Tara Coulson

[Dryunya]

Her storyline is pretty frustrating. We hardly have any information to know what's going on. I guess we'll have to wait for the resolution.

[S_o_S]

Quixote needs to find her apartment, he's asking about it on Twitter. Anybody know the name of her apartments?

EDIT: Never mind, think I found it - Bosworth something.

[Sicon112]

Quixote needs to find her apartment, he's asking about it on Twitter. Anybody know the name of her apartments?

Loverose on Bosworth Road.

[Qara-Xuan Zenith]

A new hacked block post mentions the name Quixote. Since Quixote's been going by the name Lance Chevalier to everyone, this can mean only one group of four culprits (NOBODY SAY IT).

It also mentions Hackins. Remember Deanna Hackins? Why drag her back into it?

[Victin]

A new hacked block post mentions the name Quixote. Since Quixote's been going by the name Lance Chevalier to everyone, this can mean only one group of four culprits (NOBODY SAY IT).

It also mentions Hackins. Remember Deanna Hackins? Why drag her back into it?

Do I read: man hopes Quixote hacks in?

[Dekso]

It also says Hope, the other guy that she said was stalking her on her earlier posts, but we haven't actually heard anything about him really.

Do I read: man hopes Quixote hacks in?

What could he hack into even? Surely not the blog he doesn't have the skills to.

[Victin]

It also says Hope, the other guy that she said was stalking her on her earlier posts, but we haven't actually heard anything about him really.

Do I read: man hopes Quixote hacks in?

What could he hack into even? Surely not the blog he doesn't have the skills to.

I wasn't being literal.

[S_o_S]

Looks like she's losing hope, and very scared.

[Pixelmage]

The Red Herring?

I was thinking about this little chain of events and came to a theory: Tara is not ARG related. The hacking, the threats, everything happening to her was a human side plot. By human motives. All tangential to the Wall and the Crisis.

Don happened to stumble upon it by chance and by his behaviour, tangling himself in the flow of events. Making it part of his story, but not his story. It's still Tara's show, and Quixote is an bystander who decided to intervene.

My evidence to it is that the hackings began before Quixote's crossing, meaning they were not caused by his tropes coming with him. The links to Quixote in the thread of events could be attributed to the hacker(s) adapting their plan to account for the newfound "hero".

So, I short, my thought is that the whole Tara plotline is a Red Herring on it's own. It's still a piece of Don's plotline, but one where he's not the main character.

Oh, And another thing,

The pacing is not at all fictional. Of all the plotlines, this one is the fastest moving. It's not a fictional arbitrary pacing. It has the feel of real people drivng it forward.

[Dryunya]

Ok, we need a recap and some thinking aloud.

1. Mann (AKA Kenneth Tripky) was her alleged photographer who she had an affair with, and promptly dumped him.
2. Jeff Hope (not a real name) was her new boyfriend whom she promptly dumped.
3. They both started stalking her with letters.
4. Mann has been bothering her about his lost phone (Deanna had later confessed that she had stolen it).
5. She has insulted Hope in her blog (20th Aug), and then they both started hijacking her blog (5th Sept) and generally playing dirty.
6. On 8th October, she has received her first Halloween-related threat.
7. October 13th: Quxiote enters the picture. He meets Tripky, who "steals" his phone. Turns out, it was his phone. He later gave it to him when he found out that he was aware of Tara's pictures on it. He also removed his identity from his phone. Quixote had gone on his quest for Tara.
8. October 16th: Deanna Hackins had called Quixote (she believed it was Tripky's phone) and demanded Quxote to meet her immediately, with some private conversation that she didn't want to have over the phone. He still haven't told us the details.
9. On 17th, the next day, "A critical piece is now in play" on Tara's blog. Quixote has decided to pay Tripky a personal visit.
10. Tripky wasn't there (as Deanna predicted), and Quixote was being watched. Inside his inn, he found destroyed memory cards. Hackins told him there was supposed to be a card with photos of her mother. She was looking for them for a long time, and she thought they were on his phone, which is why she had stolen it. She also claims he was responsible for the destruction of her family.
11. On 20th, he saved Tara from the muggers.
12. Quixote has been hunting the troll until recently.
13. On 29th, Mann has contacted Tara with concerns for her safety. He said he had never hacked her blog.

So, I'm not really sure where what to make of all this. The hacks started before the ARG had even began. But... what now? Also, that Deanna really is suspicious. She has a prefect cover story, which is why I can't trust her.

Corrections are welcome.

UPD: If we assume that she was hacked by someone we are at least aware of, if she wasn't hacked by Mann, it may have been Hope. He could impersonate both of them. I can't think straight right now (5 AM, people), so I can't put it together.

[Qara-Xuan Zenith]

Oh, hell. Now it seems obvious that Deanna was important, and we've all been overlooking her.
Thanks for the brilliant list, Dryu. Now to think on what it means...

Edit: Well, her hacking didn't start until September. So it could already have been the you-know-who by then? (not sure, though-- Sept 5 is before the Timeline starts)
And at any rate, the Halloween threats started only since Quixote got his (Tripky's) phone. True, he hadn't met Tara yet, but if anyone was keeping their ears open for Quixote, perhaps someone who had stolen Tripky's phone, knew about him stalking Tara, and then "threw it away" to somewhere where Quixote just happened to find it-- then it was late enough in the game that there's certainly a connection.

Yeah, Deanna HAS to be MlF.

[Dekso]

New post, just says 'bang.'

Does that mean Quixote was too late?

[Dryunya]

He didn't say that. He mislead the police, and got detained for his trouble. He does not know whether any of them is OK yet. (But Tara's blog has been updated with a Cowboy Bebop quote, which is probably not good.)

Yeah, Deanna HAS to be MlF.

It would make a lot of sense, but I showed the comic page to Quixote, and he says that it's definitely not her. At first he was confused by her hair - he said Deanna Who had dark ones - but when I asked him about the face itself, he said it's not her anyway. Still can't dismiss the disguise, though - it's not like Quixote is hard to fool.

One more problem:

True, he hadn't met Tara yet, but if anyone was keeping their ears open for Quixote, perhaps someone who had stolen Tripky's phone, knew about him stalking Tara, and then "threw it away" to somewhere where Quixote just happened to find it-- then it was late enough in the game that there's certainly a connection.

The plan to get Quixote involved is too much of a Contrived Coincidence. He found Tripky's phone, sure, but getting him involved would require:

1. Getting him to meet Tripky (and he met him completely by chance, unless there was something he didn't tell us).
2. Making him go meet Tara (and even then, his justifications were pretty thin - he though Tripky loved her, and he wanted to get them together).

While Quixote could be manipulated into following both of these points, the problem is that he wasn't! He did this on his own accord, and that's what makes the situation unlikely. I have no idea what's happening.

[The Finch]

"Bang..."

OH GOD, THEY ENDED TOONAMI AGAIN

THOSE BASTARDS!

[Qara-Xuan Zenith]

Quixote didn't have to meet Tripky for their plan to work-- if they were assuming at first that he was smarter than he is.
They would just assume that Quixote would explore the phone and find the pictures of Tara...
And since my brain's still in Adam-mode, maybe it was an attempt to set him up as the hacker/stalker;
him encountering Tripky was just an added bonsus at that point.
They didn't even need him to try to meet Tara; after all, with Tripky's phone, they would be sure that quite a bit of the evidence pointed to him. Remember, "a critical piece is now in play" went up after Quixote met Hackins, but BEFORE he met Tara.

I'm still working out the details; and until we get something more informative than "bang" for what happened to Tara and Quixote, I won't be able to figure out where "step 3: Profit" is.

tl;dr: All they needed to do to incriminate him and make their plan work was get Quixote the phone. The rest is icing on the cake.

[H22]

The GMs just had to give Don something to do.

[Qara-Xuan Zenith]

Well... Tara's dead.

[narrativedilettante]

Well... Tara's dead.

Sh*t. I really didn't think that would happen. Man, this is DARK. And sad. I feel so... empty.

[The Finch]

WHAT A HORRIBLE NIGHT AND DAY TO HAVE A CURSE

[Victin]

WHAT A HORRIBLE NIGHT AND DAY TO HAVE A CURSE

Castlevania reference! But Tara's dead D:

[The Finch]

WHAT A HORRIBLE NIGHT AND DAY TO HAVE A CURSE

Castlevania reference! But Tara's dead D:

Yes! Somebody got the reference!

But yes! It is a terrible night to have a curse!

[Dryunya]

Refer to "sending them back" thread.
If this was Cabal's doing. THEY. SHALL. DIE.
We have all the tools to make it happen.

[Scarab]

Okay I think it's safe to say we really need to get that phone number, asap.

Would Don have it?

[WackyMeetsPractical]

Okay I think it's safe to say we really need to get that phone number, asap.

Would Don have it?

I think it's safe to say that until Holmes can get back into the apartment, we are physically incapable of obtaining that number.

[narrativedilettante]

Also, Don is BSODing right now. We need to give him some time/space before we ask things of him.