Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War Mafia (Endgame)

[Tammy]

There's no way I'd be able to win it. Not after I'm a replacement to three people and a night team that was near decimated by day 3. I didn't expect to get this far.

Besides, winning it that way wouldn't really be winning it at all. It's not really a fair way to win it and I wouldn't be able to count it as a win even if I did some how get it. Winning when all sides don't have the equal chance of winning isn't winning, it's default.

I'd rather not. Town deserves this.

VOTE: Flash

[hitogoroshi]

Consider the game in limbo while I talk to other moderators.

[hitogoroshi]

VC 53 (Session 7, VC 4)

(3)

Flash:

Minimum, Shmugen, Tammy

(Tammy)

[Lynch!]

(1)

Bella:

Flash

(Minimum)

(1)

Tammy:

Bella

(0)

Not Voting:

(Minimum, Shmugen, Tammy)

With 5 votes in play, it takes 3 to secure a lynch.

Automatic Termination of the Seventh Session

(expired on 2012-10-06 17:00:00)

[hitogoroshi]

Rojo Pixler died in his sleep.

That was how it looked on the other end, when someone was unmade. Someone would be lying there peacefully, and then one morning you'd be unable to rouse them. There was no real external sign, unless you were examaining their heartbeat, which of course Dr. Voorzangler was.

It was not a gradual winding down. His heart had been pumping, and then, it wasn't. His fate was completely unambigious.

The other staff members exchanged awkward glances. What to say, at the death of the Empire?

Finally, a young woman managed to break the silence. "So...what do you suppose happened?" The talk was inane and trivial, but that's all they could handle, when the alternative was to really think about what it meant.

Voorzlanger thought carefully before answering. "Something out of his control, I'd imagine. It always is, with a genius."

And the artificial lights of Commexo City burned on. That was the

point

, Rojo had always argued. Magic dies with the magician, but technology doesn't care about the fate of the tinkerer.

Voorzlanger did not shed a single tear - not that could have, anyway. Without pretense of delicacy, he reached in to Rojo's suit pocket (he didn't normally sleep in a suit, but for the Council he had found it fitting) and pulled out the small key that made him the God of the City. Voorzlanger was heir designate, at least until

he

came of age.

So, Pixler was dead. They had planned for this. They had planned for everything.

---

Bloat stumbled out of bed, his head swimming.

The boat stank like death. Only now did Bloat think why. The others were all dead, weren't they? And that great damn big dragon the longest. Cleaning up the bodies, well, that was the sort of thing other people did, right? But there weren't any other people here. Only a skeleton crew of stitchlings, looking at him with dull, blank eyes.

He ran to the open deck of the ship, hoping for some fresh air. But the smell seemed to follow him. "Go away!" he screamed pointlessly into the wind, as though the stench was some specter he could drive away. As though in reply, a sudden squall cut across his face, so strong he nearly lost his footing, but

still there was that damn smell--

Bloat had never been one for justice, or karma, or any of that. But when faced with the evidence, he knew exactly what he had to do.

The zethik first. It was light. A hateful little creature, but innocent - well, as innocent as you can be in this trade. He had just wanted something to EAT, hadn't he, but they had kept him hungry and mean to get him to cooperate. Bloat threw the body overboard. No other way to bury it, and the fish of the Izabella were as hungry as he had been.

Leeman Vol next. The insects on his body had mysteriously avoided eating him, and in fact seemed to have driven away the normal insects that would lay eggs in his body. Funny how only the lice-ridden Vol smelled anything close to clean, now. As his body went in to the water, a few of his protector insects flew off, but the vast majority were still hanging on as he sank beneath the waves.

Houlihan wasn't on board - his body has walked away on it's own, the damn Star-Striker thirsty for blood. But Bloat was a superstitious man, now at least, and he carved Houlihan's signature tattoos into a plank of wood and threw it off the ship.

And finally Nythaganius. He had to get the stichlings to help. It had been hell, fitting that huge worm into the lower decks, and it was twice as hard to pull it out when it wasn't awake to help. All for what? So it could be there to plan with them? For some stupid Empire of Night? As he slowly, painfully slowly, brought the worm to the surface, he tried to remember what of this endeavor had seemed so appealing that he had gone along with it all.

When the dragon went over, the wave was enormous. The ship rocked, and Bloat went flying. He could see the railing in front of him. It would be easy enough to grab.

And then he'd go back under into the Council, and

then what?

A slim chance of the Midnight Empire? A victory for Christopher Carrion, the prince who wasn't even here? The Prince who didn't have to smell the damn smell that the water wasn't even covering up?

Bloat didn't grab the railing. Why bother?

---

A victory, is what they called it.

It was clear to everyone in the Abarat that the Council had ended in favor of Day. Of course, it had been nothing more than a mental construct in a few minds, but no one could mistake the feeling of a great weight being lifted. Their dreams were free again. It was a win, and that was enough.

The only people who knew the details were sitting quietly on the Nonce. There had been time for a fragment of speech as the Council had passed final judgement. This is where they had agreed to meet. For so long, they had known nothing about each other, but now Finneagan Hob and Malingo were face to face.

Malingo broke the silence. "We won."

"I suppose we did."

"So that's...good."

"I suppose it is."

"They're like CAGES, Finneagan," and it was clear this is what they had both been thinking of, ever since the Council ended. "How do you suppose everyone does it?"

"I don't know."

"I mean, we did once, right?" Malingo bravely put on a smile. "It'll...it'll stop being so hard, eventually, right?"

"It will end, yes."

And then there was nothing more to say.

Flash - Rojo Pixler, the Grand Architect (

Commexo

aligned Murderer-Spy), unmade in the Seventh Session.

Tammy - Admiral Bloat, Captain of the Wormwood (

Night

aligned Factional Enabler turned Goon), commited suicide in the Seventh Recess.

Minimum - Finneagan Hob, the Dragon Slayer (

Day

aligned Dragon Vigilante), survived and won the game in the Seventh Recess.

Shmugen - Malingo (

Day

aligned Channeled Bulletproof/Reflector), survived and won the game in the Seventh Recess.

Bella - Two-Toed Tom (

Day

aligned Citizen), retroactively killed and made a

Neutral Survivor

for discussing ongoing games.

The forces of

Day

have won the game.

[hitogoroshi]

Town PRs:

Spoiler: Candy Quackenbush and Princess Boa, the Two In One

"They carried the soul of the Princess across the Izabella to the shores of the Hereafter. There was a terrible storm that night—which I suppose is only right and proper, given that such a massive crime against nature had been committed. The women’s little boat was almost sunk. But they somehow got across to the other side. And do you know who they found when they got there?"

Candy already knew the answer. Knew it in her heart.

"My mother," she said.

"Yes," said Wolfswinkel. "Your mother: Melissa Quackenbush. She’d been sitting in a truck on an empty road. And of course she was very, very close to giving birth …"

"… to me."

"Yes indeed. It was quite a night. And of course the women of the Fantomaya assumed that all this was in the stars. It was meant to be this way, that they’d come ashore and find your mother sitting there in a broken-down vehicle."

"So what did they do?"

"What do you think?" Wolfswinkel said. "They gave Boa’s soul to your mother for safekeeping so you and she would be brought up together."

"But I don’t have a sister."

"She isn’t your sister, Candy. Her soul is inside you. Sharing the same body."

Regfan is

Candy Quackenbush

. Fate is

Princess Boa.

Collectively, you two are the

Two In One

. One of you is a girl from the Hereafter, and the other is a Princess, but you must work together in this Council of the Mind if you want Day to have a chance. Luckily, the strange nature of your mind is immediately obvious in the Council of the Mind – no one else has two thoughts in one.

Transcendent Ability: The Two In One

And there was Mater Motley, coming down the stairs to join them in her gown of the damned. Though Candy was scarcely happy to see the woman, the Hag’s presence here was perfectly right and proper. Here they were, the four of them together for the first time. On one side, the Lord of Midnight and his grandmother. And on the other, the girl from the Hereafter with her Princess, joined in a single body:

the Two in One.

Your role PM, including the fact that you are the recipients, will be posted in the thread at the start of the First Session. You two may talk freely at any time in The Mind Chamber. You share a common vote – the most recent vote from either of you will override any previous one. You are lovers – when either one of you dies, the other will immediately die as well.

You also know that you have a guardian angel, although you don't know who. There exists in this game exactly one role aligned with Day that may, at least once, choose any target they like and prevent factional abilities from working on them. You do not know the exact details of this ability. There may be other roles that prevent factional abilities from working by other means.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: John Mischief, the Key Thief

Candy let out a yelp of shock at the sight of the stranger. And then, once the shock had worn off, she started to laugh. The man - whoever he was - was wearing some kind of Halloween mask, or so it seemed. What other explanation could there be for his freakish appearance? His left eye was round and wild, while his right was narrow and sly, and his mouth, framed by a black mustache and beard, was downturned in misery.

But none of this was as odd as what sprouted from the top of his head. There were large downy ears, and above them two enormous antlers, which would have resembled those of a stag except that there were seven heads (four on the left horn, three on the right) growing from them. Heads with eyes, noses and mouths.

They weren't, she realized now, static, nor were they made of rubber and papier-mâché. In short, it was not a mask the man was wearing. These heads sprouting from the antlers were alive, and they were all staring at Candy the way their owner was staring at her: eight pairs of eyes all studying her with the same manic intensity.

You are

John Mischief, the Daring Rogue

. You're a master thief who keeps his seven brothers on his head. While you've pulled off many daring thefts, this one takes the cake – you've stolen the Key. It sits inside your mind, and you don't know what it does. You do know that Night would do terrible, terrible things if they gained it. You've always been a supporter of Day at heart, even if you take issue with it's law, and now it's vital you throw your lot in with them. Who knows what terrible fate may fall on the Abarat if Night gets the Key?

Transcendent Ability: The Key

"Well, we can’t leave the lady Quackenbush undefended," Mischief replied.

"I vote we run," Moot said. "This is a lost cause, Mischief. At least if we get away now, the Key’s safe with us. If we throw ourselves into the fray we’re not just endangering our lives-"

"-which are very valuable-" John Serpent remarked.

"-we’re endangering the Key," Moot reasoned. "We can’t afford to do that."

You currently hold the Key. You do not know what it does, but you know that Night can do very evil things with it, while Day and Commexo cannot make use of it. It is passed to whoever kills the wielder. The player with the Key also gains the "Key Pass" ability.

Active Ability: Key Pass

Curiously enough the little parcel seemed to have almost no weight, except for that of the wrapping and the cord. Candy pulled at the large knot, which although it looked hard to undo seemed to solve itself the moment she began to pick at it. She felt something move in the parcel. The next moment there was a rush of light out of the bag, which momentarily filled her gaze. She saw several points of brightness appear before her, joined by darting lines of luminescence. They hovered for a moment, then the lights sank away into her unconscious and were gone.

The whole spectacle - which couldn’t have taken more than three seconds - left her speechless.

"You have the Key now," John Mischief told her gravely. "I beg you to tell nobody you have it. Do you understand? Nobody."

Each Recess, you may choose a target. You give them the "The Key" and "Key Pass" abilities, while losing them yourself. You know this resolves before any kills in action resolution.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Samuel Klepp, the Almenak Editor

"Samuel Hastrim Klepp. The Fifth. Here." He fished a little pamphlet, printed on coarse brown paper, out of his pocket.

"What is this?"

"Klepp's Almenak; first published by my great-great-grandfather, Samuel Hastrim Klepp the First. This is the new edition."

Candy took the pamphlet and flicked through its pages. It was rather chaotically designed, its illustrations in black and white, but it was packed to the margins with information. There were maps, gaming rules, a page or two of astrology, and a few pages of pictures of what the author described as New Animals, which was an interesting notion. Further pages listed Celestial Events (the times of meteor showers and eclipses), even a collection of recipes. And interspersed between these relatively commonplace pieces were articles with a rather more Abaratian twist: "The Cat's Hair Cathedral: Myth or Reality?" "The Dung-Jewels of Efreet: A Gatherer's Tale." And "The Golden Warrior: Alive or Dead?"

You are

Samuel Hastrim Klepp the Fifth, the Almenak Editor.

For a long time – too long – you've been content to passively work on your Almenak and grouse about the decay of the Abarat without taking personal action. Well, no more of that. You're going to use your researching skills to learn everything you can about everyone in the Abarat you think is worth knowing about. There is no weapon quite like an education, and you're going to bring yours to bear against the forces corrupting the Abarat.

Active Ability: Research

He shook his head, his expression one of delight. "You see, a lot of people think the Hereafter is a myth, but I’ve always believed in it. So did my father and my father’s father, all the way back to Samuel Hastrim Klepp the First. Tell me more, please. I want to know everything about the Hereafter."

"Really?" said Candy. "I don’t think it’s very interesting."

"Well, it might not be to you, because you were born there. But my readers need to hear about your world. They need to know the truth."

Each Recess, you may submit a flavor name to the moderator. If that character or a close equivalent is in the game (ie, "Candy" would return the Two In One's Role PM, not just "Candy Quackenbush"), you will receive the pregame role PM of that role, without the name of the recipient or any post-start modifications. Because you are doing this research yourself, you know it is guaranteed to be accurate. However, the false identities stolen by Night and Commexo were well enough established that you will receive their fake PM's as though they were real ones. Additionally, there are some things that defy research - some Transcendent abilities may not be found by this ability. (If you are unfamiliar with the characters in the Abarat universe, this may be helpful.)

Passive Ability: Hoarder

He turned the key in the lock and pushed open the door. The smell of printer’s ink stung Candy’s nostrils.

"Before you come inside, I should warn you," Klepp said, "it’s chaos."

Then he swung the door wide. Chaos it was; from ceiling to floor. There was a small printing press in the middle of the room and dozens of unruly piles of Klepp’s Almenak on every side. Clearly Samuel slept in the midst of his work, because there was an old sofa against the wall, with pillows and a couple of blankets strewn upon it.

When you are dead, your killer will receive the result of every investigation you have done, including the failed investigations. They do not receive the Hoarder ability themselves.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Malingo, the Geshrat

She handed him the mirror. Her friends back in Chickentown would have thought Malingo’s face - with his deep orange hide and the fans of leathery skin to either side of his head - fit only for Halloween. But in the time they’d been traveling together through the islands, Candy had come to love the soul inside that skin: tenderhearted and brave.

You are

Malingo, the Geshrat

. Your lady Candy is part of the Council of the Mind, and you intend to be there with her. But you can help her with more than just your words. You have access to powerful spells you learned from the books of your cruel former master Kaspar Wolfswinkel. With your love of Candy guiding you and your magic empowering you, you're ready to do everything you can for her.

Active Ability: Feather-Steel

"Cover me from
Scalp to sole,
In the feather-steel
That Nazrat stole!"

You may use this ability to become immune to the first killing ability made upon you this Recess (targeting yourself to do so). You know this resolves after blocking actions in action resolution, so you will not be protected if you are blocked or otherwise inhibited from using this.

Active Ability: Reflector

"Hear the hatred?
Hear the drums?
On your own heads,
The beating comes."

Target a player. If target player uses a targeted Active (not Factional) ability this Recess, they will target themselves.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Mrs. Scattamun, the Freak Show Host

"Did you come here to look at the freaks?" Mrs. Scattamun said.

"Yes..." Candy said.

"But you didn’t pay to look."

"I came in here by mistake," Candy said.

Mrs. Scattamun put out her empty palm. "Mistake or no mistake, everybody pays. That’ll be six zem." She leaned forward and the withered thing on her head bobbed in its formaldehyde.

You are

Mrs. Scattamun, the Freak Show Host.

Generally, you keep to the artificial lights of Babilonium, making your money by exhibiting freaks to the people of the Abarat. But now, you find yourself compelled to ensure that Night does not conquer the islands. After all, A'Zo and Cha forbid if the

freaks

were in power.

Passive Ability: Family Business

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Scattamun’s Emporium of the Malformed. You are guests in the largest collection of freaks, grotesques, inverts, miscreations, mutants, monsters, tetragogs and fiends in the Abarat; plus, of course, the one and only Eye in a Box!

Be prepared to be appalled at the horrors Creation has made in the name of Life; at the Horrors that Evolution in all its Cruelty has brought forth! They were made for our amusement! Feel free to mock them! Spit at them! Poke them a little if you dare! And be grateful you are not in their shoes!"

While you don't know exactly which of the minds in the Council is your husband, you know Mr. Scattamun is in the game aligned with

Day

. You have no special means of communication with him.

Active Ability: Cage the Freaks

She parted the canvas curtains and flung herself through them into the backstage area of the freak show. The smell that met her was almost overpowering: the mingled stench of rotting hay and some sickly sweet perfume that had perhaps been splashed around to cover up the other smells. There were three large cages close by, the largest containing a thing that looked like a pony-sized slug.

Each Recess, you may choose two players. If Mr. Scattamun also chose either one of those players, they will be blocked and prevented from using Active or Factional abilities. You will not be informed whether this ability triggered on both, one, or none of the targets.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Mr. Scattamun, the Freak Show Organizer

Mrs. Scattamun let out a keening sound.

"My chitterbee!" she shrieked. "Neville, this man’s broken my chitterbee!"

Her husband was in no mood for consolations. He had picked up his freak-taming whip and now raised it, preparing to strike out at Candy.

You are

Mr. Scattamun, the Freak Show Organizer

. You run a freak show on Babilonium with the help of your wife. You're far from a kind and caring soul, but in the duel of Night and Day you must reluctantly take the side of the later. Night would extinguish the false lights of Babilonium, and you can't have that. It'd be terrible for business.

Passive Ability: Family Business

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Scattamun’s Emporium of the Malformed. You are guests in the largest collection of freaks, grotesques, inverts, miscreations, mutants, monsters, tetragogs and fiends in the Abarat; plus, of course, the one and only Eye in a Box!

Be prepared to be appalled at the horrors Creation has made in the name of Life; at the Horrors that Evolution in all its Cruelty has brought forth! They were made for our amusement! Feel free to mock them! Spit at them! Poke them a little if you dare! And be grateful you are not in their shoes!"

While you don't know exactly which of the minds in the Council is your wife, you know Mrs. Scattamun is in the game aligned with

Day

. You have no special means of communication with her.

Active Ability: Cage the Freaks

She parted the canvas curtains and flung herself through them into the backstage area of the freak show. The smell that met her was almost overpowering: the mingled stench of rotting hay and some sickly sweet perfume that had perhaps been splashed around to cover up the other smells. There were three large cages close by, the largest containing a thing that looked like a pony-sized slug.

Each Recess, you may choose two players. If Mrs. Scattamun also chose either one of those players, they will be blocked and prevented from using Active or Factional abilities. You will not be informed whether this ability triggered on both, one, or none of the targets.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Filth, the Munkee

He was indeed a monkey, as he had claimed, but he had a decidedly human cast to his crooked face. His eyes were slightly crossed, and his wide, preposterous mouth housed an outrageous assortment of teeth, which he showed whenever he smiled, which was often. He was dressed in what looked to be the remnants of an old circus costume: baggy striped pants held up by a rotting belt, an embroidered waistcoat in red, yellow and blue, and a T-shirt on which was written I’M FILTH. The entire ensemble was caked with mud and pieces of rotted food. The smell he gave off was considerably less than fragrant.

You are

Filth, the Munkee

. When King Claus still ruled in his Twilight Palace, you served as his jester. Now that he's gone away, you still inhabit the broken old palace, taking some small solace in the glow of nostalgia. You didn't expect to be called to the Council of the Mind...but you're going to do your best, for the love you bear for the old King and Princess.

Active Ability: Hide

"Huh." Filth considered all this for a moment. "Fascinating," he remarked. Then: "Gotta go."

"You’re leaving?"

"Yes. Well, I’m-"

"-a busy munkee!"

"A coward."

Candy laughed, despite the grimness of her situation.

"At least I’m honest," said Filth. "Good-bye. It was really nice knowing you."

Each Recess, you may target a player. You will become immune to being targeted by Active or Factional actions, but will die if target player dies. You will also die if you target a

Night

or

Commexo

aligned player. You know this resolves after roleblocks in action resolution.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Diamanda, Sister of the Fantomaya

In the middle of the trio, standing a little closer to Candy than her companions, was a woman who looked to be extraordinarily old. Her face was deeply etched with lines, and her hair - which was woven into navel-length braids - was pure white. But she still carried herself with great elegance, even in her antique phase. Nor did she seem weakened by age.

You are

Diamanda, Sister of the Fantomaya.

You have many magical powers at your disposal, but you're not as young as you once were. The Council of the Mind is a result of the Spire's power, and it's very existence drains you. You have no idea if your Sisters are with you in this Council or not. But you still maintain the power to get away and stay safe, and you can take someone else with you. That, at least, should be of use.

Active Ability: Abduct

They were too interested in the violence to notice Malingo creeping away. Nor did they notice a length of blue fabric that dropped out of the sky, unfurling close to the geshrat.

"Quickly!" said a woman’s voice.

He turned around and for a moment he seemed to see a face there in the folds of the blue fabric.

"Move yourself!" the woman’s voice said. "Grab hold of the cloth!"

Each Recess, you may target a player. You will use your flying cloth and abduct them, preventing them from using active or factional abilities. However, this will also make any active or factional abilities on either you or your target fail to resolve. This ability strains you to use, so you cannot use it on consecutive Recesses.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Letheo, the Beast Boy

At the other end of the vessel, sitting spread-legged on the floor of the boat and making some conjurations with his hands over a large map of the archipelago, was her abductor: a young man who looked more or less Candy’s age. His hair was a glossy black and hung in greasy ringlets.

You are

Letheo, the Beast Boy.

For a while, you were an assassin in training in the employ of Christopher Carrion. But while you don't have scruples per se, you've stared too deep into the maw of Midnight, and you want out. The problem is, you have a terrible sickness – one that causes you to transform into a monster. And only Night has the cure. Still, you're not going to let them manipulate you like that. You're going to fight against them...no matter how much it hurts.

Transcendent Ability: Green Thuaz

"The change is upon you again, isn’t it?" Reluctantly, Letheo nodded. "Soon you’ll be a monster, with a monster’s appetites."

"Please, Lord, I don’t want this in me."

"No, I daresay you don’t," said Carrion, slowly descending the stairs. "You want this, instead." He dug in the deep recesses of his robes and brought forth a vial of the medicine, called green thuaz, which would reverse the inevitable process of Letheo’s sickness.

Each Recess, if you have any Green Thuaz, you may choose to consume it. For that Recess, you lose the "Beast" passive ability and gains the "Stalk" active ability. You start with one vial of Thuaz and gain one more for every member of Night that is dead. You do not need to be personally involved in their death to gain the Thuaz.

Passive Ability: Beast

Out of the darkness stepped a creature Candy would not have recognized as Letheo but for the fact that he was wearing the same dark uniform she’d seen him wearing in the Dead Man’s House. Otherwise he was completely transformed, his eyes huge and luminous, his mouth misshapen by teeth like needles. His body was covered with a fine coat of silver-gray scales. He was shaking from head to foot.

Without the aid of the Thuaz, you are a horrible, reptilian thing. Any ability that gives different results when used on Day or Night aligned players will resolve on you as though you were Night aligned.

Active Ability: Stalk

"Who’s the boy, by the way?" Mater Motley asked Carrion. "The one following us."

"His name’s Letheo. He wants to be an assassin when he grows up. So he came to me for some schooling."

"Sensible child. There’s never a time when a good assassin can’t find employment."

Each Recess where you have consumed Green Thuaz, you may target a player. You will be informed of every player that your target used targeted Active or Factional abilities on this Recess. If you are blocked, you will only be told that they did not target anyone.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Finneagan Hob, the Dragon Slayer

"I have already declared my war, Mister Malingo," Hob said. "And I’ve been fighting it for the better part of fifteen years. I spent a year on the slopes of Mount Galigali, tracking the dragons that live in the Laval Rivers. That was a difficult campaign. I was almost fried on several occasions when the volcano vented its fury. But I killed the worms. Sixteen of them. And then at Spake, which is a green and beautiful place - like the Nonce without the strange evolutions every time it rains - I hunted the five members of the Kaziamia clan, wretched, murderous things. Small for dragons, but vicious. That took more than a year. On Autland there was only one, but it had taken possession of the ruins of a palace, and it was worshiped by the local peasants, who swore a drop of its blood cured just about every kind of sickness. All nonsense, of course. But they can be very clever, very deceitful…"

You are

Finneagan Hob, the Dragon Slayer

. You are aligned with Day, at least insofar as you're opposed to Night. But your true desire is to hunt down dragons. It was a worm that killed your darling Boa, and you won't rest until the entire race is dead beneath the earth. You know that Night counts a dragon among their ranks, and it's your hope that you can kill it personally.

Informational Ability: Dragon Lore

A map of the Nonce was pinned up on the wall, with an extensive network of lines upon it, tracking Finnegan’s various journeys around the Hour.

Thanks to your intensive tracking of draconic movements, you know for certain that the dragon Nythaganius Pejorius is in the game, aligned with

Night.

You also know that it is a roleblocker, capable of blocking active and factional abilities. However, following it has had it's drawbacks - Nythaganius Pejorius knows of your existence (but not identity), and knows the exact contents of your "Slay" ability.

Active Ability: Slay

DO YOU SEE ME, NYTHAGANIUS PEJORIUS?

Each Recess, you may target a player. If they are Nythaganius Pejorius, they will be killed. This is a speed kill, which resolves before normal kills and concurrently with other speed kills in action resolution. This ability cannot be affected by other abilities – it is immune to roleblocks, redirects, protections, and the ilk. The kill will be flavored as "slain."

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Citizen PMs:

Spoiler: Mespa, Sister of the Fantomaya

The other woman, who was black, had the strangest gaze of the three. When her long hair - which was filled with hints of bright color - parted and showed Candy her eyes, they had the glory of a night sky in them.

You are

Mespa, Sister of the Fantomaya.

There has been a strange upheaval at the 25th Hour of late. While Odom's Spire trades in prophecy, you don't know anything about the future. In fact, you don't even know whether your sisters are attending this Council or not. Now, you have no particular powers, serving only as one mind of many trying to stop Night's reign. All you can do is pray it will be enough.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Legitamte Eddie, the Actor

The man who had just played Jaspar Codswoddle had appeared from backstage. He was nowhere near as fat or as tall as the character he had just portrayed. The illusion had been created with a false stomach, a false bottom and leg extensions, some of which he was still wearing. In fact he was a diminutive man, and beneath his makeup - most of which he’d wiped off - he was bright green. The robes he’d thrown on offstage were more theatrical than anything he’d worn during the play.

You are

Legitimate Eddie, the Actor.

Normally, you give yourself over to mirth and merriment, serving as an actor in the carnival city of Babilonium. But Day is in danger, now, and you're rising to the call. You have an altogether more serious past than that of an simple actor, and you're ready to put some of the old iron into yourself again. A joyful tomorrow calls for a hard and uncompromising today.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Clyde, the Playwright

Behind him came his entourage of two: a highly muscled woman in a florid dress and what looked like a five-foot ape in a coat and carpet slippers.

"Who wants an autograph then?" the little green actor said. "I’m Legitimate Eddie, in case you didn’t recognize me. I know, I know, it was an uncanny transformation! Oh, and this young lady behind me is Betty Thunder." The woman curtsied inelegantly. "Perhaps you’d like an autograph from Betty? Or from my playwright, Clyde?" The ape also bowed deeply.

You are

Clyde, the Playwright.

While many people have heard your works, not many know anything about you. And that's just fine by you - you like to keep to yourself. But the coming threat of Night is real enough that you begrudgingly accept the call to the Council of the Mind. You're used to using your words to get emotional reactions from people - you'll need that now more than ever.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Two-Toed Tom, the Sailor from Spake

As they traveled, Two-Toed Tom, who boasted a fine array of spiral tattoos, sat on the starboard side of the boat, with a yellowed and much-folded map in his hands, studying its contents with a large magnifying glass.

You are

Two-Toed Tom, the Sailor from Spake.

You hail from the island of Spake, where it is always 10 in the morning. Spake is a wonderful place, and you're more than willing to stand up in the Council of the Mind in the defense of Day. More than anything else, you have a partner - Tidal Jim - and you refuse to let anything bad happen to him. You don't have anything at your disposal but your mind in this venue, but you'll be damned if you let that stop you.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Melissa Quackenbush, the Dreamer

"Mom?" Candy said again.

She was close enough now to be able to hear her mother’s soft rhythmic breathing. Was she asleep? Moving very cautiously, so as not to wake her, she took a step around the chair. The sight of her mother’s face made Candy want to cry. Melissa looked so weary, so drained. Her eyes were closed, her mouth turned down, her freckled brow marked by a deep frown.

"Candy?" she murmured in her sleep. "Is that you?"

Her eyes wandered back and forth beneath her blue-veined lids as though attempting to make sense of some dreamed sight or other. The sorrowful expression on her mother’s face made Candy want to turn away. But when she did so, she found her mother standing just a few yards away from her, in the middle of the unkempt lawn. Confused, Candy looked back at the woman sleeping in the rusted chair, and again at her mother’s twin.

"I don’t get it,” Candy said. “Why are there two of you?"

"One dreaming, one awake," Melissa said, as though it was the easiest idea in the world. "I’m over in that chair, dreaming. And I guess you’re somewhere else too, asleep."

"So we’re meeting each other in our dreams?" Candy said.

Melissa nodded. "It’s so good to see you, honey," she said.

You are

Melissa Quackenbush, the Dreamer.

You've spent your entire life in the Hereafter and know virtually nothing about the Abarat. But you've heard fragments - Candy herself has talked to you in her dreams. And now you're at the Council of the Mind. Day? Night? You don't know about these factions at all. What you do know is that you're on your daughers side, forever and always. Your dreaming self will do what it can in this world it doesn't understand. After all, your daughter is counting on you.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Galatea, the Cabin Girl

"Why do you always have to be so grim?" Galatea said, staring contemptuously at Mizzel. Her hair was shaved so close to her scalp, it was little more than a shadow. Her muscular arms were decorated with elaborate tattoos. "Didn’t we just save two souls from drowning? We’re all on the Creatrix’s side on this boat. Nothing bad’s going to happen to us."

You are

Galatea, the Cabin Girl.

The

Parroto Parroto

, a simple fishing ship, is your usual home. The idea of a Council in your head is certainly a strange one. But when you heard the summons, you embraced them all the same. Normally, you don't go for such a grand thing as war, but now it might be needed to keep the tranquil peace you so enjoy. Besides...after all of the time fearfully skirting around Midnight's isle, it's nice to be able to fight back.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Night PMs.

Spoiler: Methis, the Zethekaratchia

There were four dark-winged creatures flying toward the fishing boat. They were visible because their innards glowed through their translucent flesh, as though lit by some bitter fire. They gibbered as they approached, the chatter of mad, hungry things.

"What are they?" Candy said.

"They’re zethekaratchia," Mizzel informed her. "Zethek for short. The ever-hungry ones. They can never eat enough. That’s why we can see their bones."

You are

Methis, the Zethekaratchia.

You are a creature of Gorgossium, and you're ready to do what you can so that Night can rule the Abarat. And there were promises of food. Maybe you can eat the witch-girl, Candy. That's all the motivation someone like you needs.

Active Ability: Befoul

Methis was about to follow; then he turned to Kud.

"Let’s ruin their catch!"

Skebble let out a howl of complaint. "No!" he yelled. "Don’t!" His cry was ignored. The two creatures squatted down among the fish, and the vilest smell Candy had ever smelled in her life rose up from the hold.

Each Recess, you may target a player to befoul them. The befouled player cannot be targeted by any Active or Factional abilities that Recess. The player who was befouled will be told they were befouled but not what that means. A player who targets a befouled player with an Active or Factional ability is told that the smell was too repugnant to use their ability. You know this resolves after roleblocks in action resolution. This requires you to have eaten recently enough that you have something to excrete, so you cannot use this ability on consecutive Recesses.

Transcendent Ability: The Dread Ship

"The Wormwood!" Captain McBean hollered. "Lords and ladies save our souls, we are being pursued by the Wormwood." He sounded almost disbelieving, as though his mind couldn’t entirely accept what his eyes were showing him: that this, the most notorious warship that had ever sailed the Izabella, was right there behind them. "The Wormwood!" he kept saying. "The Wormwood! The Wormwood!" as though by some paradoxical magic the calling of the beast’s name would unmake it.

You have access to The Wormwood and all of the powers contained within.

You are

Night

aligned. You win when all living players are

Night

aligned and at least one

Night

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Otto Houlihan, The Criss-Cross Man

"Houlihan, Houlihan,
The Criss-Cross man,
The Criss-Cross man.
Fetch yourself a holyman,
Do it fast,
Fast as you can,
Because here comes Houlihan,
The Criss-Cross man-"

You are

Otto Houlihan, the Criss-Cross Man.

You are a trained, professional killer in the employ of Night. Many times, you've been given strange jobs that rely on quick thought, and this time is no exception. You're going to infiltrate the Council of Mind and twist it towards Night. And in case of emergency, you have a weapon – a fearsome, evil Star-Striker. You hope it doesn't come to that, though. Very little scares you nowadays, but that weapon...

Active Ability: Strike Down

He wasn’t entirely weaponless. He had bought from a man in Huffaker a Star-Striker, a four-foot-long bat, which had been used in the ancient and brutal sport of Star-Striking. Strikers were moral things. They knew the difference between good and bad and chose to favor one or the other. The striker that Houlihan carried with him had been owned by a line of fearsome Star-Strikers, who had played the great game with brutal, and often lethal, efficiency. In other words, he carried a bat that had not only struck falling stars out of the air but had killed many innocents along the way. He liked its heft. It gave him confidence. It had all the authority of an executioner’s axe. He lifted it up and let it fall weightily on his shoulder.

You have a Star-Striker at your disposal. It's a weapon that acts of it's own power that can hunt down the minds in the Council with impunity; you may only use it during Sessions. During any Session, you may chose to instantly kill a player of your choice by typing

"Strike Down: X"

. Because this is a Session kill, it is immune to protections and blocks. However, the Star Striker will consume you in the process – both you and the target will die. You cannot use this ability while at L-1. The kill flavor will be "Struck Down", and Houlihan's death flavor will be "Consumed". This kill resets votes and adds one day to the deadline.

Transcendent Ability: The Dread Ship

"The Wormwood!" Captain McBean hollered. "Lords and ladies save our souls, we are being pursued by the Wormwood." He sounded almost disbelieving, as though his mind couldn’t entirely accept what his eyes were showing him: that this, the most notorious warship that had ever sailed the Izabella, was right there behind them. "The Wormwood!" he kept saying. "The Wormwood! The Wormwood!" as though by some paradoxical magic the calling of the beast’s name would unmake it.

You have access to The Wormwood and all of the powers contained within.

You are

Night

aligned. You win when all living players are

Night

aligned and at least one

Night

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Admiral Bloat, Captain of the Wormwood

Candy had spotted an absurdly overdressed figure, his cheeks rouged and his bald head tattooed, parading on the poop deck.

"Who is that?" she asked.

"That’s Admiral H. H. Bloat," said Captain McBean. "One of the vilest men ever to set sail on the Izabella."

You are

Admiral Bloat, Captain of the Wormwood.

It is on your dread ship that the forces of Night have gathered to attempt to subvert the Council of the Mind. Your mere presence causes the crew to work so hard that none of you are needed to keep the ship running – freeing you all for more nefarious purposes. You hope to do Gorgossium proud and bring about a wonderful night.

Passive Ability: Captain

Admiral Bloat, who was an unpleasant-looking man in a constant dull fury about that fact, predicted that they would catch up with the escapees in a matter of an hour or so. "We’ll simply ram them, if you like," Bloat said to Carrion. "That’ll sink them quick enough. Then when they’re going under, we’ll pour a dozen buckets of goat’s blood into the water. That always starts a feeding frenzy. They’ll be eaten alive in two minutes."

"You speak from experience?"

"You don’t become an admiral in the Gorgossian Navy by being a great lover of peace and justice, Lord," Bloat replied.

As long as you are alive, all members of Night will be allowed to talk in the Wormwood during Sessions as well as Recesses. Additionally, as long as you are alive, the Universal Eye factional ability resolves before roleblocks in action resolution.

Transcendent Ability: The Dread Ship

"The Wormwood!" Captain McBean hollered. "Lords and ladies save our souls, we are being pursued by the Wormwood." He sounded almost disbelieving, as though his mind couldn’t entirely accept what his eyes were showing him: that this, the most notorious warship that had ever sailed the Izabella, was right there behind them. "The Wormwood!" he kept saying. "The Wormwood! The Wormwood!" as though by some paradoxical magic the calling of the beast’s name would unmake it.

You have access to The Wormwood and all of the powers contained within.

You are

Night

aligned. You win when all living players are

Night

aligned and at least one

Night

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Nythaganius Pejorius, the Ourobourous

Those who had small weapons wielded them in readiness, while the rest searched on the ground for something - anything - to fight with. Even as they did so the earth lurched, and the worm’s head - shaped like a giant shovel, flat and wide and ferocious - rose up out of the ground. Its head was of such size that its neck had difficulty bearing it up. There was nothing elegant or beautiful about it. A great mass of plant life sprouted from its skull, and a mud-clogged beard of roots hung from its lower jaw. It gave off a rotted smell as though its body had gone to corruption from lying in the wet earth for so long. Clumps of matter fell from the underside of its body as it raised itself up, but it was impossible to discern whether it was the dragon itself that was falling to pieces, or whether it was simply bits of dirt and decay that were dropping to the ground.

You are

Nythaganius Pejorius, the Ourobourous.

You are a terrible and wicked dragon. While you don't normally associate with non-dragons, Finnegan Hobb has begun a holy war against your kind and an enemy of your enemy is your friend. You've even managed to (uncomfortably) fit your bulky frame aboard the massive Wormwood. You're a being of earth, and truth be told you're not very happy with this alliance – but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Active Ability: Envelop

Geneva took the dagger she’d been polishing in her grip and spoke two syllables: "DRA. GON."

"Where?" said Tom.

Standing on the same spot, Geneva turned fully through three hundred and sixty degrees, pointing outward with her sword as she did so. "All. Around. Us," she said.

Each Recess, you may surround someone with your massive frame, preventing them from using Active or Factional abilities. They will not be informed they were blocked unless their role explicitly states that they will.

Informational Ability: Hunted

"Before anyone gets too enthusiastic about going down there," John Mischief said, "Shouldn’t we consider the situation a little more closely? Let’s assume it is Finnegan Hob, the great dragon hunter, down there in the ground. Let’s ask ourselves why he’s down there."

There was silence by way of response. Everyone exchanged grim looks.

"Yes, that’s right, ladies and gentlemen, he’s probably down there with a dragon."

Finnegan Hob has been hunting your kind for years, ever since a dragon strangled Princess Boa dead on her wedding day. You know Finnegan Hobb is in the game, aligned with

Day

. He knows you are in the game, and he knows of your "Envelop" ability. However, you have studied him a fair bit yourself, and know exactly what he is capable of: you know Finnegan possesses the exact "Slay" ability listed below.

Informational Ability: Slay (Active for Finneagan)

"DO YOU SEE ME, NYTHAGANIUS PEJORIUS?"

Each Recess, you may target a player. If they are Nythaganius Pejorius, they will be killed. This is a speed kill, which resolves before normal kills and concurrently with other speed kills in action resolution. This ability cannot be affected by other abilities – it is immune to roleblocks, redirects, protections, and the ilk. The kill will be flavored as "slain."

Transcendent Ability: The Dread Ship

"The Wormwood!" Captain McBean hollered. "Lords and ladies save our souls, we are being pursued by the Wormwood." He sounded almost disbelieving, as though his mind couldn’t entirely accept what his eyes were showing him: that this, the most notorious warship that had ever sailed the Izabella, was right there behind them. "The Wormwood!" he kept saying. "The Wormwood! The Wormwood!" as though by some paradoxical magic the calling of the beast’s name would unmake it.

You have access to The Wormwood and all of the powers contained within.

You are

Night

aligned. You win when all living players are

Night

aligned and at least one

Night

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Leeman Vol, the Insect Speaker

Nothing about Vol was pleasant or pretty. He did not like the company of his fellow bipeds much, preferring to enjoy the fellowship of insects. This in itself had gained him a measure of infamy around the islands, not least because he bore on his face more than a few mementos of that intimacy. He had lost his nose to a spider many years before, the creature having injected his proboscis with a toxin so powerful that it had mortified the skin and cartilage in a few agonizing minutes, leaving Vol with two slimy holes in the middle of his face. He had fashioned a leather nose for himself, which effectively masked the mutilation but still made him the target of taunts and whispers. Not that the nose was the sole reason that people talked about him. There were other facts about Vol’s appearance and personal habits that made him noteworthy.

He had been born, for instance, with not one but three mouths, all lined with bright yellow teeth that he had meticulously sharpened to pinprick points. When he spoke, the mingling and interwoven sounds of these three mouths was uncanny. Grown men had been known to block their ears and leave the room sobbing because the sound put them so much in mind of their childhood nightmares. Nor was this second grotesquerie all the vileness that Vol could boast. He had claimed from his childhood that he knew the secret language of insects and that his three mouths allowed him to speak it.

In his passion for their company, he had made his body into a living hotel for members of the species. They seethed over his anatomy without check or censure: under his shirt, in his trousers and over his scalp. They were everywhere. Miggis lice and furgito flies, threck roaches and knuckle worms. Sometimes they bit him, in the midst of their territorial wars, and often they burrowed into his skin to lay their eggs; but such were the small inconveniences that went with being a home for such creatures.

You are

Leeman Vol, the Insect Speaker.

You have served Night for quite some time – no one else seems to respect your insect infested self, after all. In the Council of the Mind, no one can see your hideous form and your children on your body. You might even get respect. It won't matter, though. You know how careless and cruel Day is to people like you, and you know what you have to do. You will end all of those false heroes, and bring about a wonderful Night.

Active Ability: Release the Brood

Vol looked at Carrion as though the Lord of Midnight was crazy.

"Control them?" he said. "There are tens of thousands of them."

"I will need a million for the work I want them to do," Carrion said. He pulled Vol closer to him, holding him so tight Vol had to fight for breath. "And believe me, there are millions. These creatures are not just in the Pyramids. They’ve dug down into the earth beneath the Pyramids and made hives for themselves. Hives the size of cities. Every one of them lined with cells, and each one of those cells filled with eggs, all ready to be born at a single command."

"From you?"

"From us, Vol. From us. You need me and my power to protect you from being slaughtered when the Last Day comes, and I need your mouths to communicate with the sacbrood. That seems fair, doesn’t it?"

If you ever obtain the Key to the pyramids of Xuxux, you can unleash a terrible plague with them. By letting out a few of the sacbrood and commanding them to feed, you will leave any body killed by a factional ability too mutilated for identification. They will flip as "x aligned corpse", with no flavor or role name. (Bodies killed by non-factional abilities are unaffected.) This resolves absolutely last in action resolution. If you do not have the Key, this has no effect.

Transcendent Ability: The Dread Ship

"The Wormwood!" Captain McBean hollered. "Lords and ladies save our souls, we are being pursued by the Wormwood." He sounded almost disbelieving, as though his mind couldn’t entirely accept what his eyes were showing him: that this, the most notorious warship that had ever sailed the Izabella, was right there behind them. "The Wormwood!" he kept saying. "The Wormwood! The Wormwood!" as though by some paradoxical magic the calling of the beast’s name would unmake it.

You have access to The Wormwood and all of the powers contained within.

You are

Night

aligned. You win when all living players are

Night

aligned and at least one

Night

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

The Book of the Dead. These were the fakeclaims for the Night team. They all received a PM with the Book of the Dead fakeclaims. Note that the 3 Citizen PMs were RANDOMLY chosen out of the list of all of the citizen PMs. Deaux-Deaux was there because I was worried I was crafting PRs too close too flavor and that every PR claim could be guaranteed true. The numbers were such that they could mason fakeclaim or just have someone fakeclaim one of the two as Citizen. This was one of the few ways Gamma could actually catch scum. (The scum were warned that "The fact that these fakeclaims exist as full PMs may have in-game consequences.".)

Spoiler: Elathuria, the Plant-Woman (Mason Fakeclaim)

You are

Elathuria, the Plant-Woman.

The strange, powerful energy of the Nonce birthed you. You continually bloom, re-flower, and wither away again. Each time, you lose your memory. But one thing is constant, and will always be – your love of Numa Child. He has found you again, and the two of you are in the Council of the Mind. After all, without Day, you would never bloom again. So, in the brief time you have, you're going to do everything you can. Together with Numa Child, you're sure you can keep Day alive.

Beloved (Passive)

You know your beloved Numa Child to be aligned with

Day.

You may talk with them at any time In Each Other's Arms.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Numa Child, the Fathathai (Mason Fakeclaim)

You are

Numa Child, the Fathathai.

Your kind rarely marries, but you've fallen in love – with a plant-woman who continually forgets your existence. But she's always the same soul, and she always falls in love with you again when she sees you, and that's enough. Now, the two of you have a new challenge – to help the Council of the Mind ensure Day's victory over Night. Only in Day can your lady bloom, and for that you'll do anything.

Beloved (Passive)

You know your beloved Numa Child to be aligned with

Day.

You may talk with them at any time In Each Other's Arms.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Deaux-Deaux, the Sea-Skipper (Assistor Fakeclaim)

Then, he drained the liquor glass that was sitting on the table in front of him and did something that defied all expectation. He got up from the table, and using his enormous feet, he skipped over the water to Candy, then squatted down again in the sea beside her. The smell of his breath was potent, and he seemed to have some difficulty fixing his focus on her.

You are

Deaux-Deaux, the Sea Skipper.

You're normally a bit of a drifter, lazing about the sea, drinking heavily and gambling in the waters of the Izabella. But now, you're motivated by something more important. The Abarat is in danger, serious danger, and it's time you get serious. You have a will like iron when you put your mind to it, and now, you must.

Active Ability: Assist

"Let’s just finish the beast!" Finnegan hollered. He waved to the newcomers. "If you’ve got a weapon, use it!"

Deaux-Deaux unsheathed his dagger and jumped down into the pit, and on a cue from Finnegan, the Sea-Skipper, Tom, Geneva and Hob pitched themselves at the dragon, thrusting their knives into her throat at the same time. There was no shriek, not even a sigh.

You're always willing to lend a helping hand, even if it's something you've never done before. Each Recess, you may choose a target (besides yourself). They will be immune to blocking actions this Recess. They will not be informed of this assistance, and you will not be informed whether or not the assistance worked.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Henry Murkitt (Citizen Fakeclaim)

The Comfort Tree Hotel had a ghost. Most of the time this was of no great concern. In fact, when Candy had been here, Norma had taken her up to the old section of the hotel-to Room Nineteen-where this phantom was reported to reside, and had proudly given her a history of his sad life. His name was Henry Murkitt, and according to hotel legend he had committed suicide in Room Nineteen one melancholy Christmas many years ago. He’d had his reasons. Norma knew two of them. His beloved wife, Diamanda, had walked out on him, the story went, leaving for unknown destinations. That was the first reason. And the second?

The city council had decided in December of 1947 to change the name of the town (which had until that time been called Murkitt, in honor of Henry’s ancestors, who’d founded the community eighty years before) to Chickentown.

Henry had taken these blows very hard. So hard indeed that he had simply decided that his life wasn’t worth living. He’d locked himself up with a gun and a whiskey bottle and said good-bye to life. But according to many of the hotel staff, poor Henry had never quite been able to let go of the world that had caused him so much pain. He still haunted the stale air of Room Nineteen.

You are

Henry Murkitt, the Ghost.

Until very recently, you knew nothing of the Abarat. You were simply a dejected ghost haunting a hotel room in Chickentown, Minnesota. But now, for some reason, the Council of the Mind has pulled you in to the strange world of the Abarat. Who can say why? But it's easy to know which side you're on. If you can help the Abarat avoid tragedy, perhaps that will help ease your own pain. You have no special powers – you barely even understand the place – but you have your mind, such that it is.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: King Claus of Day (Citizen Fakeclaim)

She heard somebody laughing at this and turned her dream sight around, looking for whoever it was who was so amused, and she found a man with a large gray beard standing at the opposite end of the room. Even if he hadn’t been wearing a crown, Candy would instantly have recognized him as the King. He looked directly at her in the dream, and there was such love in his eyes, such deep, unspoilable love, that it made Candy want to cry with pleasure. She could never remember her father looking at her in such a way.

You are

Claus, King of Day.

After the death of your daughter, Princess Boa, you abandoned your palace and became an obsessive eater. Bitter at the world, and disgusted at yourself, you have faded from the eye of Abarat – but the Council of the Mind is different. In the Council, you're not burdened by what your body has become, and you are free to assume some of your former grandeur. Of course, no one in the Council recognizes you're a king, and you have no special powers, but you're still ready to do all you can. Besides, you could swear you feel

her

presence there...

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

Spoiler: Jimothi Tarrie, the Tarrie-Cat General (Citizen Fakeclaim)

"They will not make it past our defenses," said Jimothi Tarrie.

He, the most humanoid of the tarries, was standing in a copse of witch-pyre trees, staring down the slope toward the approaching monstrosities. Behind him were thirty or forty tarrie-cats. They stood on four legs while he stood on two, but they had this in common: they were all battle-hardened warriors. "Whatever we have to do, we must stop these things from getting to the wizard’s house."

You are

Jimothi Tarrie, the Tarrie-Cat General.

You have faced Night head on, in battle. More than anyone else, you know what the stakes are here. And you're ready to do whatever it takes. The Council of the Mind is almost a relief, since you don't have to risk physical injury. You're down to your last life and it's dangerous to take chances. Still, that won't stop you - not with so much at stake.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

And, of course, Mr. Pixler.

Spoiler: Rojo Pixler, the Grand Architect

"What does Commexo want?" Candy said.

"It’s not Commexo, it’s the man who owns Commexo: Rojo Pixler. It’s what he wants…"

"And what’s that?"

"Control. Of all of us. Of all the islands. He wants to be King of the World. He wouldn’t use the word king because it’s old-fashioned. But it’s what he wants."

"And you think he’ll get what he wants?"

Klepp shrugged. "Probably," he said.

You are

Rojo Pixler, the Grand Architect.

Forget the petty squabble of Day and Night. Your goals go beyond that. The Commexo kid will spread all across the Abarat – and maybe beyond. For now, you'll have to bide your time, playing both sides of the field while surreptitiously killing those who figure out too much. But soon – soon! - you'll be ready to take over and prove yourself. You're going to be the ruler of the whole Abarat.

Factional Ability: Hunter

Candy heard a high-pitched whistling sound and something flew close to her face. A moment later came a second whistling, followed by a stream of Abaratian curse words. Shape had flattened himself against the body and head of the moth. It took her a moment to work out why. Then she understood: they were being fired at. There were hunters in the balloons, and they were obviously intent on bringing down the moth. Either they hadn’t seen its rider and its captive, or else they didn’t care what happened to Shape and Candy if their missiles hit home. Whichever it was, it scarcely mattered. The consequence for Candy and Squiller would be the same. She heard a third whistling now, which was followed by a thud.

You are an experienced hunter – of sentient beings as well as animals. Each Recess, you may target a player to kill them.

Passive Ability: Spy

He turned to Voorzangler. "What kind of creatures do this spying for you?" he asked.

"You saw some of them yourself, sir, a month ago." His cyclopic gaze became sly. "I believe you still keep the meckle bird in your private rooms."

The meaning of this remark was not lost on Carrion. Voorzangler was subtly telling him that even he, the Lord of Midnight, was spied upon.

Night has stolen your Universal Eye, which allows them to learn the role of a target player every Recess. However, you still can watch what it sees, even if they've stolen the controls. You will receive any results that Night receives using the Eye. You will not, however, be told who the target was – only the role that they find.

Passive Ability: Resourceful

Finally, bringing up the rear of this little group was a black man so tall he had to bend his head in order to get out through the gondola’s door. He wore a pair of small silver glasses and he carried some kind of large electronic tablet, the screen of which gave off a pulsing glow that illuminated his face with light: sometimes white, sometimes turquoise, sometimes orange. He attended closely to everything the man with the orange hair said or did, and in response his long agile fingers moved restlessly back and forth over the tablet, missing no detail of whatever his boss said or did as he set it down.

You have many staff members who are ready to serve. Each Recess, you may choose one of the following benefits:

• Your kill is a Speed kill, resolving directly before normal kills and concurrently with other Speed kills in action resolution.
  
• You are self-protected from the first killing action made against you this Recess.
  
• You will receive the name of who was targeted by the Universal Eye this Recess (if anyone), in addition to learning the role as normal.

However, with such high-quality help such as this, it's important you don't work any one person too much. You cannot choose an option you chose last Recess.

Transcendent: False Identity

You have stealthily killed the actress

Betty Thunder

and know that you can claim her identity. In addition, you know that no one has an ability mechanically identical to the "Powerful" passive listed below. Each Recess, you may choose whether or not you want to investigate as "Betty Thunder (Day aligned Citizen)" or "Betty Thunder (Day aligned Paranoid Gun Owner)". Any ability that is fooled by fakeclaims - at minimum, the Universal Eye - will return the result you choose. All other investigative abilities will resolve normally, however.

False Identity: Betty Thunder, the Actress

Behind him came his entourage of two: a highly muscled woman in a florid dress and what looked like a five-foot ape in a coat and carpet slippers.

"Who wants an autograph then?" the little green actor said. "I’m Legitimate Eddie, in case you didn’t recognize me. I know, I know, it was an uncanny transformation! Oh, and this young lady behind me is Betty Thunder." The woman curtsied inelegantly. "Perhaps you’d like an autograph from Betty?"

You are

Betty Thunder, the Actress.

Political matters don't particularly interest you; you prefer the simple mirth of theater. But the Council of the Mind has called you, and you're going to do the best you can to help. If Day is gone, there will be no more theater - no more laughter at all. You shudder to think of such an end for the Abarat.

Passive Ability: Powerful

Candy glanced around at Houlihan. He had retreated a step or two. Obviously he didn’t like the idea of doing anything violent in front of these three witnesses. Especially when one of them - Betty Thunder - looked as though she could break his nose with one punch.

If anyone targets you with an Active ability, they will be killed and the ability will fail to resolve.

You are

Day

aligned. You win when all living players are

Day

aligned and at least one

Day

aligned player is currently alive. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

You are

Commexo

aligned. You win when there are three or fewer players alive, you are one of those players, and it is currently a Session. (If four players are alive, and one is lynched, you will win - the win condition "checks" after the lynch occurs but before a Recess is called.) Additionally, the check for this win condition occurs before the checks for the Day/Night win conditions. Please confirm by responding to this PM with your role name.

[hitogoroshi]

I'll keep this post to talk mechanics.

[hitogoroshi]

And, before I unlock the thread and let you kids go to town, I'm grabbing first word to debrief...

Well, the end of the game there was a nightmare. First off, I need to sincerely apologize to Flash. I had ended up not posting a VC in this game for over a week because there were no votes, not a problem itself but then deadline was very close. Without really considering the situation, I just threw on a day because I was tired and felt guilty. It was absolutely sloppy modding, and while Flash's gambit was a "Hail Merry" (chamber's spelling, not mine ), he had every right to have it play out as planned. It especially sucks because a bad design decision (not giving Shmugen the endgame clause the Abarat 1 BP had) also made Shmugen confirmed town which hurt Flash even more.

Bella's ongoing games violation actually happened about a week and a half ago. Basically, she just made a throwaway comment to chamber in scumchat about "congratulations on your impending victory" because she figured her RedCoyote hammer had thrown it for town. Since no information really changed hands, this actually didn't affect the gamestate, which is why you heard nothing about it. Asked a mod or two and it was agreed to just keep it mum until the endgame. The modkill is just because, well,

don't talk about ongoing goddamn games

- but Izzy's actions didn't influence gamestate.

Tammy, I just need to say: remember this rule?

Play to your win condition: I want you all to have fun, but you must always be trying to secure a win for your faction. Failure to do so might get you banned from all mafia games on-site, not just this one. Getting modkilled will turn you to a dead neutral survivor, so incurring a modkill is always playing against your factions wincon. Do not test my patience on this issue; I have none.

I'm sorry, but the one thing you really cannot say is "I don't want to win like this". You need to scratch and claw for any chance to win because that's how the setups are balanced and without that it falls down. Forcing town into being kingmaker between you and the sk has a non-zero chance of giving you a pity win, what you did had no chance. In the end, no punishment, if only because kingmaker is vile poison that I did my very best to keep out of the setup and still failed. But you did have a chance and you didn't pursue it and in almost any other situation it would have violated my play to wincon rule, especially in multiball where it took away Flash's chance to win because instead of throwing around the title of kingmaker until one person can't get rid of it, you just choose to become kingmaker before you had to.

MoI, your gambit was atrocious, and it is single-handedly going to make me write a more expansive anti-grudge rule for future games. There's a reason literally everyone is telling you it was bad, and that's because it was bad. You had every chance to recant and never did, and town suffered for it. You lied, and got caught lying, and everything was terrible. Not to mention all of the bad setup speculation town had to deal with with things like the Third Session event. Please, take your lumps, accept you made a mistake, and

apologize

to the town. They deserve it.

Don't think anyone likes games ending like this, but well, it's what it is. I think I'm gonna avoid anything more than 2 faction in the future. I'm taking a break from modding for a while (aside from my other currently running game).

Is that everything? Hmm. Well I wanted to talk a lot about the setup and the design, but I don't have it in me now. I guess ask me about specific bits and I can answer them, maybe a bigger one later.

So here's postgame chat open, don't be a dick, and hopefully the brand of "hito game" still means something...

[Hinduragi]

Hi hito, just want to say this shitfest isn't your fault and I congratulate and back all of your decisions. Thanks for the game. It was fun, dickery aside.

[Bella]

I agree with Hindu. My modkill was entirely my own fault, and I'm glad Hito handled it in such a way that it didn't affect the outcome of the game for the innocent.

[Tierce]

You did your best, hito. The flavor was delightful; I'll probably give Abarat a whirl once I'm definitely living

somewhere

.

If I had to be scum, at least I had an awesome role name.

Dead QT trolling was the most fun I had in this game.

[Shmugen]

Sorry for poofing halfway through this game, I get behind and I'm a miserable procrastinator. Thanks personally to Hindu for having me once again responsible for some kind of magic key.

[Staeg]

Yeahhh so I imploded upon myself after which shinori did the same, but more literally, after which everything came down for Night, crashing and burning

GGWP to most players of Day, I guess Flash didn't do badly as commexo at all (even though I hate him by default for drawing a SK role, but that's another discussion), well played to the replacements of Night that tried to get something done (Tierce fucked up the claim - she should've claimed Numa Child instead, and Tammy did surprisingly well), hito's modding was excellent up till the last day, but even that is not irrideemable.

[Nuwen]

MoI blacklisted. Simple as that.

Thanks for the amazing setup and flavor, Hito. Easily some of the best cutscenery and character inclusion on the site so far, plus a lot of good mechanical experimentation that will probably be recycled into more awesome games. <3

[Mina]

MoI blacklisted. Simple as that.

Thanks for the amazing setup and flavor, Hito. Easily some of the best cutscenery and character inclusion on the site so far, plus a lot of good mechanical experimentation that will probably be recycled into more awesome games. <3

I agree with everything in this post.

[Lyanna Stark]

I did consider my win-con though. I never stopped considering it. I won't apologize for not wanting to win like that. We were both scum caught. If it had been a situation where one of us hadn't outed ourselves then maybe, but we would have gone into a situation where two scum who were caught would have won over town for sure. That just doesn't feel right to me.

[Tammy]

^^^or you know tammy thinks that even

[Tammy]

I mean I'm really sorry to night for fucking up though.

[Staeg]

This is another one of those conscience on one side, wincon on the other side kind of things that should be avoided as much as possible but uh, happens

[Staeg]

I mean I'm really sorry to night for fucking up though.

shut up, you were night's MVP this game

[hitogoroshi]

Oh yeh, I'm super happy of how Gamma used his role. The funny thing is it technically seems to have next to no power, since it detects scum fakeclaims as normal PMs, but I figured it was an interesting twist on investigation and Gamma really did work with it. Of all of the weird roles and mechanics I put in I'm happiest with how Gamma used his.

I don't know who I'd call town MVP in general, it's been so long I've forgotten how people's reads have went. But gamma is role MVP. Also teamwork props to AGar and SoO for getting a successful double roleblock off, although I think you two could have done more to covertly try to reach each other.

[chamber]

I did consider my win-con though. I never stopped considering it. I won't apologize for not wanting to win like that. We were both scum caught. If it had been a situation where one of us hadn't outed ourselves then maybe, but we would have gone into a situation where two scum who were caught would have won over town for sure. That just doesn't feel right to me.

Its the nature of three party games that eventually, the town may not have all the power while the game is still running. I'm not actually all that bitter about this but your sense of right and wrong is borked.

[Gammagooey]

damn you tierce

damn youuuuuuuu

but uh yeah the kingmaker situation was regrettable and it's partially my fault for not claiming that whoever killed me would get all my results. I tried to play around it by only investigating scum roles and people who had already claimed but not claiming that part of my role almost gave flash the win at the end there. tammy did pretty decent to think of the setup rule as to why flash would have that information I think.

was really hoping day 4 that someone would step up and tell me what they thought of reads and everything but dismissing that reck would push MoI's results as fake to try and avoid an early lynch on a scumbuddy or whyever else he might have done it was dumb of me and I was on completely the wrong track with Schmugen.

flavor was super awesome and I think the setup was fairly swingy and it swung a bit towards scum here with the hider and tracker dying n1 but I don't think it unfairly favored one side or the other.

post-edit: wait uh kinda disagree with role mvp and totally think that should go to AGar here since me not claiming the passive was bad for reasons above.

[Tierce]

damn you tierce

damn youuuuuuuu

<3~

[Staeg]

I dunno. I agree that you should've claimed it, but this reminds me that Flash should've been a bit more... creative when they claimed scum. They claimed the bare minimum of what they could - why not add some tasty stuff on top, like another 1 or 2 fakeclaims, a factional ability or perhaps another "informed" modifier for themselves or the like?

[Shmugen]

I'm always town, Gamma. Always. Except for that one month when I really, really wasn't.

Staeg - Did being a dragon mean nothing but for Finnegan Hob?