Long Game 42: Master of the House

[Jondesu]

Remart would be either eating or sleeping, as usual.

[A Joe in the Bush]

Night 8: Dreams of the Future

Remart Ffnord’s dreams that night were dark things. He was running through a plain with a great wind at his back. The light was far ahead of him, and he was not alone in the darkness. There was someone beside him, but in the way of dreams, they switched who they were as they ran.

He was being chased. A monster in the darkness far behind him, full of great teeth. The Darkness approached with it, blotting out the light even as he chased it. A rumbling eternal wave of blindness. So Remart continued to run, his legs moving slowly, as the ground seemed to flow from his footsteps much faster than possible.

There were people and building up ahead, and suddenly he had reached them. He was among the great buildings, each the height of Kredik Shaw. They were broken things, dropped by a capricious child. Remart ran through them, but the Beast was gaining, so he was inside one of the buildings. He hid, watching through the window as the darkness swept through the town, erasing the buildings from existence. The Teeth were everywhere now. A grinning maw surrounding the town. Remart screamed in his dreams, but heard no sound as the teeth closed on him.

---

Locke Tormander stepped from his coach, and grinned up the steps at the Tekiel Guardsmen. Lord Eru Tekiel stood at the head of the steps, looking down in disdain. “Lord Tormander.”

“Lord Tekiel, I hope this morning finds you well.” It should. Tormander Allomancers had been killing the man’s rivals all last night and morning.

“The shape of it pleases me currently, but I am unsure if letting a man like you into my house is the best course of action i can take.” Despite his words, he nodded to his captain, who called out for the men to part, allowing Locke to climb the steps. Two servants opened the great doors before them, and Locke followed Eru into the house.

“I am surprised that my inclusion would not be considered an excellent choice my Lord. I would bring riches, allomancy, and knowledge into your house. The Tormander name is a respected one.”

“It is a feared one.” Eru snapped back. “Lord Jack did well do distance himself from that reputation, but with his murder, in his own keep, I’m afraid you will have to work far harder to escape it then he did.”

“I believe that marrying into the Tekiels, and letting the Tormander name die, would be helpful to that cause.” Locke smiled, though Eru wasn’t looking at him.

Eru opened a door, revealing a small study with a darkened fireplace, some tapestries, and a large desk. He walked around the desk, picking up a pre poured glass of wine, and sat down. He indicated the chair and glass across from him, and asked. “So you intend to marry my eldest daughter?”

Locke sat down, and picked up the glass. “Lady Tintallë is not your eldest child. She is lovely, and I know you were intending to marry her off in order to cement an alliance. Let me try to win her over, and if i can marry her, you will gain all the might of House Tormander. With Heatherlocke dead, and Ffnord in pieces, my wealth will put you among the Great houses of Luthadel.”

Eru slowly stirred his wine as he thought. He leaned forward, one elbow on the desk. “Let us discuss terms then.”

---

No one was lynched! This will be the final night of LG42, after this, the Heatherlocke and Ffnord winners will be determined via tiebreaker. If all 4 players have put in action orders in the first 24 hours of the cycle, i will end the turn early. Otherwise, the turn will end in

[Fifth Scholar]

Wonderful. Since I don’t think there’s much political wrangling to be done, I encourage @Jondesu, @Crimsn-Wolf and @Orlok Tsubodai to send in actions sooner rather than later. I will be putting mine in presently.

It’s been a great game, Jondesu. While I wish you were dead a few cycles back, I’ve enjoyed competing with you the past few rounds, and if I die tonight I’ll be content if you take the Ffnord throne.

Orlok, I’m kind of surprised we ended up working together, since I did try to get you killed D1 (even if it was just to test my alliances). Congratulations on ascending the Tormander throne so quickly, and thank you for being a good ally, even if we both dropped the ball more than a few times.

Crimsn, I haven’t worked with or against you this whole game, so I don’t have much to say other than congrats on your victory and please don’t kill me again. You don’t have to kill anyone, if you don’t want to. (Unless it’s Jondesu.)

Finally, thanks to Joe and Elbereth for running this game. I definitely enjoyed it, and I think everybody else did, too. 

[Jondesu]

@Fifth Scholar, I’m honestly surprised to still be here at the end, considering I was basically hung out to dry by Orlok and my other contacts are dead. @Crimsn-Wolf, thanks for not holding it against me that I didn’t contact you until everyone else was gone. 

Best of luck.

[xxGaea]

Twas quite an enjoyable game, indeed. I wish you both luck~

[A Joe in the Bush]

LG42: Finale: Survivors

Remart has not awakened. Was he ever awake? How would he know? This dream had lasted thousands of years, and yet he couldn’t recall what had happened in it.

The Teeth were still there. They grinned, the only visible thing in the strangling mist. Then the mist was gone, and he was on the world. The Teeth bit into scadrial, devouring it one city after another. The Teeth laughed and sighed as the ripped apart Remart and the world. No matter where he hid, or how he fought, the Teeth killed him.

The were others in the dream. Two, maybe three. A woman and maybe a man. The woman was Red. Scarlet. Crimson. She was Blood and Fire. She was the rage and love and passion and emotion. She wanted to kill him, and he knew the dream wouldn’t end until she did. She was real.

The man was two men, one yellow, one blue. They switched back and forth in the dream. Always, one of them was there. They fought the Teeth, slowed them down. They removed some, and and blocked others. But they fought. Remart did not know if they were real, but he knew them.

The world was back, and the Teeth were far away. But the mist was still strangling the world. Squeezing it smaller and smaller. It was getting harder to flee from the woman in the small world. The man were (was? is?) fought harder, but could do nothing against the mist.

Remart ran, and ran, and ran, but made no ground. His feet refused to touch the ground. The woman was there, beside him. She drew forth a small tooth, black and sharp. She sighed, and finally, Remart heard something in the dream.

“I prefer to kill my victims when they are alive.”

---

Fuzz watched, disturbed. This dream was a fractured vision of the future, and not a timeline he had seen. Remart had been invested by Cultivation.. Somehow, his nightmare of the future was more accurate than Fuzz’s own. But Fuzz had the knowledge to actually interpret it.

He needed a Heatherlocke. House Heatherlocke would prove pivotal in the coming days. Somehow, a Heathelocke would delay Ruin if Vin gave up the power.

But which Heatherlocke? Only Straw and Hadrian had died recently enough for him to restore them to life. He needed more information. He needed to ask the ones who knew them the most. The ones they killed.

---

Jondesu was killed by Crimsn Wolf! Fifth Scholar has won for House Ffnord!

Since all current players are winners, the Game itself is over, but, for the next 3 ish days, we will be having one more vote. Vote in Red for the player you think should have won. @Araris Valerian, and @Straw are your options. All players may again post in the thread. (All Docs are now locked.) Araris and Straw may make any argument they want about which of them deserves to win. They may reveal private PM's as proof of their words.

Congratulations to @Orlok Tsubodai, @Crimsn-Wolf, and @Fifth Scholar

Folder for all Docs

Voting ends in 

[Araris Valerian]

Maybe it's not the best grounds for winning, but I think Hadrian deserves to win because he was determined to give House Heatherlocke a reputation for being good for its word, even when it cost him his life.

I spent the game working with Fifth Scholar and Jondesu, and had a peace treaty with Orlok as well. I had an Atium, so I could allow both of my allies to win despite being in the same House, although Orlok killed me specifically to stop me from honoring my agreement (sorry Jondesu, we should have ignored Straw and killed Orlok that night). I didn't try to coordinate with the other House hardly at all.

I have basically no idea what Straw was up to this game, because he was the least active in our House doc and didn't actively try to coordinate actions after the first cycle or so.

[Orlok Tsubodai]

Well done to Crimsn and Fifth.

I hugely enjoyed the opening rounds of this game - the politicking, backstabbing, phishing and paranoia was perhaps the most fun I’ve had in an SE game. The game was less fun, though, after I’d won. At that point, I had a lot of influence (partly from how I approached the opening, with so many contacts, partly because I had no competition for my kill), and nothing really to use it on. I could have chosen the winner for each house following me, had I had any real desire to do so. I spoke to the GMs, and asked to be removed from the game, as I didn’t want the responsibility of choosing winners in each house. I was told that I needed to stay in (this was prior to the ruling that i could leave after subsequent winners were chosen), and spoke to the IM, who suggested I choose my own goal, giving me something to work towards, making choices secondary to a goal, rather than simply judgement. I did this, and chose as my goal to try to kill all the other players. My reasoning for this was twofold. I firstly thought it would be an interesting goal, and secondly, through necessitating the elimination of players simultaneously, meant I wouldn’t have to choose winners in houses. Realising that I couldn’t achieve this goal, as there would be two others in either the final lynch or final night, both in the same faction (in the best case scenario), I elected to have Crimsn win. This was primarily because unlike with Heatherlocke and Ffnord, I only had one Heron contact - Crimsn.

This guided my decision making for the rest of the game, and was the reason for the elimination of Araris and Straw simultaneously. 

This brings me onto the following quote from Araris and Joe in the dead doc:

Quote

 

Araris: I am seriously upset with Orlok right now. I was working with both Fifth Scholar and Jondesu, and had an Atium so that they could both win. And Crimsn/Orlok had to go and kill me to stop it from happening

Joe: Yup. They want to cause chaos. I’m beginning to think that allowing the winners to stay in was the completely wrong call.

Araris: Not to mention that Orlok betrayed me, since he told me he would let me know if anyone was planning on killing me :/

Joe: He isn’t the most trustworthy player on the planet.

Araris: I haven’t ever had to put that to the test before, so I didn’t know. But if I decide to make a hit list, he is on it for sure. At least for one game. Could you tell me what Straw took as his action? Because I was considering leaving him for a night and asking Jondesu/Fifth to roleblock both Orlok and Crimsn while I killed Orlok. But I didn’t know what Straw was up to.

Joe: Straw protected himself.

Araris: Bother. So we could have just killed Orlok :/

 

Firstly: Araris, I’m sorry for having upset you. That was never my intention. I wasn’t aware of the degree of investment you had in your plan. Further, though, I’m not sure that it’s right to expect me to act in accordance with your plan simply because of investment. This is partly an issue with leaving winning players in the game, and whether their own plans should be given equal weight such that they can work against opposing plans. I considered this to be the case, so worked to my own goals, but am not sure that this was the right call.

I’d question your upset at my having betrayed me. You firstly say that we had a deal in which I’d let you know if I learnt of a plan to kill you, and that you’d do the same. You express upset at my having betrayed this deal by killing you, yet a paragraph down state that you would have killed me yourself had you not worried about Straw’s action. That strikes me as pretty hypocritical, honestly.

I’d also comment on Joe’s stating that I’m not trustworthy. I’d point out that this is a pretty sweeping statement to make in a public forum, and one that’s quite hurtful. Outside SE games generally, and indeed outside Free for All faction games, I think that I’m a relatively trustworthy person. In this game, I fully expected everyone to be betraying alliances with regularity. Our only win condition this game was to survive ourselves, and we ultimately needed to work to that goal regardless of promises. Making such a general statement as “[Orlok] isn’t the most trustworthy player” in a public place, in your capacity as an authority figure as a GM strikes me as an unfair claim, and one I’d appreciate being retracted.

 

 

[Straw]

Interesting. Honestly, I don’t have much of a reason for why I should win, but I’ll be happy to answer any questions you ask me. Perhaps my answers will help you decide.

[Araris Valerian]

I see where you are coming from, Orlok, and my frustration with you is largely in the spirit of the game, rather than me being mad at you personally. I do think I overreacted a bit, because we were both trying to do the same thing (pursue a further personal goal), and were willing to betray the other to do it. Those comments were made within 5 minutes of me having seen the writeup and I was honestly frustrated at the outcome.

Had I known your plans, I would have been forced to choose between two choices: helping the people that were helping me, or betraying the person that I knew was plotting against me. That choice was a lot easier for me to make (after having died) than choosing between Fifth and Jondesu, which would have been totally arbitrary. I thought that you, having already won, would hold to the agreement we had over any of your personal goals, and I read you wrong, which is a mistake I won't make again :D.

[A Joe in the Bush]

31 minutes ago, Orlok Tsubodai said:

I’d also comment on Joe’s stating that I’m not trustworthy. I’d point out that this is a pretty sweeping statement to make in a public forum, and one that’s quite hurtful. Outside SE games generally, and indeed outside Free for All faction games, I think that I’m a relatively trustworthy person. In this game, I fully expected everyone to be betraying alliances with regularity. Our only win condition this game was to survive ourselves, and we ultimately needed to work to that goal regardless of promises. Making such a general statement as “[Orlok] isn’t the most trustworthy player” in a public place, in your capacity as an authority figure as a GM strikes me as an unfair claim, and one I’d appreciate being retracted.

Alright, consider it retraced.

[Droughtbringer]

@Orlok Tsubodai I am curious, did you think that I would betray you? Or did you just want to be the only one to win in the house?

[Fifth Scholar]

Okay, a few thoughts. 

Yay, I won! Can honestly say I wasn’t expecting this, as despite a PM from Orlok saying he and Crimsn were coordinating, I thought it would put Jondesu on the Ffnord throne. Congrats to Orlok and Crimsn as well.

Second: I backstabbed a lot of people this game, specifically Mage and Megasif, and I’d like to apologize to both of them. I would have attempted to honor our alliances, but it eventually became abundantly clear that I had gathered too many to keep in the air all at once. Yours were the first to drop, but I’m still sorry they had to. Our little group chat was fun. Though I did get both of you back for fooling me in the AG  

Third, and this is a fairly big one: Orlok. So it’s not a huge secret that I was trying to have him killed first turn, but I also knew there was a hole in my house or in my alliances. So I just told everyone, and lo and behold, I receive a PM from Orlok:

(Paraphrased slightly) I’d rather you not kill me tonight, I have a house ready to kill you but I’ll retract if you do.

So I got pretty scared. I mean, I was expecting this, but I was still scared. So after going through a few loops, Orlok and I reaffirmed that an alliance was still workable, and over the next few turns, I acted as his personal bodyguard/assassin, killing his enemies or protecting him. But at this point, I’d entered into an alliance with Araris. And I really didn’t want to break this one like I had all the others. So I PMed Mafia and Araris, and we set up a plan to detain and kill Eternum, who we perceived as a threat. Unfortunately, Orlok didn’t stick to his part in my grand scheme and killed Mafia instead of Jondesu, meaning that I had to work doubly hard to get the Ffnord throne. And Araris’ throne was no longer a guarantee, and Crimsn, a wildcard, was on the Heron throne. So with one move, Orlok successfully ruined hours of careful planning. And then he killed Araris. However- and this is my main point- he was a good ally. He helped Crimsn win because he promised her he would, and helped me win because I’d helped him so much. I wish he’d had some of the same alliances I did, but that didn’t make him a bad ally, per se. 

Fourth, Mafia and Shane. I was completely honest when I spoke with both of you- I hoped we could have won together. Unfortunately, Mafia, you were killed a turn too early, and Shane, your death was planned. But I didn’t lie. I said if you survived the night, I’d help you. And I honestly would have, but you didn’t survive. I’m kind of sorry, but I’m the other hand it was necessary.

Fifth, Araris. I was very angry and disappointed when you died, I’ll be honest. At the time, I was seriously salty that it was a Night cycle again because I wanted to lynch Orlok. (Turns out the only reason I won was because I didn’t, but I really wanted to at the time.) So yeah. You were a very reliable, trustworthy ally, and despite the brief panic attack I had when I thought you were going to kill me, I really enjoyed working with you and Jondesu towards the Kandra plan.

Finally, thanks to Joe and Elbereth for running this and putting up with my incessant, and at times impatient questions. And thanks to everyone else for making this a really fun game. Looking forward to many more!

Edit: Voting for Araris Valerian, since I never did that.

Edited March 12, 2018 by Fifth Scholar
Forgot to add vote

[Magestar]

40 minutes ago, Fifth Scholar said:

Second: I backstabbed a lot of people this game, specifically Mage and Megasif, and I’d like to apologize to both of them. I would have attempted to honor our alliances, but it eventually became abundantly clear that I had gathered too many to keep in the air all at once. Yours were the first to drop, but I’m still sorry they had to. Our little group chat was fun. Though I did get both of you back for fooling me in the AG  

Don't worry about it.  As much as I might feign mock rage in-game or in a spec doc, I mostly take this sort of thing in stride.   Also, honestly, I sorta feel like my death in this game was a product of my own failures, more than anything else.  Something I'll have to work on.

I'll vote for Araris as well.

Thanks for the great game, guys.

[Jondesu]

I took a risk instead of letting the game come down to a tiebreaker, and I’m not even sad to have lost. I chose my own fate, at least. @Fifth Scholar, well played!

Edit: I think Araris should have won, though I’m slightly biased because he worked well with me. He tried and died well.

Edited March 12, 2018 by Jondesu

[xxGaea]

I would also like to vote for Araris~ You had a noble plan for how you wanted the game to end.

I also want to apologize to @Jondesu. Before the final night cycle, I was game for putting in a kill order on Fifth. Granted, this plan included Orlok placing a kill on you and having him and I be the last standing players. But when that plan didn't work, I talked to Orlok about who we should kill on the final night cycle and he said that Fifth had helped him through the game, so I went along with that. 

Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun this game. This is the first SE game that I've played in that I put forth such an effort to actually win. I definitely enjoyed it, and will try to keep up my motivation for any future games I end up playing in. ^^

[Steeldancer]

1 minute ago, Crimsn-Wolf said:

I would also like to vote for Araris~ You had a noble plan for how you wanted the game to end.

I also want to apologize to @Jondesu. Before the final night cycle, I was game for putting in a kill order on Fifth. Granted, this plan included Orlok placing a kill on you and having him and I be the last standing players. But when that plan didn't work, I talked to Orlok about who we should kill on the final night cycle and he said that Fifth had helped him through the game, so I went along with that. 

Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun this game. This is the first SE game that I've played in that I put forth such an effort to actually win. I definitely enjoyed it, and will try to keep up my motivation for any future games I end up playing in. ^^

Hey, we tied MR23! It isn't the FIRST time 

[Fifth Scholar]

Wow, read the dead doc and Orlok was phishing?! Man, I really could have killed him turn one. Dang. You have a remarkable intuition, Orlok. Also, seeing several comments in the dead doc-yeah, I was a bit of an idiot about my alliance system turn one or two. I think I was just a bit intimidated looking at my vast number of PM contacts, and was thinking “this could use some paring down, maybe.” Looking back, maybe not. Oh well.

Thanks @Jondesu! Again, rather would have won with you, but sadly Araris died first. But I’m curious- what did you try to do last night? Detain Orlok, or attack him? I was honestly getting very nervous when you didn’t respond to the Ffnord doc, and nearly changed my order last-minute.

[xxGaea]

3 hours ago, Steeldancer said:

Hey, we tied MR23! It isn't the FIRST time 

Haha. Yes. But, I wasn't really actively trying to win that one. I mean, this is the first game that I was super invested in. XD

[Elbereth]

3 hours ago, Fifth Scholar said:

Wow, read the dead doc and Orlok was phishing?! Man, I really could have killed him turn one. Dang. You have a remarkable intuition, Orlok. Also, seeing several comments in the dead doc-yeah, I was a bit of an idiot about my alliance system turn one or two. I think I was just a bit intimidated looking at my vast number of PM contacts, and was thinking “this could use some paring down, maybe.” Looking back, maybe not. Oh well.

Thanks @Jondesu! Again, rather would have won with you, but sadly Araris died first. But I’m curious- what did you try to do last night? Detain Orlok, or attack him? I was honestly getting very nervous when you didn’t respond to the Ffnord doc, and nearly changed my order last-minute.

That phishing amused me so much. I was trying to figure out in which PM Orlok found out, and I couldn't find it...

He roleblocked Orlok, again, I think. 

[Stick.]

Hadrian Heatherlocke.

That done, I greatly enjoyed pursuing an impractical win con :P. Though how we approached the win con could probably have been improved :P. Should've been more paranoid than I already was. But it was undoubtedly fun. Many thanks to Joe and El for running the game!  

[Haelbarde]

Can I vote Hadrian for having the most Heatherlocke name?

[Jondesu]

@Fifth Scholar, I detained Orlok. If they were both attacking me, it wouldn’t matter anyways, and if they each attacked one of us, I might have survived.

[Jondesu]

Hey, so I have a question. @A Joe in the Bush or @Elbereth, are you willing to say whether the tiebreaker method you had to decide who won would have resulted in myself or Fifth Scholar winning if we had died together? I was kinda assuming my chances of winning that way were low anyways.

[Elbereth]

Same method as we're now using for Araris and Straw, Jondesu.  So, who knows?