Thread: Circus: Mafia: An offer you can't refuse Board: Limbo / Ship of Fools.


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Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
A new game of Mafia. Please sign up here if you want to play. I’ll leave registration open until Monday at least, before assigning roles and announcing the start of the game.

For anyone unfamiliar with the game, I'll give a brief rundown of how to play, but further information is available from the Wikipedia page for Mafia (Game), and there's an excellent thread in Limbo to give you an idea of how it works in practice. In particular, I'll be following Teufelchen's Guide to Mafia (starting here) very closely.

In summary, you will be assigned a secret identity. You will either be a mobster or an innocent, although there are variations within those categories, which I'll explain in more detail once roles have been allocated, when I intend to post a list of roles I may be using within the game, but no information about likely numbers of each role. The aim of the mobsters is to take control of the town by murdering innocents. The aim of the innocents is to survive by identifying and lynching the mob.

The game swaps between day and night phases, which I will announce. During the night, players with certain roles may perform specific secret actions (the mob, for example, may murder an innocent overnight). Once these actions are complete, I will announce daybreak, and any deaths as a result of these actions, along with the roles of the dead players. Anyone who has been murdered will have an opportunity to post a moving, comic, or just plain bizarre death scene, before the townsfolk have their chance of revenge.

Once this has been done, townsfolk are allowed to accuse others of being mobsters. There will be no limit on the number of townsfolk who may be accused, but each player may only make one accusation per phase. Please also remember that making too many accusations is likely to attract unwanted attention from the other townsfolk. Once the accusation period is closed, anyone still left alive may vote on which of the accused they want to lynch. I will accept a majority of those voting as sufficient to secure a lynching, but I will also allow a vote of None of the above. If a player is lynched, I will reveal their role, they may post a death scene, and then night will fall again. Otherwise, we move straight on to night.

As in previous games, I'll slow the game down over the weekends, so that those who are ashore at that time can still participate. This game is most likely to be a fairly simple one, for the benefit of those who haven't played before, but I'll take a final decision based on numbers. All being well, I hope to follow this up with a more complex game involving some interesting roles.

That's all the boring admin out of the way, and apologies for the length of it. Apart from expressing an interest in playing, feel free to develop your characters (not strictly necessary, but adds to the flavour), or ask any questions you may have about the game. As ever, I apologise to anyone who gets bumped off early. And now...


Welcome to Little Florence, Massachusetts. Once a major centre of commerce thanks to the large number of bank offices in the city, its current economic position is, er, less secure. So far, job losses haven't been too severe, but the future looks shaky, and business confidence is plummeting. A banker was recently found dead in his office, with a gun in his hand and a gunshot wound to the head, but police are yet to confirm suicide.

[ 31. October 2009, 10:22: Message edited by: Chorister ]
 

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Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :
 
They called her The Smudge. It was not exactly a nickname, certainly no pet name, she was simply that sort of a woman - the kind that always seemed to be there, somewhere in the shadows; the kind that nobody really got to know too deeply; the kind with an aura of a secret past into which there was no encouragement to delve, though what was held deep in her memory may have been nothing sinister at all. There was no way of knowing. Maybe nobody knew - apart from The Smudge, and the small nameless black and white cat who accompanied her at all times.

Nobody knew quite what she did for a living, though a living she clearly had, as she had recently purchased the old mansion house up on the hill. Her clothes, dull and dowdy, were nevertheless well made and seemed to come from a bottomless wardrobe. What will Little Florence make of this new addition to their community, who appears at church, in the neighbourhood bars and coffee shops, who walks in the park and shops in the local store, but who is, to all intents and purposes, little more than a shadow. A Smudge.
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Oooh, sounds like fun! I'm in.
 

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Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
The Man Who Wasn't Welsh (TMW3) didn't fit in anywhere, so a small town with a (once) healthy financial services sector was just about perfect. No one knew much about him, apart from the fact that he wasn't Welsh.
 

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Posted by lady in red (# 10688) on :
 
Lucinda Reede said goodbye to her last pupil for the day and opened the door for him. She watched as he walked wearily up the path to go home. She felt rather sorry for him really, she could tell that he hated playing the cello and only came to lessons because his mother made him. She could hardly refuse his money, though, could she? Some of her other pupils had dropped off recently because their parents couldn't afford it any more.

With the day's teaching over, she needed to get on with some practice before her recital next week. She settled down to work on her Brahms.

(I love this game )

[punctuation]

[ 06. January 2009, 15:07: Message edited by: lady in red ]
 

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Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :
 
(aside: Having lost twice in earlier games, I shall enjoy this one vicariously from my armchair.)
 

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Posted by davelarge (# 186) on :
 
D. Avelarge, businessman, philanthropist, and owner of the Little Florence Nightingales hockey team was thinking of retirement. The local economy was bearing up under the weight of the excesses of the last twenty years, but surely it was only a matter of time before things got hard. Comfortable as he was, did he really want to slug through two or three years of recession when he could be devoting his time to the 23rd Street shelter and the 'Gales? A sizable part of him answered an emphatic "no" to that question. Picking up the TV remote, he put on the news, and reclined comfortably in his chair as he waited for his lunch date to drop by...
 

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Posted by fletcher christian (# 13919) on :
 
Travis ran the local amusement arcade in town - the only lucrative business left in town. Times may be tough, but few ever gave up on the dream of spending their hard earned cash in hope of a miserable pay-out on a one armed bandit. In times like these, Travis felt like a theif, stealing from the miserable and poor to make himself rich.... maybe it was time to listen to concience and start a new line of work, but what would be good in these times? Most days he spent time hanging out at the door, cig in mouth and elbow on broom handle listening intently to the buzz of gossip on the floor
 

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Posted by §Andrew (# 9313) on :
 
Dr André, the famous French doctor of the economic elite was starting to feel insecure. Not that his, let's say savings, were threatened by the recent crisis. No, he has enough bars of gold and pieces of art that he wouldn't even notice the crisis were it not for his famous clients getting, well, rather anxious because of their investment choices.

The people of Little Florence might be good, but they weren't bright as far as investments go... They should have invested in art. Art never loses its value, dr André thought.

And what's that now? One of his clients dead? A suicide maybe? Silly people. Just go bankrupt and start over. Why kill yourself over money, André thought, looking at his new Picasso at the wall of his bedroom.
 

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Posted by Teufelchen (# 10158) on :
 
Professor Rufus de Ville, professor emeritus of parapsychology from one of the state's older, but not necessarily more distinguished universities, put down his morning paper and took another gulp of coffee. The financial crisis was bothering him rather more than some of his colleagues, since without tenure, he had been relying on private funding for some of his research projects. Now, with spare capital becoming increasingly rare, he was trying without success to find an alternative source of income. He liked his coffee well enough, but the local coffee houses seemed unwilling to hire a barista who was the wrong side of 65 and had a pronounced nervous stutter...

A headline caught his eye. Another banking suicide? Perhaps other people were worse affected by all this after all.

(I'm in.)

T.
 

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Posted by Pax Romana (# 4653) on :
 
Patty Romano had always wanted to sing in the world's leading opera houses, but lately she had to content herself with whatever work she could get. In Little Florence, this was at her brother's Italian restaurant. It was generally recognized that Patty's singing was one of the main attractions of the place, since the food was not anything to write home about.

Pax Romana
 

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Posted by Ye Olde Motherboarde (# 54) on :
 
Don Carmen was watching over the grapa making and the olive pressing in back of his barber shop in Little Italy. His son, Domenico, came in to tell him and everyone in the shop of the local gossip. Everyone was laughing and swapping stories, when Don Giovanni, the local consiglieri, walked in for a haircut. A stranger came a little afterward and sat down for a cut, but, unknown to everyone, there was a weapon under his coat.
It all happened so fast. And the body of Don Giovanni lay in a pool of blood.
The word got out quickly In Little Italy. The Don of the dons, Don Georgio, knew that this was only the beginning.
 

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Posted by Dafyd (# 5549) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
No one knew much about him, apart from the fact that he wasn't Welsh.

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quote:

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Originally posted by The Great Gumby:
(If everyone's agreeable, I'd like to try out a sort of substitution system, so that people who have missed out on the start of the game can step in to replace players who have to withdraw for non-game-related reasons.

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That's an excellent idea The Great Gumby!
 

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Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
Bishop Banner woke early, as was his custom; and performed his daily orisons. He wondered if his housekeeper, Bunny Baker, would show up today. If she did not, he feared it was high time he notified the authorities. It was a situation worthy of prayer...and for seeking wisdom. He decided that today he would go to see his recently retired superior, Monsignor Milat, a man of God he much admired.
 

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Posted by davelarge (# 186) on :
 
"Come on coffee, work with me" groaned D. Avelarge as he stumbled around the kitchen, trying to prepare himself for the day ahead. The news was full of rumours, gossip, speculation and pure fantasy about the recent death. Suicide? Not likely. Gang turf war? Perhaps. Bad debts? Maybe. There was no strong consensus on why the victim had been left the way that he was, but one thing was certain: The police were clueless, as usual.

But it was Saturday, and that meant the day was to be spent at the Nightingales' office doing the accounts. Boring, but necessary.
"Time to be off", and gulping down the dregs of his americano, Avelarge left the house...
 

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Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :
 
The Smudge noticed Avelarge as he made his way across the town square but she chose not to make herself known to him but rather to fade into the background, as was her wont.

She had left the pizza restaurant, her coffee as yet unfinished, as the silence of the day had been shattered by the arrival of two prattling musicians. If there was one thing the Smudge preferred, it was to drink her coffee in silence, watching the people as they passed by in the busyness of their lives, oblivious to her very existance. But this duo had been too great a distraction to her meditation, sitting so very close and talking so very passionately about a subject so close to the Smudge's heart, so she had slipped away, unnoticed.

Perhaps a few moments sitting on the bench in the town square would suffice.
 

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Posted by Sylvander (# 12857) on :
 
"The game's afoot! Upon this charge cry: God for Harry, England and Saint George!"

Sir van der Hill rested his massive volume of the Complete Works on his lap and stared into the fire pensively. These were difficult times and it would be hard for a little town like Little Florida to pick itself up from this economic downturn, especially after this spectacular suicide. Or was it one? The papers did not reveal anything conclusive. Why, with his experience in the war he was not inclined to become unduly worried over the death of a banker whom he had never even met. But still, it was odd...

He decided to have a last dram before retiring. 20 year Lagavulin it would be. The nice thing about living in Little Florence was the price of whisky. The price of everything actually. It was free. Maybe tomorrow he would gift himself a vintage car and a helicopter landing space on the roof !
 

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Posted by §Andrew (# 9313) on :
 
Dr André just finished seeing his last wealthy patient for today. Now it was time for his pro bono work, for the less fortunate people of Little Florence.

Oh yes, along with the rich and the powerful, there were also some poor souls living in this beautiful town. And Dr André thought they had a right to health care as well.

After having treated countless millionaires (and quite a few billionaires) Dr André wasn't impressed by wealth, fame or power. The poor are to be treated as well, Dr André always said, and with the recent -but unexpected- crisis this meant that the number of the poor in Little Florence was rising.

"C'est la Vie", the doctor was thinking to himself. "C'est la Vie".
 

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Posted by Ye Olde Motherboarde (# 54) on :
 
Don Carmen decided this new death needed to have someone on the inside, so he asked one of his police informants to give him all the news. But a little knowledge is a dangerous thing sometime.
 

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Posted by Teufelchen (# 10158) on :
 
Professor de Ville made his way to the public library, taking care to avoid the district where the creepy barber-shop was. Perhaps a few hours work on Hungarian occultism in the reign of Rudolf II would be enough to take his mind off the bloodthirsty business of the here and now.

T.
 

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Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
On the long drive over to the cathedral parish where Mons. Milat lived, Bishop Banner spent time cogitating on ways to raise money for the diocese, and especially for Little Florence. He decided it was time to appeal to the well-to-do in his area, and to encourage them to engage in the mission of shoring up the church (and his own career). For the good of Little Florence, of course.

Traditionally the church was always the last thing to close in the community, and Bishop Banner was keen not just to maintain standards, but to actually improve the services his church offered in these hard times. Who would be interested in such philanthropic work, he wondered? Certainly Mr.Avelarge, the big-hearted businessman; and Dr.Andrew who gave so generously of his time at the Free Clinic. Perhaps that young man Travis, who had one of the few thriving businesses in town; and it was certainly worth writing to Sir Van der Hill and Miss Smudge. He would also drop a line to Professor Chells, Miss Sal and Miss Austen-Wreath. They might not be willing to be involved, but every donation helped, and they might have other contacts of benefit. He prayed for each of them as he went.
 

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Posted by Dafyd (# 5549) on :
 
Dafyd the Post delivered the papers. As he delivered the last paper he wondered idly what he was going to do about the bull terrier fastened to his leg. It appeared to be quite happy there.
 

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Posted by Pax Romana (# 4653) on :
 
As usual, Patty Romano had slept late. Working nights in the restaurant meant keeping late hours altogether. She stumbled out of bed, fed her cat, brewed her special Vietnamese coffee (freshly ground, of course) and sat down at the kitchen table, where she had placed all of her tax documents. She knew that she had better file her tax return this year or else! Her accountant, Mr. Avelarge, would be waiting for her at 2:00 this afternoon and she wanted to have everything ready for him.

Pax Romana
 

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Posted by davelarge (# 186) on :
 
Avelarge left the Nightingales' offices at 1350 in a bit of a rush. He was late and frustrated that the team's accounts had taken so long. But then, how do you plan for a sudden downturn in cash flow and rise in costs?

Getting behind the wheel of his '64 Mustang, he left a cloud of dust behind him in the parking lot...
 

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Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 
A laid-linen white-wove deckle-edged bishop-sealed envelope! Lying elegantly on the mat! Hmmmm! Presumably the bishop's housekeeper had dropped it by? Jane (JAW to her friends) couldn't imagine Bishop Banner stooping to drop letters through letterslots.

But where, oh where, was her letter-opener? Such a grand envelope shouldn't be ripped open in the usual way.
 

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Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :
 
Rev'd Permin locked up the church after Morning Prayer and returned to the vicarage. The Bishop always seemed to be out and about, and his lunch with His Grace had given him the impression that Little Florence was high on the episcopal hitlist. While Rev'd Permin welcomed extra investment in his parish (and had a couple of quiet schemes of his own to raise funds), to have the Bishop's size 10s blundering through the accounts and asking people for money might be... unfortunate.

With a sigh, Rev'd Permin made himself a cup of tea ('Earl Grey, hot,' as he told the kettle every day) and sat down to think about and pray for his flock. So many were worried about money, and the Italians (some of whom came to his church because his sermons were shorter than those in the Catholic Church) looked as though they were about to have more arguments between the 'families' in Little Little Florence. He prayed for a quiet time in the town - but at the back of his mind, Rev'd Permin felt that this was the last thing they were likely to get.
 

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Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :
 
The Smudge smiled to herself as she watched the vicar scurry across the town square from the church to the vicarage at the end of morning prayer, puzzled expression on his face. It didn't take much thinking to realise that he was wondering about the whereabouts of the Bishop and the impact of the increasing poverty in the town upon his little congregation.

Perhaps the vicar thought that trouble could be staved off with his prayers. It must be nice to have that kind of faith, she thought, as she bent to stroke the cat at her feet, and drifted softly away to her shadowy home.
 

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Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
Bishop Banner was startled. He had arrived home from a Most Helpful meeting with Monsignor Milat to find afternoon tea laid out, as per usual, in his study. The housekeeper, Bunny Baker, had appeared like an apparition to ask if he wanted lemon, cream or whiskey in his tea.

"Is everything all right, Bishop?" she enquired.

"My dear woman, where have you been these last few days? I was exceedingly worried on your behalf!" exclaimed Bp Banner.

Bunny Baker tut-tutted and asked him if he ever bothered to read the mail on his desk. She assured him she had left a note a week ago explaining her necessary absence for a few days.

Bp Banner spluttered that he most certainly DID read his mail. [In fact, since a little incident in his previous diocese where he had overlooked a few fatal details in the corresponence and accounts of the youth department, he had become extremely pedantic in his oversight of such things].

"Bunny; I did not receive any such letter," he reiterated. "Are you absolutely certain you notified me? It's not like your supposed ordering for the catering of the last synod dinner is it?"

Bunny paled at the recollection and stammered she would check her handbag. She returned several minutes later, sheepishly holding a crumpled letter.

Bishop Banner sighed, and, though his insides were rather riled, he smiled. "Never mind, Bunny. All's well that ends well. And I am very glad that you are back safe."
 

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Posted by leonato (# 5124) on :
 
Almost time for the lunchtime rush thought Salvatore. He wondered if he'd get more than 5 customers today. He could do with the extra cash, but doesn't want to be rushed off his feet.

The rumours about the presence of Mafia in the town worried him. How could he stay on their good side. We're there any pizza toppings they particularly like? Siciliana perhaps? He knew he had some Sicilian delicacies from home in the back of the store cupboard. But what if they were Neapolitan mafia? They might have me shot just for offering Sicilian olives. What to do?

He hurriedly chopped some mushrooms, and, not taking care, sliced his finger open. He hurried into the back room to find a plaster.
 

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Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 
Miss Sal stepped off the sidewalk as yet another fool on a skateboard zoomed by. Considering how far manners had fallen, was it any surprise that the economy was such a trouble? Still, all these deaths seemed a bit much.
Ah well, either way there were so many more important things to worry about. For instance, Bishop Banners pants were definitely wrinkled yesterday. Was he getting up to some hanky-panky or was his housekeeper just missing again?
Miss Sal paused a moment in her reflections to smile at the postman. "Well hello there, dear!" Anyway, what on earth was with that dog? Probably best not to ask. Wouldn't want to intrude. And, oh my! Look at that smudgie lady over there. Positively dull and probably quite sketchy. Yes, this side of town was definitely becoming run down. Miss Sal made a note to talk to the reverend about this. Surely the church should do something about such people. Perhaps clean them up so that they don't wander around and lower the standards.
 

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Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
Here's how I'm planning to operate substitutes. Anyone who wanted to play but missed out on registration (there's usually someone) can PM me, and I'll add their name to a list. If anyone playing the game needs to withdraw, they can also PM me (in advance if possible, although naturally, that isn't always practical) and I'll arrange for the person at the top of my waiting list to take their place, either immediately or at a designated time when the original player becomes unavailable. I'll also fill them in on anything the departing player knows (e.g. fellow Mafiosi, or results of their Detective investigations).

The new player will pick up the in-game character from where it was left, although they will be at liberty to change their name and take the character in a different direction if they wish. I'll make sure that the player's change of identity is noted where relevant, such as a vote on a lynching. If a player needs to leave the game and there's no one interested in taking over, we'll follow the usual procedure of a reveal/suicide. So if anyone would be interested in joining, please let me know.

I should also reiterate, having been asked by PM, that roles have been allocated randomly. There's no advantage to be gained by attempting to psychoanalyse me, because everyone's role was determined by Excel's RAND() function. Feel free to psychoanalyse Bill Gates, though.

I think we've all had long enough to explore Little Florence. As ever, apologies to anyone who gets bumped off early on, and may God have mercy on your souls.


Night falls

If you have night actions, you may now take them.
 

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Posted by Stevie Boy Wonder (# 11869) on :
 
[...but just before night fell...]

Steve Buckland knew he had lots of lesson prep waiting back at home, but it was a Saturday afternoon and high time he explored his new surroundings. The first thing he noticed was the number of people; so many people bustling around town, it was a struggle to keep up with them all.

Still, he couldn't let that get him down. As he sat in Salvatore's Pizzeria, wondering when or even if any other customers would turn up, he admired his reflection in the window. The cut from the barber's blade was less noticable now, and hadn't bled for at least twenty minutes. It was very kind of the barber not to charge, Steve thought, especially bearing in mind that under his usual prices, a shave and a haircut cost considerably more than two bits.

As he nibbled the crust of his quattro formagio, Steve looked past his reflection and saw a lady staring back from across the street. He tried to ignore her, but every time he looked up, she was still staring. Why was she staring at him? He wasn't that handsome. Chillingly, the woman reminded him of his stalker ex-girlfriend, the infamous "bunny baker". Steve shuddered at the memory.

As the woman continued to stare, Steve racked his brain - she wasn't a parent of one of his class, was she? No, he eventually decided, she was just a mysterious staring woman whose black and white clothes, from this distance at least, made her resemble a small penguin. Slightly unnerved, Steve settled the bill with the pizzeria's mildly inebriated waiter, and headed off home, nervously checking behind himself every couple of minutes to ensure no one was following him...

[ 14. January 2009, 20:49: Message edited by: Stevie Boy Wonder ]
 

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Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 
Harry paced up and down his room, unable to sleep. He hadn't had many customers today, but the ones he'd had had all been full of the strangest gossip he'd ever heard. He didn't know what to make of it all, but had a bad feeling.
 

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Posted by Pax Romana (# 4653) on :
 
From her perch at one of the tables of her brother's restaurant, Patty Romano was able to see most of the street through the window. She couldn't help noticing the woman in black and white who was staring into the window of the pizzeria up the street. "What could she be up to," thought Patty. "Why is she staring like that? Who does she expect to see? Would she like a nice cup of espresso and some tiramisu?"

In another 10 minutes, Patty would have to sing another 20-minute "set," but for now she just sat calmly and watched.

Pax Romana

[ 15. January 2009, 02:31: Message edited by: Pax Romana ]
 

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Posted by Sylvander (# 12857) on :
 
Sir van der Hill sat in his study smoking a pipe.

The town had seemed quiet and peaceful today despite the current crisis. A penguin walking through the streets was slightly out of the ordinary but a lifetime of mystic searching and a reliable source of high quality weed had taught him to take such surprising sights in his stride.

The only thing really troubling him on his wanderings was the strange smell of rancid oil emerging from the pizza place. H had heard that the owner used to hit dissatisfied customers over the head with a deep frozen pizza but sadly this entertaining practice had been discontinued after a parcel bomb delivered there last year had failed to explode. "Italian sense of humour," he mused.

He jumped in his comfie chair. Good Grief! What was this screeching and lamenting coming from across the street at this time of night? Was the postie torturing a stray dog he had picked up on his daily round again? Or was it that infernal opera wailer who was renowned the whole town over?
 

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Posted by lady in red (# 10688) on :
 
Lucinda sighed and hung up the phone. One of her pupils had broken her wrist and wouldn't be coming to lessons for at least six weeks. She could have done without losing the money now.

She was feeling strangely nervous, although she couldn't put her finger on why. She tried to practise, but she kept getting distracted, thinking that she was hearing things.

She knew that there had never been anything to be afraid of in Little Florence. She'd lived there all her life, except for a couple of years at the Conservatoire. But recently it didn't feel quite the same any more. Finally she pulled herself together to get on with Rachmaninov.
 

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Posted by ephemera (# 13355) on :
 
Ella watched the sun set from the window in her room. The sky turned blood red and then fell out of the sky and disappeared. Slowly everything darkened into night. She did not know why, but it all seemed somewhat disturbing.

She picked a small gecko off the top of her desk and put it on the refrigerator door. It scrambled up to the top where several more geckos were either dozing or watching her from their high perch. They loved it up there...it was the heat from the frig motor and the gentle vibration that they like so much.

Ella went to take a quick shower. She had work to do and wanted a clear head.
 

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Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
Day breaks


PARAPSYCHOLOGIST GIVES UP THE GHOST

Little Florence was in a state of shock last night, as the famous parapsychologist Prof Rufus de Ville was found dead. De Ville, known for his bizarre research and regular appearances on local talk radio, was found with massive head injuries, surrounded by various books on the occult.

Police are investigating a number of leads. Lt Burke Enhare told us "Prof de Ville suffered multiple deep wounds to the head. Our working hypothesis is that he scared himself so much with all that creepy occult stuff that his brain haemorrhaged and burst out of his skull. One of our guys thought he was done in by ghosts, but that's just crazy."

His devotees, however, believe he was the victim of a covert hit operation. One, who wished to remain anonymous, said "Don't you see? He was getting too close to the truth! There are things they DON'T WANT you to know! But they can't get us all, and one day, I'll PROVE to the WORLD that peanuts are telepathic!" When asked to explain, he ran off, screaming "You're with them, aren't you?"

The view of the wider public was more mixed. One woman echoed the views of many when she said "I thought he was a complete nutcase, but he was harmless and quite entertaining. I mean, all he did was spout a load of weird mumbo jumbo about mysterious powers. If only all those goddamn bankers had been doing that instead of losing our money, we'd all be fine."


Teufelchen has been murdered. He was a Citizen. Once he's posted his death scene, nominations will open for lynching.
 

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Posted by Teufelchen (# 10158) on :
 
Rufus slipped in through his front door long after the sun had set behind the hills. Hurriedly, he drew the curtains, and retrieving the book he had got at the library from his briefcase, set it on the living room table.

It had taken a lot of persuading to get the timid local librarian to borrow this from the old university library. MUL had been cagey about letting their books out on inter-library loan for decades, ever since that notorious murder in the restricted section in the 30s. But the hard work had been worth it; they'd caved in and sent it over.

Rufus paused before opening the tome. He was, by training, a scientist, and while he was prepared to entertain some highly unusual ideas about the world, simply handling this book ought not to make him feel as though a cold draught had blown through the house.

Lifting the cracked leather cover with a gloved hand, he bent lower over the frontispiece to ancient script and study the geometric designs there. Somewhere behind him, a floorboard creaked. Wanting to be sure about what he had seen, he straightened up and walked briskly to his lockable bookcase. He fished down half a dozen of his most treasured and unusual books, and began comparing the illustrations within to the image in the library's book.

Again the floorboards creaked. Rufus shook himself, telling himself that he was getting too caught up in the book's legend. Unnerved by the pointy-looking shape on the title page, he flipped at random to a page about a third of the way through. In the middle, a couplet was set out:

Non mortuum est qui sempiterne iacere potest
Atque saeculis novis mors etiam mori possit.

Rufus read these words half-aloud, caught up in what he was seeing. Indeed, he was unaware of the new presence in the room until he breathed the final syllable, and was set on with immense force. His only mild comfort in the seconds that followed was to be aware that rather than tentacles, he was being assault by a baseball bat with nails in.

T.
 

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Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
Following the brutal murder of Prof de Ville, townsfolk may now nominate someone to be lynched. There will be no limit to the number of nominations which may be made, except that no player may make more than one nomination for each lynching. Once nominations are closed, we'll have a brief opportunity for the accused to defend themselves, before we move to a vote.

I'll close nominations in 24 hours.
 

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Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 
Harry scratched his head in the hope that that would oil his rusty school boy Latin. Not much cause for Latin in the barber's business. Whoever wrote it clearly thought that novus was a third and had failed to get mortuum and qui to agree in gender, but it was probably meant to mean something like...

quote:

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The one who can always throw is not dead;
and, what's more, the death of the new age may be able to die.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Sylvander:
<snip>
Murder was a trifle annyoing, come to think of it. It had unpleasant side-effects like the police sealing off streets for days on end, journalists taking the best seats in the pub and sentimental folk obstructing public places by depositing flowers. Still, he thought, he'd not be kept from his daily routine of a walk in the streets. Studying people was fun at any time and the general buzz after a murder should make observation even more entertaining.

---

quote:

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Originally posted by Banner Lady:
Bishop Banner was alarmed. It was simply not possible. And why were people so surprised? He had STANDARDS to maintain and defend; and he knew, far better than many others, what happened to the church, the faith and one's career when those standards were allowed to slip.

The man had publicly declared himself to be an occultist. He had tried to desecrate church property. Unsurprisingly, when one dabbled with evil, the man was now dead. But it was extremely annoying that de Ville's family and friends now wanted to give him a full church funeral and burial.

The bishop knew what he had to do. It was the only good thing to do. He would not allow himself to be either judgemental or accusatory. He would just flick the matter to Fr Permin...

---

quote:

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Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
Fifty bonus points for anyone who has Prof. de Ville in the 2009 Celebrity Death Pool!

---

LOL
Unless they did him in themselves of course. I think the rules say something to that effect, don't they?
 

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Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :
 
Rev Permin put down the 'phone and called the Bishop a distinctly un-episcopal name. While he was used to taking funerals of those who had not darkened the door of the church before, to be asked to take the funeral of a man who, apparently, had had a greater belief in the Flying Spaghetti Monster than in the Trinity was a bit much. But the family had asked for a funeral 'with all the trimmings' (he guessed this meant 'Abide with me', 'Amazing Grace' and 'The Lord's my Shepherd') and it was for him to help the family through this difficult time. With a sigh (and a medicinal malt), Rev Permin sat down in his study to call the family, the undertaker and the warden.

As he was dialling the numbers, a thought came into his head. Didn't the police normally attend the funerals of murder victims in order to try to find the culprit? After all, there was usually some amount of regret from a killer, shown by offering condolences at the graveside - or just to show off that they were still free while their victim was buried in front of them. Rev Permin thought about the ushers for the funeral service: he would need people with good eyesight and a good memory. Unfortunately, with an aging congregation, these would be hard to find...
 

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Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
The nominations for lynching are:

Prof Chells (Chelley) nominated by Hart
The Smudge (Smudgie) nominated by Pax Romana

True to the radical pinko liberal traditions of Massachusetts, we'll have a brief pause to allow the accused to speak in their defence, before the townsfolk vote on which one they want to lynch.
 

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Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :
 
The Smudge was somewhat perplexed to find herself suddenly the centre of attention. She was unused to such things, generally preferring to merge into the background and certainly disliking the pointed looks which seemed to go to her very core. A very private individual, who harmed nobody, just maintained a shadowy protective presence.

Clearly there were those in the neighbourhood who feared her and wanted rid of this shy but observant woman who maybe had a tale to tell of the things she saw and perceived.

A shiver ran down her back and she stooped once more to stroke the cat who was her constant companion. How could she convince them of her innocence? Indeed, so quiet and private a person could provide little in the way of alibi. Her hands, with the signs of a life of hard work behind her, could just as easily have wielded that baseball bat as any other's - there was no way to convince an interrogator that the mere thought of such wanton violence was abhorrant to her. No, any one thus accused would say the same.

No frantic pleas for mercy would come from her lips. A woman who made no friends could hardly complain when no friends were there to appeal to. She could do nothing but hope that justice would prevail.
 

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Posted by Chelley (# 11322) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chelley:
Professor Chells walked along the street having returned from a three day training course for imperfect professors. She had a slightly uncomfortable feeling as though those passing in the street were looking at her as she passed, though she couldn't quite catch the glances. One passer-by in particular seemed to glare in an accusatory manner. What had happened in her absence? She opened the door of her little flat and settled down with a pot of tea and the local news to try and get a handle on recent, local events...

---

Well, Prof Chells had had no idea that going on a three day training course with the Church of England could prove so dangerous! (Though if she were to actually reflect on the tales she'd heard...). No ordinary return to books and teapots, but to accusations of murder!! Had the world gone mad in her absence, perhaps she'd somehow stepped into an alternate reality... but no, she couldn't let herself think that way - a sensible, intelligent, Godfearing Professor- it wouldn't go well in the church or the faculty!
What was she to do? The Prof considered several options. Perhaps she should take Hart - her accuser - to Hell - she knew of one such place open for visitors! And having shouted "game call" (she knew they loved games in hell) - let him have it from the hellhosts until he confessed there were no grounds for his accusations? But no, desperation couldn't bring her to those levels.
As she thought about her predicament, all she could do to ease her anxiety was try and adopt one of the strategies she'd learned on the training course... In these days of stressed clergy, professors and teachers they'd been given new coping strategies... she resignedly reached into the carrier bag and pulled out a sparkly leotard, legwarmers and CD of "classic family party cringers" - what had they brought her to in this place?!
 

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Posted by fletcher christian (# 13919) on :
 
Even thought the townsfolk would have readily called Travis a redneck, he knew only too well what really lay under that thin veneer of academia and fur coats. Plus, Travis had read Lord of the Flies and knew that mass town hysteria would break out in town before too long. He prayed he wouldn't be a piggy in the middle.
Travis votes for no lyncing. no lynching
 

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Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
The accused have spoken, so it's time to put it to a vote. Each of the surviving townsfolk may vote for Prof Chells (Chelley) or The Smudge (Smudgie) to be lynched, or they may vote for no lynching. A majority of those voting will be sufficient to secure a lynching, so if all 20 survivors vote, 11 votes for either of the accused will ensure that they're lynched.

As we're running into the weekend, voting will be open until Monday, or when only one result is possible, whichever is sooner.

Cast your votes!

[ETA: Slightly premature, fletcher, but I'll count it]

[ 16. January 2009, 18:33: Message edited by: The Great Gumby ]
 

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Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
Bishop Banner was quite satisfied. He had side-stepped a tricky situation and Patrick Permin was showing himself to be quite an asset, by co-operating with the press and the constabulary over this wretched funeral. He could not, of course make any comment to the newspapers, apart from the regular line that the church is always there for the people. Nor could he make any unfounded accusations. [ no lynching ]
He would, however, seriously consider putting Patrick forward for the next vacant Deanery.
 

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Posted by Stevie Boy Wonder (# 11869) on :
 
Little Florence was awash with rumour and counter-rumour about who could have perpetrated such a heinous crime. Steve Buckland didn't have a damn clue whether either of the suspects identified could be the murderer. All he knew was, if one innocent citizen had already died, with so little evidence, he'd hate to be involved in inadvertently having another one killed. Steve hoped and prayed that there would be no lynching, and that this would prove to be the right decision...
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Sister? Sister! Keep up! Now what are you looking at?

Aw, cool! A quarter!!

Everyone's talking about the murder. *chills* It's not nice to want that kind of excitement. Mom always says, "We crave not these things." Well, we may not crave them, but they sure did land on our heads.

Now the grown-ups are trying to blame two folks. Hmmph. Doesn't seem fair to me. Just for fun, I'll see what happens when I flip the quarter. Heads-the Professor is to blame. Tails-it's that penguin lady.

** *flip* spin-spin-spin**

Don't that beat all? It landed on its edge! No lynching!

[ 16. January 2009, 22:14: Message edited by: jedijudy ]
 

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Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
TMWW drew on an expensive (and strictly illegal) cigar: these suspects are too good to be true. The Prof. has one of the finest alibi's money can buy and The Smudge's defence rests upon her virtual persona as a member of the Ship of Fools, not her life in Little Florence. Can you trust someone who's recreation appears to be mooching and sitting on the city's sole leisure facility: the bench.

I dunno. You're not even gonna get No Comment out of me for now.
 

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Posted by lady in red (# 10688) on :
 
Lucinda thought about the situation. Was there anything certain to incriminate either of the accused enough that she would be willing to string them up over it? No. It wouldn't be fair. No lynching.

On the way out of the front door, she found a slightly wilted bunch of chrysanthemums on the step. Later on in the day when she dropped into Romano's for her coffee, she discovered that Patty had also received a very similar bunch that morning. Lucinda wondered if she should be worried.
 

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Posted by Dafyd (# 5549) on :
 
Dafyd the Post didn't know what to do. On the one hand, there was no way to tell whether either of these two were guilty. On the other hand, what other way did the town have to defend itself against this gang of murderers? Clearly they would stop at nothing. They probably left roller-skates lying around on doorsteps in the early morning.

Perhaps, Dafyd thought, if Harry and Patty Romano were to explain why they had levelled the fingers of accusation?
 

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Posted by Sylvander (# 12857) on :
 
Sir van der Hill shook his head when he heard of rumours and a boiling mood in town. He knew the world was a mad place – but he had not been aware how much Little Florence was the world. A conveniently cynical look at murder and other events one could do nothing about was one thing. But proceeding to lynching was quite another! He was aghast.

And what was worse: there was talk of lynching Miss Smudge or Prof. Chells. Good gracious! Lynch mobs were primitive but they were also stupid. He could see neither of those two as guilty of murder. Bludgeoning someone to death with a baseball bat was not the work of a woman's tender hand. He knew that for sure from his Agatha Christie. Surely the murderer had long legged it and was enjoying a Pina Colada as a reward for his evil deed somewhere in the Caribbean.
Still Sir van der Hill was going to make a choice. Few people knew that underneath his cantankerous and withdrawn facade there was a tender heart. He had a rather soft spot for Miss Smudge. He had always found she looked very cute in her usual unassuming black and white attire. She also had such a dainty way of wearing climbing helmets sideways which looked very daring! How on earth this delicate soul was going to take the news that people wanted to lynch her he dared not imagine! He knew how touchy she was, very easily offended.

Well, one might as well confess that van der Hill had once been afianced to her. Those were the wild days of his youth when he got engaged about as often as Bertram Wooster did whithout always quite knowing how it had happened – and for lack of a butler Jeeves to extract him from his various entanglements in an elegant way he had left a trace of female devastation behind him which in turn led to his present marital state of cranky old bachelor.

Sir van der Hill awoke from his embarrassing musings about times past and felt clearly that he was still carrying a torch for Miss Smudge. So despite him bearing no grudge against Prof. Chells whatsoever he decided to vote for his lynching before leaving for the weekend and depriving himself of any further influence on the matter.
 

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Posted by Chelley (# 11322) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sylvander:
Sir van der Hill awoke from his embarrassing musings about times past and felt clearly that he was still carrying a torch for Miss Smudge. So despite him bearing no grudge against Prof. Chells whatsoever he decided to vote for his lynching before leaving for the weekend and depriving himself of any further influence on the matter.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dafyd:
Perhaps, Dafyd thought, if Harry and Patty Romano were to explain why they had levelled the fingers of accusation?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sylvander:
Fair enough. I screwed up the intended boldprint above by cutting and pasting from Word.
I voted for Prof. Chells. And as she pointed out, she is a she, apologies for that, Prof.

---

Apologising for calling me a 'he' when I'm a 'she' is a bit of a side issue seeing as with your next breath you're calling for me to be lynched by a mob for a murder I didn't commit.
 

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Posted by ephemera (# 13355) on :
 
Ella looked up from her research to turn up the news. She was so busy she did not notice that there had been a murder. Someone murdered Prof Rufus de Ville. Disquieting, to say the least.

Out the window, she saw a crowd parading up and down the street with torches and placards calling for the lynching of Smudgie. They can't mean that mousy little thing that stands in the shadows and watches people, can they?

Ella read the signs aloud:

quote:

---

Sign carried by Jane Austen-Wreath:

Smudge Out Smudgie!

---

quote:

---

Sign carried by Dafyd the Post:

Smudge This!
Smudgie

---

quote:

---

Sign carried by Patty Romano:

Clean Up Little Florence
Lynch Smudgie!

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quote:

---

Sign carried by Harry Artson:

Prof. Chells Is Going to Hells!

---

quote:

---

Sign carried by Sir van der Hill:

Teach Prof. Chells A Big Lesson!
Lynch Her!

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quote:

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Originally posted by Patty Romano
But the skin on the back of my neck began to prickle, just like it always does when there is something dastardly afoot.

---

quote:

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Originally posted by Harry
The hairs on the back of his neck had pointed to Chells

---

D. Avelarge was not impressed by the follicular or epidermicular models of dastardliness detector, and voted for no lynching
 

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Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
Sylvander - I identified your vote, but thanks for the confirmation. It just reminded me to issue a general request in case I missed anything in future.

We'll close the voting there. The totals are:

Prof Chells (Chelley): 1 vote (Sylvander)
The Smudge (Smudgie): 4 votes (Autenrieth Road, Dafyd, Hart, Pax Romana)
No lynching: 8 votes (Banner Lady, davelarge, ephemera, fletcher christian, jedijudy, lady in red, Rev per Minute, Stevie Boy Wonder)

It seems that the townsfolk are reluctant to take action in the name of justice. The decision to have no lynching may have prevented the spilling of more innocent blood, or it may have passed up an opportunity to catch up with the mob. Either way, whoever did Prof de Ville in has got away with it for now.


Night falls

If you have night actions, you may now take them.
 

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Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :
 
Darkness fell in the vicarage. The shadows became pools of gloom, the undraped windows a source of weak illumination. Never before had a night seemed so dark.

Rev Permin cursed the low-energy lightbulbs the diocese had forced him to install. His brightly-lit rooms were now barely-lit rooms. He considered whether becoming an Anglo-Catholic would allow him to light candles anywhere and everywhere in the house - at least he might be able to see where he was going.

Permin's mind went over the events of the past few days. While he seemed to be in the Bishop's good books at the moment, he still didn't fancy the time when the Bishop got into his books. At least with two deaths in the town, His Grace's mind was taken up with matters of life and death, rather than credit and debit. The town itself had shown remarkable restraint in not lynching anyone for the murder of Rufus de Ville, as the police seemed to be completely absent from the case - there only seemed to be a Press Officer in LFPD, no actual detectives or even ordinary cops.

He thought about the townsfolk. Rev Permin feared that the deaths weren't over, and that any more might well bring out the lynch mob. He shivered, and set about preparing for Evening Prayer.
 

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Posted by davelarge (# 186) on :
 
What. A. Day.

Avelarge poured himself a sizable glass of bourbon and settled down on the couch to watch TV. While he was pleased that there had been no needless killings, he still wanted to take his mind off the events of the last few hours and watching the hockey would do that. Still, who knew if there'd be another killing. The police seemed powerless, and the town yet to come together to pursue the killer (or killers). Something should be done...
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Sister, Mom says you have two minutes to get in bed and go to sleep. If you don't I think she's going to punish you!

Aughghgh. Sister has to be so smarty-pants about everything. I can't wait until I'm grown up and can stay up as late as I like. And I'm never going to be mean to my kids, either.

Who can sleep with all this hoohaw? The grown ups must be scared with a murderer running loose. *chills* Oh! Maybe I'll see the murderer later when I sneak out to check things out! The roof of the pizzeria is dark, and the cast on my left arm would probably be a good weapon if some bad guy came along!

Now, I'll just wait for Mom and Sister to start snoring...
 

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Posted by Pax Romana (# 4653) on :
 
I have just finished a rousing version of Torna a Surriento and am about to start on O mio babbino caro. I sneak a look out the restaurant window, and see that all is quiet. Soon I will be finished with my 20-minute "set" and will be able to take up my knitting, sit at my table by the window, and watch the night life of Little Florence as it floats by me.

Pax Romana
 

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Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :
 
Tucked up in her tiny room, the Smudge pulls the duvet up a little higher under her nose and wonders when sleep will come. Although she owns quite a large mansion at the top of the hill, she has chosen the smallest of the bedrooms to make her own... the rest stand silent and empty and many of them shrouded in dustsheets, though the cat is allowed free range to explore.

The only sound is the ticking of the clock downstairs, steadfastly counting the seconds as they merge into minutes and on into hours. It is matched by the beating of her heart as it rhythmically reminds her that she is still alive, despite the cruely and unfounded allegations of certain members of the community who were all out to get her lynched. She had no idea what had possessed them to think such a thing. People-watcher though she was, she has never encountered such as this before. She realises once again how fragile the hold of any person is upon life. Why, we do not even have the capacity to will ourselves to sleep when darkness falls and we seek rest.
 

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Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
The Man Who Wasn't Welsh set off for a fast blast round town on his Harley Davidson Electraglide which wasn't the swiftest motorcycle on earth but definitely provided the finest soundtrack. A pity that it attracted the fuzz who cannot resist anything that looked like a wheeled brothel. That might account for them not appearing to do anything about the recent murder. They had better do something if Little Florence is not to be turned into Little Palermo.
 

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Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 
Miss Sal shook her head and sipped a brandy carefully as she looked up from her Boswell. She had heard that people had actually thought about LYNCHING each other. If that wasn't inappropriate and uncivilized, it was hard to say what was.
Still, she felt a smidgeon of guilt as she knew that she herself had been wishing someone would dispose of the Smudge earlier. Not that way though. Just kick it out of town or make it clean up, don't kill it! Miss Sal put her book down and gave up on concentrating. Time for bed.
 

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Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
Bishop Banner was very glad to have set a solid and leading example for the wayward populace of Little Florence in the aftermath of de Ville's death. How positively medieval to consider lynching people in this day and age. He shook his head as reached for the day's mail.

There were letters from several parishes requesting more time to get their accounts audited; an unexpected account from the florist (apparently even cheques from the churches funeral director were bouncing these days); a perfumed missive from Miss Austen-Wreath wanting more information about his Bishop's Relief Project; a small donation from Sir Van der Hill politely asking to be left alone from now on; and a strangely heavy registered post parcel from Dr.Andre...
 

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Posted by lady in red (# 10688) on :
 
Lucinda had been teaching all day and hadn't had time to think about her recital. It was too late to practise without annoying the neighbours, but she decided to work out what outfit to wear. She looked through her wardrobe but didn't feel like wearing any of the dresses again, so she spread out the sewing books on the floor to plan a glorious new one. Bright red would be suitably dramatic for Brahms and Rachmaninov.

Suddenly she was plunged into darkness. Damn those old-fashioned electrics! She really must get the place rewired. She found a candle and a match in the kitchen, and went off to find the fusebox under the stairs.
 

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Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 
Harry was having a sleepless night, mulling over all he'd learnt over the past couple of days. Unfortunately, while business was pretty slow, the postal role playing game he was playing in was really heating up and he had to write some very long letters for it about driving for ten hours, having a three hour meeting and driving back over the next three 'days' (luckily a postal day was much shorter than a Little Florence day). He thought he'd let people know, partly because he thought that playing in a postal role playing game was pretty darn cool, and partly so as people didn't think him the strong and silent type.

[OOC: I'm away till Saturday. If anyone accuses me of trying to kill anyone, I didn't do it.]
 

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Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
Day breaks


TOWN HIT BY DOUBLE SLAYING

Little Florence is reeling after the recent violence in the town hit a new level last night. In what appeared to be unrelated incidents, shady olive trader Don Carmen and mysterious wanderer The Smudge were both found murdered.

Lt Burke Enhare has been called in to investigate the possibility of a link to the recent death of Prof Rufus de Ville. He told us "It seems unlikely that they could be related. I mean, sure it's strange to have so many mysterious deaths in such a short space of time, but neither of the deceased were known to have dabbled in the occult, and their injuries aren't consistent with a sudden, explosive brain haemorrhage.

"However, it may be that this is the work of a serial killer obsessed with numbers. Look at it - one death last night, two deaths tonight. I think we should be expecting three deaths tomorrow night. That's the way these killers work. I've seen the movies."

Although little is known about the latest victims, both had come under suspicion since their arrival in town. Don Carmen's name had suggested some form of mob involvement, while The Smudge was caught up in an attempted lynching. Lt Enhare said "If the good people of Little Florence had just got on with it and lynched this Smudge, she'd have had a much quicker and more painless death. It would have been an act of kindness."


Smudgie and Ye Olde Motherboard have been murdered. They were both Citizens. Once they've both posted their death scenes, nominations will open for lynching for 24 hours.
 

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Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :
 
Tick... tick... tick. Would she never get to sleep? No tossing and turning, The Smudge lay still and silent under the covers, waiting for the comforting light of day, unable to think how her world had changed in the blinking of an eye since the finger of suspicion had been laid so relentlessly upon her. The cat was her only comfort.

Perhaps tomorrow she would pack her bags, put the mansion on the market, and seek out some other town, some other place to call her home and to quietly resume her search for a worthy person to whom to leave her accumulated riches. With no family or friends to call her own, The Smudge had been carefully assessing the townsfolk of Little Florence, knowing of their financial difficulties, for the chance to be an anonymous donor to a worthy beneficiary. But now her faith in human nature felt shaken to the very core.

The cat shifted uneasily at the end of the bed. The Smudge decided that lying and thinking without sleep was pointless - far better to get up and make herself a calming mug of cocoa. She turned over onto her side to get up.

"What are you doing here? This is my private bedro..."

But her sentence never finished. A single twist of the knife into the heart of this quiet and lonely woman and her solitary existance came to a sudden end, mourned by nobody but the cat.
 

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Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
Bishop Banner shook open his morning paper, and then had to put it down to cross himself after the headlines had sunk in. TWO heinous murders in one night. And both innocent citizens! True, both victims were known about town for being a little odd. One old gentleman who ran his fruit orchard as though he was some kind of Sicilian patriarch; and one elderly lady who was a wealthy recluse. He could only assume the perpetrators were after money. Life must be tougher than he thought for some in this town.

It was time to launch his Bishop's Urban Relief Project, before the crime rate escalated even further. He had enough seed money to begin SOMETHING of benefit to Little Florence, thanks to Dr.Andre. But how to go about it? Perhaps he needed to confer with those working at the coal-face, so to speak. He picked up the phone to dial Rev. Permin, idly wondering if that dear Miss Smudge had received his letter before her horrible demise.

Should a donation arrive from her in today's post; or if perhaps she had thought to make a bequest to the church, he wanted to make sure that every cent would do some good. He punched in the numbers to Patrick Permin, more determined than ever that the side of Good needed to get a better profile around Little Florence.
 

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Posted by Ye Olde Motherboarde (# 54) on :
 
Don Carmen was most pleased. It was his birthday and he had a dinner of his favorite spaghetti that Mrs. Domenico, his cook, had made. That sauce was like heaven, lots of onions and peppers like a cacciatore, but with basil highlights that infused your taste buds with joy.

Don Carmen thought, "I should be a restaurant owner." That's what I'll do next he thought. Open an Italian restaurant. I've got the money, and a great cook. What a lovely thought for my birthday - a new beginning. Mrs. D also made cannolis for him. Not just the vanilla kind, but half vanilla, half chocolate with candied fruit, just like home in Palermo.

As he sat in the kitchen he though he heard a sound. What could that be? Mrs. D. had just left, she must have forgotten something. But, there were footsteps, YES, he was sure of it. Now silence. Must be my imagination with all the goings one in this town, I must be just jumpy. Now, back to that delicious canolli.

Suddenly, he felt something and it wasn't the sweet taste of chocolate cannoli filling - it was blood. HIS BLOOD! There was a knife in his chest and slowly, ever so slowly blood was exiting his body. He didn't have time to think. He KNEW he had only a few seconds. Now, where is that phone? I have to call..............

but time was up.

That sauce was the glimpse of heaven we all strive for and Don Carmen had found it but in a way he didn't expect.
 

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Posted by Ye Olde Motherboarde (# 54) on :
 
Domenico sat with his head in his hands in his father's kitchen.

Who is going to clean up this mess? There is spaghetti sauce, vanilla and chocolate filling all over the place.YUCK. And, the police weren't too clean either. SLOBS. I bet they also tried to find money or something because ALL the rooms are a mess. I suspect them. YES, it will be my pleasure to make all of them pay.

Mrs. D, who found dad, had totally freaked out and ran out into the street screaming. She'll be useless for quite a while. So, now who is going to clean this up?

Too many bodies are piling up. I wonder, should I be watching out? Am I the, next victim and WHY????

First, the Don, then dad, and in the middle all those others and the Smudge!!! This is making no sense. But, there has to be a reason. Everything has a reason.......doesn't it?

A funeral and a mess. Now, I own the business, have to watch my back and find a killer. It's going to be a LONG DAY.
 

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Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
Nominations are open for lynching, with the same rules as last time. The 18 surviving townsfolk are:

§Andrew
Autenrieth Road
Banner Lady
Chelley
Dafyd
davelarge
ephemera
fletcher christian
Gwai
Hart
jedijudy
lady in red
leonato
Pax Romana
Rev per Minute
Sioni Sais
Stevie Boy Wonder
Sylvander
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
*yawn*
What? Is that Mom crying? She knows the bunnies get upset if someone cries like that!

*tiptoe down the stairs*
*looks over Mom's shoulder at the front page of the paper*

Rats. Two people were murdered last night? I had a really bad feeling about that Smudge lady. She really looked victimish. I wonder if that's a real word? Well, it's one of my words now.

Last night on the pizzeria roof, things sure seemed strange. No cops. But people were walking around. And that motorcycle almost made me fall...again. Bet Mom would have tanned my tail if I'd fallen there again. Especially after midnight! What she doesn't know won't hurt her. Besides, I like listening to that lady sing.

I remember that I got the creeps when one of those people walked past under where I was hiding. I really thought that I would just laugh it off this morning when the sun would be shining, but I'm not. Wish the cops would spy on Rev Permin to see if he's killing all those people. Man, I don't like the looks of him.
 

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Posted by Dafyd (# 5549) on :
 
Dafyd the Post read in the Daily Wail about the horrible murders.
Hmm... he thought. It seems that Ms Romano's neck hairs are downright misleading. What would happen if they were to start pointing at other people? People could be misled.
Dafyd the Post decided to accuse Pax Romana.
He could deliver the accusation with the rest of the mail.
 

---

Posted by Ye Olde Motherboarde (# 54) on :
 
Domenic wondered and wondered. There was a murderer here and someone had to be caught. He thought who is rotten enough to do this? Too many to list. But never underestimate a woman. That Romano woman has always been in his sights.

Guys don't have intuition, but there was something.......something that was in the back of his mind about someone.

I have to solve this and soon, real soon. Before the funeral would be nice.
 

---

Posted by Pax Romana (# 4653) on :
 
Patty Romano couldn't help but notice the funny looks she was getting from people today. The postman looked very nervous when he saw her, and almost put her mail in the wrong mailbox. She even thought she saw Don Carmen, a/k/a Domenico looking at her strangely. "That's odd," she thought. "He's dead, or at least he's supposed to be. Am I seeing things? Do I need to consult a psychic?"

Her feelings were very hurt by all this negative attention. All her life she had done nothing but bring beauty and love into people's lives, and this is how they repay her!

Well, okay ... She had called for the lynching of The Smudge, but why hold one little mistake against her?!

"I need some coffee," she thought as she reached for the whole bean Ethiopian Sidamo she had bought just yesterday in the gourmet shop.

Pax Romana
 

---

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pax Romana:
She even thought she saw Don Carmen, a/k/a Domenico looking at her strangely. "That's odd," she thought. "He's dead, or at least he's supposed to be. Am I seeing things? Do I need to consult a psychic?"

---

Domenico appears to be Don Carmen's son. He's welcome to stick around and add some local colour, but as a non-playing character, he isn't allowed to nominate or vote, and should refrain from voicing any suspicions. The mob can get very upset when people stick their noses into family business.

So far, by my reckoning, we have 2 nominations: Rev Permin (Rev per Minute) and Patty Romano (Pax Romana). Nominations will stay open until this evening GMT.
 

---

Posted by Sylvander (# 12857) on :
 
Sir van der Hill was confused. The town was awash with murders and there were dead people lying about left, right and centre so you almost started tripping over them. Well, in fact one of the dead of last night was a penguin, one of those that walk across the background in Bill Forsyth films.
While he was glad no one had been randomly lynched the day before he felt very sorry for Miss Smudge with whom a youthful infatuation had once connected him. She was one of the two dead last night. Organised crime was plucking folk off one by one.
Two deaths in one night seemed exaggerted in terms of dramatic effect but the criminals did not seem to care much for dramatic effects. It was also bad for the demographics of a place the size of Little Florence. And of course it was worrying to think that this random killing of people during the night might include him at some point. He who had such bad sleep already, one dared not think what a murderer trampling round the house would do to his desperate need of rest!

Van der Hill tried to remember who had suggested the innocenct Mss SMudge for lynching the day before? Maybe they were the same one who did away with her the following night? He could not remember who it was, though. He decided that the matter would have to wait, he had a load of work to do and not in Little Florence either but in Frankfurt which would take him away for the rest of the day. He hoped he would still find fellow residents in Little Florence when he came back.
 

---

Posted by lady in red (# 10688) on :
 
Lucinda was shocked. A double murder overnight! This wasn't the Little Florence she had grown up in.

From what she understood about the rules of the game, er - the cosmic laws geverning the way Little Florence was situated in its particular dimension in the space-time continuum - the mob only carried out one murder at a time, so it seemed that there were even more dark forces to contend with than she had realised. It could be that they had rivals who were also intent on the destruction of the honest hardworking citizens of Little Florence (although only one person had been killed the previous night. But maybe they had tried to carry out a dastardly crime and missed). Alternatively someone had decided to take the law into their own hands. However, both of the latest victims were harmless, innocent citizens, so if they was a loose cannon about taking potshots at people, they were also a pretty dangerous entity. Someone needed to be caught or Little Florence was going to start looking like a very dangerous place to be.

She went into town for her morning coffee and noticed that Romano's was strangely empty. There were rumours about Patty, it seemed, connecting her to the recent deaths. Lucinda wondered if she should go and get her coffee anyway in a show of solidarity for her musical friend, but she wasn't sure. What if it was true after all? Maybe she would try out the coffee in Leonato's today.

On her way round to rehearse with the accompanist, she ran into little jedijudy out shopping with her mother and proudly sporting her plaster cast. It was such a shame just now, when she had been progressing so nicely, but Lucinda told her not to worry, that she would be back to lessons and practise soon enough, and the exercise would be good for helping the bones to mend. It didn't hurt too much, did it? Jedijudy scowled at her. Lucinda could never understand why she was such a sulky child, when the rest of the family was perfectly pleasant. She liked to mutter darkly about various people about town, and had even made comments about the "penguin lady", the poor Smudge who was gone now. Lucinda wondered exactly what she did know.
 

---

Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :
 
Rev Permin was having a bad day. He had been woken by the Bishop, telling him that two more people had been murdered. When he went to speak to the families, he could find no relatives of Ms Smudge and all too many relatives of Don Carmen - most of whom spoke no English but all of whom could cry and wail with the best of them. Permin returned home with a headache - both literally and metaphorically. Did Smudge want a church funeral or not? Don Carmen would be having a full Requiem Mass in the RC Church, but he would attend as all the clerics in Little Florence kept close together.

But when Rev Permin got to the vicarage, his problems multiplied. Scrawled across the door was the word 'Murderer' - in red paint, of course. He quickly entered the house and shut the door, double-locking and bolting it. Permin briefly wondered whether he should stop parishioners coming to him in this way, but thought that the paint on the door would act as a deterrent.

If only he had the slightest clue about who was responsible for these terrible events? Permin had nowhere to turn and no-one he could point to as more likely targets. What could he do? The whisky bottle called invitingly, but he knew he needed a clear head for whatever was to come next. Taking a deep breath, he dialled the Bishop.
 

---

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
TMW3 looked at the paper: TWO dead! Really messy ones too, using blades by the look of it. Who knows how to use a blade in this town?

The Man Who Wasn't Welsh immediately realised that Harry Artson, town barber, knows all about blades and while he was out of town when the murder was reported, who is to know where he was when they took place? Can't people construct a decent alibi these days?

When he gets back, stretch Harry Artson's neck.
 

---

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
We have 3 nominations. They are:

Rev Permin (Rev per Minute) nominated by jedijudy
Patty Romano (Pax Romana) nominated by Dafyd
Harry Artson (Hart) nominated by Sioni Sais

As Hart's currently absent and unable to offer a defence, to make it fair and get this sorted out by the weekend, we'll move straight to a vote, during which you're free to make any arguments you like about the best way to vote. You may vote for either Rev Permin, Patty Romano or Harry Artson to be lynched, or you can vote for no lynching. A majority of votes cast will see your chosen victim swing.

Voting will be open for 24 hours from now.
 

---

Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
Bishop Banner was gratified. Miss Smudge, it seemed, was an orderly old thing, and her affairs were neat and simple. Her solicitor had rung him, explaining that her funeral, to be held at St.Cosimo's was paid for; and in the event of no other dependents or bequests, her estate in its entirety was to be given to the diocese; provided that the old mansion was used as a half-way house for the repatriation of those with criminal convictions.

Well, the Lord moved in mysterious and timely ways; and he knew without doubt this was the hand of God at work. The Urban Relief Project would be a lot of work; but surely the citizenry of Little Florence would support it. He was drafting a charter for it, when Rev Permin called and informed him of some more vandalism on the church grounds.

"Patrick, I suspect it's the work of children. There is one little girl who has been seen skulking around the centre of town at all hours of the day and night. Heaven only knows where her parents are... Yes; Jedi Judy she calls herself...the one with the plaster cast on her arm... Well, of course I know it's unlikely that anyone with a broken arm could do serious vandalism, but she could still use a can of spray paint with her other hand...What should you do? Leave it with me, Patrick, and I will send the cleaners and renovators over right away. They can do the church professionally while they are at it."

Bishop Banner thought again about the size of the bequest outlined by Miss Smudge's solicitor.
"Oh, and Patrick; there is going to be a most elegant funeral at St.Cosimo's this week. Perhaps you should get all the vestments dry-cleaned. The diocese will pick up the tab."
 

---

Posted by Dafyd (# 5549) on :
 
Sneaking a peek, Dafyd the Post noted that the Daily Wail was commending the citizens for exercising their civic duties, by taking the law into their own hands, being have-a-go heroes, and not worrying about technicalities such as due process.
Dafyd's letter to the editor accusing Patty Romano had been printed.

As I nominated Pax Romana I vote for her.
 

---

Posted by davelarge (# 186) on :
 
Mr D. Avelarge was not one to take his responsibilities lightly. This decision required clear-headed thought. Who was acting in a way which most resembled a mafia underling?

Clearly, Patty Romano and Harry Artson had been quick to get the lynching bandwagon rolling. Both seemed to have (as yet unknown) motives, so this was suspicious indeed.

But was there anything to choose between them? Not really, but the spate of killings shows no sign of letting up and we need to get something done about it. Therefore, summoning all his inward reserves of emotional steel, Mr Avelarge announced "I vote for Patty Romano to be lynched".
 

---

Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 
Miss Sal sighed as she read her mail. All these murders were definitely causing a denegration of public standards. Since when had a Bishop sent out a letter that had a typo? Sternly she penned a letter to him mentioning it. Still, perhaps he had a point about the church needing support. Perhaps if the church were doing better, people could stop brutally killing each other? After a bit of thought, she penned a check for a little bit.
As far as the rest of it went, Miss Sal couldn't accept the idea of lynching anyone. If we have to find the murderer, couldn't we just put him or her behind bars? Jail always seemed like a more civilized way to do things. Why on earth did that opera singer woman, Patty, want to lynch people over it? Miss Sal wrote a letter to the newspaper suggesting that perhaps Miss Patty Romano should be put behind bars until the murders were solved.
Then, scratching her chin delicately, she wrote another letter to the paper. Where on earth were the police in this mess, and why weren't they doing something productive? Perhaps we need a new police chief in New Florence, she suggested.
 

---

Posted by Pax Romana (# 4653) on :
 
Patty Romano didn't understand why, all of a sudden, everyone in town was avoiding her and even refusing to look her in the eye. She knew that something was about to happen, and could only hope that this was not a plot against her. Patty had never harmed a soul in her entire life (unless you count her little crusade against The Smudge), and in her heart of hearts she could only echo Desdemona's dying words from Verdi's Otello:

Muoio innocente!*

Pax Romana

*I die innocent!
 

---

Posted by Stevie Boy Wonder (# 11869) on :
 
Steve Buckland had heard the rumours, but with all the marking and preparations for parents' evening, he felt a little out of the loop. However, he definitely felt a gut reaction, and it wasn't that sickness bug going round the fifth grade. "The strange staring penguin woman may have freaked me out, but I was never convinced she was anything other than a quiet eccentric, and it turned out I was right," said his inner monologue. "Which makes me a little suspicious of her accuser..." Having filled his pupils' exercise books with little red ticks, Steve finally planted a small cross in the box to support the lynching of Patty Romano.
 

---

Posted by Sylvander (# 12857) on :
 
Sir Van der Hill was glad he had survived the last night and then remembered that in real SoF life the past few hours it had not been night at all but he had taken an afternoon nap. As if murder was not bad enough, he was now getting confused about night and day!

He was no friend of lynchings but with the useless demise of Miss Smudge his cynical side had been strengthened. Clearly if the honest citizens of LF just kept biding their time, they would be taken out one by one during the night like sitting ducks. We need to fight back against organised crime. But who looked suspect, he wondered? The risk was that all that would happen was another futile killing, further depleting our numbers and leaving the field wide open for the murderous lot. There was this eerie-looking wee lass with the plaster (was it really a medical implement or only a convenient hiding place for daggers?). She seemed absolutely weird, sneaking out and prowling around town during the night. She professed to be "observing" but she never seemed to observe anything useful for the rest of us. If she was indeed finding interesting information, maybe she could come clean and help the town?

On the other hand he had made inquiries and found out that the one who had accused the innocent Miss Smudge had been this infernal opera "singer". What had been her motives?

SvdH swayed between his dislike of weird children and his grudge against the woman who had tried to lay the noose around the neck of an innocent citizen.

And there was of course the fact that nobody had any positive proof or any well-founded suspicions so that one risked to further reduce one's chances by stringing up another citizen... Sigh.

In the end his desire for quiet during night-time prevailed and he decided to give this ShadyJudy child another chance to come clean. He voted to get rid of Pattie Romana.
 

---

Posted by fletcher christian (# 13919) on :
 
Oh, what the hell - lynch patty
 

---

Posted by Chelley (# 11322) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sylvander:

SvdH swayed between his dislike of weird children and his grudge against the woman who had tried to lay the noose around the neck of an innocent citizen.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Great Gumby:
Pax Romana is well and truly lynched. Unfortunately, she was a Watchman.

---

Breaking character for a moment, Steve muttered under his breath...

"Oh bollocks."
 

---

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Mama! Sister is crying! Should I tell her to knock it off?

Nobody ever listens to me. Just because I'm not quite an adult yet, nobody takes me seriously. Now that nice lady won't be singing in the pizzeria anymore. That was just mean. They shoulda just left her alone.

*sigh* Maybe I'll stay in tonight. That preacher person is still running around, and there's no singing to listen to.

I think I'll just watch out my bedroom window tonight. Never know who might be out and maybe I can call the po po if things get weird.
 

---

Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 
Harry popped his letter in the mail and started to look around Little Florence. The role-playing game had been great fun (even if his letter had been three pages longer because of a fascinating diversion about a his car breaking down on the interstate he'd decided to write), but it was time to get back to Real Life&time;.

To his surprise, he noticed he'd been nominated for linching, but not even his accuser had ended up voting for him. What a bizarre turn of events. Time to paw over all the records of conversations people had conveniently left strewn all over the streets.
 

---

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
What a lousy day. That nice Patty got hauled away by the mob (and opposed to The Mob) and I had better find a new barber: Harry and me won't be exchanging Christmas cards for a while.
 

---

Posted by Sylvander (# 12857) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Great Gumby:
Pax Romana is well and truly lynched. Unfortunately, she was a Watchman.

---

Oh shit! This will make it really hard for us, folks. I think we need a somewhat more concerted approach in town. Random lynchings such as this one only help the Mafia.
Something along the lines of Dafyd's reflections.
In the rules of the game can there be another watchman around who could protect the detective? Or are we depleted of all protection now?
And could a watchman or similar who sees a lynching coming her way in future perhaps tell us who she really is? If people do not believe it she stands nothing to lose but at some point we shall have to decide whether such a claim is credible. It may save us losing our most precious players. Such a revelation might allow the detective to contact him/her privately and ask for protection (or is this not allowed?). Even if the Mafia take the watchman out the following night, s/he will have been able to protect one more time.
If we all carry on just acting as individuals without co-ordination we stand no chance.

Sorry for leaving my role for a moment but it is hard to co-ordinate just within our characters.
 

---

Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :
 
Reverend Permin got up from his knees. Whether he had been praying for the souls of the dead, or in thanks for his own reprieve, was something even he wasn't sure about. He seemed to hear voices suggesting that the town's protectors could declare themselves, in case there was another lynching - but he answered the voices that in such a scenario anyone, even the Mob, could claim to be innocent or a Detective in order to avoid their fate. That was no solution at all, he told the voices. (Rev Permin knew that it was not exactly normal to answer the voices that seemed to appear out of the ether, but he also reckoned that it wasn't entirely normal to be living in Little Florence at this time, either.)

He turned around and checked that the church was ready for Ms Smudge's funeral in the morning. Arrangements would have to be changed, of course, since the unpleasant end of Ms Romano - knowing that the Welsh were meant to be good singers, Permin though about asking the mailman (who was Welsh) or even the Man who Wasn't Welsh (who wasn't, but should have picked up some tunefulness from his time in the place where he wasn't Welsh, if you see what he means...) Instead, Permin thought that the sweet voice of a child, a reminder of the fullness of life to be lived, would be a good substitute - he would ring young Judy's mother and ask if Judy could sing on the morrow.

His housekeeper had appeared to expect his imminent death - the fridge contained nothing but two eggs and a soggy lettuce. Permin sighed, and decided that, on such a day, takeout would be acceptable. However, when he checked his phone book, there only seemed to be Italian restaurants open. Osso bucco seemed a little unlikely to be delivered by moped - so Permin decided to take a chance and go out to eat. He put on his coat, checked the locks and alarm, and set out having double-locked every door and window. He prayed (literally) that this would be a wise choice after so many killings - and that the restaurant owner would not force him to drink anything that was alight at the time.
 

---

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
Day breaks


AMUSEMENT PROPRIETOR CASHES IN

The owner of Little Florence's amusement arcade, known only as Travis, was found dead at the foot of one of his slot machines last night, in what seems to be a continuation of the recent spate of murders in the town, although a financial motive for an attack remains a possibility.

Lt Burke Enhare, currently investigating three separate murders and also taking an interest in a recent lynching, was unwilling to comment on the circumstances of this latest death, but did say "This is a big step forward. If I'm right, and this is the work of some sort of numerically obsessed serial killer, then maybe by tomorrow night the loon will get back to zero, and stop going around killing people."

Public opinions on the latest death were mixed, with several popular scapegoats also having been wiped out in the events of the last few days. Desperate, impoverished bankers were frequently mentioned as likely culprits, as were foreigners, the CIA, and aliens attempting an abduction. From this, it appears that Little Florence's drug problem is also continuing to grow.


fletcher christian has been murdered. He was a Watchman. Once he's posted his death scene, nominations will be open for lynching.
 

---

Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
The day of Miss Smudge's funeral dawned clear, despite there having been a dreadful thunderstorm overnight which had driven Bunny Baker's anxiety levels through the roof.

It had been particularly hard for the Bishop to disentagle himself from her, but at least providing a full continental breakfast for them both this morning had given her something useful to concentrate upon.

The Bishop had decided to do the eulogy himself today, and was hoping that the press releases he had sent out to the Little Massachussets Bugle and the Daily Wail would mean that the church would be at least half full. He had asked Patrick to invite the regular parishioners of St.Cosimo's to attend, but the Rev wasn't sure how many would make the effort.

At least the church looked a picture, decked out in elegant black and white paraments with white lilies everywhere. He chose his tallest white mitre, with it's simple black cross in the hope that there would be a good photo-opportunity and at least one cute reporter he could regale at length about his Bishop's Urban Relief Project.

He was hoping the mail would come before he had to leave for the church; but annoyingly the post was late today. He hoped there would be a turn around soon in Little Florence, for everyone's sake.
 

---

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Child, why are you always so obstinate? You have a lovely voice and I know you liked that Penguin Lady.

Oh, all right. Just don't make me wear that dark blue dress you think is so "proper".

*stomp* *stomp* ****Slam****

Why can't Mom see how creepy that preacher man is? *shudder* I'll sing, but not for him. I'll do it for that nice Smudge lady. She just waved to me when she saw me on the pizzeria roof. She didn't try to make me get down. She was cool.

It was so hard to see out the window last night. I'm glad I decided not to sneak out. That storm was something else! But, I really thought I saw someone out by the street. Not a smart thing to do with all that lightening and rain.

Gosh, I wish I woulda picked the hot pink cast instead of this purple one. That would have really shown up at the funeral service! Especially if I could have snuck a few black lights in the fixtures! Hahaha! I think Miss Smudge would have gotten a kick out of it.
 

---

Posted by ephemera (# 13355) on :
 
Ella opened the drapes and looked out the window for the first time in days. The only time she had opened the door was to fetch the newspaper. Then she locked the door and closed the drapes and kept a low profile.

The town was crazy violent. She thought it best to immerse herself in her projects and let things settle down a bit. She liked going into town and talking with people, but her newest acquaintance had been murdered. Too bad, really. She will definitely miss talking to Professor de Ville, even though he was obsessed with the Hungarian occult.

Ella pick up her female scarlet red gecko and put it in the breeding den with the male sapphire gecko. Hopefully she will get a blend of colors this time, instead of just more scarlet and sapphire ones. She picked up her prized yellow / orange / maroon gecko and lovingly fed him a fat cricket.

She whispered to him, "If all goes well, you will be making babies with a multi-colored new friend."

Then she let him run free, and he hurriedly scampered up the wall and onto the bookcase. He was her literate lizard. He liked her books.

After reading the newspaper, Ella decided to go to the funeral for the penguin. She wanted to pick up on some of the unpublished gossip and see if anyone had any ideas of what was really happening. She decided to put a harness on her prized multi-colored gecko and wear him on her lapel. She wondered if anyone would notice what a fine boy he was.

[ 26. January 2009, 07:18: Message edited by: ephemera ]
 

---

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
In answer to Sylvander's questions, with apologies for missing them last night, you can probably tell by now that it's possible to have more than one Watchman, as indicated here. I've made no statement about how many of each role are in play, to ensure a certain amount of mystery and tension.

As for private communication, it's allowed (there's nothing I can do to prevent it), but as it generally involves either one person publicly outing themselves or a stab in the dark as to whether someone's mob or citizen, it's a risky strategy.
 

---

Posted by lady in red (# 10688) on :
 
Lucinda got up late and made her coffee then sat down at the kitchen table to read the newspaper before starting the day's teaching and cello practise. Oh, crap. This was bad. Two of the townsfolk had been killed in the last twenty-four hours and both were members of the Honourable Order of Watchmen.

Lucinda's father had belonged to the Honourable Order and so she knew a little about this secretive group that kept watch over the town to protect its citizens. They made Little Florence safe. She supposed that it wouldn't be so safe any more in the future. Were there any Watchmen left? Or would the killers who were terrorising the town now have free run? She wiped away a tear as she thought about how she had betrayed her friend Patty. It was bad enough that she had voted for her to be lynched, but she had no idea that she had been protecting her all along. And then overnight her comrade in arms had been assassinated as well. Did the killers know about Travis, she wondered, or had they just got lucky?

After the appalling thing that had happened to Patty, Lucinda wasn't keen to make any hasty accusations. But the killers had to be caught soon or they were all in terrible danger.
 

---

Posted by §Andrew (# 9313) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Great Gumby:
As for private communication, it's allowed (there's nothing I can do to prevent it), but as it generally involves either one person publicly outing themselves or a stab in the dark as to whether someone's mob or citizen, it's a risky strategy.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gwai:
*No, I did not actually check §Andrew's post for errors.

---

And since English isn't his first language, it would hardly be fair if you did
 

---

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Daughter, please don't dawdle. And ...please... quit swinging that baseball bat around! You're going to whack your self and need another cast. Or you'll whack someone else...
*
*
*
Oh! Sir van der Hill! I'm so sorry! She really didn't mean it! I'm afraid I don't have a large enough bandage for the wound. It's not broken, is it? I'm really very sorry.

Just wait until we get home, young lady.


 

---

Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by lady in red:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gwai:
*No, I did not actually check §Andrew's post for errors.

---

And since English isn't his first language, it would hardly be fair if you did

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by §Andrew:
Not only that, but Dafyd tried to elicit information from us, about what our thoughts are, information that would be very useful to the mob.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dafyd:
The only way that the citizens can possibly catch up with the mafia is by sharing as much information as possible. If everyone keeps silent that suits the mafia, who can just keep silent themselves. If the citizens talk, then that gives the citizens the chance to observe patterns.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
He talks too much.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dafyd:
Dafyd the Post was reading the letters pages of the papers. Who hadn't been participating recently?

---

quote:

---

And might therefore be a mafia member keeping their head down? (Or at least not mind too much being kicked out of the game.)

---

quote:

---

Professor Chells seemed to have been very quiet.

---

quote:

---

Should his record of two tries and two fails keep him silent?

---

quote:

---

Dafyd read the column by his hero Jerry Exhaust. Did being continually wrong stop him?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by §Andrew:
It is very interesting Jane that you said that after I explicitly expressed my suspicions on the way you (Autenrieth Road), Harry (Hart), and Dafyd the Post (Dafyd) vote... You sure look like a team to me...

By the way, people, if I get murdered overnight, you know where to look for my killers. Hopefully, my words here will deter the mob from taking me off, but in case I die under "suspicious circumstances", do have this in mind, that Jane, Harry and the Postman look like a team to me!

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dafyd:
Dafyd the Post looked at the numbers and decided to vote No lynching.

---

Trying to con us into thinking you're not a villainous gangster?
 

---

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Dafyd the Post sure seems to keep odd hours. That might be who I saw walking out in the rain last night.

Mom will absolutely kill me when she hears I've been voting for a lynching. She has to catch me first! Nya Nya!
 

---

Posted by davelarge (# 186) on :
 
D. Avelarge was slowly recovering from the weekend-long, whiskey-induced stupor that the verbal diarrhoea in the Daily Wail letters page had forced him into. Anaesthetic was sometimes the only solution.

Still, several of the folk writing did have some kind of point, when you stripped away the spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and rampant use of hyperbole. There did seem to be some kind of coordinated effort to get certain people lynched, and that was bad news.

Therefore, he thought, perhaps Dafyd the Post should swing, and we'll see if the rest of the town are on the right track or not.
 

---

Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :
 
Rev Permin was feeling very uncomfortable. Another murder and another funeral to arrange: the Bishop trying to lead Ms Smudge's funeral and (to be charitable) not making the greatest success of it; and being accused by certain townspeople of losing his marbles. After consoling all the grieving relatives, arranging times and dates for the funeral services, and trying to remember which coffin was which, was enough to lead anyone to a level of confusion.

And now he was being urged to join in a lynching - only a short time after being threatened himself with such an untimely end. Permin thought hard about the choice before him. There seemed little evidence to convict either person, but he knew that, without some summary justice, the Mob (or Mobs) would soon run the town. Well, that or Mrs Trellis - he wasn't quite sure which was worse, even if Mrs Trellis would probably call the Capo 'Don Bradman'.

On no better argument than orthography (he thought the postman should know the difference between 'd' and 'dd'), Rev Permin felt that Dafyd the Post should be lynched - "and may the Lord have mercy on his soul."
 

---

Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 
"Oh!" Jane jumped up, dislodging little Whosits from her decolletage (modesty prohibits a more precise description). "The second night's murder maybe wasn't by a second gang, but by a Vigilante! That puts an entire new complexion on things. Quite what complexion, I'm not sure."

If she, Harry, and Dafyd were a team, it was only a coincidental team of innocent citizens. Well, at least she expected to be safe for another night. The Mafia at least know that I'm innocent, and so I don't expect them to bump me off tonight, since leaving me alive will cast further suspicion on me, setting me up to be lynched by a well-meaning but entirely deluded mob of Citizens tomorrow. Plus it looks like we're headed to a lynching today of our poor Postie, so the Vigilante it appears we may have, won't be able to bump me off tonight.

Jane was starting to feel very confused and mixing up her direct and indirect discourse, which she was sure her namesake had never done. She collapsed in her favourite armchair and turned on the TV. The 'Gales were playing the 'Tons, from the neighbouring town of Big Clara. She settled little Whosits so he could watch too. Never too early to start children learning a proper sport, unlike the unseemly alternate Little Florencian sport of casting aspersions on innocent young mothers. Hmmmmphf.
 

---

Posted by ephemera (# 13355) on :
 
Ella walked home from the Penguin's funeral with a throbbing headache. What a chaotic scene that was! And that kid can't sing a note! Her rendition of "Another One Bites the Dust" was totally inappropriate. Ella's beauteous gecko hid behind her lapel the entire time.

Ella stopped into the pizzeria to get a small brioche for breakfast in the morning. While waiting at the counter, she heard Dr. Andre talking about how he believe that Dafyd the Post was a murderous Mafioso.

She had to admit that Dr. Andre made a lot of sense. Dafyd voted to lynch the Penguin and then, when she was proved to be innocent, he turned and accused and voted for Patty Romano, our watchman and protector! Could he have been more wrong? Now it seems Dafyd the Post is accusing Prof. Chells of being Mafiosa. The Post is always pointing fingers at someone else. He has lost all credibility. Besides, Ella had personally watched him read other people's mail while he delivered it.

Before turning into her street, Ella stopped into the pet store and bought 3 ounces of fresh crickets. As she headed home, she realized that she must do whatever she can to try and stop the senseless violence in Little Florence. She decided that, if anyone asked her, she was going to vote to lynch Dafyd the Post. She also vowed to never again lick any of the stamps from post office. It was just too risky.
 

---

Posted by Stevie Boy Wonder (# 11869) on :
 
Steve had thought long and hard. No lynchings would be no use. Even if another innocent was bumped off, it would at least narrow down the pool of suspects. But if a mafiosa was hit... well, that would make things a little more interesting.

The evidence may not be conclusive, but the arguments were certainly persuasive. Steve joined with the chorus condemning Dafyd The Post to a sudden ending. It was his cat Jess that Steve felt sorry for...
 

---

Posted by lady in red (# 10688) on :
 
Lucinda awoke with a start. She had drifted off to sleep and had been having a strange dream where she worked as a secretary in a law firm in Paris and a partner had asked her to arrange an insane trip around North Africa for him. The itinerary was going to take in five countries, including Libya (where it is virtually impossible to get a visa, unless you have a local contact, and they couldn’t get one) in as many days. He’d finally thought better of it, but he still wanted that business class ticket to South Africa at the cost of a year’s rent, give or take, although he had made a bit of a fuss about it not having the same exchangeability terms as the one that cost eighteen months rent, give or take. Then she had had to go somewhere and getting back had taken forever because the bloody transport workers were on strike again (well actually they were supposed to be on strike tomorrow, but they apparently had decided to have a dress rehearsal today)* Goodness, she was glad that nightmare was over.

She realised that she had been woken by a noise outside and looked out of the window to see Dafyd running away, hotly pursued by a howling mob carrying torches and pitchforks. Had he really done it? She had to admit that the weight of the evidence did seem to be against him. Annoying though. Who was going to deliver the post now?

*This post may contain some autobiographical elements
 

---

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
The votes are in, and their message is clear.

Prof Chells (Chelley): 1 vote (Autenrieth Road)
Dafyd the Post: 9 votes (§Andrew, Banner Lady, Chelley, davelarge, ephemera, jedijudy, Rev per Minute, Sioni Sais, Stevie Boy Wonder)
No lynching: 2 votes (Dafyd, Sylvander)

Dafyd the Post is lynched. Unfortunately, he was a Vigilante. Once he's posted his death scene, night will fall.
 

---

Posted by Dafyd (# 5549) on :
 
Just because I thought the old lady was a paediatrician! It was an honest mistake! Dafyd the Post shouted as he went to his gallows.

And don't listen to the Doctor when he tells you to shut up because the mafia want to know what you're thinking. If you keep quiet, you help the mafia hide.
 

---

Posted by davelarge (# 186) on :
 

 

---

Posted by §Andrew (# 9313) on :
 
Holy crap.
 

---

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
Day breaks


BASEBALL BAT BRANDISHER BELTED

Little Florence's homicide rate remained high last night, despite the lynching of local vigilante Dafyd the Post, who seems to have brought a new meaning to the phrase "going postal". The latest victim, known only as jedijudy, was seen swinging a baseball bat shortly before her death, which has led to speculation that she might have been shot by a police officer who mistook it for a gun.

Lt Burke Enhare vigorously denied this suggestion, saying "Look, we might be really bad at this whole detecting thing, but give us some credit, will ya? I mean, do you seriously think we can't tell the difference between a baseball bat and a rifle? Let me tell you, my men have undertaken intensive studies on this subject, and they now have a bat/gun identification rate close to 90%. What more do you want?"

Rumours that the victim had been unfortunate enough to get mixed up in a turf war between Red Sox and Yankees scouts on the lookout for new slugging talent are currently unconfirmed.


jedijudy has been murdered. She was a Citizen. Once she's posted her death scene, nominations for lynching will be open for 24 hours.

I should warn the townsfolk of Little Florence that if they make the mistake of lynching an innocent, the mob are likely to be powerful enough to take control. No lynching would keep them at bay for another day, at least.
 

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Posted by Sylvander (# 12857) on :
 
ANDREW! Now wash your mouth with soap! Being involved in lynchings is one thing but no reason to forget your good manners.

The way this is going our utter inefficiency will mean that tomorrow we'll probably be lynching our very own detective - unless the Mafia get him overnight (not that he had been any use so far). Sir van der Hill was so desperate he contemplated suggesting collective suicide. At least this would deprive the gangsters from further pursuing the perverse satisfaction they found in murder.

No, he decided. It was time to leg it and attend a Burns Supper in Scotland over the weekend. Albeit being away was no guarantee against the long arm of the mafia or the blind ire of the lynch mobs, this way at least he would die having fun and possibly inebriated.
In case anyone accuses me of anything: I did not do it. And: I am NOT the detective, so, fellow citizens: lynching me would be out of character. It would not inflict maximum harm on ourselves as is our custom.
 

---

Posted by Sylvander (# 12857) on :
 
Sorry, I crossposted with TGG.
 

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Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
Bishop Banner sat with his uneaten boiled egg in front of him and stared with horror at the morning paper. Bunny Baker was fussing about the breakfast table when he raised a hand imploring silence. “Bunny, it must be a gang war out there. The killings are just getting worse. And I KNEW that postie was up to something. If only he had concentrated on getting the mail to everyone in good time instead of taking the law into his own hands, perhaps everyone would not have suspected him and he would still be alive...This is just too bad... Bunny?!”

Bunny Baker had dropped the toast tray with a crash at the words 'GANG WAR' Her anxiety disorder rose up like a tidal wave. “S-s-s-o sorry, your Lordship,” she stammered, “I-I-I'll fix it right away. Oh, B-Bishop, if only he had t-taken the early retirement you suggested. What is happening to our little t-t-town?” She gathered up the bits of broken toast and hurried, sobbing, from the room...
 

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Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :
 
Rev Permin felt sick. In the interests of expediency, he had helped condemn an innocent postie - and now he would have to take the man's funeral whilst avoiding (self-inflicted) accusations of brazen hypocricy. Permin had not felt so low since the morning after the Bishop's last Sherry-and-Slammers evening, which had been followed by a number of diocesan resignations and at least one police investigation (not involving him, at least).

What was left for a parish priest to do? Lynching people had clearly failed, as only the innocent had died; doing nothing was not an option, as leaving all the townsfolk undisturbed would only give the Mob another chance to murder an innocent and take the town by default. Strangely, the Book of Common Prayer did not have set prayers for this situation, although he understood the New Zealand Prayer Book to cover most eventualities, and asking the Bishop (who still seemed obsessed about problems with his housekeeper) was unlikely to help. Look where the last bit of 'assistance' had got him - an empty church and a traumatised child. That reminded him that young Judy's funeral was later in the day - he had already had to veto a wreath in the shape of a teddy bear with a baseball bat (apparently, the 'bunny with an axe' had been reserved for someone else).

'Sic transit gloria mundi', thought Permin, and his mind wandered to the young Gloria...
 

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Posted by Pax Romana (# 4653) on :
 
Patty Romano never knew it would be so much fun to be a ghost. Flying around and scaring people is great sport.

And she thanks all of you for sending Dafyd over to her side. He was one of the ones who put her here, and she has big plans to make his life ... er ... death quite memorable for him.

Back to what you were doing, everybody!

Pax Romana
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Good, Mom and Sis are sleeping...finally!

*little judy opens her bedroom window, walks across the large maple limb to the bole of the tree and shinnies down.*

I love walking out at night! No grown ups or big ugly sisters telling me what to do. This is a great night to watch from the pizzeria roof!

*little j watches several suspicious characters pass on the sidewalk under her perch*

*crunch*

What? This is my spot! What are you doing up here?

*little judy backs up until she comes to the edge of the roof. She is picked up, then held by her ankles over the pavement two stories below. little j tries to whack her assailant with her purple cast*

You big bully! I'll tell my Mother and she'll take care of you!

*as the bully drops little j towards her death, she hears a whispered, "No you won't, kid."*******
 

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Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Great Gumby:
I should warn the townsfolk of Little Florence that if they make the mistake of lynching an innocent, the mob are likely to be powerful enough to take control. No lynching would keep them at bay for another day, at least.

---

I'm puzzled by this. There are 14 people alive now. If we lynch an innocent person today, and the mob kills someone tonight, there will be 12 people alive tomorrow (*).

Since there's no limit on number of nominations, the mob can't take control by simply filling tomorrow's nominated slate with innocent people. So it seems that The Great Gumby is implying that with 12 people, the Mob has almost enough members to ensure the vote goes against an innocent person. Which would seem to imply a huge Mob of 5 or 6 people.

In which case it's wierd that we haven't hit on nominating any of the Mob by sheer chance. Or maybe we have nominated them, but the Mob has been skillfully manipulating our votes away from lynching any Mobsters and towards lynching Innocents.

Or maybe we're phenomenally unlucky.

I've made a grid of everyone's votes, and I'm trying to see if there are any patterns of steering.

Is there some other interpretation of The Great Gumby's remarks, that I'm missing?

(*) Little Florentine days & nights, of course.

Jane hung up the phone. Now that the Postie was dead, she couldn't mail a letter to the Daily Wail. She hoped that the Little Florentine Party Line system would ensure that enough people were listening in to her conversation with The Operator, that word would spread.
 

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Posted by lady in red (# 10688) on :
 
Lucinda was outraged to think that someone would kill a ten year-old. Little judy had been stubborn and sulky enough, but she was still a child, when all was said and done. The population of Little Florence was dwindling by the day, and Lucinda was determined to get to the bottom of it. In her strange dream about working in Paris, it was a quiet day in the office (no more epic North African trips to arrange), so she had some time.

First of all, there were some facts that had never been established, like how many mafiosi there were. This was one of those appalling maths problems. Music and maths are meant to go together, but in Lucinda’s case, this was apparently not so. The minute she tried to do arithmetic, she got a terrible mental block. Nonetheless she got out a piece of paper and tried to work it out.

The voice in the sky had said that one more lynching would put the mob only a day away from overtaking Little Florence. Fourteen people were still alive, but with the Honourable Order of Watchmen apparently extinguished, it was likely that one more person would be assassinated overnight. This had to be factored into the equation. So, with thirteen people alive, the town were safe for one day more, but with only twelve, they would probably be overrun. The mob take over the town when they have a majority stake. So where x is the number of mafiosi, and y is the number of people who still need to be alive for x to be less than half of y… Good grief, she hated maths…

2x+1=y
y = 13
2x+1=13
2x = 12
x = 6

Six mobsters? Was that right? If so, how had they not managed to catch a single one? The voice in the sky had warned that lynching the wrong person would hand Little Florence over to the mob today, but it struck her that even if they didn’t lynch anyone, they were making themselves sitting ducks and their days were numbered. The mafia would still win, it would just take them slightly longer… Taken that there were apparently six ruthless killers on the loose, out of the fourteen people still alive in Little Florence, and Lucinda knew that she wasn’t one of them, that meant that even a random stab in the dark had an almost fifty percent chance of success, and surely she could do better than a random stab in the dark, after all there was more evidence every day. Nominating anyone for lynching at this stage was dangerous, but so was doing nothing. Time to see what she could turn up. She hadn’t yet thrown out the previous days’ newspapers, and they contained full reports on all the previous murders and lynchings. She sat down with a cup of tea to go through them with a fine-tooth comb.

[ETA: EITHER great minds think alike, OR I'm in agreement with a terrible mobster. I'm trusting no one at this stage]

[ 29. January 2009, 14:38: Message edited by: lady in red ]
 

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Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 
Jane had had the wierdest dream. She dreamed she was on a video call with her Auntie Beeb, who lived in Paris. Auntie said there was a transportation strike going on, supported by 80% of the people. What, did that mean only 20% of the people didn't work in transportation? She advised her Auntie to save up 18 months rent and buy a plane ticket out of there immediately.

She woke up with a start. Little Whosits was still asleep, for a change. Good, that meant she had some quiet time to think about what was going on in town, and she didn't mean the dreadful drubbing the 'Gales had suffered last night at the hands of the 'Tons.

[ETA: I prefer the Great Minds theory .]

[ 29. January 2009, 14:50: Message edited by: Autenrieth Road ]
 

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Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 
Harry had been thinking. Hopefully, after he had been accused of being in league with Dafyd and Dafyd had turned out to be a vigilante, people would see that actually he, Dafyd (and Jane for that matter) were just playing similar strategies because they were good strategies for citizens to play.

He looked back over what people had been saying. A good sign of a mobster would be someone who had been talking lots, but not about strategy (why would a mobster talk publicly when they could talk privately?). Looking over a few people and having a glance at voting patterns (particularly people who had been quick to vote to lynch our vigilante), one name kept came up: the Bishop's.

Harry nominates Bishop Banner (Banner Lady).
 

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Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
The Man Who Wasn't Welsh wonders what the hell is going on. He thinks we may as well lynch that damn cop, Lt Burke Enhare for all the good he is doing.

Thanks to Harry's cute attempt at disinformation, TMW3 decides that he was right all along. He regrets not pushing this much harder before so he therefore nominates Harry Hartson (Hart) for a lynching.

[ 29. January 2009, 16:46: Message edited by: Sioni Sais ]
 

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Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
Another perfumed letter had arrived from Miss Austen-Wreath, this time wanting to know if her baby, little Florent, could be baptised by Bishop Banner, at her home in a private service, and did she have to name the father on the baptismal certificate? She had included a cheque for his Urban Relief Project; he assumed as a sweetener for her request.

Bishop Banner shook his head. Standards just were not what they once were. He wrote back , acknowledging the donation, and informing her that he would consider the private baptism provided she completed a baptismal class with Reverend Permin beforehand.

Then he wearily went through all the messages from the press wanting statements from him regarding his actions, inactions, and on the speculation that the church was being used as a front for Masonic feather nesting, Asian opium smuggling, Mafia money laundering and illicit alchohol production. Who began these rumours, he would never know, but it was sad that if he decided to have Sherry on the Lawns of Bishop House at Michaelmas with the deaneries, as was his custom, the press would likely report it as an orgy of booze and scmooze and all hell would break loose. Then how would he ever get his Urban Relief Project up and running? The town needed it more than ever.

He was just picking up the phone to Rev Permin about the latest funeral arrangements for St Cosimo's when a rock smashed through the window of his study. The note wrapped around it accused him of being a heartless baby killer who turned into a werewolf at night. He sighed. When would these accusations and calumnies end?
 

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Posted by lady in red (# 10688) on :
 
Lucinda sat at the kitchen table surrounded by the week’s newspapers. She wasn’t sure that she could catch anyone, since the mob seemed to be having a pretty successful run of it, but she was going to do her best. Instead of working on rumours and wild guesses, she needed to look at facts. They needed to find someone who had it in for Prof de Ville, jedijudy and - which one? Miss Smudge or Don Carmen? They now knew that Dafyd had carried out one of those two killings, but they couldn’t be sure which. He had voted to kill Miss Smudge, though, so maybe he’d killed her.

Prof de Ville didn’t have time to get a vendetta against anyone, as far as she could tell, and if the mafia had killed Don Carmen, it seemed more likely that they’d done it because they weren’t prepared to have two mobs in town than because she had definite information about who they were. On the other hand, if the mob had killed Smudge, then Lucinda wasn’t sure that there was all that much information to be gained from that either. She was just a quiet, reclusive lady with a cat.

What about little jedijudy? Whoever would kill a ten year-old? Judy had a strong dislike for Rev Permin and had even nominated him for lynching in connection to the deaths of [whichever one out of Don Carmen and Smudge the mailman hadn’t done in], for some reason, but that wasn’t proof in itself. Someone could have been trying to frame him. On the other hand, if Miss Austen Wreath was right that the mafia had been steering the town away from their own when they were nominated, that would explain why Rev Permin had ended up getting no votes, except for Miss Austen Wreath’s own. That one vote was strange though, because a sensible mafia outfit would split their votes so that if one of them got caught, the others couldn’t easily be traced. So Rev Permin and Jane Austen Wreath might both be mafiosi, and that whole business about the chart was just an elaborate bluff.

Why was it that she had disagreed with Dr. André about Dafyd and voted for Chelley? No one else had. Dr. André had been wrong of course, but that wasn’t proof of anything in itself. Dafyd did have the evidence against him. Making accusations of murder against people who weren’t guilty did tend to make one look dodgy. And of course, Dafyd wasn’t entirely innocent either. He wasn’t in an organised gang, but he had killed someone. Miss Austen Wreath claimed that she thought that Dr. André was accusing Dafyd because he was in league with Prof Chells, but Lucinda couldn’t see the evidence for that either. Prof Chells had been voting the same way as just about everyone. Admittedly that was probably what some mafiosi had done, but the trouble was you couldn’t prove it. The family were hidden among a mass of misguided but innocent people.

Dr André had thought that Miss Austen Wreath was in league with Dafyd the post and Harry Artson the barber. That clearly wasn’t true. Dafyd had acted alone. But what if the doctor was onto something and part of it was right? Just not the bit about Dafyd? She thought about calling Miss Austen Wreath’s bluff, but saw that the Man who wasn’t Welsh had already called for Harry Artson to be called to account. And it was better to stick to one evildoer. Otherwise they might split the votes and no one would get caught. She was keeping an eye on Miss Austen Wreath, though. She didn’t trust those people who had been baying for blood since the beginning, but without catching a single villain.
 

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Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Autenrieth Road:

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Great Gumby:
I should warn the townsfolk of Little Florence that if they make the mistake of lynching an innocent, the mob are likely to be powerful enough to take control. No lynching would keep them at bay for another day, at least.

---

I'm puzzled by this. There are 14 people alive now. If we lynch an innocent person today, and the mob kills someone tonight, there will be 12 people alive tomorrow (*).
...
Is there some other interpretation of The Great Gumby's remarks, that I'm missing?

---

Agggg! The other interpretation is that he had a monumental brain fade at an embarrassing moment. Please disregard that warning, which was the result of having too many things on the go at once, and forgetting how to count.

I will warn you when a conclusion is near, but we haven't reached that point yet. Please accept my apologies.
 

---

Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by lady in red:
Why was it that she had disagreed with Dr. André about Dafyd and voted for Chelley?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Autenrieth Road:
P.S. at this point I don't know if I'm still suspicious of either Chelley or Dr. Andre or both or either or neither. Was Dr. Andre's "Holy Crap" the expostulation of a rudely awakened naive and wooly-minded citizen; or the crafty impersonation by a fiendish and devious Mobster of said naive & wooly-minded citizen? Fortunately given the nominations this round I don't have to decide that.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by §Andrew:
Jane, are you trying to manipulate us?

---

quote:

---

I mean, really, even I stand confused at the moment as to whether you are mafia or not.

---

quote:

---

The easiness with which you jumped on Dafyd's argument about sharing information (which I still think at that point looked awfully suspicious),

---

quote:

---

your trying once again to make Prof. Chells look suspect, because he was nominated but not lynched, your repeatedly trying to link me with the good Professor....

---

quote:

---

And now playing all innocent "finding it hard to construct a long chain of reasoning" and thanking The Great Gumby for the reassuring information that the mobsters aren't that many....

---

quote:

---

I don't know what you are up to. Is the bishop one of you and you decided to sacrifice him so that you and Harry get saved, and then, being beyond the shadow of suspicion (after all, you exposed a mobster!) get the rest of us and take over the city?

---

quote:

---

Or is the bishop innocent and you are just trying to distract us and save Harry for another round?

---

I guess we'll find out in 24 hours who's what. I don't know, but for whatever evanescent reasons I'm willing to put my money on lynching the Bishop this round. Although alas if the Bishop turns up a Citizen, or worse luck a Detective, I'll have to get ready for a neck-stretching myself pretty soon.

It's wierd, reflecting on circumstantial evidence. Although I know myself to be a Citizen, I can see this dreadful trail of Looks Guilty mounting up around me.
 

---

Posted by §Andrew (# 9313) on :
 
I do think it was too premature to "share" information at that point, because there were yet no clues as to what's going on.

I also think that that would help the mob find out the most dangerous citizens, people who could expose them as the days went by, and so they could murder them early in the game.

In fact, I believe that others thought the same as well, which is why there was no substantial "sharing" of information at that point.

Needless to say I was unsure myself as to when I should share my thoughts with the community, in case that meant I would get murdered before being able to offer any substantial help to the community.

As to the "interesting wording", are you being manipulative again? I still think you are one of the criminals, and I felt so even stronger before your your post. That's why I said that your post, which might be carefully designed to achieve that goal, was making me doubt your guilt.

I still find your, let's say timing, suspicious. Before the voting starts, right after two people expressed their suspicions about Harry... all this sounds too strange to me.
 

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Posted by Chelley (# 11322) on :
 
Prof Chells was starting to consider her image a bit... not only was she coming under all-too-regular suspicion regarding the violence in the town, but she also seemed to be getting regularly confused for a man. She acknowledged that her beloved old boots and love of Spurs (the Tottenham Hotspur kind, not the cowboy boot kind) wasn't exactly the most feminine image around, but still...

But, she shook herself out of those reflections to consider the latest news. Aut Road had seemed to be making some sense for one who only a day before had had the Prof very suspicious - and then there was the swift and harsh reaction of Andrew that surprised her and caught her attention. Perhaps this townswoman also needed to go and draw up a little grid of recent events...
 

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Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :
 
Rev Permin was confused. This was not an unusual state for him - to be honest, once there had started to be more than one hymn book, life had become over-complicated - but he felt that he should have a better grasp of recent events than he had so far shown.

The fact that the Bishop had now been accused of taking part in the murders simply stunned Permin. His own views on His Grace he kept to himself, but they didn't stretch to the Bishop bashing the innocent over the head. But who else could be involved? Patrick Permin was starting to realise why the Lord had limited himself to twelve disciples: more than that, and it was difficult to remember who was who. He (Permin, not the Lord) couldn't find a clear reason to point a finger at anyone. But he (Permin, and the Lord too) knew that someone out there was simply working for his (or her) thirty pieces of silver.

Permin turned back to his desk and the ever-increasing number of funeral sermons he was having to write. The tradition of having one sermon, which was adapted slightly for each of the deceased, may have worked in normal times, but these were far from normal times. With the Bishop taking an interest, Permin could hardly repeat the same phrases at each service, especially when there was more than one a day. He thought of calling 'Sermons-R-Us', but the memory of the supposed wedding sermon which in fact addressed the Feast of the Circumcision still made him cringe.

Rev Permin poured another medicinal Scotch and turned back to his sermons. At least here, among his Bibles and commentaries, he fet safe - even if he knew no-one was really safe in this town anymore.
 

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Posted by lady in red (# 10688) on :
 
Goodness, Miss Austen Wreath had become very vocal all of a sudden. Mewonders if the lady doth protest too much... Lucinda felt even more inclined to point her pizzicato finger at her, but decided that if she was a mafiosa, then she was almost certainly in league with that Mr Artson, so they would be better of trying to catch the baddies one at a time.

She was a little disappointed to learn that the voice in the sky had got its wires crossed about the numbers. It had given her a headache trying to work the maths out, and now it turned out she'd still not arrived at the right answer
 

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Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
The nominations are:

Bishop Banner (Banner Lady) nominated by Hart
Harry Artson (Hart) nominated by Sioni Sais

You may now vote for Bishop Banner (Banner Lady) or Harry Artson (Hart) to be lynched, or for no lynching. As it's Friday afternoon here in Blighty, the voting will stay open until Monday, or until we get a clear result. As before, wrangling over the vote will be allowed throughout, and a majority of those voting will ensure death at the end of a rope. With 14 players still in the game, 8 votes for a nominee will guarantee a lynching.
 

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Posted by §Andrew (# 9313) on :
 
Professor Chells,

harsh? I'm having doubts and second thoughts here about Jane's role, I'm not being harsh!

I will have to think hard about what she said, because I might have been right from start to think she was up to something crooked, but I could be wrong, so I will have to think about it over the weekend.

What do you think is going on with Jane?
 

---

Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 
If she's mafia, she's sure spending a lot of time trying to think as a citizen. I do think that would be hard. But not impossible. But then, the same argument goes to say that Dr. Andre may be innocent. I just can't imagine spending that much effort writing all that if I were mafia and knew it were crap.*


*Though, now that I said that, if I do become mafia in a future game I'll have to carefully show the same amount of effort that I am now showing.
 

---

Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
Bishop Banner had a hide as thick as a rhinoceros. He knew most of the clergy under his jurisdiction found him tiresome; but then administrators like hmself often had to be both pedantic and pushy to get things done. He didn't really care if people didn't like him, although he was somewhat bemused by recent accusations levelled against him. If the poor misguided souls of Little Florence looked carefully at the evidence around them, surely they could see that there was no pattern to anything he had ever done; or for that matter ever would do.

He hoped Patrick would preach the kind of sermons at the funerals of Travis and Judy this week that would inspire the confused townspeople to better behaviour. He wasn't sure he could trust Patrick on this. Bunny Baker hadn't been back to church ever since Permin expounded a far too detailed account of the rape of Tamar. He sighed again and picked up the phone. Perhaps he'd better check what readings Patrick was intending to use just to make sure...
 

---

Posted by Dafyd (# 5549) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pax Romana:
And she thanks all of you for sending Dafyd over to her side. He was one of the ones who put her here, and she has big plans to make his life ... er ... death quite memorable for him.

---

Dafyd the Post's ghost doesn't see what ground there are for complaint. He was lynched a couple of times when he was young, and it never did him any harm. He was all the better for it. That's the trouble with young people these days: not enough lynching. Although, even if it may not be politically correct to say so, lynching's too good for them....

[ 30. January 2009, 19:55: Message edited by: Dafyd ]
 

---

Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 
Harry stands by his previous arguments and votes for Bishop Banner.

He'll have to do some serious thinking about pretty much everyone else!
 

---

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
Is that a threat I see before me now Harry?

String him up. Hang Harry High.
 

---

Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 
Jane votes to lynch Bishop Banner. She turns her attention to knitting little Florent a baby hat in the 'Gales' colours.
 

---

Posted by lady in red (# 10688) on :
 
Well, if everyone else was going to make a chart of votes, then Lucinda decided she might as well have one. She was getting no practise done, but the way things were in Little Florence these days, she doubted that anyone would come to the recital anyway, the only music anyone wanted was for funerals. It was a shame. Her Rachmaninov would have been a triumph, glorious and tragic.

Lucinda decided to start by examining the two accused, along with Miss Austen Wreath, who she thought was acting very suspisciously and had become extremely talkative since the finger had been pointed at her. So… in connection with the death of the unfortunate Prof de Ville…

Now that was interesting. Harry Artson and Miss Austen Wreath had both voted the same way, for the Smudge. Two other people had done the same, Dafyd and Patty - and they were now both dead. What to make of that? It could be coincidence, but on the other hand, it would be a very useful way of claiming that there was no collusion between them. ‘It weren’t us, Guv, the other people who did the same were innocent.’ Were the mob that clever? The Bish on the other hand had abstained, along with most of the town. This was not proof of innocence either because the mafia would try to stay hidden, at least early on. Still, a fairly high number of the abstentions were presumably innocent.

Conclusion: three dodginess points for the Bishop, and seven each for Miss Austen Wreath and Harry.

Next: the assassination of Smudge and Don Carmen. The Bishop hadn’t voted at all, and neither had Harry the Barber, which was odd, because he was among the accused. But the writing had been on the wall for Patty, which meant that the mob could leave the misguided townsfolk to get on with it, and then emerge later with their hands clean. So voting was not really a proof of guilt, but neither was not voting. Jane Austen Wreath, on the other hand, had voted for Rev Permin, and she was the only one. That meant that she was either a lone agent, or the mafia were trying to avoid leaving a paper trail by splitting their votes.

Conclusion 2: two dodgy points for the Bish, three for the barber, and five for the lady madonna.

After that, the lynching of Dafyd the mailman: Miss Austen Wreath had again voted alone, which was becoming a habit for her. Harry Artson hadn’t voted again, which was also becoming a habit. Was this an attempt to fly under the radar and go unnoticed after being accused earlier on? Very odd. His Grace (apologies if that’s not the right term, Lucinda is a Pentecostal cellist ) had voted for Dafyd, quickly it was true, but then general opinion had been against him. Furthermore, Harry and Jane, who were the ones claiming that this was a dodgy thing to do, had just done exactly the same, voting for the Bishop himself. So either the Bishop was a mobster on the quiet or he just had the courage of his convictions. Hard to tell.

Conclusion 3: three dodgy points for Bishop Banner, five for Harry Artson, and five for Jane Austen Wreath.

Right, now for the final conclusion and overall dodginess quotient:

Bishop Banner: 3+2+3= 8 dodgy points
Harry Artson: 7+3+5 = 15 dodgy points
Jane Austen Wreath: 7+5+5 = 17 dodgy points

Lucinda now regrets not having the courage to launch a formal complaint against Miss Austen Wreath. On the other hand, the barber also has a pretty high dodgy score and doing nothing is not an option at this stage, so Lucinda votes for Harry Artson.
 

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Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :
 
Permin's stocks of medicinal Scotch were getting dangerously low, given the number of funerals and sermons that were on his desk. And now he had heard that the Bishop was concerned about some of them: it was enough to make a vicar turn to drink...

Patrick knew that voting for no lynching only allowed the mob to get further ahead. His head span at the idea of voting for the Bishop to be lynched, so he tried to make sense of some of the other arguments. Lucinda had made a very detailed argument that led her to vote for Harry Artson the barber: however, the detail of the argument reminded Permin of some of the more outré lectures on the Trinity at theological college and he wasn't quite sure who had done what (by this example, was the Bishop Father, Son or Holy Ghost?). He was more drawn by the arguments of the Man Who Wasn't Welsh - a response to apparent threats.

Permin sighed and decided to call for the lynching of Harry Artson, and prayed that he would not regret this as he did the death of Dafyd the Post.
 

---

Posted by lady in red (# 10688) on :
 
Lucinda walked through the door and was surprised to find herself in a vast tract of void, a bit like the hyperspace chamber in Magrathea. There was no one there except herself and the vicar.

She was rather disappointed about this, as she had been enjoying playing the lovely game and now it seemed to have ground to a juddering halt. Where was everyone? Had Little Florence gone into suspended animation?
 

---

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
The tumbleweed down Little Florence's High Street may have blown in from the UK, where strange weather conditions have been causing a certain amount of disruption.

In the event that the townsfolk are hiding or dithering in confusion, they have until this evening GMT to cast their votes on the latest lynching.
 

---

Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
Bishop Banner had had a busy weekend away promoting his Bishop's Urban Relief Appeal to other churches in the greater Little Massachusets area. He arrived home in time to realize that if things were not to fall apart completely, he would need to exercise some leadership in his own home town. Leadership, in the Bishop's books was usually necessitated by self-preservation, and so it was without hesitation that he decided it was time to back up his clergy (but only because it suited him) and shop Harry Artson.
 

---

Posted by davelarge (# 186) on :
 
Mr Avelarge had been through a rather busy weekend. The Nightingales had lost again, and the crowd was the smallest in living memory. And he hated seeing the smug looks on the Patriot's faces... grrr...

But now it was Monday and things were back on a more even keel, so he managed to get five minutes to have a think about the situation facing Little Florence. Clearly, the most important thing was to secure a lynching. If the town was going to submerge under the rule of the Mob, it might as well go down fighting.

Therefore, with a heavy heart, D. Avelarge cast his vote for Harry Artson.
 

---

Posted by §Andrew (# 9313) on :
 
Dr. André was thinking hard about the exchange he had earlier with Jane. What if Jane is innocent? This means there is no criminal connection with Harry. But what if she is guilty? Then either she is manipulating the good doctor to vote for Harry, in which case Harry is innocent, or she is cooperating with Harry, in which case Harry is a mobster.

The doctor was thinking about the kind father's thoughts, that if there was no lynching that would serve the interests of the mafia. The great philanthropist mr. Avelarge seemed to agree with that.

On the other hand, if they lynched another innocent person (and with the bad karma the city has accumulated from previous lynchings surely this time they would lynch the detective!) then that would be very damaging to the city!

What's a man to do?

The doctor couldn't sleep. The matter was troubling him. He wasn't sure that he should vote for any of the people to whom the city's suspicions seemed to focus at the moment. But, if he voted against the lynching, then he might be accused later of helping the mafia.

A man's got to do what a man's got to do.

Taking full responsibility for what he was going to do, and with the ghost of Dafyd the Postman to haunt him, the doctor decided to vote no lynching, as doubt and uncertainty overcame him. He folded his vote, and casted it in the ballot.
 

---

Posted by Chelley (# 11322) on :
 
Prof Chells decided that the citizens needed to do something to stop the gangsters taking over their town, therefore she reluctantly voted for Harry Artson to be lynched.
 

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Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 
Miss Sal sighed.
How on earth were ordinary citizens supposed to know who was guilty when the police didn't? Everyone seemed dangerous these days and she trembled to leave her house, let alone call for someone's death! That Harry guy did seem suspicious, but then he'd been associated with that poor postman by many. And the poor postman certainly hadn't been guilty. So maybe Harry was innocent too?
Similarly, the Bishop could be a bit pushy when he wanted money. (Speaking of which, maybe Miss Sal thought she should write out another copy of her letter to the Bishop that accompanied the check, and drop it in his mailbox. After all, he hadn't mentioned receiving it, and one did want to know whether the check would be cashed. Yes, she would do that when she went out.) But one didn't really know him. I mean maybe he was hiding behind his episcopal self. Definitely don't trust anyone right now. But that didn't mean one wanted to hang a good person!
Still, the man who claimed not to be Welsh* said that Harry had been spreading misinformation. She didn't know where, but if so, that was pretty sketchy. Miss Sal figured she'd better vote for him and hope that she hadn't been misinformed herself.

*Bet he is, really. Will have to ask around town.

[ 02. February 2009, 17:45: Message edited by: Gwai ]
 

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Posted by Stevie Boy Wonder (# 11869) on :
 
Steve Buckland still had no idea who to trust, but he saw a bandwagon rolling through town and decided to jump on it quick before it disappeared. He thought back to that shaving cut Harry had "accidentally" given him. Was it really an accident... or could it have been attempted murder?

He wouldn't take that risk again. Steve decided Harry Artson wouldn't be going anywhere nice on his holidays this year...
 

---

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
The votes are:

Bishop Banner (Banner Lady): 2 votes (Autenrieth Road, Hart)
Harry Artson (Hart): 8 votes (Banner Lady, Chelley, davelarge, Gwai, lady in red, Rev per Minute, Sioni Sais, Stevie Boy Wonder)
No lynching: 1 vote (§Andrew)

Harry Artson is lynched. Unfortunately, he was a Detective. Once he's posted his death scene, night will fall.
 

---

Posted by davelarge (# 186) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by §Andrew:
On the other hand, if they lynched another innocent person (and with the bad karma the city has accumulated from previous lynchings surely this time they would lynch the detective!) then that would be very damaging to the city!

---

 

---

Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 
Harry looked back over the slightly embarrassed looking townsfolk for one last time as the black sack was put over his neck. The barbering-detectiving double life he'd been leading recently had been hard, but still this release from it was not welcome. He hoped their hair got unmanageable and their sideburns uneven, especially the mobsters, precious few of whom he'd been able to discover. Remembering back to that Lewis & Short from page 2, he made sure his last words would be memorable:

Innocens morior!
 

---

Posted by Chelley (# 11322) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Great Gumby:
Harry Artson is lynched. Unfortunately, he was a Detective. Once he's posted his death scene, night will fall.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Great Gumby:
Harry Artson is lynched. Unfortunately, he was a Detective.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sylvander:
I am NOT the detective, so, fellow citizens: lynching me would be out of character. It would not inflict maximum harm on ourselves as is our custom.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sylvander:
I have not made any voting grids of my own (don't have the time) but if one of those who have perhaps could post it in an easy-to-grasp format (a grid perhaps)? Methinks that by now there should be some useful information there.

---

Meh. I tried that and look where it got me. I suck as much at detective work as i do at maths

[Add code to the list of things that I suck at as well]

[ 03. February 2009, 07:59: Message edited by: lady in red ]
 

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Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :
 
The Rev'd Permin's headache was getting worse. Another innocent had been lynched: not only that, but Harry had been an undercover cop. "If we took a machine gun and fired out of the window, we'd have a better chance of hitting one of the murderers," he thought. So much for 'dodgy points' or grids or other systems...

If it wasn't for the constant stream of funerals, Permin would have scarcely needed to get up in the morning. The last Sunday service was attended by three men and a dog - a Jack Russell, who had yapped all the way through the Eucharistic Prayer then had tried to take Communion. Permin hoped that the dog would be back next week, as that was the only congregation he was likely to get if people stopped going outdoors.

Permin was worried that it was always the same people doing the talking in the town. It almost always led to their deaths - either at the hands of the Mob or at the hands of... well, the mob. The more he thought this, the more he thought it was time to stop talking and get on with things.
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
This being dead thing isn't quite as bad as I thought it would be. I can float up to the pizzeria roof instead of climbing! And no more purple cast! Cool!

I do miss Mom's hugs, though. Sister is still a pain in the patootie, and took all my good stuff as soon as the funeral was over.

Too bad the grown ups never listen to us kids.
 

---

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
Day breaks


LAST BASTION OF CORRECT ENGLISH JOINS THE MAJORITY

Serial complainant and letter-writer Miss Sal was found dead last night, as the recent mob attacks showed no signs of slowing down. Police were unavailable for comment, being said to have fled the town in panic in an attempt to save their own well-upholstered hides.

Editor of the Little Florence Mercury, Philippa Paige, paid tribute to Miss Sal's tireless work over many years to correct our English. "She clearly cared very much about getting it right," she said, "And over the years, we came to feel that we almost knew her as a friend. It was lovely to have such a loyal and devoted reader checking up on us all the time. I must confess, if we hadn't heard from her in a while, I'd occasionally slip a deliberate mistake or two into the paper to try to coax her out."

Today's letters page has been left blank as a mark of respect, and from tomorrow, we will be running a week-long series of Miss Sal's Greatest Hits, including her memorable lecture on the correct use of hyphens, and the time her complaint was in sonnet form, in protest at the publication of a limerick which didn't scan.


Gwai has been murdered. She was a Citizen. Once she's posted her death scene, nominations will open for lynching. Those left alive are:

§Andrew
Autenrieth Road
Banner Lady
davelarge
Chelley
ephemera
lady in red
leonato
Rev per Minute
Sioni Sais
Stevie Boy Wonder
Sylvander

Unfortunately (and having checked my maths several times), this time it really is correct that lynching an innocent is likely to allow the mob to take control of the town. No lynching will put off that fateful day for now. The good people of Little Florence will need to tread very carefully.
 

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Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 
Miss Sal bit her pen.
She put her hair up in a bun and then took it down. Then put it back up into the bun and bit her pen again.
She'd never thought there was anything that would be hard to say in a letter, but finally she'd found something. Was it too peculiar to write a note to the paper thanking them for a perfect errorless week? It seemed a bit silly. After all, surely her job (don't say hobby, that would seem belittling, this was truly a volunteer labor of love, she told herself) was to find errors not to praise perfection? Also, there was a reason the paper had been perfect all week and it was probably related to the fact that half the columnists seemed to be dead, or fleeing for their lives (should probably say on vacation not fleeing for their lives.) It seemed cruel to thank the paper for only producing half a paper.
Still, she barely written the paper a letter all week. She had to say something about it all!

Her desk faced the wall and an old painting of her grandfather, so she didn't see the door open. She didn't hear them approach. She didn't notice the shadows moving across the floor. There was no anticipation, and she never had the chance to cry out. Even when the blows fell, she didn't make a noise. No, the only things that spoke for Miss Sal were the first two words of her letter, the only parts she'd managed to decide on.

quote:

---

Thank You

---

quote:

---

POINT 1: Other cities have been plagued by the mafia as well. But at no time in history before, and at no place known to the citizens of Little Florence had a mafioso "confessed".

POINT 2: This means that the situation we face is very unusual, to say the least.

POINT 3: This means that we shouldn't rush and make decisions without thinking about what it all means first.

---

Now, let us think about what predated the Bishop's "confession".

One of the city's detectives was lynched. But before he was lynched, a momentum was starting to build against the Bishop.

With Harry the Barber/Detective's lynching, the momentum grew very big, and it was to be expected that the Bishop would probably be the one to follow Harry in "the other place".

So, if the Bishop is mafia, he gets lynched, we get to find out he is mafia, and this is it. His confession serves no purpose, especially since nobody buys the accusations against leonato (although perhaps we should; we don't know what's going on behind the scenes, and there might be factions that clash with each other in the mob, WHICH IS A GOOD THING for us!)

But what if his confession serves a different purpose, what if us getting him lynched will reveal something different than what we had in mind while we were suspecting him of being a mobster?

Let's say that the Bishop turns out to be a citizen after he gets lynched. What will this mean about leonato?

Citizens of Little Florence, we must be thinking ahead of the Day's events, if we want to protect and save our city!

What I am clumsily trying to say is that if the Bishop turns out to be the city's second detective, at least we know with almost certainty who is an actual mobster (leonato), because the Bishop, foreseeing his imminent end, gave us that information, unlike Harry (rest his soul!) who even though was seeing his imminent end didn't warn us about his identity.

I mean, when you see the end coming, you say "stop it! I'm a detective, and I have examined this and that, and this was a citizen and that was a mafioso" or "I have examined this and that and none were mafioso".

You don't just die without helping the city protect itself.

But it seems that our detectives haven't been much use till now, have they? Especially if the Bishop turns out to be a second detective all along.

What do you think? My head hurts. I'm going to take some aspirin.

[ 05. February 2009, 10:55: Message edited by: §Andrew ]
 

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Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 
Ah, Dr. Andre, I see you have even more ability to see wheels within wheels than I do. Nevertheless, in this case I think there's one really huge obvious wheel, with very little room for other wheels inside them, and that's why I'm voting to lynch Bishop Banner.

Having done her civic duty and cast her vote, Jane turned back to packing for her EfM Mentor Training retreat. She popped little Florent in his carseat, strapped him in six ways from Sunday and two ways from Tuesday, and drove off. By the magic of her Raspberry PDA (as a poor single young struggling writer/mother, she couldn't afford its beter-known cousin), she expected she'd be able to keep in touch with events in Little Florence.
 

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Posted by lady in red (# 10688) on :
 
Something told Lucinda she should lynch Bishop Banner. Possibly the sign around his neck saying 'Lynch me, lynch me now! I'm guilty ans it was me what dunnit".
 

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Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :
 
Rev Permin's head was now spinning - and without the help of any Scotch mist, either. Hot on the heels of another accusation aimed at the Bishop, Permin found the Bishop himself on his doorstep, pleading for a chance to talk. Over the course of a long conversation (in which His Grace had imbibed the last of Permin's stock of Scotland's finest), the Bishop appeared to admit to being in the pay of the Mob and threw himself on Permin's mercy, naming names (one name, anyway).

With the Bishop sleeping it off in the spare room of the vicarage, Patrick had barely begun to absorb the implications of his confession when Dr André came around and suggested that the Bishop was covering for someone else. Perhaps the Bishop should be spared after all?

However, Permin could not see the logic of the Doctor's reasoning. If the Bishop was not a member of the Mob, what benefit could there be to him in confessing publicly? While it would be in the interests of the Mafia to pinpoint an innocent, giving them automatic control of the town, how did that work with a self-nomination?

He wondered if, providing the Bishop was a mobster and was lynched, whether one more murder the next night would give the Mob control? If not, the town would have another - final - chance to remove a malign influence from the town. Permin now had his doubts about Dr André - what made a man try so hard to convince everyone that the Bishop's confession was false?

Rev Permin's conscience was troubled. All his instincts were against mob violence and revenge, especially against a man who was troubled enough to make a confession to the town. On the other hand, a vacancy in the See of Little Massachusetts would not be bad for prospects of preferment. He decided that he would not stop the mob when they came to his door for the Bishop, and knew that this was as good as a vote for lynching poor Bishop Banner. And may the Lord have mercy on all our souls...
 

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Posted by §Andrew (# 9313) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Autenrieth Road:
Ah, Dr. Andre, I see you have even more ability to see wheels within wheels than I do.

---

That's years of analytical thinking and philosophical speculation. (and sci fi novels)

I do think however that there is only one way to tell for sure, whether there are factions rivaling with each other in the mob or whether the bishop is no mafia at all...

I will vote for the Bishop with ONE qualification. Don't blame me if he turns out to be the second detective. But if he does turn out to be the detective, then, CITIZENS, leonato MUST be lynched next or our town will be taken over by the mob!

[ 05. February 2009, 15:13: Message edited by: §Andrew ]
 

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Posted by Sylvander (# 12857) on :
 
As a stout albeit not-so-practising Presbie Sir van der Hill was not entirely disinclined to stringing up bishops as a rule under any circumstances. The fact that this one had confessed to being part of the Mafia rather than just the ordinary kind of criminal episcopus was just an added bonus. (Typical, though, that the town had only caught a mafioso after killing all its own watchmen, detectives and vigilantes and only due to a confession. Nobody seemed to study their Agatha Christie with some attention to detail any more. He mused whether they'd be lucky enough to find a sudden burst of qualms in someone else next day?)

As the clamour of the mob on the town square grew louder he heard himself mutter: "Hang this darned bish and good riddance too!"
 

---

Posted by ephemera (# 13355) on :
 
Ella awoke to a hugh throng of people running down the street with signs and banners screaming about lynching Bishop Banner. She quickly got out some paint and a large piece of cardboard and made a sign. She hung it out her window to the cheers of those in the crowd. It said, "Lynch Bishop Banner!"

Ella put 2 geckos on the window sill so they could bask in the sun. Then she went back to bed.
 

---

Posted by Stevie Boy Wonder (# 11869) on :
 
Much like in the Little Florence elections, Steve Buckland knew his vote wouldn't actually make any difference, as the necessary majority had already been reached. However, unlike the Little Florence elections, Steve actually wanted to vote for the winning ticket this time; everyone else had got in early and bashed the bishop* before he had. "Lynch Bishop Banner!" he cried, before returning to his marking.

*oh, come on, someone had to say it...
 

---

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
That's more than enough to settle it. The votes are:

Bishop Banner (Banner Lady): 8 votes (§Andrew, Autenrieth Road, ephemera, lady in red, Rev per Minute, Sioni Sais, Stevie Boy Wonder, Sylvander)
Salvatore Leonato (leonato): 0 votes
No lynching: 0 votes

Banner Lady is unanimously lynched. Congratulations, citizens! She was a Mafioso. Once she's posted her death scene, night will fall.
 

---

Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
Bishop Banner woke up groggily. His hitheto elegant soutane had liquor stains on it. What had happened? And where was he? Oh, yes, St.Cosimo's rectory. He looked up at the paint peeling off the cornices and shuddered. Why was he still alive? He took a deep breath and checked that he still had his nose, ears and lips. He could hear a comotion outside in the street, and he knew that the mob were coming for him. He recognized some of the voices baying for his blood, and began to blubber uncontrollably.

This wasn't how it was supposed to end. He had turned! He had seen the Light! He had found salvation at last! Why wouldn't anyone believe him? He fumbled for his cell phone for he knew there was one last call he had to make... there was not much time, and the cell phone desperately needed recharging...but he needed to speak to Bunny.

His mind roamed back to one of the perks of his profession: that of knowing confidential information. Although Bishop Banner was not the only one to evince interest in the 'completely confidential' medical files which had identified Ms Baker as a chronic nymphmaniac among her other disorders; it was her Obssessive Compulsive Disorder that meant she made an ideal housekeeper. Both these complaints were facets of the Acute Anxiety Disorder with which she had been diagnosed by a brilliant (and also highly immoral) man of medicine. For a considerable fee, the specialist had supplied ' The Black Bishop' with this delicious information which meant Bp Banner could have a housekeeper who met ALL his needs. It was a highly acceptable arrangement for all concerned.

“Bunny? Yes, it's me. Look, I love you. NO: I SAID I LOVE YOU! I just wanted you to know that...NO, I'M NOT OUT OF MY MIND! I LOVE YOU! And Bunny...Bunny, would you please have the two cases of Glenfidditch that have been aging in my cellar sent over to St.Cosimo's rectory as soon as possible? Yes: mark it ATTENTION: Rev.P.Permin. Thank you Bunny and may God Bl...........................................

It was at this point that the phone died and Rev.Permin flung open the door, saying over his shoulder: “He's in here, folks.” We'll gloss over the fact that Bishop Banner went to his death squealing like a girl, and voided his bowels all over his episcopal purple. This is a Christian web site, after all...
 

---

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
And on that note...

Night falls

If you have night actions, you may now take them.
 

---

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
Day breaks


ONE LAST CLIENT FOR WREATH-MAKER

Yesterday's lynching of a mafioso behind Little Florence's soaring homicide rate appears to have done little to stem the carnage in the town, as Jane Austen-Wreath was found dead last night.

It seems highly likely that the wreath-maker was killed in revenge for her role in the lynching of mobster Bishop Banner, having led yesterday's lynch mob. "If you speak out, they'll get you," a neighbour told us, "But if you don't they'll pick you off one by one. It doesn't look good either way, to be honest."

A close friend, who asked to remain anonymous, said "It's so awful for this to happen to poor Jane now. Her business was really doing well out of half the town being slaughtered, and now she's been killed as well! I mean, what are the odds?" With a shortage of wreaths and pall-bearers running out, it seems that future funerals are going to be increasingly frugal.


Autenrieth Road has been murdered. She was a Citizen. Once she's posted her death scene, nominations will be open for lynching. The 10 remaining townsfolk are:

§Andrew
Chelley
davelarge
ephemera
lady in red
leonato
Rev per Minute
Sioni Sais
Stevie Boy Wonder
Sylvander

With one mobster and one innocent dead since my last warning, the equation for the citizens remains the same. Lynching an innocent is likely to see the mob taking control, while no lynching will at least ensure that another day will dawn without that happening.
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
The ghosts of the good people, wrongly killed, float over the town.

Has anyone seen the Bish, yet? If he gets to float with us, I can think of some things we can do to let him know how ticked we are at him. I'm going to stick my tongue out at him!
 

---

Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :
 
Yes, I'd like a word with that ghost about the little manner of a forged will. Leave Smudge Towers to the church indeed!
 

---

Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 

 

---

Posted by Sylvander (# 12857) on :
 
Could one of you other-worldlers help Miss Jane a bit? Her death seems to be a pro-longed and painful affair. One of you floating into the room cloaked in a white robe with holes for eyes might help her weak and failing heart over the edge.
 

---

Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 
Miss Jane had had a very satisfying EfM Mentor Training retreat over at the Jesuit Renewal Center in Big Clara. Driving back into town, she stopped at the post office. Even astute Citizens who had not voted to lynch the innocent Postie, were nevertheless required to pick their mail up themelves now. (The Mafia, it was rumoured, had a Private Message system of their own.)

Opening the one envelope, she found a sheet with newspaper letters raggedly glued on:

quote:

---

Funeral tomorrow. Make a wreath. We'll pick up tonight.

---

Jane hurried home and went into her workroom. Little Florent lay in his crib cooing while Jane bent to her task. She had just attached the final black frills and purple furbelows (none of this Mourning And Funerals Are So Passe, We Only Have Celebrations Of Life In Liturgical White baloney for an Austen Wreath) when the doorbell rang. (Jane was also fond of long parenthetical comments, but they were harder to express artistically on a wreath.)

Jane opened the door. A shot rang out. She heard little Florent's startled wailing. Her last thought as she felt blood oozing slowly in a puddle around her was, "Who will make sure my honey-diddums gets baptized now?" She saw a white light and felt herself to be floating down a long tunnel in a tweetle beetle paddle battle puddle muddle. The rest is silence.
 

---

Posted by lady in red (# 10688) on :
 
Lucinda looked sadly at little Florent, who was finally asleep in a laundry basket in the corner of her kitchen. She hadn’t been prepared for a baby, but she couldn’t have refused to take him in, poor little thing. He’d howled all morning. She tried her best with cuddles and bottles, but she couldn’t give him his mother back, which was what he really wanted. What was this town coming to?

Lucinda looked around her suspiciously. She suspected that not that much information could be gathered from the lynching of Bishop Banner, because his comments prior to his death seemed to imply that the mafia had had some kind of dispute and so some of his former comrades in arms had probably contributed to his lynching. And she wasn't convinced by that line about Salvatore Leonato, which had presumably been a desperate attempt to avoid death by pointing the finger elsewhere.

Hhhmmmm… She decides to ask The Man who wasn’t Welsh why he had been so keen to string up the town’s detective.
 

---

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
In the absence of a Messagio Privado (?) I had better reply here.

I messed up with Harry: just 'cos townsfolk don't get on is a lousy reason to lynch someone, but desperate times, etc, etc. Using 18/20 hindsight I realise now that I got it wrong.

Hart (lately our detective) had not only pointed the finger at Bishop Banner but also much earlier at Professor Chells. In the that round Bishop Banner was put up for lynching and the bishop, instead of voting for Professor Chells (in line with the detective’s line of enquiry) or herself (just plain bizarre, but we were dealing with a mobster) voted for no lynching, which was the result.

Professor Chells then states (19 Jan 11:10 GMT) that she didn’t murder Prof DeVille. Prof Chells and Bishop Banner (dec’d, Mobster) posted immediately after one another just before then regarding the same days events and nominated no one (AFAICS).

My conclusion is therefore that Prof Chells and Bishop Banner acted there in common cause and that cause is The Mob.

I therefore nominate Professor Chells for lynching.

[ 08. February 2009, 20:03: Message edited by: Sioni Sais ]
 

---

Posted by Chelley (# 11322) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sioni Sais:

Hart (lately our detective) had not only pointed the finger at Bishop Banner but also much earlier at Professor Chells.

---

quote:

---

In the that round Bishop Banner was put up for lynching and the bishop, instead of voting for Professor Chells (in line with the detective’s line of enquiry) or herself (just plain bizarre, but we were dealing with a mobster) voted for no lynching, which was the result.

Professor Chells then states (19 Jan 11:10 GMT) that she didn’t murder Prof DeVille. Prof Chells and Bishop Banner (dec’d, Mobster) posted immediately after one another just before then regarding the same days events and nominated no one (AFAICS).

---

quote:

---

My conclusion is therefore that Prof Chells and Bishop Banner acted there in common cause and that cause is The Mob.
I therefore nominate Professor Chells for lynching.

---

Well that would be a wrong conclusion and if others follow your call for my lynching you'll be going after one of the (presumably) few citizens left.

Prof Chells shook her head at the need to defend herself once again and looked around again at her neighbours.... she wondered about that Steve Buckland who'd seemed to have such an innocent face, but...
 

---

Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :
 
Rev Permin was in for a busy few days - if he lived that long, which in this town was looking unlikely. Jane Austen-Wreath's funeral would be a colourful affair: apparently every wreath in her workshop would decorate the bier, to the extent that Permin doubted that the usual six pall-bearers would be sufficient. The remainder of the town wanted young Florent to be baptised as soon as possible, probably on the basis that the child's life expectancy was no better than theirs. And, of course, there was to be the Bishop's funeral. The Presiding Bishop had decided that Bishop Banner was still entitled to all the usual obsequies (Permin had had to look that one up) but, in the circumstances, perhaps not in the Cathedral of St Lucrezia. Perhaps St Cosimo's could host the funeral?

As he packed his mobile baptism kit (bottle of water, bottle of oil, small towel), Permin thought about the problem of the Mafia still rife in the town. He could not understand why the Bishop, in his fit of contrition, should name another member of the Mob - as he understood the rules of that shadowy world, the Mob played to win, even when faced with their own death. On that basis, there was no reason for the Bishop to 'out' another Mobster: it was much more likely that the Bishop was trying to distract attention from the real killers.

Others had pointed the finger at Prof Chells. But Permin's own suspicions had been raised by the Doctor, whose arguments for not lynching the Bishop had been fairly self-serving and could only have served to protect the Mob's take-over. Permin was also far from keen on the Doctor's use of improper language and an attachment to squiggles.

Rev Permin prayed for forgiveness then said out loud, to no-one in particular, "I nominate Dr André for lynching."
 

---

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
By my reckoning, we've got 3 nominations for lynching so far. I'll give it another couple of hours before I close nominations.
 

---

Posted by Sylvander (# 12857) on :
 
Ok, in view of the fact that the origin of the town's sole success so far was a suicidal confession, Sir van der Hill decided to grab the chance of chipping in a call for someone to save their soul.
"Come forward," he spokes in market square, "you'll get a deal and save your skin. There's some around who oppose capital punishment out of principle."

[...tick...tick...tick...tick]

Hullo, hullo, hullo! Not all at once on board the Crown Witness Sloop Survivor please! Stop fighting for first place! Surely even mafiosi can form a proper queue! This is New England, not a bus stop in Germany.
 

---

Posted by Pax Romana (# 4653) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by jedijudy:
The ghosts of the good people, wrongly killed, float over the town.

Has anyone seen the Bish, yet? If he gets to float with us, I can think of some things we can do to let him know how ticked we are at him. I'm going to stick my tongue out at him!

---

Oh my dear, you are so very young. You cannot imagine the possibilities there are for making the Bishop wish she had never been born.

Flying around isn't the only thing ghosts can do.

Being a ghost is so much fun, especially when you have people like Dafyd and the Bishop to torment.



Pax Romana
 

---

Posted by Chelley (# 11322) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chelley:

Prof Chells shook her head at the need to defend herself once again and looked around again at her neighbours.... she wondered about that Steve Buckland who'd seemed to have such an innocent face, but...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
I have already replied to Lucinda (8 Feb, 21:00 GMT) so that will have to be taken into account: moreover, I did my bit to get the ball rolling for the movement to string up the evil Bishop Banner, the town's sole success so far.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by §Andrew:

It's time that the city begins to appreciate her benefactors rather than send them to hades!

---

Patty Romano wishes she could let this poor guy know just how much of a blast it is to be dead. She wishes she could let everyone know. But then everyone would want to be lynched and nobody would want to take their turn.

Patty raised what would have been her arms and with a big WHOOSH she shot up to the top of the church steeple to get a better view of things. She wondered what form she would take when she began haunting her brother's restaurant. She didn't like the new singer and thought it would be great sport to tweak her a little.

Pax Romana
 

---

Posted by lady in red (# 10688) on :
 
Oh for goodness' sakes, someone has to vote first...

Lucinda is intrigued by the number of nominations. There have never been so many before, and this close to the tipping point she therefore suspects that the mafia are hedging their bets and trying to split the vote in the event that they can't get a majority.

In particular, she doesn't buy the accusation of Steve Buckland, who doesn't look very guilty to her at all. Therefore she thinks that the nomination is part of the aforementioned vote-splitting strategy. Consequently she sets aside her former suspiscion of the Man who wasn't Welsh and votes for Professor Chells
 

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Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :
 
Rev Permin shared Lucinda's concern about the number of nominations, even as he seemd to hear a Geordie voice telling the day and time. However, he didn't want to pile on a bandwagon by simply voting for the first person who had received a vote.

Looking back, Permin still felt that the Doctor's advice had been divisive, and his defence unconvincing. On that basis, he decided to stick to his first thoughts and vote for Dr André.

Who goes? You decide...
 

---

Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :
 
The vicar returned from his morning walk with a question going round his mind. Would people believe that avoiding a lynching would be a better option, as lynching an innocent would give control to the Mob? Permin recognised this danger, but he also thought that doing nothing, and allowing the Mob to murder an innocent overnight, would still lead to Mob control by the following morning. Morally, it might be better to stand back, but practically, there needed to be at least an attempt to reduce the Mafia influence. 'We will fight them on the beaches, we will fight them on the landing grounds...'

Permin felt better for dealing with these thoughts and went inside the vicarage, lighting a large cigar as he did so and fighting off a large black dog that had suddenly appeared
 

---

Posted by Chelley (# 11322) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by lady in red:

In particular, she doesn't buy the accusation of Steve Buckland, who doesn't look very guilty to her at all. Therefore she thinks that the nomination is part of the aforementioned vote-splitting strategy. Consequently she sets aside her former suspiscion of the Man who wasn't Welsh and votes for Professor Chells

---

quote:

---

Lynch Professor Chells
She Smells Italian!

---

quote:

---

D. Avelarge, Esq
10 Inernet Mews,
Florence House
Little New England

Dear Sir,

It is in my unofficial capacity as the soft soul of the Dark Order of Honourable Men and Women of Little Florence that I write to you. I wish to inform you that you have been selected for a sudden and possibly messy end this very night.

As this will seal our taking over of this beautiful little hamlet (which started out as a medium sized town) I herewith make an offer to a fellow philantropist in view of your merits in lynching several innocent citizens for us (much appreciated).

If you make a public announcement tomorrow morning declaring your changing sides and having joined the Honourable Order etc. and urging your fellow citizens do to likewise we will allow you to live and join the victory parade and party with us.

Failure to respond fast enough, will, I am afraid, end in my fellow members of the Honourable Order etc & etc writing a message to our hitman.

Sincerly yours,
Sir van der Hill

---

"The cheek!", Avelarge said (out loud) to no-one in particular. There was no way that he would allow himself to be degraded in such a way. An honourable death was one hundred times better than a dishonest life, and if the town really was to be taken over by the Mob, he did not wish to see it.

Pouring another glass of whiskey, finding his favourite chapter of the book, and settling back down on the sofa, Avelarge calmly awaited his fate.
 

---

Posted by Sylvander (# 12857) on :
 
Ah, gentle dames, it gars me greet
Tae see how mony counsels sweet,
How mony lengthen'd sage advices
The husband fae the wife despises!

And not just husbands from wives, alas.
Rev Permin, brace yourself for another funeral! He was a brave man.
vdH
 

---

Posted by §Andrew (# 9313) on :
 
Like I said, life in Little Florence never stops to surprise you...

Personally, if I were a mafioso, I would be the unforgiving guy and I would go for Rev. Permin, who just seems to have something personal with me...

(And I have already included him in my will, like D. Avelarge... But now it seems it's time for me to change my will. Now where is my lawyer's number?)
 

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Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
To no one's great surprise, following this bizarre turn of events, D. Avelarge has been murdered. There is no news report available, as the staff of the Little Florence Mercury have sensibly followed the police's lead and fled the town. The mob now make up 50% of the town's population, giving them control of the town, and have therefore won the game.

Mr Avelarge is now free to post his death scene. For a bit of fun, before they reveal themselves, would anyone (alive or dead) like to redeem the citizens' capitulation by guessing at the identity of the 4 mobsters in your midst? Your options are:

§Andrew
ephemera
lady in red
leonato
Rev per Minute
Sioni Sais
Stevie Boy Wonder
Sylvander
 

---

Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 
Despite having been detective, I have no more information than anyone else. With the exception of Autenrieth Road and Banner Lady, everyone else I investigated was killed by the mob before I could use the information that they were innocent.

I think Andrew is innocent, he was talking too much to be a mobster, even if I didn't always agree with his reasoning. I think leonato is mob, and there's been some double-*bluffing going on. I think lady in red might be mob too. Apart from that I have no idea, but I'll guess Stevie and ephemera just for kicks.

--
* or, at least, even parity-
 

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Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :
 
Permin scratched his head as he packed his bags (a little like rubbing your tummy while patting your head, but slightly more productive). Now the Mob had control, it was time to go. But who were the Mobsters?

Dr André was still on his list, and he wondered whether the Bishop's last words had some semblance of truth. If so, Leonato was also a suspect. Sir van der Hill appeared to have outed himself as well. Who else? Permin was unsure, but felt that Lucinda was the most likely of the remainder.

Now to bury the Bishop, not bash him - sorry, not praise him, as young Will* had once said about his Caesar salad - and then run. Perhaps the episcopal hearse could be persuaded to travel at more than 15 mph or 25 km/h (Permin was, at heart, a metric guy)?


(*Not Will Young, that would just be silly)

ETA - Permin's memory was going. He had thought that the young lady dreaming of Paris had been Ella, when in fact it was Lucinda, so he corrected himself. Talking of Paris, there should be some openings for a travelling priest there - after all, Paris was worth a Mass, or so he'd been told...

[ 12. February 2009, 13:41: Message edited by: Rev per Minute ]
 

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Posted by davelarge (# 186) on :
 
It was all too stereotyped...

The broken whiskey tumbler on the rug, the embers of the fire slowly fading to darkness, the blood-stained couch where the body was propped up as if dozing peacefully.

The end had been lingering. The victim had bled out from two deep cuts across his jugular made by the recently sharpened skates that the murderer had found by the back door. Somehow that seemed to encapsulate the capitulation of Little Florence to the Mob. Too often the citizens had been complicit in their downfall, the Mob cleverly using their friendly familiarity to do the dirty work.

So, now it is done. Only one question remains: What now for this town?
 

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Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 
We started with five mobsters? Gaaaaaaaah!

(* The 450 thread-count Egyptian cotten finest percale etc etc. sheet leaped up and careened wildly around Lucinda's kitchen, popping through cupboard doors in a most disconcerting fashion. *)

I suspect:

Salvatore Leonato, playing the complete stealth strategy of never ever posting after roles were announced. (I suspected him for this reason before Banner Lady apparently outed him -- unless that was a bluff.)

Sioni Sais Who Wasn't Welsh, for making some completely strange accusations.

Dr. Andre, ditto. Not necessarily from my first go-round with him, but rather because after my death he's had some assertions that seemed completely counterfactual to me.

Sylvander Hill, who apparently has outed himself.

Barber/Detective Harry Artson emailed me to tell me he'd investigated me and found me innocent. So when he nominated Bishop Banner, I deduced that he finally had some firm info about the Mafia. My nervous relief alas overflowed into a fit of logorrhea which doomed the poor detective to lynching. I shall be interested to find out whether Citizens lead the charge of suspicion against Harry and me, or whether Mafia cleverly seeded that round.
 

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Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Hart:
* or, at least, even parity-

---

Proof that Harry and Jane, although sharing a mathematical funny bone, are definitely not in cahoots: except for the obvious vote for leonato, our Mafia suspicions have nothing in common!
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
*ghostly pout on little ghost girl face*

I still think that Rev. Permin was guilty.

Oh well, I thing I'll go haunt my sister! While I'm at it, I'll do some nice things for my mom, like iron the sheets! Hahahaha!
 

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Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
I may have made some strange accusations, but people actually followed me along. How come I'm strange now while I wasn't before?

Here are the votes from The Jury That Isn't Welsh.

The Mob now running Little Frorence consists of:

ephemera
Rev per Minute
Stevie Boy Wonder
Sylvander
 

---

Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
How come I'm strange now while I wasn't before?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Autenrieth Road:
We started with five mobsters? Gaaaaaaaah!

---

Well, we did start with a total of 21 players. In hindsight, though, it was probably one too many.

I'll say no more about that now, because I'm interested to see who had suspicions about whom.
 

---

Posted by Stevie Boy Wonder (# 11869) on :
 
Steve Buckland looked around at the remains of the city he had called home. He knew the mob must be ruling now, because when he'd arrived at school he'd found a note pinned to the fish tank saying:
"We're proud of our city, and we're proud of our kids. So top grades for every pupil, or you'll be sleeping with these guys..."

Steve didn't know whether to run or hide, but he figured either way the Mafia would catch him. If only he'd had some ideas as to who they were...

Of the small band of survivors, the ones he'd been most suspicious of were Patrick Permin and The Man Who Wasn't Welsh, but they were both talking as if they too were innocent citizens like Steve. Of the remainder, he was pretty certain Sir Van der Hill was guilty, largely thanks to D. Avelarge's dying words. Bishop Banner's claims that Salvatore Leonato was a mobster seemed a little too convenient to be true - after all, who better to try to pass the buck to than a man who is unlikely to argue back as he's been silent for weeks? - but there could be some truth in it.

After much thought, Steve decided his unusual suspects were Sir Van der Hill, The Man Who Wasn't Welsh, Dr Andre and Patrick Permin. By process of elimination, he knew at least one of his assumptions must be right. But he can't help thinking that the Mafia have been very shrewd to have twelve innocent people murdered while only losing one of their own...
 

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Posted by Chelley (# 11322) on :
 
Well, I'm still suspicious about Steve Buckland and the Rev!
 

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Posted by ephemera (# 13355) on :
 
If I were a betting person, I would definitely bet large amounts of cash that the following are ALL mafioso:

Salvatore Leonato
Rev. Patrick Permin
TMW3
Steve Buckland

and, of course, Bishop Banner.

They all look guilty as sin!
 

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Posted by Pax Romana (# 4653) on :
 
I vote for those five, too.

And since I was lynched early on by people who thought I was one of THEM, they owe me big-time and I will expect payment as soon as one or the other of them kicks the bucket.



Pax Romana
 

---

Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 
Get away from me with that hot iron, you nasty purple-plastered ghost, you!

(* Jane leaped up from her rumpled doze by Lucinda's laundry basket and tried to dart away from the youthfully agile small pillowcase chasing her around the room. Quite how the ghost of jedijudy was able to lift an iron, Jane wasn't quite sure. She herself (Jane, not jedi) found she just passed through anything heavier than a kitten that she tried to lift. And the kittens she'd lifted so far in her sheetly existence hadn't seemd to enjoy the experience. *)

Soooooo. Four live Florentines have weighed in. Now, the Mafia might be playing "keep the Citizens confused by pretending to guess who the Mafia are." But assuming that they are instead getting properly drunk in a Nightingales' skybox, like any proper Mafiosi ought to do to celebrate taking over a town of innocent dimwits, that means the living Mafia are:

§Andrew
lady in red
leonato
Sylvander

On the other hand, ephemera's makes me wonder if she's twitting us, in which case I'm just exhausted from double-bluffs, triple-bluffs, bluffs of even parity, bluffs of odd parity.

(* Jane's hiding place underneath the ironing board was suddenly invaded by a squadron of geckos and salamanders. She flew up in a flurry and fled out the window. *)
 

---

Posted by ephemera (# 13355) on :
 

quote:

---

On the other hand, ephemera's makes me wonder if she's twitting us, in which case I'm just exhausted from double-bluffs, triple-bluffs, bluffs of even parity, bluffs of odd parity.

(* Jane's hiding place underneath the ironing board was suddenly invaded by a squadron of geckos and salamanders. She flew up in a flurry and fled out the window. *)

---

I don't twit or bluff, dear Jane.

I added lucifer... ...to emphasize what devil dogs Salvatore Leonato, Rev. Patrick Permin, TMW3, Steve Buckland, and, of course, Bishop Banner are. I said...

quote:

---

They all look guilty as sin!

---

• they are my alarm system - they scamper around on the floor and will alert to any strange energy, like you hangin' around under the ironing board.
• as interesting jewelry...i wear 'em.
• they whisper to me at night...they tell me who the Mafioso are.

so...what were you doing in my house, Miss Jane? hmmm?
 

---

Posted by Sylvander (# 12857) on :
 
Sir van der Mountain thought how amazingly hard it apparently was to figure out people in the online version of this game. Even a post which he had thought almost as suicidal as Bishop Banner's had only raised suspicions with one or two other players.

Right to the very end the citizens' suspicions had no more accuracy than random shots in the dark, something he had never seen when playing the game IRL. Yes, play-acting and lying and pretending are easy even for those who IRL would blush at the teensiest weensiest white lie. Not surprising, as in online communication it is often not even possible to figure out someone's sex unless they tell you.

Still I hope that all citizens will now turn around and join our ranks for the big splash tonight? Sunglasses, trenchcoats and felt hats compulsory. Submachine guns desirable
See y'all later


Oh, you still don't know who "our ranks" are? Wait a wee while, I think they'll lead the parade.

Oh, and I wonder whether anybody suspected me before I contacted davelarge? Being one of the white-lie blushers I felt very suspicious all the time.

[ 13. February 2009, 13:26: Message edited by: Sylvander ]
 

---

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
Well, it's probably only fair to tell you that the guilty parties were §Andrew, ephemera, lady in red and Sylvander. Congratulations to them and Banner Lady for playing a very canny game - I think only §Andrew raised any suspicions at all before the game was over. I'll cover this when I have the time to do a proper post mortem.

Thank you everyone for playing, and making my job so easy and fun, and apologies to one poor soul who contacted me about joining the game as a substitute, and then watched every single one of the 21 players last to the finish. Maybe we'll have to try that idea again some time.

I was planning to run 2 games this spring, but w*rk and home life have been getting busier recently, and show no sign of easing up, with K-Glet #2 on the way. Fortunately, just as I was beginning to notice that I had less time than I'd like, Teufelchen contacted me about some ideas he's been working on. All being well, I expect him to start up a new game soon. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he's got planned.
 

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Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :
 
You ratbag, Sylvander! I should have known it was you from the twist of the knife. And those other ratbags too - I was fairly certain it was ephemera (gut instinct, goodness knows why), and thought the lady in red rather suspicious, but §Andrew had me completely fooled.

Good game, even if I was done away with far too early for my liking, alas. Thanks Gumby for running it - you're always a brilliant gamesmaster!

Luckily Teufelchen's a good gamesmaster too, though, so here's to the next round
 

---

Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :
 
TGG - thanks for running the game and keeping us all in check.

Given what Sylvander said, I do wonder if it is possible for the citizenry to win in this online version, unless they have overwhelming numbers on their side. (Mind you, 16 to 5...) I guess that other citizens/ detectives did not PM other townspeople to discuss what was happening, because of the chance that you could be giving your thoughts to the Mafia. It is amazingly difficult to tell who is lying, as long as the Mob avoid dog-piling too quickly.

I thought about how I might have behaved differently if I had been a Mafioso, and to be honest I can't see what else I would have done or said. Not that that stopped me coming under suspicion once or twice (I forgive you, my children).

I shall miss the Rev'd Permin and wish him well wherever he ends up.
 

---

Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :
 
Hmm... so I was 50% on my guesses... as good as random.

Thanks to all, especially tGG. Well played to the mob, especially Andrew who'd actually convinced me of his innocence...
 

---

Posted by Sylvander (# 12857) on :
 
Thx to TGG for setting up the game! Much appreciated.

I think it is easier to figure out the psychology of mafiosi for future use if you've been one (this sentence is probably my death sentence in the first or second night next time round).
One tip: people who post a lot and say little are suspicious (as one citizen actually observed somewhere here). Reason is: Mafiosi tend to be more "in" the game because we communicate so much, this tends to make us write more on the thread, too. Citizens are on average quieter.
I was VERY amazed that §Andrew's absurdly illogical defense of the bishop passed without raising too much suspicion.

Thx everyone for playing and I look forward to the next round. Probably with a different Mafia-citizens ratio?
 

---

Posted by davelarge (# 186) on :
 
Gumby, thanks for your hard work, I really appreciate it.

And thanks to everyone else: It's been fun
 

---

Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 
A truly first-rate game.

Andrew, you were the only mafioso, who I was pretty sure was innocent, so I particularly tip my hat to you. Your thought-out debate with Autenrieth Road was very well done.

Thanks citizens (including the evil ones) and Gumby for the excellent writing. It made the game twice as fun.
 

---

Posted by §Andrew (# 9313) on :
 
Many thanks to all who participated!

It was my first time, and I was really excited to read The Great Gumby pm me that I would be a mafioso.

The emails between us mafiosi made the game quite an impressive experience.

My only issue with the game is that it lasted way too much. Thankfully, when things started to get boring, we had the surprise of the Bishop "confess", which gave a very interesting turn to the game.

My complaint is that you fell for what I had to say (which, so to speak, was nothing but disinformation and manipulation), when no one believes me when I say the truth (tm) in Purgatory

I mentioned earlier that I had prepared a will, in case I got brutally lynched by the law-abiding citizens. Good thing that I didn't need to post it!

A special apology to those that we had to "kill" very early in the game!

The Great Gumby, many thanks for giving me the opportunity to play Mafia for the first time!

[ 13. February 2009, 17:34: Message edited by: §Andrew ]
 

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Posted by Pax Romana (# 4653) on :
 
I had a lot of fun, too, even if I was a ghost most of the time.

Pax Romana
 

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Posted by §Andrew (# 9313) on :
 
Which reminds me...

Ye Olde Motherboarde for the idea of ghosts! It was very cool to have the old characters stick around in the persona of their... ghosts!
 

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Posted by Pax Romana (# 4653) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by §Andrew:
Which reminds me...

Ye Olde Motherboarde for the idea of ghosts! It was very cool to have the old characters stick around in the persona of their... ghosts!

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Hmm. I thought I was the first one to hang around as a ghost. I will have to go back and read this thread again.

Pax Romana
 

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Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 
A fun game. Thank you The Great Gumby and everyone.

[ 13. February 2009, 19:01: Message edited by: Autenrieth Road ]
 

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Posted by §Andrew (# 9313) on :
 
Oooooo, mea maxima culpa!

Kudos to you then! It was a brilliant thing to do!
 

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Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
Many thanks to TGG for running the game and a grudging well done to those in The Mob for keeping the disinformation going so well.
 

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Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
Perhaps the most entertaining part of this for me was what was going on BEHIND the scenes. After our last game of Mafia, where Lady in Red was our Don and I was a loyal mafioso minion, I decided that next time a game came up I would attempt to be a rather unlikeable good guy. I settled on the character of Bishop Banner but then, when roles were allocated, lo and behold I was Mafia once again, and Lady in Red was once more our Don.. I had not expected that! In real life LiR excels in co-ordination, so despite the fact the five of us were in the different time zones of California, Australia, Greece, Germany and France the death toll in the game steadily rose, and it was becoming very predictable. We were victoriously and stealthily evil under her guidance, even though she ran a very democratic Family. The self-congratulation going on backstage was escalating.

The turning point for me was when Bp Banner was targetted by Hart and we were debating how to get us all to the end of the game alive. This was still a very real possibility, and the Family were keen to remain in tact. I didn't mind one way or the other whether my character lived or died, but when I pointed this out, our Don sent me a stern e-mail saying “I absolutely bid you to commit suicide”. Of course, she meant to write “FORbid”, and quickly corrected. But it set me thinking.

LiR was expecting my character to exhibit the same loyalty as my character Bonny had in our previous game. But we are Mafia! We do not know each other. We have never met. And why should we trust or be trustworthy? We are the villains here. In real life, mafioso have fallings out all the time. I began to wonder what would happen if I threw a spanner in the workings of the Happy Famiglia plan. If nothing else it might spice the game up a bit. I began to try to think like a very conflicted villain. This allowed me to have a lot of fun, and injected some uncertainty into the Mafia ranks. I apologize to Ephemera who found this most difficult to deal with and seemed to really grieve over my bolshie actions. (But then, she does have Italian blood!).

I also want to thank Rev per Minute who was a very good sport, and, I suspect, an excellent minister in real life. If any of you reading or posting wear pointy hats, then I just want to say “the character of Bp Banner is entirely fictional and bears no resemblance to any persons living or deceased”. Ahem.
 

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Posted by ephemera (# 13355) on :
 

quote:

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I apologize to Ephemera who found this most difficult to deal with and seemed to really grieve over my bolshie actions. (But then, she does have Italian blood!).

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Ahhh, thanks BL. I'm over it now. I regret sending you those tainted chocolates in the mail. When they arrive, it would be best not to eat the dark ones or the lumpy ones that look like they have nuts.

I loved being Mafiosa! The scheming, analyzing and plotting of all those dastardly deeds was great. But the best of all was being able to bounce ideas and thoughts off other members of the famiglia. The camaraderie within the family was most welcome. I found myself thinking about the game during work and telling friends about it. i might have overreacted to BL outing herself in public. i found it an extremely disloyal...thus the chocolates.

I would like to run this by the rest of you and get your opinion: I was not pleased when TGG posted statistics that stated if the Mafia whacked one more citizen, then they would be in the majority. That little revelation let everyone know exactly how many of us were in the Mafia. I think this was information that should never have been revealed in the game until the end. Our numbers were private business. Does anyone have any thoughts about this?

TGG: sorry, but because of that little unnecessary revelation, I mailed you some luscious chocolates too. It would be best not to eat them.

I would like to thank the rest of my dear famiglia for all I learned while being in your esteemed company. LiR is amazing at this game and taught me many lessons. I made charts and graphs up the wazoo just to figure everything out.

And thank you, TGG, for hosting a truly fun game. I had a great time!

Now I just have to figure out what to do with all those geckos and salamanders.
 

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Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 
ephemera, I'm used to playing with everyone knowing how many detectives, mafiosa etc. exist at the beginning of the game. Probably a bit fakey and may have improved the game to play this way, but I'm sure it makes it rather hard for the citizens to win. I'd rather have a good game than win, but I don't know if everyone would.
 

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Posted by Teufelchen (# 10158) on :
 
5:16 is a pretty steep ratio. Andrew 'Zarf' Plotkin, inventor of the themed version of Mafia known as Werewolf, maintains that 2 bad guys is enough for up to 17 players, and that 3:15 is acceptable for 18 players. (His basic rules feature the detective, known as a seer, but no doctor/watchman/alchemist character.)

I'm hoping to run a themed game of a different sort shortly. The ratio of bad guys to innocents will be lower than this game, but there will be complicating factors (properly explained in advance) to make things interesting for both sides.

T.
 

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Posted by Stevie Boy Wonder (# 11869) on :
 
Good game, well played. Congratulations to the mafia, who were clearly extra cunning and somehow persuaded us to bump innocents off left, right and centre while not making it obvious how (or even if) they were influencing our decisions.

Incidentally, while I appreciate that people are often away from their computers at weekends and that it helps to extend the nomination / voting periods accordingly, I wonder whether I was the only one with the opposite problem? I can't access the Ship while I'm at work, which only left me with however much time I had in the evenings to catch up on who was suspicious of who and which way the votes seemed to be going. Of course, the problem then would be that, if weekday periods were extended, the game would become very drawn out and people could become bored quite quickly. If it's not a problem to anyone else, then no worries, but if anyone can think of a way round it...?

It was a lot of fun, thanks to everyone for playing and The Great Gumby for organising it so well.
 

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Posted by ephemera (# 13355) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Gwai:
ephemera, I'm used to playing with everyone knowing how many detectives, mafiosa etc. exist at the beginning of the game. Probably a bit fakey and may have improved the game to play this way, but I'm sure it makes it rather hard for the citizens to win. I'd rather have a good game than win, but I don't know if everyone would.

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That's interesting. I'm a novice when it comes to this game.

If we are going to vote on this, and I see no one is really asking me for my vote, but if we are...then I vote to keep the numbers secret. Like in real life, no one really knows who anyone really is. Little clues and hints can be given.

For instance, (and I realize this is subtle) but early on in the game, I had my character stop by the bakery and pick up a brioche for breakfast the next day. Brioche is decidedly Italian. It is what Italians eat for breakfast. It was subtle, but it was given.

 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Thanks TGG for a really fun game! You are "da bomb"!

I'm glad I had a chance to whack Sylvander on the shins with my baseball bat! And I apologize from the bottom of my heart for believing to the end that Rev. Permin was guilty.

Well played, everyone!
 

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Posted by lady in red (# 10688) on :
 
Time to check back in, having just returned from Rome, of all places

Enter Lucinda Reede AKA Prima Donna Silvia Conspiratia Screwtape-Berlusconi*, wearing a sumptuous new fur coat and pushing the baby formerly known as Florent in his pram. Little Cesare is gurgling happily and has just discovered the delights of his own toes. He’s too young to understand, but he instinctively knows who the Mamma is, and realises that he’s fallen on his feet (the same ones that have such charming toes) by being adopted into such an influential and tight-knit Family. La famiglia is protective, and the Donna is going to take care of him. I have big plans for my newest charge

Now, we need to sort out that baptism. I am most affronted to think that upstart Patrick Permin had been attempting to have him baptised Anglican. The cheek! Little Cesare is headed for great things and I'll have no interference from some woolly-headed vicar. It's true that Dr André suggested that we were an Eastern Orthodox mob**, but with a guardian like Donna Silvia Conspiratia, he is set to become a great, nay legendary mafioso, and I fully intend to give him the best possible credentials. So obviously he needs to be a Roman Catholic. With my connections, I might be able to get the Pope to do the job so that darling Cesare can have the best start in life that a little mobster could wish for

Thanks to the mob for being so much fun behind the scenes. It was a privilege to lie, murder and manipulate with you all.

Did you like my detective work, didja? You see, Gwai, it actually is possible for a determined mobster to talk a lot about strategy and for the whole thing to be a cunningly constructed tissue of whoppers. I actually was sad enough to make a chart of the votes, and realised that it actually didn't prove that much unless you already knew who the mafia were. I then of course set out to make my chart prove what I wanted it to prove... On the equation that led to six mobsters, when I came to an answer that I knew not to be correct, I assumed this to be a result of my shonky maths skills not Gumby slipping up. I wasn't surprised at all when I came to the wrong answer...

*My thanks to Sylvander for his contribution to this delightful moniker
**This conversation actually did go on behind the scenes (!) We were concerned that another player didn’t seem to have understood the rules of the game and Andreas wanted to know why we Westerners were so concerned with The Rules™ all the time…
 

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Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Good game - thanks to all the creative players (and organisers) who have once again made Mafia an example of a high quality, entertaining Circus thread.

As stated above, Teufelchen will organise a new themed Mafia thread at some point in the near future.
 

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