Finding Baldrick*: A Permanent Quest

I'll not reveal any information regarding progress in the quest. Good luck everybody.

 

I threw in the towel. I went with the obvious one, but I'm positive I'm missing something. I hope that some day we get the full story of Agent Mandrake.

 

I'll provide a detailed explanation when I announce the results. You'll be able to tell from that whether you got the right answer or not, and why it was the right/wrong answer.
As for names, I'll list the names of the two people who won a store credit, and the names of everyone who placed an entry in a chest. Only you and I will know whether you got the right answer.
Also, everyone gets a book. If your name is listed, you should contact me to arrange delivery. Approximately 19 hours to go. Good luck!

 

It is good to see that a number of people participated in this, which could mean we may be able to look forward to another such event in the future. This was a lot of fun.

 

Yaaaay!!!!

 

Looking forweard to learning what have I missed and how not clever I actually was.

Not sure if you thought of that or not, but it might be good to provide explanation in spoiler tag for those who will try this quest later.

 

Will do. I may also change the clues every so often.

 

*hands a jar of glue to Net* Eat up, you'll feel better about your answer. *gets back to work binding all the books going out to the people who participated*

 

I have some in the library. Need some alone time in anticipation of the winners

 

The competition has now closed. Results will be posted in due course.

 

And now, the moment of truth!​

This was a very difficult quest, made more difficult by the sadistic inclusion of multiple red herrings. Those who managed to find Baldrick can feel justifiably proud of their achievement, and will be rewarded with a book that contains a personal dedication. Those who managed to correctly identify the skeleton of Mandrake were placed in the draw for the $20 store credit. Everyone other than the winner of that draw was placed in the draw for the $10 store credit. The winners are:

$20 store credit: Net
$10 store credit: Aaxal Kuurle

The following entrants located the room that contained Baldrick, and have therefore qualified for free copies of Womby's 2016 scary story collection, including a personalised dedication page. (Originally this was going to be limited to those who managed to identify which skeleton was Mandrake, but given the difficulty of the quest I have decided to give a copy to everyone who managed to find Baldrick.)

Aaxal Kuurle
Aidenolm Rosemourne
Alexander
Glimmer
Maddax
Moiseyev Trueden
Net
Selene

Please PM Womby to arrange delivery of books and other prizes.

There is probably some curiosity at this point as to the correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.

Here are the details:

Spoiler

I mentioned red herrings. Here are a couple:

Deliberate Red Herring #1: The name Mandrake was of no significance. The fact that some of the items listed included mandrake was pure coincidence.

Deliberate Red Herring #2: The food items carried by the deceased were of no significance.

Now, recall the following text found in one of the bookstores:

Reports of current activity by Agent Baldrick to the Obsidian Council of Investigation.

<indecipherable text>

...started following the trail of the missing agent (codename Mandrake)...

<indecipherable text>

...the agent reportedly has chronic bad breath...

<indecipherable text>

...the missing agent’s most recent task was to trail a person of interest who was seen exiting Solace Bridge before heading west through Midmaer passage…

<indecipherable text>

...narrowed down the search for the missing agent to one of the smaller islands surrounding the main island…


<indecipherable text>

I have already noted that the name Mandrake was a red herring.

That leaves the following clues:

Clue #1: chronic bad breath

Clue #2: Mandrake had been to Solace bridge

Clue #3: Mandrake had been to Midmaer passage

Clue #4: small island surrounding main island

Clue #4 is of little help on its own, however the note left at the drop location said:

Clue #5: New information suggests that the missing agent may have hired a fisherman to take him to the Isle of Ghosts.

So, a reasonable assumption is that Baldrick is on one of the smaller islands surrounding the Isle of Ghosts.

On the tavern counter at the Isle of Ghosts is a book that describes the island's attractions. At the end of the description is the following paragraph:

Much of the island remains unexplored, and we advise caution if you head north west from here on your own. We have discovered a reference to some strange goings on near the far end of the island, and have yet to investigate.

Those who headed exactly North West from the book would have eventually discovered the island where Baldrick was held prisoner. One of the six skeletons on the tables was Mandrake. But which one?

Let's examine the list next to the fourth skeleton:
2 x garlic <-- satisfies clue #1
1 x black pearl <-- satisfies clue #2 (See note 1 below)
4 x ruby fragments <-- satisfies clue #3 (See note 2 below)
1 x piece of apple pie <-- irrelevant (the food was added as a deliberate red herring)

So, the correct chest was fourth from the left.

A big thanks to everyone who participated, and please accept my heartfelt sympathy if you spent ages agonising over the red herrings.

PS:

If you read Baldrick's diary you will recall that he described attaching a note to the leg of a pigeon. The note read:

"Listen to your friend Baldrick. Beware the island that conceals horrors untold. Stealth is advised if you value your life."

It is this note that was discovered over 200 years later, with the only decipherable part reading:

"....Baldrick...........island..........untold.....ealth.........value........."

I shall now go into hiding to escape retribution.

-----------------------------------​

NOTE 1:
Solace Bridge is the premier place for harvesting black pearl. It can be found at the following locations:

Pearl, 19.7, 33.0, 22.5
Pearl, 22.1, 33.0, 25.5
Pearl, 25.1, 33.2, 27.4
Pearl, -7.7, 33.4, 25.8
Pearl, 43.6, 37.4, 74.3
Pearl, 48.8, 37.3, 74.9
Pearl, 36.6, 37.0, 84.0
Pearl, 56.0, 37.1, 77.5
Pearl, 34.7, 37.1, 103.3
Pearl, 94.4, 48.8, 112.4

NOTE 2:
Midmaer Passage is chock full of ruby crystals:

 

I ate too much glue and fell for both red herrings. 8^p

Well done and bravo. I look forward to your next one. 8^)

 

Spoiler: response

Figures. A flip of the coin and I get the wrong one of the two At least I can say I was very close with this one. It was the ruby clue that I missed. Never considered to actually go through the Midmaer passage and have a good look inside.

Thank you guys for an awesome quest. Looking forward to the book .

 

Aaxal Kuurle says 'Thanks for the fun quest!'

 

Spoiler: Response

Ha, I was quite sure Mandrake is red herring. I was also sure I miss any clue indicating which food he had with him though I saw some apples along the way, but since he died 200 years ago I was quite sure I missed something more obvious. Was sure about garlic (though I like the smell) because it is much better bad breath generator than onion, though I would prefer if there was tomato or carrot that can be ruled out more easily. I guessed the balck pearl, though you can find more reagents along the way.
Actually I have invented another red herring apparently, because I spent ages figuring which spells Baldrick might be using for Stealth and to justify the reagents that were on him I was fairly confident with my answer, but was not quite sure till now *acts all smug as if he knew all along*

Woo hoo, what a great, challenging, and inspiring quest!

 

Spoiler: response to Nets response

Yea, the big clue for me was the garlic, which brought it down to two possible choices. This is where I was stuck a bit for two days. I never thought about actually going through the Midmaer passage, and if I had, then I would have put it together right away. I was thrown off by one of Wombys 'Red Herrings' by assuming that the soltown map on the Isle of Ghosts was significant. Anyways, this was a load of fun, and hope to see another one like this soon.

 

Spoiler: More comments on quest

Well shoot. I went for onions (which also cause bad breath) because their only use is for eating. Garlic is a reagent and might be considered a higher value item for its use in spells.

Great quest! Thankfully I still get a book even though I was wrong.

 

Ditto. Getting the book is nice, but my really reward in this was just doing this quest

 

Spoiler: aka why eating glue on epic quests is bad

I bit on the food. I assumed Mandrake was probably a red herring, but since both onion and garlic give bad breath I then thought that was a red herring. What sealed my fate was knowing that they only ate wolves and people and 1 person had meat (rabbit). So I wrongly assumed that was our dear agent. I also missed the message in the tavern so... 8^(

 

Spoiler: The Doctors fiancee

I know now why K'raaak Kaaa broke up with the Doctor? She found a new love in her life. The books in my library. She ate some of them