Herowannabe

As the crew ran out of the Captain's quarters to search the ship, Kiin turned back to his chair, leaning against it. He sighed deeply. "How could it have come to this?" he muttered. Behind him he heard a scraping sound. He whirled around, snatching his axe up from where it leaned against his chair. Apparently, not all of the crew had left. Hreo stood by the closed door, which he had barred shut with a grappling hook. "Hreo!?" Kiin barked, "You worthless cur! What in Domi's name are you doing in here? Get out there and find those mutinous dogs!" For the first time in his life, Hreo didn't jump to obey his Captain's orders. Instead, he spoke. "You know, from the day I joined this crew I've been tormented, mocked, scorned, laughed at, and ridiculed. I've been the brunt of so many jokes I've lost count. And all this time I could never discover which members of the crew were behind them. But I finally figured it out. It was you, Captain. All of it- the itch beetles, the Upchuck powder, the bloody hand- everything! It was always you! But now-" Hreo's cutlass rasped as he drew it from his belt. Hreo wasn't as big as the Captain, but he knew how to handle himself in a fight. And besides, his companions would be joining him soon. "- This time the joke is on you, Captain Crushthroat."

I have to agree with Luka. Changing votes at this point in the game isn't going to work. We would need everybody (who is good) online to have a chance, and right now I'm only seeing me and Jeno. Thanks for your vote of confidence Jeno, I think, but why are you advocating that you lynch me last if you also suspect me as the third mutineer? Honestly your reasoning doesn't make much sense to me. I was about to say that, based on today's activity, RiiKIAI and/or Jatae are the other mutineers. After Jeno's post though it just sounds like he's trying to muddy the water and confuse us, so now I'm not so sure. Luka- I'm not a mutineer. Really really. As for which of the other three (Rye-eye, Jeno, or Jatae) is the best one to target, I don't know. Good luck. Edited for clarification

Oh yeah, My last post is in the wrong place too. I'll get that fixed.

This post is where I will be putting my QF Legion rules for review and discussion (so moderators feel free to link here. Still working out a lot of details, but this is what I'm thinking: EIDT: I finally got around to posting rules for this game, but because it's been so long I posted them in a new post, which you can find here.

The Aonteo was quiet. Eerily quiet. Partially because so many members of the crew were now dead, partially because everyone was reeling from Riingar's outburst against the captain. He still stood there, cutlass in hand, glaring defiantly at anyone who dared meet his eye. Though several crew members whispered together, plotting to take down the mutineer, nobody had taken any action against him yet. They worried that if Riingar was willing to be this bold that it was too late to stop the imminent mutiny anyway. Perhaps the creepiest thing though, for Hreo at least, was that nobody had bothered playing any sort of pranks on him. He had been left alone all day. It felt... Weird. Seriously though, where is everyone today? I know Wyrm was one of our biggest talkers, but there are plenty of us still left. We need to be talking and figuring this out. Riingar said he had a fellow mutineer- I'm inclined to believe it's misdirection, that there are actually 3 mutineers, but it may be that there is only two, in which case we still have a chance. But only IF we don't give up. We have to keep talking, planning together and figuring out who Riingar has been working with this whole game (I'm still reeling from that Riingar. I had started wondering about your loyalty a little bit towards the end, but for most of the game you were practically last on my list of suspects. Well played you traitorous scum! ) Riingar also say he has the buckler. It's probably true, unless someone else can prove otherwise. Either way though, I'm betting Riingar doesn't have the mutineer-kill today, and is just trying to draw our attention away from whoever does have the kill, meaning we were probably getting too close. Who that might be though, I have no idea. Everyone has been under a lot of suspicion lately, and last week Riingar had the second most votes. Any ideas? Who looks like they might have been next on the chopping block?

Well crap. Didn't see that coming. Riingar obviously, though we're probably too late now. Who has the grappling hook? I bid on it, knowing that we would need it (and a lot of luck) to win, but didn't get it. I'm guessing it's probably in mutineer hands now.

Hreo woke up screaming. Someone had their hand on his face. He slapped it away but it was too light. It wasn't just anyone's hand, and there was no arm attached to it. It was, in fact, Wyrm's severed hand. It flipped down onto Hreo's chest, palm down like some sort of little 5-legged creature. Hreo grabbed it and hurled it against the bulk head, panting wildly. Most of the crew ignored the macabre prank. Things we're getting so grim on the ship that it was hard to find humor in anything anymore, even tormenting Hreo. No time for a mega post today, so I'll just address a few of the accusations at me. Mainly from Luka. Honestly, I was just as surprised as anyone that my lat minute week 2 shenanigans earned me MORE trust. I even said so, or well I implied it, when I commented on Rii-in-the-ski bumping me up to Valiant on his list. As for why I didn't say anything early, it was exactly because I wanted to avoid reactions like Luka's. I figured it could only bring suspicion down on my head. After all, why would anyone use a grappling hook to essentially cancel out their own vote? I wanted to reveal it on Friday, when Wyrm and a few others brought up the grappling hook incident again and were trying to draw conclusions from it. We're down to a handful of players and just a few days left, and I didn't want characters I trusted and respected wasting time and effort drawing false conclusions. But again on Friday I didn't have time to post really anything, so I did it as soon as I was able to on Saturday. As for why I went for KalFS on the following weeks, that's simply because he was my biggest suspect. I thought at the time that one of the gunners had to be a mutineer, and of the three self proclaimed gunners KalFS was the one I trusted least. By the way, this is true now more than ever- with this many gunners one or two of them HAS to be a mutineer. I'm positive because (time for another big revelation) I'm ALSO a gunner. You can doubt me if you like, but I'm sure by tomorrow it will be public knowledge anyway. And to address the next question: why would I reveal that now? Well thanks to Luka's grappling hook yesterday I'm sure I'm up next on the mutineer's chopping block. Every time the grappling hook has been used (regardless of who used it) on someone, that person has been attacked the next day. So I'm telling you this now, so that when the mutineers attack me tonight you won't be surprised when it turns out I'm a gunner. So this means we have at least 6 proclaimed or proven gunners in the game. Two of those (Jene and KalFS, are dead and proven innocent. 4 gunners are still alive. Jeno Wyrm Jain Hreo That means half of our current living players are gunners. Just for completeness, the non-gunner players are: Riingar Luka Jaelre Rii-tie-die Guys, at least one, if not two, of the gunners has to be a mutineer. In fact, I'm leaning more and more toward the idea that there are only two mutineers, both gunners. It just makes a lot of sense when you look at our inability to find any of them, the sheer number of gunners in this game, and the attack patterns that Riingar laid out. So which of the gunners do I suspect of being a mutineer? Obviously, I know I'm not. Jeno is looking more and more like a WGG. Wyrm could be as well, but then I would have to throw out all the sound advice he's given this game. Jain? At this point, he almost definitely is a mutineer. I would be shocked if he wasn't. Assuming Jain is a mutineer and we somehow miraculously are actually able to lynch him, then Jeno is my next suspect. Both of them are crazy enough that I could see them both doing a WGG. If it turns out there is only one mutineer gunner, Luka is my next biggest suspect, hands down.

How about this: You tell us the results, and then whoever dies gets to do the write-up as their farewell post. If two people die (although I don't think that's possible in this game) they can split it up. Edit: also, happy upvote birthday!

Everyone was watching Hreo. It was unnerving. And the thought he saw them chuckling out of the corner of his eye, just soft enough that he couldn't hear, but every time he looked straight at them they were suspiciously quiet and straight-faced. Hreo knelt back down and continued his scrubbing, trying to ignore then. As he leaned over his bucket he thought he saw something. The rocking of the ship made the water in the bucket agitated, so he picked it up and steadied it as best he could. As the water settled he could see his reflection, and could just make out something on his forehead. Someone must have drawn it there while he slept. Peering closer, he could just make it out. Aon Aba. The symbol for "buffoon." Alright, lots of stuff to address. Please forgive me if I miss something or don't have time to get to it all. First off, again I apologize about yesterday. I worked a long day and got home 20 minutes before we had guests show up, and they stayed until after midnight. I had to sneak in the little bit I was able to post, and even that was earning me dirty glances from my wife. Sorry. Next, I'm super worried that we haven't caught a single mutineer yet. There is only 9 of us left, out of 15. Assuming there is 3 mutineers, that means we have lost a full half of our loyal powder monkies, as well as several of our gunner's extra lives. If there is 4 mutineers, I don't think we have much hope. (Another possibility is that there are only two mutineers, in which case I bet they're both gunners). But for now I'm still operating under the assumption that there are three mutineers, and one of them is probably a gunner. So anyway, I've been thinking. As a few others have pointed out, it's odd that many of the most experience and trusted players have been taken out, while others haven't, myself included. There are two possibilities I can think of as to why: 1) of course, the most obvious explanation is that it's because the surviving trusted experienced players are Mutineers. If this is the case, they are doing a masterful job. Wyrm and Riingar both stood out to me as exemplary players early in the game and neither has done anything to make me suspect them in the least (meaning they have both been great at pushing for tactics that can only hurt the mutineers). And I know I'm innocent (though others may question my trustworthiness. Fair enough) so that rules me out. 2) Which leads me to my second theory: The mutineers are only taking out the trusted players who are a threat to them in some way. This is reinforced by Matim's death last week- he wasn't especially trusted or experienced (I don't think, I haven't followed the past few games that have been going). Take Rii-e-i-e-i-o. If his chart of evilness was any sort of threat to the mutineers I can't possibly see them leaving him alive this long. Especially since early on he had it out for KalFS, who we now know was safe. If the mutineers had killed Riissiissiippii early on it would have cast more suspicion on KalFS than anyone else, we would probably have lynched him, and the mutineers would have gotten what they wanted withot any of the suspicion. Which means that Rii-ki-o-Rii-ki-ay is either evil, or his chart is far enough off that the mutineers have left him alive so that he could lead the rest of us astray. I'm inclined to believe the latter, but not enough to add him to my "trusted" list. So I started looking at his Rii-bread's chart and asking myself "if I was a mutineer, where would I want to be?" The answer? Right about in the middle, easily overlooked. THIS is why I started suspecting Luka. I reviewed a few of her posts (albeit not as thoroughly as I wish I had time for) and if I were a mutineer, I'd probably be playing the game exactly like she has been. She is an experienced player (at least I remember her from at least one other game I played), she has posted often but not a ton, and hasn't tried TOO hard to prove herself as a trusted player and draw attention to herself. Many of her posts feel like she is trying to direct suspicion towards certain players or away from certain players. The only wrench I see in this theory is her inactivity early on, but as I think about it now if she was going to be inactive anyway then that shouldn't have any bearing on her guilt/innocence. Another one I'm starting to suspect more is Jeno (Wait, I know I've already been suspicious of him, but bear with me). I actually started dropping my suspicion for him, but he (along with a few other players, one of which is Luka) has been putting pressure on me because, as they say, "I believe that Jeno pulled a WGG." Go back and look at my posts. I never claimed that I believed it, only that it was a possibility that we shouldn't ignore, and that of all the gunners we know about I suspected him the most. I had actually started dropping the WGG idea, but now I feel like there is a movement among players to come after me because I proposed it. So Jeno is rising back up my suspicions list. Crap, running out of time and this post is long already, but one more thing I need to address: I was the one who had the grappling hook on week 2. I wasn't going to say anything but a lot of people have been worrying over it and I didn't want us to get led astray by it. I got the grappling hook in the first place because I wanted to try out some of the items. The loaded dice seemed pointless, and I thought (correctly as it turns out) that the buckler would be a high-demand item, plus I didn't think I was in much danger. That left the grappling hook. At first I was targeting New One with the grappling hook, mainly to make sure the vote went through for Jene. What happened next was pretty embarrassing actually. Despite what I said I was aware of the time limit and was paying close attention to the votes. When Jene threw out his last minute death-bed accusations it really did convince me of his innocence, at least at that time. I hurried and posted my vote change to KalFS, then sent a quick PM to Meta to change my Grapple-hook, but I TYPOED THE NAME! I believe my exact words were "changed my mind, grapple Kai." I intended to grapple Mai, but on my phone and in my haste I must have hit the K instead of the M (that or auto-correct screwed me up, as it's sometimes prone to do). Either way I sent the PM without proof reading it then hopped in the shower. When I came out and checked again the write up was already up. I was surprised by the mistake, but the end result wasn't too unsatisfactory so I stayed quiet and left it as is. I thought that it would make me seem more suspicious but surprisingly at the time several people started trusting me more. So anyway, I think that's everything. Do with me what you will, because I get the feeling that I'm up next on the mutineer's hitlist. Update: I've been working on this off and on all day and just reread the new posts. I'm not ready to join movement to vote Jene. Maybe he'll turn out to be a mutineer and then I'll be next to be lynched, but I'll take that risk. For now, I'll stick with my own suspicions and vote Luka.

bad day for me in real life. At work all day and have guests over all evening. I haven't even read half the posts today. Voting for Luka. Not a throwaway vote. Explain tomorrow. Sorry everyone! Edit: woah, just flipped through messages really quick and saw that Luka was voicing suspicions of me. Probably not a good idea to throw a vote out for her without any explanation. Glancing at Theorymaker's list, I would rather see Jain go than Riiiiiiiiiiiiikii

I want to sign up to GM a quick fix game. Still working out the details, but here's the tag line: Stephen Leeds is perfectly sane. It’s his hallucinations who are mad, and some of them are mad enough to kill.

So do we just suck at lynching people or what? Like seriously, we have to be setting some sort of record here. So what was it Jain, buckler or gunner?

I made it into "Meh." Yay! (I probably shouldn't be happy about that, but I am) It's late and I'm tired and not feeling well so forgive me if I don't elaborate much tonight. Like Riidiifiigiidiidiifkksjdidb, I voted for Kal repeatedly because I suspected him more than anyone else. Also because I felt like there was a movement among certain players to start steering the vote away from him. Obviously I was wrong. :\ As for Jain, honestly he never really appeared on my suspicion-radar one way or the other until now (which I suppose it means that maybe he should be HIGH on my suspicion list). I don't have any qualms about lynching him, but I'm not going to change my vote now. He's already got enough votes, and I'm going to stand by my vote so that it doesn't get forgotten. I also feel like there is currently a movement among a couple of players to steer suspicion away from the gunners. A movement that didn't start until after it was revealed that Jeno was a gunner.

"I ain't comin' out you cod-faced bilge-drinking scallywags!" Hreo shouted. Outside, the crew sniggered. There was a pounding on the door and then Captain Crushthroat's voice boomed out, "Get out here ye rat-eating sluggard! I don't care what ye look like, if this deck isn't swabbed within the next hour I'm going to personally throw you-" Hreo opened the door, and emerged, glaring daggers at everyone. Without saying a word he took up his rag and bucket and started scrubbing the planks. Behind him the crew cheered and hooted, shouting out cat-calls and jibes. This was, of course, because Hreo was buck nude. Completely bare from head to toe, save for the "mum" heart tattooed on his left buttock. Someone had stolen all his clothes in the middle of the night and tossed them overboard. I agree with Mai that it's unlikely that all three gunners are innocent. However I don't think it's Jene. His last minute plea the other day was pretty convincing- it's possible it was a ploy or some secret code to his fellow mutineers, but I don't think so. I'm also not sure how I feel about Mai's claiming to be a gunner then admitting he's not. However for now I'm (just barely) willing to trust he's being honest. So that just leaves Jeno. I realize I'm gambling on it being a wounded gazelle gambit, but that seems more likely to me than Jene's actions.

well crap. And Hrmm. And Wow. All rolled into one. Edit: WGG? What's that? Edit2: Okay, so obviously I was wrong about KalFS, and wrong about him possibly using a buckler (Good catch, by the way Luka. You are now among the few players I tentatively trust). But as I was thinking about it, I realized another possible use for the buckler. Allow me to explain: First week: Mutineer1 bids on a buckler. At the end of the week he receives it to be used the next week. Next week: Mutineer1 PMs Mutineer2 and says "hey I have a buckler this week! Attack me today and then people will trust me!" M2 attacks M1, M1 survives and we all trust him. Meanwhile M1 and M2 and any other Ms are back in their secret layer chuckling menacingly and rubbing their hands together. Now that being said, do I think that is what happened with Jeno? Maybe... I don't THINK so, but it is a possibility I'm considering. Mai: sorry it's late and I can't do the math- assuming your claims about the buckler bids are true, on which weeks did someone else have the buckler? Could Jene and/or Jeno have had the buckler on the day they were targeted? Or do we know for sure that either of them is a Gunner?

Re: Luka: Good point, I missed that. However, like I said, I still suspect KalFS more than Jene or Mai, and there is nobody I have any higher suspicions for at the moment. Plus, I hesitate to do more than one crazy-last-minute-game-changing-vote-change per game. Re: Mai: Fair enough. My behavior is pretty easy to explain though- this is how I've been in all the games I've played. The difference is that in the past games it all happened in PMs (just ask Aonar or JasonPenguin). Also, I'm finding that in these games they eat up so much of my personal time that I start not caring as much about whether I live or die and start acting just a little recklessly. The quick-fix format seems to be accelerating that feeling. :\ *shrug*

Hreo stepped away from the railing, shaky and pale-faced. Finally one of the crew had untied him- only because the captain ordered it- and Hreo had been fed a large bowl of stew. Which he had then promptly thrown up. Alright, sorry about not contributing as much today and yesterday. It was easy to be really active during the weekend but now that we're in the work week I'm having a harder time of it. Lets see, where to start? Honestly, I don't know why I'm that high up, either. I was aiming for "Meh," myself, but only because that's my favorite named category. But seriously, let's see if I can justify that ranking a little bit. Hreo, paused, turned green, then ran back to the railing. After a minute, he wiped his mouth off on his shirt and then returned. Let's break down the possibilities for yesterday's bandwagon, since (surprisingly) nobody has done it yet: 1) All 3-4 mutineers were part of the bandwagon to lynch KalFS. Possible, but unlikely, since (as has been pointed out) the baddies tend to not like being clumped together like that. 2) NONE of the mutineers voted for KalFS. Also possible, but unlikely. That would be quite the unlikely turn of events if roughly 2/3rds of the innocent players all happened to hone in on a Mutineer based on nothing more than suspicions. 3) Some of the mutineers voted for KalFS, some voted for other people. This seems by far the most likely scenario. With a full half of the votes of the surviving players on KalFS, there is undoubtedly at least one or two Mutineers in there. Even if KalFS is himself a mutineer (and I still suspect he may be, see below), then one or two of his villainous companions probably joined in on the vote once it became obvious he would be lynched anyway, just to divert any suspicions from themselves. Now as for why I am still voting for KalFS today- This time Hreo didn't make it to the railing, he fell to his knees and heaved his guts all over the deck. Nobody minded too much, Hreo would be the one cleaning it up anyway. It seems highly odd that nobody seems to remember the events of Week 2, where KalFS was saved by the grappling hook. We all (or well, several of us) suspected that it was a mutineer who used the grappling hook to save him. Then on the next day, when the lynch went through again, he survived, and all of a sudden that means he's innocent? Um, why? Even if he is a gunner, we already know that there are no safe roles (except the Quarter Master I assume), so why couldn't he have been a mutineer gunner? Or, let me propose another possibility. When the mutineers saw that KalFS was in danger of being lynched they used the grappling hook to save him (albeit just barely). Also, at the same time, KalFS bids on the buckler, knowing that his life might be in danger again the next day. Notice that he didn't claim to be a Gunner until the Week after he was saved, and when several votes had already accumulated against him. At that point, buckler in hand, it would be a pretty safe claim, and no one could disprove him. His fellow mutineers (or well, at least the 1 or 2 of them he had been able to PM during that time) could even safely add a few votes against him, knowing that he had his buckler to protect him that day. Or, I could be completely wrong and KalFS is just a regular Powder Monkey Gunner. However, of the three self-proclaimed gunners, he is hands down the one I'm most suspicious of. Hreo turned green again, and looked around, grabbing the now-empty stew pot from the shelf. After retching into it, he glanced up to the space on the shelf where the pot had been. Behind it was a bottle labeled "Up-Chuck Powder." An empty bottle. Behind him he could hear several of his shipmates chuckle. Edit: Spelling

don't have much time to post right now so I'll be fast. Being a gunner doesn't make KalFS any more or less innocent in my mind, so I'm going to have to vote for him again.

You guys still haven't untied me? Harsh! As for the outcome from last week, does anyone else find it odd that the two times we actually lynched someone they ended up surviving, supposedly from both being gunners? I'm not sure what that means, if anything, but it has my curiosity piqued. Edit: and to top it off, the mutineers haven't hit a single gunner/buckler in any of their three killings...

yeah, sorry again about that. Don't foresee doing that again tonight though, unless something drastic happens to convince me that KalFS isn't a mutineer. Edit: which is especially unlikely since I'm tired and going to bed now.

Hreo enjoyed the mist from the waves across his face. You had to take time to enjoy the simple things in life, especially with all the madness and suspicions and schemings and backstabbings taking place aboard the AonTao. Also when your crew mates have lashed you to the ship's figurehead and left you hanging there for hours and hours, ignoring your calls for help. Hreo had long since lost his voice and given up yelling. Eventually someone would come untie him. Probably. "Rough spot we found ourselves in, eh buddy?" Hreo croaked to his only companion, a stuffed panda that had been left dangling in front of him. The fuzzy toy had a big gash across its face where it had been stabbed by a knife, and the rope that held it was tied in a noose around its neck. It was creepy. Don't have a lot of time to post today. This is all I've had time to write after three attempts, and my lunch break is technically already over. :\ Maybe I'll be able to post more tonight. As for the last minute change last night- sorry about that. I didn't mean it to be a last-minute thing, I just wanted to get everything done before I went to bed. I still think that Jene and Wyrm are innocent, and the grappling hook yesterday seems to reinforce that. However, I can't say the same thing for KalFS. Edit: spelling

Well Jene, that's good enough for me. Despite being the one to put you in that position I'm convinced- at least enough to not lynch you today. I've never seen a baddy voice suspicions right before he was about to be revealed as a traitor. And I know some disagree with me but I still don't think Wyrm is a traitor. His arguments and strategies have been too solidly anti-mutineer for me to ignore. So I could vote for someone random and leave things to chance or I could vote to protect two of the people I think are innocent. Sorry KalFS.

Well now I'm in a dilemma. I was about break the tie by voting for Jene (my vote for Jatae wasn't ever meant to be permanent, it was there just so I could "get the coin" in case I didn't have time to log back in today) but now if I do so it will tie it up again. While I still stand by all my "vote for coin" reasonings, they are absolutely trumped by voting based on suspicions and information, and right now I suspect Jene the most. Kal Fengshi is up there, too, sorta, so I guess I will go ahead and vote for Jene. That way, if nothing changes and if someone does use the grappling hook we'll end up lynching someone I suspect either way. And yes I realize by doing this I might be painting a huge target on my back. That's a risk that I'll just have to take. Besides, the only ones who can afford to not take risks in this game is the mutineers.

Speaking for myself, I can see a couple reasons for voting "for the coins." First of all, coins are more valuable to the powder-monkeys than the mutineers (at least until the Quartermaster dies and the axe becomes available). The Grappling hook is best used to try to block (and therefore reveal) the mutineers. The buckler, while it can be useful against a vote, it has to be purchased exactly one day in advance, meaning it is more useful for protecting against mutineer attacks. The loaded dice? To be honest, I don't see the point of the dice. They cost at least 1 coin, and all they do is increase your chances of winning... Wait for it... 1 coin (unless I'm seriously misreading the rules, but I've looked at them several times now and that's what they say). So the best you can do with the dice is break-even and cause everyone else who gambled to lose their coins. The axe is more useful to the mutineers, which, as Wyrm pointed out, is why it's imperative we don't let them get it. Second, the other reason for voting for "random" people is (as Aonar pointed out on week 1) to GET that information you were talking about. I don't want to say too much because I don't want to give ideas to the mutineers on how they should or should not act, but much can be learned from people's reactions to getting a vote or two stuck to them. Lastly, and admittedly this is the most shaky reason, but probably the most common one, is nobody wants to be the one to lynch an innocent player. Past games have shown that when an innocent player gets lynched the people who voted for him/her immediately fall under heavy suspicion. I've been there before, and don't really look forward to making that mistake again. So I don't plan on voting for anyone unless I've got some good reasons to suspect them. Edit: which is not to say that you don't make some good points, Kasimir. I'm just saying there ARE some legitimate reasons for throwing out seemingly "random" votes. But remember, too, that there's nothing that a mutineer loves more than a bandwagon.

Okay, is anyone else getting more suspicious of BOTH Wyrm and Jene? I don't think they're both mutineers, but I wouldn't be surprised if one of them was. Edit: changed my mind and deleted some stuff after posting this. I really don't know which of then to suspect, so I'm leaving my vote as it stands. For now.