794 replies to this topic

[Shaffy]

Anyway, in lieu of a mysterious post from Cosmo Faulkner, complete with wanted poster, I decided to do some detective work.

I managed to find a Google+ page, that of Cosmo Faulkner: Link.

It seems to be official, and is hinting at a possible new character we could be meeting in Absolution, a detective in the Chicago Police Department who has been hunting 47 for some time it would seem.

I will keep this thread up to date with whatever new information may arise.

Discuss.


UPDATE 30/11/2011:

This image was posted on Cosmo's Google+ page at 9:51, accompanied by several posts:

Spoiler

Sleeping in the car is not fun. Road trips are about as romantic as going on a family picnic in one of the city’s alleys, eating from garbage bins and dodging muggers every ten minutes.

I just plugged my laptop in at some hole-in-the-ground diner on the 66 just outside town to check in before heading home. The guy serving me looked at me like he couldn’t figure out whether to hit me with a second round of breakfast or drag me out back for a good beating because I disturbed him while reading. Turns out, he was in the corps at the same time as I was. Can’t say I remember him, though. Clive. He looked terrible, a wart-infested prize pig with a maw full of bad teeth, though he was pleasant enough to talk to. Cooked up a mean bowl of chili, too.

Anyway, looks like the poster paid off. Lots of kooks writing me with all kinds of information but also some interesting leads tying the knot between the fire at Terminus and the incident in the library. Found a newspaper clipping from the incident, which I’ve posted in the photo section of this account and I'll dig out one or two reports from internal. Details in the article are massively exaggerated, of course. Journalists in this city never did bother too much with the truth. Only guy I’ve ever really trusted to try to reflect the real events no longer works for any of the big papers.

I'm back in the office soon. May sleep on the couch for a while.

Spoiler

Just wrote Alice an email letter. She wasn’t too upset with me when I left her a few days ago but I know these letters keep us alive together. I guess the Internet is good for something. I missed a lot of letters through the years, moving from hotel to hotel, chasing clues and killers all day. How she keeps up with that, I’ll never understand.

There’s no word on the street. My sources have dried up quicker than that bottle of Jack in the captain’s lower drawer. My feet hurt from all the walking around so I’ve decided to embrace the future. It may not work but I was told by the boys in the IT crime unit that there are loads of virtual informants out there. I need help cracking this case and I don’t care whose lips I have to kiss to make it happen. Birdy’s not come back to me on anything yet so I’m going to have to activate the entire snitch network of Chicago. Someone MUST have seen this guy leaving the Terminus.

I will be back in Chicago in a few hours. Tired. Very, very tired.

It looks like Cosmo has received the emails and is returning back to Chicago in the next few hours.

In the mean time I think we should investigate the Terminus fire that he keeps mentioning, it seems like 47 has recently visited it, and possibly caused a fire.

Update 01/12/2011:

New police documents regarding the incident at the Terminus Hotel:





47 was captured on video by a woman of Chinese decent at the Terminus Hotel, which can be seen in previously released artwork:



We also have new Google posts from Cosmo:

Spoiler

I’m still sifting through all the new information coming in from the various informants. It seems there are four options here.

Aliens. Pretty sure this isn’t going to lead anywhere.

Genetically engineered killer. I’m not sure how different this is from option 1.

New world order conspiracy – in particular the UN. One guy wrote me a very long email detailing every injustice performed by the UN since its inception. While I’m in no position to disagree, I doubt the impact of this on this particular case.

Some sort of ultra-trained contract killer. This makes the most sense, though it doesn’t provide me with any comfort. If I’m looking for some Jackal-type character, I need more information on him. Suspected previous targets, known hits, former whereabouts. Proving that such a character exists is difficult in the extreme. One informant told me there was a connection with Fernando Delgado, the Chilean wine-maker and suspected drug lord. I have no time to research this so may need to enlist some help. Another source mentioned Richard Delahunt, the former MassachusettsGovernor and Vatican Ambassador who was killed at the Paris Opera.

I don’t like this. I think I may be in over my head.If we can map out the killer’s movements and targets, maybe I can get more support from higher up. Hell, looks like the boys from Interpol might need to get in on this.

Spoiler

I returned to Chicago last night. The week took a turn for the worse when the captain called me into his office earlier today. There had been some discussions among the powers that be that my budgets needed ‘refinement’, as he put it. No more spending money on informants. The Mayor had a “hard time justifying all those unaccounted for expenses” and we “really shouldn’t encourage criminals by paying them off”. We had a bit of back and forth about that. Eventually he saw it my way. A quick trip down five sets of stairs to pick up his chair and files from the sidewalk gave him some time to reflect on my arguments. He said there placement of the window would come out of my salary check. I told him to keep the change, buy something nice for himself. I am now working from the basement.

I have also now given up sleep altogether.

Mr Faulkner seems to be realizing that he is dealing with someone that he cannot face alone, we should probably keep sending him details of previous hits, last known where-abouts, etc.

UPDATE 2/12/2011:

Cosmo has uploaded several new photos of metro tickets of some sort and a travel guide to Chicago. They all have numbers written on them, what they represent we do not know.

https://plus.google.com/photos/105518960862677728495/albums/5681547241361700433/5681547247946215762

At the moment, we think that the numbers on the tickets match up to the locations in the guide book, but we do not know what significance they all have.

Also, Cosmo seems to have gone away for the weekend, expect more here on Monday.


UPDATE: 06/12/2011:

Tim B successfully decoded a message hidden in the tickets, it lead to Birdforum.net, a forum that has a user who goes by the name Birdy_Chicago, I think the net is finally closing on our feathered friend.

Edited by Watson, 08 January 2012 - 10:57 PM.
added link, quoted image

[Keyser Soze]

I was considering pinning the original thread, it might be a better place for this discussion.

[16-bit Irony]

Well hope its an offical ARG cause hitman hasn't done that in a long while.

[Shaffy]

I was considering pinning the original thread, it might be a better place for this discussion.

Probably, but I was thinking that if this was to turn into a long running thing, we'd want a base page with all the latest information at the top, instead of the very first image.

Food for thought.

[Keyser Soze]

Agreed. If you're planning on/volunteering to keep the first post updated than we shall consider this the 'official' thread for this discussion. You may want to grab the wanted poster from the original thread and put it in there.

[Watson]

Great, a new ARG. Thanks Nick!

What I'll do is sticky this (since it's now meant to be the official place for this discussion) and post a link to the original topic created by our new 'friend' Detective Faulkner in the first post.

[Tim B.]

So, I wrote the Cosmo guy. Got his standard reply back. Looks pretty interesting. It seems like he's asking for information on 47. How should we deliver that? In my limited experience with this sort of thing, staying in-character is usually best. How did it go with the last one? I wasn't here for that.

[Johnny Drama]

Don't know how to handle this ARG, maybe we should write what we last saw in the gameplay video: that 47 was last seen leaving the Chicago train station? Maybe that would help our detective?

Edited by Johnny Drama, 29 November 2011 - 01:57 AM.

[Watson]

So, I wrote the Cosmo guy. Got his standard reply back. Looks pretty interesting. It seems like he's asking for information on 47. How should we deliver that? In my limited experience with this sort of thing, staying in-character is usually best. How did it go with the last one? I wasn't here for that.

It would be useful if you posted that 'standard' reply here.

[Johnny Drama]

The standard reply must be the post from the other thread, about him first being back 30 november to answer his mail.

[Watson]

Thank you for replying. I don’t normally use these channels but I’m
running out of options. I need to locate the man in the image. If you
have seen him or have any kind of information about him, please let me
know. I need to track his whereabouts. I know he’s still in Chicago –
or, at least I think he’s still here – but he’s like a ghost. If you
have any information, please reply to this email.

I am currently on the road on personal business but will return around
November 30th. I will be able to check my email then.

- Cosmo

Looks like it.

[Intrepid]

Forgive my n00bish question, but what is ARG?

[Watson]

Forgive my n00bish question, but what is ARG?

Alternate Reality Game

[Mr. ME]

What does this mean? I obviously have seen this wallpaper but what do you mean by ARG, whats going on?

[zasku]

Don't know how to handle this ARG, maybe we should write what we last saw in the gameplay video: that 47 was last seen leaving the Chicago train station? Maybe that would help our detective?

Good point. Anyone tried that yet?

EDIT: Wait, if everyone is telling Cosmo that 47 doesn't exist, this means that his diary speaks of a time before the lock-down of the library. And since we don't know of any other places where 47 had been tracked between the diaries and the library operation, I'd say the answer is: Chicago Library.

Edited by Bam, 29 November 2011 - 06:57 AM.

[Numbers]

Where does it say that everyone is telling him that 47 doesn't exist?

[zasku]

Last (chronologically, actually first on top) post in the Google+ account:

People around me tell me he doesn’t even exist. Bullshit. I know. How do I know? Evidence.

I take it it's his colleagues that say that. Just speculating, off the top of my head. But if I'm right and "Chicago library" is the answer, then which one? We know it's an abandoned one, we know it's in a poor area, and there's a tram stop near it. I can also see a "Shelter" sign at the end of the gameplay video, makes sense if it's a poor neighborhood i guess.

Edited by Bam, 29 November 2011 - 07:31 AM.

[Deel]

EDIT: Wait, if everyone is telling Cosmo that 47 doesn't exist, this means that his diary speaks of a time before the lock-down of the library. And since we don't know of any other places where 47 had been tracked between the diaries and the library operation, I'd say the answer is: Chicago Library.

God damn it, Gump! You're a goddamned genius!
Same point but from other angle: the game isn't out yet so the library chase has not happend yet.

[Numbers]

We could try just telling him about an abandoned library in Chicago? I doubt we need a name.

[Johnny Drama]

Let's try to mails this guy.... or why should we help this guy exactly? are we not on 47 side?!