Mid-Range Game 4: The Alethi War of Unification

[Ashiok]

I've been authorized to post here from the Tranquiline Halls by Wyrm, GM Almighty. Ren, I beseech you, write me, and all who die, a poem in our honor. I beg of you. Please do it. That is all. I return to the Halls.

[Renegade he/him]

Hmm, so the dead require my poetic graces, then?  Well, the only problem that I see is that I don’t work for free, and as you’re dead, you have nothing to use as collateral…  Bah, fine, I’ll do it anyway.

 

Wok:

Blackthorn’s diplomat, a Horneater princess; Horneater, a diplomat Blackthorn.
Harm.  Not meant for war, blood was spilt; spilt were bloody wars, for meant no harm.
Murdered by conniving spies; revenge shall we take.  We shall revenge, spies conniving, by murder.

 

Jain:

Shin spy, the panda-crazed man; panda-crazed, the spying Shin.
Vamah, of traitor’s heart, hiding the soul.  The hidden heart, traitor’s, of Vamah.
Rest well, noble adversary, as your days are gone; gone are days, yours, as adversaries.  Noble, well rest.

 

These aren't incredibly long poems, but they're better than Reihmer's usual quality.   Plus, I might end up writing a lot of these, depending on how things go.  (Including one for Jasnah, if she doesn't show up this cycle.)

Edited December 6, 2014 by Renegade

[Alvron]

Sorry about not posting but life just got crazy.  Hopefully will clear up in a couple more days.  And belated congratulations to Luckat for winning a Shardblade.

Current Vote Tally:

Wilson (1) -- Mailliw, Winter Cloud, Joe

Winter Cloud (2) -- Winter Cloud, Newan, Mckeedee

Joe (0) -- Kas

Twelv (0) -- Wilson

Mckeedee (1) -- Kas

Meta (1) -- Aonar, Winter Cloud

Newan (1) -- Renegade

 

Inactive and will die this round if they remain silent: Jasnah

Edited December 6, 2014 by Alvron

[Metacognition he/him]

Meller used the highstorm to work on his design for his mobile bridges. He was close, he knew it. He just needed to figure out the tweaks to make it stable on any ground, which was not as easy as it sounded. He'd experimented with weights and malleable materials, but they all became unstable when you accounted for thousands of thundering troops passing over them. He was starting to give up hope that he'd make it work. 

Of course, it probably didn't help that he couldn't focus on his work most of the time. He kept hearing about those storming spies, especially now that they had found one. Spies were like rodents; where you found one, there were likely others.

 

As such, he kept looking over his shoulder. Any of his assistants could be a spy, trying to steal his mobile bridge plans. After all, after the fire of his prototype, he knew that they were trying to stop him. Well, he'd complete his designs, at least, and hope that they would find their way to Dalinar's hands. If he didn't survive to complete them, maybe someone else could!

To answer your question Ace, I was busy only an hour before my post at the beginning of the day. I was still busy when the next cycle was posted. It was just a generic statement, so no Freudian slip, sorry; just bad wording, since I was still looking for information off of the cycle and expected it in the form of multiple deaths. 

 

The fact that the other Officer hasn't come forward does suggest to me that they're likely a Spy. After all, we have enough protection to spread around that we could protect both Kenara and them without any problem so far and I don't think that a Spy would role claim this early just to lynch one person (thus Wilson likely isn't a Spy. I did say likely though. ). 

 

I won't vote yet, but Odysa is looking more suspicious to me now after looking over everything. Newan and Mek have moved up on my watch list and Kaddar are still up there as well. 

 

Considering Damon still hasn't checked in, I do suggest that the lighteyes throw their vote there. Unless she checks in, she's done for anyways and after last cycle, where we got lucky IMO, I'd rather we didn't leave it up to chance again. 

Edited December 6, 2014 by Metacognition

[Eolhondras he/him]

I'll just say, I'm all for lynching Odysa, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to have the first vote on her..

[Kasimir he/him]

Mek, thanks for some response. I'm going to put my vote on Meta now. The funny thing is, Ren told me in the spec doc of QF4 that he'd suspected me in MR3 because of a really obvious blind-spot: I was consistently refusing to call Wyrm on his behaviour.

Funny thing is, I know Meta's a really subtle player. For one, he kept trying to get the Eliminators in LG8 to target Kal Dell in order to get them to waste a kill. For another, at the same time, he was trying to play a House War and instigate killings which his team would presumably come out of.

So I can see possibilities for this to be otherwise, but it strikes me as strange that Meta keeps narrowing down on me. (I don't know what to say about Wilson, as she's certainly not considered it either.) I note that players easily of the same caliber, such as Aonar and Ren have noted that I could be anything: a Spy, not a Spy, or that my behaviour could just as easily indicate that I'm the Wit. And yet despite an earlier hasty claim that I was the Wit, the possibility seems to have disappeared from Meta's public thoughts altogether.

Funny thing is, it occurs to me that Meta's too good a player for it not to have occurred to him. And I'm pretty sure that despite my claims to be a Spy, I haven't done anything to rule out that possibility. So, why is he so insistent on my being suspicious? One possibility is that he hopes that if I were the Wit, this would push me towards admitting that I am the Wit. What good does that do though? I don't know.

What I find more likely is that by consistently mentioning his suspicions but by being reluctant to actually do anything about me--Meta's hoping to eventually lure someone else into voting for me, and hopefully taking out a valuable role for us, on the off-chance that I am the Wit, given how I've been behaving in this game so far.

 

Of course, my being a Spy would preclude my being the Wit. But I just find it exceedingly interesting that some of our better players don't find that to be a relevant possibility, even though some of the others do. And the main reasons I can think of for that oversight/blindness seem to be ones that are more unsavoury. Of course, since I've admitted to being a Spy, you have really no reason to take my word for it. But it is only if you take my word for it that my being a Spy would be conclusive. What a paradox

 

Edit: Thanks, Wilson, I stand corrected on the point of Meta's possible lie, then.

Edited December 6, 2014 by Kasimir

[Metacognition he/him]

You need to be more careful with your edits, Kas, and not just because I'm the one being called under fire for them....

 

This time, you've edited for something Wilson posted well beforehand (at least I'm assuming that it's because of her earlier posts, but considering it's an "edit," how are we supposed to take it?). 

The time before this, you last posted and then edited to retract your supposed assessment (after a 15 minute window as well). 

 

I thought this was established, but you shouldn't be changing your post for anything other than grammatical errors or if someone hasn't posted before you decide to post again (the idea being that you're restricting those who didn't see the original post before you switched it, which could get messy if the Evil Faction can do so). Considering the amount of time between your post and Kenara's, you shouldn't need the edit to it to point that out. 
 

I'm saying this for the benefit of the game as whole and not as an indication of you, specifically. We don't want to have to start second guessing Edits or Claims of Real Life Situations when the game is already so complex! If there's some reason for such, I'm sure we can figure it out. 

--------------------------
 

Here's what I'm not getting: What is it that you think that I haven't grasped? I've kept you as a suspect because I don't have any reason to remove from my list. You should also notice that I had yet call a vote for you, thus I suspect the possibility that you're actually the Wit. Thing is, you're all over the place. You're kind of claiming to be a Spy and you're kind of claiming to be Wit as well.

I'm done with your games. Kaddar, I call your bluff. If you're not a Spy, then you're being incredibly unhelpful. If you're the Wit, you're just causing confusion when it's unnecessary (which is Wit's job, so at least kudos for playing up the role!). 

Edited December 6, 2014 by Metacognition

[Kasimir he/him]

I was under the impression we could edit to add content, but otherwise, we should not change the content of a particular post, including grammar. So you could add an extra line of text, clearly marked as an addition, but you can't delete text otherwise. I realised that I should at least acknowledge Wilson's post, so I just added an acknowledgement to Wilson's post, rather than to simply add a second post a few moments later saying, "Yeah Wilson, I got you, fair point." If you'd prefer me (and yes, I get that this clarification is for the benefit of everyone else) to add a double post, then tell me so right now and I'll take that as the rule for what to do about posts in future.

-

 

What are you missing? Very simply, as I've said before, and I'll say very clearly now: I think there is something strange when Aonar and Ren consider something a possibility and it doesn't even occur to one of the best players in the game. I think it is clearly the case when it has been acknowledged that my playing style would also be extremely compatible with that of my having drawn the Wit. I think the only explanation for this is that you are a Spy, Meta, trying to cost the village a role they'll need. And you're welcome to take me up on it and to see how well it works out for you.

 

Have I indeed been incredibly unhelpful? I've been trying to highlight assumptions and to point out things people have ignored. I note that you credit Tal with pointing out we have to do something about the Lighteyes lynch, clearly ignoring that I was the first to mention that and to raise suggestions about that. Then, I tried to suggest how we could come to an estimation of the number of Spy teams, which you dismissed as my 'mentioning the obvious' and branded as valueless. I tried to take up Wyrm's tactic and at least prod some activity from players who were basically not saying anything at all. I have been clarifying rules to make sure we don't confuse ourselves by having false impressions of what is possible, as Jost did. I have been urging level-headedness with regard to what the spies know. Indeed, I have been superbly unhelpful. Indeed, I have been far more unhelpful than players such as Odysa, Mek, and Alv and Jasnah. Indeed, I have been far more unhelpful than Wilson, and so unhelpful that it is clear I must be a spy.

No. I submit that you're just really the one who's too blinded by suspicion and too eager to paint me as 'unhelpful' that you're ignoring what I am actually doing, apart from my refusing to engage claims of my being a Spy. If we look past your assertions and your eagerness to paint what I'm doing in a bad light and to actually look at what I'm doing, it's clear it's not as dire as you seem to want to suggest it is. In addition to minor things pointed out by Macen, despite your responses to them, this does in fact raise my hackles and my suspicion.

So come on, then. Try me. Let's see how good that works for you. I encourage everyone to vote for me and for someone to roleblock Odysa for one more night. Neutering Meta's role will at least be a cost to the Spies, and I strongly encourage everyone to kill Meta soon after I'm dead. At the very least, I'll settle for neutering you and making sure that Tal won't be caught in the cross-fire.

Kaddar.

Edit for colour.

Edited December 6, 2014 by Kasimir

[twelfthrootoftwo]

Given that there were no spy kills this cycle, I think it's important to get a lynch off. We need the information. I'm reluctant to place a vote, though, because I won't be able to change it before the rollover and, by the way it's shaping up, that means I'll miss a lot of the debate. I'll put my thoughts on those with votes on them here.

 

Wilson: As previously stated, I really doubt she'd come forward as she did if she were a spy.

 

Odysa: Instinct says she's trustworthy, but I can't back that with evidence. She's commented on the game a lot more, and done less RP. Ostensibly she's trying to play better; for ethical reasons, that makes me reluctant to vote for her based on playstyle. But the variation could be due to alignment just as easily.

 

Meta: My observation is that, aside from the lighteye vote and his previous post, he's been playing reactively. There are many possible reasons for that, most involving avoiding attention. He could be a spy, or a powerful role, or neither.

 

Newan: His response to Ren's vote was less than satisfactory, IMO, but it was in keeping with the rest of his posts. He might be aiming to stay just out of notice.

 

Kas: He's usually posted observations that have been both reasonable and helpful, and I can see him trolling just for the sake of it. Honestly, I don't find him very suspicious.

[Jasnah Damodred]

Don't have enough time to type colorcodes, but I won't be able to contribute this week. Even after that, I'll be at best a little more active. I have my suspicions, but they'll have to wait till Monday.

[Alvron]

Just a reminder but this is a Highstorm cycle, so no actions will go through including messages and role/vote blocks.

[Kasimir he/him]

Huh. That's puzzling, because it violates what King says here.

For reference:
 

•Players Sabotaged during a Highstorm are carried through to the next Combat's list. Very dangerous if it happens to be a Battle the next Cycle .

King, can we take this as an indication that only Sabotage actions and the lynch can happen during a Highstorm?

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

Just popping in real quick because there seems to be some discussion of Fair Play Rules and Etiquette, so I will just remind everybody to just review them. The question at hand with Editing posts, it is stated

• You cannot edit your posts in a way that changes the meaning. You can fix your grammar or spelling and if no one has posted after you, you may add additional thoughts, but you can't change the intent of your post.

 

So it is preferable to edit to add an afterthought, but careful not to change any of the previous content or intent of your post. If you've posted something you later want to retract, strikethrough is a good solution. Double posts should be made as little as possible, and only to help progress the game and conversation if you have something different to add. Players should also restrain from making extraneous posts, whenever possible.

 

Please, everybody, PM me if you have any other questions or concerns, and let's get back to your regularly scheduled slaughter!
 

[Alvron]

I'm probably wrong then but going from the main rules for this game it seems as no actions can be taken but voting.

 

• During a Highstorm, no actions may be taken at all. Voting will still occur, however, and so the lynch will still take place. In fact, the player lynched at this time can’t be saved by anything and will definitely die.

Clafication would be nice all powerful GM.

[little wilson she/her]

(I don't know what to say about Wilson, as she's certainly not considered it either.)

I considered it in my notes. I just haven't made a post taking about my suspicions of you since then. Before about ten minutes ago, I was content ignoring the puzzle you present because I know there wasn't much point. If you were a spy, you weren't a particularly great spy, since you'd announced your spyness (plus I know you dislike being an eliminator and while contributing a lot, you're not as much one for strategizing), so I considered you a low priority hit, despite your potential spyness. And if you were the Wit, it would be ridiculous for us to hit you.

All that said, after your defense to Meta, I'm more certain about which one of those possibilities you are. I'd go along with your request, if I actually thought Meta would keep his vote on you, since causing a highly potential spy to lose his role is beneficial. But I don't think he will.

And now about the actions. I rather hope it's all actions including sabotage that can't get through in a highstorm. Because now is their chance to get higher priority targets on the list without any possible blockage. And I would really like to block them from that (or at least try to block them at it).

And lastly, I'm going to be fairly busy today doing things with family I haven't seen in almost a year, so while I might check in a bit, I won't be saying anything until late tonight at the earliest. That should start around an hour after the rollover, maybe earlier (but I doubt it).

I'm putting my lighteyes vote on Jasnah, since that's the most harmless place for it currently.

Edited for color

Edited December 6, 2014 by little wilson

[Wyrmhero he/him]

Huh. That's puzzling, because it violates what King says here.

For reference:

 

King, can we take this as an indication that only Sabotage actions and the lynch can happen during a Highstorm?

 

Sorry, I did indeed get rather confused by that it seems. No actions can be taken during a Highstorm, even Sabotages (though Lighteyes can still vote).

Edited December 6, 2014 by Wyrmhero

[Macen he/him]

I'm fairly certain that Kaddar is the wit. But, the way he is acting I think he is either the wit or a spy.

So, I will also vote Kaddar. If he is The Wit, he gets a personal victory, and if he is the spy, we all get a win on the cycle!

[Kasimir he/him]

Kaddar.
 
As I am (hopefully) about to be lynched, I should note that neutering Meta, Macen, or Odysa is fine with me. Why those three? Perhaps Macen takes some explaining. I was adamant in hinting that the Lighteyes might have used their ability to skip the Battle and lied about it. I certainly did and I was missing from the write-up. My guilt or innocence is shortly about to be revealed. When that is the case, I'd urge a role-block and a lynch of Meta, and at least a closer examination of Macen. I don't know what to think about Odysa. Obviously, my innocence cannot prove that I am correct in my suspicions. But it can indicate that I am not intending to mislead with my suspicions.

 

To once more sum it up: Meta. My point is not about claiming to be two exclusive roles: my point is that he seems to be the only one fully certain and invested in being certain. The only good answer I can see for Meta's new prescience isn't that he ingested melange, but that he's a Spy. Macen. I feel that the write-up gives prima facie reason to suspect he's not entirely truthful, and to cap it up, Macen keeps hopping on and echoing what other people said. Too eager to not venture actual suspicion, it almost seems. It's happened here, and it's happened earlier when Wilson made comments about how what I said was worded. Odysa--Wilson's written a whole research paper on the behaviour and the habits of the common Odysus wintercloudisis. Enough said.
 
So: recall that I mentioned I did skip a Battle and didn't appear in the write-up, consequently. Guess which other Lighteyes doesn't appear in the write-up?

 

Auf Wiedersehen, and good luck.

Kaddar, King's Wit.

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

Wilson(1): Mailliw

Newan(1): Renegade

 

Winter Cloud(2): Newan, Mckeedee

Meta(2): Aonar, The Only Joe

Kasimir(3): Meta, Macen, Winter Cloud

 

Jasnah(Infinite): Inactivity

 

I'm going to vote for Meta. Macen, Wilson and Kasimir have all brought up some very good points about him. I'm still gathering More evidence against him, I'll edit it on once I finish gathering it. I'm just posting now because I might be called away soon. Or post if somebody Posts after me.

[Wyrmhero he/him]

There is a mere one hour left in this Cycle. Everyone get to the shelters, quick!

Edited December 6, 2014 by Wyrmhero

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

OK, finished the first part of My Anti-Meta, consisting of an synopsis of his Eleven posts in the first two Cycles.

 

First Post:

Just RP. No Content At all. Contrast here, where he attempts to start a gangwar in his first post, and Here, where he at least provided Clarifications on players.

 

Second Post:

Suggests the Lighteyes all put their Secret vote on someone we believe to be Innocent, or at least Unsuspicious, so that a spy would reveal themself by Voting for that person. He then Volunteers to be the person voted for. He plants a little suggestion that he’s innocent in our subconscious. The plan also makes sure that nobody will vote for him without being accused of being Spies themselves. Has the added benefit of removing the Lighteye Vote from the game.

 

Third Post:

Clarifies the plan, Mentions how he likes to Take away opportunities from the Eliminators. However, assuming there’s only 1 or 2 Spies among the lighteyes, (Now 0 or 1), the Spies wouldn’t be able to do much anyway. So he sacrificed a Pawn to get more access to the king.

 

Quote:

Finally, I don't understand why you guys think that the "innocent" would deserve protection.

/Quote:

 

If I’m reading his post correctly, he’s actually advocating putting the Lighteyes vote on trusted players who haven’t been proven Innocent.

 

Fourth Post:

In Response to Kasimir voting for himself, Meta votes for Jasnah, to prevent Kasimir from voting for himself, because he thinks that Kas is the Wit. Yet currently he’s voting for Kasimir, because he thinks Kas might be the wit?

 

Fifth Post:

Explained that he blocked Kas because He thought there was only half an hour left. This does cancel out suspicious caused by the Fourth Post.

 

Sixth Post:

Again states he got Time zones mixed up.

 

Cycle two Starts:

Seventh Post:

States he’s busy this cycle. Suspects Kas and Wilson and promises to clarify later.

 

Eighth Post:

Mentions Wok’s death in Relation to me, not casting suspicion, just planting the thought that people should look at me. Suspects Kenara for being Wishy Washy, and also says this:

 

Quote:

also, you say you're too busy for any RP, but you seem to find a lot of time to keep control of the conversation!

/Quote:

When his very first Sentence in this Post was “No time for RP.”

 

Expresses Confusion over Kasimir.He’s not certain if Kas is a Spy or not. This actually threw me. He’s been going back and forth on Kas for a long time.

 

Addresses Norlav, and says that if people Volunteer to be the Target of the Lighteye Vote, they’re suspicious. Which is exactly what he did in his second post.

 

Ninth Post:

Expresses Suspicion of Wilson. Then tells Kas that he’d rather not lynch him if he’s good. Now he doesn’t care and is lynching him anyway.

 

Tenth Post:

Talks about how he’ll be the Lighteye vote target if people will retract their votes for him. This could go either way.

 

Eleventh Post:

Throws last minute post on Jain, even though he doesn’t suspect him at all. Meta is a good player, he would have seen the suspicious things about Jain that I brought up. He also assumes the spies will kill him.

[Metacognition he/him]

I'm a Watchman, so I hope you're happy, Kaddar. I'd remove my vote from you so that we'd still have my role, but that would tie things up between us and with it so close to the end of the cycle, I'd rather we get a lynch than no lynch. 

[Kasimir he/him]

One last note, my friend:

 

You must know that I lied. I am in possession of the spanreed that was in the possession of the dead Spy, Jain. I have been attempting to ferret out the identity of the man's collaborator, but unfortunately, my efforts have not borne fruit. On the day I requested the Blackthorn to allow me leave from battle, I snuck into Jain's tent and stole his spanreed.

 

My ability to write is, alas, one of the many blasphemies I indulge in. But no matter on my failings, old friend. The more pertinent issue is that I advise you not to look over your shoulder for one of the Spies' allies. It was always me.

 

You know my suspicions. I have named them; three of them. Today, I head out to confront the one known as Meller. I know he has raised accusations against me. I strongly suspect him, and have set into motion events that I hope, will result in his death, or mine. I am, you see, stubborn to a fault, as you must surely remember. If he chooses to retract, I will ensure his death, today.

 

There is only so much a man can do in this world, it seems. To refuse to confront evil is to permit it to survive. In the other princes, I see the death of the Alethkar you spoke of; that we dared to dream of. It is my greatest, most unspeakable honour to die in the pursuit of your dream. Live well, Gavilar. Reign well. Reign in wisdom and watchfulness.

 

Long live the King!

 

Your loyal Wit,

Kaddar.

[luckat she/her]

I'm a Watchman, so I hope you're happy, Kaddar. I'd remove my vote from you so that we'd still have my role, but that would tie things up between us and with it so close to the end of the cycle, I'd rather we get a lynch than no lynch. 

 

 

If you think Kaddar really is the Wit, and you really are a Watchman, and you want a lynch, you could move your vote to Odysa...

 

I'm not caught up enough with everything to throw out a last-minute vote.

 

On another note, neither Kaddar nor Ace were mentioned in the writeup that started week 2 either (and Jain wasn't mentioned as being present), so I'm not sure we can draw any conclusions from their absence in both writeups.

[Metacognition he/him]

Kaddar. Sorry Odysa.