Mafia IX: Information and summary thread

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 789 of main thread.

Day breaks in the Frontroom. All is quiet. However, this was not to be the case for very long, as the mafioso once again started the engine of his white van.

*ding dong*

Secura opened the door with a puzzled look on her face. "Yes?" she asked.

"Meals on Wheels," the deliveryman said. "Here's your day's delivery, ma'am." He held out a couple of delicious-smelling prepackaged platters, one of which looked like something Italian inside. The expression he wore was perfectly legitimate, which only served to add to Secura's confusion. After nearly a week of door-to-door killings, he was getting pretty good at this.

"Thanks, but I never signed up for this program. I'm quite capable of fending for myself, food-wise, actually."

Now, of course, the deliveryman launched into his usual routine of there being a clerical mixup, so why not take advantage of the error. "Hmm, there must have been a clerical mixup," he said. "Why not take advantage of the error? I mean, this *is* your address and you *are* Secura, right?" He passed her an official-looking piece of paper.

Secura was wavering. "Well, I mean, it's definitely me, so I don't know how you guys got my name, but I definitely didn't sign up for this... is that Italian?" she said, eying one of the platters.

"Indeed it is," the deliveryman confirmed.

That was enough for Secura. "Well, who am I to pass up a free meal? Come on in, let's eat!" The deliveryman nodded, and, smirking, followed Secura in. "Italian first," she said. "Might as well satisfy my craving for it." She opened the platter to find a glorious heaping of pasta.

"Hmm, seems like everything's in order," she said, taking in the scent of her unexpected meal. "Do I provide my own cheese?"

"Ah, no," the deliveryman said, "my apologies. I forgot to include it earlier. I was in a rush for time, you see, so I just grabbed a block of it and hoofed it out." He stopped talking and set the block of Parmesan on the table.

"Unfortunately, I don't have a grater," said Secura. "Sorry to be such a pest, but do you have one of those as well?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," said the mafioso, whipping out the cheese grater and, before Secura could do anything, knocking her over the head with it. She crumbled to the floor, out cold.

The mafioso paused, unsure of what to do for the first time. He stopped, stared at the grater, stared at Secura, and stared at the grater again. "How in God's name am I supposed to kill anybody with a cheese grater?" he said out loud, and then stared at Secura again. He was truly and totally puzzled about where to go from here.

A couple of minutes passed, and the mafioso stood there, still without any ideas. Having nothing better to do, he sat down and started eating the pasta. It was pretty good, but he wasn't quite in the mood for carbs. It was still too early in the day. Getting up from the table, he walked around the kitchen, stepping around Secura, examining the artwork on her wall. Most of it was standard still lifes, nothing really standing out. There were apples on the windowsill. He started opening the cabinets at random, and then counting the number of seconds that elapsed between the oven clock changing minutes and his watch doing the same.

Finally, some movement. Secura was starting to stir. Panicked, the mafioso let instinct take over and just shoved the cheese grater in her mouth. Reaching into his bag, he grabbed the staple gun he had used before and attached her arms to the floor. "Sorry," he muttered before leaving. "If it's any consolation, I'll use a better weapon tomorrow."

A few lonely townspeople had gathered together in the Frontroom bar to drown their sorrows and talk about the glory days. It was only morning, but a few of them were already long into it. Depression, after all, is a great motivator for certain types of activity.

Aside from the emotional reasons of gathering together in a time of crisis, there was also a logical one: safety in numbers. So far, every single one of the mafioso's attacks had been on an isolated target. If the trend held, then all of the bar patrons would be safe. So there they sat, drinking the day away, knowing that their collective solitude would not be disturbed.

Suddenly, the doors burst open. "OH MY GOD IT'S A MAFIOSO RIDING A MAD COW AND CARRYING AN OLD WEST GUN!!!" the mafioso bellowed, firing said gun into the air a few times for added effect.

Everybody spit out their drink in surprise. More than a few people even soiled themselves in shock and fear. After a second though, everyone started running, bolting in every conceivable direction. The mafioso, though, was too concerned about theatrics for the moment to actually care about catching his prey... yet. He was still adding to the effect.

Finally, once the last few of them drew closer to the bar's exit, the mafioso stopped posturing and begun his chase. "HYAW, BESSIE!" he shouted, turning his cow towards the door. Slapping her side, Bessie began galloping towards the exit, her bell clanging just as the last of the patrons exited the bar. She kicked the door open again, and the mafioso and his, er, steed were out in the open air. He quickly scanned the roads, looking for people. The closest group was headed east, and he thus urged Bessie to go that way.

Bessie mooed.

The group, seeing this, picked up their speed, not wanting to be the mafioso's victim. "Come on!" one of them urged. "We can't let this happen!" But alas, it was not to be. One of the group, Beskar, tripped over a loose piece of gravel and was sent sprawling to the ground. As luck would have it, he landed awkwardly, twisting his ankle. Beskar wasn't doing any more running.

"Come on, people!" he yelled, pleading for help. "Don't leave me here!" The rest of the people in the group, feeling sick to their stomach, had to ignore his pleas for their own safety. It was a riff on the ageless adage: I don't have to outrun the mafioso riding the mad cow, I just have to outrun you.

Beskar felt a rope go around his person. The mafioso, adding insult to injury, had decided to lasso him. "Entirely unnecessary," he said as the mafioso and Bessie trotted by.

"Silence," the mafioso said, dismounting his cow. "Dinner is served, Bessie!" The mad cow mooed appreciatively and opened her maw wide.

Later that day, Chief of Police Lemur gathered everybody in the Frontroom Square in order to make an announcement.

"All right everyone," he said, "There have been two more kills today, both of them pretty weird. I think for everyone's sakes, both for our lives and the fact that we don't want to be subject to the whims of a clearly ridiculous organization, we should persist and kill the mafia quickly. Good luck!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Still alive: (16)
Sasaki Kojiro
Askthepizzaguy
Beefy187
Methos
Kagemusha
Subotan
Captain Blackadder
Joooray
pevergreen
Renata
Thermal Mercury
Ibn-Khaldun
woad&fangs
Psychonaut
TinCow
Reenk Roink

Wrath of God:
Cultured Drizzt fan

Killed:
Crazed Rabbit
Andres
atheotes
Double A
Centurion1
Csargo
Winston Hughes
johnhughthom
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
White_eyes:D
Secura
Beskar

Executed:
Diamondeye
Chaotix
Yaseikhaan
Sigurd
shlin28

[GeneralHankerchief]

Tie vote between TinCow and pevergreen. You guys know the drill. See you in 24 hours.

Day 6 tally:
TinCow: 5 (Joooray, Thermal, Ibn, Kage, Reenk)
pevergreen: 5 (Sasaki, TinCow, ATPG, Subotan, Renata)
Askthepizzaguy: 2 (Methos, pever)
Kagemusha: 1 (Blackadder)
Sasaki Kojiro: 1 (Beefy)
Thermal Mercury: 1 (Psychonaut)

Abstained: 1 (woad&fangs)
Didn't vote: Nobody!

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 943 of main thread.

It was a very odd scene in the Frontroom indeed on the evening of the 6th day of voting. The early part of the day was its usual chaotic self, with several votes being thrown around in multiple different directions. As always though, eventually two clear favorites were established: TinCow and pevergreen. And so the usual posturing and politicking began.

When the day ended, though, Chief of Police Lemur informed everybody that the vote was tied between the two and thus the proceedings were not over. So, the ritual began anew, with the town starkly divided between the two candidates. One of the main divisions seemed to be that there was a solid voting bloc beginning to form that included TinCow, and that for the good of the town it needed to be broken up. However, this was countered by statements saying that voting blocs were needed to overcome the mafia and forcibly lynch them.

All of a sudden, though, the day shifted to the realm of the weird when pevergreen took the stand and made a passionate case... for his own lynching. He argued fervently that he was the better candidate for the lynch and that the town would be best served if he was no longer around. Naturally, this puzzled some townies, so much so that pever's case probably didn't have the desired effect. Indeed, when Lemur closed voting the second time, there was still a tie.

"Oh, for Pete's sake," said TinCow, taking matters into his own hands. "pever's lying, *I'm* the better lynch candidate. Therefore, I'll take it upon myself to cast the deciding vote!"

Everybody watched in awe as the clearly insane TinCow ran up to the execution platform and began pouring oil all over his body.

"There will be no tomb for TinCow," he began muttering. "No long, slow sleep of death embalmed. I shall burn, like the heathen kings of old. Bring wood and oil!"

"Uh, TinCow, we already have both," Lemur said, clearly pointing out the wood and oil.

"Silence!" TinCow commanded. "You are ruining the moment! Such is the doom of man!" Now fully drenched in oil, he struck a match. Instantly engulfed in flames, he ran off screaming, all the way to the edge of the Frontroom Courtyard where he dropped 1,000 feet to the ground below as the forces of Mordor were continuing their assault where he finally burned out, leaving the rest of the Frontroom to scratch their heads, wondering what on Earth had just happened.

Day 6a tally:
TinCow: 7 (Ibn, Kage, Thermal, Reenk, Methos, Joooray, TinCow)
pevergreen: 5 (Renata, Sasaki, ATPG, Subotan, pever)

Abstained: 2 (Psychonaut, Beefy)
Didn't vote: 2 (Blackadder, woad)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Still alive: (15)
Sasaki Kojiro
Askthepizzaguy
Beefy187
Methos
Kagemusha
Subotan
Captain Blackadder
Joooray
pevergreen
Renata
Thermal Mercury
Ibn-Khaldun
woad&fangs
Psychonaut
Reenk Roink

Wrath of God:
Cultured Drizzt fan

Killed:
Crazed Rabbit
Andres
atheotes
Double A
Centurion1
Csargo
Winston Hughes
johnhughthom
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
White_eyes:D
Secura
Beskar

Executed:
Diamondeye
Chaotix
Yaseikhaan
Sigurd
shlin28
TinCow

It is now Night 7! Orders due tomorrow at 17:00 US Eastern.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 951 of main thread.

Day breaks in the Frontroom. All is quiet. The white van had pulled up to yet another house, picking another target.

*ding dong*

Joooray opened the door, staring at the mafioso.

"Mafioso," the mafioso said simply, trying a different tactic. "I'm here to bludgeon you to death with a rolling pin and then flatten you."

"Okay, come on in," Joooray said, obviously taking some time to process what had just been said to him. "Kitchen's on the lef-wait, what?" That was as far as he was able to get, as the mafioso, true to his word, had taken out a rolling pin and started beating Joooray with it.

"Hey! Ow! Quit it!" Joooray screamed in protest, trying to back away from the mafioso but never quite succeeding. Desperate to gain some distance, Joooray searched around the room for something, anything, that could be used in self-defense. The best thing he came up with was a flowerpot. "Better than nothing," he muttered, still taking a vicious beating from the rolling pin. He gripped the pot and chucked it at the mafioso, who had to pause and break the incoming pot apart with his rolling pin.

This diversion provided Joooray all the separation he needed, as he sprinted upstairs and out of sight. The mafioso, deciding that a slow and deliberate pursuit was more psychologically prudent in this situation, slowly made his way up the stairs, calling out for Joooray. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," he said, in one of the single-most tired cliches in existence. "You can't hide from my rolling pin!" he said, his voice rising. "It only stops beating you once you're dead, and you ain't dead yet! Do not deprive the rolling pin of justice, Joooray!"

Finally, something snapped. Joooray leaped into view from seemingly nowhere and tackled the mafioso. Together the two of them tumbled down the stairs, Joooray landing on top. After delivering one solid punch to the jaw, Joooray scrambled to get up and ran out the door, in the direction of the mafioso's van.

"Think I'll drive this right up to the police station!" he called out gloatingly, for the mafioso had no chance of catching up to him. "Surely Lemur will be able to find something in there that points to you! Have fun getting your neck measured!" he cried, turning the key and jamming the gas pedal, speeding out of sight.

The mafioso calmly took a detonator out of his pocket and pressed the button. He could hear the explosion and see a brief flash of light. Strolling up the street a couple houses, he came upon the ruins of his van and Joooray, mortally wounded but still alive, sprawled out on the ground, coughing and panting.

Kneeling on the ground, the mafioso wordlessly proceeded to hit Joooray with the rolling pin until he finally expired.

Later in the day, pevergreen had decided to visit the Frontroom zoo. The animals still seemed to be well cared-for despite the rapid drop in the town's human population, and for this pever was glad. An animal lover at heart, pever hated to see suffering of any kind. Indeed, the various animal noises soothed him. The majestic roar of the lion, the thunderous growl of the bear, the incessant call of the howler monkey, the somewhat demented-sounding "moo" of the cow...

...waitaminute, that last part can't be right, thought pever. There were obviously no cows at the zoo. pever put it out of his mind as he kept walking. He was at the elephant exhibit now, marveling at the sheer power that was their trunks, the prehistoric wonder of their ivory tusks, their somewhat demented mooing sound...

...there it was again. Now officially disturbed, pever began walking at a brisk pace not coincidentally towards the zoo's exit. He thought he was home free, but passing through the bird exhibit, he heard a distinctly un-avian moo. This is when pever decided to abandon all shreds of dignity and flat-out ran for the exit.

He didn't get very far though. A dart of some kind had pierced his neck. pever stopped and reached up to pull it out, but before he did he crumpled to the ground. Struggling to get a good look at his predator before he lost consciousness, he saw a man in a cowboy hat riding a clearly mad cow. The man looked down and regarded pever with curiosity.

"You know, the signs all say not to feed the animals. However, they only apply in the actual exhibits. You, my friend, are on the zoo's main path and thus fair game. Dinner is served, Bessie!"

The last thing pever heard before losing consciousness for good was a very appreciative "moo".

Later that day, Chief of Police Lemur gathered the remaining villagers in the Frontroom Square in order to make an announcement.

"All right everyone," he began, "Look, the mafia have been here for a week and we still haven't gotten rid of them yet. Their influence is clearly felt. Nobody trusts one another anymore and our numbers are almost in the single digits. For everyone's sake, start getting this right!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Still alive: (13)
Sasaki Kojiro
Askthepizzaguy
Beefy187
Methos
Kagemusha
Subotan
Captain Blackadder
Renata
Thermal Mercury
Ibn-Khaldun
woad&fangs
Psychonaut
Reenk Roink

Wrath of God:
Cultured Drizzt fan

Killed:
Crazed Rabbit
Andres
atheotes
Double A
Centurion1
Csargo
Winston Hughes
johnhughthom
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
White_eyes:D
Secura
Beskar
Joooray
pevergreen

Executed:
Diamondeye
Chaotix
Yaseikhaan
Sigurd
shlin28
TinCow

Voting will close at 17:00 US Eastern, although I may not be around then due to a train ride that day (I'm going home for Easter). If that's the case, keep voting until I expressly close it.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 1040 of main thread.

A chill wind blew through Frontroom Square as the day's voting proceedings were wrapping up. The more superstitious among the remaining townspeople attributed this to the fact that there were exactly thirteen of them left; a bad omen indeed. Out of those thirteen, one or more traitors lurked among them, being their comrades in the day but plotting to kill them once the sun went down.

Nevertheless, the voting continued.

Perhaps inspired by Chief of Police Lemur's speech, the villagers had finally decided to adapt a serious tone in their discussions, realizing that there was no more time to dawdle. The thirteen of them being left, aside from being a bad omen, was also indicative of how close the townspeople were edging to extinction. There weren't that more days for them to get things right, and they all knew it. Cases started to get more serious, accusations started to get more sober, and tempers started to run high.

However, not all of the town was fully ingratiated into this "buckle down" mode, at least not yet. This was evidenced by them choosing to lynch the person who had the biggest - but not necessarily the most accurate - case against him: Methos.

Methos, for his part, took to his defense with gusto, but was perhaps a little bit too shrill and not logical enough. For the most part, his arguments consisted of him shrilly screaming that certain townspeople had too much power and they shouldn't be blindly followed in case they were the ones who were leading the town astray.

"You people need to think for yourselves!" he cried out. "Stop following the loudest people because it's convenient! Our lives are all at stake here! Convenience doesn't mean squat when you're six feet under! Think, people! THINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"All right, that's enough," said Lemur, putting an end to Methos's diatribe. "A select group of townies may have all the power, but I'm still Chief of Police here, which means I'm still in charge of the executions. And for today, I've used my knowledge of physics to devise what I hope will be a particularly entertaining execution for you all."

Lemur paused for a second, directing everyone's attention to the execution platform. "As you may be able to notice, the platform is weighted. This is because I have made some minor adjustments to it overnight. Below the platform, out of sight, is a rope that is only kept taut because of the weight. If left slack, it will no longer hold up the pile of rocks I have positioned on the building above, meaning the rocks will come tumbling down and crush the life out of Methos. However, there is one way you can prolong your life, my friend. My modifications have also taken into account short bursts of weight to keep you going. Therefore, you shall dance to a progressively faster rendition of 'Yakety Sax', staying with the beat of course. If you stop dancing, or don't keep up with the beat, then it's rock pile time. But since I'm so magnanimous, I'll allow you to go free if you can survive the entire song. So... let's get dancing!"

Lemur queued up the song and nervously, Methos started to dance, doing his best to keep up in time with the classic saxophone-driven song from Benny Hill. However, this was no easy task. It started out difficult, and, as the song wore on and sped up, became impossible. Methos was able to last for a little over two minutes before he finally tired out. Everyone, Methos included, looked up as they heard the sounds of the pile of rocks being shifted.

However, they did not fall on Methos. Instead, they fell on a large block of wood jutting out from one of the platform's sides. This wood was obviously connected with the part of the platform that Lemur had modified, for Methos was sent flying dozens of feet into the air.

"Pull!" Lemur yelled, and then, taking aim at Methos, blew him out of the sky with a hunting rifle that had appeared from seemingly nowhere.

"What?" he said, not looking even remotely sheepish to the rest of the town. "I'm going duck hunting in a couple of days and this is good practice! What are you all looking at! Go home!"

Day 7 tally:
Methos: 6 (ATPG, Renata, Blackadder, woad, Beefy, Ibn)
woad&fangs: 2 (Sasaki, Methos)
Beefy187: 1 (Kage)
Sasaki Kojiro: 1 (Subotan)
Askthepizzaguy: 1 (Reenk)
Renata: 1 (Thermal)
Thermal Mercury: 1 (Psychonaut)

Abstained: 0
Didn't vote: 0

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Still alive: (12)
Sasaki Kojiro
Askthepizzaguy
Beefy187
Kagemusha
Subotan
Captain Blackadder
Renata
Thermal Mercury
Ibn-Khaldun
woad&fangs
Psychonaut
Reenk Roink

Wrath of God:
Cultured Drizzt fan

Killed:
Crazed Rabbit
Andres
atheotes
Double A
Centurion1
Csargo
Winston Hughes
johnhughthom
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
White_eyes:D
Secura
Beskar
Joooray
pevergreen

Executed:
Diamondeye
Chaotix
Yaseikhaan
Sigurd
shlin28
TinCow
Methos

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 1051 of main thread.

Day breaks in the Frontroom. All is quiet. The white van, obliterated as part of necessity in yesterday's murder, had been replaced. The mafioso's new vehicle mooed as she sauntered down the street.

*ding dong*

Beefy187 opened the door, staring past the mafioso, instead at Bessie. "That's a very... interesting cow," he said, perhaps seeing something in common with Bessie. "Anyway, what can I help you with?"

"Salesman," the mafioso said, taking out a giant pot from behind him. "I'm here to sell giant pots as a representative of, uh, the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Yeah, that's it. If you buy a pot, you get to help a dying child's greatest wish come true. Could I interest you in a demonstration?"

"Well, I don't really need a giant pot," said Beefy, "but I'd like nothing more than to put a smile on a child's face. After all, with so many horrible things happening the world, I like to think there's a little good out there."

"That's the spirit," said the salesman, stepping into the house uninvited. "As a matter of fact, you'll learn that giant pots can be quite useful, especially if cooking for a large quantity of people. Ultimately they save stove space and even make for more uniform meals, since the quality of the food in question is less dependent on each individual pot's quirks and composition. Here, let me show you what can happen with certain types of foods. My first example will by cheese fondue, provided by the lovely Miss Bessie who is currently parked outside."

"Ooh, sounds tasty," said Beefy.

"It is," agreed the salesman. "You'll also find that, contrary to science, it doesn't take as long as you'd expect to fully boil items due to the large surface area. That's another quality about the pot that I think you'll particularly enjoy. See, look, the fondue's already starting to heat up," the salesman said. "Why don't you lean over there and really get a good look at it... yeah, that's good, a little more..."

When Beefy had fully invested himself in determining the current state of the cheese fondue, the mafioso, whistling a little tune, calmly gave Beefy a little push and sent him tumbling into the giant pot, where he boiled at a rather quick pace along with the rest of the fondue.

Deep underground, Captain Blackadder was slaving away at his pet project. Relatively quiet and uninvested in the town's larger concerns, Blackadder had more important things on his mind. The Frontroom's particle accelerator, far larger than the Large Hadron Collider, would finally be operating at full capacity today after years of preparation. What importance was a few deaths when compared the the potential discovery of the Higgs-Bosun and the revelation of the greatest mysteries of the universe?

"Powering up," he said to himself, reading off the notifications on his computer screen, "all systems operational, wait, what? Fatal error in Quadrant 13? What could possibly be going on over there?" He tried to work around it, but the computer simply refused to allow the accelerator to operate while the problem in Quadrant 13 went unresolved. Grumbling to himself, Blackadder got in his cart and drove off to the quadrant in question.

Upon arrival, he immediately saw the problem: Someone had drilled a man-sized hole in the actual accelerator, which naturally caused the computer to abort the operation. As he stared at the hole in puzzlement, he did not notice the mafioso approaching him from behind with a frying pan, whacking him in the back of the head. Blackadder crumpled to the ground, momentarily unconscious. Using this time wisely, the mafioso quickly picked Blackadder up and stuffed him into the hole, managing to weld it shut right before Blackadder woke up.

After banging on the metal a few times, Blackadder realized it was useless and took in his surroundings. After all his work in helping the particle accelerator become operational, Blackadder had never quite been in the inside. It was here, after all, in the bowls of the accelerator itself where the science would be done, and perhaps, history would be made...

He heard a low hum, progressively getting louder. It was then, Blackadder realized, that there were some drawbacks to witnessing history up close. As a matter of fact, these were the very last thoughts that went through his head before two separate atoms smashed into him simultaneously, both traveling at the beyond-fatal 99.999999% of light speed.

Later that day, Chief of Police Lemur gathered everyone in the Frontroom Square in order to make an announcement.

"All right everyone," he said, "Here's where we're at. We're down to ten left. Assuming the usual pattern of their being two kills per night holds, you have three rounds to get this right before we're all wiped out. Hopefully, it won't get down to that, but that's where we're at. Good luck, and may the Force be with you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Still alive: (10)
Sasaki Kojiro
Askthepizzaguy
Kagemusha
Subotan
Renata
Thermal Mercury
Ibn-Khaldun
woad&fangs
Psychonaut
Reenk Roink

Wrath of God:
Cultured Drizzt fan

Killed:
Crazed Rabbit
Andres
atheotes
Double A
Centurion1
Csargo
Winston Hughes
johnhughthom
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
White_eyes:D
Secura
Beskar
Joooray
pevergreen
Beefy187
Captain Blackadder

Executed:
Diamondeye
Chaotix
Yaseikhaan
Sigurd
shlin28
TinCow
Methos

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Announcement: Mafia IX has officially entered the endgame phase (yes, I have official designations). Until the game ends, the following rule changes will be in effect:

- Abstain is no longer allowed; you must vote for a living target in order for your vote to be registered as valid.
- WoGs are still in effect, so there are still no free rides.
- The "make or break" round, if there is one, will be extended to 48 hours, as is customary.

This round will most likely be 24 hours, however, there is a chance it will be extended to 36 depending on how tired I feel tomorrow night. I'll let you know closer to the deadline.

Best of luck to all parties!

[GeneralHankerchief]

Post 1149 of main thread.

Sunset.

It had been a long and trying day for Subotan, not to mention the rest of the week-plus. He had been dodging mafia assaults and villager attempts to get himself lynched, and, it seemed like he was finally going to settle in and buckle down; be a vital contributor to the town's final push to save themselves. Of course, that was right when the hammer fell.

The town's wisest scholars and most trusted voices had named him as the mafioso, building the best case they could against him. The votes, in turn, followed, and Subotan was left gibbering, doing his best not to simply repeat Methos's argument of the day before. He realized that this wouldn't do anything to dissuade the town from lynching him, though, and as the day wore on instead tried a different tactic.

Poring through the Frontroom Library, Subotan returned at sunset carrying a mountain of books. Several of them looked quite ancient, dating all the way back to 2006. This method was unorthodox for sure, but he figured it was his best shot of staying alive and avoiding whatever sick and twisted and diabolical lynch mechanism the Chief of Police had dreamed up for him.

"Okay, Subotan," Lemur said, "The jig is up. It's time."

"No," said Subotan, "Your jig is up, Chief, or should I say, Mister Former Mafioso!" Everybody gasped in shock. "Is it true?" someone cried out.

"Oh, it's true," replied Subotan, taking out one of the thinner, older-looking tones. "It's all right here in the Frontroom Chronicles, if you know where to look for it. Looks like Lemur tried to disguise his past by putting it in the absolute last place anybody would look for it - a library - but he didn't hide it well enough! Behold, ladies and gentlemen of the Frontroom, the truth shall set you free! Evidence that, back in 2006, Lemur was an integral part of a very similar operation to what's going on now! He was allegedly lynched, but obviously he survived and he's been worming his way to the inside ever since! Well, my fine-feathered friend, now you're exposed! What do you have to say for yourself?"

Lemur sighed. "I was wondering when this would come up. Subotan, you idiot, you haven't read the fully story. Yes, I was part of a mafia operation in 2006. But that was just a one-time thing! I got out as soon as I was lynched and I later served the Frontroom with distinction in later Mafia assaults!"

"I don't remember this at all," said one particularly wizened villager.

"Pipe down back there," Lemur said. "It's all moot anyway. The main point is, right now, I'm the Chief of Police! And, as a symbol of my office... I have a gun!" He suddenly whipped out a bazooka and fired the projectile high into the twilight sky, causing everyone to scream and start running in chaos. Within seconds, the Frontroom Square was entirely empty, save for two people: Subotan and Lemur.

Reloading his bazooka, Lemur stared icily at Subotan, who suddenly realized how exposed he actually was. "There will be no dissent in the Lemur regime," he said, aiming and firing the bazooka once more.

Day 8 tally:
Subotan: 5 (Sasaki, ATPG, Psychonaut, Thermal, woad)
Sasaki Kojiro: 3 (Ibn, Kage, Renata)
Thermal Mercury: 1 (Subotan)
Askthepizzaguy: 1 (Reenk)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Still alive: (9)
Sasaki Kojiro
Askthepizzaguy
Kagemusha
Renata
Thermal Mercury
Ibn-Khaldun
woad&fangs
Psychonaut
Reenk Roink

Wrath of God:
Cultured Drizzt fan

Killed:
Crazed Rabbit
Andres
atheotes
Double A
Centurion1
Csargo
Winston Hughes
johnhughthom
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
White_eyes:D
Secura
Beskar
Joooray
pevergreen
Beefy187
Captain Blackadder

Executed:
Diamondeye
Chaotix
Yaseikhaan
Sigurd
shlin28
TinCow
Methos
Subotan

Orders are due at 13:00 US Eastern tomorrow.