Tuesday, May 6

The Night Roles

Intoducing....

The saboteurs: Heathurt, Rodren, Gemarie, Will, Caitlyn

The doctors: Terrie, Jay

The detectives: Deena, Sadie, Josh

Hope we'll get a good game going in the future.

Monday, May 5

NIGHT 4: Bdeep, Bdeep, Bdeep, That's All Folks!

Just as the sun was going down a great crowd approached the gates of the work site. The crew stopped what they were doing to see what was going on. They recognized the group as being people from their own town of Littleton. Many of them were the ones who opposed the Wal-mart store being built. Foreman Hicks walked to the gate to meet them. At the head of the group was Mayor Thomas and a well known, long-time resident of Littleton, Mrs. Shirley Hutchinson.

"Foreman Hicks," started Mayor Thomas, "we are here to shut you down."

"Why? We have over a week before the deadline. What's going on?" replied Hillary.

"Mrs. Hutchinson has discovered that you are building on sacred Indian burial grounds. The construction must be halted at once and the whole building torn down immediately," said Mayor Thomas.

Shirley was one of the lead people in the cause to shut down Wal-mart. She hadn't ceased in her attempts to stop the store from coming to their town because she was sure it would ruin the town forever. She had seen it happen to other towns. With her expert skills as a historian, she was able to uncover the records that proved without a doubt that the ground was indeed Indian burial grounds. She was so excited when she presented her findings to the town council. She knew they would have no choice but to shut down the construction of the store. She wore a triumphant smile as the mayor told Foreman Hicks of the situation.

Foreman Hicks returned to her crew and said, "Well, guys, I guess that means we should pack up. We are finished here. I'll try talking to Wal-mart tomorrow about getting us some compensation for our time and energy. After all, it's not our fault the grounds are sacred. Wal-mart should have investigated better before they decided to build here."

Everyone looked pretty tired and a little disappointed, but most were glad to see this job over with. It had torn their little construction crew family apart and some had even been hurt in the process. Sarah piped up and said, "We probably wouldn't have been able to come together to agree on a firing today anyway, Hillary. We were divided again, this time about Jeff and Rodren. We just couldn't get enough of us to vote one way or the other and a good bunch of us refused to vote at all. We sure don't function well as a team anymore. This has been a bad experience for us. We should go on a team building experience together."

"That's a great idea!" added Emily, "Let's all go to Hawaii!" So that's what they did, after Jay, Jana, Sadie and Deena were healed enough to join them. They even invited Jason to come too (especially because they felt so bad for firing him without cause). No one even cared that there had been saboteurs in their midst. They forgave, forgot and moved on. After all, that's what family is all about.

I'm sorry to do this, but it was like pulling teeth to get people to play this time. It's been over a week and we still don't have great participation. I figured with it being the second "day" in a row without a firing it was time to call it quits. I'm sorry for those of you who actually were playing. I know this only hurts you, but we really couldn't finish the game without full participation. I didn't see the need to drag it out until the end of May going the way it was. We should probably take a break from the game for a while and maybe start to play again in the summer when more people might have some more time.

I think it will be fun to see who everyone thinks are the night roles. If you would like to post your hunches then I will tell all tomorrow and you can compare. Remember there is one more doctor and detective that we don't know and all five mafia members. Have fun naming them.

Saturday, May 3

NIGHT 3: The saboteurs hit a home run

Everyone dreaded going to work today. They knew they would probably find at least one member of the crew hurt or worse. They had no idea who it would be. Last night, the crew had made an agreement to go to work together, arriving at the same time. They thought it might keep more of them safe. This way they could watch each others' backs.

When they arrived, they were surprised to see two police cars parked at the front gate of the construction site. Before they could count heads to make sure everyone was there, they rushed into the office to see what was going on. Just outside of the office, deeply immersed in conversation, they found Foreman Hicks and Sheriff Bigman. Standing around them were three of Littleton's finest deputies.

"We will get to the bottom of this. It has become personal now," they overheard Sheriff Bigman say as he turned to go back to his squad car. He motioned to the deputies to follow.

"What's going on here?" Jeff asked Foreman Hicks.

"Well, it seems that two of the undercover cops who have been implanted within our crew were taken out last night," Hillary replied slowly. Everyone gasped simultaneously as Hillary continued, "The police department received a tip last night that someone was poking around the site breaking things. The sheriff dispatched the undercover cops because they knew the site and the crew well. He thought that it might have been the saboteurs setting up another trap and he wanted his undercover crew to catch them in the act. Around 1 am, the sheriff was called by one of the undercover cops and told that things had gone very badly and that back-up and an ambulance were needed right away. When the back-up arrived, they found Deena and Sadie unconscious next to the cement mixer. The third undercover cop explained that they had split up to cover more ground. After only a few minutes, the two women screamed. The other cop ran to find them. There they were, badly beaten and on the ground next to them were a couple of baseball bats. They hadn't even had time to get their guns out of their holsters. The ambulance took them to the hospital. I've heard from the doctors and they report that both Deena and Sadie will make full recoveries, but will have to recover for several days as their bodies are badly bruised. Deena has a broken arm and Sadie has a broken leg, but they will be O.K."

As Hillary finished the explanation, Matthew spoke up, "What are we going to do about this?!?! We have to fire someone. We can't be wishy-washy now. Two of the three undercover cops and one of our doctors are gone. We have very little help now. Let's pull together and get these saboteurs before they ruin everything!"

Deena and Sadie are detectives. Because they are hurt, they won't be able to comment for three days or play their night roles. They will return on May 12th. This day will end at midnight tomorrow, May 4th. There are 15 players remaining. You will need 8 votes to fire.

Friday, May 2

Day 2: What a bummer day

After Jana was taken to the hospital, Foreman Hicks called a meeting. She told her crew that they needed to come together and support one another through this rough, confusing time. No one could understand why their own friends would be so terrible to them. She urged them to pick someone else to fire and they all hoped it would be one of the saboteurs this time.

However, many of the crew were very disheveled. After only a few hours of work, Sadie, Deena and Jeff decided to just go home. So without a word to anyone, they just left. Some of the crew were so upset that they barely spoke to anyone. Those crew members talked just enough to give their idea as to who should be fired and then they too went home before the end of the day. Foreman Hicks was beside herself to know what to do to boost the moral of her team. She knew that if her crew wasn't around to do their work that the store would never be finished even if they did find all the saboteurs.

Just before 6 pm, the crew that stuck it out through the whole day met at the office. They were divided as to who should be the next fired. Half wanted Matthew fired and half wanted Rodren fired. Neither side would budge and so Foreman Hicks had no choice but to let them all go home with their jobs. A majority vote could not be reached and so it had to be this way. Everyone went home pretty disappointed. They knew that this night the saboteurs would probably strike again and they had done nothing to try to prevent it. They hoped the next victim(s) would escape whatever fate the saboteurs were plotting.

It is now "night." The construction workers were unable to get a majority vote for any one person so no one was fired. All the "night" roles need to report to Hillary by midnight tonight. I will stop the game if I don't hear from ALL the night roles. There is no point in trying to continue playing if not everyone is willing to participate.

Wednesday, April 30

NIGHT 2: Down the Hole

Jana is usually the first person to the work site in the morning. She likes to get started on her jobs right away so she can be finished more quickly and get home to her darling little girl. This morning was no different. When Jana arrived to the site all was still and calm. The sun was just beginning to break over the tops of the trees to the east. It was a little chilly, but it was a beautiful spring morning. As she approached her work area she noticed it wasn't quite right. Before she could put her finger on what was wrong, she .....

The rest of the crew arrived about 20 minutes later. They began to go to their different jobs and start the day's work. They were a little upset with themselves about firing Jason. He was such a hard worker and they knew they would miss his contributions terribly. Angela would finally get to operate the crane today, but she wasn't really happy about it; not like she thought she would be. No one thought that the saboteurs would strike again so soon, until Gemarie screamed.

Everyone looked to see what was wrong. Gemarie was looking down into a large hole in the ground. As they all approached, they could see Jana lying at the bottom of the hole in a heap of boards. It was a boobie-trap and Jana was the boobie and the next saboteur victim. She wasn't moving and everyone was scared for the worst. This time Heather called 911 and the ambulance came immediately.

The EMT's worked very carefully to pull Jana out of the hole. They found a pulse on her wrist but said it was very faint. They rushed her into the ambulance and took her away. The crew just stood around and looked at each other. How could this have happened again? Josh suggested they spread out and search for more traps. He reminded them that two people should've been hurt the last time, so maybe the saboteurs had set up more traps lastnight. They searched the whole site and found no more traps. They were slightly relieved, but also realized that the saboteurs had purposely placed their trap where Jana would be. Why would they target her? She was only a good mom and a hard worker.

Foreman Hicks called another meeting. She explained that they should think very hard about who might want to get Jana and then fire them quickly. Hillary was very upset that her dear sister would be a target!

Later on that day, the hospital called Hillary and told her that Jana had pulled through but that she had some pretty serious internal injuries and would need to stay in the hospital for quite a while. Hillary told the rest of the crew. They were very happy that Jana had made it, but were very upset that there were malicious people in their crew and they were determined to find them!

Jana is a construction worker. As she was the only victim lastnight, she will be out for 5 days. Her return day will be May 15th. Because she is injured she can't comment until she returns. This "day" period will go from now until midnight tomorrow, May 1st, at midnight. If you know someone who hasn't commented yet, please give them a call and see if they still want to play. Thanks.

Tuesday, April 29

DAY 1 (this is actually the first day) Grudges win over

For(wo)man Hicks called a special meeting and told everyone that the only way to weed out the saboteurs was to begin firing them. That way they wouldn't be allowed at the work site any longer. She asked her crew to come up with names of people they thought should be fired. She didn't think she could pick out any one person on her own. They had been a crew together for a long time and she was very emotionally attached to all of them.

As the day progressed, it was obvious that Angela's strong disdain for Jason was coming through. She had hated him ever since he had been promoted to the crane operator over her. She thought he, of all people, had the greatest opportunity to drop filled buckets from high places because of his access to the crane. She also noticed that the crane was not that far from the tool shed. She thought for sure, Jason must be the culprit.

At once, she started to recruit people to her side. She was able to convince her sisters, Emily and Sarah right away. As the group saw them join Angela, they started to fall in line. Everyone was pretty shook up with the injury of Jay and knew that it could of been them. They felt that it was better to get rid of someone than to not do anything at all. Even Jana, Jason's dear wife, was convinced at first. However, he was able to talk her out of it before the end of the day.

Foreman Hicks told them they would need a majority of the crew to convince her of a crew member's guilt. Before punch-out time, Angela and her supporters approached Hillary and explained their position. They were very convincing and Hillary agreed that Jason should be the one fired.

Hillary gave Jason his final pay check and as he walked away he yelled over his shoulder, "Thanks for nothing all of you who I thought were my friends. I'm not the saboteur who hurt Jay. But now I can go on that long awaited vacation to Florida because I don't have to work with you blind sheep anymore!"

Jason was a construction worker (townie). Now that he has been fired he can no longer comment and he will not be returning. This is now "night". It will last until midnight on Wednesday. Please contact me if you have a night role.

Sunday, April 27

DAY 1: One Down, One Saved!

Foreman Hicks usually allows her crew the day off on Sunday, but with the deadline only 2 weeks away and the store not quite finished, she had to require them to work today. As the crew dragged themselves onto the work site at 5:30 am, they greeted each other sleepily. They were to begin working by 6 and most of them liked to get started early so the day would be over faster. By 6:30 however, Jay was no where to be found and everyone was very worried. Jay was usually very dependable and it was not like him to not show up for work without calling. As Angela was about to get the tools out of the tool shed she heard something. She looked behind the shed and found Jay, lying on the ground moaning. He was bleeding badly from his head. Angela shouted for help and everyone rushed over.

Jason pulled out his cell phone and called 911. Jay was incoherent but alive; for that everyone was thankful. There was a big bucket laying next to his head. Nails were spilling out of the top. It looked like someone had dropped the bucket from the crossbeams above.

Sadie looked around and saw a second bucket laying on the ground. This one was full of rivets. She pointed it out to the rest of the crew. They looked and saw foot prints going away from the area and everyone knew that the second bucket had been meant for someone else, but they must have been pushed out of the way at the last second. Thank goodness for a good Samaritan, looking out for one of their own.

The ambulance arrived to take Jay to the hospital. The EMT said that it looked as though Jay would make a full recovery in a few days but that he'd need to stay at the hospital for observations. The EMTs commented to each other that it was odd that Jay would be working construction since he is an MD after all.

As Jay was being pushed into the back of the ambulance he gained consciousness enough to shout, "Tis only a flesh wound. I've had worse!"

Now it is the day time. As you work on the site you talk amongst yourselves and decide whom to fire. You must make sure that as many of you stay safe as possible. "Day" will last until midnight on Monday. You will need 10 votes for a majority firing. Remember those that are fired are finished with the game. As Jay is now incapacitated at the hospital, he can't comment. He will be allowed back on Tuesday, May 7th.