Amber Vulture

What an excellent game! Even after I died, I still had so much fun watching Oxblood Beagle continue to survive increasingly unlikely odds! Sorry, not sorry, to everyone I murdered, manipulated, and/or lied to, and so much appreciation to the gamemasters for running this game and creating wonderful writeups. All I shall say is that I am not who you think I am...or who you think I am not...

? Opal Lion ?? Salmon Meerkat ??? Amethyst Scorpion ??????? Everyone Else [OOC: Thank you so much! I wasn't sure if I was overdoing it, or if the RP was even making sense, so that is really lovely to hear.]

Sasha stayed in the town hall long after everyone else had left. She stared at Dragon's inert body. Not a single spike had been found on him You really are terrible at this. Sasha could not tell if the thought was Olivya's or her own. Did the difference even matter anymore? It was true either way. If it had not been for her vote, Dragon (Mint Heron) would still be alive. She may as well have killed him herself. I must be the true monster I must be the monster I must be I must I Wait. Sasha had killed him, hadn't she? The memory was already slipping from her mind, the details blurry. [OOC: To avoid confusion, this is entirely RP, based off of the writeup at the beginning of this thread.] Emotional allomancy? Yes, there had also been that previous manipulation of votes involving Ananame (Coral Swan) and Sal (Salmon Meerkat). It seemed a Soother was among them. But were they friend or foe? I do owe my life to them, she thought. However, after all of her mistakes, all of her failures, did she really deserve that? Sasha looked back over to Dragon's corpse. It should have been you who survived, not me. Could the Soother be Spiked? Could this be an attempt to frame her? Or would thinking that be just another mistake to add to her list? Sasha wondered how many of the most vocal villagers were secretly Spiked. Endsayer (Fuchsia Ostrich)? Barney (Amethyst Scorpion)? Samwise (Pearl Chameleon)? (Opal Lion)? (Saffron Iguana)? Zee (Quartz Zebra)? Sal (Salmon Meerkat)? (Oxblood Beagle)? Leo (Sage Kangaroo)? Grandiose Verbosity (Magenta Albatross)? They were all arguing, and lying, and suspecting each other, and flipflopping back and forth on votes. The last shreds of confidence Sasha owned in any if them had been destroyed today. You truly have no idea what you are doing anymore. This case was breaking Sasha. Her thoughts were spiraling, tighter and tighter. She could not even tell which were hers anymore, or which- Sasha blinked. When had it gotten so dark? She had to do something, anything besides sitting in the empty hall, losing time. As Sasha walked out the door and into the night, a strange feeling came over her, a feeling that even the embrace of the mists could not chase away. Sasha de Vries was afraid.

What do you mean? [OOC: I was thinking that, if Heron is e!Coinshot, this behaviour would be in line with that. I probably should not have lead with that, though, as it was one of the points I was less certain about.] [OOC: My logic was (and I am beginning to wonder if this is a flaw in my thinking) that the amount of engagement Heron showed by trying to analyse every post from the first four pages of D1 (with a promise of more to come) seemed more v!leaning than e!leaning. Because it is preferable for elims to just make a safely medium number of posts, while villagers would be more invested in a thorough analysis, right? Now I don't really know what I believe.] [OOC: Because, as I pointed out, there are a couple of reasons why they could overlap (if any of those are unclear, you can ask me, though I might not get back to you until tomorrow morning) Honestly, though, I am uncertain what to do, and struggling to read several people, so I just went with what seemed like the simplest option. Also, as a heads up, I am busy this evening, and probably won't even be able to read the thread until after rollover. If I am not executed, I will try to post something then]

[OOC: That one got a little long, so I spoiler-boxed it for convenience of reading through the thread.] Mint Heron

[OOC: Today is my first day back to school from winter break, so I won't be able to say much until this evening]

[OOC: Thanks for the feedback! I can't really refute your point regarding Meerkat, but I will try to answer questions more effectively (And publicly; I did answer Mouse's question regarding Flamingo through PMs, but to everyone else, I appeared to have ignored them). I also agree with your point that there are almost certainly elims among the more active players.] [OOC: Well I can't argue with the lucky coin! ]

With the voting and execution completed, Sasha left the village discussion hall to get a breath of fresh air. The coolness of the mists provided a sharp contrast to the heated end-of-day madness going on inside. Char was innocent she thought. Another mistake to be added to her growing list of failures. Char, Tune, Bartleby...Olivya. How many more would this murderer and their Spiked take away from her before she caught them? Samwise (Pearl Chameleon) suspects me. And could she even blame him after this failure? More and more, it seemed like it was all her fault, the death of the villagers, the death of her sister... Defend yourself! roared Olivya's voice in Sasha's ears. She whipped the glass knives from her boots, and spun around; the uncharacteristic volume from her sister had startled Sasha greatly. There was, of course nothing behind her. Nothing but the mists, which curled in lazy patterns just out of Sasha's reach. What do you mean? thought Sasha, rubbing her ears. As she sheathed her twin knives, she felt glad that nobody had seen her draw them. Explaining them to the other villagers would be...awkward. Moping gains you nothing, Olivya replied. Don't you want to avenge me? Before Sasha could respond, she felt something in her mind go quiet, like a Connection had been severed. As she considered Olivya's words, she realised that her aimless wandering had lead her back to the village hall. Even the mists seemed to beckon her toward the doorway. Olivya is right, Sasha admitted to herself. Braced for the din of discussion and argument, Sasha walked through the door, and found Samwise. "Hey," she said, getting the obligator's attention. "If you don't mind, I would like for you to explain the thought processes that led you to suspecting that I am Spiked."

Sasha flipped through her notebook. It had come to her attention, in a private conversation, that M (Onyx Flamingo) would be busy over the next few days. Prodding someone who could not fully respond was not constructive, so she would change her vote to someone who was more suspicious. Additionally, Zee (Quartz Zebra) and Maihler (Azure Mouse) had made some good points regarding M. She would have to consider those when she had more time. Who then? "Sorry guys, working with limited time, which is even more limited after I accidentally fell asleep last night..." Sasha looked up to see M, speaking before the crowd. So they did manage to to say something, even with outside sources of pressure, she thought, pleased. Excellent. Sasha greatly appreciated the effort, and she agreed with their point about the Bartleby (Amethyst Scorpion) train. The rest of M's statement would require more analysis, but, for now at least, Sasha was satisfied. Who to vote then? Sasha thought. She had somewhat avoided this responsibility after the disaster that had occured last time. Still, she had to try, even if failing meant the death of more innocent people. Charcoal Hyena has consistently been the target of well-reasoned, negative analysis. Until I see further development on that front, I feel comfortable with that push. I just hope I am not wrong again... Onyx Flamingo Charcoal Hyena

[OOC: Sorry, let me try to clarify what I mean here. It isn't that your actions are not "village-like" enough for me (In fact, the more you speak, the more I believe that no Spiked would want to draw as much attention as you have), but more the feeling that the interactions you have had with several others are...how to phrase this...destracting? For example, in your argument with Iguana on day one, a lot of words were said, but not as much substantial reasoning was involved, from either of you, which meant that the conversation kind of just made things cloudier? I fully respect and believe that you are doing your best (As are all of us), and I think that maybe I'm just trying to offer some constructive criticism but not framing it very well/helpfully. I will have to think on that. Ultimately, I do not believe you to be a Spiked, and, while I would like to see some reads from you, whether or not you choose to share them in no way affects my current opinion on that matter. Does that make sense?]

[OOC: I mostly just felt like asking for clarification and explaining IRL circumstances were more suited to OOC, as is responding to this post. I will still post primarily in RP] Sasha de Vries woke up to a pounding headache and the sound of lively discussion. She sat up and brushed the roofing shingle grit of her face, then froze. Wait, why am I on the roof? She scanned her surroundings and saw several papers surrounding her, crammed with feverish notes. Presumably, there had once been a pencil, but it had rolled off the roof when she had fallen asleep. She must have stayed up late working through the events of the day. The roof had a lovely view of the mists, which had helped her concentrate, helped her think. "Tune has been murdered" declared an important-looking village official to a crowd gathered in front of the nearby town hall. "No!" cried Maihler, the other artist in Tyrian Falls. The crowd immediately erupted into a cacophany of theorising and finger-pointing. Not the most surprising turn of events, Sasha thought. But not the most expected one either. She would have to give that some more thought when she had more time. Gathering up her notes, Sasha leapt down from the roof and moved to join the discussion. Suddenly, Onidsen's dog, whom Sasha had not seen in some time, trotted up to the group, and deposited a paper before leaving. My Very Thorough Analysis (First Draft) by Dragon, the title read. Flipping through the pages, Sasha marveled at its detail. While the paper was not yet up-to-date, the sheer dedication to analysis it demonstrated considerably lifted her opinion of the quiet canine. Sasha sighed. Her notes were not nearly as detailed, but she would share them nontheless. "Leo (Sage Kangaroo) seemed a bit iffy at first but their opening statement prompted me to look closer at Ananame (Coral Swan), whom I had read as being an overwhelmed villager new to politics (SE). What I found was that not all of their statements were emotionally consistent with this view, and now, both their interests and their statements seem hazier to me, and I shall have to keep a closer watch on them. Also, it is worth noting that Ananame claimed to be a Smoker but still had their vote manipulated; either their Coppercloud was down, or they are lying. Interesting. "Sal (Salmon Meerkat) has said a lot but still refuses to provide any reads, despite much prodding. While I doubt one of the Spiked would want to bring such attention to themselves, possibly drawing a Seeker scan, they are making discussion much cloudier, which, agreeing with Leo, I dislike. "(Saffron Iguana) has been acting similarly to Sal, but their points have had notably more substance, which is positive. "While Dragon (Mint Heron), Leo, and (Oxblood Beagle) have all spent much time absent, their recent analysis lists have me leaning toward them favourably, especially Dragon. "Maihler (Azure Mouse) and Barney (Amethyst Scorpion) have both seemed pretty consistently innocent over time, due to them promoting discussion. "There are several individuals (Cream Tuatara, Indigo Weasel, Mauve Crocodile, and Melon Dingo) whom I would need to see more of before I can comment on them. "There are also several other individuals (Charcoal Hyena, Chartreuse Penguin, Fuchsia Ostrich, Magenta Albatross, Opal Lion, Pearl Chameleon, Plum Rhinoceros, Quartz Zebra, and Sapphire Elephant) who have contributed to the discussion, but for whom my opinion remains undeveloped. Trying to track 22 people is taxing, and I am by no means perfect. "Finally we come to M (Onyx Flamingo). No other citizen of this town is more adept at tying my brain into knots. I have gone back and forth ovet them, and here are the points I have gathered. "Point number one. I had great difficulty deciphering M's initial response to Ananame. While, ostensibly, their point about Smokers made them seem village-leaning, it was cloaked in enough layers, that it read, to me, like M was trying to say something about Ananame without actually saying it. Though this is by no means Spiked-indicative, I found the wishy-washyness of it off-putting. "Point number two. I know that M has created multiple semi-private groups where they tend to say a lot, but not actually contribute much analysis. I may be reading too much into minimal data-points, but this seems, to me, like M is trying to fish for information while playing it safe. Also in line with this point, M has not said very much publicly, but I have often caught them lurking at the fringes of this discussion. "Point number three. Close to the end of yesterday, M jumped on the train of (Chartreuse Penguin). While this is not particularly indicative of M's alignment, their very limited explanation reads to me as them trying to be more active without drawing too much attention to themself. "Ultimately, none of this truly makes me believe that M is Spiked. However, their wishy-washyness, quiet information-gathering, and trying to fly under the radar has given me very weird reads of them. Half of me thinks I am suffering from paranoia or tunneling, but, most of all, I want to see M say more, and have clear opinions and analysis when they do. Thus I will cast my vote on M for now, not because I think they are worth executing, but because I hope it will push them to be a bit clearer. Onyx Flamingo "Now, if anyone wishes for clarification on these points, please just ask me. That is all." Having said her piece, Sasha turned, and left. [OOC: I will be a bit busier today, especially in the evening, so if I pop on but don't say anything, or I take a while to respond to PMs, that is why]

@Amethyst Scorpion [OOC: Simply put, I had an IRL engagement, and was typing up my RP as fast as I could. I noticed that Dragonfly posted while I was writing, but I left as soon as I posted and I did not read Dragonfly's post until around an hour after rollover. At that point, I regretted not changing my vote, because Dragonfly seemed to be genuinely focused on analysis, which is a good thing in my opinion, but it was too late]

@Amethyst Scorpion [OOC: Sorry, but I only saw one ping from you, and it was asking about my opinions on Dragonfly's last post. I assumed you were asking if I would have changed my vote after seeing that post, but I am thinking that I probably misunderstood you. Can you clarify what you are specifically intetested in? Again, sorry for the mix-up.]

The mists were out tonight, and so, of course, was Sasha. After everything that had happened, there was no chance for sleep. You fool, she thought to herself as she walked along the dark streets and alleys of Tyrian Falls. You did not simply get an innocent villager killed; you got a Mistborn killed. Even worse, she had left before Bartleby (Ivory Dragonfly) had made their final statement. While Sasha did not agree with some of the man's finer points (particularly those regarding Scorpion, Hyena, and Falcon), she did agree with others (specifically those regarding Mouse, Penguin, and Ostrich), and the seemingly genuine effort Bartleby put into his analysis had, at the very least, deserved him more time. Sasha knew the truth now, but it was far too late to mend this nightmare of a first day. She could feel her thoughts spiraling, down, down, down- Avenge me Olivya's voice rang in her ears. It was a command and an accusation all in one, and Sasha could not run from it. Her sister's ghost was as inescapable as the mist. Yes sister, Sasha thought back, taking a deep breath of the cold, night air. No matter what it takes. I will find whoever did this to you. And then? came the response. I will kill them myself

Sasha turned to leave, having made her final point for the evening. The first day of discussion had been intense, and the cool calmness of the mists was just what she needed to clear her mind of- "More to say, have you?" The odd speaking pattern of Maihler @Azure Mouse cut through the din. Sasha sighed. I have to put everthing I've got into this case. Sasha reminded herself. I owe it to Olivya. She turned to face the crowd. "I simply meant to say that there are notable similarities between Sal (Salmon Meerkat) and Ananame (Coral Swan)" she began, in her quiet, deliberate voice. "Ananame's early declaration that they are a Smoker was bold move, and possibly revealed an inexperience in politics. However, keeping one's identity as a Smoker secret is considerably more useful for one of the Spiked, leading me to believe in their innocence, for now. "As for Sal, their reluctance to openly suspect anyone is strongly in line with the mindset of an inexperienced villager; in the dark, overwhelmed by all the clashing opinions flying around them, and afraid to mistakenly execute an ally. "However, while Leo (Sage Kangaroo) also noted the possible inexperience of Sal, and pointed out how this would make Sal vulnerable to being piled on by the Spiked, they used this logic to incriminate Ananame, who, by Leo's own logic, would also be vulnerable to the Spiked. An inconsistency in arguments, yes? Perhaps indicating additional information? "Of course, I could certainly be wrong about my read of Ananame. Faking inexperience to be perceived as innocent would indeed be clever, and, with the stakes this high, taking anything for granted may be deadly. Ultimately, while Leo's statement felt slightly fishy, there is not yet enough information on them for me to truly consider them Spiked. Do consider yourself watched, however @Sage Kangaroo." Sasha met his eyes, than turned back to Maihler. "Are my answers to your satisfaction?" There was silence, as the others began to parse what she had said. Well, she was not going to wait, and the day was almost over anyways. "Good" she said sharply, then turned and strode out the door. The mists welcomed her, and she immediately relaxed. She had needed- What do you think you're doing here? Olivya's voice snarled in her ear. Sasha spun. Olivya? Sasha thought. Nothing. Of course there was nothing; her sister was dead. Still, she had a point. Everyone was arguing, but nothing was being done. She knew that she had been too sharp with Maihler, who was only trying to help, but running around in circles with nothing to show for it was so frustrating. Especially considering that, this time, the case was personal. Of course, she reminded herself, that is exactly why I need to stay level-headed. Keep it professional. Wait for the murderer to let something slip. They always do. Still, as Sasha walked back to the inn she was staying at, she could not help but feel that they had waited to long. She felt it in the mists. Something aweful was going to happen tonight, and Sasha had no idea what that would be.