Challenge 8: THE FINALE

Welcome back, everyone, to another week of Skool of Salem. This week is quite the unique one, as it just so happens we have reached the finale!

You may be wondering, "Finale? Aren't there three people left?"

We have decided to deviate from the norm this gameshow due to upcoming schedule issues as the month of August approaches. As a result, the finale will consist of the Final 3 contestants:

The finale of Skool of Salem will consist of multiple factors which earn contestants points. After all of the factors have been completed, the total points will be added up and a final victor will be decided. We will be holding the point values of each factor confidential until after the winner is revealed over the weekend!

Now, let's go over each factor individually. I have put due dates for the different factors next to ones that require one.

Jury Vote (due Thursday, July 30)
Cam and I will be asking all previously eliminated SOS contestants (except for Zach) who they believe should be the winner of the season. Votes will be kept anonymous, so do not feel pressured to vote a certain way due to guilt.

Past Challenges (due Friday, July 31)
There will be two past challenges that the contestants will need to complete. These challenges will be Seance and Shootouts. Both will follow the same rules as in their original posts.

Codebreak Challenge (due Friday, July 31)
All contestants will be given a key of how symbols correspond to certain letters. A host will then give the contestants a code that needs to be deciphered as fast as possible. Incorrect codes will result in a time penalty of 5 seconds.

Player Comment (due Thursday, July 30)
To add some variety to how a contestant could earn points, all three contestants will need to write a brief, yet convincing comment on this post arguing why they feel they should be the winner of Skool of Salem. Cam and I will then discuss who we feel has the best argument and distribute points.

Observation Challenge (due Friday, July 31)
This challenge was actually planned to be used but was not used... until now. All players will be shown the same video and then, after viewing, will need to answer questions under a small amount of time. The victor will be the player with the most questions answered correctly. If there is a tie, it will be based off total average time.

Amount of Wins

The total amount of wins per contestant will be accounted for and will earn them points toward their final score. Note that this is not based off idols, but rather just wins, so Penny's victory last week does count.

Idol Rewards
Lewis redeemed an idol on Friday. As a result, he has gained one point towards his victory. This is the same reward Zach received last week.

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Since people will have different scheduling issues, we are leaving all participants of this finale the responsibility of completing their parts on time. Let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Good luck to all contestants. Every one of you deserve where you've gotten.

-Matt

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Elimination 7

The police department was almost completely abandoned the morning after the resignations. Salem's anti-crime initiative had failed, even with the help of the most elite crime fighters from across the globe.

What would become of the city? 

Koksa had about a month's worth of savings to hold her over until she would be forced to go back to the Old Country. She arrived in America to ensure the safety of her children and their children for generations, but now, it appeared as though they would have to go through the same struggle as her. Perhaps it was for the greater good after the corruption allegations.

Exactly 24 hours after her resignation, Koksa stood outside the police department and sighed. Years of memories were made in this place, yet it had been tainted by the circumstances. The conflicting emotions regarding the way to handle this transition affected Koksa's sleep.

Maybe the best form of closure was to look around inside one last time.

Koksa opened the doors to the department and breathed in a large whiff of air. It smelled like dust and office supplies. Home, sweet home.

The first floor cubicles reminded her of all the people employed to help make Salem a better place. Some of these people worked all throughout the night to respond to 911 calls, or to investigate criminal cases. Cold cases lay in the file cabinets, but not everything could be solved.

Suddenly, Koksa's nostalgia was interrupted by a loud thumping. Was someone inside this police department with her? Koksa ran to an office and hid behind a desk.

After a few minutes of waiting, it seemed as though the coast was clear.

"I know you're in here. Come out. I'm not looking for trouble."

Koksa's eyes bulged as she thought about the possible consequences of standing up. What if it was a trap? Was she going to be arrested for trespassin--oh. She decided, against her better judgment, to stand up.

Standing at the doorway of the office was an unarmed Mafia member wearing a bee hat under his Mafia hat. She didn't recognize him, but then again, she never really left her secretary desk except to fetch coffee for higher-ups.

"H-hello..," Koksa stuttered. "What do.. what do you want?"

"I'm guessing you're one of the secretaries?"

Koksa gulped. "Ye--yes, sir."

"This used to be quite a beautiful place," the Mafia member pondered. He laughed for a moment.   "You'd probably expect me to say it's even more beautiful now that it's in ruins."

"I would, no? Your people... bring destruction."

"I think my people brought your people purpose, which was mutual. Every police department needs equal and opposite organized crime. What employs your officers without crime? And what gives my people a rush of adrenaline day by day? The police."

Koksa contemplated the words of a man she should have attacked the minute she saw. "Why--why you come here?"

"I need to find any information I can about a rival of ours, a crime boss named Il Liberatore. Do you happen to know where I could find any?"

A smile spread across Koksa's face as she started to walk over to a cabinet nearby. "We come to right place. It is right---"

Officer Lawson fired a single bullet into the head of his former officer from outside the office, then aimed his gun at the second Mafia member to break into his department.

Dr. Bees pulled out a pistol and fired a shot right before yelling "BASTARD" at the top of his lungs. Lawson fired a shot into his lung.

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Dr. Bees lay against the desk where Koksa's corpse lay, while Lawson lay against a cubicle outside the office. The two knew that the end was upon them.

"...Wh--why did you kill him?" Dr. Bees mustered out, referring to the death of previous police chief, Edward Bishop.

Lawson stared at the pool of blood below him, then looked up at the man who had killed him. "He wanted... change."

Silence filled the air as the person responsible for SKOOL and the person who fired the first bullet of this war lost consciousness.

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Thank you, Bailey, for participating in Skool of Salem. Your win in the Haxball challenge as a solo player was astonishing and worth the effort. You took on the big names in gameshow history and did not settle for last place. As the season went on, your schedule filled with more and more, but you still made sure to help your team in any way possible. We hope you enjoyed your time on the gameshow.

Thank you, Zach, for participating in Skool of Salem. You were the only person to use idols, and you used two. You once again showed your dominance in challenges, similar to your run in CP College. Your efforts in helping reach a compromise in Challenge 3 was also admirable. However, right before the end, you had to take a leave to go to camp, taking victory out of your grasp. Regardless, we hope you will look back on Skool of Salem with fond memories.

The Challenge 8 post will be up tomorrow.

Thanks for reading if you took the time.

-Matt

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Challenge 7 Results

Another week, another challenge. After a week of Cam hosting alone, I am back to writing posts. Since these posts have started getting smaller and smaller, I figured I'd take some time to reflect on the history of our contestants.

Just a quick note that I am going by the order of CPSkool seasons in this reflection, not my predictions on the order of eliminations.

The first of the Final 5 to be eliminated was Bailey, otherwise known as Sand Flipper. Bailey was also the first runner up of the first season of CPSkool, all the way back in October 2009. Season 1 set the trend of having a multi-challenge finale. In this particular season, the competitors had to play Card Jitsu, draw crowds in Banned Band, then perform a dance routine in Dance Contest. After a close analysis, Bailey barely missed her chance at victory to Mat's dance skills. This would forever be remembered as the only time Mat's dancing was considered award-worthy.

After a successful first season, CPSkool immediately jumped into its second season. CP High would be the season that began the running joke that Penny Mickey, otherwise known as Penny, tends to get victory ripped out of her arms once she gets close to it. Interestingly, the second season was the only season to have one part to its finale. It would also be the only season to have three teams instead of the standard two. Both contestants had to rush to find Lady Danger around the world of Club Penguin. Laura beat Penny by over a minute, meaning she was the final victor. Since then, Laura has vanished without a trace... except if you mention Asian boy bands.

CP College was one of the longest seasons, spanning across 17 weeks with 15 contestants. However, its finale ended up comprising of the Trainer Dynasty. Guitarking97, otherwise known as Zach, was pitted against Checkers4562, otherwise known as Shannon. Interestingly, Shannon won every single part of this four-part finale, resulting in her final victory. Zach was considered one of the strongest competitors of the season, however.

Ty Waddles, otherwise known as Andre, and Gabriella737, otherwise known as Bumble, were considered some of the worst slackers in Season 4. Season 4's Final 5 was entirely comprised of people who no longer go on chat.

After a year hiatus, CPSkool returned with a fifth season entitled "CPSkool Forever". Blooper5, otherwise known as Lewis, was personally chosen by Bumble to be eliminated after the Final 3 challenge. Afterwards, Bumble and Andre faced off in an interesting three-part finale where Bumble won a vote by previous contestants, Andre won a three-part challenge, but Bumble ended up with the most tickets in the end. Andre was voted to be the preferred winner in a poll that turned out to not have any relevance to deciding the final victor.

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Here are the results for Challenge 7: Lingo.

First Round: 4 turns (86 seconds)

Second Round: 3 turns (40 seconds)

Third Round: 2 turns (46 seconds)

Average Turns: 3 turns

Average Time: 57 seconds

First Round: 2 turns (8 seconds)

Second Round: 5 turns (412 seconds)

Third Round: 2 turns (79 seconds)

Average Turns: 3 turns

Average Time: 166 seconds

First Round: 2 turns (29 seconds)

Second Round: 5 turns (156 seconds)

Third Round: 4 turns (126 seconds)

Average Turns: 4 turns

Average Time: 104 seconds

First Round: 5 turns (45 seconds)

Second Round: 3 turns (27 seconds)

Third Round: 6 turns (91 seconds)

Average Turns: 5 turns

Average Time: 55 seconds

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I have a few announcements to make:

1) There will not be an idol given out this challenge due to the fact that we are very close to the finale. Penny is the victor for this week and this will be accounted for later.

2) Zach redeemed an idol while I was on vacation, so I did not put what he got into the Challenge post. His idol reward was an "advantage in the finale". 

3) Because Zach will be going to camp for the next few weeks, he will be eliminated this week in replacement of a Bottom 2. Tomorrow there will make a story post that explains the deaths of both Bailey and Zach.

4) I have all of the Lingo rounds saved. Let me know if you want to see them posted on the site.

That's all for now. Thanks to all the contestants for finishing all puzzles without needing to go past 9 turns. This challenge went smoother than expected.

Until next time.

-Matt

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Challenge 7: LINGO

Hello everyone. I will not be here at the time of this post going up, so there won't be a story. I will be back on Wednesday. -Matt

HOW IT WORKS
This challenge will be based on the actual TV gameshow, "Lingo". If you have never watched or played it before, it works like this: On Doodle, a 5 x 9 table similar to this one will be drawn. Do not erase the Doodle at all during the challenge! We will be reusing it for multiple rounds.

I think this challenge is best explained with examples, so I will give an example of a round. 

NOTE THAT THIS EXAMPLE IS A DIFFICULT ONE, AND I AM ONLY USING IT TO MAKE IT EASIER TO EXPLAIN THE RULES. ACTUAL CHALLENGE LINGOS WILL BE EASIER.

You will be given a few letters from a 5 letter word and you will need to fill in the blanks like Wheel of Fortune to figure out what the full word is.

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Black letters mean that the letters are 100% confirmed to be in the word. The contestant will need to fill in the blanks with light blue.

This contestant has decided to fill in the blanks with the letters P, C, and H to create the word POUCH. 

A timer will be used from the moment the black letters are written to the moment the contestant confirms in PC they are "DONE".

The host has marked the letter C with orange, while P and H are red. Orange letters mean that the letter is in the word somewhere, but not in that particular spot! Red letters mean that the letters are not in the word at all. Remember to keep these two in mind when creating future words!

The contestant has realized that the letters P and H are not in the word, but that the letters C, O, and U are! Therefore, they went with the word "COUNT".

Green letters mean that the entire word has been found and the contestant has finished the round.

With the word completed, this contestant would now need to do 2 more rounds with the same board and rules. 

HOW TO WIN

The contestant with the lowest average amount of turns needed to solve their Lingos will be the Idol Winner. If there is a tie between multiple people, then it will be based on lowest average times.

BOTTOM 2

The Bottom 2 will consist of the players who took the highest average amount of turns to complete their Lingos. Time will not be factored into the Bottom 2 unless three people tie for last.

TIME

The challenge will take place on Friday, July 24th between 1-6 PST. Please inform the hosts of any schedule issues BEFORE challenge day. It's a bit stressful dealing with it the day of.

-Matt

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Elimination 6

I know this is the post you have all been dreading... its so hard to lose someone you love so much, but yes this will be my last post on Skool of Salem.

 

          

Now that the sad news is out of the way lets get to the elimination and idol winner.

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After a double tie in the challenge, with Penny and Zach in a tie and Lew and Andre too, this week has been far from simple. This week however has been a true test of dedication, determination and will power. As the competition gets slimmer the pressure gets higher, going into our last whole week we have a group of contestants who have fought their way to the top.

Penny and Zach competed in a tie breaker challenge this week to determine who would get their hands on the LAST idol. Game changing prizes have been up for grabs every week to those who would choose to play their idols, yet only one player has redeemed it. It begs the question, what were they waiting for?

This tiebreaker gave some merit to the saying "great minds think alike"

Penny and Zach took the exact same route to the end.

But who was fastest?

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Zach's lightning fast directions earned him this win, Penny took a different strategy and thought out her moves...

Neither player made one mistake in their directions, both played fantastically in the challenge and in this tiebreaker, assuring themselves another week in this game.

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As for the bottom two, there's not much to say, Bailey didn't make the main challenge or the bottom 2 challenge, therefore it is Skool of Salem protocol to eliminate Bailey. 

Thanks for playing Bailey, unfortunately your busy schedule limited your time in this game, you were a great competitor and a force to be reckoned with. You took down big players and didn't break a sweat. I hope you enjoyed your time here! Please keep following along with Skool of Salem, you never know when you might be needed!

This is Cam signing off for the last time, hold back your tears, un-clench your buttocks and hold the sacrificial rites. I've had a fun time being the host this week! I hope you liked my gifs because I have spent years collecting only the finest from all corners of the internet. 

Bye for now!

-Cam AKA Sarah Jessica Parker

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Challenge 6 Results

These are the challenge 6 results.

Matches played: 3

Matches won: 2

Matches played: 3

Matches won: 2

Matches played: 0

Matches won: 0

Matches played: 3

Matches won: 1

Matches played: 3

Matches won: 1

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Since Bailey didn't make it to either of the challenge days, she is placed in the bottom 2. Failure to make the bottom 2 challenge will result in elimination from Skool of Salem.

Penny thrived in this challenge, only missing her third win by a few hits! Zach also did very well in this challenge and also scored himself two wins. As this is a tie Penny ans Zach will need to compete in a small tie breaking challenge on Monday. 

How it works: both players will find their way through a maze, moving by telling me UP, LEFT, DOWN, RIGHT. The player who gets through it quickest will be the winner of the idol!

As both Lew and Andre won one game each I played a tie breaking game with them, the winner of this is safe and the other is in the bottom 2 with Bailey.

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Bottom 2 challenge: The bottom 2 will be Lew and Bailey. Their bottom 2 challenge will be focusing on observational skill. How it works: I will show both players the same video, and ask them questions about what they saw. The players will be timed on these questions. The player who answers the most questions correctly will be the winner and will be safe, the other will be eliminated.

Both challenges must be done by 7 PST if this is an issue you MUST tell me ASAP.

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This is Cam signing off for this post!!!!!!!!!!!!! Alright!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Cam AKA Miranda Cosgrove xoxoxooxoxoxooxoxoxooxoxox

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Challenge 6: SHOOTOUTS

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All out war.

Everyone for themselves.

Trust broken.

Allegiances shattered. 

S.K.O.O.L. is no more.

The Mafia, no longer held together by the old bosses.

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The S.K.O.O.L. headquarters was found abandoned by police chief Samuel Lawson in the early hours of the morning after he'd heard nothing from them for days and decided to check in on them. The filing cabinets had been emptied out, everything important had been taken. All that remained was the cold skeleton of what was once the greatest crime fighting group in the history of Salem.

 It looked as if some chaotic wind had blown through the offices, gutting it and leaving behind no remorse. Lawson couldn't believe what happened, he looked around the rooms almost expecting to turn a corner and see Pück cleaning up the mess. He spent hours looking for someone. Anybody. Door after door. Room after room. Nobody. Lawson slumped against the wall in the 'Intelligence Room', he was sliding his back slowly down the wall when he saw "LAWSON KILLED BISHOP" scribbled on every empty space on the whiteboards.

Anger boiled inside of him, then rage. Lawson lashed out, throwing anything he could around the room, pushing over filing cabinets and chairs. He looked around the room and realized the room was hardly messier than it was before, and then Edward Bishop's words echoed in his head.

"How do you kill a dead fish? Cook it."

Lawson went to his car and got the bottle of vodka he was saving for a rainy day, took his lighter from his back pocket and doused the lobby in the spirit. After one last look around the room he flicked the lighter and threw it into one of the puddles, turned to the door and left the headquarters to be engulfed by a fire of rage.

The day after made history, the headline had caused that day's newspaper to be the biggest selling newspaper issue in Salem's long life. 

"CRIME FIGHTERS AND CRIME LEADERS

DISAPPEAR"

Word got out that the mafia had abandoned their hangout after a few too many connections had received no answer from messages delivered there. The hangout was left in a better state than the headquarters. Surprisingly, the mafia had a little more decorum about them and the way they did things. 

They had all gone their separate ways, those in SKOOL and the mafia, each with their own agenda and goals, now they were all enemies. Memories of teammates and inside jokes paled in the shadow of the individuals' desires.

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Hi it's Cam! Since Peng's away this week I'm solo hosting!

                                                           

                                                            

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SHOOUTOUTS

HOW IT WORKS

AMENDED:

Each player will receive a 10x10 grid on which they will decide on where to place their units and tell me, these units will take up tiles on the board. Coin toss will decide who takes the first turn. Each player will take it in turns to launch an attack on 4 tiles on the enemy's board by telling me the coordinates (A1,B2,C3,D4 for example) that they wish to attack. If this attack hits an enemy unit I will say HIT but if the attack does not hit an enemy unit I will say MISS. You will have some time (about a minute) to decide on a move, if you fail to tell me a move in that time you will not attack that turn. 

This is the board:

Matches will be in a 5 player all-play-all tournament style. Each player will be assigned a letter.

              Round   Bye  Match 1    Match 2           

1          A     C:E            D:B

2          C     D:A            B:E

3          D     B:C            E:A

4          B     E:D            A:C

5          E     A:B            C:D

Bye means the player who is not required in that round.

HOW TO WIN

The person who wins the most matches will be the winner of this challenge and will receive the idol! (Very special things that nobody seems to use ever but had potentially game changing rewards over the past few weeks)

BOTTOM 2

The two players who win the least matches will be the bottom 2.

TIME

The challenge will be taking place on July 17th between 1-6 PST, if you have ANY issue with this time you MUST tell me before Thursday or they may be consequences xo




THANKS FOR READING MY FIRST SOS POST WOW COOL WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


-Cam aka Sarah Michelle Geller

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