Sart

Figgldygrak Welp. It showed up again. For those who aren't aware, Brandon blessed us with this term in the Way of Kings. Hoid, as Wit, was dropping some Cosmere wisdom on Dalinar, and used this funny looking nonsense word. While nonsense and balderdash are real words, that literally mean gibberish, Figgldygrak is a pure Brandon invention. Given Hoid's comment, fans began to suspect that perhaps Figgldygrak had some secret hidden meaning, and rapidly began to speculate. Curiously, Balderdash was found to be an anagram of Shardblade, which led many to suspect Figgldygrak could be one. However, those hopes were dashed by Peter Ahlstrom, who in reply to that thread, responded, That should have been the end of this. However, Brandon decided to troll his audience. The word made a triumphant comeback in Rhythm of War. As Navani narrates, This is specifically in regards to putting false ciphers in her own work to distract the Parshendi. Whether this is hinting at some deeper hidden meaning of the word, or if Peter was just having a laugh at our expense, again remains unclear. It was a fun callback, and I was ready to shelve it as a funny callback. However, Tress of The Emerald Sea has come out recently. Guess what word pops up in Hoid's narration? Once again, Hoid has deliberately used the word figgldygrak. Once was a turn of phrase, twice was a funny callback, but three times? Something is happening here. Where has this word come from? Could it be Yolish? Why do Cosmere characters keep using it? Is there some hidden meaning for us to discover? What if it's the sounds of some of the original shardbearers' names, chaotically shuffled? Could it be Hoid's true name, just chopped up and rearranged? Am I grasping at straws? Probably. I don't really think it has any hidden meaning. It's just a nice Easter egg for fans, who sometimes read way too much into what Brandon writes. Still, it's a fun coincidence. I wonder if it will show up in the other secret projects.

Fair. It's just that I feel like I've fallen into a holding pattern with this game in general. I'll make one or two tentative votes, then retract them after getting basically any push back. I usually end up on poke votes as a safe option. Then when I do swing for the fences, I usually make such a wild claim that it's immediately read as nonsensical. I'm just tired of it. So, what the hell, I'll just go where my gut's telling me. Xino. TJ. I really didn't like his vote on Ash. If he's more suspicious of me than Ash, why vote Ash and not me? That's an easy enough train to get going, since Kasimir, who is being very active, had already voted for me. It wasn't even halfway through the cycle. I just feel like the vote was too opportunistic. Plus, it lets him pivot onto my execution for the next cycle in a village Ash world. Having just made this post, I feel really weird about it. I already know it's going to get attacked from two different angles. One, it's way too retaliatory. I get my first vote and I'm already defending myself? That's not a good look. And two, this is a tacit defense of Ash yet again. I'm sure Kas is going to read it as he and I being on the same team. I'm not sure what alignment he is, but I've now voted on two separate counter trains. Fun times. It's difficult to draw anything from I'm busy right now. It's why we have the Contribution Crusade in the first place, so I understand why the train is happening. I'm half tempted to join it myself. Still, I feel like it's better to raise a suspicion now, rather than wait and let it fester. The gut wants what the gut wants.

As an aside, where the heck is @Devotary of Spontaneity? They were on the shard 8 hours ago, but they haven't said anything yet. I'm not sure it's alignment indicative, but I just want to hear from them.

Well, this is awkward. I could swear I played a game with Xino where he was super active, and it turned out he was evil. Then after that he was always a more low activity player, and he always seemed to flip good. I have no evidence for this though, and quite frankly, I don't feel like trawling through my excessive history with this site. Did I hop into a parallel universe? Possibly. Was I mistaken? Too early to say for certain, but the evidence isn't exactly conclusive. Now I have to go back to the drawing board and actually do tone analysis. Ugh. I was so excited thinking that I had found a tell that I could easily bust open.

Really? Does anyone have a link to this diagram? I'd like to be proven wrong here.

Yeah, I'm just going to throw a vote on xinoehp512. He always spikes in activity when he's evil, which makes him way too easy too read. If it turns out you're innocent, at least I can revise my overall impression of you, and not be so judgemental.

Why not? I'll sign up as Star Guy.

Dang it. Back to the drawing board.

Alright, I think I've cracked it. I am making an accusation! I accuse Archer of being the Assassin. I think he used a Stone to commit the murder, and left behind a Black Sphere. @Araris Valerian

The way I'm reading the clue, the Piece of Evidence must be Invested. When we were both evil last game, this clue was really helpful determining what Evidence was left behind. I suppose it's possible the Murder was committed using an Invested Weapon, but in that case, why not use supernatural as the cause of death? Thus, we're looking for a Murder that can happen in the wilderness, which left behind a piece of Invested evidence.

I think I have to abandon my theory on Wild Animals being out of play. The evidence left behind, which presumably means Evidence and not murder, can't be tied to both Wilderness and Invested, at least as far as I can see. Given that the category is fairly specific, I must conclude that the Method of Murder is something you would only find in the Wilderness, so I'm leaning way more towards animal attack.

Why I didn't spend my guess on it. Partial isn't describing the corpse, it's describing where a hint on the corpse is. To me, that implies more information about the Evidence, rather than Cause of Death.

How does this factor in the victim being a slave? That's the thing that's sticking out at me. There was an option for a None rank, but instead the Almighty chose the Slave option, which is definitely an extreme. What I'm leaning towards is Archer, Parshendi, and Claw Marks. The Parhsendi are generic enough that they wouldn't fit any other category. They are Slaves. The Wilderness location is meant to point us to the Claw Marks as evidence. The Hint on the Corpse points to Claw Marks as that's not an item that would appear on one particular part of the body. The victim being Elderly might be referencing the age of the Parshendi? Main thing that doesn't fit is the Sudden Noise. If this were the Parshendi, they should be singing all the time, and thus have a Prolonged noise. Not sure what's going on there, which is why I'm not comfortable submitting this.

Personally, I like this thought process. We know that the murder took place in the wilderness, but also that it was not an accident. If this was truly a wild animal attack, why not choose Accident. This contradiction, along with the sudden noise being heard at the crime scene, makes me think we're looking at a projectile weapon, like a gun.

Yes! I'm good this time around. Now I can actually attempt to solve the crime, rather than going, "yeah, well, maybe, but idk" a bunch.