Monster Hunter Club - A Guide of Sorts

MHC on Fangoria Radio

Sun-Yi is quite the prolific film student. Okay, she hasn't made a ton of movies yet, but she's gotten cozy enough with a film studio that it puts the name of a club she's affiliated with on movie posters and she's writing film reviews for Twitch. And now she's going to go on Fangoria Radio to plug The Host and MonsterHunterClub.com. Maybe an influx of new blood will allow the hunt for Jon to go faster.

Journal #18

Only one journal today from Matt. The fight with Derek must have really affected him.

Journal Entry #18, 9/10/66 §
9/10/66

Went on an aerial recon flight with Dr. G yesterday, to see some areas that had been test sprayed with AO. Was a bit jittery, even with 2 fighter plans esorting us, but settled down once we got going. Dr. G was grinning like a schoolboy going on a field trip. I don't think that old buzzard is scared of anything, not even a flight into enemy terrority.

Seeing that scorched earth made my stomach turn. Especially knowing that what we saw on the ground was just the tip of the iceberg. But Dr. G just kept on with that same frozen grin, like a marionette. I finally asked him what he was so happy about. He said was glad to see firsthand the importance of what we're doing. Proofe that our work is so desperately needed. He must hae sensed my disgust, because his grin vanished and he told me to stop filming.

Thought I had the rest of the night off, but once we landed Dr. G made me go straight back to the lab. He said it was a mess and wanted me to completely reorganize our files with some ridiculous new color-coded system he thought up. Complete waste of time, since I already keep immaculate records. I couldn't call my assistants in to do it either, since "it must be done right." I told him at the risk of sounding prideful, this was not really the best use of my time, and the assistants were more than qualified. He snapped that he would be the judge of who was qualified for what. So I stayed until after midnight, doing this pointless grunt work. Everyone was alseep when I got back to the barracks. I've always respected my superious and have never had a problem talking orders. But assigning a useless task just to flex your muscle like that really sticks in my craw. Felt like I might as well be peeling spuds. Maybe Dr. T was right about the value of our opinions after all. Mice ~~balls~~ nuts.

This morning I found a note from Dr. T that seemed pretty pointless, until I realized it contained one of his "secret messages." Lately he's taken to creating his own codes and hiding places, due to his increasingly paranoid obsession with Dr. G. At first I found it amusing, and called him "007" a couple of times as a joke. But after this note and the strange way Dr. G acted yesterda, I'm not so sure what to think anymore.

Unfortunately Dr. T, I'm out of cold beer, but I think I will take your advice and catch some shut eye. Hope you do the same pal.

The letter § from Dr. T contains a code in it. It's a fairly simple code - if you have a ruler. §

I don't think Dr. T trusts Dr. G very much. Probably a good idea - but the question is, will Dr. T follow his own advice. Doubtful as I'm convinced that Dr. T is going to have a date with the fishies any day now. Is it bad that I'm intensely curious about his death?

World 3, Derek 0

It doesn't seem that Derek is having a much better time than Matt, although he sure writes a lot more. Between the mysterious puzzles, the enigmatic Painted Soul, and the weird cryptidtruth videos, I wonder how he finds the concentration to do his school work. I'm guessing that he doesn't as has filled that time with writing and recording a new song - Yellow Eyes about the 1995 Allegheny River Incident.

Amie Talks to Painted Soul

Derek isnt't the only one who has gotten emails from Painted Soul. Amie has been talking to him as well, and I think his responses to her are the most enigmatic yet. Alcohol-induced wrestling? Were they naked in a vat of chocolate syrup as well or just oiled up like ancient Olympians? And according to Mr. Soul, Jon's arm is healing nicely, which is a significant contrast to Amie's take on it. I'm kinda taking Amie's side on this one because I've never fully trusted people who speak cryptically. You only speak cryptically if you have something to hide, or want to appear as if you have something to hide.

Fangoria Radio Show - Denied

Sadly, Sun-Yi got bumped from Dee Snider's Fangoria Radio Show. § But not all was lost, as she was able to get a plug in for the free screening of The Host, plus Dee Snider said "MonsterHunterClub.com" on the air. Hopefully that will get a bunch of people out to see it.

Grid #3 and #12

AxysDenyed got one of the missing grids in the mail - several days late as sadly his apartment office didn't tell him he had a package. He also doesn't tell us what kind of goodie he got with the puzzle. It was probably too cool to share with the rest of us.

Grid #3: MATTHEW GAFFNEY, LINNEAN SOCIETY, or TEN POUND ISLAND §
```
1: MUAHPRRGESONRE
2: ASYETASLS
3: SEHAAYDOT
4: STOD
5: ATR
6: CSSCIMEUEC
7: HBEANANCRHOESRPENT
- - - - - - - - 3 - - - - -
```
Phrase: Massachusetts Bay, Horse Head, Captain Ray Marsden, Gloucester, Schooner, Serpent
Answer: One of three possible answers: MATTHEW GAFFNEY, LINNEAN SOCIETY, TEN POUND ISLAND

Explantion: Refers to the Sea Serpent of Gloucester. However, we were unable to deduce where Captain Ray Marsden fit in.

Wolfhawk got Grid #12, along with a Monster Hunters comic book and a deck of monster stickers.

Grid #12: LOREN COLEMAN §
```
1: DLSUHNEIERTOOMEBGO
2: ELHMEINFDYOOGUU
3: CIAA
4: A
5: TNLN
6: U
7: ROFTUDTICPZLYSMIFOT
8: IIH 
- - - - - - - - - 12 - -  
```
Phrase: Decatur Illinois, Half Human, The Unidentified Cryptozoology Museum Bigfoot
Answer: LOREN COLEMAN

Explantion: Loren Coleman is a leading cryptozoologist who founded the Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Oregon.

Our meta solve now stands at T H - S - A C K F - R M. The first word is probably 'This' or 'Those' and the last word might be 'Farm'. We really need to get those last two grids if we want to find out what this says.

5 Per Solved!

Thanks to some clever grid arranging and an understanding of the directions '5 per' we were able to solve this a lot quicker than the original puzzle grids. § The only bad thing is - we don't know what it means. It's too bad we didn't get any more envelopes - because if you look at the grids sideways, the paths we took do form letters: Ne. A few more grids and it could spell something - like a new website perhaps. Unless it's talking about Neon. Neon.net is a cellphone site, but I don't see them selling Helio phones there, so perhaps not.

The Host Screening

Well, The Host screening seemed to be a success. §

Good evening, everyone. Sun-Yi here and I'm all aglow and [?] and walking on the clouds after the screening. Wasn't it awesome? Wow. I really hope you made it there. We had the best time. I had a lot of fun meeting my friends from the Myspace page, the Monster Hunter Club, and my new fans from Twitch column too. I'm sorry I didn't have enough posters to give everybody one, but the ones that got them seemed very happy anyway. A fellow Monster Hunter named rose won the signed copy, and she was so pleased she took a picture of it with Matt and myself. But the night was really about The Host. What an insane movie - really.

And, speaking of insane, did you guys see that new video posted over at MonsterHunterClub.com? Is that nuts or what? How weird that this is such a monster filled week First, a new video from crypidtruth, showing all those mutations or ancient creatures from the video about MHC. Then the gigantic mutant fish thing in The Host. Anyway, I know that Derek was really excited to see that video, and it totally helped him stop thinking about his stolen creature figure stuff from a couple of weeks ago.

And, speaking of Derek, he was the only disappointment of the night. Apparently his ex-girlfriend called him a couple of weeks ago to ask him for... help tracking down her current boyfriend. Are you confused yet? Because I know I am. Especially because I just now heard about it, but whatever.

So, anyway, she's just really.... Gosh, I don't know, out there sorta chick. I saw a picture Derek has of her. Although, thankfully it was buried away under a bunch of junk. It's not like he's got it on his dresser next to a candle anything. She's got some tattos and piercings in the picture, but apparently has even more now. And attitude. Lots of attitude. I really hope this is a legitmate 'need help' thing and not a 'I want you back' thing. That's so what Derek doesn't need right now. And do you want to know the worst part? That's where he was last night. Meeting her at the airport. That's right. She's here. Poor little thing couldn't find her way to Derek's by herself, I guess. He decided to blow off the screening and go meet her.

So, I'm sitting here looking at a half-finished Valentine's card I was making him - by hand. What should I do with it? Finish it? Or tear it up, put it in an envelope and slide it under his door? Any suggestions?

Okay, well, Janna keeps kinda smacking her lips and now she's started tossing around, so I think that's sweet speak for "Sun-Yi shut up and go to bed." So that's what I'm gonna do. I hope your dreams are better than mine are bound to be.

Goodnight.

Quite a number of people showed up, and the movie got a good review from rose on UF - who also got a picture of Sun-Yi and Matt, along with the autographed poster. Derek wasn't there because apparently he had to pick up Amie from the airport. Great timing Derek. Let's see - if I had the choice between going to pick up an ex (who dumped me for a freak) at the airport, or supporting a friend who has promoted the beejezus out of my tiny little fan club - what would I pick? I think Sun-Yi needs to get over Derek and hook up with Matt.

Update: Full transcript now available.

Amie in NYC

Amie's has made it to NYC. Even though Derek was the one to pick her up from the airport, it seems she spent the night in Matt's bed - probably good news for Sun-Yi. I wonder if Matt was in the bed as well. How would Derek react if his best friend started sleeping with his ex? Now that would be some drama. That also wouldn't bode well for my wishing that Matt and Sun-Yi hook up. Maybe Sun-Yi is just doomed to spending her life alone with 15 cats.

Amie is sounding very...wishy-washy right now. She's questioning the email she got from Jon. She's questioning her reasons for being in NYC. She's questioning staying with Derek. She's also paranoid that someone is watching her moves and acting accordingly. I'm just trying to determine what makes Amie so special that someone would be watching her. Is it because of Jon? If so, it seems if they could hack into his email, they would have a better idea of where he was (unless his password is something like 'bodymodzrule'). And if someone was watching her because of Jon - why tip her off? It's much more effective to spy on someone if they aren't alerted to the fact that they are being spied on. Something just doesn't feel right with this new turn that Amie has taken.

Journal Entires 19 & 20

I know I say this every time a new journal entry shows up, but I think we're getting close to Dr. T's demise. I was almost certain he went missing in Bangkok in #19, but then he showed up in #20 - raving like a loon. And now he's seems to have disappered again, but at least he left a puzzle before he went missing.

Journal Entry #19, 9/13/66 §
9/13/66

Saw today that some of the Thai workers and airmen put together a little impromptu mini golf course. After all this tension lately, it's nice to see folks from such different backgrounds working toether, despite the circumstances. I just enjoyed filming it, since I'm a bit of a duffer in the greens. Too bad Dr. T's not back from Bangkok yet, he claims to be a pretty good golfer. Figured he's be back by now, but maybe he found himself another girlfriend.
Journal Entry #20, 9/15/66 §
9/15/66

Finally saw Dr. T last night, a blurry bedside encouter that I'm still struggling to recall. I remember him leaning in close to me, his face dirty and covered with over a week's growth, his hair greasy and matted, smelling like sweat and booze. I think it was about 4:30 or so. He was wild-eyed and frantic, whispering something to me, but I was just too exhausted to wake up fully. 2 back to back 16 hr shifts and nights filled with screams and gunfire has left me worthless. I feel terrible now and wish I coul've [sic] heard what he had to say, but I was just unable to keep my eyes open. I thought I actually heard him sobbing and saying "I'm sorry John. I don't know what to do. Look beneath your pillow when you wake up."

I woke up late for my shift this morning, and I didn't have the time or the presense of mind to think about what Dr. T had said until much later. I began to think it had just been a rare dream, until I asked around - several people had seen Dr. T early this morning, but not since then. After my shift, I went back to my bunk and looked under my pillow. There I found an envelope with 11 torn pieces of paper in it. I've spent the evening putting the pieces together to try to decipher this message but I can't make heads or tails of it. Dr. T and his damn "security measures" I'm going to just call it a night and get some sleep before those damn letters make me cross-eyed. Maybe I'll be able to figure them out in the morning. Or maybe they're just the lunatic raving of a man who's finally snapped.

The puzzle was an envelope full of torn bits of paper, each with seven letters written on it. degravity was able to put the pieces back into their original positions, but they didn't line up into anything understandable. But that's okay because Rogi was able to figure out what to do in order to read the message. §

Either way you look at this, Dr. T's in trouble. He's either a: lost his mind completely, or b: he's discovered something that is catastrophic. While it's more fun to think it's "a", I have a feeling that it's really "b". Unless we're going for a Conspiracy Theory redux where it's both "a" and "b". Crazy but right is also so tragic. My new theory is that Dr. T is gonna be found face down in the Mekong within a week.

Derek Screws Up Yet Again

So now we find out Derek's side of the story as to what happened on Monday night. It's not his version of events that is questionable, but his decision making skills. It's like he's incapable of making a decision that is beneficial to his true friends. Yeah, okay, NYC at night may be scary for someone unfamiliar with it - but on the other hand, Amie isn't some little naive smalltown girl who would be helpless once she landed. She grew up in Pittsburgh and now lives in LA. It's reasonable to expect that she can manage in a large city. Not to mention that her look would go a long way into sheltering her. Huge difference between wide-eyed blonde clutching a teddybear and a hard-core body-mod chick dragging a rucksack. I somehow think Amie would have been okay.

And another piece of advice Derek (like this guide even exists in your world, but work with me people) - don't allow strangers to sleep in the beds of your roommates. I don't care how tired she was, you shouldn't even have left her in Matt's room alone to begin with. And then you fall asleep so you don't even know if your roommate came home last night or if he was lying dead in a gutter somewhere. Let's see - movie was at 8:00pm. Figure it was two hours long, so it would have gotten out at 10pm. Amie's flight landed at 9:30pm. Add in 30 minutes for deboarding and all of that, and so Amie and Derek met at 10pm. Don't know how long a 100 minute train ride translates into cab minutes, but I'll use 30 minutes - so Derek would have been home by 10:30pm. Add in time to show Amie the place and make some food, and you can figure that Derek would have started watching tv and fallen asleep by 11pm - well after the movie ended. While it's very probable that Matt and Sun-Yi would have hung out after the movie, Derek could have at least called one of them to find out a: how it went and b: when Matt was coming home. But he was more concerened about not waking Amie because she was 'peaceful'. He really needs to get over this crush of his on her before it drives his real friends away.

But I'm digressing, because in the midst of all this whining about how he's screwing over his friends without meaning to, he barely touches on the most important fact - he got another envelope from the Puzzle Bandit (or as he is known to Derek, the Mystery Puzzle Stalker). As we now know how to solve these puzzles, it's just a matter of lining up the grids correctly and finding a valid path. §

Well, there goes my letter theory since this doesn't make a pretty pattern. Anyway, we now have three phrases which sort of seem like definitions.

#1: Object Made or Shaped By Man of Historical Importance - artifact
#2: Finding, Regaining, or Saving Something Formerly Lost - recover
#3: A business which serves other businesses or entities - agency

So we're looking for an artifact recovery agency? I knew a stolen art recovery agency, although they seem to have gone out of business. I guess stopping the biggest art theft in history before it happens nets you enough money so that you never have to work again.

So where do you go when you need to find a certain type of business? Google of course! As it turned out, if you did a search on "artifact recovery agency" there was a Google sponsored link for one.

Sponsored Links
Artifacts Recovered
Military Artifact Recovery Agency
Recovering the past since 1976
www.m-a-r-a.org

If there was any doubt that this is what we are looking for, a quick check of the Whois information quashes it. Sadly, it appears as if the sponsorship has ended since as the ad no longer comes up. The artifact recovery business must not pay that well to keep the sponsorship up indefinitely.

M-A-R-A.org

Whee! A new website! I've played way too many games with only one or two websites during the entire game that getting a new one here a few weeks in makes me smile.

So M-A-R-A was founded in 1979 by three friends who served in the Vietnam War: Frankie DiRenzo, Nate Shiffer, and Ted Harvey. In the early days of the company, they worked primarily with the US Government to reallocate and move military assets. Now they tend to work with private collectors or smaller government agencies. It's pretty convenient for us that not only are they a leading authority on Vietnam War era artificats, but they are also highly skilled in underwater rescue work. That'll help if we have to hire someone to go check out our mystery fish, or find some Operation CHASE payloads that may have survived.

Nate is the only surviving founder of M-A-R-A. Frankie died during a recovery dive off the coast of South Carolina in 2005. Ted died while on vacation in Bermuda in 2006. I wonder if he was diving at the time too. I'll bet a cookie that the answer is 'yes'.

M-A-R-A has records for 39 recovery locations. That's a little over one per year. Hope they get paid a bunch per recovery to cover expenses and keep them afloat for a year. § We can't actually view any of these entries unless we have a username/password, which is sad. It would be nice to see what they recovered in Thailand and in South Korea. Also of great interest is Slack Farm in Uniontown, KY. Remember our partial solve on the grid: T H - S - A C K F - R M? Seems to fit pretty well with The Slack Farm - even though it raises questions as to what the actual solve for Grid #3 is.

It appears that the Slack Farm is a real location - and it has connections with the cryptozoology world as well. Uniontown has had a number of Bigfoot sightings and local folklore claims that the forested land behind the Slack Farm is home to Bigfoot. In sadder news, this area was also home to the largest desecration of Native American burial mounds. I hope that M-A-R-A didn't have anything to do with that.

A Lead on the Good Doctor

No, you don't have to contact Clive to get this lead, just someone immensely creepier: Painted Soul. I swear he talks in riddles just to be annoying. Anyway, Lerinth was able to get a possible name for the doctor: "the Miller". But of course he doesn't have any more information than that. Typing in miller body modification into Google doesn't get me any sponsored links, but it does kick up a book: The Body Art Book: A Complete Illustrated Guide to Tattoos, Piercings and Other Body Modifications by Jean-Chris Miller. But as Jean-Chris Miller appears to be a woman, and Painted Soul seems to suggest that "the Miller" is a guy, this probably isn't the lead that we are looking for. But it's a start.

Valentine's Day Is Cold and Snowy

Ahh, Valentine's Day. For all the bitter, single people in the Northeast, the weather provided a perfect complement to their moods. My area got about a 18" of snow, which made loads of fun to leave the house and go to work. Especially when the village where work is doesn't seem to understand the concept of plowing the roads. When there is less snow on the road where I live (a very small rural road that connects two larger rural roads) than there is on a two medium sized village streets (home to two very large corporate facilites) - there is a serious problem. I think there was even more snow in the middle of the road than there was on my car when I got out of work.

Getting back to the point - being snowbound sucks. Especially when you had plans for a romantic night out or were expecting a special gift in the mail. Not quite as much as knowing that your significant other totally forgot the day, but luckily for him, Derek isn't technically dating anyone.

The one promise that Derek did keep was his give-a-way of his Bigfoot figurine. Congrats to thebruce for winning. I'd be bitter, but I think my stuffed Creature is ten times cuter than the Bigfoots.

A Note from Dr. T

Matt has given us his own Valentine's Day gift - a coded message from Dr. T that he had previously put aside as gibberish. § Hmm...Goose Bay and Clark Air Base. Both of those were sites that M-A-R-A has recovery information on. Is it possible that they somehow acquired artifacts that belonged to Project Yellow during their recovery efforts? And is that the real reason why Frankie and Ted died in 'accidents'?

Creepy Fishes Keep Coming

Cryptidtruth keeps posting all sorts of videos around. He posted one on Monday showing a variety of strange looking sea creatures and asking the question "Where are they all coming from?" His newest one shows another strange fish - this time filmed in a completely new area. Are they more prolific than we thought? And why are we only seeing them now? Where have then been before now?

Make a Video - Win Swag

Since Derek has released a new song, Sun-Yi wants to make a new music video, but she doesn't have time with school and the million other things she has going on. So, she is gonna provide us with some random clips that she's made, and then we can take those clips and assemble them into a music video. The best submission will then get a prize (probably a poster) from Sun-Yi. §

One Last Envelope

Derek received yet another envelope while he was in class today. This should be the last one since we have all the words that would lead us to the M-A-R-A site. And since we know the answer should be 'miliatry' it's pretty easy to figure out the path we need to take through the grids. §

Calling All Hackers

Redhatty was good enough to email the M-A-R-A people asking them if we could view the files for the Slack Farm. Normally, M-A-R-A only gives that info out to prospective clients, but as Nate is the only one left, the business doesn't mean as much anymore, and we can view whatever we want. If we can figure out how to get into the files in the first place.

You see, Ted is the one that set up the website to begin with, and since he's dead and all, he can't provide us any of the passwords. Nate has a memory like a ferret on foamy fries when it comes to anything on the internet, and so if it's not written down, he doesn't remember it.

But all is not lost, because Nate does remember that Ted set up the password system to be easier to remember (if only Nate didn't have ADD). Nate tells us that: "The name, the user or account or whatever, is based on the name of the place where we recovered the artifacts, in abbreviations, you know? The other part, the password, usually had something to do with the items we recovered there."

So it's a good bet that the username of the Slack Farm is 'tfs' while the password should relate to something they recovered there. A Bigfoot artifact? A Native American relic? Dunno yet. I guess if we really get stuck we can wait for Nate to get home (makes me wonder where is is now) and look up the password there. But it's so much more fun to 'hack' into systems. Okay, granted, password guessing isn't my favorite pasttime, but it's so much easier once you know the general way it's set up. And you have to figure it's gonna be an 'easy' password since Ted supposedly wanted it idiot proof (sorry Ted - that didn't quite work out as well as you had hoped). Poor dead Ted.

Recap #4

We've been puzzle solving machines this week. We solved the '5 per' envelopes, and figured out the meta solve to the Grid puzzles. We've even helped Matt decode a couple of messages from the increasingly paranoid Dr. T. The Host screening was a success and no one seemed to have died from the Valentine's Day Snowstorm (although I was wondering if I was going to make it into work without landing in a ditch first that day).

Sites we've visited: (since the last recap) M-A-R-A.org

Sites we haven't visited: none

Things that are unsolved:

When is Derek gonna sleep with Amie?
Will Sun-Yi wake up and switch her affections to Matt?
How is Dr. T going to be found dead?
Are the M-A-R-A people behind the toy stealing? If not, who is?
How many passwords are we going to have to guess to get into the Slack Farm file on M-A-R-A?
Why is Painted Soul so annoying? And does anyone care about finding Jon except for Amie?

February 16th and Onwards >>

Confused about how to use this guide? View the Intro page where many different things are discussed.

January 24th >> And So It Starts... Monster Hunters Club Domain of the Golden Dragon Rainbow of Death Enhance Yourself Korean Film Fan The Missing Toys Journal Entries 4, 5, and 6 Domain of the Golden Dragon - Solved Derek Tries to Help Amie A Fifth Grid Thing in the Water Cryptid Love The Today Show with the MHC A Body Mod Conspiracy? Journal Entires 7, 8, 9 and 10 A Lead on Jon? A Toy for Me!	February 1st >> A Breakthrough on the Grids A Today Show Disaster? Journal 11, 12, and 13 Sun-Yi and The Host Grids Solved! (mostly) Creature Captured! Update Tuesday Derek Is a Dork Win a poster of The Host Journals 14, 15, 16 and 17 Implant Boy Speaks A Puzzle for Derek Video Blogs from Sun-Yi	February 9th >> MHC on Fangoria Radio Journal #18 World 3, Derek 0 Amie Talks to Painted Soul Fangoria Radio Show - Denied Grid #3 and #12 5 Per Solved! The Host Screening Amie in NYC Journal Entires 19 & 20 Derek Screws Up Yet Again M-A-R-A.org A Lead on the Good Doctor Valentine's Day Is Cold and Snowy A Note from Dr. T Creepy Fishes Keep Coming Make a Video - Win Swag One Last Envelope Calling All Hackers	February 16th >> Derek's Mom Comes to Town Amie Does...Nothing Sun-Yi Wishes Amie Luck Journals 21, 22, and 23 A Meeting with a Mystery Man? Still Hacking Captain Library I'd Like to Be Seated in the Emo Section, Please Sun-Yi on Peanut Butter, Libraries, and Videos "Yellow Eyes" Video Contest A Break in M-A-R-A Haneda AFB Files Journals 24, 25, 26, and 27 Matt to Hook up with Nate February 23rd >> March 2nd >> March 9th >>
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