Quick Fix Game 29: Passionate Rationalism

[Walin]

Thanks for a good cycle of RP and see you guys in like two cycles! I’m participating minimally to avoid the auto-death but will be back on for reals if I’m not dead within the next two cycles.

[Kasimir]

"Well, rust," Valens scowled, into his drink. "That could've gone better." In fact, really, he wasn't sure it could've gone much worse.

Sabine was dead. Sabine was a Passion Rioter. Valens had always admired Sabine's deft touch with the passions, though his own specialisation was for a much less complicated, much less textured emotion. Valens specialised in joy. Joy, he thought, was uncomplicated: even a child could feel pure, unadulterated joy. He hadn't had the chance to actually Riot joy in a while, though. Most of Breeze's recent jobs had called for crew members with other specialisations.

There were so many things Valens wanted to say, but he just didn't know where to begin. Start with the previous night: he had shot down Cactus's idea, almost at once. Truth was, Valens didn't think it was that bad an idea at all. In fact, he'd really thought it was pretty good. Simply put, having someone to watch your back seemed a generally wise idea when there were Inquisition spies about with a penchant for sticking knives into backs.

What surprised Valens greatly was that not a single person had commented on Cactus's idea. What surprised Valens most was that not a single person had condemned him for what, in truth, had been a sloppy outright rejection of Cactus's idea, without so much as a piece of reasoning presented for it. As far as Valens was concerned, he intended to continue going around with a partner. Sure, he wasn't sure if he could trust pretty much anyone else in the crew. You knew someone over the course of several jobs, but that wasn't as good as truly knowing them. And everyone had heard about what had happened to Kelsier. Betrayed by his own rusting wife.

It was enough to turn a man to drink, to harden the edges of his heart.

He wasn't going to think about Nils. Not right now. 

That Arinian seemed pretty shady, though there was no telling. Valens also felt uneasy about Jax, Gio, and Mac, though as a matter of principle, he could not--quite--exempt anyone from distrust.

Even Nils, and wasn't that thought like grasping a handful of smouldering coals?

And there was the problem of who they were going to present to Breeze. He'd held off of Sabine last night, and now, he quietly thanked that gut feeling that'd told him it was a bad, bad idea. He trusted Cactus only a little--for Cactus's strategy was one a Ministry plant had little reason to propose, all things considered--but Valens, more than anyone, knew the limits of reason. You didn't survive in the thieving crews without developing a little paranoia. And was it really paranoia if they were out to get you?

Either way, Valens though, they were going to need to bring someone to Breeze. If they didn't, they were going to be in trouble, especially if the Inquisition's plants continued to successfully pick them off. And there was no guarantee that Breeze would even be there to examine their suspect. As much as he disliked the idea of an entire mob, since that was where the Inquisition best hid, it seemed to Valens that they were going to need to collate more suspicions. He hoped that if there were any Anger specialists out there, though, that they would monitor the situation and take appropriate action. Goading people into fights recklessly was a bad idea. But so was sitting around and letting the Inquisition kill the crew off, one by one. In the end, it came down to a judgement call, albeit one that wasn't Valens to make. [OOC: Even the 30% bonus won't help us if the original percentage is say, 1/8 or something. If we want the lynch to go down -- and yes, this is D2, we will need it to go down -- we're going to have to put more votes out there. I don't necessarily advocate a bandwagon, though a 100% lynch would be nice, but we do need votes to be at least > 50-60%. Depending on the situation, Anger Rioters may need to anger.]

Edited for formatting. Also edited to add more content because my timezone sucks and I see the empty thread below me and weep from loneliness.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Kasimir

[Darkness Ascendant]

Alright sorry guys, I’ve kinda been caught up in Deus Ex Human Revolution among other things lately, I still have a heck tonne of RP to catch up Jax with, so I probably won’t be RPing this game unless any of you want to interact with my dude.

Alright, now let’s try and be active from now on. If anyone wants to make Voltron with me, feel free to PM (a..two person Voltron) me. Doors are open.

Not actually much to derive from D1 however it is to be noted that the gods of RNG were benevolent upon us. However it is quite a shame to lose @A Joe in the Bush this early, I e

I just really want to stress for this game, how easy it could be for the eliminators to casually get rid of villagers should they have a little luck, as far as vote shenanigans go. We Squadfam should really look out for lone voters and half formed reasons, any vote that isn't sufficiently backed up is a suspicious one in my book.
I guess what I'm trying to say is to not put a vote on someone without reasoning and convincing yourself and others first. At least if you're village, I expect the eliminators to do the opposite from hereonin. 

My prime suspicion this game has to be Kasimir, they fit my scaffold for suspicion quite well.

[Steeldancer]

You know I said I would be coming up with something useful, but I did say this weekend was going to be a bit crazy. And I need to finish my homework today, so hopefully I'll be able to be active to my normal standards starting next cycle. . 

My only useful thought is we need to do more pairing ups. If anyone wants to pair up with me, that's fine, i should be able to respond as soon as I'm done with this rehearsal. 

[Arinian]

I'm not gonna say that I have some reasonable suspicions but my gut says that Kynedath is suspicious.

And if you guys want to accuse me in thoughtless voting you have all rights on that, because I had read couple times through previous cycle and I have no ideas who can be elim.

[Alvron]

9 hours ago, Darkness_ said:

I just really want to stress for this game, how easy it could be for the eliminators to casually get rid of villagers should they have a little luck, as far as vote shenanigans go. We Squadfam should really look out for lone voters and half formed reasons, any vote that isn't sufficiently backed up is a suspicious one in my book.
I guess what I'm trying to say is to not put a vote on someone without reasoning and convincing yourself and others first. At least if you're village, I expect the eliminators to do the opposite from hereonin. 

You would like that wouldn't you.  We not falling for your trickses.  If no one is sent to Breezy then no one talks and if no one talks then the plants win and steal our thoughts again.

[Devotary of Spontaneity]

I am surprised that there wasn't much pairing up last cycle. It seems to me that pairing up is more beneficial to the village than to the plants, as villagers have a much higher chance of being attacked. If everyone pairs up, there is a 37.5% chance that the elim kill fails completely(50% protection for target*75% chance the partner isn't affected), and only a 12.5% chance of a double kill(50% protection fails*25% chance the partner is affected). This is in contrast to the 100% chance of the target dying if they aren't protected by a fear soother. One main downside of this is if the elims have a fear rioter that can remove the 50% protection before their teammates make a kill, but both fear and anger soothers can protect players from this. Another is that a village pair has a 25% chance of having both members affected by elim passion specialists or joy soothers. Overall though, I still think it's worth it, especially as the limited usefulness of this tactic to elims makes it more likely that they would oppose an offer to pair up. I intend to have a partner every cycle.

[MonsterMetroid]

Monmet head hurt, he needed a drink. Listening to merebs street talk, deciphering the little it had, and realizing that Sabine was already dead! Rust and ruin this was bad. He needed to get a partner.

He heard Mr. T Foils statement, it was easier to understand than street thankfully but maybe he was a bit touched in the head too. @Alvron "Mr T Foil who do you think we should take to breeze then?" Monmet was genuinely curious as he had no idea but he knew the plants could be planning who to kill next already.

OOC: Does pairing mean you could both get lynched though, I'm honestly a bit confused by the pairing still.

[Devotary of Spontaneity]

From the rules @MonsterMetroid:

Each Cycle, Players may send in an order to Pair up with another player for the following cycle. These player Pairs are publicly known. (Both players must send in the order)

If a Paired player is attacked, they have a 50% chance to survive the attack(this doesn't protect from the lynch).
Each separate action targeting a Paired player will have a 25% chance of affecting the other player as well(excluding the lynch).

Pairs only last for one cycle, but may be renewed. Sending in an order to pair up does not count as an action. A player may only have one partner at a time.

[Kasimir]

Valens sighed and knocked back his glass. It wasn't as good as the wine Sabine had procured, but if he was to be honest, he wasn't much for wine, anyway. What did he have to do to get a good Scotch around here? (Pay up, apparently.) Not all of the crew had wandered in, which only made things more difficult. Perhaps the Inquisition's spies weren't even among them.

Lord Ruler, he felt like a mushroom set to do battle with plants. Kept in the dark and fed crap.

"That isn't unreasonable," he said, to Arinian. He tried to suppress the annoyance that swelled up in him, when Arinian had expressed suspicion of Nils. He knew Nils. Or did he? [OOC: This is just RP. I have no reason to trust Kynedath/Nils.] "After all, we've only been at this one day. We have very little information to run on. But that only makes it all the more paramount that we discuss among ourselves, and talk about who will be sent to Breeze. And so Jax I distrust, if only because with such scant information, I would be personally suspicious of anyone who claimed at this point to have solid, well-formed arguments for why so-and-so among us should be taken to Breeze as a traitor. And so if we wait for sufficient back-up, we will not--at this stage--get it. Waiting will only continue our poor informational situation. And moreover, we have no guarantee that whoever we single out tonight will even be taken to Breeze. One might almost wonder if Jax was trying to stall our attempts to find the traitors."

He signalled for a refill.

"That being said, Jax is not wrong. It likely costs the Ministry's plants almost nothing to simply throw out a vote in the hopes that the cosmic dice are in their favour. After all, a chance of death is better than nothing. It's something worth watching out for as we accrue information. I'd be curious to know why he thinks I'm a likely plant, though. Strong words, coming from someone with a nobleman's name." He smiled, crookedly. "All things considered, as mentioned, I think it's too dangerous to go alone. Take someone!" Hopefully, more people would be cautious and pair up. One for sorrow, one for joy, Valens thought, even as he lined up the two drink glasses. "That being said...I'm not sure about Monmet. Monmet could be genuinely confused, or could be playing it up." He just wasn't sure which.

I'll be honest guys, I almost wrote Braize instead of Breeze. Whoops.

[Alvron]

1 hour ago, MonsterMetroid said:

He heard Mr. T Foils statement, it was easier to understand than street thankfully but maybe he was a bit touched in the head too. @Alvron "Mr T Foil who do you think we should take to breeze then?" Monmet was genuinely curious as he had no idea

You trying to steal my thoughts?  Maybe you should be taken to Breezy.  Or is that what you want?  You want us to take you to Breezy so you can turn him into a tree.  I'm on to you!  You keep your thought stealing leaves away from me.

That Nils person however was might suspicious.  Changing their name was the sort of thing a tree might do when trying to appear to be a person.  He had heard of things that could change how they looked.  Spieses they were.  All spieses.

[MacThorstenson]

Mac was just confused about this whole thing. Here some fellow was, telling him that sarcasm is not an acceptable reason to sentence someone to death. Apparently it wasn't an basis for someone being a plant. When I was a young man, an assault on someones honor was not frivolous. It demanded death. Then again, there hadn't been that many people around on account of them all being dead. If he had to make sure his reasons were secure, then everyone else should have to as well. That guy in the corner was talking about people stealing his thoughts. That wasn't well substantiated. Mr. T foil.

11 hours ago, Darkness_ said:

I just really want to stress for this game, how easy it could be for the eliminators to casually get rid of villagers should they have a little luck, as far as vote shenanigans go. We Squadfam should really look out for lone voters and half formed reasons, any vote that isn't sufficiently backed up is a suspicious one in my book.
I guess what I'm trying to say is to not put a vote on someone without reasoning and convincing yourself and others first. At least if you're village, I expect the eliminators to do the opposite from hereonin. 

 

[Steeldancer]

guava @guava

Where you at? 

[MonsterMetroid]

"Valens I told you the 'T' is silent its pronounced 'Mon' 'May'" Monmet sighed. "I don't usually work in pairs so I did have some questions about it."

The time to take someone to breeze was close at hand. They needed to choose someone quick Kynedath would have to be it

[Devotary of Spontaneity]

In order to bring the possibility of a lynch over 50%, I will vote for Nils(Kynedath).

[TheMightyLopen]

Cycle is over!

[TheMightyLopen]

Cycle 3

[write-up to be edited in...]

---

Monmet was killed by the eliminators! They were a Fear Rioter!
Kynedath has been lynched! They were a Passion Soother!

Under normal circumstances, both @Pestis the Spider and @GreenRover would have died from inactivity, but considering they're both first time players, I'm giving them an extra 24 hours to join us.

Vote tally:

Kynedath(4): Arinian, Alvron, Monmet, Devotary
Monmet(1): Kasimir
Alvron(1): Mac
Guava(1): Steel

Player Pairs:

Kasimir - Devotary

This Cycle will end at:

Player list:

Spoiler

1. Jax Sangrin Lekal(Darkness)
2. Mac(MacThorstenson)
3. Lopen(Drought)
4. Cactus(Devotary)
5. Maybe Merb(Walin)
6. Sabine Seidel(Joe) Passion Rioter
7. Pestis(Pestis)
8. Steeldancer(Steeldancer)
9. Gio(livinglegend)
10. Nils(Kynedath) Passion Soother
11. Sickly Prickly(Guava)
12. Valens(Kasimir)
13. Monmet(MonsterMetroid) Fear Rioter
14. Arinian(Arinian)
15. Farron(GreenRover)
16. Mr T. Foil(Alvron)

Rioters - Darkness, Walin, Joe, Steeldancer, Kasimir, MonsterMetroid, GreenRover
Soothers - Mac, Drought, Devotary, Pestis, livinglegend, Kynedath, gauva, Arinian, Alvron

 

[Kasimir]

It was only when he was alone that Valens found himself slumping down against the wall, his legs giving way beneath him. He drew his knees up against his chest.

Nils was dead. She had to be. He'd seen the others as they'd dragged her away, and she hadn't even turned out to be a Ministry plant. She'd been loyal all along, and he'd...he hadn't been able to bring himself to trust her. He couldn't help it, now. He looked down at his hands--clenched and unclenched his fists. Why were they shaking? He couldn't seem to make them stop. 

Too many memories flooded his mind: the way Nils smiled; the way it cut through him like a knife, that particular amused set of her shoulders, her grace, her laugh...

He knew he hadn't brought this down on her, knew they hadn't been anything to each other for a long time. They were friends now, he'd agreed. Just friends.

Your name in my heart. Always. Even now.

Why did it hurt so much? Once you let love into your heart, it seemed love didn't always choose to leave. You couldn't stop loving someone, just because you'd decided or agreed to. The heart had a will of its own. 

They'd taken her, but he couldn't find it in himself to hate the others. They needed to find the Ministry plants, or they'd be dead themselves. They were doing what they were supposed to, what Valens himself had been doing. Except... he hesitated. The last few voices in favour of Nils's being taken to Breeze had come at the very end, almost as if...

No, he told himself. This made no sense. After all, Mon had died, killed by the infiltrators among them. And what did the Ministry's plants care about forcing the death of one of Breeze's crew? Surely since there had been argument over whom to suspect, they need only sit back and watch events unfolding. But he didn't know, and that was the rub, and now the risk haunted him. 

There was no joy in him, now, and in any case, he could not Riot himself, nor did he desire to.

Instead, Valens buried his head in his hands, and wept like a beaten child.

[OOC: Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum, Kyne'ika. You will be avenged.]

Edited January 21, 2018 by Kasimir

[Kasimir]

asgajgfdejhfbkhjklr y u do dis guys D: see what you made me do i had to sad vengeance rp rip kas

Valens drew a long, shaky breath, and forced himself to rise, to re-enter the bar. It was done, then. He could not take it back. Nils was gone. And still the Inquisition's plants were among them, killing them one by one. Though he had indicated Mon, his suspicions of Mon, in all honesty, had not been particularly robust. But Valens remembered one of Taze's favourite cons--you pretended to be more helpless, more clueless, than you really were. You got people to lower their guard. And then you blindsided them. Rust, Valens had used that con himself on occasion. Mon expressing confusion about the rules of the game had seemed a little too convenient.

He now knew it had been genuine, though. The knife in Mon's back had made that sufficiently clear.

He still wasn't--quite--comfortable with the sudden, late way that the voices fingering Nils had accumulated, but he was forced to admit he did not know if it was reason or raw emotion speaking. And one of them had been Mon. Perhaps it was worth looking at Cactus again, for even Inquisition plants could sometimes do the unexpected, in order to gain some trust. But Valens wasn't sure what to think. Cactus's reasoning had not been terribly off; in fact, it had matched Valens's own when he exorted ensuring someone was taken to Breeze and dealt with. Yet there was the question of why Cactus had not made a more forceful case for pairing up--had, in fact, held off until the second meeting.

If there was something that counted as madness, perhaps it was questioning the very person you'd agreed to partner up with, to watch each other's backs. Valens was not certain. But still, the question had to be asked. (And why was literally nobody else partnering up? T. Foil had privately agreed that partnering up seemed a wise option. And yet despite that, Valens remained the only one with a partner!)

He was still uneasy about Mac and Jax. His misgivings had not changed. 

But there was something else to consider. It seemed highly likely--though fallibly so--that the Inquisition would have a Fear Rioter among their numbers. Yet, if anything, they'd seen almost no uses of metal thus far. That seemed passing strange, though not entirely so. If Team Foliage did in fact have a Fear Rioter, then one of himself, Jax, Merb, Steeldancer, and Farron was likely to be with the Inquisition. The rejoinder was that Valens wasn't sure one wanted to be pointing fingers strictly on the basis of one's metal and specialisation. After all, was it utterly beyond the pale that the Inquisition in fact lacked a Fear Rioter? Maybe the universe had a sense of humour. 

And then there was the issue of whether there were any other Passion Rioters besides Sabine. Valens suspected that there likely were not, for it seemed no one at all had been tested by a Passion Rioter. Yet it seemed as well that the Foliage kills, thus far, had unerringly struck amongst the ranks of the Rioters. Likely they feared the scrutiny a Passion Rioter could bring to bear on their own.

Certainly, the Inquisition could not kill too many Rioters, for fear of exposing their own. Yet Valens was decently certain that it seemed extremely likely that at least one of the existing Rioters swore loyalty to the Lord Ruler. It was a narrow field, however. Farron had never even shown up to Breeze's meeting, whereas Merb had mentioned he was preoccupied with tasks and would be back the next day. Between Jax and Steeldancer, Valens supposed he would prefer to hear from Steeldancer. Jax's behaviour was certainly odd, but it didn't scream 'Ministry Plant.' And this was even assuming that looking among the Rioters was a good idea!

In the end, what decided him was that he could not remember hearing from Drought since that first day. He thought he could--just faintly--hear the sound of dice rolling in his head as he made his decision. [OOC: I don't think Drought is in any danger, but tonight/tomorrow is pretty busy for me. Not that I think you guys will notice my absence anyway. I'll try to check back in, but failing which, I hope Drought will not be in too much danger. If I get back in time to swap my vote, barring any new developments in the cycle, the next most likely candidate for me would be Steeldancer.]

Edited for formatting.

Edited January 21, 2018 by Kasimir

[Darkness Ascendant]

Kasimir

[Walin]

Welp, three villagers down. I’ll try to post something tomorrow. Not voting right now, as I can’t make any good analysis.

[Steeldancer]

6 hours ago, Kasimir said:

asgajgfdejhfbkhjklr y u do dis guys D: see what you made me do i had to sad vengeance rp rip kas

Valens drew a long, shaky breath, and forced himself to rise, to re-enter the bar. It was done, then. He could not take it back. Nils was gone. And still the Inquisition's plants were among them, killing them one by one. Though he had indicated Mon, his suspicions of Mon, in all honesty, had not been particularly robust. But Valens remembered one of Taze's favourite cons--you pretended to be more helpless, more clueless, than you really were. You got people to lower their guard. And then you blindsided them. Rust, Valens had used that con himself on occasion. Mon expressing confusion about the rules of the game had seemed a little too convenient.

He now knew it had been genuine, though. The knife in Mon's back had made that sufficiently clear.

He still wasn't--quite--comfortable with the sudden, late way that the voices fingering Nils had accumulated, but he was forced to admit he did not know if it was reason or raw emotion speaking. And one of them had been Mon. Perhaps it was worth looking at Cactus again, for even Inquisition plants could sometimes do the unexpected, in order to gain some trust. But Valens wasn't sure what to think. Cactus's reasoning had not been terribly off; in fact, it had matched Valens's own when he exorted ensuring someone was taken to Breeze and dealt with. Yet there was the question of why Cactus had not made a more forceful case for pairing up--had, in fact, held off until the second meeting.

If there was something that counted as madness, perhaps it was questioning the very person you'd agreed to partner up with, to watch each other's backs. Valens was not certain. But still, the question had to be asked. (And why was literally nobody else partnering up? T. Foil had privately agreed that partnering up seemed a wise option. And yet despite that, Valens remained the only one with a partner!)

He was still uneasy about Mac and Jax. His misgivings had not changed. 

But there was something else to consider. It seemed highly likely--though fallibly so--that the Inquisition would have a Fear Rioter among their numbers. Yet, if anything, they'd seen almost no uses of metal thus far. That seemed passing strange, though not entirely so. If Team Foliage did in fact have a Fear Rioter, then one of himself, Jax, Merb, Steeldancer, and Farron was likely to be with the Inquisition. The rejoinder was that Valens wasn't sure one wanted to be pointing fingers strictly on the basis of one's metal and specialisation. After all, was it utterly beyond the pale that the Inquisition in fact lacked a Fear Rioter? Maybe the universe had a sense of humour. 

And then there was the issue of whether there were any other Passion Rioters besides Sabine. Valens suspected that there likely were not, for it seemed no one at all had been tested by a Passion Rioter. Yet it seemed as well that the Foliage kills, thus far, had unerringly struck amongst the ranks of the Rioters. Likely they feared the scrutiny a Passion Rioter could bring to bear on their own.

Certainly, the Inquisition could not kill too many Rioters, for fear of exposing their own. Yet Valens was decently certain that it seemed extremely likely that at least one of the existing Rioters swore loyalty to the Lord Ruler. It was a narrow field, however. Farron had never even shown up to Breeze's meeting, whereas Merb had mentioned he was preoccupied with tasks and would be back the next day. Between Jax and Steeldancer, Valens supposed he would prefer to hear from Steeldancer. Jax's behaviour was certainly odd, but it didn't scream 'Ministry Plant.' And this was even assuming that looking among the Rioters was a good idea!

In the end, what decided him was that he could not remember hearing from Drought since that first day. He thought he could--just faintly--hear the sound of dice rolling in his head as he made his decision. [OOC: I don't think Drought is in any danger, but tonight/tomorrow is pretty busy for me. Not that I think you guys will notice my absence anyway. I'll try to check back in, but failing which, I hope Drought will not be in too much danger. If I get back in time to swap my vote, barring any new developments in the cycle, the next most likely candidate for me would be Steeldancer.]

Edited for formatting.

As I said earlier, my weekend was kind of crazy. I'll go over the thread and catch up properly when I get home from church, as I'll FINALLY have time. 

[Kasimir]

Valens was extremely tired and not minded to be eloquent. Steeldancer had stuck his head into the bar and muttered something about coming back later. Valens mentally filed him away in the same category as those who needed to say more, but was fine with letting the issue rest for the moment.

He decided to retract his suspicion of Drought, not because he trusted Drought, but because crew members who failed to show up for two consecutive days would be brought before Breeze regardless. As his voiced suspicion had failed to draw Drought out of the woodwork, he saw no point in pressing the issue; let Breeze deal with Drought, if Drought continued in silence. The same applied to Farron and Pestis, as far as Valens was concerned.

"Inquisitor got your tongue, Jax Sangrin Lekal?" Valens drawled, cracking his knuckles. "Funny that you've spent the previous day reminding us all to be wary of those who vote without solid reasoning, sufficient to convince the rest of us over. But I couldn't hear any of your reasoning at all. Guess the sound of my name must've drowned it out. Strange, isn't it?"

[OOC: Managed to come back, but will not be around for rollover. This is as much as I can manage. See you guys on the other side.]

Edited to include hyperlink to Darkness's original post claiming we need A. solid reasoning, B. to convince the other players in order to place a lynch vote.

Edited January 21, 2018 by Kasimir

[Arinian]

Well. I think Kas is elim(no reasons, I just randomly shooting people which I think can be elim)... but mehh...  I'm not gonna interrupt  this tie, lets see who is lucky one.

[Devotary of Spontaneity]

Unless they've been active in PMs, @Droughtbringer, @Pestis the Spider, @livinglegend, @guava, and @GreenRover will die at the end of this cycle if they don't post. Meanwhile, we still have only one pairing and the kill potential of a vote has increased to 7.7%. Last cycle, Steeldancer said that he would be willing to pair up with someone. I would like to know why he didn't end up pairing with someone.