Long Game 11: Twinborn Village

[Lord Pifferdoo]

If the Spiked spike someone powerful, what's to stop that person from just telling everyone else who all the Spiked are and then either sacrifice themselves or get a Lurcher to pull it out? The Lurcher would have to die, unless you managed to manipulate a Spiked Lurcher by getting him in a room with the Lambchop and then Nicrobursting him secretly? 

And then whomever has Hazecrusher would smack the crap out of him.

 

'Course, that plan falls apart if the Spiked have Hazecrusher on their hands. 

 

But I don't think they do, because they would have used it last night and we would have a dead ostrich on our hands. 

[Surgebound Rainspren]

There's still a chance that the spiked have the Hazecrusher. It would make sense to not use it last night because a villager kill the cycle after the Hazecrusher was found would be very suspicious.

[Lord Pifferdoo]

There's still a chance that the spiked have the Hazecrusher. It would make sense to not use it last night because a villager kill the cycle after the Hazecrusher was found would be very suspicious.

 

Ah. Good point. 

[Clanky]

If the Spiked spike someone powerful, what's to stop that person from just telling everyone else who all the Spiked are and then either sacrifice themselves or get a Lurcher to pull it out? The Lurcher would have to die, unless you managed to manipulate a Spiked Lurcher by getting him in a room with the Lambchop and then Nicrobursting him secretly? 

And then whomever has Hazecrusher would smack the crap out of him.

 

'Course, that plan falls apart if the Spiked have Hazecrusher on their hands. 

 

But I don't think they do, because they would have used it last night and we would have a dead ostrich on our hands. 

 

 

Why would the person who got spiked do this though? Once spiked your team alignment and through that also victory conditions change. Someone doing that would amount to the same as a villager becoming trusted by villagers and then doing everything in their power to get themselves spiked so they could work for the Spiked from the inside. That would basically be actively working against your team. While that might technically be allowed I think it constitutes a fairly cheap way to win. 

[Araris Valerian]

I think the only alignment problem in this game is if somebody gets unspiked, in which case they would know the identity of all of the spiked team.

[Clanky]

Honey Badger. There have been several people willing to take one for the team and go down with you. However I prefer we don't lose an innocent (or two if we are all wrong about you) when we take you down and I have a feeling I may be able to handle a little bit of fire.

[Aonar]

The day is over! Results are coming soon, with the write up hopefully coming not long after.

[Aonar]

Night Five: Trapped

 

Rumours were flying with the first real success for the villagers. Chief among them was that Axies had sensed a Seeker hemalurgist shortly before he died. The idea had been around for a while, but most had dismissed it; after all, what use did the spiked have for a Seeker?

 

It still seemed more than enough to spark their paranoia. Honerius was the only other Seeker known to the village, and with the amount of time he spent away from the village trapping, very little else was known about him. Many grew wary, and his defence of Cleo, the only hemalurgist found so far, seemed only to confirm their suspicions.

 

As the day grew to a close, Honerius holed himself up inside his home, and the villagers grew ever more certain of his guilt. He was trapped in his own lies as surely as any snare. Had he not been facing death as a result, he would've appreciated the irony.

 

Eventually, a small party formed if front of his door. Cylkan, the lamplighter, wasn't sure exactly what he was doing as a part of it. Being a part of a lynch-mob wasn't exactly something he'd ever wanted. The lamps had been extinguished however, years of hard work ruined in a night, and someone needed to pay.

 

With an unspoken signal, they entered the house. Everyone was alert; Honerius' reputation as a trapper was anything but undeserved, and if he really was a spiked, the house was liable to be just as dangerous as it's inhabitant. They split off, and Cylkan found himself alone.

 

He walked into a room that after a quick glance appeared to be a study. Honerius sat in a chair on the far side, contemplating a bloody knife. Rust.

 

The other man looked up, grimacing slightly as he moved. "You've come, have you? Take a seat. I'm not much threat to anyone, at the moment."

 

Cylkan stayed where he was, torn between anger and fear. Here was a murderer, someone who had betrayed friends and kin for the favour of a cruel god. He deserved to die. 

 

"Thinking of killing me? I'm afraid you're a little late on that count." Honerius lifted his shirt revealing a wound in his gut. "My brethren aren't too fond of failure."

 

Anger was giving way to confusion. What was this? A hemalurgist left to die by his fellows? What was the point? Eventually, Cylkan found his voice. "Why? Why leave you here? What does this gain anyone? The house doesn't even seem to have any traps."

 

"How astute of you. It doesn't seem to, does it?" Honerius' voice changed, eyes burning with mad fervor. "You see, I am the trap." He closed his eyes, and the air around him warped, an intense rush of wind blowing in, slamming the door shut. The boards under his feet split and cracked, charring for a moment before bursting into flame. The fire spread with unnatural speed, and in moments the whole room was engulfed, with Cylkan trapped inside.

 

*****

 

Hours later, Cylkan was pulled from the still smoldering wreckage, burned, bruised and battered, but still alive, if barely. 

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

 

Honerius was a Spiked with Allomantic Bronze and Feruchemical Brass!

Cylkan was attacked, but survived!

 

Votes:

Honerius: (5) Levant, Llurch, Walin, Neo, Malrick, Millie, Hadrian, Cylkan
Karlin: (0) Failu

 

You have twenty-four hours from now to get your night actions in. The Night will end on Thursday at 10:00 PM CDT.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Aonar Faileas

[Lord Pifferdoo]

Woohoo! Another one bites the dust! And by dust I mean the air around him as it combusted!

Edited April 15, 2015 by Lord Pifferdoo

[Araris Valerian]

Did I blow up?

 

Edit: Thanks Clanky

Edited April 15, 2015 by Araris Valerian

[Clanky]

No problem Araris. The heat never bothered me anyway.

[Bort]

Excellent. Two down. Some to go.

 

And thank you Clanky for volunteering to be exploded. I hope you remembered to pack your marshmallows.

 

Any chance we could get a current map please?

Edited April 15, 2015 by Bort

[Kandra Skrull]

I would like to see an updated map as well.

[Clanky]

Cylkan was lying in a bed in a state between sleeping and waking. He needed to wake up though, he could feel it but every time he tried he was met with pain and an intense heat. However there was something that needed to be done, and if he couldn't do it than he had to make sure someone else did. He didn't know if anyone else was in the room to hear him but he needed to try.

 

"The lamps.... keep them lit. They must not go out..... I cannot.... please help"

 

With all his strength used up he slipped back into a restless sleep. His dreams full of fire, spikes and death.

 

 

 

This is a good pace. Only losing two villagers for every spiked. However I don't really know that we gained too much new information from this lynch though since there really wasn't any doubt in who would be killed. 

[Feligon]

News clippings:  Faliu followed Bort around the residential area pretending to be a dinousaur.  when told that he was not, in fact a dinosaur, he said "I could be, if I tried hard enough."

 

Faliu continues terrorizing the residential area.  Complaints from Lord Pifferdoo.  Mayor too busy with the war on spiked to do anything.

 

Savants are emerging from their 4 day burning sprees.  More insanity to follow.

 

Two down. Some to go.  Two spiked criminals have been apprehended and executed.

 

Cylkan explodes.  One of the spiked was attacked by Cylkan when the entire house exploded.  Cylkan managed to make it out alive.

 

you can't sell sandy Squidicles; no one wants a sandy Squidicle.

[Lord Pifferdoo]

Yea...about that updated map...

[Araris Valerian]

I feel like this game has finalized my corruption into Sanderson Elimination. The amount of text I have posted on this game alone would suffice for all of my English assignments for around 3 weeks!

[Lightsworn Panda]

I feel like this game has finalized my corruption into Sanderson Elimination. The amount of text I have posted on this game alone would suffice for all of my English assignments for around 3 weeks!

 

You know, I've actually been timing how much time I've spent in this Sanderson Elimination Game, or more precisely, typing for this game. Currently, I've clocked almost three-quarters of an hour, and I've only made a few posts that don't have much detail in them. I'm not even going to mention the hours I've spent awake at night running this game over in my head.

[Metacognition]

Cylkan was lying in a bed in a state between sleeping and waking. He needed to wake up though, he could feel it but every time he tried he was met with pain and an intense heat. However there was something that needed to be done, and if he couldn't do it than he had to make sure someone else did. He didn't know if anyone else was in the room to hear him but he needed to try.

 

"The lamps.... keep them lit. They must not go out..... I cannot.... please help"

 

With all his strength used up he slipped back into a restless sleep. His dreams full of fire, spikes and death.

 

Malrick could still feel the heat on his skin. He'd gone in after the supposed traitor, Honerius, but had, by sheer luck, escaped the trap. The blaze, without anywhere else to go, consumed the air around it and caused an inverted shockwave as it drew air from the surrounding area. 

 

It wasn't something that the Twinborn Village was used to. It had been a long time since they'd ever had a fire of this magnitude and it showed in how well they were prepared for it. After all, a fire within an enclosed space like this? The only other incident had been in the Mushroom Farms, that had happened in generations past, which had been sparked by the Mushroom Revolt! 

 

He remembered being blown back, towards the blaze as if it was an all consuming furnace.His skin blistering and the smell of charred hair.

 

But what he remembered more was the excavation. 

 

Watching, as he and the other villagers crawled across the wreckage, looking for survivors. All of them, covered in ash and tossing pillars that had yet to be put out. 

 

And they found one; Cylkan was badly burned, but survived. 

 

Malrick couldn't help but stay with his faithful customer. He might have lured him into the Alehouse by putting out the light in front of the Alehouse every afternoon, but they'd built up a relationship because of it over the years. Malrick knew all the little quirks that Cylkan had. He knew how important his job was to him. 

Thus, as Cylkan muttered, as he recovered, about keeping on the lights, Malrick was there. 

 

And after years of deceiving Cylkan about just one light, Malrick shed a tear. 

 

"We've grown so used to the lights that we've taken them for granted," he mumbled between sobs. "But without you, we'd be cast into darkness.'

 

'Now is a time of change and darkness truly threatens us all; and not just physically! More, now than ever, we need your light."

 

Malrick reached down and picked up Cylkan's tools. 

 

"I'll keep the lamps lit until you can return, my friend. And all drinks are on the house from here on in." 

 

And he left. 

 

He had lamps that needed light. 

[twelfthrootoftwo]

Cleo's grave had still been uncovered when Kirrah eventually woke. She'd briefly considered trying to pry the lid off, but the thought of facing a dead body inside had been too much. And Honerius' house, and presumably body, had been completely destroyed in the fire, and to her knowledge his spikes had not been found. She had no way of following the hint about spikes.

 

What to do next? She could look further into Mayor Gund. Maybe break into his house. The glimpses from his letters had been fascinating, but they weren't enough to build into a proper picture. Anything of more substance would require getting her hands on things he didn't want her to see.

 

Mayor Gund hadn't been present for the lynch of Honerius, or for the cleanup job. Perhaps he was at his house now. Well, any event that would draw him out would have to be a large gathering of the Twinborn, at which she (and her banjo) would likely be missed. Now was as good a time as any.

 

The paths of Twinborn Village were treacherous without the aid of the streetlights. Malrick had taken up Cylkan's tools not long ago, but much of the village was still shrouded in darkness. By the time she could see the light radiating from the Mayor's windows, Kirrah had earned herself three grazes, from tripping seven times. Which, in her opinion, was a pretty good ratio.

 

Slowing her pace, and walking more confidently with the aid of the light, Kirrah walked past the Mayor's house, surreptitiously watching the windows. No movement. Out of sight, she counted ten breaths, then passed again in the other direction. Still nothing. Perhaps Gund had gone to help after all.

 

Next she turned into the alley beside Gund's house. There were no windows to shed light on her path here, so she moved more cautiously, stopping every few steps to listen. The mayor had held at least one clandestine meeting among the piles of rubbish behind his house. He might be there now, and she refused to be surprised by him walking into the house behind her. To be certain, she felt her way carefully through the refuse, before emerging into the alley on the other side.

 

At least, that was the plan. She didn't get more than three steps before tripping on an unseen object at her feet. As she stumbled forward, something broke over her back with an almighty crash, knocking her to the ground. She lay there for a moment, dazed. Surely she...hadn't been attacked. They weren't watching her yet, were they...?

 

Groaning, she pulled herself forward, out from under whatever had fallen on her. It fell with a heavy thump once she was free, and she tentatively felt it. Smooth wood, and heavy. A cabinet perhaps. She leaned on it to climb to her feet, then made her way slowly back to the front of Gund's house. Malrick had evidently come by, because the place was bathed in a faint light with a greenish tinge.

 

Kirrah rounded the corner of the house, then froze. Gund was at the head of the alley with some kind of lamp. They both stared at each other, stunned. Then panic won out, and Kirrah bolted past him.

 

Pointing herself vaguely in the direction of the bazaar, she ran. She scrambled to her feet when she fell, and dodged the occasional startled Twinborn. Eventually she couldn't bring herself to rise, her legs and back aching, and resigned herself to resting for a while.

 

There were people around. Many of them were staring at her. And shops. Good. She'd managed to hold the line she'd chosen, then. Maybe Gund's friends would think twice about coming after her in a public place. She pictured him again, staring at her from the other end of the alley, and realised something was wrong.

 

It was the torch. Gund hadn't been touching it. Instead, it seemed to hover in the air behind him. A floating ball of light. She hadn't seen or heard of anything even remotely similar, which could only mean it was not of this world.

 

This, she thought, just keeps getting stranger.

[Alvron]

Honerius Bager
He stole our stuff - he had no class
So we got medieval on his @ss
 

An empty grave yawned, yearning to be filled but no one cared enough to dig the spiked from the remains of his building.  Rolan shook his head.  Having an empty grave wasn't a good look.  How could people expect a fitting headstone if it didn't mark the place where they were buried?

Pulling out his chisel, Rolan carved a quick advertisement under the simple epitaph.
 

This plot is vacant,

And now is for Lease!

Call me if you or

Your friend is deceased!

[Feligon]

Do our headstones have to rhyme?

I'm not very good at that.

I think I'd have a hard time.

this headstone would be so tat.

 

Well, that worked.  Huh.

[Newan]

Day 5: The Plot Thickens

 

The hemalurgist hid behind a gigantic mushroom.  Somebody was coming.  Who would be out at this time of night, in the middle of a war?  The hemalurgist pulled a mask over its face, and leapt out into the open.  

 

"Death to the Twinborn!"  yelled the Spiked while throwing a knife.  The blade hit the target with a dull thud.  The target did not fall, though.  He simply pulled back the hood of his cloak and gave the hemalurgist a look of disgust, in the way that only Hadrian Penrod could.  

 

The hemalurgist turned and ran for its life.

 

 

Nobody has died!

 

Two pretty cool items, 3 awesome items, and an uncanny item have been found.  

 

A1: pretty cool         B1: awesome         C1: pretty cool

A2: awesome          B2: pretty cool        C2: pretty cool

A3: awesome          B3: pretty cool        C3: awesome

Edited April 17, 2015 by Newan

[vineyarddawg]

So wait... does that mean Araris (Hadrian Penrod) was the person attacked last night?

[Metacognition]

The biggest problem with this system is how long it takes to get PMs out to everyone, IMO. I think a lot of us spend time waiting during the day, just to find out what happened to us during the night and it cuts into our discussion time. 

 

Considering how many things need to be taken into account, I don't blame our GMs at all for it, but it still makes for a stuttered start. 

 

Araris, where were you last night? I'm curious to find out whether the Spiked were targeting C3, since they seemed to do the same the last time an Uncanny Item was up for grabs.