Young Bard

This is true. Also, people are speculating about Snip getting saved by a Doctor - that was just a screw-up on my part. Nothing of particular note (at least, that would be included in the write-up) happened to Snip last night. The writeup was meant for Shqueeves, who is very much dead. This is now being corrected. EDIT: For the inevitable follow-up question - if a Doctor did save someone, there'd be a writeup, and a mention below the writeup - E.g. Joe was attacked, but survived!

Cycle Three - Demonstrations As Shqueeves sat around the campfire, listening to people tell stories of home, and what they would do if they defeated the Deepness, someone, almost imperceptible, upended a tiny vial into Snip’s soup. “... and so, me and Jem, sopping wet from the river and looking like drowned rats, wearing nothing but a couple towels, had to walk through the entire town while the whole village watched on.” He chuckled. “Serves us right for what we tried to pull, I suppose.” There was some chuckling as the speaker finished off his speech. Shqueeves looked down at his soup, and slowly lifted up a spoonful. Something seems… different, about this. Shqueeves paused. I like it. At last, something I can actually eat. I’ll have to thank the chef afterwards. He finished up the soup, and slowly began to get up to thank the chef, before nearly collapsing. His vision seemed… strange, like his eyes weren’t focusing. It reminded Shqueeves of that time he’d snuck into the brewery and sampled some of the drinks there. Maybe that’s why the… why the soup tasted so nice. Snip thought idly. With a bit of help, he stood up. “Time to get back to your tent, I think.” someone said, gently trying to shoulder him and slowly drag him away from the campfire. “Wait…” Shqueeves said. “Wait.” Shqueeves paused. “My… my compliments to the chef.” And with that, Shqueeves keeled over into the dirt, and didn’t stand up again. There was a silence in the campfire. The chef glanced up “It was the same recipe as usual - I don’t know what that was about.” "Perhaps Dietrich did it!" someone shouted. "Yeah, Dietrich did it!" someone else picked up. The mob swarmed towards Dietrich. Meanwhile, in the shadows, a figure began to slip away. "Or what about Declan?" There was a pause. "What about Declan?" "He's been acting... strangely, don't you think?" "Yeah, but... we're all strange! Isn't he just figuring out when the storms are meant to arrive, or summat like that?" "That's not what I mean. When a few of us suggested bringing Fourth Letir out as a traitor, he seems a little too eager to join in, and split us right down the middle." "You know..." "Now that I think about it..." And, for the second night in a row, a party set out to find and eliminate the traitors. Declan stared at the paper. Something was very wrong. Something had been changed. The writing was unmarred, and the lettering in his perfect script. But it wasn’t his. At least, not how he remembered it, and they didn’t call him Declan, the Detailed for nothing. “Kwaan is right,” he whispered. “Alendi must be stopped.” There was one problem, though. Declan was no good at lying. His whole world was based in fact. Numbers didn’t lie - except when changed by forces he didn’t understand - and Declan like numbers best. The others - those who believed in Alendi - suspected him. He’d tried to act naturally, to blend in. But nothing he did ever worked. They didn’t believe his words, and any calculations he tried to show would just be changed by the power supporting Alendi. He heard a commotion outside his tent. They were finally coming for him. They’d finally had enough of his poorly crafted lies. Declan, the Detailed was now to be Declan, the Dead instead. We seem to have found two of the traitors in our midst now - with luck, that may mean the end of our troubles, but I fear that is not so. Even if all the traitors have been found (and it is my strong belief that there is at least one more), then we must still worry about the Deepness, who continues to pick at us, to gnaw at our numbers, to make us desperate. I think, perhaps, its goal is to make us take up the power at the Well, not release it. But I can not allow that. If I, Alendi, make it to the Well alive, then I will not give in to this being. And if I fall, then any of those who remain loyal to me would do the same. Today's events have brought much fear to the camp. But also, perhaps, it has brought something else, too. Where before we had hope in the success of our quest, now we have belief. Please go and upvote something of Elandera's for his Death write-up in the second last section. Shqueeves has died! They were a roleless Alendi Loyalist. Elandera was lynched! They were a roleless Rashek's Lackey. The next cycle will end at 6:00PM 13th February AEDT. Player List: Roadwalker - Honorable Dietrich DrakeItiah - De Itiah au PowerfulArk - SoahcShqueeves - {Delinquent without a name} - Roleless Alendi LoyalistFifth Scholar - DuilinDroughtbringer - Droughtbringer - Desperate Packman Alendi LoyalistXinoehp - Dedne - Roleless Alendi LoyalistElandara - Declan, the Detailed - Roleless Rashek's LackeyDevotary - DaediCadCom - Fourth Letir - Bronze Feruchemist/Desperate Packman Rashek's LackeyShaneRockes - Dave, the Terrible LiarSnipexe - Dr. SnipWalin - Nawl

There's 6 hours left in the day! Get your actions and votes in! Unfortunately, I might be an hour or two late for figuring out rollover today, but the Cycle will still end at the regular time.

No. Kills (excepting the lynch) come last.

Slowly, members of the travelling crew began to assemble in the centre of camp. When a sufficient number of them had arrived, one of them lifted themselves up on top of an overturned cauldron, using it as a pedestal. "There are traitors in our midst. We need to stop them." There was a smattering of applause. "To this end, we need to turn out the first of these traitors - Dietrich Drake!" The crowd looked at each other, slightly confused. "Who? Why?" "What's the point?" "How do we know you aren't the traitor?" "Are any of you interested in participating in an Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting?" The crowd began to debate amongst themselves. "You must be the traitor!" "No, you are!" "What about him? He has a particularly traitorous face, wouldn't you say?" "Meetings are at six o'clock, for anyone interested. Feel free to come along." The man on the cauldron looked around. "Everyone! We must present a united front in order to stop these traitors! If we can not do that, we may as well return to our tents." There was a brief pause. Then people returned to their tents. However, a few people had a different plan. This person handing out "Alcoholics Anonymous" leaflets seemed strangely unconcerned about the traitors. Perhaps they would show up to this meeting after all... D didn't decide his domestically endowed designation. D did despise his domestically endowed designation. D didn't desire Domestic dependency. D Desired deliverance from domestic duties, discharge from dull day to day grinds, and to be emancipated from dad and other juridical guardians.During the second of Doxil, D Did the duty, signed the declaration, and ended dependency on his juridical guardians. D now lived Independently. D was dismissed from residency in the domicile of his departed juridical guradians. D didn't have a trade, and didn't derive dollars doing daily doings. D found different directions to derive dollars. D undertook peddling prohibited drugs. Additionally, D started doing drugs. D did his darndest and decieved many detectives and disregarded dicated decrees.D detected that D was in a dilemma. D couldn't deceive detectives directly nowadays. D had entangled himself redundantly. D developed a different deception. D feigned his death and disguised his identity. D changed his domestic designation to an endogeneous designation.D was now named Fourth Letir, an individually established designation, and a different identity. D had a decision to proceed anew. D decided to do good. During the first days, D did good. D found decent directions to derive daily dollars. Disastrously, D's addictions dismally rebounded. D became a drunk, and a drug addict. D started using dark terris magicks in devilish ways. Destroying Alendi's friends and developing devious designs of destruction.D died unattended and abandoned, a desolate and deserted drunk druggie in his decrepit abode. Dedne sat on a rock, looking out over the cliff face, brooding. "What is the purpose of life? What is the purpose of our mortal existence? If there is none, what is the purpose in fulfilling our journey? What is the purpose of anything in life?" Unfortunately for Dedne, the person standing behind him had no such philosophical troubles. With a quick push over the cliff face, Dedne's mortal existence was snuffed out. Droughtbringer decided to go for a walk. Behind, he heard someone shout his name, which he ignored - he had other things to be doing. He walked for several hours, mulling over his thoughts, and so was completely caught by surprise when one of his feet stepped down and splashed into water, immediately seeping into his boot. Cursing, and coming back into the present, Drought looked out, noticing for the first time the large pool of water in front of them. Well, Drought thought it was water - it was an inky black, about 20 feet across, and Drought couldn't see the bottom. Moving his foot back, he sighed. He took his boot off, and set it atop a nearby rock to dry. Then, he moved to the edge of the pool to inspect it further, until his nose was a few inches from the water. Which is when he felt a force behind him grab and force his head under the water. As the party trekked out the next day, the only sign they saw of Droughtbringer was one solitary boot, resting atop a rock. We lost two of our members today - if we continue at this rate, we will all surely perish before we make it to the pool. In many ways, we have been brought up against an impossibly Herculean task. Stop an impossibly powerful enemy, with enemies within and without. There is a part of me that fears the scholars at Khlennium may have gotten it wrong - what would be the consequences if I fail? I fear for the future of this motley crew. I fear for the future of all my people. And I fear for the people of all of Scadrial. IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are a Feruchemist storing a charge this cycle, please send that in as an action, rather than just leaving it implied. I may not have made that clear before, so I will give people the benefit of the doubt this cycle. Also, a massive thanks to CadCom for his death write-up, which made me burst out laughing when he sent it to me - please go find something he posted and upvote that. Xinoehp has died. They were a roleless Alendi Loyalist. Droughtbringer has died. They were a Desperate Packman Alendi Loyalist. CadCom was lynched! They were a Bronze Feruchemist and a Desperate Packman, and a member of Kwaan's Lackeys. Vote Count: CadCom(2): Elandera, Roadwalker Elandera(2): Devotary, Fifth Scholar Roadwalker(1): CadCom Player List: Roadwalker - Honorable Dietrich DrakeItiah - De Itiah au PowerfulArk - SoahcShqueeves - {Delinquent without a name}Fifth Scholar - DuilinDroughtbringer - Droughtbringer - Desperate Packman Alendi LoyalistXinoehp - Dedne - Roleless Alendi LoyalistElandara - Declan, the DetailedDevotary - DaediCadCom - Fourth Letir - Bronze Feruchemist/Desperate Packman Kwaan's LackeyShaneRockes - Dave, the Terrible LiarSnipexe - Dr. SnipWalin - Nawl

Cycle 1 is over! Stand by for Cycle 2.

I had been considering it. It really came down to whether we had the possibility of winning. And... we nearly did. It's also worth noting that if I had suicided, I might have extended the game by another turn, but I'd also have probably put my own factions goals out of reach (we really needed as many players as possible to pull it off), so I was viewing it as an action of last resort.

Eh, you're exaggerating - the Venture Doc was split in three for exactly that reason. A lot of that doc was general chit-chat, as well, because this was the pre-Discord days. I honestly doubt we'll get a doc that long again (though I'll be happy to be proven wrong.) And, oh well - we came so close at the end there. We got two planets - if we'd organised a little better, and had Toucan move to any planet except Roshar or Silverlight, we'd have gotten our third (which we actually asked Toucan, via Iguana (massive thankyou to @Furamirionind, who was enormously helpful in that final cycle) to move to Silverlight, but changed the plan that Silverlight would be the third planet instead of Sel, and it didn't get passed down the pipeline fast enough.) Way to rub it in, Seonid. (That was a fantastic writeup. The meeting between Khriss and Sheon was really moving.) Thanks so much to Seonid and Joe - I had a ton of fun with the game, even if I screwed up with the rules even more than I normally do. I also apologise to Seonid for the probably close to two-dozen or so clarifications I asked for across the final cycle in my doc and PM, trying to find a way we could win.

You can, yes. PAFO. Quick reminder - I should be included in all PM's between players. That's a mistake on my part - the Eliminators do have a kill ability, but I should have put that in explicitly.

Cycle One - Defiant Someone, or something, has been attempting to assassinate me. Initially, I put it down to paranoia, and to our hazardous environment - a rockfall that missed me by inches, or a herd of wild goats stampeding and nearly trampling the entire caravan. But, as time went on, these attacks got more overt. My next thought was the Deepness - but this doesn't seem to be his style. These attacks seem... sloppier, somehow, then the actions I've come to associate with the Deepness. They're much more human, more fallible. Also, I get the strange sense that the Deepness doesn't actually want me dead. Just... desperate, somehow. To what end, I do not understand. No, these attacks seem to be by human hand. Just last night, I left camp to try and look out over the view (what I could see of it, at least), and an arrow whizzed past me. As I turned around, I was sure I saw a figure rushing back around the corner. I gave chase, but they managed to disappear. Someone in this camp is trying to murder me. They must be found, and stopped. Nothing can interfere in the way of this mission. Welcome to MR33! Cycle One has started, and will continue until February 9th, 6pm AEST (about 46 hours from now). All PM's have been sent out! If I've passed over yours somehow, let me know and I'll fix it up as quick as possible. Player List: Roadwalker - Honorable Dietrich DrakeItiah - De Itiah au PowerfulArk - SoahcShqueeves - {Delinquent without a name}Fifth Scholar - DuilinDroughtbringer - DroughtbringerXinoehp - DedneElandara - Declan, the DetailedDevotary - DaediCadCom - Fourth LetirShaneRockes - Dave, the Terrible LiarSnipexe - Dr. SnipWalin - Nawl

I... hmmm... OK. I'll probably make you a pinch-hitter, which you can take in the event that you're not running the LG. That's the easiest thing I can think of to do, and inactivity is something I'm worried about with this game. EDIT: Signups are now over! PM's are being sent out.

With you and @Steeldancer, we have 13 players, which is pretty close to my original balance of 15... I think even 13 players rather than 11/12 makes a difference (when you have so few players the game doesn't go on long enough to be much of anything except luck, which is a little less fun - with larger games there's an element of luck, but also of skill). So I think I would like both you and Steel to sign up for that reason. 2 hours left before signups close if anyone wants to sign up!

...You know, I really think Brandon missed a great opportunity here.

No-one knows why the Deepness does what it does. It spreads over the land, casting its blight, seemingly for no other purpose than to disrupt humankind. Many say that it has no consciousness - that it is simply a force of nature. I do not believe this. Particularly as we have made our journey, it is though I can feel it. Watching me. And then there were incidents like last night. Much of the Terrisman’s jewellery was seemingly spirited away in the night. The guards standing by the camp noticed nothing unusual. Furthermore, the Terrisman seemed greatly perturbed by this - they refused to carry on until a full search had taken place, which turned up nothing whatsoever. I began to get a sense that this jewellery may have some relevance to their unusual abilities - indeed, the Terrisman seemed much more conservative in using their abilities after the event. The only conclusion I can come to is that the Deepness was involved. I do not know why - indeed, if his goal was to stop the expedition, I do not understand why he would not throw out the remainder of the Terrismans jewellery, cutting short our mission entirely. I fear, in this, we may be dealing with forces far beyond our understanding. As it is, we are able to limp forward, albeit at a slightly reduced pace. I can only hope that this is the last of the trials we face along the road. Welcome to MR33 - Danger in the Terris Peaks! Signups are open for the next week, until 6pm, Thursday, 7th February, AEST. One Cycle will occur every 48 hours. Lynch rules apply as normal - ties will result in no lynch. PM’s are open this game. There are two groups - the Alendi Loyalists and Rashek’s Lackeys. The Loyalists aim to kill all of Rashek’s Lackeys, and Rashek’s Lackeys aim to outnumber the Loyalists. There is also an independent, The Deepness, who has the goal of whittling down the Loyalists and the Lackeys down to at most three players combined, making them desperate enough to use the power of the well (they have the ability to kill once each cycle to achieve this). If they achieve this, and are alive at the end of the game, then they win and both other sides lose. Roles: Feruchemists - Feruchemists may store charges and use those charges at a later time. You may only store one charge each cycle, however, you may expend as many charges from a single metal as you have stored on a given turn: Pewter/Strength: When storing charges, your vote will not be counted. When tapping charges, whoever you vote for will have an extra vote placed on them per 2 charges spent. (The writeup will not display the missing/extra votes in the vote tally.) Tin/Senses: When you store a charge of Zinc, you may not talk in PM’s for the next cycle. When tapping a charge of Zinc, you may target a player and spy on the contents of a random PM they are in. Bronze/Wakefulness: When you store a charge of Bronze, you may not perform an action for the next cycle. When you tap a charge of Bronze, you may perform an extra action that cycle (tapping Bronze does not count as an action). Decoy - You have a duty to protect those who need it. Target a player - Any actions targeted at that player will target you instead. Doctor - People are so fond of sticking knives into each other - more work for you cleaning it all up afterwards. Target someone - if they were going to die that night, they won’t anymore. Defender - Sometimes, offence is the best defence. You swore that Alendi would reach the peaks, and you are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that. You get to kill a player each cycle. Debonair - You ooze charisma, and that means people listen to you. Target a player, and their vote is shifted to another player of your choice. Desperate Packman (to be honest, I just want all the roles to start with D at this point) - After the debacle with the metalminds, you intend to keep an eye out around camp and make sure nothing like this happens again. Target a player, and you can see whoever targeted them that night. (Please note: Just because a role is listed here does not guarantee that it will be present in the game when it starts.) Signups: Roadwalker - Honorable Dietrich Drake Itiah - De Itiah au Powerful Ark - {Defiantly unnamed} Shqueeves - {Delinquent without a name} Fifth Scholar - Duilin Droughtbringer - Droughtbringer Xinoehp - Dedne Elandara - Declan, the Detailed Devotary - Daedi CadCom - Fourth Letir ShaneRockes - Dave, the Terrible Liar Snipexe - Dr. Snip Walin - Nawl Steeldancer - {Despondent that they don't have a name} Clarifications: {None just yet} Quick Links:

Well, I think I've participated in every Shard Game Seonid has run (missed the early ones run by Joe, though). It was a small post that Seonid made in the Random Stuff thread to try and get more players to join his LG21 Shard game that got me into this whole crazy thing. Since this game is a swan song of sorts, I may as well return to my very first character that I ever played - Vathir, the Nalthian Rambleman. (I didn't know at the time how deeply accurate that could turn out to be for me - I've been rambling on for a long time now...) Vathir, now white haired, slowly stood up. Nalthis, his old home, had been destroyed - it pained him slightly to realise he couldn't even remember what conflict that had been anymore. So many dead... his memory was filled with people who had vanished into the mists of time. And yet, Vathir stayed on. Always returning, always watching as slowly all those he knew passed into the Beyond. And now, there was a storm on the horizon. Another day, another battle. Vathir could just... not go, but that had never been his way. Slowly, he clambered up, and began to walk towards the clouds in the distance - wondering how many of his friends he'd see die this time. Vathir had held it all. Granted the Shard of Devotion by the Almighty, and lost it again. He'd died, and been reborn, and had died a second time. He'd changed sides more time than he could count. He'd watched the agents of Hoid rise and fall, and Shards change hands over the course of centuries. He'd had friends and enemies. He'd seen the creep of suspicion turn friends against friends, the joy of victory, and the price of defeat. And now, it was time to see it all end.

Another dead body. Relax, Jancey. Get through it. You can't keep freezing up like this... You can do better than that. You have to do better than that... There are Darkfriends among you, and your inaction could be the change between victory and defeat. There was shouting in the streets, as people began ganging up on each other. One grizzled older figure (Furamirionind) tried to encourage a discussion, and was immediately shouted down with cries of "Darkfriend!". "Who's the Darkfriend? Which side are you on?" someone yelled at him. Jancey paused. He wanted to think, wanted to consider, but there was no time... "If I had to choose, I think Fifi (BrightnessRadiant) is a good choice. Their tone seems too offputting - I sense the way they say things aren't genuine, but a way of trying to allay our suspicions." "If I had to choose anyone else as a potential candidate... I would need to think very carefully about our Eastern friend, Mr Mundy (Hemalurgic Headshot) - he hastened to call our veteran friend Keisa (Furamirionind), who I trust, a Darkfriend, and the way he did so felt strangely... opportunistic. I'll have to think about this further, though." (Gah. I've completely dropped Jancey's speech patterns. I really want to scrap it and start over, but I'm about to go out, and I don't want to go *three* days in a row without voting, so... never mind. Hopefully this might be easier to understand at the very least, which is something I was worried about with Jancey's distracted voice.)

(This post was started in Day 2, but I wasn't able to finish it in time, mostly due to being tired and distracted, and mistiming when I'd be able to get back on to finish it. My apologies. The fact that I'm writing in RP, which I'm less comfortable and familiar with, is also a factor. There was also one half-finished section (which I've deleted because it's no longer the day turn), where I was going to place a vote on Fifi/Brightness Radiant. Also Steel, I couldn't find a way I liked to slip this into the RP, but... yeah, I'm posting entirely in RP this game, which I announced in my signup.) Night 1 Long after the sun had set on Jancey's first day in Fal Dara, Jancey was escorted into some kind of utilitarian barracks. Restlessly, he turned around on the rough mattress, trying to find some way to sleep comfortably. After several fruitless minutes of this, Jancey sat up, looking around at the other companions in the barracks, all snoring soundly. May as well go for a walk - see if I spot anything unusual. You'd probably have the best chance of catching a Darkfriend at nighttime, anyway. Softly, Jancey shuffled into a pair of fluffy slippers - an item that he was now very glad he'd brought with him from Cairhien, and softly moved towards the door. With a gentle push, he tried to open it to the cold air - and failed at the door moved half an inch, and then stopped. Jancey frowned, pushing harder. The door moved outward another half inch - barely enough to peek through the crack in the door to the other side. There was some kind of bar against the door, fixed against a bracket in the wall. Whoever it was, they'd wanted to stop people - wanted to stop Jancey - from moving around that night. Jancey released the door, and it slid back closed. Frustrated and tired, he lay back down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Day 2 "How do people sleep on those beds?" Jancey asked, to anyone who'd listen. "You may as well try sleeping on rocks - I think they'd be about as comfortable. Actually, maybe quite a few animals do sleep on rocks - that seems rather silly of them - why would they do a thing like that? I don't think -" And that's when Jancey saw the body. A boy with golden eyes, corpse guarded by wolves that seemed to snarl at those who came too close. Jancey recoiled, toppling backwards into the grass, in a way that probably would have seemed comical under different circumstances. Slowly, his skull began to throb, as it felt like someone had a vice around his skull and was beginning to tighten the screws. His vision began to waver, the world in front of him falling out of focus, and seeming to slowly lose all its colour. Cairhien - Eight years ago Jancey curled his fingers around the corner of the manor, and slowly, carefully, so as not to slip, shuffled his feet around the thin precipice. 3 stories tall and overlooking a fair portion of Cairhien, the view from where he stood was incredible. The manor itself was Jancey's parents, and was rich and ostentatious with several intricately detailed statues at the front. Jancey had heard whispers between members of the staff that his family didn't have the wealth to support this kind of place, but for the most part, Jancey ignored all that. That sounded like work, and made people all grumpy and annoyed. Jancey figured if he didn't think about things like that at all, he'd be able to be a happy person instead, and avoid becoming grumpy like everyone else. Faintly, Jancey heard his tutor calling his name from inside the manor, but he ignored it, slowly lowering himself down to sit on the ledge, legs dangling over the side. He knew he wouldn't be found out here - it was his own personal spot, where he got to stare out at the city and wonder about what all the tiny little people down there were doing. He stayed out for over an hour, just watching the sun drift lazily over the sky as people wandered through the town. Eventually, though, as the sun began to set, Jancey regretfully stood back up, heading back around to head into the empty bedroom window. That was no longer empty. "Jancey?" Jancey almost lost his grip, nearly plummeting down to the ground. At this height, the fall wouldn't have killed him, but it would have left him with bruises and scratches, and possibly a couple broken bones, that he'd rather not have to explain away. He turned around and saw his elder brother, satchel half unpacked on the bed. "Temril? I didn't know you were coming back." "It's nice to see you too, brother." His brother made a face at him, trying to lighten the mood a little bit. "You sure you don't want to come in from the window?" Jancey hurriedly stepped into the window, shutting it behind him. "Do you mind... uhhh... not telling Dad about that?" Toram chuckled slightly. "Your secret's safe with me." Jancey nodded back in appreciation. Toram paused. "You, uhhh, ... I hate to be the soulsucker, but know that you can't keep that kind of thing up forever." There was an ugly pause, that stretched on for several seconds. "So, how long are you staying for?" Jancey asked, his voice having a slight edge to it. Toram paused, then sighed. "A little under a week. Then I'm off to Tear to learn from the swordmasters there." Jancey nodded, taking that in. "Well, that sounds like fun. Good luck with that." There was another pause. "Well, I guess I'll see you around." "Guess so. Next time, you can come in through the door, OK?" "Fine... Spoilsport." Night 2 Jancey woke up, head dizzy, seemingly forgotten in the grass. He slowly raised his head, noticing that the last rays of the sun were beginning to darken. Well, on the upside, I might not be locked in tonight... Jancey slowly began to clamber up. Someone had killed that man with golden eyes, and maybe Jancey could, in some small part, find out who.

...I'm sorry, I guess I just... we were talking and then people were accusing each other of being a Darkfriend, and then people were accusing me of being a Darkfriend, and I'm not Forsaken, and I just didn't know how to react, and it all just got too much... Am I a Darkfriend? No... No, I don't think so? How do you tell? Am I acting strange? I don't think I'm acting strange... I'm too quiet? That was just... that's not normal, for me. If you told my parents I was being too quiet they'd probably ask how that happened and if you could do that more often... Normally I'm not like that - if you want me to talk more, I hope I can do that. I'm told I can sometimes talk a lot. Do I see anyone else acting like a Darkfriend? Ummm... I'm not sure... If I had to say, though, I guess I thought Fifi ( BrightnessRadiant ) was a little strange. I mean, yeah, she's a crazy old lady, but she's a little crazy even for crazy people, I think? I don't know. She seemed confused - that's not weird, I'm always confused, and there's a lot of weird people about (Why are you looking at me like that?) - but it felt like she was using her confusion as a cover so she'd be more active and say more without being at risk of implicating her Darkfriends. She also gives out advice that felt a little bit forced, as though she was trying to say something that would appear helpful, and the way she said it felt... strange. Huh. Darkfriends? That sounds kind of cool, actually - friends you have in the Dark, like a sleepover? That sounds like so much fun - you could play games, at the dead of night, because they're Darkfriends... What? I was just saying! ...Fine, I'll finish talking about Fifi... Her reaction to Exepins (Snipexe) being accused as a Darkfriend also sounded weird - it's sounded like she was already confident that Exepins wasn't a Darkfriend, and saying so ahead of time, while her Darkfriends (you don't think the idea of Darkfriends is at least a little cool?) weren't in any danger, she could gain some easy trust for being right. Then, later, she votes for Exepins, saying that she wants me to die less (thankyou, strange lady that I think is a Darkfriend!) - again, her actions don't seem too strange, but the way she says it seems a little bit strange to me, and feels like it's done to seem less suspicious to me and all of us. It's the kind of thing my father would find suspicious in that game of his.

Ummm... OK, hi everyone. It's nice to see you all. I'm Jancey. You all... uhhh... don't think that we're going to do any... well... actual fighting, do you?

(For those who don't know the setting, Fal Dara is in the Borderlands, and is a tough, heavy militarised zone, since it often has to fend off invasions from the Great Blight further north. Don't know if that will help people with character stuff at all. As for my character... Well...) Erm. OK. Hi. I'm Jandren Elnor Riatin, but you can call me Jancey. I'm kind of new here. My father signed me up here - he said a bit of 'military experience' would do me good. He says it's important for some kind of game - he tried to explain it to me, but I never really got it. I'm not... you know, actually expected to use a sword, am I? I... uhhh... kind of don't really like swords all that much. Or bows. Or anything that draws blood, really. You see, I, ummm... I kind of really don't like blood. Or fighting. But especially blood. It's just because when I see blood, I kind of get this strange feeling in my head, like a swarm of bees, and all of the colours in front of my eyes begin to fade out, and I hear this ringing and then I'm on the ground and people are around me asking what happened and I have this sick feeling in my stomach. I'm sure I can still be helpful, though! I can play a little music, though, if you like that. I have a lute. I mean, yeah, three of its strings are broken, and I can only really play two songs, but that's still something, right? OK. I've been saying since I started playing SE more (so, about 2 and a half years ago now) that I should RP more. I groan and mumble about it to myself, and then I ignore that advice the next game, and go back to doing things the regular way. As such, this game, I'm going to do something different. Every single post I make this game, I will be talking in character, for the entirety of the post, until the game is over. That's going to be doubly interesting with Jancey's style of tone, I think - still, that ought to make it all the more entertaining, if nothing else.

Great thanks to Wyrm for running this game. It was great to practice my chops in being an Eliminator as well - it's been *ages* since I was once last. Also, congratulations to my teammates, especially Furamin... Furamirior... OK, I can't spell their name, but Fura did a fantastic job at being an Eliminator, especially for their first time. I'm probably going to be paranoid about them for the next games I play with them. Thanks to the village for being a stubborn opponent, particularly Orlok and Araris who really carried the village for the latter half of the game - to turn around what I felt was a sure victory. I think that's probably the biggest table turn back to the village I've seen, period, which is pretty incredible. I think I should have done a lot more to try and protect Gancho that cycle he died - that really seems to be the cycle where things turned against us. Also, if I were in the same situation again, I might try and kill Orlok a little earlier next time. EDIT: I forgot to post this, and Wyrm in the meantime has posted their wrap-up. That's... really, *really* fascinating. I picked up on some of that, but the whole aspect of making the story of the game a piece of a larger narrative picture is a fascinating one I hadn't really considered or seen before, and didn't pick up on during the game. (it seems obvious in retrospect, I suppose - I thought at the time you were just running out of interesting ways to write up the latest deaths, so chose to get a little creative for the sake of it. ) Now that I'm aware of that, I'd love to see that in future games, as it's a really intriguing idea. I (as usual) didn't get as much RP done as I wanted to, but that in particular really makes me wish I'd done more. As for the morality of Kelsier, and how that morality is interpreted after his death, I found that a fascinating read. I suppose the one part I disagree with is referring to Kelsier as Chaotic Evil - but that's probably because I've always found the D&D Alignment charts are kind of a bit too reductive for any meaningful conversation. Even so, I think while Kelsier was primarily driven by a very personally selfish goal of revenge, at least at the start of Mistborn, I wouldn't go so far as to describe him as a bad person, though maybe he is a person who did bad things (or, possibly, good things with bad reasons). The distinction, I think, lies in the ways that Kelsier channelled his anger. If his goal had simply been revenge, and nothing else, he probably could have achieved as much by simply wreaking havoc, and trying to stir up fear and paranoia in the minds of the various nobles due to his attacks. But his purpose seems to be more specific than that - he aimed to make sure that the person who sent him to the Pits and murdered his wife would never, ever, be able to do the same to anyone else ever again. So, to that end, I think he does fit more into the mold of the Marxist man-of-the-people that post-Catacendre society probably takes him to be, at least in some small amount, even though a lot of the details have been lost to time. The talk on religion was also fascinating, but... I don't have that much to add to what you've said, unfortunately. But thanks for that, Wyrm - that was one of the more interesting things I've read in a while.

Ah, right, thanks. Fura, Araris. Hmmm... In order from least to most likely, through process of elimination: @A Joe in the Bush / @Aonar Faileas : They've both been inactive for most of the game, which I don't think they would be as Eliminators. A lynch on either of these two would also be pointless in terms of gaining information, since nobody would have any opinions on them. Araris: I read you fairly strongly as a villager, with the lynches you've made. Rath: I'm still paranoid about Rath, but I'm also aware that my paranoia is rarely helpful in finding Eliminators. Also, if Xino's an Eliminator, that would probably clear Rath in my mind, since Rath's been pushing for Xino hard. @Shqueeves : They've been posting infrequently, and are semi-active - enough to submit orders. They've asked a couple times if there's a Tineye still alive, which seems to indicate activity in PM's in the night turn. Shqueeves, do you have any thoughts on the game? Who are you suspicious of? Fura: The way they get strangely defensive about their actions - it could be a new player habit, but it seems suspicious to me. @xinoehp512 : The posts they've made seem highly non-committal (e.g. their last post before today that I could find - "I am suspicious of Rath and Ark, and approve the lynch of one of them." - considering they were the two lynch candidates that cycle, this post fails to say anything meaningful.) I'd say this was due to inactivity, but they are highly active on the Shard, and in the irregular posts they do make seem caught up on what's going on. As such, it seems to me like a way of appearing more active without actually posting. In their post today, they suggest there's only one Eliminator left (which we just don't know - I could see two), and it seems like they're trying to downplay the threat. Then, they again fail to provide any analysis, or even a vote. Xino, who do you find suspicious? So, of these people, I'd be OK lynching either Shqueeves, Fura, or Xino, I think.

OK, sorry for not responding earlier. It looks like I'm going to get lynched this cycle, but I'll try and do my best to respond to that. I suppose I'll place a vote on Fura, as the only other lynch candidate this game. I was in a PM with them last night, and their response seemed suspicious to me. I quizzed them about their last minute vote of Gancho last cycle, and they seemed weirdly defensive about it. Looking back, it's a similar reaction to when Orlok asked them about their use of the word 'Spiked' - they put a strange amount of effort into defending themselves. (Note: I'm not saying that the use of the word 'Spiked' is suspicious - more on this later. I am saying the way Fura responded to that accusation was suspicious.) I would respond to the accusations against me, but... honestly, I don't see any particular reasons why I'm getting lynched. Rath, I did make an innocent mistake about when Orlok first said they were suspicious of Terminal, but that was a genuine mistake - even if I were an Eliminator, I don't see how that would remotely help me - I was protecting Orlok while I'd probably be trying to achieve the opposite if I were an Elim. There's also the fact that I use the word 'Spiked' in my posts, like the Tineye - honestly, I don't see this as a valid argument - I'll tend to adopt the words that something is described as for that game - you can go back to more or less any of my previous games and check that fact. I don't know whether the Tineye was trying to frame me or someone else by using that word, or if Fura's the Tineye, but either way, I'd rather not be lynched, potentially at the cost of the game, because of it. Of course gut reads are a thing, but... it's kind of irritating I don't have anything to respond to to defend myself - jumping on bandwagons without analysis or explanation is also an easy way for the actual Eliminators to hide. I also said I was suspicious of both Gancho and Jon before there was much suspicion on either of them - technically after Orlok posted the same thing, but I was working on that post independently of Orlok and wasn't influenced by that post when I made mine, or when I was trying to find who I was suspicious of. But... yeah. I think I know roughly how I act as an Eliminator, and I'm pretty sure this isn't it. I'll be on in about 5 or so hours time, if there are any other questions people want to ask me. I also (and this probably isn't the time to start sprouting controversial opinions, but I don't think it matters at this stage) think, looking back, that the suspicion of Rath dissipated really quickly after the Spiked Tineye message - part of me wonders if that was the intended purpose of the message. If it was a Tineye trying to get a member of the village killed, I feel their message could have been made a lot more convincing.

Hmmm... I'm really sorry for not getting on earlier in the cycle - I was keeping tabs, hoping the Tineye would claim, but it really seems like that's not going to happen. Given that, I think that the Tineye message is probably an Eliminator - I don't feel at all confident on that, but unfortunately I feel like we're approaching the endgame now and I don't have any information to go off of, which is really annoying. And so I'm more inclined to view Rath as a villager than I was last cycle. There's still enough room for the Eliminators to do a last minute bandwagon on someone at the last minute, so I think I'll vote Gancho to try and make sure that doesn't happen. I need to put down a Praise vote, and between Orlok and Araris, I trust Orlok ever so slightly more right now, I think (also, if I vote for Araris, I think that would result in a tie, which is probably not a good idea this late in the game.)

OK, I'm doing a quick reread back through the game to see if there's anything I missed, or that seems more or less suspicious now that we know the roles of a lot of the players. I haven't yet figured out how to quote across threads properly, unfortunately - if anyone could teach me the code to do that, I'd be very grateful - it would make things a lot easier the next time I do one of these. Since it's a night turn, I'm using red and green coloring to show the alignment of deceased players, and orange and blue for my predictions of players. Day 1: Some RP Snip says he's busy, Fifth pokevotes him to remind him to post. Between dead players - nothing to be gained. Fura votes on Fifth, saying it's "unfair to be voting on someone so soon after the game starts". They later put this down to their sense of humour - voting on someone early on the grounds that you shouldn't vote on someone early. I think this is NAI - they're a new player, and don't necessarily know the meta around here yet. Orlok and Joe vote on Fura, pointing out that pokevotes are perfectly common. Fifth points out this behaviour is not uncommon for new players, something I agree with. CadCom votes on Joe for bandwagonning. I see where this is coming from, but if Joe were an Eliminator, he'd probably be a lot more subtle about it than that, so I read Joe's vote as NAI, and possibly posting before he realised Orlok's post was there. Orlok expressed mistrust of Fifth for pocketing for the first time - something that he'll push much more strongly for in Day 2, so I'll discuss what that says about Orlok (if anything) there. More RP (I don't mean this to sound dismissive - I'm in a permanent state of wanting to do more RP - I'm just focusing on stuff that's potentially alignment indicative right now.) Devotary suggests a plan to smoke influential players, then pokevotes Ark. The smoking plan is supported by Steel pokevotes Nohadon. Steel dies that Night. Almost certainly a coincidence - the Elim kills do seem random, but I'm aiming to be thorough, so worth noting. Terminal posts. Supports a Day 1 lynch, doesn't vote on anyone. Advises caution on the Praise vote. Shqueeves pokevotes Snipexe, apparently via RNG. (This is the second vote on Snip, who ends up dying.) I express mild suspicion of Fifth, then pokevote Gancho. Itiah supports Fura. Gancho votes for Itiah - "I can offer no reason except my gut." Elandara does a votecount, then pokevotes Jondesu. Araris votes for Orlok. "I can't say that I have particularly good reasons for either, but it's D1, so that will have to be good enough." This is something that continues through to todays vote - it could be an elim trying to get rid of an analyser, but I see it more as a villager tunnelling. Ark votes on Snip, not citing a pokevote, but not elaborating on any other reason either. "I don't exactly have the msot accurate opinion, I've only been in two SE games, but that is my vote." Snip gets annoyed that he's going to be lynched via pokevote, votes on Ark for insufficient reasoning. Meta votes for Xino. I think this is most likely a distancing vote, though that might be me projecting my prior suspicion of Xino. They then praise Fifth - a safe, NAI vote, since a number of villagers had done the same thing. Aonar tries to engineer a tie as best he's able - is foiled in in tieing the Praise vote since he can't vote and praise the same person. Seems villagery (and Aonar-y) to me, but I haven't seen enough from Aonar to say. Points out that Praise, especially in the early game, probably isn't as important as people are making out, which also feels villagery. OK, from now on, if one dead villager comments on another dead villager (and nothing else of interest), I'm not going to note that down, else I'll be here all day. Orlok votes on CadCom, for their "analysis reading as contrived". CadCom's response: "Good! In trying to mix up my playstyle, that way when I finally get to be Elim, people don't know what to expect! I was trying to make it sound contrived!" - This does not go down well, and the lynch is added to by Fifth, Devotary, Xinoehp, Elandara, and Terminal. In self defence, CadCom votes on Snipexe, to no avail. ...OK, Chrome just crashed for me, and I lost a lot of work (I was most of the way through Day 2, and it only restored to what you see here, at the end of Day 1. As you can imagine, I am *really* annoyed right now, both at my laptop and myself for not backing up or doing this in an auto-saving Google Doc or something, but... never mind. Quickly, in response to Orlok - I agree with you about Jondesu and Gancho, however, Fura seems like a villager who's still trying to learn the meta to me. I also disagree about Rath, and probably will rewrite up that segment, at least - even if what happened at the end of Day 3 is ignored and written off, there is still a fair amount of other behaviour that makes Rath suspicious. In particular, what I was writing about shortly before it crashed was Rath making a post first saying that there was almost certainly an Eliminator in the bandwagon against CadCom Day 1 (something that mirrored what I said, however, my analysis was dependent on the next lynch candidate after CadCom, Snipexe, being an Eliminator. The Coinshot (presumably) had killed Snip the previous night, however, and revealed Snip to be a villager, and so there was no reason to expect that. On top of that, Rath leaves off Terminal in his analysis of who's most likely to be this Eliminator, which is highly suspicious (he cites Xino and Elandara as being the most suspicious) - he later tries to correct for this in a later post adding that Terminal's bandwagon could also be suspicious, which feels like him trying to walk back on his mistake. Currently, the people I find most suspicious (roughly in order) are: Rath, Xino, Jondesu, Gancho, and Shqueeves. Anyway, I'm not sure if any of this makes sense - I'll try and have my thoughts written down a bit more concisely and coherently (and focused more on those players I find suspicious and why) next cycle, I suppose.