The Molag Bal Game XVII

[Emzi 43]

Hidden:

Hmmm, that, isn't what I expected, but I'm not complaining

Threes staggered back to his home,estranged, how had the people accused him? He was merely trying to help this village. He huddled on front of the dead fire, cast his usual runes at all entrances, for fear of the villagers, whimpering "I am not the one they seek" repeatedly

[Dirty Spaceman]

"How did this happen? None of us voted for Mu!" said Darba. "What terrible kind of magic is this, that can turn us against our own wills?!" Hanging his head in grief, he returned to his house.

[The SheoDovah]

Do'vah let out a scared whimper. "If one can control another, we are already dead." He uttered. "Do'vah thinks four threes was behind it." He told those that had remained.

[AKB]

Do'vah was rarely confused. His various addictions didn't allow for it. Yet the events of the last day were driving him mad. What had happened? He sulked through Musahkiin's now abandoned inn. So many people have been killed this week. Not long ago this place would be bustling with activity, but now he was all alone in it. At least he thought he was alone.

The faint scent of cinnamon, bread, and warmth reached the Khajiit's nose. His heart skipped a beat. It couldn't be? Who would be working here now? "Sweet rolls?" Do'vah whispered to no one but himself. He went back into the cooking area, cautiously. He was greeted by intense heat in the air, the sight of flour, various spices, nuts, berries, all of the signs of sweet roll preparation. And then he saw the oven, the source from which all good baked goods come from.

He sprinted towards the door, sweating from anticipation and the heat. He unlatched the oven, and threw the door open. "The last sweet rolls on the whole island!" The cat shouted, "AND THEY ARE ALL MINE!" he continued. Not even caring to fetch something to retrieve them, he swiftly went to grab one of the fresh treats.

And then he had his arm smashed by the door to the oven. "They're not done" said an overly familiar figure. The cat, in reply, screamed out in pain at the impact and flames that were now engulfing his hand. The repeat assaulter removed its grip from the door, allowing the Khajiit to fall backwards, clearly suffering from extreme agony. "Don't you remember me?" said the attacker. While Do'vah might have been able to place the voice if he saw their face, the confusion and slightly altered tone of their words made it hard for him to place it.

Do'vah tried to get sight on whoever was attacking him, only managing to focus his vision in time to get a face full of some white powder. "What, you didn't bring me flours?!?" the attacker spoke with a grin lost to the temporarily blinded feline. One final blow to the head was all it took to knock Do'vah out completely. His attacker examined his unconscious body for a moment, then the oven. With a quick yank, the figure tore the door to the oven off, and spread the hot coals across the ground.

Do'vah briefly came to in time to see the Mu's Inn completely ablaze, and find a sweet roll in his hand. His final thought before drifting back into unconsciousness was "Not again."

Do'vah has been incapacitated (again), and will not be able to perform actions until the next day.

Ba'Lee'Va was on his deathbed, even if he had yet to realize it. The pain made him half-seriously beg for it, at the least. Deep down, he assured himself he would get better, and get his revenge. His earlier assault had put him constantly on the line between sleep, unconsciousness, and painful wakefulness. The people familiar with the Khajiit wouldn't recognize him now. His face was wrecked, with many still unattended to wounds. Basic movement was painful for the pitiful creature, the broken bones from the impact of his attacker making even breathing a hard task.

Just when sleep returned to the cat, the slightest noise and the feeling of the cold winter air reached him. Ba'Lee'Va stirred slightly, but fully rising in his current state was simply out of the question. One of his swollen eyes opened audibly, to peer into the darkness for what created the noise. Even in his current state, the Khajiit's natural eyesight was superb enough to see a figure approaching him. The cat tried to call out, but only managed to cough up some disgusting mixture of saliva and blood.

The cloaked visitor noted Ba'Lee's movement, and moved towards him to put a gloved hand over his mouth. It was surprisingly greasy, with some of the foul material on it rubbing into the openings on the cat's face. Ba'Lee's grim guest said a few silent words, but they were lost to him. The gist of it was summed up by the stranger drawing from its cloak a dagger. The cat's good eye was drawn to it immediately, with its metal shining in the pale moonlight. The figure expertly spun the blade in its hands for a moment while saying some final words to the Ba'Lee'Va before it went about its work. The Khajiit couldn't react more than he had already. It was as if he had been paralyzed, Ba'Lee realized in a sadly futile burst of thought.

The purpose of the bitter coating on the assassin's glove was to take away what little fight in him that remained. Not that he could have done much in his current position, but without divine intervention there was no hope for survival. So the cat said a silent prayer to his god. A depressing realization that this was exactly what He would want. The Prince of Domination was a harsh master to his mortal slaves.

His brief mental distraction disappeared suddenly, with more pain breaking through his dull sense. The killer had slowly begun sinking a dagger into his chest. He felt his heart beating faster, as his body felt a need to move, but lacked any ability to do so. All thought was loss to the Khajiit, his whole world was the slowly disappearing dagger. By inches, it went deeper into him. His heart begged him to do anything, but all he could do was watch. And then his heart stopped, alongside the blade's dark descent into it.

The assassin calmly removed its weapon from the Khajiit's carcass. A pure linen was withdrawn from the same place it grabbed its grim utensil, which it used to remove the sanguine liquid from it. The now tarnished linen served as a nice covering for the face of the now deceased Ba'Lee'Va. And with the deed done, the assassin left through the window it came in through.

Ba'Lee'Va has been assassinated. This foul person was a Worshiper of Molag Bal.

Four threes life had gone so wrong, so quickly. He didn't mean to kill him, it's just that he had no choice. Someone had to die, and he just thought that the person responsible for hunting down the cultists was a cultist. What would they had done in his place?

He knew that tomorrow, they would all come after him. He remembered what happened to that Selezen person. She tried to escape an undeserved verdict, but was killed anyway. Now all he could do was wait for the dawn, and hope his protections would hold from any troublesome elements in the village. He just wanted one more day, even if it was his last.

Suddenly, he heard some banging outside his house. It could be an angry villager, a cultist, or some other stalker of the night. It could be a coven of vampires coming to feast on him and the rest of the village for all he cared, it didn't make much of a difference. He knew he had no hope of escape. He could only hope they would not get in. He heard more barging around outside, as whoever or whatever was trying to get in continued. Then, almost instantly, utter silence.

Another moment later, the odd sound of someone pouring out liquid met the Argonian's ears. It went through a cycle around his home, with whoever was out there making a solid ring around the building. He heard something dropped on the ground, and then... Crackling? Smoke wafted into the building, just as Four threes bolted up. It was too late already, however. The entire building was ablaze. The inferno was too large, there was no way for him to escape again.

The scorched remains that survived would be barely identifiable.

Four threes has been killed. This poor person was:

The Illusionist - The illusionist is a well-trained scholar of the Illusion school of magic. Thanks to his sheer talent for persuading people, he can use your magic to decide the result of one vote on his own. If he wants to instantly decide the result of one election in the game, he can PM me during the day phase and tell me how he wants it to end. Everyone will be aware of the use of the magic, but not that he was the culprit. If it is not clear, He used this poor to have Mu killed in his place.

It is now day.

[ArgonianDunmer]

Runs-with-Dunmer inspected the two fresh corpses with interest, noting Do'vah's unconscious state coldly as she went about her business. Ba'Lee's incapacitation had been a convenient charade for someone so fixed at the centre of the town's scrutiny, she recalled, but his death now meant that either another among them had taken things into their own hands, or that the remaining worshippers had entered into an even deadlier stage of the dance. Surely, Do'vah's re-incapacitation, if it had been the doing of the worshippers at all, was most likely a feint, either in the hopes of casting suspicion upon One-Shadow, or, though less likely, on Do'vah himself.

No, she surmised, one of we remaining villagers has taken it upon themselves to hunt in the night and so Musahkiin's death was not in vain. Five remained, and she knew only her own role in these dark affairs. She knew also, however, that at least one worshipper remained, and that there too remained a 'vigilante' among them. Then there was the issue of the incapacitations - a third hand, or the work of one of the two former? It seemed clear to her who was most worthy of suspicion.

She waited in the middle of town for the others to join her.

[Emzi 43]

Hidden:

hehehehe, guess who? That's me signing off then, enjoy!

[Dirty Spaceman]

After taking it upon himself to learn the casualties of the previous night - being especially shocked to discover that Mu's inn and Four threes' home had been burnt down overnight - Darba made his way to the middle of town, joining Runs-With-Dunmer.

"Our number yet dwindles, but it seems we have finally found success in the death of Ba'Lee," he said. "There can now only be one or two of those murderous cultists left. Today is paramount to stopping them; a wrong strike, and the worshippers are that much closer to winning. But if today's guess is correct, then we have all but eradicated the rest of Bal's scum. I must say, I already have my suspicions as to the remaining guilty parties... what say you?"

[AKB]

The sun's brief venture into the the ruins that was once this proud town came to a halt. Clouds blew in from off the horizon, smothering out the light above. Then, the heavens opened up, raining down on the town. In the process of soaking the town, the small flames still flickering in the ruins were quenched.

Hidden:

Come on guys, we're almost done. Let's finish up.

[The-Shadow-One]

One-Shadow rubbed his head as he gazed upon the dying flames. "Who.. What is this one to choose? Who can this one choose...?"

[Musicman247]

Hidden:

No one can bear to go on without Mu.

[Taters]

Having surveyed all that had happened the previous night, Tatur joined the others in the center of town.

"On the one hand", he started, "even more of us are dead, and yet another lies unconscious. On the other hand, a cultist has died, and that, surely, is a hopeful thing. The greatest hope is that Ba'Lee was killed by one of his own, and the cultists are turning on each other now. We balance on a knife's edge now, and must be extremely careful in what we do next." Turning to Runs-With-Dunmer, he said "I initially suspected you, mostly because you suspected me. But now is not the time for petty revenge voting. For now, I don't believe you're guilty. So that leaves us with the Khajiit, who is in no state to say or do anything right now, and you two", he gestured toward Darba and One-Shadow. "What say you all?"

[Dirty Spaceman]

"Well, like Mu, I can only vouch for my own innocence," said Darba. "Of course, I doubt that my word alone does much to prove it to you. Either way, the only other person I strongly believe to be innocent is Do'vah. Musahkiin defended him when we all thought him guilty, and given Mu's talents, it's possible he may have found proof of his innocence. If I'm right about that, then my suspicion falls to someone else in particular... but I won't be the first to accuse today."

[The-Shadow-One]

One-Shadow frowned. "If Do'vah is innocent, why is it when he was struck nothing happened that night? If it is not Do'vah, or this one, it should be one of three others. Perhaps... This one does not know."

[Dirty Spaceman]

"Do'vah was also injured last night," pointed out Darba, gesturing to the ruins of the inn, where the Khajiit's unconscious body lay, "And that didn't stop Four threes from being murdered. So then, even if I'm wrong and he is a murderer, then he can't be acting alone. Somebody here must be guilty. I'm not expecting a confession, but I think it'd be best if everybody simply voiced their suspicions."

[ArgonianDunmer]

"I have far more than suspicions," Runs-with-Dunmer declared, "I know who the culprits are. What say you if I said that Darba's hands were stained with the blood of our fellows?"

[The-Shadow-One]

"How does this one that isn't a lie? A falsehood created by a wily worshipper?" One-Shadow asked softly, caution, not sure about the truth.

[ArgonianDunmer]

"I have yet to put an innocent to death by my vote. Can you claim the same?" Runs-with-Dunmer stated flatly, "I have yet to be wrong about anything, you can certainly not claim to the same. If you want to survive this you must do as I say, if you continue, as you have previously, to ignore me, than the same result will continue to occur and you shall be doomed. I need say no more."

[Dirty Spaceman]

"What I think you don't remember is that the only person I helped sentence to death was Paras, and he was not entirely innocent," Darba pointed out. "But I'm interested to know what makes you suspect me so."

[AKB]

Hidden:

Not much of a consensus here on what to do in the slightest. Let's sort this out, now that we're so close to finishing it all.

[ArgonianDunmer]

"Look," Runs-with-Dunmer sighed, addressing them all, "If two remain, the worshippers' only chance at victory at this point is to kill either myself or the one other of us who is not with them. I will not go quietly during the night, and frankly I am too obvious a target to kill in plain sight, but my death is irrelevant if the worshippers can kill the other today, and Do'vah in the night. If only one remains, than it matters not who dies today, for if this is so then Bal's servant is already with out hope. If you are innocent, then now is the time to ensure that you are not slain, dooming us all."

She looked pointedly at each other in turn, her eyes coming to rest on One-Shadow.

"At this point, as I have explained, I have much reason to be confident of my own survival. If you have no interest in your own, then continue to ignore me as you have done so far."

[Taters]

"You make good points", said Tatur, "but you don't offer an opinion on who you think should be next at the gallows. For that matter, neither do either of you." he looked to Darba and One-Shadow at this remark. "Unless any of you can offer any evidence that would speed the voting, then we should just vote, and hope this is not our last day alive. I vote, then, for Darba."

[Dirty Spaceman]

"Vote for me if you must," said Darba, "But you'll have only killed a civilian, and ruined our last chance at salvation. I'd ask you to consider One-Shadow instead; now that I've been voted for, there's no point in hiding my suspicions any longer. I believe that he is a cultist, and my vote is for him."

[The-Shadow-One]

One-Shadow bristled and glared at Darba. "This one is not a cultist!" He retorted. "This one is innocent. This one votes for Darba, since Darba seeks to drive name through mud."

[Dirty Spaceman]

"Calm down, I had to vote for someone, didn't I?" replied Darba. "I thought we were past 'revenge' voting. I hope that some of you are willing to reconsider and think about this. If I'm gone, then all I can say is, good luck to whoever else is innocent here."

[ArgonianDunmer]

"Then I must cast my vote for Tatur," Runs-with-Dunmer announced. "Is it now settled? Or will you join me in ridding this poor village of his treachery?"