Xena: Warrior Princess Mafia

[Hanged Man]

Yesterday was a bad day for me as well, I had an uncle die, not unexpectedly he has needed care for years but it still sucks and one of our clients had a blow-up which took most of my day.

 

 

Hanged Man, which of those are good or bad?

In a lot of cases them being good or bad depended on the show at the time, there were many instances when Xena went rogue and started acting like a baddy

However...

Xena                 Often Good
Gabrielle           More often good
Joxer                 Good- bumbling side-sidekick
Callisto              Almost always bad- Revenge Driven possibly the Big Bad. Xena wiped out her village and I believe burnt her parents alive?
Julius Ceaser    Bad- possibly the Big Bad
Ares                  uhh...Good???
Eve                   Bad- Daughter of Xena
Meg                  Good- Xena Lookalike
Diana                Good- Xena Lookalike
Aphrodite          Selfish
Borias               Probably Bad- he could be dead. Xena's love when she was a raving sociopath
Ephiny              Good- Queen of the Amazons
Cyrene             Good- Xena's mom
Autolycus          Good(Bad, I'm the guy with the gun)- King of Thieves, scoundrel etc
Atropos             Good? One of the three fates, may not be appearing in this story)
Cupid                Good
Jett                    Bad- Assassin triplets with Joxer and their brother Jace
Athena              uhhh.... Bad?
Hope                 Very Bad, could be the big bad

Bacchus             Bad

 

Also note that there are lots of characters, I have only listed these as they appear the most times but that does not mean that they are represented in this story.

Edited January 27, 2016 by Hanged Man

[Meredith Quill]

Yesterday was a bad day for me as well, I had an uncle die, not unexpectedly he has needed care for years but it still sucks and one of our clients had a blow-up which took most of my day.

 

My condolences HM.

[BizBuzz]

This is a bad year so far for deaths ... I woke up to two announcements of deaths ... one of my Mom's very best friends passed during the night ... and one of my friends brother got in a wreck and died last night.  

 

Ugh.

 

I know I am not the only one dealing with crap like this ... sorry HM.

[Hanged Man]

Yuck... Condolences BizBuzz

[Lisin]

Yuck and condolences to everyone dealing with this whole death and other suckieness BS. 

[Jesse]

Condolences, y'all.

Edited January 27, 2016 by Jesse

[Drogo]

[Oinky Boinky]

I am sorry to hear this sad news.

[Oinky Boinky]

You know the clues are so hard they hardly ever help us.

Doing the sorting of the characters is very helpful but not sure if it is in this game. There are so many and so many ambiguous ones there is lots of room to hide or false claim.

You can pretty much claim your role but say you are the hero version.

The other overwhelmingly helpful thing is voting history. Last game to me it was pretty glaring that we as villains were voting together and by the 3rd vote it was kind of ouchy.

Now we have one less day of voting history plus we absolutely did not DL a villain.

Does anyone think that voting no DL thing is something only heroes do? I don't.

[Drogo]

Voting No-DL as a Villain is a winning situation.  You give yourself an air of "trying to protect the Heroes" and don't point a finger at anyone, so you appear less suspicious.  In any case you can kill the Heroes at Night, and no one's the wiser. 

 

As a Villain I only voted for DLs when either (a) seemingly "justified" (b) popular or © taking existing heat off of me or a fellow Villain. 

[FormerMod-a1]

Although new to this, I do tend to like to do something, even if it gets a hero killed.  It seems you can at learn things from the discussion leading up to it and after it. Even though some people will be lying.  That said this go around I never got around to voting to Not DL or to DL someone so I'm not complaining.  My own inaction helped lead to no DL.

 

I'm not saying this is the right approach, of course, just what I tend to do.

[Lisin]

I agree with the above in theory, I just always feel terrible on the first day of just basically randomly picking someone to DL since we have almost nothing to go on. That being said I am not, as a rule against a Day 1 DL. 

[Oinky Boinky]

I think the best for a day one no DL is that you have a lot of votes to DL and it ends in a tie. 

Even better you put on some heat and someone has to defend them self or someone lies and gets caught out.

Say it is 5 to 6 for one and another - you get a voting history, hints of alliances such as masons and villains. You may see if you touched a nerve based on the next NK target.

 

I come from games with no story, no clues and the only way it gets done is to rattle people.

I mean it, no story, no clues, just people yapping at each other and testing them and then examining voting history and targets. 

 

Every one falling in line and voting no DL causes people to sit back and no information is gained- no one defending, no one back peddling. It's a fait accompli and the tendency is not to stick your neck out.

Having 2 or 3 people with DL votes against them produces good information. 

 

Rattle people, make them work, 

 

I very often vote to stall things or rattle people I want to hear from. That is also a good reason to start a DL on someone who is not posting. 

Sorry I wasn't going to go on the usual anti NO DL rant. 

[Athena]

Xena                 Often Good
Gabrielle           More often good
Joxer                 Good- bumbling side-sidekick
Callisto              Almost always bad- Revenge Driven possibly the Big Bad. Xena wiped out her village and I believe burnt her parents alive? - Callisto ends up being resurrected into Eve and becomes a good angel as well.
Julius Ceaser    Bad- possibly the Big Bad
Ares                  uhh...Good??? Mischievous at least.
Eve                   Bad- Daughter of Xena. While Bad at first, Eve becomes Good and her life is what enables Xena to be a Godkiller.
Meg                  Good- Xena Lookalike
Diana                Good- Xena Lookalike
Aphrodite          Selfish
Borias               Probably Bad- he could be dead. Xena's love when she was a raving sociopath
Ephiny              Good- Queen of the Amazons
Cyrene             Good- Xena's mom
Autolycus          Good(Bad, I'm the guy with the gun)- King of Thieves, scoundrel etc
Atropos             Good? One of the three fates, may not be appearing in this story)
Cupid                Good
Jett                    Bad- Assassin triplets with Joxer and their brother Jace
Athena              uhhh.... Bad? Yep. In this show, Athena is bad.
Hope                 Very Bad, could be the big bad

Bacchus             Bad

 

In addition to that, I'll add the following:

 

Dahak: Bad. Possibly The Big Bad. God-killer.

Eli: A prophet. Good.

Mephistopheles: Bad. King of Hell. Another Big Bad.

 

This show has ALOT of characters. I haven't even listed to more of the Good ones because there are so many. I couldn't leave out the two big bads out though.

[Guest]

Night 1

Sisters And Swordfights And Surprises, Oh My!

It was a bright warm day, Xena and Gabrielle chatted amiably as they strolled through a forest. Xena had chosen to lead her horse, Argo, rather than ride her as was often the case.
“Tell me about more of your adventures, Xena, I have a scroll that’s begging to be written on and I think your background would be a fascinating subject” Gabrielle said enthusiastically.
“What would you like to know?” Xena replied somewhat dubiously.
“How about the time…” she stopped short at the sight of a group of men. Men, who approached quickly and obviously didn’t have friendly intentions. At the same moment, a group of warrior women suddenly burst from a nearby cluster of trees and fell upon the marauders and a battle ensued.
“Amazons!” Xena swore under her breath, “Stay back Gabrielle” she ordered.
Before Gabrielle could reply, Xena drew her sword and let out her war cry “ayiayiayiayiayiayiayi” as she joined the fray and assisted the Amazons whilst an awestruck Gabrielle watched on in admiration.
The Amazons were slowly driving the marauders back and appeared to be winning; however, four men had one woman hemmed in on three sides. Having already sustained some serious wounds, she was in real danger of losing this fight. With preternatural foresight, Xena discerned the situation and without missing a beat, grabbed and threw her Chakram. It soared through the air and slashed one of the men across the face, ricocheted off a tree and a rock then came back and made a deep slice in another attacker’s chest before returning to Xena’s grasp. Gabrielle rushed to help and fought off one of the two remaining attackers with her staff, whilst the Amazon dealt with the last one. Suddenly arrows began zipping through the air all around them, one struck the wounded woman in the chest and she fell to the forest floor. As arrows continued to rain down, Gabrielle instinctively threw herself over her fallen companion in an attempt to save her life. Within minutes the battle subsided as the marauders, who were losing, retreated at the sound of a signal Gabrielle hadn’t heard.
“They’ve gone, it’s over now” Gabrielle reassured the wounded Amazon.
“Thank you” the woman murmured as her eyes rolled back into her head.
“Don’t mention it, I’m just glad you’re alive. We need to get you back to your village where a healer can help you” she told her.
“No” the woman replied, “I’m dying”
“No you can’t die, I saved you!” Gabrielle pleaded.
“You are a true Amazon, what you did proved that. My name is Terreis and because of what you did for me, I give you my Right of Caste” Terreis coughed and spluttered as she spoke whilst blood bubbled between her lips.
“No! Please don’t die. I don’t even know what that means, I’m no Amazon, I just wanted to help!” Gabrielle begged.
Terreis raised her hand and cupped Gabrielle’s cheek softly as the light disappeared from her eyes. Gabrielle wailed in frustration and looked around for help just as Xena, who had heard her shout, approached.
“Xena help! Please you have to save her!” Gabrielle insisted.
Xena knelt beside Terreis and felt for a pulse in her neck. “Gabrielle, she’s gone. There’s nothing I can do, I’m sorry” Xena gently informed her.
“The first time I try to make a difference and it was all for nothing” Gabrielle sighed deeply.
“It’s never for nothing Gabrielle. An act of goodness whether successful or not, is precious and makes you who you are” Xena comforted her. Placing her hand on Gabrielle’s shoulder, she prompted, “Come on, let’s help get her back to her village where she will have a proper Amazon funeral”.
The Amazon women approached and thanked them both for their help, then stood in silence with heads bowed for a minute, honouring their fallen comrade. “You are welcome to accompany us back to our village if that is your wish” one spoke. They followed the Amazons with Terreis’ covered body pulled on a litter behind Argo.
As they walked, Gabrielle frowned and asked “Xena, what does Right of Caste mean?”
“Why do you ask?” Xena replied.
“Well, Terreis gave me something called her Right of Caste but I have no idea what that means” Gabrielle explained.
“Hmm that could mean trouble I think” Xena uttered.
“Trouble? Why? What is it?” Gabrielle grew concerned.
“It means that Terreis wasn’t just an Amazon warrior; she was an Amazon Princess. It means you inherit her title and possessions”
“WHAT?! An Amazon Princess, me? I can barely fight, I’m no warrior let alone an Amazon one!” Gabrielle exclaimed, shocked.
“Listen, I’ve seen you defend yourself enough times to know you have more courage than you realize. Terreis obviously thought so too” Xena told her matter-of-factly.
“Why did you say it means trouble, what have I gotten myself into?” Gabrielle asked worried.
“You may face opposition when we reach the village. But don’t worry, if that happens just let me handle it” Xena told her with a look of determination as she clenched her jaw.
After that they walked in silence as Gabrielle contemplated what all this meant and Xena ran through a dozen different scenario’s of what to do should things go awry.
As they reached the village, rustic drumheads were sounded as a mark of respect for their fallen sisters. There, the Amazon Queen, Ephany greeted them and Xena explained what had taken place between Terreis and Gabrielle. Xena was pleasantly, yet extremely, surprised when Ephany accepted her account of events without question; Gabrielle was to have a ceremony to recognize her new status as an Amazon Princess.
That night after the ceremony and during the celebrations, Ephany leaned over and spoke, “Your reputation precedes you Xena. Everyone knows of your past and some say you’ve changed your ways, but lately we’ve been hearing reports of you sacking and burning villages again, so I must ask, where’s your army?”
“That’s ridiculous, Xena doesn’t sack and burn villages anymore. She put all that behind her! She has no army, well except for me” Gabrielle jumped to Xena’s defense.
“When did this start?” Xena asked frowning.
“During the past few weeks” Ephany continued, “A woman with a band of marauders who claimed to be you has wreaked havoc. She has burned many villages and killed and maimed indiscriminately”
“It seems I have an admirer, or should I say former me does” Xena said sarcastically.
“Xena, we have to stop her or everything you’re working to achieve will be ruined” Gabrielle urged.
“Yes, I know. Don’t worry I will stop her” Xena said with an icy calm.
“Now that I know which Xena sits before me, I have a favour to ask of you both” Ephany told them.
“What might that be?” Xena asked, arching an eyebrow.
“An Amazon relic has been stolen from us. Amazon’s are trained for open battle not deception, so retrieving it is a task we’re hesitant to undertake. Would you be willing to help us?” Ephany requested hopefully.
Gabrielle glanced at Xena before replying, “Of course we’ll help. As an Amazon Princess, how could I refuse?” she smiled.
Xena sighed.

A Mighty Task

Callisto watched in idle amusement as the two men fought one another to the death. ‘The cowards have only themselves to blame, if they had followed my orders during the attack on the Amazons, instead of sounding the retreat they wouldn’t be in this situation’ she thought irritably.
“Bored now, KILL HIM ALREADY!” she shouted at them.
Just then she heard a cough behind her. She turned to see a skinny, pathetic, poor excuse of a man standing before her, dwarfed by the two men stood at his side.
“Who do we have here and what is it you want?” she snapped.
“Er, well your er, Callisto-ness, I heard you were looking for fighting men so I thought I’d come to offer my services. I want to join your team” he explained haltingly.
She eyed him up and down and unable to contain her mirth any longer, blurted out, “YOU?!?!? You’re just a little maggot!” and burst into laughter.
As everyone around him laughed and chuckled the guy continued, “I know I don’t look like much but my family has a long tradition of fighting and killing. I’ve trained for this and I’m ready!”
This only made her laugh harder. Finally, she managed to say, “Fine, okay. I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you a task and if you manage, somehow, to complete it, then you can join me” she smirked.
“Sounds fair” the guy replied puffing out his ribs, “What do I have to do?”
Callisto looked at her men and grinned, then replied, “There’s a woman named Xena, and I’ve heard that she has a particularly irritating blonde sidekick called Gabrielle. I want you to kill this Gabrielle then return to me. If you do that, your place here is assured” she told him using supreme willpower to keep a straight face.
“Consider it done! Joxer the Mighty won’t let you down!” Joxer replied earnestly and bowed as he slowly backed away.
As he left she shouted after him, “Be sure to put some warmer clothes on first, otherwise you’ll catch a chill maybe!”
She looked at her men and shrugged, “If he manages it, it’ll be a nice gift for Xena. If he doesn’t, who cares?” Callisto exhaled, relieved to no longer have to contain her chuckling.

 

 

Twilight has drawn to a close and Night has officially fallen, please cease and desist from gameplay conversation and head over to the bar until Day begins. You have 24 hrs to submit your Night actions, please be sure not to miss this deadline.

There are 2 clues in this story.

Living players: Still in the hands of The Fates

• Drogo
• aquarian1
• Machiabelly
• Lisin
• BizBuzz
• Athena
• jesse
• Hanged Man
• MarkHB
• Oinky Boinky
• caprice
• SVNBob
• TJtrack99
• The Crazed Spruce
• egavasc
• Lady Calypso
• stacey
• yeswedo
• Dougal

Dead players: Gone to The Underworld

 

[Drogo]

Who does a guy have to kill to get a drink around here...

[MarkHB]

Who does a guy have to kill to get a drink around here...

 

The goddess Sophrosyne.  (I had to look it up)

[Hanged Man]

And now for something completely different...

Does anyone else, when you see the word nowhere, do you ever at first think "now here" as opposed to "no where"?

 

Could  just be me.

Edited January 28, 2016 by Hanged Man

[caprice]

No, HM, it's not just you.

[The Crazed Spruce]

Hey, remember when I said I hadn't gotten around to uploading a couple of unboxing videos last month? Well, I finally got around to it.

I'm also in the middle of uploading a couple of unboxings from this month. I'll probably post them later.

[egavasc]

And now for something completely different...

Does anyone else, when you see the word nowhere, do you ever at first think "now here" as opposed to "no where"?

 

Could  just be me.

Nowhere/Now here is part of the theme of one of my favorite author's books. Douglas Coupland's Hey Nostradamus

[Guest]

And now for something completely different...

Does anyone else, when you see the word nowhere, do you ever at first think "now here" as opposed to "no where"?

 

Could  just be me.

 

I think "man" when I see nowhere.  Hush.  I meant The Beatles song.

[formerlyfreedom]

Does anyone else, when you see the word nowhere, do you ever at first think "now here" as opposed to "no where"?

 

I will from now on....

[Drogo]

At least once a day I type a common word and think I've spelled it wrong but I haven't. My spellcheck thinks I'm schizophrenic.

“All my life I’ve looked at words as though I were seeing them for the first time.” — Ernest Hemingway

[Hanged Man]

Nowhere/Now here is part of the theme of one of my favorite author's books. Douglas Coupland's Hey Nostradamus

That looks like an incredibly depressing book...

 

I will from now on....

Today's chaos quota filled...

[egavasc]

that's kind of his specialty. Either depressing or absurd. But lovely! Almost always lovely! 

[Guest]

The 24 hr deadline for submitting Night actions has now passed. Night will continue until the Day story is posted. Continue drinking, bottoms up!

 

We are shooting for a Day 2 story to be posted on Monday.

[The Crazed Spruce]

Well, since we've all got a few minutes to kill....

[Machiabelly]

I got Jon Snow in mine.

[Hanged Man]

Gasp!!! How do you not recognize Bags End?

 

I wasn't aware Data had a skeleton

Edited January 29, 2016 by Hanged Man

[The Crazed Spruce]

Gasp!!! How do you not recognize Bags End?

In my defence, I haven't seen LotR in years, and haven't seen either of the Hobbit movies yet. (And when I first looked at the print, I focused more on the tree than the hutch underneath. I recognized it later, when I had a closer look.)

[Hanged Man]

tsk It is Bag End with no "s"

[SVNBob]

Ooh...LotR Mafia.  The mind staggers with the possibilities.

[SVNBob]

That's not to say I'd run a game with that theme.  I just like the concept.  Besides, it's a fun thought experiment: picking a show/film and turning it into a Mafia game theme.  What characters do you include?  On which side?  And what roles/powers to they get?

 

Since it's still Night, let's spitball LotR together.  The Hero team centers around the Fellowship, naturally.  But which ones?  Gandalf as a 2-kill (Grey then White, with a possible time delay before returning) would seem to be a place to start.

 

For the Villains, do you include Sauron?  I don't think you can reasonably.  Saurman has to be the top Villain, with Wormtongue on his side.  And one Orc general, presumably.  But who else, if any?

 

Then there's the question of Golllum.  Is he the SK?  Or the Recruitable?  Or is he an NPC?

 

So how would y'all go about this?

[caprice]

So how would y'all go about this?

I wouldn't. The world is too complex and I don't think the layers would translate well to Mafia.

 

Besides, with our track record, we'd end up lynching Frodo in the first day or two.

[Drogo]

I've never read or seen Lord of the Rings.

[formerlyfreedom]

Besides, with our track record, we'd end up lynching Frodo in the first day or two.

 

Okay, I snorted a perfectly lovely beverage through my nose for that.

 

Also, like @Drogo, I'm not a reader of the LOTR series (OR a viewer of the movies - sorry!). I read The Hobbit back in the day for school. It was fine.

[Hanged Man]

I've never read or seen Lord of the Rings.

I don't understand.

 

For villains you could just have generic orcs, like sometimes heroes are generic villagers. Also Balrog. And Kraken. and goblins. and RingWraiths. and the evil crow that work for Saruman. and Uruk Hai orcs in addition to generic orcs. and Easterlings. and Shelob

Frankly there are a lot of villains in LOTR to choose from.

I would say a victory condition for the villains would be to kill Frodo and Sam

[SVNBob]

Besides, with our track record, we'd end up lynching Frodo in the first day or two.

Believe me, I thought about that.  That's why I'd consider making Frodo an NPC. 

 

For villains you could just have generic orcs, like sometimes heroes are generic villagers. Also Balrog.

I forgot about the Balrog.  Maybe that's a limited Investigator, seeking Gandalf.  With a last-chance opportunity if DL'd to take Gandalf with him.  Or maybe just a Kamikaze.

 

And Shelob.  Thematically, she seems like a Roleblocker to me.  With Sam being immune to her power.

 

On the Hero side, Legolas as the Vigilante?

[Drogo]

Balrog= the boxer from Street Fighter II. Just me?

Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat Mafia could be a blast in a flask.

[Meredith Quill]

I've never read or seen Lord of the Rings.

 

<Shocked Gasp>

[TJtrack99]

Balrog= the boxer from Street Fighter II. Just me?

Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat Mafia could be a blast in a flask.

GET OVER HERE!!

[MarkHB]

Balrog= the boxer from Street Fighter II. Just me?

Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat Mafia could be a blast in a flask.

I call dibs on Kung Lao.

[Hanged Man]

I've always been partial to Raiden, probably because Big Trouble in Little China is a favorite movie

[SVNBob]

Power for Shang Tsung: chooses another character at Night, appears as that character if Investigated.

[Meredith Quill]

Day 2

Devious Deities

Aphrodite looked around at the disarray of her temple. She sighed. Her brother, Ares, appeared and noticed his sister looked discombobulated and asked, “What’s eating you sis?”
“What’s eating me? What’s eating me is the state of my temple, look at it!” she replied irritably as she waved her hand around.
“Yeah, you’re followers do seem to have let things slip” he grinned mischievously.
“You don’t say…this is the FIFTH temple left like this in a week!” she screeched. “What’s with these people? Am I not beautiful enough? Am I not the essence of divinity?! I’m the freakin goddess of love! So why aren’t I feeling the love??!” she ranted.
“I think I know what your problem is” Ares told her conspiratorially.
Hearing this she swung around and faced him, “Tell me!” she demanded.
“Xena” he smirked.
“What would Xena have to do with my temples being trashed?” Aphrodite asked perplexed.
“It’s that irritating blonde sidekick of hers, Gabrielle. She writes these scrolls which tell of Xena’s heroic adventures. They’ve become quite the hit. I guess as her popularity rises, yours sweet sister, falls” he needled.
“We’ll see about that!” Aphrodite huffed.
He wore a look of sympathy, which masked his smug self-satisfaction as she fumed. He gleefully thought, “Oh yeah, I’m good. This is exactly what I wanted. Aphrodite will mess with Gabrielle, which will distract Xena from what I’ve got planned”
“You know, the easiest way to turn this around would be to get rid of the blonde. If she isn’t writing scrolls, then there won’t be any for people to read” he suggested helpfully.
“So, Gabrielle writes scrolls which everyone reveres…maybe I should pay her a visit” Aphrodite replied and with a snap of her fingers she disappeared.

Later…at a camp that evening

“Gabrielle, what are you writing about now?” Xena enquired, as she looked over to her friend who sat scribbling away.
“Oh nothing much, just about how you defeated that giant” Gabrielle replied absently.
Aphrodite materialised behind Gabrielle but remained invisible.
“I don’t know why you always have to write about me” Xena sighed.
“People love reading about you Xena. They love knowing there is a hero out there, someone they can look up to” Gabrielle explained earnestly.
“Maybe you ought to try something different? How about fiction? Try that for a change” Xena suggested.
“Hmm, fiction. I guess I never really thought about it before” Gabrielle responded as she tapped her quill against her chin. “I think you might be onto to something there…I’ll try it”
“Just make someone else the hero this time” Xena told her as she settled down to sleep.
Gabrielle took a new scroll out of her pack and unfurled it. She contemplated for a moment then began to scratch at the parchment and read aloud as she wrote:
‘Xena realised she needed some R&R. She woke early in the morning and decided to go fishing. Later, Gabrielle awoke with a jerk to the sound of bandits approaching’.
She looked up, “You know what, this fiction stuff is a lot of fun!”
“Good, but we should get some sleep now, we have a long journey ahead of us. We need to find Autolycus to help us retrieve the Amazon relic. Remember?” Xena gibed.
“Yes, yes I remember. As an Amazon Princess I had to help” Gabrielle reiterated for the sixth time since they’d set off.
“Yeah, I know you did. Now sleep” Xena smiled.
Aphrodite hatched a plan… ‘So Gabrielle is going to write fiction. Maybe if everything she writes on that scroll comes true she’ll do my job for me.’ With a flick of her hand she cursed the scroll then disappeared.

The Quill Is Mightier

The following morning, Gabrielle awoke suddenly, their camp was under attack! She jumped up and grabbed her staff, ready to defend herself. “Xena wake up!” she whispered loudly to her friend, who was still asleep and covered by a fur blanket. “Xena! We’re about to be attacked!” she half yelled. Five bloodthirsty men came at her, Gabrielle valiantly fought them off with her staff. “XENA! WAKE UP!” she shouted. Upon hearing Xena’s name, the men stopped to reconsider their actions. They decided they enjoyed living and ran off back they way they came.
Gabrielle walked over to where Xena lay, softly snoring, “Xena! Wake up, we were attac…” she stopped mid sentence. As she pulled the furs back she saw that the person asleep under them was not Xena but a man she didn’t recognise. She kicked him in the ribs, “Who are you and where is Xena?!” she demanded pointing the end of her staff at his face.
“Ow! W-w-what?! Where am I? H-h-how did I get here???” he replied bewildered.
“I don’t know but you’re here and my friend isn’t.” Gabrielle said menacingly as she poked him in the chest with her staff.
“Ow. Ow. Ow. Stop hitting me will ya. I don’t know anything. I was asleep in a nice warm stable, next thing I know, I wake up here with you poking me with that thing!” he said panic stricken.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“My name is Joxer, Joxer the Mighty” he replied as he rose. Then squared his shoulders as he began to sing, “I’m Joxer the Mighty…”

Gabrielle watched agog as he sang. When he finished, she smiled and continued, “And you say you got here but have no recollection of how exactly. That’s impossible!” she said bemused but a gradual look of comprehension slowly spread over her face.
“Wait. No. That’s just stupid. It can’t be” she continued as she retrieved her scroll. Reading it she gasped. “How can this be happening?!?!” she said aloud.
“How can what be happening?” Joxer asked.
Ignoring him, she grabbed her quill and wrote something quickly. Joxer picked up a branch and hit himself with it. “What the…” he exclaimed.
“Oh my gosh, what I write comes true!” Gabrielle said in shock.
Seeing his sceptical look, she showed him the scroll ‘Joxer hits himself with a branch.’
“What does this have to do with me; how'd I get here?” he asked quizzically.
“I don’t know…the scroll reads that Xena went fishing and then...” she paused, “Gabrielle awoke with a jerk…” she trailed off, as she realised what this implied.
“Yeah and? I still don’t see how I got here?” Joxer said, oblivious. “I guess I must’ve just travelled here, maybe I sleptwalked?” he reasoned.
“I just had a great idea!” Gabrielle said changing the subject, “I can use this scroll to do good! For instance, I can bring Autolycus here, instead of us having to go find him.” She began writing on the parchment and finished with a flourish. “There. Done. This is fabulous!” she grinned at Joxer.
“Yeah... it’s really fabulous” he replied dubiously.
“I can help orphans and those in need. Maybe I could even bring about world peace!” Gabrielle said, as she voiced her thoughts.
“Hang on now, I really think you should be careful, anything could happen" Joxer advised worriedly.
“I guess you’re right, but knowing I have such power in my grasp, it’s intoxicating” she told him.
Joxer, being Joxer, still hadn’t figured out that since this was Xena’s blonde friend, she must be the Gabrielle Callisto wanted dead.
As they walked toward a nearby town, an old man pulling a cart approached them; he was hunched over and struggled with his burden. “Are you ok sir?” Gabrielle asked.
“What’s it got to do with you?” he asked crabbily.
She ignored his tone and asked, “Can we help you?”
“Unless you've got some way of making this damn cart lighter, no” he answered testily and released his grasp for a moment.
Immediately, she unfurled her scroll and began to write, ‘The old man in front of Gabrielle suddenly finds his cart is as light as a feather’.
She looked up and smiled at him; he harrumphed and lifted the cart handles once more. “This feels lighter, what di…” the cart began to lift off the ground. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!” the old man exclaimed. The cart was now five feet in the air as he clung to it.
“Oh no…I was just trying to help!” Gabrielle replied panicked.
She grabbed the old man’s waist, in an attempt to prevent him being carried off, the cart was now 10 feet in the air, “It’s slipping, noooooo!” he wailed.
He lost his grip on the cart and they both fell to the ground in a tangled heap. They watched as the cart floated off above the trees almost out of sight.
“That was my livelihood! Look what you did! Why don’t you just leave people alone you silly girl!!” he blustered.
Gabrielle felt awful; Joxer stood still watching the cart with his mouth agape. The old man got up and stalked off muttering angrily to himself. Gabrielle looked at Joxer abashed, “I only wanted to help” she said apologetically. “Maybe I should get Xena back here before I do anything else” she sighed.
“I think that sounds like a good idea” Joxer agreed.
She stopped and wrote on the scroll once more, “This time I’m going to be precise”. She read aloud as she wrote, ‘A woman, with black hair, wearing leather, and carrying the whip of Xena, arrives here.’
A voice called out behind them, “Hi!”
They turned to see a short, dumpy, plain, black haired woman, clad in leather and carrying a whip walking toward them.
“Is that Xena?” Joxer asked, surprised.
Gabrielle sighed, “No not Xena. Her name is Minya. She’s a big fan of Xena’s; we met a while ago. I forgot I'd traded Xena's whip for a frying pan with her.”
“Hi Minya” Gabrielle greeted her.
“Hi Gabby, I don’t know how I got here, but I’m sure pleased to see you. Where’s Xena?” Minya asked looking around.
“We’re trying to find her” Gabrielle replied and explained about the scroll. All three set off in search of Xena, but hadn't got far before they spotted a cloaked stranger headed toward them. He spoke from under his hood, “Ho fellow travellers, can you tell me where this might be?” he asked.
“You don’t know where you are?” Joxer chuckled.
Gabrielle elbowed Joxer in the ribs, narrowed her eyes, and asked, “Sir, what is your name?”
“I am no-one of importance young lady, just a fellow traveller like yourselves” he answered cryptically.
Using her staff, Gabrielle flicked back his hood. “I thought I recognised that voice!” she said, delighted with her own powers of detection.
“Gabrielle! How are you?” Autolycus asked with a flamboyant bow.
The name, Gabrielle, caused Joxer to break out in a cold sweat. He’d finally realised this was whom he had been searching for to warn about Callisto. Now was not the time, there are too many people present, “It can keep” he thought to himself.
Instead, he asked, “Who are you?” feeling somewhat envious of this dashing newcomer.
“The name is Autolycus, you may know me as The King of Thieves” Autolycus told him extravagantly.
Autolycus sighed irritably, “I was just about to complete a heist I’d spent months planning and all of a sudden I got the urge to find you and Xena.”
Gabrielle explained the chaos the scroll had caused and her reason for summoning him.
“Honestly Gabrielle, this really is very inconvenient” he berated her.
“I’m sure whatever it was you were about to steal will still be there when you return. We need your help retrieving a sacred Amazon relic that’s been stolen. Besides, working for the greater good is noble, instead of just stealing to fill your own pockets all the time” she reasoned with him.
He raised an eyebrow and said, “Well, you know me, I could never get enough money or fame. But okay, so you need to get Xena here. Hmm, what did you write to bring us here? Let me see the scroll”
Gabrielle handed it to him and he began to read aloud, “Blah, blah, blah, awoke with a jerk”. He looked at Joxer, “Okay got it” Joxer looked befuddled and shrugged. Autolycus then continued to read, “uh huh, etcetera, etcetera, Autolycus finds Gabrielle. Yeah, okay that makes sense” he carried on scanning the writing, “Carrying the whip of Xena arrives here” he quoted aloud and looked at Minya. “Ok, I think I know what you need to do” he proclaimed as he handed the scroll back to Gabrielle.
“Whatever it is, it had better work, I’m almost at the end of the scroll” Gabrielle replied.
“You need to write the most obvious thing; Xena returns to Gabrielle” he smiled smugly.
“By the gods I’m an idiot, I never even thought of that” Gabrielle chided herself as she wrote.
Within minutes, Xena walked out, laden with fish, from some nearby trees.
“Xena!” Gabrielle cried, “I’m so happy to see you”
She explained everything that had happened since she’d awoken that morning. Xena listened quietly then greeted everyone and said, “It sounds like one of the gods decided to have some fun with you. Gabrielle, instead of bringing Autolycus here, why didn’t you just write that the Amazon relic was in your possession?”
Gabrielle blushed and mumbled, "I really messed things up, huh?"
“Yep. But we can fix it. However, the scroll is full, so we’ll just have to continue with plan A” Xena gently told her.
Autolycus groaned.
“In the meantime, we’re having fish for supper” she added, as she held up her catch. Joxer grinned but Minya looked crestfallen, “I was really hoping for some roast grouse”.


Due to the length of the story it contains 3 (yep three) clues. You have 36 hrs until Day ends and Twilight begins unless a lynch is completed beforehand.

10 votes are required to complete a lynch.

Living players: Still in the hands of The Fates

• Drogo
• aquarian1
• Machiabelly
• Lisin
• BizBuzz
• Athena
• Jesse
• Hanged Man
• MarkHB
• Oinky Boinky
• caprice
• SVNBob
• TJtrack99
• The Crazed Spruce
• egavasc
• Lady Calypso
• stacey
• yeswedo
• Dougal

Dead players: Gone to The Underworld

[BizBuzz]

Oh my ... I will need some time with this story ... it's a novel ...

 

::giggle::

[Oinky Boinky]

We had a good night.  

 

Whoever protected who - now knows some good information or the target was a 2 kill. 

[Drogo]

I figure we have 26 hours to read the Story, and 10 hours to vote. 

[Oinky Boinky]

See Autolycus is a good guy.

 

Well from the story...

FIFTH temple

sixth time 

Five men

five feet

10 feet

no-one 

 

FIFTH, sixth, Five, five, 10, one 

 

I tried to make that add up to 99 (:-P) but it didn't work. Any other ideas. 

Could this be a numerology thing?

Anything about the variation on how the numbers are denoted?