LG61: Aftermath- Retribution

[Devotary of Spontaneity Misting]

Only two nobles left between him and completion of the mission. This could have been completed much earlier, if it weren’t for the unfortunate accidents that had befallen his compatriots. No matter, soon Alethkar would finally be under Ghostblood rule, though of course no active member would be sitting on the throne. Everyone involved in this debacle would disappear, never to be heard from again. One of the other nine Highprinces would be selected as the new king, potentially a Sadeas. Ularid had heard the Ghostbloods maintained ties to that family, though he didn’t pay a lot of attention to politics beyond his goal of ousting the Kholins. Such a shame he’d been forced to kill Brightness Dedja, who’d allegedly shared the same goal. She’d have made an excellent scapechull for the murder of the entire Kholin family. Perhaps he would be outed as the assassin and be hunted down by the new king at the Ghostbloods’s order. Ularid couldn’t bring himself to care. He didn’t want fame or power, and at his age, even life was nearly worthless. He just needed to survive long enough to see Alethkar freed from tyranny, and to do that he had to kill Brightlords Jumae III and Straw. 

Ularid was confident in his chances. His skills as an artifabrian had brought him to this point, but it was his talents as an orator that would allow him to finish off the remaining obstacles. Straw still opposed him, as expected. The straw man was a near perfect likeness of Gavilar the Butcher. Ularid could barely stand to look at him without feeling the urge to blow his cover and strike him down. Even knowing that this was not the same man who had ordered the annihilation of his city and the homes of anyone else who dared resist his senseless power grab, Ularid could not help but feel sickened by the effigy’s presence. Especially because, if Straw could be believed, Ularid would have been killed by that Grandbow-wielding assassin had Straw not intervened. Any gratitude he might have felt was drowned out by his sense of duty and his emergent need for vengeance. He would settle this today. Attaching his longsword and a newly cleaned short sword to his belt, Ularid walked into the warcamp to challenge Straw to a duel.

Straw was waiting for him in the middle of the camp, clearly prepared for a challenge. Ularid was not afraid, he had survived a full Shardbearer duel only days previously and a being made out of Straw should prove no challenge, even if he was working with Jumae III. This battle would not be fought with Shards, but with clean honest steel. Straw agreed with the unspoken sentiment, drawing a common blade from the table in front of him. Somehow running towards him on legs lacking in muscles or bone, Straw swung his first blow at Ularid.

This effigy was skilled, Ularid thought, though far from the level of swordsmanship the real Gavilar had attained. Ularid deflected the first blow with a counterstroke from his short sword and plunged the longer blade into his enemy’s left shoulder. This caused no apparent injury. No blood poured from the wound and Strawappeared not to feel pain. This wasn’t completely unexpected, but Ularid was still not totally prepared for the riposte that slammed into his simple steel plate, denting it. He staggered backwards, resolving to be more careful. He would have to destroy Straw utterly to be sure of killing him. 

As Ularid set his feet in preparation for his next attack, Brightlord Jumae III strolled out of his tent, bedecked in the elegant emerald Plate that had previously belonged to Tleir and carrying the graceful curved Blade that Tintallë had nearly murdered him with. Ularid shuddered a bit at the memory, but Jumae didn’t seem to be immediately hostile. Indeed, the full Shardbearer was pointing his weapon at Straw. The Blade sang through the air and cleaved Straw’s now insignificant weapon in twain. Continuing its arc, the Blade swang into Straw’s right arm and rebounded, leaving no mark in the straw. Ularid stared at the impact site, loosening his grip on his weapons. Surely this man couldn’t be wearing Plate under there, and even if he was, the Blade shouldn’t have reacted that way. Ularid knew firsthand that in a confrontation between Plate and Blade, the latter gave way first. Whatever force blocking the Blade hadn’t prevented his own steel sword, and so Ularid drove forward once more with both blades.

---

Ularid tragically dies here.

---

The die had been thrown, the bets had been placed, and the  knife’s arc was nearing its completion. Failure was the result. Actions, and reactions, provocation followed by provocation.  Blades dancing in the daylight, glinting in the sun. Mraize took a torch to the room, lighting the various records alight, before tossing it to the wall. There was a reason the Ghostbloods holed up in one of the few wooden sections of the war camps. All traces had to be destroyed. Executions, and swords at dawn. Nightly gambles, and daily mistakes. He slipped out of the building, even as the flames slithered through it, the tongues licking his feet as he left. A sacrifice had been made, a battalion for a single soldier. The fire made his eyes into ruby spheres, the stormlight of malice filling them. He climbed onto his horse, taking in the destruction as it spread through the marketplace. It would provide a cleanser of its own sort. A tragedy of a greater magnitude to distract from the multiple of smaller mistakes. A broad sword to cover a prinpick. Desperate times whispered of its necessity. He took his horse to a canter, avoiding the soldiers as they rushed to quench the flames. He was soon out of the warcamp, and onto the cold stone plains. He slipped a spanreed from his pouch, and turned it on. The connection made, he wrote four words, “Target Eliminated. Evacuating Location” He pulled his hood high, and slipped away.

---

Amanuensis has been lynched! He was a Ghostblood Artifabrian with a pain knife, a half-Shard, a reverser, and a spanreed!

Vote Count:

Aman(1): Stink
Straw(1): Straw

The Nobles have won this game! Jumae III (STINK) has been crowned King of Alethkar and Straw was appointed Highprince.

 

Master Spreadsheet

The Ghostbloods 

The Victorious Dead

Player List: 

Spoiler

1. Elandera as Brightness Ellarel, a flighty scribe who nonetheless remains tethered to the ground Noble

2. Rathmaskal/Young Bard as Brightlord I.N., whose reversed name conceals his role as a secret member of the Knights of Ni Noble

3. Butt Ad Venture as Brightness Hmynyes, a connoisseur of classical Vorin music Noble

4. Xinoehp512 as Brightlord Rashor, a man who determinedly believes that blue wine is a plague from the Voidbringers Thief

5. Araris Valerian as Brightlord Arilar, a recently arrived spy with ties to the Kholins Noble

6. StrikerEZ as Brightlord Nalakor, a professional chull breeder and racer and close friend of the King’s Wit Noble Spy

7. Furamirionind as Brightness Dohila, a lighteyes who insists on wearing only orange and green lace Noble

8. Hemalurgic Headshot as Rat, a pet of Brightlord Joe and a secret worldhopper Noble Pet

9. Sart as Tleir, a Purelaker trying desperately to impersonate the missing Brightness Drella while House Sebarial hunts for her Ghostblood

10. STINK as Jumae III, a Brightlord whose eccentricity in fashion contrasts sharply with a docile and even temperament Noble

11. DrakeMarshmallow as Brightlord Ekard, a man at the mercy of the Almighty Himself Ghostblood

12. Amanuensis as Brightlord Ularid Leiken, a man hunting a chull with a green shell which once insulted his mother Ghostblood Artifabrian

13. Coda as Brightness Dejda, one of Adolin’s former girlfriends who now hates the Kholins with a passion Noble

14. Straw as Brightlord Straw, an effigy of Gavilar which was officially recognised as a lighteyes of the fourth dahn Noble Artifabrian

15. Elbereth as Brightness Tintallë, whose title has come under charges of redundancy by expert Quenya scholars Noble

 

[Araris Valerian Lord Prelan]

Good game everyone! Especially to Aman, who had me fooled right up until he killed me. @Amanuensis, I actually didn't protect you the night I died, but Straw saved your life :/. Something about your tone in our PM set me off, and I thought you might try a WGG on yourself, counting on my protection. I never even considered I was a candidate to receive shards, and thus a target.

Thank you Fifth, Devotary, and Snipexe for GMing! Thanks for letting me hold both a painrial and a half-shard simultaneously .

[Coda Ardent]

That was fun. Aman, you had me pseudo-fooled in that I would have voted for you after HH's death. I was also an idiot since I used my Alerter on the turn HH didn't make me an Heir, so I really should have noted that. Interestingly enough, I thus far have a 100% win rate. 

[Elbereth Tarachin Superstar]

I wasn’t fooled. Just listen to me next time! I’m always more trustworthy than Aman is and should never ever be doubted.  

More seriously, I had an absolute blast this game. Thanks to Fifth, Devotary, and Snipexe for running it, and for rambling with me in the spec doc! And much thanks for the Shardblade. It was very fun to have.  

Speaking of which, @STINK could I have that Shardblade back, pretty please?  I grew rather attached to it. 

[Straw Soulcaster]

Well that was a wild ride . I went from saving Amanuensis to killing him. At least I redeemed myself?

[Fifth Scholar Spinner]

Thanks to Devotary for putting up the aftermath; as I mentioned in my comment on the QF, my connection issues combined with an old phone and a sleep-deprived me made rollovers difficult this game. Luckily, the connection and probably the sleep issues are getting fixed, so this state of affairs hopefully won’t be perpetual. I will put the finishing touches on Ularid’s death, and edit it in. 

My final thoughts on the game are that it was an overall success, but had several points of failure. 

1) Low playercounts. There is nothing to be done about this, but it made balance very tricky, and great lengths were gone to in order that no team would get an unfair advantage from the start. Unfortunately, this was not always successful. One glaring flaw in my role design was vote manipulation; I gave the Eliminators, in essence, six votes to start the game, and while this was mitigated by powerful 1A items given to villagers, it was still likely too much. Had Drake not died to inactivity, the village would have likely been crushed. 

2) I expected the thief to play a balancing role in the game, keeping large item clusters from forming. Xino’s inactivity removed this balancing force, and his quick death ultimately resulted in players being able to brazenly claim items without fear of retribution, making information more public than I’d intended, and perhaps slightly favouring the village (though Aman made quick work of any argument against him for the vast majority of the game, which is a testament to his excellent play). 

3) The Heiring system. Devotary and I’s complaints on this are peppered throughout the spec doc, but wow was that a headache, and one I’d not have resolved without Devotary’s consistent help. The ultimate problem was that almost nobody bothered to Heir except the Elims (which was utter madness), and the resulting random redistributions gave the last players large clumps of powerful items. This was an issue specific to Maill’s old ruleset, and the new one removed items from circulation much more easily, but again the village was to be favoured slightly from this simply because there were only so many items the Elims could retain. It was partially responsible for Aman’s demise; the other half of that coin was the coins themselves, which seemed to harbour animosity towards the village at the beginning and the Elims at the end. Without the Heiring system, less random chance would have ensued, and the game would likely have been fairer. 

On a more positive note, the game certainly did see excellent play from both sides, and was close enough in the end that I’m on balance happy with how it turned out. Props to @Elbereth for preventing the Eliminators from spiralling out of control, @Amanuensis for his silver tongue which almost carried Team Evil to victory, and @Coda for an excellent showing as a newcomer. Don’t worry about being pocketed by Aman; it happens to everyone, including a certain GM who will go nameless.  it’s me

Finally, I’d like to thank both @Devotary of Spontaneity and @Snipexe, but especially Devotary. As a GM, it shames me to admit that I was not very fair to either of them, accidentally falling asleep on occasion and at other times (such as last night) having my connection issues take me out of commission for long stretches of time. Both were very helpful and patient through all of that, Devotary being consistent and active enough that she could probably GM a game of twice this complexity by herself, and Snip’s assistance with filling in the margins on the writeups with hilarious interludes was highly appreciated. They both deserve your upvotes and praise. 

Overall, I hope that despite my personal shortcomings here, you all enjoyed this game, and I do hold out hope that one day I’ll get to run my initial ruleset with more players.  Thank you all for joining and making SE wonderful. 

[Amanuensis Kalad's Phantom]

13 hours ago, Straw said:

Well that was a wild ride . I went from saving Amanuensis to killing him. At least I redeemed myself?

You did excellently. I'm very proud of the village this game. It was a real tough one for us, and a whole roller-coaster of emotions. When I couldn't be on the day Sart got lynched, I was really beating myself up about it and thought I cost us the game. I had no idea what to do from there, which is when Elbereth challenged me and my motivation / optimism kicked back in. Losing Drake was rough, but I'm kind of glad it happened. That last turn with only the three of us was really fun. I actually anticipated vote manipulation and originally put an order in to Pain Knife STINK's vote, but then removed it when I saw him voting alongside me. Had I kept that order in I would have loved to see how the next night turn would end up.

Fifth said it perfectly. Everybody on all sides played great. (Not including the inactives. No offense <3).

Edited December 3 by Amanuensis

[StrikerEZ Radiant Squire]

48 minutes ago, Amanuensis said:

Fifth said it perfectly. Everybody on all sides played great. (Not including the inactives. No offense <3).

None taken!

I wish I’d realized I had the Spy role. I would’ve been a lot more motivated to actually play this game, and maybe could’ve made use of the fact that HH PM’d me. Oh well.

[Devotary of Spontaneity Misting]

1 hour ago, Amanuensis said:

I actually anticipated vote manipulation and originally put an order in to Pain Knife STINK's vote, but then removed it when I saw him voting alongside me. Had I kept that order in I would have loved to see how the next night turn would end up.

Stink and Straw had one time knife immunity from their Shardplate, so you still would have died. Had you knifed Stink, managed to win the lynch and killed Straw N8, you would then have to win two more tied lynches in a row assuming Stink kept Straw's knife and both of you submitted optimal vote manipulations. 

[Amanuensis Kalad's Phantom]

3 hours ago, Devotary of Spontaneity said:

Stink and Straw had one time knife immunity from their Shardplate, so you still would have died. Had you knifed Stink, managed to win the lynch and killed Straw N8, you would then have to win two more tied lynches in a row assuming Stink kept Straw's knife and both of you submitted optimal vote manipulations. 

Oh, I see. I'm surprised the game wasn't called earlier. Not sure how I could have got around all that. 

[Devotary of Spontaneity Misting]

2 hours ago, Amanuensis said:

Oh, I see. I'm surprised the game wasn't called earlier. Not sure how I could have got around all that. 

You still had a definite chance of winning. If you'd gotten Bard's Shardplate instead of Straw, you would have had a much better chance. Had you won the tied lynch and at some point knifed Stink or Straw knifed Stink and reversed you instead of the other way around you would go onto N7. If Stink had then kept the Shardblade instead of the pain knife after Straw's death, you would have a 100% chance of winning as two attempts of reversing the same vote cancels both actions so you could automatically win lynches D8 and D9. We probably would have called the game after Stink chose which Tier 1A item he wanted to keep and assumed optimal voting strategy instead of dragging the game on for up to five more days.

[Hemalurgic Headshot Shardbearer]

This was quite the game to play! I had a lot of fun playing this. I decided to start off as a run-of-the-mill agent of chaos, and I was surprised how much my random actions incited discussion and suspicion. However, my definite highlight of the game was teaming up with @Elbereth (who sends so many PMs!). Aman, I've got to say, you can put a spin on anything. Your gilded words never cease to amaze me.

And thank you GMs for putting this together. Very fun.