"Although the foul knave beside me told me that his men were among the others, He never offered to tell me just who the two were. I knew, however, that the way to stop this madness would be to find them and, since I knew nothing about any of the men, I thought they would be better at finding the rabble from within."
"However, it seemed they barely knew of each other either, so locating the ones out of place would prove difficult. So I helped where I could. I gathered the group together and said,
Halmie solved the puzzle. Org replaced Dependant. He's playing.
Now that that's done, try not to let that distract you. Don't spend ALL of your time looking at one person, at least until you know who the scum is.
So what do you do now? You scumhunt. The scum are among you, and although they look like you, they will NOT act just like you though they'll try. The idea is to discuss, argue, and attack each other to find those differences.
A VERY rough sketch of how a scumhunt is done (to help those who aren't sure now).
Step 1: When you have no suspicions on anyone, pick someone at random (I MEAN random.. some use Random.org for this!), take a glance as their past posts, and talk to them, usually with a vote. If there is nothing (say, there ARE no past posts) then speak about something random to them. Talk about their Avatar, their name. Ask them a question about the game. Accuse them of something trivial (i.e "The game started 1 minute ago.. WHY HAVEN'T YOU POSTED!!!!"). The goal is not to kill but to learn more about them. The vote is a "Pressure Vote", simply used to make sure they don't ignore you.
You want them to talk.. just talk, about something. You want them to get involved in the conversation, even if it's casually. From there you look at their posts and decide how you feel about them. If you don't have a problem, go to the next person, and the next until SOMEONE posts something you don't like...
Step 2: When someone feels 'off' to you: perhaps you disliked their answer, or maybe they scare you, or confuse you with their text. Perhaps they look fine but your feelings or your gut says something is wrong. Perhaps you see them do one scumtell. Don't ignore it: make them your target. Attack them. Tell them what bothers you about them. Push them, harass them. Tell them how scummy they are. Ask them every question in the book.. and I mean EVERYTHING:
Litia: "You bother me. Vote Dakarian!"
Dak: Meh. Why?
Litia: "Because you bother me. Why are you pushing me off as if it doesn't matter?"
Dak: "What? No, you just have nothing on me."
Litia: "You're voting for Vector. why?"
Dak: "He looked scummy.."
Litia: "Vagueness is a scumtell! "Scummy.. how is he scummy!"
Dak: "He just is.. you don't have a reason to go after me either."
Litia: "OMGUSing now Mr.Scum? Being defensive? You also didn't answer my question!"
Note, this is Step 2: Litia doesn't feel like she knows Dakarian is scum.. just had a 'feeling'. She has no hard evidence, nothing real. The questions are to add pressure.. make Dakarian crack and panic. If you did it right, they WILL town or scum. WHEN they do, you will be able to see more of their true self. From there, decide if you can find them as scum for truth. If you don't: pull out and go to your next suspect: if no one else is there, go back to Step 1.
If you do believe they are scum after that, Step 3:
Step 3: When you believe someone is scum, gather evidence. Find every scum tell, every sign of their true motives. Pull more from them. DON'T LET GO! Even if the town ignores you or even votes for you because of it, DO IT ANYWAY! Push, push, PUSH, ***PUSH*** until you have solid proof of what they are.
If you can't find enough to prove them and run out of things to say, check one more time to see if you still feel he's scum, then pull back, look at others (Step 2) but be ready to go back to them at any time. If your convinced and ready to kill them, Step 4
Step 4: Final step. It's time to convince the town. Show what you have. Push the target so they show more scumminess. Attack, but do it only to demonstrate to the town what you KNOW is true. You aren't trying to argue with the mafia anymore.. you are trying to show the town why you are right and Mr.Mafia MUST be lynched. If you are at this point, only 3 things can happen:
1. The scum is lynched.
2. You are given so much information that you become CONVINCED that the target is town. (no less than CONVINCED.. doubt, maybe, 'perhaps' won't due)
3. You are dead.
That's how a basic scumhunt is done. One last note on doubt:
Doubt is something that's ok to have but UGLY to show. If you doubt or have second thoughts, DON'T DISPLAY IT. If you think "He looks passive but I don't know..." you SAY "You scum! Stop being passive!!!" If you think "He may have a good reason to attack guy really." say "Give me your reasons and stop being vague."
Doubt is something for yourself. When you have doubt, go back and see if your original ideas still hold up. If they do or if you find yourself saying "I'm not sure" then go back to the attack until you are sure. This ain't the USA: we play by Guilty until Proven Innocent here. Unless you can get yourself to believe they may be honest, keep the attack.
So doubt is ok to have if used right.. but the town does NOT need to hear it. If you doubt, accuse anyway as if you know. If you wonder, accuse as if you know it. If you know the answer, ASK ANYWAY and let THEM answer. Make them convince you they are town: don't do the job for them.
And that's scumhunting in a nutshell. Everyone, should be right now on Step 1: the random votes. Go pick someone at random and attack!