Fifth Scholar

The writeup is intended to be nothing more than fun RP for me, for you all to enjoy. No in-game clues are in the writeups, and if a writeup seems to imply something, it’s completely unintentional or coincidental, and you shouldn’t trust what it seems to be implying.

Flanked by two of Agelmar’s soldiers, Callor trudged over the rocky ground, setting a brisk walk to keep up with the horses. The party was moving northeast, towards the Spine of the World, and the Light alone knew what lay behind their lofty peaks. Or within them. From what the witch in charge of the expedition had told them, she intended to march into the Blight and into the mountains! And yet how many still refused to believe that Tar Valon was in league with the Shadow? More likely, this “Moiraine Sedai,” as he was forced to address her, would drag the lot of them to the pits of Shayol Ghul as soon as lift a finger. Her Gaidin scanned ahead, as if watching for threats, but Callor sneered at his back. Threats! Ever since entering the fringes of this Light-forsaken land, the evil plants and creatures which the Warder has instructed him to stay away from, as if lecturing a small child, all but parted for the Tar Valon witch. The sorceress claimed it was the protection of the Light. Callor snorted. The day the Light protected an Aes Sedai was the day he threw down his sunbeam cloak and renounced Niall’s authority. And that would never happen. Such were Callor’s thoughts as he strode briskly beside the Fal Daran escort. He should have been sweating, as spring was well-advanced, yet the world seemed locked in winter. Undoubtedly more of the witches’ meddling, or the Darkfriends. Though what was the difference? He kept his eyes on the road in front of him, determined not to trip in front of all the men. And saw an odd creeper approaching. Skirting the witch, as he had known it would, the Creeper took a winding path around her. A path, Callor realised with a start, that was headed directly for him. If the tales about it were true, a touch could kill. Yet he was too slow; the plant was locked in on its target. He drew his sword in a flash of steel, prepared to cut it down in a last act of defiance. As he raised the thin blade, an even thinner trailer of fire shot out of seemingly nowhere, cooking the Creeper to a crisp. He looked accusingly at Moiraine, beginning a protest that he was about to handle the threat himself, thank you very much. It died on his lips. The witch looked deeply disconcerted. Even from a distance, he could see her eyes, which darted between the ragtag villagers, an accusing glance for each. Callor felt a small satisfaction from that. If one of the witches was unsure as to what happened, it must have been a blow on behalf of the Light. Resuming his walk at a jaunty stroll, Callor hummed to himself, confident that even in the awful situation he had been placed in, the Light would prevail. Exepins had hardly been a warrior in his past. A new recruit to the Borderland army, yet easily surpassing 40 years, he put his given history as a scribe to good usage for Lord Agelmar. Taxes, legal documents, decrees to announce, all had gone through him, somehow. Now stuck with Moiraine Sedai as the company’s leader, Exepins had no choice but to continue his work. He found it peaceful, a more sedate job in a camp often filled with rush and noise. However, the quiet job began attracting rumours regarding his motives towards the others. Determined to execute their own justice, three men came to him, determined to find answers. “You, scribe,” one said, hands on hips. “We didn’t see much of you at the barricades against the Blight, where we were talking about how to end this situation,” a second chimed in. The third was the boldest, and surprised Exepins. They denounced him as a Darkfriend, without a scrap of evidence, and little consistency at all. “We have decided that your punishment for being a Darkfriend is death,” he finished, rolling up the “list of charges.” Exepins’ head spun, and his head could hardly register the words the man was saying. However, his brief combat instincts kicked in. As the first man swung a heavy club in his direction, he ducked, letting it whoosh harmlessly over his head. The second club connected, unfortunately, bringing numbness, then blinding pain in the back of his head. From the crunching sound his head had made, his skull was likely cracked. It would be too late, all over…he slumped against the sickly rock wall, laying down. The commotion summoned an irate Moiraine Sedai, fury etched into every line of her face. She stepped over Exepins to face the three men. Exepins squinted. In a corner of his brain, he could see and hear the three being berated, Moiraine’s ice-cold anger chilly enough to cleave through metal. However, the majority of his head simply ached. His vision was dimmer...Moiraine turned to him, kneeling and handling his head. A flash of cold washed through him from the Healing, then shivers. By the time those had abated, Exepins was already asleep. Asleep, but alive. Night 1 has begun! It will end in 22 hours’ time at 22:00 EST, December the eighth. (If I can convert correctly, that’s also 3AM GMT, for those that like converting off of its time.) Snipexe was lynched! He was Hardy. Vote Count: Snipexe (3): randuir, BrightnessRadiant, Karnatheon Droughtbringer (1): Furamirionind Young Bard (1): MetaTerminal The Eye has 38 health remaining. The current layer of defence has 1 health remaining, and is the Outermost Ring. The Blight is currently attacking for 5. A Creeper of the Blight was stricken down. It has died and is no longer in the game. Please remember that PMs are closed. Player List: 1. Steeldancer (Ookla the Positive) as Ookla the Positive, an orphan with a cheery outlook on life. 2. randuir as Evelyn, an Aiel Wise Woman and well-wisher 3. Karnatheon (Ookla the Ring) as Brendan Vallerune, a gleeman totally unrelated to Jeordwyn 4. Cadmium Compounder (Ookla the Duck) as Miumpounder, a cobbler with an abiding hatred of Altarans 5. xinoehp512 (Ookla the Phoenix) as Alkoo, a reclusive Ogier tucked away in encyclopaedias 6. Amanuensis as Nikel Fain, a man hell-bent on killing his father (totally normal) 7. Droughtbringer as Month-Long Drought, a prickly old noblewoman who only eats dried fruit 8. Rathmaskal as Jeordwyn Dormond, an Illianer gleeman who juggles knives through his enemies 9. Devotary of Spontaneity (Ookla the Heretical) as Rhodin, a countercultural Aiel whose views are about to go mainstream 10. Young Bard (Ookla the Unprepared) as Jancey, a reluctant soldier who signed up to obey his father’s will 11. Mark IV as Lars, an inquisitive young nobleman 12. Snipexe (Ookla the Sceptical) as Exepins, a scribe who will eventually admit to the superiority of British spellings Hardy 13. Furamirionind (Callsign:Jato) as Keisa, a grizzled veteran of the Borderland Wars, with a scar on his forehead to show for it 14. Hemalurgic Headshot (Ookla of the East) as Skern Mundy, a man from the East with many skills 15. Ark1002 (Ookla the Dragon Reborn) as Shifting Shadows, a shifty, shadowy Wolfbrother 16. STINK, a rug merchant from Tarabon peddling his wares in the Borderlands 17. MetaTerminal (Ookla the Cited) as Elak Dehlin, a merchant with severe paranoia about the One Power 18. BrightnessRadiant as Fifi, a crazy old lady 19. Mr Doctor as Antor Vadenfort, a Illianer Warder without an Aes Sedai 20. Gancho Libre (Ookla the Libre) as Pummy'in Coach, a former sul'dam looking for a firm, guiding hand in life

As seems to be usual in SE, I give you 22 hours to kill someone and everything happens in the last 30 minutes. Thankfully I can go ahead and announce this cycle closed. Writeup to appear in an hour or two!

Yes, the concealment ability applies to all Evil-aligned players. I’m not entirely sure why it’s not listed in the Forsaken abilities, but I may have just been going off the assumption (in my head) that most of the Agent stuff applied to the Forsaken. To be clear, however, the Sabotage action is not available to the Forsaken, but Concealment is. That is my error, and will be corrected in the rules. Also, just noticed this ping: The final vote tally will show negated votes like this: Before=Joe (4): Wilson, Orlok, Maill, Elbereth After=Joe (3): Wilson, Orlok, Maill, Elbereth Votes modified as a result of Aes Sedai Persuasion will appear as the actual name of the player whose vote was redirected. So, all in all, vote manipulation is afforded a good deal of concealment here. @BrightnessRadiant Noted. Cycles=48 hours, split into Day/Night turns. There is a lynch every cycle, on the Day turns. I’ve tried to be consistent with wording but knowing me I’ve probably slipped somewhere, so if you find an inconsistency please tell me. >>

Any Evil player may submit group actions for their faction. This is not explicitly in the rules, but the faction actions are listed as Evil abilities, not Agent abilities. They could. Rand or Aginor could have double extra lives as well, should they be Hardy Fal Dara Warriors. Edit: Also, please do not forget that the cycle will end in 5 hours. Additionally, be aware that any rules clarifications I give will be posted in-thread the following cycle, if I have time. So ask wisely.

No, you will not be told defence numbers (or sabotage numbers, for that matter). You will see the final amount of damage assigned, though. Any actions will be submitted through your GM PM, which is the one you recieved with your role and alignment.

Callor walked into Lord Agelmar’s reception chamber, the door closing behind the Borderland lord with a thud that had the note of finality in it. Walking towards the chair on which the leader of Fal Dara sat, he bowed his head, then straightened. Though his only loyalty was to his Lord Captain Commander, Callor had to respect the man in front of him, and he deserved at least the bow Callor granted him. While Callor had seen his share of battles, fighting in the Children’s conquests in Altara and Murandy, he hadn’t been molded by the constant war that surrounded the men here. Around the Blight, everyone was simply...tougher. The weak died before their time, leaving only the sturdiest of men to defend their homes from the cursed Shadow. And Agelmar was clearly among the sturdiest, with a calloused grip that spoke of a career with the sword, and a scar on his left cheek saying the same. “Lord Agelmar,” Callor nodded again to him, then to the servants. “I have been sent with a message from the Lord Captain Commander of the Children of the Light, Pedron Niall, may the Grace and Favour of the Light shine forever on his reign. ‘Thus saith the Lord, the Lord Captain Commander of hosts: Yet once a little while, and I will shake the heavens and earth, the seas and the dry land. Behold, the Lords whom ye seek shall suddenly be come into the Borderlands, and the messenger of the Whitecloaks in whom ye delight shall be revealed in the day of his coming, saith the Lord Captain Commander of hosts. All the nations like sheep have gone astray, and I shall gather them back into my fold, beginning with your cooperation, Agelmar.’” Callor winced. The Lord Captain Commander was not a man to put on pretenses. Was the message he got compromised? He quickly squished the thought. He would obey orders. He, in fact, had to, which included bracing himself for Agelmar’s response. The Lord of Fal Dara stood slowly. Drawing himself to his full height, which was slightly less than Callor’s, he began pacing towards him. Callor was unsettled by the man’s steady strides, but he could not back away without losing face, and he said nothing as Agelmar drew up next to him. Then, faster than Callor’s eye could track, one second Niall’s message was in his hand, the next it was in many shreads, tattered and scattered across the floor. “Out!” Agelmar roared. “Out, and take your precious Commander’s words with you! They stain my floorboards.” He gave a hefty kick to the pile of torn paper, sending it fluttering and scattering in the air. Callor felt fury gnaw at him. Someone dareddisrespect the Children so callously? He pivoted as if to go, leaving the paper shards scattered on the floor, then halted in the middle of his turn, voice filled with thick wrath. “The Commander’s words will stay here, my Lord. And you will choke on them.” With that, he strode out, careful not to be perceived as walking too quickly. He must, after all, project the Children’s strength. The doors to his chamber closed, and Agelmar let out a long-building sigh. First Moiraine Sedai, a welcome guest if a remarkably self-assured one, and then the Whitecloak, with a message straight from that pontificating fool Niall. It had been all Agelmar could do to avoid disaster in both the meetings. Negotiations with the Aes Sedai has been particularly difficult, with Moiraine making things very clear that she had an agenda she intended to see to completion, not even telling Agelmar what beyond saying that it led to the Eye. He had managed to convince Moiraine to accept the escort of soldiers he offered as she approached the Eye, but the Whitecloak was an unresolved issue, even without the dire message he carried. Then Agelmar’s eyes lit up. The escort. Of course. “Aliath,” he snapped to his scribe, who jerked his head up. “Dictate an order for the Whitecloak Emorle Callor to be sent with the escort to the Eye.” It was perfect. Two birds with one stone, as Moiraine would have to be wary around a Child of the Light, and the Whitecloak would likely be dead after a few days in the Aes Sedai’s “care.” Either way, both problems were minimised for now. Agelmar turned back to his desk, studying the map of the Blight. It was time to turn his mind to the most important matter. The eternal matter. Defence against the Shadow. Day 1 has (finally) begun! It will end in 22 hours’ time at 22:00 EST, December the seventh. The Eye has 38 health remaining. The current layer of defence has 1 health remaining, and is the Outermost Ring. The Blight is currently attacking for 2. A Creeper of the Blight appeared. It will Send Runner on N2 unless stopped. Please remember that PMs are closed. There is a lynch today. Player List: 1. Steeldancer (Ookla the Positive) as Ookla the Positive, an orphan with a cheery outlook on life. 2. randuir as Evelyn, an Aiel Wise Woman and well-wisher 3. Karnatheon (Ookla the Ring) as Brendan Vallerune, a gleeman totally unrelated to Jeordwyn 4. Cadmium Compounder (Ookla the Duck) as Miumpounder, a cobbler with an abiding hatred of Altarans 5. xinoehp512 (Ookla the Phoenix) as Alkoo, a reclusive Ogier tucked away in encyclopaedias 6. Amanuensis as Nikel Fain, a man hell-bent on killing his father (totally normal) 7. Droughtbringer as Month-Long Drought, a prickly old noblewoman who only eats dried fruit 8. Rathmaskal as Jeordwyn Dormond, an Illianer gleeman who juggles knives through his enemies 9. Devotary of Spontaneity (Ookla the Heretical) as Rhodin, a countercultural Aiel whose views are about to go mainstream 10. Young Bard (Ookla the Unprepared) as Jancey, a reluctant soldier who signed up to obey his father’s will 11. Mark IV as Lars, an inquisitive young nobleman 12. Snipexe (Ookla the Sceptical) as Exepins, a scribe who will eventually admit to the superiority of British spellings 13. Furamirionind as Keisa, a grizzled veteran of the Borderland Wars, with a scar on his forehead to show for it 14. Hemalurgic Headshot (Ookla of the East) as Skern Mundy, a man from the East with many skills 15. Ark1002 (Ookla the Dragon Reborn) as Shifting Shadows, a shifty, shadowy Wolfbrother 16. STINK, a formless thread in the pattern with less than 24 hours to identify himself before the Creator does 17. MetaTerminal (Ookla the Cited) as Elak Dehlin, a merchant with severe paranoia about the One Power 18. BrightnessRadiant, a formless thread in the pattern with less than 24 hours to identify herself before the Creator does 19. Mr Doctor as Antor Vadenfort, a Illianer Warder without an Aes Sedai 20. Gancho Libre (Ookla the Libre) as Pummy'in Coach, a former sul'dam looking for a firm, guiding hand in life Oh, and @STINK, @BrightnessRadiant, if I don’t get character descriptions this cycle, your character is getting a description from me. Not sure you want that. Good luck to all!

Signups are now closed! Due to my incredibly poor organisational skills, the writeup for D1 may take a while to come up, but you should receive your role PM fairly soon. Good luck to all!

A big thank you to everyone who’s signed up for this game so far! I’m glad to see you all in the game. However, it does look as though, unless there’s a legion of lurkers ready to hammer a bunch of last-minute applications into me, we’re going to have to slightly extend signups four days to Monday the 10th, the new end date for signups (at 10 PM EDT as per usual), in order to try to get the roughly 20 players I’d like to have to run this game to its fullest. I hope this doesn’t overly inconvenience anybody. Should such a hammer as I have speculated on is found to be reality, then signups will conclude tomorrow at their usual time. Thank you to everyone!

There is a projected start time, yes. Ideally I’d have about 20 players before running this, though, so if I don’t get 5 or 6 more people in the next few days I’ll extend signups. (Alternatively I’ll restructure things for a smaller playercount, but I’d rather not have to do that.)

None, really, as I think a few people have signed up that haven’t read it. If you want to understand theme, you should be able to grasp most everything from just the first book.

I’ll spectate, as much as I’d like to join.

It’s a vestige from when this was a Fall of Gondolin game. I really thought I’d caught all those when I overhauled the ruleset, but apparently something escaped me. Good catch, and welcome back! Yes, though it’s penetration of a gate that causes it to revert. Once no more gates are left it’ll just even out to the standard X+1. Also, it’s worth noting that the health I end up giving the Eye will likely depend on how many players we get, so just a heads-up on that. It’s currently pencilled in at 30, but that may change. Thank you, and welcome back! I really ought to give LG22 the reread it deserves...

Reserving for player list and rules clarifications. Failure to describe your character may result in me doing it for you. You may not like that. Players: 1. Steeldancer (Ookla the Positive) as Ookla the Positive, an orphan with a cheery outlook on life. 2. randuir as Evelyn, an Aiel Wise Woman and well-wisher 3. Karnatheon (Ookla the Ring) as Brendan Vallerune, a gleeman totally unrelated to Jeordwyn 4. Cadmium Compounder (Ookla the Duck) as Miumpounder, a cobbler with an abiding hatred of Altarans 5. xinoehp512 (Ookla the Phoenix) as Alkoo, a reclusive Ogier tucked away in encyclopaedias 6. Amanuensis as Nikel Fain, a man hell-bent on killing his father (totally normal) 7. Droughtbringer as Month-Long Drought, a prickly old noblewoman who only eats dried fruit 8. Rathmaskal as Jeordwyn Dormond, an Illianer gleeman who juggles knives through his enemies 9. Devotary of Spontaneity (Ookla the Heretical) as Rhodin, a countercultural Aiel whose views are about to go mainstream 10. Young Bard (Ookla the Unprepared) as Jancey, a reluctant soldier who signed up to obey his father’s will 11. Mark IV as Lars, an inquisitive young nobleman 12. Snipexe (Ookla the Sceptical) as Exepins, a scribe who will eventually admit to the superiority of British spellings 13. Furamirionind as Keisa, a grizzled veteran of the Borderland Wars, with a scar on his forehead to show for it 14. Hemalurgic Headshot (Ookla of the East) as Skern Mundy, a man from the East with many skills 15. Ark1002 (Ookla the Dragon Reborn) as Shifting Shadows, a shifty, shadowy Wolfbrother 16. STINK, a formless thread in the pattern with less than 24 hours to identify himself before the Creator does 17. MetaTerminal (Ookla the Cited) as Elak Dehlin, a merchant with severe paranoia about the One Power 18. BrightnessRadiant, a formless thread in the pattern with less than 24 hours to identify herself before the Creator does 19. Mr Doctor as Antor Vadenfort, a Illianer Warder without an Aes Sedai 20. Gancho Libre (Ookla the Libre) as Pummy'in Coach, a former sul'dam looking for a firm, guiding hand in life Rules Questions: Will you actually be collating all the rules questions that people ask you here? If I have time, yes. Can Padan Fain self-protect? No, he cannot. What is a passive trait, and which does Fain block? How long does the block last? Passive traits are any ability granted to a character that does not require an action to trigger. Fain blocks all passive traits, except for ones that grant access to special PMs or docs. This block only happens during the Night Fain sends in the action. Does the Blight's Desperate Assault Ability stacking mean its attack increases by 3 until it finally penetrates the Light defense; e.g. 2+5+8+11... Yes, though it’s penetration of a gate that causes it to revert. Once no more gates are left it’ll just even out to the standard X+1.

Callor stepped out of the thick woods ringing Fal Dara, his white cloak with the golden sun making a splash against the darkly covered thicket that previously enveloped him. He felt vaguely uncomfortable standing there exposed, in the open between two nexuses of evil. The whitewashed tower, with its shiny exterior that fooled most, but was still full of rot within, was closer than the Dark One’s prison. However, Shayol Ghul seemed to emanate his madness. By means of the Blight spreading surely and slowly over the Blasted Lands and encroaching on the northern kingdoms, the Dark One advanced, and a strong hand was needed to intervene that did not belong to Tar Valon witches. And Callor knew whose hand that would have to be. Smiling at his orders from the Lord Captain Commander, he took to the road fully, prepared for his presence to be announced to the Keep he neared. Let them! Agelmar would be as wet clay in his hands when he saw what the Children could do. A few minutes of warning would change nothing. The Light would shine on and protect those who resisted the Dark One at all times. And Pedron Niall stood for the Light. The guardsman on the walls of Fal Dara Keep blinked. A party had appeared, essentially out of nowhere, on a stretch of clear road empty a second earlier. He frowned, motioning his fellows to hold the gates against the newcomers. Peering closer, he was unsurprised to see an Aes Sedai and a Warder among their number, even if the man looked familiar. The guardsman tried to place him, but the name was slippery on his tongue, and he could not grasp it. Those thoughts were driven from his head by the Aes Sedai, who serenely reached into one of her pouches and showed Agelmar’s sigil, a token of entry. Having little other choice, he let the Warder and his Aes Sedai in, glancing at the others as they passed. Mostly youth, though seemingly an Ogier among them, and an older gleeman. He did not know for what purpose they were there, but the woman had flashed Agelmar’s sign, and as such was to be allowed entry. Curious about the new arrivals, but unable to abandon duty, the guardsman contented himself with watching the north road, and the Blight as it crept slowly closer. Pain. Pain was all Aginor felt, from head to toe. A constant reminder of his failure. A constant reminder that his recklessness had trapped him at the surface of the Wheel for three millennia, while eras came and went. The pain stayed with him for all those millennia, and it did not vanish with his release. Yet despite this pain, Aginor was determined to see that his body would have advantages. He straightened, shrivelled skin screaming in protest from the treatment, and looked towards the Spine of the World. His eyes, at least, were sharp enough to see the mountain range clearly, even as far away as they were, and the dark shapes in that direction coming towards him. Squinting, he made a pretense of studying the mountain ranges. Maybe its formations would be the key to finding what he searched for. Somewhere in there lay the Eye. He just needed to come upon it. Aginor chuckled aloud, loud enough for Balthamel, similarly shrivelled, to raise an inquisitive eyebrow. She did not see what he did. Looking directly at him, moving in his direction with purpose, the shadows materialised: a small contingent of Darkfriends came before him, kneeling. Then Aginor truly smiled. It’s been a month-long drought (or should I say Blight ), but welcome to MR32: The Blight Encroaches! This game, if you didn’t catch it from the RP, is a Wheel of Time game set at the end of The Eye of the World. The Forsaken are trying to destroy, overwhelm, or use the Eye to cut off the fledgling Dragon, al’Thor, from using it against the Great Lord of the Dark. Meanwhile, the Light is frantically defending the Eye against the encroachments of both the Blight and Forsaken, and seek to drive them back and kill them to strike a major blow on behalf of the Light. This game will start at Fal Dara Keep and move back towards the Eye as it continues. My co-GM for this game will be Elandera (@Ookla the Rogue). Our Impartial Moderator is @Alvron. All of the rules for this MR may be found here, in this Google doc. If anyone has any rules questions (and I imagine they do), please do not hesitate to ask. I’ll be saving the first post for a player list and rule clarifications. It is worth noting that the rules are not technically set in stone, as the game balance committee might want me to make tweaks, so until they pass the game, consider this ruleset unfinished. That said, I will try to keep all of you updated on the status of the ruleset until it is confirmed. Actually, I lied about that doc having all the rules. I did not address one set of rules: those pertaining to Ooklas. I am aware that the Ooklas are a wonderful festive way to celebrate Sanderson (having assumed the role of one myself), but they can cause issues regarding identity in SE. I’d hate to have mere confusion about names and identities derail lynch discussion or confuse action orders, and as such am placing the following guidelines for Ookla users: 1. If you changed your name to an Ookla, please place your usual name within your title. 2. If you changed both your name and profile picture, please conclude all your posts with a boldfaced line that states your regular name. Players that only changed their name are not required to do this but are strongly encouraged to, to help out your GMs. (You always have our best interests at heart, right? ) 3. Once the game has begun, do not change your name or profile picture any longer. 4. When voting to lynch on an Ookla, cast your vote in the following format: Regular Name (Ookla Name). For instance: “I vote Fifth Scholar (Ookla the White-Cloaked) for imposing pointless Ookla restrictions.” Also, it might help a lot of people could just generally refer to others by their usual names. 5. Please just call me Fifth. My Ookla name is just for RP. Thank you for cooperating with all of the above, and I’m confident that if everyone tries to adhere to it, we shouldn’t have identity-confusion issues. Signups for this game will close Thursday 6 December 2018, at 10:00 PM EST. (Rollovers in general will be around 10 PM EST.) The countdown site is broken, so do math if you need an exact number. Quick Links:

I second this wholeheartedly, and would like to thank @Wyrmhero for writing them, and running the game. The amount of work you put into the writeups to have them ready minutes from rollover was always appreciated. Also appreciated was all the work you put into making me think Rath was a Spiked in the dead doc, and your odd role distributions (three Tineyes? One house with six people and another with two?). Your title of King of Trolls is merited. Congratulations to @Araris Valerian for his excellent work in getting most of the Spiked lynched, and also having eight times the reputation of any living player by the end of the game. Also well done to @Orlok Tsubodai for catching on to a seemingly random tell, and nailing the entire Eliminator team with it. To the Elims—you played well, and ironically a more active village might have helped give you better targets to mislynch and people to mislead, and a more active game might have actually swung your way. Inactivity in general made both teams suffer this game, and was slightly disheartening, though I’m glad enough players were active at the end to keep the game interesting. The dead doc was certainly active, falling just short of 40k words, which isn’t bad in the least. As for myself, I did enjoy this game tremendously while I was alive, especially the challenge of trying to get Praise with a two-person house. I’d like to thank Elandera and Orlok for challenging me with questions and debates in-thread and in PMs, which gave me something to respond to when I wasn’t feeling committed enough to perform actual analysis. Oh, and @Elandera, well done on getting Pewter, again. The AG is coming up, so you’ll have another chance at it (or at Elsecaller, which is functionally the same).

Sorry-didn’t realise cycle was over, and didn’t see Orlok’s post.

“Thanking the doctor” is a term where a player will praise the protection role for doing their job successfully, and is generally considered an Eliminator tell. In this case, Jondesu’s effusive compliments towards whoever he presumed saved Elandera raised red flags for me.

I concur that the attackers were almost certainly the Eliminators. In respect to the possibility of a WGG, it is worth noting that there would be no clear reason to kill Elandera--however, the elims have hardly been predictable this game, so that doesn't tell us much. I agree that a WGG on Elandera makes little sense for an elim team if she is a Thug-- they would lose the ability to have a person with a passive ability submit the kill every cycle. However, if the Elims did have a Lurcher, eliminator!Elandera's attack and survival by her elim teammates would be more realistic. As I stated before, I don't believe killing Elandera for being attacked is a very smart idea unless we have better evidence than we currently do that her near-death was a WGG. The best solution would be for the Seeker to verify Elandera's claims later if they lack a better target (though there is a good chance she'll be offensively smoked if there's an elim smoker). Though I'd rather not vote with my gut this late in the game, time constraints are forcing my hand. Jondesu, Elandera. This post has a "thanking the doctor" feel to it, and generally sounds insincere and emotionally exaggerated. I wish I had more to go on than this, but this may be my last significant contribution of the cycle, though I'll hopefully be on tomorrow in the morning to react to any developments.

I’m again posting with limited time, though I hope to put something longer up tonight or tomorrow. I did manage a full reread of the earlier cycles, and have general suspicions on Rath, Ark, and Shqueeves, but I don’t have the time to justify voting for any of those yet. I’ll hold off for now, and hopefully find time tonight. As for Elandera, my feelings on her are mixed—I found things I liked and didn’t like in the previous thread, and hopefully (again with more time) I’ll look further into her. Finally, @Orlok Tsubodai, I understand you’re likely trying to compose a very large wall of text that may take some time, but I’d still like to see your justification for voting Itiah, and your response to recent developments.

It interests me that you were attempting to multiquote more than 50 posts, yes. Assuming you’re telling the truth, I find it amusing that you’ve gotten Pewter-related abilities in three straight games set in Scadrial (QF32, LG48, and now this one). More seriously, were you told in PM if you were Lurched or not? (Similarly, Lurchers, did you target Elandera last night?) I would note that although we shouldn’t lynch Elandera based on her survival, it is worth mentioning that C2 is about the sweet spot for WGGs. Early enough to gain trust that will last, late enough that it doesn’t look weird doing it C1, and it doesn’t impair their chances later in the game when they might actually really need to eliminate somebody. It appears our Coinshot made no kill attempt, but whether this was due to inactivity or lack of suspicions remains to be seen. I’ll suspect the former more if there’s no kill next Night cycle. More thoughts after I’m productive with my actual work.

I’m tired and slightly distracted with the election results coming in, but I will address my Soothed vote briefly. I think Rath’s vote was the potential work of an Eliminator, but it very much depends on the composition of the Eliminators. I would be unsurprised if Wyrm had given the Elims lots of Smokers and the village received vote manip (we’ve seen the death of two vote changing roles already), so assuming anything about our mystery Soother is likely overly hasty at this point in time. However, that does mean I was not Smoked last night, and it means that my experiment is completed! My vote indeed was Soothed, and if there wasn’t a motive behind the Soothe related to trying to save somebody, our Soother may just be paranoid of Influentials, and negated my vote for that. Also, if any Seekers did scan me last night, you know any scan was accurate, and if I was scanned I’d like to be contacted. More analysis later once I’ve looked over the end of last cycle’s thread some more, and am less tired.

Here is what you said, @Rathmaskal (I realise I’m quoting myself quoting you, but it was the only way to avoid losing my previous quote): So you did assert that one of the people on CadCom’s bandwagon was an Eliminator, which is looking at a specific group of votes. I understand if you have suspicions of Elandera and Xino from their role in CadCom’s death, but starting with the assumption that one is evil is a bad idea. If you could provide additional evidence as to why you believe they are evil, it would go a long way towards helping your case. Second, your comment on the discussion between Orlok and I; you did not say that it was worthless, true, but saying that it was going “basically nowhere” is functionally similar, and also misleading, I believe. Orlok and I had pivoted away from meta discussion and had begun going back-and-forth with suspicions and defences after our discussion on CadCom (which Orlok had been trying to lynch me for, making it game-relevant, and which really only stretched over four or five posts). What Orlok has said about me is essentially that he has vague suspicions from my tone, which is fine (I’ve certainly voted with less justification than that in the past), but I will be annoyed if that’s the only thing that gets me actually lynched. I would invite those arguing against my tone to please at least say what aspect of it is giving them an “Eliminator reading,” if that’s what will end up killing me. As for my vote on Rath, it’s strongly worded because I believe that his post wasn’t indicative of a villager mindset, and contained several phrases I saw as potentially coming from an elim standpoint. I explained it as best I could already, and I’m sorry if the wording seems too strong, but I wasn’t really looking to analyse all the nuances of his post, simply due to time. I would recommend Seekers choose their targets among those they believe least likely to be Smoked, on the contrary. If “roleless Noble” pops up, don’t take it as an automatic sign of innocence, for sure, but also don’t take it as a signal that the person was definitely smoked. Knowing Wyrm, a good percentage of the people in this game probably are roleless nobles. Also, the Seeker shouldn’t claim until they have a significant number of results, and when they claim they should be lynched or Coinshot to confirm their scans. (Sorry, it’s a tough life. ) Finding people you trust isn’t a great idea for a Coinshot—they’re around to hopefully get rid of people they suspect. If a Seeker can contact a Coinshot, they can work together on different targets every cycle, until at some point the Coinshot kills the Seeker and reveals their results. Regarding Tineyes, protecting them at all costs is a poor strategic decision—first, because they could be elim (which would be awful, but a possibility), and second, because PMs are nice but not essential, especially since they’re Night-only to begin with. Lurchers should very much keep on the down-low—if they claim to anyone, they could be killed on the spot for their role. I’ve run out of time to respond to anything else, or change my vote, and won’t make it back on until after the cycle is over. I’m hoping that I can keep my perfect record of never having been mislynched, but if I am, it isn’t the end of the world. If that does happen, my flip should hopefully be sufficiently informative to the village. Finally, as Steel was saying, starting to look among the lower-profile people that aren’t saying much might be a good idea to catch some of the Elims that are lying low.

That makes more sense then. Regardless, one of the main issues right now that I’ve noticed in recent games is that the village will rarely analyse kills except for the cycle after they happen, as they’re mostly forgotten as new information comes in. Therefore, while I am willing to delay this discussion if you believe it will be more fruitful to bring it up later, I believe forgetting it is a similarly bad idea. Shqueeves, Rathmaskal, Elandera, Elandera. I take several issues with this post; first, the assumption that there must be an Eliminator in a certain section of votes. It is not wrong to look at a group of votes and think an Elim may have made one of them, but looking at a group and deciding “there must be an Elim somewhere in here” is a great way to, as Orlok would put it, go on a wild goose-chase. Perhaps Xino or Elandera are Elims—I will hopefully get a chance to look at both later—but starting with this presumption can only harm the village. LG46 had a similar situation, with a five-vote bandwagon on Araris that the Elims tried to turn into a series of lynches on the perpetrators. Also, I’d refute the assertion that the conversation was going nowhere—the circumstances surrounding CadCom’s lynch were worthy of further discussion, and at any rate Orlok and I were saying a lot of things that can be analysed, especially when I was responding to his particular allegations against me. Dismissing the beginning half of the cycle isn’t wise, in my opinion. A wonderful solution to this is, of course, to simply analyse more yourselves, villagers. Regardless, I appreciate your desire to keep me alive, but think that this is a poor reason to postpone a lynch—the most suspicious player ought to be lynched irrespective of activity if they’re significantly more suspect than the next person. Devotary was also not present on Bard’s list of people that bandwagoned onto CadCom, and her flip makes the bandwagon on CadCom look slightly cleaner than it perhaps did at first, and also eliminates a person who can often be difficult to read. So there definitely could be villager motives for taking her out. That said, your point about Snipexe is a good one, and does make a larger amount of sense as a Coinshot target. (It also assumes our Coinshot was active enough to see and analyse the thread, but that’s most of the living players.) I’d be grateful if you could elaborate on anything “off” you’ve seen from me-I understand if it’s mostly gut, but I’d like to be able to defend myself and can’t if I don’t understand what I’m being accused of. Also, I’d argue that I am taking a leading role, but am doing these long multiquotes because it allows me to focus my limited time, and makes contribution easy by responding to previously made points, and building on them. Nevertheless, I’d say that I’ve contributed a significant portion of original analysis so far, and am curious as to why you believe I am playing in a “reactionary” manner. Reiterating the point I made to Rath; there was game-relevant information inside my interactions with Orlok, and denying the lack of such out of hand is a bad idea. The four or five posts from Orlok at the beginning of the cycle will be of significant use if I later analyse him, and our interaction in general could very much be analysed by others who don’t have my personal bias. Obvious elim moves can be obvious, but are often employed as a kind of double-bluff. Take the entire Mordor team voting as a block in QF27, or STINK’s manipulation in QF25 where he acted so much like a jester people thought he was just an Eliminator trying to escape the lynch, and started an enormous bandwagon on him. (He was an Eliminator Jester.) Clearing people for Eliminator-type behavior, even if it’s of the blatantly obvious variety, is a bad road to go down as the long-term consequences are people adopting obvious Eliminator practices to gain trust, which would be utterly backwards. Ark, you’ll need to add an Assassinate vote along with your Praise vote, or that won’t count.

Very quickly, as I’ve got about three minutes before I’ll not be able to respond for 12 hours: -More people should talk. This thread looks like a PM between Orlok and I with occasional interjections from Itiah. -I looked briefly at the kills but didn’t have enough time to significantly analyse them, which I’ll hopefully do later tonight. From my brief perusal, the Snipexe kill is the stranger of the two, imo.