Doc12

Thing about this game is that I'm not really feeling the stakes yet, heh. Everything's still lighthearted and jokey, and there have been no serious attempts at analysis yet. As it is, there's not much to analyze either, as everyone seems set on being random and bandwagony. The PM created by DA was a weird development, but fitting with his random approach to SE, I guess? I don't really feel suspicious of him for that. There also doesn't seem to be much reason for killing Dani. We don't even know her alignment, so while you could vote on me, I can assure you it's going to be a dead end. I haven't really read the thread and the PMs all that carefully, so I'll just throw a vote on Alv, which I have a mild bad gut read on. Could be nothing, but eh.

He was on familiar ground again. It felt good. Safe. He knew the ground under his feet, recognized the scents, could listen to the murmur of the voices around him and determine where he was. Urithiru was still a new city, but it was an ordered city, and one built according to a pattern. This and all the clues his other senses gave him were more than enough to navigate his way to Pub Seb with precision. A shower, a change of clothes, and a restocking of his supplies made him feel a new man, and the quiet confidence from being on a ground he knew wrapped around him as a cloak. Among the throng and hubbub of people, he was in his element. He was invisible again. sitting on a lone table, listening as the other initiates conversed and celebrated around him. Balthazar's boasting rang loudest of all, but Kintas and Rannatar had also stories to tell of fending off Voidbringers and saving the Initiates many times over. Shinon had been by, and had bought a drink for Hithon, a quiet 'thank you' for the rescue. All around, bonds were being formed as the Initiates finally got to wind down. The darkness, curiously, had not been by. His world was still dark, but it was clean, and the living shadows nowhere to be seen for the time being. It felt good. Tentatively, he allowed himself to feel free. Taking a quiet drink from his mug, he continued to simply listen, hearing what others could not. Seeing without eyes. Piercing through the lies... It was peaceful, and storms, he had missed this. Anyone want to come and interrupt Hithon's peace, you're welcome to. Gah, I meant to post this last night, but somebody forbade me from staying up late to post Anyways, my thoughts on what happened. Firstly, note the lack of any kill this cycle. Not only was there no execution, but no one died at all. I'm not too certain what this means. Does it mean the the Unjust only want to kill prisoners? Are the rest of the Unjust too busy bonding spren to put in a kill? Either way, I'm confused as why their only kill so far has been on an inactive prisoner. By this cycle, they should have already interrogated a good number of us, so why the lack of kills? Secondly, Arin... Why didn't you tell us? As Drake said, there was not really any reason to keep it a secret, it just makes you look more suspicious. I have to say this is just making me more suspicious of you. And as I have been making careful notes each cycle, I can point you to this statement that you made yourself back in cycle 1: Refuge in audacity, perhaps? This could be potentially explained if, as Drake said, you shoved all your honor to edgedancer when you realized you were being lynched and got it, but if you were aiming for edgedancer from the start... What are you trying, Arin? Yes, I'm voting on you now. I just can't make sense of the way you're acting.

I'm not going to post anymore RP this cycle, as Hithon is...really in a bind. He can't do much to save himself at this point, so one of you lovely people would have to rescue him. My vote and my execution vote remain the same, and these are just some things I wanted to respond to. Ah, Sorry Jon. For me, I was only counting the second day, where there was no discussion until Lopen's post came along. I do remember your discussion posts from Day 1, so I suppose it's unfair to lump you with those that have posted nothing but RP. To Headshot, Ecth and the others, thanks for starting to provide commentary. If X is an eliminator, Y is innocent because he voted on X. Drake, bear in mind that these dichotomies don't always hold true. In SE itself, there is a strategy known as 'bussing' where eliminators might accuse and even lynch other eliminators to earn trust. I particularly remember Aman himself pulling the same trick in a recent game. It's a strategy that has enjoyed a good measure of success, because they expect us to think this way. That doesn't mean it's a invalid assumption, just bear in mind that if Arin turns out to be an eliminator, it doesn't make any of the voters hard-cleared.

I have heard rumors of feruchemists, hemalurgy, and a legendary lerasium bead, Lord Penrod's mythical stash of colored pony toys...Oh, and the treasure of the count of Monte Cristo, of course!

His ears recognized the sound before any of the others, of course. Before Sareth had started screaming, Hithon had been running faster, blood draining from his face. What was this day? A chasmfiend, then voidbringers, now a storming flood in the chasms? He breathed in as much Stormlight as he could spare, using it to fuel his pace. Inwardly he knew he was being stupid. They were in a chasm. No amount of running would have allowed him to outrun a flood. The wise thing to do would have been simply to climb upwards of the cliff face and hope to sit out the torrent. But that would require him slowing to feel the walls, and with the screams of the Voidbringers and the roar of the raging torrent, he could not bring himself to slow down. A voice screamed. Kintas. "Ranatar, Jonly, Raalani, Hithon, everyone who can, grab onto the rope! Leave some space between you, but hold tight!" Hithon growled. What rope??! Kintas' voice had come from ahead, but without his eyes grabbing a rope in the middle of a chasm would require an event such as a hundred chasmfiends marching in unison and singing an ode to someone's magnificence - a lovely, if weird dream. For all he knew, he had already ran past the rope. A hum On his shoulder, his left one. Somehow, he realized what he had to do, and darted left with outstretched arms. To his shock, his fingers brushed against cloth, and with a few quick tugs he confirmed its sturdiness. But how did a rope - Never mind, questions later. For now, he only needed to survive. Clutching a rope so tightly his palms burned, swinging so wildly he felt sick, listening to the fury of the torrent down below, getting stung by the torrential rain, After listening to the Voidbringers growl and curse as they found themselves caught up in the flood, and after listening to the Initiates screaming at each other, shrinking from the sharp drops of rain,Hithon had to work very hard to shake the thought that kept coming back to him. He was going to die. Firstly, seriously guys? An entire day, and all that's posted is RP? I mean sure, RP is great, and I really enjoyed reading it, but where's the discussion? The only people who were analyzing today were Lopen, Joe and Randuir. Last cycle was a whole lot more active than this :/ I want to call out @Hemalurgic_Headshot, @TheSilverDragon, @Jondesu and @Ecthelion III for having the opportunity to post, sometimes more than once, but choosing only to RP. Of course, I get that some of you may only have time for Rp and not discussion, but come on! At least throw a vote? Talk a little? I would want to watch you as Unjust posting RP to seem active but not really contributing. Anyways, I felt that the reasons for lynching Arin weren't that strong, and yes, I was suspicious of how quickly the votes on him piled up. I don't have anything to disagree with in your post, except that I'm going to vote for Arin's lynch. I was holding off last night because I was still chatting with him in PMs, but seeing as he has nothing more to say other than repeating the same things, I'm willing to let him go. I have...nothing else to respond to. Huh. I suppose I'll get a table of reads like Lopen up tomorrow night. For now there doesn't seem to be anything else to say. Oh wait, the bonds! Currently 5 bonds have been formed, meaning that we should begin to see some interesting things happening. The current people with honor above 5 and most likely to be holding spren are Alvron, Drake, Drought, Rae, me, Jondesu, Ecth, Headshot, Mage, Randuir and Lopen. If there's been a Truthwatcher or Windrunner formed already, I would advise starting to scan or block people from among this group to find those with spren. That's about all I have to say? Goodnight.

... Another revolution? Why not? Joe Phattemer. Long live the revolution!!

Hithon did not understand. They had won, had they not? The fiend was dead. And he had helped to bring it down. Stormlight had been freely given, and bruises and wounds and life-threatening injuries alike healed. Food had been passed around. There were beginnings of laughter, and he had had to fight down the sudden surge of camaderie he had felt. Then there had been the arrest. An ugly affair, but before he had time to process it, he had smelt the ozone in the air and heard the chanting. "Voidbringers!!" The shout had come, and suddenly he was in the centre of a storm. Everyone around him was up and moving and shouting. Hithon managed to get to his feet, head jerking around trying to find the calm amidst the panic. Captain Kaladin was shouting at them, he could barely pick out the words. But he understood enough to mean that they had to go, and fast. Growling, Hithon pulled a sheathed dagger into his hand, ready to draw it at a moment's notice, and began running. He hated being taken by surprise. In his job, it would be him holding the element of surprise. And with him blind and forced on the run, he knew with absolute certainty that he would be of no help here. He could only run. Heh. Well. Yes, Lopen, I am trying hard to be helpful. If you've noticed, I have been making it a point to post every single night for this game, a promise I made to myself for my activity. Is that what you mean by trying too hard to be helpful? Seeing as I was only able to post once a day, I try to collect everything that happened in the morning and comment on each of them, as not to miss anything. I am actually liking this system very much, and honestly I feel that I've been doing very well in this game in terms of developing my analysis and arguments as compared to previous game. So...yeah? I'm not sure what to say when being accused of being too helpful Anyway, update on Arin. Arin cannot create PMs while he's in jail. Seeing as how I was the only one to have made a PM with him on cycle 1, he's been talking through me. Of course, we've found that just because he can't PM us doesn't mean we can't PM him, so if you want to talk to Arin, feel free. What's he's basically been saying is that he still suspects Alv, and he has trouble reading Rae, but think she looks suspicious for now. He had no defense for himself, saying that he's already said all that needs to be said in the last cycle and repeating it isn't going to make the situation any better. He's also really confused as to why the Unjust killed Sheep, and thinks that they are all investigating or trying to bond spren. This cycle has been quiet, guys. Try to get some more talk going, yeah?

This town is crazy. Phattemer. (If you can't beat 'em...)

A couple of things I want to say concerning the last cycle: 1. Remember this? Voidbringers count, yeah? Someone owes me 5 broams and a drink! 2. The writeup was great, Aman. But where was the dance party. We were promised a dance party. Right. Onto more serious matters... The Sheep kill. That was weird, as Randuir pointed out, if you're asking why the eliminators would an inactive. The eliminators had literally no reason to kill them, seeing as they were inactive and would not have a spren at all. It doesn't make any sense why they would choose to kill an inactive player instead of everyone else contributing. Of course, if we change the question to "Why would the Unjust kill a jailed player?", the answer seems to be because they could get away with only sending one Unjust - an easy kill. I think that this was the most likely explanation, that perhaps, the other members of the team were doing something else? Second question. What are we to do with Arin? @Alvron @Arraenae, @DroughtBringer, @TheMightyLopen, @A Joe in the Bush, @randuir, @TheSilverDragon. You were the people that voted for Arin's lynch. Now I wish to put this question to you. What exactly do you want with him now? Those of you with reasons, are they strong enough to call for his execution? Some of you were bandwagoning. what do you want to do with him, now that he's in jail? If we leave him alone, do you think the Unjust would pick him off like they did Sheep if he's innocent? And lastly, who are we going after this cycle? If we are to check the inactives, they would be in this order: @The lazy anarchist, @JUQ, @Elbereth, @Quiver. None of those have posted in the last three days. But I would much rather we try to find a target which we can actually debate on and take stands on, so I guess we're dropping Quiver this round? I am still a little suspicious of how the lynch on Arin formed up so quickly and overtook the lynch on Quiver. If Arin turns out to be innocent, it might be worth taking another look at Quiver. Anyways, my vote. I had previously stated suspicions of Ecth and Jon, but their posts have convinced me to lay off them for a bit. Technically, Ecth never really answered the question I first asked him, about why he thought Jondesu was being more helpful than Lopen, but that's probably me being pedantic. I guess I'll be putting my vote on Alvron, then, seeing as he's my only lead from last cycle. Yes, you've given your reasons, and I'll most likely change it before the cycle is over, but still. I'm watching you. Oh, and concerning the bonds... I have been investing all my honor towards on spren for two cycles now, and I haven't got it. Either the particular order is expensive, or someone has it.

Hithon's stormlight had run out. He had been careful. Had tried to use it in only controlled bursts. But getting thrown bodily from the back of an enraged chasmfiend proved to be the final straw. When the other Initiates had managed to get the fiend to smash into something, the fiend had lurched forward alarmingly, and Hithon had been jerked off from his position. He had tried his best to twist himself into a landing position, but it had all happened too fast. He smashed into the ground, having taken an unprepared fall from the height of Urithiru's third storey. it had hurt. But he did not have the luxury of unconsciousness. The spheres he had been carrying had contained enough Stormlight to patch up his broken bones and injuries. He had forced himself to his feet, even as the last of the light washed over his body. The first tired step forward, the light finally winked out, leaving him empty. And even though the light must have healed his major injuries, he still felt every single cut and bruise and ache screaming in his body. It hurt. But he had gritted his teeth and forced himself to walk towards the thundering roars. He knew, at least, that their efforts had not been in vain. The roars sounded noticeably more anguished and weaker than enraged now. It was failing. As he picked his way painfully through the fallen rocks, his foot came across a body, who groaned at the kick. Hithon frowned, kneeling. Quickly, he placed a hand on the person's chest, feeling a strong heartbeat. Efficiently, he searched the person, coming across a bow clutched in a death-grip in the man's hand. Shinon. The man groaned again - he seemed to be half conscious. Hithon groaned. Must he? He knelt, hooking his elbows under the man's armpits. This maneuver was difficult, and much easier when he had his eyes. Nevertheless, he was familiar enough with the movements that it wasn't too awkward. After maneuvering Shinon into a position where he was draped over his shoulders, he began to painfully walk forward towards the noises. Towards the other Initiates, hopefully. Towards help. Oh, it was painful. But he had lived a life used to pain. After a time of walking, footsteps came running up. Hands lifted Shinon from his shoulder, and a comforting, soothing voice was speaking to him, thanking him, telling him that he had done enough. The stranger. Kintas. He couldn't hear what the man was saying. Something was pushed into his hands. A pouch, filled with round spheres. Hithon gasped. Then suddenly, Light. Strength. Relief. All the bruises that he had been carrying seemed to melt away, all the pain - gone. Relief. He could stand straighter, he no longer had to gasp for every breath. Light. "Thank you..." He gasped. Above them, the chasmfiend screamed. Hithon jerked his head up, although he couldn't have hoped to see what had caused it. The fiend wasn't dead yet. And he knew - he himself was living proof that a creature wounded and frightened would strike back twice as hard if not quickly subdued. He still wondered why he had charged out with Teresh earlier. But it didn't matter, for now. He had started out to do one job. And it was time to finish it. Hithon drew two more poisoned daggers with wicked blades, turned calmly towards the source of the roars, and started running. Time to end this. Don't worry @TheMightyLopen, Hithon's got your back @Jondesu, you got two new patients.

We still get to kill each other right? Also, since we're talking about rights, don't Elims have a right to die just as much as the rest of us as well? Equal treatment and all...

Drake, your RP makes me really, really happy 1. Aman, you're going to have your work cut out for you integrating all our stories into a coherent writeup (At least, if that's the path you take. It would be interesting to have one integrated story from Kal's point of view.) 2. (Hithon suddenly feels the extreme urge to drop his weapons and run away screaming like a little girl) ...Aman, You're a sociopath. Calling it now, we're going to face Odium himself at one point. Five emerald broams and a drink says so. Now on to analysis. .. So firstly, we're just letting Sheep be? From my count, there are 2 votes to kill and none to pardon. Thing is...What do we have to gain from letting Sheep live? I've looked at the arguments, and perhaps the main point is that Sheep may be a villager, and if so, they count as one more that the Unjust have to kill. That's it... the argument for killing Sheep is that we get to know their alignment (Although to be honest that doesn't tell us much, as it was a lynch decided upon by the village in general) and the possibility that Sheep may be an inactive eliminator that can still be used. Right now, we're doing absolutely nothing with Sheep. Are we just going to let them be? Calling you out for bandwagoning Pointing out that your first and third points contradict. Your first point says that they would like to focus the lynch on Sheep and Quiver, while your third point says that they will be wanting to focus the lynch on players with honor or suspicion. Which one do you think is more likely? As to your second point, there have been approximately 10 players gaining maximum honor for the past two cycles, by my count. Doesn't really help narrow it down. But for responding, I'll be taking my vote off you. Thanks for responding to this, Jon. I admit, I was latching to this simply because I haven't had any other leads so far. I'll back off on my suspicion of you for now. Well, Arin. I don't think it's a matter of who's active or inactive. In this game, almost everyone is fairly active. I personally don't think that the others are voting on you because you're active and asking questions. They're voting on you because your posts themselves seem suspicious. So what I'm trying to say is, don't blame the meta of this forum for why you're being voted on? Because it probably isn't. I do wonder, though, at the speed that Arin accrued so many votes. Sure, there was Alv's vote on him early in the cycle, but the last five votes all came within the last 14 hours. That really is quite fast. First was Rae voting because she feels that a lot of what Arin says doesn't add up. Joe and Lopen vote on him for his certainty of Unjust numbers in a game where no one can afford to be too certain. Lopen has the additional reason of Arin voting on Alv directly after he posts his thoughts that Arin and Alv might be teammates. Drought bandwagons unabashedly. Randuir decides to vote on Arin to prevent a draw. Also, to note, Joe brings up something that I've overlooked, that Alv said he had been asking many questions in his GM PM, even as he's asking lots of questions here. @Alvron, care to clarify this? Back to the Arin lynch, what I wanted to note was that these votes came pretty fast. it feels too much like a bandwagon to draw attention away from the other prominent lynch candidate. :/ Something doesn't feel right about this lynch. For that I'm going to throw my vote at Quiver.

Detachedly, Hithon wondered what had come over him. Was this really the time? Perhaps not. He was charging a chasmfiend, after all. He was charging a chasmfiend. SMASH He gasped as something huge smashed just beside him, sending him lurching to the side and almost throwing him to the ground. He heard grunts, shouts, as his fellow Initiates engaged the Fiend. Regaining his balance, he continued running, until he heard someone scream his name, which caused him to stop just as another leg smashed into the ground right in front of him, flinging him backwards. Disoriented, he still managed to land on his feet, but it was too late. His confidence had been shaken. All of a sudden, he realized where he was, and what he was doing, and everything that was happening around him. Remember how blind people hated unfamiliar surroundings and sudden moves? He was an idiot. Now that he was still, the legs were everywhere. Pounding the ground around him like hammers from every direction, sending shocks up his feet. He could not know where the next foot would land. Someone ran past him. A roar like twenty screams pierced his ears. An arrow whistled past his ear. He froze. There was no other excuse. Amidst the thundering of chasmfiend legs, it’s guttural scream, and the screams of the other initiates weaving between its legs, he froze. He heard the clash of weapons, screams of pain, defiant battlecries. He heard running footsteps, the chasmfiend's defeaning shrieks, and - the footsteps were running right at him... A scream - “Hithon, MOVE!!!!!” In his confusion, he did not recognize the voice, nor the body that slammed into him. He let out a suprised gasp, and all the remaining air in his lungs was knocked out of him when he was crushed to the ground by an unknown body. Then he felt the earth shudder. Where he had been standing, another leg would have pierced his head like a knife through cherries. His unknown saviour picked himself up and ran back into the fray. Hithon sat himself up, mind still spinning. He was lost. Totally. All around him was blackness, blackness and screams, and the constant thundering of legs. Constant, earth-shaking, rhythmic. "Blind man!!" Was that another voice? It seemed to come from so far away. He tuned the voice out, trying to understand why that word stuck in his mind. Rhythmic. Was it? Was it rhythmic? As he stood and listened, he thought he caught something. Something that he couldn’t put into words. It fluttered at the edges of his mind, and with a growl he snatched at it. There was something...The chasmfiend legs. Their movement couldn’t be random, could it? 18 pairs of legs, they had to move...in a pattern. Even flailing as this one was… The falling of the legs wouldn’t be random. He felt a hum. There was a pattern. "Hithon!!!!" With that realization, he twisted, and felt the ground where he had just been crack with the weight of a chasmfiend leg. The footsteps that had been running towards him came to a stop, and even though he could not see who they were, he felt their disbelief radiate at him. He smiled. He saw them now, in his mind’s eye. The eighteen legs on his side, moving. He heard the thuds He knew where they were going to land, even though he wasn't sure exactly how. It was...almost instinctive, and if he had tried to explain it he would be grabbing at words. He sensed the pattern. And so when the next leg struck the ground, he was already leaping into the air, higher than any man had a right to be jumping. A jump fuelled by pure light. He landed on a leg joint, perhaps, felt the rock-hard scales under his hands and feet. Feeling below him, his fingers found the edges of carapace and the unprotected joint of the leg beneath him. With a vicious smile, he pulled a poisoned dagger from his belt and slashed an angry line across the joint. It didn’t cut all the way through, but it would be enough. He clung on to the part of the leg he was holding, smelling the fumes released as the poison in his dagger ate way at the flesh, felt the vicious jerk of the chasmfiend’s pain, imagined the leg withering away. He had no idea what had happened underneath, how he had seen that pattern. But he was grateful for it, and he would use it. Holding on determinedly to the writhing leg, he made his slow, torturous climb onto the chasmfiend’s back. Now he could make a difference. Hiya @Hemalurgic_Headshot! Didn't want you getting lonely all the way up there! Mind if I join you for a spot of Chasmfiend Rodeo? Also, anyone can fill in for the spot of Hithon's rescuer. He was disoriented, so he doesn't know who he was. Please be kind enough to identify yourself Anyone can claim it. @Drake Marshall? @Arraenae? @Jondesu? @randuir? Do try not to all save me at once though, I know I'm popular, but leave some help for others In terms of discussion, nothing much has changed since my post this afternoon - Ah never mind, Arin ninja-ed me. Uh...Arin. You're right, your post is confusing. No, wait. After rereading twice, I finally get what you're going at. So the first thing you said was about prisoners not getting honor, yeah? And that from honor counts, we should be able to deduce what spren the prisoner had bonded by taking his total honor count, subtracting the price of the spren, and subtracting one from every cycle? At least, that's how I'm understanding your idea. It's...a tricky one. For one, we simply don't know the prices of spren. Secondly, there are going to be other people gaining and losing bonds as well, I'm not sure how accurate this deduction is going to be. Secondly, you made a prediction on the Unjust activity based on whether the Unjust could investigate on cycle 1. I notice is that you still seem very sure that there are 4 Unjust. I don't know, but your certainty is weird, even after being called out on it. Other than that, the flow of actions seem solid? You seem to be trying to explain why there's hasn't been a kill this cycle, am I right? And your answer is that they're busy investigating people. Is that right?

Finally steady, Hithon walked over to where he heard the rest of the group fall. By his count, there should have been at least 12 Initiates on the chasm floor, with 6 more above. All around him, he heard the sounds of people making their preparations. Rannatar, the stormwarden, had been outlining a battle plan, which he had to admit amused him. This stormwarden was much, much more than he seemed. “We’ll split up in three groups. One group keeps the beasts attention while the other two flank it and attack its legs. If the creature decides to go after one of the flanking groups, they’ll take over the distracting role and those that had been distracting it go after the legs instead.” A pop of a stopper and a familiar smell made him frown, twisting his head towards the direction of the smell. Blackbane. Someone else here was using Blackbane poison. Interesting. Another Ghostblood in their midst? Briefly, Hithon wondered if he would be recognized. Probably not, unless this one was particularly high-ranking. The Ghostbloods had always loved their secrecy. Aside from actually being recognized by someone who knew him, the lack of a tattoo on his wrist kept him safe. "Well that was the worst experience I've ever gone through." A hoarse voice wheezed beside him. Shinon. An archer, he believed. "I didn't think anything could top being strung from a tower in the middle of a Highstorm." He paused, then continued, "Regardless, it seems that was only the first lesson of the day. I know my bow won't be much help, so I'll stick with keeping it distracted, maybe try to blind it if possible." Hithon raised an eyebrow at the man's general direction. "Blind things can still be dangerous," he remarked dryly. "But here -" At this, he reached into his pack and handed Shinon a small vial. "Dip your arrows in this, and aim for the eyes. Something to. increase your effectiveness, if you will." Without waiting for thanks, he strode to the front of the group, listening for Balthazar or Teresh's voice. And there he heard an earnest, strident voice giving a speech. The preacher. The Shin. Sareth? He managed to catch the tail-end of his speech, "Consider the ant my friends, as we fight today. May the Truth shine within you!!" ...What is this...ant? Some Shin animal? A hand clapped his shoulder, the owner of the strident voice. "Wasn't that motivating?" No. Hithon bit down a sarcastic response, settling for a curt nod. He found his place beside Balthazar and Teresh. Oh yes, Rannatar's plan was all well and good, and under ordinary circumstances he would have joined the flanking group. Today though. Today he was going to unleash the ferocity he had kept within him for too long. For once, the darkness was silent. He did not hear who it was that said "GO", but he heard the charge begin. Smiling underneath his hood, he pulled out two daggers and leapt into a run, only a few steps behind Teresh. Time to kill a chasmfiend. @Magestar @Drake Marshall @TheMightyLopen @randuir This is excellent. I look forward to that confrontation If any of you want to describe Hithon's fighting style later, He will be running between the legs. First he will be harried, running desperately and trying not to be killed because he cannot see the legs coming, then suddenly he will stop running like a chicken, stop, and somehow manage to predict where the next leg will land, and manage to climb it. He will be climbing one of them, stabbing at the joints. Tthe first opportunity he gets he is going to launch himself atop the chasmfiend and start stabbing at any weak spots he feels. Joints, areas underneath plating, face, eyes, you name it. Anyone want to join him upside? the view's going to be great! Well. The view will be great for you. Not Hithon though. He's still blind. Ah, thank you, Shqueeves. I will be taking my interrogation vote off you and placing it on a far more worthy receiver. Randuir You do deserve to die for that. Are you a mutton for punishment or something? Alright, seriously now I would agree with this. While lynching an inactive is all well and good, and my preferred target, the fact remains that if we do lynch Quiver, we'll still be left in the same position next cycle as we started this one - having nothing to go on and wondering who to lynch next. Have there been any other inactives? According to my chart, @The lazy anarchist has not been posting at all since cycle 1. Are we to go after them next? As has been noted in many other games, when we have already decided on a target from the start of the cycle, we stifle discussion for the remainder of the cycle. So even if all of you are dead set on lynching Quiver, please at least discuss the other players. For example, my bad gut read on Ecth and Jondesu. Does anyone have any further thoughts on this? Randuir, Shqueeves, Assassin, Drake, Arinian, do you have any other thoughts on other players other than Quiver? Because right now the main thought seems to be 'I;ll vote on Quiver until someone more suspicious comes up." Stop waiting. Start stating who you suspect, and what you think of other people's suspicions, if that's alright. You don't have to take off your vote, but be prepared to change if necessary. For this cycle, I will be asking Ecth if I have misread his posts. @Ecthelion III

Hithon raised his hood over his head, a dark smile crossing his face. He knew what Balthazar and Teresh still thought of him. Even as they had discussed strategies last night, he had noticed their hesitation in giving him any significant roles. Perhaps it was now time to prove that blind did not mean helpless. He was not unduly terrified. Having already predicted this the day before, he had taken pains to prepare himself. His belt was full of pouches, tools of his old trade. In each pouch was some powder or deadly poison. Each of the six knives strapped to separate parts of his body had been dipped with a corrosive poison. He did not know how useful they would be against chasmfiend scales, but he had more than one trick up his sleeve. He was a man that had trained with Ghostbloods. He was as ready as he would ever be. When the first Initiate was pushed screaming off the cliff, Hithon took care to measure how long it took for the scream to trail off, to hear the 'I'm okay!' echo up. It was a long drop. A hundred and ten feet by his reckoning. Alright. Normally, it would be suicide, especially as he couldn't plan his landing spot without his sight. But he had Stormlight this time. He couldn't help but smirk as he strode purposefully to the edge, gently pushing past the other Initiates. He hadn't done this for so long. Standing right at the edge, he spread his arms wide, leaned forward, flashed a smile, and allowed himself to fall. Freedom. Wind whipping past his ears. Whooping. Laughing. He kept his body tight in a perfect swan dive, as he flew head first towards the ground. Even as he reveled in the freefall, exhilarated, his mind worked furiously, counting down the feet to the bottom of the tower. For several long, glorious seconds, it was just him suspended perfectly in the air, unrestrained, free. Finally, when he judged he was around ten feet off the ground, he tucked and forced himself into a backflip. He whipped back gracefully in the air, his body taut, and finally smashed into the ground, landing on a knee, a foot and a fist. A landing to make Kaladin himself weep. He shattered his kneecap and his wrist, of course. No matter how amazing it must have looked, it really had been a crazy stunt. But even as the Stormlight surged around his injuries, setting them straight, and he finally staggered to his feet...he couldn't stop himself from laughing. @Magestar @Drake Marshall As far as strategies go, Mage and I have decided long before we settled our characters that we were going to charge the chasmfiend. Yes, this was before I decided my character was blind. This is going to be fun, isn't it? And well, if you think that that stunt I pulled above is familiar, let me assure you, it's justified Please mention how awesome I am in your next RPs Hithon normally isn't one to attack directly, but he's going to be right beside Balthazar as the first two to charge the chasmfiend. He still isn't one to engage directly, he strikes at weak points with his poisoned daggers. He's going to need someone to shout directions to him. I'll throw him into the actual fight tomorrow, okay? Just imagine me charging at the forefront twirling my daggers. Right, onto analysis. Randuir, even though I was going to do this anyway, try not to rely too much on me, okay? Hmph. Hm. I think the most significant thing we learned last cycle was Aman's rule clarification that we don't need to kill all the Unjust to win, only imprison them. Other things that happened were Quiver and Sheep informing us that they were dropping out, and us agreeing to lynch Sheep based on the fact that they will be inactive. I don't have much to say about the discussion last cycle though, really. I'll just be sharing my thoughts on that cycle. Of that cycle, the most active were Lopen, Randuir and Jondesu and Drake. I have a gut trust of Lopen and Randuir, as they have actually been trying to be helpful to the village. Drake also has been fairly active in discussion, even though some of his posts were solely RP. I'm sorry Jon, but I'm still going to be a bit wary of you. Thing is, I make it a point never to make or believe any alignment claims in PMs, for we cannot trust PMs as of this point without substantiation, and to claim is just redundant. Thus I was surprised that you were still claiming villager in our PM. This along with Lopen's argument that you claimed Honorable in-thread last cycle and promised to be open in PMs on cycle 1 does make it seem like he's trying to be open. I do realize that this accusation is colored from my own stance on PMs, though, so I'm not going to interrogate him yet, only watch him. Another player I'm mildly interested in is Ecth. He asked a question on whether the Unjust would want to encourage discussion or not, and how active they would be in said discussions. At that point of time, I flagged it as a question I did not quite know how to answer. But as Lopen answered afterwards, there is more than one member of the elim team, and to think that all members would unanimously do the same thing in thread would be a little silly. After that, he threw a vote on Lopen for voting on Jondesu, who Ecth felt was encouraging game discussion. As I pointed out in my post earlier, Lopen has actually been far more active and helpful than Jon, which makes your claim a little weird. Well, we'll see. I know that there are several other people who posted last cycle, but there's nothing about Mage, Assassin, Alvron, Arin and so forth that rings any alarms or elicit trust from me, so sorry guys, but there's nothing much I have to say about you. On the Sheep lynch, Jondesu first voted on them because he wanted to vote, and he had no particular person in mind. And although he claimed his vote was justified later by Sheep dropping out, Sheep hadn't done so when he first placed his vote. I am just finding this a little amusing. The second vote was thrown from Joe, who wanted to add some weight to Jon's vote and force Jon's hand. After that, I believe, Sheep announced he was dropping out, and the rest of the votes - Assassin's, Mage and Drake's all cited his dropping out as reasons to lynch him. There's nothing really much to deduce from here. For what it's worth, I don't blame Jon for poke voting Sheep. It was the way you phrased it, perhaps. This vote won't really do anything anyway but let me just throw it on a player that looks like they might respond<-- Paraphrased. Just understand that your vote matters, Jon. This is how it matters. Shqueeves. I have nothing on you, which is why I'm putting your name in orange. I'm hoping to hear your thoughts on the game so far. Would you want to execute or pardon Sheep this round? @Shqueeves And finally, the spren. Interestingly two bonds were formed this cycle. I put all my honor towards one Order, but did not get anything. I suppose that not all spren are that cheap? Right. So last cycle, we lynched Sheep. As it was lynching an inactive, with several members of the lynch stating just that, there really isn't much revealed as far as voting patterns go. Sheep was a clear lead, with 5 votes, while every other member brought up for the lynch had...1. @Amanuensis If I get the rules right, this cycle we can have three colors going for the lynches, yeah? Orange for those we're going to interrogate, and green or red depending on whether we want to execute or pardon Sheep. On the topic of executions and pardons, I'm leaning on execution, mainly because pardoning someone who has dropped out of the game isn't really going to do much. I believe it might be better to execute them to find out their actual alignment. Hm. Not that I feel it will reveal very much, seeing as there was no clear reason to lynch Sheep other than them going to become inactive. I took a look at the votes last cycle, and there was no one else close to being lynched except for Jondesu. Hm. No. At no time was there much chance that Jondesu would be lynched over Sheep, so I don't think there was a ploy of any sort. Still, there are no reasons to pardon, and a weak reason to execute. I'm going to say Sheep for now, although if a case can be made for not doing so, I can reconsider. Gnight guys!

"My name is Czarn,", said the earnest voice in front of him. "as I believe I said earlier -" "I am Teresh", another voice interrupted, subtle irony coloring his voice. "Lovely weather we're having, isn't it?" Before Hithon could respond, Czarn cleared his throat. "Excuse me, sir. I was talking to this man." Two people? Well then. First things first. He gestured to his tattered uniform. "Greetings. First of all, I will...require the services of someone to help me mend my uniform." With a wry smile, he gestured to his eyes. "As you may perhaps have observed, there are some things I cannot do. Could one of you direct me to a seamstress?" Secondly, the thing that he knew was on all their minds. With a vague gesture of his hand, he began, "You have heard what our...esteemed leader has said." Sensing the question on their minds, he held up his hand. A frown. "No, not the murder. Don't concern yourselves over the murderer. I myself will begin my own investigations. I'm talking about the Greatshell." He listened to Czarn's sharp intake of breath, and Teresh' seeming lack of audible response. A smile crossed his lips. "No, I do not believe it was a figure of speech. Being unable to read faces, I have trained myself to listen to the intonations of each voice. I do not think our captain was joking." He straightened, leaning close, knowing that it would make them uncomfortable. "I intend to survive this training, fellow initiates. I do not care if you do not consider me a friend, or if you find yourself repulsed by me. What I need is someone I can trust to hold my back if ever we are to run against a Greatshell. What are your thoughts?" With that, he nodded sharply, and took a step back, awaiting their response. Don't concern yourselves over the murderer. I myself will begin my own investigations. Had he truly meant those words? Only last night he had convinced himself that this was not his fight, that he would have no part in whatever mess happened here. Why then was he saying this? Because you can. You do have something the others do not. You have the skills, you will soon have the ability. And you have them. It was true. His past life...it had given him many skills. Skills which he had honed, and practiced even when his world went dark. They were a part of him. They set him slightly above the others. His skills in invisibility, in noticing things that most others do not. His talent for spying and his resourcefulness. And...them. The Darkness. He hated them, and they loved him. He was a puppet for them, and they laughed at his torment. But they could be useful. When it was announced that Lomot had died, he had felt their dark pleasure. They did not want the Radiants reformed. His own personal Braize, then, would surely be attracted to those who sought to do its will. He had already noticed how the deepness laughed when that man, Jonly, was near. In a way, his greatest curse could be his greatest asset in detecting the evil in the hearts of others. They set him apart. And if he did not use these skills to protect people... He...Well. He never would have lost his eyes, for one. The last time he had tried to save someone, his world went dark and the shadows descended. Could he help someone again? Did he have to? He found that he did not know. The shadows danced. Finally, a voice tore his attention away from his introspection. One of them, Teresh or Czarn...they must have come to a decision. He turned to see what they would say. @Drake Marshall @Magestar Jon, the thing about day 1 lynches is that yes, everyone throws out poke votes, and yes, most of them don't come to anything. But what I'm trying to say is that we can change that. We don't have to throw out a vote, wait for someone to get on, then retract it immediately. You say you wanted to vote on someone whom you knew would show up and speak, but you didn't have anything else to say. That's typical poke-vote logic, and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm not accusing you of that. I definitely understand what you mean when you say there's nothing to go on and there's no one worth actually accusing. What I personally want is for you to vote with a question. See my mention of you in my earlier post, for example. Poke vote all you want, but can we at least make sure that our votes accomplish something besides getting someone else to post? I don't understand this, Ecth. You say that the Unjust would try to kill the most active villagers, which I concede is a fair point, but then you say Jondesu has been trying to promote game discussion from the very beginning, thus you suspect Lopen and Drake. However, the way I've been seeing it, Lopen and Drake have been the most active in game discussion! They started from cycle 1, while Jon has only started discussing this cycle. So while I get you voting for Lopen because you believe Jondesu is in the right, the reason you stated doesn't really make sense. As for my stance on lynching inactives, see below. I myself have been keeping track in a spreadsheet. By my count, though, I would say that there were only 3 players who did not earn any honor last cycle? I would be amenable to exchanging this list with you over PM and seeing how well it matches up. I...guess I support this strategy? It's probably a good idea to remove the inactives, due to the pardon/execute votes mentioned. There's also the fact that inactive eliminators can still be used to make kills, if I'm not mistaken. It's probably a good idea to begin pruning early. Other than that. there's really nothing much to go on besides asking each other questions, I guess. I have a mild suspicion read on Jon for some things he has said (Not the voting thing), and mild trusts on Lopen, Randuir and Drake. Nothing much beyond that. I'd throw a vote on Sheep, but it seems that they're getting lynched anyway. I'm still open to PMs and stuff. EDITED because Aman gave me a storming heart attack by ninjaing me while I wrote this post and making me think the cycle was over, thus posting before I was actually done >>, Seeing as no one else is online and reading, I just went back to working on it.

Firstly, Aman's rule clarification changes things. It means that we don't necessarily have to know the alignments of all the people in jail! As long as we lock up enough people, there's a good enough chance we can hit a significant chunk of the elim team inside No Rp this post, seeing as how I'm still waiting for someone to respond to my prompt in the earlier post. @Magestar, @Drake Marshall, I believe you both have expressed interest? Anyway, on to analysis. Lopen, that was not what I was trying to say. What I was saying is that of the three reasons I showed that they could lose a spren (And Aman has confirmed that there are no other ways), all three reasons have very high chances of being Unjust! 1) Losing a spren through faction action. Definitely elim. 2) Dustbringer killing two villagers. 50/50 odds of being an eliminator. 3) Losing spren through inactivity. Less of a chance, yes, but possibility of being an eliminator ploy. As all three options of losing a spren show a high possibility of being eliminator, isn't it safer to be suspicious of them and imprison them anyway? So you feel that the encouragement of covering your bases with spren is a more eliminator type strategy than village, Jon? I'm not sure. Anyways, if it was, I don't think that discussion led to any conclusive decisions. People will still be doing what they personally think its best. And concerning the discussion to RP ratio, I feel like it's still the same people discussing C1 that are discussing now, heh. Sure, poke votes have been thrown around by others, but mainly discussion has been led by Lopen and Arinian. Newcomers to the discussion is you, Jon, so cheers! On the topic of lynches, as has been said many times, a lynch without threat is silly. And Joe called you out on that, so I won't bother. But also, as Hael noted in LG28, poke votes shouldn't be just votes for the sake of votes. If you must throw a vote, at least ask a question for when the person returns. That way you actually do gain information rather than just throwing out a vote for the sake of it, believing that there would be no actual lynch. I would throw a vote on you right now and ask you a question, for example, what are your thoughts on Lopen? Except that you currently have a vote on you already. Please do answer the question though? @Jondesu I myself believe that their behaviour would be closer to what Drake describes below. There are a *lot* of reasons for not posting besides to go under the radar. First of all, Drake, would you consent to being my Rp partner this cycle? Second. I'm more inclined to go with your theory than Arinian's, because while they might not actually bond, I see no reason that they would not want to try to earn honor, even if only to to keep up appearances. Thirdly, Well, i don't have much to comment on your new theory. It's just the third theory of what the Unjust might do that has been proposed. Valid, and good for reference, but hard to actually prove. *shrug. It's a good theory, though. Right, so four accusations here. Alvron, Arinian, Randuir and Jondesu. Both Arin and Lopen suspect Alvron The issue on the table -They both wonder about how he openly claims to be saving his honor. Lopen is guessing that Alvron is the reason Arin might understand the rules so well. Arin suspects that Alvron is simply being too open and thus it's a ploy to gain trust. Perhaps amusingly, Arin and Randuir are both under suspicion for being very insightful. I agree with this. Both of them are new-ish players who have demonstrated good skill at playing the games so far. Randuir in particular has impressed me for his frequency of posting and regular advice. Arin has also a reputation of flying under the radar in most games, but being a very good player. It's not impossible that they might be elims, but insight? I believe they have both demonstrated insight since they joined, and that it isn't necessarily a product of secret questions asked in a doc. The case on Jondesu is marginally stronger, I suppose. Amusingly, Lopen suspects him for trying to hard to seem open, such as claiming honorable, and claiming that he will share his spren targets. The other marginally more solid reason is Jondesu's weak vote. Which...really isn't enough, considering the amount of poke votes that get thrown around every first cycle. Was his vote weak? Sure. Could he be an eliminator? Sure. But this reason isn't enough to get me to join you in that vote, Uh, Drought, no one can spy on PMs yet, seeing as no bonds have been formed. That is, unless you're referring to MR19? In which case holding grudges is not really a good idea in SE And finally, my vote? as it stands, Sheep leads the vote, with two votes, while Silver, Quiver, Jondesu, Alv and Arin have 1 each. I still don't have much in way of reads. When I think about actual discussion, it seems to be mostly the same people talking last cycle, with the new addition of Jondesu. For the others...poke votes, with some little justification thrown in? Sigh. I'll vote tomorrow. Goodnight.

He was up. Finally. Painfully. Well. There was no pain left, yes. The Light had healed all his cuts, his bruises and wounds. He felt as good as he had ever been. His eyes...they still saw nothing but darkness, stormlight floating in its midst, and the occasional shadow lurking beyond the Light. Why? Why didn't the Light restore his eyes too? They were wounds too, weren't they? Were the wounds simply too old to heal? In any case, he had gotten up, and was fumbling with the rope at his waist. After managing to unknot it, he ran a hand over his new uniform, feeling all the cuts and tears in the cloth. He frowned. Being blind had not hindered much. He had taught himself many skills that he had while sighted. Sewing...was not one of the skill he could learn. Briefly, he wondered if he could get someone to fix up the new uniform. Listening intently, brushing his feet in a circle around him, he tried to ascertain as to whether he was alone on the walls. His foot bumped into a leg. Ah. Turning in that general direction, he offered a brief nod. Kaladin's words were still swimming in his mind. Someone had murdered the first initiate. Lomot. Apparently he had been on his way back from the party when he was ambushed and killed by a Shardblade. Hithon felt like laughing. They were all initiates here, were they not? Was one of the initiates influential enough to have procured a Shardblade? A Blade that could buy a small kingdom? In any case, he wondered whether to be happy that he had been right. He had predicted that disaster would strike the gathering, and it had. But enough of this, before his mind went down...darker paths. He turned to the initiate beside him, and nodded again, this time speaking. "Hithon Thindir. Who do I have the presumed honor of addressing?" Anyone want to come talk to little old me? Come be Hithon's victim conversational partner! I didn't post any discussion earlier with my RP because at that point in time I had nothing much to say. Thank you Randuir for restarting discussion, I guess. So last cycle, there was only RP and some suggested strategies, and there was no death this cycle except for Lomot. As Silver said above me, we don't really have much to go on. The idea of tracking honor was brought up, and there seemed to be general agreement. I myself have been making a spreadsheet to track honor the same way I did in MR17. There was also some little discussion about whether to spend all your honor on one spren or two cover your bases, which I felt wasn't entirely agreed on. That's okay. Everyone should have the choice tod o what they want. The people who were making an effort to discuss last cycle, I feel, were Lopen, Drake, Joe, Arin. Drake was the first to ponder eliminator behaviour, on whether they would want to bond a spren as fast as possible, or whether they would hang back and not bond carelessly, due to the faction action making them lose their bonds. He suggested that we should be careful of those who had a bond, but lost it. I think that's a pretty solid idea, and worth keeping in mind. Lopen thought that the eliminators would want to bond as fast as possible, being no disadvantage that he could see. He presumed that some would focus on getting spren, while the rest killed. He agreed that people who lost their bonds are good targets for investigation, although he cautions that there may be other reasons for this. Personally, I disagree with this. The only way one would lose a spren (without dying) is by 1)Being an eliminator who uses the action, 2)Being a trigger-happy Dustbringer, and 3)Not feeding your spren enough honor. Option 1 is obvious. Option 2 should be fairly easy to verify. For option 3, it's a simple as checking the person's activity. If he went inactive for a cycle, well, then it's probably innocent. I personally would still be suspicious, though, as it could be a ploy to throw us off and a good excuse to lose a spren. Anyway, Lopen continues to suggest that the village bond Dustbringer spren, in part to keep it from the Unjust, in part to have a chance to kill them without using executions. Randuir gave a short suggestion that in late-game where the number of players are fewer, those without spren bonds could become suspect. That's a fair point, but it would have to drop to around 10 players for that suggestion to actually take effect. Then I came in and pointed out that the interrogation lynch by it's nature has lessened its use as a tool for finding information quickly, as we essentially need a two-step lynch to find out a player's alignment. Building on that, I suggested that the best tools for information for us would be the Truthwatcher role, the Lightweaver role, and the Dustbringer role, and advised working towards these three. Next is Joe, who in his RP discounted the use of most spren, focusing instead on Honorspren, reflectionspren and inkspren. He argues that a Windrunner role aided by a Truthwatcher role could become a very good team. In his RP, he indicates that he finds the Elsecaller role interesting as well. Arin posted some of his thoughts in regard to eliminator actions. He suggested that the eliminators would 1)Not bond at all and use their faction action, or 2)Split the team into those who would bond and those who used the action. He thought that the eliminators would find the Dustbringer role especially useful, and that the eliminators would try to take turns passing the role between themselves. He also noted that the Eliminators would attempt to go after the Edgedancer role to escape from prison. He ends his advice by telling the village to bond everything, and shares some thoughts on the prices of spren based on how important he perceives them. Lastly, he makes a point about how useful the Lightweaver role could be in spying on the prison PMs. I believe those were the main discussion points of the last cycle, and if I have missed anything, feel free to correct me. Based on this alone, I have not found anything in particular that says 'village' or 'eliminator'. It's simply too early to tell. Hopefully more players will start posting discussion. For this cycle, I don't have much to say yet. Some poke votes being thrown around. The only one I found of note was Darkness, who was suspicious of Assassin for 'asking questions and not posting this cycle'. Darkness, it was still early in that cycle. There are still a bunch of people who haven't posted either. Are you suspicious of them all? There's honestly not much to discuss this cycle, is there? Anyways, I'll be active in PMs if anyone wants to ask me anything. Gnight!

Rin joins for one simple reason: Why not? Also he's interested in that treasure of Monte Cristo.

<Transmission received> <static> This is Mi9. Agents, do you read me? This is an EMERGENCY TRANSMISSION to every single member of the agency, both dead and alive. Did you seriously think this was over? Wait, what're you - <crashhh> <static> <sounds of a scuffle> The game is over, your part is done! <Muffled curses> Treason! Treason! <How does a bas-> <Throat clearing> Ahem. This is Doc. Doc12. Mi9 was not very willing to be retired... <muffled banging> So hey! Doc here. Hi Seeing as Sheep still hasn’t gotten their GM thoughts up, I thought ‘why not?’ and decided to post my Co-GM thoughts. (Mi9 has always been more efficient anyways) Anyways, while Sheep procrastinates his thoughts on the mechanics, I’ll just share my thoughts on the game itself. Firstly, this game was a blast to GM. Honestly. It was my second time co-GMing, and I enjoyed it so much. The inactivity was very low, and all you guys seemed to be having fun, which made me immensely happy. This game kept me up to 4am at night. Hah So. This was one of the extremely rare games where both the GM and the co-GM are both bonkers, and the first game to have the GMs openly declare war on each other. Wasn’t that fun? It started simply, when I vowed to give each agent a personalized message as Mi9, hoping it’d increase the immersiveness of the game and make the messages a little bit more than just. ‘Order”, “Order confirmed”. Then Sheep started ninja-ing me, and I started getting a little passive-aggressive in the missive writeups And the amazing thing was you players went along with it! You engaged with us, and allowed for some really amusing back and forths! I remember when I first tried to convince Aman he was crazy, argued with Mage over his Ahst-rail-yun accent, watched Seonid conspire to blow us all up, and engaged Stick in a hashtag battle that resulted in every single message in the GM PM being hashtags. There were dozens of little touches that made the game such a gem. Mage and his amusing missives, Zootopia, Dani and her chocolate, Drake insisting on starting his messages with ‘Marshall law’, Bard and his fondness for cudgels, and Joe trolling his fellow eliminators. I actually got Mage, Lopen and Drake to distrust normal sheep! Thank you, all of you, for making the game fun. If it wasn’t for you engaging right back, it would have just been me sending these amusing messages but getting nothing in reply - not very encouraging. Ah, and Sheep! N! You were fantastic, absolutely fantastic. Another GM might have rolled their eyes at my antics and ignored them, but you! You started arguing right back in PMs, and soon we had a nice little rivalry set up between N and Mi9. You not only tolerated my antics, but you actively engaged with them. Ha! Remember when I first got Mage to shoot you, and we declared open war on each other? We started hopping through the GM PMs of every single player and having a mini-debate in each one. It became a competition with very real stakes! And then I went ahead and posted that emergency transmission in thread, which infuriated you to no end. We decided to split our writeups. We conspired in Discord to actually encourage this war, and we decided that you would be evil, and I good, setting up the pieces for a glorious clash. It was an honour, Sheep. It was amazing, heh. Making a story out of nothing. Making Hamilton references to annoy Sheep. (There were Star Wars, Batman and Captain America references too) Staying up to 4am working on the final writeup to make it a worthy send-off. Snarking with players in their PMs. Realizing that we both shipped Desmond/Yiferien. Realizing we both shipped Aries and Mi9 (Yeaaah, that came out of nowhere) and that Mi9 was Gemini all along. Does beg the question though. In light of Mi9 and N’s actual relationship, what happened for the three cycles they spent locked in that closet? (I apologized to you, Sheep, deal with it.) All these things made all those 2am nights staying up to post the writeups worth it. (Storming Sheep and his rollover time) You were all absolutely amazing. Thank you all for an amazing game, and a wonderful co-GMing experience. I did my very best, and I only hope it was as great for you as it was for me. -Doc <Transmission ends>

Hithon couldn’t see the stormwall, that raging, blustering, churning wave of wind-pushed water and debris. He wondered if he should be grateful for that. He felt the storm, the scream of the the sky, the lashing fury of the wind, the first stinging drops of rain. What must it have been like to those who could see? Those who could actually watch it advancing, knowing that they had no shelter or course of escape? It must have looked like the end of the world. When the storm hit, he died. Over and over again. He could see nothing, he was tossed - buffeted and cut by a hundred thousand rocks, the winds picking him up as a ragdoll and smashing him against the walls. Thunder rolled so loud his ears failed him. The icy rain fell upon him with the force of a thousand hammers. He was thrown back and forth, yanked into the air, and only held by that piece of rope. He was crushed, frozen and drowned. And the worst part of it all was that he could see nothing. The wind was so loud it nearly drowned out the thunder; howling and moaning, and he could see nothing. When you were robbed of sight, the unfamiliar was a horrible, hateful thing. Moments that needed your instant reaction, split-second decisions. His throat was raw, even though he couldn’t hear himself scream. Every part of him screamed. But worst of all was the screaming from his mind, battering uselessly against the darkness, screaming to see this beast so relentlessly crushing him to pieces. He needed to know it was going to end, for time held no meaning in this hell. He needed to see where he was, see what was cutting him, see what just flew past his ear. He needed to see!! The only thing that kept him conscious, kept him in one piece, kept him sane, was that light flowing through him. In the darkness of his mind, the light was blessed indeed, the one thing that he could focus on, to cling on to. The light flowed through him in waves, healing his wounds just as another few hundred were laced onto his body. Agony and relief alternated in this never-ending nightmare. After ten eternities, the storm released him. And he fell. He lay as if dead on the cold stone. He was dead. Kaladin’s words came from a place far, far away, swimming circles in his thoughts. Nothing mattered. Nothing. Was it worth it to get up? He had not felt so utterly defeated since his eyes were taken from him. So utterly crushed in spirit. He knew that...he would have to get up. He knew that he would overcome. It just felt impossibly hard at the moment. “Enjoy, Initiates, and please, try not to get too sick. I’ve got big plans for you all tomorrow. Plans as big as a greatshell, in fact,” Thank you. Hithon decided then and there that he was going to get up - if only to kill that smug chull.

Hithon remembered the first party he had ever been to. He had been nineteen. Someone had died. It had been a gathering like this. Perhaps not as grand, but it wasn’t as if he could tell the difference. The soft music in the air, the contented chatter drifting across the room, the smells of food and drink. Then the first guest had died. One of his father’s known friends. One moment he was leaning into his father’s ear, laughing. Then in the next moment he was clutching at his throat, screaming. Frothing. His mother had screamed. His father calling for all the guests to stop eating. All the food in the room thrown out. It had been a stain on the family name. His father had fired all the cooks responsible for that night’s dinner, even as the brightlords argued over who would have had the best motive for poison. His father grieved. The poisoner was never found. Even now, he remembered the lilting music before the screams, the easy laughter and the comfortable conversation. The same things he heard now. He felt an unbelievable tension, waiting. Knowing that it was the calm before the storm. How long? How much longer before this scene was shattered? He didn’t much care. All he cared about was not being in the center when it happened. Caring for the welfare of others was admirable. But it had burned him too badly for him to try again. When he bonded a spren, he would leave. It just wasn’t his fight. I for one support this win condition. All in favor say aye. Uh, did I miss Drought's post? What idea?

Hithon had been early. He had been there when the guests had barely begun to arrive. That had been good. It gave him time to settle himself down to watch. Following his nose, he had managed to identify a good part of the food set before him, and what he couldn’t identify, he had called for a stewards help. For now, still remaining unnoticed, he ate, and he listened. The food was excellent. Perhaps a benefit of not having his eyes was that he paid so much more attention to his other senses, and the food had been exquisitely prepared. He supposed that he should not have been surprised, seeing as the food had been prepared for a Highprince and a contingent of Radiants. It was food fit for Elhokar himself. He remembered being able to prepare such meals. Before the darkness. Of course, he could still prepare a dish to make guests weep. That is, if he ever invited guests. But there were certain luxuries the sighted enjoy that he had taught himself to live without. He rubbed his forehead. Thinking wasn’t working. Eating wasn't either. Nothing was. Nothing could distract him from the laughing dark. The other. Fool, they laughed. To think we would be driven away so simply. Once his supply of Stormlight had run out, they had returned twice as angry, gnashing their teeth, screaming for his soul. He would have stolen every sphere in the room, and gotten away with it, but he simply had to account for the fact that Stormlight was now a limited resource. As it was supposed to be the Weeping, none of their spheres could be infused again. He needed the Light. In a way, he had already begun to regret breathing in the Light. Before this, he had allowed himself to hope - even for a moment - that being able to absorb Stormlight would have saved him. Would have freed him from the other. And it had. Temporarily. And now having tasted freedom for once in a long, long while, he needed that light once more. He recognized in himself the beginnings of a craving. This was. Disturbing. Unacceptable. His father had always drummed that into him. You are Hithon of House Thindir. We accept no master. His fist clenched at the memory. Odd. He would have thought his control was better than this. In any case, he had already begun thinking of another way out. Firstly, of course, he would have to advance. He, or rather, the other in him, recoiled at the solid presence of the highprince, the controlled storm of the spearman, and the twisting curiosity of the girl. They had a power inside them. Even without stormlight, they were strong. He would have to be strong too. That would be his plan. More pressingly, though. A slight smile curled a corner of his mouth. Perhaps it was time he actually started... socializing. It was time to start a conversation. Anyone want to RP seeing a mysterious blind stranger walking up to them to start a conversation is welcome to So a couple of questions first. There seem to be three types of votes going on in this game. The interrogation vote, the pardon vote, and the execute vote. Aman, does this mean all three of these votes can be used in one cycle? I'm honestly confused by your wording. From what I'm guessing, it means that the interrogation vote will remain in any given cycle, but we have to choose whether we want to pardon or execute in said cycle. Is this correct? @Amanuensis This type of lynch is honestly something very new. It means we don't necessarily get information from the interrogation lynch unless we choose to execute them the next cycle, or the Unjust decide to kill them for us. I'm not too sure about it's value as a information-gathering tool in this game. Currently, the most immediate tools the we have for getting information is the Truthwatcher, Lightweaver and Dustbringer. I would go one step farther from @TheMightyLopen's suggestion and advise working towards these three roles to prevent the eliminators snatching up these roles. To just list down what we have in normal terms, we have an escort/roleblock (Windrunner), Vigilante (Dustbringer), Survivor (Edgedancer), Role scanner (Truthwatcher), Spy/PM scanner(Lightweaver), Witch (Elsecaller), Vote changer (Willshaper) and Bodyguard (Stoneward) Aman, question 2. Does being a Stoneward mean you sacrifice yourself for your target? Oh, and lastly, I'd like to note that Hithon will be bonding a Cryptic for RP purposes. I have decided this before the game started. I may or may not actually be bonding a cryptic in the game itself. Just stating this right now so that people don't think I'm claiming a role when I RP a Lightweaver.

Aftermath After that heart-pounding final showdown, the quiet function held in Buckingham palace was a nice change. There were speeches, there were many symbolic presentations. The Queen herself presented the medals of service, with Mi9 proudly serving as the narrator. Firstly, I would like to honor myself, Mi9, for my selfless contributions to this agency, the sleepless nights dedicated, and the work I put in to make each of my agents feel valued. Also, I’ve got to be compensated somehow for spending three days locked in a closet with Aries) Without me, there would be no Mi9, can you imagine that? Therefore I’m awarding myself a medal. Anyone unhappy about this can see me after this Agent Joe Bond. For your great contributions to attempting to educate your fellow agents in ‘Literature’, you have been made the proud owner of a Piraha dictionary. Take care of it. Also, you have been signed up for three weeks of intensive speech training. Agent Desmond King, for your contributions in the fields of analysis and wall-of-text transmissions, receive you now the Communications medal. Plus, as we believe you have followed orders to eat those messages, here is a new Blackberry. Agent Yiferien. For managing to recognize, accuse, and latch onto the last double agent for four cycles, only to release him on the last, you have been granted the medal of Irony. (it’s actually made of tin) Your performance has been pleasing to observe. Take also these crates of milk chocolate. You’ve earned them. Agent Strider, Agent Arin. I suppose I could commend you for staying alive and choosing the right people to listen to? You get shiny participation awards. *shrug Take it up with the Queen Then, of course, there were the posthumous awards, for those who had died in the course of the battle. Tears were shed over elaborate coffins. It was all very sad and touching. Believe it. Agent Stick, for your passionate use of the hashtag, you have been awarded the hashtag medal. You made me smile, agent. And that is a rare thing indeed. For this, as I pound the last nails into your coffin, in honor of your memory, I say “#NailedIt”. Goodbye, Stick. Agent Niobe. You blew us all away, you really did. You should be ashamed of yourself, really. But for being such a magnificent bastard, you can have those photos of our college girlfriends that you found. I...hope you like them. Goodbye. Agent 39124, Agent Justin Time. For being the agents with the largest contact networks in the game, you have been voted ‘most likely to win prom king’ by the other employees of Mi9. Congratulations! I’ll… put your devilishly handsome portraits on your gravestones, perhaps, Agent Busshu. While you were a double agent, you trolled your own teammates wonderfully, and even in death set in motion a plan to have Agent 39214 lynched. For this work of trolling, your coffin will have a trollface inscribed on it. I hope you like it. Good riddance? Agent Marshall. For a double agent, you certainly made it extremely far. As a last request on behalf of Aries, in recognition of your service for the agency even before you turned away from what was right, we grant you the medal of Perseverance. Congratulations. We commend your ‘honour’. Agent Mist, Agent Ryth, Agent Bored, Agent...fifth Nameless? Huh. Okay. As you had gone dark, we assumed you had went rogue and thus cut you off from the agency. If any of you are still alive, please come to claim your gift of alarm clocks to remind you of the urgency of time. Agent Lloyd, for being lynched on day one… uh. I’m at a loss. You...you get a participation trophy, yeah. Finally, with the award ceremony over, they were treated to a celebration at the heart of the palace, where they rubbed shoulders with members of state. Desmond was, as ever, incredibly drunk, continually going up to the bar and pulling his stupid line about shaking and stirring. Yiferien stood beside him, slowly and thoughtfully taking pieces from a large bar of chocolate. Strider and Joe stood together, Strider casually joking about Joe’s accent with Joe returning the favour, joking about Strider’s age. Arin sat on a table near them, tapping things into a small laptop he carried with him always. It was finally over. They had won. Mi9 was idly texting on his phone when he felt someone’s gaze on him. Turning, he saw her watching him from behind the shadow of a pillar. Aries. Ah, yes. He had allowed her to slip away that day in the clearing, for old times’ sake. And now she was here. He didn’t bother to wonder how she had managed to get into Buckingham Palace of all places. She had always had her ways. A simple call to one of the many security officers at the event would have gotten her arrested immediately. Instead, he cocked his head and walked over. “You shouldn’t be here.” She wore a teasing smirk and a pretty dress. She smelled good too. “No matter how many times you’ve said that, we both know you’ve never meant it.” With that, she brought out a shining gold disc from her pocket, pinning it to his chest. With a smile and a teasing salute, she vanished into the shadows. “Who was that?” Mi9 turned to see Desmond, already more than a little tipsy. That was fortunate. He gave an easy smile, and steered Desmond back in the direction of the bar. “Nothing of importance. Go on, get a couple more drinks. They’re on the Queen, after all.” Then he unpinned the medal from his chest, smirking slightly at the Gemini symbol engraved on it. Sliding it into his pocket, he made his way after Desmond to join the party. The End. GM thoughts coming later when it's not storming 3:30AM in the morning (Thanks Sheep ) Dear God I am exhausted

Ow. Mi9 opened his eyes, looking at the too-blue sky, unmarred by cloud. Well. There was that rising column of smoke. He propped himself up to his elbows, then gasped as sudden pain bloomed in his side. His elbows gave way, and he fell back, groaning. Owww Storm Sheep. Storming Aries. At least he was out of that closet, eh? Man, that had been a nightmare, trapped with Sheep. He was going to have to get an open-air wardrobe next time. A wry smile crossed his face. That had been a pretty big gamble on Agent Niobe. One which had paid off. More or less. Pity to lose him. That Agent had had potential. So much potential. He cracked open an eye, raising himself up carefully this time, noting the nice little hole right under his ribs. Interesting. The bullet didn’t seem to have hit anything vital, and had not embedded inside his body either, going cleanly out from the his back. That was interesting. Sheep was an expert markswoman, he knew. It wouldn’t be like her to miss her shot. So she still wanted him alive then. Sighing, he pulled out a standard-issue medical kit from his back pocket, then set about staunching the bleeding and fashioning a bandage. Finally, he stood, wincing a little, but managing to not fall over. Yaaay… Looking at the ruins of the Agency building, he was silent for a long while, before finally pulling out his phone and making a transmission. <Emergency Transmission> OPERATION BLACK SHEEP: UPDATE Endgame, fellow agents. The stakes have never been higher than they are now. The time for laughter is over. It is time to end this once and for all. We destroy the double agents. We put Sheep behind bars. And we’ll forge a new path for our agency. Gotta start a new mission, you see. You know our building is gone. Well, it’s thanks to Agent Niobe. Bright young man, lots of potential. He...blew us all away. Literally. So we’ve got to get new builders. Sigh. To Sheep, if you’re receiving this, which you probably are, I hope that even now, you lie awake knowing Mi9 has his eyes on you. Mi9 has his eyes on you, Sheep. Understand this. There is nowhere you can go. We will find you, and you will be helpless. Just you wait. Mi9 will have his satisfaction, this he vows. Just you wait. -Mi9 <End transmission> He clicked off his transmitter and strode off into the the gathering night.