The message comes by carrier pigeon actually, which is a pretty weird way to deliver a message but of course, it's thematic. A very pretty looking brown pigeon swoops down out of the sky to wherever you just so happen to be that afternoon and holds out its leg. The message is short and simple:
You've been picked. Head to the Church this evening so we can talk.
- Hal
P.S. Might wanna burn the note. Ain't gonna help you any to share it.
And that's it. Of course, if you choose to listen to the message, you'll find the Sheriff sitting in the front pew at dusk. You'll be greeted with a tip of his hat and one word:
"Bandit."
And then he holds out a small notebook. Looks like you've been chosen to be the killer this week. Good luck.
The notebook only contains a few short rules as follows:
You are a Bandit. Your partner is also a Bandit. The two of you have been chosen to kill one of the townsfolk this week.
If you kill and get away with your kill, you will be rewarded.
If your partner kills and you help them to get away with it during the trial, you will be rewarded.
The one who kills may not reveal their victim to the other Bandit. You must tell me privately who your target is.
If one of you refuses to participate, neither of you will be rewarded.
If both of you refuse to participate, you will both be killed.
Both of you are allowed to kill.
You are allowed to kill each other instead.
You may not tell anyone you were here tonight or you will be killed.
[Sei really doesn't like this, but... it's go time. There doesn't seem to be any way around this, so once Barnham turns away from the Sheriff, she speaks up.]
I'll do it. I've... I haven't killed here, but... I've killed in the past. I don't want blood to be on your hands, when I could do it myself, Mister Barnham.
No, I - no. I can't ask for a reward if I'm not the one who acted, I wouldn't have earned it!
[She swallows hard.]
...I may have lost some things to this place, but I'm strong enough for this. I have to be, or else I won't have anywhere to return to if I make it home.
... I could not more ask you to shame yourself in that way than I could do so for myself.
Very well then. We shall work together.
[To kill someone.
GLAD WE CLEARED UP THAT PROBLEM. Because he can't really tolerate the thought of Sei having to go kill someone on her own and they really only need to kill one person, right??]
[Well, now that the world's dumbest argument is settled, she turns to address the Sheriff.]
That should be fine, right? If we carry this out together? I know you said we should tell you who we want to go after privately, but we fully intend to cooperate with each other, so...
Well, I'm not going to betray Mister Barnham, and I'm sure he won't betray me, so...!
[HERE GOES NOTHING.
...a victim, huh. Ash's name would be the first past her lips if she hadn't been so thrown by the revelation that Nui was a victim, not a killer, and so she forces herself to reconsider.]
What about Mister Keyes...? He seems a little, well...
[Sketchy?
...and also not a huge threat so he shouldn't make a big fuss so they should be able to get it done quickly and easily? If only they knew.]
Even so, though, Barnham thinks back to what (little) he knows of Simon.]
... Yes. If we must choose someone... Mister Keyes shall suit our purposes.
[If nothing else, now that Barnham's decided this has to be done, he's focused entirely on it. There's no going back now, and no room for wavering on the battlefield.]
Let us choose him. Truthfully, I would prefer an honorable duel to the death, but...
[She hates this. She really hates this, and it's written all over her face, but if they're going to do this... they need to do it right.]
However we kill him, we're going to want to make it look like he died in a different way. If it's a clean death, for example...
[She averts her eyes.]
We could use some blood from the chickens at the farm to look like it was a more violent struggle. We could throw people off the scent by laying a trail to somewhere else, too...
[He's quiet for a long moment, thoughtful. This goes against everything he's ever known to be right--but in a way, that only proves Sei's point. Besides, these murders... they're merit-based, according to what the Sheriff has said.]
... Very well then. If this is what must be done, that is what we shall do. We had best make use of the more commonly inhabited parts of town. There is little use to a framing effort such as this if it is not discovered quickly.
Perhaps... the railway station, or the town hall.
[Or the Saloon, but Sara would clean his clock for that so he won't suggest it.]
[They don't want to frame any particular person, after all. Just... throw in enough plausible deniability that people wouldn't assume they were the ones who did it.]
I'd prefer to avoid the town hall, if possible. It may get cleaned up before we're all locked in there, but just in case it isn't, I don't want to be holed in all day with the smell of chicken blood...
We could put something around the entrance, though.
Indeed? I fear we do not have much in the way of evidence that can be strewn about.
Perhaps the railway station or general store then, in terms of where the lay the majority of the blood. We must also decide...where the deed itself shall take place.
[...]
And by what method. We are in agreement that he shall not suffer, and that quick and merciful is best.
... Then we knock him out, and carry out the deed in the lake, is that your thinking? If nothing else, he shall not have to feel any pain if he is unconscious when it happens.
[...]
Though I fear I must admit, I have very little knowledge of the workings of a gun.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sheriffexe) wrote2017-02-05 02:23 pm
no subject
[Sei really doesn't like this, but... it's go time. There doesn't seem to be any way around this, so once Barnham turns away from the Sheriff, she speaks up.]
I'll do it. I've... I haven't killed here, but... I've killed in the past. I don't want blood to be on your hands, when I could do it myself, Mister Barnham.
no subject
[He's a little startled and it shows on his face--before a little tiredly, he smiles.]
I certainly cannot ask that of you. This place...has taken more than enough from you.
[like, you know, YOUR LEG.]
I shall handle this--all I ask is that the reward you request is worth the cost.
no subject
No, I - no. I can't ask for a reward if I'm not the one who acted, I wouldn't have earned it!
[She swallows hard.]
...I may have lost some things to this place, but I'm strong enough for this. I have to be, or else I won't have anywhere to return to if I make it home.
no subject
I do not doubt your strength. I doubt any could.
The purpose of the reward, however... is to find a way to free us all from this game. In that, you must take it.
[barnham pls]
I shall handle the rest. If I did not do so, I could hardly call myself a knight of Labyrinthia, I assure you.
no subject
[dear god please help these honorbound idiots]
Please, don't make me shame myself this way, Mister Barnham.
no subject
... He sighs, heavily.]
... I could not more ask you to shame yourself in that way than I could do so for myself.
Very well then. We shall work together.
[To kill someone.
GLAD WE CLEARED UP THAT PROBLEM. Because he can't really tolerate the thought of Sei having to go kill someone on her own and they really only need to kill one person, right??]
no subject
That should be fine, right? If we carry this out together? I know you said we should tell you who we want to go after privately, but we fully intend to cooperate with each other, so...
no subject
The rule's in place to circumvent backstabbing. If you aren't, you're free to discuss it with one another.
no subject
[A nod to Sei.]
Then let us begin by deciding upon...a victim.
[EVEN THOUGH HIS ENTIRE SOUL REBELS AGAINST THIS...
He knows what they have to do, and he certainly can't let Sei do this on her own.]
no subject
[HERE GOES NOTHING.
...a victim, huh. Ash's name would be the first past her lips if she hadn't been so thrown by the revelation that Nui was a victim, not a killer, and so she forces herself to reconsider.]
What about Mister Keyes...? He seems a little, well...
[Sketchy?
...and also not a huge threat so he shouldn't make a big fuss so they should be able to get it done quickly and easily? If only they knew.]
no subject
Even so, though, Barnham thinks back to what (little) he knows of Simon.]
... Yes. If we must choose someone... Mister Keyes shall suit our purposes.
[If nothing else, now that Barnham's decided this has to be done, he's focused entirely on it. There's no going back now, and no room for wavering on the battlefield.]
Let us choose him. Truthfully, I would prefer an honorable duel to the death, but...
[...]
I find it doubtful he is familiar with a sword.
no subject
[She says this quietly, because she doesn't exactly want the Sheriff to hear her planning a mercy kill.]
That being said, we... do have to try and get away with it, too. So we should put together some false clues, if we can...
no subject
[Barnham is clearly not made for this sort of thing; he gets what she's talking about, but it's still foreign to him.]
... Of course, I understand what you mean. We cannot die after all of this--it would be nothing more than a waste.
[...]
What, precisely, did you have in mind?
no subject
However we kill him, we're going to want to make it look like he died in a different way. If it's a clean death, for example...
[She averts her eyes.]
We could use some blood from the chickens at the farm to look like it was a more violent struggle. We could throw people off the scent by laying a trail to somewhere else, too...
no subject
... Very well then. If this is what must be done, that is what we shall do. We had best make use of the more commonly inhabited parts of town. There is little use to a framing effort such as this if it is not discovered quickly.
Perhaps... the railway station, or the town hall.
[Or the Saloon, but Sara would clean his clock for that so he won't suggest it.]
no subject
[They don't want to frame any particular person, after all. Just... throw in enough plausible deniability that people wouldn't assume they were the ones who did it.]
I'd prefer to avoid the town hall, if possible. It may get cleaned up before we're all locked in there, but just in case it isn't, I don't want to be holed in all day with the smell of chicken blood...
We could put something around the entrance, though.
no subject
Perhaps the railway station or general store then, in terms of where the lay the majority of the blood. We must also decide...where the deed itself shall take place.
[...]
And by what method. We are in agreement that he shall not suffer, and that quick and merciful is best.
no subject
[Her voice is very quiet when she finally does speak.]
When the Sheriff shot Mister Sagihara after he didn't vote... it seemed like he died quickly.
[Bam, headshot, basically.]
...if we get him into the lake before we shoot him, any blood that does get shed should be mostly diluted by the water...
no subject
... Then we knock him out, and carry out the deed in the lake, is that your thinking? If nothing else, he shall not have to feel any pain if he is unconscious when it happens.
[...]
Though I fear I must admit, I have very little knowledge of the workings of a gun.