Anniversary Game 6/Anonymous Game 7: We Shall All Be Changed

[Onyx Flamingo]

Kir could hear the accusations echoing down the tunnels. He had spent the last couple of days wondering the twisted tunnels of Urithiru. Apparently he'd missed something pretty important; Agents of Odium hidden among the Knights Radiant. Kir was relieved that the grasping suspicions of his comrades had not resulted in innocent deaths, but somehow suspected that the following days would not bring such fortune.

More recently Kir had become concerned with the figure tailing him. Normally, he wouldn't be worried about someone following him down into the tunnels; after all, it was his home territory. This one, however, was different. After the first five minutes, Kir's heart began to beat faster. He led the figure through a series of switchbacks, through a hidden door controlled by a fabrial, before pausing to listen. 

damnation. He heard the door groaning as it lifted. This one was persistent. Kir's mind whirled. He hadn't borrowed anything recently, had he? Kir had been working hard to curb his habits of late, but it was soooo hard to keep his hands still in large crowds. They just made him so anxious! The tunnels were his true solace, and now this mysterious figure was trying to steal even that from him. He searched through his pack, trying to determine if there was anything present that hadn't been there a few days ago. Kir often found new baubles and spheres in his pack after making trips to the market and it just too much effort to return. And after all, no one usually complained to him about it.

As he scoured his pack his mind wondered. Maybe the mysterious figure was related to the shadows wandering the deeper tunnels. He enjoyed watching them swirl and rush along the even cut tunnel walls. He sometimes tested how long he could follow them before they noticed him and vanished back into the depths. His mind was jerked back into the present as he felt something hard and large touch his hand at the bottom of his bag. He pulled it up and gasped loudly. A dun emerald broam. No wonder. He shot a look of fear back towards the way he had come, catching sight of his pursuer, and dashed deeper into the tunnels.

[Saffron Iguana]

9 minutes ago, Magenta Albatross said:

Also, to be fair, I definitely didn't remember that you expressed suspicion of me. It's been a lot harder to get used to the new profile pictures than I thought it would be. In normal games, I only ever keep track of who's posting what by their profile pictures, so these anon accounts are throwing me off.  Why do you suspect me?

Your vote on Toucan looked really off to me because you cited them not answering a fairly inconsequential question as a main reason, as we discussed previous cycle (yes, that was me  ). In the light of how Zebra flipped it looks even worse to me, but I'm going to have to do a comprehensive reread before I'll next submit a vote because you're pretty much my only real suspicion right now and I need to be careful not to blindly tunnel on you.

(@GM's, I'll try to get back in my cosmetic role next cycle, but I'm mentally pretty much done right now.)

[Magenta Albatross]

2 minutes ago, Saffron Iguana said:

Your vote on Toucan looked really off to me because you cited them not answering a fairly inconsequential question as a main reason, as we discussed previous cycle (yes, that was me  ). In the light of how Zebra flipped it looks even worse to me, but I'm going to have to do a comprehensive reread before I'll next submit a vote because you're pretty much my only real suspicion right now and I need to be careful not to blindly tunnel on you.

(@GM's, I'll try to get back in my cosmetic role next cycle, but I'm mentally pretty much done right now.)

Ohhh, okay. It makes a lot more sense now why you didn't trust my PM. 

I'll be honest, I was kinda just looking for a reason to vote on someone. I needed something to ground me into this game because I just felt so lost. I wasn't so much worried about their lack of answer, but just that their posts about not answering felt very...confrontational? Like, unnecessarily confrontational. Maybe I was just reading too much into things. 

[Chartreuse Penguin]

Taladir grinned with the air of a man who’d leapt off a cliff and found he could fly. He’d bet everything on Arauna, and he’d won and won well! A worldhopper who was on Odium’s side? How good was he! 

“Take that, Bomer! I won that bet and I won a lot!”

[Emerald Falcon]

3 hours ago, Amethyst Scorpion said:

"Traveler? Gardener? I mean, I know those words. Traveler, like someone who goes lots of places. Gardeners are like farmers, but little. Everyone says this place is Urithiru." Jesh shifted a little as the strange spren spun and whirred in front of him. "Someone bigger might know what you're talking about. Maybe we can go find my parents."

Except, Trisk was still missing and his parents were busy. This move had them all sorts of distracted. They couldn't even help his search.

"Well, maybe we can talk to my parents later. I need help finding my axehound first. Her name's Trisk. Problem is, I keep getting turned around in here. It's so confusing."

Jesh got an idea, remembering that strange image the spren had shown. A map? "Hey! Can you make a map of here? Like, the halls and stuff?"

@Emerald Falcon

Sein's eye dimmed. He sank towards the floor, ignoring most of the kid's chatter. "No Sol. No Traveler," he muttered. "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

Maybe this was just the Dark Ages. Maybe Sein had found an exceptionally ignorant kid. But the fact remained that they were talking in a language that he had never heard of before, that someone -- or something -- had sneakily installed in Sein's system. Whatever was going on here, he had to figure it out. If only to warn all the other Ghosts when they retrieved the information from his corpse.

First, he'd start by mapping this Urithiru place.

Sein projected a blank grey space and marked their position with a green arrowhead. He filled in lines to mark all the walls he could sense, and next to it added in a circle divided into sectors arranged around a middle circle. The topmost sector flashed red.

He started floating to the next room, in the direction of the red flash.

"If we're going to do this, we should introduce ourselves. I'm Sein. What's your name? I'm going to teach you how to read radar."

@Amethyst Scorpion

Edited December 28, 2019 by Emerald Falcon

[Taupe Gecko]

My apologies for not being more active today, Christmas season and various social things have kept me from participating as much as I'd like. I should be more active from hereon out, especially after New Years.

Brana - Roshar - Jesachev 1172

I sat, staring numbly at the wall. I'd known about the murder of Naihir, but it had seemed... distant, somehow - awful things happening to people I didn't know and wouldn't be affected by. Surely it wouldn't affect me. I was just a Scholar, interning under Lady Jasnah. These murders, they were a problem for other people, for the new Radiants - the larger-than-life heroes that people told stories about.

A pool of blood, congealing slightly around the young man's throat. In the background, the sounds of the city carried on unheeding, as though everything were normal, as though a dead body was just another one of the sights of Urithiru.

Stormfather, I've only been here a few days and there's been two murders and a lynching. Maybe that's how things are around here. One moment, you're walking around, going to the shops, meeting with friends. The next...

There's a slight thickness to the air, an acrid taint with a slightly metallic aroma. Rotspren were starting to pop up near the body, eager to prey on their free meal. Shockspren follow soon after - I think for a moment that they must be summoned by the man's sudden surprise at dying, before I realise the shock is my own.

I tried reading a little more of The Realms of Existence and their interactions, but I wasn't able to focus on the words. Sitting and dwelling clearly wasn't doing me any good, so, reluctantly, I grabbed my coat and walked outside, eager for my feet to take me somewhere, anywhere, away from here. This whole thing was a mistake. I turned a corner, and in the moments it takes for my eyes to adjust to the shadow I swear I see another body, stacked up against the wall, knife plunged into their chest. Then the shadows faded, and the tricks of my eyes faded with it.

I saw a swinging sign for "The Storm's Reprieve" - a tavern. Who knows, some strong alcohol would probably do some good. And maybe, if I was lucky, I could keep an ear to the ground and find out who committed the murders, and how to prevent any more. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the door and swung it open.

---

OK, so that was lucky. I agree with Falcon's analysis on the lynch, with a hint of paranoia - Certainly, Penguin and Iguana are the strongest trust reads right now, though I wouldn't go so far as to call them cleared - it's possible they decided they'd sacrifice an inactive teammate for a trust read, especially if they weren't aware of Zebra's role. That's unlikely, though, and I'd rather look at basically anyone else for the lynch first before coming back to them.

This is the point I really want to point someone out to look at in particular, but no-one especially jumps out as suspicious to me as suspicious, unfortunately. The other player I want to keep alive at this stage is Falcon - not necessarily because I trust them - I think most of their posts are NAI - but because they're providing good analysis and are encouraging activity. Also preferably Swan and Axolotl, entirely because I find their RP funny.

I think the only player who hasn't posted yet would be Flamingo - ideally, I'd like to encourage activity, so I wouldn't be opposed to lynching Flamingo, but I think there are many more people who have posted once or twice to show they exist, but with almost entirely RP content and generally flying below the radar in terms of how they're percieved. In particular, I'd like to hear more from Vulture, Heron, Gecko (oh wait, that's me, isn't it... ), and Kangaroo.

By the way, does anyone have any idea if we're allowed to change the time zone settings on this account, and how to do that if we are? I'm trying to keep track when things happen in my local time (the natural way of thinking about when things happen for me), Fifth time (when things happen relative to when rollovers occur), and whatever time this account is set to (what the time is recorded as when I look up when a post was made), which I'm pretty sure is neither of those, and it's bugging me more than it really should.

 

[Salmon Meerkat]

It had been determined that the sympathizer was also a worldhopper. If the public knew, surely so did the ghostbloods. 

But it gave cadamum a chance to pursue a new lead. Maybe he could determine how many worldhoppers there actually were in Urithiru. Surely that would be enough for the ghostbloods to give him a higher rank above recruit. 

-----

Sorry I didnt get around to voting. The cycle ends when I'm fast asleep, so I dont have a lot of knowledge about what happened at the end there.

also, I'm at a family gathering for most of today, I'll take time to read what's going on, but probably not respond until later or maybe even tomorrow.

[Amber Vulture]

No storm occurred this past day. Perhaps these servants of Odium are throwing off my weather predictions. Once they're gone, the Stormfather might be able to resume his normal patterns. Must gather data to support or challenge this hypothesis.

12 hours ago, Plum Rhinoceros said:

It appears that a vote was Willshaped on to Pearl, from someone who voted on Toucan. The other vote on Toucan mustve been canceled out by a Bondsmith. So naturally I guess it's pretty likely one of either Tuatara or Albatross is an elim, since one of them had added a vote on to Pearl to maybe try to save Zebra. 

I think we only have one vote manipulator, a willshaper willing to expose their role as it could only be one of Tuatara, Albatross, or Gorilla. The former two would have cancelled their vote to move Gorilla's while the latter would cancel their vote to move either of the first two's. Elim!Willshaper!Albatross easily could have tried to save Zebra by moving Penguin, Chameleon, or possibly Iguana's vote, so that role/alignment combination doesn't make too much sense. Gorilla could have just wanted to remove the self-vote, but I don't know why Tuatara might have done such a thing.

[Indigo Weasel]

6 hours ago, Emerald Falcon said:

This is a bit of an embarrassing question, but...what's an Odium Sympathizer? You say it like it's a bad thing but don't understand how you can have a hateful sympathizer. Isn't that an oxymoron?

They're people who love to hate others!

BTW, you seem to be using a strange font. Perhaps you'd like to join my devotary?

2 hours ago, Emerald Falcon said:

Sein's eye dimmed. He sank towards the floor, ignoring most of the kid's chatter. "No Sol. No Traveler," he muttered. "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

What's Sol, who's Toto and where's Kansas? What're you hiding?

[Fifth Scholar]

Please remember to get your actions in! Cycle closes in a little over 6 hours. 

[Amethyst Scorpion]

6 hours ago, Emerald Falcon said:

"If we're going to do this, we should introduce ourselves. I'm Sein. What's your name? I'm going to teach you how to read radar."

"I'm Jesh. It's good to meet you!"

He turned out of the dead end to continue on his search. At least Trisk should still be on this same floor, so that narrowed down the search some.

"You're kind of funny, you know. I don't know half of what you're saying. But you're the first talking spren I've met. What kinda things can you do?"

[Emerald Falcon]

4 hours ago, Indigo Weasel said:

They're people who love to hate others!

BTW, you seem to be using a strange font. Perhaps you'd like to join my devotary?

What's Sol, who's Toto and where's Kansas? What're you hiding?

What's a devotary? What does it have to do with fonts?

Sol is another name for the collection of planets and moons orbiting a star that is the birthplace of Humanity. It used to just be the fancy name for the star, but language drift happened and since around 2100 CE it's been used to refer to the whole system.

Toto and Kansas are references. There's no way you'd understand it.

 

A look at the Toucan lynch last turn

Tuatara, very early in the turn

Quote

Going to put a poke vote on Sunburst Toucan in hopes they get on and post. A question for Toucan (although anyone feel free to answer), which do you think is the most interesting radiant power?

It's an early poke vote. Nothing alignment indicative.

Penguin, 14 hours before rollover (later retracted)

Quote

Well, Toucan, I’m curious as to your response to Tuatara’s vote on you. Any thoughts? 

Doubling the pressure after Toucan posts but does not say anything substantial. Penguin later moved their vote. Based off of earlier analysis, I think they're village.

Albatross, 9 hours before rollover

Quote

Toucan has been avoiding Tuatara’s question for awhile now. Are they hiding information Gren, maybe? Or are they secretly an Odium sympathizer? Either way, I don’t like the way their posts have been phrased. 

I don't think this vote is as damning as it seems.

First off, it was made 8 or 9 hours before rollover, which is a few hours before Penguin put a second vote on Zebra. There's no need for a Sympathizer to swing the lynch off of their teammate if their teammate isn't under pressure yet. Second, the vote is partially valid. While avoiding answering what role you think is the most interesting isn't necessarily the act of an Sympathizer, making two posts but saying nothing useful in them is definitely worth a vote.

Here is the entirety of Toucan's posts on D1:

Quote

It taketh but one minute to become a voice inside my head, yet you spurn that route and call me a supposed 'inactive'?

Quote

There's no response to a vote that issues no challenge, as I'm sure you can agree, Penguin.

Toucan let us know that they were following along with the game, and then said nothing useful. That's suspicious. I agree with Albatross that Toucan is acting weirdly. 

@Sunburst Toucan, I know it's late, but would you like to state your thoughts on the game now? What do you think of Albatross's vote on you?

---

"You're kind of funny, you know. I don't know half of what you're saying. But you're the first talking spren I've met. What kinda things can you do?" Jesh said.

"I am not a spren!" Sein said. "I'm a Ghost, which is a little tiny piece of the Traveler. My job here is to find a good, worthy person and give them some of the Traveler's light so they can use their powers to defend Humanity from evil. Totally different! I don't know what a spren is but I bet they aren't like me!"

He added a little more to the map he was projecting.

"I can do all sorts of things to aid my Guardian in combat, when I find them. You see this radar circle that I'm projecting? If a part turns red, that means there's an enemy. The direction of the part shows where the enemy is." He paused. "Well, I haven't calibrated it to this world, so right now everything except us will be marked as an enemy. I'm assuming Trisk is alive, so they'll show up on here too."

They moved into a longer stone hall that had multiple openings in it. This one was lit by a series of spheres with bright spots of colors inside. The spheres were placed evenly along the floor in makeshift pedestals that kept them in place. Sein stopped look at one, fascinated. The light outside it stayed consistent, but the light inside flurried throughout, like dry ice being blown around inside a container. He scanned it.

Outside container of solid glass, inside fragment of sapphire, no circuitry. And it was...infused with paracausal power? Sein's eye widened.

"What is this?" he asked.

At that moment, Sein's radar flashed red, and someone -- or something -- rounded the corner.

@Amethyst Scorpion

A false alarm? Another person showing up? Trisk the axehound? Up to you and anyone else who wants to join!

 

[Magenta Albatross]

Jonan has been searching the tunnels for awhile now after a note had been left on his bed. If you want to find Gren, it read, you’ll have to find us within the tower. They were taunting him. 

As he rounded a corner, he heard some distant voices coming down a long hallway. He summoned his shardblade, a sleek, simple sword, with grooves set in the side. 

As he entered the chamber, he saw a little child and...a floating something. It was unlike any spren he’d ever seen before. 

”Who are you? Where did you come from?”

@Emerald Falcon @Amethyst Scorpion

~

Falcon, thank you for doing in one post what I couldn’t do in like a bajillion.  I was trying to find a way that said what you did about Toucan’s posts feeling like they were explicitly meant to avoid saying anything revealing, just couldn’t find the words for it. 

[Sage Kangaroo]

Ascension. Stepping stones. Stepping to soar. Stepping stairs. Occupation of convenience. Road not taken taken. Stories coming to life inhibiting progression upwards. Stories climbed. One. Two. Three. Penultimate. Four. Completion. Exiting. Breathing. Slowing. Relieving. Moving. Stepping. Forward. Approach. Inevitable Convergence. Inevitable Conversation. Breathing. Preparing.

Hello Ardent Denu. She waved. I was not expecting to see you in this part of the city.
To be honest, Gilglin, neither was I. But it seems the Almighty works in ways unknown to us even Ardents. She giggled. She paused. She smiled.
Gilglin nodded. She smiled. Have you made any progress on your translation?
I’m afraid I haven’t. The fourth stanza remains as elusive as ever. That’s actually why I’m here. Apparently Brightness Jasnah, Almighty curse that stubborn women, has made some progress in another work of Dawnchant, I am now to “appease to the woman’s sensibilities” whatever the storms that means, and get whatever of it I can. She shook her head. The Almighty’s greatest “gift” to the Devotary of the Mind was Jasnah Kholin’s Atheism. She laughed.
Gilglin laughed.
Well, I’m off to work with the chasmfiend. Tell Poraslyn I love him if I don’t make it out. She waved. She walked. Away.
Gilglin walked. Away.

Reflection. Mirror. Shatters. Shards. Self. Reflection. Memory. Reliving. Riotous. Raucous. Excess. Ecstasy. Empty. Reflection. Metamorphosis. Stained. Stark. Slipping. Trying. Tumbling. Tearing. Reaching. Recovery. Running. Reading. Remote. Reflection.

[Fifth Scholar]

The cycle is closed! Please don’t PM during rollover; we’ll have the new Day up in a little over an hour. 

[Fifth Scholar]

On the fourth day of Christmas 

The AG gave to me

Four hours of sleep

Three vote counts

Two NPC deaths

And a penguin in a pool of blood

---

Brightness Kareana, Captain and Radiant, surveyed the scouts trickling in a few at a time and worried. She kept track of the numbers in her head - almost everyone was back, now, thank the Almighty. She’d spent the entire afternoon pacing and wondering how many would end up returning at all. 

This had been a simple scouting mission, to get the proto-Radiants to make ties and work as a team in preparation for more difficult tasks. When she put the group together, she hadn’t anticipated any issues - she hadn’t even brought more than a few guards, since twenty-odd Radiants was quite the force in itself and the Highprinces hadn’t the troops to spare. She’d sent for more, but they’d take a while to get here even if politicking didn’t tie them up, and she wasn’t sure they’d even be useful. 

It had been a simple scouting mission, and then there had been three deaths in the span of a day and a half. Two Sympathisers already known and taken care of, but... there might be more. She didn’t know how many more. And given Locke’s death, she knew this was probably just the beginning unless they were found, and fast. 

Mentally, she again thanked whoever had killed Naihar, much as she hated to be grateful for any death. Had he not died, had the killings just started without warning... well. At least this way they had some chance. If they were very, very careful. 

She sipped her steaming soup, frowning over at Brana. The girl was shell-shocked, clearly - and though it wasn’t quite as obvious, she suspected Purrl or Merinira might be too. Taladir, well... she glanced over at the fire where Taladir was telling his tall tales. Taladir was coping just fine, it seemed. 
 

---

 

Taladir sat near the small cooking fire, telling his tale - with a few grandiose touches, of course. “And then I told ‘er I wasn’t scared of no Odium whatever, come at me!”

There were suitably awed gasps, from all but... one man was frowning and squinting at him. “Oi, what’s your problem?” Taladir challenged. 

The man narrowed his eyes. “I happen to know,” he said as if imparting a great secret, “that the area in which you were scouting is continually filled with the most noxious fumes, poisoned air rising from the depths of the city to take us all. It hasn’t reached here yet, but when it does, oh, when it does...”

Taladir blinked. “Uh... what kinda fumes? I didn’t smell nothin’.”

“The most vile kind! For they cause fever-dreams in the brain, hallucinations, of whatever you most want to see. Something the city makes to try in its twisted way to keep its citizens happy, of course. And so you saw what you most wanted - Arauna, Odious and dead.”

“But... we brought her back here,” Taladir said. “Still dead. And we all saw that blast of dark magic, not just me!”

“Bah,” the man scoffed, but was cut short by a few boos. 

“None of your nonsense tonight, Krask!” someone else called out. “Taladir, go on, we want to hear your story! What happened next?”

Taladir grinned, back on familiar ground. “Well, you see, next that girl’s eyes just widen in fear, and she turns to run - she’s heard of me, scared to even face me...”

 

 

 

---

 

Later that night, Taladir ran into Krask as he was heading to the latrine. Literally - the man bumped into him, clearly paying no attention to his surroundings, and Taladir could hear him... counting, under his breath? He didn’t even stop looking up at the ceiling when Taladir ran into him, either. 

“Hey, what’s your problem?” Taladir said. 

Krask jumped and looked at him. “What? Don’t go startling me like that! I was trying to check whether the number of ceiling rings was perfect, and you interrupted me. Now I’ll have to start all over again!”

“You didn’t believe that Arauna was a Sympathiser. You thought I was breathing some kind of gas. What’s your problem?” Taladir repeated, ignoring the man’s nonsense. 

“Oh, I believe she was a Sympathiser,” Krask replied. “As for the rest...” he looked around, as if to make sure no one was looking, then leaned closer. “I’ll tell you, but not here. Too many listening walls.”

Taladir rolled his eyes. “Fine.” It wasn’t like he couldn’t take the spindly man in a fight if it came to that, and he doubted it would. Krask was just a bit... off his rocker. Besides, what was life without a bit of a risk? 

Krask led him into a nearby corridor, then around a few sharp turns, looking nervously right and left each time he did so. 

Finally, they came to a stop in what looked like a perfectly ordinary stretch of hallway to Taladir. Krask knocked on one wall, then the other, listening afterwards each time, then nodded in satisfaction. 

Even so, he beckoned Taladir especially close and was nearly whispering when he spoke. “You see, I know she was a Sympathiser, I just don’t believe she died. She couldn’t have - she’s out there somehow, she faked her own death and is just waiting to come back and kill you when you’re least expecting it!”

“...Nah, she’s really dead,” Taladir responded after a moment. “I saw her bleed out and everything, and her corpse is even in the camp for you to look at.”

Krask squinted. “I don’t believe you. Noxious fumes, remember? But... just in case you are right... I guess I might as well do the job myself.”

“What?” Taladir asked. His only answer was Krask whipping out a knife, impossibly fast, and driving it up into his chest, where it slipped underneath his ribcage to hit his heart. 

The man smiled in response. “Don’t worry! You’ll have a fantastic life, I’m sure - the Tranquiline Halls even have chickens!”
What.

 

 

---

With Taladir dead, Krask felt it was high time to investigate the rumours he’d heard from various credible sources about a spren which lived at the heart of Urithiru. The ceiling rings confirmed it, if that fool hadn’t messed up his count—it coincided precisely with the floor he’d need to start his search on, and if he was right, the lift system on the thirty-eighth floor was an excellent starting point for quickly getting to the heart of the tower. When he arrived and found that the lift itself had disappeared, Krask knew it was no coincidence. It was simply to dissuade the faint of heart. He got to work with a vengeance. 

He set his sack at the top of the lift, trusting that nobody would be on watch in this remote section of the abandoned city to see anything incriminating in it—however, he would have to be quick to make it back to the meeting point by dawn, even if there weren’t typically nighttime sentinels in this area—the walls could be telling Kareana of his whereabouts any minute. Quickly tying a support system around himself with the rope from his bag, and fastening it securely to the column above the shaft of the lift, he jumped off into darkness, feeling himself fall and be caught in a buoyant net by the rope tied around him. The rope was tight, but still allowed him movement, and hadn’t cut his circulation either. Krask grinned—an almost perfect beginning. He slowly felt his way down the shaft, which ran the closest to the center of the tower as he could find. If the spren wouldn’t kill him on the spot, it would be here that he would make his great discovery. Imagine Odium’s pleasure at delivering a spren of that size into his hands! His special knowledge would finally be validated, and those fellow Sympathisers of his who mocked him behind his back for his supposed insanity would learn their lesson. As he descended, he could almost fancy he saw a faint light towards the bottom of the shaft, barely a speck, but there nonetheless. The spren was there! His hands worked faster on the rope. He had to reach it before daybreak, or all his work would ruined. 

A sudden gust of fire and wind came from high above, roaring down the shaft at high speed. I knew those storming walls were out to get me! Krask thought, with a healthy degree of indignation. Further thoughts of the walls or the spren were driven out of his head as the front end of the fiery blast struck his rope at full force. Krask watched in horror as the threads were burned away in an instant, the pressure on his body being relieved as he fell freely into the empty shaft below the lift, gravity working strongly enough that the odd storm of fire and dust failed to catch him before he was hurled into oblivion. Glancing down and seeing nothing but darkness and that pinprick of light growing ever larger, Krask reasoned it would be a very long fall and an even shorter landing on top of a hostile deity, and resigned himself to his fate. Perhaps the spren had got the better of him in the end, but the Mother’s work would be completed by those who survived him. Let the Lord of Chaos rule, he prayed, and opened his eyes. The pinprick of light...was a square? And it was rapidly growing, too. 

Krask flew out of the shaft into open air, striking bottom in the peaks of the mountains below the tower city as the first sunlight stretched over the horizon, and the third servant of Odium in Urithiru was no more. 

---

A particularly curving and uneven section of passageways on the thirty-seventh floor forced Nolan to his hands and knees after falling for the third time on an uneven ledge of rock or a sharp turn which left some area of the floor four feet lower than its surroundings. Among the designs the ancient Radiants had used in the city’s construction, this was one of the most baffling to him—there was no reason for these inconsistencies in an area which they would be using. Unless, of course, you put Skybreakers and Windrunners on this level, who use Lashings to get everywhere. Then the joke’s on an invading army—like you. The wry thought put a smile on his lips, which was quickly erased upon remembering the corpses of Naihar and Locke. Regardless of one’s loyalty to Odium, the city was dangerous, and though he was not a one-man army, that didn’t mean he shouldn’t be careful on these scouting trips. He had no desire to see his throat slit in the middle of a more important mission, and if that meant crawling on his belly to get around while he was mapping the area for Brightness Kareana, so be it. 

Footsteps—normal footsteps—echoed in the passage above him. Nolan froze, then quickly rolled to one side of the wall, hoping he had been as quiet as possible in doing so. He was supposed to be the only scout in this section of the city for the day! Perhaps someone had gone to fetch him? But it was too early in the day for that, if his stomach wasn’t lying to him; he’d not even felt the need for lunch yet. Swallowing, he chanced a glance up the passageway, and came face to face with a grinning Radler. Relief flooded him.

“Thank Adonalsium!” Nolan cried, springing to his feet and embracing his partner. “I’m not sure how in the Almighty’s tenth name you got back here, but I thought I was getting killed. You should really stop doing that to me.” 

The silly grin was still pasted on Radler’s face as he replied. “Well, it was your decision to crawl like a slug through here so you couldn’t tell a hawk from a handsaw in the distance, though you’re correct about it being a storming impossible job to get over here. It took me the better part of two days to find you, so let’s walk. The path evens out ahead, and I may have found something important.” 

“For...Domand?” Nolan replied uneasily, and received a grim nod. “One of his fancies, or something actually important?” 

Radler’s face had definitely lost its grin. “The latter. Come on, you’ll see.” Without further comment he strode up the passageway, his Stormlight illuminating the way ahead, and casting strange shapes into the wall—red and purple marbled veins. Nolan frowned. They had been green further back in the passage, no? He swung his light around, and felt, rather than saw, a shadowy dot flit by him on his right as he did so. Was he going insane? Peering, he saw the veins behind him bleeding to a blotched violet or stark crimson, the green receding rapidly. Something was definitely wrong now. He spun back around to call to Radler, who was about twenty paces ahead of him, when he glanced backwards and saw the same shadowy material coalesce into a figure wielding a knife, and a host of its fellow shadows emerge from the twisted walls. 

With a yell, he began to sprint up the passageway, away from his assailant, when he felt an impact in the small of his back. Pain flared, then was abruptly cut off; instead, a torpor seized his muscles, and he fell onto the stone floor for the fourth time that day. Dimly, he could see Radler wielding Stormlight ahead, the other shadowy figures retreating, or being torn apart by rays of light. Or was that another light he saw? He was so tired. It would be so much easier if he just drifted off to sleep. A short rest...that sounded excellent. The din of conflict in his ears receded, and Nolan, scholar, Bondsmith, and Worldhopper, dozed off for the last time. 

---

Chartreuse Penguin (Taladir) was a Loyal Knight Radiant Worldhopper!
Ivory Dragonfly (Krask) was a Odium Sympathiser Worldhopper!
Nolan was a Loyal Knight Radiant Bondsmith!

Edgedancer Messages
“You are sneaky, little bird. The reptiles are scaly and the frogs are slimy. Kill Odium, my friends.”

“GREETINGS CITIZENS

I AM THE STORMFATHER AND I HAVE AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR YOU

%96C6 2C6 D64C6ED :? E9:D 82>6] z:== E96 v|D]”

Day 2 has begun! It will last 46 hours, until 4 AM Eastern Standard Time (or Fifth Mean Time, if you prefer) on 31 December 2019.

PMs are open.

There is a lynch today with no vote minimum to kill. 

Please thank and/or upvote El did her help with the writeup. (She did Taladir’s death.)

Player List

Amber Vulture: Jashi, Stormwarden
2. Amethyst Scorpion: Jesh, Lost Axehound
3. Chartreuse Penguin: Taladir, Gambler Radiant Worldhopper
4. Coral Swan: Germaine, Scholar
5. Cream Tuatara: Dfyan, Scholar
6. Emerald Falcon: Sein, Inquisitive
7. Indigo Weasel: Adhom Inem, Ardent
8. Ivory Dragonfly: Krask, Conspiracy Theorist Sympathiser Worldhopper
9. Magenta Albatross: Jonan Wikim, Lost Axehound (Gren)
10. Mauve Crocodile: Sernes, Paranoid Scout
11. Mint Heron: Sam, Once a Darkeyes
12. Onyx Flamingo: Kir, Kleptomaniac Scout
13. Opal Lion: Tnaidar, Scout
14. Pearl Chameleon: Purrl, Adolin’s Former Girlfriend
15. Plum Rhinoceros: Logalog, Scholar
16. Quartz Zebra: Arauna Khadal, Adolin’s Former Girlfriend Sympathiser Worldhopper
17. Saffron Iguana: Merinira, Scout
18. Sage Kangaroo: Gilglin, Ardent (Devotary of the Mind)
19. Salmon Meerkat: Cadamum, Ghostblood Recruit
20. Scarlet Octopus: Max Mercury, Past Lives
21. Sunburst Toucan: Tafud, Slightly Crazy
22. Taupe Gecko: Brana, Scholar
23. Turqoise Gorilla: Bomer, Gambler
24. Violet Axolotl: Adi, Anxious

Edited December 29, 2019 by Fifth Scholar

[Saffron Iguana]

Just some RP, feel free to ignore it. I'm certain it doesn't contain any important insights on role distribution  

***

The person playing Merinira was taking a short break. These LARP events where very fun, of course, and the GM's had designed a very interesting scenario around the fight against Odium on Roshar several centuries ago, but these events where also mentally taxing. The past day had definitely been fun though. Sometimes such events had a lot of historical purists demanding that everyone play their role exactly like things where at the time, but this even was more relaxed. She knew for certain about a couple of players having chosen a worldhopper background for more versatility, and the amount of knowing smirks she'd seen and comments hinting at advanced knowledge she'd heard suggested that there might not be any Roshar natives among the PC's at all.

She stretched, quickly looked over her costume, and then prepared to leave the room. She was thinking about finding some others to do another discovery run through 'Urithiru'. The GM's had come up with some really nice off-the-wall stuff last time she went, and she was curious to find out what they'd do this time around.

[Plum Rhinoceros]

16 minutes ago, Saffron Iguana said:

she'd heard suggested that there might not be any Roshar natives among the PC's at all.

I mean...that is a lot of worldhoppers. Three in a row. 
Good job to whoever got Ivory!  We’re on a streak here, let’s keep it up! 

[Saffron Iguana]

In between trying to figure out the puzzle-lock sealing off most of the 17th floor and looking over the 32nd floors crystal garden, I have managed to find some time for analysis.

Amber Vulture

Vulture has made only two posts so far. One was pure RP, the other one contained a comment on the vote manipulation. Their soft defense of Albatross was noteworthy, but it also did contain some solid reasoning. Overall they haven't spoken nearly enough for any sort of solid read.

Coral swan

Like amber vulture they only have two posts, and only one of some substance. In that one they exhort everyone to vote, stating that voting is important. I don't disagree, but showing your reasoning is probably just as important as placing the vote, and I hope to see some sensible comments from them this cycle. No read yet.

Cream Tuatara

Three posts, and all of them have game related content! That having been said, most of it was pretty much just discussing roles and role distribution, all of which is fairly NAI. The poke on Toucan would have been somewhat interesting if the D1 lynch had been more involved than it was, but as it is I don't think its that odd that they kept it in place as there weren't that many other lynch candidates. No read.

Emerald falcon

...I'd only lightly skimmed their RP before, which is a shame, as the Destiny crossover is hilarious. Anyway, apart from the nice RP, they've been speaking sense and are actively involved in solving the game. I'd need to see how a couple of their reads pan out to be certain, but I'm leaning village on them right now.

Indigo weasel

Three posts, only contains some directly game-related content, though that one was very vague as well:

@Indigo Weasel, what exactly is the conclusion you're drawing here? It seems like on teh one hand you're clear ing people, adn then immediately retracting that statement again because you think the lynch was suspicious.

No read, but the post I linked kinda gives me a bad gut feeling is it seems like ti could have been designed to give weasel flexibility to jump either way with his read, without outright stating uncertainty.

Mauve crocodile

Two posts, one with some nice RP and a poke-vote for inactivity, the other one pointing out that I missed their vote in my tally. No read on them as of yet.

Mint Heron

One post, only RP. No read.

Onyx flamingo

One post, only RP. No read.

Opal Lion

Some RP, one posts comparing roles to the standard roles used here often, one post acknowledging that maybe that comparison was a bit obvious. No read.

Anyway, that's the first half (skipping albatross as I've spoken about them quite a bit already, and I want to do a reevaluation after looking at toucan). I should get to the rest before the end of the cycle, but these things take time, even when most of the reads end up being NULL because of a lack of activity. Speaking of which: @Amber Vulture, @Coral Swan, @Mauve Crocodile, @Mint Heron, @Opal Lion, @Onyx Flamingo, all of you have contributed very little so far. Could you share some more thoughts with the thread? If you can't think of anything, you could always share your current greatest suspicion and greatest trust.

edit: I've also taken a quick look at dragonfly to see if there where any clues in their posts. However, their posts where very low content and they didn't commit to anything, which was probably why they got targeted in the first place by the dustbringer.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Saffron Iguana
grammar

[Indigo Weasel]

19 minutes ago, Saffron Iguana said:

Indigo weasel

Three posts, only contains some directly game-related content, though that one was very vague as well:

@Indigo Weasel, what exactly is the conclusion you're drawing here? It seems like on teh one hand you're clear ing people, adn then immediately retracting that statement again because you think the lynch was suspicious.

No read, but the post I linked kinda gives me a bad gut feeling is it seems like ti could have been designed to give weasel flexibility to jump either way with his read, without outright stating uncertainty.

I wanted to say that they were cleared, but I also wanted to comment that it was kind of strange that they didn't swing the lynch. I wasn't trying to state an absolute position, I just wanted to create discussion on the topic.

[Salmon Meerkat]

Seeing as how everyone that has died was a worldhopper, and I also was able to successfully scan someone last night, who was also a worldhopper, and I'm also a worldhopper, I'm willing to make an educated guess that most, if not all of us are worldhoppers. Now that would he something to tell the Ghostbloods. Most Urithiruans are actually worldhoppers. 

That would also help explain why the dustbringer who hit the elim just went for a lucky guess so early. From what I've seen, typically, dustbringer/coinshot type roles are underused near the beginning of the game, because without additional knowledge, its risky to simply attack. 

But also, I've seen from past experience that typically if someone has a rotating role, like the worldhopper, they're more likely to use their attack. 

Whoever it was that placed that attack order can probably reveal themselves, as they likely have a new role, so they can be cleared as village, and are most likely no longer a threat to the elims. Unless they are a permanent dustbringer. 

Maybe a good way to reveal the role would be to a trusted villager in a PM. If you dont currently have one, I do have one that I've been able to scan and learn is a villager.

 Ultimately, whoever you are, you know the consequences of revealing yourself better than the rest of us, so please consider who you're already in PMs with, and who you trust most, and who you are suspicious of before you just go about revealing. 

Edit: I'll get around to looking into Ivorys posts later on to see if I can find anything that looks like bussing, pocketing or distancing.

Ed2t:corrected spelling of Ivory in edit 1. 

 

Edited December 29, 2019 by Salmon Meerkat

[Onyx Flamingo]

@Salmon Meerkat As I am also a worldhopper, I agree with your theory.

@Indigo Weasel This also could explain why the sympathizers didn't swing the lynch; they might have just rolled very few lynch manipulating rolls. (Also as someone who wasn't on the first day due to Christmas things, that could have contributed as well).

@Saffron Iguana I really don't have any major suspicions. I still need to read day One (with Ivory in mind now).

That is all for now.

[Indigo Weasel]

2 minutes ago, Onyx Flamingo said:

@Salmon Meerkat As I am also a worldhopper, I agree with your theory.

@Indigo Weasel This also could explain why the sympathizers didn't swing the lynch; they might have just rolled very few lynch manipulating rolls. (Also as someone who wasn't on the first day due to Christmas things, that could have contributed as well).

@Saffron Iguana I really don't have any major suspicions. I still need to read day One (with Ivory in mind now).

That is all for now.

I'm also a worldhopper, so it looks like Meerkat's theory is correct.

8 hours ago, Fifth Scholar said:

Edgedancer Messages
“You are sneaky, little bird. The reptiles are scaly and the frogs are slimy. Kill Odium, my friends.”

“GREETINGS CITIZENS

I AM THE STORMFATHER AND I HAVE AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR YOU

%96C6 2C6 D64C6ED :? E9:D 82>6] z:== E96 v|D]”

The first message doesn't seem to make very much sense, IDK what it's talking about.

The second message has some sort of cipher. I don't have the time to solve it rn. Can anyone else crack it?

[Amethyst Scorpion]

7 hours ago, Saffron Iguana said:

Anyway, that's the first half (skipping albatross as I've spoken about them quite a bit already, and I want to do a reevaluation after looking at toucan).

And skipping the Scorpion as well. It's alright, though. I probably fall in the latter category of not contributing much so far. This is my attempt to remedy that.

Ivory's posts:

Spoiler

First: Only RP, no mention of anyone else.

Second: Seems to be some RP distancing from Zebra.

Third: Make statement in RP that the ones to watch were "just beyond the arguing people."

 

Not much there. They didn't post and weren't mentioned in the night turn. The third post might be attempting to point the finger away from more active teammates. Or distancing from less active ones. Can't really be sure at this point.

Zebra mentions:

Spoiler

Saffron Iguana: Tagged Zebra in a list of people who hadn't posted about 24 hours into the cycle. Was the first to do so, and it was prior to votes on Zebra.

Saffron Iguana: RP response to Pearl, mentioning Zebra which is what prompted Pearl's vote.

Pearl Chameleon: First vote on Zebra, mostly based in RP. Could be distancing?

Emerald Falcon: Prompted Pearl to remove a vote from Zebra, at the same time asking that of Gorilla. Possible teammate?

Turquoise Gorilla: Tagged Zebra in the post as the time drew closer to an end. Just prior had removed a vote from Penguin and placed on on himself. Possible last attempt to get teammate to show?

Saffron Iguana: Last several posts of the cycle (starting with the one below) seem like possible teammate attempting to get another last-minute train at the same time as giving them an out to bus at the last second. Vote on Zebra at the very end. Possibly willing to accept bus of teammate.

 

With the large player base and likely large elim team, I don't think a bus of a teammate who hadn't shown up yet is impossible. It would mean a ruthless team, or a team who didn't see many options yet. It's possible Toucan is also elim (the other main lynch on D1), and Zebra was bussed to save the active one. Iguana's actions at the end would make some sense in that case.

Albatross later said bussing a worldhopper wouldn't be a smart move, but if everyone is a worldhopper, no one is a worldhopper then it doesn't matter if they lose one. 

Iguana

---------

"What is this?" asked the strange spren. 

Jesh looked up to see the thing was inspecting dimming spheres. A cone of blue light burst from the eye of the strange spren, bathing the spheres in its glow. It looked so cool!

A noise caught Jesh's attention before he could respond to the spren's question. A man appeared. 

"Who are you? Where did you come from?"

Jesh jumped back, startled. Was he not supposed to be here? Was he going to be in trouble? "I- I'm just looking for my axehound. Have you seen one around?" Then he noticed the man looking at the spren. "You can see it, too?"

@Magenta Albatross @Emerald Falcon

Edited December 29, 2019 by Amethyst Scorpion
Grammar

[Magenta Albatross]

@Salmon Meerkat I’m also a worldhopper, so I’m pretty sure we’re all worldhoppers at this point.

58 minutes ago, Indigo Weasel said:

The first message doesn't seem to make very much sense, IDK what it's talking about.

I was in a PM with Penguin, who was an Edgedancer, last cycle. The first anonymous message was meant to be a way for them to confirm their claim that they were an Edgedancer. Granted, that doesn’t matter now that they’re dead. 

Also, I was a Willshaper last cycle, and I was the one who moved Tuatara’s vote onto Chameleon. That was how I was proving my role to Penguin. 

35 minutes ago, Amethyst Scorpion said:

Albatross later said bussing a worldhopper wouldn't be a smart move, but if everyone is a worldhopper, no one is a worldhopper then it doesn't matter if they lose one. 

Well, I said that before this cycle and found out that there were at least four Worldhoppers in the game. Now, I trust Iguana significantly less than I did before. The elims would’ve already known that everyone’s a worldhopper, so it really wasn’t a big deal to bus a teammate D1. 

~

Jonan’s heart stopped for a moment. This kid’s also missing his axehound? Did someone take both of our axehounds?

He noticed the floating spren again, watching as it shone a strange blue light over some spheres. “Yes, I can see it too.” he said. “Any idea what it is?”

@Amethyst Scorpion @Emerald Falcon

Edited December 29, 2019 by Magenta Albatross