Pumpkin Bandit Conflict

Pumpkin Bandit Conflict
The message being discovered by 44cckw, raddicted and Norbert011.
Date October 2 2022 – present Location Server-wide
Belligerents
Anti-Pumpkin Bandit Forces	Pumpkin Bandit Army
Players
44cckw  CalmCreeper360  FinsCon  Norbert011  raddicted  TriKhazan  Withermann and others...	Pumpkin Bandit
Casualties and losses
none	1 death

The Pumpkin Bandit Conflict is the name given to an ongoing conflict between the players of Betaonline, against an unknown entity who goes under the name "the Pumpkin Bandit".

2022

Oak Hills heist

The extortion letter.

At an unknown point before 2 October 2022, an unknown entity, possibly a player, going under the pseudonym "the Pumpkin Bandit", would rob the bank and all stores of Oak Hills. He would leave a message outside of the AFK Pool, and leave blood trails (redstone) all across town.

44cckw was the first player who noticed this, and would immediately notify raddicted and Norbert011. They would all gather around the AFK Pool and read a series of signs that the bandit had left. It was an attempt at extortion; the Pumpkin Bandit demanded diamond blocks, otherwise he would blow up the town.

Slimeball campsite

The detailed plan of operations left by the bandit.

While visiting the town of Slimeball, Raddicted and Norbert discovered an abandoned campsite left by the bandit on 3 October 2022. The campsite contained a detailed series of signs, which stated that "they" had stolen their homes in the desert, and that the Pumpkin Bandit would recruit more pumpkinmen to his cause, and set up a permanent base of operations somewhere on the server.

Around the same time, the extortion letter left by the bandit outside of the AFK Pool was destroyed under mysterious circumstances. Wherever this was the Pumpkin Bandit removing evidence or if it was an unrelated grief, is unknown.

Attack on Slimeball

The blood found inside aella22's house.

On 11 October 2022, aella22 would log on the server and immediately report griefing at Slimeball. 44cckw and Raddicted would warp to Slimeball to check it out, and found blood all over aella's house. This was confirmed to be work of the Pumpkin bandit, as the blood was similar to that found in the Oak Hills robberies. Luckily for the residents in Slimeball, no other crimes were committed, as all the chests was locked.

Wither Town well

On 30 October 2022, TriKhazan would discover a lever at the Wither Town well. When switching it on, it revealed a secret base underneath the well, left by the bandit at an unknown time. 44cckw, Raddicted, CalmCreeper360 and Norbert011 would be alerted and joined in on the gathering. Another message would be found, saying that the Pumpkin Bandit's army is "not large enough to raid the server", and that he would enlist the help from "the golem". Chests containing random items such as redstone, string, wheat and other junk items would be riddled around the base. 3 sponges was also inside the base, meaning that the Pumpkin Bandit could potentially be either Norbert and raddicted, as those were the only players at the time who had obtained sponges.

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  The initial discovery of the well. 30 October 2022.

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  The message found inside the base.

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  The very suspicious sponges.

Trojan pumpkin

The giant pumpkin that Fin constructed in Oak Hills. 31 October 2022

The Pumpkin Bandit agent discovered inside Fin's Pumpkin.

On 31 October 2022, FinsCon would construct a giant pumpkin in Oak Hills to celebrate Halloween. While the pumpkin stood there for hours without anything happening, CalmCreeper decided to break into it while Fin went offline. He would discover a pumpkinman inside of the giant pumpkin. Calm at first believed this was the Pumpkin Bandit himself, though Norbert pointed out that it was simply one of his minions, due to all of the wealth he had stole not being anywhere in sight. The minion however, remained silent.

 CalmCreeper360  : youre under arrest
 Norbert011      : why is he silent
 Norbert011      : he probably already ate cyanide pills before we captured him
 CalmCreeper360  : fuck
 Norbert011      : we lost our only lead

Due to the pumpkinman not speaking up, Norbert would decapitate him with his sword. The giant pumpkin would be destroyed some time later after Halloween, though people found it very suspicious that the Pumpkin Bandit-follower hid inside Fin's build. Some theorized that the pumpkinman was attracted there due instinct, since it was a massive pumpkin. Calm however, believed that Fin and the Pumpkin Bandit could be working together. Norbert didn't think too much of it, and instead said they should be investigating the clue about "the golem".

Possible suspects

It is unknown who the Pumpkin Bandit is, though players have speculated that it could be one of these players;

• 46mm was one of the first people who got accused of the crimes. He has had a long history on the server for causing chaos, mainly during the Dupe War, so it could be possible that he somehow has returned.
• While unlikely, Mope222 could potentially be the Pumpkin Bandit, as there were blood trails running towards his house. This was however disregarded quickly as a red herring, as the Pumpkin Bandit could've possibly tried to frame Mope for the crimes.
• Withermann was a major suspect at first. He is known on the server for creating pumpkinmen, which is what the Pumpkin Bandit refers to at his Slimeball campsite. Wither also has created multiple settlements all across the server, so this campsite could be another one of his creations. It is also highly suspicious that the Pumpkin Bandit managed to create a hidden base underneath Withertown without Wither noticing.
• CalmCreeper360 is another possible suspect. He claims that a secret tunnel-network exist in Oak Hills, named the Finternet. He could have used these tunnels to travel around the town unnoticed, and rob the stores by digging tunnels underneath them.
• Norbert011, together with FinsCon and Raddicted are the most likely suspects, due to them being the ones who first discovered the scene and also finding the most evidence in the case, even in the most unlikely and remote locations. This leads some players to believe, that they are the real culprits, who initiated this false flag attack on the Betaonline community as an attempt to overthrow the leadership and cover up the existence of the Finternet. Out of the three, Fin has cast the most suspicion on himself - when being asked if the identity of the Pumpkin Bandit has been uncovered, he responded with only a smile. This has been witnessed by Withermann, TriKhazan and CalmCreeper360.
• shigaduhshay became another suspect with the discovery of the Wither Town well underground base. He claims that he discovered the base "a long time ago", yet he never told anyone else on the server about the find.