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MURDER MYSTERY II: The Shifting Sands of Shyzoth

In ancient times the desert city of Shyzoth was a shining jewel, an oasis of prosperity amid the bronze and white crystalline sands of the vast desert. A thousand years before it was the seat of the greatest and largest empire of this planet, an empire spanning multiple continents. Now the empire has long since fallen into disarray, a multitude of competing city-states. Of these regions, however, Shyzoth is perhaps the oldest and most powerful. It is a city webbed by canals, aqueducts and irrigation systems where water == life in such a harsh location. Its buildings are ancient and sandy and majestic, topped with colorful minarets and the dominant religion, Hanshin, supplies many towers as Pinnacles reaching toward the exalted land in the sky.

The city is also a city of intrigue. A shady organization known as Tal'vrak runs the underground. Black markets thrive using secret signs and smoke symbols, integrated into the bustling street markets. Amid the trading of ancient empire artifacts and array of useful items is the trading of illegal weapons, drugs (Shyzoth is the capital of the world for an addicting desert flower called psyflora) and even slaves. There are certain streets that even the stalwart City Enforcers hesitate to visit. Streets that you can go to hire dark-robed monk assassins and slimy cutthroats, but only if you accept the risk of dying in the process.

The politics of Shyzoth are as complex and twisting as its high-walled streets and network of dusty canals. A figure known as the Mazoth rules the city as sort of a mayor, but the Mazoth does not have absolute control, far from it. The Mazoth must answer to his puppet masters, the Shyzoth Chancellors, a group of 5 ex-Mazoths that supposedly have lots of wisdom and charisma but really just have pockets full of gifts and bribes from various organizations, companies and individuals. Many potential Mazoths run for office on the idea of bringing justice and accountability to the halls of leadership, but they have to balance this initial desire with the possible future of becoming a Chancellor themselves after their 5 year term is up. It's a public election to be a Mazoth but when a Chancellor dies, the remaining Chancellors hold a private meeting to choose the replacement from ex-Mazoths, hence all the @ss-kissing that goes on.

That's not all though. It is often said that Shyzoth has two different avenues of leadership. After the empire fell due to its connection to a violent religion called Zamoa (which is now outlawed everywhere and hated and feared), all city-states are ideally supposed to be secular. However the religion Hanshin, which has been around for a very long time as the religion of the desert nomads, has taken root in Shyzoth in the past few hundred years and come to dominate the spiritual scene. The church is led by women only and the position of Theocrata goes to the most esteemed of these women. It is a position of dictatorship and extreme fundamentalism. Hanshin is a religion that attempts to integrate itself with every possible aspect of daily life and make its presence known.

Now that we have some background, let's introduce the scenario. A small number of people have gathered in a public square to hear the speech of a man known as Cabuul. Cabuul entered the city a couple weeks ago with a small troupe of followers, admirers and "disciples" that he collects in his wanderings. Many different types of people come to these kind of speeches. Many have crazy theories about codes within what he speaks. He has called himself a Martyr for Truth even though he was still alive. He's an enigma and a troublemaker. Medical personalities have diagnosed him with mild schizophrenia and extreme narcissism. Social personalities have described his voice as fluid and delicious and captivating.

Now he's dead.

More details to come later, but basically the City Enforcers have quarantined off the square and everyone that was listening to Cabuul's speech for one reason or another must remain inside until the killer has been brought to justice. However city law states that a quarantine can only be under effect for a certain time limit. If the killer has not been arrested by < *** >, the quarantine lifts and everyone can go home - including the killer, and this will become a cold case. (There are no intermediate "hours" or anything like that, it's a straight shot).

Now the City Enforcers have supplied two of their best people to be the official handlers of the case, and unlike the two the detectives from the previous MM, the City Enforcers have actual authority here. They can make arrests and prevent BTSC with the arrested person while they question them under influence of truth serums. However after the third (or maybe fourth?) false arrest they will be taken off the case and then the killer can only be caught my a majority vote citizen's arrest. Ordinary citizens cannot make arrests or accusations on their own, they must present their case to the City Enforcers who have agreed to hear out any cases reasonably before deciding to arrest. If the arrest was correct, the credit will go to the citizen that suggested it (or to the City Enforcers if they did it of their own volition).

There are also other things that need figuring out. There will be a list of questions that citizens want to find the answers to in addition to snooping out the killer. There are more crimes than just murder. If the citizens deliver correct answers to the City Enforcers they will be rewarded; punished for wrong answers. Also the killer may or may not have a secret agenda in progress during the events.

All of the characters will have more personality and more secret information than last time and the events around the murder will be more fleshed out… it's a good idea to not give away all your info at once though, not if you want to survive and possibly win. There will be multiple layers of intrigue.

There will also be "items", tangible objects (possibly evidence-related) that can change hands and be used to provide various information, abilities, etc.

Don't let yourself be covered by the shifting sands of Shyzoth…

Public Knowledge:

> not having a list of "questions" to answer

> an arrest involves the City Enforcers arresting a specific person for a specific crime. The truth serum is good for 1 question - to determine if they did that specific crime or not. Then the enforcers can hold that person in individual quarantine (no BTSC except with the enforcers) as long as they want, but only one person can be arrested at a time

> 3 incorrect arrests before it becomes a situation of majority voting. We'll explain that if/when it comes to it

> list of people in the square: (with some personality traits in brackets)

Businessman [hotheaded, big ego, likes to get in scuffles]

Disciple [always getting caught up on/fascinated by tiny details]

Chancellor [prudish and germophobic]

Hot Dog Vendor Dude [outgoing, people person]

Hobo/Beggar [sloppy, sometimes drunk]

Hanshin Priestess (Identical Twin Sister to Scientist) [devoutly religious]

Outsider [foreign accent]

City Enforcer I [aggressive]

City Enforcer II [obsessed with the law, nitpicky]

Man Eating Sandwich [talks with a full mouth; observant though]

Coroner [nervous wreck]

Well-Known Tal'Vrak Mob Boss [mob boss attitude]

Hippie [hippyish]

Pregnant Animal Trainer Lady [good at manipulating men]

Scientist (Identical Twin Sister to Hanshin Priestess) [intellectual]

when you claim a role, also give him/her a name! And of course you always act as your role would, and always remain in character on the thread and in game-related PMs

Hosts: Unreality & Frost

1) Filly

2) Golfjunkie

3) Framm

4) Molly Mae

5) Blablah

6) Izzy

7) yuiop

8) MissKitten

9) JarZe (unconfirmed)

10) Klose

11) JS

12) Kat

13) GMaster479

14) dawh

15) nashville 1998

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*** just to remind everyone that a big change from the first MM was that alliances are still in MMT to your own choosing but they are by no means "official" as we're trying to be more realistic and trying to improve the gameplay too. Just clarifying that. Hence that an arrest is credited to the person that brought it up and provided evidence/reasoning. I'm not saying you shouldn't make alliances, I'm saying be careful who you trust :ph34r: Unless you have some kind of shared wincon with someone (in criminal matters or justice matters or what have you) then the core of this game is every (wo)man for himself :P

Edited by unreality
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Alright, we have arranged a replacement for klose, the Chancellor. Little Miss Sunshine will be replacing klose, so direct all your PMs/questions towards her. What's odd is klose has been on recently, I guess he just forgot about this game...

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That Buzz Kill read my message...just never answered. Way to kill my buzz. Good thing I got lots more booze.

Yeah, I don't know what happened with him...but he hasn't been responding to anything, and that kind defeats the purpose of playing.

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Miles: All right everyone! I think I have an idea as to who the murderer is, but I'm missing a piece of information. (I was missing two pieces but now I have the first (actually I have the second if you like it in chronological order)) Anyway, If anyone thinks they can help me please send me a PM.

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Conveniently, my power decided to go out a little while ago, and it seems like it'll be out for a while, possibly a day or so. Unfortunately, this means I have no access to the internet, and am currently resorting to using my phone (which is not the most optimal things for this). Since it is my only way to get on here, I'll have to ration my use for a while to conserve power. Hopefully you guys don't need me too much, though with unreality gone you'll just have to get through it. I'll try to respond to all I can, sorry about the inconvenience.

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Well, it seems like this power outage will be lasting longer than expected, so it'll be hard for me to get on as much. I'll save what's left of my battery on my phone the purpose of getting on to check (so I apologize in advance if I don't respond right away). If my power isn't back by tomorrow, unreality will have to take over from there until it does come back.

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We are looking for an object with an oval-shaped outline that is probably also something of a sharp instrument. Anyone who has information on such an object, please contact myself and Ralph via the lines of communication that we've already established. Thank you for your cooperation.

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So, I gotta get somethin off my chest...

Cabuul came to me before he died an' offered me some money if I'd make a real martyr outta him. I took the money, but I didn't touch the man. I already been locked up cuz that narc that poses as a hippie (and I say poses cuz a real hippie aint gonna go 'round narcin like that), well he dun had me locked up under a citizen's arrest. But since I didn't do nothin but buy me some booze, I got released right away.

Now, them enforcers are threatenin to lock me up again for intent...but the only intent they can ever prove is that I was offered money and I took it to get some booze. Booze is not a crime or all them bars and liquor stores would be shut down! So if them enforcers keep on chasin me, you better start lookin at them real carefully.

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Hey man, I had reason to think you murdered the dude, so I was just doin' my civil duty. No foul play, which is why you were released. Get offa my back, if the coppers arrest you, it isn't my doing.

And hey man, the only kind of narc I am is a narcotics lover. ;) So chill with it.

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No one has been accused of anything at this point. We are merely conducting an investigation and asking questions to get a more complete picture of proceedings. We are not "chasing" anyone, we are trying to unravel these twisted threads that someone here has diligently weaved. Anyone who can point us in the direction of solving this will be appropriately rewarded and the criminals will be punished. If we must at times be harsh, that is because some of you have been less than cooperative and I may have to break out charges for insubordination and obstruction of justice if people continue to insist on lying to us.

Things are beginning to fall into place and we are getting ready to make our arrests. We just have a few more inquiries to wrap up.

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I was ignored and then harrassed and threatened...I was never even given the chance to cooperate! Smells like corruption to me! I don't play pig games!

*burrrrrrrrrrrrrp*

Sorry, man, sometimes I get emotional when I'm drinkin. And this day has given me a good reason (and a lotta extra dough) to do just that...Have a brewski with me. Are ya off the clock yet?

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Okay. Out with it. I believe Cabuul left a message in his speech for someone. Did anyone spot anything?

It does say a lot about fighting the authority and stuff like that, you think he's talking about the cops being dirty???

I think it's time we all start sharing our opinions in public, that way a lot will become common knowledge.

Edited by JarZe
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Alright, I have no idea when I'll get power back, and my phone is almost dead, so you'll have to wait for unreality to get back before anything else can happen.

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