Chaos in the Academy WW - The Rift

[BourgeoisJerry]

Uh... how did I get lumped in with usourselves&we? Also, would somebody please explain what usourselves&we did? I kind of don't like being out of the loop if I'm going down with the ship.

Regardless, I'm willing to vote for him if people will drop the vote tying. Otherwise, I'm voting for RuneboundShade.

[Ramsus]

From what I can gather it would be most unwise for me to note vote to tie usourselves&we & BourgeoisJerry.

[RuneboundShade]

To explain things a little better, I was contacted by two people during the night, as it's fairly obvious at this point, I'll say who they were, yes, Ramsus and usourselves&we, and &we lied to me and didn't meet any of the things I wanted, Ramsus on the other hand, has met some of the things I wanted... at least it is a little better than &we...

Also, sorry to lump you in with usourselves&we Jerry, but I didn't know whether or not you were working with him... so I kinda guessed... wrong, as it turns out...

[usourselves&we]

If we must go then we will go out fighting Ramsus and RuneboundShade.

[bladescape]

Day Ten

Fear had permeated the very stones of the ancient school, as the students suddenly came to realise just how much blood was on their hands.

For during this week and a half oddesy of terror, they had slaughtered or watched dying seventy percent of their original number. The blood from the floors of the academy would never be truly washed off, the stain etched into the very flagstones that made up the impressive constructions.

But the rift laughed, and the students, driven by whatever still drove them, greed, fear, instincts of survival or perhaps insanity, continued to plot and scheme, hoping, searching, seeking one thing. Survival.

The conspirital whispers continued their chant of mistrust...

"Take upon your empty hand,
Take your life in times of sand,
Watch them slowly trickle hence,
Watch your life drift past the fence,

Trust, oh you devious word,
As flighty as a twittering bird,
As hard to catch, as well and true,
Trust comes so far, and from so few.

The blood that paints my honour red,
The blood of whom have fallen dead,
Those I struck down and those I culled,
With the blade whose edge is dulled.

How much more? My soul is gone,
Into the abyss, see no more dawn.
My life eroded, a wastrel of despair,
Pain too hard, I no longer care.

My friends, why you as well?
My hand was the reason you fell.
The blood of yours is mine to bear,
This burden that I cannot I share..."

The soft patter of footsteps as the hooded one who led the other students by force of will kept watch on the hallways, his cronies pattering behind him.

One, or three, it's hard to tell, smiled grimly. The shadow that followed the small band would soon have it's chance.

As if heeding the thoughts of the insane one, the next corner divided, and the two groups split easily. Only four strode down the left tunnel. The leader at the head, the insane trailing at the back.

It only took a moment to knock out the simple cronies, the grin and the nod of the traitor as it called the shadow forth, giving it a chance with it at the leader.

But turning, two knives flashing out of the cloak, the insane caught a momentary glimpse of calm assurance, and a simple, quick, nod. The leader had already seen the events that were about to unfold, and seemed not bothered?

Quickly turning around once more, the grinning traitorous one which had followed them held his hands, filled with magic, towards the insane one.

For the leader was never in danger. He stood calmly smiling to the side, laughter on his face as the insane realised the truth.

The cold, hard truth. The Traitor had never been a traitor, but loyal to this 'leader' the whole time.

A snarl slipped across the features, anger tainting the eyes. Insanity clawed deeper into his mind, and even as the beams of power soared towards the insane one, something.. awakened.

"Traitor is as Traitor likes,
Heads to put upon the pikes.
Fear the last one you would trust,
For constant fear is but a must."

The voice laughed in the background as the insane deflected the beams with ease.

"Traitor, you betray me here,
A pity, you were once so clear.
The Leader knows to stay aloof,
Now I have but all the proof."

The eyes flashed crimson, power blowing in waves across the room. The traitor sent sprawling.

A cry of fear was ripped from his throat as the mind of the insane fractured further, and he bridged the gap between them in but moments.

The hands, surrounded by power so clear that even the uninitiated could see the sheer glow of it's strength, slammed into the skin before renting it asunder.

The splatter of blood sprayed across the walls, and also upon the insane one as the screams of the traitor died. The blood dripped off the hand, and off the surrounding objects, as the insane slowly turned his head.

"Deception, and misdirection,
How do I deal with this insurrection?"

"You, oh mighty leader of lies,
You for whom everyone spies."

"You cannot think to take me,
That mistake, you must see."

"Prattle on, oh foolish lord,
Feel the speech of my magics sword."

The insane launched himself again, only to be met by the barrier of the hooded leader.

A small grin was allowed as the insane struggled against the defenses.. But the smile quickly turned to a horrified gape as the very barriers that protected the leader were rent asunder, magic spreading out from the insane in vast waves.

Rolling over the Leader, it began it's gruesome work, tearing him apart....
"Master, when did I cower?
You did promise eternal power.
I cannot be beaten here,
The Rift is my shield and spear!"

"Your words are useless, it does not hear,
A puppet, you did not fear?
The rift has cast you far aside,
Your memory all will deride."

A moment later, the job was done, the mash of the leader painted across the floor.

The insane laughed and laughed. The sound echoing for all to hear... And someone laughed alongside him. The Shadow laughed too, as the blood of more students painted the floor.

"The academy, to blood of sin,
The Shadow wears an evil Grin..."

Summery:

Spoiler

Show

RuneboundShade was slaughtered upon the floor, he was the Deceptive, A Wizard.

He was being leeched by Ramsus and BourgeoisJerry.

Ramsus was slain afterwards, he was the Servent of the Rift, a Wizard.

He was being leeched by Penguinator, RuneboundShade and Usourselves&we

Alive List:
BourgeoisJerry
Penguinator
usourselves&we

Night Eleven Begins
And ends in about 48 hours.

[usourselves&we]

Muahahahahah, if only we were able to find a good picture to scream ‘UNLIMITED POWER’ underneath.

*Ahem* Anyway see you (living) guys tomorrow.

[Ramsus]

What the hell man!? If you weren't silenced you could have just asked me to move off you. I just wanted to make it to top three. Also, why me instead of Penguinator or BourgeoisJerry!? I helped you the whole dang game. Well, you may have scored a minor victory but, you'll assuredly lose this game and you've lost any amount of trust in you ever. Congrats on that. Hope it was worth it.

[usourselves&we]

Sorry, but was getting hints of mistrust in what you were saying in the QT, and when Rune said you talked to him that kind of that kind of set us off . . . so again sorry, original targets for the day were going to be Penguin and Rune, but we decided to sleep rather than be the first to post this day and there was a bit of panic when we saw that we were the target of the day and then, well the beginning of this post explained what happened. And yeah already know what will be happening next >.> it won’t be pretty.

[RuneboundShade]

Err... err.... you must have had quite the energy storage there....>.>
Dang it!!! DANG IT!!!!!! I was enjoying this game so much too...

[Saposhiente]

/|\This is the result of attempting to doublelynch. Had you guys not divided your vote by attempting to tie &we and Jerry, you would have won. Of course, if &we had then done the same thing, not dividing his vote, he then would have won, but still. I'm actually surprised that this hasn't happened several times before. IIRC Mangosta was the first lynchee who had actually spent their energy in an attempt to stay alive. Maybe we should include a spell like Compare Deception except with energy next game.

[BourgeoisJerry]

Well, a lot of the lynch votes have been unanimous, so maybe the lynch targets just didn't think they had any chance. It might be a good idea to give players more of an incentive to vote off-wagon in the next game, though I'm not sure what that incentive should be in a game where everybody is out for themselves. Perhaps a small bonus for whoever cast the first vote on the dying player(s)?

EDIT: Oh, and sorry for not switching my vote, but I wasn't on in those few hours between RuneboundShade switching his vote and the day ending. I'm pretty sure I was silenced today, so my vote didn't actually help usourselves&we. It just gave an incentive to lay off of me.

[bladescape]

Night Eleven

"You know, with all this waiting and watching and RL junk, I think the narrator fell asleep...

Wait, no, it's fine. He just blanked out for a moment..."

Summery:

Spoiler

Show

Yeah, I'm not feeling inspired currently. So The Shadow of Doubt can break the fourth wall.

Alive List:
BourgeoisJerry
Penguinator
usourselves&we

Day Eleven Begins
And ends in about 48 hours.

[Penguinator]

"Now the time has come to see
The end of the nefarious three.
And vote for usourselves&we
To see what happens; what will be."

[usourselves&we]

I'm we’re sorry, Dave Penguinator. I'm afraid I we can't (let you) do that.
Really bunched that with our syntax.
And Jerry as well. If one of you want second place vote for the other and we will let you live.

[Penguinator]

"You bore me boy, you're just a toy.
The time has come; enough.
The Rift and I don't like to lie,
We've called your little bluff."

[BourgeoisJerry]

Peng- No, not quite yet.
Continued day 5 conversation: If you insist &we.
usourselves&we.

[usourselves&we]

Oh no, we’ve been found out!
Had we been found out?
No, not really, it’s just fun to play up the drama.
Jerry conversation: You evil evil fiend, how could you. =P

[bladescape]

Day Eleven

Laughing manically, the Insane one stood there, over the bodies and blood of the ones he had just brought down.

The paint of the fallen coloured every part of his body, to the largest extent. And the remains on the floor spread the stain of their life from the gruesome corpses left behind.

But, unknowing of the Insane, two stood back in the shadows. The last of the most powerful of the students. The last who could lead the remnants...

And they stood together with purpose.

"Silly, silly Insane one,
You are finally undone.
Struck too quick,
It was quite sick,
But now you've had your fun."

The blood covered figure finally saw the approaching figures, and turned to face them, laughin.

"Come, try me my friends,
After all, no one pretends,
To control another man,
We all do what we can."

Stepping forth, they both held a palm out, deflecting the power thrown at them by the Insane one.

A moment later, and the assault ceased for a moment as the Insane suddenly felt the tiredness that comes with overextending ones powers...

Staring in fear, the two stepped forwards in tandem, one flicking golden chains of light around the target as the other stepped forwards again with a golden dagger, slitting the throat of the Insane.

As more blood slowly pooled towards the floor, the two last turned to each other, staring carefully...

"You know there can only be one, right?"

"Understanding this, it's true,
Only one of me or you,
Can last the night,
We must fight,
'Til the sky is tinted blue."

The other, paused for a moment, then nodded. Both stood stock still, watching and waiting for who made the first move...

Summery:

Spoiler

Show

Usourselves&we was slain. He was The Insane, a Wizard.

He was being leeched by BourgeoisJerry and Penguinator.

Alive List:
BourgeoisJerry
Penguinator

Night Twelve Begins
And ends in about 48 hours.

The final night....

[bladescape]

Night and Day Twelve;
The Final Confrontation

The two locked eyes as they watched the other, at first nothing happened as they both waited, daring the other to make the first move.

Then the duel began, slowly at first. Small flickers of light, sparks of fire, touches of invisible energy as they tested the other's defenses. Both searching, deflecting, eyes locked on the other as they attempted to anticipate every move.

Locked, almost endlessly, they both continued searching for the first opening, but neither proved able to find anything. Neither could grab the advantage.

And equal strength in this part of battle, they knew this could last as long as they wanted it too. The longer, however, the more likely for one of them to make a mistake. And whoever made the mistake first....

Well, they wouldn't be having a pleasant evening, that was for sure.

Both trains of thought came to a halt on the same station, both eyes flickered as they both smashed against the other's shields with full force at the same time. A blast of flame and energy designed to distract and knock the opponent off balance, both blasts colided into one massive implosion.

The smoke cleared a moment later, and the duel began in earnest. Soon the small chamber, slick with the blood of the three fallen not a little while ago, became the final battleground in this academy.

The sphere's of flame, coils of light, energy impersonified, arcs of lightning, beams of frost, elemental blasts from a thousand less well known subschools of magic all slammed into the room, unable to properly hit the two weaving, shielded mages. Both had trained longer, harder, than anyone else. Their survival wasn't just luck, it was the pure power, and their technique at deception.

But, both were still not able to find an opening at first. Neither could break the other's concentration. There was a lot of difference in the styles of the two, and yet still they seemed deadly matched..

The Rhymer, having decided the time had come, stepped behind a pillar for a moment. A specialization in Illusion was not wasted, though it had yet to be used in this fight. No, he'd kept his specializations well up his sleeve, as he'd suspected his opponent had.

A moment later, the fight continued, but the Rhymer's dancing figure was nothing but an illusion. The true mage took the slow and careful route around while the other was distracted.

Jerry, as the other was known, threw another blast of magic at the elusive opponent, and watched the figure avoid the power like he had always done so far in this battle.

Somewhat frustrating, especially as the battle had never closed enough for him to use his specializations to bring his opponent to his knees.

Another growl of frustration issued from his throat as he stepped back behind a pillar. A momentary breath as he rested for a moment, his mind strategically thinking.

And this was how he was caught offguard by the real Rhymer. The illusioned figure seemed to appear out of the darkness, coils of light spreading out from his hands to bind Jerry to the pillar he rested against.

Shocked, the mage strugged, but couldn't seem to break the ribbons of light. Truly, the beauty of this magic was only overtaken by the sheer power of it.

Staring up at his now captor, Jerry's frightened face stared into the grin painted across the Rhymer's face. The grin of triumph. The grin of a successful win.

Binding and Illusion, huh? An interesting combination of specialities. And a deadly one. But for all who watched, the terrified face of the second mage hid the reality...

The battle wasn't over yet.

A moment later, and the grin had been wiped from the Rhymer's face as the sphere of disenchantment released Jerry from his bindings.

"You underestimate my power, Friend. You never were in my league."

As if a blink had changed the battle, the aura of authority surrounding the mage had changed the tide once again, the Rhymer in turn having to crouch backwards.

Aura's and Disenchantment, another powerful combination, geared towards defeating other combinations. For Jerry's true specialization was non-other than Magic Duels...

Reaching down, the now dominant mage grabbed the Rhymer by the throat, beginning to squeeze...

Only to suddenly release, stumbling back, and looking at the center of his chest. For there was now a gaping hole there. The burning robes a signal to what happens when someone is slammed a fireball into them at point blank range. The slightly singed robes of the Rhymer smoked as the tide of the battle turned again.

Crouched over, Jerry hid his wound from the rhymer, and just as swiftly set his body to healing the grevious wound.

The Rhymer approached, prepared to end him as he lay there... But he was never ready for the move that followed.

With one spring, the still extremely wounded Jerry pounced up towards the head of his opponent. And the Rhymer's screams began as the fingers sunk straight through the skin like through thick sludge..

Stumbling back, the Rhymer landed with a thud against the wall. The holes bleeding profusedly as the Rhymer shook his head.

He spoke then, his voice a call of disbelief as if pleading to something else entirely...

"Rifty lord, you must grow bored;
But I must know one thing.
My power stored, my untold hoard.
It didn't make me king?"

"A student born, a common spawn;
A man whose out of place.
To think you knew, what you must do;
And still you lost the race."

The reply echoed back, but by the time it was over, the body had finally fallen, the Rhymer having lost his life. And Jerry bowed over, his power repairing the most damaged vessels in his body as he struggled to hold onto consciousness.

The Shadow of Doubt loomed over his shoulder, laughing once more.

"Victorious Mage, you have won,
This battle and this day are done,
My champions fallen, slain by you,
What now, what will you do?

Your blood pools on the ground,
Your lungs will soon make no sound,
I have no man to serve me here,
I'm asking you to spread my fear.

In exchange, I'll save your life,
Tell you secrets, no bladed knife;
Your choice now lies before you,
What now, what will you do?"

Summery:

Spoiler

Show

Penguinator lost in the end of the duel. He was the Rift-Sworn, a Wizard.

He was being leeched by no-one.

BourgeoisJerry Wins;
Game Over!

Quiz will be up in a sec.

[bladescape]

Did you enjoy the game?

Did the narrators do a good job?(Overall, including Narrations.)

Did you like your death narration and the Titles given you?

Anything you'd particularly like to change about it?

Would you play the next one?

[RuneboundShade]

Did you enjoy the game?
Until the point I died...

Did the narrators do a good job?(Overall, including Narrations.)
They did quite a good job, my only complaint is that somedays it took a while for my scan results to get in...>.>

Did you like your death narration and the Titles given you?
Very much.

Anything you'd particularly like to change about it?
Not really, except maybe more winners.

Would you play the next one?
Maybe, depends how many games I'm in at the time.

[Saposhiente]

Wait! Another question!
What do you think of the amount of Knowledge points needed to win?
Narrator QT: http://quicktopic.com/46/H/3rrveJy8uuDzh
The game in a nutshell:
At the start, half of the players were studiers. This quickly changed, between some dying and some deciding to switch to leeching strategy. I was disappointed by the lack of Villager logic; multiple Studiers gave theirselves away but nobody called them on it. At a very early date, the Great Alliance of Ramsus, RBS, usourselves&we, Penguinator and BourgeoisJerry (the top 5 longest lived) forms, and dominates the rest of the game, controlling every lynch. Vanderscamp was the last living Studier (6th place), and needed to get involved in the politics and try to cause backstabbery in the Great Alliance one day early, but failed to, and with the unanimous vote of all the Leechers, all of his energy was not enough. After this point, it was Energy that mattered. RBS had spent far too much time using Scan and otherwise attacking, and sprung a trap once, leaving him with the least energy. Next was Penguinator, who had drawn the short straw in the internal politics, being forced to use Trap more than once. Then came Ramsus, who made one mistake springing a trap, putting him just slightly behind usourselves&we. BourgeoisJerry stored energy x3 many times, and was not too paranoid and spending too much time on Trap like most others (though he did underestimate the amount that others used Trap at times), giving him the most energy.
ENERGY COUNTS BEFORE THE BREAKING OF THE ALLIANCE:
Jerry: 17
&we: 14
Ramsus: 12
Penguinator: 9
RBS: 6
At this point, the players failed to recognize two things: 1. In the endgame, only Energy matters. If only one side of a lynching uses a significant amount of energy, that side is going to win, regardless of how many people are on each side. This has the interesting effect of making everyone pretty much a Beast: Those backed against the wall will take extreme measures to survive, and the only way for you to survive if they have not yet spent their energy and they point at you is to spend some of your energy, likely still weakening you for later confrontations; and 2. Everyone is paranoid. In the last few nights, pretty much everyone (with one exception on one night) used Trap and Store Energy. Someone would have stood to profit greatly by using Store Energy x3 instead.

[Ramsus]

Did you enjoy the game?
Right till I was pointlessly stabbed in the back yeah.

Did the narrators do a good job?(Overall, including Narrations.)
Yup.

Did you like your death narration and the Titles given you?
Well, I dunno. I don't think being anything's servant really fit the way I played. *shrug* The being stabbed in the back by someone being incorrectly paranoid was about right though.

Anything you'd particularly like to change about it?
Just the servant bit really.

Would you play the next one?
Yup. Though knowing my luck I wouldn't get as close to winning as I did this time.

What do you think of the amount of Knowledge points needed to win?
Seemed about right.

[bladescape]

Well, the whole 'Servant of the Rift' was basically saying that you were encouraging mistrust and killing of those studying it and all that. And that served the Rift. I guess it could've been phrased differently...

[Grue Bait]

Did you enjoy the game?
Mostly. My only complaints are against the players, not you.
Did the narrators do a good job?(Overall, including Narrations.)
They were wonderful.
Did you like your death narration and the Titles given you?
I did. Except I didn't get a title.
Anything you'd particularly like to change about it?
This turned into a popularity contest fast, which led to some...skewed... things happening.
Would you play the next one?
Not really sure, to be honest.

Knowledge points seem accurate, although they didn't matter, since studiers were apparently evil for some reason.

[Saposhiente]

since studiers were apparently evil for some reason.

This is because in order to survive, they must not be found. Non-studiers focus on controlling the lynch, but it a studier goes and wins with knowledge, it doesn't matter how much control you have. Meanwhile, non-studiers also know that studiers are easy targets, with very limited control of the lynch. Several leechers combined can take down a studier no problem, without worrying about unexpectedly losing the lynch due to a massive store of energy, because studiers don't have time to store energy more than once per day. What people (and likely you too) don't understand is that evil ≠ nightkill. Evil = wanting to hide, blend into a crowd, and reduce the amount of information available.

[Grue Bait]

I tried! I guess I'm just not good enough. But! I will endeavor to get better!

[Saposhiente]

Well, what happened was that there was exactly one alliance (The one with the last five surviving players) and without organized resistance, backstaberry or a second alliance, people dying was mostly a matter of time ("who do we kill first")

[BourgeoisJerry]

Did you enjoy the game?

Yup.

Did the narrators do a good job?(Overall, including Narrations.)

Yeah. bladescape's grammar was a bit distracting sometimes, but the content more than makes up for that.

Did you like your death narration and the Titles given you?

"Ponderous Savant." Yeah, I'm happy with that title.

Anything you'd particularly like to change about it?

Maybe give players more of an incentive to vote off-wagon? Normally I don't like blindly bandwagoning, but I found myself doing it a lot in this game because I had no reason to care.

Would you play the next one?

Probably not. I wouldn't want to mar my victory in this game by dying early in the next one.

EDIT: I just thought of another idea for encouraging some people to vote off-wagon. You could add a spell that gives the caster a large amount of stored energy if the player they target with the spell dies in the next day. Players who cast the spell would probably want to convince people to go after the player they're targeting even if another wagon exists.

[Ramsus]

Oh, in response Sapo, I actually knew all along stored energy would be the end game. However &we had claimed be be Silenced and BJ implied he was as well (and didn't vote that day till the end and not even against the rest of us). I had actually assumed Rune and Penguinator would have had more energy and was planning on just letting them duke it out and taking out the winner of that contest. Storing more energy wouldn't have helped me since &we included me in his vote at the last minute after I had gone to sleep for the night. There wasn't anything I could have done about that no matter what.

Ok, Bladescape, that actually makes more sense. In that case it's fine.

That said, I was always expecting most likely at best I'd only make it to second place. So my goal was just being in the top three. Of course &we had to go robbing me of that. And I'm sure if you run another one of these nobody will let me live long enough to get that close again. *sigh*