MR74 - Aftermath: Puzzle

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

Evinir was exhausted when he visited Ekkar's body. Edgli... Edgli had proved useless. Hoid had told him to speak of them with greater respect, but it was true. Yet the visit hadn't been a complete failure. The Spike in Evinir's case proved that. Yet right now, his thoughts didn't linger on hemallurgy. They were focused on the corpse of the man lying before him.

After his murder, Ekkar was given a priest's service - his body presented to viewers for a full week before burial. Today was the last day. Evinir was the only visiter. The priest at the doors of the chamber had been quiet, remorseful. Evinir had expected a short visit; originally, he hadn't even planned to make this visit - but something inside of him demanded it of him. So he had come.

Now, he knelt before the open coffin, unsure of what to do. But feeling an emptiness inside. An emptiness he hadn't felt in a long time... so long. The emptiness of loss. Ekkar had trusted him, and that had gotten him killed. A part of his conscience told him that was Ekkar's own mistake, and yet the guilt still loomed over Evinir. He felt a wetness begin to well in his eye, and blinked it away. He could not crack. Never again. Looking for anything to distract himself, Evinir looked over Ekkar's clothing. And noticed something. Ekkar still wore the same clothes he had had on when he died. They had been washed, but not thoroughly examined. And so certain things could slip through. Like a secret pocket, carefully sewn into the flaps of the priests' robes, the perfect size to conceal a slip of paper.

Slowly, carefully, Evinir pulled the note out. It was crumpled from constant manipulation, the ink blurring. But Evinir could read it.

Lifeless Chamber 4

17:00

The note Evinir had slipped into Ekkar's reassignment, directing him to meet. A meeting that had accomplished nothing. Like so many other things. In that instant, Evinir couldn't hold it back. It all returned. The memories. The pain. The constant fear, the doubting, the meaninglessness. The blood. It all crashed down upon him with the weight of ten years.

And for the first time in so, so long, Evinir Cragborn wept.

[Doc12]

Things really turned around in cycle 5. I guess if KSOS had been around end of cycle the game would have ended very differently. Same with if they had remembered to kill me that cycle  

Again, thanks @Amanuensis for helping me kill CD and also proving me innocent! Thanks @Aeternum for filling in and doing a fantastic job in the last couple of cycles because we might very well have exed BBB without your contributions! Great job @IcedOutPenguin for figuring it out early and sticking with us, even if you could have (as Joe pointed out) showed your work a little more! @Hoid Slayer, you fumbled the ball the end, but your analysis was stellar in the first couple cycles! 

Nice job to the elim team @CoderDrag0n8, @ThatOneWorldhopper, and @KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren - You all got various amounts of suspicion through the game, but managed to deflect most of it. Control of the game was on a knife's edge at cycle 4, and we only won by a hair. You guys got real close, nice job! (And thanks for not killing me )

@Araris Valerian, a little sad I wasn't able to discuss the game with you more due to my absence, hope to be village again with you soon. Thanks for bringing Truthwatcher up so Aman could clear me. @xxGaea, sorry you died so quick, you seem fun! 

And Joe, I had fun, even if I couldn't PM anyone and was mostly in docs where no one talked  I loved your writeups and how you depicted Evi (Please don't kill her) - my favorite part of this one was how you used Puzzle! The God's Breaths were a cool concept! The seniority part felt a little frustrating in the sense that when you're low in seniority you feel pretty disadvantaged, but it was an interesting twist. I had fun, thanks for running it  

[Araris Valerian he/him]

I had a lot of fun this game! The elims played things pretty well, and even after all voting together still made a good attempt at winning. I had fun blabbing in the C3 doc as I  tried to solve, though most of what I wrote there was kinda worthless compared to what came out when Doc and Aman started posting more.

And yeah, it was sad that my village attempts to collaborate with folks got cut short, but such is SE. Maybe next time I'll give a closer look to the VC before I get myself executed .

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

So, with Windrunner and Lightweaver being the surviving returned, as much as I want Evi to survive, I don't think she can. Edgedancer was the one I was looking for. You know, the one associated with regrowth and healing? Like, Evi fully got stabbed and killed in the writeup. Only Edgedancer could have saved her. 

I'm tempted to retcon it and let Windrunner save Evi, but that wouldn't be fair to the Elims, who did in fact put in the kill this time. So, sadly, Evi has died.

[Doc12]

Evi lives in my heart.  You can't take that away from me.

Edited September 22, 2025 by Doc12

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

A+ Response.