Alright, here's the summary of the game from my point of view, including which roles each person had, how they used their powers, and events that were not fully seen.
First, let's start out with the almost entirely pointless cultist roles. Not a single one of them got any use except for an old version of Ba'Lee's role that I called back in due to their constant mistakes:
Believe, was The Priest - This character is the spiritual heart of the Molag Bal faction, and technically the leader. While you have no special abilities tied with your character, you do get to wear a fancy cowl to all of your meetings. (addendeum: this role was originally given the power to allow for two attacks each night, except that there would be a chance of failure for them if it were used. I removed this ability due to it seeming to be overpowered, but allowed them to use it once to keep the game moving on if they ended up messing up too much, which they did)
Taters, was The Beserker - You will not go silently to your death if the lynch mob goes after you. If you are chosen for execution, you will attack and kill your most outspoken opponent. Whoever made the most comments in support of your execution will die alongside you. (It would have been really, really funny if this actually got used against Runs-with-Dunmer, since she could not be killed by the cultists under normal circumstances. I was going to resolve that fight with a coin flip, if it did come up)
Thelastdovah, was The Watchman - After years of service to some minor noble as a guard, you have learned to watch the shadows. He knows how to identify other guards, and how they follow suspects. Should someone try to determine your identity, they will fail to do so. (Became entirely pointless after Mu died, but he wasn't checked in the first place)
Then there were the villager's roles:
Musicman was The Investigator - After years of guard duty, this character excels at investigation. Once a day during the night phase he will be able to determine the role of another player, to hunt out the cultists. Should he discover the role of the Adventurer, he will hire his services and be able to check two player's identities. (Not mentioned was the fact that Mu was also privy to information on all player roles from the start. He knew what roles there could be, although not who had them)
The-Shadow-One was The Martial Artist - This character is an expert at beating enemies to a pulp. They can choose to incapacitate another player once per night, disabling their ability to act and vote.
ZeRoc was The Apprentice - The secret servant to one of the other characters, their untimely death has caused you to take up their old title. You will replace the first major character killed.
Emzi 43 was The Illusionist - The illusionist is well-trained scholar of the Illusion school of magic. Thanks to your sheer talent for persuading people, you can use your magic to decide the result of one vote on your own. If you want to instantly decide the result of one election in the game, you can PM me during the day phase and tell me how you want it to end. Everyone will be aware of the use of the magic, but not that you were the culprit.
Aarah was The Necromancer - Regardless of your public standing, your character is a practiced necromancer. Your mastery over life and death has given you the ability to revive any character after they have been killed once during the game. However, their is a limit to this ability. You must make the decision to save someone within an in-game day of their death. Should you choose to not save anyone, you will instead resurrect yourself should you ever die. If you do resurrect someone, you can either choose to make them aware of your action or not.
Dragon53535 was The Thief - Skilled at hiding in plain sight, your character can choose to go into hiding for a day. This will protect you from the mob, should you be chosen. (specifically given out to him as I had the sneaking suspicion you guys would try to kill him, other roles were randomly assigned for the most part)
Epicabrad was The Assassin - Your character was once a renowned member of a society of assassins. As your ability in your trade grew, so did your renown. After a particularly high profile assassination, the other members of your guild made you retire, as the signature style of your kills became to well known. You retired to the village of Uthenni to live out the rest of your days in peace. This peace was shatter when the cultists move in, and in response you are contemplating taking matters into your own hands. You are allowed to kill any other player, once per night. However, your notoriety has made your past life well studied by law enforcement agencies in Tamriel, and various cults. If you decide to use your ability, you will be exposed to these other elements at work in Uthenni.
Mars was The Healer - A talented restoration mage, your character is surprisingly inept at healing magics. Instead, you are famed for your wards and magical shields. You have the ability to shield one other player besides yourself at night.
OblivionDuruza was just a villager. I assigned him this plain role to specifically provide extra cover for Thelastdovah. As Thelastdovah would appear to be "just a villager", someone else had to also be "just a villager".
ArgonianDunmer was The Adventurer - A retired hero of previous days, your character has seen it all. Your years of experience from your youth have left you ready for sudden attacks, and you can survive any attack from the cultists.
Argonanza was The Gossip - You tend to spy on the affairs of the other people in your town. Once per day, you will be able to ask me for additional information about an event that happened at night. The value of this information is questionable, however.
Now that the roles have been laid out, let's get down to what happened in the game itself.
On the first day, after convincing you guys to actually play the first day, things went exactly as I had anticipated. You tried to vote out Dragon53535, resulting in the activation of his ability:
As the villagers cast their condemnations of the widow Selezen, the townsfolk failed to notice one thing: Selezen had already left. As they took to the idea of sacrificing her for the salvation of the town, she decided to find her own salvation from the mob within her home. Leaving only a quickly scribbled note that she would rejoin the rest of the townsfolk tomorrow after they had hopefully calmed down, she made her escape to her home, and barricaded it to the outside.
The remaining villagers, noticing the descent of the sun, decided now would be the time to take their leave of each other, having not sacrificed one of their own to eliminate the Daedric worshipers.
I think this was the first big wake up call, besides the extra roles you guys received, to alert you guys that I had heavily altered the game. The events of the night was the second big surprise. After the uneventful events of the day, night saw some rather surprising events happen. To start it off, Mu investigated Duruza:
Duruza is an ordinary villager as far as you can see. Your investigation provides no additional information on him.
Epic decided to bide his time:
Epicabrad wrote:I think I'll wait until later to use it. Even if there is no "later" and I end up getting killed tonight (it's possible), I don't have any ideas of who to go for right now.
Mars decided to not protect anyone. In fact, he only ever used his power to defend one player, Believe.
Meanwhile, the cultists decided to attack Aarah:
Believe wrote:The worshippers have decided.
Aarah's character, Lara, shall be sacrificed tonight.
Thelastdovah wrote:So be it. Lord Bal will claim his first victim and Durza shall be suspected(Hopefully).
Taters wrote:Maybe not reply all with AKB in the list, eh, Dovah?
And Shadow decided to attack Duru. Thus, I played out the first night:
Duruza has been attacked, and will not recover from his injuries until the next day.
Lara has been killed by the cultists.
Lara has been resurrected.
So for the first day and night, no one had even died, and no one seemed to like Duruza. But the cultists were stunned by this odd turn:
Taters wrote:AKB, may I just say, and I think I speak for everyone here, WHAT THE [&@%!] WAS THAT?!
Believe wrote:I like it.
It's definitely more interesting. I like these little twists.
You're doing a kickass job AKB
Thelastdovah wrote:
What was that!? Just
AKB wrote:Stay tuned for the next round, where the mystery grows with the discovery of a polar bear in the middle of the tropical Illiac Bay!
Seriously though, there's a lot of good fun set up yet. I intend for this to be quite the memorable game.
Argonanza meanwhile fished for rumors on what happened with Aarah:
AKB wrote:"I've always thought that Lara wasn't that innocent of a girl. She surely had some involvement in whatever brought her back to life."
Also, this happened behind the scenes:
Musahkiin was enjoying another night of being a disgusting jerk in the hovel he called his tavern. This insane imbecile was allowed to live in this dilapidated building to keep him out of the public eye. Still, with his recent demand of visitors to eat animal leavings that he kept calling "hashbrowns", a quick alliance of townsfolk formed to finally end his meanness towards those who just wanted to be his friend, even if he never returned those feelings. Approaching the rotten facade of the hole Musahkiin called his home, the villagers formed a line, and simultaneously blocked all of the exits while setting it on fire.
Unfortunately, Taters was trapped inside, having been chosen by Musahkiin to stay as his "guest", was burned to a crisp alongside the mad homeless person who was really responsible for all of the bad events going on in town.
And you guys lynched Dragon53535, who was innocent. In fact, not a single guilty person was lynched. An interesting trend was that private uses of powers were generally effective, The-Shadow-One did a good job of beating up the cultists the entire game, and Epicabrad got to take home the only player cultist kill.
Oh, somewhere along the way I made a private suggestion to Argoniandunmer:
AKB wrote:By the way, you may want to try taunting the cultists into attacking you, as they cannot kill you. Just some advice.
That would prove to be hilarious soon enough. Meanwhile, Musicman investigated ZeRoc:
AKB wrote:Your investigation into Paras reveals him to be some sort of apprentice. He is being trained by some person in town to inherit their trade. Considering current events, he may be willing to step up and take over their role if they were to die. You fail to determine what trade that would be, and who is his master, however.
Now that you think about it, you have a vague memory of having an apprentice in town, was it Paras? You feel rather dumb, and don't linger on the possibility.
And I get into touch with the cultists over their failures so far:
AKB wrote:Alright fellows, who are you up for targeting tonight? Note that I say "targeting", and not "killing". After that whole debacle with Lara, I'm starting to see your little group as less "supremely terrifying and murderous cultists", and more "confused cosplayers". Feel free to prove me wrong by killing a target, and not having them come back to life again.
(I'm trying to motivate you as Molag Bal might during your summonings)
My suggestion to ArgonianDunmer had an immediate pay-off:
Believe wrote:We have decided on Argonian Dunmer's character. (Can't remember the name sorry)
And we will butcher him horribly, and mutilate the goddam corpse. Dovah might even rape it.
AKB wrote:
"We are decided then. Tonight we sacrifice Runs-with-Dunmer upon the alter of Molag Bal! Our almighty Prince shall feast upon her soul, and use her body as his plaything! Now, let us set out, and sink our daggers deep into the heart of this filthy beast! Lara may have somehow survived, but this ti--"
"May I rape it?" Do'vah said, interrupting their illustrious leader Ba'Lee'Va.
He recovered midstream of thought, "...time, we shall show the firmness of our cau--"
"Because I've heard some really interesting things about Argonians. Is it true that they can change their... you know?" Do'vah was not keen on taking hints. The last few days had been nothing but passionate speeches about the righteousness of their faith, some grunts from Tatur gro-Jedduh to confirm he was still paying attention, and some gibberish from Do'vah to set them all permanently on edge. While the group was selected for this assignment upon the basis of personal merit, they had yet to synchronize as a group, truly.
Ba'Lee'Va prepared to speak up once more, but Tatur interrupted with the first sentence out of him for the night, "Get your things, we are going." he said as he was already going out after their target. The other two, realizing how the company of each other would tear apart their already faltering conviction in this conflict, set out after him.
Runs-With-Dunmer was the obvious choice. She had made it clear she was onto them, and needed to be silenced before it was too late. She wasn't posing much of a risk, still roaming the streets long after all sane people would. The cultists did not have a hard time pursuing this oblivious prey. As they stalked her, getting ever closer, they could hear her speaking, "Yesss. It isss clear who isss behind all of thiss, now." the Argonian muttered as she went over some sort of document, "By morning, I will be ready to exposse them, and peace will return to our village." she said a bit louder.
No fancy tricks or magics were prepared for this one, a simple stab and butchering was all that was needed. As the Argonian wandered towards the more secluded end of town, the vicious murderers took their chance.
"It's all yours, friend. And yes, you can rape her once we bring her home." Ba'Lee'Va whispered to Dov. He saw this as a good team building exercise, and wanted to let him have his fun. Dov didn't respond verbally, he just took a quick glance through his mask at his partners. Tatur stared at Dov, obviously annoyed, while Ba'Lee'Va would be seen smiling were it not for his own mask. Runs-With-Dunmer was not even running, as one would expect. While they were looking away, she had stopped. Now she was standing perfectly still just ahead of the cultist's hiding spot. Dov knew all it would take was a quick dagger in the back, and he could bury a different blade in her while she was still warm.
He took out the short blade, and crept towards her. Inching forward, not letting so much as a sound be heard as he moved closer and closer. Then, he sprang forward, grabbed her throat, and buried his dagger in her back. For his impressive form, he was rewarded with the sound of ceramics shattering. Dov's hand was buried into the back of the Argonian, and a black fluid splashed out and coated him from the hole created by the impact. It spelled rancid, almost like... "Oil?" Dov whispered, as it splashed all over his outfit. He genuinely did not know what happened, which did not help when the arrow penetrated his back.
The flaming bolt ignited the Khajiit, the oil turning him into a torch in the night. Ba'Lee'Va and Tatur did not see where the bolt came from, blinded by the sudden light that had taken down the two dummies, the dummy of Runs-With-Dunmer, and the Khajiit Dov'ah. Not long after the first arrow was fired came a sudden volley of ceramic jugs, spilling more oil upon the rest of the area, including the two cultists still in hiding. Fire erupted over it all, forcing Ba'Lee'Va and Tatur out of hiding.
As they moved, half-blind and confused, they felt even more arrows fly towards them. This trap was quickly proving to be fatal for the killers, were it not for the one spell no cultist would rightfully travel without, Daedric Intervention. One by one, the fact that they knew this emergency spell struck the cultists, and one by one, they vanished into the night.
Back at the Shrine to Molag Bal, a very burned Khajiit, and shot up Khajiit, and a relatively uninjured Orc surveyed each other. Dov tried to speak, but it was fortunately less intelligible than usual. The other two remained quiet in their failure.
Molag Bal would be able to heal them to hide their scars, but it was clear that he would not be pleased with the results of tonight.
You have learned Argonian Dunmer's character role:
The Adventurer - A retired hero of previous days, this character has seen it all. Her years of experience from her youth have left her ready for sudden attacks, and she can survive any attack from the cultists.
You guys saw this instead:
Of all of the things that have happened in Uthenni so far, there had always been a victim, and a perpetrator. There had yet to be just an absence of purpose in any of the events have happened. Yet there was no way to explain the burned mannequin. A field that had been kissed by fire, with a broken ceramic dummy in the middle, did not offer any obvious explanations for what transpired here. Truly the events that had stricken this town had taken a turn for the odd.
Believe wrote:GODDAMIT!!!
We must be the [&@%!] murderers around...
Although, I have to admit that these new character roles are surprisingly fun,
Taters wrote:So is this going to be a never ending montage of us chasing the villagers around to the strains of Yakety Sax, or do we get to actually kill someone at some point?
Thelastdovah wrote:We were only supposed to kill one Dunmer and we can't even do that! Damn you AKB! And Do'vah isn't the raping type.
Meanwhile, Thelastdovah was attacked by The-Shadow-One, which should have hurt their ability to manipulate the vote, although the villagers still failed to kill a cultist. That day, you guys lynched ZeRoc, removing the wild card from the deck, so to speak. And Argon asked about what happened with the attack on Thelastdovah:
AKB wrote:"Whoever did this had to also be behind what happened to Duruza."
That night, Musicman investigates The-Shadow-One:
AKB wrote:Shadowing One-Shadow revealed to you a dark secret about this mysterious figure: One-Shadow is a martial artist. Piercing together his abilities and other events, you realize that he had to be behind the attacks on Duruza and Do'vah.
While not a cultist, this person could be problematic. You should probably send him an anonymous message, either directing his actions towards certain characters or suggesting he stops altogether.
And the cultists get a bit of help:
AKB wrote:
Your failures over the last few days have earned your Prince's ire. While he aims to punish you for your errors, the mission in the town is still a priority, so he offers you one last chance at redemption. A lower daedra, specifically. You have been given control of one of Molag Bal's many servants, to direct in an attack on the village tonight. As the daedra is not intended to last the night, you should choose two targets, one for you, and one for the daedra.
The price for failure tonight does not need to be stated.
While the cultists mull over this gift, Shadow finds a mysterious mesage:
AKB wrote:As you leave Paras' execution, you find a note in your pocket:
"I know you are behind the attacks. I am not a cultist, but am trying to find them. If you act tonight I ask that you put your skills to use on Ba'Lee. Let us see what happens then."
Whatever you choose to do, know that someone else knows what you have been up to now.
Elsewhere, Mars protects Believe:
MARS wrote:I'm feeling kinda scared about myself at the moment, honestly. If I can protect myself, I'll do that. If not, I'll go with Ba'Lee.
As the villagers go about their plans, the cultists come up with theirs:
Believe wrote:We have decided.
We want the daedra to attack Duruza, and myself and Taters will attack Nanzus.
Unfortunately, neither Duruza or Argonanza had any kind of way out of their attacks, and both die. Believe manages to escape Shadow's attack due to Mars' protecting him, however. That same day, Mars is executed.
Musicman orders once again anonymously orders an attack on Believe, alongside a private investigation:
AKB wrote:Your investigation into Ba'Lee reveals the dark truth you have been searching for this whole time... Ba'Lee is clearly a cultist of Molag Bal.
The same night, Lara is attacked again:
Believe wrote:We have decided we will kill Lara tonight.
Please?
And with her necromancy used up, she dies -- again.
Believe is attacked and incapacitated. The day sees the townspeople try to execute Emzi, who decides to use his powers to change the vote to Musicman. The results are pretty bad for the villagers, with their investigator being killed.
That night, the cultists kill Emzi, saving the town the trouble of doing it in the morning (which would have surely have happened).
Meanwhile I prep one of the endgame scenarios with Argoniandunmer:
AKB wrote:The end is nigh, and we're looking at things ending badly for the town. With the death of the investigator, almost all hope is lost. But you will not lay down and down, as the rest would. On the dawn of the final day, you will seize control of the town. By the end of the day, you have one simple task, kill all of the cultists. Your role will be revealed to the whole town, and you must choose the cultists from the townsfolk. Until the day is over, the townsfolk will be able to argue to you who is a villager, and who is a cultist. Succeed, and you win the game for the villagers. Make a single error, and you will die, alongside the villagers.
Don't say anything about this, obviously. My beginning of the day post for the final day will have me announce that you are the Adventurer, and that you are prepared to settle the matter yourself.
(as all the villagers besides AD are killed, this didn't trigger)
The cultists would have possibly had won that night, were it not for the intervention of Shadow by attacking Thelastdovah, as well as the surprise killing of Believe by Epic:
AKB wrote:After examining Ba'Lee's body, the style of the execution clearly suggests it was performed by none of then a member of The Stalkers of Na-Totambu, an assassin's guild unique to Sentinel, and that only recruited Redguards. Considering the Redguard population on the island, it is evident that Darba killed Ba'Lee'Va.
So now with only one cultist active, this was the best chance the villagers would get to turn it around ever. Unfortunately, this just didn't happen. Taters manages to avoid suspicion, with Shadow dying instead.
And that was that. That night, the cultists could only attack Epic, leaving Argonian alone.
Thus ended Molag Bal Game XVII.
Next: Player awards and suggestions for future games
