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Long Game 65 Aftermath - Empty Chairs at Empty Tables The Horse and Four was quiet, this time of night. Even the most industrious drinkers had finally gone to bed, preparing for the next day’s dawn, and only a couple of students hard at work due the next day were still awake. So no one noticed, when the wind outside started to pick up. No one noticed when something small landed on the roof with a dull thump. But everyone noticed when the bone-tar exploded. It tore a hole in the roof, killing most of the top floor instantly, and the wooden building quickly caught fire. People on lower floors came out of their rooms, curious what all the noise was about, and the cry of “Fire! Fire!” soon had them rushing out the doors of the inn - where they found themselves buffeted by a strong wind pushing them back. Some escaped the building, those strong enough to make it through the wind, but others couldn’t - they ran to other doors, frantic to find a way out, but there was not, and that time cost them. Vol knew what this was, could tell from the smell of the fire, and wanted to find the source of whoever had been mad enough to bring bone-tar into a crowded inn. But Inesta, Vol’s bodyguard, had been purchased for just this purpose - that is, common sense. “No,” she said firmly. “The building is on fire, and we are leaving.” And with that, she hoisted Vol up on her shoulder and ran out. Arael Solon made it out - barely. He had been only a floor below the top one, and woke up in a bed already on fire. The use of the Name of Fire pulled the flames away from him, but his skin was already scorched black in places. He managed to call upon Wind to take him away, but his wounds were severe enough that even with the Medica could not be certain he would fully recover. Vol, Kendel, and Bryn Aria stood before the Horns together. Vol looked absolutely murderous, while Bryn Aria had a slight smirk on her face and Kendel just looked confused. Master Veitch stood to speak. “You are a disgrace to this University. You used the learning you’ve had here to destroy an entire building and kill many of those inside it, for no reason you can explain. You are hereby expelled from the University, and we have decided that Vol and Kendel will also be lashed as an example to others. Bryn, consider yourself lucky to have only been expelled.” Vol started to argue, “But Mas-” “Dismissed.” The Master Linguist sat down and turned his eyes to his fellow Masters, clearly ignoring them. Vol still looked angry, but Bryn Aria tugged on a sleeve and Vol reluctantly turned to follow. The doors closed behind them with a dull, final thud. A few minutes later, the doors opened again, and a slender figure slipped in. “Ah, Rath, welcome back,” Master Leo said genially. “Hard to believe it’s a new term already, isn’t it?” Rath nodded. “Excited to be back, sir.” “Good, good. Now, I suppose we should get on to the testing...” Arael paid little mind to Leo’s question, instead staring at Rath. Could he be a Skindancer? Could one of his fellow Masters? Some of them had been acting odd lately, and he’d noticed Rath a few places he shouldn’t have been. He stared down at his burnt, nearly-unusable hands. He was close to cracking, he knew. He’d used too many Names, too fast, and now it was only a matter of time before he went fully insane. He had to find the Skindancers before that. He shuddered to think what a Skindancer Master Namer could do with that power, especially if some of the Masters were already Fae. Arael Solon closed his eyes. Okay then. Here goes. When it was his turn to question Rath, he stood. Then Arael Solon, Master Namer, called on Blood. He could feel the blood running through his veins, and the blood of everyone else in the room pulsing and pumping and constantly flowing. He named Water next, focusing on the blood he could sense, and urged it to heat up, flow faster - that was when the other Masters started to react, to demand to know what he was doing and telling him to stop. Then Iron. Iron on the doors, sealing them closed. Iron on the swords, the grams, warping them into uselessness. If he was going to do this, no one would escape. Finally, Arael Solon named Fire. And every droplet of blood in that room boiled. They screamed then, but not long. Arael tried to stay silent, but the pain was too intense - after a moment he screamed too, and his was the last to ring out in that room. When they managed to get the doors open the next day, the corpses of nine Masters and a student were all they found. Two of the Masters were only recognizable because of their robes, though: their forms had changed upon death to be grotesque and inhuman. There was a silence over the University, and it was a silence of three parts. It was the long, sad silence of a closed University. Tables sat empty in the inns and in the Archives, a reminder of those who had gone, and the seats at the Horns were not filled again for a long, long time. It was the quiet, relieved silence at the end of catastrophe: the deaths stopped after that, and all that was left to do was bury the bodies. And it was the crackling, broken silence of a man who killed as he died. Arael Solon (Araris) went insane and died! He was a Student! Lasko Veitch (Karnage) died! He was a Student! Leo (Lopen) died! He was a Skindancer! Shard (Experience) died! He was a Skindancer! Rath died! He was a Student! Bryn Aria (Burnt) was attacked and protected! Vol (Devotary) was attacked and protected! Kendel (Elkanah) was brought on the Horns and charged with Conduct Unbecoming! He was lashed! Vol (Devotary) was brought on the Horns and charged with Conduct unbecoming. She was lashed! Kendel (Elkanah) was brought on the Horns and charged with Conduct Unbecoming a Member of the Arcanum! He has been expelled! Vol (Devotary) was brought on the Horns and charged with Conduct Unbecoming a Member of the Arcanum! She has been expelled! Bryn Aria (Burnt Spaghetti) was brought on the Horns and charged with Conduct Unbecoming a Member of the Arcanum! She has been expelled! The Horse and Four was destroyed! The game is over. The Students have won. Player List1. @Haelbarde - Seòras Skindancer 2. @Elandera - Athdara, alchemist Student 3. @Burnt Spaghetti - Bryn Aria Student 4. @DeTess - Evelyn Bryen Student 5. @Elkanah Student 6. @Straw - Straw Student 7. @xinoehp512 Student 8. @Lord_Silberfarben - Lord Silberfarben Student 9. @Coda - Catalan, namer Student 10. @Karnage - Lasko Veitch Student 11. @Hemalurgic Headshot Student 12. @StrikerEZ - Ryykal Ladzo Student 13. @Lumgol - Caia Irèn Student 14. @Experience - Shard Skindancer 15. @Devotary of Spontaneity - Vol, paranoid alchemist Student 16. @CadCom - Cadaci Student 17. @Sart - Sagaer Murtoy, accompanied by a child Student 18. @Furamirionind Student19. @Zillah Student20. @Araris Valerian - Arael Solon Student21. @Rathmaskal - Rath Student22. @STINK - Ugfal the Three-Handed, with only two hands Skindancer 23. @Kynedath - Traelynn Weeks, likes beets Student 24. @Walin - Lin Wa Skindancer 25. @GreenRover - Knighter Nune Skindancer 26. @Young Bard - Nethwyl Nox, pyromaniac Skindancer 27. @TheMightyLopen - Leo Skindancer Spectator/Dead Doc: Tehlu's Angels Eliminator doc: Skindancer Secrets Master Spreadsheet (do not load on your phone) Congrats to everyone for playing a great game! GM thoughts and stuff to come when it's not 1:30 am. Night all, and well played!

I’m glad the AI appreciates the amazingness of libraries.

*wanders in here as the LG ends* 'Hmmm, might be fun to join, I wonder who else is playing...' *looks over list* ...Orlok's back!? Yeah, sign me up as Lady Telina Maladroi

The DA be like: “It makes it easier for us to spike you”

I kind of feel attacked by this Contradictory, but okay I mean... I guess? @AonEne how do you feel now that you know chocolate is going to kill you? This is literally Kelsier

Stick i am a stick. i am a stick. i am a stick? I am! i am a stick. i am a stick. i am a stick. i am a stick. i am a stick. i am a stick. i am a stick. i am a stick. i am a stick.

You were good. It was actually just an educated guess, not something I could confirm without you at all. I was just tired of knowing more about the Physicking, Linguistics, and Alchemy than I did about my own field. As there had been 2 elims killed (presumably through naming) I figured a decent powered Namer was out there, and I had already narrowed down the field significantly by asking people like Burnt and Elkanah for their Elevations. You being the Namer in question fitted made my life easy, filled the most naming slots and generally made sense as to my profile of who the Namer killing elims was. Due to this, I just decided to go for it. You easily could have had Elevations in R&L, Sympathy, or Arithmatics as well If anyone cares at all, this is what my resulting spreadsheet looks like: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12IGQ8KANfJr-fe1599EnyI8XYxWQts56Gqumw9NywpA/edit?usp=sharing I was fliping between Bard going into sympathy or R&L, so I'm somewhat happy with that guess as well. xD Edit: I spent many many hours trying to automate and statistify (made up word) data in it... but I didn't succeed and the result is what you see. The failed stuff I ended up deleting.

The University was put in lockdown after the massacre, as it was called by most. Students were sent home, authorities prowled the campus, and the Crockery was emptied. Under normal circumstances, the widespread release of largely unstable people would be met with alarm and protest, but the Crockery discharge paled in comparison to the Massacre on the Horns. This discharge was in part due to the surprising amount of nobles that had been admitted to the Crockery; their houses came calling once news spread and demanded they be released. This was how Onur walked out of the Crockery, after spending most of a year inside the padded cell. He left walls covered in scrawled notes, arranged in a fashion that only he would understand. His whole life, it seemed, was left on those walls. The Onur before this incident would have scrambled to save those notes, to hoard their knowledge; the Onur now walked slowly behind his parents' steward to the carriage, determined and different. He could remember, now. And he had some questions that needed answering. Thank you, @little wilson and @Elbereth! This was a crazy game, and you guys put so much work into it. I'm just a little sad that I got put out of commission so early on . For the thread: I continued to do RP through the GM PM after my insanity. It provides some basis for the change that has come over Onur.

Perfectionist A blank screen stares back at me, tauntingly empty. Then, the flash of an idea! My fingers twitch, then begin typing. Frantic, wild eyes trace the words as the symphony of clicks becomes faster, frenzied. Then it’s done. I read what I’ve written. The delete key returns the blank screen.

Good game everyone! Naming was way too fun in this game, even though I probably could have experimented more. I’m rather glad that Hael and Walin turned out to be elims, or this game probably wouldn’t have turned in our favor. I was unsure, so I used a combined seek/kill action with Wind and Iron. I was rather surprised that the elims knew all my elevations, which makes me wish I’d revealed to the thread and asked for counseling. Sorry Rath and Karnage for murdering you (well not really). I figured the less living masters, the better for everyone. Thanks to Wilson and Elbereth for GMing! Despite being more complex than what I usually go for, the rules were organized enough that they didn’t get in the way. Also, the write ups were consistently awesome. If it happens, I’ll look forward to the next iteration of this game.

If only I knew...

Mmmm mmm mm. I didn’t know this legendary thread existed until 5 minutes ago and oh gosh I can not express my love for A:tla in words. All the way man. Love it. Leaves from the vine? Go ahead rip my heart out. First time I watched secret tunnel? Tried for an hour to get my forehead as red as Sokkas. Zuko? Oh you little- perfect man I love you with my whole heart. Any scene with Iron ever? It’s alright, I didn’t need those tears anyway

Since we’ve seen a sudden rise in InspiroBot generated quotes on the Shard, we might as well have a thread for it. This is a place to share all of the funny, confusing, strange and sometimes concerning quotes generated by this AI. (If you feel like a quote might breach the community guidelines, don’t post it here. Sometimes the AI can be weird) For those who don’t know, it’s a website where an AI randomly generates quotes, with some... interesting results. Here’s the link: https://inspirobot.me/ Shallan in a nutshell: Explaining Stormlight really badly: You heard it here first, folks! The events of the Stormlight Archive are just one epic teacup ride!

I've read all the Mistborn books (both eras), Warbreaker, and Stormlight books, twice, and own paperback and audio book versions of all of them, with more on the way. I got my mom to read Mistborn era 1 and a cousin and an uncle to listen to the audio books of era 1. I am trying to get my dad to start with Warbreaker while a friend of mine is borrowing The Final Empire, but neither of them have started. What's the best way to get people into the Cosmere books? What's the best way to tie someone to a chair so they can still turn the pages of a book?

The day I walk down the aisle, my father at my side and my love watching from the end. I wink at him, he rolls his eyes. When I get to him, my father kisses my cheek and lets go. I walk to my fiancé. You may kiss the bride" He does. Did it!!

Yeah! A lot of people in this game I haven't played with for a while! It's almost like it's the AG...

What did Kelsier say in the Pits of Hathsin? Oh snap.

It's well past time for this game to be closed up. Thanks to Joe for a wonderful rerun of a wonderful game - QF14 is one of my best memories from early in my SE games, and this one did not disappoint either. Congrats to Drake for winning the game completely for himself - not that dissimilar to QF14's ending, in fact. I had loads of fun in this game, and I would love to see a third run sometime in the future. The setting is so much fun to play with, and Joe's games are always hilarious. See you all in the next one! (no seriously go sign up for MR42 ) As always, if anyone would like to try their hand at running a game, please get ahold of Wilson, Fifth Scholar, Devotary of Spontaneity, or myself. Not only will we get you added to the list, but we'd also be more than willing to help out in any way we can. You can also ask questions and get some hints and feedback from everyone in our Art of Game Creation thread. With all the games that we've run so far, we have plenty of experienced GMs that can help you refine any game you're thinking about. If you would rather keep some detail secret, or are self-conscious about posting in thread (there's really no need to be; while we do slaughter each other, we are very polite about it), then I'm sure one of our fantastic committee members (Amanuensis, Aonar Faileas, Stink, Elandera, or Sart) would be more than willing to help you out in private. Thanks again to everyone that played, and we look forward to killing seeing you in future games!

I almost took that one. The only reason I didn't was because I was already trying to accept 5 other contracts, and didn't have a ton of motivation to RP. @Young Bard I took a contract to give someone a hug, so I used my action to hug you the turn you were expelled. I meant to RP it in thread, but RP was a struggle for me this game. Perhaps I should have gone back to the tried and true Memoirs, but I didn't. @Karnage Ooooohhhhh, I'm so sorry for focusing so hard on you. I should have been able to figure out you spied on my PMs and that's how you knew of what I'd done. So the only PMs you spied on were me asking Araris and Lopen if they were in Imre, which I can tell you, is not the fishing-est thing I did this game : P

Yeah, Breath is described as being openly traded in Hallendren in Warbreaker, and it's been mentioned in WoBs that Nalthis is easy to get to and commonly visited among worldhoppers, to the extent that they even "have customs that you can go through". (More accurately, I assume, Brandon means have to go through - nobody eagerly goes through customs, looking forward to having their stuff rifled through and then to have taxes potentially assessed, or contraband seized!) Besides, if Riino looked "Shin" to Kaladin, then surely he looked equally "Alethi" to Riino, so his being in the CR and also being Invested enough to make the globe work would only come from him either having visited Nalthis and making a purchase, or being one of the first Radiants to enter Shadesmar in hundreds of years. He eventually thinks of option #2 ("Merciful Domi... A Surgebinder?") but clearly option #1 seemed much more likely to him.

These are great, you guys. I have to say, that last one is my favorite.

Seriously though, I love this show and these just make it even more hilarious.

Wasn't expecting to come back anytime soon, but as always a game by Joe is too good to pass up. I'll be in as Lord Laborn - my background will be filled in a bit more later

InspiroBot, sometimes your deepness truly enlightens my soul. Others...

Storms! How does that even work?

These adorable little pipsqueaks are now Shards! This is Ruin. She was the easiest to name because she is always picking fights with Preservation. She's a force of destruction if I ever saw one. This is Preservation. He is a bit of an idiot, but that comes from being a kitten I suppose. He is often fighting with Ruin and he has the most white, so mist! And this is sweet Harmony. She was kinda left over, but she’s still my favorite. She is the smallest of the three and she normally hangs back and climbs on me. Right now she's still sleeping in my hood. I probably won’t end up keeping all three, which is sad but I can only have so many cats. I’m about to get a mostly white calico, which I haven’t had in a while. She’s already named Rio though. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go free Preservation from whatever mess he got himself into.

Couple preliminary thoughts: Thanks El and Wilson for running this game. It was a lot of fun. It was really strange, the power in the game was overwhelmingly elim until like, 4.2/5.1, at which point it basically flipped. Due in large part to Araris. It was always my plan to go into naming, however I really didnt think it was going to be such a contested field. I figured 4/5 people might put EP in it, with maybe 2 focusing it. Due to this, I figured if I could get a single elevation semi-early on in the game, if it was naming, I'd basically be set all game, even if I didnt get my pipes. I did end up getting my pipes though... Getting roleblocked on the same turn I was elevated was very annoying, as all I wanted to do was to have some fun with wind... when I was roleblocked again, I was very sad. :'( though I quickly became quite amused by it instead, hence all the jokes about staying roleblocked. My plan was to attack Bard with wind, as I flipped on whether or not he actually was an elim too much in that game. Now it seems my attack wouldnt have worked anyways, however what ended up happening was I WAS ROLEBLOCKED AGAIN because I was on the streets. >> Also, I think half of my problems this game were just from the fact I've pulled several all nighters over the past 2 weeks... I tried to edit my spreadsheet on a particularly bad day, and I ended up putting all my stuff in 4.2 rather than 5.2... and that really messed me up. *sigh*. Anyways, I played pretty poorly this game, though I AM really proud of my spreadsheeting. I made 4 pages of analysis on fields, then started doing massive amounts of PMing to gather info, and was able to infer a ton of stuff. Did that stuff help me at all? Well... no... it didnt... but I still knew stuff before I died, so I'm happy with that at the very least. XD Mostly im just proud of calling Araris focusing Naming, though honestly maybe that actually wasnt too difficult of a call.

Thanks to El and Wilson for both GMing and dealing with my 72 message GM PM. It's interesting that no one ever broke out. I'll be curious to see GM thoughts on the game. Activity Tracking A few graphs:

Unfortunately for me my none of my friends really enjoy reading and like the 4 other people in school who read for pleasure don't like fantasy so I don't know anything. Sadly.

Also in for the 25th. (Currently) Chapter 19 is 5370 words and Chapter 20 is 4520 so right at 10k again. If I end up getting in 2 chapters a week, I should finish up on the week of June 15th!

That was a great game, everyone. I enjoyed that so much (partly because it's been more than a year since I was last an Elim, and partly because this game is just nuts.) Thanks so much to Wilson and El for running it - I can't believe I missed the past two versions if they're this fun. I want to make some comments about the balance of this game for next time, but I'm honestly don't think there's a point. This game is kind of inherently unbalanceable, but that's OK, because it's hilarious to play anyway. The WGG stunt we pulled this game I'd ordinarily never consider, but something about the madness of this game made me do it anyway. (Hael said something along the same lines) By Araris' and Burnt's actions this last turn, I'm pretty sure the Elims weren't the only one to feel that. Strategically, was the WGG a mistake? Oh yeah, and I think the more cautious part of me knew that even while I pushed for it. But... I don't regret it, honestly. I think in past games, I've been too quick to try and play the game safe, and with how much fun I had this time, I think I'll do that a lot less going forward. This is a rambly mess, but... yeah. There's honestly a hundred tiny thoughts I kind of want to splurge, so, uh... here's the splurge, you can ignore all of this if you want to. Plum Bob - Apparently, this has never been used in either of the previous KKC games? Huh. Being Plum-Bobbed by Devotary, I think mechanically it worked really well, all things considered. It's dangerous, though - if things had gone slightly differently, it could have been much more sour (I had to admit that Lopen and I were Skindancers, but I was basically out anyway, and Lopen was under suspicion, and a Master so safe from expulsion, and being protected by me from kills unless it's a super-protection-overriding attack made by Master Namers. ) If I'd had to give up both of my teammates, or if we'd been a bit more powerless at doing anything about being outed, it would have felt more sour, which is maybe something to watch out for next game? But, as it was, it was an 8/10 Plum Bob. If you're going to be drugged and forced to answer questions against your will, this is the experience I'd recommend. Tuition - I actually really like this 'soft' activity filter, thinking about it. With hard activity filters, it feels like a chore sometimes - "I'm really tired after a long day, but I guess I have to post something if I don't want to get killed off. Ugh." With the soft activity filter, you're still encouraged to post, but you don't feel absolutely forced to, and it also doubles as a carrot - if you post a lot, you have more money which you can use to buy things in Imre. I think that's an idea I might try to figure out how to simplify and then shamelessly steal next time I run a game. Linguistic Analysis - I think the Linguistic Analysis worked really well - when I got caught having told a lie the previous cycle, it wasn't immediately damning, but it was damning enough that it was really tense, which worked brilliantly. If I'd said, "I am not a Skindancer", and found out a lie, I don't think that would have been entertaining for me or anyone else. But that veneer of plausible deniability where I had to lie through my teeth (or actually, imply as many lies as possible without actually explicitly lying, because I'd already been expecting to have a Linguist target me the cycle after the WGG, I just hadn't anticipated it happening the turn before) - and then people have to decide who to trust, and what the truth is. That's mafia at it's best. There's a decent chance that I'll steal this for a game somewhere, probably. Human Psychology/Naming - Not really a balance thing, but I'm fascinated by the fact that so many people went for Naming. There's something about the "You get to do anything so long as you can justify it to the GM's" part that really appeals to people, and I can totally see why. With the increased chance of going insane and it's popularity meaning you're unlikely to get elevated, I'm not actually sure it's the strongest field strategically, but I already wrote a whole paragraph about how this game isn't meant to be played strategically, so... Dunno. I just find it interesting. Pacing - The pacing of this game is... weird, to say the least. The power curve of this game is really steep - in the space from Month 4 to Month 6 as an Elim, it felt as though we went from everyone (on both sides) having useful but still normal-ish skills to basically everyone still at the University to have a game-breaking skill, for some (*cough* Araris *cough*) literally so. I... can't really think of a way you'd fix that - having the ability to find your own way to break the game is part of the fun, so the best you can do is hope that the villagers game-breaking actions roughly balance out with the Skindancers game-breaking actions as you reach the late game.

Ah, the curse of those who read: How to get a friend to read a book? Don't we all wish we knew the answer to that question

Sort of A vegan would still be eating animals indirectly in nearly every case until Roshar gets the synthesis down.

LET IT TRY Okay but there just. Are so many amazing things in here. I can’t even save them all. I am c r y i n g. And also scared that the elk’s gonna murder me and worried for the kids.

Bang He laughed. He laughed for longer than he should have. He laughed until he couldn't hear. Watching the device tumble down, time seemed to flow just a little slower. He laughed at the funniest thing he'd ever seen. You see, he hadn't expected to actually go out with a bang. (Well that got dark )

Vin after Kelsier's death Elhokar I am sure was told this at some point to make him feel better Also a masterpiece:

Thank you, Inspirobot.

My strategy was to constantly bring it up and talk about it until they read it. I only have a 50% success rate so far though.

I AM NOW HUGGING THIS GIRL.

I think that's actually how a lot of them are made. Ah yes. You heard 'em, ladies!

Wouldn’t Windrunners ability to have additional squires be a minor form of spiritual adhesion?

Uncle Iroh. That man alone is enough to get me to watch any tv show

So I had an intuition some time ago, that there was a fundamental reason of arithmetic, why the number 4 kept showing up in the axiom system for my model of set theory. Either I discovered or rediscovered the role of 2 and 4 as such in the hyperoperator sequence, so anyway for the sake of the Ripheus story, I decided to have part of the "programming" of the Keyscape turn on a proof regarding this point. Namely, since the programmers wanted the arithmetic to be highly accessible to the general public (of an entire multiverse!), they looked for simple but impressive examples of arithmetic transfinality, and voila, here was the perfect case. Now, another part of the equation: the model of set theory, here, doesn't have the axiom of foundation as an axiom, but as a theorem: and not a theorem of all of V simpliciter, but of a certain meta-level of V. So there is an entire other meta-level of V that exists, in a way, in reverse order, descending from a largest set to an asymptotic limit of infinitesimally smaller ones. In other words, varying the axiom of foundation allows us to mathematically transcreate the image of a largest infinity as such, the caveat being instead that there is no smallest one, on this meta-level, and indeed therefore this meta-level never determinately intersects the ascending order of V as such. But so on the "other end of the universe," the apex numbers are absolute mirrors of the first finite numbers, after a fashion. This is why one of them allows us to "break the symmetry of eternity" by reprogramming the ultimate arithmetic of metafinity. Rendering the apex numbers accessible was therefore of preeminent importance to the Keyscape project (was it not?). Or: they are even at the nexus of the Final Power, the meaning and order of its intended advent as well as the transcendental magnitude of their self-apocalypse. EDIT--- "Some objected that this made a game of V. The reply was to concede the point entirely, but to say that it was the very Form of Games itself with which we had to deal. In other words, there was a logic of accomplishment built into the image of V; the axioms were basic moves in a game, then, yes, but ultimately there was nothing else to do but accept it: and moreover, anyway, would it not prove true that to get the highest score in the Game was the same as to get the highest score on the Test?"

I wish!

Cosmere confirmed. All of our worst hopes and fears have come true. Ready the sticks for the defense against Odium.