I knew this was bound to happen at some point, I just didn't think it'd be this soon. Decision time Noah. Time to ask just how far I was willing to go to survive. Everyone should still have lives left and no one had seen what happens to those who run out, I told myself. It's possible by running out of lives they are just kicked out of the pod and sent back to Earth. I didn't believe it. These aliens may claim to be peaceful, but they seemed to relish the bloodsport. Anyone who lost all 3 of their lives, likely wouldn't be coming back. But the games had seemed generous enough so far that they would likely be able to afford another life with their points so I wouldn't be the one killing them. Why did I still feel sick to my stomach? I couldn't help but think Xix had been responsible in some small way as petty revenge for earlier, but that's impossible, right? I swallowed my guilt, and I made my decision. I was getting out, and if that took forcing the others into an untenable situation, so be it.

I looked around at the others, then pulled up the role list available to me for the game. A marker appeared above the head of two other players, a man and a woman nearby me, notifying me of my teammates. So that's how the system did it. I can only assume if Dave's comments were also accurate that I'd be notified if one of them died, although with a public voting system that appeared a little redundant. It also appeared the second part of my role would be unnecessary in this game, as no role reveals had been chosen. Quickly scanning the list, I noted 3 major roles that would provide the other team information, the inquisitor, jailor, and lookout would all be something I would have to watch out for. If I was caught by either of the first two or spotted by the third it would be difficult to convince the others I was good. Perhaps there was a way I or my fellow traitors could get them to admit to their roles. These games should still be new to people, so it shouldn't be impossible.

The android spoke again. "Shops have been enabled, appearing around the town. Check your maps for specific locations. You have all been granted a stipend of 100 coins to spend freely at these shops. Innocents will be allowed to vote off 1 person per day, traitors will be allowed to kill 1 person per night. The game has begun."

If I didn't speak to the others, I risked being isolated and thereby being labeled as suspicious. I made my way to the largest gathering in the town center, a group of 4. One of my traitors, the man, was a part of the group, which may give me an in if I needed it. Walking up, I heard them discussing what their roles were. Was I this lucky? The one who seemed to be leading the conversation had claimed to be the jailor and was using it to get as much information from the others as possible. My fellow traitor had claimed to be an investigative role that wasn't one of the ones in the game currently; a witness. They would be able to tell whether or not a person was a traitor or not. It was a smart claim, if one of us fell under suspicion they could either lean into it and make themselves seem more innocent or try and counterclaim the person to gain us a critical advantage. Then they turned to me. I knew whatever I claimed would stick with me the rest of the game. Innocent seemed the easiest to claim, but it was also likely to be the very reason I get voted out if I fell under any sort of suspicion. Looking around, I noticed a solo player who had been listening to our conversation stalking over to the jailor's house. Thinking quickly, I guessed that player was the trapper and had been listening in on our discussion. In his situation, I would have trapped the jailor's house, without any information, the best call was to pick the most innocent player and try to protect them. Shame it wouldn't work out in his favor since he got caught by me. As long as nobody else had noticed it was a safe call to claim trapper and take credit for his trap.

"I'm a trapper, I haven't placed any of my traps down yet," I said. I figured the leader would want a trap placed on himself, and I could use the other person's trap as proof. My theory turned out correct.

"That's great. You can place a trap on me. The safer I am, the better off for the town. I'm the most important person here since I can prevent people from killing us during the night." The cocky ass was smirking as he said this.

"I mean, aren't we all important? Unless someone got pure innocent we all have abilities that can help us." I motioned to my fellow traitor. "He finds out if people are good or bad." I indicated another one, "He can tell us what a person was after they die"

"Or so they claim. I'm the only one who can't be counterclaimed" He said. "No one would risk getting executed going against me. So, you are all going to help me win. By the way, trapper, can I talk to you alone?" He began walking over to an alley behind one of the houses. No one would hear us talking.

"You are the only person I need. The rest of them are going to be useful sure, but they are expendable if you know what I mean." Okay, there was at least one person I wouldn't feel bad about killing. I made sure as many people as possible saw me walk up to the jailor's house. I trusted my other traitors to talk to the other players for a bit while I checked out the stores. Some of the wares were interesting, others seemed significantly more useful to the innocents.

Store Wares (Items only have a single stock, but will replenish every morning):

Plated Boots: Plated Boots will protect you from any traps placed by the Trapper as well as tripwires. After blocking a single trap, these boots will break. 60 coins.

Poison: By purchasing this, you may poison another town member. After two nights they will die if not treated. Poison may be treated by 2 other town members giving up their night actions, if they have them, for two nights. Alternatively, can be treated with an Antidote. 60 coins

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Antidote: Completely cleanses all poison from a town member. 60 coins

Key: Lock your door for a night, preventing access by the traitor unless they have a Lockpick. 40 coins

Lockpick: Unlock any door that has been locked with the Key. 30 coins

Grave Scroll: This will reveal a dead town member's role to the person who used the scroll. 40 coins

Tripwire: Activated when the traitor enters, waking you up and giving you a chance to escape. 70 coins

I picked up plated boots. I had a plan, and I was going to "prove" myself to the rest of the town. By the time I had purchased the boots, it was nighttime. The night had come quicker than normal. It seemed each day was only lasting at most 20 minutes. Time also seemed to be passing faster as well. I had been awake for around 4 hours including the 20 minutes that had just passed, and yet I felt completely exhausted. The pods were either messing with our perception of the passage of time or straight up drugging us. Either way, I needed to get to bed before I collapsed. I noticed everyone else making their way to their houses, and something occurred to me. Why didn't all of the innocents just go to 1 person's house? And then I blacked out and understood that it wouldn't have mattered if they did.

A short time later I woke up and found myself in a room with the two other traitors. A timer began counting down, giving us 5 minutes to discuss our plan. I start talking through my plan with them.

"The jailor as well as two other innocents think I've trapped his house. I saw the actual trapper place one in front before I made the claim. Which one of you is the Stitcher?" The woman raised her hand. "Okay, then I need you to silence the trapper so he can't counterclaim me tomorrow. I think our best bet is to try and kill the jailor early. He could be dangerous if we don't, and as long as the others back up that I did put a trap down, we can eliminate a threat and remove suspicion from one of us." I looked at the other traitor, who had claimed to be a Witness to the others. "Do what you have to do to get the town to vote one of them. We can push that he admitted to us he was the jailor, and so it was likely one of the 4 of us. Since I'd be "confirmed", you can push on another one of them and get us another easy elimination."

They nodded. I got the feeling non of us was totally on board with what we had to do, but it looked as if we were resigned and had accepted the hand we had been dealt. I was teleported to my house. Making my way outside, I walked over to the jailor's house. A trap triggered, but my boots protected me. Everything was going as planned until I activated my ability and walked inside. And then I woke up at home, the sun rising. I didn't remember anything about what had happened once I crossed the threshold of the house. Probably for the best, with a role like Werewolf, it might have gotten a bit violent, and I didn't want to see it. I walked outside and made my way to the town center. People were looking around to try and see who wasn't there. I only saw one of my fellow traitors, the Stitcher. The other was missing. But how could they have been jailed if the jailor was dead?

And then the smug asshole from before walks out from his house and right up to me. My heart jumped into my throat. Would he know it was me? He spoke, and the words of accusation I had been expecting to hear never came. "We need to talk. While I appreciate the attempt at a save, sorry to make you waste it, there are a few things that we need to discuss." He started walking away. I followed, knowing this would likely be my best chance to keep our game alive. The real jailor had grabbed one of my teammates, and I could only hope he didn't choose to execute. We needed to make a play, and we needed to make it soon.

We returned to the alley. "Okay, so confession time. Since it's obvious you are a Trapper at this point, I'm the Escape Artist. My ability allows me to protect myself from death at night. I used it last night as a backup plan to your trap and got a notification that the attack on me had failed due to my ability. Everything went according to plan. Announcing myself as a jailor was so ballsy I figured no traitor that heard me talking would be able to resist attacking me. Plus it probably helped I sounded like such an asshole." So the whole persona he was putting on, as well as putting himself in danger by pretending to be one of the more important roles was all a ploy to try and draw out the killer? It had worked on me and had I not set myself up to look like a good guy afterward it very well could have resulted in both myself and the Stitcher getting caught. He continued talking.

If I didn't get attacked, then it was likely everyone I had told was innocent. Either that or they had found a better target, which we could have confirmed using the grave scrolls. If the jailor found out, I was hoping I'd be able to plead my case and have them believe me. Because I was attacked though, it has to be one of the three people who were with us, and we need to figure out which. My vote is that one guy who claimed Witness. It was an interesting move claiming he was such a big investigative role. It's possible he was telling the truth though, so we will have to see whenever the real jailor releases him who he looked at.

Well shit. I was in a rough spot. Thinking quickly I realized what I had to do. I needed to convince him to vote up the Gravedigger, as anyone else would just be confirmed as good by him. Then, I could buy a death scroll and lie about the results. The jailor would either release or kill my teammate in the next minute or two, so that was a non-factor. "I think it might be the Gravedigger claim honestly. But it feels early to vote someone up. If we do so we are giving up the advantage we just gained through your play."

"Hmm, you may be right, as it is we should explain to everyone our thought process."

A few minutes later everything was going as planned. The Escape Artist, who introduced himself as Arty, announced to the town what had happened and the Hunter, a woman, Jacqueline confirmed he had been visited by the traitors. She also said that the loner from early, the real Trapper, had been visited. Of course, he was unable to corroborate that, but inspecting him, he had indeed been stitched. It didn't make much sense to vote anyone up at this point. We had three "confirmed" roles and no kills had occurred. A bit more discussion occurred and some accusations got thrown around as my fellow traitor was released without being executed. Night fell shortly after.