Opal Lion

Fascinating creatures, chulls. Beggar sometimes felt that the only difference between him and a chull was that he accepted the consequences of his actions. The chulls currently exploring the palace had been raised from birth to help humans, but Beggar and his fellow chulls had all chosen domestication. They had decided that yes, it is Good and Right and Honourable to place the burdens of humanity upon their backs. To have their tough shells altered to better serve. To allow those wiser and more clear sighted to hold their reins and direct their movements. To lumber on and endure, even as their shells cracked and shattered. This was their duty, their obligation. They stumbled at times, but they could not break their deepest oaths any more than these wandering chulls could shed their carapaces and live out the rest of their lives exposed to the elements. It was impossible, unthinkable. Until the day came when it wasn't. Leaving was not the only choice Beggar and his companions could have made. He imagined it would hurt less if it had been. The fact that any other decision would have utterly destroyed them did nothing to assuage the guilt and shame. Many times over the years, Beggar wished he could hide under his shell, or pupate and become immobile as a senescent chull would. That privilege had been lost to him when he had cast away his shell with the others. Alcohol was a poor and fleeting substitute, and even constant drinking failed to mend the scars where his shell had proved to be inadequate protection. Drinking with a friend helped slightly more, so Beggar walked up to the nearest chull. "Thank you for everything you do, little one," Beggar whispered, sitting down besides the creature. "Your hard work will not go unnoticed." Draining a bottle of yellow wine, Beggar leaned against the comfortable shell to rest.

Beggar woke up in a drunken haze. Judging from his disorientation, he had collapsed at some point and lost track of time. He vaguely recalled being upset about the Herald statues, but a quick glance confirmed that there were ten of them, all lined up as they should be. Of greater import was the commotion in the main feast hall. Alethi lighteyes loved three things: drinking, arguing, and fighting, with the first of those inevitably leading to the latter two. At a feast this important, with so many powerful lighteyes, the resulting spectacle would be well worth observing. Beggar got up from the table and wobbled over to enjoy the show. Arriving in the midst of a massive argument, Beggar found a servant to ask what all the commotion was for. Apparently, the king's nephew had temporarily considered killing his own father, while a serving woman had been admitted lying to that same nephew and the King's Wit in an attempt to discredit Prince Elhokar's new wife. Beggar shook his head in disbelief. What silly things these Alethi did. Both of the accused appeared contrite, promising they would never again do something so dishonorable. Beggar knew firsthand the eternal suffering of making a decision one could never undo, and wanted to spare the pair the horror of that experience. An hour at the beggar's feast would do Adolin good. Dining with the less fortunate of Alethkar would help the boy should he ever obtain the rank of Highprince.

I can confirm that Adolin at one point considered killing me, and has since apparently reconsidered this decision after a PM conversation. I'll post again when I figure out what happened these past few hours and why.

Beggar examined the life-sized tributes to the warriors who had protected humanity for thousands of years. Only nine of them remained; a most inauspicious number. Beggar frowned and examined the statues more closely. There stood the ones the Alethi called Jezerezeh, Nalan, Chananarach, Vedeledev, Pailiah, Sha- no, that one was missing, as if it had never been there. The other four were present though: Battah, Kelek, Talanelat, and Ishi, all portrayed in the Vorin ideal. None of them showed the crushing weight of millennia spent fighting humanity's battles and absorbing their pain, followed by millennia more regretting their decisions, stripped of all that had once made them heroes. Looking at the statues staring back at him proudly and regally, Beggar almost understood the desire to smash and destroy their visages. Almost. Any thoughts of vandalism were overwhelmed by the far stronger desire to drink until he couldn't remember his name. That always pushed the pain down for a little while, and he fancied himself saner when his shattered psyche was replaced with drunken abandon. Beggar didn't hear any guards coming to kick him out, but he figured it was safer to stay in away from the lighteyed feast for the time being. His fellow beggars had plenty of alcohol strong enough to wipe away the memory of this moment, perhaps permanently. He staggered to the nearest table and grabbed a random bottle, spilling the contents equally down his throat and clothes. Beggar grabbed a second bottle. It was going to be a long night of drinking.

Beggar sighed. Eshonai had not deigned to speak to him, presumably because he was a lowly beggar dressed in torn rags. He would have to look elsewhere to find alcohol. Perhaps the drummers would talk. Surely they would know the best alcohols; drumming was hard work and they would need refreshment. He was walking over to greet one of them when he heard an angry exclamation directed at him. Whoops. A lighteyes had discovered him in the main hall, which, as a darkeyes, was not somewhere Beggar was technically supposed to be. Perhaps it was merely the principle of enforcing class boundaries even on this night of unification, or perhaps the lighteyes just wanted to keep all the best alcohol for themselves. Either way, Beggar decided that he might want to leave this section of the palace before the guards came after him. Maybe he would reexamine the statues in the lesser feast hall. Beggar was sure he remembered there being ten Heralds, rather than nine. A curious absence, and one best investigated before he became too drunk to run away.

The tall Parshendi statesman was talking with the important lighteyes, while a second member of the delegation had gone off to dance with the King's eldest nephew. That left only one of the Parshendi's official delegates available to discuss the all-important subject of alcohol. Carefully, hoping not to disturb an honored guest, Beggar walked towards the one who he thought had been called Eshonai. "Did your contingent happen to bring along any beverages of an intoxicating nature, @SE_Eshonai? One finds that these Alethi drinks tend to blur together after a while."

Beggar awoke from a drunken slumber only to find that the feast was not yet over. Evidently, he hadn't drunk nearly enough wine. The madness had returned full force while he'd been asleep, and only alcohol could lessen its symptoms. He rose from his table and walked back into the main hall, passing the nine Herald statues on his way. Beggar attempted to dodge the guards, especially Tearim, who disapproved of excessive drinking. Beggar had no use for such intolerance. Instead, he headed towards the Parshendi contingent. It was time to find out what their people preferred to drink.

Beggar left the main feast, wandering towards the Beggar's feast in the next room. The feasters here were poorer and darkeyed, much like Beggar himself. They drank uncolored wine, which Beggar often preferred himself. Guessing the vintage and intoxication levels of a particular beverage from taste alone was an entertaining pastime. Although, one of the lighteyes had mentioned a green wine, a type Beggar was unfamiliar with. He would have to see if he could scrounge a glass somehow. Right now however, he had more important things to do. Drinking wine was all well and good, but certain things in life were better than wine. Namely, drinking wine while enjoying a meal paid for by someone else. While the feast appeared just as grand as the one the lighteyes were enjoying, the soulcast quality of much of the food was evident. Beggar didn't particularly care, even the blandest of foods were palatable when combined with sufficient alcohol. Beggar grabbed a random bottle of wine and poured half of the colorless liquid on top of something that was presumably meat. Taking a bite, he found that the wine was an sapphire without any of the infusions. Excellent. That would cover the taste quite nicely. Beggar sat back to enjoy his meal. Tonight had been quite peaceful, and peace was always conducive to proper wine drinking.

Beggar drank his wine as he sat in one of the Feast Hall's corners. Orange to start, there would be plenty of time later that night to drink stronger wines. For now, it would be best to maintain some semblance of sobriety, drinking just enough to ease the pain. The pain never really left, of course, and even the strongest lagers could merely dull the memories for a time, but every drop of liquor helped. It was one of the only things that helped these days. Beggar suffered few distractions as he drank. The Parshendi evidently disliked Alethi wines. A shame, but perhaps a blessing, if he could acquire any Parshendi vintages. He would have to ask some delegates when they weren't so busy. On the human side, the servants were all far too busy to enjoy wine, and few powerful lighteyes were willing to publicly associate with a darkeyes, much less a darkeyes wearing humble rags. Dalinar was the exception here. The Brightlord was willing to share a drink with anyone, especially if the drink in question was a strong violet. The king disapproved, of course, but it was very difficult to stop the Blackthorn from doing as he pleased. Beggar noticed the man wasn't in the hall at the moment. Perhaps he was drinking the violet wine Beggar had lent him, or perhaps he was talking to one of his family members privately. Beggar was fine with waiting. He opened a second bottle of orange and began to drink.

The Drunk Beggar had a deep secret. Well, two actually. He wasn't drunk, and he wasn't a beggar. How could a man be drunk when there was still wine to had? From long experience, he had found that the best cure for any negative effects of alcohol was more wine. Not just this orange water, neither. Sapphire, violet, even some Horneater white, available for the drinking. Truly, the Almighty was generous, and the Kholins were His devoted servants. The Court called him a beggar, but that wasn't hardly true. Wine was something to be shared freely and openly, without the constraint of spheres. One did not call the king a beggar when he asked his men to go to war, nor should a man who shared his wine with all who passed be deemed a beggar merely for asking wine in return. Today, had broken open his entire storehouse of wine, all the bottles of which fit under his rags. He would drink well tonight, but far better to drink together. He set off in search of someone to share a bottle of wine, walking towards the edge of the Feast Hall.

Honestly, the Swan lynch was pretty dang solid even before I voted. The people that voted after me would probably still have voted for Swan. My vote was bandwagoning for bandwagoning's sake, as Zebra put it, however. It wasn't really a smart move, I guess, but it was nearly the end of the cycle (IIRC?) And my preferred lynch at that point, Flamingo, wasn't really gaining momentum. Thoughts on Flamingo probably coming the next day cycle, seeing as it's the weekend and I'll have much more time. Actually, aside from Flamingo, I'll probably just post my notes (Non-extensive as they may be).

I voted on Axolotl because they were saying to vote them. I decided not to, however, and just edited my post to remove the vote to not create clutter/double post. Also, my reasoning for the Swan vote was pretty simple. In hindsight, however, there's probably at least 1 elim in that bandwagon..

Since everyone seems to be hopping onto the Swan bandwagon, I suppose I will too. The more of us there are, the smaller the chance that Willshapers or Bondsmiths will be able to sway the vote.

It's okay. This is about having fun, man. You don't have to -- shouldn't -- worry about winning or losing. Everyone makes mistakes. Whatever happens, what's important is that you tried your best and had fun. If you can't or don't want to play anymore, it's okay.

By poke-votes being redundant I just mean that if someone is inactive, someone else will just pinch in for them. But either way, yeah, there are a couple of things I omitted, because they were pretty obvious and I was in a hurry. Sorry if it seemed like I was cherry-picking. ... I... don't know what to say. Jeez.

First off, I'd like to apologize about my inactivity. It's been a busy few days, and I haven't had much time to post. We don't have much time left in the day, and it doesn't seem like we have a coherent lynch going, so I'd like to post some analysis on a couple of people. At least, those I drew attention to (namely @Oxblood Beagle and @Onyx Flamingo). First off, Beagle. They start off in D1 by saying they were hoping to double-up upvotes on the GM posts. I'm really only bringing attention to this because I don't know what they mean... Nevertheless, NAI. Then, they say that claiming in PMs is not a good idea, as certain roles can see them. This set off a couple of red lights, because, after having read the rules (A couple of times, mind you) I can see no proof to this being true. This is not necessarily alignment-indicative, they could have just been mistaken, but maybe they know more than they let on. @Magenta Albatross did seem to agree with them. Secret roles, perhaps? Who knows? Right now, this gives me a slight elim lean, though I may be biased. There are a few posts that are completely NAI, on first glance, though them saying to consider the vote on Chartreuse Penguin a poke vote after they voted felt very weird to me. I see it as something an elim would do, perhaps to divert attention. Though I'm probably looking way too much into this. Their post about activity was helpful, I suppose. There's something weird about the way they phrased that post, but at this point I think that the way they post feels weird to me, so disregard that. They then say that leaving a bunch of people with one vote is a bad idea, and I agree with that. It gives Willshapers and Bondsmiths too much power. They did seem to be willing to lynch inactives, however, even after acknowledging that there are pinch hitters in this game. That's very weird. They then try to keep the Gecko lynch from happening, though probability isn't a convincing reason, honestly. Pinch hitters also make poke votes pretty redundant, so it surprises me that people, one of them being Beagle, kept doing them. At that point it's less "poke vote" and more "lynching alternative". They do seem to want to promote activity, however, which makes me lean village. ..Also, telling the other Edgedancer to roleclaim if they're about to be lynched is a bad idea, as @Amber Vulture pointed out. First off, they'd have a fairly big chance of being killed by the elims afterwards. Second, if they did survive the lynch, a Dustbringer that did not trust them could very easily kill them. Third, someone could just straight-up lie about being an Edgedancer. That would cause a fair bit of commotion, and that would lead to a lot of dead villagers, probably. They do seem to be worried about PMs closing, but it's a bit much. Though, I do suppose I haven't been PMing as much as I should be. (Anyone that wants to talk is free to PM me, though :P) As others mentioned, the "I hope everything goes well." Line is weird, but I do have to concede that it's probably just an off-hand comment about, well, the night going okay. Their reaction to Iguana's death felt really weird. I don't know, it just gave me a very elim-y vibe. Especially after their talk of the Edgedancers being very important. The reasoning they gave behind voting on Dingo is weird. It's pretty much "I decided Swan is village, and so the person they suspect should be a valid lynch target. Their vote on Chameleon isn't based in much, too. Then, they once again place a poke-vote in a game with pinch hitters. Honestly, though? I just have a bunch of half-baked suspicions and a lot of uncertain elements here. I'll post my analysis on Flamingo as soon as I can (IRL stuff is happening), but after having gone over everything I'll vote on Onyx Flamingo, because they seem to be both a more likely lynch target and the one I'm most suspicious of.

Honestly, Onyx Flamingo feels very off to me. Their post responding to Dragonfly's message seems unnecessarily hostile, and it segues very quickly into an accusation of Beagle (Who, if I'm being honest, I don't entirely trust myself :P). Flamingo also seems to be very sure that Dragonfly and Beagle are "buddies", and that feels too much like an elim accusation, one with very little proof. I'll hold off on voting for now, since the day is still young. I want to see how this progresses. As for the Dustbringer kill, I'd be much more comfortable if it was a Village kill role.. 2 kills by the elims every night is a scary prospect.

Sorry for the inactivity during the Day, busy weekend got the best of me An Edgedancer was lynched? That's not good, I suppose. I haven't read the Day cycle in detail, so I don't have any insight to offer yet, but I do agree that the eliminators would be more inclined towards a D1 lynch. What I'm not sure about is whether they'd start it or help it move once a favorable lynch started forming.