Mafia 10: May Apolyton Find Its Assassins

[Kassiopeia]

May Apolyton Find Its Assassins

A Play Most Thrilling in One to Twenty-Five Acts*

Prologue

The birth of the village of Apolyton is not well known. It's "just been there" for quite some while: some attribute its birth to Greek wanderers due to the name meaning "infinite" in the language, but others claim Canadians are to blame for its existence. How Canadians managed to set it up in a small valley just on the border of Germany on the Alps has never been properly explained.

Nonetheless, Through very crafty policies Apolyton had managed to keep itself out of harms way in the tides of wars, famine, floods and disease all the way to the glorious 21st century. History had mostly forgotten the village, and the village in turn had pretty much ignored the on-goings of the rest of the world, to an almost xenophobic extent. Nobody was scorned if they wanted to move in and settle there, however, but they had to conform to the conventions and habits of Apolyton.

Life in the village was easy-going and quite idyllic, and there was no law enforcement whatsoever. A village tribunal of sorts would resolve disputes through a very democratic voting process, where each villager had one vote. The village did have a Lord, the esteemed Jon Miller, but his title as the head of village was more nominal than anything else, inherited from his father, also an esteemed Jon Miller. The Miller manor burned down soon after its construction, so Lord Jon lived in a simple house that was designated as the Town Hall. Jon was also the arbitrator of the village tribunal, but with one vote, only had the ceremonial duty of assembling it when there was a need.

And for a while, it was good.

All this was about to change, however, and the brutal realities of the unknown outside manifested itself once in a stream of grizzly murders, which jeopardised the existence of the entire village. This is the story of these events, and whether it'll turn out to be a tragedy, a comedy, or both, is up to the smarts of the villagers themselves. So things don't look too good for them so far. The gene pool can't be in too great a condition after generations of social isolation, after all.

Dramatis Personae

The village, aside a Lord, also had a Duke. He was of strange ancestry: his father had arrived many years ago, convincing the villagers to let him stay there, calling himself the Duke of York. This made his choice of name for his son rather redundant. In any case, the village had duke o' york, the Duke of York, after his father had perished in a hunting accident nigh three months ago. The Duke and the Lord were rather cost efficient and shared the services of only one butler, namely Zopperoni, who had studied his profession through correspondence. Zopperoni had two brothers, Pave and Alva, who roamed the surrounding mountains hunting and shooing off unruly mountain climbers.

Every now and then a villager would fall ill or get in an accident, and that was when Doctor Guynemer's services were in dire need. The rest of the time Guynemer mainly spent dozing off at his house or fishing at the lake with his neighbor Hercules, who worked as the only teller of the village bank. The bank was owned by Drogue, who had inherited it from his father, a renown champion of personal property and capitalism, Comrade Tassadar.

The village couldn't function entirely by itself, so a few people had the task of maintaining contact through post with a few neighbouring cities. Nobody bothered with telephones, let alone the Internet or television. Skanky Burns would carry the messages to and fro. Sometimes Skanky would have to use the only automobile, owned by the Lord of course, in the village to make bigger deliveries and carrying money between the banks in Apolyton and other cities. The post master of the village was Frozzy, who also helped Skanky carry the letters and packages.

The people needed clothes too, and the tailor Theben and shoemaker Spiffor had joined forces and set up a common shop in the town centre, providing everyone with their clothing needs. Theben would every now and then join Pave and Alva on their journeys across the mountains and the wildlife, as he ran a tannery with GhengisFarb as well.

Not much happened in the village, but when it did, DrSpike was the first one to be on the scene, running the only newspaper in the city, which only had special editions. Most of his days DrSpike spent writing stories and poems, which he sent to magazines in outer world, much to the displeasure of the other villagers. His talent with words had convinced the village that this wasn't in any way harmful to the village's isolationism, so the thing wasn't discussed much.

Even though tourism wasn't exactly a flourishing economy in the village, the people did need a place to have a few pints, a dinner, or a game of cards and sleep a night in case the missus was feeling particularly edgy that day. That was where rah, the inn keeper, stepped in, being the landlord of the village's only recreational establishment. He was helped by CapitanGarlic, a very apt cook.

Most of the area in the valley was farmed, and there were three large patches of land owned by three farmers who produced the majority of foodstuffs needed in Apolyton. HongHu ran one farm, which specialised in vegetables and poultry, while Jonny owned the second, which supplied the village with flour. Hence Jonny also had the village's mill, built on the river that surfaced at the base of the mountains. Milk, wool and beef were provided by Vlad Antlerkov's cattle and sheep farm. The populace was small, and so were the farms, so they could manage alone, with a random helping hand from the village itself.

With a simple economy like that of Apolyton, most household items were made of wood. Therefore, the lumberjack and carpenter Spaced Cowboy was quite busy, making furniture and whatnot for the villagers. Ore and raw metal was also imported to the village, and the blacksmith vovan did his magic to provide spoons, forks, plows, axes, and the tools the barber Jamski used to shave his customers and cut their hair.

All these goods were sold to the two shops the village had. There was certainly competition, as both grocery and convenience stores tried to stretch to the turf of one another every now and then, but mostly the other concentrated on edible things while the other provided more material goods. ADG ran the food store, while FlameFlash took care of the other shop.

The sun has set, night has fallen.

The two Mafias have been designated. I urge every single one of you to check your private messages, now. As soon as I have the order(s), the first kill will take place, and after that the 24 hour day will begin. I'll reserve the prerogative to stretch the time period if it helps the fluidity of the game, e.g. when we have a tie with votes not cast at the 24 hour mark.

When the time is up, or whenever there is a majority over who did it, the lucky winner is executed. A coin toss will be the tie breaker. Also, once you vote it's final - no changing afterwards. All in all, the same rules we had the last time.

I'd also greatly appreciate it if someone, Zopperoni most likely, posted the table used in Mafia 9 in this thread. I forgot to grab the code from the previous threads and now it's impossible as they are locked and I can't use "reply with quote" to see it.

* Number pending, depends on how the villagers fare, naturally.

The previous massacre, Mafia 9. (Part two)

[Jamski]

Nice scene-setting But how come I always get a job which uses sharp instruments? Sheep-shearer, butcher, barber...

/me sighs *

-Jam

[DrSpike]

Look on the bright side, it means you'll have a wide choice of weapons.

[Jamski]

What if the first corpse turns up with scissors in its neck? We'll have to docpile Tassadar!

-Jam

[Kassiopeia]

Tass is already dead, Jamski, note that his name isn't bolded. Unfortunately he missed the train this time, but I felt obligated to include him one way or the other.

[alva]

Sheep-shearer, butcher, barber...

Ahh is that what Shearer means
-

Nice set-up Kass

Some of you would be really good authors

[Jamski]

Oh, I thought you just missed a [b] tag. That's a shame. I don't know who to vote for now.

-Jam

[Adagio]

Me runs a food store? Does it serve pizza as well... that's the only kind of 'food' I know

[Skanky Burns]

I better at least be delivering alcohol every so often, even if I'm not serving it.

Great to have the game back on again.

[Kassiopeia]

Act One

The keeper of the food shop, ADG, was expecting for a shipment of flour to arrive early in the morning. After waiting for a few hours, he wondered what had happened and decided to ask Skanky to make his rounds a bit early and start at Jonny's.

Soon after Skanky arrived at Jonny's house and hollered for the man. He could hear nothing but a few birds singing nearby. He opened the door - they didn't have locks in the quiet village of Apolyton.

Nonetheless, the postman had an eerie sensation and walked in with trepidation. To his horror he saw the poor farmer lying down on his face, impaled from behind with his own pitchfork. After letting out a scream Skanky scampered out and ran all the way to the village, telling everyone on the way what had happened.

The entire village was profoundly shocked by this murder most foul, and headed to the farm immediately. Dr. Guynemer and Lord Jon arrived first, followed by the rest of the village. Guynemer pronounced Jonny dead, cause of death being rather obvious, and soon after the corpse was buried. HongHu and Vlad Antlerkov, being farmers as well, were given the task of taking care of the third farm for the time being: Alva agreed to assist them.

Lord Jon took the pitchfork into his care as evidence, and told the villagers to assemble at the Town Hall in a few hours. The murderer had to be outed as soon as possible to preserve the peace.

After the meeting at Jonny's house DrSpike released a hurried issue of the village newspaper, the Apolyton Herald. In it he analysed that the murder was probably the first sign of a whole new evil arriving in the village: organised crime, in the form of the Mafia.

The term, DrSpike continued, was said to be an Italian acronym for "Death to France, cry the Italians", and that even though there were no Italians or French in the village, it was still a matter of grave concern.

Daylight has broken, it's time to vote.

Jonny has been killed by the Mafia, the method was impalement.

[Vlad Antlerkov]

I swear, I'm not a New Zealander! ... oh.

Jonny was a farmer. Drogue, as I recall, has been trying to buy up all our farms, being the evil capitalist pig-dog he is. Therefore I vote for:

Drogue

(and yes, I'm happy with the land I have, and HongHu probably is as well, so don't bloody try and pin this mess on us! )

[DrSpike]

If we bold all the names it could make it tricky for Kass.

[Kassiopeia]

Nice scene-setting

Nice set-up Kass

Some of you would be really good authors

Thanks. The writing part was what attracted me the most in GM'ing, then again, who'd want to just tally up votes and update lists? DarkCloud excluded.

[Zopperoni]

I'm working on it.

[Zopperoni]

Here's the table. I vote for ADG.


Sweepstake picks: ADG and Guynemer.

Alive
Name	Vote	&nbsp	Name	Vote
ADG	N/A	&nbsp	Drogue	N/A
Skanky Burns	N/A	&nbsp	Zopperoni	ADG
DrSpike	N/A	&nbsp	Rah	N/A
Pave	N/A	&nbsp	Theben	N/A
Jamski	N/A	&nbsp	FlameFlash	N/A
Alva	N/A	&nbsp	Vlad Antlerkov	Drogue
Spaced Cowboy	N/A	&nbsp	Vovan	N/A
Spiffor	N/A	&nbsp	Frozzy	N/A
Jon Miller	N/A	&nbsp	Hercules	N/A
GhengisFarb	N/A	&nbsp	Duke o' York	N/A
CapitanGarlic	N/A	&nbsp	HongHu	N/A
Guynemer	N/A	&nbsp	&nbsp	&nbsp
Dead
Name	Cause of Death	&nbsp	Name	Cause of Death
Jonny	Mafia (Impalement - R1)	&nbsp	&nbsp	&nbsp
Village Status		&nbsp	Votes
Day		&nbsp	1) Drogue - 1 1) ADG - 1

[Kassiopeia]

Edit: Never mind. Thanks.

[Guynemer]

At last, I'm the village doctor. Thanks, Kassi!


As for my vote, I'm not buying the whole "hunting accident" story at all. duke o' york was behind this dastardly deed.

I will keep the town fully appraised of any and all unusual findings on autopsy.

[vovan]

My first impulse was to vote Vlad Antlerkov, but the murder almost seems to point to him too obviously.

I'm guessing either Pave or alva... What's with them roaming the mountains alone, away from the people's sight. Who knows what evil they have agreed to do?

alva gets my vote. Pave, even though deranged enough to murder, I think is innocent. He is always docpiled first, and that sucks. He should get to live... At least till round two voting begins.

[vovan]

PS: Oh, and also: great story, Kassiopeia. Maybe you should join the Storywriters' Guild.

[Kassiopeia]

At last, I'm the village doctor. Thanks, Kassi!

I knew you are a med student, so the choice was obvious.

Alive
Name	Vote	&nbsp	Name	Vote
ADG	Drogue	&nbsp	Drogue	Alva
Skanky Burns	Spaced Cowboy	&nbsp	Zopperoni	ADG
DrSpike	Drogue	&nbsp	Rah	N/A
Pave	Drogue	&nbsp	Theben	Duke o' york
Jamski	Drogue	&nbsp	FlameFlash	N/A
Alva	Duke o' york	&nbsp	Vlad Antlerkov	Drogue
Spaced Cowboy	Drogue	&nbsp	Vovan	Alva
Spiffor	Jon Miller	&nbsp	Frozzy	Jon Miller
Jon Miller	N/A	&nbsp	Hercules	Drogue
GhengisFarb	Jon Miller	&nbsp	Duke o' York	N/A
CapitanGarlic	N/A	&nbsp	HongHu	Drogue
Guynemer	Duke o' york	&nbsp	&nbsp	&nbsp
Dead
Name	Cause of Death	&nbsp	Name	Cause of Death
Jonny	Mafia (Impalement - R1)	&nbsp	&nbsp	&nbsp
Village Status		&nbsp	Votes
Day		&nbsp	1) Drogue - 8 2) Duke o' york - 3 2) Jon Miller - 3 4) Alva - 2 5) ADG - 1 5) Spaced Cowboy - 1

Not going to post it every time someone votes, but I had to try it out myself. I can't add extra lines inside the code with a word processor to make it more comprehensible, apparently, otherwise it'll spit out all the lines as empty in the middle of the post.

[vovan]

You need to delete the newlines between the tags in the table to remove all that whitespace, Kassi.

[Kassiopeia]

Yeah. The lines made the raw code much more readable though. Not that I haven't upkept an html table up before, I used to catalogue the information provided by the Finns in the Suomithreadi. Haven't done that for almost two years, though.

Oh, and it's bluespace, not whitespace.

[Zopperoni]

I use an HTML editor (EditPlus 2) that uses different colors so that keeping an overview is easier.

[Jonny]

[ghost]
Well, that was a short game.

These are the people which I killed in my previous life as a mafia: Guynemer, Spiffor, Spaced Cowboy, and Frozzy.

They may have been looking to extract revenge on me; perhaps this information will help you in the hunt for the mafia.

Or maybe the mafias are paying me to decieve you. I really don't know quite which one it is, either, as being dead apparently hinders brain function.
[/ghost]

[Skanky Burns]

I consulted the dice-gods, and they said Spaced Cowboy is to blame.

[Snowflake]

Wow we are now living in a fast paced village.

I was gonna celebrate about my first time of working for myself, but can't believe the poor Jonny was already killed.

The problem is not everybody got a chance to disclose themselves before the killing, and this makes the mafia vote more or less of a wild guess. Spaced Cowboy has been a mafia IIRC so it doesn't look like him. Can't be the old duke because he was exposed too much the last game. I want to say this looks like the work of a very well trained strategist, like Drogue.

[alva]

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
Yeah. The lines made the raw code much more readable though. Not that I haven't upkept an html table up before, I used to catalogue the information provided by the Finns in the Suomithreadi. Haven't done that for almost two years, though.

Oh, and it's bluespace, not whitespace.

Another good litle program is 'arachnophilia', it will let you 'beautify' the code ( indenting) and 'compress' it.

Also you will have a real-time result window
and it's 'beer'-ware (something like that)

[alva]

Vovan...?

It must be the duke...

[Adagio]

My vote goes to Drogue

[Pave]

Great work Kass, reading the background story was pure pleasure.

Drogue I vote.