WW LXXXVIII: What Lies in the Dark (Game Thread)

[Loslote]

So I never saw Nerwen or Shasta coming. Okay, I put down Shasta once as a possible Spiderling, but I didn't really believe it. Even Nog I only started suspecting towards the end of the Day I died. Well done, evil people. *grumps*

And Zil?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Loslote

And Zil?

Yeah, I know. We need to stop doing that. Maybe next time we're both on the good side we can actually team up on getting the bad ones.

[Loslote]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Yeah, I know. We need to stop doing that. Maybe next time we're both on the good side we can actually team up on getting the bad ones.

That did work better, didn't it? New plan for next game!

[Nogrod]

Nice little twist there in the end...

It was good fun once again - and for a long time - although I PM'd Sally the first thing I learned I was Shelob that I wasn't too happy about that as I love playing an ordo. Heh, I had never noticed the last line on the rules where everyone who didn't wish to be Shelob could have just PM'd her about it...

It was an interesting concept and we could toy with it again one day, but the way the stinging / rangering / incubating / healing / turning -sequence goes should be re-eavaluated a bit. One solution could be that the one stinged would turn her/his allegiances immediately to the dark side as it would solve the "hinting issue" (and that way also the 50% possibility of not being able to vote would make more sense).


Anyway, great modding Sally! Well executed!

And kudos to my spiderlings Nerwen and Shasta!

Also my deep bow to wilwa who really kept us on our toes the last Days, and to tp who undoubtedly was there during the last Day in what wilwa was doing.

Congrats to Lhuna as well for being quite right for a long time.

And thanks to everyone for a good, even if a bit silent game.

[Lhunardawen]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

And thanks to everyone for a good, even if a bit silent game.

Tell me about it. The low post count made reading through the game MUCH easier, but it was mostly unnerving.

I'm sorry, Noggie, I don't think I can stop asking this. Why not Zil or Fea?

[wilwarin538]

*glares at Nog*

That was so frustrating! Still totally fun, but totally frustrating. Especially that last Day, because it started with me not being really too sure of who Shelob was, Phantom and I had chatted and we both sorta suspected Nog, but we also sorta suspected some other people. But then by the time I had to leave I was so positive it was him. And then I voted for him, and only later noticed that Lhuna had already voted for Shasta. I had somehow totally missed that post, I don't know how, I thought I was the first vote, though if I had seen it I don't know if I would have voted any differently, because I didn't actually really suspect Shasta at all and really really wanted to get Nog (I also didn't realise that Fea wouldn't be around to vote)

Probably the hardest thing about this was me not being able to say who I was, because my role did provide me with some extra information. I knew Fea wasn't a spiderling, since she couldn't have been stung from the beginning (she wasn't playing yet), and so it would have had to have been Night 3 (except I chose her Day 4 to 'cure'). On Day 1 I had to leave early so I sent Boro in as my pick, but when I got home and read over the Day everyone was saying Lhuna would have been a good choice. I decided to protect her Night 2 since I figured if Shelob thought Sam had already chosen her during the Day, then she would be a safe choice for the Night. But Nog went for me instead (did you know who I was when you did that?). So the next Day with everyone saying "Oh, Lhuna looks more innocent since Sam probably chose her", I couldn't really explain the whole situation, so I tried to make it sound like I didn't protect her at all, and hint that Sam was the one attacked. It was frustrating, haha.

Anyway, it was a pretty awesome game. I wish I could have been around more (especially on that last Day, my participation should have been way better). And Noggins, I still love you, you rock. When we're on different teams this seems to always be the way it goes, we totally clash and both get super frustrated, we should just always be on the same team from now on .

*snuggles Sallycakes for an awesome game* Are you going to spill the beans now about Nog's little wishlist???

Oh, and snuggles to Pie, I feel bad for my random Day 1 vote getting him killed.

[the phantom]

Well well, my sneak attack didn't go off as planned due to participation, but ah well... that's what happens. Not many people feel as duty-bound obligated to post as I do (I will literally call in sick to work if I think it's the difference between winning and losing a game).

The plan was not to show much in the way of hard and just suspicion but rather load Sam up with ammo and have Shelob + Spiderlings think "Where the heck did this come from? I didn't imagine this!" when suddenly the innocent were coming after them on the final day.

I saw the whole Lottie thing as being extremely telling. From my PM to Wilwa-Sam during my final night alive-

Originally Posted by me

I'm so ticked that they lynched Lottie!! She was SO unlikely, for a host of reasons!! Seems like an unlikely Shelob, definitely wasn't the first spider bite (she would've acted different), and she couldn't have been stung Night 2 (that was Sam), could not have been stung Night 4 (that was Frodo), so that only leaves Night 3, in which case she would've acted different to tip us off, not to mention everyone seemed pretty aware that my declaring the two of you innocent was baiting a Shelob failed attack on the assumption that she might be protected.

I mean really- she was as bad a lynch choice as anyone in the game, so merely on those grounds I'm suspicious of anyone involved. And especially I'm suspicious of people like Nog who voted for her on the grounds that he was checking my trustworthiness (her badness would make me look bad or whatever). That's such a ridiculous premise, because-
1) Why not just lynch ME if you are suspecting me? (answer: Because Shelob already knows I'm going to die so might as well kill Lottie too.)
2) So what if she was evil? Would I have picked her? Would I have treated her like that as my minion? Who flippin knows?! In other words, there was no information that could've been gained! NO ONE can predict with any success how I'd act in a given situation, so why pretend that there is some believable test you can do to determine my guilt?!

Anyone who even attempts such a thing is scheming, because in and of itself it's pointless to approach me in such a fashion, and anyone who's played with me ought to know better.
......
The Lottie lynch was poorly conceived, and if it was innocents doing it they ought to be ashamed of themselves. If I was still alive I'd harp on that all day and lynch those people.

As far as my thoughts on individuals, here's my Shasta take from my PM-

Originally Posted by me

Shasta- he's got very little in the way of voting record and such, so really who's to say. I'm the sort that would declare him a non-target on account of him being such a submarine the first few days, and declare that if he's Shelob then screw him, he didn't legitimately fool me, he just skated past due to inactivity.
.......
Also, encourage everyone to reread Day 3 and see if anyone is hinting that they have been stung. Tell them that if no one did anything to hint that they were stung, then the sting victim MUST have been someone that was pretty much absent most of the time.

I did not want to go so far as to outright say that Shasta was the Night 3 sting, but given what I could remember for the day and the people that I actually read for sting-clues, Shasta seemed a good choice, and I wondered if a thorough read-through by the innocents in mass would indeed place him as a likely Spidlering not to be trusted.
The bit pertaining to Nerwen-

Originally Posted by me

Nerwen- She's also been as wrong as anyone in the game, and she misses obvious things that I would think she'd catch (like her comments about me, trying to make my posts sound suspicious when they're instead giving out the Frodo-vibes).

The bit pertaining to Nog-

Originally Posted by me

I mean really- she was as bad a lynch choice as anyone in the game, so merely on those grounds I'm suspicious of anyone involved. And especially I'm suspicious of people like Nog who voted for her on the grounds that he was checking my trustworthiness
........
I'm not certain Shelob would openly try and kill you, as that could be incriminating. Why not give the attack orders to a Spiderling? Or why not be on your side the entire game? As a Baddie I have on multiple occasions won the game with multiple gifteds still alive on the final day, because I got them on my side. Killing isn't always necessary.

And if you'll remember back on Day 2, I said that a strategy that was just as likely was that Shelob and minions would first wish to rid themselves of Sam's supporters giving them an easier shot should they wish to take out Sam. And notice they did bust up the Phantom-Wilwa-Lottie block that I had going. If they hadn't done that I think they would've found themselves in trouble, but instead you're the only one left.
........
Nog- Same thing, only more so (in reference to Nerwen looking guilty). Personally it wouldn't surprise me one bit if he didn't, based upon your identity, take a look at me and figure I was Frodo and then select me for tactical reasons (the Night-death is useful). And then of course kill the other very innocent person I'd been supporting (Lottie) and come away from the ordeal with an avenue to attack you.
.....
The way in which he's wrong and the perfect timing of his wrongness... If he's not evil then he's playing very very off his game and deserves death anyway.

Anyway, after our night talks I figured Wilwa would enter the arena guns blasting and get all the innocents to gang up on a baddie, most likely Nog. She did in fact get Inzil to go with her, and Lhuna went for a baddie independently (thus I imagine Wilwa could've gained Lhuna's help had she began her posting before the final 5 hours or if Lhuna had held her vote until closer to the deadline), and Fea I was confident would help, and well- that would've been the game.

But as the hours ticked by on that day and nothing was in the works, I knew the game was lost. Ugh. Completely my fault. Instead of trying to be surprising just for the sake of drama and making a good story, I should've stuck around until the deadline on that final day I was alive and let loose with everything I had rather than dump the workload in the lap of a busy person.

Heh heh... just goes to show what I've said before- it's a fine line between a slaughter either direction. Something as small as an appointment can swing a game. What's embarrassing this time is given the set up I can't believe the goodies didn't win. If I had been Nog I would have cried upon receiving the Shelob role. "Um, moddess, how exactly am I supposed to win with no team?"

Under those circumstances I would've been tempted to do something extremely high-risk for the low chance of payoff, but Nog's more calculated risks ended up being suited for the flow of this particular game.

[Lhunardawen]

Well, Zil, good thing I never got to the point when I'd have to deceive you.