Mid-Range Game 14: The Canim Fury

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

I'm not roleblocking Araris. I'm using W1 on myself and W2 on Joe(just in case I'm wrong about him).

Rude.

[Elbereth she/her]

The writeup for this cycle has finally been edited in! The next cycle will be posted shortly. (I suggest reading this writeup before reading the next. It'll make much more sense.) Sorry for the delay.

[Haelbarde he/him]

Might pay to read the writeup for cycle 5 first.

The next day had been quite. Eerily quiet. For some reason, not even the Canim howled. In some ways that was worse. When you could hear them, at least you knew where they were. But now they had no idea at all. As they marched, Luxet caught up to Dominus.

“Sir, the men are worried.”

“The Canim?”

“No. Glaive. They all saw him with Vorax near the supplies. A few of them claim that he was seemed like he was about to help Vorax destroy them. Priam in particular is concerned. He saw Glaive falter before killing him. He thinks he only killed Vorax because they’d been caught.”

It was a few moments before Dominus replied.

“Hmm. Okay. I’ll bring it up with the men tonight.”

He ended up putting it to a vote. The majority were for removing Glaive. He approached Glaive, putting a hand on the man’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry. But our company needs unity now, more than ever. If you have served loyally, you will be remembered for what you have done.”

Glaive saluted, facing death proudly. Windcrafting, Dominus snapped Glaive’s neck, and in an instant, it was over.

Glaive’s body was cremated, and scattered, and the soldiers dispersed after a watch was posted. Dominus hoped that they had finally removed the traitors from their midst. He fell asleep, still musing over who else could be a traitor.

...

Optio Dominus Framea Securis woke to the screams and yells of battle. The Canim can’t have caught up to us yet! he thought frantically. He stumbled out of his sleeping roll, buckling on his sword hastily and running out into the night and the awaiting screams.

What confronted him was a scene of horror. Blood everywhere and tents burning. As his eyes adjusted, he could see that even the trees around had caught alight. Strangely, he couldn’t see anyone around - the fight must be elsewhere.

He started to move when he saw a ripple in the air. Instinctively he created a bubble of air around him, changing the trajectory of the thrown dagger. Rather than taking him in the throat, his sliced his cheek open. He responded by causing the earth to explode out near where the dagger had come from.

The shrapnel hit something, seeming to cause ripples like on a lake, except in the air. His assailant had veiled themselves with watercrafting! The veil dropped, revealing his opponent.

“I should have known it wouldn’t be this easy,” Lorn au Volarus said calmly, spoken loud enough to be heard over the din, without sounding like he was shouting. “You have some good soldiers. They made things hard. But they’re not here, are they? Not even your precious Tesserarius.”

From the flames behind him, a burning fury in the form a cheetah emerged. Lorn smiled. “Courtesy of the late Sienis. Send him my regards.”

With that, Lorn leapt forward, letting his metalcrafting guide his blade. Dominus pushed the blade aside with his own sword, and jabbed at Lorn’s throat with his fist, only for it to be caught.

A fireball exploded, throwing Dominus backwards, and he landed on the ground hard. His windshield had prevented the fire reaching him, but the heat still burned and his ears rang. Pushing himself up into the air with a mix of earth and windcrafting, he narrowly avoided the next fireball as he soared over the traitor’s head, landing about six feet behind him.

The man spun, already swinging. It took all Dominus’ focus just stopping each blow from reaching him, still half blinded and deafened from the explosions, making use of his metalcrafting to keep track of his opponents blade.

Then he felt a sharp pain in his side. He threw himself backwards creating a barrier in front of him from the earth, buying time enough to recover his senses. He put his hand to his side - blood was seeping it out. Crying out, he cauterised the wound with some firecrafting, so he wouldn’t bleed out. He looked up to see Lorn stalking towards him with a glass dagger, his sword now abandoned. Dominus readied his blade, and then charged.

What followed was a dance. The two men circled, countering each others furycrafting while continuing to trade blows. After a few minutes, both were covered in bleeding wounds. And then Dominus slipped. As soon as he was thrown off balance, Lorn moved forward, sinking his blade into the Optio’s chest, before pushing him to the ground.


Lorn knelt beside him, placing his dagger against Dominus’ throat. “It was a good fight, I’ll give you that. But now you must die.”

Dominus closed his eyes, accepting his fate. He had fought well, but he had been bested. Where has Luxet been? Every other time she’s been here…

Lorn smiled. Their mission was a success. In a moment, the Optio would be dead. Distracted, he didn’t see the figure approaching until they slammed into him.

...

“Traitor!” Praetoria growled, pinning Lorn to the ground. Frantically, Lorn tried to get free, but his furycrafting failed him.
Praetoria smiled. “I know your tricks.” He slammed Lorn’s head against the ground, stunning him. Seeing Lorn’s glass dagger in reach, he grabbed it, summarily plunging it into the traitor's heart.

...

Araris had been scouting ahead under orders from Luxet, when he noticed the glow of fire coming from the camp. He rushed back to try and help. He got back to find most of the tents aflame. The watercrafters seemed to be having difficulties dousing the fire.
“Where’s the Optio?” he demanded of a passing soldier.

“We haven’t seen him yet. Or the Tesserarius. We need her watercrafting to put out this fire, but no one’s found her yet.”

Araris nodded grimly. “I’ll go find them,” he responded, leaping back into motion. He move swiftly around the tents towards the Optio’s tent.

Rounding the corner, he saw Lorn kneeling over a fallen Dominus. He must be trying to heal him! Lorn was one of the best healers he knew. But as he approached, he saw a figure barrel into Lorn, knocking him away from the Optio, before pinning him to the ground, and fatally stabbing him.

“No!” Araris cried out. But it was too late. He could see now that it was Praetoria. He moved smoothly forwards, and with one motion, cleaning took off Praetoria’s head. It was done - the assassin was dead.

Araris knelt over the Optio’s body. Dominus was still alive, barely. He looked around in frustration. Lorn couldn’t heal him now. He needed the Tesserarius, but where was she?

“Luxet!” he cried aloud, although he knew it was in vain.

“Yes?” she responded calmly, stepping out from behind him. He gasped. “Luxet! Dominus is wounded. It’s bad. Can you heal him?”

She pressed her lips together. “I’ll do my best. Make sure no one attacks me?”

“That I can do,” he said. He turned and walked a few steps, walking over Lorn’s body.

He faltered. “Lorn…” he whispered. Memories consumed him for a moment. Lorn, saving his life by healing him when he thought he’d been fatally wounded. Lorn, checking up on him every day. Lorn, his friend. More than friend. He’d owed a life-debt to Lorn, several times over. And he’d failed.

And suddenly, he couldn’t do it anymore. It was too much. He felt himself collapsing, dimly, but all he could think of was Lorn.

...

Luxet frowned over at Araris. Well, he was out of the way, she supposed, though perhaps not in the way she’d been expecting. Lorn had mentioned something about him being dependent, hadn’t he? Perhaps she could work with that, later.

She dismissed him for the moment and knelt over Dominus, looking concerned. It was certainly a major wound. She wasn’t sure she could cure it.

He opened his eyes, shockingly. His metalcrafting letting him ignore the pain, probably. “Shhh…” she murmured, windcrafting a bubble of stillness around them. “You’re badly hurt.”

“Can you heal me?” he whispered.

“I can,” she smiled, not showing her uncertainty that she could. “That’s not the question you should be asking, though.”

His eyes opened wide. “No. No, you can’t be a traitor, not my Tesserarius. But… Lexa and Heaven thought they were talking to you, didn’t they… And Vorax was under your care, too. You’ve been sending the dreams.” He couldn’t say more, but his eyes did.

“I’m no traitor,” she responded sharply. “I serve Alera. And you wouldn’t have caught any of them without me.” She paused, then placed a hand on his chest. “I’m sorry.”

“Please…”

She hesitated. “Just… know this. You’ve succeeded in your mission. Captain Scipio will hear everything we’ve learned about the Canim. And he’ll hear of your bravery, too, yours and everyone else who died to root out the traitors. Your sacrifice will be remembered forever.”

Then she sent her water fury into his open wound, coursing through his blood until it reached his brain.

She made it as painless as possible. After a moment, she took her hand away, and reverently closed his eyes for the last time.

“I’m sorry,” she said again, then rose, dismissing the bubble of air that had isolated them from the fighting. She was the leader of the legionares now, and she had work to do.


Amanuensis was lynched! He was a Loyal Legionare with Tier 2 Wood and Tier 1 Water.
Bugsy killed himself with fire and traitorous steel! He was the last Traitor with Tier with Tier 1 Metal, Tier 3 Water, and Tier 2 Fire.
Hellscythe was killed by a metalcrafter! He was a Loyal Legionare with Tier 1 Fire and Tier 3 Wood.

Vote Tally:
Aman(5): Lopen, Araris, Bugsy, HS, Mail
Mail(1): Conquestor

The last traitor has been killed! The village has won. Araris, Joe, Mail, Conquestor, SilverDragon and Lopen survived. Mail got Hellscythe’s Wood fury, and SilverDragon recieved Bugsy’s Water fury.

GM thoughts will be coming eventually.

Doc Links:
> Spectator Doc
> Dead Doc
> GM Spreadsheet
> Traitor Doc

Player List

 

1. Araris Valerian (Araris Valerian) of the Knights Terra (Earth) Loyal Legionare with Tier 1 Earth and Tier 3 Metal
2. Postea Nominatur (Joe) of the Knights Ignus (Fire) Loyal Legionare with Tier 1 Fire and Tier 2 Air
3. Aldric ex Gladio (Phatt) of the Knights Terra (Earth) Loyal Legionare with Tier 2 Earth and Tier 1 Water
4. Amuro Ray (DC) of the Knights Aeris (Air) Loyal Legionare with Tier 3 Air, Tier 1 Fire, and Tier 2 Earth
5. Mailis Maxium (Maill) of the Knights Aqua (Water) Loyal Legionare with Tier 2 Water and Tier 2 Air
6. Praetoria (Hellscythe) of the Knights Ignus (Fire) Loyal Legionare with Tier 1 Fire and Tier 3 Wood
7. Straw (ThatTinyStrawMan) of the Knights Aqua (Water) Loyal Legionare with Tier 1 Water and Tier 3 Earth
8. Lexa & Heaven (Winter Cloud) of the Knights Aeris (Air) Traitor with Tier 1 Air and Tier 1 Water
9. Thelus Ascheion (Master Elodin) of the Knights Ferrous (Metal) Loyal Legionare with Tier 1 Metal and Tier 1 Earth
10. Lorn au Volarus (Bugsy) of the Knights Ferrous (Metal) Traitor with Tier with Tier 1 Metal, Tier 3 Water, and Tier 2 Fire
11. Parth (Conquestor) of the Knights Ferrous (Metal) Loyal Legionare with Tier 1 Metal, Tier 2 Water, and Tier 2 Air
12. Vorax Linnitax (cloudjumper) of the Knights Aeris (Air) Traitor with Tier 1 Air and Tier 1 Earth
13. Stella Fur (SilverDragon) of the Knights Flora (Wood) Loyal Legionare with Tier 1 Wood and Tier 2 Metal
14. Mulciber (Burnt Spaghetti) of the Knights Terra (Earth) Loyal Legionare with Tier 2 Earth and Tier 1 Metal
15. Sienis Trajan (Seonid) of the Knights Aeris (Air) Loyal Legionare with Tier 1 Air and Tier 3 Fire
16. Gammax (Gamma Fiend) of the Knights Ignus (Fire) Traitor with Tier 1 Earth and Tier 1 Fire
17. Glaive (Amanuensis) of the Knights Flora (Wood) Loyal Legionare with Tier 2 Wood and Tier 1 Water
18. Priam (Lopen) of the Knights Flora (Wood) Loyal Legionare with Tier 2 Wood and Tier 1 Metal

Edited November 12, 2016 by Alvron

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Way to go guys! So, I have the most powerful furies overall, right.

 

Thanks, Hael and El for GMing this one! It was a blast!

 

I do have to say that I think the Traitors were a bit underpowered though.

 

Edit: Oh, and I did call Bugsy like two days ago.

Edited June 2, 2016 by Mailliw73

[Hellscythe he/him]

I think I played a pretty solid game. I voted for most of the traitors and got 3 kills! You guys had pretty tough roles though. Wood 3 was pretty op tbh,

[Mailliw73 he/him]

So, how were Winter and Bugsy protected those times? I can't find anything in the spreadsheet.

 

Also, of course there was nothing secret. I knew Hael and El would mess with us.

[Haelbarde he/him]

Way to go guys!   So, I have the most powerful furies overall, right. 

 

Thanks, Hael and El for GMing this one! It was a blast!

 

I do have to say that I think the Traitors were a bit underpowered though.

Glad you enjoyed it.

 

And yeah... Although, if not for Hellscythe turning up in the last half hour of cycle, There'd have been something like 4 deaths and Bugsy would still be alive. Had that happened, it would have been really close. It was hard to balance - I mean, you saw how many rule changes there were at the start, right? And W1 was definitely broken. My originally idea for the ability was something more like Earth 3. I think at the very least, the ability shouldn't have been able to target yourself, or it should have been removed completely. Oh well...

 

I think I played a pretty solid game. I voted for most of the traitors and got 3 kills! You guys had pretty tough roles though. Wood 3 was pretty op tbh,

Yeah, you did well. And Wood was OP in general... 

Edited June 2, 2016 by Haelbarde

[Elbereth she/her]

So, how were Winter and Bugsy protected those times? I can't find anything in the spreadsheet.

 

Also, of course there was nothing secret. I knew Hael and El would mess with us.

Bugsy wasn't protected. He just didn't have any Water PMs that cycle.

Are you sure about that?

[Haelbarde he/him]

So, how were Winter and Bugsy protected those times? I can't find anything in the spreadsheet.

 

Also, of course there was nothing secret. I knew Hael and El would mess with us.

Which cycles?

 

And of course no. What sort of troll GM would I be if I actually put secret roles in...

[Elbereth she/her]

Hael... Check the GM doc. Please.

Edited June 2, 2016 by Elbereth

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Glad you enjoyed it.

 

And yeah... Although, if not for Hellscythe turning up in the last half hour of cycle, There'd have been something like 4 deaths and Bugsy would still be alive. Had that happened, it would have been really close. It was hard to balance - I mean, you saw how many rule changes there were at the start, right? And W1 was definitely broken. My originally idea for the ability was something more like Earth 3. I think at the very least, the ability shouldn't have been able to target yourself, or it should have been removed completely. Oh well...

Yeah, and I'd be dead. For sure, I don't blame you, I just thought for sure they'd have some Tier II abilities. 

 

Bugsy wasn't protected. He just didn't have any Water PMs that cycle.

Are you sure about that?

Oh, I thought that from "failed" there was something about him being Wood I protected.

 

What? Was there?

 

"I think that’s it? Take a look if you haven’t. K, I’ll look over Aman’s bit, but I think we’re good. Although I do want to edit in the C5 writeup first. It’ll make much more sense that way. Awesome. Actually, is the thread still open? I’ll post if it is. Great.

Looks fine, I think. Sure. I’ll link to it. Should be." Might want to take that out. 

[Elbereth she/her]

It was gone before you posted.

And check the tags.

[Haelbarde he/him]

They had Water 3, which was meant to give them an extra kill or two. Except then Bugsy ended up last man standing. Bugsy ending up with Seonid's Fury was just lucky...

Although it was amusing - they were so low powered that you were going to kill all the high powered players as a result...

 

Edit:
And Joe, if you were wondering, Tier 1 air/watercrafters had 1 PM each, and the Tier2/3's had a 50:50 chance of having PMs equal to their level, or one less.

 

And it'd be cool to have people's thoughts on having public roles.

Edited June 2, 2016 by Haelbarde

[Mailliw73 he/him]

It was gone before you posted.

And check the tags.

But...the spreadsheet.

[Haelbarde he/him]

But...the spreadsheet.

You think that'd we'd keep information about secret roles in the spreadsheet... And spoil them for the rerun?

[Mailliw73 he/him]

You think that'd we'd keep information about secret roles in the spreadsheet... And spoil them for the rerun?

No one actually had them though? Right? Anyone?

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

Hoo boy, was I wrong.   I totally forgot about Water III kills...

 

But woohoo, we won! Good game everyone! And much thanks to El and Hael for running the game! Now to read some docs...

[Elbereth she/her]

Just because there were no secret roles doesn’t mean there weren’t any secret rules. Just that you didn’t trigger them.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Just because there were no secret roles doesn’t mean there weren’t any secret rules. Just that you didn’t trigger them.

Ah, okay. That makes sense. You just kept saying roles.

[Elbereth she/her]

Yeah, sorry. No players in the game had secret roles which they were aware of.

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

Well played, villagers! Gammax can finally rest easy without any of the painful memories. I do say, this was one of the games I was actually looking forward to being villagers, lol, but alas, we see how the dice turn out.

 

I do want to check out the book series, as a result of this game, and I did love a lot of the different powers and all the crazy interactions and shenannigans. XD Apologies to my team for not going for the WGG earlier, it would have been so worth it!  

[Haelbarde he/him]

I do want to check out the book series, as a result of this game, and I did love a lot of the different powers and all the crazy interactions and shenannigans. XD Apologies to my team for not going for the WGG earlier, it would have been so worth it!

You didn't even get to see any of the coolest bits from the book series!

 

---

 

Oh, and I'm so pleased with how the Troll Round went down. Y'all were so paranoid of secret roles the whole game as a result It meant ploys like Phat's actually had a fair chance at succeeding!

Edited June 2, 2016 by Haelbarde

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Mailis Maxium, son of Lord Maxiar, had come to the First Aleran Legion to get his Legion training in. He had never been one for fighting. Mailis enjoyed reading and walking and flying. His favorite moments back home had been flying above the trees, whooping as he raced his brothers. Now, civil war threatened Alera and Mailis had to help. Though his furies weren’t combat oriented, he knew he could help, whether as a healer or a spy or a courier. Maybe all three.

 

Mailis had ended up spending most his time watching Postea. Something about him seemed off. He spied on his messages often, learning little details and piecing together small things. Eventually, he had shifted his focus to Lorn. Lorn hadn’t used his water fury. No one ignored their furies unless they had something more important to do, maybe kill someone.

 

Mailis had held secret meetings with Priam and Praetoria and they had talked out their suspicions. Sending Torrent to watch Lorn one more time, Mailis planned to scope out the general scene from above with Stratus. Sitting in the air with the hawk, he watched as Prae confronted Lorn. What was he doing?

 

Diving to the ground, Mailis landed in a roll and sent Stratus flying ahead of him. He called Torrent and the otter scrambled out to him. He ran for Prae, but before he could reach her, she woodcrafted the trees in front of him to block his path. “No!” Mailis screamed as he watched his best friend’s head roll. The trees subsided and Mailis ran to Araris.

 

“How could you?!” he yelled, furious as he had never been before. Stratus began blowing the wind around him, beginning to raise a gale of wind. Mailis drew his sword to attack Araris, knowing that he would likely lose to the metalcrafter, but not caring. Praetoria was dead.

 

Before he could lunge for his friend’s killer, Luxet stopped him. “Look,” she pointed at Lorn. He had been the final traitor and now they would make it back. The Captain would receive their intel. Alera stood a chance. Araris saw Lorn’s lifeless body and rushed for it, Luxet tending to Dominus. Mailis left them and headed to the skies to weep for his friend.

 

Above the forests, Mailis saw a bear of wood wandering aimlessly. He dove down, Torrent pushing his tears away. He landed in front of the bear and raised his hand to it in friendship. This was Cypress, Praetoria’s wood fury. She seemed to smile at Mailis as she raised her wooden paw to his hand of flesh. She became his in that moment. Mailis took control of the fury and now had one remnant of his friend left.

When they returned to Captain Scipio and gave him the information on the Canim, most of the survivors received promotions. Scipio offered Mailis his own century, along with Luxet and Stella. Mailis spent some time considering it. One the one hand, it would give him some respect and authority. But that had never been something Mailis craved. In the end, Mailis turned down Scipio’s offer, instead remaining a legionare. His only request was that he be allowed to train as a Knight Aeris. It was his time to fly.

 

 

Elbereth, what was that whole thing about Luxet killing Dominus about?

[Elbereth she/her]

Luxet kind of had her own goals. I've actually been foreshadowing it since the first writeup. She's a Fidelias-esque character, basically.

[Haelbarde he/him]

We might post our doc we communicated in at some point. It needs cleaning up though, and we discussed LG20 in a bit. But it does contain some extra detail about some of the stuff in the RP.