The Molag Bal Game XVIII

[Unionhack]

Ention scoffed. "And Breloth is an awful bit close to Baloth, isn't it? Not really fair, is it? No, Evey's a good fellow! He wouldn't have done something so... So horrible!"

[Baloth-Kul]

"Then who?!" Breloth asked, frantically. "We don't have any evidence, so we just need to...grab someone! I still think it's the old man! I never trusted him! Bal. He'll be the death of us all!"

Hidden:

Lynching doesn't necessarily have to be out of intent of pure murder--at least not initially. If we were to be like "yeah, we're going to take you prisoner", and they fight back, or the crowd gets too wild, we can just accidentally stomp them to death.

[Musicman247]

Hidden:

You guys vote, and I'll provide the outcome. I'll do my best to keep the intent of the group while eliminating the player.

[Unionhack]

Ention stood agape for a moment as he thought. Then it hit him.

"Emzaah, the dunmer! Don't their types worship the daedra? Who else could it be?"

[Dirty Spaceman]

"Depends on what kind of Daedra," pointed out Ytrid. "If he worships one of the ones that are enemies to Molag Bal, then there's no way he could have done this. But it's not like he'll admit it if he does worship Bal. It's not like anyone will. But just because there's no way to find out, doesn't mean we have to kill someone on a moment's hunch. That's playing right into his hands. Not everyone is even awake yet."

[Baloth-Kul]

Hidden:

Well, technically, mechanically, we're all already gathered in the square. We can wake up and wander in for, you know, story's sake...But for those who haven't posted yet, they're assumed to already be at the square, and in the know.

"I didn't say kill!" Breloth gasped. "Grab! Capture, lock in a shed until we can be certain they're not a murderer! And we have to decide! If we don't catch them now, we might not last the night. We might not even make it to nightfall." He composed himself, finally putting away his panic. "I say we grab Bal Evey and lock him up, whether he likes it or not. I don't bal-ieve I trust him, or his name!"

[Dirty Spaceman]

Hidden:

True enough. It's more so that not everybody has had a chance to describe their reaction and weigh in, so that's kind of the meaning you can take from what I said.

"We'll make it to nightfall if we stick together and don't do anything stupid," said Ytrid. "Yes, we should decide on someone as a suspect before then, but we still have time. Feel free to grab and lock away whomever you want to, if you can manage it by yourself, but if Mr. Evey is killing people, then keeping him captive would prove it only if he's working alone."

[AKB]

"It cools my scales to watch people to prepare to tear themselves apart so quickly." Ak'ba spoke, emerging on the scene. "Yet there is no other conventional way forward, it seems. I have read accounts of this happening before, a Daedra manifesting its will over entire settlements, Hircine's Bloodmoon, Sheogorath's tricks, and this... Molag Bal's 'Game'. Whenever this event occurs, towns are eradicated within days. Very few settlements have ever escaped this cursed Game, but the survivors have made it clear that you can 'Win' this Game. Should his servants be discovered, and completely eradicated."

Ak'ba paused for a moment, before turning towards Breloth. "But how quickly did Breloth send out an accusation? All it took was for the Daedra to speak, and Breloth called for someone's doom. Ak'ba cannot imagine a brave veteran like yourself would be so quickly cowed by evil, unless you were already its servant."

Hidden:

I did some world building there, implying that Molag Bal Game is a proper part of the setting.

[Argonanza]

"It's not like Molag Bal has declared daedric dibs on that particuar syllable," said Gonzai. "Breloth, I know you're upset, we all are, but making accusations based on a name is not how you catch a culprit."

Even though his voice trembled from the shock of finding the mayor dead, he still spoke with a fair bit of snark.

[AKB]

"There is no way at all to truly determine who the killers could be, even how many of them are amongst us," Ak'ba spoke, "Our hope can only be that we discover them by chance before they act, and the killings stop." Ak'ba concluded.

[VirtualWeasel]

Vercel stood among the crowd, his voice silenced by the shock of the moment. He didn't want anyone to die... All this rushing to the occasion was making the poor baker's head spin. Holding his floury hands close to his abdomen, his shoulders tight and eyes rigid, Vercel tried to speak among the chaos.
"S-Stendarr's mercy..." The man's voice quivered, first, but his tone soon hardened as he tried to make sense of the situation. "We should listen to the Nord. She seems the most sensible about this mess." He glanced at Gonzai as he spoke. "I agree, a birth name does not define a man."

[Baloth-Kul]

Breloth bowed his head in shame that he so quickly jumped to accuse a man simply because of his name. The accusation that perhaps he was the cultist, though, made him tense. "It's possible that I am, sure. But I simply am not. This is my home. I fought and bled for my province, and I came here to fish and get fat, not to kill. I left that behind."

He looked at the old man he had accused of murder. "Forgive me, Bal Evey."

He then looked around at the others. "But who, then? The madman?" Breloth suggested, referring to Fin Laitus. "He says he's blessed by Sheogorath. Associating with any Daedric Lord, in light of this..."

"...But we must do something, and do it today. Surely, you see at least that, good people." Breloth reasoned to the crowd. "If you lock ME up or try to lynch me, you'd be damning a man innocent of these crimes. But we must do something. We might lock up the wrong person, but it's better than calm discussion by day, only to wake the next morning and find...something like this, again. And it seems...we will have to face this again, as there are more than one follower of Molag Bal. So steel yourselves, good people, for what we must do, and what we must witness. We are pawns in Molag Bal's sick Game, but we must play, or we will all die."

[VirtualWeasel]

"If I may," Vercel interjected, "he makes a decent point. Sheogorath and Molag Bal—both reputably violent Daedra, both within the Dunmer House of Troubles." He was shy to accuse anyone, but it was the only thing that made sense. "I don't think mere suspicion is worth killing him, but... The House of Troubles is a whole host of Daedra that conspire for evil."

[AKB]

"I accuse Vercel." Ak'ba said, suddenly. "The cultists will look to cover their tracks by breeding conflict, they will jump on the first easy accusation someone makes. I do not know what Breloth is, but I feel Vercel is the first person who may logically be a cultist."

[VirtualWeasel]

The old man's eyes sunk into despair. His chest began to tremble, his heart seething with desperation. "I... Me?! I could never kill another man! I'm a regular church-goer, and I happen to pay attention to, and avoid, what evils might prey upon people like me! I was foolish to accuse anyone—all this bickering and suspicion is just what the murderer wants."

[Baloth-Kul]

Breloth nodded his head as he pondered Ak'ba's words, and her knowledge of previous incarnations of Molag Bal's 'game'.

"I accuse Ak'ba!" Breloth announced, changing his mind yet again. "She is the first to suggest we kill! And her suggesting Vercel's covering his tracks, seems to imply she's covering her own tracks!" He thought for a minute. "But then you'll all think I'm covering my own tracks, even though I have no tracks to cover. Oh no! ... ...Well, nevermind, I still accuse Fin Laitus! He's mad!"

Hidden:

To be clear, Breloth's vote is presently still Fin Laitus. He just thought to accuse Ak'ba before changing his mind again. Heheh. He's indecisive and uncertain right now.

"Easy, Vercel! We should act by majority." Breloth said, trying to calm the old man. "But we must act, or we are all doomed. Cast your vote, all, and we will have to pray for forgiveness should we fell any innocents."

Hidden:

Think I'm going to shut up now until the next day. XD If I survive that long...

[AKB]

"That is no defense. The Temple does not purge one of Daedric associations, and if I had learned anything in my travels, it is that the least likely people are capable of murder. You are right that they want bickering and confusion though, which they will exploit. The killers need to just jump on the first person who the crowd may agree to lynch, causing the town to waste its time, and allowing them to send even more people to the grave. You jumped on the first easy accusation, when no one else would stick to any of the random accusations made. While I cannot be sure of what you are, you are the only person who I could see as trying to take advantage of the confusion, right now."

[Emzi 43]

A wonderful morning was interrupted as Emzaah noticed the sick colour of the sky. Clearing his eyes to ensure it wasn't dust or something equally ridiculous, he began to dress. Finishing this, he went to step outside, stopping in his tracks as he heard the great voice fron the sky. "By all I hold sacred!" he exclaimed. Now dressed, he rushed outside, stopping to gaze at the colour of the sea, before realising what it truly was. "This is some manner of nightmare, what's going on, why are we..." he began as he arrived at the beach, cutting short once he saw the mayor's body.

[VirtualWeasel]

Vercel was offended, but held his tongue. Rage wasn't going to get anyone anywhere, action would. And, although execution of his fellow townspeople wasn't high on his list of life experiences, it seemed there was no other choice.
"I believe the murderer is Fin Laitus, as well. With all that Sheogorath nonsense... It makes the most logical sense."

[Dirty Spaceman]

"I don't think we can jump up and say anybody's guilty by association, Sheogorath or no," said Ytrid. "We all have our own pasts, and Molag Bal could have entered into anyone's. I could tell you all day about my travels in Skyrim and my loyalty to Talos and the rest of the Nine, but that alone could never prove my innocence. Laitus a killer might be, but I refuse to vote for his death, at least until he has had a chance to plead his case."

[Musicman247]

Hidden:

for those of you who have yet to post, feel free to describe your character waking up and their reactions to the things that have happened, but we'll say they arrived at the beach at approximately the same time.

[Rachelsaurus]

Ra-zuur, believing that the noises he heard during the night must have been a terrible storm, got an early start to survey any possible damage at his outdoor shoe shine shop. Upon seeing the carnage, his jaw dropped. He looked around in disbelief. His eyes fell on the mayor. Recognizing his face, Ra-zuur instinctively took a few quick steps toward him, squinting to get a better look. In the blink of an eye, he suddenly saw it all so clearly. The mayor's body, completely mutilated. The dagger sticking out of his chest. A piece of paper, covered in red, obviously a note that Ra-zuur didn't dare get close enough to read. After a brief moment of frozen shock, Ra-zuur gasped and took large, quick steps backward, too afraid to turn his back on the scene. Upon hearing a voice, he ducked behind the only seat at his shop. As accusations were tossed around, he began to feel a burning sensation in the pit of his stomach, which made him nauseous and homesick.

[Dragon53535]

Drag Ond arrived at the beach a little bit after Molag Bal had given his 'announcement' that killers were among them. While frightened, he was less so than before as this seemed to not be the work of the bandits he owed money. Accusations were flying around quickly with each party going back and forth about who they think is the killer and what to do.

"Vote for his death? Why are we voting for anyone's death, and what is happening?" Drag questioned those that had gathered.

Spoiler:

I will say, that my character DID hide inside his house for a bit

[Baloth-Kul]

Hidden:

The point and purpose of that, was so that we could avoid having to explain it to each character, every time they begin to post.

"You heard the voice!" Breloth said to Drag Ond. "You see the corpse and the writing. You see the boats, the ocean, the sky--we must vote, because we must live. If we do nothing, we will be killed, one by one, until only the murderers are left! This way, we at least have a chance that some of us will survive." He frowned. "I WOULD advise you all to barricade your doors and windows tonight...but I fear that will not be enough. There will be more blood and death before the end. Some of it WILL be ours, and hopefully, the rest will be theirs."

Breloth's shoulders sagged in sorrowful acceptance, as he knew that he would have to bury some of his friends before this was over. It was more likely still that he himself would be dead, before this 'game' ended, one way or the other. He looked sadly at the mayor's mutilated corpse. "We should bury Muze Ickman. He ought not sit out here to...to... ...But AFTER we have decided who is to be dealt with."

[Dragon53535]

Spoiler:

Sorry, but my character is a bit on the bad side of some bandits, it seemed prudent that he would think that the mayor was killed while they looked for him. He's not good with murder, or at least if it's not to save his own skin. It probably won't happen again, and next game I'll remember this and not do it again

"Ahh, so for us to live, others must die. It is a cruel world we are living in." Drag mused to himself. He sighed and looked at those around him, "If we must vote for another's life, then so be it. I'm going to take a gamble here, although I wasn't great at gambling, and vote for Fin Laitus. He's mad and it feels like mercy for him to die by our hands, rather than the hands of these murderers. May the Divines have mercy on our souls."