Be Excellent To Each Other

...enter night!

Night has come to the tiny Alaskan settlement of Barrow. After years of being tormented by vampires, over the summer period a concerted effort from the townspeople and their resident vampire hunter (or hunters...) wiped out the entire clan that had cost them so many lives over the years. The villagers believe they can sleep easily in their beds.

The sun sets and will not rise again for another month. The people sleep safe in their beds, awaken, and put on their artificial lights. They begin to go about their daily business... but they find a grisly sight awaiting them in the town square.

The mayor has been nailed to the clocktower, huge chunks torn from his neck, all blood taken from his still-cooling corpse. This is a warning, an attempt to terrify you into rash actions, goading you into turning on each other. Together you could stand but one by one you will die. You all look uneasily at each other, wondering which of your friends, your neighbours, has been turned? Which ones are the undead walking amongst you?

And will you find them before they come for you?

[playerlist]
Bluecup
Bobbyaro
Craster
Curiosity
Dimrill
Dudley
Grim...
Joans
kalmar
KevR
LaceSensor
Malc74
Mr Chris
Mr Dave
Mr Russ
myoptika
Rodafowa
Runcle
The Rev Owen
vegetables
Zardoz
[/playerlist]

With 21 players alive, 11 votes are needed for a lynch. I will set a longish deadline for day 1, as several players are about less than usual; we'll say midday Wed if no lynch majority is reached before then.

*yawns*

Morning, everyone! *looks up at clock tower* Oh fuck, what's happened?

*Wonders if opening a combined theme party shop and counselling service is a good idea in these circumstances*

::kneels down rocking back and forth::

It's the end of the world! The end of the world!

::breaks down sobbing::

Ow! There was no need to slap me like that Myoptika! But, yes, I do feel better. Thank you.

::fashions a cross out of two twigs and runs off to green grocers to buy some garlic before everyone else::

Blimmin 'eck like, 'ow could such a tragedy occur in Barrow?
I thought we got rid o' them pesky vamps!

'Appen there must be a new Lord in town, and one childe already!

How do you know that?

::looks up from fashioning garlic necklace::

It says so in the Holy Book of Rules and FAQ, a book of prophecy for these times.

Aye. Lend us some of yer garlic, Owen pal?

::eyes kalmar suspiciously::

::thrusts makeshift crucifix in his face::

::looks him straight in the eye::

Eh, I'm not sure the old rules still apply here. I can't tell if you're a one of those vampire demons or not. But, aye, go on then, have a bulb. Make good use of it. If you're a vamp I hope it makes you sick.

Brr, quiet mornin, considerin'.

::goes back into shop and throws some more sharp offcuts of timber into the stove::

I meant Furnace.

Won't we need those?

Oh lord, oh lordy lordy lord. When will this never ending twilight of a day end? (Seriously Mr Gaywood when will this day end? Also 10 votes wouldn't be a majority. Or is this how we playing?)

EEh, be my guest Joans, I'm falling over the blimmin' things 'ere.

I got this new fencepost maker see, and the scrap that comes off it is 'orribly sharp and pointy.

I was updating to add the deadline -- midday Wed -- as you typed that. Ooops. Also, I can add up (honest), I just can't type. It is, of course, 11 votes for a lynch.

I thought that was up near Morecambe way?

Anyway, I've been fashioning some new stakes out of an old oak tree in my back garden. Do you want yours rare or well done? Guffaw.

::grabs a stake and rubs garlic all over it::

Ha, that's gonna sting!

I prefer Bearnaise.

Good morning! Why does everyone smell French?

Eeek!!!

'Tis grim oop north.

I'm personally for lynching everyone with an accent and everyone making bad jokes.

We can potentially win this one quick, if we get lucky with targetting the vamps early on. Let's break our pattern!

[vote:Craster]

'Ees lurkin about in't shadows, 'asn't said anything. I've got to go on a business trip soon (fencepost machine trainin') so I'll vote early. No offence if you're not unded Craster.

I pun, therefore I am. It doesn't make me a vamperoony.

[vote:unvote]
Sneaky sod. Never mind then.

Morecambe and Barrow are where chavs go to die.

I can't work out who to vote for yet. I'm suspicious of everybody, but not suspicious enough of anybody yet.

Maybe I'll dump some garlic in the town well and see who comes down sickly. But maybe vampires don't drink water. Maybe I'll dump some raw chicken and eggs into the well and see who doesn't get sick.

::looks at the rest of the town glaring in my direction::

Um, maybe I'll just leave the well alone...

Oh, I'll got an idea!

::paints FREE BLOOD HERE! on a sign and sticks to the side of the town sports bar::

::hides in a nearby bush and waits to see who turns up::

Nothing yet...

::emerges from hiding, looks around, runs to sign, underlines the word FREE a couple of times, adds an extra exclamation mark, runs back and kneels back down behind bush::

* dumps plan to sell Fox's glacier garlic after first tasting session *

Look, it's easy. Stab anyone who's either a) got a speech impediment and an opera cape or b) is wearing too much eye-makeup and moping about the place complaining about the grinding toil of existance.

It might mean we end up killing Boris Johnson and anyone who's ever had their video shown on Kerrang!, but that's a small enough price to pay.

Looking at the rules, we currently have one Sire, one Childe, and a possible Serial Killer, out of 21 players. That's a much lower starting percentage of bad guys than previous games, but I don't know what that means gameplay-wise.

What, on the clear basis that neither of them are Vampire Scum? Nice strategy

It means we can't identify them through voting patterns, which is my favourite Mafia-hunting technique. So I think there's something to be said for not lynching anyone, because it's not going to give us as much information.

On the clear basis that they're both annoying.

I think it means there's a huge risk of lynching the wrong person today.

Tonight, the Sire will bite but not turn someone. The Childe might kill, or bite (diversionary bite). The Serial Killer will definitely kill.
The Vigilante might kill as well but for the same reason it might be a bad idea.

So we're looking at 2 or 3 deaths and half a "turn"?

::emerges from behind bush::

My knees hurt.

Nobody approached the sports bar.

Bah.

Right, time for a new strategy.

::hands out questionnaires::



Now, if everyone could fill this in and hand it back to me before the end of the day I'd appreciate it.

*reads rules*
*reads rules again*

So we've got 2 vampires, at least 2 masons and possibly the rest of us are townies?
There may be a subplot involving a loon and a psychiatrist (I would assume there wouldn't be one without the other, but I don't know how sadistic Dr SmileyLog is).
Out of 21 players, only 2 or 3 are bad guys and there can't be any more vampires until at least night 2 (is that right)?
I've no idea what to do, not lynching anyone actaully seems like a good idea.

Actually, that's a point. Anyone substituting a y for a perfectly servicable i needs a good dose of stabbage, too.

Hmmm.

**sits on sawbench and lights pipe**

If someone is targeted by the Sire tonight, would they reveal it? At that point you are still townie, and should be acting on behalf of the town. But if you do, you'll be out of the game. You can't hope for Van Helsing to protect you, because then the serial killer and the Childe will know where he is and kill him!

Yes I think that's right.

Obviously I'm torn, lynching townies is bad for the party supplies business, but potentially excellent for the counselling one.

Yes.

It is possible there is one without the other.

Yes.

The counterpoint to this is, with more townies in the game, an accidental lynching doesn't harm the town as much as in other games.

Morning everyone. Sorry it took me so long to get to the Square, the Jubilee line was all fucked up and I had to...
Holy shit! What happened to the mayor?

Van Helsing protecting someone doesn't expose him to the vamps, nor does it expose who he is.

Nope.

If someone publically says tomorrow "I was bitten!", and the VH's night action is to protect them, that's a private night action in a PM. If the vampires don't come back or the claimed-bitten person was lying, no-one finds out anything. If the vampire does come back they vamp ends up dead but they still don't know who the VH is.

This is true, and there's no way we're going to hang around until wednesday without lynching somebody.

Depends on how much they like Evanescence.

I should stress they can't tell if they were bitten by the Sire or a childe, and hence don't know if they are vulnerable the next night or just a diversion.

Yes, I thought it said if the person protected was targetted for a kill, Van Helsing would die. But that's not the case:

"If your protectee is targetted for killing by anyone, your ambush doesn't work -- at your option, you can trade your life for the protectee, but if you don't they die."

That's interesting but it still doesn't help you (i.e. the person who's been bit once) - if you reveal that fact it's very unlikely that the Sire will come back for you, and nobody can protect you from a kill. And you'll probably get lynched if you survive the night anyway. Subtle!

Gives the Fearless Vampire Hunter a 50-50 chance of getting the Sire, though, dunnit? Those're better odds than us lynching someone today, which is basically throwing a stone in the dark.