Mid-Range Game 22: My Little Perfidy

[Herowannabe he/him]

20 minutes ago, randuir said:

My notes indicate that apart from the elements and publicly known pony types, there are no other known roles. Are you suggesting there are secret roles?

No, there are no secret roles or anything of the sort in this game. It's just that it's very late and I'm very tired and I was trying as hard as I could to make the rules perfectly clear. 

 

EDIT: A couple other points of clarification that nobody has asked me about, but which I feel needed to be addressed:

Lynches: Many games require a 2-Vote minimum for a lynch to take place. Not so in this game. A pony can be lynched with only 1 vote (so long as nopony else has any votes on them). 

Ties/No-votes: A tie-vote, or a situation in which nopony receives any votes (still technically a tie-vote), normally results in nopony getting lynched. If the holder of Generosity is still in the game, they will be lynched instead. If the Generosity-Pony has been eliminated or lost their power, then tie-votes/no-votes revert to resulting in nopony getting lynched. 

Rollovers: I will be doing a system similar to what Joe did in QF23. Basically, the cycle ends when the countdown timer reaches 0:00, and then there will be roughly an hour pause while I tally votes and compose the writeup and so on, and then the next cycle begins when I post the new thread. 

Rollover for this cycle: I'll be attending a family gathering tomorrow evening and so will probably be a little late getting home. As such I am extending the length of this cycle by 1 hour (so it will end at 10:00pm MST, not 9:00). I'll go adjust the countdown timer right now. Thanks. 

Edited May 28, 2017 by Herowannabe

[DeTess she/her]

We're 28 hours in, and not everyone has checked in yet if my excel sheet is to be believed. The Flash said he'd be camping, so he's excused, and DA will be active if he can, so poking him doesn't help much, but for the others: @A Joe in the Bush, @Straw, @Ornstein, @Conatus, @Alvron, would you care to share some of your viewpoints with the thread?

I'll vote once I've gone through the thread with a fine comb. For now, have a vote tally.

Vote tally(numbers are adjusted for earth ponies):

Hemalurgic Headshot(0): Jondesu

Jondesu(0): Paranoid King

Paranoid King(0): Jedal, Bridge Boy

Brightness(2): Paranoid King, Droughtbringer

Edited May 28, 2017 by randuir

[Quiver he/him]

3 hours ago, randuir said:

The Flash said he'd be camping

Which is weird, since hunkering down in one place and sniping ought to be Green Arrow's schtick, but...

Anyway, non-RP? Sorry. I have no diea about tactics, which is one of the reasons I'm not posting or saying much just yet; feeling the room out and all that.
(This cycle also happened to coincide with my four-day work cycle, so...)

[Straw he/him]

Ehh... I really don't like to vote on the first day but in this case, if nopony is lynched, than a villager is guaranteed to die.

So, which of these people are the most likely to kill you?

Hmm... I'd say BR.

Yesssssss... bloooooood!

That's a bit weird, paranoid voice in my head.

I am not a voice! I am a portent of doom!

Whatever.

[Droughtbringer]

1 hour ago, Straw said:

Hmm... I'd say BR.

I don't like having 3 votes on one person, especially with so little evidence. Brightness. Also, @Straw why did you vote one Brightness? You said you don't want a random villager lynched, (kinda lynched with the no lynch) so you should be stating suspicions and voting, not just Bandwagoning.

[Jondesu he/him]

@Paranoid King, I do want to apologize for missing your logic.  It was more sound than I thought, though I still don't appreciate being singled out when I wasn't even really defending Randuir (but I also realize I didn't make it clear that I was commenting on the fact that I've seen posts like that used by Elims to gain trust in the past, and that I didn't get that feeling from his post).  Glad to see you've moved your vote from me.  I'll plead brain fog from the RL stuff that's been going on.

I'd do some more RP, but Schitzo is currently sleeping off the effects of his favorite healing brew of green tea and blackberries, with a little bit of turmeric added for the burning sensation in his left flank.

[Steeldancer he/him]

I hope this is in blue. I've been camping so I won't vote for now. I'll try to create a PM before the end of the day, but I don't know if I'll have time. I'll be active next cycle for sure. I apologize if this isn't in blue. I'm on mobile.

 

---

Edited May 28, 2017 by The Flash

[Jondesu he/him]

10 minutes ago, The Flash said:

I hope this is in blue. I've been camping so I won't vote for now. I'll try to create a PM before the end of the day, but I don't know if I'll have time. I'll be active next cycle for sure. I apologize if this isn't in blue. I'm on mobile

 

---

It wasn't blue, but we trust you anyway.  If you're on mobile, use (color=blue)(/color), except replace the parentheses with square brackets [ ].

Edit: Unless Schitzo's going colorblind. Oh my, is my coat still blue?

Edited May 28, 2017 by Jondesu

[Steeldancer he/him]

Thanks! I'll try that. did this work? Awesome. 

Edited May 28, 2017 by The Flash

[BrightnessRadiant she/her]

Prism paced her patio. Her pony friends should be punctual. She was plum worn out from all of her preparations. She hoped that her party invites hadn't been postponed in the post because of the perilous pandemonium that had previously passed. She had already put out some pudding, pies, and punch in the parlor. She even had some peaceful music playing. The ponies needed a perfect environment to postulate a plan. They had to protect themselves from the putrid phony ponies plotting against them and posing as their pals. 

She placed her painting on a pedestal for the other ponies to provide their input. She pondered whether the pony she had parted with earlier would possibly accept her proposal to join their planning party. Perhaps the ponies with the powerful elements could be persuaded to preside over this meeting. Potentially, they could prevail over these problems.

She paused as, she was pleased to see, a few of the ponies were plodding up her pathway. Pretty soon everypony would be present and they could proceed to make the princess proud. 

__________________________________________

I noticed that I was putting plenty of p's in my previous posts, and it pleased me to see how many I could push into this particular piece. Pairing "P" words together is just peachy! After all, Prism is a pegasus pony with a passion for painting. 

I'm also placing a vote on paranoid king for the purpose of my own protection, and he's possibly a perpetrator who should be put in prison. Please help me. I think I have a problem.  

Edited May 28, 2017 by BrightnessRadiant

[DeTess she/her]

Okay, so there are currently two people with votes on them, being Brightness and PK (though the 1 vote on PK is nullified, as he is an earth Pony).

• Brightness: I don't really have much of a read on her, one way or another, though her behavior at the moment seems more village-like than elim-like to me(trying to go in discussion with those voting on her, rather than immediately breaking out the retaliation votes/counter-accusing them). In a way, I do feel like lynching her might give us some interesting info, but since I don't think she's evil at this point, I'm not going to join that lynch(I might change my mind if we have a tie).
• PK: I don't really have much of a read on PK either. His paranoia isn't unfounded, though it could be an elim ploy to get people to be less trusting of the players who generally plan a lot. His logic is sound, but as PK himself pointed out, sound logic doesn't generally prove someone innocent or guilty in cycle 1.

So, in case it wasn't clear yet, I'm going to take a third option for voting. @DroughtBringer, could you explain some more why you suddenly decided to retract your vote on BR? AS it was, it wouldn't make much difference whether she had 2 or 3 votes, and Brightness only posted RP between the posted in which you retracted your vote, and the previous post in which you stated that you weren't going to do so yet. You didn't cast any other votes either, so you didn't do anything to change BR's position as primary lynch candidate.

Anyway, despite me being somewhat suspicious of Drought, I'm going to place my vote on Straw for now. His argument for voting seems to make sense, until you realize that at the moment he made that vote there was no tie or similar situation that would put the current holder of the object of generosity at risk. With that taken into account, it's a simple bandwagon. Given the current states of votes, it might have been an elim attempt to fortify the lynch on village!Brightness.

(note: at this point BR posted the post above mine)

@BrightnessRadiant, might I ask why you're voting on PK? He had net 0 votes on him, as he's an earth-pony, so if you're only voting out of self-preservation, you could literally pick anyone else with the same effect.

Also, I'd like to point out that, of the pegasi, only Brightness has placed a public vote (Jedal did put one up, but has retracted it). I'd like to ask you guys to make sure to vote, to make it more difficult for changeling pegasi to try any shenanigans (such as forcing a tie).

Vote tally(numbers are adjusted for earth ponies):

Hemalurgic Headshot(0): Jondesu

Jondesu(0): Paranoid King

Paranoid King(1): Jedal, Bridge Boy, Brightness

Brightness(2): Paranoid King, Droughtbringer, Straw

Straw(1): Randuir

Edited May 28, 2017 by randuir

[BrightnessRadiant she/her]

21 minutes ago, randuir said:

His paranoia isn't unfounded, though it could be an elim ploy to get people to be less trusting of the players who generally plan a lot.

I'm sorry @randuir I just had to point out that my P's seem to have played a part in your post lolol

I actually thought PK would have two votes if I voted on him. Oops. I thought that you had put a line through Jedal's name because PK was an earth pony so that first vote wouldn't count. I might remove my vote from PK if I find someone more suspicious, but I didn't vote on him completely for preservation purposes. (Apparently I can't stop lol) I'm not sure if an elim would actually be that vocal about something in the first cycle because if he got me lynched and I'm village than he would probably get lynched next cycle. But I didn't really understand his votes so far and I know I'm not evil so I didn't want to die if he was an elim trying to get rid of me. I will step back and consider some more before the cycle is over though. (tbh I didn't explain my vote in my last post cuz it would have ruined the piece lol...I figured someone would post soon after me, and then i could explain my vote in a new post haha)

@Straw only if you're evil  then yes. Yes, I will kill you haha.

Edited May 28, 2017 by BrightnessRadiant

[Steeldancer he/him]

well turns out we are heading home early! I couldn't use data where I was because I was literally across the river from Canada and because the towers in Canada go north south I would get international charges despite still being in the US. Which is stupid. Anyway despite having more time, my battery is dying, so I don't have time to really analyze the thread.  

Ok anyway I don't want to join this random bandwagon, simply because I'm against day one lynches. I get that if we don't lynch someone the generosity person dies, but I would rather just keep out of it for the moment. As for strategy, I think it might be smart for the Honestly pony to scan a unicorn and somehow use them as a spokesman. The honesty power is (in my opinion) one of the most powerful and useful powers for the village, and the Elims will totally be all over trying to kill them. So if they use a trusted spokesman, they can protect themselves and distribute the information they get. That was all that I could come up with for today. 

A little more background on my RP: Bracken is a librarian. He doesn't really enjoy politics, but is of the firm belief that discovering the meaning of life will help to reveal the changelings, as (in his opinion) they do not understand the true meaning of life. And so Bracken embarks on a soul searching quest to reveal the ultimate meaning of life...

Bracken sat in the library. His friend and assistant, Wormy, sat (or whatever worms do) on the table. Of course, he was no ordinary worm. He was a fantastic bookworm. Together they intended to crack the mysteries of life. 

"So many possible philosophies on life," Bracken breathed. "But life does have meaning. And I will find that meaning." And so they plunged into the first philosophy book. 

This book declared the virtues of making the most of life before you die. It advocated for protecting the weak, serving the ones you rule, and that the journey is more important than the destination. 

"But what is the journey that is most valuable to life? Are all journeys equal in value?" Bracken asked Wormy. "Clearly not, otherwise there would not be such pain in the world," said Wormy. 

Bracken wrote down a few notes. His personal belief was that his own purpose was to understand. But that was not the ultimate meaning of life. So, on to the next book. That one gave a good framework for the meaning of life, but it wasn't enough. 

Love is what the next book proclaimed. But Bracken was not satisfied. Love did give some meaning to life; but he had heard of Changelings falling in love! That could not be the true meaning of life then. He needed to find something that was clearly missing from the lives of the changelings. And then, maybe that could help in the battle. So, he continued to search. 

He knew that the search would not be short. As the first book had said, it would not be worth the answer to life if the journey was not hard. And so Bracken and Wormy continue to look for the ultimate meaning of life. 

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

"Discord's Cloven Hoof." Hidden Antler hissed under his breath as he slid the deadbolt across the door with a hoof. "Discord's overlarge, greying, chaotic Cloven Hoof!" He continued to swear to himself as he locked up the rest of the door, adding chains and padlocks to it. "Discord's stinking yakfurred Beard!" He finished, as he turned around, grabbing his saddle bags and maneuvering them onto his back. He trotted up the basement stairs, but paused at the opening. Sunlight streamed through the open doors, warming him after his time in the cold basement. He breathed in, closing his eyes.

He was angry. Anger did nothing but cloud his judgment. Yes, the arrival of the changelings had upset a lot of the order of things, and was going to delay his pursuits by quite a bit, but that was no reason to lose control. Carefully, he wiped all expression of emotion from his bearing, and opened his eyes. Ponyville was off in the distance, still puttering about. The sun still made it's lethargic way across the town. All was not right in the world, but the world was still peaceful.

He trotted away from his cabin, following the well worn path away from White Tail, and mentally reviewed what he needed to do, prioritizing tasks due to recent events and information. He would have to ensure that the changelings were gone from Ponyville along with his other tasks. There were several ponies he needed to talk to though. Dusted Roses was a known Love spreader and would likely be either a target for the changelings, or a changeling herself. The newcomer, Silver Wolf, was also probably a changeling. Ponies didn't look like that, except in the 'edgy' comic books read by Teens and Dragons. Curiosity and Bracken were both viable options as well. Newcomers that he had yet to interact with in any meaningful way.

Of course, that was all assuming that the changelings made new identities, rather than replacing ponies that were well known around time. In which case, actually. . . Hrmm. . . He needed to talk to Razor Shard. That pony was involved with multiple of his priorities. But, he didn't know where the Earther was. Of course, In Ponyville, it was quite easy to find people. All you had to do was talk to a Foal.

He planted himself down on the side of one of the main roads, rummaged through his saddle bag, and pulled out a toy bow, with suction cup arrows. He set them out in front of him, in plain sight, and pulled out supplies to make more suction cup arrows. This wouldn't be the first time he had traded toys to foals in exchange for messenger services.

It took 5 minutes for the first foal to trot over to him eagerly. "Hey Mister Antler! Has someone already claimed that one?"

"No Seed. I'll let you have it if you tell Razor Shard that I need to talk to him at this earliest convenience."

Little Seed grinned, and galloped off. Hidden Antler settled down to wait.

---

Hi! I've been suffering from computer issues the past few days, but i got them fixed, so i can view and post again. I've only skimmed the thread, so have some RP while I start taking notes.

@Bridge Boy want to answer the RP summons?

[BrightnessRadiant she/her]

@A Joe in the Bush bridge boy said he probably wasn't gonna be on today.  care to come to Prism's planning party? Everypony on here is invited!  It isn't black-tie or anything. Just come as you are lol

I might not be on after an hour or so because I have church, and we are visiting with my cousins and aunt later too so it might be late before I can get back. 

I will try to get on before the end of cycle if it's possible!

[Steeldancer he/him]

I'm struggling to make a PM. It keeps telling me that the people I'm sending it to can't receive messages. I checked the spelling for all their names. Help?

[Mint11 she/her]

15 minutes ago, The Flash said:

The honesty power is (in my opinion) one of the most powerful and useful powers for the village, and the Elims will totally be all over trying to kill them. So if they use a trusted spokesman, they can protect themselves and distribute the information they get. That was all that I could come up with for today. 

I was thinking about this today too. I had said earlier that the pony with the element of honesty should be scanning pegasi, but then I started thinking that if they scanned pegasi and unicorns made more one-on-one PM's to hopefully connect the pony with honesty with a trusted village unicorn... It's an overly-simplistic plan, but I couldn't get any further. Just putting the thoughts out there. 

I'm honestly getting neutral vibes from PK and BR, and I'd find Straw's bandwagoning suspicious, but this seems like Straw's normal style. I would like @Straw to expand on her reasoning for the vote though.

I considered voting for Jedal since they voted on PK and then retracted their vote with little comment. That's the best I have for elim leads, but even that feels like very weak evidence. However, following PK's own logic, I think that killing PK would be the most helpful in terms of obtaining information. Many people are suspicious of PK, and a good elim move would be to join that train of thought (if PK is in fact village). While saying that PK is suspicious isn't necessarily an elim-like thing to do, going along with the majority suspicion of the village (particularly when it's backed by decent reasoning) would be. So, PK. If PK is village, I'm going to be more suspicious of those who supported lynching him. 

[Steeldancer he/him]

Just now, Frozen Mint said:

I was thinking about this today too. I had said earlier that the pony with the element of honesty should be scanning pegasi, but then I started thinking that if they scanned pegasi and unicorns made more one-on-one PM's to hopefully connect the pony with honesty with a trusted village unicorn... It's an overly-simplistic plan, but I couldn't get any further. Just putting the thoughts out there. 

I'm honestly getting neutral vibes from PK and BR, and I'd find Straw's bandwagoning suspicious, but this seems like Straw's normal style. I would like @Straw to expand on her reasoning for the vote though.

I considered voting for Jedal since they voted on PK and then retracted their vote with little comment. That's the best I have for elim leads, but even that feels like very weak evidence. However, following PK's own logic, I think that killing PK would be the most helpful in terms of obtaining information. Many people are suspicious of PK, and a good elim move would be to join that train of thought (if PK is in fact village). While saying that PK is suspicious isn't necessarily an elim-like thing to do, going along with the majority suspicion of the village (particularly when it's backed by decent reasoning) would be. So, PK. If PK is village, I'm going to be more suspicious of those who supported lynching him. 

And of course when I go back to the beginning they had already made that suggestion *sigh* well I developed it as I was tearing down the tent, independent of the thread. And please any help with PM making? It keeps telling me that they cannot receive messages

[Herowannabe he/him]

30 minutes ago, The Flash said:

I'm struggling to make a PM. It keeps telling me that the people I'm sending it to can't receive messages. I checked the spelling for all their names. Help?

Not quite sure what the problem is, but here's a guess. When you create a Pm and start inserting somebody's name a little window will pop up with any user names that Match what you've typed so far. Once you see the user name you click on their name and it will add it to the PM with their name highlighted blue. 

The same and thing applies when using the @ symbol to tag people in thread. 

You can practice by creating a PM or two with myself and our impartial mod @little wilson, Or if worse comes to worse reply to my GM PM to you and let me know who you want to include and I'll create it for you. 

Edited May 28, 2017 by Herowannabe

[Ecthelion III he/him]

Doth the mind of the assassin not reek of blood?

Forsooth, the culprit hath already revealed himself, and as the proverb states, "third on a meaningless bandwagon". I daresay I shalt not let this injustice be carried out on one innocent as Prism; @Bridge Boy would undoubtedly concur.

[Straw]

[Steeldancer he/him]

I figured it out guys! Thanks for helping out a newbie being a newbie

[Jondesu he/him]

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. I want us to be able to avoid a tie, which would lead to the pony holding the Element of Generosity being lynched if I understand correctly (a very bad way to start the game), and while I'd love to start talking Contribution Crusade right now, that won't help the tie possibility, so instead I'm going to put my vote on Straw. I dislike votes placed without any reason given, even on Day 1, and of the available options with at least one vote already, he's the one I would most agree with lynching.

[Mint11 she/her]

Weaver looked around as almost everypony panicked. There was only one thing on her mind. She walked back to her house and went down into the basement where she kept all her supplies. The news about the changelings was absolutely horrific. Terrifying. Equestria-shattering. And the perfect inspiration for her new creation! She picked up her needle and got to work. Once she had enough fezzes for everypony in Ponyville, she stood back admiring her work. The hats were designed to look like sirens. Perfect for the end of the world, if she did say so herself. Weaver picked up as many fezzes as she could carry and ran out to share them.

____

Fez provided as promised. Notice, however, I made no promises regarding my drawing skills. I tried.

[Ecthelion III he/him]

Crescent Thunder was surprised when he received the invitation to Prism's Planning Party. He was even more surprised when he realized that the invitation was hand-drawn, by a talented artist, no less.

He was most surprised to learn that the party was to take place in thirty minutes

Cursing the fact that the letter had likely been postponed in the post due to all the pandemonium, he hastily shoved the paper he was working on into the little pocket by his wing--It's always useful to have pockets when I'm writing all the time, he thought--and immediately flew to the party. It would be interesting to meet this plotting Prism person, whoever she was.

On the flight, he thought about the paper behind his wing, going over many drafts of the text in his mind. It was a note, a half-written poem, to a pony he was crushing on. The language was beautiful and elaborate; she was bound to love it--and, hopefully, him.

-

Arriving at the party, the first thing Crescent Thunder noticed was a charming painting of Luna at the time of the announcement. Charming isn't quite the word for it, he thought, considering the circumstances of the proclamation, but there's something about the careful strokes and overall presentation that make the painting...stand out, somehow. He told this to the cream-colored pony standing by the painting, likely the artist. She blushed slightly.

Now, time to find Prism. Come to think of it, he didn't actually know what she looked like. Maybe she was inside...

He froze. The paper had fallen out of his pocket. His beautifully written poetry. Had he dropped it by the painting, perhaps?

He rushed back to the painting and saw the cream-colored pony holding the lost paper...

-

@BrightnessRadiant I've watched way too many romantic comedies recently...

[Conatus he/him]

Silver Wolf grabbed his satchel from his shoulder, pulling out his pair of black knives. Black as the heart of the pony who had stolen his cookies. He'd never forget that day.

He fiddled with the two knives as he watched the crowd of people. He'd been assigned a security guard for Prism's Party. Somepony's always throwing a party, he thought. It was the most common thing he'd been assigned too guard. He sighed, pulling a bottle of Dr. Salt out of his satchel and taking a long gulp. It was going to be a long night.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Conatus