Imprisonment IV - The Investigation

[Judge Sam]

IMPRISONMENT IV

Things have been moving along swiftly in the world of Spies. It was just 6 days ago that Lloyd was Imprisoned. Since then we’ve had a Schism, role claims, an Exiled Citizen, an Activity with a reward of an investigation, another Exiled Citizen, an investigation given out, and now another Imprisonment.

Who knows what else has gone on behind the scenes as people talk one-on-one on AIM about secrets and suspicions. Well, actually, I know. ;D But if you want to find out, you’ll either have to break into my house or start digging deep in conversations with your fellow villagers. All the information you could possibly want is right there in their hands – you just have to sift through the lies to find it.

Time for our fourth Imprisonment.







VULNERABLE:

[Judge Sam]

“Come on… come on… just think of something.” Singe muttered to himself as he twirled the feather pen around in his hands. The deadline for the October 23rd edition of the New Burg Post-Gazette would pass in just 25 minutes; and Singe still had an entire editorial to write. He was cutting it close.

Last time Singe had written a piece minutes right before the printing deadline it wasn’t pretty. The next day he found 15 angry people cursing at him at he bar. While they were yelling at him, it took Singe nearly an hour to remember what he had finally managed to scribble down the night before that had gotten them so angry. Who knew people were so passionate about slaughtering their animals so callously?


Despite that experience, Singe would have willingly chosen a topic for his editorial that would rile up the villagers if only he could think of a single thing to write about! It wasn’t even like it had been a slow news day. Ever since the news of Spies within the Church broke there had been scandals, rumors, and events every single day. There should be plenty to write about.





VULNERABLE:

[Judge Sam]

The newspaper, the New Burg Post-Gazette, had exploded with all the latest intrigues, extending from three pages per issue to nearly six. The staff had doubled. Although the paper had become much more popular, the standards were slipping. None of the new writers had spent any time studying journalistic procedures and guidelines and it showed in their work.


Singe refused to let this prestigious paper become a raunchy rag. Everyday he found writers trying to slip in rumors and hearsay as bona fide facts. One even made-up quotes on the spot. Oftentimes it took Singe more time to remove the bias and sensationalism from the stories than it took the writers to actually write them. It was hard work.

Singe went through some of the same topics he had been thinking about to see if any interesting angles popped up. “How to React to a Suspicious Person…” too pedantic. “Top Ten Tips to Catch a Spy Through Body Language” was already written about. Singe didn’t want to accuse any specific people, especially without any evidence. God knows that people had been riled up enough lately without him printing the latest accusatory gossip.


Twenty minutes left on the clock, and Singe hadn’t even started writing. He had to have his draft finished by 11:00 PM so the typesetter could prepare it for tomorrow’s printing. As he was thinking, Singe began to mentally review the stories he had written this week. Some he had done some in-depth investigative reporting on. He had talked to witnesses, gathered evidence, examined facts, and even done a stake-out. His mind traveled back to last week when he found himself hiding in a dumpster outside a suspicious building, digging deeper into a complicated story…






VULNERABLE:

[Judge Sam]

Summer was clearly hiding something.


It had all started with an innocuous story Faizah had told at a recent dinner she hosted. Singe, Faizah, Gordy, and Hannah were all sitting down for supper after a hard day’s work. Conversation flowed easily as the topic turned to recent animal infestations. Bugs, grasshoppers, mosquitoes, rats, raccoons – you name it it lived in the Burg. Everyone had his own story of an itchy bug bite or a surprising skunk scare.


Faizah had been regaling her guests with tales about a particularly less ferocious animal, the house fly. “As if those flies weren’t bad enough during the daytime.” Faizah began. “But, for the third night in a row, Gordy had dragged me over to Summer’s house for some reason. God knows why! Said something about necessary paperwork.”


Gordy interrupted her with a sharp cough, but oblivious to the warning, Faizah continued on. “I was sitting alone on the porch. It was nearly pitch black, the candles were running out, and hordes of vicious deathflies were buzzing about the air. I swear one as big as my wrist flew straight at me! Shreiking to the high heavens, I fled inside, straight through the living room, and smack dab into a wooden cabinet. Gosh that hurt. My toe is still throbbing.”

VULNERABLE:

[Judge Sam]

“Anyway,” Faizah continued. “So I’m crying in pain, grasping my foot, hoping my toe hadn’t fallen off. I hear Gordy and Summer run into the room and I’m relieved for the help. But those dunderbolts ran straight past me and up to the knocked-over cabinet! If I had been able to process rational thought I would have been ten times more furious.”


“Apparently, when I ran into the cabinet the lock popped and a hundred pieces of paper scattered onto the floor. You would have thought that paper was worth millions, the way they cleaned it up! You should have seen them frantically clean up that mess, that paper was everywhere. Finally, I regained my senses, so I hobble over to them to give them a right talking to when…”

“OW!” Faizah shreiked. “That’s my BAD TOE! Stop kicking it Gordy! Stop!” Emma looked away, embarassed.


Gordy stood up and walked over to Faizah, pulling her chair out. “That toe looks like it’s acting up again.” Gordy said calmly. “We better get that checked out and put new bandages on it.” Gordy picked up Faizah and carried her up the stairs. “Let’s get you upstairs and fix this toe up so these poor folks don’t have to witness the horror.”




VULNERABLE:

[Judge Sam]

Intrigued by these mysterious papers he heard about, Singe had decided to investigate and talk to Summer. Thankfully she was far less reserved than Gordy. With some charm, small talk, and an encouraging smile, Singe had learned quite a bit.


Apparently Damon and Abrams’s textile business had been pretty busy after hours. That was especially odd since Singe was pretty sure none of the equipment could be operated in the dark. Over the next few days Singe managed to see many people entering and exiting the building late at night. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed it before.


Singe had also had a chance to look at those important papers Faizah had uncovered. After Summer had left he snuck into her house and retrieved them. They looked like postal records of packages delivered and received. Page after page of names, dates, and times. Nearly everybody’s name in the village was on the list.





VULNERABLE:

[Judge Sam]

What did detailed postal records have to do with people congregating Damon’s shop after dark? Tune in next week to find out the exciting conclusion on... Imprisonment VI - The Reveal!


Meanwhile, back in the Burg...

Just as Singe was about to investigate a suspicious building, he heard a galloping horse charge into someone’s home down the street.




























A woman cloaked in white religious garbs leaped off the horse and broke in the house!




































“YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!”

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Emma has been plucked from the Burg and captured by the Enemy.

You will never see her again.

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Emma, please post Final Words in your confessional immediately.


Judge Sam: “Emma I truly enjoyed having you play for the first 10 days. During that time, you were intelligent, active, insightful, and played your role very well. As a clever new player, I was looking forward to seeing how you played the entire game from start to finish.

But it’s been a week since anyone has heard from you last! You aren’t responding to emails or board posts over the last 3-4 days. I have no problem with people going on vacation for up to 6 days or simply having a busy time in their life where they need to cut back a little bit. All it takes is 2-3 minutes of your time to post one small note in your confessional: “Sam, life is hectic, I’ll be back at full force in 4-5 days.” That works. Unexplained disappearances cause major headaches for everyone.

Unfortunately, no one has heard from you for awhile, and we have no idea when/if you might come back. I hope nothing terrible has happened.”

Emma was a Spy. She was a Traditionalist. They now have 3.

Judge Sam: “It looks like we caught our first Spy! How anticlimactic. It’s now 3 vs. 3 vs. 14."


Exile IV is LIVE 8:00 PM CST Thursday where we get our first (real) chance to eliminate a Spy. I encourage everyone to come, especially those who have been missing them. Reading about it on the board is a poor substitute to being there and experiencing it live with your fellow players.


I hope to see you all there![/size]