[ENDGAME] Triskaidekaphobia Mafia

#1321

Back again between the wedding and reception. I was told that I could not say the name I was given for Scotty directly. Lucky for me, I snuck it into one of my posts in a manner of speaking. Looks for my post with the

in it. I had hoped to draw a reaction out of Scotty with it but I understand why he didn't, knowing now that my peek was wrong.

Gotta jet. Reception in 20 minutes!

4.03.N

#1322

Scotty/rabbit8 interaction:

Spoiler: show

The topic of the conversation is rather inconsequential (whether independents are allowed in Heist games). I somewhat appreciate rabbit's line of questioning though.

Spoiler: show

Did Scotty stick his two team mates together in this sentence? This is probably a good moment to read rabbit -- usually this is one and one, not two baddies. He also kind of scapegoated rabbit for the Vomps vote.

Spoiler: show

Answer to the question about the Vomps vote.

Spoiler: show

Scotty was one of his three named suspects on Day 4.

~~~

The content is limited, but I do think the stuff we have here is a nice look for rabbit. *Quin's head explodes*

#1323

I was waiting for my supertowning reputation in this game to crumble once you got to me.

I also town read Elohcin consistently. Call it a WIFOM, but town-reading both my teammates if I was bad in the way I did seems self-destructive.

I'm bad, but not alignment wise. I just suck.

#1324

G-Man wrote:Back again between the wedding and reception. I was told that I could not say the name I was given for Scotty directly. Lucky for me, I snuck it into one of my posts in a manner of speaking. Looks for my post with the in it. I had hoped to draw a reaction out of Scotty with it but I understand why he didn't, knowing now that my peek was wrong.

Gotta jet. Reception in 20 minutes!

Could someone else please find the post G-Man is referring to? I need to finish these analyses.

#1325

I already did the Scotty/S~V~S interaction.

Despite her self-vote antics last night, I still think she is a high-probability team mate of Scotty and Elohcin.

#1326

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:
G-Man wrote:Back again between the wedding and reception. I was told that I could not say the name I was given for Scotty directly. Lucky for me, I snuck it into one of my posts in a manner of speaking. Looks for my post with the in it. I had hoped to draw a reaction out of Scotty with it but I understand why he didn't, knowing now that my peek was wrong.

Gotta jet. Reception in 20 minutes!
Could someone else please find the post G-Man is referring to? I need to finish these analyses.

I'm looking, but I can't find it.

#1327

G-Man wrote:Bummer sig. Rest in peace.

My GTH reads need adjusting now. I must contemplate.

2.01

linki: you show me your peek and I'll show you mine

Here.

#1328

Scotty/Spacedaisy interaction:

Spoiler: show

When Scotty suggested I "invited a self-lynch", he was sort of piggy-backing a point first made by Daisy. I think Scotty was trying to be opportunistic and it was a transparent mistake -- the perceived "opportunity" existed because SD said it first. I generally find that baddies are more likely to piggy back civilians/people not on their team, because it associates them falsely and can garner trust/facilitate pocketing.

Spoiler: show

Similar vague half-scapegoating as he did with rabbit. The same can be said of S~V~S.

Spoiler: show

White knighting for SD when I was willing to lynch her and not Polo. Nice look.

Spoiler: show

This came before Daisy claimed indy herself, which supports the claim.

Spoiler: show

Thoroughly confused by the shenanigans from Wilgy and I.

Spoiler: show

It was Daisy's vote that killed Scotty. She could have gone for G-Man or S~V~S instead. Nice look.

~~~

I'm most inclined to believe Daisy's indy claim, especially with Scotty confirmed as not indy.

#1329

After all that I still think S~V~S is the most suspicious by a pretty wide margin. If anyone disagrees with that, please say so and say why. Time is limited and anyone might be dead shortly.

#1330

Scotty is the Agent of Fortune?

#1331

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:After all that I still think S~V~S is the most suspicious by a pretty wide margin. If anyone disagrees with that, please say so and say why. Time is limited and anyone might be dead shortly.

After this game, we can have a long talk about how you read me and personal bias re game style IF you are a civ this game. And I don't want to hear about how I am a crap civ becasue my standards of civ behavior aren't yours. That post about how I was marching to my own drummer, I meant that.

#1332

I have gone back over Gman's posts because I am trying to ascertain if somehow his check got redirected. I believe he may have received my role name instead. I cannot divulge it, clearly. Earlier I was willing to be lynched because I did not feel I deserved a win, but my concern me is that the numbers may be getting a little grim. I can't stop you from voting for me, but it wouldn't be in the civs best interest because I can win with anyone and it would waste a lynch.

#1333

S~V~S wrote:
JaggedJimmyJay wrote:After all that I still think S~V~S is the most suspicious by a pretty wide margin. If anyone disagrees with that, please say so and say why. Time is limited and anyone might be dead shortly.
After this game, we can have a long talk about how you read me and personal bias re game style IF you are a civ this game. And I don't want to hear about how I am a crap civ becasue my standards of civ behavior aren't yours. That post about how I was marching to my own drummer, I meant that.

There are a bunch of people in this game who play nothing like I play that I do not suspect. I suspect you.

How you play is not the variable of interest. How your interactions look with confirmed mafia is of interest. I could be wrong, it happens at least once in every game. But this stuff you're telling me does not help me to read you.

#1334

My top suspect is indeed S~V~S. The attempt to lynch G-Man looked like a Hail Mary rather than an honest attempt to sort out who is good and who is bad.

#1335

14 posts

#1336

Thanks.

#1337

Day 5: That's Going to Sting

They were done.

No more of this swirling madness of strange therapy, virtual immersions, fearsome experiences, creepy murders, worrisome disappearences and sinister returns, police force incompetence and now voodoo alien magic could they suffer through in one ceaseless adventure. They all mutually agreed to take off, each their own separate ways, and never speak of this ever again. The police Chief himself didn't really object to releasing them, since there were no current leads on the assassins and there was also the issue of how to handle a corpse ravaged by ingested beings inside their bloody old station.

The group was aware that one more scoundrel was probably still lurking among them, but they considered what had happened to Elohcin and Scotty as a sign that they were vigilent enough and that the remaining scum was too reluctant to act on his own anymore. They also deviced an ingenious method for each one of them to leave separately, roughly 15 minutes apart from each other, either on their own or driven with the help of a police car or a taxi, as to make sure no one would be followed.

Therefore, after a couple of hours, only the Host remained in custody, since he still had to respond for the murders that had happened in his building, during his crazy experimenting. Still, Mrs. Julie arrived shortly after to bail him out, at least until further prosecution. They head out back to the Center, intent to shut down the entire VR project and hand over all the research material and profile evidence to the police. Yet their own naiveté in believing that things would be so simple surfaced as soon as they walked inside the building, only to find their offices raided and the few members of the medical staff that were on duty beaten unconscious or tied up and screaming. The rest was as they feared: the VR devices stolen, the forms of all 13 patients ripped from the contact sheets.

They were not done.

***

Jay arrived home some time after midnight, feeling exhausted. He had no strength left to process the events that happened and the interactions established in that group, despite doing so in his head even on the way home, after departing from the whole scene. He dragged himself through the darkness of his condo and crashed in bed right away. The following morning, he didn't like the sound of the apartment buzzer waking him up, along with heavy, incessant thumps in the door, but shortly after regaining his senses a bit, he thought it could be the police or someone from work. For a moment, he even considered that it could be the last attacker. He fearfully approached the door, trying not to make any sound that could be detected from the outside.

But what a surprise, it was only a few close friends. They came to bother him with gifts and loud cheering mood, since it had been his birthday the other day, but they couldn't find him, nor reach him on the cell - he did check later and saw that he indeed had 121 missed calls. One of the gifts was wrapped in a box and, to his great delight, inside was a frisbee. A Brodie Smith Darkhorse Ultra-Star, in fact. It was still early before noon, so his friends invited him to head out and make the party more eventful.

The summery, slightly breezy weather the perfect occasion for Jay and his friends to head out to the park and spread out for a game of Ultimate Frisbee. Intense, fast-paced, strategic and uniquely anarchic, for Jay it was like nothing else. And if there's something that trumps almost any other activity for Jay, besides ping-pong, it was playing Ultimate Frisbee. They set out in two teams and were ten gripping minutes in, when Jay, flanked by two opponents, executed a twist dribbling to evade past them, but then, as he was set to make a pass, he slightly lost his balance and sent the frisbee flying high into the trees nearby.

'My bad', Jay waved at the others and proceeded to go retrieve the disc. He got blinded by the sun a bit, as he tripped whilst throwing, so he didn't quite make where the frisbee had landed. After searching for a few minutes inside the tree area, he spotted the black object close to a big, lush tree it probably ricocheted off. The frisbee had also landed past a ditch, which was too stretched out to go around and slightly too big to jump past it as well, but Jay figured he could have easily take a step forward to lean, putting his foot over the branches, leaves, moss and plastic bottles covering that side of th-

'Oh my heck!' he got spooked by the sight of the wasps' nest inside the ditch. 'Jeeeesus jimminy jumping jimsock jujus! I almost stepped in it. The frisbee must have knocked the nest from the tree and it rolled down here. Phew, good thing I spotted it. That would have been the absolute worst.'

He didn't spot in time, however, the cloaked figure that showed up from behind another tree and gunned him down with fléchettes.

JaggedJimmyJay, a cnidophobe*, has been killed.
He was Patient 5, vanilla civilian.
It is now Day 5. You have 48 hours to lynch someone.
A role has been revealed.

*approx.: fear of flying insect stings

#1338

#1339

I don't approve.

Now I have to do all the damn work.

#1340

I voted S~V~S for now.

#1341

Patient 6 | Paranoid cop (stylised, odds). Every Night, can check a player to determine his alignment, but there is a 10% chance he will get a distorted read (a random role from a different faction) compared to the actual alignment. Odds will worsen (increase) with each civilian death during the game, maxing at 60%, yet improve (decrease) for every mafia death. Receives one free ID on another civilian at the end of D0, but it too will fall within the 10% chance of being a distorted read. The cop will not be self-aware of his sanity during the game - receives a role card that informs him of traditional cop duties, but with a slight questioning of this fact.

Here, G-Man.

Well, at least I was right about something.

#1342

That clears spacedaisy.

#1343

Quin wrote:Patient 6 | Paranoid cop (stylised, odds). Every Night, can check a player to determine his alignment, but there is a 10% chance he will get a distorted read (a random role from a different faction) compared to the actual alignment. Odds will worsen (increase) with each civilian death during the game, maxing at 60%, yet improve (decrease) for every mafia death. Receives one free ID on another civilian at the end of D0, but it too will fall within the 10% chance of being a distorted read. The cop will not be self-aware of his sanity during the game - receives a role card that informs him of traditional cop duties, but with a slight questioning of this fact.

Here, G-Man.

Well, at least I was right about something.

This reads to me as though when the cop gets a distorted peek, he gets a peek of an existing role in the game, not a made up one. With that, I think I can believe SD's indy claim now.

#1344

There's a 70% chance that your read was accurate last night, G-Man. Assuming that each death improves or worsens in increments of 10%

#1345

Bring this game to an end. Kill da wabbit.

5.01

#1346

AWWWWW YEAHHHHHHHHHH

#1347

If this is true my ability to read svs is still somewhat good. This makes me happy.

Maybe we shoulda lynched rabbit when he said he was bad... He did kinda give up earlier.

#1348

I've moved my vote.

#1349

Voting rabbit for obvious reasons.

#1350

Before we assume this game is over, I have a question for the host- does my (the cop's) insanity get worse with each civvie lynch or each civvie death (lynch and NK)?

I totally posted my peek without reading what Quin posted about my real role card.

5.02

#1351

You got two mafia deaths. Relax.

#1352

G-Man wrote:Before we assume this game is over, I have a question for the host- does my (the cop's) insanity get worse with each civvie lynch or each civvie death (lynch and NK)?

I totally posted my peek without reading what Quin posted about my real role card.

5.02

Death, of any kind.

#1353

Ricochet wrote:
G-Man wrote:Before we assume this game is over, I have a question for the host- does my (the cop's) insanity get worse with each civvie lynch or each civvie death (lynch and NK)?

I totally posted my peek without reading what Quin posted about my real role card.

5.02
Death, of any kind.

Bugger that!

If I start with 10% insanity, then I'm not as reliable as we might hope for.
Day 0 - start at 10% insane
Day 1- civ lynch, up to 20% insane
Night 1- civ NK, up to 30% insane
Day 2- civ lynch, up to 40% insane
Night 2- civ NK, up to 50% insane
Day 3- mafia lynch, down to 40% insane
Night 3- no death, remain at 40% insane
Day 4- mafia lynch, down to 30% insane
Night 4- civ NK, up to 40% insane

If my peek was wrong last night, I'm about to become a coinflip.

5.03

#1354

G-Man wrote:
Ricochet wrote:
G-Man wrote:Before we assume this game is over, I have a question for the host- does my (the cop's) insanity get worse with each civvie lynch or each civvie death (lynch and NK)?

I totally posted my peek without reading what Quin posted about my real role card.

5.02
Death, of any kind.
Bugger that!

If I start with 10% insanity, then I'm not as reliable as we might hope for.
Day 0 - start at 10% insane
Day 1- civ lynch, up to 20% insane
Night 1- civ NK, up to 30% insane
Day 2- civ lynch, up to 40% insane
Night 2- civ NK, up to 50% insane
Day 3- mafia lynch, down to 40% insane
Night 3- no death, remain at 40% insane
Day 4- mafia lynch, down to 30% insane
Night 4- civ NK, up to 40% insane

If my peek was wrong last night, I'm about to become a coinflip.

5.03

I didn't count 3J in my original count because he died at the same time as you checked rabbit, so I wasn't sure if it'd count.

But there are many reasons outside of your peek which scream that rabbit's bad. You should trust your peek.

#1355

Bashing bunny boy's brains in for a mislynch leaves us at 5 v 1 heading into the night. Hopefully the game ends with rabbit. If not, let's use the next 24 hours to think some things out.

If rabbit is civ, then the six remaing players will be:
DrWilgy
Epignosis
G-Man
Quin
Spacedaisy
S~V~S

The working theory is that Wilgy is the civ jailer, I am the paranoid civ cop, and Spacedaisy is the indy role. That would leave the last baddie among Epi, Quin, and SVS.

Wilgy, who all have you jailed this game? The way I see it, we'd each have to pick a player to target among Epi, Quin, and SVS. It's a situation open to manipulation but we've got two lynches left if rabbit flips civ- a 4 v 1 and a 2 v 1.

Again, hopefully rabbit is the baddie or we've got a crafty baddie on our hands.

Linki: I hope so, Quin. If it's rabbit, then I managed to check all three baddies in five tries. Pretty lucky, especially since Scotty's peek was erroneous.

5.04

#1356

G-Man wrote:Bashing bunny boy's brains in for a mislynch leaves us at 5 v 1 heading into the night. Hopefully the game ends with rabbit. If not, let's use the next 24 hours to think some things out.

If rabbit is civ, then the six remaing players will be:
DrWilgy
Epignosis
G-Man
Quin
Spacedaisy
S~V~S

The working theory is that Wilgy is the civ jailer, I am the paranoid civ cop, and Spacedaisy is the indy role. That would leave the last baddie among Epi, Quin, and SVS.

Wilgy, who all have you jailed this game? The way I see it, we'd each have to pick a player to target among Epi, Quin, and SVS. It's a situation open to manipulation but we've got two lynches left if rabbit flips civ- a 4 v 1 and a 2 v 1.

Again, hopefully rabbit is the baddie or we've got a crafty baddie on our hands.

Linki: I hope so, Quin. If it's rabbit, then I managed to check all three baddies in five tries. Pretty lucky, especially since Scotty's peek was erroneous.

5.04

I agree that I can trust both you and Wilgy. I'll throw SD in because I see no reason to believe she's anything but docile. Her being indy fits my case I made against both her and rabbit early on in that they voted to lynch for the sake of lynching.

I'd say I trust SVS the least out of her and Epi. I'll probably ISO them both later on to get a better feel of how I feel about them. I don't think it'll be necessary though. I'll eat my left foot if rabbit isn't bad.

#1357

Inh, me, you, me.

#1358

I'm a good boy.

#1359

I'm not bad though....

#1360

rabbit8 wrote:I'm not bad though....

Who is bad then?

#1361

I can see the back of my last Host Post.

#1362

Couple more minutes... Y'all seem confident it'll end, hmm...

#1363

#1364

Thing is, so do I...

#1365

Tatarforas

First thing next morning, after clearing out the mess they'd found at the Center, shutting down the facility and giving statements to the police - the Chief himself looking terribly unhappy to have to return to this wicked place - the Host and Mrs. Julie drove off to try to warn the surviving members of the group that the thread of the Fear organization was still looming and that they were not safe, that nobody was safe. Mrs. Julie was inspired enough to have typed in everyone's contact sheets details in the database, while the ensemble was still during its orientation phase back then, but it didn't matter all that much, since the first person they planned to check on was the one that Mafia didn't bother with anyway, considering that he had apparently shared a life with the enemy during all these years.

They reached the place and knocked on the door of Epignosis' house, only to stand there waiting for the next couple of minutes. Everything on the street was so quiet and they couldn't detect any signs of movement from inside the house either, which naturally made them worried. But then, to their surprise, it was Quin who swiftly opened the door and waved at them to hurry inside. He led them to the basement, where most of the people from the group were gathered.

'We're forming a good ol' lynch mob and putting an end to this', Quin explained right away.
'Jay is dead', Epignosis said, switching the channel to the breaking news story of the ongoing investigation in the city park.
'Oh my goodness', Mrs. Julie exclaimed as they showed blurred footage of Jay's dispatched body.
'The last of them surely did this', SVS pointed out.
'How do you know who it is?' the Host asked.
'Bruno Gadget, inspector, at your service', G-Man revealed. 'I was the one who gave the cops the intel on Elohcin yesterday. And this morning I received more information on who the third culprit is.'
'Bruno G...’ the Host uttered, almost to himself.
'Yeah, don't think about it too much', Wilgy said.
'By my understanding, the sources aren't 100%, but I think it's enough to go with and we should go take him down', G-Man carried on and everyone else nodded.
'Him?' the Host inquired further, at which point G-Man took a photo from the table and showed him the profile of the alleged third mafioso. 'I see...’ the Host thought to himself, 'the silent one.'
'I still don't understand why you couldn't come out sooner with these informations', SVS said a bit reprovingly. 'So many deaths happened in the meantime.'
'Believe me', G-Man proceeded to excuse himself, 'I hinted as best as I could, then I went straight to the police, when they arrived yesterday. As for why I couldn't profile this guy sooner, I had no signal in the cell last evening. I came to you all as soon as I received confirmation this morning.'
'It's true', Wilgy stepped in. 'I shared the cell with him and he was constantly agitated, complaining about the lack of signal.'

They seemed to be ready with the final details, overall. They preferred to confront the baddie in broad daylight, right away, rather than risk him attempting any more attacks, plotting something during the night or getting backup. Or worse, vanishing away without paying for what he had done. They weren't planning on getting violent, but just in case, G-Man was equipped on duty and Quin brought a family shotgun he licensed himself to use, so to speak. This surprised everyone a bit, since he didn't seem the type. But he told them he didn't feel good about the guy from the moment he stepped into the lobby room of the VR center and right now, all he had in mind was to settle things. Anyway, the Host wanted to address one more issue:

'Still, are you so confident it's him? What makes you trust each other? Do you have alibis for the past 12 hours?'
'Bugger that, I already told you I'm the inspector', G-Man reasserted.
'And I've already told you I've been with him', Wilgy reminded, then emphatically added, 'My name is Dr. Wilgy and I am most definitely a jailer! Plus, I followed Epignosis after we left and slept in his backyard, I really hate being alone.'
'Are you kidding me?’ Quin also replied, 'Do I look like a sly, determined murdered to any of you? I can't even go shopping or partying at Christmas, because people dressed up as Santa give me the creeps.'
'I got drunk', Epignosis added.
'And... What of Mrs. Daisy?' Mrs. Julie asked, realizing she wasn't present.
'No word on her', Quin replied.
'We should get going', Epignosis rolled up a map and turned the TV off.
'Anything to get out of this basement', SVS sighed.
'Yeah, what's up with that?' Wilgy noticed.

They were strategically splitting in two cars; the Host and Mrs. Julie would trail behind. The group found it curious that they came with a company van and thought it could look a bit suspicious, but when asked what it was for, the Host just replied, 'Equipment'. They set off for what would be a 45-minute drive towards the suburbs, according to G-Man's information. Epignosis, Quin and SVS were in the car ahead, G-Man and Wilgy sticking together in the former's vehicle. Things went smoothly until Epignosis turned right on the boulevard and, after a short time, realized he couldn't spot the second car, nor the van anymore. Before they could wonder if something had happened, the Host called to tell them they had stopped simply because G-Man was paranoid he had hit something with his car, when in fact it had been just a bump in the road.

They reached their destination and scattered both ways on a plain, quiet street with traditional homes, though the house they were planning on raiding looked a bit more decrepit, oozing a bad vibe. The Host and Mrs. Julie witnessed them approach the residence from different sides, as if executing a plan they'd concocted in great detail. But there was no response and no activity, so they reconvened to the cars and texted each other to keep watch. It proved an excruciating wait, during almost the entire rest of the day. But just as the sun was setting and they were about to give up and start doubting themselves or, truth be told, G-Man's claim, a hooded figured creeped in a rush, walking in fact right behind the Host's van and skittered inside the house. His hood had a dark colored animal skull drawn on its back.

The group executed the tactic once more, Quin's trio appearing to just stroll down the street, but with intent to sneak around the house, whilst G-Man and Wilgy went straight to the main door. They found it half-open this time, which prompted G-Man to reflexively take his gun out. The two teams synced somehow in penetrating the premise and running into one another in the lobby room, with no sign of anyone else. Then eerie, droney music started sounding from the room across. They warily pushed the sliding door and pointed their weapons at the rocking armchair at the other end of the room, behind which they could sense the man grumbling some incognizant sounds.

'Hands up, Rabbit', Quin immediately said.
'...lonely...'
'What's he saying?' SVS wondered.
'Lonely. Lonely.', the gurgling intensified.
'Hands up, I said', Quin repeated, 'We got you, you son of a bitch.'
'I'm lonely,' the voice kept on rambling.
'This is creeping me out', SVS took a step back.
'Where are... my teammates?' the sepulchral voice suddenly shrieked.

Everyone was startled and lost their resolve a bit, lowering their weapons and thinking they walked into something beyond their understanding. The figure stopped rocking in the chair.

'Your leader was arrested and your buddy Scot burst up in pieces', Epignosis said, keeping his coolness. The voice chortled gravely upon hearing this.
'Ah yes... I remember now...'
'Buddy, listen, just surrender and we won't hurt you. You're all alone now, there's nothing you can do anymore', G-Man pointed out.
'Alone...? Heh heh heh heh
'This is not good', SVS said.
'Heh heh heh heh'
'He's not listening, what should we do?' Quin pondered.
'How amusing of you to think I'm just a powerless pawn. You've caught the others, you say? Nothing more I can do, you say?'
The others stopped talking, their composure withering.
'But I am...FEAR ITSELF'

And as he leaped from his chair and turned to the others, his hood flew off revealing a ghastly slim body with rabbit ears growing in nightmarish size, a stream of blood pouring from each of his rolled up eyeballs and the white jacket he was wearing underneath running down the middle like a line of stitches.

'What the foark?!' Wilgy yelled.
'YOU FEEL THIS VICTORY EMPOWERS YOU', Rabbit went on in his demonic voice. G-Man tried to lift his gun back up and shoot, but he suddenly felt him arms paralyzed. Quin managed as far as to point the shotgun at him, but then he too couldn't move his twitching index any further.
'What's going on? Shoot him!' Epignosis shouted.
'YOU FEEL YOU HAVE FOUND REASON TO OVERCOME ANYTHING NOW.'
'I... can't... move', Quin gasped.
'BUT REAL FEARS DON'T HAVE A REASON. YOUR FEARS ARE IN YOUR DEEPEST INSTINCTS.'
'Aaargh', SVS was giving in.
'ONE LOOK AT ME AND FEAR WILL PENETRATE YOU.'
'Look away!' Epignosis said, shutting his eyes.
'USELESS!! LIKE PAST FEARS SUDDENLY APPEARING IN THE DARK OF THE NIGHT, FEAR YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED ONCE WILL BECOME STRONGER WHEN YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES AND ECHO IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND.''

They were each slowly succumbing to projections or hallucinations and screaming their lungs out. SVS felt her body slipping slowly through the floor as if it were quicksand and she would descend all the way down to the depths of the earth, while still breathing. Quin felt reindeer horns protruding through his skin. Epignosis felt he was in a room squashed between countless people wearing rabbit masks and moshing, with their eyes glowing red. They were hollering and quavering, when, all of a sudden, a blast ripped through the vision of the fearsome demon rabbit before them, putting a stop to their envisioned phantasmagoria and sending the real sized human crashing into the bookcase. The Host and Mrs. Julie were standing behind them, holding up cannon-like artefacts.

'Quick', the Host said, 'each of you grab one of these.'
'What are they?' Quin asked.
'Fearblasters.'
'Fearblwhat?!' Wilgy squawked.
'It's one of our prototypes, meant to distort and rip through the representation of your fear whilst inside a projection. We just didn't have time to implemen-'
'Ok, enough of that, let's just do this', Epignosis cut him off and grabbed one of the guns.
'Use these', the Host continued, 'but more importantly... think of how strong you've become... think of your determination.'
'No... no...' Rabbit seemed to regain his senses in the meantime. They strapped on the fearblasters and faced him. The hallucination effect seemed to have reached its limit.
'NO,' Rabbit howled one more time, lunging at them before the cumulated blasts sent him flying through the wall.

They found him lying on the grass in the back garden, his torso blown up - Quin, it seemed, had forgotten to switch his shotgun -, gazing stunned at the starry sky.

'Heh, it's getting dark, huh', he babbled with a fainting voice, in between coughing blood, 'I always hated going outside after dark, at night. I fear looking at the sky... the stars, the planets... the outerworldliness of it all... it feels so crushing to be on this earth, surrounded in this globe by everything else out there...by sheer, void depth...'

His only wish was for them not to break off his rabbit ears - which they kinda respected, burying him only up to his forehead.

rabbit8, an astrophobe*, has been lynched.
He was Patient 9, Vanilla mafia.

*ad lib: fear of the stars, outer space

#1366

I Fear the End Is Near, My Dear

'Boy, it sure feels good that it's all over', G-Man said, on their way back to the cars.
'Who you gonna call? Fear-busters!' DrWilgy sang, 'Huh. Has a nice ring to it.'
'You know what, I do feel better about myself after this', Quin remarked.
'I'm just happy this nightmare is over. Not that I asked for this nightmare in the first place, when I signed up for the therapy session, so my lawyer will be getting in touch', SVS sanctioned the Host.
'I feel nothing. I'm going home. Too much of a crowd here', Epignosis said.

The Host and Mrs. Julie simply exchanged looks, as always, thinking it was good enough of a resolution, given the circumstances.

If there was anything left to say, it was that none of them had sensed the presence of a second figure, a genuinely ghastly one, but nor were they bothered by it during this denouement. Spacedaisy had followed them, but simply decided to renounce her, shall we say, corporeal version. She was feeling very bored and apathetic, strolling through the human world with her constant duties and observing the people in general, when she noticed the advert for the Virtual Reality Medical Center therapy and thought to herself that it would be interesting to see what kind of strange fears people can be affected by; the concept of fear, rational or otherwise, was completely foreign to her, since she had nothing to fear of, not even death. She even gambled, out of amusement, to strip herself of her visionary powers, join the group appearing as a regular human and try to guess which of them would suffer the most from the experience and in what ways. In her medical form she wrote that she feared God, but she did so only in jest. Then, during that whole bizarre experience, she was mildly amused by the humans' ways of acting so scared or paranoid or murderous, but was surprised the victims didn't turn out quite the ones she predicted. Not that it mattered too much, but it made her powers feel... rusty. Reapers can have their own prestige to worry about, after all.

This day, she followed the surviving group in their seek for revenge and closure and it also proved interesting and visceral to witness. She was surprised of Rabbit's dark spiritual powers, as had not felt any trace of them back when he was mingling with the group, though she didn't find it too startling. Shit can happen. But now, with things finally settled, she took no further interest in these humans, simply spread her wings and flew back to the Shinigami Realm, overcome with boredom once more. Or at least a bit annoyed that her guessing skills were that off. If only a few of them, at least three, damnit.... She was greeted by the King as soon as she arrived.

'No luck this time, I see, eyyy?' the King addressed her in his slow, dead still voice.
'Not this time, I suppose,' she shrugged, perching on a cliff.
'Maybe next time', the King humored her. 'Tides can always turn one way or another. Isn't that so...' he stared deeper at her, '...Kami?'
'Mneh... care for some apples? They're so... juicyyy...'

Triskaidekaphobia Mafia has concluded! The civilian patients have won!
Congratulations to
DrWilgy, Epignosis, G-Man, insertnamehere, JaggedJimmyJay, Polo, Quin, S~V~S and Vompatti.
Thanks for playing!
Many thanks to juliets for modding and to TH and MP for the tech support.

#1367

Setup walkthrough

Role PM & Game phase

Every player in this game would receive an extra individual win condition. Even among Mafia ranks, this win condition would be strictly personal. Every player, except the independent, were meant to craft their own win condition i.e. decide on a gameplay event, meant to affect them, that they'd fear the most. The independent received a win con crafted by the Host, but was also meant to make his own projections. Each player's fate was his own doing.

All 14 players were also asked (but not required) to write up a personal phobia story, which would have been incorporated in the Host Posts.

Civilian Roles

Patient 1. Vanilla civilian.
Patient 2. Vanilla civilian.
Patient 3. Vanilla civilian.
Patient 5. Vanilla civilian.
Patient 6. Paranoid cop (stylised, odds). Every Night, can check a player to determine his alignment, but there is a 10% chance he will get a distorted read (a random role from a different faction) compared to the actual alignment. Odds will worsen (increase) with each civilian death during the game, maxing at 60%, yet improve (decrease) for every mafia death. Receives one free ID on another civilian at the end of D0, but it too will fall within the 10% chance of being a distorted read. The cop will not be self-aware of his sanity during the game - receives a role card that informs him of traditional cop duties, but with a slight questioning of this fact.
Patient 7. Paranoid doctor. Every Night, can choose to protect a player from being nightkilled, but his target will also be roleblocked. The doc will not be self-aware of his sanity - receives a role card that informs him of traditional doc duties, but with a slight questioning of the fact.
Patient 8. Vanilla civilian.
Patient 10. Vanilla civilian.
Patient 11. Vanilla civilian.
Patient 12. Vanilla civilian.

Mafia Roles

Patient 4. Vanilla mafia.
Patient 9. Vanilla mafia.
Patient 13. Paranoid mafia leader. Receives a role card that informs him of his sanity and that one of his teammates may be plotting against him. Can secretly override the team's decision for a nightkill (by sending his own choice via PM to the Host) and can target any player whatsoever, but is restricted to one successful kill per faction. [Unbeknownst to him, his paranoia is unfounded and there is no adversity within the mafia ranks. His kill move will still go through, however, if he chooses to send it.]

Independent

The Reaper. Win grabber. Must submit via PM, at the start of the game (until the end of Day 0), the names of three players it predicts will be lynched, three players that will be nightkilled and three players that will end up winless (will not be told what this implies). Cannot include itself in any of these guesses. If any three of these predictions happen, achieves win and exits the game. Must also survive the game until win condition is fulfilled.

Roles distribution

All 14 roles were randomly distributed, as seen in this link.

Role	Player	Phobia	Power role	Game fear	Status
Patient 1	Vompatti	Odontopiptophobe (fear of teeth falling)	Vanilla civilian	Being nightkilled on Night 2	Died before it could happen.
Patient 2	sig	Asthenophobe (approx*: fear of chronic weakness)	Vanilla civilian	Being nightkilled on Night 1	Succumbed.
Patient 3	insertnamehere	Mafiaphobe (ad lib**: fear of mafia)	Vanilla civilian	Being voted by JJJ on Day 1	Did not happen.
Patient 5	JaggedJimmyJay	Cnidophobe (approx: fear of flying insect stings)	Vanilla civilian	Being lynched on Day 1	Did not happen.
Patient 6	G-Man	Vehochtypóphobe (ad lib**: fear of hitting someone with the car)	Paranoid cop (stylised, odds)	Being voted by Epignosis or Polo on Day 2	Did not happen.
Patient 7	DrWilgy	Isolophobe (fear of loneliness)	Paranoid doctor	Receiving final votes from any player 3 distinct times by Day 4	Voted only one time, never fulfilled.
Patient 8	S~V~S	Taphophobe (fear of being buried alive)	Vanilla civilian	Leading a mislynch on Day 1 (being followed by a majority of the mislynch voters)	Did not happen.
Patient 10	Epignosis	Enochlophobe (fear of crowds)	Vanilla civilian	Being nightkilled on Night 1	Did not happen.
Patient 11	Polo	Nycteggizophobe (ad lib**: fear of something approaching in the dark)	Vanilla civilian	Being lynched on Day 2	Did not happen.
Patient 12	Quin	Clausophobe (fear of Santa Claus)	Vanilla civilian	Being nightkilled on Night 1	Did not happen.

Role	Player	Phobia	Power role	Game fear	Status
Patient 4	Scotty	Automatonocibophobe (ad lib**: fear of food turning sentient inside his stomatch)	Vanilla mafia	Being nightkilled!	Did not happen.
Patient 9	rabbit8	Astrophobe (ad lib**: fear of the stars, outer space)	Vanilla mafia	[designated]Being checked as mafia on Night 3	Did not happen.
Patient 13	Elohcin	Unknown	Paranoid mafia leader	Being lynched on Day 2	Did not happen.

Role	Player	Phobia	Power role	Game fear	Status
The Reaper	Spacedaisy	Fears nothing	Independent	-	-

*approximate term for how the player described his fear
**fully or partially made up term for the player's chosen fear

#1368

Host Diary, Quirks, References

Bottom line

-- Power roles decided the outcome.
-- Cop's choices were on point and was lucky only to have one of it altered; G-Man chose a blunt, balls-to-the-walls tactic and trusted his reads even after it was revealed they could be corrupted, but luckily it all turned out well
-- Doc's banter was on point, but he also made the right moves when it mattered (protecting the outed Cop); probably became aware of his sanity, as soon as he failed to protect himself on Night 2
-- Mafia had a strong tide at first - some civs guessing the baddies, but failing to capitalise several times - but then got busy, did not march on manipulating the civs to chew each other up and they did not properly hunt for the power roles at all - the most bewildering thing was that G-Man outed himself to a mafioso, by trying to persuade rabbit to move his vote off confirmed civ INH, on Day 2; afterwards in BTSC, rabbit was, like, "hey let's kill a low poster"

Their choice to go ahead with targeting G-Man on Night 3 gave the civilians complete advantage
-- Spacedaisy would have won if G-Man would have died on Night 3

/	G-Man	DrWilgy	Mafia	Spacedaisy
Day 0	INH (genuine) [10%]	-	-	lynched: Wilgy - Sig - Elohcin killed: JJJ - G-Man - Rabbit winless: Vompatti - Quin - Serge/SVS
Night 1	Scotty (distorted-> Reaper) [20%]	INH	Sig	lynched: Wilgy - Sig - Elohcin killed: JJJ - G-Man - Rabbit winless: Vompatti - Quin - Serge/SVS
Night 2	Elohcin (genuine) [40%]	DrWilgy (autofailed)	Polo	lynched: Wilgy - Sig - Elohcin killed: JJJ - G-Man - Rabbit winless: Vompatti - Quin - Serge/SVS
Night 3	SVS (blocked) [40%]	G-Man	G-Man (failed)	lynched: Wilgy - Sig - Elohcin killed: JJJ - G-Man - Rabbit winless: Vompatti - Quin - Serge/SVS
Night 4	rabbit8 (genuine) [30%]	Spacedaisy	JJJ	lynched: Wilgy - Sig - Elohcin killed: JJJ - G-Man - Rabbit winless: Vompatti - Quin - Serge/SVS

#1369

Host Diary, Quirks, References (cont.)

Diary

(placing them under spoilers just to save up space)

Day 0

Spoiler: show

Day 1

Spoiler: show

healthy activity, but civs were not hitting the spot overall and there was also an unprecedented (for The Syndicate standards) "no lynch" wave, three quarters of the phase, not to mention a clumsy game of claims
-- rabbit was the "dart-throwiest" of the mafiosos, with surprising good results: mildly painted SVS as having empty pings (which managed to even lure JJJ in); got read genuine in his efforts by some big hunters (JJJ, G-Man, sig); Scotty got exposed the most to some wag-of-finger, especially with fixating on low posters
-- Elohcin made the riskiest moves on the radar: pushing for sig as suspect after JJJ's fakepeek and trying to test the validity of JJJ's peek a bit too closely
-- JJJ intuitively started the fakepeek cover-up, but then for a while nobody played along; G-Man (the real cop) even contested the legality of the move, but only due to rules phrasing; finally Wilgy tags along; both JJJ's and Wilgy's fakepeeks were civ-on-civ
-- not to mention that Wilgy docclaimed fairly early and open - not even sure how well hidden within banter
-- unbeneficial "no lynch" wave (with INH particularly uncooperative), from which two baddies (Elohcin and Scotty) also tried to push for a mislynch (Vompatti)
-- unbeneficial civ-on-civ antagonisms: INH vs JJJ, Epignosis pooping on JJJ's or INH's efforts (granted, also profiled Scotty correctly), Polo being chastised for low activity
-- to the admiration of the Host, some of the players opened up to the possibility of an indie, despite the actual indie not being close to what they had in mind
-- BOOM, suddenly G-Man had two out of three baddies called out
-- unfortunately, both major players to name Scotty bad (Epignosis, G-Man) moved on civilian alternatives instead
-- Vompatti lynched after EoD pileup; SVS second wagon (with Wilgy making late switch on her); all three baddies on mislynch, first three final votes
-- as far as "greatest fears" go, D1 challenged four out of 13 players, but none of them were affected:
Wilgy was in no danger
S~V~S wasn't really as engaged and hunt-leading as she envisioned herself
meanwhile, INH was seriously playing with fire, poking at JJJ
JJJ himself got some heat to maybe elicit some worries about getting lynched
-- with Vompatti dying during this phase without his greatest fear coming true and SVS overcoming her fear, two of Spacedaisy's (The Reaper) choices for winless players became invalid

Night 1

Spoiler: show

Day 2

Spoiler: show

Night 2

Spoiler: show

Day 3

Spoiler: show

Night 3

Spoiler: show

Day 4

Spoiler: show

Night 4

Spoiler: show

Day 5

Spoiler: show

Quirks

The common taboo/unlucky numbers 4 (China), 9 (Japan) and 13 (Western countries) were always excluded from counts and helped design the mafia team. The gameplay and rules lists skipped these numbersand the cycle of Day/Night 4 was jumped (without any gameplay effects). This was also meant as subtle hinting at which patients were mafia, although I immediately had to restrict some infodumping liberties, because civs picking up on this and testing the patient # claim w/could have broken the game for the mafia and the indy.

And now's the time for you to hate me, because Guideline 10, asking players to never end a phase with 4, 9 or 13 (or multiples) posts, was the element of anxiety or "fearing something for no reason" - after all, I didn't put it in the rules section, did I?

The civilian power roles also received thematic numbers, based on the popular joke "why is Six afraid of Seven" - and because symmetry. Technically, the Doctor (Patient 7) could have blocked (alongside protecting) the Cop (Patient 6) and hence undermine one of his efforts. Ironically, Wilgy DID undermine G-Man's efforts on Night 3.

The idea of an indy developed simply after I've written the "Who Fears the Reaper" pun in the signup poll.

References

Spoiler: show

Day 0 Host Post and Poll
-- the title is a reference to an animated short by Don Hertzfeldt, about a man whose anxieties and social issues make everything, in fact, totally not OK. Plus, I'm clearly obsessed with my meta, but this title also made a connection to my final story from E.S.T. Mafia, which also used a lot of references from Hertzfeldt's animations.
-- juliets, as the MoD, was introduced in the flavor as Mrs. Julie, the Host's sidekick (same thing happened in E.S.T. with MP / Socky)
-- the common exclusion of floor 13 in buildings, due to triskaidekaphobia issues, was referenced
-- the taboo numbers 4, 9, 13 were referenced as the only floors at which the elevator had stopped
-- floor 12 and 1/2 is a reference to floor 7 and 1/2 from the Charlie Kaufman scripted Being John Malkovich. Kaufman's own recent movies (Synechdoche, Anomalisa) also happen to reference a lot of mental disorders or themes of anxiety
-- "Halloway" is my prefered English nick (full)name. I also checked and there is a phobia counsellor called "James Holloway", but I don't like Holloway as much.
-- the "Virtual Reality Medical Center" is both tongue-in-cheek for this forum gaming experience and an actual business
-- "Dunder Miffling, this is P[am]" is a popular catchphrase from The Office. The line was written as a confusing moment, meant to foreshadow the Night 1 "Mulholland ruse"
-- the poll was off-topic, irrelevant and created in jest, also referencing The Office; I had also trolled The Office Mafia with this off-topic question
-- the song Afraid of Everyone by The National references the Host's anthropophobia in the story and its title was also used as the "No" option in the sign-up poll
Day 1
-- the story references several events and posts written by players during Day 0 or merely catchphrases: Serge ("the sergeant") leaving and SVS arriving; Quin being worried enough to be counting his posts (screwing up, too); Wilgy's catchphrase (also a subtle irony at him being, in fact, the town doctor); Vompatti's posts devoid of real content; Jay's initiative to generate discussion and "lynch priorities" convo with Spacedaisy; Sig noticing the missing #4 guideline and rule
-- The Office references continued, to generate outside meta for the "Mulholland ruse"; the scene in which the players end up debating Hilary Swank's hotness is a reference to the pointless Day 0 poll and a recreation of an actual scene in the show (with Polo being Oscar)
-- Twin Peaks references (the "Lynch" in the title; The Red Room; a quote about fear belonging to D. Cooper) also started being introduced, for the same meta purpose meant to foreshadow the "Mulholland ruse"; INH, the originator of the "Mulholland" concept, was written to always pick up on these references
-- "Redrum" is a catchphrase from Kubrick's The Shining
-- 13 is referenced in how many floors the group descends towards the Red Room and also in page 39 (13x3) from the brochure (which in fact does not exist - triskaidekaphobia)
-- Panda Bear's Take Pills was the only song I could think of, in reference to the medication issues the Host had in the story
Night 1
-- the story adapted moments from the player's activity: the game of claims, INH suspecting JJJ, etc.
-- "Mulholland ruse" elements: INH talking in Spanish; the "Did I Stutter" moment from The Office
-- the Vompatti projection was a reference to a scene from Being John Malkovich
-- Frank Zappa's Baby, Take Your Teeth Out references Vompatti's phobia (and usual, real-life banter talk about teeth)
Silencio
-- basically a complete derail of the story, to complete the "Mulholland ruse"
-- the four blurry pictures of hallways, leading up to the "Red Room", and the Finnish conversation with Vompatti were intentional [the lines in Finnish were entirely nonsensical and unrelated to the game or each other]; the pictures were also referenced in the Host Post;
-- elements added in the mix: triskaidekaphobia (the thirteenth button); taboo number 9 & circles of hell from Dante's Inferno (how many "levels" the group descended); the bartender ghost's line from The Shining; SVS's taphophobia and Polo's nyctophobia
Day 2
-- references towards the seven who voted to mislynch Vompatti, the post-mislynch animosity between some players, G-Man using my Day 1 Post to argue how many baddies there are, JJJ's love for ping-pong
Night 2
-- story incorporates the confrontation between JJJ and Epignosis (and a few others), G-Man trying to hint at being the one with real info
-- Jay's line "Oh Dr. Halloway, they gon kill me" is actually a paraphrase of a PM Jay sent me midway through the phase
-- references added: Matrix (the logic of dying in VR terminating your real life as well), Epignosis saying "you're the killer, bob" => Killer BOB and the paraphrase "no hay mafia" from Twin Peaks
-- both JJJ and INH had stories ready; I improvised a fake phobia for INH, since he never sent me his own text; story breaks out the meta window, by having INH leave the Center killdome, but get killed by actual mobsters
-- Talking Heads' Fear of Music was used to paraphrase "Fear of Mafia" for INH's fake phobia, plus to reference INH's early wish (during sign-ups) for this to be his role. "Fear of Mafia" was also used by MP in his THM game.
Day 3
-- story incorporates Polo's chosen phobia, including excerpts from the actual text he sent me
-- references added or repeated: talk about Hilary Swank's "koinophilia" from The Office, the catchphrase about coffee from Twin Peaks, triskaidekaphobia (the thing about B turning into 13 - or in fact the inversion of that, because Schönberg [see below]), G-Man's lines beginning with B, a few phrases already used in Silencio
-- "Please. Accept the mystery" is a line from the Coen Brothers' A Serious Man
-- Nacht (Night) is the 8th part of Arnold Schönberg's vocal-chamber masterpiece Pierrot Lunaire; Schönberg is probably the most notorious triskaidekaphobic ever - and basically the inspiration for this game. The Host Post title (in German) is the first verse from the piece and its English translation is also paraphrased into the text at one point ("somber, shadowy, giant mothwings"); the verse "dank fumes of the lower darkness" is also incorporated.
Night 3
-- story incorporates the "intel" on Elohcin and her being caught
-- references: indirectly, triskaidekaphobia (the Browns' 13th anniversary)
-- Elohcin never provided a phobia story and, while I came up with phobias for other players (INH, rabbit), I chose not to craft one for the Patient 13 itself
-- Fear March is a dark folk song by Faun Fables; strict thematical references (and the name crafted into the mafia's organization name into the main story)
Day 4
-- story ends with a twist on the idea that someone would be killed (when in fact, there was no kill) by revealing only INH's death, from Night 2, to the other characters
-- references, recurring or otherwise: SVS's phobia, Lt. Sock, the TV show Chuck (which MP began co-hosting at that time), the Fear March established crime organization
-- Gong's Can't Kill Me was about all I could find in my playlist related to the fact that G-Man survived the night kill
Night 4
-- story incorporates Scotty's phobia and G-Man's letter B gimmick
-- the latter was crafted in the first half of the Host Post - all the new paragraphs or dialogue lines starting with B, the text itself "B"ursting with B-letter alliterations - in the eventuality that G-Man would have been lynched
-- references: Scotty's fantasy phobia, transposed via the movie Alien, the scene where the monster bursts from Kane's body closely recreated (some of the lines and scene description being copied from the script of the movie)
-- the Doors' song was about the easiest connection I could make with Scotty's storyline death
Day 5
-- story incorporates JJJ's phobia
-- references: triskaidekaphobia (mention of 13 patient forms), JJJ's frisbee passion, flachettes (small needles fired from a needlegun) in reference to JJJ's phobia
-- Flaming Lips' The Terror strictly game-theme-related
Final Battle
-- story incorporates the near unanimous lynch on Rabbit, the remaining players' stated phobias, the Cop's and Doc's powers
-- references: Inspector Gadget in relation to G-Man's investigative role and B-gimmick (combination of Bruno Bianchi, who created the show - letter B - and the Gadget character - letter G), his B-gimmick further emphasized in the dialogue (all his lines starting with B), Quin's Santa phobia, SVS's taphophobia, Wilgy's phobia of loneliness, Wilgy's catchphrase, Ghostbusters ("Fearblasters")
-- the title, Rabbit's evil appearance and most of his lines stem from the manga Bleach, in which an antagonist had the power to instill fear into his opponents and his final transformation was "Tatarforas", a made up word, as far as I can tell, for "Fear of God"
-- Tangerine Dream's Astrophobia (from Mars Polaris) references rabbit8's designated phobia (he never sent me a story, so I chose for him and picked this phobia simply so I could use the song)
Epilogue
-- final lines, in character or not, from the surviving civs and a wrap up story for Spacedaisy the Reaper
-- references: Ghostbusters (Wilgy humming the catchphrase of the song's chorus), G-Man's B-gimmick (his line starting with B), Spacedaisy's game task and the manga/anime Death Note - Shinigami, Shinigami King - as well as Spacedaisy having played and won as "Kami" in the Syndicate game
-- Pink Floyd's Fearless to signal the civ's victory and invert the theme of the game

#1370

Super neato. Good game baddies and Daisy.

Thanks for a huge effort, Rico. You wrote as many words in this game as I did. I enjoyed reading your novels; they were a lot of fun.