Kasimir

STOP RUBBING IT IN ;-;

No one's stopping you if you want to. I just don't want to because my wrist injury is killing me and - without mentioning potentially ongoing games - this means I'm going to take the easy out when I can. There's a reason she's called Eiwlil yeah

Yeah it's a double-posting situation (i.e. if there is no reply between your post and your last), but it happens to all PMs and to all posts as long as there's no reply to your last post. It does make editing faster since you can pre-empt it, but it also means you need to anticipate how post content can change and flag it, that's all. Be Kas: Kas: >Oh this is a simple game no need to re-read the rules Kas: >Let's just get in there Kas: >vote Stick Kas:

People bold things all the time. How is picking a different colour all that different from a different formatting choice? You don't have to do it if you don't want to, I just struggle to see why you think it's such an imposition when the point is to have something in formatting different enough that people can see it by scanning. P.S. Did you hear about the automerge? If you type anything within 15 minutes of your OG and there's no reply, it automerges. Be careful!

Yes, but then how do you indicate who you are willing to vote on for even a facsimile of pressure if you can't remotely use red text until you actually vote? Anyway Archer has said that the difference between orange and red is a philosophical issue he won't clarify so I guess we'd better leave off there I am considering just highlighting potential votes in the most disgusting colours to compensate tbhhhh I will still ghost vote y'all if u seem too pacifistic to me! Oh wonderful, now he clarifies, thank you Mr GM sir >>

Was my thoughts, yeah, if @Ookla the Paradigm's agreeable. We used to use it in some games. You can get there with: [color=orange]Text[/color] [color=purple]Text[/color] Which is the main advantage of this.

I...am going to quit while I'm behind Mr GM sir >> Edited to add: Propose people use orange to vote and purple to retract for the moment if it doesn't count as too red-ish for @Ookla the Paradigm

Cool, I'll go again for dramatic effect then @Stick. HAVE A WELCOME BACK TO SE VOTE SIS! U_U STICK I'd call kas 'mister did not read the rules' for that tbh

Onon continued to scribble. His injured arm still hurt. That much was true. He'd seen the position of the stab marks on the body. He added, and then crossed out: Sometimes, Fate had a sense of humour, Onon supposed. But there was no point in worrying people now. He hissed and clutched at his hand. Later, then. The apothecary had given him something for the pain but he needed rest. Edited to add: Armed with pain relievers, even if they tasted foul, Onon continued:

I didn't forget to: it's never been standard practice. It's also barely two hours since the start of cycle and not Stick's timezone yet. I'm not concerned she'll miss it.

I wasn't responding to you, so that should be fine. Edit: Oh crap votes are locked in this game right nevermind >> Have a stab vote then Stick U_U

STICK welcome back sis how demonic do u feel

Onon scrawled what he could, desperate to get the essentials down while his injured arm still allowed him to. Turned out the accident that had broken his ceremonial peachwood blade - the same one that Jorrick was repairing - had done more damage to the wrist than he'd expected. You always hedged, while you could. Made plans for the future even if you didn't think you'd be around to see it. That was how plans often worked. Funny thing, Pending's question. As though only a Spiked couldn't conceive of building a future you wouldn't be around to see.

Onon continued to test some things before the ritual. Mayor Arwhin had been asking him questions to do with why Pending's accusation had almost been missed, and neither Pending nor Onon knew why. He hoped no one would be alarmed by the testing process. Edited: Onon Khentii Edited 2: Revir

"I'll note that I'm less swayed now - I felt the original basis was more solid than you're willing to give it credit for, but the spirits have informed me there are two Thugs and one Lurcher in Copper's Bend."

"I'm interested in why you switched your views on Lord Pending," Onon inquired. "There's some level on which he was the only alternate candidate you could have voted for, given where Rem was, but I don't recall your needing to vote on him either, when there were alternatives." Onon collected his observations from the day, trying to decide what to leverage into 'conversations' with Kash's spirit. Pending [ @DrakeMarshall ] chose not to counter-accuse Sono to save his own life. Onon's own judgement of the situation implied that given Rem's stubbornnness, counter-accusing Sono would've resulted in Sono's death. It was possible that Pending hadn't known that about Rem. Onon didn't know. In general, while Onon's case against Pending had begun with the observation that nothing Pending had done, apart from the excellent point on a Lurcher counterclaim, had merited a village read (bracketing the internal debate about whether Onon was over-or-under-crediting Pending for this), but Pending's sunset counterpush had left Onon feeling more comfortable with Pending among his Spiked candidates. This largely had to do with Pending pointing out as a slip something that should have been patently obvious, especially to someone like Pending, and felt more like an attempt to smear than anything. Sirta [ @Sart ] had appeared a few times in the village square, particularly near the contentious sunset, but had seemed content with an accusation of Onon that held no water. Receiving new information seemed to make no difference to Sirta's judgement, which suggested that Sirta's voting was agenda-driven. Onon was interested in whether Sirta's contentment actually obscured a willingness to see Pending or Sono executed, and what that meant for Sirta's own alignment. Neither Jorrick [ @JNV ], nor Rilla [ @Quirksliver ] had shown up. While this was expected, this was also disappointing. Onon felt that with the way things had been trending so far, with the two of them absent, on the assumption neither of them were Spiked, Copper's Bend was doomed by the time these two were in the final few villagers left standing. Revir [ @TheRavenHasLanded ] had watched events but declined to intervene. Given Revir had professed a positive read of Lord Pending, this was more than mildly strange. There were two lines of argument here: first, that a Spiked Revir should have gladly taken the chance to cause Sono's death, and that second, a Spiked Revir might have paid more attention to how he came across. Fundamentally though, Onon never really liked the taste of inefficiency arguments. On some level, criminal-type behaviour was criminal-type behaviour. Given Lord Pending [ @DrakeMarshall] had voted Revir, Onon wondered if Pending's view of Revir had shifted. Based off what Onon knew, the disposition of Copper's Bend made it moderately possible Sono [ @Ookla the Resolute ] was Spiked. That was something he was going to have to work out for himself, he supposed. Dasenk's [ @Ookla thePresentParticiple ] switches all over the place could probably be considered borderline opportunistic. But in general, Onon thought the case for Dasenk being a villager was still acceptable for the time being. He didn't recall if Dasenk had been present near sunset. Rem [ @Ookla the Paradigm ] felt like he just wasn't not going to enter the investigation unless Sono was dead, which was unfortunate, as it made Onon want to shoot them both and then himself. And probably Pending first. He'd liked Rem's attitude, in general. He just felt it was being pointed in the wrong direction. But as much as one could argue everyone was to blame for the tie, something about Rem's opting for the tie near sunset even knowing the votes were not there drew Onon's attention and suspicion. It was however pretty clear that at most one of Sono and Rem were Spiked, and between the two of them, Onon thought it was maybe Sono. Which re-opened the Pending puzzle all over again...

"We'll find out tonight," said Onon. He didn't consider it a priority except for what it might say about Pending and Sono. The odds of the Spiked having protection in a world with one of those Coinshots seemed pretty decent; but so too did it improve the odds of village-sided protection. His view of Rem felt as though it'd gotten worse with what (admittedly, scant) Onon knew about the disposition of Copper's Bend.

Onon shrugged. "I told you all so," he said, simply. Though he really just meant Rem. "As far as I’m concerned, Pending's day looked pretty Spiked to me and I'm done with making compromises. There are three who did not accuse, and at least two others excepted, including Pending, who would not compromise either." He spat on the dirt in contempt and went on to prepare for the rituals to summon Kash's spirit.

"Under extreme protest," Onon finally growled, glaring at all present. "And under the understanding we cannot afford to lose time to these killers." Part of him didn't want to allow a tie. Part of him didn't want to be reasonable either. Not when he considered Pending's response fairly inadequate. Ah, soddit. He wasn't going to be reasonable. Not today. Onon had had it with needing to be reasonable and compromise. Today, someone else could worry about ties. He was done. "Nevermind," Onon muttered.

"I've already said them. It's not that difficult to find. I understand of course that you don't feel comfortable admitting to them because as far as you know, I was merely sitting on a bench with my eyes closed, but if you are in fact the resourceful man I know you are, you have your ways of uncovering them."

Onon cocked his head. "Bought a ladder, Pending? Because that's a reach, even for you. It's the day, the most anyone has mustered is two accusations, and I’m on one. In what world isn't it reasonable to prepare my most updated thoughts just in case? Any true villager puts more stock in aiding the common cause from beyond the grave, even if the likelihood is that the lot of you would ignore it. Come nightfall, I'll almost certainly be doing the same thing. Certainly makes me feel more reasonable about not wanting to budge in my accusations here." Edited to add: "As...I've somehow quite literally managed in almost every single past life, according to the spirits? It's not even remotely difficult. It's called contingency planning."

"About five and a half hours to noon," Onon remarked. "Give or take." "I think it's reasonable for it to be true - Seeker would've been just as powerful there." People tended to get weird about the thought of others who could discern the truth just by exerting themselves. People always wanted to be saved, rather than to save themselves. It was why this ritual master con paid off so well. "I'm largely caught up by Pending's logic - that there hasn't been a counterclaim here." Sure, he distrusted Pending, but that point of logic, Onon at least agreed with. "That's why I'm psychic," Onon said, deadpan. "The spirits speak to me. But also, it represents the number of times a past life hopped around, since Sirta's allegation was that I've never been this flighty before. Since I've been in this village for about a day, I figure he must be referring to a past life."

Onon gathered his thoughts. He felt as though this might be his last chance, as he would be preoccupied until sundown. This meant he had to come to certain decisions, including finalising where he stood today, before he prepared to make arrangements to commune with Kash's deceased spirit. Or rather, to fool Copper's Bend into believing he had such powers. He wanted to write a comprehensive ledger documenting how he felt about the various inhabitants of Copper's Bend who were Kash's potential killers. But part of this did fundamentally depend on other factors, including how he felt about the fundamental plausibility of Sono's alibi. As he sat on the wooden bench, shrouded in the mists that crept further into the sunlit hours, Onon shivered and closed his eyes and then was elsewhere. A technique he'd learned, back in Kordel. He was walking through the hallways of his mind palace, even if it looked strangely very much like the painting-lined hallways of the university there. He pushed open the first door, marked: 1. Alibi Plausibility The way Onon saw it, a lot depended on the plausibility of Sono's alibi. Suppose then, that Sono would have hedged against this, by claiming the single shot of juice. Suppose as well that this was the point of Sono's inconsistency about the gambit and dying: explaining Sono's consistent survival. But did the picture feel right for this kind of scheme? And here, Onon hesitated again. It didn't feel intuitive. That was the core of it. It required Sono to have signed up to the scheme fairly early on. It required Sono to have gone public in a way that felt like it would have been more detrimental to Sono's own viability. He ground his teeth together. Yet Sono's insistence on parlaying this into a seeming scheme when it seemed a plain tactical mistake felt intrinsically suspicious to Onon. "I hate this," he informed the doorways, sighed heavily, and shoved his way through the VILLAGE LURCHER door and went on. 2. Reads The corridor opened up into an infinity of doorways, stretching on, with portraits of the people of Copper's Bend next to them. Someone'd scrawled graffiti on the Pending painting, which Onon privately thought only improved the artistic quality of the piece. 3. Actions He walked down the hallways of the mind palace, trying to work out his next step. He was good at this; he did this often enough, planning things out, and then setting things into motion. He could stick to his convictions and stay on Pending. He could also comment that he probably shouldn't clear Sono just for having powers. He could suspect Rem for generating doubt by claiming they simply didn't know enough. He ground his teeth. He would stay the course, then. Between Sono and Pending, despite all the red flags Sono had raised, he felt the first corridor had pointed out that - Was he literally putting a freaking corridor over enough red flags to open a fleet of warships? ...Yes. Apparently he was.

Onon was pretty sure Sirta was also a liar and a knave. After all, he was pretty sure this was his first time at Copper's Bend, unless Sirta'd been in one of the villages he'd worked on this route, previously. Never knew, after all. Still, a piece of paper fluttered out of Onon's notebook, as though the spirits themselves had heard the falsity of Sirta's words. Onon was interested to see what Sirta would make of it. Onon had gone to some trouble to chart out the past lives the spirits had whispered to him of. Sometimes, he wondered if he was becoming genuinely superstitious, but it seemed as though he'd always been pretty prone to shifting his strategies based on his mood and his situation and there wasn't much of a pattern there. He didn't need to do it, but it was pretty galling someone he'd never associated with before could make a claim to know him well and to have been so utterly wrong about it It was like how you had to change your story when you redid the Copper's Bend loop. Next time, he'd try the travelling Terrisman story. Committing himself to uncover Kash's murderers to keep them believing in his rituals wasn't the toughest call Onon'd to make before but it came pretty close.

"I think," Onon said slowly, "The thing is, I just don't consider it much of a gambit." In Kordel, they'd called it an 'I Know You Know', where you tried to out-psych the mark. Even had a sitcom about it, now he thought about it. "Missing a kill is bad, but survivable, especially in a small village like Copper's Bend with this many quiet or busy villagers. And if they did miss one, knowing you have the one shot basically means they needn't worry again." He exhaled. "Either way, I regret to say this but I think Pending has the right of it here - if there's a second claimant, I'd be more inclined to suspect you. Depending, I suppose, on who they are, but this is something that needs a couple of hours for the news to spread around Copper's Bend. Minimally, I think the most likely explanation is that both of you can't be village together. If there's no second claimant, then I think it best to go after someone else."