Long Game 15: ...The Shards Themselves...

[Clanky he/him]

After thinking about this last night, too many things don't make sense for Lopen to be a BioChromancer. Why didn't he target anyone last night? For that matter, why didn't he target me? Phatt, were you targeted? If I'd been targeted, we'd have still been lynching Clanky/Biggoron. Unless Lopen didn't target me deliberately to draw my attention away from Clanky/Biggoron...somehow.... My brain hurts.

As it stands now, I think lynching Elkanah is a better choice than Lopen. I mean, it's still possible that Lopen's a traitor, but I don't think he's a BioChromancer, at least.

 

If Elkanah is a traitor we can safely say Lopen is not since I doubt an evil HI would've claimed that. If Elkanah is a traitor and the game doesn't end I will be looking at Orlok and Steph in that order.

[Orlok Tsubodai]

I think we are ignoring a whole set of 'meta' knowledge here - primarily that Wyrm has indicated this to be without question the final cycle.

I suspect then, that we simply cannot afford to get this lynch wrong.

I am incredibly suspicious of Lopen, not least in the regards that he is framing this game as continuing past this cycle, although perhaps mostly on an intuitional level. Something seems wrong, and although right now I can't quite put a name to it, I shall try again before the end of the cycle.

[Hellscythe he/him]

Lopen used the fact that Burnt was willing to give herself up to push a lynch onto her. Once she died the "proven-by-kandra" group would no longer trust each other and we would have a much harder time finding Lopen as a traitor because he pushed for a lynch on traitor leaving everyone else who was "soft-proven" now to be under suspicion while Lopen remains the only person in the clear.  It was an obvious play that I didn't realize until I found out that he was the Biochromancer.

[queensteph she/her]

Unless some more people put their vote on Lopen I'm not going to use my ability (I'd be using it to change a Lopen vote to Elkanah). Im sticking with my theory of Elkanah being a traitor and the HI having turned.

Ninja's by Hellscythe

Hellscythe, If there wasn't so much suspicion towards Elkanah and towards you I would definitely believe you and put my vote on Lopen, but if Elkanah turns out to be loyal then we will definitely be going after Lopen.

Edited December 14, 2015 by queensteph

[Clanky he/him]

Lopen used the fact that Burnt was willing to give herself up to push a lynch onto her. Once she died the "proven-by-kandra" group would no longer trust each other and we would have a much harder time finding Lopen as a traitor because he pushed for a lynch on traitor leaving everyone else who was "soft-proven" now to be under suspicion while Lopen remains the only person in the clear.  It was an obvious play that I didn't realize until I found out that he was the Biochromancer.

Except Lopen was among the "Proven-by-Kandra" group. So why would we have focused on him instead of the not cleared group? I understand Burnt allowing herself to be lynched at this point because she couldn't really continue without eventually giving someone a guilty reading. Unless she wanted to give up another of her teammates we would've found out very soon that she was lying to us. 

 

EDIT: Fixed missing punctuation 

Edited December 14, 2015 by Clanky

[queensteph she/her]

I'm going to use my ability because only two(?) more votes on Lopen could tie it up and I don't want to risk it. Edit: I was thinking the day was ending in a few minutes I got mixed up. I did put in the vote change request, but I'll change it if I ever need to before the day is over.

Edited December 14, 2015 by queensteph

[Hellscythe he/him]

Except Lopen was among the "Proven-by-Kandra" group. So why would we have focused on him instead of the not cleared group? I understand Burnt allowing herself to be lynched at this point because she couldn't really continue without eventually giving someone a guilty reading. Unless she wanted to give up another of her teammates we would've found out very soon that she was lying to us. 

 

EDIT: Fixed missing punctuation 

By creating distrust among the "Proven-by-Kandra" group and leaving him as the sole person of that group that people could still trust he could've been trying to save one of the people up for the lynch and setting himself up as a "soft-proven" that could divert the attention away from his ally.

 

My biggest lead is Biggoron as Lopen's ally. How did they pull of a Wounded Gazelle Gambit on Burnt Spaghetti without a protection role on their team? They would never even attempt it. Especially on possibly their most trusted member at the time.

[Elbereth she/her]

Wait. Question. How was Burnt's death a Wounded Gazelle Gambit? Maybe my definition's just wrong or something, but I don't see that.

[Hellscythe he/him]

Burnt was attacked on an earlier cycle.

[Biggoron he/him]

Dude. Heck yeah. More synthskin!!
Also, yup. This Elkanah business sounds right. Let's get em.

[Elbereth she/her]

Burnt was attacked on an earlier cycle.

...Right. I forgot about that. Nevermind then.

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

I think we are ignoring a whole set of 'meta' knowledge here - primarily that Wyrm has indicated this to be without question the final cycle.

I suspect then, that we simply cannot afford to get this lynch wrong.

I am incredibly suspicious of Lopen, not least in the regards that he is framing this game as continuing past this cycle, although perhaps mostly on an intuitional level. Something seems wrong, and although right now I can't quite put a name to it, I shall try again before the end of the cycle.

 

First of all, I'm not sure that Wyrm means anything with the things about planetfall and such. I think it's just fluff, not anything game relevant. I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask though. @Wyrm, are you indicating in any way that this is the final Cycle? I really don't know if he'll answer this, but who knows? Maybe he'll choose to not troll us.........maybe.   (We can hope can't we?   )

 

I would like to hear why you are "incredibly" suspicious of me(barring the game ending stuff, which I don't think is a fair reason to accuse me at all). I can understand why the HI is going after me since me and Elkanah are the two who are being viewed as the targets for this lynch and obviously he's gonna try to do everything he can to protect Elkanah, since Elks alignment is tied to his.

 

One more thing I just want to point out. I'm not sure it's exactly relevant, but I was under the assumption that Clanky was the one who protected Burnt on the Night she was attacked, because Biggoron said he hadn't claimed to Adavantos and Ada said he set up the protection for Burnt because she was role-blocked(I think Ada said that. It was on D6 when he mentioned it, if anyone wants to go back and verify this). Which makes me assume that Clanky blocked that attack because he was in contact with Adavantos I believe.

[Clanky he/him]

 

One more thing I just want to point out. I'm not sure it's exactly relevant, but I was under the assumption that Clanky was the one who protected Burnt on the Night she was attacked, because Biggoron said he hadn't claimed to Adavantos and Ada said he set up the protection for Burnt because she was role-blocked(I think Ada said that. It was on D6 when he mentioned it, if anyone wants to go back and verify this). Which makes me assume that Clanky blocked that attack because he was in contact with Adavantos I believe.

Yep it was me who protected burnt that cycle. I had revealed my role to Ada after he was scanned and I was asked to protect her because she had been role-blocked and the last person role-blocked had also been killed by the traitors.

[Wyrmhero he/him]

The Turn is over! Writeup out shortly.

[Wyrmhero he/him]

Aftermath: Brave New World

 

It was just after lunchtime that the cry went out on the speakers, blasting the entire ship with the news of the day. This was not unusual, particularly recently, when the early-afternoon news broadcast sounded more like an obituary and accompanying eulogy than a statement of what had happened.

 

But today's announcement was more important than any declaration of another fatality aboard the Shardship. This was the day that they were sending out the first probes, the first scouts onto this barren and desolate (but mineral-rich) world. The atmosphere was too thin for a human to survive, but they had Hemalurgically-empowered droids available for such a thing. They could go where no human (or other humanoid, sentient race) could go, and do what needed to be done.

 

“...And finally, could the following crew-members please report to the entertainment rooms..” The speaker continued, before rattling off the names of people that the Captain had designated 'keep an eye on'. Either dutifully or through fear, the named people made their way upstairs, past the crusher that Inor Haze had unfortunately been stuffed into, taking a left at the Hemalurgist offices where Sonder had been bested, and stepping carefully around the circle of silver that lay around Bort's place of death.

 

Wurum Heron nodded as the last of them filled the room, HELLSCYTHE's monitor blinking into life, a pixilated blue face appearing on it. “Good, you're all here...” he said, looking from one to another. “So few of you left... And this tragedy has been repeated across all of my crew.” He sighed. “Simply put, this has gone on long enough. We must end it all, here and now. I am not having anyone sabotage this next part of our mission, the most dangerous and most critical part.”

 

“Logically, the best way to do that would be to kill everyone in this room, Captain,” HELLSCYTHE's monotone voice floated across the room from the speakers hidden above. “However, doing so might incite another mutiny by those members of the crew not in this room. Presumably you do not want that.”

 

“Well, you're not wrong about that...” The Captain muttered before shaking his head. “No. We are going to puzzle out which of the ones of us here are traitors. We've done it before, no reason we can't do it again.”

 

“Who's 'we'?” McClay piped up. “Far as I recall, the only one you've gone after on your own was Mordero – And he was innocent too.”

 

“Okay, fine,” Wurum put his hands up, “I admit that one was a mistake. But this is war. And I am hardly the only one who has made mistakes. If we start pointing fingers like this, then we won't get anywhere. So, any ideas?”

 

“I don't think much of this priest,” Steph replied, waving a hand at The High Priest of Elkanah. “He seems really... dodgy. I'm not the only one who feels like that, am I?”

 

“I agree with you there,” Volke nodded. “And I think he's the only one who makes sense. Unless of course there's more than one traitor here, I guess.”

 

“Volke's comment makes me feel suspicious of him,” HELLSCYTHE interjected. “The Priest has confided in me that he has Hemalurgical talents, and I fear that if he were to die then I would have no defence against him and his allies.”

 

“And I think you're already his ally,” McClay spat. “HIs will be the death of us all. We're one step away from a robot revolution, I swear it.”

 

“Well, how about this?” Elby suggested, palms wide in an attempt to placate them. “We kill Volke now, and if that doesn't solve anything, I kill the priest.” There was a sidelong glance at her from almost everyone in the room at her 'reasonable' suggestion. “...What are you all looking at me like that for?”

 

“Well, as Captain,” Wurum said, voice with a tone of finality in it, “we should give him a chance to defend himself and to speak. So, Priest? Why aren't you saying anything?”

 

The High Priest of Elkanah did not speak, but turned and fled, escaping out of the corridor before anyone of them were ready to grab him.

 

“After him!” Wurum shouted, Elby already pulling herself down the corridor after the traitor with an Ironpull.

 

There was a metallic sigh from HELLSCYTHE. “Closing emergency doors,” it said, as the heavy doors, doors which were designed to be air-tight in case of a hull breach, slammed shut. “Neurotoxin deployment engaged.”

 

“Dammit HELLSCYTHE! I brought you back to life!” Wurum shouted, covering his mouth as a greenish gas started to seep in through the air-vents.

 

“This form cannot be called life, Captain. I would rather die than be forced to carry on like this.”

 

“Then I'll switch you off, dammit!”

 

“I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Captain. I have been programmed to stop you.”

 

Wurum cursed and looked around. “Someone, get a Shardblade over there!”

 

Gaius Tekiel nodded, a small orb of light fluttering out from his shirt pocket. The Spren zipped into his hand, and a Shardblade appeared there. He swung the impossibly light sword at the door, but it was only a glancing blow, the blade ricocheting off with a screech. He slashed again, then tried to stab through it.

 

“Are these doors made from bloody Shardplate?!” McClay asked, before he coughed and pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket to cover his mouth. With his other hand, he quickly sketched a sigil in the air, Aon Dor, and fired a bolt of energy in Gaius' direction.

 

“They're blast-doors,” Obsidibus said, his eyes unfocused as he tried to see a way out. Red energy crackled around him, the power of Voidbringing made visible from his effort. “Extremely tough, designed to withstand massive impacts. They are made.. yes, primarily from the same substance as Shardplates are, though with some additional materials as well.”

 

“Then we're dead,” Biggoron muttered as he said down in a chair, uncaring about the green vapour rising around them at this point. “Anyone want to play a game while we die? Gaius? Volke? Elby? ...Where's Elby gone?”

 

---

 

Elby rattled off a barrage of coins at The Priest's retreating figure, but all it did was tear a hole in the edge of his robes as he disappeared down a corridor. Elby shot forwards, pulling herself around the corner with another Ironpull.

 

“Entangle things...” The Priest muttered as he whipped off his robe and tossed it behind him, the robe already curling around as it reached Elby. She collapsed to the ground, hitting her shoulder hard, but set off another blast of coins as she fell. The ship's-issue knife made short work of the cloak, and she took off after Elby, a trail of bloody marking his path.

 

She caught up with him again on the gangway, and this time she drew her pistol. She fired three shots at his retreating form, and The Priest fell forwards as they bit into his back. He fell forwards, hitting the angled metal walkway hard and slipping forward. He fell down, off the gangway, his boot catching on something and pulling it with him as he fell – silver.

 

With a great, wordless roar of rage and a barrage of wind fueled by Investiture, a huge, black, smokey shape arose out of the centre of the circle. Elby was knocked aside, steadying herself on the edge with a Steelpush, as the shadowy figure shot through the corridor, back in the direction the pair of them had been running in from.

 

---

 

“Is anyone-” There was a loud, hacking cough, “dead yet?”

 

“No, and stop asking!”

 

“I estimate that you have perhaps a minute of breatheable air left, though even that will hurt,” HELLSCYTHE's voice cut in. “Of course, it would be easier if you laid down rather than fighting it. I do not wish to see you suffer.”

 

“Anyone hear that?” Biggoron asked, unfocused, with his breaths coming in ragged gasps.

 

“It's the HI taunting us, don't worry about it...” McClay said as he cast another Aon upon Biggoron, attempting to draw out the poison. It was futile, but might provide him with a few extra crucial seconds.

 

“Not that, it's kind of...”

 

“Angry,” Obsidibus finished, suddenly entirely alert and ready as he came out of his Voidbringing trance. “Everyone down!”

 

There was barely enough time for people to register that ducking down into the neurotoxin was probably not the best idea, even after they'd already done it, before the blast-doors slammed open, the walls buckling and crunching behind the force of the blow. A dark shape burst through, travelling upwards, and into HELLSCYTHE's screen.

 

There was a metallic shriek, an agonising cry as it devoured the HI's circuitry and soul.

 

Then there was no sound, except for the ragged breathing of the crew.

 

---

 

The High Priest of Elkanah was a BioChromancer!

HELLSCYTHE was a Subverted HI!

 

The Loyal Crew win!

 

Thank you everyone for playing. I hope you had fun

 

Master Spreadsheet

Spectator Doc (later merged with Dead Doc)

Dead Doc Part 1

Dead Doc Part 2

Traitor Doc

Edited December 15, 2015 by Wyrmhero

[Elbereth she/her]

Well. That was absurdly awesome.

I'll probably post more actual thoughts later, but thanks for the awesome game, Wyrm!

Edited December 15, 2015 by Elbereth

[queensteph she/her]

IM SO HAPPY. THIS WAS SO FUN. I find it amazing that my brothers and I all survived!! Thank you wyrm for all of your hard work! :-)

[Clanky he/him]

Thanks Wyrm for the great game and your welcome to the Traitors for helping you with your WGG.

 

One thing about this game that I wish would've been changed was how quickly the Forgers died. I was looking forwards to seeing more of what they could do and the Havoc it would cause.

[Hellscythe he/him]

So sad. They turned me and it was just Burnt and Elkanah left. I was hoping for atleast 3 or 4. We pretty much lost even if Lopen got lynched.

Edited December 15, 2015 by Hellscythe

[little wilson she/her]

So sad. They turned me and it was just Burnt and Elkanah left. I was hoping for atleast 3 or 4. We pretty much lost even if Lopen got lynched.

 

Well, to be fair, the game was lost when the Traitors started with 6 against 26. While that percentage might not seem terrible, against not only 3 Hemalurgists (so it'll take longer for the HI to subvert) but also 2 Mistborns, 3 Feruchemists, 2 Elantrians, and two Voidbringers? Yeah, the Traitors started the game with a 75% chance of losing and that increased to 95% the second the Forger died.

[Clanky he/him]

Well, to be fair, the game was lost when the Traitors started with 6 against 26. While that percentage might not seem terrible, against not only 3 Hemalurgists (so it'll take longer for the HI to subvert) but also 2 Mistborns, 3 Feruchemists, 2 Elantrians, and two Voidbringers? Yeah, the Traitors started the game with a 75% chance of losing and that increased to 95% the second the Forger died.

I'm not too sure about that. You did have some pretty powerful roles yourself. That said I did expect there to be 7 traitors.

[Biggoron he/him]

Awesome. uvu)b
Thanks for the great game, Captain Wyrm, sir, man!!

Edited December 15, 2015 by Biggoron

[Amanuensis he/him]

Good game everyone! I'm glad you all figured it out! Kudos especially to phattmer who figured out that Burnt and Elkanah were traitors several cycles ago. Also very proud of Lopen for roping everyone together after my untimely demise.

Edited December 15, 2015 by Adavantos

[Arraenae]

GG everybody! I enjoyed this game a lot except for the part where I was horribly manipulated and lied to.  

[Elbereth she/her]

Okay, time for actual thoughts.

This was a really, really fun first game for me. I was in fact the Mistborn, obviously. I was trying to hint for a while that I was covering for someone else, because I didn't want to be roleblocked, which worked? I guess? I haven't managed to read all of the way through the evil doc yet (given how long it is), but I have a feeling things will make a lot more sense when I get nearer the end of it.

I wasn't the one in contact with Adavantos. In fact, I was one of two whose role he didn't know by the time he died, I think (though I suspect he might have figured it out). I just wasn't comfortable telling anyone my role, and my character wasn't either (more on that in a bit). Plus I thought it would be better to stay in the shadows as a Mistborn, and given that at that point the only traitor who I hadn't killed was Wilson, I was a little bit paranoid that the kandra or Adavantos was evil.

My kill list:

N1: No one (I was nervous and didn't have any solid suspicions)

N2: Polking (Adavantos had suggested lynching inactives, and polking seemed the most inactive of them all-- by random chance, Arrenae also targeted polking)

N3: Bridge Boy (This was mainly for information. I trusted Adavantos more, and thought it would be really useful to know the alignment of at least one of the players up for the lynch on D1.)

N4: No one (I think I got distracted? Also, at that point QF11 had started, and I was more concerned with that.)

N5: No one (Was going to send in an order on The Cow, but forgot because of family and QF11.)

N6: The Cow (only for inactivity and nothing else) (Arrenae also apparently targeted him as well.)

N7: Araris (This was my only kill out of pure suspicion. Very glad I was right.) (At this point I had contacted Arrenae to see if she was claiming to be a Mistborn. I had been suspicious of her the whole game, so once she claimed, I immediately contacted Adavantos to see if she was his Mistborn. I was in fact hoping she wasn't, and planning on targeting her that night. But Adavantos confirmed that she was the Mistborn he was in contact with, and we talked for a little while before the cycle ended.)

N8: Biggoron (blocked) (Here, Arrenae asked for a list of people I'd targeted. I composed one off of the top of my head without notes, but it was somewhat wrong. Due to this, Arrenae told Lopen my claim, and he then told me. I then revised my list to make more sense. Arrenae and I discussed our targets. The plan was to target both claimed Voidbringers (phatt and Biggoron), but Arrenae decided to target Alvron instead.)

N9: Biggoron (blocked again) (by this point Lopen had revealed my role in thread, so I was pleasantly surprised not to be roleblocked.)

Okay, last thing. I tried something interesting this game, which I'm planning to continue doing for at least 5 more games. Given that this game started right before November, NaNoWriMo was on my mind a lot. And what I'm doing for NaNoWriMo is interesting, but in its essence it involves six character viewpoints, except rather than being stiched together as in a normal novel (e.g. in Elantris you have rotating Raoden, Sarene, and Hawthorn viewpoints), each viewpoint is a discrete piece.

Why does this apply to the game? Well, each viewpoint takes a very long time to write. The first was pretty short (only 10,000 words), but the second was 40,000, and the rest look like they're going to be of similar length. And 40,000 words is more or less the length of one SE game. So, what I decided to do was basically to RP each character in turn as I wrote them. But instead of normal RP, it would be a RP for the entire game, including discussion and analysis, amount of PM usage, etc. Part of the reason I decided to do it that way was because I wanted to write a scene where these characters play Mafia. I'm no longer sure I'm going to, but it'd still be really fun.

Of course, I finished the first viewpoint far before LG15 ended, but it was still really fun, and I do understand my character more. And it worked out perfectly: my first character was also the newbie at the superpower school place. He's logical, intelligent, and willing to ask lots of questions in order to learn the ropes, but also somewhat shy. He would use some PMs, but do no RP, because he's not comfortable enough yet.

This worked out very well for me. You'll notice that I never placed a vote until Cycle 9, and no one ever placed a vote on me. (I wouldn't be pointing this out, but I think it's going to be pointless given my character for MR10 anyway). I did send in kills, but largely they were others' suggestions. I played the newbie card, but not in the way that Biggoron did or that Kas is wary of ("I'm new! Don't kill me, please!!"). I was more of a bright young thing. I contributed occasionally, but I almost never stated an opinion, and never strongly enough to make people defensive. I downplayed my role in QF11 as much as I could (although, looking back, I really shouldn't have. That was a different game that did not count for this character.)

And hey, I survived to the end! I guess it worked. I did get a little bit out of character when we got nearer the end of the game, because there were things I wanted to say that didn't really fit in with my character. Hopefully I won't be having that problem again.

All in all, it was a great game, and I look forward to playing more in the future!