Quick Fix Game 25: A Sundered Sky

[Elbereth she/her]

QF25: Hour 5 - Who knows?
10 a.m.

Malnar always loved plants. The image of a fragile blue structure which the Shin man selling it had called a flower is imprinted on his mind forever. Since that day in Kholinar, Malnar started his own collection of plants - more normal, everyday ones at first, and then later special expeditions to find new and different ones. 

That’s how he met Dalan. They were both in the army, and Dalan had heard the same tale about a particularly unusual herb that attracted spren. Neither of them ever managed to find the plant, but they’d found each other instead.

And now Malnar is here, as Dalan is probably running messages around camp - maybe even messages about Kenara’s death - unknowing of Malnar’s peril.

To be fair, Malnar is unknowing, too. He never sees the blade at the back of his neck, as he focuses on grasping a particularly oddly-shaped specimen of grass. He chuckles to himself. Dalnar will love this one.

The blade lands, and the grass just escapes Malnar’s grasp as he falls. 

He manages to choke out one last word before he dies. 

“Dalan…”

---

Meanwhile, not yet having noticed Malnar’s absence, the circle reforms. 

“Let’s do this logically this time, shall we?” says Tzlim. “How about every person go around and say who’s been most suspicious to you, or anything you think you’ve seen?”

“That sounds boring,” Damond comments. 

“How about you, Tzlim?” says Albert Vospar. “I’m pretty suspicious of you.”

“Me too!” chirps Revali, though he doesn't seem quite sure what he's agreeing to. The shock of nearly having died is still quite strong, after all.

“But what about Sartal?” counters Alrin. “After all, the only other ardent we’ve had has died. Maybe Spiff got targeted on purpose?”

“Yeah!” says Eternum, similarly unsure of what exactly he's agreeing with.

“But Tzlim!” says Albert.

“Sartal!” cries Alrin.

“Tzlim!” “Sartal!” Tzlim!” “Sartal!” 

This shouting match continues for so ridiculously long that everyone gets bored and starts picking a side and chanting along with it. 

Unfortunately, they don't choose evenly, and Tzlim’s detractors are louder.

Wide-eyed, he runs. “I was just trying to be logical!” he cries, and grabs at the sphere still stored in his belt pouch. If he can only do what had led him here in the first place…

He breathes, and something happens. A shower of beads that appears and just as quickly disappears when he loses focus. Sometime, I should really learn what that actually is…

He doesn't care for the moment, though. He’s dropped somewhere outside the arena - away from the mob chasing him. He decides to head back, since he’d probably be labeled a murderer and chased down if he doesn't, but he rather hopes that the mob has a new target before he manages to make it back. 

It’s only 10 o’clock, too. It’s going to be a long day…

---

Arraenae has died! She was a Dustbringer!
Jondesu was lynched, but didn’t die! 

Cycle 5 has begun! It will end in 25 hours, to get back on to the normal time. 

Vote Count
>Jondesu (2): Elenion, Lopen 
>Sart (2): Arinian, Eternum
>Elenion (1): Jondesu 
>Yitzi (1): Sart 

Player List
1. Elithanathile - Sebas
2. Drake - Aaliyah New Recruit
3. Mage - Damond
4. Eternum - Albion Kerenas
5. Jebus - Teralarin
6. Flash - Johnny Quick New Recruit
7. Elenion - Albert Vospar
8. Orlok - Highprince Locke Tekiel 
9. Megasif - Zirconidas New Recruit
10. Winter Devotion - John
11. Roadwalker - Silver
12. Jondesu - Tzlim
13. Paranoid King - Spiff Dustbringer
14. Stick - Dan New Recruit
15. Sami - Aleta Nebrask
16. Stink - Lazar
17. Arraenae - Malnar Dustbringer
18. Lopen - Revali
19. Darkness - Belegaer
20. Bard - Melinon
21. Ecthelion - Ceol and Vis
22. Yitzi - Brightlord Erethin
23. Sart - Ardent Sartal
24. Arinian - Alrin

Edited August 8, 2017 by Orlok Tsubodai

[Alvron]

Well folks, it seems that something has gone very very wrong and we have somehow made the main thread invisible even to the Mods.   Oops.  Good news is that you can still get into the thread by following this link in case you want to review past cycles.  Please bear with us while we try and work out just what the chull happened.  

Edit: All fixed now.   Please return to your scheming.

Edited August 7, 2017 by Alvron

[Elithanathile he/him]

Just a quick note to say that I have no clue how I survived and I have not seen the last thread at all.

Also I'll be leaving at 7:00 AM tomorrow to go on a camping experience (to put it lightly) and won't have any electronic devices until Friday afternoon. So sorry, but I'll be inactive until then. So I guess feel free to lynch me if you suspect me or don't have a suspect, since I won't be of much use. I would have mentioned this before, but I honestly expected to be dead by now. So good luck and happy hunting!

[Ecthelion III he/him]

QFs move way too fast for me. Sorry guys.

Due to the lack of RP, Ceol is withdrawing in place of a mysterious cloaked dude who may or may not even have a body under the cloak.

[Yitzi2]

When it says "Jondesu was attacked, but didn’t die!", shouldn't that be " Jondesu was lynched, but didn’t die!"?

Oh, and since Jon mentioned our roleclaim trade: My main reason for initiating it was that D1 he suggested that Ecth posted "squire" because that's what it said in his role PM, so if he'd claimed new recruit it'd be very suspicious (since then if he was village he should've known).

I find Eternum's defense of Sart last cycle to be quite suspicious, and quite in line for a newbie elim trying to defend another elim.  I probably should've voted for Sart last cycle, but I didn't get to it; let's give it another try.  Sart.

[Eternum he/him]

Wait. What? I don't understand. Was Jon lynched, or was Rae?

Also, my vote was changed from Arinian to Sart. For what reason, I do not know, but that just makes me even more suspicious of them. Or they might be getting framed.

This feels like a very very overt move. Probably by the village, if I'm being honest.

As for Rae, I suspected they were village before, but losing another Dustbringer is rough.

We have to get an elim this cycle. Things aren't going well..

Analysis of Jon TBA.

Edited August 7, 2017 by Eternum

[Elbereth she/her]

1 minute ago, Yitzi2 said:

When it says "Jondesu was attacked, but didn’t die!", shouldn't that be " Jondesu was lynched, but didn’t die!"?

Yes - apologies, rushed and in an airport. Edited now. 

[Yitzi2]

Now that I think of it...while Eternum defending Sart does seem very suspicious as far as Sart is concerned, it's even more suspicious as far as Eternum is concerned.  Sart Eternum.

[Sart he/him]

44 minutes ago, Elbereth said:

Vote Count

 

>Jondesu (2): Elenion, Lopen 
>Sart (2): Arinian, Eternum
>Elenion (1): Jondesu 
>Yitzi (1): Sart

Someone's trying to have me killed. It appears that Arinian is a Stoneward. Since he was in danger of being lynched, he moved one of the votes on him to me. However, due to Lopen's last minute vote change, Jondesu was tied with me, and I got lucky. Does that make Arinian a Skybreaker? I don't think so. That would be a very powerful role for the Eliminators, as it nets them 2 extra votes (1 off the player in second place, 1 on the player the elims want to lynch) It depends on the number of powers in the village. If there's a large abundance of power, then the Elims might also have powers. However, we have 5 New Recruits already dead, and there is a weaker vote manipulation in the form of Dustbringing. It seems more likely that Arinian is a villager for the time being. Unfortunately, that means I have to deal with a Village Vote-Manipulator who is tunneling on me. Great... I don't have any powers, so me dying wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but I'm at least trying to be active. I'd prefer not to die if possible.

And now I'm worried that Yitzi is the Truthless because of the switch to Eternum. I'm worried he's trying to drum up anger against himself in order to go up in a blaze of glory. Then again, he did apparently do a role swap, so that might be out of the picture. Erg... now I'm questioning my own reads. I'll vote tomorrow.

[Elenion he/him]

Looks like Lopen tried to lynch me with Jon's help, but then ended up lynching Jon with me. Heh, irony.D
 

So if I'm reading the vote manip right, Lopen's vote got moved from me to Jon, and Eternum's vote got moved from Arin to Sart. Of the two moves, I'd bet that one was elim and one was village, because we haven't killed an elim vote manip yet but it's unlikely the elims have two.

Edit: Sart brings up a good point in that even one vote move would be a very powerful role for the elims. If this is true, both moves last cycle are likely village.

Edited August 7, 2017 by Elenion

[Eternum he/him]

Yitzi, it wasn't so much defending Sart as it was accusing Arinian. I think Sart is village, yes, but I could be wrong. You, though, I'm getting a bad gut read on now. You first voted on Sart, who at this point is an easy way out, as a lot of us are suspicious of him. Now you change the vote to me, again, an easily lynchable target for the fact that I am one of the few of whom people have been suspicious of to one degree or another the entire game.

Thing is, you have no way to lynch me without doing some mental gymnastics.

Sure, my posts haven't been squeaky clean, but whose are? We've lynched 3 villagers at this point.

I also don't see where the idea that I was defending Sart came from. I did not defend them. I voted for Arinian because they were tunneling Sart more than anything, even if I am suspicious of them for more than just that, but I went with my gut and left the vote.

If you do manage to lynch me, great job. All I'll have left is, in Ecth's words, a postmortem told-you-so.

[Elenion he/him]

10 minutes ago, Eternum said:

If you do manage to lynch me, great job. All I'll have left is, in Ecth's words, a postmortem told-you-so.

Can you link to where Ecth said that? I can't find it, and I'm testing a theory of mine.

[Sami she/her]

Dang it, missed the end and didn't vote. Although I'm a bit confused here. What were the vote tallies before the manip?

[Elbereth she/her]

Writeup has been edited in. 

 

Due to further consideration of the fact that I'll be in a different timezone all week and don't want to be up at midnight every night, I'm changing the time of rollover to two hours earlier. The cycle will now end in:

Apologies for any inconvenience. 

[Eternum he/him]

2 hours ago, Elenion said:

Can you link to where Ecth said that? I can't find it, and I'm testing a theory of mine.

Here's the page, Len. I'm not exactly sure why you want it though.

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

I think Orlok is an eliminator. For 3 reasons.

1- He's still alive. Why attack Drake, Megasif, and Rae? They're not bad players, but Orlok has caught entire elims teams before, which you'd assume would make him a high priority target. This isn't a strong point, but I do feel it might have some merit.

2 - For as much as he's posted, and as many people have commented about him, I don't recall much, if any, strong reads on him. At this point in the game, I think the elims would either try to buddy up to him if he were village, or just kill him. But so far players just keep saying they're "wary" of him, or "kind of" trust him. I think this is because he's evil and his teammates don't want to implicate themselves or him by saying they think he's village, but they don't want to draw attention to him by putting him in their actual suspicions. This, I think, is the strongest point against him.

3 - My final point is just that I personally feel like his posts are just slightly off. I can't really put my finger on anything specific, but I've had this feeling most of the game. Probably the weakest point, tbh, since it's solely based on my ability to read Orlok, and I've had troubles in the past with that.

Anyways, combined, these things make me think that there's a fairly high chance Orlok is evil.

[Eternum he/him]

Orlok's been literally hiding in plain sight this game, posting and getting involved in discussion and yet nobody has any reads on him other than neutral, which is odd. I'm not sure whether I trust him either, but atm I think there are others that have a higher chance of being elim than Orlok.

Right now I'm suspicious of Yitzi for reasons that I mentioned previously, and I'm also suspicious of Arinian for tunneling Sart, while I have a slight village read on Sart himself.

I think I'll vote for one of the two I mentioned, but I'll keep waiting for now and see if anyone has anything to add.

Edited August 7, 2017 by Eternum

[Sami she/her]

Honestly I'm rather befuddled. Also, I'm super tired and I got a long English assignment to do so I'm not going to write a lengthy post about whys and wherefores of my vote. I'm simply going to say, that I've been suspecting Eternum for a while. Also having missed voting the last (couple of?) cycle I feel like I should vote on someone. So yeah, I might change my vote in the morning, but for now my gut says Eternum. 

Edited August 7, 2017 by Sami

[Jondesu he/him]

Eh, can’t say I’m too surprised. @Yitzi2 can confirm that I told him I was an Elsecaller, which is why I’m still alive. I have no more protection from it of course, so I would appreciate not being lynched again.

I’ve been awake less than 15 min, so I’m going to wait before I analyze and vote.

[Yitzi2]

23 minutes ago, Jondesu said:

Eh, can’t say I’m too surprised. @Yitzi2 can confirm that I told him I was an Elsecaller, which is why I’m still alive.

This is correct.

[Orlok Tsubodai]

2 hours ago, TheMightyLopen said:

I think Orlok is an eliminator. For 3 reasons.

1- He's still alive. Why attack Drake, Megasif, and Rae? They're not bad players, but Orlok has caught entire elims teams before, which you'd assume would make him a high priority target. This isn't a strong point, but I do feel it might have some merit.

2 - For as much as he's posted, and as many people have commented about him, I don't recall much, if any, strong reads on him. At this point in the game, I think the elims would either try to buddy up to him if he were village, or just kill him. But so far players just keep saying they're "wary" of him, or "kind of" trust him. I think this is because he's evil and his teammates don't want to implicate themselves or him by saying they think he's village, but they don't want to draw attention to him by putting him in their actual suspicions. This, I think, is the strongest point against him.

3 - My final point is just that I personally feel like his posts are just slightly off. I can't really put my finger on anything specific, but I've had this feeling most of the game. Probably the weakest point, tbh, since it's solely based on my ability to read Orlok, and I've had troubles in the past with that.

Anyways, combined, these things make me think that there's a fairly high chance Orlok is evil.

Travelling today,  and have just got off an overnight flight without sleep, so forgive me if my response isn't as coherent as might be desirable.

1. Precisely for this reason, I'd have thought. Why bother killing me if the village will do it for them, if I survive beyond C4? It's been pointed out that I'm not as effective this game as normal - probably a byproduct of time and the format, and they may also have noticed this. I'm not sure, clearly. I think this is pretty obviously a poor argument, and very much don't like the precedent it sets, either. If we start pursuing lynches on this basis, no eliminator team will ever target experienced players, and we condemn them to an early death every game.

2. I'm not sure I've played well enough this game to warrant that, but a number of players have done precisely that, yourself included. A small minority of players have me as uncertain, and as I recall, at least as many as village reads. 

3. I would point out that my playstyle has changed significantly over the last few months, and you haven't really seen it - I was evil in LG33, and was doing a full analysis regardless, caught up in the rush of meeting El in person for the first time in LG34, and neutral in LG35. This is the first QF I've applied the "questioning" approach to, and I've already pointed out the vast difference in time available to me between this and LG36.

Lopen, I don't blame you for being paranoid, and think you're merely overly so, and thus wrong, rather than evil. Looking back over your points, you've presented no actual evidence that suggests I'm evil.

[Magestar he/him]

I want to put my vote on Elith to back up my suspicions, but I feel sort of weird lynching him while he's away.  Rae ended up being good, and while I'm still paranoid of both Lopen and Orlok, I don't really feel like it'd be a good idea to vote on either of them.

So, I suppose it's back to Winter.

I'm taking suggestions here because I really don't know what to do.  

[Jondesu he/him]

We could always vote on you, Mage.   I haven't been able to get much of a read on you yet. 

I'm going to go look through your posts, Winter's (though I remember most of those), and I think Sart, plus look for some of those from the others flying under my radar a bit.

For the record, I've got tentatively village reads on both Lopen and Orlok right now, even though I'm as paranoid of them as I am of you and Len.  That's an always thing, though, just like I'm always wary of Aman, and nothing specific to this game.

 

Ok, just going down the list of players still alive:

1. Elithanathile: Hard to read, plus I haven't played with them before (I don't think, and if I did, I'm not remember anything specific about their playstyle).  Wary, mild Elim vibes.
3. Mage: Wary, has been acting fairly typical, though not as aggressive as my first game with him (when we were both Elims). Leaning mildly village.
4. Eternum: Again, a little hard for me to read, but definitely suspicious of them.  Would considering lynching.
5. Jebus: First game, has said a few things that would be suspicious of an established player (like claiming "Recruit" specifically, in that color), but seems reasonable for a new player.  Neutral read so far.
7. Elenion: Very wary, voted on him last round, albeit without too firm of a suspicion.  Would be willing to lynch.
8. Orlok: Always cautious, but tentative village read as mentioned.
10. Winter Devotion: Haven't played with them before, but I've got a little bit of an Elim vibe from their posts.  Admired the Truthless gambit on D1, and most Elims wouldn't do that, but it also could be a good tactic because of that (that gets into IKYK territory, though, which doesn't help). Would consider lynching, but more for information than because I'm sure they're evil.
11. Roadwalker: Mild suspicion, but nothing concrete.  Probably wouldn't consider lynching this cycle without more evidence.
12. Jondesu: Guaranteed village.
15. Sami: Has been reading village to me most of the time.
16. Stink: Stink
18. Lopen: Reading village for now.
19. Darkness: Darkness.  Never an easy read, and hasn't done anything alignment indicative at all I don't think.
20. Bard: Maybe a slight Elim read, but some posts read more village to me, so I'm saying neutral read for now.
21. Ecthelion: Pretty good village read now, after the whole PM and crypticness debacle.  If Ecth was an Elim, no way that discussion would have gone that way, I think.
22. Yitzi: Tentatively cleared simply because I haven't been attacked, but they could just have been content to wait and see if the lynch would take away my extra protection.  If I die to the Elims soon, Yitzi may be a good lynch target.
23. Sart: Suspicious, but that may be groupthink.  The talk about defending Stick and seeming so certain is sticking (heh) in my mind, especially after rereading the earlier posts a bit more.  Would consider lynching.
24. Arinian: Leaning village, not seeing anything suspicious so far.  Wouldn't consider lynching at this point.

My strongest suspicion for now is Len, even though as I pointed out, it's not as firm as I'd like.  It's the best I have to go on for now, though.

[STINK he/him]

33 minutes ago, Jondesu said:

16. Stink: Stink

At least I wasn't skipped in the reads list

Also, sorry everyone for the inactivity I had over the weekend, but I am back and better than ever. Gonna be whacking out votes and game winning legendary plays as soon as I get home and actually get on my desktop.

But yeah, im basically Arnold Schwarzenegger right now.

[Sparkrunner he/him]

24 players. Six villagers down. @Elbereth am I correct that the lightweavers are to counteract the huge amount of killing in this game, with a (mis)lynch every cycle?