After a good night's rest, I woke up and gathered in the courtyard. The sun hadn't fully risen, so I assumed there wouldn't be that many people up already.
I was wrong. Looking around, there had to be at least fifty people.
I noticed that all of them were sitting in chairs, waiting patiently. Plenty of other rows and seats were still empty, so I went and took one in the third row from the back. Not too close, but also not too far back. The perfect place to go unnoticed.
I sat there until each remaining seat had been filled.
Once that happened, the red-badged observer made his way over with a microphone and started speaking.
"The second exam will now begin. If anyone wants to leave, please notify me immediately."
Nobody moved, nor did they speak.
"Good." The red-badged observer said. "I will begin to explain the second exam while each of you is given a phone. That phone will include further information for the next exam. It will also be critical for it."
Confused murmurs spread throughout every row.
"Silence." The red-badged observer said. "All of you will now receive your phone. Please note that if you fail the exams, you will be forced to return it."
With that, dozens of suited men distributed the phones.
"Here." One observer said. Looking to my left, I noticed that he was addressing me. I grabbed the phone he held out for me. Seeing that, he left and started giving other phones out.
I immediately turned the phone on. There was no password, only a face authorization. Letting it scan me; I unlocked the phone. "They sure have their information." I whispered to myself.
Before I could continue navigating my home screen, the red-badged observer started talking again.
"Each group will contain 15 players. They are divided randomly into alignments and roles.
Five are Evil. Ten are Town.
You will have 5 minutes each day, with a maximum of 3 total trials. For someone to be put on trial, they must receive over 50% of all votes. You can choose whether to hang that person when they are on trial. The verdict is decided by the number of guilty votes, innocent votes, and abstain votes cast. Your votes will be public. Phones will be given—votes will happen digitally.
There will be 3 minutes at night. During this time, you can choose who to cast your ability on.
Evil players may communicate privately during the Night Phase.
Five separate games may be played.
To succeed, you must win three out of five to go pass this exam. If you win your first 3 games, you must play the remaining two and play properly. If you intentionally sell out your team you will fail the exam.
Alignments and roles may repeat.
Each player will have a notes app that they can use to record any information, be it their own or someone else's.
Please take your tent down, as it will be necessary for participating. Information containing roles and further information will be on your phone, feel free to spend the next few minutes inspecting it."
Once he finished speaking, loud conversations broke out.
"How are groups decided?" one person asked.
"This is absurd" another person declared.
I also wanted to voice my opinion, but looking around and seeing I had no allies, I realized doing so would just be a waste of breath.
Instead, I quietly opened my phone and read the document.
The screen filled with text almost immediately. There was no introduction. The page was solely filled with rules.
The document didn't bother explaining why we were doing any of this. It just told us how.
Examination II was split into up to five separate games. Each one stood on its own. New roles every time. New teams. Nothing carried over.
There were only two alignments.
Town and Evil.
Town won by eliminating every Evil player.
Evil won once they outnumbered Town.
Each game ran on a cycle. 5 minutes per day, 3 minutes per night. Repeat.
During the day, eliminations were to be announced, but how they happened would remain a mystery.
Everyone was allowed to talk.
If enough people voted for it, someone could be put on trial. Once that happened, everyone had to vote. Guilty. Innocent. Abstain. All votes were public. Nothing could be taken back.
At night, roles acted. Evil players were allowed to talk privately amongst themselves. All actions happened at the same time. Sometimes you'd know if your ability worked. Sometimes you wouldn't.
To pass the exam, you had to win at least three games. Winning the first three didn't let you stop playing. You were expected to keep trying. Intentionally selling out your teammates or refusing to play would result in immediate failure.
Then there was the part that was really eye catching.
Any information you received could be accurate, distorted—even completely false—you wouldn't know unless you found out on your own.
Moving on, I learnt that some Town roles were guaranteed to appear every game. Roles that compared players, protected them, observed them, or forced limited reveals. Enough to create confidence and let the Town operate as a group. Not enough to rely on it.
Each game also included a single power role and an enforcer. Enforcers could kill, and power roles could completely change the game. They were the towns trump cards.
Evil always had five players. One of them was a traitor hiding behind a Town role. One was a killer. Only one killer could exist at a time. Another was a Deceptor—someone with the power to alter perceived reality. There was also a Trainer. Someone with the ability to change what kind of evil they wanted to be.
Other roles existed, but they were to different to analyze all of them.
The restrictions were clear. No coordinating across games. No marking people between rounds. No refusing to participate.
Fail to win three games, and you were removed from the exams.
That was it.