Steampunk Mafia: Day One

[Hinckley]

Just to be absolutely certain, everybody removes their pants, underpants, trousers and petticoats.

"Are you ever going to eat that wiener?" Darberis Gibbon asks.

"No, I never put wieners in my mouth." Fairon Garzi answers, "I just keep them firm and juicy."

"Okay..." Darberis says.

For some reason, nobody feels like getting re-dressed, despite verifying that each alter ego has the corresponding hoo-hoo and ha-ha.

"Ha ha!" Cuthber Neal Memlow laughs.

Polly Altamont just averts her gaze from Cuthber's ha-ha.

"Sorry." Cuthber says, "Hoo-hoos always make me go ha-ha."

"Please just put your pants back on, old man." Polly says.

____________________

You have 24 hours to reach a conviction.

[Zepher]

Bess has been wishy-washy, trying to side with whoever is helping her. Appeasing the crowd is classically how a assassin would act. I have not received any sausage or cock yet this fine day, where is the ship's cook! Oh look, a gun in a pocket, if you catch my drift.

[Rick]

Given the lack of any real evidence, that's probably how it should end, but it will be interesting to see if anyone disagrees enough to change their vote.

I don't think it's a good idea to let this day end without a lynch. I agree we don't have any good solid leads and the odds of finding an assassin on the first day are certainly against us, but we need to start somewhere.

[Shadows]

I don't think it's a good idea to let this day end without a lynch. I agree we don't have any good solid leads and the odds of finding an assassin on the first day are certainly against us, but we need to start somewhere.

I just don't feel comfortable lynching when statistically we're most likely to kill one of our own (and that could be a member of the royal family, even), which benefits no one but the scum. If anyone feels differently, all they have to do is change their vote, I just don't see any basis for doing so given the lack of any apparent penalty for not lynching and the great risk involved in doing it.

Tomorrow will be another story, however. If something doesn't come up then, we'll have no choice but to start randomly guessing.

[Cecilie]

I'm not comfortable with either situation here. On one hand we risk lynching one of our own, or worse, one of the people we are supposed to protect. But if we don't lynch, we won't learn anything from the voting patterns, and tomorrow could be equally random as today, unless someone gets lucky during the night...

[MetroiD]

Once again -- I'm not convinced by Charles' lack of more active involvement considering the current vote tally, and I'm also bewildered by some people's apparent desire to split the vote. Bess' weirdly pointless struggle in private conversations to get me to cancel my own vote is, however, convincing enough for me to actually keep it where it is.

My initial vote against Bess was based on her toing and froing - which I personally saw as a pointless (yet continued) attempt to convince others she's Vanilla on Day 1 - and then on her decision to defend someone who should have actually stepped in and defended themselves personally. Her defense was then something along the lines of, "We've all just been talking nonsense so far, so there's no point in reading into that", which is also the kind of explanation I was given regarding the whole "Oh, look at me, I have no job" thing when she chose to contact me in person.

And yes, I find it highly suspicious and rather pointless for someone to contact me asking to unvote her and "center around Charles" who "appears to have a better case against him", as she put it - all the while not sharing anything that could help me see why voting against her would be a wrong move. Which is precisely what Bess did. Out of respect for her, I'm not going to be sharing transcripts of how she contacted me for all to see, but I do believe that initiating that brief talk between us without presenting any sort of actual defense was... well, pointless of hers - and a bit desperate too.

[Fugazi]

I realise that no one here is comfortable voting either way, which is why I don't feel that our work is done for the day. I'm sure there's still time to boost our confidence in whatever final decision we reach, even if it that decision is not to lynch.

Unvote: Charles Pleasance (CallMePieOrDie)

Vote: Bess Bulton (Bob)

[Bob]

Look, there's not much to go on for the case against either of us. I've been defending myself in both public and private, however I feel I'll broadcast it here again:

The whole "job" sort of thing was me acting silly during the start of the day when all of us were also acting odd since it was before the 24 hour mark on the first day. If you think that's scummy then you could point out that the whole sausage debate and cooking gags were also suspicious. It was only near when we reached the 24 hour mark that I decided that we should actually have a conversation other than silly topics, but instead that too came out to look odd.

So then, when Fairon voted for Charles because he decided that he was interested in women, I didn't think I was defending him by saying that perhaps he was just making an observation. It -was- six to six, and I'd like to center around Charles because I don't want to vote for myself. I'm asking you to please switch your votes.

[Cecilie]

And yes, I find it highly suspicious and rather pointless for someone to contact me asking to unvote her and "center around Charles" who "appears to have a better case against him", as she put it - all the while not sharing anything that could help me see why voting against her would be a wrong move. Which is precisely what Bess did. Out of respect for her, I'm not going to be sharing transcripts of how she contacted me for all to see, but I do believe that initiating that brief talk between us without presenting any sort of actual defense was... well, pointless of hers - and a bit desperate too.

I see I wasn't the only one to receive such a message...

[MetroiD]

So then, when Fairon voted for Charles because he decided that he was interested in women, I didn't think I was defending him by saying that perhaps he was just making an observation. It -was- six to six, and I'd like to center around Charles because I don't want to vote for myself. I'm asking you to please switch your votes.

Yes, but why vote against Charles when you thought there was nothing substantial on which to base a vote against him earlier today? In my point of view, he's supplied a brief but more or less reasonable explanation to his attitude, so why vote against him now when you were pretty much defending him earlier? And if you saw something else that was even slightly suspicious to you, why didn't you act on it? We don't have too much to work with on Day One anyway, so my vote against you could easily have been changed if you'd convinced me it was ill-advised, rather than saying "If you think my acting was scummy, then everything else earlier today was scummy"... Which, in turn, just makes you sound even scummier.

I think this applies to all of us: obviously, it is convenient enough to use the premise of having a simple choice of two people to vote against; but if you have indeed spotted something and can still act on it, why not do so? We still have plenty of time to vote and unvote. I've cast my vote early on and done as I suggested above despite the risk of appearing to split the vote, as Fairon has aptly noted - so I don't see why Bess couldn't have tried and voted against someone else if she felt it would be a right move. Since she isn't doing that and has merely jumped on a convenient bandwagon, her whole defense of sorts seems to be based on nothing really.

[Hinckley]

vote tally

Charles Pleasance (CallMePieOrDie): 5 votes (CorneliusMurdock, Pandora, Bob, Dragonator, Shadows)

Bess Bulton (Bob): 7 votes (MetroiD, Zepher, Cecilie, Rick, CallMePieOrDie, JimButcher, Fugazi)

[CorneliusMurdock]

Anyone else feel a draft?

I don't know, Shanalan. The whole not-lynching thing raises some warning flags for me. I don't know if we can simply trust that we'll know more tomorrow if we don't have some solid facts about today form a lynch. Somehow, I get a feeling we've all had this conversation before. A vague feeling of deja vu.

But remembering things is a weird feeling for me anyway. Because I'm old.

Anyone else feel a draft?

[Rick]

I don't know, Shanalan. The whole not-lynching thing raises some warning flags for me. I don't know if we can simply trust that we'll know more tomorrow if we don't have some solid facts about today form a lynch. Somehow, I get a feeling we've all had this conversation before. A vague feeling of deja vu.

Well, as things stand, it looks like we're getting a lynch today.

Anyone else feel a draft?

But those pants back on wrinkly.

[Bob]

Yes, but why vote against Charles when you thought there was nothing substantial on which to base a vote against him earlier today? In my point of view, he's supplied a brief but more or less reasonable explanation to his attitude, so why vote against him now when you were pretty much defending him earlier? And if you saw something else that was even slightly suspicious to you, why didn't you act on it? We don't have too much to work with on Day One anyway, so my vote against you could easily have been changed if you'd convinced me it was ill-advised, rather than saying "If you think my acting was scummy, then everything else earlier today was scummy"... Which, in turn, just makes you sound even scummier.

I think this applies to all of us: obviously, it is convenient enough to use the premise of having a simple choice of two people to vote against; but if you have indeed spotted something and can still act on it, why not do so? We still have plenty of time to vote and unvote. I've cast my vote early on and done as I suggested above despite the risk of appearing to split the vote, as Fairon has aptly noted - so I don't see why Bess couldn't have tried and voted against someone else if she felt it would be a right move. Since she isn't doing that and has merely jumped on a convenient bandwagon, her whole defense of sorts seems to be based on nothing really.

I'm not sure how to defend myself when there's no real logical accusations against me. Because I pointed something out I'm being lynched out? That's the only real evidence against me, and quite personally I don't think that's anything. In addition, at least I'm still defending myself adequately. Where's Charles?

[CorneliusMurdock]

But those pants back on wrinkly.

Pants? Oh, would you look at that. I'm not wearing any pants. I wonder where they went.

I just think an argument about whether to lynch or not seems like a distraction. And I'm easily distracted.

Oh, hey, I'm not wearing any pants... I wonder where they went.

[Shadows]

I don't know, Shanalan. The whole not-lynching thing raises some warning flags for me. I don't know if we can simply trust that we'll know more tomorrow if we don't have some solid facts about today form a lynch. Somehow, I get a feeling we've all had this conversation before. A vague feeling of deja vu.

Those past situations were different. If we were wrong, we hurt ourselves, but not critically, we still had a drastic advantage in numbers. It might go from 19 vs 5 to 18 vs 5. If we're wrong here and actually take out a member of the royal family it's much worse, they are more limited and more important. It could literally be going from 3 vs 3 to 2 vs 3, based on something that isn't even as strong as a hunch.

Do you see the difference? Has anyone else considered this situation fully, or is it just the usual, "oh well, day 1, we might screw up but who cares, we have lots of time to correct it." We don't have that luxury this time, do we?

[CMP]

I was fine with not voting, but apparently Bess is begging in private to save her megablocks. Now I'm skeptical as to whether or not she even understands our situation. Logically, the only reason someone would go to such stupid lengths to save themselves is if they were scum or royalty - if she was the latter, though, I'm sure she'd put up a much better case in private, but from what I'm hearing, she's just asking to be unvoted.

Of course, this is logically. As for Bess, I think she's just trying to save herself, not the townies. Or, failing that, we actually have caught a scum. I'm not really opposed to the not voting thing....at least, on Day One....but nor do I see any reason to keep Bess around. We don't need to have a majority over the scum to stay in the came, not to mention we all have roles. I doubt lynching one fool is going to ruin much.

My vote stands, and I feel much more confident about it now.

Bess, 2 lines, maximum, of defense, isn't adequate.

[MetroiD]

Has anyone else considered this situation fully, or is it just the usual, "oh well, day 1, we might screw up but who cares, we have lots of time to correct it." We don't have that luxury this time, do we?

Disagree. We still have the "luxury" of casting doubts on suspicious behaviour and judging where that leads us. Do not forget that voting against someone does not automatically equal lynching them. Bess has single-handedly landed herself in the mess she's in right now - and as her fellow 'suspect' Charles Pleasance has already suggested, her course of action reeks of not caring about the Royal Family. At the end of the day, those three are all that matters and we should go to any length in order to protect them as much as we can. Letting one day go without lynching would actually mean increasing the assassins' chances of getting a member of the Royal Family, so I really can't agree with your notion.

It is also quite intriguing why you've jumped to the defence of Bess citing some rather general and vague not-wanting-to-vote reasons -- yet you did vote against Charles pretty much straight away... It has indeed been a very useful day full of interesting positions and statements on which to base our actions tomorrow.

[Bob]

Bess, 2 lines, maximum, of defense, isn't adequate.

What's my defense supposed to be? There's no case against me other than I had stupidly tried to point out you made an observation. I've stated a full defense a few pages back, or do you not read?

[MetroiD]

There's no case against me other than I had stupidly tried to point out you made an observation.

I'm not sure how to defend myself when there's no real logical accusations against me.

Seriously!?... Let me break that down for you.

1. Start of the day; you keep repeating the same thing over and over again, and a few hours later you're telling us to dismiss it because it was just pointless drivel. All of us were talking nonsense, remember - but we weren't trying to follow some innocent vanilla-tinted pattern, like you seemed to.

2. You've defended Charles, even though you're trying to convince us you weren't, and in your next appearance you voted against him straight away due to the "lack of better evidence" and since you weren't going to vote for yourself. You say you know better than to defend people on Day One, but you should also known that you could / should at least have used a valid reason for voting, unlike the one presented above.

3. You've contacted multiple people on this ship, myself included, with basically the same desperate plea of "please please don't vote me off", with added "I'm not a member of the Royal family, but I'm also not an assassin either". Wow, great, so useful. Not a scumtell at all, especially on Day One. You obviously feel you have to do some speaking for yourself - well do it out in the open where you could convince other people and help each and every one of us see where our allegiances lie based on our reactions.

4. You've kept repeating you'd like to "center around Charles", yet have given us no reason whatsoever for that. Very convient, especially considering the presence of people who seem to want to "even out" the scales, or pass up on voting - as already discussed above. Also - very anti-Town.

5. You haven't cooked us anything all day!!!

Is that good enough of a "case"?

[Bob]

Seriously!?... Let me break that down for you.

1. Start of the day; you keep repeating the same thing over and over again, and a few hours later you're telling us to dismiss it because it was just pointless drivel. All of us were talking nonsense, remember - but we weren't trying to follow some innocent vanilla-tinted pattern, like you seemed to.

2. You've defended Charles, even though you're trying to convince us you weren't, and in your next appearance you voted against him straight away due to the "lack of better evidence" and since you weren't going to vote for yourself. You say you know better than to defend people on Day One, but you should also known that you could / should at least have used a valid reason for voting, unlike the one presented above.

3. You've contacted multiple people on this ship, myself included, with basically the same desperate plea of "please please don't vote me off", with added "I'm not a member of the Royal family, but I'm also not an assassin either". Wow, great, so useful. Not a scumtell at all, especially on Day One. You obviously feel you have to do some speaking for yourself - well do it out in the open where you could convince other people and help each and every one of us see where our allegiances lie based on our reactions.

4. You've kept repeating you'd like to "center around Charles", yet have given us no reason whatsoever for that. Very convient, especially considering the presence of people who seem to want to "even out" the scales, or pass up on voting - as already discussed above. Also - very anti-Town.

5. You haven't cooked us anything all day!!!

Is that good enough of a "case"?

No, it's not, and let me address each point out and debunk it.

1) What vanilla pattern? I think you're overthinking this entire thing. We were all speaking nonsense about sausages and applesauce during the first few pages and then suddenly I get the blame?

2) It wasn't my intent to "defend" Charles, I was merely pointing something out. If I was really an assassin, would I be that dumb or inexperienced to swoop to the aid of my fellow assassin on such a petty accusation?

3) I've both contacted people in private for my defense and I've also talked publicly about my defense. I'm trying to talk to people in private because I want to see their reasons for voting for me. You voted for me first only because I said that I didn't have a job. Why did you vote for me first on something unrelated to what Fairon said, without even addressing his point? Trying to help out Charles by drawing the vote away from him?

4) Well, it's either me or Charles today and I recognize that. I'm certainly not going to say "Okay, center around me so I can be voted off", because that's silly.

5) If I cook for you, will you unvote me?

[Fugazi]

Before I go and take a nap, I guess I should unvote Bess. I tried very hard but I couldn't convince myself that she is scum. Her defense, both public and private, seems sincere and adequate considering the 'quality' of the evidence against her. But mostly no one seems to care if she is lynched. Had she been scum perhaps there would have been more action after I switched my vote. If I am wrong and Bess is really an assassin, then kudos to her team for playing it cool.

Unvote: Bess Bulton (Bob)

Vote: Charles Pleasance (CallMePieOrDie)

[JimBee]

I am just going to unvote. I do agree with Shandola that we cannot afford any mistakes at this time. I don't really feel that the claims against either Bess or Charles are adequate enough to lynch them. However, the reactions of some are very telling, so I don't believe that this day was an entire waste. Specifically, I am suspicious of Meahon Doughal. Today he has been relentless in trying to lynch someone, and was quick to follow the first vote. Eager for a lynch?

Unvote: Bess Bulton (Bob)

[MetroiD]

5) If I cook for you, will you unvote me?

Well, you could always give it a shot! Depending on the extra services side dish, you might just end up giving me a good reason to unvote you, seeing as it's obviously the trendy thing to do, all of a sudden. Do I need to use the sarcasm emoticon here?

Specifically, I am suspicious of Meahon Doughal. Today he has been relentless in trying to lynch someone, and was quick to follow the first vote. Eager for a lynch?

In short: Yes. Because after all that's been said and done today, I don't trust Bess one single bit. And also because by tomorrow morning, we'll probably have one less loyal Royal Family member / defender. The assassins won't wait around for us to decide what to do and when to do it - so I'd much rather see where my reasoning leads me than stand around debating how oh-so-bad things would be if we got the wrong person. Besides, if I'm wrong on this, I'll have to face the consequences, which I'm obviously ready and willing to do. After all, in this ship we're floating on, it's all about being a good decoy, remember? Are you one, or are you just taking the easy way out while actually causing a lynch...

I'll be putting my sleep goggles to good use now. For the sake of our Royal Family, I do hope that in the morning I will actually be proven wrong, even if that means having to hear for the umpteenth time how keen I was to place a vote and "divert attention" right after Fairon cast his doubts.

[CMP]

I am just going to unvote. I do agree with Shandola that we cannot afford any mistakes at this time. I don't really feel that the claims against either Bess or Charles are adequate enough to lynch them.

Unvote: Bess Bulton (Bob)

Well, I'm pretty sure you just tipped the votes against me, so if you really don't want a lynch...

I'm certainly not going to say "Okay, center around me so I can be voted off", because that's silly.

This proves you have no idea how different this situation is than any other.