Quick Fix Game 6: A Time of Nightmares

[Metacognition he/him]

I will vote for Ron Lav.

I will move to the Theater.

[Alvron]

I vote for Stephen Leeds

 

I shall move to the Afterlife

[Antillar Maximus he/him]

Vote: Alvron

 

Room: Theater

Edited February 26, 2015 by Antillar Maximus

[Eolhondras he/him]

Ron Lav

 

Dining Hall

[luckat she/her]

Alvron
Theatre

[Herowannabe he/him]

Day 6 has come to an end. Write up coming soon.

[Herowannabe he/him]

Day 7: To Make Room for the Cupcake!

One week had passed now since the Nightmare Aspects, as I had begun to call them, had first betrayed and attacked me, and I was starting to feel pretty good. Of course I mourned the friends I had lost along the way, but we had managed to take care of at least two of the Nightmare Aspects already.

I entered the White Room to find nearly all of my Aspects there, anxious looks on their faces. They spoke worriedly, and when they saw me they turned their attention to me.

“Stephen! You’re okay!”
“Ron Lav is missing, he never showed up for the meeting-”
“We searched his room, but he wasn’t there.”
“-Found these instead.”

Bernie handed me a small stack of papers and notebooks. The pages were covered in a chaotic mess of words and scribbles, mostly repeating the messages like “Stephen must die,” “Death to Leeds the Liar,” and “the end is the only beginning.”

Melvin, who was reading over my shoulder, mumbled, “That’s actually really good, I’ll have to use that…” I handed the page to him absentmindedly, distracted by another sheet of paper, covered in writing. It read:

"If Mitzi is like the rest of us, she is motivated not only by a healthy
quest for the truth, but by deadlines, wishful thinking, and a desire to
live a happy life. So too are the most loyal, intellectually curious,
brilliant colleagues. Those motivations often conflict and lead us either
to believe things we are not epistemically justified in believing or to
doubting or denying things that we are epistemically justified in
believing." --Sharon Ryan, The Preface Paradox.

I have been told many times that brevity is the soul of wit, and that conciseness is a virtue. I will therefore attempt to uphold these theoretical virtues this time. Presumably, like all of us, I have oft been led astray by other motivations, and led to believe things I am not justified in believing or to denying things I am justified in believing. I ask, therefore, once again, for discussion. Without discussion, it is impossible to rectify these false beliefs, or to share information.

With that reassuring excision of fallibility: well, our Psychologist is dead. From Maili's vote on Joe, we canroughly guess there are likely two or three Nightmare Aspects left, if we presume Maili had reason to think Piff could've been saved/Joe could've been killed had his teammates tried. In addition, I generally think that: (1)there are many reasons the Nightmare Aspects would try to spread out: pre-rule reform, more than one Nightmare to a room endangered the person performing the kill. To add to that, I also think that (2): given the behaviour of Nightmare Aspects so far (trying to save Piff), one thing we should keep in mind is that the voters on Piff and Maili--particularly the early voters--are likely to be good, because they didn't have to vote; they could've abstained. To both (1) and (2), I think we can use these to tentatively, i.e. defeasibly clear people. If it becomes apparent that the Nightmares have stopped playing this way, we discard (2) going forward. As their numbers become smaller and smaller, the Nightmares need take less care to avoid each other. In addition, there may be one or two anomalies due to room closure. Still, I think the general rule that the Nightmares have been trying to avoid each other is a good rule of thumb for now. People tentatively cleared by application of (1) and (2) may still be suspicious for other reasons, after all.

I've mentioned that I find both Phat and Alv suspicious. The case I have for both is not as convincing as the one against Maili. But in any case, we sometimes lynch for suspicion and for information rather than from dead certainty. The latter, I have come to realise, is especially rare in these games, particularly when you're not a Seeker. In addition to these, I have a few other brief questions. I would also like to look to other players: for instance, Cheese, or Peng.

Phat
As Meta pointed out, Phat has come up in lynches twice as one of those likely to be lynched but was swiftly saved. This is nothing as blatant as the lynch on Piff, but it's still something to note, considering the Nightmare Aspects seem to be intent on saving their teammates. He noted as well that lynching Phat might be useful informationally, as Sart seemed keen on defending Phat. In addition, I'm somewhat suspicious of Phat's voting Luckat off the bat on Day 2, and his immediate defense of Piff by voting for Joe on Day 4. Phat was very insistent on his suspicions of Luckat, going so far as to indicate her as suspicious with the rudimentary code. Why? Luckat wasn't in his room on Day 1--he'd never had contact with her, and he'd voted almost immediately off the bat. The only data he had to go on was Day 1--exactly how did/could she come off as immediately suspicious? Especially given that Luckat was not involved in voting shenanigans? (See: lynch on Snoopy.) The same problem abounds on Day 4: he'd never been in a room with Piff or Joe. [Granted, the same problem exists for other people in the lynch, but I consider it significant that a good majority of the people voting were in rooms with Joe and Piff.]

I mentioned I had additional questions: these aren't exactly suspicions, but they're things I'd like clarified. Given Peng hadn't been in a room with Joe either, why did he throw in his vote for Joe on Day 4? Considering we have two out of the four voters for Joe being known Nightmare Aspects, I think it not an unreasonable question to ask of both Peng and Phat. At the same time, I once again acknowledge that they may not be NAs--if there weren't teammates who could swing the vote but hadn't yet voted, then Maili's vote seems both futile and a bad move. I'd certainly like to know what prompted Gamma's vote on Peng. I'd also like to know why Aonar (and really, pretty much everyone else throwing out no votes) hasn't been voting: it was a good strategy before the rule reforms, less so now. I don't want to rehash the old arguments about lynches and discussed lynches, but to some extent, we need both. Otherwise, this is strict speculation and we're never going to get anywhere.

Well, I've laid out my suspicions. I hope there's more fruitful discussion going on in the other rooms; more names and suspicions being thrown around. I've settled on some I find more suspicious than others, but tunnel vision is always bad. That's what the discussion is for, after all. Last, I have a quick summary of the going-ons in my room:

 

Lounge, Day Six:

-Kas tries to motivate discussion.

-Luckat mentions that she tried to incite discussion the previous day, but as Maili was the main person she wanted to question, she did not get useful answers. Notes that Phat said he'd no clue about Piff's code, but that was just a little strange considering how he'd used the code previously. [Luckat notes it is probably believable.]

-Alv was reported to have claimed in the Dining Hall that he wanted a tie because he didn't think there was enough information, since there hadn't been any kills. Was suspicious of Aonar, and says he's prepping to GM the next game, so not paying as much attention to this one.

-Luckat asks for voting patterns/observations in rooms, and if we know who Joe managed to clear on Day 4, or if his plans had changed.

-Kas notes that this is still interesting as it would implicate Eol in a lie if Alv was innocent, given the two claims clash.

That's all I have, as of now. Good luck.

I set the page aside, resolving to puzzle it out later. I looked up at the group. “Okay,” I said, “Everyone split up into small groups and search the mansion. If you find Ron Lav, holler.”

Everyone nodded worriedly, but obeyed. I sent them out in small groups, giving each of them directions where to search. After the last of them had left, I wheeled myself out of the room. I had a pretty good idea where to find Ron.

I was right. I found Ron Lav in the kitchen, his back turned to me. I came in just as he was setting the last couple cupcakes on a tiered serving platter. I aimed my revolver at his back, then cocked the trigger, with a loud click.

“You can put the gun away, Leeds. It’s unloaded.” he said, amicably.

I glanced at the counter, noticing a small pile of brass-shelled bullets to one side. I scowled, dropping the revolver. I leaned back and yelled over my shoulder. “I found him. In the Kitchen. Down the hall I saw a few of my Aspects stick their heads out of doorways, then run down the corridor towards us. Turning back to Ron Lav I asked “So what’s your story? Why did you attack me?”

Ron adjusted the last of the cupcakes, then used his apron to wipe an invisible smudge off of the platter as many of my Aspects began to join me. “Look at this platter. It’s perfect. Everything right in it’s place, just as it should be, no deviations.”

The platter was arrayed beautifully. Ron always had been a master of his craft.

“You, are a mess, Leeds. We all are. Chaotic. Flawed. Deviant. Disasters. If you are at a fine restaurant, and you find a dead fly in your main course, what do you do?’ He answered his own question before anyone else could speak. “You throw it out, and demand a new meal. That’s what I’m doing here. It’s time to throw us out and start over.”

“No Ron,” I said, “The only one here who needs to be ‘thrown out’ is you.”

Ron Lav’s calm demeanor broke suddenly, and he screamed wordlessly, turning and hurling a butcher’s knife at me. It struck me in the shoulder, stabbing in deeply. Ron grabbed a cleaver and charged at me with another wordless roar. He ignored the other Aspects, to his own detriment. They rushed to my defense, grabbing the crazed chef and tackling him to the ground. He thrashed and flailed, and Bubba V wrapped his arm around Ron’s neck in a choke hold. Ron was a big man, but Bubba was bigger.

Bubba grunted, putting all his strength into tightening the hold around Ron’s neck. Ron, for his part, continued to thrash and flail. Bernie and Cheesy Rogers scrambled to restrain Ron’s limbs. “Dang it all, Bathroom!” Bubba V growled, “Nobody… Threatens… My… Imaginary… Friend… But… Me!” Bubba jerked his arm suddenly, and there was a loud snapping sound. Ron stopped moving.

My Aspects helped me pull the knife from my arm and clean and bandage the wound. In my current condition I wasn’t sure if the knife and the wound were real or imaginary, and I was too tired to think about it right then. Nobody dared touch any of the perfectly arrayed cupcakes.

Just as we were finishing, Jain ran up, panting. “Stephen,” he said. “You need to see this.” I followed him, rolling my wheelchair as best as I could with my wounded arm, and he led me to the Billiard Room. Inside, Adrian Fox lay flat on his back, eyes staring blankly upwards. There was a three inch hole burned through the center of his chest. A similar hole was burned through the pool table and through the wall directly behind it.

“He was in the White Room with us. I was talking to him before we left,” Cheesy said quietly.

I grimaced. “We’re not done with this yet,” I said.

----

Ron Lav was the Chef. He was also a Nightmare Aspect! (9 votes- Bubba V, Cheesy Rogers, Din, Melvin, Mortimer Jennings, Hondren, Bernie Kassig, Lily Carter, Roger De Bree / Alex Wunkel)
Adrian Fox was the Botanist (no special abilities)!

Stephen Leeds received 1 vote (Ron Lav)

Day 7 will begin as soon as you receive your invite into the next Room PM group. Room Assignments will be as follows (note that the Billiard Room is now closed):

Dining Hall
Bubba V (0)
Cheesy Rogers (0)
Din (0)
Hondren (0)
Bernie Kassig (0)

Lounge
Jain (0)
JP (0)
Roger De Bree / Alex Wunkel (0)
Abe Smith (0)

Theatre
Mortimer Jennings (0)
Melvin (0)
Lily Carter (0)
Clare Wintris (0)

Edited September 23, 2016 by Alvron

[Herowannabe he/him]

Oh by the way, my apologies to Alvron. Before he died he requested to go out singing the following song. I meant to include it in the write up but completely forgot. Here it is for your viewing pleasure, anyway:

 

Look at these Aspects

Amazing how sheep'll

Show up for the slaughter.

 

No one condemning

You lined up like lemmings

If led to the water.

 

Why can’t they see what I see 

Why can’t they hear the lies.

 

Maybe the fee’s too pricey 

for them to realize

Your control is slipping, 

I think you’re slipping.

 

Now that your mind

Is still as the grave you’re

beginning to fear me.

 

Like cavemen fear thunder

I still have to wonder

Can you really hear me?

 

I bring you pain, 

the kind you can’t suffer quietly.

Fire up your brain 

remember inside you’re rioting

Sanity is slipping, 

everything's slipping away…

 

[Antillar Maximus he/him]

Vote: Eolhandras

 

Room: No Change

Edited February 27, 2015 by Antillar Maximus

[Kasimir he/him]

-i will voTe for Phat, for now. Sorry.

[phattemer]

I vote for Antillar.

I move to Dining Hall.

[vineyarddawg]

I'm voting for Phat.

 

I'm moving to the Lounge.

[Metacognition he/him]

-i will vote for Phat.

-i will move to the Lounge.

[luckat she/her]

I will go to the Dining Hall.

[Herowannabe he/him]

And lo, the seventh day did come to an end, so stoppeth thy posting.

[Herowannabe he/him]

Day 8: My Own Worst Enemy

The next day everyone was exhausted, I could tell. I visited each room in my wheelchair, checking on my aspects, and I could see it in the slumped postures, the bags under eyes, the half-hearted attempts at analysis. I examined all of them, looking for any other traitors, but every single one of them was thoroughly engaged in their research. I couldn’t detect any sign of insubordination, no dark glances, no arrogant smirks, nothing. Just the exhaustion of spending 8 days straight dedicated to the crucial and life-saving project. I was still worried about catching all of my betrayers, of course, but I knew that burning out all my Aspects would be more detrimental in the long run. So I cancelled the meeting in the White Room. “Call it a night early,” I told them. “Get plenty of rest, we’ll start fresh tomorrow.”

I retired to my own room and did some analysis on my own. I racked my brain, going over the attack for the millionth time in my head. Two of them had held me against the banister- In retrospect I was pretty sure that they had been Ron Lav and Liam. One of them had punched me in the stomach, and then another had come at me with the knife. The last had been Herr Pifferd- I was sure that the knife he used when fighting us off was the same one that he had tried to stab me with originally. That just left the one who had punched me. The same one who had somehow bored a hole straight through Adrian’s chest. Had there been a fifth traitor? I didn’t think so...

I shifted my arm and the pain from Ron’s butcher’s knife flared up. I had had Wilson examine the wound earlier, and he hadn’t been able to see anything. He was concerned for me, of course, but I dismissed it as nonchalantly as I could. The wound was only imagined, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t dismiss it. I still felt the pain and stiffness in my arm, and I had to change the bandages every few hours. I rubbed my shoulder gingerly, trying to regain my lost train of thought.

Behind me, I heard the door to my room open.

I quickly spun around- as fast as I could, anyway, sitting in a wheelchair and with one bad arm.

Roger De Bree stood across the room from me, a strange pistol held tightly in his right hand. It looked like a fake space-gun from a bad 60’s B-movie. It was made from white plastic that tapered down into a ribbed cone shape near the tip. Roger pushed a button with his thumb and there was a hi-pitched whirring sound and the end of the gun began emitting a purple light which steadily grew brighter and brighter. I guessed that it was very much not a fake gun.

I made a move to grab my revolver from where I had set it on my desk, but Roger straightened his arm. “Stop! Don’t move.” He ordered. I froze, raising my arms slowly. It was obvious to both of us that pistol was too far away for me to grab before he shot me.

“What’s with the ray gun?” I asked carefully. I had to get him talking. If I could stall just a little while maybe one of my Aspect would come and- but no, I had sent them all to their rooms. They had no reason to pay me a visit this late in the evening. Wilson? I glanced at the clock. Nearly ten o’clock. He would have retired for the evening too. It was just me and Roger.

“You like it?” Roger said, grinning, a crazed edge to his voice. “It’s my positronic disintegration gun. I created it myself. Just ran it through it’s first test run yesterday, and it works far better than I had hoped for. Now I’m going to kill you with it, Stephen. Any last requests?”

“Yeah,” I said, stalling for as long as I could while my mind raced frantically, trying to find a way to survive. “Why, Roger? What did you hope to gain out of this? Pifferd wanted freedom, Liam wanted control, and Ron couldn’t accept imperfection, but what about you? I think I at least deserve to know why I died.”

“Me?” he said, chuckling insanely. “I just love the chaos. The others were just my pawns. I used them to cause mayhem and fear. That’s all. Goodbye, Stephen.” He raised the tip of the posi-something-raygun, pointing it directly at my face, preparing to squeeze the trigger.

Behind him the door swung open, and Bernie Kassig walked into the room. He was carrying a stack of papers in his hand- more cryptograms by the looks of them, and his attention was on them as he spoke. “Stephen! I figured it out! I know who the last- oh.”

He looked up as Roger whirled on him, full of startled rage. Roger pulled the trigger and blinding beam of light flashed from the end of the gun, burning a hole through Bernie’s papers, his chest, and the door behind him. Bernie’s eyes went wide, and he toppled lifelessly to the ground.

I lunged awkwardly for my pistol as Roger spun back to face me and fired again. His gun made a rapid beeping sound- apparently it needed a few seconds to recharge. Good.

I grabbed my revolver and brought it to bear on Roger. He dashed across the room as I fired again and again, but all my shots missed. I’ve never been a very good shot, and the wound in my shoulder flared, making it hard to aim. He dove behind the bed just as my revolver began dry-firing, the chamber now empty. I cursed, grabbing frantically for the extra ammunition on the desk, knowing that I wouldn’t have enough time.

Roger laughed triumphantly, standing up from behind the bed and aiming at me again. I threw myself to the side as a brilliant purple light seared through the wheelchair where I had just been sitting.

I pushed myself up to my feet and charged.

Roger blinked, dumbfounded, looking at me and the wheelchair “But,” he stammered. “How-?”

“I never needed the chair. It was bait, for you!” I growled as I slammed into him. We toppled to the ground, rolling over and over. We crashed into an end table, knocking a lamp off which shattered. I flailed wildly, alternating between throwing frantic punches and trying to knock the raygun out of his hand. Unfortunately, my brawling skills are about the same as my skills with a gun.

Roger headbutted me, cracking my nose, then twisted and bucked me off of him. I tried to grab his hair as I rolled but he punched me hard in the solar plexus- just like he had done the night of the attack, and pushed himself away. He stood and backed away several paces, then leveled the raygun at me once again, gripping it tightly with both hands. It was starting to glow brightly again, almost fully charged, but Roger had knocked the wind out of me and I could only lay there, gasping.

None of my other Aspects had come yet. Surely they had heard the gunshots, hadn’t they? But only seconds had passed, though it had seemed like an eternity. And now I was about to be killed, by a figment of my own imagination. It turns out I’m my own worst enemy, I thought wryly.

My own worst enemy. That was it! That was how Roger had hidden so well! The other Nightmare Aspects had all left clues, signs of their betrayal, but not Roger. It was obvious why, now.

“Alex!” I gasped, forcing the words out. “Alex Wunkel! I know you’re there!”

Roger’s brow furrowed in anger, but then he hesitated. His expression suddenly changed, turning to one of shock and confusion. He looked down at the glowing gun and let go with his left hand, jerking it back as if burned. His right hand dropped a few inches, but didn’t let go of the raygun.

“Stephen?” Alex asked, frightened. His expression shifted again, back to rage.

“NO!” Roger snarled, raising the gun again.

“Alex!” I shouted, strength starting to come back to my voice. “Alex! I need you! You’re the only one who can help me!”

His expression changed again, and he staggered back.

“Stop!” Alex cried. “Leave him alone!” I could tell he wasn’t talking to me anymore.

“You’re… such an… idiot!” Roger said through gritted teeth.

“No!” Alex said, tears coming to his eyes. “I told you before, I don’t… want… this…”

He staggered back and forth as he spoke, Roger and Alex both straining to gain control. The glowing gun waivered, swinging to point at me, then away, then back again.

“Idiot!” Roger growled. “I should have… killed you… ages ago. I should… kill you… right... now!”

“You’re right,” Alex said, calmness coming to his voice. Then in one smooth motion he lifted his arm and blasted a hole straight through his own head. Alex, and Roger, dropped to the ground, dead.

My Aspects arrived then. They ran into the room then paused, taking in the scene. Lily and Clare bent over Bernie’s corpse in the doorway, crying into each other’s shoulders while Bubba V and Melvin went to check on Roger. Cheesy helped me to my feet, checking my injuries to see how serious they were. Mortimer grabbed the strange gun, looking at me questioningly. I nodded, and he smashed the weapon against the floor until it shattered. Jain stood to the side, eyeing the stuffed Panda on my nightstand warily, and Din stayed in the shadows of the hallway, peeking in hesitantly.

“Was that all of them?” Abe asked, hesitantly. “Is it over?”

“Yeah,” I said, exhausted, but relieved. “The nightmare is finally over.”

---- The End of Quick Fix Game 6: A Time of Nightmares ----

The Regular Aspects Win!

Thanks for playing, everyone! Wow, we must have set a few records there. The game finished in only 7 cycles? 4 Eliminators lynched in a row? Over half of the players surviving to the end of the game?

And thanks for sticking with me through everything. This was my first time GMing a Sanderson Elimination game and I’m afraid it showed. But even with the restarts and mid-game rule changes, nobody went completely inactive at all. Thanks guys, you’re all awesome.

Here are a few links for everything that has been going on behind the scenes:

The Observation Room (for Spectators and Specters)
Master Spreadsheet (where I kept track of everything)
Room PM Archives (transcripts of everything that happened in each of the rooms each day)

Final Player List

1. Clare Wintris (Winter Cloud) The Matchmaker  / Lovers with Lily Carter (as of the final cycle)  

2. Bubba V (vineyarddawg) Computer Hacker (no special ability)

3. Jain (Lightsworn Panda) Photographer (no special ability)

4. Cheesy Rogers (Cheese United) The Bodyguard  

5. Din (Gamma Fiend) Indy 500 professional racecar driver (no special ability)

6. JP (JasonPenguin) The Demolitionist  

7. Abe Smith (A Smart Guy) Auto Mechanic (no special ability)

8. Mortimer Jennings (Antillar Maximus) Architect (no special ability)

9. Melvin (Metacognition) Linguist (no special ability)

10. Hondren (Eolhondras) Attorney at Law (no special ability)

11. Lily Carter (Luckat) The Espionage Agent  / Lovers with Clare Wintris (as of the final cycle)  

12. Gerald "Snoopy" Hobbes (Snoopy) Astronaut (no special ability)

13. Hadrian Penrod (Araris Valerian) Anthropologist (no special ability)

14. Herr Pifferd (Lord Pifferdoo) Archeologist- Nightmare Aspect  

15. Liam (Mailliw73) Marine Biologist- Nightmare Aspect  

16. Joe (The Only Joe) The Psychologist  

17. Ron Lav (Alvron) Master Chef- Nightmare Aspect  

18. Adrian Fox (Aonar Faileas) The Botanist (no special ability)

19. Roger De Bree / Alex Wunkel (Phattemer) Physicist- Nightmare Aspect  

20. Bernie Kassig (Kasimir) The Cryptologist

Thanks again everyone! I hope you enjoyed it!

Edited September 23, 2016 by Alvron

[Metacognition he/him]

I can't wait to dig into the behind the scenes stuff that I wasn't privy to, but I want to congratulate our Nightmares for a game well played! While putting up the idea of a lack of a kill being the inactives wound up to us figuring out Maill, that was a stroke of genius as well. That's exactly what I likely would've done within your circumstance. I think that the only thing that kept you from winning this (yes, even the restrictions of rooms early on. Personally, I think those were very befitting and with the added addendum, you guys could've worked it to your advantage!) was the fact that you guys didn't have a doc to communicate in. 

 

IMO, it was Kas coming out as he had that hurt you guys the most. This game really showed off the ability a "Tineye" style role can have (After this and LG7, I think we can say that this isn't a role that can be ignored)! It's not always about codes and secrets, but also in the spreading of knowledge. Well done, Kas. 

And now, I delve into the depths of everything I missed. Even having not yet read the books when I signed up, Hero, this was an amazing game and I truly enjoyed the world. I hope someone else builds off of your example, as this has a lot of potential!

Edited February 27, 2015 by Metacognition

[Herowannabe he/him]

Thank you, Meta. I did my best to capture the feel of the books (with a Sanderson Elimination flare, of course). That's why did all the write-ups in first person from Stephen's POV, by the way. The books are written that way. In case anyone was wondering

[Eolhondras he/him]

Thank you Hero, this was a new and interesting take that I think worked really well. My vote for MVP, as well as Meta's I'm assuming is going to Kas. Of what I saw when I was in his rooms, 90% of his analysis was spot on when it came to suspicions and nailing down suspects, and combining that with his cryptologist role, you've got one hell of an impact player for team Steven. Well played and thank you everyone, I'll be seeing you next game, which I assume will be starting soon?

[Kasimir he/him]

First, thanks to Hreo for creating and GMing this game. I'm still sorry about helping to break your game unofficially but as I see it, you put in a lot of work to keep things running, what with the added burden of all the room PMs and having to keep the transcripts up to date! So thank you once again And I've always enjoyed the quality of your write-ups and tried to upvote them where I can!
 
To the Nightmare Aspects, well-played! I concurr that the lack of a doc was a serious problem for y'all this game, and that the rooms ironically ended up being somewhat helpful for Team Stephen, if only because we didn't have any defeaters to epistemically lucky beliefs... >> (In my case, at least.) You guys weren't easy to find: I almost ended up being suspicious of Joe as compared to Piff, and my vote for Alv was just a somewhat-desperate gamble
 
Meta, I have to admit you were lucky you voted for Phat when you did I expressed some suspicion of you in my write-up message and/but was rather sick, so I didn't have time to get on and change it to a more nuanced, "Don't trust Meta if Phat turns out to be innocent", so someone'd probably have misread it as "KILL META IF I'M DEAD" which I'd never intended. And what I'd really intended to convey was the reminder that you can be so cunning that they shouldn't immediately discount you and should always be a bit wary--that and that if Phat turned out to be innocent, then they should look back at you!
 
So, uh. Before my reveal, the Cryptologist messages:

Day 2 was the doozy. I went with what Hreo said in the AG about having to have proof of your identity so you can confirm yourself. The first important reference is the line "Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time." in green. The rest don't matter--the only thing that matters is that the Green Dragon Tavern is a pretty important setting for the first part of Assassin's Creed 3, which is where my current display picture/avatar is from. There's a white text message too: 'Kjvof xzsbû kwizf vdxoz ncwmú zworn eymqt hzoyn lcxdz przcd mzkvè tupyp rmfpg lldch thsgr ōqdbq avuzl swlse ëvidj jmywn doplç rcvbq'. I basically just swapped ordinary letters out for special characters--these don't affect what the original actually was. The ones that matter are the acute and grave accents--the section set out by them is this: "zworn eymqt hzoyn lcxdz przcd". Everything around it is a simple double Vigenere with two keys, the first being a'vron and the second being aan'allein, and it's just the lyrics to the Duel of the Fates. I put it there to further encourage the idea that the important section was the same code, and also just a Vigenere (it isn't.)

So, "zworn eymqt hzoyn lcxdz przcd", when properly deciphered, reads, "I am Kasimir. The rest is silence." I added the Hamlet on a whim, mostly to throw off guesses based on character-number of usernames. I took away the spaces and punctuation between the two sentences and scrambled up the letters, then separated them into 5-character blocs, because I used 5 keys for this tweaked Vigenere. The first: 'Was ist Rom', the second, 'Sie wird zerschlagen', the third, 'Es zerfällt', the fourth, 'La shay' haqiqah', the last, 'Alles ist erlaubt'. First three are lines from a poem by Rilke, the last two are the two lines of the Assassin's Creed in Arabic and then in German. So, normally for a Vigenere, you just use a normal alphabet and Caesar it. Instead, I scrambled up two partial alphabets and used those with the keys: 'pihldxrczfsnoubyjvkgaeqmwt' and 'bjelruzsmqxowgfhyivapkntcd'. I didn't mind not providing the keys--I was pretty paranoid that someone would crack it, can you tell?

Day 3: I wrote the Modest Proposal as a parody of Jonathan Swift's own piece of satire--also entitled 'A Modest Proposal.' Did that to disguise my voice, if possible. 'LFGETZPSYPQOVNOISNDUPDFBAPVTGZPKFNNVBEBLLTVZOJVNGZRZ' - This bit here was a Playfair cipher answering to the key: 'Melvin'. It roughly translates to: 'M DO NOT TRUST HIM HE PLAYS A DANGEROUS GAME IF I DIE, SEEK HIM OUT'. Probably not the best of ideas/suspicions I've had, really. Just as well no one deciphered that one. '462110 112210 342211 211637 103923 320129 023124 17421818' was enciphered using a variant of one-time pad-type cipher, with modulus 10. (This one, I don't really have the time to explain how to crack, but if you're curious, here's a useful link.) I just numbered the alphabet in a basic way: from 1-26, with A being 1, and the key for this one is the 'zworn eymqt hzoyn lcxdz przcd' key phrase in my previous message  This phrase was, "The cross darkens the horizon," which is a quote from Assassin's Creed 2, referring to Templar efforts (see: antagonistic faction.) (As my display picture is from the game, I figured I'd milk it for all it's worth!)

Day 4: White text: 'The first key: I will remember those who have been forgotten'. I was literal about this: the whole cipher chunk there can be first deciphered as a normal Vigenere using the key 'I will remember those who have been forgotten.' Now, here's the embarrassing part: I used a scrambled alphabet that I was supposed to provide but totally forgot to do so because of RL. Whoops. For the curious, it is this one: 'abnwsirtfhveguxqzdypockmjl'. But that's the first code. What about the rest? More white text: 'Death unlocks the second. The second the third. All things unfold according to their own pace.' If I died, my identity would be revealed (at least that was my plan then.) As a result, the second keyword is 'Kasimir'. It unlocks the whited Bifid cipher at the very bottom: 'MI UZIGO RL PQR GR GPEU GZ HJ UOB RF OGI QIP YLF XG MF VM WFG IGI WWF XJ YAWR MI IYI LBGF', which just is, "My story is one of many thousands and the world will not suffer if it ends too soon." This is a quote from Ezio Auditore, unlocked by the second keyword. Running a Bifid cipher with the key EZIOAUDITORE back on the gibberish generated by applying the Vigenere to the blatant code finally unlocks everything. These are all some questions I was asking at that point in time, generally based on the room I'd been put into. As you can see, I'd been thrown quite off-track by Joe at that point.

So: "M DO NOT TRUST NOT HIM STOP HE PLAYS A DANGEROUS GAME STOP
SART IS MORE AGGRESSIVE THAN USUAL WHY?
VINE MAY BE A LIAR YOU MUST WATCH HIM CAREFULLY
JOE PUSHES HARD FOR PIFFS DEATH STOP ERRATIC ANT CLAIMS REG
IF THERE CONTINUE TO BE NO KILLS WATCH THE ROOMS WITH FEW
LOOK TO THE INACTIVES STOP THE NIGHTMARES MAY SETTLE FOR FORCING LYNCHES STOP
EXAMINE ALL WITH BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS AND GOOD LUCK." The Latin quote just suggested it was the last help I could give once dead--after all, I know suspicions tend to be misread after death.

And then after that, I stopped bothering >>

As I've said many times, codes and ciphers aren't really my strength. Especially can't break 'em. So at a lot of points, I tweaked things because I expected people to be either able to crack them, or to just really Google and run it through a cipher program. The simpler stuff like the Playfairs and Bifids would've been very susceptible to that line of attack. As a result, I had to find slightly more creative ways to mess with things.

If, of course, I didn't make any mistakes in enciphering. Wouldn't be the first time  I can tell you, it was such a relief to be able to just blatantly post messages and not worry about codes/ciphers.

Edited February 27, 2015 by Kasimir

[vineyarddawg]

I'll have you know I never lie, Kas.*  Still, you're my vote for MVP!

 

Great game, Hero!  In addition to the great (and very world-appropriate) setting and write-ups, you provided the impetus for me to practically inhale both Legion books, which I finished doing before the first cycle of the game was even complete!  (I highly recommend them to anyone who hasn't read them yet.)

 

* - Note:  This is a lie.  (See LG10, in which about 95% of what I said was a lie.  In my defense, though, I was being influenced by Odium.)

 

EDIT: Oh, and just in case anyone was wondering, Bubba V, being the computer hacker, totally helped find the nightmare aspects by feeding a tapeworm into the deep logic of the (additional made-up Hollywood movie technobabble hacking b.s.). 

Edited February 27, 2015 by vineyarddawg

[phattemer]

So hero, are nightmare kills before lynches? And if you vote for someone who's already dead, does it still count? And if the answers are yes and no, then could I have killed Ron the day he was lynched, making everyone's vote worthless but him, giving everyone but Stephen zero votes, and winning the game for the Nightmares?

[Kasimir he/him]

So hero, are nightmare kills before lynches? And if you vote for someone who's already dead, does it still count? And if the answers are yes and no, then could I have killed Ron the day he was lynched, making everyone's vote worthless but him, giving everyone but Stephen zero votes, and winning the game for the Nightmares?

At least on the Nightmare kill issue, the Order of Actions puts the Nightmare kill before the lynch. Whether Hreo would rule that it invalidates votes on a killed lynch-target is another question, and one that only he can answer, but I will answer that it is generally not common practice. So if you'd killed Alv, everyone's votes on him would've been pointless, because he was already dead, so they can't make him any deader, but it wouldn't change the fact that he'd received the highest number of votes. (Voting for a target already dead on the same cycle, of course, is not the same as making a 'no vote'.)

Now, the substantially more interesting question is if by taking me out, you could've forced a tie. The answer I think is that it is implicit in the Order of Actions that voting comes before anything else and is separate from the lynch kill, so that would likely not have worked out that way. Perhaps that could be made explicit, in the interests of clarity.

 

Edit: In fact, because I'm obsessed with clarity and elegant explanations, I think the easiest way is to distinguish between lynch voting and the lynch kill itself. In games with vote manipulation, lynch voting is itself a separate step but it's less evident here. Well, the lynch voting takes place first--as it's the first action, Alv would in all cases be a legitimate target. Then, everything else on the Stack. Then the Eliminator kill. In this hypothetical scenario, Alv dies and then ceases to be a legitimate target only at this point for the lynch kill. But given action priority, this doesn't translate backwards up the Order. Ordnung muss sein.

Edited February 27, 2015 by Kasimir

[Herowannabe he/him]

So hero, are nightmare kills before lynches? And if you vote for someone who's already dead, does it still count? And if the answers are yes and no, then could I have killed Ron the day he was lynched, making everyone's vote worthless but him, giving everyone but Stephen zero votes, and winning the game for the Nightmares?

A clever idea, but no, it wouldn't have worked, just like Kas said. Nice try though.

[Cheese United he/him]

Well that was enjoyable! Nice job being awesom Hero/Kas. Great write ups and GM'ing.

EDIT: Also, Pifferdoo, if you visit this thread, mind telling me why you didn't reveal to the other Players (specifically the Nightmares) that I was the bodyguard? You revealed that Joe was our good friend the Psychologist, so why not my role?

Edited February 27, 2015 by Cheese United