Long Game 30: Journey Before Destination

[Jondesu]

@Amanuensis, it's worth seeing if you'll clarify, then: was Ralaanar's cloak catching fire meant to indicate a failed attack, or was it just flavor within the story?

EDIT: I've been in contact with Drake as well as with some of those he'd contacted prior to being put in jail or who have also reached out.  He is…convincing to a large degree, and seems relatively genuine, but I'll admit to being a lot less trusting than I was before the AG ended.  For now, my vote is going to stand, but I'm giving it close consideration.  I think it might be worth the risk of him being Honorable to prove or disprove his story with an execution in this case, though I wish I knew Mage's alignment (since he's one of the strong contenders to get the Dustbringer spren if Drake does have it and loses it to death or imprisonment).

I think it's worth noting that it's unlikely that we'll reach a consensus to pardon him, and leaving him in jail is a bad idea either way, so unless we see a strong move to pardon him, I would urge those currently voting that way to reconsider.  We must be decisive, after all, so if we leave with a hung jury, we'll be worse off than either other choice.

EDIT 2: I'll be doing more RP in the morning hopefully.  We seem to have lost some of the drive we had for the chasmfiend and voidbringers sequences, understandably since we don't have the same cool prompt here, but I think we can do better than we have been.  Let's make something interesting happen!

Edited February 23, 2017 by Jondesu
Added new info since no one else had posted

[Ecthelion III]

Greetings! I trust you are well. I write to you with good news and bad news. I’ll start with the bad news, as you always have liked me to.

(Since Araon hasn't been on yet, I'll assume my little bribe was successful and I have made it to Bridge One along with Jonly, Kintas, Ranatar, Sareth, and Rea.)

Bridge One began to move, and slowly the bridge formed. Fifth was not the only one who was confused. Despite this, the bridge came together and the army crossed. Then the bridge had to be taken up again and moved to the next chasm....

He fell into the rhythm of marching, lowering, shoving the bridge across, then picking it up and repeating, with the extra steps used for Dalinar's bridges, but unlike some others, he knew he didn't have to worry about becoming worn out. His bag of focus coins had served that purpose. He had played terribly when gambling yesterday, true, but that was all part of his plan. The coins, cleverly disguised as spheres, had found their way into the pockets of more than a few of the Initiates, where they could now serve as Investiture Links, providing Fifth with substantial amounts of Stormlight--more than enough for this menial physical labor.

The group paused for a moment as one of Dalinar's scouts sent a party down a rope ladder to investigate the chasm floor. The party returned with little news: bodies from the flood, but no sign of Kaladin. With a sigh, Fifth continued. He wasn't tired per se, but there were much better things he could be doing than this aimless wandering.

As the day wore on, Fifth became more and more discouraged. If only someone could find a breakthrough--

"“I’ve found a shard-blade cut!" Ranatar cried. "It looks recent!"

Laughing at this turn of fortune, Fifth ran over to the crack, which ran completely straight, starting about two meters to his left and running another three meters to his right, where it ended at an indentation in the wall. This must have been left behind by Captain Kaladin in the battle with the Voidbringers, he thought. Are there other marks we could follow? Could we use them as guideposts, or a compass...

...this must have been left behind by Captain Kaladin in the battle...

...left behind by Captain Kaladin...

...left behind...

A memory of the voice, PRIME's voice, came back to him. "USING THE FOCUS OF SOMETHING YOUR TARGET HAS LEFT BEHIND, YOU CAN ESTABLISH A MEMORY LINK, WHICH GRANTS ACCESS TO THE MEMORIES OF THE CONNECTED INDIVIDUAL."

...THE FOCUS OF SOMETHING YOUR TARGET HAS LEFT BEHIND...

That's it! Kaladin and his spren may have just left us the greatest clue as to their whereabouts! Provided, at least, that the Memory Link shows us what it needs to. Those links have never been reliable. But storm it, it's worth a shot.

"Does anyone have a tool that can make marks on stone?" Fifth called. "A chisel, perhaps?"

One of his bridgemates broke out into laughter. "You think that crazy sorcery of yours is going to find Kaladin for us? Fat chance!"

Fifth shot that person a cool half-smile. "We'll see who's laughing after I point out the exact plateau where he fled after the storm...!"

[Darkness Ascendant]

Lopen cleared it up with me thanks

Edited February 23, 2017 by Darkness Ascendant

[Amanuensis]

11 hours ago, Arinian said:

If Windrunner blocks kill it also will be mentioned in write up?

Depends on the circumstances, really. I won't guarantee that every time a Surge is used, it will appear in the write up. However if you see something unusual happen that can only be explained with a Surge, then you can probably interpret that's why.

10 hours ago, Jondesu said:

 

@Amanuensis, it's worth seeing if you'll clarify, then: was Ralaanar's cloak catching fire meant to indicate a failed attack, or was it just flavor within the story?

See above.

[DeTess]

Well, since the other bridges have been rather silent, it's up to Bridge One to save the day.

"Does anyone have a tool that can make marks on stone?" Fifth called. "A chisel, perhaps?"

Ranatar looked aside to the initiate that had joined him. The man had had a variety of tricks up his sleeve during the previous days battles. at first Ranatar had thought that he must have been a shardbearer, but the weapons had behaved like mundane ones after he had seemingly pulled them out of thin air. Given how little Ranatar knew of his capabilities, he might as well decide to humor the nameless man. He certainly seemed confident that he could somehow use the cut to locate Kaladin.

Ranatar pulled a dagger from his belt and held it out to the man. "Will this do?"

I might as well put a vote in. Hopefully that'll get others to consider doing so as well. Unfortunately, I don't have any solid leads, so for now I'll cast my vote on Shqueeves, for pretty much the same reasons as arinian. If someone has a better target (or if @Shqueeves has a good defense), I'll be open to switching, of course.

[Arinian]

All what I can advice for now is we keep Drake in prison but Stoneward or Elsecaller protects him. So I changing my vote on Quiver maybe we really will get something from that.

And voting for Alv's imprisoning. 

Why? Cause right now I'm sure there was 2 attacks on Rae Drake's attack was blocked by Windrunner that what I think, but elims wasting 2 attacks on Rae only cause she said that she was going for Edgedancer... mehh... I don't believe in that.

Probably I shouldn't vote on Alv cause if Quiver is elim then Alv probably not, but gut read says that I should vote for Alv. Maybe I will rethink all this later but now that it so.

Quote

I might as well put a vote in. Hopefully that'll get others to consider doing so as well. Unfortunately, I don't have any solid leads, so for now I'll cast my vote on Shqueeves, for pretty much the same reasons as arinian. If someone has a better target (or if @Shqueeves has a good defense), I'll be open to switching, of course.

Ninjad by randuir .

Edited February 23, 2017 by Arinian

[DeTess]

14 minutes ago, Arinian said:

All what I can advice for now is we keep Drake in prison but Stoneward or Elsecaller protects him. 

I don't think that's a good idea. Drake has indicated through Doc12 that he'd lose his role next cycle, so keeping him imprisoned will only result in dustbringer getting loose again, and potentially ending (again) with an elim. It's better to just execute him in that case, so we know his alignment and can make decisions based on that. If you don't believe in his guilt, it's better to join the vote for pardon. 

Edited February 23, 2017 by randuir

[TheMightyLopen]

Yeah, I'm kinda confused by all of this, so I'm gonna keep my execution vote on Drake because I'd like some solid information for once. When weird stuff is going on, I tend to choose the safe route.  Sorry Drake, especially if you're an Honorable. Of course, if everyone decides to pardon him and my vote is needed, I'd probably switch it over to a pardon, but I think I'd prefer an execution.

And I'll hop on the Shqueeves lynch. It's late enough now, and he's been inactive/lurking enough where I won't feel guilty for killing a newbie. >.>

I'm hoping to get back to doing RP tomorrow. I know I've fallen behind.

[Shqueeves]

Wow, I go to bed and come back to the beginnings of a bandwagon vote on me. Sorry for lurking, I've barely had any time to even read what's been going on. My schedule will clear up a little over the next few days, so I'll be a little more active. 

As for the thing with Drake, we have Drake claiming to be the Dustbringer. If that's the case, then pardoning him would be the best plan, if only to keep track of that spren. Of course, he might be Unjust, but that could be easily discovered if he ever uses his abilities. If we kill him, we give the Unjust another chance to become Dustbringer, but we gain information. 

These facts leave me undecided on what to do. Leaving Drake in jail, however, doesn't seem to be a good option. I'm currently undecided. I'll make a decision when I have some time to think about it. 

[Magestar]

21 hours ago, Doc12 said:

The only way we have of keeping the spren where it is is by pardoning him. We have two choices here, either to both pardon him, and Stoneward or Elsecall him, if possible, or execute/do nothing and run the risk of an Unjust getting that spren. We'd get information about his death, sure, and seeing as Mage has publicly claimed to be aiming for Dustbringer, we would be reasonably sure where it ends up. 

...This is why you don't claim in thread, Mage. 

I was just trying to help.  

I'm going to put a vote on Drake.  My reasons are totally not selfish or anything.  

---

Begin RP.

Balthazar looked up.  He was beginning to feel the effects of the.. the what?  Oh yeah, drink, and an odd, yes, an odd, fuzzy feeling had permeated – Oh, that's a nice word – his mind.  His mixture must have... must have... whatsit, reacted, yes, that's it, reacted oddly with whatever liquor he had been drinking.   And now there was this man in front of him, and he had, he had a strange expression on his, whatsis, it's got a mouth in, oh right, face.  He was looking at... who was he?  Yes, Balthazar, that was his name, the man was looking at Balthazar oddly, and he didn't like that at all.  

Balthazar's mind reeled, trying to take in the information, and when met with a problem, it took the obvious route.   Balthazar decked him.

When he, yes, his name was still Balthazar, unfortunately, woke up, he was being shaken roughly.  Quickly, he inhaled some stormlight, and, miraculously, all remnant of the drink was instantly washed away.  He grinned.

"Get up, man!"  said the soldier, who was awakening him "The other initiates are at the bridges already!  They're heading to the shattered planes!"

End RP.

I appear to have a bit to catch up on.   I'll try to be with the bridge crews by the end of the day.

[Jondesu]

RP still to come (gotta figure out the best way to add some excitement without bringing back the Voidbringers or another chasmfiend), but I have decided that even though I pushed strongly for his imprisonment, I have been convinced by Drake and those who have talked to him that he likely is indeed an Honorable Dustbringer, and the potential damage if we're wrong but pardon him is less significant than if we let that Dustbringer spren go free and an Unjust gets it, and we either execute Drake or leave him. We have to execute or pardon him no matter what, this cycle, or we both lose information and that spren, so I'm changing my vote and I'm going to vote we pardon Drake. It's a risk no matter what, but I think this is the more acceptable risk.

[Doc12]

(RP to be edited in tomorrow, I'm just too sleepy now)

Right, to all of you fine members of Bridge 2, Hithon has taken an unexpected trip to Shadesmar, so he won't be joining you for a bit  Feel free to do a search for him, but you probably won't find him until I manage to get back. 

-On the Shqueeve lynch-

Why Shqueeves? Now that Shqueeves has posted, are you going to remove your votes? 

-Mage votes on Drake-

Ha. Mage, that's why I didn't bother PMing you with Drake's plea yesterday  

-On Drake's fate-

At this point, I would suggest those suspicious of Drake's innocence to actually start a PM with him. This afternoon he sent me a boatload of calculations on the expected impact of killing or pardoning him, which really have to be seen to be believed. Drake, if you're reading this, I confess that some of the calculations went over my head, but you're amazing  He concluded with a bottom line that if we believe that there's an 85% chance he's innocent, we need to pardon him. If not, then we should execute him. Seriously, PM him for the calculations. 

While Drake has almost fully convinced me of his innocence, the village doesn't seem headed for a pardon anytime soon, and as Jondesu said, we want to avoid a hung jury. So. I suppose I would have to -

Ninjaed

Oh hey, Jon switched his vote! Right. My vote to pardon Drake remains where it is. For those who are unsure, I recommend you start a PM with Drake. 
 

It's. 2AM, and I really can't think of much to say right now, so I'll. come back tomorrow, yeah?

Goodnight. 

[Arinian]

19 minutes ago, Jondesu said:

RP still to come (gotta figure out the best way to add some excitement without bringing back the Voidbringers or another chasmfiend), but I have decided that even though I pushed strongly for his imprisonment, I have been convinced by Drake and those who have talked to him that he likely is indeed an Honorable Dustbringer, and the potential damage if we're wrong but pardon him is less significant than if we let that Dustbringer spren go free and an Unjust gets it, and we either execute Drake or leave him. We have to execute or pardon him no matter what, this cycle, or we both lose information and that spren, so I'm changing my vote and I'm going to vote we pardon Drake. It's a risk no matter what, but I think this is the more acceptable risk.

I don't think that we can get 14 votes to pardon him in so short time.

Sorry Drake, you just was unlucky.

I will put my vote on  Shqueeves(yes again).  I really don't know on whom to vote. Probably I want to see Alv in prison(only for reason if Drake will be revealed as villager) but I doubt that Alv will collect more votes on him till the end of cycle(and there vote manipulator who trusts in Alv) so Shqueeves.

2 minutes ago, Doc12 said:

 

-On Drake's fate-

At this point, I would suggest those suspicious of Drake's innocence to actually start a PM with him. This afternoon he sent me a boatload of calculations on the expected impact of killing or pardoning him, which really have to be seen to be believed. Drake, if you're reading this, I confess that some of the calculations went over my head, but you're amazing  He concluded with a bottom line that if we believe that there's an 85% chance he's innocent, we need to pardon him. If not, then we should execute him. Seriously, PM him for the calculations. 

While Drake has almost fully convinced me of his innocence, the village doesn't seem headed for a pardon anytime soon, and as Jondesu said, we want to avoid a hung jury. So. I suppose I would have to -

Ninjaed

Oh hey, Jon switched his vote! Right. My vote to pardon Drake remains where it is. For those who are unsure, I recommend you start a PM with Drake. 
 

It's. 2AM, and I really can't think of much to say right now, so I'll. come back tomorrow, yeah?

Goodnight. 

As I said I doubt that Drake will get enough votes(14) to pardon him(on previous cycle we even didn't get enough votes to execute Quiver) so I will keep my vote on his execution. I will try to look through thread before rollover(but I'm not sure) and maybe will change my vote.

[DeTess]

15 minutes ago, Doc12 said:

-On the Shqueeve lynch-

Why Shqueeves? Now that Shqueeves has posted, are you going to remove your votes.

I'll (re)move my vote once he's actually voted on the pardon/execution of drake. As I see it right now, we need to do one or another, as a stalemate will almost cetainly only benefit the elims, since it frees up dustbringer and gives us no info. Therefore, anyone who is aware of the situations but refuses to vote one way or another will seem somewhat suspicious.

Once shqueeves votes, I'll probably move my vote to someone else who is remaining indecisive on this matter.

I've also PM'd Drake, as I'm curious to see his calculations, and it might sway me to vote for his pardon instead.

[Jondesu]

25 minutes ago, Arinian said:

As I said I doubt that Drake will get enough votes(14) to pardon him(on previous cycle we even didn't get enough votes to execute Quiver) so I will keep my vote on his execution. I will try to look through thread before rollover(but I'm not sure) and maybe will change my vote.

That is unfortunately probably true.  I will switch my vote before rollover if we don't get enough to pardon, since as I said we have to do one or the other or we will be in worse shape, but I am hoping maybe people will check in and see the discussion in time.

RP!

---

Kintas heard one of the scouts reporting back up to Dalinar's officers, with the message that they had found a Shardblade cut, almost certainly made by Kaladin, and that one of the initiates had an idea for how to follow him, or find him somehow.  One of the bridge engineers had a small chisel and was preparing to head down with it when Kintas offered to take it instead.  He happily volunteered it, grateful to avoid needing to take the trip into the chasm himself.

Kintas glanced at the rope ladder descending into the gloom, and decided he'd had much more fun last time he'd dropped into a chasm, and that he was better prepared this time.  Pulling off his rope belt, he Awakened it to bind to the anchor they were using for the ladder, then turned and smiled at the engineer before stepping back over the edge of the chasm.

He dropped like a rock.

When he was nearing the end of his rope, though, he used it to slow his fall, the "muscles" in the rope providing a gentle slowing, then as he came within about 20 feet of the ground, he told it to release it's grip at the top of the chasm and he sucked in Stormlight as he fell the remainder of the way.  As he hit the ground, frost began to form around his feet, and he simply knelt into a crouch, the Stormlight absorbing the impact beautifully and keeping him from even feeling any pain.  He glanced down, noticing the frost on the ground actually looked somewhat like a glyph, but he was distracted from his study of it by the sight of what was happening.  The initiate who just called himself "Fifth" usually was standing there clearing a small space near the Shardblade cut with a dagger, but obviously waiting for the better tool Kintas had brought.  This was why Kintas had come, since he knew there must be some other form of Investiture involved in whatever the man was planning, and he wanted to see how it work.  He slapped the chisel into the man's outstretched hand, and leaned against the wall next to him to watch him work.

 @Ecthelion III, there's your chisel!

 

Edited February 23, 2017 by Jondesu

[DeTess]

@Jondesu, eh, that'll work better than the dagger I offered him a couple of posts back :P.

Edited February 23, 2017 by randuir

[Jondesu]

7 minutes ago, randuir said:

@Jondesu, eh, that'll work than the dagger I offered him a couple of posts back :P.

Oh man, I missed that somehow. EDIT: I modified it a bit to acknowledge the dagger. :-)

Alright, I'm not sure about the Squeeves arrest; doing it in the name of the Contribution Crusade would be one thing, but he's responded now and plans to be more involved, so it would be counter-productive to lynch him this cycle based on that. I would fully support going after JUQ or Anarchist instead, but I have to say, I'm a bit bothered by the way DA has been acting.  I know he tends to lurk and not post a lot in the main thread, but he was doing some active RP for a few cycles, then disappeared, then maybe sorta did some more last cycle (though I think I didn't see enough words in his RP posts to meet Aman's requirements), but he's done hardly any discussion.  Anyone been getting PMs from him?

Until I hear something else, I'll put my vote on Hashiv (Darkness Ascendant).

Edited February 23, 2017 by Jondesu

[Arinian]

5 minutes ago, Jondesu said:

Oh man, I missed that somehow. EDIT: I modified it a bit to acknowledge the dagger. :-)

Alright, I'm not sure about the Squeeves arrest; doing it in the name of the Contribution Crusade would be one thing, but he's responded now and plans to be more involved, so it would be counter-productive to lynch him this cycle based on that. I would fully support going after JUQ or Anarchist instead, but I have to say, I'm a bit bothered by the way DA has been acting.  I know he tends to lurk and not post a lot in the main thread, but he was doing some active RP for a few cycles, then disappeared, then maybe sorta did some more last cycle (though I think I didn't see enough words in his RP posts to meet Aman's requirements), but he's done hardly any discussion.  Anyone been getting PMs from him?

Until I hear something else, I'll put my vote on Hashiv (Darkness Ascendant).

Even don't look on DA it's his usual erratic behavior.

[DeTess]

4 minutes ago, Jondesu said:

Oh man, I missed that somehow.

Don't worry about it. If I've got time, I'll add a short little rp in which you decent from above with a more suitable tool. If I don't have time, @Ecthelion III, you can include Ranatar just taking this in his stride in your RP.

[Jondesu]

1 minute ago, randuir said:

Don't worry about it. If I've got time, I'll add a short little rp in which you decent from above with a more suitable tool. If I don't have time, @Ecthelion III, you can include Ranatar just taking this in his stride in your RP.

I fixed it already anyways, though you and Ecth can both include it too for a more holistic look at the situation. I do want to see this progress, and also see some RP from Bridge crews 2 and 3, though, c'mon people!

[Darkness Ascendant]

1 hour ago, Jondesu said:

Until I hear something else, I'll put my vote on Hashiv (Darkness Ascendant).

Hashiv's dead, don't know what your talking about.

[Jondesu]

1 hour ago, Darkness Ascendant said:

Hashiv's dead, don't know what your talking about.

Umm, I really missed something then.  Okay, The Phantom Stranger (Darkness Ascendant).

[Hemalurgic Headshot]

Sareth stood at the edge of the chasm with the rest of Bridge One, watching Fifth and Kintas, merely dark shapes below, move around. Fifth had found a clue, and now Kintas had gone down to investigate-- and give Fifth a chisel. It was hard to see what was going on, the contrast of the bright sun with the shadowed chasm. 

< @Ecthelion III, insert Soulbinding event here>

Sareth blinked as a strange force moved over him like a wave. What had just happened? He squinted down into the darkness. Something big had happened down there.

Then Fifth called up from the depths: "I know where to go!"

---

As for discussion and votes, my pardon stands on Drake. I'm really not sure how to handle this, and how confusing and vague Aman is being, so I'm just sticking with what I have. For interrogation, DA is kind of suspicious, with his short random posts.

[Alvron]

I vote to pardon Drake.  I only voted on him to save myself and don't think he's an Unjust.  As for being a Duskbringer, I'm not sure if it's a good or bad idea on having one roaming around.  Especially since their identity is revealed.

I'm also voting to execute Quiver.  Am waiting for Aman to confirm it but I see no reason why we can't vote on both prisoners.  We had plenty of votes willing to kill Ari but fell one short when it came to Quiver last round.

As for who I'm going to vote for this round, and yes I do plan on voting, I'm not sure.  I kinda got distracted the last couple of days again.  

[Ecthelion III]

My RP is coming as soon as I finish my physics homework