Sunburst Toucan

While the town waited for the execution hour to arrive, Avil Ejir took this opportunity to rush home and sort through what had now evolved into a stack of notebooks. Pages and pages of hastily scribbled quotes and ideas Avil had picked up from his observations of the previous execution discussions. He leaned out his window and glanced at the sky. There was plenty of time to dusk, which meant sitting idly would risk disruption of rhythm. This was all the convincing he needed. Avil rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

Avil squinted as he processed those words.

Avil believed an Agolac [Onyx Flamingo] execution had been delayed enough times. There were only so many times one could escape justice; they had to strike now before Agolac had the chance to fully recover from the attack.

Avil stared in horror as Guy walked off the execution platform in one piece. The Lion had always been unsettling, and Avil was growing increasingly certain of his culpability. There had been an overwhelming amount of townsfolk ready to condemn Guy for the gruesome crimes of the Spiked, and Avil could not shake the feeling that some of these accusers were privy to the knowledge that Guy would in fact evade the execution. Why, Guy himself had not come forward to defend his life. [OOC: I severely doubt the purity of that train. Lion has been a commonly shared suspicion for a while now, so e!Lion’s teammates benefit more from soaking up their extra life in a bus rather than having them survive an inevitable Coinshot attack, where they would be bereft of any village cred. Minded to agree with Albatross in that the last minute Lion votes are suspicious more so if Chameleon is Spiked. Coinshot should ideally settle the Lion matter, or go for a Flamingo take 2.0. If Flamingo is a thug they will die this time, and if they are a Lurcher they cannot protect themselves again. Of the non-Lion voters I’m wary of Scorpion’s vote for the complete 180 on Flamingo and voting alongside them after suspecting them for most of the turn. Attempting to disperse votes? Instinctive thought regarding the Weasel-Chameleon interaction is that they are not partnered. Will be looking at that again.] Avil decided to head home early for the night. He would barricade himself in his room and sleep with one eye open, for the Spiked seemed to have a way with trailing the mists, seeping through tiny cracks and delivering vengeance on the town that had dared to rise above them.

Having conversed at length with Mouse [Azure Mouse], Avil felt he could see reason to believe in them, at least tentatively. He would then redirect his suspicions toward WitLees [Pearl Chameleon], who had not put forward an accusation himself in the First Day, which could be indicative of the Spiked given that most of the accused from that day turned out to be innocent. He had also accused Reneau [Heron] yesterday (and had little to justify it), which made Avil warier of his motives. He glanced at the sky. They had not yet approached midday, and yet Avil felt exhausted.

[OOC: My vote is based on Heron voters PoE. I will refer you to an earlier post of mine where I came to such conclusions (see summarized OOC comments). Your confusion regarding the attacks was merely a supporting factor; I assure you this is not a personal attack. Apologies if it came off that way.]

Avil eyed Mouse and the Obli-gator as they expressed confusion regarding the causes of the attacks. Any Tyrian resident should be aware of the distinction methods; it had always been made clear as per the historical records, and Avil was not inclined to view the two men as unfamiliar with the Tyrian landscape. No, for they way that they spoke was a clear indication that they were not newcomers to this town. As such, Avil could not help but see the disorientation as slightly feigned. From what he'd heard from older residents, this confusion was commonly brought up in the past, so much so that it seemed slightly ridiculous now. Avil pulled up his notes from last night: The odds of all Heron accusers being innocent were slim, so Avil decided on putting Mouse [Azure Mouse] under scrutiny, whom he had little reason to consider free of guilt.

Avil considered his notes. Luciel [Falcon] had been the main contender against the Reneau [Heron] execution, which pointed towards a higher likelihood of Luciel being truly guilty. If that were the case, Avil suspected the Reneau accusators to be colluding with Reneau. [OOC: If Falcon is an eliminator, the Heron wagon likely contains three eliminators at most, otherwise two at most. Disliking Mouse, Chameleon, Scorpion, and Meerkat based on this. Disliking Swan and Elephant as well. Disliking Lion for not voting despite being consistently on. Dragonfly does not look great either but my previously existing village lean on them is making me hesitate. Falcon’s flip should have a bearing on Dragonfly’s alignment. Falcon checked in during the turn to warn of their expected absence but did not vote. Granted, they had one vote at the time and perhaps did not feel threatened by it. Falcon could not have been directly responsible for that vote manipulation since they would have Soothed Meerkat, except Meerkat ended up on Heron. It is likely to be either E!Falcon’s teammates or elims attempting to frame V!Falcon.] Then there were VarLeel [Albatross] and Aylia [Hyena]. Fundamentally, Avil did not agree with VarLeel’s theory because a simpler course of action for the Spiked would be to stack on a villager instead of endangering one of their own. But if there was anything that Avil could conclude from that statement, it was that VarLeel and Aylia were unlikely to be in cahoots, simply because of the spontaneity of the suggestion.

Avil Ejir sat on the bench in the town square, staring at the ground as he remembered the events that had taken place that morning. The discussions had been heated, with people shouting and arguing over who they should execute for the murders being carried out by the Spiked. In the end, they had decided on Reneau. Avil didn't know him well, but he felt a strong sense of loss at his execution. Once again, they had made the wrong choice, they had chosen the wrong person to pay for the crimes. But Avil knew that the town couldn't afford to make any more mistakes. They had to find the real culprits and bring them to justice. He just hoped that the next time they made a decision, it would be the right one. There was evidence of an allomancer at play. Someone had used emotional allomancy to influence the accusations. Sighing, Avil opened his notebook, which was now halfway filled. Somewhere along the way, Avil had started journaling in there; it helped him cope with the constant string of losses. He still carried a vivid memory of his mother huddled over her desk, scribbling away all night. She had consistently journaled, all those years ago. Avil took a moment to reflect on the day’s discussions. It had been eventful, and Avil knew he could uncover some leads if he put his mind to it. [OOC: I am doing a vote analysis of D2]

As Avil walked back and forth in the market square, lost in thought, he spotted a young boy crouching near the bushes out of the corner of his eye. He cautiously approached the little boy, who seemed lost and perturbed. [OOC: Different playstyles are encouraged! Like Croc pointed out, these anonymous games are designed specifically to allow us to pursue different styles and try new things. So as long as you're comfortable and playing within the boundaries of the SE rules, it should never be an issue.] "Why, hello there. Have you lost your parents, boy?" Avil knelt down to address the boy. "Talk of the Spiked probably has you spooked...The market these days is no place for a little boy like you. Let's get you some food." He glanced at the boy's disheveled hair and worn out clothing. "You look like you've been here a while...you haven't seen anybody acting particularly odd here lately, have you?" Avil looked to where Willam seemed to be addressing a crowd. [OOC: Two things about this - first, the underlying assumption here appears to be V!Rhino, which could loosely imply TMI. Second, if the eliminators might want to kill the Tineyes at some point like you suggest, would the Tineye not try to conceal themselves as much as they can? Is impersonating another player not a way to do this? Slightly reconsidering my Tuatara read based on this.] Dragonfly had also offered some suggestions regarding the ongoing investigations, and Avil nodded in agreement to them. He appreciated Dragonfly's initiative to get everyone involved in the investigation. It seemed earnest. "Will you be formally launching an accusation against the Obli-gator, then?" Ciril Yuanivori had plenty of thoughts to share now, which Avil was grateful to hear. He had a detailed analysis of the tally of accusations to present, and Avil could appreciate the effort. Not many were willing to devote much time to the investigations, as most people were far too unsettled by the murders. Avil was not thoroughly convinced of Ciril's innocence, no, but he would withdraw his accusation for now [Sapphire Elephant]. Avil was particularly wary of the Rhino-looking man [Plum Rhinoceros]. There was just something so off about that fellow. It almost seemed as though he was trying too hard to come off as nonchalant about the investigations. What was he hiding? [OOC: I could possibly be persuaded onto the other exe options, though I would very much like to hear from @Indigo Weasel, @Onyx Flamingo and @Mint Heron in particular first.]

The news of the two residents’ deaths had spread like wildfire throughout the town. As word reached him, Avil’s heart sank. Despite all that had been happening, he couldn’t believe it. He had known both of them for some time now, and had enjoyed speaking with Kangaroo in particular. They were a good fellow, always willing to lend a helping hand to anyone in need. And now they were gone, taken from this world in such a brutal and senseless way. And Reverse…Avil felt a pang of shame as he thought back on his paranoia regarding Reverse. How misplaced it was…Avil had heard rumors about what had happened. It had been the Spiked. Avil’s shame quickly morphed into anger the longer he thought about this. He knew he had to do something, no he had to do more. Clearly his efforts were taking them nowhere. He made his way to the town square, where a group of people had gathered to mourn and discuss what to do next. “We cannot let this continue,” he declared, his voice filled with new determination. “And we can’t let this go unpunished.” He held his notepad in his hand, gripping it tightly; he had made it a habit to carry it with him wherever he went so that when the Spiked inevitably came for him, he’d be able to pass his wisdom down to whoever would discover his corpse. Now that he had a considerable number of people’s attention, he continued, “I think that we should be investigating Ciril Yuanivori [Sapphire Elephant] for these crimes, as I have noticed that while they are often ready to offer advice, they’ve been rather oddly reserved when it comes to expressing their thoughts directly regarding the murders/murderers themselves.” [OOC: All three of Elephant’s posts contain general game-related advice or mechanics-related thoughts, but they have not thus far expressed opinions regarding other players, the flips, or the votes. Our PM hasn’t been too insightful either. Their second D1 post in particular pings my elim-dar as seeming to appear helpful while mostly just being fluff in disguise.] Avil then turned to address the Obli-gator, “I must admit I don’t see the point behind your first statement there, Obli-gator. Was there a less weird way to announce that one had gotten PMs that I should've gone with instead? And you’re mistaken about my reasons for changing my accusation from Scorpion to Taltin. No, I was not persuaded by any means, for I had always intended to accuse Iguana.” [OOC: My vote was in reference to Iguana’s post, but I got the Saffron and Scorpion mixed up while filling in my RP with the actual usernames in square brackets instead of the RP names. Tuatara pointed it out and I promptly corrected it.] "To recap my previous notes, I continue to feel good about Willam [Tuatara] and to an extent, the Obli-gator [Croc]. My instincts tell me Dragonfly is innocent, and warn me against Rhino and Lion. I am unsure what to make of Aylia [Hyena], which is slightly worrying considering the presence she has, but I will say that I do enjoy her company as far as our private communications go."

Avil cursed as reports of Taltin Keriell’s post mortem examination reached him. No spikes. Overborne with guilt and remorse, Avil bowed his head and ducked out of the crowd, attempting to get his thoughts together. The reality of the town’s predicament finally sunk in, now that Avil had innocent blood on his hands. His hands trembled as he pressed his fingertips to his forehead. Get a grip! He told himself. There’s no use moping. What’s done is done. Remember that the Spiked are still rampant, do not give them the opportunity to strike while you’re down. Avil took a deep breath and willed himself to calm down. Yes, just like Taltin, his days here were numbered unless he found the Spiked before they beat him to the punch. He was sure there were some substantial insights to be gleaned from the events of this morning. Based on his understanding of the situation, Reverse [Dingo] being proven guilty would make Dragonfly the most trusted of the townsfolk. Additionally, it would imply association between Reverse and Mouse and/or Donn Keihote [Penguin], as Reverse had chosen to put Taltin up for execution over those two. Avil was also apprehensive of the numerous accusations on the periphery of the main executions, because he would think that the optimal strategy for the Spiked is to go unnoticed while contributing to the town discussions. What mildly bothered Avil was the apparent lack of resistance towards any particular execution, although he would not be surprised if he found that the Spiked deliberately employed this strategy to avoid forming noticeable connections. Of course, if Reverse was innocent, then the apparent lack of intervention could easily be explained. Dragonfly’s last-minute accusation appeared genuine to Avil in hindsight, given Taltin’s innocence. The guilty had little reason to make an attention grabbing move such as that, unless they feared their accomplices' lives were at stake. Glancing at the crowd gathered in the market square now, Avil found that for reasons he couldn't put his finger on, the auras surrounding both Lion and Rhinoceros unsettled him.

Saffron Iguana Avil mused on this statement. It was as he had suspected, but he did wonder what Willam had to say about Aylia's rather delayed response to Willam's reaction test. Was this accusation retaliatory from Aylia? She had not immediately accused Willam of this seeming revelation of excess of information when he had first expressed it, but rather after Willam had accused Aylia of being guilty.

All this talk of rampant Spiked had Avil Ejir walking in circles, trying to discern his allies from his enemies. Amidst the chatter and the arguments, people pointed fingers at one another. Avil had gotten word that someone would be put up for execution before nightfall...Despite what he'd told himself about running away from this cursed town -yes, cursed it was- he could not leave his friends at the mercy of the Spiked. He would find them, and he would return Tyrian Falls to its former glory. And so he got to work. He paid attention to every word that the townsfolk uttered, and he made notes. He had been rather forgetful lately, so he'd made sure to jot his thoughts down on paper for easy reference. To the crowd, he said, "Willam may come across as suspiciously forthright with his views, but I do not necessarily believe it to be a characteristic of the Spiked. While I would agree, paranoia aside, that the Obli-gator seems to have the town's best interests at heart, I think that Willam exaggerated his inclination to trust the Obli-gator. I would think that the Spiked have sense to stay warier and more reserved with regards to such claims of credence." He paused and looked down at his notes once more before continuing. "Furthermore, I take issue with Weasel's accusation towards Reverse. It seems unwarranted and, if I may say, rude. "I do not like the fellow, though I can hardly say this merits an execution. This brings me to my next matter: Reneau brings up a good point against Taltin Kerriel [Scorpion]. They might think it a weak reason, however I think that catching on to subtle things such as these are often the most helpful when it comes to hunting the Spiked." He coughed. "Not that I...have any experience with this. I am new to this town you see. "Taltin spoke of crazy situations to analyze, but arguably nothing too crazy has gone down as of yet. From what I've heard, this is the norm for Tyrian Falls. It has suffered countless Koloss attacks and this is nothing too new. I am thus led to suspect whether Taltin is part of certain...other conversations that are a little crazy and require his analysis."

People had been reaching out to Avil, noblemen and skaa alike, and he was forced to wonder if something strange really was afoot. He had made acquaintances since moving to Tyrian Falls, of course, but he rarely had such a flurry of communications occurring concurrently. He would do his best to keep up with them now that they were in motion, hopeful that perhaps the interactions in question would help him make sense of the lingering dread that seemed to surface every now and again.

Tyrian Falls. It was said the town brought good fortune. It’s reputation was not always so, but the events of the past year had left a noticeable effect. It symbolized a new hope. Besides, helping rebuild this town had been a good distraction. For the first time in many years, Avil Ejir had felt useful. He hadn’t just been helping repair Tyrian Falls, he’d been mending himself too. But Avil did not evade the whispers. They started trickling in not long ago, snaking their way through the town. He’d dismissed them. No, he would not waste his time worrying about a non-existent threat, a threat this town had already risen over. Avil pushed those thoughts aside as he made his way into the town square, where a small group of town folk had gathered. He walked right past them, heading for the market. Nevertheless, he found himself drawn to the crowd and his pace slowed. He eventually stopped in his tracks and cast a wary glance at it. There was an eerie sense of dread plaguing the air that Avil had not previously noticed - yet it had always been there. A moment passed. And just like that, Avil snapped out of it. He blinked. What was he here for? Ah, yes. The market. He continued his way. Little did he know, the koloss had returned, and they had returned stronger and smarter. Heyo folks. I was having anon account issues but Sunburst Toucan here now.

Still catching up on...everything o_O Death is lighter than a feather, pinch-hitting is heavier than a mountain. (Tafud wondered where that thought had come from.) Well, you have GM confirmation that Toucan Mark 1.0 idled out for two cycles in a row, or you wouldn't be dealing with me, Toucan Mark 2.0 Also, as far as I can tell, Toucan Mark 1.0 did not do anything at all this game - that GM PM is deader than a Triton moon. He did have a lovely conversation with someone about the Mandalorian though - you know who you are, hmu xoxo Immediate thoughts since I can't guarantee I won't be cruelly slain after having taken my first steps into a larger world: -I basically won't be playing this the same as Toucan Mark 1.0, sorry not sorry. Pinch-hitting is the pathway to playstyle changes some consider...unnatural. -<Indigo Weasel, Magenta Albatross, Onyx Flamingo, Sage Kangaroo, Salmon Meerkat, Sunburst Toucan, Violet Axolotl> are left. (More for my benefit as I'm basically Out of the Loop for pretty much the whole game.) -I'd guess 1-2 more Eliminators; any more than that and I'm screaming into the vooOIiid of existence like Captain Beefheart. - @Elbereth, @Fifth Scholar - If more than one player puts in a successful kill on a target, does the write-up reflect how many killers there are? -Tentative Trusts: Magenta Albatross, Sage Kangaroo, Violet Axolotl, Salmon Meerkat I preface this comment with the observation that this Odiminion team seems to love to throw teammates to the bus-shaped wolves a lot, which is really messing with how I'm looking at things. I am also extremely paranoid. That being said, Magenta Albatross is probably my strongest among the tentative trusts right now. (This can change, of course ) Basic rationale is pretty much the same as (likely) most people: Albatross incited a lynch on Rhino when the Odiminion team didn't need one. [The obvious counterpoint is Burnt and WPG but at the moment, I'm not necessarily feeling it - it would also require the Eliminator team to decide to yield both Rhino and one kill, which stretches plausibility, at least for me.] Albatross has also claimed the Octopus kill. I actually have further reservations about the Octopus kill, but they will hinge on what El or Fifth have to say in answer to my question. Sage Kangaroo for similar reasons - playstyle issues aside, Sage instigated a lynch on Iguana by directing attention to Iguana. Perhaps the rationale could be that Iguana is capable of defending themselves, and yet given how much trust Iguana seemed to have accrued, it just reads to me like there's little reason for an Odiminion to do it. Trust status: weaker than Albatross. I'd be interested in why @Sage Kangaroo didn't vote for Iguana despite making a case against Iguana, as that would help me feel a bit more secure in considering Sage to be trustworthy. [Hmu <3 xoxo] [Note: There's one caveat here, which I will explain later.] Another consideration that leaves me a bit more positively inclined towards Sage is that Iguana called for a Dustbringer strike against three players: Sage, Heron, and Swan. Now, inductive reasoning is fallible, etcetera, but both Heron and Swan turned out to be Village. And seeing that there were active Dustbringers in the game, it seems a little risky to call down a potential Flamestrike on a teammate. So that nudges me to think a little positively of Sage too. I am actually a bit more inclined to trust Axolotl, if only because their reaction and feelings about the Iguana lynch seem rather genuine to me, and I would expect a villager to be a lot more torn up about getting it right than an Eliminator would be. They also sealed the lynch (almost) by voting second for Iguana. However - see caveat later. Meerkat gives me terribad feelings. I worry I'm biased because their reasoning for their initial vote on Kangaroo last cycle appears to me to be a little too quick. That being said, Meerkat was the first to throw a vote on Iguana, and more crucially, was the one to inaugurate the 'look at actions' line of reasoning, which Axolotl took up. Meekat also claimed Elsecaller, which, coupled with their role in shifting the vote to Iguana, makes me more inclined to trust. See caveat later. -Unsure: Indigo Weasel This goes down to gut, unfortunately. Weasel strikes me as having practically no other voting interactions than Rhino, who by that point, had been outed. At the same time, Weasel has claimed to scan Albatross (though I note that Weasel's scan is the weaker of the two), and has ostensibly been involved in the Scorpion kill at Albatross's behest. Toucan Mark 1.0 is a freakin' traffic intersection, and some of you guys are lit up more. For someone who seems to have obtained some modicum of trust, Weasel has left barely any footprint in this game in terms of voting patterns and interactions, and so I'm naturally wary of that. I'm also wary because Weasel's trustworthiness at this point has been anchored largely to Albatross. That being said, Weasel has been willing to reveal their actions, so there's that. -Dubious: Onyx Flamingo Gut again. I feel like Onyx has been positioning themselves in a very careful way. Their actual voting patterns include just Meerkat and Rhino. I don't consider Rhino especially indicative since everyone and their horse was voting for Rhino, but what interests me - similarly to Weasel - is just how disconnected Onyx is from Eliminator voting interactions, which I find both curious, and potentially, worrisome. Finally, they voted with Iguana, for Meerkat, which leaves me feeling a bit meh about them. -I don't have strong cases or thoughts right now partly because of information overload since there's a lot more content than I can handle over the past couple of days and I haven't followed this game until Elbereth hit the Bat-Signal for pinch-hitting. -The caveat I mentioned has to do with the Sage-Violet-Salmon triad. Basically, given that this Eliminator team has shown a slightly higher risk appetite, it's not clear to me that the Iguana vote is necessarily exculpatory. Kangaroo, for instance, might not have foreseen or expected the Iguana lynch to take off - ditto for Meerkat. And Axolotl could be comfortable with the 50-50 risk of having Iguana killed. (I have in mind something that went down in El's Lord of the Rings game here.) That being said, this would just mean that at most one of the triad could still be an Eliminator, and my sense would be that it is least likely to be Axolotl. Then again, maybe I'm just paranoid. -I haven't done close reading/analysis of Eliminator posts. I will if I have the time going forwards, but not right now. This should at least be a start. -tldr; if I had to, I'd call for a scan on Indigo and a flamestrike on Flamingo. I'm also comfortable with a flamestrike on myself, if it helps people settle their ongoing concerns about the D1 lynch, though it's not really clear to me how informative it will be by this late point of the game.

Groggily, Tafud wondered what he was doing, where the chasmfiend that stomped all over his head had gone, and where he was, not in any particular order. What in Braize was going on? He rubbed at his head. His fingers found a few tender spots. Had someone clubbed him over the head? Or was it a little more violet wine than was wise? He remembered his name, at least. And he wanted a drink. Not wine, this time. Water. oOo Hello there! As Elbereth has announced, I am the new upgraded Sunburst Toucan Mark 2.0! As I have absolutely no idea what's going on this game, let's just pretend someone clubbed Sunburst Toucan Mark 1.0 over the head, as I endeavour to catch up on...whatever's been happening. I see a bunch of dead Eliminators in the player list anyway so I guess y'all can't be doing that badly for yourselves. Ta!

Axolotl is Axolotl, right?

Did every single edgedancer have to do code stuff? It's like wartime or something

I don't see any problems with Rhino

Well, probably not the best idea to reveal the scans at the start of the cycle, since now I have to somehow up my activity when the lynch this cycle is basically a flowchart that everyone has to follow Gives me time to go over everything though, so I can delay that for tomorrow. Also only like 1 person will probably take me up on it, but I've gotten like no PMs and I do respond to any and all correspondence if anyone wants to chat game, chat non-game or have some help with any homework they've delayed doing over the holiday season

So I'm busy travelling and dealing with multiple plans, and now my alignment is tied to at least one person? This logic all seems wishy-washy to me, and I know I haven't done my customary PMs to everyone yet but I haven't even been stonewalling, had a wee chat about gambling with that one fella. Again, not really anything I can say to these votes, you're all apparently suspicious about one guy and voting for me instead because there's a 'link' I have with them? Like I don't think any of you are actually suspicious of me, but maybe you are in which case my bad I'll try to be active when I'm back home and new years is over, got two weeks of nothing to do then but did not expect Ireland to be as hectic as it was. Peace out, y'all

There's no response to a vote that issues no challenge, as I'm sure you can agree, Penguin.

It taketh but one minute to become a voice inside my head, yet you spurn that route and call me a supposed 'inactive'?