Mid-Range Game 8: Highborn Intrigue

[Araris Valerian he/him]

Ok, so I removed my vote from Alvom. He is still on the top of my list, more so for not addressing the points I brought up against him. But Adamir seems a little more suspect in that regard. I'm not sure about Winter. She hasn't really done anything to make me suspicious, although that is partly because of what you said; she has been neutral about several topics. I am not comfortable placing a vote there though, so far. The people I would be fine with lynching are:

 

Adamir

Alvom

Paranoid King

 

and to a lesser extent:

Shallan

Lopen

 

Each one of these people has done something or several things to draw my suspicions. I have already stated what I think about Adamir and Alvom. PK I suspect of being involved in a ploy the night Hero almost got lynched, and his lack of solid contribution this cycle adds to that a bit, although I do understand not having any strong feelings. (By the way, PK, the Day 4 lynch is the one you voted 2 minutes after the cycle was over and Hero didn't die because your vote didn't go through. Everyone that voted after I resigned myself from being lynched has basically been confirmed good, which I believe soft-confirms me)

 

Shallan seems a little off to me (note the above post where she says we are spread out but then doesn't place her own vote), and Lopen seemed overly eager to jump on me this cycle, and his analysis didn't include the points I have brought up several times already today.

[Shallan she/her]

Araris, I was going to vote in 50 minutes unless someone said it wasn't a good idea. I stated that in my post. With 17 people, we could skip today and miss tomorrow and then be in the situation today. However if we miss today and tomorrow then we are worse off than my post. Right now, I think Winter and PK are tied, though I don't know if PK had a first vote.

Correction: everyone is tied at one vote who has been voted for.

Edited September 4, 2015 by Shallan

[Renegade he/him]

44 minutes left!

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

Vote tally:

 

Winter(2): Bort, Alvom

Araris(1): Macen

Venture(1): PK

PK(1): Araris

[Paranoid King he/him]

Ah, I guess I miscounted the days. I thought day 3 was the day Hero was almost lynched. And I was just trying to stop a tie. I had no evidence or suspicions, I just wanted someone to get lynched.

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

Why didn't you vote for one of the people with a vote on them then? And why do you want someone to get lynched?

 

Edit: nevermind, I see what you're saying now. My mistake

Edited September 4, 2015 by TheMightyLopen

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

I think I agree with just about everything you said Araris. I do think PK's actions have been suspicious, but I have about the same amount of suspicion on Winter so I'm not going to tie it because I don't believe we'll get very much information from whoever the conspirators decide to kill.

[Seonid he/him]

I'm not totally inactive guys, sorry. I've just been spending a great deal of time on the LG.

Right now, I'm not going to vote, because we need a lynch and so I don't want to tie it up, but also because I need time to go back through and analyze things.

There hasn't been enough analysis this game, and there's been way too much "feels suspicious" and the like. I hope to make a stab at changing that tonight.

[Renegade he/him]

Time's up!  The write-up might be a little late tonight.

[Renegade he/him]

Night 7: Pros and Cons

The remaining lighteyes were getting exhausted.  A lot had happened since yesterday evening, beginning with Wannan’s confession and public execution, and the mysterious death of an ardent and guard during the night, one of which involved the burning down of a house.  Perhaps even more odd was the presence of a man named Maggus, who had apparently taken Em-son-of-none’s place, as the shin orphan was nowhere to be found.

Indeed, there were plenty of mysteries on the nobles’ minds today.

“What kind of person could burn down someone’s house like that, andeven kill an ardent?” Nivina Odict asked, crossing her arms.  The look of displeasure on her face could’ve driven away joyspren in a heartbeat.

“I believe that the records indicate that Badhab Eony did it during the night,” Eradin replied.  “And that he was then pushed into the chasm by the conspirators."

“Bah, what do the records know?” countered Bortholemew.  “I think that Cleo was behind it all.  She’s been pretty suspicious, just sharpening her knives the whole time.  I mean, who even does that, besides someone like Sadeas?

Cleo snorted, not even looking up at Bortholemew.  “I could easily say the same things about you.  After all, you’ve been pretty quiet.  What secrets could you be keeping?”

“Stop trying to deflect the argument,” Efrihm frowned.  “There’s something off about you, Cleo, that makes me think that you have some other interest in mind.”

Cleo threw her knife right beside Efrihm’s ear, with inhuman precision.  Efrihm’s eyes widened, and he pointed angrily at Cleo.  “What are you doing?”

“Surviving,” Cleo said, gritting her teeth.  With that, she spun and took off, in search of Kae.

“After her!” Bortholemew shouted.  “Either she’s a conspirator, or she’s just plain crazy!”

The other nobles silently agreed as they chased down Cleo -- in a dignified fashion, of course.  Sheon Idris and Mace decided to go by horse and took off ahead.  Rengar, the executioner, did likewise.

Eventually, the nobles -- horse-mounted and otherwise -- managed to surround Cleo, trapping her in an alleyway, between two taverns.

“Enough of this foolishness!” Rengar shouted, dismounting from his horse and advancing towards Cleo with his gargantuan sword.  He pointed the sword at Cleo’s neck.  “Your plot ends now.”

Cleo only grunted in response, but leapt forward and grabbed Rengar’s sword with both hands and attempting to wrench it out of his hands.  While the sword wouldn’t budge, Rengar was unable to swing the sword, with Cleo still attached to it.

From behind, several of the nobles advanced upon Cleo, blocking any chance of escape.  Mace stepped forward with his signature giant mace, ready to bash it into Cleo’s skull.  As Mace raised his weapon, Cleo kicked out to the side, slamming Mace into the ground.

Rengar seized the opportunity and used all of his strength to send Cleo to the ground, causing her to tumble and let go of the sword.  “It ends now,” he whispered, slicing across Cleo’s neck.

Suddenly, Cleo’s form changed, somehow becoming that of a male.  “It’s Kae!” someone shouted.  “That’s the person she’s working with!”  Kae stood up, apparently uninjured, and laughed.  “Ah, the art of a con is magnificent, isn’t it?”

“Where is Cleo?” Rengar roared, hauling Kae up by his neck, and lifting him off the ground.  Angerspren bubbled around his feet.  “Tell me!”

“She’s probably on another planet by now,” Kae said, gasping.

“Yeah, right,” Rengar growled, throwing him to the ground with all of his might.  Then, he turned to the nobles.  “Scour the warcamps until you find Cleo!  Search the entire Shattered Plains if you have to!  Just bring her back here, dead or alive!  Got it?”

-----

That evening, Draela Heb found the lifeless body of Cleo in a tavern in Sebarial’s warcamp.  She appeared uninjured, but she seemed most certainly dead, cold to the touch.  Must have been poison, Draela thought, shivering before walking back to Dalinar’s warcamp to give them the news.

---

Vote Tally
Cleo (2): Bortholemew the Blind, Efrihm
Arilir (1): Mace
Orlok (1): Nivina Odict
Eradin (1): Arilir
Vin Elendel (1): Eradin

Cleo was executed!  She was a Noble Con Artist!

Night 7 has begun!  The turn will end in 23 hours.  Good luck!

Edited October 28, 2016 by Alvron

[Haelbarde he/him]

Now I've said this over in LG14(?), but I'll reiterate over here that I've not been super engaged in the game for the last couple cycles, but by the end of the cycle, my time should have freed up. I've certainly got some thoughts starting to form, but I'll have to properly flesh them out and type them up at a later point in the cycle .

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

Sorry Winter, I feel bad that you just died in both games. Hopefully your death will not have been in vain. 

[Bort he/him]

Damnation. Last night I was considering removing my vote for Winter, but I didn't think it would do any harm when I forgot before going to bed. Sorry Winter.

 

I know my reasons for voting for Winter were kinda flimsy due to the nearly non-existent catching up I've done, but I wanted to get involved since I've missed everything since the start of the game.

 

Alvom, what were your reasons for voting for Winter?

[Macen he/him]

It's all gone a bit quiet in this game. I still think Araris is a bad guy. Just saying.

[Amanuensis he/him]

My suspicion of Winter was a combination of the fact that despite her being among the more experienced players it didn't seem like she was ever a target of the Eliminators (either by those known and those working in secret) and the fact that she was using a passive/neutral style of play but posting frequently enough to remain among the most active players, which seemed to me like a comfortable position for a conspirator. 

[Renegade he/him]

One hour and 31 minutes left!

[Renegade he/him]

Time is up!

Edited September 5, 2015 by Renegade

[Renegade he/him]

Day 7: Broken Plots

Night fell over the Shattered Plains, and all of Dalinar’s nobles were wise enough to stay get home early, with the looming threat of the murderous conspirators.  The conspirators, it seemed, had done their job well, spreading terror throughout Dalinar’s warcamp.  It was only a matter of time before Dalinar himself would fold beneath their pressure.

Bortholemew the Blind stroked his beard casually, sitting on the side of his bed.  He’d been through a lot of dangerous scenarios before, so the threat of conspirators was not something new to him.  Nevertheless, there was still a bit of fear lingering there.

I ought to go fetch my Shardplate, Bortholemew thought.  Has anyone even slept in Shardplate before?  Shrugging, Bortholemew walked down his hallway, and opened up a side closet, containing his prized set of Shardplate.  Getting it on was always rather difficult to do, but after a good twenty minutes or so, he was fully suited.

Time to get some rest.  Immediately, Bortholemew heard a loud crash in his room, followed with a curse.  “Blasted conspirators,” Bortholemew mumbled, creeping down the hallway towards his illuminated bedroom.

Fortunately, his Plate, unlike poor Kipper’s, was charged with plenty of Stormlight from the highstorm two days ago.  As long as his opponent didn’t have any Plate, he could almost certainly kill them -- or at least chase them out.  Not to mention that the conspirator wouldn’t be aware of his location.

The conspirator poked their cloaked head out of the bedroom, immediately spotting Bortholemew.  Bortholemew, on the other hand, didn’t notice the conspirator, as they quickly ducked back into the room.  Instead, he continued tiptoeing forward, trying not to make much sound in his Shardplate, which was by no means an easy feat.

“Aha!” Bortholemew and the conspirator shouted simultaneously, as Bortholemew reached his room.  The two adversaries stared at each other for a moment, before the conspirator struck, wielding a Shardblade in anger.

Bortholemew easily parried the shardblade with his forearm, and used the other arm to strike a blow on the conspirator.  The cloaked figure was knocked to the ground, a pile of cloth on the floor.  They took in a gasp, then struck back, hacking away at Bortholemew’s shoulder joints with the Blade.

Bortholemew twisted, then crouched down and punched out at the conspirator’s legs, eliciting a loud yelp in response.  The two fought back and forth in the hallway, trading blows and parries.  Bortholemew had severely wounded the conspirator, though the relentless murderer had already broken one of Bortholemew’s gauntlets, and the rest of his armor was leaking stormlight at a frightening pace.  If he waited too long, the Plate would freeze up, trapping him.  Storms, need to get out!  Bortholemew landed a kick on the conspirator’s jaw, then ran down the hallway towards the door.

As Bortholemew opened the door, his Plate shuddered as the conspirator rammed their Blade straight into his chestplate, shattering it.  Bortholemew kicked backwards at the conspirator, but just barely missed.  The conspirator took the opportunity to knock Bortholemew aside, blocking his means of escape.

Storm it! Bortholemew threw all of his weight onto the conspirator, and the two toppled in a heap on the ground.  The conspirator’s Shardblade fell from their grasp, dissipating as it hit the ground.

Should I attack? Bortholemew questioned himself.  If I can’t kill him within the next few seconds…  He shook his head, and ran off into the warcamps, shouting, “Conspirator!  Murderer!  Help me!  Help!”

The conspirator, looking around for any signs of trouble, immediately dashed away, their attack foiled.

-----

The next morning, a messenger ran up to Dalinar in his study.  “Highprince Kholin, an artist managed to capture an image of the conspirator who assaulted Brightlord Bortholemew last night.  They say that he looked somewhat similar to Sheon Idris…”

---

Bortholemew the Blind was attacked by the conspirators, but saved by Shardplate!
Sheon Idris received an extra vote on him today!

Day 7 begins now and will end in 47 hours and 20 minutes (I auto-extended it due to the fact that I’m expecting someone will just ask for an extension anyway).  As usual, PMs are now open again, and the player list will be updated shortly.  Good luck!

Edited October 28, 2016 by Alvron

[Seonid he/him]

That was a fortunate turn of events. Glad you're still with us, Bort.

The secret vote on myself is rather interesting. If you have suspicions concerning me, care to voice them?

[Haelbarde he/him]

I must confess to having not gotten back on/forgot to put my vote in last night. 

[Amanuensis he/him]

Of the 12 players that died, 2 had shardplate. Both were villagers.

 

Bort is 1 of 16 surviving players. I'm going to go ahead and assume 4 are eliminators; 6 including Ripple/Hero.

 

I have no idea how many shardplates were distributed, but I will guess that there were 5, given that a total of 13 players have faced their mortality and of them 3 have been revealed (1 for every increment of 5 players). 

 

I think it's reasonable to suggest that at least 1 eliminator has shardplate as a result.

 

If my guess is accurate, then that means there's about a 33.3% chance Bort is evil.

 

That leaves a 66.6% chance he is innocent.

 

You can also factor in the unlikelyhood of hitting one of the 2 noble shardbearers among 12 (16.67%), assuming Bort is a noble.

 

 

Given how much we discussed WGGs after the first attempt on Kipper's life, the eliminators could have two mindsets. One, it would only make their target more suspicious because the ideas already out there. Or two, nobles would think the eliminators would think they think number one and therefore it actually helps reduce suspicion.

 

Of course, this math could be utterly irrelevant. Maybe our shardbearers have just been extremely unlucky. I can't remember Bort doing anything particularly memorable this game, which in my mind makes him more suspicious now given how everyone who came off as odd to me turned out to be my kin. Me sucking hardcore at this game and being wrong about almost everyone is a pretty poor reason to place blame on someone else, though. Tangent aside, given how unassuming Bort is, I don't understand why the eliminators would target him over someone more dangerous to their cause if he is innocent.

 

I already know they won't kill me because I am doing too good of a job killing my peers as is; they'd be better off leaving me do my thing while they kill others and let me accrue my own suspicion so I can get lynched.

 

At this point it could just be a matter of numbers to them. They are currently halfway to victory, with us only a third of the way. So maybe they just chose him at random. But if I were them, I probably would have killed Araris since he's the second most considered noble and that would only reinforce suspicions against me and other players who were vocal against him (unless he is indeed an Eliminator).

 

At this point, Clanky is the only person I trust, but he has zero reason to trust me. I really wish the ardent had scanned me a long time ago so I could be cleared for the secret circle of nobles working together to root out the evils, if there even is one. At the moment (excluding Clanky and I who I know are nobles) 28.5% of whose still alive are conspirators, so really I feel useless because I'm isolated, which is a part of the reason why I haven't been as talkative, in addition to IRL events.

 

 

So, anyway, the point of this post: what does everyone think about Bort? Any ideas for what I can do to earn trust? Also, Clanky, is there anyone you are absolutely sure is innocent?

Edited September 5, 2015 by Alvom Halbin

[Seonid he/him]

Why are you sure Clanky is good?

Other than that, I'm rather inclined to believe Bort as good. A WGG at this point makes little sense to me. They are already hiding exceptionally well, all of the players who are top analysers are dead, and the village is largely inactive. Why run a gambit when quiet play will win you the game anyways? So I feel Bort can be trusted.

[Haelbarde he/him]

I'm starting to think that Ren put in so many Plates just so that we'd spend the whole game worrying about WGG's...

[Renegade he/him]

I'll never tell...

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

I think I agree with Seonid. I was thinking about WGG, and it just didn't seem worth it at this point. As Seonid said, quiet play is probably the best move for them. Why break your shardplate when you could just keep going the same way they have been. They could have 2 Shardplated people, and if they do, that would make me a little more wary of Bort. But still, to me, it doesn't seem worth it.

 

Edit: As for why they targeted Bort, he wasn't very active early on(because he was sick), but he seemed like he was going to start being a little more active. Maybe they were going to kill him because that wouldn't give us hardly any information to go off of. That's what I think may have happened.

Edited September 5, 2015 by TheMightyLopen