Long Game 2: The Devil's Den

[Leonardus]

"Oh man this is going to be troublesome, an inquisitor amongst our midst? This will get ugly rather quickly. Also I have the most curious feeling that someone wants me dead. *Shivers*

 

Meep I get the feeling we're gonna get butchered.

Edited January 29, 2014 by Leonardus

[luckat]

She looked over the crowd in the room. Most were panicking at the thought of being poisoned. One of them was the Inquisitor. He or she would want to blend in, for now, and hope to find the antidote, or at least kill the rest of them.


One of the group stood up and claimed that he was a Mistborn. Lucy wondered at the audacity of saying such a thing in front of everyone. On one hand, if he was Mistborn, he was putting a pretty big target on his head, although his plan that others protect him made that less dangerous, for now. On the other hand, if he was the Inquisitor, he was taking a surprisingly big risk that everyone would believe him. Unless he had a way of disguising his powers to a Seeker.


Lucy listened to the arguments and the plans and felt a deep worry. They were saying so much right there in front of everyone. Surely the Inquisitor would mess with their plans, somehow. But what else could they do. They couldn't trust anyone alone. Lucy shuddered. Maybe that Peng was a Mistborn. She felt a small glimmer of hope that there was finally someone she could trust, who would help fight the Inquisitor, whatever it took. However, she pushed that thought back. Not yet. She'd have to wait out the night and see what happened.


Watch for the Inquisitor, that was her job now. Look for anything suspicious.


She was going to work to destroy the Inquisitor, even if it cost her her life.

 

Edit: I think I pressed the wrong button for something.

Edited January 30, 2014 by luckat

[Shivertongue]

To his great delight, Shiv found himself being answered, and in Eastern - poor Eastern, admittedly, clearly not learned on the streets, as was proper. But still, it felt good to hear it from lips other than his own. And by not just one, but two people - one of whom seemed to be offering him a drink, the other asking him for one. 

 

An easy solution. With a wide grin, he took the offered drink, and placed in the hands of the young girl who'd requested. "Always as having of the give," he said, winking his remaining eye at the girl, who was giving the whiskey an odd look. "Classing to common clatter to clang. Borning to high the never to liking."

 

"I am nothing if not generous."

 

"I have a feeling you've never tried what we drink down at the bottom. Your parents would hate it."

 

Lifting three fingers to the bartender, three more drinks were soon set out before him. Pushing one into the hands of the man, and one into the hands of the girl, he lifted his own between the two. "Notting the name of knowing," he said, glancing to either one. "But notting the need as notting the want. Reading ready was the revel right!" He paused, looking up over the rim, his eye settling on the girl, then shifting to the guy. "Warning the have - having as hard on the high. Wasing the have of brightness using to calling the mind."

 

"I don't remember your names."

 

"But really, who cares? Let's have some fun!

 

"By the way - this is really, really strong. Might be smart to take it slow if you aren't used to the strong stuff."

 

Lifting his class high, he grinned again, declaring, "Having to always wasing the new! Having as notting to rue! Wasing the was of end, as what end loving the find!" Pouring the drink down, he slammed the empty glass on the bar as the harsh liquor ran down his throat, sending a delightful shudder down his spine. That stuff could purify metals. "Have to the finding right rot."

 

"To new adventure! To no regrets! If we go down tonight, we go down having fun and looking good!"

 

"Let's go get in some trouble."

[Peng the Just]

@shiv can I just say that your high imperial street slang entertains me to no end?

[Herowannabe]

Agreed, it really is quite masterful.   

[Gamma Fiend]

I'll admit, Shiv's eastern slang has been very entertaining. Although I'm glad he puts in the translations.
And pretty hilarious how my offer of a drink and Cessie's asking for a drink worked out.

It appeared Gamon was resigned to drink with these two interesting characters. Add in Eddy, still babbling incoherently nearby, and the night was shaping up for a good time. And why not? Chances were they would be missing a few more people come morning.

"Wasing the wanting of fun while the wanting of fun was wasing!" Gamon knew he was speaking nonsense, and he wanted to chastise himself for acting so silly. But really. What did it matter?
 

[Edgedancer]

Eddy realized that a little group, including Gamon, was starting to share drinks. Even though he understood next to nothing it seemed fun and there was alcolhol, so, while taking a deep chuck from his brandy-bottle, he joined the group. "So ar we oing to wash some funni hats or wat iz the plan?"

[Alvron]

"RUIN TAKE YOU MODEFT!" Vron yelled. Another bottle sailing across the room to lie shattered among the remnants of its brethren. "Seven bottles of water and I still can't find anything out of the ordinary."

Despite several hours of furious work, Vron was no closer to finding an antidote than he was to finding the fabled cache of atium.

So great was his rage that he almost missed hearing the floorboard outside his room creak as someone stepped on it.

"So, he has come for me has he, well I'll not go down easy. I have a few tricks up my sleeve."

Grabbing a couple of glass orbs from his nightstand, Vron moved to the side and waited for the door to open. A few seconds passed then a piece of paper slid under the door. Letting out a sigh of relief Vron listened to the sound of footsteps slowly recede down the hall. After replacing the glass orbs, he picked up the note and scanned its contents.

"They want WHAT? NOW? In the middle of the night? Don't they know they need to drop their messages in early." he exclaimed. "Oh well, a delivery is a delivery even if it's not one I normally make."

Gathering up what he needed, Vron donned his cloak and set out into the mists. As he rounded a corner a thought suddenly struck him.

"That's it. I know how to cure the poison. All I have to do is dose myself with a stronger one and then drink the antidote. As long as its potent enough it should override Modefts poison. Hmm, I'm going to need a few things first. Aspren should be able to acquire what I'm after."

With that happy thought, Vron set off the deliver his package with a spring in his step.

I agree. Shiv's eastern slang is a blast to read. I enjoy trying to work out what he's saying and then see how close I am with his spoilers.

Also I think Shiv is right. We need more inter-character interaction. This game will be a lot more fun if we try and play off each others stories. Even if we do it wrong it might still be worth a good laugh or two.

Having never done anything like this before, I might be wrong. Anyone else think we could give this a go?

Edited January 30, 2014 by Alvron

[Shivertongue]

@all: Thanks guys. It's a lot of work to get it there, and I'm happy to see people are enjoying it. (I admit to taking a tiny bit of liberty with the translations purely for the sake of humor.)

 

@Alvron: When I have played games of this sort in the past, at least on forums, it's always been a lot more fun for me to roleplay the character and interact with the other characters. It can add a lot of poingancy to the experience, especially when a character your character struck up a close friendship with ends up dying, or being the killer, or whatever. It's the benefit a forum version of this game can provide, that one can't get playing it for fifteen minutes at a dull party. That's not to say that people have to RP, of course, or should be required to. If you're not comfortable or confident in your writing, or just can't think of the right things to say, or if you just don't have that kind of time, no worries. But I definitely encourage it.

[Metacognition]

Working on the write up. It's going slow. For some reason, my creativity is drained today, so I'll get it up as soon as possible. Thanks for bearing with me guys!

[Metacognition]

Day 2 (Making up for Lost Time)

 

Ffnord was shaken. Typically, poisonings were very much a part of his world. It was a quiet, subtle thing, much like himself. It seemed as if everything was being turned on its head. Between the gruesome way Modeft was killed and the blatant disregard for the stealthiness of the poisoning, Ffnord felt far too exposed in this crew. So it wasn’t surprising that after his initial, and incredibly unusual for him, outburst, he found himself trying to find somewhere he could be alone. It wasn’t even that he disliked people; he was just so used to being ignored that he was now comfortable in his own thoughts.

 

While some of the crew reveled in a twisted form of defiance, Ffnord just wanted peace and quiet. This entire crew was far more garish and loud than he was used to and it seemed like some of their behavior was rubbing off on him. He needed to get back to the familiar. He was sure he’d be able to figure this entire situation out if he could just get some silence. He found plenty of that in the mists. As he expected, the silence seemed to help him think. The entire world was changing around him. From major events like the Lord Ruler’s death, to the minor things, like the tiny movement of that shadow near the top of the Harrows. Perhaps he could use that. The crew might be exuberant, but what if he started looking for littler cues? Something as small as a small twitch very well could give them away. Yes, this was the path he’d take. While Peng and the others moved about obviously, Ffnord could put his training to use and find the killer that way.

 

“Wait,” thought Ffnord stopping in startlement. “The tiny movement?”

 

Ffnord spun towards where it had been, but it was too dark, the shadows concealing anything that might be hidden there.

 

Suddenly, a glint of metal shot out of the shadows, appearing as if the darkness itself had spit it out.

It took Ffnord directly in the neck and he didn’t have time to cry out.

 

He fell to his knees, strangely calm. Everything had gotten too loud. This wasn’t his world anymore. His final thoughts were, “At least they were silent about it.”

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One wouldn’t think that the Harrows would be have anyone to sweep up the ash. The more chaotic ranks of society didn’t typically get a name as the most clean bunch. Even so, without people like Lam, the canals would likely be filled to the brim with ash. Besides, cleaning up the ash came with a few unique opportunities. Opportunities like the one he had tonight. Within the huge piles of ash that were carted and shoved out of the city, it was a simple thing to hide a body or two inside for easy removal and it was a nice supplement to his income.

 

Lam liked to use a cart for those times in which he needed to get rid of a body as well. It made it far easier to get it outside the walls without being noticed. Just pile up the ash high enough and anyone looking for it would have to dig deep to find the body.

 

It may make the job a bit easier, but it was still backbreaking work. When Aspren had given him Modeft’s body to dispose of, it had still been early afternoon. It was well into the night before he finished up. He’d needed a very large pile this time. For one, it wouldn’t do to have anyone discover Modeft’s body. If someone could recognize from the wounds how he had been killed, they would all be in trouble.

 

Throwing one last shovel-full of ash into the cart, Lam wiped his face. It was stained black from the sweat and ash, but it was done. He could haul this load out and probably still make it back in time for a drink. He was just about to put the shovel back up when it came to life in his hands, the metal blade swinging straight for his head.

 

Lam yelped and tried to force it back, but whatever was pushing on it was too strong. The best he could do is turn the blade so instead of chopping through his head, it smacked him with the flat end. The blow knocked him off his feet. The second blow, of his head hitting the street, knocked him out.

 

A figure stepped out of the mists. It was vaguely human in shape, but it seemed to have tendrils rippling all over its body. Without a word, the figure picked Lam up as if handling a child and shoved him into the ash pile until Lam disappeared from site. Lam would never wake up. The ash would suffocate him just as well as water would a drowning man and now the cart had two bodies ready for disposal.

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Weiry felt somewhat responsible. Considering he was one of those that was on watch the night Modeft was killed, shouldn’t he have seen the Inquisitor coming? He was one of the best they had and he had missed it.

 

Of course, thinking back on it, Modeft almost seemed to know. “Make sure no one leaves, Weiry. After tonight, we can’t let them get away,” he had said. Now, knowing about the poison, Weiry didn’t know if he had meant the Inquisitor or the crew. Maybe both?

 

Either way, Weiry had been focused on keeping a watch on those already inside, which he continued to do so now. Modeft was one of the better crewleaders he’d known and he wasn’t about to let the Inquisitor get away after what they’d done. Weiry was up in one of his spynests. The Harrows were built shoddily against the walls of the canal and mist filled the walkway, but Weiry had found a few good hiding spots where he’d have a view of areas that might have a breeze that parts the mists every now and then. The mists were tricky, but if you knew what to look for, you could learn a lot about what was happening in them.

 

The only thing Weiry couldn’t see was directly behind him, which is exactly why that is where the Inquisitor now stood. As Weiry studied the night, it pulled a spike out of it’s robes and waited. Hemalurgy was a messy, but precise art. If Weiry pulled the wrong way at the wrong moment, the spike wouldn’t hold onto his allomancy.

 

Something sounded below and Weiry tensed. His eyes strained to make out the humanoid figure in the night. It was in that moment of perfect stillness that the Inquisitor struck. Like a cobra, it moved with a burst of speed and before Weiry’s body could topple to the streets below, the Inquisitor was already gone.

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Shiv, Gamon, and Cessie never made it home. They had all passed out in the bar and were still there when Dyring came back in the morning to open up. He expected to still find them there; the potency and volume that they had all drank last night could’ve put down the entire crew. Dyring had no idea how they did it.

 

What he was not expecting was the scribblings on the wall. Did one of them write it? They were all so passed out, he didn’t think that even if Kelsier were to show up right in front of them, back from the dead, that they’d be able to wake up, let alone write. But if not one of them, then who?

The message read:

 

“Mistress DEATH lurks

                   Here among us

Thy WANTS now are

                   Naught but distrust

It has behooved  

                   Peng the Mistborn

To find poor Lam

                   And leave him torn

VENGEANCE is sought

                   For blood we thirst

May we find her

                   'Fore we die FIRST”

 

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Well, an hour late is better than nothing, right? Sorry guys, this one is not my best work, but I’m sure you’re all ready for the night to end anyways, right? Day 2 has begun and will end 36 hours from now unless someone asks for more time.

 

Ffnord was a Regular Crew Member! Lam was a Regular Crew Member! Weiry was the Lurcher!

 

Happy Hunting!

 

Updated Player List

Edited February 2, 2014 by Metacognition

[Peng the Just]

Lord ruler, he got a lurcher? dang it dang it dang it. My apologizes to Lam. probably wasn't the best way to go, suffocated in that ash.

[bartbug]

Wait. So did Ffnord and Lam both get coinshot deaths? I confused.

[Peng the Just]

Wait. So did Ffnord and Lam both get coinshot deaths? I confused.

that's my understanding. I targeted lam, and I'm guessing the normal coinshot targeted ffnord

[dyring]

After looking at the wallscribblings, and coming to the conclusion that, yes, indeed, the inquisitor is likely raving mad in addition to being a murderous nightmare. Splendid.

 

And it seems Lam is dead? By Peng?

 

This seems...

 

Dyring goes in search of Peng, waking him roughly(assuming he sleeps after a busy night ) and get him back to the bar.

 

"That"

 

Dyring points at the wall.

 

He then glares as Peng, and whispers something.(PM inc)

[dyring]

Dyring seem to consider. He then grumbles.

 

"to hell with secrets."

 

And goes to kick each of the sleepers.

 

"you, everyone, wake up."

 

"Peng killed Lam it seems. And yet, two people died from coins today. How did the inquisitor know that Peng killed Lam before anyone else?

 

The inquisitor must be someone who knew. Some people asked peng to let a small number know who he intended to kill.

 

One among that small number is the inquisitor. Either one of them, or Peng himself."

 

"given that none of those Peng told was stupid enough to tell even more people. But I hope not.

 

So Peng, a list. WHO DID YOU TELL?"

[Peng the Just]

Ok, here's whats going on. I told a couple people the target for my coinshooting abilities (lam, may he rest in peace) so that they could verify my identity if i was copperclouded. One of those was a self proclaimed tineye who said he/she would include my target in a tineye message to everybody. I targeted Lam with my coinshooting abilities, the normal coinshot targeted ffnord, and the inquisitor targeted wiery.

[dyring]

Dyring glares all around

 

"If the message on the wall was not written by the inquisitor, but by someone breakin into the bar at night, I want to know about it now.

 

Step up and say who you are so we can drop this line of suspicion.

 

And stop breakin into the bar! Yes I know your all thieves but this is part of the crew damnit!"

Edited January 30, 2014 by dyring

[Peng the Just]

So does everyone agree that I am, in fact, the mistborn?

[dyring]

"Your the mistborn or the inquisitor. If someone steps forward acknowledgning the writing, then yes. Unless someone is fooled"

 

(ooc - we cant do something if the inq manages to get someone to lie for him like Bart got mail to do last game, but hopefully noone will do that mistake again here) 

[Alvron]

I see three messages. Peng killing Lam. Distrust blood and Death wants vengeance

To me, it looks like we have three tineyes.

Edit. Might be four. Blood we thirst 'fore we die. Could be another.

Edited January 30, 2014 by Alvron

[Aether]

       Aether had never been a person to wake up and smile at each new day. It wasn't that he wished for death - he was just not much of a morning person. Waking up to find no less than three of his fellow villagers killed did not do anything to better his morning mood. If he had been grumpy at the rise of sun before, he was now scowling at it.

       "Survivor protect us. They got Fnord too?!" Ever since the events of Tyrian Falls, Aether and Fnord had grown close. Both of their cousins, Claincy for Fnord and Aether's own namesake on his side, had somehow gotten mad and brought on the destruction of the entire city and its population. With Fnord's death, he had now lost the only one who could ever identify with the overwhelming sense of loss and betrayal. No list, no matter of exquisitely complicated and masterly written, could ever compensate for this. Still, the Priest of the Survivor opened his writing satchel and took out his feather-pen and sheet of paper and started scribbling:

 

"Butcher's Bill, Urteau:

• Modeft, crew leader
• Weiry, lookout
• Lord Fnord, stealth expert
• Lam, street sweeper"

Looking at over his list, he added one last thing:

• "Lord Fnord, stealth expert and close friend"

[Robot Aztec]

Nobdoy send Roban any messages so he doesntknow who the tineye is or if the lie was what was sent him or not he is very confused and decinsdes that is tis est to fix confusion wiht more booze and opebing his secret coampretment e get out a big bottle of whiskley and starts working throu it nobdoy tips him they cane get their own drinks e thinks as the bottle goes up

[Peng the Just]

@alvron all that is one message. if we have another tineye, he didn't leave a message.

[Swimmingly]

Seekers, care to post results?