Voting Game
So, you are the ambitious little fellow who has challenged me, hm?
The sweet feminine voice emanates from the center of your own head, seeping and oozing through the cracks of your mind thickly like honey across toast. There is a underlying buzz – not entirely unpleasant to the ear – that permeates the words. You have no doubt that her tone is specifically designed to elicit arousal and delight in men, though unfortunately it has absolutely no effect on you whatsoever. All that the voice’s smooth, alluring notes do is to remind you that your physiological problem appears to be entirely unsolvable. It troubles you. It troubles you a lot.
“Queen Bee, I presume?” you say, keeping your despair in careful check, willing none of it to slip between your lips. “Are you near here?” You glance around but see no one but prisoners and Rin, happily breaking the arms of a wolfman who had decided to get a bit too close for her comfort. Her delighted face suddenly droops in despair as the system presumably reports her dropping karma to her ears.
Why would I deign to descend to the first level? The reply came haughtily. This is telepathy facilitated by the tower, to allow the challenged to inform the challenger of the nature of the match. That is the only reason I am speaking to you, lowlife.
You probe with your senses and detect the stirrings of magic that have established a mental channel between you and your opponent. It is too faint for you to track, but it is there nonetheless – she is not lying. “And what mighty challenge would you set before me?” you ask casually.
We will have a voting game. The voice sounds pleased, confident. The voters will be… every inhabitant of this prison. The tower itself will convey the message to every single prisoner and guard once the game commences. They will vote for you, or for me. If you defeat me in the number of votes, then you will have won the challenge. If I win, on the other hand, then you will receive what you deserve.
“Sounds like I win either way, if I’m going to get what I deserve.”
You are not taking this very seriously, are you?
Slight exasperation, but not enough to be considered a breakthrough. You are also unable to rule out the possibility of play-acting to get you to misunderstand her personality. Pressing on, you push for more details.
The duration of the voting will be three days. You will be allowed to canvass for votes as you wish. Of course, I will do the same with all the influence I have. Everything else is subject to the usual regulations of the tower. Basically, besides the addition of a single vote for every inhabitant, nothing will change in their daily life.
“I see, I see. Are those all the rules?” you ask.
Those are all the rules. Oh, you won’t be able to back out now even if you wanted to. The moment you made the challenge your fate was sealed.
“Confident, aren’t you? But these are some really boring rules.”
This is all you will get. Even I cannot ask for something against the rules of the system.
The voice takes on a malicious tone. You know full well what she means; you spotted the greatest challenge for you the moment she spoke it. Following the regulations of the tower, being a resident of the first floor, you do not have access to the higher floors… but as a resident of the fourth floor, she can access every floor below hers. This means that Queen Bee is able to directly gather support from four levels of inhabitants compared to your one. The imbalance in the population of potential voters is the largest hurdle you will have to overcome.
“What if I ask for something that isn’t against the rules?” you venture.
Such as?
“A public display of the current tally.”
And why would you want such a thing? She was suspicious.
“Oh, only to ensure that your humiliation is in full view of everyone,” you laugh.
Has the thought never crossed your mind that you might be the one being humiliated?
“As if I would lose a child’s game such as this.”
A child’s game… so that is how you think of this, eh? Very well. I see no harm in allowing you your little wish. Don’t be surprised if you end up receiving in backlash the fruits of your schemes, whatever it is.
“Thanks-“
You sense the mental channel snap shut. Now that you are looking out for it, you are aware of its existence, like a door closed just waiting to be opened.
You sigh. It looks like you have gotten into something more troublesome than you had expected. You had only wanted a quick route up and out of the prison. A three-day long game is more than you had bargained for… but if you wanted to survive, you would have to win this match even with the odds heavily stacked against you.
***
The mental channel is still present, and probably will be for the duration of the match. Perhaps you can do something with it:
A. You constantly open it and harass – no, converse with Queen Bee.
B. You leave it shut. There is nothing to talk about, you will do your gloating after you have won.
There are a few approaches you can take for the first day, though you do not think you will have enough time to carry them all out. Not all of them will be fruitful, and not all of them will bear fruit immediately… (Pick three)
I. Attempt to persuade the guards to support you.
II. Attempt to persuade the prisoners on the first floor to support you.
III. Look into magically manipulating the way the system records votes.
IV. Look into magically manipulating the way the prisoners vote.
V. Try to find a way to slip into the upper floors without falling foul of the security.
VI. Search for more information about Queen Bee.
VII. Attempt to tweak the telepathic channel to be used for scrying instead.
VIII. Sleep.
