NOTW XLV: The DOOM Project

The mercenaries met again at the end of the day; this ritual had become a violent and bloody tradition. For several days they had wrongfully accused their own teammates, and thus they lynched their own brethren in a desperate act of survival.

Today, the operatives kept their eyes narrow and braced for any immediate conflict, not wanting to repeat the murder of their fellow soldiers for another day in a row.

johnhughthom stepped forward. "Today will be different," he muttered. There were only a fraction of the original team left; no longer were the discussion filled with various voices expressing their opinions. Now, each operative gave their vote as a measure of preservation, hoping to finally see the light of day once more.

johnhughthom entered the circle of operatives. He drew his pistol, keeping it at his side in an nonthreatening manner. He began slowly walking in front of the group, meeting their gazes and staring into their eyes.

No, he didn`t stare into their eyes; he stared deeper.

He paused in front of CivCube. He hesitated for a brief moment, fearing that CivCube knew he had held his gaze for a fraction of a second longer than the other operatives. See, when johnhughthom passed in front of CivCube, and met his gaze, he was hit with the most startling and threatening revelation he had yet experienced on the mission:

He recognized those eyes. They weren't the eyes of a friend.

He took another step forward, feigning that CivCube had passed the test. In reality, he locked his free fist into a tight grip and, pivoting on his heel, slammed a punch into CivCube's stomach.

CivCube stumbled backwards, reeling. johnhughthom followed that strike with a blow from his knee, landing it in CivCube's groin with tremendous force. CivCube fell to the ground, and johnhughthom braced his foot against CivCube's chest.

He asked CivCube coldly, "What are you doing here?"

CivCube's eyes widened. Regaining his composure, he replied briskly, "You and your Master have dabbled in this problem for far too long. Just as you failed over and over again for the past millennias, so will you fail here."

johnhughthom didn't move a muscle. "We've nearly succeeded as it is."

CivCube chuckled. "Without your Master, you are weak and feeble. We put him down, like the dog he is, and you will be next. The cycle continues -- we are ever victorious against you and your kind."

CivCube began laughing softly. johnhughthom, enraged, turned and shot CivCube in the kneecaps; he cried out in terrible pain.

"Laugh now."

johnhughthom rapidly shot CivCube twice in the gut before pausing for a brief second; he then took aim and put a bullet through CivCube's head.


CivCube was lynched!



* * *

Meanwhile, with the mission end in sight, the Relics are given to their guardians: Relic #2 goes to NinjaCow64, while Relic #4 goes to Choxorn.

Lynch Vote:

CivCube (4) -- CivCube, choxorn, johnhughthom, Buddhafish
Takhisis (2) -- NinjaCow64, SouthernKing, spaceman98, Takhisis

Not Voting: dcmort93

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Relic #2 Vote:

NinjaCow64 (6) -- CivCube, Choxorn, dcmort93, NinjaCow64, SouthernKing, Buddhafish
Choxorn (1) -- johnhughthom

Not Voting: the rest

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Relic #4 Vote:

Choxorn (6) -- CivCube, Choxorn, dcmort93, NinjaCow64, SouthernKing, Buddhafish, johnhughthom
NinjaCow64 (1) -- NinjaCow64

Not Voting: the rest

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Not that it matters, but I did vote for CivCube.

choxorn said:

Not that it matters, but I did vote for CivCube.

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Tracked the wrong row in the spreadsheet.

Well, that was a pleasant surprise.

Wait...there were only two votes for Taki?

Orders locked in one hour.

I will delay the update till tomorrow morning, because I think it's more well-received in the mornings.

Buddhafish's footsteps echoed far too loudly for his own liking.

He was alone, heading towards the pit leading to Chamber Six. All other chambers had already been explored and identified; considering there was one relic left to find, process of elimination leads to this final destination.

Buddhafish lugs his massive weapon along with him. He kept the barrel focused on his path, his finger braced along the trigger for any sign of movement.

He saw his objective -- the massive pit dangling off one side of the tomb. He cursed silently, having no one to cover him; he resigned to his solitary situation and set about safely attaching the Climbing Equipment to the rock face. The harness, though tight, fit his build nicely.

The hole was about ten feet wide, but it stretched for an unknown distance downwards; he couldn't see the bottom.

He hesitated for a moment, not knowing which trajectory he should take for his descent. Reaching into his bag, he retrieved a Flare and cracked it in his hands. The contraption roared to life and illuminated the entire Room and many feet downwards.

Buddhafish sighed and dropped the flare downwards. It was, admitably, a pretty cool sight to see: as the flare fell, its light revealed more and more of the chasm below. After a few seconds, it hit the bottom, revealing a clear path of descent downwards.

Buddhafish held his massive firearm with a single arm as grasped the line with the other. Exhaling deeply, he kicked off the floor, slowly falling downwards. He used his legs to brace himself against the wall as he lowered, keeping his head looking over his shoulder below.

As he reached the bottom, the flare died. He hit the ground safely, but under his boot he heard a sickening crunch.

He reached for the second flare and lit it.

The whole scene was gruesomely disgusting.

The pit had been turned into a graveyard. More than a dozen bodies littered the ground, in various states of decomposition. The corpses were horribly disfigured -- from their death, or the fall, Buddhafish didn't know -- and the flesh had already begun to rot.

The stench hit Buddhafish like a freight train, sending him convulsing backwards in reaction. He dropped the flare to cover his mouth and nose to desperately keep out the smell.

In that moment, he noticed a faint object lying on the ground about fifty feet away. Could that be the Relic?

Buddhafish knew he had to investigate. Readying his weapon, he advanced forward, keeping his sights on the shadows in case of an attack.

He reached the item. It was a Relic indeed. Scooping it up, he placed it safely in his bag and turned to leave.

Wait. What was that?

He heard something moving on the other side of the cavern. He turned his gun instinctively towards the general direction, freezing in place to increase his hearing capabilities.

The second flare died. He was in darkness.

He heard another noise. Was that a growl?

Goddamn. This could be it. He turned on his flashlight, but the beam didn't illuminate the entire chamber.

Whatever it is, it's getting closer.

Buddhafish temporarily thought to simply blind fire into the darkness, hoping to hit his target. Instead, he came up with a new plan:

Run.

He bolted towards the pit, careful to not lose his balance. Whatever was behind him gave chase, it's massive frame causing the ground to shake beneath it.

Buddhafish reached the chasm, but his legs were caught on something --

The corpses. They were grabbing him.

What the--

He had no time to think. Acting instinctively, he fired his weapon at point-blank rang into the bodies, causing gore to explode over him. Even still, the corpses groped him, holding him in place as the monster got closer.

Buddhafish fired a few shots at the approaching creature to slow it down, then returned to the grueling business of hacking away at the corpses. Limbs and organs spread across the room in the wake of his gunfire, clearing a bath to the ropes ahead.

Taking hold of them with one hand, he attached them to his harness while using his other arm to fire his weapon.

Just as the shadows seemed to overtake him, he slammed on the counterweight, sending him spiraling upwards out of the pit. The monster momentarily seemed to follow him upwards before crashing back downwards, roaring in frustration.

Buddhafish reached the top and crawled out of the pit, the Relic safely in his possession.

Night fell once more. Inspired by their recent successes, the team pushed forward, sensing the end in sight.

Each operative reported to role call. That morning, their minds and souls were uplifted once they learned:

BLUFOR Objective completed.​

All the Relics had been found!

* * *


* * *

Well now that we have completed our objective, what are people's thoughts on evacuation?

Hells yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes to evac.

BLUFOR objective completed, let's get out of here.

Yes. Let's get out of here.

Well I'm all for getting out of here

Mission successful. Let's get the hell out of here. Yes.

Is it possible that there are any OPFORs left?

I personally don't think so, but I'd like to see what everyone's opinions are.

Buddhafish said:

Is it possible that there are any OPFORs left?

I personally don't think so, but I'd like to see what everyone's opinions are.

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Maybe. It does say our objective is completed, so that would probably mean that the OPFORs don't have any of the Relics. And a five person Mafia team would be painful.

In regards to that 5 person mafia team, there haven't really been that many night kills by the mafia so the 5 person thing could be to compensate for that

Hmmm, no-no, we have to kill a certain 'Evil Entity' the resides here before we leave. Sorry dudes, but we have to cauterise this place. Respectuflly, no. We stay.

I killed Verarde two nights ago more on a whiff of scummy than anything else, and killed an OPFOR more because of dumb luck than anything else. That didnt' stop him (or his teammates, perhaps CivCube?) from killing Jarrema though, so we must assume there's still one more of them or else, the evil entity itself can kill.
I voted myself because I knew it'd take one vote off myself (a strange vote I have), otherwise there'd be no other killers. That's why I never voted anyone (days 01, 03, 05, 06, 07 -rode my luck there-, 08 and 09), or no Lynch (days 02 and 04)

CivCube's behaviour last Day I didn't expect at all, but I didn't want to risk it, even if he was temporarily 4-3 up. If he had a similar ability (presumably from him suddenly voting himself) I was toast so it was better to risk revealing my ability instead of going down.

Now… every night I've been having a list of people in the same room. I was told that I could attack Buddhafish who was in the same room, but at the end of the Night I got a message saying that dcmort93 and myself were there watching Buddhafish going down.

Now, dcmort03, you first suggest to everyone that we evacuate but don't vote yes on it, and only affter two others have agreed do you vote the same option. Explain yourself.

Takhisis said:

Hmmm, no-no, we have to kill a certain 'Evil Entity' the resides here before we leave. Sorry dudes, but we have to cauterise this place. Respectuflly, no. We stay.

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What? That wasn't part of the mission, mate.

Takhisis said:

I killed Verarde two nights ago more on a whiff of scummy than anything else, and killed an OPFOR more because of dumb luck than anything else. That didnt' stop him (or his teammates, perhaps CivCube?) from killing Jarrema though, so we must assume there's still one more of them or else, the evil entity itself can kill.
I voted myself because I knew it'd take one vote off myself (a strange vote I have), otherwise there'd be no other killers. That's why I never voted anyone (days 01, 03, 05, 06, 07 -rode my luck there-, 08 and 09), or no Lynch (days 02 and 04)

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Ah, interesting power, I have heard of it before.

Takhisis said:

Now, dcmort03, you first suggest to everyone that we evacuate but don't vote yes on it, and only affter two others have agreed do you vote the same option. Explain yourself.

Click to expand...

dcmort93 said:

Well I'm all for getting out of here

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That looks like he wants to evacuate, mate.

Takhisis said:

Now, dcmort03, you first suggest to everyone that we evacuate but don't vote yes on it, and only affter two others have agreed do you vote the same option. Explain yourself.

Click to expand...

Because I wanted to get other people's opinions on the matter before I decided to put in my thoughts.

dcmort93 said:

Well now that we have completed our objective, what are people's thoughts on evacuation?

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I'm only asking what people's thoughts on evac are since I was the leader last I checked and I didn't want to seem like I was imposing my will. Also if the BLUFOR have indeed completed their main objective by claiming all of the relics than that means that not only myself but everyone else holding a relic HAS to be BLUFOR so nice try but you are way far from finding scum