Long Game 74: You Want It Darker

[Gears]

Roko brushed a hand over the wall, stained with the screaming of the silent. The madness was, as always, beautiful, intricate, lovely. A tapestry of ash and blood and bone. It suspected one, the one it had gambled on, but nothing was certain. Insanity tastes overwhelming, with subtle hints of screams, and discerning one from the next is difficult at the best of times. It did not understand the writing on the wall. It wanted to understand. Tattered logic and fragmenting minds and a whirlwind of daggers shredding moments of lucidity and vibrancy fades beneath the weight of the scars and no one remembers the days of December when everyone screamed and everyone cried and everyone died. Traces of silver and gold fade into view and bleed their pain into being.

The vocalisation of facial expression in text from the second speaker reminded it vaguely of Illwei and Sara, who both had that habit, but it occupied less of its processing power. Madness was so much sweeter than simplicity.

It moved on, making its way towards the corpses. Shredded by metal, gleaming with blood, they drew its eyes. So... pretty.

---

Young Bard was the elim kill [they either found out they weren't self-protecting [Elim!Seeker scanned Bard N1, reached out and asked for protection, then murder?], chose to kill the Lurcher anyways and hope, or just killed them pseudo-randomly [which I find least likely considering their returning status]]. Experience was a Rioter. Neat. The Mistborn probably rolled Steel this time around. Or there's a secret Coinshot, but I semi-doubt it. [Or this is one of those 'Murder is bad' Coinshots who suspected someone this round.]

I'll iso some people right after school ends, possibly [I have an extracurricular activity tonight, and a CS competition tomorrow, but after that, it's Spring Break, so then I'm free.]

Future Gears here, ninja'd by quite literally everyone [saw post, wrote this, went to eat lunch, came back] and all of my points have been talked about. Lamenta- Alas.

[Fifth Scholar he/him]

27 minutes ago, Ashbringer said:

So Bard was the Elim kill. Other two are coinshots.

Did Bard claim to anyone? He was low-activity enough to be a believable potshot but being a known Lurcher would seem to make more sense for a N2 returning player kill.

Bard is an experienced enough player to not go around claiming a protection role to the world, so I don't think there's a way the Elims could have found out he was a Lurcher barring a Seeker, and while Elim Seekers are common nowadays, Bard would just be...a weird target for that kind of role. There are plenty of people more active in PMs and the thread to check out first. Hard to rule out with a death this early in the game, though.

22 minutes ago, Ashbringer said:

That too. But that would mean Bard was scanned N1 and the Elims were confident enough that Bard wasn’t self protecting. Which he evidently wasn’t, unless there’s a Coinshot behind Door #4.

Edit: wait, if Bard got Seeked he was probably on the Seeker. Right.

If Bard was double-tapped, I think the writeup would tell us he was attacked and protected, and then died, if @Kasimir is still implementing the same policy as Meta in regard to these things. That'd also require there to be two Coinshots and a Mistborn, or two Mistborn who pulled Steel in the same cycle, which I find a tough sell in terms of sheer probability.

2 minutes ago, Burnt Spaghetti said:

Thats.  A whole lot of death.  Rip the Youngs and Experience D:

The old and the young alike are not spared, it seems  

While Bard's death is definitely odd, I'm also a little confused by the Coinshots' (or Coinshot + Mistborn's) choice of targets. I'd have expected some of the more active suspected players (Illwei, Ash, TJ, Maill) to get hit, or one of the lesser actives (SoR, TUO). Pyro and Experience were semiactive null reads in my book, and just seemed like weird people to single out from the crowd (especially Experience, who was not up for the lynch and of whom I can recall almost no discussion other than the vote-manip thing). For that alone, I'd say that if a Mistborn!Elim made a kill here, it was probably on XP to eliminate a likely vote manipulator whilst giving minimal information to the village in terms of reads. The same Coinshot who took out Ventyl probably took Pyro down too, if their goal is reducing village confusion by getting answers on secondary wagons and IKYK-y players, and hopefully eventually one of those people will turn up evil  

[Quivil she/her]

ok. Imma roleclaim right now in thread... I killed XP and I'm sorry. I'm village mistborn.

(Me to myself: Prepare to die.)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What had he done? WHAT HAD HE DONE?!?

No No no no no no This couldn’t be happening Not again! The ducks helped! They helped him!

No more ruin! No more, Ruin! No more Ruin!

They helped him not ruin! Not again No more Ruin Please not again!

He could turn himself in Keep them safe Unlike the others Those so long ago…

Screams echoing in his ears. The faces of the dead, their skulls, glaring, condemning him even as he tried to fix it. Glaring still, waiting for him to close his eyes

The whole town          Gone               Wiped off the map     Empty             him, the only one left  him, haunted                       him, haunting

 

He finally got to the right door.  The men from the new watch They could help They could keep them safe

He started quiet, voice rising, peaking, finally ending in a whisper, sobbing the whole time. “It’s my fault. I did it. I killed him. I swore not to but I burned Steel again and now he’s dead! Keep them safe… Safe from me… I killed again... I did it. My fault... No more! No! I don’t want to! Keep them safe! Not another empty village… my fault again… not again…”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So yeah. Daux just had a relapse of severe madness. He was already kinda mad (if you couldn't tell by the fact that he thinks he can taste the fear of ducks)

But now he's insaner - again.

[Quintessential she/her]

Just now, Fifth Scholar said:

Bard would just be...a weird target for that kind of role. There are plenty of people more active in PMs and the thread to check out first. Hard to rule out with a death this early in the game, though.

Actually, I'd say that's precisely the reason Bard might have been a Seeker target. Our newer generation is pretty fond of easily claiming, so Seekers wouldn't be necessary to learn their roles. 

3 minutes ago, Fifth Scholar said:

For that alone, I'd say that if a Mistborn!Elim made a kill here, it was probably on XP to eliminate a likely vote manipulator whilst giving minimal information to the village in terms of reads.

I happen to know who shot XP--they are in fact a Mistborn, but for the moment I trust them... enough. Ninaj'd by Tani--can confirm, she is the Mistborn

 

[Burnt Spaghetti she/her]

tbh atm im currently curious of if people have had any noteworthy interactions in pms with these players. Do we know if they were roleclaiming to people at all, if they had any plans or anything. Idk, any more info about them could probably have some use. Of the newly dead, bard was the only one id spoken to in pms and that was just oog conversations

[STINK he/him]

4 minutes ago, Tani said:

ok. Imma roleclaim right now in thread... I killed XP and I'm sorry. I'm village mistborn.

nice claim tbh

[Kasimir he/him]

9 minutes ago, Fifth Scholar said:

If Bard was double-tapped, I think the writeup would tell us he was attacked and protected, and then died, if @Kasimir is still implementing the same policy as Meta in regard to these things.

Yes. As long as there was any protection, even if there was a double-tap, it will be reflected in the write-up.

Three kills aren't enough? Y'all want a double-tap? Sheesh, my dude  

[Ashbringer he/him]

7 minutes ago, Tani said:

ok. Imma roleclaim right now in thread... I killed XP and I'm sorry. I'm village mistborn.

Well, that throws my Coinshot idea out the window...

Why XP? It was a 50/50 chance they had just proved themselves as a Rioter.

 

Also if you need anyone to be insane with Derrick's mostly recovered from his anti-breakdown 

 

Okay, so we know Bard didn't self-protect. Interesting.

Edited March 5, 2021 by Ashbringer

[---]

2 minutes ago, Ashbringer said:

Why XP? It was a 50/50 chance they had just proved themselves as a Rioter.

My question is why do people equate "proving yourself as [Role]" to "Proving yourself as VIllage" ?? Because it's not? The same thing?

[Ashbringer he/him]

1 minute ago, Illwei said:

My question is why do people equate "proving yourself as [Role]" to "Proving yourself as VIllage" ?? Because it's not? The same thing?

I don't think an Elim!Rioter would needlessly out themselves on D2. That just removes a lot of potential for vote manip later in the game. Especially with the Rioter-Smoker combo.

Other roles? Sure. Vote manip roles I'm more inclined to read village for proving yourself, because you can get held accountable (or framed) much more easily.

 

Plus, a Seeker will know something's up if an essentially-proven Rioter scans Vanilla Villager.

[Fifth Scholar he/him]

Kinda awkward to make a post claiming the Mistborn is evil and have it followed up by a post with a Mistborn claim and then support for it  

13 minutes ago, Tani said:

ok. Imma roleclaim right now in thread... I killed XP and I'm sorry. I'm village mistborn.

Hmm. No offence, I've not had much of a read on you all game, so just from the roleclaim I partially suspect you.  Why did you kill Experience? Clarity on the Rioter stuff, or for another reason? @Quintessential you seem to have been a collaborator - insights? While I suspect you both less for taking it to the thread honestly, I'm not sure if that overrides my initial suspicion that XP was a good target for the Elims, and even if you are village, Tani, you've kind of outed yourself to the Elims the cycle we lost a Lurcher, so...I'm guess I'm just confused and would like explanations because clearly I'm out of all of the important PM loops  

11 minutes ago, Quintessential said:

Actually, I'd say that's precisely the reason Bard might have been a Seeker target. Our newer generation is pretty fond of easily claiming, so Seekers wouldn't be necessary to learn their roles. 

How long must I endure this PM-unsafe generation?  (just kidding, it took me a few times getting burnt by roleclaims to turn me into an Araris-style grouch about PM safety. Y'all are just too open sometimes though )

[Mat he/him]

I knew Exp was Rioter, and that didn't clear him for me. I also knew Tani was gonna kill him, which I wasn't super upset about, but I would have preferred someone else (that's a general 'someone else', not a specific one :P) because I meta-read Exp village for acting similar in this game as he did in the QF. Which I couldn't say, because the QF wasn't over and Exp wasn't proven village there- I only knew because I was elim. I would have brought that up here now, but since he's dead it doesn't matter :P.

[Quintessential she/her]

1 minute ago, Fifth Scholar said:

Hmm. No offence, I've not had much of a read on you all game, so just from the roleclaim I partially suspect you.  Why did you kill Experience? Clarity on the Rioter stuff, or for another reason? @Quintessential you seem to have been a collaborator - insights? While I suspect you both less for taking it to the thread honestly, I'm not sure if that overrides my initial suspicion that XP was a good target for the Elims, and even if you are village, Tani, you've kind of outed yourself to the Elims the cycle we lost a Lurcher, so...I'm guess I'm just confused and would like explanations because clearly I'm out of all of the important PM loops  

The original plan wasn't even to kill XP, actually. It was me, Tani, and two others who'd all claimed to each other in a group PM, and Tani asked us for advice on who to kill. Originally we said Illwei, but then Tani and I started to get kinda worried that one of the others (the one who'd started the group) was elim and playing us. I was more thinking of it in terms of "let's do something about them if Illwei flips vil" but ig Tani took it a different direction. She switched the kill to the person she suspected and told Illwei about it. And then in the mess afterwards Tani decided not to kill either of them and to hit XP instead because she didn't really have any other suspicions. I think she didn't trust Illwei as a good kill because it was a suggestion that was entirely external (from me and the other conspirator) and hadn't come from Tani at all? idk

[---]

1 minute ago, Quintessential said:

She switched the kill to the person she suspected and told Illwei about it.

uhhhhhh no she didn't?

She did admit to me that she was going to kill me, originally. She never told me she was gonna kill Exp.

And I was told that Killing me was Mailliw's Idea, Quinn. Not yours ;-;.

[Mat he/him]

Starting this off with a Stick- gut for the moment but I'm gonna iso her at some point.

[Ashbringer he/him]

Yes, please continue to out all the people who are in the PM circles claiming to each other. This can't possibly go horribly wrong.

[---]

1 minute ago, Ashbringer said:

Yes, please continue to out all the people who are in the PM circles claiming to each other. This can't possibly go horribly wrong.

I-

Maybe I should have been killed smh this is getting too confusing to me >>

[Burnt Spaghetti she/her]

1 minute ago, Ashbringer said:

Yes, please continue to out all the people who are in the PM circles claiming to each other. This can't possibly go horribly wrong.

Cmonnnn have some fun with it! Secrets can only ever be made use of when they're spilled!

[Fifth Scholar he/him]

4 minutes ago, Ashbringer said:

Yes, please continue to out all the people who are in the PM circles claiming to each other. This can't possibly go horribly wrong.

I mean, with the people Quinn and Illwei mentioned (the two of them + Maill + Tani), and my current reads list, I'm 99% sure that there's already at least one Elim in that group, so maybe this is actually for the better if people are really being this loose with roleclaims, so at least the village can be privy to some of the information the Elims already know >>

Edit: @TJ Shade, same  

Edited March 5, 2021 by Fifth Scholar

[|TJ| he/him]

Spoiler

There is a group PM in which group claiming is going on??? -.- 

It's almost 12 and I'mma watch WandaVision finale and dip for the night. Will make a reads list tomorrow.

Edit: Added a quote box instead of a spoiler -.-

Edited March 5, 2021 by TJ Shade

[---]

Just now, Burnt Spaghetti said:

Cmonnnn have some fun with it! Secrets can only ever be made use of when they're spilled!

Someone better not tell the thread that I'm actually the coinshot though smh if they do Imma kill you

[Burnt Spaghetti she/her]

Just now, Illwei said:

Someone better not tell the thread that I'm actually the coinshot though smh if they do Imma kill you

Oh was that meant to be a secret?  

[Quintessential she/her]

4 minutes ago, Illwei said:

uhhhhhh no she didn't?

She did admit to me that she was going to kill me, originally. She never told me she was gonna kill Exp.

And I was told that Killing me was Mailliw's Idea, Quinn. Not yours ;-;.

*rubs eyes* okay great so I have to clarify more. According to Tani, if the Night's rollover hadn't been extended then Maill would be dead. And I meant that Tani had told you about the plan to kill you, not the XP thing.

Me and Maill came up with it in our own PM and then Maill proposed it to the group. That's why Tani thought it was his idea. It was in fact my idea to Coinshot you but I believe Maill was the one who floated you and Striker as potential targets? I don't recall exactly.

5 minutes ago, Matrim's Dice said:

Starting this off with a Stick- gut for the moment but I'm gonna iso her at some point.

Don't have time to explain why rn (hw) but Stick. I noticed something interesting about their votes while I was reading through my notes last night.

2 minutes ago, Fifth Scholar said:

the two of them + Maill + Tani

Illwei's not in the group. It's me, Maill, Tani, and Stick.

[---]

Just now, Burnt Spaghetti said:

Oh was that meant to be a secret?  

@TJ Shade I've never seen that meme before what

[|TJ| he/him]

1 minute ago, Illwei said:

Someone better not tell the thread that I'm actually the coinshot though smh if they do Imma kill you

:P.