Quick Fix Game 40: Uneasy Lies

[Alvron]

3 minutes ago, little wilson said:

Considering why he just ran off, I don't think he needs a hug from Zhier either. Or maybe he does.... That could be fun. >:)

Idos Domi no!  He's suffering enough as it is.

[Burnt Spaghetti]

From the safety of being underneath a table by a wall Somi watched as nearby a man stood and looked around frantically. By the looks of it he was being comsumed by panic as he tried to find a way out. He wasn't too far away from her. Should I talk to him...? He looks scared and alone... but i'm just a kid, and from the streets too, he might not want to talk to me... but... "...S-sir?" Her voice was so small from her own fear. She swallowed  and tried again "um... s-sir? Are you... no of course he ain't alright you idiot um. Nevermind..." she didn't even know if he could even hear her, so she just hugged her knees closer to her chest and waved awkwardly. 

[xinoehp512]

Ecnelis read his book, completely unaware of anyone else around him.

[Elandera]

3 hours ago, Elbereth said:

Forgot to add the non RP stuff. @Elandera, do let me know if you figure out what seems off.

Definitely. I have gone back and read the turn a little more closely, and I think it's just the general tone of your conversation with Striker. However, the content of the conversation is pretty NAI, so I'm settling you both back into the neutral category along with everyone else.

3 hours ago, little wilson said:

Pfft. Excuse me? My vote is perfectly warranted. What better reason than a former agent of exactly what we're looking for?

I'll give you this one. Alv is usually enough reason alone. 

I think I'll place a vote on Lawrence(@Butt Ad Venture). Any other particular reason for your vote on Rath? The vote seems a little bit like you're trying to distance yourself from the main vote volley. What are your thoughts on Striker, Alv, and STINK?

[Elbereth]

1 minute ago, Elandera said:

Definitely. I have gone back and read the turn a little more closely, and I think it's just the general tone of your conversation with Striker. However, the content of the conversation is pretty NAI, so I'm settling you both back into the neutral category along with everyone else.

I mean, I hate to accuse myself, but I disagree somewhat.  A, it’s cycle 1, tone is absolutely enough to be suspicious for. And B, I wouldn’t argue that the content is necessarily NAI - I was discussing a couple days ago with someone that NAI might be an overused term. At most I could see say it’s not alignment indicative yet - but if, say, Striker flips evil, it’s probably alignment indicative about me - or even if Tess or Itiah flips evil, you might want to look at Striker more closely for that. (Or not. I think that’d probably be a pretty flimsy argument, but still.) The fact that I am suspicious of Striker and have voted on him should be indicative at least a little bit? 

I don’t know if any of that ended up making sense, it’s still a little jumbled in my head.  Basically I’m hesitant to write off conversations as NAI because I think all lynch discussions (unlike, say, discussions about strategies or mechanics) are at least a little bit alignment indicative / useful. 

[StrikerEZ]

When was the last time someone did a vote tally? I wanna know if it’ll be worth it to wake up before rollover tomorrow to see if I’m gonna survive or not. I’d kinda appreciate it if people would just choose a lynch candidate (even if it’s me) so I don’t have to wake up early.

[Alvron]

27 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

When was the last time someone did a vote tally? I wanna know if it’ll be worth it to wake up before rollover tomorrow to see if I’m gonna survive or not. I’d kinda appreciate it if people would just choose a lynch candidate (even if it’s me) so I don’t have to wake up early.

You and I are tied on two votes while Stink, Rath and Venture have one each.

[Elandera]

1 hour ago, Elbereth said:

I mean, I hate to accuse myself, but I disagree somewhat.  A, it’s cycle 1, tone is absolutely enough to be suspicious for. And B, I wouldn’t argue that the content is necessarily NAI - I was discussing a couple days ago with someone that NAI might be an overused term. At most I could see say it’s not alignment indicative yet - but if, say, Striker flips evil, it’s probably alignment indicative about me - or even if Tess or Itiah flips evil, you might want to look at Striker more closely for that. (Or not. I think that’d probably be a pretty flimsy argument, but still.) The fact that I am suspicious of Striker and have voted on him should be indicative at least a little bit? 

I don’t know if any of that ended up making sense, it’s still a little jumbled in my head.  Basically I’m hesitant to write off conversations as NAI because I think all lynch discussions (unlike, say, discussions about strategies or mechanics) are at least a little bit alignment indicative / useful. 

That's fair. The better way for me to have phrased my thoughts was that I didn't find the contents of the conversation to be suspicious enough for a vote yet. It may come into play later, but as of now, it's not enough for me to want to lynch two of the more active players/RPers. Rather, the tone I picked up is something that will prompt me to keep an eye on both of you.

[Alvron]

I think I'm going to limit RP to just once per cycle.  Asterion is starting to calm down a bit but I don't want to push.  He's fragile enough as it is.

I'm going to vote again for DeTess.  I'm getting the same feelings I was getting last time.

[Young Bard]

Striker, it's just that something about Stink's language felt unusually... forced, to me. But that could be due to any number of factors - they could be an Elim, or just tired, or rushing, or it's all my imagination. So, Stink.

Can we let Alv live longer than a cycle, please? They would have died Cycle 1 last game too if the game hadn't ended, and I want to see Asterion suffer - I mean, .

So... That leaves Rath and Venture. I've tunnelled on Rath a few times (I think it's something to do with their playstyle - I've tried to be better about it) - but Rath isn't showing up on my radar at all this game so far. I'm tempted to say that's a difference from how I normally react to Rath, which might be a sign they're an Elim, but I'm not that mean, so that leaves Venture. Who... I'm not that suspicious of either. Great times.

Devotary - I haven't heard much from you in either of the Cycle 1's we've had so far. I'd be curious on your thoughts.

[I think I am here.]

Hello! While I do agree that the chances of me being an elim are the same as they were before, I can understand Striker’s point of view, and I feel like Elb’s immediate vote on them comes off as a little suspicious. However, it could just be another attempt at starting a lynch discussion (which has worked, so good job, I guess ), which they were doing before as well.

Bard’s vote on Stink... I can believe that it was just observing slight differences in their language, and not something else. Or maybe I’m just overly trusting and suck at analysis  Elandera seems to have a similar gut feeling on Elb as I do, or maybe she’s trying to distance herself by stating slight suspicion and then saying it’s most likely NAI.

Rae and Elb could also be an elim team (Or is this just me being paranoid, I wonder)? She disagrees about the vote on Striker, and then goes back to vote on him. However, this is due to what she sees as overreacting on Striker’s part, which I have to admit I agree with. Striker’s statement in response also makes sense (But is anything really overthinking in SE? ), and his comments about being fine to be lynched are something I perceive to be the mark of someone who doesn’t have anything to hide. However, I am aware of elims pulling tactics like this, but I don’t think Striker is doing this so early on.

Remember, this is the person who voted to lynch himself when he was the spy so the village wouldn’t lose. I don’t think he would be open to be lynched on the first cycle if he had an elim team he had a responsibility to. So, my vote goes to Elbereth for the quick vote on Striker for saying something I can see as an understandable thing to say, and because Elandera also has gut feeling on them (and you know what they, two gut feelings are better than one ).

And even if I’m wrong, hopefully this post will be more informative in the future as the game goes on and alignments are revealed.

Edited October 19, 2019 by I think I am here.
Added last sentence

[DeTess]

6 hours ago, Elandera said:

What are your thoughts on Striker, Alv, and STINK?

(I know you didn't ask me, but I might as well use it as a guide-post to start my post off  )

Hmmm, okay. I can kinda see what Bard picked up about STINK, but I don't think it's in any way alignment indicative, so I won't vote that way. Alvron doesn't really act any different from last cycle, and I guess his vote on me is understandable as I don't think I'm really acting different either.

Regarding Striker, his comments about the odds of me being an elim and stuff kinda felt like a pocketing attempt to me, and I'm tempted to try to lynch him for that.

As for other people... I think I see where ITIAH's suspicion is coming from, but I'd actually prefer to lynch Striker and see where that goes before wondering whether Elbereth is an elim that simply jumped on the earliest available nice-looking lynch. Regarding butt add venture, I think his psot is marginally more helpful than Rath's becuase it actually contained avote, but that's about it. I'd like to see some more comments on the game from both him ( @Butt Ad Venture) and @Rathmaskal (and anyone else that hasn't talked much yet).

Anyway, for now I'm going to vote on striker(again).

 

[StrikerEZ]

Why do I always manage to get lynched/killed early on lately? It’s kinda getting annoying that, no matter how I differently I play each game, I become an easy target at the beginning of the game. 

@Young Bard @Alvron I’d prefer it if you guys voted on Elb instead of Tess or Devotary. While I have a slight gut trust of Elb, I feel like tying us up for lynch and having one of us flip alignments will be much more indicative of other player’s alignments than just lynching me. 

[DeTess]

@StrikerEZ, is there anyone you're particularly suspicious of right now?

[Young Bard]

9 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

@Young Bard @Alvron I’d prefer it if you guys voted on Elb instead of Tess or Devotary. While I have a slight gut trust of Elb, I feel like tying us up for lynch and having one of us flip alignments will be much more indicative of other player’s alignments than just lynching me. 

Not going to happen, sorry - I have nothing that makes me suspicious of El right now, and on a meta level, I believe they've said this is a narrow window they're able to play time-wise, and I don't want to cut that short. If it's still a choice between you and Alv, then you'd be my preferred choice for the lynch.

Edited October 19, 2019 by Young Bard
Posted early by accident/grammar

[Kasimir]

The cycle has closed! Hang in there, we'll be back shortly after the commercial break!

[+Ed Venture]

I’m actually a little lost when it comes to the current lynch soo...let me do a read through. Try to understand a bit.

Current vote count:   
Elbreth (1): ITIAH
Alvron: (2): Wilson, Striker
Venture (1): Elandera
DeTess (1): Alvron
Devotary: (1): Bard
Striker (2): Rae, Elbreth

Rath So for those of you who were asking, that vote was based off of the discussion on the odds of being an Elim. I’m realizing that what Rath said was probally a joke. However, seeing as Striker was one of the main reasons that discussion continued, I’ll be considering changing my vote to him.

Next is STINK. I actually don’t like the lynch on him. It has very little basis, yet Bard seemed that reason to lynch. Then he pulled back, presumably because his evil plan failed.

Then there’s Alvron. Who just found his way into autocorrect! His two votes came from Wilson, as a stab vote(TM). Then from Striker to tie the lynch. There is no reason he should be up for the lynch.

Edited October 19, 2019 by Butt Ad Venture
I...took too long writing. :(

[Haelbarde]

Cycle Two 
A Bolt From The Blue

“You there! Nice muscles, hold this,” Shuos KanSeun said. 

This meeting was beginning to look increasingly like a mistake, but he had found someone with the muscles of a blacksmith, and he shoved the wadded strip of cloth into her hands. “Keep pressure on her wounds.”

Marzia raised an eyebrow, but held the blood-soaked makeshift bandage in place.  “Aren’t you going to remove the crossbow bolts?” she wanted to know. The Grand had set Herat down on the floorboards of the teahouse and was even now applying pressure to the wounds.

“If I want her to die!” he replied. “The bolts are the only thing keeping the bleeding controllable right now—we’d need a bolt extractor and we don’t have one, or a Resealer, and I don’t suppose you’re carrying one in your pocket.”

Marzia shook her head.

“Then no. Infection risks are there as well. We’re doing her no favours. We have to make her comfortable, at the very least.” 

“And what are you going to be doing?” asked Kavela, who had taken to securing the door so no one could leave.

“I’m going to raid the kitchen,” the Grand replied, smiling at her. Kavela just wondered what his secret was. There was always a secret, and then another secret. The people who were good at uncovering secrets were the ones who got paid well, and Kavela was very good at getting paid. “There might be something we can use.”

He turned out to be right.

Kavela accompanied him to search the kitchens, less out of trust than a desire to be useful, and to work out what was going on with him. She’d gotten some sense of the others, but she just wasn’t sure about the Grand from how he was behaving.

There was dream honey in the kitchen. Kavela found a jar of it, and barely hid her surprise. It seemed new, but then the seal had been cracked open, and a spoonful was missing. What was a reputable teahouse like the Frozen Moon doing with dream honey? It killed pain, but it also sent people into deep sleep. And it was habit-forming. She knew highly-placed Grands within the Empire’s bureaucracy who were dependent on dream honey to be able to sleep.

“Someone’s been at the honey,” the Grand said, and she saw a flicker of what might have been surprise on his face. “Either way, it should help ease the pain.”

They brought the jar out of the kitchen, and fed a spoonful to Herat. It was all they could do for her.

ㄢㄋㄌ

It didn’t take long for the arguments to break out. Voices raised, everyone shouting over their neighbour to be heard. It was either that or just try and hide from the noise (or the world in general).  

Roashina noticed amid the noise that there were two who had been instead talking quietly. He walked over, calling out to Joon. “What’s going on here then. You turn up and don’t even say hello to an old friend?”

It just happened that at that moment, Joon ran off. Roashina gave chase, shouting for everyone to stop them when just as suddenly as they had dashed off, Joon stopped to greet Wai ZhierShen. Joon had noticed Wai in the same moment as Roashina had called out to them, and hadn’t heard them. Unfortunately, this brief commotion managed to silent the whole room.

Joon blinked, just now registering Roashina’s accusations. “Who, me? You think I’ve got something with that dead body? I noticed Wai was free and needed to talk to her. Why are you being so suspicious?” 

In an instant, others began to echo Joon, wondering why Roashina was so on edge and paranoid. The mob had no ears for Roashina’s protests, and it was decided that he was the cause of all the shouting. Roashina found themselves being pushed, or really thrown, out the door of the establishment for disrupting the peace. As they scrambled back to their feet to confront their peers, there was a couple of twangs, followed by two thuds. There wasn’t even any time to register the pain of two crossbow bolts pin him tight to the doorframe.

ㄢㄋㄌ

This had been the hardest piece of the puzzle to plan. Not that any part had been easy, but the tool required had been very hard to get his hands on. It had been obscenely expensive and had come from a long way away. But it had been important. They had to know that the killing wouldn’t be random. He hadn’t forgotten, and soon, neither would they. 

As Roashina found themselves at the mercy of patrons of the Frozen Moon, and subsequently the Strikers that had surrounded the exterior of the building to prevent any inside from leaving, Ableah made his move. In the guise of a MaiPon server, he found the table in which DaTess had been seated. As he poured a new cup of tea, he counted out the heartbeats. Just shy of a dozen, as he finished pouring the new cup, he slipped the blade through her body effortlessly, before releasing the blade and quickly moving away. He didn’t look back at the lifeless body, and didn’t see the burnt out eyes. But then, he didn’t need to see. He could still remember in vivid detail those eyes burnt out eyes...

ㄢㄋㄌ

StrikerEZ was lynched! They were from the Heritage Faction and supported the Conspirators.
DaTess was killed! They were from the Glory faction and supported the Conspirators.

Vote Tally
Arraenae(1): StrikerEZ
StrikerEZ(3): Arraenae, Elbereth, DaTess
Alvron(1): little wilson
Butt Ad Venture(1): Elandera
DaTess(1): Alvron
Devotary of Spontaneity(1): Young Bard
Elbereth(1): I think I am here.
Stink(1): Butt Ad Venture

The cycle has begun! It will end at 9PM, GMT+8, tomorrow - on the 20th October.

Player List

1. I think I am here (Itiah)
2. DeTess (DeTess) - Conspirator
3. xinoehp512 (Ecnelis)
4. StrikerEZ (Roashina) - Conspirator
5. Elandera (Marzia)
6. Burnt Spaghetti (Somi)
7. Young Bard (Kavela)
8. Rathmaskal (Yesterday "Yes" Jones)
9. Alvron (Asterion)
10. Elbereth (Ellira)
11. STINK (STINK)
12. Butt Ad Venture (Lawrence Scholdei)
13. Devotary of Spontaneity (Faitren)
14. Arraenae (Joon)
15. Little Wilson (Wai ZhierSen)

 

[Kasimir]

Rule Clarifications

Spoiler

1. Is the honey or the shardblade any kind of ingame mechanic?

No. We judge that players would already have their hands full with the standard QF format, on top of the Reform Spy, Handler, and Embedded Operative dynamics. Any items you may have been sent are strictly part of an activity & RP prompt, which is optional for players to engage with, but may hint at aspects of the metaplot. They do not affect actual gameplay.

 

Edited October 19, 2019 by Kasimir

[Arrae]

Summary of reactions to the Striker lynch:

Had suspicions and voted: El, Rae, Tess (village)

Had suspicions: Rath (kind of more a callout with nothing else attached to it)

Defended: Bard, Venture (by proxy, voted on Rath), Elandera (directly and by proxy, attacking El) Itiah (directly and by proxy, voting on El)

Ignored it completely: Xino, Burnt, Alv, Stink, Devotary, Wilson

Tess is obviously village and I know that I'm village, so the Striker lynch was mostly (if not completely) villagers attacking villagers. Seems like the type of thing that elims might be content to let run on its own, so right now I'm mostly interested in the people who didn't comment on the Striker lynch at all. @little wilson, @Devotary of Spontaneity, @STINK, @Alvron, @Burnt Spaghetti, @xinoehp512, what do you think happened with the Striker lynch? Who in it, if anyone, seems suspicious?

[little wilson]

I mean, I went to sleep last night under the impression that it was going to be a Gods of Luck and Chance between Alv and Striker. Not sure why Striker removed his vote, but it's not like it matters anyway since Tess added a third vote.

I don't suspect anyone who actually voted for Striker. I think there's probably at least one elim involved with the discussion, but considering no one had more than one vote at the end of the day while Striker had two until Tess voted, there would've been very little reason for an eliminator to cast a vote there and get involved.

I don't particularly care for Bard's logic when he wanted people to save Alv because Alv would've died early in v1 of this game, when the same logic applied to Striker as well (since even though the lynch wasn't going to kill him, the elims were offing him the very next cycle) and yet he didn't have any super strong feelings about that. That said, I'm not sure I suspect Bard. Kinda depends on how Alv would flip.

My gut doesn't really like some of the things Elandera said about the discussion and the votes with cycle 1. It seemed a little....wishy-washy? Or maybe not wishy-washy, but more stating the obvious but doing it in a way that looks like you're trying to contribute without actually contributing. It's not necessarily an elim tell, but it's definitely something I watch for now, after seeing so many elims do it.

I have very mixed feelings about the Tess kill. Mostly because of Alv's vote on him and then he dies. My initial reaction would be that obviously the person who voted on him is innocent, and yet...this is Alv. My initial vote was a joke because he was Discovery before and clearly that's where Zhier would vote if she had to. But now I'm actually wondering if he is. He came close to dying until Striker removed his vote and Tess voted. If he's evil and they wanted to find some way to make him seem a little cleared, one of the best ways would be to kill the person he was voting on because no competent elim would be tied to the death that clearly. And I know that turns it into an IKYK, because this is Alv and he would know that but...call it paranoia or what have you but I never trust Alv so I'm wary about it. Plus, he's one of the ones who stayed out of the Striker stuff, and I think you're right that that's something most eliminators would avoid.

I'm going to withhold my vote for now because I want to see what others have to say, but I'm leaning most towards Alv right now. I think the Tess kill was about more than just someone who hadn't spoken much and voted for another villager. I could be wrong about that though, which is why I'm not going to vote, yet.

[Kasimir]

24 minutes ago, little wilson said:

I mean, I went to sleep last night under the impression that it was going to be a Gods of Luck and Chance between Alv and Striker. Not sure why Striker removed his vote, but it's not like it matters anyway since Tess added a third vote.

I can actually clarify this as this was the subject of a tiny bit of trouble on our side. Basically, Striker didn't green his original vote. So we had a question of how rigidly we wanted to adhere to our requirement that original votes must be greened out. (The original rule was phrased more as "please do this or we can't guarantee we won't miss stuff, and if we do, sorry, tough luck.") 

We ended up adhering rigidly, which is why Striker's vote for Alv didn't count, on the view that it was in our rules and we should stick with that. But before we did that, I chose to interpret the rule liberally and flipped a coin for the tie-breaker. All I can say is that either RNGesus or the Euro really has it out for Striker this time >>;;;

So in this context, the liberal or rigid treatment of our rules did not make a difference.

[Devotary of Spontaneity]

I didn't feel like I had anything productive to say last cycle, and I still don't have any useful thoughts except that apparently the Spy and Handler are listed as either Glory or Heritage. Alv and Striker both died early in part A, and I didn't want to vote for either of them, but I also wasn't paying too much attention didn't see anything noteworthy about Stink, Rath, and Venture. 

DeTess's death does prove the elim team was shuffled up to some degree, so nobody attacking or defending Striker was worried about concealing the fact that the composition was the same. The kill might be something elim!Itiah would do, but not a lynch-worthy possibility.

Despite last game's ludicrous number of arbiters, and the fair chance this game has a similar quantity, we only have one instance of vote manipulation that I can see where Venture's vote was moved to Stink. It could have been Bard, but I don't see why Bard would have changed his vote but not his action. Rath didn't seem to be in enough danger to require saving, though I have seen village vote manip!Rath save himself just in case(LG59). If it was an elim manipulation, they didn't think Alvron needed saving. 

[Alvron]

53 minutes ago, little wilson said:

I mean, I went to sleep last night under the impression that it was going to be a Gods of Luck and Chance between Alv and Striker. Not sure why Striker removed his vote, but it's not like it matters anyway since Tess added a third vote.

You're not alone.  I completely forgot we need to green our original votes and thought it was tied between Striker and myself.

As for Striker, I completely ignored them.  By the time I managed to get online, it was, or so I thought, tied between the two of us and I was happy to leave it at that.  Instead I worked on Asterions RP which I think worked out quite nicely.
Once it came time for me to log for the night, it was still tied so I went with my gut on DeTess.

1 hour ago, little wilson said:

I have very mixed feelings about the Tess kill. Mostly because of Alv's vote on him and then he dies. My initial reaction would be that obviously the person who voted on him is innocent, and yet...this is Alv. My initial vote was a joke because he was Discovery before and clearly that's where Zhier would vote if she had to. But now I'm actually wondering if he is. He came close to dying until Striker removed his vote and Tess voted. If he's evil and they wanted to find some way to make him seem a little cleared, one of the best ways would be to kill the person he was voting on because no competent elim would be tied to the death that clearly. And I know that turns it into an IKYK, because this is Alv and he would know that but...call it paranoia or what have you but I never trust Alv so I'm wary about it. Plus, he's one of the ones who stayed out of the Striker stuff, and I think you're right that that's something most eliminators would avoid.

I've actually done this in a prior game.  It didn't work and I was lynched shortly after but who knows, second times the charm?   

----------

Sleep had come fitfully for him over the night as it had for many nights over the past five years.  Five years.  Had it really been that long?  He had only fragments of memories from after his so called death.

The taste of blood on the back of his throat. The sound of rain pattering against the cobblestones.  The tightness of a cloak around his neck.  The coldness of steel piercing his skin.  The smell of the dead as he was loaded onto a wagon with the other bodies.

He didn't want to open his eyes for if he did he would have to face the world yet again.  Face those eyes that judged him from the shadows.

Eyes as white as ice.  And a face just as cold.

[Kasimir]

15 minutes ago, Devotary of Spontaneity said:

I didn't feel like I had anything productive to say last cycle, and I still don't have any useful thoughts except that apparently the Spy and Handler are listed as either Glory or Heritage.

I should take the opportunity to proactively clarify this point before it generates more confusion.

1. The Spy and Handler will show up in red when killed, even though their faction is technically green. This is because they win with the Conspirators. The Embedded Operative will not show up as a red (Conspirator) or purple (Discovery) faction member if they have not made a choice yet.

2. 'Glory' and 'Heritage' are flavour and can be safely ignored.

Edited October 19, 2019 by Kasimir