MR77: Cycle Four: Why Exe?

[Archer he/him]

MR77 Cycle Four: Why Exe?

Y and X tussled on the ground.  
“I thought you were my follower,” X grunted. Their shirt ripped open, revealing a Ghostblood tattoo over their heart. 
“That's how I knew it was you.” Y slipped his attempted headlock. 
“Diamond told me you'd be trouble. I told 'im you didn't have the spheres to interfere.”
“You gave me the chance to face the truth.” Y hesitated, then plunged his dagger through X’s chest. “I had to take a stab at it.”
 

A shardblade, brought by Wei, given to Qian, and taken by X mere hours ago, appeared beside X's corpse. 
 

“Defilers!” Talik bellowed. “Thrill junkies! Deathmongers and chulldung. Get out of my sanctuary!”

The king grabbed his arm. Talik spun. “What? Oh storms.”
A narrow boat approached Relu-na, rowed by men with white spirals painted on their chests. 

Talik’s subsequent cursing spanned four languages. “Maybe they're not headed this way.”
The solemn king shook his head. He spoke for the first time.
“My dear, they veer. I fear they'll steer to here, our pier, to sear our rears. They'll leer so near. We'll hear their cheers.”

“I count about twenty.“ Captain Pladel lowered her spyglass. “I don't see any weapons on board. What're they here for?”
“Our coast will host their boats. Their dour quotes will roast us toast, to ghosts.” The king sighed. “Let's boast.”

Pladel vaguely recalled that boasts were how the inhabitants of the greatshells fought each other. “Can't you just ignore them?”
Talik started pacing. “To ignore the challenge would bring dishonour to Relu-na. We're already weak in number. To lose the challenge would crush this island's resolve.”

“You've paid to wade here. Stayed to trade. Best laid plans fade when made face raids. Please aid.”
“This isn't your fight,” said Talik with reluctance. “But we would appreciate your assistance.”

On the beach below, the visitors gathered around a glowing fabrial. 
A young boy, maybe six, spoke through it. His voice amplified to ten times the intensity. 
“I was afraid or the dark. But I made the dark my friend.”

A teenager took the fabrial as their companions stomped their feet. “I met a rooster at sea and led it to land. It gave me its finest feather!”

As more challengers spoke, Talik ushered the sailors to a section of Relu-na’s crest that had the impacted shape of an amphitheater. Sound projected especially well from its center. 
“Please. Hold them off while I gather our defenses.”

“I chased the fog and caught it."

“My buttercrem icing felled a man with its flavour. Many know the recipe, but few can execute it."

“I braved the maw of a greatshell to remove a lodged stone. I seized it, flossed Ula-til's molars, and slid to safety down its tongue."

The stomping on the beach stopped as the challengers looked up, awaiting a response to their opening volley. 

Plot hook: Defend Relu-na with your bravest boasts!

Why exe? Because sometimes you get a baddie. Coder was a Ghostblood Officer!

The First Rebuke was issued. The Ghostbloods have been told the identity and inventory of a random Merchant. 

Enmity is now 2.

Player-player PMs are permanently closed. 

Rollover is at 8pm EST Thursday, July 9. 

Votes

Hoid (1): Coder

Coder (8): TUC, Grub, Stardust, Hoid, Mint, TJ, Coco, Hopper

Cargo Hold

Quote

Shardblade
Manifest
Manifest
Lavis Beer
Lavis Beer
Lavis Beer
Bribe
Bribe
Key
Key
Chalk

Players

Spoiler

1. @Hoid Slayer as Y, an inexperienced sailor with a positive attitude and a secret. 

2. @Stardust

3. @The Unknown Character

4. @Wahrheitswächter as Ralm the Thaylen Merchant, and Babsk of Essyn, bearing a mistspren, trinkets, and secrets. Merchant Officer

5. @coco.pudding as Essyn, a Thaylen apprentice looking to prove herself worthy of her family name (which is secret).

6. @Mystic as Fickle Thief

7. @Through the Living Hopper as 1. 

8. @Ascended Grubberfly as Darak the Reshi returning home who secretly helped draft pre-written boasts. 

9. @Mint11 as Shejun

10. @Qianweilian Merchant Officer

11. @CoderDrag0n8 as X, the retired sailor brought along for his experience and his secret weapon. Ghostblood Officer

12. @Illwei Merchant Crew

13. @|TJ|

 

.

Edited 16 hours ago by Archer

[The Unknown Character he/him]

So there's too options here:

The elims didn't put in a kill because of inactivity 

We roleblocked the killer

Anyone have a roleblock to claim?

Edit: I know a lot of you don't trust me because of the exchange with Illwei, but I remind you all that Illwei said they trusted me other than that exchange, and Illwei isn't even here to explain the convo anymore. 

Edited 17 hours ago by The Unknown Character

[Ascended Grubberfly He/Him]

I think it may be inactivity, mostly based on the fact that a lot of active people are dead.

And TUC, as I am not certain on you since my reads are somewhat flimsy, I will not vote you unless I see no other option. Lets get some of the inactive people in here so we can get some reads on them.

Hey Star, you're kinda inactive and haven't said much. @Stardust

Hey @Archer the player list has a discrepancy. The exe says Coder was a Ghostblood Merchant and the list says Ghostblood Officer. Which is true?

[Archer he/him]

7 minutes ago, Ascended Grubberfly said:

 @Archer the player list has a discrepancy. The exe says Coder was a Ghostblood Merchant and the list says Ghostblood Officer. Which is true?

Good catch. Coder was a Ghostblood Officer. 

And to answer a popular question right now, the rules state that only successful attacks are listed in the writeup. All deaths are similtaneous. 

Edited 16 hours ago by Archer

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

I’m going for that Shardblade

Anyone who wants to contest me does so at their own risk

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

Oh and sidenote TUC

1 hour ago, The Unknown Character said:

So there's too options here:

The elims didn't put in a kill because of inactivity 

We roleblocked the killer

Anyone have a roleblock to claim?

Edit: I know a lot of you don't trust me because of the exchange with Illwei, but I remind you all that Illwei said they trusted me other than that exchange, and Illwei isn't even here to explain the convo anymore. 

Option 3: Elims skipped the NK because there’s no real benefit to it, all it does is reduce the pool for villagers to hunt them from, and they can then redirect attention to defenseless inactives 

2 hours ago, Archer said:

Why exe? Because sometimes you get a baddie. Coder was a Ghostblood Officer!

The implication that Coder is a baddie

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

Okay we do need to fend off these Rebukes

This one should be fairly simple

Still, people who are capable of giving Favour, please do so

I am still incapable, after trying and failing to get a Key last cycle

[coco.pudding she/they]

I can (finally) give favor this cycle.

I think the next most likely elim is probably TUC? That whole thing with Coder and Illwei looks pretty bad now that we know Coder was elim.

I also think we can clear Hoid pretty solidly. Unless he was hard bussing for some reason (which really doesn’t make sense atp in the game) he just outed an elim and that clears him in my eyes. 

[The Unknown Character he/him]

13 hours ago, Ascended Grubberfly said:

I think it may be inactivity, mostly based on the fact that a lot of active people are dead.

And TUC, as I am not certain on you since my reads are somewhat flimsy, I will not vote you unless I see no other option. Lets get some of the inactive people in here so we can get some reads on them.

Hey Star, you're kinda inactive and haven't said much. @Stardust

Hey @Archer the player list has a discrepancy. The exe says Coder was a Ghostblood Merchant and the list says Ghostblood Officer. Which is true?

I had a feeling you'd say something like that

Grub

I roleblocked Grub last cycle. Seeing as how there's no kill, seems it was a good decision. 

[Ascended Grubberfly He/Him]

25 minutes ago, The Unknown Character said:

I had a feeling you'd say something like that

Grub

I roleblocked Grub last cycle. Seeing as how there's no kill, seems it was a good decision. 

Okay guess you claim that. You wasted the key mate, I didn’t use my Action, I only grabbed something from the hold.

Either you’re elim trying to blame me or this is just a misunderstanding.

[|TJ| he/him]

12 hours ago, Hoid Slayer said:

Option 3: Elims skipped the NK because there’s no real benefit to it, all it does is reduce the pool for villagers to hunt them from, and they can then redirect attention to defenseless inactives 

If it was anyone other than you making this statement, I would find it utterly suspicious because there is a kill choice that would no reduce the pool at all, which is you because you are conf-village after helping us kill Coder. 

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

2 minutes ago, |TJ| said:

If it was anyone other than you making this statement, I would find it utterly suspicious because there is a kill choice that would no reduce the pool at all, which is you because you are conf-village after helping us kill Coder. 

Yes that did cross my mind, but I believe that fits under TUC’s option 2

15 hours ago, The Unknown Character said:

So there's too options here:

The elims didn't put in a kill because of inactivity 

We roleblocked the killer

Anyone have a roleblock to claim?

Edit: I know a lot of you don't trust me because of the exchange with Illwei, but I remind you all that Illwei said they trusted me other than that exchange, and Illwei isn't even here to explain the convo anymore. 

See above

TUC I must admit I find it kinda weird you asked whether anyone had a roleblock to claim and then 15 hours later proceeded to claim it yourself

On the bright side, this does imply e!TUC incompatibility with e!Grub

Again, if anyone is able to give Favour, can you please speak up?

9 hours ago, coco.pudding said:

I can (finally) give favor this cycle.

I think the next most likely elim is probably TUC? That whole thing with Coder and Illwei looks pretty bad now that we know Coder was elim.

I also think we can clear Hoid pretty solidly. Unless he was hard bussing for some reason (which really doesn’t make sense atp in the game) he just outed an elim and that clears him in my eyes. 

Besides Coco, thanks Coco

[The Unknown Character he/him]

1 minute ago, Hoid Slayer said:

TUC I must admit I find it kinda weird you asked whether anyone had a roleblock to claim and then 15 hours later proceeded to claim it yourself

I wanted to see what tactic the elims would take. I was giving Grub's teammates a chance to reveal themselves. 

I can give a favor today. 

[|TJ| he/him]

3 minutes ago, Hoid Slayer said:

Again, if anyone is able to give Favour, can you please speak up?

What's the logic behind this? Can't the elims block the ones claiming to give favor? (sorry, poor on mech because of how less active I've been)

[Stardust She/Her]

 

14 hours ago, Ascended Grubberfly said:

I think it may be inactivity, mostly based on the fact that a lot of active people are dead.

And TUC, as I am not certain on you since my reads are somewhat flimsy, I will not vote you unless I see no other option. Lets get some of the inactive people in here so we can get some reads on them.

Hey Star, you're kinda inactive and haven't said much. @Stardust

Well, I guess now I actually do have the time to respond to this. 

Well I'm not exactly sure what to say, honestly.

Coder's response was super suspicious, and that's why I voted him last cycle. To be honest, something felt off about that whole conversation with Hoid and Coder, but considering that Coder was Elim I'm going to ignore that for now. 

Based on what we are discussing right now (the idea that the elims didn't NK anyone because it just narrows down the pool for us to find them) I find Grub's statement in C1 suspicious. Obviously I can't read too much into it, but I think that it is something of note. 

I haven't really got a read on Mint yet... I'm currently reading the Cycles again to check. 
Coco, I have a slight e! lean, but nothing difinitive. 

TJ and hopper have both been largely inactive, like myself, so I haven't really gotten anything on them. 

TUC I feel like is more of a village lean, but something feels off, and I can't quite say what. 

Sorry guys, that's all I really have right now. 

If anyone has any questions for me, I will answer any and all, I do not care. Feel free to ask away! 

 

[Ascended Grubberfly He/Him]

I can give Favor today, and I say TUC is clear. He actually spent a key, which is not something I think an elim would do, especially since there is Backbreaker Poison expertise somewhere. This is why I think we have inactive elims, because TUC’s poison hit me and there was no nk.

Hoid and TUC we should trust.

Mint and coco I think are villiage because of the nk thing. This is NOT a read based solely on activity, we have the missed nk here as well.

Hopper, Star, and TJ are all inactive and could have missed the nk.

[Mint11 she/her]

alright I'm pretty sick right now so can't really think as deeply as It'd like to on this

I came on to at least get my vote in by the end of the cycle. was going to go for TUC

however. I protected hoid from the kill last cycle. the elims know that a villager protected hoid, because they know that they tried to kill him (I don't buy that they didn't submit an NK, it'd be crazy not to). I don't know why e!TUC would lie about blocking grub when he knows a villager claiming protect would make his point moot

you know what, TUC. maybe he's trying to buy time and get an extra village lynch in, or maybe the elims were hoping that if no one had come forward this late in the cycle, whoever saved hoid wouldn't speak up

[|TJ| he/him]

Grub

I think Grub's reaction here is pointing towards them being elim. I think a villager in their position would be a lot more suspicious towards TUC's claim and they would push back instead. This pacifying approach they are taking towards TUC is elim-behaviour imo. 

2 minutes ago, Mint11 said:

however. I protected hoid from the kill last cycle. the elims know that a villager protected hoid, because they know that they tried to kill him (I don't buy that they didn't submit an NK, it'd be crazy not to). I don't know why e!TUC would lie about blocking grub when he knows a villager claiming protect would make his point moot

edit1: firstly I don't believe this claim. and secondly even if you did, it is not mutually exclusive with tuc blocking grub. are you told if you successfully block someone? I'm pretty sure I don't think so. why do you think his point is moot?

[coco.pudding she/they]

1 hour ago, Ascended Grubberfly said:

I can give Favor today, and I say TUC is clear. He actually spent a key, which is not something I think an elim would do, especially since there is Backbreaker Poison expertise somewhere. This is why I think we have inactive elims, because TUC’s poison hit me and there was no nk.

He just accused you of being elim and your response is to clear him? That’s definitely a new one.

 To be clear though, you are saying you were roleblocked? (And notified of it)

[Mint11 she/her]

7 minutes ago, |TJ| said:

edit1: firstly I don't believe this claim. and secondly even if you did, it is not mutually exclusive with tuc blocking grub. are you told if you successfully block someone? I'm pretty sure I don't think so. why do you think his point is moot?

v!TUC could have blocked grub. my confusion was more around why an e!TUC would block grub (or claim to) when he knows a villager used an action to stop the NK and can contradict him

why don't you believe my claim though? are you thinking that v!TUC blocked e!grub's kill, and then e!mint is fake claiming the protect?

[Ascended Grubberfly He/Him]

1 minute ago, coco.pudding said:

He just accused you of being elim and your response is to clear him? That’s definitely a new one.

 To be clear though, you are saying you were roleblocked? (And notified of it)

I was notified, so he didn't get the book cycle one. Why would an elim waste a key on a blame that would backfire when I was exed? That's why I think he's village, he used the key.

If you did protect Hoid, maybe the elims tried to kill him? Maybe its not an inactive team like TUC suggested.

Star TJ 

How is that elim leaning? If I'm exed it backfires on an e!TUC who we just exe next cycle. I have reason to believe that the use of resources and the consequences of his action read him as village.

[|TJ| he/him]

9 minutes ago, Mint11 said:

v!TUC could have blocked grub. my confusion was more around why an e!TUC would block grub (or claim to) when he knows a villager used an action to stop the NK and can contradict him

correct, so why are you voting for him?

9 minutes ago, Mint11 said:

why don't you believe my claim though? are you thinking that v!TUC blocked e!grub's kill, and then e!mint is fake claiming the protect?

more like the protect claim could be used to remove credibility from v!TUC's claim. 

8 minutes ago, Ascended Grubberfly said:

I was notified, so he didn't get the book cycle one. Why would an elim waste a key on a blame that would backfire when I was exed? That's why I think he's village, he used the key.

are you saying that you were informed that you were blocked despite you not taking any actions?

[Ascended Grubberfly He/Him]

2 minutes ago, |TJ| said:

are you saying that you were informed that you were blocked despite you not taking any actions?

Correct. I got a message that I was affected by backbreaker poison despite not having an action. Just as a halfshard can be used if the target won't be killed, poison can be used on anyone despite action status.

[Mint11 she/her]

2 minutes ago, Ascended Grubberfly said:

I was notified, so he didn't get the book cycle one. Why would an elim waste a key on a blame that would backfire when I was exed? That's why I think he's village, he used the key.

wait so you're saying that you were notified that your actions were blocked, and you're also sure TUC doesn't have expertise because you got that notification?

hm. okay. 

you did mention giving favor last cycle so that would give the elims a reason to block you. if true, it would suggest that the elims know a villager has the agreement of axies. you were the only one to offer favor so idk why they'd think the village has a chance of preventing rebuke otherwise

on the other hand, you also agreed not to add any if no one else volunteered to give favor (which no one did). so it'd make more sense for the elims to not waste a key on blocking you. I don't know if they were trying to be on the safe side. in general, the backbreaker poison is the best use of keys for elims IMO

4 minutes ago, |TJ| said:

correct, so why are you voting for him?

because as I was typing that up I started thinking that e!TUC has nothing to lose by making that claim. he was going to get exed. I don't think that it's unlikely that this was the best defense the elims could come up with

especially if e!TJ is now building on that story in thread

I'm keeping my vote on him for now because I'm thinking that he really did block grub, just for evil reasons. and I don't want grub dying

@Archer can we get a VC? I don't trust myself to count right now

[|TJ| he/him]

6 minutes ago, Ascended Grubberfly said:

Correct. I got a message that I was affected by backbreaker poison despite not having an action. Just as a halfshard can be used if the target won't be killed, poison can be used on anyone despite action status.

hmmmm i doubt that it can be used. i just sincerely doubt that you would be informed about it when you took no action to be blocked. 

but i will digress. might go re-read some stuff to see if i find anything.