Long Game 26: Cognitive Dissonance

[Amanuensis he/him]

Ecthelion

[Doc12]

I still need a lot of cycles to accomplish my goals.. so yeah.

Araris

 

Do we have to lynch somebody every day?

[Wonko the Sane he/him]

Unless we can pull a tie, yeah. I'm finished with my goals, but I feel your pain. Others held back the end for me, so I'll do my part to return the favor:

Araris

[Stick. she/her]

Araris

Ecthelion (7): Little Wilson, Paranoid King, Bridge Boy, Araris, Ecthelion, Young Bard, Aman
Araris Valerian (7): Haelbarde, Burnt, Silverblade, Darkness, Doctor, Wonko, Stick

Mission accomplished  

[Araris Valerian he/him]

Stick, does your goal to help independents require that their goal you help them with be complete?

[Haelbarde he/him]

Issue is, Araris said he'd kill Ecth tonight anyway. So if he's not lynched, he'll need to be blocked or redirected, or Ecth protected.

[Araris Valerian he/him]

You know, since worldhopping happens last, I would have thought by now that somebody would have pointed out that I'm not on the same planet as Ecthelion. I would definitely kill him tonight if I could, and I bet Wilson would as well, since I think she is in the same boat as me. But there are spacial differences that are causing me to have a hard time doing that :(.

[Haelbarde he/him]

That... Is a good point.

[Clanky he/him]

Ecthelion. The game will probably end tonight anyway since we only need one more independant to complete their goals to end the game.

[Elbereth she/her]

The Day is over! 

[Nyali she/her]

Night 9

Whoops, lost track of which day it was. Sorry about that! Writeup probably to be edited in. Remember, even if a faction goal was met, the game doesn't end until after [worldhop].

Final Vote Tally

• Ecthelion (8): Little Wilson, Paranoid King, Bridge Boy, Araris, Ecthelion, Young Bard, Amanuensis, Clanky
• Araris Valerian (7): Haelbarde, Burnt, Silverblade, Darkness, Doctor12, Wonko, Stick
   

Ecthelion was lynched!

 

Night 9 has begun and will last 46 hours.

Player List

 

 

1. Magestar (Magestar)
2. The Healer (Doctor12)
3. Daniyah (Daniyah)
4. Lorien the Rithmatist (Conquestor)
5. Stick (I_am_a_Stick)
6. Jonly the Terrisman (The Only Joe)
7. NeLaar (Arraenae)
8. Spike (Paranoid King)
9. Ryth (Silverblade5)
10. Riza (Frozen Mint)
11. Ecthelion (Ecthelion III)
12. Kyla (Little Wilson)
13. The Young Bard (The Young Bard)
14. Ashton & Ashlyn (Burnt Spaghetti)
15. Brandon Sanderson (Darkness Ascendant)
16. Aralis (Araris Valerian)
17. Dr. Idem Occulta (Wonko the Sane)
18. Kelen Taldar (AliasSheep)
19. Gladium Paleas (Straw)
20. Victor (Amanuensis)
21. Bugsy (Bugsy6912)
22. Locke (OrlokTsubodai)
23. Dowanx (Dowanx)
24. Tom (Sart)
25. Kaloo (TheMightyLopen)
26. Unknown (Mark IV)
27. mmhmmnmhmm (LivingLegend)
28. Cy Lon (Clanky)
29. Emrys Morge (Bridge Boy)
30. Reginald Canuck (Dalinar Kholin)
31. Orik Ironfist (Haelbarde)
32. Lily (Luckat)
33. Odin (Stink)

Edited October 19, 2016 by Nyali

[little wilson she/her]

Question, Aman: do you believe me now?

[Young Bard he/him]

Just to clarify for the non-Children out there - the Children's Faction Goal has been met now. Seeing as we can't make a GoH un-die (so far as I know), the game will finish tonight.

(Would this be an appropriate point for me to start advertising LG27, my Discworld game, which starts tomorrow? )

[Stick. she/her]

Wait, the lynch happened? curse you stupid timezone

Well, I tried. 

Edit:

Araris:

Quote

Stick, does your goal to help independents require that their goal you help them with be complete?

 

As far as I know, no, it only requires me to help you with your goal

Edited October 19, 2016 by I_am_a_Stick

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

I have a chance to finish my win-con  

[little wilson she/her]

8 hours ago, The Young Bard said:

Just to clarify for the non-Children out there - the Children's Faction Goal has been met now. 

I actually wasn't referring to that. I was referring to the fact that Ecth was Denth, which Aman now knows, since he knows everything about each dead person.

[Wonko the Sane he/him]

Was Denth the person you needed dead?

[little wilson she/her]

I needed one of either Vasher or Denth to die. It was a Love and Loss win con. Choose my brother who was avenging my death or my husband who killed me but was trying to make up for all of that. I chose the husband. I'm a romantic at heart.

[livinglegend]

Can I ask How many people have completed all their win cons?

[little wilson she/her]

I only know of two: Wonko and Araris, though I will hopefully have mine all complete by night's end and I know of a few other Independents who could have theirs complete tonight as well. Regardless, tonight is the last turn, since Ecth was the last GOH, so the Children's win con is complete.

[Nyali she/her]

The night has ended. Writeup to follow shortly, once I'm done writing it.

[Nyali she/her]

(Note: For this writeup, I've decided to use your character names and genders.)

(Spoiler warning: This writeup contains small spoilers for Secret History and minor ones for White Sand. It's not really more than you've already probably gotten from the game, but I felt like giving warning anyway.)

 

---

"You want me to do WHAT?" Ryth exclaimed, staring at Orik.

"You heard me the first time, old friend," said Orik. "I want you to help me kill a god. He is a threat to the balance of the Cosmere, especially with the defeat of his greatest foe. He has taken an active part in this world, and with the power he holds, that's dangerous. Join me in bringing him low. Please."

"Plus," said a voice in his ear, "Think of what we could learn from this!"

"That argument would hardly sway him, Healer," he murmured across the cognitive link he had established with his research partner.

"Hrmph," came the reply.

Ryth considered a moment, then called to himself five ribbons of sand, which he twisted into a lance sharper than any spear. The sand held a moment, then fell back to the ground. "Yes," he said to himself as much as Orik. "I think I'll see how strong my mastery of the sands has become. I'll do this, for you, if you think it's the right thing to do."

 

---

Victor wandered through the rocky earth of a distant world. No soil covered the ground, only stone as far as the eye could see. He liked this world, Roshar it was called - the spirits of the world, the Cognitive aspects of the world, were manifest in the physical. He felt like one of those spirits, a being now mostly of the Cognitive but with a physical aspect. Of course, with the Cognitive Knot in place, he might as well be any other mortal. But that knot would unravel soon now that the final ally of Odium was dead. The forces of Adonalsium had only to raid Odium's palace, and they were on their way now. It was too late for Victor to join them and he knew it. It was too late in any case, Odium would have completed weaving a protection that would save him and draw him away to attack again someday. Victor had missed his chance to prevent this due to the overzealous nature of his allies. He sighed, shaking his head. He knew he had to allow mortals their free will, but if only they would listen...
 

Suddenly, a spike of sand shot from the distance and cut right through his leg, pinning him to the rock upon which he walked. As he tried to free his leg, a blast of white-hot fire crashed into him from another direction. He held a hand up, summoning his powers of Preservation to hold the fire at bay while his command of Ruin worked on the solid spear of sand immobilizing him. If only it weren't for this Cognitive Knot, he thought, I could just send myself to the Cognitive in the blink of an eye. Maybe if I can last just a bit longer... The fire intensified, pushing back at his barrier. He strained, holding it at bay as long as he could, but his strength was faltering. A second blast joined the first, burning through his defenses and incinerating his body.

A shimmering in the air nearby resolved into Healer, who screamed as he touched the ground near where Victor's ashes lay. "Bloody Helmore the ground here is hot!" he exclaimed, then turned to address Orik who was just arriving. "Shadows, man, what did you do?"

In answer, he drew an aon in the air - Daa, if Healer wasn't mistaken. Orik smiled grimly. "It had to be done, you know. Now, did you bring the device?"

"What device?" asked Ryth as he approached, carefully stepping around the stone scorched by Orik's fire.
 

Healer drew an orb from his pack and tossed it at Orik. "Do you think you can establish a Connection this easily?" he asked his friend.

"Only one way to find out," he said and smashed the orb to the ground. He felt the energy in it connecting him to the ambient energy of the Shard of Preservation. He had achieved mastery of five different forms of Investiture and written a dissertation on the nature of Allomancy and how it related to Preservation. He knew his power intimately, and that was enough. Connection established, he breathed in the mists that arose from Victor's ashes. The Shard of Preservation was his.

Ryth grinned nervously. "Umm, we're still friends, right?"

Ryth and Orik turned to leave, but Healer turned toward Victor's ashes. "I need a sample," he said, "I'll be join you after I get this god ash and run some tests."

"Are you sure? We can wait," Orik said.

"Shadows man, do you think I'm incompetent? I can take care of this, you go and explore Preservation's power. I'm sure you have all kinds of tests and things to do."

When the others turned their backs once again, he captured some of the black mist in the bottle, not the ashes. His eyes glinted red as he did so, but the others did not see. Good, said a voice in his head, Perfect, now, bring it to me...

---

Cy stood in the ruins of Hallandren. A woman stood at his side, shimmering in the light. "You're really her, aren't you?" Cy asked.

Kyla took a moment to respond. "Yes, husband, it is I. I'm... I'm sorry."

Cy sighed. "Your actions wrought this," he said, gesturing at the ruins. "They made a new one, a couple in fact. The war they engineered with those weapons at its head devastated the country we both sought so hard to protect."

Kyla looked down, saying nothing.

"I regretted killing you, you know," Cy continued. "For the longest time. But that was wrong, killing you was right. No one should have this power."

"Not even you?" she asked, looking back at him.

Ignoring the question, he said, "I waited too long. I should have killed you earlier. The least I could do now is finish what I started."

Her eyes grew wide. "Cy, I just wanted to stop the fighting, I wanted an end to all war..." she began.

"Look around you!" he roared. "Is this the end of all war that you wanted? Is this what you want from the world? From all the worlds? People aren't going to stop fighting because they have a weapon! They are going to use it, because that's how people are. They need to destroy, to kill, and you're giving them a new means to do so, new weapons of frightening power. And you think they're going to stop because they have power? Or because they're threatened? People use power. People respond to threats. And this," he gestured at the ruins. At the bodies, still rotting in the streets. At the char and ash and dried blood. "This is the result!"

"No," Kyla said, "No, you're right. You always were, you know. I admired you for it. I... I accept your judgment."

Cy pointed the sword he had been holding at her, then started to swing. A voice sounded in his head and he hesitated. "Cy, are you sure we should be doing this? Didn't we do this before? Are you..." he stopped listening, just as he had the last time.

When it was over her body fell to the ground, where it vanished in a breath of color. He finally answered the question she had asked earlier. "No," he said quietly to himself as he walked away. "But this is the burden I must bear." He set off to find Riza, who he'd left behind to finish his business with Kyla. They had a lot of work to do if they were going to save Hallandren.

---

"Pattern," said Spike, commanding the whirling shape morosely spinning next to him. "When I step on you, start moving around. See if you can carry me."

The shape continued to spin in place.
 

"Pattern, are you listening?" asked Spike, who then took on a reassuring tone. "I know you're upset that Reginald's dead, but you can get over it. Don't pull the Elantrian mantra thing on me."

The shape spun slowly and started making a low buzzing sound.

Reassurance having failed, it was time to try intimidation. "Pattern," said Spike, "Get up and start doing something, or I'll throw you to the Voidbringers!"

"Fine," he said when Pattern continued to spin in place. "See if I care." A moment passed, and then he signed, "Sorry about how I treated you before. That was insensitive of me." Another pause, longer this time. "Actually, I'm not sorry. And I won't be until you do something."

The pattern of lines continued to buzz, but otherwise did not respond.

Spike threw up his hands and grabbed Pattern, who had been made semisolid by the Cognitive Knot. "Oi, Parshman #28! Catch!"

 

---

Aralis hobbled through the markets of Elantris, his packs laden with all sorts of goods from various worlds. He found the shop he was looking for at last and carefully navigated his way through the doorway. His crutches took him to the counter, where he grinned at the proprietor. "Have I got a deal for you," he said as he put one crutch down. He held out his hand and mist coalesced into a beautiful sword with flame-like ridges along its back edge. The shopkeeper's eyes went wide as he examined the weapon. "Careful!" Aralis cautioned him, "This blade can cut through anything, even souls. I'd show you, but I'd hate to damage your shop, or either of us." He grinned and pointed to a small bottle sitting innocuously on a shelf. "I want that," he said, "And if you'd like more items like this, we can work something out."

All over the worlds, he had been laying out the groundwork for an interworld trading route. Soon, it would all come to fruition. Assuming, of course, he could figure out how to travel between the worlds without the Cognitive Knot in place. It had something to do with those pools... In any case, his future seemed bright and, most importantly, lucrative.

 

---

Dr. Idem Occulta sat in Ire Keep, which had apparently been abandoned. He sat in a comfortable chair, leaned back, and put his feet up on a table. Life was good, he decided. He took stock of his situation - he was now an Elantrian. He had captured a Larkin, who seemed to be warming up to him. He had become an Awakener, though he had no practice with command phrases. He had given up the Bands of Mourning, but he didn't really need those anyway.

There was one concern he had to deal with, a small thing - being an Elantrian was draining. Something to do with being so far from Elantris, or maybe just Sel itself. Well, no matter, perhaps he would go and help repair the walls. That should help, if he's understanding these new powers correctly, and while he's there, he could speak with the other Elantrians and learn how to draw those figures in the air. In any case, Ire Castle had a stock of those bottles of pure Investiture, so he should be fine for a while at least.

He had many options open to him, many powers at his fingertips, and it was looking like plenty of people would survive this night. His goals accomplished, he decided to set off and find something new to do.

 

---

Jonly smiled. He had managed to escape at the last second, slipping between the folds of his own Cognitive Knot. He made his way back to his palace at the edge of the Cognitive, where he could be safe until the knot fell apart of its own accord. His allies would have to wage his battle without him - he couldn't communicate in his state, much less aid them.

The path back was an agonizing ordeal for him, given the wounds he suffered from Shardblade, Aon, and the fall itself. He healed, though slowly, and now he was ready to rejoin the battle. He reached out to his champion, Ecthelion, only to find that he had just been killed, dying by his own hand after giving into despair. Bah, he didn't have the energy to fight on his own. It was time to flee. The knot would fall soon without his power maintaining it, and then he could escape. Jonly started crafting a protection around himself, a shield of pure investiture in case he was attacked. He didn't have much, but it should be enough.

A crashing noise came from below. A force of those Children of Adonalsium had arrived. Ashton, Ashlyn, Kelen, and mmhmmnmhmm had arrived. It was fortunate then that he had been expecting them. "We are here to end you, Odium!" shouted Ashton. "Yeah, you have nowhere to escape to this time!" cried Ashlyn.

Kelen turned to mmhmmnmhmm and nodded, and mmhmmnmhmm formed into a shardspear in his hands. Kelen moved like the wind, striking out at Jonly's shield. Ashton and Ashlyn started drawing aons on the air to support him, simultaneously shielding him and blasting fire at Jonly. Distracted as they all were, none saw the shimmering in the air behind them, nor the figure drop out of it and curse silently.

Jonly had been spending all of his energy to defend against Kelen using his shield of investiture, but now he smiled. "Allow me to introduce my new Champion," he said in between the blows, and he pointed over Kelen's head. Kelen turned, and saw a most unexpected sight. Behind him, Healer stood, bearing the Bands of Mourning.
 

Healer smiled, and then he tapped everything. He flung the three aside like dolls and pressed coins to each of their foreheads. As Healer fought, Jonly finished untying the last bit of the knot that held the Cognitive Realms in place. With a triumphant cry, he tore the knot, and the realms snapped apart. Grabbing Healer from the fray, they faded into the Cognitive, leaving the Children dazed, confused, and defeated.

 

---

Later, on Braize, Healer handed the jar containing the essence of Ruin to Jonly. "I should shatter this," Jonly said, gazing at half the power of his former foe.

Healer shook his head. "I've been studying that, and all forms of pure investiture. I think I could put it to better use." He smiled, and Jonly nodded his agreement. Jonly handed the jar back to Healer, who began establishing a Connection to the Shard of Ruin...

---

 

Amanuensis has been killed!

Little Wilson has been killed!

3 Independents have achieved their goals!

The Children of Adonalsium goal is no longer successful! (Doctor12 used the *Spike and joined God's Own Hate on the final turn.)

 

The game is over. The Independents have won.

 

The winners are:

• Araris

• Wonko the Sane

• Little Wilson
   

Notable Mentions:

• Doc12 and Haelbarde, who made up the Ars Arcanum faction, were two turns from achieving their faction goal. They did an amazing job of working toward a very difficult faction goal and nearly achieving it. Kudos to you two! If the game had lasted just two more turns, they would have won with no one able to stop them. They had achieved Mastery of every world, by the way.

• Doc12 for RUINING my final writeup. TWICE. He almost made Day 10 happen, but changed his mind right before rollover. For that, he gets the Shard of Ruin. And a franticly written new ending.

• Frozen Mint was three actions away from winning and had four to use, but chose not to act on the final turn.

• Living Legend would have won, if Doc12 hadn't used the *Spike.

• Burnt was one day from winning and might have if any high-value Taldainian items actually started in game. Well, and her faction goal was torpedoed at the last second.

• Darkness Ascendant was one publication away from winning. Well, and his faction goal was torpedoed at the last second.

• Clanky just needed Lopen to die to win, and Lopen nearly died A LOT.

• Lopen wasn't close to winning, but kudos to him for living so long despite being a known Ghostblood and losing the rest of his faction on cycle 2.

• Sart would have won if he hadn't stopped playing - he was one action away from winning by the end.

 

Mistakes and Accidents:

• I would like to apologize to Luckat who died primarily because of a GM error. She should have been immune to the detect that saw her use the blowgun. I made a mistake that there was no way to undo, and I'm really sorry about it.

• Elenion decided to drop out because he saw his brother Ecthelion's screen when Ecthelion was in the GOH doc. If you are playing with people you know IRL, please be careful to not let this happen - it's an easy mistake to make. As a note, we did offer Elenion ways he could continue playing, but he chose to drop out instead.
   

Player List

1. Magestar (Magestar)

2. The Healer (Doctor12)

3. Daniyah (Daniyah)

4. Lorien the Rithmatist (Conquestor)

5. Stick (I_am_a_Stick)

6. Jonly the Terrisman (The Only Joe)

7. NeLaar (Arraenae)

8. Spike (Paranoid King)

9. Ryth (Silverblade5)

10. Riza (Frozen Mint)

11. Ecthelion (Ecthelion III)

12. Kyla (Little Wilson)

13. The Young Bard (The Young Bard)

14. Ashton & Ashlyn (Burnt Spaghetti)

15. Brandon Sanderson (Darkness Ascendant)

16. Aralis (Araris Valerian)

17. Dr. Idem Occulta (Wonko the Sane)

18. Kelen Taldar (AliasSheep)

19. Gladium Paleas (Straw)

20. Victor (Amanuensis)

21. Bugsy (Bugsy6912)

22. Locke (OrlokTsubodai)

23. Dowanx (Dowanx)

24. Tom (Sart)

25. Kaloo (TheMightyLopen)

26. Unknown (Mark IV)

27. mmhmmnmhmm (LivingLegend)

28. Cy Lon (Clanky)

29. Emrys Morge (Bridge Boy)

30. Reginald Canuck (Dalinar Kholin)

31. Orik Ironfist (Haelbarde)

32. Lily (Luckat)

33. Odin (Stink)
     

Player	Character	Faction
The Only Joe	Rayse	God's Own Hate
Bugsy	Sequence	God's Own Hate
Daniyah	Dilaf	God's Own Hate
Ecthelion	Denth	God's Own Hate
Arraenae	Paalm	God's Own Hate
Luckat	Iyatil	Ghostbloods
Magestar	Mraize	Ghostbloods
Lopen	Tyn	Ghostbloods
Haelbarde	Khriss	Ars Arcanum
Doctor12	Nazh	Ars Arcanum  God's Own Hate
Alias Sheep	Kaladin	Children of Adonalsium
Living Legend	Sylphrena	Children of Adonalsium
Dalinar Kholin	Shallan	Children of Adonalsium
Darkness Ascendant	Navani	Children of Adonalsium
Mark	Waxillium	Children of Adonalsium
Straw	Aslydin	Children of Adonalsium
Paranoid King	MeLaan	Children of Adonalsium
Amanuensis	Harmony	Children of Adonalsium
Silverblade	Kenton	Children of Adonalsium
Stink	Lightsong	Children of Adonalsium
Dowanx	Galladon	Children of Adonalsium
Burnt Spaghetti	Raoden	Children of Adonalsium
The Young Bard	Nicki Savage	Children of Adonalsium
Sart	Hoid	Independent
Araris Valerian	Rysn	Independent
Clanky	Vasher	Independent
Frozen Mint	Vivenna	Independent
Little Wilson	Shasharra	Independent
Conquestor	Wan ShaiLu	Independent
Bridge Boy	Gaotona	Independent
Wonko the Sane	Kelsier	Independent
Stick	Lift	Independent
Orlok	Alonoe	Independent

 

Doc links:

Dead Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l2YTX6REKE-kfwa1Ia9zzkJ-0EfsFuBulMhAiePsZSo/edit#

GM Doc (the state at the start of the game): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WqvCFW1FFwUnE_jzmC3LBXFxS_t7a2q-yZbzsamfENc/edit#heading=h.7ppbaitjvjmt

Action Tracking Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VeWczmK0VO1jaqiysuGJco3tSKBnP8tSsTq_ZyES6Ng/edit#gid=0

Merchant Tables & RP: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xfdAOijzUA4B_0wMqGo3FceYK6a6Z7B3Q94TErslZsU/edit#
Working copy of the GM Doc:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eCZMonpAUipV12u7t7t-D-LS8RBrcE3J9dEPof5-mbg/edit#heading=h.ewaoaa67pux7

 

Ars Arcanum Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QnE-h4uVAmNOrtqmCw7fFlCYoyYRNtQG3HTljkc_2sY/edit#

God's Own Hate Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jWbuzJIG0vzW-2Exvf9yggS2Qb8N010qnlpNUpRZAfw/edit?usp=sharing

Ghostbloods Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wur0uRkoeHzx1v0LnG6tJXtFDOCS8RB8qeQFK1NjCg4/edit?usp=sharing

[Nyali she/her]

And it's over! Thank you to Elbereth for helping me run this absurd game. Thank you to everyone who played for playing my absurd game. And putting up with all my mistakes! if anyone has any questions, please ask them here.

 

I'm not sending out result PMs, by the way. I have them all written up though if you want to check the Working Doc. They were written as if Day 10 was going to happen. Doc12 changed his mind AT THE LAST HOUR causing it NOT to happen.

Edited October 21, 2016 by Nyali

[Burnt Spaghetti she/her]

hahahhahahahhahahahha wow XD im not even mad, thats amazing XD I'm going to just sit here and laugh at this result XD

[Haelbarde he/him]

Heh. And that is what happens when you try and end the game before Khriss and Nazh are done.