A Bridge Zhou Far - Three Stars Rising | Summary Thread

[Subotan]

This thread is reserved for the publishing of write ups only. Please do not write in this thread.

FIRST PHASE

A Bridge Zhou Far

Or, Three Stars Rising

A journey of a thousand li starts with a single step. – Lao Tzu

October 24th 1938

Whilst the world focuses on Europe, and the dreams of one madman, the thunder of war has already rumbled in the East for a year. This is the Second-Sino Japanese War, a conflict that would later merge with the Second World War. Japanese soldiers have swarmed out of Manchukuo into the Republic of China, capturing Peking, Shanghai and Nanking, often with horrific brutality. . The actions of the People’s Extraordinary Detachment (PEXDET) will prevent Wuhan from joining that list. This particular force is under the command of Captain Subotan, who was meeting with Kuomintang forces in the town of Heihui Chen in order to launch a counter attack out of Guei Sui Valley and seize control of the Yangtze, thereby cutting off Japanese forces in Wuhan. Plans were discussed with Colonel Bei Bi, commander of the KMT forces in Heihui Chen. The Colonel noticeably stiffened when Comrade Subotan walked into the room, and he appeared to have some difficulty bowing in greeting to the Communists. Subotan made a mental note to develop a personal dislike towards him. Regardless of the relationship between the two commanders, it was agreed that the following morning, both armies would march down to confront the Japanese in battle, with the KMT artillery that were overlooking the valley they were camped in providing covering fire during the assault.


October 25th 1938, 03:00 Central Beijing Time, Heihui Chen.

Lan Ben Dan shivered as a wind blew through into the mouth and up the Guei Sui Valley. Watching the entrance to the town, he was responsible for making sure that the United Front troops did not receive unwelcome visitors during the middle of the night. Well, he and another Communist soldier were meant to be standing watch, along with two other KMT soldiers, but it looked like they were all too lazy to bother. He didn’t blame them. This would be the last peaceful sleep that any of them would get prior to the attack tomorrow. Heck, it could even be the last sleep they’d ever get.

Lan stamped his feet in an attempt to keep warm. His limp cigarette, clamped between tight lips and stamped with Cyrillic, glowed briefly. After a minute or so of this “exercise”, he stopped, now thoroughly toasty. But the sound of footsteps didn’t stop. A faint pattering could be heard, coming from outside the town. Lan strained his ears to make sure he wasn’t about to raise the alarm because of a goat, or that liquor he’d had earlier to keep warm. He quickly realised that it was definitely not a sheep, or mild intoxication, so he cocked his rifle and went to peer down the sights.



That distinctive clicking sound one hears when a bolt on a rifle is pulled back was muffled by the sound of a tank shell slamming into the hut Lan Ben Dan had stamped in, unfortunately killing him. An engine then started with a splutter that quickly levelled into a dirty snarl and a Japanese tank rolled into view. Swarms of Japanese soldiers erupted from the undergrowth like bees from a hive, and charged up to the ruins of the guardhouse. The treads of the tank ground and ripped the earth as they dragged the machine up the small hill.



The tank heaved up the hillock, and its front end swung through the air before smashing into the ground once the summit was reached. With Heihui Chen both defenceless and unaware of the attack, the tank’s main cannon opened fire into the city.

***

Captain Subotan stormed outside his tent to find that the town of Heihui Chen was under attack by the Japanese. An orange glow emanated from the far end of town, as did screams, cracks and low booms. His name was called, and Subotan turned around to see panicked Corporal Mei Yi Sei run up to him

“Corporal! What in the name of Lao Tzu is going on?”

“We don’t know! I have no idea how they could have found us! They must have known about this for days, as there’s no way they could have mobilised tanks if they’d just discovered us”!

“Arggh! Where’s Colonel Bei Bi? I presume the Kuomintang is counter attacking with their artillery?”

“They’ve disappeared! They must have been wiped out in the initial attack.”

“That’s impossible; the Japanese would need air support.”

Whilst others gathered around Subotan, waiting for orders, the Corporal pulled some binoculars out of a pouch hanging from his waist and inspected the ridge where the Kuomintang artillery was raining righteous justice upon the Japanese. Or rather, should have been.

“I don’t see anything Captain. Not even any wreckage.”

“That lying bastard! He knew we were going to be attacked, and he let us take the brunt of it so he could escape. Reactionary scum!”

Before the Corporal could reply, there was a Prauff as a bullet hit Mei’s temple, and the rest of him collapsed. The others around Subotan anxiously pressed him for orders, their faces full of confusion and fear.

“The only way the Japanese could have discovered us is if they have infiltrated our unit and are hiding amongst us, sending information and reports back to their headquarters. The same goes for the Kuomintang, as they-”

An explosion not 100 metres away, engulfing some Communist partisans, cut Subotan short.

“There’s no way we can hold this town, not against artillery and heavy armour. Give the order to ‘RETREAT!’”

The soldiers didn’t need telling twice, and the irregulars grabbed their weapons, some supplies and ran for their very survival up the valley, out of the town and into the mountains of Central China.



Short shouts indicated when a comrade had been unlucky enough to be picked out by a Japanese sniper. Subotan was panting for breath, and as each step became harder and harder, he fell further and further behind. A log lying between two rocks caused the Captain to stumble and fall, crashing into the earth. A Japanese soldier who was in hot pursuit noticed this, and the hail from bullets which spewed forth from his weapon made sure that Captain Subotan never got back up.

October 25th 1938, 04:30 Central Beijing Time, 4 km North West of Heihui Chen.

It had been twenty minutes since the last Chinese soldier had made it to the out and over the top of Guei Sui Valley. The ones who had huddled around in small groups, mourning friends and patriots lost, with some crying, others scouring the valley with binoculars for survivors, and the majority just staring into space.



Eventually, one of the latter stood up.

“That’s it, we’re the only ones left alive. Has anyone done a roll call?”

Everyone shook their heads, and a quick head count estimated that there were about 40 men present.

“40? Out of 218? In that case, there’s no way we can complete our objectives, even if we had Nationalist support. A full scale strategic retreat is our only option. It’s what the Captain would have done, were he alive.
And we can’t retreat back to Nationalist territory, not after what happened. They’d kill all of us, seeing as we know the truth as to why Wuhan will fall. So, it’s all the way back to Yan’an Soviet for us.”

A shudder swept through the company. They remembered the last time that Communists had had to do that, and it wasn’t pretty. Indeed, some present had even been veterans on that march; they shuddered most of all.

“Before we set out though, we need a leader. It is vital that we have strong leadership to guide us over 1,000 kilometres. So, I propose that we now elect a Chairman to lead us, and that he pick a cabal of officers, to advice and act for him.”

Nods of agreement could be seen throughout the grouping.

“However, before we set out, I must pass on to you what I heard from Captain Subotan moments before he died. He said that we must have been infiltrated by both the Kuomintang, and the Japanese. I have no idea if they are still within this company, but the risk is apparent. We may need to take action to purge our worker’s collective of Rightist influence.”

Steely stares and grim scowls met this unpleasant news, and whilst the workers were busy thinking of who might be a traitor, the soldier who had been speaking slipped back into the ranks. Due to it being very dark, nobody could recall his name, face or voice. Either way, it was clear that he didn’t want to be identified, and that his advice was sound. And as the rising sun broke through the mountains of China to glare upon the Marxists in their mountain hideout, the Communists gathered their packs, hoisted their rifles onto their backs and began their long descent, and their long march, unsure and mournful.

***

This is an election phase. The players will now vote for who they think should be Chairman. This office is one that shall be held for life. A letter of resignation is effectively a death warrant. No players will be lynched this phase. The Chairman will then pick an Officer Corps to serve him. Anyone wishing to become an Officer (But not the Deputy) must put their names forward, or be nominated by someone else.

This phase will last for 23 hours, until 21:00 GMT+1.

Alive players: 40/40
ACIN
ArpeggiateTHIS
autolycus
AVSM
Azathoth
Beefy187
Beskar
Captain Blackadder
Chaotix
Cultured Drizzt fan
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
johnhughthom
Jolt
Joooray
landlubber
M3YUZ
Methos
miotas
Nictel
Niklas
Pinman
Psychonau
Renata
Romanic
Sasaki
Seamus Fermanagh
Secura
shlin28
Sigurd
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
taka
TheFlax
Thermal Mercury
wideyedwanderer
Winston Hughes
Wishazu
Yaseikhaan
YLC

Lynched players 0/40

Killed Players 0/40

[Subotan]

In a war of revolutionary character, guerrilla operations are a necessary part. This is particularly true in war waged for the emancipation of a people who inhabit a vast nation. China is such a nation, a nation whose techniques are undeveloped and whose communications are poor. She finds herself confronted with a strong and victorious Japanese imperialism. Under these circumstances, the development of the type of guerrilla warfare characterized by the quality of mass is both necessary and natural. This warfare must be developed to an unprecedented degree and it must co-ordinate with the operations of our regular armies. If we fail to do this, we will find it difficult to defeat the enemy. – Mao Zedong, on Guerrilla Warfare.

After a day’s walking over rolling hills and through curved valleys, the survivors of the Battle of Heihui Chen laid down their packs and set up camp. They had stopped for the night in the crux of a valley, on a clear area of raised grass next to a small, fast flowing stream. Whilst traveling, the Communists had been discussing who should be leading them, and two candidates had quickly emerged as the frontrunners. Beskar and GeneralHankerchief were soon the clear favourites, despite attempts by Azathoth, YLC and Beefy187 to convince the patriots that they could lead the Communists to victory as well as the leading candidates.

Beskar and GeneralHankerchief argued intensely on the journey, with GeneralHankerchief accusing Beskar of being a “soul snatching capitalist”, and Beskar in turn accusing GeneralHankerchief of bribery and unscrupulous deals. The Communists were confused by the debate and appeared to be roughly divided between the candidates by the time a common agreement decided to stop on the banks of the stream to set up camp for the night. As tents, cooking fires and a designated Lavatory Pit were all established; it soon dawned upon the official Counter of votes that there was a tie.

“Hmm, I wasn’t expecting this”, said the Counter. “This is a real pain, why couldn’t there be a landslide? I guess the only way for this to be solved is for some kind of Sudden Death mechanism where the-”

“I VOTE FOR GENERALHANKERCHIEF!” yelled a voice.

Everyone turned around to see Sigurd sitting on the grass with a grin on his face

“I’m voting for him because he has a green hat, like me!” Sigurd’s grin widened as he pointed at the puzzled, but happy GeneralHankerchief to indicate that, yes, he was indeed wearing a very green hat.

“Well, that’s settled then. GeneralHankerchief is now the Chairman of the People’s Extraordinary Detachment.” said the Counter. “Congratulations GeneralHankerchief, you now have to pick an Officer Corps to save us from the Imperialists. I sincerely hope that your, as well as our judgment is sound.”

“Of course”, said the new Chairman. “Under my leadership, PEXDET shall take the action required to ensure that we all survive to build the Marxist Utopia that Comrade Mao has promised us.”

And with that GeneralHankerchief leaped on to a nearby hillock, raised his fist and voice and let out a cry:



“Hail Mao Zedong Thought! Crush Reactionary Scheming! Strive for our Very Survival and Inevitable Victory!”

The assembled soldiers replied loudly, and in unison

“Banish the Imperialists! Break the Chains! Secure the Proletariat’s Triumph!”

Even Beskar joined in the chanting, disgruntled though he was that he had lost the election.

Once the fevered shouting wound down, the Chairman spoke, in a much calmer tone

“I know it’s now night, but I shall be accepting nominations all night for the four Officers who shall serve with me. I can accept nominations for other people, or for specific posts, but I need a nomination before I can pick you. You may choose to speak to me in private, or you can announce it in thread. But other than that, you are dismissed”

The Socialists then scattered, with some going back to their tents for rest, others going to nurture cooking fires, some staying still to play cards with their Comrades, and a few sprinting towards the designated Lavatory Pit.

But as the sun set, plans were created that, when revealed for all to see the following day, would show just how much that strong leadership was needed.

GeneralHankerchief – 12 – GH, Khaan, AA, landlubber, autolycus, John, Blackadder, Seamus, miotas, DIY, Renata, Sigurd

Beskar – 11 – Beskar, Romanic, Split, Secura, Azathoth, Shlin, Flax, CDF, aThis, Cute Wolf, Chaotix

YLC - 3 – Pinman, Winston, Beefy

Jolt – 1 – Jolt

Taka – 1 – taka

ACIN – 1 – ACIN

Didn't vote- TWELVE- AVSM, Death is yonder, Joooray, M3YUZ, Methos, Nictel, Niklas, Sasaki, Thermal Mercury, wideyedwanderer, wishazu

It is now the Night Phase, This phase will last for 23 hours, until 21:00 GMT.

[Subotan]

It is a fact that during the war the enemy may take advantage of certain people who are lacking in conscience and patriotism and induce them to join the guerrillas for the purpose of betraying them. Officers must, therefore, continually educate the soldiers and inculcate patriotism in them. This will prevent the success of traitors. The traitors who are in the ranks must be discovered and expelled, and punishment and expulsion meted out to those who have been influenced by them.

In all such cases, the officers should summon the soldiers and relate the facts to them, thus arousing their hatred and detestation for traitors. This procedure will serve as well as a warning to the other soldiers. If an officer is discovered to be a traitor, some prudence must be used in the punishment adjudged. However, the work of eliminating traitors in the army begins with their elimination from among the people. – Mao Zedong, on Guerrilla Warfare

Beskar was thirsty. His dry throat had his complete attention, and the irritation was preventing him from getting to sleep. He tossed and turned in his tent trying to think of Mao’s plump cheeks and his surely rousing voice, but his mind always drifted back to fountains, rivers, oceans-

Beskar snapped out of it. Putting on his boots and strapping his holster to his chest, he wiggled out of his tent into the night. The night was clear, but the waning moon did not allow for perfect vision. Embers from the campfires glowed at the entrance to some of the tents. Beskar glanced around him to make sure that no-one had noticed he was breaking curfew. The coast was clear.

Beskar slowly but surely began to tip-toe towards the stream which ran past the camp. The stream was about knee deep and twelve feet wide, with large flat rocks dotting the current, and its pebbly banks crunched as Beskar slunk towards the flowing water. Beskar’s tongue hung out as he gazed upon the water. Beskar lay down and began to dink deep, practically submerging his head in the clear water.

“Glug, glug, glug…”Beskar, now fully refreshed, lifted his face out of the stream stood up to a crouch, and opened his canteen, filling it up for fear of getting so dehydrated again. As the water pooled in the flask, Beskar looked around him. The stream seemed oddly quieter then it did a moment ago, and the various noises which the night amplifies so loud had all but ceased. He began to feel uneasy. Beskar’s eyes found themselves fixed to a bush on the opposite bank which was shadowed by a large tree. Beskar, eyes glued to the bush, removed his flask from the water and screwed the lid back on, tight.

Suddenly, Beskar dropped his flask, and his hand went to his waste to pull out his pistol. As his hand touched his holster, a terrific bang exploded from across the river, and Beskar felt a woosh nearly touch his ear. Bekar leaped to his side and fired a return shot blindly across the bank. An angry shout was heard and the bush was uprooted and tossed aside to reveal a furious, unwounded Japanese Officer standing behind the bush, pulling back the bolt on his rifle.

The Officer jumped down onto the pebbly bank on his side of the stream, and still holding his rifle, leapt from stone to stone with the speed of a demon. Beskar could only look on in horror as the Officer got closer and closer and closer, avoiding Beskar’s bullets as if they were ladybirds. Beskar threw away his useless weapon and began to scramble up the bank towards the camp, screaming for help. But the Officer was too quick for him, and landing on the shore with a nimble grace, he brought down his rifle butt on Beskar’s head with a skull splitting crack. Tutting in disapproval that the now unconscious Beskar’s head remained intact, the Japanese dragged him back to the river, and held his head under the water. Large bubbles escaped from Beskar’s nose, and the psychopath grinned as he kept Beskar’s head submerged.

“Hey! Stop!”

The Rightist spun around to see three men, all holding weapons running from the camp towards him. Abandoning Beskar, the murderer scrambled to pick up his rifle and aimed it at the newcomers. The newcomers in turn pointed their weapons at the maniac, but uneasily due to a lack of training and concern for their drowning comrade. The Japanese slowly circled around the Communists, making sure that they would be unable to both catch him and rescue Beskar. The standoff was lip-bitingly tense.

The Marxists suddenly lost their nerve and ran to rescue their charge from the water. Seeing their attention was distracted, the Officer turned and slipped into the shadows back towards the camp. The Marxists pulled Beskar out of the river, and rolled him onto his back. Seeing he wasn’t breathing, and lacking any medical training, they slapped his face, shouted and punched his chest.

Happily, with a cough and a splutter, Beskar woke up, albeit with a headache and a newfound fear of water.

***

The following morning, GeneralHandkerchief assembled the Communists before him.

“It is as Subotan feared. Last night, as we slept, one of our Comrades was attacked by vile Imperialist forces.”

Another gasp went through the crowd

“Last night, we were lucky. Men were assigned to watch over Beskar, and he is managed to escape with only concussion” Said GeneralHankerchief

“Yeah, “only concussion” ” muttered Beskar, nursing his head and his pride, still damaged after losing the election.
“But we are fortunate” said GeneralHankerchief “For I have picked my Officer Corps, who shall surely help us rat out the traitors.”

“a completely inoffensive name is now the Political Commissar ”

Hearing his name, ACIN stood up and gave a crisp salute to the Chairman

GeneralHankerchief continued: “Seamus Fermanagh is now our Medical Officer, autolycus is now our Director of Proletarian Justice and Yaseikhaan” he said with a slight pause and smile, “Is our Special Operative”.

All of the mentioned (Save Yaseikhaan, who stood still at the back of the gathering) walked to the front of the group and each gave long winded speeches about how they were going to serve PEXDET and Communism in China fully and how they would deviate from the Revolutionary line etc.

When the speeches had finished, GeneralHankerchief resumed speaking “I suggest, in order to prevent a dictatorship by myself, that whilst marching, we collectively select someone who at the end of the day is lynched by us, so that we shall be able to find the traitors and punish them as one”

Everyone in PEXDET agreed, and GeneralHankerchief dismissed the meeting. Everyone then rushed to collect pots and pans, roll up tents and bury the Lavatory Pit, and within ten minutes, PEXDET was marching once again, down through the valley and through rice paddies and villages, in the direction of Yan’an, and safety.



***

It is now the day phase. This phase will last for 23 hours until 21:00 GMT+1. Please Vote for who you think is an imperialist using the Vote:Lynchee mechanism, and it would be nice if you could remember to put the name of the person you are unvoting if you change your mind.


Alive players: 40/40
ACIN
ArpeggiateTHIS
autolycus
AVSM
Azathoth
Beefy187
Beskar
Captain Blackadder
Chaotix
Cultured Drizzt fan
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
johnhughthom
Jolt
Joooray
landlubber
M3YUZ
Methos
miotas
Nictel
Niklas
Pinman
Psychonau
Renata
Romanic
Sasaki
Seamus Fermanagh
Secura
shlin28
Sigurd
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
taka
TheFlax
Thermal Mercury
wideyedwanderer
Winston Hughes
Wishazu
Yaseikhaan
YLC

Lynched players 0/40

Killed Players 0/40

[Subotan]

It is to be hoped that the world is in the last era of strife. The vast majority of human beings have already prepared or are preparing to fight a war that will bring justice to the oppressed people of the world. No matter how long this war may last, there is no doubt that it will be followed by an unprecedented epoch of peace The war that we are fighting today for the freedom of all human beings, and the independent, happy, and liberal China that we are fighting to establish will be a part of that new world order. A conception like this is difficult for the simple-minded militarist to grasp and it must therefore be carefully explained to him. – Mao Zedong on Guerrila Warfare



The People’s Extraordinary Detachment had spent all day trudging along the narrow terraces that crisscrossed a huge expanse of rice paddies. Winding their way through the cracks in the mirrored surface, the discussion about who was guilty for the attack on Beskar yesterday. Beskar himself was very boastful, and his claims of martial prowess had inklings of hubris.

Two main possible culprits stood out, Beefy187 and Azathoth. Beefy had been caught saying something in Japanese, and the fury of the Communists nearly drove them to kill him on the spot. Beefy panicked, and claimed that it was just a phrase he had picked up in Japan whilst studying Marxism there, and that he really really was a dedicated Communist. So dedicated in fact, that he was prepared to die defending someone from the ravages of the Counter-Revolution. PEXDET was not really satisfied with this excuse, but their attention shifted to another, Azathoth. Azathoth was loud and pedantic, giving the illusion that he was invincible to the power of the revolution, when Sasaki Jojiro said his name wrong.



In the end, as the Socialists entered the town of Daozhen, Azathoth was narrowly chosen over Beefy187 to be the most likely culprit of last night’s attack. Azathoth seemed resigned to his rate. GeneralHankerchief stood before the Maoists and said:

“So it seems that we have decided Azathoth is a counter-revolutionary. Let this be a lesson to any other reactionaries who may lurk within us. This is your fate. ”

And with that, GeneralHankerchief immediately pulled his imitation Mauser out of his holster and shot Azathoth, once, twice, three times, in the chest, thigh and face. Azathoth fell to the floor with a strangled, inhuman noise. The guerrillas looked on glumly.

“That was necessary” muttered GeneralHankerchief. “ I shall investigate Azathoth's belongings, and within three days we shall have a confirmation as to his purpose among us, and whether that purpose was benign.But now onto the next order of business. Whilst staying in this admittedly grotty town, we have to decide on a policy towards peasants we will encounter on our journeys. On one hand, we need as much food as possible to survive, but official Party line is that we must treat the farmers with kindness, so as not to upset them and turn them away from the fruits of Marxism when our revolution is inevitably victorious. I shall delegate the discussion to you, ad I shall enforce any decision we all come to a consensus on.”

It is now the night phase. In this phase, there is an Incident. Please submit your ideas for policy in the form Propose:Blah blah blah and agree with proposals with Agree:Azathoth.

On a slightly different note, I’m going to allow the words “Nip”, “Jap” and variants upon, for the purposes of roleplaying. I’m guessing that the Chinese in this period used much stronger words than “Nippo” to describe the Japanese invaders. I don’t need to make it clear that any use of such words other than for RP will be dealt with.

This phase shall end in 23 hours at 21:00 GMT +1

Azathoth - 5 - Sasaki, CDF, Chaotix, autolycus, AA

Beefy - 4- Azathoth, Beskar, Seamus, ACIN

autolycus - 2 - Beefy, taka

taka - 2 - Renata, WH

ACIN - 2 - WEW, Shlin

Chaotix - 1 - Khaan

Psychonaut - 1 - DiY

Didn't vote: EVERYONE ELSE


Alive players: 39/40
ACIN
ArpeggiateTHIS
autolycus
AVSM
Beefy187
Beskar
Captain Blackadder
Chaotix
Cultured Drizzt fan
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
johnhughthom
Jolt
Joooray
landlubber
M3YUZ
Methos
miotas
Nictel
Niklas
Pinman
Psychonau
Renata
Romanic
Sasaki
Seamus Fermanagh
Secura
shlin28
Sigurd
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
taka
TheFlax
Thermal Mercury
wideyedwanderer
Winston Hughes
Wishazu
Yaseikhaan
YLC

Lynched players 1/40

Azathoth

Killed Players 0/40

[Subotan]

In guerrilla warfare, select the tactic of seeming to come from the east and attacking from the west; avoid the solid, attack the hollow; attack; withdraw; deliver a lightning blow, seek a lightning decision. When guerrillas engage a stronger enemy, they withdraw when he advances; harass him when he stops; strike him when he is weary; pursue him when he withdraws. In guerilla strategy, the enemy's rear, flanks, and other vulnerable spots are his vital points, and there he must be harassed, attacked, dispersed, exhausted and annihilated. Only in this way can guerrillas carry out their mission of independent guerrilla action and coordination with the effort of the regular armies. But, in spite of the most complete preparation, there can be no victory if mistakes are made in the matter of command. Guerilla warfare based on the principles we have mentioned and carried out over a vast extent of territory in which communications are inconvenient will contribute tremendously towards ultimate defeat of the Japanese and consequent emancipation of the Chinese people. – Mao Zedong, on Guerrilla Warfare

It was decided that Comrade autolycus’ proposal, that PEXDET should “require a donation from each farmer of a seventh of his crop to our worthy cause, and that we compensate the farmers of each town with an hour's service in their fields each morning before we continue onwards.”, was now the policy of PEXDET towards acquiring food for the Revolutionaries. The peasants were disgruntled with this deal, as it was the sowing season and they disliked giving away such a large portion of their food before the winter came, but there wasn’t much that the peasants could do, and they reckoned that it was better then the soldiers taking all of their food. To the peasants, the Socialist were just another band of traveling thugs, as no attempt was made to instill Marxist ideology into the town was made, somewhat surprisingly.

***

Winston Hughes was sleeping. He had commandeered one of the richer peasant’s house for his sole use, and he had been pleased with the comparative luxuriousness of the bed he was sleeping in compared to the dirty rags he had been used to. Winston was dreaming about a cat, a cat eating poop. The dream quickly degenerated into a nightmare, with the dream becoming more surreal, frightening and harder to understand the longer Winston tossed and turned in bed.

Winston woke up with a start, covered in sweat. The room was pitch black, save for a slit of moonlight which slipped in through the narrow window to his side. All Winston could hear was his fast, shallow breathing, and the odd rustle from the bush swaying in the light wind outside his window.

“Finally” said the darkness, in a low, whisper

Winston jumped out of his skin, absolutely petrified; the poop eating cat was nothing compared to the terror he was now experiencing

“So,” continued the voice “I’ve finally found you. For the first time in three long years, I have you right in my sights. And best of all, there’s no way you can escape this time”

“What are you talking about?” wailed Winston “I haven’t done anything, I’m a good Communist!”

“Yes,” replied the voice, “You would say that. But then your definition of “Communist” would probably be more accurately described as traitor. Remember Si Dalin? Pan Tu? Lang Zhu? And the others you killed? Huh? Remember?”

Winston shook his head frantically.

“Who are they? And I’ve never killed anyone!”

The shadows tutted:

“Even if you hadn’t murdered all those brave, loyal Communists, I’d still be killing you in the next two minutes anyway, because of what you did in Shanghai”

“Shanghai? I’ve never been to Shanghai!” screamed Winston

“Oh yes you have,” replied the dark, “And you killed a man there. He was my brother, and there is no denying that, you villainous scum.”

And with that, a hand reached out of the shadow and grabbed Winston cry the collar, and pulled his face into the moonlight.

“You sneaky slug….you even shaved your facial hair off. You could have done a better disguise than that…”

“I can’t even grow a beard...” whimpered Winston.

The voice responded by plunging a sword deep into Winston’s chest and out the other side. Winston choked and flailed, and blood gushed out all over the bed sheets.

***

On the other side of town, a lock was broken. The door swung open, and in crept a gang of armed men. Five of them slipped in, and surrounded the bed of one Sasaki Kojiro. The men all looked to the tallest man, who gave a nod and drew his firearm. The others complied and drew their own weapons. The gathered all aimed their guns at the sleeping body, and with a second nod from the tall man, opened fire. The hail of bullets was woefully disproportionate, and some of the more enthusiastic members of the group had to empty their clips before they stopped clicking their triggers. Not surprisingly, the body was not moving and was covered in wounds and leaking blood. Gingerly, the tall man reached forward and rolled the mess onto its side to reveal the face of the victim. It was the face of Sasaki Kojiro.

“Hmm”

The tall man was obviously irritated that the occupant of the house was his victim, for some strange reason. He gestured to the other soldiers, and they filed out of the house, silently.

***

johnhughthom was alert and ready for anything. Perched on the roof of his house in the autumn cold, he drank booze and smoked his cheap cigarettes at a furious pace, lighting new ones before the old ones had even burnt out. Because of this, of all the people who were attacked that night in Daozhen, johnhughthom was the only one who was not surprised. Seeing an intruder approach from over the rooftops, johnhughthom immediately stood up.

“Have you come for vengeance, or are you a fool?” shouted johnhughthom

The intruder said nothing and began to reach inside his coat

“A fool then”, said johnhughthom as he snatched one of the bottles that lay scattered at his feet. Lighting the rag attached to it with his cigarette, johnhughthom hurled the lethal weapon through the air in a high parabola. Seeing the petrol bomb gliding through the air, the attacker dived to the side in a frantic bid to avoid the bottle of death. But his jump was misjudged, as he soared off the roof to land in a pile of manure with a sickening squelch, just as a colossal KABOOM lit up the sky and house above him. Disorientated and groaning in disgust, the man could only lie there as johnhughthom scampered away across the rooftops, proud of his handiwork and the awesomeness of the devastation he had left behind him.

***




GeneralHankerchief gathered the survivors of the previous night to the central plaza of Daozhen.

“Comrades, it appears that even if Azathoth was a counter-revolutionary, that there are still more among us, as both Winston Hughes and Sasaki Kojiro were murdered in their sleep last night”

A steely grimness was the reply of the Maoists.


“Obviously, we must again choose a candidate to lynch” continued the Chairman. “But before we do that, it appears that you have volunteered to work in the fields as “payment” for the food we’re commandeering from these poor peasants. Umm, OK then, let’s get to work.”

And with that, the Marxists glumly exited the main gate to the rice paddies surrounding Daozhen. Only a few were genuinely enthusiastic about the prospect of an hour of farm work, with most only supporting the measure because it was the only one available. As it was the sowing season for rice, there wasn’t a huge amount of stuff to do, and the Communists blundered around and generally got in the way of professional farmers who knew what they were doing, although a few of the Socialists were expert farmers who performed their job well. After the hour was up, PEXDET awkwardly left the town, under the exasperated gazes of a town which had seen two murders, a lynching, a house fire and the theft of 1/7th of the town’s food in the twelve hours the Red Army had been there.



Exiting the town, the soldiers found their path gradually winding upwards into hillier and rougher terrain. The already uneven road became more broken and ill defined, and the upwards march was tiring for the Marxists, but it wasn’t like that had a choice.



Alive players: 37/40
ACIN
ArpeggiateTHIS
autolycus
AVSM
Beefy187
Beskar
Captain Blackadder
Chaotix
Cultured Drizzt fan
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
johnhughthom
Jolt
Joooray
landlubber
M3YUZ
Methos
miotas
Nictel
Niklas
Pinman
Psychonau
Renata
Romanic
Seamus Fermanagh
Secura
shlin28
Sigurd
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
taka
TheFlax
Thermal Mercury
wideyedwanderer
Wishazu
Yaseikhaan
YLC

Lynched players 1/40

Azathoth

Killed Players 2/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro

I am expecting more people to actually vote his time. People who have still not voted by the end of this phase shall go on the Bad List. And those on the Bad List will not enjoy that position.

As you are clowning around in the rice paddies, this phase shall end in 22 hours, at 20:00 GMT+1 tomorrow. Happy Lynching!

[Subotan]

By dinner time, the Communists had has ascended to a reasonable height, and were starting to enter real mountainous territory. They set up camp on a hillside, from which they could see for a great distance back from whence they had came. They could all see Daozhen in the distance, with a silky black line rising from the houses that been burned down by johnhughthom.

It was obvious who the lynch candidate was. Beefy187 had played chicken with the leadership of PEXDET, and a man had died because of it. The one dissenting vote was lodged out of habit more than anything else, and Beefy187 completely accepted his fate.

As the sleeping areas were being established, GeneralHankerchief and the other officers gave long speeches about why Beefy187 should engage in serious self-criticism due to his betrayal of the party, Communism and the Chinese Nation. Hearing this long tirade of crimes, Beefy said nothing; although his expression couldn’t have been uglier if he’d been chewing a wasp.



The Socialists gathered around the small hillock with their noodles to watch their Chairman draw the accusations to a close, and prepare for the execution of Beefy.

“…And thus, to summarise, your crimes are as follows. Failure to defend Communist, attacking Communist, failure to die defending Communist, speaking Japanese, conducting anti-people activities, spreading dissent and refusing to admit that you are a Rightist.” announced GeneralHankerchief

Beefy kept his head bowed and said nothing.

GeneralHankerchief turned to his Special Operative “Do you want to do the “honours”, Yaseikhaan?”

Yaseikhaan nodded, and drew his officer allocated Thompson Machine Gun out, and loaded it with a drum from inside his coat. He took aim at the silent Beefy, and fired off several rounds.

The Chairman sniffed and nodded again.

“That was for the best. But, fellow Communists, I urge you to be more careful tonight, as we still have no idea if any of our, erm, candidates are the Counter-Revolutionaries we claimed them to be. They may still walk, and kill, among us.”

This phase shall end in 23 hours, as 21:00 deadlines are a more Subotan-friendly time. I'll post the tally tomorrow.

Tally

Beefy187 - 25 - CDF, Cute Wolf, Romanic, Yaseikhaan, taka, Beefy187, ACIN, Pinman, Seamus, Jolt, Secura, Chaotix, Niklas, Renata, WEW, Blackadder, landlubber, AA, Psycho, miotas, YLC, John, autolycus, DIY, Joooray (I'll count Jooray as his vote made no difference to the outcome, and it serves more as a "I'm here" more than anything else)

Yaseikhaan - 1 - Shlin28

The Bad List - 6 - Thermal Mercury, AVSM, wishazu, splitpersonality, TheFlax, M3YUZ

The Bad List is a list of those who are consistently not voting in thread. Please change your behaviour, or face the consequences

Alive players: 36/40

ACIN
ArpeggiateTHIS
autolycus
AVSM
Beskar
Captain Blackadder
Chaotix
Cultured Drizzt fan
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
johnhughthom
Jolt
Joooray
landlubber
M3YUZ
Methos
miotas
Nictel
Niklas
Pinman
Psychonau
Renata
Romanic
Seamus Fermanagh
Secura
shlin28
Sigurd
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
taka
TheFlax
Thermal Mercury
wideyedwanderer
Wishazu
Yaseikhaan
YLC

Lynched players 1/40

Azathoth
Beefy187

Killed Players 2/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro

[Subotan]

"Psst! Hey! Listen!“

"What? “ Beskar poked his head inside taka’s tent. He was clearly not amused.

“I need to use the toilet, really bad! I must have undercooked my noodles...” said taka. taka did a little jig to show just how desperate he was.

Beskar rolled his eyes. “Fine, I’ll guard you on your way there.”

taka gave a quiet cheer and scrambled out of the tent onto the side of the moonlit mountain.

Beskar peered into the gloom.

“Where is the designated Lavatory Pit? I don’t remember building one…”

“Look! There’s a sign there, it must be over here” said taka

They walked to a forested area of the outskirts of the camp, quite a bit further away than usual. The hole could be seen behind a tree, obstructed from the view of the tents. For privacy reasons, of course.

“At last!” cried taka, and he hurried over to the small hole to do whatever business you might do is such a designated Pit.

“Pssss….”

Beskar awkwardly turned to the side and focused his entire attention on a bush even deeper into the forest. Looking closer he realized that there was some kind of hair snagged on the bush. Thinking that it might be a delicious rabbit, Beskar eagerly approached.

“BOO!” roared the bush.

Beskar screamed.

“Agggh! What the-”

The bush rustled and revealed that there had been a man crouching behind it, and that the hair which had been snagged in the bush was his long and messy beard, which now had pieces of bush snagged in it.

“Why hello, Beskar” said the Hairy Man. “It is such a wonderful night to be taking care of…business, yes?”

The Hairy Man stood up and motioned towards taka, who was blissfully unaware of the Hairy Man’s business and happily going about his business.

“But what is my business, you must be asking? I’ll tell you what it is, Beskar. It is Chinese business. No, I’m not a Jap or a Kuomintang or anything silly like that, Beskar, so you can relax.”

Beskar didn’t relax.

“For you see, my business is a very special, niche business. My work helps everyone, regardless of class, dialect, whatever. But the funny thing is Beskar, hehe, is that the Chinese, hoohaha, don’t even know that I’m doing their business for them, hahaha! Isn’t that so funny Beskar? Isn’t it FUNNY?”

The Hairy Man was now bent over with laughter, with huge guffaws erupting from the bearded maelstrom that was his face. Beskar was now stricken with terror, and he ran backwards to where taka was still sitting on the Pit. taka had by now noticed the Hairy Man and looked concerned.

“Tsssssss….”

“How are you still doing that? Come on, we’ve got to get away from him now!”

“But I’ve finished. I’m not doing anything, Beskar…” taka said.

They both slowly looked inside the pit, where the hissing continued unabated and tiny sparks could be seen flitting around amongst the brown.

“taka, I think we need to-”

With a massive KA-BLOOEY, Beskar and taka were both instantly killed by the bomb which had been planted inside the pit dug by the Hairy Man. After the explosion’s echo finally dissipated and the remains of taka’s protection group ran over to see what remained of their charge, a booming laugh could be heard from within the forest.

***

“Good evening Chaotix.”

Chaotix woke up with a start to find a big, big man looming over his bedding, and staring him right in the eye.

“I’m here to make sure that you don’t do anything stupid during the night. You wouldn’t be planning on doing anything stupid, would you?”

Chaotix shook his head furiously.

“Good, I love understandings. They make everything so much easier. I trust you will also understand my colleague coming in here and rummaging around in your things and loads of books, yes?”

Chaotix nodded, again, furiously.

The intruder smiled and turned to the entry flap.

“Hey, you’re late.”

A second man entered and reached inside his long coat to take it off.

“I’m so sorry. Let me make it up to you”

Instantly, he pulled a pistol from inside his coat, and smashed into the side of the big man’s head. He went down with a sharp crack and a short croak. Chaotix pulled his bedding up around him fearfully.

The attacker smiled and stared down at Chaotix. He frowned slightly

“What was that you called me?”

“Huh? I don’t even know who you are so how-“ stammered Chaotix

The attacked put a finger to his lips “No, shh. You do know who I am. Because you lot called we something a few days ago. The “Wide Eyed Nippo”. That was it. The Wide Eyed Nippo. Hehe. How droll.”

Chaotix, not knowing what to do, just mumbled

“But”, continued the Japanese, “It’s not fair that I get all the compliments. And it would be rude of me to flatter someone with sweet-nothings that clearly aren’t true. So, I’m going to do you a favour, Chaotix. I’m going to make you Wide Eyed.”

The Japanese cocked his pistol and aimed it straight at Chaotix’s head

“I’m going to make you so Wide Eyed I’ll be able to fit my fist through your face!” snarled the Nippo, as Chaotix let out a terrified scream, moments before the Japanese Officer hollowed out Chaotix’s skull.

***

“Comrades, we were attacked again last night”

GeneralHankerchief stared out across the remaining Communists. They were starting to get few in number, and you could see their self awareness of this grim fact in their eyes.

“I know it’s hard, fellow Maoists, but we must struggle on. Only by continuing to fight can we beat the counter-revolutionaries. To disperse and give up allows them to pick us off, one by one. But together, we, the microcosm of the Chinese people, are strong enough united to fight off the Revisionists in grisly combat. And it is such unity that we must tighten!”

The Communists all nodded glumly, and set off, deeper into the mountains. The altitude was really starting to rise by this point, and snow could be seen further up the mountain trail.

Alive players: 33/40

ACIN
ArpeggiateTHIS
autolycus
AVSM
Captain Blackadder
Cultured Drizzt fan
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
johnhughthom
Jolt
Joooray
landlubber
M3YUZ
Methos
miotas
Nictel
Niklas
Pinman
Psychonau
Renata
Romanic
Seamus Fermanagh
Secura
shlin28
Sigurd
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
TheFlax
Thermal Mercury
wideyedwanderer
Wishazu
Yaseikhaan
YLC

Lynched players 2/40

Azathoth
Beefy187

Killed Players 5/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro
taka
Beskar
Chaotix

[Subotan]

As the People’s Extraordinary Detachment ascended into the cold, snowy mountains, the debate between the Socialists became quite heated. Confusion arose as the nature of the explosion last night. Had one of the defenders betrayed taka? Was the Hairy Man some sort of serial killer? Was he even a –perish the thought - a Trotskyite? None could say for certain, and this was probably the main reason why none of those accused of being involved in the blast were eventually chosen to be executed by the evening. Instead, the Maoists picked Shlin28, who had a reputation of insubordination and challenging authority. By the time the Communists drew to a halt, Shlin28 had just edged out in front of the other candidates.

“I am to be to lynched for this? For manning the barricades against the encroachment of tyranny and despotism? I am a hero of the people, a lone guardian standing up for what I believe in, true Communism, a Communism without states or generals!” declared Shlin28, raising his voice above the howling winds and screaming blizzard

GeneralHankerchief in turn levelled a finger at the accused “Silence! Since when has undermining the leadership of the Party been “true Communism”? Such words are the words of a mole, burrowing away at the foundations of our Revolution.”

Shlin28 pointed back “A mole? Ha! That is rich coming from someone who has imposed tyranny over our Worker’s Brigade. If I am a mole, then it is only to undermine and destroy dictatorship and autocracy.”

GeneralHankerchief’s face turned red in the fierce cold as he shouted back at Shlin and the watching Proletariat “Only through decisive courage and leadership can we strive towards our worker’s paradise and secure our brilliant Socialist dawn. You, Shlin28, are a Revisionist, twisting and bending the true words of the party into the speech of a snake. The People have chosen you to be executed, and executed you shall be!”

He jabbed in the direction of Shlin28, and Yaseikhaan appeared at the Chairmans side. Yaseikhaan whipped his sword out his sheath, and held it behind him, with his arm fully extended. The Special Operative then pushed off his back leg and leaped forward towards the gaping Shlin. In midair, Yaesikhaan whirled his sword out from behind him and swung it around to connect with Shlin’s waist as Yaesikhaan touched the ground. The blade then ripped through Shlin’s torso, tearing a pathway through to his opposite shoulder and severing Shlin in half. Shlin’s halves fell backwards, and Yaesikhaan booted them off the mountain edge with a mighty kick, and Shlin28 sailed off the edge, leaving a red pathway all the way down the snowy cliff face. The Communists looked on with a mixture of horror and disgust, and even the Chairman appeared a bit white. The Special Operative replied with only a glare as he wiped his sword and face clean.

“Well, as well as that, I have a few other announcements to make. It appears that a clique has formed, the Fengxi Clique, which consists of The Flax, Romanic and Renata. This means that in the event of a tie, they along with the other Officers will be able to vote to decide the fate of a candidate (And some other examples which have yet to become clear…. - Subotan). So congratulations to the new political force!”

The Communists politely clapped, and the Fengxi Clique cheered.

This round shall last until 20:00 GMT+1, which is now the deadline time for all phases (I mentioned this in another write-up)

Unofficial tally:

4 shlin (landlubber, Romanic, Secura, WEW)
3 johnhughthom (autolycus, Cute Wolf, Pinman)
3 Sigurd (Niklas, Psychonaut, Yaseikhaan)
2 wideyedwanderer (Captain Blackadder, miotas)
2 ArpegiateTHIS (CDF, TheFlax)
1 autolycus (shlin)
1 AVSM (ArpTHIS)
1 YLC (YLC)

Jolt showed up in the end, so he won't be counted as being on the bad list. Yaseikhaan missed the deadline though.

******
13 Not voting ( everyone else, except GH) -

ACIN
AVSM
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
Joooray
M3YUZ
Nictel
Seamus
Sigurd
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
Thermal Mercury
Wishazu

The bold represents the Bad List. If anyone on the bad list misses the next lynch, they will be WOG'd, hard. On a lighter note, TheFlax is off the Bad List!

[Subotan]

Psychonaut was standing on guard. Chosen by the Chairman to help watch over a particular member of PEXDET,he was maintaining the outer perimeter. There wasn’t much to maintain, to be honest. The fierce wind and dizzying altitude made it beyond unlikely that they would be subject to a Reactionary assault. But, orders were orders, regardless of how cold Psychonaut got. Personally, Psychonaut had thought it would make more sense to keep a closer watch for threats around their charge, but their group had spare numbers, so…

“Hey!”

Psychonaut looked over to see a man approaching him. He was wearing a grin that was a little too wide for Psychonaut to feel comfortable. Psychonaut aimed his rifle at him, just to be sure.

“Halt!”

The man laughed, and opened his coat to show that he wasn’t carrying any sort of firearm. Reassured, Psychonaut lowered his weapon.

“So what’s a Marxist like you doing stuck all the way out here then, eh? I can’t imagine there’s much to look out for in this part of the camp” said the man, tilting his head down the blocked road from whence the Communists had came..

“Oh, you never know. The Japanese are sneaky blighters. You saw how they caught us unaware in Heihui Chen. They could be planning anything even as we speak” said Psychonaut

“Really? Wow, I had no idea. To think that they might be planning countless ways to bring us civilization. Tsk tsk.” said the man, shaking his head.

“Yeah they really are…wait, what?”

The man flashed another uncomfortable smile, and grabbed Psychonaut by the back of the neck. Too shocked to react, Psychonaut could only scream as he was pulled down onto a blade that was thrust into his belly.

“Sneaky doesn’t even begin to describe it“ whispered the Jap Officer, as he ripped his katana out of Psychonaut’s abdomen, and held it behind his head, steadying Psychonaut to keep him in an upright position.

“You should be proud, Psychonaut. This is an antique blade that has slain Russians, Koreans, Germans... and a lot of Chinese. ” And with that, he brought the blade down fast onto Psychonaut’s neck, slicing through it, and decapitating him.

The Japanese Officer laughed, and wiped his sword on Psychonaut’s hat, before sliding his katana back into its sheath, and slipping away into the night.

***

“Comrades, I have more bad news.”

The Chairman had gathered the Maoists in the freezing cold in the middle of the camp. The Communists were tired and cold, and several of the Marxists, notably Thermal Mercury, M3YUZ, Wishazu and spL1tp3r50naL1ty looked close to death.

“Psychonaut was murdered last night, whilst protecting one of our dear comrades, apparently by the Japanese. We still have more work to do Comrades, and we cannot quit until every single last Counter-Revolutionary is dead and held aloft as a banner to strike fear into the Bourgeoisie, and hope into the hearts of the Peasants.”

A few Communists nodded. Most remained glumly silent.

“Oh, and I have more news. I have searched Azathoth’s belongings thoroughly, and it turns out that he was a loyal Communist who wasn’t even susceptible to any Imperialist propaganda. So I guess that's something to celebrate...”


Alive players: 31/40

ACIN
ArpeggiateTHIS
autolycus
AVSM
Captain Blackadder
Cultured Drizzt fan
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
johnhughthom
Jolt
Joooray
landlubber
M3YUZ
miotas
Nictel
Niklas
Pinman
Renata
Romanic
Seamus Fermanagh
Secura
Sigurd
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
TheFlax
Thermal Mercury
wideyedwanderer
Wishazu
Yaseikhaan
YLC

Lynched players 3/40

Azathoth
Beefy187
shlin28

Killed Players 6/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro
taka
Beskar
Chaotix
Psychonaut

Phase ends at 20:00 GMT+1

[Subotan]

PEXDET were still slogging their way through the mountains and cold, and although they had found discussion difficult in the harsh climate, one candidate for the lynch eventually emerged above the others. Niklas said nothing to defend himself, remaining totally mute whilst the accusations flew around him. By the time it was time to set up camp near the top of the pass they were traveling through, it was obvious Niklas was going to be lynched.

The Chairman summoned Niklas in front of him, and said in a booming voice

“Niklas! You are accused of murdering Psychonaut last night. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Niklas said nothing.

“Did you not hear me? Speak up!” said GeneralHankerchief, scowling.

“…”

“Fine, have it your way.”

GeneralHankerchief nodded to Yaseikhaan, who rolled his eyes and lazily shot Niklas. Niklas fell to the icy earth without a sound, and he bled out without making so much as a peep.

“Huh, that was odd. He’s normally so talkative as well.” The Chairman shook his head and addressed the crowd once more

“Now that the remaining thirty of us can continue on our-”

A hand shot up in the audience: “Erm, sorry, but that’s not true. Wishazu and Thermal Mercury are both dead” said M3YUZ

“What? How is that possible? They both started marching with us, correct?”

“Yes, but as they were especially weak due to hunger and muteness, they fell further and further behind. I was the last one to see them both alive…”

“Oh no, that’s terrible! How did they die?”

“Well, I was calling out to Thermal Mercury and Wishazu to hurry up, but eventually they stopped for a rest whilst the rest of you went on ahead. However, when they stopped to rest, hundreds and hundreds of rats erupted from the undergrowth. It was like the Yellow River flood all over again, only this time with rodents”

The Maoists collectively “Eww’d” and the Chairman grimaced
.
“They saw the rats and got up and started to run towards us, but they were just so weak from speaking eating so little. The rats overwhelmed them and dragged them both to the ground. Then, the rats devoured them alive, munching and gnawing the two helpless Communists until there was nothing left but bones. I didn’t want to get eaten either, so I ran on ahead to join with you guys, so…”

GeneralHankerchief’s tongue was stuck out in disgust “What a horrible and humiliating way to die. Oh well, I guess that will teach all of you lot to eat all of your rations, hmm?”

A splattering could be heard from behind a snow drift. Puzzled, ACIN and autolycus went to look for what had caused the disgusting sound.

“Oh! Look what we’ve found!” they both cried in unison, as they both grabbed a man and pulled him up to show to the Socialists. Vomit could be seen smeared around his mouth and little dots were apparent on his Imperial Japanese Army uniform.



“A spy!” cried the jubilant Communists.

“Lynch him!”

“Torture him!”

“Eat his heart, so we may gain his courage!”

These and many other suggestions were yelled out by the angry Maoists. The Chairman had to fire his Mausner into the air to get the jabbering peasants to shut up.

“Shut up, you jabbering peasants! We need to discuss sensibly what to do with this trembling Imperialist. He may be of more use to us alive than dead, or cooked.”

The Communists grudgingly agreed.

“Oh, and I have something else to announce. It turns out that both Sasaki Kojiro and Winston Hughes were both loyal Comrades, neither susceptible to the treachery of the Imperialist Monster.”

It is now the night phase. There is an Incident taking place, namely, what to do with the Japanese Prisoner, so make your suggestions now.

8 Niklas (ArpTHIS, AVSM, Blackadder, CDF, AA, landlubber, Seamus, WEW)
4 Cute Wolf (DiY, JHT, Romanic, Flax)
3 johnhughthom (Cute Wolf, Pinman, autolycus)
1 YLC (M3YUZ)
1 Nictel (Sigurd)

***

14 Not voting (everyone else, including Chairman GH) (Could someone count who these were please?)

Alive players: 31/40

ACIN
ArpeggiateTHIS
autolycus
AVSM
Captain Blackadder
Cultured Drizzt fan
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
johnhughthom
Jolt
Joooray
landlubber
M3YUZ
miotas
Nictel
Niklas
Pinman
Renata
Romanic
Seamus Fermanagh
Secura
Sigurd
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
TheFlax
Thermal Mercury
wideyedwanderer
Wishazu
Yaseikhaan
YLC

Lynched players 4/40

Azathoth
Beefy187
shlin28
Niklas

Killed Players 6/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro
taka
Beskar
Chaotix
Psychonaut

Devoured by Rats - 2

Thermal Mercury
Wishazu

I am looking for replacements for the above two players. Contact me if you are interested, or know someone who is.

Sorry for it being so late. As I mentioned earlier, I'm not exactly in the best of moods for lots of writing, and this write-up took longer than expected. It shall end in 23 hours at 21:00 GMT+1

[Subotan]

Secura was about to blow out his (?) lamp when a rustle from outside his tent gave him pause. Secura strained his ears to check that the Hairy Man, or the Vengeful Killer, or the Japanese Psychopath was not lurking outside his tent. The pitter-patter of several pairs of feet was a very relieving sound to hear, for someone used to lone killers striking in the dark. He refocused on the lamp, and was about to blow it out when-

"STOP RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL SCUM!"

A tall man burst through the entrance of Secura's tent and Secura screamed as four knives suddenly cut through the fabric of the tent, ripping holes large enough for four men to clamber through

The tall man pointed a long finger at Secura, who was lying stunned on his bedding "Secura, I have evidence, EVIDENCE, that proves that you are a Counter-Revolutionary Agent! How do you respond to this allegation?"

"What."

"Yet more proof! Take him down Comrades, before his nefarious activities corrupt us all!"

The four men gleefully produced their weapons and aimed them, regardless of Secura's protests

"But wait, what are-"

But in a blaze of fire and led, his question was silenced, permanently.

***
deathisyonder was sleeping in bed. His sleep was deep, so deep in fact, that he could not hear the quiet tapping on the outside of his tent.

"Hey! Pssst! Deathisyonder! Can I come in? I have an important proposition for you!"

But DIY was just too sleepy to hear the stranger's tantalizing offers, and he merely turned over in his sleep when confronted by a nasty dream about Kuomintang. DiY hated the Kuomintang so much. They had come into his village, raped and murdered all the women, and then got the rest of the men in his village hooked on opium. No, he could never ever side with the Nationalists, and if he ever found one, why, he'd strangle him with his bare hands, whether he was an Officer or a humble peasant.

"Hey, DIY, you like the KMT, huh?" hushed the voice from outside the tent. "Come onnnn, let me in!"

DiY stirred and replied with a faint "Zzzzzzzzzz"

"Oh screw it", muttered the Kuomintang Officer, who stormed off back to his tent, muttering curses about how close he had been to converting the poor sop to the glories of Nationalism.

***

"Comrades, I have yet more good news" declared GeneralHankerchief

The Communists had become accustomed to the constant declarations of good news, and had by now realised that good news was more of a synonym for neutral news than anything which would help them stay alive.

The Chairman continued "We were not attacked by the Japanese or the Kuomintang last night? Isn't that wonderful? We may have permanently crippled last night both Imperialist forces, through the leadership of your wise Officer Corps"

But a voice spoke up "But where's Secura then?"

GeneralHankerchief replied with a nod and a knowing wink "Ah, but she has been dispatched by the true forces of the Revolution. We managed to engage in intense self-criticism of the Party, it's objectives and means of achieving them, and we came to the conclusion that Secura had to be liquidated."

Scowls could be seen from more than a few members of the audience.

"In addition, it is become clear that a new political alliance, the Clique of the People's Hammer, has been forged on our travels. It consists of miotas, arpeggiateTHIS and Death is yonder."

The Clique of the People's Hammer cheered, and the Socialists politely clapped, whilst the Fengxi Clique booed in political rivalry.

"Oh, and it has become apparent that shlin28, whilst living, was indeed the true Communist he claimed to be. We are extremely saddened by his death at the hands of, erm, us. However, it does appear that he was a Socialist who had Fascistic leanings, and he appears to have been rather partial to Japanese foreign policy and Emperor-worship."

But, nevertheless, the threat of Japanese soldiers rampaging down the pass after them was still plausible, so they continued marching towards Yan'an. The hills were becoming much smoother and easier to walk on. In the distance, a wide, raging river could be seen, and it was estimated that they would reach the crossing point for it at nightfall.

This phase shall last 23 hours until 20:00 GMT+1.

Alive players: 26/40

ACIN
ArpeggiateTHIS
askthepizzaguy
autolycus
AVSM
Captain Blackadder
Cultured Drizzt fan
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
Jolt
Joooray
landlubber
M3YUZ
miotas
Nictel
Renata
Romanic
Seamus Fermanagh
Sigurd
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
TheFlax
wideyedwanderer
Yaseikhaan
YLC

Lynched players 5/40

Azathoth
Beefy187
shlin28
Niklas
Pinman

Killed Players 7/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro
taka
Beskar
Chaotix
Psychonaut
johnhughthom
Secura

Devoured by Rats - 2

Thermal Mercury
Wishazu

[Subotan]

As predicted, the People's Extraordinary Detachment eventually decided to rest for the night near the south bank of the river. "Bank" implies that a sandy beach slides down to the lips of a quiet, peaceful river sea. That was not the case, for this was the Nuqi River. The grass approaching the river was torn from it's gentle amble towards the shore into a sheer hundred feet of scraggly cliff edges and broken rocks, before plunging into a raging torrent of white fire. The river ripped at the sides of the gorge with a ferocious energy that turned all Communists pale, and left none with a sense of security.

But if anyone was left feeling insecure, it was TheFlax, for he had been chosen by the Proletarian Masses to be the most likely to be an imperialist. He had been caught visiting not one, but two tents during the night.

"What kind of Working Class Hero visits two tents at night when he claims that he shall only visit one?" bellowed GeneralHankerchief at TheFlax "Deceit and lies such as this serve only to undermine the Chinese Soviet Republic and the victory for which it fights! All night actions must be co-ordinated and organised by me, lest we nurture the growth of the repulsive fungus of Bourgeois Treachery. Although it is now too late for TheFlax to take heed of this vital warning, I strongly urge the rest of you Comrades to watch what happens when the Officer Corps are left uniformed. Thank you for your understanding."

Oblivious to the protests of the other members of the Fengxi Clique, GeneralHankerchief snapped his fingers, and Yaesikhaan appeared at his side like an apparition. Seeing him appear, TheFlax gasped and struggled to emit a reply

"But...but...I'm innocent! I was protecting roles! I was putting myself in the place of my defendees, to sacrifice myself for the Chinese Nation, just as Beefy187 did! To kill me would be madness!"

Yaseikhaan looked up, dark eyes slipping out under the brim of his Mao hat, before letting out in a sinister whisper

"Madness? This. Is. CHINAAAAA!"

Still screaming that last syllable, he ran up to TheFlax, and with a sledgehammer kick to the chest, he lifted TheFlax off the ground where he had been kneeling, and sent him hurtling through the air. He soared over the long grass, too winded to scream, before plunging down over the edge of the Nuqi Gorge, plummeting to certain death with an eerie silence.

"That makes such a change from the usual blood and guts" complimented GeneralHankerchief to the satisfied Yaseikhaan. "But now, onto other business. As you have just seen, the Nuqi River is hard to cross. We have two options to get across it. One, is the Lanmu Bridge, which you can see just in front of you. As you can see, it is a very old and possibly rotten ropebridge, and it may be perilous to cross.

The alternative, is a large stone bridge three days walk downstream, the Wenti Bridge. However, there is a fortress placed over the bridge, and it is not unlikely that a Kuomintang Force of an unknown size will be stationed there. Three days is of course a long time to divert, and we must take into account the fact that the Japanese may be behind us, and that travel will be slow thanks to the mountain gun.

You must decide, soldiers of PEXDET, since I cannot make such an important decision for you. We must come to a collective decision so as to ensure unity and happiness.

Oh, and I have information which proves that Psychonaut was in fact a Kuomintang Agent! Although he was not the Kuomintang Colonel, it is clear beyond doubt that our Japanese foes have done us a great service by slaying Psychonaut. Truly, such divisions within the International Bourgeosie must be exploited to ensure the collective victory of the international working class!

It is now the night phase. This phase shall end in approximately 23 hours time at 21:00 GMT+1. There is now an Incident taking place, and you have two proposals, Agree:Nuqi Bridge and Agree:Wenti Bridge. This will have an important outcome for the game (Much as the others did, although their outcomes were far more subtle), contrary to certain player's comments (Here's looking at you Romanic).

The Fengxi Clique has disintegrated!

The Flax - 8 - ACIN, Cute Wolf, Joooray, landlubber, DIY, ATPG, Renata, Yaseikhaan
Cute Wolf - 3 - TheFlax, WEW, Sigurd
aThis - 1 - CDF

Revolt: Romanic, aThis - REVOLT FAILED

Didn't vote: ELEVEN -

autolycus
AVSM
Captain Blackadder
Double A
Jolt
M3YUZ
miotas
Nictel
Seamus Fermanagh
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
YLC

The Bad list returns...

Alive players: 25/40

ACIN
ArpeggiateTHIS
askthepizzaguy
autolycus
AVSM
Captain Blackadder
Cultured Drizzt fan
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
Jolt
Joooray
landlubber
M3YUZ
miotas
Nictel
Romanic
Seamus Fermanagh
Sigurd
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
TheFlax
wideyedwanderer
Yaseikhaan
YLC

Lynched players 6/40

Azathoth
Beefy187
shlin28
Niklas
Pinman
Renata

Killed Players 7/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro
taka
Beskar
Chaotix
Psychonaut
johnhughthom
Secura

Devoured by Rats - 2

Thermal Mercury
Wishazu

[Subotan]

The discussion about which path the Communists should follow continued long into the night. Although at first it seemed obvious that the Maoists should take the sturdy stone bridge, wily persuasiveness from Romanic managed to convince the Socialists that it was smarter to strike from behind, and a further suggestion from miotas to cut the rope bridge after they had crossed it changed the mind of even the Chairman.

After voting had concluded, GeneralHankerchief stood up and announced the plan of action

"We don't know what lies on the other side of that bridge. For all we know there could be a nest of imperialist vipers, lying in a trap for us. Thus, I have decided to choose an Assault Squad to charge the bridge and seize the opposite side of the gorge for us, allowing us to safely bring the others and the heavier equipment over. The Assault Squad shall consist of nine people"

Pulling a crumpled piece of paper out of his Mao shirt pocket, he read aloud:

"autolycus (wielding the flamethrower)
wideeyedwanderer
AVSM
M3YUZ
Nictel
Splitpersonality
ATPG
Nictel
landlubber
Romanic
"

Romanic and autolycus both went particularly pale, since they had voted for the bridge which they were about to storm.

"But never fear, lucky Comrades. I have entrusted Director autolycus to lead you to glory, a particularly hot, napalm-flavoured glory, as he will be armed armed with the flamethrower! And you should all spend the rest of the night alive anyway, since we *ahem* YOU won't be crossing it until tomorrow morning. Just remember a phrase I heard when those German advisers came over here: Schadenfreude ist die schönste Freude."

Since most of the Chinese peasants could barely read Chinese, let alone speak German, this went completely over their heads.

***

CDF had always had a terrible fear of heights. Even walking through the mountains had been pretty bad, and he was most certainly not looking forward to the crossing of the Nuqi Gorge tomorrow. Sensibly for someone in his position, he had set up his tent, far, far away from the cliff edge, in a location that was practically in the thick woodland that surrounded the clearing around the road and bridge. CDF felt safe as he picthed his tent, unrolled his bedding and lay down to sleep. He was worried about the fact that nearly all the previous members of his group had either died or been exposed as Imperialists, and also because of the attempt on his life made a few days ago, but he was sure that no Jap or Nat would try again to kill him, thanks to the guards stationed outside his tent.

And he was absolutely right.

"SeeeDeeeEfffff..."

Cdf, always a light sleeper, woke up. Someone had called his abbreviated name, someone deep in the woods.

"CulturedDrizztFan..."

"Someone must be lost in the forest" though CDF "As a good Communist, I should go over and help them."

Cdf threw of his blanket, put on his boots and coat, and most importantly, his pistol. He crawled outside his tent to find arpeggiateTHIS reading some book about the American Revolution.

"Hey, aThis, I think there's someone trapped in the forest. Come look for him with me."

aThis rolled his eyes "Aww, but I'm about to find out what Cognitive Madisonianism is!"

"Forget that!" cried CDF "There's someone who needs our help!

aThis reluctantly put his book down, and together with CDF, they both wandered into the forest. The undergrowth soon became thick and knotted, and movement became slower and harder. Finally, they both staggered out into a small clearing.

"Welcome CDF, and arpeggiateThis to my grove" said a deep but loud voice. Directly in front of the pair, the bushes shifted and rustled, and out stepped a big, Hairy Man. CDF and aThis both looked as if they had been bleached

"Oh Christ, you're meant to be dead" stammered aThis, as the CDF fumbled for his pistol, and aimed it at the calm Hairy Man. Aiming straight for the centre of the messy beard, he pulled the trigger; only for the Hairy Man to brreak out into a belly-aching laugh.

"Ho ho ho! Do you really think I'd be foolish enough to let something as simple as your gun prevent you from hearing one of my lectures? For you see, my lectures reveal the truth about society, a microscope on the open wounds of Socialism and Capitalism. I pull back the curtain, I shine the spotlight, and open the mind to the realities of life under the State. For the State is a parasite on the Nation, a vampire who sucks the lifeblood out of the people through tax and war. The State hungers for the People to be fed to it, to be processed into little instruments of authoritarianism, to help it enslave the free and those who desire true liberty. But too often, rebellions against the State only result in the establishment of a new State, of old tyranny under a new mask. Only by casting off the shackles of desire for Order can we return to life in the Commune, on the local level, so that true, direct democracy can be implemented and ensure that we are our Masters." rambled the Hairy Man. CDF and aThis just looked on, stunned by the constant noise that enveloped them.

And then the Hairy Man suddenly stopped:

"But you must be wondering; Where do I fit into this? Well, you are one of the said instruments, a tool of the tinpot dictators. Only by your example can the people of China realise their destiny and overthrow their masters, foreign or national, Capitalist or Socialist, despotic all!" bellowed the Hairy Man, raising his hands up towards the sky. Flicking his wrist, he revealed that he had a bomb in his right hand, and he whirled it towards the gawking Communists. Hissing, the explosive distracted the Maoists from the Hairy Man, who, still laughing, slipped back into the forest to watch with glee behind the safety of a tree the massive explosion which blew the pair to pieces and scattered their remains all over the forest.

***

"You there! Get up you lumbering oaf!"

The Communist immediately woke up, and stumbled out of his tent, dazed and groggy. He attempted to stand to attention, but only succeeded in knocking his tent over

"That is a DISGRACE! How dare you act so rudely and unprofessional towards me! You are a soldier of the National Revolutionary Army, not a warlord's bandit!"

The Communist blearily replied "Yes sir, of course sir, I'm so sorry sir..."

The loudmouth continued to scream in the Communist's face"You better be, you stinking dog! And what is this trash?", referring to a copy of the Communist Manifesto lying in the dirt.

"This propaganda will NOT be tolerated in my presence!" hissed the loud man, before stamping on the little book with unnecessary force. "I expect to see you tomorrow for an attack on the Communist scum tomorrow night!"

"Uh, yes, of course, Colonel, sir." replied the dazed Communist, who still had no idea what he had gotten himself into.

***

"Well comrades, the Hairy Man still walks amongst us." declared a glum GeneralHankerchief to the crowd. "All we can hope is that if there are Japs on the other side of this bridge, that he is one of those mown down."

The Assault Team did not take this comment with as much humour as GeneralHankerchief intended. However, their mood was otherwise jolly. The weather was dry and crisp, as it had been for several weeks. The grass surrounding the bridge was parched and brown. The wooden bridge was sturdy and most certainly not damp. Under these conditions, even if the wood was rotten, the chances of it breaking were happily low.

As the Assault Team prepared their equipment, the Chairman made another announcement.

"It appears that Niklas was a loyal Communist, with absolutely no chance of defecting to either Reactionary gang. So yeah... "

The Assault Squad was ready, and there was a mass intake of breath before they started creeping across the bridge. The rope bridge did not sway as much as would be expected, and the Communists were reassured by the solidity of both the planks and the thick rope. autolycus, armed with his weapon, headed the small battalion as they calmly walked across the bridge. autolycus was the most nervous of the grouping, as he was the most likely to be killed first if there were enemies on the North Side, and he scoured his destination looking for signs of movement. They passed halfway, when, suddenly, a movement caught autolycus' eye. Aiming at the point of movement, he fired his weapon, unleashing a storm of death at the opposite bank, and the large, fat, pigeon which had emerged from the bank was now falling to a crispy doom. For autolycus was wielding the flamethrower, and his reckless actions had unleashed a firestorm which had turned the dry, wooden, non-rotten and thoroughly harmless bridge into a flaming deathtrap. wideyedwanderer, who was behind autolycus, screamed in his ear

"You idiot! You've killed us all!"

The Assault Squad was too far from the South Bank, where the remaining Communists were howling and facepalming in despair, to retreat back across it, thus leaving one way out; a charge across the burning bridge to the North Bank. autolycus snapped out his stunned inaction, and rallied his comrades:

"Forwards, Socialists! Only by charging through the fire and the flames can we prove how Red we truly are!" called the Officer to his men, before sprinting forwards. The others did not need telling twice, and they were running behind him as quickly as they could. autolycus neared the other side, and with a terrific leap, he soared through the air and managed to land on the safe, hard Chinese ground. One by one, the others followed on after him, before only Romanic was left on the bridge, running for his very survival through the roaring fire. The ropes holding the bridge started to unwind and shrivel, and the planks became charred and brittle. Suddenly, the left rope snapped, swinging the bridge down to the right, with Romanic still on it. He yelled, and made a desperate attempt to jump to the other side. The extra pressure his legs put on the charcoal plank he stood on caused it to snap in two, and in turn weaken his jump. The extra force caused by Romanic's leap proved too much for the bridge, and the Lanmu Bridge finally disintegrated, falling down into the the Nuqi River below. But Romanic was still soaring through the air towards safety, but he had jumped too soon, or not far enough. Instead of managing to land on the top, he slammed into the sheer cliff wall, his feet lucky enough to find some footing on a slim ledge. Romanic, dazed, leaned back due to the rebound, stretched out his arms and toppled backwards, to certain doom.

But an iron grip clamped down on Romanic's burning wrist, and Romanic looked up to find Nictel grasping his arm and attempting to haul him to safety. Nictel heaved, and slowly, but surely, managed to pull Romanic up and over the edge, onto the North Side of the Nuqi River. The Communists on both sides of the river cheered and danced, including the Chairman, before he called out to the Communists on the opposing side:

"autolycus! Move downstream to the Wenti Bridge! We shall meet you there and launch a two-pronged attack on the Kuomintang Fortress there! Such an assault can only be victorious!"

autolycus replied in a similarly loud voice: "Of course Chairman, we shall meet you down there in three days!"

The Communists, shocked and pleased on both sides of the river, set off along the path of the gorge. The road for the Northern Bank Communists took them away from the river edge and deeper into the Chinese interior, although it was certain that they would eventually meet up.

All those in the aforementioned Assault Squad are now NOT allowed to post in this thread; a separate one shall be made for you. Absolutely no communication is allowed between the two groups for three day and three night phases; you're separated by several miles now, not several metres. If you have special actions, then you shall requirements may be amended.

Due to a shortage of food, as you did not take all the food from the peasants, the immunity the Officers enjoy has been weakened, although it still exists, and the Chairman is as strong as ever.

The Clique of the People's Hammer no longer exists!

It is now the day phase. It will end in approximately 24 hours at 15:00 GMT+1 tomorrow. Sorry for it being late, but I got really distracted this morning.

Lanmu - Renata Romanic YLC Joooray Sigurd DiY aThis YLC miotas autolycus AA Seamus Jolt Blackadder

Wenti - Khaan GH CDF ATPG WEW Landlubber Nictel


North Side Alive: 9/9
autolycus
wideeyed
AVSM
M3YUZ
Nictel
Split
ATPG
landlubber
Romanic

South Side Alive: 14/40

ACIN
Captain Blackadder
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
Jolt
Joooray
miotas
Renata
Seamus Fermanagh
Sigurd
Yaseikhaan
YLC

Lynched players 6/40

Azathoth
Beefy187
shlin28
Niklas
Pinman
TheFlax

Killed Players 9/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro
taka
Beskar
Chaotix
Psychonaut
johnhughthom
Secura
CDF
aThis

Devoured by Rats - 2

Thermal Mercury
Wishazu

[Subotan]

North Side Beginning of Day 1

Now that you've found yourself on the the North Side of the river, you may wish to lynch someone; as there may be Whites amongst your ranks still. As mentioned before, no communication is allowed between you and the others.


North Side Alive: 9/9
autolycus
wideeyed
AVSM
M3YUZ
Nictel
Split
ATPG
landlubber
Romanic

South Side Alive: 14/40

ACIN
Captain Blackadder
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
Jolt
Joooray
miotas
Renata
Seamus Fermanagh
Sigurd
Yaseikhaan
YLC

Lynched players 6/40

Azathoth
Beefy187
shlin28
Niklas
Pinman
TheFlax

Killed Players 9/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro
taka
Beskar
Chaotix
Psychonaut
johnhughthom
Secura
CDF
aThis

Devoured by Rats - 2

Thermal Mercury
Wishazu

[Subotan]

South Side Beginning of Night 1

The day ended with the much smaller Detachment choosing YLC for the chop. They had spent the whole of the days marching along the gorge, and settled down for the night once more relatively near the edge.

“Well, YLC” said GeneralHankerchief “It appears that since I was hoping that all the people who I suspect to be Counter-Revolutionaries to have plummeted to a horrible doom, rather than live, we have to lynch somebody else today. For lack of a better suspect, you’ll do. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

YLC, like Niklas before him, said nothing. Instead, he slowly extended his arms until they were perpendicular to his long, lanky frame. He stepped around to face the gorge, filled his lungs with a sharp breath, and stepped, one, two, before diving off the cliff edge, and disappearing from sight without a sound. The other Maoists stared into the empty space where YLC had just been, utterly bewildered. Even the Chairman was stunned by YLC’s rash action, before feeling a need to fill the void of silence, he stated the obvious.

“That was odd.”

“But convenient!” said ACIN, who piped down when a visibly disappointed Yaseikhaan glared at him.

“Regardless, it’s done now.” Said the impassive GeneralHankerchief with a lazy shrug “But good news, everyone! It has come to my attention that Johnhughthom was not the Secret Agent he claimed to be, BUT, a Rogue Trotskyite bent on revisionism, destroying our progress an our struggle towards a greater society! Crazy huh?”

I have been incredibly busy today, and after deadline announcement, I had once again to leave my computer, hence the shamefully late & short update.. Tomorrow, I will once again be stretched for time, with only a 2 and a half hour slot available for me tomorrow between playing Tuba in my band and getting wasted at a friend's 18th. Unless anyone has any terrible objections, the deadline for this night phase will be 12:00 GMT+1 on SUNDAY, to account for a lie-in which I shall sorely need the day after tomorrow.

North Side Alive: ?

South Side Alive: 13/40

ACIN
Captain Blackadder
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
Jolt
Joooray
miotas
Renata
Seamus Fermanagh
Sigurd
Yaseikhaan

Lynched players 7/40

Azathoth
Beefy187
shlin28
Niklas
Pinman
TheFlax
YLC

Killed Players 9/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro
taka
Beskar
Chaotix
Psychonaut
johnhughthom
Secura
CDF
aThis

Devoured by Rats - 2

Thermal Mercury
Wishazu

[Subotan]

(Nothing happened on the North Side On Day 1 of the separation)

South Beginning of Day 2

It was a bright, shining morning, and GeneralHankerchief had been enjoying a long, peaceful sleep. He woke to the dawn filtering in through the tears in his tent’s fabric, and he wasted no time in getting up and prepare to assemble the rest of PEXDET. He shouted out to the other tents that it was time to wake up, and eventually, they one by one, crawled out of their tents and staggered towards the meeting point. The survivors told the others of the shocking events of last night

“I had a really nice sleep last night, how about you?”

“Oh yeah, it was great, no explosions, no guns going off, no screaming. Best night I’ve had in ages”

“Me too. I even had a dream last night!”

“Really? Wow, what about?”

“I don’t remember much, apart from that there were loads of explosions, shoot-outs and, er, screams. ”

It so happened that not one single member of PEXDET had been killed that night; on the South Bank anyway. GeneralHankerchief was absolutely stunned

“So, we all survived? Wow, that’s amazing…if slightly boring…”

The Comrades glared at their elected leader

“Er, I mean, What good news for us. Either all the Imperialists are dead, or they’re all trapped on the North Bank. All thanks to my leadership, I might add” said the Chairman, with a puffed out chest.

The Communists rolled their eyes, a few openly scoffed.

“But regardless, it has come to my attention that Pinman, although originally a loyal Comrade of the revolution, was a slimy traitor to the Communist cause! He had been swayed to the side of the Nationalists through lures of golden treasure and shiny temptations, and evidently such things mattered more to him than his Comrades. We are all better off that he is dead.”

The Socialists cheered and wooped, and they continued their march along the Nuqi in high spirits and full of Revolutionary zeal.

North Side Alive: ?

South Side Alive: 13/40

ACIN
Captain Blackadder
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
Jolt
Joooray
miotas
Renata
Seamus Fermanagh
Sigurd
Yaseikhaan

Lynched players 7/40

Azathoth
Beefy187
shlin28
Niklas
Pinman
TheFlax
YLC

Killed Players 9/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro
taka
Beskar
Chaotix
Psychonaut
johnhughthom
Secura
CDF
aThis

Devoured by Rats - 2

Thermal Mercury
Wishazu

[Subotan]

North Beginning of Day 2

It was a dark miserable morning, and autolycus had been enduring a long, distressing sleep. He woke to the rain filtering in through the tears in his tent’s fabric, and he wasted no time in getting up and prepare to assemble the rest of PEXDET on the North Bank. He shouted out to the other tents that it was time to wake up, and eventually, they one by one, crawled out of their tents and staggered towards the meeting point. The survivors told the others of the shocking events of last night

“I had an awful sleep last night, how about you?”

“Oh yeah, it was abysmal. Rain, thunder, and lightning, I couldn't tell if we were under attack or not!”

“Me too. But I had a dream last night!”

“Really? Wow, what about?”

“I don’t remember much, but it was really calm and serene. I was lying back on a beach in Hainan, sipping a rice wine cocktail and just enjoying the better things in life...”

It so happened that not one single member of PEXDET had been killed that night; on the North Bank anyway. autolycus was absolutely stunned

“So, we all survived? Wow, that’s fantastic!”

The Comrades grinned at their apparent leader

What good news for us. Either all the Imperialists are dead, or they’re all trapped on the South Bank. All thanks to my leadership, I might add” said the Chairman, with a puffed out chest.

The Communists looked at each other quizzically, but they shrugged it off, and continued their trudge along the road in the heavy rain, with maybe a spot of Revolutionary zeal.

North Side Alive: 9/9
autolycus
wideeyed
AVSM
M3YUZ
Nictel
Split
ATPG
landlubber
Romanic

South Side Alive: ?

Lynched players 7/40

Azathoth
Beefy187
shlin28
Niklas
Pinman
TheFlax

Killed Players 9/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro
taka
Beskar
Chaotix
Psychonaut
johnhughthom
Secura
CDF
aThis

Devoured by Rats - 2

Thermal Mercury
Wishazu

[Subotan]

South Side Beginning of Night 2

PEXDET was approaching the Wenti Bridge, albeit slowly. Bizzarely, the day had been twice as long as normal, and although some of the Communists tried to attribute this to not lynching a player before the set time, the Chairman dismissed this as fanciful nonsense. Although at first it appeared certain that Jolt would be lynched, with he himself voting for his own lynch, but the validity of the lynch was questioned. No-one could actually explain why Jolt was to be lynched, so, for lack of a better candidate, they turned on miotas. miotas expressed puzzlement at the decision to lynch him, sealed by Joooray, but he did not protest much.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself, or will you act like the others?" shouted the Chairman in miotas' face.

"No, I have nothing to say. Just kill me and be down with it" muttered miotas gloomily

GeneralHankerchief shrugged, and signalled for Yaseikhaan to pick miotas up by the scruff of his neck, and he duly did so. With a short toss of his wrist, he dropped miotas over the edge, into the foaming water a hundred feet below.


"Good, I like it when there's no weird behaviour." the Chairman said cheerily "The weird ones always freak me out... . But speaking about previous members of our detachment, I would like to inform you all that Secura was in fact a loyal Communist. OK sure, she was susceptible to the Imperial Japanese Army, buuuut, she never defected to their side whilst alive. So yeah... "

North Side Alive: ?

South Side Alive: 12/40

ACIN
Captain Blackadder
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
Jolt
Joooray
Renata
Seamus Fermanagh
Sigurd
Yaseikhaan

Lynched players 7/40

Azathoth
Beefy187
shlin28
Niklas
Pinman
TheFlax
YLC
miotas

Killed Players 9/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro
taka
Beskar
Chaotix
Psychonaut
johnhughthom
Secura
CDF
aThis

Devoured by Rats - 2

Thermal Mercury
Wishazu

[Subotan]

North Side Beginning of Night 2

Autolycus gathered the members of PEXDET together. Although they were separated, alone, and hungry, it was clear to them who was to blame; M3YUZ. As the long list of his crimes was read out, M3YUZ didn't say a peep, and seemed to be dreaming about aeroplanes.

"...as well as remaining silent this entire time. What do you have to say for yourself?" questioned autolycus

"..."

"Fine then."autolycus muttered with a sneer, as he pulled his Officer allocated pistol out of his holster and shot M3YUZ in the chest. M3YUZ did let out an "Oof" of surprise, but he did not scream, moan or wail, as his blood leaked out onto the muddy road. This unusual behaviour greatly unnerved the survivors on the North Bank.

"That was weird" said autolycus, after M3YUZ had died. "I hate it when they're weird. It makes for such an unsettling sleep the night after."


North Side Alive: 8/9
autolycus
wideeyed
AVSM
Nictel
Split
ATPG
landlubber
Romanic

Lynched players 6/40

Azathoth
Beefy187
shlin28
Niklas
Pinman
TheFlax
M3YUZ

Killed Players 9/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro
taka
Beskar
Chaotix
Psychonaut
johnhughthom
Secura
CDF
aThis

Devoured by Rats - 2

Thermal Mercury
Wishazu

Deadline is in 22 hours, at 22:00 GMT +1.

[Subotan]

South Side Beginning of Day 3

Yaseikhaan was, amongst other things, an insomniac. He had always found it hard to sleep since he had been disturbed in bed when a shell landed near his house in the Zhongshan Warship Incident. It was thus no surprise that he was up and about at two in the morning, pacing back and forth through the now-small camp. He soon tired of this, and went over to the gorge to admire the view in the moonlight. He sat on the edge, and dangled his feet off the cliff top, wiggling his toes over the 100 ft drop. But crunching leaves behind him caused him to spin round and spring to his feet.

Standing there was a Japanese Officer, in full uniform, and holding in both of his heavily veined hands, the sharpest and longest katana that Yaseikhaan had ever seen. But Yaseikhaan showed no fear, despite not having any sort of weapon on him to counter this threat, and he merely raised up his hands into a boxing position.

"Attacking an Officer?" tutted Yaseikhaan "How sly. No matter, my allies will surely arrive any second now to capture you and reveal your identity"

The Jap raised an eyebrow and gestured behind him. There was total and complete silence, with not a flicker of movement visible. If Yaesikhaan did have allies, then they were invisible ones. Seeing this, Yaseikhaan said nothing, but he bit his lower lip and chewed on it anxiously. His fists tightened, and his feet bit into into the crumbly soil.

"Well, you know what they say..." said Yaseikhaan to the smirking Jap. "...Fortune favours the brave"

With that, Yaesikhaan swung his left foot up like a hammer into the Colonel's face, who fell back onto to the clay soil with a thump and a bloody nose. Yaseikhaan jumped onto the Jap like a cat, and pummelled him in the chest with a hail of short, sharp punches. The Japanese's eyes bulged as the air in his lungs was beaten out of him with a animal-like ferocity. Scrabbling for his sword with his left hand, his long fingers eventually managed to clasp the leather handle, and he slammed the pommel into Yaeikhaan's temple, who was knocked off the the Reactionary and sent sprawling on the ground. Not even pausing for breath, the Counter-Revolutionary staggered to his feet, and plunged his sword into Yaseikhaan's back, severing his spine, and killing him instantly. The Jap closed his eyes and collapsed onto the ground, breathing deep and fast, his heart racing from the fear of how close to death he had come.

***

GeneralHankerchief was not happy. Not happy at all. One of his loyal officers had been murdered in the night because of Bourgeoisie actions, and it was his Special Operative to boot.

"I am not happy. Not happy at all." reiterated the Chairman "Not only did a loyal Officer of mine die, but, somebody slipped up and didn't do what they were meant to do. They know who they are, and I have a good idea myself of who they might be."

He flashed a hard stare at the Communists, and the Detachment did a collective gulp.

"Tomorrow night, we shall be in range of the Wenti Bridge, and I expect to cross it tomorrow morning, so, be prepared.I shall pick my new Special Operative tomorrow morning, so nominations are now open.

Also, I have some happy news, for a change. It turns out TheFlax, although originally a brave Stalwart of the Revolution, was tempted to the Nationalist side through promises of plunder and treachery, successfully infiltrating the Fengxi Clique! Truly, this was a despicable act for the TheFlax to commit, and I am glad we managed to purge such Counter-Revolutionary elements from our glorious People's Army, for fear of diluting the inevitable Worker's Revolution with revisionism and anti-Marxist thoughts and activities!"

North Side Alive: ?

South Side Alive: 11/40

ACIN
Captain Blackadder
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
Jolt
Joooray
Renata
Seamus Fermanagh
Sigurd

Lynched players 7/40

Azathoth
Beefy187
shlin28
Niklas
Pinman
TheFlax
YLC
miotas

Killed Players 10/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro
taka
Beskar
Chaotix
Psychonaut
johnhughthom
Secura
CDF
aThis
Yaesikhaan

Devoured by Rats - 2

Thermal Mercury
Wishazu

[Subotan]

North Side Beginning of Day 3

autolycus once again assembled the soldiers on the North Side of the Nuqi River to find that, once again, nobody had died during the night.

"I'm really happy. We're either incredibly lucky" announced autolycus to the sprightly Communists "Or we've got an incredibly cowardly mafia faction. Either way, it's good for all of us, and least in the short term. But we're still going to lynch someone today, because that's what the Chairman would want. "

With the rain still lashing down around them, the North Side survivors packed up their tents and equipment, and trod along the muddy paths towards the Wenti Bridge. They expected to reach by the end of the day, and they were confident that the following day, that they could mount an attack against the Kuomintang Fortress, provided there was one there.

North Side Alive: 8/9
autolycus
wideeyed
AVSM
Nictel
Split
ATPG
landlubber
Romanic

South Side Alive - ?

Lynched players 6/40

Azathoth
Beefy187
shlin28
Niklas
Pinman
TheFlax
M3YUZ

Killed Players 9/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro
taka
Beskar
Chaotix
Psychonaut
johnhughthom
Secura
CDF
aThis

Devoured by Rats - 2

Thermal Mercury
Wishazu

Deadline is in 36 hours, at 22:00 GMT +1.

[Subotan]

South Side Beginning of Night 3

PEXDET had just finished their final day of being separated, and it had been a lively and exciting ones at that, and not just because there was a fierce thunder storm. Yaseikhaan's death had cast a long shadow over the Reds, and three Reds in particular. Joooray, Sigurd, and Death is Yonder had all been charged with protecting the Special Operativethe previous night, but as Yaseikhaan's stiff corpse showed, someone had slipped up.

"Seeing as Sigurd was going to be investigated last night, it is entirely possible that he may want to go out in a blaze of glory, like some sort of divine wind." fumed the Chairman "A very Japanese-ish notion, don't you think, fellow Communists?"

"That is completely false!" roared Sigurd "I have done nothing but strive for the victory of the working class against the tyrannical invaders and Japanese subjugators. As your Commissar's investigation will show, I am entirely free of revisionist thought and counter-revolutionary temptations. But furthermore, we must question the leadership of PEXDET, for criticism is not revisionism. I assert that our Chairman is a Master of Puppets, and we are dancing on his strings!"

At this, several of the Communists gulped and agreed with the leadership that such moves were a sign of desperation from a flailing Reactionary. But then the Commissar a completely offensive name spoke up

"I have Dug up evidence that means we should not lynch Sigurd. I can't tell you what it is, but take my word for it; do not lynch Sigurd."

Sigurd sat back smugly confident.

"It's you!" yelled DiY and Joooray at each other. There wasn't much to go on except debating skills, and in the end, DiY just managed to convince the Socialists of his innocence. Joooray was brought forward to the cliff.

GeneralHankerchief made another announcement "Since Yaseikhaan perished last night, my Commissar shall perform the execution today. I also have more news about our ex-Comrades. CDF was a completely and utterly dedicated Marxist, with no qualms about him. arpeggiateTHIS was even more important, as a Soviet Alumnus, he was extremely proficient in using firearms and guns, and his great skills are now surely missed. "

ACIN was not particularly skilled at murdering people, so he decided the cleanest and easiest way would be to just push Joooray off the cliff, as had happened the previous two days. But in the dark and gloom caused by the thunder storm, ACIN misjudged his shove, and Joooray toppled off the cliff edge in a messy stumble, rather than soaring clean off. Jooray hit rocks and bounced on his way down, before getting snagged on a branch fifteen feet down the gorge wall. Seeing his good fortune, he called out to the others:

"Hey, it appears I'm in luck. Oh what a fantastic day, clearly destiny does not intend for me to die here, for I am unlynchable! I shall climb up and join you all sh-"

Before he could finish his sentence, a huge bolt of lightning blasted out of the sky and ripped down the gorge, throwing tendrils of energy across the gorge, searching for a point to reach Earth. Joooray, dangling out into open space on his little branch was the perfect vehicle to do so, and he was blasted by the thunderbolt off the branch. Killed instantly, he Rode the Lightning all the way down the Canyon, before anding with a sizzling splash into the savage rapids below.

Joooray - 3- Renata DiY ACIN
DiY - 2 - Joooray Seamus
Blackadder - 1 - Jolt

North Side Alive: ?

South Side Alive: 10/40

ACIN
Captain Blackadder
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
Jolt
Joooray
Renata
Seamus Fermanagh
Sigurd

Lynched players 8/40

Azathoth
Beefy187
shlin28
Niklas
Pinman
TheFlax
YLC
miotas
Joooray

Killed Players 10/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro
taka
Beskar
Chaotix
Psychonaut
johnhughthom
Secura
CDF
aThis
Yaesikhaan

Devoured by Rats - 2

Thermal Mercury
Wishazu

[Subotan]

North Side Beginning of Night 3

The Communists still felt obliged to lynch someone for some reason in the fierce thunderstorm, even though they had spent three days without a single kill.

"We have to fight Fire with Fire, boys." announced autolycus with a stern severity "Even when fire has already been attempted" referring to the quaking Romanic and his bridge-jumping exploits.

"I'm a good Communist. Really! I don't know why you're all ganging up on me..."

askthepizzaguy approached Romanic and laid a hand on his shoulder: "We do have a good reason. Just Because." , before drawing his butcher's knife. Romanic stepped back, clearly panicked

"Now now now there's no need to go psychopath on me. I ;m sure we can come to a convienient arrangement where we-"

Just at that moment, a huge lightning bolt blasted the tree Romanic was standing under. Although the thunderbolt left Romanic frazzled, he was otherwise unarmed. But the tree was charred to a crisp, and it's brittle roots has become blackened and twisted, and they gave way. The tree crumbled and collapsed, right on top of the screaming Romanic, who was crushed by the falling lumber.

askthepizzaguy tutted, but the others seemed quite glad that ATPG didn't go as psychopathic as Romanic had feared.

North Side Alive: 7/9
autolycus
wideeyed
AVSM
Nictel
Split
ATPG
landlubber
Romanic

South Side Alive - ?

Lynched players 6/40

Azathoth
Beefy187
shlin28
Niklas
Pinman
TheFlax
M3YUZ
Romanic

Killed Players 9/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro
taka
Beskar
Chaotix
Psychonaut
johnhughthom
Secura
CDF
aThis

Devoured by Rats - 2

Thermal Mercury
Wishazu

[Subotan]

The Communists woke up to find that the thunderstorm which had dispatched Joooray had since passed, and also that no-one else had been dispatched during the night. The Socialists were relieved to see this, and GeneralHankerchief once again took credit for this accomplishment.

"And who knows, maybe all the reactionary thought has been purged from our People's Army, through the leadership of the Party as directed by myself, the Chairman and Party Secretary of the People's Extraordinary Detachment." declared the Chairman and Party Secretary proudly

"Hold on," questioned a Maoist "Since when were you the Party Secretary of this here military force? We did not elect you to such a position!"

"Au contraire" replied GeneralHankerchief (Despite the fact that none of his audience could speak French) "As the supreme Party authority in the region, I have the authority to create and dissolve party titles at will; thus, I have added to my responsibilities that of the Party Secretariat. With the increased power that my new office affords me, I have decided to reshuffle my Officer Corps. Comrade Seamus Fermanagh is relieved of his post as the Medical Officer, and he has been allocated the position of Special Operative. Comrade Jolt has been promoted to the role of Medical Officer! Congratulations you two! You shall be using your new powers shortly, I fear."

For about 200 metres away, over a small hill and down a gentle slop, the Wenti Bridge crossed the Nuqi River. As the Communists had feared, it was patrolled by Kuomintang soldiers. But, thankfully, thanks to the wise leadership of PEXDET, the Reds were well prepared to take the bridge from the clutches of the international Counter-Revolutionary conspiracy. The mountain gun and the mortar which they had dragged with them all this time was about to come in useful.

***

Bu Jingyi was standing on guard on Wenti Bridge. A half hearted defender of the Nationalist cause, he wasn't that much committed to the defence of the Motherland against the invading Japanese. But duty was duty, and he was obligated to defend this bridge. He would actually have much rather have been at home in Sichuan with his young family, tending to his crop, but he had had the misfortune to be conscripted into the National Revolutionary Army. There wasn't much he could do about it except wait his time out, and hopefully eventually get posted to a location where he could slip away from his superiors. He'd heard that only 3/5s of soldiers conscripted into the army actually made it through training, with the rest either dying or going AWOL in the night. Now would be a good time to do it actually. The night was dark, thanks to the new moon, and the clouds obscured the starlight. He couldn't help but think of the time when he-

Pa-CHUNK

What was that? Bu immediately stood up, peering into the darkness without much success. It was certainly not a natural noise, and he picked up his rifle to make sure than nothing human was skulking around in the gloom. He thought he could hear whisperings in the dark, but an annoying whistling from above was preventing him from being able to make out what was said. He better call the Colonel in charge of the guard to see if he could pick anything being said out of the infernal EEEEEEEEE-

Ka-BOOM

The mortar shell slammed into Bu's position with a satisfyingly humongous explosion. The fireball didn't just light up the night sky, it bathing everywhere in sight of the fortress in a cosy orange glow for several seconds, and illuminating the Communists' manic glee. The flames revealed GeneralHankerchief, who was standing on a small hillock with his arm fully outstretched, bellowing an order to the mountain gun crew.

Earth jumped up and the trees shook as the mountain gun fired a shell straight at the Wenti Bridge gate, blowing it to smithereens. Now it was the turn of the Kuomintang to scream and cry out in panic, as the Socialists rushed forced, yelling battle cries and storming the bridge. The Nationalists all ran to the South Bank of the bridge and attempted to fight off the attackers, but to no avail, thanks at least in part to the demon who dropped in from the North Bank. Breathing flame, he belched napalm all over the stone bridge, catching many of the Nationalist grunts unaware, and shortly dead. The demon wielded his flamethrower with skill and self-indulgence, laughing as he did so. But he stumbled in the assault, and his torch swung to the side to engulf Comrade AVSM in liquid fire. He screamed, and attempted to flee from the all-consuming fire, but he only managed to run into the side of the bridge from where he toppled, soaring down into the depths of the Nuqi Gorge like a dying firefly.

As the survivors from the North Bank caught the Rightists in a pincer movement, one of the Communists hung back. wideyedwanderer was a bit nervous, as he'd neer fought in a battle before. The screaming, the fire and the explosions all terrified him, and gave him pause. He waited on the North Side of the Gorge, ostensibly protecting the rear from any attempts by the Kuomintang to bring up reinforcements, although he knew as well as anyone that there was no chance of that happening. But, a movement could be seen in the gloom. It wasn't enough to be a reinforcing army, maybe one man at most. Pointing his rifle cautiously, he shuffled over to the rustling, out of sight from the bridge. The man disappeared behind a tree, and wideyedwanderer followed. Sidling around the tree, he couldn't see anything; the man had disappeared.

"Huh. Was probably just another conscript like-"

He was cut short by a sword bursting out of his stomach. He gasped and choked as a voice whispered in his ear

"Just so you know, we're not cowards. We've just been biding our time."

The mystery man then pulled his blade out of wideyedwanderer's belly, and decapitated wideyedwanderer in a one swoop.

When the smoke and all the corpses had been cleared, the Chairman and Party Secretary stood on the wall of the bridge to make a speech

"Welcome back comrades! Reunited, we are are at our strongest...even if we have endured a few casualties along the way. wideyedwanderer's death is of particular concern. As the killers came from the North Bank, they must both have been in the Assault Squad. However, we now know that YLC was in fact a Japanese Soldier, not even a collaborator, but a full-blooded imperialist! Lucky us!"

The Socialists then gathered their packs and set off over the bridge further North, towards Yan'an, though dusty plains and and Gobi sandstorms.

Alive: 16/40

ACIN
ATPG
autolycus
Captain Blackadder
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
Jolt
Joooray
landlubber
Nictel
Renata
Seamus Fermanagh
Sigurd
Split

Lynched players 11/40

Azathoth
Beefy187
shlin28
Niklas
Pinman
TheFlax
YLC
miotas
M3YUZ
Romanic
Joooray


Killed Players 12/40

Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro
taka
Beskar
Chaotix
Psychonaut
johnhughthom
Secura
CDF
aThis
Yaesikhaan
wideyedwanderer


Devoured by Rats/Consumed by Flames - 3

Thermal Mercury
Wishazu
AVSM

[Subotan]

The Revolutionaries had been exchanging weird tales of their separation, such as how YLC had jumped to his death, Joooray's electrocution and what possessed the North Bankers to lynch two people. But the action on Wenti Bridge proved that there was at least two Counter-Revolutionaries amongst the North, and so two candidates quickly emerged as the Socialist's suspects. askthepizzaguy, the foundling, was one of the candidates, his crazy manner and loud, accusative stance unnerving and frightening certain Marxists. The other was landlubber, the primary receiver of ATPG's long, complex and borderline bonkers ramblings, which involved references to a Princesses, Tropes and Paleoconservatism. The running was tight, although the accusations of Extreme-Reactionary thought began to tip the scales in favour of landlubber's execution. Like many of the other lynchees, landlubber was resigned to his fate.

" Well, it's too late in the day for me to turn this lynch around. I would try to put up a defense, but I'm tired, so I'll just let my lynch go forward.

Congrats. You just lynched a Maoist. Boo hoo, sniff sniff."

The new Special Operative, Seamus Fermanagh, drew his pistol, checked it was loaded, and aimed it at the blubbering landlubber's chest. He pulled the trigger-

And nothing happened, as he'd left the safety on. Tutting, Seamus reached around and flicked the slip, before returning to aim and

"STOP!" screamed GeneralHankerchief. "I have a note which PROVES that our Deputy, Renata, is in fact, an Imperialist, Reactionary, Bourgeoisie JAPPO!"

Renata, who had been sipping from his flask, choked on his rice wine, breaking out into a coughing fit. autolycus, now formly back at his Chairman's side caught the new development instantaneously, switching his vote to Renata. As he did so, the last sliver of sunlight slunk down behind the mountains, effectively ending the day, for the Revolutionaries lacked a mechanical watch. The new tally of votes drastically changed the lynch, causing a tie to lock ATPG and landlubber in mortal embrace. Seamus tutted again, and put his pistol away with as disappointment kneaded his face.

As there is a tie, the phase shall be extended for 24 hours. It is not the night phase., The Officers will decide amongst themselves who to lynch out of the top two candidates. The Captain will not be allowed a vote unless there is a tie between the four Officers. If there is another tie, then he shal cast the deciding vote. The Officers may choose to do this public or in private, but their Quicktopic is recommended.

ATPG: 4 - Jolt, Cute Wolf, Sigurd, Seamus

Landlubber: 4 - Nictel, ATPG, DiY, Renata

Renata: 1 - autolycus