The Mole: Episode 05 - The Suitcase Claim / Story Time! / The Surprise Audit / The Dossier Hunt
Feb 17, 2012 18:07:35 GMT -5
Post by Beelzebibble on Feb 17, 2012 18:07:35 GMT -5
The group said farewell to its final Missourian when Bulbs departed from their company. At this moment, owing to the early dismissal of Iron Mouse and DL, we find ourselves standing at the game's halfway point at exactly the same time that the group itself has been cut in half. Six players and four episodes remain. Who in this motley crew, all of them suspicious at an initial glance, will prove to be the traitor? Soon another candidate will have to leave our ranks. Every move the players make until then is worth observing. Maybe you'll be the first to answer the all-important question...
* * *
Before we begin the first task, I have a special announcement. I've approached the Mole with an opportunity to make a little wager, and the Mole has taken up my offer. This decision has consequences that will become clear at the episode's end.
Looking back over the previous four quizzes, I decided to crunch some numbers. I tallied all the answers together that have been submitted so far -- every batch of thirteen answers from the act of taking an individual quiz -- and then tallied all those answers that have actually been correct. These I calculated as a percentage of the total. You might call this the group's "success rate" on the quizzes so far. I'm sure you're curious, and I'll go ahead and tell you what that percentage is right now:
Hmm... not such an impressive batting average. The group is half depleted and yet, so to speak, you're collectively just a quarter of the way to identifying the Mole. Time to step it up, contestants. By the end of this episode, you'll have the opportunity to redeem yourselves for your slim success so far... or else fall into further disgrace.
What's the wager? Essentially, the Mole is betting that on the upcoming quiz, the team can't improve this percentage. I approached the Mole with this idea and allowed him/her to stake anywhere from 1 EP to 50 EP on the wager. After collecting the quiz results, I'll calculate the percentage of correct answers just from this episode (rounding up or down to the nearest 1%, as I did before). If the team scores 25% or higher on the next quiz, the Mole will lose money from his/her pocket equal to the number of EP s/he staked on the bet. If the team scores 24% or lower on the next quiz, you will lose twice the amount of money from the team pot as the amount that the Mole originally staked.
I'm very happy to report that the Mole decided to go all the way on this one, setting the absolute maximum possible stake. (I'm happy about that because it makes everything so much more dramatic!) That's right: score 25% or higher and the Mole will lose 50 EP from his/her current holdings of 145 EP -- but score 24% or lower, and the team will lose a whopping 100 EP from your current earnings of 197 EP! So, tighten those bootlaces and look lively, soldiers, because the Mole doesn't think you've got this one. He or she is so confident in your poor quiz performance that s/he's willing to lay all the chips down on the table. Time to prove that sneaky piece of shit wrong. If you've been haphazard in your quiz-taking, get ready to put a lot more thought into this next one, because you stand to lose far more than the Mole does.
Oh, and you might get executed, too. Y'know. That's definitely possible. The team's constricted to six very strong players and survival is nothing to take for granted at this point. Unless you can get ahold of an exemption, of which there are another two in this episode.
(One final note: Elliot currently holds a "joker", granting him a +2 on his score for this episode's quiz, unless he is the Mole and doesn't need to take it anyway. But that "joker" will have no effect on the team's percentage of correct answers. Think of it as an artificial bonus added after the fact. First the true percentage will be calculated, then the "joker" will be applied.)
* * *
Now let's begin, with a very very simple challenge. This is another task in the "cooperative" vein: how well can you six function as a unit? You may find this to be a pretty serious test of that power...
Six suitcases stand before you. Or, I guess, according to the picture, five suitcases and one... handbag? Is that too big to be a handbag? Wouldn't the straps be longer if it were a purse? I don't know. Whatever. It's a suitcase. Screw you.
Each suitcase contains something different. Hey, but there's no reason to be cagey about the contents like in "The Pouch Trade". Let's have a shufti inside!
Do you see where this challenge is going? The deadline is this Tuesday, the 21st. By that time, every player must PM me claiming one of the suitcases for their own.
If each player chooses a different suitcase and all suitcases are claimed, then the challenge is a success, and 30 EP go into the team pot. Moreover, naturally, everyone gets the contents of the suitcase they picked! IT IS LIKE FUCKING CHRISTMAS UP IN HERE
If, however, any suitcase gets claimed by more than one player, bad news. The mission's a wash and no EP are awarded, and worse still, no one receives the contents of that suitcase(s) that got disputed. No, not even the player who PMed me first. Even so, as a consolation prize, any other suitcase that only got claimed by one player will go to that player.
(Should a player fail to PM me by Tuesday, they will claim suitcase #4 by default.)
Obviously, it looks as though the team has some big questions to work out! Is there a fair way of determining who should get the best prizes -- the exemption, the "joker" and the "batman"? Who's willing to settle for one of the lesser prizes, the EP handouts? And who's prepared to take one for the team and claim that empty suitcase?
You can confer either privately or here in the topic, but I'd definitely recommend here since this isn't exactly the kind of challenge you want to go behind each other's backs on. Don't worry: the next challenge will pit you against each other in two teams of three, and then in the third task it's every man for himself. Whee!
So get negotiating already!
* * *
Before we begin the first task, I have a special announcement. I've approached the Mole with an opportunity to make a little wager, and the Mole has taken up my offer. This decision has consequences that will become clear at the episode's end.
Looking back over the previous four quizzes, I decided to crunch some numbers. I tallied all the answers together that have been submitted so far -- every batch of thirteen answers from the act of taking an individual quiz -- and then tallied all those answers that have actually been correct. These I calculated as a percentage of the total. You might call this the group's "success rate" on the quizzes so far. I'm sure you're curious, and I'll go ahead and tell you what that percentage is right now:
24%
Hmm... not such an impressive batting average. The group is half depleted and yet, so to speak, you're collectively just a quarter of the way to identifying the Mole. Time to step it up, contestants. By the end of this episode, you'll have the opportunity to redeem yourselves for your slim success so far... or else fall into further disgrace.
What's the wager? Essentially, the Mole is betting that on the upcoming quiz, the team can't improve this percentage. I approached the Mole with this idea and allowed him/her to stake anywhere from 1 EP to 50 EP on the wager. After collecting the quiz results, I'll calculate the percentage of correct answers just from this episode (rounding up or down to the nearest 1%, as I did before). If the team scores 25% or higher on the next quiz, the Mole will lose money from his/her pocket equal to the number of EP s/he staked on the bet. If the team scores 24% or lower on the next quiz, you will lose twice the amount of money from the team pot as the amount that the Mole originally staked.
I'm very happy to report that the Mole decided to go all the way on this one, setting the absolute maximum possible stake. (I'm happy about that because it makes everything so much more dramatic!) That's right: score 25% or higher and the Mole will lose 50 EP from his/her current holdings of 145 EP -- but score 24% or lower, and the team will lose a whopping 100 EP from your current earnings of 197 EP! So, tighten those bootlaces and look lively, soldiers, because the Mole doesn't think you've got this one. He or she is so confident in your poor quiz performance that s/he's willing to lay all the chips down on the table. Time to prove that sneaky piece of shit wrong. If you've been haphazard in your quiz-taking, get ready to put a lot more thought into this next one, because you stand to lose far more than the Mole does.
Oh, and you might get executed, too. Y'know. That's definitely possible. The team's constricted to six very strong players and survival is nothing to take for granted at this point. Unless you can get ahold of an exemption, of which there are another two in this episode.
(One final note: Elliot currently holds a "joker", granting him a +2 on his score for this episode's quiz, unless he is the Mole and doesn't need to take it anyway. But that "joker" will have no effect on the team's percentage of correct answers. Think of it as an artificial bonus added after the fact. First the true percentage will be calculated, then the "joker" will be applied.)
* * *
Now let's begin, with a very very simple challenge. This is another task in the "cooperative" vein: how well can you six function as a unit? You may find this to be a pretty serious test of that power...
Six suitcases stand before you. Or, I guess, according to the picture, five suitcases and one... handbag? Is that too big to be a handbag? Wouldn't the straps be longer if it were a purse? I don't know. Whatever. It's a suitcase. Screw you.
Each suitcase contains something different. Hey, but there's no reason to be cagey about the contents like in "The Pouch Trade". Let's have a shufti inside!
- Suitcase #1 contains 25 EP. These will go not into the team pot but will rather be credited directly to the player who claims that suitcase. The sum is yours regardless of the game's outcome.
- Suitcase #2 contains another "joker". Reminder: adds +2 to your score on this upcoming quiz. Yes, it's possible to accumulate two "jokers" at once, and they stack in that case, granting +4. But seriously, do you really want Elliot to get ahold of this suitcase??
- Suitcase #3 contains 75 EP. Again, these go directly to you.
- Suitcase #4 contains... Oh. What? Weird. I totally put a tray full of piping hot brownies in there. I guess the Mole must've stolen them when no one was looking. Four is, after all, the Mole's lucky number! So it looks like suitcase #4 contains nothing. Dang.
- Suitcase #5 contains an exemption. Ho hum. No big deal.
- Suitcase #6 contains an "anti-joker". No no wait, I've got a much better name for it. Suitcase #6 contains a "batman". Yes. The player who holds a "batman" will be asked to choose another player come quiztime. If the target holds a "joker", it gets negated and they lose that +2 bonus to their score. (If the target holds multiple "jokers", only one is negated.) So while two players, Elliot and someone else, could theoretically walk away from this challenge with "jokers" for the upcoming quiz, the player holding the "batman" gets to decide that only one of those bonuses will actually be conferred. A powerful choice!
Do you see where this challenge is going? The deadline is this Tuesday, the 21st. By that time, every player must PM me claiming one of the suitcases for their own.
If each player chooses a different suitcase and all suitcases are claimed, then the challenge is a success, and 30 EP go into the team pot. Moreover, naturally, everyone gets the contents of the suitcase they picked! IT IS LIKE FUCKING CHRISTMAS UP IN HERE
If, however, any suitcase gets claimed by more than one player, bad news. The mission's a wash and no EP are awarded, and worse still, no one receives the contents of that suitcase(s) that got disputed. No, not even the player who PMed me first. Even so, as a consolation prize, any other suitcase that only got claimed by one player will go to that player.
(Should a player fail to PM me by Tuesday, they will claim suitcase #4 by default.)
Obviously, it looks as though the team has some big questions to work out! Is there a fair way of determining who should get the best prizes -- the exemption, the "joker" and the "batman"? Who's willing to settle for one of the lesser prizes, the EP handouts? And who's prepared to take one for the team and claim that empty suitcase?
You can confer either privately or here in the topic, but I'd definitely recommend here since this isn't exactly the kind of challenge you want to go behind each other's backs on. Don't worry: the next challenge will pit you against each other in two teams of three, and then in the third task it's every man for himself. Whee!
So get negotiating already!