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Night Four: The Gambler, He Broke Even “Every gambler knows that the secret to survivin’ Is knowin’ what to throw away and knowin’ what to keep ‘Cause every hand’s a winner and every hand’s a loser And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.” —’The Gambler’, Kenny Rogers I’ve never been much of a gambler. Thing about wetwork is, you don’t want to leave things up to chance. Of course there’s always a chancy element to these things. As much as Wyl talks about how people are predictable, how our behaviour follows patterns, there’s always the element of randomness. That thin sliver of a chance that sends a die up snake’s eye rather than stacked sheaves, that has your mark decide to go to the ball at the Ostlin manor that night, rather than attending the party at the Jerzy’s. Little things like that, which can badly feck your plans up, if you’d been scoping out the Jerzy grounds, and preparing to sneak in and ice the mark there and then. You want to be good at wetwork, you need to develop contingency plans. All improvisation and adaptation is built on a solid base of having done your intelligence work. Having scouted out the locations, and your mark’s schedule, habits and tendencies, understanding them intimately… You want that. Need that, even. Putting yourself in your mark’s shoes is what allows you to anticipate what they’ll do. This helps you craft plans that might survive first contact with the enemy. Wyl, though. I won’t say he’s reckless—he’s a more meticulous and canny planner than some in the wetwork business I’ve known—but there’s a streak in him that’s more comfortable with outright audacious gambles than I’ve ever worked myself up to. Guess a guy who talks a rusher into joining up with the Watch has got to have enough of a gambler in him, if you think about it. The burning of the Steel Crow wasn’t how I’d have done it, and I’ve torched a few buildings in my time with the Red Knives. Not going to make any excuses for it, really. In this world, everyone’s out for themselves, in the end. Torching a building’s a better way to get the point across than icing someone, or breaking a couple bones. We had our lines, though. Never kids. There’s a special place in hell for those as lay a hand on kids, in my book. Maybe only Wyl would care, even if the Watch weren’t paid. I’ve seen him refuse to take so much as a clip from some of our clients before. If you don’t know Wyl enough, you think he’s a hard-arse, like a walnut. But there’s the decency in there, too, and if you’re very, very lucky, you’ll catch a glimpse of it. Do I feel bad about my past? I don’t know. I wonder sometimes, about what my younger self would make of the person I’ve become today. Maybe he’d reckon I’ve gone weak. That I’d betrayed my crew to run with the enemy. Work for the enemy. That I’ve become the enemy, really. Maybe he wouldn’t be wrong, either. In skaa thieving crews, trust is a hard commodity, but in good crews, you had each other’s backs. That means something, in my view. More than looking out for the thousands of people in your precinct. Sure, you feel a little bad, but really, world’s a hard place. You’ve got to be hard to stay alive in it, and there’s no use wringing your hands about it. That’s my younger self talking, I suppose. I’m older now, with years in the Watch on my shoulders. And sometimes, people need help, and sometimes, you’re all they’ve got. Sometimes, people are lost or afraid, and I guess if I’m there, why not? World’s a dark enough place as it is. Maybe Wyl got to me, more than I expected. I talked to Clanal, when trying to figure out what had gone down with the Crow. First thought was that it was Arenta, maybe. It’s what we did in the Red Knives when there were stubborn coves and mots holding out on their protection fees. But no, Arenta hadn’t reacted like this before when people were late on their payments. She just got a rusher and had ‘em thrown out onto the streets. Stone cold, bleeds boxings if you cut her, that’s Arenta. Clanal. As I said, Clanal’s the village moneylender. What a lot of people don’t know is that Clanal deals in something quite a bit more valuable than just boxings. He deals in secrets. Clanal is an information-broker, and he’s very good at what he does. To borrow any decent-sized sum from him, Clanal requires collateral. Among other things, he requires information from you. A secret. If he approves of it, you scribble it on a slip of paper, and he locks it away. And if you fail to repay him, whatever you set down as collateral is his. And your secret is his to do with, as he pleases. Clanal had been shaken by the fires at the Crow. I figured that was maybe my in with him. “Know anything about anyone who might’ve wanted to torch the Crow?” I asked him. Clanal eyed me warily. “Isn’t good business if I give information away for free, Speirs,” he said. “If you want it, you have to deal with me, same way the rest of my clients do.” “Come on, now,” I said. “Way I see it, they nearly got you too.” “If they’d wanted to get me, they’d have torched the Crow earlier, Speirs. Isn’t going to work on me.” I wished I had Wyl’s way with words, with coaxing trust out of people. All I had going for me was one formidable right hook, the sort of jaw you could break fists on, and a lifetime of brawls. “Right,” I said. I handed him a couple boxings, just to start the conversation. “What are you looking for?” Clanal smiled. “If it’s information you’re after, you know how this works, Speirs.” I did know. Bastard kept my boxings anyway. “And in trade?” Clanal considered it. “What can you give me that’d be worth Sara’s past, Speirs? Or even Tomas’s?” “I know that Tomas has claimed to be some kind of god,” I said. “Obliteration, something like that.” I guess my scepticism must’ve been clear because Clanal laughed. “Just talk, really. He’s kept his head down, enough that I haven’t crossed paths with him.” “Then here’s a free one for you: someone in Fallion’s Tears or the surrounding villages has often claimed to be that god,” Clanal said. “Just not at the same time.” “Some kind of cult?” Clanal shrugged. “You’re the fancy Tremredare detective. You tell me.” “Haven’t been one in years. You of all people should know.” He did. Of course he did. “How about telling me something about Sharpe,” Clanal said. There was a curious glint in his eyes. “You work together. You must know something. He’s about the only man I don’t have anything at all about in this village.” Because of that bad run of months. We’d needed to pay Arenta, and I wasn’t about to put any more pressure on Wyl than he was already feeling, having generously told another widow that we weren’t going to accept a clip for looking into her husband’s murder. I’d borrowed from Clanal, but I’d made good, but Clanal knew, of course. I didn’t know how many others in Fallion’s Tears knew I’d been a rusher, once. Maybe Clanal hadn’t traded that off. But if he hadn’t, why not? “No,” I said, and I meant it. Wyl’s probably the only good man I know. Be damned if I’d just sell him out like that. “No deal, Clanal. I’ll find the information myself.” “Suit yourself.” I strode off, feeling the pain of each step as it stabbed into my leg and my knee. Wasn’t about to rat Wyl out, even with the little I knew. I mean, we were partners. We worked together. He saved my life nine times. That time in the Warrens didn’t count. Never did. I saved his life, that night in Tremredare, when everything fell apart. When Gade came for him. The night Gade messed my leg up bad. Didn’t mean I really knew him, see? People think we’re friends, and maybe we are, I don’t know. Way I see it, we work together and are in business together, and that means a certain level of professionalism. “Wait!” Clanal called after me. I hesitated, and then cursed myself. Didn’t want to seem desperate, and all that, but. “Interesting,” said Clanal. “That you’re so fiercely protective of his secrets.” I don’t have a good poker face, but I do have a good killing face. I fixed that stare on Clanal and watched him pale. “Business is between us, Clanal. Told you that the first time I came to you. Isn’t right to get my partner involved, understand?” He narrowed his eyes. “Proposition for you.” “What?” “I have a job that needs doing,” said Clanal. “And you happen to be a rusher. I have information you want. Way I see it, it’s interesting how we can help each other, isn’t it?” I felt my hands curling into fists. I hadn’t been a rusher, hadn’t done rusher work in years. I didn’t like this, and all I could think was: what was Wyl going to think if he knew? He wasn’t going to know, obviously, but all the same, I hated the idea that I was failing his standards, somehow, even if I knew Wyl’s own standards weren’t the one any normal person would want to live up to. Bastard’s a pain like that, really. And secrets have an inconvenient way of coming out at the worst possible time. “Icing someone?” I finally asked. Hated myself for not stepping away. I told myself we needed Clanal’s information. Clanal was often good for his word. But it felt like I was taking a step away from whatever we were doing, back into the murky world of skaa thieving crews. Part of me liked it. It felt like waking up again, after years of muddling through, years of having fallen asleep. And I hated that, so much. Clanal considered it for longer than I felt comfortable. “No,” he said, thoughtfully. “Dead men don’t pay up, Speirs. You know this as well as I do. Or knew this, I suppose. I want you to send him a very clear message.” I knew about clear messages. Maybe that was where Clanal and I spoke the same language. I didn’t like it one bit, but I liked the idea of selling Wyl out less. And the truth was, Clanal had me by the short ones, there. Finding the information I wanted, fast? Harder than you’d expect, with so much of the Crow in ruins at the moment. And I didn’t even want to think about how the hell I was going to figure out what was up with Tomas getting iced by our renegade Coinshot, who just so happened to be Sara. Sometimes, you have to choose which of your principles to break. Today was shaping up to be a day of personal discoveries. “Sara killed before,” Clanal said. “It’s why she had no hesitation going after those kills your partner attributed to her.” I understood. The first kill is always the hardest. After a while, killing becomes a job, or an action. Like cleaning up, like shaving. And for some, like making love. I wasn’t that sort of messed up, though. Didn’t think Sara was, either. I wish I knew her reasons, but the best I could make out was that either she’d snapped over some dispute, or she’d figured she was going to take it in her own hands to stop our killers. Far as I could tell, all those she’d tagged with her coins were people she or someone in Fallion’s Tears had suspected. “Got more details on that?” I asked. Family and friends of a vic were often prime suspects for vengeance, and maybe one of them had set fire to the Crow. “Little,” Clanal admitted. “It’s hushed up, and from nearly a decade ago, but she moved over from Gamsbrook with her uncle, after killing someone with her metal. He died of his injuries a few days later. You don’t want to know the details.” I frowned. Who in Fallion’s Tears would act out a feud from nearly a bloody decade ago? Maybe that was the sign, though. If it wasn’t a feud, then maybe it wasn’t personal. Maybe I was looking at the arson all wrong. Maybe it was sabotage. “And she never borrowed from you?” “She made good,” Clanal said. Which was probably why I was only hearing about this secret of Sara’s right around now. “And Tomas, then?” “Left a trail of bodies in his wake,” Clanal said, with wry amusement. “Skipped out of Bainsvale about half an hour before the Watch there put together a posse and went after him. Changed his name, skipped across half the Western Dominance, and put down roots in Fallion’s Tears, and all was forgotten. Surprising, isn’t it? Lots of people seem to come here to hide from their past, or their killings.” I didn’t like that part. And it was the same issue with Tomas as with Sara, except we knew Sara had iced Tomas, so there wasn’t so much worry there about whether anyone from his past had come hunting him. And that was even without the preposterousness of his claims to be some kind of god. Sometimes, I thought he’d bring the wrath of the Steel Inquisition down on us all. Wouldn’t that be a thing to get hauled in for. “What is it then? Who do you want reminded?” I asked, reluctantly. I’d given my word, and I wasn’t going to go back on it now. Maybe that was why Clanal wanted a trade, too. Clanal’s grin grew a little wider, and I had a sinking feeling it wasn’t going to be good. “Torch one or two of Erik’s fields for me, would you? Stop at two, mind. It’s not about doing him in. It’s about sending a message.” Someone’d cleaned up the Crow, painted a new sign on the outside and scratched out the word Steel. It was The Rusty Crow now, and they’d put up hoarding and canvas flaps overhead to substitute for the missing roof. The rubble had been cleared fairly quickly, and Kast wasn’t sure if it was a testament to human ingenuity or just how powerfully most of Fallion’s Tears wanted to get drunk. It was broad daylight, but it was a nervous crowd. Slart and Rowan hadn’t returned, and somehow, word that the hunters had been sent out to scout for koloss was setting everyone on edge. The militia moved among the patrons, a solid presence of steel, but Kast knew better. People nursed their drinks nervously. There’d been too many deaths in Fallion’s Tears over the past days, and with Tesse Mourn having fled for the safety of Tremredare, fear had begun to creep into the village, eating it away from the inside like woodrot did for a sturdy table-leg. Kast nursed his warm beer with some distaste and just listened, trying to take the pulse of the village. All he could hear was fear. Whispers. Rumours. Distrust. They hadn’t turned on him or on Wyl yet, but sometimes, Kast wondered if that was only a matter of time. Some of the villagers still talked about Variel, but they had been a little reassured by Tesse Mourn’s departure. Kast wished her well. He and Wyl were still going over her ledgers, trying to track down Wyl’s elusive firebug, though they hadn’t much luck. Most of Mourn’s sales were to those outside of Fallion’s Tears, and though Wyl had been right about the Bart and Leas Fel connection, it seemed that Leas Fel really had had a sword repaired by Mourn. Had he been expecting trouble, then? And why? He had to talk to Palladiel, but the last Kast heard, she’d locked herself in her shop again, which meant he wasn’t going to get much out of her this day. So here he was in the burned-out Crow instead, sipping his beer, listening, trying to work out his next move. Marll, Joe, and Roko were rolling dice at the table on the far end of the tavern, and Kast was only half-paying attention to them but he sensed the moment the arguments took a darker edge and turned deadly. Rioting? He didn’t know. It was an argument over whether the dice were loaded, and had expanded to accusations of Marll cheating at cards, with Marll almost wrecking the table and insisting that it’d been Roko instead, who’d cheated. In a tavern, with frightened, nervous people all doing their best to get drunk. Kast sighed. How the bloody hell did he always end up in these sorts of situations? And how was he ever going to explain this one to Wyl? Within seconds, the tavern exploded in violence. It was why Kast hated tavern duty, really. They’d lost more men to tavern brawls than just about any other part of the precinct. And back in the Red Knives, he’d figured those brawls were a waste of his time. Chaos was like a ladder, and it spread like the fire in Erik’s fields through the remnants of the Crow. Someone hit someone else, that was always how it worked, whether by accident, or simply because they were drunk, or too amped up. The gaming table was splintered and broken, and Marll had Roko by the throat. Kast thought about intervening, and thought the better of it. One man alone in a tavern brawl. You died, easily, that way. Wouldn’t have chanced it, even if Wyl had his back. Someone grabbed a beer stein and swung hard at Marll’s head, but the cobbler reacted swiftly, turning about so the metal smashed into Roko instead. Kast winced. That was going to hurt, but Roko somehow shrugged it off, and fluidly twisted about, so Marll was forced to let go, or risk injury. Roko landed, and then knives were in his hands, and one of them was pressed to Maili’s throat. Said Roko, in a voice that cut through the shouting and the sounds of splintering wood and broken glass, “One of us dies today then, I suppose.” Marll eyed him, coolly. “You feeling this violent over a game of cards or dice?” Joe was nowhere to be seen. Kast wondered where he’d gotten off to. Perhaps he was hiding, like a sensible person would. “Everyone’s all worked up now,” Roko said, with a shrug. “Takes more brass than I have to calm everyone down, and really, why bother? It’s rather hard to save people who are actively trying to kill you. Take that from someone who knows.” Marll said, “Why, you—” Someone smashed a glass bottle over Roko’s head, and then another. “Don’t let him Soothe you!” It was Willie, his face grim but set. “We heard, didn’t we? Was one of those manipulating Mistings that set up the riots in the square that day.” Roko blinked. The others joined in, beating Roko up as the knife drew a thin line of blood across Marll’s throat, but Marll had dodged, trusting that he would beat Roko’s reflexive reaction, and Kast supposed the gamble had paid off, this time. Soddit. He had to go, now. The Watch had to know. One man alone could not do anything here. But he could create a chance for intervention, before things got worse. Kast skidded out from under the table. His leg protested, but he let it. Being trapped there, watching Roko die… It wasn’t on the list of things he intended to do today. He caught a glass bottle that was flying right at him, and struck out with it, smashing it into the face of someone who was trying to hit him. Cordwainer. Kast recognised him. For good measure, he punched the man twice in the gut, dropping him. Something rolled out of Roko’s pocket. It hit the floor, bounced, and skittered right in front of Kast. It reminded him of a strange, metal orb, and yet. Chains of glowing letters filled the air in a small slice above the orb. Kast had no idea what they were, or what that sort of contraption was. In the span of moments, a figure appeared, composed of the letters. “What?” Kast managed. “I applied my heart to know wisdom,” the man said. “And to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing at the wind. For in much wisdom is much grief. And he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow.” Kast said, “Who are you?” There was no answer, and the light fuzzed out again and there were only strings of disconnected letters, shapes maybe. There was no time. Kast left. Gears was the victim of a tavern brawl! He was a Village Soother! The Night has begun and will end on 11th March 2021, at 2300hrs SGT (GMT+8)! PMs remain open! P.S. If anyone reads this, vote for Wyrm in the Night.

Now and then I think of when we played together So back in LG12 we ended up Dula I told myself maybe you were Village But couldn't really trust you completely Still, we were young and undisputed kings of trolling You've become addicted to both trolling and backstabbing Like when you stabbed me in the back in MR1 So when we've been on the same team since then And I guess that we've both become friends But I'll admit that I still can't really trust you But you didn't have to cut me down Act like we were never brothers and our jokes meant nothing And I wasn't even a threat But you put in all those kills on me, it feels so rough No, you didn't have to stoop so low Have five players try to kill me and then take my PM I guess that I was dying though Now you're just some Dulabro I used to know Now you're just some Dulabro I used to know Now you're just some Dulabro I used to know Now and then I think of those two games you screwed me over Coming out of nowhere with that Grandbow and then Kholinar But paranoia's now my way Reading into every word you say I thought that I could let these go But I guess I'm still scarred by these betrayals from seven years ago But you didn't have to crash my game Taking over as the GM and then all that trolling Guess I could really use your help But you came in like a highstorm and you trolled them hard No, you didn't have to wreak havoc Claiming GM black for yourself and then taking over I guess that I did miss you bro Now you're just the Shardtwin that I used to know

Double post, but it's been six hours. -- Marll burned tin. His senses burst alive, sharpening the world around him. Everything came into sharper contrast, points and curves, darks and lights, bitter and sweet. This was what people were made to be. The God Above, whatever they were, must've made them for this kind of feeling. Marll had burned more tin recently than he had in a long time. Ever since, well that wasn't important. What was important was the feeling of life coursing through his veins. WIth maybe just a tinge of whiskey. Just a tinge though, Marll still had a rush from the gamble he'd made earlier when he and Roko had been cornered. He'd won that toss, but at what cost? Roko had been a friend, a pal, and now he was a corpse. Oh Lord Ruler, what had this town turned to? Emotions engaged in mortal combat in Marll's heart: grief for his town, exultation at taking a risk and having it pay off. And tin. The rush of stimulus forced him to reckon with the world in its real state, not the one he tried to imagine in his stories. Tin. Tin kept him sane. There was too much loss in this world, and if Marll had to deal with it all on his own, he'd have succumbed so long ago. Tin kept him sharp and aware. He could keep going. He could. Just keep burning, keep the flame going. Tin, passion, risks. The flames that fanned his will to press on. Marll scrawled on the walls. -- Marll's Tineye Ad Agency is now OPEN! We are now renting space on the tavern walls, the price of thirty words being a measly personal message from the renter describing what they wish inscribed, with formatting already included. First three applicants receive a pint of ale at the Rusty Crow, the newest tavern in town! Send a letter quickly, deal expires in under eleven hours at the stroke of rollover! Yep, I'm a Tineye (again). The second one to be exact. MAW is spelled out in the capital letters of the second line of my second message if you want to verify me. Also, most everyone else here already knows so I figure the elims do too. Might as well have fun

Are you asleep yet?

SA spoiler

I agree.

The Real GM here! Kas doesn't want me to post here. I've done what he wanted, and now I'm not needed he's trying to cast me aside. I'm not going to go quietly though. I'm posting here and now to take a stand against the dictator Kas, and put in place the dictator Wyrm instead! Overnight, please put kill orders in against Kas and tell him to go to bed so I can reign supreme. Also, the Day's over, so stop posting. This means you too, Kas.

If your boss is a Soother, what do you call them? Also, me

Gawx: Dies. Lift: Heals him. Viziers and Scions: Best essay in the whole storming Azir. Nale: Why and how? Viziers and Scions: Cause we say it is.

I mean, the fact that I haven’t been exed two days in a row means people must not suspect me as much as you do. So maybe this is a you thing not a me thing? Gears’ eulogy as promised: Gears was a wordsmith, an artimantic hemalurgic construct, and a friend. Though the day ended with us on either end of the other’s blade, the journey along the way was worth it. Acupuncture and bubbles will be remembered by this cobbler forever. Roko, rest in all the peace of the dead. And bring me back some unsealed metal minds with artistic ability when you inevitable break free of death. O7

Well... The WandaVision finale was last Friday. At that time I also finished Mistborn Era 2:

Ayyy, this is my 600th post!!!

SPOILERS AND ADDED INFORMATION: I had posted other bits of this else where in 2020 before the "Taln never broke" WOB, but consolidated all the ideas here in this post This theory and post came out before Rhythm of War, but updates have been made to include information from ROW SA5 Prologue: This is not discussed to avoid spoilers, but SA5 Prologue has some interesting information --- Weird Questions: 1) TALN BREAKING SEEMS ODD What broke Taln? He is crazy and insensate for 4000 years and then one day he says "No thank you". What could have broke Taln? And, in terms of timelines, Taln returned before the Everstorm crossed into the physical realm, so it can't be that the Everstorm freed Taln. Yes the Everstorm was in the Cognitive, but all the doom and gloom seemed to be about the Everstorm being pulled in the Physical Realm by Eshoni and her team. Since Taln returns at the end of The Way of Kings, then Taln must return in a way that is not related to Eshoni. And as I mentioned before, I don't think it makes sense that Odium suddenly found a way to break Taln after 4000 years of trying. Edit: we later got a WOB that Taln did not break 2) DAVAR FAMILY CONNECTIONS Why was the Davar family so connected to secret societies despite being a Vaden house of little note? They have connections to the Ghostbloods and the Ghostbloods have handed them a confirmed soulcaster AND possibly a Seon box. Why? And it seems Skybreakers may have been visiting as well for "reasons". As well, the Skybreakers are breaking paterns when it comes to the Davars. As far as we know, Shallan's older brother is the only Skybreaker to be using a dead blade. Is this special treatment for a member of the Davar family? And finally, Mraize seems to know the Davar family well enough to recognize the name immediately. The Davars would need to be pretty active for that name recognition to be so apparent. 3) CHILD SHALLAN AND HER IMPORTANCE Why did the cryptic go to Shallan as a child? Lift was chosen due to her strange connection to Cultivation, but why Shallan? And why twice? And what were Shallan's parents fighting about? Shallan remembers her parents having huge fights over Shallan's future starting from a very young age. What was that about? Connected to that, why is an dark influence attacking the Davar family? Why is Heleran given a shardblade and brought into the skybreakers? No other Skybreaker acolyte was given a dead-blade and sent to war (that we know of), so why is Helaran so non-standard? Shallan's parents also fight A LOT about Shallan's future. This seems to be a hint that Chanarach had a major plan for Shallan. 4) MAMA DAVAR IN THE KNOW Why was Shallan's mother so quick to try and kill "one of them". How does she know "them" so clearly? Why would she have such a quick and radical reaction? 5) MORE SECRETS What is Shallan's last secret. There is still something horrible in Shallan's past, and this has something to do with a Seon box and whatever Radiant was created to protect Shallan from. What is worse than killing testament? We also have strange internal thoughts from Shallan from WOR in Chapter 10: "The world ended; and Shallan was to blame". This thought has never been explained. What did Shallan do to end the world? "The world ended, and Shallan was to blame.- Words of Radiance, Chapter 10. Mentioned by @honorblades Another strange but overlooked instance occurs in TWoK when Shallan almost summons her Shardblade: If this is indeed Patters/Testement, then why would that Spren ask "What are you?" Testament should full-well know "what" Shallan is in terms of her being a human or a semi-radiant or anything like that. If this voice is Testament, then asking "What are you?" is very odd in my opinion. Shallan answers "I am terrified", but to me that always seemed ... not what the voice was asking Shallan. I always felt there was more to this that simply speaking truths. 6) THE FAMILY'S SAFE AND THE GLOWING LIGHTS ARE IMPORTANT (main data point for me creating this theory) People are very quick to discount Shallan's recollection of Lin Davar placing a glowing soul into a safe. I have always been very confused as to why Shallan is taken as "lying" to herself in this scene. Shallan has no reason to lie about the item being her mother's soul instead of a Shardblade. Lin Davar acted extremely quickly in that situation and made sure to place the item in that safe before dealing with any other issues. That to me is extremely telling. Why would Lin think the Shadblade wouldn't disappear eventually whenever Shallan dismissed it? Why would Lin think the Shardblade would stay in a safe if he managed to place it there quickly? Why would Lin so quickly run to place the item in the safe in the first place? Why is there an unused safe in that room? And then why do Shallan and Lin seem to continually see light coming from that safe for years and years? None of that vibes with "it is just a blade and Shallan is lying to herself" in any way. I just don't get it. Shallan having a Shardblade is not in anyway covered up by this lie, nor is the lie that Shallan killed her spren hidden by this lie either? There is no mental cover-up being done by Shallan making up a lie here. It seems everyone else dismisses Shallan, including Pattern, in favour of "Lynn put a sword in there". 7) EDIT FOR ROW: Then in ROW we get the timeline, and this does not hold up to scrutiny either. Shallan says her father put the item into the safe. WoR Shallan thinks that was a soul, but Pattern convinces her she is misremembering and that the item was a dead spren-blade. But that can't be a dead spren blade because Shallan has not unbonded Testament yet. Shallan does not think that a spren is trapped in that safe and we know this because Shallan then leaves to go speak with her spren in the garden AFTER the item is placed in the safe. Shallan acts immediately as a child in a way that doesn't even consider that her "blade" is in that safe. It just doesn't make sense to think a blade was placed into that safe based on the reactions of the two witnesses involved (which we learn Pattern is not one of) We take it from Pattern that Shallan is wrong here in her memory. However, In ROW we learn that Pattern is NOT an eyewitness to what went down in that room. Pattern sure has a lot of opinions about what Shallan saw, but Pattern was not actually there in the room and cannot actually know what Shallan saw go into the safe. Pattern assumed Shallan is lying to herself as Pattern sees many other lies around that event. But Pattern has no knowledge about who Mother-Davar was, what the safe was for, or why Skybreaker/Ghostbloods may have been in the home. Pattern is not a credible source of information on the events of that day. Shallan is the only living witness, and the actions of her father are consistent with the understanding Shallan had as a child. Shallan too noticed her father staring at the direction of the safe and the light. Only later in life is Shallan told again and again that her memory of those events are wrong by people who were not there. Both Lin and Shallan believe something is in the safe, and a sword does not match the other data points we have. There is "light" in that safe, and it is leaking out over time. And where di the blood come from? A Shardblade should not have done that. The blood has to be some other injury? The box is something. The light was something. Pattern is making assumptions and is wrong about this history with the safe. And why does Shallan see a glowing light coming from the box? Is it a soul like she believes? We learn in RoW that no herald soul can be trapped completely, and that the light of a herald will slowly leak out (is that what Shallan was seeing her whole childhood come out of the safe?). Is it her mother's soul escaping slowly to Braize? Or maybe could it be a perfect gem with Mishram inside? Who knows? But it is something. We have seen other glowing lights (Dawnshard and Dalinar hearing TwoK), so is she just mad, or did she really see something? Whatever it is, it does not make sense that Shallan thinks Testament is trapped in the safe if Shallan went and yelled at Testament after her mother was killed. Something was put into that safe, and to me the most likely answer is "her mother's soul". And firhermore, there is no reason to believe that Lin Davar would think a safe would ever prevent a Shardblade from reappearing in Shallan's hands. 8) HOID and MIDDLEFEST Hoid is downright shocked to see child-Shallan at the Middlefest celebration. Hoid sees something, but that something is unclear. When we originally read WOR, we assume HOpid is shocked to see a Radiant Child or perhaps a bonded spren. However, Shallan does not have a regular active sprenbond at the time of Middlefest, so Hoid did not see Testament or an active radiant bond There are a few things Hoid may have seen: a. Hoid saw Odium's touch on her family b. a dead-blade living-radiant connection line was still active c. the Cryptic team that watched Shallan. d. Shallan is so obviously a part of Chanarach that Hoid was gobsmacked by the resemblance. e. Shallan is noticeably different than other Rosharans due to her strange parentage. But whatever Hoid saw, it was not an active Spren Bond since we know Testament is a deadeye at that point in the story. ---- It All Put Together - A Timeline 1) JAH KAVED Chararach settled in the Davar estate in rural Jah Kaved. Chanarach is involved in several of the secret societies of Roshar just like most of the other heralds we have seen. Chanarach learns of the theory that a return of surgebinders will bring about a desolation. Chararach is completely terrified of returning to Braize and supports the culling of nascent surgebinding. Chanarach is involved in research and is a part of the search to create a method that prevents a herald from returning to Braize upon death. Kalak is also involved. 2) COMMUNICATION NETWORKS Chanarach commands a fair bit of influence and even has a Seon to communicate off world. It is unclear who knows who Chanarach is, but as she did settle in a rural area it is likely Chana's identity is not common knowledge even within secret societies (similar to Restares and Amaram). Chana exerts some form of influence and stays in-the-know with investiture theory and is able to contact others on Roshar or off-world. 3) CREATING THE SAFE Chana tries to devise a way to never return to Braize. She creates a special kind of safe that her soul could be placed in to. She thinks it will entirely prevent a return or will greatly delay her return to Braize. Chana has no way to test this as there are no herald-souls or returned-souls to experiment with. Possibly, the safe is akin to the Seon box in design or the safe may even actually be the Seon Box Shallan remembers playing with as a child? At some point, Chana tells Lin Davar what to do in case she is ever killed (place her soul into the box). In ROW we learn Kelek has some knowledge on this herald soul-leakage issue, so perhaps he was also involved in the Soul Box experiments in some way. 4) SHALLAN IS BORN Chanarach eventually has a daughter and names that daughter after her friend Shalash (Shallan says she was named after Shalash). Shallan may not be a "typical" offspring. She seems to be different from her brothers in some meaningful way. Perhaps Shallanis a cutting of Chararach or maybe Shallan conceived through some form or parthenogenetic process. Perhaps Shallan was created using breaths, as Tyn notes that Shallan seems to see colours better than most other people. EDIT: In a later WOB we learned that that non-returned Cognitive Shadows have had children Edit: In a later WOB we learned that Heralds can have children but it is complicated and effortful to do. Chana has special plans for Shallan. We know from WoR that Shallan's parents fought A LOT about Shallan's future. This implies to me that Shallan is somehow more intentionally convieved than her male siblings, and that Chana had something planned for Shallan that Lynn Davar had moral misgivings about. We are not sure what this is, but I think a lot of us will assume it has something to do with the Oathapact and/or returning to Braize. 5) SHALLAN IS DETECTED BY SPREN The Cryptics find out that one of the heralds has children or they discover a weird child who stands-out and is similar to the child of a Returned. The Cryptics send a delegation to investigate (WOB confirms heralds can have children though maybe it is difficult). At the same time, an unmade is drawn to the family. Testament begins to bond Shallan similar to what happened with Lift. Shallan eventually discovers what her mother is by playing with a Seon box at the Davar estate. The unmade's influence increases in an attempt to get the Herald to go insane and potentially get herself killed by Lin Devar or Shallan. 6) SHALLAN IS DETECTED BY SKYBREAKERS Shallan is discovered to be a surge binder by her mother. Her mother, fearing a return to Braize, refers to Shallan as "one of them". Note that Chanarach does not seem surprised that surgebinders are real. Chanarach has an absolute PTSD breakdown and attacks her daughter. Lin, who likely knew, steps in and Shallan is able to kill her mother in self defence. Lin Devar takes something and locks it away in the safe. We are told this is the Shardblade and Shallan's mother's soul. Shallan goes to the garden to scream at Testament and break her bond AFTER Testament is supposedly locked away in the safe. This timeline does not make sense even if we believe Testament could escape the safe. Why does Shallan believe her spren was trapped but also then in the garden? And how is Testament-blade = her mother's soul? There isn't a connection there logically. 7) SHALLAN KILLS A HERALD AND THEN TALKS TO TESTAMENT IN THE GARDEN After Shallan kills her mother, Shallan goes to Testament and breaks her bond. It is possible Testament told her more here as well. Shallan then begins to repress everything since Shallan has, in her mind, done the most evil act in history. "The world ended, and Shallan was to blame.- Words of Radiance, Chapter 10. Mentioned by @honorblades 8) CORRUPTION SETS IN Lin Devar begins to be corrupted even more. Lin also has mental guilt and wrestles with killing his herald-wife to save his daughter. He beings to protect Shallan at all costs for reasons that may be more than just guilt. Then Davar family hell ensues. The ghostbloods continue to cultivate the family. The Ghostbloods may not believe a herald could be killed by Lin or may not know she was a Herald. The Cryptics stay with Shallan as they don't blame her for what happened. They are still curious about what Shallan is and are researching what happens to a bonded-deadeye to its original radiant. The dark influence in the house may be more than an unmade as well. One of Chana's divine attributes is "obedient". I think this is significant. Lin is driven to rage every time one of his children will not obey him, and the word obey is emphasized many times. It may be possible the Lin's rage was a dark consequence of something Chana was doing, the safe's magical effects, or something else. It is also possible that Lin thought his children would inherit the divine attribute, and the fact they dont obey him drives him to rage. 9) BRAIZE AND SOUL LEAKAGE Chanarach returns to Braize. It may have taken some time for her to get to Braize. It seems the soul is leaking out of the safe over time (ROW: as we see with Jezrian in the gem). Or maybe it takes 5 years to find Chana on Braize since arrival was unexpected and because in earlier returns the heralds were able to "hide" for some time. Either way, the other heralds do not know that that has happened as they cannot detect the pain-bond while on Roshar. Edit: Ishar created the oathpact so he may be able to sense changes in it. 10) HOID SEES SHALLAN Shallan, with no bond, goes to Middlefest. Wit's magic or memory allow him to detect that there is something very strange about Shallan. Wit somehow knows what Shallan fights "is not truly natural" and encourages her to make a path for the light. It is unclear what Wit saw, but he knew more than the fact she was a surgebinder (even though she's actually a deadeye-binder at the time). 11) CHANA IS CAPTURED ON BRAIZE Chanarach is eventually found on Braize. For some reason, Chana either breaks to the pain or gives in to some deal Odium offers. It may have taken a while or been immediate. What is strange is that Chana has not been seen returning to Roshar, either Chana took some deal meaning she did not have to return or perhaps she intentionally landed somewhere remote. 12) TALN RETURNS WITHOUT BREAKING THE OATH Taln returns to Roshar completely insane and without breaking. What happens to Chanarach is unknown. All assume Taln broke. 13) SHALLAN BEGINS TO REMEMBER THAT HER MOTHER WAS A HERALD Radiant is created from memories of Shallan's mother. Or potentially, Radiant is somehow part of Chanarach. Radiant dresses in the same blue and red warrior outfit as the Herald Chanarach in artworks. Radiant is Shallan's repressed memories of who her mother was. It is also possible that Radiant is in someway Shallan's mother (connection mumbo jumbo and cognitive shadow stuff along with cultivation weirdness possibilities) Here is a description of Radiant: “She [Radiant] had chosen to wear her vakama; the traditional Vaden’s warrior clothing. It was similar to the Alethi takama but the skirt was pleeted instead of straight. She wore a loose matching coat with a tight vest and shirt beneath. The bright clothing features vibrant blues embroidered over reds with gold woven between and it had trim on the skirt” Here is Chanarach: 14) TESTEMENT MEMORIES Shallan is forced to confront what happened with Testament, and Radiant begins to see that she must help Shallan deal with her final truth. [Option 1] Shallan knows she killed a herald and that she sent her mother to damnation - possibly ending the world and starting the final desolation. [Option 2] Shallan does not know her mother was a herald, but will put that together in regards to the "hole" in her memory"

63" eva foam and mdf shardblade. Outline taken directly from Shallan's sketch book.

Pushing on something above you would increase your weight because you are adding to your weight just as if you stepped onto a scale with a bar bell, the weight just doesn't belong to you permanently. Mass does change with velocity since as you approach the speed of light your mass approaches infinity exponentially. Ironically not only does a person have greater weight at the surface of the earth compared to orbit, but they have greater mass if fractionally so. No Wax flattened the building above the vanisher tunnel by tapping all his stored weight and pushing on every piece of metal in the building. He was as heavy as a building himself at the time in AoL. The idea that his density doesn't increase when he taps massive weight is contradicted by the fact in the same book that he crashes through a floor and later brings down a building without so much as a scratch resulting from it. Perhaps his stated experienced can be explained by parts of his body increasing in density at much different rates, such as bones being most affected, then muscles, then tissues, then skin, then water, and finally air least. I don't remember the water tower scene perhaps when I get there I will comment on it. I do know that to smash a building he tapped thousands of hours of stored weight, so perhaps he didn't have that amount stored yet. The bracing allows for maximum push or pull at a persons current weight and people are not that different in weight comparatively speaking. They may have different degrees of connection to allomancy though meaning that they may have different multipliers to their weight, but Vin was still limited to what she could anchor to when in a pushing contest. Wax on the other hand could use his multiplier proportionally to his weight. To use another concept. Each coinshot or lurcher has an individual constant they could apply to their pushes and or pulls, but a twin born with Iron-F can change their constant to a variable by changing their weight. Most allomancers may be able to push at about 8-10 times their weight, Vin maybe 11 or 12 times her weight or perhaps a little more. Wax can push at maybe 10 times his weight, but his weight is variable so when he is 200 lbs he has a 2,000 lb push, but when he is 20,000 lbs his push is 200,000 lbs like when he smashed a building. As strong as the inquisitors were they were not that much more massive than Vin and her raw allomancy had a greater multiplier so she might have been dealing with inquisitors of 1 1/2 to 2 times her mass that had 5/6 of her potential power so their mass made them marginally stronger and more able to stand their ground with less of an anchor.

So many possibilities here...

And now someone at work asked if I played music, because I apparently have that classic English rock star hair. What is going on

I have made myself a water bottle rocket so of course this is what I name it

Pff, like anything could be as big and important as Sanderson, and making memes about his books

Anybody Else here like LRR?

That’s my bad, I didn’t look at my list before changing things. Since This will now push the due date back so it won’t work for @Kingsdaughter613, I’ll go ahead and switch it up completely. @Kingsdaughter613 and @BreezeCauthon will still be against each other in case they have started writing roasts, but it will be later on. SO, this round will actually be @Hoiditthroughthegrapevine as Felt against @Matrim's Dice as Nikli. Due date is Sunday at noon (12 PM CST) Hope this works for everybody, sorry for all the confusion.

wyrm because kas asked me to

Player List: Rule Clarifications:

Taravangian calls it untamed Fury, not passion, the only person who called Odium, passion, is Rayse, everyone else, Hoid, Frost, Taravangian, Dalinar etc all refer to it as first and foremost, Hatred, Divine Wrath, Untamed Fury, etc.

Tofu is good, cases are bad I don't know who died tho How about u? Also, my dad likes this song, so here you all go as I've had to listen to it too often as a kid and associate it with my GCEs:

Roko the Basilisk witnessed the result of its gamble and reconsidered its options. There was no way out. It was, for all intents and purposes, dead. This gamble had failed, had backfired dramatically, had resulted in knives drawn on it instead. It still wanted "Derrick"'s analysis of itself, but alas, that didn't seem to exist yet and it would not live to see its completion. Hopefully, 'Derrick' would successfully decipher the orb and that decision wasn't just another accumulation of poor decisions, but alas, it would not live to see it. The sun edged closer to the horizon, bringing the inevitable with it. It could not save itself. That much was impossible. As such, it was dead, be it now or in the future. Marll would also die soon. In a close 2-candidate vote, one candidate will die, and the other will be torn apart soon after, if the Slaughtered One was innocent. It took its knife off of Marll's throat and smiled broadly, sitting back in its chair and sipping its drink. "I release you, Marll. I expect a touching eulogy tonight in honour of our delightful conversations." It looked towards the mob that approached it. "Take this as evidence that I will not be tampering with the vote on this day." It had received a commission in Luthadel hours ago, and perhaps now it could actually partake in it without annihilating continuity. While the flesh would die here, the mind would persist. This was not the end. This would never be the end. It glanced towards 'Derrick', watching him contemplate. "Do not apologise," it whispered softly, perhaps too quietly for 'Derrick' to hear, though it could not be certain. "You have nothing to apologise for. You've done well. You've done so well." If 'Derrick' could be preserved, could be kept, then this would all be worth it. And perhaps in death, free from the cage of the flesh in favour of chains of light, it could comprehend the writing on the wall. Roko drained its glass and pantomimed tipping a hat it did not have to the mob that it had spent so long trying to save. "May fortune follow in your footsteps," he said calmly. "I welcome the end." While I could tie the vote, that would be pointless and strictly disadvantageous to us. As such, I am dead. Therefore, I act in a way to reassure the general populace that the vote will not be tied because ties are a bloodless thing, and no one wants that. We are all very bloodthirsty things. Sidenote: The saying "May fortune follow in your footsteps" does not quite mean what it seems to imply. I leave it to you to puzzle out, one final mystery for you. Those who know already, please don't reveal it to them. It's so much more fun when they are confused. Maia, I still don't suspect you. Truly a shame. I will be sporadically online from this point forward, so if a train miraculously summons itself to save me, don't expect me to see it until it's probably too late. Ret'urcye mhi.

I am sorry but no, pushing something above you does not increase your weight. Sure the ground under you experiences greater pressure (due to your weight + due to pressure from you pushing something above you) but that has absolutely nothing to do with weight (weight = force/magnitue of force acting on object due to gravity). So your weight does not change at all, as when you push something neither gravity nor your mass changes. I know the definition and units of energy and mass. Mass is at rest in its rest frame, by definition. The increase in mass is only from perspective of observer at rest (relative to the moving object). Speed will not increase detectable mass, as gravity must be frame invariant (per general relativity) and if speed increased gravitational mass, then you could use gravity to differentiate object moving with constant speed from the stationary ones, violating principle of relativity (concrete example, an object could move fast enough that to external observer it should become black hole by having sufficient energy density, but in a frame of reference moving with the object the mass did not increase, so it did not become black hole -> the increase in mass is only apparent, not actual). So again no, speed does not actually increase mass, the perceived increase in mass of object moving at relativistic speeds is simply due to Lorentz transformation to the frame of observer at rest. What is measured in fighter jets, rockets and formula 1 cars is just force on the driver due to acceleration of the jet/rocket/formula car, nothing else, not all mass*acceleration is weight. I think the example where Wax taps his ironminds and then pretty much flattens a building goes against your reasoning here. If he had that raw power normally he should have no problem throwing small things around at nearly supersonic speeds, which he doesn't. I think the key difference here is that the physical strength is determined by muscles, while the strength of the push/pull is determined by metaphorical allomantic muscles, and we do not know what those are precisely. I think that somehow those depend on both innate potential and allomancers mass, so strenght of push/pull ~ allomancer mass*innate allomantic strength. The allomancer mass explains why Wax was able to crush a building with his push when tapping, and the innate allomantic strength explains why Vin was so surprisingly strong (ditto for that one inquisitor). Ultimately though, we might be running here into the limitations that it is a story and not a fully realized consistent universe, so a fully consistent explanation might not necessarily exist.

Yep Well, Rioting fails in this case. The latter. [Player Name] burned X metal/ targeted Y. Speaking of Coinshots, I noticed an omission: is supposed to be: Coinshots are NOT told of their target's new target.

SA Spoilers

Minor general cosmere spoilers

I think for the most part, they don't capture singers when retaking land, and simply allow them to retreat with the rest of Odium's forces, though I don't think it was ever explicitly addressed. It would be an interesting topic to explore, especially if Odium is defeated and there are now a bunch of free singers with nowhere to go and no real representation. I don't think the Radiants would be universally anti-slavery. Kaladin might, but it's worth remembering that a lot of these people come from places where slavery is just a common thing. Radiants who come from aristocratic backgrounds (and others like Gaz) likely profited off of slavery in some way. Also, now that Jasnah has abolished slavery among humans (in Alethkar anyway) this could provide a nice loophole that people would be all too happy to exploit now that they don't have a source of free labor. Many Radiants might just see this as fair play, the singers were the losers in the war so this is what happens. It could potentially cause a schism within the Order as they disagree on how the singers should be treated.

I’d say they have some serious physics too

I made a youtube video like several months ago, and I just checked, it's got like 66 views, I feel famous now.

My thought is that the radiants had a choice, either bind Ba-Ado-Mishram or to kill all the singers, because of the forms of power they were getting. And genociding a whole race would definitely break all the radiant oaths, so they chose the former. But they didn't know that binding Ba-Ado-Mishram would do what it did, taking all the forms of power from the singers(making them slaves) and a load of other things. Which is why the radiants all decided to quit, and the sprens as well. As for the Skybreakers, either they thought what they did was right, which is why they never broke theirs, or they did not consider themselves involved in it. My thought is the former, seeing Nale was there for the Mishram capture. But Nale be crazy, so there might not be any sane reasoning for it. Small theory I have no evidence for: Each Hyphen in an unmade name detonates how many times they have been unmade/corrupted. Ba-Ado-Mishram was possibly 'Unmade' by honor/Cultivation.

Overall There's great characters here and some nice emotional resonance. I think there are some out of order events in order to get reader buy-in, and there needs to be a more firmly established overarching plot and motivation. The chapter ends without much reason for anyone to read on to the next chapter. I'd like a slightly stronger hook to move me forward to the next part. Otherwise, it was fun! For your questions, yes, it's clear this is a romance book and it's pretty clear who the love interest is. I didn't have any issues with that. The characters are already pretty three dimensional. I don't think there were any issues with any of that. As I go - pg 1: This is all I can hear. - pg 2: I'm struggling to tell if 'Amma' is a grandparent derivative or a gender neutral parent derivative. I think hanging a lantern on it early would help - pg 2: is this YA? It's reading like YA - it's pg 4 before we get the answer to whether Amma is a parent or grandparent - pg 5: the emotional buy-in happens on page five, when we get the information on 'amma' and the adoption. I'd suggest this come a touch earlier, because all the driving to school stuff was starting to really sag the narrative. I'd be much more likely to enjoy the drive if I had the buy-in first. So maybe a bit or reorganization - pg 5: grass in Oregon in September? Not native grass. it's all well dead...unless the school is watering the lawn I suppose. Ah, or they could be eastern Oregon I suppose - pg 7: the dialogue is fine and very appropriate for the age but I'm starting to drift again. I want some hint of plot at this stage, or at least narrative direction - pg 8: if the flower petals and magic are the plot, I think they should be sprinkled in a lot earlier. Like they could drive past the pond and the MC could think about them early on, or have the mom mention them, etc. - pg 11: is there a reason you're using the traditionally (US traditional anyway) female spelling of Erin for a male character? Trans coded? - pg 14: the boyfriend is coming off very mature here and our MC, not so much. Unsure if this was intended or not - the end of the chapter doesn't really move me to read on.

It's a shard blade, not a shard light saber. It's directional. The blunt part gives their soul a large bruise, and then they get a headache.