Ashbringer
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I’m confused.
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Derrick lowered his arms. He'd failed. In more ways then one, a rue voice resounded in his head. The more familiar one. The more friendly. Shut up, Derrick, Derrick resounded back. You still planning on playing this charade? There's barely more than the Lifeline tying us together. You know that. Listen to yourself. You don't even sound mad anymore. Just... angry. At me, yourself, your own inability to get people to listen to you? You knew they wouldn't. You knew it wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Derrick shuddered. Asserting himself. Both of himselves. He would give Derrick one more night. The experiment may have been a failure, along with essentially everything he'd done in this blasted town. He didn't even get any takers for waffles; everyone'd been too busy watching a Mistborn face a beatdown. But that didn't mean he had to give up just yet. What could he do. He was fairly certain that the Spiked wouldn't come for him this night; they wouldn't be able to tell his scrambled signature from that of someone under a Coppercloud, and they likely had more vulnerable individuals they could find. Even if they did, they couldn't hurt him. Not really. Can't they? a sibilant voice muttered. "Shut up," Derrick muttered. What to do. The Spiked would reign. He was the only Immortal left in Fallion's Tears. Roko's iteration was dead, although Derrick had concealed the orb where it would be able to find it again. Philico was gone; Derrick wasn't sure if he kept any eyes and ears in the village, but it wouldn't have mattered. Philico wouldn't come back. Any fighters in town? Wyl and Kast were survivors; perhaps they would be able to escape. Could Kast fly with his Allomancy? Would he have the chance? Who else was left? Tesse Mourn was out there, somewhere. Something nagged him about that. Everyone else was dead unless there was something even the Overseer didn't know. Besides, that was neglecting the obvious. None of those three would ever trust Derrick again. His hand hadn't struck the final blow, but he'd stood still, even cheered Marll on as Roko bled out. So. Derrick would be the only survivor of Fallion's Tears. The only one left without a Spike rotting their mind. Now, there. That isn't true, the voice whispered again. You're just as corrupt as the lot of my children. Derrick snapped. Or, rather, the other Derrick snapped, taking command. Burning nicrosil. Stoking the Progression. Flicking out a wrist and starting to count heartbeats. He wouldn't actually summon the thing, not here, not now, but it was the process that mattered. It Connected him to Honor, just as the Lifeline did to the Overseer. Progression to Cultivation. Nicrosil to Preservation. He even attuned the Shadowblaze and the fragment of the One Power for rust's sake, trailing threads that stretched far beyond the bounds of space. Not for the first time he wished he'd brought his good bones. Even Dominion would be welcome. Any ounce of power that wasn't his. "SHUT UP! SHUT! UP!" Derrick roared. He didn't care who was listening. No one would be around to "I'm beyond your reach! I will not be your slave! Not again! Not ever!" Perhaps, said Ruin. The Shard laughed. That laugh had been locked in Derrick's mind since he'd gotten into this town. When he'd realized that this was the golden age of Hemalurgy, and that Ruin was alive and well. And perfectly willing to send thoughts to any powered madman he could see. But perhaps not. You have many more of these spikes than I normally need to sink in to your kind. And yet... your Overseer? A Shard, by the way you address them. They are protecting you... my gifts are no longer mine. From an Inquisitor to a simple madman, bearing thoughts but not actions. Intriguing. But it is no matter. It will all... end. That was Derrick's last bastion. The Overseer had nothing to really fear from Ruin, not alone. But such a powerful entity learning his name, his purpose... he had been ordered not to let it happen. Like you were ordered to help save this town? To find the element hidden here? One is long gone, the other is going. And you helped it happen. Derrick burned with rage. But he had to be cautious. Not think what he knew. No. "I'm still beyond your reach." But not the reach of the Spiked. You think I haven't told them about you? No, they're watching you. And they know what to do if you start... breaking the rules. Derrick finally wrested his mind back from Derrick. He began walking, turning his back on Ruin's voice. Trying desperately to ignore it, to let the whisperings fade into his subconscious. He could repair his mind when this was over. He couldn't repair what he could do if he broke. He'd been so close. He'd put so much together. Only to watch it fall apart. Such is life, Ruin said. Derrick found himself nodding. Realizing something. "Sometimes it's more merciful to try and hold on, to save whatever you can." And sometimes it's more merciful to let it go. Even help it along. Derrick nodded, halfheartedly. "I suppose. The trick is to know which is which." That was the only way. The equation had collapsed. This town was going to end. The world... it would be spared a while longer. Derrick could only make things worse, now. Talking with Ruin would be dangerous. And... Fallion's Tears would meet its fate. There was nothing he could do. You're not just saying this to make me feel better, are you? Ruin said. Derrick cracked a grin. Perhaps he wasn't locked in his mind with Ruin after all. Perhaps the Shard was locked in there with him. It didn't matter much either way. Either he 'fell' with a knife to the back, or someone else would, and Fallion's Tears would fall to tears either way. Nothing he could do would change that, not without irreparable consequences. So, Derrick took the choice. He took a shaky step, then another, down to the corner of the bloodstained square. No sense in paying Arenta for a night in a warm bed. He simply collapsed in an ash heap, facing the horizon. And waited for the sun to rise.
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Well. It’s been an honor.
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Ahhhhh this is still too close
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Because I had bigger problems -.-
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AG was six, and that had less people. Although Seeker might cut down the player numbers. Guess Stink doesn’t like me... Can we not be within one Soothe of a tie... Fifth...
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Ay, now there’s a lot of people viewing the thread! Like Burnt and STINK! Please vote Araris (or Devo). The less fringe votes the better. I bet all the dead players are yelling at us
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Because why tie when they can exe a Villager or maybe even shift the vote to someone else? Edit: and if there’s seven Elims it’s exe-or-lose. I do wonder... Oi @Illwei, you around? It say’s your viewing the thread.
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Daisy is Hael now But yeah... we need to condense. By a lot. Looks like it’s between Devotary or Araris though.
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A tie means no execution, not a random one. We tie, we die.
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Derrick was on the march. For one thing, it turned out that the Steel Crow was not as condemned as he'd originally seen. He wasn't sure how he missed the fact the roof was falling was overlookable by the village's health inspector, but Derrick figured that the health inspector probably needed more of a drink than anyone else. If they were still alive. Hmm. Would it be Arenta's department? He wasn't sure if Sara owned the land outright. Likely she could afford it, even without any nightly acts of heroism. Derrick. Focus. Derrick marched down to town square. With, what, sixteen people left in the village who actually cared - and even that was likely too generous - someone had to speak. Someone had to... do... something. The sun had almost set. They had to find a Spiked today. And Derrick refused to stand by the sidelines anymore. Or, rather, Derrick was too tired to care what Derrick did. If he failed... killed another innocent or mostly-innocent like Roko... well, it wouldn't be any worse than what would happen if he stayed in the shadows and did nothing. Well, the likelihood of his death may increase dramatically. But that wasn't much of a setback, now, wasn't it. He grabbed a stool leaning on the side of a building. Was it Philico's? He wasn't sure. It didn't really matter. "People of Fallion's Tears!" Derrick shouted. He didn't really care who was listening. He'd stopped caring a long time ago. But this was town square. Someone would hear. Someone. "This is, likely, our last chance. The koloss are coming, our much-sought-for Seeker is long dead, and if we flee while the Spiked ones are in our midst we're all done for. Or, most of us. Depends on your relative Mistborn-ness. But, save for Daux here, and perhaps a few others, we are going to die if we don't act. That means we need to be as united as we can. As united as can be in this situation." He gave an internal sigh, and disabled his eyes. He didn't know if anyone was watching. If anyone was listening. Derrick also really didn't want to know. "I don't know why you would trust me. I'm not asking you to. I have a reputation to maintain, you see. But if we decide to sit still, wait for night to fall and another of us to turn up with a knife in our back, then we throw away any chance of survival. If there are seven Spiked in this town. Hypothetically. But no matter. If we let lethargy get to us, our town will fall. Whether today, tomorrow, or when the mist chokes the life out of the plants the koloss haven't trampled." Was that saying too much? It hardly mattered. "My personal suspicions are mostly due to taking various ramblings out of context. But upon reflection, this is a bad way to do so. I personally believe Arenta to be more suspect. She may not be evicting Smokers and returning their security deposits at very high speeds, but of the current choices Arenta has interacted with the most of us and feels more suspicious than the other chosen ones to me. But I'm open to other ideas. Whatever the group comes together with." "There are sixteen of us. The Sacred Number. I would say this is meaning, but unfortunately the only meaning can come from sixteen becoming fifteen. So... it's been an Honor." He turned his vision back on. There wasn't sixteen people watching, but there were enough. Hopefully word would get around before nightfall. "Now," Derrick said, smiling as he let himself fall back to... Derrick. "this will be our last evening together, so this will be our last meal. I can cook up some waffles..." Friendly reminder that voting "TJ" is very hard to see, and that voting "TJ Shade" is preferred by 4/5 GMs. Araris Valerian as I feel worse about him than TJ or somewhat Devotary. I'll try to be up by rollover. If I am, I'll move to whoever has the most votes, with all likelihood. If not... see you in Luthadel.
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Please don’t make 11:30 Derrick decide this. We don’t have enough people posting to find a new lead. And right now the Elims could hammer this exe without breaking a sweat. Perhaps even without breaking their vote manip threshold. So what’ll it be? Belatedly exe Maill as per Mat’s last wishes? Look for a target among the actives like Araris, Devotary, Stick? Contribution Crusade one of us that faded to the shadows like Reading, Dannex, TWS?
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My power’s out and I’m not making a big analysis post on Mobile -.- Well, we need to vote out someone, and I’m with Burnt on Maill (although I don’t particularly trust Burnt either). Araris, what’s your reasoning on Stick?
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Finding the most trusted player isn’t quite as helpful for the exe as finding the least But I’d say TJ, Elandera, Devotary imo.
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I take it you didn't roll Bronze last cycle?
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Araris: Maill, Stick, Illwei Mailliw: Stick, Illwei, Reading, Devotary Stick: Ash, Araris, Illwei, Devotary TJ: Maill, Araris, Fifth Burnt: Reading, Elandera Devotary: Maill, Stick, Fifth Fifth: Ash STINK: Ash, Devotary Hael: Elandera Connie: Elandera Reading: Araris, Fifth Dannex: Reading Elandera: Ash: Illwei: TWS: Wyrm: Burnt, Burnt, Burnt I’m actually reading Stick a bit more village now. Not great about Fifth or STINK though. I’ll have time to post more in the afternoon.
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Araris: Maill, Stick, Illwei Mailliw: Stick, Illwei, Reading Stick: Ash, Araris, Illwei TJ: Maill, Araris Burnt: Reading, Elandera Devotary: Maill, Stick Fifth: Ash STINK: Ash Hael: Elandera Connie: Elandera Reading: Araris Dannex: Reading Elandera: Ash: Illwei: TWS: Wyrm: Burnt, Burnt, Burnt This feels like the first I've heard of an Araris push - that just because of the initial Gears vote? Also not sure how I feel about Illwei being on the top 3. (I mean, Illwei on Maill is obvious but not sure about the other two). Still a bit foreboding that a grand 7/16 of us responded... sigh. You know who you are.
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@Fifth Scholar, @Shard of Reading, @Dannex, @The Windrunner Supreme, @Haelbarde, @Condensation. Haven't heard from you guys in a while. There's sixteen of us left, and if we've got six inactives we're probably done for. You too, Burnt and Elandera. I'd like to see if we can get a Three from everyone, and while you're both around I haven't seen much in the way of... er... suspicions. Same for STINK, plus why you were sus on Gears, I suppose.
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Burnt - er... yes, but seeing as Wyrm's been self-protecting every night (and probably day) turn, we may need to look at other options My three reads, of of the top of my head, would probably be Stick, Fifth, and STINK. But I should look more carefully than that, because it's not based on much. Why'd I move to save Maill? Sort of what Derrick said. For one thing, he's one of our two Tineyes unless we've got a third being all sneaky. I know Spiked!Tineye isn't that uncommon (cough) but it gave me pause. Another was Gears' Soothing on Maill D3 which... was something I couldn't decipher the intent behind at all, which has found me Elims before. It felt like something Elim!Gears would do whether or not Maill was a teammate, but then he went out and claimed that he did that Soothing... it felt retroactive, I guess. And... I just felt strongly that Maill would flip Village. Perhaps I profoundly pocketed myself, but all the early reasons against Maill seemed to be either Gut or the Fallion Four push on Striker, which would be a really big risk for an Elim team to do, especially if an Elim Seeker had just scanned Bard.
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I think everyone should list three people they suspect. No more, no less. Still no Seeker action. I would hope that Maill’s at least been scanned, although any Elim Smoker is likely on him as well. But my theory of the only Seeker being compromised seems to be holding... not that I would know otherwise, as I haven’t been contacted and (as you may have guessed) I’m Vanilla. Or, rather, an illegal Nicroburst. And if a Lurcher wasn’t self-protecting or on a Seeker/Tineye(?) I feel like Mat would have been a likely target. So I’m worried. Worried that all we have to lean in is our minds. Never lean on my mind. Quacc.
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Plink. Plink. Plink. Derrick sat still, plinking-ing Roko's bead against a table. A rather charred table, in fact. The remnants of Sara's tavern had been condemned, but that didn't mean too much for Derrick. It was a place to stay, spend the night without Arenta breathing down his neck. Without anyone breathing down his neck, as a matter of fact. Without anyone breathing on any part of him. He also found it fit the mood. Plink. Roko had said not to apologize. Derrick wasn't sure if he wanted to. Or, rather, he did want to. And didn't want to. Blast, this was confusing. What was wrong with him? "I am not meant to be broken," he said. He wasn't sure who to. Mostly Derrick. Perhaps he could go on a monologue for Philico's benefit... no, Philico wouldn't like what he'd done. Not at all. Explain? He could hardly explain, either... it had been an impulse. A sudden piecing together of things: the tin dust on Marll's coat, the fact that the suspicion appeared unfounded, Roko's confusing actions with brass... Derrick had thought it all fell together. Instead it had all fallen apart. Like this house and Sara's plans had. Like everything did in this rusting village. Like he was. Plink. "Roko... what is this thing. A bead of metal... not-metal... hmm." He couldn't feel anything from it, but that wasn't unusual. He didn't exactly have any detective abilities. Investigative? Seeking? Not yet, anyway. He knew where to find something to help with that... but that was a fairly bad idea. "Perhaps..." Derrick reached into the power. The Two Power. The wild Progression that lived in him. He wasn't entirely sure how it worked, as it barely seemed to need power... but nothing happened to the metal orb. Well, that was to be expected. The next was trickier. There was still no evidence of there being a good-intentioned Seeker... but if they were wandering around with their bronze on and heard a weird thrum from an empty burned out building, there would be more awkward questions come the morning. He sighed. Derrick burned nicrosil. Something happened. A shudder, something. He couldn't say what. Perhaps a fabrication. But it was the best lead he had. Best one he'd had since coming to this Preservation-Forsaken place. Roko had a mechanism here. But how to... Ah. How else. Derrick squeezed a finger. A single drop of blood gathered on the tip, from capillaries suddenly exposed to air. He plinked the bead once more, then rubbed the bead of blood on the metal. It opened. And Derrick let out a scream. Something was gripping his mind. The inside of the bead swirled with symbols. He couldn't move. No sound came from his throat, either. Had that scream been his? Or had his ears shut down? This thing... Roko was an enigma, but he was also an amalgam. It was trying to... ASSIMILATE... "Oh, I don't think so." Derrick grabbed the Lifeline. It was supposed to be used until his overseer worked out the... glitches in what could bring him back from the brink. Yank hard enough, Spiritually speaking, and his jointed spirit would flee and be reborn. Or something like that. He could never quite... remember... but that wasn't important now. Escaping - no, solving - Roko's last question. But he had an idea for that. Just had to make sure... He held the Lifeline and burned nicrosil. Boosting the thing tethering his very soul. Feeling it wrap around Derrick, and Derrick, and... Derrick?... and hold them all tight. Feeling the force meant to preserve bend to... progress. Derrick felt something be born, then fall away almost at the same time. He collapsed on top of the table, watching the swirling symbols... Aions... slowly come to a stop. They had what they wanted. They had wanted Derrick. He could sense his voice within the thing... others as well. A voice of Aions - no, Derrick, Aons - almost coming together to replicate his personality? Derrick was still Derrick, that was for sure. Both halves. Over would be quite disappointed if that were not the case... but he could correct it. Meanwhile, Roko would not be coming to gather his item for some time now... Time to do some experimenting of his own. "Has anyone noticed that Derrick's only around at Night? Like, Night Night? Sleep Tight? No? Just Derrick? Well... Derrick has noticed. Isn't the most happy about it either. Well, Derrick sleeps now. Will be back, maybe."
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Still, we had nine votes last round. Nine. That’s about half of us. We need to see more than that.
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... you know what I mean.
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Well. That... did not... did not work. I think a fair number of people know Maill's role by this point, but @Mailliw73 should probably publicize it. I still don't have time... Interesting STINK jumped out of the woodwork for this but I don't even know anymore.
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Or perhaps I am being cryptic because I’m tired.
