TWG LXIV: The Dangerous Flora and Fauna of Umbra

[BlackDragonSlayer]

TWG LXIV: The Dangerous Flora and Fauna of Umbra



Backstory: Many years ago, the war on the planet Umbra ended. The war hero Agent 819, who single-handedly took out the dark leader UMBRA, went back to the galactic capital planet, never to return to Umbra until the year of his death... but his story is another story, not to be told here...

Umbra is quickly becoming a point of interest for tourists. The super-company Micro Budget Ships Inc. is funding a new, experimental program to safely guide boatloads of these tourists through the planet on a predetermined route, highlighting the planet's natural wonders.

Unfortunately for the company, the illusions still remain on Umbra, even after the evil left the planet: the local flora and fauna have gotten hungry, and weak-minded tourists are on the menu...

The Flora and Fauna; Wolves
1: Miju-maron: Master Wolf (as the Miju-marons are giant, carnivorous plants, they can't do much unless people walk right into their lairs, though this doesn't affect the role any)
2: Ryu-jin: Wolf shaman.

Micro Budget Ships Tour; Humans
3: Tour Guide 1: Seer; is told results at end of night phase.
4: Tour Guide 2: Psychic; is told the number of wolves and if the red humans are left in the game (not how many red humans, however) at the end of every day phase (after lynching).
5: Tourist: Human.
6: Tourist: Human.
7: Tourist: Human.
8: Tourist: Herring. Is told he's a human.
9: Tourist: Regular miller. Will be told he's a human.
10: Tourist: Acts like a wolfsbane, except that the wolfing is redirected to another human player. Will be told he's a normal human.

Because wolves do not know each other, only the first wolfing vote is accepted. Wolves cannot be wolfed- if they are, it is considered that there is no wolfing.
There are no special victory conditions.

This game will have a story, revealed between phases (both day and night), in average-sized paragraphs (so hopefully there won't be any delays with the story).

Special Gimmick: Navigation; throughout the game (changing every day and night phase), the tour moves across various parts of the planet Umbra, on a course determined randomly (though areas cannot repeat until at least one other location has been visited).
Each area gives special, temporary effects to certain roles; the expedition always starts on the Overworld, as that is where is ship lands, but might not return there.

Night Phase Only:
Overworld: Two players can be seered.
Sacred Catacombs: Psychic can guard one person, excluding self.
In Specus Caverna (cave inside a cavern underneath the volcano): Ryu-Jin is seered as blue. Can find out the exact role of player seered, at the cost of being seered blue.

Day Phase Only:
Palus Magna (swamp): Miju-maron gets two lynching votes.
Ignis Parva (inside of a volcano): Ryu-jin gets two lynching votes.
Ruins of Ultima Fini (mechanical core of the planet): No effects.

---

1: Bird
2: FireArrow
3: Boo Guy
4: Mr. Tanooki Suit
5: NocturneOfShadow
6: davy
7: Toby
8: Greg
9: zoroark1264
10: The_Subjective_Thought

Subs:
1: Dude

---
It is now Night 1. Night 1 ends in two days, on Saturday, February 15 at 3:00 PM PST (6:00 PM EST).

The Expedition is currently at The Overworld. Two players can be seered.

[BlackDragonSlayer]

Role PMs (if anyone didn't get one, make sure to tell me- I hope I didn't forget anybody!):

Miju Maron

Greetings, rightful inhabitants of planet Umbra.
If I am not mistaken (for I am never mistaken), you are a Miju-Maron.

You may call me the Eye of UMBRA; many of you lived on this planet while I was its guardian.
Although I am long dead, part of me lives on through you.
It is our goal to drive the foreigners away from this planet, so they can no longer taint it with their presence.

Do not fail me.

[close]

Ryu-jin

Greetings Ryu-jin.
During the great and final war, you served me well, but not well enough.
You allowed the human to survive.

That is all in the past though.
As I am deceased, you must carry out my intentions.
I cannot help you any further; the remaining power I have is fading.
Go; do not fail me again.

[close]

Tour Guides

Hello; as you may know, since I am your employer, I am the head of the company Micro Budget Ships Inc.
This maiden voyage is an important one; it shall determine all future investments concerning the planet Umbra.
Ensure that all passengers are happy and loving their experience on the planet Umbra!!

With that, I wish you luck.
If you fail, and manage to make it back here alive, I will personally dispatch you.
Happy travels!

M Z Micro

{role name and power description}

[close]

Tourist

Welcome to the tour of the beautiful planet Umbra!
You have chosen to be one of the first people on our new tour of this lovely planet; you are a pioneer!

I and my fellow executives hope you enjoy the tour!
Remember, there is nothing to fear!
Your lives are in the hands of our two highly skilled tour guides!

M Z Micro, head of Micro Budget Ships Inc.

(you are a tourist, but you may be a herring or miller)

[close]

Chatroom Link


Night 1
Day 1
Night 2
Day 2
Night 3
Day 3
Night 4
Day 4
Night 5

Night 1 Story

     It was a dark and dreary night on Umbra; most nights, on Umbra, however, are dark and dreary. On this night, a ship set down, an unexpected visitor- a mole on the surface of the planet, an irritant to be rid of.

     This ship in particular belonged to Micro Budget Ships Inc: on it were two tour guides and six tourists... or were there eight of them? It was hard to tell, for the journey and landing had apparently made everybody delirious, and nobody ever bothered talking to anybody else until after the landing. Finally, after some names had been exchanged, and people were finally acquainted with one another, one of the Tour Guides spoke.

"Greetings, everybody! Welcome to the planet Umbra!" they paused for a little bit, as if confused. "I promise that you will enjoy this maiden voyage into the unknown, but in order to keep everybody safe, you must follow our directions!" At this point, the Tour Guide motioned to somebody else standing beside them, apparently another Tour Guide. "We just have to finish our beginning preparations, and then it will be safe to explore around. First of all, we're going to set up a barrier underground- you may go anywhere within the barrier. Then, we're going to take roll call and make sure everybody understands the entire list of safety regulations and practices. Then, we're going to have fun on this wonderful journey!"

     All was not fine and fun, however: even the tourists themselves knew something evil- a mysterious aura- was hanging in the air. After the aforementioned preparations had been completed, one curious person set off to explore the area enclosed by the barriers...

[close]

Day 1 Story

     Zoroark MCCLXIV (his family line was very, very extensive, and proud of naming their children "Zoroark") decided to go underground. He didn't know exactly why, but he thought he had seen a few people go down before, and decided to follow... in fact, now that he thought of it, he didn't even remember why he decided to follow them...

     He got on the energy platform that served as an elevator, and began his descent. The elevator was small- maybe able to hold two people at most- and had nothing surrounding it, for it was just that singular platform. He wondered if he would fall off at any moment, but then he noticed that his feet seemed glued to the platform, as if held in place by some mysterious force. He kept thinking various thoughts to himself until he noticed the scenery around him: he was close to the bottom. He was getting ready to step off as the platform reached stable ground, when he heard a loud "CRUNCH" as the elevator touched the bottom. He quickly hopped off and looked underneath... was that a person beneath the elevator? A large creature?

"Oh my," he thought, "it is a person."

     Frantically, he got back on the elevator, and headed up immediately.

"Help, help!" he yelled, once he had gotten back up and reached the ship, "I think somebody got crushed by the elevator down there! It wasn't my fault!"

     A tourist who said he was a doctor immediately responded, and came down with Zoroark.

"Hrm," he said, after investigating the body, still wedged underneath, "this is Boo Guy. I remember talking to him earlier. Quite a shame: he was a nice guy."

"Oh goodness no!" Zoroark cried out, "I killed him!"

"Not quite, boy," the doctor said, "It seems as if he was dead some time before you even came down here. See here: these look like puncture wounds."

     By the time the two moved the body out from underneath the elevator, several other people had already arrived. The doctor explained to them what had happened.

"I want to leave now!" said a tourist.

"Be calm, everybody!" said one of the Tour Guides, "don't get panicked just because somebody died (the Tour Guide seemed unconvinced by his own statement, however)! It was probably just a terrible accident. An animal likely got through the barrier; I'll go and make sure it's secure!"

     A beast had gotten through the barrier, yes- two of them, in fact. But no barrier could stop them, for they were among the tourists and tour guides: disguised as them, talking like them- to the ignorant people, being them...

[close]

Night 2 Story

     After the death of Boo Guy, the tourists were tense and afraid. Finally, during the day, the fear was enough: the whole group, tourists and guides alike, broke out into chaos. People were shouting and hitting each other, uncaring of who they attacked or didn't.

     Finally, three people exited the group and began speaking amongst themselves. Then, when they had made a decision, they got on top of a rock, and their apparent leader stood up and spoke.

"Everybody! Be quiet for a moment and listen!" it was Sir Nocturne of Shadowhelm who spoke, "Breaking into fighting won't get any of us anywhere! We need to have a plan! I've been talking to these two people (he motioned over to Bird and Mr. Gregory, the two people who stood behind him), and we've decided... we've decided that there is something wrong- that something wrong is in our group. Boo Guy's death wasn't an accident."

     The group was silent. Heavy breathing could be heard from the crowd. Nocturne hesitated for a moment, so Bird spoke.

"We've decided that the only way we can solve the problem is to do it ourselves. We all say that we started the expedition with eight tourists and two tour guides, but for some reason, we think two tourists don't belong in the group- foreign attackers, you might say. Thus... we need to kill one of the group."

"How can we trust you?" said a voice from the crowd.

"I don't know," Greg was the last of the three to speak, "but we're just as in the dark as you- all we know is that something is wrong, and we need to do something about it."

     After the trio finished speaking and the whole group debated, they reached an uneasy consensus. The vote was bouncing between Davy, Toby, and FireArrow (and one person even suggested lynching Bird), but in the end, FireArrow was the one they decided on.

"I'll do it," said one person.

"No, no!" screamed FireArrow, "you can't kill me! I'm innocent!"

     FireArrow frantically charged the group, attacking them with his fists. Some people retaliated, and FireArrow was overwhelmed. In the end, somebody grabbed FireArrow and threw him over a ledge, sending him to his demise. Nobody saw who did it.

[close]

Day 2 Story

     During the night, Toby and Sir Nocturne of Shadowhelm were selected randomly for the first shift guard duty of the camp. Preparing for the event, Sir Nocturne opened his suitcase to switch his dirty shirt. When he opened the suitcase, however, he found that inside were only red shirts.

"I thought I packed some blue, green, and purple shirts? And that Hawaiian print one?" he felt confused about the matter, but decided that he didn't mind red too much anyway.

     Guard duty went smoothly for the two, until Toby started falling asleep. Toby was a sleepy person by nature, and he didn't do well sitting in one place for hours on end, listening to the noises of nature. Eventually, while Toby was sleeping, Sir Nocturne heard a noise, and went to investigate, calling Toby over to his side; but alas, since Toby was asleep, he did not hear Nocturne's call.

     A few hours later, the second night shift, consisting of Davy and T.S.T., came to relieve the two of their position. When they found only Toby there, they quickly woke him up.

"Where's Sir Nocturne?" questioned Davy.

"I... I don't know," replied Toby, still a bit tired, "I think he was here a few minutes ago..."

     Davy grabbed Toby and went to look around, leaving T.S.T. to guard the camp. Although it was still nighttime, enough light entered the cavern, so they could make their way around.

"Over there! What's that?" whispered Davy to Toby, "Shine your light on it!"

     Toby shined his light on what Davy pointed out, and immediately regretted it. A human figure lay straight against the wall, entangled by Miju-maron vines. He was barely recognizable, but Toby remembered that Nocturne was wearing a red shirt.

"It's... it's Nocturne..." he stammered.

[close]

Night 3 Story

     Everybody was paranoid as they continued exploring the caverns of Umbra; it felt odd that they were still continuing with the expedition instead of leaving the planet immediately- which would've been the logical decision to make- but nobody really thought about it too much.

     After walking for a bit, the group came to rest atop one of the jade cliffs of Palus Magna. The tour guides kept watch and talked with each other while the tourists rested. In a little while, they made the decision to continue on.

"Is everybody here?" asked one of the guides.

     They counted heads, and found everything to be in order. Thus, they continued on.

"Wait a minute!" said somebody, "I just noticed that Mr. T. Suit is missing!"

"Where could he have gone!?!?" said somebody else worriedly, "Was he killed?"

     The group panicked until they saw somebody coming up from the distance. They grabbed two people at random, Bird and Mr. Gregory, and shoved them toward the person. Hesitantly, the two walked toward the figure. When they got closer, they confirmed that it was, in fact, Mr. Tanooki Suit.

"Mr. Suit!" Bird called out, "Come over here at once! Where have you been?"

"I... I just went to do a little exploring by myself! Nothing wrong with that, eh?" he replied.

"You know it's against the safety protocol to leave the group unattended!" Bird paused and noticed that Mr. Tanooki Suit was holding some sort of object, covered in a sheet. "What do you have there?"

"It's nothing! Really- just a personal object!"

"Remove that cloth at once!" commanded Greg.

     Bird then walked up and forcibly removed the cloth, but recoiled when he saw what was under there: an ancient artifact from Umbra's past, before the natives were turned into animals; the artifact was a dangerous laser beam weapon.

"You don't know what that can do!" Bird gasped, "Put it down at once!"

"No! It's mine; I found it!" Mr. Tanooki Suit shouted back.

     Bird motioned for Greg and somebody else from the group to circle around Mr. Tanooki Suit. That plan didn't work too well: he quickly noticed what they were doing.

"Stand back Bird!" Mr. Tanooki Suit threatened, "Or else I'll fire this thing."

     Bird and the other two didn't listen, so Mr. Tanooki Suit started to charge the weapon up.

"All right!" he said, "I warned you!"

     The laser fired a brilliant ball of yellow energy... but instead of going anywhere, it just stayed suspended in midair. Mr. Tanooki Suit was enveloped in a bright light, and when it faded, nothing was left- not person, weapon, or energy ball.

"Poor fool," Greg mused, "he didn't remember that the lasers of ancient times absorb from the user's life force. You can't fire one at full capacity safely without vaporizing yourself."

[close]

Day 3 Story

     To ensure that nothing went wrong this time, the expedition set three people on guard per shift; as there were only six people left, this meant two shifts total.

     The first shift consisted of Bird, Toby, and Zoroark MCCLXIV. Absolutely nothing happened during this time, but they all managed to stay awake through the entirety of the shift. Finally, it was time to wake the second shift, which consisted of davy, Greg, and T.S.T.

"It's a quiet night," Toby said, "no dismemberment so far!"

"Don't say that!" chided T.S.T, "You'll curse us, of course!"

"I'd hate to see somebody's body chopped up and scattered around camp..." muttered davy. Toby gave him an odd look.

     Though, nothing happened on the second shift either. Odd.

[close]

Night 4 Story

     The extensive time on Umbra was taking a toll on Zoroark MCCLXIV; being in the former headquarters of the evil guardian of Umbra didn't help. As time went on, he began to not only feel weak, but also mentally insecure- even more so than anybody else. Earlier, he had started to talk to himself, but now, it was especially prevalent, and others were beginning to notice. He knew not what he said, but it seemed to greatly worry everybody else. He could hear them talking about it- during the guard shift last night, he saw that the others gave him strange looks.

     At the height of the day, he snapped.

"I KILLED BOO GUY!" he yelled, "I KNOW I DID IT!"

"What the..." said somebody.

"I CHOPPED UP HIS BODY AND TRIED TO STASH IT UNDER THE ELEVATOR BUT IT DIDN'T WORK!"

     He continued rambling about how many people he had killed; despite the details of the murders being highly inaccurate, the group was getting really concerned. What if he had killed those people? What if he was going completely mad? Would he kill more people, if he had not already done so before?

     Finally, Bird, Greg, and T.S.T. decided to end it. They grabbed stones that were conveniently shaped like spearheads and advanced towards Zoroark.

"I MUST PAY FOR MY SINS!" Zoroark yelled in a screechy, maddening voice.

     Bird, Greg, and T.S.T. began stabbing him repeatedly.

"Make him repent!" said a voice. Nobody knew whose voice it was- whether it was somebody from the expedition, Zoroark's voice himself, or some sort of ghostly voice of the planet.

     It was over shortly after it started. Unnerved by the situation, the whole group wandered away from where Zoroark's body was.

[close]

Day 4 Story

     Davy felt helpless. He had been unable to protect anybody at all- there were only four people left in the group, aside from himself. He couldn't bear the thought of the death of countless people essentially being on his shoulders, and tonight, he decided, he was going to end it. It was hopeless anyway, he thought. He and Toby took the first watch. After a little bit, Toby began to feel tired, so Davy let him fall asleep, assuring him that he would wake him up if anything happened.

     Davy got out his laser rifle, which he had hidden throughout this whole time. It wasn't much in terms of self-defense, but it would be enough. Davy held up the rifle, put his finger on the trigger, and...

     A loud noise woke everybody up as a giant crab-like creature burst through a doorway and into the catacombs. Toby sat up suddenly and gasped as he saw the creature.

"Holy hotdogs it's Leeroy Jenkins," he said.

     This giant enemy crab was the same one that the heroic Agent 819 had fought during his mission on Umbra- if even he had not been able to kill it completely, the group would be powerless against it.

"Go!" Davy yelled to everybody, pointing his laser rifle at the beast, "I'll hold it off as long as I can! You all need to get out of here!"

"Thank you Davy!" said Toby, as he hastily gathered the supplies they needed and fled. "Remember its weak spots!"

     Davy fought the beast long enough to let everybody escape from the catacombs... but for how much longer could they survive? Were they merely postponing their fate?

[close]

Night 5 Story

     The four remaining people had made their way over to Ignis Parva. Although it was quite hot there, to them, it felt relatively safe. They knew that they couldn't stay there too long, though, so after some time, they made the decision to descend the elevator down to the caverns below.

"But wait," Greg said, "what if it's not safe? Last time we went down there, we had to go the long way."

"Well..." said Bird, "I guess we'll just have to send one of us down first to see if it's safe or not."

     The four argued back and forth until a hesitant decision was reached: they would send Toby down the elevator to see if it was safe. Still unsure of the plan himself, Toby slowly got on the elevator, and pulled the switch to go down. When he was about a quarter of the way down, he called up to the group.

"It seems safe so far!" his voice sounded quite distant even though he hadn't gone very far.

"No, wait," he said, as he went a little further, "the elevator's stopping. Why is it stopping."

"Try and see if you can get it to go back up!" TST yelled down the shaft.

"There's some sort of muscly thing clinging to the glass. I think it's stuck..." his voice echoed up, followed by a sharp scream a few seconds later.

     The tourists ran out of there as fast as they could.

[close]

[FireArrow]

Yay, BDS gets his game.

[The_Subjective_Thought]

So, what'd you guys pack?

I got a picnic blanket, half a jam sandwich and three quarters of a jar of pickled onions.

[mikey]

So, what'd you guys pack?

I got a picnic blanket, half a jam sandwich and three quarters of a jar of pickled onions.

Well I have the other half of the sandwich.
For some reason your serious hat is in my bag.
And I'm not sure what this thing is, it looks like some homemade applesauce or something.

[Greg]

Gj BDS on getting your game.

Anyway, time for another SUPER UNPRODUCTIVE NIGHT PHASE I GUESS.

[Mr. Tanooki Suit]

I nearly forgot about this... That would have been bad!

Anyway: Night 1 is always boring. Let's all sit around a campfire and tell ghost stories; it won't attract any big nasty creatures. Probably. :3

[mikey]

So anyway as we're sitting around the campfire, as far as I can see there's nobody that can claim publicly...
I'll be in the chat between league matches tonight

A long time ago, on a moonlit night, not unlike tonight, a young man went for a casual stroll along the beach.

[The_Subjective_Thought]

For some reason your serious hat is in my bag.

I keep hats hidden everywhere.

In case of hat emergencies.

[Toby]

I'm here!

As for now I personally feel that there is no way of setting up a decent alliance without being screwed over. Later in the game though we can see if we can sort anything out.

@BDS Do we know what way the tour guides take us?

[braix]

*Sits down at the fire*...Once upon a time there was a magical burger named Mark. He was extremely magical. He used his magical powers to kill people. He ended up killing everyone and died of lonliness. The End.

[Toby]

^Wolf, he said kill

[mikey]

*Sits down at the fire*...Once upon a time there was a magical burger named Mark. He was extremely magical. He used his magical powers to kill people. He ended up killing everyone and died of lonliness. The End.

Mark is the wolf guys

[BlackDragonSlayer]

@BDS Do we know what way the tour guides take us?

on a course determined randomly

No; the course is determined randomly as the game progresses. Even the Tour Guides are confused!

[mikey]

I'm in the chat guys.
Kinda lonely here around the campfire.