The Second Crash - Day 8

[JackJonespaw]

¬ A Journal Scrap Written by [unknown], Titled “Dramatic Writing No. 18”

From his vantage point upside-down, Dougal could see that it was Lusk who was going to be killed, by the six others. He waited for Molly, as self-proclaimed “leader”, to pull out his gun, but she didn’t. He realized that in one of his fits, he must’ve dropped the gun in the Steaming Caverns cave that they had been trapped in. So now he wondered how they would kill Lusk…

Molly stepped up to Lusk, who was quivering beneath her loathing gaze, and pulled out a flaming stick from the campfire. Lusk swallowed and bowed his head. “Death by fire, then? Just shove me in the damn bonfire.”

Molly laughed cruelly and rubbed the stick in the ground to extinguish the flame, holding the charred, blackened stick, still warm, in front of Lusk’s worried face. “Your death, Lusk, will not be so gentle as burning.” She began to walk around Lusk and the curious others. “Back in England, every so often, we would have a festive celebration. And sometimes we’d bring out a pinata.” Lusk’s face paled as he quickly drew conclusions. “It’s been awhile since we’ve had a celebration, hasn’t it?” Molly asked, facing the other five. “But now, let us do so! We have found another Shadow!” The five - Julia, Ray, Elijah, Quincy, and Wynn - glanced at each other uncertainly. “Pinata time,” Molly said, anger lacing her tone.

She smashed the stick into Lusk’s face, immediately shattering his nose and a few of his teeth, knocking him to the ground. Above Lusk’s screaming, Molly laughed, “What candies do you hold inside of you, Mr. Eccleston?!”

She threw the stick to Ray, who fumbled with it before catching it. He held it and started at Molly. She turned and looked at him angrily. “Move, Ray!” Ray shook his head. “I can’t just beat him to death...it’s not right…” Molly, quick to anger lately, screamed at him - “He is a Shadow! Your enemy! Kill him!” Ray shook his head faster. “He might not be...I won’t beat an innocent to death...nay, I won’t beat anyone to death.”

Molly rushed up to Ray, and despite being much shorter than him, somehow seemed above him as she hissed: “This man helped kill many of your friends and peers. Not attacking him means that you agree with everything he’s done. Are you siding with the Shadows?” Ray took a step back and shook his head again. “I’m not. I’m loyal to our side, as always...but…” Molly pushed the stick into him. “There is not but. Either you beat him or we beat you.” Ray swallowed and stepped up to Lusk’s trembling body. “Lusk...I’m sorry for this…” he whispered as he lifted the stick. He brought it down on Lusk’s back, which immediately cracked and sent Lusk into seizures.

He handed the stick to Elijah, who had the same look of reluctance on his face. He glanced at Molly, saw her murderous rage, bowed his head and slammed the stick onto Lusk’s face. Through his screaming, Lusk was trying to say words. “It’s always….been….you against me...Shadows against….Town….”

Molly screamed, because of the loss of anyone that Lusk might have caused, because of the Shadows, because of any other reason, no one knew. She seized the stick and began to whale on Lusk, over and over, until all that was left was an unrecognizable mess of blood and sinew in a cloak.

She looked up, madly, at her companions. “Get some rest. We convene in the morning.”

¬ From the Journal of Jack Jones, Entry Date Lost, Named “Day 10”

kr

Through luck, we’d managed to remove any tracking device that might have been on Seamus and Joshua. The plan was quite detailed, so I’ve created a separate entry just for explaining it. (Editor’s Note: The entry was lost, or never included in the first place.) So we were ready to set out to rescue Dougal and Julia. Pudding-Head, in addition to his mad Stairs, had also dug out tunnels reaching around the miles of darkness that we were in. According to him, tunnel “8R” was the ticket. None of us, besides him, knew what “8R” was, but I was willing to take his word on it.

We heard another scream piercing the darkness, a man, definitely, but neither Ewan nor I could tell who it was - just that it wasn’t Dougal. Based on who was left once Ewan threw me off the edge, it could have been Foorth, Lusk, Elijah, Quincy, Doctor Wynn, Gale, or Ray. Thankfully, though the scream implied a lot of anguish and death, Ewan now had an even more exact position of the scream. I went over what we had - Seamus had packed four laser guns, just in case; Joshua had medical supplies; Montgomery and I had scavenged some of Seamus and Joshua’s armor and built some pieces that should protect us from Dougal’s gun - the only weapon we’d seen the entire time. It looked like we were ready to set out, so...we did. We went.

¬ End Journal Entry

- Entry from the Editor -

The Hall was excavated a few years after these events. I traveled with the first group to explore and to retrace old steps, old memories - after all, I’d been stranded there. The Hall was in the same condition as it had been when we’d left it, but in the middle of the hall, standing like he had hadn’t died...was Woodcock. I gaped at him and whispered his name - more of a question than calling him, and he stirred. He was a mess, standing in his own broken pieces; it looked like he’d repaired himself, somehow, after being drenched. He looked at me and nodded. Then, in a hoarse, mechanical voice, he said “We have to leave a record of this. Soon, there will be no one left to be warned of this.” He moved his hand and showed me the papers in it. There were journals from all of my companions - both the living and the dead. He pulled out two worn notebooks - one that was Jack’s, he said, and the other was Dougal’s. That was how I first came to know completely of the events that had transpired around me beneath the cave - from so many more perspectives than my own. So, Woodcock and I traveled back to London and began to research the history of Braeriach, before it had been quarantined due to the numerous disappearances, and even after. We wandered to the different areas of Scotland, inquiring about these disappearances, and for everyone who had seen or heard of a disappearing person, they all shared one word with us - one word that was common over the hundred-ish people we talked to: “Shadow”. After reading these journals and over the process of compiling them, that was the word that I was more than familiar with - Shadows.

¬ A Journal Scrap Written by Ray Christiansen, Titled “Dramatic Writing No. 19”

Roughly a day had passed since Lusk had been beaten to death by everyone...no one had any positivity left, and they felt their very life draining from them in the darkness. Adding to this despair was the disappearance of Quincy, sometime in what was believed to be night, all that was left was a damp trail leading off God knew where and his soul, glowing green. Now, there were only five left - and Dougal.

Dougal had lapsed from numerous degrees of madness - sometimes he was as lucid as ever, other times spitting and growling at everyone - especially Molly. In fact, it wasn’t an uncommon feeling among the other travelers to give Molly a dirty glare from behind her back - they were forced to stay here largely against their will, until they found any Shadows who were left. As far as morale went, theirs was quite low.

More hours passed, Molly pacing around the dimming fire; Ray thinking, writing, in his journal; the Doctor turning his screwdriver over and over in his hand; Julia looking towards the ceiling, perhaps thinking of her lost husband; Elijah digging in his pouches for any remains of his grass, anything that could calm the nerves. It was silent, silent for many hours.

Eventually, from the mess that had been Lusk, his soul turned red. He was a Shadow.

Molly spat onto the fire and walked over to Dougal, who was sleeping, but awoke suddenly when Molly hit him across the face. She pointed over at Lusk’s remains, at his red soul. “Recognize your shadowy brethren?” she hissed. “Another one of your friends dead.” Unfortunately, Dougal’s mind was in the wrong place at that moment, back in his “Dictator” mindset, and he began to speak in a low tone to Molly, but the rest could hear him clearly, too.

“You have chained me here against my will,” Dougal whispered hoarsely. “But that will be forgiven eventually. What is left is for you to reveal yourself to me. No human I know, no one with good intention in their hearts, would ever do such things to anyone. You are no better - no...you’re worse than I ever was, and will ever be, even if I killed all of you. You have ordered the deaths of innocents, time and time again, have watched while you friends were murdered in cold blood, and this is how you react? With anger? Anger is no proper tool against anger. No, you must build up a resistance to it. Your physical anger has no merit...you must begin to use a new type of revenge, of pain. An emotional, purely mental kind of pain. Release me...and I will show you what you can do with this, I will teach you to make your enemies hurt like never before…Release me, and you will become more powerful than anyone who will ever stand before you. More powerful than even I. I see your potential. Let me tap into it...release your strength…”

Molly took a step back, looking surprised at his new method of persuasion. But she shook her head. “I will never release you. You’re trying to mess with my mind, and maybe you are, but all I know is that it is us against the Shadows, us against you. And I will never forget that, no matter how much you try and persuade me otherwise.” Dougal merely chuckled, and Molly grew angrier at his insane glee.

She walked to the campfire and picked up the bloodied stick that had beaten Lusk to death, then walked back to Dougal. “Your method are broken. And so will your body be.” She lifted the stick and brought it down on Dougal’s chest. Time and again, until he was unconscious again.

“Find another Shadow,” she growled at the other four.

¬ End Journal Entry

Characters (and Players)

Jack Jones (JackJonespaw) - Jack was seperated from the group and is now with survivors deep beneath the Earth - namely time travelers. While he is separated from the group, he is attempting to figure out why all of this is happening.

Dougal Logan (DannyLongLegs) - Dougal has a mysterious past, when he first arrived at the Hall, he was known as the "Dictator" and was quite cruel. Of course, over the months and years of being stranded, he calmed down and began to be a kind leader who cared for all. But the tragedy and stress of the journey down has reawakened the "Dictator", and have many mistrusting him.

Julia Jones (CallMePie) - Wife of Jack, Julia has not expressed much greif at the assumed death of her husband, instead focusing on finding this "Sanctum", if it indeed does exist, but more importantly, finding the shadows.

Molly Tolbert (Lady K) - Molly has taken control of the group from Dougal, and has been leading the Block against the Shadows basically since the beginning. She is known to be quite cruelly decisive, and many question whether her decisions are the right actions they should be taking.

Doctor Wynn (Tariq j) - Doctor Wynn is a curious sort. A few days after the First Crash, he walked into the Hall, and everyone assumed he had just woken up from some sort of coma after the Crash and had found his way into the Hall. The good Doctor knows a lot about a lot, and has absolutely no problem babbling frantically, in a varying accent from the British Isles, about just about anything while doctoring. The doctor is deeply altruistic, caring about everything and everyone, although on the rare occasion that someone annoys him, he begins to spout on about “stupid apes” and “onyx”. No one is really sure what he means, nor why he hates monkeys and gemstones so much.

Elijah (def) - Elijah didn’t want to tell anyone his last name, and no one asked after that. However, mysterious reasoning aside, without Elijah, the survivors of the First Crash would have starved to death long ago. A passionate gardener, Elijah has rows and rows of crops beneath the Hall, and he fervently forbids anyone to go down there, except Dink, who he works very closely with, to make sure that his plants are cooked as best as possible. Elijah, despite his mystery, is not a cruel man, and he makes sure that everyone is happy, well, as far as plants are concerned. Elijah also has a large interest in some sort of “special grass”, an interest that is shared by Duke.

Ray Christiansen (Dragonfire) - Ray was a Broadway star before the First Crash. A star, he’ll say, stressing the “s” and looking into your eye with an intensity not seen by many. A performer, Ray is quite flamboyant and over-dramatic, thus he loves being on the mountain and in the Hall, a perfect stage for the production he believes that he’s in. Personality-wise, nobody's quite sure, as Ray is always pursuing different characters and pretending he has been and always will be that character.

-DECEASED-

Perce Triggs (Tachyon) - Lynched Day 1 - Town

Anthony Dixon (jluck) - Lynched Day 2 - Shadows

Delwyn Couch (RangeroftheForest) - Killed Night 2 - Town

Mike Johnson (mediumsnowman) - Killed Night 2 - Town

Duke Bowman (Cutcobra) - Killed Night 3 - Shadows

Ewan Breckenridge (mostlytechnic) - Lynched Day 4 - Town

Lage “Dink” Skjeggestad (TinyPieRUs) - Killed Night 4 - Town

Woodcock (Bob) - Killed Night 4 - Town

Foorth Dyke (Tamamono) - Lynched Day 5 - Town

Gale Appleton (Piratedave84) - Killed Night 5 - Town

Lusk Eccleston (fhomess) - Lynched Day 7 - Shadows

Quincy Easton (KingoftheZempk) - Killed Night 7 - Town

Rules

1. Each player will be given a character to play, who will be aligned with either the Town or the Shadows. To win the game, the Town must kill all enemy factions, while the Shadows must outnumber the Town.

2. Each day you will be able to vote to lynch a player. Voting should be done in the following format; Vote: Character (Player). Similarly, unvoting is to be done in the format; Unvote: Character (Player). No other format will be accepted. A majority vote is required to lynch a player.

3. A game day will last for 72 hours. You may not vote in the first 24 hours. After the day has concluded, a night stage will commence, which will last a maximum of 48 hours. Night actions must be sent to the host in the first 24 hours of the night stage.

4. The alignment of lynched players, as well as those that died during the night, will be revealed at the beginning of the next day.

5. You may not quote or pretend to quote anything sent to or from you in PM with the game host. This includes all the details of your character and role, as well as any night action results. Role claims and reporting of night action results are acceptable, but in your own words only. Do not attempt to use the structure of your role PM to your advantage.

6. Do not play the game outside the thread. Similarly, do not post out of character inside the thread; you must always play the role given to you. Game tactics and roles may only be discussed in the game thread or via PM with other players. Private discussion is done at your own risk and should be treated as part of the game.

7. If you are dead, you may not post in thread or discuss the game with any of the players. Any information you had becomes void and may not be passed on.

8. You may not edit your posts. Editing your post will result in a vote penalty on the first two occasions, and a mod-kill on the third.

9. You must post in every day thread.

10. If you encounter a problem or have any further questions, feel free to contact either Danny or me via PM.

11. Generally, there are no gameplay mechanics in the pictures. However, in each opening Day's pictures, there will be something that is relevant only to those with roles that pertain to it. To every other role, it will mean nothing. There are not clues in the character flavor text. I wrote that stuff before I even decided on alignments and roles.

12. Role Play. I tried my best to make all of the characters pretty fun to role play as, so go crazy. Give them your own personality; become your character. Have fun with it and relax.

[def]

I'm thinking Julia as the last scum.

[CMP]

I was about the say the same of you. It certainly casts an interesting light on Day Six.

[def]

I was about the say the same of you. It certainly casts an interesting light on Day Six.

You mean when you switched your vote from fhomess onto me? Yes, that was interesting, and I noted it at the time. It should be 4:1 for town, which means town can mislynch without a game ending loss, so I don't worry about myself so much. But the scum will be in panic mode.

[Tariq j]

I'm thinking Julia as the last scum.

I must agree with you, hopefully the town block have some good results from last night. I certainly hope quincy wasn't the tracker or the cop.

[def]

I still have no clue how many are in the town block, but I have my suspects. For the record though, one reason I wanted to go up against Lusk was to see which of those not in the town block would be happy to flip the vote, and that single person is Julia.

[Dragonfire]

I must agree with you, hopefully the town block have some good results from last night. I certainly hope quincy wasn't the tracker or the cop.

I for one hope that either Quincy or Gale was the vigilante, simply because if the vig is dead and town then we can just about rule out the possibility of a SK. At this point it's highly unlikely unless the "vig" is really the SK.

I still have no clue how many are in the town block, but I have my suspects. For the record though, one reason I wanted to go up against Lusk was to see which of those not in the town block would be happy to flip the vote, and that single person is Julia.

Nobody does, Molly is doing such a good job of coordination that the block members don't know who each other is. And I thought you had some kind of ulterior motive for sacrificing yourself....

As Elijah pointed out, we have a mislynch. And since the scum killed last night, whoever Molly blocked is clear (assuming there is only one Shadow left, which is likely; the hosts won't make the same mistake as they made last game). That should give us only one possible scum left (barring anyone who has been investigated as town but has claimed vanilla). And even then, we could lynch the unconfirmed person today and know for certain that we have a godfather on our hands if there is a tomorrow.

[Lady K]

Time once again to sing songs to honor our lost team members who died bravely fighting the Shadows.

On another note.....can we vote yet? The remaining Shadow was seen last night attacking poor innocent Quincy.

And this really bothers me...

I for one hope that either Quincy or Gale was the vigilante, simply because if the vig is dead and town then we can just about rule out the possibility of a SK. At this point it's highly unlikely unless the "vig" is really the SK.

Nobody does, Molly is doing such a good job of coordination that the block members don't know who each other is. And I thought you had some kind of ulterior motive for sacrificing yourself....

As Elijah pointed out, we have a mislynch. And since the scum killed last night, whoever Molly blocked is clear (assuming there is only one Shadow left, which is likely; the hosts won't make the same mistake as they made last game). That should give us only one possible scum left (barring anyone who has been investigated as town but has claimed vanilla). And even then, we could lynch the unconfirmed person today and know for certain that we have a godfather on our hands if there is a tomorrow.

Why on earth (or under earth as we currently are) would you ever wish our vig was dead? Sending the vig out last night was not a option, we are too low on alive townie members. If there is a SK, he may still try to win by killing the last man standing. We believe we may have blocked the SK last night. Not sending the vig out every night has benefits.

[Dragonfire]

Time once again to sing songs to honor our lost team members who died bravely fighting the Shadows.

On another note.....can we vote yet? The remaining Shadow was seen last night attacking poor innocent Quincy.

Well then, why does my post bother you if we've caught the last Shadow? Good job by the way, pretty sure I know who it is

Why on earth (or under earth as we currently are) would you ever wish our vig was dead? Sending the vig out last night was not a option, we are too low on alive townie members. If there is a SK, he may still try to win by killing the last man standing. We believe we may have blocked the SK last night. Not sending the vig out every night has benefits.

Two of the town block are (probably) dead. I'm just saying that it's more beneficial for us to have investigative/protective roles alive than a vig who might well be a SK. So I'd rather the dead town block members have been the vig (then at least we can be sure that the vig wasn't the SK and avoid a Ragnarok 3 - esque scenario) than some other more useful roles.

What I'm saying is, at this point in the game it's unlikely that the SK hasn't killed at all. So either the SK is masquerading as the vig, or there isn't a SK. If the vig is dead and confirmed town, then we may fairly confidently say that a SK is very unlikely.

[Lady K]

Well then, why does my post bother you if we've caught the last Shadow? Good job by the way, pretty sure I know who it is

Two of the town block are (probably) dead. I'm just saying that it's more beneficial for us to have investigative/protective roles alive than a vig who might well be a SK. So I'd rather the dead town block members have been the vig (then at least we can be sure that the vig wasn't the SK and avoid a Ragnarok 3 - esque scenario) than some other more useful roles.

What I'm saying is, at this point in the game it's unlikely that the SK hasn't killed at all. So either the SK is masquerading as the vig, or there isn't a SK. If the vig is dead and confirmed town, then we may fairly confidently say that a SK is very unlikely.

It just seems to me a little strange to be discussing which PR roles could be (or which you want to be) dead. You have been somewhat a little focused the past two days on convincing everyone there is no SK.

[JackJonespaw]

Voting is now open!

You have 48 Hours to Place a Vote.

With 5 Players, a Majority of 3 is Needed for a Lynch.

[Dragonfire]

It just seems to me a little strange to be discussing which PR roles could be (or which you want to be) dead. You have been somewhat a little focused the past two days on convincing everyone there is no SK.

I'm just worried there could be a SK, and trying to discuss the possibility of one. Yes, I'm fairly sure there isn't a SK, but we ought to be discussing all possibilities.

[def]

Goddam it, nobody's voting!

Vote:Julia (callmepie)

[Lady K]

Yes, voting time!

Julia, why did you target and kill poor defenseless, sweaty Quincy last night? He never really bothered anyone....

Vote: Julia Jones (CallMePie)

I'm just worried there could be a SK, and trying to discuss the possibility of one. Yes, I'm fairly sure there isn't a SK, but we ought to be discussing all possibilities.

You have totally confused me with this contradictory statement. Please make a choice, there is or there isn't an SK possibility.

[Tariq j]

Excellent work Molly

Vote: Julia Jones (CallMePie)

[def]

Excellent work Molly

Vote: Julia Jones (CallMePie)

Hey, I voted for him without knowing any night results, based solely on sleuthing! Isn't that excellent work?

[Tariq j]

Hey, I voted for him without knowing any night results, based solely on sleuthing! Isn't that excellent work?

Sorry! Excellent sleuthing work Elijah!

[Dragonfire]

Yes, voting time!

Julia, why did you target and kill poor defenseless, sweaty Quincy last night? He never really bothered anyone....

Vote: Julia Jones (CallMePie)

The town block strikes again!

Vote: Julia Jones (CallMePie)

You have totally confused me with this contradictory statement. Please make a choice, there is or there isn't an SK possibility.

I think it's you who's confused. I brought up the subject of a SK because I didn't want us not to consider the possibility. But while I was bringing it up, I became fairly certain that there wasn't a SK. So no, I don't think there is a SK.

[Lady K]

Hey, I voted for him without knowing any night results, based solely on sleuthing! Isn't that excellent work?

It is excellent work! And you placed the first vote too!

The town block strikes again!

Vote: Julia Jones (CallMePie)

I think it's you who's confused. I brought up the subject of a SK because I didn't want us not to consider the possibility. But while I was bringing it up, I became fairly certain that there wasn't a SK. So no, I don't think there is a SK.

I was not confused, but you stated you were both worried there was a Sk and that you were fairly certain there wasn't an SK in the same thought. Thank you for taking a stand on the issue with clarity now.

Julia, no comments? Nothing to say about your husband, our choir director, missing and presumed dead off a cliff? Or about how poor Quincy died and why?

[Dragonfire]

Ohh....yes, sorry, my bad. I messed up my tenses I was meaning to say that I was worried there could be a SK, but now I'm fairly sure there isn't.

I'm just worried there could be a SK, and trying to discuss the possibility of one. Yes, I'm fairly sure there isn't a SK, but we ought to be discussing all possibilities.

[JackJonespaw]

Current Votes:

4 Votes for Julia Jones: (Lady K, Tariq j, Elijah, Dragonfire)

You have about 29 hours left!

[def]

The only talking point seems to be if there might be any more left to hunt for. Julia seems to have raised a white flag.

[Lady K]

The only talking point seems to be if there might be any more left to hunt for. Julia seems to have raised a white flag.

Has Julia even been here since voting started?

Any thoughts, Elijah, on if you think there is an SK or not?

[def]

I think a SK is highly unlikely, if not impossible.

[Dragonfire]

There are seventeen players. Four scum and a SK is more than a quarter of us... would the host really do this? Five scum is very unlikely given what happened in Blacktron Mafia, so I doubt the host will make the same mistake again. However, the rules were changed to include neutral roles, so I think a survivor may be a possibility.