Devotary of Spontaneity

Right smirked, but was careful not to let the expression show. Kurishina's ReSealers who had enhanced her and Left's appearances and physical capabilities were excellent, but her 12 years as Kurishina's spy, bodyguard, assassin, personal assistant, anything she might desire was what made her more than a match for Discovery's best. Regardless of whether Wuzhi resorted to reshaping his favored subordinates' experiences to his tastes, nothing could beat a solid foundation of true lived experience with modifications merely as an added bonus. He would be forced to admit that soon enough. For now, recounting her credentials as Heritage's agent would hardly dissuade someone suspecting her for that very past. "We'll catch the traitors. I'm sure you won't have to worry." {Pause to note that Archer's view of anonymous voting in the previous game was that it benefited the elims. Since he was evil that game, perhaps that's a point in his favor. I suppose anonymous voting does make it more difficult for the elims to stamp the player who dies to the exe} Left emerged from her quarters to see Right arguing with Wuzhi's 4th in command. She had done a good job distracting the man from her own disappearance, but now that she was able to rejoin the crowd, drawing too much attention was counterproductive. The killers couldn't be allowed to see them coming, nor could they afford their investigation being derailed by personal disputes. She signaled Right. Evidence retrieved. Her responding gesture was sharp. Talk later. Our room. Left took the hint. There was no time to keep Kurishina informed when the mission for Discovery faction was so urgent. 10 soldiers had to be investigated thoroughly in only a few hours.

Left slipped back to her and Right’s room before Kezin finished speaking. A lockdown could only precede a search, and she couldn’t afford to let anyone else search their room. Every guard from veteran status up knew that she and Right were from Heritage Faction, but only Senior Arbiter Wuzhi knew the deal they had made with him. It wouldn’t do for an overzealous soldier to discover their correspondence with Heritage's Senior Arbiter stamped with her official seal and decide to execute them. Wuzhi may have permitted their communication with Kurishina, but he still didn’t trust them and would frown on the death of one of his steadfastly loyal guards. Left stowed the incriminating stamps on her person and grabbed her latest report off the bed, to which she’d have to append the death of the Svordish ambassador. She picked up Right’s latest correspondence and paused. Sections of it used Right’s personal cipher, not the general one Kurishina used for both of them which used a key she had shared with Wuzhi. Neither of them had told him about this second, rarer layer of encryption. Better not to give out too many secrets at once to a new employer, no matter what promises he made. She could decipher the message, but it would take time she didn’t have. She tucked both letters away, resolving to read the latter later unless Right could give her the details directly. Kurishina disdained the use of Forgery to rewrite a person's past, but had taught her acolytes enough of the workings of every other type that Right could respond to Randen's musings. A stamp needn't truly be Forgery to conceal someone's allegiance, but there was no time to have that discussion, nor did most long-term members of Discovery care about the distinction. "A stamp can ensure that one traitor remains undetected no matter how much they're searched. Or, it permits them to lie about the results of a search. It's not guaranteed that a soldier reported guilty by the captain's favor and confirmed guilty by popular vote is actually disloyal no matter the evidence against them, though such a trick forgoes the former use." Right turned her attention to the farmer. His ramblings obscured words that made even less sense. "Only the captain knows who the highest bidder is. Who would dare guess otherwise when the penalty for guessing incorrectly is death? Though, you do have a grain of truth. Those known to be wealthy in favor are also prime targets, and both their survival and inability to bid successfully must be carefully noted. Too, how can secrets be a boon? The benefit of public opinion is its open nature. Unaccountability breeds corruption." Ah, there was the accusation Right had been waiting for. So tedious. This was why only veterans, the lieutenant, the captain, and the Senior Arbiter himself had been informed of her and Left's affiliation. If Wuzhi hadn't seen fit to inform Krow of the steps the two of them had taken to gain Wuzhi's trust, she wouldn't inform Krow either. "Our actions will speak for themselves. Will yours?"

I'll sign up as Left & Right, a spy and defector who abandoned roles as "handmaidens" for Heritage Faction's Senior Arbiter to join Discovery together.

Why didn't you just vote Mat in thread?

I think Mat would have felt relatively safe submitting the kill since I was committed to viewing him as village yesterday. Sine someone else was the killer I'm going to continue my previous vote and go for Araris.

That's only if the elims have a thief who dug it up, since they could have used a spellbook on me earlier if they had one.

The roleblock was successful, it just didn't stop the kill, since I assume that's why I lost my pallid mask.

I roleblocked Mat but it didn't work since I lost my pallid mask.

Araris. Steel (1): Aloha DeTess (2): Sart, Ash Mat (2): DeTess, Aman Archer (3): Araris, TJ, Mat Aman (1): Kas Fae (1): Fae I don't get why Aman would be fine with this if Mat was also evil unless Alpha is an elim but the TJ kill is odd from an Alpha team since they were both had pallid masks. Archer's vote alone wouldn't have been enough to survive this, and putting two elims up to VitC without trying VitC themselves doesn't seem reasonable. Araris has the mech pool going for him but I don't think JNV putting in one last action is that unlikely.

Kas did say in PM that he wouldn't have claimed if Mat said he was an SE.

Mat would have claimed protecting Kas, with the implication that the killer didn't go insane because they had iron will + shade protection (which Aman did) or silver bones. I would have been suspicious of such a claim but wouldn't jump immediately to killing Mat and Aman.

Karn hasn't been around in months so that seems unlikely. If Striker can post signups in a week, that's soon enough, especially since he has two of the top five QF slots. @StrikerEZ, do you have a ruleset ready?

Steel would have learned that his action failed at the beginning of the night turn had this been true. 5 elims still requires someone to put in the kill other than Araris or Illwei or JNV (although since JNV posted D5, they're being replaced by request instead of inactivity and thus could have submitted the kill as their final act.)

The MR ended two weeks ago, so it's time for the next QF to run. @Fifth Scholar @StrikerEZ (can start on 24th) @Karnatheon @Kasimir @Archer

I roleblocked Araris, so he didn't submit the kill. JNV probably didn't either since they were replaced.

Ash (3): Matrim, Steel, Alpha JNV (3): DeTess, Ash, Devotary Alpha (2?): TJ, Illwei? TJ (1): JNV Very tight voting. VitC could wreak havoc on these results. I'm finding it difficult to choose between Ash and JNV. Both claimed an elder sign pendant, JNV in PM and Ash in thread. Pendant was easier for JNV to fake since it was early enough that the elims still had protection, but Ash also isn't going to be attacked so I'm not trusting that claim either unless he passes the pendant to someone. I'm not sure if passing an item to someone breaks pallid mask. Well maybe I'll give him a chance. Three pallid masks all being village is still a stretch given how much other protection seems to be happening, but I trust DeTess, I think TJ voting for a pallid mask candidate is a good look since an elim one wouldn't want to narrow down the pool, and e!Alpha gives up a valuable protection item. I can see those latter two being evil if TJ really wants to protect someone in the mech pool or alpha really needed trust but not yet I think. JNV.

What examples can you remember? Who do you think submitted the N3 kill then? Did you hear anything from any writers? With the elim shade expert's protection expended, they should have at least two players capable of submitting the kill so the N$ actions list isn't close to complete enough to implicate anyone.

That makes three pallid mask claims, DeTess, TJ, and Alpha. All three of those appear to have been true, though it's not guaranteed that those were starting masks as opposed to thief-found. I can easily see an elim starting with one since it's less powerful than the kill-protection it is for villagers.

I roleblocked JNV and the kill still went through, so they weren't the killer last cycle. Doesn't stop them from being the C3 killer but also makes Ash more likely. JNV did publicly request a PM D1 with a buddy which makes it possible two writers would make one between them and Kas, even though an elim writer might have better things to do if JNV is village. I will also request a PM with the writers in contact with Kas.

Wait what? There's nothing like this in the rules doc. I can't target the same player twice in a row or I can only target any given player once or what?

TJ and I would know if they had a mask since we'd be told our actions failed. Araris's vote for Archer was permanent and would have left it as a tie had Archer not voted last minute or Kas VitC'd Mat.

Wrath of shades normally only happens when someone dies. Sart didn't kill anyone, therefore he must have been killed by a shade expert's counterattack. That caused Sart to be killed by shades and reset the counter.

Sart died to a shade expert counterattack, so it couldn't have been a pallid mask. Also, Archer would have lost a mask by being targeted by TKN's glowpaste.

It would still be very strange for Archer to self-protect even if he does survive, but chances are he'll die. Nobody's going to forget about TKN either.

So someone else is the elim shade expert.