Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

**Andres** · 04-18-2009, 17:37

~~Swords in the Moon~~

Japan, 1557, after the third Battle at Kawanakajima - Day 0, hour of the Dragon

After the failed attempt to take Iiyama castle, the Tiger decided it was time to go back home. While his army was getting ready to march back to the mountains of Kai, Takeda Shingen stared one last time towards the army of his nemesis, Uesugi Kenshin.

"And again, our conflict remains undecided. But I will get you next summer, Dragon."

Shingen turned his horse and galopped back to his army, giving the order to march.

~~~

Near Iiyama castle, that same day - hour of the Serpent

After months of battling, the Dragon of Echigo was exhausted. He sat down, thinking about the previous battles and all the good men he lost.

While he was sipping on his third cup of saké, Ayukawa Kiyonaga entered his tent. The general bowed deep for his Lord and waited for a sign.

"Speak freely, Kiyonaga-san," the Dragon said, a gentle expression on his face.

"Lord, these battles each year are drawing heavily on our resources. The mountain just doesn't move. Isn't it time to consider... other means?"

The Dragon's face became without expression when turned towards his trusted general.

"Dear Kiyonaga, only the fact that I hold you dear holds me from ordering you to commit seppuku right away. You are very well aware that I'm a true follower of the bushido-code and I will not lower myself to what you are suggesting."

Kiyonaga stayed calm and bowed deeply for his master. "Please, master, forgive me. I will not speak of this again." Kiyonaga paused, took a deep breath and continued: "Master, wouldn't you agree that it isn't always necessary for a servant to bother his master with asking permission for performing a task. Let's say, a task the master expects his servant to fulfill without the master having to ask his servant, because it's such an obvious task?"

The Dragon calmly looked at the general and replied: "Well, of course. I would even go further. I would expect an important general, like yourself, to be able to fulfill most of his duties without asking my permission. Sure, a report every now and then is necessary and obviouslym it would be foolish not to keep an eye on my most important generals, but all in all, you can pretty much do as you please, well except for ignoring a direct order."

The general nodded. "Dear Lord, forgive me my stupidity, but did you give me an order during this conversation?"

The Dragon looked puzzled. "No, I did not."

Kiyonaga bowed deeply for his master. "If my master would forgive me."

"What is there to forgive? Anyway, you have work to do, so you're dismissed now."

Kiyonaga bowed one last time and left the tent.

~~~

Kiyonaga's tent - hour of the Dog

Kiyonaga looked at the silent man sitting in front of him.

"Kato Danzo-san, the Uesugi clan has an important task for you. As you are well aware, the constant battles between my Lord and Lord Takeda Shingen are exhausting our resources. The Tiger of Kai has been an obstacle on my masters' path to glory for many years now and it has to be removed."

The mysterious man nodded silently.

Kiyonaga continued: "Allthough an excellent general on the field of honor, the Tiger is pretty predictable when it comes to his habits during the Winter season. He will probably spend his time in his yashiki (mansion) in Kofu, only surrounded by his best men. Bring me his head and you will be rewarded generously."

Kato Danzo bowed. "So it will be, Kiyonaga-sama."

The ninja master left the tent without making a sound.

Kiyonaga shivered.

~~~

1557 - Province of Suruga

Takeda Nobutora took his pencil and started to write:

Dear Nakayima,
Dear Watanabe,

Many years have passed since my ungrateful son has taken control over the Takeda clan.

Revenge is a dish best served cold, they say.

Messengers brought me alarming reports about our clan. My foolish son is drawing heavily on our resources and it seems like he will eventually lose the war against the Uesugi.

You must take action, before it's too late! My son is unaware about your true loyalty.

Bring me the head of the usurper, Takeda Shingen! Once he has been taken care of, I will take control over the Takeda clan and I will appoint the misguided Nobushige as my heir!

Keigu,

武田信虎.

After he had finished writing, he walked towards the cages and attached the message to one of the pigeons.

Fly, little friend, fly.

The former daimyo sighed and called for his concubine.

~~~

Welcome to:

~~Swords in the Moon~~

a large mafia set in the period of Sengoku Jidai, as a tribute to the first totalwar installment.

Rules:

I. Basic mafia rules

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

II. Duel System.

During the day phase, next to voting, you also have the opportunity to challenge another player to a duel.

If you wish to challenge another player, then you have to do so in this format:

Challenge: Andres

Challenged do not need to be accepted and they cannot be withdrawn; so if A challenges B, then the A vs. B duel will be put on the list of challenges of that given round.

Only the first 4 challenges will be considered. The host will use random.org to pick one of the enlisted challenges.

A player can only challenge one other player each round. Being challenged however, does not mean that you cannot challenge yourself.

To make it clear: A challenges B. A vs. B will be put on the challenge list. A can no longer challenge another player until the next round. B however can still challenge any other player, including A.

The duels will be narrated at the end of the night write-up (the duels take place at the hour of the Rabbit (sunrise), before the new round of voting starts).

The duels are fought to the dead. However, it is technically possible for the duel to end in a draw. If such is the case, either both combattants will die or both will survive.

Every role will get a battle rating that will determine how good your role is at duelling. The outcome of the duel will be decided by rolling dice and luck is involved; which means that even the most insignificant samurai stands a change to defeat a master.

- this duel system was inspired by the Midgard Saga I & II, by Sigurd to whom I owe a very big thank you for sending me his excel sheet

III. Specific rules

* Revealing your role or character name "in private" (= outside of this thread) is not allowed.
* It's not allowed to quote role pm's or night actions results in private. Feel free to quote all other pm traffic (and chatlogs/e-mails), including mine (unless I explicity state in a particular pm that you are not allowed to quote it) in the thread. You can quote/fabricate/forge anything you want both in public and in private.
* Do not post screenshots.
* The dead are allowed to talk in the thread, but cannot communicate about this game outside of it.
* No post mortem reveal of role/night actions. no post mortem quoting/copy-pasting of pm's, chatlogs or any other non public communication ("non public communication" as in "communication that occured outside of this thread) you had while still alive. Paraphrasing, alluding, fabricating, forging is allowed.

IV. Roles.

- 1 ninja master - 3 ninja : they get 3 kills each night;
- 2 traitors (loyal to Takeda Nobutora, Shingens' father : they get 1 or 2 kills each night;
- Takeda Shingen : has certain abilities (secret);
- 3 sword masters: they protect Shingen at night;
- 1 shinobi : pro-town, secret abilities;
- 2 geisha: pro-town,

- 1 secret role
- samurai - regular townies - some of them are more experienced in sword fighting than others.

V. THANK YOU
- To my wife, for being so understanding and patient with her crazy husband.
- Again to Sigurd, for giving me his Midgard excel sheet and summary which was a great help for setting up the duel system
- To Olavi for creating my sig. It looks great

~~~

Sign-ups are closed !

Signed up (64):
TinCow
Thermal Mercury
Quintus.JC
GeneralHankerchief
Iskander III
FactionHeir
Caius
Shinseikhaan
Glenn
pevergreen
Beefy187
Ichigo
Lord Winter
Warluster
White_Eyes:D
Sasaki Kojiro
Stephen Assen
Peasant Phill
Sigurd
Kukrikhan
Captain Blackadder
Khazaar
A Very Super Market
Louis VI the Fat
Gobbledygook
Psychonaut
LittleGrizzly
Gregoshi
taka
Jolt
ATPG
shlin28
YLC
Reenk Roink
Rhyfelwyr
Beaver
Olavi
AggonyDuck
El Diablo
TiberiusBeskar
atheotes
Chaotix27
Ibn-Khaldun
CountArach
Northnovas
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
Ignoramus
Husar
Death is yonder
Tristan de Castelreng
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
TosaInu
Seamus Fermanagh
Banquo's Ghost
Crazed Rabbit
Haudegen
woad&fangs
Xehh II
SorBlade15
ajaxfetish
glyphz
Dutch_guy
Yaropolk

**Andres** · 04-18-2009, 19:00

~~Swords in the Moon~~

Japan 1557 - Hour of the Rabbit

Rain was falling. It was cold as hell and the strong Winter could already be felt in the air. The Tiger looked at his men who were getting soaked through. He nodded once to his samurai, who all bowed deeply for their master.

Shingen mounted his horse and looked at one of his most trusted followers.

The order to march was given and the small army moved.

~~~

Kofu - three days later - Takeda Shingen's yashiki - hour of the Monkey

It was still raining heavily. The water searched his way through clothes and armor and all men were wet and cold to the bones.

"Finally, we're almost there. I'm so looking forward to a hot bath," Watanabe said to the man next to him. His brother in arms simply nodded, too exhausted to say a word.

The men finally arrived and they lined up in the small courtyard of the yashiki. The silent Shingen descened of his horse and calmly waited for his men to line up. He nodded once and all samurai bowed together.

The Tiger (CountArach) watched his men and went inside. Orders were given and those fortunate enough not to get guard duty quickly went inside, out of the rain, which would soon turn into snow, looking for a hot bath and dry clothes.

~~~~

Kofu - hour of the Rat

The master watched his students.

"Soon, it will start snowing, master. All roads to and from this place will be blocked. How will we get out of here after we have taken care of Takeda Shingen?"

The master looked at the pupil.

"You are a fool to speak so openly! Ears and eyes can be everywhere."

The disciple fell on his knees and bowed deeply for the master.

"Forgive me, master. I am an idiot."

"Yes, you are. As for your question, you already know the answer. There is no other choice."

The three students understood and bowed. They waited for the master to give them their orders.

~~~

Kofu - hour of the Rat

Nakayima watched his brother as he came into the room.

"It started snowing, Nakayima-san."

"We probably won't get out of here alive."

"There's no greater honor for a samurai than to die for his master!" Watanabe said.

"Honto."

~~~

Ok guys! We're almost there. I hope you're all as excited as I am

I will now temporarily lock this thread and distribute all role pm's (64). It might take a little while, so be patient.

Please do not communicate with other players about this game until this thread has been re-opened again.

The game will start with a night phase, so there will be no voting or duel challenging in the first round. Use this night phase as an opportunity to get to know each other. If there are any questions regarding your role, feel free to ask them through pm. If you have a question related to the rules or game mechanics, feel free to ask them either in this thread or through pm.

Note:
As you may have noticed in the above write-up, the gods of random.org, in their wisdom, have given the role of Takeda Shingen to CountArach.

Obviously, you cannot vote for Lord Takeda Shingen. Any vote for CountArach will not be counted.

~~~

We are now at night 1.

Alive (64):
TinCow
Thermal Mercury
Quintus.JC
GeneralHankerchief
Iskander III
FactionHeir
Caius
Shinseikhaan
Glenn
pevergreen
Beefy187
Ichigo
Lord Winter
Warluster
White_Eyes:D
Sasaki Kojiro
Stephen Assen
Peasant Phill
Sigurd
Kukrikhan
Captain Blackadder
Khazaar
A Very Super Market
Louis VI the Fat
Gobbledygook
Psychonaut
LittleGrizzly
Gregoshi
taka
Jolt
ATPG
shlin28
YLC
Reenk Roink
Rhyfelwyr
Beaver
Olavi
AggonyDuck
El Diablo
TiberiusBeskar
atheotes
Chaotix27
Ibn-Khaldun
CountArach
Northnovas
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
Ignoramus
Husar
Death is yonder
Tristan de Castelreng
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
TosaInu
Seamus Fermanagh
Banquo's Ghost
Crazed Rabbit
Haudegen
woad&fangs
Xehh II
SorBlade15
ajaxfetish
glyphz
Dutch_guy
Yaropolk

Killed (0):

Fallen in battle (0):

Lynched (0):

WoG/Suicide (0):

**Andres** · 04-19-2009, 19:52

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Night 1 - Conclusion - first blood.

Hour of the Rat.

After his last cup of saké, Ii Naomasa (Khazaar), started to feel drunk. He yawned and walked to his room.

While he was taking off his kimono, he heard a sound on the opposite corner of the room. He unsheeted his wakizashi and slowly walked towards the sound.

He didn’t notice the shady figure behind him, carrying a razor sharp katana.

The shady figure pierced the katana through Ii’s back.

Ii Naomasa had hardly noticed that the sword had pierced through his chest, when the sword struck a second time, decapacitating him.

The killer continued by chopping of both arms and legs of the already dead samurai.

After he had done what he came for, the attacker whiped his blade clean on the kimono of his victim and left the room unnoticed.

~~~

Hour of the Rat

Takayama Ukon (spL1tp3r50nal1ty) was soaked through when he finally could leave his post.
The veteran warrior nodded to the samurai who was coming to relieve him.

“The rain turned into snow,” he said to the younger samurai.

“I noticed that, old man,” the younger man said, a bit brutal.

Takayama Ukon was displeased by this lack of good manners of the younger samurai. Sure, technically, they held the same rank, but as a veteran, Takayama deserved more respect from the younger man.

“It is not wise to disrespect the more experienced.”

“Indeed, it isn’t,” the other one said, nodding.

The nod he got in response was hardly noticable and therefore a great insult.

Takayama however was cold and tired and he didn’t feel like making a fuss about it. He decided to talk about it tomorrow and, if necessary, he would challenge this idiot to a duel, so that others could learn from his dead.

Without even a nod, Takayama turned his back to the young samurai and walked away.

The poisoned shuriken in his neck ended his life within seconds.

The young samurai walked towards his victim. “It’s not wise to turn your back to your enemy.”

He quickly covered the body with snow and resumed standing guard. It didn't take long before the real replacement arrived. The killer bowed respectfully to the other samurai.

“I’m grateful that you finally made it. I’m off for a hot bath and a warm bed. See you tomorrow.”
After this words, he bowed and quickly turned around. The other samurai couldn’t see his face.

~~~

Hour of the Ox

Kikuya (Lord Winter) took of her kimono and started to put on her make-up.

“Now, that’s a surprise!” a manly voice said.

Kikuya dropped her make-up and picked up one of her hairpins.

The man laughed softly. “That won’t help you, darling.”

Kikuya jumped forward, the hairpin aimed at the man’s chest. He quickly jumped aside. Kikuya felt the wakizashi entering her lungs. A hard and well placed kick made her fall on the floor. The man watched her as she was suffocating in her own blood. He bowed towards her to take a good look at her face.

“What a waste,” he said, regret in his voice. The wakizashi in her throat, mercifully ended Kikuya’s young life.

The masked samurai left the scene unnoticed.

~~~
Day 1 - Traitors among us!

Hour of the Rabbit

The Lord of the Takeda stared through the window and looked at the magnificent landscape, covered in snow. He was looking forward to a long, cold Winter, in the company of good men, great stories, laughter, games, special "entertainment" and lots of saké.

The noise at the courtyard disturbed his inner peace and he decided to go take a look outside.

When he entered the courtyard, he saw his men lined up, three dead bodies lying in front of them.

The Tiger looked at the bodies and back at his men.

"What happened here?" he asked.

Nobody seemed to know and all men bowed deeply for their master.

"It seems like there are traitors among us!" he walked towards the bodies and took a closer look.

"Maybe even ninja! Ha! Did the Dragon turn into a snake, I wonder."

Lord Takeda sighed.

"You are my most trusted men. It saddens me that some of you are not who I thought you were. Since I don't know who the killer is, we will have to try to find out through a discussion and through voting. Each one of you will have one vote. The person with the most votes at the end of the day, will be killed."

Takeda paused and then continued: "If one of you thinks that a man is guilty beyond doubt, but that man doesn't seem to acquire votes, then you are free to challenge that man for a duel on life and dead. At the end of the day, my dice will decide which duel will be fought."

The Tiger nodded to his men and sat down.

~~~

Alive (61):
TinCow
Thermal Mercury
Quintus.JC
GeneralHankerchief
Iskander III
FactionHeir
Caius
Shinseikhaan
Glenn
pevergreen
Beefy187
Ichigo
Warluster
White_Eyes:D
Sasaki Kojiro
Stephen Assen
Peasant Phill
Sigurd
Kukrikhan
Captain Blackadder
A Very Super Market
Louis VI the Fat
Gobbledygook
Psychonaut
LittleGrizzly
Gregoshi
taka
Jolt
ATPG
shlin28
YLC
Reenk Roink
Rhyfelwyr
Beaver
Olavi
AggonyDuck
El Diablo
TiberiusBeskar
atheotes
Chaotix27
Ibn-Khaldun
CountArach
Northnovas
Ignoramus
Husar
Death is yonder
Tristan de Castelreng
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
TosaInu
Seamus Fermanagh
Banquo's Ghost
Crazed Rabbit
Haudegen
woad&fangs
Xehh II
SorBlade15
ajaxfetish
glyphz
Dutch_guy
Yaropolk

Killed (3):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter

Fallen in battle (0):

Lynched (0):

WoG/Suicide (0):

~~~

It's now day. You can start voting. Day will end at 21.00 (GMT+1), that's within +/-24 hours. Day ends when I post the "Voting concluded" message. From then on, I'll accept night orders.

**Andres** · 04-20-2009, 20:26

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Day 1 - Conclusion

Hour of the Cock

Fujiwara Kazunari watched how the little bird tripped up and down in the cold, white carpet. The little one looked around him and picked in the snow, looking for food. All of the sudden, frightened by nothing in particular, the little bird jumped up and flew away.

Fujiwara smiled as he saw the bird, free in the sky. The little one probably already had forgotten what frightened him and was now enjoying the magnificent landscape, hardly noticing the silly little figures down there.

Allthough Fujiwara was at peace, the pain in his belly became unbearable. Before the smile could leave his face, the sword of his kaishakunin struck mercifully.

The Tiger sat silent on his platform. He nodded slowly as a gesture of respect for a good dead.

"Let us hope that he was the traitor. Good night, men."

The Tiger nodded once more, stood up and went inside.

Orders were given and the men prepared for the night.

~~~

Tally

Askthepizzaguy : 8 (ATPG, TinCow, TiberiusBeskar, TosaInu, pevergreen, Banquo's Ghost, shlin28, CountArach)

TiberiusBeskar: 6 (Sasaki Kojiro, Husar, YLC, Crazed Rabbit, White_Eyes:D, Seamus Fermanagh)
Glenn: 3 (Kukrikhan, Northnovas, AVSM)
Sasaki Kojiro: 2 (Ichigo, 'khaan)
FactionHeir: 2 (Chimpyang, w&f)
Beefy187: 1 (GeneralHankerchief)
Ibn-Khaldun: 1 (Haudegen)
The Spartan: 1 (The Spartan)
Haudegen: 1 (Ibn-Khaldun)
LittleGrizzly: 1 (Louis VI the Fat)
Louis VI the Fat: 1 (Yoyoma1910)
Chimpyang: 1 (FactionHeir)
White_Eyes:D: 1 (LittleGrizzly)
Kukrikhan : 1 (glyphz)
shlin28: 1 (Psychonaut)
Ichigo: 1 (AggonDuck)

Abstain: 17 (Yaropolk, Quintus.JC, Gobbledygook, Olavi, Gregoshi, Iskander III, Caius, ajaxfetish, Captain Blackadder, taka, Reenk Roink, Death is Yonder, atheotes, Jolt, Ignoramus, El Diablo, Beaver)

Not voted: 12 (Dutch_guy, Rhyfelwyr, Peasant Phill, Glenn, Tristan de Castelreng, Warluster, Thermal Mercury, Chaotix27, Sigurd, Xehh II, Beefy187, Stephen Assen)

~~~

Challenges
1. Sasaki vs. Ibn-Khaldun
2. Caius vs. TiberiusBeskar
3. Glenn vs. Northnovas
4. Ignoramus vs. woad&fangs

Note: since ATPG got lynched, the challenges involving ATPG were null and void; therefore the next challenges issued are taken into account. One of these challenges will be chosen at random by the host and the duel will take place before the next day starts. If one of the duelists would become the target of an assassination attempt and his duel was the one chose by the gods of random, then no duel will take place.

~~~

Alive (60):
TinCow
Thermal Mercury
Quintus.JC
GeneralHankerchief
Iskander III
FactionHeir
Caius
Shinseikhaan
Glenn
pevergreen
Beefy187
Ichigo
Warluster
White_Eyes:D
Sasaki Kojiro
Stephen Assen
Peasant Phill
Sigurd
Kukrikhan
Captain Blackadder
A Very Super Market
Louis VI the Fat
Gobbledygook
Psychonaut
LittleGrizzly
Gregoshi
taka
Jolt
shlin28
YLC
Reenk Roink
Rhyfelwyr
Beaver
Olavi
AggonyDuck
El Diablo
TiberiusBeskar
atheotes
Chaotix27
Ibn-Khaldun
CountArach
Northnovas
Ignoramus
Husar
Death is yonder
Tristan de Castelreng
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
TosaInu
Seamus Fermanagh
Banquo's Ghost
Crazed Rabbit
Haudegen
woad&fangs
Xehh II
SorBlade15
ajaxfetish
glyphz
Dutch_guy
Yaropolk

Killed (3):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter

Fallen in battle (0):

Lynched (1):

Askthepizzaguy

WoG/Suicide (0):

~~~

It's now night. Orders have to reach me at 20.30 (GMT+1) at the latest (that's +/- 23h10m from this post)

**Andres** · 04-21-2009, 20:10

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Night 2 - Conclusion

Hour of the Rat

Fujiwara Ritsu (The Spartan) was tired. The emotions of that day, the constant seemingly random accusations and the absurd possibility of getting ordered to commit seppuku for being a traitor had taken their toll.

He was quite happy not to have guard duty that night. The bottle of saké, which he had hidden under his kimono, would make him feel better soon.

While he was taking out the bottle and looking for a clean cup, he didn’t notice the dark shadow on the opposite wall of the room. The man sneaked up on Fujiwara. With one well placed punch, he broke the young samurai’s neck.

The ninja picked up the bottle of saké and left unnoticed.

~~~

Hour of the Rat

Konishi Yukinaga (Iskander III) was standing guard. Clouds were gathering and soon it would snow. Again.

Konishi sighed. Why Shingen preferred the freezing cold of the mountains over the slightly more bearable winter carpets in the valleys, went beyond him. Most Daimiyo were an excentric bunch and all in all, this strange custom was one of the few really weird things in the Tigers’ character.

Konishi’s thoughts were disrupted by the sound of footsteps in the snow.

“Hey!” a voice said loudly.

Konishi turned towards the sound of the voice and got temporarily blinded by the campfire. That was all the ninja needed to throw a sharp, poisoned throwing knife right through the samurai’s throat.

Konishi died within seconds.

~~~

Hour of the Rat

Uesugi Kenshu (Shinseikhaan) let a sigh of relief. After all, with such a name as his, it was a little miracle they didn’t single him out. Of course, he was one of the most loyal samurai to Takeda Shingen, following his army since he was 16, but does that count in a situation where paranoia and madness rule instead of common sense?

But for now, he was still alive and he could still enjoy beauty. And so, he decided to go outside, because, contrary to his fellow samurai, he loved the cold, dark nights in the mountains. They were silent and the scenery was majestatic.

While he was walking and enjoying the freezing yet silent cold, he didn’t hear nor see the blade that was being lifted. When it struck down, it seperated Uesugi’s head from his body, ending his life mercifully quick.

The warrior behind him cleaned his sword with the kimono of the fallen Uesugi and carefully left the scene unnoticed.

~~~

Hour of the Ox

Watanabe Yumi (Olavi) entered his room. He was tired and in dire need of some sleep. He quickly undressed himself, placed his katana and his wakizashi in a corner of the room and went to bed.

As soon as his head touched the cushion, he slept.

He didn’t notice the figure entering his room. Two strong, dark gloved hands grabbed Watanabe’s throat and broke his larynx. The knife piercing through his right eye, into his brains ended the job very quick.

The dark shade left the room unnoticed.

~~~
Day 2 - Bloodshed.

Hour of the Rabbit

The previous night had been very pleasant for Takeda Shingen. While he was eating his breakfeast, he was enjoying the beautiful scenery.

He heard some noises on the courtyard and decided to take a look.

The Tiger came outside and walked to his platform. He looked at the four woodpiles and noticed the 4 sheets covering what seemed to be dead bodies. The Tiger sighed.

"It seems like this isn't over yet." He paused for a while and then picked up a scroll one of the samurai had put next to him. He took a careful look and then watched Fujimoto Yunishiro (Glenn) and Watanabe Yunishiro (Northnovas).

"Let the Yunishiro nephews begin," Takeda said, softly.

One of the samurai officers bowed to both men.

"No armor, no hidden weapons, just katana and wakizashi."

Both samurai nodded and took their places.

Fujimoto quickly unsheeted his katana and stormed forwards. The younger Watanabe didn't expect this ferocious attack, but his quick reflexes saved him from what would have been a fatal blow.

Fujimoto however was out of balance now and Watanabe managed to take a stab at him. He ruined Fujimoto's kimono but, surprisingly, didn't hurt his opponent.

Fujimoto made a move to the left and then suddenly swung his katana to Watanabe's left side. He deflected the blow with his katana and came in with an incredibly quick riposte. Fujimoto parried but lost his katana in the proces.

Watanabe grinned. Without his katana, his opponent was at a huge disadvantage. He stormed forwards, but in his enthusiasm, he stumbled. Fujimoto drew his wakizashi and burried it into Watanabe's leg. The younger samurai groaned. Fujimoto tried to kick his opponent in the stomach, but Watanabe managed to roll away, but without his katana. Fujimoto quickly jumped upon Watanabe and both men struggled for a while, both giving blows and kicks. Then the wrestling stopped. Fujimoto stood up, and he saw Watanabe bleeding to dead, looking at his own wakizashi that somehow got planted in his chest. Fujimoto picked up his katana and quickly decapacitated his opponent.

The duel was over.

Shingen nodded respectfully to Fujimoto.

"Now that this has been settled, we'll go through the proceedings again."

~~~

Alive (55):
TinCow
Thermal Mercury
Quintus.JC
GeneralHankerchief
FactionHeir
Caius
Glenn
pevergreen
Beefy187
Ichigo
Warluster
White_Eyes:D
Sasaki Kojiro
Stephen Assen
Peasant Phill
Sigurd
Kukrikhan
Captain Blackadder
A Very Super Market
Louis VI the Fat
Gobbledygook
Psychonaut
LittleGrizzly
Gregoshi
taka
Jolt
shlin28
YLC
Reenk Roink
Rhyfelwyr
Beaver
AggonyDuck
El Diablo
Beskar
atheotes
Chaotix27
Ibn-Khaldun
CountArach
Ignoramus
Husar
Death is yonder
Tristan de Castelreng
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
TosaInu
Seamus Fermanagh
Banquo's Ghost
Crazed Rabbit
Haudegen
woad&fangs
Xehh II
ajaxfetish
glyphz
Dutch_guy
Yaropolk

Killed (7):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter

The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi

Fallen in battle (1):

Northnovas

Lynched (1):

Askthepizzaguy

WoG/Suicide (0):

~~~

It's now day. You can start voting. Day will last for +/- 24 hours (until 21.00 GMT+1)

**Andres** · 04-22-2009, 20:29

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Day 2 - Conclusion

Hour of the Monkey

" Snow slowly fell down
" I tried to grab it quickly
" and then it was gone

Saruwatari Taiki (Sigurd) put down the pencil. The sheer beauty of the moment brought him to tears. Tears of happiness. He bowed deeply for his master before slowly rolling up the parchment and sealing it. Calmly he turned to his comrades and smiled at those good men gathered in the courtyard.
Saruwatari took the clean knife that was on the white cushion in front of him.

The last rays of sunlight flickered on the steel.

The condemned man looked up and watched the sky. He then lowered his eyes to enjoy the scenery of the mountains one last time.

After a long, deep breath, he opened his white kimono a bit and placed the sharp knife into position. His face remained emotionless when it pierced through the skin into his flesh. Before he could lose his selfcontrol, the sword of his kaishakuninended his life.

Takeda nodded respectfully to the body of Saruwatari Taiki, stood up and left, without adding any comment.

~~~

Tally:

Sigurd: 10 (Quintus.JC, Ichigo, shlin28, Kukrikhan, GeneralHankerchief, Chimpyang, AggonyDuck, Louis VI the Fat, Haudegen, TinCow)

Stephen Assen: 9 (CountArach, Gregoshi, pevergreen, Captain Blackader, Reenk Roink, Tristan de Castelreng, Beskar, El Diablo, Beefy187)

Beskar: 4 (Death is yonder, Kagemusha, atheotes, Stephen Assen)
AggonyDuck: 2 (Sasaki, Yaropolk)
TinCow: 1 (YLC)
TosaInu: 1 (Thermal Mercury)
Peasant Phil : 1 (glyphz)
YLC: 1 (Glenn)
Sasaki Kojiro: 1 (LittleGrizzly)
Yaropolk: 1 (woad&fangs)

Abstain: 4 (FactionHeir, Ignoramus, Rhyfelwyr, Psychonaut)

No vote: 20 (Husar, Yoyoma1910, Caius, ajaxfetish, Gobbledygook, Crazed Rabbit, taka, White_Eyes:D, TosaInu, Dutch_guy, Peasant Phil, Seamus Fermanagh, Warluster, Chaotix27, Sigurd, Jolt, Xehh II, AVSM, Banquo's Ghost, Beaver)

~~~

Challenges:
1. YLC challenges Seamus
2. Ignoramus challenges Ichigo
3. Sasaki challenges AggonyDuck
4. Quintus.JC challenges Beskar

~~~

Alive (54):
TinCow
Thermal Mercury
Quintus.JC
GeneralHankerchief
FactionHeir
Caius
Glenn
pevergreen
Beefy187
Ichigo
Warluster
White_Eyes:D
Sasaki Kojiro
Stephen Assen
Peasant Phill
Kukrikhan
Captain Blackadder
A Very Super Market
Louis VI the Fat
Gobbledygook
Psychonaut
LittleGrizzly
Gregoshi
taka
Jolt
shlin28
YLC
Reenk Roink
Rhyfelwyr
Beaver
AggonyDuck
El Diablo
Beskar
atheotes
Chaotix27
Ibn-Khaldun
CountArach
Ignoramus
Husar
Death is yonder
Tristan de Castelreng
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
TosaInu
Seamus Fermanagh
Banquo's Ghost
Crazed Rabbit
Haudegen
woad&fangs
Xehh II
ajaxfetish
glyphz
Dutch_guy
Yaropolk

Killed (7):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter

The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi

Fallen in battle (1):

Northnovas

Lynched (2):

Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd

WoG/Suicide (0):

~~~

It's now night. PM's please. Orders have to reach me at 20.30 (GMT+1), that's +/- 23 hours from now.

**Andres** · 04-23-2009, 20:34

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Night 3 - Conclusion.

Hour of the Rat

Hamano Kazuma (Chaotix27-Peverbrown) didn’t feel very well after the last proceedings. It seems like he had caught some sort of pever. He decided to go to bed early.

While he was taking off his kimono and putting his two swords on the standard he had inherited from his father, he didn’t notice the man in the room adjacent to his.

Shivering from high pever, he quickly jumped under the silk sheets. He hardly noticed how the man opened the door and entered his room. Covered in sweat, Hamano seemed to start hallucinating; he heard some sort of whisper in the air, saying “domo arigato”.

The next moment a knife was being stabbed in his throat, destroying his larynx and preventing him to make a sound. A second stab through his heart ended his life quick.

The killer carved the following words in the body of his victim: “Dou itashi mashite”.

~~~

Hour of the Rat

Hamano Masaya (Thermal Mercury - Peverpurple) was standing guard. He wasn’t paying much attention, since he was dreaming of better days, about times before he had to follow his Lord into battle after battle.

A samurai wearing full armor came near.

“That’s odd,” Hamano said to himself, “it’s still more than an hour until I should get replaced.”

The samurai calmly walked up to Hamano.

“Aren’t you a bit early? Or am I mistaken? After all, when you’re standing here in the freezing cold, it seems like forpever.”

The man wearing full armor shrugged.

“Oh well, since you’re so peaver to stand guard…”

A sudden breeze came up and it seemed to have words in it… “domo arigato.”

Hamano shivered and looked scared. “Did you hear…”

The knife in his throat ended his question. A second stab ended his life. The disguised ninja carved the following into the body of his victim: “Dou itashi mashite”.

~~~

Hour of the Rat

Kin Hacirobei (pevergreen) was alone in his room, sipping on a cup of saké. He was thinking about his wife and children. His four sons would finally join the Takeda campaign next summer. Well trained, strong, young and enthusiastic, his sons would make great warriors, maybe even better samurai than he would ever hope to be. Kin laughed softly. Of course he would never tell that to his sons. The young ones still had much to learn about discipline, respect and obedience.

Kin took the bottle of saké and filled a second cup. When he was about to bring the cup to his mouth, he got hit on the head with a heavy object. While he was still recovering from the blow, a second blow hit him. And a third one, which broke his left arm.

Kin heard the sound of the object dropping on te floor. A kick in the stomach made him throw up his saké. A second kick on his head almost made him fall unconscious.

A sword was being unsheeted. Two strong hands in black gloves pushed on Kin’s throat until his larynx got broken, which prevented him from making anymore sounds. A mighty blow of the sword cut off his left leg. A second blow cut off the other leg. The loss of blood mercifully let Kin lose conscience. The killer continued his work and soon the room was all covered in blood and flesh, leaving a gruesome sight.

~~~

Hour of the Ox.

Okichi (Gregoshi) put away her samurai clothes and armor. It came as a relief and she felt free. Before putting up her make-up and geisha clothing to go out to entertain somebody, she decided to get some sleep.

“Interesting,” the man silently entering her room said to himself.

A wakizashi was being unsheeted. The man took one last look at Okichi’s extraordinary handsome features before slitting her throat. He cleaned his sword on her sheets, sighed and left the room unnoticed.

~~~
Day 3 - Would this go on forpever?

Hour of the Rabbit.

The Tiger was sipping on a cup of tea when he heard the sound on the courtyard. He sighed.

Some samurai were building piles of wood, others couldn't help themselves staring at the bodies, the gruesomely butchered remnants of Kin in particular.

In complete silence, the Tiger entered the courtyard. All samurai stopped their activities and bowed deeply for heir master. Shingen looked at the scroll in front of him. He waited in complete silence and then pointed at Michishige Michiyo (Ichigo) and Saruwatari Takumi (Ignoramus).

Both samurai bowed for Lord Takeda. A senior officer nodded to both men. "No armor, no hidden weapons, just katana and wakizashi."

The samurai bowed to each other and unsheeted their katana's.

Michishige moved forward. It seemed like he wanted to end this quickly and he his katana struck in the direction of Saruwatari's neck. The younger samurai quickly jumped aside and counterattacked, aiming for Michishige's left side. Michishige hardly managed to block the attack and stepped backwards.

Encouraged, Saruwatari jumped forward and his blade came down quickly. Michishige quickly jumped aside and struck with his katana, wounding Saruwatari on the left arm. Saruwatari screamed out of pain and frustration.

Yelling insults he attacked yet again. Michishige had difficulties blocking the constant attacks of his opponent. In his enthusiasm, Saruwatari stumbled. Michishige saw an opening on Saruwatari's right side and struck quickly. Saruwatari fell on his knees, his fingers touching the fatal wound. Michishige mercifully ended Saruwatari's pain by beheading him.

The samurai bowed deeply for his master who nodded respectfully in return.

After the duel ended and all bodies put on the woodpiles, the samurai started to discuss.

~~~

Alive (49):
TinCow
Quintus.JC
GeneralHankerchief
FactionHeir
Caius
Glenn
Beefy187
Ichigo
Warluster
White_Eyes:D
Sasaki Kojiro
Stephen Assen
Peasant Phill
Kukrikhan
Captain Blackadder
A Very Super Market
Louis VI the Fat
Gobbledygook
Psychonaut
LittleGrizzly
taka
Jolt
shlin28
YLC
Reenk Roink
Rhyfelwyr
Beaver
AggonyDuck
El Diablo
Beskar
atheotes
Ibn-Khaldun
CountArach
Husar
Death is yonder
Tristan de Castelreng
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
TosaInu
Seamus Fermanagh
Banquo's Ghost
Crazed Rabbit
Haudegen
woad&fangs
Xehh II
ajaxfetish
glyphz
Dutch_guy
Yaropolk

Killed (11):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter

The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Fallen in battle (2):

Northnovas
Ignoramus

Lynched (2):

Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd

WoG/Suicide (0):

~~~

It's now day, you can start voting. Because of RL, this will be an extended Day phase which will last until Saturday 9.30 am (that's +/- 36 hours from now). This will be followed by an extended night phase which will last for +/- 36 hours as well. After that, we'll be back on the regular schedule. Sorry for any inconvenience.

**Andres** · 04-25-2009, 08:59

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Day 3 - Conclusion.

Hour of the Cock

Snow was falling out of the sky. A strong wind played with the white kimono of the condemned. His eyes were wide opened and he seemed to stare at the sky, a peaceful and happy expression on his face. The snow in his eyes didn’t hurt him.

In this time of the year, there weren’t many birds seen flying, but a brave little redbreast landed near the condemned. In a way, it was a beautiful scene: man and bird, together in harmony. It seemed as if the little redbreast was there to offer the soul of the condemned man a ride to the afterlife.

The bird suddenly jumped up and flew away, higher and higher and higher. Carrying the soul of the condemned?

Both samurai standing near the body of the man who was known as Ichimaru Yoshiko (shlin28) were touched by the beauty of the moment. They lifted the body and carried it over to the already prepared woodpile.

The Tiger nodded towards the body of a man who died honorably and went inside.

Another body was being carried to the woodpile. It was Nakajima Kaito (Xehh II). He had been sitting at the same spot for three days and three nights now. Earlier that day, a samurai had noticed that Nakajima hadn't been meditating like everybody else thought. Apparently, he had fallen asleep and was now frozen to dead.

While the woodpile was being lit, most samurai went to sleep, while the more unfortunate ones prepared for guard duty.

~~~

Tally:

shlin28 : 21 (Beefy187, TinCow, atheotes, Kagemusha, Haudegen, Beskar, GeneralHankerchief, ajaxfetish, Glenn, YLC, , Kukrikhan, LittleGrizzly, Seamus Fermanagh, AggonyDuck, Yaropolk, glyphz, CountArach, Death is yonder, Dutch_guy, Reenk Roink, Sasaki Kojiro)

YLC: 4 (El Diablo, White_Eyes:D, Peasant Phill, Ichigo)
TinCow: 3 (Chimpyang, Tristan de Castelreng, Husar)
Stephen Assen: 2 (woad&fangs, Louis VI the Fat)
GeneralHankerchief : 1 (Yoyoma1910)
ajaxfetish: 1 (FactionHeir)
taka: 1 (Captain Blackadder)
Haudegen: 1 (Wishazu)
Beskar: 1 (Crazed Rabbit)
LittleGrizzly: 1 (Rhyfelwyr)

abstain: 4 (Caius, taka, shlin28, Stephen Asen)
Not voting: 9 (Quintus.JC, Gobbledygook, Banquo's Ghost, Psychonaut, TosaInu, Jolt, Xehh II, AVSM, Beaver)

~~~

Challenges:

1. GeneralHankerchief vs. Rhyfelwyr
2. Stephen Assen vs. ajaxfetish

3. El Diablo vs. YLC
4. YLC vs. TinCow

~~~

Alive (47):

TinCow
Quintus.JC
GeneralHankerchief
FactionHeir
Caius
Glenn
Beefy187
Ichigo
Warluster
White_Eyes:D
Sasaki Kojiro
Stephen Assen
Peasant Phill
Kukrikhan
Captain Blackadder
A Very Super Market
Louis VI the Fat
Gobbledygook
Psychonaut
LittleGrizzly
taka
Jolt
YLC
Reenk Roink
Rhyfelwyr
Beaver
AggonyDuck
El Diablo
Beskar
atheotes
Ibn-Khaldun
CountArach
Husar
Death is yonder
Tristan de Castelreng
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
TosaInu
Seamus Fermanagh
Banquo's Ghost
Crazed Rabbit
Haudegen
woad&fangs
ajaxfetish
glyphz
Dutch_guy
Yaropolk

Killed (11):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter
The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Fallen in battle (2):
Northnovas
Ignoramus

Lynched (3):
Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd
shlin28

WoG/Suicide (1):
Xehh II

~~~

It's now night. PM's please. Night will be an extended one and will end on Sunday 26th of April, 9.30 pm (that's within +/- 35h30 after this post). After this night, we'll be back on our regular 24 hour schedule.

**Andres** · 04-26-2009, 20:42

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Night 4 - Conclusion.

Hour of the Rat

Kawazoe Koiki (Little_Grizzly) went to his room. He was tired. No, not tired, exhausted. Not only was there the ever present paranoia and the fear of his beloved Lord getting killed by cowardly assassins, there were also samurai who seemed to follow his lead.

Allthough he would be very flattered under different circumstances, it all made the current experience even more exhausting. Because of these followers, he felt like his responsability was doubled, or even tripled.

Kawazoe smiled. If this would end well after all, he surely would be promoted; maybe one day he would become a general in the army of the Takeda clan.

With this encouraging thoughts, Kawazoe went to sleep.

Alas, his dreams of generalship in the army of the great Takeda would never come true. They were abruptly ended by a nightly dagger slicing his throat.

~~~

Hour of the Rat

Konno Takumi (Reenk Roink) was pretty sure they made the right decision today. After all, he had followed the lead of the samurai he admired most, Kawazoe Koiki. Konno was a humble man, but he was no fool. He knew a great and mighty man when he saw one and his idol Kawazoe certainly had a great future ahead of him.

Konno knew that all would end well if he just kept following the lead of his great example. And maybe, just maybe, one day, his idol would reward his loyalty and would accept him as his right hand.

As he got carried away by his imagination to a life of glorious victories won by his favourite samurai, by then a mighty general, Konno smiled.

Unfortunately, his dreams came to an abrupt end when two strong, dark gloved hands squeezed his throat. A few minutes later, Konno was dead, his wide opened eyes staring at the ceiling.

~~~

Hour of the Rat

Fujimoto Heikichi (Louis VI the Fat)'s body was covered with sweat. Yes, it was told that for a samurai there was no greater honor than to die in the service of his master, but Fujimoto disagreed. What good was a dead samurai? How on earth could a dead samurai serve his master? What utter nonsense! What good was a huge pile of dead corpses for Lord Takeda? How would Lord Takeda ever unite the country with only dead men on his side?

Constantly looking to the left and right and behind him, he almost ran to his room. He opened and closed his door at least 7 times to see if anybody had followed him.

Fujimoto covered the floor with empty bottles, cups, plates and whatever would make a lot of noise if someone would accidentally stumble upon it.

Still wearing his full armor and his both swords, he went to sleep.

Hours passed and Fujimoto finally started to calm down. When has about to fall asleep, he heard a noise. He quickly jumped up and looked around him.

With a devastating blow, his chest got smashed with a kanabo. Fujimoto tried to scream, but his longs held no air. A second blow with the kanabo broke his upper left arm. A third blow hit his chest again. Almost unconscious, he felt another blow, breaking his right under arm. Finally, a fifth blow smashed his head, spreading blood, pieces of bone and brains all over the room.

The killer quickly left the room unnoticed.

~~~

Hour of the Ox.

A man tried to sneak his way into the room of Hamano Michiyo (Sasaki Kojiro). Holding a razor sharp wakizashi in his hand, he walked down the corridor leading to the room of Hamano.

Cautiously looking to the left and right, he didn’t notice the masked samurai who was hiding near the door to Hamano’s room.

As the killer was about to enter the room of Hamano, the masked samurai jumped up and casted a tremendous warcry.

The killer quickly jumped aside and started to run. After a short chase, the masked samurai lost track of the attacker.

~~~
Day 4 : Bloodier and bloodier.

Hour of the Rabbit

Lord Shingen was enjoying his breakfeast. The more attentive observant would notice however that the mighty leader looked tired. Maybe the events of the last couple of days and nights were taking its' toll?

The rumours on the courtyard didn't bode well...

When the Tiger came outside, he saw something that was sadly becoming a usual scene: dead bodies and prepared woodpiles.

Lord Takeda mounted the platform and looked at the scroll next to him.

After a brief moment, he nodded towards Fujiwara Tadayoshi (El Diablo) and Sanada Yukimura (YLC).

Both men bowed deeply for their lord. One of the officers nodded at both fighters. No armor, no hidden weapons, just katana and wakizashi.

Both warriors bowed to the officer and to each other.

Fujiwara unsheeted his katana and walked towards his opponent. Both men walked in circles, as if they were performing a dance, a deadly dance.

Suddenly Fujiwara’s katana struck forward with magnificent speed. Sanada’s katana broke into little pieces when he blocked the devestating blow.

With a victorious smile on his face, Fujiwara lifted his katana and let it come down for another blow. Sanada, who didn’t have the chance to unsheeth his wakizashi jumped aside and nearly avoided the sword. His opponent however was temporarily unbalanced and Sanada managed to deal out a hard kick on his knee.

A sickening sound could be heard and Fujiwara fell. With his wakizashi in his right hand, Sanada jumped above his opponent. Fujiwara managed to plant his fist in Sanada’s stomach, making Sanada throw up his breakfeast. While he was coming to his senses, Fujiwara’s katana came down. In a reflex, Sanada rolled to the left, barely avoiding the blade and in one fluent movement he pierced through Fujiwara’s belly with his wakizashi.

While Fujiwara tried to stop the bleeding of the deadly wound, Sanada picked up the katana of his opponent and with one clean blow, he seperated Fujiwara’s head from his body.

Sanada nodded respectfully towards the body of his opponent and made a deep bow for Lord Shingen, who nodded back.

The samurai and their Lord started the proceedings. Again...

~~~

Alive (43):

TinCow
Quintus.JC
GeneralHankerchief
FactionHeir
Caius
Glenn
Beefy187
Ichigo
Warluster
White_Eyes:D
Sasaki Kojiro
Stephen Assen
Peasant Phill
Kukrikhan
Captain Blackadder
A Very Super Market
Gobbledygook
Psychonaut
taka
Jolt
YLC
Rhyfelwyr
Beaver
AggonyDuck
Beskar
atheotes
Kagemusha
CountArach
Husar
Death is yonder
Tristan de Castelreng
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
TosaInu
Seamus Fermanagh
Banquo's Ghost
Crazed Rabbit
Haudegen
woad&fangs
ajaxfetish
glyphz
Dutch_guy
Yaropolk

Killed (14):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter
The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Reenk Roink
LittleGrizzly
Louis VI the Fat

Fallen in battle (3):
Northnovas
Ignoramus

El Diablo

Lynched (3):
Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd
shlin28

WoG/Suicide (1):
Xehh II

~~~

It's now day. You can start voting. Day will last for +/- 24 hours; that is until 9.30 pm (GMT+1).

**Andres** · 04-27-2009, 20:59

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Day 4 - Conclusion.

Hour of the Monkey

" A freezing winter
" The sharp cold stops living things
" Branches are leafless

Saruwatari Ryou (TosaInu) looked at the freshly written poem. He sighed. It wasn’t what he wanted it to be. He hadn’t really thought about it before, since he had never expected to be ordered to commit seppuku. Who would have thought that clearing his throat after days of silence would make him a suspect of murder?

Saruwatari sighed again and he looked around him. The sound dampening snow and the silence created by the freezing cold made him feel at peace. The sky was dark blue and the first twinkling stars became visible. Stars, inviting his soul to join them.

The man in the white kimono smiled at the stars. Surely, so far away, there would only be silence and peace. Silence and peace, like on a cold winter evening.

Finally accepting his karma, he picked up the clean and sharp knife in front of him. He opened his kimono and took a final deep breath. He pierced the knife through the skin of his belly, right into his inner organs. The sudden loss of blood made him feel light in the head and for a moment, there was only peace and the beauty of the silent winter evening. Before the pain could reach him, the blade of his kaishakunin struck mercifully.

Lord Takeda nodded respectfully towards the body.

Oguri Hatsuharu (Jolt) and Saruwatari Izumi (Beaver) were watching the scene. When somebody ordered them to come forward to carry the body, a rock above them fell down, bringing with it an avalanche of snow, ice and rocks. It took several hours to dig them up and when the digging samurai finally reached the bodies of their two comrades, they were already dead.

~~~

Tally:

TosaInu : 5 (FactionHeir, Beskar, White_Eyes:D, atheotes, Sasaki Kojiro)

Rhyfelwyr: 4 (Yoyoma1910, Wishazu, Peasant Phill, TinCow)
Yoyoma1910: 2 (AggonyDuck, Chimpyang)
Beskar: 2 (Husar, Stephen Asen)
TinCow: 2 (YLC, Rhyfelwyr)
Seamus: 1 (Kagemusha)
Caius: 1 (Psychonaut)
GeneralHankerchief: 1 (Glenn)
Sasaki Kojiro: 1 (GeneralHankerchief)
Banquo's Ghost: 1 (Kukrikhan)

abstain: 4 (AVSM, Banquo's Ghost, Death is yonder, taka)

Not voting: 19 (Crazed Rabbit, Tristan de Castelreng, Quintus.JC, CountArach, Gobbledygook, Caius, ajaxfetish, Captain Blackadder, Ichigo, TosaInu, Seamus Fermanagh, woad&fangs, Yaropolk, Dutch_guy, Haudegen, Jolt, Beaver, Beefy187, glyphz)

~~~

Challenges:

1. Stephen Asen vs. Beskar
2. Beefy187 vs. GeneralHankerchief
3. Glenn vs. Rhyfelwyr
4. YLC vs. TinCow

Note: since TosaInu got lynched, the duels GeneralHankerchief vs. TosaInu and White_Eyes:D vs. TosaInu became null and void.

~~~

Alive (40):

TinCow
Quintus.JC
GeneralHankerchief
FactionHeir
Caius
Glenn
Beefy187
Ichigo
Wishazu
White_Eyes:D
Sasaki Kojiro
Stephen Assen
Peasant Phill
Kukrikhan
Captain Blackadder
A Very Super Market
Gobbledygook
Psychonaut
taka
YLC
Rhyfelwyr
AggonyDuck
Beskar
atheotes
Kagemusha
CountArach
Husar
Death is yonder
Tristan de Castelreng
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
Seamus Fermanagh
Banquo's Ghost
Crazed Rabbit
Haudegen
woad&fangs
ajaxfetish
glyphz
Dutch_guy
Yaropolk

Killed (14):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter
The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Reenk Roink
LittleGrizzly
Louis VI the Fat

Fallen in battle (3):
Northnovas
Ignoramus

El Diablo

Lynched (4):
Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd
shlin28

TosaInu

WoG/Suicide (3):
Xehh II

Jolt
Beaver

~~~

It's now night; PM's please. Night will end at 21.30 (GMT+1); that's within +/- 23h30m

**Andres** · 04-28-2009, 20:58

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Night 5 - Conclusion.

Hour of the Rat

Saruwatari Kazunari (Crazed Rabbit) was cleaning his swords with a silk cloth. When the swords were both clean, he put them back in their scabbard.

He decided to meditate first before going to sleep. The events of the past few days had been disturbing, even for a man who had already seen his share of bloodshed and cruelty.

While taking a few deep breaths and clearing his head, he didn’t notice the shady figure entering his room. The dark warrior silently moved up to the meditating samurai, a black knife in his right hand.

Saruwatari’s body seemed to relax and he slowly got into a deep, mental trance. The killer didn’t wait any longer and with a clean, strong blow, he pierced the knife into Saruwatari’s throat, moving it upwards right through his brains, killing him instantly.

The murderer left the room unnoticed.

~~~

Hour of the Rat

Miyamoto Musashi (Husar) was standing near the campfire, guarding the front door towards the chambers of his Lord. He liked standing guard near the campfire: it gave the illusion of being warm, nobody could hide into the shadows to sneak up on you and feeding logs to the fire broke the monotony of the night.

A chilly northern wind was blowing and the swordmaster put down his naginata to grab some more firewood.

While his head was down, a cloaked man jumped down from the roof, in his hand a kanabo, aimed for his head. Miyamoto’s incredible fast reflexes saved his life as he quickly moved aside. The kanabo missed his head but hit Miyamoto’s right shoulder very hard, breaking his collarbone.

Allthough Miyamoto could only defend himself with his katana, which he was holding in his left hand, the killer didn’t want to take any more risks and quickly left the scene, unrecognized.

~~~

Hour of the Rat

Fujimoto Junishiro (Glenn) was back in his room. What was happening right now, was disastrous and he was very worried about his Lords’ safety.

On a more personal level, he had an extra reason (as if any more motivation was needed) to catch these ninja and to get out of here. That reason was called “Mariko”, his fiancée. After his third season of campaigning with the Takeda, her father had finally admitted that he was manly enough to marry his daughter. If this mess would end well, he would marry her before the next campaign would start.

Fujimoro smiled at the thought of the beautiful Mariko, his blossom.

Unfortunately, two strong dark gloved hands abruptly ended his dreams in a most cruel way, squeezing his throat until he died. The killer pierced a dagger through Fujimoro’s right eye, into his brains, for good measure and then left the room unnoticed.

~~~

Hour of the Ox

Fujimoto Shinichi (A Very Super Market) was standing guard outside the gate. This was the worst place to stand guard, since it was outside the walls with absolutely no cover against the snow and the chilly northern wind and without fire to keep him warm.

Fujimoto cursed. It was the third time he had been given this rotten task. Never had a senior samurai been standing guard here. And it didn’t make sense to stand guard outside either, since the killers that were operating were clearly working from the inside and nobody could reach the yashiki through the impenetrable mountain passes.

The wind was blowing heavily and fresh snow was falling out of the sky. Fujimoto didn’t hear the sounds of the man walking towards him, carrying a sharp katana. With one fluent movement, the man pierced the katana through Fujimoto’s body, right through his armor. The young samurai looked down and saw the point of the sword thrusting out of his chest. It didn’t take more than a few seconds for him to die.

The murderer quickly left the scene.

~~~

Day 5 - Rivers of blood.

Hour of the Rabbit

The Tiger was eating breakfeast. He looked how his injured bodyguard got treated by a comrade. He nodded calmly to the man and stood up.

Lord Takeda entered the courtyard and went to his platform. He looked down and didn’t show any emotions when he saw the bodies of the murdered men. It was something that was getting all too familiar.

Shaking his head he watched the scroll with the challenges. He nodded towards Sanada Yukimura (YLC) and Nakashima Ritsu (TinCow).

Both men bowed deeply for their master and nodded to each other. A senior officer nodded to both men: “No armor, no hidden weapons. Just katana and wakizashi.

Both men nodded again.

Sanada unsheeted his katana and immediately attacked Nakashima. The long sword struck for his neck and he barely blocked the blow.

Sanada stepped backwards and circled around Nakashima. Sweat was dripping from their faces. Suddenly, Sanada unsheeted his wakizashi and struck with both swords simultaneously. With pure luck, Nakashima managed to block both blows. Sanada was unbalanced and Nakashima took advantage of the situation by swinging his katana at his opponent. Sanada stepped to the right and the katana barely missed him.

Both men watched each other and it was clear they started to respect their opponent. Sanada lifted his katana and jumped forwards, a blow that would have been lethal if it weren’t for Nakashima bowing through his knees and rolling forward, piercing his katana through Sanada’s belly.

The deadly injured samurai looked down in disbelief. His opponent finished the duel by separating Sanada’s head from his body.

After the fight, he bowed deeply for his master, who nodded back respectfully.

While the woodpiles were burning, the men started to discuss the events.

~~~

Alive (36):

TinCow
Quintus.JC
GeneralHankerchief
FactionHeir
Caius
Beefy187
Ichigo
Wishazu
White_Eyes:D
Sasaki Kojiro
Stephen Assen
Peasant Phill
Kukrikhan
Captain Blackadder
Gobbledygook
Psychonaut
taka
Rhyfelwyr
AggonyDuck
Beskar
atheotes
Kagemusha
CountArach
Husar
Death is yonder
Tristan de Castelreng
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
Seamus Fermanagh
Banquo's Ghost
Haudegen
woad&fangs
ajaxfetish
glyphz
Dutch_guy
Yaropolk

Killed (17):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter
The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Reenk Roink
LittleGrizzly
Louis VI the Fat
Crazed Rabbit
A Very Super Market
Glenn

Fallen in battle (4):
Northnovas
Ignoramus

El Diablo
YLC

Lynched (4):
Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd
shlin28

TosaInu

WoG/Suicide (3):
Xehh II

Jolt
Beaver

~~~

It's now day, you can start voting. Day will last +/- 24 hours, that's until 10.00 pm (GMT+1).

**Andres** · 04-29-2009, 21:22

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Day 5 - Conclusion.

Hour of the monkey

Nakashima Ritsu (TinCow) looked up to the sky above him. It was clear. As he was watching the stale blue sky, his memories went back to the sea, to the village where he grew up, under the guidance of his father, a hard but fair master.

It was with regret that he realized how he would have made his father proud, fighting and killing for a noble master and now dying in his service. Regret, because his father would never know it. Or maybe he would?

Nakashima stared at the stars that started appearing. Surely, one of them was his father. Soon he would be there and he could tell about the battles he had fought and how he died honorably in the service of his Lord.
He picked up the sharp and clean knife that was there in front of him, on a white cushion. He opened the belt of his kimono. The smell of soap greeted him. His heart started to swell with pride. Soap, not the smell of fear.

Nakashima pierced the knife into his body. While he felt the blood leaving him, he kept looking up, to the stars. Soon he would be there.
The blade of his kaishakunin struck mercifully.

Lord Takeda nodded respectfully towards the body.

He stood up and went inside.

~~~

Tally:

TinCow: 10 (CountArach, Husar, Rhyfelwyr, Haudegen, Sasaki Kojiro, Kagemusha, atheotes, White_Eyes:D, Beefy187, ajaxfetish)

Beskar: 5 (woad&fangs, Stephen Asen, Wishazu, Ichigo, Chimpyang)
Rhyfelwyr: 4 (Banquo's Ghost, Kukrikhan, Yaropolk, Captain Blackadder)
Tristan de Castelreng: 3 (Beskar, Quintus.JC, FactionHeir)

AggonyDuck: 1 (Yoyoma1910)
Wishazu: 1 (AggonyDuck)

abstain: 1 (Death is yonder)

Not voting: 11 (Gobbledygook, TinCow, Tristan de Castelreng, Seamus Fermanagh, glyphz, taka, Dutch_guy, Peasant Phill, GeneralHankerchief, Caius, Psychonaut)

~~~

Challenges:

1. White_Eyes:D vs. Sasaki
2. GeneralHankerchief vs. Beefy187
3. Beefy187 vs. GeneralHankerchief
4. Stephen Asen vs. Beskar

Note: since TinCow got lynched, the woad&fangs vs. TinCow duel became null and void.

~~~

Alive (35):

Quintus.JC
GeneralHankerchief
FactionHeir
Caius
Beefy187
Ichigo
Wishazu
White_Eyes:D
Sasaki Kojiro
Stephen Assen
Peasant Phill
Kukrikhan
Captain Blackadder
Gobbledygook
Psychonaut
taka
Rhyfelwyr
AggonyDuck
Beskar
atheotes
Kagemusha
CountArach
Husar
Death is yonder
Tristan de Castelreng
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
Seamus Fermanagh
Banquo's Ghost
Haudegen
woad&fangs
ajaxfetish
glyphz
Dutch_guy
Yaropolk

Killed (17):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter
The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Reenk Roink
LittleGrizzly
Louis VI the Fat
Crazed Rabbit
A Very Super Market
Glenn

Fallen in battle (4):
Northnovas
Ignoramus

El Diablo
YLC

Lynched (5):
Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd
shlin28

TosaInu
TinCow

WoG/Suicide (3):
Xehh II

Jolt
Beaver

~~~

It's now night. Due to RL, it'll be an extended night phase which will last until Friday, the 1st of May, 10.00 am (GMT+1), which is +/- 36 hours from this post.

**Andres** · 05-01-2009, 10:22

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Night 6 - Conclusion.

Hour of the Rat

Miyamoto Musashi (Husar) was standing guard at the front door of his masters’ room. 6 nights of guard duty had taken the best of the swordmaster. If it weren’t for the pain in his shoulder, he would probably fall asleep.

Miyamoto grinned uneasily. He should thank the scumbag who had wounded him, since he saved him from the shame of being found sleeping on guard duty.

Nature called and Miyamoto stood up. This moment was exactly what the man hiding in the shadows was waiting for. He sneaked up on Miyamoto and planted his wakizashi in his back. Miyamoto looked down and saw the point of the sharp sword sticking out of his chest.

“For a samurai, there’s no greater honor than to die in the service of his master,” were his last thoughts, before he died and dropped on the floor.

The killer nodded respectfully towards his famous victim and left the scene unnoticed.

~~~

Hour of the Rat

Oota Taiki (Death is yonder) was standing guard at the outside gate. He had been given the questionable honour of being responsible for any outside attacks.

Oota knew for sure nobody was watching him so he could freely shake his head and curse at the stupidity of the idiot who had given him the order to stand guard outside the yashiki.

The mountain passes were blocked with snow and all killers were inside. He sighed. What could he do about it? He was just a young samurai who had to obey orders. Would he become as big an idiot as the veteran samurai once he grew older, he wondered. He sighed.

The wind started to blow again, dampening the sounds of the shady figure behind him.

Oota would never become an idiot, a poisoned shuriken in his neck ended his life in seconds...

~~~

Hour of the Rat

Fujiwara Taiki (Haudegen) quickly went inside after sunset. The events of the last days and nights had exhausted the young samurai and he decided to go to bed early. He took off his soaked through kimono and hung it on a laundry pole, to dry it out overnight.

He decided to skip the regular bath and simply washed his hands and face with ice cold water. Afterwards he went immediately to sleep.

While he was dreaming of better days, a shadow sneaked its’ way into his room, in his hands Fujiwara’s kimono and the laundry pole. With a sickening “thwack” sound, the thick pole came down on Fujiwara’s neck. The killer then jumped on top of his victim and, using all his mass, he drove the staked end of the pole straight through Fujiwara’s eyeball and out the other side of his skull. The killer then hung the kimono, soaked through with blood, back on the laundry pole and left the room.

~~~

Hour of the Ox
Saruwatari Kenta (Captain Blackadder) came back to his room. He calmly put down his swords and grabbed a piece of cloth.

With experienced hands, he started cleaning his short sword. As a samurai who had seen quite a few battles, he knew that you had to take care of your weapons and armor, no matter what the circumstances were. Not only was it a matter of honor and avoiding the shame, it could also well mean the difference between life and death in combat.

Ironically, due to being busy cleaning, he didn’t notice the man entering his room. Two strong, dark gloved hands grabbed the head of Saruwatari and with tremendous force, twisted it into an unnatural direction, breaking his neck and ending his life instantly.

The man quickly left the room unnoticed.

~~~

Day 6 - Things started to look grim

Hour of the Rabbit

The Tiger felt clean after his hot bath. He put on a freshly washed kimono and started to eat breakfeast. From the sounds on the courtyard, he understood that this nightmare wasn’t over yet. Within the privacy of his room, he sighed. Of course, he would never show his true feelings to his mean, but here, he could, for a brief moment, feel the weight of being the leader of one of Japan’s mightiest clan.

The samurai on the courtyard were silent and bowed deeply when Lord Takeda came outside. Cold as ice and with no expression on his face, Lord Takeda mounted the platform.

He looked at the familiar sight of dead bodies in the morning, picked up the scroll next to him, paused for a brief moment and then nodded towards Iino Miki (Beefy187) and Omura Sumitada (GeneralHankerchief). Both men stepped forward and bowed for their Lord. A senior officer nodded to both men. “No armor, no hidden weapons, just katana and wakizashi.” Both samurai bowed to the officer. They looked at each other and the attentive observant would see that these two men held no love for each other. Indeed, they had been at each other’s throats for days now, throwing challenge after challenge at each other and everybody knew Lord Takeda had made a wise decision by letting them battling it out.

Iino Miki wanted to end this soon. He didn’t like Omura, he didn’t like him at all and finally he could use steel to tell that idiot how he felt about him. He ran forwards, unsheeting his katana and aimed for the neck of his opponent. Omura stepped aside, blocked the attack and kicked his opponent in the groin. Iino was out of balance and the pain made him crumble. Omura swung his katana at his opponent, who was out of balance. Somehow Iino blocked the blow and stepped backwards. The pain and the bickering that had been going on for days, brought him in a fury and screaming profanities at his opponent, he attacked again. Omura ducked away and his katana pierced through Iino’s belly.

Iino stared in disbelief at his deadly wound. Omura stared at his victim, rage and hatred for this man clearly visible on his face. He waited until Iino started to moan, thus losing honor and shaming himself, before he beheaded him.

Lord Takeda nodded respectfully to the victorious warrior.

~~~

Alive (30):

Quintus.JC
GeneralHankerchief
FactionHeir
Caius
Ichigo
Wishazu
White_Eyes:D
Sasaki Kojiro
Stephen Assen
Peasant Phill
Kukrikhan
Gobbledygook
Psychonaut
taka
Rhyfelwyr
AggonyDuck
Beskar
atheotes
Kagemusha
CountArach
Tristan de Castelreng
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
Seamus Fermanagh
Banquo's Ghost
woad&fangs
ajaxfetish
glyphz
Dutch_guy
Yaropolk

Killed (21):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter
The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Reenk Roink
LittleGrizzly
Louis VI the Fat
Crazed Rabbit
A Very Super Market
Glenn
Husar
Death is yonder
Haudegen
Captain Blackadder

Fallen in battle (5):
Northnovas
Ignoramus

El Diablo
YLC
Beefy187

Lynched (5):
Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd
shlin28

TosaInu
TinCow

WoG/Suicide (3):
Xehh II

Jolt
Beaver

~~~

It's now day, you can start voting. Due to RL, it'll be an extended day phase which will last until Saturday, the 2nd of May, 10.00 pm (GMT+1), which is +/- 35 hours from this post.

EDIT: sorry for the delay guys; it's splendid weather outside and didn't notice I had been sitting at the breakfeast table, enjoying the sun, for more than an hour. Life is beautiful

**Andres** · 05-02-2009, 21:27

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Day 6 - Conclusion

Hour of the Monkey

The man known as Fujimoto Kumiko (Quintus.JC) looked around him. They had accused him of being the notorious ninja, Hisao Majurama.

He simply smiled. At this moment, it didn't matter. He had failed his master and he would now die. He was at peace with himself. There was no dishonor nor shame in dying in the service of your Lord. Only regret.

He looked up and watched the darkening sky. The clear sky showed a full moon. He heard a crow caw. He looked into the direction of the sound to see the bird fly away. For a moment, it seemed like its' silhouette was drawn on the moon cirkle.

The condemned watched how the bird disappeared into the dark winter evening. Calmly, he picked up the clean, sharp knife in front of him. He opened the belt of his clean white kimono and pointed the knife at his belly.

With a strong push, he pierced the knife through skin, flesh and organs.

Before he could lose his selfcontrol, the blade of his kaishakunin struck quick and mercifully.

Lord Takeda nodded to the body of the condemned, stood up and left the platform in silence.

The samurai bowed deeply when their Lord went inside and then prepared for the night.

~~~

Yoshikuni Takumi (Tristan de Castelreng) tried to get up again, but his back blocked. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get up. His superior officer ordered him to get up and stand guard, because it was Yoshikuni's turn. Yoshikuni started to explain that his back hurt too much and he couldn't get up, let alone go stand guard. The officer yelled at the man, clearly displeased. He accused Yoshikuni of laziness and not wanting to fullfil his duties. Yoshikuni explained to the older samurai that he really couldn't get up, he was in real pain. The older samurai said that only a lazy samurai would claim that he got pain. He unsheeted his katana and chopped off the unfortunate Yoshikuni's head, yelling that there would be no place for laziness in Lord Takeda's winter residence.

~~~

Tally:

Quintus.JC: 18 (Stephen Asen, atheotes, Sasaki Kojiro, Kagemusha, woad&fangs, Beskar, Yaropolk, AggonyDuck, Kukrikhan, Rhyfelwyr, White_Eyes:D, ajaxfetish, Peasant Phill, GeneralHankerchief, Banquo's Ghost, Yoyoma1910, glyphz, Dutch_guy)

GeneralHankerchief: 2 (Wishazu, Quintus.JC)
Beskar: 1 (Ichigo)

not voting: 9 (FactionHeir, Chimpyang, CountArach, Tristan de Castelreng, taka, Caius, Psychonaut, Seamus Fermanagh, Gobbledygook)

~~~

Challenges:

1. Sasaki Kojiro vs. Seamus Fermanagh
2. Yoyoma1910 vs. Yaropolk
3. Stephen Asen vs. Beskar
4. White_Eyes:D vs. AggonyDuck

~~~

Alive (28):

GeneralHankerchief
FactionHeir
Caius
Ichigo
Wishazu
White_Eyes:D
Sasaki Kojiro
Stephen Assen
Peasant Phill
Kukrikhan
Gobbledygook
Psychonaut
taka
Rhyfelwyr
AggonyDuck
Beskar
atheotes
Kagemusha
CountArach
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
Seamus Fermanagh
Banquo's Ghost
woad&fangs
ajaxfetish
glyphz
Dutch_guy
Yaropolk

Killed (21):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter
The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Reenk Roink
LittleGrizzly
Louis VI the Fat
Crazed Rabbit
A Very Super Market
Glenn
Husar
Death is yonder
Haudegen
Captain Blackadder

Fallen in battle (5):
Northnovas
Ignoramus

El Diablo
YLC
Beefy187

Lynched (5):
Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd
shlin28

TosaInu
TinCow
Quintus.JC

WoG/Suicide (4):
Xehh II

Jolt
Beaver
Tristan de Castelreng

~~~

It's now night; PM's please. Night will last until 21.00 (GMT+1), that's until +/- 23 hours after this post.

**Andres** · 05-03-2009, 21:00

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Night 7 - Conclusion

Hour of the Rat

Yamamoto Kansuke (Gobbledygook) was guarding the room of his master, as he had done so many times.

While time was passing, he examined his armor. It was perfectly clean, as it should be. The swordmaster was very proud of his clean armor. He looked at the naginata he held in his hands and examined it as well. It was in a perfect condition and, just like his armor, it was clean. While he was busy enjoying the beauty of his weapon and watching it a bit closer, he saw a black mark on it. He started shaking his head in disbelief. He looked again and then realized that it wasn't a mark, but a shadow. Fast as lightning, he turned around and struck at something behind him. He wasn't fast enough to hit his target. The ninja managed to throw a knife at his opponent, causing a severe injury at his left arm.

When the attacker heard the running footsteps of another guard, he quickly disappeared without being recognised.

~~~

Hour of the Rat

Kago Junichiro (glyphz) was guarding the main entrance to the room of his Lord. While he was wiping off some imaginary dust on his armor, he heard sounds of a struggle at the opposite side of the room.

The swordmaster unsheeted his katana, yelled a battlecry and ran towards the noise.

While he was running towards the skirmish, he didn't notice the dark shadow hiding in a corner.

Kago saw his comrade reaching for his upper left arm, an expression of pain visible on his face. He also saw a man dressed in black running away. What he didn't notice, was the sharp katana of the other attacker striking for his neck.

The dark shadow quickly ran away. Yamamoto watched the head of his fallen comrade rolling on the floor, but he was too slow to catch the killer of his fellow swordmaster.

~~~

Hour of the Ox

Matsuura Asuma (Banquo's Ghost) went to his room. He took off his kimono and reached for his chest. He had heard some strange sounds earlier that night and they bothered him. He wondered what had happened.

He calmly prepared himself for the night, his body and spirit in perfect balance and harmony.

While he was reaching for his inner peace, his senses detected that someone was standing behind the door of his room. He quickly unsheeted his wakizashi and jumped forwards, aiming for where he suspected a killer to hide. His blow only destroyed paper and wood.

Matsuura looked puzzled. "I must be getting paranoid," he said to himself. Just as he was about to turn around, a man jumped at him and two strong, dark gloved hands were at his throat. It didn't take too long before Matsuura died. The killer pierced a dagger through his right eyeball, right into his brains, for good measure.

He left the scene unnoticed.

~~~

Day 7 - May the gods be with us.

Hour of the Rabbit

Lord Shingen was thinking about the past. Under his leadership, his clan had fought and won many battles. A lot men had died under his command and many, many others had been slain by his troops. He laughed softly. To think that criminals who murdered one human being got executed while he, being responsable for the death of thousands, got worshipped. Maybe the events of this winter were a punishment of the gods. Or a joke? Would the gods have a sense of humor?

He shaked his head. He shouldn't be thinking like that. The battles and the killings weren't meaningless, they served a purpose. If the gods would allow it, he would one day unite the Empire and become shogun. He would bring peace and the killings would stop. The battles served a higher purpose! Criminals were just criminals, killing for their own personal gain. A daimyo served the noble cause.

With this in mind, he finished his breakfeast and prepared for another exhausting day.

The men standing outside were restless. It was only when Lord Takeda entered the courtyard that they became quiet. The Tiger didn't pay attention to the dead bodies, it was becoming a familiar sight.

Sitting at his platform, he picked up a scroll. He nodded towards Nakamura Kinji (White_Eyes:D) and Midorikawa Kaito (AggonyDuck). Both men bowed for each other and their Lord. A senior officer stepped forward: "No armor, no hidden weapons. Just katana and wakizashi." Both men nodded again.

Nakamura stepped forward; his katana ready in his hand. His opponent unsheeted his sword. Nakamura dealt out the first blow which was blocked by Midorikawa, who immediately counter attacked.

Nakamura stepped aside, avoiding the deadly katana, but not without having it making a cut in his right arm. He quickly pierced his katana forward and allthough Midorikawa managed to avoid it, he twisted his ankle.

Both lightly injured men cirkled around each other, looking for an opening. A drip of sweat fell into Midorikawa's eye and he wiped it away with his left hand. Nakamura took the opportunity and jumped forward, his katana coming down for a fatal blow. Midorikawa looked up, but got blinded by the sun. He couldn't avoid the katana and the dead that it brought with it.

Sitting on his knees, looking at the blood flowing out of his body, he didn't notice the merciful blow which seperated his head from his body.

Nakamura bowed at his master, who nodded back.

Four samurai stepped forward to pick up the body of the fallen warrior. One of them, Gamo Ujisato (Kukrikhan) suddenly reached for his stomach. He fell on his knees and started to throw up. Apparently, he was in pain. Years of training and fighting battles couldn't prevent him from screaming it out in aggony. His comrades kneeled next to him, not knowing what to do. A few minutes later, Gamo Ujisato was dead. He died from an unknown cause...

~~~

Alive (24):

GeneralHankerchief
FactionHeir
Caius
Ichigo
Wishazu
White_Eyes:D
Sasaki Kojiro
Stephen Assen
Peasant Phill
Gobbledygook
Psychonaut
taka
Rhyfelwyr
Beskar
atheotes
Kagemusha
CountArach
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
Seamus Fermanagh
woad&fangs
ajaxfetish
Dutch_guy
Yaropolk

Killed (24):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter
The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Reenk Roink
LittleGrizzly
Louis VI the Fat
Crazed Rabbit
A Very Super Market
Glenn
Husar
Death is yonder
Haudegen
Captain Blackadder
glyphz
Banquo's Ghost
Kukrikhan

Fallen in battle (6):
Northnovas
Ignoramus

El Diablo
YLC
Beefy187
AggonyDuck

Lynched (6):
Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd
shlin28

TosaInu
TinCow
Quintus.JC

WoG/Suicide (4):
Xehh II

Jolt
Beaver
Tristan de Castelreng

~~~

It's now day, you can start voting. Day will last until 21.45 (GMT +1); that's +/- 24 hours.

**Andres** · 05-04-2009, 21:29

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Day 7 - Conclusion

Hour of the Monkey

It was a bitter cold evening, but Maeda Kaito (Peasant Phill) hardly noticed it. It snowed. Big flocks made the silent white carpet thicker. A carpet, softer than his bamboo mat.

Silly that at this moment, his latest moments on this world of love and tears, he was thinking about his bamboo mat. But not so silly once you realized how much time a man spends on his mat. Sitting, eating, meditating, cleaning his weapons, resting, all of it occured on that bamboo mat. He wondered how the old vendor, who had sold him the mat would be doing right now. Would he still be alive? Or would he be up there?

Maeda looked up and saw a little bird flying. Is it the reincarnation of the old vendor, he wondered. The old man was nice and friendly. A lower class man, of course, not a samurai, but still, a friendly old man. And his mat was of outstanding quality.

The condemned looked down. He wasn't sitting on a mat right now, but on cushions, covered with clean, white silk. In front of him a sharp knife, clean as well.

He opened his white kimono. It was also clean. For this occasion, this moment of a noble death, the clean white, cushions, sheets, kimono, snow, were fitting.

His strong arms pierced the dagger through his skin, through flesh and organs. The blade of his kaishakunin ended his suffering swift and mercifully.

Lord Takeda nodded respectfully to the remains of the condemned.

In the meanwhile, Kamui Gunshin (Psychonaut) and Obana Yusuke (taka) had been busy. In fact, they had been very busy the last couple of days and nights. They had been so busy, that they had forgotten to put on some clothes and to eat. Unsurprisingly, running around naked and without food nor sleep, at these freezing temperatures and in this climate, was deadly. They were so busy, that they didn't realize that they were severely undercooled. Now they were very busy with dying...

~~~

Tally:

Peasant Phill: 6 (Stephen Asen, GeneralHankerchief, FactionHeir, Ichigo, Sasaki Kojiro, Yoyoma1910)

Wishazu: 5 (Peasant Phill, Beskar, Dutch_guy, Rhyfelwyr, ajaxfetish)
Seamus: 4 (Gobbledygook, atheotes, Kagemusha, White_Eyes:D)
Yaropolk: 1 (Wishazu)
Dutch_guy: 1 (woad&fangs)
abstain: 1 (Seamus Fermanagh)

Not voting: 6 (taka, Psychonaut, Yaropolk, Chimpyang, CountArach, Caius)

~~~

Challenges:

1. White_Eyes:D vs. atheotes
2. Wishazu vs. GeneralHankerchief
3. GeneralHankerchief vs. Beskar
4. Yaropolk vs. atheotes

~~~

Alive (21):

GeneralHankerchief
FactionHeir
Caius
Ichigo
Wishazu
White_Eyes:D
Sasaki Kojiro
Stephen Assen
Gobbledygook
Rhyfelwyr
Beskar
atheotes
Kagemusha
CountArach
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
Seamus Fermanagh
woad&fangs
ajaxfetish
Dutch_guy
Yaropolk

Killed (24):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter
The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Reenk Roink
LittleGrizzly
Louis VI the Fat
Crazed Rabbit
A Very Super Market
Glenn
Husar
Death is yonder
Haudegen
Captain Blackadder
glyphz
Banquo's Ghost
Kukrikhan

Fallen in battle (6):
Northnovas
Ignoramus

El Diablo
YLC
Beefy187
AggonyDuck

Lynched (7):
Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd
shlin28

TosaInu
TinCow
Quintus.JC
Peasant Phill

WoG/Suicide (6):
Xehh II

Jolt
Beaver
Tristan de Castelreng
Psychonaut
taka

~~~

It's now night. PM's please. Night will last +/- 24 hours (that's until 22.00 GMT+1).

**Andres** · 05-05-2009, 21:21

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Night 8 - Conclusion

Hour of the Boar

Kato Danzo was meditating on his bamboo mat. He could sit on it for hours contemplating the meaning of power. Real power. Ultimate power. The power of life and death. Occasionally, he took a nibble from the bowl of rice in front of him.

A masked warrior entered his tent and fell prone on the floor.

“Sensei,” the warrior uttered, “the hour has come near. We seek your guidance.”

Kato paused for a second and replied, “A wise man once said, strength is not found in skill in battle, it is found in wisdom...”

He reached into the folds of his kimono, and pulled out a handful of dust. With a wave of his hand, he sprinkled it over the rice bowl and pushed the bowl towards his student. The student quickly snatched the bowl of rice, bowed, and began to retreat from the tent.

Kato held up his hand and said “I have one more gift for you, an old curio from Tanegashima…”

He reached into his black chest and pulled out a long object wrapped in cloth.

~~~

Hour of the Rat

Yamamoto Kansuke (Gobledeygook) was standing guard at the campfire outside his master’s tent. Despite the injury he was determined to defend Takeda to his last breath. He had been in his service for many years, following him into battle after battle. He felt regret and deep sorrow; the dead of his two fellow swordmaster was a huge blow, not just for the Takeda clan, but for him, personally. Through the years, they had become close friends, brothers. He would get his revenge. His facial expression became grim and determined.

As he was reflecting on the past days, something drew his attention. He thought he caught a glimpse of something moving on the other side of the fire. He peered intently through the flames.

He didn’t notice the hand holding a log coming down from the darkness and cracking his skull. Yamamoto slumped to the ground. The killer smashed his face with the log four times, grabbed him by the foot and dragged his dead body into the flames.

~~~

Hour of the Rat

Lord Takeda (CountArach) retreated to his room for some much needed rest. The last few weeks’ events had been stressful on him. Creature comforts like supper, a clean shave, and a good night’s sleep kept him from losing his mind. He called out to his attendant, asking for his supper and a cauldron of hot water.

The servant walked in with his head bowed and covered in a hood. No lowly servant dared to gaze directly into the face of this great daimyo. He wheeled in a cauldron of hot water, silently left the tent and returned with a silver platter with Lord Takeda’s supper.

The mighty Lord scarfed down the food in front of him and turned his attention to the cauldron behind him. Suddenly, the ground gave way under his feet. The peak of the tent looked like it was as tall as a mountain. He stumbled and caught his grip on the cauldron.
A pair of strong hands grabbed his neck from behind and forced his head underwater. Takeda Nobushige twitched for about a minute, and then entered eternal slumber.

~~~

Hour of the Tiger

The samurai known as Hamano Michiyo (Sasaki Kojiro) had a late night. He was getting ready for bed when he heard commotion outside his room.
Still wearing his armor and daisho, he charged outside and saw that the samurai who was supposed to be standing guard was missing.

Suddenly two explosions rang out from the darkness to his right. Splinters flew from his armor, and his chest felt like it was on fire. With pure determination and despite his injuries, he drew his Wakizashi and leapt on the man closest to him. The only way this brave man would die, would be in battle! In the clash both men lost their weapons. They rolled in the dirt twice, but the older samurai's experience won out. He managed to pin his assassin under him. With one hand he reached for his tanto, and with the other, pulled off the man’s mask. He was taken aback! He couldn’t believe this loyal samurai was actually an assassin sent to kill him. Still flabbergasted, he opened his mouth to scream the killer’s name. At that moment a second attacker swung his katana, and separated the victim’s head from his body. The assassin reached a hand to his accomplice and they disappeared into the darkness, taking with them the head of their victim.

Awakened by the shots of the arquebus and the ensuing tussle, the whole camp of sleepy samurai poured outside to investigate. When the crowd gathered in front of Lord Takeda’s room, a horrible
site befell them. Their master’s body lay dead on the ground, next to the body of his bodyguard. They also saw the beheaded body of one of their fellow samurai, still grasping a tanto in his hand. Who was he? They stood in a circle unsure of what to do next. Suspicious eyes darted around the
crowd. Who did this? Was it the man on my right, or him, or him, or him?

Before they knew it, it was dawn.

~~~

Day 8 - Disaster?

Hour of the Rabbit

One of the samurai standing on the courtyard mounted the platform. “It looks like our Lord died last night.” He picked up the scroll that was already placed there, ready for the usual proceedings.

“Our Lord has decided that the following duel should take place…” the samurai paused and looked surprised. He then looked up and nodded towards Shinohara Yuuko (Yaropolk) and Fujimoto Kazunari (atheotes). Both men stepped forward. The samurai standing on the platform opened his mouth to continue.

“Yeah, yeah, no armor, no hidden weapons, just katana and wakizashi. We know the drill,” Shinohara interrupted.

The samurai on the platform started shaking his head. “No,” he said, “our master has ordered both Shinohara Yuuko and Fujimoto Kazunari to commit seppuku without further hesitation.”

“What?” Fujimoto exclaimed. “This can’t be true! Let us see that scroll!” Both duelists mounted the platform and watched the scroll. Several others did the same.

“It’s true! Why would our master have taken such a decision?”

The samurai who got on the platform first shrugged. “We need to obey our master.”

“Now that he’s dead, shouldn’t we all commit seppuku?” another samurai asked.

“No,” the first one answered. “His son, Takeda Katsuyori, his now his heir. The young boy needs us. We need to dispose of the remaining ninja and return to our new lord as soon as possible.” He looked towards Shinohara Yuuko and Fujimoto Kazunari and continued: “Both of you, carry out our Lord’s last orders.”

Both samurai seemed to hesitate, but several others unsheated their swords, making it clear that, if they wouldn’t take their lives honorably, their comrades would kill them.

~~~

Shinohara and Fujimoto sat down and unsheated their wakizashi. Two samurai took positions behind them.

Both men opened the belt of their kimono’s. They knew that there was no time for a death poem or some dreaming; both felt the sense of urgency in the air. Almost simulteanously, they pierced their sharp short swords into their belly. The kaishakunin standing behind them ended their suffering very quick.

After the bodies were quickly put on burning woodpiles, the samurai started to gather, trying to find the killers of their Lord.

~~~

Alive (16):

GeneralHankerchief
FactionHeir
Caius
Ichigo
Wishazu
White_Eyes:D
Stephen Assen
Rhyfelwyr
Beskar
Kagemusha
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
Seamus Fermanagh
woad&fangs
ajaxfetish
Dutch_guy

Killed (27):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter
The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Reenk Roink
LittleGrizzly
Louis VI the Fat
Crazed Rabbit
A Very Super Market
Glenn
Husar
Death is yonder
Haudegen
Captain Blackadder
glyphz
Banquo's Ghost
Kukrikhan

Sasaki Kojiro
CountArach

Gobbledygook

Fallen in battle (8):
Northnovas
Ignoramus

El Diablo
YLC
Beefy187
AggonyDuck

Yaropolk
atheotes

Lynched (7):
Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd
shlin28

TosaInu
TinCow
Quintus.JC
Peasant Phill

WoG/Suicide (6):
Xehh II

Jolt
Beaver
Tristan de Castelreng
Psychonaut
taka

~~~

It's now day. You can start voting. Day will last 24 hours, that's until 22.30 (GMT+1)

**Andres** · 05-06-2009, 21:42

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Day 8 - Conclusion

Hour of the Cock

“ Snow falls from the sky
“ the white carpet too silent
“ now, the end is near

Fujimoto Takumi (FactionHeir) looked at the scroll. His heart was filled with sorrow and grief. He still couldn’t believe his master had died that night. Or did he?

He watched the snow flocks falling down. Soft and gentle like a loving wife, anxiously waiting for her warrior to come back. Cold like the ice surrounding the heart of the loving wife when she realizes her beloved husband is not coming back. Falling down, like the coin that had decided his fate.

Soon, Fujimoto would be cold too. He wondered if he would join his master. Would he accept his presence? There was only one way to find out.

He reached for the clean, cold knife that was waiting on the white cushions in front of him. Slowly, he opened the belt of his white kimono. For the last time, he looked at the world around him. Soon he would know if life truly was but a dream in a dream.

The knife pierced through skin and flesh. Before he could lose his self control, the katana of his kaishakunin struck mercifully.

Snow kept falling on Fujimoto's body.

Soft, gentle and cold.

~~~

Tally:

FactionHeir: 3 (GeneralHankerchief, Seamus Fermanagh, Stephen Asen)

Yoyoma1910: 3 (Kagemusha, Dutch_guy, Wishazu)
Seamus Fermanagh: 2 (ajaxfetish, Yoyoma1910)
Beskar: 2 (Caius, Ichigo)
Ichigo : 1 (Beskar)
Rhyfelwyr: 1 (woad&fangs)

Not voting: 4 (FactionHeir, Chimpyang, White_Eyes:D, Rhyfelwyr)

~~~

Challenges:

1. Woad&fangs vs. Rhyfelwyr;
2. Wishazu vs. Beskar
3. Caius vs. Beskar
4. Seamus vs. GH

Alive (15):

GeneralHankerchief
Caius
Ichigo
Wishazu
White_Eyes:D
Stephen Assen
Rhyfelwyr
Beskar
Kagemusha
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
Seamus Fermanagh
woad&fangs
ajaxfetish
Dutch_guy

Killed (27):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter
The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Reenk Roink
LittleGrizzly
Louis VI the Fat
Crazed Rabbit
A Very Super Market
Glenn
Husar
Death is yonder
Haudegen
Captain Blackadder
glyphz
Banquo's Ghost
Kukrikhan
Sasaki Kojiro
CountArach

Gobbledygook

Fallen in battle (8):
Northnovas
Ignoramus

El Diablo
YLC
Beefy187
AggonyDuck
Yaropolk
atheotes

Lynched (8):

Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd
shlin28

TosaInu
TinCow
Quintus.JC
Peasant Phill
FactionHeir

WoG/Suicide (6):
Xehh II

Jolt
Beaver
Tristan de Castelreng
Psychonaut
taka

~~~

It's now night. PM's please. Night will last for +/- 23 hours. That's until 21.30 (GMT +1)

Note: Tiberius Beskar will replace Stephen Asen.

**Andres** · 05-07-2009, 20:56

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Night 9 - Conclusion

Hour of the Rat

Kuroda Yoshitaka (Caius) was standing guard outside the yashiki, at the courtyard. He didn’t like standing guard outside, in the freezing cold, but at least, the walls of the yashiki provided some shelter against the blowing wind. It reminded him a bit of the cave near the village where he grew up. As a child, he used to play in there and one time, he had to stay in the cave because of a sudden snow storm, a warm fire his only companion.

He let a sigh or relief. Everything was quiet so far. Had they finally disposed off all the ninja?

Time passed and Kuroda was trying to polish a dull spot out of his brass armguard when a seemingly panicking and out of breath samurai ran up to him and pulled on his shoulder.

"Come quick! There's someone in the cellar, they're trying to poison our winter food store."

The samurai took off running with Caius tailing behind him. They ran up to their supply cellar, a room accessible through a small gate. The door stood flipped open. Kuroda turned to the other man and bravely said: “I was standing guard and I should have noticed this first. It’s my duty to enter that cellar before anyone else.”

Kuroda stepped forward and stared into the darkness. At that moment an arrow flew out of the shadows behind the men and pierced Kuroda’s back. At the same time, the man in front of him turned around and in a single motion drew his katana and drove it through Kuroda’s chest. He pushed the brave samurai’s body off his sword down the cellar stairs with his foot and shut the cellar door.

~~~

Hour of the Rat

Watanabe Kyousuke (Wishazu) went to his room. He slided the door open and started to undress. As he was taking off his kimono, his memories brought him back to his mother, who had repaired this piece of clothing numerous times for him. He still remembered the frown on her face when she had washed it the last times; those blood stains were hard to get away indeed. Nonetheless, the old woman loved him with whole her heart. He smiled. Soon, there would be another woman doing all this little tasks for him. He couldn’t wait to go back home and meet some girls. One of the local young women already had shown interest and he knew his family would accept her.

These nice thoughts were a welcome relief from the attrocities that had been taking place the last few days. Finally undressed, he went to sleep.

A shrouded figure entered Watanabe’s room. He listened to the calm breathing of the sleeping samurai while his eyes adjusted to the darkness.

Earlier that night, he had been counting the rooms that had only empty straw cots in them. When he had passed over some of the empty cots, he had been smiling. He counted them again in his head...18...22...25....

His gaze now stopped at the a cot on which slept Watanabe, a fairly young samurai of no particular distinction. He was not of high rank, but did have a few scars he earned in battle, so it seemed.

The figure drew a long nodachi from a scabbard hanging off his shoulder, and with a swift silent cut separated the sleeping man's head from his body. The killer skilfully stopped the blade just before it would've cut the cot. He grabbed the severed head and escaped out of the tent.

~~~

Hour of the Ox

Nakamura Kinji (White_Eyes) was standing guard. Nothing had happened thus far and he started to feel bored. The life of a samurai seemed adventurous to many people, but in reality, being a samurai was boring. People always thought of glorious battles and heroic deeds, but in fact, battles were few and most of the time, samurai were carrying out boring tasks, like standing guard on a silent, cold and uneventful night.

Nakamura was looking into the sky, counting the stars. He yawned out of pure boredom.

Suddenly, someone reached from behind and gagged his mouth. With the other hand the killer slit his throat with a sharp dagger.

The killer then threw the bleeding Nakamura to the ground, drove a dagger through his eye, and disappeared into the darkness. Nakamura would never feel bored again.

~~~

Day 9 - Samurai

Hour of the Rabbit

The samurai entered the courtyard early that morning. It didn’t take too long before they realized that there were only 12 of them left. Moral was getting low and it took a while before they realized that there was work to do.

An older samurai picked a long straw and a short straw. He walked towards those who were willing to duel and presented them the straws.

“Short straw will duel.”

Souma Tadayoshi (Seamus Fermanagh) stared at the short in the hands of Omura Sumitada (GeneralHankerchief).

The older samurai nodded at both men. “No armor, no hidden weapons. Just katana and wakizashi.”

Both duelists nodded at the older samurai and then bowed for each other.

Souma seemed to be in a hurry as he unsheated his both swords and stormed at Omura. Omura wasn’t surprised by this attack of the unexperienced samurai and blocked both swords easily. While Souma was trying to find his balance back, Omura managed to cut him in his leg.

Souma stepped backwards and seemed more careful. He struck quickly with is katana and Omura had difficulties to block the long blade. Still recovering from the blow, he hardly noticed Souma stabbing his wakizashi at him. He jumped aside, but the short sword ruined Omura’s kimono.

Encouraged, Souma attacked again, but now his opponent was ready. He jumped aside and injured Souma severely with a mighty blow from his katana. While his opponent was looking down at the small pool of blood underneath him, Omura’s katana beheaded him mercifully.

He nodded to the body of his opponent and then bowed to the samurai.

After were done with the proper rituals for the dead, the men started to discuss.

Again…

~~~

Alive (11):

GeneralHankerchief
Ichigo
Stephen Assen aka Tiberius of the Drake
Rhyfelwyr
Beskar
Kagemusha
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
woad&fangs
ajaxfetish
Dutch_guy

Killed (30):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter
The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Reenk Roink
LittleGrizzly
Louis VI the Fat
Crazed Rabbit
A Very Super Market
Glenn
Husar
Death is yonder
Haudegen
Captain Blackadder
glyphz
Banquo's Ghost
Kukrikhan
Sasaki Kojiro
CountArach

Gobbledygook

Caius

Wishazu
White_Eyes:D

Fallen in battle (9):
Northnovas
Ignoramus

El Diablo
YLC
Beefy187
AggonyDuck
Yaropolk
atheotes
Seamus Fermanagh

Lynched (8):

Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd
shlin28

TosaInu
TinCow
Quintus.JC
Peasant Phill
FactionHeir

WoG/Suicide (6):
Xehh II

Jolt
Beaver
Tristan de Castelreng
Psychonaut
taka

~~~

It's now day. You can start voting. Day will be extended and will last for 36 hours (that's until 10.00 am (GMT+1)

**Andres** · 05-09-2009, 09:42

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Day 9 - Conclusion

Hour of the Monkey

The condemned was looking around him, watching the magnificent landscape of snow and mountains. It was a silent evening and for once, the wind wasn't blowing.

For a samurai, there's no greater honor than to die in the service of his master.

Fukuda Ayumu (Dutch_guy) would not become a name remembered by history as the name of a man who had died in the service of his Lord; since he died before him. He had failed.

He shrugged. He knew that it was useless to worry about karma. Karma was what it was, karma. When he looked up at the sky and watched the first twinkling stars appearing, he wondered if his parents were among them.

A little bird stopped in front of him. It was time to join the twinkling stars. As he opened his kimono and picked up the clean knife in front of him, the bird impatiently jumped up and flew away.

The condemned smiled.

He kept smiling when he plunged the knife into his belly. Before the smile could leave his face, the blade of his kaishakunin struck mercifully.

The men surrounding him, nodded respectfully.

~~~

Tally:

Dutch_guy: 3 (ajaxfetish, GeneralHankerchief, woad&fangs)

Beskar: 2 (Dutch_guy, Ichigo)
Ichigo: 1 (Beskar)
Yoyoma1910: 1 (Kagemusha)
Kagemusha: 1 (Yoyoma1910)

Not voting: 3 (Tiberius of the Drake, Chimpyang, Rhyfelwyr)

~~~

Challenges:

1. Yoyoma1910 vs. Tiberius of the Drake
2. Beskar vs. Ichigo
3. ajaxfetish vs. Ichigo
4. GeneralHankerchief vs. Rhyfelwyr

~~~

Alive (10):

GeneralHankerchief
Ichigo
Stephen Assen aka Tiberius of the Drake
Rhyfelwyr
Beskar
Kagemusha
Chimpyang
Yoyoma1910
woad&fangs
ajaxfetish

Killed (30):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter
The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Reenk Roink
LittleGrizzly
Louis VI the Fat
Crazed Rabbit
A Very Super Market
Glenn
Husar
Death is yonder
Haudegen
Captain Blackadder
glyphz
Banquo's Ghost
Kukrikhan
Sasaki Kojiro
CountArach

Gobbledygook

Caius

Wishazu
White_Eyes:D

Fallen in battle (9):
Northnovas
Ignoramus

El Diablo
YLC
Beefy187
AggonyDuck
Yaropolk
atheotes
Seamus Fermanagh

Lynched (9):

Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd
shlin28

TosaInu
TinCow
Quintus.JC
Peasant Phill
FactionHeir
Dutch_guy

WoG/Suicide (6):
Xehh II

Jolt
Beaver
Tristan de Castelreng
Psychonaut
taka

~~~

It's now night. PM's please. Night will last for 24 hours (that's until 10.30 (GMT+1)).

**Andres** · 05-10-2009, 10:01

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Night 10 - Conclusion

Hour of the Rat

Yamashita Tadayoshi (ajaxfetish) walked towards his room. He had a smile on his face. Tonight, he would kiss his beloved Aiko for the first time! He didn't realize that his nightly behaviour was rather odd, to say the least, but so far, nobody really noticed anything.

He had been writing letters to virtual persons, that never got sent, he had been sending prayers to the mighty kami of the mountain, he had been dreaming about a woman that didn't exist. Was it his way to deal with the current situation? Creating a dreamworld where he could lose some tension?

Last night, he had been sitting in his room, playing a game of Macala with an imaginary person. During the day, he had had this look in his eyes, the look of a man who was fallen in love.

Now, as many a veteran samurai knows, falling in love with a woman during a siege wasn’t uncommon. But those kinds of relationships weren’t exactly platonic. And they occured between real people, not between samurai and non existant women!

While Yamashita was busy talking to his pillow, picking it up and kissing it passionately, the shadow entering his room raised an eyebrow. He looked at the samurai and observed the somewhat strange behaviour. He shrugged.

Yamashita was kissing fair Aiko. After 10 days of carefully trying to seduce the girl and getting the approval of her parents and his master, finally there was the reward: a kiss! And apparently, his beloved Aiko was as passionate about him as he was about her. And he never would have thought that she would turn out to be such a great kisser!

He felt two hands on his neck. They were strong! He came more and more satisfied with his Aiko. Not only was she a passionate kisser, she was also a strong woman! Their sons would become mighty samurai!

Yamashita got brutally kicked out off his dreamworld when the strong, dark gloved hands twisted his head with enormous force, breaking his neck with a sickening sound.

The killer left the room unnoticed.

~~~

Hour of the Rat

Abe Ritsu (Chimpyang) was furious! This was sheer idiocy! There he was, standing guard in the freezing cold, no fire, because “that would blind your eyes and you won’t notice an attacker coming near”. What attacker?! The mountain passes were blocked by snow and the enemy was to be found inside! Ha! He wouldn’t be surprised if the officer giving this nonsensic orders would turn out to be a murderer himself.

And so he was standing guard, outside the gates of the yashiki, raging and cursing.

“Abe Ritsu! You shouldn’t question your orders! That brings bad karma.”

Abe turned around and he saw a man coming near.

“Hey there. But you’ll have to admit that this is sheer idiocy. It’s impossible to get through the mountain passes now and why would a killer take a walk outside if he can do his dirty work in the warm yashiki?”

The other samurai shrugged.

“Maybe, but then again, a lone guard standing outside makes an ideal target.”

“Yeah, indeed. That shows that it’s even more idiotic to put somebody out here alone.”

“You’re not alone, at the moment,” the other samurai replied.

“Yes, I feel much better now. It’s nicer to be standing here with two. What idiot sent you to stand guard here?”

The other samurai shrugged. “Nobody.”

Abe looked surprised and stared at the other samurai as if he were insane. He then started to shake his head and spit on the ground. Suddenly, he realized something and he started to unsheath his katana. When he looked at the spot where the other samurai had been standing, there was nobody. He looked around him but all he saw was darkness.

A moment later, a poisoned throwing knife pierced through his throat.

The killer left the scene unnoticed.

~~~

Hour of the Ox

Kondou Itou (Tiberius of the Drake) went back to his room. He always hated it to stand guard, but with so many dead, everyone was bound to have at least one round of guard duty each night. He shrugged, those having to wake up in the middle of the night to take the second or third guard round were even more unfortunate than him.

He giggled. If you wanted to hear alot of cursing, cursing that would even make the lowest prostitute blush, then you had to wake up a veteran samurai and tell him he had guard duty.

Kondou put aside his swords and he undressed for the night. Exhausted as he was, he almost immediately fell asleep.

A man carrying a dagger sneaked into the room. He watched his victim and made sure he was asleep. Silently, he came near. He pierced the knife through the throat of his victim, through his larynx, making it impossible for Kondou to make any sound. The killer then finished his job by piercing the dagger through Kondou’s right eye, right into his brains.

He wiped the blade clean on the kimono of his victim and left the room.

Day 10 – Seven Samurai

Hour of the Rabbit.

At dawn, the samurai gathered on the courtyard. They looked at each other and noticed that three of them were missing.

7. Of Lord Shingen’s men, there were only seven left alive. Would they turn out to be magnificent?

One of the oldest samurai wrote down the challenges that had been thrown out the previous day. He looked at the remaining samurai.

"I’ll only need two straws today". He looked at the duelists. "Short straw will duel".

Michishige Michiyo (Ichigo) looked at the straw in his hand. He nodded towards Chiba Tadayoshi (Beskar).

The old samurai nodded towards both men: “No armor, no hidden wea…”

“No hidden weapons, only katana and wakizashi, yeah, yeah. Do you think we are stupid?”, Chiba interrupted.

The other samurai started to look a bit uncomfortable by this disturbing of the ritual. They hoped this wouldn’t bring bad karma over them.

Michishige calmly unsheated his katana and looked at his opponent. Chiba on his turn, drew out his katana and immediately started to taunt his opponent, yelling profanities at him that would make prostitutes blush. Chiba yelled how he, the only remaining true innocent, would end this nonsense.

While he was still yelling he stormed forwards, swinging his katana in the direction of Michishige’s neck. Michishige easily blocked this uncontrolled attack and stepped aside. Chiba was unbalanced, which allowed Michishige to give his opponent a nasty kick between the legs.

Chiba moaned softly. Michishige tried to take advantage of the situation to end the duel quickly and struck with his katana, at his turn aiming for the neck of his opponent. Chiba managed to quickly jump aside and block the attack, the adrenaline pumping through his veins made him forget the pain in the lower part of his body.

Chiba then attacked again. Michishige blocked the attack and quickly riposted, causing a severe injury. Chiba looked surprised at his chest and he started to cry.

“I’m innocent! I’m innocent! You’re all idiots! Only an idiot would kill an innocent! Let me live! I'm innocent!”

Chiba tried to turn around and to run away, much to his disgrace, but he stumbled. Michishige calmly came near and decapacitated his opponent.

He nodded towards the body of his victim.

It was picked up and put on a woodpile, along side the other three bodies of the previous night.

While the stench of burning meat was surrounding them, the remaining samurai started to discuss.

~~~

Alive (6):
GeneralHankerchief

Ichigo
Rhyfelwyr
Kagemusha
Yoyoma1910
woad&fangs

Killed (33):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter
The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Reenk Roink
LittleGrizzly
Louis VI the Fat
Crazed Rabbit
A Very Super Market
Glenn
Husar
Death is yonder
Haudegen
Captain Blackadder
glyphz
Banquo's Ghost
Kukrikhan
Sasaki Kojiro
CountArach

Gobbledygook

Caius

Wishazu
White_Eyes:D

Stephen Assen aka Tiberius of the Drake
Chimpyang
ajaxfetish

Fallen in battle (10):
Northnovas
Ignoramus

El Diablo
YLC
Beefy187
AggonyDuck
Yaropolk
atheotes
Seamus Fermanagh
Beskar

Lynched (9):

Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd
shlin28

TosaInu
TinCow
Quintus.JC
Peasant Phill
FactionHeir
Dutch_guy

WoG/Suicide (6):
Xehh II

Jolt
Beaver
Tristan de Castelreng
Psychonaut
taka

~~~

It's now day. You can start voting. Day will be an extended one and will last for +/- 36 hours, that's until 23.00 (GMT+1)

**Andres** · 05-11-2009, 22:27

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Day 10 - Conclusion

Hour of the Monkey

Kago Ryou (woad&fangs) looked at the remaining samurai. He bowed deeply and respectfully for them. They returned the gesture.

One of them walked over to Kago and unsheated his katana, patiently waiting for the condemned to perform the sacred ritual.

Kago looked up. It was a beautiful Winter evening. A clear, darkening blue sky, twinkling stars and a full moon already visible. He then looked around him to enjoy the magnificent landscape. The moutains were indeed very beautiful. This was a good place to die.

He looked at the clean, sharp knife in front of him. This was where it would all end. He bowed forward to pick up the knife. He looked at the reflection of the moonlight in the cold steel. Kago opened the belt of his perfectly white kimono. The cushions surrounding him were white and clean, just like the soft and silent snow carpet around him.

Perfection.

As it should be.

He lifted the knife and pointed it at his belly. Before making the cut, he bowed once more to the other samurai. Without waiting for them to bow back, he stabbed himself in his belly with the knife.

Red blood on white silk.

With a perfect, clean blow, the kaishakunin ended the ritual mercifully.

The remaining samurai stood up in silence and carried Kago's body over to the nearby woodpile.

They were very silent as they were watching the flames eating the remains of the dead warrior.

After one last respectful bow, they went inside the yashiki.

~~~

Tally:

woad&fangs: 3 (Yoyoma1910, GeneralHankerchief, Rhyfelwyr)

GeneralHankerchief: 2 (Ichigo, Kagemusha)
Yoyoma1910: 1 (woad&fangs)

~~~

Challenges:

1. GeneralHankerchief vs. Rhyfelwyr

~~~

Alive (5):
GeneralHankerchief

Ichigo
Rhyfelwyr
Kagemusha
Yoyoma1910

Killed (33):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter
The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Reenk Roink
LittleGrizzly
Louis VI the Fat
Crazed Rabbit
A Very Super Market
Glenn
Husar
Death is yonder
Haudegen
Captain Blackadder
glyphz
Banquo's Ghost
Kukrikhan
Sasaki Kojiro
CountArach

Gobbledygook

Caius

Wishazu
White_Eyes:D

Stephen Assen aka Tiberius of the Drake
Chimpyang
ajaxfetish

Fallen in battle (10):
Northnovas
Ignoramus

El Diablo
YLC
Beefy187
AggonyDuck
Yaropolk
atheotes
Seamus Fermanagh
Beskar

Lynched (10):

Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd
shlin28

TosaInu
TinCow
Quintus.JC
Peasant Phill
FactionHeir
Dutch_guy
woad&fangs

WoG/Suicide (6):
Xehh II

Jolt
Beaver
Tristan de Castelreng
Psychonaut
taka

~~~

It's now night. Night will last for +/- 22 hours 30 minutes; that's until 22.00 (GMT+1).

**Andres** · 05-12-2009, 20:10

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Night 11 - Conclusion - I

Hour of the Boar

Date Bontenmaru (Rhyfelwyr) was sleeping in his room, breathing heavily.

Since he would have to stand guard the next hour, he had decided to go to bed early. He was smiling in his sleep, probably dreaming sweet dreams. Before he went to bed, he had realized that he was pretty confident that within a couple of months, he would see the sunny valleys again, during that short, lovely period between Winter and campaigning against the Ueshugi.

~~~

Hour of the Rat

Amane Fuseishutsu (Yoyoma1910) was lucky that night. He had drawn the straw for the last guard duty, which meant he would have a reasonable night of sleep.

After undressing himself, he spent the evening writing his death poem. He reread it once more:

An old silent pond...
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.

He wrapped the scroll, kissed it, and placed it next to his bed. He was not fearful of death, but quite ready for it.

~~~

Hour of the Tiger

The hour of the Rabbit was almost there. Date was a bit late. The samurai turned himself at his cot. He looked at the face of the man who was sharing this room with him. Both were sitting against a wall, hands on their sword handles.

A cock crowed that the hour of the rabbit was nigh. The samurai shrugged. It seemed like they would survive this night. He hadn’t heard a thing. Could it be that this nightmare was finally over?

~~~

Alive (5):
GeneralHankerchief

Ichigo
Rhyfelwyr
Kagemusha
Yoyoma1910

Killed (33):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter
The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Reenk Roink
LittleGrizzly
Louis VI the Fat
Crazed Rabbit
A Very Super Market
Glenn
Husar
Death is yonder
Haudegen
Captain Blackadder
glyphz
Banquo's Ghost
Kukrikhan
Sasaki Kojiro
CountArach

Gobbledygook

Caius

Wishazu
White_Eyes:D

Stephen Assen aka Tiberius of the Drake
Chimpyang
ajaxfetish

Fallen in battle (10):
Northnovas
Ignoramus

El Diablo
YLC
Beefy187
AggonyDuck
Yaropolk
atheotes
Seamus Fermanagh
Beskar

Lynched (10):

Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd
shlin28

TosaInu
TinCow
Quintus.JC
Peasant Phill
FactionHeir
Dutch_guy
woad&fangs

WoG/Suicide (6):
Xehh II

Jolt
Beaver
Tristan de Castelreng
Psychonaut
taka

**Andres** · 05-12-2009, 20:36

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Night 11 - Conclusion - II

Hour of the Rat

Date (Rhyfelwyr) was sweating. Something had disturbed his sweet dreams. He lit his oil lamp and looked around his room. He didn’t notice anything and he put out the light.

Something was on his mind and kept him up though. After a few restless moments, that seemed like ages, he finally managed to fall asleep again.

A pair of eyes had been watching Date’s actions for a while from the straw ceiling of the yashiki. When Date stopped rolling around, the figure lowered himself down from the rafters, holding a dagger in his teeth. The assassin silently crept up to the sleeping man and with a single strike, drove the dagger through his eye.

~~~

Hour of the Ox

A samurai walked through the yashiki counting doors. He stopped at the 34th door and slipped in unnoticed. On his hip, the killer carried a polished ebony scabbard.

He silently drew the katana – it was etched with scenes from mythology - and only the sharp edge glistened in the light of the oil lamp.

The killer struck the sleeping samurai in the throat with the scabbard. Amane (Yoyoma1910) awoke and tried to scream in vain. The swing of the killer’s other hand ended his silent scream.

~~~

Hour of the Tiger

The killer hurried into the next room and found a surprise.

Two samurai were sitting in the same room and were sleeping, sitting up against a wall with hands on their sword handles. The killer hesitated.

One of them appeared to be awake and looked up as he saw the assassin coming near.
At that moment a cock crowed that the hour of the rabbit was nigh.

The ninja threw a neatly folded rice paper box to the ground, and the entire room filled with acrid black smoke. He pulled out a poisoned shuriken from his sleeve and threw it through the smoke aiming where the samurai were sleeping a moment ago. The ninja drew his sword and rushed into the smoke.

~~~

Alive (3):
GeneralHankerchief

Ichigo
Kagemusha

Killed (35):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter
The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Reenk Roink
LittleGrizzly
Louis VI the Fat
Crazed Rabbit
A Very Super Market
Glenn
Husar
Death is yonder
Haudegen
Captain Blackadder
glyphz
Banquo's Ghost
Kukrikhan
Sasaki Kojiro
CountArach

Gobbledygook

Caius

Wishazu
White_Eyes:D

Stephen Assen aka Tiberius of the Drake
Chimpyang
ajaxfetish
Rhyfelwyr
Yoyoma1910

Fallen in battle (10):
Northnovas
Ignoramus

El Diablo
YLC
Beefy187
AggonyDuck
Yaropolk
atheotes
Seamus Fermanagh
Beskar

Lynched (10):

Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd
shlin28

TosaInu
TinCow
Quintus.JC
Peasant Phill
FactionHeir
Dutch_guy
woad&fangs

WoG/Suicide (6):
Xehh II

Jolt
Beaver
Tristan de Castelreng
Psychonaut
taka[/quote]

**Andres** · 05-12-2009, 21:03

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

Night 11 - Conclusion - III

Hour of the Tiger

Omura Sumitada (GeneralHankerchief) woke up coughing. His eyes were watering, he wanted to vomit, and everything around him was spinning.

The man who was supposed to watch his side was gone. He drew his katana and held it above his head to deflect any incoming swings. Something warm dripped from his hand onto his forehead and rolled down his cheek.

Omura licked his lips and tasted blood…. his own blood!

He dropped the katana and with a groan forced himself to his knees. Now completely blind, he pulled out his tanto and drove it into his own belly, unwilling to die at the hand of a ninja.

~~~

Hour of the Tiger

Michishige Michiyo (Ichigo) squeezed himself against a wall and held a wash towel to his face.

He couldn’t see anything but at least he could breathe. He tied the towel behind his head and proceeded blindfolded along the wall, katana drawn. He thought to himself that whoever said that strength lies in wisdom and not in battle skill never had fight for his life with a skilled adversary blindfolded.

He focused and felt a movement to his right. Michishige ducked, and felt the swing of a katana barely miss his chonmage. Michishige pulled off his blindfold. He could see for a moment before the smoke got into his eyes again and he threw himself at his opponent.
His tackle connected and both men crashed through the straw wall. In the billowing smoke one could hear the thuds of fists crashing into flesh, and the clanks of armor.

Then all was quiet. The victor roughly pulled the severely injured man in front of him out of the yashiki. A katana covered in black symbols was sticking out of the man’s belly. The killer rubbed his eyes to clear the smoke. He looked down and saw the face of his last opponent. The man stared up in disbelief.

Calmly, the assassin drew a dagger. With a strong blow, he sticked it into the belly of his opponent, next to the blade.

“That’s one for Hisao Mayurama”

He pauzed, drew a second knife and then stuck it into the chest of the dieing man.

“That’s one for his brother, Nakadai Mayurama.”

The assassin wiped a tear off his face. He looked down at the almost dead samurai. With a final blow, he stuck a third dagger into the samurai’s throat.

“That’s one for Kato Danzo.”
The ninja then drew his black katana out of the body of the dead samurai and with one swing beheaded it.
"And that's one for me and the clan!"

~~~

Alive (1):
Ichigo

Kagemusha

Killed (37):
Khazaar
spL1tp3r50nal1ty
Lord Winter
The Spartan
Iskander III
Shinseikhaan
Olavi
Thermal Mercury
Chaotix27
pevergreen
Gregoshi

Reenk Roink
LittleGrizzly
Louis VI the Fat
Crazed Rabbit
A Very Super Market
Glenn
Husar
Death is yonder
Haudegen
Captain Blackadder
glyphz
Banquo's Ghost
Kukrikhan
Sasaki Kojiro
CountArach

Gobbledygook

Caius

Wishazu
White_Eyes:D

Stephen Assen aka Tiberius of the Drake
Chimpyang
ajaxfetish
Rhyfelwyr
Yoyoma1910
GeneralHankerchief

Fallen in battle (10):
Northnovas
Ignoramus

El Diablo
YLC
Beefy187
AggonyDuck
Yaropolk
atheotes
Seamus Fermanagh
Beskar

Lynched (10):

Askthepizzaguy
Sigurd
shlin28

TosaInu
TinCow
Quintus.JC
Peasant Phill
FactionHeir
Dutch_guy
woad&fangs

WoG/Suicide (6):
Xehh II

Jolt
Beaver
Tristan de Castelreng
Psychonaut
taka

**Andres** · 05-12-2009, 21:42

~~~ Swords in the Moon ~~~

The End

The yashiki - Spring

The ninja looked around the yashiki. Several weeks had passed since the last events. He looked at the bag. The freezing cold had preserved the head perfectly, it was still recognizable.

Flames were rising towards the sky. He threw the torch into the burning building. Soon, there would be only ashes left of the Tigers’ famous Winter residence. The man smiled, legend would have it that the Dragon had descended from the skies to incinerate his opponent.

The assassin picked up the bag and mounted his horse. Shingen’s horse. The only survivor of this drama, apart from the lone assassin.

After one last look at the yashiki, he turned his horse and started riding into the rising sun.

~~~

Japan – Spring 1558 – near Iiyama Castle – Hour of the Dragon

Kiyonaga put down the cup of saké and looked at the masked unpertubed man sitting silently in front of him.

He was curious to see the legendary Kato Danzo’s face, or even age, but was pretty certain he wouldn’t get his hand back if he tried to lift the man’s mask.

“Konichuwa Danzo-san, do you have what I asked for?”

The silent man in front of him threw a burlap sack at Kiyonaga’s feet. Kiyonaga looked inside the bag and his eyes lit up.

“A miracle! ‘Flying Kato’ they call you. Now I see why that is. Excellent! Most excellent! As we agreed, your payment has already been delivered to the Kato clan.”

Without a word the man addressed to as Kato Danzo turned around and walked out of the tent.

~~~

Japan – 1558 – end of the Summer season, begin of Fall.

The Dragon was sitting down. He looked to his right and watched the burning woodpiles. On them, the bodies of the Takeda, men, women and children.

He turned his head again and looked the last remaining Takeda right into the eyes.

Takeday Katsuyori was still a boy. But he was samurai. The hatred in the boys’ eyes confirmed that the Dragon was making the right decision. The Takeda had to be destroyed for eternity.

The Dragon looked up, at the man standing behind Takeda Katsuyori. For months now, he had been wondering if Kiyonaga would have had a hand in the dead of his greatest foe. He would never know for sure.

The young boy picked up the clean knife and opened his kimono. The Dragon nodded respectfully. This one was brave.

Takeda Katsuyori would make his father proud, he would perform the ancient ritual perfectly.

The knife had hardly pierced through skin and flesh, when the blade of Kiyonaga, Katsuyori’s kaishakunin struck mercifully.

The Dragon stood up, it was over.

~~~

Japan 1558 – one week earlier.

Months ago, Seizaburo Makabe (Ichigo) bravely fought and killed the last of Shingen’s trusted samurai, Hasegawa Kinji (Kagemusha). Well, not just killed, he had butchered him.

Seizaburo's sensei always taught him that wisdom was greater than strength. It was a shame that the wise old ninja fell on his last mission. But he had succeeded and his dead had been avenged.

On that fateful day, in the yashiki not only did Hasegawa die in that smoky room, Seizaburo died as well. A new Kato Danzo was born.

The masked man now known and feared as Kato Danzo walked out of the camp and headed west.

The informants of his clan had brought him a message.

Oda Nobunaga was willing to pay to see Uesugi Kenshin, the Dragon, fall…

The ninja grinned.

Once again, "Flying Kato" would change the course of history.

~~~

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

That's it. Game is finally over. Host diary and additional info about roles and mechanics will be posted soon-ish.

Thank you all for playing. I hope you had fun!

**Andres** · 05-12-2009, 23:14

I. Role pm's

a) "Takeda team"

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Originally Posted by Andres

CountArach

Takeda Nobushige - Kagemusha

Konichi wa, Nobushige-san,

First of all: you are NOT Takeda Shingen. You are his Kagemusha, his shadow warrior. A man who resembles his Lord and takes his place when he is in danger.

To the public, you will take the role of Takeda Shingen. The real Takeda Shingen however is:

- Sasaki Kojiro

You are allowed to contact your brother and his bodyguards through pm.

The bodyguards are:

- Husar (Miyamoto Musashi);
- Gobbledygook (Yamamoto Kansuke)
- glyphz (Kago Junichiro)

They can protect either you or your brother or the both of you against investigations and attacks. However, protection will only work 100 % if all remaining bodyguards protect one brother. If they split forces, the protection becomes weaker.

Battle rating : 5

Abilities: you have no special night abilities.

Victory conditions:
Major victory : outlast the ninja and the traitors – Takeda Shingen survives;
Minor victory: outlast the ninja and the traitors

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

Originally Posted by Andres

Sasaki Kojiro

Takeda Shingen – The Tiger of Kai

Konishiwa, Shingen-sama,

You are the REAL Takeda Shingen. The man leading the samurai during the day is your brother, Takeda Nobushige (CountArach), who serves as your Kagemusha.

To the public, your identity will remain hidden and you will pretend like you are one of the veteran samurai.

Your disguise if very convincing:

Originally Posted by Andres

Sasaki Kojiro

Hamano Michiyo – veteran samurai

Konichi wa, Hamano-san

You are one of the chosen samurai to join your master to his yashiki. This is a great honor and you are very grateful to your master.

You have been in many battles for him and you have the scars to prove it.

As a samurai, you live to serve and there is no greater honor then to die in the service of your master.

You will protect Takeda Shingen-sama with your life.

Battle rating: 5

Abilities:
- During the day, you can vote for the players that you consider to be suspicous, as explained in the rules in the first post of the game thread.
- You can also challenge one other player to a duel during the day. If the kami of the mountain decide that you have to duel, then that duel will be fought at sunrise, right before the start of the next day.
- During the night, you sleep.

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

You are allowed to contact your brother and his bodyguards through pm.

The bodyguards are:

- Husar (Miyamoto Musashi);
- Gobbledygook (Yamamoto Kansuke)
- glyphz (Kago Junichiro)

They can protect either you or your brother or the both of you against investigations and attacks. However, protection will only work 100 % if all remaining bodyguards protect one brother. If they split forces, the protection becomes weaker. You need to pm me the orders for your bodyguards.

Battle rating : 5

Abilities:
- you can influence the duels. At the end of the day, there will be a list of 4 possible duels. At night, you can send me a pm in which you tell me which one of the duels you wish not to take place (you can only chose 1 to be removed from the list);
- at night, you have to pm me which bodyguard will protect which Takeda brother;
- you have one unique ability, can only be used once: instead of having me remove one of the duels of the list, you can chose which duel will take place – in addition, you can then chose to either have both players commit seppuku (suicide) or to just let the duel take place;

Victory conditions:
Major victory : outlast the ninja and the traitors – you survive;
Minor victory: outlast the ninja and the traitors

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

Originally Posted by Andres

Husar

Miyamoto Musashi – Sword Master

Konichi wa, Miyamoto-san,

You are a legendary sword master, Takeda Shingens’ champion on the battlefield and his trusted and loyal bodyguard on all other occasions.

You have followed your master to his Winter residence and you will protect him and his brother, Takeda Nobushige, with your life.

You are one of the few who knows that the man leading the executions is not really Takeda Shingen, but his brother, Takeda Nobushige (CountArach).

The real Takeda Shingen (Sasaki Kojiro) is hiding among the other samurai, disguised.

The other two bodyguards are:

- Gobbledygook (Yamamoto Kansuke)
- glyphz (Kago Junichiro)

During the night, your master will pm me if you are going to protect him or his brother.

Battle rating : 9

Abilities:
- at night, you protect one of the Takeda brothers, as ordered by your master.
Victory conditions:
Major victory : outlast the ninja and the traitors – Takeda Shingen survives;
Minor victory: outlast the ninja and the traitors

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

Originally Posted by Andres

Gobbledygook

Yamamoto Kansuke – Sword Master

Konichi wa, Yamamoto-san,

You are a sword master, one of Takeda Shingens’ trusted and loyal bodyguards.

You have followed your master to his Winter residence and you will protect him and his brother, Takeda Nobushige, with your life.

You are one of the few who knows that the man leading the executions is not really Takeda Shingen, but his brother, Takeda Nobushige (CountArach).

The real Takeda Shingen (Sasaki Kojiro) is hiding among the other samurai, disguised.

The other two bodyguards are:

- Husar (Miyamoto Musashi)
- glyphz (Kago Junichiro)

During the night, your master will pm me if you are going to protect him or his brother.

Battle rating : 7

Abilities:
- at night, you protect one of the Takeda brothers, as ordered by your master.

Victory conditions:
Major victory : outlast the ninja and the traitors – Takeda Shingen survives;
Minor victory: outlast the ninja and the traitors

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

Originally Posted by Andres

glyphz

Kago Junichiro– Sword Master

Konichi wa, Kago-san,

You are a sword master, one of Takeda Shingens’ trusted and loyal bodyguards.

You have followed your master to his Winter residence and you will protect him and his brother, Takeda Nobushige, with your life.

You are one of the few who knows that the man leading the executions is not really Takeda Shingen, but his brother, Takeda Nobushige (CountArach).

The real Takeda Shingen (Sasaki Kojiro) is hiding among the other samurai, disguised.

The other two bodyguards are:

- Husar (Miyamoto Musashi)
- Gobbledygook (Yamamoto Kansuke)

During the night, your master will pm me if you are going to protect him or his brother.

Battle rating : 7

Abilities:
- at night, you protect one of the Takeda brothers, as ordered by your master.

Victory conditions:
Major victory : outlast the ninja and the traitors – Takeda Shingen survives;
Minor victory: outlast the ninja and the traitors

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

b) Shinobi

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Originally Posted by Andres

Banquo’s Ghost

Matsuura Asuma – Shinobi

Konichi wa, Matsuura-san,

You are the Shinobi, Takeda Shingens’ spymaster. Your master ordered you to stay home, because he would not be in any danger, surrounded by his most loyal servants.

Like every year, you disobeyed his orders and you went with him, disguised as a regular samurai.

You know that he uses his brother, Nobushige, as his Kagemusha (shadow warrior), who pretends to be Shingen, while the real Lord hides between his men.

You also see through the disguise of your Lord.

- Takeda Nobushige: CountArach;
- Takeda Shingen: Sasaki Kojiro;

You also know his bodyguards:

- Husar (Miyamoto Musashi);
- Gobbledygook (Yamamoto Kansuke)
- glyphz (Kago Junichiro)

However, since you are here against a direct order from your Lord, you cannot reveal your identity to them (i.e.: YOU ARE NOT, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE, ALLOWED TO REVEAL IN PRIVATE OR TO EVEN CONTACT THEM ALLUDING TO YOUR ROLE OR THEIRS - feel free to reveal in public at your own risk).

During the day, you are obviously disguised as a samurai. You can use this cover pm to “reveal” if necessary:

Originally Posted by Andres

Banquo’s Ghost

Kojima Yumi – samurai

Konichi wa, Kojima-san

You are one of the chosen samurai to join your master to his yashiki. This is a great honor and you are very grateful to your master.

Last year was your first year campaigning with the Takeda army and you are proud on your first set of scars.
You are still young, but you know the way of the warrior. You live to serve your Lord and you would be honored to die in his service.

You will protect Takeda Shingen-sama with your life.

Battle rating: 3

Abilities:
- During the day, you can vote for the players that you consider to be suspicous, as explained in the rules in the first post of the game thread.
- You can also challenge one other player to a duel during the day. If the kami of the mountain decide that you have to duel, then that duel will be fought at sunrise, right before the start of the next day.
- During the night, you sleep.

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

Battle rating : 4

Abilities:
- at night, you can investigate two players, keep in mind that some players are immune or almost immune to investigations;
- you have a unique ability, that you can use only once: you can poison the food of one player during the day (you have to pm me the order during the day), the poison will take effect the next day and that player will drop dead during the proceedings.

Victory conditions:
- Takeda Shingen must survive the game

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

c) Geisha

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Originally Posted by Andres

Gregoshi

Okichi - Geisha

Konichi wa, Okichi-chan,

Lovely Kikuya, trained in the best okiya of Edo. Your beauty is known all over the civilised world. You are here with your sister, Kikuya (Lord Winter).

You want that lovely Lord Takeda Shingen to have a good time during this Winter season.

Since your geisha robes would give you away easily, during the day, you are disguised as a samurai.

This is your cover pm which you can use to “reveal” in public:

Originally Posted by Andres

Gregoshi

Kawazoe Sadako – samurai

Konichi wa, Kawazoe-san

You are one of the chosen samurai to join your master to his yashiki. This is a great honor and you are very grateful to your master.

Last year was your first year campaigning with the Takeda army and you are proud on your first set of scars.
You are still young, but you know the way of the warrior. You live to serve your Lord and you would be honored to die in his service.

You will protect Takeda Shingen-sama with your life.

Battle rating: 3

Abilities:
- During the day, you can vote for the players that you consider to be suspicous, as explained in the rules in the first post of the game thread.
- You can also challenge one other player to a duel during the day. If the kami of the mountain decide that you have to duel, then that duel will be fought at sunrise, right before the start of the next day.
- During the night, you sleep.

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

Battle rating : 2

Abilities:
- Each night, you can chose to “entertain” one player of your choice. If that player would happens to have night abilities, then those will be blocked. As long as you have your hairpins (more on that later), you will also protect that player against attacks.
- When the player you “entertain” is been attacked, you will defend said player with your hairpins. However, you will lose them in the proces and next time, you will still protect that player, but you’ll pay for it with your life.

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

Lord Winter

Kikuya - Geisha

Konichi wa, Kikuya-chan,

Lovely Kikuya, trained in the best okiya of Edo. Your beauty is known all over the civilised world. You are here with your sister, Okichi (Gregoshi).

You want that lovely Lord Takeda Shingen to have a good time during this Winter season.

Since your geisha robes would give you away easily, during the day, you are disguised as a samurai.

This is your cover pm which you can use to “reveal” in public:

Originally Posted by Andres

Lord Winter

Kawazoe Izumi – samurai

Konichi wa, Kawazoe-san

You are one of the chosen samurai to join your master to his yashiki. This is a great honor and you are very grateful to your master.

Last year was your first year campaigning with the Takeda army and you are proud on your first set of scars.
You are still young, but you know the way of the warrior. You live to serve your Lord and you would be honored to die in his service.

You will protect Takeda Shingen-sama with your life.

Battle rating: 3

Abilities:
- During the day, you can vote for the players that you consider to be suspicous, as explained in the rules in the first post of the game thread.
- You can also challenge one other player to a duel during the day. If the kami of the mountain decide that you have to duel, then that duel will be fought at sunrise, right before the start of the next day.
- During the night, you sleep.

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

Battle rating : 2

Abilities:
- Each night, you can chose to “entertain” one player of your choice. If that player would happens to have night abilities, then those will be blocked. As long as you have your hairpins (more on that later), you will also protect that player against attacks.
- When the player you “entertain” is been attacked, you will defend said player with your hairpins. However, you will lose them in the proces and next time, you will still protect that player, but you’ll pay for it with your life.

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

d) Traitors

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Originally Posted by Andres

shlin28

Nakayima Yumi – Nobutora loyalist.

Konichi wa, Nakayima-san,

You have always remained loyal to Takeda Nobutora-sama, the father of the usurper, Takeda Shingen.

Finally, you received the order to take care of the so called Tiger of Kai once and for all!

You are in Takeda service before Shingen and his brother, Nobushige were even born. The man leading the executions is not Shingen, but his brother, Takeda Nobushige (CountArach). The real Shingen is probably among the other samurai, disguised.

You have to make sure Shingen dies and his brother survives! Do not reveal do Nobushige; he will have you executed if he finds out you are here to kill Shingen!

Not a difficult task, but you have your beloved brother, Watanabe Yumi (Olavi) on your side.

In case you need to, you can reveal in public with this cover role pm:

Originally Posted by Andres

shlin28

Ichimaru Yoshiko – veteran samurai

Konichi wa, Ichimaru-san

You are one of the chosen samurai to join your master to his yashiki. This is a great honor and you are very grateful to your master.

You have been in many battles for him and you have the scars to prove it.

As a samurai, you live to serve and there is no greater honor then to die in the service of your master.

You will protect Takeda Shingen-sama with your life.

Battle rating: 5

Abilities:
- During the day, you can vote for the players that you consider to be suspicous, as explained in the rules in the first post of the game thread.
- You can also challenge one other player to a duel during the day. If the kami of the mountain decide that you have to duel, then that duel will be fought at sunrise, right before the start of the next day.
- During the night, you sleep.

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

Battle rating: 6

Abilities:
- Each night one of you can investigate two players and the other can kill one other player;
- Starting on N3, you can chose to either kill two players instead or investigate two and kill one; once you reach N3, your gained experience in subterfuge will reflect itself on a lower chance of detection by investigation at night. The longer you survive, the better you get at hiding your identity.

Victory conditions:
Major Victory : Takeda Nobushige must survive; outlast all other players;
Minor Victory: outlast all other players.

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

Originally Posted by Andres

Olavi

Watanabe Yumi – Nobutora loyalist.

Konichi wa, Watanabe-san,

You have always remained loyal to Takeda Nobutora-sama, the father of the usurper, Takeda Shingen.

Finally, you received the order to take care of the so called Tiger of Kai once and for all!

You are in Takeda service before Shingen and his brother, Nobushige were even born. The man leading the executions is not Shingen, but his brother, Takeda Nobushige (CountArach). The real Shingen is probably among the other samurai, disguised.

You have to make sure Shingen dies and his brother survives! Do not reveal do Nobushige; he will have you executed if he finds out you are here to kill Shingen!

Not a difficult task, but you have your beloved brother, Nakayima Yumi (shlin28) on your side.

In case you need to, you can reveal in public with this cover role pm:

Originally Posted by Andres

Olavi

Iino Kumiko – veteran samurai

Konichi wa, Iino-san

You are one of the chosen samurai to join your master to his yashiki. This is a great honor and you are very grateful to your master.

You have been in many battles for him and you have the scars to prove it.

As a samurai, you live to serve and there is no greater honor then to die in the service of your master.

You will protect Takeda Shingen-sama with your life.

Battle rating: 5

Abilities:
- During the day, you can vote for the players that you consider to be suspicous, as explained in the rules in the first post of the game thread.
- You can also challenge one other player to a duel during the day. If the kami of the mountain decide that you have to duel, then that duel will be fought at sunrise, right before the start of the next day.
- During the night, you sleep.

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

Battle rating: 6

Abilities:
- Each night one of you can investigate two players and the other can kill one other player;
- Starting on N3, you can chose to either kill two players instead or investigate two and kill one; once you reach N3, your gained experience in subterfuge will reflect itself on a lower chance of detection by investigation at night. The longer you survive, the better you get at hiding your identity.

Victory conditions:
Major Victory : Takeda Nobushige must survive; outlast all other players;
Minor Victory: outlast all other players.

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

e) Ninja

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Originally Posted by Andres

Kato Danzo – the ninja master.

Hi Yaropolk,

Congratulations! You are Kato Danzo, the ninja master.

You are also known as “Flying Kato”, because of your legendary ability to enter heavily guarded castles undetected.

As with every ninja, your past is unknown.

You accepted Kiyonaga’s mission and you are now bound by your honor and reputation to fulfill the task: bring him Takeda Shingen’s head.

You are aware that you’ll need to follow the Tiger of Kai into the mountains, during the Winter. All the passes leading to Shingens’ yashiki will be blocked by the snow, so you know that you will not only have to kill Shingen, but, in order to get out of there alive, also all of his samurai.

As soon as you took the place of one of Takeda’s men, you started to examine the patterns of the Tiger. Apparently, at night, he is guarded by three sword masters, one of them the famous Miyamoto Musashi. In order to kill Shingen, you’ll have to take out his champions first.

Shingen’s spymaster did a good job however in disguising them, so you’ll have to find them through careful investigation.

Not an easy task, which is why you brought your three students with you:

- Nakadai Mayurama (Dutch_guy);
- Hisao Mayurama (Quintus.JC);
- Seizaburo Makabe (Ichigo);

They will assist you in doing what you came for by killing 3 chosen targets each night. No matter how numerous your students are, they will always have three kills each night. However, succes rate for assasinations on certain targets may vary when their numbers drop. Attacks by your students on certain targets are bound to fail, since some targets need a master…

Battle rating: 9

Night abilities:
- Each night, you can investigate 3 players to learn about their role OR you can decide to assist your students to take out a difficult target OR you can block one other player;
- During the night, you are immune to investigations, no matter what action you undertake. After all, you are a master of illusions.

As a master of illusions, you are disguised as a veteran samurai. This is your cover role pm, which will show up upon investigation or which you can use to reveal in public at your leisure:

Originally Posted by Andres

Yaropolk

Shinohara Yuuko – veteran samurai

Konichi wa, Shinohara-san

You are one of the chosen samurai to join your master to his yashiki. This is a great honor and you are very grateful to your master.

You have been in many battles for him and you have the scars to prove it.

As a samurai, you live to serve and there is no greater honor then to die in the service of your master.

You will protect Takeda Shingen-sama with your life.

Battle rating: 5

Abilities:
- During the day, you can vote for the players that you consider to be suspicous, as explained in the rules in the first post of the game thread.
- You can also challenge one other player to a duel during the day. If the kami of the mountain decide that you have to duel, then that duel will be fought at sunrise, right before the start of the next day.
- During the night, you sleep.

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

One last hint: don’t be fooled by the shadow warrior. Investigate him if you don’t want to be surprised.

Gokouun o inorimasu, ninja master.

P.S.: the game starts with a night phase. Since I want to limit the number of players to get killed before the game really starts, you only have 2 kills instead of 3 on N1.

Originally Posted by Andres

Nakadai Mayurama – ninja

Hi Dutch_guy,

Congratulations, you are one of the ninja!

After your master got his task, he decided to take three students with him on his mission.

You are one of them! Allthough, the youngest of his students, you are also the most talented one and it is written that one day, you will become a great ninja master yourself.

You’re a master with any weapon and your mastery of the art of illusion is only surpassed by your master, Kato Danzo-sama (Yaropolk).

The other students Kato brought along are:

- Hisao Mayurama (Quintus.JC);
- Seizaburo Makabe (Ichigo);

Each night, you and your partners will get 3 kills. If your numbers drop, you still have three kills each night, but your succes rate might drop when going after certain targets. Some targets will need the help of a master to take out…

Battle rating: 7

Night abilities:
- Each night, you and the other ninja will kill three targets.

As a student in the art of illusion, you have a cover, namely the disguise of a veteran samurai. You can use this cover pm to reveal in public at your leisure. Since you are a very talented master of illusion, there’s a ½ chance that this your real role will not be revealed upon investigation and instead, this one will be shown:

Originally Posted by Andres

Dutch_guy

Fukuda Ayumu – veteran samurai

Konichi wa, Fukuda-san

You are one of the chosen samurai to join your master to his yashiki. This is a great honor and you are very grateful to your master.

You have been in many battles for him and you have the scars to prove it.

As a samurai, you live to serve and there is no greater honor then to die in the service of your master.

You will protect Takeda Shingen-sama with your life.

Battle rating: 5

Abilities:
- During the day, you can vote for the players that you consider to be suspicous, as explained in the rules in the first post of the game thread.
- You can also challenge one other player to a duel during the day. If the kami of the mountain decide that you have to duel, then that duel will be fought at sunrise, right before the start of the next day.
- During the night, you sleep.

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

Gokouun o inorimasu, ninja.

Originally Posted by Andres

Hisao Mayurama – ninja

Hi Quintus.JC,

Congratulations, you are one of the ninja!

After your master got his task, he decided to take three students with him on his mission.

You are one of them! You are the most experienced of his students. Allthough you lack the talent to become a ninja master (unlike your talented brother, Nakadai), your are quite capable of doing what you’re trained for.

You’re excellent with any weapon and you have a basic knowledge of the art of illusion.

The other students your master Kato Danzo (Yaropolk) brought along are:

- Nakadai Mayurama (Dutch_guy);
- Seizaburo Makabe (Ichigo);

Each night, you and your partners will get 3 kills. If your numbers drop, you still have three kills each night, but your succes rate might drop when going after certain targets. Some targets will need the help of a master to take out…

Battle rating: 6

Night abilities:
- Each night, you and the other ninja will kill three targets.

As a student in the art of illusion, you have a cover, namely the disguise of a veteran samurai. You can use this cover pm to reveal in public at your leisure:

Originally Posted by Andres

Quintus.JC

Fujimoto Kumiko – veteran samurai

Konichi wa, Fujimoto-san

You are one of the chosen samurai to join your master to his yashiki. This is a great honor and you are very grateful to your master.

You have been in many battles for him and you have the scars to prove it.

As a samurai, you live to serve and there is no greater honor then to die in the service of your master.

You will protect Takeda Shingen-sama with your life.

Battle rating: 5

Abilities:
- During the day, you can vote for the players that you consider to be suspicous, as explained in the rules in the first post of the game thread.
- You can also challenge one other player to a duel during the day. If the kami of the mountain decide that you have to duel, then that duel will be fought at sunrise, right before the start of the next day.
- During the night, you sleep.

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

Gokouun o inorimasu, ninja.

Originally Posted by Andres

Seizaburo Makabe – ninja

Hi Ichigo,

Congratulations, you are one of the ninja!

After your master got his task, he decided to take three students with him on his mission.

You are one of them! You are the youngest yet perhaps the most talented student. Your master brought you with him, because the time is there for you to be tested during a real mission.

You’re outstanding with any weapon and you have a basic knowledge of the art of illusion.

The other students your master Kato Danzo (Yaropolk) brought along are:

- Nakadai Mayurama (Dutch_guy);
- Hisao Mayurama (Quintus.JC);

Each night, you and your partners will get 3 kills. If your numbers drop, you still have three kills each night, but your succes rate might drop when going after certain targets. Some targets will need the help of a master to take out…

Battle rating: 5

Night abilities:
- Each night, you and the other ninja will kill three targets.

As a student in the art of illusion, you have a cover, namely the disguise of a veteran samurai. You can use this cover pm to reveal in public at your leisure:

Originally Posted by Andres

Ichigo

Michishige Michiyo – samurai

Konichi wa, Michishige-san

You are one of the chosen samurai to join your master to his yashiki. This is a great honor and you are very grateful to your master.

Last year was your first year campaigning with the Takeda army and you are proud on your first set of scars.
You are still young, but you know the way of the warrior. You live to serve your Lord and you would be honored to die in his service.

You will protect Takeda Shingen-sama with your life.

Battle rating: 3

Abilities:
- During the day, you can vote for the players that you consider to be suspicous, as explained in the rules in the first post of the game thread.
- You can also challenge one other player to a duel during the day. If the kami of the mountain decide that you have to duel, then that duel will be fought at sunrise, right before the start of the next day.
- During the night, you sleep.

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)!

Gokouun o inorimasu, ninja.

II. Behind the scenes - mechanics
Takeda
- Takeda Shingen was not Takeda Shingen. CountArach was the shadow warrior or "kagemusha" of the real Takeda Shingen : Sasaki.
- Shingen had some night abilities: 1) each night, he had to pm me one of the duels on the challenge list to be removed from it; 2) each night he had to pm me which bodyguard was going to protect which Takeda brother. Shingen had one unique ability, to be used only once: instead of removing a duel from the list, he could pick one and decide to either have it end in no bloodshed or have both opponents commit seppuku.
- three bodyguards combining protection on one Takeda brother would result in failure of all night actions against them, be it assassination attempts or investigations. Only the geisha could break through the defense and discover the real Takeda Shingen. Down to 2 bodyguards, ninja without master or traitors would have a 25 % succes chance of getting to Shingen, down to 1 bodyguard, 50 % chance. Ninja with master, would have gotten a 10 % bonus.
- first attack by three ninja on a swordmaster, had a 50 % chance of directly killing him; attacks by 2 ninja 33 %, one ninja 25 %. With the help of the ninja master, attacks on bodyguards would always succeed. A failed first attack would result in a severe injury for the bodyguard. A second attack would always result in a kill. Traitors: first attack 33 % succes chance, failed = injury; second attack = always succesful.
- dead of the kagemusha would not have resulted in the real Shingen being revealed. A "masked samurai" would have taken charge of the proceedings during the day.

Traitors.
With only two members, they were underpowered. This unbalance was repaired by allowing the traitors to have 1 additional recruit if they made through N3. This recruit was to be picked from one of the veteran samurai. I randomised that list, the three coming out on top would be possible recruits; I gave them a number from 1 to 3 and had the traitors pick a number. Captain Blackadder was the chosen one. Unfortunately, the traitors didn't last long. I had several power-ups in mind. An increase in killing power with the recruit. They would have gotten an additional kill at N6 (which didn't go through, since Blackadders kill on N5 failed and he got killed himself N6) and some investigation power and also a 50 % immunity against investigations. Alas. The game ended for the traitor team at N6.

At the start, they could either kill two or kill 1 and investigate 2. In retrospect, the traitors were a bit underpowered. In the original concept they weren't included; I put them in to balance things out, since I didn't want to change the setup of 1 ninja master and three ninja. I first thought about adding in two seperate serial killers, but I preferred this, as it seemed more powerful then two serial killers.

Shinobi
A classic detective. Allthough, in order to balance things, the shinobi had a unique ability, a one time opportunity to poison one player of his choice; a kill attempt with a 100 % guaranteed succes rate, no matter who the target was.

Geisha
The classic role blocker+protector, with some "extra's": hairpins that would injure the attacker of their protectee+the ability to get acces to the Takeda brothers no matter how well they were guarded.

Ninja.
The ninja master was basically the godfather, but only it was random.org that picked the henchmen, not the godfather himself. At night, the master could chose to a) investigate 3 players; b) block one player; c) assist his students. Always innocent upon investigation. Dutch had a 50 % immunity.

III. Duels.

The duels were based on Sigurd's duel system. The dice were thrown as in the game Risk. The battleratings represent the number of armies you would have in the boardgame. The attacker throws three dice. Then the defender rolls two. The attacker compares his highest die to the highest of the defender; if the attacker's die is higher, the defender loses one die (point of his battle rating), if it's equal or lower, the attacker loses one. Idem dito for the second highest die of the attacker and the remaining die of the defender. This goes one until one of the fighters has lost all his armies (battle rating points). You gained one point in battlerating if you won against a stronger opponent. No changes for victories agains equal or lesser opponents.

**Andres** · 05-12-2009, 23:15

I kept a diary from sign-up phase until the final night. It's (very) long, about 11 pages in Word. It's written from the perspective of a spectator, as the game advanced. I didn't always bother to bold names and such or correct grammar/spelling mistakes but I thought you'd appreciate it if it were posted quickly, so here it is. I hope you enjoy it :

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Sign-up phase.

Ok, we're still in the sign-up phase when I write this. I must say, I'm quite impressed by the turnout. At the moment, I just added woad&fangs to the list. He's number 58.

When I first saw the subforum on Monday evening, there were about 19 players signed up. Not bad for one day without advertising or PM'ing, but still not enough. The game can be played with 35, but 50 would be sweet.

I started to mass pm and posted ads in the Gameroom and the Entrance Hall. I also popped in in random threads, looking for an opportunity to say "join"

Little did I know that I would get such a massive response. When it reached 40, I sneakily edited the OP and changed max 50 to max 60. We're now at 58!

And look at those names: all the "usual suspects" are there: Sasaki, TinCow, Reenk Roink, Seamus, Beefy, 'khaan, GH, ATPG, Ichigo, ... You name a Gameroom regular and he's on the list. Great!

But there are some wonderful "unusual suspects", like the punmaster Gregoshi. Oh, I'm so looking forward to see how he plays. And Kukri has joined! Banquo finally gives in to the temptation and even the boss, TosaInu, wants to play. Tosa! What kept you so long. I tried to get him to join in the past and I guess other hosts tried to convince him as well in the past, so I figured that he would never join and look now. Guess it's the Sengoku Jidai setting that's too much for him.

Many oldtimers coming back from retirement as well: CR, Peasant Phill, Husar, Haudegen,...

What am I doing? Repeating the playerlist... People don't want to read that when they see "hosts'" write-up.

Only 2 places left.

Stress?

Preparations had to go "fast". I have all roles worked out in my head, still not sure about a few abilities though.

Every player will get a unique character name, so I'll have to pm each player individually. This kinda sucks; it's much easier to send the townie pm's to 30 at a time. Oh well.

4 unique ninja role pm's, 1 geisha pm, 1 shinobi pm, 1 Kagemusha pm, 2 or 3 swordmaster pm's, 1 Shingen pm, 1 pm for the "veteran samurai" and 1 pm for the "young samurai". All of it is in my head, just need to write it down. Won't have much time tonight, hopefully I get a few done anyway.

The more I think about this, the deeper my respect for Seamus. In Capo each player has night abilities. Seamus, you are now officially crazy

“ Procastrinate
“ causes me alot of stress
“ prepare earlier

Sign-ups are closed!

Well, Yaropolk really got lucky! Just in time and that makes 64.

I've made an excel sheet with all character names and special roles. The first 14 will get a special role from the very start.

First I'll throw two dice with random.org. That's the number of times I'm going to let the list randomizer randomise all the names. I'll put the names in that order in my excel sheet and that's how the roles will be decided.

Ok, roles are decided.

Yaropolk, I hope you bought a lottery ticket today, because this is really your lucky day! Signed-up just in time and now you got the ninja master role.

Locking thread for distributing role pm’s and we’re ready for kick off.

Game.

Night 1
Ninja team:
- students:kill: splitpersonality+Khazaar:succes;
- Master:investigate TinCow, Sasaki and GH - Sasaki : fails; TinCow : samurai ; GH : veteran
Traitors:
- Olavi:investigates TinCow and Sasaki TinCow: samurai; Sasaki: fails
- shlin28: kills Lord Winter: succes
geisha 1 (Lord Winter): protect/block pever -> failed (geisha KIA)
geisha 2 (Gregoshi): nothing
Shinobi (Banquo): investigate Gregoshi + Kukrikhan - Gregoshi : geisha ; Kukri: veteran
Takeda team:
- Husar:protect Sasaki
- Gobbledygook:protect Sasaki
- Glyphz:protect Sasaki

Night 1 comment:
Lord Winter was the first to send in his night order. Unsurprisingly, Sasaki wants all bodyguards to protect him. Logical choice, since everybody thinks CA is unreachable. The traitors will investigate two high profile players, TinCow and Sasaki. Good for Sasaki that he choses the three bodyguards to protect him. The investigation on Sasaki will fail. Town will get a first blow tonight, since shlin28 will kill Lord Winter. That's unfortunate, but oh well. Some pretty funny stuff being posted night 1. Post #165 is a perfect example of the reason why I always wanted to see Gregoshi in a mafia game. And if TinCow keeps making me laugh in each mafia game I play or host, I'll nominate him as funniest member again. Who ever said lawyers can't be fun? The mafia will kill Khazaar and spl1tper50n4lity. Good choices, allthough I kinda feel sorry for them. It's never fun to go before the game really started. Sorry guys. I hope you'll still keep following the game. Better luck next time!

I wonder if the reduced kills will make them speculate about lynching a lurker. Oh well, if that’s the case, so bei t.

Day 1
All roles pretty much flew under the radar, not unusual on the first day. Sasaki got a vote from Ichigo, as always. Poor TiberiusBeskar seems to get the full frontal attack from Sasaki. I can almost feel the pain of the poor chap. "What? What have I done? Why me?" He doesn't give up though, that's the spirit good sir! Never go down quietly, regardless of your role.But it seems like ATPG is going to be the lynch for today. Poor boy, he finally tries to change his style because people complain about his annoying massive amounts of posts and now that he obliges, they're going to lynch him. It was to be expected, I guess. Oh well, once town is used to his new style, he'll manage to survive a bit longer in future games, I hope. Since it's always a bit sad to have to go early, I'll make something beautiful from the lynch write-up. Nothing cruel, just a modest, honorable seppuku.

Night 2
Ninja team:
- students:kill The Spartan, Olavi, Iskander III= succes
- Master: investigate Sasaki (fail), FactionHeir (succes), AggonyDuck(succes)
Traitors:
- Olavi:Kill shinseikhaan: succes
- shlin28:investigate Beefy and Gregoshi (succes)
geisha 2 (Gregoshi)entertain Sasaki (succes)
Shinobi (Banquo): investigate Reenk Roink – Sigurd (succes)
Takeda team:
- Husar: protect Sasaki
- gobbledygook : protect Sasaki
- glyphz : protect Sasaki
- Sasaki: remove Sasaki duel
Night 2 comment.
No surprises for the Night orders of the Takeda team. Sasaki removed his duel from the list and the three swordmasters will protect him. Hmmm, the traitors will kill 'khaan and investigate Beefy187 and Gregoshi. Unfortunately, the ninja target Olavi. Since the traitors' orders were first, their kill and investigation will succeed. A pity Olavi didn't make it to N3, so it'll be shlin28 and the traitor recruit. Probably,the second geisha will get wasted soon. Traitors are geisha killers… Gregoshi wants to spend the night with Sasaki. The geisha are the only ones capable of getting through Shingens' defence, so tonight, Greg will discover Sasaki's secret and they'll be able to coordinate. Iskander III, The Spartan and Olavi will have to go, the ninja team continues the tactic to kill fairly new players. The master will investigate AggonyDuck and FactionHeir. He'll try to investigate Sasaki again, but he'll fail. I'll let him be caught by a samurai, let's see if they get the hint that Sasaki is not reachable at the moment.

Day 2

Still 55 alive. Oh well, it's still doable. Of the power roles, we have one good guy and one bad guy down. The traitors who had to start underpowered will have one recruit, to chose of whoever survives from this list:
pevergreen, Psychonaut, Yoyoma1910, Rhyfelwyr, Kukri, Caius, GH, YLC, Peasant Phill, Glenn, ajax, CaptainB or CR (the veteran samurai). I’ll let random.org pick three of them and attribute a number to each of those. Shlin28 will have to chose 1, 2 or 3.

Scummy post #488 by Yaropolk, if you ask me. Some will pick on that undoubtedly. Beskar unvotes abstain; technically speaking, he voted Yaropolk when he told Sasaki how to unvote and vote, but I won't nitpick. Yet… :)

Stephen Assen is getting bandwagoned for no particular reason, so it seems. The timing of his posting? His absence during the beginning of the game? Come on guys; you should know by now that I accept orders by proxy, so even if he were mafia, his team mates would have sent in orders. Certainly with teams of 4 and 2, mafia won't fail to get in their orders in time. Oh well. I'm starting to feel sorry for Stephen now, he was so enthusiastic before the game started and felt really bad because he couldn't joinin the first days. Oh well, it's a cruel game.

It seems now like Stephen is getting a few unvotes and a new bandwagon starts, slightly unnoticed, against poor Sigurd who's crime is being absent.

Sigurd gets lynched. A lot of talk in the previous round. Yaropolk was able to slip under the radar and no important roles have been under real pressure.

N3

Ok, the traitors will be able to recruit. They can pick from 1. Kukri 2. Captain Blackadder 3. Ajaxfetish. Let's hope none of the recruits gets targeted by the ninja…

Ninja team:
- students:kill Chaotix, pevergreen, Thermal Mercury: succes
- Master: investigate Sasaki (fail), Beskar (succes), Beefy (succes)
Traitors:
- shlin28:kill Gregoshi
- Captain Blackadder : no orders
geisha 2 (Gregoshi)killed
Shinobi (Banquo): investigate TinCow and Beskar (succes)
Takeda team:
- Husar: protect Sasaki
- gobbledygook : protect Sasaki
- glyphz: protect Sasaki
- Sasaki: remove duel Sasaki vs. AggonyDuck

Night 3 comment.
shlin28 picks number 2… Captain Blackadder it is then. Poor Gregoshi dies. A pity, he was really starting to get the hang of it and having alot of fun as well, so it seems. Do we have a new mafia addict? Let’s hope so.

No surprises with the Takeda orders.

Gah. All these name changes to pever[randomcolor]. Guys, this is not fun. I am not going to change my excel sheets because of this idiocy. Change avatar and put previous username in sig and custom title or get WoG'ed. Really, in a game this size, it's really very, very annoying to both host and other players to change your username mid game. Tempted to abuse mod powers.

Ha, the ninja aren't happy either. Three pevers will die tonight: Chaotix, Thermal and pevergreen. Another try to investigate Sasaki. Sorry guys, won't work.

Day 3

Hmmm, the dead of the pevers got TinCow a vote.

shlin28, sometimes it's pure joy to see you playing; I got a chuckle out of your "Yay! I got HoSd comment" Poor shlin getting a vote from w&f for being known for gruesome killings. It wasn’t him! Oh, the irony.

El Diablo challenges YLC and that's the third challenge in less than an hour already. Ok, challenging is fun and all, but I designed it as a tool for the town to help them trying to kill suspects, more like"ok we have two suspects, lynch one and four other players challenge the other suspect to make sure said suspect has to fight."

Thus far, the challenges have been wasted; it wouldn’t surprise me if they don’t manage to have at least one scum fight. Oh well, should have thought of it. Temptation is too strong to resist. On the other hand, it gives every townie a touch of flavour, something to do individually. It makes townies feel like more than "just a boring townie". Perfectly understandable, but still, it's a bit of a waste to just challenge ahead.

Hmmm… 'khaan wants everyone to vote for TinCow. Poor TinCow. Pn the other hand, TC is capable of defending himself, but I'm more looking forward to see one of his sometimes hilarious posts. Keep some pressure on him guys, if I'm lucky, I get quite a few good laughs out of this. Oh, the joys of being an evil god… Muahahahaha

Ok, GH voted 'khaan and now LittleGrizzly even made a whole case against him. He's dead, guys! 'khaan's already dead!Got killed two nights ago…Hmmm… no bandwagon on TinCow, instead shlin28 seems to be prime suspect. shlin, shlin, shlin I provided you with a flawless cover pm and you sent a different battle rating than the one mentioned in it… Tsk, tsk, tsk… Reminds me of the Settlement… Oh well. Guess Blackadder will be on his own after today.

Night 4

Ninja team:
- students: kill LittleGrizzly, Reenk Roink, Louis VI the Fat (succes)
- Master:Investigate Seamus, Stephen Asen, CA (succes)
Traitors:
- Captain Blackadder: kill Sasaki : fails
Shinobi (Banquo): investigate CR and GH (succes)
Takeda team:
- Husar: protect Sasaki
- gobbledygook: protect Sasaki
- glyphz: protect Sasaki
- Sasakiremove GH vs. Rhyfelwyr

Night 4 comment

Hmmm… Ninja team seems to have discovered the truth about CA (cf. quikctopic) and are going to investigate him to be sure. You guys figured it out rather quick; nice one guys. Captain B will attack Sasaki, he'll be in for a surprise! Maybe he'll figure it out as well tonight. Kage (post 1073), you're a bit rusty indeed…

Duel will be between El Diablo and YLC, close victory for YLC.

Day 4

Poor Tosa posts to avoid the WoG and gets pressured straight away. Ah well, not unusual for a player who suddenly pops up again. Let's see how this goes. Sasaki surviving an attack may bring him into trouble instead of clearing him. After all, town doesn’t know what extra abilities the ninja master disposes of.

Town seems to be lazy today; the Tosa lynch seems kind of silly to me. I won't be surprised if he gets lynched with a low amount of votes. Turnout for this day will be low, I'm afraid. Prodded a few players at the risk of getting WoG'ed.

Poor LittleGrizzly, even when he's dead, he's a popular lynch target

This is going to be a good round for ninja and the remaining traitor. No suspicion or pressure whatsoever on them.

Night 5

What did TinCow do wrong? It's not his fault Rhyfelwyr isn't paying attention by revealing his role after the lynch scene was already posted!

Ninja team:
- students:kill Husar, Crazed Rabbit, Glenn (Husar fails)
- Master:Investigate YLC, Kage, Kukri
Traitors:
- Captain Blackadder: kill AVSM : succes
Shinobi (Banquo) investigate Seamus and Stephen Asen (succes – innocent samurai)
Takeda team:
- Husar: protect Sasaki
- gobbledygook: protect Sasaki
- glyphz: protect Sasaki
- Sasaki: remove Glenn vs. Rhyfelwyr

D5

TinCow winning the duel won't do much good for him; he'll be even more suspicious by now and Sasaki will probably be convinced of his guilt. Hopefully this will be a good round with plenty of discussion.

Stephen Asen and Beskar will probably be at each others' throat this round. Some drama is always good. Beskar seems to get alot of votes, again. A lot to do about the question if mafia has townie pm's or not. TinCow probably feels like I felt in Midgard; just a plain old townie with a low batterating who won against a stronger opponent, right after a round where there was already some suspicion.

It really sucks if you're innocent, but coincidence make it look like there are facts pointing to your guilt.

In the meanwhile, both mafia and the last remaining traitor are doing very well by avoiding suspicion.

N6

Ninja team:
- students: kill Death is yonder, Haudegen, Captain Blackadder (succes)
- Master:Investigate Caius, woad&fangs, Rhyfelwyr (succeeds)
Traitors:
- Captain Blackadder: kill Husar
Shinobi (Banquo): investigate Tristan de Castelreng and Quintus.JC (succes!)
Takeda team:
- Husar : protect Sasaki
- gobbledygook: protect Sasaki
- glyphz : protect Sasaki
- Sasaki: remove White_Eyes:D vs. Sasaki

A very interesting night!

1) the first bodyguard, Husar, will die, 2) a cross kill will take out the last remaining traitor and 3) the Shinobi will detect his first ninja!

Town will be getting back on its' feet. Add to that the fact that Ichigo is apparently considered a suspect and all of the sudden, after several wasted lynches and duels, things look pretty good for the townies.

D6

Hmmm… GH is under suspicion because of his duel. The anger mentioned in the write-up was because Beefy and GH have challenged each other quite a few times (4 days in a row they had challenged each other) and thus it seemed fitting to reflect that in the write-up as if they were two samurai hating each other. As for the bow to Takeda, I didn't write that he did not bow, I just didn't mention it. That would be a bit too easy now.

Aha, AggonyDuck figured it out: CA is Sasaki's Kagemusha, but now he believes Sasaki is the ninja master. Both would make sense from an uninformed townie point of view. Good thinking, AggonyDuck Banquo revealed and decided to use his poison on Kukrikhan. Apparently, Banquo was getting afraid that he was going to get killed next night and decided to reveal. Might prove to be the correct path, but I'm unsure. I would have used the poison on Quintus.JC and continued investigating. However, on the other hand, if he would have it right about getting killed next night, his reveal was the correct move to get rid of a ninja, a possible suspect and have some confirmed innocents. Only time will tell.

No counterclaim, town believes Banquo and Quintus.JC will die. Oh well, was to be expected. Still three mafiosi left; Ichigo has gotten some attention from Sasaki but town hasn't really picked up on it. Yaropolk got some attention very early in the game but is flying under the radar since then. Dutch hasn't got many attention, but his lurking will make it difficult for him near the end. At this stage, I predict a close townie victory.
N7
Ninja team:
- students: kill Gobbledygook, glyphz, Banquo - Gobbledygook: failure; glyphz and Banquo: succes!
- Master:Investigate taka, Psychonaut, Phill (succeeds)
Shinobi (Banquo): investigate Ichigo & ajaxfetish - night killed: fail!
Takeda team:
- gobbledygook : protect Sasaki
- glyphz : protect Sasaki
- Sasaki: remove Sasaki vs. AggonyDuck

No surprises in Sasaki's orders. If Banquo would have survived, he would have found another ninja through investigation. Might prove critical later on. Alas, he dies tonight, so his investigations fail. With two ninja left, they have a 1/3 chance to kill a bodyguard on first attempt; if both kills succeeds, then tonight is a severe blow for town.

Ok, random.org decided: attack on Gobbledygook fails, attack on glyphz succeeds. White_Eyes:D will fight AggonyDuck. Kukri will die from the poison of the Shinobi. I wonder what kind of speculation this will cause

D7

Poor Wishazu, one moment of not paying attention and a whole bandwagon against him. It's a bit silly, he votes and challenges two innocents and he doesn't claim that he doesn't believe Banquo, so he clearly missed a couple of posts; probably skimmed the thread instead of reading everything. I hope the bandwagon gets reversed.

Kudos to ajaxfetish for post #1645, those were indeed the hints I intended. Alot of people have been looking and have been reading things that weren't there, but ajax detected the real clues! Cookies for ajax

Hm, Sasaki reveals as Shingen. Not sure if this is the best move. Not that it matters though, the ninja already figured it out. After several rounds, he finally gets back to Yaropolk. I hope for town that he sticks to that case like a bloodhound and manages to convince them to lynch him. Town seems a bit lazy though. Hmmm, nobody seems to believe Sasaki's reveal. I guess that's what you get if you have a reputation of making excellent fake reveals; nobody believes you when it's genuine

Now Seamus gets pressured. I guess that was to be expected. He's not posting much, hasn't got a lot of suspicion and is still alive. Wishazu must feel a bit embarrassed now. He votes Yaropolk. Will the ninja master survive this round? With 3 ninja alive, 24 players left, 3 kills a night and one dead by duel, they are in a winning position. If they manage to survive this round, then victory lies in their grasp. Yaropolk probably gets lynched soon or late, but Ichigo and Dutch seem to do well. Ichigo was on Sasaki's radar a while ago, but doesn't get much attention now.

Hmm, GeneralHankerchief's case seems to be that he reads too much in a certain remark from Seamus. What I don't understand is,why would Seamus give clues about his own guilt? Then again, it's easy for me to talk. I know everything And now Kage unvotes Ichigo. His instincts were sound though.

Kage, Kage, I hope you'll do that stubborn thing in the next round,you know, when you refuse to listen to whatever the rest is saying and vote a person because you think he's guilty. I've seen you doing that before and many times, you've been correct. A sudden change of heart of GH, an order from Sasaki and all jump off from the Seamus bandwagon on the Peasant Phill bandwagon. There never really was a case made against him, so I wonder what triggered this. Guess I'll only know after I post this write-up.

I wonder if Sasaki will use his one time suicide ability on the Yaropolk-atheotes duel. He has been suspicious about Yaro on several occasions.

N8
Ninja team:
- students:kill Gobbledygook, CountArach, Sasaki Kojiro : succes!
- Master: assist students: succes!
Takeda team:
- gobbledygook : protect Sasaki
- Sasaki: atheotes and Yaropolk must commit seppuku

A very interesting night! The ninja are going to take out the remaining bodyguard and both Takeda brothers. Without protection and with the master assisting the students, both Takeda brothers are sitting ducks. Sasaki is going to put his unique ability to good use. He will order Yaropolk and atheotes to commit seppuku. Nice; using the ability following his instincts. Yaropolk won't be happy. The loss of the master is a serious blow for the ninja, but with all pro-town roles dead, his investigation ability wasn’t needed anymore.

All remaining townies are just that: townies; no need for a master to assist in getting rid of those. 16 alive, two of them ninja: the format of a relatively small, classic mafia game; nice. Town can afford only one more mistake, if my calculations are right and assuming only townies will die in the inevitable duels. Ok, they may get lucky; after all, TinCow was “lucky” in defeating a stronger opponent.

Be careful townies…

D8

I wonder how they will react to the write-up. Oh no, Gregoshi thinks CA, the Kagemusha, was in fact the leader of the traitors. Ha, that would have been nice indeed, but no.

Many suspects. FactionHeir, Seamus Fermanagh, Yoyoma and Beskar seem to be the prime suspects. Mafia are flying under the radar pretty well, no real pressure on them whatsoever.

Alot of focus on BQ's list, plenty of speculating about what is going on, my write-ups get analysed as well. Yoyoma1910 stops speaking in haiku's and posts normally. His analysis of last nights events in post #1853 is pretty much spot on.

One thing is starting to bother me in all this analysis of write-ups and events: you don't catch scum with it. Why don't you guys spend more time on analysing behaviour, voting and challenging pattern. Ducky had a good point when he said mafia likely didn't challenge. Either mafia has normal scores and they won't risk fighting because they could die or they have high scores and that's also a reason not to risk dueling, to avoid detection. Oh well, it's easy for me standing on the sideline and knowing all roles of course, but still; all this speculating on the possible twists and plot is nice (and I'm a bit flattered by it, since it implies the story is ok), but it's usefulness for detecting scum is limited.

Night 9
Ninja team:
- students: kill Caius, Wishazu, White_Eyes:D (succes)

A “reveal” from Louis. Obviously fake, but apparently some seem to buy it. Frenchie is having fun.

Mafia kills three players that aren't really considered as suspects. Good choices for the end game. In addition, they kill the two players that where in a challenge against Beskar, thus attempting to frame him. Will it work? Only time will tell.

Seamus will have to fight GeneralHankerchief. GH wins easily.

Day 9

Ok, GH is going after Rhyfelwyr on a gut feeling. Unfortunately, your guts are mistaken this time, GH.

Yoyoma1910 is suspicious of Tiberius because of the Hour of the Ox thing. That’s just me wanting to have the story somehow plausable. Three ninja can do all their kills at the same hour, with two ninja, one of them has to run around. I believe I once had a ninja killing on a different hour, I believe when they killed shlin28, so that he could perform his kill before getting killed himself. The hour thing is just something for me to play with.

Next game, I’ll just say that they shouldn’t look for clues. There are some small clues, but sometimes they just hint at basically useless information. As a general note: I’ll always try to have my write-ups to be correct and plausable. If a ninja gets lynched, I won’t reveal his identity, but I’ll keep it vague or somehow written that you could interprete it as ambiguous, that’s all. Apparently, people are now seeing clues everywhere in my write-ups, as if they consist entirely out of clues.
Beskar’s guts are right about Ichigo. But he has not made himself very popular with his aggressive style, so I wonder if they will follow his instincts.
Haha, briljant Ichigo-defense: “Yay!”
Everybody is pointing fingers at everybody right now, but the mafia escape attention.
Aha, GH switches to Dutch. Your paranaio seems to serve you better than your guts this time. Dutch already has a vote from woad. My old sensei from Mafia VI will have to start paying attention. Ajax votes Dutch for no other reason than to “avoid voting small”. Ok, if Dutch dies this round, it’s really bad luck and a bit silly. But hey, that’s how it sometimes goes in mafia: town lynches scum in such a weird or silly way and don’t realize they are lynching scum sometimes.
Husar named the two remaining mafiosi in post #1945. Unfortunatley, Husar is not the type who goes prosecuting, convincing people to follow his lead. A pity. For town, that is.
Eh, Kage gets “angry” with the constant poems of Yoyoma. They’ll be at each other’s throat. Drama is always good for the mafia, they say, but in the meanwhile Dutch is still getting lynched as it stands now.
And again, Husar is right in post #1992 saying Ichigo should be lynched. Beskar is proving to be a distraction. His aggressive style is now really annoying his fellow townies and I wonder if they want to lynch him because he’s scum or just because they’ve had enough of it. I can understand Beskar’s style, it guarantees your survival, since the mafia won’t kill such obvious lynch bait; but in the end, the town will eventually lynch you, if only because they don’t like the aggressive tone. In this phase, it doesn’t help town. Now is the time to say that it was an act because you wanted to survive until the end game and go analysing. Build your case against Ichigo, go quote posts, make a lengthy post, convince people instead of implying they are stupid for voting a player who is on the innocent list.
Poor FactionHeir complaining about being ignored. Ironically, his complaints are being… ignored.
GH is getting nervous with the vote switch. Ok Dutch gets lynched.
“Now, where’s the clue?”, I hear you saying. TinCow was right, my clues are not really clues, it’s something you have to notice, a vagueness or ambiguity.
Here it is the line: “Fukuda Ayumu (Dutch_guy) would not become a name remembered by history as the name of a man who had died in the service of his Lord; since he died before him. He had failed.”
The name would not be remebered by history; I don’t say the condemned is Fukuda, no, I’m just saying the (cover) name will not be remembered.

N10

Ninja can’t make up their mind, apparently. Deadline has almost passed and still no orders. Will send reminder pm.
Ninja team:
- Ichigo: kills: ajaxfetish, Chimpyang, Tiberius of the Drake: succes.
Good choices, imo. Ichigo will have to duel Beskar though. With a score of 5 against Beskar’s 3, he should win. TinCow has proven that one can get lucky though. Ok, Ichigo wins easily, according to the dice. Tempted to make the write-up reflecting Beskar’s playstyle so far; don’t want to bring Ichigo in trouble though. Oh well, sorry Ichi, I hope they won’t lynch you for this, but this duel will be a bit different.
D10
Hm, woad seems to be a suspct, but there’s no real case being built against him. It seems like town is clueless. No pressure on Ichigo whatsoever, just a remark from the General that the fact that Ichigo hasn’t voted yet could be interpreted as a scumtale.
Nope, it’s going between Rhyfelwyr and woad&fangs and a little bit of suspicion on GH. Ichigo flies under the radar just fine. This will be a close ninja victory and a well deserved one. Congratulations guys!
N11
No need to do a write-up about N11, they’ll see how it ends. Well, unless they get upset by it being posted in three or four (five?) times and get over to Belgium to lynch me before I can make the final post

Thread: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Thread Tools

Display

Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Re: Swords in the Moon - Information and Summary thread

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions