Netherworld II [Concluded]

[Double A]

Yes, you see we often lynch people who don't post enough; we call them lurkers. But then, we also lynch people who post too much; we call them talkers.

We're not big on consistency.

Is that why you always get killed on D1?

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Double A is mafia.

[Sprig]

Double A is mafia.

Him and Chaotix.

[seireikhaan]

Sorry folks, I'm going to have to extend this 24 hours on my account. My profs are being mighty unkind upon my return.

[Double A]

Double A is mafia.

Probably.

[Beskar]

Has to be one of the more funny and insightful paragraphs in the book. It's a wealth of knowledge if you look at it right I own the huge version which is all the books combined into one.

Sometimes reading you is like reading myself. Are you my secret twin-brother?

[seireikhaan]

Computer ate the writeup. It'll be up in about 5 hours, got school stuff to do.

[seireikhaan]

Diamondeye lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. It seemed a good time for a rest. Things were quieting down, hopefully. The drab, brown ceiling was a bit depressing, but at least it wasn't so garish to prevent rest for the weary. He wasn't quite feeling up for sleep, but settled for resting his eyes for a second.


A second would be all Diamondeye would get. With a mighty bang, the door exploded behind the rearing kick of a white stallion, and was blown across the room. Sprinting behind the path made, an intruder brandished a sword with its right hand, while the left raised a buckler for protection. Diamondeye managed a haphazard roll to his right to avoid a downward slice. He grabbed his spear, which had been laid on a chair, and swiveled to face the intruder. The intruder charging, Diamondeye hopped to his left and attempted to bring a thrust around the raised shield. However, the intruder swung its blade upwards, smacking the spear amiss. It made impact with Diamondeye's chest with its buckler, driving him to the ground. Without hesitation, it brought the sword to bear on Diamondeye's neck, The strike wasn't clean, forcing the attacker to rip the blade out for three more blows to settle the matter once and for all.








In the swamp beyond the encampment's borders, a woman's head popped up from under the murkey water. She swiveled, checking the surroundings. Deciding all was clear, she ascended the shoreline on the lower bounds of the mountain, revealing a scaly, dark green, slithering lower body. Sliding along, holding her upper body aloft, she entered the cave entrance. She was taken off guard when an animal-headed humanoid leaped from the shadows, knife bore. At the last second, the two froze. Then stared incredulously at each other.


“Wait, he's in here too?” she asked it. It cocked its head for a second, then nodded. She raised an eyebrow, and the humanoid cocked its head to the side again. “Well... I suppose there's no harm in going together, I s uppose....” she muttered. Nodding, the humaoid turned and gestured that they move on. In the distance, a shimmering purple light could be seen. After nearly an hour of treking through the tunnel, the two seemed no closer, and had made zero progress. The humanoid was emitting a low growl. T'was then a deep voice rumbled throughout the cave.


“Oh, we have visitors! How nice, isn't it, little brother?” A child's voice rang out in response.


“Oooooh, yay! Yes, yes, its been so long! We might get friends, big brother! Its been ages since we've had anyone else to play with!” The woman frowned.


“Where are you!?” She demanded.


“We're just a bit further, pretty lady!” the child proclaimed. “Just go to the purple light!” Now severely annoyed, the woman turned to the one next to her, who was growling quite a bit louder now. Nevertheless, she put a hand on its shoulder, and motioned that they continue. After just a few seconds, a chilly, black fog misted around the two. Any sight from before vanished, but they marche forward a bit further. Then, suddenly, the fog was gone. In front of them stood a massive pyre, which was ablaze with a purple flame. “Come on, pretty lady, you're almost there!” The child encouraged. “Follow the purple light!”


Before she could object to the odd demand, the humanoid next to her let loose a snarl, then stomped straight up to the pyre's walkway, directly into the fire itself. Though the flames clearly licked at its heels, the woman's partner stood there, seething in anget at the whole situation. Hesitantly, she slithered forward, and reached a finger out to the flames. A flash blinded her, and a high pitched ringing richoted around the cavern.

Whens he came to, the humanoid stood before her, still very clearly angry. She got a hold of her surroundings. They were in a stone chamber, with seven alters laid in a circle around them. In the center of it was massive dais, at least ten feet tall. Atop it stood a stone golem, at least as tall as the dais itself. It wore a badly rusted mail hauberk. Riding atop it was a small, blond haired boy, his legs wrapped around the neck of the golem, its hands maintaining balance on the head. The boy wore a simple gray tunic and trousers.


“Yay, now we can have fun, right big brother?” the boy asked the golem.


“Yes, now we can have fun,” the golem responded. The humanoid finally lost its last thread of patience, and leaped up from the floor onto the dais. Growling loudly, it thrusted the knife at the golem. The golem raised a hand and grabbed the humanoid's arm, stopping the attack dead in its tracks. Th golem grabbed it at the neck with the other hand, then tossed it off the dais, landing back-first onto one of the altars. The woman was stunned at the brute force, but would not be intimidated. She slid up to the base of the dais, then uncoiled, scrambling her upper body onto the platform, then pulling the rest of her up. “Do you want to have fun too?” The golem asked her.


“I will have none of this nonsense!” She screamed. She charged it, taking first a swing with her clawed hands. When the golem grabbed her wrist, she was ready. She swung her lower body to the left, the scaled length wrapping around the golem. The end of it snapped around the neck of the boy. When the golem attempted to throw her off the dais, she kept her hold, and the boy came flying off with her. She skidded and rolled across the stone floor, while the boy was completely ragdolled.


“Little brother!” the golem rumbled. It jumped off the platform, resulting in a loud crash. The golem was not nimble enough to coordinate the jump, and it collapsed to the ground. The woman recouped and was treking for the boy, while the humanoid had jumped onto the back of the golem, stabbing at every point it could find. The child was still laying limp on the ground when the woman arrived. She reached back to gouge it with her claws, when it snapped its head 180 degrees to face her.


“Isn't this fun, big brother?” It called out. The woman was taken off guard. The golem, which was still flat on its face while an angry intruder stabbed at its joints, agreed.


“Yes, we haven't had this much fun in quite a while!” The woman hesitated for a moment. The backwards head of the boy just grinned at her. It was... off putting. She decided the best way to settle this would be to end it, now. She reached back once more, and gouged the boy in the back of the neck. She slashed, and cut, and cut, but that grin would not leave the boy's face....


Pop


She staggered for a second. The altar room was gone. The boy was gone, the golem, gone. In the stead of the altar room, they were in the meadow far to the northeast of the encampment. In the stead of the golem, with the humanoid still stabbing it, lay the remains of Sprig. In the stead of the boy's grin was what was left of Cultured Drizzt fan. The woman hissed, slashed at the remains one last time, then slid away in fumes at the whole debacle....













Alive: 22

A1_Unit
A completely inoffensive name
Andres
Atheotes
Beskar
CCRunner
Centurion1
Chaotix
Double A
johnhugthom
Jooray
Kralizec
pevergreen
Psychonaut
scottishranger
Scienter
Sigurd
Thermal Mercury
TinCow
Winston Hughes
woad&fangs
YLC


Slain: 14

A Very Super Market (N1)
Khazaar (N1)
White_eyes:D (N1)
Captain C (N2)
splitpersonality (N2)
slashandburn (N2)
Captain Blackadder (N3)
Peasant Phill (N3)
Yaropolk (N3)
Csargo (N3)
Beefy187 (N4)
Diamondeye (N5)
Cultured Drizzt fan (N5)
Sprig (N5)


Lynched: 4

Seon (D1)
Askthepizzaguy (D2)
GeneralHankerchief (D3)
Sasaki Kojiro (D4)








THE DAY PHASE BEGINS NOW! YOU HAVE 36 HOURS TO DISCUSS!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Jiminy cricket, finally got this finished at 2 am+...

[ULC]

Who is your friend Atheotes? She looked rather pretty. Vote: Atheotes

[TinCow]

This is a message for the guy riding the white horse who has made kill attempts on Nights 1, 3, 4, and 5. We have previously referred to you as Perseus, though in researching mythology there appear to be numerous roles which fit into the description of riding a white, winged horse. I have mentioned you before as a vigilante, but I am not seeing any caution or targeting whatsoever in your kills. I no longer believe you are a vigilante and have decided to treat you as an enemy of the town. If you ARE pro-town, it would be in your interests to contact me and explain yourself. If you are pro-town, I can provide you with information that will allow you to direct your attacks more accurately.

[johnhughthom]

Vote: Beskar

[ULC]

Vote: Beskar

Atheotes is obviously guilty - why are you voting for Beskar? This is very untowny like.

[Beskar]

It actually looks like Diamondeyes was innocent afterall , I am sorry Bakerboy for doubting you.

[Diamondeye]

[Scienter]

Atheotes is obviously guilty - why are you voting for Beskar? This is very untowny like.

What's your reasoning behind this?

[Thermal]

vote: choatix

[TinCow]

vote: choatix

Hey, that's my job!

------------------

Greetings, today's bandwagon will be on Chaotix.

1) Chaotix 'revealed' to me on Day 2 with a role that doesn't make a whole lot of sense from a game-balance and complexity level:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Hello, TinCow.

The way the votes are going this round, it is pretty likely you are going to be lynched, unless you feel you can wriggle your way out of it.

If you think you are going to die, then I suggest you reveal your true role to me before it becomes illegal to do so. If you really have a pro-town role, then it will probably benefit the town better for you to be alive than dead. I can make sure that you are brought back to life to help us again... but first I will need some convincing that you really are what you claim to be.

If you think you can survive without my help, then you don't have to tell me anything. But bringing you back to life if you die will have a cost to it, as well... and if I do not know that the gain will be greater than that, I will not attempt it.

-Chaotix

He gave more information on this role in later PMs to me. He claimed that his role had the power to raise the dead, but that in order to do so he had to take the life of another person who voluntarily consented to that deal. Since he has to sacrifice someone to bring another person back to life, it is totally useless to use his abilities on anyone other than a pro-town role.

This role doesn't seem to fit 'khaan's games IMO. 'khaan's role PMs are minimalist in nature and he learned in Netherworld I with the Lucifer role that excessive complexity caused problems. This role requires Chaotix to (1) find a pro-town role (2) have the pro-town role be dead and (3) find a townie who is willing to voluntarily die. That's pretty convoluted, especially when you consider that the role has no ability to find pro-town roles. As such, the only people this role can reliably resurrect are dead pro-town roles whose identities are publicly known. If the identity is publicly known, that pro-town role is just going to get killed again immediately. Basically, Chaotix's claimed role is incredibly difficult to use and useless except in a very few select situations. It's not realistic and I don't believe it.

2) Chaotix's role gives him a legitimate excuse for digging for pro-town role identities. Since resurrecting townies is worthless based on the sacrifice requirement, it's only useful for pro-town roles. So, he can ask for the IDs of these people all over the place. He subtly probed me for pro-town role IDs on a few occasions with this excuse.

3) Chaotix worked very hard to keep Sasaki from being lynched:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Hey, Tincow,

I know this is a sudden change, but I just had an idea that could make Sasaki useful to us, even if he is a mafioso.

I've offered him a deal: his life now, in exchange for it later when I need to revive a pro-town role. Basically the same that I did with Winston Hughes, but with a higher priority should the opportunity arise.

I realize that you may not want to support this, but I would very much appreciate it. If I don't have your help, then Sasaki will get lynched no matter what- so the plan is an insta-fail if you don't, which is better than it working and then me not having your support later.

If you choose to help me out, could you also ask Garuda to protect me for the following night phase? The chances are that, if Sasaki is mafia, he will attempt to kill me before I can sacrifice him. If I had Garuda protecting me, then we could lynch Sasaki if he did attack, and if you die because you didn't have protection, I could bring you back to life with Winston.

If Sasaki really is innocent, then there will be no problems, and you and the other power roles will have gained another "extra life".

-Chaotix

How do you know Sasaki will actually cooperate?

Well, that's why I'm waiting on his answer via PM. If he refuses, then we can just lynch him.

But it's probably in his best interest, whichever role he is, to accept.

Right, but how can you know he'll really accept, even if he says he does. Presumably he could tell you yes, and tell 'khaan no.

Well, the assumption is that if he kills one of us, the town will lynch him. If he's really a townie, there's no reason for him not to do so; he knows that dying to bring back a pro-town would serve in the town's favor. So, if he tricks me at some point and refuses, we still will have caught a mafioso. It's a risk I'm willing to take.

What's more, I'm going to lead him on and make him believe it's a "blood contract", as an added security.

He's also just contacted me, and has accepted the offer. What will you do?

I've got to be honest, I don't think this is a good idea. If Sasaki is mafia, he gets to live and kill again and he won't honor the deal. If he's town, he's still Sasaki and I don't think he'll voluntarily sacrifice himself. In addition, if we let Sasaki walk here it'll be harder to get the votes on him again later. If you can persuade people to change their votes, I won't try to stop it, but I'm keeping mine where it is.

That said, you have indeed made yourself very vulnerable with this move. I will discuss the situation with the doctor and see who he thinks should be protected.

Thanks. By the way, Sasaki agreed again, even when I told him it was a blood contract. I think he is indeed willing to sacrifice himself, if he gets to live now.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Hello, Sasaki.

The way the votes are going this round, it is pretty likely you are going to be lynched, unless you feel you can wriggle your way out of it.

If you think you are going to die, then I suggest you reveal your true role to me before it becomes illegal to do so. If you really have a pro-town role, then it will probably benefit the town better for you to be alive than dead. I can make sure that you are brought back to life to help us again... but first I will need some convincing that you really are what you claim to be.

If you think you can survive without my help, then you don't have to tell me anything. But bringing you back to life if you die will have a cost to it, as well... and if I do not know that the gain will be greater than that, I will not attempt it.

-Chaotix

I'm not a pro town role. Plain townie.

Sasaki

How about a deal, Sasaki?

You're claiming that you're a basic townie. In that case, it's senseless for us to lynch you. There are far more useful things you can do then get lynched. So here is my proposal:

If I can get the town to pass you up for a better candidate, then you must pledge that you will allow me to use your life at a later point in the game. You would serve the town much better if you died in order to bring a pro-town role back to life.

What do you say?

Sure, I'll die to bring back a pro town.

Sasaki

I'll see what I can do, but the town doesn't trust me, either, and I can't make any promises.

Just a precaution- by giving me this consent, you are signing a "blood contract". Once you have agreed, you cannot take it back once I need you. That being said, are you still going to proceed?

Yes. Are you protected enough that you can explain to the town?

Sasaki

And now that I've basically got him believing this, as long as I am kept alive, if he tries anything I can sacrifice him and he'll believe he must go along with it.

I'm actually starting to believe he's telling the truth now. Would he go this far if he was a mafioso? If he knew he was going to be used to bring back a pro-town role, even if he survived, would he go along with it?

In that situation, I would take death without bringing back a pro-town if I were mafia

If I were him, I'd go along with it when facing certain death by lynching.

That was a lot of work to save Sasaki under the circumstances. Why would a pro-town role risk his neck to save someone who was either (1) a mafioso or (2) a townie? The reason Chaotix gave was that Sasaki 'agreed' to be a sacrifice later in the game to resurrect a dead pro-town role to be named later. Who in their right mind would trust anyone, let alone Sasaki, to fulfill that bargain under these circumstances?

Also note that the PM Chaotix sent to Sasaki is identical to the one he sent me when I was about to be lynched. Chaotix has told me he made a similar deal with Winston Hughes on Day 1:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Alright, I was on the verge of doing a reveal to save Sasaki, but I decided it wasn't worth it in the end.

Sasaki's not going to get any more help from me; I can't continue to risk my own neck for him, whether or not he is a townie is irrelevant on that point. He's going to get lynched, and I won't be happy, but it's the only sensible option at this point in the round.

Chances are whatever effort I might have made wouldn't have amounted to enough turnover votes anyway. I might have even gotten myself lynched.

In any case, I only have 1 townie that I can use on the spot to revive a pro-town, and that's Winston Hughes, whom I saved on Day 1. If you know or believe any more players to be basic townies, please let me know when I might need them. This business of saving townies from the brink of a lynch is not really working on my end.

Essentially, Chaotix would have us believe he's a pro-town role who's voluntarily revealing his identity to every single person we choose to lynch. That's possibly the world's worst survival strategy for a pro-town role.

4) After the end of Day 3, I told Chaotix that I trusted him and gave him a secret code so that if I died I could ID pro-town roles to him in the thread without anyone noticing (since I have otherwise refused to give him pro-town role IDs for security purposes). On Night 4, I was attacked for the first time by the mafia. Looks like the mafia wanted me to use that code.

5) I roleblocked Chaotix on N5, and Yama did not kill for the first time in the game. Note that Yama's absense is not accounted for by Sasaki's death, because Yama appeared on N4, when I was blocking Sasaki.

Vote: Chaotix

[Andres]

but I just had an idea that could make Sasaki useful to us, even if he is a mafioso.

Really now, Chaotix. Mafiosi are lynched, period. If you're townie, you don't "use" them for whatever purpose, you take them out, period.

Vote : Chaotix

[woad&fangs]

wow

vote: chaotix

That sounds like a VERY good case against him.

[Scienter]

Busted!

Vote:Chaotix

[GeneralHankerchief]

[Beskar]

Never try to cross TinCow, he isn't the best and undefeated Lawyer in Washington DC for nothing.

Vote: Chaotix

[ULC]

And so the master plan begins....Vote:Chaotix

[Thermal]

Hey, that's my job!

------------------

Nonsense, without my vote you wouldn't have had the power to create such a wonderful case.

[Winston Hughes]

Chaotix did tell me about this supposed ability of his, and asked me if I would be prepared to give up my life to save someone more useful to the town cause. Frankly, I thought he was just testing me to see my reaction, and said that I would (which was true only to the extent that I would die to save someone who I knew to have a useful ability).

Since his death now seems assured (and fully deserved), I won't jump on the bandwagon right now. Instead, I'd going to vote: johnhughthom once more, in the hope that he'll give some reason for his latest unexplained vote.

[Double A]

Since when would Sasaki agree to die as a plain townie?

Faking PM's + faking role = scumtell

vote: Chaotix

[Sasaki Kojiro]

This is stupid, give chaotix a chance to demonstrate his power. If he's lying it will be proven.

[Askthepizzaguy]

I'm still waiting for the other person to explain WHY I AM DEAD.

[woad&fangs]

This is stupid, give chaotix a chance to demonstrate his power. If he's lying it will be proven.

Fine. I offer my life to revive ATPG.

[Askthepizzaguy]

I don't want to be revived.

I just want to know why I'm dead, that's all. I want SOMEONE to explain why I ended up dying, when it was an ENORMOUS surprise to ME.