Mid-Range Game 22: My Little Perfidy

[Steeldancer he/him]

Bracken sat in the library, continuing to work. He had to finish his work, the sooner the better. What if the changelings came after him before he finished? Or, even worse, if his friends subjected him to that potion from the Zebra? The zebra seriously freaked him out. What was her purpose in life, to live in a creepy tree not full of wonderful books? 

Friendship. Partying. Perhaps there was something in common there... maybe even with love. 

Happiness, he realized. Genuine pleasure at enjoying life. Too much of partying and friends can hurt you, but being happy? Nothing can hurt you about that. Now people all find their different ways of being happy, whether through religion or food or even partying. This was an important part of the meaning of life. "Enjoying the journey" he said to Wormy. "Is this the meaning of life?" 

"Perhaps not all of it. Do not the changelings derive pleasure from the journey of causing us pain?" Wormy retorted. 

"Indeed," sighed Bracken. He had felt like that wasn't all of it. He could almost... FEEL it, just ever out of reach. He still needed to address some important philosophies that had nothing to do with being happy. And he also needed to address the fact that it was his birthday today. Should he invite someone over? If so, who? There certainly weren't any girl ponies he had been interested in. And he spent so much time in his library. Last night had been the first time he had gotten out in ages. 

Maybe he needed more happiness. Yes, researching made him happy, but if he could share his goal... ha could invite all the ponies, and get CHEEZITS and other wonderful things from some restaurants...

"Wormy, let's make some invitations. For every one. We can bring them to the library. Yes, even Princess Luna! They all deserve a nice party. With some cheezits." 

Bracken smiled. This did make him happy. All these philosophies did have value. It was just he needed to find the over-arching philosophy of the most value. But it was his birthday. He might as well enjoy it. 

it actually is my birthday tomorrow, but it is part of the cycle, so I'll do my RP party tomorrow. And if you want to include it in the write up @Herowannabe that would be just fine. Everyone should come! It'll be great! And if it ends up in the write up, I fully accept that there will be changeling shenanigans.

[Elithanathile he/him]

Finally! I can get on again!

First of all, I do apologize for not responding to any of the RP yesterday and completely missing the party! Ecthelion? It isn't over. And then Joe invited me for some RP, and then he died before I could get to it! Rude. Of the eliminators. Curse them and their dashingly good looks and twirlable mustaches!

Next, we lost loyalty already? That's awful! That means the changelings are 1/6th of the way to victory and we lost a cool power! Straw must have been feeling so frustrated as we slowly crept in and voted on him. We'll have to ask Pinkie Pie to help make it up to him later when he wakes up. Wait, we lynched him, right? So what happens to the Element? Do the changelings get it by default, or does it move on to a different pony? It's probably been said before and I just missed it.

Third, my excuse!

---

Razor shard finally kicked the last of the sticky web off of himself, landing on the ground with a thump. The changelings had kidnapped him right underneath Prism's nose, just after she invited him to a party! That was his atonement gosh darnit! Luckily when he woke back up he'd been able to use the spike in his harness to cut his way free, although it took an entire day to do so.

He had to get back to Ponyville and warn the others. And weren't they supposed to choose a pony for the Princess to investigate? And he missed that too?! Getting kidnapped sucked!

Razor Shard began dashing through the thick forest which he recognized as the Everfree Forest and restrained a bit of a shiver as thin branches brushed over his coat like cold fingers of the dead. He wasn't scared, just... wary.

He picked up speed. As he dashed through the forest, he missed the small pack of changelings heading back the way he had come from, holding another sack of webbing in their clawed hands.

By the time he made it back to Ponyville he was panting and had scratches over his body along with leaves in his hair. "Is everyone alright?" He yelled out coming to a stop. "Did anypony get taken?" Besides me, he hadded mentally.

With mournful looks, he was pointed to the main square where a large tent was set up. Razor Shard slowly advanced, pushing his way through the tent flaps. With faces like that, there was no way it was good news. Inside he found rows of cots set up, most empty, but one cot held Straw, limp as if he was in a coma.

A nurse bustled over from where a stack of papers had distracted her as he came in, and Razor Shard realized he didn't know how long he'd been looking at the still body. The nurse spoke up in a snappish tone. "What are you doing, don't you know nopony is allowed to see the patients! The risk of a changeling sneaking in is too great!"

Razor Shard tried to channel his dashing side. "Please marm, I was gone until just recently and don't know what happened. I'll leave right away, but could you tell me what happened to my," he swallowed on the word, but managed to get it out. "Friend? I'll leave right after, but you'd be the person most likely to know, since you've been trusted with the responsibility of keeping him safe and cared for."

The nurse maintained eye contact for a short time, before looking away with a huff. "Very well, I'll tell you what happened, but I'm keeping my eye on you. The Princess herself informed me of my duty, and I won't let some lazy pony who didn't even show up to the trial yesterday make me betray the Princess' trust!"

Razor Shard bowed humbly and listened carefully as she told him about Zecora and how they had accidentally betrayed the most loyal pony among them. She told him about how Straw would be fine, but he wouldn't wake up until all the changelings had been found. And she told him about how he wasn't the only pony who had been missing. Hidden Antler wasn't back either, but they had found his abandoned quiver of arrows left behind. Whatever that meant, it wasn't anything good.

After the tale was finished, Razor Shard was quickly pushed out of the medical tent and told not to come back unless it was an emergency. Still partially in a daze, he trotted off, meandering through the closed shops and boarded up stores. Eventually he came to a stop in front of his own Smithy, left unattended for over a day.

Yes, the changelings were here and kidnapping people. Yes they had given up own of their own and lost an Element due to it. Yes things looked bleak and were getting worse. But he would carry on and find the lost ponies like he would find his father. (He ignored the whispering voice speaking of false hopes and dead parents.) Somepony had to carry on and keep spirits high, keep them together.

He remembered a pony who lived in town who loved to cheer people up with flowers. Perhaps he could find her and help her to spread some cheer around. But first, he had to find Prism and apologize for not making it to the party. Dusts, it must have looked like he left in the middle of talking to her! He didn't know why, but for some reason he didn't want her to have a bad impression of him.

But before he set off, Razor Shard went inside his small home and levered up one of the floorboards. Not a loose one like you saw in movies, one that was fully nailed in. He pulled out a wrapped package and carefully unwrapped it, before positioning the scabbard carefully on his flank, opposite of his cutie mark. Things were getting dangerous now, and he would use whatever he had to ensure the threat was dealt with.

---

Quick note, I was not attacked by changelings last night that I am aware of, or anything close to that. It is the best reason RP wise that would keep Razor Shard from the voting and from Prism's party.

[Paranoid King he/him]

Alright. I wasn't on yesterday, so I'm responding to everyone who talked about me.

Jedal: "The things rand has said so far doesn't point to him as either an elim or townie, so it wouldn't be wise for us to lynch him."

Exactly. Right on. I don't think he's an elim, either.

Bridge Boy: " I'll vote on Paranoid King. His quick vote on Rand still seems kinda suspicious"

What? Whaat? Did you even...? what? wat. whut? Waht? Why?  I NEVER VOTED ON RAND!

Mint: "By PK's own logic, PK would be the most helpful in terms of obtaining information."

Using my own logic against me? I love it! If I'm an elim... Brightness? Is probably innocent? And you get some leads on Randuir and Jon too. I'll take it!

Jon: "I'm tempted to toss a vote onto PK, in retaliation for his vote on me (albeit retracted), and I'm resisting because it seemed well-intentioned, and has been thoroughly discussed."

Now, you said earlier that you understood the logic behind my vote. If you're adding this to explain what you were secretly thinking at the time, I can understand it, as it seems like a reasonable thought to have. However, you seems to be explaining it as a new thought, which contradicts your attitude earlier. That seems strange to me. And is a good enough lead for me to follow. Jon.

---

Moneybags had stayed up late last night, trying to *ahem* legally relieve ponies of their money. And illegally too but that part wasn't important. When he awoke this morning, it was still dark. But he could clearly hear the daily activities going on. The milkpony depositing the milk, the mailponies delivering the mail, the birds rehearsing in the trees. Something was wrong.

Come to think of it, he'd heard rumors the night before. Something about the sun princess being gone. Changelings disguising as the populace. An epidemic of donkeypox. What a disaster. Well, it was time to do something about it. He pulled out his "special" kit, for just-in-case instances.

"Sausage! Getcher sausages here! Inna bun! Guaranteed 100% edible! Perfect treat for the end of the world! Only 2 bits, and that's cutting me own..." He trailed off as he noticed a birthday announcement being put up.

New plan. It would beat selling sausages to ponies, at least.

[DeTess she/her]

10 minutes ago, Bridge Boy said:

Next, we lost loyalty already? That's awful! That means the changelings are 1/6th of the way to victory and we lost a cool power! Straw must have been feeling so frustrated as we slowly crept in and voted on him. We'll have to ask Pinkie Pie to help make it up to him later when he wakes up. Wait, we lynched him, right? So what happens to the Element? Do the changelings get it by default, or does it move on to a different pony? It's probably been said before and I just missed it.

I asked at the beginning of C1. This is Hero's answer:

Quote

If a pony holding an Eliminated- whether by kidnap or lynch- it counts towards the Changelings win condition.

I do want to urge those holding an element of harmony to defend themselves if they get accused. I suspect Straw would have been less likely to have been lynched if he'd made some kind of defense. I, at least, would have considered backing off, as I've seen straw getting lynched for things like this before while he was innocent, unfortunately. However, if all I've got to go on in C1 is a sudden and seemingly unnecessary bandwagon vote, and no reaction to questions about his reasons, I can't really go and vote on someone I'm less suspicious of.

[Jondesu he/him]

3 minutes ago, Paranoid King said:

Now, you said earlier that you understood the logic behind my vote. If you're adding this to explain what you were secretly thinking at the time, I can understand it, as it seems like a reasonable thought to have. However, you seems to be explaining it as a new thought, which contradicts your attitude earlier. That seems strange to me. And is a good enough lead for me to follow. Jon.

Fair enough, I'm a fickle pony, and I was still considering it.  It was just a regular equine emotion, though (perhaps aggravated by a bad case of hoofrot), and I didn't mean anything by it.  I didn't even vote for you, after all.

Losing the Element of Loyalty is certainly bad, worse even than losing your bag of sugar.  We knew we'd lose an Element if we didn't lynch someone, but I was really hoping we'd manage to at least not lynch the holder of another Element.  That sucks, and sorry, Straw.  We didn't have a lot to go on, though, as is usual for a D1 lynch, and your post was just weird to me.  I need to learn that that's rarely a good indicator of an Elim, however, who are usually more careful.

I agree with Randuir that Alv's vote makes him slightly more likely to be a villager, since I can see the Elims benefiting from trying to force a tie and lynch the holder of the Element of Generosity instead, but I also don't think they would have wanted to tip their hand any earlier than necessary, so he isn't cleared completely.

It's possible that one of us who voted for Straw is an Elim, since they would have known he was village, but again, a tie would have been to their benefit too, so I think that's out as a possible indicator of alignment as well.  I'm guessing at least a couple Changling's didn't vote, actually, trying to just avoid suspicion. @Seonid, you posted just a single time, though it was good advice to the Unicorns, and then didn't vote.  Did you just not see anyone you felt like voting on, and why didn't you post again once there was more discussion?

Very few people didn't participate at all, which is awesome, but makes that again not a good way to find possible Elims (and it's probably not a great way anyway).  I hope @Darkness Ascendant is able to get on and play, but I know his situation can make that difficult.

I'll probably vote later, but for now I can't find any convincing reasons to vote on anyone in particular.  I do hope you'll see that my reasoning wasn't like that of a Changling, though, PK, and instead help us find a better target for today's lynch.

[Seonid he/him]

Sorry @Jondesu. I came down with heat exhaustion Saturday,  and had a bunch of family stuff all day Sunday.

I did come up with a semi - tricky plan our element of generosity could use,  but without Loyalty I don't think it will work anymore.

[Steeldancer he/him]

54 minutes ago, Jondesu said:

 

I'll probably vote later, but for now I can't find any convincing reasons to vote on anyone in particular.  I do hope you'll see that my reasoning wasn't like that of a Changling, though, PK, and instead help us find a better target for today's lynch.

And when I read this I thought it said lunch. I must be hungry lol. I agree with your sentiment. Although, frankly, at this point nobody has really been acting all that suspicious. (Of course this is my first game, and I may not recognize suspicious if it slaps me). so idk what to think. The only person I'm getting a definite vibe on is Brightness. She feels very... villagery? I'll reserve judgement for everyone else. Innocent until proven guilty, right? Maybe I'm not being suspicious of Every one enough. But I have to trust SOMEONE. 

[Jondesu he/him]

1 hour ago, Seonid said:

Sorry @Jondesu. I came down with heat exhaustion Saturday,  and had a bunch of family stuff all day Sunday.

I did come up with a semi - tricky plan our element of generosity could use,  but without Loyalty I don't think it will work anymore.

Totally understandable. Schitzo had a fit of exhaustion today too, though it may have been something he ate.

The loss of Loyalty is a big blow, definitely. It had a lot of potential uses. If I get the mental energy, I'm going to try to piece together some good strategies using what we still have, but I don't know that I'm likely to want to share them publicly. If a Unicorn wants to include me in a PM with a couple people they trust, I might take that approach. 

[DeTess she/her]

@The Flash, these are people I know who are quite good at appearing village-like: BR, Drought and Frozen mint(some people believe I also belong on this list). I'm not saying I got an elim-vibe from them at this point, I just recommend some caution if you haven't seen someone take village actions.

Also making a point of reminding everypony that you are new is sometimes regarded as suspicious, just FYI .

Edited May 29, 2017 by randuir

[Steeldancer he/him]

28 minutes ago, randuir said:

@The Flash, these are people I know who are quite good at appearing village-like: BR, Drought and Frozen mint(some people believe I also belong on this list). I'm not saying I got an elim-vibe from them at this point, I just recommend some caution if you haven't seen someone take village actions.

Also making a point of reminding everypony that you are new is sometimes regarded as suspicious, just FYI .

Well I am new. Shouldn't I be suspicious of YOU for telling me that they are good at being villager? 

Well there. I'm a lot better at being suspicious now. 

Edited May 29, 2017 by The Flash

[Jondesu he/him]

36 minutes ago, The Flash said:

Well I am new. Shouldn't I be suspicious of YOU for telling me that they are good at being villager? 

Well there. I'm a lot better at being suspicious now. 

You should always be suspicious of @randuir.  Always.  Even if you think he's proven villager. 

EDITED IN:

I'm still working on trying to figure out a solid strategy for the holders of the Elements to work together, but for now, I have a couple suggestions (many of these align with Rand's from the first cycle, but I'm just going to post them anyway because it's what I came up with on my own, and I only referred back to his to see if I directly contradicted anything he said):

Honesty: Target Unicorns first, so then you have someone who can create PMs for you.  Then target Pegasi, since they'll be the most dangerous when it comes to forcing a tie or changing the lynch target.  Target me too, so you know I'm good. :-P

Generosity: Pass your power often.  This one should cycle through a lot of people, and by keeping track of who you give it to and then learning (if we can) who it goes to and if it goes immediately the next cycle, we can smoke out the Changlings (since they won't know who it actually goes to).  If possible, the holder of Honesty should coordinate with the holder of Generosity when that process begins, and they can work together to confirm the alignment of those who get Generosity.

Laughter: Use your power.  Just about every cycle.  Target yourself at some point randomly to keep your identity hidden, but target otherponies you think are probably clear, even if you're not sure.  If we can't lynch someone we think is suspicious one particular cycle because of your actions, that's not a huge problem, but you have the potential to be very influential.  If you find out who the holder of another Element is, include them in your targets that you cycle through, but randomly (roll a die or something if you have to).  

Kindness: I'm tempted to tell you to out yourself and let us lynch you, since we'd then have a confirmed good pony, but that works towards the Changling's win condition.  If we get down to where we think we only have one or two Changlings left, though, and there are still multiple Elements in play, that might be a valid strategy.

Magic: As Randuir said the first cycle, don't do anything to draw attention to yourself unduly.  Play as if you're any other pony, and if you're up for the lynch, defend yourself (unlike Straw).

Everyone else: Don't get sick.  There's all kinds of nasty bugs going around, I think, and some of you are looking a little green.  Or pink.  I think Razor Shard is getting a little bit of white around the edges of his mane, too, which could be a sign of early aging.  I think I need to take a nap…

Edited May 29, 2017 by Jondesu

[Steeldancer he/him]

7 minutes ago, Jondesu said:

You should always be suspicious of @randuir.  Always.  Even if you think he's proven villager. 

Lol ok bad blood. 

Bracken and Wormy had finished all the invitations. Bracken waved his horn, sending them all over the village. A cheezit on the front of the envelope, a tasteful invitation to the library... a sign was now up outside. Bracken felt light inside. 

"This is what life is about. The small moments like this." 

Bracken walked outside, wormy on his back. The sun was shining. The world looked beautiful. 

"Could this be another purpose? Admiring the beauty around you?" asked Bracken. Wormy simply smiled. What could possibly go wrong on a day like this? Even marauding Changelings couldn't put a damper on his mood. 

[Jondesu he/him]

1 minute ago, The Flash said:

Lol ok bad blood. 

Heh, all in good fun, though.  Randuir and I had an awesome tag-team RP going in… *looks back* LG30, and I decided I trusted him because of a number of factors, and then, BAM, he stabbed me and everyone else in the back.  In an awesome way.  I don't hold it against him.  I just don't trust him.  Like I don't trust Aman. Or Elenion.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, The Flash said:

The only person I'm getting a definite vibe on is Brightness. She feels very... villagery

Mm mm, sandwitches.

 

So, your using your gut ! Someone is finally doing what I do!

[Steeldancer he/him]

13 minutes ago, Ornstein said:

Mm mm, sandwitches.

 

So, your using your gut ! Someone is finally doing what I do!

Oh I've been using my gut in that way for ages. I use it to guide me to Delicious Things (including Nutella, Cheeztis, Bacon, and Guacamole)

[BrightnessRadiant she/her]

@The Flash aww thanks flash! I'm trying...of course @randuir is right. I would try even if I was an elim  lololol

I personally trusted @Frozen Mint TOO much in my first game! lol ...She had become part of a trust triangle for the village and she was EVIL  haha (I will never forget lol)

I'm not saying you should never trust me...I'm just saying you should always be wary of everyone unless they are absolutely proven golden! 

I wish straw had been able to defend himself. We didn't have much to go on, and his vote on me was kinda random. (Although when I thought back through what he said later, I realized that he said I was the most likely person to kill him and I actually have voted for him on the first cycle of 3 out of 4 of the only games I've played ha! I didn't even realize! Sorry straw! Stop seeming evil lol)

I might be really busy today because of memorial day and family coming over. I will still try to check in and i might be on more tonight!

[Steeldancer he/him]

4 minutes ago, BrightnessRadiant said:

@The Flash aww thanks flash! I'm trying...of course @randuir is right. I would try even if I was an elim  lololol

I personally trusted @Frozen Mint TOO much in my first game! lol ...She had become part of a trust triangle for the village and she was EVIL  haha (I will never forget lol)

I'm not saying you should never trust me...I'm just saying you should always be wary of everyone unless they are absolutely proven golden! 

I wish straw had been able to defend himself. We didn't have much to go on, and his vote on me was kinda random. (Although when I thought back through what he said later, I realized that he said I was the most likely person to kill him and I actually have voted for him on the first cycle of 3 out of 4 of the only games I've played ha! I didn't even realize! Sorry straw! Stop seeming evil lol)

I might be really busy today because of memorial day and family coming over. I will still try to check in and i might be on more tonight!

As an evil character from Harry Potter once said, CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!! CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!! 

[Conatus he/him]

Silver Wolf sighed, running a hoof through his mane. Straw was a good friend of his. This reminded him of when he lost everypony he had known and loved to that nuclear accident. He looked up at the dark grey clouds, and a gentle rain had started to fall, making his knives slippery in his hooves. The water felt like his emotions, gradually getting colder and harder to ignore.

_________________________

Of course, Silver Wolf had exaggerated just slightly. The "nuclear accident" was one of his friend's tripping and breaking his collarbone at a nuclear facility.

[DeTess she/her]

@Herowannabe, I've got two questions.

1. Can the element of generosity be given to ponies that already have an element?
2. Can a changeling exercise any influence on where the element of generosity is sent if he had it, or is it completely random (rules seem to indicate random, but I wanted to make sure)?

[Herowannabe he/him]

4 hours ago, Jondesu said:

Kindness: I'm tempted to tell you to out yourself and let us lynch you, since we'd then have a confirmed good pony, but that works towards the Changling's win condition.  If we get down to where we think we only have one or two Changlings left, though, and there are still multiple Elements in play, that might be a valid strategy.

Rule clarification:

if the pony with Kindness is lynched they are NOT eliminated. The Changelings would still have to eliminate them in order to meet their win condition. 

 

12 minutes ago, randuir said:

@Herowannabe, I've got two questions.

1. Can the element of generosity be given to ponies that already have an element?
2. Can a changeling exercise any influence on where the element of generosity is sent if he had it, or is it completely random (rules seem to indicate random, but I wanted to make sure)?

1. Yes. 

This is also a good time to mention that there is no limit on the number of actions a player can make in one cycle. So if (hypothetically), a Pegasus with the Element of Laughter was also given the Element of Generosity, she could target somepony with Laughter, give Generosity away to another pony, and use her secret vote on yet another pony, all in the same cycle.

2. No, they have no influence over it. The Element of Generosity will be given away randomly (I'll roll a die) and the Changeling will not be told who it went to. 

[DeTess she/her]

Okay, I've got an idea that would potentially give us a way to use the element of generosity to scan for elims. It's late here, so please check over the proposed theory for weaknesses.

1. The holders must make sure to always pas it on immediately.
2. The old holder will announce who they are, 2 cycles after they passed it on, as well as to who they passed it on (this means that the one that received it would also have already passed it on).
3. The next cycle, the person that had received it mentions who they passed it on to (again, this newly announced person would already have passed it on further).
4. The moment someone can't accurately claim to who they passed the element, we know we've found an elim.

The one major risk I see s that the elims would attack whoever the newly announced holder is to break the chain. Such a tactic would guarantee that they'd never be able to catch the element of generosity, but they might catch the holders of other elements.

So, what are your thoughts? Did I miss anything (quite likely, as I am quite tired right now)? Any other suggestions?

Edit: So, just to quickly recap: the holder of the element of generosity announces himself and whoever he/she passed the element onto, but only once the one they'd given the element to has had a chance to pass it on themselves.

Edited May 29, 2017 by randuir

[Steeldancer he/him]

Sounds like a good idea. 

[Guest]

I think that's a great Idea, randuir.

[BrightnessRadiant she/her]

What if an elim pony gets it and then tells his friends that he had it and one of them receives it by chance...just a thought. The odds are low but at that point they could accurately tell who has it and they would be "confirmed" good.

Also if we are passing it then should we try to pass it among the more active players first? In case an inactive player gets it and doesn't pass it on? Or gets lynched while holding it?

What if an elim gets it and then doesn't pass it on, and then claims to have passed it but then the other person says they didn't get it? How would we know which one was telling the truth? Should we have the honesty pony scan the one who says they passed it? But then if they announced who was lying then the honesty element pony would be revealed. Hmm. 

What if an elim is still holding the element and we lynch them...then we give them an element right?

What if an elim gets the element and then his friends do a sacrifice kill on him to get that element? (Pretty unlikely)

What if a village pony passes the element to the pony with kindness and they get lynched? Will the element of generosity be there still?

What if we are getting close to the end of everypony having held it already...wouldn't that narrow it down for the elims as to who will have the element next? Would that put them in danger?

I'm trying to make sure there aren't any loopholes lol. That's all I can think of rn. All in all I think it's the best way to go. It seems like the most productive use of the element.

Maybe once we start narrowing it down than the honesty pony can also start to narrow down who they should scan? That might speed up the process of finding the elims?

I think the fuchsia looks bright with this plan!  (I've used most of the basic colors so be prepared for some outrageous puns and play on words from now on to complete my CR lolol)

 

 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, BrightnessRadiant said:

What if an elim gets it and then doesn't pass it on, and then claims to have passed it but then the other person says they didn't get it? How would we know which one was telling the truth?

The elim would have to pass it on. he/she wouldnt get a choice.