Fifth Scholar

Pyromancer, sorry to say this, but we can’t kill Odium. He will simply change Vessels every time his current Vessel is lynched or killed. The only way to stop him is to pass him to Hoid, which is a terrible idea. But I kind of agree with Orlok that we’ve been talking too much about Odium, and not enough about lynching. So I’d like to talk about who we should lynch. The number of current lynch targets I’m currently OK with is 1: Drought. But I have nothing more than mild suspicion of him, and so I’d like to move to the person I actually would like to lynch: Hemalurgic Headshot. Not only would I like my Odium gloves back, which he received for a fraction of the initial cost, but HH seems a little suspicious. Behold his posts from this cycle: Everything above the line is NAI fluff. He admits it, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s NAI fluff. Everything below the line, I’d argue, is mostly NAI fluff. It’s simply disguised as game talk, and as Elbereth pointed out, having NAI game talk (should we lynch or not? Etc,etc) tends not to help the village. He then does some probability, running the odds of us hitting “someone special” with the lynch by random chance. The only noteworthy thing I can get from this post is that he believes that both Hoid and Khriss converted. Perhaps he knows this because he is a convert/Hoid/Khriss? A bit tinfoil-y, but still a very real possibility. Oh, and he seems to support putting Shards back into containment if possible, which, as I’ve stated before, I think is a bad idea. First paragraph is a pun, which I fully support. Soft-claiming Odium, too, perhaps? Second paragraph, he again brings up the NAI discussion of whether or not to have the D1 lynch. He seems to hedge against it, saying “there is a very high chance of hitting a villager” and “at the most, there are only four Elims.” What he fails to mention is that the villager:elim ratio is similar to most games, and that lynching causes discussion and lets the village get reads on people. Perhaps he wishes to stall one of the only means for the village to get a kill? I can definitely see an Elim arguing for a no lynch just to stop the village from using its kill. Third paragraph is a giant rhetorical question essentially summing up his second paragraph, and mainly adds length to his post. First paragraph doesn’t say much, although HH does acknowledge El’s point that the lynch is one of our only kill methods. Second paragraph attempts to justify his assumption that Hoid and Khriss used their conversions. This is NAI, as I could see a villager or Elim saying this. However, it doesn’t say much, so I retain a minute amount of suspicion from this post. This entire post, talking about NAI, is completely NAI. Well, the first part actually sounds a bit Elim-y: as Elbereth points out, not having a read one way or another on a player who has posted as frequently as HH has this game isn’t good simply on the basis that said person should have said something analyzable, at this point, especially since most of the discussion HH has been creating is NAI. So, slight Elim read from this post. I agree with HH’s assessment of Pyro; however, this statement is somewhat hypocritical. Having brought up many NAI points throughout the game, and pushing discussion that is generally NAI, HH states suspicion of Pyro for not saying much in their posts, or agreeing with people preceding them. What does he then proceed to do? Call me out for the same thing Pyro did, and add basically nothing new. So while this post doesn’t necessarily indicate evilness, it does stink somewhat of hypocrisy, in addition to not adding much new to the thread other than discussion on Pyro which went basically nowhere. Here HH reiterates his concerns of my supposed Odium focus, and admits his argument was derived from previous players. This gives me a very slight village vibe. This post bothers me. A lot. First of all, where have we “carefully planned” what to do with the newly released Shards? Perhaps a better question is, where have you? In an Eliminator doc, perhaps? And how does this revelation add anything huge right now, or disrupt any plans for this cycle? Odds are none of the Shards will get new win cons for a turn or two. Second, your rhetorical question provoked discussion on something NAI, again. And it’s also pure speculation, unless someone comes forward and admits that they’re Odium or Ruin. So this post helped nobody. @Elbereth @Orlok Tsubodai Would either of you mind switching your vote to HH? Edit: All the ninjas

Ah, thank you, Randuir. For some reason I missed that. That’s rather important info. Okay. In other news, I am much more comfortable about Bard after his most recent post. However, I’m curious about him on two counts, which he can respond to whenever (as judging from the timing of his post he’s likely asleep): 1) Why did you want to keep Shards in containment? Other than our sudden death win con, it serves little benefit, and spreading out village Investiture grabs would essentially let Hoid and Khriss decide which Shards got released, which I don’t see as a good thing. Were you just hopeful we could get our sudden death win con? Or did you have other motives? 2) I understand you’re trying to be vague about it, but the whole section of “I won’t confirm or deny rumors about me having a Shard” is... well, vague and IKYK-y, which doesn’t really help the village and kind of just feeds the rumors that you have a Shard. I understand if you don’t want to be more specific, but I would appreciate it . However, I agree with most of your other points, specifically Elbereth being village. It seemed kind of weird that people were trying to lynch her for a simple mistake, in my opinion, so I’ll be looking more closely at those who were voting for her. But for your suspicion of Drought, I looked back, and you’re right, he hasn’t said much. Hmm. I’m not sure it merits a vote, but he should definitely contribute more, as you’re correct about him blending into the shadows a bit. I’m with Mage on this one, Straw. Why are you voting on him for basically no reason? Orlok, I don’t try to bring attention onto myself. I think it just happens because I can’t help myself, and post a lot.

Wait, we know how many charges need to be taken from a Shard to release it? Since when? As for your questions, I feel like I explain them a lot earlier in my posts, but I will say that I think a lot of villagers were probably tempted by Odium, whether the Shard or the Investiture. I like what Young Bard said. Unfortunately, I have to do work so I will elaborate later, but will take my vote off him for the moment. Oh, and Bard, when I said “letting your second paragraph slide,” it was the one accusing Devotary before we got proof that he was Khriss, and I wasn’t going to hold you accountable for a theory you held based on incomplete evidence.

@MagestarYeah, the issue with my defense is that it unfortunately goes deep into IKYK. But honestly, how else am I supposed to defend myself? I can’t plead innocence, since I’ve already told the thread that I tried to take a charge of Odium’s Investiture. On the count that I seem to be focusing a lot on Odium, this is true, but a lot of it was just some heavy initial commentary that came from my mind being on the failed theft of Investiture, and then people started grilling me for questions about him, so I began to talk more. @_Stick_ It wasn’t much, just kind of an off feeling I got that I’d attribute to gut. I have far bigger suspicions than Steeldancer at the moment. @Hemalurgic Headshot I agree with you that Pyromancer seems odd, though I would give them the benefit of the doubt at the moment, and attribute it to posting style rather than alignment. For now at least, the former seems more likely. On another note, do you care to elaborate a bit more on your suspicions of me? You seem to simply be jumping on the bandwagon of “Fifth is focusing too much on Odium.” Do you have other reasons to suspect me? @Drake Marshall, I think Hoid converted last night because stealing a Shard, even if successful, would be an unlikely proposition simply because Hoid would have little idea which Shards were being targeted, and wouldn’t want to waste his ability for little to no gain. He might be targeting a Shard nobody else is (complete waste of an action), or a Shard a lot of people are going for, which would help release it, but there’d be a small chance that Hoid ended up with the Shard. Far better for him to convert, then use his convert’s action along with his own to take a Shard the following night.

Were I truly Odium, would I really talk about it so much, thereby drawing attention to myself for it? I’ve already owned up to trying to steal a charge of Odium’s Investiture last night, which, if I had actually ended up with the Shard, would be something that’s incredibly dangerous to claim. In addition, I am not supporting that we don’t focus on Odium. What I am saying is that there are bigger problems right now. Hoid and Khriss are definitely bigger issues, because their win con will be 100% incompatible with the village. Whereas the Shardic win cons that come when the Shardic Intent overrides a person are likely compatible with villager goals. Odium’s probably won’t be, and he’s definitely a problem, but he isn’t one right now because his Intent hasn’t overridden yet and he’s likely in village hands. In addition, I’m not sure what you think lynching Odium would actually accomplish; the Shard would just pass to a random person who lynched them, and we’d be in the same boat. Oh, and voting Young Bard for now because I find his early advice unhelpful, and I’d like him to respond to my post accusing him. Edit: Post from page 2 where I specifically say Odium is an issue: It’s an issue because villagers have next to no motive to go for Odium unless they want to kill people. I’ll admit, I tried for Odium last turn. I don’t think anyone else will admit this, and I’m aware it paints a large target on my back. I wanted the Investiture and not the Shard, though, since I thought a kill action would be useful later. But I did NOT want to release the Shard, because now: 1) the person with Odium is going to try to shatter Cultivation, which eliminates our only means of restoring Shattered Shards, which means Odium can effectively cripple our Shardic ability use; 2) the person with Odium might want to get Odium’s individual win con, which is probably something that deals with Shattering all the Shards AND removes a 17th Sharder from our shrinking pool of villagers and 3) a vig kill every round isn’t good either, as even if it does hit either Elim team eventually it’ll probably hit twice as many villagers first. @Devotary of SpontaneityThanks for clarifying (I should read the rules), but as you yourself said, that doesn’t eliminate the dangers of Khriss doing it. Having our Shardic power dispersed among several planets will definitely make things more interesting at the least, and dangerous at the most.

There are two possible Elim teams that could have taken Odium: Hoid and Khriss. Odium is literally useless to Hoid, since he can’t take kill actions, and there’s the fact that Hoid can’t directly steal Investiture from Shards anyway, so Hoid is definitely out (plus, I’m fairly sure Hoid converted last night, anyway). Khriss could have ended up with Odium, but I think she used her action to convert, or to steal from Ruin. While it is possible that Khriss does hold Odium now, considering the numbers of villagers either seeking to hold the power of Odium in their hand, or people like me who just wanted a kill action, I find the idea of Odium being in Khriss’ hands unlikely just because of the sheer quantity of villagers who tried to steal from Odium. Not to say it’s impossible, but I find village!Odium more likely.

At the time I didn’t realize that Shards stayed in containment if Silverlight was shattered, but my point still stands; a Khriss!Ruin could scatter us, and the Shards, among multiple planets, causing lack of communication, confusion, and restricted access to Shards we might want, while at the same time slowly blowing up the worlds that could get in her way (Scadrial springs to mind). So, with these points in mind, I’d be entirely unsurprised if Khriss went for Ruin last night instead of a conversion, knowing she would be able to divide us and disrupt village coordination.

Ehh...did my reread and a few things popped out to me. Young Bard (copy pasting because I can’t quote across tabs): Storms. Three Shards? And we couldn't have picked a nicer 3 to release, either... :/ What's more, if everyone steals a charge again tonight, we're divided among even fewer Shards, so it seems likely that at least three, if not more, will be released again tonight. Devotary of Spontaneity. I explained this at the end of last cycle, but to repeat quickly: I found a few of their lines - especially their first line after the reset - to be highly suspicious. In addition, they had a few peculiar plans which I believe would be more in line with an Eliminator mindset than a villager one (see my post last cycle for more detail on that.) To the three brand new Shards: I'm pretty sure you know when you're going to change your alignment (Seonid, is this true?) - I'd strongly recommend you have returned your Shard before that happens. (I'd say do it immediately, but I know even I wouldn't follow that advice if I was holding a Shard, so... ) Oh, and Odium, I hope you're not Steeldancer. Please, please, don't be Steeldancer. For all intents and purposes, this post seems fine. But looking at this closely, the first paragraph seems a bit forced. And why do you see releasing Shards as a bad thing? The 17S sudden death win con is looking *very* unlikely right now, and it seems like you’re trying to force the village into inaction by saying “oh don’t go for Investiture, you’ll release Shards.” That’s part of the risk of going for Investiture, and it shouldn’t stop the village from trying to. Saying this makes me view you in an Elim-y light, as your advice would keep villager hands off of Shards. Which, at this point, is not a good thing. I’ll let your second paragraph slide, considering you’ve already retracted your vote. Your third paragraph continues support for trying to keep all Shards in containment. While I certainly don’t like the idea of Odium and Ruin running amok, as you yourself acknowledge, there’s little reason either Vessel would return or pass their Shard without having their fun with it first. Yet you argue for the Shards to be returned to containment anyway, providing no real reasoning to support said argument, which has no effect at all except for making you seem a bit more villager-y. Final paragraph is fairly NAI, though I’d bring up the tinfoil possibility that Bard is Odium, and is attempting to slightly distance himself. In other words, this post says fairly little despite its size (outside of the argument for the lynch on DoS), and it seems like Bard is trying to give himself some “villager cred” without offering much real input. I suspect someone else will have posted by the time I finish this, so it won't be a double post. 1. Hmmm... That's fair, I suppose, but that still doesn't answer the fact that I don't think destroying a planet would be a good idea, even if a Shard isn't released in the process. 2. Huh. OK, then. Does anyone want to counter-claim this? ...Against my better judgement, Devotary, unless I hear a counter-claim. I do consider that my main piece of evidence, but if you were Khriss last time, then that explains that comment. 3. That, at least, we're agreed on. :/ EDIT: I've just scanned through, and the following players are people who either didn't post, or only post a line or two at most. (If I missed something more substantial you posted, I apologise.) I'm RNG'ing from this list to poke vote - I understand if you're busy, but please let us know that at the very least if so. @Arinian, @Eternum, @Straw, @Jondesu, @Megasif, @shanerockes. Straw. Do you have any thoughts on the game so far? 1. Continues his policy of Shardic nonintervention, calling (again) for Ruin to be returned to containment. Does not support blowing up any worlds. I’ve already said that I don’t think this is in the village’s best interests. 2. Retraction, completely justified and this looks fine, even if it’s mostly NAI. 3. Trying to establish villager cred, or a genuine reaction? I’m unsure, but I’m not going to dismiss this as NAI. I have a feeling it tells alignment, I’m just unsure which one. I’ll think about this comment a bit more. 4. Goes after lurkers/minimally active. Has Bard done this in the past? If he has, fine, but if not, this seems like a way to deflect attention towards people who can’t really defend themselves. I’m personally fine with a lurker/inactive lynch, but if Bard normally isn’t this might raise red flags. (I do agree with Bard that these people should be more active, though.) Also, out of this list, Bard RNGs Straw for his vote, who responds immediately. But I don’t see a retraction. @Young Bard, could you retract your vote on Straw? Analysis of HH to come.

I’ve already said this in-thread, but I tried and failed to take Odium’s Investiture. I am not Survival (although that’d be nice), just a researcher who wanted to squirrel away a kill action. Unfortunately, I helped release Hate instead. So if I did have a Shard right now, it’d be Odium. And considering the amount of text space I’ve devoted to him, I think it’d be a slightly risky ploy to say these things so openly, were I him. Call this an IKYK if you will, and you’d probably be correct in labeling it as such, but I have no Shards and no Investiture. (Well, except for the Investiture in the objects I’m selling. But those need to stay invested.) As a side note, I need to reread this thread a lot. We need lynch discussion and analysis, and I don’t think Devotary is a terribly good target. Thoughts to come once my reread is done, but anyone with thoughts on the lynch needs to speak up now so we can have an informed lynch before the cycle ends.

Err...Pyromancer, I have no clue what you’re talking about. If you’re phishing, then sure, fine, but if not, what are you talking about? Elaborate in thread, please- even if I could start a PM, I wouldn’t use it to clarify a point that could be cleared up now.

Maybe. I agree it'd be a good idea to not lose more villagers to shard win-cons, but again, I don't know that all shardic win-cons will be anti-village. In fact, I rather doubt it. Just because it’s ideal for Odium to pass his Shard doesn’t mean he will. If a villager really wants the power of the Shard of Hate, they’ll let the win con possess them. An ideal game isn’t necessarily the most fun one, and everyone plays these games to have fun. I definitely agree that most Shards won’t have anti-village win cons, but if I could guess one Shard that does, it’s probably Odium. Which is the point I was trying to make. @Straw Your advice is good, but I have a sneaking suspicion Ruin is not in village hands. But getting rid of Braize would stop kill actions outside of Odium/the lynch, if I’m not misremembering the rules. Which I see as a good thing. So if Ruin is nice, I agree they should shatter Braize, if possible.

It’s an issue because villagers have next to no motive to go for Odium unless they want to kill people. I’ll admit, I tried for Odium last turn. I don’t think anyone else will admit this, and I’m aware it paints a large target on my back. I wanted the Investiture and not the Shard, though, since I thought a kill action would be useful later. But I did NOT want to release the Shard, because now: 1) the person with Odium is going to try to shatter Cultivation, which eliminates our only means of restoring Shattered Shards, which means Odium can effectively cripple our Shardic ability use; 2) the person with Odium might want to get Odium’s individual win con, which is probably something that deals with Shattering all the Shards AND removes a 17th Sharder from our shrinking pool of villagers and 3) a vig kill every round isn’t good either, as even if it does hit either Elim team eventually it’ll probably hit twice as many villagers first. @Devotary of Spontaneity Thanks for clarifying (I should read the rules), but as you yourself said, that doesn’t eliminate the dangers of Khriss doing it. Having our Shardic power dispersed among several planets will definitely make things more interesting at the least, and dangerous at the most.

At a math competition (my weekend’s really busy for whatever reason). I don’t think the release of Autonomy is necessarily bad, as until they become self-aligned they aren’t really a problem to the village. I propose that whoever has it continues to pass it around to keep their village alignment. Ruin is a bigger issue, and one that I could see Khriss going for over a conversion. Getting Ruin, the extra action it grants, and the ability to blow up Silverlight, likely releasing all the Shards and scattering us among the remaining worlds is something I could definitely see Khriss doing. So I think that finding and lynching Khriss this cycle should be our priority. It’s unlikely to happen, but right now she’s probably a bigger threat than Hoid, as I can’t see a situation in which Hoid didn’t convert last night, while I could see multiple in which Khriss holds off on hers. Khriss + Ruin should scare the living daylights out of everyone here. Odium is a huge problem; however, I don’t think we should go after him yet. Right now, the person holding it is almost 100% sure to be village (unless they were Hoid’s convert), and unless they’re a troll that wants Odium’s win con (which is, sadly, a legitimate possibility) and plan on shattering Cultivation, we have bigger fish to fry at the moment. However, I hope the village will actually go for Cultivation tonight, if for no other reason than to prevent its Shattering. Odium, if you have a shred of decency, don’t hit Cultivation tonight. The village depends on it. If you do, I will personally hunt you and try to lynch you. You probably still have a village win con. Hold to it, please. Likely things happening tonight: -Odium kills Culty (please don’t, Odium) -Ruin blows Silverlight up, releasing all the Shards -The village gets a decent number of these Shards As for the lynch, I just don’t have time to comb through everyone’s stuff, but will express that something seems off about Steel beyond him potentially being Odium. I’ll have more thoughts tonight. Sorry for the low quality of this post.

Analysis (very much a work in progress): Investiture types: -Ambition: Action transfer, essentially. Useful to 17S letting a researcher potentially steal 2 charges of Investiture in one night if the village needs a Shard released. Useful to Hoid/Khriss by letting them convert/steal Investiture/use any Shardic powers simultaneously. Useful to AC/SoH letting them nearly guarantee the release of a specific Shard. Autonomy: Role scanning. VERY useful to 17S allowing us to spot kill actions/conversions/use of Shardic power by AC/SoH. Useful to Elim teams by letting them observe potential Shardic use by villagers. Cultivation: PMs are great, but ideally I’d like this Shard out of containment. Devotion: Vote manip doesn’t seem terribly powerful this game, but either team could use it to swing a lynch. If you do take this Investiture, please use it wisely. Dominion (redirect/roleblock immunity): Seems kinda pointless unless you’re doing something else along with it. Only take this if you’re planning to release the Shard, or you’re taking a very important action. I don’t see this being used much by 17S, but the Elims may use it to avoid an important action being diverted. Endowment (gift action to someone else): Kinda weird. Don’t really see much use for it within 17S, since you could unwittingly be giving Elims an extra action, which would be bad. Whereas AC/SoH usage seems likely, giving teammates extra actions so they can kill/steal Investiture. Honor: Seems like a mostly generic protect ability. 17S should use wisely to prevent kills on fellow Sharders and stay out of the way of kills on suspects, while AC/SoH will likely just use it to defend themselves. Protect others, please, 17th Sharders. If you want to save yourself, use Preservation. Odium: I actually suggest that 17S jump on Odium N1. It’ll hopefully keep it out of Elim hands, and it’ll stop them from using the kill action, which is kinda insane (basically, both Elim teams would probably have a kill every other cycle). We just have to make sure Odium comes out after Cultivation, and that the person who gets it isn’t a troll/Eliminator. Otherwise things will go south quickly. Preservation: Standard extra life. This is a good Shard and a good charge of Investiture. I suggest that 17S members up for lynch not use it, just so we can confirm you as good (of course, if you’re being lynched by a hammer of suspicious origin saving yourself is probably OK). Potentially useful to Shades in the dead doc. 17S use to defend yourself from Night kills, AC/SoH will likely use it to protect themselves from lynches. Which is annoying, but also something we can’t do much about. Ruin: A roleblock is...interesting. 17S will have to be very careful about who we use this on, as we could easily end up blocking a Sharder sending in an important action. Meanwhile I could see AC/SoH wreaking havoc with this. I’d support releasing this Shard if its Shardic ability wasn’t so terrible. Survival: No Investiture for you! Unless the person holding it is kind enough to return it to containment.

When your Spanish teacher asks you to translate “rascacielos” (skyscraper) and you confidently answer “Skybreaker!”

My opinions remain largely unchanged from last cycle, but my reads on players will obviously need to be reworked. Still working on Investiture analysis. Still think the 17S is best going for Cultivation and Ambition. In particular, Cultivation, as even if we don’t release the Shard, PMs are still useful.

Aaaah! Posts! I just got back from my meet and am therefore exhausted, but I will reread this thread tomorrow on my day off from school. A few immediate thoughts on some common themes I’ve seen in the thread. 1) We should definitely have a C1 lynch. 18% Elims is worth a shot, and honestly, not lynching just starves us of information. 2) I do support going for Shardic Investiture this early, up to and including releasing Shards from containment. I concur with others that the most useful Shards for 17S to target would be Cultivation and Ambition, for reasons stated by others which I’m too tired to find right now. I strongly advise that 17S doesn’t go for Odium after N0, unless you really want a kill or there’s serious danger of the Hoid and Khriss factions getting it. We don’t want to release another Odium into the Cosmere. 3) No real opinions on players so far, but I will likely develop them during my thorough reread, again, tomorrow. 4) I will have a fairly large posts about benefits/detractions of each type of Shardic Investiture, which you can expect (guess when?) tomorrow. 5) I shouldn’t complain about being tired... my coach made our top distance runner, after he’d just PRed in the two mile with a time of 10:39, run eight 800s at his two mile race pace (btw that’s like a 2:36 for him) with a minute and a half rest between each one. And then she took him to a hill and made him do 20 hill repeats (sprint up the hill, jog back down, sprint up again). And then she had him run a leg of the distance 4x400. Her reasoning? “He didn’t know how to push himself when it really hurt.” I suppose that now he does. I also suppose that he won’t be able to feel his legs for a good two days. Wish I could be more useful/coherent. But hopefully my coherence and usefulness will return to me tomorrow. Good night, all.

Aaah! Posts! At a track meet, so I can’t really respond to anything. I will definently make a long post tonight, though. For now I’d just like to say that I strongly support the village releasing Cultivation ASAP, just to prevent people from pouncing on Odium and shattering her immediately. More thoughts to come in ~4 hours.

Well, glad I timed my RP so that it’ll be nighttime in-world by the time the game starts. Totally intentional. Totally. Also, I suppose it makes more sense having a Night start, but I was kind of hoping a lynch on Hoid or Khriss would be possible before they’d converted anyone. Guess that can’t happen.

Darrel’s face brightened considerably as the man began to reconsider his offer, but it fell just as quickly when he heard Jaimo say he was asking too much. He spluttered, interrupting Jaimo as he paused for a breath. “Did you say ‘too much?!’” Darrel cried indignantly. “Who do you think I am, a rug merchant? Why, those fools will triple the price of their work on the grounds that their rug is handwoven! As if that, of all things, improved the intrinsic worth of the rug itself! I have seen several handwoven rugs from Roshar, and let me tell you, the perfection of their arrangement pales in comparison to Scadrial’s machine-spun rugs. I use only the latter for my booth, for I would overpay were I to seek elsewhere for a quality floor covering. Honestly, rug merchants bring a bad name upon all merchants, and their merchandise! Curséd be their name and their profession!” Pausing for breath, Darrel glanced up and saw Jaimo raise his eyebrow in bemusement, and realized he’d gone off on a tangent. While it did feel good to vent to someone about rug merchants (the very thought of them made Darrel shudder), he quickly refocused the conversation. “Anyway...you seemed to take to the idea of a color change? Why, that can be arranged most easily! In fact, if you can choose the color you would like now (personally, I think a navy blue would look quite striking with your cloak), I’ll even eliminate the fee for the dying process. Dying as in color, obviously...” he concluded with a nervous laugh. “So I’ll dye it this afternoon, and I can get it to you tonight. I don’t know if you have any plans tonight, but we could meet up at a tavern with Everen and a few other of your acquaintances from the lab. I’m considering a researcher position, in addition to my day job, and any connections I could leverage to help would be great. I’ll pay for dinner, of course. Just buy these gloves now, at a reduced price of a dozen broams, and I’ll bring them to you at the meet up, if you can get enough people to come. So, is a final figure of twelve emerald broams and dinner on me tonight enough to change your mind, friend? I’m personally excited to meet some of your fellow researchers.” @Hemalurgic Headshot

Darrel winced at the outburst from Jaimo. With the distance between the two of them, he had mixed his trouser color with his strange turban. Well, he wouldn’t be making that mistake again. As the man yelled at him, Darrel gained more and more of a desire to slink under his booth and vanish for a few seconds. But as Jaimo continued to vent, he noticed the man’s eyes drifting towards the gloves he held, and the expression on his face changed. Whether that was good or bad, Darrel didn’t know. But the man finally left, and Everen, a man who had turned down his Devotion clock a few days earlier, approached him. "Nalthian ettiquette for selling clothing is... Complex. Truth is, it can be difficult for a foreigner to make sense of the subtleties of it. Which is a singularly unfortunate fact for a worldhopping salesperson." he paused. "Incidentally, I might be able to help you in that department. You would have to find another to sell you connection to Nalthis, but... I can still grant you the memories and experience of a Nalthian." Darrel frowned at the man’s generous offer. Nobody helped someone for free. Or for an unspecified cost, which was basically the same thing. Just didn’t happen. Everen wanted something, so Darrel took the offer warily despite his interest. “Hmm,” Darrel mused, in reality gathering his thoughts. “Now that does seem very intriguing, and frankly, anything that’ll help me get some new customers would be appreciated. Do you know any of these people you mentioned who could give me this connection? I’m sure we could make a bargain, but I’d need to get to know them first, and I’m not sure that’s an expense I’m willing to stomach. But being a Nalthian in spirit does sound interesting. Gives me an opportunity to get more ins with those lab workers, too.” Haggling really is the best way to go when accepting a deal, Darrel thought to himself. Accepting outright just drives the price up. Wait...haggling...didn’t Jaimo say he haggled for the *vermilion* turban? And he was looking at my gloves strangely... He must really want a deal, just at a lower price. Well, he’ll get it. Ignoring the startled jump of Everen, Darrel sprang up from his half-crouched position and began to weave through the crowd looking for Jaimo. “Watch my booth, I’ll pay you for it later!” he hollered back at Everen, searching for Jaimo among the scattered crowd, gloves clutched expectantly in his hand. He ran through the crowd, knocking aside passerby in a desperate attempt to get to his customer. Darrel eventually found him near the entrance to the labs, and out of breath, fell on the ground from exertion. Jaimo regarded him strangely, and Darrel used the opportunity to make his second pitch. ”Researcher, I’m truly sorry for misrepresenting your...orange turban during my initial request. But I think your indignant reaction to my pitch was a bluff to get me to lower my price.” He looked up expectantly, and despite a brief splutter the man made no response. Taking that as a good sign, Darrel continued. “However, considering the insult I previously made about your clothing, I’ll lower the price of these gloves down to a manageable fifteen broams! They’re still as high quality as before, and they’re invested by Odium himself! Really, think of the vast potential of these gloves, when you consider that they have a small bit of Hate, and possibly Passion, inside of them. Truly I am offering you a great deal, sir! I implore you to forget our previous interaction, and judge this objectively. I think you’ll find that these gloves are well worth the deal I’m offering. And for only a few ruby broams, I can even change the pink color if it doesn’t match your preferences. What say you?” He looked up at Jaimo, hope shining in his eyes. @Hemalurgic Headshot @Drake Marshall (Feel free to abandon my pithy booth) A sales pitch to a salesman is a great way to get into a haggling debate and/or economics discussion, Drake

I think I mixed up your scarf color with your trouser color. Sorry. I do know what color vermilion is. But I do appreciate the scene you made. I’ll get some RP in later when I have time to respond to your myriad of accusations.

From his sales booth, Darrel spotted Jiamo walking down the street with his absurd fashion, the colors and designs clashing horribly. Many would dismiss such a man, but Darrel knew a customer when he saw one. The hideous pink gloves he had invested with Odium were still sitting in the corner of his booth, just waiting to be sold. He was honestly baffled that nobody bought things from him. Wasn’t a clock with Devotion’s own Investiture worth at least five thousand clips? At least, to someone who had Scadrian currency. But the gloves demanded payment in emerald broams, since Odium was influencing Roshar, or something like that. But even so, Darrel was scandalized. His last customer had only paid him eighteen thousand clips for the amulet with Preservation’s Investiture. Did these people realize that would only pay for six years’ worth of bribes to the research center where the Shards were contained? Heartless and cruel, these people were. He’d have to start eating five meals a day at this rate. He’d starve! No, he needed those broams from Jaimo. Or else, in twenty years, he’d run out of his bribe and eating money, and be unable to steal more Investiture. So he couldn’t make his precious Invested objects, and the cash flow would stop! No fancy house. No retirement at fifty. It would be truly terrible. Darrel breathed deeply to calm himself and stave off his panic attack. He called across the street to Jaimo. “Hey! You with the yellow-green turban! Want these gloves?” He waved the pink Odium gloves in front of him. “They’re Invested with Odium’s own...well, Investiture I suppose! Probably be really nifty in a combat situation, to be fair. Normally, I’d demand twenty emerald broams for such a commodity, but with your wardrobe I’m sure it would fit perfectly, so I’m gonna give you a discount! How about eighteen for these?” Idiot, he berated himself. Why’d you lower the price so quickly? Filled with anxiety and excitement, he waited for the man’s response, but also noticed a woman walking nearby, another researcher from the Silverlight labs. Elaria, her name was? She looked a bit too smart to want to buy from him, but he could always try. @Hemalurgic Headshot @Elbereth

Wow, read the dead doc and Orlok was phishing?! Man, I really could have killed him turn one. Dang. You have a remarkable intuition, Orlok. Also, seeing several comments in the dead doc-yeah, I was a bit of an idiot about my alliance system turn one or two. I think I was just a bit intimidated looking at my vast number of PM contacts, and was thinking “this could use some paring down, maybe.” Looking back, maybe not. Oh well. Thanks @Jondesu! Again, rather would have won with you, but sadly Araris died first. But I’m curious- what did you try to do last night? Detain Orlok, or attack him? I was honestly getting very nervous when you didn’t respond to the Ffnord doc, and nearly changed my order last-minute.

Okay, a few thoughts. Yay, I won! Can honestly say I wasn’t expecting this, as despite a PM from Orlok saying he and Crimsn were coordinating, I thought it would put Jondesu on the Ffnord throne. Congrats to Orlok and Crimsn as well. Second: I backstabbed a lot of people this game, specifically Mage and Megasif, and I’d like to apologize to both of them. I would have attempted to honor our alliances, but it eventually became abundantly clear that I had gathered too many to keep in the air all at once. Yours were the first to drop, but I’m still sorry they had to. Our little group chat was fun. Though I did get both of you back for fooling me in the AG Third, and this is a fairly big one: Orlok. So it’s not a huge secret that I was trying to have him killed first turn, but I also knew there was a hole in my house or in my alliances. So I just told everyone, and lo and behold, I receive a PM from Orlok: (Paraphrased slightly) I’d rather you not kill me tonight, I have a house ready to kill you but I’ll retract if you do. So I got pretty scared. I mean, I was expecting this, but I was still scared. So after going through a few loops, Orlok and I reaffirmed that an alliance was still workable, and over the next few turns, I acted as his personal bodyguard/assassin, killing his enemies or protecting him. But at this point, I’d entered into an alliance with Araris. And I really didn’t want to break this one like I had all the others. So I PMed Mafia and Araris, and we set up a plan to detain and kill Eternum, who we perceived as a threat. Unfortunately, Orlok didn’t stick to his part in my grand scheme and killed Mafia instead of Jondesu, meaning that I had to work doubly hard to get the Ffnord throne. And Araris’ throne was no longer a guarantee, and Crimsn, a wildcard, was on the Heron throne. So with one move, Orlok successfully ruined hours of careful planning. And then he killed Araris. However- and this is my main point- he was a good ally. He helped Crimsn win because he promised her he would, and helped me win because I’d helped him so much. I wish he’d had some of the same alliances I did, but that didn’t make him a bad ally, per se. Fourth, Mafia and Shane. I was completely honest when I spoke with both of you- I hoped we could have won together. Unfortunately, Mafia, you were killed a turn too early, and Shane, your death was planned. But I didn’t lie. I said if you survived the night, I’d help you. And I honestly would have, but you didn’t survive. I’m kind of sorry, but I’m the other hand it was necessary. Fifth, Araris. I was very angry and disappointed when you died, I’ll be honest. At the time, I was seriously salty that it was a Night cycle again because I wanted to lynch Orlok. (Turns out the only reason I won was because I didn’t, but I really wanted to at the time.) So yeah. You were a very reliable, trustworthy ally, and despite the brief panic attack I had when I thought you were going to kill me, I really enjoyed working with you and Jondesu towards the Kandra plan. Finally, thanks to Joe and Elbereth for running this and putting up with my incessant, and at times impatient questions. And thanks to everyone else for making this a really fun game. Looking forward to many more! Edit: Voting for Araris Valerian, since I never did that.