Stephens new clues @ Questor Meeting 3/20/10

[MDC777]

There were 7 of us at the meeting and Stephen was nice enough to show up (I told you there would be a surprise guest). Here is what he had to say....

He is still signing books at the airport on Sundays... come by and say hi.

Vegas Die is now out in audio format, on CD or downloadable as a MP3. Let friends and family know they can listen to Vegas Die and still get in on the hunt. Check out the QuestMystery website for ordering info.

"Captain Cooked" the next Quest Mystery will be released in July of this year. The prize will be hidden on the big island of Hawaii and the hunt will feature GPS. The cash prize is $5000 and will go up based on book sales. Also he will be doing smaller mini puzzles that you do not have to travel to Hawaii to win. Armchair Questors can send in their answers and if within 15 feet claim the prize. http://www.captaincooked.com

The Vegas Die quest ending on December 14th has no meaning to the hunt other than he wanted to end it early and that happens to be his wifes Birthday.

Stephen is impressed that 4 red daggers have been found so quickly. There is still 1 more red dagger with a code letter/number to be found. The red daggers are red herrings. The codes on the red daggers are a mini puzzle but do not lead to the black daggers or to the location of the Vegas Die dagger.

There are 10 black daggers and the codes with them are to be used to help with the solution to the napkin code. They are not to be used to fill in the blanks of the napkin code but rather convey the same message in a different way. The first letter of each black dagger code will match the first letter on a line of the napkin so we know which line that dagger relates to. Reading of Vegas Die will lead to most of the black dagger locations.

The dagger when found is a physical item that we take with us and turn in to the publisher. There is a mechanism in place that will let the publisher know the finder is a Questor that has read Vegas Die. If the dagger was to be found by accident and turned into the publisher to claim the prize the mechanism alerts the publisher that the person is not a Questor and the prize would not be awarded. The line on the napkin code with the star has something to do with this verification process.

Each line of the napkin code does correspond to a murder in the book.
The napkin code is to be read left to right. The numbers after the PDN line are 52 and could be read fifty-two.
The 3 squiggly lines at the bottom are not clues.
The picture of the Sands on the napkin is a red herring and not used to solve the napkin code.
The first line of the napkin code is C zero one. (not letter o letter i)
The napkin code is one way to the location of the Vegas Die dagger, there are others.

The Part 1 morse code is less of a factor in finding the location of the dagger and more of a mini puzzle by itself.
The Part 3 morse code does have value to finding the Vegas Die dagger. How much value is up to each Questor to decide for themselves.
In trying to narrow the search area Stephen said the dagger is not located at Hoover Dam, Lake Las Vegas or Red Rock Canyon. Anywhere in between is fair game.

I want to say thank you to Stephen for giving us these clues. I have read about other treasure hunts where you do not hear a peep from the author until the hunt is over and even then it is 50/50.

Any mistakes are mine and the QuestMystery website is the final authority on the hunt and these clues.

Mike

[geekwench]

Very good Mike; it is as I remember as well. Thank you!

[faerydust]

You always do a great job giving clarification on meeting and everything else. THXS for all you do for the board.
Faery

[jnlscott]

Thanks for relaying all that info for those of us who were unable to attend.

[magikmom]

Thanks Mike for all the info... Wish I could have made it!!!

[pierced]

The dagger when found is a physical item that we take with us and turn in to the publisher. There is a mechanism in place that will let the publisher know the finder is a Questor that has read Vegas Die. If the dagger was to be found by accident and turned into the publisher to claim the prize the mechanism alerts the publisher that the person is not a Questor and the prize would not be awarded. The line on the napkin code with the star has something to do with this verification process.

I haven't seen any discussion regarding the information above, so maybe I am the only one concerned by this? It sucks that I had to go out of town, and was unable to attend the Quester meeting. I really would have liked to meet the author for myself, because at this point I'm really starting to think it's impossible to find the dagger with the info given, and that was the plan?! Then again, surely finding the dagger will prove the quest concept and help the next book, right? How much will it help, cause it's still $25,000 we are talking about!!

So automatically in my mind, this magic mechanism that's capable of non-Quester alerts (which was never before mentioned ??), seems to be the perfect answer...... a non-quester stumbles upon the dagger (AS IF), and turns it in for the hell of it and NO PRIZE IS AWARDED. Dagger is found. No payout necessary. Seems logical. To me at least. Of course I did grow up in Sin City, so being jaded is a given.

I also find it telling, that the new clue everyone waited so desperately for, was not a clue at all. In fact, it's just more red herrings and puzzles. Which according to the website "clue", the red daggers are supposed to have code letters/words and when they were found they actually had numbers instead? Not that it matters, the red lead nowhere.

The 10 black daggers on the other hand, supposedly do lead to THE dagger, via the beloved napkin code. Of course, even though there are double the amount of red ones out there, not one has been found? Rest assured, reading Vegas Die will lead to most of the black dagger locations.

I'm wondering will we find them before or after the original clues that were hidden around town

Hope I'm wrong.

[slave2u]

Well I'll jump into this I guess.
Pierced when you say as if too a non questor turning in the dagger it could in fact happen, example>>>> The Edge radio station used to do the Jingle Bell Rock a type of scavenger hunt worth $10.000 now most years someone connected to an employee of the station would find it, a painted rock with the station ID but 1 year someone not even looking for it found it at a bus stop on Maryland PKWY I think it was, turned it in and there you go.
So it could happen let me also remind all that SG said he worried about a homeless person finding it a turning it in. Another questor later said he was joking about it but I don't think he was.
As for these red and black daggers I think this was planned all along now the reds mean nothing and the black ones alot I too have been skeptical at times but I've seen most of the red ones so I have hope for the black ones and feel that I'm close to them. But the answer to where the real one is lays in the writting in the book.
Quest on

[DrLiebchen]

I wonder what is easier: solving the napkin code using clues in the book, or finding all black daggers, solving the mini-puzzles they represent and then solving the napking code using the solutions to the black dagger mini-puzzles?
Somehow I don't see one single person finding all black daggers or having access to their codes. Moreover, it seems that a lot of searching around for black and red daggers has taken place since March 15 and to our knowledge no black dagger was found. This doesn't look very promising. (For those into statistics and probabilities, it looks like a Poisson phenomenon and we are already well beyond the peak)
Finally, I find it interesting that we were supposed to get clues on March 15, which turned out to be in the form of a scavenger hunt for clues of clues of clues, but the clues provided by SG at the meeting organized by questors and described in the first post seem much more valuable in the short term.
Dr Liebchen

[pierced]

I'm actually well aware of the Jingle Bell Rock, and the Edge (I even remember the expose the edge contest). In fact, I've been rock hunting diligently since then, besides the years between the Edge going off air and KKLZ picking up the contest of course.

I don't think your example is very relevant though, because there is quite a bit of difference between finding a rock painted with the logo of a popular radio station at a bus stop, and this quest.

I admit I tend to be very skeptical, and again I hope I'm wrong about the direction this seems to be going. If I can't find the dagger, I really want someone to. Someone ELIGIBLE to claim the money that is.

It seems with more ways to purchase the book now (i.e. audio, mp3), we will have even more brains working towards a solution, which we obviously need. I wonder why he chose to add these options so late in the quest, when the dagger could have been found any day??

I also beg to differ on the black and red daggers. I recall someone telling me he was making up the clues a few days prior to the 15th, but that's up to my source to confirm. Either way, we shall see.

Wish my brother still lived in Hawaii because $5,000 actually seems feasible.

[czshredd]

The Jingle Bell Rock has instructions painted on it telling the finder where to take it to turn it in for cash and prizes. Nothing has been said about the Silver Dagger having instructions with it. I think only a Questor would know what to do with it.

CZ