NoTW XIX: The Song of the Nightingale - Game Thread

My ability was completely useless...:(
 
Life according to Niklas, part I
<snip>
Izipo was still kept out of the loop though, since no one completely trusted him. He was evil after all. But he claimed to be content with being used, despite what he said in his AAR. :p

Yes, that's what I inferred when I said that I decided to RP my character to death.
But frankly staying out of the loop was playing on my nerves.

Still, great AAR, keep it coming.
 
Life according to Niklas, part II

Continuing from after the bandwagon on Bris, the next interesting thing came when I was contacted by Stuck in Pi. Up to that point he was at the top of my list of suspects, admittedly for almost purely metagame reasons. Two others who were high up on that list were Frozen In Ice and LightFang, and had I been asked there and then to name the three wolves in the game I would have chosen those three (didn't know at that point that there were actually four). But then Stuck in Pi contacts me to say he is a prophet of sorts, and that he has scanned me and found me not to be a religious zealot. He has also previously scanned Frozen In Ice and LightFang and found them to be innocent too. Ok, big confusion. Were I just contacted by a wolf who named his fellow wolves hoping to draw suspicion away from them? That seemed a very stupid move to do for a wolf so I didn't believe it. But I still wondered what Stuck in Pi was up to. I happened to know that I was "the" prophet, and I also recalled a discussion I had with Pinman before the game started about how he doesn't really like the idea of prophets at all. so the probability he would have included not just one but two seemed quite far-fetched.

My life at stake

During the day, I suddenly found myself under barrage from several directions, under flimsy excuses that I had tried to get Tolis lynched. I was told that a lot of people - Tasslehoff and D'Artagnan in particular - were sending PMs claiming to have "proof" of my guilt. Catharsis and Renata were two of those who were clearly against me, and Methos started acting really strange. He wanted to do an experiment, he wanted to have my orb, but he didn't want to tell me why. Suspicion level suddenly soared, and I practically told him that if he didn't come clean with what it was all about then I would have to waste a scan to check him that night. He made the right choice (;)), and I learnt that Renata was also a prophet, who had scanned me and found me evil! And Methos thought this might be because of the orb I was holding, that it overshadowed the scans, so he wanted to arrange another scan of me while he held the orb. I didn't like that for several reasons, partly because I was still suspicious of his motives, but perhaps most because I was baffled that there was yet another prophet in the game. Say wha...? Still, her story (retold through Methos) made a lot of sense, and metagame-me didn't think Renata could possibly be a wolf. At any rate I contacted Catharsis at this point, not wanting to wait for communication through Methos, but Catharsis made it very clear he wouldn't believe my "convenient words".

Then Methos came to me asking if I thought it would be a good idea if we could stop the ship. Yes! Yesyesyes! Stop the ship dangit! He claimed that he and Tyrs had the power to stop the ship together, though he wouldn't say how. But he also said something else - that if they did, there might not be a lynching that night. I didn't like that "might not", and I was very nervous towards the end of the day. I tried to get Methos to support me since I was up to die, but he didn't see a need, which again made me somewhat suspicious. Luckily he was telling the truth it turned out.

But before my "death", I sent Catharsis a long PM detailing my thoughts on my allies, my suspicions about some others, and the fact that I killed the captain. He was the only one I knew to play a Good character, so I wanted him to have the best chance to continue if I died. I didn't have time to tell him everything about the orb though, since I had to send the PM before my "death" was supposed to take place. I was hoping I would still live, hoping that Methos was right and that there would be no death, and that my "last words" would sway Catharsis. And it seems they, with some follow-up conversations, did the trick. That meant I wouldn't have to risk another lynch, since I also thought Catharsis and Methos together could convince Renata of my innocence.

Survivor

I was happy to see that I had washed up on the shore together with everyone else. That night I scanned Stuck in Pi whom I was still very suspicious of, and lo and behold, he was of Good alignment. That was quite a shock, since I thought that meant that he would be right about Frozen In Ice and LightFang too, if Good then why would he lie about it? I didn't stop to consider Pinman's twisted mind until quite some time later.

I killed D'Artagnan that night. I knew through Izipo that D'Artagnan could immunize against poison, in my mind an ability highly unlikely for a wolf to have. And he was sending people PMs claiming he had proof of my guilt! That plus some more metagame thinking made the choice easy. First kill I didn't feel any remorse for, he was after my hide after all!

Up for the lynch again

Everything was looking pretty good at this point, with one rather serious exception. We had absolutely no idea whatsoever who could be a wolf. No leads, no clues, no nothing. What we had was a whole bunch of people scanned and found innocent by one prophet or another. At this point I was again starting to question whether there were any wolves at all, or if I and the orb were the only killers. Methos and Catharsis had some similar ideas, but I kept coming back to Pinman's earlier words, including the writeup where Bris jumped ship, which explicitly mentioned werewolves. That gave me some new resolve - but sadly still no leads.

The vote seemed to come down to me or LightFang. With the support I had at that time, I wasn't really worried, though I almost screwed it up by waiting too long (and one of my dogs decided to go on a bit of a solo adventure). I made it back just in time, though Catharsis had already handled it. But I didn't really want to see LightFang killed, I didn't think he was guilty after Stuck in Pi's words. Had I had more time I would have tried to save him. Maybe it was just as well that I didn't. And in the end it didn't matter at all, since I died in his place regardless.

The fight with Captain Pinman was of course completely unexpected, but it did answer a few questions, such as how and where Pinman still survived. After that I was dead, and could only hope that Izipo would return the favor by saving me. But that's a story for part III.
 
That meant I wouldn't have to risk another lynch, since I also thought Catharsis and Methos together could convince Renata of my innocence.

They didn't try very hard! I'm not sure why, and I'm not sure if they could have convinced me if they had told me your entire story rather than just a few dribs and drabs. It's interesting that Pinman intended the "washed up on a desert island" story to reveal that the holder of the orb was innocent, but I had always thought of the orb-stealer as an evil rival of Pinman's anyway, so the revelation had no effect. Guess I have a one-track mind.

I can't believe Kol.7 stole the orb! Cheeky, cheeky. And that Methos tried to get it once. You could have proven me a liar very easily that way.

I should also mention that at one point when I was planning the false prophet thing, LightFang suggested the exact same "explanation" for Niklas turning up innocent as you all came up with on your own. I thought it would never work. :crazyeye:

This is great stuff! Looking forward to part 3.
 
They didn't try very hard! I'm not sure why,

I felt you wouldn't be convinced about his innocence. I feared that the more I tried to convince you, the more you'd push away.

And that Methos tried to get it once. You could have proven me a liar very easily that way.

My plan was to get Niklas to pass the orb off and have Renata scan Niklas again. This way (assuming Renata really was a prophet) she'd either come back that he was good or if she didn't then I knew she was lying. I didn't really want the orb, but knew it was the only way I would know for certain Niklas didn't have it. My main fear is Renata would have scanned me instead while I held the orb and that would have made me appear evil.

This is great stuff! Looking forward to part 3.

I agree.
 
I should also mention that at one point when I was planning the false prophet thing, LightFang suggested the exact same "explanation" for Niklas turning up innocent as you all came up with on your own. I thought it would never work. :crazyeye:

This is why you listen to me. ;)

Waiting for Nicky's Part III!

Also, Renata, when I sacrificed my strength to give you Izipo's starting scan, did that even help any?
 
Not really, but as much as anyone's would have at that point, probably. There weren't many surprises left among the still-living players. I was hoping there was a truly evil character in the game other than the wolves (and Pinman), and the PM didn't help in that regard. But Izipo's nominal evil-ness gave me a small excuse to "scan" Niklas a second time, which killed a day, and the PM let me know the right answer.
 
Life according to Niklas, part III

I died and was floating around in some sort of infinite featureless continuum of nothingness - incredibly frustrating. Normally when you die in a game like this, at least you can go talk to other dead people. But because of the Necromancer in the game, I was strictly forbidden to talk to anyone at all. A cool feature of the game, but very frustrating when you're dead. For me I guess it was a good thing since it allowed me to come back, but everyone else who died was under the same quarantaine rules, not knowing if they would be raised.

Back in the loop

Anyway, I died, and Kol immediately started "fund raising". He did a great job working to get me back, and taking the temperature of the other participants at the same time.

During my absence I saw Tasslehoff killed, and finally we had some tangible lead! On the night after I was resurrected, though Pinman stripped me of my prohpetic powers, making the exchange of 2 for 1 rather expensive. I'd like to think I redeemed myself, but it was still frustrating. The reason I lost my powers was that I only had them through my unwilling connection to Captain Pinman in the first place, and when we fought it off that connection was severed.

At any rate, the situation now was very very different. Previously we had been wallowing totally in the dark, not even knowing with certainty that there truly were wolves. Now we had one killed, and two more obvious associates in merciary and qoou, who had been trying to save Tasslehoff in the vote. I immediately (ehrm, well, after some RL business to take care of) started a bandwagon on merciary, and we got ourselves a second wolf hide.

Orb woes

Then there was the issue of the orb, that needed to be destroyed. We had a pretty decent idea on how it should be done - using the silver from the amulet - but getting all the pieces in place proved trickier. We needed the forge of course, but it wasn't until I finally got to see the description of it that I realized how it should be done. It could be used to "combine" items, assuming you had str 3. "Combine" the silver with some other item and then kill the orb. Actually my original plan was to simply combine the silver with the orb directly, enclosing it, but Kol had a better plan.

Anyway, I first tried to convince Kol to give the forge and the silver to Catharsis, along with enough strength items to make sure (s)he had enough to use it. But suddenly Kol refused, claiming he wasn't sure I hadn't been raised as a wolf, and questioned my motives for wanting the orb destroyed. Sigh, not the right time to start getting suspicious :p. But he complied to at least go with the plan, if he could be the one to use the forge.

Luckily he managed to convince Catharsis to let go of the cannon, giving him the +1 strength needed (he already had the dagger stolen from LightFang earlier). But Catharsis wouldn't give him the orb, and before we really had time to discuss it he instead started the process of combining the silver with the brittle knife, which would give us a knife of silver. Turns out that was the right move, especially considering what happened to Catharsis on the night after. If (s)he had done the forging instead of Kol, we would have been infernal breakfast.

Sacrifice of Catharsis

Come night I had concocted another plan. We had to kill someone with the orb, and then we could vote to kill the last wolf, qoou, on the next day. But there was another option - since we couldn't be totally sure that qoou was guilty, we could use the orb on him in a suicide scan. That way we'd either know for sure of his guilt, losing one innocent to the orb instead of someone we picked to die. Or we would find out that he was innocent, thus only losing an innocent who we would have planned to vote for the next day anyway.

Catharsis had a similar plan - except with a different target it turned out. I didn't know about it though, but Methos did. Catharsis died in a suicide scan, exposing LightFang as a wolf. That was unexpected for several reasons. First it made it obvious that Stuck in Pi's ability was of no use. Second it brought our attention back to (GM) Pinman's words about the four horsemen. There were four wolves, not three, and qoou was still the last one of them, obviously :rolleyes:. So when Renata "scanned" him and found him evil, it was only a confirmation of what we already knew. If she had come back and said he was something else, I'm actually not sure I would have believed her, or rather I might have concluded that her ability was as useful as Stuck in Pi's. That's how sure I was about qoou.

LightFang never had a chance on the vote the day after, never having a chance of course. During the night, Methos was to kill the "useless" Stuck in Pi, but luckily for him the orb's sway over the wolves was broken. Tolis died instead, and we had a hard time figuring out why. But we were so close now that it wouldn't matter anyway, the last wolf wouldn't be alive another night for another kill.

Killing the last wolf - not

On the day after I started another bandwagon on qoou. He was quickly beyond hope, but he tried bravely to clear his name. I called him up on AIM to talk to him, thinking to catch him in a lie. Instead he told a very believable story, holding on to it even past the time when I claimed I no longer had the ability to save him (which was true, everyone who could have changed their votes had gone to bed). Bewilderment set in, but there was truly no time to stop it. But even before the results were revealed by Pinman, I knew in my heart that we had failed, and that the last wolf was the lying "prophet" Renata.

When I saw Kol and Methos online the next day, I told them of my conclusion, and Kol reminded us that he still had the poison. Bingo! Use the poison on Renata, kill the orb with the knife, and we win! Methos had received the orb in the vote, and Kol grudgingly agreed to hand over the knife as well. Then it was simply a matter of crossing fingers and praying. I didn't realize how close we were to losing anyway though - of course we should have given Methos the necessary strength items for protection, but the thought never crossed my mind. Luckily (:gripe:) Renata picked me over Methos, and we got an innocent win.

On the last day I also got a message from Frozen In Ice about joining him on his boat trip. Since I was so sure we were winning, I saw no reason to agree. It would have felt like running from the final battle. Too bad I went and died instead... :crazyeye:



In conclusion I'd just like to say thanks to my buddies Kol and Methos for a solid team performance, to Izipo for doing the best you could even when placed in the refridgerator, to Catharsis for another remarkable team performace and sacrifice, and to Renata (and the other wolves) for giving us a merry chase, and for a brilliant first entry to the NotWs :hatsoff:. And of course to Pinman for the great game, and everyone else who participated to make it a great experience! Thanks all! :goodjob:

Now to get some well-needed rest before the next one starts... :sleep:
 
Actually you wouldn't have been infernal breakfast had Catharsis done the forging. The half finished knife would simply have gone up for a vote.

Great summary though, mine will come sometime soon. Thanks for putting in the effort.:goodjob:
 
Yes, thanks for the AAR.

Looking forward to yours too, Pinman.

On a side note, I was looking at the logs of some of our conversations... and in hindsight they really are hilarious.
 
I think qoou got one of the rawest deals in this game. Come in midway, use your legitimate prophet powers the very first night on the same player the wolves are targetting, get sucked into supporting one of those same wolves, thus drawing even more suspicion than you already had, then ultimately get framed by yet another wolf. Kind of a rude welcome. Poor qoou. :(
 
I think qoou got one of the rawest deals in this game. Come in midway, use your legitimate prophet powers the very first night on the same player the wolves are targetting, get sucked into supporting one of those same wolves, thus drawing even more suspicion than you already had, then ultimately get framed by yet another wolf. Kind of a rude welcome. Poor qoou. :(

:(.

It was pretty fun finally playing a game where everyone was smart/mature though (I played this in RL a few times).
 
most (if not all) of the NOTW games here are with smart/mature people... It's one of the things that makes it so attractive and fun...
 
which is why you should join Dissentions!
(finshed inserting shameless plug)
 
Back
Top Bottom