Mid-Range Game 66: Knights of Wind and Truth

[ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ he/him]

I’m going to sleep right now, I’ll be back tomorrow.

[Kasimir he/him]

3 minutes ago, Matrim's Dice said:

Yeah, I pointed that out yesterday iirc. Was my main reason for v reading Wit.

You called it openness and honesty, I wasn't really feeling it, but apparently being sleep-deprived and dead tired puts me in an agreeable mental state and lets me mind-meld with C1!you  The implications are multiple and horrifying.

Edited to add:

23 minutes ago, Ravenclawjedi42 said:

Kas mentioned that they had conversed in a PM

No, actually I lied, we talked via the Elim doc.

Edited November 8, 2023 by Kasimir

[Mat he/him]

…But now I don’t know how I feel about Wit feeling the need to post a sign-off with no prior content >>

I gueeeeeess I’d lean village on that?

[Kasimir he/him]

1 hour ago, Matrim's Dice said:

…But now I don’t know how I feel about Wit feeling the need to post a sign-off with no prior content >>

I gueeeeeess I’d lean village on that?

Apparently the Shard now pings you if a post of yours is linked. It might be possible that Wit got pinged and felt the need to reply? IDK man should we scientific method this

Edited to add:

I might be a bit more quiet today/tonight - I'm just going to commit to getting a decent chunk of sleep before going back to look at the thread because I'm mildly concerned the tiredness is not helping my analysis >>

Edited November 8, 2023 by Kasimir

[Ashbringer he/him]

And then there was quiet.

... well, don't look at me to make it louder, I just finished an essay and if you can do timezone math then I need sleep

[Kasimir he/him]

Keleran moved in Stonestance, scything the practice sword downwards. Arms straightened, knees bent to brace. Callar was always telling him he had to commit, to strike harder, more decisively. Fighting in Stonestance was about momentum; it was about knowing who you were, and what you wanted, and what you were here to do.

The mind willed; the body followed, vanguarding the path of resolution.

Keleran returned to the base stance, sword held out at an angle before him. He practised the cut again, feeling the resistance of the straw training dummy. Callar'd said he'd had to get used to the way cutting felt like. "Shardblades are different," Madilan'd added. "No resistance."

"Less resistance," Callar'd corrected.

Keleran hated the sword. He didn't know if he'd hate the Shardblade too. If he ever got there. Some of the others, like Aradon, had wielded the sword like extensions of themselves. Keleran glared at the practice sword, narrow-eyed. It was no extension, but a mere excrescence. 

He had to learn to fight, though. Had to learn the art and rhythm of war. 

He felt it, bone-deep. Someone had killed Aradon. Keleran didn't mean to be helpless, if he had to stand between his squad and the traitors within.

He almost laughed at himself. Who was he to say that sort of thing? He was a surgeon's son. He hated the sight of blood. He flinched and stepped backwards, everytime he sparred with Shay. Couldn't overcome the reflex to shrink back from blows, not lean into them when defending.

"When are you going to take a break?" Ellu yawned. "This is boring."

"This matters," Keleran said, flatly.

"Yeah? Shay could beat you with one arm tied behind her back, Kel. Phil could do it with his eyes closed."

"That's why I have to do it," Keleran said. He had to get better. Nevermind that this wasn't a remotely reasonable timeframe. If he drilled hard enough, maybe some competence would stay with him.

"I keep telling you, maybe you need to stop thinking of everything like a fight!"

Stonestance. Commitment. The path of the Stoneward.

"Maybe," Keleran said, softly. "But this is what must be, Ellu. We don't choose our fights. The traitors came here, and decided on more than defection. They decided on murder. Someone has to say no, here and no further."

Ellu said, "Maybe. But maybe a fight is more than just that murder pole you use."

"Murder pole?" Keleran hefted the practice sword, but couldn't hide his smile.

"It looks like a pole and is meant to teach you to murder people. Isn't it basically what it says on top?"

"Ellu..." he said.

"Keleran, I'm tired of fighting," Ellu wrinkled her nose. He knew what she meant. They were supposed to be a team. They were just a really bad team.

"Yeah," he said. "I am, too."

Edited to add:

-The title of this thread is one of the few cases with an outright spoiler title and I love it  Kon II, i.e. irreales.

-I am re-reading Devo with an eye to her past games but I don't feel my brain going anywhere useful right now so trying to tough the mindfog out doesn't feel positive. My current instinct is that since Devo's preferred CW is Mat, it's functionally which of them I find more credible.\

-Illwei isn't really helping here >>

-Considering whether I should stop the overthinking and just go: fourth vote looks weird and possibly Evil, apply pressure. This wrt Raven but I'm not intending to consolidate.

-Not a fan of TJ's lack of appearance. Feels like we ended up with a soft inactive because he's not showing up but just reset the clock. I struggle to believe E!TJ would play via filter-dodging, so I lean a bit V but regardless, it's just difficult to read the tea leaves and still deprives us of a Village-sided player.

-yo @STINK what's yo beef with Ash.

-Ash has felt very passive. I'm considering if this means I made the wrong call in <Ash, Devo.>

-Probably a bit more cool with V!Wit after relooking C1 but he's just ??? to read.

-I...my gut thinks JNV is V. I don't know what I have to say.

-I believe Archer's C2 appears more V to me. Partial proactiveness a good look though worries of performativity. No idea wtf to make of his C1 I'm sorry.

-I do not want to begin talking about Mat.

-Aeo read not shifting substantively, don't feel urge to rethink that bracket.

Edited November 8, 2023 by Kasimir

[|TJ| he/him]

49 minutes ago, Kasimir said:

-Not a fan of TJ's lack of appearance. Feels like we ended up with a soft inactive because he's not showing up but just reset the clock. I struggle to believe E!TJ would play via filter-dodging, so I lean a bit V but regardless, it's just difficult to read the tea leaves and still deprives us of a Village-sided player.

 

Fear not for I am here. Honestly bro I'm back after a while and my sleep cycle is exactly as bad as it was when I left.

Alright, from just the 4 pages of this cycle, with references to the last cycle - Archer, Wit, Raven are my suspects and I'm actually village-reading Devo, getting hints of ML attempts by players trying to suspect Devo either by supporting Kas' initial suspicion or by possibly Kas himself (lesser chance, Kas feels v). 

I also received an anonymous message - it was a g-alliteration phrase. 

Might not catch up with C1, but consider me fully in the game for now. 

[Devotary of Spontaneity]

We'll have to do something with Mat given how many connections there are to him. If it's not plausible to exe him then Archer and Raven are the best connections; Archer's more closely tied to Mat but Raven's more likely to be evil than Archer individually, especially if Mat is village.

 (This post was an excuse to fit in an RP section, but still true)

“Iolea, where are my issued spheres?”

“Oh! I lost those gambling!”

“What? How will I use stormlight in public?”

“Pssh, just say you’re rich! Anyway, I saw that you were in trouble, so I went ahead and talked to the spren of the Knights who accused you. Ellu really wanted to gamble. Pawns, kabers, michim, she’s quite good. I hope she’s cheating, excellent trait for a Radiant spren.”

“I note Keleran still accuses me.”

“Yeah, he’s stubborn. Ellu says he sees suffering as virtuous. The more something hurts him, the more he’s convinced that it’s the right thing to do. We’ll have to play up the ‘betraying and killing all his friends’ angle to make him defect.”

“I’ll settle for surviving another day. Did you tell her anything about me?”

“Uh-huh, I said you hate thinking for yourself and figuring things out, you just want to be guided to an objective Truth, especially by yours truly.”

“Iolea.”

“What? So we both exaggerated a little. It’s still mostly true. Anyway, Phil’s spren wouldn’t even give me a name. Just wanted me to buy some glue since you already got a free sample, but of course I’d already gambled all my spheres away.”

“Right, of course. Let’s not gamble away the ones Slani gave me.”

“Aw, but I’m so good at cheating. I beat Saffron’s spren in Pieces by looking underneath the tiles with my light. That inkspren totally didn’t even notice! You’re welcome.”

“Is that why Saffron accused someone else?”

“You can’t prove it wasn’t.”

“I see. 1/3 is a good start. Now it’s my turn to accomplish something.”

[STINK he/him]

My 'beef' with Ashbringer is honestly basically pure gut at this point and seemingly unrelated to what the rest of you are all trying to cook up here huh

Uh quick read through of their posts is 2 things which conveniently are in like the same paragraph of one post but mentioning doing something as village makes me kinda go huh and then dropping me and TJ from lists for 'reasons' 

[ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ he/him]

17 minutes ago, STINK said:

My 'beef' with Ashbringer is honestly basically pure gut at this point and seemingly unrelated to what the rest of you are all trying to cook up here huh

Uh quick read through of their posts is 2 things which conveniently are in like the same paragraph of one post but mentioning doing something as village makes me kinda go huh and then dropping me and TJ from lists for 'reasons' 

Honestly, I originally thought e!Archer, mostly out of gut.

however, mostly by same reasoning I think it Ida e!Ashbrimfer.

 

[Archer he/him]

4 hours ago, Ashbringer said:

 do timezone math

MATH 

he's evil, he's evil

Devo Ashbringer

[Mat he/him]

When Shay was far enough from the camp for her fellow Radiants to appear to be the size of cremlings, she stopped. Surely that was far enough for her thoughts to settle. On instinct she reached for a practice sword, but of course none were there. She slipped into a kata anyway, hands held out in front of her, clutching the empty space as she moved. The lack of weapon made it feel even more like a dance than usual.

Shay soon slowed, already feeling a greater sense of calm. Out here, in the open landscape, the Horneater Peaks rising in the east, she could almost forget the crisis unfolding behind her. Almost.

She had bonded her spren to help people. But this wasn't what she'd had in mind. She shouldn't have to clean this mess up.

And yet.

Despite her feelings, Shay was among the most vocal of the Radiants regarding the invasion. Most of the others aggressively kept to themselves, which was infuriating. If everyone just talked, we could figure this out...

Then again, she didn't even know if that was true. Keleran talked a lot. He seemed okay. Saffron and Phil too. But... what if they weren't? What could she do against such a convincing army?

Die.

Without another thought, she started back towards the others.

[|TJ| he/him]

3 hours ago, ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ said:

Honestly, I originally thought e!Archer, mostly out of gut.

however, mostly by same reasoning I think it Ida e!Ashbrimfer.

 

Reading this as a distancing post. 

[Mat he/him]

5 minutes ago, |TJ| said:

Reading this as a distancing post. 

Implying e!Archer or e!Ash?

[|TJ| he/him]

7 minutes ago, Matrim&#x27;s Dice said:

Implying e!Archer or e!Ash?

Either but my inference was that, the post increased my e!Wit suspicion. 

[Archer he/him]

4 hours ago, |TJ| said:

Fear not for I am here. Honestly bro I'm back after a while and my sleep cycle is exactly as bad as it was when I left.

Alright, from just the 4 pages of this cycle, with references to the last cycle - Archer, Wit, Raven are my suspects and I'm actually village-reading Devo, getting hints of ML attempts by players trying to suspect Devo either by supporting Kas' initial suspicion or by possibly Kas himself (lesser chance, Kas feels v). 

I also received an anonymous message - it was a g-alliteration phrase. 

Might not catch up with C1, but consider me fully in the game for now. 

Here's my problem with this TJ post. It works really nicely to have e!Devo and e!TJ coming along to support them. Throw in e!Wit who structured that last post so they can hop into the Archer train or ride the Ashbringer train with e!Stink. 1. That's too many elims. 

2. Would e!TJ defend e!Devo? TJ's hands are clean, so they're putting a lot on the line to come out in support of Devo in the back half of a round where they're a major suspect. I feel like Devo's directive would be to distance in this case. 

*

Phil took a deep breath. “Rocks! I command you to Adhere!”

The rocks did nothing. Or maybe they did, but he hadn’t noticed. He poked one to check if it was stuck to the ground. It kind of was, given how hard it was to move.

“Or perhaps that’s just how gravity works. And the feeble limbs of a man who spent four months in a cave.”

He tried again, pushing all of his energy into one big shout. “GLUE!”

The rocks did nothing. It had worked yesterday, why were his powers so unpredictable? Maybe he needed one of those tamagotchis everyone else had. Where did everyone acquire their spren?

He looked out towards the Horneater Peaks. In the far distance, someone was practicing their swordsmanship. He didn’t look very talented.

Not that you can do any better, his subconscious reminded him.

“Shud up,” he told it. “I’m looking for spren. And the World’s Most Powerful Glue, per my backstory.”

Sorry.

“I need to find some Fused. I’ll grind their bones to make my paste.”

This sounds totally normal. Can we kill another solider in the meantime?

“Who do I have in mind? Perhaps TBD, since they’re the only name I can think of right now.”

Excellent. They’ll never see it coming.

 

[Mat he/him]

1 minute ago, Archer said:

Here's my problem with this TJ post. It works really nicely to have e!Devo and e!TJ coming along to support them. Throw in e!Wit who structured that last post so they can hop into the Archer train or ride the Ashbringer train with e!Stink. 1. That's too many elims. 

I'd cut out Wit. I kind of read Stink as evil for engaging with the game, which feelsbad, but after the LG I feel like that's mildly justified :P. But I also support the Ash pressuring as so far the applied pressure on Devo, Raven, etc hasn't done much.

[|TJ| he/him]

17 minutes ago, Archer said:

Here's my problem with this TJ post. It works really nicely to have e!Devo and e!TJ coming along to support them. Throw in e!Wit who structured that last post so they can hop into the Archer train or ride the Ashbringer train with e!Stink. 1. That's too many elims. 

2. Would e!TJ defend e!Devo? TJ's hands are clean, so they're putting a lot on the line to come out in support of Devo in the back half of a round where they're a major suspect. I feel like Devo's directive would be to distance in this case. 

What is the point of this post? You start off by saying you have a problem with my post and then end up concluding.... I donno what exactly - that me and Devo could be teammates but also the chances of that are less likely? 

If you really wanted to see if me and Devo were teammates, you would have waited until presumably Devo made a distancing post. Mentioning the fact pre-emptively seems counter-intuitive to finding evidence of a team-up.  

[Archer he/him]

14 minutes ago, |TJ| said:

What is the point of this post? You start off by saying you have a problem with my post and then end up concluding.... I donno what exactly - that me and Devo could be teammates but also the chances of that are less likely? 

If you really wanted to see if me and Devo were teammates, you would have waited until presumably Devo made a distancing post. Mentioning the fact pre-emptively seems counter-intuitive to finding evidence of a team-up.  

Sorry, there was an assumption on my part that everyone would read your posts as suspicious and I was reacting to that. The point is you didn't distance from Devo, which I was initially reading as an obvious e-e connection, but then that felt too easy so I rejected it. 

*

Phil had done so much training since viewers last saw him. He’d done a thousand push ups and listening to at least one lecture on Finding Your Inner Spren. Finally, he was ready to swear an Ideal.

“Storms!”

The swearing hadn’t worked. Maybe he wasn’t cut out for this.

Or maybe you’re supposed to swear an oath, you oaf.

“Oh yeah. I swear to stick stuff together, follow my heart, and sell stuff through sensationalist infomercials once the technology exists.”

These words are rejected.

“You’re very judgemental, subconscious. What more can I do?”

Try being more dramatic. Add a little danger.

“Here I go, waving my sword. Stabby, stab, stab. Oh no, I’m so weak. I might fall in battle. If only I had magic powers to save me and my squadron!”

Perhaps we’ll try again some other time. Do some more push ups, those were funny.  

Phil fell into a plank position and began pumping his arms. They hurt, but not as much as not knowing the best way to adhere two things together did. Eventually, he collapsed in exhaustion, falling asleep.

You are weak, his dreams told him. You are not yet ready to progress. Also, don’t you have traitors to catch right now?

[STINK he/him]

Wow okay suddenly being sheeped huh 

1 hour ago, Matrim&#x27;s Dice said:

I kind of read Stink as evil for engaging with the game, which feelsbad, but after the LG I feel like that's mildly justified

Wasn't inactive that game but uh sure buddy weird comment to make

[Mat he/him]

20 minutes ago, STINK said:

Wasn't inactive that game but uh sure buddy weird comment to make

You weren’t inactive, but you also didn’t post anything game related the vast majority of the time. That’s a notable difference to this game so far. Like I said, it’s not a read I’m happy with, but it’s there ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

[JNV]

Hi honestly Im still suspicious of Archer um Ive read the thread but my brains not catching the Raven case so Ill reread again and honestly Im kinda just posting for RP and vote mech benefits right now but Ill ask forgiveness with this cute quokka picture

Spoiler

Jenel sat near the cold earth where a corpse had been laid out hours before. Somehow, the threat had not seemed real until how. Just paranoia, precautions taken just in case. But now, a knight had been killed by the spies that lingered in their midst. A knight they had known, though not well. A knight they had broken bread beside. A knight they hadn't known the name of until they heard someone shouting it at the sight of the corpse. It wasn't the first time they'd seen a corpse. They weren't a child, and life was hard. But it was the first time they'd seen deliberate death of another person. They had not been to battle. They had not truly seen war. 

But that was why they were here. To learn through experience what could not be learned through words. They stood up then and began walking over to the rest of them. They could not live without knowing the lives around them, not if they wanted to do this right. They would listen well, and hopefully, good thoughts would follow. Perhaps they weren't suited for this, but disposition was inconsequential. There is only choice, and those who fail to make them.

[Mat he/him]

I think this is accurate--

• Devo (1): Kas
• Raven (1): Mat
• Wit (1): Aeoryi
• Ash (2): Stink, Archer
• Archer (2): TJ, JNV

Which is kind of eye opening because I thought Devo was still in the lead :p. I should be paying better attention.

Ash

[ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ he/him]

3 hours ago, |TJ| said:

Reading this as a distancing post. 

3 hours ago, |TJ| said:

Either but my inference was that, the post increased my e!Wit suspicion. 

So, you know how I am new? When you say, a read that as a distancing post, first of all I have no idea what that means. So how could make one, or put one out in accident.? Secondly, while I do realize that this seems like very fierce defense, o only want to continue playing and learning, and want to get the…mofia (what are they  called in this language?) so voting me would be a weakness. I also know that this post will tobably cause you to “read me” and imply I am a mofia. But honestly, reading me will probably be unreliable.

 

3 hours ago, Matrim&#x27;s Dice said:

Implying e!Archer or e!Ash?

E!Ash

[Mat he/him]

Not knowing what elim means feels a little bit like exaggerating new playerness tbh

41 minutes ago, ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ said:

E!Ash

That was me asking TJ, there’s no reason you would be able to answer that

…….slip???