Fifth Scholar

It only does that when I fail to provide a writeup, which has been a depressingly regular occurrence this game. But you’re free to read this one and draw your own conclusions on that point, as that’s where Spiked/CS kills are distinguished. (It should be stressed that everything else in the writeup is sheer creative license, including the line between Thug/Lurcher/Mistborn survival. I cannot be held responsible for any damage incurred by treating the rest of my nonsense as the Holy Word of Wyrm.)

It is a meme from the spec doc when they realised you were at 13/26 players, so...neither? But there are no Tineye messages

Day Eight: Jaists Are Our Specialty The man, still half-drunk, walked towards the Spiked’s hidden position, flanked by a pair of wary town guards. The servants of Ruin glanced at each other, a third - Var, who was imprisoned and powerless now - muttering behind them in his cell. “This time, we will do it together,” the first said, drawing the hood over his face. “I was about to say that,” the other remarked, hand going to his side. He drew a long spike from his sleeve. The drunkard paid no mind, turning a backflip and giggling relentlessly. “Ha ha…prazche…prayze the Ja,” he continued muttering. The guards, however, seeing the spike, halted. There was a brief pause, and Var, still in the cell behind him, hissed at his compatriots, “Get help! You’re no match for him, he’s a Jaist.” The hooded Spiked gave a wide smile. “Comrade Var, Jaists are our specialty.” He turned to the other. “Tell the guard to get that man to an infirmary, he’s delusional.” Zebra finally reached the end of the alleyway, and the guards recovered their nerve, advancing as well and casting doubtful glances back towards Var. Zebra spoke. “Hehehe…goive me those Shpikesh yer’ve gotted…don wanna mek a mess of things in frunt of Dyrink's inn.” The Spiked ignored him, the hooded one speaking plainly. “You won’t get away this time, Lurcher.” He drew and pushed forward, while the drunkard continued to giggle, knocking away the attempted stab with his cane. The guards, however, seemed confused, going straight for Var in the cell, who was still muttering. Zebra looked at the one-on-two he faced and still smiled. “I’ve been looking forward to this.” The second Spiked pulled back his sleeve, revealing new steel spikes in his arm. “My powers have doubled since the last time we met, Jaist.” “Good,” he chuckled, voice fully clear of alcohol. He drew himself up to full height. “Twice the metal, double the Lurching.” He pulled out a shield, covering his face and torso, and Pulled on the guards’ coin pouches, who were now standing behind the Spiked and talking to Var, who still was whispering quietly behind the bars. The coins flew out, lacerating the Spiked, who ducked and fled down the alleyways with curses on their lips. Quartz Zebra was attacked, but survived! Day 8 has begun! It will end in just over 47 hours at 8:00 PM EST on Wednesday 26 January. PMs are open. Good luck! Praise the Ja! Praise Warmmha! Player List . Amber Vulture Vanilla Villager 2. Amethyst Scorpion - Sidor, newly resigned Hazekiller (Guardsman) 3. Azure Mouse 4. Charcoal Hyena Spiked Mistborn 5. Chartreuse Penguin - Aethex (Jester) 6. Coral Swan - Su (Jaist) Village Mistborn 7. Emerald Falcon Village Lurcher 8. Fuchsia Ostrich - Freddie (Glutton) 9. Ivory Dragonfly (Unlucky) (Replaced) 10. Magenta Albatross (Past Lives) 11. Mauve Crocodile (Gambler) Vanilla Villager 12. Melon Dingo - Scimon Tlag (Merchant) 13. Mint Heron - Tivend Elons (Casanova) Village Smoker 14. Onyx Flamingo (Gossip/Casanova) 15. Opal Lion Vanilla Villager 16. Oxblood Beagle Spiked Coinshot 17. Pearl Chameleon - Var (Two-Faced) Spiked 18. Plum Rhinoceros (Prophet-ish) 19. Quartz Zebra (Drunk/Jaist) 20. Saffron Iguana (Helpful Heckler) Village Soother 21. Salmon Meerkat - Kellehrt, local farmer and possible madman Village Tineye 22. Sapphire Elephant 23. Scarlet Octopus (Neat, Extremist Priest) Village Tineye 24. Sunburst Toucan Village Thug 25. Turquoise Gorilla (Game Show Host) Spiked 26. Violet Axolotl - Dyring (Neat Innkeeper)

Night Six: A Comrade Fallen Their group of villagers had been meeting for four days and nights now. Its membership had varied. The Jaist and the analyst were gone, and now only Beagle and Kellehrt remained, with more people, newer faces entering. Beagle frowned. She had worked with Kellehrt for days now, and the man seemed to trust her with everything, but lately he’d been more guarded, keeping things closer to his chest. It was his right as leader, of course. But other things were bothering her, and as the brief meeting adjourned, she called after the farmer. “Kellehrt!” “Yes?” he said impassively, turning to face her. She paused, flustered slightly. “My business partner, Chameleon, was arrested yesterday when I wasn’t around. I wondered if you could tell me why?” Kellehrt appeared unfazed. “I’m not exactly sure what you’re talking about.” Beagle clenched her fist. Not the way this conversation was supposed to be going. “He was arrested by one of your social groups—you are, as is well known, the progenitor of most of said groups in this town.” Kellehrt smiled. “I am. That’s why I don’t have to bother with arresting people—they keep an eye on things for me, and they found after examining him that he was Spiked. It’s since been removed, and he appears to be recovering, even if he’s still as…unstable as ever. I’m glad for your concern for your associate, though. Good day.” He began to walk away, but Beagle raised her voice in response again. “But you are bothering with having me followed. At night.” Freddie hovered anxiously. “I think Kellehrt might be busy, Beagle—” “No, no, it’s perfectly understandable,” broke in Kellehrt, taking Beagle’s shoulder and steering her away from the rest. He lowered his voice. “Look, Steelpusher. I know you’ve heard the stories about us, this village of Tyrian Falls, its foolishness. When I hear them, even I am shocked. But we are not what people say. Yes, villagers are following you. Villagers are following those villagers. You see them?” He gestured back to the group and lowered his voice. “They follow me. Tyrian Falls is a circle of accountability, nothing more.” She spluttered. “You know the work I’m doing here, for you. Eliminating suspects at night. You really don’t trust me?” The farmer raised his eyebrows. “Of course I do. But you know the old saying? ‘Confirmed good does not equal confirmed right’?” He shook his head, wincing. “No, that’s not it. Ah yes. ‘Trust, but verify.’” The smile crept back on his face. “And the villagers think Varda dreamed that up. Honestly.” “I need to do my work at night,” Beagle said. “Alone.” The eyebrows soared higher. “So you’ll be accountable for your kills? You alone?” Kellehrt asked. She nodded. He tilted his head. “Then it’s done. I’ll inform the others. Good day.” He walked off, and engaged in conversation with another one of his groups. Beagle sighed, and turned to her knitting. It looked to be a long day, and a less eventful one. Hours later, as she was nearly finished with her scarf, she saw Kellehrt and the others walking over. She smiled. “Well? What’s been decided?” They didn’t answer—instead, their ranks parted, and three hazekillers came out from behind them, ripping off her belt of metals and coins. Too late, she realised the betrayal. Kellehrt spoke again. “Accountability is indeed important. I think you’ve been working with too many Spiked recently to ignore that fact, even if you can burn steel.” The hazekillers’ clubs were raised, and indeed, in a haze, Beagle could hear the comforting voice, talking to her in her head. She grinned wryly, burning what was left in her stomach and spitting out the two coins in her mouth, which she always kept in case of emergency. The people were all well shielded, but each coin flew through a window of Dyring’s Inn, shattering the glass panes. “Ruin will win!” she shouted triumphantly, and then the scarf she had woven tightened around her neck, the clubs descended, and after the blows had left her a bloodied mess, two small steel spikes were taken out of her heel. Oxblood Beagle was killed! She was a Spiked Coinshot! Vote Count Oxblood Beagle (7): Amethyst Scorpion, Chartreuse Penguin, Fuchsia Ostrich, Ivory Dragonfly, Onyx Flamingo, Quartz Zebra, Salmon Meerkat Mint Heron (1): Oxblood Beagle, Violet Axolotl Plum Rhinoceros (1): Mint Heron Night 6 has begun! It will end in just over 22 hours at 8:00 PM EST on Friday 21 January. PMs are open. Good luck! Praise the Ja! Praise Warmmha! Player List 1. Amber Vulture Vanilla Villager 2. Amethyst Scorpion - Sidor, newly resigned Hazekiller (Guardsman) 3. Azure Mouse 4. Charcoal Hyena Spiked Mistborn 5. Chartreuse Penguin - Aethex (Jester) 6. Coral Swan - Su (Jaist) Village Mistborn 7. Emerald Falcon Village Lurcher 8. Fuchsia Ostrich - Freddie (Glutton) 9. Ivory Dragonfly (Unlucky) (Replaced) 10. Magenta Albatross (Past Lives) 11. Mauve Crocodile (Gambler) Vanilla Villager 12. Melon Dingo - Scimon Tlag (Merchant) 13. Mint Heron - Tivend Elons (Casanova) 14. Onyx Flamingo (Gossip/Casanova) 15. Opal Lion Vanilla Villager 16. Oxblood Beagle Spiked Coinshot 17. Pearl Chameleon - Var (Two-Faced) Spiked 18. Plum Rhinoceros (Prophet-ish) 19. Quartz Zebra (Drunk/Jaist) 20. Saffron Iguana (Helpful Heckler) Village Soother 21. Salmon Meerkat - Kellehrt, local farmer and possible madman 22. Sapphire Elephant 23. Scarlet Octopus (Neat, Extremist Priest) Village Tineye 24. Sunburst Toucan Village Thug 25. Turquoise Gorilla (Game Show Host) Spiked 26. Violet Axolotl - Dyring (Neat Innkeeper)

Two Faces in the Dark The phrase “in the dark,” as I’m sure you know, can refer not only to one’s shadowy surroundings, but also to the shadowy secrets of which one may be unaware. Every day, the sun goes down over all these secrets, and so everyone is in the dark in one way or another. If you are debating for your life in the Tyrian Falls town park in broad daylight, for instance, but you do not know that there is a cache of atium buried fifty miles away on an ash-covered hillside under a terebinth, then you are in the dark even though you are not actually in the dark, whereas, if you are on a midnight stroll, knowing full well that your alter ego is planning to ruthlessly slaughter another villager, then you are not in the dark, even if you are in fact in the dark. Of course, it is quite possible to be in the dark in the dark, as well as to be not in the dark not in the dark, but there are so many secrets in the world that it is likely that you are always in the dark about one thing or another, whether you are in the dark in the dark or in the dark not in the dark, although the sun can go down so quickly that you may be in the dark about being in the dark in the dark under threat of communal murder, only to look around and find yourself no longer in the dark about being in the dark in the dark, but in the dark in the dark nonetheless, not only because of the dark, but because of the alternate Var in the dark, who is not in the dark about the dark, but is also not in the dark about the Spike in your shoulder, and you may be in the dark about the townspeople plotting to take your life because of the spike in your shoulder in the dark, even though you are no longer in the dark about being in the dark, and so you are in fact in the dark about being in the dark, even though you are not in the dark about being in the dark, and so you may fall into the pit trap the townspeople have dug, which is dark, in the dark, and in the park. Pearl Chameleon (Var, Two-Faced) was Spiked A person with a spike in them that granted no abilities except that of PURE EVIL! Props to him for sticking to his secret CR for so long Vote Count: Pearl Chameleon (8): Amethyst Scorpion, Azure Mouse, Chartreuse Penguin, Fuchsia Ostrich, Magenta Albatross, Onyx Flamingo, Quartz Zebra, Violet Axolotl Magenta Albatross (2): Pearl Chameleon, Salmon Meerkat Oxblood Beagle (1): Mint Heron Night 5 has begun! It will end in a little over 23 hours at 8:00 PM EST on 18 January 2022. Get those actions in! Player List 1. Amber Vulture Vanilla Villager 2. Amethyst Scorpion - Sidor, newly resigned Hazekiller (Guardsman) 3. Azure Mouse 4. Charcoal Hyena Spiked Mistborn 5. Chartreuse Penguin - Aethex (Jester) 6. Coral Swan - Su (Jaist) Village Mistborn 7. Emerald Falcon Village Lurcher 8. Fuchsia Ostrich - Freddie (Glutton) 9. Ivory Dragonfly (Unlucky) (Replaced) 10. Magenta Albatross (Past Lives) 11. Mauve Crocodile (Gambler) Vanilla Villager 12. Melon Dingo - Scimon Tlag (Merchant) 13. Mint Heron - Tivend Elons (Casanova) 14. Onyx Flamingo (Gossip/Casanova) 15. Opal Lion Vanilla Villager 16. Oxblood Beagle 17. Pearl Chameleon - Var (Two-Faced) Spiked 18. Plum Rhinoceros (Prophet-ish) 19. Quartz Zebra (Drunk/Jaist) 20. Saffron Iguana (Helpful Heckler) Village Soother 21. Salmon Meerkat - Kellehrt, local farmer and possible madman 22. Sapphire Elephant 23. Scarlet Octopus (Neat, Extremist Priest) Village Tineye 24. Sunburst Toucan Village Thug 25. Turquoise Gorilla (Game Show Host) Spiked 26. Violet Axolotl - Dyring (Neat Innkeeper) Good luck! Praise the Ja!

Appreciate the dedication to your CR, fire away for the rest of you: rollover in under 3 hours! All votes and actions must go!

Night 4 - Puzzles in the Mist The last rays of evening light fell over Tyrian Falls, and Dyring and Kellehrt still sat on the porch of the inn. As sunsets went, it was a beautiful one. The ash was lighter today, but lay just thick enough in clouds around the nearby mounts to give the blazing star a reddish tinge, its rays breaking through the rising mists and illuminating both their faces. It reminded him of the cards his brother used to paint for him, landscapes of the dull ash and browned plants and purpled hills which sloped off into the lower parts of the Dominance, out to the Ashmounts and the Burnlands. His sketches would always be different though, abstract one might say, cutting away the choking clouds of ash for fleeting storm-clouds, blue and heavy with rain, and removing the mists entirely. A different landscape indeed. Yet he almost took comfort in his current one, despite knowing that somewhere, behind the curtain of ash and mist, a Mistborn in thrall to Ruin was being chased down, and the rest of his servants were looking to bring the town to its heels. Dyring didn’t believe the stories of koloss. He did believe the murders that were happening in front of his eyes, and the panic which drove the village to his bar every night to dull the pain and insanity and chaos. He looked at Kellehrt, who was still resting, and left him on the porch looking out at the world, eyes glazed over with sleep. He slipped quietly back into the inn to think. Vincero’s bed was neatly made up–that kid kept after himself better than most adults–but he was missing, probably with Loenthal on one of his missions. The town Lord had spent a lot of time outside the gaze of the village recently, but Dyring could hardly blame him for wanting to avoid the insanity. He sighed, going to his small cabinet of papers. They were mostly finances, but a grubby file labelled “personal,” stuffed with discarded cloth he’d written on and old sheaves that were nearly crumbling apart, was the one he was looking for. He withdrew it, ruffled through, and found his brother’s old card, still painted with the skill he had before he’d left for Luthadel. He had remembered this one differently; the real thing was dominated by a dark tower, its only windows high and narrow and menacing, casting bright rays down onto the landscape. A red bolt of lightning split the heavens, which glared the same menacing warm colours as the sunset which still filtered through the door. At the bottom, though, a scrawl in his brother’s handwriting made him smile. He had fancied himself a philosopher, or at least wise, and a quote from one of those Terris journals he had borrowed occupied the rolling brown plains: “If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them–but the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being, and who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” Dyring flipped through the other cards, which contained similar exhortations, until he felt the emotions seriously well inside him at the memory of his brother and he realised he could not spend the night as a wreck in his small habitation, letting the nostalgia get to him. There was a task before him. Maybe his brother had been right, and the Spiked weren’t the issue. Maybe it was them. Maybe it was him. Some instincts that had been revealed in the last two days, even among the most vocally anti-Ruin, had frightened him. Sometimes his own stance towards his fellow-man made him recoil. It was too much to consider. He took the most recent item out of the folder, a copy he’d made of a weird and smaller piece of graffiti before he had scrubbed it clean, and took it to Kellehrt outside, who looked up as he approached. “Tough day, yeah?” the farmer asked. Dyring nodded, passing over the paper. Kellehrt sighed. “Is it worth it, Dyring? Worth continuing? Will we go back to where we were, where we should be, after today? Or even after we find the other Spiked?” Dyring began to nod, then stopped. He looked back out towards the plains. The sun was fully behind the hills, and the grey, swirling fog began to fill the night air. “I don’t know,” he said after a pause. “But we’ll die anyway, today or tomorrow to the Spiked or twenty years to disease and age and mist-sickness. So you might as well do what you can before that.” “Which is?” Dyring grinned, genuinely for the first time in days. “Anagrams of course. No Tineye wrote that graffiti, and whether you find the Spiked or whoever’s been mucking up my walls without cause, we’ll make them pay.” Kellehrt looked down. The writing was clear. aaiublth 1 3 traccasosn 4 10 ircedana 4 6 8 eolnstv 5 7 He smiled too. “We’ll get to work.” Charcoal Hyena was a Spiked Mistborn! Azure Mouse has been inactive for two full cycles and has been replaced. Please welcome the new @Azure Mouse! Hyena will edit in his death scene once he has it written. Also expect ninja Loenthal shenanigans to pop up sometime tomorrow when I get more time on my hands. And thank you to Axolotl especially for keeping up RP, and thus propping up my writeups. Vote Count Charcoal Hyena (13): Amethyst Scorpion, Charcoal Hyena, Chartreuse Penguin, Coral Swan, Fuchsia Ostrich, Ivory Dragonfly, Melon Dingo, Onyx Flamingo, Oxblood Beagle, Pearl Chameleon, Quartz Zebra, Salmon Meerkat, Violet Axolotl (we think this is everything, or we tried to get everyone’s vote. Trying is the first step to failure. He’s very dead ) Night 4 has begun and will end in about 22 hours. PMs are open. Starting at the end of Day 5, rollover will be moved 2 hours earlier, to 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / etc. Player List 1. Amber Vulture Vanilla Villager 2. Amethyst Scorpion - Sidor, newly resigned Hazekiller (Guardsman) 3. Azure Mouse 4. Charcoal Hyena Spiked Mistborn 5. Chartreuse Penguin - Aethex (Jester) 6. Coral Swan - Su (Jaist) 7. Emerald Falcon 8. Fuchsia Ostrich - Freddie (Glutton) 9. Ivory Dragonfly (Unlucky) (Replaced) 10. Magenta Albatross (Past Lives) 11. Mauve Crocodile (Gambler) Vanilla Villager 12. Melon Dingo - Scimon Tlag (Merchant) 13. Mint Heron - Tivend Elons (Casanova) 14. Onyx Flamingo (Gossip/Casanova) 15. Opal Lion Vanilla Villager 16. Oxblood Beagle 17. Pearl Chameleon (Secret ) 18. Plum Rhinoceros (Prophet-ish) 19. Quartz Zebra (Drunk/Jaist) 20. Saffron Iguana (Helpful Heckler) Village Soother 21. Salmon Meerkat - Kellehrt, local farmer and possible madman 22. Sapphire Elephant 23. Scarlet Octopus (Neat, Extremist Priest) Village Tineye 24. Sunburst Toucan Village Thug 25. Turquoise Gorilla (Game Show Host) Spiked 26. Violet Axolotl - Dyring (Neat Innkeeper) Good luck! Enjoy your anagrams! Praise the Ja!

Wait this wasn't set to auto-lock so El can't stop me >:) CYCLE CLOSED Edit: she can ninja me though >>

Alright. I am no longer a mod, and Wilson is busy and El your GM is flying (presumably on Vingilotë) so it’s fallen to my limited authority as your co-GM to straighten out a few things. But Rust and Ruin, you guys are going at this way too hard for my taste (and the taste of several players who have been PMing us concerned about all this), so for the love of Preservation (or Ruin I guess if you’re Spiked) please just remember a few things. First, while you should all be familiar with them, it would not hurt a good number of you to take a refreshing look at the player conduct rules for how you should be interacting with your fellow SEers. A few points in particular: Your forum or real-life relationships with other players should not cause you to play against your team's win condition, and should not be used to attempt to influence another person to play against their win condition. Be respectful and aware of how the other team might take your comments during and after the game. If you’re about to say something you wouldn’t want to hear if you were in their position, don’t say it. Be the kind of player you’d want to continue playing with or against in the future. The entire section entitled “how to approach arguments” like seriously please reread all of it >> Second. This is a personal plea. Y’all please remember, as @Onyx Flamingo has delightfully put it, that this is a game. Yes, it is a game into which many of you have invested a significant amount of mental and emotional resources, but it remains something which exists for your enjoyment. If you are concerned with victory to the point where you have stopped having fun, or are beginning to create an environment in thread or in PMs which is causing others not to have fun, you need to back off. Disengage, take a break for a few hours and come back when you are in a calmer state of mind and aren’t raising the temperature and sniping at each other. It’s better for your own enjoyment and that of everyone else’s. Your faction will survive your absence in the meantime, I promise. We play these games for the interactions with others and while conflict is expected, it doesn’t need to boil over into personal attacks and sniping which just makes both parties more entrenched and hostile towards each other. Please engage in good faith. Third, regarding emotional manipulation, of which I have received several complaints. As a GM I am not here to regulate how much emotion people do or do not express in thread; some people are very straight-laced and others very open with themselves. I do not expect people to remove all emotion from their posts, nor do I expect them to very clearly demonstrate how they’re feeling at all times to avoid confusion. I do expect that those of you showing emotions, when you choose to do so, are doing so genuinely and not as the crux of an argument or a guilt-trip against another player’s emotional weaknesses or trigger points (especially if you are making them feel inadequate intentionally), and I expect those of you not showing emotions to have enough sense with your tone-over-text that the other person doesn’t think they’re talking to a faceless machine who has no regard for what they’re saying and won’t ever listen. Again: engage in good faith, and if you can’t or won’t or don’t have the energy, take a break and come back. Fourth: passive-aggressiveness is no fun for anyone and contributes to everything I’ve just said above. Please just don’t do it. If you have concerns about it flaring up, or think arguments are getting too heated, please talk with whomever is inciting the language and try to sort it. Person-to-person is the best bet and normally most of this stuff is unintentional or the results of emotions running high. If something is festering or doesn’t seem right, you can always take it to us or your IM, the Cursor of Doom (@little wilson), and we’ll look to de-escalate or put you guys in a group therapy doc or something. Thank you for making it to the end of this screed. I don’t like yelling at you guys and want you to enjoy this AG so please don’t make me do this again, y’all all know and love each other, just remember it

Day 4: So It Must Be Writeup to be edited in. I just got back from church and El is packing, but expect something soon. Vulture was a Spiked kill, while a Coinshot hit Hyena. Amber Vulture was a Regular Villager With No Role, Also Known As Vanilla! Charcoal Hyena was attacked, but didn’t die! Day 4 has begun! It will end in roughly 46.5 hours at 10:00 PM EST on Friday 14 January. PMs are open. Good luck! Player List 1. Amber Vulture Vanilla Villager 2. Amethyst Scorpion - Sidor, newly resigned Hazekiller (Guardsman) 3. Azure Mouse 4. Charcoal Hyena 5. Chartreuse Penguin - Aethex (Jester) 6. Coral Swan - Su (Jaist) 7. Emerald Falcon 8. Fuchsia Ostrich - Freddie (Glutton) 9. Ivory Dragonfly (Unlucky) (Replaced) 10. Magenta Albatross (Past Lives) 11. Mauve Crocodile (Gambler) Vanilla Villager 12. Melon Dingo - Scimon Tlag (Merchant) 13. Mint Heron - Tivend Elons (Casanova) 14. Onyx Flamingo (Gossip/Casanova) 15. Opal Lion Vanilla Villager 16. Oxblood Beagle 17. Pearl Chameleon (Secret ) 18. Plum Rhinoceros (Prophet-ish) 19. Quartz Zebra (Drunk/Jaist) 20. Saffron Iguana (Helpful Heckler) Village Soother 21. Salmon Meerkat - Kellehrt, local farmer and possible madman 22. Sapphire Elephant 23. Scarlet Octopus (Neat, Extremist Priest) Village Tineye 24. Sunburst Toucan Village Thug 25. Turquoise Gorilla (Game Show Host) Spiked 26. Violet Axolotl - Dyring (Neat Innkeeper) Tineye Messages: Praise the Ja!

A note on this, since there has been confusion in PMs: A Rioter may still move a vote even if they themselves have not voted. They simply cannot move the vote of a target who has not voted (since there is no vote to move). Enjoy your Night, don't die, etc.

I have a long history of forgetting this as a GM and today is no exception Thanks for the reminder!

Night Two: Straight to Pun Jail Ischarus Loenthal had barely opened his eyes to the dim light creeping through the window of his room in Dyring’s Inn when a hand shook his shoulder. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, peering up into the shadows of the small wooden room. His secretary, Henry, was staring him in the face. “Come on, sir. You’ve got to get up, there’s been another attack.” Loenthal did not process the words immediately, blearily looking up at Henry. “Dyring lets just anyone into my quarters? Who does he think he is? Let me sleep, I just got mobbed by Spiked.” He turned his head over, muttering, and saw the boy sleeping as well next to him. He gestured vaguely. “You’ll wake him up too with your yammering.” This did not seem particularly true, given the volume of the child’s snores, but he was too tired to care. Henry, however, was undeterred. “Sir, a body’s been found with a hole through its heart. Opal. One of the villagers. And if you don’t mind me asking, did your body just lose its reflex functions? Because you clearly aren’t showing any response-ability. Come out and see, there’s a small crowd waiting for you.” Loenthal groaned again, both at his irrepressible secretary’s sense of humour and his own tiredness, which a night in bed had done little to alleviate. He looked guiltily back at the boy. “Alright, I’m coming. Tell someone to look after him and get him some food when he wakes up. Dyring can’t run herd on everyone in the village.” Besides, he thought, Dyring would probably want to figure out what had happened himself. Well, everyone would. He dressed quickly, choosing the most militaristic set of clothes he had. Today was a day to project confidence and order, even if he didn’t feel those things himself with two men dead, and Pendel attacked. Ten minutes later, though still tired, he was ready. He grabbed his dueling cane and set off briskly for the front door of the inn, ignoring the muted chatter in the common room of the men at the counter. One was even trying to order beer from a grumpy Dyring, who rapped him on the hand with a stick, berating him for trying to make a mess at this early and unholy hour, and blaming vandalism on him as well. Vandalism? There appeared to be no shortage of news. Loenthal smiled slightly, then stepped out into the street with Henry. A wall of noise and chatter greeted him; it seemed that once again half the town was assembled outside Dyring’s inn. A Tineye from the town guard rushed up and tried to begin a hurried report, but was stopped short by Henry. “Whoa there! Stop making like a heretic, and show some proper reverence for the Lord! He’ll hear out everyone in due time.” Loenthal cut in before his secretary could begin rattling off more jokes. “Henry is correct. We’re going to move to the main courtyard of my old house so that Dyring doesn’t get a heart attack with how much ash you’re kicking up onto his porch, and then I’ll hear anyone who has an opinion. And allow me to be clear: there will be no more killings today. No “accidents” either like yesterday. If you have an insane opinion about someone, you voice it to me, and I’ll decide whether we act on it. Clear?” There was mumbled agreement. A lone voice, however, piped up out of the crowd. “How can we trust you’ll decide this correctly? Can you tell a Spiked from anyone else?” Loenthal was slightly flustered at the sudden insolence. “Well, no, but I doubt you can either, at a glance. What of it?” “Well, it just seemed better to have you holding court and asking questions and what have you, but I think we should be deciding who goes where. Neither you nor the guard can protect us, so I don’t see why you should judge us either like you’ve done us some huge favour.” The murmur of agreement was stronger this time. Loenthal stood up, eyes blazing. “How do you think Pendel stayed safe last night after their run-in with the vigilante? Who’s posted guards on all of your houses?” “Can you say that those guards aren’t corrupt?” “I–” Loenthal snapped. “Fine. If you want paranoia, do this yourself. Anyone who wants to consult me can, given I’ve actually survived these idiots. If you can do without a lord, though, it’s in your hands now.” He motioned to Henry, who sidled up and whispered in his ear, “Did someone poison your brother? Because you look ready to unleash some great vengeance and furious anger on these people.” “You know, for the first time, I think you may have turned your joke into a passing cloud, because it skidded right over my head,” replied Loenthal surprisingly cheerfully. The crowd looked subdued, and was quieter than usual, but it was eyeing Henry unusually. Loenthal gave him a small shove. “Go. Talk with them a bit. If nobody wants to listen to me, maybe they can tolerate you for longer than I will.” Henry grinned, and ran off to do so. The sun climbed high into the sky, and much of the village seemed to have lost its immediate appetite for justice. Henry was being questioned by two or three of the townsfolk, and a few others split off into private meetings, but as the day wore towards evening and the talking continued, Loenthal was proven right: the village had little idea what to do. Many had spent the whole day in heated debate, and others had simply gone off to their household tasks, but as evening drew near, one of the villagers finally snapped, pushing Henry in front of Loenthal. “All right, fine. You win, maybe. But account for the actions of your secretary here!” Loenthal blinked. “What do you have against him?” “He was part of the group that looked to kill Riggs yesterday, and we know he wasn’t a Spiked or anything like that. And then last night Pendel gets a scare from some random visitor, and we know he’d been talking about Henry’s connection to this Spiked group. Maybe the traitors are the ones closest to you after all, and that’s how they got in to attack you the other night!” Henry spluttered. “I think you’ll find me completely free of any charges of swapping rug merchandise, as I’m certainly not a trader!” He turned indignantly to Loenthal. “My Lord, they must think I’m a person’s last will and testament, since they intend to execute me! Please do something.” Loenthal sighed. He liked Henry, but the points raised had a certain amount of sense to them. That said, he was pleased at being consulted and wasn’t going to back down from his stance on no-deaths. “Very well. We’ll detain and examine Henry, and I don’t think we’ll be letting him decide anything in the near future, but we won’t kill him. Straight to pun jail instead.” Henry raised an eyebrow, but bowed thankfully, mainly happy to keep his life. As the guard led him away, he fired a parting shot over his shoulder. “My arrest must be playground equipment in the fog, because this is a swing and a mist.” Loenthal sighed. “I won’t miss that, at least. But you have to promise me one thing,” he continued, gazing into the haggard faces of the debaters who had brought Henry forward. “You will find the parents of that kid I’ve been shepherding around. I need a new secretary, and I’d feel better with parental permission.” Saffron Iguana was a Village Soother! Vote Count: Saffron Iguana (5): Azure Mouse, Charcoal Hyena, Emerald Falcon, Onyx Flamingo, Pearl Chameleon, Salmon Meerkat Scarlet Octopus (4): Chartreuse Penguin, Coral Swan, Oxblood Beagle, Saffron Iguana Onyx Flamingo (2): Fuchsia Ostrich, Mint Heron Amethyst Scorpion (1): Turquoise Gorilla Magenta Albatross (1): Amber Vulture Pearl Chameleon (1): Violet Axolotl Turquoise Gorilla (1): Amethyst Scorpion Night 2 has begun! It will end in 22 hours on Sunday 9 January, 10:00 PM EST. Get your actions in! Player List 1. Amber Vulture 2. Amethyst Scorpion - Sidor, newly resigned Hazekiller (Guardsman) 3. Azure Mouse 4. Charcoal Hyena 5. Chartreuse Penguin - Aethex (Jester) 6. Coral Swan - Su (Jaist) 7. Emerald Falcon 8. Fuchsia Ostrich - Freddie (Glutton) 9. Ivory Dragonfly (Unlucky) 10. Magenta Albatross (Past Lives) 11. Mauve Crocodile (Gambler) Vanilla Villager 12. Melon Dingo - Scimon Tlag (Merchant) 13. Mint Heron - Tivend Elons (Casanova) 14. Onyx Flamingo (Gossip/Casanova) 15. Opal Lion Vanilla Villager 16. Oxblood Beagle 17. Pearl Chameleon (Secret ) 18. Plum Rhinoceros (Prophet-ish) 19. Quartz Zebra (Drunk/Jaist) 20. Saffron Iguana (Helpful Heckler) Village Soother 21. Salmon Meerkat - Kellehrt, local farmer and possible madman 22. Sapphire Elephant 23. Scarlet Octopus (Neat, Extremist Priest) 24. Sunburst Toucan 25. Turquoise Gorilla (Game Show Host) 26. Violet Axolotl - Dyring (Neat Innkeeper) Did we move the old Edgedancer role to Scadrial? Because sliding in PMs is still allowed.

Night 1: The Ring Tightens Ischarus Loenthal, Lord of Tyrian Falls, fingered his silver ring anxiously. He had been told many times, by many people, that the ring was a mistake. A Coinshot will kill you instantly with that. A Lurcher can make you lose a finger. Silver is Allomantically useless! Still, he turned it over and over in his palm, taking it off, putting it on, watching the glint of the ruby and sapphire design twinkle in his field of vision. Blood and water, fire and ice, and perhaps in recent days, mistwraiths and koloss. And a dull grey, the ash, surrounding it all. He wondered if his father had left him the ring as a sort of reminder before he went to his early grave, a sign as to how the storm ahead should be weathered. If so, it was a terribly unclear one. All of Tyrian Falls had heard the news of the advancing koloss by now, of course. The panic had set in, and Loenthal had done nothing to prevent it, mainly because he knew he couldn’t. Still, the small guilds of Allomancers gave him a quiet confidence. Metals were in abundance, and a few Coinshots could probably tear the army to shreds, if pressed into it. He looked at his box of letters, stuffed full of missives from the Tineyes. The emotional Allomancers had agreed to make a few ethical concessions and calm the populace in the event of a koloss assault, and the Thugs, Coinshots and Lurchers had promised front-line aid. He assumed the Smokers and Seekers were up to something, though the Lord Ruler only knew what. Though he was dead now, which is why the whole mess had started. A bunch of rusting skaa! He kicked the leg of his desk in frustration, and wished he hadn’t as a small cloud of ash blossomed up from the floor. The ashmounts were getting active enough that the stuff was permanently indoors. As if Tyrian didn’t have enough to worry about. The red in his ring seemed to twinkle a little more brightly. He sighed, slumping in his chair. He was halfway through the latest batch of Tineye reports when he heard hurried footsteps in the hallway. Frowning and once again taking off his ring, flipping it around, Loenthal peered at the door. The feet were coming closer, and did not sound familiar. Throwing the flimsy wooden bolt—metal was just asking for Coinshot tampering—he grabbed a dueling cane and pivoted, holding the point up. In the other hand, he clutched the ring, as if it held some kind of charm to ward against the chaos outside. A softer pair of footsteps reached the door, and a finger reached through the small gap between door and frame, pushing back the bolt. Loenthal grabbed a shield and raised his cane, but faltered, thunderstruck, when instead of masked assailants, there came a weeping boy of five or so years, clutching at his leg. “Lord Ischarus, don’t let the mistwraiths get me! Don’t let them get me!” Loenthal shushed the boy, trying to get him to calm his breathing. “You’re okay. There are no mistwraiths here.” He was baffled, but relieved. Better this than a full-scale assault of koloss. “What’s your name? Where are your parents, little one?” The boy paid no heed, squeezing the leg even more tightly and pointing down the corridor where he came from. “Mistwraiths!” he shrieked, and burst into complete hysterics. Loenthal whipped his head around and cursed in every language he knew. Three men, their faces hidden in dark cloaks, were rushing towards him down the hallway. A shower of coins preceded them, and Loenthal threw his shield in front of the child, scattering the bulk of them. He yelped as a stray boxing hit him squarely in the eye, sending a spurt of blood running down his face. His free hand went to staunch the flow, and the ring, pressed into his palm, fell clattering on the floor, the gemstones now clouded. His assailants entered the room, and a mad flurry of blows ensued. The first man drew a long steel spike from his sleeve and thrust at the child again, ignoring Loenthal. Moving his shield, he defended the foolish boy again, who had stopped to pick up the ring, seemingly oblivious to the dangers of the “mistwraiths” in the face of a shiny jewel. So these were the new Spiked the rumours spoke of. Loenthal braced his teeth, blocking the second blow with his dueling cane and letting the blood flow freely from his eye socket. He squinted, reversed the cane, and got a satisfying hit, but he couldn’t defend himself and the child, and these men were clearly trained, as the Spiked barely flinched. The third man came in, simply grabbed the wooden shield, and pulled. Whatever he did, it was too much; the shield broke in two, and the motion sent Loenthal flying away from the child. His body collided with the stack of Tineye reports, scattering the parchment and leaving his bloodied frame splayed across the desk. The Spiked paid him no further mind. They surrounded the child, who now held aloft the two-jewelled ring, as if it were a ward against the evil he faced. No. He wasn’t holding the ring. It was floating above his hand, and somehow the gems in it were glowing. Matted as his one eye was with blood, Loenthal saw the Spiked subconsciously retreat. He was as confused as they were. Then the ring was no longer a ring but a blur, a red and blue streak of light which zipped around the child, drawing an ever-expanding perimeter of death. The Spiked cowered, the Mistings presumably too disoriented to help, and two of the three fled back down the hall. The third was kneeling, eyes downcast and shield raised, the ring repeatedly thumping into its thick centre. The steel spike lay discarded by his side. Loenthal, seeing the confusion, rose groggily, blood still leaking from his eye, and took the child’s hand. “Come on, let’s go!” he said. The ring zipped back to the child’s hand, and he allowed himself to be led by the hand to the bookcase in the back. The Spiked leader rose, hatred in his eyes, but unwilling to approach further without backup. He clutched the spike with whitened knuckles. “Your town will pay, Lord Ischarus. It will crumble before the might of Ruin.” Loenthal was too tired for a witty retort. He flipped the bookshelf’s secret lever, opening the wall panel to the outside. “Perhaps. But you’re getting through us first. An eye for an eye, Spiked. Remember that.” He spat the blood which had trickled into his mouth from his wound, and the Spiked sneered, preparing to lunge. The child, back to clinging against his leg, jumped through the aperture, and Loenthal followed quickly, slamming it shut. There was a satisfying snack as it hit the Spiked’s head on the other side. He turned to the child. “Let’s get out of here while he’s out cold. We need to bring this matter to the village.” The village was in shambles. Loenthal was too poor to have real servants, but secretaries and other functionaries who normally came to the house had seen the carnage and reported him missing, and the whole town was practically in the street adjoining the inn owned by old Dyring, discussing the matter heatedly. There was a general consensus that something had to be done, and without Loenthal, who was probably dead, but just what that was varied from person to person. Wilson’s report was unclear, and the nature of the spiked “saboteurs” still vague, but several voices called immediately for murder, Dyring himself not least among them. After a brief fixation on a vacillating fellow in pearl, they dragged the old Obligator, Riggs, forward. When a tired, ragged, and surprisingly fatherly Lord Ischarus demanded an explanation for what happened next in the early evening hours upon his return, few could say. Some were caught up in the heat of argument. Others saw the faded Obligator tattoos, the fine mauve coat, and associated this old oppressor with the new ones bearing down on them, seemingly unafraid to attack the Lord of the town in broad daylight. Safety was only in numbers, and the people would decide who was guilty. And hadn’t Riggs been drunkenly shouting his wares and scamming people at his gambling for a while now? Surely if there was a no-good rascal who stood to benefit from an exterior force’s invasion, it was an opportunist like him. He was too insistent on his own way, he was too insincere when his head wasn’t in a glass of ale, which even Dyring stopped serving him after a few rounds. Emotions were high. Minds were clouded with drink and religious fervour, the Ja’s name being bandied about in the midst of the shouting over guilt and koloss and spikes, always spikes. Rash actions happened. And so it was that when the dust from the scuffle in the inn cleared away, it was Riggs’ gaze, sightless and clouded, which gazed accusingly up at the townsfolk from the floor now pooling with his blood. A day passed. The koloss drew nearer. And not a spike could be found on the body of the first victim of madness. Mauve Crocodile was a Vanilla Villager! Vote Count Mauve Crocodile (4): Emerald Falcon, Fuchsia Ostrich, Onyx Flamingo, Saffron Iguana Saffron Iguana (3): Magenta Albatross, Mauve Crocodile, Pearl Chameleon, Turquoise Gorilla Turquoise Gorilla (3): Amethyst Scorpion, Coral Swan, Scarlet Octopus, Violet Axolotl Charcoal Hyena (2): Chartreuse Penguin, Salmon Meerkat Amethyst Scorpion (1): Charcoal Hyena Coral Swan (1): Oxblood Beagle Violet Axolotl (1): Mint Heron Player List 1. Amber Vulture 2. Amethyst Scorpion - Sidor, newly resigned Hazekiller (Guardsman) 3. Azure Mouse 4. Charcoal Hyena 5. Chartreuse Penguin - Aethex (Jester) 6. Coral Swan - Su (Jaist) 7. Emerald Falcon 8. Fuchsia Ostrich - Freddie (Glutton) 9. Ivory Dragonfly (Unlucky) 10. Magenta Albatross (Past Lives) 11. Mauve Crocodile (Gambler) Vanilla Villager 12. Melon Dingo - Scimon Tlag (Merchant) 13. Mint Heron - Tivend Elons (Casanova) 14. Onyx Flamingo (Gossip/Casanova) 15. Opal Lion 16. Oxblood Beagle 17. Pearl Chameleon (Secret ) 18. Plum Rhinoceros (Prophet-ish) 19. Quartz Zebra (Drunk/Jaist) 20. Saffron Iguana (Helpful Heckler) 21. Salmon Meerkat - Kellehrt, local farmer and possible madman 22. Sapphire Elephant 23. Scarlet Octopus (Neat, Extremist Priest) 24. Sunburst Toucan 25. Turquoise Gorilla (Game Show Host) 26. Violet Axolotl - Dyring (Neat Innkeeper) PMs are open. Night 1 will end in ~22-23 hours, at 10 PM EST. Remember to use only your anon account, include both GMs in all your PMs, and if you want to send in a writeup for your own death feel free. Also go shower @Elbereth with upvotes for tolerating my long writeups and doing the mechanical legwork to keep this game moving All the clarifications from the past Day (mostly involving emotional allomancy), which have also been edited into the OP: Good luck!

To be clear, though, I am only a co-GM. The Cursor of Doom ( @little wilson ) is your benevolent dictator IM, I just get paid* to do writeups and make sarcastic commentary in your PMs, so make sure to add me and El to all of them *payment is in schadenfreude at your collective suffering