Mafia VIII: Return of the Recommencement of the Revenge of the Mafia [Concluded]

[FactionHeir]

Killfr3nzy also needs more players and I think w&f's game needs one more too.

[GeneralHankerchief]

All right, here we go.

Final scene is incoming.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Day breaks in the Frontroom. All is quiet.

They were three: Sarathos, the innocent. discovery1, the goof. Kagemusha, the target.

Sarathos, the innocent, had spent the night in a 24-hour diner, ordering coffee every now and then from a counter waiter that didn't exist. Exhaustion and fear had propelled him to this state. He would order to thin air, wait five minutes, remember that he was due a coffee, and then realize that the place was deserted. Sighing, he would pour himself a coffee and munch on whatever was easiest to prepare. Once the effects of the caffeine wore off, he would repeat the process.

He was unarmed. His back was to the door, unless he had turned around on his stool and was staring out the windows. He was unprepared for a mafia assault, but was all too ready for death. If it came, it came. Maybe then he would see his dead friends.

"Coffee," he said to no one in particular. "Fill 'er up."

A pause.

"Oh yeah."

He forced himself off his stool and trudged parallel to the counter, heading to the point where he could turn and get to the coffee machine. He was pouring himself another cup when the little bells above the diner's door jingled.

In entered discovery1, the goof, looking wild-eyed and very much awake.

"Ah," he said in a jittery voice, "You've got coffee, eh? Good idea. This'll keep us awake and make for a good weapon." He pushed Sarathos out of the way and headed straight for the coffee maker, making some funny motions with his hands as he poured himself a cup. He took a huge swig, shook his head, and then refilled his cup.

"A good weapon against who?" Sarathos asked.

"Against Kage, of course!" Disco said. "Didn't you hear them last night?"

"Hear who?"

"The spirits, of course! Weren't they keeping you up?! They were whispering to me, saying that we had chosen wrong. That Kage was coming to kill us. That we had failed them and that we were all dead!"

"I think you're nuts. You're just trying to lull me into a false sense of security," Sarathos said.

"Maybe I am," Disco said, a crazy grin lighting up on his face. "But then again, I could just kill you now. Look at you, you're a mess. And you're unarmed. Not the best use in a fight." And before Sarathos could say anything, Disco suddenly changed course. "I'm going to the bathroom," he said, taking his coffee with him.

Sarathos was unamused. "Hide the shotgun behind the toilet, did you? How unoriginal of you." Disco merely laughed as he walked through the men's room door.

Sarathos calmly sipped his coffee when the bells jingled once again. Kagemusha entered, carrying a massive katana and searching for signs of life.

"BYAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Out of nowhere, the bathroom door flung open and discovery1 flew out, running as fast as he could. Once in range, he flung his coffee at Kage's face. It made contact, of course, spilling the hot drink all over. Disco wasn't finished, however, not stopping his charge until he had sent both himself and Kage flying.

"OW!" Kage screamed, trying to get the coffee off his face. "What on earth are you doing, you crazy idiot? You could have gotten me killed!!!"

"That's the idea," Disco said calmly, or as calmly as one could be after running out of a bathroom, screaming a battle cry, and tackling somebody. "Better you than me!"

"It's not either of us!" Kage protested.

"Well then, who is it? Sarathos?"

"No. If you shut up and listen, I'll tell you. Sarathos, you two. Come on over." Deliberately as ever, Sarathos made his way from his stool to near the door of the diner. Together the three sat, Kage with his katana, Sarathos with his coffee, and Disco with... well, his wits.

"All right," Kage continued, "So I've been doing some thinking. One of the killers has a broken nose, right?"

"Right," the other two said in unison.

"And none of us do, right?"

"Right."

"BUT. The broken nose killer was definitely active yesterday, right?"

"Yeah, he nailed Kukri."

"Exactly," said Kage. "And possibly Ichigo too, but we don't know for sure on that one since it was a drive-by. But we definitely got at least one."

"Okay, so what about the other?"

"Well," said Kage, "Think about it. With Ichigo's kill yesterday, it was a drive-by. The killer had his face masked by the fedora. This is the first time it happened, since before the killer was always smiling and engaging his victims in conversation. It's how we could distinguish between the two killers. But that didn't happen last time."

"So what does it mean?"

"Thinking logically, there were six of us before Kukri and Ichigo died. One of us was definitely mafia. But, if two of us were... why didn't they go for it all? If there was a ratio of two mafiosi to four townies, what would have happened yesterday is they could have killed Kukri and Ichigo as normal. It would have then been 2:2, and nothing could have stopped the mafia from simply shooting us at the execution, and Beirut too, for good measure. So the other mafioso had to have died before yesterday."

"This is all very good," said discovery1, "But you're leaving a possibility out."

"What's that?"

"Suppose the broken nose mafioso died first. That just left the well-dressed mafioso, who could have faked the broken nose to fool the town. Nobody would know since his nose would look fine up close, right?"

Everybody froze. Could this mean - could this mean they had failed?

"Just fooling. C'mon, let's call up Beirut and tell him what's up." Together they walked to the diner's phone and watched as Kage dialed the numbers to Beirut's office.

"Frontroom police department," Chief of Police Beirut answered. "What's up?"

"Beirut, it's Kage. The three of us are at the diner. I think we're safe."

"Well, Kage, that's an interesting thought. My buddy Officer Clegane with the OBI called me last night after the execution and said the wiretappers had given him some interesting evidence. According to him, two people stood out and they had been making incriminating calls."

There was a pause. Everyone in the diner looked at each other, instinctively. "Well?" Kage demanded. "Who were they?!"

"They were...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...Gaius Scribonius Curio and makaikhaan."

"So we're saved then."

"Yeah, guess so," Beirut said nonchalantly over the phone. "Congrats, boys. You survived."

The diner erupted with whooping. Three men, three little townies who had been through hell, made enough noise for the entire town. Here they were, in a diner, ready for death, and they had lived through it. They had made it. But... there was still one thing nagging at them.

"Beirut," Sarathos said through the phone, "How come the OBI involved themselves in this? They've never done this sort of thing before."

"Ah," the Chief of Police said, "I contacted them when I realized that we had no resident Detective."

"What?" There was no Detective? Impossible!

"Yeah, how about that? I tried to tell you guys that we were 'sans investigateur' but nobody picked up on my hint! Oh, well, guess it doesn't matter to you boys now."

Beirut hung up, leaving the three of them to celebrate. Both this day and many others, they had survived.

Three little townies who were finally free,
After many tough nights, they were still three.

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

Here is the final status list. Congrats to those who survived.

Survived: (3)
Sarathos
Kagemusha
discovery1

Suicide/Wrath of God:
|Sith|R|AntiWarmanCake88
Mithrandir
Fenring
Lord Winter
georgeman51
Caius
Tiberius of the Drake
Kommodus

Killed:
Tratorix
Omanes Alexandrapolites
Andres
Craterus
LittleGrizzly
TevashSzat
Crazed Rabbit
woad&fangs
Rythmic
Quintus.J.Cicero
shlin28
RoadKill
CountArach
Joe Monks
Beefy187
Sigurd Fafnesbane
KukriKhan
Ichigo

Executed:
Privateerkev
Elite Ferret
peverpink
TinCow
Sasaki Kojiro
Seamus Fermanagh
FactionHeir
Gaius Scribonius Curio
makaikhaan

Result:

TOWNSPEOPLE VICTORY!

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

Congrats on another great game, everybody!!! Are you surprised? I must admit, I thought the mafia had it in the bag, but once again, the town came through. Let's have a big round of applause to khaan and Curio for giving it their all!

Commentary plus a special guide on the lost letters is coming up.

[GeneralHankerchief]

And now, that the game is over, it's time for the traditional "console the gallant losers" commercial, a la the Super Bowl.

khaan and Curio are walking a lonely path, muttering. They are so deep in misery that they miss the sign that says "Land of former Frontroom Mafiosi."


I can't believe we lost.


I know. It's going to take a while to heal from this one.


What gets me is how close we came to victory.


We were going great! Right up until -


The eighth and ninth rounds?


Huh? Who said that?!


I did. Been there, done that.


We all have.


Welcome to infamy, friends. We share your pain.


So you all lost too, huh?


Yes.


Spectacularly.


And the thing we all have in common is -


We all had it.


Had it.


In the palm of our hands.


Had it in the palm of our hands.


Until it all...


...went wrong.


Until it all went wrong.


And you just wish you could go back and do it over?


More than anything. Even me, though they forget...


What happened with you?


My team got nailed by a Detective reveal after someone had already confessed. We thought we were safe.


After seven rounds of smooth sailing, my team just stopped functioning. I can't explain how, but we just... lost it.


My team did a fake Detective reveal and lynched my partner for it. Then they turned around, believed him, and lynched me next.


After you put the deciding vote on your buddy.


After I put the deciding vote on my buddy.


After slipping under the radar for the entire game, my buddy got nailed by a profiling system the second-to-last round. I was next, of course.


But the thing we all had in common was...


We were so close.


So close.


We were so close.


Until it got taken away from us.


So we've all been in your position.


And we welcome you among our company.


Thanks, we feel a lot better!


Ha ha! More fresh meat!


What's the matter, boys? Couldn't go the distance?


*sigh* The drinks are over this way.

[woad&fangs]

So Kukri saved us with his last second vote switch to Curio

That explains why Kukri got offed at the end.

Curio and Makaikhaan, you guys were very good mafioso.

[FactionHeir]

Hmmm looks like Kage was innocent afterall.

[Craterus]

Wow, good game all.

[Beefy187]

Ok ill bang my head on the wall for unintentionally helping the mafia...

Well played mafia. Very well played last 3 survivors!

Thanks for hosting GH

[TinCow]

That's a pleasant surprise. Well done to both, with an extra bravo to Kage who did a good job fending off us incorrect deaders.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Well done town!

Good of you to ignore me!

And a rightly earned defeat for a lurking mafia!

Funny how the mafia so often goes down in flames in the last two rounds in GH's games.

CR

[GeneralHankerchief]

Funny how the mafia so often goes down in flames in the last two rounds in GH's games.

I'm starting to think that this isn't a coincidence but rather an effect of the way my games are set up.

In strictly mafia vs. town games, the beginning game is strictly for knocking the numbers down. Bandwagons and uncertainty rules, and the lynches are solely to move the game on. This stage usually ends with the first round of WoGs.

The midgame is where the data begins to be collected. Here people start to vote for real and have productive discussions. It's here where they begin to get an idea of who the mafia might or might not be.

This trend continues until the endgame, where the data is analyzed. Naturally, with lack of distractions, connections are made and oddities in behavior are pointed out. The endgame usually happens with about 2 or 3 rounds to go, so the town had better be good at analyzing that data. Usually, however, it isn't wrong, and I think that's why every mafia team seems to stumble around this time.

[discovery1]

discovery1, the goof.

Aw hell yeah.

Curio was mafia. Suspected it as soon as he pounced on me, and then for some odd reason sent me a pm apologizing. Hmmm, wonder if I can generalize that....

[seireikhaan]

Gar... Well done writeup GH!! It is rather painful, though, so close....

My absence from the .org was completely unplanned. I'd had no intention of trying to win the game by going ultra close(and perhaps deserving) of WoG. However, I could not refuse an offer of vacation up to the northeast one last time with my buddy before college, and, being left out to dry regarding internet, was just glad that I was still alive when I was able to pick up internet at one of my buddy's relative's houses in Pennsylvania. We were still getting back yesterday and very early today, which is why I didn't try to defend myself.

Anyways, here's our horribly missnamed quicktopic thread, due to me being a complete numnutz when I was making it.

I'm still wondering what would've happened if I'd been able to stay active though...I just wish I has survived one more eeny teeny little round. I had a suitable death in store for Disco for the next night.

Thanks GH for the incredible game! It was a blast to play(well, at least so long as I was playing), and was truly an honor to be mafioso.


Edit: FWIW, I'm also wondering about Curio's last kills; I'd sent in orders for Sarathos and Disco ASAP once I'd gotten back online and given the end of the thread a quick once-over, but was literally about 2 minutes late. Curio played a wonderful game overall, but I feel made a fatal mistake in killing Kukri...

[Kommodus]

Wow, nice work town! You guys finished well - especially Kagemusha, who despite being a high-profile target managed to avoid the noose and convince the remaining townies to listen to him! Thanks for not listening to my stupid, off-the-mark suggestions!

And excellent work by the mafia; surviving that long into the game is no trifling accomplishment!

A big thanks to our host, GH, for another game brilliantly hosted. Truly sorry I couldn't participate more. Doesn't look like I'll be able to play mafia in the forseeable future. Maybe I'll be back someday.

Hm, looks like I was kinda-sorta close on the word puzzle thing. I kept looking for a clue to the identity of the mafia in the remaining letters after INVESTIGATE was taken out. No such luck though!

BTW, Monsieur GeneralH: That "console the gallant losers" commercial was truly hilarious! Brilliant!

[Privateerkev]

Good work Curio and Khaan!

I wasn't sniffing around Curio until the very end. And Khaan, while had my radar going off at first, put me at ease with his real life absence.

And a big congrats to Kag for surviving despite all of us piling onto him.

My "suicide on turn 1" trick turned out to be so-so. It was an interesting experiment but it had mixed results. While it allowed me the freedom to tackle who ever I wanted, without fear of being lynched/killed, it also kept the town from fully trusting me. It would have been better if I was killed on night 1, but after what happened in Drunken-lawyer, I think people have learned that murdering me on N1 is one of the worst things you can do. Because I don't go away and I am proven innocent.

[Gaius Scribonius Curio]

Well played townies, particularly Kagemusha.

Yes my fatal mistake was to kill Kukri, rather than thinking it through. Having said that I wasn't expecting Khann to come back from the grave so wanted to get my vengeance before the end-game. The horrifying death scene was mostly mine, although GH polished it up (massively I'm not very good at write-ups).

Was surprised at the lack of suspicion of me, particularly since my post count was completely different to my other games (ironically really down to RL), and even after my death by lynching only Kage and Disco seemed to genuinely think I was mafia... I'm confused.

Disappointed to come so close, but again well-played town!

(Will have more comments later just today is kind of busy so, laters!)

[LittleGrizzly]

Good work town, well played Gauis and Khaan.

Don't now how everyone managed to not listen and didn't vote for Kagemusha but thank god they did, i would have voted for kagemusha... i wasn't sure though...

Good Game GH!

[GeneralHankerchief]

FWIW, I'm also wondering about Curio's last kills; I'd sent in orders for Sarathos and Disco ASAP once I'd gotten back online and given the end of the thread a quick once-over, but was literally about 2 minutes late. Curio played a wonderful game overall, but I feel made a fatal mistake in killing Kukri...

I think Curio got a bit cocky, to tell you the truth. Prior to his killing Kukri, I had sent him a PM basically laughing at what a farce the round was going to be, since (we were assuming Kage was the sure lynch at this point) it would be decided by whether you showed up or not. He agreed, and privately told me he wasn't banking on you coming back. Hence the kill.

A big thanks to our host, GH, for another game brilliantly hosted. Truly sorry I couldn't participate more. Doesn't look like I'll be able to play mafia in the forseeable future. Maybe I'll be back someday.

Aww... that's a bummer. We'll miss you, man. Need someone to take care of Holmes while you're away?

BTW, Monsieur GeneralH: That "console the gallant losers" commercial was truly hilarious! Brilliant!

Thanks. I learned while doing that that you're only allowed 50 images per post.

My "suicide on turn 1" trick turned out to be so-so. It was an interesting experiment but it had mixed results. While it allowed me the freedom to tackle who ever I wanted, without fear of being lynched/killed, it also kept the town from fully trusting me. It would have been better if I was killed on night 1, but after what happened in Drunken-lawyer, I think people have learned that murdering me on N1 is one of the worst things you can do. Because I don't go away and I am proven innocent.

Yeah, that move was definitely a head-scratcher for me. I'll have more about it in the commentary.

[Kagemusha]

Great game GH.Thanks to mafia and town for making it a a blast, worthy game to come back from my mafia retirement. Also thanks disco and Sarathos for listening to me, while it seemed everything was stacked against town victory in the end.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Well done!

As always, the mafia series NEVER fails to provide wonderful twists and turns without any of the fripperies the rest of us resort to. The best of the best.



I've always regretted the "deciding" vote on my partner thing. At the time, I thought it necessary as my vote switch would (I thought) have marked me and killed us both. Instead, I killed my partner and got little credit as a good guy for it. I had found another way to lose....

[KukriKhan]

I've returned home after some sad family business. What a wonderful end-game.

My last-minute vote-switch from Kage to Curio was based 50% on p-Kev's vote table and analysis (he suggested, incredulously, that Curio could be mafia; the table's numbers bore that out), and 50% intuition from reading Kage's defense of himself.

In sum: a "happy accident".

So, we were without a detective the entire game (that being the 'twist')? Or lost the detective early to a lucky mafia kill (making the word-puzzle the 'twist')?

Bravo to Curio and M-khaan mafia players; through luck and pluck, you made this a very interesting game.

And major 'props to GH for an extremely well-run, brilliantly-written, screenplay.

[GeneralHankerchief]

There was never a Detective to begin with. The word puzzle was a way of letting you guys know gradually. Unfortunately, it never really played out. Not like it mattered!

[Privateerkev]

My last-minute vote-switch from Kage to Curio was based 50% on p-Kev's vote table and analysis (he suggested, incredulously, that Curio could be mafia; the table's numbers bore that out), and 50% intuition from reading Kage's defense of himself.

I'm glad you listened to the data in the table, rather than to me. I'm happy that all the work I put into that table bore some fruit. The same kind of thing happened in drunk-lawyer. In that game, analyzing the votes found the last mafia.

Voting is one of those ways people truly interact with the game. And it is a way to get beyond the "fluff" and "smoke" of a person's posts. It is by no means perfect, but analyzing the voting has proven far more fruitful than any other form of analysis, other than a detective reveal of course.

[Crazed Rabbit]

There was never a Detective to begin with. The word puzzle was a way of letting you guys know gradually. Unfortunately, it never really played out. Not like it mattered!

Extra kudos to the town then.

Also, to help slightly redeem myself, in this post I listed Makai as most suspicious. But then his long absence threw me.

Again, well done to Kage.

CR

[KukriKhan]

The horrifying death scene was mostly mine, although GH polished it up (massively I'm not very good at write-ups).

So, it was true that mafia could/did contribute to the death-scene write-ups. I recall asking that question (because then they could fake/twist the calling cards: broken nose, fedora, etc.), but no one gave an opinion on the matter - so I assumed it was just a dumb question on my part. And I assumed GH couldn't or wouldn't respond, because it could give too much away.

From now on, I'll assume the kill-scenes have ghost-writer help.

[Pannonian]

So, it was true that mafia could/did contribute to the death-scene write-ups. I recall asking that question (because then they could fake/twist the calling cards: broken nose, fedora, etc.), but no one gave an opinion on the matter - so I assumed it was just a dumb question on my part. And I assumed GH couldn't or wouldn't respond, because it could give too much away.

From now on, I'll assume the kill-scenes have ghost-writer help.

IIRC the murder scenes for Mafia III were pretty much written word for word by Kommodus. Back then, the mafia could fake calling cards, as they faked a missing mafioso after The Spartan was lynched. Nowadays, I think GH enforces calling cards.

[seireikhaan]

So, it was true that mafia could/did contribute to the death-scene write-ups. I recall asking that question (because then they could fake/twist the calling cards: broken nose, fedora, etc.), but no one gave an opinion on the matter - so I assumed it was just a dumb question on my part. And I assumed GH couldn't or wouldn't respond, because it could give too much away.

From now on, I'll assume the kill-scenes have ghost-writer help.

Not necessarily. I did absolutely nothing in regards to my kills; I left it entirely to GH, as I wanted to make sure that I didn't accidentally leave something in the writeup that would indicate my guilt. I figured enough people have seen my writeups in the past, as both a host and mafioso, that I would risk being identified if I did them myself. All I did was send in a target.

[Andres]

We won

But not thanks to me... Kukri was my prime suspect throughout the game and after he got killed, I thought disco was the last mafioso

Kudos to makaikhaan and Curio Well played

[Sigurd]

HAHAHA...

Good game. I can't say I contributed to our victory.
I was convinced that it was either Kage or Khaan, but I couldn't have made the choice.
Hehe, you should have left me instead of Kage... I think Sarathos and Disco would have lynched me instead of Khaan.

We want the game commentary

[GeneralHankerchief]

We want the game commentary

khaan celebrates by going on a vacation with his friend; I'm celebrating by watching all 6 Star Wars movies with a few buddies tomorrow. So I'm trying to get it all done by the end of today.