Quick Fix Game 9: The Court of The Gods

[Gamma Fiend]

The Gods of the Court convened for one last time, not knowing it was so until the very end. Where colors had once flared and shone with a vibrant force, the drastically reduced number of the Returned was clearly visible where shadows now gathered, and dull, muted colors seemed to stick out more, if only for the juxtaposition.

The day seemed to extend forever, never ending as the debates teetered back and forth, almost coming a standstill. The gods had grown weary and tired, exhausted from the daily rituals of deciding which one of each other to have killed. Their morale and resolve started to fade as the day almost passed into night, and still not a decision was to be made.

An awakened bell chimed itself, signaling the passing hour, as a group of the God King's priests entered the room, waiting no longer and demanding a decision.

"Who among you is guilty?" The High Priest Wilkin asked, the voice and faithful servant of the God King."

"That one is," spoke up Gancho the Crass, his face paling almost to the same shade of white, matching the purple robes he was wearing for his colors, pointing toward one of the other gods, clad in their colors of red and black.

"Why do you say him?" Wilkin asked, nodding towards the servants as they Commanded ropes to awaken and wrap around the neck of the Returned, squeezing and strangling him.

"Because you have a knife to my back," Gancho replied drly, true to his name to the very end.

Jadebuffer the Eerie moved forward, tossing off his cloak of turquoise and orange, revealing the strange sphere he had kept concealed, and held it forward -- as if ready to do something -- only to be stabbed in the back by Redcross the Healer before he could take more than a step.

Bortholomew the Blind loomed over Jadebuffer, and knelt down, offering out a hand to help the fallen god up, only to plunge another knife into his heart, his blood splashing out all over Bortolomew's white and grey robes, marking him for a traitor as well.

Funweaver the Festive cried out. "Isn't this fun?!" And pounced on Ri the Mysterious from behind, stabbing the silver and black goddess of Illusions multiple times rapidly.

The Rebels quickly rounded up all the surviving priests and servants of the murdered gods, and had tied them all up in the center of the room when the doors burst open, surprising all of them.

"You know the worst part about being a mercenary?" A man asked, striding into the room and sheathing his sword, nodding towards all of the dead bodies. "You always miss all of the fun stuff."

Wilkin strode over to the mercenary, handing them a slip and a large burlap sack of money. "Here is our agreed payment."

"What about the God King?"

Wilkin turned around, signaling to the Rebel Returned who had helped in the cause. "Oh, don't worry about Mirikas. We have that in check. Surely soon enough the God King will deliver an heir, and perhaps sometime after that some terrible tragedy will strike, and thus the God King sacrifices themselves in some magnificent and altruistic way. Same story, different characters, but you already knew all that, eh, mercenary?"

The man smiled. "That's the thing about us, y'know, you'd never even believe me if I told you the truth."  He said, walking away and laughing.

Redcross strode over the Wilkin, jabbing his thumb back at the tied up priests and servants, still looking on in horror. "What about them?"

"And him?" Funweaver and Bortholomew piped in, pointing towards Jain who was sitting in the corner, docile and silent throughout the whole ordeal.

"Ah, yes, them. You Returned need Breath to live, yes? Well that should last you all a while until we establish a new God King and a Court of the Gods. And the Panda? Leave him be. Let him take petitions from the citizens, they could always use a god who doesn't respond to their pleas.The people of Halladren are simple fools, as long as their dyes and luxuries keep flowing, they barely keep track of the gods, and only praise the Iridescent Tomes when it suits their favor. But now that we can control the Courts and T'Telir, we can start putting pressure on the Idrian Royals in the highlands, raising tariffs and start pushing out at the borders. War will come. And it will come on our terms. Now you all must go and seize control of your lifeless armies. You will be needed as leaders for the other gods for the following years to come. The command phrase to take control of the lifeless is: the Tears of Edgli

That appears to be a wrap! Quick Fix 9 is over! The Rebels have won!
Bortholomew the Blind, Funweaver the Festive, and RedCross the Healer were Rebel Returned Gods!

This game was quite fun to run, even if a little simple and quick, I hope everybody enjoyed playing! I will post the Doc links and do an obligatory follow-up post sometime later today or tomorrow when I have the time. Once again, thanks for everybody for signing up and participating!

Edited October 26, 2016 by Alvron

[RavenRadient7]

Argh. I went down ignobly, didn't I? And two of the Rebels were people I had overlooked the entire game. Well down, Rebels.

 

I'm planning on posting a longer post later, sort of looking at how the game went and what I could have done differently, considering it's my first game and all, but I don't have the time right now.

 

I can't wait to read the Doc, though. Wonder how everything turned out...

[phattemer]

I appear to be in a rather unique situation in that I am completely justified in saying: "I told you so."

No wonder we lost: Wyrm is So 1337 Hoid Can't Compete!!!

Edited August 9, 2015 by phattemer

[Bort]

Thanks Gamma. That was a really fun game.

I'd like to be the first to publicly congratulate Phattemer for having us all found by cycle three. Working to discredit his suspicions covered most of our strategy from there on, I think.

[TheMightyLopen]

Wow Phattemer that was amazing. I can't say I understand how you figured it out, but I salute you nonetheless. Wyrm, I really wish we could've lynched you. But, I must say good work Rebels as you had me baffled for most of the game.

[Wyrmhero]

Wyrm, I really wish we could've lynched you.

 

You all had three attempts at it, so not as if you didn't try .

 

I too am impressed by phattemer getting us all on that Cycle. You see why I reacted quite so forcefully in response >>.

 

That last Cycle was really touch-and-go for a moment there. I was very concerned that as soon as I got lynched, my teammates would follow me shortly afterwards. You guys really gave us a run for our money multiple times, and it was a very fun game.

Edited August 9, 2015 by Wyrmhero

[Vauhsoj]

I had a great time in my first game!  Thanks to Gamma for running it, and to everyone else for not lynching me.  

I am impressed with Phatttemer's analysis, and Wyrmhero's deft manipulations.  Remind me not to play against you, Wyrm.

[phattemer]

Awwwww. Wyrm is at 1338 now.

[Metacognition]

The secret to Wyrm's success? Kill me early. Twei wound up mentioning in the Dead Doc how similar this game was to MR3 and it really was. In that game, Wyrm and I got into it early and I wind up dead. I then spend the rest of the game convinced that Wyrm is an Eliminator but without the ability to do anything (that pesky being dead thing) and wonder why no one took my suspicions seriously. We even had the lynch of an Eliminator on the first day in that game too! And the Eliminators won that one as well. 

 

So the moral of the story is this: The key to Evil Wyrm winning seems to start with my death every time; so if we're in a game together and I wind up dead, there's a good chance that Evil Wyrm is the culprit!

 

GG everyone. Raven, you did a great job. You will definitely be a formidable player here, IMO. Vauhsoj, you were the only Rebel I didn't wind up sniffing out eventually, so bravo! And of course, amazing job Phat, but then you know I was rooting for you the entire time!

Edited August 9, 2015 by Metacognition

[Bort]

Bortholemew the Blind sighed. Braize Funweaver's enthusiasm. The bearded one had wanted to offer Raven a way out. The intrigue was over, so there wasn't any reason for them all to die. Still, it wasn't a total loss. He had survived, and that meant that the Knights Awkward finally had their first clue to the Shardmarks. There was one thing left to do first.

 

"Put her on the bed," Bortholemew instructed Haribo, who was carrying a freshly mummified, or maybe cocooned, body.  The confused high priest did so, laying the corpse gently to rest on the oversized bed. "Luma, do your thing."

 

Bortholemew's beardspren popped out of his beard, regarding the still form sadly. "It's not you, Bortholemew," she said. "It might not work."

 

"Please, try."

 

Looking back at the body, Luma nodded, gaining a determined expression. She slowly sank back into the beard. As soon as her head disappeared, the beard came to life, growing and reaching out. It wrapped around the cocoon, merging with the beard hair used to create it, and stopped.

 

Bortholemew started swaying, feeling his power being sucked from him, and invested into Raven. 'Thank Brandon Endowment gave me his divine Breath,' Bortholemew thought as the extra power he had received upon arriving here left him in one swift pull. He fell to his knees as his beard started to retract.

 

Pulling back from the bed, the beard revealed Raven, lying there in her true form, not her Nalthis illusion. "It's done," Luma said weakly, retreating into the beard to rest and recover. The figure on the table drew a loud, haggard, breath. "Thank you," the midget whispered.

 

"Raven, welcome back," Bortholemew said, feeling about as drained as Luma. "I... apologise for Funweaver's actions. He got carried away. When you are ready, come downstairs, and we can return home to the Library. If you need anything, just ask one of the servants." Bortholemew the Blind led Haribo out of the room, and down the stairs to where a certain artist was waiting for them.

Edited August 9, 2015 by Bort

[Wyrmhero]

The secret to Wyrm's success? Kill me early. Twei wound up mentioning in the Dead Doc how similar this game was to MR3 and it really was. In that game, Wyrm and I got into it early and I wind up dead. I then spend the rest of the game convinced that Wyrm is an Eliminator but without the ability to do anything (that pesky being dead thing) and wonder why no one took my suspicions seriously. We even had the lynch of an Eliminator on the first day in that game too! And the Eliminators won that one as well. 

 

So the moral of the story is this: The key to Evil Wyrm winning seems to start with my death every time; so if we're in a game together and I wind up dead, there's a good chance that Evil Wyrm is the culprit!

 

I am apparently the God of Deja Vu:

• Kill Meta early
• Be active player (not odd for me though)
• Inactive Eliminator lynched on first day (though I didn't have a hand in it this time)
• Get given bonus power by player (though extra Breath had no effect here)
• Survive and win

Only major difference is that I was very much up for the chop several times this game round .

 

...But now you've said that, I can't play a game with you because I will always be blamed when you inevitably die first Cycle. Thanks Meta >>.

Edited August 9, 2015 by Wyrmhero

[Sir Jerric]

Wyrm and Bort both did a fine job of keeping me distracted there. I guess I really should have gone with lynching Vauhsoj sooner. He was always on my watch list, and I almost chose him for that final vote.
 
I had even been thinking last night of how I'd act as an eliminator, and I realized that Wyrm could be using the very strategy I was contemplating. How foolish of me not to take myself seriously. =)
Great game everyone.
 
Wyrm, I got a screenshot of your 1337-ness if you want it. =)

Alternate download: https://goo.gl/photos/BhR3FCTtF7mZWzq5A

[Metacognition]

...But now you've said that, I can't play a game with you because I will always be blamed when you inevitably die first Cycle. Thanks Meta >>.

 

I'm just making sure that next time you have some incentive to try to keep me alive! I did say that it's just a good chance, not that it is definitely you. At best, it might make people look at what you say a little closer. At worst, I have someone to talk to in the dead doc sooner!

[RavenRadient7]

I wrote up a huge long post during last cycle to post after the game was over, and now I have even more I want to say, so I'm going to paraphrase a few things.

 

Thank you, Meta, for the compliment. I'm looking forward to playing again!

 

I enjoyed this game a lot, but I think I'd enjoy longer games better. More chance for talking.

 

It was a lot harder to keep my comments neutral than I thought it was going to be. I'm going to have to keep that in mind.

 

Notes would have made this game so much easier. I might have even caught that phattemer was after Bort/Vauhsoj.

 

I did not suspect Bort or Vauhsoj at all, really. I don't even think I voted for Bort at all this game. They completely slipped past me.

 

Wyrm, you had me guessing the entire game. I would suspect you as an eliminator, then you'd say something, and I'd second-guess myself. Even at the end, I wasn't completely sold on you being an eliminator. Well done. Very well done.

 

By the way, were you really just poke-voting me, or would you have tried to lynch me if I hadn't defended myself, and you had gained a following? That could have totally changed the outcome of these events.

 

If we had had another round, I was going to accuse Wyrm, Jerric, and Lopen of being eliminators, vote for Wyrm, and then watch the chaos. Probably a good thing we didn't go on, in that case.

 

Finally, there's something that I think most players missed, considering how everything played out. In the first round, I ended up being the deciding lynch to vote Shallan, and then everyone seemed convinced I was innocent, because of that. Fact is, I actually thought Shallan had three votes on her already, and I thought I was bandwagoning on the lynch. I didn't correct people afterwards, because it worked in my favor, but that's why I went after Venture so much in the later rounds. I missed that his vote didn't count, and I didn't want to let up on that point.

 

Bort, I'm going to write up a reply to your roleplay in a bit, but I need to figure out how Raven is going to respond to this, and tie in the last bit of background I had about why Raven was on Nalthis in the first place. Will you be continuing your quest in later elimination games? Because I think you might have a helper.

 

Edit: Oh, and, since I made it to the end, can I count this as a "survived" if I ever write up Sanderson Elimination stats like some people do? I mean, it wasn't like I was lynched or killed mid game or anything...

Edited August 9, 2015 by RavenRadient7

[Wyrmhero]

Wyrm, you had me guessing the entire game. I would suspect you as an eliminator, then you'd say something, and I'd second-guess myself. Even at the end, I wasn't completely sold on you being an eliminator. Well done. Very well done.

 

By the way, were you really just poke-voting me, or would you have tried to lynch me if I hadn't defended myself, and you had gained a following? That could have totally changed the outcome of these events.

 

If we had had another round, I was going to accuse Wyrm, Jerric, and Lopen of being eliminators, vote for Wyrm, and then watch the chaos. Probably a good thing we didn't go on, in that case.

 

Edit: Oh, and, since I made it to the end, can I count this as a "survived" if I ever write up Sanderson Elimination stats like some people do? I mean, it wasn't like I was lynched or killed mid game or anything...

 

I'm glad I kept you guessing - My plan was to remain in that sort of area. As a player who's been around for more than a year, it's almost impossible for me to survive until the end without someone asking '...why's that guy alive again?'. So the idea was that by appearing to be within lynch range, I could counter that question and put pressure on people voting for me by suggesting it was their plan. Admittedly, it didn't work out quite as well as I hoped - People missed the extra layers until right up until the end and just went for the obvious (and in this case correct) answer .

 

It was a bit of both, but not an entirely serious post. My intention wasn't to get you lynched (unless it happened that it went that way) but to throw a bit of confusion in the air and make people discuss things not related to me or my teammates. Getting you mixed up with Adamir was an entirely honest mistake, and I wouldn't have tried it if I had gotten that information correct, as there was pretty much nothing to pull you up on otherwise and I'd already said you were basically confirmed innocent. I got really annoyed with myself the next day for making such a stupid mistake which i feared could have cost us dearly.

 

I'd have been interested in seeing what happened if you accused those two alongside me. I really have no idea what that might have resulted in.

 

And yeah, that's definitely Survived for you. Write-up fluff doesn't count, as long as you survive the game! After Lopen saved me last-minute, I was hoping we could change our kill from him to you as a reward for him, but sadly it was too late in the Cycle to arrange that. Sorry Lopen

[phattemer]

I think the regular people did pretty well this game, considering the lack of lynching correctly. We did get lucky day 1, but I think that in a game with no kills, we really depend on discussion resulting in good targets in order to last.

[RavenRadient7]

As soon as Bortholemew left, Raven - not Ri, not any longer - turned to Ien. "Funweaver killed me?"

 

Ien huffed. "Apparently. I told you not to trust anyone."

 

"You told me not to trust my priests. I thought Ke would finally figure everything out, and kill me." Raven sighed. "Instead it was just the Rebels..."

 

Ien managed to look shifty, even though his current form bore no face. Raven frowned. "Why weren't you with m at the end, Ien?"

 

"Ke found Ri's journals."

 

Raven leaned back, stunned. Ke found Ri's journals. Ri's journals, not hers, though she had taken on the name. Her dreams, courtesy of Ien, had led her to Nalthis to begin with, dreams she thought foretold the God-King's demise. Mere days after her arrival, thugs had conspired to remove her, and it was only Ri's sacrifice that allowed her to live. She had taken Ri's name and position, disguising herself as the Returned in hopes of preventing her visions, but Ri's own dreams held mentions of Raven herself. If Ke had found those, then Ke knew the truth.

 

"She will not cause you trouble now." Ien said, his voice flat.

 

Raven swallowed. "I'd take knife wounds over anything Ke would have planned. Thank you."

 

Ien only cocked his head. "What will you say to Bortholemew?"

 

"Did my dreams warn me about the God-King, or a much greater danger?" Raven whispered.

 

"They're not mine. I cannot speak to them."

 

Raven sighed, looking down at her hands, no longer another's, but her own. "Then I doubt I can blame him for taking sides in this matter, any more than I can blame myself."

 

Raven stood, making sure to grab one of the discarded veils. Her case lay beside her, and she carefully placed the veil inside, as yet another reminder of her journeys. Then. she walked down the stairs.

 

Bortholemew stood waiting, but she held up a hand, stalling him from speaking. "You may have aided the Rebels, and I may have watched over the God-King, but the possible danger to our Library is a far greater threat."

 

Raven took a deep breath, as Ien landed on her shoulder. "I hold no grudge for you, fellow Knight. I simply ask to be able to aid you in your further attempts to safeguard our home, and help track down the Shardmarks you spoke of." She held out a hand. "Partners?"

 

 

Wyrm: So...next game I need to die, but win, seeing that in this game, I survived, but lost.

 

Phattemer: I just went back through the posts, and I found the one where you put Bort, Wyrm, and Vauhsoj together. Almost immediately afterwards, Wyrm accuses you. That's when I started getting suspicious about Wyrm, by the way. I'm thinking that notes might have allowed me to put together the fact that you'd actually gotten all three eliminators right, or at least given me a place to start after you died and were proven innocent.

[TheMightyLopen]

I really had fun playing this even though I lynched a lot of innocent people and basically lost the game for us at the very end, which I feel very bad for. I hope the innocent people I lynched are not too upset at me as all I did was kill you.......

 

Raven: I too thought it was extremely difficult to keep my posts as neutral as possible. I think it would be a very good idea to keep notes as sometimes when I was going to accuse someone I would forget some of my reasons and thoughts and that would weaken my case against them as happened in my accusation of Wyrm in the last cycle.

[Bort]

In cycle three, when Phattemer had rightly predicted who the Rebels were, he made a comment about one of Vauhsoj's posts, about how it felt too composed, as though Vauhsoj had written it, got someone else to edit it, and so on.

 

Yet, Lopen's comment above about keeping things neutral makes me wonder, how do you recognize the difference between a carefully crafted post designed to not make you look suspicious and a carefully crafted post designed to make you look innocent?

 

Raven, I'll get a response out to your RP sometime today, but probably this evening once I'm back home.

[Gamma Fiend]

Thanks again for everyone for playing even those who spectated and kept track of everything! Lazy GM is still lazy, so still no time at the moment for a full post-game analysis, but I can at least post the Doc links for everyone to peruse!

The Colorful Dead
The Rebel Base

 

(Unfortunately I didn't really do up any sort of Master Sheet or anything, as I just made all lists/tallies in my notebook) >.>

[Bort]

Bortholemew the Blind looked up as Raven entered the room. He listened to what she had to say, then took her hand and shook it. "Partners, but be warned, the methods we use to travel between worlds does not give us warning about where we will end up. It may well be that, in future, we arrive in a location, and find ourselves on opposite sides of the local conflict, as we were here. I've tried keeping out of these conflicts, but that never works, so we will just have to do the best we can."

 

The serious comments done, Bortholemew smiled and held out a hand. "Luma, show Raven what we came for." A hole formed in his beard, allowing Luma to exit it. She half carried, half dragged a bright red flower with her, dropping it on Bortholemew's hand so he could show Raven.

 

"One of the Tears of Edgli," the beardspren said. "The painter used it while he painted the image that showed our Library."

 

The bearded one himself continued the explanation. "The artist remembered the day he painted it. He awoke one morning, with an overpowering urge to go and paint one of the plazas, but he had no idea why. He also doesn't remember submitting the painting for inspection. Very odd circumstances."

 

Turning around, Bortholemew addressed his high priest. "Thank you, Haribo. Your service here has been most appreciated. Now, it is time for us to depart, and return home."

 

The confused priest opened his mouth to object. Surely this was his God's home? Then he seemingly thought better of it as the midget walked over to Raven and asked, "Ready?"

 

A few minutes later, there was no sign of either of the Gods, apart from a single strand of beard hair floating to the ground, and a high priest who stood there, jaw dropped, trying to work out exactly what he had been witness to over the past few days.

[Gamma Fiend]

Apologies for the delay in me getting in my final comments for the game! >.> (And for the general laziness of my GM'ing overall)

 

Either way, it was a very fun game to run, and all players did a fantastic job, I think, regardless of outcome! This game was definitely very unique with the essentially roleless aspect of it, save for the Breath which I'll address in a moment. The lack of power roles definitely showed, as there was quite a good bit of discussion and analysis in the game, which I think is always a good thing.

 

Of course, the whole Breath mechanic was totally a new and interesting mechanic. In the Dead Doc, I did discuss it a little bit, and while the Mechanic can have some uses or slight purpose, it was mostly just a red herring so the game didn't feel totally vanilla in flavor. While we did see it's use (and almost use when Joe was lynched), it was designed so that the pace of the deaths would never truly slow down (and could even speed the game up, if many Breaths were used or wasted!). While it's not a perfect mechanic, or even one that makes a lot of sense, I thought it was an interesting flair in the game for sure!

I did regret having to do the Retcon on the ruling for lynches with the Breath, but I think my second ruling was more in line with the flavor of the mechanic overall, and at the time, hadn't affected the game in any major way at all. Of course, things could have played out very differently, and could be a possible way to experiment with things in future games, but I'll leave that up to fresher GMs than I!

Once again, many thanks to everyone for playing and participating, and even the Spectators for watching and enjoying the game! Apologies again for no actual Master Doc, but everything in the game was rather straight forward as it was! I'll leave the thread open for a day or two to allow any final comments or questions, or if anyone wants to do any final RP or anything fun, etc.