Ashbringer

I’d rather not run one back-to-back, but I have a ruleset I could do if I needed to.

Cassie gave a nod and followed. Changing One. That was an apt name. "Cassandra Adama, although I go by Cassie. I own a metal shop and smith a few streets down. Same mode as you, although I focus more on the metalcraft or Metallic Arts than creating devices. I still don't have a lot of experience with electricity." "As for my arms..." She paused, and looked at her arm. It was, as she'd seen countless times in the past few weeks, mostly metal. She'd always seen it as a timer, a death sentence when the skin ran out. But it wasn't that simple - while she could feel the difference in weight and mobility, she could also feel. Like her skin was still there, just different. A deadly curse, but not one relative to how it should be. Cassie bent her elbow, and the metal flexed like muscle. Not fast, but it moved. It was still a part of her. Interesting. "I still have motion, it just takes more effort than perhaps I'd like. And eventually I may need something... more. But for now, if you have ideas, carry on."

Cassie gave a slightly lopsided grin. "You are astute. And yes, being able to continue surviving is the end goal, although I still have some other interests." Lessening the effects was maybe the wrong way to put it, but she didn't need to share that either. And half the reason she was here was to find other ideas. "But yes. A movement system connecting fabrial to mechanical would be a good place to start. Something that acts like a circuit, or even just an example, could be even better. Or even just something to make life a little easier." She looked at Technotic, at his missing lower leg and the notice for selling bulk metal nearby. "Unless you have another recommendation. You seem to have some experience in the matter?"

"It's quite alright," Cassandra said, watching the cloaked one leave. "Seems like a lot of work for a piece of armor." It wasn't just a piece of armor, of course, but what it was Cassie wasn't sure. She knew motivators had something to do with Epic abilities, but that was about it. "Anyway, I've heard you - you are Technotic, yes? - are a good place to buy fabrials, along with some more non-Invested devices. I'm interested if you have anything that mixes the two. A Stormlight-run circuit, or something similar." She tapped her palm with her Soulcaster. Very little feeling. Well, at least it was there. And she wasn't going to fall over any time soon. Freeze up was more likely A thought struck her - not the worry, just that the last time she'd gone shopping for fun, she'd met Lord. Well, best avoid that mess again. "Also if you have any little useful fabrials you're looking to sell, I'd be happy to take a look." @EmulatonStromenkiin

Cassandra Adama carefully stepped through the streets of the Alleycity. Walking wasn't as difficult as she'd expected, as the metal replacing her body didn't cause... pain, exactly. Just made things slower. A lot slower. Like dragging a cart of steel behind her, except the cart didn't exists. The load wasn't unbalanced, just there. Like the worry in the back of her mind. But the thing Cassie was really interested was the connections. Technotic's store was one of the few places that she'd heard of that sold stranger technologies, both fabrial and mechanical. Technotic would hopefully know the similarities between the two, enough for her to solve her little puzzle of how to stay alive. And hey, if it didn't help, at least he could be a good business partner. Cassie walked up to the door - but there wasn't so much a door as there was shattered wood. Well, that could be unfortunate... but no, there were lights and voices inside, talking, and no sounds of rummaging or theft. So Cassie stepped over the threshold, taking note of the several individuals standing around, slight aggression in each of their shoulders. "Hello..." she said. "My name is Cassandra Adama. I was hoping to speak to Technotic about the design of fabrial circuits? But if you're busy..." She let her voice trail off, but stayed where she stood, taking a glance at the glowing lines of power surrounding the two. This could be very interesting indeed. @EmulatonStromenkiin

I always thought a Bloodmaker was able to survive a shot to the head on their own. But now it seems like that's unusual.

It had been a long time since Cassie had played with beads. When she was younger - far younger - her father had bought her a little jewelry kit. She spent a lot of time stringing little wooden beads together, creating little bracelets, little necklaces, little bands to put in her hair. They kept her occupied, giving her something to play and learn when not looking at her studies or painting a picture with pretty colors. She'd always wanted to get a metal set like her mother had, but both parents had always said they were too dangerous, too valuable, too distracting, always too something. They had given her a set of colorful crystal beads instead, as her "own little treasure", and a five-year-old Cassie had wondered how those weren't also dangerous and valuable and distracting as well. She knew soon enough. When the mists had come and she'd gotten sick, then nearly Pulled the beads off her mother's wrist in curiosity. Nobody had really explained Allomancy to her by then. That usually waited until the beatings, the attempt to Snap the children into showing their power. Cassie got to skip that step. Mostly. Cassie got her metal beads at that point, but it was a lot less of playing and more learning, particularly with the older woman with the Lurcher's shield. Pull the beads to you, but not into your head. Pull this bead to you, but not that one. Find the bead under your bed. Pull a bead someone tosses at you. Pull this, Pull that... she knew it was important, just not why. Just that the metal was the important part. Not the beads. She eventually graduated to the traditional coins, and was scheduled to start with actual weapons when her family nearly knocked her door off its hinges and told her they needed to run to the cave the Emperor had found. When the shaking stopped and they came out, the world was different. Pretty. Colorful like the paintings she'd made. Like the crystal beads. Cassandra Adama looked at the tiny amethysts that Lord's contact had shipped her. They weren't perfectly round, but they were small enough that any imperfections would have the same impact on its capabilities. Tiny beads, innocuous in nature but bursting with potential. Strange, how it was now the crystal beads that would be her salvation from the poison that was her metal body. The beads, of course, didn't have holes in them. That would ruin the entire idea. Cassie instead had to tie them together by hand, which needed a series of clamps to keep the little strings from coming apart and flinging the valuable gems all over her store. It was slow, especially with the feeling slipping from her fingers. Poller was helping with a few of the longer strands, but he couldn't do them all. He didn't know what they were for, after all. Nor could he Soulcast the string into the metal to make a better gem setting. It was a strange metal, that one - made by Soulcasting without thinking much at all. It ended up being almost identical to the metal her flesh seemed to be becoming. The chains of gems would hopefully act as a channel, connecting her extremities to... something. Some way of transmitting a signal between an input and output. Cassandra hadn't yet determined what the "input" would be. That was more detailed in the Ghostblood's missive, but it talked a lot about things she didn't understand. Shadows. Circuits. Batteries. Silver. Binding. Technomagic. Something about power manipulation and an Investiture Interface. She had heard of a few of these words from Earth-based literature she'd found on different metals. Other words were completely alien. And then there were the words that she understood perfectly: "theory", "experimental", "risk", "unreliable". "Death". But the beads, she understood. Mostly. It would act as her nerves, letting her feel and respond and... live. She just needed a way to make sure they worked, and something to attach them to. As for the "death" part... she was facing death anyway. Cassie paused. Something felt... wrong. Very wrong. Why had this invoked so many memories in her? Cassandra barely thought about that part of her past, save for the odd letter back home to a time that she wasn't sure was even there. The amethysts were like beads, sure, but not that much. She didn't play with beads anymore. She had a full on blacksmith's shop, for Preservation's sake. So why... memory? Maybe this was just an emotional reaction. She was dying, after all. It was normal to think of the family she had left, the people - No. It's not fine. Can't you see? Something is very wrong. Be afraid. Cassie didn't jump out of her seat at the thought. Partially because she physically couldn't anymore. Partially because she didn't quite understand what it was she was feeling. Just what it wasn't. This wasn't the cascade of an emotional reaction. Nor was it anything similar to a progression in her Change. If anything, Cassie's transformation made her more grounded, less likely to shift in an outburst. It wasn't even in response to her frustrations with the progress on the strings of amethyst and their purpose. No, this was just a sudden and profound feeling that something was wrong, but with no indication what was wrong. Like someone Rioting her, if they had no practice in how to manipulate people. And were somehow invisible. It felt like... the Einladung? She'd felt this before. At the Hospital. Why she'd felt it, she didn't know. Had a doctor had tried to get her concerned enough about her condition to check in? But then why was she feeling it now? Or was this something else. Well, it didn't feel relevant to her project. Cassandra knew that much. So she discounted it for now. There could be several possibilities she wasn't considering, but most of them were related to stress, which was the contradiction of being both understandable and irrelevant. She needed to focus. Find a way to understand how to complete her project. But maybe - just maybe - it would help to have some help. Cassandra checked the small pocket she'd Soulcast into her desk. Her new little treasure - a softly glowing sphere of amethyst the size of a baseball. It had been expensive - very expensive - but the contact's word had held true. The gem hadn't lost any Stormlight since she'd placed it in there. A perfect gemstone. Cassandra would figure out how to use it eventually. But for now, she wanted to get out. Calm down her nerves. Maybe get some clandestine advice on how to connect these circuits. She pulled a note out of her desk and begin trying to edit it, before simply crumpling it and Soulcasting it into a drop of lead. She then grabbed a new sheet of paper and wrote in her new, large scrawl. Then Cassie grabbed a small green scarf, left the note with Poller, and limped out into the City. Towards answers. Towards whatever drew that little unease in the back of her mind. NullBlade, I'm going to be leaving the store for a while. I've tried leaving off Soulcasting for the past week or so, but it's become complicated, and it's possible I have a lead on a solution. If there's one for me, maybe there's one for you. Mine is risky even if it can work, but I don't exactly have much to lose. Not since what happened at the Hospital. Have you felt weird about that, by the way? I feel like we both handled things our own way. I should be back within at least a day in case you check in. If I'm not... well, I'll try not to Soulcast anything on my trip. I shouldn't need to, I brought extra iron just in case. I also finally made those sockets you asked for. It feels so long ago you did. There's a handful of aluminum slugs that fit them too. I hope they were what you had in mind for more aluminum burning. Ask Poller for them if you'd like them. For you, they're free. You've done enough for me to earn that much. All the best, Cassandra Adama.

So some GM thoughts: Yeah, the distro was a bit weird because of a few reasons. For one thing, 4 out of 14 is 28%, but 3 out of 14 is 21%, which makes 14 a really fun number to try and quarter. For another thing, the roles were not nearly as balanced as I wanted them to be: Potency in Elim hands is powerful in any situation, but the way I made Stability made it overly strong as a way of hammering, because its downside of needing to match your vote doesn't matter if that vote will end the game. So then 2/4 roles were "overly strong" in Elim hands, with Presence being about where I wanted it and Awareness being the "worst" because it relied a lot on intuition and didn't tell if that Blessing was still in play or not. So the Elims got 4 players and a Potency, but they also got 2 of the 3 Awareness Blessings and none of the 4 Stability Blessings. (Also, 3/4 of the Elims were Adjuncts of the Scholars in Steel's LG. So that also happened. Go figure.) If I run this again, I'd probably change a bit just for balance sake - either make Stability a standard Riot (or some non-vote manip, non-roleblock, non-kill, non-protect ability) and change Awareness to deal with PMs, or that plus a more complex ruleset (Blessings giving both a Passive and a One Use ability, letting Blessings be stolen and turn players to mistwraiths until they are somehow replaced, spectator mistwraiths, etc). But I had a lot of fun running the game, and I hope you all had fun playing it!

LG89 Aftermath: An Old Homeland, A New Home They'd determined it. TurTaal was too suspicious. They needed to contain them for the good of the Homeland. But that needed procedure, particularly after AarChur's mess of an incarceration. A decision made by the end of the First Generation's time of audience, the end of the hourglass. And as the sand fall, one by one, the votes came in. MaTriim. NoVeel. Stiiik. Taazzel. They all glared accusingly at TurTaal. But TurTaal said nothing, and simply gave a knowing glance. "No. This is wrong. Why are we attacking them?" Stiiik said suddenly. "We're all kandra, aren't we? Why can't we just be free?" Taazzel gave a shocked glance at this near-treachery before looking back to the group. "I change my vote to Stiiik in protest." Stiiik watched the sand fall to its last few dregs. "I vote for Stiiik as well." The faint gasps around the room drowned the sound of the hourglass coming to an end. A tied vote. A procedural lock. That had... never happened before. There weren't even rules on how to break a tie. The Council had never been this small before. They looked at the First Generation's shadowed forms in alcoves above. But as usual, they made no motion towards any one side. "So what'll it be? Breaking your own limitations you set on yourself in order to limit us? Or finally letting us go?" Stiiik said, rising to join TurTaal. TurTaal drew a hammer they'd concealed. "We don't want to hurt anyone else. We're all kandra. But if we need to, we will." A few minutes later, a small band of kandra, their forms changed and clothed and smiling, exited a small notch in the side of the Arguois caverns. Stiiik and TurTaal nodded to the rest of the Thirds they'd liberated. They'd all find their own way to survive, some together, some on their own. Maybe the Seconds were right. Maybe the humans would always hate them. But they were free. As for me? Well, this isn't my story. There's time for that later. No one was imprisoned! Vote Count: _Stick_ (2): Shining Silhouette, _Stick_ Turtle (2): Matrim's Dice, The Unknown Novel Congratulations to the Third Generation, consisting of @xinoehp512, @JNV, @Turtle, and @_Stick_ for winning! And thanks to @Devotary of Spontaneity for IMing the game! While there are currently only 2 of the Third Generation alive to the 3 Second Generation, there are also no more usable Blessings of Presence (or any other Blessing) in the game, meaning nothing would stop the Third Generation from reaching parity and winning during the Night, so the game would be effectively over anyway. Might as well not spend another 24 hours for me to get the date wrong everyone to wait. Doc Links: Dead/Spec Doc Elim Doc Master Spreadsheet Player List: ... I forget anything? I think that's everything.

Okay TUN's vote (and Shining's unvote) do not count due to being past 8:00. Rollover will... we'll see how it goes

Time! Okay fun I get to find out who's votes got in on time. One Sec.

Turn ends in about 1 hour!

LG89 Day 5: All The World's A Stage WiZaad had been practicing their faces. Different skulls made for different faces, but there were some small things that could drastically change an appearance from a single skull. WiZaad examined the skull in their hand, noting the different shape of the cheekbone, the slightly different eye sockets. But they didn't have a Blessing of Awareness. They didn't see the shape creeping up behind them. A swing, a crash, a burn, a hiss, and WiZaad was not to be. The Wandering Wizard was killed! They were a member of the Second Generation with a Blessing of Potency! The turn will end at 8:00 PM PDT (or 10:00 PM CDT) on Saturday, October 1st. Player List:

Time! Rollover... is occuring.

Just a heads up - rollover might be a bit delayed today due to something else I've got scheduled. The turn still ends at 8:00 PM PDT (in about 4.5 hours).

LG89 Night 4: Destabilizing TurTaal. No, NoVeel. No... AarChur. The council's small prison was filling up, and they were nearly running out of suspects to put in it. They'd have to expand it in their next meeting. If they had one. But for now... for now it was hard to choose. AarChur was the one the group eventually chose. No one knew their story. Well, none of them. AarChur knew, and I had a few ideas. But even in the layers of anonymity the kandra lived in, AarChur was somewhat more. He was dragged away without protest. But no weapons lay within his bones. Archer was imprisoned! They were a member of the Second Generation with a Blessing of Stability! Vote Count: Archer (5): Matrim's Dice, The Unknown Novel, The Wandering Wizard, _Stick_, Shining Silhouette _Stick_ (2): Archer TUN (0): Turtle The turn will end at 8:00 PM PDT (or 10:00 PM CDT) on Thursday, September 29th. Player List:

Time! Rollover... hopefully short.

Vote Count: The Unknown Novel (3): Matrim's Dice, The Unknown Novel, Turtle Archer (3): The Wandering Wizard, _Stick_, Shining Silhouette _Stick_ (1): Archer

2 hours left! Vote Count: The Unknown Novel (5): Matrim's Dice, The Unknown Novel, The Wandering Wizard, _Stick_, Turtle Turtle (2): Shining Silhouette, Archer ... yes?

LG89 Day 4: Present And Lost KeSaam swept the path of his rock garden. A kandra's place was in the Homeland. The Contracts kept them safe. He tried to remember what it was like, the day the council of the Second Generation had reached the decision. Contracts to be modelled on the First Contract, to bind them all, as the First had been bound, generations of kandra to come. KeSaam had not spoken. He had wanted the peace of his rock garden. The peace of the Homeland. But he remembered the fires and the knives of volcanic glass. He remembered what it was like to have all volition and voice stolen by the Flaw. He remembered TarKiin storming out of the council, face grim. "The Contract is a mistake," he had said, that day. Pleaded, perhaps. "You cannot intend to bind every single kandra in perpetuity—" "We do." KeSaam no longer remembered which of the Second had spoken. Which of the council. "And if they disagree?" "A stray kandra is a danger to us all," said the council member. "Then we imprison them for the safety of us all." "Imprisonment will not stop dissent," TarKiin said. "Would you have us kill?" It had not, KeSaam thought, been a demand. It had been a prediction. The day would come, TarKiin had seen, when the kandra would turn on each other, Second on Third, when even imprisonment could not hold back the clash that had been building since the day the council of the Second had chosen a path and bound everyone to it by threats. You could not hold back the rockfall. He had never liked the Contracts. He had felt happiest in the Homeland. In his rock garden. The rock glinted in the glow from the lantern. It was a smooth rock, tumbled in some subterranean river or other, and dark and heavy in his hand when he'd picked it off the stream bed. He'd collected it in the days before the Contracts, the days of fire and knives. It had been a peaceful day, that day. He had listened to the song of the water, let it carry him off into a calm darkness without humans and their demands and the threat they posed. Without fear. It was the first rock in his garden. Some of the later rocks had come from the human cities, the sunlit world. He could not have collected them, he did not think, if not for the Contracts. It did not make the Contracts right. The Contracts simply were. And more than anything else, KeSaam understood duty. You did what you had to, because it had to be done. Because you hoped that by doing your bit, you made the world just a slightly better place. Because you were a single rock in a garden. He was happiest in his rock garden. That never changed. He hung the broom up on its hook, and took one last, long look at his rock garden. And then he stepped away to sit on the porch and waited for the fire to come. Meanwhile, in another cavern, TurTaal ducked beneath a hammer flung from the shadows meant to shatter their pelvis. They hadn't had much warning, but they would take what they could get. And so TurTaal ran, dodging thrown rocks from far-flung corners, taking one into the left shoulder blade before finally stumbing into a room with several other kandra playing cards, collapsing to the floor below. Kasimir was killed! They were a member of the Second Generation with a Blessing of Stability! They also wrote most of this writeup, so go upvote them! Turtle was attacked, but survived! The turn will end at 8:00 PM PDT (or 10:00 PM CDT) on Wednesday, September 28th. Player List: I hope that's all?

Time! Rollover might go a little long tonight but should be within the hour.

Half an hour!

Three-ish hours to go, everyone!

Not entirely sure what you mean, but: Potency kills that are blocked by Presence (or that double up with another Potency/Elim Kill) are not refunded. Presence protects that don't block a kill are not refunded (they will be told they successfully protected their target, but nothing in this game can make a Protect really fail). A blocked attack will be told directly to the attacker, protector, and the person attacked/protected, as well as mentioned in the Writeup (BLANK was attacked, but survived!).

LG89 Night 3: Accounted For Another day. The acid burning had left many kandra shaken. That and the idea of kandra dying in the Homeland was... alien. The Second Generation couldn't afford to let this revolt stand, lest the more moderate of the Generations decide that the Homeland was no longer the safe haven from the outside the leaders among the Second were discussing. They needed to act, and act they did. IllWei had claimed to be a loyal Second from the start, but the group needed to take no chances. They needed all the Thirds accounted for. Illwei was imprisoned! They were a member of the Second Generation with a Blessing of Presence! Vote Count: Illwei (5): The Unknown Novel, The Wandering Wizard, Shining Silhouette, Kasimir The Unknown Novel (1): _Stick_, Illwei Turtle (1): Archer The turn will end at 8:00 PM PDT (or 10:00 PM CDT) on Monday, September 26th. Player List: