The Molag Bal Game XVIII

[Hissien]

"Your words have convinced me of it myself! Only a cultist would have access to such powerful magics to use to their advantage. Was your life at the cost of another's? It was after all two instead of one that were found dead last night." Hizz'ian growled. "I change my vote to Rainbow Faux."

[The-Shadow-One]

"You are all. Fools." Rainbow Faux stated, running his hands over his scar once more, then flipping the bird towards them all.

[Musicman247]

With those words still hanging in the air, Rainbow Faux's life was once again ended. As he hung from his neck on the tree that Bal Evey was still pinned to, an all-too-familiar voice called out.

My worshipers only grow in power the more of your townspeople you slay for them. Sleep well. Muahahahaha!

Night 5 begins

Hidden:

Make any decisions you can within 48 hours. We'll resume as soon as all choices are made, or the time is up.

[Musicman247]

In the morning, Vercel, Hizz'Ian and Gonzai once again met in the Town Square. It was the first morning that no one had been killed during the night.

Day 6 begins.

Hidden:

48 hours to vote for a lynching.

[Argonanza]

Gonzai decided it was time to drop the act. "This has been fun, hasn't it?" he said to Hizz'ian. "Watching them all turn against eachother, and the heartbreak when they realized they made the wrong choice. Finding ever more creative ways to put their peers on display. Good times, good times... But this is the end."

He then turned to address Vercel. "Ready to end this worm of a man, darling? I vote that we lynch Hizz'ian."

[Hissien]

Hizz'Ian

"I see now why it was that we failed last night, brother." Hizz'Ian growled through gritted teeth at Gonzai. "Molag Bal will be pleased with your deviousness. I vote to lynch Vercel, it's been a pleasure slaying with you all." He said ready to be tried and convicted.

[VirtualWeasel]

A sly, relieved grin covered Vercel's face, as he gazed at Gonzai lovingly. He turned to Hizz'Ian, still grinning. "I must admit, I had my doubts. My knowledge of the arcane is elementary at best, I would have expected you and that wretched Bosmer to have broken my protection at some point. But, alas, it seems not. I must say, Hizz'Ian, you were an odd man out from the beginning, but I never suspected you were a cultist until two nights ago." He stopped for a moment, chuckling. "Gonzai was very good at keeping the other cultists' identities under wraps—though I suppose it's not our first time keeping secrets." The baker turned away from Hizz'Ian, standing next to Gonzai. "I vote, of course, for Hizz'Ian."

[Musicman247]

The two bakers make quick work of Hizz'Ian with their knives. It was a quick, clean death for the worshiper. When the deed was done, the dread voice boomed from the sky.

What manner of treachery is this? You kill one of your own when there is one who does not bow their knee to me in your midst? You will both die for this insolence!

A spout of red fire descended from the sky and shot toward Gonzai and Vercel. The bakers held each other in a warm embrace, ready to face death together. The fire stopped short, however, striking a shimmering field of green energy. Neither men were hurt.

Molag Bal shrieked, What is this?

A second voice was then heard, soft and lovely and exuding power.

These two are under my protection, Bal. For they chose love over all else. Now leave. This game is over, and Mother Mara has won this time.

The skies were once again blue, as was the sea surrounding the island of Cisum. The pair of bakers were free to live the rest of their lives as they saw fit.

Hidden:

And Mara comes out of left field! The game is over. I'll post a nice summary of everything that happened either tonight or tomorrow, depending on how long it takes to finish. Thank you all for playing! I hope you had fun.

[Hissien]

Hidden:

hard for me to be dissatisfied with a good ending like that :3

[Believe]

Molag Bal is defeated... By gay bakers?

[Musicman247]

Alright, here's the behind the scenes stuff from The Molag Bal Game 18

:

Worshippers - Decide on one person to kill each night

1. Worshiper 1 - Normal Worshiper -Union
2. Worshiper 2 - Conjurer - Can conjure a lesser daedra once in the game to attack a second target during the night - Nanza
3. Worshiper 3 - Normal Worshiper - Hissien
4. Hunter - Can take out one person with them when they are lynched - Believe
5. Necromancer - Can cast a spell of rejuvenation on anyone killed by the worshippers- TSO
6. Assassin - Can kill one person of their choice during the course of the game - Nicloae
7. Seer - Can ask Azura about the role of one person each night and ascertain what they are - AKB
8. Spy - Can question who the worshippers are, and will be told the identity of one of the worshipers, but if they are seen, will be killed before they can relay the information. Check is done with a D6, even = safe, odd = dead - Rachelsaurus
9. Healer - Can protect one person a night - Veets
10. Servant of Mara - Chooses two people to be lovers. - Baloth (chose Argonanza and VirtualWeasel as The Lovers)
11. & 12. Lovers (2) - Lovers know who each other are, and what their roles (if any) are. Lovers cannot vote against each other, even as a bluff. If one lover dies, the other commits suicide out of grief. If both lovers are villagers, their objective of killing the worshipers doesn't change. If they are both worshipers, their objective of killing the villagers does not change. If the lovers are one villager and one worshiper, their objective becomes to kill everyone but each other.
13. Martial Artist - Can incapacitate one person a night - Emzi
14. The Apprentice - Takes the place of the first character to die - Archer

Normies = Spaceman, tld, Dragon

The first day went as planned, nobody knew anything, so accusations went sailing. Ak'ba was the first to vote, accusing Vercel. The second vote was from Breloth, voting for Fin. From there it was almost a landslide of voting for Fin to die, and die he did.

The night saw several of the players using their special abilities.

The Worshipers voted:

Hidden:

Unionhack: Sorry I haven’t been on here much, etc etc. Uh, I vote we get Breloth for this night. He’s getting too close. Sniffing out quite too much. And if we DO kill him then it won’t link directly to us; he’s accused a ton of people.
As for Hissien, yeah, IDK where that dude is.
Nanza: I’m ok with killing Breloth. Until Hissien is back I guess we’ll just have to do with less voting power. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets lynched if he keeps being AFK.
Musicman: That you guys’ final decision?
Nanza: Can I call a friend? Uh, I mean yes. Breloth, final answer. Affirmative, Union?
Musicman:Union has already said he would be busy, so I’ll just take his vote as final. You guys will attempt to kill Breloth on this first night.
Nanza: Eeeeeeeexcellent >:D

AKB investigated.

Hidden:

Not much point in checking to see what Baloth is, since he is definitely going to be lynched. I want to know what Vercel is.

Your inquiry of Azura grants you a flash of knowledge. Vercel has some training in protection magic. If he wanted he could protect one person a night from being killed by the worshipers, including himself.

Neat!

Ra-zuur Spied

Hidden:

Can Ra-zuur try to spy by peeking out his window?

You can spy looking out your window, but it's the same die roll to see if you're noticed.

Was that you saying you wanted to spy?

I don't know, I'm scared! I mean! Ra-zuur is scared.... I should though, right? Because no one has a clue and we just killed an innocent. But I'm kind of under everyone's radar right now. No one is going to throw suspicion at me, I'm sure of that. So as long as the worshipers don't pick me, I'm good until next time. But then, what if they DO pick me... or if we kill another innocent....?ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....

*takes a deep breath*

*swallows hard*

*chokes on own saliva* Make it so. I'm going to spy.

Ra-zuur used his super awesome spy skills to sneak out during the night. He saw three men enter a house followed by muffled screams as the person was killed. He stayed hidden for hours as he waited to see if he could determine the identity of one or all of the worshipers. He was rewarded when one of the hoods of the worshipers fell momentarily. The face was that of Ention Hackett, the Breton minstrel. He thought for a moment that he would be discovered, but the worshipers didn't see him. He breathed a sigh of relief when quickly heading back to his hovel.

You rolled a six, which is even, so you survived!

And Vercel Protected

Hidden:

I'd like to use my ability to protect Ak'ba tonight, if possible.

Vercel recited the words he had learned so many years ago, saying the name Ak'ba at the appropriate place. He could feel the spell leave his home, on its way to the female Argonian.

Were you contacted by anyone but me regarding your ability?

By AKB, yes. Apparently used his investigative powers on me, and believes if he can stay alive another night he can find another cultist.
I just hope he's right. Also, if him contacting me was against the rules of the game, I was not aware of such.

And you believed him. Ok.

Well, there's no way he could have found out about the ability unless—

Oh god dammit.

That conversation confirmed my belief that AKB would take advantage of me not stating specifically not to talk about special roles outside of the game. I thought about messaging him and asking him to stop, but I thought it would be more interesting to just let it run its course and see what the players did. You did not disappoint.

Ak'ba had contacted Vercel.

Hidden:

I know what you are, and of your power to protect people. And I have revealed my role to you, by revealing my access to this knowledge. I'd recommend you use your power to defend me tonight, I'm not sure I'll be attacked, but I do not know who the cultists are yet. The cultists would like target one of the more active members of the Game, however, so it could possibly be me, or if he is not one, Baloth.

Ideally, we survive just a few more turns, and our group can overcome the cultist's influence by sheer numbers. As we are now two, and no longer one, we have some power in being able to steer the vote, if only slightly.

I don't quite see the logic in protecting you, unless you're able to find out who is a cultist, and you're able to do it within another night. My survival is also directly tied to another's, and vice versa, so I need to be absolutely sure it's worth risking my own life, as well as theirs.

I can discover the cultists, that's how I discovered you, I thought you were a cultist, and investigated you.

You are partnered with another player already? How does that work? Are they aware of you? Could we work together? Who are they, so I don't have to waste time investigating them?

Here's how I see it, there are two to three cultists, and fourteen people in the Game. We, between ourselves, know three are not cultists.

So here's how I see it.

AKB Not Cultist

VirtualWeasel Not Cultist

VirtualWeasel's Partner Not Cultist (hopefully, ideally)

So that leaves eleven possible cultists. So I have about an 18 to 27 percent chance of finding a cultist next time I investigate someone. But if I don't find one by tomorrow, that means that possibly two more people will be dead, and we will have enough votes amongst ourselves to decide the lynchings, however we see fit. So if I survive this round, we will win the game within two days, by controlling most of the votes in the town, and by being able to weed out the cultists, by sheer force.

I will also antagonize the cultists into attacking me tonight, if you ensure me I will be protected.

Unfortunately I shouldn't/prefer not to reveal the nature of my ties to the other person (as it's a story point I'd like to reveal as the plot unfolds), the only important thing to know is that my death and their death are equally intertwined, and they're not a threat.

Seems pretty solid to me, you can count on being protected tonight.

If I'm attacked tonight, we'll buy some time for us to plan the next move, at the least. If they take the bait, that is.

I just hope I haven't protected a cultist. I'm obligated to still have my suspicions, but I don't really see any way for you to find information on my ability otherwise.

The risk here is that they may smell a trap, and just target a random person. I've used this tactic before, and it hasn't failed yet, but I'm playing my cards awfully close to my chest right now. Last time I did this, I had another player announce they were the seer, so that I could safely announce my revelations. I usually wouldn't risk doing it this brazenly, but I kind of don't have any other options.

Are you trying to protect Breloth? If so, then he's kind of doomed to die by virtue of antagonizing to many people. I might be able to save him by supporting him tomorrow, otherwise he's probably going to die.

No, I expect (and maybe even hope) him to die, as I am the next probable candidate for people it seems, after him. I'm hoping given time, it will become a bit more obvious to people that I'm not guilty, but we'll see.

We'll have the numbers to control the vote by the end of the next cycle, or I'll have discovered a cultist and I will accuse them, so you will be safe. Here's hoping, at least.

I really hope Breloth is a cultist, just to solve that issue.

Alright, Breloth is dead, probably in an effort to ensure those he accused are attacked next. So in a way, my bluff worked, since I'm on that list.

Are you teamed with Gonzai? We need someone to die today, and if you tell me who your partner is, I can avoid accusing them.

I'm going to accuse a random person on the possibles list, and that one name will give me the highest possible chance to kill a cultist, instead of a villager today.

Yes, I am.

Lucky guess, I figured you would vote together.

Ra-zuur has claimed Ention is a cultist, and that he can investigate people as well. I'm investigating him right now. If this is true, well, the cultists are rightly done for. One cultist found out, and four villagers who can work together in confidence.

Good, I was wary about Ra-zuur's ability, as it seems a bit strange that two people would have the same investigative ability.

Who do you intend to protect? If I could be, I'd still prefer protection, myself. I have played as aggressively as I can, and if I can be protected, I'll even taunt Ention should Music confirm Ra-zuur is on the up and up. If you can't, does Gonzai have the power to protect, and could he protect me tonight? I'm not sure if they'll take a swipe at me, but they might.

Well, I think any of us are up for grabs at this point, so I'm not really sure. Given it was made pretty clear that you have an investigative ability, the cultists may jump on you first as the next logical choice to kill.

But of course, my own sense of self-preservation lingers as well.

And as far as I remember, Gonzai has a one-time use ability to protect.

So as far as I can see it, we're either going to win by tomorrow by having been able to investigate most of the town, or we're going to fall apart in this round, if we're ever going to. By the next one, we'll simply have inertia on our side, the cultists cannot win. I don't think we can all necessarily survive, but I do think the villagers have better chances of winning right now than they don't.

Ra-zuur had contacted Ak'ba, Vercel and Gonzai.

Hidden:

I'm trusting that you're telling the truth and you are not a cultist. I'm a spy and I discovered that Ention is a cultist. If you'll change your vote and help me convince others to, so will I. I'm sending this same PM to a couple of others that I hope are not secretly cultists.

We'll see if you're telling the truth or not. I'm investigating you right now.

Also, do you know anything else? It'd be nice to compare notes.

That's all I know so far. It's a 50/50 chance each night that if I spy, I'll either discover one of the cultists or they'll catch me and I'll die. I feel lucky that I wasn't caught the first time. I'm debating whether to try my luck again so soon. Since we know Ention is a cultist, we have someone to vote for next time. So, I'll try to spy another time, once we eliminate Ention. Is there anyone else I can safely send this info to? I already shared with Vercel and Gonzai.

No, I don't have anyone else right now.

Here's the way I see it. If you get killed investigating someone tonight, then I can trust your word that you are not a cultist, and that Ention is. If you succeed, you can give me another name, we kill Ention tomorrow (I will insist he is a cultist, and if it turns out he's not, well, then I know you must be one). This way, I get to investigate someone else besides you, so we can investigate the most people we possibly can. I'm going to trust you aren't lying, and in return, you're going to have to make this risk.

And if you really don't want to risk it, then I'll still take the risk on Ention tomorrow, since someone has to die, but just know this won't pay off well for you if you are a cultist.

I agree it would be a waste to investigate me, and I understand your apprehension. I would think that It would be obvious, since it was just revealed that Drag Ond was innocent and Ention so eagerly voted for him. I'm sorry, but I don't want to take the risk unless I don't have any useful information. Since I know Ention is a cultist, and he's still alive, I plan to wait until next time. I know I'm asking a lot for you to trust me. Here's how I see it: you can take my word and you'll see that I am being truthful, or you can investigate me. Either way, we're both safe. I'm all for getting information, but I don't want to be reckless. I'm sorry and I hope you'll trust me.

It's not so much a matter of trust, so much a matter of you'll be following Ention if he is not a cultist, and I'll have investigated enough villagers in the meanwhile to have discovered either another cultist myself, or I'll have enough safe votes to have a simple majority.

I'm not worried. Ention is a cultist.

Hidden:

I'm trusting that AKB is telling the truth and you are not a cultist. I'm a spy and I discovered that Ention is a cultist. If you'll change your vote and help me convince others to, so will I. I'm sending this same PM to a couple of others that I hope are not secretly cultists.

AKB is telling the truth about both Gonzai and I. I just hope you're telling the truth about Ention.

I pinky promise

If we successfully eliminate Ention, I'll try to spy and discover another cultist. It's risky, a 50/50 chance that I'll either succeed or be caught and killed. Because of that, I want to make sure to help get rid of at least one of them before I try to spy again.

As long as you have a good idea of who the next one is. So far we have me, Gonzai, and you eliminated, so... That still leaves a lot of people. Lemme know who the suspicious are if you'd like, and we can talk about them.

I'm a bit suspicious of the ones who haven't spoken up. I guess we'll have a better idea after everyone votes. Then we can decide if I should risk spying. I feel like Ytrid is either innocent, or playing it really well if she's a cultist. Hiz'zan also seems innocent.

So from there you can probably figure out what happened next. Ak'ba trusted The Lovers, who were only in the game for themselves. They played their part very well, and ended up winning the game! I'm so proud of you guys!

Oh, and the Worshipers had a Google Doc that they used to communicate and vote. Here it is: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Eyb ... sp=sharing

[AKB]

The following is the canonical ending, as I was contractually obligated to survive the game:

As the lovers embraced, a crossbow bolt pierced Vercel's head, before exploding, destroying half of his body. A second later, a second one pierced Gonzai's. Ak'ba smiled from her perch, a distance away. She looked at the black gem she was holding, now filled with one soul. The two would not share an afterlife, Ak'ba was slightly pleased by that fact. Before teleporting away, Ak'ba returned to the village for one last time, with some kindling, and a torch. There would be nothing left of this town. As the fires rose, the Argonian vanished.

When she appeared in the corporeal form once more, she had returned to the company of a handsome Altmer gentle-elf, who did not even try to feign interest in whatever she had been up to. "I killed the last of them. In case you were curious." The Altmer did not respond, instead he stared very intensely at some ancient tome. "I even ensured they wouldn't enjoy an afterlife together. A minor touch, but it seemed appropriate." She said to the unresponsive Altmer. "Anyway, thanks for all of your help, other Ak'ba." said the Argonian Ak'ba to the Altmer of the same name, as she left his library.

As Ak'ba the Argonian left, Ak'ba the Altmer sighed heavily, and turned the page.

Ak'ba kills Gonzai and Vercel, out of spite.


This was extremely unfair. You created a character who was a villager, but was involved with cultists so they would not kill him, but also could protect himself from the cultists so that he was safe no matter what. You also did not reveal roles when you were supposed to, which would have been nice, since it would have let me know that there was another possible faction in the game which is playing against everyone else, since Baloth was the first person dead. Also, why in the hell would you allow the healer to protect himself? That's just nonsense. My entire strategy would have been different if you had played by the rules you set.

As I warned you, YOU ARE NOW BANNED MUSICMAN. I was not satisfied with this game at all.

[Musicman247]

I created the special roles and gave them out at random. The Lovers were chosen by Baloth.

The first person killed was tld, who had no role. From there I forgot to announce roles, but was never asked about it during the game.

[AKB]

We didn't ask you because you were supposed to do it, we would have assumed they had no special role.

Mistake or not, it would have changed my entire game. I determined that it was Argonanza and Virtualweasel "teamed up" based on them voting together, which VirtualWeasel admitted. I assumed he couldn't be a cultist, since I didn't know of anyway that a cultist and villager could be their own team. If I had learned about it on the first night when Baloth died, I would have known I could not trust VirtualWeasel or Argonanza because of that. You see why I might be a bit agitated by this twist, because of that? I'm fine with how this ended, since everyone is dead but me (that is canonical), and the lovers were sent to different afterlives even, but I feel a bit cheated.

[Musicman247]

Okie dokie! Thanks for letting me know!

[AKB]

Doesn't change you being banned. No hard feelings.

[Dirty Spaceman]

Well, I went into this armed with only logic, and came out empty-handed. I think this Game will go down in history as the And Then There Were None of MBGs, a logically unsolvable mystery for someone without inside info or a way to obtain it. But, like the book, it was still thrilling.

Edit:

she thinks I'm a sweet little lamb

Got me. I suspected Union from the beginning, but began to doubt when Hissien voted for him. Thought that Hiss was a cultist trying to off an innocent Ention... little did I know they were working together. But as for Gonads, I thought that he was either a package deal with Vercel (innocent or guilty) or, if only one of them was innocent, I suspected Veets more. Again, little did I know... anyway, well played guys.

[Believe]

I enjoyed it.

I'm not so keen on the PMing, as previously you're only supposed to convince people of things in the actual game, rather than telling them outright what you are, and making plans, but I guess it didn't really hurt it.

I actually liked the twist, Nanza and Veets played their parts perfectly.

[Hissien]

Well, I went into this armed with only logic, and came out empty-handed. I think this Game will go down in history as the And Then There Were None of MBGs, a logically unsolvable mystery for someone without inside info or a way to obtain it. But, like the book, it was still thrilling.

Edit:

she thinks I'm a sweet little lamb

Got me. I suspected Union from the beginning, but began to doubt when Hissien voted for him. Thought that Hiss was a cultist trying to off an innocent Ention... little did I know they were working together. But as for Gonads, I thought that he was either a package deal with Vercel (innocent or guilty) or, if only one of them was innocent, I suspected Veets more. Again, little did I know... anyway, well played guys.

To be completely honest I wasn't even paying attention when I voted for Ention. AKB had me totally convinced that they could expose me if they suspected me. I just went with what I felt was the least suspicious and went with it. It kinda just worked out on its own.

I was prepared to throw Hizz'ian into the flames thou. I wanted Gonzai the murderous Baker to live more than anything.

@dirtyspaceman I thought Ytrid was going to make it all the way, I was surprised when she died.

[VirtualWeasel]

Hidden:

The following is the canonical ending, as I was contractually obligated to survive the game:

As the lovers embraced, a crossbow bolt pierced Vercel's head, before exploding, destroying half of his body. A second later, a second one pierced Gonzai's. Ak'ba smiled from her perch, a distance away. She looked at the black gem she was holding, now filled with one soul. The two would not share an afterlife, Ak'ba was slightly pleased by that fact. Before teleporting away, Ak'ba returned to the village for one last time, with some kindling, and a torch. There would be nothing left of this town. As the fires rose, the Argonian vanished.

When she appeared in the corporeal form once more, she had returned to the company of a handsome Altmer gentle-elf, who did not even try to feign interest in whatever she had been up to. "I killed the last of them. In case you were curious." The Altmer did not respond, instead he stared very intensely at some ancient tome. "I even ensured they wouldn't enjoy an afterlife together. A minor touch, but it seemed appropriate." She said to the unresponsive Altmer. "Anyway, thanks for all of your help, other Ak'ba." said the Argonian Ak'ba to the Altmer of the same name, as she left his library.

As Ak'ba the Argonian left, Ak'ba the Altmer sighed heavily, and turned the page.

Ak'ba kills Gonzai and Vercel, out of spite.


This was extremely unfair. You created a character who was a villager, but was involved with cultists so they would not kill him, but also could protect himself from the cultists so that he was safe no matter what. You also did not reveal roles when you were supposed to, which would have been nice, since it would have let me know that there was another possible faction in the game which is playing against everyone else, since Baloth was the first person dead. Also, why in the hell would you allow the healer to protect himself? That's just nonsense. My entire strategy would have been different if you had played by the rules you set.

As I warned you, YOU ARE NOW BANNED MUSICMAN. I was not satisfied with this game at all.

Somebody's a little salty.

[AKB]

And someone's stuck in the Soul Cairn, to be withered into a husk over countless millennia (that's you, by the way).

I almost don't want to host the next game, just so I can create another Ak'ba.