The Wars of the Roses - Complete -- The valley is safe from the Thorns!

[Valerian]

In the tradition of Mafia and Werewolf/Werewolves of Miller's Hollow, we now bring you the Wars of the Roses!  The game will begin once I have from ten to twelve players, with the roles below to be assigned randomly to the players:

Roses: Most players will be Roses, just trying to live through another night.

Thorns: There will be three Thorns, the evil influence in the garden, trying to destroy the Roses.

Bees: There will be one Bee, who can choose one other player during each night via PMs and request to learn that person's role from the storyteller (me). 

Ladybug: Each night, the Ladybug will be able to send the name of one other player to the storyteller via PM, and thereby protect that person from the Thorns.



Just as in the usual game, any player can lie, deceive, or mislead as much as they think they can get away with, all in the name of having fun.  Please don't quote anything directly from any PMs you might send or receive regarding the game; but any information you might get that way can be repeated in your own words as much as you like.

The traditional day/night cycle will remain.  The first night, a Rose will die!  (This will be an NPC, to allow all the players to survive at least one full day.)  The next day, the players will vote on a character to be removed, and will discover if their choice was a wise one.  That night, another will die at the hands of the Thorns, unless the Ladybug happens to intervene.

The Thorns will all know each other, but no one else will know who to trust.  Can the Roses find the Thorns before the Thorns take over?  Will the garden ever be safe again?

[Valerian]

It was dawn in Rosebriar, a new day beginning, full of promise.  Though the old tales said that the valley had once been a darker place, not a spot to linger after the sun set, it had been many, many years since anyone here had been afraid of the night.  Everyone lived peacefully and happily together in their little valley, quiet and content, each day much like the next.  Until this day, the day when the sun fell on tragedy, and the entire valley was suddenly a place of fear once more, just as in the old tales.

Charlotte Anne, one of the prettiest young ladies in the village, was dead!  From the old tales, you all recognize the signs -- she died at the hands of the Thorns, creatures of the night, who had always been at war with the Roses.  Here, at least, everyone had thought them gone forever.  But now you learn, to your horror, that they have returned at last, and must be stopped, before the entire valley falls to their darkness...

Players

• Aiden
• Bliss
• Caeli
• Kazyth
• LadySky
• Maeven
• Marguerite
• Nanoki
• Rockin
• Saku
• Sir Desan

There are 3 Thorns, 1 Bee, 1 Ladybug, and 6 Roses.

Your roles will arrive shortly by PM and the game will begin!

[Saku]

Saku comes out of her little cottage, expecting the day to be beautiful as always. She sees Charlotte Anne lying outside and shrieks!

"No! It's happening again!"

She rushes to the woman and looks at the body, seeing signs of the Thorns...

[Bliss]

Hearing the distant ring of a shriek, Bliss abandoned her work to rush in that direction - to see Saku, kneeling over the fallen figure of Charlotte Anne!

"Oh, Saku! What has happened- no! No, this cannot be!" Drawing close, she saw the first of the deep cuts of the Thorns, the nectar of Charlotte Anne's life still seeping from them in the morning sun.

[Saku]

Saku shakes her head as she looks at the body.

"She's dead! She's dead! I thought they were gone!"

She exclaimed, looking quite distraught and looked over at Bliss.

"Did you see anyone suspicious around?"

[Marguerite]

Marguerite left her cottage and stepped out after she heard screams and gasps. "Oh good God! What happened? I thought...everything was fine," she gasped as she ran to Bliss and Saku's sides.

[Aiden]

Waken by the sounds of shrieks, Aiden runs out and follows the sounds. He listens closely, confused on what the hysterical women were talking about. He does his best to comfort Saku, who seemed lost in her grief.
"What is happening again."
Looking down at the lovely woman dead before him, he shakes his head in remorse. His fingers move to make sure her lifeless eyes are shut to the world.

[Bliss]

"I have not," she responded woefully, sinking to her knees and reaching out toward the fallen girl, not quite daring to touch her... feeling a terrible regret, as if somehow she should have been able to prevent such a terrible thing from happening.

"I was gathering things at home, about to head to market-" she hoisted her covered basket, jars clinking under the cloth. "...and I heard you."

Sitting back on her heels, she looked away as Aiden closed Charlotte's eyes for the last time.

[Saku]

Saku didn't like the night for she felt the darkness served as a window to evil. For years there had been nothing but peace and contentment. Now...now the terror was returning!

"The Thorns are back..."

She said and looked up as Marguerite ran over to take a look at the body lying there on the ground.

"The Thorns..."

Saku told Aiden and shuddered for she did not want them to return. Life had been going great before this death...

"Did anyone see anything or anyone suspicious? Anything that might lead to who could have done such a thing?"

She asked the ones who had come to see what was going on.

[Rockin]

Rockin was walking over to the group. A hoe in hand (pun intended). He walked over to the group to see them in grief, only to see the reason. He shook his head. ~No....Charlotte...~ He thought. The male then listened to the other villagers talk.

"But I thought they were all killed off...?" He spoke in question. Surely those bastards did die at the last war. Apparantly, there were some survivors. He then looked at Saku. "It could be anyone. I was out just doing the gardens, that's all."

[Nanoki]

Nanoki had been finishing the last of his morning chores when a faint shriek reached him, looking up baffled for a few moments he slowly made his way over to see what was going on.  As he walked throug the village he saw a gathering crowd, and he stepped up only to see the body of Charlotte laying on the ground as the last hints of crimson life dripped away.  His only thoughts were of whom could have been so heartless.

[Marguerite]

Shaking her head, she closed her eyes for the sight of the dead body of a villager was not one she ever hoped to see in her lifetime. God, this had to be a horrible dream. "We have to give her a proper burial, we cannot leave her out here for everyone to gawk at."

[Rockin]

"I'll prepare a hole to dig." He willingly volunteered. "She would love to be bury in a place of beautiful flowers." With that said, he began to move away from the area and onward to the gardens, now looking for a place to find a proper spot."

[Saku]

Saku looks over at Rockin and shakes her head, not wanting to think about what Charlotte's death meant for the rest of them. It was too horrific to consider. It meant they were all going to die!

"So what brought them back?"

It seemed as though everyone had been off doing normal activities or in bed asleep as she had been originally but if everyone was off doing something else then who was left? Some stranger that had come into the village? No, that couldn't be possible. Everyone had said that they hadn't seen anyone suspicious. New people would be suspicious. That meant it had to be one of them!

But who? Perhaps not the ones who had not been here. Maybe someone who had been alone that no one had seen? Saku listened to what Marguerite was saying about digging a hole. She looked over at Rockin who offered to dig one.

"You knew her wishes?"

Saku asked Rockin as she went over to him, deciding to help him dig this hole for Charlotte and laid a hand on his shoulder.

[LadySky]

LadySky rode in upon her horse, having just returned from her morning ride. It was a beautiful morning she thought with a smile as she led her faithful stallion into the village. Hearing a commotion she turned Thunder in the direction of all the noise.

LadySky immedietly saw Charlotte's lifeless body as she came around the corner. In shock she froze and screamed.

Leaping off Thunder's back she ran to Charlotte and knelt beside her crying in horror.

"What happened? Oh Charlotte!" she cried looking to all in the crowd in shock and confusion.

[Rockin]

He looked at Saku. "I always see her relaxing near the flowers every afternoon. I felt that she should spend the remainer of her time with the flowers." Upon finding a proper spot, he went to his shed and grabbed a shovel. Then he returned to the spot and began to make a sizable hole.

[Desan]

He blinks, his mind clouded as he tried to comprehend what was going on as he stood and looked from Saku, to Lady, to Rockin, to Marg, to nano, to aiden, to bliss. "Wait what?"

(I need to read all of this convo u.u)

[Aiden]

He watched in awe as everyone simply left her empty shell on the floor. Nodding his head in disgust, he stormed off and returned quickly with a thick and dark colored quilt.
"It is rude to stare...help me wrap her up and let's put her soul to rest...we can worry about ourselves after..."
A tear rolled down his cheek.

[Bliss]

The emotion in Aiden's voice dragged Bliss from her unthinking, staring reverie, and she nodded in silence, helping him spread the blanket and to gently move Charlotte upon it.

[Saku]

Saku heard the scream nearby and froze, wondering if someone was trying to kill another of their members and peered around a bush to see LadySky running over to Charlotte's dead body and crying in horror. It didn't seem as though anyone was trying to kill her. Merely she was expressing her horror at what was before her eyes. Saku returned her attention to Rockin and nodded.

She took a shovel from the same shed and started to help Rockin dig a hole for the grave of poor Charlotte. Then she returned to where the others were gathered.

"Charlotte was found dead right outside my cottage this morning. It is the mark of the Thorns who have returned! Have you seen anyone suspicious lately?"

Saku asked for new people meant new hope that perhaps the culprit was not one of them. She looked down at the body which was now covered with a thick and dark colored quilt.

"Did you know Charlotte, Aiden?"

[LadySky]

LadySky sat upon the ground as Charlotte's body was covered. Shaking her head in shock she simply stared into space silently trying to understand why this horrible deed had occured.

Finally she stood trembling in confusion and looked to everyone in the group. The mention of the Thorns made her spine tingle and she furrowed her brow in anger.

"How could they have returned without our noticing? There must be some clues!" she whispered as she looked at everyone in the crowd.

[Marguerite]

"What clues? Maybe Charlotte had something when she died?," she asked, sighing as she shook her head. Charlotte may not have been close to some people but still, she was part of the village. A village which was now plagued with the idea the Thorns were harming people. She thought the Thorns were dead from the last wars was there a possibility a few survived?

[Caeli]

"Don't you think that if it the Thorns did this, they'd be smart enough to get rid of any evidence that could implicate them?" Caeli's voice was skeptical as she drew the sign of peaceful rest over her chest, inclining her head in a small prayer for Charlotte's gentle spirit.

When she straightened, that mask was drawn over her eyes again, as was the aura of distance she usually maintained with others in the village. She was content to live without trouble in this small town, far removed from the hustle and bustle of the large cities... but if the Thorns had really returned to Rosebriar, then that meant this pleasant valley was no longer safe.

"Maybe we should send out some scouts to look around the area and see if we can find anything suspicious. I doubt we will, but we might get lucky."

[Valerian]

Somehow, the Thorns must be killed and the valley made safe again.  In the olden days, the townsfolk voted each day on who they felt must be the guilty party, the person getting the most votes being doomed to die as payment for the crimes of the Thorns.  Harsh justice, perhaps, but unsurprising in the face of the fear the residents of Rosebriar felt.  Perhaps it was time to revive this old tradition...

[Nanoki]

If the thorns had returned that meant that none were safe, but he wondered how they would find the culprit or culrits.  Looking around the group he decided to speak up even though he would rather go unnoticed.  "If they had survived the wars, they why would they wait so long to strike?"  None of it made any sense to him, but then not everything made sense.