Long Game 106: On the Shores of The Black Lake

[Kasimir he/him]

7 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

“Well,” Var said, “since I am seemingly going to be executed before the day is out, I guess I must lay out my final suspicions. With all these new faces, it has been somewhat difficult to keep track of what has been going on. But I think it is highly likely that at least one of my voters is a killer. I’m leaning most towards John, despite the recent retraction of his vote. I also suspect Fox and Kéamen. If taking out those three does not weed out all the killers, then look at Mil and Teal next. For now, I’ve got a job to do. Cleaning up all of the crem you lot have left me.”

Rust it, Keldorn thought.

He wasn't sure it made enough of a difference that a pivot was possible, but he'd liked the resignation in Var's tone. He'd also struggled to make sense of Var's late switch, and had argued in privately to and fro with Fox. The way Keldorn saw it, if Astrid was Spiked, then Var switching from Lijal to Astrid at Keldorn's behest to avoid a tie was a little odd. You could argue that Var was the sort of risk-loving bastard who would willingly switch to throw an inactive teammate under the wagon to make himself look better. Keldorn'd seen it done before. But it wouldn't be his first line of thought. A tie with no death was just better for the Spiked on balance than losing a teammate, despite the Village credit gained.

You could make sense of Var's switch in a world where Astrid and Lijal were both Villagers, if you said Var was Spiked and therefore didn't give a toss about which of them died. It was slightly risky, but Var seemed to love risk. At the same time, Keldorn just didn't see why Var would switch from Lijal to Astrid and then back to Lijal after Madiane's vote as a Spiked. It felt like a lot of unnecessary extra steps, and at least seemed to suggest Var sincerely preferred Lijal dead.

"Anyone feeling a switch to Kéamen?" Keldorn asked aloud, since Var'd mentioned it. Wasn't sure he'd get it though, at these numbers. It was neck and neck, wasn't it?

Ah, well.

...He hadn't liked Derrick's side-train vote, anyway.

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

Jox thought about it. "Are you sure Kéamen is more likely to be spiked then Derrick or Var?"

[StrikerEZ he/him]

2 minutes ago, Kasimir said:

Rust it, Keldorn thought.

He wasn't sure it made enough of a difference that a pivot was possible, but he'd liked the resignation in Var's tone. He'd also struggled to make sense of Var's late switch, and had argued in privately to and fro with Fox. The way Keldorn saw it, if Astrid was Spiked, then Var switching from Lijal to Astrid at Keldorn's behest to avoid a tie was a little odd. You could argue that Var was the sort of risk-loving bastard who would willingly switch to throw an inactive teammate under the wagon to make himself look better. Keldorn'd seen it done before. But it wouldn't be his first line of thought. A tie with no death was just better for the Spiked on balance than losing a teammate, despite the Village credit gained.

You could make sense of Var's switch in a world where Astrid and Lijal were both Villagers, if you said Var was Spiked and therefore didn't give a toss about which of them died. It was slightly risky, but Var seemed to love risk. At the same time, Keldorn just didn't see why Var would switch from Lijal to Astrid and then back to Lijal after Madiane's vote as a Spiked. It felt like a lot of unnecessary extra steps, and at least seemed to suggest Var sincerely preferred Lijal dead.

"Anyone feeling a switch to Kéamen?" Keldorn asked aloud, since Var'd mentioned it. Wasn't sure he'd get it though, at these numbers. It was neck and neck, wasn't it?

Ah, well.

...He hadn't liked Derrick's side-train vote, anyway.

“And with that, we have a tie,” Var said. “I’m okay with that if it means I survive, but I’d prefer someone to die. Even if that does mean I have to die. @A Jo in the Bush Jox, are you willing to cast your vote for Derrick? Or at least remove your vote from myself? Either one will ensure we do not have a tie.”

[Kasimir he/him]

1 minute ago, A Jo in the Bush said:

Jox thought about it. "Are you sure Kéamen is more likely to be spiked then Derrick or Var?"

"To be honest," Keldorn admitted, "I trust myself with analysing accusations and accusation dynamics more than I do analysing what people say. On those grounds alone, I'd probably go for Derrick over Kéamen."

@StrikerEZ @A Jo in the Bush @Biplet

Since they were apparently the last few people remaining in the market square. "As far as I can tell, there is no tie." Jox'd voted Derrick as well. He hoped Aral could provide them with a tally, but supposed Aral would roll his eyes and tell him to help himself, especially since he did the figures for the Canton of Finance.

@Araris Valerian

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

2 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

“And with that, we have a tie,” Var said. “I’m okay with that if it means I survive, but I’d prefer someone to die. Even if that does mean I have to die. @A Jo in the Bush Jox, are you willing to cast your vote for Derrick? Or at least remove your vote from myself? Either one will ensure we do not have a tie.”

Jox stared at him.

 

4 minutes ago, A Jo in the Bush said:

Jox thought about it. "Are you sure Kéamen is more likely to be spiked then Derrick or Var?"

 

[Kasimir he/him]

Edited to add:

Keldorn scribed down the tallies in chalk on the cheesemonger's board, figuring he'd just apologise later.

Quote

Var (3): Mil, Teal, Kéamen
John Derrick(5): Joshua, Var, Fox, Keldorn, Jox

Although this seemed correct, Keldorn felt trepidation...Tower over him  

He also felt that Jox and Var were probably not teamed as Spiked. They'd seemed to be at cross-purposes in a genuine way.

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

Jox yawned. "I'm off to bed. Tell me later if Derrick was evil or not." He hoped he was, otherwise he'd really regret making this impulse change.

[StrikerEZ he/him]

17 minutes ago, A Jo in the Bush said:

Jox stared at him.

 

 

“Sorry, Jox,” Var said. “I didn’t hear you because of the madness. [read: I saw your post after I sent mine]”

[Kasimir he/him]

21 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

“I’m suspicious of Kéamen,” Var said. “If got a third person to vote with us, such as @Biplet, we could swing the vote into Kéamen. I’d prefer John, but I also prefer anyone else dying over myself, so I’ll take what I can get.”

"Can you talk to me about your suspicions of Kéamen?" Keldorn wanted to know.

Though events had nearly made him forget, he wanted to spell out his thoughts on Madiane a little more:

12 hours ago, StrikerEZ said:

“Well,” Var said, “she seems well enough. She has been more focused on cleaning latrines and her new duty as mayor instead of helping solve the murders. One would think, based on her disposition, that she would be more involved if she was a murderer. Those types always like to gloat or toe the line. For that reason, I’m leaning towards Madiane being innocent.”

Pathwalking the routes:

1. If Lijal and Astrid were a Villager and a Spiked respectively, it was odd for Madiane as a Spiked to come out of nowhere and accuse Lijal here. Var's switch to Astrid meant that accusing Lijal at best brought the difference between Lijal and Astrid to a single vote, so Madiane wasn't saving Astrid by doing so. He supposed you could argue Madiane hadn't expected Var to switch, but there was two minutes between their reactions. Keldorn felt that was enough time for Madiane to have noticed the switch, although he conceded you could not be sure. In that world, she was better off voting elsewhere, rather than stacking onto Lijal again and being noted to be the last accuser.

2. If Lijal and Astrid were both Villagers, Madiane's vote still felt odd. It attracted a lot of suspicion, and Madiane was arguably indifferent to whichever of them died if she were Spiked. In that world, he'd expect Madiane to decline to vote, or to vote elsewhere, which would have probably attracted some attention, but not as much as voting to kill Lijal did.

The considerations made Keldorn lean a bit towards the conclusion that he felt Madiane seemed innocent.

[Araris Valerian he/him]

The Day has ended!

[Araris Valerian he/him]

Night 2: We aren't THAT Bloodthirsty

It wasn't really a surprise, how normal Blackkeep looked. Or at least how it looked on the surface. Lots of work went into keeping a fortified town running, and it didn't just start doing itself because refugees, traitors, and an army showed up. There was bread to be baked, maps to be made, and latrines to be dug. And of course since everyone was also trying to find the Spiked murderers, there were a lot of messages to be delivered.

Of particular note was a correspondence involving the cartographer, John Derrick. Apparently, he'd been convinced the other day that if no traitors could be pinned down, the citizens of Blackkeep would just have a bloodbath of all involved. Keldorn and Var had been quick to set the matter straight, but Aral could tell that doubts about Derrick were growing. Derrick was a regular visitor of Blackkeep, and on good terms with many of the townsfolk. In fact, the old council members had commissioned a map of the fort from him, which probably was still around in the town hall. It was quite odd that he'd make a misunderstanding like that.

As the day went on, the feelings of suspicion toward Derrick continued to fester, and when work was finished, Aral noticed a crowd gathering outside Derrick's place. With a mix of dread and anticipation, Aral maneuvered himself in front of everyone, and took a look through an open window. Inside was a pile of bones. A man's bones, laid in a rather neat pile, and stripped entirely of flesh. Ah. That explains the misunderstandings. And I guess we know he wasn't Spiked. Wasn't even human. Aral extricated himself from the crowd, thinking over something earlier in the day that nagged at the back of his mind. That's right. The guards from the east gate reported that one of the fishermen didn't come back. Chances are, Derrick, or whoever he was, figured he'd run out his welcome. Frustrated at the lack of visible progress toward finding the Spiked, he headed back to the north end of Blackkeep. The day's final message was for the mayor, and it provided a decent excuse to see how repairs on the wall were going.

Aral put a hand to his forehead in exasperation, looking over the still ruined wall. He should have realized that Madiane's memory would play into her capabilities as temporary mayor of Blackkeep. Apparently, on the way to oversee repairs to the wall she'd gotten sidetracked, and instead had spent the day working on latrines again with Var. While sanitation was important, one would think in the face of imminent attack the city wall having a massive weakness would take priority. And of course, since everyone knew that Madiane had the wall under control, they'd gone about their business as regular, so in fact it was in just as bad a state as right after the quake. Working with Keldorn had apparently caused him to lean too hard on the competence of others. Of course, there was another reason working with Keldorn was a problem. Distancing himself from the Ministry had taken a fair bit of work, and though the man wasn't an Obligator, word was out about the kinds of jobs he'd been involved in.

---

John Derrick/AraRaash @Ashbringer was a Village Vanilla!

Night 2 has begun, and will end at 10 PM Pacific Time on Friday, June 13th.

PMs are Open!

Vote Count:
John Derrick/AraRaash (5): Jox, Josha, Keldorn, Fox, Var
Var (2): Mil, Teal
Lipitor (1): Kéamen

Player List:

Spoiler

1. Jox - young, thoughtful, flour-covered Baker's Apprentice @A Jo in the Bush
2. Copper Stopper/Tin Al - copper stopping Copper Stopper/stone-cold killer Mob Boss Village Smoker
3. Mil Veriel - resourceful Wandering Scavenger @KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren
4. Josha - well-meaning, wimpy Wizard @TwinStorm
5. Lijal - distrustful and shy Urchin Village Vanilla
6. Lipitor - pompous, bratty Folk Hero @KelsierApologist
7. Teal - awesome 10-Year Old @BigBadBagsworth
8. Astrid Lefflame - no-nonsense Watchman @Lord Spirit
9. Kéamen Wither - a secret-seeking Skaa Spy @Hoid Slayer
10. John Derrick/AraRaash - Scout and Cartographer/Worldhopping Kandra Village Vanilla
11. Keldorn - cynical, lamed Soldier and Investigator @Kasimir
12. Fox - silent Wanderer @|TJ|
13. Antari Erlington - mysterious Mystery @ThatOneWorldhopper
14. Var - confused but diligent Latrine Cleaner @StrikerEZ
15. Madiane - unstable, forgetful Latrine Cleaner @Biplet

Edited June 13, 2025 by Araris Valerian

[StrikerEZ he/him]

Var was perturbed. He had been certain Derrick was Spiked. Well, in a sense, he was. Just not the kind Var had assumed. That made things quite concerning. Who were the Spiked, if Derrick had not been one? Clearly the Spiked felt little danger thus far. They had been willing to let the village duke it out over himself and Derrick. That meant the Spiked were almost certainly not among those who had been voted on thus far. Var would have to revise his opinion of Kéamen. Astrid would soon be taken care of, if she didn’t show up. Lipitor had made an appearance, but there was little Var could make sense of from the man.

That left Var with the following suspects: Jox, Mil, Josha, Teal, Keldorn, Fox, Antari, and Madiane. Var was certain at least one of the voters on himself had to be Spiked. Obviously not Derrick, who had clearly just been voting in self-preservation, so whom? Neither of Mil or Teal had done much of substance, but Mil had done a little bit more. Var suspected most of the Spiked were likely laying low, so Teal would be his choice in that pool. 

“If a friendly Coinshot is out there,” Var said to no one in particular, “I think Teal would be a great choice for a murder victim.”

He would have to think more about the voters on himself (one of them was likely a Spiked) and the non-voters (one of which was also likely a Spiked), but for now he needed rest.

[Kasimir he/him]

Keldorn jotted down the list of votes Aral had logged, copying it onto a fresh sheet of paper. Then, he inked in what was known, in bright green ink.

Quote

Lijal (4): Var, Madiane, Fox, Mil
Astrid (3): Keldorn, Kéamen, Jox
Jox (1): Copper Stopper
Fox (1): Lijal
Antari (1): John Derrick
Not Voting (X): Antari, Astrid, Lipitor, Teal, Josha

Then, he began to think.

They had immediately discovered that all those who were voting on side-trains on the first day had been Villagers of Blackkeep. This led to two sets of suspect pools for the Spiked: among those who had participated in the voting on Lijal and Astrid, and among those who hadn't voted.

To make sure everyone was on the same page, Keldorn figured it was uncontroversial there were probably three to four Spiked within Blackkeep. Given the numbers within Blackkeep, the larger group required a more significant distribution of Allomantic abilities within Blackkeep. The smaller meant that Blackkeep was mostly full of regular people.

In theory, Keldorn thought, the Spiked should actually be distributed across both groups. But he was willing to bet one group held a heavier concentration of Spiked than the other due to a raw numbers game. In the world Astrid was Spiked, it was quite likely that there was a high concentration of Spiked voting for Lijal. At present, Keldorn kind of thought that would point to Spiked in <Fox, Mil>, since he still was willing to think Madiane and Var were probably innocent for the moment.

In the world Astrid was not Spiked, he expected a higher concentration of Spiked in those not voting. Since this hypothesis already presumed Astrid's innocence, Keldorn figured this pointed to Spiked within <Antari, Lipitor, Teal, Josha.> He supposed the other alternative in the world Astrid was not Spiked was for Spiked in <Fox, Mil, Kéamen, Jox>, with the Spiked probably feeling no particular or necessary adherence to either train. 

On the second day, this had been the pattern. Keldorn drew up a fresh sheet of paper, and copied a fresh set of votes, the nib of his pen rasping lightly on the paper with feedback.

Keldorn frowned. Surely not? It looked like Aral's sheet had mistakes logged on it. For one, it had missed on Kéamen's switch to Var, though since Kéamen had voted by missive, perhaps Aral had simply chosen to disregard it as rule-breaking. For another, Derrick had removed his vote and had not returned. 

Keldorn went over the accusations, referencing the last scribed tally, and hoped for the best.

Quote

John Derrick/AraRaash (5): Jox, Josha, Keldorn, Fox, Var
Var (3): Mil, Teal, Kéamen
Not Voting (X): Antari, Astrid, Lipitor, Madiane

Keldorn thought about it. He felt as though his earlier reasoning for Var still pointed him towards Var's innocence. Of these votes, he had several questions and thoughts:

• Why had Kéamen shifted from Lipitor to Var? It was true that Lipitor was unlikely to be executed; however, it was also a change of heart for Kéamen, who had been vocally against execution, and then who had been triumphalist about a Villager being executed on the first day. (Keldorn wondered if that reflected informational leak.)
• In truth, if forced to reflect about where he stood on Fox, Keldorn could only point to something known as a Wiw read, which boiled down to something like "I'm wary of you but I'm also relying on exchanging takes with you a lot, which means I probably trust you on some deep level I should pay more attention to." He still didn't like Fox's opening, and wanted to hear from others who'd expressed suspicion of Fox [ @StrikerEZ, @A Jo in the Bush ] to see if he was just letting Tower feelings take over again.
• The stability of Josha's, Fox's, Mil's, and Teal's votes all pointed to general satisfaction with the state of affairs. Kéamen was aware most of them had not been in the market square by sunset, and indeed, duties prevented some of them from being there (Fox was usually engaged at sunset due to some strange temporal phenomenon) but at the same time, he felt that if an execution was Villager against Villager, the Spiked were more likely to have fairly stagnant votes as they tended not to simulate solving beyond what was necessary, or what the Village let them get away with.

If he entertained a world where Var was Spiked, then the way Keldorn saw it, Var'd fooled him twice which really wasn't helping Keldorn's personal crisis of confidence, but such was life. In that world, he'd expect at least one other Spiked among the Derrick voters, which led Keldorn to lean towards a Spiked being within <Josha, Fox.> He kind of felt Var and Jox were unlikely to be Spiked together considering how much they'd stumbled over each other's feet on that first day.

Kéamen, Mil, and Teal looked relatively good in that world, with Keldorn figuring that the last one to two would be in <Antari, Astrid, Lipitor, Madiane.> (Given Madiane and Var also being at cross-purposes on the first sunset, Keldorn felt it was unlikely that Madiane and Var were Spiked together, so his lead pool would be in <Antari, Astrid, Lipitor.> At least on the first level, a Var-Astrid teaming also seemed less likely, so that really left <Antari, Lipitor.> 

The way Keldorn saw it, this meant that on the level of accusations alone, he distrusted how often Fox, Mil, and Teal recurred in multiple worlds. The robustness of that set probably meant that Keldorn would start looking for Spiked there.

[|TJ| he/him]

6 hours ago, Kasimir said:

duties prevented some of them from being there (Fox was usually engaged at sunset due to some strange temporal phenomenon)

Strange, their days seemed to end when mine began. 

I will say this though, if I was awake when Derrick said this, I'd have changed my mind. Probably 

Quote

"Ah," Derrick said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. "I, uh... may have misunderstood Var's situation?"

I also had the wrong knowledge of laws initially, which I realised when I was conversing with Keldorn. I could understand Derrick's state of mind and line of reasoning. Alas...

I feel like it's such a village mistake to make, because don't you expect the Spiked to know when something killed or did not kill people as their whole thing is to kill people? 

That.... leads to another line of thinking. 

Perhaps the last minute chaos of day 1 was not Spike-motivated to protect Astrid. Perhaps it was Spike-motivated to ensure there was no tie. But how to differentiate between village and Spike motivation here? Both wanted someone dead on day 1. Ack. Maybe, it would depend on the identity of at least one of the Spiked to see how a team including them would be expected to behave. 

I would be suspecting anyone who voted on Derrick after he admitted his mistake but that would be... Keldorn and Jox. Sigh. Perhaps I can understand preferring Derrick to die over Var. I remember Keldorn was initially on Keamen, and Var was willing to eliminate Keamen as well. Jox was the most hesitant of the three. Something to note and ponder over. 

"Hmmmmm."

Edited June 13, 2025 by |TJ|

[Araris Valerian he/him]

7 hours ago, Kasimir said:

Keldorn frowned. Surely not? It looked like Aral's sheet had mistakes logged on it. For one, it had missed on Kéamen's switch to Var, though since Kéamen had voted by missive, perhaps Aral had simply chosen to disregard it as rule-breaking. For another, Derrick had removed his vote and had not returned. 

Noted Derrick's retraction. Just so that everyone is on the same page: Votes/retractions in either spoilers or quote boxes will not count. The rules specifically allow posts that include a vote/retraction with no contextual RP, and doing otherwise makes doing a VC extremely tedious.

[Araris Valerian he/him]

Also, I'm probably not going to be able to make rollover work tonight, so Day 3 is going to start sometime tomorrow (maybe noon Pacific time or thereabouts) and run for a bit longer than the normal 48 hours to realign with the original rollover time. The night will end at the normal time, so just refrain from using PMs/docs until I get the day up.

Edited June 14, 2025 by Araris Valerian

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

Kéamen had been too busy, and too tired, to give a response during the day. Now, finally, as night consumed Blackkeep, he was finally able to make his statement. Kéamen stressed, worried he had failed to do enough this day. Other events had consumed much of his time, and so he had not been following the mystery completely. Indeed, he couldn't help but feel he was missing important events.

20 hours ago, StrikerEZ said:

Var had made a promise to give his thoughts. But had gotten very carried away with his latrine duty. He may hate it, but he was committed to working as much as he could. He needed to make money. He just…got a little carried away the first half of that day.

@Ashbringer When Derrick questioned him on his choice of either letting everyone live that first day or executing someone, Var paused and pondered. Why had he done that?

”Well, my fine sir,” Var said, “I did it because someone had to die. I did not feel particularly strongly about either Lijal or Astrid, and figured if given the choice Lijal made more sense as Astrid had yet to show up. We could have executed Astrid, but I imagine Aral will have some words for her if she doesn’t show herself soon. Better to execute someone we had at least some interactions from. Even if Lijal turned out to be innocent.”

”Anyway, for now I shall place a vote on Derrick. I feel as if our options thus far have all been off base. And that Derrick pushing me for something as simple as ensuring we didn’t have a no execution day is reaching. As if he’s hoping to push an easy execution.”

Kéamen found this response from Var slightly aggressive. In Kéamen's interpretation, Derrick hadn't pushed Var for making that specific choice; he had just been curious in Var's process to make it -  a process Var hadn't really elaborated upon, even now.

15 hours ago, Kasimir said:

"Someone stabbing you, or shooting you full of holes tends to be loud," Keldorn said, dryly. "Everyone would hear of it, whether Thug or Lurcher. The only worlds we don't are one where there isn't an active Coinshot, or they have the same attitude about death as you do, or a Soother got to them first." He counted the possibilities off on a finger each.

Kéamen was thankful for the clarification from Keldorn, yet at the same time silently ashamed that he hadn't figured that out himself. He really was an amateur.

15 hours ago, Kasimir said:

"Did your interactions with Lipitor or Antari help inform reads on them?" Keldorn wanted to know. He felt as though Kéamen was implying something that Keldorn could not quite make out.

Kéamen wasn't implying anything, at least not purposefully. He was genuinely seeking help in deciphering Antari's message. All Antari had said was that he was held captive and needed to be freed.

Lipitor behaved much in the way he had in public so far - drunk, and disinterested in the case. Feigning ignorance could be a sign of suspiciousness from him.

15 hours ago, Kasimir said:

Although Keldorn continued to believe Astrid was probably Spiked, he acknowledged that since no Coinshot had chosen to resolve the situation, they were left sitting around until someone, probably a kandra, ate and replaced Astrid, at which point he supposed they would then hope that the kandra was easier to read than Astrid had been, since that passiveness was the prevailing attitude at present. (Copper was probably screaming at him from death, he thought.)

It was not the first time Keldorn had made note of Kéamen's takes being a little strange.

Kéamen was still confused about the attacks against Astrid. From what he understood, the others attacked Astrid because she observed events go by without interfering. But Kéamen could think of many situations were one might be too busy or unavailable to respond. He was genuinely confused here. Was there something else he was missing?

15 hours ago, Kasimir said:

Keldorn wondered in what universe voting on Fox, having Jox come in and also vote Fox, being against accusing Lijal, who was Fox's preferred target of choice, having expressed wariness of Fox, and then Fox following his lead onto Madiane counted as constant support.

Kéamen had to admit that he might have rushed to form connections in the morning, his brain stressed, and hadn't analyzed the entire situation as best as he could have. Indeed, Fox's backup against Madiane could just have been a test to see her reaction.

11 hours ago, TwinStorm said:

Josha winced, sighing. He had gone to bed early last night, and had not risen till noon. Now he stood in the courtyard, observing his surroundings, after having cast an observation spell this morning. 

Keldorn seemed very analytical and practical, something not often found in murderers. He just wanted to solve the mystery, at least that was how it appeared to Josha. He suspected he might be villager, for right now, at least.

Both Teal and Mil did not seem interested in the murders, at least not to the point of making accusations, which was troubling to Josha, who could not tell if that was the sign of a Spiked, or merely uninterested villagers.

Lipitor seemed to be the type of person who wasn't paying attention, and that was a shame. 

 Derrick trying to deflect votes onto Antari seemed suspicious, as well as taking Copper's accusations and removing several people from the list for no apparent reason, settling on Var with little explanation (that was noticeable to Josha, of course). Time was running out, and they needed to choose. 

@Ashbringer Josha, though, would love to hear Derrick's thoughts, and defend his choice.

 

Josha's stance here was interesting; he came in, accused Teal, Mil, and Lipitor of inactivity (when Josha was equally suspect), and then joined a train against Derrick started by Var - possibly an easy exe for a Spiked? Perhaps, however, these were Josha's genuine thoughts. Kéamen had learned that not all support was not originally devised.

10 hours ago, Kasimir said:

First, Keldorn'd sat down and made himself think about worlds in which Astrid was in fact a villager, out of worries he was over-tunnelled on Astrid. In those worlds, he felt that he could no longer afford Kéamen credit for voting Astrid to create a tie.

Second, he'd gone over Kéamen's posts again, in light of the former. 

In truth, he felt Kéamen was quick to throw shade on multiple suspects, spreading suspicions shallowly, seeing what took, and then picking generally safe places to cast accusations, such as Lipitor. Kéamen's switch to wanting no executions on the basis of a completely different set of circumstances didn't really feel genuine given his view on pressure, and the fact that the different set of circumstances just didn't apply here. Keldorn was also forced to reconsidering if his call for Seekers was at least fishing for reactions a little to hunt for potential Seekers, because a Seeker should only claim to their target, and in the world they found anything malicious, claiming it outright or via a previous cleared scan was the obvious course.

Although Kéamen had claimed he was exerting pressure to elicit reactions, Keldorn felt he seemed uninterested in actually drawing conclusions from how his targets reacted, nor how the market square dynamics shifted based on his pressure accusations. Keldorn wondered if he'd been too quick to consider Kéamen's behaviour to check out on the basis of his informants' reports.

Kéamen recognized Keldorn's arguments here. They weren't unbased, that was for sure. Kéamen had had that same thought when making his call for Seekers - he didn't have the answer to that problem. Kéamen was genuine in his urge to ellicit reactions from his targets; he often found himself, however, without the time or scope to really go through and analyze everything going on. Such as now, late in the evening, when Kéamen was honestly just going through rote motions before retiring to his rooms.

Indeed, it was with a heavy heart that Kéamen had to admit his activity was only going to decrease in the future. Other things were going on in his life, and while he would do his best to stay active, the other villagers should not expect his presence to take a big role going forward.

Finally, he had supposed he had to make a vote... reviewing the current state of things, the choice seemed to be between Var and Derrick. Lipitor getting executed was pretty much out of the question for this round. Kéamen had learned his lesson from yesterday about the success of trying to get nobody executed, and he did have to admit that the village had to act back sooner or later. So in the end, his vote fell on Var. He didn't quite understand what others had seen suspicious in Derrick, and he remembered finding something odd about Var in the previous day, even if he had no time to review it. He could only hope his choice was right. Sighing, Kéamen began to trudge back to his quarters...

6 minutes ago, ThatOneWorldhopper said:

Beauty!

The ground rumbled, causing the Pain to stumble and fall.

And… was that light that Antari saw? It was! A large piece of stone had fallen out of the ceiling!

Brought alive by the hope that the light represented, Antari kicked the stumbling Pain in the knee.

The ceiling began to break apart more, spilling rubble all over the downed PAIN. Antari hopped (on the Pain's back) and grabbed a knife off of the pain-table. He cut his bonds and climbed out of the weakened room.

He stumbled, almost unconscious from the lingering pain. The town was gathered in the square: "…ri meanwhile, is claiming to have been kidnapped. I hope someone manages to break into the inn and free him so he's willing to talk in the square."

Antari stumbled into the square. He realized how he must have looked, after the torture.

"You got some ash of timing, John." Then, he succumbed to the pain and crumpled, unconscious, to the ground.

... and then this happened. Well. He would leave the others to deal with that.

When Kéamen finally stumbled into his quarters, he found an odd slip of paper lying on his bed. He hadn't left it there, and had done his best to proof the rooms. Cautious, Kéamen walked up and grabbed the slip, raising it to his level and reading the writing on it in the dim light. As he processed the writing, a chill ran down Kéamen's back.

Dear friend,

Your missive reaches me in a time of great stress. As I'm sure you know, my time is almost wholly consumed elsewhere, where I am most needed. However, I find your reports indicative of much larger goings-on in Blackkeep than I had expected. And, as I must lament, frankly, I find your treatment of the situation... disappointing. You can do better, Kéamen. Perhaps it is not your fault. Perhaps I should have prepared you better.

Regardless, I will be abandoning my current duties to pay a visit to Blackkeep, and inspect the situation for myself. Expect me as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Hoid

[Biplet she/her]

She’d forgotten to attend to the wall. Oh hell, she’d forgotten.

She couldn’t keep letting people down like this. She had a job to do. No one else had to die because she wasn’t good enough.

[StrikerEZ he/him]

@Hoid Slayer “Kéamen,” Var said, “I appreciate you putting the effort in and placing a vote for me, but it is night! Everyone is sleeping! We cast votes for executions during the day in this city. We aren’t barbarians.” Var chuckled at that.

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

11 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

@Hoid Slayer “Kéamen,” Var said, “I appreciate you putting the effort in and placing a vote for me, but it is night! Everyone is sleeping! We cast votes for executions during the day in this city. We aren’t barbarians.” Var chuckled at that.

Kéamen sighed.

“I understand. I’ve had my sense of time messed up, and was merely trying to justify my vote from earlier.”

Quote

I wrote the post yesterday, before rollover, but then my computer died…

 

[Araris Valerian he/him]

Day 3: An Awesome Shot

Blackkeep was awesome. Not as awesome as Teal, of course, but there was so much metal here. Teal flared steel and pushed off a weathervane, tendrils of mist furling behind him. The old Ministry building was just barely visible below in the west side of town. There are rumors about some of the Lord Ruler’s atium being stashed there. Not sure why anyone would care though, the stuff tastes nasty. Teal pushed gently on the building’s metal roof – despite being unused, it was still in remarkably good shape – and perched at its peak, knees bent in a crouch. From this high up, the mists obscured most of Blackkeep, and Teal didn’t have access to tin to pierce through them. But Teal didn’t need tin to be awesome. He could make out the outlines of roofs, doors, and windows behind the mists, outlined in blue. Teal was going to show those Spiked, whoever they were, that they weren’t as awesome as him or the town. They were just a bunch of monsters. Teal pulled his lucky coin out and waited for the mists to condense on it, then rubbed the boxing with his shirt until it was shiny. Then he flipped the coin into the air and flared steel, pushing as hard as he could straight up into the misty night, until the line linking him to the coin thinned and vanished altogether. Last time, the coin had taken fifty to come back down, but Teal was sure that he was more awesome now.

Movement from below caught Teal’s eye, and he looked down toward the street. 10 heartbeats. A blue line had appeared, circling around the ministry building. It’s that guard. Astrid. He’s not awesome. He told me not to play on the rooftops. Teal had learned all of Blackkeep’s guards. He couldn’t really tell their faces apart, but they each carried their swords a bit differently, and their helmets gave away how tall each one was. 20 heartbeats. Still, the guards were trying to stop the monsters. Maybe when they saw Teal save Blackkeep, they’d try to start being awesome themselves. 30 heartbeats.

As he mulled over the best way to help the guards be awesome, Teal noticed another blue line appear. It didn’t move steadily like the watchman but instead moved forward rapidly before stopping every now and then. It seemed whoever was carrying that bit of metal was tailing Astrid. 50 heartbeats. Yes! I’m even more awesome! Just then, Teal caught the blue line of his lucky coin begin to thicken from above. Caught between his desire to kill the monsters and his ambitions of becoming more awesome, Teal froze. That indecision stretched out for one moment, then two, as both urges flared intensely in his mind. So much so that Teal failed to realize that his coin was coming down far more quickly than when he’d pushed it up in the past. The boxing struck the back of Teal’s head, and he tumbled from his perch. Dazed, he saw the unknown source of metal move sharply into the space between Astrid’s helmet and sword. The lines, Astrid’s lines, wavered, then fell to the ground. Everything went black.

Come morning, a guard directed Aral toward the old Ministry building, where two bodies lay on the street. Astrid had been stabbed through the heart, and apparently Teal had fallen off a nearby building. Almost more shocking was the lack of a crowd, given the number of people Aral knew to live in the neighborhood. Previously inhabited by the nobility, the nice houses had been all but abandoned for a while, until refugees had come pouring into Blackkeep. Out of curiosity, Aral banged on one of the closed doors. Hmm, no answer. Wonder if this one is just vacant. The door was unlocked, so Aral poked his head inside, and immediately recoiled at the smell of vomit. There were several families inside, all apparently incapacitated to one degree or another. Aral turned to his guard escort, ordering him to fetch a healer. A lengthy search revealed that nearly all the families in the eastern quarter of the city had similar symptoms; severe vomiting and fatigue. That explains the lack of a crowd. Apparently, everyone on the west side drew their water from the same central well.

---

Teal @BigBadBagsworth was a Village Coinshot!
Astrid Lefflame @LordSpirit  was a Village Vanilla!

Day 3 has begun, and will end at 10PM Pacific Time on Monday, June 16th.

PMs are open!

Player List:

Spoiler

1. Jox - young, thoughtful, flour-covered Baker's Apprentice @A Jo in the Bush
2. Copper Stopper/Tin Al - copper stopping Copper Stopper/stone-cold killer Mob Boss Village Smoker
3. Mil Veriel - resourceful Wandering Scavenger @KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren
4. Josha - well-meaning, wimpy Wizard @TwinStorm
5. Lijal - distrustful and shy Urchin Village Vanilla
6. Lipitor - pompous, bratty Folk Hero @KelsierApologist
7. Teal - awesome 10-Year Old Village Coinshot
8. Astrid Lefflame - no-nonsense Watchman Village Vanilla
9. Kéamen Wither - a secret-seeking Skaa Spy @Hoid Slayer
10. John Derrick/AraRaash - Scout and Cartographer/Worldhopping Kandra Village Vanilla
11. Keldorn - cynical, lamed Soldier and Investigator @Kasimir
12. Fox - silent Wanderer @|TJ|
13. Antari Erlington - mysterious Mystery @ThatOneWorldhopper
14. Var - confused but diligent Latrine Cleaner @StrikerEZ
15. Madiane - unstable, forgetful Latrine Cleaner @Biplet

[Through the Living Hopper He/Him]

Antari woke up. The pain was gone! Three men waited by his bedside, who yelped when he sat up. 

Antari felt great. "Hello. Listen. I've been being tortured the last few days. That changed, obviously. Now I don't have time to go looking through the town records at everything that's been said, at least not right now. I need a rundown from each of you. Who's suspicious and why? And quick, too. I need to make up for lost time."

[StrikerEZ he/him]

Var cursed. He had heard the news and came running anyway. He needed to see it for his own sanity. Teal and Astrid, both dead. Astrid by Teal’s hand, and Teal by the hands of the Spiked. Var had been so certain the little boy was secretly Spiked, as had many others, but the Sense told him Teal was clean. Var would have assumed the Spiked would leave Teal alive as a potential scapegoat for the executions. The fact that they took him out instead gave Var a terrible suspicion that one of the Spiked must be a Seeker. Why else would they have killed a prime execution candidate? 

Because they had felt him burning steel that first night.

It all made a sickening amount of sense. The Spiked would be ecstatic to find and take out the village’s likely only coinshot by the end of the second night. Without their coinshot, Var and the others had a terrible task ahead of them. If there were 4 Spiked amongst the 15 suspects Aral originally listed, that left them with 6 villagers this day. If they didn’t execute a Spiked today, the Spiked would kill another villager tonight, and the fourth day would begin with 4 villagers and 4 Spiked. Even if all 4 villagers voted for the same Spiked, the 4 Spiked could all switch their votes at the last moment and cause the execution to tie and reach statement. Then they would be free to kill someone in the night, and this would all be over.

All of that meant they had to execute a Spiked today. And continue to execute a Spiked every day afterwards lest things get too dangerous again.

There was a chance there were only 3 Spiked and they had more time than Var suspected, but he would rather assume the worst and be pleasantly surprised than assume the best and be unpleasantly surprised.

Var ran to the nearest person he saw and asked for a sheet of paper to write on. He sat down in the middle of the market square and began furiously jotting some notes down.

Quote

Day One:

Lijal (4): Var, Madiane, Fox, Mil
Astrid (3): Keldorn, Kéamen, Jox
Jox (1): Copper Stopper
Fox (1): Lijal
Antari (1): John Derrick

Var had been worried about this. It was indeed the case that both Lijal and Astrid had been villagers. The Spiked had simply been content to let the villager squabble with each other. He doubted all of the non-voters were Spiked, but he was certain that one of them would be. That meant one of [Josha, Lipitor, Antari] was likely Spiked. Var saw little reason in trying to figure out which of them were Spiked at this moment since all three of them had said or done little of substance by this point in time. He also suspected that the Spiked likely had one hidden amongst the people who had received votes that first day yet were still alive. So, one of [Fox, Jox, Antari] was likely Spiked. He doubted Antari was the Spiked in that second group, as he doubted the Spiked would have reacted as much as they likely did if a quiet member of theirs had been voted on. If he assumed Fox was Spiked, then that likely meant one of the non-Jox voters on Astrid was Spiked; one of [Keldorn, Kéamen]. If Jox instead was spiked, that likely meant one of the non-Fox voters on Lijal was Spiked; one of [Madiane, Mil]. 

Quote

Day Two:

John Derrick/AraRaash (5): Jox, Josha, Keldorn, Fox, Var
Var (2): Mil, Teal
Lipitor (1): Kéamen

Once again, it is a village/village contest between the two leading trains with a single vote on a third party. I think, once again, the Spiked likely split themselves up. Those who voted for Derrick, those who voted for myself, and one amongst the non-voters [Lipitor, Antari, Madiane]. Assuming I am correct about their being a Spiked voter on myself, that means Mil is Spiked. Based on my analysis of the first day’s votes, Mil is Spiked in a world where Jox is also Spiked. And of the non-voters across the two days, I am picking Lipitor as my prime suspect. They made an appearance just to say nothing, likely to avoid punishment from Aral, and had a villager vote on them the second day, which would motivate the Spiked to vote for villagers just in other votes piled up on Lipitor. 

Var stood up, and went to the town square, where he summarized all his thoughts and notes to the best of his ability. When he was done, he added more of his thoughts:

”I had already suspected Mil a fair amount. I feel my analysis is reasonable, and can see how Jox’s behavior in that first day could have been with the intent of privately searching for allomancers dangerous to the Spiked’s cause. Which leaves me accusing Mil, Jox, and Lipitor as being Spiked. There is a chance there is a fourth wild card that I missed in my analysis, but I put forward the motion that we vote for one of my three suspects. My vote today shall be for Jox, as I feel his alignment would give us the most information.

”Everyone, I implore you to speak your minds. Even those of you whom I have accused. We are in dangerous territory right now, and the more we talk, the more we are likely to find the Spiked. We need all the help we can get.”

[ @A Jo in the Bush @KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren @KelsierApologist @Kasimir @|TJ| @TwinStorm @Biplet @ThatOneWorldhopper @Hoid Slayer ]

[EDIT: @Araris Valerian I for some reason originally put my vote in green lol]

Edited June 14, 2025 by StrikerEZ

[Kasimir he/him]

It was a busy time of the day for Keldorn, though later would be better.

12 hours ago, StrikerEZ said:

Teal and Astrid, both dead. Astrid by Teal’s hand, and Teal by the hands of the Spiked. Var had been so certain the little boy was secretly Spiked, as had many others, but the Sense told him Teal was clean. Var would have assumed the Spiked would leave Teal alive as a potential scapegoat for the executions. The fact that they took him out instead gave Var a terrible suspicion that one of the Spiked must be a Seeker. Why else would they have killed a prime execution candidate? 

16 hours ago, Araris Valerian said:

The boxing struck the back of Teal’s head, and he tumbled from his perch. Dazed, he saw the unknown source of metal move sharply into the space between Astrid’s helmet and sword.

16 hours ago, Araris Valerian said:

Astrid had been stabbed through the heart, and apparently Teal had fallen off a nearby building.

@Araris Valerian

Keldorn frowned. His informants had explained to him that Coinshot deaths were often extremely clear, as they would involve boxings or clips. Here, however, Teal had both been struck by a boxing and had fallen from a building. Yet he didn't think the Spiked were able to muster two kills at once. 

He figured he'd go talk to Aral, see if this could be cleared up.

Edited to add:

While Keldorn would be back later, he figured he would accuse Mil.

Edited June 15, 2025 by Kasimir

[Araris Valerian he/him]

“While it appears that the cause of Teal’s death was the fall, I am quite confident that a Coinshot was involved, though I can’t say whether or not the Coinshot was Spiked.”