It’s the final night of my friend’s visit, and the final chapter of our escapade into the Cursed Exhibition. We are ready to save the world, destroy the artefact, and become world-famous Cult-Enders. We dig in to both delicious dinner and the final envelope.
Envelope 6 contains the standard ‘start here’ envelope; a letter from the detective; another police letter with known suspects; a partial map of Istanbul (not Constantinople); four case files from the Turkish police.
We are told we must track down four keys, possibly by solving four murders, though the Cult may already have the keys. The Turkish police have identified a list of possible suspects, as well as provided us the case files. We need to determine:
- Which of the suspects is the murderer?
- Where is location of the hidden shrine?
After perusing some online resources, we start with the case files:
- Case file 9G4T, which provides us a photo, an incident report, a hair follicle, and an overdue library report. The police file contains an audio clip, suggesting that there is more to the library than meets the eye, also that the Librarian expected someone to come after him. Looking at the hair, based on the available information, it would appear to be medium to light brown hair, eliminating several suspects, at least for this murder. The photo is of an Arabic character, T. Looking at the library letter, we find some overdue books, and a link to another website. First, there are a series of suggestions in the returned books, but not clear what to do with them at the moment.
- Case Number: 4M8R. Something was stolen from a bank vault, with another photo and voice note. The photo is an Arabic M. There was a note left on the deceased’s desk and basic info regarding the deceased. The note suggests there are six characters, an underscore, then five characters. ******_*****. This time, on the audio file, my eagle-eared detective pal picks up that it’s morse code - Daughter. Her daughter’s name is not provided, but she was born in Izmir. We try accessing her staff website, but don’t have enough information.
- Case Number: 1A8Y - a death in an antiques shop. The police report provides information on the scene, including a shoe print, a voice note, and the Arabic G or ‘, depending on if a dot was intended, as well as a list of antiquities and a receipt, which would allow us to backwards math a missing item - a tankard. There is also an audio file, which hints at additional clues beyond the key. We then contact the police regarding the tankard, which sends us to a spinning wheel, to a clock, to a camera, which gives us a clue for later: The third oldest key cannot be turned immediately before. We also get the shoe size - 25 cm - which rules it down to someone wearing an EU 40/UK6.5/US7 - we are down to 3 suspects (maybe 4 if I did the hair math wrong).
- Case 3F3T: A dead ornithologist with a rifled study. This time we have fingerprints, another audio file, pages from the ornithologist’s book, and another photo - this time of the Arabic S. The bloody handprint on the knife suggests left handed, which narrows it down to two suspects. We need to go back to the other files, probably the bank one, to figure out the eye color, which would allow us to finalize the choice. The audio message suggests that the phrase portion of this case is hidden in the life’s work. I do appreciate that the ornithologist’s name is ‘birb’. If we overlay the bookmark on the book’s shaded areas, we get the following phrase: The purple key must not be turned.
- Case Number: 4M8R. So far we know was stolen from a bank vault, leaving an Arabic M.The note suggests there are six characters, an underscore, then five characters. ******_*****. Daughter was the morse message. Her daughter’s name is not provided, but she was born in Izmir. What we missed the first time was that we were supposed to email Fatma, get her OOO, and her daughter’s name. With that, we have Name_Izmir, which gets us in! Using the timing of the heist, we determine the suspect has blue eyes, giving us ONE suspect remaining! We also get When the blue has already been turned, or when the red has not been turned. Now we feel this case has given us what it can.
- Case file 9G4T gave us T, light brown hair, but no passphrase, but we know there are things in the returned books which have funny names. We missed that on the back of the letter, there was a note with a call number - a book written in 2008, starting with O, on the subject of genealogy, names, and insignia. There is a book titled Or after the Youngest or the Oldest, which should round out our clues.
We still don’t know WHERE the keys are. Google tells us that the main point in Istanbul that uses those Arabic letters is the Grand Bazaar. We email the detective the location and wait for a response. NOPE. We get a hint, and take a look at the locations the murders occurred - they’re clustered. With a bit of a nudge we find the letters on the streets, circling one of the locations on the maps. We send the location to the detective, and are correct! She finds the hidden entrance, and uses the murderer’s name to get past the guard. We get to listen in on her trip to the shrine, where she is confronted by the security guard from the cult’s HQ in London. We then have to help her hide, and take out the guards looking for her without being caught. The sound effects are amusing.
We then have a 20 minute STRESSFUL window to solve multiple logic puzzles. I don’t work well under pressure. Thankfully, we solve them, she destroys the artefact, and the world is saved from the ravages of the Cult of Shakir. Well done! We get a series of conclusion emails and video, and kittens!
Beyond a few glitches, we had a great time doing the entire series. I would have preferred less reliance on the web, as that can be hard when you have multiple people trying to enjoy simultaneously, but really great job overall. This copy of The Cursed Exhibition is going to my friend’s house for her wider family to play, but I highly recommend heading over to The Detective Society and picking up your copy today :)
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