The Syndicate

M Plus 7 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 06, 2018 10:02 am

G-Man wrote: ↑Wed Jun 06, 2018 10:00 am Do we still vote for Heist MVP's? It looks like we've fallen away from that. Just curious.

You don't have to, but you can. I intend on still having it in my Heists.

Okay, then send in your votes! I'll announce the winner on Friday.

Quin wrote: ↑Tue Jun 05, 2018 10:45 pm I always seem to say it though. G-Man games are my favourite. They just tend to bring out the best of its players for some reason.

Except I was just a big bundle of WIFOM this time around. It was fun.

Thank you for the compliment. But seriously...

Quin wrote: ↑Tue Jun 05, 2018 10:28 pm
g-man games always seem to be the most intense. rarely has it got anything to do with the setup. it just attracts that sort of play.

Why on God's green earth is this? This was a silly, simple game and you guys turned it into the Indy 500! Everything about this game exceeded my expectations- the intensity, the volume of posts, and outright quality of everyone's play. Day's 4, 5, and 6 were insane.

Caerbannog's full role revealed. His *secrets* never really became an option.

Demon Rabbit of Caerbannog- He has survived for centuries. Crafty and tough, he cannot be lynched until both his teammates are dead.

*secrets*

Spoiler: show

Your grudge is only against the Christians. If all the civvies designated as Christians and Christian dentists are dead, you can claim victory, ditch any remaining teammates, and leave the game. This scenario can only come to pass if only civvies designated strictly as dentists are still alive. This means you can leave your teammates to face the remaining dentist civvies on their own. If you are the only member of your team left when this situation arises, then you can choose to walk away and share victory between yourself and the remaining dentists. This option would see you cutting your teammates out of a share in the victory, as the other rabbit's generic baddie wincons would remain unfulfilled.

You probably shouldn't share this secret with your teammates, as they may not trust you. Then again, you're going to be the last of your team to die anyway, so there's not much they can do about it.

The Chief of Police was determined to break this case. Willard hadn't squealed, so that was a dead end. But not today.

Janice Curry didn't fit the bill for a psychopath but maybe that's exactly why she was the perfect suspect. The Chief was going to break her during interrogation no matter what.




Caerbannog and the Cadbury Bunny saw the police leaving the scene with another innocent in tow. They struck fast and fierce, spreading William Pucino's innards in the hallway between the rooms of Rachel Powell and Horace Speck. When the flatfoot came back from his interrogation, the mess would lead him straight to the last of the rabbits' foes. The pieces wouldn't fit but humans are stubborn and they'll force anything to create a clean picture.




A shrill cry woke the Easter Bunny from his slumber. He peered out through the wire cage door and heard the door to his area of the Animal Control shelter open. To his surprise and delight, two bloody but familiar shapes hopped in his direction.

"Mission accomplished?" he asked.

"You betcha, EB!" The Cadbury Bunny cheered.

"Your friend here has quite a knack for this line of work," Caerbannog wheezed. "Perhaps, with a little more training, we could accomplish even more."

"We'll see," the Easter Bunny said. "But for now, I wish to retire in a proper hole and take a nice long nap."

"Wake up!" the Cadbury Bunny shouted as he slapped their next victim. The man looked just as confused as all the others when he saw two rabbits staring daggers into the depths of his soul.

"This will be most enjoyable for me," Caerbannog snarled, "and most painful for you."

"That's right, punk," Cadbury cheered. "You think you're a big deal? You're nothing compared to Big C. Big C's gonna bring the pain down on your candy ass tonight!"

"Silence, candy peddler," Caerbannog roared. He circled around the man slowly, building up to his fatal strike. Like any good predaor, Caerbannog wasn't above toying with his prey.

"Now you will feel my wrath. For over a thousand years, your kind hunted me, destroyed my brethren, forced me underground. But no mow." Without realizing it, he slipped back into his native tongue. "Fe wnaf ichi deimlo boen yn annymunol. Byddaf yn eich gwneud yn gwenu fel plentyn ofnus."

"Do it man, do it!" Cadbury cheered.

"Dewch am drugaredd, pregethwr. Gall eich duw ei roi ond ni wnaf."

It was now a full-on investigation. Other people were missing but there was at least one confirmed homicide on site. The Chief of Police wasn't letting any of these God botherers or pencil-neck dentists out of his site.

After reviewing all the surveillance footage, he zeroed in on one of the fundies that seemed to have words more than once with Gladys Campbell during the past few days. Time to nail his ass to the wall, just like his personal lord and savior.

Keith Shover tried to speak on his behalf but the Chief was taking Mark Willard downtown for an interrogation. He made no promises to be nice to the poor fellow. Caerbannog watched with malicious glee as another of his foes was removed.

Gladys Campbell was weary from a day of interviews with police on top of her convention duties. She needed a break- something to help take the edge off. On her bed, she saw that housekeeping had left a treat for her.

She chuckled at the irony of giving a Cadbury Creme Egg to someone working the dentist convention. Oh heck, she opened it up. She sat next to that confounded vending machine a few days in a row. She deserved a chance to indulge.

It had been a while since she ate one of these treats. Too long, in fact. Had she been more acquainted with the sweet flavor of the gooey treat, she would have detected something was amiss before she took off the imitation wrapper.

Within minutes, the room was spinning. She made her way to the bathroom and put a cold washcloth on her face. She thought she was hallucinating before she passed out, because she thought she saw two rabbits emerging from behind the shower curtain.




When Gladys woke up, she was blindfolded and tied down. Her ears were assaulted by Sammy Davis Jr.'s rendition of "The Candy Man." She could hear someone tapping something at various points around her. It sounded like metal. Every now and then, something sharp poked or jabbed her here and there.

She felt something fuzzy touch her jaw and open her mouth. She tried to resist but the drugs had her loosened up pretty good. Then she heard a familiar sound- a dental drill.

Gladys wailed as Sammy informed her of how the Candy Man mixes everything with love and makes the world taste good while the Cadbury Bunny made her feel every ounce of pain as he drilled her head and ripped her teeth out one by one.

The other guests in the hallway would never forget about the noise that night. The maids would never forget the mess they found the next day.

M Plus 7 wrote: ↑Thu May 31, 2018 3:29 pm

ColinIsCool wrote: ↑Thu May 31, 2018 12:00 pm I don’t even drink coffee.

What is wrong with you?

Coffee is for mortals. I spent my long nights hosting Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3 drinking nothing but water. My kidneys are phenomenal.

Garrett Mancuso was livid. He took pride in being one of the top animal control agents in the Windy City but sometimes the job has its down days.

He had big plans for the evening. He was going to visit his sick grandmother in the hospital, reconnect with some old high school friends, and depart for a romantic getaway with his girlfriend. All of that was shot to hell now.

It's not that he wanted to take the trouble call half an hour before his on-call duty ended. He had no choice. Instead of ending the day feeling like a winner, Garrett would learn that his grandmother died an hour after he was supposed to visit her, his old friends would take offense to being stood up and write him off completely, and he and his girlfriend would miss their flight.

All this because a bunch of nitwits at a downtown hotel swore there was a dangerous rabbit on the loose. He would earn three hours of overtime pay for his efforts, but he would come up empty-handed on the job and even worse off in his personal life.

Some days it just pays to say no.

I think I'm just going to take my sweet time writing up the lynch post and savor the tension.

In this situation, I fear that even faction claiming could lead to breaking the game and I just put my popcorn in the microwave. Given the lopsided balance of death between Christians and dentists up to this point, the following revision has been made to the rules:

7) Info-dumping and/or power-role-claiming is legal. Do so at your own peril. Faction claiming for the purposes of POE is prohibited.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Wed May 30, 2018 12:41 am This has quietly become the second-most active heist we've ever had on The Syndicate by total post count (behind another G-Man game, RED vs. BLUE).

I don't think a game approaches such a mark quietly.

What is it with my heist games anyway? BLUE vs. RED sits at #4 on the all-time heist post count as well. That's all three of my heists in the top four. Mad Max set a record for speed game post count (which Mountain Mafia broke) when it ran. Why do you people post so much during my games? Perhaps it's karma for all my screwy posting antics when I play.

"You know, Big C," the Cadbury Bunny said, "I think I'm starting to get the hang of this psychotic thing of yours." He sat in the corner of the room, whetting the blade of an axe. "It's almost therapeutic in a way."

"Yes," Caerbannog wheezed, "you have come far in such short time. But you must not grow overconfident. You don't want to make a mistake and look like a fool."

"True that, babe. The last thing I want to look like is a fucking idiot."

"Perhaps you should utilize your new-found skills when you return to your company."

"What?" Cadbury asked. "You think I should take the slice-and-dice sideshow back to corporate?"

"Why not. They make you parade yourself around in such an undignified manner. They only use you for their amusement and to sell their product."

"Yeah, I see what you're saying, but it's a pretty sweet gig. Private jets, all the carrots I could ever want, and I got a couple of ski bunnies up in Aspen who know how to take my mind off things, if you know what I mean."

"Your blade should be sufficient, young one. Now to the task at hand."

"You got it, Big C!"

Doug Seltenheim had no idea what was going on or why two rabbits appeared to be talking to each other. His sole focus was on the axe that one rabbit now raised above its head as it hopped in his direction.

Quin wrote: ↑Sun May 27, 2018 10:42 pm

nutella wrote: ↑Sun May 27, 2018 10:21 pm Well shit.

vat

This was an error on my part. For some reason, I thought Elohcin posted that, so I edited the post. Sorry for the hosting screw-up.

Keith Shover didn't like the thought of it but Jesus was clear in the scriptures: There would be weeds growing amidst the wheat. But Jesus was also clear that weed removal was to be handled by the angels and not men. This is the part that Keith struggled with. A life had been taken, which meant action was needed. Time would tell if this attempt to remove the weeds was successful or, as Jesus suggested might happen, an instance of ripping out wheat by mistake.

Shannon Miller could have been a weed. She wasn't part of the New Dominion Independent Bible Church flock. She wandered in from the dentist convention. Gladys Campbell didn't like the suggestion that an 'outsider' from the New Dominion crowd might be responsible for it all because this supposed outsider was one of her flock. She relented though and they reported Shannon to the police as a possible person of interest.

Caerbannog and the Cadbury Bunny enjoyed watching the wheat get plucked out in handcuffs.

The power of love is a curious thing. It can make one man weep and another man sing. It can change a heart into a little white dove. It's more than just a feeling; that's the power of love.

The power of prayer (or rather the belief in the power of prayer) is a little touchier. Some people have strong beliefs one way or the other on the power of prayer. Some think it is a genuine force and others believe it's absurd superstition. Some people pray with confidence, while others end up praying for disappointment.

Keith Shover believed in the power of prayer. Once again, he found himself prostrate, on the verge of tears, pleading to God to watch over someone this night. Too bad he was praying for disappointment this time.

When he awoke in the morning, Keith felt invigorated. Nothing like a good old fashion prayer marathon to get one fired up for another day of preaching the evils of the commercialization and secularization of Easter. His vigor waned when we walked into the foyer.

Keith found a bustling scene filled with EMT's, police, and passersby. In the middle of it all was a body, prostrate not unlike Keith had been the night before. The main difference (beside being prostrate in a public space) was that this body had its head smashed in by a marble angel. By the looks of it, this fallen angel had tumbled off the balcony on the third floor.

So began a gloomy day. When the Candy, Not Christ convention got underway again, they opened with a prayer for the deceased. When one of the convention-goers uttered the woman's name, Keith reeled in horror. It was the same woman he had prayed for just hours ago.

Keith was shaken but not deterred. The world was full of tragedy but he would do his best to rise above.

The Cadbury Bunny watched with glee as Gladys and Keith confronted one of their fellow humans. Jennings Robeson liked rabbits. It was a flimsy lead and a poor excuse to kick someone out of a convention but they thought that the security footage of rabbits roaming the hallways might, in some way, be connected to a guy who had a thing for rabbits.

Jennings pleaded his case but ended up walking off in a huff. Of course it was ridiculous but the humans didn't yet understand that they weren't dealing with ordinary rabbits. Only time would show them their ignorance.

Kylemii wrote: ↑Thu May 24, 2018 5:53 pm people kept referencing Gladys Campbell and I thought it was just like some incredibly specific reference to an old actor or something

-5 Hillary Points for not reading the host posts, which involve- wait for it-






Gladys Campbell.

Scotty wrote: ↑Thu May 24, 2018 4:40 pm I know this was employed in Quin’s game recently and probably isn’t mainstream yet, but just in case:

G-Man if mafia doesn’t send in a kill, is it randomized or does nothing happen?

If there is no kill request sent in, then there will be no kill. Failed kills thwarted by protections and missed kills will both be written ambiguously in the night post so you won’t know quite which event occurred.

On May 24th, 1738, John Wesley felt his heart strangely warmed. Almost exactly 280 years later, Keith Shover felt himself called into a lengthy time of intercessory prayer.

"Father God," he prayed, "I don't know why you've placed this person's name on my heart tonight but please watch over him tonight. May your love, grace, and mercy extend to this man, even if he isn't aware that he needs the touch of your healing hands. May he rise in the morning full of purpose and energy to do your work."

On and on he went like this well past midnight. It was beautiful but of no consequence.




Gladys Campbell spent her night jogging her memory. She had seen someone in the hallways but she couldn't remember if he attended the ADA convention or the bible thumpers down the hall. She could see the face in her mind but what was on the name tag he wore? Of course both conferences would use the same generic "Hello, my name is..." name tags.

Then it came to her. Yes! She flipped through the registration logs to see if she could find a match or prove her hunch correct.




Oscar Brisbin had a late-night case of the munchies. He ran down to the vending machine and paused. He knew what he wanted but it just felt wrong on both levels. Miss Lilah's Devil's Food Cookies were his weakness. What would his peers think?

Succumbing to temptation, he inserted his change and pushed the buttons D-6-6-6. The cookies dropped down and he lifted the flap to retrieve his sinful treat. He pulled his hand back out quickly when something sharp jabbed his finger. He looked as blood dripped from his fingertip.

"What on Earth?" he said aloud.

"That is your idea of striking out with vengeance?" Caerbannog asked the Cadbury Bunny inside the vending machine. He wheezed a hearty laugh. "Allow me to show you how this is done.

When the foolish human peered into the vending machine and reached in to rescue the poor bunnies inside, Caerbannog latched on with the fury of a dozen demons. He pulled the man's arm all the way into the machine. Oscar's head smashed into the base of the machine, knocking him unconscious just as his arm popped out of its socket.

He never woke up.

Day 0
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6

Gladys didn't know what to expect when she approached the charismatic preacher. His in-your-face culture warrior reputation turned her off but she had something he needed to see.

"It might be related," Keith Shover said, "but it's such odd behavior in either case. I've never seen this kind of thing before."

"Neither have I," Gladys replied, "but it's awfully coincidental that both of our registration tables were interfered with."

"I agree," Shover stammered, "but will anyone believe us?"

"I've already made a phone call. The front desk will be taken by surprise. Hopefully that will minimize the attention."




The Cadbury Bunny watched the scene from their hotel room. Caerbannog crept up behind him, giving Cadbury a start.

"Must you do that, you crazy old bastard?"

"If anyone deserves insults, it is you, no?"

"Yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence."

"You'll get no such thing from me."

"Gee, thanks. You're such a swell guy." He sighed. "This is my fault. I talked him into this plan."

"You talk like someone who didn't understand the potential consequences."

"Guilty as charged."

"Now then, my young amateur," Caerbannog wheezed, "how about we start doing things my way?"




Outside the hotel, the Easter Bunny was being carted away by Animal Control. Inside the plastic and metal crate, the old rabbit thrashed about. Had the humans understood him, they'd have heard him screaming at the dentists and Christians alike.

"You fools! Without me, children's teeth wouldn't need cleaning! You benefit from my existence and work! This is your loss! And you Christian fools- the Lutherans invented me for God's sake! Curse you all!"

Scotty wrote: ↑Mon May 21, 2018 11:18 am
@G-Man is it possible to update everyone’s ISO when you get a chance? Everyone has posted but Floyd

Done.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Mon May 21, 2018 2:06 am

wolbre04 wrote: ↑Mon May 21, 2018 2:05 am 7) Info-dumping and/or role-claiming is forbidden legal. Do so at your own peril
Forbidden legal? Does this mean its allowed but stupid? Seems contradictory

I think it's a typo.

@G-Man

Yep. That's a typo.

Gladys Campbell was always told that, for working around a bunch of dentists, she had a great sense of humor. She viewed it as a necessity. Dentists, for the most part, were either completely humorless or total cornballs. Somehow she always found a nice middle ground that kept things light in every situation.

This stunt, however, made her angry. Oh sure, someone else probably thought it was hilarious to move a vending machine full of Cadbury chocolate next to the ADA convention registration table. Had it happened to someone else, she admitted to herself, she would probably get a chuckle out of it. But she had to sit next to it all day, dealing with the sideways looks and redundant questions as dentist after dentist filed into the morning seminar.

The hotel workers, of course, played dumb and swore to her that they didn't know who moved it there. Well, Gladys didn't claw her way to the Executive Administrative Assistant role just to be made a joke of by this prank. No sir, she would get to the bottom of it one way or another.


Keith Shover sighed. It had been a great Easter. His flock was growing and his 'Christ, Not Candy' message was really starting to take off. God works in mysterious ways but he knew better than to think this was a divine message.

He was used to being picked on, laughed at, and dismissed. Perhaps he should have known better than to hold his convention in such a godless city like Chicago. But, he reminded himself, prophets and disciples were called into the heart of wickedness to spread God's word.

He picked up the broken crucifix and cleaned up the animal feces that someone spread all over his pamphlets. The show must go on, after all.

You might think that three rabbits entering a bustling urban hotel would be noticed. You might also think that someone would see them stealing a managers access card, a room key, and studying room reservations and the schematics of the building.

Then again, good help is hard to find and many front lobby workers aren't paid a living wage, so why should they care? Besides, if people weren't spectacularly failing at their jobs, this story couldn't play out, so take a double-shot of suspension of disbelief and buckle up and enjoy the ride.


"That is your plan?" Caerbannog chuckled. "I respect your ambition, Cadbury, but you are such an armature that it makes me laugh."

"What?" Cadbury asked. "You don't think we should make a statement right out of the gate?"

"Oh, indeed I do," Caerbannog replied. "You and Easter stick with your plan for the dentists. Allow me to make our presence known to the Christians."

"I think that is a fair arrangement," Easter chimed in, hoping to keep the awkward peace. "We should start slow and simple. Don't let them think something is amiss too soon."

"Yes," Caerbannog hissed, "we tease them first during the day and strike out with vengeance at night."

Roles

CIVVIES:
Civvies are divided into two overlapping groups:

CHRISTIANS:
Keith Shover- Founder and head pastor of New Dominion Independent Bible Church. Each night he can make an intercessory prayer capable of protecting other Christians. His power cannot protect anyone who is just a dentist or mafia. He is not told if his protections are successful or not.
Mark Willard- vannilla Christian civvie
Janice Curry- vanilla Christian civvie
Rachel Powell- vanilla Christian civvie

CHRISTIAN DENTISTS:
Doug Seltenheim- vanilla Christian dentist
William Pucino- vanilla Christian dentist
Shannon Miller- vanilla Christian dentist
Oscar Brisbin- vanilla Christian dentist

DENTISTS:
Gladys Campbell- Executive administrative assistant for the American Dental Association. Each night, she can check one player to see if they have ADA credentials, thus determining if they are a dentist or not. Checks on the mafia or the four roles that are just Christian will yield no result.
Horace Speck- vanilla dentist
Jennings Robeson- vanilla dentist
Lisa Chapman- vanilla dentist


MAFIA:
The mafia selects one player to kill each night. They may decide on the kill as a group. The kill does not have to be assigned to a specific member of the mafia, as there are no blocking powers in the game. If they fail to submit a kill request or abstain, there will be no kill.

Cadbury Bunny- vanilla baddie
Easter Bunny- vanilla baddie
Demon Rabbit of Caerbannog- He has survived for centuries. Crafty and tough, he cannot be lynched until both his teammates are dead. *secrets*

Gameplay
1. Days are 48 hours long. I will do everything in my power to keep poll deadlines between 9:00 pm and 9:30 pm EST.
2. Nights are 24 hours long, but all PMs must be sent to the host within 23 hours so night posts can be written in a timely fashion.
3. Only those players who have BTSC may communicate with each other outside of the game thread but ONLY in designated BTSC threads or chat rooms. For everyone else, no game-related discussion is permitted outside the game thread.
4. Votes in the poll are the only votes that count. It's helpful but not mandatory that you declare your vote in the thread in a way that stands out to the host.
5. All votes are changeable all the way up to the deadline.
6. A tied lynch will result in no lynch. Votes matter. There will be no coin flips to determine lynch results.
6) Standard alignment wincons are in effect unless otherwise stated.
7) Dead is dead; you don't get to come back from that. Dead players will have their BTSC right removed.
8) Roles will be revealed upon death.
9) All players get to vote via PM for game MVP at the end of the game.
10) This game is a mostly-open setup.

Rules
1) Respect your fellow players, your host, and your Facilitator.
1a) Don't be an asshat.
1b) Don't get butthurt.
2) If you feel like another player is out of line or making/taking things personal/ly, contact the Facilitator, Spacedaisy.
3) No BTSC regarding the game outside of the game thread(s). Players are told in their rolecard if they have BTSC. If you don't have it, don't engage in it. Violating this rule will result in a modkill.
4) No editing or deleting posts.
5) Self-voting is permitted.
6) Double-targeting is not allowed.
7) Info-dumping and/or power-role-claiming is legal. Do so at your own peril. Faction claiming for the purposes of POE is prohibited.
8) Off-topic posts should be in OT Green.
9) Dead players are to post in Dead Red.
10) Non-Players should post in Non-Player Blue.
11) This is the host's color. Do not post in this color.
12) Participation is polite to everyone involved. If I feel you may not be paying attention to the game, I will reach out to you. Replacements and modkills may be employed if necessary. If you sign up, please play. If you can't play, request replacement.

Players:

ALIVE:
ColinIsCool- Caerbannog, mafia- WINNER
Epignosis- Horace Speck, dentist- framed for the murders at endgame
JaggedJimmyJay- Rachel Powell, Christian- framed for the murders at endgame
Scotty- Cadbury Bunny, mafia- WINNER



DEAD:
Choutas- The Easter Bunny, mafia- Lynched Day 1- WINNER
novaselinenever- Oscar Brisbin, Christian dentist- Killed Night 1
wolbre04- Jennings Robeson, dentist- Lynched Day 2
Kylemii- Lisa Chapman, dentist- Killed Night 2
Elohcin- Shannon Miller, Christian dentist- Lynched Day 3
M Plus 7- Doug Seltenheim, Christian dentist- Killed Night 3
lapluie- Gladys Campbell, the dentist checker- Killed Night 4
Quin- Mark Willard, Christian- Lynched Day 5
Marmot (Replaced MacDougall)- Keith Shover, Christian protector- Killed Night 5
Nutella (Replaced TheFloyd73)- Janice Curry, Christian- lynched Day 6
Dyslexicon- William Pucino, Christian- Killed at endgame

The Story So Far:
A Stranger Calls
The Conversation
The Descent
Day 0 Begins
Day 1 Begins
Day 1 Ends
Night 1 Ends
Day 2 Ends
Night 2 Ends
Day 3 Ends
Night 3 Ends
Day 4 Ends
Night 4 Ends
Day 5 Ends
Night 5 Ends
Day 6 Ends

Link to all host posts