Gryphon

Having finished giving the questors their immediate task the dragon yawns, showing a mouth full of very very sharp teeth. Snapping it's jaws shut with an all too audible snap it turns to regard the three in front of it again. "Why are you still here? I thought I set you a task? Be about it!" There is no real warning, just a flick of a claw on the draconic foreleg and Annael, Cambio and Richard are suddenly overcome with a whirling sensation like they're caught in a whirlpool or a tornado. The whirling is joined by a roaring sound and it takes the trio a moment to realise that it's probably the dragon laughing before everything goes dark. When light returns the questors find themselves high upon a mountaintop looking out over a forest. In the extreme distance off to the east they can barely make out what might be a town, however their gaze keeps being drawn back to the forest, dark and menacing at the bottom of the mountain. It's trees seem to reach for them of their own accord...

Mattias's normal good mood had been spoilt somewhat by the events of the morning. Quietly he moved up through the pass falling into a stride that matched Jagkatha and Megwyn who were walking hand in hand a few paces in front of him. Who amongst those gathered could have killed the mule? Could it be that once again someone was falling under the influence of the ring? Mattias's thoughts wandered back to the early morning hours when he thought he'd seen Raus moving away from where the pack animals were tethered. Could it be possible that he'd seen something? Could it be that he was the killer? It wouldn't be the first time a human had fallen to the influence of the one ring. ~~~ OOC: I'm accusing Savage Dragon / Raus Tanathos from the reasons and thought processes in character above.

Mattias grinned as he dropped a couple of spare bowstrings in his pack which was all ready to go. How very fortunate that something had come up to let him go adventuring at almost the exact time he'd decided he'd had enough of Rivendell. After checking that he had everything in order Mattias slung his pack over his shoulder and strapped his daggers in place then went to see about getting some extra arrows. He had a funny feeling that he'd be needing them, and soon.

Mattias had been circulating quietly through the party for most of the evening the good cheer and suppressed anticipation giving the gathering a life, a vitality that he felt was normally lacking around Rivendell. The air was filled with the hum of conversation and the atmosphere was electric with the promise of interesting things to come, all of which encouraged him to stay rather than making his way back out of the forest in search of adventure. Mattias had been engaging Garnorn in some quiet conversation when the first sounds of disruption emerged from those gathered over near the food. A splintering crash as a plate hit the floor drew the eyes of Mattias and those around him so many of those gathered saw the disaster unfold as an unknown dwarf managed to destroy the layout of one of the meal tables dumping the display onto the ground and all over those sitting nearby. Mattias' eyes widened as he recognised Jagkatha as one of the elf maidens who'd received a portion of the food in her lap and with hasty appologies to Garnorn he lept quickly to help restrain the firey elven lass as her temper (legendary around Rivendell) flared and she lept at the dwarf who stood looking embarrassed at the mess he'd accidentally caused. Holding tightly onto an arm to stop Jagkatha doing something that she'd probably (maybe) regret later Mattias started murmering to Jagkatha... "It was an accident Jagk! Tonight is not a night for fighting amongst ourselves."

The seer managed to see Johann / Patrick on the same night he died, he also saw Sabastian / Cryptomancer successfully on night 3. The other seer visions were false or contained no useful information. Lynchings: in order of occurance Quincunx / Cid of Tarquin: 4 votes Venefyxatu / Karen of Minobee: 2 votes Tanuchan / Katelyn of Minobee: 2 votes (equal to Cryptomancer / Sabastian on 2 votes). ** Akallabeth / Ciroth of Hendrake: 3 votes JDRollins / Denor of Helgram: 2 votes ** The draw between Katelyn and Cryptomancer was solved by a dice roll on percentile dice. 1-50% Katelyn was to survive, 51-100% Sabastian was to survive. The roll came out as 68% giving the survival to Sabastian.

I've just been asked to post the final scorecard for this game so here, by popular request: Player Roles: Mynx - Samantha of Aldwin: Wolf Cryptomancer - Sabastian of Sawall: Wolf JDRollins - Denor of Helgram: Baner Azuran - Sol of Sepharis: Seer Final votes: Mynx: 7 Cryptomancer: 2 (I didn't get a reply from one player by the time my deadline was up) Special Role info: The re-design of my game should have taken the special roles out of the equation, however since I wanted it to be nominally a 'werewolf' game I left them in. Another game is on the horizon. It won't be werewolf, but the underlying plan will be similar to what I was working towards here. If anyone wants any more info or stats about this game, let me know. I think most of the important ones are up here.

Belated congratulations Nightfae, Azuran, and Evangeline on your promotions. I'm sorry I didn't get to them sooner.

Mattias, (male) Elf Considered young and reckless by the greater elven community Mattias spends far too much time out of the forests and off haring about the countryside. It is no suprise to any of the older elves that he has volunteered to join this quest however some of the older elves are hoping that he is not going to be unduly influenced by the negative influences that surround the ring. In his elders opinion he may be open to such influence because of the vast amounts of time he spends in the company of humans.

The game is over! Sorry for the lack of a truely epic ending... I so wanted to include dragons and massive battles, but the dragons were double booked and I left the armies in my other house. Seriously though I hope everyone enjoyed playing. The final post is here I hope you all enjoy it. I'll post the final scorecards and the voting info and roles and stuff as soon as I get back to my own house where I left it all by accident. (I am house sitting at the moment and didn't think that I'd have to close it all up tonight.

The atmosphere was thick with tension and impending strife could be felt in every word and gesture. In many cases the potential for bloodshed in the evening was averted only by a combination of the guards scattered not-so-subtly around the great hall of House Helgram and years of iron clad tradition forbidding open bloodshed and public dueling... Sadly not all were being so restrained. Sol's arrival at Helgram did not pass unnoticed and his joining Sabastian and Samantha as they discussed how best to locate the missing Denor was observed carefully by a number of the ranking nobility who were present having come at the summons of Sawall to represent their houses interest in the outcome of any discussion about the regency. "... and I shall provide protection to those who choose to come with us after Denor." Sol's voice dripped with sarcasm "Oh yes, your protection, funny but I don't feel that safe around house Sawall myself. Considering the way your family first gained power around here, I'm suprised anyone could be said to trust you at all." The backhanded slap from Sabastian's glove hitting Sol's cheek brought an immediate hush to all those nearby. Sol's reaction was immediate and violent as he sprung at Sabastian while snatching his knife from his belt. Sabastian pivoted and reached out to slap Sol again as his immediate rush carried him past. Sol snarled and spun into a crouch briefly before launching himself once more at Sabastian only to find himself leaping to his own death as his momentum carried him directly into the path of Sabastian's knife coming the other way. With dismay and pain written across his face Sol coughed quietly, his final whispered words carried to those nearby, "How many? Johann, Duke... How many other deaths of our peers came from your hands?" then he died. Samantha's voice cut through the disturbed murmers that followed. "That was poorly done Sabastian. You know as well as I that custom forbids our engaging in casual dueling. There is the matter of Denor's disappearance and the appointment of the regency to be delt with." Sabastian turned slowly and regarded Samantha with solemn eyes before speaking, his words falling forever into the hush that had once again fallen around them. "Indeed there is the matter of the Regency to be settled, but you know as I do Merlin's wishes in that, as many who are here do not. Have you taken it upon yourself to decide that this is the right time and place for that knowledge to be made public?" Samantha swept the room with a glance noting as she did so that representatives of all the major families that had been involved in the succession were present before turning back to Sabastian. "Very well, why not let the decision be made now? All those concerned are present... with the unfortunate exception of a representative from house Sepharis." Turning to address the gathered families Samantha gave Sabastian a brief glance before talking: "With Jerin's death a struggle began as all of you through your families made a bid for power by taking the Regency. While we knew that Jerin was Merlin's choice to take the title of Regent in his absence no clear instructions were left in the event that Jerin couldn't take up his duties. The knowledge that Sabastian talks of is a contact from Merlin shortly after Jerin's death that was made in my presence. Sabastian was told to take the regency and no-one else was to know to prevent him meeting the same fate as Jerin did. Steps were taken to safely remove some of those who were attempting to wrest control of the throne..." Samantha paused and shot Sabastian's grim face a brief glance before continuing, "... some of those who were lost will be returned to their families. I ask all who are here now, knowing Merlin's wishes in this matter, will you confirm Sabastian as regent until the time of Merlin's return?" As Samantha and Sabastian watched and waited representatives from Tarquin and Aricline moved toward Sabastian and bowed briefly before standing behind him in a clear gesture of their support. Slowly a representative from Hendrake steps forward and pitching his voice to be easily heard by all those present he began to speak. "While we appreciate that Merlin has his own wishes in the matter of who is to safe-guard the realm in his absence many of our Houses have lost people to this unseemly fight for the position of regent. House Hendrake cannot speak for all those gathered, but I assure you that our long time support of Sawall has been shaken and we shall not be giving our support to Sabastian in this matter. Due to the absence of a cantidate from our own house we are willing to suggest an alternative to those gathered in this hall today. We would like to suggest that you take the position of regent Samantha of Aldwin, to hold the throne until Merlin's return. While some of the houses present may have their own issues with you as regent, we believe that you are the best of the remaining cantidates and we are willing to support this point of view to Merlin on his return. Until that time you have our support." The rest of the families held hushed and muttered conversations amongst themselves, the conversations spreading until all of the remaining houses were holding the one discussion together. Finally an unknown member from the middle of the crowd called out. "We agree with Hendrake. Samantha of Aldwin has our support." "And ours", came a cry from another family. The rest of the crowd murmered in agreement their support of Samantha. Sabastian watched the crowd with growing agitation, until finally he could take no more. "This is outrageous!" he roared to the gathered families. "Samantha cannot be regent! She is from a minor house! Aldwin has no true power and is not truly fit to hold the throne until Merlin's return! Even she would rather support me than lead!" "I never said that Sabastian," Samantha spoke cooly against his anger. "I will willingly support you, yes. But if the other houses believe I am capable of holding regency then I will do my best not to disappoint." "You would have been nothing if I had decided it," Sabastian turned on her and hissed. "You might have been willing to support me but if I thought your house might actually be a real threat I would have taken you with my bare hands." "And is that what Merlin requested of you Sabastian? To kill until the only reason you held the throne was because there was no one else?" Cold anger blazed behind Samantha's eyes as she withstood the verbal mud being thrown on her house. "You might have been a worthy candidate to replace your cousin but you were never the only one. Just because Merlin wanted Sawall to remain in power did not mean you had been given a death warrent for the rest of our heads. And my being from a so called minor house has nothing to do with capability. I have negotiated the Logrus with as much success as any from your house. The very fact that I became a candidate in the first part must say something for my ability!" Suddenly Samantha turned to the crowd. "Houses of Chaos! This choice is ultimately yours. I will support any decision made, be it for myself or Sabastian to lead. But even if Sawall has been supposedly acting on Merlin's wishes, will you willingly put your trust in the killer of those who oppose?" Samantha turned and glared coldly at Sabastian before continuing. "Or would you put your trust in this candidate from the house of lesser worth?" The roar from the crowd left no room for argument. Sabastian snarled to himself as Aldwin's name was screamed as successor, before he turned to leave. He took a few steps before he stopped, turned, and sketched a sarcastic bow to the newly decided regent. "May your success as regent be as fruitful as my cousin's, Samantha. If you are lucky this game won't resume for a full month after your confirmation. You might even last until Merlin's return, but I doubt he will be happy to see such an inferior house in his place." "Then I will face what happens Sabastian. But i will do so as honourably as I possibly can." The only response Sabastian gave to this was a derisive snort, before he turned once more and stormed away, leaving behind the supporters he had failed to attract, and the throne he had failed to capture.

I am currently 1 PM short of a full set and working on the final post. Stay tuned.

I've seen a couple of movies over the last few weeks, and since I've paid my life savings (including selling a kidney) into the movie industry I thought I'd share my observations with you all. Basic Instinct II This was an interesting little piece that like many sequels drew mightily on the popularity and (indeed) the plot of the first in the series. It was a few weeks back now, so I'm viewing my memories of this film through the fuzzy cotton wool that we call everyday life, but I do recall being reasonably entertained by the ingenius plot woven by the main character to entrap and otherwise generally mindwarp the poor suckers around her. The progression, plot and ploys to avoid arrest (by the lead) were virtually identical to those of the first movie, it was just the settings, methods and people that altered. Having said that, if you enjoyed Basic Instinct and didn't see it so recently that it's fresh in your mind, go see the sequel. It's an entertaining bit of mindfluff. V for Vendetta I know there have been a number of comments about this movie already and I know they were pretty much negative but any movie that has The Wachowski Brothers on as writers of the screenplay and Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving on the credit list is one I need to formulate my own opinion on. I have to be clear on one point here: There is no doubt in my mind that this movie was worth every cent I paid to see it. Unlike many (it seems) I do not go to movies in order to bathe my mind in political commentary. Nor do I go along hoping for a revelation on the nature of mankind and come away with a statement on the politics that exist in the fantasy world I get transported to for 2 hours or so. No! I go to movies to be entertained. Explosions, guns, knives, bullet time (in combination with the knives no less!), Natalie Portman looking as cute as ever, Hugo Weaving - or more importantly in this case - his voice and body language, The Wachowski Brothers and their ability to make a watchers heart leap and say "Oh my gods" even when you knew that what has just occured on screen was coming, did I mention the explosions and the bullet-time knives? This was slightly over 2 hours of my life that I'm not only happy to have given away, but I'll be getting the DVD so I can do so again. If I'm not the only one out there who can just watch a movie without analyzing it to death. If I'm not the only one out there who enjoyed The Matrix. If you're reading this and thinking to yourself "Hey, that sounds like my kind of movie!" Go out and watch it, or hire it from the DVD store if it's gone from your local cinema. I loved it, you might too.

I'm in. I'll post a character later. It'll probably be either an elf or a dwarf, but we'll see what I actually come up with in the end.

The Epic ending approaches! Due to the inactivity of JDRollins/Denor of House Helgram this saga is about to be cut ever so slightly shorter than originally intended. However this does give me the opportunity to attempt an ending that should prove sufficently entertaining and (dare I hope) Epic even as stated earlier. To this end, let me attempt to set the scene for the finale for you all: ... No, I can't it's too darn complex... rats. Ok... new plan. Players, all of you will be getting a PM in the next few minutes explaining what I need you to do. While I'm waiting on those coming in please post any final setups for your character and, if you get time, the mobilization of your family leaders and their guards, private army, whatever. Unless you get a PM contradicting this you're going to be marching your clan to stop the killing and put someone on the throne as regent by whatever means necessary. Hopefully the end will be worth the wait.

It was obvious to the remaining cantidates of the succession that the laws of polite society were no longer in play with regards to the succession. While there hadn't exactly been an outright slaughter or a night of the long knives the average life expectancy of a cantidate for the throne of Chaos had certainly diminished in recent times. Distrust and suspicion were running rampant and each of the remaining cantidates had long since taken the advice of their Houses and employed whatever additional means they could to ensure their own safety. For this reason Choseyre wasted no time on the normal niceties when one of the other cantidates stepped out of nothing inside her own parlour. Snapping out a summons for her family guards and retainers Choseyre unleashed a spell which splashed harmlessly off a pre-prepaired shielding spell whilst rapidly arming herself with a long dagger from a nearby wall display. So armed Choseyre spun and dropped gracefully into a defensive crouch in time to see her unexpected visitor bar the door through which moments later trembled as the summoned guards pounded on it, moments too late to help. Snarling a curse Choseyre snapped off a shielding spell of her own in time to deflect an incoming spell attack from her assailant then she returned to her defensive crouch and waited for a chance to strike with her hastily procured dagger. The pounding on the door stopped and Choseyre's attention flickered momentarily. Unfortunately it was a moment too long. With a gesture and several words of power her attacker stripped away the last of her sheilding spell with a whirlwind of blades, then a second spell following on the heels of the first closed about her body locking her in an icy grip. As Choseyre's consiousness faded she became aware of the sound of axes biting into the wood of her door and then she was gone. ~~~ Approaching Choseyre's frozen form the other cantidate cast a quick glance at the door which was suffering badly from the axe blows being rained upon it and was sure to fall at any moment. Calmly a Trump was raised and a spell uttered and moments later both candidates were fading away in a splash of rainbow colours.

I'm back and brain-dead... I hope you'll accept my most humble appologies for the brief delay in the game. Who'd have thought that an IT company would go on a conference somewhere that had absolutely no internet access? Not I for one. As promised here is the current scorecard: ~~~ Current Scorecard: Mynx - Samantha of Aldwin Akallabeth - Ciroth of Hendrake - Killed in the presence of another cantidate by a bold assassin Gwaihir - Choseyre of House Aricline - Defeated in spell battle in her own household. Current whereabouts unknown. Tanuchan - Katelyn of House Minobee - Lost in Shadow and currently unretrievable Venefyxatu - Karen of House Minobee - Missing presumed dead Patrick Durham - Johann of House Wererathe - Carelessly seems to have stumbled into the lair of some chaos beast JDRollins - Denor of House Helgram MeThinksUFoolish - Duke of the house Munich - Dead from a... hunting accident. Yes, that's what it was... Vahktang - The General of the House of War - Deceased: poisoned in his rooms by persons unknown. Quincunx - Cid of Tarquin - Deceased: A most unfortunate accident with a hunting fire angel Azuran - Sol of House Sepharis Cryptomancer - Sabastian of house Sawall ~~~ I'm just getting confirmation of nightphase actions and catching up on the game. I'll post the death in a few hours once I've got some kind of sleep. Once that's up consider the day phase underway officially. Once again, sorry for the delays. ~~~ Edit: I've added the wolf 'kill' from last night / this morning to this scorecard also - in order it was Akallabeth then Gwaihir that went down to a lynching and a wolf in that order. Day phase is now open - it'll be over when the weekend ends... so that'd be about...48 hours, give or take a bit. I leave it up to you where you want to pick things up... best guess is maybe in your responses to whatever Cryptomancer is setting up with his letters?

I've just been told that my ride to this conference I'm going too is waiting my presence so I don't have as much time as I'd have liked. The Lynching is done.... the one who did it knows who he/she is I'm hoping that there'll be a net connection where I'm going so that I don't end up cut off for the next couple of days - I'll ask Mynx to post an update on that as soon as I know for sure. In the meantime - the scorecard will go up here later. Our unusual daytime nightphase will continue... please keep posting and reacting as you will to the lynching.. Specials PM me with your night phase actions and in 24 hours with luck I'll post a kill and you can all keep right on playing with your *day* phase actions. For now, gotta run... Update here as soon as I know if i can.

Sabastian moved to get himself and Ciroth a drink, leaving the demonformed Hendrake behind him once more. Ciroth contemplated challenging Sabastian to a duel to answer for his accusations and his insults and his hand dropped, not to subtly, to the hilt of his blade. Sabastian was well aware of the threat that Ciroth posed and the possibility that blades might be drawn in challenge, the question of whether his own training in the blade would stand up against one trained by the weapons-masters of house Hendrake turned idly in his head and he smiled to himself, entertaining his own thoughts. In the darkness behind Ciroth something moved. alert for treachery from Sabastian, Ciroth didn't notice the stealthy patch of darkness behind him, but alert to the threat from Ciroth, Sabastian did. Turning with a glass in both hands Sabastian gave Ciroth a smile, his eyes widening in suprise as a patch of black on blackness rose behind the son of House Hendrake and plunged a silvered blade upwards, where it bit deeply slicing into the brain of the demonformed warrior. The shadow regarded Sabastian for the briefest of moments and he calmly raised an eyebrow, then bellowed the call to arms as the shadowy figure whirled and was gone. The guards arrived seconds later, never far away due to the volatile nature of the succession, to find Sabastian with both hands holding glasses of wine - no sign of spillage - and Ciroth undenyably dead, with an all too anonymous dagger planted firmly in his now cooling corpse.

Gryphon sidles up to Patrick and nudges him with a wingtip. So... promoted I hear. Well done. Enjoy growing into your new rank.

Gwai, I did get your vote. It's been tallied. I think we're currently waiting on 3? others for this round. The next couple of phases are possibly going to be a little... choppy. I'm away at a conference from tomorrow that should have internet access, but I'm not 100% sure of that yet. What I'm going to do is ask that everyone who hasn't already done so, please get todays lynching vote to me asap and specials if you can PM me your night actions also. If I get them all in good time I'll end this day phase and then shorten the next night phase a bit so that we can be back into a day phase before I go away.. just in case there's an internet absence at this conference location.

Hope you all had excellent birthdays.

In case you're curious why I've not called an end to the current day phase - it's because of 3 things: 1, The interaction between Cryptomancer and Azuran. 2, The lack of interaction from everyone else (I know, weekends - giving you all time here). 3, The lack of votes on who's the next target. PM's to me whenever folks. I'm giving this another 38 hours or so (give or take a little) so unless some insanely intriguing posts start to happen after the weekend quiet time. In which case I might extend a bit further to give them time to play out. We'll see.

Ok, we're back into 'day phase' I'll accept votes via PM if it's working, or email if PM's not... we'll go with roughly 48 hours from now, subject to extensions because of weekend and good action happening in the thread. I'd suggest the next set of posting start with reactions to the... incident that's just occured and go from there. ~~~ Current Scorecard: Mynx - Samantha of Aldwin Akallabeth - Ciroth of Hendrake Gwaihir - Choseyre of House Aricline Tanuchan - Katelyn of House Minobee - Lost in Shadow and currently unretrievable Venefyxatu - Karen of House Minobee - Missing presumed dead Patrick Durham - Johann of House Wererathe - Carelessly seems to have stumbled into the lair of some chaos beast JDRollins - Denor of House Helgram MeThinksUFoolish - Duke of the house Munich - Dead from a... hunting accident. Yes, that's what it was... Vahktang - The General of the House of War - Deceased: poisoned in his rooms by persons unknown. Quincunx - Cid of Tarquin - Deceased: A most unfortunate accident with a hunting fire angel Azuran - Sol of House Sepharis Cryptomancer - Sabastian of house Sawall

Duke stepped up and all heads turned in his direction, polite smiles and thinly veiled distrust written clearly across various faces throughout the room. Raising his hands for silence to quell the last remaining pockets of discussion Duke began to speak, addressing those gathered: "Welcome everyone, I asked you all here tonight to address..." Duke's voice choked off into silence and his eyes began to bulge as he stared at something behind his gathered guests. Turning to follow his gaze the room erupted into general pandemonium as the other cantidates spotted the massive demonic shape stalking across the floor towards them. Some of the more adventurous, or possibly stupid, cantidates snapped off spells or blades at the beast, while the others stampeded for the doors, only to discover that they were blocked by a solid shielding spell trapping all those who'd chosen to attend the party inside with their doom. Unnoticed by those in paniced flight, the hunter demon continued it's approach, stalking the still gaping Duke, who suddenly broke, running for a private exit from the grand hall. With a coughing bark the hunter leapt to the chase catching the host of the party before he could take more than a few steps. A short slash with very very sharp claws later and Duke found himself lying on the floor unable to move as the nightmare apparation approached him. Like a cat with a mouse it stalked him. Seeing the danger that Duke was in some of the other cantidates rushed to his rescue with spells and steel, but it was too little too late. The hunter demon gave one final lash with it's claws and tore Dukes head from his quivering body before turning on the approaching would be rescuers... and vanishing with a pop along with the sheilds over the doors. In the moments that followed no-one had time to notice one or two of the cantidates looking very satisfied with the events of the evening.

I was going to post a kill or some such... but I'm too tired. I really am sorry. I'm extending the 'night phase' (not that it's really a night phase as such) for about 12 hours to allow more of you to post your party interactions, or drug hallunations or whatever before I post the next kill and the running and screaming begins. Again, sorry for the fatigue induced delay.