In Which I Come Clean

[Ikpeip]

Greetings Pilgrims of the New World,

I did indeed cause the fall of Gallow Hills. I apologize for the denial after the fact, but it was necessary to ensure the Chief met one of the conditions of our deal, which was to return the table stolen from these folks. For the act itself, I am unrepentant. Here are my motives, in order of decreasing importance:

-JordanColes did not pay the debt he owed for one Plymouth Frock, purchased October 15th.
-Gallow Hills was a town with a history of picking on hermits and smaller towns, and needed to be bloodied.
-Both Gallow Hills and MM Tribe were focusing their efforts on raiding newbies and hermits in-game, while only fighting with words on the forums, and so I desired an escalation of their conflict. It is better for newbies and hermits when bandits and raiders are occupied with fighting each other.
-Mushibag inadvertently ruined my month-long effort to plant a spy (Mean Mike McCoy) into MM Tribe, and destroy it in a way similar to what was enacted upon Gallow Hills

I shall expound upon these four points further below – if you’re not the literary type, you can stop reading now, and post some reply only tangentially on-topic.

JordanColes did not pay his debts
On October 15th, JordanColes purchased a Plymouth Frock from me, to be paid for in the future. Despite multiple opportunities to repay his debt, he did not do so. In retribution, I assessed three things which must occur – JordanColes must lose his main, the Frock must be recovered, and his Church must be taken from him. Not being able to enforce this in-house, I contracted MM Tribe to do so. The recovery of the Frock and the murder of the main occurred during their initial occupation of the church plot. The confiscation of the church, obviously, was more recent.

Gallow Hills was a scourge on the New World
Hubris and a lack of moral fiber are a dangerous combination. Gallow Hills has been quick to call other factions cowards, while never engaging in a fight where they did not have a clear upper hand. The first incident which displayed this sour disposition was the leveling of Blind The King. An all-out destruction of this town for very dubious reasons, combined with sockpuppeting on the forums (a crime hard to plead ignorance of, when a member of your cohort is a moderator), and the general swagger of a playground bully all combined to reflect very poorly on Gallow Hills. A quick recap for those unfamiliar with the situation - Gallow Hills used a second forum account to post a fake ranger request, to cover their assault of a much weaker town faction. After this attack, the members of BTK joined MM Tribe, giving it the strength it has today. Without this attack, MM Tribe would still be small potatoes.

The second incident, and the “straw that broke the camel’s back” was the town’s completely unnecessary raid of these two souls. The brazen theft of a sentimental gift, combined with the unseemly bragging afterwards was simply indecent. This wasn’t personal – I have never exchanged so much as a word with the victims – but it did clearly display the bankrupt ethics of the town.

The one aspect of this situation that almost caused me to back out of the Gallow Hills assault was HustlingLinguistics joining the town. I had known him previously, and he seemed an upright sort of fellow. However, after he had joined them, Gallow Hills returned and stole the chairs from their previous victims, adding insult to injury. When Hustling stood by and let this happen, I knew I had misjudged the man’s character.

Escalation between Gallow Hills and MM Tribe is good for Plymouth
A coalition of hermits and small towns would never have been able to topple neither Gallow Hills nor MM Tribe. Of the current factions in the game, only they could destroy each other. However, despite knowing the location of MM Tribe’s hearth vaults, Gallow Hills never even attempted an assault. Likewise, MM Tribe was uninterested in risking anything except sorties against Gallow Hills, which resulting in childish pranks, rather than any lasting damage. It is my hope that Gallow Hills will now be spurred into action against MM Tribe, and both factions will end up a bit weaker (and humbler) in the aftermath. At the very least, the conflict should give some respite to the rest of Plymouth. Since the capture of Gallow Hills, MM Tribe has not raided any other targets.

Mushibag saved MM Tribe from a spy
This is the part Chief was not aware of - had he been, he would not have risked the Gallow Hills assault, where an ambush could have been waiting for them. Mean Mike McCoy was a spy I had planted in MM Tribe, through no small amount of effort (I have an affection for alliteration). After a bit of brunt, repetitive, work and the creation of 100 alts (and running them into an empty plot to get KOd, for reasons I still don’t comprehend), Mean Mike McCoy had reached the final step of application into the Tribe. The siege of New Roanoke was to be his initiation, after which he would be granted access to their hearth vault and main base (the “cloning facility”).

However, on the night of the raid Gallow Hills tracked the Chief down, and came across the party raiding New Roanoke. As soon as they appeared on the mini-map, Mean Mike McCoy was judged a spy and evicted from the tribe (MM Tribe assumed that because the attack occurred the first night he was with them, that Mean Mike McCoy had tipped Gallow Hills off to their location and numbers). Being killed by Mushibag and some other citizen of Gallow Hills was not enough to convince them it was a coincidence. Had this incident not occurred (and JordanColes had repaid his debt), MM Tribe would be the group trying to rebuild a village today.

Was a bug used to topple Gallow Hills?
We'll know the answer on this when the devs patch the pclaim bug. I'm willing to wager the answer is no. The town bell was destroyed while on my personal claim. I anticipate that even after a patch comes to prevent authority objects being destroyable if on anyones personal claim, you will still be able to destroy authority objects on your own personal claim.

What comes next?
This will really depend on how the remnants of Gallow Hills react to their loss. With luck, they'll get some piss and vinegar in their blood and try to do some real damage to MM Tribe. They are well positioned to do so - the attack on Gallow Hills only took out one of their farmers, they have several satellite farming operations, and I don't think the Tribe has any idea where their new base is being built. They also have a spy in MM Tribe, although either the Chief knows who it is, or the spy is not far enough along on his application to have caught wind of the impending Gallow Hills raids.

Worst case, Gallow Hills rolls over and MM Tribe continues picking off newbies, hermits, and the occasional small village, and Plymouth as a whole is no worse for wear.

Faithfully,

-Paul the Paymaster

[jwhitehorn]

Nope.... Doesn't sound legit at all. Now he just wants the fame. I'm thinking it was Mushibag as part of his Vision Quest to join the tribe IMO.

Chief PeePooKaKa
MM Tribe

[colesie]

JordanColes did not pay his debts
On October 15th, JordanColes purchased a Plymouth Frock from me, to be paid for in the future. Despite multiple opportunities to repay his debt, he did not do so. In retribution, I assessed three things which must occur – JordanColes must lose his main, the Frock must be recovered, and his Church must be taken from him. Not being able to enforce this in-house, I contracted MM Tribe to do so. The recovery of the Frock and the murder of the main occurred during their initial occupation of the church plot. The confiscation of the church, obviously, was more recent.

Are you retarded?
When I first joined I messaged you asking to buy it or to work out a trade. You then offered to give me a frock in exchange for "information or something" down the road when I was more established. Never once did you message me again or talk to me in IRC. The worth of a frock maybe 200 silver which I could have easily given you? Don't pull fake reasons out of your ass. Kill people legitly, betrayal has to be one of the lamest forms of gameplay. Your name is forever tainted and if you sockpuppet to clear your name you will still be found. Hello waffles no. 2

The only real damage we'll cause now is to you. I hope you enjoy being actively hunted for worlds to come because that's how Haven vets roll

[Ikpeip]

Are you retarded?
When I first joined I messaged you asking to buy it or to work out a trade. You then offered to give me a frock in exchange for "information or something" down the road when I was more established. Never once did you message me again or talk to me in IRC. The worth of a frock maybe 200 silver which I could have easily given you? Don't pull fake reasons out of your ass. Kill people legitly, betrayal has to be one of the lamest forms of gameplay. Your name is forever tainted and if you sockpuppet to clear your name you will still be found. Hello waffles no. 2

The only real damage we'll cause now is to you. I hope you enjoy being actively hunted for worlds to come because that's how Haven vets roll

Sir,

I know not whether you are reeling from the loss of your sanctuary or merely embarrassed by the revelation of your default, but I would advise you compose yourself and attempt a more cohesive retort.

I will grant I agree with you on one point - that you could have easily repaid the debt at any time. That is what makes the failure to do so even more egregious.

Faithfully,

-Paul the Paymaster

[Ornery]

The one aspect of this situation that almost caused me to back out of the Gallow Hills assault was HustlingLinguistics joining the town. I had known him previously, and he seemed an upright sort of fellow. However, after he had joined them, Gallow Hills returned and stole the chairs from their previous victims, adding insult to injury. When Hustling stood by and let this happen, I knew I had misjudged the man’s character.

>having my character questioned by someone who spied on 2 different organizations with the aim to destroy them, for a plymouth frock and some chairs, no less

Guess it's time to start merc'ing anyone not kinned so I can live up to Paul's judgement of me. If anyone gets killed in Plymouth by me you can thank Paul, I'll post your screen here so you can be sure who was responsible. Finally no more tracking the noobkillers he so hated, so liberating

[Ass_Kraken]

Something I must know, why was Mushi, or anyone from GH, blamed for saving MM from the spy, and why do you think it justified you being an ostatious prick? It seems they just tracked the chief and you felt they offended or offed you in a personal manner in which they had absolutely no idea of, and you are clawing for excuses.

Second, if you feel they will focus on each other, causing less hermit attacks, I can assure from past experiences in H&H, they will not. Rather the opposite. They will just strike each other when the opportunity happens and attack other innocents more vehemently.

Personally, I find you to be all the more malicious and disruptive than the chief, someone who posts killings of random new players on this very forum. You are a spy, a betrayer, and a petty immature person who cannot put down a grudge that has no logical backing who hides behind a veil of thinking you've done some good to world. At least the chief is upfront and honest of his reputation, and has some charm; you are scum.

[colesie]

Red dot = KOS

[Ornery]

BTW, while you're up on your pro-lowbie cross, can you tell me how the lowbies in New Roanoke would've felt if we hadn't shown up and let THEIR town get leveled. since thats what the cheef does when he raids a town, levels it. That town would've quit, you hypcrite. Surely another victory for Paul's reasoning.

[colesie]

BTW, while you're up on your pro-lowbie cross, can you tell me how the lowbies in New Roanoke would've felt if we hadn't shown up and let THEIR town get leveled. since thats what the cheef does when he raids a town, levels it. That town would've quit, you hypcrite. Surely another victory for Paul's reasoning.

This is true, you say we pick on innocents and noobs and yet the last few times we've went raiding we only left 1-2 holes in the wall (depending on the amount of walls), only damaged braziers, not broken them and have only taken what we saw as valuable.

If you were raided by GH you were likely missing some metal bars and had to repair your braziers.

[staxjax]

You have changed nothing for the people that reside in Plymouth. The only thing you accomplished, was helping the tribe to become stronger with the spoils of our known village. We are well, and all of our members have already accepted the the loss of Gallows Hill. Not a single member has quit, or decided to part ways. We have begun construction of a new fortress, and those characters remaining with scents out continue to raid resources now more than ever, while residing at one of many vaults in an unknown location.

There will be no mercy for the citizens of Plymouth and they will have nobody to blame except you, Paymaster. Your days are numbered.