The Advennis Cadis, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean
September, 1711
12:00 Midnight
It was the dawn of the Age of Enlightenment. It was said that the virtues of reason, of rational thought and scientific study would lead humanity forward. The pursuit of knowledge is a noble one, but for those who push beyond the borders of human knowledge and into the unknown, there often comes a time when they reach the limit of what rationality and science can offer them. There in the darkness they may come across another path, a path of secrets and mysticism. It is a dangerous path to tread, and in the days of the Enlightenment such magicians and alchemists were still forced to work in secrecy. And so it was that a group of such individuals found themselves conducting a strange ritual on the open seas, neither in the Old World nor the New, but a place between, where men held no dominion. They had chartered the Advennis Cadis for their purposes, a sturdy merchant vessel. At the stroke of midnight, deep in the ship’s bowels, they worked their magic. When the passengers emerged on deck the next morning, they were, to all appearances, precisely the same as they had been the day before. But beneath the surface there was a change that went beyond anything the Enlightened scholars of Europe could account for: they were no longer mortal, unable to age or die. Or so it seemed, at first.
Through diligent research, The Daily Days has been able to connect certain persons alive today with the passenger manifest of the Advennis Cadis. In a rare interview conducted in 1889, one of these Immortals explained that while they had all been given the gift of the “Grand Panacea,” as they called it in those days, only one of them actually knew how to replicate it. Apparently the question of what to do with this knowledge led to a particularly heated debate among the newly made Immortals: when the ship finally arrived in Boston, many of the passengers – those in favor of keeping the formula for the Panacea secret – could not be accounted for. An official investigation determined only that they had been lost at sea. The Immortal refused to explain precisely what happened, saying only that they were “devoured.”
The Flying Avocado, Midwestern United States
September, 1934
12:00 Midnight
Many of the passengers were confused by what they had seen. Tossing Kitty Witless off the train surely should have killed her, but they had watched, awe-struck, as the rapidly receding figure stood up in perfect health. A miracle, perhaps, but as the passengers turned in for the night, some of them were determined to see something die. In the end they settled on the elephant as their –
“I’m sorry, the what?” The Vice-President asks.
Office of the Vice President, New York
September, 1934
8:43 PM
“The elephant, sir,” The agent says. “Had I neglected to mention it?”
“How did…” The Vice President presses his hands against his forehead. “How did they even get an elephant on the train, nevermind off of it?”
“I’m not entirely sure,” the agent shrugs. “It was already there when I arrived.”
“And in the middle of everything, they just decided to … push it off the train?”
“Well, it was working for the Mafia. Sir.”
“Of course it was.”
The elephant (Tiff Aching’s Golden Hare) has DIED. She was a Mafia GANGSTER.
The Flying Avocado
September, 1934
12:24 AM
On the third day, there had been a discussion of the possibility of a truce among the gangs, but in the cover of darkness the violence continued unabated. With the elephant out of the way, the blue-haired girl Hina had nowhere to hide. She was a quick and agile, but there are only so many places to go on a train. Eventually two of the gangs managed to trap her between them on the roof of one of the train cars. In the clear light of the full moon, the Daily Days agent – peeking up from their hiding spot the next car over – was able to see just about everything that happened.
“How’s this for a gang smoot?” One of the gangsters shouted over the wind. Hina turned to address them, but another gangster took advantage of the distraction to slip a blade between her ribs.
The wind caught a spurt of blood from the wound, sending it whipping back down the rails – until suddenly, to the horror and astonishment of the gangsters, the blood turned against the wind and flew back into Hina’s body.
“It’s called,” Hina said, standing up slowly. “A Gang’s. Moot.” She unzipped her jacket, revealing a white sweater emblazoned with the word GANGSMOOT in big red letters.
Unable to process what was going on, the other gang took a turn. This wasn’t quite what she had been hoping to accomplish, but in a sense, Hina had been able to unite the gangs after all. Maybe if they got all this murder out of their systems with her, they’d be able to think more clearly going forward. It wasn’t like she’d never been stabbed before, after all. It’s the kind of thing that’s bound to happen eventually when you’ve lived as long as she had.
“Why are you like this?” The gangsters shouted, trying everything they could to kill the girl, but to no avail.
It was then that a cloaked, hooded figure stepped up onto the roof of the train car. Exhausted from their futile attempts, the gangs made no effort to stop this newcomer.
“You want a piece of me, too?” Hina asked.
“No,” They replied. “I want all of you.”
The shadowy figure placed a hand on Hina’s head. Everyone watched in horror as the girl’s body suddenly went limp, and then began to rapidly dissolve. It seemed almost as if she were being sucked up into the hand, like some grotesque magic trick in reverse. A few moments later she had disappeared, leaving only her clothes behind. The GANGSMOOT sweater twirled in the wind. The agent reached out to catch it as it flew by, but when they looked back towards the crowd on the roof, the cloaked figure had vanished.
Hina (lutair) has been Devoured. They were a Mafia GANGSTER, and an IMMORTAL.
The night’s work was not quite finished. While all this was happening on top of the train, down below the wedding party continued unabated: music, dancing, laughter, murder. Why shouldn’t they be happy? The gangs were so busy killing each other that the party was free to go on with its merry little game. But even the best parties come to an end sooner or later. As it happened, the first partier to go was the one that had been mysteriously absent during the first day of their journey. Had they snuck aboard? Was there some trickery afoot?
“It’s not my fault no one could find me!” She cried. “I was locked in the bathroom, honest!”
“That’s what they all say,” was the gangsters’ answer.
Grumproro has DIED. They were a member of the WEDDING PARTY.
=============================================================
This is Day Four. Twilight will be Saturday, Sept. 26 at 3:00 PM EDT.
[spoiler title= ‘The Rules:’]
- Players will be randomly selected to play as either Passengers, Gangsters in one of three different Gangs (Camorra, Mafia, and Street Rats), or members of the Wedding Party.
- The Game will be divided into Days, which occur in Open Threads posted on The Avocado, and Nights, which occur in Private Quicktopic (QT) Threads that will be provided.
- Each Day, all Players will vote to select one candidate to throw off the train. The Player who has received the most votes at the end of the Day will be selected. Ties will result in random selection from the tied candidates.
- Each Night, the Gangs and the Wedding Party will each select one candidate to kill in their respective shared QTs. The Wedding Party has access to their QT at all times. The Gangs only have access to their QTs at Night.
- The Goal of the Passengers is to survive until the end of the game, which can only occur if the entire Wedding Party is eliminated.
- The Goal of the Gangsters is for their Gang to outnumber the others at the conclusion of the game. If the Wedding Party is eliminated and no Gang has a majority, the game will continue until one does.
- The Goal of the Wedding Party is to kill ALL other players. No survivors. No mercy.
- Additionally, some players will be Immortal. Immortals cannot be killed by standard Night Kill Actions, but can be thrown off the train during the Day. Each Gang will have no more than One (1) Immortal.
- One Immortal, the Alchemist, is hunting for the Immortal who holds the formula for the Elixir of Eternal Life. The Alchemist can kill other Immortals as their Night Action (this will have no effect on non-Immortals), and wins if they kill the correct Immortal and survive until the end of the game.
- More Roles may be implemented based on number of Players and other factors. These Roles may be given specific win conditions, and Roled Players are not required to divulge what those are.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler title= ‘The Players:’]
- Sonya Hobbes (The Hayes Code)
- Mayor McCheese (Ralph)
Grumproro, WEDDING PARTY- Laura Bow (Colonel Mustard)
- James Bond, Jr. (InnDEEEEED)
- Mr. Green (anewholiday)
Dana Doppler (Wasp), MAFIA- Train Hobo (Owen1120)
Johnny Caspar (Goat), PASSENGERBanjo Possum (hoho possum), CAMORRA- Hatsune Miku (raven and rose)
Hina (lutair),MAFIAKitty Witless (emmelemm),PASSENGER- Shadow the Hedgehog (Dramus18)
- Kazuma Kiryu (Mr.ImMyOwnGrampa)
- Boxcar Bertha (Dicentra)
- Kenshiro, Fist of the North Star (Lord Stoneheart)
Don Pianta (sic humor), STREET RATBolin (Side Character), PASSENGERKanamori Sayaka (Narrowstrife), CAMORRAAn elephant (Tiff Aching’s Golden Hare),MAFIA- Jack Frost (forget_it_jake)
Factions:
- Wedding Party: 3 members remain.
- Camorra: 2 members remain.
- Mafia: 1 member remains.
- Street Rats: 3 members remain.
[/spoiler]