I think Mod 8 did it with an "I.W.I.N" button
Do I get the prize?
Pretty sure Karl spills the beans in his mission... "It was Shocker!"
Shard Warrior - 50 MA/Regen/BM Scrapper
Founding Member and Leader : Shadow-Force
Co-Leader: Council of Heroes
"Whatever evils come this way... we will be there to stop them."
8 days left to solve the mystery! Get your guesses in!
Arc 185502: Who Killed Snow Globe? a mini mystery Put together the clues to solve the case!
Arc 22832: And Hell Hath No Fury (extreme)
Will you be the key to the Knives of Artemis' survival? or the instrument of their destruction?
Just making sure you all know the contest is ending this Saturday at midnight pacific. Make sure to get your submissions in to win 100 million influence! (or 50 mill infamy)
Arc 185502: Who Killed Snow Globe? a mini mystery Put together the clues to solve the case!
Arc 22832: And Hell Hath No Fury (extreme)
Will you be the key to the Knives of Artemis' survival? or the instrument of their destruction?
The below flier is posted on behalf of the player organization promoting the event.
For more information about having an event flier posted, please see the <a href=http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=8952225">Event Posting Rules</a>
<img src=http://www.katanarogue.com/TDB/snowglobe.jpg>
No toons were actually harmed during the creation of this arc?
I beg to differ! 
I thought it would be pretty obvious that *I* killed Snow Globe when I aggroed that mob like I always do, but I don't seem to feature in that arc...
Issue 16 made me feel like this.
Warning: This poster likes to play Devil's Advocate.
I was going to say the devs Killed him by pretty much ignoring the Base Builders Forum
[ QUOTE ]
I was going to say the devs Killed him by pretty much ignoring the Base Builders Forum
[/ QUOTE ]
LOL - True!
3 days left, ya'll!
Arc 185502: Who Killed Snow Globe? a mini mystery Put together the clues to solve the case!
Arc 22832: And Hell Hath No Fury (extreme)
Will you be the key to the Knives of Artemis' survival? or the instrument of their destruction?
[ QUOTE ]
I was going to say the devs Killed him by pretty much ignoring the pleas to make the Empath badge able to be earned through non-farming play.
[/ QUOTE ]
Fix'd that for you. 
Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
[ QUOTE ]
I thought it would be pretty obvious that *I* killed Snow Globe when I aggroed that mob like I always do
[/ QUOTE ]
True story. This has happened many, many times.
Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
Hmm, looks like it's time to run the arc :-p
I have been quite bored lately.
@Mojo-
Proud Member of Fusion Force.
Your answers must be in by midnight pacific time to enter the contest! Good luck to all!
Arc 185502: Who Killed Snow Globe? a mini mystery Put together the clues to solve the case!
Arc 22832: And Hell Hath No Fury (extreme)
Will you be the key to the Knives of Artemis' survival? or the instrument of their destruction?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Someone remind me to PM Az who I thunk done it.
[/ QUOTE ]
Reminder
-By Cath
P.S. You're welcome!
[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks! I PM'd Az. 
Thank you all for playing my arc! I enjoyed reading your answers (some were VERY creative) and comments. 98% of you liked the arc while a few thought it was too hard. I was also excited that some people actually got it and interpreted the underlying story. What I was shocked at however, that while some people guessed correctly, it wasn't for the one clue that I put in to point to the killer. Maybe it was my fault, being this was my first mystery, and I was being too ambiguous? I guess you'll let me know!
Having said that, I still welcome any comments regarding the story or the mechanics of the arc itself! And now on to the answer!
*****SPOILER ALERT*******
Who did it?
The Secretary!
The Secretary said she was there working late on the Scoop. The Scoop had already been finished at noon when Ultrabatz came in to talk to Snow (and the Secretary was on her lunch break). So if the City Scoop was done, what exactly was she doing? Killing Snow!
Long version:
Shy but sneaky villain, Karl Rove Man went in to talk to Snow Globe about his "Land Before Time and Half" arc. He'd been spying on Ultrabatz for a while and he brought in the juicy pictures to get on Snow's good side and get his story published. Snow Globe took the photos but still wouldn't publish the story. She owed Obsidius a lot of money so it occurred to her that blackmailing the wealthy playboy, Ultrabatz with the photos would help her secure the money. She phoned Ultrabatz and said he'd better come in. Meanwhile, the Secretary, who was incensed about the debt to her beloved boyfriend, Obsidius, went to lunch to plot the crime. Ultrabatz came in at noon and begrudgingly paid Snow the money to destroy the pictures. Snow left the room to uphold her end of the bargain by throwing away the pictures. She put the money in the safe and called Obsidius to let him know she had it. Batz saw the finished proof of the Scoop on her desk and pissed to be blackmailed, he stole the last two pages of it. He left thereafter and subsequently, gave the two pages to Azrhiaz to help her plan her base raid against Unholy Requiem (who we can assume was featured in the Base Builder section).
The Secretary returned from lunch, not knowing Batz had been there. After the office closed, the Secretary did the deed. Obsidius came to pick her up and the Secretary "found" Snow Globe. Obsidius was scared he'd never get his money so ripped open the safe, took the cash and couldn't resist looking through Snow's collection of Playheroes. And shortly thereafter, is when the cops arrived and your investigation began.
The clues: (* indicates a non-mandatory clue)
Mission One:
Trash Can
Snow's Desk
The Destroyed Safe
The Body
Garbage
Mission Two:
Karl's Refrigerator*
Karl's Computer*
the Dart Board*
Mission Three:
Az's Desk
the Refrigerator*
Mission Four:
the Pay Phone
Mission Five:
Obs' Locker*
the Hamper*
Obs' Desk*
There ya have it!
29.41% thought Karl did it
5.88% thought Azrhiaz did it
5.9% thought Obsidius did it
11.76% thought Ultrabatz did it
17.64% said the Secretary did it
29.41% thought combinations of characters did it
In a random drawing between the correct guesses, the winner of the prize is:
@sayaki
Congratulations!!
Arc 185502: Who Killed Snow Globe? a mini mystery Put together the clues to solve the case!
Arc 22832: And Hell Hath No Fury (extreme)
Will you be the key to the Knives of Artemis' survival? or the instrument of their destruction?
Congratulations @Sayaki.
I knew I should have stuck to my original guess.
[ QUOTE ]
What I was shocked at however, that while some people guessed correctly, it wasn't for the one clue that I put in to point to the killer.
[/ QUOTE ]
At a guess, it was too buried in the other, more plausible clues.
Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
[ QUOTE ]
29.41% thought Karl did it
[/ QUOTE ]
I see how it is. 
Congratz, @sayaki!
Dammit, of course! If the butler didn't do it, then clearly the next possible suspect is the secretary! 
Man, I wish my toon had as much wealth as your story says- I'm actually always hurting for influence, lol. The pay phone clue never made sense to me- now I know! Karl- stop spying on meh!
Quick question- from what I remember, Snow was found w/ blunt trauma to the head and burn marks. I was thinking that it was made to look like either me or Obs did it, or both of us. How did the secretary actually kill Snow, and was it her intent to leave clues to frame someone?
Anyways, awesome mystery! I love how the one definitive piece of evidence was overshadowed by the other clues. I wonder if even Batman himself would have been sharp enough to catch that and solve the crime!
Mission Architect arc: The Hive Connection, Arc ID: 96660
Triumph: (@UltraBatz)
UltraBatz, lvl 50 MA/SR Scrapper (1355 badges)
UberBatz, lvl 50 Peacebringer (769 badges)
SG: The Steel Paladins, Fusion Force
The secretary was a mid level fire/em tank. Or she bonked Snow over the head with the coffee pot. I never really said. But no, she never said anything to frame anyone. At least that wasn't my intention when I was writing it. I was trying to draw attention to the other suspects while leaving a subtle but gaping hole in her alibi.
Arc 185502: Who Killed Snow Globe? a mini mystery Put together the clues to solve the case!
Arc 22832: And Hell Hath No Fury (extreme)
Will you be the key to the Knives of Artemis' survival? or the instrument of their destruction?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
29.41% thought Karl did it
[/ QUOTE ]
I see how it is.
[/ QUOTE ]
I was going to say Shocker did it, but then I figured Karl put the Secretary up to it.
Very fun Arc Az!
Shard Warrior - 50 MA/Regen/BM Scrapper
Founding Member and Leader : Shadow-Force
Co-Leader: Council of Heroes
"Whatever evils come this way... we will be there to stop them."
[ QUOTE ]
Congratz, @sayaki!
Dammit, of course! If the butler didn't do it, then clearly the next possible suspect is the secretary! Man, I wish my toon had as much wealth as your story says- I'm actually always hurting for influence, lol. The pay phone clue never made sense to me- now I know! Karl- stop spying on meh!
Quick question- from what I remember, Snow was found w/ blunt trauma to the head and burn marks. I was thinking that it was made to look like either me or Obs did it, or both of us. How did the secretary actually kill Snow, and was it her intent to leave clues to frame someone?
Anyways, awesome mystery! I love how the one definitive piece of evidence was overshadowed by the other clues. I wonder if even Batman himself would have been sharp enough to catch that and solve the crime!
[/ QUOTE ]
Hehe, I actually had you pegged as the culprit. I figured you killed Snow to get the pictures back that I had sold her.
The only problem with that theory is why you carelessly tossed the pictures in the garbage instead of destroying them.
[ QUOTE ]
What I was shocked at however, that while some people guessed correctly, it wasn't for the one clue that I put in to point to the killer.
[/ QUOTE ]
Two things threw me off:
1. If the secretary did it, its extremely unlikely she would leave the office to "plot the crime" since the debt appears to be a long-standing one, and she would have had lots of time to do so. Even if it was a crime of the moment, there's no need to leave the office to think about a crime in your head. Most importantly, there is no reason to lie about not being there, since its not a crime to go to lunch. She could have simply said she didn't know if the second appt ever showed up, or better yet, simply ask Snow Globe if he showed up: a reasonable question for a secretary or assistant to ask.
2. If the Scoop was completed at noon, then its not true there's no reason for the secretary to be there late. Actually there's no reason for Snow Globe to be there late. So why did Snow Globe stay late to be murdered? The only reason I could conclude is that there was a problem with the proof that required last minute corrections. If not, Snow Globe should have left at the normal closing time. Contrawise, whatever reason Snow Globe had for staying late is the same reason the secretary could claim for staying late: there's no reason to manufacture an excuse when the actual facts are just as good.
If *neither* of them had a good reason to stay late, she really should have called the police earlier, rather than waiting for hours before doing so (eventually, she probably would have been caught by simple forensics establishing the time of death). Even better: it would have prevented her apparently slow-bus boyfriend from potentially incriminating himself.
This is sort of the problem I mentioned to you in my PM: everything adds up except the secretary, who (now) seems to be doing some inexplicable things. Specifically, she is (apparently) lying when unnecessary, and that's very unusual. I couldn't tell if those were red herrings or trying to say something, because she's the only one acting in a somewhat disjointed fashion.
Ironically, I think I deduced what everyone was doing except the secretary, which caused me to guess incorrectly at the end. All the other clues seemed to be written at just the right level of implication to deduce the motives and actions of everyone else. At the end, both Karl Rove Man and the Secretary have motive and opportunity, but only Karl Rove Man seemed to have the means based on the evidence.
In my opinion, the thing that is missing that would have made it perfect is one or two small clues somewhere that would have provided Karl with an alibi or defused his opportunity and pointed the finger back at the secretary. Maybe the Scoop had a new alarm system recently added that Karl wouldn't have known about. Maybe Obsidius would have let slip that the secretary was a Fire/SS tanker somehow. Small hints like that could have made it a bit more definitive without necessarily being too obvious.
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To answer 1. Well, no of course she wouldn't have had to leave. But most people go to lunch around noon during the business day, do they not? Whether she was in the bathroom when Batz showed up, at the copy machine, or at Carl's Jr. I never said she lied. She didn't see Batz show up (or leave) so she didn't know he was there.
2. You're right. She had no reason to be there late. Could Snow possibly have been waiting for Obsidius to show up to collect his money?
But I take your criticism and agree with it. There was more stuff I wanted to put in but sadly, ran out of space and was down to abbreviations and incomplete sentences just to make what I could fit in it make sense. I also had the hole in her alibi and was afraid to put too much more in to the story pointing to her for fear of making it too easy to solve. So I guess I'll have to work on that for next time.
Thanks again for the suggestions and constructive criticism. I appreciate it and for you playing the arc!
Arc 185502: Who Killed Snow Globe? a mini mystery Put together the clues to solve the case!
Arc 22832: And Hell Hath No Fury (extreme)
Will you be the key to the Knives of Artemis' survival? or the instrument of their destruction?
Good show for your first mystery Az.
The clues were slightly ambiguous, hence my guessing a trio did it. I also didn't expect that everyone's motivation was teenage angst.
I look forward to more arcs like this, but it would be cool if they were more solo-friendly. That would make it easier to go through the story slowly to keep track of clues and such.
Again, good job with your first round.
Gratz to @sayaki for winning!
I am still sifting through my notes on this, and will have a note to you soon Az.
Go Team Venture!