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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Circus: Mafia in St. Damian's, Oxford
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
TESS is "this execution should stop" (ie. no lynching).
Also, just to clarify, there are three innocent specials, not two.
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505
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Posted
Mrs. Layman drew back the curtains, the morning after the terrible news of the Master's demise, to discover nothing but whiteness.
The snow was all pervasive; but at least she and Professor L., and little Berkeley were still alive. As she prompted the fireplace into more warmth, their pet nightingale chirruped approvingly.
"Well", she said to the nightingale, "This is a terrible decision. Do we open the front door and try to dig our way through to the dining hall in time for the dons' elevenses, or do we have to make tea ourselves?"
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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.
Posts: 7080 | From: Canberra Australia | Registered: Oct 2005
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Sylvander
Shipmate
# 12857
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Posted
Shouldn't it be "whom"?
Sounds just like the kind of accent you'd expect from a Cambridgeman in disguise...
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A martyr is someone living with a saint.
2509
Posts: 1589 | From: Berlin | Registered: Jul 2007
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Sylvander
Shipmate
# 12857
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Posted
Oh my. As usual not payin attenshun to nuffin.
I was referring to IF's post and hadn't noticed a new leaf had been turned.
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A martyr is someone living with a saint.
2509
Posts: 1589 | From: Berlin | Registered: Jul 2007
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sylvander:
So I advocate no lynching.
We should however still nominate people in order to create some activity for future info. If nobody else does I shall nominate but will do so by using a random generating device (Can anyone think of a public way of doing this (using a website updated daily?) so everybody can check it really is a random act?)
I agree that there ought to be some voting options other than TESS. However, I note that the one person excluded from this method of execution-candidate selection is presumably yourself. I might have to nominate you just to keep you honest…and also because you called me fat. I assure that I am a sleek, lean mouse-hunting machine and in no way rotund or tubby at all ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
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Rent my holiday home in the South of France
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
Just a reminder that you have fifteen hours to make these nominations.
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
In that case, I nominate Mumblebore on the basis that Mumblebore is going to nominate someone other than Mumblebore and we ought to have a variety of options on the slate.
(Failing that, it was going to be Mrs. Layman for being so intolerably rude to me when I was kind enough to give her a lovely present but that would have been petty vengeance, not any kind of strategy.)
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Rent my holiday home in the South of France
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Sylvander
Shipmate
# 12857
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by la vie en rouge:
and also because you called me fat. I assure that I am a sleek, lean mouse-hunting machine and in no way rotund or tubby at all
I would never ever call a lady "fat". But with a cat things are different. A lean, yea haggard cat? Where is the fun in that? One cannot cuddle if the beastie's ribs feel more like a xylophone than a cushion.
I have not found an idea how to make it public. So I decided to say a figure and nominate from the list that someone made on page 1. Number 7.
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A martyr is someone living with a saint.
2509
Posts: 1589 | From: Berlin | Registered: Jul 2007
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Sylvander
Shipmate
# 12857
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Posted
I nominate Lucy (Gwai). For bringing me a cup of lukewarm tea.
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A martyr is someone living with a saint.
2509
Posts: 1589 | From: Berlin | Registered: Jul 2007
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Jay-Emm
Shipmate
# 11411
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sylvander:
So I advocate no lynching.
We should however still nominate people in order to create some activity for future info. If nobody else does I shall nominate but will do so by using a random generating device (Can anyone think of a public way of doing this (using a website updated daily?) so everybody can check it really is a random act?)
Tying it to the lottery would work (giving each person a public number before the draw) then taking the remainder of the first ball divided by the number of players for the first victim.
I'm really not sure if it's in the spirit of the game*, though as it might damage discussion.
*I tried something similar last time I played-I'm not sure it was a good idea (either in terms of fair play or practicalness).
[ 26. October 2011, 17:02: Message edited by: Jay-Emm ]
Posts: 1643 | Registered: May 2006
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Gwai
Shipmate
# 11076
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Posted
Lucy looked disturbed to say the least. "I am so very sorry about the lukewarm cup of tea. May I bring you another one? On the other hand, are you seriously suggesting throwing me out into that snow as punishment? That is so very strange that I am intensely scared of you now."
"Dyllis, is there any chance you would be willing to serve the disturbing Professor Mumblebore his food since apparently he and I have disastrously bad relationship?"
With that Lucy rushed out of the room and back into the safe kitchen. "Oh, what did I do! Oh, what did I ever do to make someone want me dead. Oh my, I knew a girl shouldn't rise above her station. This must be a bad dream. Can't be real. Oh my! Oh my!" She pushed aside the partially finished cupcakes and put her head in her arms to cry.
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A master of men was the Goodly Fere,
A mate of the wind and sea.
If they think they ha’ slain our Goodly Fere
They are fools eternally.
Posts: 11914 | From: Chicago | Registered: Feb 2006
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Eliab
Shipmate
# 9153
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jay-Emm:
With lynching, by the third turn there would only be three people left...
Against 3 mafia even if all three specials survived things rely on careful playing, (in fact with open roles and rational play I make it losing), but then there's a reason I'm playing the cleaner.
Against 2 mafia things are better, (though even then by no means certain-I make it 33% odds if 1 villager is unproven).
Professor Eliabach shakes his head in disbelief. Surely basic reasoning and arithmetic has not entirely disappeared from the curriculum?
On the third day, there will have been two previous days and two previous nights. That is, four possible deaths. Eight survivors, since twelve minus four is eight even at Oxford. At that point, five known innocents is a win. Four suffices if one of them is the prankster. It is also unlikely.
The point is, if we get so lucky as to have most of our specials alive then, it is worth thinking about whether we can force a victory. And the time to raise the possibility is NOW, since no one knows who will be alive in two days' time to suggest it.
For the moment, the thing to do is try to find the SCUM. Personally, although this may be a bias of my own peculiar discipline, my experience has always been that I have learnt much more from the dead than from the living. Therefore we should lynch someone. Someone whose organs are in reasonable condition, for preference, since I have as yet no basis for suspecting any one of you more than another.
[ 26. October 2011, 20:39: Message edited by: Eliab ]
Posts: 4619 | From: Hampton, Middlesex, UK | Registered: Mar 2005
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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505
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Posted
Pike had done a tolerably fair job of creating a pathway to the dining hall through the snow; and of liberating at least two of the downstairs windows.
Mrs. Layman was uncertain about the wisdom of this, and waved her husband off to get his tea with a heavy heart. She even ordered Pike to go with him. What if the foul fiend who murdered Professor R was still lurking about somewhere? She turned back inside and locked the front door once more.
But the strange feeling she was being watched, would not leave. It was Berkeley, jumping about in his birdcage in a most agitated way, that drew her attention to the very fat, yellow eyed cat, which was lying on the windowsill outside the parlour. It's long white fur blended into the snow behind it, leaving what appeared to be two unblinking orbs which were focussed intently on her exquisite pet.
Mrs. Layman shuddered and pulled the drapes across the window. When Pike came back, she'd get him to sprinkle some black pepper across the outside ledge.
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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.
Posts: 7080 | From: Canberra Australia | Registered: Oct 2005
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Eliab
Shipmate
# 9153
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Posted
A thought suddenly occurs to Professor Eliabach, and he swiftly leaves the common room and returns to his chambers. He had almost forgotten - there will be a most interesting conjunction taking place this evening, and urgent preparations to be made. Hastily, he reaches up to find a well-thumbed volume detailing the necessary steps.
As for the vote? He could make that, but probably not have the time to join in any discussions. Unfortunate, but that could not be helped. Still, he might as well keep an ear and an eye open.
A few muttered incantations later, the blaze in the fireplace hisses with a searing, dark flame. The ghostly form of some forgotten student, a suicide, squirms and struggles in fresh agony as Ernst's will draws it forth from its accustomed place of torment in the dark wood beneath.
The shade screams and curses pitifully, in a voice which only an adept or a cat might hear, but it cannot prevail against the words of power. After a few minutes, its resistance collapses. "Master...." it gasps in a broken voice.
"Get thee hence to the common rooms and corridors of this place. Reveal thyself to no one. Watch. Listen. Remember. Report. But disturb me not until a vote is called. Fail me and I will shrivel and char thy soul in the deepest fire, as disobedient to the will that rules thee. Go!"
The image departs and the Professor turns again to his work...
[OOC - I'm away for a few days with sporadic computer access. Should be able to vote, but not otherwise participate until Sunday]
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"Perhaps there is poetic beauty in the abstract ideas of justice or fairness, but I doubt if many lawyers are moved by it"
Richard Dawkins
Posts: 4619 | From: Hampton, Middlesex, UK | Registered: Mar 2005
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Jay-Emm
Shipmate
# 11411
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Eliab:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jay-Emm:
Professor Eliabach shakes his head in disbelief. Surely basic reasoning and arithmetic has not entirely disappeared from the curriculum?
I seem to have got confused between on the 3rd day and after 3 days...how bizarre (it's not like you were inconsistent).
In character I'll blame it on Jason's justifiable lack of English.
OOC I don't have the justification. Maybe this line "An equal vote of known innocents to suspects can be forced through IF the prankster is alive" combined with the repeated use of 3 between other posters, made me jump to the conclusion you were referring to the potential 3 innocents-3 scum (as the cat points out it could be 4-2) situation after the third day.
But in any case reading it properly that probably is our best day to make sense of things (if we aren't lucky/unlucky before).
Posts: 1643 | Registered: May 2006
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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
Clarification for the voting procedure: will we be required to rank all candidates?
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we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams
Posts: 10567 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Feb 2004
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
I might as well respond to that now and give full voting instructions, even though nominations do not close for another three hours. You are not required to vote at all (although not voting may hurt you later -- recall that if the system results in a tie, the candidate who has missed the most votes hangs). If you do vote, you are not required to rank all candidates and, if you do, you are allowed ties.
So, with three candidates, there are a bunch of options available to voters:
1. Don't vote.
2. Vote for one person. The other two are then joint second choice.
3. Vote for a first choice and a second choice. The other person is then automatically third.
4. Vote for two people tied for first place. The other person is then automatically in third.
I was going to in general give 48 hours for such things, but I'll go a little longer to match my schedule and give you until Saturday 8am EST. Nominations are still open for another three hours, don't vote yet.
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
Further clarification before it becomes relevant: TESS is not eligible to vote, so she will never have missed any votes. The victim of the prankster will count as missing a vote on the day they are pranked.
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
An hour late, but here's my official announcement that voting has started. Here are your three candidates:
Prof. Mumblebore (nominated by Felis Rufa)
Lucy (nominated by Prof. Mumblebore)
TESS.
You have until Saturday 8am EST to place your votes.
[For those of you using the spreadsheet, it's designed for four candidates, not three, so just ignore D.]
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894
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Posted
Well, I see it this way: if we lynch someone, we find out their affiliation. That's good.
If we lynch someone, it means we control who dies, rather than the SCUM. That's even better.
We may be shooting in the dark, but the SCUM can pick targets perfectly—they'll never target themselves. Thus, we need to do as much killing (or at least threatening) as possible.
We can rank our preferences equally, leading to two people feeling the pressure.
Finally, if we do the lynching, it means the blood gets spilled somewhere other than my cellar. Someone else has to clean it up. This is of paramount importance.
Thus, I vote:
1st (tie): Prof. Mumble, Lucy
3rd: TESS
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“Therefore, let it be explained that nowhere are the proprieties quite so strictly enforced as in men’s colleges that invite young women guests, especially over-night visitors in the fraternity houses.” Emily Post, 1937.
Posts: 6849 | From: The People's Republic of Balcones | Registered: Jan 2006
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Sylvander
Shipmate
# 12857
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Posted
1. Case for no lynching on day one.
As I said I advocate no lynching. Reasons: Against what Ariston just said (and Eliabeone who always does) previous experience has shown that the "we must lynch on day one" has so far not led to the goodies' team wins (the only recent win, 2 or 3 rounds back came by a sheer strike of early luck). So it is not a strategy that has ever worked. (I used to advocate it myself but have learned). Activism for activity's sake is not good. We must keep calm and collect information before we act. We are (most likely) ten against two, we have time.
This is particularly true when we have a detective who accumulates information during the night. Last time (I think) we lynched our detective on day one. As I said: we are more likely to kill our own specials than mafia. (I know I am not the detective but Gwai might be, so I won't vote for her despite nominating her).
And it is just as good to analyse reasonings as voting patterns with later hindsight.
2. Defense
Believe me, if I were SCUM I would not be out here on stage all the time talking. (I was quiet enough last time to make a more silent approach credible).
I suggested to nominate randomly (solely in order to create debate) in a public way. But I could not think of a method fast enough before last night. I am still prepared to back that up with action (although it might become nonsense after day two because we should have additional information by then). This
Our Chinese friend suggested a way involving the (presumably British) lottery?
quote:
Originally posted by Jay-Emm:
Tying it to the lottery would work (giving each person a public number before the draw) then taking the remainder of the first ball divided by the number of players for the first victim.
I do not know when Brit lottery numbers are drawn (Germany it is Saturday nights I think which might be feasible for this round. It has 48 numbers which is a multiple of 12 (number of players) and thus might allow a truly random choice by way of a little calculation published beforehand. Our math dons can suggest one to me. [I cannot see how this is against the spirit of the game?? Any method seems fine to me. And it is some new approach. Public randomness is the only safe method to guarantee absolute transparency in any action - that in itself must be good. Because all really firm knowledge at this stage is a privilege of Mafia (and soon of the detective who of course must make sure to leave an unmistakable trail for us to analyse once s/he dies).
This offer to nominate randomly would be extremely risky if I were SCUM. With a 1/6 chance I'd thus have to nominate one of my own (I offer to nominate myself if the rules allow it - otherwise it would only be 1/11, making me look rather silly). That alone may be still be seen as a cunning disguise but with the current voting system lynchings are far likelier than before and it would be a cunning Baldrick plan.
Request of rule clarifications:
1) Are we allowed to PM each other? Day and/or night? This is particularly relevant for Mr Morse of course who could thus tell people he cleared them and discourage them for lynching him.
2) Would Mr Morse see only "innocent/guilty" or also the specific role prankster/infirmarian?
I vote
1. no lynching
No second preference.
For an accused to vote so early and not naming Gwai as second choice greatly increases his (my) risk of dying as I cannot cast my vote late to save myself if need be. You may read this is a sign of my bona fide.
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A martyr is someone living with a saint.
2509
Posts: 1589 | From: Berlin | Registered: Jul 2007
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
Mrs. Layman keeps her meat in a cage so she doesn't have to use any energy hunting it. She must be fattening that bird up a bit, I suppose, because it doesn't look like there's much eating on it at the moment. Anyway, doesn't she know free range is best?
Onto more serious matters. I think I disagree that not lynching gives the SCUM a free shot, because Oxford being the civilised place it is, vigilanteism is not allowed. The two candidates are more likely innocent than guilty (even though I nominated one of them), so if we lynch one and then the SCUM get their kill in = 2 corpses. No lynch and then the SCUM get a hit on target = 1 corpse. Unless one of the nominees is actually guilty, it therefore strikes me that it's in the innocents' interest to keep everyone alive. Usually the advantage of blind lynching is the information it provides (TESS allows too much hiding in the crowd), but this is a different situation because of Harold's ingenious system. We can vote TESS in first place and then still glean useful information from the secondary votes.
One more problem occurs to Felis, of a purely practical nature: are they really expecting the cat to pick up a pen? ![[Ultra confused]](graemlins/confused2.gif) Nonplussed, she flicks out a perfectly manicured claw and punches a series of holes in her ballot paper. She hopes she will be understood.
Assuming, since for the time being there's no reason to do otherwise, that Mumblebore really did nominate at random:
TESS: •
Mumblebore: ••
Lucy: ••
(to understand Felis' numbers, count the holes, i.e. 1 hole = 1, 2 holes= 2 etc.)
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Rent my holiday home in the South of France
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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
1. TESS
2. Lucy (Gwai)
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we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams
Posts: 10567 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Feb 2004
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An die Freude
Shipmate
# 14794
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Posted
[OOC: Sorry, I know I promised to be back yesterday. I usually take some time writing my posts, and had a half written post for this thread in a tab of my browser, but unfortunately had to go to the hospital and spend the night there. Didn't bring my computer and thus couldn't post. Either way, I'm pretty sure you people don't want me lynching and nominating while on morphine... Feeling fine now, though.]
I'm sorry to have been so silent - I had to work my way here by means of a tunnel from the orangery!
I'm uncertain as to whether a lynching would be good or not. Eliabach claims to learn a lot from killing (I've always thought mathematics was a subject for sadists to teach), and I agree that it CAN be useful. We see patterns in the trails of blood, whereas SCUM don't need patterns. To us, patterns are all we have. I usually follow this path.
However, the last argument is also a good counterargument. Before we end up seeing patterns, the SCUM will know who to vote for and who not. They will be able to run off with the vote and get an extra chance at taking out specials. I've heard about similar cases where such things happened, and the SCUM are better off from it. There's a greater chance at striking a special than at striking SCUM.
Still, the patterns are all we have. On the third or fourth day things will come down to having some knowledge at all. Murphy's law predictates that Mr. Morse will be gone by then, but then again that's something we can decide on too right now, it seems. If we stand down on this vote, then I suppose (though I belong to the mathematically challenged) there's a 1/11 greater chance of keeping Mr. Morse a bit longer. A 3/11 chance of keeping any good special role for one day longer. Of course there's 1/6, if we believe the nominations to be at random, that we've got at least one crook. Things could be made more complicated by entering the fact that the likelihood of there being 2 SCUM in the equation is 0, since the first nominee got to pick the second one. That means the chance at there being a crook in there is back at 1/11. Not very good odds. Three times the chance of hitting a special. 10 times the chance of hitting an innocent, or something to that degree. I frankly haven't got the mathematical skills to tie this thought up, but I think the case is quite made for me. I hope I get it right.
I vote for TESS.
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"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable."
Walt Whitman
Formerly JFH
Posts: 851 | From: Proud Socialist Monarchy of Sweden | Registered: May 2009
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
The following rules clarifications are approved, by order of the butler.
quote:
Originally posted by Sylvander:
(I offer to nominate myself if the rules allow it
They do.
quote:
Request of rule clarifications:
1) Are we allowed to PM each other? Day and/or night? This is particularly relevant for Mr Morse of course who could thus tell people he cleared them and discourage them for lynching him.
Only SCUM may PM each other.
quote:
2) Would Mr Morse see only "innocent/guilty" or also the specific role prankster/infirmarian?
Morse only sees "innocent/guilty," not any special role.
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
[OOC] JFH, that sounds kinda scary. I'm glad you're feeling okay now, but look after yourself, yeah?! ![[Smile]](smile.gif) [/OOC]
The Professor's mind was made up. He had been thinking all night and (unusually) his training in the mathematics of uncertainty had let him down. The path integrals were too complicated, the statistical analysis had too many unknowns, and while it was tempting to make jokes about cats being both alive and dead at the same time, he thought that such humor would not go down well in the present company.
So he was back to his gut. And his gut said that he wanted someone else's guts spilled. Talk, talk, talk: it's the only way to spot the traitors, and the only way to gain an intuition for the allegiance of those left in the college.
Therefore, he cast his vote as follows:
1st equal: Prof. Mumbledore and Lucy.
3rd: TESS
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Gwai
Shipmate
# 11076
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Posted
Lucy finally puts the cupcakes in the oven, still having off and on crying jags. "I can't believe somebody would suggest killing me at random. He must really hate me!
"What, I am supposed to vote for who should die? No one, of course! This Execution should most definitely End! I am strongly against hurting anyone. However, anyone who is so bloodthirsty is someone I rather distrust, so if we really can't end this horrible thing, I say we should be very skeptical of Professor Mumblemore's motives."
[So, to clarify:
1) TESS
2) Professor Mumblemore]
(Codefix. -AA)
[ 27. October 2011, 18:50: Message edited by: AristonAstuanax ]
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A master of men was the Goodly Fere,
A mate of the wind and sea.
If they think they ha’ slain our Goodly Fere
They are fools eternally.
Posts: 11914 | From: Chicago | Registered: Feb 2006
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Chelley
Ship's Old Boot
# 11322
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Posted
[OOC: Sorry about lack of involvement from here - just had the first few days of kitchen being knocked out along with a wall or two!! Been mad and noisy! Just going to catch-up with events... Everything is covered in brick dust - hope the laptop doesn't start coughing!]
[ 27. October 2011, 16:16: Message edited by: Chelley ]
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"I love old things, they make me feel sad."
"What's good about sad?"
"It's happy for deep people!"
Sally Sparrow to Kathy - Doctor Who
Posts: 2870 | From: Wonderland, UK | Registered: Apr 2006
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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505
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Posted
Mrs Layman looked at the voting paper which had been pushed through the letterbox in the front door. What did it all mean? Why was it marked 'URGENT'? Were they trying to get rid of Professor M, and the cook? They would have to be crazy to let anyone leave at Christmas time. Didn't they realize how hard it was to get good staff these days? And who on earth was Tess?
She turned the paper over in her hands three times before sighing and filling in the boxes.
1.TESS
2.Prof.M/Lucy
She hoped she'd done it right. Then she gave it to Pike with instructions it had to be given to Professor R's butler.
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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.
Posts: 7080 | From: Canberra Australia | Registered: Oct 2005
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
The tension was palpable. Professor Berg fretted. The college waited.
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Chelley
Ship's Old Boot
# 11322
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Posted
Miss Chelley had burrowed herself away in the library as the college hummed with the disturbing news of recent events. The books gave her a degree of comfort and it was probably true to say that even in the normal run of college life she spent more time here among her paper companions than she did in her little college rooms.
But what to do? There was talk about the Professor - Mumblebore, as well as the cook, Lucy. But could they really have had anything to do with Prof. Raphsom's death? Cold cups of tea and calling the cat, Felis, fat had led to whispers but there was so little of substance to point at the culprits. Miss Chelley knew well though her own tendency to look with suspicion at all around her and thought perhaps her distraction in the library may have been beneficial for once in stopping her own ability to leap to conclusions. But she had to add her voice to the others and as she pondered she thumbed the copy of a book she'd been reading by an author named Austen, Pride and Prejudice. It seemed likely that prejudice would be a contributing factor in these latest events, a trait the novel's heroine habitually displayed. The librarian made the decision then that perhaps more time should pass before she reached any prejudicial conclusions herself.
1. TESS was therefore the obvious choice, but she battled with herself over what to do next. No further vote would leave Lucy and Mumblebore with equal 2. positions. But that niggle of suspicion towards Mumblebore and his early musings was hard to resist... but he had also not placed Lucy higher in the way of suspicion than himself, perhaps that was an honourable decision? So she decided to stick with that first resolve...
1. TESS
Therefore equal 2. Lucy and Mumblebore.
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"I love old things, they make me feel sad."
"What's good about sad?"
"It's happy for deep people!"
Sally Sparrow to Kathy - Doctor Who
Posts: 2870 | From: Wonderland, UK | Registered: Apr 2006
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
I will leave the voting open for the next 22 hours as agreed so as the three who are yet to vote can register their opinion, but also let you know that as she now has 7 first preference votes, there is no way for TESS not to win -- no need to cut another tree down for a coffin just yet.
I'll give 48 hours for night actions, beginning 8am EST Saturday, so going through to 8am EST Monday. If they're all in by 8am EST Sunday, though, we'll have dawn then. Hence, if any of the specials are sure they don't want to act, it would be good to pm me to say that. If anyone needs to pm me their night action early, that's fine.
People can talk openly (ie. post on the thread) overnight. (Academics have never kept normal hours and neither, therefore, do their staff, spouses or pets.)
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Eliab
Shipmate
# 9153
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by la vie en rouge:
One more problem occurs to Felis, of a purely practical nature: are they really expecting the cat to pick up a pen? Nonplussed, she flicks out a perfectly manicured claw and punches a series of holes in her ballot paper. She hopes she will be understood.
Ernst bows extravagantly to Felis, with a dramatic sweep of his cape.
“Holy one, I am a mere initiate of the mysteries, but in this company at least, a practical scientist. The problem is not without a solution. I would be pleased to lend you an homunculus to act as your scribe.”
A small thing, resembling a human neonate, but of bluish hue, and with cracked, papery skin, crawls across the floor towards the cat, clasping a gold-nibbed fountain pen.
Eliabach steps backwards, to allow the sacred being to inspect his gift. It is not, in truth, an especially generous one. The thing has no more than a week or two’s life left in it, in any case, and was never a particularly satisfactory specimen. Stillbirths never are. An abortion, if it can be removed relatively intact, is almost always superior, and a fresh infanticide best of all. But it should serve.
He then bows again and hisses in the thing’s misshapen ear: “Serve her well, for when she is done with thee, I shall bind thy soul to thy infant form, grind thy bones to powder, and send thee helpless into the pit.”
Beaming at the assembled company, the Professor then turns to his own vote.
quote:
I think I disagree that not lynching gives the SCUM a free shot, because Oxford being the civilised place it is, vigilanteism is not allowed. The two candidates are more likely innocent than guilty (even though I nominated one of them), so if we lynch one and then the SCUM get their kill in = 2 corpses. No lynch and then the SCUM get a hit on target = 1 corpse. Unless one of the nominees is actually guilty, it therefore strikes me that it's in the innocents' interest to keep everyone alive. Usually the advantage of blind lynching is the information it provides (TESS allows too much hiding in the crowd), but this is a different situation because of Harold's ingenious system. We can vote TESS in first place and then still glean useful information from the secondary votes.
That is the paradox. We need to kill to win, and have only a few chabces to choose wisely, yet each time we kill, the odds are that we will hurt rather than advance our cause.
Whereas the murderers need not lynch at all, but whenever they do, they will almost always have a safe victim.
In my judgement, it is best not to miss a chance, but I see the wisdom of the crowd is, as ever, against me. I do not think we learn as much from second preferences, where the real intent is to abstain, than we do from votes with lives plainly at risk. That said, a hypothetical preference is all I can now offer.
I see no reason to suspect either nominee above the other. I fear I can make neither head nor tail nor any other useful body part of old Mumbledore’s defence, and I am therefore content that the jar marked for his brain remain empty a little longer. I have no fear that it will spoil from over-use. The cook, however, has a pleasing degree of body fat, and quite delectable organs, and I would dearly love to anatomise her.
Thus:
1. Lucy
2. Mumbledore
3. TESS
[ 28. October 2011, 15:44: Message edited by: Eliab ]
Posts: 4619 | From: Hampton, Middlesex, UK | Registered: Mar 2005
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
Felis dabs at Eliabach’s strange creature with a doubtful paw. It smells funny.
[OOC: It’s my birthday this weekend ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif) - going to my parents’ for a few days. I shall endeavour to check in every so often, but probably online a bit less often than usual.]
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Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505
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Posted
Mrs. Layman gasped at the pain which shot through her abdomen and left her heart pounding. She clutched at the mantelpiece and bit her lip to stop the tears. She felt colder than death.
Berkeley chirped questioningly.
"Oh my dear Professor," breathed Barbara towards the front door, "please do get home soon. It feels as though a grave that is dear to us has been desecrated. What on earth is going on at St.Damian's?"
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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.
Posts: 7080 | From: Canberra Australia | Registered: Oct 2005
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Jay-Emm
Shipmate
# 11411
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Posted
On the basis i can't make up my mind and even wrongheaded action feels better than waiting till our throats are slit.
1. Lucy =1 mumbled. 2 Less
Posts: 1643 | Registered: May 2006
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Smudgie
Ship's Barnacle
# 2716
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Posted
Dyllis took a moment out from her careful polishing of the teaspoons to heave a sigh. How could she make a fair and honest assessment of the situation when she had other more important things on her mind... and Lucy's death would cause her considerable inconvenience were she found to be guilty of the crime. Why, Dyllis would have to take on the role of head cook, with all the ..er.. extra pay and status... hmm... but, then again.. with no poor minion to delegate the teaspoon cleaning to.
There again, Mumbledore might well prove advantageous to her if she could convince him of her devotion to serving him, especially as Lucy had got off to such a bad start and thus paved the way for her. Besides, he'd been nominated by that *spit* cat. Cats. They were always getting in teh way of her plans.
She thought through the options. Her choice suddenly became a whole lot clearer.
1 TESS
2 Lucy
Now, she wondered whether Professor Mumbledore might appreciate another nice hot cup of tea to calm his nerves.
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Miss you, Erin.
Posts: 14382 | From: Under the duvet | Registered: Apr 2002
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Sylvander
Shipmate
# 12857
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Posted
Prof Mumblebore had been muttering and mumbling away to himself. In the end he had found a way. It was easy. All he needed to do was give everybody a number, something he tended to do anyway, lacking the slightest personal interest in other human beans: cook#1, cook#2, chambermaid A, chambermaid B, maths don ζ etc. He went by the order of names on the noticeboard in the hallway:
1. a vie en rouge - Felis Rufa (cat!)
2. Eliab – Prof Eliabach
3. Ariston Astuanax - Archibald St. George (wine fellow)
4. Dafyd - Mr. Dai A. Logge (Philosophy scholar)
5. Chelley - Miss Chelley (Librarian)
6. JFH - Jeremiah Ferrer-O'Hocher (gardener)
7. Smudgie - Dyllis Smudgetta (cook)
8. Gwai - Lucy (head cook)
9. Banner Lady - Mrs Barbara Layman (Prof Layman's wife)
10. Sylvander - Professor Mumblebore
11. Imaginary Friend - Prof Heisen Berg (Physics lecturer)
12. Jay-Emm - Jason Meng (cleaner?)
He had found out that German lottery (www.lotto.de) draws 6 numbers Wed + Sat nights. He'll nominate the first number between 1 and 12 that gets drawn (if none is, then the second dozen 13-24 would be used by substracting 12 from it, effectively treating 13-24 as if it was 1 to 12, and so on for 25-36 etc). He'll nominate the person whose number is up (now you know where that one comes from).
If the number in question is dead by then he'll take a neighbouring number: the lower neighbour if the deceased was an even number and the higher neighbour if s/he was an odd number (yes, I know). 1 and 12 will be treated as neighbours.
The lottery website lists the numbers in numerical order, not in the order in which they were drawn, but that information was easily provided because there really are people who put the lottery draw on the notice board in the Youtube Building.
All this may make little sense after day two, but he'll give it a shot, unless he dies before.
Mumblebore was mildly distressed that yesterday he miscounted and hence misnominated (Nr. 7 is cook#1, Dyllis Smudgette, not cook#2, Lucy). That was annoying since giving the other cook a little fright would have provided great satisfaction. In their (his, not hers of course) long-gone youth she had consistently beaten him at a game called „Crew Quiz“ and he had never forgiven her for it.
[Good heavens! This post was ready before he heard of cook#1’s kind offer to provide decent tea… Should he take that into account? Alleviating circumstances? Ach! Kindness! Much overrated. He violently shook his grey mane. Probably she’s SCUM trying to make an ally from an aged soft-hearted professor. But then again, hot tea could never be over-rated.]
Then he overheard a hushed whisper from the servants' quarter (his hearing was remarkable for things he was not supposed to hear).
quote:
Originally posted by Gwai: I say we should be very skeptical of Professor Mumblemore's motives."
O mulier stulta! Qui bonum respuit consilium, sibi ipse nocet. Mark my words, silly cook#1with the lukewarm tea, he muttered. A pretty face is not everything, you know.
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A martyr is someone living with a saint.
2509
Posts: 1589 | From: Berlin | Registered: Jul 2007
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
Night falls
The college has rather definitively decided not to lynch anyone tonight. TESS beat out Mumblebore 8 votes to 4 and also beat Lucy by the same margin.
People have another 48 hours for night actions, but if you get them to me within the next 24 we'll start then.
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
Some people's pigeon holes were completely full, remarked Harold.
Could people please be sure to have space in their pm boxes for any communique I may have to make to them?
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Smudgie
Ship's Barnacle
# 2716
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Posted
Dyllis was keeping an eye on the kettle bubbling away on the range. It wouldn't be long until it was whistling merrily, indicating the perfect moment for brewing the perfect cup of tea for the recently reprieved professor. Warm the pot, just right... stir the tea... use the finest of strainers just to be sure... Milk first? Tea first? Far better - take the pot and the milkjug on the tray and pour for the professor at the point of delivery... that way the tea remains at maximum temperature.
She could cope with the continued whittering of that Lucy woman - it was so much nicer not to have another death in the college. Perhaps now those SCUM would see the error of their ways and bootle off back whence they came, leaving the honourable people here to get on with their own business. And her business was to make sure that she left the college far wealthier than when she arrived. With a quick kick at the passing moggy, begging as usual at the kitchen door, she turned her attention to the matter in hand. The perfect cup of tea.
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Miss you, Erin.
Posts: 14382 | From: Under the duvet | Registered: Apr 2002
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
Harold noticed that the college door knobs looked a little less clean than usual. This could only mean one thing: Jason Meng (Jay-Emm) had been murdered! He was an ordinary citizen.
You have until 8am EST Wednesday (60 hours from now) to make nominations.
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505
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Posted
Barbara Layman was shocked and appalled. Shocked that there had been another murder, and appalled that anyone could find cleanliness so offensive that they would prefer dirty door handles to clean ones.
She shuddered. Whatever was the world coming to? It was almost the twentieth century, for heaven's sake.
She poured Professor Layman, Pike and herself a good, hot, strong cup of tea, as they tried to work out who liked dirt the most, among those left at the college. " Scum, indeed," thought Barbara, darkly.
Professor L and Pike thought the dirtiest candidates would have to be either the gardener, or the Thanatology professor. Barbara wasn't sure about either of them.
"What do the others think?" she asked, over the rim of the cup.
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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.
Posts: 7080 | From: Canberra Australia | Registered: Oct 2005
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Sylvander
Shipmate
# 12857
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Posted
Interesting.
Because our poor Chinese friend was the one whose number was up. (Ziehung Samstag 29.10.2011 = draw Saturday ...)
So killing him (#6) means I shall have to nominate the lower neighbour Chelley. SCUM may of course have ignored it all. On the other hand they may well have taken it into account. Part of my idea was to provoke something like this - killing the lotto number is the only way how SCUM could influence my nomination.
And however arbitrary my system and the reasons for nominating someone are, SCUM are unlikely (or extremely bold) to unnecessarily put one of their own names on the list. The voting behaviour is too unpredictable and the drive for lynchings (esp. on day 2) too strong for that.
So I conclude that Miss Chelley is probably innocent. Plus I like books too much to lynch a librarian.
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A martyr is someone living with a saint.
2509
Posts: 1589 | From: Berlin | Registered: Jul 2007
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Eliab
Shipmate
# 9153
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sylvander:
Because our poor Chinese friend was the one whose number was up. (Ziehung Samstag 29.10.2011 = draw Saturday ...)
So killing him (#6) means I shall have to nominate the lower neighbour Chelley.
Much as I hate to disturb your most fascinating scheming, old fellow, I feel that professional courtesy between scholars obliges me to point out that the deceased, Mr Meng, was number 12 on your list.
quote:
Originally posted by Banner Lady:
Professor L and Pike thought the dirtiest candidates would have to be either the gardener, or the Thanatology professor. Barbara wasn't sure about either of them.
Thanatontogeny, my dear lady. A coinage of the great Haeckel of Jena, for which my profession is most grateful. The earlier names for our craft were so tainted by popular ignorance and superstition as to be positively misleading.
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"Perhaps there is poetic beauty in the abstract ideas of justice or fairness, but I doubt if many lawyers are moved by it"
Richard Dawkins
Posts: 4619 | From: Hampton, Middlesex, UK | Registered: Mar 2005
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
A rules clarification was requested by pm which I might as well give here:
If the prankster is killed overnight, their prank is ineffective (they're a little too busy getting killed to be pouring things in pens).
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Sylvander
Shipmate
# 12857
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Posted
O! Si tacuisses philosophus mansisses. Mumblebore theatrically pounded his chest and tore his hair until he looked like the aged Jethro Tull on ecstasy. Except neither had been invented as yet.
Ah, well, he muttered, our necrophile colleague is annoying but right. JM, not JFH. Hadn't he told them he was against all those acronyms? He had.
It meant all his earlier words were tosh. They usually were but between book covers it was not as obvious.
But the good thing was he now had to nominate that annoying Fiend PHB as he is affectionately known: "Prof Heisen Berg, step forward to be nominated. No need to thank me, it's alright, Everybody deserves their place in the limelight now and then. Yours is now."
I'll think of a reason to lynch him and post it later. Or maybe I'll spare you.
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A martyr is someone living with a saint.
2509
Posts: 1589 | From: Berlin | Registered: Jul 2007
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
Another rules clarification related to the prankster (which seems to be a much more complicated role than I'd envisaged!): The victim of the prank can still nominate.
Also, can people be clear with their nominations? I'm not clear as to quite who Mumblebore is nominating. Three different characters have been mentioned by him. Can I have a sentence in the form: "I nominate name (ship-name)."
[ 31. October 2011, 15:02: Message edited by: Hart ]
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Jay-Emm
Shipmate
# 11411
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Posted
Jai Cheng Meng (he wasn't going to die by his adopted name) breathed his last as the blood seeped into the icy snow.
Maybe if the Lords Krisnu and Jesu had pity he'd escape the pain of reincarnation and reach nirvana.
Posts: 1643 | Registered: May 2006
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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
Well, you lot are a fat lot of good, you are. None of you is acting particularly suspicious at all. How are we suppose to find you SCUM if you act like innocent people?
The person acting most like I would expect a member of the mafia to act is Prof Heisen Berg. Followed by Prof Eliabach, who is perhaps not acting quite as suspiciously as his reputation would suggest he usually does.
I'm hesitant about nominating this round, but I'd like to put someone up there with Mumblebore's random choice. Let's put up a nomination and see what happens. We don't have to vote to lynch the person.
I nominate Prof Heisen Berg (Imaginary Friend).
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we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams
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