The Finale
(Click image to see finale webcast)
Last night while people were mingling at the TatumThink Relaunch party and posing with the Nisha cutout (like my buddy David), the real Nisha was zooming to LA from San Diego, where she'd just met up with the Goons. (movie)
Disgruntled ex-employee scapegoat0531 was surveilling TatumThink's LA office, where Emile, revealed earlier to be Uffizi heist mastermind Arclight, was still working. Scapegoat reported seeing Nisha's A3 pulling into TatumThink. A few minutes later he emailed me a video showing Nisha giving new meaning to the term "graphic user interface." (blog)
Apparently "CyberGosse" started up his chat last night in a last-ditch effort to convince people that Virgil was actually the mastermind, not Emile. Why? Because CyberGosse was Emile!
Turns out Emile was the real genius behind all of TatumThink's early hit video games, and Virgil took all the credit while Emile labored behind the scenes, receiving none of the glory. The whole Uffizi plot was designed to be pinned on Virgil, as revenge for his past misdeeds. Emile had been planning the whole thing for probably close to a year, most likely fueled by Virgil's decision to come out of retirement and reenter the gaming world. Emile's planning and dedication were meticulous, posing as French hacker CyberGosse for months to befriend Ian and get inside information about Last Resort Retrieval's operations.
TatumThink's "Lead Game Designer" also must have spent quite a bit of money on his endeavor -- documents uncovered from SD card 6 reveal the total projected cost of the operation to be $1,291,300! Of course, that's the total cost if the operation were carried out from start to finish...which, of course, it wasn't, thanks to the help of the many dedicated and brilliant Retrievers out there! Whether boarding a boat with Nisha to confront crazed killer Gunter Banderwine, or tirelessly cracking the codes on the SD cards to reveal the smoking guns, it was ALL YOU out there who really put the bad guys away!
Thanks so much to everyone for checking out my site, whether you've been following it from the beginning, or just found out about it -- I've really enjoyed being a part of the community we've built, and it's been great making friends with so many cool, smart, and funny people! The StolenA3 forum community ROCKS!
-Todd
TatumThink security video from Scapegoat
(Click image to see movie)
Scapegoat just emailed me this video, from the TatumThink surveillance cam feed...ouch!
Nisha finds Goons; CyberGosse in chat
According to this email, Nisha went in to the Bay Street location, where Roger told her Virgil was behind it. J5 and Rowan, however, emailed her a picture uncovered from SD card 7 that reveals Emile to be Arclight.
Meanwhile, CyberGosse has emailed Ian, saying they need to chat...to log on, fire up your IRC to Amsterdam.nl.eu.undernet.org in channel #cgh4x
TatumThink Relaunch webcast
(Click image below at 8:03 PM (PDT) to link to the webcast)
The above image is from the main page of Virgil's site; he also posted a rant about it today...boy that guy's sure got a one-track mind, huh?
The party starts at 8:03 PM (PDT), or 11:03 for us folks on the East Coast. Good luck to Nisha and the Retrievers who are helping her out -- we'll be watching out for you at home!
HitsHerMark murdered
After agreeing to help Nisha keep an eye on Ian yesterday, Coachella Retriever HitsHerMark's selfless mission ended in disaster. Last night she emailed Nisha a video just as she was abducted by an unidentified figure. Then this morning, Worry emailed Nisha a heartbreaking news screenshot...
Now more than ever, I sincerely hope Nisha can deliver swift justice to the person responsible for this senseless tragedy, as well as the murders of Myke, Oak, and Gunter. With Ian kidnapped and taken who-knows-where, Nisha will have to rely on the help of Retrievers like Kane and SMG3er to capture the Uffizi heist mastermind. For Ian's sake, I hope they're up to this dangerous task.
Good luck and be careful, Retrievers!
Knock knock...
(Click image to see movie)
Believing she found the Bay Street location in San Diego this morning, Nisha told Ian to sit tight and not do "anything stupid" while she checked it out (listen)...but since when has Ian followed her instructions? Moments later, Nisha sent out an email soliciting the help of the Coachella 5 -- Retrievers HitsHerMark, SMG3er, Jane, Kiyash, and Laura -- but apparently even this intrepid team is powerless against Ian's uncanny ability to get himself into trouble.
After staking out Virgil's house, Ian hit the swipe card reader and gained entrance to the King of Code's inner sanctum. Unfortunately, Virgil had already been tipped off by Emile (listen) and was ready with a little surprise of his own...but not before Ian managed to email the SD card file found on Virgil's computer...
If you've got some ideas on figuring out the passwords for these locked files, we could use your help!
Nisha heads for San Diego, Ian gets "proactive"
After receiving some email tips from forum member lemonwheel, Nisha and Ian both hit the road for California. Nisha left for San Diego (listen), to find the Bay Street location mentioned by forger Szigmond Erdlemann. (movie)
Meanwhile Ian, believing Virgil to be behind the heist, left for LA to be "proactive"...could this plan involve another shoving match, a la E3 -- or worse -- at the TatumThink relaunch party Wednesday night? For the sake of Will Star, who flew out from New York to watch Ian's back, I sure hope not...
Scapegoat leaks Nisha scene; next A3 in Vegas
(Click image to see movie)
Man, my heart (and mind) really goes out to Emile...as if trying to keep his buddy Virgil from completely going off the deep end while keeping the production of his video game on track weren't enough, he continues to get battered by Worry and scapegoat0531 as well. Worry emailed Nisha yet another creepy wiretap of a conversation between Emile and Virgil, this time about next week's TatumThink party, a basket into which Virgil seems to be putting virtually all of his eggs and then some. [Insert obligatory "basket case" joke here.]
Then, disgruntled ex-TatumThink employee scapegoat0531 posted a link, along with the private username and password, to a rough draft of a cutscene from The Nisha Chronicles, Vol. 1 (see movie above, re-posted here with Emile's permission.) I just hope for Emile's sake that Virgil's party goes off without a hitch...he might want to consider serving finger foods that don't require any cutlery lying around, just in case Virgil's reflection in the pool isn't lit properly. Seriously though, Emile, good luck.
In other news, Ian's tracked the next A3 to Las Vegas, as shown in an IRC chat with Nisha. The two of them seem to be on better terms than they have been as of late...perhaps Lady Luck will be awaiting them in Sin City, ready to show them the way to Arclight?
"Die Einbruchnacht" plans uncovered
After a few frustrating stops and starts, yet another SD card full of hidden files toppled beneath the collective brainpower of the stolena3.com community...congrats, guys! You can check out all the newest uncovered files in "The Big Picture" discussion thread here.
The hidden files in SD card 5 all deal with the action to take place during "Die Einbruchnacht," or "break-in night." Particularly illuminating are the documents Jobs_pg1.jpg and Jobs_pg2.jpg, which detail the duties of the burglars and hackers -- not to mention goons Trent and Roger -- and show exactly how the paintings are to be stolen...or rather, were to be stolen, as I suspect the heist mastermind has had to make some slight adjustments to his or her plan now that we've been cracking it wide open for weeks!
The biggest mystery of all still remains, though...WHO? Who's the mastermind behind it, and was this person responsible for the deaths of Coachella liason Myke, Chicago tech guy Oak, and heist planner Gunter? The hunt for Arclight continues...
Who's playing games now?
Boy, what a guy won't do for a pretty face...even though he's presumably slammed with work on The Nisha Chronicles, Virgil still managed to take some time out and solve one of the puzzles from SD card 5 for his favorite former spy. Unfortunately for him (or perhaps fortunately, depending on who you believe is behind the heist), the file contained inside -- an illustration of the vibration-sensing alarms on the Uffizi paintings -- doesn't appear to offer any more leads to finding Arclight, the shadowy figure mentioned by Seattle forger Szigmond Erdlemann. Nisha seems to be playing Ian (listen) and Virgil (listen) against each other in an attempt to track Arclight down, so far to no avail.
Not that the other two ends of the Nisha Triangle don't have enough problems of their own already...sure, Virgil's planning a big bash celebrating his product placement deal from Audi, but his company seems plagued with problems, as evidenced by the series of wiretapped phone calls emailed by creepy stalker Worry (1, 2, 3, 4). And Ian's trail appears to have been picked up again by Trent and Roger (listen)...could Nisha have been behind these developments?