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[hroon]

I rally wanted to take a break for the next game but this sounds so interesting that I can't resist.

hroon is a member of the rat catcher guild and keeper of the hunting cats.

[Gainsworthy]

Gainsworthy is... not taking this game off. As he is Intrigued.


As for my role, I am part of the Ballooner's Guild, having been inspired long ago by the legendary Balloonsmith, jstckr. As you surely know, We cater for all your Ballooning needs - be it Witch Balloons at your next Burning Event, or experimental flying transports.

I'd like to remind you all not to be fooled by spurious claims that our Hot-Aired Balloons are of anything less than the highest quality! Because they are. High Quality, that is. 

[Valter]

I have come to my decision. I am head of the pie guild, and I specialize in peach and cherry cobblers. I always wanted to be a shoe maker, but the opportunity never came, and I was forced to cobble other things instead.

[Hideous]

I am Hideous, Guildmaster of the Pharmaceutical Guild. We make awesome medicine. Aww yeah.

[increpare]

I am Hideous, Guildmaster of the Pharmaceutical Guild. We make awesome medicine. Aww yeah.

Ah, but do you also sell corrective footware and new-age remedies to help people cope with menopause and shingles?

[Hideous]

Fuck yeah.

[Massena]

MASSENA head of the Guild-making Guild, bureaucrats.

[rz.]

rz.!

[shinygerbil]

shinygerbil is the wisecracking Guildsmaster of Alcoholic Beverages.

[Garthy]

Okay, we're almost there. If you've signed up above this comment, I'll confirm that you're in at this point. It's theoretically possible to start the game at this point with these numbers, but a couple more people couldn't hurt.

I'm going to leave signups open for a few more hours (about five?). This'll also give me time to finish the writing and deal with some real-life responsibilities. For the last (approximately) two positions I'm going to go on merit / quality of suggested role, and I'll take a couple of names as reserves too (in case of inactivity). Please be aware that at this point posting is no guarantee of inclusion, so please don't be annoyed if you miss out this time, or if you posted before someone else and they were selected instead.

If you haven't suggested a craft/Guild and have a preference, please do so ASAP, so that I can finish the initial writing. If you don't, I'll create one for you.

[Xotes]

OH GOD I ALMOST MISSED IT AGAIN!

Xotes!

Guildmaster of prinnycrafting, and my craft is crafting said prinnies. Yes, my job is to make tiny exploding demon penguins. I embrace my burden with happiness.

[Garthy]

The game is pretty close to being ready, and there are enough players. As such, public signups are now closed. The game will start in a couple of hours.

Having said that, there are still two (optional) walk-in roles available. If you'd like to fill these roles, please send me a PM- do not post publicly. They are fixed characters, so you won't be able to choose your specific role, but it is better than nothing. If you are accepted, I'll announce your arrival publicly at the right time, and you can start playing immediately. If you miss out on these, I'm happy to put you on the reserve list to cover for inactive characters. Let me know if you'd like to be a reserve.

To keep you entertained for the next two hours or so, here are some further rules and information to read through that you will find valuable for your time in Lytherre's Junction...

---

Miscellaneous

Basic rules for TWG are here (stolen from a previous game):

http://70.85.192.194/~loogsla/twg.shtml

A few basic rules to start with, I'll go over the rest of them once we begin.

- No death talk. Once you have been killed, you may not speak or PM until the game is over. I'll let you know if there is an exception. If you do, you're cheating. I'll let the next host know about it too.
- There are four main roles. You can be Human, or a Witch, or a Werewolf, or an Abomination (a werewolf witch). The basic idea is that non-witches don't like witches, but witches are fine with both witches and non-witches. Werewolves and non-werewolves have the standard TWG rivalry. It is much more important for a Human to take out a Werewolf (and vice versa) than for either to take out a witch. Remember, Werewolves are deadly, but witches are annoying (and fun to burn).
- Only the Werewolves start out knowing each-others identities. Any Abominations will appear to be ordinary werewolves to the other werewolves.
- There is one special role. The Witchhunter. A witchhunter has their own rules to follow, and their abilities are secret. They tend to be dangerous to werewolves and witches, but do not seek to harm ordinary humans. Ordinary humans may seek to hurt them, so they tend to keep quiet about their identities.
- The numbers of players in each role are completely secret. Any role could have zero, one, or a dozen members.
- There is no Seer role, but there are other ways of identifying people.
- You will know your exact role. If I say you are a Witch, you're not secretly something else, you're definitely a Witch.
- Cardflip is on- if someone dies, you all find out their exact role.
- You must vote every day, except the first. Votes must be in bold to count. Inactivity (non-voting) will be punished on the first offence, and brutally punished on the second. So don't be inactive.
- Burning (lynching) takes place just before night, with not a moment to speak a word before night falls.
- Werewolves must attempt a kill every night. One non-wolf will be selected at random if I do not hear from them. So if there is no wolf kill, you know that something happened to stop it.
- No editing previous posts. I'll take your latest bold post as your vote, no need to go back.
- Full roleplaying is in effect. No bad things will happen to you if you accept items from other characters, etc. So ham it up. Roleplaying might also affect the game in subtle ways.
- No using quote-blocks around text, if you must quote, you need to work it into your conversation.
- Never post a PM from me. That is cheating. If you need me to say something in-thread (eg. to clarify something), ask me via PM.
- Days will be 48 real-world hours in length. Of this, night will be at least 8 hours, but never more than 24. Nightfall is at approximately 8pm local time (Adelaide, Australia) every second day. I think this is 10:30am UTC/GMT. Plan accordingly.
- Every character will have some sort of decision they have to submit by sunset. Witches get visions of one person, whilst non-Witches can choose to investigate one person. Results from actions will occur via PM in the morning.
- If you have any actions due by sunrise, you can submit them early if you like. If you change your mind before then, that's okay. Just send me the revised action.
- If you don't get an action to me in time, you'll miss out, or have a target randomly chosen, as appropriate.
- Every player will have some sort of minor beneficial quirk about them, which they will know.
- Every player will have a secret subobjective, which is generally not harmful to anyone else. They will gain investigative or vision bonuses for each day they meet that subobjective.
- PM me with any rule questions, I'll post answers publicly if rule clarification is needed. I might ignore in-thread posts to me if replying could affect the game, so please don't hesitate to PM me if you really need an answer.
- PMs to other players are allowed during the day. No PMs at night. Werewolves can chat amongst themselves at night though.
- Posting during night is not recommended, due to the Witchly behaviour rules above. If you post, you risk being burnt at the stake.

Witch Burning

In Lytherre's Junction, the term "lynching" is frowned upon, almost viewed as profane. They prefer the term "burning", or "witch burning", as in "burning a witch alive".

In a large city such as Lytherre's Junction, burning works a little differently than in smaller towns. Respected members of the community use their influence to sway the opinion of the populace, and the loudest voices of the crowd determine who will be chosen to burn.

Guildmasters have a great deal of influence over the members of their Guild, and so their voice sways many more than ordinary members. Guildmasters of larger Guilds have more influence than the Guildmasters of smaller Guilds. They also have a great deal more responsibility. A Guildmaster is expected to show leadership. If a Guildmaster is remiss in their witch burning duties (ie. does not vote), their influence will be significantly reduced.

For the other cityfolk, the expectations are not as high, and the effect of nonvoting once is less severe. They still do have influence over segments of the city, but never as much as a Guildmaster. As such their vote counts for much less, but it is harder for them to lose their influence.

Subobjectives

Each of you have subobjectives. As a general rule, these are player-specific goals that you should work into roleplaying. Each tends to give a bonus to either visions or investigations. It is very rare that these actions will affect other characters poorly, and even so only do so indirectly. So ham it up.

All of the trigger actions must be performed publicly, PMs don't count. You may not discuss the specifics of your subobjectives with anyone, even your most trusted allies. Please note that sharing subobjectives is considered cheating. You won't be kicked out for doing it, but if you do it deliberately, you should personally feel guilty at least. If the guilt isn't enough, I'll reduce the benefits to an appropriate degree too.

If you suspect that you have discovered someone's particular subobjective of another, feel free to strategically help or hinder them. If they cheated by revealing their subobjective blatantly, please help the game by avoiding triggering their subobjective actions.

Objectives

Your role determines your game objectives. There are three victory conditions, in order of merit: Complete Victory, Partial Victory, and Posthumous Victory. There is one loss condition, which occurs only if you die and do not get a Posthumous victory. Keep an eye on both your objectives, and the objectives of others. Your aim is to maximise the level of victory for your "team", what the other "teams" get doesn't matter at all. Having said that, their goals may conflict with yours, so remain aware of them.

Human Objectives

Complete victory: You survive, all werewolves eliminated, more than half of the witches killed.
Partial victory: You survive, all werewolves eliminated.
Posthumous victory: You die, but would have had a complete victory if you had survived.
Loss: You die.

NB: Whether or not a Witchhunter lives or dies makes no difference to you.

Witch Objectives

Complete victory: You survive, all werewolves eliminated, more than half of the non-werewolves survive. No witchhunter remains.
Partial victory: You survive.
Posthumous victory: You die, but would have had a complete victory if you had survived.
Loss: You die, and you would not have had a complete victory if you had survived.

NB: You are working with the humans, but they do seek to harm you, so keep low.

Werewolf Objectives

Complete victory: You survive, only werewolves remain- no abominations survive.
Partial victory: You survive, only werewolves and abominations remain.
Posthumous victory: You die, but would have had a complete victory if you had survived.
Loss: You die, and you would not have had a complete victory if you had survived.

Abomination Objectives

Complete victory: You survive, only werewolves and abominations remain. More werewolves (and abominations) are alive than have been killed.
Partial victory: You survive, only werewolves and abominations remain.
Posthumous victory: You die, but would have had a complete victory if you had survived.
Loss: You die, and you would not have had a complete victory if you had survived.

NB: You are working with the werewolves, but they do seek to harm you, so keep low.

Witchhunter Objectives

Complete victory: You survive, and no witches or werewolves remain. The more surviving humans, the better.
Partial victory: You survive, and no werewolves remain. The less witches, the better. The more surviving humans, the better.
Posthumous victory: You die, but would have had a complete victory if you had survived.
Loss: You die, and you would not have had a complete victory if you had survived.

NB: A Witchhunter may have other secret objectives they must achieve. Nobody else knows what they are.
NB: A Witchhunter will, on quick analysis, determine that for all other roles, your survival is either detrimental (all but the Humans) or makes no difference (for the Humans). Nobody gains from your survival but you. You fight for the Humans, but nobody cares for you. So be discrete.

Visions

All Witches and Abominations get a single vision each night. The target of the vision must be declared to me by PM before sunset. The actual vision takes place at night, when everyone is sleeping.

Each witch has visions of a certain theme. This theme changes on a new moon, which coincidentally is tonight. The specifics of that theme determine what role the target has. For example, your theme could be colour. You then might see a vision of your target in red light, holding a red object, with a red sky.

There are two possible scenarios for each of the five roles, leading to ten possible scenarios that you can potentially see. What this means is that if see the same scenario for two different people, you know that their roles are the same. Of course, you do not know exactly which role they have.

Visions are naturally incredibly valuable should the role of one character be revealed when you had a matching vision of another character- this positively identifies the other character to you.

In the above example, there would be ten different colours you may see in your vision. If you saw one character in red and another in red, you know them to be the same role.

Once you have a vision of any character, further visions on the same character will normally give exactly the same result. If you ever get a different result, something strange has happened since your last vision.

To make it easier for you, I'll italicised the key words you need to look for in the vision. I think it would be possible to play the game without this extra benefit, but it's complicated enough already, I think.

You each have secret subobjective. Each day you meet this objective, your chance of a more useful vision (ie. matching colour to someone else) will increase.

There is also another problem with witch visions, which is why witches typically do not use them too often- and that is: Side Effects. Odd things often happen to the target of a vision. They won't know who used a vision on them, but will probably guess that they were the target of a witch's vision. In some cases, other people will notice too. Side Effects are generally annoying, and sometimes even beneficial, but under the right circumstances, they can actually kill.

On the first night, witches get two visions. After that, they get one each night.

On the first night, you will be presented with two names, and two keywords. The first name corresponds to the first keyword, and the second with the second. You don't have to guess which is which.

You can change your mind before sunset if you like, just send me another PM saying that you want to change it, and the details.

You must get your requests for visions to me by PM by sunset. All visions are revealed by PM at sunrise.  If the target of your visions is no longer alive at sunset, your visions are wasted.

Investigation

All Humans and Werewolves can investigate a single target during the day. They should PM their choice to me before sunset. Most of the time, you will be told that the evidence is inconclusive, and they will gain nothing from the experience. Don't be disappointed, most of the time you will get nothing conclusive.

Occasionally, however, you will get information on your target's role. Most of the time, it will be accurate. There is a small random chance that you will get a wrong answer (a false positive). So even if you find out what someone is, you do not know for sure if you can trust this information.

Once you reach a conclusive answer on someone, further investigation on the same character will normally be inconclusive or confirm the same result. If you ever get a different result, something strange has happened since you last investigated.

You each have secret subobjective. Each day you meet this objective, your chance of a conclusive answer will increase, and the chance of a false positive will decrease.

Non-witches get to perform a single investigation each day.

You can change your mind before sunset if you like, just send me another PM saying that you want to change it, and the details.

Witches probably want to pretend to other characters that they are performing investigations during the day to hide their identities.

You must get your requests for investigations to me by PM by sunset. All results are revealed by PM at sunrise. If the target of your investigations is no longer alive at sunset, your investigation is wasted.

Covens

A Witch may attempt to form a coven. To do this, they should PM me with two other people who they are pretty sure are also witches. If they are right, a coven is formed, and all three players are notified. Please note that an Abomination can not form or be part of a coven, and does not count as a witch for this purpose.

Any witch in the coven can invite other people to the coven, also by PM-ing me their choice.

People may choose to leave a coven by PM-ing me, and sometimes death will take a member as well. Sometimes a character will be forced to leave for some reason. All coven members will be notified of the departure, but not the reason for it.

A coven is disbanded if it falls below three members. The remaining members can of course continue to work together, looking for a new third member.

A coven gives the group of witches an extra group vision a day for every witch in it above two. For example, a three-witch coven gets one group vision per day, and a five-witch coven gets three.

Unfortunately, forming a coven is risky. If anyone invited into a coven is not a Witch, the invitee will be publicly revealed as being a Witch, with predictable effect on their lifespan. So be really careful.

Witchly Behaviour

Lytherre's Junction cityfolk have had a long past involving witches, and they have limited tolerance for their behaviour. The following activities are considered highly suspect to the people in the city:

- Talking at night (only witches talk at night).
- Declaring that you might be a witch (only a witch would suggest that they might be a witch).
- Declaring that you are a witch (well, fair's fair).
- Suggesting that you have had visions of any sort (only witches have visions).
- Suggesting that a proved witch should not be burned (only witches don't want to burn witches).
- Certain other highly-suspicious activities.

If anyone performs any of these highly-suspicious activities, the standard procedure is as follows:

- Someone cries their name, the rule they broke, and then "A witch! A witch!". For example: "Garthy! He claims to be a witch! A witch! A witch!".
- Someone else cries "Burn Him! Burn Him!" or "Burn Her! Burn Her!" (Lytherre's Junction is an equal-opportunity witch burner).
- Once the host sees this, and determines that it is "a fair cop", then the crowd will suddenly rush the accused and burn them. This is in addition to any daily burning.

Please note that one person must perform the first step, and a different person must perform the second. The posts must be short, containing the prescribed text, and there must not have been too many other posts from other people in the meantime (the accused and the host don't count). Also, don't start this exchange at night, as in the morning it is very likely that the other cityfolk will try to burn you for also talking at night.

The host's decision on whether a burning is justified is final. No arguments, as arguing with fictional entities is also considered witchly behaviour.

---

I'm only human. If you think I've made a mistake, let me know by PM, and I'll check it out. If I stuffed up, I'll fix it. I won't hold it against you for asking.

---

Game starting soon...

EDIT: Blended rules from other posts into here, updated as needed.

[McAndrews]

Oh, sorry to be a bit late.  You can get rid of the weathermen stuff from my guild.  Its cool if we're all middle ages and stuff.  Yeah, I'm cool with words today. 

[Melly]

Holy crap Garthy.

And I thought Xion had complicated things. You're really enjoying yourself, aren't you? I wish you luck managing all that.

[rz.]

oh boy! and garthy, when you said "witches only talk at night" did you mean "only witches talk at night"? making surez.

[Garthy]

rz.: Very observant! I made a mistake by interchanging two words, with some pretty nasty consequences to the meaning. I'll edit that. Thanks for letting me know. To confirm: "Only witches talk at night". So anyone can talk in the day, but if you speak at night, you risk being burnt. This is to make accidentally breaking the no-night-talk rule very dangerous.

Melly: Don't make me add turrets!

I'll also add the following to clarify further: As per usual TWG rules, no night talking, even by PM, unless you are werewolves discussing a kill with other werewolves.

[Garthy]

These are the major characters in the story of Lytherre's Junction. The true significance of this particular set of characters will become apparent in the first day. They are:

battlerager: Guildmaster of the Mercenaries Guild. battlerager is a fierce and mighty warrior, having reached the top of his profession through a combination of skill and raw fighting power. You would not want to end up in a one-on-one fight with this fellow. Thankfully he is actually quite friendly and level-headed. He is known for never starting a fight, but for being very fast to finish them. He is one of the more intelligent members of the Guild.

Cheater: Captain of the Guard. With strong ties to both the Guild of Law and the Mercenaries Guild, Cheater is an influential member of the city. He is responsible for the ensuring the safety of the city against all external threats- witches are generally considered internal threats and not his responsibility. The previous captain recently suffered a severe accident involving some poorly-stored pikes, and has since retired from the role. Cheater was promoted into the position recently, and has thus far filled the role well.

chutup: Musician of the Musical Artisans Guild. chutup is a reasonably skilled fife player. He is learning quickly though, and in time could become one of the strongest fifeplayers in the Guild. Still, he can call up an impressive tune when he desires. He is extremely intelligent and is very popular with the ladies, who flock to see his fife playing. He is an ordinary member of his guild and has no chance achieving leadership in the near future.

cyber95: Councilor representative of the Musical Artisans Guild. cyber95 is a skilled fifesmith, perhaps the greatest fife maker in the land. His fifeplaying is great, but hardly exceptional. His true passion and skill lies in their construction. He represents the Musical Artisans Guild on the ruling council, his appointment being made in the usual way.

Fifth: Guildmaster of the Weaver's Guild. A skilled cloth artisan, Fifth was actually responsible for the formation of the Guild and played a major role in its growth through the years. A master of the thread, Fifth is often adorned in the finest of silks. In his spare time he creates splendid clothes for the poorer children in the city.

Gainsworthy: Guildmaster of the Alchemists Guild. Gainsworth brings to the town the strange scientific invention of "Balloons", strange contraptions of cloth filled with marsh gas that mysteriously float in the air on a tail of thread. Considered a natural inventor, Gainsworthy was recently elected as Guildmaster of the Alchemists Guild. He has a fondness of the antics of children and shares his clever invention with them- he offers his "Balloons" to small children as toys, much to their immense delight.

GeneralValter: Guildmaster of the Bakers Guild. GeneralValter is a man of many talents, but his greatest passion is in baking delicious pies of every type. No filling is beyond his abilities. His pies have been eaten by royalty throughout the known world. He once delayed a major war by several weeks by providing the generals on both sides with delicious pastry treats. Naturally, he rose almost instantly to the top of his profession.

Hideous: Potionmaster of the Alchemists Guild. Hideous is a senior member of the Alchemists Guild, and has held the title of Guildmaster in the past. He brews an amazing variety of lotions, potion, and salves. He is the town's authority on miracle cures, due to an occasional (but sadly, inconsistent) ability to brew remedies to major ailments. He has proven his talent by saving several people from deadly illnesses, but is haunted by the loss of those he did not manage to save.

hroon: Senior Trainer in the Animal Trainers Guild. A skilled trainer of hunting cats, hroon worked his way up quickly through the ranks of Animal Trainers. Under his influence the Guild has expanded into the area of pest control, much to the utter delight of the town which had recently experienced an unfortunate influx of rats and snakes. He is leadership material, and will likely be the Guildmaster one day. Despite his mastery of housecat training, hroon has never mastered the training of larger animals, such as tigers.

Inane: Guildmaster of the Architects Guild. A fine craftsman, he has been responsible for much of the impressive architecture around the city. He was personally responsible for the impressive city design that allows the river to run through the city whilst causing absolutely no disruption to the usual foot-traffic. As the greatest architect of the city, there was never really a choice about who should lead the Guild.

increpare: Guildmaster of the Musical Artisans Guild. Increpare is a highly respected professional lute maker, with an unequaled ability to play them. He was a natural to lead the Guild. He is perhaps the city's greatest entertainer, able to weave a song on almost any topic.

Lucaz: Senior Accountant of the Bankers Guild. Lucaz is the Head Accountant for the Bankers Guild. Unusually cheerful for his occupation, Lucaz plays a significant role in managing the finances of the city. He is generally well-liked throughout his Guild, but not as well known outside of it, which limits his influence somewhat.

Massena: Lead Bureaucrat of the Bankers Guild. Massena is a career bureaucrat, and a senior member of the Bankers Guild. Primarily responsible for much of the fiscal and political policy-making in the town. He is effectively the second-in-charge of the Bankers Guild, not from any particular favours from the current Guildmaster- who despises him- but more as a broad base of support for his effective policy authoring.

McAndrews: Meteorologist of the Alchemists Guild. McAndrews is a senior member of the Alchemists guild, having concentrated his research on bizarre alchemical methods and animal migration habits to enable him to predict the weather. He is looking to found the field of "meteorologist", but his techniques still need some refinement. Remarkably, on occasion he has been proven to be able to predict the weather correctly ahead of time.

Melly: Guildmaster of the Erotic Crafstmanship Guild. The Erotic Crafstmanship Guild is responsible for some of the more... stimulating works found around the town. They are also responsible for some of the more "interesting" personal entertainment items used discretely by many of the cityfolk. Melly's brilliant phallic claywork ensured his meteoric rise to the top of the Guild.

rz.: Guildmaster of the Guild of Law. rz is the head judge of the city court system and by the rules of the Guild, is automatically selected as its Guildmaster. He has shown great insight in his career as a judge and has removed many dangerous criminals from the street. He is slightly resentful of his position, as he is more at home in the courtroom and is only Guildmaster as the rules require him to be so. Still, he handles his position well and is an effective leader.

shinygerbil: Brewmaster of the Bakers Guild. shinygerbil, a former Guildmaster, became a senior member of the Bakers guild shortly after it absorbed the ailing Brewers Guild. Whilst he was formerly a Guildmaster, his new role has the same benefits and less responsibilities than his old one, so he has quickly settled into it. He is somewhat keen to "oversample" some of the finer beverages in the town. Despite this shinygerbil has proven himself to be a master of all things alcoholic. He is sadly too unreliable to ever rise to leadership of the Bakers Guild- not that he'd want that responsibility anyway.

Xion: Officer for bodyguard affairs of the Mercenaries Guild. Xion is a senior bodyguard and member of the Mercenaries guild, responsible for the affairs and working conditions of all bodyguards in the city. He is naturally an exceptionally skilled bodyguard. His services are incredibly expensive, but there are none finer than he. He has no interest in challenging the existing leadership of the Mercenaries guild.

Xotes: Guildmaster of the Animal Trainers Guild. Xotes is a keeper of exotic animals, having traveled far and wide to bring the interesting and the bizarre to the city. His specialty is an animal not native to the region- dwarf penguins, which he has several of. They have been trained to perform simple tasks. Friendly and polite, he is popular with many of the cityfolk. Whilst he is not the most effective leader of the Guild, he does an acceptable job.

Zane (non-player character): Guildmaster of the Bankers Guild. Responsible for the creation, distribution, and management of the city coinage, Zane quickly rose to lead the Bankers Guild. He holds the Guildmaster position of the Bankers Guild not out of merit, but due to screwd politicing. He is unscrupulous and manipulative. He is generally disliked, and outright hated by other Guildmasters. He is generally pretty busy, and frankly quite rude. Please note: As an NPC, I will control his actions. Please don't send PMs to talk to Zane, as he will always be in meetings or otherwise held up, and can't be bothered talking to you, unless he comes to you first. As I have mentioned, he is quite a rude and unlikeable individual.

I hope the roles are to everyone's liking- I made them as close to the original requests as I possibly could. Some useful clues are scattered in these descriptions- reading is fun!

EDIT: Added Cheater and Lucaz in, who joined on day two.

[Garthy]

It is an otherwise unremarkable day in the history of Lytherre's Junction. It is arguably a little cloudier than usual, but with the light showers, sunny days, and clear skies common in the city, it is more likely that everyone is just being a little fussy.

The day suddenly becomes all that more remarkable when the city bell starts ringing loudly.

People stop what they are doing, and ponder. It has been many years since the city bell was last rung. Reserved for city emergencies, the city bell is rung only when an urgent city meeting is required. The logistics of packing several thousand people into the city centre at once is sufficiently difficult to deter ringing the bell most of the time.

People slowly migrate toward the city centre, where they see the mayor, Garthy, standing behind a podium, about to deliver an announcement of some sort.

The Guildmasters mutter under the breath, almost in unison, wondering what the incompetent mayor could possibly want. Perhaps he is lost, and stumbled up onto the podium. Perhaps he has finally realised exactly how out of his depth he is in his role. Heck, he is probably drunk.

As the people assemble, Garthy beings to speak.

"Hear ye! Hear ye! I bring grave news to you all."

The people look around in confusion, having been quite accustomed to there usually being very little bad news to share. They are not quite sure what to make of it all. A hub hub starts in the crowd, and then begins to fall away.

When silence eventually falls, Garthy continues:

"I am certain, from my continued research and studies, that a terrible threat faces our city."

Garthy pauses to catch his breath, having not spoken this loudly and not at this length for most of his life. Breath captured, he continues:

"We are under threat from a dark force in this city- a deadly creature of wolf and man. A werewolf. I know the exact identity of this foul beast. It is one of our most trusted Guildmasters. You may ask how I know this, and I shall tell you. You might not like what I have to say, and how I found this out. But I must tell you the truth, so that you can believe me."

Garthy pauses for a while, plucking up the courage to speak his next words, which he knows will be difficult.

"I am a witch."

Shock passes through the crowd, which leaves everyone in stunned silence. How can a witch have made it to be the very mayor of the city?

The first voice to speak again is Garthy. "We must act quickly. If we are to stop the werewolf..." he beings.

"Garthy! He says he is a witch! A witch! A witch!" cries one voice from the crowd.

"Yes, I am. But we can deal with that later. We need to..." Garthy responds.

"Burn him!" "Burn him!" come the voices from the crowd.

"We need to stop the werewolf! If we don't..." Garthy cries.

But this is as far as he gets. By this point several members of the crowd have stormed the platform, knocked the podium to the side, and pulled Garthy down into the crowd. A dirty rag is shoved into his mouth to stop any devious, witchy words from being spoken, and he is dragged by his feet toward the pyre.

The city springs into action. Work parties are organised for an impromptu celebration, and stalls are rapidly erected. Crafts-men and -women alike dart off to collect their wares, as the festival is about to begin.

He is strapped up on the post, and kindling is thrown around the base. Oil is thrown liberally over the base, and larger logs emerge from the crowd in all directions, landing clumsily on the pile.

"Mrrrf mrrrmmmfff mmmmrrrff!" opines Garthy in an astute observation of his current predicament, though his choice of final words may have been influenced by the gag in his mouth.

A flaming torch flies forward from the crowd and strikes the base of the pyre.

Garthy desperately gestures his head toward the assembled Guildmasters, seemingly in an attempt to indicate which one of them is the werewolf. This lasts for perhaps a moment before the flames roar up, and Garthy's attention is taken by other matters, as he is taken by the flames. No matter, as Garthy was a witch, and you can never trust the witchy witch words of a witch anyway. Besides, who ever heard of a werewolf?

The impromptu festival continues, and in little time, there is nothing left of Garthy but a pile of ashes. Even in death, Garthy is still disorganised, and his ashes scatter aimlessly in the wind.

Garthy was a Witch.

---

Your roles should be sent out shortly. Once that is done, I'll send the "Day One" post, and we can get things going.

[Garthy]

The shocking claim by Garthy that there is a werewolf in the city leaves many wondering. But the fact remains that Garthy was a Witch, and witches cannot be trusted. As no evidence has been found confirming the existence of werewolves at all, what reason is there to suspect that it is anything but a lie?

No self-respecting Guildmaster would risk burning an innocent on a rumour started by a witch, and no Guild member would dare cross the unanimous decision of all of the Guildmasters. As such, there will be no vote to burn this day. Attempting to vote will be frowned upon, and no burning without the consent of the Guildmasters anyway.

Unless anyone has any conclusive evidence to prove the existence of werewolves?

In the meantime, the Guildmasters and everyone get back to their day-to-day tasks. But amongst the wise, doubts surface, and a series of investigations begin. The wiser witches also make secret plans to use their visions to dig into the heart of the matter.

---

For the first day, you may wish to begin certain discussions and interact with other cityfolk today. Some of you already have useful information, and some of you have the means to obtain more. Some already have allies, and may wish to discuss plans. You may also have subobjectives that will improve your abilities if met. You might also want to give some careful thought as to your actions this day, and this night, and get those PMs to me as soon as you are ready.

Any rule questions, hit me with a PM. Please avoid posting in the thread asking me a question, it breaks character.

The first sunset will be in roughly in 50 hours, real world time, at roughly 10:30am UTC/GMT. This should give you enough time to begin, and also read through the volumes of relevant text. Unless something changes, there will be no burning tonight, but it will be an eventful night regardless. From there, it's roughly 48 hours of real time per day. I may push the sunset time back a day if the forum is acting up too much, but I'll never move it forward.

Major characters:

battlerager: Guildmaster of the Mercenaries Guild
chutup: Musician of the Musical Artisans Guild.
cyber95: Councilor representative of the Musical Artisans Guild.
Fifth: Guildmaster of the Weaver's Guild.
Gainsworthy: Guildmaster of the Alchemists Guild.
GeneralValter: Guildmaster of the Baker's Guild.
Hideous: Potionmaster of the Alchemists Guild.
hroon: Senior Trainer in the Animal Trainers Guild.
Inane: Guildmaster of the Architects Guild.
increpare: Guildmaster of the Musical Artisans Guild.
Massena: Lead Bureaucrat of the Bankers Guild.
McAndrews: Meteorologist of the Alchemists Guild.
Melly: Guildmaster of the Erotic Crafstmanship Guild.
rz.: Guildmaster of the Guild of Law.
shinygerbil: Brewmaster of the Bakers Guild.
Xion: Officer for bodyguard affairs of the Mercenaries Guild.
Xotes: Guildmaster of the Animal Trainers Guild.
Zane (NPC): Guildmaster of the Bankers Guild.

You may now begin! It is Day One.

[William Broom]

Hmph. Lousy witches talk nothing but rubbish. I truly doubt that there is anything amiss in this town, other than perhaps the existence of more witches, of course. Now who wants a nice fife-melody to relax after all that exhausting witch-burning?