Long Game 17: Heronfall

[LUNA]

I'v never done this, but sign up Eda, I guess.

[Orlok Tsubodai]

I have returned. I'm in a rush now, but again have time to play, so will sign up as Locke Tekiel

[Wyrmhero]

The game has now started! PMs will be out soon.

[Mailliw73]

Can you explain the Assassin role again? I'm kinda confused about it.

[Wyrmhero]

Day 1: A Den of Thieves

Spirits and ales flowed from the taps like water as the representatives of so many different crews socialised, befriended and antagonised one another. Money changed hands as well, as the Mistrunners used the opportunity to expand their list of contacts and make deals.

Some were playing cards in a corner, money moving between them in every round. Here, however, money changed hands in only one direction, and the players were not getting along as well as the rest of the people in the bar.

One of them stood up, shouting and pointing accusingly at his opposite. “He's a rusting Spinner!” he spat, sweeping the cards and his own pint off the table and onto the floor. It landed with a resounding smash, the noise cutting through the din and turning all heads in their direction.

For his part, the other player just gave a sly smile. “Just because I'm lucky, just because I won, you accuse me of cheating?” He reached down to the floor and picked up one of the notes that had been knocked off, grimacing as it flopped around, leaking. “I hope this ink is waterproof. Or whatever. I'll take the rest of my winnings, thanks.” His opponent knocked him off his chair, and the two faced off against each other.

A crowd formed around the two as the two started to brawl, the reluctant bartender sighing to herself at the display. She took some of the change out of the till and shot it over the heads of the crowd, raining upon the two. The hail of coins was not dangerous, but it did distract them enough.

“Lord Yolen would be most displeased to hear about this,” she said, raising her voice despite the fact that the room was quiet. “Please do not make a mockery of his generosity, particularly if you don't want to start paying for your drinks for the duration of this venture.”

There was a moment of silence, and then they backed down. For the time being, they would work together. Afterwards, however... Well, the Megacorporations and Lone Shard Lawmen weren't the only dangers to Mistrunners. Other crews could be just as lethal. But the lucrative nature of this deal was enough that they could stomach these things, at least for now. Set aside their differences and grievances. Afterwards, however, all bets were off.

“Where is his Lordship then?” someone asked. “Let's get on with it all. Quicker we get this done, the quicker we get paid.”

“...I suppose that it would be best to get this over with,” she nodded. “Before you make even more of a mess that I have to clean up...” She disappeared behind the bar again and returned with a laptop. She hooked it up to something behind the bar, and pointed a remote across the room. A projector screen dropped down, and after a short warm-up period, an image appeared on the screen.

The image was dark, even more than the room. A mass of electronics covered the screen, vast machinery churning away quietly in the background. In the centre was a large chair, entirely made of metal and looking incredibly uncomfortable to sit on. But the tall man occupying this chair did not seem to mind that particularly, sitting back on it imperiously. His upper half was obscured by the glow of the machines behind him, shrouding his identity completely from them.

He studied them for a brief moment before speaking. “My greetings to you all,” he said in an old and somewhat raspy voice, “I am pleased to see you all here. I am glad that there are some who are willing to fight against the tyranny that has taken over our world. You all know what we face here. From now on, there is no turning back.”

“For those who hope for a quick solution to this problem, I am afraid I must disappoint. Our foes are individually powerful, even ignoring their economic prowess. They are powerful, make no mistake. We face something that has not been seen for several hundred years – Immortal, powerful individuals. We cannot even wait for them to die.”

“I wish to take away this facet of their powers. We shall strip their immortality away from them, which also conveniently removes their most dangerous ability. This must be the first step of any plan developed against these tyrants. If we succeed, we can think about what to do next.”

He shifted slightly in the chair, but not from any apparent discomfort. His elbows rested on the arms of his chair, his forearms disappearing as he steepled his fingers in the darkness. “Of course, I am also aware that our enemies will not let us plot against them quietly. While I and my assistant have taken every care I can to rid this group of their influence, we aren't so foolish as to believe we have been completely successful.”

“I am afraid that we cannot wait any longer for this. We must leave you to discover which of your colleagues is in their pocket. Hopefully, even with them trying to stop us, we shall still succeed. When I have finalised the plans for tonight, we shall make our first excursion. ...I wish to note that I will require any participants in tonight's attack to be sober, and that being drunk all the time will not endear me to you. We have ways of sobering you up, and they are not pleasant. I trust you will not disappoint me.”

The screen shut off suddenly, with no farewell message. Lord Yolen's assistant did not seem to be perturbed by this though, and the projector screen started to raise again at her command. Then she seemed to hesitate a little, as if recalling the correct words. “...Last orders, please?”


Player List

 

IrulelikeSTINK - IrulelikeSTINK - A placeholder.
Anamaximder - Alexandrius Venturia
Mailliw73 - Miller Washington
Hellscythe - Avis
Kynedath - Dragonsight - A teetotal seasoned criminal.
Shallan - Citona Vinid - Thinks quickly on her feet.
phattemer - Exisa - Paranoid, but who isn't in this business?
Elbereth - Elbe - Quiet and polite.
RippleGylf - Ripple - Another teetotaler, but not so far proven to be seasoned at criminal activity.
Elkanah - Lane - None of your business.
Bridge Boy - Sam Flynn - Experienced Mistrunner and Cognitive Matrix explorer.
Adavantos - Count Banuir Reynaud - Count is actually his first name.
TheMightyLopen - Lopen - Excitable and forward-looking.
Araris Valerian - Araris - A fencer with an aluminium sword.
Burnt Spaghetti - Ember Ghetti - Most definitely not a Kandra.
Clanky - Klyn - Distraught at the idea of being sober.
Arraenae - Niter - A mute guy with a high-tech notepad.
The Silver Dragon - Star Thief - Part-Scadrialian, part-magpie, all mysterious.
luckat - Lucy - Never late, nor early.
LUNA – Eda – A new Mistrunner.
OrlokTsubodai - Locke Tekiel - Always in a rush.

Day 1 has begun! It will end at 8PM GMT on Monday evening.
 

---

To answer Mailliw73's question about the Assassin Role: If the Assassin is an Eliminator, they get a one-shot kill. If they are a Villager, things are much more complicated. Village Assassins can target any number of players. If they are all Eliminators, then they all die. Otherwise, the attempt completely fails. The Village Assassin only gets one shot at using this ability.

Edited June 6, 2017 by Alvron

[Arrae]

Yolen, just quit it with the theatrics already. You know we just want your money.

*deletes message*

Will start with the poke votes when I remember how to put color on this tablet.

 

EDIT: Finally got this thing to work.

 

*points at Ripple*

 

I don't trust people who don't drink.

 

EDIT #2: greened out name.

Edited February 6, 2016 by Arraenae

[RippleGylf]

Well, I don't trust people who do drink. So there.

[Araris Valerian]

I'm here, I'm paying attention, but I'm really more focused on LG 16, so I'll see how much I actually contribute for the first couple cycles of this game.

[Arrae]

Teetotaler.

 

...Sometimes I hate having to use this tablet. Other people get to say whatever they want as quickly as they want, but I gotta write fast AND make it readable. And look, I've just been ninja'd.

 

I don't drink, but Niter does, and for the sake of this RP thing Niter's views will be expressed as my own. OOC thoughts will be in purple.

[Kynedath]

Dragonsight sat back in his chair as Rylin returned to his seat, drink in hand, wise enough to keep quiet. Yolen was out of his mind. There was no way that this group was going to overthrow the Megacorp. Maybe someone else could, but these men could only think of the profit. Getting them to work together would be near impossible, but unifying them enough to achieve their goal wasn't going to happen. Their employer couldn't even keep them off of each other when they were wasted.

Dragonsight was scowling at the knife in his hands, running his fingers along the jagged back edge. This was useless. It would never work. It didn't matter how many resources or skilled teams of specialists Yolen brought in, this was a fools quest. Impractical, ineffectual, hollow, futile.

 

Dragonsight stood up, motioning to his companion.

"C'mon Rylin, get up, we're going."

 

Rylin looked up from his drink, a concerned look on his face. Without standing, the man put his hand in his coat, leaving it on his chest. Eyes turning to the door, remembering the quality of life outside that piece of wood.

"I know what you want to to. I also know that you decided not to." He turned back to look Dragonsight in the eye. "Do it."

 

He was looking at the door. Sometimes he could still feel it. He looked back at Rylin. "I can't. I am not going to jeopardize our entire team because of an idealist's dream. My people are well off. They have food and warm beds, more than most others."

 

Rylin stood up, still looking in Dragonsight's eyes. "You can't let them get to you. They drink here, and they fight here, and they kill here, but they still hurt. They hurt you, and you can't forgive them for that. If you do, then they get the better of you."

 

"Rylin, this is not the way to go about it. These men will accomplish nothing. They can't. I won't be a part of their massacre."

 

"This isn't about that and you know it. Nat-"

 

Dragonsight burned iron, pulling Rylin's belt buckle, causing the man to stumble forwards awkwardly. Letting his iron fade, Dragonsight grabbed his collar and slammed him against the wall, holding him a foot off of the floor. Aware that everyone was watching him, he pushed those who approached him away.

 

"NEVER CALL ME THAT AGAIN! They will never succeed."

 

He let go of his steel and let Rylin fall to the ground. "We're leaving."

 

Dragonsight turned and walked to the door, Rylin staying where he stood, a sad expression painted on his face. When he go to the door, Dragonsight found an extremely large, burly man standing in front of it, blocking the way out. "Let me out." The man did not move from his position, instead unfolding his arms and letting them fall to the side. Burning steel and iron, Dragonsight maneuvered empty chairs into a semi-circle around the two of them. Drawing on his bronze, he dropped into a low fighting stance, long practiced and perfected.

Dragonsight moved before the other man could move into a proper stance. Throwing a punch to the jaw, he waited for the inevitable counter. As expected, the man blocked his punch and jabbed towards Dragonsight's face. Dragonsight leaned to the left, letting the punch move past his face. Grabbing the extended arm, he kicked out the man's foot and pulled on his arm, letting the man fall to the ground. He landed his knee on the man's back, shifting over to lean on his neck. It wouldn't kill him, but it would be excruciating for a week, never truly leaving and always giving him a hard time turning his head.

Dragonsight stood, addressing the crowd that he had gathered. Looking at the faces of those around him, he saw fear and revusion foremost among the emotions present. There was one face that showed none of those. Rylin had a look of understanding and heartache.

 

"You will never succeed. Not without me."

 

With that, he walked back to his table and sat down.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                

 

My goal with these RP posts is to gather information on your opinion of my characters. I would appreciate feedback, if possible, but I mainly just want to know if I have created realistic or even just fleshed-out characters.

 

I hope you all know my opinion on Day-1 lynches, if not, then see this post which explains it fairly well. Ignore the first part, that was just a code paragraph used in MR11. I will not be voting this cycle, unless anyone seems obviously suspicious.

[TheMightyLopen]

So! Really unique rules for this game. Still reading up on them actually, as I didn't have the time to fully read up and grasp exactly what we're doing.  A few questions for the GM already though.

 

1. When choosing players to go on a "mission," is there a specific number required? Or is there some flexibility in how many players you can choose?

 

2. You don't have to go on the mission when you're chosen to pick a team, so does that mean that you can pick yourself to go if you want to?

 

Anyways, I'm not sure how to approach the planning stage yet. There are benefits to being on the mission, but there are also some big drawbacks as well. Firstly, I would like to urge you all to go through the rules(especially the planning stage rules) very carefully, as I imagine it is going to be a very large topic of discussion, and many times players will forget something crucial in the rules that can cost the village dearly.

 

So, planning. Sounds very interesting. I suspect there will be somewhere around 5 or 6 players going on each mission, but that's just a guess and might be a little high(or might be a little low, but I suspect it's around there because of the eliminators win condition). Right now, I'm thinking it will be important to have a variety of players on the mission each Cycle, as I imagine there is a good chance someone on the mission will die, so by having a wide variety of players(and by variety, I mean some more "experienced" players and some newer players), we will have some amount of protection from losing high priority targets(for example: Adavantos, Mailliw luckat etc. etc.) for the eliminators.

 

Something that should also be brought to attention is that players who are on a mission cannot use their role that Night Turn(OR be targeted by roles/the eliminator kill). So it would be ideal if we could not put Hackers, Data Gathering or Medical Knowledge roles on the mission as that will allow them to use their abilties to uncover eliminators, discover False Trail lies, or protect players. However, this can't really be achieved unless the player choosing the players for the mission knows who has those roles, and I would advise against revealing you have those roles unless you have a fair amount of trust in that player, or have a plan to protect yourself in case they are an eliminator.

 

What do you guys think?

 

I'm not gonna place a vote yet.

 

Edit: RP responding to Kynedath: 

 

Lopen went over to this "Dragonsight" and sat next to him at his table. "How about being friends?!" He said enthusiastically. "I'll buy you a drink. A guy could use a friend like you, though it'd probably be best if you didn't beat up our employers lackey's, else you might not be there when the time comes to do what needs to be done, if you get me."

 

Cool character Kynedath. Sounds like a bad dude(and by bad I mean good of course!  ).

Edited February 6, 2016 by TheMightyLopen

[Wyrmhero]

1. When choosing players to go on a "mission," is there a specific number required? Or is there some flexibility in how many players you can choose?

 

2. You don't have to go on the mission when you're chosen to pick a team, so does that mean that you can pick yourself to go if you want to?

 

1. The number of players required for a mission will be 4. I will reiterate at the start of the Planning Turn.
2. You can pick yourself, indeed.

[Arrae]

Ripple, everybody on this planet drinks, including Yolen. You telling me that you don't trust your employer?

 

*shakes head*

 

Dragonsight, you got a high opinion of yourself, saying that we can't do this without you. You're not the only mistrunner around here, you know.

 

Dragonsight seems handy in a fight. I'd like to know why he's so reluctant to join.

 

We can probably get some information about who the eliminators are by seeing which missions succeed and which missions fail. I think we should avoid choosing people who are inactive/say they are busy, so if a mission fails, we know that an eliminator was in it, because a villager has no reason to make a mission fail.

 

This way, we might be able to use missions as ways to pursue suspicions. If a mission fails, we know to take a closer look at the people in it.

Edited February 6, 2016 by Arraenae

[STINK]

Quick question, have any of you played The Resistance before?

[TheMightyLopen]

I have not actually, so I may be a little behind in understanding the rules. But it doesn't seem horribly complicated(though I suppose it does make for a lot of possibilities).

[Kynedath]

"I don't drink."

 

Dragonsight found himself regretting his display. It drew attention to him, especially with people like Lopen. Charismatic, always trying to use you. Dragonsight noticed that everyone else had returned to their previous activities with an air of wariness. They were ignorant and thought him arrogant. He wasn't, just realistic.

 

Dragonsight nodded to the man slowly standing up and scowling at him.

"He'll be fine in a week. Besides, I didn't do it to make friends, just to prove a point, and not to any of you. So what is it that you need, friend?"

 

                                                                                                                                                                  

 

I have seen it played (anyone watch Tabletop with Wil Wheaton?) but I have not played it before.

Edited February 6, 2016 by Kynedath

[Curious Anamaximder]

Alexandrius Venturia downed a shot of whiskey and pointed at Arraenae.

Pretty fast attack on Ripple, don't 'ya think?

[Elbereth]

I'm here, I'm paying attention, but I'm really more focused on LG 16, so I'll see how much I actually contribute for the first couple cycles of this game.

This. Plus I'm travelling tomorrow, so don't expect much if anything from the first day turn.

[Arrae]

Alexandrius Venturia downed a shot of whiskey and pointed at Arraenae.

Pretty fast attack on Ripple, don't 'ya think?

As I said, I don't trust anyone who comes to a bar and doesn't drink. You're fine though.

 

 That vote was purely RP based, because I needed to do something to establish Niter's personality. So, he has an unfounded suspicion of both Ripple and Dragonsight because they don't drink.   Hopefully what Niter thinks won't influence me too much.

[TheMightyLopen]

"Well if that doesn't prove a point, I'm not sure what will!" Lopen chuckled, earning a glare from the burly bodyguard while he brushed himself off. "I'm sure that bloke took note of it" he said in a hushed voice, still chuckling under his breath. "Anyways!" he said a little louder than needed, "I don't have any glaring needs at the moment, other than to finish off my drink, but I think I can manage that on my own" Lopen smiled and then downed what appeared to be practically the full contents of whatever type of drink he'd gotten. "Ahhh, that's real nice" he said as he set his cup down. "I figure friends should watch each others backs though, since a good friendship is beneficial to both parties, if you get my meaning" Lopen said as he winked.

[Elithanathile]

I've never played the resistance either, I just have a general Idea of the rules. I do know it's a board game though, so that's good enough for me to trust it.

 

Sam Flynn had never had a drink in his life. It makes you dull, as well as bringing trouble, such as numerous health issues including crippling addiction, and when you're in this kind of business, the less extra trouble you have the better you'll be. You can always trust the Corps to bring plenty trouble of their own. Hopefully you can pay 'em back in kind though, and that's why Flynn was one of the best in this line of work. And looking for his dad. During the presentation, he leaned against the wall in a shadowy corner of the bar, staying out of the way. he'd linked up to the laptop via infrared and tried to trace the signal of the broadcast. He found a few outbound signals, but there was always the option the message was a recording, not an actual broadcast, he tried tracing a few of them on his pad, pretending to pay attention to the message, while his phone transcribed the message into text for him to read later. He only had enough time to attempt to trace a few of the signals, but they all had high encryption, as well as node jumping around the country, leaving a multitude of possible locations for the origin of the line. It also switched encryption methods every node, which made it a pain for the handheld pad to decrypt in the limited time. With this kind of security, it meant that either Yolen had money to spare and was very paranoid about his security, which was reasonable, as one of the people under his pay was attempting to hack him now, or he had something to hide. This kind of code was definitely professional level, which meant this character had a large amount of backing, or was the head of some kind of syndicate. Or the head of a Corp. Sam certainly hoped he wasn't, but even if Yolen was, Sam had already signed on, and he never went back on his word.

 

Soon after the broadcast, a man named Dragonsight started a huge racket, attacking one of the guards that were there for leak prevention, apparently showing off. He placed himself in a position of power, where more would follow him, while he voiced the suspicions many had. This man was dangerous. He'd keep an eye on him just in case. He pocketed the pad, the trace having failed, and began reading the speech transcription.

 

Reasons for voting for Dragonsight. Posts a long RP, which is fine, but didn't add too much to the conversation. I know I can't say much to that after this post, but he still seems kinda off to me, especially from a RP perspective. (I know that doesn't matter, but it definitely steered me more against him,) As well as the fact that Day 1 Lynch's can give Villagers a huge amount of information, as the lynch's are the main point of info we have. This is an LG, so I understand we don't have to try and rush things, but the more information we have faster, the better we end up.

[Kynedath]

Did you read the link that I posted? I think that it explains my opinion decently. Not the best, but decently.

[Arrae]

I feel like Kyn is being pretty consistent with what he's said about D1 lynches. It might not be what other people think, but it's consistent with what he normally does.

 

 ​So much discussion of alcohol in here. 

 

Luna, if you see this, can you please post your thoughts in here? That would be very helpful.

 

EDIT: something keeps on going wrong with my purple text.

Edited February 7, 2016 by Arraenae

[TheMightyLopen]

@Wyrm, Is the 4 players on a mission number a set number throughout the game, or will it ever fluctuate?

 

I ask because if it is a set number, then that means we will have to win with at least 4 loyals left standing. That's actually somewhat of a bother, but I don't think it's too much of a problem(assuming those 4 players are active!). If this is true, I suspect Wyrm may have only started the eliminator team with 3 players to balance that mechanic, but I'm not sure, since that's a really low percentage(3/20 is 15%, and the norm is usually somewhere in between 18% and 23% or something I think? So at first I was thinking 4, since that's 20%, but now I'm not sure.). But I think the planning stage is mostly beneficial to the eliminators as well, since only loyals can die from it(although it can give valuable information).

 

Edit: Whoops. Forgot to say this.

 

A loyal Assassin could act as a one time Seeker(Hacker) if they wanted to. If they only target one player, and then that player survives, they'll know they're loyal. This might be wasteful though, what do you guys think?

 

@Wyrm, If a loyal Assassin targets a loyal player who is being protected by Medical Knowledge, what would happen? Would the attack go through and get nullified by the protection? Or would the attack be negated because it hit a loyal?

 

@Wrym, Also, could we get the Order of Actions please?

Edited February 7, 2016 by TheMightyLopen

[phattemer]

Ah, someone else who watches Tabletop! I too enjoy that.

 

This is the only game I'm alive in right now, so I should be fairly active for the first few cycles at least. I'm not going to vote for anyone, because I'm going to search.

Actually, it's because I dislike poke votes for the sake of poking.