Fragment Ten: Gladitor
Overview
Fragment Ten introduced a major new venture for Martin Rank. Curious about the origins of The Cagliostro’s email server, Marty decided to do an investigation of the company who hosted it, called Kemetic Solutions. Through some clever digging, he was able to acquire the address for the company and decided to pay them a visit. Although he was turned away at the entrance, he did manage to get three photos, which he posted on the Basecamp 33 Forum.
Marty’s photos led to a rabbit-hole like no other. Strangely enough, the photos were filled with strange distortions, odd static-y bits unlike any Marty had seen before even though his camera was ancient and known for producing certain oddities. Hidden inside was the symbol for the element ‘aether’ and the initials ‘K.S.’ The Mountaineers realized this pointed to a URL: ‘kemetic.solutions.’ The site led to a landing page with the Kemetic Solutions logo, and butterflies floating out of the logo in an infinite loop. However, Kemetic Solutions’ site wasn’t the only secret the photos were hiding – one of the images was a GIF that held a password-protected file named ‘patience.’ Using the word ‘aether’ as the password, recruits unlocked the file and found the phrase ‘63 minutes.’ Combining their two discoveries, recruits waited on Kemetic Solution’s homepage for the set time, and when the time arrived, they found an internal promotional video. Many of the Mountaineers found the video to be suspicious and cult-like.
After recruits were done watching the video, they noticed a new presence on the forums. A user named xxxxaetherxxxx was modifying posts in the thread, using dates and times to point to older posts all over the forum. Using numbers formed from the dates of the edits, it became clear something was happening on Monday, April 3rd at 5:30 pm. When the time came, recruits realized something strange regarding the recruitment video – there were now strange flashes of a man speaking to someone named Aether, asking him to perform magiq. Hidden in the flashes were pleas to help, and the phrases ‘therearenoconstance,’ ‘Find her,’ and ‘sTumbled.’
Using the word ‘sTumbled,’ recruits were lead to a Tumblr page of a girl named Constance. She refused to speak to the Mounties at first, requiring the forums to be protected by a safeguard spell before she would discuss Aether. Using her membership to a magical library, however, she was willing to provide Mounties with the tools to protect their site in the form of the Joradian Safeguard spell. After recruits successfully performed the spell on Google Hangouts, Constance joined the site and explained Aether’s story. Aether was a magimystically adept boy who possessed the ability to manipulate technology. He was her best friend until he suddenly disappeared one day, and she was desperate to find him. In the days before his disappearance, Aether had been contacted by a man claiming he could help him, and Constance suspected this was no mere coincidence. After a thorough questioning, she was able to provide recruits with Aether’s Tumblr blog, soon realizing that his once empty account had now listed a single video: a livestream set for five days in the future.
Five days later, the Mounties joined the livestream and spoke to Aether himself. He was being held in an underground facility, forced to undergo experiments testing his magimystic abilities. Two others were being held against their will, a Mountaineer and a young girl, and they were all being used in an attempt to open a door to another world. However, Aether had a plan. Using his technological powers, he was going to break into Kemetic Solutions’ database and free his mind. Aether warned the Mounties of the storm to come, telling them he trusted them to save him from Kemetic Solutions. Saying their farewells to Aether, they realized that the images flashing throughout the livestream held a secret – a constellation known as Gladitor. The tenth fragment had finally been found.