NOTW L: The Immortals [Game Thread]

[Winston Hughes]

The Sheaim Merchant is busy adding up his taxes, whilst giving frequent beatings to a ratty-looking punishment slave to ease his irritation at having to give away even a single coin. Pausing for a moment to address non-financial matters - and giving the punishment slave leave for a much needed tea break - he speaks in solemn tones...

As much as I'm grateful for my countryman's intervention in recent events on the diplomatic side, I feel it would be remiss of me not to insist that Emissary Ekolite explain to the general public exactly how and why he received the Death and Entropy Mana from Lord askthepizzaguy. Though I was told of this transfer some days past - when the Emissary approached me wishing to exchange the Death Orb for the Fire Mana I received by vote - I can't help but feel the revelation that the Lord was a filthy usurper casts the whole affair in a rather different light.

 

[Ekolite]

Winston, your concerns are unfounded, and your accusation is hurtful. If anything the fact that I tricked our departed regent into giving me for nothing two powerful mana orbs, one of which I know he had an affinity for, should probably count in my defence rather than a black mark against my name.

You see, I'm a bit of a kleptomaniac when it comes to magical artefacts, and as you well know, our countrymen are not adverse to delving into the more controversial spheres of magic. When I saw the death and entropy orbs come up for vote on day three, my professional interest was piqued. I wanted to get my hands on them, and put myself forward as a candidate in the voting very quickly. Some of you might remember I said something along the lines of:

As the envoy of the great Sheaim Empire, I believe the mana should be granted to me. It would certainly do a great deal to better our opinion of your race, and perhaps we might even be tempted to show you a little mercy in the inevitable war that will consume your nation. Those who vote to entrust the mana to me shall be spared an eternity of agonising torture in the pit of Agares, those which do not will come to regret their foolish decision.

In retrospect, I think I struck rather the wrong tone.

That night, ATPG was given the death mana, and the entropy mana was granted to the Amurite Wizard.

Speaking with ATPG after dark, I realised that he had acquired orbs of both kinds that I had been interested in. I concocted a story that I could use the two orbs as part of a tribute to the Sheiam Empire, increasing their opinion of the Calabim and perhaps averting a dangerous war. He was reluctant to hand them over at first, particularly because of his affinity to death mana, but I eventually managed to convince him, and he handed them over to me. In his last few days, he often quoted this good deed as one of the many ways he had contributed to the innocent cause. At the time, I thought he was just being helpful, but in retrospect I'm sure his motivation was largely to help convince us that he had the town's best interests at heart.

The night before last, I wrote to my contacts in the Sheaim government and managed to pull us back from the brink of a catastrophic war. These people are close friends of mine, and as such no tribute was required. I did not know that our regent was a usurper when I deceived him, but now that I do I am glad that I stripped him of potentially useful orbs, and was able to distribute them amongst the people I trust most. This means that your accusation against me essentially boils down to me taking two orbs away from a usurper, and giving them to the innocents.

The death mana was of no use to me, it seems that I am an embarrassment to my people in that I am unable to resurrect anything larger than a doormouse, and am completely incapable of summoning even the most basic skeletal warrior. As such, it is true that I originally tried to trade the orb away for one which might be more useful to me. At that point I hadn't really had much contact with the magical orbs, and I did not know what fire mana did and thought I would try to find out. Your confirmed interest in this sphere of magic is very concerning, despite the false nonchalance with which you have attempted to conceal it. After all, is it not the power of fire which the demons draw upon to immolate us in our slumber? The fact that you were so reluctant to let go of the fire orb once it was secured in your possession, and your evasiveness about its effects, is also worrying to me. I have long wondered whether someone amongst the Sheaim delegation could be of a demonic disposition, Nintz once claimed that we could confirm each other's innocence, but I have no such confirmation. I believe you to be a demon Winston, and I think its about time we found out for sure.

As for the comparatively minor issue of the mana orbs, I have long satisfied my curiosity about their mysterious nature and feel no reason to have them for myself. I think Bad Player should have the metamagic and life mana orbs. I am sure he can put them to good use. Spaceman98 can have the water one, and Catharsis the ice.

 

[Winston Hughes]

The Sheaim Merchant raises an eyebrow...

The only 'evidence' for your having tricked the Regent is that you said you did - something which explained how you came to hold the Death Mana that you wished to exchange, whilst simultaneously distancing yourself from the usurper who gave it to you.

And now you say you've redistributed the orbs to people you trust? Frankly, I'm suspicious about anyone claiming to trust anyone around here, and even more so when the individuals in question remain anonymous.

 

[Catharsis]

Talk about hindsight being 20/20. His defense against Kennigit was weak - "Trust me, I took no damage" is the same thing he would've said as a demon (and whatever he said publicly, Kennigit privately confided that he did not trust Seon at all and planned to switch his vote back to Seon). Add to that his ability claim that he can stop infinite lynches - WTH kind of innocent ability is that? This is a lame argument. Where is the angle/motivation for demon Zack, here? Why does Visorslash get off easy for vigging and feeding on countless innocents and NO SCUM, yet I get dirty looks for being wrong about a suspect?

SEON HAD NO 'DEFENSE' AGAINST KENNIGIT BECAUSE THERE WAS NOTHING TO DEFEND AGAINST. AT THAT POINT. BEAR IN MIND THAT THIS WAS BEFORE HE STARTED CLAIMING TO BE ABLE TO SURVIVE INFINITE LYNCHES.

KENNIGIT'S VOTE CARRIED ABOUT AS MUCH WEIGHT AS THE 'BEDWETTING' ACCUSATION ON NINTZ.

I SEE YOU'VE CARRIED ON THAT TREND WITH THE VOTE FOR ME TODAY BASED ON THAT NONSENSE THAT ATPG WROTE. IT'S VERY UPSETTING AT THIS POINT IN THE GAME ZACK. TALK TO ME.

The adventurer whatever.

 

[Zack]

SEON HAD NO 'DEFENSE' AGAINST KENNIGIT BECAUSE THERE WAS NOTHING TO DEFEND AGAINST. AT THAT POINT. BEAR IN MIND THAT THIS WAS BEFORE HE STARTED CLAIMING TO BE ABLE TO SURVIVE INFINITE LYNCHES.

KENNIGIT'S VOTE CARRIED ABOUT AS MUCH WEIGHT AS THE 'BEDWETTING' ACCUSATION ON NINTZ.

I SEE YOU'VE CARRIED ON THAT TREND WITH THE VOTE FOR ME TODAY BASED ON THAT NONSENSE THAT ATPG WROTE. IT'S VERY UPSETTING AT THIS POINT IN THE GAME ZACK. TALK TO ME.

The adventurer whatever.

I think you're just mad I'm voting for you. Your "reasoning" is silly. Who did you vote for that day, and based on what? A demon usurper you identified with an alignment scan, surely?

 

[Frozen In Ice]

So the way I see it The Black Knigh, choxorn, Verarde, and I are the only ones we seem to be able to clear of being usurpers based on yesterday's voting. I'd say Bad Player and Spaceman are somewhat unlikely to be usurpers due to their voting at the end of the day, but they still could be as they might've just been throwing their partner under the bus to make themselves look clean. I recommend that we look back at previous dealings other members of this Council have had with ATPG to see if we can add anyone else to the list.

 

[Sprig]

GM comment:

The Day Seven post has been updated with the story.

 

[Nintz]

I should like the Ice mana.

 

[spaceman98]

Last night, Visor PMed me saying that Pizza has confessed to him that he was an usurper. Pizza had also offered to surrender and help the town. I PMed Pizza questioning him and making him an offer to cooperate until the demons are dead, here is the response I received:

Greetings, Regent.

It seems that you to have had the misfortune of falling in love with one whose political persuasion is the opposite of your own. I have information confirming that you are an usurper, i.e. that you want King Exar dead. I would like you to confirm this, state your abilities and state the name of your accomplice(s).

It appears that we may be able to work out a compromise, for the time being, as the demons are a common threat to us all. We will agree not to kill you, if you agree not to harm king Exar in any way. You will use your abilities against demons, as we dictate, and we will do our best to ensure that you complete your personal and secondary goals, as long as those do not oppose the interests of the council at large.

If you cooperate, then I will vouch for you on the council tomorrow.

We hope that this will prove mutually beneficial, and serve as confirmation of the fact that people with opposing views may still compromise and find common ground, and come to reasonable solutions to complex problems. May peace and reason prevail over this fiasco.

Harming King exar is simply beyond my abilities. It is the reason I came forward to begin with.

There was only a beyond slim chance that I'd have any success at it in the late endgame all by myself.

With my crippling injury, that is now impossible. At a regeneration rate of 1 per 24 hours, I won't ever be able to challenge Exar. This crisis will be over by then.

My conditions are with Visorslash, but I did mention that I'm beaten because my partner is not as active as he should be.

There are no recruitments, and no other members. I am completely defeated.

I have no interest in anything at all, whatsoever, except for continuing to profess my love and admiration for Catharsis, and, of course, using my many and highly valuable talents (killing and investigating, both of a powerful variety) for the council's benefit.

And I have negotiated that I remain weak by not being allowed to heal. Plus I confessed and am willing to do everything asked of me, with allowances for certain exceptions such as:

Kill Player X

Well, if that person is my partner I must refuse. If it's Catharsis, I'd also refuse just for roleplay sake. I may even disagree on some. But otherwise my talents are yours.

I also make no illusions that this is mutually beneficial- it is only beneficial to you, in the strictest sense.

You are gaining an investigator/powerful vigilante, who you know with absolute certainty is not a Demon, and who he is, and what he's all about.

And, single handedly, has revealed that an entire scum faction is essentially defeated from the game and no longer any threat to anyone (we only ever wanted King Exar gone, and EVEN IN THIS, innocents aren't lost. They simply lose about 15 total overall strength, or whatever it is. Which, if the Demons are gone, it wouldn't even matter.

It would even be possible, in theory, for me to help slay all the demons, then kill Exar, and become King myself. And then you guys all win, and I win.

But that won't ever happen. I understand this, I'm not a fool. I capitulate because I can never win, even with your assistance.

But I can have fun, which is why I ask not to die. I can continue to be me, the colorful character that I am, and have fun assisting you guys in demon hunting.

Which, since my teammates are dead or inactive, and there's no way for me to win, it seriously is the most fun I could possibly have.

It has been this way since Takhisis died. I've been trying so hard to help you guys. Several people have been greatly enabled by me, and they are likely solidly town.

I have also refused to use my Murder ability, I've been investigating. I haven't harmed anyone that Visorslash hasn't allowed me to harm.

Like it or not, I am the most pro-innocent person in this game. I wish I had a realistic shot at my goals but I don't.

I haven't just now on my deathbed committed to helping you. I've been doing it since Day Two.

Ask everyone in this game, publicly, what I have done for them. So many players will come forward and say I've either helped them or was in the process of helping them. I've connected people with their personal goals. I've assisted people in secretly obtaining mana,

hell, I've GIVEN my own strength-boosting mana away to help the Sheaim boost their relations.

If I was fighting for a strength-based win condition, I NEVER give away my own Death mana to help an unrelated faction whose goals I don't even share.

I did it for you guys because many of you seem to be down, lacking in leadership, maybe even a little depressed at your lack of progress.

You don't even know you're halfway to victory, though the Usurpers were never a threat to you so much as Exar.

You guys really needed someone to lead you, energize you, and give you hope.

I'm sorry I'm not the pro-innocent person you were expecting. But sometimes help comes from unexpected places.

I seriously am the most pro-innocent person in this entire game. I've even tried to bait the Demons into murdering me by going public with my Demon-finding investigations.

I'd take a shot for your team just to improve the chances you find them and beat them.

Because I have nothing left but my own amusement, and personal quest to be of some use, and entertainment.

You can trust me more than anyone proclaiming to be innocent, because I won't even try to convince you that I am. As soon as anyone really thought I was not innocent, I immediately claimed not to be.

I have nothing to hide.

I do ask that I be allowed to maintain my fiction for the benefit of those not in the know, and the Demons.

So that, maybe, my lies will actually confuse them.

Enough innocents know of who I am that it doesn't need to go public.

You have your Regent, broken and bloodied, yet still loyal to you, as I have been since Day Two.

Just ask around. I've given of myself to you, given my strength away. Done everything I can to assist you guys.

I'm purportedly a villain, but when the villain can't win, he becomes Dr. Evil at the end of Goldmember, which is, basically, help the heroes win. Because it's heartwarming that he did.

And I'm going for heartwarming at this point. What else do I have left except my broken body and my broken heart?

Hah, you may say, the words of an usurper scum mean nothing, right? Well, there are several reasons to believe him: First, he has been very cooperative in handing out manas that he received. We can account for all of them. Second, his claim explains why the usurpers have not been killing at all so far. Third, he organized the "Orbology" initiative, which was useful to the town. Finally, when Visor ordered Pizza to use the usurper kill on TLD, Pizza complied (that was the usurper kill, btw, note that it is purple, just like pizza's name). Thus, at this point, Pizza was a 1 shot kill-demon and usurper scanner who, due to Pizza's low health (2 IIRC) was completely and utterly under our control.


Pizza and Visor had also agreed that Pizza would stay at his current health level. That meant that Pizza was supposed to be attacked by only one vampire, to counter healing. However, multiple vampires attached Pizza. Thus, somebody in the vampire network disobeyed Visor's explicit orders, and attacked Pizza anyways. So what, you may ask? What's so scummy in killing an usurper, they didn't know that Pizza had surrendered? Here's the thing: Visor, the only one who knew that any orders had been violated was killed the same night. This was despite the fact that the demons had never touched the vampires before, and most of visor's cases had historically been misfires (i.e. the town was unlikely to continue following him, even if he got it right). Hence, I propose that one of the vampires is in league with the demons. After all, I highly doubt that a guild of health-gaining, masonic vigilantes had only one scum in it.

So, the only question is, whom? TBK has been fairly pro-town, FII has a convincing roleclaim, jht may not even be a vampire (any confirmation on this one?).That leaves Verarde and choxorn. According to the deceased Visor, choxorn had around 10 health before tonight (moreso than other vampires, who had also fed every night). This is coupled with the fact that all of his votes were bandwaggons, many confirmed (deceased) townies were skeptical of him, and he has claimed to participate more behind the scenes, even though no one could confirm that. His claim on day 2 that Usurpers are not in league with demons seems like PIS in hindsight, why so certain, so early? Maybe because you yourself are in league with the demons?

 

[spaceman98]

btw, I was opposed to targeting TLD, since TLD's pro-town goal made him unlikely to be scum. However, Pizza listened to Visor, as he said he would.

 

[spaceman98]

also, some excerpts from communication between me and Visor early last night, to back up my claim:

I see a very real problem in regards to the future.

Soon, vampires are going to be unlynchable.

Give it a few nights, and I'll have 10+ strength. Choxorn already almost has ten strength...

This bodes poorly.

We need to off Pizza tonight. I will get the vampires on Pizza and JHT.

What I am about to tell you is in strict confidence. I find you out this information to anyone, then the vampires will come down on you.

ATPG is an Usurper. He has not been killing, to blend in with the town. Their goal is to kill Exar.

Now, they are unlikely to achieve that. ATPG has privately come clean saying that he's pretty much lost. He's going to be lynched tomorrow most likely.

I want the demons to murder him. The usurpers do have a kill, they haven't been using it htough apparently. I will keep a vampire on him to stop him gaining strength.

Huh, I see. I will not reveal this, but why not just send all the vampires after Pizza tonight and finish him off? Wouldn't other usurper vampires also reveal themselves by being skeptical of the mass attack on Pizzaguy?

Also, if you are killed tonight, can I reveal that Pizza is a confirmed usurper, or would you like the information to remain confidential even if you die?

Or have we decided to work with the usurpers to kill our common and much more serious foe, the demons?

I still find the claim that the usurpers have a kill but have not been using it to be very strange and suspicious, but I'm not sure what to think abt it...

One member of the usurpers in compltely inactive apparently, hence why Pizza has told me what he did. I did intend to finish him off, but he wants to kill a demon. So if we use his night kill to help whittle down suspects, demons HAVE to use a kill on him.

Distribute the information to a select few who you trust. <Name withheld for safety> si a good one, hs not a usurper or likely demon. Pizza didn't kill to blend in, takhisis was fairly weak.

(Also, I apologize for revealing confidential information, but those whom it concerns are the deceased, and it is necessary to do so)

 

[spaceman98]

Verarde, and (if s/he's a vampire) jht, are both also candidates for the demon's puppet amongst the vampires, if my theory is correct and such a puppet exists

 

[Zack]

ATPG used words similar to "partner" to describe BSmith. Also said something about choxorn being his blood pet IIRC.

Don't take anything at face value. ATPG is a compulsive liar, regardless of situation or alignment. He was trying to manipulate you, in some way, to his purposes. I've never seen him say "I give up, I'll work with town" as anything other than a ploy to stay alive and buy time.

 

[choxorn]

I admit that I fed on ATPG last night. Why? because that was exactly what Visorslash ordered me to do. I was the one that was supposed to keep ATPG's strength down. The other Vampires can confirm this, and that I said at least once to everyone Visor and I have both regularly talked to (with the exception of Pizza himself), that I was going to do that. Visorslash did suggest that maybe I could feed on an inactive instead, but I thought that feeding on ATPG was a better idea. So yes, I contributed to Pizza's death, but certainly not intentionally. Unless Pizza only had one strength left and I was enough to kill him (I doubt it), you should go looking elsewhere for the vampire scum.

As to your other accusations, I thought that the usurpers and demons weren't working together because the demon burned one of the usurpers to death. I mean, that looks like a pretty clear sign to me that they're not on the same team.

I have 10 (11 now) strength because I've fed on people every night to raise it, never taken a point of damage (although I was apparently attacked last night and took no damage), and gotten some mana that I have affinity for.

Pizza claimed that the thing about me being a blood pet was just him mixing up me and BSmith.

 

[Zack]

Hmm, I think it's good practice to limit everyone's strength to a max of 10, to prevent failed lynches.

 

[spaceman98]

Also, manas: Catharsis can have the Ice mana and Zack can have life mana

 

[choxorn]

Looking at the update, it looks like two people attacked ATPG last night- in the story it says he has "fresh wounds" when his killer comes in and finishes him off. So I'm fairly certain I wasn't the only one who fed on ATPG last night. Of course, it's possible there's another vampire out there we don't know about, or that some non-vampire inflicted those wounds on ATPG, but it seems more likely it was one of the vampires.

If my information is correct, Verarde was otherwise occupied last night, and unless he can do more than one thing at once, that greatly decreases the likelyhood that he was feeding on ATPG or killing. And I'm almost 100% certain JHT isn't a vampire. That leaves Frozen and The Black Knigh, and right now I'm much more convinced of Frozen's innocence than TBK's.

So, tell us, The Black Knigh, how do you explain that?

Also, spaceman, why are you still voting for me?

 

[edse]

Visorslash told us to absolutely not feed on ATPG so I did absolutely not feed on ATPG. How many were aware that Pizza "had given up"? I wasn't. If it was only Visorslash and Spaceman, no other vampire would have the demon cooperation motif explained above.

The other vampire was probably certain that ATPG was an enemy and thought he was doing us a favour by killing him. And maybe he did.

Bad Player should have the Metamagic, Death and Life orbs. I think the Water mana isn't useful to us so it can be turned into raw mana by Zack.

 

[spaceman98]

Looking at the update, it looks like two people attacked ATPG last night- in the story it says he has "fresh wounds" when his killer comes in and finishes him off. So I'm fairly certain I wasn't the only one who fed on ATPG last night. Of course, it's possible there's another vampire out there we don't know about, or that some non-vampire inflicted those wounds on ATPG, but it seems more likely it was one of the vampires.

If my information is correct, Verarde was otherwise occupied last night, and unless he can do more than one thing at once, that greatly decreases the likelyhood that he was feeding on ATPG or killing. And I'm almost 100% certain JHT isn't a vampire. That leaves Frozen and The Black Knigh, and right now I'm much more convinced of Frozen's innocence than TBK's.

So, tell us, The Black Knigh, how do you explain that?

Also, spaceman, why are you still voting for me?

Because I'm not sure I believe you and because no one looks like a better suspect, yet. Besides, its one vote, early in the day, with a sparse voting distribution, cast against someone who is almost unlynchable. You are in little danger of being lynched right now, and most people haven't even shown up, so why are you so concerned? flinching?

Visorslash told us to absolutely not feed on ATPG so I did absolutely not feed on ATPG. How many were aware that Pizza "had given up"? I wasn't. If it was only Visorslash and Spaceman, no other vampire would have the demon cooperation motif explained above.

The other vampire was probably certain that ATPG was an enemy and thought he was doing us a favour by killing him. And maybe he did.

Bad Player should have the Metamagic, Death and Life orbs. I think the Water mana isn't useful to us so it can be turned into raw mana by Zack.

Then what WERE you doing last night, TBK? Same goes for Frozen in Ice.


Also,
Everyone who was fed on by vampires, please come forward, in private or in public.

 

[spaceman98]

also, 11 - 6 (at 1 per night) = 5 base strength for choxorn. How does this compare with what other vampires started at? (Visor said that he was "near 10" in his commentary, which implies that either Visor had a lower base strength, a vampire had fed on visor, visor missed a night of feeding, or their is another low-damage attack out there. The middle two are unlikely, since Visor has been fairly active and would probably have said if he was fed on)