU film student. Holding a screening of _The Host_. Also has written a couple of reviews for Twitch (www.twitchfilm.net).
  • Amie – Jon Paine’s girlfriend and publicist. Derek’s ex-girlfriend. Trying to find Jon and currently heading to NY to follow some clues and see if Derek and Matt can help her find Jon.
  • Jon Paine – Body mod / tattoo enthusiast. Several (gross) videos of his PDA implant in his forums. Has been missing since attending the Berlin Tattoo Convention, and maybe seeking some kind of extreme modification. Something about moving to the next level of evolution.
  • Painted Soul – Last person to know Jon’s whereabouts. Has a “Mr. Miyagi” way of talking in riddles.
  • “cryptidtruth” – Individual (m/f?) posting videos of weird fish-like creature on youtube and the MHC forums. Afraid of being found out.
  • “seeking” – Whoever is putting together the thinginthewater.com story summaries.

Sites:

  • www.monsterhunterclub.com – Main ingame site. Derek has posted a new song called “Yellow Eyes.”
  • www.rainbowofdeath.com – Matt’s site about his grandfather’s journals and Agent Yellow. New film footage and journal entries posted this week.
  • www.enhanceyourself.org – Formerly Jon’s site, now Amie’s way of trying to elicit help finding Jon. New video with possible clues.
  • www.thinginthewater.com – Summary site including day-by-day story summaries, character references, and links to everything. In chat, there’s some disagreement over whether this is ingame or not, but since it mentions everything related to the game *except* the unforums
    threads, my guess is that it’s ingame. It’s whois data is not the same as the other sites, though, so it’s possibly out of game.
  • www.myspace.com/koreanfilmfan – Sun-Yi’s myspace page. Blogs about MHC drama and posts video and audio blogs about what’s going on.
  • http://various.wikibruce.com/page/MHC – thebruce’s OOG wiki about all of the puzzles.