AUGUST 2, 2025

WANTED posters began appearing in bars and coffee shops across Houston TX, each bearing the haunting image of a young woman from the late 1800s with glowing eyes and a cryptic reward: "Eternal Glory" Hidden within the design were three red letters — ARG — and a QR code that marked the start of something strange.

Mercy’s voice welcomed the listener as a fellow bounty hunter & potential asset for an upcoming “hunt.” Distorted images of Houston’s Sam Houston Monument flickered on the screen, alongside the date April 1836 and a code.

There, using the engraved date and the letters on the plaque, players could decode their first message: “ARE YOU ONE OF . US”

It was clear this wasn’t just a puzzle — it was an invitation.

The shrine also contained QR codes linking to a countdown clock along with the Substack of Harper Rojas — a public journal where she had been documenting her investigation into the long-lost mining town of Oxhead and a mystery over a century old. Her posts grew increasingly paranoid, filled with messages about cursed artifacts, shadowy figures, and the strange girl from the posters.

Hidden in her writings were unsettling messages: “Death is a Mercy.” “You walk in the valley of my shadow.” “Some secrets should stay buried.”

In her final entry, she confessed that she feared someone was following her.

Those who followed the call received Oxhead tattoos — simple temporary markings at Avant Garden, Frost Town Brewery, and Houston Watch Co. Images of tattooed players began appearing online, and the website updated with each one, now altered to contain a secret message from Mercy.

September 2025

Characters from Oxhead calling themselves the ‘Hands of Mercy’ held pop-up events to recruit others to sign their names to Mercy’s ledger and mark themselves with the oxhead tattoo as devotees to Mercy.

Those who had received the original boxes were sent one last package: an Oxhead tattoo, a gold card marked with the ox skull, and a letter written by Mercy. “Come bearing my mark and with the gold card in hand. I have questions only you can answer and answers only you can question.”

AUGUSt 9, 2025

Within a week, mysterious boxes and envelopes arrived at the homes of local journalists, influencers, and RPG enthusiasts. Inside, a miniature version of the same WANTED poster, along with clippings about a missing woman named Harper Rojas, and a strange symbol — the skull of an ox. The QR code led to a hidden website, where giving your email unlocked the first transmission from someone calling themself “Mercy.”

By visiting AREYOUONEOF.US, the next clue was revealed: a map pointing to Axelrad Beer Garden. Anyone who approached the bar and whispered “Mercy sent me” was led upstairs to a shrine left by Mercy. Inside was a book — a leather-bound ledger from a town called Oxhead — filled with names past and present, and a cryptic phrase scratched along the bottom: “OR ONE OF THEM.”

AUGUST 20, 2025

At midnight on August 20th, all websites updated with a new message from Mercy sharing that their work in Oxhead showed them that death’s finest hour was not High Noon but Midnight.

The Player was told that it was time to make their mark and instructed to go to one of 3 locations around Houston and give the password: Midnight High.

Below the message Mercy had left a grid of 12 black Oxhead symbols.

AUG 21, 2025

Harper’s Recordings Return

After weeks of silence, Harper’s voice returned. Not in text, but in audio. In a series of distorted recordings, she confronted Mercy, demanding to know why she was being hunted. Mercy admitted a fascination with her work, impressed by her unearthing of Oxhead’s secrets. Each audio release expanded the lore of the story, just as Harper’s earlier research had done.

001 | 002 | 003 | 004

SEPTEMBER 9, 2025

The grid was now full with the message from Mercy cleary visible: “I WILL BE AT AVANTGARDEN SEPT 12 8PM”. A challenge? An Invitation? Either way, the end was drawing near — or perhaps, just the beginning.