An online game, a clan of three, an empty chest and a player who was just a bit too friendly.
On Monday at half past seven in the morning, Marcos switched on his computer before breakfast, as usual. In Amber Kingdoms, the online game he played with his clan, The Lynxes, something was wrong: the clan chest, in the castle tower beneath the lynx banner, was empty. Not a single gem. Not a single sword. Three months of playing, gone.
The chest log made it perfectly clear: “03:12 · Marcos_Linx opened the chest (47 items)”. Marcos felt a chill down the back of his neck. At twelve minutes past three in the morning he had been fast asleep. And only three people had a key to that chest: him, his friend Jon, and Paula, his sister, who had founded the clan.
Jon messaged him straight away: “It wasn’t me! Look at the log: it says your name, not mine!” Paula couldn’t even reply: she was away on a school trip at a farm, with no phone or computer, until Tuesday. Then again, Paula did know Marcos’s password: she had watched him type it a thousand times.
Then Marcos remembered Elf_Guardian. He had turned up in the game on Friday, really friendly, handing out potions and asking to join the clan. On Saturday he sent Marcos a link: “To get 500 free gems, log in with your username and password.” The page looked exactly like the game’s. Marcos typed in his details at 19:35. The gems never arrived.
Marcos opened his email. Among the adverts there was a notice from the game that he hadn’t read: “New sign-in to your account from an unknown device. Saturday, 19:40.”
He looked for Elf_Guardian in the player list. His profile no longer existed. Marcos switched off the screen, took a deep breath and went to find his mum.
Activities
1 Detective Inference
Who emptied the clan chest? Tick the correct hypothesis.
- a) Jon, his friend, who also had a key to the chest and was always the first to log in every morning.
- b) Paula, his sister, who founded the clan and knew Marcos’s password from watching him type it.
- ✓c) Elf_Guardian, the stranger, who got hold of Marcos’s password with the fake gems page.
- d) Nobody: it was a glitch in the game, which sometimes empties chests by mistake during overnight updates.
Which clue proves it? Copy or summarise the clue from the text that proves it.
Correct hypothesis: c). Exactly: the gems page was there to steal passwords.
Key clue: “Marcos typed his password into the gems page at 19:35, and at 19:40 someone logged into his account from an unknown device.” The times prove it: five minutes after he gave his details, someone got into his account. The gems were the bait.
2 The Loom Order of events
The story starts on Monday morning. Put the events in time order. Write the order number (1, 2, 3…) in each box.
- 3 Someone logs into Marcos’s account from an unknown device.
- 5 Marcos finds out the chest is empty.
- 2 Marcos types his password into the gems page.
- 1 Elf_Guardian turns up in the game handing out potions.
- 6 Marcos reads the game’s notice in his email.
- 4 Someone empties the chest using Marcos’s account.
Correct order:
- Elf_Guardian turns up in the game handing out potions.
- Marcos types his password into the gems page.
- Someone logs into Marcos’s account from an unknown device.
- Someone empties the chest using Marcos’s account.
- Marcos finds out the chest is empty.
- Marcos reads the game’s notice in his email.
Elf_Guardian appeared on Friday; on Saturday, Marcos typed in his details at 19:35 and at 19:40 someone got into his account. The chest was emptied on Monday at 03:12. That morning Marcos discovered it and, after that, read the notice in his email.
3 The Missing Page Coherence
Which continuation fits everything we know? Tick only one option.
- ✓a) With his mum, Marcos changes his password and writes to support with the gems link and the 19:40 sign-in notice.
- b) Marcos calls Paula at the school farm to ask if it was her, and Paula answers from her phone that same morning.
- c) Support checks the log and confirms the chest was opened from Jon’s account at twelve minutes past three in the morning.
- d) That afternoon, Elf_Guardian messages Marcos on the game chat to give him the 500 gems he had promised.
Answer: a). It’s the sensible thing to do and it fits everything: the notice and the link are the evidence of what happened.
- b) Paula was at the school farm with no phone or computer until Tuesday.
- c) The log says “Marcos_Linx”, not Jon: the chest was opened with Marcos’s account.
- d) Elf_Guardian’s profile no longer existed, so he couldn’t message him on the chat.
4 Spot the Contradiction Literal reading
Three statements don’t fit the story. Put an X next to the 3 statements that don’t fit the text.
- a) Marcos’s clan was called The Lynxes.And its banner was a lynx.
- ✗b) The log said the chest had been opened by Jon.It said “Marcos_Linx”.
- c) Paula was on a trip with no phone or computer.At a school farm, until Tuesday.
- ✗d) Elf_Guardian turned up in the game on Saturday morning.He turned up on Friday; Saturday was when he sent the link.
- e) The gems page looked exactly like the game’s.That’s why Marcos didn’t suspect anything.
- ✗f) Marcos received the 500 free gems.The gems never arrived.
5 The Gallery Visualisation
In the game you choose the illustration that answers this question: “Which screen did Marcos see when he switched on his computer on Monday?”. Here, you draw it yourself, with every detail the text gives you.
What should appear: The empty chest beneath the lynx banner and the 03:12 log entry.
Reward drawings that include the details from the text, not artistic skill.
Ending
To read aloud once the answers have been checked.
His mum read the notice twice and didn’t tell him off. “What matters is what we do now,” she said. They changed the password, turned on two-step verification and wrote to the game’s support team with everything: the link, the time Marcos had typed in his details and the 19:40 notice.
Support replied that same afternoon. The gems page was fake: it copied the look of the game to steal passwords. With it, someone had logged into Marcos’s account five minutes later and waited until the early hours of Monday to empty the chest without anyone seeing. Elf_Guardian’s account had been banned, and the 47 items went back into the Lynxes’ chest.
When Paula came back from the farm, she found a new rule pinned to the clan noticeboard: “Nobody gives you anything in exchange for your password. Nobody.”
Suggested marking
Each activity is worth 2 points (10 in total). In 1, one point for the hypothesis and one for the clue. In 2, give one point if only a couple of events are swapped. In 4, half a point for each correct cross and minus half a point for each true statement crossed out.