Pandora

There seems to be a consensus that not much happened last night. That's what I thought too, but I'm still left wondering what Donny was worried about when he said that us discussing ("arguing") over whether or not to lynch might have been a "means of distracting us from seeing what is really happening" - it doesn't seem like anything was "really happening". What was it we missed Donny? I asked you before, but perhaps you didn't hear me.

Panduin holds his head in his hands. Some many damned people, and all talking, talking, talking, at once! Why did he even come to this city with all its .... beings? Claustrophobia sets in, and he takes a deep draught of beer. A very loud and prolonged belch heralds his spoken words. "That gremlin thing is bloody annoying, but I doubt killing him will help our fight against the Nephilim. So, there's a plan with a magnifying glass, and the purchaser took awhile to play ball. Plus some people have given gold to someone who wasn't known to be purchasing a magnifying glass. I have a reasonable idea of what's going on, but I've had to listen to you lot talking over each other for hours. You're all bastards until proven otherwise. Some of you have the makings of people I might trust, but I know better than to just blindly follow. I have no doubt this chatter will continue apace. Luridan, as I believe your name is, I suggest for all our sanity you just stop talking." Panduin belches loudly once more, as if in punctuation at the end of his short speech, and drinks more of his beer, encouraging himself.

Nyx's unconscious form can hear snatches of the conversation mixed in with the otherworldly sensations. Part of her, possibly her fire, wishes it could scream at Avery "He called us both bitches! Skewer his big behind to the damn wall!!", but it unfortunately goes unheard.

Oh, that seems an unexpected concern at this stage, especially saying it at a point when nobody had been accused, but again, that's just my opinion. And I didn't think you were saying that scum will always want to lynch, so thank you for clarifying that as it didn't come across in your initial post. I had thought you were indicating that scum wouldn't want to lynch, but you think they always will. I certainly didn't suggest I thought you were dissuading people from talking, so please don't imply that I did. So discussing whether or not to lynch is silly to you because, no matter what, you want to lynch today - am I interpreting that correctly? And what is really happening that we might miss right now by discussing this?

Panduin grumbles around. Damned long-legs always getting in the way! And all these people! This city, this damnable hall was always overcrowded, but it's almost unbearable now. He dodges and weaves, avoiding careless steps by the too-tall people, resisting the temptation to give a swift kick to the ankles, and with a little bit of effort manages to get himself up onto a barstool. "Beer. Now." he grunts, adding "Uhm, please?" once he sees the look on the Orcish matron's face. Here at least he had a bit of breathing space. So, everyone was locked in. Well, what would be, would be. Might as well wrap himself around several beers while the milling around carries on.

I apologise if I did, but in my eyes you had discussed why people were talking about whether or not to lynch, you stated "we must vote", and then you went on to say that scum would try and cause a no-lynch situation. It seemed logical to me that you were indicating that everyone should vote with the intention of lynching because only scum wouldn't want to lynch, but if I have misinterpreted your intention there than I apologise. To follow up, then, where did the statement of: come from? What was it that made you feel the need to say this right now?

Not necessarily, no. These situations can be subtly different each time. Our lynch is our strongest weapon, but not necessarily always on the first day; it will be in days to come. People have said this before, and I agree, that if there is someone deemed suspicious then that is not a random lynch (or policy lynch as people seem to want to call it), but just picking someone who's said less than someone else is not particularly helpful, and in that circumstance we have a greater chance of hurting our own numbers. I'm going to make an assumption here that the advantage to which you're referring is our number vs the Ferraris. A number which will reduce if we lynch someone for just being quiet. I'm happy to be corrected if you can think of another advantage. Discussing whether or not to lynch is probably better than not discussing anything. I believe that talking is much more informative than lynching at this point. Additionally, if you check the rules, voting (and thus lynching) is not mandatory, so "We must vote" is incorrect. If people were/are currently discussing whether or not to lynch before anyone had been accused, how is discussing a no-lynch situation an indication of scum? There is (or was, a little while ago when you posted) no-one accused and no team-member in trouble, so I don't follow your logic there. I will add the caveat that I refer only to today, where we have no information to work with. I will agree that in future days trying to cause a no-lynch situation may well be deemed scummy, but it might be best to focus on today rather than try to look to far ahead in the future. If there's a good reason to vote for someone then I will, as I have on the first days of these ordeals before, but I don't see the point in just deciding that no matter what happens we should be lynching on day one in a situation where voting isn't mandatory.

That you can only see about 50% of the time.

Well, this turned out to be a terrible evening. Byr fails, yet again, to perform any actual magic (a dead cat? what the hell were you thinking Byr? ), and gets attacked by a monkey in the process, and considerably more worryingly we all now fear for our lives and the family business. Can't the Ferraris just go away and find another family to be mean to?

OoC: I was waiting for Hybros to move to the courtyard before posting an action. Nyx narrows her eyes at Watters. "You're seriously annoying. You only answered about half of my questions and even then it was because I had to ask over and over again. And now you're getting annoyed with me because you want to check a dead body or serve some wine in such a hurry? I don't think so." Nyx steps back, seeing that Watters is hastened and that she was very clearly about to die, yet agaaaaain, but hoping that also, yet again, she might be brought back again and that her Darkness spell, cast through her Standard, would at least weaken him.

Nyx eyes the blue waiter carefully, watching for any threat. Still physically barring his way she says: "What if we brought you the Red Assassin? Would that be a nice present for you? Make up for all this... inconvenience? You wanted their name, but how about we give them to you in person and .. a little bit of shielding from the rest of the world while you both... discuss things? Oh, and by the way, when you mentioned the U'Kin, could you just clarify which U'Kin you were referring to?"

Welcome to the Reviewers Academy; I've added you.

Indeed, that's why I said I don't expect to play as Nyx. Uhm, no. But I believe Foog found or posted a synopsis somewhere. EDIT: link to Foog's post (with link therein).

I'm not sure about the others, but I've signed up, and I don't expect to play as Nyx. That doesn't mean Nyx and the other Test Questers can't make an appearance, but surely if the Nephilim had won (do win ) then they (the Test Quest characters) wouldn't still be alive as Heroes of Heroica, which they are. It'd be nice for this to be a storytelling bridge between the past, the Test Quest and the current day, though.

Who knows what this will bring...? But there's only one way to find out, I'm in. I will be away for just a couple of days in September, but I'm sure I'll be able to post, somehow.

Nyx steps in front of Watters to bar his egress from the courtyard, flames still emanating from her fingertips. "Thank you for answering my question. I don't think you need to worry about your work, your target is almost certainly already dead. Were you paid? Have you received any money already? I know you said you don't accept payment until the work is done, but my associate here assures me that Marsh has already paid somebody a "first half". I just want to clarify absolutely whether that's you or not. It may even require a search, if you don't cooperate."

Tah-daaaaaah! The lovely Patricia is here, or at least I will be when I eventually unfold myself out of this tiny box. Daaaaaaaad! Do you have to do this at every family reunion?

I've lost count of the number of sign-ups/ reserves (ok, I didn't bother counting). I'm very happy to be a reserve here, or play, if you choose. 1) My experience is on my profile. I've both played and hosted a bit. 2) Occasionally it's been good, occasionally not so good. Everyone always believes I'm scum, even if I'm a head Mason. Although sometimes I'm seen as very town when I am scum so... 3) It will be refreshing. One less thing to worry about. Whatever happens, this looks to be an interesting game Tammo.

Nyx looks relieved to see Hybros and whispers to the imp in hushed tones so Watters is unable to hear. "This guy says he's a Blue Assassin, and that he's here to kill Clippard. He's surprised that there's a Red Assassin, says he'll kill them if he finds out who they are." Nyx taps the side of her nose and winks. "Anyway, he says there can't be more than one Blue Assassin here, because they never send more than one agent to a job. I'm sure Mrs Marsh said something about being a Blue Assassin, but then she looked a bit weird when she said it. In fact it was more like Mr Marsh putting words into her mouth." she trails off and looks thoughtful for a moment "I still don't understand why a Red and a Blue Assassin would both be hired to kill the same target - Watters doesn't seem to know either. Despite me asking several times, he has yet to tell me who hired him - apparently it isn't against his code or something. Oh, and I asked about having a Blue cloak, but he didn't answer. Really, he's so infuriating I'm tempted to just kill him, but he might be useful. What have you found out?"

"You still haven't told me who hired you. Apparently, telling me isn't against any of your oaths. Who will you go to to get your money, and are they the same person that hired you in the first place?"

Avast me hearties! The Iron Builder competition hots up, and this time Mark of Falworth and his brother Steven share with us their Pirate themed entry for the contest, with lots of inspiration for landscaping and lots of details to spot. Head on over to the Pirates forum to see more and add your comments.

"That's it? You just tell me, with no consequences whatsoever? No blue snot seeping out of your ears or anything?? And no you may not get back to work, because you still haven't told me who hired you!" Nyx sighs, only marginally less irritable. "I think Clippard is very nearly dead, or will be very soon, so that part of your work is moot. One of my associates is with him now. In any case I know that the assassin hired to assassinate you was also hired to assassinate Clippard as well. That assassin is a red assassin. What's the relationship between red and blue assassins? Why is a red assassin trying to kill you when you both have a target in common? Did you know there was another blue assassin here as well? Are there green assassins and yellow assassins? Oh, and do you have a cloak? Because a friend of mine is somewhat of a collector of assassins' cloaks." Nyx knows there are a lot of questions there, but having Watters' undivided attention in the courtyard she sees no reason for them not all to be answered.

Yaaaaaaays!

"Try me. I really can be quite nice when you get to know me. Just please talk to me, and we'll take things from there, but mess me about and I really will get annoyed. Well, more annoyed. Anyway, someone's out to kill you, and it's possible I might be able to protect you."

Nyx sighs wearily and pinches the bridge of her nose before glancing with disdain at the dagger and looking at Watters with an expression of utter annoyance. "I'm not your bloody assassin; do I look like a sodding assassin? And as far as I know the U'Kin isn't in on anything, but I can assure you that if he is, then he and I will be having a conversation. Now, I have no intention of killing you, but if you don't start explaining who you are, why you're here and basically telling me everything you know, I will start burning off bodily appendages, starting with your very large nose. You have no idea how long this night day has been for me already and my very limited stores of patience are almost exhausted, much like the rest of me, and I tend to get a bit.. volatile when I'm tired and annoyed." Nyx taps her foot in impatience, small flames appearing between her fingertips as she examines them as if examining her nails.