Long Game 9: The Empty Throne Part 1: The Barrow Barons

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

Friend was almost too surprised to speak. Somebody had actually addressed him and talked to him! He almost began to nervously fidget, unsure of what do to, when he heard the last thing the stranger who introduced herself as Kenna had said. ".....If you want death, I know a guy. Much more effective...."

He paused. Did she just offer to put him in contact with a guy who would kill him?!

He opened his mouth to speak. "I, uhmm.... uh --" he closed his mouth and frowned for a second. "Er, no thanks." He finally managed, unsure of what else to say before slowly backing away. The worst part of it? This Kenna person actually looked like one of the more friendly people that had gathered. Even if her sense of humour was a little macabre. Hopefully that was just a sense of humour, he hold himself.

"Slontze, I'm being a fool." He whispered aloud. But it was drown out over the noise and sounds of the skirmish going on in the small courtyard between a few of those gathered. I really don't understand why that person keeps going on about this "cashmere". It's just a fancy type of cloth. And they not even pronouncing it right.

The collapse of Steelheart's regime had sure brought out all of the crazies in Newcago. Friend frowned and was unsure of how he got lumped in with that group. Maybe that's not such a bad thing, he thought, looking around. They seem like nice enough people, if I give them a chance. Maybe that knife-girl -- who actually has an axe now -- won't even cut me. He smiled at the prospect. It was all about staying positive and being friendly.

Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

 

Edited October 30, 2014 by Gamma Fiend

[Steel he/him]

Loipin frowned, bemused, as Aya spoke. Was she talking to him? He tilted his head and kicked her in the shin, then swiped at her wrist.

[Steel he/him]

Loipin did not let Aya's oddness confuse him. He advanced, taking advantage of the loss of her weapon, and sliced at her repeatedly.

[Alvron he/him]

8 hours until the game begins.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

8 hours until the game begins.

 

Yay! I'm excited for this one!

[A Joe in the Bush]

You stated that you needed 17 People. We only have 15 people. Are any Roles going to be removed due to this? Will we know which Roles?

Edited November 1, 2014 by The Only Joe

[Alvron he/him]

There will be missing roles but I'm not telling which ones.

[A Joe in the Bush]

And will the differing kills be made obvious in the Writeup? Will we be able to differentiate between them?

[little wilson she/her]

"Er, no thanks," Friend said before backing slowly but steadily away from her.

 

Kenna watched him retreat and had to suppress a small grin at the expressions flitting across his face. He actually seemed afraid of her. She stepped back up to him. "Oh, c'mon. He's really good at what he does. I once watched him decapitate this guy, and sparks, it was one of the coolest--and bloodiest--things I've seen in my life!"

 

Friend’s expression turned horrified, his eyes going wide. He spluttered, no words coming out. He started backing away again, but Kenna grabbed his arm. “I’m joking! I never saw that, and I don’t know any assassins for hire. Although I do have connections--if they’re still alive. I could probably find one if you wanted.” She chuckled. “But I don’t think you do.”

 

She looked back into the main courtyard. It looked like the fight had died down. She sighed. “Now I’m bored again. But I think we’ll get inside soon. Feels like it. I’ve always wanted to see inside an Enforcers HQ. Raiding it will be even better.”

 

My notes and lists are so prepped and ready for this. This is going to be a blast.

[Alvron he/him]

And will the differing kills be made obvious in the Writeup? Will we be able to differentiate between them?

Maybe, maybe not. 

[Alvron he/him]

The Watcher carefully scanned the group of intruders as they entered his home.  One of the intruders appeared to have a rifle strapped to their back while another performed a quick series of back flips and summersaults while juggling five coloured balls.

 

The looting started almost as soon as the large steel double doors leading outside boomed closed.  Knives were drawn and blood was shed as the fighting began over some of the more choice pieces of art and décor.

 

Suddenly a large explosion rocked the entire building.  Switching the camera feed to the external view, The Watcher saw several Epics fighting just a block away.  The noise of the conflict could even be heard inside.

 

Ignoring the continuous conflict that had gripped most of Newcago after Steelheart had been killed; The Watcher turned his attention and camera feeds back on the intruders.  After doing a quick head count, he realised that several people had split off from the group and disappeared.  Rapidly flicking through each of his hidden surveillance cameras, The Watcher hunted for the missing intruders. 

 

Hearing a noise behind him, he tried to turn around but it was too late.  A loop of razor wire wrapped around his throat quickly and quietly garrotting him.

 

“No hard feelings but we can’t allow anyone to witness what comes next.  We do however wish to thank you for providing us with our new base.”

 

A short time later The Watchers body is found along with a message written in blood just above the now smashed monitors.

 

This building now belongs to the Barrow Barons.  You have until daybreak to leave or face the consequences.

 

Several people immediately ran to the exit jostling each other in their hurry only to find the doors sealed.

 

 

Long Game 9 has begun.  PMs with roles will be sent out shortly.

The day will last for 48 hours.

 

A couple of reminders:

The GM is to be included in all PMs.

Remember to send in orders for what room you want to be in before the night starts or you will be forced to sleep in the hallways.

 

Rooms:

Armoury

Barracks

Mess Hall

Officers Lounge

Training Room

Shooting Range

Players:

(Mailliw73) Milton

(Lightsworn Panda) Jain

(Tulir) Trial

(Little Wilson) Kenna

(Pir2h) Aya

(Steel) Loipin Kien

(The Only Joe) Doc Oleny

(killersquirrel59) Kelsey Skirl

(AonarFaileas) Aidan Forsyth

(Jasnah Damodred) Damon Shan

(Gamma Fiend) Friend

(Theorymaker) Stanley

(Ashiok) Ash

(Renegade) Raid

(Araris Valerian) Spark O'toole

[A Joe in the Bush]

Doc Oleny huddled down in the Corner of his Room. The sporadic Knife fighting he’d seen earlier he could handle, but only because He knew he had a way out of the building, now though? He was trapped. He didn’t like the looks of most of the people in the building. Some like him, were frightened, Others were obviously faking fear. Others prowled around, trying to determine who was responsible. Doc didn’t like talking to people. He prefered examining Physical Evidence, rather than Testimonial. But he had to do something. So he sipped his Flask of Milk.

 

Maybe, he should start to actually talk to people. Make friends and alliances. He looked around again, reassesing. Trying to figure out who would be helpful in the coming days. None of the people in this room looked very sociable. So he decided to leave. As he was walking, he tripped over something, and fell, spilling his flask of Milk all over Milton “Oh! sorry sir, I hope that didn’t get you too, ah. You appear to be soaked, and rather angry.”

 

You picked Milton, I just had to do it.

 

EDIT: Vote retraction

Edited November 1, 2014 by The Only Joe

[Renegade he/him]

“Friend, Newcagoans, Epics, lend me your ears,” Raid said to the group of people in frond of him, while spinning an old coin on his finger.  “We come here to seek shelter from the fighting outside, but I fear that we have only fallen into a trap.  Those wayward Barrow Barons have taken refuge in here as well.”

 

“Yeah, we realized,” someone barked.  “What’re we gonna do about it, though?”

 

Raid paused.  “I don’t know.  I didn’t really, erm, think about that yet.”

 

“Then what help are you to us?” someone shouted indignantly.

 

“Well, I mean, the first thing we should try to do is break things down,” Raid said.  “What do we know?  We know that all of the people in this building are either regular old civilians, rich civilians, arms dealers, enforcer chiefs, snipers, matter disruptors, doctors, flame bodies, smoothtalkers, illusionists, scouts, invisibilities, precognitions, neutralizers, or Mitosis...es.  And there’s a serial killer.”

 

“Well, great job,” someone said, rolling their eyes.  “That’s so helpful.  Where’d you even get that information from anyway?”

 

Raid blinked, catching the coin that he was spinning on his finger.  “Uh, it’s not important.  I know things.  Yeah.  Anyhow, there’s plainly a plethora of potentially pertinent people in this place, so we should try to make life simpler for us.”

 

“Trust me, man, your speech here is not making life simpler for me.”

 

“Shush, I’m pontificating,” Raid pouted, crouching down to discreetly take something off the floor.  “We can divide all of these role abilities into several different categories: Kills, Protective, Blocking, Seeking, Vote Manipulating, and Disguise.  Some fit into more than one category.  Now, let me write something.”  Raid walked out of the room, and quickly returned with a large blackboard, chalk in hand.  On the board, he wrote:

 

Kill Abilities: Barrow Barons’ Night Kill, Serial Killer, Weapons (Arms Dealer), Sniper, Matter Disruptor, Mitosis (every other cycle)
Protective Abilities: Enforcer Chief, Doctor, Precognition, Flame Body, Mitosis (every other cycle)
Roleblocking Abilities: Enforcer Chief, Neutralizer, Mitosis (every other cycle)
Seeking Abilities: Serial Killer (x2, role), Scout (sense abilities), Invisibility (sense abilities), Mitosis (sense abilities, every other cycle)
Vote Manipulation: Rich Civilian (just double vote), Smoothtalker, Mitosis (every other cycle)
Disguise: Illusionist

 

“And, there we have it,” Raid said, putting the chalk back on the tray.  He cocked his head at the chalk, and decided to stuff it into his pocket, which was already bulging with stuff.

 

The other people in the room looked at the chalkboard.  “Well, that’s certainly interesting,” somebody said.  “But how does it help?”

 

Raid looked at the chalkboard and what he had written.  “I… am not entirely sure.  It does tell us that there’s a lot of ways to die.  That’s… actually quite terrifying.  But on the bright side, there are also plenty of other people that can counter this.  That death issue is still worrying me.  I’ve lived a good 26 years of my life without dying even once, and I don’t want to wreck that streak.

 

“But as my old grandpappy used to say, we’ve got bigger fish to pilfer.  There are some really evil people in this building right now, and we’re going to have to terminate them.  You, sir!” Raid pointed at Friend, who had been smiling during his lecture.  “You seem awfully smug for this situation; why is that?”

 

EDIT: Changed vote color

Edited November 2, 2014 by Renegade

[Alvron he/him]

All Role PMs have been sent.  If you didn't get one, let me know.

[Ashiok]

"Somebody told me that at night, people take actions in this order:  Enforcer/Streetperformer/Illusionist/Neutralizer, Protections, Kills then Scouting. Is there a set order between ENforcer/Streetperformer/Illusionist/Neutralizer/(Mitosis)? Also, when does the arms dealer give his weapon out? And is there an order of kills or are they simultaneous?" Ash asked, seemingly talking to the air. "I'm asking you, GM almighty, so please answer."

 

He turned back to the group."So Smarty Pants over there says that we have a bunch of ways to die. How about ways to communicate? Nope. That could be a problem. I believe that we should set up a plan for each role for each cycle, like in MR1. Yes? No? Input would be appreciated. I don't quite know what roles should be active today though..."

[Alvron he/him]

Is there a set order between ENforcer/Streetperformer/Illusionist/Neutralizer/(Mitosis)? Also, when does the arms dealer give his weapon out? And is there an order of kills or are they simultaneous?" Ash asked, seemingly talking to the air. "I'm asking you, GM almighty, so please answer."

The kills all happen at the same time as do the various misdirection roles.  The Arms dealer gives out his gun just before the kills happen.

[Tulir he/him]

Trial listened as the Raid started speaking to them.  After someone called him out on where Raid acquire his information, the he launched into a string of alliteration to avoid the question.  Trial winced at that, though he understood the need to not respond directly.

 

Trial looked around, and found that man who introduced himself as a serial killer.  While that didn't mean much if there truly were Epics in the room, he seemed the most dangerous.  "Loipin! You called yourself a serial killer.  What is to say that you won't kill us?" Trial called to the man.

 

At least for the beginning of the cycle I will be bouncing my vote around, so don't be too terribly concerned if I vote for you, just respond instead.  And hey, maybe Loipin is the serial killer.  Stuff like that has happened before.

Edited November 1, 2014 by Tulir

[little wilson she/her]

Kenna sat off to the side of the room, listening to Raid explain how many possible ways they could die in here. She’d joked about death before with Friend, but now that it was potentially staring her in the face, she regretted that. She didn’t want to die, and she definitely didn’t want to die to any barrow barons. Or at the hands or a serial killer. That prospect nearly terrified her more than the barons. The idea of being stalked and preyed upon. She shuddered. There was only one thing to do. Weed both of them out--the barons and the serial killer.

 

While we definitely want to make finding the barons our main priority, we also need to make sure we’re looking for the serial killer too. We can’t win until we kill him as well. Obviously, the best chance of catching either of those is with the roles that can discover actions. We've got a few of those, and then the serial killer who can find the roles--which would be the best, but I don't think we can count on him to help us out.

 

As for Ash's idea, I think it's got some merit. If we can get a good plan set up, I'm totally down. Personally, I’ll need to analyze the roles a little more now that the game's started and I'm in that mindset, but I don’t have much more time tonight. And tomorrow, I’ve got a family thing tomorrow going on and I'll be driving for about 5-6 hours. So basically, don't expect much out of me tomorrow, although I'll likely check in on my phone every now and then when I can (because, let’s face it, I can’t keep myself away for long ).

 

To promote discussion, though, I’m going to vote for Stanley. For now. Until a better candidate comes along, or she responds.

 

EDIT: retracted vote

[A Joe in the Bush]

It happened with you a lot Tulir. I remember the Pahn Kahl days.

 

Doc found himself nodding along with the dead man's idea. Yes, they knew what people were in the building if not who, so they could discuss the best actions for every Role.

 

"Alright Ash, I agree with you. I think we should start by choosing good people. So I think that we should choose a person, someone smart, talented, and with Innate Leadership ability, and do our best to discern their alignment." He stood in a pose that made him look confident, and strong, he hoped.

 

Then somebody yelled out, "Like who? Surely not you."

 

He deflated, that obviously that hadn't worked. "Well, uh, Ok. So how about all of we decide for one person to be detected by all the seeking roles tonight, and the Doctor protects them as well. Or we could simply choose a group of people, and assign a different seeking role to each person. But we need to work together!" He expected a cheer, but everybody simple ignored him. a few nodded their heads.

 

TL;DR

We should decide on a few people, and assign them roles to seek them tonight. If they catch them doing something suspicious. then we lynch the person tomorrow, and have the Doc protect them afterwards. This is a surefire way of catching the Serial Killer (If he's in the Game), as both of his actions are Unique. It'll be harder to catch the Barons this way.

 

Also, GM Almighty? Can we PM right now? Or do we have to wait until we're in rooms tomorrow?

Edited November 1, 2014 by The Only Joe

[Alvron he/him]

​PMs are open.  They are unrestricted during the day cycles.  Night cycles you can only PM those in the same room as you.  Even if you have already set other PMs up you cant use them at night unless all members are in the same room.

Edited November 1, 2014 by Alvron

[Theorymaker he/him]

Stanley looked around the room. He thought he had heard his name, but wasn't sure. Seeing that not much had changed Stanley went back to staring at a corner. He didn't know why but the corner looked odd to him. Hoping to figure it out he kept on staring at it.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Doc Oleny huddled down in the Corner of his Room. The sporadic Knife fighting he’d seen earlier he could handle, but only because He knew he had a way out of the building, now though? He was trapped. He didn’t like the looks of most of the people in the building. Some like him, were frightened, Others were obviously faking fear. Others prowled around, trying to determine who was responsible. Doc didn’t like talking to people. He prefered examining Physical Evidence, rather than Testimonial. But he had to do something. So he sipped his Flask of Milk.[/size]

 

Maybe, he should start to actually talk to people. Make friends and alliances. He looked around again, reassesing. Trying to figure out who would be helpful in the coming days. None of the people in this room looked very sociable. So he decided to leave. As he was walking, he tripped over something, and fell, spilling his flask of Milk all over [/size]Milton. [/size]“Oh! sorry sir, I hope that didn’t get you too, ah. You appear to be soaked, and rather angry.”[/size]

 

You picked Milton, I just had to do it.[/size]

Wow Joe. Just wow. luckily the milk wasn't spoiled. And it's not the real weakness anyways.

Milton was furious. This Doc Oleny was an imbecile. He had to go and spill milk on Milton. He had gotten enough of that at school. The bullies had always poured their milk on him and mocked him. He hated that. This Doc seemed to be turning out much like them.

I suggest we choose three people and let the seeking roles pick which one they're going to to check on. If we are almost lynching someone who is probably innocent, they can stand up for them. Or, vice versa, they can report them if they are suspicious. Just so you guys know, this weekend, I won't be able to get on too much.

[Lightsworn Panda he/him]

AHAH, AHAH, AHAHAHAHAHA!

 

10 GAMES I'VE PLAYED, AND IN ALL OF THEM I'VE BEEN GOOD! OH THE HILARITY! I NEED AN AWARD FOR THIS! AHAHAHAHA!

 

Looks like I've beaten your streak in being on Team Good, Malliw.   

 

So many roles... This game redefines "Role Madness"

 

Well, this game just got a lot less directed without Wyrm and Kas the little backstabbers... In this game, the only people fit for leading the Inquisition would be Gamma, Aonar and maybe Malliw. I suggest that we seek the 3 out, since they're the most experienced players here, and we need an experienced leader. Speaking of which, should we protect someone tonight?

 

Now, for some long overdue Toy Panda RP.

 

Jain listened to the meeting with one ear. The discussion was interesting, but warranted most of his attention was the stack of files in front of him. Somehow, the Enforcement HQ had acquired a sizeable amount of paper and pens - both rarities after Steelheart's transformation of the city - for their paperwork. The content of the files were interesting, too. It appeared that the Enforcement had a nice little black market running right under Steelheart's nose, smuggling various commodities in and out of the city for Non-Epics. A toy panda was perched on the end of a desk, with a pile of files in front of it. Strange. Jain didn't quite remember placing the files in front of the toy.

 

A scuffle brought Jain's attention back to the meeting. That Milton fellow was currently berating Doc Oleny for spilling milk on him. Tension were quite high, it seemed.

 

Turning his attention back to the files, Jain glimpsed something that made him frown. One of the files was propped up against the stack, in a perfect reading position for the toy panda.

[Steel he/him]

"Ah Trial," Loipin said with a sardonic smile. "Who's to say I don't want to kill you?"

[Renegade he/him]

“Ah, I got an idea!” Raid smiled, his eyes flashing with delight.  “And it’s a good idea this time!  I think…”

 

Raid took the chalk out of his pocket and drew 6 crooked rectangles on the board.  “There are 6 rooms that we can hide in, correct?” he asked the crowd.  Some nodded.  Most of them just looked bored.  “And there are 15 of us.  If we split ourselves evenly between 5 rooms, with 3 people per room, we can start finding out information pretty quickly.”

 

Raid stopped drawing and shoved the chalk back into his pocket.  “However, we will need to make up a schematic as to where everybody is supposed to be.  And, we will have to ensure that no Civilians take any kill actions.  But here’s the thing: if we find out that there was a death during the night, we can narrow down the suspects to two people: the other two in that room.”

 

So, to reiterate, here’s the plan:

 

We split up which rooms we are going to stay in during the Night, something like this:

• Armory: Milton, Jain, Trial
• Barracks: Kenna, Aya, Loipen
• Mess Hall: Doc, Kelsey, Aidan
• Officers Lounge: Damon, Friend, Stanley
• Training Room: Ash, Raid, Spark
• Shooting Range: (N/A)

All non-Serial Killer/Barrow Baron players must not make any kill actions for this to work properly.  Basically, after the Night is over, any deaths that occur can be attributed to the two other people that stayed in the same room as that player, in the chart above.  We can therefore narrow down the suspects considerably.  If anyone didn't stay where they were supposed to, that should also be viewed as suspicious.  (Unfortunately, roommate information cannot be revealed during the Night, as per the rules, but it can be revealed the Day afterwards, which can help us on that front.)

 

Here's an example: Bob, Fred, and Sam were told to go to the Armory by the chart.  During the Night, Bob dies.  This means that either Fred or Sam killed him and is therefore a Baron/Serial Killer.  It could of course be someone who deviated from the plan and went to the Armory when they weren't supposed to, but, in that case, we'd have witnesses from both the Armory and the room that the deviator came from that would tell us this.

 

So, any thoughts on this plan?