xinoehp512

Classes were out for the day, and people were mingling and talking in the open area and pathways around the university. Maern stood with notepad in hand, watching and listening. Every so often he wrote something down that he found noteworthy, then moved on. This is crazy, he thought to himself every once in a while. What in the world do I think I'm going to get out of this? But he didn't stop. Fruitless as his investigations might wind up being, they were all he could do. And with the imminent threat of the Fae hanging over his shoulder, he needed to feel like he was doing something. Anything. As the minutes passed, people began to disperse, going back to their respective lodgings to work on schoolwork, eat, or take a nap. Maern sighed and sat down on a bench, leafing through the notes he'd taken. Like he'd expected, they weren't particularly helpful. Stories make this sound so easy, he thought glumly. So far, he’d found… well, nothing, really. And why would he have? It was in the best interests of the skindancers to keep a low profile, to try and blend in as much as possible. Even if they did make mistakes, he was hardly experienced enough to catch them. Hopefully I'll get better with time, he thought with a sigh, standing up and starting the journey back to the Windy Tower. ---- I need to remind myself to vote before I run out of time tomorrow... I haven't even started player analysis yet. To be honest, I think a player by player list would be a bit too much for me- I've only barely branched out into those recently, and this game has way more players and posts than I'm used to. I still don't really see anything in thread for this turn that really compels a response from myself, so I guess I'll try and be helpful again. Player Post count 1.1 1.2 2.1 Total 1. @Haelbarde(Edema Ruh) Ruh 3 12 3 18 2. @Elandera (Noble) Noble 8 2 2 12 3. @Burnt Spaghett(Commoner) Commoner 7 6 5 18 4. @DeTess(Commoner) Commoner 7 3 8 18 5. @Elkanah (Edema Ruh) Ruh 12 5 5 22 6. @Straw(Commoner) Commoner 10 4 13 27 7. @xinoehp512 (Commoner) Commoner 8 5 5 18 8. @Lord_Silberfarben(Commoner) Commoner 8 2 3 13 9. @Coda (Noble) Noble 3 1 1 5 10. @Karnage (Noble) Noble 6 3 5 14 11. @Hemalurgic Headshot (Noble) Noble 2 Insane Insane 2 12. @StrikerEZ (Edema Ruh) Ruh 5 2 2 9 13. @Lumgol (Noble) Noble 2 0 3 5 14. @Experience (Commoner) Commoner 3 2 1 6 15. @Devotary of Spontaneity (Noble) Noble 7 4 3 14 16. @CadCom (Edema Ruh) Ruh 2 0 1 3 17. @Sart (Commoner) Commoner 1 2 Insane 3 18. @Furamirionind (Edema Ruh) Ruh 4 2 4 10 19. @Zillah (Commoner) Commoner 4 3 1 8 20. @Araris Valerian (Noble) Noble 2 1 4 7 21. @Rathmaskal(Commoner) Commoner 1 0 1 2 22. @STINK (Commoner) Commoner 1 2 2 5 23. @Kynedath (Edema Ruh) Ruh 4 4 0 8 24. @Walin (Commoner) Commoner 1 1 1 3 25. @GreenRover (Noble) Noble 1 1 1 3 26. @Young Bard (Commoner) Commoner 0 1 3 4 27. @TheMightyLopen (Noble) Noble 6 3 3 12 Total 118 71 80 Average 4.37037037 2.730769231 3.2 Nobles 37 15 22 Average 4.111111111 1.875 2.75 Commoners 51 31 43 Average 4.25 2.583333333 3.909090909 Edema Ruh 30 25 15 Average 5 4.166666667 2.5 Cycle 1.2 was a bit of a slump, but things picked up a little in cycle 2.1. Was that because people are more worried about posting enough to cover tuition on the first post of the cycle, I wonder? Perhaps it was simply discussion dying out after all the easiest stuff was cleared out in the first turn. I know analysis has certainly gotten harder for me. I’m curious to see how the post count will shake up for this cycle, now that discussion has started to venture into player and alignment guesses. I guess it doesn’t particularly matter, though. If I had to venture a guess with my current state of mind, I would put it in the sub-radar folks. It’s unlikely they’re all there, but more than likely a few of them are. I know that when I am an eliminator, I often hold back in the thread to avoid tripping up my more experienced partners.

Dr Who Octopus captured Gasper the Bean.

Sheln laughed. "Oh, I'm sure you'd love for us to just sit quietly and not resist while your older counterparts slaughter us all. But I'm afraid that none of our leaders are that stupid." Sheln shrugged. "We have a few raids planned in Colorado," he offered. "Near our base. Not sure how that helps you, but whatever."

Granted. You now see everything as if through green-tinted lenses. I wish for inspiration.

Nameless. decided to get the reincarnated Gasper some medication for his shortness of breath.

Much to the dismay of Nameless..

Maern held one of the paper cranes delicately in his hand. It was quite well crafted; the creases were sharp, the folds precise. He knew from experience how hard something like this was to achieve. But the craftsman who created this one (along with the many, many, others now littering the common room of the Windy Tower) would be gracing the world with her art no longer. Yet another victim felled by insanity. By the skindancers. Another noble, he thought. What did it mean? What were the skindancers trying to accomplish? Did they have something against rich people, or was it simply a coincidence? Probably the latter, he admitted to himself. He’d certainly like to believe that wealth was the determining factor- that would make Maern himself practically immune. But more likely the Skindancers were striking at random, so anyone might be hit next. This latest attack had given him greater cause to worry. He’d been better acquainted with Caia then either of the previous targets. She’d been staying in the same lodgings, for goodness sakes! If the skindancers had targeted her in her room… what had the chances been that they would have targeted him instead? He put the crane on his desktop, trying to calm his trembling hands. They had to ferret out the skindancers now, before it was too late. But how? ---- This is normally the part of the game where I would slowly but surely drop off the face of the thread as my pitiful analysis skills go up against the greater skills of my colleagues and come up lacking. But, due to the tuition reduction requirements, I’m going to have to come up with something to talk about every turn if I want to escape negative effects. I have basically no reads on players currently, which is usually where I stand at this point in the game. My brief scanning of the discussion that has been had so far seems to indicate that not a whole lot of discussion has been had that I have much to say to currently- although perhaps a review will reveal something I missed on my first pass-through. I do think it’s a good thing that votes are happening based on reasoning, although I feel like such reasoning will be much harder given how much less powerful the lynch is. Really the only way to significantly affect a person is to flood them with votes in order to guarantee DPs. Luckily, there is a large pool of votes to draw on, since each person has two.

Bean was the Gasper reincarnated.

"Our plan?" said Sheln. "To not get destroyed, of course. Although killing you would be a nice bonus." His blue eyes glinted with contempt. "Goodness knows you've killed enough of us." He smiled viciously. "Although you certainly didn't get my parents without a fight."

He'd gotten one stuck inside his head and had never managed to dislodge it.

"I'm willing to cooperate," said Sheln, shrugging, "but if you want specific answers, you'll need to ask specific questions."

Oh, someone's posted! That's good. I'm going to post at least this much, just to make sure I don't get penalized for talking too much in PM's. Hmm, RP... Maern jumped as another student tapped him on the shoulder. "What happened?" he said as the student made his inquiry. "Someone went insane again, that's what happened. They left a little girl behind." He hesitated. "A lot of people seemed to be more concerned about the baby, but I don't know..." He sighed. "Something fishy's going on, that's all I can say." He turned back around, mind spinning with worry. He wasn't sure he dared tell anyone else what the Master had revealed to him- the truth of things had likely been kept secret from the student body for a reason. They probably didn't want people panicking. They needed income, right? If students became afraid to attend, then they wouldn't make enough money. Tuition would probably be even higher for those that remained. And, of course, there was always the danger that people would start taking things into their own hands. Use these troubles as an excuse to pursue old feuds, whether intentionally or subconsciously. They had enough with students going mad: the last thing the whole school needed was murders. Maern forced himself to relax. None of this had happened yet; he didn't need to worry about it. Not now. Right now he needed to focus on his schoolwork, so he could impress the Masters and advance in the Arcanum. Deep down, though, he couldn't quite shake the feeling of unease that something terrible was about to happen.

Catchy songs were banned in their locale for personal reasons on the part of the dictator.

A low murmur interrupted Maern's thoughts. The person in front of him was whispering something in a hushed voice to the person to their left. He listened in, curious, but could only pick out snatches of their conversation. ...left outside the gates... terrible shame... the Crockery... Disturbed, he leaned forwards. "What was that?" he whispered urgently. The person in front of him turned around in surprise. "Someone left a baby on the foot of the University steps," she whispered back. "They think it belonged to a student by the name of Sagaer Murtoy." "What happened to him?" hissed Maern back. The girl raised an eyebrow. "He went insane," she said quietly. "He'd been admitted to the Crockery earlier that day. They managed to put together who the baby belonged to from what other students said, but..." she sighed. "He's hardly in shape to take care of her now. Barely even recognizes her, the poor thing..." Maern leaned back in his seat, disturbed. Another insanity? The skindancers, he thought. It must be. So what was he going to do about it now? ---- I will, unfortunately, likely be unable to post again for the latter part of this cycle- or at least, not any of sufficient magnitude. To make sure I don’t get hit by PM’s, I have a question (you’d think the last post I made would have gotten them out of my system, but nope :P). For PM/thread, what gets counted? Is it the total number of posts (irregardless of content) that is counted, or is there some other metric? @Elbereth I suppose I had also better prepare a vote to cast- although people will probably fill in the gaps by tomorrow, if my experience so far has been any guide, it’s best to be as much a part of the solution as possible. Having been unfortunate to land On the Horns myself, I can say with relative certainty that I would not want the same fate to befall anyone else- not without cause. So, Devotary. As a final note, what do all of you think about my statement earlier regarding Literary Analysis and a potential scanner? Do you think that we should all publicly assert our honesty/villagerness, do you think that it’s a horrible idea and should be avoided at all costs, or are you ambivalent? I must say, I am curious to see what people think in regards to this.

The zomunks, however, would be entirely unaffected.

Maern woke up at the eighth hour of the morning. It took him approximately half a minute to realize what time it was. It took him only a couple minutes more to don his clothes, pack his schoolbag, and dash out the door as fast as was prudent for a public location. He chided himself repeatedly for sleeping in as he dashed through the doors of the University and into the room where his first class was held. Breath short and cheeks flushed, he sank into his seat right as the Master began calling attendance. He exhaled a sigh of relief. That had been close. He really needed to get to bed earlier- he couldn't be sleeping in every day. There was no guarantee that he might not sleep through his entire first period, still in bed. Not to mention the strange things that his brain conjured up when deprived of sleep. It was never a good idea to not be thinking straight- there was simply no telling what might happen. He made a mental note to himself to get back to his lodgings earlier in the day this time- hopefully that would help knock his sleep routine back into schedule. ---- Is the person who didn't get the candy the person who sent out the candy? Are you allowed to tell us? Will this have any impact on the game whatsoever?? I mean, it would be kind of weird to leave yourself a congratulatory note, don't you think? Another question, perhaps? (Could I potentially do this entire discussion segment in questions?) Does Fae Lore activate for RP actions? What about Rhetoric & Logic actions, or Linguistic actions, or Sympathy actions? What about the other kind of actions- is there a differentiation between what activates Fae Lore and what doesn't, or do just all actions work? (Does anyone think that excessive use of specialized end punctuation indicates that the user is halfway to the Crockery?) On the subject of the Crockery, isn't it quite crazy that a +4 Insanity Point bonus, with any of an has almost a 50 percent chance of driving you insane (with an 8, 9, or 10) in just 2 turns? And isn't it even crazier that that's the IP bonus that you would have if you wanted to learn enough names to gain the bonus chance of breaking out of the crockery unless you were a master? Does anyone else think that Naming is a rather ridiculously risky field to go into?

(the 'od' in the acronym was invisible)

OF DOOM.

Maern squinted at the card, which read Happy new term!!! With three exclamation points. Evidently someone was pretty excited for the upcoming semester. He unwrapped the candy that had been left next to the card and popped it into his mouth. Peppermint- sweet! He loved peppermint, but he could never seem to afford any. He could hardly afford anything beyond basic necessities, in fact. Luckily for him, however, he'd managed to impress the Masters enough to earn himself a quite low tuition rate- just low enough for him to afford. He'd done a bit better than that, even: in fact, he'd worked hard enough to get raised into the Arcanum as an E'lir! It was going to mean more work, for sure, but it would also give him a chance to learn things that he'd been prohibited from learning previously. He opened the door with a smile. This term was going to be great; he could feel it already. For a moment, he could even forget about the skindancers. He couldn’t let himself be consumed by worry, now, could he? If there was little he could do, then he’d satisfy himself with that little. Hopefully it would be enough. Maern collapsed on his bed and was asleep within seconds.

Maern stumbled out of the Stacks, feeling bleary. What time was it? He was pretty sure he’d fallen asleep at some point, but he wasn’t entirely sure. It was easy to lose track of time in this maze of literature. Soft morning light streamed down on him as he left the Archives building, blinding his darkness-adjusted eyes. He squinted, holding an arm up to block the bright rays. It was morning already? He must have fallen asleep after all. Oops, he thought guiltily. He was pretty sure sleeping in the Stacks was frowned upon. Oh, well. He wasn’t planning to do it on a regular basis, anyways. Besides, he thought with a rush of excitement, he’d found what he was looking for- books about Fae. From what he’d learned from his readings (and from the Master Rhetorician’s comments) the Fae that they had to watch out for were a type known as ‘skindancers’. They had no physical form beyond a shadowy mist, instead interacting with the world by entering into and possessing individuals, taking control of their every word and action. To be honest, it didn’t exactly make him feel safe to know that anyone around him might secretly be an evil Fae bent on destruction. But at least now he knew what he was dealing with. ---- Likely the candyless individual is the person that handed them out- an RP action, by the sound of things. I doubt it has any significance gameplay-wise. Oh man, both of my vote targets have been taken now... Guess I'll have to find a new one! Lopen. Until new information comes to light, best to just keep doing as we're doing and spread the votes around. It seems to have worked better this time than it did last turn, at least. :P. On the off chance that whomever was raised in Linguistics rolled Linguistic Analysis and wants to target me, I am not a Fae. Or a Skindancer, or an elim, or... well, you get the idea. And I promise not to lie for the rest of the cycle, either. That way, the analysis scan becomes a sort of alignment scan. (Although you still might not want to use it on me- not sure if I'm the most important player to scan, to be honest. (And, of course, that assumes that you got Linguistic Analysis, which you might not have. (Did I say that already? I do believe I did. (Oh, dear, these parentheses are getting ridiculous... hopefully I don't forget to include one of the closing ones on my way out. ))))

Sheln raised his eyebrow slightly. Quite upset, isn't he? he thought to himself. Out loud, he replied to the boy's question. "Where do you want me to start?" he asked, injecting a slight hint of amusement into his tone.

The Zomunks made an appearance to look down their noses condescendingly.

And also quite satisfying.