Author Games: Town of Mayhem

Quarterfinals | Paranoic Mayhem

THE GHOSTS

The Ghosts are watching, memories shining within their eyes.

It's just as it was before... history is repeating itself.

The beginning is the same, but the end cannot be.

They must try.

THE TASK: PARANOIC MAYHEM

Day Six of our story has come; the Quarterfinals is here at last.

A wave of paranoia has crashed among those who reside within the town; however, it's not from the eerie message all had received the previous night. As the sun rises in the sky and dawn's vibrant colors fade away into a clear blue, the remaining townsfolk gather in the square in hopes of ridding themselves of any lingering evil. A single town member is not present [who is not present is entirely up to you], and this is the reason why the town has fallen into a fit of paranoia.

The town searches every inch of their house, but there is no sign of this missing town member. The only sign of disturbance is a streak of blood across the welcome mat, red blood dried upon the wool [please feel free to have the streak of blood somewhere else, but make it obvious that there is only one and that it is quite clearly a warning of sorts].

Paranoia filling their hearts - and a watchful eye on everything around them - they return to the Town Square. Here, they are surprised to find a message written - in fresh blood - on the lynching stand:

He [or She, depending on the gender of your chosen missing person] is only the first... All of you will fall.

Beside the message is the dead corpse of the person who was missing. All of this has happened while the entire town was at the victim's house, searching, so it couldn't have been one of them. But then comes the sickly sweet whisper of a voice that is almost magical within all their ears.

"I have returned... and I've come for my revenge."

The story told the night before is still vivid within their mind. The Evil Witch has returned, they know, and as this final realization settles within their thoughts, they all fall to the ground within the Town Square to either darkness or to dreams.

Your task is to write the paranoia that settled upon the town once they come to the realization that a certain person is missing. Describe the search as they leave their hopes of lynching behind, and tell us of their return. Show us how the town is either working together or failing to work together, and who is suspicious of who, if you'd like. We would also ask all of you to cut of your entry immediately when they fall (maybe simply saying something of them falling to darkness). This should flow right into next task, so please be aware of this specific requirement.

BALLOTS AND DEATHS

Regular ballot no longer matter because this is the Quarterfinals, and we want to see all of you writing without anything to hold you back. As for the deaths within your entry, we want to see precisely one (the one person who is missing and eventually found dead).

Please remember to PM this account by 3:00pm on Saturday, January 7th, 2017 (EST] with your TARGET BALLOT if your role requires one. If you want a refresher over what to do, go back to the "The Town's Secrets" chapter for further details on the procedure.

BALLOT CHALLENGES

No more. It's the Quarterfinals!

WORD COUNT

None. It's the Quarterfinals!

*Note I: If you are controlled by a witch, you will indeed have a word count, and that word count will be 2000 words. This is the only exception.

*Note II: The arsonist's penalties for those doused also include certain word counts, so specified word counts for those doused have been personally PMed for such targets.

DEADLINE

Thursday, January 12th, 2017 at 5:00pm, EST [Eastern Standard Timezone]

A NOTE

Three of you will receive byes, securing yourself a spot in the Semifinals. Five of you will be up for votes, with three of you being eliminated. Of the five of you, two will continue to the Semifinals, leaving us with a total of five semifinalists.

We hope to see most of you survive the Evil Witch's darkness.