Long Game 6: Daes Dae'Mar, The Great Game

[Dellexe he/him]

Well I went with my gut.

I shouldn't trust my gut.

Edited June 22, 2014 by Kal Dell

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

I'm Back! Wow. that whole Wounded Gazelle Gambit quip, that was just a little reminder to be careful. I actually believe that Waes is good. I'll back his Idea. (I just sent you a PM Waes)

 

Also Gamma, in the list of players in the OP, why are some of the names black?

[Newan he/him]

Kal Dell, your gut is a darkfriend.  You should probably put the Dragon's Fang on your gut.  

 

edit:color

Edited June 23, 2014 by New One

[+Quitecontrary she/her]

Everything that can possibly go wrong is going wrong in this town. If not for the fact that there are rumors of Trollocs in the outskirts of the village, Rishi is inclined to just bundle up her little brothers and go to another place to live - some place where they don't kill off villagers at random. And although she is tough as nails, she feels a frisson of fear now on the thought of walking back home.

 

The day was busy. Reopening the inn took a lot of effort. Whoever knew that one day of being left untended can make an inn so messy and vandalized? Or that someone would have the nerve to rob the dead man's inn when he wasn't even cold in his grave? Even the stores of potatoes were not left untouched!

 

The gleewoman was a joy to work with and she can only hope that their working relationship would progress to the point of trust. Unfortunately, she was not from around here, and though well-meaning, the beautiful Domani looked like she had a lot of secrets and a past she would rather hide. After all, she was the first gleewoman this town has ever seen. Rishi thought that the woman's profession was odd, but admired her for her spunk.

 

As she cleaned up the mugs and plates of villagers who went to the common room to get a measure of what's happening, she couldn't help but feel sad that in a matter of a few days, the village has transformed into a place of suspicion, lies and false speculation. Being a tavern maid, she heard all sorts of theories about who did what, and who could possibly be doing the murders. Surreptitious looks exchanged over mugs of ale were usual now, and though they still humored with her and teased her when she served food, she can't help but notice that the smiles were tight and the laughter forced. She just shook her head as she tidied up. 

 

One last thing to do, which is to bring Waes, the wounded cobbler, some dinner. Then she's off for home, and the thought of walking back in the cold night brought goosebumps on her skin.

 

---

 

 

Kal Dell, your gut is a darkfriend.  You should probably put the Dragon's Fang on your gut.  

edit:color

 

This is a notable quotable. Kal Dell, you should put "My gut is a darkfriend." in your sig. 

My alarm went off 15 minutes before Day 2 ended and I wasn't able to vote yesterday, not that it would've made much of a difference. 

 

Upvote to Awes for the clearly written defense. Besides coordination does not have to be done in a single PM, and only with Awes. It can be small groups and meetings in dark alleys and corners (who said these places are only for DF's?). I believe he is who he says he is.

[Dellexe he/him]

Kal Dell, your gut is a darkfriend.  You should probably put the Dragon's Fang on your gut.  

 

edit:color

My... my gut is a darkfriend?!

-

Prep the OR, gentlemen. This gut is getting purged.

 

EDIT: New addition to the signature.

Edited June 23, 2014 by Kal Dell

[Binnut he/him]

I am still skeptical of everyone sending their Roles to Waes. I think I still would corrupt Waes if I were PF. You may want to call me an idiot or something, but here is my motivation.

 

Lets say Waes gets to almost everyone's roles, that is an inverted list of everyone likely without roles. That is why the earlier plan of every vanilla player reporting was abandoned. This information is too valuable for Fain.

But also, if Waes gets information from a Viewer, and other roles, he would have additional information that is valuable to Fain and the corrupted. So, if Waes is found out. It does not matter that much, the information he posses would be valuable enough. And I for one do not doubt Waes capable of continuing in the same track as he currently is. 

 

This would also bind up our Viewer(s) to repeatedly scan one person for betrayal instead of continuing to scan other people.

 

I'm not saying this is what PF will do, but I caution against this since this is what I would have done in his place.

I'm not saying that Waes isn't good, I just say that I'm wary of making him a target of PF.

 

Edit: Blue.

Edited June 23, 2014 by Binnut

[Awesomeness Summoned he/him]

Lets say Waes gets to almost everyone's roles, that is an inverted list of everyone likely without roles. That is why the earlier plan of every vanilla player reporting was abandoned. This information is too valuable for Fain.

From what I can tell, that ship has likely sadly already sailed. I would be extremely surprised if Fain does not have a pretty decent list of the regular villagers since they have been much less reluctant to share that information amongst themselves than the people with roles have been.

But also, if Waes gets information from a Viewer, and other roles, he would have additional information that is valuable to Fain and the corrupted. So, if Waes is found out. It does not matter that much, the information he posses would be valuable enough. And I for one do not doubt Waes capable of continuing in the same track as he currently is.

The argument isn't on whether or not I would have valuable information for Fain. The question is if that information is valuable enough to waste one of his corruptions on someone that would like die as a result. Fain and the corrupted can't make night kills. All they can do is influence the vote to eliminate the other sides. He needs to ensure those he corrupts stay alive. You can believe whatever you want, but I don't believe I would survive very long corrupted. The benefits to corrupting me do not outweigh the risk of losing one of his number.

This would also bind up our Viewer(s) to repeatedly scan one person for betrayal instead of continuing to scan other people.

And how is that any different than what I said about the uncertainty of the viewer? The Viewer would have to rescan everyone of their confirmed members every time Fain struck as well if they wanted to be sure everyone is clean. If the viewer themselves was struck, we'd never know.

This gets to the heart of this whole issue. Fain is by far the less dangerous of the two evils since he can't make night kills and the corrupted cannot have roles of their own. We are allowing our paranoia of a smaller threat to cripple our ability to make a concerted effort to identify and eliminate the real threat.

Edit: formatting

Edited June 23, 2014 by Awesomeness Summoned

[Binnut he/him]

Ok, I get it.

I am mostly convinced. But it does make me a little uneasy because of the possibility.

[Sphinx]

I'm inclined to believe Kaim's witness for Weas's playstyle

 

Whether or not Jim Bob Dirt was a darkfriend, we can probably anticipate some darkfriends to have voted for him, possibly towards the middle of it. They probably also participated in the vote for Jain, but frankly Jain was behaving fairly suspiciously at that point.

 

I'm aware that I'm likely under a good deal of suspicion due to my absence, which is fair. If I'd known how crazy everything was going to get, I probably wouldn't have signed up to a game I couldn't commit to. For what it's worth though, I'm usually pretty quiet the first few days.

 

There seem to be quite a few newer people this round, which is keeping things interesting.

[Newan he/him]

Hey look at this picture of Bela I found:

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

Just a heads up, at the time of this post, there is about 16 hours left in this Cycle! (Unless all orders get sent in before then)

[little wilson she/her]

Okay. I don't normally post in the thread during the night, since comments in the thread can change strategy for Team Evil, but this is somewhat important. I know there's only a few hours left in the night, and if a lot of you don't see this until the night is over, that's okay.

 

As you know, Wes asked for people with roles to contact him. There are some of you who are understandably hesitant to do so, since putting all of that information in one place makes Wes a prime target for conversion (assuming Fain ignores Wes' comments about how corrupting him is ill-advised). I have a counter-proposal for you. Since we need to start coordinating our efforts in order to weed out the Darkfriends, the Forsaken, and Fain, we do need your roles. However, how about you choose who you trust with that information? Our group consists of me, Kaim, Waes, Erik, Leas Fel, and Khamsi.

 

Whoever you go to with your role will keep your identity completely secret from everyone else. Then we will coordinate according to the roles who have contacted us and your contact with the group will let you know the plan. This way, no one person has all of the information, you don't have to trust someone you don't want to, and yet we'll still be able to coordinate. Not only that, but if Fain wants to try to convert someone with the info, he's got a bunch of options--too many for how many conversions he likely has (since I'm betting he's probably only got 4 or 5). Also, if it turns out one of us isn't who we say we are, that person still won't have a lot of information (namely, identities) that would prove detrimental in the hands of an enemy.

 

If you haven't already contacted one of the above, please do so. I don't care who, but it's important that we get a plan. We can't afford to keep killing our roles by accident, and if we know (or rather, one of us knows) who you are, we can keep that from happening.

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

Night 2 is Officially Over! Write-up coming shortly! (It'll be a good one!)

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

Day 3: Chaos Reigns

The village of Drell's Crossing once again lay shrouded under shadowed veil of nightfall, with dark, ominous clouds hanging thick in the sky above, blocking out the moon and the stars. Many villagers tossed and turned in their beds in bouts of fitful sleep, plagued by haunted dreams and nightmares where the dead mocked them and beckoned them towards death.
      

***

Jae walked slowly through the night, trying to stay right behind Joel, the grumpy hermit who walked ahead of him in the darkness and occasionally mumbling to himself. He looked back towards the Spruce Thicket, the newly re-opened inn that was just a speck of light in the distance from the edge of time, wishing once again that he was in there, in the warmth and feeling important, instead of out here on late-night patrol duty.

It's not fair, he thought to himself, turning back around to watch his footing in the dark. Just a few days after he had worked up the courage to ask the old inn-keeper for work, the intimidating man had been hung and the inn had closed. Next thing he knew he had been rounded up for extra patrol duties before the gleewoman strolled in the building and claimed it for herself. Now it was being used by the Mayor for the center of operations, and Jae was stuck out here in the dark with someone who's social skills matched that of the horse who had been accused of being a darkfriend.

If only I had known it was that easy, he rued to himself, unaware of the shadow sneaking up behind him, I would have walked up in there and taken it for myself.

Up ahead, he thought he actually heard Joel say something outloud that shook him from his thoughts and went to ask him to repeat what he said when the cold dagger slid across his throat. When he went to speak, all the came out was a faint grunt as he began to choke on his own blood, as gloved hands quickly covered his mouth and slowly lowered him to the ground as his strength faded.

“For the Great Lord.” Was all he heard as a voice whispered softly in his ear as he gave one last final spasm as the darkness quickly overtook him.

***

Joel thought back to the events of the day prior, and shuddered once again at the image of the hanging wanderer as they kicked and flailed as they hung at the end of the rope. He sighed and turned to Jae, the young inn worker who had been conscripted into the late night patrol with him for the night.

'Be vigilant tonight, you never know what could happen.” He said, and sighed once again inward when he only heard a small grunt in response. He had always been anti-social, preferring to live off by himself and not have to worry about anybody or anything else. But with flaming trollocs raiding all throughout the countryside, and darkfriends working from within the village to murder everybody, bloody nowhere was safe.

It was their third patrol around the village in the darkness, for they were forbidden to use torches to preserve wood and fuel, and to also save them from fire-blindness. Ever since the attack on the cobbler, Joel had started becoming worried about everything that was happening in town. He knew he trusted Waes, but there also lay a darker, deeper shadow over the village that was beginning to infect all of the townsfolk. Even earlier, some people had refused to comply with the injured cobbler's request to provide him with any vital information to help the village in it's time of need. Suspicion and mistrust lay heavy over the village, with nobody being able to trust anybody. Joel thought he heard a sound, and paused as he noticed Jae was no longer following right behind him.

“Jae?” He asked in a hushed whisper, trying to peer into the darkness, wishing once again he had a torch to see with, or some sort of proper weapon instead of the rusted ax that he had been provided with. A small break in the clouds appeared, and standing in a beam of moonlight was a shadowed figure standing above a crumpled corpse, with fresh blood dripping from the dagger in their hands, and a wild, maniacal grin on their face as they began to laugh. Joel dropped his weapon in his fright and began to ran, dashing madly away from the killer, looking back over his shoulder every couple of seconds to make sure he wasn't be followed, although he could still hear the cruel laughter following him out into the night.

He suddenly ran into something, with his momentum keeping him going and sending him sprawling to the ground. He lay on his back and tried to get to his feet and look and see what he ran into, but he felt a sudden stinging sensation from his chest, and when he checked with his hand, he found a small puddle of blood beginning to spread.

“Why?” Was all he had time to ask before he felt another quick, sharp stab in his stomach, the blade twisting slightly and tearing at his organs, sending a spasm of pain throughout his body.

“To let chaos reign,” a wicked voice responded, and as the dagger came down one last time, Joel could hear wolves off howling in the distance.

 

***

Jim Bob Dirt crept stealthily through the night, trying to avoid being detected as he quietly tried to slip out of Drell's Crossing. Deciding to leave the village had been a hard decision to make, but he knew deep down to his core he wasn't cut out for the deceit and political games seemed to be playing. Bloody Daes Dae'mar, he muttered to himself as he eased between the wooden palisade that had been erected around the town, making sure to dodge anybody who was out on perimeter patrol.

Daily votes on who should die or not, then going to bed just to wait and see who would die in the morning? That was not for him. He had thought that the training he had received Old Aethea had been enough, that he was ready to protect the villagers, but he was just not cut out to be a Wisdom. Aethea had seen the potential of the special soil that Jim Bob had acquired from Shara, with all of the exotic nutrients that it contained. His knowledge of botanics had impressed her, so when she started showing him all different types of herbs and medicines, he had thought he might have enjoyed this line of work. But then he saw the blood

Oh, Light, the blood! He thought, suppressing a shiver, and redoubling his efforts to make it out into the country in a timely manner, to finally be free of this nightmare. He quickened his pace and scurried up a small hill, pausing at the top to catch his breath and take one look back at the town he was abandoning in it's time of need. His gaze lingered for a few moments, and after a moment's hesitation, he gave a small cry of defiance and began to head back towards the village. It was at this moment that a cloud in the sky moved out of the way of the luminous moon, suddenly bathing Jim Bob and the entire area around him in moonlight, and he saw that we was not alone.

A lone figure stepped forward, clad in haphazardly sewn together animal skins and furs, with only their face hidden in the shadows. All but their golden eyes that shone fiercely from the darkness. They pointed at Bob Dirt and whispered one word, “Hunt.”

Only the sound of a muffled thud behind him gave warning as he spun around just in time to see a massive gray, smoke-colored wolf as it bounded down the hill and leaped right at him, letting out a snarl as it's jaws closed around his neck with a savage crunch. He had enough time to feel the spurt of blood pain as his throat was tore lose, and as he flailed to the ground, he could hear the happy, haunting chorus of dozens of wolves howling in unison, singing their song of the hunt to moon.
 

***

On the other side of town, hiding in the darkness sat Kaim, as he gleefully watched another villager be massacred by darkfriends, making his job that much easier for him in the long run. In the gathering shadows he waited, making preperations for when he himself would make his move against the village, slowly corrupting them all to his own twisted army. He slid his finger along the tip of the unsheathed dagger that was tucked into his belt unsheathed, the giant ruby that was set into it's hilt was glimmering softly in the moonlight provided from the small gap in the clouds above.

A small token from the place that had helped birth him many years ago, the hallowed city of Shadar Logath. Back when Kaim had been a thief-catcher he had followed a deranged, dangerous criminal who had fled from the city of Baerlon after a series of murders. He had tracked him up to the old, crumbled walls of the forgotten abandoned city, but there the trail had ended. The entire city reeked of an evil stench much worse than any other that he had ever come across in his day, but he wasn't going to let the madman escape justice, so with the sun beginning to set in the sky above, he had entered the city of Shadar Logath, the Place Where the Shadow Waits.

He never found the criminal inside the city, but he did come across something much, much worse. He emerged from the city as something not entirely human, something long forgotten, The force that scared the forces of the Dark One and even sent Machin Shin fleeing in terror was free upon the world once more.

Hearing the sudden howls of wolves brought Kaim out of his memories, and he decided he had enough joy from watching this evening. Fog slowly began to creep in around him as he moved through the streets, wondering who he should corrupt among the villagers first. Fear and suspicion had already begun to creep its away among the villagers, with the accusing each other of being darkfriends and murdering each other. He had even seen a fresh Dragon's Fang scrawled on Dellan's door earlier in the evening. The Taint that had consumed Aridohl was already growing fresh and strong in the village, working it's way to destroy everything the villagers had loved and cared for.

But it could be stronger still, he told himself, wondering again who he would corrupt when he eventually decided to make his move.

Whoever will help me sow the most discord, he thought to himself with a bark of laughter. As he made it to the edge of the village, the fog around him had thickened into swirling dense pockets that seemed to flow from around him. Mashadar was always the strongest before dawn, when darkness held the strongest sway. So deep was the fog that he didn't see the fireball it punched through the wall of mist that surrounded him, and he only had a second to cry out before it struck him, setting his clothes and flesh ablaze. He let out a barbaric roar of rage as he felt his skin begin to melt as he began to thrash around on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames, but the fog of Mashadar began to wither in the light of the fire, and the tormented screams of Kaim slowly faded away until all that could be heard was silence.

 

***

As the sun crept over the horizon, a note was found left attached to the door of the Spruce Thicket:

This time that's now, this midnight hour 25
Hiding those who creep and lour 14
Inside your mind, they're in your head 83
Sneakily slithering towards your bed 11
cor duente mordero
Mark the time and feel what's present 14
In the black below the lifeless crescent 4
Dire is the darkness as they slyly slink 34
Not close yet, but nearer than you think
In disturbing dreams do you soundly sleep? 14
Gnashing teeth ward off those who creep 8
Hideous creatures who skulk and lour
Take their advantage in this midnight hour 49
rahien corenne-i mael
Heinous Harpies with sharpened claws 14
Outside your head, but inside your doors 2
Unconscious dreamer can you feel them sink 14
Rapacious fangs into you and drink?
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Joel, Jae, Jim Bob Dirt, and Kaim were murdered! A Dragon Fang was found scrawled on Dellan's Door!
Joel and Jae were Regular Villagers
Jim Bob Dirt was Wisdom
Kaim was Padan Fain!

Edit: Forgot Dragon Fang result. >.<..... AND The Dreamwalker Message. XD

Day 3 Begins and ends in 48 Hours at 8AM EST Thursday, June 26th!

List^TM of Players:

 

1)(Kasimir) - Kaim, a retired Thief-Taker Deceased Padan Fain
2)(Little Wilson) - Witless, the Town Fool
3)(Lightsworn Panda) - Jain, Random Traveler Deceased Villager Dreamwalker
4)(TheoryMaker) - Nath, an Average Guy
5)(Kal Dell) - Dellan, Quiet Countryman
6)(Alvron) - Ralv, a Passing Wanderer
7)(Only Joe) - Joel, Antisocial Hermit Deceased Regular Villager
8)(Leonardus) - Lam, Street Sweeper
9)(Shivertongue) - Khamsi Zareef, Domani Gleewoman
10)(Mailliw73) - Malai, Horse Breeder
11)(Grey Pilgrim) - Grimlar al'Pil, Town Drunk
12)(Renegade) - Gade, Innkeeper  Deceased Villager Whitecloack
13)(Adolin Dustbringer) - Jim Bob Dirt,  Dirt Salesman Deceased Wisdom
14)(AonarFaileas) - Leas Fel, Aiel War Veteran
15)(Lev) - Bela, A Shaggy Mare?
16)(New One) - Newan, a Seanchan morat'raken
17)(Awesomeness Summoned) - Weas, Cobbler
18)(Ashiok) - Trimat, Manure Salesman
19)(twelfthrootoftwo) - Douza, Blacksmith Apprentice
20)(Sphinx) - Senna, Village Weaver
21)(Jaelre) - Jae, Inn Hall Boy Deceased Regular Villager
22)(Aspren) - Sprell Hanaar, Village Carpenter
23)(Binnut) - Bunnt Nibbel, Quiet Farmer
24)(Sir Jerric) - Erik, Homesick Borderlander
25)(QuiteContrary) - Rishi, Tavern Maid

 

[Binnut he/him]

Wow, that was a massive writeup! Good work Gamma!

 

Two DF/Forsaken kills on Regular Villagers, Friendly kill on Village Wisdom, and a Channeller kill on Padan Fain!

 

The friendly fire is a bad one, but Jim was inactive, it doe actually not matter that much. Depends if he would have come back later.

Nice work whoever killed Padan Fain! It must have taken a lot of analysis to find and kill him, or luck I guess!

We were quite lucky on the DF kills, just two vanilla villagers.

 

Wilson: That tactic felt a lot better to me, since it did not depend only on one person. And I think I actually had a point, since Fain really tried to get in with the information. Well, no matter, he is dead now so it is no longer a worry.

Edited June 24, 2014 by Binnut

[Awesomeness Summoned he/him]

Waes stood over the burned body deep in thought. He had liked Kaim, thought they were friends. He even thought they had been working towards the same goal and, perhaps, in a way they had been but Waes saw that living fog with his own eyes. He had no idea what it was but he knew without question it was evil and had been been moving around Kaim like it was an extension of his very soul. Whatever evil had been inside Kaim was dead now but Waes couldn't help but feel overwhelmed again. He thought things were starting to look up with the villagers now focussing on a common goal but learning there had been a snake in their midst left him shaken.

 

It was times like these he wished his cousin Androl were around. He'd know what to do. He would probably even know what that fog had been. Waes and Androl had always been two sides of the same coin. Both had a strange love for leather and a burning need to be working with their hands whenever possible but where Waes usually enjoyed a quiet existence working his shop in a small village, Androl loved adventure. Androl rarely managed to visit Dell's Crossing but when he came by he always had the most interesting stories about the places he been and the things he had seen. It was nearly enough to convince Waes to set out on an adventure himself sometime. Almost.

 

Now it seemed that adventure had come right to Waes' doorstep without him even asking for it. when all was said and done, he thought his story might top anything Androl had in his repertoire. That is, if he lived to tell his cousin about it.

 

A sudden noise from behind brought Waes out of his musings and sent him sprawling into a defensive posture ready for an attack. When he got ahold of his bearings though he realized there was nothing sneaking up on him. Instead, he traced the sound back to yet another rat scurrying through a nearby trash heap.

 

Those things are starting to become a real problem. He had heard people say rats and ravens were the Dark Ones eyes but he always thought it silly superstitions. With all the recent craziness, especially what he had just seen with Kaim, his certainty was waning. 

 

He gave the rat a piercing look. It stared right back unfazed. Before Waes could make a move towards it though, the rat shot off the refuse and through a hole in the side of the closest building. Another time then. Waes would deal with the eyes and ears of the Dark One when he had the time but for now he needed to get to the morning gathering and see how successful their plans for that evening had been.

[Sir Jerric he/him]

So now the score is one enemy down, and five villagers lost. We have nineteen players still in the game and best guess is four or five more enemies.

I would like to remind people that Wilson's plan is still operational. That Fain had been among us was not too surprising, and even with his removal, identities will still be concealed to minimize the impact of a darkfriend incursion.

The planning team is Witless, Leas, Khamsi, Weas, and myself. If you have a role, please get in contact with one of us. If you are a regular villager who wants to participate, you are also welcome to contact one of us with your role as well. The more people participating, the merrier.

[Awesomeness Summoned he/him]

Just a random thought Erik but if you want people to be a little more trusting of you, you might want to change your icon for the time being. No matter how helpful your words are, I have troubles ignoring the brooding face peering out at me from beneath a dark hood.    

[Ashiok]

Agreed. It IS pretty creepy

[GreyPilgrim he/him]

Excellent write up, Gamma! Best yet! Unfortunately, it bodes not well for us...

If anyone was wondering, the message hidden by the Dreamwalker appears to read: "Night holds death. Fear the horse. Dawn returns hope." The numbers are in Taravangian's code, and the words between the verses are in the Old Tongue. I was able to glean all of those words, and that arrangement seems to make the most sense, given the context. Also, in case you missed it, the italicized letters spell "Trust the watcher".

So overall, a very foreboding night.

So now I am fairly well convinced Jain was the Dreamwalker who said there was only one and that she was a villager, unless the remaining one decided to take up the format Jain used Night 1. Which would be tricky. Either way, I believe there is no guarantee our Dreamwalker is good or bad. Clearly, he/she has it out for Bela, so there is a place to start. That really doesn't help much, though.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Dang, it Grimlar. That's my job. granted, I couldn't figure out the old tongue stuff yet, but still.

[Sphinx]

Edit: Didn't read carefully.

 

I'm somewhat inclined to be suspicious of this Dreamwalker, given that Jain was a villager. Of course, they probably assume that.

 

I'll agree that Jain was likely the first dreamwalker message

Edited June 24, 2014 by Sphinx

[GreyPilgrim he/him]

Don't give me too much credit; I couldn't have told you the definition of the Old Tongue words off the top of my head. A quick Google search found this, from which I was able to glean the definitions of the words. Edited June 24, 2014 by GreyPilgrim

[Sphinx]

I used this

[GreyPilgrim he/him]

Wow. It looks like I made way too much work for myself. If you want to try to check my deciphering, use Sphinx's link, not mine. It will save you a few minutes.