Mid-Range Game 19: Return to Urithiru

[Silverblade5]

6 minutes ago, little wilson said:

The first post of the game, with the rules, will be updated to include quick links to all prior cycles. Rather than posting them in each writeup, you can check that first post and go from there. That first post also contains the player list.

Ah, good to know. Thanks.

[Jondesu]

2 hours ago, little wilson said:

The first post of the game, with the rules, will be updated to include quick links to all prior cycles. Rather than posting them in each writeup, you can check that first post and go from there. That first post also contains the player list.

For the lazy among us, you could put a link to that post in each cycle. 

I kid, I've got it saved.

Edit: Avoiding a double post and adding RP. This is just a gut read, not based on much in the way of specifics, but it's mostly tied to the way you were discussing our strategies, @Sart.

---

Quintus sighed and stood up reluctantly. "I hate the idea of having to resort to extreme measures, but with the growing hostilities here, I fear we'll have little choice. I don't know who here has malicious intent, or who follows that storming Diagram, but I know that of all of you, I'd feel safer without you around," turning to Sart and gesturing to him. "You seem knowledgeable and observant, but your desires here seem dangerous to me. If we must remove someone from our company today, I'd feel more secure without you here."

Edited January 4, 2017 by Jondesu

[Young Bard]

I think I'll poke-vote Drought.

Alright, time to post some strategies:

Bondsmith - My advice? Start PM's with yourself and two players you trust most in the first couple cycles - claim early, use your Adhesion ability to prove to both your targets you're telling the truth. I'll be very annoyed if someone claims Bondsmith just as they're about to get lynched, and then they get lynched because no-one believes them. If one or both the people you claimed to die later on, repeat the process. Your primary goal is to stay alive - avoid the Diagrammists as well as you can, but tell everyone else your win con (easier said than done, I know).

Edgedancer - Your friction ability is our best chance of finding a Diagrammist - if the Diagrammists are so nice as to label their PM's as such. Don't claim immediately (which might be a bit late, I know...) - wait 3 cycles or so, targeting a different person each cycle. Once you've done that, offer up what you've seen to your captain/commander/leader (hope that none of them are Diagrammists :/ - I'm not sure how to fix that... Restares/Thaidakar should eventually be able to see whether any of those players should not have PM's together. Although, now I think about it... it's quite likely Wilson would have put a Diagrammist in your chain of command to prevent this exact thing, so... I don't know. Maybe just try and work out as many Diagrammists as you can... Hmmm... Dunno. Wilson, are Edgedancers allowed to self protect? Can they use both actions on the same night? The final option, where the Edgedancer reveals and then hopes that another protect role is protecting them, makes me extremely nervous. I wouldn't put it past Wilson to leave out protect roles or something just to defy expectations... (I mean, the chances of that are extraordinarily unlikely, but it could happen...)

I don't have any ideas for you for Progression, sorry. Just... try to keep people alive, I guess.

I just discovered that I have to do something now with no notice, so I'll leave this here for now. I think I'll be able to get to all of the Radiant Roles at least tonight, but I'm not sure about the minor roles. Sorry I couldn't do more... Anyway, bye for now.

[Arinian]

I looked on that loud crowd, they shout, accused everyone in all sins that they know. Some of them muttered something not understandable at all.

"You know guys you can kill whom you want, except me ofcourse cause I'm the good guy." I took a few steps toward the door." Oh and I not gonna sit there with you cause I will go mad if will hear your screams little bit longer. If there will be some need in my presence you always can find me in closest tavern, probably I gonna lie drunken under the table." With these words I left.

So I gonna just agree with Joe I'm not gonna take part in first day lynch, this game looks like there much more better ways to find elims and lynch now not gonna do nothing good. 

[manukos]

4 hours ago, Ecthelion III said:

@Amanuensis "Thoughts on the crowd? Do you mean to say you want me to analyze everyone, at this point in the game? Your mind must be addled. Here, have some coffee. It'll get your head feeling clearer in no time."

Davis drained his cup, and as he did, a piece of metal clinked against his teeth. He reached in and pulled it out. "Hey, was anyone looking for this? I almost swallowed it! That would have been really bad..."

That is an interesting way of spiking people which I haven't considered 

@The Young Bard I agree with most things you say but I believe that each radiant can only use one ability per cycle 

as for the no cook kills that I saw above , if they want to avoid the inactivity filter they will have to use there ability , if not this cycle then the next , but there is no way to avoid it while we still don't have a lot of info

[TheMightyLopen]

Usually I like to have Day 1 lynches because it makes a good starting point for the next couple Cycles, but, it's almost the end of the Cycle(for me, it probably is as I'm going to sleep and probably won't be around when the Cycle ends ) and I don't see any good lynch targets. 1. I don't have any suspicions big enough to want to lynch. 2. There hasn't been any players focused on in discussion that we would want to lynch for information. And 3. I don't want to risk hitting a teammate right now.

Sorry I wasn't much help this Cycle. I just kept getting distracted by different things and never got the time to sit down and really analyze anything. I jotted down some "feelings" for some players, but those are probably worthless.  If I survive this Cycle, I'll try to help get the 2nd Cycle off to a fast start if I can.

@Conquestor, I'd appreciate it if you removed the vote on me(unless you actually want to lynch me). If I remember correctly there's some vote manipulations in this game and if they happen to be in the Diagrammists hands, I'd hate to end up getting lynched by a harmless poke vote.

[Doc12]

Silence said nothing. He rarely put his opinions outright. He waited, he smiled. But he watched. He watched, and he took notes. 

The day had started innocently enough. As the hubbub in the market stall had died down, Sart had been the first to speak, threatening to hang Bzeth unless he spoke. A typical start to a day in Urithiru, he was sure. Then Seonid had spoken up, stating the possibility of the two factions hidden among the crowd, and the evil third faction, to win together with the help of a Bondsmith.  The question of whether allying themselves with...the other faction, and the diagrammists, guided by this Bondsmith, was picked up by Ryth, and after that, everyone who spoke had an opinion on whether a truce would be negotiated, or a time and place for all to die. This discussion had then been brought to an abrupt halt by Sani, who had reminded the listeners that this plan would require total honestly among all three factions. Hah. What do the Ghostbloods/Sons of Honor/Diagrammists know of honesty? They were secret societies. There was also the fact that this plan would require each faction to sacrifice some of their number to achieve this goal. And so, the discussion mostly stopped.

Secondly, the question of how each faction would have been organized in terms of numbers was brought up, first by Drak, although it mostly went unremarked on until Seonid picked it up. This line of thought had also been rapidly picked up by the other people here, as everyone gave their thoughts on this math. This was until the Lady Berelen noted that this discussion was irrelevant and distracting, and the discussion stopped.

After that, discussions of note would have been Davis and Sani having a discussion on the merits of having a hanging this early, after some people expressed doubts on their ability to analyze, namely Seonid and Mr. Hoid. There was also a brief conversation on the abilities of each rank to create messages to those under them when Ryth misunderstood some rule. Finally, Velez had given some ideas on how each faction may set their Radiants to find the Diagrammists. 

Trusts. Who could he trust? He did not even know if he could trust his commander, with the possibility that someone in the higher ranks was a spy. But for now, as he watched the crowd mill around, he decided that he was inclined to trust Sani and lady Berelen, for their recognization of distracting topics and heading them off. In terms of advice, Sani had been one of the most outspoken, joining in on every discussion and giving practical advice.  Velez, too, has been the first to actually give advice to the people around on how best to find the Diagrammists. His ideas were sound, and would even serve to cripple the diagrammist's organization. And so Silence was inclined to trust Velez.

As for things he had noticed. He had noticed the attention on Nelop. Lady Berelen had first called him out for lurking in the shadows, and soon after that Drake had thrown a vote on him. It was interesting to note. Of course, Lady Berelen had called out several other lurkers. It was just curious that this newcomer, Drake, would settle on him as well. For now, he would only watch Lady Berelen and Drake. He had no particular thoughts on Ryth. It had not been Ryth who had first started the Bondsmith discussion, but rather Seonid. He did not understand why it was on Ryth that the others were focusing on. Quintus...why had he voted on Sart? From his memory, Sart had only spoken twice, once in the morning to poke Bzeth, and once again to defend the intentions (or lack thereof) behind that vote. There seemed to be no reason to vote for the man at all! 

And now, finally, as his thoughts gathered, he decided he would vote. Yes, he would vote on the person that had headed two of the distracting topics that day, the Bondsmith victory and the organization within each faction. Once was a forgivable mistake. Twice could be coincidence. But in a time where no one could trust each other, he supposed that coincidence was better than nothing. 

Finally, finally he opened his mouth. "I will vote on Seonid," 

Then he retreated back to watch. 

[Amanuensis]

Once again, Berilen found herself listening more often than talking. Though her adopted father made sure she received a thorough education, she rarely had the opportunity to practice social interactions beyond that. These last three years had undoubtedly improved her conversational skills, though due to her vast distrust of strangers, it didn't seem to be helping here. Many of these people, especially that woman, Sani, had been making valid points. When a man called Uther followed up on a comment she made regarding Nelop, Berilen raised her eyebrow curiously. Was he trying to get on her good side, or just following his own lead? Considering the options for a moment, Berilen shrugged. With the sun descending towards the horizon more rapidly than before, the young girl decide she had to act fast, if she wanted to gather any more information for the day.

"I did not expect you to analyze everyone, Davis (Ecth). But no one person can see everything, and you seem the observant type. Like I mentioned with Drak being present one second and then completely vanished the next, or Nelop writing and passing notes, I hoped you might have saw I might have missed, and wanted to hear more. If all you honestly have to offer is those comments on Ryth, I guess I was wrong about you.

"Quintus (Jondesu), was it? Your attempts to bring the shier individuals into our conversation earlier was admirable, but I can't help but ask... Why do you think "we must remove someone from our company today"? Doesn't it make more sense to wait for our leadership to establish communications? The more I consider your words, the harder I find it to ignore the possibility that you're making a clever attempt to hide your bloodthirst behind unrealistic obligations. Surely we can all agree to Sani's plea for temporary peace?"

A sudden, frigid breeze swept through the market, sending Berilen's black curls into a flurry of motion and causing her flesh to prickle up with hundreds of bumps. A coincidence, or an omen? Feeling paranoid, she glanced towards a man who just spoke against Seonid. She'd heard no mention of his name, but the best word she could use to describe the imposing figure was stoic. When he spoke, it reminded her of the earth sighing after a particularly rough storm. Berilen sneezed, likely due to some kind of allergen that was carried on the wind, but she remembered an old superstition about someone talking about you behind your back, prompting her stomach to return to its previous, uneasy state. Clutching her gut, she hoped no one noticed her moment of weakness, though she did wish she had a Surgeon to look her over right about then.

Spoiler

 

 

 

(2) Sart: Kipper, Jondesu, 

(1) Berenion: Sart, 

(1) TheMightyLopen: Conquestor, 

(1) Silverblade5: Ecthelion III, 

(1) Assassin in Burgundy: Drake Marshall, 

(1) DroughtBringer: The Young Bard, 

(1) Seonid: Doc12, 

(1) Jondesu: Amanuensis, 

 

Edited January 4, 2017 by Amanuensis

[manukos]

thanks for the vote tally @Amanuensis 

 

[Seonid]

@Doc12

I've already defended myself against the charge of distracting from meaningful discussion - and, to be clear, I do not consider discussion about the bondsmith win condition to be a distraction, especially not on day 1 - but I'll respond to your slightly more nuanced charge.

To my understanding, your accusation, and the accusation of Aman before, is that by bringing up the things I have talked about, I am distracting from the lynch. The implication is that this is something a diagrammist would do, because they want to disrupt lynches.

I've been an eliminator before, and - with the exception of the time when my compatriot was already up for the lynch - I've always been a fan of the d1 lynch. As a villager, I've had reservations, but as an eliminator, I've quite enjoyed that the d1 lynch does my work for me.

If I were an eliminator now, I wouldn't be attempting to draw the village away from lynch discussion, I'd be encouraging it. Especially in a faction game, where I can rely on faction rivalries to influence lynch votes. Especially on d1, when lines of communication are not yet up, and i might even be able to get people to lynch someone from their own faction. With luck, it could even be one of their important roles/ranks.

Remember, this is a faction game. There is no village. Only half of the players can theoretically be relied on to share your interests, and in practice, likely as low as 8 of the 20. Could even be less, if there's an asymmetric distribution of diagrammists among us. The rules that make sense in a standard game - like always having d1 lynches, like lynch discussion always give useful information - don't necessarily hold here.

After all, there are going to be players who defend each other - because they belong to the same faction. And voting to lynch someone could just as easily be a player trying to remove someone on the other faction.

The most important thing we can do today is get in contact with our faction via our rank PMs.

[Ecthelion III]

@Amanuensis "Over the course of my long life, I have learned to not put all my cards on the table at once. I've found that those who are too helpful, or get too close to the truth..." Davis ran a finger across his neck.

[Amanuensis]

18 minutes ago, Ecthelion III said:

 

 

 

 

 

@Amanuensis "Over the course of my long life, I have learned to not put all my cards on the table at once. I've found that those who are too helpful, or get too close to the truth..." Davis ran a finger across his neck.

Berilen frowned. It was this sort of thinking that made her lose faith in humanity. What good is self-preservation if the world's going to end anyway? Disappointed, she replied with a simple "I see..." and stepped away from the market, finding something that resembled a bench, but if it was meant to be one, it was the most blocky, uncomfortable bench she'd ever sat on. Resigned, she peered into the distance, at the churning sky beyond the immaculate towers, down at the steep cliffs jutting below.

How could a child be brave when even the adults were afraid?

At that moment, she wondered where the Radiants were. Surely they would be able to convince these people that if everyone refuses to "lay their cards out on the table," that they'll get nowhere while their enemies plot and come out on top. Inaction only leads to more inaction. And as tempting as keeping yourself from painting a target on your back might be, that only narrows the Diagrammist's options to those who are confident enough to make a stand. Once those people were gone, who would step up then?

Berilen feared nobody would.

She barely felt the tear caress her cheek.

Edited January 4, 2017 by Amanuensis

[Jondesu]

@Amanuensis, I don't feel like RPing this answer, so I'll just say that the only reason I felt we needed to vote was to avoid the Diagrammists coming in and either vote maniping or just plain casting votes and getting rid of someone close to the end of the cycle.  We've got too many people with just one vote.

[Berenion]

Bezth sits under a shade in the corner of the market place. Among the adults there are children here too, and looking at them, Bezth's mind starts drift back to the life he had with his family - his wife and his daughter... No, he can not bear those thoughts. They are too much for him, and he pushes them away. He keeps his head in his hands and clenches his hair from the sides, swearing again and again that he would avenge his daughter. Bring the one responsible to justice. But to get there he has to get rid of the Diagrammists that are hiding among his allies.

He lifts his head and looks at the crowd. He's been observing them, seeing them point fingers at each other. Even he has been pointed at, by that person named Sart, and he is uncertain as to what he should do about it, given there isn't anything that he can do about it. 

Night has almost arrived, so Bezth decides to take a look at everyone the next day, when he's had some rest and hopefully and little more observation. 

[little wilson]

There is a little over one hour left in the cycle!

[Amanuensis]

37 minutes ago, Jondesu said:

@Amanuensis, I don't feel like RPing this answer, so I'll just say that the only reason I felt we needed to vote was to avoid the Diagrammists coming in and either vote maniping or just plain casting votes and getting rid of someone close to the end of the cycle.  We've got too many people with just one vote.

Berilen considered Quintus' words thoughtfully. What he said made sense, in retrospect. But why didn't he make that clear to begin with? If he was really so afraid of the Diagrammist's manipulations, why not warn others, rather than act on his own? She decided then that her concerns were not assuaged, and thus decided to speak no further. At least until she was approached. Measuring the distance from the sun to the horizon with her hand, she sighed. Only a finger and a fourth left. Since arriving in Urithiru, she had never cared to watch the sunset. Today, she was determined to see it through. Not that she didn't listen for footsteps, or occasionally glance behind her back. There were too many enemies about, after all, and like always, never enough allies.

Edited January 4, 2017 by Amanuensis

[A Joe in the Bush]

After a quick discussion with my commanding officer, I am going to vote for Lopen. Lopen and Sart are now tied with two votes each. Obviously this means Sart is one of my teamamtes and Lopen is not.

[Young Bard]

Continuing on to where I was before...

Lightweavers - Not too many ideas here. I'd suggest doing a pointless vote manip. this cycle so we know how many of you there are totally. I'd suggest performing your action swap from someone you trust to someone you don't trust... I feel like I've badgered Wilson with enough questions, but here's one more... What happens if a Lightweaver redirects a scan/PM reading role? Is the scanner told they were redirected, and if so, to whom? Are they still told the scan results of the new player? If you could accidentally alter a scan or PM reading role, then I don't think you should use your action redirection without very good reasons. Where there are cycles with a clear majority, stack up the votes to be doubly sure they get lynched, etc. If you have information that the thread doesn't know, you should act on it, but don't do it recklessly based on mild hunches.

Elsecallers - Seriously, if you start messing with dead players alignments, I'll assume the worst - that you're a Diagrammist. Aside from at least one PM maker, I think this is the most likely Diagrammist role in the game. Dual protect/information hider - it's a Diagrammists best friend. If you are by some miracle a village Elsecaller, then stick with protecting your most trusted villager each cycle. Whatever you do, don't hide a players alignment.

Surgeon - No real advice... Do your thing - remember to send in actions. Whatever kind of player I think the Diagrammists will attack, they'll change their tactics to avoid attacking one I post, so there's no net gain.

Runner - If you know an Edgedancer, team up with them to get words between them and the leader of their faction directly, because its the easiest way to test PM's between players. Also the other role that I most suspect is Diagramm-y, seeing as the Diagram doesn't start with a Doc, they'll need a Runner to communicate (or else dupe the Bondsmith into linking them up, but I think it's a bit unlikely for Wilson to expect that...)

Artifabrian - Save it for the late game, I think. This is handy as a protect role if you think a villager with a useful role is about to get attacked - but it only works once. I think throwing it away in the early game is a mistake.

Ardent - Same deal as the Lightweavers. Do something that doesn't affect the lynch this cycle (bit late now, I know... Sorry :/ ) to let us know you're there, then try and prevent vote manips if you can. Only actually change the result if you're sure that what you're doing is right.

Cook - I'm... honestly not sure about this. Part of me thinks it would be contradictory to support a lynch and not a vig kill, but... you don't learn as much about players opinions from vig kills. In the end, I think it comes down to how good your intuition has been historically, and how strongly you think you're right.

Veristapodifjasfum Scholars (seriously, how do you spell that...) - Is this a counter to the Elsecallers? I'm not sure I understand what good this does. Scan the dead, I suppose... If this is a role, then I'm basically now 100% certain that at least one Elsecaller is an Eliminator.

Explorer - send in actions & stay alive, I guess.

The non-assassinating Assassin - Hmmm... Interesting stuff. I'd like to think about this one some more, but I won't post before rollover if I do it now. So, sorry, and IOU right now. :/

Sorry this whole list wasn't as informative as I was hoping - I think I probably raced through the second half too quickly to be useful, but hopefully this will at least help some of the newer players, and the Radiants, who are the most important roles, at least.

If it isn't clear, I am going for the Primary win con first and foremost. That doesn't mean I won't search the other sides team for Diagrammists first (), but I do think that that was the problem with LG23 - everybody ignored the larger threat to stop the smaller one. From what I've seen, MR10 had a similar issue.

[Young Bard]

Oh, also Sart, because I just said I was going to go hunting for Diagrammists on the other team first, and I know Lopen, at least, is on my team, so... Sorry Sart... And Wilson, I guess, for a last minute change to the lynch. (I'll warn you if I do that again, Wilson - kind of ran out of time today.)

[Amanuensis]

Berilen felt as if someone was watching her and craned her neck to see who. Everyone's attention seemed elsewhere, but she could have swore she saw that man with the "dead eye" looking in her direction, if only for a fraction of a second. Why hadn't he spoken up more, and why was he scanning the market so thoughtfully now? Suddenly she wished she organized her thoughts ahead of time, so that in case she did not live to see the next sunrise, she could leave some wisdom behind. Much too late for that. Turning back towards the horizon, she crossed her fingers. 

[little wilson]

The Cycle is over!

[little wilson]

 

Cycle 2: Honour is Dead

Naturally, everyone had decided to not stay at the same place when they could go. And while I could tell you all about what each individual did, I’m only going to focus on a few others instead. Wouldn’t want to bore all of you too much with this writeup, now would I?

 

So first up the block, we got Kipper. He might be dying right now, but he still has a story to hear, and it kinda is your duty to listen to him, so I can keep my job as a news reporter.

 

STINK: So Kip, how’d you get in this situation?

Kip: Well STINK, after everyone split up I thought I’d taste some of the local cuisine, you know? Take a nice break, maybe get a drink too and then get to all the stuff that needs to be done.

STINK: Sounds like a good plan so far. What went wrong?

Kip: I got to the first bit of my grand idea, that being the food, and found this lovely stall just around the corner from where I started that had the nicest smelling food I’ve ever well, smelt. Won’t find it now though, owner’s probably long gone.

STINK: Oh really? Why’d that be?

Kip: For the same reason I expect most murderers to leave the crime scene?

STINK: Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?

Kip: If you’re getting the impression that my food may have been poisoned, then you’d be getting exactly what I’m suggesting.

STINK: But how do you think they managed to get away then? Is the law enforcement in Urithiru not effective enough?

Kip: You think I care? Get outta here already would ya! I got barely any minutes left to live and you’re shoving your microphone right where it shouldn’t be!

STINK: Alright then, thank you for answering my questions, sir.

 

Well he was a bit of a rude one near the end wasn’t he? Anyway, we’re not done with the news report yet! (Don’t ask me when I was hired, don’t think I’d be able to answer)

 

STINK: And now I’m being told that Wilson has an urgent news update to do with another death in the city!

Wilson: Indeed, STINK. We have just received reports that someone has been caught in a vicious attack. Unfortunately, that is the only information we have right now, but we promise that we will have more later.

 

The next day…

 

Wilson: Good Morning Urithiru! I’m your host Wilson.

Orlok: And I’m your co-host Orlok, and together we’ll be bringing you the latest news.

Wilson: First up we have more information about the vicious attack that happened yesterday, the main one being that the victim was a ‘Mr Hoid’.

Orlok: And not only that, but police also seem to think that the victim was nearly defenestrated! The closest window to the body had cracks in such a manner that it suggested that the victim was pushed into it, but managed to recover.

Wilson: So instead, the victim died to an unknown weapon. We have someone on the scene of the crime to describe the most peculiar thing about this case, though. So, STINK, could you tell us more?

STINK: Well you see the weirdest thing about the case is that when the corpse was found there were also many circles and diagrams drawn around the corpse, and no-one is really quite sure why but Another thing about the case is that I have had no sleep whatsoever because I am apparently the sole reporter allowed to go out to places and am only staying awake through many many many drugs of various sorts but I can’t really say that can I oh is this being aired live well then time to find another job maybe I could be a good cook?

 

-

 

Lopon/TheMightyLopen (2): Mr. Hoid, Sani Joslin
Sart (2): Velez, Quintus

Quintus/Jondesu (2): Kipper, Berilen Leiken
Nelop/Assassin in Burgundy (1): Uther
Bezth/Berenion (1): Sart
Ryth/Silverblade (1): Davis
Seonid (1): Doc

 

Kipper (Kipper) was poisoned! He was a Son of Honour!

Mr. Hoid (Conquestor) was killed! He was a Son of Honour!

Lopon (TheMightyLopen) was lynched! He was a Son of Honour!

 

[A Joe in the Bush]

Where did Kipper's Vote go? Should we assume that was an Ardent/Lightweaver, or was that a mistake?

[little wilson]

8 minutes ago, A Joe in the Bush said:

Where did Kipper's Vote go? Should we assume that was an Ardent/Lightweaver, or was that a mistake?

It's fixed now. I forgot to include the votes on Jondesu in the writeup lynch count.

[A Joe in the Bush]

Was Kipper killed by a Cook?