The Maltese Pigeon: Mafia wins.

[The Cheshire Man]

And that makes three votes for Dan. I'll write the lynch scene shortly. Right now I owe an episode of a story to Once Upon A Time over on Visitor Games.
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smile

[The Cheshire Man]

The day wears on with nothing gained but an argument between myself and the teddy-bearish man I'm sure has to be one of the DiCaffinati boys. I look out at the evening sky, already darkening red.

"C'mon," I say. "We gotta lynch somebody."

"Oh, look who thinks he's clever Dan," says the Loudmouth in the corner. "You've been running this whole show from the beginning, telling us what's what every step of the way. You know what? I think it's you who's been behind all the murders, you who's been playing the rest of us for a bunch of saps. I vote we lynch you!"

Very quickly two other hands shoot up. This is the moment I've been dreading. One of the men takes off his tie and wraps my wrists together in front of me.

Why did I ever suggest this crazy lynch mob in the first place? Because I thought it would take whoever was out to get us by surprise, I remind myself. And it did, to an extent.

"You're all making a big mistake," I tell them as they walk me up onto the counter and wrap the noose around my neck.

"You can't be serious about killing him!" shouts the last dame still alive. "After all he's done for us--"

Her voice is cut off, quite literallly, by a knife reaching around and slitting her throat. The Loudmouth jumps to his feet, and takes a .22 to the chest for his bravery.

I look down at the man holding the gun. "I knew I was right about you," I say to the teddy-bearish man. He just looks up and grins.

Meanwhile the other DiCaffinati boy lets go of the girl's hair and her body falls at his feet. "And this time, stay dead," he says in an almost Unheard Voice.

That's when I recognize their faces. Dr. Paula Shields, who worked the emergeny clinic over at St. Luke's. Mark Page, the paperboy who'd run errands for the Happy Cook, clever as a fox and tough as a foxtrap. And standing in front of me, Emilio Grande with his gun and Don Vicente Venti with his husky voice. The last two DiCaffinati boys.

"Hello, Aaron," says the Don. "Looks like the magic's just gone out of our lives together."

Emilio laughs. "Good one, boss," he says.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Aren't you going to finish me off?" I say.

"You mean hang you?" the Don asks. "For goodness sakes, no. What would the police think?" The two scum look at each other, knowingly. "I mean, all these dead bodies left all over the place, no one realizing they're missing until just now. What would they do without someone to pin it on?"

"Fat chance," I say.

"Oh, no. Good chance," says Emilio. "Especially with this wine we knicked, spiked with just a dollop of mercury and St. John's wort. It'll make you batty as the proverbial belfry for a good 36 hours," he said, "just long enough for the police to catch you and label you."

"Not to mention," adds the Don, "the pieces of your hair and clothing we're just on our way to plant at some of the scenes."

"Now drink up," says Emilio. "It's time for communion." He holds the bottle of wine up to my lips, but draws it back. "Or does it count as communion, now he's left the orthodox church and gone back to calling himself Aaron Stave?"

The Don shrugs. "Depends on the particular cult. But you remind me..." and here he pulls out the Maltese Pigeon, the same one I rescued from the Ravenlord's house two nights ago and gave to Paula (fat lot of good it did her in the end) "...we have to leave him with our parting gift first."

"Ah, yes," says Emilio. "Wonderful thing about the Pigeon, it's a wonderful storehouse for good ideas. And there's this one torture this Bavarian count came up with to punish a traitor, we've been dying to try out."

"They're going to stick you in an asylum, Aaron," says the Don. "And every day in that asylum, you're going to relive this last week, starting from the time right before poor dusty was shot, to...right about...nnnnow..."

And...and I have...haven't I? I must have. Yes. They, they say I'm crazy. I remember the trial now, the pictures of everyone, Scarlette and Paula and Lyman, all dead and decaying. And Emilio Grande and Vicente Venti, out there these past 25 years...or is it 30? 35?...using the Maltese Pigeon for God knows what. If they even still have it. Someone has it. I can feel it, just like I did those nights I went looking for it, to make sure the Ravenlord hadn't corrupted it. I have to get out of here. Someone has to stop the Ravenlord from getting it. If not me, then...then you can. Yes. You'll do it, you'll stop them. The world is in terrible danger. Danger it won't escape from without someone who knows...knows what terrible things that little porcelain figure can make possible. You'll go out and stop them--you have to. You believe me.

Don't you?

The End
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smile

[Jedo the Jedi]

So, I take it that Lee and mudbuck were the innocent ones? If so, then I had UV pegged at the end. I actually suspected Lee of being scum, but I guess I was wrong. The Master isn't really a surprise though.

Good game, TCM. It was very well done, though the scenes were huge. They must have been a beast to write.

Congratulations to the mafia, scummy though you are.

[The Cheshire Man]

Here are the roles, and a little more information about the Pigeon:

The Pigeon basically gave someone a boost to their normal powers. Examples are included with roles below.

Mafia
You three are the DiCaffinati Crime Family. Each night, you may communicate with each other to decide who to kill, and which one of you will carry out the deed. Each of you has your own special modus operandi:

Unheard Voice: Don Vicente Venti – Staged Suicides
The Master: Emilio Grande – Explosives
Samadhi: Josef Tall – Staged Accidents

The Godfather (Unheard Voice: Don Vicente Venti) is immune to cop investigations…mostly. Please have all members PM me—telling me who the victim and perpetrator are each night—to avoid confusion.

What they didn't know until it happened: Possession of the Pigeon granted all three of them immunity to investigations and night kills, and the power to kill even someone protected by a doctor.

Rook Larsen, Ravenlord
You are Rook Larsen, the Ravenlord, a passive serial killer. You know of the Maltese Pigeon, how it intuitively receives, stores, and transmits thought telepathically. You also know how to warp it, pervert it, turning it into the Maltese Raven, which drives the holder insane and steals for its creator the souls of the dying. Being palpably evil, guess which bird you prefer? You will never kill anyone directly – you didn’t even kill Dusty directly. Instead, each night you will choose someone’s house to search for the Maltese Pigeon. If you don’t find it, a whisper in the early morning light might tell you where it was. If you do find it, you will spend the day turning it into the Maltese Raven, and the next night you will bestow it upon an unsuspecting townie of your choice, who will be driven insane. Whoever holds the Raven will kill whomever he visits until the Raven leaves his possession, never aware that he is murdering. You, being its creator, cannot be harmed by anyone under its influence. Even should you die, stay tuned: there is a possibility that the Raven will continue working its insanity upon the town, until there is only one mad townie left, and the stolen souls resurrect you as the victor.

What he/she didn't know: There was someone doing the same thing, only turning it back into the Maltese Pigeon

Cyrus Pierce, Investigator
You are the washed out gumshoe Cy Pierce, an investigator for the town. Each night, send me the name of a player you wish to investigate. I’ll then send you a message telling you the results of your investigation: Innocent, or Guilty. Pretty straightforward. For now.

What he didn't know until it happened: Possession of the Pigeon allowed him to find out someone's role, not just his innocence or guilt--even if that role was Mafia Godfather.

Dr. Paula Shields, Doctor
You are Paula Shields, M.D., the town doctor. Each night, send me the name of a player you wish to protect. If someone tries to kill them, their life will be spared. Probably. And no, you are not allowed to protect yourself. Yet.

What he didn't know until it happened: While possessing the Maltese Pigeon the doctor was himself protected as if by a second doctor.

Father Aaron Stave, Priest
You are Father Aaron Stave, the town’s Catholic Priest. This is not the first time you’ve crossed paths with the Maltese Pigeon. You’ve experienced firsthand how it intuitively receives, stores, and transmits thought telepathically, vastly increasing the talents and abilities of its possessor. You also know how easily it can be warped, corrupted, and how to purify it should that happen. Each night, you will choose someone’s house to search for the Maltese Pigeon. If you don’t find it, a whisper in the early morning light might tell you where it was. If you do find it, you will spend the day purifying it from any evil influences, and the next night you will bestow it upon an unsuspecting townie of your choice, who will reap its benefits.

What he didn't know: that he had an evil counterpart, and that the specific corruption he could cleanse was the corruption that transformed the bird into the Maltese Raven.

Pietro Goldwyn, Mayor
You are the town’s good and honorable councilman, Pietro Goldwyn – but everyone calls you “Mayor” out of courtesy. Your vote counts double towards a lynch. Usually.

What he didn't know: If he'd gotten ahold of the Pigeon, the town would have been unable to lynch anyone without his vote.

Scarlette Webb, Vigilante
You are the lovely Scarlette Webb, a femme fatale running from a past of broken promises, broken hearts, and broken necks. You didn’t escape your old life just to die over some ancient piece of alabaster kitsch. Time to take matters into your own deadly hands. Each night, if you so wish, you may attack someone you suspect of being evil, and so end his life. Probably.

What he didn't know: While in possession of the Maltese Pigeon Scarlette's nightkills would only work on scum. Targets who turned out innocent would have only been unable to post the next day.

Esther Keyes, Locksmith
You are Esther Keyes, the townie Locksmith. Each night, you may choose someone to lock in, thus depriving them of their night ability. Probably. However, locking someone in will not prevent other, more persistent visitors from gaining access. In other words, you can block someone’s role, but it won’t protect them. Usually.

What he didn't know: While in possession of the Pigeon the power would change to one of redirection; i.e., Victim X will now target Victim Y instead. This could have caused the Mafia to nightkill themselves.

Jack Alman, Apprentice
You are Jack Alman, the friendly neighborhood odd job man, quick to pick up anything, slow to master it. One night during the game, you may send me the name of a dead player. You will assume their role’s ability for the remainder of the game. Probably.

what he didn't know: Possession of the Pigeon before deciding his role would have allowed him to choose any role from this list, living or dead. After he chose a role the Pigeon would give the benefits it gave the original role.

Mark Page, Paperboy
You are young Mark Page, the friendly neighborhood paperboy. You deliver the newspapers every night. And with one of those papers, you may include a folded note, as anonymous as you care to make it. Just send me the player name of the recipient, as well as the message in the following format:
[message]This is the Message[/message]
…and I’ll PM them with your message. Probably. I won’t tell them who it’s from, either. Not usually.

What he didn't know: Possession of the pigeon would have allowed him full nighttime communication with one other person of his choice.

Lyman Scherer, Mortician
You are Lyman Scherer, the town’s friendly coroner, mortician, embalmer, forensic pathologist, funeral home director, and grave digger. If it has to do with someone’s corpse, you’re the man for the job. Yes, it’s hard work, but it’s lucrative—especially since those corpses tend to arrive with some choice trinkets attached. No sense letting expensive items waste away with someone who can no longer spend them, eh?. And sometimes what falls into the caretaker’s hands is something more than a bauble. Something more…useful to the present crisis? Like, say, this little porcelain dove that you found inside Dusty Junkman’s coat lining when they carried the body to your parlor?

You have the Maltese Pigeon. Unfortunately, it’s not doing anything yet. Oh, well.

Each night, you may choose to loot a corpse, giving you that player’s ability for one night (or day, if it’s a day power). Probably. PM me, telling me what dead body you’re using, and which live body you’re using it on, if applicable. But keep in mind, each power is a one-shot deal—you can’t loot the same body twice.
Or can you?

What he didn't know: Possession of the Pigeon (when he had bodies to use it on) would have allowed him to use powers without using up the corpses.

Three things triggered the Pigeon switching hands:
1. The end of night.
2. The person who had just recieved the Pigeon getting killed.
3. The Mayor voting for the person with the Pigeon with his first vote.

Whoever targeted the person with the Pigeon would get the Pigeon next. In case there was more than one person, they would get the Pigeon according to the following priority list:

Priest, Ravenlord (if both targeted the same person they would cancel each other out)
Vigilante
Mafia
Investigator
Doctor
Locksmith
Paperboy
Apprentice*
Mortician*
Mayor
_{*when using someone else's power they would rank in priority as if they were that power. If they both targeted someone with the same power the Apprentice would win.}

During the day, that list was reversed. So if someone with the Pigeon got lynched, the Mayor would have gotten it if he voted the lynchee, if not then the Mortician, Apprentice, etc.

Some weird things that happened:
The first night Mgm investigated IS and got the Pigeon. The second night he tried to investigate mudbuck for role, but got a) roleblocked, and b) nightkilled. Sucks to be him.

The Mafia got the Pigeon night 2, but by then they'd already eliminated 2 of the 3 roles the Pigeon protected them from (vig and cop). They targeted shanterusan that night, the same night shanterusan decided she would take up a dead role: Xylax's mayor ability.

Esme never got to make the Maltese Raven. The same night she finally searched the right house, the very group she took it from targeted her for nightkill. That was the first time the Pigeon switched hands twice in the same night: once from the Master to esme, and once from esme's corpse to Dan, who targeted esme. If esme and the mafia hadn't targeted each other, Dan's choice of esme would have gotten him a "miss."

When I came up with the Paperboy ability, I didn't foresee anyone using it the way LML did: to fake a recruitment role and get the mafia to reveal themselves. It almost worked.
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smile

[Jedo the Jedi]

Wow. I'm even more impressed now. Very interesting setup. Kudos on all the hard work. Unfortunately, it sucked to be me who was the least likely to ever receive the Pigeon, and I didn't.

[UnheardVoice]

I was a bit anxious, to say the least, during the whole debate on whether or not there there were two role-blockers in the game or if there were just one role-blocker and one doctor. The reason is that the mod made it quite clear of the presence of a doctor from the get go:

[Da5id]

Good game, gratz fellow scum.

[Dan]

I'm really dissappointed I wasn't able to turn this around.

Hindsight being 20/20, I realized Jedo's claim of locksmith was much more plausible than a dancer (what was it again).

Lee, dude, ugh. I really couldn't believe you just voted me without anymore discussion. And you didn't give mudbuck much response time either. You made awesome use of your role though, nice work, you're responsible for the only mafia we nabbed.

...

dammit....
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Rokk. uuddlrlrbastart

[Mgm]

I was surprised to find the Maltese Pigeon on the my first go. Too bad I exploded the next night. I must say it was the most spectacular death scene I ever got...

[Pooky]

and if you had just listened to me about killing Dan on that last night we woulda had the town easy!

[LoudmouthLee]

i suck.

the end.
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-LmL

I'm sorry. I have no desire to talk to you.

[Dan]

Nah man, it's just as much my fault, I think I could have made my role more plausible. And UV's tidbit about the "local doctor" would have sealed the deal, but arg, I forgot. I remmeber goign into the old scenes for something else, but didn't think of it this time.

Though I must give my compliments to The Cheshire Man. This is by far the my favorite mafia game I've ever played. The mechanics were great, the cut scenes were great, the roels were great. Everything awesome. Well done.
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Rokk. uuddlrlrbastart

[UnheardVoice]

Actually, Pooky, if we decided to get Dan that last night, then wouldn't the game become a stalemate?

Since Dan gave the MP to mudbuck, and since the MP gives mudbuck the ability to protect himself and one other person, then the endgame would become mudbuck (unkillable), LML (unkillable), and UV and Pooky (both unlynchable). Unless targetting Dan would've prevented him from passing the Pidgeon.

[Dan]

I think once you targeted mudbuck with the Pidgeon you'd get the Pidgeon, even if you didn't manage to kill him.
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Rokk. uuddlrlrbastart

[The Cheshire Man]

Had the mafia targeted Dan, the mafia would have won. The days would have always ended in a stalemate, but eventually either the mafia or LML would have targeted mudbuck and stolen the Maltese Pigeon.
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smile

[esme]

I liked this game very much including my "death" scene. And I wonder whether LML ever noticed a strange smell in his house after I searched it.

I assumed that most likely after a nightkill the mafia would have the birdie and after a lynch a townie, so the day before I was killed, I was already pretty sure who the mafia were, but I got really worried that another wrong lynch would make the mafia so powerful that I couldn't win, so I pressed a bit too much for Samadhi's lynch (in the correct hope that the pigeon would remain at the same place for once).
I didn't realize that the game was designed so much in favor of pigeon movement.
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Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.