Mid-Range Game 13: Treachery on the Terris Peaks

[TheMightyLopen]

I don't like the bandwagon on strawman, either. Strawman's contribution to his own death makes me feel like he's just a bored villager. I feel like Macen can give us just as much info. In addition:

 

Lopen? Really? I thought you were against bandwagons. There isn't that much evidence against strawman, and I don't feel like you're helping discussion much by joining the lynch train.

 

Bored villager? Or an eliminator who knows his time is up? And how exactly does lynching Macen give us more info? What info is that exactly? He's admitted to being inactive for quite a bit of the game which means less interactions with other players.

 

As for my vote with little explanation, if you'll notice, I posted that very late last night(4:30am), so I wasn't up for typing up an "essay" on why I was voting on Strawman(I mean, you guys have already stated most of the evidence against him anyways). To be clear, bandwagoning isn't something I typically do, but in a situation where the eliminators could overpower the lynch, I will not only add my vote to a bandwagon I agree with, but I'll ask that everyone else do the same(see: MR12 and MR10 for examples).

 

Also, with you and phatt trying to pull the lynch off of Strawman, any doubt I had for voting on strawman is gone now. He isn't even defending himself, which I don't see as a villager thing to do at all.

[Elbereth]

Writeup will be late again today, by the way. Apologies.

[TheMightyLopen]

Writeup will be late again today, by the way. Apologies.

 

No problem Auntie! Whenever you've got the time. 

[Elbereth]

Cycle is over! And has been for a while now. Oops.

[Elbereth]

Conclusion - I See The Light

Tindomë didn’t set up Alendi’s tent high on the rock that night. Instead, it was tucked away into a corner. She set herself to keep guard that night, tapping bronze to stay alert. She couldn’t maintain this sort of thing all the way up the mountain, she knew, but perhaps she’d find someone she trusted to help. Until then, however, she’d just have to keep watch by herself.

The campfire was indistinct from where she was sitting, but if she had tapped tin, she would have seen Trelagist in deep conversation with Jonly.

“I don’t have any stores of pewter left,” Jonly was saying. “I can’t help. But can you promise me, please?”

Trelagist looked at him. “If this odorous creature is not a traitor, I shall come after you,” he pronounced finally. “But I shall do as you ask.”

Later that night, a stirring. Trelagist crept slowly from his sleeping roll, standing up ever so quietly and moving towards the smell. At least he didn’t have to find the traitor. He just had to follow his nose.

He found the packman at last, a scrawny little man whose smell was so awful that Trelagist held his breath.

He knelt beside the man, drew his dagger, and placed a hand over the man’s mouth while stabbing directly between two ribs.

“Are you a traitor?” he whispered harshly. “I’ll give you your goldmind if you tell me the truth.”

The man’s eyes bulged, and he began shaking his head frantically.

“Are you sure? I don’t care if you are or not. But if you lie, you will die.”

The man continued shaking his head vehemently, pleading with his eyes.

Trelagist sighed. “Looks like it’s time to confront Jonly,” he whispered to himself, pulling his dagger out of the body. He reached for the metalminds that he’d noticed beside the bedroll.

His hands met flat ground.

He twisted, keeping his hand on the man’s mouth to keep him quiet, and turned to look, peering through the mists.

Jonly smiled back at him. “Looking for this?” he whispered, voice carrying to Trelagist’s ears perfectly in the still night air. He dangled a small ring from his fingers. The goldmind. Trelagist looked back at the man, who only had perhaps a minute to live, if he was lucky.

Trelagist stood. “Give that to me! He confessed. He’s innocent!”

Jonly took a few steps forward, proffering the ring. But as Trelagist reached for the ring, he used his other, previously concealed hand to slice through Trelagist’s throat.

“I’m truly sorry,” he whispered conversationally, as he caught Trelagist to muffle his fall. “I usually love to talk to anyone I kill, let them get a feel for my perspective, you know? I don’t do this without remorse or regret. I don’t have a choice in the matter, really. You just have to understand where I’m coming from.”

He arranged the two bodies to his satisfaction, then stood looking down at them. “There was too much of a chance that you’d call for help, though. And I couldn’t have that. Practicality before anything else, right?” He sighed, patting Trelagist’s limp arm. “Well, I’ll see you in the morning, then. Sleep well.”

---

When the two bodies were discovered the next morning, apparently having stabbed each other, Tindomë frowned. There was no way to verify their innocence or guilt for sure. But her instincts said they were traitors, having a spat about who would take the Well’s power, perhaps.

The bodies were buried as well as possible within the few minutes she gave the packmen. Even that was begrudging, though, because the days were growing shorter now, and the light would fade away completely soon. Even at high noon, looking up, Tindomë could barely see the sun through the mists.

That night, they set up camp on the path. It wasn’t like anyone else would be coming through, after all.

“We’re close.” Tindomë looked around at the faces lit by the campfire. “The Well of Ascension’s legendary location is near, and Alendi can sense it somehow.” She hadn’t asked how. She didn’t need to know.

“He must reach the well. It’s my hope that the traitors died last night. But we must still be on our guard. Perhaps one is still among us, lurking, waiting for the right moment.”

She shook her head. “That’s all. Be wary, be vigilant, be careful. And we may yet make it out of this alive.” With that, she returned to her tent.

And that night, there were no deaths.

---

Talion walked with her the next day. “Do you think we’ve caught the traitors, finally?” he asked. “I mean, no one died. Surely that means they’re dead?”

She looked at him. “I hope so, Talion. I dearly hope that’s the case.”

---

But there was no kill the next night, either, although someone did manage to push the mushroom into the fire again. Tindomë never managed to get a clear answer about who.

In any case, it didn’t matter. The Well was within a day’s walk. The journey was almost over!

The small, insignificant line of packmen walked up the trail, led by a nearly entranced Alendi. He was paying no attention to Tindomë at this point. He knew the way. All she had to do was make sure he got enough food to keep going.

Finally, the trail ended at a flat swath of stone in front of the entrance to a cave. It was dark, and the mists seemed to swirl about it. This was the place.

Alendi started forward. “Be careful!” Tindomë called, although she knew he didn’t hear.

He paused reverently at the mouth of the cavern for a moment, and then it struck Tindomë. She turned to Talion. “We did it! I can’t believe it. We actually, really, managed it.”

He shook his head. “No, Aunt. You did it.” He smiled.

She grinned. “Yes, well, I suppose so. But you all helped out!” She couldn’t stop smiling. Perhaps the world wouldn’t end after all.

She exuberantly hugged Talion, who gave a surprised oof, but then relaxed into the hug.

After a moment, she felt wetness on her shoulders. “Talion... Are you crying?”

“I’m sorry, Aunt,” he said sadly.

Then he stabbed her in the back.

She gasped, falling to the ground. She barely registered the chaos around her, only Talion’s devastated face.

“Talion... why...”

He dropped his dagger, red with her lifeblood, and knelt beside her. “No, no, I can’t, I won’t, I can’t do this anymore.” He sobbed. “Aunt, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to. But... Alendi can’t reach the Well.” He held up a hand to stop her from saying anything. “No, no, you don’t understand. He’s not the Hero. He never was. The prophecy changed, you see. The prophecy fit him, not the other way around. If Alendi releases the power at the well, the world will fall!”

“Talion!” called Dyfwyl. “Get over here and help me! Just kill her already!”

He looked at his dagger for a moment. Then, slowly, he picked it up, trembling.

Then he dragged her pack over to her. “Heal yourself,” he whispered. “Then go. Find somewhere to go, far, far away from here, where none of us will ever find you.” He bent down and reverently kissed her forehead. “I’m sorry.”

---

Kholwa winced, trying to ignore the screaming voice in his head. You fool! What are you doing! Kill the traitors! Alendi must reach the well! How had he ever trusted that voice? It was madness incarnate.

But the voice was hard to hear in any case over the urge he felt. To maim, to kill, to destroy. He struck down Zin with a blow, then turned and caught Malcen with a punch to the gut. He leaped after Malcen to finish him off, but Malcen scrambled away just in time. He felt a nasty pricking on his back, and turned to see Zin stabbing him with a dagger.

He roared, trying to smash Zin, but Zin was too nimble.

Then Dyfwyl stepped in front of him and engaged Zin with a dagger of his own. Kholwa was angry for a moment - How dare that idiot get in the way of my battle? - but his attention was quickly drawn by Malcen’s hit to his head. He found both Kajundi and Malcen facing him when he turned, and threw himself into the fray.

Kajundi was dispatched after a while with a hard kick to the head, and Malcen didn’t take long to follow suit. Kholwa turned, looking for other targets, but the battleground was silent now. Only Talion, Dyfwyl, and Kholwa still stood, battered and bloody, and he wouldn’t kill them, no matter that he felt the urge to.

Dyfwyl bent over each body, making sure they were all dead. Kholwa simply stood there, watching him, slowly recovering from the bloodlust. He saw the battleground again, without red tinged eyes: Three silent corpses, fallen to the ground like autumn leaves. He sighed, and closed his eyes.

Then Talion brought them both back to focus. “Alendi,” he said grimly.

---

Jonly slipped through the confusion following Tindomë’s death easily, weaving around the battling men and ducking into the cave entrance after Alendi. He lightly ran down the long corridor, showing no evidence of the “sprain” he’d gotten the other day.

Finally, he saw Alendi in the distance. The Hero was walking slowly and deliberately, like a priest performing the most ancient and honored rites.

Jonly ran up behind him as quietly as he could. But as he got closer, he saw that it didn’t matter. Alendi didn’t care about anything but the Well, now.

He grinned. “Well, in that case,” he said, half expecting a reaction. But there was none, so he went on. “You always seemed like a nice person, Alendi, and I’m sorry to see you die. But, well, you can’t reach the Well of Ascension, okay? Just trust me on that. It’d be bad.”

He hesitated. “Besides, I need that power for something else.”

Alendi reached the end of the tunnel, with Joe only a few paces behind, and emerged into a perfectly round cavern. In the middle of the floor was a beautiful, glowing white pool. Jonly’s breath caught at the sight.

“Oh, I have to deal with you first, don’t I?” he said. He pulled out his dagger, the same which he’d ended Misan and Lucy’s lives with. Then he quickly moved in front of Alendi, and cut his throat with as practiced a motion as that of a butcher with a pig. Alendi kept walking for a few steps, but slowly collapsed to the ground until he lay on the ground, blood spreading from his fallen body.

Jonly spared it hardly a glance, walking towards the glowing pool of the light in nearly as much of a trance as Alendi had been.

He stood at the edge for a moment. There was no telling how deep the pool was, nor how it would react to mortal flesh. But it called to him, that blue-white brilliance, and he couldn’t resist the call.

He stepped into the glowing liquid. His toes touched the water, and after that he couldn’t stop himself. The pool was not very deep, he found, not at the edges. But as he moved into the middle, it became deeper, until he was standing in water up to his waist.

He closed his eyes, and was enveloped by the power. He heard a soft, gentle voice, telling him to release the power. But he ignored that voice. He knew what he wanted to do.

With a deep breath, he extended his hands, and he took in the power. And he was surrounded by light.

Light. Brilliant, beautiful incandescence, unchanging and everlasting and pure, radiating out into the infinite and reflecting back into him, still and calm and serene. The power of preservation enfolded him and kept him, and suddenly he could see what was, and what could be.

Jonly opened his eyes, and he smiled.

---

ThatTinyStrawMan was a Loyal Terrisman!
Trelagist was a Loyal Terrisman!
Stink was a Loyal Terrisman!
Kynedath was a Loyal Terrisman!
Malcen was a Loyal Terrisman!
Kajundi was a Loyal Terrisman!
The game is over. The Traitors win, with not a single death!

Player List

 

1. Master Elodin - Alfred - Loyal Terrisman
2. Kynedath - Zinjuli (Zin) Grey - Loyal Terrisman
3. Burnt Spaghetti - Naurvessa Ghetti - Loyal Terriswoman
4. Yafeshan - Meardih - Loyal Terrisman
5. Mark - Michek - Companion
6. Mailliw73 - Misan - Loyal Terrisman
7. Phattemer - Dyfwyl Traitor Terrisman
8. ThatTinyStrawMan - Germinating Mushroom (shortened to GM for obvious reasons) - Loyal Terrisman
9. Deathclutch - Killua Zoldyk - Loyal Terrisman
10. Trelagist - Trelagist - Loyal Terrisman
11. Macen - Malcen - Loyal Terrisman
12. Arrenae - Asmode - Companion
13. Bugsy6912 - Kholwa - Traitor Terrisman
14. Paranoid King - Kajundi - Loyal Terrisman
15. IrulelikeSTINK - Loyal Terrisman
16. Lopen - Talion - Traitor Terrisman
17. The Only Joe - Jonly - Traitor Terrisman
18. Clanky - Loyal Terrisman
19. Luckat - Lucy - Loyal Terriswoman

Docs
Traitor Doc
Dead Doc
Spec Doc
Master Spreadsheet

Final thoughts will come in a few days, once I finish the one for LG19.

Edited November 11, 2016 by Alvron

[Mailliw73]

Good job, Traitors! Though, I did have two of the four in my top 3. 

[A Joe in the Bush]

I’m not going to apologize for all the lies I told in the past 52 hours. They were all necessary to ensure the survival of myself, my 5 companions (Counting Kwaan and Rashek) and the world as a whole. Alendi would have given the power to Ruin, and thus destroyed all Scadrial. I too will give the power away, but it will be to someone far more benevolent.

 

Beautiful Writeup Elbereth.

 

 

Infinite possibilities spread out before him. He could scarcely tell which was which. He knew he would be able to fulfill any of them, bring about any vision he saw to pass. But it was not his choice to make. He knew what he had to do. He had not been picked by Kwaan, as the others had thought, but by another, far more powerful and knowledgeable.

 

He carefully summoned a device he had hidden in his birth village. The man Jeno had called it a Fabrial, a Spanreed, capable of summoning her from where'er she was. He tapped his stores of investiture, from a specially prepared Nicrosil mind, and poured them into the Spanreed. It burst into a brilliant blue light.

 

He held the power within him as he waited for the Lady to appear. He could feel it altering him just by holding it. His physical body felt stronger, and new power, something like Feruchemy, was filling him. He examined the changes, then looked back into the cave, where his companions shone like metalminds. The Lady surely would not mind his using a small bit of the power. He reached out, and enveloped the spirits of his friends, as well as those of his teacher and cousin, Kwaan and Rashek. He changed them, in the same way he himself was changing. The 6 of them would gods among men in this new world, whatever it would be.

 

There was a flash of brilliant blue light, and a figure appeared before him, wreathed in power. A lady, imposing of figure, yet kind and curious of expression. She appeared amused, and patient, as if waiting for him to understand a joke. She radiated power and authority.

 

He held far more power than she, but power was not wisdom, and any could tell which of the two could use the power better. So he bowed before her. “Lady Wilson, I have summoned you here to give you a gift, and ask a boon in return. I hold in my soul the entirety of the power of Preservation, and can fix this world. But i do not know how. I know of your exploits in worlds other than this one, and believe you will do great good by this world, if given the chance. All I ask is for a place at your side, as your First Disciple, and for my friends and allies, Rashek, Kwaan, Dfywyl, Kholwa and Talion, to be rewards as befitting them.”

 

Happy belated birthday to little’Wilson, Brightness Ascendant and Bloodthirsty Goddess. I give you the chance to remake an entire planet in your image, including the people thereupon. All I ask is you let my companions, Bugsby, Lopen and Phattamer, rule over this new world in your name, if they are willing to do so.

[Trelagist]

I'd figured we had more time left, seems not. Well played!

[A Joe in the Bush]

Quick Rant That's I've been holding in all game about the Companions:

Really quick, I want to talk about a game called Tow of Salem. Specifically, a role in that game, called The Mayor.

 

I storming Hate the Mayor.

 

The Mayor is a confirmed villager role, with three votes. Every game with a Mayor plays out the Exact. Same. Way. The Mayor reveals himself, and tells everyone to PM him their roles, then he directs everyone like sheep, and kills any villagers who disobey him. Any time I play Town of Salem with a Mayor who acts that way, I kill him. Even if I'm on the village team and killing him kills myself as well.

 

The Companions weren't quite like that, but they were close. Confirmed village roles. Mark IV got pretty close to becoming a mayor right before we killed him. He had received nearly everyone's stores and the villagers were all willing to follow his lead. 

 

Provable Safe Roles are incredibly hard to balance. Elb managed it by making them indefensible. (Hilariously, I found out that was on accident. they were supposed to be defendable.) But the majority of Safe roles are broken. Paranoia is a huge part of this game, and having a safe role removes it. (Which is why I had told Elb before the game started, that if I was a Companion, I would be helping the Kwaanists.) Safe roles almost always become Mayors, and it's usually not even their fault. If a safe role suggests something, usually two or three villagers will jump on it and suspect everyone who questions the suggestion.

 

I admit I nearly did the same thing after everyone foolishly decided to trust me last cycle simply because I had gotten Burnt's Info. (Seriously, what was up with that people? Of course Eliminators are going to try to get info. I never even proved I had the info, just siad I did, and everyone followed me.) I asked Trel and Macen to attack Stink, and macen and I ended up having a conversation about who gets to decide what action Macen would take. I let him choose, because even if it cost me another cycle, I didn't want to order him to do something.

 

In short, I don't like Safe roles, unless they're vastly weakened. #MonkAonarOP

 

Thoughts about the game:

 

Why did people trust me last cycle? I showed up, claimed that Burnt had given me all her info, then started directing the village around. There was no proof I had the information i claimed to have, but everyone followed along anyway.

 

I had no idea Mailliw liked Chicken so much. I had just been hungry while Sending in orders to Tap Brass. That's how the Chicken writeup came about.

 

I advocated Mailliw's death early on because I believed he would be pewter vig'ing us all. (I was right)

[yafeshan]

Well played traitors, you saved the world

[STINK]

Hey, at least I can say that I didn't tell anything to Joe or trust him

[Mailliw73]

Quick Rant That's I've been holding in all game about the Companions:

 

I had no idea Mailliw liked Chicken so much. I had just been hungry while Sending in orders to Tap Brass. That's how the Chicken writeup came about.

 

I advocated Mailliw's death early on because I believed he would be pewter vig'ing us all. (I was right)

Yes, they tend to be OP and hard to balance, I agree. 

 

I do like chicken, though the writeup was an exaggeration.  

 

Well, I would've, if I hadn't been planning to cause a landslide with you guys in it instead. Or if I had started with Pewter.

[Bugsy]

Good game, guys! Amazing writeup, Elbereth!

---

Did anyone catch my reference to Ruinic influence in my signup? I think Elbereth portrayed it quite well here

Kholwa winced, trying to ignore the screaming voice in his head. You fool! What are you doing! Kill the traitors! Alendi must reach the well! How had he ever trusted that voice? It was madness incarnate.

But the voice was hard to hear in any case over the urge he felt. To maim, to kill, to destroy.

(For reference, here's my signup)

When Alendi's party suddenly appeared in the foothills of his village, Kholwa felt as if this was why he'd always been inexplicably urgent to return here, and immediately offered to help the Hero to the best of his ability.

I'll admit it was subtle, but I figured it might be a bit interesting RP wise. Edited April 29, 2016 by Bugsy6912

[phattemer]

Aww... I wanted to ascend! Looks like I'll have a second Preservation-Splinter to assassinate, though. Nothing personal, Jonly. But we can't have the power split between two people.

On another note, how awesome is it that this happened just as ArSel ascended?

[twelfthrootoftwo]

Elb, now you don't have to worry about any more silly writeup requests from Joe

 

Great job, traitorssensible followers of Kwaan. I will be interested to see what Wilson's world looks like.

 

Trelagist, what were you planning on the last cycle?

[Bugsy]

Elb, now you don't have to worry about any more silly writeup requests from Joe

 

Great job, traitorssensible followers of Kwaan. I will be interested to see what Wilson's world looks like.

 

Trelagist, what were you planning on the last cycle?

Yeah, what was the rest of the plan? I'd be interested in knowing the other "pieces of the puzzle"

[Macen]

Quick Rant That's I've been holding in all game about the Companions:

Really quick, I want to talk about a game called Tow of Salem. Specifically, a role in that game, called The Mayor.

 

I storming Hate the Mayor.

 

The Mayor is a confirmed villager role, with three votes. Every game with a Mayor plays out the Exact. Same. Way. The Mayor reveals himself, and tells everyone to PM him their roles, then he directs everyone like sheep, and kills any villagers who disobey him. Any time I play Town of Salem with a Mayor who acts that way, I kill him. Even if I'm on the village team and killing him kills myself as well.

 

The Companions weren't quite like that, but they were close. Confirmed village roles. Mark IV got pretty close to becoming a mayor right before we killed him. He had received nearly everyone's stores and the villagers were all willing to follow his lead. 

 

Provable Safe Roles are incredibly hard to balance. Elb managed it by making them indefensible. (Hilariously, I found out that was on accident. they were supposed to be defendable.) But the majority of Safe roles are broken. Paranoia is a huge part of this game, and having a safe role removes it. (Which is why I had told Elb before the game started, that if I was a Companion, I would be helping the Kwaanists.) Safe roles almost always become Mayors, and it's usually not even their fault. If a safe role suggests something, usually two or three villagers will jump on it and suspect everyone who questions the suggestion.

 

I admit I nearly did the same thing after everyone foolishly decided to trust me last cycle simply because I had gotten Burnt's Info. (Seriously, what was up with that people? Of course Eliminators are going to try to get info. I never even proved I had the info, just siad I did, and everyone followed me.) I asked Trel and Macen to attack Stink, and macen and I ended up having a conversation about who gets to decide what action Macen would take. I let him choose, because even if it cost me another cycle, I didn't want to order him to do something.

 

In short, I don't like Safe roles, unless they're vastly weakened. #MonkAonarOP

 

Thoughts about the game:

 

Why did people trust me last cycle? I showed up, claimed that Burnt had given me all her info, then started directing the village around. There was no proof I had the information i claimed to have, but everyone followed along anyway.

 

I had no idea Mailliw liked Chicken so much. I had just been hungry while Sending in orders to Tap Brass. That's how the Chicken writeup came about.

 

I advocated Mailliw's death early on because I believed he would be pewter vig'ing us all. (I was right)

I didn't trust you, but I definitely thought we had one more cycle to go before we completely lost.

[Kynedath]

I find this song is more appropiate.

 

Good game everyone. I had fun. Thanks Elbereth, your Write-ups were amazing.

Edited April 29, 2016 by Kynedath

[Paranoid King]

Well done, eliminators. Next time I should act on my dramatic urges and lynch Lopen.

Loved the write-ups, too. Great game!

[Bugsy]

Anyone know when QF15 or MR14 is?

[Elbereth]

QF15 should be posted in the next couple of days.

[Bugsy]

Ok, thank you! Is there a schedule for them somewhere?

[Elbereth]

This is the general schedule. QFs and MRs switch off, and a new LG is posted every time the current one reaches Cycle 5.

[TheMightyLopen]

Great work team! It was a pleasure killing with you! 

 

Elbereth, thanks for running the game! I enjoyed every write-up!

 

My thoughts on the game: If the village had used Bronze a lot, our team would probably have gotten crushed, or at least a couple of us would have surely been lynched/killed. We made the plan to store a bunch of Pewter to get extra kills, and with how the village viewed storing Pewter(no thanks to phatt!  ), pretty much any Action that players saw us doing would have been suspicious(excluding tapping Brass of course). Our only Actions were storing/tapping Pewter, phatt sending in the group kill and all of us using Brass when needed, so that would have resulted in Bronze getting readings of: "You saw nothing."(when we tapped Pewter or sent in the group kill - which would result in the player being scanned getting lynched, most likely) "You sensed Pewter."(when we stored Pewter, which DC actually caught me doing on C1 - which would at the least cause a lot of suspicion)) or You sensed Brass." So I think we made a pretty big gamble, but I'm glad it payed off so well!

[phattemer]

I've been making an effort lately to not change my play style whether or not I'm an Eliminator, so that's why I advocated against pewter.

Also I didn't want to be killed.

Edited May 1, 2016 by phattemer