Anniversary Game 4/Anonymous Game 1: A Fresh Start

[Mint Heron]

1 minute ago, Azure Mouse said:

You mean that doesn't normally happen in your classes? o.O

Not unless I'm listening to people argue for moral nihilism, no

1 minute ago, Ivory Dragonfly said:

Okay, who is Heron? I’m following none of this.

The great Wyrmimir, at your service. Known for walls of text, PM safety, lotsa RP, and occasional philosophising, among other things. I used to play these games a long, long time ago. I came back to see if anyone remembered me, which it seems they do.

[Azure Mouse]

9 minutes ago, Ivory Dragonfly said:

Okay, who is Heron? I’m following none of this.

Wyrmhero's RP characters in these games were part of the Heron family. Kas and Wyrm merged after being Dulabros, becoming Wyrmimir or Kashero, depending on the time of day.  It just happens to be very Serendipitous that they should end up with the Heron account.

4 minutes ago, Mint Heron said:

Not unless I'm listening to people argue for moral nihilism, no

The great Wyrmimir, at your service. Known for walls of text, PM safety, lotsa RP, and occasional philosophising, among other things. I used to play these games a long, long time ago. I came back to see if anyone remembered me, which it seems they do.

Why would you have been forgotten!? D:

Edited February 7, 2018 by Azure Mouse

[Mint Heron]

3 minutes ago, Azure Mouse said:

Wyrmhero's RP characters in these games were part of the Heron family. Kas and Wyrm merged after being Dulabros, becoming Wyrmimir or Kashero, depending on the time of day.  It just happens to be very Serendipitous that they should end up with the Heron account.

Why would you have been forgotten!? D:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I haven't been here in about a year. People forget things. It's happened before.

[Azure Mouse]

Just now, Mint Heron said:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I haven't been here in about a year. People forget things. It's happened before.

True. But everyone still remembers and awaits Mail's return, right?

[Sage Kangaroo]

28 minutes ago, Mint Heron said:

Nah, I got assigned as a pinch-hitter, so it probably wasn't deliberate. It did confirm some theories I held about the state of the universe though 

And I thought my color rhyming with my name was coincidence.   

[Mint Heron]

3 minutes ago, Azure Mouse said:

True. But everyone still remembers and awaits Mail's return, right?

I've seen Maili around FB, and he seems to be doing well, even if he can't talk much.

2 minutes ago, Sage Kangaroo said:

And I thought my color rhyming with my name was coincidence.   

Nah, the universe just likes taking whatever option will let it troll the most

Don't say that in front of your metaphysics teacher guys, it's not worth it

[Sunburst Toucan]

Vanna'd been wrong. The painting wasn't all shadow and Darkness. Most of it was, but int he very center there was light. This was not the light of hope however, but something much harsher. Her hand shook as she added the final brush-strokes to the work. 

Near the door her pack waited for her. It contained what water remained to her, as well as everything else she'd need. As soon as the painting was done she'd take it and head into the wilderness. The high-storm would be the next night, so she'd have to hide out for a day before she could make her escape.

The decision to leave was a hard one, but she didn't see anything she could accomplish by staying. This place was done for, but there might be other pockets of survivors out there with better chances of survival. Certainly no good would come from her dying here. She hoped she would be able to convince herself of that before sunrise.

[Amethyst Scorpion]

Bah. Well done, Elims. I get the impression this is the last night of the game. If not, we’ll know who to try and lynch, but I don’t expect it.

I doubt anyone identified me, but I’m curious as well.

[Mauve Crocodile]

Okay, so I believe that the Village's last chance is the Vote Manip, and if we lose that the game is probably over. So, as a last ditch effort I'll claim.

I am Windrunner, and I think that it is better for me to claim now, and hope that there is another Windrunner out there, somewhere, who can protect me

I'm going to assume that the elims already know who I am, and if they don't they probably would have just scanned me tonight... assuming that they have a Skybreaker 

I'll try and pull off something to keep someone alive, but I believe that we need to keep Ivory alive if we want a chance of winning.

Village! Do not give up hope yet, there is still a chance that we can win!

The game is still going, so that means that it is still possible for us to win, we just have to play our cards right. The elims have outed themselves, and we now know who at least a few of them are. If we can survive this night we should be able to win, or at least prolong the game even longer.

[Sunburst Toucan]

1 hour ago, Mauve Crocodile said:

Okay, so I believe that the Village's last chance is the Vote Manip, and if we lose that the game is probably over. So, as a last ditch effort I'll claim.

I am Windrunner, and I think that it is better for me to claim now, and hope that there is another Windrunner out there, somewhere, who can protect me

I'm going to assume that the elims already know who I am, and if they don't they probably would have just scanned me tonight... assuming that they have a Skybreaker 

I'll try and pull off something to keep someone alive, but I believe that we need to keep Ivory alive if we want a chance of winning.

Village! Do not give up hope yet, there is still a chance that we can win!

The game is still going, so that means that it is still possible for us to win, we just have to play our cards right. The elims have outed themselves, and we now know who at least a few of them are. If we can survive this night we should be able to win, or at least prolong the game even longer.

Ehm, Mauve, if you aren't an elim, then who is? Kangaroo, Albatross, elephant and Mouse have been confirmed, and I assumed you where one as well, as you where on the axolotl train.

[Sage Kangaroo]

1 hour ago, Sunburst Toucan said:

Ehm, Mauve, if you aren't an elim, then who is? Kangaroo, Albatross, elephant and Mouse have been confirmed, and I assumed you where one as well, as you where on the axolotl train.

Umm.  Mauve isn’t an Elim.  Nice try, though.  Good to know we’ve still got some mystery up our sleeves.

But really, Mauve is in fact an Elim, he’s just trolling you.  Face it, with no windrunner, you’ve already lost.

WHICH IS IT!?!?!?!  BWAHAHAHAHAH

[Mauve Crocodile]

1 hour ago, Sage Kangaroo said:

Umm.  Mauve isn’t an Elim.  Nice try, though.  Good to know we’ve still got some mystery up our sleeves.

But really, Mauve is in fact an Elim, he’s just trolling you.  Face it, with no windrunner, you’ve already lost.

White text!

I don't really have a way to respond to this. Anything I can say will be tainted by what you've already said. :/

But really! I am a Windrunner!

 

3 hours ago, Sunburst Toucan said:

Ehm, Mauve, if you aren't an elim, then who is? Kangaroo, Albatross, elephant and Mouse have been confirmed, and I assumed you where one as well, as you where on the axolotl train.

I was on it before the wagon started, by the time I checked up again the wagon had already hit and I couldn't take off my vote cause the cycle ended. Sorry :/

[Mint Heron]

Kharsis returned from the Thoughtful Skyeel so exhausted that he barely had the energy to mumble hello to Elion and Helina before faceplanting in the guest bed.

—

Once again, he was in the room with the armchairs. To his side lay hot mugs of tea, and biscuits fresh out of the tin. He watched from above, both ghostly spectre and as active participant, Kharsis and Sonder, traveling peddler and shardship’s engineer. The last thing he remembered was filling out paperwork, being attacked by a Shardblade, and then...nothing. Where was he? Not the ship’s medbay, that was for sure.
KHAS
Sonder looked around at the other eight men around him; he didn’t recognise any of them, but he felt that he should. “So,” Sonder said. “Uh, what are we here for, exactly?”
KASIMAR
Something nudged Kharsis to disentangle himself from Sonder — to reach out further, farther. So he did.
KAIM
The world shifted around him, and he was back in Rennan, talking with Drelan for the first time in years. And not. Some of his consciousness remained in the room with the armchairs as Drelan described the recent murders.
KAI
“Oh,” Kharsis said. Goosebumps rose on the back of his neck, both here and from above. He knew who had committed those murders now. “Who died?”
KASSEL ERIKELL
“The first sign,” someone in the room with the hot mugs of tea said, “Is when someone inexplicably drops dead.”
KASIR
What? That startled Kharsis; it seemed like someone knew what was going on. He shifted his attention back to the room.
SAMUEL KESSEN
“That’s your sign to get out of there, as fast as you can,” Asim said.
KADDAR
“Not always,” he corrected. “By the time the Mayor dropped dead, I was in it up to my neck. The next thing I knew, I was a corrupted agent of evil—and had always been.” Good Guy Fain, he had been. Kharsis — no, Kaim, that was this man’s name — smiled at the memory and puffed on his pipe, blowing out a series of smoke rings. “Can’t run away from that.”
KARNAD
Those last words pricked at Kharsis’s conscience and he shifted uncomfortably from his spot looking down, remembering how he had run away from Elion at the bar. To distract himself, he looked more closely at the men in the room. He still had no idea what was going on, but parts of the conversation seemed familiar, somehow.
KAIAN
Sonder. Kai. Kasir. Kaim. Asim. Kaddar. Karnad. Khas. Kasimar. Their names jumped into his mind, and with them, some of their histories. This was their reunion, of sorts.
SHI KWAIRAN
As he thought, the room with the armchairs almost slipped away from him, and he sat at a dinner table with Elion, Helina, Larsah, and Adani. It had been their reunion too. But Kharsis already knew what had happened there, and so he fought to return to the room with the nine men.
KIRIAS
“We’re connected,” Kaddar said. “The nature of the connection is difficult to explain. After all, at first glance, one might think we are all terribly different.” He gestured at each of them in turn. “Thief-taker, fallen from grace.”
KOSCHEI JERZY
“Don’t say that word,” Karnad muttered.
KARSTEN ARNKELL
In the other world, the normal world, a little girl at the dinnertable asked, “Where’re you from, Uncle?” Kharsis could almost hear the implicit, who are you? contained in her question.
SONDER KESSLIGH
“Worldhopper and peddler. Sailor. Courier. King’s Wit and right hand. And, of course, a spy.” Kaddar said, favouring Asim with a knowing smile. Asim returned the gesture. “Intuitively, very different. But there is a tale of blind men: each of them touching a different part of an elephant. ‘The elephant is like a study pillar,’ claims the first man. ‘No, you are mistaken,’ cries the second. ‘The elephant is like a solid pipe.’ A third disagrees. ‘All of you are wrong,’ he claims. ‘The elephant is like a wall.’ A fourth declares the elephant to be like a hand-fan. And at last, a mighty king and a wise man, for the two are often separable, comes by and listens to the clamour. And at last, he says, ‘All of you are right.’” He looks at them: at each of them. “The blind men cannot understand this. The truth, the king claims, has many aspects. Just as each of the blind men has touched one part of the elephant and claimed to know the entire elephant from it.”
KASSIEN ESTVARIL
From his view at the top of the room, Kharsis’s mouth fell open in an O. He’d heard this before, or something like this. The details of last night’s dream returned to him: there, a strange man with a spear had asked him some riddle involving an elephant — Kaddar had asked him some riddle involving an elephant.
KARNAN
This was the elephant, the thing with many aspects. All of these men — Sonder, Kai, Kasir, Kaim, Asim, Kaddar, Karnad, Khas, Kasimar — they were part of this thing, this elephant that sought to know itself.
KASTHER
The room threatened to slip away from him again, but Kharsis held on, latching onto...someone. Asim. The professional one.
KJARTAN
“...you see, the first trap is to actually sign up for their games,” he said.
TENTH OF THE DUSK / KAIKOA
“Who is this ‘they’ you refer to?” Kasir wanted to know, leaning forward eagerly.
VALENS
Asim made a vague gesture. “Oh, you know. Those nefarious masterminds who ended up murdering each and every one of you. If you refuse to play their Games, they can’t win. They can’t kill you. You’ll go on living, exactly like you want to. You’ll be happy. That’s exactly what I do: why, the other day, I was delivering messages from the embassy in Arelon to the embassy in Duladel, when I stopped to spend the night at a trading post. Immediately, when I saw that flayed corpse in the snow, I said to myself, ‘Asim, old friend, you are a professional; this is clearly meant to hook you and drag you into one of Their Games, and you are not getting involved.’ So I ran,” he concluded. “And that’s how I stayed alive.”
ASIM
The words were familiar in his mouth. After all, wasn’t that how Kharsis himself had survived those early days? For years he’d repeated those words over and over to himself, to drown out the guilt of leaving Elion to fend for himself. Kharsis ran. That’s what he did.
KAMSIL
Not anymore, Kharsis reminded himself. You didn’t run from this Game or whatever it is Asim’s talking about.
SHUOS KANSEUN
“So,” Kaim said, dubiously, “You’re saying the way to survive is to refuse to play Their games.”
KASIM
Asim nodded, proudly. “Yes.”
KHARSIS
“Actually,” Kai said, “I really don’t see it, Asim. I mean,” Kai glanced at the room and forged on, idly stroking his ferret. “Would any of us even be alive, if it weren’t for the Game? The Game created us, Asim. Or at least we were created for it. We’ve all got some sort of purpose, I reckon. And if we ran away from the Game, would we even live? I mean, it’s better to live, for even a few days, than to never have lived at all, isn’t it?”

“To have lived,” Sonder said. “And to have loved.” From above, Kharsis nodded his ghostly head. After the events of the past few days...he rather thought he agreed.

“Yes,” Kaddar said, quietly. “I would choose life, over a thousand evils. But I think most of us would, wouldn’t we? Dying was never in my plan, and I was fortunate that I was able to live. But to choose to die, knowing what you are giving up, but to do it for a higher reason…” he shrugged, looking at Sonder. “I think that takes a decent amount of courage. Ivare enim euge.”

That was all? That was it? They were...things, characters, created for the same Game? Kharsis had circled all the way around the elephant now, had felt the major parts of it — the trunk, the tail, the sides, the ears. And yet he felt like he was missing a major piece of it. He screwed his eyes shut in concentration and reached deeper.
KASIMIR
The elephant, the thing with many aspects, the thing that all of them were part of — it resisted him, leaping and bucking. But he grasped it firmly, until the world reformed out of masses of light blue.

—

I am the last sleep of kings, the shadow of ravens,

A young man sat in front of a computer, typing furiously, racing against some unseen deadline. Kharsis didn’t know him, and yet...this man — his life, his quirks, his personality, his essence — was written into Kharsis’s bones.

Mine is the bitter wound-thorn, the word-hoard.
I am the giver of wise counsel, the broken tree;

“Bloody Sympathisers,” the man groused. “Sod them and their last-minute hammers…”

Fettered by word-chains of my own forging.
My domain is the spear-storm. With bold strategem

The man’s words made no sense to Kharsis, but he could feel their significance somehow. It had something to do with the Game, the Game that connected him and the other characters, the Game that was the reason they existed.

I outwit those who sought to deceive me.
I have cast my defiance before the Doomherald,

It was 4:00 AM in the morning, and the man was still awake. He had other obligations, Kharsis knew. Textbooks to read, papers to write, students to teach. And yet he stayed awake, hammering away at the keyboard, for this. For the Game, and the battle of minds, and the people met, and the friendships forged.

Bent knee only once to my slayer and king.
I am the exultation of the spear-clash,

“Have to finish this before rollover,” Kasimir muttered. “I will be so angry if the Symps kill off Kharsis. I want him to survive, damnit.”

Unbroken, unyielding; I am the shining word
That is my own unsullied name. Ten blades

A chant rang in Kharsis’s ears, drowning out all other sound.

Shattered against me and still I remain.
My voice is the thunder of the ruined city,

He had reached too far, he knew that now.

I bear the songs of the departed and forgotten.
The shield of those who yet draw breath.

The world of the man writing on the computer faded to light blue, disappearing.

In fire I have perished. I am the heart-binder,
The knower of secrets, the king's wit.

The room with the armchairs, too, faded.

Name me wolf-riddler and foe-thorn;
Master of herbs, and silvertongue.

The vision slipped away from him.

—

Kharsis woke up to the sun shining into his eyes. He grumbled and blinked blearily, rubbing his aching back. Had he dreamt while asleep? Yes, he must have; he remembered something to do with people he might have met, once, but more the he reached for details the more he lost, like sand slipping through his fingers.

 

Edited February 7, 2018 by Mint Heron
Edited for the swear filter and formatting.

[Magenta Albatross]

22 hours ago, Mint Heron said:

...Soddit. Two votes taken off of Mouse, one taken off of Axolotl. Short of divine intervention, we're not going to be able to muster up the votes to stop a village lynch. The game might as well be over tonight.

@Sage Kangaroo, @Sapphire Elephant, @Magenta Albatross, would you mind telling us how many turns we have left, so I'll know how much time I have to get closing RP up?

I see, so that's how it is. Well played elims. That confusion at cycle end was really something. Especially elephant and kangaroo, didn't really see that coming. High levels of evil there.

Umm guys, if you're thinking I'm an elim then we've lost this game already. With the two vote removals, the lynch was guranteed even if I had stayed on the wagon. Toucan is going deep here, I believe. I think crocodile could be the fourth and Toucan is the fifth.

[Orlok Tsubodai he/him]

AG4/AN1 - Day 9: Uniter Divided; Dividers Unite

Not long ago...

Nolan traced his hands over the inscription at the front of his book. “Life before death,” he murmured softly. “Strength before weakness, journey before destination...”

His thoughts meandered into meanings and contexts, and for a few minutes he entirely failed to notice that the sphere he was holding to illuminate his work had gone dun. 

He stared at it. The highstorm hadn’t been so long ago that it should be dun already. “How...?”

He pulled another sphere from his pocket, but it was dun, too. And all the others in his pocket. Um... 

This was in the book. Nolan knew what was happening, it just... couldn’t be. He went to check his pouch, which was hanging by the door. 

Still bright. 

Almost fearfully, he drew out a sphere and closed his eyes. What had the book said. Breathe. 

Nolan breathed, and he became alive. 

He laughed for hours and hours, later, interspersed with furious rereading. After all this time, he was a Knight Radiant! The very people he had been trying to study, and he could have firsthand experience with them. What’s it called when you’re the source of your own scholarship? he wondered idly. Is it a primary source or a.. zeroth... source?

He had so many experiments to do. 

He heard cries from outside. Another kill discovered. Perhaps he could even use his power to help, to find these storming murderers and rid the village of them once and for all. 

---

Tonight...

Nolan stood warily across from the murderers, who had chased him down and separated him from the group. He inhaled Stormlight, hoping it would help, somehow.

I’m a scholar, not a soldier! he thought. How am I supposed to defeat trained, blooded warriors? Why did the Almighty ever put me into this? I just want to study...

But it seemed that the Almighty had a different fate in mind for him. He had been made a Bondsmith, and told to unite. He had failed. 

Nolan closed his eyes for a brief moment, prayed, and charged. 

He wished his battle cry could have been something noble - “Life before death,” or “All praise the Almighty,” or even “Scholarship!”

Instead, it was a sort of buzzing, wavery “AAAaaaAAAaargh!”

Two weeks of studying Stormlight couldn’t do much against murderers with weapons and the training to use them. 

Nolan was chopped into at least five separate pieces before he touched a single one of them. The glow surrounding him winked out, and only darkness remained. 

---

Ivory Dragonfly was killed. They were a Village Bondsmith. 

Day 9 has begun. It will end in 42 hours, at 10pm GMT on the 9th February. 

Player List
1. Amethyst Scorpion
2. Azure Mouse
3. Amber Vulture - Villager
4. Charcoal Hyena - Cannoc - Villager
5. Chartreuse Penguin - Villager
6. Coral Swan - Elyle - Village Lightweaver
7. Cream Tuatara - Villager
8. Emerald Falcon - Aldrick - Villager
9. Fuschia Ostrich
10. Indigo Weasel - Village Elsecaller
11. Ivory Dragonfly - Nolan - Village Bondsmith
12. Magenta Albatross
13. Mauve Crocodile
14. Melon Dingo - Quentisan - Village Edgedancer
15. Mint Heron
16. Onyx Flamingo - Squawk - Village Lightweaver
17. Opal Lion - Villager
18. Oxblood Beagle - Jai - Village Willshaper
19. Pearl Chameleon
20. Plum Rhinoceros - Villager
21. Quartz Zebra
22. Saffron Iguana - Emalia - Village Lightweaver
23. Sage Kangaroo
24. Salmon Meerkat - Village Bondsmith
25. Sapphire Elephant
26. Scarlet Octopus - Village Edgedancer 
27. Sunburst Toucan - Vanna
28. Taupe Gecko - Villager
29. Turquoise Gorilla - Village Dustbringer
30. Violet Axolotl - Villager

[Mint Heron]

Sapphire Elephant.

@Mauve Crocodile, if you want to prove you're a villager, a good way to start would be by voting on the Sympathiser who outed himself.

@Magenta Albatross, I think it's pretty clear that you were either a Sympathiser playing along, but on the off chance that you're a villager who for some reason wasn't paying attention at all to what was going on in-thread despite posting in it, you have the same opportunity as Crocodile.

To all the remaining villagers, I cannot stress how important it is that we pile the votes on one target. We might lose some discussion from that, but we need to kill a Sympathiser today. There are eleven players now, and likely five Sympathisers, giving us a 6:5 village-to-Sympathiser ratio. If a Sympathiser does not die in this lynch today, we will lose this game at the end of the Night. So please, vote. All I'm asking for is one word in red. That's it. Vote on Elephant.

@Orlok Tsubodai, just a question to satisfy my paranoia. The Sympathisers cannot win unless they outnumber the villagers, correct?

Edited for arithmatic, as it seems I can't math >>

Edited February 8, 2018 by Mint Heron

[Azure Mouse]

Sapphire Elephant

[Mint Heron]

1 minute ago, Azure Mouse said:

Sapphire Elephant

Troll Symps gonna troll, huh?

[Azure Mouse]

Did you really expect anything else?

Chameleon

Edited February 8, 2018 by Azure Mouse

[Mint Heron]

6 minutes ago, Azure Mouse said:

Did you really expect anything else?

Chameleon

I did expect that Elephant vote to stick longer than five minutes, yes  

[Azure Mouse]

16 minutes ago, Mint Heron said:

I did expect that Elephant vote to stick longer than five minutes, yes  

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Kangaroo

[Mint Heron]

Me, and probably pretty much all the villagers right now:

Spoiler

via Imgflip Meme Generator

 

[Sapphire Elephant]

Hmm...I think that Ostrich would be fun to lynch today

[Sunburst Toucan]

Elephant

I'll be attending a LARP event over the weekend, so this is probably my only contribution this cycle.

[Amethyst Scorpion]

Elephant. Not much more to be said right now.