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Diary of a First Villain Hunt
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Yeti Face
Yeti Face
Pinball Amateur

May-15-2014 14:41

[SPOILER WARNING â€" This thread contains information relating to Arch Villain Hunts, so if you haven't used the content before then this is your opportunity to leave the thread and still maintain your lack of knowledge on the subject.

In a similar vein I want to go spoiler free myself, so if you're an experienced player posting here please keep in mind that as this is my first hunt all I know about them is what I post. If you could also avoid posting any hints unless I ask for them, that would be fantastic. Thank you.]





Today I unlocked Arch Villain Hunts. Which is timely, as yesterday I submitted an entry to compete in the annual AVH competition. I didn't mean to deceive anyone with my entry, if anything the Prince's Ambassador deceived me by advertising the hunts when he gave me the invitation, the scoundrel. I travelled to Shangri La today â€" then boom â€" I was landed with the Palace Gate puzzle. Did you know, if you ask the scholars any of the following terms, “Palace”, “Tiger”, “Animals”, “Tov” etc. you'll be informed that those have nothing to do with Shangri La?

However, I'm digressing. I got past the gate puzzle, and I met the Prince with $4500 to my name, three contacts across all cities, and two false accusations. Apparently though he didn't care for any of that, and immediately offered me a villain hunt. I thought it'd be rude to refuse given his esteem for me, so naturally I accepted. My villain is called “The Rat”, which you'll note is not a Shangri La animal mantra.

Since there doesn't appear to be much going on in the forums at the moment I thought it might be nice to make a diary of my attempt to catch The Rat. As I understand it, if I fail the hunt I'll get my third and final false accusation. So either I have to go down, or The Rat does. I can only hope this thread provides some small amusement to the Sleuth community.

Replies

Yeti Face
Yeti Face
Pinball Amateur

May-22-2014 02:47

Day 8:

Do you want to know what heaven is? Heaven is when you start up an almost impossible case on an arch villain hunt, investigate the crime scene and find nothing but footprints, in a city where the shoe maker is your contact. Now, shall I tell you about hell? Hell is when all of the aforementioned happens, but none of your three suspects will tell you their alibi and your suspect list is missing two suspects you've got absolutely no chance of finding. Heaven happened to me today. Hell, did not. Today was a good day.

No less than eleven cases were successfully solved. This is unheard of in my entire villain hunting career, and whilst it's partly a testament to just how much difference a full set of contacts can make, I did seem to have some outrageous luck. I also encountered my first case of discovering who the murderer is, only to have them do a runner. My murderer has never done a runner before when I'm on my way to accuse them. Thankfully that one resolved itself easily enough.

So, the most fabulously outrageously lucky case of the day award ironically goes to case number 13. This case came fully loaded with three bits of female thread, and one straight hair. My suspects were split into a list of innocents, and five unknowns. Of these five I believed four had real alibis. Without paying bribes all the physical evidence checks had been used up, so I picked a straight haired lady and started asking the suspects about her. I only had three suspects or so who had a question left, and none of them had anything to say about this suspect.

I went to quit the case, but then somehow, I decided to go against my money saving attitude that had kept me going thus far in the villain hunt, and pay a bribe to check the straight hair against the suspect I'd picked out. It matched. I went to pay another bribe to check her alibi. It was false. From the ashes of defeat marched the sweet phoenix of victory. The hint was a repeat of course; not everything can be awesome.

Yeti Face
Yeti Face
Pinball Amateur

May-22-2014 02:49

Repeat hints were the real mark of the day, despite successfully completing eleven cases the only new information that has been provided is that the co-conspirator is a woman. And given the past history of this hunt I'd basically been assuming that anyway. There was a fourth hint given out, but sadly it was redundant. Suspects are now between the barber and the music teacher. It'd be really nice if there was a faction skill one could learn to force unique hints in these hunts. I'd use my skill points on it in an instant.

Until tomorrow then. Where once again I expect the conclusion of this hunt.

Hints Received Today: 2
Total Hints: 4
Money: $8335

Secret_Squirrel
Secret_Squirrel
Safety Officer

May-22-2014 05:32

heh this is a pretty fair summary of what a VH is really like! Nice work so far.

Yeti Face
Yeti Face
Pinball Amateur

May-23-2014 01:58

Day 9:

Today I experienced hell. A slightly different hell to the one described in the previous instalment, but hell never the less. I identified my client as the murderer from the off, and then my suspect trail ran totally cold before I could find the client's motive. I even spent $1000 on townie bribes to try and reignite the trail, but it was to no avail and the client had to be let loose. I really wish my detective could just tell the police that the victim forgot the client's birthday two years running and be done with it.

My third case was a delightful one, the murderer went on the run, but I was able to get them back home where they were arrested. They told me my fifth hint, that the hideout is near the river. The music teacher had betrayed me. My detective breaks in and finds The Rat asleep in a chair. Not quite how he imagined catching her apparently. He then decides that he won't go to Shangri-La then, because apparently he likes wasting five cases worth of travel time. Still, as I'd been informed there'd be a favour case waiting for me at the end this did allow me to do that. I was physically taken aback when a suspect just answered a question rather than requiring intimidation.

After that I decided I had to go to Shangri-La, and to hell with the six case cost. I was surprised to discover the palace gates change their animal codes. I was then surprised to discover the prince didn't want to congratulate me on catching my villain, only in pretending he'd never met me before and offering me another hunt. I like to imagine my detective glared at him, because I certainly did. The treasure room was a different story, where I was offered a choice between three different accessories and a charming coat.

Yeti Face
Yeti Face
Pinball Amateur

May-23-2014 01:59

I spent nine days trying to catch the villain for this Prince, and all he has to offer is accessories? I weighed it up and then opted for the +6 toughness The Fangs, as at least this way I can pretend to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. It's also worth noting I gained about 200,000 experience points throughout this hunt, having started on something close to 120,000. I headed to the station and boarded a train due to London. I've got an awful lot of preparation work to do for the competition in a week and a few days.

Money: $8145

Yeti Face
Yeti Face
Pinball Amateur

May-23-2014 02:00

Thank you for the kind words SS. :)

turtledove
turtledove
Gopher to the Sleuth Gods

May-23-2014 07:02

Congrats on successfully completing your first AVH. I followed your progress with great interest and was rooting for you all the way :-D

Yeti Face
Yeti Face
Pinball Amateur

May-23-2014 08:08

Aha, a lurker emerges! Thank you very much turtledove.

Tommy Dolan
Tommy Dolan
Old Shoe

May-23-2014 11:57

Hey
Well done :)

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