Anniversary Game 4/Anonymous Game 1: A Fresh Start

[Mint Heron]

15 minutes ago, Fuchsia Ostrich said:

@Mint Heron @Mauve Crocodile @Pearl Chameleon There's 4 and a half hours left in the cycle and we only have 2 votes down on Mouse, and the elims have 2 votes down on Heron.

I'll switch my vote if needed, but right now I'm most concerned by why @Mauve Crocodile hasn't responded despite being online recently.

[Mint Heron]

Mouse, before I forget.

[Sage Kangaroo]

Heron

[Fuchsia Ostrich]

Ostrich waited, locked up in his room, listening to the non-existent thrumming of rain on the roof. In just a few minutes, he was going to do what he had to do, no matter how hard it pushed his sanity to kill. But something made him uneasy: how had that mob against Mouse been quieted? Ostrich had a bad feeling about this, but he had a bad feeling about everything nowadays.

[Orlok Tsubodai]

AG4/AN1 - Night 11: Snap

Hermux Tantamoq smiled as he strolled down the streets of Rennan, tossing and catching a round pocketwatch. Today’s such a wonderful day, he thought. The sun is shining, the sky in blue, and the forces of Odium are just steamrolling everything.

Someone passed by. Sherrah, the village storyteller.

“Hello,” Hermux said. “Lovely day, isn’t it?”

Her face went pale and she shrank away, averting her eyes.

"Oh come on,” Hermux said. “I’m not so bad, am I?”

Sherrah looked up at him, and then back at the floor, then back at him, then back at the floor. Finally, her head jerked in a weak shake.

“Talk with me, will you?” Hermux asked. “It’s been so hard to find good conversational partners lately. One of the worst downsides of being a servant of Odium.”

“I --” Sherrah started. “I have something I need to do…”

“Sure,” Hermux said. “I’ll walk with you. Not like I have much to do anyways.” He never would have thought this, but was so lonely these days, being known as one of Odium’s Sympathisers. All his village friends had abandoned him, leaving him alone in a pit of isolation.

They passed by Vanna’s house. Despite her death, it looked like nothing had changed -- on the outside, at least. The exterior was still cheery as ever, painted by Vanna’s own hand. And yet there was something missing, some vitality of spirit that had fled the after Vanna sighed her last breath.

“She was a true artist to the end,” Hermux mused.

“Who?” Sherrah asked. 

“Vanna,” Hermux said. “I always wondered why she was a Windrunner rather than a Lightweaver. It confused us all when we found out.” He glanced at Sherrah. “Her final painting was the truest she ever made. Odium wins. His forces take everything.”

“You’re projecting,” Sherrah said sharply.

“No,” Hermux said. “A final drop of red wiping out her last hope. It’s obvious what it means, even without being able to see into the future.”

They continued in silence for a while.

Finally, Sherrah spoke up again. “Why do you...why would you serve Odium?” she asked. “I know you, or...I thought I did. Why would you serve the God of Hate?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Hermux said, suddenly distant. “Odium is much more than hate, anyways. So much more. He wants this village burned to the ground. I know my role.” The corners of his mouth tilted upwards in a wry smile. “Besides, it’s fun.”

He nodded respectfully at Sherrah. “Looks like we’re at the inn. I’ll be leaving you here, if you don’t mind.” He paused, then added, “It was nice talking to someone other than my fellow Sympathisers.”

He walked into the courtyard of the Thoughtful Skyeel, that last bastion of the village, and leaned against the walls. He checked his pocketwatch. 7 o’clock sharp, not a minute sooner or later. It was empty, for now.

He tossed his pocketwatch and waited for the villagers to arrive.

-

The village, for some reason, seemed to go ballistic whenever Hermux or Sage interjected into their conversations. That was, of course, exactly why they did it: because it was just so fun watching their faces screw up and try to decipher what villainous intent lay behind those words. And if it helped him feel less adrift in aching loneliness, well, that was an added benefit.

So when Fuschia Ostrich made that particular suggestion, it was all Hermux could do to hold in a chuckle. Then he released it, anyways, because why wouldn’t he have a good laugh at Fuschia’s expense? Life was meant to be enjoyed, after all. Even if it was a life serving Odium.

“I’m sorry,” Hermux said, “I love the assumptions you just made. And there’s some good ideas in there, although misguided. It’s just too funny…”

He wasn’t too surprised when they lynched him, after that. He knew his role. He was the bad guy, the evil one, and they were the scrappy good guys, doing anything they could to survive. And when they kicked the box out from under his feet, his last thought before his neck snapped was that perhaps the Cognitive Realm would have more company for him to talk to.

---

All credit to Mint Heron for the writeup. 

---

Azure Mouse was lynched. He was a Sympathiser Worldhopper. 

Vote Count
Azure Mouse (3): Fuchsia Ostrich, Mint Heron, Quartz Zebra
Mint Heron (2): Azure Mouse, Sage Kangaroo

PMs are now closed.

Clarification: If there is only one player on each side at the end of the game, the two vote minimum does not apply. 

Night 11 has begun. It will end in 24 hours, on the 18th February at 10pm GMT.

Player List
1. Amethyst Scorpion - Villager-turned-Bondsmith
2. Azure Mouse - Sympathiser Worldhopper
3. Amber Vulture - Villager
4. Charcoal Hyena - Cannoc - Villager
5. Chartreuse Penguin - Villager
6. Coral Swan - Elyle - Village Lightweaver
7. Cream Tuatara - Villager
8. Emerald Falcon - Aldrick - Villager
9. Fuschia Ostrich
10. Indigo Weasel - Village Elsecaller
11. Ivory Dragonfly - Nolan - Village Bondsmith
12. Magenta Albatross - Sympathiser Windrunner
13. Mauve Crocodile
14. Melon Dingo - Quentisan - Village Edgedancer
15. Mint Heron
16. Onyx Flamingo - Squawk - Village Lightweaver
17. Opal Lion - Villager
18. Oxblood Beagle - Jai - Village Willshaper
19. Pearl Chameleon
20. Plum Rhinoceros - Villager
21. Quartz Zebra
22. Saffron Iguana - Emalia - Village Lightweaver
23. Sage Kangaroo
24. Salmon Meerkat - Village Bondsmith
25. Sapphire Elephant - Sympathiser Skybreaker
26. Scarlet Octopus - Village Edgedancer 
27. Sunburst Toucan - Vanna - Village Windrunner
28. Taupe Gecko - Villager
29. Turquoise Gorilla - Village Dustbringer
30. Violet Axolotl - Villager

[Fuchsia Ostrich]

Ostrich sat on his bed, head in his hands. In front of the others he had tried to keep a straight face, to not let on to what the killings were doing to him. He hadn't been able to watch as they executed Mouse, but he had heard the snap of his neck as the rope tightened. Depriving himself of imagery from the death had made it easier when the flashbacks came: for every other murder he saw the accused die, but for Mouse he saw only blackness and heard the snap. Again and again his mind forced him to hear that sound, like the toll of a hempen bell for the dead, but it was not as maddening as seeing their faces laughing at him as they expired.

Ostrich removed his hands from his face and looked down at the note in his hands. "We found items in Mouse's pockets that suggest he was a Worldhopper," it read. It meant that their slim hope had grown slightly brighter.

[Sage Kangaroo]

-sigh-

I think what you forgot to consider, villagers, is that there might have only been 4 Elims, rather than 5 or 6.

There's a reason you've been winning all these lynches.  We were sorta counting on some of you staying inactive, and our Worldhoppers actually drawing useful roles.

I can still probably win, you know.  If you give in, you could possibly save me the embarrassment of being the first Elim to lose an AG?  I could plead extenuating circumstances if I lost, of course.  

I guess it could be argued that 4 Elims did make the game more balanced, which is why the Village is winning for once.

[Pearl Chameleon]

I'd like to apologize for being AWOL. I've been a bit of a mess recently and completely lost track of when the cycle was ending.

[Fuchsia Ostrich]

If Sage is telling the truth, then I can see why Mouse and Sage have been laughing so hard at us. If he's telling the truth, then we've been overly paranoid that it's impossible for us to win at the same time the tide has been turning, and that Zebra and I just happened to decide to start killing confirmed elims just as the last non-confirmed elim was killed.

I'm against letting the elims win this game; we established a few cycles ago that we were not going to lay down and die. Between good analysis to find Albatross, good sense to take the confirmed lynch when we needed to, and good luck to keep the Worldhopper(s?) from murdering us all, we've fought this game back from the breaking point. We've surprised the elims in both activity and analysis, and fought on when we feared that all was lost. I know that I at least have put in hours of SE time during these last few cycles. I cannot speak for anyone else, but I will be placing my vote on Sage tomorrow if I survive the night. It's time to break the curse of the AGs.

[Mint Heron]

9 hours ago, Sage Kangaroo said:

-sigh-

I think what you forgot to consider, villagers, is that there might have only been 4 Elims, rather than 5 or 6.

There's a reason you've been winning all these lynches.  We were sorta counting on some of you staying inactive, and our Worldhoppers actually drawing useful roles.

I can still probably win, you know.  If you give in, you could possibly save me the embarrassment of being the first Elim to lose an AG?  I could plead extenuating circumstances if I lost, of course.  

I guess it could be argued that 4 Elims did make the game more balanced, which is why the Village is winning for once.

That could explain why you never contested any lynch after Day Seven. I was especially worried on the last Turn, because there were only three votes on Mouse, and if three of you had been alive you could have tied the vote with a 50% chance of a village death.

Meh. I'd consider letting you win, but I really like the idea of being the first village to win an AG  

-

Standing outside in the back garden, Larsah gazed wistfully at the three full moons hanging low in the sky. Salas, Nomon, and Mishim. At any other time, their appearance would be heralding the Lunar Festival, where the entirety of Rennan came alive for a night. She could see it in her mind’s eye: children running from house to house paying respects to their elders, red lanterns with infused spheres placed inside to make them glow hanging from each house, minstrels re-enacting out old stories on a stage. And, of course, there was the food. Every year, Mum would get busy making the traditional kueh dadar to set outside the door for all the visiting children, and Larsah would get busy going from house to house paying respects and eating the kuih other families set out.

This year, however, when Larsah had pointed out the three full moons, Mum had only shook her head. “Not now,” she’d said. “I don’t want you out on the streets as long as those mobs are out there.”

It’s not fair, she thought. Intellectually, of course, Larsah knew that it was dangerous outside -- Mum’s whispered arguments with Dad were louder than they thought -- but the injustice of it all rankled. First they were keeping her locked up in the house, and now this?

Mishim twinkled in the sky at her, bathing the world in its light. A little beyond that lay the reddish cluster of stars that was the Scar, the tip of which pointed off towards the East. Theoretically, if she followed it, she could go all the way to Kholinar. Theoretically. Kholinar was far away, and she wasn’t sure she could walk that far, even if Uncle Kharsis had done it.

He appeared in the backyard, almost as if thinking of him had summoned him. “What’re you doing?” Uncle Kharsis asked.

“Uh, nothing really,” Larsah said. “Just thinking.”

He nodded. For awhile, they stood there in silence. Then, looking at the night sky, he said, “If the moons are full, around this time of the year... shouldn’t we be having the Lunar Festival around now, something where all the kids run around greeting the adults and eating the kueh everyone sets out? Or do you not do that anymore?”

“No,” Larsah said sadly. “We should be having the Lunar Festival, but Mum and Dad say that we can’t because of what’s happening in town.”

They hadn’t specified what, exactly, was happening in town, but Larsah wasn’t stupid. She’d heard enough to get an idea. Whatever it was, it was dangerous, and a lot of their neighbours were involved, and it had something to do with evil people called Sympathisers. Uncle Kharsis was involved, too. She’d heard Helina mention his name angrily when she’d thought Larsah wasn’t listening.

“That’s a shame,” Kharsis said. “Out of all the places I’ve been to, Rennan’s the only place that makes kueh dadar. I’ve asked around, too.” He sighed. “Some other towns make kueh, but not our type. Not kueh dadar.”

Standing there in the moonlight, he looked so old. Thinking about the past, maybe? Would Larsah look like that too, someday, when she was a grownup and returning home?

“Me too,” Larsah said. “Although...maybe I can get Mum to cook some?” She paused, and added, “I know we’re not supposed to eat our own stuff, but I’m not allowed out on the streets...”

“Sounds good to me,” Uncle Kharsis said. “Let’s go in.”

-

In the end, Mum agreed to make some kueh, as long as Larsah didn’t scarf down so many that she threw up afterwards.

Larsah’s cheeks blazed pink. “I was five! It’s not like I’ve done it since!”

-

Larsah opened the door and set out a plate of piping hot kueh dadar. She hung a red lantern outside, bright and proud against the dark street. Then, she closed the door.

“Who’s ready to eat?” Mum asked.

“Me!” Larsah called. She rushed back inside and inspected the kueh critically. The smell of the green rolls was enough to make her mouth water. She picked up a piece and shoved it all into her mouth, listening to the filling crunch in her mouth. “Mmm, you made them extra good this year, Mum.”

“Don’t talk while you eat,” Mum chided.

Dad broke out the wine, some purple-coloured variety, and soon it was freely flowing among everyone. Mum let Larsah try a sip, in between mouthfuls of kueh. As she ate, she bounced Adani on her lap and listened to Uncle Kharsis talk more about the temples in Kholinar, and an ardent he’d befriended there who specialised in dueling. One time, he said, someone had challenged the ardent to a duel over an insult. It had not ended well for the challenger.

They talked and ate and laughed their way long into the night, until finally the plates of kueh dadar were completely emptied and their bellies were too full to eat any more. It was, Larsah thought, a fitting way to celebrate the Lunar Festival.

-

Dedicated to the Sympathisers, alive and dead. Larsah's left a plate of kueh outside, just for you. (Who else would be roaming the streets at night, really?) You deserve it 

Spoiler

 

[Mint Heron]

13 hours ago, Fuchsia Ostrich said:

If Sage is telling the truth, then I can see why Mouse and Sage have been laughing so hard at us. If he's telling the truth, then we've been overly paranoid that it's impossible for us to win at the same time the tide has been turning, and that Zebra and I just happened to decide to start killing confirmed elims just as the last non-confirmed elim was killed.

I'm against letting the elims win this game; we established a few cycles ago that we were not going to lay down and die. Between good analysis to find Albatross, good sense to take the confirmed lynch when we needed to, and good luck to keep the Worldhopper(s?) from murdering us all, we've fought this game back from the breaking point. We've surprised the elims in both activity and analysis, and fought on when we feared that all was lost. I know that I at least have put in hours of SE time during these last few cycles. I cannot speak for anyone else, but I will be placing my vote on Sage tomorrow if I survive the night. It's time to break the curse of the AGs.

I'm going to do the same tomorrow.

If we lynch Kangaroo and the game still doesn't end, Zebra probably isn't the last remaining Sympathiser, because of the timing of his vote on Albatross. On Day Ten, he was the third person to vote on Albatross, adding momentum to the Albatross lynch, when he just as easily could’ve suggested that we stick to a safe lynch. It’s possible that this was a bus, but that would’ve ended with him being the sole unknown evil player, so it doesn't seem likely.

[Fuchsia Ostrich]

1 hour ago, Mint Heron said:

I'm going to do the same tomorrow.

If we lynch Kangaroo and the game still doesn't end, Zebra probably isn't the last remaining Sympathiser, because of the timing of his vote on Albatross. On Day Ten, he was the third person to vote on Albatross, adding momentum to the Albatross lynch, when he just as easily could’ve suggested that we stick to a safe lynch. It’s possible that this was a bus, but that would’ve ended with him being the sole unknown evil player, so it doesn't seem likely.

I've had Zebra ruled out for tone read and helping lynch Mouse, so we're both in agreement on that. Chamelion too, for the reasons you asked me about last cycle. You and I are both pretty obviously village I think, so that leaves Croc as the last elim if lynching Sage doesn't end the game. I've got points both for and against Croc, but I don't want to lynch them if we don't have to.

[Orlok Tsubodai]

AG4/AN1 - Day 12: Fire 

Late that night, long after its inhabitants had stumbled off to bed, the house was quiet. There was no sound, except for the soothing sound of wind blowing through the leaves. The three moons shone watchfully from above, bathing the world in soft hues of blue, green, and red.

One hand reached for a piece of kueh as the other dropped a torch.

The front door caught fire.

-

Kharsis woke to the acrid tang of smoke on his tongue.

Almighty above!

“Fire!” he bellowed. He dashed to the door. “Elion!”

“Here,” Elion yelled back. “Out in the backyard!”

Smoke poured in from all directions, making Kharsis’s eyes water painfully. He turned to the window, with sturdy shutters meant to keep the rain from coming in. He pounded on it with his fists. “Storming open already,” he muttered. Finally the wood cracked under his fingers, giving him enough of an opening to haul himself through.

He fell onto the stone floor of the backyard.

Almighty above, what had happened? Kharsis watched in fascinated horror as flames leapt to the roof, red and orange and violet all mixing together.

“Kharsis, thank the Stormfather, are you alright?” Elion approached, holding Adani. Beside him stood Helina, cradling her arm and cursing. Blisters rose from angry red skin.

“Yeah,” he said, breathing heavily. “Where’s Larsah?”

The realisation broke over them all at once. “Storm it,” said Helina.

Elion said nothing, his face white.

Adani broke into a piteous wail.

Kharsis ran towards the house. “Larsah!” he called. “LARSAH!”

He scrambled back through the window, into the hallway. Flames danced around him in frenzied glee. Something fell from the roof and he threw himself out of the way, losing precious seconds as he did so. “Larsah,” he said.

“U -- uncle?”

Kharsis could barely hear Larsah’s voice over the crackling hiss of the flames. “Where are you?”

“I -- dining room. Something -- I’m trapped --”

Kharsis ran as fast as he could, crouching low to avoid the smoke. He jumped over a patch of fire that might have once been a chair. The further in he got, the more blazing white flames consumed his vision. “I’m coming,” he said, the words devolving into a fit of coughing.

Finally he saw her, under what looked like a fallen beam of roof truss. Larsah’s leg lay twisted under it. Broken, probably.

Kharsis strained to lift the beam. “Can you walk?”

“Don’t know, I --”

“Go!”

She stood up, winced, and ran. Kharsis grabbed her hand, pulling her faster.

Something creaked above them. To the side, a patch of roof fell in. The house groaned around them. Storm it! It wasn’t going to hold for much longer.

His eyes blinked furiously, streaming tears from the smoke. “Come on,” he rasped.

Almost there. They were almost at the guest room.

Something cracked above them. Kharsis looked up. “GO!” he yelled, shoving Larsah forward.

The crossbeam came crashing down.

A sharp pain in his back. Then, nothing.

---

All credit once again goes to Mint Heron. 

---

Mint Heron was a Villager. 

Day 12 has begun. It will end in 46 hours, at 10pm GMT on the 20th February. 

Player List
1. Amethyst Scorpion - Villager-turned-Bondsmith
2. Azure Mouse - Sympathiser Worldhopper
3. Amber Vulture - Villager
4. Charcoal Hyena - Cannoc - Villager
5. Chartreuse Penguin - Villager
6. Coral Swan - Elyle - Village Lightweaver
7. Cream Tuatara - Villager
8. Emerald Falcon - Aldrick - Villager
9. Fuschia Ostrich
10. Indigo Weasel - Village Elsecaller
11. Ivory Dragonfly - Nolan - Village Bondsmith
12. Magenta Albatross - Sympathiser Windrunner
13. Mauve Crocodile
14. Melon Dingo - Quentisan - Village Edgedancer
15. Mint Heron - Kharsis - Villager
16. Onyx Flamingo - Squawk - Village Lightweaver
17. Opal Lion - Villager
18. Oxblood Beagle - Jai - Village Willshaper
19. Pearl Chameleon
20. Plum Rhinoceros - Villager
21. Quartz Zebra
22. Saffron Iguana - Emalia - Village Lightweaver
23. Sage Kangaroo
24. Salmon Meerkat - Village Bondsmith
25. Sapphire Elephant - Sympathiser Skybreaker
26. Scarlet Octopus - Village Edgedancer 
27. Sunburst Toucan - Vanna - Village Windrunner
28. Taupe Gecko - Villager
29. Turquoise Gorilla - Village Dustbringer
30. Violet Axolotl - Villager

[Mauve Crocodile]

Sorry, I've been sick and busy the past couple of days, not feeling that much better, but my schedule has opened up quite a bit.

Well. lots to comment on. Heron's dead, which makes quite a bit of sense, but it seems like we're in the final sprint of the game, so I don't think it will mean much. I have my list of who I've been protecting (Which has generally been horrible, sorry ) saved to my laptop, which I'll have access to before the day ends. I don't have much else to say, except Sage.

[Fuchsia Ostrich]

[voice=Eraqus]Let the darkness die![/voice]

Sage

 

Edit: Wyrmimir did a great thing in helping us turn the tide of the game, and since I think I'm the last living player with an RP character I'll write an RP dedicated to him.

 

Ostrich stood at the edge of the ashen heap that had once been Kharsis' house, axe slung over his shoulder and shovel at his side. Rain had begun to fall, beating down the fallen ash into a thick, black paste. Occasionally a hiss rose up when rain touched a part of the house that had not yet cooled, and even more rarely the blackened timbers groaned and readjusted. The rains had not come early enough to save the house, and even if they had Ostrich wasn't sure if they would have done any good. The flames had dashed from floor to floor, room to room, timber to timber as if possessed by some demonic patron that drove them to an infernal madness to burn and to kill.

Ostrich had heard an account of everything from Kharsis' family. It had hurt him to talk to them so soon after the murder, but it was necessary in order for him to do what he intended in time. Decay waited for no man. According to the survivors, Kharsis had almost made it out of the dining room when he had disappeared in a roof collapse. Ostrich paced off a distance from the corner of the house and leaned his shovel up against the house at that distance.

The thing about fire is that it's never like what the bards say. A burnt house is not reduced to ash. Fire wraps its blistering tendrils around the wood, burning it from the outside first until it collapses, either under its own weight or under the weight of something else. What remains is a charred log that retains some of its original shape, sometimes even retaining its original color in the middle. Kharsis' house, although it had fallen, remained as an unsteady jumble of scorched, unsteady logs cantilevered over one another and mixed with other debris. Ostrich, standing at the distance he had marked with the shovel, unslung his axe from his shoulder and began to swing. He might have had a quicker way of clearing a path through, but he could not use Stormlight. He could see it now: the others might have been able to shoot these blackened logs into the sky, or turn them to jelly, or do any other number of things to them. But Ostrich was not bitter about it this time: he would not have it any other way.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Slip and crash. Thunk. Thunk. Crash. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Creak, groan, and crash.

Ostrich relished the labor of hacking down the burnt logs and tossing them aside. His arms burned every time he lifted the axe, and his legs twinged every time he shoved a dismembered log aside, but he smiled as he did so. The pain appealed to him, grounded him. He had sat in his room for so long, wondering what was real and what wasn't, leaving occasionally to head another killing that tormented him so. But with every swing, he felt grounded to his body, every chop made him feel mortal. That was not to say that the sounds and sights that plagued him had left him; that would never happen. From time to time he still saw the face of a dead man leering at him etched in the charred remains of something unrecognizable. He had tried to chop them away, but it had not helped. From time to time he could hear the cries of an infant carried on the wind from the house, but he knew that it was just his mind. Nothing had survived that was inside. Nothing.

Ostrich finally hacked through the scorched picket that the fallen wall had made. He could see what had formerly been the dining room. A long table stood in the center of the room, blackened and bent into a V-shape. A fireplace occupied one corner of the room, ironically untouched. Much of the ceiling had come down, tracing a precarious diagonal from one side of the room to the top of the opposite wall. The floor tiles were blackened, and broken detritus from the roof collapse littered the ground.

Ostrich double-checked his boots to make sure that they were well-tied, and exchanged his axe for his shovel. He entered the room slowly, crunching debris underfoot as he made a closer inspection of the ceiling. As he did so, Mouse's face leered at him from a monolithic pillar that now supported nothing. Ostrich cut it down, using the side of the shovel like a blunt axe, and it hit the ground and burst into charcoal. A puff of smoke rose and made his eyes burn. Something hit the ground in front of him, and he realized it was a tear. Why was he crying? He blamed the smoke.

He pressed on, scooping debris out of the way with his shovel as he reached the spot where the fallen roof touched the ground. He slung piles of fallen ash into a corner as he searched for a body, but found none. Ostrich moved to the other side and took a smarter approach to the operation. He looked among the fallen timbers for something thick and laying near-horizontal but not flat on the ground. He eventually picked out a target, scooped away the worst of the ash, and heaved the beam to the side, but found nothing more than a broken cabinet and a half-cooked rat. He took a slight step back as the smell rose up, but he couldn't resist a slight chuckle. This poor rat would have made Kharsis very unhappy had it been alive. Ostrich chose another beam and repeated the procedure. This time, as he slung ash across the room to clear off the bottom of the beam, he saw the tips of a few fingers reaching out of the pile, towards the door to what had once been the guest room. He renewed his moving of the pile, but more gingerly. He did not want to damage the body more than it already was.

Kharsis' body lay under a joist weighing at least seventy kilograms. It took Ostrich three attempts to move it, but finally he was able to get the right leverage and slide the joist to one side, freeing the body. It was not in the best of shape, and it lay facedown with the head pointing towards the guest room door, hand extended in front of him as he fell. Ostrich stepped forward to flip the body over, but stopped himself. Kharsis had died in a fire, and Ostrich did not want to see what it had done to him. Ostrich wanted to remember Kharsis' face as it had been, giving rising speeches to motivate the townsfolk and coordinate their efforts, not as it likely was now. Another tear hit the ground in front of Ostrich. That storming smoke.

Ostrich left the shovel where he had tossed it aside and pulled out the tarp under his raincoat. He laid the tarp over the body and tucked the sides underneath, not caring for the muddy ash that the maneuver got on him. He had no mirror on him, but the axe-work had likely coated him in the stuff. Ostrich gingerly lifted the wrapped body, groaning as he did so, and carried it to the wheelbarrow Ostrich had brought his tools in on. He had not had the heart to ask Kharsis' family about funeral arrangements in case he was not able to get to the body. Leaving his tools behind, he reverently lifted the wheelbarrow and followed the muddy track he had cut through the yard on his way to the house.

A third tear rolled down Ostrich's face, and this time, there was no smoke to blame.

Edited February 19, 2018 by Fuchsia Ostrich

[Pearl Chameleon]

Kangaroo. I don't think there's much else to say at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if Kangaroo was the last elim. We must avenge the fallen villagers.

[Fuchsia Ostrich]

@Quartz Zebra

[Mauve Crocodile]

Ostritch.  Sorry village

[Fuchsia Ostrich]

That's not a Croc, that's a snake!

[I saw Croc hanging around and typed this up just in case they hammered so that I could post it in time.]

And this is it. Judgment hour has come.

Edited February 20, 2018 by Fuchsia Ostrich

[Orlok Tsubodai]

AG4/AN1 - Night 12: Smoke 

The Man in Sage Clothing sat happily, balanced on the tippity top of the gallows.  He was whistling, whittling, whistling as he whittled a piece of wood.  He had evaded the villagers the previous night, and though they had made valiant attempts to keep him under house arrest, no house could contain him.  Odium had granted him powers beyond their wildest dreams.

He had been sad to see Kharsis die;  It had been his intent to keep him alive as long as possible.  He was fun, he played the game, not like all the others.  But, what Odium commanded, the Man carried out.  And so, Kharsis had gone up in flames.  He was a little annoying, anyway.

“Well, looks like we’re out of options.”  Crocodile said, looking around nervously.  “We’ve just gotta kill that guy over there, now.”

“I think we should kill him too.”  The Zebra muttered.  “Just look at him, up there, smiling, whistling.  We know he’s evil.  And he’s giving me the creeps.”

“He is the last one left.”  the Chameleon noted, speaking up for once. “Lets get him!”

The Man in Sage Clothing shook his head, giggling softly.  No noose could catch him.  No blades could touch him.  The few villagers remaining could never hope to overpower him.

But still they rushed at him, holding assorted weapons and other such cutlery.

Foolish villagers.

One of them took out a spear, and threw it at The Man in Sage Clothing.  Laughing, he raised a finger, shaking it at them.  Light flowed from the pack on his back, caressing him, flowing around him, filling him.  He inhaled Light, drinking deeply of its power.  His eyes glowed with it, the Light, a fiery strength.  

He grinned.

He pointed his finger.

Light snapped out from his hand, striking the spear mid-flight, and it turned to smoke in the air.  More spears flew, but met the same fate as the first, each dissolving into smoke before they ever touched the Man in Sage.  The air quickly grew thick, the villagers coughing, the air reminiscent of how it had been the night before.  The Man in Sage was cackling now, laughing madly, his eyes brighter than ever.  Light surrounded him.   The villagers stood back, frightened by the man, befuddled by the smoke, unsure what to do next.

“This is true power!”  The Man screamed at them, watching them flinch backwards as he stepped fowards.  “This is the power of Hatred!  This is the Light of Odium!”

Smoke curled up from the ground around the Man, as he let his powers loose, laughing bloodcurdlingly, mad with power, eyes dilated, lips pulled back across his teeth in a mad snarl, teeth bared in a wild grin.  His eyes were wide with a psychotic blaze, and Light poured out from them.

Slowly, the light faded, drawing back into the pack, dissipating into the air, leaving the man who had been holding it.

The smoke ceased to pour from the earth, instead hanging heavy in the air, tainting it, painting the landscape a darker shade.

The Man stood, his laughter slowly dying, fading away.

“You failed.  You can’t kill me.”

He shook his head, his mad grin still stretched across his face, his eyes still wild.

“You could try again another day,”  He said, chuckling,  “If you make it through the night.”

---

All credit to Sage Kangaroo for the writeup. 

---

 
Sage Kangaroo was lynched. He was a Elsecaller. 

Vote Count
Fuchsia Ostrich (1): Mauve Crocodile
Sage Kangaroo (1): Fuchsia Ostrich, Pearl Chameleon

Night 12 has begun. It will end in 24 hours, on the 21st February at 10pm GMT. 

Player List
1. Amethyst Scorpion - Villager-turned-Bondsmith
2. Azure Mouse - Sympathiser Worldhopper
3. Amber Vulture - Villager
4. Charcoal Hyena - Cannoc - Villager
5. Chartreuse Penguin - Villager
6. Coral Swan - Elyle - Village Lightweaver
7. Cream Tuatara - Villager
8. Emerald Falcon - Aldrick - Villager
9. Fuschia Ostrich
10. Indigo Weasel - Village Elsecaller
11. Ivory Dragonfly - Nolan - Village Bondsmith
12. Magenta Albatross - Sympathiser Windrunner
13. Mauve Crocodile
14. Melon Dingo - Quentisan - Village Edgedancer
15. Mint Heron - Kharsis - Villager
16. Onyx Flamingo - Squawk - Village Lightweaver
17. Opal Lion - Villager
18. Oxblood Beagle - Jai - Village Willshaper
19. Pearl Chameleon
20. Plum Rhinoceros - Villager
21. Quartz Zebra 
22. Saffron Iguana - Emalia - Village Lightweaver
23. Sage Kangaroo - Elsecaller
24. Salmon Meerkat - Village Bondsmith
25. Sapphire Elephant - Sympathiser Skybreaker
26. Scarlet Octopus - Village Edgedancer 
27. Sunburst Toucan - Vanna - Village Windrunner
28. Taupe Gecko - Villager
29. Turquoise Gorilla - Village Dustbringer
30. Violet Axolotl - Villager

[Mauve Crocodile]

Well, it was worth a shot.

[Fuchsia Ostrich]

I'd considered the elim!Croc theory yesterday, but with what the elims had access to they could have voted with Croc and Sage and overwhelmed Chamelion and I (Zebra was inactive), so we didn't really lose much in my opinion by lynching Sage.

Game state right now:

Sage: Elsecaller 1 life remaining

Croc: Worldhopper Bondsmith

Zebra: villager (vanilla?)

Ostrich: villager claimed vanilla

Chamelion: villager claimed Elsecaller

Let's assume that the elims kill me tonight. They've already tried to lynch me and only failed because of a coinflip, so it makes sense that they'll try to finish the job tonight. If they don't, they'll attack Zebra and go for me N13, and the game doesn't change much.

D13:

Elims: Sage, Croc

Villagers: Zebra, Chamelion

If I'm dead by then, my advice now for that time is to take out Croc. There's a  chance that they'll have drawn something game-ending, but if you give them an extra day that only raises their chances of getting Bondsmith, Dustbringer, Willshaper, and the like. If you're lucky, you can get Croc on the coinflip and keep the game going.

If the game doesn't end right there...

N13:

Elims: Sage

Villagers: Zebra, Chamelion

If Sage attacks Chamelion, Chamelion will survive and Sage is toast, so Sage has to attack Zebra.

D14:

Elims: Sage

Villagers: Chamelion (2 lives)

Yet another coinflip that we'll have to win. If we lose, Chamelion gets lynched and then killed. If we win, Sage dies.

In short: we're bantha fodder and we've been bantha fodder for a while. But this bantha fodder just doesn't want to die.

[Mauve Crocodile]

17 minutes ago, Fuchsia Ostrich said:

I'd considered the elim!Croc theory yesterday, but with what the elims had access to they could have voted with Croc and Sage and overwhelmed Chamelion and I (Zebra was inactive), so we didn't really lose much in my opinion by lynching Sage.

Game state right now:

Sage: Elsecaller 1 life remaining

Croc: Worldhopper Bondsmith

Zebra: villager (vanilla?)

Ostrich: villager claimed vanilla

Chamelion: villager claimed Elsecaller

Let's assume that the elims kill me tonight. They've already tried to lynch me and only failed because of a coinflip, so it makes sense that they'll try to finish the job tonight. If they don't, they'll attack Zebra and go for me N13, and the game doesn't change much.

D13:

Elims: Sage, Croc

Villagers: Zebra, Chamelion

If I'm dead by then, my advice now for that time is to take out Croc. There's a  chance that they'll have drawn something game-ending, but if you give them an extra day that only raises their chances of getting Bondsmith, Dustbringer, Willshaper, and the like. If you're lucky, you can get Croc on the coinflip and keep the game going.

If the game doesn't end right there...

N13:

Elims: Sage

Villagers: Zebra, Chamelion

If Sage attacks Chamelion, Chamelion will survive and Sage is toast, so Sage has to attack Zebra.

D14:

Elims: Sage

Villagers: Chamelion (2 lives)

Yet another coinflip that we'll have to win. If we lose, Chamelion gets lynched and then killed. If we win, Sage dies.

In short: we're bantha fodder and we've been bantha fodder for a while. But this bantha fodder just doesn't want to die.

Well I'm all for you guys having hope... but I'm just a Bondsmith

So we kill one of you tonight, and that puts us at 2 to 2 for the lynch. We already know all the roles cause of our Skybreaker (Elephant), so we won't be making any mistakes there. Then, with my ability to remove the vote, I block Chameleon, and we're either at 2:1, if Zebra becomes active or 2:0 if not. So... yeah.

[Fuchsia Ostrich]

7 hours ago, Mauve Crocodile said:

Well I'm all for you guys having hope... but I'm just a Bondsmith

So we kill one of you tonight, and that puts us at 2 to 2 for the lynch. We already know all the roles cause of our Skybreaker (Elephant), so we won't be making any mistakes there. Then, with my ability to remove the vote, I block Chameleon, and we're either at 2:1, if Zebra becomes active or 2:0 if not. So... yeah.

If you're a Bondsmith all of the time, we're 100% toast. You being a Worldhopper gives us at least a tiny chance at victory.

I did just have a thought: you could have controlled the lynch or at least tied it any day now, with only 1 fewer elim than the village each Day. Why wait until now to press that advantage?

[Mauve Crocodile]

7 hours ago, Fuchsia Ostrich said:

If you're a Bondsmith all of the time, we're 100% toast. You being a Worldhopper gives us at least a tiny chance at victory.

I did just have a thought: you could have controlled the lynch or at least tied it any day now, with only 1 fewer elim than the village each Day. Why wait until now to press that advantage?

Well... tying the vote when we weren't sure that I would be able to survive would not have been good. As I would have died, and we would have lost vote advantage. 

We tie the vote, an Elim dies instead, we kill you, then we end up with me being next up for the lynch.

Also, day 11, I think it was, I didn't have internet to try and swing the lynch :/

(If any of this makes sense)