Kasimir

This is where I'm at now, but my heart is compromised because today all it wants is for you, TJ, and Orlok to all be Village, and I don't think I'm capable of rational evaluation anymore ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Very sure it did: Partly remembered only because I was going on about my Devo/Bort thoughts in the doc, TJ came in after that, just as I'd said I was going off to play AoE2 with Wyrm and Orlok, and that means he started on the thread and his views after your Archer post. He did comment he was mildly v-reading Archer prior to your post (not in doc, in thread), though he gave no indication of that in the doc - his V reads were Striker, JNV, and yourself, just from reading the thread. He did comment early in the doc that he felt I was V, but that has to do with potential early doc walls of Hyper Kas screaming in joy about being in a doc with my bros ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ P.S. Gonna say it's clear for whoever is arguing about distro that some nudging was made. Doesn't tell us anything about which doc is where but I think it's no accident the hyperdiscussers are split up, and the new players are all separated. I still don't feel confident in making any projections in the current state of our ignorance, but it's worth noting that anyone claiming raw RNG is likely mistaken. Not going to do deep backreading because I don't feel like it, and that's the point of this cycle for me.

God forgive me. Ashbringer, forgive me. El, forgive me. Kasimir TJ @|TJ| Bhai, I really want you to be Village. I really want nothing more than to chill in our doc together and be bros and discuss. In theory, you not knowing the name of the Elim faction looks good. There was a slight GM PM reference you made I don't want to talk about because I think El will get grumpy at me if I do, although it would nudge me towards thinking you are Village. But I'm also wary of derpclears, I don't know the context of you being confused about the Elim faction name actually counts as derping, and as a GM, I absolutely would tell my Elims what a Village GM PM looks like because any player using that deserves to get hurt. (And it's against the rules now anyway, pretty sure.) I don't like that Thaid vote that much, given we had been wondering if it was AI or not and I told you about the complaints Thaid generated in the MR. I feel like any player who played MR57 should also have noticed Thaid is actively changing his playstyle slowly :/ I noticed, anyway. I know you were leaning anti-reveal in the doc. I don't know if that's a E!TJ or a V!TJ thing. I don't know if this is a strong reason to vote you. I don't know what to believe anymore, bhai. I don't want to go near the Devo/Bort mess again because my brain is just going to scream and re-enter "delenda est" mode and I'm kind of done with getting frustrated about it and no take-up. I don't want you to be Evil bhai. I really don't :/ And I thought knowing you is supposed to make it easier for me to read you but all it's making me do is go around in circles this game because I don't want you to be Evil and I don't want Orlok to be Evil and I don't want Shadow to be Evil but what are the odds? I can't afford to make that assumption. And what I want doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if I want to believe beautiful lies because that wanting doesn't make them true. (And now part of me traitorously notices that Archer hated it when both Aman and I said upfront that we were working on the operating assumption our docs were clean because it sucks to interact with someone doing the Urbain Inquisition. Does that imply [Edited to add: at least] one uncompromised doc? Probably. Can I assume it's ours, based off what we know? Do I get to? :/) So I dunno. Can I assess you objectively right now? Honestly no because all I have is my heart wanting you to be Village and it was so powerful it overrode everything in LG83. Is it a mistake to even try? Maybe. But I guess that's what the thread is for. I don't think you're in danger right now but I'll say this - bhai, if I'm mistaken, @ me in the thread or doc I don't really care. I don't want to kill V!TJ :/ I really don't. But I think I need to at least open this line of discussion. You said in the doc you could explain your thought process behind your vote but it went too close to MR57 spoiler territory and you forgot Orlok was there. Is there a way you can explain this without invoking MR57?

I've just gone ahead and revealed it. In my view, I don't fancy the odds that both our docs are uncompromised. TJ was anti-reveal, FYI. He felt that it was tempting the Elims to hit us if we were all Village.

Yeah, had worked that out. This is why this was interesting to me - you guys seem to be currently having a great deal of internal suspicion and I wanted to ask if there has been internal doc events or spicy stuff going down, because from the looks of it, you and Striker were on Araris, Illwei and you and Striker are in Baker's suspicions... I'm still not able to ethically reveal who is in Malkier but this also confirms my thoughts on Mat's final docmate. Edited to add: Actually you know what, soddit. Unless Mat's doc is also uncompromised, this is already known. Malkier is Arelene, with Shadow, me, Orlok, and TJ. This is why insanely hyper Kas appeared because I was insanely thrilled to be in a doc with my bros and to get to discuss and chill. TJ is Malkier #2, whom I'm now paranoiding on. Orlok is Malkier #3, who I policy Village read for now and who I'm worried has pocketed me with some AoE discussion (and it turns out that Shadow is really into AoE2 too, so she's amazing )

I have views on this. I'm aware Orlok does too. But recent events that potentially involved a change in my usual historical alignment and corruption by Orlok have changed my views on threadbrawls. No comment on personal views on threadbrawling Aman in particular. You're tempting me to do the next write-up Slumdog Millionaire style >> Must resist... Edited to add: Oh yeah sorry got too excited making sarkastic commentary and forgot why I was supposed to post. You have slightly over twenty two and a half hours left in the cycle!

You don't need to do that, Shield of the Lynch. Just act normal bro

I think one way or another I should get off my Devo and Bort focus, and I'm sort of uselessly paranoiding on Malkier #2 so I've decided to stop that for the moment. Current plan is to just go down the list and sort everyone else and then come back to these guys later. I specifically ask about JNV because if I were to put JNV in any of my Village-type tiers, it'd be for some good points (one of which Malkier #2 noted) but also because I think the same point as what I mentioned in Malkier w.r.t. Experience could apply to JNV too - would have to be extremely kayana to be active, engaged in live doc conversation (especially if JNV is analysing or solving) in a doc with you, on the assumption you are V Aman (I mark this as an assumption even though, as I've said, that's where my credences are right now.) I know JNV's alignment isn't really a big question mark for you, but I want to do my own refresh, and for my own sanity, I don't remotely want to look at Devo, Bort, or Malkier #2 right now and that seemed like something easily verifiable past/by you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Who needs effort clears when there's 'this would take insane guts to do when Evil'?

@Amanuensis - What's JNV's doc activity like, by the way?

Just to clarify the situation: there will be no pinch-hitter replacement after all. Please carry on with your daily scheduled execution. Good to see you back, Orlok

Bolded responses because on mobile rn.

Is this a good time to comment that Malkier is also four people? I'm...not highly suspicious of the people in Malkier at this point. I light/moderate V read Shadow - with the reservations that Aman mentioned, and my slight paranoia from Shadow mentioning the mindmeld with me. I am wary of Malkier #2 and trying to make my mind up on them. I have no particular suspicions of Malkier #3 and indeed, worry that they may have pocketed me

Agreed: don't want to rehash too much, disagree slightly with C1 Shadow in that I wouldn't assume distro. Sometimes the GM does in fact give you the clear, or sometimes the GM creates a lovely pattern of one Elim per Empire...except for the one Empire that's clean and the one Empire that has two in order to hurt players who make the assumption. We don't know the process, so while I would likely have slightly higher V credences in the survivors, the extent to which one's credences should really improve is Orlok's territory because I'm low effort Kas. In my view, the correct answer is that they should only improve modestly, if at all, and I think that's good enough. (Is it just me or have I infected a decent chunk of SE into using epistemology terms? I swear I see 'credences' more these days...) Wanted to say a bit more but have to post and leave this due to something coming up. P.S. Tbf, would suspect that Aman knows my Empire composition - not because of anything sinister but just because I haven't been especially secretive, apart from trying to respect the consensus/lack thereof.

Either you guys are Fjordell and four man now you lost Thaidakar, or you're the other four man Empire. Or maybe you mean you're the four man Fjordell who lost Thaidakar, hence three of you Edited to add: I too feel you about being the doc's Aan'allein..

Eight years, Khas thought. Eight years came and passed so fast, in the blink of an eye. Sometimes, the world gave you pleasures unsought after, unasked for. Friendship: Wurum was an honest smile and five knives in his back; two glasses of wine on the rim of a fountain in a courtyard, nights and nights of conversation and life, the universe, reality, and the future. But sometimes, the world could and did surprise you. Sometimes, old acquaintances half-forgotten returned into your life. Sometimes, they brought with them storms of their own invention. Sometimes, they brought more laughter, more boons. Locke Tekiel had always been a respected acquaintance, a distant ally. Khas had always respected the man's strategic mind, and while they'd been at odds, they'd worked together in the Ghostbloods, and put rout to Wilson once before. He had been absent for years, but the tales had always travelled to him, with the occasional missives. Tales of what Locke Tekiel had done, the various ops he'd run. Strange what a single year and four months had wrought. Now, Khas would rather face down the storms and the lurking evil with no other man. There was Aman. Another acquaintance that Khas had warmed towards. There was a history there, of cooperation, and Khas had watched the op where Aman had defied all the odds and stayed alive while killing all opposition. Had made sarkastic commentary, because that was his wont. The tales carried, too. Sometimes, you were privileged to have existed in a time of legends, in a time where legends were being made. Now though, there was warm regard, and a wary respect. Khas appreciated the easy way you bantered with Aman; the way doing so seemed to throw out more insights than not. And then, there was TJ. Sometimes, Khas thought, the world genuinely surprised you. Sometimes, you expected that all the laughter, all the joy and colour in the world belonged to the past, that you were only a ghost, an aging relic clinging for some reason to the same old structures, the same old game of finding the spies or the spiked or the murderers or the eliminators hidden among you. And sometimes, you discovered new friends, good friends, that life went on, and that life was good. Working with TJ reminded him of Wurum; the easy way their thoughts complemented each other, the easy way they bantered, the fast rhythm of thought-and-exchange they fell into. Even the way TJ had lured him into complacent trust and then stabbed him in the back, however kindly. Eight years. What did he have to show for it? Khas closed his eyes, drew in Stormlight, felt the storm come to life within him. He had been missing for so much of that eight years. Had become a different man. He knew that. You could not get the time back; nor did you rediscover opportunities lost. But there are no wrong turnings, only paths we had not known we were meant to walk. And we do not journey alone. If there was one thing he would do, this time, Khas though, with the storm blazing inside him, he would be there for them. All the friends and acquaintances lost, all those laughing and looking on. He thought he heard El out there, though he had not quite seen any sign of her. As long as it was given him, as long as he drew breath, as long as he lived, he would watch over them, protect them to the best of his limited ability, would give them merriment and laughter. A small thing. But sometimes, it was the small things that were most worth doing.

Partly because I really didn't mind being voted off if that's what it takes to refocus scrutiny on the anomalous response I identified (Devo pls.) In my view, what we have right now is conjecture - I'm hopeful that my Village flip will allow the empirical identification of a baseline Village response to Exp, which should show exactly how odd Devo's response was. A decent chunk of it was because I want to recapture the frustrated-then-zen mindset I hit late last Night after talking to El: I needed to put myself in the frame of mind where I said "the Village can take care of itself, I'm not going to play this seriously or at 100%, I just want to analyse only so much as what makes me happy, and I aim to be there for my bros, to chill with them, and to keep them sane and happy as long as I am alive in this game." So yes, you, Orlok, and a few others are basically my personal wincon this game. How does that make you feel? I got to that endpoint through, unfortunately, a lot of frustration and IM DM yelling, for which I'm sorry (sorry for the thread snapping guys :/), but I'm now in the zen mode where I'm here to have fun, and aim to stay there as much as I can. Helps that Shadow is a seriously cool doc mate <3 So yeah, I basically need to put myself in that frame of mind and commit to staying chill. I think it's important to me as well psychologically to mess around and not do much - and to remind myself the Village will get by just fine with me at 20%, even if it only lasts one cycle. This sets a good precedent for me in future in learning how to say no because I can't do analysis in my state, or because I don't want to do it. tldr; Personal attitude re-adjustment and learning how to interact with SE in a healthier way and have fun Edited to add: @Amanuensis - Maybe the better way to put it is that even if it's less meaningful to others, uninformative, or unhelpful, it's extremely important psychologically to me to do it, and symbolic - and I needed it to get myself back in the state/place where I need to be for this cycle, and hopefully the rest of the game. @Elbereth - I WILL BE THERE FOR MY BROS. Please accept these words. Edited to add 2: @Ashbringer If you want to accept them instead and grant me 1337 Bros Radiant powers, please feel free

I did, but I was lazy to put that into the vote count, honestly - I just c/ped from the write-up And since last Night and my unfortunate snapping about my trains/reads, I've come to the conclusion I have exactly two goals this game: Do exactly as much analysis as I want to, with as much intensity as I want to (i.e. less serious game) Keep my bros alive and happy as much as I can So yeah, not really going to care and be sorry - the Village can deal with a 20% Kas for once. With that being said - That's essentially what my question is partly about. If Archer is their strongest thread control player, does this rule out Orlok and Illwei in the non-voters? Not sure. Was this a lack of opportunity to intervene, or no appetite, or...? Full dgaf disclaimer that I'm Village reading Orlok for now for policy reasons. Edited to add: @Amanuensis - Maybe to put my line of thought in a more precise way: perhaps it's madness to try a team profile this early, but part of me kind of wants to, just as a way of IDing suspect clusters. The main thing stopping me is just really the uncertainty about how to read the EoD and that's kind of why I just threw it into the thread to get some thoughts.

You have my gratitude bro, and I welcome further red arrows of FREEDOM!

Kasimir. Enjoy lunch, Mr GM sir!

Rule Clarifications: Player List:

Cycle Six: The Hinge of Every Question There was an art to asking questions. Locke had been busy asking, even while Helgen turned on itself in a frenzy of death and blood, seeking to root out the Darkfriends among them, even as the Shadow itself seemed to have taken an interest in murdering the residents of Helgen. Questions, Locke had learned, were the key to unlocking secrets; things people wanted to keep hidden. He had gotten very good at asking the right questions, clerking in Canluun. You looked at your rows of figures and asked questions of your data, and if you asked in just the right way, you found answers. Or sometimes, even more questions. It was the search for the answers that drove you, until you discovered that the point wasn’t the answers, but to have questions worth asking in the first place. Such as why no one, in Helgen, at all, seemed to find Lin Mindrigurin suspicious. Lin Mindrigurin, as far as Locke’s queries had established, was often regrettably mistaken for the uncrowned king of Malkier, al’Lan Mandragoran. Lin was another one who had grown up in Helgen, served years on the Blightborder, and then seemed content to return to a quiet life in Helgen, where he did what needed doing. Mayor Wilsa, Locke noted, seemed to rely on Lin significantly. There was a web of connections, spidering through Helgen. He made each mark on the ledger he was keeping, noted the connections and their direction and their strength. So many of them ran through Lin Mindrigurin. So many of them, through him, to Mayor Wilsa. He circled Lin Mindrigurin’s name in dark charcoal and frowned down at the page. No one. Not a single one was asking the right questions. So it was down to Locke. In Canluun, he’d made a name for himself, with how eeriely fast he’d tracked down falsified payments and bribes and corruption, simply by making inferences from the data. Simply by reading between the lines of ledgers and agreements and asking the right questions. Now, Locke was on the hunt once again. He didn’t intend to fail. “Lan,” Rambler spat. “Who else can it be?” Lin Mindrigurin barely looked up from the sword he was working on. He’d rebound the hilt with leather cord and now was removing the nicks from its edge with a whetstone. “Come on,” he said, reasonably. “I told you Xin was innocent. All of you chose to damn an innocent man to death, and you can’t blame me for your error.” “You insisted it was Lorum,” Rambler continued. “Almost as though you knew.” “It’s not the first time someone’s accused me of being right,” Lin said. He continued to scrape at the nicks on the sword. Something, perhaps it was that old veteran’s sense from his years on the Blightborder; perhaps it was something deeper, buried in his bones, told him that his old sword would soon see use again. There was a fight coming. He could feel it. Just not right now, if he handled things right. “If you felt that Xin was of the Shadow, and against, I might add, my explicit advice, then you must take responsibility for your own judgements, Rambler. I definitely take responsibility for mine.” “You knew,” Rambler said, yet again. He jabbed a finger at Lin, accusingly. “Only a Darkfriend would know.” “And you think Jóhannsson walks in the Light?” Lin asked, sceptically. “When Jóhannsson was the loudest voice against Buffy? When Jóhannsson insisted that Buffy, Light grant her peace, was committing murders in the dark in Helgen?” Rambler hesitated. “Think about it,” Lin said, compellingly. He continued to whet the edge of his blade. “Way I see it, you’re probably of the Light, friend. I can’t see one such as you pursuing the Darkfriends among us with such dedication. And you did find Alain Stern, you and Stieg both. So I feel confident in trusting you. You know Locke?” Rambler grunted. “Locke was especially adamant about Bortington,” Lin said. “Almost as if he knew.” Rambler stiffened, eyes narrowing as he glared at Lin. “You lie,” he said. “Locke, of all people! Worked out Bortington was a Darkfriend. Accused Bortington every chance he got. You’re getting desperate.” “Way I see it,” continued Lin, “There are maybe three of us in Helgen I can be sure of. You, me, and Kai. If we want to find the Shadow, we have to work together.” “Can’t believe I’m listening to you,” Rambler spat. “You lie as easily as you breathe, Darkfriend.” “Just think about it,” Lin said. The whetstone scraped against old steel. “I’ve fought against the Shadow for a good part of my life, Rambler. Why would I suddenly turn and swear service to the Dark One now?” His voice dropped, so Rambler had to lean in to hear him. “The Shadow can be defeated, Rambler. We pushed the Trollocs back enough times on the Blightborder. All will be well, as long as we walk in the Light. As long as we stay strong. As long as we refuse to let suspicion grow in our hearts and turn on each other.” Rambler hesitated. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ve had enough from you, Darkfriend.” He left, slamming the door of Lin’s house behind him. Lin sat there, in the gathered shadows, scraping the whetstone along the edge of his sword. It was late afternoon, and the shadows grew only longer as the day crept inevitably onwards, giving way to dusk. Such was the way of all things. He could, at least, keep his sword sharp. There would be bloody work ahead to be done, if the Light was to prevail. Locke strode into the Tree, urgency in every step. Wyden glanced up, frowning in worry. Locke wasn’t the sort to panic unnecessarily, and if Locke was radiating focused worry like the fireplace, then something was very wrong indeed. “Wyden,” Locke said, crisply. “Have you by any chance seen Lin Mindrigurin?” A ledger was tucked under his left arm. Wyden shook his head. “No sight of him today. None of the regulars, either. Heard they were going for a meeting with the mayor. Everyone’s got Darkfriends on the mind, it seems.” Locke’s frown deepened. “What’s wrong?” Wyden wanted to know. Locke pulled out an empty chair and sat down. “I,” he said, with a tired finality, “Have been a great fool.” Wyden said, “I think most of us have been, at some point or other in our lives.” “Perhaps,” said Locke. “But I spent too much time asking questions, and far too little time asking about when the right time to pursue those questions was.” Wyden looked at him. He sat down at the same table, pulling out the chair opposite Locke. “I don’t understand,” he ventured. “Lin Mindrigurin,” Locke said. “Is far too involved in these killings. And far too connected to the mayor, who mind, has apparently endorsed most of his activities.” Wyden’s heart sank. “No,” he said. Surely it was impossible. Surely— “I think,” said Locke, “They have some explaining to do.” Wyden eyed him warily. Remembered what Gaeta and Edler had said about a local Dreadlord. The Dreadlord had been a woman, apparently, because Gaeta could sense what was being done, and because Gaeta could detect what the channeller was doing through the One Power. A woman. A Dreadlord. He froze. The pieces fell together, came together in just the right way to make a damning picture. Mayor Wilsa had been mayor of Helgen for a very, very long time. Sometimes, you just knew. Locke, talking about how the connections ran to the mayor, how he’d isolated and discovered the careful way Lin Mindrigurin had pushed for each of the killings. Thorns, tearing through his skin. He thought he heard fell laughter on the wind. Gaeta and Edler had talked about going to see the mayor for help with the Dreadlord problem. Of course, if the mayor was the Dreadlord… “Wyden,” and this was Locke shaking him, dragging him back to reality, and Wyden blinked, forced himself to remember he was in the Tree, gripping the edges of the table, white-knuckled. “What’s wrong?” “We have to stop them,” he said. Felt as though the words were coming from someone else, from some other man who hadn’t become a shadow of himself, the wreckage left behind by the Shadow. Locke frowned. “A former clerk and an innkeeper?” “Who else is there left?” Wyden asked, tiredly. Locke regarded him for a long moment. “Very well,” he said, and Wyden thought he heard the same resignation in the other man’s voice. “Light knows we can’t let Lin murder them all. And I’ve always wanted to see if I could out-argue Lin when he’s working a room…I suppose if he kills us all, at least it will be fun.” Wyden pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Light help them all. Kai ran. You were not meant for this world, Kaiya. The words, like damnation. You know what to do. Sometimes, you did terrible, cruel things, and you hoped that a little Light would come from them. Or you hoped that the Light would not judge you too harshly, because you were afraid, and because people who are frightened, people who are fallible, and people who are all too human can do terrible, terrible things indeed. A single, small crystal vial. A single choice. There is a piece of the Shadow in each and every one of us. Festering within us. And now Kai ran and kept on running, and perhaps one day, they wouldn’t have to run, perhaps one day the past wouldn’t reach out and wrap tenebrous arms around their heart, damning them and accusing them at once. Kai ran. There was a meeting, and it wouldn’t do to be late, even though they were, in fact, already quite late. They turned the corner and jerked to an abrupt halt. There was a smouldering hole in the earth, and the Cairhien scholar, Gaeta, was dead; badly blackened and burned, smoke still rising from her corpse. There was a terrible, terrible noise. A sound like a scream. A sword swept through them. Kai was dead before they even got to see who had killed them. Edler, grief-stricken, still screaming, perhaps forever screaming, snapped his blade out in a sharp, instinctive Lotus Closes Its Blossom and ran on. Wyden knelt by the chest in the small attic room. He swallowed hard. It was like there was a handful of broken glass in his throat and no matter what, breathing or trying to talk hurt. This was going to hurt, one way or another. He drew in a deep, shaky breath and undid the clasps on the chest, and then unlocked it. Odds and ends; all the detritus from a past life. There was an oddly-shaped bundle of wool, which he slowly unrolled to reveal a sword. He’d hid it there and wanted to forget about it, because memory was a knife; memory was a butcher who led you down a path of thorns to the slaughter. The wrappings on the hilt disguised the distinctive mark. Wyden’d always wanted it that way. He’d felt so proud, the day he’d earned it. Commander Bralor’d been, too. Bralor’d been as a father to him, he’d bragged about it to the entire garrison. He drew the sword, shakily. Should’ve taken an oilcloth to it, or a whetstone, but blades like this remained as sharp and true as the day they’d been forged. Worth a king’s ransom, and here he was hiding it and everything in a small attic in a small village that no one remembered in the Kandori hinterlands. Sometimes you ran to the ends of the world and you found that your pain was still there, waiting for you. What was the use? What good was steel or a swordsman’s skill against the One Power? He shut his eyes desperately and tried to think of the forms, tried to think of the tasks that needed doing, tried to think of anything except the damnfool thing he was maybe going to do, and that would probably get him killed. Tried not to think of how Gamen had died, thorns sliding under his skin, wrapping about his throat. Maybe Wyden shouldn’t have lived. He should have died for them. Should have. But he’d broken, hard. The sword blade flashed, bright, perfect. He danced the forms; one after another, his body remembering what the mind did not. The Moon Rises Over The Lakes. Rain In High Wind. Striking the Spark. Shake Dew From The Branch. He danced the forms, sword moving from one to the next, every cut and thrust perfect, unhurried, done just right, the way they were supposed to be. Each form was whole, and perfect; everything that Wyden no longer was, and no longer could be. But it was a kind of healing. He hadn’t realised how much he’d needed this, how much learning the sword had been a sort of comfort to him. They’d commented on how he’d been a fast learner, back at the garrison. Learning the forms had been as though he was coming home; as though his body was simply remembering what it already knew. He’d found solace in swordplay, and returning to the forms now, even with so much rust he could barely find his former edge, brought to him an echo of peace in the tumult of his own mind. With Folding the Fan, he sheathed the sword, without even looking at the scabbard. He was breathing more heavily than he’d have liked. But he was on his feet, and ready to fight. Ready to die, maybe. Thorns sliding under his skin, wrapping around his wrists. What good was steel against the One Power? But what else could he do? Wyden belted on his sword. You surrender when you’re dead, Edler had said. He didn’t know enough, but his heart was hammering in his chest. Dreadlord, Edler had said, and the idea of facing the one behind Gamen’s death, the woman unleashing the Embrace of Pain within Helgen…it terrified him. But what else could he do? Sometimes, you had to try. To win back even the smallest fragment of your soul. To find, however you could, however blindly in the shadows, a way to be good again. A way back to the Light. Mayor Wilsa walked into the meeting room. For some reason, she brought with her the faintest hint of smoke, the sickly-sweet scent of charred flesh. Lorum Ipsum found himself gagging; he did his best to suppress the sound. “The Shadow still walks among us,” she said. “Someone killed Daian.” Light shelter him, Lorum Ipsum thought. And the last embrace of the mother welcome him home. It was the old saying, the one they said in Shienar proper, but in some parts of Kandor as well. “Lin did it,” Rambler spat. “I’m certain it’s Jóhannsson,” Lin replied. “Or possibly Locke.” He hesitated. “Perhaps even you, Rambler.” “I found Stern,” Rambler retorted. “You said it yourself. I’ve only worked for the Light.” “Have you?” Lin asked. “Of course,” Rambler spluttered. “I’ve only searched for Darkfriends!” “As I was saying,” Lin said, and now Lorum noticed he was wearing a battered old sword at his side again, “I have every confidence that Kai walks in the Light. If I had to speculate, then Rambler is a Darkfriend. Far, far too quick to accuse, and he abused my trust. If not Rambler, then Jóhannsson or Lorum.” Except that was a lie. “You lie,” Lorum accused. “I’ve had no dealings with the Shadow. In fact, I do wonder at you, Lan. For all that they speak of your courage and your war on the Shadow, all I’ve seen is you twisting the words of good, honest villagers to get them killed!” “Such accusations,” Lin said, shaking his head sadly. “I’ve fought the Shadow, Lorum. For years. And all you can do is to accused me of honeyed words and a forked tongue? All you can do is to try to accuse me in the hopes it will spare you? At least have the dignity to look death in the eye, friend.” The arguments flew to and fro, and the surviving villagers of Helgen shouted accusations at each other. But then the others were staring at him, and then Lorum Ipsum realised to his growing horror that they had turned on him, that they were suspecting him, and he didn’t even know why. “Execute him,” Mayor Wilsa ordered. “I know my duty,” Lin Mindrigurin said. The sword swept out, in a clean, gleaming arc. Blood splattered on the walls of the meeting room, and on those gathered there. But it was not over. It never was. Locke was waiting, impatiently, in the common room of the Tree. He stood up as soon as he saw Wyden return with the sword. “Let’s go, then. Before it’s too late.” “Light grant that,” Wyden said. Meant every single word. They ran. The Unknown Novel/Lorum Ipsum was executed! He was a Villager! JNV/Kai was killed! They were a Villager! The cycle has begun, and will end on 7th April, 0100hrs SGT (GMT+8)! Please be reminded not to post in this thread until I've reserved the second post for the player list and rule clarifications, thank you! Please be aware that a player in this game may be replaced by a pinch-hitter. I am working to resolve the situation as soon as possible so everyone can have clarity beneath the Light. Thank you. Praise the Light!

One hour late, but auto-lock and El are goddesses <3 (Devo, you're amazing too, I just know that our timezones don't work so good ) Please do not post here; cycle is coming up shortly.

THESE WORDS ARE ACCEPTED. Take care of yourself first, bro. That's the most important.

@Amanuensis - Question for you, and for the thread. I don't quite regard bus/attempt to save as the two binary options. To me, there are three: Bus Attempt to save Allow through Teams can allow through a lynch because teammates were not online at that time, or because they lacked a sufficiently strong roster to save the player. (And of course, sometimes no player can save the teammate, but in my view, that doesn't change the tactical calculus that has to be made.) In my judgement, Archer was not so confirmed gone that it would have been allowed through. But that being said, I did a quick and dirty vote check based off the un-updated state of my credences: I do expect teams to also potentially go for a mix of options rather than put all their eggs in one basket. But suppose I go with this rough distribution of credences right now. We see a mix of a bus and an attempt to save. Where is the last teammate? Or to put my question properly: this I think is one fairly consistent way of looking at the team's strategy for D1, ignoring posts since I don't want to re-read those so I shan't. We have one distance attempt, and one attempt to save Archer, and potentially an attempt to save Devo over Archer. On another distribution of credences: Is Archer the strongest thread control player on that team? Did they have the ability to save him? It's a bit of a hard pill for me to swallow because intuitively, I think losing your thread control player D1 is a rough set-back. At the same time, if not, then who is the other? Why was there no attempt to save? Or was that a bus? I keep circling back to this question because the one thing that does nag at me a bit is the idea that suppose Striker is V. Well, then how do we make sense of the 50-50 EoD for Archer? Acceptable risk appetite, with thread control player on the line? (How confident are they that no Forgers exist?) If not, feels like either way there are at least minor roster depth inferences to be made here.

It is what it is.

Question for you. How many people would buy that when in my last Evil game, I only defended Villagers and explicitly attacked my teammates or at least let them die? No, we're not. Shadow can confirm this.