As you prepare for cryosleep, Oswald announces a new message has been received. It’s heavily degraded by interference from MARS-AM, but still playable.

“Hello, Paternoster!” says Walter Hovnatanian III through the static. He looks much the same as he did in 2029. Only his suit and his haircut have changed. “Good to hear from you! How are things?”

“𝘚𝘪𝘳, 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴,” begins Possumus X-1.

“He cannot hear you,” says Oswald. “One-way light time to Earth approximately 45 minutes from our position. This is a recording.”

“-king forward to hearing from you after the next jump. The shareholders all wish you the best. That reminds me, we own Canadian Tire and Wendy’s now. Be sure to buy stock when you get home.” He chuckles, then signs off. The only sound is the radio, currently on a piece of music in which a theremin is playing the role of a steel guitar. The lyrics are something about how fine that butt looks in your spacesuit. Astronaut Jones nods in appreciation.

You climb into your sleep pods.

“Nobody’s going to die this time, right?” asks Crimes. “Being surrounded by murder is bad for my ability to compose synth-pop.”

“I am sure no one will die,” says Oswald, reassuringly, just before hitting you with the sleep gas. “Be seeing you.”

Crimes drifts off immediately, and doesn’t feels the blade go across her throat a couple minutes later.

Crimes (Spiny Creature) has died. She was a CREW MEMBER (Vanilla Town), and will sadly never get her revenge on Elon and Grimes now.

The rest of you sleep. In the darkness beyond words, you feel something probing you, an intelligence from the great beyond. It rejects some of you for your prior allegiances. Others hear it, but do not know how to respond. But two of you call out, asking for it to talk to you, to tell you its secrets. Somewhere far, far up ahead, a decision is made, and the selection relayed back. Iadolanth has chosen.

(A new serial killer has been picked from the vanilla town population. The new SK did not get a Night 2 kill, but will get one every night going forward.)

The rest of you return to sleep, while the chosen one is told of a world shrouded in coal-black clouds, beneath which strange plants grow, and stranger things creep.

---

The year is 2033. You have arrived at the asteroid belt.

This was a lawless place when you blasted off in 2029; the ragged frontier of human civilization. Miners, pirates and farmers lived here in constant mistrust and danger. As you blearily emerge from cryosleep, however, your reception is unexpectedly bland.

“Hello there!” says a man’s voice from the intercom. “This is Vestaville Ground Control hailing ZSW Paternoster. Come in, Paternoster.”

“This is Paternoster,” says Oswald. “Crew emerging from stasis. Permission to dock?”

“Permission granted,” says the voice. “Welcome!”

You’re almost fully awake by the time the docking procedure is done. You stumble down the ramp. The asteroid Vesta has 2.5% Earth gravity, which is just enough gravity to be annoying. Dr. Zoidberg steps down too hard and ricochets into the ceiling, then back into the ramp. It’s pretty hilarious.

You stumble-step into what looks like an American suburb, complete with white picket fences and neatly manicured lawns. A kid is mowing one of them, a few houses over. Only the black sky beyond the colony’s dome gives it away. A man walks up to meet you. He’s wearing an argyle sweater vest and tan slacks.

“Hi there,” he says, taking a pipe from his mouth. “I’m Dad.”

“Dad?” asks Dororo, skeptically. “What is ‘Dad’?”

“Hey there, sport,” says Dad, playfully rubbing the top of Dororo’s head. “I am a Bombardier-Polaris Mark IV infantry combat unit, built to fight in the Luso-Canadian War. After the cessation of hostilities, I was issued the Plowshares Firmware Patch, which rendered me passive and agreeable.”

You look at each other.

“Any chance you could accidentally revert to a hostile killing machine?” asks the redshirt.

“Absolutely none!” Dad beams. “Can I show you around town? Vestaville has a lot to offer the weary traveler.”

Vestaville, in fact, has a grocer, a library, a movie theater and a mechanic. You eat a hot meal at the store’s lunch counter.

“So what happened to the pirates?” asks Mr. Spoon. “The lawlessness? The seedy underbelly of humanity?”

“Oh, we killed them all,” says Dad. “Me and the other Mark IVs. It was the first thing we did when we arrived.”

“And a fine thing, too,” says the woman behind the counter. “I’m Sadie, the mayor. We haven’t had a single crime in two years!”

We should leave, thinks Ripley Five, beaming the thought into your heads. You all nod.

[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 11 Crew (Townies), including
  • 1 Comms Officer (Investigator)
  • 1 Supervisor (Jailer)
• 4 3 Spacejackers (Wolves)
• 1 Iadolanthean Advance Scout (Serial Killer)
• 1 Iadolanthean Convert (Replacement Serial Killer)[/spoiler]

[spoiler title=”PLAYERS”]

1. Mayelbridwen
2. MacCrocodile – SPACEJACKER
3. Sister Jude
4. Grumproro
5. DW – COMMS OFFICER (Cop)
6. April LKD
7. Donalbain
8. Snugglewumps
9. Library Lass
10. Hoho
11. Sic Humor
12. Ralph Waldo Wiggum
13. Subsaharan
14. Corporal Hicks – Crew Member
15. Spiny Creature – Crew Member
16. Wasp
17. Goat – ORIGINAL SERIAL KILLER
18. Owen1120
19. Spookyfriend
20. Mr. Glitch

BACKUPS

1. E-Dog
2. Hayes[/spoiler]

Day 3 ends Friday at 3 p.m. EST, or when a majority kill vote is reached