NOTW XXXIX: Impending Retribution Game Thread

askthepizzaguy said:

http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...-Monty&p=2053262566&viewfull=1#post2053262566

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(OOC: You should have said so earlier)

askthepizzaguy said:

Yes. I have not even read the arguments leading up to this closely, I have skimmed it and I saw that the vote was between Diamondeye and no one else in particular. Then I noticed some would rather brig him than kill him, and since votes are needed to do that, it's basically the only way I can be helpful at the moment, because my brain is fried.

But rest assured, I'll gladly vote for you tomorrow.

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Sprig voted Diamondeye, who then OMGUS'd him saying that sprig had a bomb while Seon and Duke Blackstone jumped onto the bandwagon fairly quickly. Apparently Sprig is also a scanner and DE knew it (if Methos is saying the truth), Seon unvoted sprig a while after… then everybody just started piling onto DE's bandwagon. I think he's a likely scum, but among the humungous bandwagon there's a few more scum conveniently hiding.

Takhisis said:

Sprig voted Diamondeye, who then OMGUS'd him saying that sprig had a bomb while Seon and Duke Blackstone jumped onto the bandwagon fairly quickly. Apparently Sprig is also a scanner and DE knew it (if Methos is saying the truth), Seon unvoted sprig a while after… then everybody just started piling onto DE's bandwagon. I think he's a likely scum, but among the humungous bandwagon there's a few more scum conveniently hiding.

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Even that summary hurts my brain.

Please make this really simple for me.

Sprig is guilty because:
Diamondeye is guilty because:
Other person is guilty because:

So far, I have-

• Sprig is guilty because he has a bomb, which he claims he told people about already, kind of odd for a saboteur to advertise that.
• Diamondeye is guilty because he can scan for items?

So far, I am unconvinced.

Sprig is 'guilty' (or so DE says) because he voted for Diamondeye has an explosive charge. He's supposed to be a bomb disposal squadman of sorts. He's also supposed to be a scanner but I've seen no proof of it. Ask the higher ranking officers.
Diamondeye is suspicious because he already knew of the explosive charge -as did the Captain of the ship- and used it to OMGUS sprig saying that he'd scanned himand found a bomb; while withholding the info on sprig being this supposed scanner.
Nictel'd be guilty, apparently, because there was only one kill when he was in the brig and there were at least two (I got injured somehow) kills when he was out. Not very believable…

As for the sprig v. Diamondeye and the bomb disposal, ask Captain methos if you can get him to talk. Dr. Seon's been acting very neurotic of late and insists on calling his meatbags patients 'victims'.

Even that summary hurts my brain.

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You're not the only one having sleep issues, so, yes, it's awful. Get some sleepwhile you can.

Just a note, Sprig no longer has the explosives. He's passed them on to someone else that I trust and no, I do not have them.

So that should clear him up…

Earthling said:

Diamondeye should be executed tonight, not put in the brig, and that's for a reason independent of the case against him, sprig, or anyone. I've already suggested this to some in private, but this would go whoever our top vote-getter was, because if we go straight to the next day and nothing happens at night due to this party, we're stuck with exactly no new information by putting someone in the brig. Then we'd essentially be wasting a day of voting and having to decide to imprison or execute again tomorrow. So if we intend to execute anyone, today OR tomorrow, we should do it today and then we'll have feedback and can consider our course of action tomorrow.

Then there's just the fact that Diamondeye has also not answered for any of the things that make him a suspected rogue, his case above was pretty empty, so I'm still entirely sure he must answer for his wrongdoings. It's the best case we've had so far and all the evidence points to Diamondeye's crimes as much as we could ever expect to get evidence on anyone.

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"Your argument makes sense but not for the reasons you think. As I said earlier today, I would have it to be my death or Sprig's, and no compromises, because Sprig's relative safety hinges on the fact that I am guilty, which I am not. Once that is publicly confirmed, people will know how to deal with Sprig. And Renata. And Methos."

"Also, what evidence is there of me being a suspected rogue? If it is anything apart from slander and unfounded lies, I will address it properly."

askthepizzaguy said:

Even that summary hurts my brain.

Please make this really simple for me.

Sprig is guilty because:
Diamondeye is guilty because:
Other person is guilty because:

So far, I have-

• Sprig is guilty because he has a bomb, which he claims he told people about already, kind of odd for a saboteur to advertise that.
• Diamondeye is guilty because he can scan for items?

So far, I am unconvinced.

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"It's a precise summary, which is why the amount of votes on me has me quite flustered."

"It would be the best solution if Sprig is executed today, although I doubt we're in time. That would mean that he cannot hand over the bomb, and as such I can be proven right."

"The next best solution is that we both live, and that I reveal to people my inventory list, which I am updating daily to keep tabs on who of you has what items. So far, it holds notes on Rhawn and Sprig."

"If you do not believe this evidence, solid as it seems, and provable, but think it forgery, the third option in order to catch this saboteur is to execute me. My innocence will lay waste to the defenses that have been conjured around Sprig, for it is not founded on his actions, but of that of his accuser, myself. I hope it will not come to this, though, as if his unlikely story of being an innocent bombing expert is true, we are wasting precious time."

"I maintain my current accusation: Sprig has in his possession a demolition charge. He has admitted this himself. I find it a reasonable foundation for suspicion - enough that it may be our best lead yet. This is the reason why we should not let him live."

Takhisis said:

Nictel'd be guilty, apparently, because there was only one kill when he was in the brig and there were at least two (I got injured somehow) kills when he was out. Not very believable…

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I hate to be Captain Obvious, or even in this case, Recruit Obvious, but there's not a whole lot of choice when you're guilty of murder and thrown in a brig and unable to murder, and then get released back into the crew, where you can murder again, and your only hope of victory is murdering everyone, but to go out and continue murdering.

If tossing Nictel in the brig lowers the number of murders because he's a murderer, that's a bad thing why? If tossing Nictel in the brig lowers the number of murders because someone wants to frame him, that's a bad thing why? If tossing him in the brig leads to the number of murders staying the same, release him from the brig.

I know it seems too obvious, but that's why we're ignoring it, and that's why we're being sloppy.

OOC: Backwards Logic, that was not a request to show an item, or to put it up for vote or anything like that. I'll wait until tomorrow to consider that alternative, as this phase is almost over.

End Midday Phase Three, Start Night Phase Three



Journal Entry Number Nine. 20:00 shipboard time.

It was bound to happen sooner or later.

After a slow start to the day, the accusations picked up in the second half of the day. It all started with an accusation of Commander Diamondeye by Seaman Apprentice Frozen in Ice, who pointed out a discrepancy in the Commander’s perception of the saboteurs. After being called on it, Diamondeye dropped the hammer on Sprig, claiming he has in his possession an explosive charge, presumably one used to destroy compartments aboard the Impending Retribution. After a sharp rebuttal by Sprig claiming he found it during his sweep of the ship during the first night, the masses found it close to impossible to hold back their votes and condemned Diamondeye to death on the suspicion he was a saboteur. Late in the day there was a rally by some to close the gap to get the Commander imprisoned instead, but it was too little too late.

Commander Diamondeye, still holding his half-finished glass of amber liquor, calmly marched to the center of the Galley to await his sentencing. Here, Methos approached the man and stripped the bars and insignia off of his uniform and cast them aside. Locking eyes with the former Commander, he calmly spoke.

“Diamondeye. You’ve been found guilty of sabotage and treason against your the ship, this crew, and your country. You are hereby sentenced to death per Command’s Code of Military Justice. Is there anything you wish to say?”

Diamondeye took one last drink and threw the empty glass aside. It shattered upon impact with the dance floor, sending glass shards everywhere. “You guys are making a huge mistake. I’m not the threat here, but you all fail to see that. I see logic and common sense isn’t all what it’s cracked up to be. You’ll regret it when I’m gone.”

“Very well.” Methos then fumbled around, suddenly realizing there was no method in place for ship-sanctioned executions. He scanned the crowd. “Uh, anyone want to shoot him?”

The crowd exchanged awkward glances with itself; also realizing no one had the stones to carry out the punishment. Diamondeye looked slightly amused as the crew collectively bumbled around aimlessly trying to come up with a solution that didn’t involve one: getting one’s hands dirty and two: bloodying up the dance floor. It had been polished to an immaculate shine and blood would just ruin all of that work. After much deliberation, a voice could be heard in the background. It was askthepizzaguy.

“Arrrr, laddies! We best be keelhaulin’ this traitor. Tie a rope ‘round his waist and drag him stem to stern under the boat. That will kill any man! Arrrr!” Diamondeye suddenly didn’t look so amused anymore. Methos seemed to like the thought. Finally, a useful idea out of one of the pirates…

Except there was one minor issue – there wasn’t a rope long enough to satisfy the almost quarter mile-long length requirement to cover the whole ship. Since the most rope they could come up with was a fifty-foot length, it was tied into a noose and fastened to an upper catwalk connecting the various compartments of the superstructure. The makeshift gallows in place, Diamondeye was strung up and as soon as a large enough ocean swell disturbed the ship and thus his balance a top a small crate, he lost his footing and plummeted, noose tightening around his neck into a stranglehold. After a few moments of violent kicking and writhing, he finally died. He was taken down from the rope and placed on the destroyed Deck while others went below decks to check on his possessions. When they returned, they had some grim news:



An Inventory Sheet was brought out from his belongings and would be voted on tomorrow. Which reminded the crew of the other items they already had voted on. Methos for the second day in a row received the Crate while Commander God Emperor received the Assault Rifle.

With that news out of the way, the crew went back inside to the Galley to enjoy the night’s festivities. It seems the cook had been holding back on the crew all this time. Instead of the usual drab flavored ‘stuff’ they normally got, in front of the crew now was a buffet like they had never seen before. Caviar, Lobster Tail, Chateaubriand, and Asian Short Rib greeted the sailors and they all went positively nuts over it. Music filled the hall and it wasn’t long before the alcohol had everyone dancing. Winston Hughes kicked off his high heels and was gliding all over the floor, and Nictel had brought his favorite fire extinguisher as his dancing partner for the night. Takhisis still injured and confined to a wheelchair, was used as a makeshift bowling ball to see how many drunken dancers he could knock over with one good shove. For those wondering, his best attempt clobbered four people.

The night drifted onward as the crew danced and drank its way to oblivion. They were so far gone that none of them failed to notice the ship shudder violently as morning drew closer. When the party ended a few sailors decided to head on back to the Sleeping Quarters to catch some shut-eye before the day truly began and the sight that greeted them was not pretty.

The compartment was destroyed beyond belief. Every bed lay mangled, footlockers warped, and the floor was littered with debris from everything imaginable. The center of the room under what had been a huge table now sported a gaping hole. The crew members, still partially drunk, looked around and tried to piece the scene together. It took some time but it soon became evident what had transpired here: the compartment had been targeted by an explosive charge.

Since they couldn’t sleep there, a few decided to head further below decks to the Brig to catch some sleep there. Except there was a problem in this compartment as well, or rather, a continuation of the problem that had surfaced yesterday. The Brig, and upon further inspection the Sick Bay and Magazine all received additional flooding damage caused by the destroyed Deck above. Due to the party, no one had been able to go out and repair the damaged sections to restore integrity to the hull.

Thus concludes the events of last night. Turn the page and you’ll find the next morning’s summary.




Execution:

Diamondeye: 17 (14 players, 3 secret votes)
Nictel: 6 (5 players, 1 secret vote)
Sprig: 2
rhawn: 1

Assault Rifle:

God Emperor: 6 (5 players, 1 secret vote)
Methos: 4
Ekolite: 4 (3 players, 1 secret vote)
Winston Hughes: 3

Crate:

Methos: 13 (12 players, 1 secret vote)
Winston Hughes: 3
landlubber: 2

End Night Phase Three, Start Morning Phase Four



Journal Entry Number Ten. 06:00 shipboard time. Nine Days to Port.

The conclusion of the party meant morning had arrived and with the Sleeping Quarters destroyed, sailors flocked back into the Galley to power nap and be ready for the day. The day promised to be a busy one as there were currently no shortages of leads and/or suspects.

Some of the crew consumed now-cold leftovers from the night before, and while at room temperature, the food was still better than what they normally received at this time. The others who avoided the food probably had good reason, given the amount of alcohol consumed. After mealtime was over the crew went about the now routine task of yelling at each other.

Methos was heading back to his quarters when an aide interrupted his walk. “Sir, your presence is required in Intelligence. Fearing another death, he took a deep breath and headed upstairs.

When he got there, he was relived to see no one dead nor any damage to the compartment. Instead, his attention was brought to a blank video screen. The aide continued.

“Sir, we received this transmission five minutes ago. I will play back the recording for you now.”

After hitting ‘play’ the screen went static for a moment, then a man appeared. He was clearly foreign and of considerable importance. He spoke very calmly, though with a tinge of unease in his voice.

“Last night, von of ar top diplomats aboard your ship, zee Impending Retribution, failed to contact us vith his status and vherabouts. Your Command had notified us of some… issues currently aboard ship and vee can only assume the lack of communication between our man and ourselves means this issue has caught up to him. Vee have spoken on ze subject and have come to this conclusion. In zee interests of continued peace between our two nations, Command has authorized us to retaliate in anyway vee see fit to justify this crime. This message serves as notice that this is not at act of war, but instead a notice of…” He smiled. “Impending Retribution. Good day.”

Methos went white. He ran to the CIC hoping, praying that somehow Aegis had become online during the night. It had not. He hoped there would be time to get it online before the attack came, but there was no way of knowing how fast it would come. If it came now, they were sitting ducks…


New Rank Hierarchy:



Night Phase Three is over and posting is open.

• Execution votes in Bold
• Votes for the Inventory Sheet in Blue.

Quick Notes:

• Over/Under Number is 4.

You may now post!

That was one of the worst things imaginable. First, DE was innocent, which was something I wasn't expecting. Second, the party not only halted all repairs, but its gained us another problem. Tell me, exactly why did you throw this party? Its caused more problems then it did help.

Well that pretty much sucked on a lot of levels.

Diamondeye said:

"Okay, I can understand why you're angry about possibly costing us a useful person. Well, execute me then. It's not like I can investigate who has what items. Because that's not useful. Just throwing out here that I've been investigating for two nights, and I've found out that Sprig has a bomb, and Rhawn has a powerful weapon."

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So Rhawn: tell us about this powerful weapon of yours.

I like BSmith for Commander. I doubt he is serving us at maximum capacity as a lowly recruit, and I approve of his contributions to the discussion so far. I'd like to nominate him for consideration.


By the way, I can't say I was surprised at all by the result. In all honesty, the last day just looked like innocents with itchy trigger fingers eating themselves. Which I believe I said here:

Diamondeye is guilty because he can scan for items? So far, I am unconvinced.

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Should have brigged him. Executing him based on that case was not wise. Hindsight however isn't helpful in and of itself, except to perhaps prevent similar action in the future.

Unless we have a SOLID case on someone, massive voting bandwagons are nothing but failwagons. Let's avoid that from this day forward.


Classical_hero for the brig, and I want the inventory sheet to go to Methos.

Well first thing is first, I am greatly surprised at the late Commanders Innocence. Pretty shocked really, all things seemed to point to him being guilty.

Though, with regards to the Party. I told you all the party was a bad idea, the Explosive could have been disarmed had I been able to scan during the night. But alas now we have to live with our reckless action.

Also did you remember someone telling you to fix our defenses? oh yes thats right, that would have been me.

The situation is indeed grave. Captain, was there anything of use in yesterday's crate? We still have a large portion of the crew that hasn't seen fit to show their faces, at least to say anything meaningful, and part of me thinks we should start shooting them, to make sure that saboteurs and rogues can't just hide in the shadows. On that note, I move that Darth Caesar be court-martialed and executed if he doesn't show himself. In the immediate wake of Captain Whitower's death, he appeared only to abstain, and hasn't shown his face since. This is conduct unbecoming an officer, and he should pay.

What was so compelling about the case on Diamondeye?

I must have missed it somewhere. Honestly, how was he guilty if he was too busy scanning for items to be murdering or saboteuring?

AT WORST he was scanning for items to then later steal, as part of a team of guilty parties, and while that was possible, his value to us as a living innocent versus the threat of him as a guilty party sitting in the brig, should have made an execution of the man obviously a bad move. If he was a threat, it could have been removed from us.

The brig stops saboteurs from sabotage, and murderers from murdering. Put people in there, and if the sabotage stops, or the murders stop, regardless of it being a ploy or the result of their guilt, it is still a good thing and gains us information while prolonging the voyage safely.

Secondarily, the brig is not a permanent state. Do you guys realize what a powerful investigatory tool it is? It's almost overpowered, and could cause the innocents to prevail in basically any situation similar to this.

It either stops the baddies in their tracks, or forces them to bluff that they've been brigged. Either is a good outcome for us, you must understand this.

The longer the voyage takes, the more items we get, the more repairs we can make, the more we heal, and the more we learn. There's plenty of time left and the guilty people aren't going anywhere. They can't switch bodies.

Settle down, think clearly, use deduction, delaying tactics, investigate, repair. Let the saboteurs and murderers make the mistakes, don't rush things.

That message from some sort of foreign diplomat could point to Seon… although maybe he's been doing all this fake-German accent in PMs for a laugh.
Methos, can you tell us anything else about this transmission regarding the diplomat?

Engines and bridge should be repaired ASAP.

askthepizzaguy said:

Should have brigged him. Executing him based on that case was not wise. Hindsight however isn't helpful in and of itself, except to perhaps prevent similar action in the future.

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He'd have been WoG'd anyway, but it looks like many secret voters piled in just to make sure DE died…

Sprig said:

I told you all the party was a bad idea, the Explosive could have been disarmed had I been able to scan during the night. But alas now we have to live with our reckless action.

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I don't know why they did it at all…

And the situation is NOT grave. You should know better than to be so melodramatic, Autolycus.

You're usually a bit more stoic than that. Why are you pretending that things are so terrible? Is it just bad acting?