WW VII:Urban Lycanthropy ((Game Thread))

[Helgraf]

Ya know Shadow ... if you wanted to put the knife in me, you could have at least done it personally - as a professional courtesy. ;)

[Alarra]

As the people celebrate the death of another rat, little did they know of the sinister plot the rats had carried out while everyone was distracted. That night many people, young and old grew deathly sick. First they were struck by nausea, followed by intense stomach cramps, then a weakness so crippling that many were left bedridden and a fair number passed away, including Saithis Wingblade, Spidermewtwo, and Darth Wario.

Many of the citizens meet to discuss this threat and Lord Fullbladder announces that he believes the rats have poisoned the water supply and he wants a party to accompany him and see what they can find. Weebl bravely volunteers as does [INUH].

The group heads to the water supply and within minutes, Weebl hollers for everyone that he's found the corpse of a person floating in the water.

DLD, astonished, turns to Lord FullBladder and asks how he figured it out. Lord Fullbladder confides that he is the diviner and he saw a vision of floating corpse. DLD smiles and with a swift motion, brings her clawed hand up, decapitating the diviner. His bloodstained mask is discovered by a second party sent out later.

With an evil smirk, she fully shifts into her wererat form and begins to sniff for Weebl and INUH. The scent she picks up first, though, is the corpse floating nearby. Overwhelmed by the tasty smell of bloated carcass, DLD swims out and begins gnawing on it. She doesn't see Weebl sneaking up until its too late. Weebl leaps into the water to battle the wererat and an amazing fight scene takes place. INUH hears the fight and swims out to help Weebl. Its a vain attempt as DLD slays them both. Sadly, her injuries were too extreme and she didn't have the energy to climb out of the water. She eventually drowns. All three bodies are later discovered by a second group.

Meanwhile...in another far off, forgotten corner of town...

The tea leaves stirred in the cup...

The ceremony was completed perfectly. Helgraf cleared his mind and reached out his consciousness as his sensei had taught him before his brutal murder.

The tea leaves stirred in the cup...

He did not know why the man Shadow had exposed his actions to all and sundry. He knew, however, that it signed his death warrent, and his blood frothed as it attempted to force the change upon him. The teacup rattled once in his hand, then was still. This was the inward betrayal, that which had been forced upon him in the night. He reached out, feeling the presence of his ancestors stretching back thousands of years, and knew peace.

The tea leaves stirred...

He rose to his feet, and continued the performance of his duty, shadowing the Shadow to protect him from the ninja threat. He would not fail in his duty while he still drew breath.

It was at a sake house, of course. He knew the predilections of his ward better than any other man breathing. He moved quietly, speaking but an occasional word in reply to those who questioned him. Tea, ordered and sent to Shadow's table.

The tea leaves stirred in the cup...

He knew it was wrong right away ... his sword came out, the tip of the blade shearing through cup and wet tea leaves both. He twisted ... turning toward the faint sound that his were-infested senses had magnified, throwing himself in between Shadow and the ninjae ... three of the whirling shuriken tore his kimono, two catching the expansive sleeves, and the third skidding across his right ribs ... the fire that lanced through him confirmed what his nose had scented scant fractions of a moment before impact. Envenomed.

He turned to Shadow, a gasp forcing itself through clenched teeth and flipped the table up so it stood between him and Shadow ... and between Shadow and the ninja.

His own teacup tumbled, the leaves spilling out ... falling to the floor. Slowly ... sooo slowly. He lurched forward ... his hands shifting, warping as he fell. Whiskers and a tail sprouting outward, he balanced poorly and fell.

It was so far to the floor ... everything seemed to be slowing ... down. Cherry blossoms slid across his field of vision.

Shadow was no fool ... even as Helgraf fell, he drew steel, and cut his way through one of the shoji screens, moving into the street, and melting into the night, just another drunk samurai in the poor quarter.

Helgraf reached out, caught one of the blossom petals ... smiled despite the pain that ran through his blood like knives. He would not fail in his duty while he still drew breath.

And then, he died...

(Summary: Lord Fullbladder, the diviner, was killed by the rats. DLD, a wererat, [INUH], a mason, and Weebl, a villager were autolynched. Helgraf, the samurai in training and a converted wererat was slain by ninjas.)

(Kudos to Llama and Helgraf for the death scenes )

Day Begins

[Shadow]

Dammit!
I was right AND I was wrong about Helgy....

First Mate.
It's you and me now.
And the Abjuror, but I don't know who you are....
And with Fullbladder dead (sonofabitch! Sorry bro, didn't see that one coming....) there's no way to confirm or deny any claims of your role.

Well, at least finding 3 Rats (4 if you count autos) in two and a half days ain't bad!

Masons: WTF??? Start voting, huh?!?!

[Helgraf]

((You owe me a drink. When you arrive in the afterlife, I'm gonna collect. ;) ))

[Shadow]

((Don't worry, I'm sure I'll be there soon enough....))

[Ink]

((Aiyaiyai. A pile of dead bodies.))

Ink hears of the latest kills and looks on while Shadow talks to a ghost.

"Dude... this place is fast becoming a ghost town. Might as well start the pointing."

Ink points at douglas

[Shadow]

And without further ado, I present to you the next person that I find likely to be a Rat....

KYRIAN!

Normally, Kyrian keeps his mouth shut and wordlessly joins the bandwagons in progress.
This game, it's almost as if he's actively trying to avoid them.
He's been focusing on certain people.
He gets defensive when even a single finger gets pointed his way, even when he's obviously not going to be the one lynched.
This is a very different play style from his norm....
Take a look for yourselves:

Spoiler

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Kyrian points at...Llama

((Sorry, seems I don't get wireless from mom's house... :( ))

So...you point at me for pointing at Atreyu, while Vonriel was already pointing at him? Is this because you're both wolves, Raldor?

Kyrian points at Raldor. You avoided my question yesterday. Explain.

Kyrian points at Raldor. You still haven't given a good answer.

So what you're saying is it's ok to not point at Magtok and give him a chance to defend himself, but I shouldn't be allowed a chance? Are you protecting a fellow wererat? Kyrian points at [Insert Neat Username Here]

((Sorry, schedule for me is crazy. My posting may be sporadic. Here's your warning now on it))

Don't worry buddy!
I've got your back!
I won't let you get auto-lynched....

I'll try to get you lynched instead!
(This would be a whole lot easier if you were here. I almost feel bad about this.)

*Shadow points at Kyrian*

[Ink]

((Eh... I dunno. I've been in games where Kyrian was a wolf before... and this isn't how Kyrian usually acts when he's a wolf. I think Llama was right, if Kyrian was a wolf, you wouldn't know it.))

[Kyrian]

I got defensive twice, yes, once because Raldor was willing to point at me for his reasoning, and didn't point at whoever it was that was first pointing at llama. I was only pointing out that if he's going to use that reasoning, why was he protecting the first person then? As for [insert], I pointed at him because he wanted to protect Magtok, who wasn't around to defend himself, yet while I've stated before that my schedule this summer doesn't leave me a lot of time for these games, or to always point when necessary, and wasn't around to defend myself, he wanted to get me lynched. What kind of person are you to sit there and say that we shouldn't point and lynch someone that's not around to defend themselves, so you go and start pointing at yet another that's not around to do so? I've come back here to find myself lynched out of two games that people knew I wasn't around to defend myself for. One of which (Empires II) I hope the wolves end up winning. That'll teach them to kill Kirk.

Anyways, why has my behavior been different for this game? Because when I finally am able to get online, I don't usually have time, so I have to make a quick point.

Point it, you guys bitch if I point at someone random. You bitch if I find it easy to point at the hand pointing back, and you bitch if I point at someone important. I don't have the time to sit and read every single flipping post that happened from the last time I was online, so I usually just skim. Sorry I don't know that person X is the seer. If I pointed at them, it's probably because my points are either random, or because they're unlawfully pointing at me.

Wow, I've been typing this one up for a while now. Maybe I better stop before my life story gets out here...

EDIT: Forgot this. Sorry Douglas, I WAS going to point at Shadow, but since that will only further his "Kyrian is a wolf" cause, I'm going to have to follow Ink. But wait, no matter where I point, it will only further Shadow in his cause.

Kyrian points at douglas.

[Douglas]

[whiny kid voice]NOOOOOOOOOO! Stop picking on the n00b, that's not fair! This is only my... one, two, three... fourth WW game and it's no fun if I get lynched for no reason so early! Find someone who's actually been here a while for your random bandwagon![/whiny kid voice]

All joking aside, Ink and Kyrian haven't presented any actual evidence against me, while Shadow has a good track record so far with his arguments.

*Douglas points at Kyrian*

P.S. If you didn't get the joke, read some of WW Classic III.

[Ink]

((Didn't do much heavy analysis, I'm just always suspicious of everyone who's been rather quiet. Douglas seemed like a good candidate. Anyhow I've got nothing much to go on so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. "n00b" indeed... you've been a pretty crafty player in all the games I've seen. I'm not sure about Kyrian though, so I won't point yet.))

Ink removes his finger from douglas

[DarkCorax]

*Points at douglas*

Suvivors in spoiler

Spoiler

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Captain "Fluffy"
Captain Van Der Decken
Castaras
DarkCorax
douglas
Evnafets
Fredricus
Indurain
Ink
Jontom Xire
Kyrian
Malmagor Andrigal
Purple Gelantinous Cube o' Doom
Raistlin1040
Shadow

[Jontom Xire]

In all the games I've ever played in I've been suspicious of Kyrian (perhaps because his avatar in the first game was a wolf-man type creature), but not in this one. In the others he wasn't a werewolf (bar one maybe - can't quite remember.

So I trust Shadow's logic - he's been doing well so far. Plus I'm going to have to trust my instinct because I haven't been keeping a spreadsheet and it's a bit late to start now.

Jontom points at Kyrian.

[purple gelatinous cube o' Doom]

points at douglas

((at the moment, to avoid autolynch while I go and deal with my car that seems to want to go spend some quality time with a mechanic.))

[Captain van der Decken]

Well.. I'm inclined to trust Shadow's logic, I must say.

*points at Kyrian*

[Madmal]

Hmmm...*looks around* yep, i've definately gone paranoidical now....

*points at Kyrian*(no real reason, sorry..)

[Timberwolf]

The crowd, despite a moment or twos hesitation, makes its decision. Shadow gets Kyrian in a full Nelson and starts dragging the spitting, swearing victim to the gallows.

"Any last words ?" sniggers Shadow as the noose is put round Kyrian's neck. Kyrian just stares balefully at him.

Then, just before the trapdoor is sprung Kyrian grows claws and whiskers and teeth. Massive, razor sharp teeth. He snarls at Shadow and prepares to leap at him in order to take at least one person with him. Shadow gives a little squeak and falls backwards onto the lever for the trapdoor.

Which opens

Kyrian was a wererat and was lynched.

Day ends and night begins.

[Jontom Xire]

Whooohaaaa! Way to go Shadow!

Very nicely done.

[[Insert Neat Username Here]]

Well, I want to point at Kyrian, but
1) I haven't been able to get on much lately, and I understand his erratic pointing to a certain extent, though it is still somewhat suspicious.
2) I really did look like a wererat, so his point at me was well thought out, although incorrect.
3) I think that Douglas's "I'm new so I can't be lynched" argument is uncreative and annoying, and implies an inability to find actual -- or even fake -- evidence of his innocence.

I point at Douglas, but I think that Kyrian is still somewhat suspicious.

EDIT: Oh, I was autolynched. you should really put that in bold or something.

[Douglas]

3) I think that Douglas's "I'm new so I can't be lynched" argument is uncreative and annoying, and implies an inability to find actual -- or even fake -- evidence of his innocence.

Um, that was a joke based entirely on what happened in WW Classic III. In my fourth game, especially this far into it, I'd consider trying to use that argument seriously to be absurd, and I thought I'd made it clear enough that I wasn't being serious in the post.

As for actual evidence of my (or anyone's) innocence, that is virtually impossible to come by without testimony from the Diviner, who happens to already be dead. All we can really do is look at who has the most evidence against them most of the time, and I haven't noticed anyone posting evidence against me yet.

Oh, and you've been autolynched already, so you can't vote.

(Summary: Lord Fullbladder, the diviner, was killed by the rats. DLD, a wererat, [INUH], a mason, and Weebl, a villager were autolynched. Helgraf, the samurai in training and a converted wererat was slain by ninjas.)

[Timberwolf]

And also, it's night time so those of you who want a night time action need to send it in.

[Ink]

Doh! Kyrian was a wolf? Man, I feel silly now.

[Timberwolf]

Anyone else for actions ? roll right up

*beats drum*

((Unless Alarra beats me to it or tells me not to, I shall be ending the night phase early tomorrow afternoon, my time (GMT) so any remaining actions...))

Wererats ? that means you...

[Timberwolf]

Dawn breaks.

The cockerel gives a squawk as a boot is thrown at it before it can crow. The depleted townspeople come forward to survey the carnage of the night. Only one person is found to be missing though.

A headcount reveals Ink to be the lost soul and search parties go through the town to find what may have become of him. Eventually they find what may be him lying in several pieces in the gutter.

It could once have been a human, possibly. the body has been ripped apart, stabbed repeatedly with a cutlass and bears the evideence of running into magical protection, although it is plain that the ripping to shreds actually killed him, total as it was.

Besides what was once a proud man lies a black headscarf, 3 kunai and a shortsword, revealing Ink's role as a ninja assassin.

Ink was killed by wererats. He was a ninja.

The ninja kill failed owing to the intervention of baners.

Night is over, day begins.

[Jontom Xire]

So now we know there are still wererats around. Come on Shadow, time to work your magic again.

Oh, and thanks to the wererats for ridding us of a ninja!

[Shadow]

I have to go to work.
I should be able to find some time this afternoon to shoot home. Maybe I'll be able to whip something up then.

[DarkCorax]

Heh, it seems that shape-sifting monsterous rats do have their uses . I'm going to wait until someone comes up with a theory, I don't have anything...

[Shadow]

I just did.
And we don't have to wait for the afternoon for it.

I knew before this game started that finding the ninjas was going to be the hard part of this game, because we'd either have to get lucky, or come across something like I think I just did.
Voting patterns are useless because the Ninjas want the Rats dead just as badly as we do.
But take a look at the following:

Spoiler

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((Aiyaiyai. A pile of dead bodies.))

Ink hears of the latest kills and looks on while Shadow talks to a ghost.

"Dude... this place is fast becoming a ghost town. Might as well start the pointing."

Ink points at douglas

Then as soon as someone else points at Douglas....

[whiny kid voice]NOOOOOOOOOO! Stop picking on the n00b, that's not fair! This is only my... one, two, three... fourth WW game and it's no fun if I get lynched for no reason so early! Find someone who's actually been here a while for your random bandwagon![/whiny kid voice]

All joking aside, Ink and Kyrian haven't presented any actual evidence against me, while Shadow has a good track record so far with his arguments.

*Douglas points at Kyrian*

P.S. If you didn't get the joke, read some of WW Classic III.

And then for some reason Ink (shown to be a Ninja) removes his finger.
And he does it using faulty logic.
Trying to stop a bandwagon from forming?

((Didn't do much heavy analysis, I'm just always suspicious of everyone who's been rather quiet. Douglas seemed like a good candidate. Anyhow I've got nothing much to go on so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. "n00b" indeed... you've been a pretty crafty player in all the games I've seen. I'm not sure about Kyrian though, so I won't point yet.))

Ink removes his finger from douglas

This is faulty logic because it's doubletalk.
Not sure about Kyrian?
He was pretty sure a moment earlier, when he said:

((Eh... I dunno. I've been in games where Kyrian was a wolf before... and this isn't how Kyrian usually acts when he's a wolf. I think Llama was right, if Kyrian was a wolf, you wouldn't know it.))

As I said, I think Ink was trying to derail a bandwagon before it ever got started.
I think you're a ninja.
*Shadow points at Douglas

[Jontom Xire]

Man, you're on form!!

Jontom Xire points at Douglas.

Actually I haven't been paying attention to this game, and I know everyone says after the fact that they know stuff, but his posts have been irking me just a little bit.

[Douglas]

Aaand there goes the streak. Sorry, I'm just a villager.

If Ink were trying to derail a bandwagon against a fellow ninja before it got anywhere, why would he have pointed at me in the first place? His point was the very first against me that day; the bandwagon, such as it was, probably wouldn't even have existed without that point, and he had no reason as far as I can tell to expect to die soon so pointing at a fellow ninja to divert suspicion doesn't make much sense. Much safer to point at a random non-ninja than to put a ninja in danger when no such danger existed to either himself or another ninja before that point.