Long Game 9: The Empty Throne Part 1: The Barrow Barons

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

After a length of time of not being seen, citing reasons of impossible excuses of "friends visiting" (while they were all locked inside the building together), Friend had finally showed his face once more. It just so happened that his face was covered in Damon's blood and bits of his brain.

After a few moments of appearing to be on the edge of tears and incomprehension, he finally managed to get ahold of himself and just gave one long shudder. "That was the worst alarm clock ever!" He said, pointedly.

"Now excuse me while I go retch and wash myself off. Somebody better make me some comfort pancakes for when I get back." After discovering he was bunking with a murderer, Friend didn't care so much about making friends, and being so awkward.

Finally got some RP in, even if it is only just a little bit. Now that we got one Baron, we can start trying to look for any connections. Despite being a constant roommate with Damon, we weren't ever in any contact. I haven't come up with anything yet though, as I've haven't been making notes. >.< But Jasnah's vote jumping in the early cycles could be looked at to see who they maybe tried steering the lynches away from. Hopefully that'll give us something to go on.

[little wilson she/her]

So just to clarify room assignments tonight, we're going with Joe's, correct? 

 

Armoury: Mailliw, The Only Joe, Wilson.

Barracks: Gamma, Theorymaker, Araris.

 

And then Aonar chooses based on who looks like they're getting lynched. Don't forget to send in your room orders. This is getting tight, and we don't want to give the barons any easy pickings in the hallway.

[little wilson she/her]

Sorry for the double post, but this is completely different than the last one. 

 

I've been looking over my notes for the entire game, trying to figure out who to vote for, between the 4 on the block right now.

 

Gamma's has some suspicious activity, but I'm inclined to think he's good. That's not a certainty by any means, but he doesn't seem to be taking the game as seriously as I'd think he would be if he were a baron. The only thing that sticks out to me about him is that he was starting to collect some votes on himself right before the bandwagon on Loipin started, but that's not too terribly surprising, considering his experience.

 

Theory has been unusually quiet, but homework is a valid excuse for that. I'm just curious why it took so long for that to come out, when we've been asking about the reticence almost every day cycle (although not very insistently).

 

Maill hasn't been particularly suspicious in behavior and actions, but due to his sharing a room with Tulir, he's somewhat suspicious. While I think Joe's baron seeker theory is a good one (and I've said this before), I'm not sure how much stock I put in it. I was mostly basing that idea off the fact that I don't see why it's so crucial for the barons to have a seeker--since the seeker role isn't as critical in this particular game as it has been in the past. However, something else occurred to me earlier today as I was looking over my notes. I don't think Trial stalked at night. I think he stalked in the day. He can do that either day or night, and I think he probably picked the most vocal players to check. Which explains Ren. And that means that even if someone in his room and spied on him that night, they wouldn't have seem him spying on anyone. Because he'd already done it. That said, I still think Maill is someone we should watch, because even though he hasn't been particularly suspicious, he also hasn't been particularly helpful either. Whether that's due to his role or something else, I don't know.

 

 

Araris. The first thing that stuck out to me about Araris is how fast he struck down Joe's seeker theory. He immediately called it a flimsy reason to put a fourth vote on someone--which is true that we don't want a bandwagon that early in the cycle, and yet, Joe's theory was a valid one that we needed to discuss more. Joe had the most solid reason to be voting for Jain up to that point in the cycle. Yet he got blasted for it. The second thing that stuck out to me was Araris calling Ash out on being in the hallway. I get that he didn't know what was going on. But none of us did. We knew Ash had found something out in the hallway, and that he could only use it if he was out in the hallway. But he announced in the thread that he'd searched the hallway. The fact that he didn't say what he found should've been indication that he'd found something useful (since the last time he mentioned he'd searched the room, he stated that he'd found the clean gym clothes). He wasn't trying to be deceptive about his reasons for being the hallway. Sure, he didn't say in the thread that he'd found something, but that makes sense, because he didn't want to make himself an even bigger target for the barons. Calling him out makes it seem like you were trying to get him to state his plan--which, to my knowledge, only one person other than Ash knew--in the thread, all for the barons to read and base their plans around. It's no wonder Ash said Araris was saying two different things: he was asking Ash to explain himself and his plans, but he was also saying that talking in the thread was pointless. It's one or the other. It can't be both. Trying to get both is suspicious. Hence, Araris.

 

Sorry for the long paragraphs. I didn't expect to go that much into detail, but I figured I'd lay my logic out there, especially since most of my conversations thus far in the game have been via PM.

[Araris Valerian he/him]

Dangit, I just typed up a long response to your post and it got toasted. Lets see what I can recall: As to your first point, my main goal was to stop a bandwagon, and now that we know Jasnah was an eliminator, the rest of the votes for Jain can be explained fairly well. One thing I don't quite get here is that you think Milton is innocent less guilty because of your disagreement with the seeker theory, but you voted for me (partially) because I also found fault with that argument. While my response was quick, the seeker theory mostly says that either Jain or Milton seeked Tulir and then killed him because Tulir was a seeker himself. That's pretty flimsy, IMO, to attempt to lynch 2 people over. 

 

I didn't like Ash being in the hallway because I really didn't see any point. All of the actions we saw in the OP for the game could be carried out as or more effectively from in a room as in the hallway. I never accused Ash of being a Baron, however, since I also didn't see any reason for them to stay in the hall as well. The only advantage that the hallway provides is inter-room PMs and, apparently, the usage of some items.

 

I wasn't trying to get Ash to tell us her plan. I was however worried that the information she was using could be influenced by the Barons. My comments about the discussion in the night were intended to emphasize my confusion as to why she was in the hallway. Ash said that we should use her as a messenger, and I assumed that she was placing too much emphasis on the benefits of sending PMs at night.

 

Now, I'm going to vote for Stanley, partly out of self-preservation and to prompt discussion since there is a 2-way tie now, but also because of the conversation that I had with him last night, where he gave a lot of suspicions that really could have come out in the thread, since info like that is what lets us judge who we think is an eliminator. I think that since he had enough time to come on here already, he could also have taken the time to copy-paste his post from the PM into this chat and let us think about what he has to say.

 

Another problem that I have with the seeker theory that may or may not be relevant is that I myself am a seeker, which seems to me at least to lower the chances of another seeker existing on top of the serial killer. 

 

Also, I am signed up for the armory.

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

I'm still suspicious of Mailliw, but my Seeker theory is the only evidence against him, and if Araris really is the Invisibility Epic or the Scout, then Mailliw is (Maybe-probably) innocent, as would be Araris. So at this point I'm going to vote for Stanley, since she hasn't done much, except (Apparently) try to convince people who to vote for via PM. Though I would like to know more about the PM. Who exactly did she express Suspicion of?

 

Also, we have major problems in the room department. TheoryMaker at this point will get lynched, and Araris has decided to switch to the Armory, leaving Gamma alone in the Barracks. 

 

Armoury: Mailliw, The Only Joe, Wilson, Araris

Barracks: Gamma, 

[little wilson she/her]

Okay, that makes sense now. 

 

One thing I don't quite get here is that you think Milton is innocent less guilty because of your disagreement with the seeker theory, but you voted for me (partially) because I also found fault with that argument. While my response was quick, the seeker theory mostly says that either Jain or Milton seeked Tulir and then killed him because Tulir was a seeker himself. That's pretty flimsy, IMO, to attempt to lynch 2 people over. 

 

Oh, I didn't find you suspicious because you disagreed with the theory. I mean, I disagree with the theory too. It was more about how you dismissed it than anything else. It was a plausible idea, and I personally think all plausible ideas should be discussed, if only to see what others think about them and the logic they apply to their thoughts. Dismissing it out of hand without really any reason (because you didn't really mention anything other than it being flimsy at the time) is the part that stuck out to me. But now that you've given more reasons behind that dismissal, it makes sense. Araris. You're not off my suspect list completely, but you're no longer at the top.

 

I, like Joe, am also intrigued that Theory PM'd you with suspicions but hasn't said anything about those (other than Maill) in the thread. Because she sent this at night, it make sense that she might not've wanted to post anything in the thread. However, she's already posted today. And that was a perfect time to express any suspicions--particularly those she expressed during the night. Therefore, my vote is now on Stanley.

 

We might want to fix that room situation. If at all possible. I mean, I'm fine having most or even all of us in the same room, but that just provides more targets for the barons. And less chance of us figuring out who they are (even though I personally think we've got it mostly figured out. Hopefully).

[Araris Valerian he/him]

Dangit. I thought the armory was where I was supposed to go. I'll switch to the barracks. Both are somewhat military terms and I didn't check when I sent in my message.

[Alvron]

It was the corners fault.  Stanley was sure of it.  Everything had starting going downhill since that corner disappeared.

 

Stanley wasn’t sure how but something had taken that corner and left nothing in its place.  Where the corner once stood, nothing was there now.  No dust, no debris, no anything.  Just a whole lot of nothing.

 

Upon hearing his name Stanley turned. “Yes?  Was there something?”

 

“Don’t play dumb with us.  We know you are one of the Barons.” Kenna spoke.

 

“What?  I’m not a Baron.  I’m just lost that’s all.”

 

“Save your lies for someone who cares.  You’re coming with us.”  threatened Spark O’toole.

 

“No.  That corner will return and I need to be here when it does.”

 

As the group advanced on Stanley, he took a step back and his foot landed on nothing.  Caught off balance Stanley fell backwards and vanished.  Casting nervous glances at each other the group backed away from whatever had claimed the corner and Stanley.

 

“The sooner we can find the remaining Barons the sooner we can get out of this death trap.”  Aidan Forsyth whispered.

 

 

Stanley has been lynched.  He was a Flame Body refugee with an Audio Receiving Scope.

 

Night 4 has commenced and will last 24 hours.

 

Vote Tally:

Stanley (4) Doc Oleny, Kenna, Milton, Spark O’toole

Milton (1) Stanley

Spark O’toole (1) Aidan Forsyth

 

Those in the Hallway are: Kelsey Skirl (killersquirrel59)

 

[Araris Valerian he/him]

Well, the good news is that I will probably not be killed by the Barons tonight. The bad news is that the reason I suspect the Barons won't kill me tonight is that I think I will be the target of the next lynch.

[Alvron]

Doc Oleny had a secret, one he had kept hidden for years.  Even his former colleagues from Epics Lab didn’t know it.  Doc was an Epic.  And not just any Epic either.  He could turn himself completely invisible, even his irises.  Normal invisibility Epics still needed light to hit their eyes for them to be able to see, but not Doc.

 

He had stumbled onto the answer while working on other Epics.  It was so simple he was surprised that no one else had found it.  Contact lenses.  All it took was a small adjustment to them and they allowed light into the eyes even while invisible.

 

Those two secrets had driven Doc from the Labs and to Newcago.  He couldn’t allow others to discover what he had.  At least not until he had made a fortune robbing banks and safes.  And where better than a city gripped in anarchy.  It was just bad luck that he had chosen Enforcement HQ for his first heist.

 

Rummaging through the Armoury for any salvage, Doc never saw the shadow detach itself from the wall and creep up behind him.  He did however feel the blade slide between his ribs and pierce his heart.

 

“But how?”

 

“Fool.  Even though you’re invisible, those contact lenses aren’t.”

 

 

Doc Oleny is dead.  He was an Invisibility refugee with a Fully Charged Power Cell.

The sun has risen on Day 5.  It will set in 48 hours.

 

Rooms:

Armoury

Barracks

 

Players:

(Mailliw73) Milton

(Lightsworn Panda) Jain Doctor

(Tulir) Trial Serial Killer

(Little Wilson) Kenna

(Pir2h) Aya Precognition

(Steel) Loipin Kien Matter Disrupter

(The Only Joe) Doc Oleny Invisibilty

(killersquirrel59) Kelsey Skirl

(AonarFaileas) Aidan Forsyth

(Jasnah Damodred) Damon Shan Neutralizer 

(Gamma Fiend) Friend

(Theorymaker) Stanley Flamebody

(Ashiok) Ash Sniper

(Renegade) Raid Arms Dealer

(Araris Valerian) Spark O'toole

 

[little wilson she/her]

Joe, I need to apologize to you. I seriously didn't think he was going to make the kill. It was more logical for Araris to make it, considering who his roommates were. If I'd known, I would've done something to stop him. Maill. Looks like Theory was right all along. Oh, and good luck with your Reckoner's Jacket. I'm guessing it doesn't protect you from a lynch.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Oh, Wilson, tsk tsk.

"Yes, it is true," Milton, or as he had taken upon himself to be called, Altermind, said. "I am a Baron. Lucky for you, when I take over, the intelligent among you will be allowed to live. In Thoughttown, you will be able to serve me." He cast an illusion of a bomb on the side of the room exploding. Laughing as the others jumped at the blast, he cast an illusion while they had been distracted. He was now five feet away from where his illusion stood. If anyone tried to take him down, they would hit nothing but air. And, even if they managed to find him, Altermind had a fancy new jacket he had found in one of the rooms. It had been made by Reckoners and would save him from two hits at night or even a single lynch in the day. He would be unstoppable.

"Why, Kelsey, you've been too quiet in your corner of the hall over there. Come here and join us. No? Well then, enjoy being the first death of my new Reign. You could've been a lieutenant, but you refuse to take my tests. Your punishment is death." Altermind created a hallucination of pain in the girl's stomach. She cried out and doubled over in pain. Altermind smirked. "Anyone else want to defy me?"

[Aonar he/him]

Aidan stood, unmoved and unimpressed as Milton made his speech, and attempted to scare the others with his illusions. The Epic's back was turned, still intent on Kelsey. Walking forward stealthily, he drew his sidearm. As soon as he was close enough, he pressed the barrel to the back of Milton's head and cocked it with a quiet click.

 

"Come now, mate. You know that won't kill me." Milton sounded perfectly at ease, but his illusions had stopped.

 

"It won't kill you, but if I understand how those jackets work, it'll still hurt more than you can imagine. And in all honesty, shooting you would give me great pleasure, regardless of whether or not it has any lasting effect." Aidan couldn't see Milton's face, but he hoped that'd been enough to wipe the smug smile off it. "I can't kill you, but I can put you through a lot of pain, and if you keep up the funny business with the illusions, I will shoot you, savvy?"  

 

Milton's shoulders slumped, and it seemed that the threat of pain would still hold him, for now. That's the biggest problem with being able to rely on supernatural abilities. When you're faced with a situation that can't be solved by them, you freeze up. 

 

From the corner of his eye Aidan could see O'tool ducking into a side passage. "Where do you think you're going, Sparky? You're just as deep in this as he is, and fortunately for us, very much mortal." He gave Kenna a slight nod. "You aren't going anywhere." Two copies of Kenna suddenly appeared behind O'tool, taking his arms and dragging him over to where Aidan and Milton stood.

 

"Now, this is much better, isn't it? All the murderers together again." He paused, then looked around and made eye contact with the other survivors. "Right, so I'm going to take a closer look at this jacket; see if Milton here is telling the truth. Then, we're going to kill one of these two slontzes. Any objections?"

 

 

EDIT: Rather than double post, I figure I'll just change my vote here, if that's alright. Milton is a liar.

Edited November 14, 2014 by AonarFaileas

[Araris Valerian he/him]

Hello everyone. I'm a bit confused as to how everyone is 100% certain that I'm a Baron. The reason attention was drawn to me in the first place was because of what I said about Ash's plan. I found it really weird that anyone would go into the hallway for any reason. Then, last cycle, I used my vote to tie the vote and to point out a suspicion that I had about Theory, most notably that he had discussed his thoughts with me but not with anyone in the thread. Then Kenna changed off of me to Stanley, creating a 3-1 gap that almost guaranteed the lynch.

 

One thing that I would like to point out is that Milton objected to the room arrangement last night. Given that he is a Baron, the only reason that I can see behind that is if the two Barons were both in the same room. Also, if Milton really can survive a lynch for one cycle, although that is questionable, then we might want to lynch the other baron today. I'm not going to vote just yet, but I think both Milton and Kenna are the two Barons.

 

Edit: It would be nice if we could get Gamma to come on and give us his two cents fairly soon.

Edited November 14, 2014 by Araris Valerian

[little wilson she/her]

Wait, your reasoning for me being a baron is because Maill objected to the room assignment? You realize that the only thing he changed in that was what room we'd be going to, right? Which is what you wanted. Everything else was the same. So please, tell me, why he'd do that if we were both barons--because I agree with you that the barons wouldn't want to be in the same room this far into the game, but since he didn't change the bunkmates, that means there was a baron already in the other room. If not you, then who?

[Araris Valerian he/him]

Well, my main reasoning was that you were the person who put me in a position where I had to defend myself, and then turned that defense into an attack against Stanley. As to the room situation, I was more referring to the fact that Maill wanted something different than what was proposed. While isn't a very strong connection, my thinking was that Maill was trying to get us to disagree over the room situation so that the two barons could split up without being obvious. My reason for wanting different rooms was actually me wanting to be with a whole new set of people; I was with Stanley the night before.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Some nitpicky things about your RP, Aonar: Altermind would never say mate. Also, when he cast an illusion of himself, he made himself invisible five feet away, as I said. If Aidan put a gun to his head, all he would find is air.

"Aidan, Aidan. Please stop accosting my partner. Sparky, if you're going to stab me in the back, I'm going to try to take you down too. Kelsey has been excused from my wrath for now." Altermind created a hallucination of pain in Aidan's foot. She the man bent over, Altermind grabbed his gun and walked to the other side of the room, after making himself invisible and creating an illusion of himself still at the front of the room. An auditory hallucination of Milton's voice boomed from the ceiling, "Who's next? Please don't make me call Intervention here. He's not as nice as I am."

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

Well, might as well go for Milton. Either he's lying, or we take the jacket out. Which leaves us 4 to just all group together in one room tonight, where we can keep an eye on Araris. Even if Kelsey is the final Baron, since she's inactive we don't need to worry about her at the moment.

[Araris Valerian he/him]

I'm going to vote for Milton, since he should definitely be our priority to lynch today. I think we should put myself in one room and Kenna in the other, so that, assuming the last baron is one of the two of us, they will have to kill Kelsey to not reveal who they are. I propose for the rooms tonight:

Armory: Spark and Aidan

Barrack: Kenna and Friend

or switching the rooms, but at least using those two groupings. Another option, again going with my assumption that either myself or Kenna is the last Baron after Milton, is to put Kenna and me in a room by ourselves, which would have the same effect of forcing a kill on Kelsey. One benefit to that last option is if both Kenna and I are somehow innocent then I would be able to learn that by scanning Kenna during the night.

[little wilson she/her]

Um. Quite frankly, I'll be roleblocking you if we're in a room together. I'm not risking death. Sorry.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Well, you see, Sparky, you could take the option of not killing. I don't see why you're so intent on the fact that Kenna is a Baron. It's actually Aidan.

[Aonar he/him]

Can Illusionists make themselves invisible? To my knowledge, at best they can disguise themselves as something else, and there's always a flaw in the Illusion. Anyways, gah. The one constant problem with continuous, unstructured RP. Screwing up other people's characters. ...Speaking of which, for all his absentmindedness, Aidan (being a trained and hardened Enforcer) probably wouldn't have let something as simple as pain distract him from restraining a dangerous Epic, but rather than writing another conflicting RP, I'll just keep that as headcanon, I guess.

 

Gamma: He is lying. Once an item is public knowledge, Vron will clarify it's use to anyone, and the Jacket won't deflect a lynching.

 

Changing rooms won't save your skin, Araris. Both Wilson and I still have roleblocking and killing powers available.

 

...And yes, Maill, I'm totally a Baron. I'm just amazed that neither the other players nor the GM has managed to notice yet, with my being on the doc and all.

Edited November 14, 2014 by AonarFaileas

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Altermind is a mental illusionist though. That's how he can make auditory and pain hallucinations. I just accepted that Altermind forgot to make himself invisible and excruciating pain in your foot would cause anyone to bend over, I think. If he didn't, Altermind wold just increase the pain everywhere until he did.

The best Barons are the ones who hide the best. Aidan. Kenna. And just because they haven't mentioned it on here, doesn't mean they don't know.

[Aonar he/him]

Yeah, I guess. I just don't have any clue how it works. David makes it pretty clear that all Illusions are flawed in some way, no matter how skilled the Illusionist, but how would that apply to mental Illusionists, who can create illusions of other physical stimuli, besides light and sound? We just don't know enough about how the metaphysics in the Reckoner's Trilogy works yet to really guess, I think.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Thats part of why I chose a mental illusionist as my character in the Oregon RP. I'd have more freedom that way.

"You imbeciles think I'm scared of a silent smoothtalker, as ironic as that is, a trigger-happy Enforcer with one shot left, a fiendish street performer, Mitosis named Kenna, and a scout with a weird name? You already failed to connect that I had claimed finding a bottle of whiskey and that Jasnah died with that exact same item. How do you think you can kill me? You can't even find me." Altermind went into the armory and found a gun. He pulled the trigger as he aimed at Aidan and nothing happened. The gun clicked as it tried to fire a blast of air. Yelling in rage, Altermind gave everyone a hallucination of pain in their necks and gave a hallucination of white to their eyes and a loud ringing auditory hallucination.