JUQ

Heh. I am sort of running out of time for things like SE too, but I think I can stick this one out. You'll have to bear with me though.

Hess watched the stars. They were quite interesting, here in Roshar. Much more interesting, than, say... STOP IT! He was having to remind himself of that too often these days. He didn't want to become an over-reflective fool too soon in his life, now, did he? He looked around at the other people. The man striding nervously towards the Highprince's chair. The Purelaker. There were so many people here, and some of them were traitors. It was going to be somewhat difficult to work out which was which. However, Hess wasn't the sort to shy away from a challenge. Others might see it as too hard, but not Hess. Hess liked the thrill of chasing down the solution, the feeling that everything could go out of control at any moment. It was what he lived for. Until now, he had failed only once, in his first adventure. Then, he'd been lucky to escape with his life. After that, he vowed never to let that happen again. He would be prepared, and he would be helpful. Before he'd started on his new life, he'd been useless, a burden to society. All the Returned were. However, he'd discovered his gift from his former life, and put it to use. He liked to think he'd helped a lot of people - not always the right ones, but he'd still been helpful. Yes, I realize Hess's thinking is different here than it was in the introduction. Don't worry, it's intentional. Hess is a little bit crazy.

"What is your name, Initiate?" "You may call me Hess, lose...sorry, Brightlord." *** Dalinar thought about his latest Initiate. Hess was a strange man. He refused to tell his story, and Dalinar kept getting the impression that he was laughing at him. He seemed to always know something Dalinar didn't. He shook his head. Hess was an Initiate, and that was all that mattered. *** Hess reflected on his life up to this point. He had done many things, been many places...but he still hadn't found anything he enjoyed for very long. Each of the steps of his life had been interesting for a time, and then it was almost too easy. He had no illusions about this particular job, but it should be interesting for a few years at least. It seemed Roshar had some serious problems that need solving. He wondered if perhaps it would have been a better idea to join the evil side...what was it? The...Voidbringers? Yes, that was right. He thought it would have been better to join the evil side like he had done all those years ago in...where was it again? Jalando? No, that wasn't it. It was...Jolo? Joal? Joeleo? J'Omo? Yes, that was the one. However, the situation at J'Omo was a lot different. Joining the Voidbringers would have been too easy. Besides, the whole hating everything thing wasn't really his idea of a good time. Yes, this should be fun. I know I said I wouldn't be back until February, but it's two days until Feb, and it's a public holiday and I'm bored.

You get the ultimate "I told you so." Congrats on working it out. Great game, Hael. I do think that it was biased slightly in favor of the elims, because elims are rarely inactive (and Elenion, Joe, Nyali, and myself are not people who are known to go inactive) which meant the inactivity filter worked in favor of us. I do think I should have died due to the inactivity filter, which is probably the first time I've been on that particular side of the "Die!" argument. The fact that there are no roles also helped the elims, because there was no incentive for the elims to post in thread and so forth, apart from poke votes. I do see the point in promoting analysis rather than role madness, but the lack of roles made it elim biased. Everyone who played in this game now has the honor of playing in the first game that Elbereth hasn't since she started. This is going to be my last post on the Shard before my hiatus. I'll show myself out. See you all in February!

If you don't understand what I just said, I'm sure Nyali will explain it to you in the doc.

Hess shuddered. Khaos's incessant whispering was beginning to annoy him. "Why can't you continue?" "So you'd be thinking this, and you thought that the other day, so...." "It's completely unfair for us, we'll lose if you go..." In fact, he was getting angry. How dare she? She was nothing. She was a simple one-lifer, and an insane one at that. Hess wasn't normally arrogant, but Khaos could hardly expect to know the way he thought. Sure, he had reasons not to continue. He attempted to explain them to her, but all he got was more ridiculousness and inane arguments. Bah. This was it. The group was completely insane, if they let her lead them. Hess sighed, having done what he could, and sat down next to the sleeping forms of Nathan and Sean. Time to bow out, he thought. He slept. Yes, this is going to be my last post on this game. Some people (ie: Wilson) have asked why I am finishing QF20 and not finishing this. The answer is simple. QF20 is going to be over this cycle or the next. This game is not going to be finished for quite some time. Yes, I did say on Discord that I'd be finishing this game. Yes, I was wrong. I hope some of you are slightly more understanding than Wilson. You can still win after I'm gone. I expect Elbereth and Seonid will be online more after this cycle than they were previously, and the odds are that at least one of them is Village, and they're much better players than I am.

Well done. You manage to blow your own trumpet while seeming to compliment someone else. I've just had a scary thought. What if Stick is an elim? What if she's been playing us the whole game? I guess we'll just have to take that chance.

Well, I don't see that I'm going to convince you that I'm not an elim without voting for Kynedath. @Nyali @Kynedath You should vote, really. I'm gettin' townie vibes from Stick(as she said, she behaves embarrassingly different as an elim), and I'm purty sure I'm village, so that makes Nyali and Kyne our elims. If we lynch Kyne today and Nyali kills one of us, that makes it 1v1 next cycle, which means that we have a 50/50 chance of winning. So, Stick, do you feel lucky?

@little wilson You are really still suspicious of me? Of course I didn't die after role-claiming, because I've already announced my intention not to finish this game. As for your other qualms, I really have no answer. Basically, I can't really think straight much anymore, and I'm hardly gonna put all my effort into SE as opposed to RL. Apologies, everyone, but I'm gonna drop out tonight. I've lain all my cards on the table, I've shared all my knowledge that is of use to the village, and I think it's time to take a break, especially on this extended night. You can waste a lynch on me if you want, but I doubt if that would be intelligent. As soon as QF20 finishes, I'm outta here until February. Thank you, @Wyrmhero and @Kasimir for running this game. It's been a really great game, after I was involved in a debacle that ended the SE career of a veteran player in LG27 and was lynched C2 in MR18. It was what I really needed as an example of what SE is really like. I haven't been involved nearly as much as I wished, but it has been a great game and I loved it. If I come back within a short time of it ending, I will provide more in-depth feedback. Thank you.

Aha! Here I am, and free of work for the year, so I'll be able to contribute much better in future cycles (if I can be bothered , and if the game is still going). Basically, I can't be bothered rereading rn, but I can glean that we're in pretty bad trouble.

I think it is about time to say that I am actually a scanner, despite Len's claim to the contrary (good idea btw @Elenion). My scans: Elenion - Explorer Jondesu - Explorer Arin - Action Failed PK - Explorer Wilson - Explorer Mark - Explorer Straw - Explorer

Ugh. I can't believe I missed a whole cycle. I wish I could concentrate properly on this game. I will be able to do so a lot more after Wednesday. As for Joe, I'm getting a feeling that he's guilty from his post this cycle, but I don't have time to analyse right now and I'm not going to reread again until after Wednesday (if I'm still alive).

If ze was still alive I'd agree .

Notice I said that Sart is the most suspicious? However, I've just finished my re-read and I'm more suspicious of you and Len now. I don't think I have enough information for a vote just yet, which is why I'm retracting my vote on Sart.

Alright. Blue looks better anyway . Could the people who haven't posted please voice their opinions on a mass exploration? Obviously people with useful roles, like Wilson, should use them instead of exploring. However, everyone else should explore imo.

What's with this sudden Joe bandwagon? Len has been suspicious for a while, but now it seems as if the elims are quickly voting in order to save their comrade. This makes me suspicious of Len, Sart, and Arinian. Sart is the most suspicious to me so far, so I'm going to vote on him.

I have a rather unfortunate and perhaps startling statement to make. If QF20 finishes before this game, which seems likely, I will probably drop out of this game in order to start my hiatus earlier. Apologies to all villagers (and death threats to all elims ), but I feel as if I must take a break as soon as possible.

Not you. We locked you in the dark hallway for a reason.

Thank you. RP: John was sick of the standing around. A little less conversation, a little more action, please. All of this aggravation wasn't satisfying him. He needed a definitive lynch, and a definitive lynch now!! OOC: As one of my items was 'Blue Suede Shoes', I will be doing RP every cycle from now on with an Elvis reference in it.

Hmm, there's reasons for that. I don't feel comfortable saying much more but @A Joe in the Bush will back me up here. Assassin RPing isn't that weird, surely? I bet that one and only one new voter will vote this cycle.

Ha, if Alv is smart he'll take that bet, because you'd drink the wine in order to stop him getting it, and fighting drunk people is easier than fighting sober people. Hmm, why not bring someone else into this? Stick That's three votes on Len and Stick, and four on Alv.

Well. Ain't this good news. I vote a mass exploration tonight.

@Haelbarde Can you give DA half of my gold coins at the end of the cycle please? I've played a grand total of two finished games (one was a faction game and the other I was lynched D2), and there are two on-going. I don't think anyone here has played with me much at all I didn't actually pay attention to the votes, I just knew that more people would place votes on Ecth, because that's how bandwagons work. It looks suspiciously like the elims were trying to save their comrade, so I'm putting a vote on Arinian.

How do we know tennis was played in the bible? Joseph served in Pharaoh's court I'll leave now.