《Seekers of The End》Chapter [6] The Magician: A Schemer
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[The third voting has concluded. There is no winner.
The fourth round's team leader is Luca Lawrence. The fourth public hearing will start in 15 seconds.]
The fourth hearing began, and Luca decided to refrain from speaking. Of, course he didn't forget to silently cast his eyes over Ivan. He couldn't just change his persona and start crying and pointing fingers, but there was no need for such a play to begin with. The balding man with a peeking belly was the most professional actor on this table. Luca's single glance full of wariness was enough to convey his words. At the same time, the less he conversed, the fewer chances for him to screw up and expose himself. Luca was just a pharmacist. He hadn't received acting tips before.
Ivan was perhaps feeling cheated right now, but he was the Traitor and decided to stay silent. This only confirmed one thing, he hadn't used his authority yet. He had decided to keep his trump card hidden, until he is sure about the tilting of the scales.
The rest of the hearing passed smoothly and fast. No one was in the mood to chat too much. Most people already had some sparks of inspiration about what and how to do it. Well, there were also horny exceptions, like Jack. Luca was thankful he didn't have boobs, or he wouldn't be able to keep a straight face for such a long time. Even he had urges to go and beat this block; What about the ladies?
However, he couldn't really care about other people at the moment. He was currently in a very unpleasant position. After the third selection, the result was 1:1. Both Good and Evil had one point, and it was a tie. Now, he was the team leader. He had to carefully plan and pick his team. Not only the result, but the act of picking up certain people was important. For example, if John hadn't chosen him in the third round, Luca wouldn't have guessed his pathway. Up to now, Luca had hidden deep, lurking in the shadows and pretending to be Good. If the Good team leader picked up Jack, what would the rest of the players think? It was time for Luca to make a decision. He was confident that he could pick players and let the Evil win a point. However, this meant that his identity would be uncovered. What about next? The next team leader was Amy; She was Evil. At first sight, it was a very good situation. Luca would make the result 1:2 for Evil, then Amy will finish it at 1:3; The game would end with their win.
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The problem was Amy; She was a woman with weak mental strength. She wasn't stupid. However, under such pressure, there was a good chance for her to make a mistake. For three rounds already, Luca was a Good boy in the eyes of others. If he let the Evil win, then he would be discovered. However, not by everyone, only by the smartest. The schemers on this table were Luca, Yuna, John, and probably Ivan. All three besides Luca were players of the Good! On Luca's side were Jack and Amy. There was a chance for Amy to finish the game, but Luca didn't want to rely on possibilities. At least not on probabilities grasped by others.
At the same time, he couldn't just help the Good guys win a point. He had to orchestrate a draw. Only by getting a par could Luca keep his cover and wait for Yuna to be fooled. Yuna was the 6th leader, and Luca had to be picked by her. Therefore,...
[ The team leader Luca Lawrence has selected John Adams, Amy Hart, and Motoe Yuna as his temporary teammates. You have 1 minute to cast your vote.]
There were a few reasons why Luca chose this team. First, by picking John and Yuna, who both thought of him as a Good pathway follower, he could showcase his allegiance. Second, Luca decided to use these players' privileges. He had a certain confidence in this manipulation.
It was already the second half of the game - the fourth round. It was unlikely people would shy about using their privileges. Then how will they react when put in such a team?
Amy had been suppressed twice by the Restrictor. The first time she was teamed up with Jack, John, and Yuna in the second election. The second time her teammates were John, Luca, and Ivan in the third selection. The only person who was a member of both teams was John. Therefore, even the anxious lady was likely to guess his identity. Was she going to be bullied all of the time? Of course not. Her animosity toward John must be top-notch. Yuna was a public Evil person, and Amy will not attack her. There was a certain chance that the publicly Good Luca would be chosen, but after the third round, John was already obviously Good too. Combined with the fact that he bullied her twice in a row, Luca believed that she would retaliate against him.
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Next in the plan was the relationship between John and Yuna. In John's eyes, both Yuna and Amy were Evil. In the second round, both Amy and Yuna played, and the Evil prevailed. At the time, he restricted Amy. Back then, Jack observed Yuna and shared that she cast her vote Reversed. Therefore Yuna was publicly Evil. What about Amy? Yes, she probably was natural and not an actor. However, was there concrete proof of Amy's pathway?
First of all, Amy has never been a leader yet. It was hard to tell for sure on which side a person is without checking their allies or being a Prophet. Unfortunately, John wasn't a Prophet. He played with Amy twice.
In the second selection, he Repressed her, and the result was a point to the Evil. However, was there a chance for such a result if Amy had voted Upright? There was:
|Jack -> Reversed+ Peeking at Yuna|
|John -> Upright + Repressing Amy|
|Amy -> Upright (hypothetical)|
| Yuna -> Reversed +...|
Yes, the key was what was Yuna's authority.
John could be sure that she isn't a Prophet, Hypnotist, or Restrictor.
Therefore she was a Duplicator, Traitor, or Gambler.
At the time, Evil did win. What if the publicly Evil Yuna duplicated the obviously Evil Jack? With three against two, Evil would have won. What if she was a Gambler? She could simply flip John's vote as well.
In John's eyes not only was Yuna Evil, but her privilege was something that could directly affect the votes. She was a dangerous opponent.
In the third selection, the result was a draw. What if Amy voted Upright?
|John -> Upright (crossed out) -> Reversed + restricting Amy|
|Luca -> Upright|
|Ivan -> Reversed (believed by John) + flipping John's vote (believed by John)|
|Amy -> Upright (hypothetical)|
Thanks to Luca's shenanigans John believed that Ivan must have flipped his vote. After all, Luca was Good (In John's eyes), and John was Good. Amy was Restricted. Who is more likely to Gamble him? Why would Ivan gamble him if he was Good? Therefore Ivan's vote was definitely Reversed. In retrospection, not only Luca framed Ivan for being an Evil Gambler, he even cleared Amy's name. In John's head, Yuna was dangerous Evil, while Amy was borderline between Good and Evil. John was definitely going to choose Yuna as his target.
[The third voting has concluded. There is no winner.
The fifth round's team leader is Amy Hart. The fifth public hearing will start in 15 seconds.]
In fact, behind the curtains, the fourth selection looked like this:
|Luca -> Refrained from voting|
|Yuna -> Upright|
|John -> Upright (crossed over) -> none + Restricting Yuna|
|Amy -> Reversed + hypnotizing John|
This was the second reason Luca dared to tread such a path. In the 5th rule, there was such a line: Each player can abstain from casting a vote only once throughout the game.
It was obviously a useless rule in most cases. Why would anyone abstain from casting their vote? Who in their right mind will do such a thing?
However, this was one of the pits in this game. The name of the Arcana they were challenging was The Magician. This was the Arcana of Deceit and Desire. From the beginning, this game was supposed to be played this way. People could trick others not only by words but by actions as well. They could use the card to refrain from voting to overwhelm their opponents' logic or manipulate the results to their desires. They could use the privileges of others to deceit them. Both times what the Prophet Jack saw had nothing to do with reality. The same applied to Yuna's duplication in the first round. This was a game of Wits. Most of the players would think that the 1-minute hearing is the time for them to flex their acting skills, however, this was naivety. Since the moment they stepped into this marbled room they had to pretend and scheme. And the game was still far from being over.
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Upheaval - The Gentle Apocalypse
The world is changing, but people carry on. Early in the summer, the world started changing. It is not known who first found out, but magic was real, or had become real. Of course, with the world as interconnected as it is, it took only two days for most people to know about it. Online groups sprang up, eager to test humanity’s collective new toy. Quickly, it was found out that it was all but harmless; there were (unconfirmed) reports of deaths as soon as the first day. Nevertheless, it is a novelty to most, trying it out like you’d try sports or a game. The world marches on as scientists set out to study this new phenomenon, to use it for furthering our collective knowledge and to understand it. But that won’t show any results any time soon; it is only five days since the “Reveal” meanwhile I’m out camping. I had planned this since March, to unwind from sixteen years of studying. Finally! Finally I am done with school! Getting a job is another matter… So I figured, with this magic stuff, why not try out meditating on it? I’ve enjoyed more than enough books and other media that at least some of the magic methods should be viable. Turns out, the world might not let me relax. R15+ Coarse language and adult themes. This story is finished.
8 321DEAD MAN'S JOURNEY
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8 154Supernaturals Untold
Being a famous actress, Camilla/Becca faces the biggest betrayal of her life by the people she least expected.All because of jealousy.She decides to end her life cause of the heart-shattering acts done to her.But is saved by a mysterious man.Little did she know that the item the man dropped in their encounter would change her life forever.It blessed her with unknown abilities and cursed her at the same time. She will have to face all the supernatural beings out there all because of that one item.
8 245Luck And Chronomancy
Time Magic is the best magic as everyone knows, although there are lots of unique Talents in the world. Most people only remember Haste because it is hard to get to higher Phases of Chronomancy. That is still enough to make the Talent iconic. A lucky enough Aleatory Talent can position you for greatness or leave you languishing in obscurity. The only true equality in the world is when that glowing message pops up at 8 years old. Even if it doesn't activate until you are an adult at 16 you still know. Sure you can find a new dungeon spawn and get another chance at a rare Talent, even this one, but you have to already be ready to delve into the *Far Wilds*, which is far easier with wealth or family power. This is the story of where my good fortune took me and the difference it made, even among a party of 7 others including an Arcanist. It is a journey of magic and monsters but also math, which some think is actually worse. Luckily I was born with Intelligence and Focus as my personal traits, and my parents were scholars. Of course Chronomancy can also be a frontline combat talent. Versitility well beyond other Elder Talents like Gravity, Abstraction, or Arcana. Might could have worked for me, too. I also met a runaway princess. All the best adventures have a princess. She hated being a noble and we didn't get married but it still counts. Besides she really filled out our front line. All that Leadership training came in handy. I still don't know where she's from. Who cares? How well Haste goes with giant hammers is what's important. I never learned much about anyone in the party, except the one I grew up with. I'm not a people person. I just wanted to optimize dungeon clearing time. *******Story Details******* No romance, politics, or traumatizing content, slice of life, or even dialogue. 1st person narration, like a guide/adventure log. 2000-7000 words a day, maybe 40-60% rpgish combat log with some reasoning on combat decisions, with the rest character Talent discussion and progression stuff. 8 person party with a decent variety in roles. Party members usually have 2 primary functions. Told from the support/control Chronomancer's perspective. Each party member will have 6 Basic/Background Traits, then 3 actual Talents with abilities. Capstone from their Educational Institution, Arbritrary as a gift from the temples, and Aleatory which is decided at birth, revealed at 8, and activated after adulthood at 16. Aleatory Traits ignore requirements and are random why is why they are so important. They'll gain new Talents from finding Dungeons to consume in the *Wilds*. Mature dungeons in cities can provide *Challenges* to raise the Phase of a Talent, up to 3 times from 1 to 4. Each character will get to roughly 8 non-Trait Talents. Attributes come exclusive from Talents, are required by Talents, and provide various effects as well. I designed about 220 Talents with abilities, 4 in each of 4 phases. "Traits" are just Attribute stuff. I'm not sure how many will be detailed in the story, more than 100 for sure. I used Talents because I want to be free of the legacy of tabletop. Half those rules are just because of the limitations inherent in a pre-computer ttrpg. This story mostly uses combat Talents, although like 1/3 of the 220 are for crafting and other society and economy stuff. If you really wanted to be a Thief you might take Intuition, Awarness, and Might for Basic Traits and Deftness, Manipulation, and Trickery for Family/Education. Then you'd pick Acrobatics, and Climbing for Educational Capstone and Arbitrary traits. You Aleatory Trait might be Shadow(Light/Dark) Magic, Umbramancy. A Bard might swap Dexterity for Charisma, Music for Acrobatics, and have gotten Illusion(Shadow/Sound(Air/Force)) for their Aleatory Trait.
8 177the human (r.h)
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8 369Paranormal Hope
Bailee and Lia have been in the orphanage for as long as they can remember. They became best friends ever since they met. They bonded over there love for ghost adventures. They have not missed an episode since. So when the ghost adventures crew is in there town what is to stop them from meeting the crew? What happens if the accidentally get in on there lockdown? Read to find out.
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