Long Game 94: The Call of the Forest of Hell

[Elandera she/her]

When I ventured to the edges of civilization, I had been told the only dangers were the shades and the people. Certainly, those are enough in their own right, but you can learn how to handle them. Follow the Simple Rules, they had said. Do not kindle a flame. Do not shed the blood of another. Do not run during the night. It requires nothing more than being careful. Even the people are easy to manage with enough practice.

What they never said was that shades were not the only reason there were no predators in the Forest of Hell. No. Something much darker, much older, lives in the mists. And it must be awakened.

I must awaken it...

“Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.”

---

Welcome to Long Game 94: The Call of the Forests of Hell! This is a rerun of LG60/LG76, which I have dubbed Threnody Lite. The game is set on Threnody with influences from H.P. Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu. This game has similar insanity and shade mechanics as before, but a lot of the roles and other actions have been reduced, which should make it easier for everyone. @StrikerEZ will be the IM. You can find the rules here or below.

Premise:

Horrors lurk in the Forests of Hell. Threnody is not a kind world. As a homesteader, you have chosen to face the cruelty of the world head-on. The Simple Rules have saved you more times than you can say. But shades aren’t the only horror in those dark forests. Something older, something much darker sleeps. Strange artifacts hint at this creature’s existence, and its current state—dead yet dreaming. It waits for when its followers will call it forth, out of its house at R’lyeh to once again dominate the world. Followers driven insane by their desperate need to wake the one they call Cthulhu.

General Rules:

• PMs are closed
• Players can take one action during each Day and Night turn (unless otherwise stated)
• Day turns will be 48 hours long; Night turns will be 24 hours long
• There is a one-vote minimum for the exe
• Tied votes will be decided at random
• Players who do not post at least once every two turns will be replaced or removed
• Elim kills, crossbow kills, and Shade attacks will not be differentiated; Survivals are not announced

Alignments:

Spoiler

Homesteaders - You have survived on the edge of the Forest of Hell for years. You aren’t about to let some supposed ancient god take what you have fought to cultivate.

• You win when all members of The Cult of Cthulhu have been removed.

Cult of Cthulhu - Your god waits dreaming. It is time for him to wake and live. You will not let anyone stand in your way of calling Cthulhu once again into this world.

• You win when you outnumber the Homesteaders.
• Once per night, one cultist can send an action to sacrifice a player to [text].
• Cultists share a document to conspire and make plans.

Roles:

Spoiler

White Fox - The forest is your home. In your years of work as a bounty hunter, you’ve come to see the hostile place as an ally. You know how to navigate the night, avoid the terrors, and find your bounty. Now you put those skills to a different purpose.

• Once every Night Turn, you can select one person to hunt, stopping any action they may have taken that night and the following day.
• You inherently have Iron Will.

Thief - Rumors drew you to the edge of the forest. Rumors of ancient treasures and artifacts you know would sell well among the fort folk. You just have to brave the forests to find them, something you refuse to do when shades roam.

• Once every Day turn, you have a 33% chance to find of the following items in the forest (25% chance for each item if successful):
  • Forbidden Idol - This object causes you to go temporarily insane. Your vote will change to a random player. A no-vote can become a vote if this happens.
    • This item is destroyed upon discovery and cannot be passed.
  • Silver Dust - The only true defense against the shades, except the Simple Rules, is silver.
    • One-time use item that passively protects the holder against Wrath of Shades.
    • The holder of silver can use it on another player as a preventative action to keep from enraging the Shades.
  • Pallid Mask - This item can be used to obscure the wearer’s identity. This passive item will cause any action taken against them to fail. The mask is destroyed after successfully hiding the user’s identity once.
  • Spellbook - This ancient book, located amongst the rubble of the ruins, has a single spell that can be deciphered. 
    • During either the Day or Night turn, a player may use the book to cast Mists of Releh. The spell obscures the vision of the target, causing their action to be redirected to a player of the caster’s choice.
    • The book disintegrates in a flash of fire upon use, and the caster has a 20% chance of going insane the next turn.

Writer - You aren’t like the traditional homesteader. You came to the edge of the forest to get away and be alone. That solitude has always been necessary for your writing. Yet you can’t stay completely disconnected from the world, so you have resorted to letters.

• Once per Day Turn, you can request the GM to open a PM between any two living players.
• Once per Night Turn, you have a free action to send an anonymous note to be published in the write-up.

Shade Expert - You are the one the fort folk hire on their expeditions into the forest to keep them safe. You live by the Simple Rules and have even grown to understand the shades. You have even figured out how to manipulate the shades to your advantage in some cases.

• Once per Night Turn, you can use your knowledge of the shades and Simple Rules to protect a single target from the Cultists, a crossbow, or shades. If that target is attacked by another player, Wrath of Shades is triggered and you will no longer be able to use this ability. You cannot target the same player two cycles in a row.
• You inherently have Silver Bones.

Abilities:

Spoiler

Iron Will - Players with an iron will are resilient to the horrors of the forest. They cannot become insane by Unforgettable Horrors. They can become insane if they take actions that have an insanity consequence, but their chances are reduced by half.

Silver Bones - Players with silver bones won’t go out without a fight. They will survive one sacrifice, shade attack, or execution. Getting attacked will not trigger broken survivors.

Actions:

Spoiler

Voice in the Crowd - It is easier than you would have thought to vote without being known. Once per day turn, any player can choose to cast their vote anonymously in their GM PM. Vote redirects will apply to this action and any vote cast by that player in the thread will be ignored (even if it fails). However, it is also easy for your voice to be drowned out. There is a 20% chance your vote will not be counted.

Use Item - Items in a player’s inventory can be used during either the Day or Night turn.

Item Pass - Once per night, a player may use their action to pass an item to any other player.

Items:

Spoiler

• If a player is removed by execution, their items will be distributed among their voters.
• If a player is killed, their items will be destroyed.

Crossbow - It is not a good idea to use to draw blood in the forests, but sometimes there is no other option.

• Once per game during a Night Turn, you can use this item to kill another player. The crossbow breaks after use.

Glowpaste - A luminescent liquid, glowpaste is a single-use item  for tracking potential targets and lighting the night without breaking the Simple Rules.

• One-time use item that can be used during a Day Turn to track a target’s actions in the following Night Turn.

Elder Sign Pendant - This pendant, carved with an unusual star, seems to have magical properties. It can protect a player from a single attack from the Cultists.

Pallid Mask - (see Thief section)

Silver Dust - (see Thief section)

Spellbook - (see Thief section)

Other Rules:

Spoiler

Insanity - Players rendered insane will be unable to vote or take action for one turn. After a player goes insane, they cannot go insane again for two cycles unless they take an action that directly causes insanity.

• Players who have gone insane will be announced in the write-up.

Unforgettable Horrors - The whispers haunt at night. Visions of unearthly seep into the dreams of everyone living on the edge of the forest. At the end of every Night Turn, each player has a 5% chance of going insane.

Broken Survivors - Players who are attacked and survive will be insane for one turn.

Wrath of Shades - Those who draw blood have a 5% chance of their precautions failing, thus they will be attacked by the shades and killed. This does not include the execution. Every time blood is drawn the chances of enraging the Shades increases by 5%. Once someone dies to the Shades, the percentage resets.

• The Wrath of Shades percentage will be posted each turn.

Order of Actions:

Spoiler

Day Turns

• Pallid Mask
• Spellbook
• Voice in the Crowd
• Thief, Writer
• Execution
• Glowpaste
• Item Distribution

Night Turns

• Pallid Mask
• White Fox, Elder Sign Pendant
• Spellbook
• Writer
• Shade Expert, Silver Dust
• Cultist Kill, Crossbow
• Wrath of Shades
• Pass Item
• Unforgettable Horrors

---

This sign-ups will end Monday, April 24 at 8:30 p.m. PDT /  Tuesday, April 25 at 1:30 AEST. The game will begin shortly after.

Player List:

Spoiler

Players:

1. The Known Novel - Crazy Hary
2. Archer - Sam the Witch, widowed by choice
3. Matrim's Dice - Enatnom
4. Araris Valerian - Read My Role
5. Telrao - Ealmin
6. Kasimir - Mordekai
7. The Last Fae
8. Amanuensis
9. Sart 
10. TheAlpha929 - Roosevelt
11. Ashbringer - AraRaash
12. |TJ|
13. DeTess
14. JNV - Jen
15. Steeldancer - Lord Momo of the Momo Dynasty
16. Alvron - Navor
17. Devotary of Spontaneity - Surnia

Spectators:

• Fifth Scholar
• The Bookwyrm

Rule Clarifications:

Spoiler

1. Wrath of Shades can only kill the person who sent in the action that triggered it. If a Cultist and a Crossbow user both kill in the same night, they are both rolled at the same percentage and could both be killed.
2. If a Cultist and Crossbow user are the only ones alive at a night turn, both take action to kill the other, and no other actions are involved (such as the Pallid Mask), the game will end on a tie.

Quick Links:

Spoiler

Day One - The Call
Night One - Wanting
Day Two - The Ancients
Night Two - Falling
Day Three - The Silence
Night Three - Waking
Day Four - The Anger
Night Four - Stirring
Day Five - The Sacrifice
Night Five - Dwelling
Day Six - The Darkness
Night Six - Surviving
Day Seven - The Shades
Night Seven - Writing
Day Eight - The Fox
Night Eight - Running
Day Nine - The Anticipation
Aftermath - The Liberated Old Ones

Edited December 16, 2023 by Elandera

[The Unknown Medallion he/him]

My game should be over in time not to mess too much with this.

I'll sign up as Crazy Hary.

Quote

they cannot go insane again for two cycles unless they take an action that directly causes insanity.

Does 'directly causes' mean only if there's a 100% chance of insanity, or does, for instance, the spellbook still have a 20% chance of insanity?

[The Paradoxical Phenomenon he/him]

I would like to spectate, please.

[Elandera she/her]

5 minutes ago, The Known Novel said:

Does 'directly causes' mean only if there's a 100% chance of insanity, or does, for instance, the spellbook still have a 20% chance of insanity?

It would mean the latter. If you take an action that may have an insanity consequence, you will have that consequence chance rolled whether or not you've previously been insane.

[Archer he/him]

In as Sam the Witch, recently widowed by choice. 

[Mat he/him]

Mmm I remember this game

In as Enatnom

[Araris Valerian he/him]

I’ll sign up as Read My Role, in the hopes that I actually do. A rather forgetful fellow that leaves notes on everything to help with his memory.

[Telrao she/her]

This seems super fun! Sign me up as Ealmin, a really, really short woman who is almost a Hobbit >:)

[StrikerEZ he/him]

Hello! I’m excited to be your IM for this game! If you are ever involved in a conflict between players, see one potentially arising, or just need to vent feel free to reach out to me! As a reminder, SE is just a game! Having fun and enjoying ourselves is the main goal of playing!

[Kasimir he/him]

Morning comes, slowly, in the Forests of Hell. 

Light through the thick overhanging boughs. It is unreasonably cool, and the last of it lingers over the grass as a light mist. A hint of translucence, here and there. Mordekai likes to think of it as a reminder. In the Forests, even if you can't see them, the shades are always there, willing to screw you over if you can't follow the Simple Rules.

He stoops to tend to the fire. No rings of silver in this homestead, not all around it. Anata had kept the silver around the cellar, in her time. He feels the familiar tightness in his throat at the memory. Kindling flame angers the shades, but this fire he has kept tended, since the day they first settled down in the abandoned Consolation homestead. Tending a flame...risky business, but he likes his nights warm, his food cooked. They make small allowances, in the Forests.

He straightens up against the ache in his knees and his back. Wonders, not for the first time, about the wisdom of remaining here, so far away from the waystop. But there is a peace in this remoteness. A solace in solitude, the fact he can go days without hearing the voice of another. (Except Anata. But that is a sorrow undiluted, for all the time that has passed.)

He tends to the small shrine as well. In other homesteads, he has seen shrines to the God Beyond. But Warmmha called, and so Mordekai came. He likes to think he is too old, too set in his ways to change now.

As he pushes open the door, there in the dew, he sees it. 

A single moment. A single, terrible abomination, a flung obscenity into the beauty of the day. Something the mind flinches from, screams and cowers into a corner of the shed. Blobs stabbing incomprehensible nightmarish flashes behind the soft jelly of his eyes. A sharp taste of copper. For a moment, part of Mordekai fears he's transgressed, drawing his own blood. To be careless in Hell's maw is to be dead. He clings to it, to the taste of wet copper, to the lozenge-shaped talisman, shapes a prayer to Warmmha.

The moment passes.

The heavy copper, with a touch of rot, fades away, whatever it was.

And Mordekai is left, staring the knotted—sign, whatever it is—of twigs and bark, set out in the wet grass.

Something wicked this way comes. The thought rises, unbidden. He allows it. He doesn't know what it is, but knows already that the taint of it has marred this morning, the other mornings to come.

---

Oh, thank Vikemon this is after the deadlines steeplechase >> Signing up as Mordekai, an elderly homesteader and recluse. (Is it too soon to make a Mordekai Kenobi joke?)

Edited April 17, 2023 by Kasimir

[Tea Leaf]

Oh, sign me up. It's crossbow time!!!!! I may already be very insane...

Edited April 17, 2023 by The Last Fæ

[Ashbringer he/him]

I'll pinch hit. 2 more weeks of classes then... well then finals but then SE becomes a break and not a distraction 

[Elandera she/her]

Hello! I may delay the close of signups. This game should ideally run with at least 10-12 players.

[Amanuensis he/him]

I'll sign up o7

[Sart he/him]

Well, if you need more players, I'm always happy to sign up.

[The Paradoxical Phenomenon he/him]

@Elandera I’ll switch from spectator to player, but be aware that this would be by far the most complicated game I’ve played so far. If you’re willing to deal with that (hopefully not much) then I’m happy to play!

[Amanuensis he/him]

26 minutes ago, TheAlpha929 said:

@Elandera I’ll switch from spectator to player, but be aware that this would be by far the most complicated game I’ve played so far. If you’re willing to deal with that (hopefully not much) then I’m happy to play!

I've barely skimmed the rules myself, so we can figure it out together

Also @DeTess in case you're interested in another game

Edited April 22, 2023 by Amanuensis

[The Paradoxical Phenomenon he/him]

2 hours ago, Amanuensis said:

I've barely skimmed the rules myself, so we can figure it out together

Bet 

[Elandera she/her]

6 hours ago, TheAlpha929 said:

@Elandera I’ll switch from spectator to player, but be aware that this would be by far the most complicated game I’ve played so far. If you’re willing to deal with that (hopefully not much) then I’m happy to play!

Spoiler

This is by far the least complicated iteration of this particular ruleset... 

I will gladly take you as a player! Please ping me if you're ever confused or want clarification.

[Ashbringer he/him]

Yeah… I might be running my Shard Game after this one. That will be complicated 

I’ll sign up. Not committing to RP, because college is still wrapping up, but AraRaash may appear as necessary.

[Amanuensis he/him]

6 minutes ago, Ashbringer said:

Yeah… I might be running my Shard Game after this one. That will be complicated 

I’ll sign up. Not committing to RP, because college is still wrapping up, but AraRaash may appear as necessary.

Yay  that makes 11

[The Paradoxical Phenomenon he/him]

Nobody back out! (If you have to that’s fine of course)

[|TJ| he/him]

I'll be super busy till the end of May and would have very limited activity but sign me up as Prey.

[DeTess she/her]

Hmmmm, I'd like to play as well, so sign me up.

[Kasimir he/him]

20 hours ago, TheAlpha929 said:

@Elandera I’ll switch from spectator to player, but be aware that this would be by far the most complicated game I’ve played so far. If you’re willing to deal with that (hopefully not much) then I’m happy to play!

20 hours ago, Amanuensis said:

I've barely skimmed the rules myself, so we can figure it out together

Who needs rules where we goin'? :eyes: