Long Game 17: Heronfall

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

One of you could have killed yourselves y'know. But I'm SO glad that you didn't. I was pretty much freaking out during almost all of the mission. I was reading through some things, and realized that the Traitors may have won if anyone died to the mission last Night. Their win condition is such that if there isn't enough players to carry out a mission, they win. So I was thinking, it might be that if we lynched the last Traitor, but only had 3 players left at the end, we may have still lost, since we couldn't carry out the mission. So yeah, I'm very relieved that no one died. 

 

Anyways, mostly I'm telling you all this because this means we have to actually lynch someone now. Which is why I said it was our last lynch. So get your thinking caps on, because we've got to figure this out.

 

Edit: I don't want to double post guys. Seriously, what's up with you all? I've seen all of you on at one point or another. Isn't this more important than LG18 right now? Hellscythe

Edited March 10, 2016 by TheMightyLopen

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

Wow, you guys made me double post. Shame on you. Clanky, Hellscythe, why aren't you discussing things? This is the last Cycle!!! Please, talk about why you are Loyal or why you suspect someone is a Traitor. Kynedath, you too. If you'll notice, I edited my last post and voted on Hellscythe. My basis for voting on him is that I suspect the False Trails Traitor wouldn't want to go on the mission. Clanky and Kynedath have both constantly asked to go on missions, while Hellscythe hasn't been so gungho about it. Also, the only lynch phattemer took part of was the one to protect Hellscythe. I have some arguments for each player that are both good and bad though, so I don't want to just say, "hmm, yeah, I'm right, let's lynch this one person without discussing things at all, even though it's the last chance we get."

 

I personally am most suspicious of Hellscythe right now, but I'd like for this to be a good Turn of discussion, as that will most likely give us the best chance to win.

 

Shallan, we know the Traitor is the False Trails role, and we also know that you and I are Loyals, based on certain facts that I have pointed out previously. I understand you haven't been around though.

[Hellscythe he/him]

If Lopen and Shallan are innocent then between Clanky and Kynedath I have no solid evidence damning either of them. The only difference i see between the two is that Ada scanned Clanky and not Kynedath. Then again he also scanned me. Other than that Clanky joined in on the vote against phattemer last. Although I like Clanky's reasoning for voting more than Kynedath's these last couple cycles I'm still voting for Clanky because I think he's our best shot although I'd like to hear both Kynedath and Clanky give their opinion on today before I make this my final vote.

 

Phattemer voted for Stink because at the time he probably thought that if Stink died and was innocent I would be lynched next saving him and his eliminator friend another Day cycle after Stink was mislynched from being lynched themselves. That's also what I thought at the time to be honest. "If you turn out to be a Traitor, then I'll go after either Ripple or Hellscythe, depending on your role. So yes. Why doesn't that make sense?" - Lopen

Immediately after this post, Phattemer votes for Stink.

If you look at his post he didn't give much reasoning for voting for Stink and it was made clear that I was next in line to be suspect if Stink turned good however that didn't go the other way around. If I died and was revealed good Stink wasn't any more suspicious than before.

 

Other than that only evidence I have for being innocent is this

"The mission has begun! I will need to hear back from IrulelikeSTINK, Hellscythe, phattemer and TheMightyLopen before the end of the Night." 

Why on earth would phattemer put both me and him on the mission if there were only 2 of us left? If I was evil he would've left me off the mission and make no kills (like they did) to put suspicion onto the people on the mission (which worked btw Me and Stink were the most suspect after that happened) while also getting the people off the mission more trusted.

Also I was scanned Cycle 2 as my role by Luna a proven innocent. Though that doesn't mean much since we're looking for a False Trails it's all I have confirming my role.

Lopen, doing the numbers, I'm pretty sure if you lynch me we lose as we'd only have 3 innocents left and thus could no longer carry out a mission successfully so I have to suggest not voting for me.

Edited March 10, 2016 by Hellscythe

[Kynedath]

Evidence of my innocence, I have not very much. But I do have one thing.

 

If I were an eliminator, then I most likely wouldn't have wanted to disappear like I did way back in like cycle . . . 4? Anyways, I wouldn't have wanted to draw that much attention when I rejoined the game. I would have wanted to stay low and not get noticed until I had to.

 

It's not much, but it is something.

 

 

As for suspicions, I would probably say that  . . . Oh jeez, I'm the tiebreak vote until the other two get on. Alright, no matter. I'd have to say that I haven't noticed Hellscythe this game, and as you all know, I always think that those who don't attract attention aren't those worth paying the most attention to. Clanky, I feel like I have seen you around more.

 

If anyone had another reason for me to vote on someone, then by all means, tell me.

Edited March 10, 2016 by Kynedath

[Clanky he/him]

I am putting my vote on Hellscythe. Also when you point out that you were scanned by Luna I would like to remind you that I also was scanned by Ripple which mean less than nothing at this point for either of us. 

 

Also sorry for not posting much but it's reaching the end of the semester for me and I have a bunch of major projects due soon.

Edited March 10, 2016 by Clanky

[Hellscythe he/him]

You guys are making a mistake. If I die we lose the game as there will only be 3 innocents left. The eliminator has already secured their win by having a 3rd vote on me. Phattemer lead the lynch onto me by killing Stink he did not save me from the lynch. Phattemer also put me on the mission with him. Please reconsider your votes. Clanky is the most suspicious to me at this point in the day so I'm keeping my vote there.

 

Thinking about this from an out of game, I've never been an eliminator before this is I think my 8th game straight being innocent not counting the game where I was HI and turned evil after the evil team had lost. If I really was an eliminator don't you think I'd be more excited about this game and be more active throughout the game? 

Edited March 11, 2016 by Hellscythe

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

Okay, so here's what my thoughts are on Clanky, Kynedath and Hellscythe.

 

We know one of them is False Trails, so any scan on any of these is useless. Each of them claim to be roleless(of course). Clanky and Kynedath have volunteered for missions multiple times, while Hellscythe has not(well, basically once). Here's the facts:

 

Clanky: Volunteered for Mission 1. Said he was still fine with going on the mission for Mission 2. Said he'd be active enough to send in orders if sent on the mission(so he was fine with it) for mission 3. Suggested putting inactives on the Mission on Mission 4. Again volunteered for going on the mission for Mission 5. Mission 6 is when phattemer said he was putting Lopen, Hellscythe, STINK and himself on the mission. Clanky then suggested putting Shallan on the mission, but he didn't. Mission 7 he suggested putting biggest suspicions on the mission.

 

Conclusion: He was genuine about going on missions, and was in fact pushing for himself to go on missions. I don't think he is the Traitor False Trails player. The Traitors needed that role to protect Adavantos. He's OFTEN a target for scanning, so I wouldn't think the Traitor would volunteer as often as Clanky has. Another point for Clanky is his involvement in STINK's lynch. While that may sound odd, since STINK was Loyal, there was literally no reason for him to make up a theory like the one he did. If he was a Traitor, that would mean that both STINK and Hellscythe were Loyal, so why not just let Hellscythe get lynched, and then most likely STINK would be next? Overall, I would say that I trust Clanky the most.

 

Kynedath: Volunteered for Mission 1. Volunteered for Mission 2 before it was even Night 2, sounding a little upset he wasn't able to go(post #154). Volunteered to me in our PM for Mission 3(I was the player who chose). Inactive for Night 4, so nothing on that. Volunteered for Mission 5. Was against killing Shallan for Mission 6(when phattemer chose), and other than that comment, nothing. After that, he didn't comment about missions.

 

Conclusion: Like Clanky, he seemed genuine about wanting to go on Missions. Also like Clanky, I doubt he's the False Trails Traitor. Again, like Clanky, he switched his vote from Hellscythe to STINK. If he was a Traitor, there would have been no need, in fact, with phattemer voting on STINK, it would have been a bad idea to vote alongside him on a Loyal. Another point for Kynedath's Loyalty is that he voted on Adavantos with me on Day 5, when the lynch was tied on Ada and BB.

 

Hellscythe: After being sent on Mission 1 by LUNA, he suggested to keep sending all the same players on the Mission(including himself), even though he was freaked out of dying on the mission. He went quiet for the next 4 Missions, only speaking up on Mission 6 when phatt said he was gonna put him on the mission. He said he was fine with it. Other than that though, nothing.

 

Conclusion: Seems mighty shady(that was my message in the write-up in case you guys didn't see it).   But for real, he claimed to not having any role to me on Night 1 I think, but he never volunteered or anything. His only suggestion was for all the players on the first Mission be put on future Missions, but even then he didn't push for that on the next Night or any Nights after that. So to me, he is the most likely player to be False Trails based on this information, seeing as he didn't speak up about Missions at all, and Kynedath and Clanky both were all for being on Missions. Another point against him is that Ada scanned him, and suggested we exclude him from the lynch unless there's good reason to suspect he's evil. Kinda wish I had payed more attention to that detail earlier actually. So I think he's the Traitor.

 

Hellscythe, in response to your arguments:

 

RE: phattemer's vote on STINK. When I explained about the Well-Connected issue, it was you and STINK who I was most suspicious of being the Well-Connected. I had initially thought it wouldn't be phattemer because of his inactivity(which I'm guessing was mostly feigned  ). Turns out luckat was right about his odd timing to get online only during Nights. Another thing I wish I'd payed more attention to(I did reveal that in the thread, but didn't pursue it as much as I should have). Anyways, getting back on track, lynching you WOULD have made STINK look more suspicious, so him choosing to go after STINK instead of you does reflect badly on you.

 

As far as putting both you and himself on the mission, I'm guessing he put both of you on the mission because he was gonna put himself on the mission, and knowing you were his protection from scans, he had to put you on there as well. He also might have been trying to help clear you both by having it succeed with 2 Traitors on it, not realizing that it would cause suspicion to be brought on you both the way it was.

 

So there you have it. I've thought about this quite a lot, and have analyzed just about everything that each player has done, and I am pretty confident about my choice. I would like to hear your opinions though, seeing as this is the last lynch.

[Clanky he/him]

If Lopen and Shallan are innocent then between Clanky and Kynedath I have no solid evidence damning either of them. The only difference i see between the two is that Ada scanned Clanky and not Kynedath. Then again he also scanned me. Other than that Clanky joined in on the vote against phattemer last. Although I like Clanky's reasoning for voting more than Kynedath's these last couple cycles I'm still voting for Clanky because I think he's our best shot although I'd like to hear both Kynedath and Clanky give their opinion on today before I make this my final vote.

 

1. Phattemer voted for Stink because at the time he probably thought that if Stink died and was innocent I would be lynched next saving him and his eliminator friend another Day cycle after Stink was mislynched from being lynched themselves. That's also what I thought at the time to be honest. "If you turn out to be a Traitor, then I'll go after either Ripple or Hellscythe, depending on your role. So yes. Why doesn't that make sense?" - Lopen

Immediately after this post, Phattemer votes for Stink.

If you look at his post he didn't give much reasoning for voting for Stink and it was made clear that I was next in line to be suspect if Stink turned good however that didn't go the other way around. If I died and was revealed good Stink wasn't any more suspicious than before.

 

2.Other than that only evidence I have for being innocent is this

"The mission has begun! I will need to hear back from IrulelikeSTINK, Hellscythe, phattemer and TheMightyLopen before the end of the Night." 

Why on earth would phattemer put both me and him on the mission if there were only 2 of us left? If I was evil he would've left me off the mission and make no kills (like they did) to put suspicion onto the people on the mission (which worked btw Me and Stink were the most suspect after that happened) while also getting the people off the mission more trusted.

Also I was scanned Cycle 2 as my role by Luna a proven innocent. Though that doesn't mean much since we're looking for a False Trails it's all I have confirming my role.

Lopen, doing the numbers, I'm pretty sure if you lynch me we lose as we'd only have 3 innocents left and thus could no longer carry out a mission successfully so I have to suggest not voting for me.

 

You guys are making a mistake. If I die we lose the game as there will only be 3 innocents left. The eliminator has already secured their win by having a 3rd vote on me. 3. Phattemer lead the lynch onto me by killing Stink he did not save me from the lynch. Phattemer also put me on the mission with him. Please reconsider your votes. Clanky is the most suspicious to me at this point in the day.

1. The problem with this is that you are the other option for the lynch. So either he votes for STINK which helps to keep you alive, Votes for no-one/someone who obviously isn't being lynched which is fairly suspicious or he votes for you which coincidentally would've made you the one who was lynched that turn instead of STINK. If anything that is a point against you not for you.

 

2. Yes that happened and probably was supposed to not let anyone know where the traitors were located by not killing anyone. basically any kill may have helped us narrow down on you sooner. I will say that I still think it would've been best to try and capitalize on the double kill there and then use the well-connected to try and manipulate another lynch and then you could've won but I do see the logic of having you both on the mission. Another of which is so that you can make this exact argument.

 

3. Once again he did actually save you from the lynch since the votes were 4 for stink and 3 for you.

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

You guys are making a mistake. If I die we lose the game as there will only be 3 innocents left. The eliminator has already secured their win by having a 3rd vote on me. Phattemer lead the lynch onto me by killing Stink he did not save me from the lynch. Phattemer also put me on the mission with him. Please reconsider your votes. Clanky is the most suspicious to me at this point in the day so I'm keeping my vote there.

 

Thinking about this from an out of game, I've never been an eliminator before this is I think my 8th game straight being innocent not counting the game where I was HI and turned evil after the evil team had lost. If I really was an eliminator don't you think I'd be more excited about this game and be more active throughout the game? 

 

I guess I responded to your points in my last post.

 

Your inactivity was odd to me and what you bring up was one thing I had thought about as well, making me slightly less suspicious of you, but now, I think the facts against you are enough that I believe you are the last Traitor. Something to combat that argument is that I believe your inactivity was actually caused somewhat by RL things, as even Ada told me that you were dealing with stuff that made you more inactive.

 

Once Ada scanned you, he asked if you should be brought into the group PM I'd made with him, STINK and me. I said it was up to him. He responded by saying that because of his fear of False Trails and your odd inactivity, he figured it would be best to leave you clueless and just exclude you from the lynch unless there was reason to actually suspect you were evil. < comment I referenced earlier. He explained that he had talked to you in an OOG PM about your inactivity, and he said that "apparently he's just stupid busy and it has nothing to do with his alignment."

[Hellscythe he/him]

I guess I responded to your points in my last post.

 

Your inactivity was odd to me and what you bring up was one thing I had thought about as well, making me slightly less suspicious of you, but now, I think the facts against you are enough that I believe you are the last Traitor. Something to combat that argument is that I believe your inactivity was actually caused somewhat by RL things, as even Ada told me that you were dealing with stuff that made you more inactive.

 

Once Ada scanned you, he asked if you should be brought into the group PM I'd made with him, STINK and me. I said it was up to him. He responded by saying that because of his fear of False Trails and your odd inactivity, he figured it would be best to leave you clueless and just exclude you from the lynch unless there was reason to actually suspect you were evil. < comment I referenced earlier. He explained that he had talked to you in an OOG PM about your inactivity, and he said that "apparently he's just stupid busy and it has nothing to do with his alignment."

Isn't Ada the one who scanned Rae as evil to gain trust? Why do you think he would do something straightforward like protect a random inactive teammate from being lynched? If anything this makes me less likely to be evil especially considering the fact he didn't even PM me if I was evil wouldn't he want me in the Trusted Group?

Edited March 11, 2016 by Hellscythe

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

Isn't Ada the one who scanned Rae as evil to gain trust? Why do you think he would do something straightforward like protect a random inactive teammate from being lynched? If anything this makes me less likely to be evil especially considering the fact he didn't even PM me.

 

Scanned Rae to get trust. Try to use said trust to protect random inactive teammate from being lynched. It sounds like a plausible strategy to me, especially since I believe you're a useful role like False Trails and Ada knew there was a Loyal Hacker out there.

 

Ada told me he'd PM'd you when you asked for the spec doc to QF13(his game). Are you saying he didn't ask you about your inactivity? So where would he get that information?

[Hellscythe he/him]

Yes he PM'd me about inactivity but not about the Trusted Group. If I were evil wouldn't he want me in that group so I could openly False Trails him if I was False Trails?

Edited March 11, 2016 by Hellscythe

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

Well considering what the False Trails role is, that would be a dangerous stunt to pull to announce you're False Trails to me and STINK. At that point, I think one of us might have suggested in the thread for a Data Gathering player to contact us and then for you to turn your False Trails power off for yourself(while still protecting Ada probably) and Ada and the Data Gathering player to both scan you at once, which would end up with Ada having to tell us you were Loyal and hope that neither of you were killed by an Assassin or lynched at any point in the game, OR he would have no choice but to kill whoever claimed Data Gathering to us, which would cause suspicion to be placed on the both of you. So, since he'd already revealed Arraenae, I don't think the Traitors would try something as risky as that.

[Hellscythe he/him]

I've done all I can to convince you. It's your loss. If we don't have me alive by the end of the day we lose because you won't have enough crew to carry out the mission it'll be 3 on 1.

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

So, an interesting tidbit I can't believe I overlooked, but actually may confirm that Hellscythe is the Traitor. Here's the rule:

 

• False Trails - Your crew is extremely good at covering tracks - both its own, and those of others. Each Night Cycle, you can hide the Alignment and Role of yourself and/or another player during the next Cycle. This causes the target(s) to appear as Non-Specialist and Loyal. Unless stated otherwise by the player, you are assumed to be using this ability at Night on yourself.

 

 

So, if I'm reading this right(finally), that means that neither Clanky nor Kynedath could be False Trails, since they were on the Mission on Night 3, which is the Night before Ada was scanned(Night 4, obviously  ) and the Night the False Trails Traitor must have sent in the order to protect Adavantos. And if you're worried about Shallan, don't be. She was inactive all the way back since the beginning of Night 2, so she couldn't have sent in the order to protect Adavantos. Anyways, yeah, that relieves a little of my stress about getting this right. Even if I'm reading the rule wrong now, and initially had it right, I would still be voting on Hellscythe, just to make that 100% clear.

[Kynedath]

Is the cycle not over yet?

[Hellscythe he/him]

Good game guys ;D

[Kynedath]

Wait, what? Did we win? As in did the villagers win?

[Hellscythe he/him]

Yeah you won. I was the last eliminator, False Trails. Silly phattemer putting me and him on the mission.

[Kynedath]

Oh. Gg hs. I am guessing that the gm isn't online? But yeah! Good job guys!

Sorry HS! Accidental downvote. Please fix somebody.

Edited March 11, 2016 by Kynedath

[Wyrmhero he/him]

You're right, I was not online. I was playing Magic >>.

 

Hellscythe was indeed the last Eliminator. I was going to make you all prepare for one final mission, but he had to go and admit it .

 

Writeup will be posted tomorrow, as it's almost half 11.

[Kynedath]

Thanks for the game Wyrm. I really enjoyed it.

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

Whew! There were a lot of moments where I was sure we'd lost. Good game guys! 

 

That was a really fun but tense last couple Turns, and I am SO glad we finally got it done. Wyrm, if you had made us go on one more mission, that would have been so horrible of you.   Can't wait for the final write-up!

[Wyrmhero he/him]

Epilogue: The Final Mission

If one wanted to travel between cities on Scadrial, the easiest method by far was by using the extensive network of trains that criss-crossed the world. Even after almost four-hundred years since the cataclysm which shook the world, most of it was still unpopulated. People clustered in Elendel, and then in the Megacities. Outside of these cities, life was hard and at times subject to the whims of fate. A simpler life, but a more difficult one as well.

But with such isolation grew a great need for transportation between those areas which were densely populated. Travelling by car or by boat was time-consuming and expensive over such long distances, and the vast majority of air travel was done to move goods rather than people. Therefore, when most people wished to move between cities, they took the trains. It was generally inexpensive and it was not too slow.

The five of them sat in one compartment of the train, alone and isolated from the rest of the train. They had been informed so by text message on their phones, Yolen apparently taking no chances with this one. They did not know how long they would be on here for, they did not know where they were headed, and the number was blocked so they couldn't ask. It was the first time that their employer had not clued them in fully on the plan, and that made them all nervous.

But someone was more nervous than the others were, and it was starting to show. Avis' eyes flickered from side to side, and whenever there was a particularly bumpy part of the track, he would flinch a little. He looked at his phone every few minutes, waiting for their instructions to come through. But nothing came through, no indication of where they were going or what they would have to do.

“Hey,” Citona said, slightly hesitantly, “does it look like we're slowing down?”

“You might be right,” Lopen nodded, looking out the window, “doesn't look like we're approaching a station or anything though.”

The train came to a stop, and they stood up. Either they were at their destination, or there was a problem. Either way, they had to be ready. From the carriages next door, a murmuring began, which quickly rose to shouting as the other passengers demanded to know what was going on. Five buzzes rang through their own carriage as they all received a text at once. 'Get off the train', it said.

“I guess this is our stop...” Clanky nodded. They exited the train, keeping close to it so they would pass under the windows and not be seen by the other passengers. When they had all alighted, the wheels started to spin again, and their mode of transport abandoned them in the middle of nowhere. “Now what?”

As if on cue, there was another series of beeps. 'Travel north for two miles'. Lopen scowled at it. “Couldn't have bloody dropped us off closer.”

“What if we run out of signal?” Avis asked. “It's amazing we've got anything in this wasteland.”

“We've got a signal now,” Clanky replied. “So I guess something's around to make it work. Maybe that's what we're here for?”

“Can't be,” Dragonsight shook his head. “Why would a signal mast be our target? Use your head.”

“That's it,” Avis said. “I'm asking before we lose signal and get killed because we don't know what we're doing.” He started keying in a message, but Lopen knocked the phone from his hand. “The Hell?” Avis asked, crouching down to pick it back up. Lopen stomped on the phone, shattering it to pieces.

“And just how would you be asking him?” Lopen asked, his voice attempting for sickeningly sweet but actually managing to be sharp and closer to leering. “We got no number for him.”

“I needed that phone to-”

“Send messages to your real boss,” Lopen finished for him with a triumphant grin. “I knew you were a tricksy bastard,” he nodded. “You have to keep them updated, since we have no idea what we're doing.” By this time, he had already drawn a knife and placed it to Avis' throat. Then he hesitated. “Dragonsight,” he nodded at Avis. “Take his weapons.”

“You're not going to kill him?” Dragonsight raised an eyebrow in surprise, though he moved forward and did as requested, frisking their traitorous partner and rendering him helpless.

“Why bother?” Lopen asked with a shrug. “We just get him to sit here, nice and quiet. Maybe he'll get picked up on the way back so we can spend some time finding out what he knows. Or maybe he'll just flee before it gets to that stage. Either way, no need to do anything with him right now. He can't do anything to stop us.”

“And if he follows us, we can just kill him I suppose,” Citona nodded. “Okay, fine.” She waved at Avis. “See you when we get back. Or not, I guess.”
 

---

Two miles north, one mile east, and then continuing on from there, they followed Yolen's brief instructions. On the horizon, they eventually found a dirty, sand-covered metallic structure, apparently Allomantically inert.

“This whole thing's an aluminium alloy?” Dragonsight asked in disbelief, shaking his head. “I suppose they have the money for it, don't they?”

“I would imagine it's to keep our Harmony, and to hide it from Allomancers,” Clanky suggested. “Though it's almost impossible to find unless you know where it is anyway.”

There were no guards at the structure, which was both surprising and unsurprising. The door seemed battered and bent out of shape. It was the only part of the structure not made of Aluminium. There was no door or lock visible, and it was clear how it was meant to be opened.

Dragonsight reached into his toolkit, built up from several years of experience, and pulled out a syringe and a vial with two slightly different metallic shades within. He filled the syringe and injected himself with the aluminium and the steel. Then he took out another vial, and swallowed the mixture of iron and duralumin. With a grimace, he burned them both, and pulled on the door.

The heavy portal barely budged at first, but slowly a creaking sound filled the air as the metal warped and a kink appeared in it, a corner bent out of shape. Dragonsight's shouldered sagged and he panted, looking at the thing. “Seriously?” he asked between breaths. “It barely bloody moved!”

“We should be able to squeeze through,” Citona said. “Doesn't sound like there's anything on the other side,” she added, edging up to the door. Pressing a hand on the metal and ducking, she entered the building. Lopen shrugged and followed her, though it was a bit harder for him to go through the gap.

When the four of them were inside, they were greeting by a sterile, silvery hallway. It was empty of any decoration or utility, and there was only one way to go. On the floor, various different bootprints had dragged sand in, but they quickly faded as the sand fell off the shoes. They travelled through in silence, the only noise the sound of their breathing and of their steps on metal.

Eventually they arrived at another door, though this one was easily opened manually. Beyond it, another cold, abandoned room. It did, however, have one feature. In the centre, through a crack on the floor, a great rock-face stabbed upwards. It was covered in veiny fault lines, interspersed with nodes along them. On many these nodes, a metallic bead was attached.

“This is their atium supply?” Clanky asked, his voice reverberating badly off the walls. “But... There's none missing.”

“Atium was meant to be a living metal, wasn't it?” Citona asked. “It grew, the legends say.”

“It'd be worth an absolute fortune,” Lopen muttered, reaching out to pluck one of the beads. He withdrew his hand quickly, bead in the centre and a red cut along it. “Bloody rock's sharp.”

“It might be worth a lot,” Dragonsight agreed, “But do you really want to try selling it to the Megacorps? As far as we know they're the only ones who can use it.”

“Ah, good point...” Lopen nodded. “But I guess we shouldn't leave it here either. So we hide it?” he asked. He reached out for another but pulled his hand back quickly, another red gash his reward.

“Do we have any actual instruction on what to do? Clanky said, checking his phone. “No signal,” he added. “So I suppose we either have to find out for ourselves, or we go outside and wait.”

“I'll be damned if I have to wait outside this place, we might as well do something useful,” Lopen replied. And there's no point in hurting ourselves as we harvest,” he added, pinching his thumb to stop the bleeding. “Just grab them all with iron.”

Dragonsight nodded and pulled on one of the beads. It landed in his palm, and there was a shattering sound. One of the nodes, the geodes which produced the aitum, had shattered into dust, which flickered out of existence as it fell. “Oh, I see...”

“Allomancy damages them?” Citona asked. “Seems weird, but I suppose at least we don't need to ask what to do now.”

Dragonsight flared the iron, and pulled on all the lines nearby. There was a great cracking noise as every geode in the room shattered at once, atium they held shooting out and peppering Dragonsight with debris. He was close enough at least that they didn't have enough time to build up and speed and hurt.

Lopen crouched down and scooped a pile up in both hands, leaving a red streak on the floor. “Mission accomplished,” he grinned.
 

---

Avis stopped running when he reached the next village along, grateful at least that due to the presence of the railway, he wouldn't get lost. He was grateful for the fact that they at least hadn't removed his stored metals, even if it was just pewter. He would have died from exhaustion by now if not.

In the middle of the town, he quickly stole a few boxings. He might have been working for the Megacorps, but he was still a Mistrunner, an accomplished criminal. Next, he found a public phone-box, inserting the boxings into the slot. He punched in the number he was given, the secret line to his employer.

“Avis?” The voice on the other side asked, no preamble despite the voice clearly being used to social situations. “Where are you? Where are they? Why have you not reported in? Answer me!”

Avis tried to speak, but couldn't. His throat hurt, and he could feel his chest getting wet and sticky. An arm reached across him, plucked the phone from his grasp, and placed it back on the hook. His eyes widened as he saw who it was.

Exisa withdrew the dagger from his neck with a disinterested look. “Y...” Avis struggled to make the words, clasping a hand to his throat. Pewter was the only thing keeping him alive at this point. “Dead...” he spluttered out, blood flying over his hand, the phone-box, and over Exisa's somewhat baggy suit.

“Yes, he is,” Exisa nodded. “And now, so are you.” This time the dagger pierced his eye, and Avis fell to the ground. Leaning over his corpse, Exisa inserted a few boxings into the phone himself.

“Yes?” A gruff voice asked. “Are we done?”

“They let Avis live,” he responded, “but I have taken care of that. Assuming there are no other complications, then yes, we are done.”

“Good,” Yolen said. There was a pause. “Extract yourself as soon as you can and disappear. Your part is over; I will make the arrangements for their payment using another source. After that is done, I will also disappear for some time. Goodbye.” The line went dead before he could respond, but the actual dismissal was appreciated.

Yolen's assistant stepped out of the booth, mindful of the fact that his shirt was covered in blood, and that there were people staring. That was not even considering that things would get much worse when they saw the body. He looked around, as if getting his bearings, and headed off towards the edge of town, towards the cemetery. First part of disappearing - he needed a new skin.  
 

---

The Loyal Mistrunners won!

Good game guys, and it was very close right at the end. As usual, expect a small post-mortem from me in a few days time.

Master Spreadsheet
Spectator Doc (which got merged with the Dead Doc, also as usual for me >>)
Traitor Doc
Dead Doc

Edited June 6, 2017 by Alvron

[STINK he/him]

Good game everyone! 

 

And thanks for GMing it Wyrm.

Edited March 12, 2016 by IrulelikeSTINK