Long Game 98: A Tale of Mists and Metals

[Aeoryi]

25 minutes ago, Ookla thePresentParticiple said:

“A mistake in hindsight I can see, I guess. Just, even though you likely won’t die this cycle, you’re not getting any rewards from role-claiming. Even as a form of protection, it’s not the best of them.”

"For all they know, I could be one of those pewter eaters."

[Kasimir]

Onon gathered his thoughts. He felt as though this might be his last chance, as he would be preoccupied until sundown. This meant he had to come to certain decisions, including finalising where he stood today, before he prepared to make arrangements to commune with Kash's deceased spirit. Or rather, to fool Copper's Bend into believing he had such powers.

He wanted to write a comprehensive ledger documenting how he felt about the various inhabitants of Copper's Bend who were Kash's potential killers. But part of this did fundamentally depend on other factors, including how he felt about the fundamental plausibility of Sono's alibi.

As he sat on the wooden bench, shrouded in the mists that crept further into the sunlit hours, Onon shivered and closed his eyes and then was elsewhere.

A technique he'd learned, back in Kordel. He was walking through the hallways of his mind palace, even if it looked strangely very much like the painting-lined hallways of the university there.

He pushed open the first door, marked:

1. Alibi Plausibility

The way Onon saw it, a lot depended on the plausibility of Sono's alibi.

Spoiler

It was true, on some level, that Sono's claiming to endowed with the mysterious metallic powers of Lurching said nothing about whether Sono bore a spike. There were two doorways before him: polished wood, heavy, unyielding. Stencilled plates next to the door spelled out where they led: 'ONE SPIKED LURCHER, ONE VILLAGE LURCHER', read the one to the left. The one on the right stated, 'ONE VILLAGE LURCHER.'

Onon scowled at the doors. "Well, I don't like false dilemmas," he muttered, stubbornly. "What if there're more of them?"

The hallway creaked, and Onon nearly jumped. There was an arterial corridor to the side, now, with door after door, stretching increasingly into the distance. Following the doorline a little, Onon read, 'ONE SPIKED LURCHER, MAYBE SEVERAL THUGS???' followed by 'ONE SPIKED LURCHER, ONE VILLAGE SEEKER (?), MAYBE SEVERAL THUGS???' and so on. 

Onon didn't like this. It was the thing you knew in his line of work: making bad assumptions got the mark scammed. Your job was to make sure that didn't happen to you.

But suppose, then, that you ordered these assumptions. Made the best broth you could from these bones.

Pending's assertion seemed undeniably correct here: that the presence of the Spiked likely indicated the presence of a Lurcher loyal to Copper's Bend. Whether that was Sono was another question altogether. Laws of supply and demand and all that (he could be honest with himself here, since he didn't need to keep pretending to be a psychic with all that past life rubbish in his own mind palace.) 

The main ways Onon could see Pending being wrong were those doors in the arterial corridor, where there were Thugs, or a Seeker loyal to Copper's Bend (perhaps, he didn't feel too confident there), capable of turning the tide. But that wasn't information Onon had, right now.

Sono making the claim this early felt risky. It felt, Onon thought, like the sort of risk—he glanced at the grinning portrait of Pending next to the SPIKED LURCHER door on the left. The sort of folly Pending might suggest. It relied on no counterclaiming, and a fundamental sense that it was plausible there might be multiple Lurchers, which perhaps was specified by Sono's claim to have had only enough juice for a single shot. 

Was it possible that one of their silent lurkers was a Lurcher? If so, it'd have to be in Rilla [@Quirksliver] or Jorrick [@JNV.] Yet, no one, at least, was going to get a response from Rilla today. She'd boarded up her doors according to the rumours Onon'd overheard as tribute to Jahidi or something of that sort.

The thing was, it didn't seem to matter, Onon thought. He tried to put himself in Sono's shoes, assuming Sono was Spiked. He thought the Lurcher claim seemed pretty likely; you wanted to mix your lies with enough truth to be taken seriously. Interesting that Sono had no fear of being scanned or killed in the night, but every fear of being taken to Arwhin in the day; interesting that Sono had claimed about three hours past noon, with the lead accusations having been tied. Sono could've easily saved himself. He balefully eyed the Pending painting. Another connection?

He bracketed those thoughts for the moment. At the time Sono had made his claim, Sirta, Jorrick, and Rilla had failed to appear in the village square. Suppose, then, that Sono was paired with someone else not in that trio, and subtract Onon himself. This meant that functionally, Sono had a partner in the group of Rem, Revir, Dasenk, Pending, and functionally had to gamble that three others (four, including Onon himself) were not Lurchers. There was, as well, the possibility that the other three would show up at some point, which definitely made the odds worse.

Suppose then, that Sono would have hedged against this, by claiming the single shot of juice. Suppose as well that this was the point of Sono's inconsistency about the gambit and dying: explaining Sono's consistent survival.

But did the picture feel right for this kind of scheme? And here, Onon hesitated again. It didn't feel intuitive. That was the core of it. It required Sono to have signed up to the scheme fairly early on. It required Sono to have gone public in a way that felt like it would have been more detrimental to Sono's own viability.

He ground his teeth together.

Yet Sono's insistence on parlaying this into a seeming scheme when it seemed a plain tactical mistake felt intrinsically suspicious to Onon.

"I hate this," he informed the doorways, sighed heavily, and shoved his way through the VILLAGE LURCHER door and went on.

2. Reads

The corridor opened up into an infinity of doorways, stretching on, with portraits of the people of Copper's Bend next to them. Someone'd scrawled graffiti on the Pending painting, which Onon privately thought only improved the artistic quality of the piece.

Spoiler

Dasenk. Onon paused beside the painting of the village historian, holding a cup of Earl Grey tea. Made him feel thirsty for some good old Winter Spice. Still, he'd reasoned his way to thinking Dasenk was on the level for now. Figured he'd be fine staying there. Several factors: the one he clung to was the framing of Dasenk's initial suspicions of Rem. They'd come from a convoluted and paranoid mindset (fearing that Rem was about to frame them by defending them,) the sort of thing that Onon couldn't see emerging naturally from the viewpoint of a Spiked. Rem's read of Dasenk, too, felt reasonably robust across both possible alignments.

He pushed open the VILLAGER door and stared cautiously into the darkness beyond and nodded.

Next was Jorrick. Onon hesitated here. Jorrick had spent a good amount of time in their workshop, working to repair Onon's peachwood sword. Onon was grateful for that, as it was a crucial theatrical prop when he put on fake exorcisms. And yet. The carpenter's silence felt like a positive thing. But Onon did not trust silence, even when you tried to measure it out, to turn unknown quantities into known quantities.

More hesitantly, he kneed open the VILLAGER door just a crack.

He left the Rilla doors alone. Little enough he could do there for the moment.

Revir had started aggressively in the village square, for a thief. He'd drawn attention by pushing against Pending. He didn't feel particularly present or carefree. Perhaps it was a simple line of thought for Onon to follow, but the simple answer often felt like the best one. 

Cautiously, he kicked open the SPIKED door, and moved on.

Sirta had picked a pretty standard and easy play; open big, go for the newcomer to Copper's Bend. Worked too, since Onon had only arrived a day ago. It wasn't particularly opportunistic, where the accusations were concerned, which made Onon feel a little good about him. He wedged his fingers into the gap and wriggled until the VILLAGER door eased open a sliver.

Now he came to the three troublesome ones. The ones you could go in circles about.

There was Pending, graffitied portrait and all. Onon wondered if he had some chalk to freshen up the markings. The problem with Pending, Onon thought, was he made you want to like him. But that was what a good conman did. You had to build a rapport with your marks, and some of the worlds in which Sono was Spiked had Pending as a partner-in-crime. Sono's own reasoning for Pending being non-Spiked didn't feel like it passed muster.  For one, it didn't pass Sono's own standards for arguments targeting Sono. Pending wasn't going to rush to take down Sono, and Onon thought it very much in-character regardless of Pending's alignment. So if you wanted to make a case for Pending being a Villager, you had to look to little things like the suggestion any other Lurcher counter Sono, which seemed both commonsense and helpful to Onon. 

And yet. Onon could not explain his unease. Perhaps because he didn't feel Pending had done anything particularly village at all, apart from the statement on the Lurcher, and even then, he wondered if he was overcrediting Pending for it.

Which came back to Sono's question, which Onon had wanted to directly answer, but he hadn't felt it polite. He laughed at himself. Hadn't felt it polite? Asking what Pending had done to not deserve death certainly felt like an extreme right there.

A sudden flash of excitement. No, no. The connection didn't make sense. Onon pounded his fist against the wall, trying to think. Sono defending Pending by claiming the lord had contacted him and apologised for voting him didn't feel like it held water. But was it the sort of way Spiked defended each other? Onon didn't really think so: it felt like too quick, too ready an admission of a connection.

Suppose then, it was Pending or Sono. What next?

Onon growled at the doors. He didn't like where his brain was going. He turned the knob. The SPIKED door creaked open in protest.

Rem. Pending had been trying to nudge against Rem, saying that Rem and to a lesser extent, Revir were where his suspicions lay. But Onon just wasn't feeling that at all. Just wasn't. He intuitively disliked the attempt at solicitation, and felt as though Rem was...being Rem. He'd never been the best at reading gamblers like Rem, but Rem's willingness to lay out a case for Dasenk and against Onon felt, at least, genuine, as though Rem was engaging with the murder investigation. Rem's attempt to solicit a gamble from Pending, Revir, and Onon in which the losers yielded their votes also felt...odd. Overexplained, a tad. And yet, Onon liked it. It felt like the sort of play that came from someone trying to solve.

Onon cautiously tapped on the VILLAGER door with his knuckles, as though it would bite him.

Sono. He'd really wasted enough time brooding on Sono already, having laid out his thoughts previously. Sono's defense of Pending felt laughable, with Sono's late engagement feeling as though Sono were a Spiked who'd only gotten his head into the weft of things late. Sono's attempt at drawing connections didn't really make sense either, and seemed to come from someone who was struggling to produce seeming investigative work. The fact most of Sono's connectives centred on Rilla, Jorrick, and Sirta, all of whom had not been present was powerfully indicative that it was trivial work meant to demonstrate volume rather than commitment.

"I want a third option," Onon growled at the door. "Give me something else."

The corridor flexed. 'POSSIBLY VILLAGE BUT STILL WANT DEAD TBH' opened up between the two doors, and Onon opened it.

All at once, the doors flew shut and Onon found himself standing, quite alone, in darkness.

3. Actions

He walked down the hallways of the mind palace, trying to work out his next step. He was good at this; he did this often enough, planning things out, and then setting things into motion.

He could stick to his convictions and stay on Pending. He could also comment that he probably shouldn't clear Sono just for having powers. He could suspect Rem for generating doubt by claiming they simply didn't know enough.

He ground his teeth.

He would stay the course, then. Between Sono and Pending, despite all the red flags Sono had raised, he felt the first corridor had pointed out that -

Was he literally putting a freaking corridor over enough red flags to open a fleet of warships?

...Yes. Apparently he was.

[Archer]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Resolute said:

"I never said it did, I hope."

"I too appreciate the vote tallies. Why'd you bring your role up, then? Onon mentioned you'd foreshadowed it as well. I don't remember that remark, but I do remember you being very reactive to this pressure."

@Kasimir "Lurcher being the role that we have the most incentive to keep alive, I think, while also potentially producing a clear heroic result. If we let you live, you can block a murder and clear yourself. Or more likely, you've just bought yourself two kills while we waited to kill you. It also fits with the village-coded elements of the dream distro, so it's a reasonable claim to publicize if you're desperate."

@TheRavenHasLanded "Are you willing to vote in defense of Pending if it comes to it?" Sono 

5 hours ago, Kasimir said:

Onon had gone to some trouble to chart out the past lives the spirits had whispered to him of. Sometimes, he wondered if he was becoming genuinely superstitious, but it seemed as though he'd always been pretty prone to shifting his strategies based on his mood and his situation and there wasn't much of a pattern there. He didn't need to do it, but it was pretty galling someone he'd never associated with before could make a claim to know him well and to have been so utterly wrong about it  

"What does the vertical axis represent? Since I have no knowledge of any events happening outside of our little world, I'm technically also curious about the horizontal axis, but that can be explained to me off-camera."

[Kasimir]

7 minutes ago, Ookla the Paradigm said:

"I too appreciate the vote tallies. Why'd you bring your role up, then? Onon mentioned you'd foreshadowed it as well. I don't remember that remark, but I do remember you being very reactive to this pressure."

"About five and a half hours to noon," Onon remarked. "Give or take."

8 minutes ago, Ookla the Paradigm said:

"Lurcher being the role that we have the most incentive to keep alive, I think, while also potentially producing a clear heroic result. If we let you live, you can block a murder and clear yourself. Or more likely, you've just bought yourself two kills while we waited to kill you. It also fits with the village-coded elements of the dream distro, so it's a reasonable claim to publicize if you're desperate."

"I think it's reasonable for it to be true - Seeker would've been just as powerful there." People tended to get weird about the thought of others who could discern the truth just by exerting themselves. People always wanted to be saved, rather than to save themselves. It was why this ritual master con paid off so well. "I'm largely caught up by Pending's logic - that there hasn't been a counterclaim here." Sure, he distrusted Pending, but that point of logic, Onon at least agreed with.

13 minutes ago, Ookla the Paradigm said:

"What does the vertical axis represent? Since I have no knowledge of any events happening outside of our little world, I'm technically also curious about the horizontal axis, but that can be explained to me off-camera."

"That's why I'm psychic," Onon said, deadpan. "The spirits speak to me. But also, it represents the number of times a past life hopped around, since Sirta's allegation was that I've never been this flighty before. Since I've been in this village for about a day, I figure he must be referring to a past life."

[TheRavenHasLanded]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Paradigm said:

"I too appreciate the vote tallies. Why'd you bring your role up, then? Onon mentioned you'd foreshadowed it as well. I don't remember that remark, but I do remember you being very reactive to this pressure."

@Kasimir "Lurcher being the role that we have the most incentive to keep alive, I think, while also potentially producing a clear heroic result. If we let you live, you can block a murder and clear yourself. Or more likely, you've just bought yourself two kills while we waited to kill you. It also fits with the village-coded elements of the dream distro, so it's a reasonable claim to publicize if you're desperate."

@TheRavenHasLanded "Are you willing to vote in defense of Pending if it comes to it?" Sono 

"What does the vertical axis represent? Since I have no knowledge of any events happening outside of our little world, I'm technically also curious about the horizontal axis, but that can be explained to me off-camera."

"...no"

[DrakeMarshall]

11 hours ago, Kasimir said:

If I die, I will give all my thoughts one last time so you all have something to go off.

"This sounds like a spiked slip to be honest, but that's none of my business," Lord Pending shrugged. "Powerful assumption here that if you die the way it'll happen is by the execution, not murder."

[Ravenclawjedi42]

5 minutes ago, DrakeMarshall said:

"This sounds like a spiked slip to be honest, but that's none of my business," Lord Pending shrugged. "Powerful assumption here that if you die the way it'll happen is by the execution, not murder."

“Perhaps. But we must remember that we don’t know that he was referring to the vote. He could have been referencing the Spiked kill.”

[DrakeMarshall]

2 minutes ago, Ookla thePresentParticiple said:

“Perhaps. But we must remember that we don’t know that he was referring to the vote. He could have been referencing the Spiked kill.”

"That's precisely it. You don't get time to realize you're about to die and summarize your closing thoughts if you're knifed in an alley, you just die."

[Aeoryi]

9 minutes ago, DrakeMarshall said:

"This sounds like a spiked slip to be honest, but that's none of my business," Lord Pending shrugged. "Powerful assumption here that if you die the way it'll happen is by the execution, not murder."

"It should be noted that Onon in his past lives rarely ever gets executed, maybe that's what he's referring to here."

 

3 hours ago, Ookla the Resolute said:

VOTING TALLY

Sono (1): Dasenk

Onon (1): Sirta

Pending (3): Onon, Rem, Sono

Rem (1): Pending

Not voting (3): Revir, Jorrick, Rilla

Lord Pending rem

[Kasimir]

29 minutes ago, DrakeMarshall said:

"This sounds like a spiked slip to be honest, but that's none of my business," Lord Pending shrugged. "Powerful assumption here that if you die the way it'll happen is by the execution, not murder."

Onon cocked his head. "Bought a ladder, Pending? Because that's a reach, even for you. It's the day, the most anyone has mustered is two accusations, and I’m on one. In what world isn't it reasonable to prepare my most updated thoughts just in case? Any true villager puts more stock in aiding the common cause from beyond the grave, even if the likelihood is that the lot of you would ignore it. Come nightfall, I'll almost certainly be doing the same thing. Certainly makes me feel more reasonable about not wanting to budge in my accusations here."

Edited to add:

Quote

"That's precisely it. You don't get time to realize you're about to die and summarize your closing thoughts if you're knifed in an alley, you just die."

"As...I've somehow quite literally managed in almost every single past life, according to the spirits? It's not even remotely difficult. It's called contingency planning." 

Edited November 26, 2023 by Kasimir

[TheRavenHasLanded]

"like making a will i guess."

[DrakeMarshall]

21 minutes ago, Ookla the Resolute said:

"It should be noted that Onon in his past lives rarely ever gets executed, maybe that's what he's referring to here."

"And how does this excuse it? This supports my point."

Lord Pending looked bemused.

"If you are indeed correct and Onon is somehow not prone to dying by execution due to some mumbo jumbo about past lives, then that would imply that most likely Onon would die to murder. In which case, it is doubly remarkable that Onon assumes he won't die to murder, and that if he dies, it will be to the execution."

"The only person who knows they aren't going to be murdered by the spiked... Are the spiked. Am I making my point clear? At face value, somebody assuming that the execution is the only thing that can kill them means they're spiked."

"Do I think Onon is actually spiked and not just putting his foot in his mouth? Well that's a more complex question. But I'd at least like to get clear about what I'm saying here."

17 minutes ago, Kasimir said:

Onon cocked his head. "Bought a ladder, Pending? Because that's a reach, even for you. It's the day, the most anyone has mustered is two accusations, and I’m on one. In what world isn't it reasonable to prepare my most updated thoughts just in case? Any true villager puts more stock in aiding the common cause from beyond the grave, even if the likelihood is that the lot of you would ignore it. Come nightfall, I'll almost certainly be doing the same thing. Certainly makes me feel more reasonable about not wanting to budge in my accusations here."

"If you're serious about saying any closing thoughts before potentially getting executed today, you should have already started saying them. Because you aren't going to get a chance to start on your last will and testament if the vote flips on you in the last twenty minutes."

EDIT:

Anyways, Revir. Final answer.

[Kasimir]

Just now, DrakeMarshall said:

"And how does this excuse it? This supports my point."

Lord Pending looked bemused.

"If you are indeed correct and Onon is somehow not prone to dying by execution due to some mumbo jumbo about past lives, then that would imply that most likely Onon would die to murder. In which case, it is doubly remarkable that Onon assumes he won't die to murder, and that if he dies, it will be to the execution."

"The only person who knows they aren't going to be murdered by the spiked... Are the spiked. Am I making my point clear? At face value, somebody assuming that the execution is the only thing that can kill them means they're spiked."

"Do I think Onon is actually spiked and not just putting his foot in his mouth? Well that's a more complex question. But I'd at least like to get clear about what I'm saying here."

"If you're serious about saying any closing thoughts before potentially getting executed today, you should have already started saying them. Because you aren't going to get a chance to start on your last will and testament if the vote flips on you in the last twenty minutes."

"I've already said them.  It's not that difficult to find. I understand of course that you don't feel comfortable admitting to them because as far as you know, I was merely sitting on a bench with my eyes closed, but if you are in fact the resourceful man I know you are, you have your ways of uncovering them."

[Aeoryi]

36 minutes ago, Ookla the Resolute said:

VOTING TALLY

Sono (1): Dasenk

Onon (1): Sirta

Pending (3): Onon, Rem, Sono

Revir (1): Pending

Not voting (3): Revir, Jorrick, Rilla

 

4 minutes ago, DrakeMarshall said:

if the vote flips on you in the last twenty minutes."

"Bold of you to assume that, as it appears it would require Jorrick and Revir and Rilla to appear, and as you can see," Sono gestured to the setting sun, "Time is running out."

[Archer]

Rem let out a few choice curse words. He'd done this in the dream too, thinking the end of the Day was later than it was. 

"The Day is nearly over? Someone should have told me."

Pending Sono

[Aeoryi]

2 minutes ago, Ookla the Resolute said:

VOTING TALLY

Sono (2): Dasenk, Rem

Onon (1): Sirta

Pending (2): Onon, Sono

Revir (1): Pending

Not voting (3): Revir, Jorrick, Rilla

 

1 minute ago, Ookla the Paradigm said:

Rem let out a few choice curse words. He'd done this in the dream too, thinking the end of the Day was later than it was. 

"The Day is nearly over? Someone should have told me."

Pending Sono

Sono updated the tally yet again.

[Kasimir]

"Under extreme protest," Onon finally growled, glaring at all present. "And under the understanding we cannot afford to lose time to these killers."

Part of him didn't want to allow a tie. Part of him didn't want to be reasonable either. Not when he considered Pending's response fairly inadequate. 

Ah, soddit. He wasn't going to be reasonable. Not today. Onon had had it with needing to be reasonable and compromise. 

Today, someone else could worry about ties. He was done. 

"Nevermind," Onon muttered.

[Archer]

"I'm not moving. Revir and Pending have the opportunity to dictate how this goes, and I think they've both declined to."

Rem was a little sad about that

[Araris Valerian]

The turn has ended! No posting, PMing, or doc writing until the night turn goes up.

[Araris Valerian]

Stranger though he was, "Lord" Pending had done an excellent job mingling with the folk of Copper's Bend, seeking out their opinions and apparently making an effort to root out the Spiked. Arwhin had to admit to himself that his initial impression of the man was wrong. Pending was not just a silly fop, but had some idea of how to lead. Pending's first accusation had been made toward Sonoluminescence, which he'd surprisingly been able to pronounce on his first try, and the rest of the villagers considered his opinion for much of the day.

Still, the rest of the folk were set enough in their ways to have sided with Arwhin in regards to the leadership of the town. Of course, they didn't come out and say it, per se, but Arwhin figured that making fun of Pending's name was basically the same thing. The psychic, Onon Khentii, led this coalition of dissenters, likely motivated in part by Pending's dismissal of his abilities. Revir briefly followed his lead, and for a while Arwrhin was hopeful that Pending would be dealt with, not bothering with the fact that the two folks opposing Pending were perhaps the sketchiest of all of the Bend's residents.

When the day's end drew near, the vote was tied, with Onon joined by a defensive Sono supporting the death of Pending against the unlikely pair of Dasenk and the gambler Rem, each pushing to kill Sono. Seeing his chance, Arwhin stepped upon the platform supporting the gallows and called to everyone present.

"The vote is tied, but we cannot afford to give the Spiked any more time. Grab Pending! He's the stranger, surely he is more deserving to die than Sonoluminescence, who designed... uh..." Arwhin scratched his head, unable to think of any architectural work that Sono had actually done.

"Never mind that. The point is, Pending butted in here and is clearly a Spiked trying to disrupt our chances of catching them. Arrest him!"

Silence fell over the square, but nobody moved toward Pending. After a short while, Pending face spread into a smile, and he addressed Arwhin directly.

"You forget, 'mayor', who came up with this plan. The rules state that nobody will hang if the vote is tied."

Turning to speak to everyone, he continued in a louder voice.

"And if we can't trust the voice of the folk of Copper's Bend, well, what can we trust? I suggest you all retreat to the safety of your homes for the night."

His words were met with a scattered applause followed by the mass desertion of the square, leaving just Pending and Arwhin facing each other. Pending tipped an imaginary hat to Arwhin as he turned to leave.

"Nice try old man, but you'll have to try harder than that to get rid of me."

Nobody was executed! (for real this time)

Night 1 has begun, and will end at 6PM EST on Monday the 27th!

Vote Tally
Sonoluminescence (2): Dasenk, Rem
Pending (2): Onon, Sonoluminescence
Onon (1): Sirta
Revir (1): Pending

Player List:

Spoiler

1. @Ravenclawjedi42 as Dasenk, a suspicious historian
2. @Sart as Sirta, a boisterous gentleman with a hankering for drink
3. @Aeoryi as Sonoluminescence, an architect that enjoys not working
4. @Kasimir as Onon Khentii, conman and ostensible psychic who speaks with the dead
5. @DrakeMarshall as "Lord" Pending, a presumptuous nobleman of somewhat dubious origin
6. @Archer as Rem, a high-stakes gambler
7. @JNV as Jorrick, a methodical carpenter
8. @TheRavenHasLanded as Revir, a compulsive thief
9. @Quirksliver as Rilla, an insane "matchmaker"

 

[Aeoryi]

"Wow. An entire 48 hours of just scrambling, and what did we gain from it?"

[DrakeMarshall]

"I don't believe in dying," Lord Pending sniffed. "Bad for the skin."

Did they forget that a tie doesn't kill anyone? Pending mused. Not that I'm complaining.

Any suggestion that Lord Pending himself had forgotten this fact was obviously preposterous.

[DrakeMarshall]

Lord Pending started making a list of different residents of Copper's Bend. He wrote different names in different colors. What the colors meant nobody knows. Maybe he just didn't have enough ink in any one color so he had to use several different colors to finish his list.

Quote

Dasenk
Sirta
Sonoluminescence
Onon Khentii
Rem
Jorrick
Revir
Rilla

 

[Kasimir]

Onon shrugged. "I told you all so," he said, simply. Though he really just meant Rem. "As far as I’m concerned, Pending's day looked pretty Spiked to me and I'm done with making compromises. There are three who did not accuse, and at least two others excepted, including Pending, who would not compromise either."

He spat on the dirt in contempt and went on to prepare for the rituals to summon Kash's spirit. 

[Aeoryi]

29 minutes ago, Kasimir said:

Onon shrugged. "I told you all so," he said, simply. Though he really just meant Rem. "As far as I’m concerned, Pending's day looked pretty Spiked to me and I'm done with making compromises. There are three who did not accuse, and at least two others excepted, including Pending, who would not compromise either."

He spat on the dirt in contempt and went on to prepare for the rituals to summon Kash's spirit. 

"Hey, don't look at me. I am the only person who could not break the tie there."