Round 1: Saturday, October 21st 12:00PM EST - Monday, October 23rd 11:59PM EST
Round 2: Tuesday, October 24th 12:00PM EST - Thursday, October 26th 11:59PM EST
Round 3: Friday, October 27th 12:00PM EST - Sunday, October 29th 11:59PM EST
After Party: Monday, October 30th 12:00AM EST - Tuesday October 31st 11:59PM EST
*Although updates will be posted on this blog throughout the event, it is not a requirement to follow. You will receive an @ for information relevant to you.
Please tag all posts with #TOAwitchsaccord to be courteous of others. This doc will be routinely updated for you to follow along.
HOW TO PLAY
Every muse starts with 3 Candies at the beginning of Round 1 and will vote to Ally or to Betray an opponent during each round. Once any muse loses all their candy, they are retired from the competition.
A matchup between two sides will be randomized by Tsu and it will be possible to be pitted against the same muse multiple times. (*More info below for how to proceed if you were given a partner and an opponent.)
Voting will be done through your inbox by privately answering a ballot which will be sent sometime during the day that round starts. This does not have to be in-character. A single word response is fine.
If an answer is not received by the deadline, your vote will default to Ally. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions, but you may only vote one time and cannot change it.
For the first and second round the outcomes are as follows:
Ally x Betray - The betrayer gains 3 candies and the side that allied loses 2.
Betray x Betray - Neither side loses or gains any candy.
Ally x Ally - Both sides have 2 candies added to their total.
During the third, final round, however, the stakes are raised.
Ally x Betray - The betrayer takes all candy possessed from the side that allied.
Betray x Betray - Neither side loses or gains any candy.
Ally x Ally - Both sides have 3 candies added to their total.
INTERACTING
Once matches are announced, either side is welcome to initiate the interaction. This can be done by sending asks or threading on the dash depending on personal preference. They do not have to be long at all. You are welcome to make small talk even if your vote has already been cast!
At the after party, there will be an opportunity to mingle with opponents from previous rounds to thank or question why they voted the way they did. Are they playing for themselves? Are they in it just to say they won or maybe someone they know has a sweet tooth?
Remember you are wagering candy, not your life. While you are welcome and even encouraged to lie, you do not have to resort to trickery to choose betray. Announce your intentions at the jump or keep the other side guessing despite knowing you plan to ally in the end.
Practice the ability to read others, work on your poker face, and make friends with complete strangers! You might just learn something new.
*SOLO vs DUO
As a result of having an odd number of participants, there will be two muses that become a team for that round alone. Ballots will be sent to both muses, but only one will count. While muns must be in agreement on what the vote will be, muses do not have to! Did your muse tell their partner they were going to vote one way then have a change of heart? Did your muse strongarm the other into voting how they wanted? Maybe your muse is indecisive and wants to leave the final say to their partner. There are a variety of ways to narratively flavor it. Please be as creative as you wish to! The only requirement is that both muns should have input as to the outcome.
The general ruleset followed by Solo vs Duo matches will be the following:
Solo Ally x Duo Betray - The betrayers both gain 3 candies to their total and the side that allied loses 2.
Solo Ally x Duo Ally - All muses have 2 candies added to their total.
Solo Betray x Duo Betray - Neither side loses or gains any candy.
Solo Betray x Duo Ally - The betrayer gains 3 candies and both muses from the side that allied lose 2 from their individual totals.
In the ruleset used solely by Round 3, there is a special privilege to betraying a Duo as a Solo.
Solo Ally x Duo Betray - The betrayers take all candy from the side that allied and do not have to split the number between themselves.
Solo Ally x Duo Ally - All muses have 3 candies added to their total.
Solo Betray x Duo Betray - Neither side loses or gains any candy.
Solo Betray x Duo Ally - The betrayer can choose which muse to take all candy from.
Weaving fingers together, Sara forms a cage around B-ERRD with her hands and chants an incantation before tossing her winged friend into the air. After sloughing its muddy colors like a second skin, an energetic blue bird dances circles around the crowd, chirping noisily.
@pryings
While B-ERRD performs tricks ranging from complex spins to stealing trinkets from those present, you become aware that The Witch's attention rests solely on you.
"Hello," she invites herself into the sanctuary of your mind.
"I'd like to tell you the reason behind everything, if you care to listen. In this event are two very dear friends of mine who I wanted to teach a lesson. They have forgotten how to wring the harmless joys out of life and, as the rounds progressed, it became apparent to me they are not the only ones. I understand many find it difficult to forget themselves for even a single night. My wish was that they and everyone else could enjoy the playground I created. Hope may seem little more than a cruel trick when reality is a bleak place, but you should try to remember:
"Happiness is closer than you think."
The unique circumstances of this event, I feel, brought to the surface a variety of interesting character dynamics and getting to read your threads was a real treat! I am consistently humbled by the outpouring of love and support from our community. The enthusiasm towards participating went both ways. Even the silly little puzzle I included made for a lot of fun.
Morning beckons, Sara realizes with the attitude of a child who knows her playtime is up. Her eyes remain shut in defiance as though the endless night will simply not depart if she refuses to see it off. The conversation unfolding around her would seem like a dream were she the sort to believe in them. She wants to think she succeeded in creating an environment where parley can be reached through candy in place of gold, land, and blood.
“I was thinking about an experiment devised by two established tacticians,” Sara shares to her small audience of Leif and Miranda. “A dilemma posed to convicts whose fates had already been decided. They were granted the miracle of a chance for their sentences to be lightened. However, the convicts did not have the luxury of speaking to each other prior. According to the rules, all they had to do was choose to ally in order for both to benefit. By betraying, though, the traitor could gain at the expense of the other. My grandfather was like that.”
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she slowly pushes herself to stand to address the rest of the guests gathered at the "party".
“It is a pleasure to at last meet you all. I had the most lovely time witnessing the choices you made tonight. Would you still vote as you did if it was not only candy that was wagered? Some of you definitely acted that way. Do you feel betrayed even though it was a game? As people, we cannot help but judge and be judged. It did not take much, did it? Maybe not everyone here shares your values. Should they really be expected to? But none of that matters now, at least not to me anyways.”
The Witch raises an arm before her, index finger elevated gingerly to receive familiar company. B-ERRD swoops dangerously close to several unsuspecting heads before reuniting with Sara.
You were promised a celebration, but neither Nihil nor her familiar are anywhere to be found and the hall where festivities were meant to be held hasn't even been finished being decorated. Could this be another of the witch's tricks?
That certainly seems to be a possibility until the group discovers Sara leaned against a column, orange and black streamers in hand and soundly sleeping with a smile on her face. It turns out using all that magic really drained her.
What does this mean for the rest of you?
Unluckily you aren't alone in your disappointment! The hard-working skeletons and ghosts dutifully stationed back in town that stood between you and the mountains of candy collected for the event have elected to keep it for themselves, ravenously gobbling up every last morsel including the wrappers! They! Don't! Even! Have! Stomachs!
The only sweets which remain are the candy you earned through playing the game. It's not too late to make amends with your fellow competitors. Maybe you were never in it for the candy and your heart is telling you to share your bounty with someone who has less. If you're still hung up on a particular betrayal, now's the chance to give voice to those grievances or take them to the grave.
Met with naught but an eerie silence where fanfare should celebrate a winner, you question what comes next. The bracelets dissipate into plumes of feathery smoke, freeing you of the accord and, by extension, any obligation to stay.
There was an after party on the schedule, but the master of ceremonies has vanished into the night along with the magic that brought color to this dreary place.
All that remains is a disheveled arrangement of bones and skulls. Suddenly the pile rumbles violently, producing a specimen noticably larger than the rest and within its empty, dust-ridden sockets hides a riddle.
While you await a new development, why not partake in one more challenge? Some of your friends have already gotten a head start.
@carefreemonk @boundlesschaos @shiningfalcon
A cheeky, black four leaf clover sprouts in the middle of your palms, ripe for the plucking as a special souvenir. Though it's disappointingly ordinary no matter how you look over the little weed, the witch wanted to reward you for being the first to uncover her secret.
