Clues and Rifts

Clues are only in Bounty Hunt and Rifts are only in QuickPlay. The interaction between them is the same. You collect them and a region shrink happens.

Clue
"In a recess, a dark corner of a ramshackle dwelling, the pool of ash settles once more. The revelation it bore, now looping over through your mind. The acrid smell of a tallow candle fills the room and your hands shake as you unfold the map. You mark off Alice Farm as having harbored nothing more than a trace of your target. In light of the revelation, you strike through two more."

- Process of Elimination

"A Hunter carries with them the dead weight of the horrors they've lived. Some can bear it, some stagger beneath the burden uncertainly. Here, an unnamed Hunter recounts the deadly allure of tracking their first target. From their first intoxicating glimpse into the Dark Sight, to their final absorption into the grotesque psyche of their prey, we retrace the boundaries of their own disfigured reality and the gradual unraveling of their grasp upon it. If it's too bright, you can blink and block out the light. The dark waits to take its place. In the shade, all eyes are lidless. We, the Hunters, blocked it out for too long. We saw the things hidden there, confined to arteries. Living in the pulse. There's ash; it blows like leaves in a storm. They can't be caught, counted, measured, or grasped. But we all see it. I hoped it was a collective madness. That the color was drained out the world because we bled our humanity out of us. But seeing the first was unforgettable. The distant glimmer, an object of malignant desire. After that, impossible to ignore. We argued, but its existence became undeniable. Its baleful pull, inescapable. Shutting eyes only made it clearer. I pursued it. I found it, my first, the source of ash. Its cinders erupt and flare into our world. They fall in theirs, cold and blackened. They say it's a rend in our world. It burns where we would bleed. Scabbed over. A petrified memory of barbarity. A pile of dust. What I remember most? The smell: still lingering, burnt flesh and sulfur. Seeped into the earth, seeped into me. Then the pain. I reached into the wound. Tore it open. It engulfed me in billows of fiery heat. I was made to relive the death in its depths. A momentary glimpse. Teeth punctured skin. Jaw crushed bone. My hand deluged in flesh, I pushed, only to melt into its maw. The world returned. The Faustian revelation, fresh, grinding within my mind. Another anomaly was calling, weak and far. You know, the second was much the same. I came undone in a flash. But I took what I wanted from the fire and the fury. The third was easy. I welcomed the heat, as I had grown cold. As it ebbed, I was pulled apart, arm from shoulder, leg from hip. Ripped. Flesh lacerated. Bones ruptured. Neck torn and twisted, around and around and around. Time ground to a halt. When it passed, I was somewhere else. My fear and anger became overwhelming. I raised my hand to my face, to feel if I was me. Too many elbows bent and fingers curled. Nails like claws, some torn out their bed. My face bloated, convulsing at my touch. The floor was far below. Ovens smoked. A school of strung up fish hung around. Webs covered all. My flesh began to tighten. The inverse was constriction, compression, shattering. In the maelstrom, only the image seen remained: the beast's lair, found."

- Dark Awaits

Clue is an anomaly found in the area where the beast resides. It resembles a pile of ash on the ground that smell of burnt flesh and sulfur. Hunters are able to track clues from distance with the use of dark vision. When found, they can 'open' it to relive the events that left an imprint on reality, and by doing so to narrow down the location of beast's lair. At least one clue is located in each compound on the map, but the exact location within the compound is randomly picked from the set of possible locations. In certain compounds two clues will spawn at the same time.

Tracking the clue
Using the dark vision allows hunter to see the clues in vicinity. Far clues are visible as faint, blue sparks. Near clues shine with blinding blue light.

Note, that if you already found the beast's lair, or eliminated the area, the clues will not attract you, even if you haven't claimed them.

Claiming the clue
After reaching the clue, hunter may claim it to narrow down location of the lair. But the clue gives information even before claiming it. Untouched clue looks like a pile of ash, with sparks flying upwards. It means that you are most likely first one here. If any other hunter have already claimed the clue, the center will look like a hole in the ground, leading to a dark world, with the sparks still flowing up. That tells you that someone already have been here, so watch out for traps or ambushes. You yourself claiming the clue will also open the hole, but since the clue will no longer call to you, the sparks will be gone.

If an enemy team/player is nearby the clue, it will glow red and emit a different warning sound.

It may happen that the compound in which you investigated the clue will not be in the darkened area. If the second clue is located in this compound you may also claim it. There are 3 compounds containing 2 clues on each map:
 * Stillwater Bayou
 * Port Reeker
 * Healing Waters Church
 * Blanchett Graves
 * Lawson Delta
 * Lawson Station
 * Fort Carmick
 * Nicholls Prison

Bounty Tracker
Each hunt can target one or two bosses. The bounty tracker is shown in the top left corner of the screen. The tracker shows what monster is being hunted (or shows both), amount of clues gathered for given monster, monster health, banishing progress or extraction progress.

Rift
"A single Hunter, many, many decades ago and whose name has been lost to us, discovered a phenomenon we now to refer to as “Rifts." These Rifts bubble with dark energy, and appear to be fissures in the fabric between worlds. Though evil they may appear in visage, unlike those fissures that opened the gates to the corruption we now fight in the form of plague, grunts, and monsters, the Rifts allow us to access a positive energy that can help to heal those whose souls have been sullied, or so to say, damned.

A Rift is a puncture in this inter -world-ly fabric. It is, in fact, little more than a leak, and through it a finite pool of valuable energy is slowing escaping—energy capable of healing damaged souls and that is worth much more besides. Should a Hunter close four of these Rifts, they will find themselves able to access that larger energy pool—something we have termed the Wellspring. Close four Rifts, and you will become connected to its Wellspring, and begin to absorb its energy. We cannot yet explain why this is so—the phenomenon was discovered entirely by accident in the desperation experienced by those close to death. That solitary, damned Hunter gave us all a great gift in recording the experience. Many may yet be saved.

(..)

Rifts are visible in Dark Sight, and should your soul fall to this cursed damnation, you must seek out four of them immediately. Close four, and empty the Wellspring of its power, and do it quickly. A single Wellspring can save but one Hunter. Many of your brethren may fall, perhaps even by your own hand. But it is a small price to pay for the return of even a single damned individual. It is a mission you must take on your own.

If you do not complete this task quickly enough, all nearby will fall to its power. These Wellsprings are volatile, and when they have been completely depleted by the slow leak of energy through the Rifts, a cataclysmic event occurs, killing the remaining damned in the area. Furthermore, the creation of a Wellspring brings into being a kind of energy wall that is harmful to pass through. Stay close as you absorb its energy, and proceed, as always, with caution."

- Philip Huff Jones, M.D.

Closing the rift
After reaching the rift, hunter may close, which will also disable some of the other rifts. Hunter will be able to distinguish those unactive rifts and will mark them on the map. If an enemy player is nearby the rift, it will glow red and emit a different warning sound.

It may happen that the compound in which you have closed rift will not be in the darkened area. If the second rift is located in this compound you may also close it. There are 3 compounds containing 2 clues in Stillwater Bayou and in Lawson Delta:
 * Stillwater Bayou
 * Port Reeker
 * Healing Waters Church
 * Blanchett Graves
 * Lawson Delta
 * Lawson Station
 * Fort Carmick
 * Nicholls Prison