Circle of Assassins XIX: Suburban Survival

[Xihirli]

Oh wait I forgot about this.

Oh I'm dead.
Well.
Bye.

[Lex-Kat]

Day 4

Tracer is walking down the street, mumbling incoherently to himself, with Mister Dust walking not too far behind him.

Josh, happy to have gotten Celine's autograph before she left, decided he should take his pet Leopard for a walk. Perhaps show her off to his neighbors. "Hey, neighbor." He says with a tip of his non-existent hat. "This here's Gladys. Would you like to pet her?" He asks Tracer.

Tracer stops and looks at Josh for a moment, then shakes his head and keeps walking.

Josh, not happy with the nonchalant attitude, continues walking himself.

Tracer doesn't get too much further, when he's tapped thunderously on the shoulder. Rubbing his shoulder from the new pain, he turns to find Mister Dust glaring down at him.

Mister Dust sets Firtina down, none-too-gently, and begins gesturing and pantomiming something. But Tracer doesn't get it.

With the confusion easily visible to Mister Dust, he throws his hands up in surrender. "I was asking if your family would be okay, down in the basement." he asks in a shockingly high-pitched voice.

The shock of it almost brings Tracer back to reality, but then he glares at Mister Dust. "Did you help her kill Fido?" he asks, his hand reaching back to take out his sword once again.

Mister Dust raises an eyebrow at the question, shakes his head vehemently, then points down at Firtina and pantomimes giving her a bear hug.

"Oh. Oh yeah. You helped me kill her. Thanks." Then Tracer continues his journey, no longer mumbling.

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

Judy Maxwell is skipping along, happy as she could be. She's not sure why she's in such a good mood, she just is. But as she's going down the street, something catches her eye, and her attention. She can barely see the top of it, but there it is, a roof hiding in the middle of an overgrown field. Judy decides to investigate.

She creeps closer to the underground house, and peers inside. There, she finds a young woman sitting comfortably in a chair, eating popcorn. And what is that she's watching, they look like cartoons? Judy can't quite see it, so she flings open the door. "Are you watching Saturday morning cartoons!" she accuses.

Kat, the VP of Funds, leaps out of her chair as if it were on fire. She looks wild-eyed at Judy. "Wh-what are you doing here! And no, these aren't Saturday morning cartoons. It's She-Ra. On DVD." she says.

"Wasn't that a Saturday morning cartoon?" Judy asks, folding her arms over her chest.

"Well it was, silly. But it's not now." Kat says, sticking her tongue out, she then runs at Judy, quite unexpectedly.

Fearing for her life, Judy jumps out of the way. Then she feels silly as Kat just runs past, and she realizes the woman had no weapon on her. She follows the thief up the stairs, and calls out to everyone. "She's here!! Kat the thief is right here!!"

((I wasn't intending to announce Kat's arrival until today, as someone does indeed die this round. But since Airea made the guess, and it wasn't the correct one, I figured 'why not'.
So there you have it. Kat the VP of Funds is now officially killable. ))

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

After unsuccessfully confronting three different people, Noir Ritter decides it's time to go home and start writing his next novel. As he walks across the street, he sees something move in the grass. Intrigued, he quickly moves toward the source to get a better look, and finds a cute little lizard, basking in the sunlight. Carefully he reaches down and picks up the little guy. "I think I'll call you Daisy." he says with a smile, then begins to go home.

As he heads home, he sees Miss Lancaster walking toward him, on her way once again to Miss Soho's home. "Hey Miss Lancaster, wanna see my lizard?" he asks, then reaches his cupped hands out toward the woman.

Mercedes rolls her eyes, but stops nonetheless. "Let's see it." she says, not at all enthused.

Noir opens his hands slowly, and the lizard jumps at Mercedes, who quickly snatches it out of the air.

Noir is at first surprised at the quickness of the young woman, and then horrified at the thought that Daisy had been crushed. But Mercedes reassures him by placing the unharmed lizard back in his hands. "Might want to keep a better hold of him. He could get hurt."

"I think it's a she." Noir says, relief washing over his face. Then he rushes home.

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

Mercedes continues her journey to face her feud-mate, who witnessed everything from her rocking chair. "Got some pretty quick reflexes there, Mercedes. Almost like you were some supernatural hunter, of some sort."

"Nope. But I heard you were." Mercedes smiles wickedly. "Of Pokémon, that is. I got good news for you. There's a Snorlax down the road there! If you hurry, you might be able to catch him!"

"A Snorlax! Where'd you see him!?" and with the point of a finger, Grandma Soho walked as fast as she could toward the desired Pokémon. "Have some cake, dear. I baked it for Tracer, but you can have some."

Mercedes looks over toward a small table sitting nearby the rocker. On a white plate sits a cake baked in the shape of a puppy. On it, it says: "For Finding Fido's Killer." A single tear begins to fall, even as she hears the roar of a truck come rumbling by.

Grandma Soho, not as fast as she used to be in her golden years, only has time to look up before being splatted all over the road. The truck, driven by the ever loyal Butler, just speeds on.

Day 5
You have approximately 72 hours (Wednesday Night) to get your guesses in.
Anyone with questions, please feel free to PM them to me.

Spoiler: Guesses

Show

1. Airea: Kat of the VP funds watches Saturday morning cartoons.
2. BasketOfPuppies: Tracer B. has an irrational fear of Leopards.
3. Black Socks: ~ (Black Socks is away. Unfortunately, all his 'away' guesses involved looking for the killer of Fido. )
4. Deathslayer7: Guess: Eggel (Lancaster) is a supernatural hunter.
5. DiscipleofBob: ~
6. Eggel: Soho secretly plays pokemon go.
7. ThePhantom: Mercedes Lancaster: Is Terrified of Snakes, lizards, scorpions- basically all reptiles.
8. Silent_Interim: I guess that Trace B. (Black Socks) keeps their family locked in their basement. Believes that it's the best way to keep them safe.

Spoiler: Characters (Players)

Show

1. Howard Bannister (DiscipleofBob)
2. Josh C. (BasketOfPuppies)
3. Judy Maxwell (Airea)
4. Kat (Lex-Kat)
5. Mercedes Lancaster (Eggel)
6. Mister Dust (Silent_Interim)
7. Noir Ritter (ThePhantom)
8. Tracer B. (Black Socks)

Spoiler: Secrets

Show

1. Afraid of Seven.
2. Has an irrational phobia of Leopards.
3. Is Terrified of Snakes, lizards, scorpions- basically all reptiles.
4. Keeps their family locked in their basement. Believes that it's the best way to keep them safe.
5. Latest in a long line of supernatural hunters. Currently on the hunt for trouble, right now.
6. Loves Pizza unless it has Anchovies.
7. Terrified of curtains.
8. Watches Saturday Morning Cartoons.

Spoiler: Player List

Show

#	Player	Character	Secret?	Fate	Kills/ Unassisted	Points
01	Airea	Judy Maxwell
02	BasketOfPuppies	Josh C.			1/1	1
03	Black Socks	Tracer B.			1/0	.5
04	Deathslayer7	Jessica Soho	Secret for Jessica Soho is: secretly plays Pokemon Go.	Run over by a truck while trying to capture a Snorlax.	0/0	0
05	DiscipleofBob	Howard Bannister
06	Duck999	Duck Meister	Is always on stilts.	Kicked off his stilts. Breaks his neck.	0/0	0
07	Eggel	Mercedes Lancaster			1/1	1
08	ThePhantom	Noir Ritter
09	Silent_Interim	Mister Dust			1/0	.5
10	Xihirli	Firtina Gok	Firtina killed Trace B.'s father's cousin's landlord's accountant's dog's mother's owner's uncle's gardener's puppy.	Bear hugged, then her head is cut off.	1/1	1
11	Yumori Zatsuken	Bobbie John XV	Secret: might be Celine Dion in disguise	Taken away by a mob of fans. She seems to have survived, somehow.	0/0	0
12	Lex-Kat	Kat the VP of Funds			X/X	X

[Eggel]

"MuAhahahahaaeeeeee *snort* hahahaaa *groaning noise.* The peasant woman toppled over like the old hag she is! She smashed her broom on my wall, but I smashed her corpse into the ground!" Mercedes cackles with glee. "I feel like celebrating. This truly has been a momentous day for House Lancaster. Come on, Butler, let's go."

Back at the castle, a champagne bottle pops, glasses clink, and a string quartet plays. Mercedes plops down on the royal couch with Butler. "I can now feel, peace. Finally, with that lowlife scum-"
"Jessica wasn't scum! She was a sweet old lady that baked with love for us. She was nice, and better than-"
"Jessica was an oafish woman with a turdish face that disrespec-"
"Jessica disrespected us because you were being a total bi-"
"Jessica disrespected us because she could sense your weakne-"
"YOUR MAJESTY!" Mercedes stopped talking. In a much calmer voice, Butler continues, ""Your Majesty, you have been talking to yourself more frequently than in the past. It's best if you stop drinking. Are you OK?"
"Evidently not! It turns out, I'm a heartless murderer."
"And it's what we'll always be."

[Black Socks]

Tracer walks through the woods, eventually arriving at a small grave shaped like a dog bone. Wiping a tear from his eyes, he places a bouquet of tulips on Fido's grave, then turns and walks back to his neighbourhood.
Next on his list was that low-down VP thief.

[Lex-Kat]

Sorry about the delay. Too many things happening all at once and only one Lexi to do them all.

[Lex-Kat]

Day 5

Word spread quickly that Kat, the VP of Funds had been found. Almost all of the current Survivors swarmed to where the villainous woman was found. Mercedes Lancaster arrived first, well second if you count Judy Maxwell who was already there. But the two women were distracted, as they were arguing over the package Mercedes brought with her.

And so it was that Noir was able to get to Kat first. With a sly smile, her pushed Daisy, his new pet lizard, into Kat's face. Kat screamed when confronted by the creature, but then calmed down almost immediately. "Oh, now isn't she cute!" she takes the time to gently take the lizard out of his hands.

Noir frowns. "So, you're not afraid of lizards, or snakes. Or maybe scorpions?" he asks, taking out his notebook to write it all down.

"Well not particularly fond of snakes or scorpions. But deathly afraid, no." She is the process of handing the little creature back, when she's accosted from behind.

GOTCHA!! Mercedes and Judy yelled out in unison as they wrap the curtains, that Mercedes was going to offer as a gift, around the thief. Together, they smile in satisfaction, and are about to tie a rope around the bundle to better secure it, when suddenly the form seems to disappear from under the curtains.

A moment later, Kat is seen running from the seen once again. She's so busy taunting those behind her, sticking her tongue out at them, that she doesn't notice the small gathering of people in her path.

She runs into one of them: a tall, yet lanky man wearing thick-rimmed glasses. She bounces right off him, despite his looking like your average academic. "Where are you running off to?" he asks in a not so friendly tone. "You have responsibilities, young lady."

"Or were you going to just let your family starve, in the basement?" Tracer B. states, standing beside Howard. He has his sword out, ready to use if needed.

But as terrifying as these two were, that's not where Kat was looking. The small crowd behind the two were her family. "I- I was just trying to protect you!" she pleads her case to the hungry looking group. "And I fed you, didn't I? Every day, I'd let you out to play in the sunlight, and so you could bathe and use the facilities. What more could you want!?"

"You fed us fruits and veggies!" One calls out, and the group of them begin to move around Tracer and Howard. "We wanted to be free, to live our own lives!" Another says, as they surround Kat.

"Eeeep!!" Is all that is heard, as the crowd lifts Kat up and takes her away.

"Your money's in the house." Someone within their midst calls out. "The combination is 13-22-31." And then, they left the suburbia. Kat the VP of Funds is never seen again, at least not for a loooooong time... if ever.

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

As the crowd disperses, Josh comes forward carrying a pizza box and wearing a smile. "Here guys, this is... Hey, where'd Howard go?" he asks, looking around.

Tracer just shrugs. "What kind of pizza is it?" he asks, sounding concerned.

Josh smiles, and opens the box. Anchovies and Onions! he announces.

Tracer crinkles his nose. "I guess I could try it. Not a big fan of onions though. And I don't know anyone who likes anchovies." He takes a slice and bites into it. He makes a horrid face, but swallows the nasty foodstuff. "Here. If you find Howard, you can give the rest to him."

Tracer then walks home. It'd been a long couple days, and he was sore and tired. All he wanted was to get some sleep. He doesn't even bother turning on his light, just throws off his covers and flops down onto his nice soft, crunchy, clicking bed. His nice cozy, painful stabbing and pinching bed.

As Trace slowly succumbs to the scorpion stings, a very large face leers over him. "You heard me speak." Mister Dust whispers, his voice squeaking like a mouse. "Sorry, but now you have to go."

Traces' last thoughts as he drifts off into eternal slumber are to wonder at how such a large man was able to leave without making any noise. Oh, and how he was right to include scorpions in his fear of all reptiles.

Day 6
You have approximately 96 hours (Monday Night) to get your guesses in.
Anyone with questions, please feel free to PM them to me.

Spoiler: Guesses

Show

1. Airea: Kat of the VP funds is terrified of curtains.
2. BasketOfPuppies: Tracer B. loves pizza without anchovies.
3. Black Socks: I think that Kat the VP thief keeps their family locked in their basement. Believes that it's the best way to keep them safe.
4. DiscipleofBob: Kat has a family locked in the basement.
5. Eggel: Kat the VP of funds is terrified of curtains.
6. ThePhantom: Kat: Is Terrified of Snakes, lizards, scorpions- basically all reptiles.
7. Silent_Interim: I guess that Tracer B. (Black Socks) is Terrified of Snakes, lizards, scorpions- basically all reptiles.

Spoiler: Characters (Players)

Show

1. Howard Bannister (DiscipleofBob)
2. Josh C. (BasketOfPuppies)
3. Judy Maxwell (Airea)
4. Mercedes Lancaster (Eggel)
5. Mister Dust (Silent_Interim)
6. Noir Ritter (ThePhantom)

Spoiler: Secrets

Show

1. Afraid of Seven.
2. Has an irrational phobia of Leopards.
3. Latest in a long line of supernatural hunters. Currently on the hunt for trouble, right now.
4. Loves Pizza unless it has Anchovies.
5. Terrified of curtains.
6. Watches Saturday Morning Cartoons.

Spoiler: Player List

Show

#	Player	Character	Secret?	Fate	Kills/ Unassisted	Points
01	Airea	Judy Maxwell
02	BasketOfPuppies	Josh C.			1/1	1
03	Black Socks	Tracer B.	I posted a joke secret in the thread, but Tracer B.'s actual secret is that he is terrified of snakes, lizards, scorpions- basically all reptiles.	Stung by a thousand Scorpions.	2/0	1
04	Deathslayer7	Jessica Soho	Secret for Jessica Soho is: secretly plays Pokemon Go.	Run over by a truck while trying to capture a Snorlax.	0/0	0
05	DiscipleofBob	Howard Bannister			1/0	.5
06	Duck999	Duck Meister	Is always on stilts.	Kicked off his stilts. Breaks his neck.	0/0	0
07	Eggel	Mercedes Lancaster			1/1	1
08	ThePhantom	Noir Ritter
09	Silent_Interim	Mister Dust			2/1	1.5
10	Xihirli	Firtina Gok	Firtina killed Trace B.'s father's cousin's landlord's accountant's dog's mother's owner's uncle's gardener's puppy.	Bear hugged, then her head is cut off.	1/1	1
11	Yumori Zatsuken	Bobbie John XV	Secret: might be Celine Dion in disguise	Taken away by a mob of fans. She seems to have survived, somehow.	0/0	0
12	Lex-Kat	Kat the VP of Funds	{{I 'stole' Buggabelle's secret. See below.}}	Taken away by her angry family, her fate unknown. Likely not a happy one.	X/X	X
13	Buggabelle	Hours, Hours McLander	Hello, Eggel sent me! This is my first game, so sorry if I make a mistake when playing. Hours real secret is: She keeps her family locked in her basement. She loves them, but believes that its the best way to keep them safe.	{{See above.}}	X/X	X

[Black Socks]

Psst, Lex, S_I was right about my secret, but you marked it red and forgot to remove Tracer from the list of characters.

[Lex-Kat]

Seems I forgot to mark all the correct secrets in green. At least I remembered to remove Kat, right.

[Silent_Interim]

Mister Dust ate lunch.

You don't want to know what lunch was.

[Lex-Kat]

Due to the Holiday weekend, I'll give one more day for one last player to respond to my PM.

[Lex-Kat]

Day 6

Yesterday had been a very eventful day, and the audience was hoping today would be equally fun to watch.

Mercedes skipped across the road to where Noir Ritter was writing in a little notepad. "Hey, what are you writing?"

Noir pulled the words away from her prying eyes, protectively holding them to his chest. "Notes. For a novel I'm trying to write. Which is why I need the money from this stupid contest."

"Wow, really! Am I going to be in it, huh?" Mercedes asks, sounding excited by this. "oh, and I have the perfect gift for the occasion." She holds out her hand. Her butler, who'd always been there, places in it a powder blue box neatly tied with a red ribbon. "Open it!" she says, nearly bouncing off the pavement.

Noir shrugs, putting the notebook in his back pocket. He then opens the offered gift. Curtains. "Curtains? Thanks." he says, dryly. He then gives her a look that says 'please leave now'.

Frazzled that her gift once again is unsuccessful, Mercedes storms off, her butler following behind.

"Hmmm. That is curious." The butler says.

Mercedes looks first to him, then to where he is looking. Sneakily sneaking away from her house is Josh C.

That sends Mercedes nose a twitching, and now she marches toward her house, to find what the little sneak-thief has stolen. Once inside, she gives each room a good looking over, but spots nothing out of the ordinary. From room to room she searches, but finds nothing out of place.

Finally, she gets to her room, and still nothing. Unnerved due to not knowing the reason why he entered her domain, Mercedes decides, strangely enough, to not confront him just yet. She was tired, and just needed a little rest. She slips under the covers of her plush bed, and claps her hands twice. The lights go off and she rolls over to sleep. But there is still a brightness in the room. She opens her eyes to find the number seven painted all over her ceiling, all along her walls, using variations of the numeral and spelling of seven. The evil man even did horrible maths that calculated out to seven. There were sevens everywhere!

She ran out of her room, and then she began noticing more sevens. He had turned all her clocks to seven. He had arranged everything she owned into rows of seven. How had she not seen any of this before? Mercedes screamed out in horror, "Seven!!".

When the butler finally found her, Mercedes was curled up in a tight ball in a corner, as far away from all the sevens as she could get.

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

Meanwhile, back outside, Noir Ritter had finally determined something. He scanned the street, looking for the target of his discovery, Howard Bannister. With a shrill whistle, he called out to the strange man who just didn't seem to belong here. "Hey, Howard! I got to ask you a question." He then walked quickly to the strangely muscled man.

As he approached, he notice Judy Maxwell and Mister Dust approaching as well. That was strange, but it did not deter Noir.

It was just before he got there that a desperate scream was heard. "Seven!!"

This is what stopped Noir in his tracks. He lowered his head, and was about to turn away, when he realized something. Something... peculiar. About Howard. Noir looked up at the three people now staring at him. And he saw something in each of their eyes. Something his grandpappy had taught him to look for many years ago. How had he not seen it until now?

Noir began to back away. He could take on one, perhaps two of them. But all three? Oh no, he was not at all prepared for those odds. "I- I don't suppose any of you are afraid of seven also, are you?" he asks, then turns to run.

Claws extend from Howard's fingers, his face distorts into that of a long muzzle, and he becomes even hairier than before.

Judy smiles and evil grin. Fangs now poking out of her mouth as she hisses. She'd turn into mist, or a bat, but then the heavy make-up wouldn't protect her from the sun's rays.

As for Mister Dust, he didn't seem to change at all. But his weight belied just how fast he was.

The three of them ran after Noir and were almost upon him when he made it into his house. "Well there you have it, Noir. You was looking for trouble, and now you've found it. Big time!" His heart racing, his mind draws a blank as to what to do.

Trouble is pounding loudly at his door, and it won't be long before they bust through. He could get to his handgun, with the silver bullets. But he remembered that he'd foolishly left it downstairs. He hadn't been practicing with his wooden stakes, so they were upstairs in his bedroom. And it wouldn't matter, as he had no clue as to how to fight Mister Dust.

And then, he remembered. Leaving the door to be busted down, Noir ran up the stairs, taking three at a time. The monsters going bump followed quickly after, Howard the wolfman taking the lead.

Noir felt claws rip into his ankle even as he opened the upstairs door. He turned, pain screaming at him to stop, and slammed the door in the dog's face. He knew it'd only give him a second respite, so he ignored the pain and strapped the engine to his back. He had never gotten the hang of using the jet pack, but now was not the time to worry. He'd either survive the flight, or die trying.

"Here goes everything." He whispered as her jumped off the balcony and pushed a button. With a loud fwoosh, the engine roared to life, launching the writer/hunter out of harms way.

A minute later, Judy, Howard, and Mister Dust watch as the jet exhaust veers downward, followed by a poof of dust as it crashed to the Earth. This is in turn followed by a small explosion.

Day 7
You have approximately 72 hours (Saturday Night) to get your guesses in.
Anyone with questions, please feel free to PM them to me.

Spoiler: Guesses

Show

1. Airea: Noir Ritter Latest in a long line of supernatural hunters. Currently on the hunt for trouble, right now.
2. BasketOfPuppies: I think Mercedes Lancaster is Afraid of Seven.
3. DiscipleofBob: Noir Ritter sounds like the name of a long line of supernatural hunters.
4. Eggel: Noir Ritter is terrified of curtains.
5. ThePhantom: Howard Bannister: Afraid of Seven.
6. Silent_Interim: I guess that Noir Ritter (Thephantom) Is the latest in a long line of supernatural hunters.

Spoiler: Characters (Players)

Show

1. Howard Bannister (DiscipleofBob)
2. Josh C. (BasketOfPuppies)
3. Judy Maxwell (Airea)
4. Mister Dust (Silent_Interim)

Spoiler: Secrets

Show

1. Has an irrational phobia of Leopards.
2. Loves Pizza unless it has Anchovies.
3. Terrified of curtains.
4. Watches Saturday Morning Cartoons.

Spoiler: Player List

Show

#	Player	Character	Secret?	Fate	Kills/ Unassisted	Points
01	Airea	Judy Maxwell			1/0	.5
02	BasketOfPuppies	Josh C.			2/2	2
03	Black Socks	Tracer B.	I posted a joke secret in the thread, but Tracer B.'s actual secret is that he is terrified of snakes, lizards, scorpions- basically all reptiles.	Stung by a thousand Scorpions.	2/0	1
04	Deathslayer7	Jessica Soho	Secret for Jessica Soho is: secretly plays Pokemon Go.	Run over by a truck while trying to capture a Snorlax.	0/0	0
05	DiscipleofBob	Howard Bannister			2/0	1
06	Duck999	Duck Meister	Is always on stilts.	Kicked off his stilts. Breaks his neck.	0/0	0
07	Eggel	Mercedes Lancaster	Mercedes Lancaster is worried about people hurting, or discovering the truth, about his/her family. Can I actually change my secret to "afraid of seven"? I feel like if people understand the reference, it will be way to easy, and the other secret just feels "meh" to me.	Driven insane by the number seven scrawled on her ceiling.	1/1	1
08	ThePhantom	Noir Ritter	Real secret: Noir Ritter is the latest of a long line of supernatural hunters. He's currently on the hunt for trouble right now.	Finds trouble. Howard, Judy, and Mister all turn out to be monsters hunting the hunter.	0/0	0
09	Silent_Interim	Mister Dust			3/1	2
10	Xihirli	Firtina Gok	Firtina killed Trace B.'s father's cousin's landlord's accountant's dog's mother's owner's uncle's gardener's puppy.	Bear hugged, then her head is cut off.	1/1	1
11	Yumori Zatsuken	Bobbie John XV	Secret: might be Celine Dion in disguise	Taken away by a mob of fans. She seems to have survived, somehow.	0/0	0
12	Lex-Kat	Kat the VP of Funds	{{I 'stole' Buggabelle's secret. See below.}}	Taken away by her angry family, her fate unknown. Likely not a happy one.	X/X	X
13	Buggabelle	Hours, Hours McLander	Hello, Eggel sent me! This is my first game, so sorry if I make a mistake when playing. Hours real secret is: She keeps her family locked in her basement. She loves them, but believes that its the best way to keep them safe.	{{See above.}}	X/X	X

[Silent_Interim]

Mister Dust grinned at his co-conspirators. Normally, this would have been a pleasant, happy grin, the grin of a satisfied cat. Now, it was a nervous grin, the grin of that same cat worried about the other cats around it suddenly turning on it.

Mister Dust did not resemble a cat. Cats are small and furry. The only respect in which Mister Dust resembled a cat was that he was amazingly light on his feet.

Mister Dust bolted.

[Lex-Kat]

Day 7

Mister Dust hightails it out of Noir's home, but even as he's running, he's making a phone call. "Hello, Poppa John's?" he squeaks in his high-pitched voice. And then he screams like a scream queen in a b-rated monster flick of the week.

Wolf-Howard Bannister is hot on his tail, and therefore doesn't have the time to react when suddenly Mister Dust turns, grabs him and spins him away.

Josh C. is in front of the doorway, a shotgun aimed at the first person to leave. That had been Mister Dust, but now it was a dizzy Howard.

*BOOM!!* the unexpected blast from the shotgun knocks Josh to the ground, where he takes a second look at his weapon of choice. "That... wasn't supposed to happen." he says in confusion.

Howard Bannister isn't dead though. Oh no. It takes more than a shotgun blast to kill a werewolf. He starts to lung at the would-be assassin, but stops. Something he sees makes even his blood run cold, and he begins to back away from Josh C.

Josh looks at his person, and realizes what it is. It's his faux-leopard skin vest. His heart racing, and thankful for this guy's unreasonable fear of all things leopards, Josh stands and fires again at Howard. And again, and again.

Finally the beast is dead, and Josh leans forward, using his spent shotgun as a crutch.

But he rested too soon. Out of the house, faster than Usain Bolt, flies Judy Maxwell. She pins Josh to the ground, glaring at him with tears in her eyes, and hatred in her heart. Without a word, she lunges forwards, biting into his neck.

Josh is frightened by it all, and begins to fight the woman off him... for a brief moment. But soon he finds himself relaxing and... enjoying it. The feel of her lips on his neck is like no euphoria he has ever felt before. Slowly, without mercy, she drains him of his life's essence.

Judy sits back, falling to one side of him. Now that she'd finally gotten something to drink, she was hungry. Hungry for pizza! And she couldn't believe her eyes. There, in the distance coming directly toward her was a Poppa John's pizza van.

The van pulled up in front of her, and the delivery girl stepped out. "Pizza for..." she looks at the receipt again. "Miss Maxwell or Mister Bannister?" she asks, completely unphased by the bloody sight she sees before her. "Is that you?" she asks.

Judy nods her head slowly. How... did they know? she wonders to herself, even as she stands to receive her delivery.

The girl begins removing boxes from the van, handing the first three directly to Judy. And as Judy opens these first three, the delivery girl continues to unload box after box.

Judy opens the first box. Anchovies. She drops it, and opens the second. Anchovies. The third, anchovies. Every box she opens, anchovies, anchovies, anchovies. "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!" she screams skyward. It was a personal hell that Judy could not stand. And soon, she wouldn't have to.

From behind her, two heavy arms wrap around her lithe body and lift her up, squeezing her and making it hard for her to move. "Give in!" a squeaky voice over her shoulder demands.

"No!" Judy says defiantly.

Mister Dust gives her a squeeze, then shakes her back and forth like a rag doll. "Give in!" he demands again.

Dizzy, hungry for real pizza, and fatigued by the squeezing arms, Judy nods her head yes. "I... I submit. I am defeated." She is released to the ground, where she falls to her knees, her head bowed.

Another pizza box is handed to her, which she pushes away. "This one's for you, sweetie." The still unnamed girl says. "It's ham, pepperoni, and bacon. Trust me."

Judy looks up, then opens the box. It's like finding her own little box of heaven. Judy begins eating with vigor.

And as she does, Mister Dust is rewarded a check for five thousand gold. "Since there won't be a trial, we can also give you this." he steps aside, revealing the previously stolen ninety-five thousand gold. "It's all yours."

Game Over
You have approximately 72 hours (Saturday Night) to get your guesses in.
Anyone with questions, please feel free to PM them to me.

Spoiler: Guesses

Show

1. Airea: Josh C watches Saturday morning cartoons.
2. BasketOfPuppies: Howard Bannister has a phobia of leopards.
3. DiscipleofBob: ~
4. Silent_Interim: I guess that Howard Bannister (DiscipleofBob) has an irrational phobia of leopards.

Spoiler: Player List

Show

#	Player	Character	Secret?	Fate	Kills/ Unassisted	Points
01	Airea	Judy Maxwell	Secret: Loves pizza unless it has anchovies.	Is distracted by a truck full of anchovy pizzas. Squeezed into submission by Mister Dust.	2/1	1.5
02	BasketOfPuppies	Josh C.	Josh C. watches Saturday morning cartoons.	Bitten and drained by Judy Maxwell.	3/2	2.5
03	Black Socks	Tracer B.	I posted a joke secret in the thread, but Tracer B.'s actual secret is that he is terrified of snakes, lizards, scorpions- basically all reptiles.	Stung by a thousand Scorpions.	2/0	1
04	Deathslayer7	Jessica Soho	Secret for Jessica Soho is: secretly plays Pokemon Go.	Run over by a truck while trying to capture a Snorlax.	0/0	0
05	DiscipleofBob	Howard Bannister	Howard Bannister.... Has an irrational phobia of leopards.	Blasted by Josh C.'s water shotgun... which was real.	2/0	1
06	Duck999	Duck Meister	Is always on stilts.	Kicked off his stilts. Breaks his neck.	0/0	0
07	Eggel	Mercedes Lancaster	Mercedes Lancaster is worried about people hurting, or discovering the truth, about his/her family. Can I actually change my secret to "afraid of seven"? I feel like if people understand the reference, it will be way to easy, and the other secret just feels "meh" to me.	Driven insane by the number seven scrawled on her ceiling.	1/1	1
08	ThePhantom	Noir Ritter	Real secret: Noir Ritter is the latest of a long line of supernatural hunters. He's currently on the hunt for trouble right now.	Finds trouble. Howard, Judy, and Mister all turn out to be monsters hunting the hunter.	0/0	0
09	Silent_Interim	Mister Dust	Mister Dust's secret: He is terrified of curtains.	Walked away with the cash prize, and pet vampir	4/1	2.5
10	Xihirli	Firtina Gok	Firtina killed Trace B.'s father's cousin's landlord's accountant's dog's mother's owner's uncle's gardener's puppy.	Bear hugged, then her head is cut off.	1/1	1
11	Yumori Zatsuken	Bobbie John XV	Secret: might be Celine Dion in disguise	Taken away by a mob of fans. She seems to have survived, somehow.	0/0	0
12	Lex-Kat	Kat the VP of Funds	{{I 'stole' Buggabelle's secret. See below.}}	Taken away by her angry family, her fate unknown. Likely not a happy one.	X/X	X
13	Buggabelle	Hours, Hours McLander	Hello, Eggel sent me! This is my first game, so sorry if I make a mistake when playing. Hours real secret is: She keeps her family locked in her basement. She loves them, but believes that its the best way to keep them safe.	{{See above.}}	X/X	X

Hope no one hated it too much.

[DiscipleofBob]

I could have sworn I PMed a guess for this round. Oh well. Maybe the PM never got sent or it slipped my mind or something.

GG. Sorry I couldn't actually post more. I'll probably skip the next round.

[Black Socks]

I was killed by the winner! That means a portion of my spirit won! Woo hoo!

[Lex-Kat]

So first off, sorry for all the evil delays. Being sick really threw off my timing.
After the first day... or perhaps during the first day... I began poking people via PM to let them know that they'd forgotten to vote.
Should I have been PMing people when they forget to vote?
It wasn't until after Yumori's guess on day 3 that I remembered that I should look at people's guesses as I receive them, so that I can let them know if they mistakenly guessed a previously guessed guess.
Airea made an early guess at Kat the VP.
What did everyone think of the extra character?
Was it a bad idea?
Due to Black Socks being away, and his choices in Away-Guesses, he didn't make a guess Day 4.
Do you have a problem with Away-Guessing?
Should I have warned him before he left that his previous day's guess had been correct, allowing him to make other guesses instead?

Spoiler: Guesses and Results

Show

Player/Character	Kill Orders	Assisted	Killed
Silent_Interim/Mister Dust	1} I guess that Josh C. (BasketOfPuppies) killed Trace B.'s father's cousin's landlord's accountant's dog's mother's uncle's gardener's puppy. 2} I guess that Tracer B. (Black Socks) killed Tracer B.'s father's cousin's landlord's accountant's dog's mother's uncle's gardener's puppy. Le gasp. 3} I guess that Firtina Gok (Xihirli) killed Trace B.'s father's cousin's landlord's accountant's dog's mother's uncle's gardener's puppy. 4} I guess that Trace B. (Black Socks) keeps their family locked in their basement. Believes that it's the best way to keep them safe. 5} I guess that Tracer B. (Black Socks) is Terrified of Snakes, lizards, scorpions- basically all reptiles. 6} I guess that Noir Ritter (Thephantom) Is the latest in a long line of supernatural hunters. . 7} I guess that Howard Bannister (DiscipleofBob) has an irrational phobia of leopards.	. 1} ~ . 2} ~ . 3} Black Socks/Tracer B. . 4} ~ . 5} ~ 6} Airea/Judy Maxwell &} DiscipleofBob/Howard Bannister 7} BasketOfPuppies/Josh C.	. 1} ~ . 2} ~ . 3} Xihirli/Firtina Gok . 4} ~ . 5} Black Socks/Tracer B. . 6} ThePhantom/Noir Ritter 7} DiscipleofBob/Howard Bannister
Airea/Judy Maxwell	1} This was too funny not to guess. Duck Meister is Latest in a long line of supernatural hunters. Currently on the hunt for trouble, right now. Which I honestly just want him to be. 2} Soho is keeping her family in the basement. :) 3} ~ 4} Kat of the VP funds watches Saturday morning cartoons. 5} Kat of the VP funds is terrified of curtains. 6} Noir Ritter Latest in a long line of supernatural hunters. Currently on the hunt for trouble, right now. . 7} Josh C watches Saturday morning cartoons.	. 1} ~ 2} ~ 3} ~ 4} ~ 5} ~ . 6} DiscipleofBob/Howard Bannister &} Silent_Interim/Mister Dust 7} ~	. 1} ~ 2} ~ 3} ~ 4} ~ 5} ~ . . 6} ThePhantom/Noir Ritter 7} BasketOfPuppies/Josh C.
BasketOfPuppies/Josh C.	1} I think Noir Ritter might be Celine Dion in disguise. 2} Tracer B. is Celine Dion in disguise. 3} Bobbie John the 15th is Celine Dion in disguise. 4} Tracer B. has an irrational fear of Leopards. 5} Tracer B. loves pizza without anchovies. 6} I think Mercedes Lancaster is Afraid of Seven. 7} Howard Bannister has a phobia of leopards.	1} ~ 2} ~ 3} ~ 4} ~ 5} ~ 6} ~ 7} Silent_Interim/Mister Dust	1} ~ 2} ~ 3} Yumori Zatsuken/Bobbie John XV 4} ~ 5} ~ 6} Eggel/Mercedes Lancaster 7} DiscipleofBob/Howard Bannister
DiscipleofBob/Howard Bannister	1} I'm going to say Bobby John XV is the latest in a long line of supernatural hunters. 2} Silent Interim keeps his family locked in his basement. And so does his character. 3} Jessica Soho is the latest in a long line of hunters. 4} ~ 5} Kat has a family locked in the basement. 6} Noir Ritter sounds like the name of a long line of supernatural hunters. . 7} ~	1} ~ 2} ~ 3} ~ 4} ~ 5} Black Socks/Tracer B. 6} Airea/Judy Maxwell &} Silent_Interim/Mister Dust 7} ~	1} ~ 2} ~ 3} ~ 4} ~ 5} Lex-Kat/Kat the VP of Funds . 6} ThePhantom/Noir Ritter 7} ~
Eggel/Mercedes Lancaster	1} Jessica Soho (Deathslayer7) might be Celine Dion, in disguise. 2} Jessica Soho watches Saturday morning cartoons. 3} Jessica soho is terrified of curtains. 4} Soho secretly plays pokemon go. 5} Kat the VP of funds is terrified of curtains. 6} Noir Ritter is terrified of curtains.	1} ~ 2} ~ 3} ~ 4} ~ 5} ~ 6} ~	1} ~ 2} ~ 3} ~ 4} Deathslayer7/Jessica Soho 5} ~ 6} ~
ThePhantom/Noir Ritter	1} Bobbie John XV is Keeps their family locked in their basement. Believes that it's the best way to keep them safe. 2} Firtina Gok: Might be Celine Dion, in disguise. 3} Judy Maxwell: might be Celine Dion, in disguise. 4} Mercedes Lancaster: Is Terrified of Snakes, lizards, scorpions- basically all reptiles. 5} Kat: Is Terrified of Snakes, lizards, scorpions- basically all reptiles. 6} Howard Bannister: Afraid of Seven.	. 1} ~ 2} ~ 3} ~ 4} ~ 5} ~ 6} ~	. 1} ~ 2} ~ 3} ~ 4} ~ 5} ~ 6} ~
Black Socks/Tracer B.	1} I will guess that Deathslayer7 murdered my father's cousin's landlord's... etc. 2} Was it.... Bobbie John the 15th (Yumori Satsuken) who murdered my father's cousin's landlord's accountant's dog's mother's uncle's gardener's puppy? 3} Firtina Gok (Xihirli), did you kill my father's cousin's landlord's accountant's dog's mother's uncle's gardener's puppy? 4} ~ 5} I think that Kat the VP thief keeps their family locked in their basement. Believes that it's the best way to keep them safe.	1} ~ . 2} ~ . 3} Silent_Interim/Mister Dust 4} ~ . 5} DiscipleofBob/Howard Bannister	1} ~ . 2} ~ . 3} Xihirli/Firtina Gok 4} ~ . 5} Lex-Kat/Kat the VP of Funds
Deathslayer7/Jessica Soho	1} I guess that Duck999 secretly killed Tracer B's puppy. 2} Mercedes Lancaster secretly keeps their family locked in their basement and believes that it's the best way to keep them safe. 3} I guess that Mercedes Lancaster (Eggel) murdered the puppy! 4} Guess: Eggel (Lancaster) is a supernatural hunter.	1} ~ . 2} ~ 3} ~ 4} ~	1} ~ . 2} ~ 3} ~ 4} ~
Xihirli/Firtina Gok	1} Duck Meister is always on stilts. 2} Tracer B. is afraid of seven. 3} Tracer B. Secretly plays Pokemon Go.	1} ~ 2} ~ 3} ~	1} Duck999/Duck Meister 2} ~ 3} ~
Yumori Zatsuken/Bobbie John XV	1} Jessica Soho is terrified of snakes, lizards, scorpions- basically all reptiles. 2} Airea murdered Tracer B's puppy. 3} Tracer B. killed Tracer B's puppy.	1} ~ 2} ~ 3} ~	1} ~ 2} ~ 3} ~
Duck999/Duck Meister	1} Tracer B. might be Celine Dion, in disguise.	1} ~	1} ~

[Airea]

Did I actually win?

[Lex-Kat]

You survived, but Silent_Interim won.

[Xihirli]

I killed someone!

[Eggel]

Thank you, Lex-Kat, for sending me the PM reminders. I always thought I would send it in, but I actually did it, etc.

I liked the extra character

I was a bit surprised when no one was using my secret as guesses.

Loved the game. 10/10 would play again.

[Lex-Kat]

To be fair, a lot of players seemed heavily focused on finding the Hunter, the family jailer, and the Fido killer. Someone else focused quite a bit on curtains, as well. They died though, and no one worried about the curtains.

[Silent_Interim]

Hey, I actually won one of these! Hooray.

Anyway. Was fun. I liked the extra character, but it didn't do much. I feel like it's nice to poke people via PM if they've not guessed. Away guessing is... mmm. It's a rough system, but I don't have any problem with it.

Once again, I very much enjoyed, and as always, I look forward to the next one.