Also, might I say that voting for someone to keep your butt in the game is a very bad strategy. This isn't Survivor; there won't be one man left standing. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-Sky+Apr 7 2005, 07:57 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Sky @ Apr 7 2005, 07:57 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Also, might I say that voting for someone to keep your butt in the game is a very bad strategy. This isn't Survivor; there won't be one man left standing. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> This is true, but he naturally want's to defend himself. Expecially considering that most of the votes against him are for inactivity.
STG, you should really try to get on IRC, its going to be hard to defend yourself via forum only.
I was going to vote for STG, but if he is going to make an honest effort to be more active, I'm gonna throw my vote towards <b>Cold-Nite</b>. Considering how long I have known you from the forums I'm really surprized that I haven't heard more then the slightest peep out of you all game.
We have no edit rules here for a reason... SPAM SPAM SPAM <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
(Just kidding, do not spam off topic, off topic spam will get you bant)
I'm going to vote for <b>im lost</b>. Partially to balance between him and STG, since I don't have enough evidence to suspect STG, and partially because that something does seem... off.
I'm assuming that was directed at me. I don't really have much of a defense. I don't have any idea who could be a wolf, or who definitely isn't a wolf. If people want to say why they think I'm a wolf, then I can try to respond to it. I already gave a response to Swiftspear, some people seem to have accepted it, others didn't, there isn't much more I can say on that topic.
I need to vote before the end of the day. My completely random vote goes to <b>Hellfire3k</b> for now, and will be changed if there is any chance of him actually being lynched. I don't plan on voting against stg to help my own cause, in case anyone is wondering.
If you ask me, Swift, I've been pretty active. Now I haven't exactly idled the IRC channel heavily, it's not in my nature to use IRC a lot anyway, but I AM here. I don't understand your call for me to be more active, unless you want me to spam inordinately long posts as you do. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
I'll be serious about this though, some tall guy may have been inactive for a while, but it seems we scared him into activity. I don't see why you need to go further than that and lynch him just because he was inactive.
If you want my vote, it goes to <b>Talesin</b>. It's just on a hunch so don't take it personally. And it is subject to change at any given time, should I find more than simple base conviction to go on.
We have had quite a few votes since lolly's last tally, and I wanted to see who had how many votes, so I tallied it together, which means I might as well post it for everyone else to see.
Some tall guy - 5.1 (Nemesis Zero, Pulse, Sky, Hellfire3k, Renegade) Talesin - 2 (Snidely, Cold NiTe) im lost - 2 (Talesin, Mantrid) Some tall guy Sky - 1 (BadKarma) Cold NiTe - 1 (Swiftspear) Hellfire3k - 1 (im lost)
People that still need to vote:
TheMuffinMan brute force Some tall guy (tried to vote, but failed to use bold tags, when he does it should be another vote against me)
<b>Im lost</b> BOLDED <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> again for no other reason other than to save my own butt <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
PulseTo create, to create and escape.Join Date: 2002-08-29Member: 1248Members, Constellation
Looks like my vote is going to stay the same after all. I don't want to vote for im lost, but if I vote for anyone else (besides STG) I risk letting some people who I'm pretty sure are not wolves lynched.
Also, it's no where near day three - it's day two. Talesin or Nemesis Zero, please fix the topic. (This is why I originally didn't even include the day or night in the topic. It always gets screwed up or forgotten. And who uses it anyway?)
<!--QuoteBegin-Hellfire3k+Apr 8 2005, 09:02 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Hellfire3k @ Apr 8 2005, 09:02 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <b>brute force</b> to stop the idle lynch on STG because he spoke up , and to force Brute to speak up. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> I'm around. I didn't post anything yesterday because I didn't really have anything to say. I need to vote for someone though, but I don't have any suspects, so I'm going to vote for <b>Renegade</b>. 1: there are no votes for him so there's a very small chance of him getting lynched and 2: why vote for STG with the reason of him being inactive when he's already posted?
<!--QuoteBegin-Renegade+Apr 7 2005, 08:41 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Renegade @ Apr 7 2005, 08:41 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I'm going to say <b>Some Tall Guy</b>, we don't need/want idlers in this game. If you sign up, <i>play</i>.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> I agree, and will also vote for <b>some tall guy</b>. If anything comes up i will obviously change my vote, but i would much rather vote off someone who is hardly active at all over the more active players. Just to be fair, if nothing else.
Also, sorry about being less active lately. I go to bed as most of you guys start getting on irc, and i am out from 8 in the morning to half 4. This means that i am inactive for around 16 hours at a time.
<b><span style='font-size:17pt;line-height:100%'>It is now night three, no posting!</span></b>
"So here we are again. That ship is right outside, but this time around NEITHER of our drives are operable, so we're stuck with it. Furthermore, unless it's on autopilot, it's still manned. If it's armed, having part of its crew aboard is probably the only thing saving our lives right now." <b>Pulse</b> summed up. "The thought of having been aboard it makes me shiver. We were in acute danger and didn't even think about it." <b>Renegade,</b> <b>TheMuffinMan,</b> <b>Pulse,</b> <b>Sky,</b> <b>Some tall guy,</b> <b>Swiftspear,</b> <b>Nemesis Zero,</b> <b>Snidely</b> and <b>BadKarma</b> were assembled on the bridge. They had cleaned up the captain's chair and placed SaltzBad's corpse in cold storage, and now stood gloomily watching the alien spaceship on the main screen. From his console, <b>BadKarma</b> spoke up: "Actually, the only thing saving our lives right now is our thick hull. I don't know if it counts as a weapon, but the ship is trying its best to fatally irradiate us. It's so much that my sensors are getting inaccurate. Notice the static on the display? Heavy radiation. We're good for now, but if we're stuck here for a few months, we'll start getting radiation sick." "I'm not planning on staying here for that long. Are you making <i>any</i> progress on <i>any</i> of our drives, <b>Swiftspear?</b>" said <b>Sky.</b> "The FTL drive is up and running, mysteriously, but it would be hazardous to activate it without a working sublight drive. We're still stuck." "Right. I'm tired of this. Let's get that drive repaired on the double and get away from here. <i>Then</i> we can worry about our infiltrators. I just hope our FTL drive can outrun theirs. <b>Swiftspear,</b> you haven't shown us any results yet. It's obvious that you need help. <b>Pulse,</b> <b>Renegade,</b> <b>Some tall guy</b> - you're coming with us. Let's get that drive repaired, even if we have to swap out all the parts we have spares for."
<b>im lost</b> bumped his head on a low-hanging pipe and swore. "Why did you have to pick <i>this</i> place, of all the available spots?" He and <b>Hellfire3k</b> and <b>Mantrid</b> had taken up one of the more spacious but obscure access tunnels. Hundreds of these tunnels ran throughout the ship, providing access to otherwise unreachable systems. They were rarely used, but small robotic drones roamed them, keeping them relatively clean. This particular tunnel led to the maintenance panel for the orbital platform connector bridge, the extendable tunnel used for docking at smaller supply stations. In flight, the chance of somebody coming here was almost nil. They small chamber at the end of it only had one entrance, which made it easily defendable, and this was why <b>Mantrid</b> had picked it days ago for their hideout. "What I've been meaning to ask you, <b>Mantrid,</b> is what you meant when you said that this place is 'easily defendable.' What exactly do we have to defend ourselves <i>with?"</i> "Why don't you ask <b>Hellfire3k</b> about that?" said <b>Mantrid</b> and glanced knowingly at the bag beside <b>Hellfire3k.</b> In response, he zipped it open and pulled out an automatic rifle and a pistol. <b>im lost</b> gaped. "Where'd you get those?" "Certainly not from <b>brute force,"</b> replied <b>Hellfire3k</b> with irritation in his voice. "He's prancing about with a gun under his jacket and expects us to feel reassured by it or something. Well, I wanted a piece for myself, but I found that he had sabotaged the keypad to the weapons lockup. Well, not so much sabotaged it as crudely smashed it. I'm not even sure I would have gotten in there without triggering a shipwide alert. I could see through the little window in the door that he had removed two pistols and a rifle, so I knew he had to have weapons hidden somewhere. But <b>brute force</b> is an amateur when it comes to hiding things, and I found these hidden nearby. I brought food too, by the way." Hellfire3k dug some dry rations and bottles of water and juice out of his bag as well. "Too bad you couldn't bring a toilet as well. Crawling through an access tunnel for five minutes every time I have to take a leak isn't my definition of a picnic."
"<b>Some tall guy,</b> could you check the actuator on the FTL drive core? It could be sending feedback to the sublight drive's accelerator disks." <b>Some tall guy</b> complied with <b>Renegade's</b> request and popped open the hatch to the access shaft running underneath the core. He grabbed an overhead handlebar and pulled, sending him sliding down the shaft on the padded rolls embedded in the floor. He checked the actuator, found it to be working perfectly and slid up the shaft again. But when he reached the hatch, he found it locked. "Guys? Quit fooling around. Unlock that hatch." <b>Swiftspear</b> was heading for the hatch when a klaxxon sounded and a synthesised female voice announced: "Core shield failure imminent." When he looked to the main console, he saw <b>Renegade</b> standing there. "NO! You'll kill him!" <b>Swiftspear</b> yelled as he lunged for <b>Renegade,</b> but <b>Sky</b> and <b>Pulse</b> were on him in an instant, pinning him to the floor and his arms behind his back. He struggled, but had no chance of breaking free. "It has to be done," said <b>Sky.</b> <b>Swiftspear</b> closed his eyes, but with his arms behind his back he could not block out <span style='color:red'><b>Some tall guy's</b></span> screams as he was fried alive by the gamma radiation venting from the unshielded core.
Players still left in the game: <b>Renegade</b> <b>Talesin</b> <b>TheMuffinMan</b> <b>Pulse</b> <b>Sky</b> <b>brute force</b> <b>Swiftspear</b> <b>im lost</b> <b>Nemesis Zero</b> <b>Hellfire3k</b> <b>Snidely</b> <b>Cold NiTe</b> <b>Mantrid</b> <b>BadKarma</b>
I will need PMs from the <span style='color:blue'><b>guardian</b></span> (if alive), <span style='color:blue'><b>seer</b></span> (if alive) and any remaining <span style='color:red'><b>formtakers</b></span> before we advance to day three.
Day three wil begin on <b>saturday, the 9th of April, 20:00 GMT.</b>
<b><span style='font-size:17pt;line-height:100%'>It is now day three, post away!</span></b>
<i>Freya's</i> gravity normally remained at a steady 0.8G, but with half the coils offline during <b>TheMuffinMan</b> and <b>Hellfire3k's</b> repairs to the gravitational core, it was down to 0.4. He regarded it as terribly unprofessional, but <b>brute force</b> couldn't help but doing small jumps from time to time as he walked the corridors of the ship, enjoying the unusual lightness of his body. It cheered him up a little, something that he needed badly after having discovered that his weapons cache had been stolen. He decided to swing by the gravitational core to see how the repairs were proceeding and perhaps offering his assistance. <b>Hellfire3k</b> and <b>TheMuffinMan</b> had uncovered part of the core, with most of the parts being strewn around various tables as well as littering the floor. <b>brute force</b> took great care not to step on anything as he made his way over to the exposed core and peered in. What he saw did not fill him with confidence. Small burn marks all over the inside meant that <b>TheMuffinMan</b> and <b>Hellfire3k</b> had probably already removed and discarded several damaged components. <b>brute force</b> frowned. <b>Hellfire3k</b> regarded him coldly. "Think you can do it better or what?" "I didn't say anything," replied <b>brute force.</b> "No, but you thought it. Are you here to help us, or are you just gonna wave your gun in our faces?" "I carry this weapon to protect this ship. That includes <i>you,</i> <b>Hellfire3k</b> - that is, if you actually <i>are</i> <b>Hellfire3k."</b> "So now you suspect me of being one of those formtakers, is that it? What, are you going to shoot me? Right here and now?" <b>TheMuffinMan</b> stepped inbetween the two. "Shut up, both of you. <b>Hellfire3k,</b> <b>brute force</b> is doing his job. <b>brute force,</b> if you have any actual evidence to back up your claims against <b>Hellfire3k,</b> I'd really like to hear them." "Forget about it. I'm not gonna both-- did you feel that?" To an experienced spacefarer like <b>brute force,</b> being able to discern the crossing of the threshold between sublight and FTL speed was not unusual. <b>Hellfire3k</b> and <b>TheMuffinMan</b> simply nodded, and they headed for the bridge without another word.
Visual sensors were of no use during FTL travel, so the main screen on the bridge displayed a live video feed of the machine room. <b>BadKarma</b> was manning his sensors as always, with <b>Cold NiTe</b> at the helm trying to get the controls to respond. <b>Talesin</b> was sitting at the secondary helm console, assisting <b>Cold NiTe</b> as much as he could. On the screen, <b>Renegade,</b> <b>Pulse,</b> <b>Sky,</b> <b>Swiftspear</b> and <b>Snidely</b> could be seen running back and forth between various terminals and the FTL drive core. <b>Nemesis Zero</b> was standing in front of the screen, exchanging theories and procedures with the machine room crew, trying to find out why the FTL drive was not responding to commands. <b>BadKarma</b> called out: "The alien ship is following us! We're at 330c, probably as close as we are getting to our top speed with the FTL core in this shape, and it's keeping up with us! I guess that answer the question of whether we can outr--" He was interrupted by <b>Nemesis Zero</b> yelling: "Just pull the plug on that damn thing! I don't care if half the core melts to a twisted heap or something, it's better than going who knows where at breakneck speed!"
In the machine room, <b>Snidely</b> reacted immediately: "I'm on it!" But he hadn't taken two steps when Swiftspear yelled: "<i>NO!</i> Half of the failsafes are still offline! If we yank the power to the drive now, we could drop out of FTL completely uncontrolled! The ship would be pulverised! We would be strewn across several terametres at these speeds!" "Then what can we do about it?!" yelled <b>Pulse.</b> "Nothing except trying to regain control over the software! If we can get locked out by the software, we can also get back in, if just we know how! Keep trying! <b>Renegade,</b> what's the situation?" <b>Renegade</b> was again manning the center console, working the controls with almost animal ferocity. "I got it!" he yelled, almost slamming his hand down on the console as he input the last sequence. Several things happened almost at once: <b>Renegade</b> let out a yell of victory as the FTL core went into a fast power down sequence. On the bridge, they lost the video feed to the machine room. And in the machine room, everyone was blinded and deafened by an explosion that rattled the floor plates and threw several of them off their feet. The center console had erupted into a geyser of flame, the shockwave sending <span style='color:red'><b>Renegade</b></span> flying through the cavernous machine room in the low gravity and slamming his mangled form against the opposite wall. With both arms gone at the elbow and third degree burns all over his entire torso and head, he was mercifully unconscious during the final minutes of his life.
Players left in the game: <b>Talesin</b> <b>TheMuffinMan</b> <b>Pulse</b> <b>Sky</b> <b>brute force</b> <b>Swiftspear</b> <b>im lost</b> <b>Nemesis Zero</b> <b>Hellfire3k</b> <b>Snidely</b> <b>Cold NiTe</b> <b>Mantrid</b> <b>BadKarma</b>
<b>Instalynch is at 7.</b>
Day three will end on <b>monday, the 11th of April, 20:00 GMT.</b>
Sorry that the story is a little on the short side today, but my creative muse is having her period or something. Hope she pulls herself together soon. -_-
Don't know what you mean, lol. I found it quite nice.
Customarily, better luck next time, Rene. At least it's quite obvious why the wolves went after you - while not overly active as of yet, you have plenty of experience that might've hurt them later in the game. A nod to the guardian, by the way - so far, your job was pure luck, which is why I'm not going to blame you for any death so far, but we're starting to arrive at a point where the net target is relatively forseeable, so I'd appreciate if lol wouldn't have to invent a new source of death <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
As did i, that was quite a good part to the story, lolly.
Unlucky renegade. At least you guessed right <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
I agree with your points 100% nem, but the killing of saltzbad is starting to grate on me. Perhaps he said the wrong thing to a wolf.
<!--QuoteBegin-TheMuffinMan+Apr 9 2005, 02:31 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (TheMuffinMan @ Apr 9 2005, 02:31 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> As did i, that was quite a good part to the story, lolly.
Unlucky renegade. At least you guessed right <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
I agree with your points 100% nem, but the killing of saltzbad is starting to grate on me. Perhaps he said the wrong thing to a wolf. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> I could only guess at thier motives, but I think it is erroneous to assume that the wolfs are definately targeting the more experianced players at this point in the game...
Granted it is definately possible that that is thier motivation, but at this point in the game a smart wolf team is generally seer hunting. Did renegade or saltz leak any sort of sensitive information to the wrong source?
Play however you want, I'm just saying I really doubt the assumption that the experianced players are on the chopping block is not going to get us very far.
I don't think that the wolves are going to be kind enough to leave a trail of breadcrumbs.
I'm going to stick to my reasoning for the previous day, but I'm voting for <b>BadKarma</b> instead of Talesin. BK hasn't popped his head in much, maybe this will encourage him to.
It still makes the most sense for the wolves to be killing experienced players though. Freak was the obvious first target, i have no idea about saltz, and renegade was another experienced player. The seer gets at the very least one night to seer someone, so if they were to confide in anyone at all, they should have been safe. On the otherhand, it is possible that one of them was a physic/guardian. I hope not, but it could be true.
I personally think that renegade was nothing more than a simple human, though. He said before he was killed that he was the one who was going to die because he was probably the most experienced. He went on about it for a bit, and i don't reckon that he was joking. If that were the case, he would have probably confided in someone. So, with any luck, he was just a simple human. Knowing our track of luck, however, he confided in the wrong person.
Nem, i know that saltz could well have been a cunning diversion, but why would they bother when there was nothing to cover up? At this moment in time, we have pretty much nothing to go on, so i might as well discuss the possible motives of the wolves.
Well, I'd argue that a human team wasting the early part of the 'informed game' that's slowly beginning with discussions about wolfish strategies that are based on irrelevant data <i>would</i> be useful, but this is obviously no issue to resolve right now. Let's just keep in mind that if push comes to shove, it might just be that we can make more headway if we don't interpret too much into Saltz' wolfing.
Re: Rene's status. I'm also quite certain that he was a vanilla human, but he <i>was</i> relatively quiet and reserved, and the statements Muffin just offered could also be taken as subtle requests for help from the guardian. In so far, I wouldn't discard Swift's theory out of hand. Might just be that the wolves are working down a checklist.
I'm not going to cast my vote just yet, but I'd argue that this is the last round we can use on inactive players without of giving the wolves too much air. Maybe it's newbie-ish anxiety, but I feel we ought to begin with a more offensive strategy.
Comments
This is true, but he naturally want's to defend himself. Expecially considering that most of the votes against him are for inactivity.
STG, you should really try to get on IRC, its going to be hard to defend yourself via forum only.
I was going to vote for STG, but if he is going to make an honest effort to be more active, I'm gonna throw my vote towards <b>Cold-Nite</b>. Considering how long I have known you from the forums I'm really surprized that I haven't heard more then the slightest peep out of you all game.
We have no edit rules here for a reason... SPAM SPAM SPAM <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
(Just kidding, do not spam off topic, off topic spam will get you bant)
I need to vote before the end of the day. My completely random vote goes to <b>Hellfire3k</b> for now, and will be changed if there is any chance of him actually being lynched. I don't plan on voting against stg to help my own cause, in case anyone is wondering.
I'll be serious about this though, some tall guy may have been inactive for a while, but it seems we scared him into activity. I don't see why you need to go further than that and lynch him just because he was inactive.
If you want my vote, it goes to <b>Talesin</b>. It's just on a hunch so don't take it personally. And it is subject to change at any given time, should I find more than simple base conviction to go on.
Some tall guy - 5.1 (Nemesis Zero, Pulse, Sky, Hellfire3k, Renegade)
Talesin - 2 (Snidely, Cold NiTe)
im lost - 2 (Talesin, Mantrid) Some tall guy
Sky - 1 (BadKarma)
Cold NiTe - 1 (Swiftspear)
Hellfire3k - 1 (im lost)
People that still need to vote:
TheMuffinMan
brute force
Some tall guy (tried to vote, but failed to use bold tags, when he does it should be another vote against me)
Current votes:
Some tall guy - 4.1 (Nemesis Zero, Pulse, Sky, Renegade)
Talesin - 2 (Snidely, Cold NiTe)
im lost - 3 (Talesin, Mantrid, Some tall guy)
Sky - 1 (BadKarma)
Hellfire3k - 1 (im lost)
Cold NiTe - 1 (Swiftspear)
brute force - 1 (Hellfire3k)
(This is why I originally didn't even include the day or night in the topic. It always gets screwed up or forgotten. And who uses it anyway?)
I'm around. I didn't post anything yesterday because I didn't really have anything to say. I need to vote for someone though, but I don't have any suspects, so I'm going to vote for <b>Renegade</b>. 1: there are no votes for him so there's a very small chance of him getting lynched and 2: why vote for STG with the reason of him being inactive when he's already posted?
I agree, and will also vote for <b>some tall guy</b>. If anything comes up i will obviously change my vote, but i would much rather vote off someone who is hardly active at all over the more active players. Just to be fair, if nothing else.
Also, sorry about being less active lately. I go to bed as most of you guys start getting on irc, and i am out from 8 in the morning to half 4. This means that i am inactive for around 16 hours at a time.
Some tall guy - 5.1 (Nemesis Zero, Pulse, Sky, Renegade, TheMuffinMan)
Talesin - 2 (Snidely- Cold NiTe)
im lost - 3 (Talesin, Mantrid, Some tall guy)
Sky - 1 (BadKarma)
Hellfire3k - (im lost)
Cold NiTe - 1 (Swiftspear)
brute force - 1 (Hellfire3k)
Renegade - 1 (brute force)
"So here we are again. That ship is right outside, but this time around NEITHER of our drives are operable, so we're stuck with it. Furthermore, unless it's on autopilot, it's still manned. If it's armed, having part of its crew aboard is probably the only thing saving our lives right now." <b>Pulse</b> summed up. "The thought of having been aboard it makes me shiver. We were in acute danger and didn't even think about it."
<b>Renegade,</b> <b>TheMuffinMan,</b> <b>Pulse,</b> <b>Sky,</b> <b>Some tall guy,</b> <b>Swiftspear,</b> <b>Nemesis Zero,</b> <b>Snidely</b> and <b>BadKarma</b> were assembled on the bridge. They had cleaned up the captain's chair and placed SaltzBad's corpse in cold storage, and now stood gloomily watching the alien spaceship on the main screen.
From his console, <b>BadKarma</b> spoke up: "Actually, the only thing saving our lives right now is our thick hull. I don't know if it counts as a weapon, but the ship is trying its best to fatally irradiate us. It's so much that my sensors are getting inaccurate. Notice the static on the display? Heavy radiation. We're good for now, but if we're stuck here for a few months, we'll start getting radiation sick."
"I'm not planning on staying here for that long. Are you making <i>any</i> progress on <i>any</i> of our drives, <b>Swiftspear?</b>" said <b>Sky.</b>
"The FTL drive is up and running, mysteriously, but it would be hazardous to activate it without a working sublight drive. We're still stuck."
"Right. I'm tired of this. Let's get that drive repaired on the double and get away from here. <i>Then</i> we can worry about our infiltrators. I just hope our FTL drive can outrun theirs.
<b>Swiftspear,</b> you haven't shown us any results yet. It's obvious that you need help. <b>Pulse,</b> <b>Renegade,</b> <b>Some tall guy</b> - you're coming with us. Let's get that drive repaired, even if we have to swap out all the parts we have spares for."
<b>im lost</b> bumped his head on a low-hanging pipe and swore. "Why did you have to pick <i>this</i> place, of all the available spots?"
He and <b>Hellfire3k</b> and <b>Mantrid</b> had taken up one of the more spacious but obscure access tunnels. Hundreds of these tunnels ran throughout the ship, providing access to otherwise unreachable systems. They were rarely used, but small robotic drones roamed them, keeping them relatively clean. This particular tunnel led to the maintenance panel for the orbital platform connector bridge, the extendable tunnel used for docking at smaller supply stations. In flight, the chance of somebody coming here was almost nil. They small chamber at the end of it only had one entrance, which made it easily defendable, and this was why <b>Mantrid</b> had picked it days ago for their hideout.
"What I've been meaning to ask you, <b>Mantrid,</b> is what you meant when you said that this place is 'easily defendable.' What exactly do we have to defend ourselves <i>with?"</i>
"Why don't you ask <b>Hellfire3k</b> about that?" said <b>Mantrid</b> and glanced knowingly at the bag beside <b>Hellfire3k.</b> In response, he zipped it open and pulled out an automatic rifle and a pistol. <b>im lost</b> gaped.
"Where'd you get those?"
"Certainly not from <b>brute force,"</b> replied <b>Hellfire3k</b> with irritation in his voice. "He's prancing about with a gun under his jacket and expects us to feel reassured by it or something. Well, I wanted a piece for myself, but I found that he had sabotaged the keypad to the weapons lockup. Well, not so much sabotaged it as crudely smashed it. I'm not even sure I would have gotten in there without triggering a shipwide alert. I could see through the little window in the door that he had removed two pistols and a rifle, so I knew he had to have weapons hidden somewhere. But <b>brute force</b> is an amateur when it comes to hiding things, and I found these hidden nearby. I brought food too, by the way."
Hellfire3k dug some dry rations and bottles of water and juice out of his bag as well.
"Too bad you couldn't bring a toilet as well. Crawling through an access tunnel for five minutes every time I have to take a leak isn't my definition of a picnic."
"<b>Some tall guy,</b> could you check the actuator on the FTL drive core? It could be sending feedback to the sublight drive's accelerator disks." <b>Some tall guy</b> complied with <b>Renegade's</b> request and popped open the hatch to the access shaft running underneath the core. He grabbed an overhead handlebar and pulled, sending him sliding down the shaft on the padded rolls embedded in the floor. He checked the actuator, found it to be working perfectly and slid up the shaft again. But when he reached the hatch, he found it locked.
"Guys? Quit fooling around. Unlock that hatch."
<b>Swiftspear</b> was heading for the hatch when a klaxxon sounded and a synthesised female voice announced: "Core shield failure imminent." When he looked to the main console, he saw <b>Renegade</b> standing there.
"NO! You'll kill him!" <b>Swiftspear</b> yelled as he lunged for <b>Renegade,</b> but <b>Sky</b> and <b>Pulse</b> were on him in an instant, pinning him to the floor and his arms behind his back. He struggled, but had no chance of breaking free.
"It has to be done," said <b>Sky.</b>
<b>Swiftspear</b> closed his eyes, but with his arms behind his back he could not block out <span style='color:red'><b>Some tall guy's</b></span> screams as he was fried alive by the gamma radiation venting from the unshielded core.
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Players still left in the game:
<b>Renegade</b>
<b>Talesin</b>
<b>TheMuffinMan</b>
<b>Pulse</b>
<b>Sky</b>
<b>brute force</b>
<b>Swiftspear</b>
<b>im lost</b>
<b>Nemesis Zero</b>
<b>Hellfire3k</b>
<b>Snidely</b>
<b>Cold NiTe</b>
<b>Mantrid</b>
<b>BadKarma</b>
I will need PMs from the <span style='color:blue'><b>guardian</b></span> (if alive), <span style='color:blue'><b>seer</b></span> (if alive) and any remaining <span style='color:red'><b>formtakers</b></span> before we advance to day three.
Day three wil begin on <b>saturday, the 9th of April, 20:00 GMT.</b>
<i>Freya's</i> gravity normally remained at a steady 0.8G, but with half the coils offline during <b>TheMuffinMan</b> and <b>Hellfire3k's</b> repairs to the gravitational core, it was down to 0.4. He regarded it as terribly unprofessional, but <b>brute force</b> couldn't help but doing small jumps from time to time as he walked the corridors of the ship, enjoying the unusual lightness of his body. It cheered him up a little, something that he needed badly after having discovered that his weapons cache had been stolen. He decided to swing by the gravitational core to see how the repairs were proceeding and perhaps offering his assistance.
<b>Hellfire3k</b> and <b>TheMuffinMan</b> had uncovered part of the core, with most of the parts being strewn around various tables as well as littering the floor. <b>brute force</b> took great care not to step on anything as he made his way over to the exposed core and peered in. What he saw did not fill him with confidence. Small burn marks all over the inside meant that <b>TheMuffinMan</b> and <b>Hellfire3k</b> had probably already removed and discarded several damaged components. <b>brute force</b> frowned. <b>Hellfire3k</b> regarded him coldly.
"Think you can do it better or what?"
"I didn't say anything," replied <b>brute force.</b>
"No, but you thought it. Are you here to help us, or are you just gonna wave your gun in our faces?"
"I carry this weapon to protect this ship. That includes <i>you,</i> <b>Hellfire3k</b> - that is, if you actually <i>are</i> <b>Hellfire3k."</b>
"So now you suspect me of being one of those formtakers, is that it? What, are you going to shoot me? Right here and now?"
<b>TheMuffinMan</b> stepped inbetween the two. "Shut up, both of you. <b>Hellfire3k,</b> <b>brute force</b> is doing his job. <b>brute force,</b> if you have any actual evidence to back up your claims against <b>Hellfire3k,</b> I'd really like to hear them."
"Forget about it. I'm not gonna both-- did you feel that?" To an experienced spacefarer like <b>brute force,</b> being able to discern the crossing of the threshold between sublight and FTL speed was not unusual. <b>Hellfire3k</b> and <b>TheMuffinMan</b> simply nodded, and they headed for the bridge without another word.
Visual sensors were of no use during FTL travel, so the main screen on the bridge displayed a live video feed of the machine room. <b>BadKarma</b> was manning his sensors as always, with <b>Cold NiTe</b> at the helm trying to get the controls to respond. <b>Talesin</b> was sitting at the secondary helm console, assisting <b>Cold NiTe</b> as much as he could. On the screen, <b>Renegade,</b> <b>Pulse,</b> <b>Sky,</b> <b>Swiftspear</b> and <b>Snidely</b> could be seen running back and forth between various terminals and the FTL drive core. <b>Nemesis Zero</b> was standing in front of the screen, exchanging theories and procedures with the machine room crew, trying to find out why the FTL drive was not responding to commands.
<b>BadKarma</b> called out: "The alien ship is following us! We're at 330c, probably as close as we are getting to our top speed with the FTL core in this shape, and it's keeping up with us! I guess that answer the question of whether we can outr--"
He was interrupted by <b>Nemesis Zero</b> yelling: "Just pull the plug on that damn thing! I don't care if half the core melts to a twisted heap or something, it's better than going who knows where at breakneck speed!"
In the machine room, <b>Snidely</b> reacted immediately: "I'm on it!"
But he hadn't taken two steps when Swiftspear yelled: "<i>NO!</i> Half of the failsafes are still offline! If we yank the power to the drive now, we could drop out of FTL completely uncontrolled! The ship would be pulverised! We would be strewn across several terametres at these speeds!"
"Then what can we do about it?!" yelled <b>Pulse.</b>
"Nothing except trying to regain control over the software! If we can get locked out by the software, we can also get back in, if just we know how! Keep trying! <b>Renegade,</b> what's the situation?"
<b>Renegade</b> was again manning the center console, working the controls with almost animal ferocity.
"I got it!" he yelled, almost slamming his hand down on the console as he input the last sequence. Several things happened almost at once: <b>Renegade</b> let out a yell of victory as the FTL core went into a fast power down sequence. On the bridge, they lost the video feed to the machine room. And in the machine room, everyone was blinded and deafened by an explosion that rattled the floor plates and threw several of them off their feet. The center console had erupted into a geyser of flame, the shockwave sending <span style='color:red'><b>Renegade</b></span> flying through the cavernous machine room in the low gravity and slamming his mangled form against the opposite wall. With both arms gone at the elbow and third degree burns all over his entire torso and head, he was mercifully unconscious during the final minutes of his life.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Players left in the game:
<b>Talesin</b>
<b>TheMuffinMan</b>
<b>Pulse</b>
<b>Sky</b>
<b>brute force</b>
<b>Swiftspear</b>
<b>im lost</b>
<b>Nemesis Zero</b>
<b>Hellfire3k</b>
<b>Snidely</b>
<b>Cold NiTe</b>
<b>Mantrid</b>
<b>BadKarma</b>
<b>Instalynch is at 7.</b>
Day three will end on <b>monday, the 11th of April, 20:00 GMT.</b>
Sorry that the story is a little on the short side today, but my creative muse is having her period or something. Hope she pulls herself together soon. -_-
Customarily, better luck next time, Rene. At least it's quite obvious why the wolves went after you - while not overly active as of yet, you have plenty of experience that might've hurt them later in the game.
A nod to the guardian, by the way - so far, your job was pure luck, which is why I'm not going to blame you for any death so far, but we're starting to arrive at a point where the net target is relatively forseeable, so I'd appreciate if lol wouldn't have to invent a new source of death <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Unlucky renegade. At least you guessed right <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
I agree with your points 100% nem, but the killing of saltzbad is starting to grate on me. Perhaps he said the wrong thing to a wolf.
Unlucky renegade. At least you guessed right <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
I agree with your points 100% nem, but the killing of saltzbad is starting to grate on me. Perhaps he said the wrong thing to a wolf. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
I could only guess at thier motives, but I think it is erroneous to assume that the wolfs are definately targeting the more experianced players at this point in the game...
Granted it is definately possible that that is thier motivation, but at this point in the game a smart wolf team is generally seer hunting. Did renegade or saltz leak any sort of sensitive information to the wrong source?
Play however you want, I'm just saying I really doubt the assumption that the experianced players are on the chopping block is not going to get us very far.
I'm going to stick to my reasoning for the previous day, but I'm voting for <b>BadKarma</b> instead of Talesin. BK hasn't popped his head in much, maybe this will encourage him to.
I personally think that renegade was nothing more than a simple human, though. He said before he was killed that he was the one who was going to die because he was probably the most experienced. He went on about it for a bit, and i don't reckon that he was joking. If that were the case, he would have probably confided in someone. So, with any luck, he was just a simple human. Knowing our track of luck, however, he confided in the wrong person.
Nem, i know that saltz could well have been a cunning diversion, but why would they bother when there was nothing to cover up? At this moment in time, we have pretty much nothing to go on, so i might as well discuss the possible motives of the wolves.
Re: Rene's status. I'm also quite certain that he was a vanilla human, but he <i>was</i> relatively quiet and reserved, and the statements Muffin just offered could also be taken as subtle requests for help from the guardian. In so far, I wouldn't discard Swift's theory out of hand. Might just be that the wolves are working down a checklist.
I'm not going to cast my vote just yet, but I'd argue that this is the last round we can use on inactive players without of giving the wolves too much air. Maybe it's newbie-ish anxiety, but I feel we ought to begin with a more offensive strategy.