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SANCTUARY

Somewhere high in the vast jagged eternity of the Himalayas exists a timeless cluster of weathered stone buildings, clinging to the icy cliff face, attacked by howling alpine winds, only accessible by an ancient winding path, a stone stairway said to be cut into existence by the gods themselves. Nobody has climbed this stairway in centuries.

In 1907, British explorer Charles Norway, said to have gone insane in search of the elusive Yeti (whom only his fierce Australian rival Buck Lancaster claimed to have witnessed a year earlier), took his team of fellow explorers, assistants and admirers with him into the deadly peaks of the Himalayas, never to be seen again. After a month of pointless wandering, their last known contact with the outside world, at the monastery of Paro Taktsang, went down in legend as being bizarre. Norway, caked in ice and missing many digits (as well as most of his crew), was said to have been speaking in tongues, uttering things about a terrible disease, about a prisoner of the gods, about a simple truth that threatened to undermine society. Then he and his most loyal friends and mountaineers disappeared again, forever.

Ten years later, near the end of World War I, renowned expeditioner Bront Brontson and an international crew of dedicated scientists, mountaineers, military officers and local Nepalese are on the trail after a decade of fading public interest in the story of (posthumously knighted) Sir Norway. It began with the discovery of Norway's base camp at the foot of a colossal, antediluvian staircase carved directly into a massive mountain, a mountain too newly discovered (or rather, re-discovered) to even have been named yet.

However, something quickly became clear. Due to the nature of the mountain and surrounding topography, every day vicious winds slice across the face, making it impossible to travel. Night is calmer but not by much, forcing the explorers into a nocturnal assault. It's constantly snowing. It's tough going - the staircase has been eroded and reshaped over many many years into a hazardous ascent: part ice-chute, part collapsing ruin. In some places where the mountains have oozed apart, blocks are dangerously close to dropping directly into abysses and chasms below. It's cold. There may not be enough supplies. And there's something out there, in the snow. Something deadly.

And not just that. The very first day of the staircase's discovery, at the same instant everyone beheld the much distant shape of what might just be a building near the top of the mountain, Bront Brontson was murdered, from behind, with an icicle.

When I see how many people join I'll then put up the names/professions/slight backstory of everyone in the group, you can choose which you want. But of course each role has secrets too. There are more things going on than meets the eye.

Brontson's Team:

[1] …

[2] …

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You, ahem, missed a character... :P

Oh, right! dawh was Charles Norway, still wandering the mountains, mad as a ferret, in search of sanctuary...

One thing that isn't noted is who survived and made it back to the foot of the mountain. Willem, Hieronymus Fabricius, Nischal and I were all in the cave and it seems that there were a couple of people trapped in the cave system. Who made it back? :unsure:

pretty much just Mordock, Willem, yourself :ph34r: (it was Fabricius' intention to never return - perhaps that could've come into play with designating rations and saving lives on the way down but as it turns out that didn't come into play. As for Nischal, well the "villain" (in some sense) got what was coming... or did he?)

Edited by unreality
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Nischal:

Methinks Kamchatka must have gotten a hold of some lichen...I am innocent of all charges...if anything mayhaps the madness was to blame...but certainly not I...

Edited by maurice
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Gregor:

Gregor had no clear goal. So Gregor is happy with the journey. That makes sense, yes?

Gregor also found a morale for the story: If one wants to encrypt a message on a staircase/whatever, one must not start with "Do not" unless one really wants it to be misleading :D

Also, Gregor is amazed that Nischal backstabbed him (how much times counting this one? one, two, three...)

Big thanks to Unreality for hosting this game :thumbsup:

EDIT: Ok, that's big enough :D

Edited by araver
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Nischal:

Gregor, I'm sure you've misread the story. I worked with you, I kept you alive when I could have done otherwise. You and I we shared the same goal of survival. I wanted that for you and for everyone who agreed that was what we should work for. If you were backstabbed, twas not by my hands. Or was it?

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Nischal:

Gregor, I'm sure you've misread the story. I worked with you, I kept you alive when I could have done otherwise. You and I we shared the same goal of survival. I wanted that for you and for everyone who agreed that was what we should work for. If you were backstabbed, twas not by my hands. Or was it?

Gregor:

Gregor's memory is not what it used to be.

And don't spin the whole food stealing on trying to get Gregor on a better diet, cause that won't work :P

Gregor thinks we need to find a ghost thread to split hairs on that whole backstabbing issue :lol:

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Gregor:

Gregor's memory is not what it used to be.

And don't spin the whole food stealing on trying to get Gregor on a better diet, cause that won't work :P

Gregor thinks we need to find a ghost thread to split hairs on that whole backstabbing issue :lol:

Nischal:

I'll just say I had allies, and I worked with them. Maybe I didn't steal food at every opportunity I had, you see? Now I did backstab one person, but it was not you

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Vice Admiral Sebastian Mordock:

I have lived, but I have failed in my duties. *Throws self into a conveniently placed body of water.*

I must die now, rather than return with shame!

'Tis the end of my journey. And no, I am not a Klingon. I'm a Romulan. Look at Star Trek Mafia for proof.

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Gregor:

Nischal did steal food Gregor got back from the cave. And stealing food from a cook, well, let's say that's serious crime :lol:

But Nischal has a point ... Gregor needs to find another ghost around here. The one that dragged Gregor up the caves and got him addicted to lower grade stuff.

Saaaaaaaavvvvvvvvvvvvaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggggeeeeeeeeeee! I'm whooping you this time. 400 years and all. You could at least left me with some high-grade stuff.

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Yeah, I had no goal either. I only got a background story after asking for one, and it was more or less the continuation of a joke unreality and I started earlier that day. :P

As far as I know, I'm still alive *shrug*. I sent to "Go down" action ages ago.

Brother Mandrake - From an early age you were beat brutally by your alcoholic father. Your mother was addicted to a hallucinogenic lichen called Skymoss imported from Bhutan, though it was super impure and cut with other drugs that were more addictive and destructive. Longing to escape from this dark household, you got caught up in gang life and eventually ended up serving various sentences and being in and out of jail, probation, etc. Finally, in your early twenties, after learning of your ex-girlfriend's pregnancy and then miscarriage, you ran away from it all and swore yourself into a monastery hoping to change your life and turn it all around. You managed to do so and have been living a life of noodliness every since

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It was interesting to see it unfold (nothing at all like previous murder mysteries), though my only regret was that I wasn't able to be more active once my semester started up again (and I noticed the same lull in activity from almost everyone else) which kept me from organizing it better and kept others from maybe getting more involved. I was thinking of hosting another one, set in the desert (around some kind of Egyptian plotline), but hosting it in the summer so people (including myself, I was more guilty of inactivity than anyone else) have the time and inclination to really get into. Another thing would be I would flesh out each character more (Maybe have fewer characters, set from the beginning, instead of just having open signups and seeing who signs up) and have a much more fleshed out back story and plot and have more twists and turns ready. And then either have the day/night system more structured, merge it into a single phase system (without alternating day/night) or drop that part of it altogether. I know I was lacking in some organization and fleshing out this game, and could've helped tie things together better, but: I'm _very_ interesting in hearing what you liked and didn't like... features you thought were lacking, features you thought were good, features you think I should add. etc. The second one (if it happens - next summer) I'll start writing for it like a month in advance or something, crafting something really complex and interconnected with just a few characters, maybe 5-7.

Anyway yea, let me hear some constructive feedback (lay on the negative too, I wont bite!)

Edited by unreality
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From the top of my head just one thing: not all of us had a goal of sorts, so we had to rely only on our enthusiasm to explore/interact. And went low at times (I got so depressed in that cave I didn't even try to get out till the next day :rolleyes: My bad. But it was warm :D).

If we had a sense of actually completing some sort of phases towards reaching a more distant goal, then we might get more ... addicted / more forced to interact to get there. I can't really express it atm. At times, it felt like wandering through a very well-thought world, without an immediate purpose.

Will post this clearer/other things when I get inspiration. And I know this is very very hard to accommodate mafia.gif

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From the top of my head just one thing: not all of us had a goal of sorts, so we had to rely only on our enthusiasm to explore/interact. And went low at times (I got so depressed in that cave I didn't even try to get out till the next day :rolleyes: My bad. But it was warm :D).

If we had a sense of actually completing some sort of phases towards reaching a more distant goal, then we might get more ... addicted / more forced to interact to get there. I can't really express it atm. At times, it felt like wandering through a very well-thought world, without an immediate purpose.

Will post this clearer/other things when I get inspiration. And I know this is very very hard to accommodate mafia.gif

Yeah, the lack of goal was definitely something that in retrospect crippled it. Thanks for your input! Part of my idea was leaving a lot of the options up to you guys by giving an environment and then handing over the reins, so to speak, giving the player absolute freedom as to what they would do. But I should've added some more structure maybe, at least in terms of giving them in-game goals and short-term/long-term objectives. Thanks!

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I felt like there wasn't a lot of information to figure out who the murderer was. I nailed it, but that was mostly due to maurice holding Klein at knife-point pieced together with him wanting to get off the island mountain.

I didn't like that the point of my role was to start lynches.. Doesn't seem like something a man of noodles would do.

I did like that I could put my rope to a lot of other uses and was relatively free to break away and explore. :D

I don't like that I still don't know if I'm alive/won. :P

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Hmm, I have found a note written in spaghetti sauce I am having trouble making it out

"

To B*Other Ma*Drake (also k*own as IZzy also k**wn as ZaPhod)

Wh*re Are you? I was eXp*cting you Ar*ival aGes ago,

We hAve A**anged t*e bAn*ers and evErything,

we hAve hAd to pUt t*e paSta banQuet baCk iN tHe reF*iGerator

dO we XLso nXEd to senD Out a s*ArCh pArty?

Y**rs X*e g*** n**Xle

"

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Sorry, I was away for few days. So the mission ends?

UR, I like the idea actually. Somehow we waste too much time while gather group decision. so maybe we can improve that part for the next story.

thanks for hosting this.

Willem. :)

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UR, I like the idea actually. Somehow we waste too much time while gather group decision. so maybe we can improve that part for the next story.

good point. Maybe that should be a conscious effort among the players next time, or if you think that kind of self-organization just isn't feasible, I could implement a system, like where you elect a "Leader" that makes executive decisions. But you would be able to impeach/change the Leader of course. That would solve the disorganization problem probably/hopefully :lol:

Edited by unreality
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good point. Maybe that should be a conscious effort among the players next time, or if you think that kind of self-organization just isn't feasible, I could implement a system, like where you elect a "Leader" that makes executive decisions. But you would be able to impeach/change the Leader of course. That would solve the disorganization problem probably/hopefully :lol:

One of the suggestion I could think is as per below:

"Members woke up and start their plan.......They saw a winding and rocky path leading to the north. On the west, there is a wide and straight way leading to another unknown terrain.........."

Members, make your choice:

Stay in the camp

1. (leader)

2.

3.

Move to the north

1. (leader)

2.

3.

Move to the west

1. (Leader)

2.

3.

Put your name into the option you want. Number 1 is the place you willing to be the leader. Options will be closed 24 hours after this post, those who not vote will be automatically shifted to "Stay in the camp".

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