Mint Heron

Dragon was unsure how a taunt at evil could possibly prove someone's, or something's, innocence.

Dragon realized someone was approaching him. They looked slightly familiar, but they hadn't been his best friend so Dragon had never learned their name. Maybe they were there to tell him how bad of a dog he was for letting his best friend be killed. Dragon bowed his head down in shame as the stranger came closer.

Dragon was a good dog. Or, at least that's what he had thought yesterday. Now his best friend Onidsen was dead. That must mean he was a bad dog, right? Because what good dog would let something like that happen to their best friend. Dragon slowly wandered the dusty streets of Tyrian Falls. He was lost, both literally and figuratively. He had nowhere to go and nobody who would care for him. He was friendless. He didn't really like the thought of that. The now stray dog decided to do the only thing he thought could possibly cheer him up. He sniffed the air and began to follow his nose to what could only be a tavern of some sort. Taverns meant food. And food always found a way of cheering the beast of a dog up.

I guess I just tend to do that as a player, I'm not sure what else I can say on that front. Sorry, just got that wrong trying to go through everything. Right, that's an important point, actually. Rhino's being chaotic in a way that doesn't really affect much about the gamestate other than peoples opinion of them. I think I made a mistake in calling Swan's playstyle chaotic - it has an actual purpose in a way that is deliberately trying to cause speculation and change peoples tactics in the game. And the tactics are changed in a way that could benefit the Elim team, by trying to misdirect Lurchers to targeting the wrong person and so allowing the kill to go through. Gut, pretty much. And the fact that I didn't want my Strong Village reads list to be empty as well, so I could say I felt strongly about something.

Sorry for not being on earlier, New Year's stuff got in the way. I see where people are coming from for saying I was hedging my bets with the Iguana votes. And, uh, yes, I was hedging. But that's mainly because I always feel a little lost in Day 1, when the material on the ground to work with is a little thin on the ground. I could have tried to go "Oh, this thing I'm suspicious of makes Iguana evil, there's no possible way that a villager would write this", but it felt more honest to admit that, yeah, I had basically nothing to go on, and was just taking a swipe at the only thing that felt off to me. Croc also accuses me of stealing his logic and then voting for someone else, which I have two responses for. First, Iguana's phrasing stands out to me in a way that Mouse's doesn't, both at the time and with a reread. Second, I honestly must have skimmed through the thread and either forgotten or missed that Crocodile's vote/suspicion on Mouse existed, because I had to go back and look it up to figure out what they were talking about. But even if I had remembered it, I don't think I'd have changed my vote at the time. And as I'm about to post this, I notice Meerkat's switched back to me - I've been preparing this, off and on, since before that vote, so that should address they're concerns I'm lurking. On to my own reads, in no particular order: (Is it just me, or is it so much harder to remember who's who in anon games without the familiarity of knowing who's who to ground you? I feel like I have to reread the thread every time I want to make a post because I've forgotten everything.) I'd be fine with a Flamingo exe, since I agree with the logic that it matches a more Elim mindset to hide behind a poke vote, and I'm tempted to join it for that reason plus a self-pres vote, but I want to look through more people first. Rhino I think just likes playing a little more chaotically (actually, I was tempted to come in and play much more chaotically this game just to see if a chaotic style was something that could keep me entertained, but chickened out). Anyway, I don't think it's alignment indicative. Meerkat's been quite active, so it's sort of weird I don't feel like I have a good read on them yet one way or the other. That could mean that they're being very careful not to say anything that gives a weird vibe because they're Spiked, or they could just be one of those players that has a fairly neutral tone generally. On balance... I think I'd much prefer to keep them alive for the simple reason that the thread will be very dead if we start exe'ing the most active players. Weasel... I was hoping to avoid talking about drama, but since they're currently a leading exe candidate I guess I have to. I think Weasel didn't have ill intent with his tone, and probably was exaggerating their frustration for a comedic affect. But it still came off way too strong and in bad taste. In particular, keeping their vote on Dingo Day 1 when it become clear he was actually a leading candidate for the exe and so wasn't just a poke vote feels very petty. But then, I think now that they know it irritates people, they've backed off, so I think the matter is resolved, and it should have no further impact on the game. (I don't consider it an alignment indicative thing, to be clear, and I can't see any other reason to vote for them.) Croc - I also get a slightly village read on Croc - they seem like they're actively trying to solve the game. But even more than most things I say here, this is likely to change the moment I start getting more evidence, particularly voting pattern based evidence. Mouse - I guess they are guilty of the same thing I voted on Iguana for, as Croc pointed out, so I'd be OK with exe'ing them if we don't find something better. Between them and Flamingo... Swan - I don't like them asking for Lurcher protections N1. If they're an Villager, it's giving evidence to the Elims that they could have a powerful role, and if they're an Elim, they could be trying to pull protection away from their intended target (pun not intended). I can also read it as Swan just trying to add a little chaos to the game and deliberately confuse the Elims, but confusion hurts the Village more than the Elims, given the Villager's smaller access to information, IMO. Toucan - Votes for the wrong person accidentally, which I think tends to be much more of a confused villager thing (especially when people are going back and forth between RP names and account names...) Tuatara - Gave a very strong village read to Croc, and then later claims it's a deliberate attempt to see how people react. This could go either way, but I think I'm inclined to say it's a villager thing, just because "I deliberately acted suspiciously to see if anyone would call me out on it" feels like such a hilariously terrible excuse for a suspicious post that I don't think any self-respecting Spiked would use it (sorry, Tuatara, no offence meant, especially if you do turn out to be an Elim ). Although, the first time I read it, because it was in RP, I took it to be more of an character affect than an attempt to do something sus, which may or may not mean anything. Probably just that I'm bad at reading people - I can't correctly pick up on people being sus even if they're doing it deliberately. Hyena - the one who bit on Tuatara's post, and who Tuatara later accused because of weird timing (first not commenting on Tuatara's weird post, and only later mentioning it after Tuatara had a vote on Hyena). I'm less concerned about the timing, personally, simply because I've gone back and read different parts of the thread more closely and changed my opinion as my attention has been drawn to it, so I can easily imagine something similar having happened with Hyena, and Tuatara's reasoning feels a little like tunnelling to me. So if I had to guess, I'd have to say the Hyena/Tuatara thing is most likely V/V. If you forced me to pick one of them to be a Spiked, I'd probably go with Hyena. I think that's enough for now. Sorting these into an easy to read list: Strong Village: Toucan Weak Village: Croc, Tuatara Neutral: Weasel, Hyena, Rhino, Meerkat Weak Elim: Swan, Flamingo, Mouse Strong Elim: ...None. Still. Which is really annoying. If I thought I was going to be on again before rollover I'd do a Swan vote to see where it goes, but I don't think I will be, so Flamingo.

Those that PM'ed everyone are probably just people who like making PM's, and I feel obliged to defend my Obli-gator buddy as a fellow true believer in the Lord Ruler's inevitable return, and will continue to do so until I have some evidence their allegiances lie elsewhere. I wouldn't be that disappointed if we went with a Contribution Crusade today, but I want to try and suggest at least one alternative so that we don't end up killing an inactive with no discussion or additional information. This is the only thing that seemed at all odd to me. What crazy situation is this referring to, exactly? It's Day 1, I don't think anything really crazy has happened yet, and there's not much to analyze. But perhaps a Spiked, with extra information at the start of the game to process, would feel like they have more information to analyze, making this comment seem less out of place in their minds. Is this an incredibly weak reason to vote for someone? Yes. Is it Day 1, where I have literally nothing else to go on, making it my best and only lead? Also yes. Therefore, Saffron Iguana/Taltin Kerriel.

As Reneau walked through the market of Tyrian Falls, he was surrounded by heathens. Those who, the moment news of the Lord Rulers death reached them, cast off his scriptures and ordinances, and were prepared to call a tyrant he who only a week earlier they had worshipped as a god. But Reneau knew better. This was simply a test, so that the Lord Ruler could discover those among him were truly faithful, and who were mere pretenders. Well, Reneau was no pretender, and he would be rewarded well when the Lord Ruler revealed himself once more. But until that glorious day, Reneau needed to eat. He approached a . "I require sustenance." he announced to the shopkeeper. A woman in her early 30's, her face seemed weathered from her former life in the fields. She sighed in response to Reneau's pronouncement. "Hello to you too, Reneau. If you're after a couple bread loaves, they're six clips, as usual." Insolent skaa. Before the Lord Ruler's disappearance, she would have been punished severely for talking to an obligator in such a way. But for now, Reneau had to cope with this indignity. Reluctantly, he grabbed the coins out of his pouch and slid them over the counter, and grabbed the paper bag containing the bread rolls with his other hand, and strode out of the store.

Well, this is a bandwagon. Sadly, I'm still a Villager, so this is wasting time. I was honestly expecting to be Coinshot, except it turns out that the Elims were the ones with the Coinshot. That made my role analysis complete nonsense, so my vote on Gorilla over Beagle was wrong as well. I'm now slightly more suspicious of Zebra, but that's all I got. I'll just vote for Mint Heron, put up my shoes, and relax in the dead doc.

Color coded vote counts are generally helpful for analyzing situations. Day 3 practically cleared most of the people voting for Turquoise Gorilla, except for maybe Magenta Albatross. In addition, Violet Axolotl has voted evil players every round so they are obviously Village as well. That's already six players easily cleared. In the less cleared, but still probably village category, I would put two names. Chartreuse Penguin had a great Day 1 vote on Hyena, which makes them likely a villager. Even though I don't like the tone of Magenta Albatross's Day 3 vote, Chameleon still tried to kill him. In addition, I highly doubt three Elims would all converge on the same train Day 1. Albatross, in my mind at least, is village. In terms of suspicions, the obvious candidates are the voters on Emerald Falcon. Of the two, Plum Rhinoceros, is clearly the most suspicious right now. We can reasonably assume that the Elim team has some form of Night protection, since Hyena survived a Night kill. In addition, they've only vote once, and did it to defend Gorilla. I want Beagle to be an Elim, so I could at least say I identified one Elim, but if Rhino is evil, that again means three Elims on the same train. Admittedly, it would be in defense of a teammate, but it's a stretch. I'm still suspicious of Beagle, but Rhino takes priority. The other category is players that didn't vote in the first three rounds. That makes it really difficult to analyze them. And, if Rhino and Beagle aren't on a team together, we've probably got an Elim among them. Azure Mouse, Ivory Dragonfly, Melon Dingo, and Sapphire Elephant are the four players in that category. I'm guessing that Elephant is village, because I'm guessing they are the Village Rioter. Mouse's vote on the Chameleon train feels too evil to be evil. It's so obviously joining on a train that it warps back around to being Village. That leaves Ivory Dragonfly, and they did try to protect Rhino in their post, but I'm not confident they are evil. I don't want it to be Dingo, because I like that they're still RPing, but my gut is not agreeing with me. If it's not Rhino, then I'd say it's a team of Beagle and Dingo. Finally, there's me. Look, my gut is a Dark Friend. If Beagle is not an Elim, I haven't voted for a single Evil person all game. I'm not the greatest village player, but this is a new low, even for me. I completely understand where the votes on me are coming from. Honestly, if my positions were reversed, I would probably vote on me. The only argument I have is a role distribution one, but that's tenuous at best. However, I might as well claim at this point, since I'm likely to die sooner or later. I'm a Village Smoker. My guess for distribution is that the Village has one of every power role, but that there are some additional Mistborn sprinkled around, including one or potentially two on the Elim team. I have no way to prove my role, because I frankly haven't been using it. I've been on so many small trains that it didn't make sense to protect my vote, and I didn't want to block any Seekers as I became increasingly suspicious. The only time I used it was Day 1. I smoked myself and Onyx Flamingo. I was going to make a flirtatious PM Day 1, since we're the two Casanovas in town, but I never got around to it. So, TLDR:

Don't have much time to post. This weekend is very busy for me, and I tend to check out when we've got confirmed mafia. Anyways, Oxblood Beagle. They started a diverting train Day 1, and then voted on the counter lynch on Day 3. This is obvious evil behavior, and I'm surprised it hasn't been brought up yet.

That gives us a lot. We know for a fact that Day 1 was V/V/E which gives us a great village read on Amethyst Scorpion, Coral Swan, and Violet Axolotl. However, I can't say the same thing about Day 3. With the vote margin before manipulation being 8 to 4, there's a possibility we're dealing with a bus, but I don't think that's the case. Coral Swan's been on the Gorilla train since Day 1. Highly unlikely they're evil at this point. Onyx Flamingo really got the ball rolling, so I highly doubt they're evil. Salmon Meerkat is crazy, but he was definitely on the right track with this push, so I'm willing to trust him. Fuschia Ostrich's tone is a bit odd, but he does break the tie to make the vote point to an elim, which has to be worth something. Most likely a Villager. Quartz Zebra is drunk. However, he does further the train, whereas elim Zebra could tie it back up. Given the lack of effort in his posts, I think he's village. Magenta Albatross's vote is extremely non-committal. It's purely to cement a train in, rather than any actual suspicion. Normally, I would say this might be the start of a bus. However, Gorilla voted for Albatross earlier on in the Day, which calls that read into question. Pinging people after you make an unpopular push reads very elim in hindsight, so I think Gorilla's vote was genuine, and not a distancing tactic. Overall, Albatross is Village, I guess, but it's an awkward read for me. Amethyst Scorpion flips from Onyx Flamingo to Gorilla. Outstanding move. In addition, they voted on Gorilla Day 1. Definitely Village. Emerald Falcon was the other exe candidate. If Gorilla was indeed a bus, it would have to be E/E here. That's still a possibility though, and would highly complicate the preceding analysis. I think all the people voting on Falcon (Vulture, Chameleon, Rhinoceros, and Beagle), are much better kill candidates than him though. If one of them flips Evil, that's practically a guarantee we had a V/E scenario on our hands. So, all in all, this clears a third of the players for me, and makes us much more likely to hit another Spiked now. I've always had trouble analyzing with no Elim deaths, but once one's dead, you can expect me to pursue that thread until we root them all out.

Stepping away from RP for a second to address this. It's likely that I'm going tin foil here, but I at least want to make my case. My theory is that you're an Elim Tineye, and that you wrote the message yourself. Let's assume you are an Elim. You, or one of your teammates, are a Tineye. With 4 Tineye messages Day 1, I don't think it's that big of stretch that the Elim team has one. You come up with this gambit, and paste a message on Night 1 that could later confirm your identity. No scanning actually takes place during this gambit. Then on Night 2, you post a message saying that you're Spiked. Before this point, you were an active player who existed in a grey area. Obviously, the thread is going to focus on the person claiming to be evil. I agree that we needed to be wide in our suspicions, but having a "confirmed" wolf always narrows discussions. We also didn't know if the Coinshot was evil or not. If the Elims were confused about the Tineye ruling, they might have tried double-tapping the Tineye who was going to reveal one of their players. That's probably a bit of a stretch, but the rest of the point stands. The main advantage E!Meerkat gets from this whole debacle is village discussion on himself. We had several posts saying "I knew it all along!" vs other posts saying "Now I have to redo my trust lists." If you're evil, this is a great way to determine who had an accurate read on you, and possibly your teammates. It gives you a good list of kill targets. The discussion is useless for the village however, since you know you're going to reset most reads by revealing the deception. The discussion gets reset, wasting the village's time, while giving the elims plenty of data to work with. I realized while writing this that this theory is seeming less and less likely the more I type. It would be cool if I were right (and score me massive points in the dead doc), but I'm not sold on it, and I doubt your lynch is going anywhere this round. So, I'm going to retract my vote on you. Salmon Meerkat. Instead, I'm going to put my vote on Fuschia Ostrich. Their last post was very waffle-y, and they've been in an odd position where they've been active in thread, but haven't left much of an impression. I realize that's the pot calling the kettle black, but whatever. Also, a rule question came up while I was typing this theory. @Elbereth Do Lurchers protect against all attacks for that Night, or just one? If the Coinshot is evil (doubtful), and if the elims desperately wanted to kill Octopus (also doubtful), they might have tried a double tap, and I'm not sure of the interaction there.

Tivend groaned. He needed a drink, preferably several. Kellehrt's antics had given him a massive migraine. The man was most likely a Tineye. He saw no reason to doubt that part of the tale. The question was: Was Kellehrt a Villager? Tivend was of two minds about this whole affair. On the one hand, it would be a risky gambit for a Spiked to pull off. On the other hand, this gambit benefited the Spiked more than the Village, at least in Tivend's opinion. For one, it was a black hole of information. There wasn't a lot he could gather from people realizing that a "Spiked" had confessed. Secondly, it delayed discussion of the previous day's events, which had blocked discussion for almost half the day. Further, it put Meerkat in at least some position of trust, since it was a dangerous gambit. Finally, it gave the Spiked an excellent idea whose village radars were working properly. They could devote their nightly kills to those people, and keep the gullible people alive. There was something off about the whole thing. Kellehrt (Salmon Meerkat) had been reaching all game, and Tivend was putting his foot down. If Tivend had learned anything from this, he hoped the madman would elaborate.

Tivend frowned. He wasn't the most talkative person in the room, but he made sure to pay attention. The analysis of this Kellehrt fellow was off base. He had missed a crucial vote change from Su (Coral Swan), before the vote from Neat (Scarlett Octopus): With that in mind, the situation had become much different. Vote situation before Ocho moves: After Ocho moves: Octopus's vote did not put Coral Swan in the lead. Rather, Coral Swan endangered himself by moving his vote off of Pearl Chameleon. Reacting to this, Octopus immediately piles another vote on Gorilla, tying the vote once again, protecting Swan. If Swan is evil, I would expect Octopus is evil as well. I'm not certain of Octopus's alignment, but I won't vote for someone based on faulty reasoning. Tivend straightened up. With that misconception out of the way, he still wanted to place a vote. He picked up his recollection of the chaotic final hours of yesterday. Several more people hopped in to the discussion, adding their votes to candidates with only one vote on them. Then, Chameleon retracts their vote, and votes on Saffron Iguana. This leaves the vote count with Gorilla at a minor lead, but with 4 other candidates at 2 votes each. Mauve Crocodile likes the Iguana vote, and makes a 5th two vote candidate. I also got in on the action, as a handsome devil, and made a sixth candidate with 2 votes out of the innkeep (Axolotl). So basically, the thread is a mess at this point, and I wanted to see what train, if any, would start dominating. Edeis (@Onyx Flamingo) then has a really weird vote. Despite my vote making Axolotl a viable candidate, she pivots off of him, onto Crocodile, another candidate with two votes. One of his votes is from Ostrich early in the cycle, who literally says it's a gut read. The second is from Emerald Falcon, who is suspecting him because of a PM that Crocodile swears he did not send. That's a terrible criteria for a third vote, and I really disagree with it. "Edeis (Onyx Flamingo), stop doing your hair and come down here. Though you may be a stunning beauty, your wits are apparently non-existent. Or, perhaps, you are a Spiked fiend, who tried to save your compatriot the gameshow host. Either way, I want an answer for your behavior.

The sun was rapidly going down as Tivend rushed into Tyrian Falls. Koloss were surrounding the town, and even as he entered the inn, he heard rumblings of Spiked amidst the villagers. The conversation was clearly getting heated, but all the townsfolk were strangers to him, making the accusations hard to follow. With a sigh, he ordered a stiff drink, but the innkeep had gotten sidetracked into his own heated argument. Tivend only heard the back half of it, but the innkeeper's last words made him pause. This discussion was not random. Harmless wordings turned into monsters in the dark, but there was always reasoning, no matter how flimsy it may seem. Even the inclination of ones gut was enough to send a vote for the most terrible of executions. He agreed that they could not, should not, refrain from acting, but it was a bloody business. You could not simply vote for fun. This was a solemn duty, and not one to make light of. The innkeeper's jovial attitude was completely out of place. "Dyring (Violet Axolotl), was it? I name you as Spiked. Despite your obsession with cleanliness, you seem to relish the sight of blood. No man should be that eager to kill."

I’m not certain about the game state. And me asking for people to vote with me was me not considering the fact that would leave open a hammer possibility for the elims. I know I’m village though, so I know that they don’t even need to hammer anyway. But whatever.

Well, I guess I can’t say I’m surprised. I don’t even know how I would go about trying to not die this turn. Lion, Vulture, Dragonfly, Flamingo: I feel pretty certain one of you is an elim at this point. It feels way too clean and easy for me to get exed this turn. I don’t know which of you it is, but someone’s gotta be power/deep wolfing. Of the other players, I still don’t know which of you I think are elims. Probably Tuatara, feel positive about that. I still suspect Scorpion. And if there’s a fourth…that’d have to be either Weasel or Mouse. I don’t know which one I think is more likely. The whole Mouse thing could easily be a ruse, but I could also see an elim doing that to try and fake looking like they’re about to convert. Sort of a TWTBAW type thing. And Weasel has been hopping on basically at all the right moments to secure an “important” exe, which only really was important when we got Falcon. Could be an elim hiding in the peripheries. I’m just not even sure anymore, and life has been extremely busy lately, so I haven’t had the chance to go through and reread everything like I would’ve liked. Oh well. I doubt this will convince anyone to vote for Tuatara with me, but maybe one or two of you will.

I know I am village, and yes, I am in mediationform. After I attuned warform, I spent most day turns grabbing gems, in case I lost my extra life. I attuned mediationform after the turn I lost my extra life, because what else was I supposed to do? It was either that or workform, and I think deciding where exactly my double vote goes is better than just getting a -1 to any votes on myself. In addition, I officially accuse Tuatara of being an elim. I've been suspicious of them all game and honestly? I have no leads, besides them and Scorpion. I've come around to thinking Vulture is village, mostly because they would have to be doing some insane deepwolfing this game if they were an elim. And I don't think Mouse is an elim because I don't want to think that a villager would self-convert. It was most likely a ploy to get an elim to claim to them, accidentally outing themselves, and therefore get an elim death. Beyond that, I'm not sure. I trust Lion, because they too have been really helpful for the village and I can't buy them being a deepwolf.

Falcon, you are the mavset-im. I’ve been thinking about this for a few days now, and this is the only thing that makes any sense.

I’m not sure I completely understand how we narrowed Malibu to Falcon, but I think this makes more sense than any of the crazier options. At least, going off of what Lion said.

This is what I’m wondering. And did everyone just…ignore this???

...what.

I don't understand how my responses were weird? I was trying to get people to vote for Vulture over me. My last post only came at the time it did because I had to stop and read your last post, then add a response about that. I lost track of time and didn't realize just how close to rollover we were.

I'd much rather try and get people to move to Vulture. I feel really confident that they're an elim, because of all of the reasons I've suspected them so far, plus the fact that they had no reason to try and claim to Flamingo when they could've tanked an exe and possibly caught some elims. Sigh. I understand Lion, but can't say I'm pleased. But this is better than a villager death. See you all tonight.

Are we sure that this isn't just e!Vulture claiming this to try and make sure that no exe happens on them? I don't see why they would be worried about that, with only 3 votes on them so far, and plus this claim supposedly happened way back around D2. But perhaps they're not actually warform and they're simply trying to get an exe to move away from them? Because I agree with Lion and Rhino, it makes no sense for Vulture to be so afraid of an exe hitting them if they'd just survive it. It would give valuable information about who the elims might be. Granted, we can't really do that now because the cat is out of the bag, but still.