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Cycle Four - Distaste and Distrust

Nawl woke up in the middle of the night. He had always been a deep sleeper, but as this expedition grew more intense by the day, he found it hard not to stay awake.

He got out of his tent, nervous. He suspected there were several people just as awake as he was right now. Feruchemists tapping their bronze metalminds, light sleepers, and those whose paranoia woke them up. Moving about as quietly as he could, he tried to find his way through the camp. He saw a shadow. They would be dangerous, no matter who. He made sure to watch out for where the figure was moving. He didn't want to get stabbed in the back, after all, or accused of sneaking around and stabbed in the front.

A thought struck him. Fourth Letir was dead, but his possessions, including his tent, were buried with him. His metalminds lay untouched with the rest of his belongings...was it really so reprehensible to take from a murderer? While Nawl was having trouble justifying "calling dibs" in public, especially right after one's death, in the middle of the night the only shame he'd have to deal with was private. And seeing as Fourth Letir was a traitor, there was none. No guilt, no worries except hiding. The man had killed and sought to help the Deepness. History must be preserved, after all, and if Nawl got guilty, well...He could just drop the metalminds somewhere else sometime later.

Using the landmarks around him, Nawl found the tent he was looking for. Checking one more time for the shadow in camp, he found two--but they were far away from him, and he had no sources of light on him. And he was being very quiet. He didn't forget that the group thought he was a traitor; if they undug the body before him, he'd have to check for them being around. Maybe Nawl could just leave, wait until he was sure all suspicions were gone, and rejoin the group when victory was assured. And of course, that Alendi was alive. If one of the group had to enter the Well of Ascension, Nawl didn't want to be the one to draw the wrong straw.

No. He'd stick this through to the end.

It looked like the spot was still covered up; he started digging everything back up. Shuddering at the body, he looked for the pack. Rifling through it. Hearing a light chink of metal brushing metal. Content with his spoils, he pocketed the smaller metalminds and turned around.

Halfway to camp, he remembered there was another traitor for certain. They might be killing tonight...if Nawl was going to die at the hands of someone in the group, he would do it saving someone else. He started hurrying as fast as he could.

And crashed into a wall of people.

"I knew it! Nawl, you've been a traitor from the start. You've tried to cover your tracks, coming here to destroy any evidence. Bluffing that you wanted to use it, so you would have an alibi for leaving in the night. But we knew better. You're not going to sabotage this expedition," Duilin said.

"No! I was just...looting. I know how it sounds. But I'm not going down until I explain myself."

"Your actions explain enough. Die, traitor." Duilin gestured to Dietrich Drake, who was carrying a spear.

"That's not how I die! I trusted you! I was going to take a dagger for you!"

"Well, how about you take a spear. For all of us." A thrust, and Nawl was too weak to move. They searched his pockets as he died, finding some bloody paper and assuming it to be the list.

As he fell, Nawl could vaguely see two figures atop two of the nearby peaks, standing and watching from afar. One seemed only semi-corporeal, a swirling figure, which could only barely be made out from the surroundings. And the other… the other was familiar.

“No! ...No…”

He fell asleep in the mists.


Dave paced the tent nervously. Back and forth, back and forth. Below him, the dirt crunched in a rhythmic pattern.

What am I doing? I don’t belong here - this mission to save the world, everything hanging in the balance… I should have stayed behind in Khlennium. This is far too dangerous.

Back and forth, back and forth, the creaking of the floorboards continued.

So many dead… We barely have half the group we set out with, and we’re beginning to turn in on each other. Soon, there will be nobody left. Someone has to be the protector, someone has to lead this group, to try and save us, and the rest of the world. But… that someone isn’t me.

It would be so easy… I could walk out right here, right now, and no-one would be the wiser. Let the others figure it out - I don’t have to stay here.

Back and forth, back and… the pacing stopped. Dave slowly turned, and looked at the door.

A flaming arrow soared by, narrowly skimming in front of Dave as they watched. The tent burst into flames, quickly filling up with smoke. Dave coughed, as his eyes began to water. In moments, he was practically blind. Smoke filled up his nose and mouth, and he coughed. Blearily, he looked around.

I… I have to get out! I have to… Where’s the door? Where’s the door!

He coughed again, trying to find breath, and failing. Outside, he could hear shouts begin to rise, as news of the fire spread.
“Water! Where’s the rusting water!”
Too late… It’s burning up too quickly. I need to get out…

But he couldn’t find the door. He reached out almost at random, and yanked his hand back away from the heat of the flame.

I… I’m going to die here. Caught up in things too big for me… Too big for anyone.

He fell to his knees as another coughing splutter hit him, his brain at war with his lungs trying to breathe in the smoky air.

I’d hoped… I’d thought… I guess it doesn’t matter now…

He felt himself being lifted up. This is it. This is me moving above to Trell’s realm… I hope I will be judged wisely… But… no. Dave could still feel his body, could still feel his lungs screaming for air.  He could feel the arm dragging him forward out of the tent, into fresh air. Shane heaved in a breath, relieving the screaming in his lungs. The figure, seeing he was conscious, placed him down onto the ground.

“Run. Run, you fool!” Then, the person who saved him, too blurry to make out, dashed off into the night.

Dave took a few deep breaths, slowly letting the oxygen return to his brain. Then the panic hit him.

Someone… Someone tried to kill me!

Dave, sore and barely conscious, slowly clambered up, and fled the camp.

Another day, another life was snuffed out, this time by our own internal squabbling - everyone views everyone else with distaste and distrust. We didn’t see any murders from the traitors - perhaps we can hope they have been banished for good, but I fear they may just be biding their time. Apparently, a tent has gone up in flames - is this something that happened naturally, or is this part of the many attempts on the members of our party? Even a few days ago, I may have told myself not to jump to conclusions, but I can not see any other conclusions at this point except to assume a deliberate intent. I do not yet know whether any have died - it is my strong hope not - we can ill afford to shrink our party any further.
From where we set up camp in the evening, we saw for the first time the cave entrance where the Well is supposed to be located. I can feel it, pulsing, waiting. We will probably arrive there tomorrow, or possibly the day after. It is just my hope that I or someone loyal to me is still alive when that happens.


Please find a post of Walin's and give them an upvote for their death write-up!

Walin was lynched! They were a Decoy Alendi Loyalist.
Shanerockes was attacked, but they were protected!

The next Cycle will end at 6:00PM Friday 15th February AEDT.

Vote Count:
Walin(5): Devotary, Roadwalker, Itiah, Snipexe, Fifth
Ark(1): Shanerockes
Shanerockes(1): Ark

Player List:

Roadwalker - Honorable Dietrich Drake
Itiah - De Itiah au Powerful
Ark - Soahc
Shqueeves - {Delinquent without a name} - Roleless Alendi Loyalist
Fifth Scholar - Duilin
Droughtbringer - Droughtbringer - Desperate Packman Alendi Loyalist
Xinoehp - Dedne - Roleless Alendi Loyalist
Elandara - Declan, the Detailed - Roleless Rashek's Lackey
Devotary - Daedi
CadCom - Fourth Letir - Bronze Feruchemist/Desperate Packman Rashek's Lackey
ShaneRockes - Dave, the Terrible Liar
Snipexe - Dr. Snip
Walin - Nawl - Decoy Alendi Loyalist

Edited by Young Bard
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Hmm. Ark, depending on how things go, I may owe you a brass metalmind. 

The continued lack of an Eliminator kill is incredibly odd. @Young Bard, if we killed all the Elims, would we still need to kill the Deepness to win? The rules seem to say otherwise, but the lack of kill is kind of making me wary. 

My main suspects now are Shane, for the earlier reasons stated and the fact that he mysteriously survived an attack; Ark, mostly because I can’t eliminate him from any list, though I’m admittedly less concerned about him; and potentially one of Snip or Itiah, though I find those two the least likely. 

My best theory is that Shane or the other doctor whose anonymity I’ll protect was a doctor, and chose to protect themselves against the Deepness, instead of killing. Shane, however, claimed a different role than Doctor to me via PM, so this still doesn’t make sense. Can anybody lend clarity to what just happened?

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6 hours ago, Young Bard said:

We didn’t see any murders from the traitors - perhaps we can hope they have been banished for good, but I fear they may just be biding their time.

Well, that is relatively clear. One Deepness kill.

6 hours ago, Young Bard said:

As he fell, Nawl could vaguely see two figures atop two of the nearby peaks, standing and watching from afar. One seemed only semi-corporeal, a swirling figure, which could only barely be made out from the surroundings. And the other… the other was familiar.

Interesting. Me and Fifth are actively killing Walin in the writeup, and the deepness and one other are not.

@Young Bard, is this the writeup exactly as Walin wrote it, or did you change it at all?

On 2/11/2019 at 8:30 PM, shanerockes said:

Well neither am I but you think so and I've said all that had happened so you do with it what you want. You've made a mistake voting for me. 
 

Making a mistake... Because he would be protected, and we would waste a lynch? Hmm... I would spy on him, but I used all my tin charges. Either shane is the doctor or he knew he would be protected. Possibly.

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6 hours ago, Fifth Scholar said:

Can anybody lend clarity to what just happened?

It could simply be that the doctor guessed that Shane was going to be attacked, or Shane is both a doctor and whatever role he claimed. CadCom was both a Bronze Feruchemist and a Desperate Packman. It would make sense for the doctor to coceal it, as it is a very powerful village role.

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3 hours ago, Snipexe said:

It could simply be that the doctor guessed that Shane was going to be attacked, or Shane is both a doctor and whatever role he claimed. CadCom was both a Bronze Feruchemist and a Desperate Packman. It would make sense for the doctor to coceal it, as it is a very powerful village role.

I didn't think about that.

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So I have not lied about my role but last cycle, I used my action to protect Roadwalker and then was informed that I had used it and been protected by someone else.  I have no idea who it was because I don't have any useful PM's. Fifth messaged me about what had happened and also posted all that I had posted into the thread itself. 

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15 minutes ago, shanerockes said:

So I have not lied about my role but last cycle, I used my action to protect Roadwalker and then was informed that I had used it and been protected by someone else.  I have no idea who it was because I don't have any useful PM's. Fifth messaged me about what had happened and also posted all that I had posted into the thread itself. 

Are you saying you are a doctor or a decoy? (Or some other role). It would make sense that there would be multiple doctors, because there is potential for quite a few kills every night, but I find it unlikely.

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5 minutes ago, Snipexe said:

Are you saying you are a doctor or a decoy? (Or some other role). It would make sense that there would be multiple doctors, because there is potential for quite a few kills every night, but I find it unlikely.

I am saying that I am only a decoy. I do not have any other roles whatsoever. 

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33 minutes ago, Snipexe said:

Was this what you told Fifth?

Shane claimed decoy in thread last cycle. If he's telling the truth, then the doctor protected either Shane or Roadwalker, with the latter making more sense.

6 hours ago, Roadwalker said:

Making a mistake... Because he would be protected, and we would waste a lynch?

I don't think the doctor role protects from the lynch, but perhaps we should ask @Young Bard to clarify that.

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Huh. I’m genuinely baffled right now. 

Shane seems innocent; he had no reason to target Roadwalker last night with the decoy role if he was evil. I looked through all my PMs and unless the doctor leaked that they were protecting Roadwalker, there would be literally no way for him to find that out either. 

Devotary and Roadwalker’s actions are accounted for, and they both make sense as non-Eliminators. As does Itiah’s action, too, really. I doubled my vote on Walin, if anyone is curious, for all the good it did. 

That leaves Snipexe and Ark. Snipexe didn’t roleclaim to me, but he did vote decisively on Elandera. Looking back, said vote was placed when the lynch was already secured, so I suppose it clears him less than I suspected originally. 

Meanwhile, Ark hasn’t done much to stand out except push for Shane’s lynch last cycle. He too joined the Elandera vote, though he did so last, and the wagon was definitely cemented by the time he voted. 

Thoughts from everyone else on how to sort through this mess? Who are other people most suspicious of? 

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On 2/13/2019 at 2:15 AM, Fifth Scholar said:

Hmm. Ark, depending on how things go, I may owe you a brass metalmind. 

The continued lack of an Eliminator kill is incredibly odd. @Young Bard, if we killed all the Elims, would we still need to kill the Deepness to win? The rules seem to say otherwise, but the lack of kill is kind of making me wary. 

My main suspects now are Shane, for the earlier reasons stated and the fact that he mysteriously survived an attack; Ark, mostly because I can’t eliminate him from any list, though I’m admittedly less concerned about him; and potentially one of Snip or Itiah, though I find those two the least likely. 

My best theory is that Shane or the other doctor whose anonymity I’ll protect was a doctor, and chose to protect themselves against the Deepness, instead of killing. Shane, however, claimed a different role than Doctor to me via PM, so this still doesn’t make sense. Can anybody lend clarity to what just happened?

*hopes for a metalmind*

So, sorry I haven't posted yet this cycle.

It appears people are suspicious of me this cycle, because of Shane and being last vote on Elandra. Don't know how to prove myself innocent, but has anyone considered Fifth as elim? This could (I don't think so, it's unlikely) be a really good attempt at hiding him being an elim.

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7 hours ago, Roadwalker said:

@Fifth Scholar that leaves, Snipexe, Ark, AND Itiah.

Quote

Shane seems innocent; he had no reason to target Roadwalker last night with the decoy role if he was evil. I looked through all my PMs and unless the doctor leaked that they were protecting Roadwalker, there would be literally no way for him to find that out either. 

Devotary and Roadwalker’s actions are accounted for, and they both make sense as non-Eliminators. As does Itiah’s action, too, really. I doubled my vote on Walin, if anyone is curious, for all the good it did. 

Itiah also took an action that I believe either clears him or makes him significantly less suspect. 

5 hours ago, Ark1002 said:

Don't know how to prove myself innocent, but has anyone considered Fifth as elim? This could (I don't think so, it's unlikely) be a really good attempt at hiding him being an elim.

It would be fun to have so successfully duped the village, but unfortunately I’ve been lying way too much these past cycles for any self-respecting Elim to consider, between phishing and trying to set up a victory by lynch and getting reads through PM. I’d say there’s actually quite a bit of evidence against me, and I’d be a little interested in what a lynch case against me would look like, but ultimately it requires a lot less tinfoil to believe that Snip or Ark is an Eliminator than myself or Roadwalker. (Though we may have to start engaging our tinfoil soon. I’m going to reread the thread, and along with it, my impressions of every player.) Ultimately the last second lynch on Walin yesterday was more a bit of hubris on my part that I thought I had things figured out, the lack of elim kill laying a false trail to Walin, and the title underneath my name proving itself true again. :P 

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And so we come to a grand total of 4 hours before rollover, with a grand total of no votes.

9 hours ago, Ark1002 said:

It appears people are suspicious of me this cycle, because of Shane and being last vote on Elandra. Don't know how to prove myself innocent, but has anyone considered Fifth as elim? This could (I don't think so, it's unlikely) be a really good attempt at hiding him being an elim.

The flip side of the suspicion on you are the factors supporting the innocence of other players. Roadwalker and Fifth leading the lynches on CadCom and Elandera respectively, Snipexe joining the Elandera lynch early, Shane for decoying onto Roadwalker, (which I believe could only be a lie if elim!Shane and some villager are both doctors), and Itiah for apparently doing some sort of action. I'm not particularly fond of that last reason, but Itiah and Fifth can't both be evil.

Elim!Fifth's first vote on Elandera would make some sort of sense if there was really poor communication between the elim team that caused them to miscount votes, but I just don't see why Fifth would have led the lynch on his only surviving teammate C2, especially when he started out the cycle with a list of three different lynch suspects. 

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Ugh. I’m sorry for the double post, but as this will contain a vote (and a fairly important argument) I don’t feel as badly. 

First of all, the lack of meaningful engagement this cycle is a little appalling. There have been no votes; while I realise I’m guilty as well, I’ve also been PMing, laying out my thought process, and going through the previous thread to try to analyse. There’s been good analysis of our results, but nobody’s actively trying to make a lynch case and advance the game. Currently, I feel as though most of the village is simply waiting for me to analyse, vote, and then tag along. While this is lovely and good if I’m right, if I’m wrong, this is disastrous, as evidenced by the Walin lynch. Also, it seems a little close to giving me a “mayor” position, which is not something we need to return to in SE—we killed that problem only a few LGs in for the most part. I’m doing enough of advising people and coordinating actions without literally everyone just following my moves >>

Second, I have reread the thread, though not nearly with the depth I would have liked to. If (going off this cycle’s results) we’re inclined to clear Devotary, Roadwalker, Shane and Itiah for their individual roles in how the action system last cycle went down, that leaves myself, Ark and Snip. 

Myself: I’m taking myself out of my own lynch discussion, though others are certainly free to propose me as a candidate if they feel I’m evil. Again, I doubled my vote on Walin yesterday, but this cannot be verified by the vote count. This cycle I have nothing better to do than throw a snowball at the GM, so I think I’m submitting that because I prefer that my vote actually do something. 

Snipexe and Ark: As you may have recalled, I lumped these two together as likely villagers last cycle in my analysis, saying that Snip was more village than Ark and that I was clearing both at that moment for their votes on Elandera. Obviously, with more suspicious candidates out of the equation, I now have to return to these two. 

Snipexe: The only thing I can’t place about Snipexe is his role, which he’s remained tight-lipped about. It’s my current belief that he’s a village debonair, though that’s only a theory, but the fact does remain that he’s the only person from which I don’t have a role-claim. Despite that, after rereading his posts, I got a sense of general village-ness (that is a word) that I couldn’t quite place. He seems willing to express his opinions, joined the Elandera train before it was completely hopeless, and doesn’t seem to shy away from voting. Most convincingly, his Elandera vote was explicitly a choice to kill her instead of Roadwalker, who seems fairly village, and unless this was a premeditated bus (which at the time of his vote would have been excessively early; Elandera was within reach of redemption) he chose an Eliminator over a villager in the votes. I’m still uneasy about Snip, and he’s my second suspect, but right now I’m much more suspicious of...

Ark. He voted on Elandera, which made me minded to clear him until I saw that the vote was at 3-1 when she was killed, and only widening. His vote wouldn’t have saved her, and only would have gotten him lynched immediately. Hopping on would allow distancing and would keep Ark out of the public eye. Second, the strange way he pushed the lynch against Shane. While I get that Shane looked suspicious, with the recent evidence that Shane is most likely not evil, the weird way he seemed to tunnel on him is looking more like an attempt to drive a mislynch and less like a confused villager, particularly the way in which he hedged the case at several points. Finally, after realising that Shane is more widely trusted this cycle, he’s now trying to incite paranoia about myself and Roadwalker. I’m not offended personally, and appreciate that he’s challenging me, but spreading uneasiness about the two players who are least likely to be evil is a good way to sew...er, sow, chaos and paranoia amongst the village. 

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1 hour ago, Fifth Scholar said:

Ark. He voted on Elandera, which made me minded to clear him until I saw that the vote was at 3-1 when she was killed, and only widening. His vote wouldn’t have saved her, and only would have gotten him lynched immediately. Hopping on would allow distancing and would keep Ark out of the public eye. Second, the strange way he pushed the lynch against Shane. While I get that Shane looked suspicious, with the recent evidence that Shane is most likely not evil, the weird way he seemed to tunnel on him is looking more like an attempt to drive a mislynch and less like a confused villager, particularly the way in which he hedged the case at several points. Finally, after realising that Shane is more widely trusted this cycle, he’s now trying to incite paranoia about myself and Roadwalker. I’m not offended personally, and appreciate that he’s challenging me, but spreading uneasiness about the two players who are least likely to be evil is a good way to sew...er, sow, chaos and paranoia amongst the village. 

1. That's because I had no one else to vote on, and I was right.

2. That was a gut read, and I didn't "push" the vote

3. And wouldn't that be exactly what an elim would say?

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I'm going to vote for Devotary.This isn't incredibly justified, and is mostly just a gut read in combination with their soft defense of Ela. I know most people consider them trustworthy, but I don't really support the Ark Lynch, I think it's more likely a case of caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm not nessarily suggesting this as an alternative either. If I see a lynch that is better justified than this one that I agree with, then I'll happily switch my vote.

@Devotary of Spontaneity

Edited by Snipexe
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MR33: Denouement

The camp reached the cave entrance close to sundown. The mists swirled around them, chilling the air to freezing. On the horizon, storm clouds boomed - they beat the storm by a matter of minutes. Alendi peered into the tunnel - it seemed to go on for some distance, and Alendi couldn’t see the end.

 

“Get inside. We’ll take shelter here.” Alendi said. The group, huddled and significantly shrunk from its original size, shuffled in. They can’t take much more like this. I can’t take much more like this. They’d started out with a medium sized party, but they now had less than half that number. There was a sense of despair in the air, as though people were just waiting for the news of the next deaths to arrive.

At least it’s almost over. Please, Terr, let it be almost over.

Rashek walked up to Alendi. “Should we make camp for the night? Make the final journey in the morning?”
Alendi considered it. There was nothing more he wanted to do, then to get some rest, just a couple hours sleep, before continuing on. But… no. He could not allow someone to betray him at this final moment, after they’d come so far.

“No. Make camp here - I’ll head in ahead. With luck, we can get this over with tonight. I’ll bring Duilin along for security - he’s proven his trustworthiness.”
There was a brief pause.
“Where is Duilin?”


Duilin stood outside, watching the oncoming storm. “I know you’re there.”
The storm didn’t reply.
“You think I don’t realise what you’re doing? Pitting us against each other, for your own personal amusement? Pairing us into groups, then seeing who survives?”
The wind gusted, making Duilin shiver, and it began to snow lightly.
“I know you’re there. I’ve played your little games - I caught the traitors. What now? When will this end?”
The snow began to intensify, combining with the mist to obscure Duilin’s vision, and there was another thunderclap.
“Hey! Answer me!”
Frustrated, Duilin grabbed some snow from the ground, roughly packed it into a ball, and lobbed it into the storm. He didn’t see where it landed, but he could have sworn that it impacted something - or someone - nearby.

Duilin began to turn back towards camp, and saw the mists nearby beginning to swirl, as they slowly coalesced into a solid form.
“Oh, it’s you again.”
The figure had been remarkably friendly to him, but Duilin wasn’t in a mood to talk. Duilin casually took out a carving fork and tossed it through the mist figure, watching it dissipate away. Duilin knew by now that wouldn’t harm it - but in some ways it was fun to try all the same.
By now, the storm was bad enough that Duilin realised he couldn’t see the entrance anymore. Slowly, he began to trek back towards the entrance, keeping careful mind of the cliff edge to avoid falling off.
Behind Duilin, someone picked up the carving fork. Among the howling of the wind, Duilin failed to hear the crunching of snow as they approached Duilin from behind. The figure raised his hand behind Duilin, and Duilin turned, too late, as the carving fork lunged towards him and pierced straight through their chest. The deed done, the figure dashed back to the camp, leaving Duilin alone, as they slowly collapsed on the ground.

The white snow turned red as the sun set.


“Where’s Duilin?”
There was a pause.
“He’s probably fine.” Rashek said eventually. “Maybe he went for a walk. He’ll probably be back soon.”
“A walk? In this weather?”
Rashek shrugged.
“We shouldn’t give up hope, anyway.”
In the silence, unnoticed, one of the party silently rejoined the back of the group.
Rashek paused. “But really, it’s better to sleep. We don’t know what lies ahead, and there may still be the Deepness to deal with. I can stand guard.” He said it almost perfectly - friendly, gently guiding advice. But it was a little too incongruous. Alendi had seen the looks Rahek had given him, when Rashek thought Alendi wasn’t watching. A fiery, burning anger for what Rashek felt was a wrong to his people. A disgust for leading them on the mission that Kwaan had inexplicably begun to decry as doomed. This Rashek, the one standing before him now, was a facade.
Alendi sighed.  He’d seen this coming for long enough, but he’d hoped it wouldn’t be necessary. He grabbed the dagger on his belt, and in one fluid motion, stabbed Rashek through the chest.

“Are there any other objections?”
None were raised.
“Good. Let’s finish this.”


The walk was taken in silence, except for the echoing footsteps. Glances were made between the small group, every accidentally kicked pebble causing the group to tense up. Half an hour went by, then an hour. Slowly, the group became aware that the air around them was somehow strange. Thicker, somehow, lazier. And, much as each of them tried to shake off the feeling, it felt strangely as though the very air was watching them approach, silently monitoring their progress.

“Dr. Snip, may I speak with you? In private?”
Daedi’s voice echoed through the path, reverberating back and forth several times before eventually dissipating.
Everyone looked back.
“What is this about?” Roadwalker asked. He looked down at his Tinmind, suddenly very regretful he’d used his entire supply the previous night.
“A quick matter, that is all. You may all carry on.”

Everyone quickly looked at one another.
“I assure you, we’ll only be a moment. You have no need to worry.”
Reluctantly, the group continued on, Alendi leading the way, while Daedi and Dr. Snip stayed behind.

“What’s this about?” Dr. Snip asked.
“I know you killed Duilin.”
There was a pause.
“You’re lying. Someone else must have killed Duilin.”
Daedi smiled. “You’re good. You managed to hide from even my gaze for a while. But everyone makes a mistake eventually.”
“I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m going to rejoin the group now.”
Daedi held up the carving fork, prongs red with blood.
Dr. Snip paused, momentarily stunned. “But… how…”
Daedi smiled.
“Look. I know Duilin may have been your friend, but there’s so much more at play here. Alendi’s intentions are good, but they. Look here.” Snip said, pulling out a thin, engraved metal sheet from under his shirt. “The prophecies - they’ve been changed. The power, that Alendi wants to release, to stop there - it’s been manipulating things, in front of all of us. Whatever it is, it’s trapped for a very good reason.”
Daedi gave Snip a completely neutral stare. “I see no problem with what Alendi is doing. You’re just one of the traitors. I should report you to the group.”
“Look. Please. I know you’re angry with me right now because of Duilin, and you have every right to be, but -”
“I don’t care that you killed Duilin.”
Dr. Snip, for the second time, stopped, stunned. “What?”
A mist began to rise from Daedi.
“You’re the Deepness? Perhaps we can work together. We have a chance to stop what Alendi’s going to do, you and I. Will you work with me?”
“I don’t care that you killed Duilin. I just wish you’d done it a little earlier.”
And with that Daedi, mist streaming from their form, lifted up Dr. Snip, pinning him up against the wall and choking them. Dr. Snip kicked out, futilely trying to get Daedi to drop the smaller figure, but his legs passed through the largely incorporeal figure. However, the hand continued to clench down on Dr. Snip’s throat, slowly cutting off air.
“If you’d killed him earlier, I’d have had time. Time to whittle the party down. Make them desperate. Time to make sure that Alendi would have no choice but to release me, and then be weak enough to be disposed of afterwards. You could have guaranteed my success.”
Daedi’s face remained perfectly neutral, like a puppeteer with cut strings, but his voice was anything but. Snip’s face was bright red, and slowly turning a shade of purple. “Duilin learned my identity, and used me like a dog doing his bidding. I bore it, because I figured between you and I, we’d be able to achieve so much chaos together, even if my hands were tied.”
Snip lashed out again, in desperation, but it passed through the figure harmlessly. “But no. You decided to play the pacifist. You didn’t kill, and went storing your Pewter instead. You thought the mob was who you had to worry about, boy? Oh, no. You had to worry about me. And no amount of Pewter is going to help with that.”
Snip wasn’t moving. Daedi left him there for a few more seconds, to make sure they weren’t pretending, then dissolved into the mist.


The group saw Daedi round the corner, alone, puffing and panting.
“Where’s Snip?”
“The Deepness attacked us - he killed Snip. I barely escaped.” Daedi paused. “I think I’m safe now, though.”
There were glances between Dietrich Drake and Itiah. Daedi paused, then continued. “I don’t think they attacked groups before - they must be getting desperate. We’re on the right path.”

Daedi moved to rejoin the group, then watched as Dietrich put a hand on his spear.
Daedi paused. “Dietrich? We’re on the same side, right?”
“The people behind me are on the same side. You, I’m not so sure about.”
Daedi paused. “Fine.” He smiled, and slowly dissolved away, leaving nothing behind.


They reached the pool soon after. Glowing with a white light, and surrounded by a ring of clay stones with some strange metal embedded in them. There was a moments silence, as the thick air slid around them, watching, gazing, judging.

Alendi sighed. “Well, best get this over with.”

He stripped down to his breeches, then entered the pool. Slowly, he walked to the middle, pausing there for a moment. Then he dunked his head below the water.


Alendi felt all of his bones and muscles at once begin to tense up as the energy began to absorb into him, as though on fire. All the pores of his skin seemed alight with fire and the veins coursed red-hot. Alendi gasped at the sheer power that was flowing through him - far superior to anything he’d imagined possible - superior to anything that he could have imagined possible. With this power, this energy, he could flatten cities, level continents. He could banish the mists, could make world peace, could provide food and shelter for all, with a wave of his hand.

He could bring back his companions.

No.

Alendi paused.

You can not hold this power forever.

And Alendi saw that this was true. He could hold the power for only a few minutes, before he had to give it up. He saw the Deepness returning, and Alendi having failed his mission. He saw those who had held hope for Alendi, back in Khlennium, wide-eyed, watching as the Deepness returns, and now with nothing stopping it from returning in full force and conquering all it sees.

You can not abandon your mission now.

Alendi saw those who had died, silently watching him, judging him.

What were their lives for?

Alendi heard the voices of his people, quietly waiting out the days, slowly trying to ration an ever-dwindling supply of food.

What do they want you to do?

Alendi felt a memory, of his past self, standing before the Terris Priests at Khlennium, as Kwaan proclaimed him the Hero of Ages, and the saviour from the Deepness.

What are you here to do?

Alendi paused. Then he exhaled, letting the power go. It began to drain away from his body, faster and faster. He screamed, a torrent of energy flowing out of him, and he collapsed down into the now empty pool.

He heard a voice, in the back of his mind.

I am FREE!


Snipexe died. They were a Pewter Feruchemist Rashek's Lackey.
Fifth Scholar died. They were a Pewter Feruchemist Alendi Loyalist.

The game is over! The Alendi Loyalists have won.

Special credit goes to Devotary as The Deepness, who missed out on breaking the SK(-ish) curse by one player.

Thanks goes to CadCom, Elandara, and Walin who wrote write-ups for this game, and then proceeded to conveniently die the following cycle.

GM Spreadsheet

Elim Doc

Dead Doc


GM thoughts:

Comparison to LG27:

As the only other game I've run, that was my chief comparison to this game. And... MR33 was significantly better than LG27 was, at least - it avoided a lot of the same traps that the last game fell into. Partly, this was because I was deliberately trying to run a fairly ordinary game - part of the problem with LG27 is that I tried throwing too many wacky things into that game at the same time - I feel like at the core of LG27 there was probably a good game - where players have the option of working towards a couple different goals, and have to be paranoid that their other 'factionmates' aren't working towards the same goals that they are. But this got distracted by everything superfluous added on top of that, so it just became a confusing, bloated mess that wasn't actually fun to play (or run). There were a few other things wrong with it (in particular, a few mechanisms that relied on randomness, which really doesn't belong in an SE game - see my notes about luck in the Balance section.) In this respect, MR33 was certainly better. It seems like the players had more fun playing it, and I had more fun running it. It wasn't perfect, by any means, but I can walk away from this one actually feeling like I had a good time and that I want to do this again.

Setting/Story:

I knew I wanted to run a game set in pre-Final Empire Scadrial before almost anything else in this game. This was for 2 main reasons - 1) I wanted to try out a game based around the idea of Feruchemy, and having to make temporary sacrifices for more powerful benefits later (this will be discussed in the Mechanics section), and 2) I figured if this game was popular/fun, maybe I could run a couple sequels, and functionally create an alt-Scadrial history that was dependent on the results of various games (which... may or may not happen - I'd be interested in hearing peoples thoughts.)

Overall, I think I liked the setting - it was new and something that hadn't been done before, and fitted in fairly easily to the format of an SE game. Honestly, I'm surprised no-one's done this before. It also gave me the chance to try out the diary format in the various cycles, which... kind of worked? The main problems I ended up facing was that deaths and stuff were always included in a separate part of the write-up, so the diary was usually just filler of "We are very concerned about this thing that happened". If I were to use a diary format again, I'd probably stick to it more than I did this game - try and write some deaths through the diary format, instead of separately.

Mechanics:

I still like the idea of the Feruchemist, but the devil is in the details. Part of the problem was that the Feruchemist took a while to become a powerful role, and this was a really short game - when people stored charges (particularly Pewter), they were wasting precious actions. There are 2 remedies I can think to this. 1) Start players off with some small supply of charges - enough that they'll still need to charge at some point in the game, but decreasing how much of a late-game role it is. 2) Speeding up the action cycle somehow (e.g. You can store and spend multiple charges a cycle.)
Tin Feruchemists are a pain. Perhaps, if I had some kind of bot that could sweep through and format the transcript automatically, it would be easier, but it's a long, tedious process to transform a PM. If you just try to copy-paste it, it comes out almost unreadable.
Pewter Feruchemists are... fine, but they're slow. Too slow, for a game that ends in 4 cycles. I still think that having one vote for 1 charge of Pewter will become too OP too quickly, but perhaps some combination of options one and two above could help.
Bronze Feruchemists are... I have no idea, actually - the only Bronze Feruchemist died C1. At a guess, I'd say it has similar problems to the Pewter Feruchemist, and could use similar fixes.
The not-being-able-to-perform-an-action-when-being-lynched thing is not unbalanced, but by the sounds of things, it was unfun, so I wouldn't recommend it.

Obviously, most of the other roles are classics, so I don't feel the need to comment on them as much - they're staples of SE precisely because they're balanced.

Balance:

(Note: I'm distinguishing Mechanics from Balance because mechanics is about the structure of individual rules/roles, while balance is how it all fits together into a cohesive whole. Ultimately, you need both to have a really fun game.)
The first two cycles of this game were... interesting, to say the least. 2 out of the 3 eliminators dead, functionally ruining the chances of the Elim team possibly winning (although Snip came a lot close than I was initially expecting, all things considered). The first and most obvious question is... why? There wasn't an obvious mistake I could spot where I went "The Eliminators really screwed up there". Alternatively, it might be that the rules were somehow village biased ... honestly, I'm not exactly sure whether that's the case. If anything, I'd expected such a small game to favour the Eliminators, since they only needed to hide for 3 or so cycles to get a good shot at the lynch, but clearly, that didn't happen. So, I really do think it was just bad luck. CadCom and Elandera decided in Cycle 1 they'd tie-up the vote and cause a no-lynch, knowing that vote manipulations could kill one of them, and that it might be viewed as suspicious. Unfortunately, they just had the worst possible luck, and lost two of their members because of it. If it had worked, they might have won the game.

I did have some mechanisms in place in case something exactly like the first two cycles happened. The Deepness was shamelessly stolen from Aman's Red Rising MR as an attempt at auto-balancing once the game started - the theory was that if the game went towards the Eliminators, the Deepness would work to correct that and end up working with the villagers, and if the game went towards the villagers (as did happen), then the Deepness would work to correct that and end up working with the Eliminators. I still think that's a brilliant idea in theory, but in practice, that didn't work so well. Around Cycle 3, Devotary claimed to Fifth, a villager, and functionally their kills ended up working for the village (killing suspected Eliminators) in an already village-biased game. If I were to ever run this again, probably the first change I'd make would be to say both the Village and the Eliminators need to kill the Deepness in order to accomplish their wincons - that prevents this kind of situation from developing.I kind of like that this was almost role madness - I feel like that's more fun for the individual player, but the balance suffers as a whole, since a whole bunch of effects take place functionally by accident, it becomes less a game of chance and more a game of luck, which can cause problems in what is mostly a skill based game. E.g. Itiah, the Doctor, protects Roadwalker. Shane acts as a Decoy, deflecting all actions from Roadwalker onto Shane, and Devotary tries to kill Shane, which is blocked by Itiah's redirected protect action, and may have lost the game because of it. All of these actions were entirely separate, and happened largely accidentally. Not being afraid to add a few more vanilla roles both makes it harder to clear people (which this game could have used) and makes it less likely to have luck play a role as much as it did this game.

Conclusion:

While definitely not perfect, this game has a few interesting elements that worked to varying degrees of success, and it would be interesting to see how other GM's tackle similar problems in future.

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This was a really fun game. Thank you very much for running this, @Young Bard, especially for the wonderful and creative writeups. 

I’d like to apologise to Ark and Walin for accidentally pursuing them. I had Snipexe as an Elim candidate, but he distanced quite well towards the end and you two seemed like more obvious choices. Also, I’m sorry for consistently doubting you, Road and Itiah. I started getting more than a little paranoid at the end when the actions systems got weird. 

I’m sorry you didn’t get your victory, Devotary, though I will point out that had you voted either way, it would have been yours. Thanks for being a willing and helpful partner, and putting up with my nervous rambling and madcap ideas. I’d be minded to just essentially give an honourary win to you, though, as you definitely deserved it.  

Congrats to the Elims for coming out of the first two cycles with a plan to preserve their remaining member, which mostly worked. Is there any reason you didn’t kill those two nights, @Snipexe

1 hour ago, Young Bard said:

Bronze Feruchemists are... I have no idea, actually - the only Bronze Feruchemist died C1. At a guess, I'd say it has similar problems to the Pewter Feruchemist, and could use similar fixes.

As someone who ran a game with almost the exact same Bronze role that you did, I can say that it worked out very well, though perhaps that was due to the differing nature of my action system. I think most of the Feruchemy was well-balanced, though I’d concur that Pewter felt a little impotent at times, and after using it once when I really didn’t need to, I couldn’t really justify using it again after that. So I just threw snowballs instead.

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