Mini-NOTW II: "Making Money" - Game Thread

[LightFang]

Wow, we dodged a bullet there. Luck, but still.

Anyway, the sign-up thread for Mini-NOTWIII will be up later today or tomorrow.

 

[oyzar]

Because it made me terribly suspicious of you, that's why. And later when Renata gave me pretty much the same story that you did, only claimed not to have talked to you during the game, I knew you two were up to no good. Too bad I died before I got a chance to use that. The idea was to lynch Renata (after BL's scan) and poison Lighty with the ring.

Or if you had not been so insanely inactive that day we could have done it one day earlier .

Oh and I helped paulus escape apparently, he said he could improve items, and i figured, what is there to lose?

 

[Renata]

I thought you were a nice person!

Actually I am. I just remembered why you got the extra smile the first night: it was because LightFang first suggested Bratmon, and I vetoed that on the grounds that it was poor Bratmon's first game. Went instead with someone who made a plausible first kill without pointing to anyone in particular (a guard), and who had done well in recent games.

Ironic on so many levels ...

 

[PaulusIII]

Oh and I helped paulus escape apparently, he said he could improve items, and i figured, what is there to lose?

Yep. I needed a weapon to escape the caravan, and you straight out told me that you had one on the first night. That set a few gears in my head turning... I'd briefly planned on BS'ing a weaponsmith to obtain that weapon, but you speeded it up a bit.

Nevertheless, my role seemed to be an easy one. There would've been several weapons lying around, and I would've been a difficult customer to get out of the way.

 

[Renata]

Because it made me terribly suspicious of you, that's why. And later when Renata gave me pretty much the same story that you did, only claimed not to have talked to you during the game, I knew you two were up to no good. Too bad I died before I got a chance to use that. The idea was to lynch Renata (after BL's scan) and poison Lighty with the ring.

This is also ironic. My idea with our various cover stories (I'll post mine also at some point) was to imply, if ever put under stress, that exactly one of us might be a "wolf", but probably not both. But they didn't get brought out (or thought out ) properly: the timing of the various levels of what I had in mind got messed up beyond repair pretty much from the start.

You really should have responded to us, though. Between your lack of response to LF's PM and your lack of response to my question about hell_hound it was pretty obvious that at the least you had some suspicions about us.

 

[Diamondeye]

Innocent PMs:

Spoiler Hell_Hound, the armor trader :

Role: Armor trader
Strength: 1
Victory Condition: Caravan: Elliminate all threats to the caravan.
Ability: None
Item(s): Mithril Vest (immune to killings at night, +1 strength, cannot be stolen).
Personal Goal: Survive till your victory condition is reached.

Background Story: You are among the finest armor traders in all of Kwythellar, and were greatly honored when the Kwythellar Trade Guild approached you with an offer to join aboard a caravan towards a completely new and unexplored market: The lands of the Balseraph. From what you have heard, the Balseraph are fond of arena fights (and warring), and would be an excellent market. In fact so excellent that you decided to bring along a special something; a mithril vest.
Mithril is not only a rare metal, it is also forbidden to sell to foreigners, even possess. The Nightwatchmen see to that this is enforced.

So of course, with the guide dead and killers loose on the caravan, you are growing a bit paranoid. Could the Kwythellar Undercouncil be behind this?
Luckily, your mithril vest will protect you from the knives of the killer, and since you are sleeping with it, it cannot be stolen. Still, the Night Watch are not stupid. If it's them, they'll find a way to hit you, of that you're certain.

Spoiler BananaLee, the Art trader :

Role: Art trader
Strength: 1
Victory Condition: Caravan: Elliminate all threats to the caravan.
Ability: None
Item(s): Idol Figurine (At night, you can ask the figurine a single question, which is then answered honestly - be exact in your wording and only ask yes/no questions!)
Personal Goal: You and at least one Hippus must survive.

Background Story: Some of the more ignorant merchants might call your job silly, and your profits lucky guesses, but you know better. You know art when you see it, and you know what it's worth and what it's not worth. And you know that Jubilee would be an extraordinary market for art.

Which is why you need to keep one of the Hippus alive, so he can escort you to Jubilee once this caravan has returned to Kwythellar.

Among your fine works of art, recently bought on the Kwythellar market, is a small idol figurine, which you have discovered to hold magical properties. Unfortunately, you are no expert on magics, but you are quite sure that a djinn is within the figurine - and a djinn can answer most questions. Perhaps this'll be useful in finding whoever killed the guide.

As soon as you saw the body of the guide, you realized that you had to find someone to trust - and a quick question to the idol confirmed that the Hippus had nothing to do with the killing - so they might be your best bet right now. They're strong and can keep the killers to acting at night instead of overpowering the caravan in full daylight, which would be the certain death of you.

Spoiler later clarification of item ability :

You can only include one player name or title in a question (this was done ot prevent the binary research that Oyzar mentioned to me

Spoiler Winston Hughes, the Fine clothes trader :

Role: Fine clothes trader
Strength: 1
Victory Condition: Caravan: Elliminate all threats to the caravan.
Ability: None
Item(s): Devilweed
Personal Goal: Keep the devilweed item, and survive until your victory condition is reached.

Background Story: While trading fine clothes is a good business, it's not good enough - not for you at least. And it's boring.
Luckily, when you regularly recieve large shipments of cotton and silk, it's not a problem to smuggle in some devilweed on top of it.

Devilweed is an extremely powerful drug, and the devilweed trade is completely regulated by the Kwythellar Undercouncil. If someone else offers to sell you devilweed, it's either a trap or completely suicidal. Which is why smuggling devilweed under the nose of the Night Watch is so exciting!

Except when you are on a caravan in the middle of nowhere and your guide is killed - which is, unfortunately, the situation you are now facing. You are having some serious pressure on your nerves here - if the killer is sent by the Kwythellar Undercouncil, you are most likely going to end up like the guide - in the wayside, throat slit. Not a good way to end your otherwise luxurious life.

So the only thing on your mind is; get the hell out of here. Go home to Kwythellar, sell the devilweed and never have anything to do with it again. But you need to sell this load to pay your investment in the devilweed trade. A very stingy situation indeed...

Spoiler CCRunner, the Hippus horse archer :

Role: Hippus Horse Archer
Strength: 2
Victory Condition: Caravan: Elliminate all threats to the caravan.
Ability: None
Item(s): Combat Bow (+1 strength)
Personal Goal: Make sure that the you and the horse merchant survives.

Background Story: In Kwythellar, there's always a job for a mercenary like you. Whether it is helping the Centaur Guard supress a peasant rebellion on the outskirts of town, or to escort a merchant caravan, being able to ride a horse while firing a bow is a valued feat.
This caravan seemed so like the other jobs, except that it was heading through territory not yet fully charted. With a good guide and a couple of other guards like you, it had not seemed so unnerving, but now, with a killer loose and the guide dead, you are not so sure that the job is worth it's pay.

Of course, an experienced soldier like you always keeps his head cool, so you are nowhere near panic. But it looks like the merchants are indeed panicking - while insisting on executions until the killer is found could be a reasonable reaction, you know that at least one of the merchants reacted rather unreasonable:
As soon as the seriousity of the situation hit, the horse merchant lost his nerve, and in a wave of panic promised you the finest mount money could buy if you could just get him out alive. Not a bad deal at all...

Spoiler Kulko, the Hippus lancer :

Role: Hippus Lancer
Strength: 3
Victory Condition: Caravan: Elliminate all threats to the caravan.
Ability: None
Item(s): None
Personal Goal: Survive.

Background Story: You know a good job when you see one. Or at least, you thought you did - this caravan job gave a nice coin to escort some paranoid merchants through a jungle for a couple of weeks - even with a guide an all. What could go wrong?

You know now - just about everything that could go wrong. the caravan needs to turn around and track it's way back to Kwythellar, which will would take several weeks with the guide, and probably a bit more without. And there are killers on the loose. Not worth the coin at all. The only thing that'd justify this lousy job would be rooting out the killers and making it out alive. So that's what you intend to do.

Spoiler Sepuku, the Horse trader :

Role: Horse Merchant
Strength: 1
Victory Condition: Caravan: Elliminate all threats to the caravan.
Ability: None
Item(s): Bag of Moonsugar
Personal Goal: Keep the Bag of Moonsugar, and survive till your victory condition is reached.

Background Story: Horse Merchant is not one of the most profitable jobs in Kwythellar, but it serves as an excellent cover. Because what you really were going to make money on in Jubilee wasn't horses. Not at all. It's a powerful drug known as Moonsugar.
Now, the Moonsugar trade is normally completely controlled by the Kwythellar Undercouncil, so the trade requires much discretion - something you command.

Unfortunately, your nerves slipped once you saw the guide dead in the roadside. Could this be it? Were the nightwatchmen coming to get you?
Whatever the reason is, the situation greatly unnerved you, and in a moment of weakness, you promised the Hippus Horse Archer a new, expensive mount if he could get you back home alive. While the cost of a fine horse of Hippus standards is rather hefty, it is peanuts compared to the revenue the bag of Moonsugar you hide among the bags of horse food will earn you anywhere.

just make sure that nobody catches drift of your illegal activities, and you will be alright. If the killers are found, that is.

Spoiler Krill, the Potions trader :

Role: Potions trader
Strength: 1
Victory Condition: Caravan: Elliminate all threats to the caravan.
Ability: None
Item(s): Antidote potion (can save someone from death by poison, one use only), Vial of poison (self-explanatory. One use only, send in orders during DAY).
Personal Goal: Get hold of the Bag of Golden Coins item and then survive until your victory condition is reached.

Background Story: You are a potions trader; it doesn't bring in a huge profit, but it's a solid job. And of course, should you need to dispatch of anyone, you have easy access to all the poisons you will ever need.
And while it would of course be nice to use the vial of poison you have with you to get rid of the killer on your hands, it could also be used more selfish...

See, a reliable source has told you that one of the merchants on the caravan is carrying a large bag of golden coins. And what would be easier than snatching that for yourself once the owner is "sleeping"? Of course, you'd have to actually get off with it alive, and get rid of the killer somehow, but you're a man who isn't afraid of gambling a bit, and this journey could just become worthwhile if one little vial of poison would earn you a fortune.

You also carry an antidote, should someone attempt to poison you - one can never be to careful, after all...

Spoiler Charles Li, the Reagents trader :

Role: Reagents trader
Strength: 1
Victory Condition: Caravan: Elliminate all threats to the caravan.
Ability: None
Item(s): Useless plants
Personal Goal: Aquire the Devilweed item, and keep hold of it (and survive) until your victory condition is reached

Background Story: You are dealing with magical reagents - mostly, at least. Because reliable sources has told you that the Balseraph are not yet capable of the arts of Sorcery, which means that most of their arcanists will not be able to identify magical reagents. What better way to make some quick money than to fake it and sell them some local vegetables instead of the real thing?

A brilliant plan, it was. Until of course the guide died. That meant that your wares were exactly what they were: useless plants. So in order for this trip to pay off, you must find another way to make some money... What better way than to obtain the devilweed plants that your reliable sources have also told you were onboard the caravan?
Now, devilweed is not only used in magical experiments - it is also one of the most expensive and powerful drugs on the market, and under strict monopoly of the Kwythellar Undercouncil - so it's not like the person who has it will tell you, even less hand it over. That's where the killer becomes useful. If the person with the devilweed should somehow end up dead, perhaps you could claim the devilweed for yourself? After all, few others would be stupid enough to make a claim on the illegal reagent.

Spoiler Seon, the Slave trader :

Role: Slave trader
Strength: 1
Victory Condition: Caravan: Elliminate all threats to the caravan.
Ability: None
Item(s): Bag of golden coins
Personal Goal: Maintain hold of your starting item, survive until your victory condition is reached.
Special: Should you make contact with representants of the Kwythellar Undercouncil, you can choose to change your victory condition - I will need a PM from you and one of the representants of the Undercouncil, and then you will recieve your new victory condition.

Background Story: Strictly speaking, slave trade is not allowed in Kuriotate lands. But the capital city of Kwythellar is bulging with slaves anyway - almost 100.000 of the 400.000 inhabitants are slaves, officially or not. So there is definately some potential on the market. And you have heard that the Balseraph have an abundance of stupid muscle that could be used as Kuriotate slaves. So of course, seeing this brilliant chance to hitch a ride for Balseraph lands was an opportunity you could not let slip past. You quickly drove in what debts others owed you and took some loans, and ended up with a pretty big bag of shining golden coins - enough to buy a regiment of slaves!

Now, slave trade is mostly run by the Kwythellar Undercouncil, although they do not have a monopoly, it certainly wouldn't hurt your business if you could somehow join their ranks. After all, killings like the loss of the guide is one of the specialities of the Night Watch. So, should the opportunity arrive, you could simply switch sides - after all, it looks like the other side has all the weapons right now, so it'd probably increase your odds of survival.

How the conversion mechanic works: You PM me with whoever you think is a representant of the Undercouncil. If you are right, you will recieve an answer from me with a new victory condition and the names of your new allies, and they will know that you have joined them. If you are wrong, the person you picked will recieve a PM where your conversation is recorded - this PM will not increase your odds of avoiding the noose, if you catch my drift. So be careful. You may only attempt this once every night, but if you get it wrong the first time and is, for some reason, not lynched, feel free to try again.

Spoiler KingMorgan, the Supplymaster :

Role: Supplymaster
Strength: 1
Victory Condition: Caravan: Elliminate all threats to the caravan.
Ability: Sneak peeking: At night, you can sneak into someone's tent and see what items they are bringing along (be aware that some items can be hidden and thus undetectable).
Item(s): None
Personal Goal: See to it that the following people do not survive: Fine Clothes trader, Spices trader, Jewellery trader and Art trader.

Background Story: You're the practical man on the caravan - the one that brings along all the things that are actually needed; rope, food, lumber for campfires, sharpening stones, horseshoes, and all those other small necessities.
It's an honest job for an honest man, and you do in no way loathe the job. What you do loathe, though, is all those "fine" merchants who would actually deem all of their paintings and silken shirts and other niceties more important than the goods you bring along.

And you just about had enough now. Of course you want the caravan to arrive back home safely, but if a few of those manicured fineschmeckers die along the way, that wouldn't haunt you at night - your job might even get easier.

Spoiler PaulusIII, the Tools trader :

Role: Tools trader
Strength: 2
Victory Condition: Caravan: Elliminate all threats to the caravan or: see personal goal/ability
Ability: Toughness: You have a chance of evading death in whatever form you might encounter it in, Escape: If you manage to get your hands on a weapon, you're sure you can take enough care of yourself in the wilderness to get back to Kwythellar alive, by your own.
Item(s): None
Personal Goal: Aquire a weapon and escape the caravan before you are killed.

Background Story: Perhaps the only man on this caravan who has ever done an honest piece of work, having worked your way from the very button as a toolsmith to your current status as tool trader. But you have not lost the toughness that hard physical work gives, and you'd deem your odds of making it out alive if you could somehow aquire a weapon pretty good. Better than staying with a bunch of greedy merchants and mercenaries mixed with one or more killers, at least.

Unlike most of the other merchants, you seem to have realized that the cargo on this caravan is not worth dying for - you've worked your way from the bottom and up here once, and you are sure that you could do so again, should you need to leave your wares behind and escape.
Actually, you only joined the caravan because the Kwythellar Trade Guild, which is very fond of your honest work, asked you to it. And you can't really say no to those people - that might hurt your business more than the risk of emminent death out here.

Spoiler Tasslehoff, the Trade guild representative :

Role: Trade Guild Representant
Strength: 1
Victory Condition: Caravan: Elliminate all threats to the caravan.
Ability: None yet - see personal goal.
Item(s): None
Personal Goal: Be the first to vote for someone who subsequently gets hung and turns out to be a threat to the caravan. Doing this will make your vote effectively count as two votes. This is not noticed unless it is decisive.

Background Story: As a representant for the Kwythellar Trade Guild, you must not allow whoever killed the guide to get hold of the caravan - it would be a disgrace to the entire guild! The moment the guide got killed, your job changed from a simple delegate who was only with the caravan to discuss further deals with the Balseraph, and to the much harder job of making sure that this trip does not end in complete disaster.

All threats to the caravan must be eliminated - and if you can lead the vote against one of those, you are sure that your own reputation is at least spared. But of course, aim for the highest target: Ridding the caravan of all threats would be a sign of brilliant leadership and devotion, and would most certainly earn you a top spot within the guild. From there, life would be a lot easier. Now, there's just the problem of surviving this whole affair...

Spoiler MooseWarrior, the Weapons trader :

Role: Weapons trader
Strength: 1
Victory Condition: Caravan: Elliminate all threats to the caravan.
Ability: None
Item(s): Light Crossbow (+1 strength)
Personal Goal: See to it that the Armor trader, the Horse trader and you yourself survives.

Background Story: You're a weapons trader, and a quite succesful one. You were almost ecstatic when the Kwythellar Trade Guild offered you a place on the caravan heading for the new market in Balmesque lands - you have heard rumours that there are lots of arena battles going on in the cities of the Balseraph. And that means profit for you.

And it means profit for the armor trader and the horse trader aswell - so you, as the financial genious you are, find yourself thinking: If you could just make sure the two of them, and of course yourself, survives, you could gather another smaller caravan and establish a serious business in the Balmesque cities. It'd be one hell of a profit!

But first, you have to get back to Kwythellar alive, the three of you... Which means rooting out the killers. While you do ofcourse need to sleep at night, you always stay close to your light crossbow at day - it could come in handy, should someone try to take control of the caravan by force.

 

[LightFang]

Also, signup thread is up. Yeah, that was fast.

Here!

 

[Diamondeye]

First Place: Victory condition and personal goal reached, plus survival:
LightFang, PaulusIII and Renata
Personal goals:
LightFang: Same as victory condition.
PaulusIII: Escaped, like victory condition (alternate)
Renata: Found Niklas by scan

Second place: Survival to the end:
Krill, Seon, Tasslehoff and Winston Hughes

I apologize in advance for some generic personal goals, since most of them involved surviving, meaning that the third place seemingly goes to everyone else; nobody just completed their personal goals, or completed them and survived.

Thank everyone for playing! Here are a few 'custom' awards I think are deserved:
"This game is easy!"-prize: PaulusIII, for reaching his VC on the first night
"That lying #@%!"-prize: Renata, for lying herself out of trouble after being exposed by a scan
"Head shot"-prize: Krill, for effectively starting the brigands' downfall by poisoning Oyzar (you killing BananaLee did not sway the balance between nightwatch and brigands, Renata and LF ended at 7 strength against the innocents' 5, 6 if BL had lived)
"Role player"-prize: Winston Hughes, for a living and fashionable character
"Oops!"-prize: Tie between Sepuku (who revealed his ownership of the moonsugar to Renata) and Bratmon (for the desperate defense against the accusations on day 4)

 

[Krill]

I had a 1/3 chance in keeping the game going. I think.

If I had chosen Renata to kill, what would have happened? If only I hadn't had 2 exams, I would have been able to think it out...alas. Niklas was right, it was just the right amount of luck.

 

[Diamondeye]

If I had chosen Renata to kill, what would have happened?

She would have died, and the Nightwatch had had 4 strength against the innocents' 6. Bratmon's two weapons would have been up for vote, and Renata had possesed the second knife, which meant that LF would not have been able to kill unless he had been voted the knife. You would have caused trouble!

 

[Bratmon]

Nevermind.

 

[LightFang]

She would have died, and the Nightwatch had had 4 strength against the innocents' 6. Bratmon's two weapons would have been up for vote, and Renata had possesed the second knife, which meant that LF would not have been able to kill unless he had been voted the knife. You would have caused trouble!

This is, by the way, because I had decided to vote my knife over to Renata so she could make the kill. The point was so that I had the best chance of surviving, since things were incredibly grim (Renata looked like she was going to die any minute now.)

 

[Krill]

Damn.

Just damn.

Niklas really was right. If I had had time to think this through we could have ended up with half the nightwatch down and a single brigand left, with me in control of all the weapons. We'd have won in the long term just by lynching everyone due to my high strength.

Damn.

 

[Winston Hughes]

Niklas really was right. If I had had time to think this through we could have ended up with half the nightwatch down and a single brigand left, with me in control of all the weapons. We'd have won in the long term just by lynching everyone due to my high strength.

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that we were even closer than that. Once I'd had some time to think about it, I realised that Renata and LightFang had to be the badguys. If I'd had any web access at all (or if I'd been smart enough to put the pieces together straight away), I would have PMed the rest of you explaining exactly why that was. Like I said, it really was the worst moment for me to go away.

 

[oyzar]

I thought you just totally disbelived what we discussed even though everything i told you was the truth...

 

[Renata]

I'd still like to hear the story of exactly how you had us sussed out so early. We hadn't even done anything!

Re: Krill killing me -- I had *asked* LightFang to give me the mithril vest; if he had done as I had asked , we would have won no matter who Krill targetted (LightFang excepted). And I feel obliged to point out that there would have been no scan of LightFang in the morning: he stole the idol.

Edit: no poisoning tomorrow, either, since the ring was going to be up for vote again.

 

[Krill]

I wouldn't have killed you renata. I'd have let you hang. Then you'd have been revealed as an Undercouncil member and I'd have trusted Bl -> who knows. I wouldn't have known Bratmon was a brigand...but with no weapons he is harmless, as I'd have tried to convince everyone to make sure I get all the weapons, and we'd win.

After reading Niklas' PM, the ring is not a poisoning tool for anyone after Niklas dies.

Just sick. We really were just so close to winning that. Not all my fault, but I had the ability to win it...

 

[Winston Hughes]

I thought you just totally disbelived what we discussed even though everything i told you was the truth...

I wasn't quite sure what to think, but I was deeply suspicious of the whole prophet group*, with you being my number one suspect.

The key detail I missed was that BananaLee had asked if Niklas had been involved in the killing of the guide. I was under the impression that the latter had been checked for being a threat to the caravan. By the time BL explained this to me, I was already more-or-less convinced that he had been lying about his ability, and had called him out on it in public.

Only after I had a chance to think about what Renata and LightFang had said to me about searching for contraband - by which point I had no way of telling anyone - did I put that together with what I knew from my PM, and come to the conclusion that they were the villains, and, thus, that BL was telling the truth about his ability.

*For those that don't already know, the group consisted of oyzar, Niklas, BananaLee and Kulko. It was in BL's character PM that the guards (ie. CC, oyzar and Kulko) were not responsible for killing the guide. Niklas, KingMorgan and myself were then scanned.

 

[Renata]

Don't feel too bad, Krill -- if you hadn't killed oyzar, the brigands would have won a day later, end of story. Niklas is right; I could never have pulled off what I did if he and oyzar were still in the game. And you're far from the only one who made the mistake of giving me the benefit of the doubt for a time. Even that would not have mattered if some things had gone differently -- I don't think anyone but hell_hound ever knew that the mithril vest gave an extra strength, for instance.

Only after I had a chance to think about what Renata and LightFang had said to me about searching for contraband - by which point I had no way of telling anyone - did I put that together with what I knew from my PM, and come to the conclusion that they were the villains, and, thus, that BL was telling the truth about his ability.

Yes, this. I have a slight bone to pick with you about that, Diamondeye! Pretty evil of you to give us a goal of acquiring certain items, and then make sure that everyone who had one of those items (plus half the rest of the caravan, seems like) knew that anyone asking about them was bound to be Nightwatch! I was blaming myself for lousy cover stories, but I had no idea they had *that* many landmines built in. I'd honestly rather have lost our theft ability or our pseudo scan ability and done without that. But then, I would.

 

[Krill]

I don't feel bad (shocked, perhaps); as said, luck played a part. My first game of this type, amongst people I don't know, while I'm part of the half of the caravan that didn't know of the two packs of wolves...I'm happy with how I played, and that's why Im not ashamed to applaud you and LightFang in winning. The rest of us made mistakes, maybe should have acted a little differently, but you still played a brilliant game to win, so congrats. The only annoyance I had is that we were so close...not that we deserved to win.

I'm truly impressed with the amount of suprise a true cynic like myself endured in this game. I've already signed up for the next M-NOTW, and I have absolutely no reason to let this games outcome stop me

Diamondeye :b: just for being a complete female dog :b: