DrakeMarshall

It was the good ideas fairy Me and the good ideas fairy go way back. Whoops didn't know signups were open Yes, I'd like to play. I hope my general illiteracy about WoT isn't a dealbreaker here please don't tell anyone but I've actually only seen the TV show.

The village was closing in. Every time Jonoh thought he glimpsed a future where the Unmade would remain hidden, the townsfolk would be one step ahead, and it would be too late to do anything. It was galling, really. These were a bunch of innkeepers, sailors, and dispossessed drifters. Sure, some of them might’ve been surgebinders, but only brand new ones barely awakened to what they were capable of. The sort of hapless stormclast fodder who died in droves in desolations past. Not the stuff of great legends, one would think. And they were banging on his door. Well, if they wanted a fight, they’d get a fight, by braize. Jonoh was still host to the Unmade. A pair of midnight hands rested comfortingly on his shoulders. They belonged to Re-Shephir, more or less. The midnight mother was nearby. And Moelach, ever the carrion feeder, drawn to those on the brink of death, whispered secrets into his ears now more than ever. Insights and strategies that would help him in the coming struggle. The Unmade were turning up in force to help him. He wasn’t fool enough to think there was any real loyalty there, but they held up their end of the bargain. What was a few pitiful villagers bonded to pitiful spren, in the face of such an ancient malevolence? And he had a secret weapon, an extra trick up his sleeve that nobody would know to expect. The midnight essence coiled to strike and a shadowy hand shot out, flinging the door open with enough force to rip it free from its hinges. Jonoh walked out, multiple shadows streaming in his wake, grinning to meet the people of Ru Eris. It was time to end this. ✺ Once upon a time, in far off Marabethia, in a small and insignificant fishing village by the name of Ru Eris, the end of everything came knocking. There was an innkeeper, ever quick to hold a debt over your head, but equally quick to forgive one. This served her surprisingly well as an Edgedancer, for she never forgot about anyone she thought owed her (which for practical intents and purposes was everybody), and always listened carefully to everyone’s stories. There was a stranger from far-off lands, someone who never planned on being here. She tried to board a ship and skip town, but it never quite seemed to work out. As an Elsecaller, she would finally be free. She could travel wherever she pleased. There was a somehow even stranger stranger, from even further-off lands, someone who was born under an altogether different sun. The cryptics pirated his videos about baiting scammers, were enthralled by the dramatization of lies and truth, and subsequently sent one of their number to get a closer look. There was a gambler, an opportunist who was always very…. lucky when it came to cards. A free spirit who let neither laws nor the literal end of the world get in the way of making a few spheres on the side. Or coins, as the case may be, if that’s what folks were offering. A straightforward fit for the Willshapers. There was an assassin, a skulker in black with enough concealed knives on his person that swimming was probably difficult. Most Truthwatchers are scientists, scholars, and bookish types, but the stereotype occasionally proves misleading. Some truths are hands-on affairs. Some truths are only clear-cut because you were willing to wield the knife with a steady hand and do the cutting. There was a diviner, a stormwarden and a man of education and long words. Beneath the grandiloquence, he pregnosticated the impendinent squalls because he was a careful individual. The point of predicting a storm is ultimately so that you can better prepare and protect against it, and the Honorspren approved. These people hoped to defend Ru Eris from the Everstorm and the tide of Voidbringers. They were all complete fools, because only a fool stands in the way of a force of nature. The desolations had already swallowed up far mightier cities than Ru Eris. ✺ But of course, these weren’t quite the only fools in this story. Once upon a time, much longer ago, there were some who loved Odium, or at least shared in his hatred of the world as it was. There was and is much to be discontent with, and they hoped to free the chained god and uproot the way of things at any costs. The costs, as it turned out, were steep. They usually are, when you’re dealing with someone like Odium. Loyalty for many lifetimes, loyalty that beggared belief. On Roshar, they were known only as bringers of desolation and death, but the desolations were mere moments in their long existences. Most of the time, they shared in their master’s imprisonment, as it dragged on for thousands upon thousands of years. They longed to break free, to fulfill their purpose. And then, even when they did break free, their purpose was denied yet again. Again and again and again. They would begin to prepare the world for their master, but the Heralds and the Radiants would rally the peoples of Roshar and fight back, bottle them back up in the same old prison. It was maddening. And yet, foolishly, they kept trying. Even though it never seemed to work. ✺ There’s always another fool, though. Perhaps the greatest fool of all was the old stubborn soldier who just refused to crack. The tenth Herald, Tanenel. He endured the Oathpact so that nobody else had to, persevering for millenia even though he couldn’t even see the people he was helping. Such blind hope is surely foolish. But it gave everyone else generations to grow and thrive without desolations. Perhaps when the True Desolation arrived, the people of Roshar would actually be strong enough to win. ✺ “Who wants to die first? You should’ve brought more people,” Jonoh rasped, holding a hatchet aloft. He had a manic gleam in his eye. Moelach was perhaps taking the reins more than a little. “According to my arithmulations, you’re outmaneuvered,” Metorem observed. “Eight to one.” “Six to five, actually!” Jonoh retorted. “Me, a pair of Unmade, and…” Volomir gasped, surveying the pitchfork tines that were sprouting from his abdomen in pained surprise. At the other end was elder Mashiah. Temmek stood nearby, brandishing a dagger. “These guys!” Jonoh finished. “They were puppets all along,” he gloated. “See, Latel only went insane because he was trying to fight back. Anyways… by my count… it’s five on five now. And I like those odds.” “Five and a half,” Volomir made a noise of protest in between gasping for breath. He wasn’t quite down for the count yet, and as long as shock kept him from feeling too much of the pain, he was prepared to make these Unmade take Ru Eris over his dead body. On the off chance he survived, it’d probably be good for his viewer count. Also, not that it mattered, but counting the Unmade in this fight seemed a bit overgenerous in his opinion, because they weren’t exactly reliable. They were spren, cognitive creatures, not exactly the boots-on-the-ground types who could swing a sword. Skewered on a pitchfork as he was, there weren’t a lot of options for evasion when Re-Shephir, acting on a most ancient grudge against the Order of Lightweavers, forged a sword out of midnight essence and swung it at him. Storming unfair, he thought. Just before the blade made lethal contact, his vision went white as he disappeared in a burst of Stormlight, replaced by a grinning Giethri who stood ready to parry the blow. The shadows writhed in wordless annoyance, and the fight broke out in earnest. Giethri vanished in another flash of light and appeared mid-swing in front of Jonoh, while Metorem slipped past the points of Mashiah’s pitchfork to punch her in the face as hard as he could. Matoro went after Temmek. Meanwhile, Volomir’s eyes opened, and he surmised he probably wasn’t dead. In fact, his injuries were hurting less and less by the moment. “You owe me for this,” Arenta helpfully informed him, as she finished healing him. With that, she headed back towards the unfolding melee. ✺ Giethri’s movement trick was quite annoying, Jonoh thought. Just when you thought you had your enemy outmaneuvered and dead to rights, they’d disappear in a puff of light and Giethri would come swinging at you from some odd new angle. Then there was that damnable healer, who could keep everyone mostly in fighting shape. It made it hard to actually finish any of the villagers off, even though Jonoh knew he was more than a match for any one of them. Meanwhile, whatever nicks and scratches the pair of elders took, those stuck around. Still, he reasoned, anything that useful had to have limitations. Anything that flashy had to burn through quite a bit of Stormlight, and how many spheres could these villagers really have? Not many more, he figured. Not many more. Ru Eris wasn’t exactly a big city, they weren’t up to their eyeballs in gemstones. It was a funny thing, though. Voidlight never ran out. With a well-timed kick, Jonoh sent Giethri sprawling on the ground. And she wasn’t vanishing to Shadesmar, this time, either. There was actual fear there. You’ve run out of Stormlight, he thought triumphantly. Metorem seemed to realize this as well, and got between Giethri and Jonoh, clutching a carving knife. Jonoh knocked it out of his hands. Matoro tried to flank him, but something vaguely shaped like a whitespine pounced on him. One of Re-Shephir’s spawn. “It’s over,” Jonoh pronounced, hefting his hatchet. “I suppose so,” a voice behind Jonoh agreed, before burying a knife in his back. “O- Oh,” Jonoh uttered. The illusion wavered and then disintegrated into motes of Stormlight, revealing Sever at the other end of the knife. While certain white-clad relatives made it look like being an assassin was about fighting, the truth is that it was usually the opposite. Most assassins spent most of their time figuring out when and where to strike to minimize any fighting. “I should have prepared earlier,” Jonoh mused, falling to his knees. “P.S. I hope Volomirs stream fails because it seems scripted.” With that said, Jonoh breathed his last. ✺ The death of Odium's collaborators hardly solved all of the village's problems, but Ru Eris was safer going forward. The Everstorms kept on coming and occasionally did significant damage, but the townsfolk learned to expect a storm from the west. Metorem claimed to have started developing new equations to predict when it would happen. Nobody was deliberately sabotaging them from the inside anymore, and everyone mostly worked together and looked out for each other when they needed to. As far as the people of Ru Eris were concerned, rumors of the world ending were greatly exaggerated. ✺ Jonoh was executed! He was aligned with the Unmade! The Marabethians won with a clean sweep! Not something you see every day, that. Thanks for playing, everyone! And thank you @StrikerEZ for serving as the game's glorious IM! Sorry the finale was delayed, this wasn't really my week. I suppose seeing as the game was already done it felt like something I could put off, but it still felt important for me to get it done, so here we are hopefully the writeup is fun. I may do post-game thoughts at some point. Player List 1. @Araris Valerian - Arenta - Surge of Progression, Marabethian 2. @Ookla the Benefflicted - Cillian O'Cillian - Surge of Tension, Unmade 3. @stiltedmoth - Giethri - Surge of Transportation, Marabethian 4. @Kasimir - Volomir Kassarm - Surge of Transformation, Marabethian 5. @Ookla the Irreplaceable - Matoro - Surge of Cohesion, Marabethian 6. @Ookla the Violist - Jonoh - Surge of Abrasion, Unmade 7. @Ookla de los cuervos - Sever - Surge of Illumination, Marabethian 8. @CadCom - Metorem - Surge of Adhesion, Marabethian Links Elim Doc Spec Doc Master Spreadsheet

Game Over. Expect a finale post in a bit.

...rumor has it that this one of the fell powers of Re-Shephir, whose midnight children can be in several places at once and are quite proficient at killing. I suppose no Transportation would occur in that case. Cohesion has a way of bringing things down to earth.

The sun came up and it was a new day. Something in Ru Eris was different. Overnight, rumors sprouted up about people sighting an actual Marabethian Princess in town. This was more than passing odd, because the last one had been caught and outed as a fraud. But there were multiple witnesses this time. Granted, certain details in the reports were still sparse. Nobody really recollected her saying very much. Nobody could really describe her appearance in much detail, except for a drunk outside the Leaky Bucket who swears he glimpsed under her hood and saw something inhuman carved out of oily midnight, but that's drunks for you. For that matter, nobody was quite sure how she arrived in town. When you got down to it, nobody really had all that much to say, beyond attesting that she was certainly a genuine Marabethian Princess. Still, surely these were normal eccentricities for a Marabethian Princess to have. And it wasn't every day that a small town like Ru Eris got visited by royalty, now, was it? Even if Marabethia did have quite a few different royal families. Not only that, but someone had plastered practically every surface in Ru Eris overnight with a mass-produced pamphlet: ...Upon closer inspection, each one of the pamphlets appeared to be coincidentally torn, such that the fine print at the bottom was unreadable. It probably didn’t say anything important. ✺ Nobody died! Day 2 has begun, and will end in 2 day at 06:00 GMT December 14th. Player List 1. @Araris Valerian - Arenta - The Gossipy Innkeep That You Owe Money To 2. Ookla the Benefflicted - Cillian O'Cillian, son of Cillian - The Sailingest of Sailors Surge of Tension, Unmade 3. @stiltedmoth - Giethri - The Unlucky Traveller 4. @Kasimir - Volomir Kassarm - The Scambaiting Silverlight Streamer 5. @Ookla the Irreplaceable - Matoro - The Honest Herdazian Hustler 6. @Ookla the Violist - Jonoh - The Procrastinating Paranoid Prepper 7. @Ookla de los cuervos - Sever - The Shin Assassin; Relation to Vallano Unclear 8. @CadCom - Metorem - A Prognosticative Philosopher of Stormy Secrets

Rise and shine, night's over.

The people in Ru Eris got to work. There was so much to do. Several people’s homes needed major repairs. The ships that’d been in the harbor when the storm struck were still badly in need of repairs. A lavis granary had been split wide open and spilled out most of its contents. That wasn’t the only work that needed doing, though. Nu Ralik forbid that the Everstorm had been anything remotely natural. Nobody was quite sure if the new spren that had been showing up had caused the storm or if it was the other way around, but they were definitely related. More to the point, some of those spren were driving people to acts of violence. Someone had to put a stop to it. The trouble was, these "Unmade" were far more crafty than your garden variety spren. They were good at hiding. And the people who agreed to do their bidding, well, they just looked like normal people! You had to be constantly on the lookout for anything suspicious. The citizens of Ru Eris were a naturally suspicious people, so this came easily to them. In truth, they probably spent more time on ferreting out traitors than they did on rebuilding efforts. Perhaps because there wasn’t much use in rebuilding if someone could just come along and ruin it again. Or perhaps because gossiping about your neighbors was just much more interesting than mending holes in sailcloth. The day’s activities were interrupted when a man fell from the sky. When a man is falling from the sky, you generally don’t have time to process questions like “why,” let alone inspect his armor and recognize details like the crest on his armor, which an educated onlooker might recognize as the ancient insignia of the Order of Skybreakers. You mainly just have time to brace yourself for what’s bound to be a gory scene in a few moments. So it came as a bit of a surprise when, not only was the man not pulverized, but he dusted himself off and started addressing the crowd, as if falling from the sky was a normal everyday thing to do. “You’re lucky. I was giving aid in Ru Tapan not long ago, they’re under enemy control.” He said the last bit like it was an expletive. Ru Tapan was another town, slightly larger and wealthier, about a day’s walk along the coast to the west. Ru Eris didn’t generally get along with them. The stranger looked around. “No parshmen here,” he remarked obscurely, seemingly to himself. “That might explain it.” “...Well, I’ll be moving on,” the stranger announced. “Good luck, I guess.” Until this point, the townspeople had kept silent, caught off-guard by the unexpected visitor. This last development was enough to break the silence over, though. “Hang on a moment,” elder Temmek sputtered. “Things are not fine in Ru Eris. There are traitors everywhere! People are making pacts with suspicious spren and going insane! And people are taking advantage of the chaos to circulate scams about gold bars! Is there something you can do to help?” he pleaded. Now it was the stranger’s turn to be nonplussed. “I dunno anything about all that. Especially not the gold bars thing.” He sighed. “I don’t think you quite get it. The Voidbringers have returned,” he said emphatically. “Big mean sons of chulls with red eyes, braize-bent on overturning any order we’ve set up. I don’t have time to help you punish lesser crimes." “Even if I’m sure you have lots of them,” he added under his breath. There was a Shin man loitering about, decked out in all-black and armed to the teeth, who the Skybreaker’s finely developed senses said was obviously a criminal of some kind. “I don't have time for this,” he repeated, mainly for his own benefit. “But-” Temmek continued, reaching for something else to say. This stranger was the only person who seemed to have an idea of what was going on, the longer he kept on talking the better. “We still aren’t sure who to punish!” “Roll some dice or something,” the stranger growled, before hurtling off into the sky again. The people of Ru Eris took the suggestion to heart. It wasn't like anyone had a better idea. …It was funny. Everyone knew the Vorins had a taboo against guessing the future. They’d tell you in smugly superior tones that gambling on dice was immoral, because knowing the future is “a thing of the enemy” or something like that. Well, as it turned out, the servants of Odium aren’t actually very good at dice. Sure, Cillian actually did see it coming, but knowing the future wasn’t quite the same as being able to change it. He panicked and tried to run before the die was thrown, only for Volomir and Giethri to grab his arms and hold him still. As was the custom, Cillian was offered a choice. Either a swift and fair execution, or a fool’s hope: getting dangled into the ocean as bait for a Yu-Nerig. Anyone who survived a week like that could go free, but nobody ever did. You didn’t need the gift of foresight to know it was a death sentence either way. Cillian did happen to have the gift of foresight though, and so chose the quick death. And Ru Eris became slightly safer than it had been. ✺ Vote Tally Cillian (2): Volo, Giethri Matoro (2): Sever, Jonoh Sever (2): Cillian, Arenta Giethri (1): Metorem @Ookla the Benefflicted has died! He had the following death rattle: He had access to the surge of Tension, and was aligned with the Unmade! ✺ Night 1 has begun, and will end in 1 day at 06:00 GMT December 12th. Player List 1. @Araris Valerian - Arenta - The Gossipy Innkeep That You Owe Money To 2. Ookla the Benefflicted - Cillian O'Cillian, son of Cillian - The Sailingest of Sailors Surge of Tension, Unmade 3. @stiltedmoth - Giethri - The Unlucky Traveller 4. @Kasimir - Volomir Kassarm - The Scambaiting Silverlight Streamer 5. @Ookla the Irreplaceable - Matoro - The Honest Herdazian Hustler 6. @Ookla the Violist - Jonoh - The Procrastinating Paranoid Prepper 7. @Ookla de los cuervos - Sever - The Shin Assassin; Relation to Vallano Unclear 8. @CadCom - Metorem - A Prognosticative Philosopher of Stormy Secrets

A scrap of paper blows in the wind. There's some writing on it: Cillian (2): Volo, Giethri Matoro (2): Sever, Jonoh Sever (2): Cillian, Arenta Giethri (1): Metorem Curious. Somebody must've misplaced it. 5 minutes til dusk... Time's up.

One Week Ago The dull roar of heavy rain was punctuated by periodic cracks of eyesearing lightning, and above it all the windows and doors rattled out a panicked staccato. They weren’t built to handle this, nothing was. The wind was blowing the wrong way. Everything about the storm was wrong. But the walls provided a thin layer of insulation from the wrongness. And so the people of Ru Eris hunkered down in their homes, waiting out the Everstorm, praying that it would stay outside. And it did, for the most part. A handful of townsfolk had been out in the fishing boats when the storm hit, and those were quite thoroughly lost at sea. But except for those poor unlucky saps, the townsfolk weathered the storm behind quite solid earthen walls. Which made for a lot of awkward and anxious waiting. Those who didn’t have anywhere better to be were all holed up in the inn. The town elders paced and bickered back and forth about what should be done, even though there wasn’t really anything to be done and even less that’d be helpful to think about. Nobody really knew what was going on, in any case. The inn was distributing strong drink and bowls of cold seafood chowder. An enterprising sort was selling everstorm-proof talismans for three clearmarks apiece, 99% guaranteed to keep you from dying of lightning, no refunds. The local Stormwarden was fielding questions to the tune of “why didn’t you see this coming?” The cacophony of different personalities was accompanied by a cacophony of different spren. Anxietyspren most of all, of course, but also a scattering of others. The arguing elders somehow managed to attract a golden spren that must be one of the more obscure types, seeing as nobody recongized it. A windspren inexplicably gusted its way across the room, flitting in front of people’s faces as if to say “boo” before giggling and darting away. There were other, stranger spren too, if anyone had been paying attention. But of course, the spren were beneath notice. Far more interesting things were going on at the time. Now “Decidedly odd behavior, for a spren to talk,” elder Mashiah concluded. “Surely we should arrest anyone making a pact with a spren promising to bring about the apocalypse, as a matter of course.” “Not necessarily, not necessarily,” elder Temmek countered. “Which laws does that actually break?” “I’m sure there’s something,” Mashiah blustered. “You don’t approve, surely?” “I’m just saying, there’s no hard evidence of any tangible harm. He hasn’t hurt anyone. We can’t just go arresting people willy-nilly, you know, just because we don’t like them. Especially not in dangerous times like these. We need to stick together. There has to be an actual crime to prosecute,” Temmek reasoned. “Pacts with villainous-looking spren are certainly dubious, but it’s not against the law as such.” Regrettably, the three elders who informally constituted the leadership of Ru Eris was down to only two members. Elder Latel, their third member, was indisposed, having locked himself in his chambers after very publicly swearing an oath with a large red spren that had been behaving very oddly. Last anyone had heard, he had been carving hundreds of tiny eyes into the wood furniture with his fingernails while babbling inconsolably about the true desolation. He was, in fact, the subject of the current argument. “...Property damage,” Mashiah tried. “Presumably, any sort of apocalypse would involve large amounts of it. That would be an arrestable offense under several laws.” “Presumably, yes, but can you know for certain? Perhaps it’ll be a sort of apocalypse that in some way doesn’t involve any unlawful property damage. Or perhaps it’s more of a metaphorical apocalypse. Or perhaps nothing will happen. In any case, nobody else’s property has been damaged yet.” “The storm,” Mashiah said flatly. “What about it? Latel didn’t cause that, Odium did. And worshipping Odium still isn’t in of itself a crime. In fact, I seem to recall several laws vouchsafing one’s ability to worship whoever they please. Religious freedoms, and all that.” “Do you want the Voidbringers to win?” “It’s talk like that which leads to tyranny,” Temmek said testily. “It’s not just about picking a side – we’re no better than they are if we can’t adhere to a proper code.” Mashiah ground her teeth and let out a long-suffering sigh. Maybe there was hope yet, if the followers of Odium didn’t pay their taxes. Any further argument was cut off when a wild-eyed Letel barreled past, glowing with traces of stormlight and brandishing a bloodied dagger. An unlucky seafood vendor lay on the ground, lifeless. The pair let out a string of curses. The people of Ru Eris were a contentious lot. The elders moreso than most. But murder was definitely against the law, on that they all agreed. Something had to be done. ✺ The following surges are in play: Abrasion Adhesion Cohesion Illumination Progression Tension Transformation Transportation ✺ @StrikerEZ will be our glorious IM, all hail Striker. Day 1 has begun, and will end in 2 days at 06:00 GMT December 11th. Player List 1. @Araris Valerian - Arenta - The Gossipy Innkeep That You Owe Money To 2. @The Unknown Order - Cillian O'Cillian, son of Cillian - The Sailingest of Sailors 3. @stiltedmoth - To Be Determined - The Unlucky Traveller 4. @Kasimir - Volomir Kassarm - The Scambaiting Silverlight Streamer 5. @Ookla the Irreplaceable - Matoro - The Honest Herdazian Hustler 6. @Ookla the Violist - Jonoh - The Procrastinating Paranoid Prepper 7. @Ookla de los cuervos - Sever - The Shin Assassin; Relation to Vallano Unclear 8. @CadCom - Metorem - A Prognosticative Philosopher of Stormy Secrets

I do believe signups are now more or less closed, please hold while I set up the game.

The limited time opportunity to get yourself some genuine Marabethian gold bars will be closing fairly soon! (roughly 3 hours)

Great question! Hmmmm. Let's say that blocking and redirecting aren't the same. Chemoarish always kills someone but can be redirected. Well, afaik there's no canon on this, so you have a lot of leeway to do what you want with it! if you just make something up I'll go along with it, I'll even work it into writeups if there's a convenient way ...I can speculate that regardless of any local norms, talking about a Nightwatcher visit is probably a bit of a personal subject for the average person, but ur mileage may vary Also, this game is set a little after the end of Words of Radiance or the start of Oathbringer, with the Everstorm having recently arrived, so knowing up to the third book should serve you fairly well I hope!

please only play if you want to! if you do want to play I can definitely sign you up but I'm serious, don't worry so much about player counts

I'll run with 5 if more players don't answer my gold bar scam totally legitimate advert, but I may suggest some adaptations to the rules to make the pacing work

"Turns out" Well, I'm happy to have you, but you know the drill, exercise your judgement as to whether participating makes sense for you. You've plenty of time to decide, anyways, 12 days or so. You can lemme know if you want a ping or something closer to the deadline.

Welcome to Ru Eris: a small fishing village built along the coast of the Reshi Sea in the northeastern reaches of Marabethia. At face value, the folks that live there don’t look like much. However, looks can be deceiving. Some of you are Surgebinders without knowing it. Others of you secretly consort with the Unmade. Others still are truly just ordinary people. But writing off such ordinary people would be particularly foolish. …In any case, the return of powers to this world is only in its nascent stages. Both sides of the conflict are only just discovering what they are capable of. Much has been forgotten. The ancient war of desolation is resuming where it left off, and it won’t pause for the mortals of this era to catch their bearings. Elsewhere in the world, a coalition is being forged to defeat Odium once and for all. Surely a great story in the making. Maybe even one they’ll write books about, one day. Such endeavors are distant concerns in Marabethia, though, when the desolations are knocking at your door. Especially seeing as there are enemies inside as well as outside. Vicious spren have started appearing among you, offering power and promising a way to survive the apocalypse. Some of your neighbors have made the pragmatic decision to side with them and help the desolation along. You must banish the Unmade from your lands. Only then will you have a shot at weathering this storm. Some would call it a fool’s hope, but even a fool’s hope is still hope. ✺ Rules You can read the definitive game document here. Here are the highlights: Nobody knows their own role. You have to try and figure it out. The elim team has a surprise grab bag of 1-shot powers chosen from a list. This is an RP-only game, like LG98. This game's activity policy is stricter than some. Alternatively, the rules are printed in full below for your convenience. ✺ Cosmetic Roles Cosmetic roles have no mechanical effect on the game, and you are free to choose them for yourself. They are purely for RP purposes. There may or may not be shoutouts awarded at the end of the game for characters who make particularly memorable use of cosmetic roles. Anyways, I'll wager our upcoming Anniversary Game will also have cosmetic roles, so if you're planning on playing in that, you may consider this to be a warm-up! ...and if you aren't planning on playing in the Anniversary Game, based. If you were only going to play one game, you absolutely made the right decision by prioritizing this one ✺ Timeline 12 days. Death follows. ✺ Participants ✺ Quick Links

Sorry just trying to do my job hello hi it's me after the game I suppose I'll freely admit almost everything I said up to the end of D3 was sheer brazen BS that's not what you're talking about though is it still not sure what to make of, well, most of the last cycle, but for whatever it's worth my posts there weren't nearly as calculated as you were selling them to be, you were giving me too much credit if I had a biased opinion about the validity of the elims killing themselves well I came by it honestly at least ...there are some parts of the post in question where I'm not actually very comfortable with the idea of them changing people's minds ...which, in retrospect, might be a pretty good indicator that the game thread during the game wasn't correct the time or place to say those things tbh. I'm not particularly surprised that it was hard to evaluate that at the time though. anyways, no hard feelings about you cheesing the duel, but precedent is real ok now it's your turn, fess up all of your lies during the game Kasbro I know you were trying but I just didn't even know how to proceed when at that moment the 3 remaining options I could imagine to still try to play the game were "convince Ash I didn't betray him" "convince CadCom that Xino is definitely the 4B" "convince people to kingmake for the elims over other options" and all 3 of those were becoming increasingly colored by GM information & commentary one way or the other and then you're like "I'm doing this to make sure everybody can play their win cons instead of just deciding whatever, carry on with your game" and I'm like "welp it's doing the opposite of that for me" and what am I supposed to even do with that it's ok I mean it was just a storming bizarre day all around, but I think I had some cause to be exasperated anyways on a more positive note you already know this but I fully agree with and support making more interesting neutral roles in SE, and I think these roles were good ones I actually think they do work together in the same game (the Lieutenant can be swingy with it's 2 divergent win cons but the 4B is more of a stabilizing influence so debatably it kinda harmonizes?), but probably in a larger game, and maybe just maybe I shouldn't actually be making plans for 34+ player games (....nothing very wrong with a 9-player game though tbh, I mean at least as one data point mu runs plenty of 10-player games even though they could probably run them bigger, for whatever that's worth) I think I can say with confidence that the 4B is an improvement on the IN thanks for running o7 TUO you were a good docbro and I don't think it's true that I did most of the work anyways that's all for now gg have fun reading the elim doc >:P edit: oh also I know this has nothing to do with the game at hand but can I just say HUZZAH for CadCom and TUO stepping into moderating and committeeing respectively

...ah soddit I can't just let my docbro die Ashbringer if there was a way to crash this kingmaker Mexican standoff clowncar with no winners I'd have probably tried to convince everyone on that but it was not in the cards so let's just cross the finish line I don't think I can remember a game with as many unexpected reversals as this tbh

c'mon how can I properly angst about the game if my team is winning lemme have my angst also cadcom please stop being so hard on yourself like you were the only one voting against the D3 RBM bandwagon that's pretty cool right

well, we did slightly mislead the village in that TUO and I have both said we'd definitely not kill ourselves if the game went to N4, but meanwhile in our doc we sat down and actually deliberated over what our decision would be it's kinda moot, though, because our current decision does not feature a village victory in it, so what we said from the beginning was basically true and I'd say that's kind of a fair decision for us to make with all due respect to the village because we only arrive at that inflection point if the village first decides to doom our win con If you're implying that I'm manipulating people into believing you're the Fourth Bridge, I'm clearly not doing that, though. It's a bit strange to assert that I'd lie about my action failing, since for most of the cycle I didn't even know that my action "failing" (instead of just not doing what it was supposed to) meant you were the Fourth Bridge. well, idk, imma peace out for reals this time

aaaaa I have pretty mixed feelings about doing this, though I kinda don't wanna as much as I felt the need to say it, it kinda doesn't feel right if my most recent post persuaded anyone to side with the elims oh I'll figure it out later maybe when TUO is around happy murderpartying

Okay, I have things to say. @xinoehp512 Do I think it's fair game to trick me into not using all of my mechanical powers on the pretext of a fair duel, and then use a roleblock to guarantee a win? Fundamentally, 100% yes. This is a game significantly about lying, and you lied to gain an advantage. I don't dispute the process or the outcome, well played, you should probably win this if I can't convince the village to side with me over you. Do I think that going out of my way to have a duel was a pretty fun thing to do last night? Yes. Do I think I'd ever do it again, given how it turned out? Pretty unlikely. Reconcile that however you like. Somehow, it matters to me that you aren't village, and didn't just win fair-and-square. If that happened, well, I assumed that risk in accepting a duel when I thought the cards were on the table and I had the upper hand. If that's what happened, I wouldn't regret doing it, I don't think. But if the moral of the story here is that it was a misplay to go out of my way to be sporting when I have the upper hand, because others generally won't do the same, I think I can learn that lesson. I know this is partly a playstyle thing, but different playstyles have different tradeoffs, and I'd put it to you that your tradeoff here is getting a win today versus living in a world where duels like that can happen. ...I admit that part of why I agreed to do a duel was because Kas kept insisting that yes, he'd totally keep the game running even if there was nothing to actually do, and I just didn't think there could be a Fourth Bridge as that would mean 4 non-villagers in a 9-player game. I don't do very well when I'm left to my own devices @Ashbringer I didn't stab you in the back bro Coffee was the one who fired a shot. I didn't even know for sure if Coffee was a coinshot, or would be shooting that night. And I'm quite sure coinshot!Coffee would be shooting at me. It had nothing to do with you, and everything to do with self-defense. ...is what I would say, if Kas hadn't point-blank told us with GM knowledge that Coffee had actually been trying to shoot Xino. I'm still thrown by that fact, honestly. I really did think Coffee would always shoot me there. And I really did try my best to make you win. If I screwed you over, I screwed myself over equally as much that night, so saying I stabbed you in the back is sort of just fake news. Not trying to convince you of anything, just. Saying my piece. @CadCom Xino is definitely the fourth bridge. There's what I already said: But there's also a bunch of new reasons that came up this cycle: When I accused Xino of being the Fourth Bridge, Ash was like "well yeah, obviously, I knew that." If you don't trust my maybe biased take then add Ashbringer's to that. Xino posted after that and was just fully going along with Ashbringer without denying it. If that's not a tacit admission to Ash that he's the 4B, I don't what is. Xino only started even trying to pretend to be village after you posted and sided against him. I think a villager would definitely argue that they're village before that point, for it's own sake, because it was true, and that's a sufficient reason. This is not that. This is calculated and reactive lobbying. At the same time, Xino was like "well, I convinced Drake not to win, that counts for something right?" This is an individual argument of Xino's merit and why he deserves to win. That would be entirely irrelevant if Xino were a villager. Village!Xino shouldn't be trying to convince anyone why he, specifically, deserves to win, because he doesn't win as an individual. If he's village, then your own victory is on the line too, and the correct path to victory is convincing people he's village, not convincing people he's worthy of winning. An argument like this only matters for the Fourth Bridge to make. Apparently, there's mechanical proof that Xino roleblocked me, because my action "failed" and that doesn't happen from a protect. I didn't even know this was a thing. Anyways, villagers don't have roleblocking powers. Only the 4B can do that. Apparently, none of the above matters, because Kas just outright told us in his GM soapbox that Xino is the Fourth Bridge. @CadCom (2, electric boogaloo) Why would the elims kill themselves though? Let's do some numbers. There are 5 players alive right now: 2 elims, 2 villagers, 1 fourth bridge. The elims win at parity: This means that if 1 non-elim dies, there are as many elims as there are other kinds of player. The game is over and we win. This will happen if we vote out any non-elim today. It will also happen if we don't vote out anyone today, because then there's a night turn, and we still have a poisoning and an unblockable kill. On the other hand, the Fourth Bridge wins at the beginning of D5. The reason I'm suggesting that the village play kingmaker, giving up on winning and deciding whether you want the Fourth Bridge or the Elims to win, is because as far as I can see it, that's the situation you're in. If everyone plays the game at face value and doesn't deliberately self-sabotage, the village can't win. The elims can. We are not the same.jpg Honestly, the option for the elims to suicide just to spite the 4B didn't occur to me. I do see what you're suggesting now. Mostly because Kas explained it in detail Thanks, Kas If you want to doom the elims and make us technically kingmakers, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, but I'd contend that's not where we're at right now. You have to make a choice first in order for that to happen. You're the kingmakers as of right now. And if it were the elims, I find it highly questionable how you think we'd ever side with you right after you went out of your way to side against us, no offense. I'm not trying to shade the village, but I think it says something that the only path to victory for you here involves another faction not just giving up on winning but actually using their own mechanical powers to speedrun their losscon and kill themselves. I guess it's somewhat subjective, I guess there is a choice on some level, but I do think the village is mechanically worse off than the other two factions in a way that's meaningful, and that your PtV is a harder sell. And because it's subjective, my subjective opinion about it as one of the players happens to matter. You're assuming we would burn ourselves to the ground just to give you a win on a silver platter, and I think TUO and I are in accord in saying this isn't something the elims particularly have appetite for. @Kasimir There's a common thread throughout all of the above mentions. All roads lead back to Kas. Kas is the mastermind who's been orchestrating the conflict between Scadrial and Roshar. Kas was plotting to take over. Kas is the illuminati conspiracy. Okay, but seriously, I'm actually a little bit miffed right now. Only a little. It's still been a fun game, and honestly CadCom saying I played well is all the validation I need <3. You know me, I'm not really one to stay angry. But on multiple counts you've slipped GM knowledge that we shouldn't know about, and I think credibly some of it might've mattered. What's more, you made a big analysis post for the village, and in it you're literally saying things like this: Bro I'm sorry, but I protest, I don't think it's remotely appropriate for GMs to be coming down from on high and saying crem like that. Whether it's true or not is besides the point. If I'm supposed to try to play the game normally and try to win, then I have a reasonable expectation that the GM isn't going to call out from the sidelines and essentially say "Drake is manipulating you don't listen to him it's not in your best interest." Either it's false and you shouldn't be saying it, or it's true and I'm playing to win, and people buying my spin and potentially being mislead is an acceptable outcome of the game, not something you need to step in and course correct. (The truth is a little in both columns, inasmuch as I genuinely believed the village was unambiguously a kingmaker that couldn't win and wasn't intentionally misleading anyone over that, but I was trying to argue as best as I could and win people over to my side... which is something I should have every right to do, if we're still trying to play out the game organically.) Sure, maybe you just want to make sure everyone understands the gamestate, but. Did you spell it out for me the times I was getting it wrong, like when I didn't realize the "your action failed" message meant I must've been roleblocked and there was definitely a Fourth Bridge? I'm not saying I think you should've, but I am highlighting that 1) once you start doing things like this, it isn't clear where to draw the line and 2) that's a relatively low-impact thing that you could've done that would've conceivably helped the elims a little bit, and here you're doing a generally higher-impact thing on behalf of the village, which makes it difficult to see your activity as overall impartial, even if we ignore that part where you point-blank state that "listening to Drake isn't in line with the outcome you want." It feelsbad because I'm sure you were trying to fix the course of the game, as you saw it. I'm sure you were doing what you thought was pragmatically the best thing for the game and everybody's fun. But I don't agree with the praxis. I think the game was okay before, I think we might've figured out some of the stuff you said on our own, or if we didn't I think that wouldn't have invalidated the game. I think your commentary did not succeed at being unbiased, and you knowingly prefaced your comments as violating GM impartiality. I'm not sure that even if your commentary had succeeded at unbiased, you stepping in and laying down the facts of the gamestate on us ignorant masses of players would have actually increased my willingness to engage and play through that gamestate properly. Logically, I think a participant of this game is an eligible person to vote for, and to the extent that you're stepping down off your GM perch to yell at us, I deem you an eligible person to vote for. This is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I don't really have anything else to do with my vote rn, seeing as everyone's voting TUO, so. Kasimir.

smhh c'mon Ash, if Xino didn't just rig the duel (...which is very possibly what happened) then the reason I lost it is because I decided not to kill you anyways pretty sure Xino is just fully outed here, 0% chance of village I go "Xino is FB" Ash goes "yes but it's fine I want FB to win" Xino rolls with it

eh, why not try one last time @CadCom @Ashbringer I wasn't really trying to solve this before today but I recently realized that Xino is probably the Fourth Bridge Evidence: Xino tied the vote D2 which significantly prolonged the game. Xino has blocked multiple kills at this point (N2, N3). The Medical Officer has a limited-shot protect ability. The Fourth Bridge on the other hand has infinite uses and their pick between protects and roleblocks. You do the math. Xino claimed how many shots he had left with his ability without much prompting. Honestly, I feel like a real Medical Officer would be more cagey and paranoid about sharing the limitations of their ability, and the Fourth Bridge would be more tryhard about proving they're a bona fide Medical Officer. The above is especially true since Xino never even claimed Medical Officer in the first place, it was me who guessed Xino was the Medical Officer yesterday and Xino just went with it. I'm not sure if I actually believe Kas would give Xino 3 shots in a game of this size, which is what Xino is claiming. At that point, why even have a limited number of shots? That's going to cover most or all of the game even if you survive a long time. This is like, the third time I've gone "wow Kas is reluctant to call the game early when any reasonable person would." I'm sure Kas will protest that he'd do it no matter what but he's obligated to say that >:P of course, Xino could be a Medical Officer, it's just very likely that he isn't at this point if Xino is the Fourth Bridge, then the village cannot win: if you lynch me or TUO, there's still 1 elim left, the game keeps going until D5, at which point the Fourth Bridge wins if you don't lynch me or TUO, we'll kill somebody on N4, and the Scadrian faction wins so basically, y'all are kingmakers: you can't win, but you have the power to choose who does win so! here's my pitch for why you should pick me I could have already won last night if I hadn't accepted multiple handicaps - not poisoning Xino and not using the unstoppable kill I had in my back pocket that TUO wanted to just use. Sure I'm kind of an idiot for accepting those handicaps for no reason, but! It was fun I think I played a pretty decent elim game here, for whatever that's worth. I mean, I got scanned as evil on D2 and survived all the way up until now, while getting the person who scanned me voted out instead. Not something you see every day, I'd suppose. FB!Xino is still lying to you, and not really giving you an informed choice today FB!Xino might have just shortcut the duel and roleblocked me last night tbhh, which would be sad I just don't think FB!Xino should just win automatically here. The main reason I can see for why you should side with Xino and against me is that Xino still might be the Medical Officer - it may be the village's only shot at winning. I think it's a pretty tiny chance, and if that's your main reason I'm probably going to silently judge you for being a coward and defaulting to the safe, sensible, winconmaxxing option even now when it likely doesn't matter and you've got nothing to lose, but. I won't deny that this makes sense from a purely tactical perspective. And I might be biased I await your judgement, as I can do no other ¯\_(ツ)_/¯