The Werewolf Game V: Aquarium

Soul_Rider · May 2005

GAH i hate sneaky posts Im_lost, i might vote for you just because you ninja'ed my post <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

Soul_Rider · May 2005

and you too TMM, what is with this ninja'ing me!!!

NO MORE STEALTH POSTS WHILE I AM TYPING PLEASE

Soul_Rider · May 2005

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (TheMuffinMan @ May 16 2005, 05:20 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Current votes:

ZeroByte - 2 (Quaunaut, lolfighter)
Snidely - 2 (im lost, ZeroByte)
Quaunaut - 3 (Xentor, Pithlit, PlanetKiller)
Xentor - 2 (Snidely, Soul Rider)  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
Taking this table and what snidely said into account. If quaunaut gets voted off today, then Xentor should follow tomorrow, unless quaunaut is confirmed as a wolf, then snidely would go.

Either way this would be logical, but following this theory, could potentially mean that snidely stays alive for at least 2 more days.

Now he may be human, and if so he has made a bold and wise statement. As he could also be a wolf this would make a great delaying tactic, as he would have a chance of taking down the main human players.

Of course if he has matched up himself with Q, knowing Q to be human, then wwe would lynch off Q followed by Xentor, and possibly leaving the 2 wolves behind.

Althouguh sheer weight of numbers would dictate a human win, the quicker this ends the more people get a sig.

I am thinking to make a move for snidely

If it works, great, if it doesnt, oh well another couple of days before game ends. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

im_lost · May 2005

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Soul Rider @ May 16 2005, 09:22 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> GAH i hate sneaky posts Im_lost, i might vote for you just because you ninja'ed my post <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
Seven minutes went by between my post and yours. I know you're at work, so your posts are being typed slowly, but I didn't ninja anything. Besides, that's what the preview post button is for (checking to see if there are new posts before you make yours).

And you didn't update the vote chart with your new vote.

ZeroByte - 2 (Quaunaut, lolfighter)
Snidely - 3 (im lost, ZeroByte, Soul Rider)
Quaunaut - 3 (Xentor, Pithlit, PlanetKiller)
Xentor - 1 (Snidely)

Instalynch: 6
People that haven't voted: Freak83

Pithlit · May 2005

I´m going to change my vote to Zerobyte, from what i heard from others he is more suspicious than Quanaut

Planetkiller · May 2005

Hate to play follow the leader, but on reflection Zerobyte is more suspicious.

Snidely · May 2005

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Pithlit @ May 16 2005, 01:37 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> I´m going to change my vote to Zerobyte, from what i heard from others he is more suspicious than Quanaut  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
Can you post any evidence? I'm only going on the assumption that Q isn't a wolf, which is based in part on both Sky and BK voting for him. I could be wrong.

Snidely · May 2005

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Soul Rider @ May 16 2005, 11:36 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Now he may be human, and if so he has made a bold and wise statement. As he could also be a wolf this would make a great delaying tactic, as he would have a chance of taking down the main human players.  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
This is true. I could be allied with another suspect. It would probably be Q, though. I had no guarentee that X or Z would be lynched.

I don't see how killing off prominent members of the network would help any, though. It's like shooting fish in a barrel (HA HA HA) at the moment. It's just a matter of time.

TheMuffinMan · May 2005

It is now Night Six! No Posting!

ZeroByte woke up slowly, drifting in and out of consciousness. As he sat up, he noticed a dull ache in his body, but he had no memory of getting in to a fight. He was equally surprised when he found himself quite a long distance away from the castle. He could still make out the more broad details, such as the battlements, but he was too far away for anything more detailed. He picked himself up, painfully, and began to swim towards the castle. He didn’t really know why, it just seemed like the sensible thing to do. Why am I all the way out here? What happened to me? Where is SaltzBad. He had absolutely no idea.

As he drew closer to the castle, he noticed a crumpled heap to his right. He detoured, and as he came closer he discovered that it was actually Freak83. He looked slightly worse off than ZeroByte, but not by much. ZeroByte gave him a shake, and he began to stir. Another minute and he was up and on his feet.
“What…What happened to us?” he asked.
“No idea, I can’t remember anything”,
“Nothing at all? Neither can I”, he gave a weak smile.
“Right. Lets get back to SaltzBad before he manages to escape”, he smiled back.
Both fish staggered towards the castle slowly, an uncaring attitude about them.

As they approached the main window, the two fish slowed down.
“I’ll go in first, if you don’t mind” said Freak83.
Before ZeroByte could object, he shouldered his way into the room. Despite the amount of gruesome scenes he had been witness to in the past few weeks, it took all his energy to not throw up. ZeroByte entered the room after him, and was equally as floored.
Inside, the room was a mess. The once neatly stacked pile of pellets was now strewn all over the floor, many of them crushed and coated in red blood. The far wall was covered by a large, red splatter, blood was still running down the wall in thick droplets. Underneath, a deep pool of blood had formed. A large, slick trail led from the pool to the nearby window. Claw marks were etched into the concrete window pane, there was no sign of SaltzBad.
“Oh God”, ZeroByte said, horrified.
“Don’t just stand there! Let’s go get lolfighter and the rest of them.” When ZeroByte failed to move, Freak83 was on the verge of screaming. “Come one, let’s get out of here. Whatever got SaltzBad, it is probably still out here.”
The two fish exited the room quickly, and Freak83 sped off into the distance. ZeroByte took one last glance at the scene, his mouth forming into a slight smile. He turned to follow Freak83.

“Wait. Slow down. Tell me again, what happened?” asked lolfighter. He had been ambushed by an ecstatic Freak83, who had started shouting about a mystery fish, SaltzBad, the castle, an attack and lots of blood.
“No time to explain. Just get everyone else and go to the castle.”
“Why?”
“Something… something terrible has happened.”
“SaltzBad?”
Freak83 nodded gravely.
“God damn it! As if we don’t have enough on our hands already!”
After his outburst, lolfighter swam away to get the rest of the fish.

The fish arrived at the castle in one large group, led by an angry lolfighter.
“Whatever this is, it better be important”, he said to Freak83.
“Don’t worry, it is. Especially considering what at least one of us actually is”
lolfighter entered the room, followed by Snidely and im lost. All three of them were floored by the sheer chaos in the room. As they came out, im lost threw up violently, while both lolfighter and Snidely looked sick in the face. Before they had a chance to issue a warning, the rest of the fish spilled into the room to get a look at the scene. They came out with similar results.
“Well, I guess we can safely say that we still have a problem with those things”, Quaunaut observed.
“Just a little bit cold, Quaunaut?” asked Xentor.
“No, just a realist.”
“What I want to know”, lolfighter said quietly, “is where the hell you two where when this was going on! By the look of it, this definitely was not a quiet attack. How could you have not noticed?”
Freak83 could not face lolfighter in the eye, so instead bowed his head and spoke with shame.
“I… I have no idea what happened.”
“What?”
“Both of us woke up a ways over there”, he pointed to his right, “And when we managed to get back to the castle… Well, we found this and here we are.”
“You can’t remember anything at all?”
“Nothing, nothing at all.”
“Right…”
“As far as I see it, at least one of you is guilty”, reasoned PlanetKiller. “How the hell could anything have overpowered both of you, and SaltzBad. Even Isamil would have found that difficult.”
“What the hell?” shouted ZeroByte. “I don’t care what you say, I did not do anything!”
“Yeah, I have to agree with him there”, said Quaunaut.
“Those things tried to frame SaltzBad. When they figured out that we were not going to kill SaltzBad without letting him explain, they, or it, silenced him before he could tell us who had attacked them.” He said.
“So, what you are saying, is that ZeroByte and Freak83 are being framed?” asked Pithlit.
“I don’t know. Maybe they are, maybe they are not. Whatever it is, it would be foolish to suspect them any more than anyone else.”
“Yeah, I can see your point”, Snidely agreed. “Lets not make any more assumptions until we have more to go on than wild guesses.”
“Right”,
“But, I think we can all agree, that at least one of those things is here, with us. If all of you were… things, then you would have killed me by now. That means that most of you are who you say you are. We stand a good chance of survival here, so lets not go on a witch hunt”, said Quaunaut.
“So, that only leaves one more question”, Soul Rider said.
“Aye. Which one of us is a thing?”
Each of them shared a look with the others, except for Zerobyte. Although no one saw him, he started to back away from the rest of the fish. He was babbling to himself as he swam backwards, trying desperately to get away from it all.
“Look guys… I just… I just can’t take it anymore!” he shouted, drawing the attention of the other fish.
“Those… those things, whatever they are. They aren’t going to get me! I can make sure of that!” he screamed hysterically.
“Look mate, just calm down”, said lolfighter, his voice as reassuring as he could make it. “We all feel the same way. Just come over here and talk to us. The only way we are going to get through this mess is if we stick together”. lolfighter thought that he sounded quite convincing, but ZeroByte was having none of it. He turned around and bolted. lolfighter gave chase.

ZeroByte ran and ran. All he wanted to do was get away from it all. He was sick of the fish, sick of those things and most of all, he was sick of this damned tank. He was going to end it one way or another, whatever it took! lolfighter was catching up quickly, though. Too quickly…

ZeroByte felt a sigh of relief as he heard the familiar spin of the filter rotors. If there was one way to finish it all, that would be it. lolfighter was nearly on top of him now. He could feel his tentacles snapping at his tailfin, missing by half an inch or so. Suddenly, ZeroByte stopped just in front of the motor, turning to face lolfighter with a daring look in his eyes.
“Don’t come any closer!” he shouted.

“Look, ZeroByte, you really do not want to do this.”
“Like hell I don’t! Just back the hell off!”
“Just calm down. As I said before, we all feel the same way about this.”
“My arse you do! Just back off and leave me alone!”
lolfighter did pretty much the opposite, and took a step forward.
“Just step away from the motor”, he said, “we can all sort this out, just step away and in to safety.”
“Hah!” he laughed. “You’re just saying that so you can get me!”
“No, no I’m not”,
“Yes you are! You’re one of them, aren’t you?”
“What?”
“One of those things! It was you who killed Saltzbad and Omegaman and the rest of them! Well, you won’t get me!” he cried alarmingly.
“Look, I am normal fish. Just like you? Alright?” He took another step forward.
“I’m warning you, you won’t get me! Just back off and leave me alone!”
“You know what? Fine. I’ll back off.” lolfighter made to step backwards, but twisted and shot a tentacle out to grab ZeroByte. He nearly made it, coming within a quarter of an inch of his tailfin. ZeroByte, on instinct, recoiled. Unfortunately, he recoiled backwards, directly in to the intake of the fan. He tried as hard as he could to fight the current, but it was no use. ZeroByte managed to let out one last gut-wrenching scream before he was sucked into churning motor.

---

Players left in the game:

lolfighter
im lost
Pithlit
Xentor
Planetkiller
Quaunaut
Freak83
Soul Rider
Snidely


Night six will end at 20:00 GMT on Tuesday 17th May

TheMuffinMan · May 2005

It is now day six! Post away!

lolfighter now had a decision to make, a decision that could well decide his future in the tank. Should he go back to the others and explain what happened, or run? If I went back, they definitely won’t trust me. Not after what happened to Sky. If I go on the run, they will definitely suspect me. He thought it over. At least I would be safe for a while if I ran. I could take any of them on in a straight fight, so I might as well…. He sneezed as a fine black mist blew in to his face. With one final look over his shoulder, he swam away to the far off weeds, and hopefully, safety.

“So”, said Quaunaut slowly, “who is going to go after them?”
“How about im lost?” said Xentor.
“No way, no way at all. One of those things could be out there!”
“One of those things could be here as well”, Snidely pointed out.
“Yeah. Well, safety in numbers, right?”
“I suppose so”
“Anyway, is anyone up for going after them?
“I’ll go”, whispered Soul Rider.
“None of you? You bloody cowards” taunted Quaunaut.
“I’ll go”, said Soul Rider, slightly louder than before.
“No one at all?” asked Pithlit
“I’ll go!” Soul Rider shouted.
“Finally, at least one of us still has some balls,” PlanetKiller joked.
“Guys”, said Soul Rider in a worried voice, “If I’m not back in ten minutes, could one of you cowards come looking for me?”
“Sure, no problem”, responded Freak83.
With that, Soul Rider sped away, trying to follow the same trail that ZeroByte had used.

Ten minutes passed.

“Damn it! I wonder where he is!”
“You think something happened to him?” asked a worried Xentor.
“Knowing him, probably.”
“So, are we going to go after him?”
Quaunaut glanced in to the castle room, which was still covered in thick, red blood.
“Let’s wait a couple more minutes”, he said.

Soul Rider’s mind was racing. What the hell happened? Where is lolfighter? What should I do now?. He was about to turn back around, when something caught his attention. Or, to be more precise, the lack of something.
It was pretty obvious how ZeroByte had died, so the motor was definitely working. Why, then, was it completely silent in the tank? Where was the dull, never ending whine of the engine? Soul Rider took another look at the blood-soaked fan, but saw nothing. Was it worth a closer inspection? What if the fan started working again while he was close? What if it didn’t? He had no idea what to do. Ah, screw it. You only live once. He swam towards the motor.

As he drew nearer, he noticed that something was trapped in the blades, stopping them from rotating. He leant forward, getting a closer look. It was small and a deep purple, although most of it was covered in a fine black powder, which seemed to bubble in several areas. The shape looked vaguely like frog spawn, which Soul Rider had seen many times before he had been captured and brought to the tank. From within each spore, there seemed to be a faint glowing. No, not glowing. Pulsating. He corrected himself. Each spore was tiny, and the entire thing, whatever it was, was only half an inch wide or so. He gave it a cautious prod – Nothing happened. He gave it a firmer prod – What happened next made him jump out of his skin. It suddenly spat out a cloud of black particles, all over Soul Rider. It got in to his eyes and under his skin. In panic, he turned and ran, unable to see. He took what he assumed was the correct path to the rest of the fish.

“So, shall we go and get him now?” asked Snidely
“Yeah, that would probably be a good idea”,
“So, who is going to go?”
“I have an idea”, said Quaunaut, “Why don’t we all go to find him? As Soul Rider said, there is safety in numbers.”
“Good idea”, smiled Snidely.
He glanced towards the castle and its single, small room.
“Come on, let’s go”, he said reluctantly.
The group of fish slowly swam off towards the tank’s filter, following the same path that Soul Rider had swam, just ten minutes before.

At first, he had gotten sharp, stabbing pains through his eyes. Now, they felt as if they were burning. He kept his eyes closed, and saw bright lights swirling and spilling around. They formed shape after shape, most of them unrecognizable. He thought, for a brief second, that he could just make out two dim, glowing red lights in front of him, spaced roughly apart at eye level. A second later, they were gone. His body felt exactly the same, and he squirmed as he swam. He tried to scream, but his throat burned even more so than his flank, and he was forced to keep his mouth shut. He swam on, oblivious to what was in front of him.

“What was that?” asked Xentor.
“What was what?”
“I don’t know. It sounded like a scream, but it was kind of cut off half way through.”
“Really? You sure?”
“It’s probably just my imagination. Either way, it came from over there”, he pointed directly in front of them.
“Hang on guys, do you see that?” asked im lost
“Where?”
“In front of us”
“Oh yeah, I can see it now”, said Snidely. “What is it?”
“Not a clue. Whatever it is, it’s coming towards us pretty damned fast”, observed Quaunaut.
“Wait. Is that Soul Rider?”
“Oh God…”

He had to risk opening his eyes. If only for an instant, he had to know where he was going. He braced himself, and opened his eyelids. The pain in his eyes intensified, but for an instant he could see. He saw weeds to his right and the castle far away to his left. Directly ahead, he saw… Xentor? Was it really him? Whether it was or not, he reasoned that the best chance of survival was to get to him. He kept his course steady and put on a boost of speed, despite the terrible pain in his tailfin.

“Guys, watch it! He is coming right at us!”
“Oh crap, split!”
The fish broke up and exploded away in different directions, all except for Xentor. Instead, he stood perfectly still, watching Soul Rider come blazing down towards him. He took the charge full in the front, and both fish toppled over. Soul Rider began to scream.
“Please… please help me!” he said in agony.
Xentor was lost for words.
“Oh God! Help me! I can… feel it!”
“What?”
“Inside of me! Get it out!” he screamed.
Xentor pushed him away, and scrambled backwards. Somehow, Soul Rider managed to keep upright. He started forwards again.
“Just… just get it out! I can... can see it!”
He started to slow down, his screams becoming less frantic.
“I can see them! So… so dark… so red… so… empty”,
He started convulsing, and with a final burst of energy launched himself towards Xentor. He grabbed him with both fins, and held on tightly.
“Please… please… get them out!” he begged.
His convulsions strengthened, and he began to loose his grip on Xentor. A second or two later, he completely lost his grip and fell backwards slowly, towards the tank floor. Soul Rider managed to scream once more before he fell to his gruesome death.
“Help me!

---
Players left in the game:

lolfighter
im lost
Pithlit
Xentor
Planetkiller
Quaunaut
Freak83
Snidely

Instalynch is at 5

Day six will end at 20:00 GMT on Thursday 19th May

im_lost · May 2005

ZeroByte was definitely a wolf, as confirmed by our psychic. Based on yesterday's events, I will now vote for Xentor. Strange how the first random vote of the game was for you, and now you will be the last wolf to die.

Snidely · May 2005

Xentor.

Planetkiller · May 2005

Xentor

Bye bye now.

lolfighter · May 2005

Quaunaut. If Xentor isn't our wolf, I'm next for this. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' />

Byeka · May 2005

Let's put it this way.

By this point there is only two people who have not been Seer'd. Xentor and Quaunaut.

One of them is a wolf, the other is not. Quaunaut practically begged me to get the Seer to look at him last night. For whatever reasons the Seer chose it didn't happen. Either Xentor dies today and the game ends, or we go on to another night/day and kill Quaunaut tomorrow.

im_lost · May 2005

Xentor - 4 (im lost, Snidely, Planetkiller, Freak83)
Quaunaut - 1 (lolfighter)

Instalynch is at 5.

Players that haven't voted yet: Xentor, Quaunaut, Pithlit

Xentor · May 2005

Ouch... Four votes before I even get home from work...

Well, no sense prolonging this any further. If I don't die today, I'll die tomorrow. Either way, I won't live long enough to get six more of you.

So I claim the honor of first vote and last vote. Xentor

See you all in the postgame, which should be coming along fairly soon.

Farewell, farewell, farewell. Remember me.

Quaunaut · May 2005

Told you guys I wasn't a wolf. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

Xentor.

Snidely · May 2005

Er, Q, it's over. Instalynch. We've already hung him. You get to prod the corpse with a stick, that's all.

<img src='http://forums.relicnews.com/images/smiley/guitarist.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Quaunaut · May 2005

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Snidely @ May 17 2005, 04:07 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Er, Q, it's over. Instalynch. We've already hung him. You get to prod the corpse with a stick, that's all.

<img src='http://forums.relicnews.com/images/smiley/guitarist.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image' />  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
NO I DO NOT PROD I DRINK GASOLINE THEN PEE AND SET MY PEE ON FIRE

BWAHAHAH.

err...sorry.

Sky · May 2005

Wouldn't the fire go up into your....meh, nevermind.

Snidely · May 2005

Maybe he sets it on fire once he's finished up. I mean, it would be a bit awkward otherwise, weenie-igniting hilarity aside.

lolfighter · May 2005

I'd pay to see it.

Pithlit · May 2005

I want to make him suffer, too ^^
/me chews on Xentors fins

Xentor · May 2005

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Pithlit @ May 18 2005, 06:04 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> I want to make him suffer, too ^^
/me chews on Xentors fins  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
Cannibal <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

Pithlit · May 2005

kiss my scaly fishy **** <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' />

TheMuffinMan · May 2005

Instalynch!

lolfighter had been sitting in the weeds, thinking. How many of those things are still alive? What are they? How did they get here?. He had decided, beyond all doubt, that there must have only been one or two of them left in the tank. Surely, Sky was one, and BadKarma had seemed awfully suspicious, now that he thought about it. He remembered the day when the new fish entered the tank, and it seemed pretty likely that it had set this whole thing off. What it was? He had no idea. Hang on a minute. What if it is ---
Was that a scream?
Oh God, it’s all kicked off now.
Screw sitting here. They need me!

Xentor panted heavily, trying to get his breath back. He felt surprisingly good, considering that he had just effectively killed one of his friends. He looked from fish to fish, trying to gauge their reactions. Did they all see Soul Rider attack me? Are any of them suspicious. He thought it over in his head. No, probably not,/i] he told himself. [i]Oh well, only six of them left. Can you do it? Sure you can…

Quaunaut stared at the corpse of Soul Rider, pieces of the puzzle falling in to place inside his head. Something enters the tank. It takes over fish. Other fish die. Where did Soul Rider fit in to all of this? Perhaps it tried to take him over. He resisted, and it killed him. It seemed like a good idea, but he had one more nagging question. Who, here, is not who they say they are?.

The fish held this uneasy silence for another minute or two, each thinking the same thing. What just happened? What are we going to do now? Quaunaut looked towards Snidely. Snidely looked back. They inched towards each other, and Quaunaut whispered in to Snidely’s ear:
“Any idea what just happened?” Quaunaut asked.
“I can make a pretty good guess”, he answered. “Whatever it is that infected that fish, along with Sky. It got Soul Rider as well.”
“Yeah, I figured out that much. Why did he rush for Xentor?”
“To be honest, I have no idea. Whatever the reason, keep a close watch on him. A really close watch…”

Just then, lolfighter broke through the weeds and joined them. He looked wild and unkempt, almost as if he had let himself go. Physically, he looked just as fit and healthy as ever, although He looked wildly from one fish to the next, his eyes darting quickly, shifting focus every second or so. He glanced at the crumpled body of Soul Rider, he then glanced at Xentor, who was standing alone in the clearing, panting. He gave him a long, hard look and swam towards the rest of the fish.
“What the hell happened here?”
“Funny, we were about to ask you the same question.”
lolfighter began to explain, careful to keep his eyes firmly on Xentor as he spoke.

“So, ZeroByte snapped and committed suicide?”
“Yes, yes he did”, answered lolfighter. “And what happened here?”
Pithlit explained, in great detail. The look on lolfighter’s face made him smile inwardly, for some sadistic reason.
“Christ, what a bloody day!” he finally said. “Now, we just have one more problem to solve.”
“Indeed. Who the hell did that thing manage to get to before it got Soul Rider?” said PlanetKiller.
“Well, I suppose jumping down each others throats won’t accomplish anything.”
“Yeah, too true. Look what happened to Sky”
“And Kerotan”, Xentor reminded him.
“Yeah, I suppose so.”
“And ZeroByte”, he continued.
“Again, I suppose so.”
“And what about BadKarma?”
“Yeah, we get the point.”
Xentor gave them one of his little sadistic smiles. He swam towards the group, which had now formed a rough circle. lolfighter blocked him with his tentacle.
“Considering what we have gone through in the past two weeks. Bearing in mind the fact that we should not be jumping down each others throats, remembering the examples that you so honourably pointed out, I have one thing to say to you.”
“Oh, what’s that?” asked Xentor.
“Stay the hell away from us. You were the last person to be in contact with one of those things, so consider it your lucky day that you are still alive. As Sky only knew too well, my patience is starting to wear a little thin…”
Crap, thought Xentor. Make that seven of them left.

“Well said, lolfighter” im lost said. “Perhaps a little undiplomatic, but it got the point across.”
Xentor started to slide back in to the weeds, but Snidely saw him.
“No, you stay right here. Listen to what we have to say. It could well save your life.”

“Right, can we all agree that only one of us is a thing?” asked Quaunaut.
“Yeah, I reckon we can.”
“Next, what are we up against?”
“Well, lolfighter is the man to ask, I suppose” said Freak83.
“Fair enough, I’ll tell you what I know. This thing, is able to mimic us down to the finest detail. The only reason I distrusted Sky was because of his actions. He still looked like Sky, but he didn’t act like him.”
“Whatever this thing is, it is smart. It is strong, it is fast and it is deadly. We can’t give it a chance to infect another one of us, so we need to finish it either today or tomorrow”, he finished.
“Well, taking into consideration how late it is and how tired all of us are, I suggest that we set up camp here and continue this discussion in the morning.” PlanetKiller said.
“Yeah, I can agree to that”, said im lost, stifling a yawn.
“Right, let’s try and bunker down around the castle then”, ordered lolfighter. “I want two people awake at any one time.” He pointed towards the fish.
“Freak83, you and Snidely will have first watch. Any problems with that?”
“None at all. As you know, both of us are just normal fish.”
“Yeah, I hope so. For everyone’s sake.”
With that, lolfighter rolled over and closed his eyes. He dreamt of a better life, free from horrible, infestations and things.

An hour later…

“lolfighter sounded pretty convincing, wouldn’t you say?” asked Snidely.
“Yeah, he is starting to make some sense.”
“With any luck, this time tomorrow and it will all be sorted out.”
“Yeah. No more night watches, no more paranoia. No more things.”
“Aye, with any luck…”
“Well, lolfighter reckons he has his man, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, he made it pretty obvious in his little speech.”
Snidely happened to glance to his right, and he saw something, or rather the lack of something, that startled him.
“Speaking of the devil, where the hell is he?”
To his right, spaced between a bunch of rocks and the castle wall, was a Xentor shaped gap. He swung his head right, he swung his head left. He saw nothing.
“Hey, where are you?” he heard from somewhere to his right. It sounded like Freak83. Whoever he was, he was panicking.
“Hey, where the hell are you?”
Snidely desperately swam to his right, trying to find his friend. It was no use, the tank was completely swamped in darkness. He heard the voice once more, from somewhere behind him.
“Hey, I’m not joking anymore! Where the hell are yo – Glaaaarghblarrrhhhg… Arghhhh!”
Oh dear, thought Snidely.
He whirred around, trying to pin point where the scream had come from. In his haste, he failed to notice the two large red eyes behind him. He heard the manic laugh, however. Unfortunately, by then it was too late.
Chomp.

Quaunaut woke up slowly. He felt drowsy and light headed, almost empty. For a moment he lay there, trying to bring his mind in to action. Where am I? he pondered the question for a moment. Ah, the tank. Of course, pretty easy, I suppose. Now, where are the other fish? He tried to turn his head, and was surprised when he felt that he could not. He tried to turn his head the other way – no luck. He tried to move his fins, and felt the same peculiar sensation. It didn’t feel like he was bound, more like he was literally unable to move a muscle. His mind started to race. What the hell is happening? Why can’t I move?. It was then that he noticed the merry laugh. Not a merry, Christmassy laugh, however. More like a sinister, “I win and you lose” kind of laugh. He started to panic.

lolfighter was in pretty much the same situation. Why couldn’t he move? Where the hell was that laughing coming from? Suddenly, an answer to his second question swam over him, and turned to face lolfighter.
It was large. Very, very large. It even managed to dwarf lolfighter, which was quite the achievement. It was still fairly dark, and lolfighter could only make out the more general details. Whatever it was, it was also pretty muscular. It had several rows of gleaming, white teeth. It had two, slanted eyes that glowed red in the darkness.

lolfighter tried to speak, but the words caught in his throat. He tried again, much to the same effect. He then did just about the only thing that he could still do – He gave the fish a look. The look said, “What the hell are you?”
The fish gave lolfighter a look back. His look said, “It doesn’t matter. I’m going to eat you anyway…”
lolfighter began to panic.

The fish began to speak. Slowly, at first. Soon, it began to speak with more confidence. Finally, he took a step towards lolfighter.
“So”, it explained, “I bet you are pretty angry right now. I’m pretty lucky that you can’t move, I suppose.”
lolfighter’s retort caught in his throat, but he had more pressing issues on his mind. The fish definitely had an accent, but he could not quite pick it up. Was it… scouse?
“Well, ever since I entered this tank in that fish, I have been looking for a new fish to become… friendly with.” He laughed, evilly.
lolfighter tried to lash out at him, but could not. He tried again and again, straining against the seemingly invisible barrier. It held.
“Look, see how futile this is?” the fish asked.
“You are defeated lolfighter, no need to hide it from yourself.”
lolfighter glanced to his right, and then his left. Where were the others?
“You wonder about the rest of the fish? They are still alive. A few might be a bit battered and bruised, but they are still alive.”
Good. At least that is something.
“Not for long though, I could kill them at a whim. In fact, I think I will. Once I am done with you of course.” He laughed again.
“This won’t hurt a bit.” He said sinisterly as he brought his face down, stopping just over lolfighter’s face. From this close, he could smell the stench of flesh. He couldn’t quite pin it down, but it smelt rotten. He saw row upon row of curved, white teeth. From this close, the fish looked much like a piranha. Just then, lolfighter noticed something. That something was just about the most important thing he had ever noticed. Through the glass side of the tank, he could see clearly that the exterior lights had been turned on. It made little difference to the light levels inside the tank, but at least someone was waking up.

“I’m going to enjoy this, I think”, the fish said. He laughed once again, and shook his head. lolfighter flinched, although his eyes stayed fixed. He was looking above the fish, above the water and above the tank. Above the smooth surface of the water, a hand was outstretched.

“Goodbye, lolfighter. It was nice knowing you”.
The fish lunged.
The hand splashed in to the water.
lolfighter closed his eyes, unable to look at the fish any more. This was it. After years upon years of life, of fights, of fish and aquariums, this was it. He waited for the fatal bite to come.
He waited…
And waited…
The fatal bite never came.
He opened his eyes, and what he saw made him the happiest octopus in the whole wide world. The fish was barely half an inch from him, but separating them both were thick, white, human fingers. The hand pulled back, taking the fish with it. lolfighter clearly heard the aquarium owner say, “Right, that’s it! Back to the River Mersey with you!” before he walked away and out of sight.

And the fish lived happily ever after.

---

Just incase it is not obvious enough,

The fish win!

Unlucky wolves, you came really close to winning. If only saltzbad had not been saved, this game could well have swung in your favour. Good game everyone.

I'll have the postgame thread up in a bit.

The Werewolf Game V: Aquarium

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