Kasimir

Onon pinched the bridge of his nose with his spare hand. "I can say I don't understand why you thought you wanted to do a first day claim in the first place, much less this early, and that's exactly what's giving me pause here, because either you don't fear the night kill, which suggests you are Spiked, or you just didn't think this through, which I can also believe."

"I really, genuinely do not care if anyone is against me or not. If I die, I will give all my thoughts one last time so you all have something to go off. I care about good investigative practice and being asked why I'm not remotely just...blindly accusing you as though the plausibility of your claim and what that should say about your alignment is so staggeringly bad I don't even know what to coherently say here because what the good villager wants should be pretty damned obvious. You have exactly one shot. I presume the moment you use it, whether successful or not, it's gone. Making a successful protection call is already difficult. And even assuming you are accurate, once it's used up, they have free reign for the rest of the night. Having just come off a past life from dealing with a village that had four psychos with utterly sick powers, I assure you it's barely a thing to worry about."

"Like, sure, I'm trying to watch my language here, but the level of folly you're expecting from me is pretty staggering. You want me to just accuse you again instead of trying to re-evaluate based on your claims to metallic powers, about the likelihood you are Spiked and trying to wriggle out of this. There are more than twelve hours left in the day, and I venture to everyone even if there were four hours, this is the still sort of thing you want to think about rather than just going on and reflex accusing. If this is your idea of good village investigation, so be it. I don't care about what you think of me - I'd rather be dead than investigate this badly."

"But I'll add, pardon my bluntness, it's a really stupid question. I'm trying to go onto a Spiked. If you are Spiked, that's the right place to be. If you aren't Spiked, it's a bloody stupid place to be. I'm obviously trying to reassess and decide how correct I am, so I think it's a stupid question to ask, or regard as a 'gotcha.'" Edited to add: "Maybe 4.25 or so? Where does that insanity come from? There's still more than twelve hours in the day, and you want me to lock onto you now? Do you think I'm drunk enough to be that stupid?"

"So how many hours are left in the day, Sono?" Edited to add: "I'll only get to play this card once, but I was right in that dream, and damnit, I'm going to hold you all to it because you all tried to talk me out of it: That was exactly what you said about Sirta in the dream "

"With regard to my current stance on Sono, I'm deciding how hard I want to keep pushing. It boils down to both behaviour and the question Sono asked Revir. The spirits whispered to me this was behaviour more performative than what he did in the dream that befell Copper's Bend - there, he were content to accuse, defend himself, and defend Sirta. It was, I would venture to state, reactive behaviour. But he was also village there. Prima facie, a shift doesn't look good. In addition, he continued to subtly hint he had metallic powers, as though that would be clearing. In my eyes, it is extremely possible for a Spiked to possess powers, as we've noticed from the dream of Sirta. Dangling it for an eventual reveal, in my view, is classic criminal behaviour, and certainly a technique well within the range of his past lives, as the spirits from the graveyard have spoken." Onon thought to himself that Lurcher was one of the simplest claims to falsify, in truth, as it never need be proven. The counterpoint was a Spiked Sono needing to explain Sono's own survival, though Onon privately wondered if enough of Copper's Bend would remain alive in the short span of days needed for it to matter. "More importantly to me, I felt the question was more performative, and that was the crucial link that Rem wasn't making: that this time around, Sono wanted the appearance of contribution without actually asking something that mattered to the discussion. The spirits whisper of a wartorn, rocky world where Sono did the same, and Sono's questions all weren't particularly significant in terms of generating information. This suggests to me that a reasonable indicator of a Spiked Sono is a commitment to busywork rather than actually keeping discussion alive. You all accuse me of keeping my thoughts hidden and asking people for their views. This is partly true, and this is because people weren't offering their thoughts: at points, I've offered mine freely, while being most circumspect about Sono. Anyone who thinks this isn't more direct than practically half this village has been, at this point, is delusional. Part of this is because what people think really does bloody matter and it should be that straightforward. I don't just care about your conclusions, I care about how you get there. Does that path look Spiked, or does it look village? The implications, for instance, helped me strengthen my Dasenk read. Another reason to ask Dasenk in particular, as I also did, is that anyone paying attention realises that in the dream, and according to the spirits, in their past lives, Dasenk has a tendency to quietly follow the noisiest suspicions when Spiked. I wanted to see if, when directly asked here, they would do the same again."

"I'm sorry," Onon shook his head, contemptuously. He couldn't decide if Rem was drunk, opportunistic, or just being foolish here. "But that's a gamble I didn't want to take. The Immortal Teacher tells us that the man who looses an arrow without checking the target loses his mother. Certainly, I don't disagree, and part of the point of blatantly refusing to offer a case on Sono is to see what happened - who would demand a case? Who would try to push back arguing it was a fairly obviously bad vote? The Immortal Teacher reminds us in 10:8 Annalects that he who would catch bandits should proceed through the woods, undefended. I would argue you're one of those who took the easy bait here. I'm trying to decide if that makes you Spiked, as I felt it was a fairly simple place for a Sono partner to come in and try to swing the vote off, but you're also accusing Sono. I felt as well that further pressure on Sono was unproductive: if I wanted Sono dead (and I'm trying to make up my mind on recent developments), I had plenty of time to finalise an accusation on him later on. In fact, your statement is just suspicious to me. 'Overload Sono until he gives up.' Gives up what? If he's not Spiked, he's not giving up because there's nothing to give up! At what point did you propose to think then that this might be a negative result? Certainly Sono was powerfully signalling he would claim some form of metallic power." Onon figured those were probably some sort of tricks, the way he pretended to work rituals. "The problem for me is, I don't actually care if Sono thinks he has powers or not. A man with powers can murder Kash just as much as a man without powers. So further pressure here does nothing for me except kill discussion in a way that's been extremely unproductive due to the harvest festival being celebrated in the neighbouring villages." There was a further level of complication, mostly to do with whether the powers themselves cleared Sono. In Onon's view, it wasn't the sort of thing they could establish without further investigation, or 'consultations' of Kash's spirit. [ @Sart ] "I want him dead," Onon shrugged. "He seems like a liar and a knave. And of course you certainly haven't read my secret notes, because no one in this fine and upstanding village would, so no one would notice I don't actually have a positive read on Pending so I have no reason to be invested in keeping him alive." "There's something to be gained as well from splitting the vote and creating a tie, and the place to do that is always before sunset, because everyone starts to get frantic around sunset. Who is invested in breaking the tie? Where do they go? These are always questions it is worth asking, because what people do is more important than what they tell you they are doing. Would you, for instance, if given the opportunity, simply break the tie by selecting Pending, instead of claiming? Would someone else do it to save you?" [ @Sart] (He really would rather not flag Sirta repeatedly, but it was hard to give a single answer to the man, and easier to point to his responses to others.) While Onon thought that it was odd Dasenk thought a first day poke was grounds for suspicion, he also felt it was worth highlighting that Dasenk was one of his more robust villager reads for the day. It boiled down to two factors: first, Rem's willingness to commit to a positive read of Dasenk on the grounds that Dasenk's behaviour had changed from the dream the villagers of Copper's Bend had had. In Onon's view, he had initially been concerned that there was poor basis for Rem's read - that Rem was in fact, therefore, likely Spiked, and scoring a quick apparent read to appear as though he was doing work. Rem's ability to spell out the basis of his read on Dasenk made Onon more confident of Dasenk being village on two grounds. First, Onon agreed with it - he'd spotted the same shift in behaviour and said as much to Pending. Second, Rem's own willingness to articulate the read, in Onon's eyes, was a positive for Rem as well. The second factor was that even if Rem were Spiked, it didn't feel like the way a Spiked would defend a teammate, as Rem had committed himself to an unnecessary connection to Dasenk early on. The third factor was that Dasenk had expressed suspicion of Rem privately for this, on the grounds that Rem was making the read to try to get Dasenk killed if Rem was killed and then discovered to have been Spiked. Onon didn't think it was a natural way for a Spiked to formulate a suspicion - it was just too convoluted. Even if Onon didn't think it was the correct conclusion for Dasenk to draw here, Onon felt this demonstrated a mindset that was fairly clearly village rather than Spiked.

"Having laid out extensive thoughts on every single person who spoke, it's interesting to me you don't remotely think it feasible I have a case on Sono I'm just refusing to publicise for the moment. If you're interested, ask. If you're not interested in asking, you end up looking more interested in finding a convenient target than trying to solve." Edited to add: "Yes Rem, in fact, you've found me. I'm definitely Spiked and I definitely set up Sono for a "no u" counteraccusation even though my dream self said that was suspicious as all hell and your dream self said was only circumstantially clearing for Violet in light of tonal consistencies. Yes, I absolutely needed to gambit hard to clear Sono in a day so tepid with three people absent and without me, two accusations on Sono and an hour past noon. To make this even more compelling, I've privately told several others of my suspicions of Sono and also noted early on today that your point on Sono actually misses the real significance of the catch. But you know, yes, indeed, this was an elaborate attempt to get two early votes which would certainly never, ever move off Sono and to get Sono read as a villager by you of all people, no one else...and did I miss anything? Oh yes, I'm Alendi's adopted half-brother and Pending and I went to the same university in Kordel."

"He doesn't want you as his lord, he just wants you dead."

Pending

Onon scribbled some of his thoughts down. He was certain the inhabitants of Copper's Bend were all fine, upstanding individuals, who would absolutely not peek into his private investigative notes, steal them, or pass them around... Unless they were Spiked. Sobering thought, that. He set down the notes on the bench for the moment. He needed to complete preparations for the ritual to 'talk' to Kash's spirit. Enough mummery they'd swallow it whole if he could enrich the account with just enough details to seem truthful. And actually find the killers, at that.

"Are you really though? Benevolent, I mean," Onon asked piously. "I'm certain no one in Copper's Bend remotely voted for you. Nor were you sent by the gods. Are you even worthy to govern here? Strange ladies lying in lakes distributing swords is no basis for a system of governance!"

Onon wondered what the state of Dasenk's reads/thoughts/suspicions were Of course, unless Copper's Bend was also psychic, Dasenk was probably not going to answer him here Though he could at least read it off Dasenk's mind!

Sonoluminescence

Onon caught a glimpse of Rem's lips. Difficult to tell, but it seemed like Rem was pondering Dasenk. Hard to make a real judgement. Onon never liked it when people were hanging back—it implied a lack of commitment, a desire to let the mark fill in the details—but in truth, it felt too early to say. In some of his early inquiries, most of Copper's Bend had admitted to dreams of some sort or other, in which the Spiked had been discovered to be Sirta and Dasenk. In the dream, Dasenk had accused Revir early on. The main difference emerged from Dasenk subsequently pushing more allegations against Revir, following up what was ostensibly simple accusation with something that ran deeper; even true suspicion. It was true that Dasenk hadn't done anything of that sort yet, but the day was young and many villagers of Copper's Bend seemed busy enough with some task or other than Onon was interested in how Rem seemed to believe the strength of their own conclusion. The question, however, interested Onon. He wondered if Rem truly understood its significance.

Onon was certain that a mistake had to be pretty bad if it caused Mayor Arwhin to break character temporarily. He was going to watch the damned Mayor too. Things were going on in Copper's Bend: wheels within wheels, irons within fires, upon irons. He was stepping cautiously since he'd agreed to conduct a ritual to summon the spirit of the lamentably deceased Kash into the world to ostensibly ask about who'd killed him. Thing was, with the mists this thick, he figured there was a decent chance that even if Onon had been really a ritual master (he wasn't), Kash would've just admitted he'd never seen his killer. Dasenk was hanging back. Early yet, but Onon made a note of it. The architect was asking the thief a question. He made a note of that as well, and filed that away. Shifts in demeanour were usually revelatory. The trick was figuring out what they meant, and then leveraging them to formulate something the spirits'd said that would hit the mark. He went to call on the village gravedigger, figuring he should get a look at Kash's body to try to see what hints he could glean

"Pea soup from the last exorcism I conducted," Onon said. "Some believe that it tastes delicious when you float a meat pie in it. In combination with the sacred slips and peachwood pointer, enough maurauding spirits of the Sixth Trigram are disgusted by it and are compelled to leave the victim alone." Edited to add: Onon watched as Rem pulled a nine-sided die out of his pocket and rolled for the one he would accuse. Sometimes, criminals in Kordel made a great show of their seeming indifference to death. The point was to act as if you weren't afraid, as if nothing could ever hurt you. There were men, of course, who feared nothing, who willingly left all to the vicissitudes of chance. Life was best lived on the edge of a dice roll, went a saying in the docks quarter of Kordel. Was it a show? Or was it genuine? All the same, Onon would watch this. No reasonable man would've gainsaid Rem had he used an eight-sided die instead. Edited to add 2: Onon scrawled down the accusations he'd heard so far. It helped him keep his memory sharp. He figured the mayor might thank him for it too - Arwhin had seemed on edge tracking accusations lately.

One of us! One of us!

Onon eyed the claimed lord. Mayor Arwhin was a cold fish—little enough given away, but Onon could see a subtle twitch that might've indicated distaste for the young Khlenni lord swanning down to Copper's Bend, and claiming charge of everything in Alendi's name. And then of course, Arwhin cracked, revealing more. Onon could see a little, from the direction Arwhin was facing, enough to read the man's lips. "Well, I have here the way that we will actually proceed, seeing as I'm the mayor. Copper's Bend doesn't put stock in lords, we've managed fine on our own." Oh, wonderful. A squabble between the young lord and the mayor. Onon sensed opportunity. "Your great grandmother also said you were a filthy liar, Lord Pending," Onon called out. Forst's beard, but he hated the hat the ritual masters used. Too floppy for a respectable hat. A good hat, Onon believed, was supposed to be firm and brimmed, like the bowlers they used in Khlennium. With none of the stupid talismans he'd had to tie to it. "As the Immortal Teacher informs us, the words of a deceitful man cannot be considered a reliable guide to what happens under Heaven!" He cast his gaze around the square. A thief filched a ring from the lord, which wasn't Onon's problem. "I will consult the spirit of Kash," Onon declared, loudly. He allowed his sleeves to billow, reminding them he was a trained ritual master. In theory. "And see what he has to share with us." There. An absence, at the very least. "But where is Rem? Do dice hold more of interest than the death that stalks this village in the mist?"

She also says u forgot to feed the cat again smh even in these days of hunger what sort of monster STARVES his great gran's cat utterly smhhhh

Sir ur deceased great granny called and claims she never raised such a filthy liar

sir r u trying to make me violate every last law of respectability and public decency Copper's Bend has and streak the entire village >:(

Sir how dare I am three respectable psychics in a trenchcoat

Onon came from the south. That was what he told everyone, for the villages along this part of the Kordesh river were gullible, and saw the south as the land of mystery and exotic things. You didn't want to claim to be from the fiery Western Empire, no; the fiery Western Empire everyone associated with the gleaming steel of their legionnaires, and the years of conflict before the diplomatic peace brokered at such a price by Alendi. (He was born Alaren in a small, unimportant village to the south, but he'd picked the words Onon and Khentii off a stencilled shipping crate from the southern isles at the Kordel docks, and never looked back. This abstracted away some unimportant twists and turns, and a few years in prison, from which he'd learned some fairly invaluable skills at breaking out of cells and slipping out of handcuffs, and general skulduggery, as well as how to survive on rats. Onon Khentii sounded sufficiently exotic that villagers along the crescent of the Kordesh believed. And belief was the trick here.) A sign chiselled into stone marked the boundaries of Copper's Bend. Onon drew in a deep breath and adjusted the floppy hat that marked him as a travelling ritual master, a disciple of the Immortal Teacher. Stupid piece of mummery, that, but the villagers loved it in these parts. Drank it up. In Kordel, they were more sophisticated. You had to pretend to be a philosopher-alchemist from Khlennium, or at least a Terris Worldbringer, with their intricate metal bracers. Some of them loved Jahidi here, but they already had priests of Jahidi in the dozens. You couldn't plough a furrow without uncovering at least five in the dirt with the sowing. No, the Immortal Teacher was the next best bet. Everyone knew what it meant: curses destroyed, haunting spirits banished, fortunes told, luck invocations, the dead laid to rest or summoned so they could judge your life choices. Thin pickings, in these days with the Deepness menacing everyone, but Onon figured you had to take a little risk in life, and anyway the Deepness didn't scare him. He clicked to the ponies and steered the wagon onwards, into the village proper.

Careful, once people know you will do that, it's less likely to be something they'll factor in Joining Archer on the new sign-up train as there's only so much I can meme on South Australia's pie floaters and Dibbler Re-signing up as Onon Khentii, conman and ostensible psychic who speaks with the dead.