Gistou: An Ashamed Hunter

[mastin2]

The birth of a friendship

So many oaths broken...what would one more be?

...One too many. Nicholas sighs. "If I do this...I will be no different from

them

."

Yet as he looks on, to the destruction Gistou is inevitably heading towards, he wonders.

The dilemma is obvious. A human willing to help him, even knowing the truth, is the rarest of the rare, a precious resource that he would never wish to waste. And yet, if he turned a human against their will, what would separate him from the very things he has vowed to defeat? The simplest answer would be not to turn anyone. If he did turn someone, it could lead to a slippery slope where he would never stop.

And then, he saw him.

Wake88

, wounded from a battle. Who might not even survive without help.

The dilemma grows. Both in weight, and in complexity.

If he still had the resources he once did, then

Wake88

could get medical treatment, easily. In the current world, who would take in a human carried by a nosferatu? Even most friendly villages would kill them on the spot, yet alone, one controlled by an enemy. Agnigi was a better time, a better place, for such things. Even if a village wouldn't be receptive to the hunter, they would never refuse to take care of the human.

Lamenting the loss he holds himself accountable for, Nicholas looks at

Wake88

, staring for a long time. The fear, anger, is tangible. "You don't want to die."

"Of course not. Nobody does."

"I can't save you using any traditional methods. I lack the materials to save your life."

"What's your point?"

"I...I guess, I can offer you a choice, but neither of us would be happy with either answer. I can give what little basic care I can, and then you wait and hope someone equipped to save you comes along, which we both know the chances of are next-to-nothing...or...I can turn you, save your life, at the cost of your humanity."

"Do you believe you have a soul?"

"I'd certainly hope I do. Whether every nosferatu does...that is a question I wish I knew the answer to."

"Well...it can't be all that bad."

Nicholas smiles. "That's the spirit." He closes in. "This would normally hurt only a little, but given your condition, not gonna lie: you'll feel a lot of pain before your wounds heal."

---

It was done.

Nicholas brings

Wake88

up. "I'm using the alias

RachMarie

right now, but my name is Nicholas Schroder. What's your name?"

"Well, for the time being...I'm

Wake88

."

"Fair enough." Nicholas begins moving down the road. "You should be well enough to move on your own, now."

"Wait, aren't you going to tell me about the rules or something of being a nosferatu?"

Nicholas laughs. "In the olden days, sure. But this is Gistou. What I tell you the rules are doesn't really matter. You can do whatever it is you'd please, and I won't stop you."

Wake88

hesitates. "I think..." After a pause, they continue. "I think...I want to follow you."

Smiling, Nicholas looks back at his new companion. "Well...in that case: first rule? If you

ever

see me tempted to turn someone again, kill me on the spot." Then, he continues on his journey. "Now with that said...listen closely. Unlike others...I haven't lost hope of restoring this world's peace. My goal, foolish as it may sound, is for Agnigi to rise again. Still with me?"

Wake88

simply follows behind. "Am now."

(Please note the above is purely flavor.)

Welcome,

RachMarie

and

Wake88

.

Wake88

has been recruited to the

Individual Nosferatu Faction

.
You hold the following factional abilities:

1. You know each other to now be members of the Individual Nosferatu Faction.
2. Similarly, you know each other to now both be Nosferatu.
3. You may talk here at any time.
4. Wake88
   is permitted to quote their role PM in here.

As laid out in your role PMs, the Individual Nosferatu Faction wincon is as follows: You win when all threats to a new humanity treaty are eliminated and at least one player with this wincon is alive.

RachMarie

, who spawned this topic, holds the following role PM:

Individual Nosferatu Roleblocker

"If only..."
Every moment. Every second, every minute, every hour, every day. You wonder. You run your head through it, time and time again. If only things were different.

...But no. "It was the right decision."

You force yourself to say it. It was the right decision. You have to stick by that belief. It had to be. There couldn't have been a better option. You did the right thing.

"It's all my fault."

The doubt hits. The self-loathing.

You shake it off. Because you cannot afford that self-pity nonsense.

No. You know better. There was only one person to hold accountable for the doomed Agnigi. Only one person responsible for the rise of Gistou. It was

his

doing. Not yours.

Dmitri Damanos

. The leader of the damned. You were there to see it all start. Long before then. Your people have a rich history. You're fairly young for your kind, at a simple 100 years old, but were one of the first paleskins to come out of the shadows. Your kind had been lurking, laying low, albeit fighting the beasts all the same. Yet you were struggling. And in the jungles of Divitias, you were near a village, when you saw how they were struggling.

The elders were clear: vampires would be exterminated by humans. Some humans would be granted the gift to bring new blood in every once and a while, but otherwise, vampires were to interact, marry, and have children with other vampires only. Humans would only be last resort sources of nourishment. So approaching a center of population was against the rules.

...And yet...when you had personally seen the deadly damage the beasts could wreck...when you father had died in a mutual kill with a lycan, and your mother was killed by a lowly wild raptor...the suffering of humans was too great to see. So you acted. You emerged from the jungle, the experienced warrior you were, and killed the invading beasts effortlessly. Scared and timid, you tried to immediately retreat, however, the humans invited you in. You were sure it was a trap...and yet, they were grateful that you were able to help them.

After you left, the experience was...pleasant. Sure, their food didn't fulfill your dietary requirements...but it was still

delicious

. The soft beds, the wonderful music...it was an intoxicating experience, so you made it a habit of staying near villages, and preemptively preventing beast attacks before they could begin.

First prolonged contact began after you fought a lycan, who nearly claimed your life. Wounded, you were in need of blood, though the only source was from the humans you had grown fond of. Rather than feed, you decided it would be acceptable to die, since it was your choice to defend them and you weren't about to betray them.

...Yet once more, when the villagers saw a wounded paleskin, they decided to try and heal you. It would be a death penalty to reveal you needed blood to the humans, but you tried as many substitutes as possible for blood, and over time, their food was enough to, in a few months, slowly mend the damage done. This prolonged exposure was unheard of before, yet others of your kind had already began to make much the same. You even earned a name for your kind: hunters.

So a relationship was born. After healing, you continued to wander the lands, helping out villages as you could, for 70 years, roaming from place to place. Helping those in need, you took the title of hunter with pride. Your job was to hunt the monsters of the world down. You believed in peace, not only between the three realms, but also between your kind and humanity. Hunters could now operate out in the open, rather than dwelling in the shadows. And it was a good life to have, a symbiotic bond where you would work together: your kind to protect them, their kind to give you life.

Most didn't take the job as seriously as you did, then again, that made sense. To them, humans were simply an opportunity. Humans were a chance to have a life they otherwise wouldn't be able to afford. But to you, humanity was, and still is, something magical. So it was only natural that when you received the unusual request...that you would accept the challenge, proudly. Not because it would be a challenge, like some hunters would. Because it was the right thing to do.

Alexis...

Alexis Galenos

. She reminds you of the girl that first approached you when you were wounded, all those year ago. You hope she is safe. She's still alive. You know that. Even through the current chaos of the Eastern Kingdom, you know she is still alive. And that was the right call to make, no matter what all the other hunters may say, if they ever knew.

The greenskinned girl was confident and compassionate when approaching you. She instantly knew you were a kindred spirit, wishing to help out everyone. She had traveled far just to find you, just to locate someone who would actually take the request seriously, and you listened. You listened well, as she pleaded for the lives of her villagers, to have you help them with their bandit problem.

Dmitri Damanos, the groden raider, she had described. Scourge of the eastern kingdom, nuisance of the western empire. You waited for him to come...and when he brought two dozen bandits to his side, you showed him why hunters were known to hunt even the toughest of beasts, which you had been asked to classify him as. Unusual as the request sounded, it was something that for some reason you accepted. Knowing what's happened since then...you're not sure if maybe you somehow knew on an instinctive level, or if it was just bad luck and an unfortunate coincidence that led to these events.

You tracked him. Time and time again, you skirmished. As you saw the threat he posed, your conviction grew. He had to be stopped, at all costs. You intercepted him. You got ahead of him. You halted most of his attacks. You followed him, you pursued him, you never gave up on putting a permanent stop to his attacks, because whenever you were late, whenever you were unable to be fast enough, you saw the devastation he wrought. You saw the villages in suffering, the burning homes, the corpses everywhere, the wailing cries of broken families, and you knew.

You knew you were destined to fight him. To take him down. You continued to help others as you could, though you swore you would never lose him. And when he retreated into his lair rather than running...you suspected a trap, but backup would not come. He could have had a rear exit to the hideout. So the only way to be sure, absolutely sure, that he did not escape was to spring the trap.

Your first mistake.

The fight was long and bloody, but his second stabbed you in the back before escaping. This allowed Dmitri to nearly chop you in half with his greatsword, and he even emptied a clip of his revolver into you. So...you broke the holy rule. In desperation, you revealed your true face, your full nature, to a human not in the know, a human not in good relations with the hunters, to save your life, because if you couldn't stop Dmitri, you had a feeling nobody could.

As he fled, you tried to pursue, however, in your still-weakened state, he escaped. And he disappeared, underground, for ten years. You still searched. You still hunted bandits, and also killed corrupt humans, even finding hints of the occult that you tried to eliminate, but always, you were unable to find him. Dmitri had vanished, without a trace.

...Until Alexis was stolen. Alexis...the horrors she went through were absolutely unforgivable. Dmitri was a threat before, though he had, seemingly intentionally, turned it personal. She was innocent. Yet when you found her, weakened, Dmitri cast her aside. "You have two options, Schroder: either continue pursuing me to stop my research I extracted from her...or save the girl's life. The choice is yours, but we both already know what you're going to do."

It was the right choice.

If you gave chase, then there was no guarantee you could have caught Dmitri. He may have still escaped and put his undead research into motion anyway. Especially since he, at the time, held the strength of a lycan, and was already a threat as just a simple human.

Alexis may be undead, but she's not invincible. You only learned of her secret from Dmitri in your last fight; all the same, you knew she couldn't live unless you gave her immediate care. He was right. You both knew what needed to be done. She's alive. Because of your decision, your choice, she lives still.

It wasn't long after that Dmitri declared war on the world. You knew the hunters could not survive, so you left Alexis, still recovering, to steal the secrets of lycans. The vampires were unwilling to risk their own hides for it. So you put the good of the people ahead of everything else, and experimented on yourself. The first nosferatu. The first hybridization of vampire and lycan. You did it to prove that it was viable, it was possible, that hunters could stand a chance in the upcoming war.

But you had no idea the consequences of your actions.

What the council decided to do with their power...you'll have none of that.

So you've left to wander the world, on your own, alone.

Three sins on your shoulders.

But given the chance to go back and change anything...you wouldn't.

It was the right choice. And now, you'll have to live with it and fight for the peace you still believe in. Agnigi isn't lost. It should never be forgotten. It's simply something that you must earn.

Role

You are an

Individual Nosferatu Roleblocker

.
You hold the following

factional ability

:

• Once in the game, you may attempt to convert a player. If you are successful, they will become a member of the individual nosferatu faction. You will gain a topic with them.

In addition, you hold the following

personal abilities

:

1. Full Free-checker
   : Each night, in addition to any night action you perform, you may investigate a player and learn
   your choice
   of their location, nation, or race.
2. During the night, you may target a player.
   All
   actions they perform will be blocked.

You give the home

Nation

result of

Other

.
You give the

Location

result of

Divitias

.
You give the

Race

result of

Nosferatu

.

Individual Nosferatu Factional Wincon

: You win when all threats to a new humanity treaty are eliminated and at least one player with this wincon is alive.

[RachMarie]

Hello Wake

[RachMarie]

I blocked bacde last night as well as race checking him. Basically playing this like a jailkeeper
The fact that only one death happened makes me think even if he is undead he is on the side of the wulden or the nosterfaru.

I blocked DGB on N 1
blocked LLD on N2 so clearly she did not do the faction kill on N 2

Im thinking that DGB may be wulden and want to check and block her tonight after the day phase.

The results of race are
Titus N1 Human
RAM N2 Nosterfaru

Dimitri is dead yay lol
Not sure he is the destroyer of worlds or not but clearly he is not an SK but the leader of the wulden (mafia) faction.

Oh yeah and he messed with my gf lol

So anyways Wake nice to meet you and anything I have I will share.

[Wake1]

I've been jacked.

[Wake1]

Mastin, does this mean Rach and I are like Masons, not Neighbors?

[Wake1]

I checked bacde Night 4, and his Nation is of the East Kingdom.

What is this treaty thing in our wincon? I know it's not like a Scum wincon but I want to make sure.

The 'Destroyer of Worlds' was made up. It doesn't exist. Since I couldn't make fuck-all about alignments, I decided to dangle a fictional carrot to see if anyone would be willing to LIE. "Oh yes Wake, I TOO received a message during the Night...," etc. When I checked Toogeloo and Almost50 they were of the Northern Tribes Nation.

Mastin, do you know which other player I checked?

[RachMarie]

yeah I stole you ROFL

I was concerned I was not gonna be able to make it alone much longer especially with bacde saying what he did.

uggh he did come up as undead though so totally not sure if it was a fake claim or if RAM did monkey business. But I definitely visited RAM not Luna but I think RAM may have been the one to kill Luna

Not sure if my blocking him last night is why we only had one kill though.

I win with town best as I can figure it .

[RachMarie]

and yeah masons makes sense

[RachMarie]

Nero is like a dog with a bone we better claim masons

[RachMarie]

basically it means we are allied with town and if all their enemies are gone so are ours,

so think 3rd party semi survivor but town allied

crazy lol

[Wake1]

How do we get No Retreat off my back? He's being a paranoid idiot.

Their knee-jerk reaction to me mentioning the DoW is 'OMFGBBQ HE MUST BE SK!!!"

[Wake1]

I'm fine with outing as masons if you are.

[RachMarie]

sounds good to me that will shut Nero up LOL

[RachMarie]

YAY that worked now we can focus on finding the last of the mafia peeps

[mastin2]

Mastin, does this mean Rach and I are like Masons, not Neighbors?

You are, 100%, guaranteed to share the same alignment.

You also have no need for fakeclaims.

So, given this, you would indeed be much closer to being described as masons than you would be neighbors.

[mastin2]

Mastin, do you know which other player I checked?

[/color]

I have your submitted actions as a Toogeloo check N1, an Almost50 check N2, and a Bacde check N3.

I have your results as Northern Tribes, Northern Tribes, and East Kingdom, respectively.

[RachMarie]

thanks Mastin we did already claim Masons in the thread lol

[RachMarie]

are you voting bacde because I blocked him and there were no town deaths just the one scum death?

[RachMarie]

F it they are just going to ignore the town cop

sigh

I dont want to have to claim JK because shit even though I am I also know its not always as good as cop especially when there are still multiple mafia out there.

uggh I just KNOW bacde is scum his fake result on me trying to hint I killed Luna instead of checking RAM.

these people are giving me a headache.

[Wake1]

Don't claim if you don't need to please.

We may not get him today, but we should keep our cover.

Btw I'm 'Vanilla,' I guess. No abilities at all.

[RachMarie]

HUGS I still ♥ you dude.

yeah I have moved on, if he is, we will get him later because sooner or later we will be down to just ONE scum on just ONE team and then my block will be more of a guarantee

kinda weird we had a doc like me but vamp, and a human JK and then my role not called jk but basically is the same.

I wonder if mathblade was a cross kill or a town vig type of thing?

If it was a cross kill I wonder why the wulden team did not also kill.

[RachMarie]

Hon I know you are v/la but Im really lost here do you think WT or Expedience should be the push?

Im really not getting the nero wagon seriously this is not scum nero as far as I can tell. And that is a read based on gut and logic both.

and rb feels pretty towny to me

[RachMarie]

I think they are off track on some giant evil cult too I think the only cult element is the vamp doc and me and maybe one other person have individual but aligned with town roles is the only real cult element. Not a 3rd party cult that can recruit and need town to die to win.

[RachMarie]

is there a scummie for the mods and coming up with a game that is flippin amazing? I think after this is all over we should nom Mastin for it if there is this game is insanely complex

[mastin2]

<3

But to answer, technically, yes, there is:
As per the scummies, there's...
-Best Setup (you're probably thinking of this one, though...)
-Best Mechanic/Mutation (...I may be eligible for this one too)
-Best Flavor Text (My goal is to have written 100,000 words of flavor-text by the game's end!),

-And, while not strictly moderation...Game of the Year.