[MAFIA WIN] Second Anniversary Fanfic Mafia - Game Thread

[Inkedust]

[[Didn't expect to make another post today but I guess I need to respond to a couple things:

"Namco's somebody who actually strikes me as being inactive in a suspect kind of way. Been around but just slipping under the radar. Altair and Lusamine jumped on the Lance train here in a way I'm not a fan of. Feeling the need to sit there writing up a more elaborate justification for targeting the guy who's literally a vegetable that a consensus is forming on, like they've got something to prove. Not exactly concrete proof of anything but I just don't fucking like it."

A good reason to suspect someone but I also want you to keep in mind that I casted my vote when it was counting as 3/2 for Lance and Arctozolt. Sure the suspicion was off Arctozolt at that point, I voted for Lance as an extra safety precaution to keep Arctozolt around, as it's in our best interest to keep the Cop alive so that we can reliably determine scum from innocent.

their response Equi putting pressure on Phan was a bit weird

Let me confirm this right out the gate: Yes. This is my first game of mafia, so I want to reassure that I can/will make mistakes/or a bad read or two. As for this to cause suspicion, my reasons for hoping against it was because this extremely early in the game. Like, in the first 30 minutes. While I understand putting pressure on other players, accusing others right out the gate didn't read right to me (also I wanted an excuse to get Altair in on the action).

I guess it sticks out with Inkedust more because I don’t think they’ve given much specific reasoning on anything really?

Except that I have? Most of my current reads have remained the same on D1, with some changing with the onset of new information. I pointed out that I'm more suspect of aggressive players, which is why I didn't read Miyako/Mewtwo well, same with Dave D1 because of the allusion to his role. I felt off about Alexander because of his flavour but his posts D2 have just proven that I was being paranoid. If that's inadequate for you, then I'll make more of an effort to explain why I read others the way (also I write them on my phone, first thing in the morning, because of that pesky thing called timezones).

Suspect me all you like, but I promise you that I'm on your side and am making my best efforts to help out and make reads, even if I'm not very good at it.]]

 

[Inkedust]

[[ack. There should be a "but" between "point" and "voted"]]

 

[Namohysip]

[[I'd like to add that I'm willing to switch to Fusion if anyone else has more to say. This is kind of a dud round imo because we're literally defaulting on inactives and maybe Wes, but I'm spending this last hour or so trying to figure out how I feel about Wes myself.]]

 

[Shiny Phantump]

If you just want to remind others that I'm not quite as definite town as a lot of people think, you just need to say something like "I'm not convinced the gambit couldn't have been faked, guys"

[[Why would I say that WITHOUT giving my reasoning? Again, like with my vote, I'm always going to explain my reasoning if I have any. I'm not going to actively hide my thoughts from my own teammates, because that's never going to help. I get you know you're town, but we don't and I was concerned people are putting someone with an unprovable claim as hard town.]]

 

[elyvorg]

[[A lot of people are putting others on "hard town" for reasons that aren't actually provable yet. If your issue was just your concern about other people's definition of "hard town" being too soft for you, then just say that and point out that my claim isn't actually provable. If you really are town and feel that I'm probably town and generally agree that people should still trust me to a decent extent, then making a detailed case for exactly how you think I could be manipulating and deceiving everyone is not actually going to help people continue to trust me, no matter what you say your stance is at the end of it.

I dunno, maybe this is just a clash of playstyles; you do say you're stricter about your reads than most. But in my opinion, if you're town, and you don't actually suspect another player of being mafia to any meaningful degree, then explaining to everyone in detail how they could theoretically be a sneaky horrible mafia just isn't... productive.]]

 

[Dragonfree]

[[To be entirely fair, musing on exactly how probably-town players could be mafia is something I do, too... I find it a nice exercise in okay but what if, keeping those counterfactuals open so as to remember how it could be possible.]]

 

[HelloYellow17]

[[Gonna just make most of this post ooc because I don't have the brain capacity for a full RP response right now.

[...You know, seeing Dragonfree's post, it really is giving me pause that three of the people currently on the Lance train - Wes, Lusamine and Altair - are pretty low on most everyone's readlists. Wes was basically the one to start the train here as we began to approach lynch o'clock, and without him having done that, we might not be doing this at all. (Alexander's vote was first, but that was cast sometime way earlier and is less likely to influence people right now.)

Actually, Alexander/Namo's vote was what influenced me to vote for Lance in the first place, because until I saw the vote, I'd literally forgotten he existed. I'm conflicted about voting for inactive players, but at the same time...if you're not going to post at all, especially when there are 2 kills in one night and an Arsonist running around, then it just makes things really difficult because then we're left with like 4 silent (or near-silent) people that we can't in any way get a read on. If people are too busy to participate and are going to be inactive anyways, then eliminating them will at least help us narrow things down, or, idk. Make some progress.

I wanted to make some progress, so I decided to cast a vote for Lance since he's been totally silent. Also, at the time of voting, he was the only one that I was aware of that hadn't posted at all with no explanation. (I know Fusion had said something about being busy irl.) I didn't realize he was actually busy with college exams--if I'd have known that, I would have taken that into account and wouldn't have been so quick to vote for him.

Let me confirm this right out the gate: Yes. This is my first game of mafia, so I want to reassure that I can/will make mistakes/or a bad read or two.

I'm just quoting this because this is exactly how I feel and inkedust said it better than I could, haha. This is also my first mafia, I have never played with all these roles and abilities and what have you, and this is also my first RP, so kind of a double whammy there. I'm obviously making a lot of mistakes, but, like Ink, I'm trying to make it clear that I AM on the town's side. And seriously--give me at least another day and I might be able to actually prove that. Okay, gonna try to get in character now.]]

[[I'd like to add that I'm willing to switch to Fusion if anyone else has more to say. This is kind of a dud round imo because we're literally defaulting on inactives and maybe Wes, but I'm spending this last hour or so trying to figure out how I feel about Wes myself.]

Wes glanced at Alexander. "Well, if this Cold Fusion has the potential to be a serious threat...I'd be willing to change my vote. I only voted for that Lucario because he hasn't said a single thing yet, which seemed suspicious to me."

He glanced around at the rest of the group and spoke firmly. "Listen, I know I haven't exactly given the best first impression. But I'm telling you right now: you all need me. If you throw me out, you'll be making a serious mistake. Give me some time, and I'll more than make it up to you. I promise."

 

[Negrek]

Twenty minutes remain in Day Two. The vote stands thus:

Navarchu: 5 (Namohysip, unrepentantAuthor, Inkedust, Shiny Phantump, HelloYellow17)
Abstain: 2 (AbraPunk, Seren)
HelloYellow17: 2 (elyvorg, Dragonfree)
Fusion: 1 (windskull)
IFBench: 1 (Namco)
Namco: 1 (IFBench)
Seren: 1 (Equitial)

 

[HelloYellow17]

Twenty minutes remain in Day Two. The vote stands thus:

Navarchu: 4 (Namohysip, unrepentantAuthor, Inkedust, Shiny Phantump)
Abstain: 2 (AbraPunk, Seren)
HelloYellow17: 2 (elyvorg, Dragonfree)
Fusion: 1 (windskull)
IFBench: 1 (Namco)
Namco: 1 (IFBench)
Seren: 1 (Equitial)

[[I have also voted for Navar so I believe that’s 5 votes]]

 

[Disco]

(I guess I can try to post more? I just don't speculate about who can do what until there's solid information. I don't have any theories to post and trying to form any on like no info isn't my style orz)

 

[Negrek]

Yup, missed you. Sorry!

 

[DawningWinds]

Yeaah so apparently I'm not going to finish the last seven three of em are inactive and one of em is dead anyway.

Vaguely I think voting inactives is a bad idea since

Except that I have? Most of my current reads have remained the same on D1, with some changing with the onset of new information. I pointed out that I'm more suspect of aggressive players, which is why I didn't read Miyako/Mewtwo well, same with Dave D1 because of the allusion to his role. I felt off about Alexander because of his flavour but his posts D2 have just proven that I was being paranoid. If that's inadequate for you, then I'll make more of an effort to explain why I read others the way (also I write them on my phone, first thing in the morning, because of that pesky thing called timezones).

I don't really remember you doing much explaining of your reads on D1 either.

And the "I did it on my phone argument" never has and never will be even remotely convincing to me. I do all my Mafia playing on my phone.


And I guess I should get a vote out. I think I'll go Phan, since I agree the way she was pushing elyvorg did kinda look like she wanted people to suspect her even though she was saying she though ely was town. Also she was saying she didn't think we should lynch an inactive and then joined the Lance wagon when it got leading I think?
Vote: Shiny Phantump[/s]

 

[DawningWinds]

Well that was the wrong letter in that end bracket.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

[[I suppose I have one more thing to say on picking at Elyvorg over all the other technically-not-proven people:

I've been wary of that gambit since the moment it came up. The only reason I've accepted as vaguely possibly helpful to the town is that nobody else seems to take issue with it, and therefore I assume I'm missing something.

I can't see asking people to guess something you already know as anything other than fishing for info. Like, in a vacuum away from what everyone else said I would have been willing to consider it an honest mistake, like I've done for the other early claimers, and think Elyv probably town based on that, but I can't imagine any way it would be genuinely helpful to the town.

The only people I'm comfortable with us seeing as hard towns are DawningWinds, because Firefighter is actually recommended as a "claim right away so people know there's an Arsonist" and Dragonfree, because she couldn't organize the thing with Chibi by herself if she tried.]]

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Also she was saying she didn't think we should lynch an inactive and then joined the Lance wagon when it got leading

I said I normally wouldn't lynch an inactive after voting Lance, when asked why I felt the need to justify that vote.

 

[Namohysip]

Actually, Alexander/Namo's vote was what influenced me to vote for Lance in the first place, because until I saw the vote, I'd literally forgotten he existed.

[[Worth noting I flipped a coin for this. I can't really prove that, but... Well anyway, I also just totally missed Spark as well. Could have voted for Spark who had also been totally silent. But that one was so hidden that even I didn't notice, even when looking down the player list...]]

Alexander sighed irritably. "I personally want to change my vote, but it seems that we're out of time and, from an isolated perspective, all three are essentially equal choices. I can only hope that when Cold Fusion reawakens, perhaps he will be able to perform one if his... 'galaxy brain' plays rather than something to send Day 3 into chaos next."

Alexander conjured his dark lance once again. "Good luck. I expect more information from you on the next day. I have a sinking feeling we are running out of time. Until then..."

He pointed at Lance, frowning. This was not a satisfying vote. It was a default vote. One made because they had no other choice. None that he felt were backed by anything solid, nothing certain, but Alexander wondered, was anything certain in this game? Could he afford to wait before making bolder moves? If their role-identifier was in danger, and their first one had already been eliminated... They were already at a disadvantage. How... powerless.

Perhaps he should put more weight on the reads of others the next day, and perhaps try to compile notes of reads himself to add to the patterns.

But there was no time anymore. Not today.

"Let us see what happens."

Firefighter is actually recommended as a "claim right away so people know there's an Arsonist"

[[I hadn't considered this angle. Hm. Good point. I'll have to read up on these roles more thoroughly during this night...]]

 

[Negrek]

The discussion this day is far more heated. Everyone's on edge, agitated. They know full well that they'll have to choose someone to eliminate this day, and it feels like they have no leads at all.

Things boil over when the arctozolt makes a stuttering gambit, periodically interrupted by his own tale. The other players are furious first at his reticence and then at the fact that he gave up too much. But the pressing, the shouting, the exasperation won't get them anywhere. That play seems too elaborate to believe as a Mafia ploy--at least not without further evidence. But who has further evidence? Who has any information at all?

Perhaps the Mafia aren't anyone here at all--no one who's really been arguing, searching, getting full into the game. Maybe they're hanging near the edges of the group, staying quiet, hoping to avoid notice.

One by one people turn towards one quiet soul in particular: Lance the lucario, setting cross-legged in the same spot he was when they all arrived. He hasn't moved or said a word since the beginning of the first night, to all appearances meditating peacefully. Maybe he's simply overwhelmed by the circumstances and unable to cope with anything but extreme denial, ignoring everything until the game simply ends. Or perhaps he's quietly plotting how to kill them all.

The other players begin to mutter to each other. What could he be up to? Why won't he defend himself even when people call his name, shake him by the shoulder. Lance doesn't react as the votes pile up, face set in a mild frown, apparently oblivious. As day tumbles swiftly and inevitably into night, the ground beneath the lucario begins to go liquid, drawing him inexorably below the surface.

Those who haven't seen a jailing before watch closely, fascinated and horrified, as the semiliquid ground closes over Lance's head. He neither moves nor makes a sound. Wes watches with jaw clenched, free hand clutching the arm that bears the Snag Machine.

The new players start to wander off after a few minutes, quiet and avoiding each other's eyes. It's the veterans who are left staring, waiting for the verdict. With the ground show red, the color of the mafia, or green, the color of innocence?

They'll be waiting for quite some time. In the end what the featureless earth displays is nothing, nothing at all.

Lance (Navarchu) has been eliminated. He was neither innocent nor mafia.

Night Two begins now and continues until midnight May 14th UTC/8 PM May 13th EST.

Final Vote:

Navarchu: 5 (Namohysip, unrepentantAuthor, Inkedust, Shiny Phantump, HelloYellow17)
Abstain: 2 (AbraPunk), Seren)
HelloYellow17: 2 (elyvorg, Dragonfree)
Fusion: 1 (windskull)
IFBench: 1 (Namco)
Namco: 1 (IFBench)
Seren: 1 (Equitial)
Shiny Phantump: 1 (DawningWinds)

Not Voting: DeliriousAbsol, Fusion, Navarchu

 

[Negrek]

A quick mid-night announcement from me: unfortunately DeliriousAbsol's had to drop out of the game due to time constraints. SparklingEspeon will be replacing her with... a braixen? Hmm. You can find out more in her sign up.

SparklingEspeon will inherit DeliriousAbsol's role and alignment, and unless something really galaxy-brained happens in the back half of the night, she'll be joining you for discussion tomorrow. Big thanks to her for filling DeliriousAbsol's spot, and I hope you all enjoy playing together!

 

[Negrek]

These murderous goddamn deduction games were confusing enough at any time, with Jesse relying on a a fraction of his normal perceptive power and cursed with periodic unconsciousness during the day and with every other confounding bit of bullshit obfuscating the truth.

This death, though. Now that came as a surprise.

He didn't even have it in him to resist. What would be the point? As if willpower could overturn the result of the night's happenings. Hellfire, all that time spent ruminating on the events of the last two days... He'd never get to voice any of it. What a waste. Caring this much . . . was as painful as it had been his whole life.

Fuck it. Let the living figure it all out, then. Good fucking luck to them.

--​

Somewhere, out in the little makeshift village, a delphox collapsed, motes of light drifting from his fur as it slowly crumbled into nothing, drifting on the air as a fine dust as Jesse's eyes closed for the final time.

His wouldn't be the first body the other players found as the sky abruptly went from dark to bright, though. A shriek sounded, loud and piercing, rousing even the drowsiest sleepers from their rest.

--​

Lusamine glanced around.

No. This can't be it.

I can't forget this yet. I need more time.

Other worlds, other dimensions that can support human life? I can't forget that. I need to know that. I need to know that he could still be alive!

Oh, what was the point. Her assailant was already there. She was no fighter, there was no getting out of it.

"I suppose this is for doubting someone you trusted..."

She sneered. "Get used to the thought of doing that yourself. You're not getting out of here by taking everyone at their word."

She didn't get the chance to say any more than that...

--​

No more than that before a flash of light took her. The few people who'd managed to race to her location shielded their eyes, and when they could see again, she was gone, nothing but a scorch mark on the off-white ground marking where she'd stood. Whatever that was had been swift and brutal, and Miyako found herself staring, transfixed, at the empty air where Lusamine had been.

At least that meant she was spared the other grim discovery of the morning. A shout rang out, and the players rushed to the location, relieved to find Alexander there, whole and unharmed. They were less relieved by what he'd found, a wide-brimmed hat slowly collapsing into dust.

After all the excitement, it took quite a few minutes for anyone to notice that the mismatched artozolt was missing. It wasn't until Braixen--wait, Braixen?

That, of course, warranted explanation, confused questions, even a few accusations. Braixen brushed them all off, insistent that there was something more important to worry about. Where was Arctozolt? Everyone knew they were important, and they hadn't missed morning roll yet.

They searched, of course. Everyone did. As far as they roamed, as closely as they looked, no one could find even the faintest trace of what had become of Arctozolt.

Arctozolt (IFBench) has been eliminated. They were Innocent.

Jesse (unrepentantAuthor) has been eliminated. He was Innocent.

Lusamine (Shiny Phantump) has been eliminated. She was Mafia.

Day Three begins now and continues until midnight May 16th UTC/8 PM May 15th EST.


(( Shiny Phantump and unrepentantAuthor wrote their respective death scenes! ))

 

[HelloYellow17]

No. No. No.

Wes fell to his knees and tried to breathe.

He’d failed. Failed. Failed. He’d had one job—one—and he’d still managed to screw if all up.

He slammed a fist into the ground and hissed through gritted teeth. “Dammit all.”

He had never felt so useless. So worthless.