Fifth Scholar

Sigh. It looks as though Striker will be elected, which shouldn’t end the game if he’s evil. Of course, he isn’t. I am. And well played to each of you.

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I disagree that he’s safe. As I’ve pointed out, he and Bard were the counterwagon to the village lynch of Kas; while it’s possible the wagons were v/v, which would probably implicate the inactives more than anyone else, it’s difficult for me to assume that Striker’s wagon didn’t have at least some Eliminators on it; in particular, Bard, the clinching vote on Stink (the only elected eliminator), and Wibble, another person who helped elect Stink, are both on Striker right now, and there is nobody opposing this except myself. Burnt, I’d switch to you right now, but that would only split the counterwagon to Striker because you can’t vote on yourself, and there’s no sign of Wonko, Coda or Peji as other voices to weigh in, even if some in that group (Coda specifically) may be evil >> tl;dr there’s four Eliminators left who definitely should have elected somebody by now. The only possibilities I can think of are Striker/Bard/Wibble/semiactive or inactive, Striker/Bard/Straw/inactive or Wonko/Burnt/Peji/Bard, and given that the last possibility involves two people who elected a villager last turn, and the other two involve people on the counterwagon of that villager, I know where my vote is going.

And the cycle is closed! Let he who submits a last minute action do so at his own peril. (@Elbereth)

And, to return fire, I see little in here to suggest you’re a villager—the lack of doubt reads like an Eliminator’s attempt to marshal up trust. I tried to get inactives and semiactives to post, and thought involving them in discussion was a good idea so we could get analysable content from them, because they’d be posting, and therefore make them active participants in discussion, but never suggested we vote for them above good, active targets; this is one of the key misinterpretations that Kas made. Also, I have been hovering on the verge of activity myself because of the LG, have felt frequently disheartened trying to respond to the large walls some people are putting up, and am generally just happy that despite my impotence we’re somehow winning. I just don’t think it’s you who are leading the effort against the Eliminators. You don’t have to trust me or lynch me; I don’t think I’ll get back to that point. If other people vote you, are they “coming out of the woodwork?” Some might be, but I make no presumptions, as I thought you were village most of the game, and suspected Aman towards the end. Why are you trying to shut down discussion on a lynch vote, instead of considering it? It would be very convenient if you were doing so to drive people away from what might be the only viable alternative to a mislynch on yourself.

An hour and a little bit left in this cycle. Please submit and finalise all your actions, if you’ve not already done so.

I obviously disagree that either of you should be elected. I would point out immediately (I’m going to try to commit to a long refutation of Kas’ points against me) that confirmed good is not confirmed right, and that just because Kas is village doesn’t mean he bears the Gospel Truth of Alignment. Just immediately, though, I would point out the following: There are four Eliminators, and three could outvote whoever they wanted as a candidate of their choice. If Burnt, Wonko and I are evil, we have no incentive to choose Kas—granted, I don’t fully trust either of them, but if they’re a team I’m certainly not on it, and I currently trust them the most out of the entire voting pool. I’m also suspicious that Striker and Bard have been working to build trust all game, and tried to cash in that trust last cycle before it blew up. If they are evil, which is the most probable outcome with the information I have, we should *not* be electing either of them. More thoughts to follow, and hopefully much better explained analysis, but I’ll once again lay my vote down on Wonko, as I believe he had good points in his debate with Kas yesterday, and because our recently opened PM has given me good feelings about him even if I’m not as active in it as I’d like to be. (Same with my PM with Burnt, really >>)

Interesting at the lack of support for Wonko, and the two-way lynch which is once again developing. As I’m a little nervous about Striker, Kasimir seems to be the best choice, though I do worry about the state discussion will be in if he leaves, regardless of his alignment.

Tleir hid in the chasm the whole night, barely daring to move. The Shardblade wound turned out to be a blessing, as she surely would have passed out from the pain hours ago if she retained sensation in her right leg. The stormwardens claimed there wouldn’t be a Highstorm tonight, but they could be wrong, or maybe the chasms would flood regardless. A chasmfiend could wander by and devour her with a single bite. The Shardbearer could return to slaughter her. Or perhaps a quiet night would pass, and somebody would come rescue her in the morning. Tleir chose to focus on that prospect. After all, she reminded herself, she was Mraize’s most valuable lieutenant, entrusted with a suit of Shardplate for the task of hunting down and killing the Shardbearer who had so recklessly attacked Highprince Sebarial. A lot of good Shardplate did sitting safely in the Ghostblood’s tent while she went for a walk. Foolish, foolish! She hadn’t even been able to identify their foe. Well, there was nothing to do now but wait. Either Nu Rallik would see fit that she survived, or he wouldn’t. Mraize pulled Tleir from the chasm, his arms aching with the effort. It was such a shame to have to do such a thing to one of their higher operatives. The woman had had such promise. She could still serve their sect, though no longer to the degree that a woman of her talents should have been able to. Perhaps working the ledgers. When you had a secret society, the accounting tended to get messy. He left her at the edge of the chasm, there still needed to be some punishment. Without suffering there would be no growth. She had to learn from the scenario, understand what her flaws were. He adjusted his mask as he left her, ensuring his anonymity. He retreated to the distance, a figure on the horizon. The morning finally arrived, and Tleir was still alive. Now, she couldn’t feel either of her legs, but that was alright because the Ghostbloods had seen fit to rescue her. She was still important to them, despite her failure. After carrying her out of the chasm, the masked Ghostblood melted away, leaving her alone. Tleir understood. Despite early successes, they couldn’t afford to confront the king openly. From here on, Tleir would have to ensure her own survival. Weakly, she called out to the guards now patrolling around the chasm. As they rushed to get her medical attention, Tleir smiled wickedly to herself. The Shardbearer would not be long for this world once she was reunited with her compatriots. Apparently, Vun Makak had different ideas. That tide-scorned Brightness Tintallë had continued her denunciations, but nobody else seemed to be listening to her, preferring to focus their ire on the sleeping Ekard. Then at the last second some sort of deformed cremling had leapt up and bitten at her shoulder. Shocked, Tleir fell backwards off the chair she’d been sitting on. As she tried and failed to sit up, she noticed that the Alethi were all staring at her, or more specifically the interlocking diamond pattern etched into her left shoulder where her havah had been bitten away. With one dead leg and the other severely bruised and cramped, Tleir could make no move to escape as Tintallë stabbed her through the heart. And as the Almighty GM reclined at table in the house, behold, many inactives and lurkers came and were reclining with the GM and his assistants. And when the Actives saw this, they said to his assistants, Why does your GM, a moderator, eat with lurkers and inactives? But when the Almighty GM heard it, he said, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, and not filter deaths. For I came not to call the active and recurring, but the inactives. Blissfully unaware of the carnage and arguing which surrounded them, the Brightlords I.N. and Ekard dozed soundly in their tents, as they had for the past several days of deliberation. Perhaps the greater conflict between the Ghostbloods and Elhokar mattered...but then again...perhaps it didn’t. Getting a good day’s sleep was far more important than such trivial considerations, anyway, and it was easy enough to stay out of the conflict this way. High above, the Stormfather gazed disapprovingly down at the pair. It was truly a waste of air to have those two continue to exist in the midst of such violence and conflict; what right had they to live sleeping while so many of their friends died around them, actively joining the fighting? Irritably, he readied a pair of bolts to strike the pair down, then paused. Could it be that their apathy was unintentional, and that his plan was overly hasty? He would dishonour the men’s families for no good reason if this was the case, as lightning from heaven was a fairly ignoble way to end a man. He would spare them for now, but would return soon with the full force of the Highstorm. It would tear the men apart if they did not arouse themselves. Sart was lynched! He was a Ghostblood with Shardplate and an Alerter! Vote Count: Drake (2): Sart, Araris Sart (2): Elbereth, HH Elbereth (1): Stink Rath and Drake are on one-cycle warnings to either post, be replaced with pinch-hitters, or die. Night 3 has begun! It will end in approximately 23 hours, on Tuesday 19 November at 9 PM EST. Those with spanreeds, once again, may send in orders to use them and then PM freely. Make sure all the GMs are in the PMs. Thank you, as always, to Devotary for her help with the writeup and with PMs. Please go upvote her for all the excellent work she’s doing. Edit: And Snip, who wrote the paragraph on Mraize. Good luck! Player List: 1. Elandera as Brightness Ellarel, a flighty scribe who nonetheless remains tethered to the ground Noble 2. Rathmaskal as Brightlord I.N., whose reversed name conceals his role as a secret member of the Knights of Ni 3. Butt Ad Venture as Brightness Hmynyes, a connoisseur of classical Vorin music Noble 4. Xinoehp512 as Brightlord Rashor, a man who determinedly believes that blue wine is a plague from the Voidbringers Thief 5. Araris Valerian as Brightlord Arilar, a recently arrived spy with ties to the Kholins 6. StrikerEZ as Brightlord Nalakor, a professional chull breeder and racer and close friend of the King’s Wit 7. Furamirionind as Brightness Dohila, a lighteyes who insists on wearing only orange and green lace Noble 8. Hemalurgic Headshot as Rat, a pet of Brightlord Joe and a secret worldhopper 9. Sart as Tleir, a Purelaker trying desperately to impersonate the missing Brightness Drella while House Sebarial hunts for her Ghostblood 10. STINK as Jumae III, a Brightlord whose eccentricity in fashion contrasts sharply with a docile and even temperament 11. DrakeMarshmallow as Brightlord Ekard, a man at the mercy of the Almighty Himself 12. Amanuensis as Brightlord Ularid Leiken, a man hunting a chull with a green shell which once insulted his mother 13. Coda as Brightness Dejda, one of Adolin’s former girlfriends who now hates the Kholins with a passion 14. Straw as Brightlord Straw, an effigy of Gavilar which was officially recognised as a lighteyes of the fourth dahn 15. Elbereth as Brightness Tintallë, whose title has come under charges of redundancy by expert Quenya scholars

The cycle is closed! Return in an hour or two to see the results. ...HH, you could at least text me to warn about last minute votes.

Noted on all counts, though I’d note there’s a difference between how you’ve acted and what Bard has done since C1, in that your active pushes for discussion have earned you more trust from me, aside from the fact that Bard’s vote is arguably more inherently suspect. Hmm, fair—that said, random voting may almost have been more helpful. Thanks for contributing meaningfully again, sorry for the mild persecution, and I wouldn’t mind a little more elaboration on the Striker vote, but okay. Interesting point on the “clusters,” Kas. I think there’s too much of a lack of focus on Burnt, who’s been otherwise productive and active, but I’ll switch to Wonko in the interests of diversifying the lynch pool, hopefully prompting him to speak, and for his status as my tentative trust who’s most likely to be widely accepted. I’d also like to hear more from...basically everyone, along with a vote, so I have more information to make a decision on with my limited time.

Quick response before I go to bed to both the quote above and this: So at the risk of going meta for a very brief second to clarify my position, what you’re saying I’m saying is not what I mean at all, but only because I phrased it so poorly that I’m ashamed of myself. I am in firm agreement that we have no right to determine what “optimal” play is, or punish those who deviate from it; had I been thinking at all when writing the last post, the wording would have been very different. My concern is rather forms of play which deny us any information to work with at all, and voting on the GM every turn with one-word posts qualifies, I believe; it’s not a playstyle quirk, which I agree would be different, as Straw has been very helpful in past games he’s been in, even if he doesn’t make long and winding posts like yours truly. Preserving players’ ability to have fun is important, and is my first consideration; therefore, I don’t mean to detract from Straw having that fun if one-word votes on the GM each cycle are his way of doing that, but that doesn’t change the fact that this playstyle destroys our ability to significantly analyse him in a way that other “suboptimal” playstyles like Stink’s or Striker’s or Jain’s simply don’t. As such, and bringing this back to in-game matters, electing Straw seems to validate this style of play, and set a precedent in the future that it’s a sign of a villager, which I oppose on the grounds that a. it isn’t, and b. if a style of play which completely denies us information is affirmed now, while it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be affirmed in the future, the precedent does exist and could be dangerous to our collective ability to analyse. If this were a regular village/elim game, I would name Straw mildly suspicious and mostly disregard him, probably dealing with the refusal to engage similarly to an inactive or lurker, but it wouldn’t be something I’d lynch him over. However, this isn’t a regular game, and a Straw lynch here I would oppose on similar grounds: by denying us information, he is functionally inactive unless you want to go deeper into the IKYK levels of whether an otherwise active Eliminator would stand by while villagers were elected (which is a completely valid consideration), but electing him for, in essence, not participating just feels wrong to me, though he has the complete right to annoy me all he wants with his playstyle. Essentially, I hold to all the points I expressed in this debate with Orlok on the same subject, in that policy lynches of players behaving “suboptimally” or inactively should not be a mark of the forum, but we have the right to suspect such players independent of their playstyle if we believe they are doing so in order to consciously reduce our collective ability to analyse. @Straw, my apologies for the tone and wording of my earlier comments, which were rushed and not reflective of my views on this matter. /meta talk Fair points on Bard—I’ll admit once again that I’m struggling to get past the tiebreaking vote on Stink, but if you believe him to be village in spite of that, I’ll trust you—I suppose I just don’t see the underlying logic behind why he should be trusted, other than tone and a cleaned-up voting record, which I could say for a few other people as well.

Fair enough, definitely, and I won’t fault you for that. I’m certainly not objecting to further analysis on Bard—I concede that the Stink vote could be an incredibly unfortunate mistake by a villager—but I am concerned that he’s getting nominated, particularly when I don’t see his voting patterns as having earned any more trust, and particularly with it being only two cycles away from when he hammered an Eliminator into the Fellowship. He’s a very dangerous gamble, and one we shouldn’t be taking unless we know a lot more, even though his analysis and PM interactions are still helpful. Yes. Understood, and I’d rather you follow others’ votes than not vote at all. More stuff to analyse and all that, which is why I feel bad for not leaving myself enough time to put down a vote this morning before rollover. @Kasimir @Wonko the Sane I don’t believe I’ve addressed either of you this cycle, so what are your thoughts on the semiactives, and which of them would you vote for if forced to choose? I want to create discussion about them, particularly if there are Elims lurking in there in accordance with the theory saying that the Elims are quieter this game.

The Circle of Life, I see. I’m glad you all trust each other, but unfortunately cannot extend that same courtesy to any of you. I stand by my eventual no-vote on Aman; although he was good, he’d not said much recently to merit trust, and his wagon had far too little opposition in any case. That does make me wonder if the Elims engineered it to gain trust, or if they felt they had no immediately viable alternative to offer, or if most of them are simply inactive. Aman is a controversial enough figure that I’d expect more voices than my own protesting his quick nomination, and the lack of opposition is indeed troubling. Some backlogged comments I’d not been able to get to because of time: @Coda, I won’t say no to votes on me, but I would prefer you participate in discussion rather than simply choosing to drop unexplained votes. Same goes for @Straw and his continued votes on the GM. While we have a little more breathing room with two villagers on the Fellowship, our proportion of active villagers is shrinking. If you’re village, you should participate to facilitate and contribute to analysis, and if you’re evil, you’re not getting my vote at the very least by standing on the sidelines. Re: your comments on Straw, while I partially agree in principle, I have a deep-seated irritation for rewarding suboptimal play like this with trusts and votes. To me, it sets a poor precedent that villagers should gain trust by doing obviously suspicious things that the Elims would never do, because it’d draw attention to themselves, because Eliminators will definitely always play it safe. >> I disagree with this so much, because it flips the meta on its head, makes villagers not do one of the few useful things they can (analysis), and sets a precedent for the Eliminators when they would like to do something blantantly suspicious—if we excuse Straw here, or Bard for his late vote which broke the tie and elected a Corrupted onto the Fellowship, we allow other suspicious actions by actual Eliminators to slip by (not that I think Straw or Bard aren’t, as I suspect both). It’s much simpler for both analysis and long-term precedent if we punish suspicious voting behaviour and comments with suspicion, instead of second-guessing ourselves out of it. Hear, hear on more candidates. As I explained below, I’m less willing to be “promiscuous” this game, but will throw a vote down on Burnt again, as her above analysis is helpful, and because I want to know if we’re okay with electing more highly vocal people now (I am, but understand if there’s disagreement, particularly with Kas and Wonko having both been helpful enough that keeping them around has merit). The rest of your post is mostly response to Bard, and I will content myself in agreeing with the general thrust of it. I also need to make more time for PMs >> Before I forget, I would like @Pejidot, @Aragorn and @StrikerEZ to provide additional justification for their votes on Aman. I’m currently uncomfortable with this group, with them being the most likely candidates to have voted on Aman simply to gain trust, or as part of a larger Eliminator effort. @Kasimir, I accuse this list of bias towards former Corrupted. We swear we’ve reformed, no need to keep us socioeconomically disadvantaged folks down any longer More seriously, I like this idea, so: Fabulous: Fifth Tentatively Fabulous: Kas (good analysis, promoting discussion), Wonko (same as Kas, more trust here probably, did defend Bard but did so blatantly enough that no Eliminator teammates would do so) Maybe Fabulous: Burnt (liking her ideas now that she’s active), Striker (still on the seesaw, this time on the good side because of Aman’s flip, still would like a bit more) Dunno: Xino, Wibble, Peji, Aragorn (All fairly quiet, listing in roughly increasing order of trust) Feels Suss: Straw (the voting-on-the-GM thing is annoying me no matter which alignment he is), Coda (would like to see more), Bard (not forgiving the C1 Stink vote) Huh. @Young Bard, I’m slightly surprised that you’re drawing this conclusion—if anything, I’ve been trying to play this game more freely with the limited time I have, and have found myself playing slightly more chaotically than my normal multiquote-analysis self (...oops); if my votes are guarded, it’s because there are more Elims out there, I easily misplace my trust (this can be verified by almost any of my past games), and because since my activity is in spurts, any vote could be the last one I make all cycle, and I want to make sure it’s on someone I’m reasonably confident on. I appreciate Kas’ “promiscuous” voting, but can’t afford to really do so this game. That said, while it’s in your rights to not trust me, the reverse is also true, and I’m still exercising that right, as I have been since C2. Really-backlogged-backlog (this was from C2? >> ): @StrikerEZ, this is bandwagoning—voting and jumping between wagons onto whoever you think the leading candidate is that you have a degree of trust on. While in hindsight your trust of Rath and Aman was justified (provided you aren’t an Eliminator seeking to profit from those lynches), I was suspicious more because you seemed willing to jump onto any passing lynch, instead of providing thoughtful votes, a concern which you have largely allayed.

Tleir was unused to all this … dryness. It wasn’t right for a woman to spend so much time away from the Purelake. The sooner Brightness Drella could be found, the sooner Tleir could find her way home. For now though, it was a life of stony ground, cold weather, and dim light, with the only water coming from those all-too-frequent Highstorms. Such were the sacrifices required for a woman who gotten far too deep into debt. Tleir elected to take a walk during the night. Adolin had almost been killed last night, but surely Brightness Drella wasn’t on any assassin’s hit list. The need to take a break from the hasty Alethi was overwhelming. King Elhokar was insistent that the Ghostbloods be exterminated immediately, but Tleir couldn’t see why this whole situation couldn’t be resolved over a nice bowl of fish stew. Besides, she thought bitterly, Sebarial deserved whatever that Shardbearer had been trying to do. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she took a deep breath and tried to think of happy memories from the Purelake. Tleir was so focused on these recollections, she didn’t notice where she was going until she found herself near the chasm where Hymnyes had died the day before. Someone else was already here, reaching their hand out in what seemed like a friendly gesture. Tleir briefly began to walk towards the obscured figure, but quickly changed her mind when a six foot, wickedly curved blade dropped into that outstretched hand. Three months in these Vun Makak blessed warcamps, and she still refused to wear shoes. There were no lakes to dip her feet in, but there was no way she would cover her feet in such a restrictive manner. This was, at times, inconvenient. Her feet were calloused enough that mere walking wasn’t painful, but running barefoot on the rough stone ground was another story. Running away from the angry Shardbearer, Tleir briefly considered whether it may have been expedient to commission some sort of footwear for special occasions. The rest of her concentration was focused on finding a good place to hide. Risking a quick glance behind her, she saw that the Shardbearer was now far too close. There would be no time to reach a tent before she was caught and killed. There would be only one chance to escape, short of fighting the Shardbearer and inevitably dying. Offering a silent prayer to Nu Ralik, Tleir dove to the ground and rolled, narrowly dodging a horizontal slice. Stumbling to her feet, she raced towards the chasm. Ellarel had survived a fall, so surely she could as well. Perhaps the Shardbearer wouldn’t be willing to follow. When she reached the edge of the cliff, she hesitated for a second too long. One swing of the blade later, and Tleir found herself unable to feel her lower right leg. More hurriedly than she’d done anything else in her life, Tleir allowed herself to tumble into the chasm, attempting to land on her now useless right leg. She plummeted through the air and crashed into the ground right foot first, shattering every dead bone. Despite the pain, she forced herself to crawl a few meters away from the landing site and hide deep in the shadows. Far above, the Shardbearer sighed and dismissed their blade. It wasn’t worth it to continue chasing after their target tonight. Brightness Deeli Dohila simply hated her name. The storming alliteration, and the hair's breadth away it was from rhyming lended itself far too well to nicknames of the most annoying sort. It was so hard to get respect when you would go from reveling in the success of your latest scheme to being referred as Brightness DD by Queen Aesudan herself. She sighed as she walked through the halls of the palace. She still didn’t know why she had been called there. The note seemed to indicate it was from the King, but the messenger had been strangely mute on the topic. He escorted her as she made her way to the location indicated in the missive. Even if there was only the smallest chance it was in reality the King, or one of the Kholins, it would be a mistake to ignore the message. She turned the corner of the hallway, then entered a small room. It was small, dank, seemingly unused. A bizarre location for a meeting with a Brightlady of the Fourth Dahn. She had turned to ask the messenger if she was in the right location, when she found the dagger planted in her side. Her breath caught, the pain unfurling through her body as blood blossomed from the wound. She fell to her knees, desperately praying to the Almighty. Her hands scrambled to patch the wound, to cover the rivers of blood as they spread over the field of orange lace on her side, then fell still. Three sharp knocks came on the door to the bridgeman barracks. Lopen stirred, muttering groggily. “We’re supposed to be day shift. Teft, see what that guy wants?” The door had already been opened by a surprised Sigzil, though, who eyed the newcomer warily. His clothes were not akin to anything he had seen in the Alethi courts, but the basic design was Vorin, albeit in the style of a military uniform similar to Dalinar’s, and not frilled with the lace favoured by so much of lighteyed society. It was underneath a bulky blue jacket, with an odd insignia on its breast, and the hood sporting the same pattern drawn up over the man’s head, casting his face in shadow. There was no sword at his side, though Lopen did note the array of knives hanging around his belt and the equally impressive number mostly hidden, which his clothing betrayed. The visitor inclined his head to the lounging bridgemen. “Hello,” he stated simply. “I am looking for somebody to take me to the Highprince of War. It is an urgent matter, and I have something to deliver to him. As you are his guards, will you escort me to him?” “I assume you’re delivering that hefty package of knives inside your coat to him, gancho?” Lopen called back, his hand resting casually on his spear. “I’m afraid the Highprince will have to wait to receive those another day.” He raised an eyebrow at Teft, who slid over and placed himself between the door and the man, who remained at ease. Lopen found himself annoyed at the insolent posture—he looked more like a haughty street merchant sizing up customers than a man surrounded by highly capable fighters. “What do you want? Who are you?” he repeated. Smiling slightly, the man drew back his hood, revealing a face weathered by the years, yet which retained all its vigour in the discerning eye cast upon the bridgemen each in turn. Sigzil beside him squirmed at the gaze, averting his eyes, but Lopen grit his teeth and looked back into them, burning with frustration, which overrode the other feelings within him. “Your bravery is admirable, if unnecessary,” the newcomer replied easily. “If you must know, it is a letter, and contains nothing more than a missive from another who need not immediately concern you. Its contents, regardless, are not for your ears.” He frowned at the second question. “I am known as Domand, but that is not important. The information I have for Dalinar is important. If you’re quite done with me, will you take me to him? I do not lie in saying that my counsel is urgent.” “Not with that coat on, gancho,” Lopen replied. “Every knife you have stays here, and don’t think we’re dumb enough to mi—” Lopen’s voice cut off as a Shardblade appeared in Domand’s hand. “I do not need such instruments anyway,” he said slowly. “I have this—if I wanted to, I could slaughter him and you. Your loyalty is admirable, but it approaches foolhardiness. Let’s go to Dalinar.” Sart was attacked, but survived! Furamirionind was killed! He was a Noble with a Painrial. Day 3 has begun! It will end in approximately 47 hours, at 9 PM EST on Monday 18 November. Any PM which STINK began is no longer open. All other spanreed PMs may be continually used, though no new ones may be opened this cycle. There will be a lynch today, with no vote minimum to kill. Thanks once again to Devotary and Snip for help with the writeup. Good luck! Player List:

Cycle is closed! Bear with us as we sort things out. The new one should be up in about an hour.

A little under twenty minutes. Please get any final actions and posts in.

You’re fine, and that’s understandable—thanks for taking the effort to check in despite your busy-ness, as I certainly didn’t mean to condemn you. With my apologies: @Straw, @Coda, @Amanuensis, @xinoehp512, @Pejidot, @Aragorn, @StrikerEZ, @GoWibble, @Young Bard, if you don’t have time for a full post, that’s fine, but knowing that you exist and are reading through this would be appreciated. Also, a vote, even a quick one, would be very nice as well. Edit: ninja’d by Bard. Thank you for...responding?

Okay, this is quite demoralising. I don’t know if the Spiked are inactive, or the village, but regardless of who’s around, we need people to actually talk if we want analysis! I’m running another game whilst busy with schoolwork, and have written more this cycle than most people. Kas is taking enough pains to create discussion that I’m starting to trust him in spite of both myself and the Stink vote, but removing the only person fanning the flames of discussion is a poor idea even if he is village. That said, Burnt’s failure to respond disheartens me, and out of the one other player (Wonko) who’s posted this cycle, I...would not vote on him now, despite his activity and willingness to actually comment—for one, the stances he took last cycle, while perhaps typical for Wonko, don’t inspire any confidence in me, and because of that, keeping him around for a few more cycles to glean more about his alignment would be useful before we decide if he should be elected. Same goes for Kas, really, though again there’s a lot more trust there This is one thing I don’t understand, Kas—I see Straw’s vote on El each cycle as a convenient way of escaping analysis, not a basis for trust, and I’m curious why you’ve chosen him. That said, your points on Wonko and Aman are interesting, and ones I hadn’t considered; given these, and knowing that Aman’s wagon was started by a villager (Rath), I may move my vote to Aman by the end of the cycle. I won’t deny that I would like to be elected this turn, though, both so I can stop multitasking with this game and the LG, and because while I have never had confidence in anyone’s alignment other than my own, that trend is being exacerbated by the voting patterns and general quietness of everyone else making it so that I’m struggling to form even basic trust. >> I’ll probably go back and reread the old cycles, and put something up between now and rollover if I have time; if not, at the beginning of next cycle. If I’m elected I’ll post something incomplete before rollover if I have to

Highprince Sadeas, I note with mild displeasure the failure of your investigative efforts to expose those threatening the general peace within the camp. The supposedly accidental deaths of the Brightnesses Hymnyes and Kay have the court in such a stir that our decision-making is impaired; while Dalinar’s bridgemen have been able to hold back the Highprinces’ factions from open conflict, it is by no means a continual guarantee, and I am possessed of no doubts that the remaining Ghostbloods are fostering this division, seeking to thrust at the heart of our stability. Redouble your efforts to round up the leaders of this movement, and if necessary put the captive members to the question if persuasion will not loosen their tongues as to who their companions are, and where they are hiding out. Sebarial and Restares want to meet with you; they believe they have leads, and their counsel may be valuable to the continuing uncovering of all plots against the Crown. As always in these times, keep your guard up and your sword close at hand. With my continued thanks for your efforts, Elhokar King of Alethkar Highprince Sebarial had the right idea, Rashor thought as he sat in his private tent sipping auburn wine. Hunting down Ghostbloods was no job for an important lighteyes like himself. Already, he was fifth dahn, and stood to move up a rank when that land deal finally went through. The warcamps were an excellent source of revenue, but the assassination attempt and heightened security had made it very difficult to move people in and out. No matter. Brightlord Devan would eventually cave to Rashor’s extremely generous offer, especially now that the man no longer had access to Soulcast goods. Rashor grinned at the thought as he finished his glass of wine. Reaching beside him to refill his glass, Rashor found that the barrel was empty. Sighing heavily, he looked at the only other barrel in the room, one filled entirely of blue wine. He hadn’t been able to check the contents while liberating it from some noble’s private stores, and destroying wine was a crime even greater than anything the Voidbringers could unleash. He dared not go outside to find more wine, as the other nobles were rampaging throughout the camp, screaming petty accusations against each other. Rashor thought he heard his own name being called once or twice. There was no helping it; he would have to face the wrath of the Voidbringers and drink some of that accursed blue wine. With shaking fingers, he decanted a small measure of wine into the glass. Grimacing, he took a tiny swallow, shuddering at the bitter taste. He was about to get up and steal more wine despite the danger outside when he felt his mouth start to burn. The glass slipped from his fingers and shattered on the ground. By the time the remaining nobles came to check on him, Rashor was dead, evidence of his thievery clearly evident. Mriaze watched the thief die, silently admiring his handiwork. It was ironic, how the man’s dislike for Blue has revealed so very many of his other traits. The Ghostbloods had been watching the man for weeks, and he had to give the man credit. It took skill to steal from a place filled to the brim with soldiers, and Lighteyes. Stealing from the Ghostbloods had been the man’s first mistake. Hiding like a coward had been the man’s last. The death provided satisfaction, though in truth it was little when compared to his frustration with those below him’s incompetence. It had been a simple execution mission, but that thrice stormed women had to take the blow. A different team was being sent in tonight, the failures having been dealt with. They needed results, and death was the best answer to life’s questions. Mraize slipped out of the tent and turned to the lieutenant waiting for him. “Send them in.” Mraize said with a smile. Xinoehp512 was lynched! He was a Thief with a Reverser! Vote Count: Xino (3): Sart, Straw, Fura HH (2): Araris, Aman Sart (2): Coda, Elbereth Straw (1): HH Elbereth (1): Striker Night 2 has begun! It will end in approximately 23 hours on Saturday 16 November at 9 PM EST. Those with spanreeds, once again, may send in orders to use them and then PM freely. Make sure all the GMs are in the PMs. Thanks once again to Devotary and Snip, who did the second and third parts of the writeup, respectively. Good luck! Player List:

The cycle is closed. No votes or actions after this post will be accepted. Please stand by for rollover.

Fifteen minutes. Please finalise your votes and actions now.

Have about ten minutes so I’ll make this brief: I voted for Rath because I liked his voting position, not because of anything meta (aside from a general awareness that he wasn’t confirming closely to his elim style). Most of the C1 voters seemed to be trying to dodge attention, bury their vote in an implausible candidate, or bandwagon, and Rath not really doing any of those in my memory make him stick out as a good candidate. I have no idea why anyone else voted for him, though. Especially @Wonko the Sane—I’d particularly like his reasonings. His vote is a good candidate for a Corrupted player trying to gain credit. Agree that the inactives are too much of a shot in the dark. I’ll drop a vote on Burnt for now. I’ve seen you in PMs, and would like more of you in thread. If I was voting off of serious analysis, it’d be a cycle out of date, but I’d be going for Aman, probably. I trust Kas’ tone but not his votes, and would like more participation overall.

I’m both disappointed and relieved at the lack of discussion; disappointed because we might either be passively electing Corrupted, or else letting them skate by passively, and relieved because I don’t have to catch up on too many posts. (That said, the existing posts are long as a general rule. ) My basic thoughts right now are pleasure that Rath’s wagon gained traction but not so much traction that I suspect it (and the people on it and in general support of it are those who I’ve had village reads on (except Wonko and for a few hours Striker, more on him in a minute)); Aman is a fine choice as well, if more vocal, and I have a general principle of being more wary around him as he’s silver-tongued regardless of alignment. My hesitation with him is that what he has said isn’t strongly AI for him, though to be completely fair Rath hasn’t said much of note this cycle either. Straw’s refusal to participate in any discussion or take any stances which might bring him into a position where his alignment could be questioned lead me to doubt that he should be appointed, joining my list of Dubious candidates; voting on the GM, while fun, doesn’t help the village in the slightest. Kas isn’t on that list after several long and sensible posts, which are well reasoned even if he is evil (and he still very well could be, which is why he should not be nominated unless necessary; however, he’s being useful and active enough to be kept around either way). I’m back on the Evil side of (or at least leaning further over on) my trademarked Striker Seesaw, and am generally conflicted enough about him right now that I would not suggest his nomination. Even if you intended to vote for Aman to begin with, your willingness to bandwagon is disillusioning; if you’re village, it makes it harder to get good discussion on lynch candidates and can lead to accidental runaway lynches on Spiked, as well as the general problem that it frustrates attempts at analysis; meanwhile, if you’re evil, the above properties make it an excellent smokescreen for your actions, and also appear to be an easy way of either gaining village credit by voting for several villagers, or justifying a vote on a leading evil candidate in the long run. (To be fair, I’m leery of Aman, which is why I’m staying on the Rath lynch despite uncomfortable bedfellows (Wonko), and may be judging you too harshly in light of this, but I believe my points still stand.)

As the last-minute posts still roll in, the cycle is nevertheless closed.