Long Game 85/Anonymous Game 12: Do Kandra Dream of Electric Sparrows?

[Kasimir]

8 minutes ago, Chartreuse Penguin said:

The kandra mechanics have never been used before

technically they have

this game is a rerun of lg8

kas bro tried to fix the game

it just meant he had to throw out 90% of the rules and insanity with the kandra mechanic

but the underlying idea is there

idk i guess u can get philosophical

if 90% of a game is changed at what point is it the same game still

[Amethyst Scorpion]

If i accept dingo's slip, then I suppose they're town. It's just easier to do that when they've slipped with other things as well.

The fact that no one questioned the source is sad, honestly. Fuschia has only posted RP in thread and if they hadn't scanned them then that was something.

If Fuschia is an Elim, then they're most likely not going to talk tonight, because they will not want to give us stuff to work with as well as they will bodyhop

I'm obviously village off of Emerald interactions. Specifically the PM one and this should be able to be corroborated by hyena, which is why I asked them what they're read on me is.

Sure you're going to say "but you could do that as an Elim too-" and that's where you need to stop overthinking things. Yes, I could, but the easier and simpler answer is just that.....I didn't. Same thing with you, Amber. Yeah, beagle could be an Elim who posted first last cycle so that no one would  suspect them of being the body-swapee.

But. Do you hear yourself?

Occam's Razor guys.

[Mauve Crocodile]

Yikes. Me regrets menshning that poem now. I knoes i said i wanted to albatross necklasss but can i take backsies? Me don't want alby specter looooming o'er us like in the 1000000% true tale of the mariner on the sea. Tho I guess mariner sorta won in the end, but everyone else died in process.....

35 minutes ago, <kel> said:

 

Ignore dis as me mobile be dum-dum and won't lesz me dedededelete ittt.

47 minutes ago, Chartreuse Penguin said:

hit Ostrich's source once we learn who it is. I think Perfect Mimicry is last, right? You should be able to kill them tonight. If Ostrich doesn't have a source, target Ostrich.

Wut if ostrich be evil and claim a fake source who be village and named source be like "is not me ostrich liar face and if dey were wearing pants, the pants would be super on fire" cuz is likely de source will claim that regardless cuz if they evil, they want ostrich to seem like liar but if ostrich evil and make up source, 'source' say same thing.

Also also also wut if ostrich not say anything tonight and also not be online????? Then could be busy village or could be trolling evil.

Is a problem, these gambits. Hows deeeppppp do they goooo???????

[Fuchsia Ostrich]

1 hour ago, <kel> said:

 

Magenta Albatross was executed! They were a Mistrunner Infiltrator!

Well, that's not supposed to happen!!

I think this means that my top secret contact is not very nice so I will just reveal that it was Scorpion.

[Coral Swan]

My vote is for any Coinshots to hit Ostrich. Scorp seems like an obvious pick as someone that has gathered a fair amount of suspicion. In fact, I'm pretty sure if Scorp was actually the contact then Ostrich would have been less confident in their scan results.

[Amber Vulture]

Like I said, 

2 hours ago, Amber Vulture said:

If Ostrich is an elim, they will likely accuse a random villager of having 'scanned' Albatross. 

 

[Amethyst Scorpion]

56 minutes ago, Fuchsia Ostrich said:

Well, that's not supposed to happen!!

I think this means that my top secret contact is not very nice so I will just reveal that it was Scorpion.

oh man and here i was hoping that you were going to pick someone believable lmfao

EDIT:

*doublechecks that I am actually scorpion*

I'm pretty much even more spewed town now, thanks fuschia.

Coinshotting fuschia won't matter if they're body hopping. A 50/50 chance isn't worth it imo, with no definitive results on whether it worked or not. I have to assume the coinshot is a one time thing if they didn't shoot last night, because I think they would have wanted to kill since we didn't get an exe. Either that or we don't have one.

If you have any idea who I am then you can probably guess what kind of people/who I would talk to in PMs.

This doesn't make me any less suspicious on Amber, because not only did they just slightly TMI me V, with their "Random Villager" but also they would be the first person I would try to frame as the informant based on their reaction + votes on alb last day. I suppose there has to be something in Fuchsia trying to go at me and what this means for who the team is.

Edited April 29, 2022 by Amethyst Scorpion

[Charcoal Hyena]

Looks like we won't be seeing you, Ostrich. :\ Well played. 

[Amber Vulture]

21 minutes ago, Amethyst Scorpion said:

This doesn't make me any less suspicious on Amber, because not only did they just slightly TMI me V, with their "Random Villager"

I think everyone and their grandmother knows I've been reading you village enough to risk a no-exe D1, so I'd argue against the notion that it is TMI :P. I could be wrong and you could be an elim, but that's not something I wish to ponder right now.

[Coral Swan]

39 minutes ago, Amethyst Scorpion said:

I have to assume the coinshot is a one time thing if they didn't shoot last night, because I think they would have wanted to kill since we didn't get an exe.

Which Coinshot?

[Amethyst Scorpion]

Hyena can probably be an elim too, even though I'm not very sold on that. Not that I'm sold at all on Amber either. Amber is probably village, knowing me, knowing them.

When Emerald was in the middle of making all the PMs and I asked them not to include me, I asked at the same time in the most recent PM they made with me in hopes they'd see that as well- the PM with Hyena. Hyena then chose to comment in that PM saying that Emerald's PM amounts were truly astonishing, and Emerald said thank you.

it was initially an interaction that I want to read as village, because it was a completely unnecessary comment in a random PM. If Hyena flips Elim then it further confirms me as village, something that really isn't at all necessary at this point lol. If i flip Elim then it....well. neither of those facts are true because body hopping. If Hyena or I flip Elim tonight, then the other is village. well. not if they bodyhop.

Relations are almost useless here

anyways.

I think this game is hard because- well, because of the kandra bodyhopping, everyone should need to be more active than normal since you can't completely trust relations or actions or reads from previous cycles.

[Fuchsia Ostrich]

44 minutes ago, Coral Swan said:

My vote is for any Coinshots to hit Ostrich. Scorp seems like an obvious pick as someone that has gathered a fair amount of suspicion. In fact, I'm pretty sure if Scorp was actually the contact then Ostrich would have been less confident in their scan results.

I thought the sharpshooter would be a guaranteed kill if Scorp was lying, ok? Assuming there's a sharpshooter. But how would the elims know if there wasn't a sharpshooter? I didn't think there was much reason to disbelieve it.

Sharpshooter if you are real this is in your hands I think. If Scorp is the role that gives you an extra life than that would be bad and there's probably nothing we can do! Otherwise, it's apparently a 50% chance to keep a kandra pinned down, which, well, that's better than nothing but it depends on you getting the right target.

[Amethyst Scorpion]

What's more is this feels specifically like an attempt to set me up as the convert.

[Charcoal Hyena]

PGTAQHCQBZPRO

A ward from being turned. If I do not break the code by mid-day tomorrow, execute me.

[Coral Swan]

8 minutes ago, Charcoal Hyena said:

PGTAQHCQBZPRO

A ward from being turned. If I do not break the code by mid-day tomorrow, execute me.

That doesn't work, because if you get converted, your alignment changes and you can give the solution to the Kandra that steals your body. Otherwise we could all have done something like that starting N1.

[Kasimir]

all write-ups have been edited in

i am a god amongst men

i may sleep now

[Amber Vulture]

17 minutes ago, <kel> said:

all write-ups have been edited in

i am a god amongst men

i may sleep now

Thank you. The village has been taking too many Ls. Let’s count this as a W. 

[Charcoal Hyena]

41 minutes ago, Coral Swan said:

That doesn't work, because if you get converted, your alignment changes and you can give the solution to the Kandra that steals your body. Otherwise we could all have done something like that starting N1.

Only if I care to do it. Which I don't. 

Maybe I'm bluffing, but will the elim team be willing to take that gamble? It wouldn't work if everyone had a code, but if it's just one person... well, surely there are better targets, are there not?

[Coral Swan]

21 minutes ago, Charcoal Hyena said:

Only if I care to do it. Which I don't. 

Maybe I'm bluffing, but will the elim team be willing to take that gamble? It wouldn't work if everyone had a code, but if it's just one person... well, surely there are better targets, are there not?

I would say that would probably fall under game throwing. If I were an elim that converted you, and you didn't cooperate, I would ask for moderator intervention.

[Charcoal Hyena]

2 minutes ago, Coral Swan said:

I would say that would probably fall under game throwing. If I were an elim that converted you, and you didn't cooperate, I would ask for moderator intervention.

Well forget it then

[Fuchsia Ostrich]

I think I might know a legitimate technique to make people less likely to convert you, although it is not flawless: posting frequently enough that your time zone isn't very hard to guess.

I don't think there is any perfect way to counter conversion.

[Amethyst Scorpion]

1 minute ago, Fuchsia Ostrich said:

I think I might know a legitimate technique to make people less likely to convert you, although it is not flawless: posting frequently enough that your time zone isn't very hard to guess.

I don't think there is any perfect way to counter conversion.

I don't think there's anyone who's in a different enough timezone that it would be impossible, unless you're like TJ or something and the person you want to convert is only posting from like 1pm to 6pm PDT

[Fuchsia Ostrich]

Well, maybe. You would know I guess!

[Salmon Meerkat]

8 hours ago, Chartreuse Penguin said:

Coinshot, if you exist, hit Ostrich's source once we learn who it is. I think Perfect Mimicry is last, right? You should be able to kill them tonight. If Ostrich doesn't have a source, target Ostrich.

Ostrich would always claim to have a source regardless of alignment. Suggesting the claimed source get killed no matter what doesn't make sense.

7 hours ago, Amethyst Scorpion said:

The fact that no one questioned the source is sad, honestly. Fuschia has only posted RP in thread and if they hadn't scanned them then that was something.

Fuchsia did talk about having a PM conversation with their supposed contact but I would expect a village Ostrich to have more scepticism if the person they were voting for and was then leading in votes claimed to have scanned someone as a Kandra. At least enough to ask more why questions and check the order of actions. I don't know about elim Ostrich setting Scorpion up as a convert though since we'll be looking at them now.

Spoiler

Now I’m traveling with Tamara, Sal, and Underscore. I can feel them looking at me even as I studiously avoid their gazes. What are they hoping to find? Do they think I’m a SynthKandra? They already know I’ve been tasked with killing them, so I could hardly be more of a threat to them if I was. They learned I was a Heron Industries operative eight months ago but didn’t kill me, and I still can’t figure out why. I’ve known for years that any mistrunner who discovered my true allegiances would kill me on the spot unless I killed them first or forced them to surrender. Instead, Sal was able to disable all audiovisual recordings, even the backups that activate whenever my sight or hearing is impaired and whatever failsafes Edrena may have, long enough for Tamara to teach me the codes I would need if I ever wanted to communicate with her again. Even when the assault team attacked their group in response to losing contact with me, they chose only to knock me out instead of kill me. Now as I observe the three of them in turn, none of them seem poised to shoot me at a moment’s notice, not even Underscore, who doesn’t know me at all. At this range, I could draw my pistol and shoot all three of them before they had time to react.

I wouldn’t be assured of killing all three if I did that, I tell my copperminds as I store this memory, instead reaching for the pocket containing the device Sal slipped me. If the first shot for each of them isn’t fatal, the survivors might be able to call for help and the other mistrunners will catch me killing them, or else they’ll be able to take me down first and either way the success of my overall mission will be compromised. I’ll kill them one by one once they’re separated. I censor my memories all the time to clean them up and make them more palatable, but such a significant lie still has my hands shaking as I feel a pattern of raised dots on the hard plastic base of something rectangular in shape. It takes me a few seconds to remember that this is something else Tamara taught me. I’ve kept it hidden in long term coppermind storage by dumping it into organic memory right before a memory transfer, then putting those memories back in my copperminds immediately after. Signal jammer, the first two words read, and I almost black out. My body freezes up as my mind is consumed with panic. I can’t have this. I need to get rid of it right now. I need to get Sal to take it back from me and walk over to a safe distance where I can’t see or hear her and smash it into a million pieces. Tamara notices that I’ve stopped moving and starts to walk towards me. <Stopstopstopstopstopstop,> I scream subvocally, but of course she can’t hear me. Still, she hesitates.

“Vel?” she asks. I hated my voice before I got my modulator, but hers cuts through my mental litany to add a new thought. I should let her know my full name. Even if I never get to hear her say it, I’d like for her to have it. I still can’t move or speak until I hear Underscore’s voice coming from off to my side say, “What’s happening?”

I unfreeze and instinctively grab my nearest weapon, my shock knife, and lunge in the direction of their voice with none of the technique I’d learned in the past six years. She catches my knife arm so I swing my other hand towards her face, which she avoids by stepping backwards. At this point my brain catches up to what I’m doing. Seeing that she’s not making any aggressive moves, I relax to show that I’m not trying to kill them anymore. Sal comes up behind me.

“Is that a shock knife?” they ask. “Where did you get that? All the shock knives had been cleared out when we looked.”

“It doesn’t matter where she got it,” Tamara cuts in. “If these SynthKandra can replicate someone’s memories as well as appearance, we need to make sure none of us have been replaced. Underscore?”

They grimace but let go of my arm. That grimace becomes a hiss of pain as I jab the shock knife into their left forearm, but there’s no sign of her being a SynthKandra. “Almost enough to make you wish those weren’t non-lethal,” they grumble as Sal and Tamara submit to being shocked as well. Both of them give muffled cries as electricity courses through their bodies but neither of their appearances shift. Finally, I turn the knife on myself. I’ve been struck by practice knives in training with other Heron Industries operatives, but the real thing hurts much more. I would shut my eyes but the highest intensity of pain passes before I can set my eyes into manual blink mode. When I look up I see all three Terns staring at me with an expression on their faces I’ve seen before on them and on Claude sometimes but one which I can’t put a name to.

“Right,” Tamara speaks up after a few seconds of silence. “We’ll talk about all this later, but right now we have a working shock knife and plenty more mistrunners to test. They’ve all gathered up, so perhaps they’ve found something already. Sal, Underscore, watch each other’s backs. Vel?” I nod, put the shock knife away and take out my rifle. I don’t have to be asked to guard her from any outside threats. Together, the four of us head towards the main group, the signal jammer still sitting heavily in my pocket.

 

[Amethyst Scorpion]

42 minutes ago, Salmon Meerkat said:

. I don't know about elim Ostrich setting Scorpion up as a convert though since we'll be looking at them now.

Honestly i have no clue why you'd think I'm a valid place to look, seeing as I have been spewed clear now by both Falcon and Ostrich in so many ways. And that only makes sense if they're planning to set me up as a convert target.

If the Elims have any mercy though they won't convert me and will just kill me instead.