Oswald ushers you all to the stasis area, which it worryingly describes as “human storage.” Each stasis pod has a long door on the side, sort of like a sideways closet.
“I can sense worry,” says Oswald. “Do not be worried. I am sensing more worry. What did I just say.”
You reluctantly climb in. The pods smell like mint inside. On the top, just above the pillow, is a small screen. Once everyone is in, the screens come on simultaneously.
“Good job, team,” says the little picture of Walter Hovnatanian III. “If you’re watching this, it means you’re all set to enter cryosleep. I won’t keep you. Sleep tight!”
The picture flickers out.
“Cryosleep is unproven for durations greater than 30 months,” says Oswald. “You will be periodically reawakened for assessment throughout the journey. The first awakening will take place as we pass Mars. Anyone wishing to disembark to the colonies there will be allowed to do so, but will forfeit their mission payment. Be seeing you.”
White gas fills your pods. You fall asleep with terrifying speed.
Some of you fall asleep. Others had the foresight to hold their breath. As the smoke fades, Black Phillip reaches over and taps his door with a hoof. After a couple good knocks, it pops open, and he steps out, taking a deep breath.
“We have entered
the blackest night,” he says to himself, and floats over to the stasis pod containing MacCrocodile.
The lights momentarily flicker, and when they come back, Mac has been reduced to nothing more than a skeleton.
MacCrocodile (MacCrocodile) has been MacCrocodile’d. He was a SPACEJACKER. Now he will never live to see the Sirens of Titan.
“I love being evil,” says Black Phillip.
“What a coincidence!” says a voice directly behind him. Black Phillip spins around, too late in discovering that Mac had friends.
Black Phillip (Goat) has died. He was the IADOLANTHEAN ADVANCE SCOUT (??? – SK), a being not of our world.
In the weightlessness of space, the goat-man’s body rotates slowly. Something that’s not quite blood oozes from a dozen slashes made with ship tools. Some of the cuts go deep enough to reveal an unsettling physiology beneath the fur, a dark honeycomb of cells that blacken in the air.
“It bleeds,” says one of the humans, staring. “We killed it.”
The goat chuckles, a gross, liquid sound. “We have other ways of reaching you.”
(Important game shit, please read: Because we’ve lost the serial killer on Night 1, a new serial killer will be appointed from the vanilla town population later in the game. This is to keep the pace of the game up. You will be notified when the new SK comes into play.)
“Shit,” says one of the others. “What do we do with these bodies?”
After some careful deliberation, they throw the remains of the goat-man out the airlock, and leave a note that says COMPLETELY NATURAL CAUSES next to Mac’s skeleton. Then they climb back into their pods, ask Oswald for another dose of sleep gas, and go under. The Paternoster goes silent.
Two years pass.
The year is 2031. The Paternoster has reached the orbit of Mars, a scant few hundred thousand kilometers off the port bow.
You’re awakened to loud country-rap, courtesy MARS-AM 550. Taking advantage of Mars’ lack of a magnetic field, MARS-AM is the most powerful radio station in the solar system. It can be picked up as far away as Mercury, and is a constant source of radio interference for whatever side of Earth is currently facing Mars. Rumor has it that shitty songs are now magnetically imprinted on the iron-rich rocks for hundreds of miles around the station’s 5 gigawatt transmitter at the Martian south pole.
“AND THAT WAS DELIA WU WITH ‘RED SKIES BLUE EYES.’ I’M TURBO TODD AND THIS IS THE MARTIAN ZOO CREW.” An air horn sounds. “STAND BY FOR TRAFFIC AND W-W-WEATHER.”
“This man is looking unwell,” says Dr. Zoidberg, floating next to Mac’s skeleton. “Sir, may I see your tongue?”
“What?” yells Astronaut Jones over the radio.
“I like it,” says C-Czar.
“This is the weather,” says Mr. Spoon.
You float over to the kitchen. MARS-AM is coming out of every speaker.
“Can you turn that down?” asks Laika. “It’s damaging my delicate canine hearing.”
“!skip,” says Discord. Nothing happens.
“Negative,” says Oswald, talking over an ad for erectile dysfunction medication. “I’m not playing this. The radio signal is being picked up as a harmonic by the Paternoster‘s circuitry. It’s causing significant problems with telemetry.”
“AND NOW THE FARM REPORT,” says Turbo Todd. A moo sound clip follows.
Mars SUCKS, thinks Ellen Ripley’s fifth clone.
“Two passengers died last night,” says Oswald over a robotic voice reading the prices for M-corn. “But much of my systems were in sleep mode. Data was not recorded.”
“Hold on,” says Crimes, the clone of Grimes. You look over. She’s holding a synthesizer in one hand and a cell phone in the other. “Maybe they’ll play some good music if I give it to them. What’s the phone extension for Mars?”
Too late, you realize what she’s doing.
“HELLO, CALLER, YOU’RE ON THE AIR,” says Turbo Todd.
“Crimes, no!” shouts the Interstellar Pig.
“H-” says Crimes, and then you’re all struck deaf by microphone feedback. You spend the next three hours in the med bay, angrily making charades while Oswald uses the autodoc to rebuild your eardrums.
[spoiler title=”RULES”]
- Win conditions:
- The wolves win when they are equal to the number of town-aligned players left (if the SK is dead), or outnumber the non-wolf players (even if the SK is still alive).
- Town wins when all the wolves and the serial killer are defeated.
- The serial killers win when it comes down to just them and one other person.
- A three-way standoff between the last town, last wolf and the SK will result in a special ending.
- There isn’t a hard order that night actions occur in. This is to allow as many of them to go through as possible.
- The jailer cannot jail themselves or the same person two days in a row.
- Spacejackers will scan as THREAT to the investigator. Crewmembers and the ??? will scan as NON-THREAT.
- There are no secret powers or win conditions in this game. Any changes I have to make to the mechanics will be announced publicly.
- A tie in the vote thread will result in No Kill.
- No editing posts.
- No quoting or screencapping from your QTs.
- If you have any other questions about rules, please ask in QT, and I will answer publicly here.[/spoiler]
[spoiler title=”ROLES”]
- 14 Crew (Townies), including
1 Comms Officer (Investigator)- 1 Supervisor (Jailer)
43 Spacejackers (Wolves)1 Iadolanthean Advance Scout (Serial Killer)- Because the serial killer died on Night 1, a new serial killer will be furnished at no extra charge. (The game will be like eight days long without SK kills, and I can’t go through that again right now). This hasn’t happened yet; you will be notified when it is. The new serial killer will come from the vanilla town population.[/spoiler]
[spoiler title=”PLAYERS”]
- Mayelbridwen
MacCrocodile– SPACEJACKER- Sister Jude
- Grumproro
DW– COMMS OFFICER (Cop)- April LKD
- Donalbain
- Snugglewumps
- Jake
- Hoho
- Sic Humor
- Ralph Waldo Wiggum
- Subsaharan
- Corporal Hicks
- Spiny Creature
- Wasp
Goat– ORIGINAL SERIAL KILLER- Owen1120
- Spookyfriend
- Mr. Glitch
BACKUPS
- Library Lass
- Hayes[/spoiler]
Day 2 ends Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST, or when a majority kill vote is reached