Mid-Range Game 7: Eighty Splendid Suns

[Orlok Tsubodai]

I have to say, I do strongly disagree with lynching Emerald - an individual who is highly unlikely to be a member of discovery - just for the sake of it - either we lynch someone for the right reasons, or we drop the pretense that this lynch is to find discovery, not to even up numbers. On that basis, however, there is a significant flaw - in any one turn, with the lynch, two conversions, two strikers and two blood sealer kills, a faction could change by 7 members in one turn - and so basing the lynch on who is the largest faction is nonsensical - we would be far better of lynching someone we actually suspect to be a member of discovery, even if they aren't from the largest faction.

[Adamir]

In that case, as Orlok advocated, I would highly recommend that we wait one cycle. By the end of it, I will have a definite answer as to whether Emerald is Discovery.

[Bort]

I have to say, I do strongly disagree with lynching Emerald - an individual who is highly unlikely to be a member of discovery - just for the sake of it - either we lynch someone for the right reasons, or we drop the pretense that this lynch is to find discovery, not to even up numbers. On that basis, however, there is a significant flaw - in any one turn, with the lynch, two conversions, two strikers and two blood sealer kills, a faction could change by 7 members in one turn - and so basing the lynch on who is the largest faction is nonsensical - we would be far better of lynching someone we actually suspect to be a member of discovery, even if they aren't from the largest faction.

 

This is the first cycle where we have the ability to lynch. As such, it is much the same as any other day one lynch, except we've had a little longer to talk about it. And, since there seems to be relatively few people willing to talk, we are left with limited options. Seonid put a name out there, as a possible lurker, or possible inactive, and without any other suspicions, it is as good a name as any to start with.

 

We do, after all, have to start somewhere. Why not someone who is, apparently, not contributing to the game (best case scenario) or is simply lurking and spying on Seonid's faction for the Discoverers (worse case scenario). Of course, there are still 5 and a half hours until the end of the cycle, and this is still open to discussion.

 

In that case, as Orlok advocated, I would highly recommend that we wait one cycle. By the end of it, I will have a definite answer as to whether Emerald is Discovery.

 

I'm getting very tempted to put Adamir's name forward for the lynch. He keeps posting things to the main thread without discussing them with his teammates first. As it is though, I don't think he is a Discoverer. I think he is just enthusiastic.

[Adamir]

Good point. That, and I just realized how it will look if I've postponed Emerald's death and he turns out to be Discovery. I hadn't thought switching who to investigate would be important enough to consult the doc - sorry about that.

 

EDIT: And I just realized that counts as not consulting the doc.

Edited July 3, 2015 by Adamir

[Bort]

Yes it does, but since my accusation was public, it is forgivable.

 

You may want to check in with the doc though.

 

Edit: I'd like to put out a request that a Diplomat from Heritage or Moderation scans Adamir please. I don't want to set a lynch vote on him, as a Diplomat (as Adamir claims to be) is a useful role, but his play style is raising far too many questions to be ignored.

 

Not just the comments in here which has revealed quite a bit of info about the Glory faction without discussing it with any other member of our faction, but also quite a few of his comments in the docs themselves are also raising questions.

 

So, would someone please be willing to check Adamir, to see if we have found our first Discovery Scholar?

 

Thank you. There will be specially prepared beardnuts for anyone who helps.

Edited July 3, 2015 by Bort

[Bort]

So, our faction has been unable to come up with any firm suspicions. We have one hard-confirmed player and two who are soft confirmed. I won't be sharing names, but I'm sure you understand.

 

I'm not going to ask for names, but Seonid, would you mind sharing the methods by which you confirmed people?

 

Sorry for double post, but there has been hours since my last post, so I didn't think it would be too bad. Besides, getting a quote into an edit can be a pain in the backside sometimes.

 

Edit: We have just over an hour until the end of the cycle. Only one person has come forward with a name for the lynch pool, so... Emerald. Yes, I know the vote has to be done by PM, I've already submitted mine, but I wanted to post in here to show a willingness to work together.

Edited July 3, 2015 by Bort

[Kasimir]

There is under an hour left in the cycle. Get your actions in while you still can!

[Seonid]

I'm not going to ask for names, but Seonid, would you mind sharing the methods by which you confirmed people?

Well, one is Orlok, who's been publicly discussed in the thread, so I don't mind sharing his name. Since Adamir has not been confirmed, we have only counted Orlok as soft-confirmed.

Another of our players has claimed a role, and has a target to use it on tonight.

And one of our players has claimed Sibling.

[Kasimir]

The cycle is now over. Any actions past this point will be considered null and void. Please stay tuned for the write-up and the PMs will be sent out shortly.

 

Edit: My clock is fast. If you have anything, you have two more minutes!

 

Edit 2: Now, and forever, this cycle has ended. It is too late. No going back.

Edited July 3, 2015 by Kasimir

[Bort]

Ok, thanks

 

That was meant for Seonid, but thanks to you too Kas, for those whole two minutes

Edited July 3, 2015 by Bort

[Kasimir]

MR7: Cycle Three - The Gathering Storm

The histories would later record that in the last year of his twelve year reign, the forty-eighth Emperor of the Eighty Suns, Yazad, had been murdered as he lay sleeping in his chambers by a MaiPon assassin. They would record, with equal meticulousness, the murder of Arbiter Kaleva by the same assassin, as he drank tea in his quarters.

The assassin—a painter by the name of Shi KwaiRan—was, by all indications, never found. Strikers flooded the Imperial Seat, blocking each of the arched gates and stopping and questioning all travellers, but there was no sign of him. Equally, they combed the teahouses and shops of the city, even bursting into homes, but for all they searched, the only conclusion was that Shi KwaiRan had vanished into thin air. This, too, the histories noted.

There are, however, some things beneath the gaze of even the historians. Little things, such as a humble MaiPon merchant, killed because his name sounded a bit too much like the assassin’s. There were, of course, other considerations. He had tried to resist arrest and had tried to flee, and what loyal citizen of the Empire would do so?

All these stories and more, slip by, unspoken, connected by the slenderest of scarlet-stained threads in the great tapestry depicting the death of an Emperor.

On the day following the death of the Emperor, the patrons of the Frozen Moon were unsurprised to discover that Wenshon had acquired another server; a MaiPon man who kept his head down and seemed unruffled as he cleaned cups, poured tea, stoked the fire, raked leaves and did the myriad of little tasks that needed to be doing in a teahouse as respected as the Frozen Moon.

Servers came and went, all the time. And it wasn’t uncommon for the MaiPon to seek jobs in the Imperial Seat, whether as servers or labourers.

This, too, the histories did not record. The Frozen Moon, for all its custom, was nothing more than a mere footnote in the annals of the Rose Empire, and the employment of the establishment was, almost certainly, not a matter of historical import.

 

 

As the Factions began bickering and cutting deals and the citizens began to worry about slaughter in the streets, the Frozen Moon remained an oasis of calm in the middle of the tumult. Partly, it had to do with Wenshon’s policy of Faction neutrality. Everyone knew that the Frozen Moon was neutral ground: a place where Factions could meet and converse civily, even if they were planning to stab each other in the back in the next heartbeat.

On the other hand, members of the Heritage and Moderation Factions knew better than to walk into the Sun’s Radiance. The proprietor was an ardent supporter of the Glory Faction, and it was rumoured that the Glory Faction were already clamouring for their blood.

For these reasons and more, most of the faction members could be found, sipping cups of tea, eating dumplings, and eying each other warily in the comfortable confines of the Frozen Moon.

“Aye, look, me hearties,” said one of them; a pirate, from the looks of him. He’d eschewed his tea for a hip-flask of rum, and seemed to have been indulging for most of the night. “I’d bet me knuckles tha them Discovery Faction curs bought off the knave as sent the Emperor hisself to the Locker!” He scowled and cracked his knuckles. “Tha be no way to do it, and I say we keelhaul these yellow-bellied eels!”

There were a few ragged cheers at his statement, but no one seemed particularly inclined to say much more. Bortholomew the Blind, a wild-haired man kicked back off his chair and had opened his mouth to reply when the door to the Frozen Moon was flung wide open.

Strikers, all wearing the Imperial colours and the flaring sun sigil, stormed into the teahouse. The woman in the lead spoke up first. “Nobody move,” she said, her voice only a tad less frigid than her eyes. Her hand rested on the hilt of her sword, and she wore it with an air of quiet competence. “Lieutenant Zu. Secure the exits.”

The Striker in question snapped her a quick salute and obeyed, taking a team of men to block off the exits to and from the Frozen Moon.

“Can I help you, Captain?” Wenshon asked, surprisingly calm, for all that a team of Strikers had invaded his establishment.

She looked at him. “You know what has happened,” the Striker Captain said, simply. “A MaiPon assassin has infiltrated palace security and slain both the Emperor himself and Arbiter Kaleva. We’re under orders to search the teahouse to make sure he isn’t hiding out here.”

Wenshon shrugged. “Be my guest, Captain,” he said. “Never let it be said that I obstructed Imperial justice.”

The Strikers ranged through the Frozen Moon, searching each of the patrons. In a few cases, muffled protests died down quickly as the Striker in question threatened to draw steel. A scuffle quickly broke out, and soon, one of the patrons lay bleeding on the wooden floorboards. Wenshon sighed and gestured to his server to clean up as the mess as another two Strikers dragged out that recalcitrant patron.

“Who is he?” the Striker Captain asked, sharply, looking at the server in question.

Wenshon shrugged again. “Shao,” he said. “He’s been working for me on and off for the past fifteen years.” The server did not look up as he knelt, scrubbing the blood off the boards before they could dry and create a bigger mess.

The Captain said, “He looks a lot like the assassin.”

Wenshon replied, “His paperwork is in order, Captain. I have his entry papers and his employment papers, and I’d be glad to show them to you if you just step this way.” His voice hardened, just a little. “Competent help is difficult to come by, Captain. I’d appreciate it if your Strikers stop scaring off my customers and servers.”

The Captain chewed on that for a few, tense moments. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll have a look at those papers. If I’m unsatisfied, that man goes with me.” She cast a last, backward glance at the altercation as a man who wore green face-paint was quickly identified as a Striker who hadn’t shown up to work for days and was swiftly executed by his compatriots, and then dragged out of the Frozen Moon.

Through it all, unperturbed, the server scrubbed at the floorboards.

 

 

Elsewhere in the Imperial Seat, there was the sound of something unusual. Something that didn’t belong in the Rose Empire, much less on Sel.

As a shimmering circle of orange light blazed to life in the skies, there came the shrill screech of a train’s whistle, reverberating through the blocks and the teahouses of the district.

Wai ZhierSen was walking through the emptied streets, muttering to herself, something clutched tightly in her fist. “How could he know,” she murmured, lost in thought. For that reason, and several others, she didn’t notice the circle traced out in light in the skies until she heard the voices.

“Are you ready?” demanded the first. “Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes!”

“Took us long enough to find her.” The second speaker, at least, was male; with a gruff voice. “Wasn’t even sure we’re in the right time anymore.”

“Oh, come on, before she gets away!”

Puzzled, Zhier glanced up—just as the second speaker said, “Ready and launch!”

A shower of sticky amber maple syrup drenched Zhier, all at once. Sopping wet, with her hair plastered to her face by gooey strings of sweet viscous syrup, Zhier had barely time to let out an exclamation of shock when tiny flakes of glitter drifted down from the sky, clinging to the syrup like glue. Soon enough, the MaiPon woman was sparkling all over—just as a smattering of beard hair drifted onto her, like white eiderdown.

A few murmured curses. “I think the payload’s faulty,” said the man.

“You think?” the lady replied. “She isn’t going to get it now!”

“Keep your skirts on,” the man retorted. “Ah, there it is! Launching beardnut!”

A hail of baked, chocolate-dipped beardnuts, still trailing long strands of white beard hair cascaded down onto Zhier. “Enjoy your beardnuts!”

This, it seemed, was most definitely not her week.
 

---

This last section of the write-up was brought to you by special and explicit request from Bort and Burnt, back from before MR7 was scheduled to begin. I hope this meets your expectations.

Jain was an Arbiter!

The Green Xienbei was a Striker Captain!

Wai ZhierSen was a Resealer!

Hreo was a Resealer!

Cycle Three begins now and will last 48 hours, ending on Sunday, 5th July at 11PM SGT. [=GMT +8]

 

Edited July 5, 2021 by Kasimir

[Kasimir]

1. Prior rule clarifications

2. Clarifications from Cycle Two

Cycle Three Clarifications:

-If a Rememberer stamps a Sibling with the Arbiter role, does this prevent the Sibling from being bribed out?
I am going to have to rule no, in order to be consistent with the ruling on the Bloodsealers. Faction transfer and Rememberer stamping occur simultaneously because they are within the same priority-bracket. The effect is that neither can affect the other, and the result would be that the Sibling would find themselves an Arbiter with their new Faction for the duration of the next cycle.
 
-Do kills happen simultaneously, or can lynching a Striker prevent them from killing?
It cannot. Once again, all kills take place within the same priority bracket and are ruled/considered to happen simultaneously.

-I’m just clarifying that the Teullu does not automatically kill a lyncher if lynched unless they specifically choose to protect themselves; removing one of their double lives does not trigger this.

Edited July 5, 2015 by Kasimir

[Bort]

I would just like to say that the beardnuts from the past were not responsible for Wai's death.

 

Edit: At least, I hope Kas isn't that evil

Edited July 3, 2015 by Bort

[Kasimir]

I would just like to say that the beardnuts from the past were not responsible for Wai's death.

 

Edit: At least, I hope Kas isn't that evil

No, it was a lone gunman

[Bort]

Seonid, would you like to comment on your having your Striker Captain lynched?

[Adamir]

Baatar gripped the chunk of metal in his hand between four sweating fingers. He had been born and raised in Jindo to a Rose Empire family, and had always thought that returning home would be something to enjoy. But no one had prepared him for this. He had experienced Arelish and Jindoeese politics. Systems that relied on blackmail and extortion, but systems where no matter what happened, you were sure to come out alive, if slightly poorer. But this... Damnation, when people played at Rose Empire politics, they died. What the in Domi's name was he doing here?

[Seonid]

Nope, not really. We gave emerald several hours in our doc to reply before we submitted their name in the thread. Emerald didn't participate at all last cycle, so we had no idea.

However, Bort, I do need you to confirm to me whether or not Wyrm was bribed last cycle.

[Bort]

I can confirm that. Did you get him?

 

Edit: Also, did you lose anyone to bribery?

Edited July 3, 2015 by Bort

[Seonid]

Nope. We tried to kill him.

 

First Discoverer, found.

[Araris Valerian]

Could you explain to me?

[Bort]

Nice! Good job Seonid and crew

[Seonid]

Simple. Because of the Sibling's message last cycle, we know Heritage bribed from us and where they went. We also know who we took. We also know who Glory took from us. We know that we targeted Wyrm last night, but he didn't die in the write up.

 

Therefore, I asked if Wyrm had been bribed. It was an innocent question, because Glory had no way of knowing who Heritage or Moderation had bribed. It's a reasonable assumption.

 

If no resealer protected him, and he's still alive, he must have 2 lives, so he's either Discovery or Teullu.

 

But since we know all 3 bribes, and Wyrm wasn't one of them, and since Wyrm isn't in the doc anymore (as confirmed by Bort), he must be Discovery.

 

EDIT: Bort, you mind sharing who Wilson had narrowed things down to? I think we're best having a Striker kill Wyrm and lynching one of Wilson's other targets.

 

I'm still planning on following Hero's plan. It seems the best way to find Discovery agents without forcing one faction into a desperate position where they might ally with Discovery. Which would end our chances of defeating them.

Edited July 3, 2015 by Seonid

[Bort]

Sorry Seonid, I believe you, but I do have to check...

 

Orlok, would you please confirm or deny Seonid's statements?

 

Edit: Seonid, I'll check last cycle's doc in a minute.

 

In the meantime though, something doesn't add up about the kills. There were four of them. Emerald, I assume was the lynch, which means that there were four kill attempts. The other three deceased, and Wyrm.

 

That means that either someone has multiple Striker Captains, or Emerald wasn't as absent as you thought and you used a MaiPon Forger. They are the only active kill roles in the game, unless I've missed something obvious. Was the MaiPon Forger the test you spoke of last cycle, to help confirm someone?

 

Edit 2: I know, there are other ways of killing someone in the game, but they all take either circumstance, or time to set up.

 

Kas, a rule clarification please. In the order of things, you have all of the different kills grouped together. What happens when one of the killers is lynched while they have a target? Does the kill still go through, or is it cancelled by the killer dying?

Edited July 3, 2015 by Bort

[Seonid]

No, the someone we were testing was a Bloodsealer, and they targeted Wyrm.

 

It might be worth it to post who left the faction docs, just to check if there are other spooked discoverers.

 

I don't know if Emerald got an action in, but it's possible. There might have been other Bloodsealers using their one-time kill early, to make sure they didn't die with it unused. Another reason to post who left faction docs and who joined.\

 

I don't like posting whole lists of factions, but the change in factions need to be tracked to catch the Discoverers.

[Bort]

The Bloodsealer requires two cycles to kill someone, so they couldn't have targeted Wyrm unless they actively blocked his actions last cycle. Also, they need a deceased player to reanimate. There were some created this write up, but I don't know if they need a corpse before the cycle ends.

 

Kas, another clarification here please?

 

Edit: Also, meant to say, Wilson's suspicions were for Pixie, Zas, Wyrm, and myself. At the end of the cycle, myself and Wilson had the doc to ourselves, in which we revealed our roles to each other, and she admitted that she was also suspicious of Kipper 'so still had four suspects'. I take it this means that my revealing my role to her meant she trusted me, or, at least, suspected others more.

Edited July 3, 2015 by Bort