Long Game 105: Obliteration

[The Wandering Wizard he/him]

Progress Report

Spoiler

1. I arrive with the Archaeologist at the village and it seems way more decayed then it should be, think Annihilation (2018)

2. Notes didn't mention the plants that seem to have grown like people, hmmm where have I seen this before  Annihilation

3. I sketch everything and am spooked by animal noises and tell the archaeologist we should leave and that's it 

The young man sat on a hillside, sketching quietly in a notebook. It all was horribly fascinating, the way things seemed to have changed, to have evolved. Perhaps he would meet his end at the jaws of some horribly mutated beast as he had always hoped. Anything to escape what had happened 5 years ago.

[Quivil]

7 hours ago, The Wandering Wizard said:

2. Notes didn't mention the plants that seem to have grown like people, hmmm where have I seen this before  Annihilation

Spoiler

The plants have human DNA. (Annihilation?) Also, I'm sure that's not important cuz TUA just gave it to me without it taking an action.

 

[The Wandering Wizard he/him]

3 hours ago, Quivil said:

  Hide contents

The plants have human DNA. (Annihilation?) Also, I'm sure that's not important cuz TUA just gave it to me without it taking an action.

 

Yeah, just related to the mystery and I wrote that post before TUF enlightened me that the movie was based off of the books

[OoklaApologist She/her]

12 hours ago, The Wandering Wizard said:

Annihilation (2018)

Wait, there's a movie? I'm watching this now

[The Wandering Wizard he/him]

55 minutes ago, KelsierApologist said:

Wait, there's a movie? I'm watching this now

There's also a book trilogy(?) that as per usual is better than the moive  

[OoklaApologist She/her]

22 minutes ago, The Wandering Wizard said:

There's also a book trilogy(?) that as per usual is better than the moive  

Yeah, I read the wikipedia summaries, and added them to my list, but watching the movie might be faster

[Ashbringer he/him]

Okay. So.

Do we have any actual leads for an exe? Or are we still leaning towards not?

There are allegedly doppleganger(s) around - but there also might not be. And to be honest I’ve got one or two leads on who to go for but they’re all quite Meta (and perhaps too meta).

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

6 minutes ago, Ashbringer said:

Okay. So.

Do we have any actual leads for an exe? Or are we still leaning towards not?

There are allegedly doppleganger(s) around - but there also might not be. And to be honest I’ve got one or two leads on who to go for but they’re all quite Meta (and perhaps too meta).

Care to share?

I don''t know if we have enough to go on for now (I, at least, haven't detected anything suspicious, and I'm still trying to figure out how this all works)

I think we need to keep exploring. Can someone make a chart of everything we know so far? Otherwise, I'll make one later

 

[The Wandering Wizard he/him]

23 minutes ago, Ashbringer said:

Okay. So.

Do we have any actual leads for an exe? Or are we still leaning towards not?

There are allegedly doppleganger(s) around - but there also might not be. And to be honest I’ve got one or two leads on who to go for but they’re all quite Meta (and perhaps too meta).

If we go off of the story then on of Tani/Polly is a doppelganger if there is any doppelganger so far. Personally I just want to map everything out and see what happens.

[OoklaApologist She/her]

1 hour ago, Ashbringer said:

Do we have any actual leads for an exe? Or are we still leaning towards not?

Wiz has been quite weird about re-iterating that someone should go back to the village. Not odd enough for a exe though

[The Wandering Wizard he/him]

6 minutes ago, KelsierApologist said:

Wiz has been quite weird about re-iterating that someone should go back to the village. Not odd enough for a exe though

I was told in non italic text that it's more likely for someone to find something there next time, though I won't go as I want to map other regions.

[Ashbringer he/him]

1 hour ago, Hoid Slayer said:

Care to share?

I don''t know if we have enough to go on for now (I, at least, haven't detected anything suspicious, and I'm still trying to figure out how this all works)

Kind of depends how much we can match what we get as GM PM results. Usually that's a bit too metagamey for my tastes.

Quivil or Hoid Slayer would be the mech answers, Wiz would be the tonal one for me. But I'm also wondering if a shot in the dark is too dark for now.

[OoklaApologist She/her]

21 minutes ago, Ashbringer said:

Quivil or Hoid Slayer would be the mech answers,

Yeah, Slayer has this weird triple-threat of checking my tent, being weird about why he cleared me, and giving vague hints about his ability. I don't think it's enough though.

no vote

31 minutes ago, The Wandering Wizard said:

I was told in non italic text that it's more likely for someone to find something there next time, though I won't go as I want to map other regions.

Were you told anything else in non-italics?

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

10 minutes ago, KelsierApologist said:

Yeah, Slayer has this weird triple-threat of checking my tent, being weird about why he cleared me, and giving vague hints about his ability. I don't think it's enough though.

no vote

...

I checked your tent. Its not supposed to be a threat. I was worried about your powers.

Honestly, my ability allows me to check what someone else's ability is. That's why I didn't think you were that dangerous, but I didn't want to share that at first and I understand why it came off as a little suspicious.

I'll go no vote for now, but honestly, we need to start worrying about this cause eventually the doppelgangers are going to start making their moves.

[OoklaApologist She/her]

23 minutes ago, Hoid Slayer said:

Honestly, my ability allows me to check what someone else's ability is. That's why I didn't think you were that dangerous, but I didn't want to share that at first and I understand why it came off as a little suspicious.

That's kind of nice to have. Does it also tell you alignment?

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

Just now, KelsierApologist said:

That's kind of nice to have. Does it also tell you alignment?

I don't think so.

[The Wandering Wizard he/him]

47 minutes ago, KelsierApologist said:

Yeah, Slayer has this weird triple-threat of checking my tent, being weird about why he cleared me, and giving vague hints about his ability. I don't think it's enough though.

no vote

Were you told anything else in non-italics?

No nothing that I can remember. I can go look again but I don't think there way anything else.

[Quivil]

Do doppelgangers have the ability to turn others into doppelgangers?

Edit:

I am biased towards thinking that there is (or will be?) some way for doppelgangers to "contaminate" (for lack of a better word) others into being doppelgangers. That might show up as an ability, which would make it possible for Slayer to check peoples' alignment.

But only if all my assumptions are correct.

Edited April 28, 2025 by Quivil
That's a stupid question.

[|TJ| he/him]

Yeah, I was leaning towards the reveal of the wincon being due to the fact that there are some doppelgangers existing. If it's 6-1 right now and they have a convert each cycle, that's 2 cycles of MLs and they'll have majority to win the match barring any other mechanics. Perhaps they won't have a convert each cycle or perhaps conversion is a game mechanic and not a player ability. 

But all the hints do point towards at least 1 doppelganger right now I think. 

My power is basically to analyse any written material in the game locations, with higher success chance exploring the Lighthouse - funny how I still didn't find anything smh. 

[RoyalBeeMage he/him]

3 hours ago, The Wandering Wizard said:

I was told in non italic text that it's more likely for someone to find something there next time, though I won't go as I want to map other regions.

Yeah I was told basically the same thing. 

32 minutes ago, |TJ| said:

Yeah, I was leaning towards the reveal of the wincon being due to the fact that there are some doppelgangers existing. If it's 6-1 right now and they have a convert each cycle, that's 2 cycles of MLs and they'll have majority to win the match barring any other mechanics. Perhaps they won't have a convert each cycle or perhaps conversion is a game mechanic and not a player ability. 

But all the hints do point towards at least 1 doppelganger right now I think. 

My power is basically to analyse any written material in the game locations, with higher success chance exploring the Lighthouse - funny how I still didn't find anything smh. 

My power is it gives me a higher success rate when exploring the island so maybe I should head there next round 

[OoklaApologist She/her]

I listened to a bit more than an hour of the book, and yeah. I get now why you guys were scared of me.

[Quivil]

8 hours ago, The Wandering Wizard said:

I was told in non italic text that it's more likely for someone to find something there next time, though I won't go as I want to map other regions.

Um. Late night gut feeling but! still!

Random worry, what if (one of) the doppelgangers' way(s) to contaminate others is to get them to explore a certain place (i.e. the village)?

That said, Wizard. I'm sorry if this is badly aimed paranoia, but I'm really not sorry if my paranoia isn't badly aimed.

Edited April 29, 2025 by Quivil
(added "still!" for tone)

[The Wandering Wizard he/him]

17 minutes ago, Quivil said:

Um. Late night gut feeling but! still!

Random worry, what if (one of) the doppelgangers' way(s) to contaminate others is to get them to explore a certain place (i.e. the village)?

That said, Wizard. I'm sorry if this is badly aimed paranoia, but I'm really not sorry if my paranoia isn't badly aimed.

I think the dogglegangers came from the area you searched and if it follows certain plot points I think you or Polly were infected if anyone was.

[Ashbringer he/him]

No-voting here is kinda risky. There's value in it by getting time to get more information, but in the meantime there's a very good chance D2 results in us not getting any information and then we're in the same spot but with likely an extra doppleganger.

[Quivil]

9 hours ago, The Wandering Wizard said:

I think the dogglegangers came from the area you searched and if it follows certain plot points I think you or Polly were infected if anyone was.

I think that there are some plot points that just aren't going to be followed (like me being immune to being doppeled). If most or all of the plot points were followed, especially in terms of where who went, that would 1) cut out everyone's agency, 2) make it too easy for one side or the other to win, and 3) I think it'd be stupid to stick too closely to the plot of the 12th expedition, and I don't think TUA is stupid, so I don't think TUA is doing that. I think it was just chance (and perhaps a touch of player knowledge) that led to the Psychiatrist and the Biologist going to the Tower together on the first day and the Biologist finding something.

I read the Wikipedia summary. Part of the plot includes me going back to the Tower. Based on my current assumption (which is that there's only one thing to find at each place), there's no reason for me to go back to the Tower.