Wyrmhero

Actually, not quite true there, Panda. While Squires recruited on Cycle 2 couldn't have done anything, remember that some were recruited on Cycle 1. There is a 1/3 chance that they each received Basic as their Lashing, so its more than likely that one of them has it. Therefore, its possible that a Squire was able to save me, instead of a Windrunner.

You're right. I'd missed that Skybreakers could only use a Reverse Lashing. Thanks for pointing that out. So I guess I just want to know if Meta's reasonings for expecting a message are good, and whether someone claims to have actually Reversed him, though the latter would give away Squires, and Windrunners and Skybreakers certainly wouldn't come forward.

"Sir, the people in the village are praising your miraculous survival. They say the Stormfather himself saved you." Wurum snorted a little. "Miraculous nothing. The Windrunners are to thank for that." How ironic that he would be saved by those who loved the Highstorms more than anyone else. He tried to sit up, but the pain was too much. He gave up and lay back down slowly. "It looks like we have underestimated the Windrunners who are holidaying with us. Or perhaps overestimated the Skybreakers. We killed one of their goons last night as well," he added. "All in all, I would say that I am pleased." "Sir," his bodyguard grimaced a little at the look he got for interrupting, but continued on, "the boys are feeling that you should stop refering to those who serve the Skybreakers as goons. It gets very confusing with us, since that's in our job description." Wurum thought about it, then nodded. "Very well, I suppose. But regardless, this is a surprisingly good result for us. Go and reassure them that my injuries will not stop me from calculating the Highstorms," he said, waving the man away and regretting it immediately. Oh, his wrist hurt when he tried that. It seemed as though the entire left-hand side of his body was in agony where the stone had struck him. It seemed as though he was just lucky to be alive. He should probably burn a prayer glyph at some point. So, let's look at the three interesting things that happened: We lynched a goon henchman, in the form of Jeno. This was surprising, but no-one came close to contesting it, so I don't know if we can get much on this. Basically, I think we can simply say that Tinnub is most likely innocent. I very much doubt this was a ploy, as while an inactive Henchman would be a very good option for a sacrificial soft-confirm, I feel this is negated by the fact that only one person was on it. I feel that if Tinnub was an Eliminator, then someone else would have been on that to 'confirm' their innocence as well. I was attacked. Why would I be attacked? I did say I would die on Cycle 2, for RP reasons alone, so perhaps this was just a prophecy being fulfilled. I think that's unlikely, since I was also protected (unless the Windrunners are very good at second-guessing). So the question here is why would I be singled out instead of Meta, Aonar, Mailliw and Gamma? Perhaps I said something that they didn't like, or something that they did like, conversely. I accused Jain, and defended QC on Cycle 1. It's also important to note that I got a message from Jain last night, in which he claimed to be good again. I got no other messages, if anyone tried to send one to me last night. If someone did, it'd be good for you to say so. Considering how Jain recently posted in LG7 about this fact as well, I'm starting to wonder if he doth protest too much. Would Jain have attacked me for voting for him? Quite possibly. But I am hesitant to say that this would be the reason. Meta was not attacked. In fact, no-one else was attacked. Now, why might this be? It's possible that the Skybreakers wanted to protect someone or steal a message, but I'm not sure about that. Missing a kill this early on is a powerful thing to give up. Perhaps it might be used to teach us that just using a Full Lashing on a player is not enough to softconfirm a Skybreaker, but again, I am hesitant to say that this would be the reason. Meta, why did you expect to receive a message? Meta was also hit by a Full Lashing. This could be done by either a Windrunner, a Squire or a Skybreaker, but he also claims to have been Reverse Lashed this Cycle. It'd be very unlikely that there are two more Henchmen who are both Squires, that a Skybreaker didn't just kill him instead of Lashing him, or that a Henchman and a Squire both used Lashings on him. So the alternative is that Meta is other Skybreaker, and the Full Lashing he got hit with stopped him from using Division. The Reverse Lashing he claims to have been hit by could be misdirection. I would like to hear Metam's depiction of why things happened as they did.

Bingo. Also, aren't you going to say any more, Gamma? About, you know, anything? >> Edit: 8 players here currently. We'd better be able to get some discussion going.

Wurum gave Aladdin a long-suffering look, before raising his hand. He snapped his fingers in the direction of his business associates, and pointed at Aladdin. "I am being irritated when I am trying to work," he said. "Take care of him for me - But be gentle, since he's an orphan." Though he never mentioned his father, he was probably an orphan already. If not, then he was probably about to be. Certainly Wurum wouldn't let the man get away with siring the brat. "Oh, and beat him a little for insinuating that I would ever break the Highprince's laws like that." As Aladdin was picked up by the scruff of the neck and thrown out of his office, Wurum went back to his charts. That was two people claiming to be contacted by the Stormfather. He didn't know which of Aladdin's or Metam's claims were more fantastical, but it didn't matter. While it was true that the next Highstorm seemed to be particularly bad from what he could estimate, there was no need to panic like these two seemed to be doing. Besides, the idea of the Stormfather contacting anyone other than the village Stormwarden with news of a Highstorm was absurd! He looked up to where his business partners were sitting back down, along the sides of the big table. He didn't acknowledge them, but went back to his writing. He liked doing that. It unnerved them all, to see a man capable of putting anything more to a page than a gylph. Even gylphs were bad enough, though. Sometimes he wondered how lesser minds like them could live like that, but perhaps there was truth to the phrase that ignorance was bliss. They were dumb muscle, through and through. But then, that was what he paid them for anyway, so it wasn't as though he expected more. "Has anyone seen Simir recently?" he asked eventually. "I have some friends that insist on being wrong and won't be convinced otherwise." "No boss," one of the goons shook his head. "Not for about a week." Wurum sighed. Storms take the man. He was effective at his job, since no-one could remain coherent near Simir and his odor, but Damnation he was as unreliable as he was stupid. "Fine, I'll find someone else. In the mean time, the rest of you search for these Skybreakers. I want them found as soon as possible. I don't care who you ask or how 'polite' you have to be, just find them." Thanks, I guess? Though I'd prefer it if you didn't Americanise my character like that. Or, you know, asked before using him at all. Also, luckat, with regards to your point about me voting for Quismet because I thought she might respond quickly, it's more that I'm trying to accuse people who are usually on around the same time as me. Hence QC, Jain, and I'd have probably voted for you this morning if Jain had been a little more forthcoming with his thoughts yesterday. I suppose now we're near the end, the question is whether we do actually want to lynch someone today or not. I'm of the opinion that we should, because we don't really gain anything from not lynching. However, having said that, I am not sure about whether anyone is suspicious enough this early on. I am less suspicious of the people who received a lot of PMs - Gamma and Aonar. This is just because the Eliminators didn't need to PM each other in the first cycle. But at the same time, the sheer number they each received is something I find strange, particularly when Meta and Mailliw didn't get any (or claim to). For what it's worth, I received none last cycle as well. But I am curious as to why those two were picked over the other experienced players to such a degree. What were peoples' reasonings? But in general, I don't know who to actually vote for this Cycle that I would like to see lynched, because it's so early on in the game. Currently though, I wouldn't mind hearing a bit from Jeno, since he's on the topic right now. Also, if you think someone who contacted you was an Eliminator, Aonar (since you're also online right now), then would you consider sharing with the class? Or at least PM it to someone tonight that you trust, so it's not lost if you die.

We don't want to lynch inactive players - at least, those who are actually inactive. It's about calling them out to get them to stop being inactive and contribute to the discussion if possible, as silence is the most dangerous thing for us. More generally, it's useful to call out active-but-not-posting players, that is, those who have been reading or have been on the forum but haven't contributed yet this cycle. An Eliminator would love to have things progressing in such a way as to not have to do anything, because giving away less information is good for them. If people don't have a reason to defend their actions, then they simply won't. Admittedly, calling out people who are actually inactive won't help much, but it's a way to try and get them to say something at least. The quicker people respond, the better. Sometimes calling people out like this can have great rewards, such as in LG5, but I agree that sometimes people are just inactive. It's still a useful way to check though, particularly if a player does not respond to accusations but remains semi-active in the game. You're also right about inactives (usually) being Villagers, because Eliminators are more Invested (haha!) in the game. However, the problem we're trying to counter is when you have thread-inactives, where Eliminators hide in the inactive players but still send in actions. Without any information on them, and no way to see if a player is actually not inactive other than people randomly seeing them reading the thread, we have no real reason to think about or accuse them. So the idea is to get people who are thread-inactive to speak up and give the Eliminators less room to hide. Though speaking of them being a 'meat-shield' for us, that may not be so true here. Remember that anyone who doesn't post in the thread has an extra vote on them automatically. This could mean that they are targets later on in the game for Eliminators to try and kill, to derail votes placed against their players (though I would hope a bandwagon on an inactive would be noticed). It's also important to note that they aren't one more player the Eliminators need to kill to win, in this game. The game ends when both Windrunners and the Truthwatcher or all the Eliminators are dead. Unless a Windrunner/Truthwatcher/Eliminator is hiding within the inactives (or is actually inactive), the presence of inactives is going to have no effect on the game at all other than to possibly be lynch-derailers with their automatic extra vote.

I don't think it gets more official than the mods handing them out, Gamma. ...Unless we had Sanderson hand them out. Hmm... Anyone want to try and ask him?

No-one else other than Mailliw voted within the last 24 hours? He's got the right idea, guys, as have Gamma and Meta. The rest of you are letting yourselves be distracted by this little minigame. We shouldn't have to rely on PMing to feel people out, that's what the voting system is for - and none of you are taking part in it. While it's good that he's voting, I'm sure I agree with Mailliw's accusation though. From what I know of her from LG7, QC is very busy, and has to take time to play these games when she can. While I agree that popping up immediately like that is a little suspicious, I don't think she's acting that odd currently. My vote for Jain still stands, as he just commented on his not using of the messaging system, nothing to do with the plan, what people have said so far, suspicions or anything like that. I suppose it is at least consistent with his character... Bah, if something more is discussed about votes, I might change it, if there's good arguments or the like. For the moment though, I might as well keep it there considering there's nothing else really going on with this. Come on guys, start discussing! Remember, every cycle we don't at least talk about who to vote for is another two kills in this game. It's even more dangerous to not talk than normal. I really should RP at some point, come to think of it. Maybe I'll post something later today.

As in a conversation, but just over one Cycle.

Well, didn't expect that reply so quick . Removing my vote for Mademe Quismet. I think I might wait for a bit for my next vote though, until some other people have said stuff. Eh, might as well keep a vote somewhere, if it encourages people to post. Well, Jain's usually on around this time, so let's try and provoke a response.

House War Post-Mortem So, the important thing to ask about all of this is was whether or not the game was balanced. Unfortunately, I'm sure that it was not. While disappointing, it's not surprising on the first run-through of a set of rules, particularly rather different ones such as these. However, I wouldn't have said that this unfairness was the direct cause of the Skaa loss here. Most of the leg-work was done by the Genealogist picking good targets, and while the Informant definitely helped them pick likely ones, it's quite possible this could have been avoided if played differently or the players had different Roles (such as Meta not being a Tineye). The Skaa were also somewhat inactive at the start, and were pretty much permanently operating with a man down with Wandrin's absence. This meant less information going to them and less misinformation could be spread. I also thought that people would lie a lot more than they did, and be a lot less free with their information. I suppose you can't really predict what the players will do in games like these though. But it does show that tweaking needs to be done here, as the Informant definitely gives away too much. Despite the flaws though, I think it showed that these rules have potential. It's important that each aspect is examined to see what did and what did not work. Even if this game is not run again (though it would be disappointing if it was not at some point), it's important that the flaws are pointed for any future new game ideas. The Informant mechanic was what punished inactives, because they had no defensive information. The problem here though was that it heavily punished Skaa who went inactive, but not Nobles, since they didn't have the same sensitive information available, i.e., their Skaa-ness. I might consider removing the Alignment from the Informant entirely, since ideally it should be practically impossible to discover this through the Informant. But then that removes a level of possible subterfuge, even if it wasn't used this game. So I'm not sure. Roles I am not really pleased with how Pewter worked, that game. Its current implementation is fine thematically and fits with how it works in the books, but it might be too complicated for a game like this. I got more questions about it than anything else. It also doesn't really work with Mistborn. Having 100% Roles also doesn't seem to work in a game like this. The metagame shifts dramatically to being able to cross Roles off and guess the GM, rather than working them all out from the information at hand. While this will always be a problem, simply because balance can always be guessed at, it is a lot easier when everyone has one. In addition, it makes it fundamentally harder to balance. So in this game, we had four protective roles, for instance, but the Skaa only had 1.5 kills. The Nobles had 1.5 kills floating around as well, but these were less used, of course. I had balanced the kills against the protective Roles, but the Nobles were a lot less bloodthirsty than expected, which led to an imbalance in practice, if not theory. In the future, I would probably maybe give out 50% Roles, and therefore non-Allomancers could be used to get a small amount of truths, or lie, or even use House Powers if they were House Lords and report that to the Informant. I would probably also remove atium from the Mistborn. It makes them too hard to kill other than in lynches, and three defensive roles are too many. With regards to the Skaa, I definitely think that there should have been 5, with two doubling up on one House. The distribution used in this game meant it far too easy to clear the other members of a House when a Skaa was found there. This is something else that should be noted with people hiding in factions. I am also starting to be of the opinion that 25% is about the right about for long games like this. I would probably also revert back to Coinshots being kills rather than injuries. It was a nice idea, but not one that would be wholly necessary if there are less kill Roles. If this happened, then Pewterarms could have the unique mechanic of becoming 'injured' on the first hit (as long as they burnt their metal), which would have the same negative effects. The House System This worked well enough, but the house war aspect never came into focus. People were rather surprisingly open to their House about their own powers and what they discovered, despite the possibility of a Skaa getting hold of that info. I don't think the 'Lesser House' idea worked, really. I should have stuck with 4-people Great Houses (or maybe 5), rather than split them up more. This would have allowed more of a balance within the current system, as I could have given a much more even spread to each House, with the four 'Role types' that I classified them as: Offensive Role, a Defensive Role, an Information Role, and a Voting Manipulation Role. It's not perfect, as Steel is the only Offensive one (I classified Mistborn as offensive as well to compensate) and there are three Defensive ones, but it's near enough. House Powers were used often enough at the expense of other options, but most of the time though, this was just Genealogy and Loyal Terrisman. Neither of these show that they were a more useful choice than the Informant though, since both were already 'better' than it in some or all ways. Genealogy is pretty much a classic example of a Deputy Cop Role. The question here is whether the combination of it with another Role is too strong. The answer is probably no, if there are not 100% Roles. If there was only one Pewterarm, one Lurcher etc, then it should be alright. Pewterarm Cops might still be too strong, however. It would be difficult to say, as arguably it is just the same as a protected scanner. The difference here though is that you can't target someone else instead to try and take them out. So... It's difficult to say. Something for more experienced minds than me to think about. Broad Investments seemed to do its job of allowing players to be diverse, so it probably does not need changing. Blanket Soothing, I may just make target a player and cancel an action at random rather than a metal action by a player in that target's House, if there are <100% Roles. Metal Poisoning was a very flavourful mechanic, but it only really benefits the Skaa or a House trying to win on their own. It was very useful to discourage Coinshots killing the wrong person early on, but that was about it. Suggestions to change this would be nice. Overall, I think I would change it so that the House Powers, and the Skaa kill as well, could be used as either a Metal or Special (renamed Informant) Action. I was also highly disturbed by House Urbain, for the reasons I have already stated. Let this be a lesson to you, people who try this Faction Doc stuff in their games - try to balance the talkative people as well as the roles. The Informant The Informant was obviously a bit too strong. I expected it to be powerful at the start and weaker as it continued, but as mentioned I wasn't quite prepared for the sheer number of people telling the truth in this game - One person lied, and that was Asyr late on in the game when he had to lie about hitting Mailu. It was also unfortunate that so many people looked at Racine on the first night, though it was only 50% more than the average that could be expected if everyone chose randomly. Because of this, a lot more information was in the public domain, since people were freely sharing it all as well, due to the fact that it didn't implicate them as a certain Role in any way. This heavily punished the Skaa, as they visited him less due to their Kill (which as previously noted would be changed to allow them to Kill and visit the Informant), and they also could have their Special Actions and alignment discovered this way. As such, I think the best option to decrease the amount of information floating around and make lying more viable would be to make True Info return only one bit of information, making it half as effective. While Truths may still be more attractive, the main benefit here is that there aren't twice as many bits of info coming out each day as players. I would also consider giving out the same GM Information on a person to each player who receives some that night, to make it utterly indistinguishable from information put on that person by a player. In addition, because of the lack of lies, the Loyal Terrisman was almost 100% useless in this game. Under this set of rules, it would be the same as the normal Informant role, but still with the 'Truth-only' rider. The main benefit here would therefore be that you could use it as a Metal Action, getting twice the information each Night. Kandra The Kandra seemed to fall under 'a nice idea in theory, but not useful in practice'. The Kandra came up once, with Jain's vote on Day 5. The corpse-devouring aspect was never used as for the most part only Skaa Kills happened at Night, and I believe Theorymaker specifically didn't vote so the Kandra's House didn't become obvious. I would probably scrap the Kandra in the second version of the Rules, or make them into a House Power. As their own mechanic, they just add unnecessary complication to the game, and don't return enough to make them worthwhile. In summary: 100% Roles is very difficult to get right. 25% Skaa would have been right for this game rather than 20%, as House War aspect didn't come up at all. Larger Village Factions work better than smaller ones for balance purposes and causing people to think more about them. Metal Poisoning could probably be redesigned (I'd prefer to keep it mostly the same though, since it's really nice thematically) to be as useful to nobles as the Skaa. Would need extra testing though, to see how it would work with the other suggested tweaks first. The Pewterarm mechanics were confusing and should probably be rebuilt or re-explained somehow, particularly if injuries were done away with (injuries could be a Pewterarm-specific mechanic, perhaps?). Atium should be scrapped, or at least redesigned. Meta's a hell of a lot better at organising people than he is at killing them. Gamma Fiend, Kasimir and Renegade should never be in the same doc ever again. The Actions that can be taken each Cycle should be one Metal and one Informant, with Skaa/House Actions classified as either. Loyal Terrisman should be changed accordingly. The Informant should be half as strong as it was to decrease ambient information in the late game. I would also be less kind with it second time around - No asking if information is viable before deciding. Probably less ambiguous information as well. Kandra are complicated and don't add enough to justify their inclusion as anything other than a House Power. The link at the bottom of my sig has the current redesign of the rules. Is there anything else that the players think should be changed?

I think we would be interested to know the name attached to that PM, Gamma. I agree that the anonymous nature of the messages could mean that it was a set up, but if you receive suspect information, it may be best to just reveal it all. Though that may lead to us lynching the person in question just to check, as happened to Racine in the last game, and we may not be so lucky this time around. We can't by its very nature trust this messaging system to be reliable or secure, though as Jerric says, there are ways to make it known whether a message has been stolen or not. The only problem with that is that it requires sending a message to that player at least once more. So it's a good idea if you intend on having a slow conversation, but may not be entirely useful if you intend on messaging multiple players. I'm also not surprised that Gamma and Aonar received by far the most messages this cycle. We have little actual information to go on, so it's just a case of people messaging the most experienced players. On the other hand, I find it interesting that Mai and Meta got none. I suppose the question is what people said in their messages. You can't really feel them out without replies... I guess I'm just not experienced in the message-sending department, considering I've never initiated a PM of my own accord in one of these games. I am inclined to agree with Meta's idea of revealing messages, but perhaps scrubbing out both names and sensitive information at first, at least until we know a little more where we stand. I do think we're getting a little bogged down with messages though. We've already lost about an eighth of this Cycle, and there's only one bit of vote-discussion, but since it's the first, there's probably no real information behind it. Why Lyce, of all people? I'm going to vote for Madame Quismet, since QC has been on this topic, is following it, but hasn't posted.

A small idea for a Quick Fix Game. Also, I have now made a Google Doc with my current updated rulesets. Feel free to leave comments on there. Living (and Dying) Rough Notable new rules for this: Vote bribes and a random Villager can kill each cycle. Saving a player from death removes their Role. I am mostly looking for ways to get people to use this random kill, since that is what this game is built upon. Scenario Lawmen have infiltrated your little thieving band in The Roughs. It's up to you to get rid of them before they kill you all. But at the same time, life must go on. How do you expect to survive if you give all your time over to this? Basic Rules Each Cycle, one person will be lynched, the Eliminators will make a kill, and a random player will get a kill action only usable that Cycle (in addition to any normal actions they may take). If a player who gets a kill action does not state that they do not wish to use it, then they will die instead (to clear away inactives). No distinction will be made between the results of the two kill actions. A lynch requires at least two votes, and in the event of a tie, a random player of those tied players will be lynched. The Lawmen win if they outnumber the Crew. The Crew win if they eradicate all the Lawmen. If the Crew win, the surviving member with the most money wins a personal victory and becomes their new leader. A player who becomes injured will no longer be able to take any Role or Kill Actions for the rest of the game, but can continue to vote, use Barter Actions, and they still accumulate coins by posting and voting. An injured player is not eligible for the random kill. The Eliminators will have a Google Doc to conspire on. Money A player gets a number of coins each day, based on the number of actions they perform. If they post in the thread during a Cycle, vote for a player or take a non-gambling action, they get a coin. All the players who support the lynch of a lynched player will split the coins equally, rounded down. A player who kills another player will get half of their coins. Players start with 2 coins. Each Cycle, players may declare their vote up for sale on the thread as their action for the cycle (a Barter Action). Any other player may send an offer to the GM to purchase a vote from a specific player that offers it up, and who they would like it moved to. The highest bid wins, and that player's vote is changed. Players who put their vote up for sale may not bid on another vote. Players may not attempt to purchase multiple votes. A player may also gamble their coins during the Cycle. X players bet one coin, and X+2 coins are distributed randomly between all players gambling that night. Roles (most likely one of each) Koloss-Blooded - A player who is Koloss-Blooded will survive the first lynch or attack on them in-game, completely unharmed. Archivist - An Archivist able to use their Coppermind's stored knowledge on medicine to save another player each Cycle from an attack. That player will be injured by this attack instead. Spinner - A Spinner's kills cannot be prevented (even by another Spinner), nor can their votes be negated. In addition, the first attack that would kill them will injure them instead. Tineye - A Tineye may start a PM conversation with a player as their action, though it will only last for one Cycle. Pulser - A Pulser may target a player during each Cycle. That Cycle, neither players' votes will count, nor will any of their actions (including others by the Pulser) nor will vote bartering occur.

I think it's important to note that this game has a couple of firsts that are pretty special: First Elimination game where Mailliw73 was an Eliminator. First Elimination game with AonarFaileas surviving the whole thing. First Elimination game in which someone voted for Gamma Fiend However impressive Aonar's survival was, I am really shocked by the fact that no-one had voted for Gamma before in any other game .

I really should've expected the somewhat sporadic playtime of some people, considering my post about not punishing inactives got seven upvotes The Loyal Terrisman power was sadly not that useful in this game - We had one Lie only, from smart when he claimed to hit Mailliw. And with regards to whether or not a Mistborn would or would not have been Skaa, the answer is that if there were five Skaa, I would've almost definitely made one of you Skaa. Probably Kaldin, because before the rearrange, that would have put a Skaa in charge of a Great House, one hidden in the second, and three in Lesser Houses, one or two of which who would've been the House Lord. Incidentally, before things got rearranged due to luckat and jaelre joining up at the last minute, Kaldin was on his own in a Lesser House with the Kandra - And Kas was an Eliminator for three Long Games in a row

The very first chuckle moment of the game was Kas complaining about being with you and Ren via PM when he first received his Alignment, and then joking about New One being Skaa and you two being totally legit House Urbain, winner of the Talking Head Award this year and every year.

Document link time! House Tuy House Elariel House Seeris House Urbain (yes, that is 127k words...) House Morinthe House Venture House Tormander House Fain Skaa Rebellion Master Doc Dead Doc Speculation Doc

Giving you Tin was definitely regret number two - Might have been best to let you keep the Iron I gave you accidentally and watch you turtle the game out instead! And certainly I don't feel bad about the additional Rioter there. It was a good way to throw a bit of confusion in and make people guess, but sadly the imbalance never really came up.

Tomorrow, as my laptop has decided that it hates me so I can't use the internet on it. I also need to clean up House Urbain's doc and add back the 100k words I removed to keep it from crashing Firefox whenever I loaded all the docs at once. ...I am not joking, by the way. Let this be a lesson to you all, never put Gamma, Ren and Kas in the same place.

Day 7 "What's this?" "If you're that blind, put your tin to good use, Erikell," Heron scowled as he passed the note over to the Mistborn. "It's clearly another letter from our good friends, the Skaa. They're proving to be rather useful to us. Maybe they hope we'll grant them clemency." "Oh? And who do they claim to give us the anonymous tip about this time?" Drax asked, taking the note from Heron and reading it. "Wait," he said, looking over the note at his employer, "isn't this the same one you showed me yesterday?" "No, but they seem pretty insistent on getting him killed," Heron replied, opening the desk drawer and showing Drax that there was a second note there, identical to the first. "Hah! They must think that we're absolute fools, if they think we'd act just on a letter," he smiled, ripping the note in half and tossing it out the window without a care for the city's littering laws. "So, what's next on the agenda? Who do I have to kill for House Heron today?" "Despite the fact that they claim something so far-fetched as him being half-Terrisman," Heron said, gritting his teeth a little at the fact that Drax was including himself in like that, "it is the duty of the Inquisition to investigate such matters." "I thought you left the Inquisition, Lord Heron? I mean, you haven't grown your hair back or anything, and the tattoos aren't likely to be something anyone ever misses, but I think that it seems a little too much like you don't know when to retire properly." "Well, it's a good thing that I don't pay you to think," Heron snapped at him. "Just go and take care of this. Bring him to me." "...Do you really think I'd be able to deliver my half-brother to his death, just like that?" Drax asked quietly, looking down at the floor. "Why not? I did the same with my half-sister," Heron said, his tone gaining a hardness to it. Though he wouldn't admit it, the feeling of betrayal... It was more than he expected to feel, even now, almost a week later. "Just get on with it, and be glad that this doesn't implicate you as well. At least this shouldn't difficult for even you, he's half-dead on his feet already." Drax sighed. Life could be cruel sometimes in The Final Empire. "Understood, My Lord." * Kassel was certainly easy to find, shut away in his bed as he was. He didn't have to get past any guards or anything - why would he need to? They'd prostrate themselves as soon as they saw him. That was what being a Mistborn was about. "Hey," he said, forcing a smile as he entered Kassel's room. "I brought you some oranges. I heard you like oranges, right?" "...I've already got some, thanks," Kassel covered his mouth as he yawned, then pointed at the full basket on his bed. "Well, suit yourself," Drax shrugged as he began to peel the orange and eat a segment. "Still not healed then? You know you're not tricking anyone with your little 'Pewterarm' thing, right? Anyone who could really burn pewter would be out of here now." Kassel sighed. "I thought as much. I was going to ask your advice on this, but I couldn't help you. Where were you yesterday?" "Oh, I was... Helping Lord Heron investigate a few things," Drax said hesitantly, his orders still at the forefront in his mind, the letter's notes still playing through. "I see," Kassel nodded. "I suppose it can't be helped then." He reached over for his notepad and pencil on the table beside him. A glint of metal caught Drax' eye. "You're wearing jewellery in bed?" he asked, eyes narrowing slightly at the sight of the ring on Kassel's finger. He burnt steel. No, it wasn't just painted on. The line it gave off showed that it was definitely more than mere paint or foil. The ring was intricate enough that it was easy to remember. He thought it was a family heirloom of some kind, but not enough of one that he might expect Kassel to wear it continuously. "That's not made of wood?" "Hm? Oh, well... It's the last thing my father gave me before he died," Kassel explained. "Just something to remember him by. I like to have it close by." There was something else there, Drax could tell. He might not have been particularly good at judging people, but Kassel was just as bad at bluffing. It was why he always liked to play cards with his younger half-brother, he practically doubled his family allowance every time he did so. Maybe the note was right. "There was something else," Drax said, before stopping. Could he really do this? Well, maybe it was all for nothing. It wasn't as though the Inqusition killed everyone they were suspicious of, particularly for something so ludicrous as this... Was it? He opened his mouth, but did not continue immediately. "What is it? Does Lord Heron need to see me?" Kassel asked. There was a small amount of fear there. Unreasonable? Perhaps not, considering the circumstances and Lord Heron's previous work. But was it an indication of something else? Perhaps Kassel didn't even know he was breaking The Lord Ruler's commands merely by existing. If he did, he'd probably be a part of the Skaa Rebellion. Though perhaps he was, and Drax had just never before considered that his meek half-brother could be a traitor. "Uh, yeah," Drax nodded. How he wished he could soothe this guilt away, and feel absolutely nothing. To be as cold as an Inquisitor. How had Heron managed it every day, to kill people he knew without a second thought? "I'll need a carriage then," Kassel said. There was a brief moment when he seemed to concentrate, and then he stood up, wincing and sharply drawing breath. The orange bandages he wore were slightly red, Drax noticed. Kassel motioned for a servant to go and fetch him one, and hobbled out. Drax followed afterwards, feeling a little lost. * Halfway through the journey, Drax could no longer contain himself. "He's going to kill you!" He said, dispelling the silence in the small carriage. He stood up, pewter letting him maintain his balance, and shook his half-brother by the shoulders. "You have to know that! You're not an idiot like me, you know you're going to your death!" "...You're right," Kassel sighed, ignoring the Mistborn's shaking. "I have known that I can do something other than Allomancy for a long time. I know that my father was not a noble. But what am I to do, Drax?" "Flee!" Drax said, sitting back down. "Just escape the city somehow. They can't chase you everywhere, definitely not. In fact, we can go together! Brothers against the world." He smiled weakly. "What do you say?" A hollow laugh was the response to his pleading. "Drax... Look at me. I can barely ride on this thing without agonising pain. You think I should run away? A horse ride would probably kill me. No... There's no escape from this. I knew it was only a matter of time before I was discovered." "So you're just going to walk in there and let yourself get tortured," Drax summarised. "Great, that's just great. A really smart plan you have there. I'm beginning to think that I got all the brains in this family, which is just sad." "Well... That's not quite what I had in mind," Kassel admitted. "So what? Are you going to talk him out of killing someone half-Terris?" Drax snapped, then immediately regretted it. "No," Kassel shook his head. "You're going to kill me instead." "I... what?" "Just make it quick," Kassel smiled a little and closed his eyes. "That's all I ask." "You... You selfish bastard!" Drax said, standing up again to yell at his half-brother. "How dare you ask me to do that! And smiling while you do it! I'd kill you for that, if that wasn't what you were asking me to do!" "I could Lurch your knife," Kassel said calmly, not opening his eyes. "I know you carry one made of steel, not obsidian. Of course, that would probably be messy and slow and painful. No, better to let the Mistborn trained to kill do it. It's better than me being tortured to death by a sadistic Inquisitor, after all." "..." Drax dropped back down onto his seat and cradled his head in his hands. A minute passed by in silence. Then another. Then the coach stopped. Drax turned his head. They were in front of Keep Heron. "Well?" Kassel asked, finally opening his eyes. There was a small shimmer in them. Instinctively, Drax burnt brass, soothing his little brother's fear. That knee-jerk reaction was what forced him to decide. He couldn't let his brother suffer at the hands of an Inquisitor. Even if it meant that he might suffer instead, for disobeying orders. "...When I follow you, I swear that you are never going to hear the end of this," Drax muttered as he drew his knife and mentally prepared himself to kill his half-brother. * Lord Heron walked down to the front door of Keep Urbain, and was surprised to find it was closed to him, guards standing there trying to look presentable and official and failing terribly. "Where is Urbain?" he asked, irritated over the previous night's results. Why did Drax have to go against orders and kill his damned half-brother? "Has he forgotten that he is meant to be entertaining today? Though I suppose that would be a first in itself..." "He has decided to hold his ball elsewhere, Lord Heron," one of the guards said, standing up straight and attempting to smooth his uniform somewhat. He seemed familiar. Perhaps he had worked for House Heron in the past. Guards came and went so often that he never bothered to keep track. "He and his guests departed an hour ago in a procession," he explained, before following on to give directions. Lord Heron listened intently, and then paused as he did some mental calculations, travelling through the streets of Luthadel in his mind. "...Oh no..." * Lord Heron wished he could just crawl back into bed so he didn't have to face this, this... abomination. But he couldn't sleep at the moment. Even if he tried, he wouldn't even be able to with the knowledge of this existing weighing on his mind. At least it took his mind off the pain of his bandaged arm, not that it was a great consolation. A sign as he entered the plaza said he was entertain 'The Urbain Wonderland', and it was certainly something to wonder about. The square was covered in tents, each of them a garish orange colour, with a roof of purple atop. Most of them seemed to be serving refreshments, but a few had sign painted above it in similarly criminal colours, denoting that they were special and unique attractions. The first that Lord Heron found had the words 'Hall of Mirrors' emblazoned across it, in which could be found a variety of strange and twisted mirrors, each designed to distort the shape of a person differently. Amongst them was one single mirror that was not reshaped in any way, and the servant who attended that stall seemed to be finding great amusement from those who missed that the mirror was not distorted and were shocked by the shape of their body. Next to this, a team of Lurchers and Coinshots operated a spinning merry-go-round, with caricatures of Horses, Mistwraiths, Skaa and Koloss for people to ride on. A large number of Urbain-affiliated children played around it, ordering the Allomancers to speed up their Pushing and Pulling according to their whim. The second tent with a different inside was declared to be a 'Gift Exchange Tent', where a line of people stood, each depositing something in a large box with a question mark on the side and taking something else out. The reactions from this ran the whole gamut from the amused to the scandalised to the enraged. The third tent along proclaimed itself as 'Lord A'lees' Petting Zoo', and inside it was stowed with things as befitted the great House Lord in question - Malnourished horses, Mistwraiths with bones sticking out of everywhere haphazardly, and caged and dazed Koloss. Every so often, the Koloss would be blinded by servants with magnesium flares to prevent them from rampaging and breaking out. Next to this was the 'Poetry Tent', where aspiring nobles could show their credibility in the finer arts with their creativity, genius and wit. At least, as long as they were creative with Eastern Dominance slang, genius enough to explain what they actually said, and witty enough to conjure up a meaning for it out of thin air. The prize was an Eastern Dominance translator, a Skaa to take with you on formal occasions and baffle your enemies with. In the centre, there was of course a magnificent fountain, though Lord Urbain was only taking advantage of the fact it was already here. He had however exchanged the water for wine, and a pair of Terrisman stood on either side, one holding a bottle of expensive wine from the Western Dominance, the other refilling the fountain with cheap stuff from the North. In front of the Terrismen, a set of Coinshots and Lurchers juggled metal and fire between themselves, a dazzling array of light against the ashen sky. To the side of the fountain was, of course, the band. Lord Urbain had spared absolutely no expense for this ball, that much was obvious from the fact that he had bought the most expensive troupe in the Final Empire in for his party. They were dressed in the horrible Urbain livery, and all of them looked utterly miserable. Every so often, one of them would play a note on-key, earning them a stern reproachful look from the conductor, who wasn't even bothering to keep the same speed with his baton. Of course, all these insults paled into insignificance compared to the backdrop of the festival. "Oh, Lord Ruler..." Heron groaned, as much a warning and a plea this time as a curse. He put a hand to his face, in the vain hope that he did not have to look and that it might even not exist when he removed again. For behind the tents and the band and the fountain lay a mass of jagged black iron spires at odd and asymmetric angles: Kredik Shaw, palace of The Lord Ruler. * When Fien Urbain arrived on the scene, he wore his finest clothing, or what he believed was his finest - a sharp suit with the family crest, an orange shirt scrubbed clean of ash, and a Mistcloak comprised of tens of alternating orange and purple tassels. He carried with him a large sack, hefted over his shoulders. There seemed to be something struggling within, but Fien's pewter meant that he had no difficulty carrying it along. Unlike most of his appearances, Fien was not smiling. Even the sight of people enjoying his party did nothing to cheer him up. One family member a Skaa. Another killed by his Terrisman. A third taken by the Inquisition in the night. What was there possibly for him to be happy about? "What's in the bag, Fien?" Mesist asked, not even bothering to ridicule the man for the insult of the petting zoo that Lord Urbain had constructed in his name. It was no fun when he was already depressed. Fien said nothing, and simply tipped the bag's contents onto the cobblestone floor of the plaza. Mailu tumbled out of his prison, swearing profusely at his captor. He scrambled to his feet, and looked around. The square had fallen silent at his appearance, all eyes turned towards him. "Well?" he demanded, dusting the ash off his trousers. "You all look like you've never seen a Skaa before." "Not a noble who admits that," Alden commented. "You didn't manage to escape Luthadel then after yesterday's proclamation?" "What's the point in escaping?" Mailu asked. "If I was just interested in surviving, I wouldn't have arranged for Sylinia or Kassel to be killed." He smiled at Alden, and then hit the floor roughly as Fein's pewter-enhanced punch struck him in the jaw. "Women and injured people..." Fien spat on him. "A'lees was right for once, you're just cowards. Pathetic." Mailu grinned, wiping away blood from his mouth blood. "I'm pathetic? You all managed to kill half as many nobles as Skaa. We didn't even have to help you with that!" Fien drew back his foot, ready to kick in Mailu's ribcage, but was stopped as Hadrian put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back. "I'm going to kill him, let go," Fien growled, attempting to shrug Lord Penrod off. Hadrian stood his ground, however, his own pewter putting him on a greater level of strength than Fien. "Lord Urbain, it's over. We can just send him to the Inquisitors. I doubt any of us could cause him as much pain as their methods of torture." Fien glared at Mailu, but was placated by this solution. He slowly started to calm down, though he did not move his eyes away. Lord Heron walked over, a little surprised that Lord Urbain was the one to bring Mailu to them, but not questioning it. "Well, now we can end this, at least." "You're not trusting them when they claim to be the last, are you?" Lady Lekal asked in surprise. "Don't be ridiculous," Heron scowled at her. "I have been looking into this myself. I may not have found them, but I was able to calculate the size of their group. Five, including Wilson. Mailu is the last of their little group." Mailu got to his feet, mouth bloody. As he spoke, blood dripped to the floor. "I might be the last of this group, but there'll be more. Oh yes, there'll be more... We didn't do it to kill you. We knew we'd never win. We did it to remind you that we exist. That you'll never be rid of us. Our deaths will inspire a whole new generation of Skaa to rise up against you!" "I think that's enough from you," Heron shook his head. Delusional fool, thinking he could change anything. He turned to the actual Nobles amongst them. "Anyone here willing to escort a mere Rioter to the Canton? I have to smooth this disaster over with the palace guards," he explained thumbing in the direction of Kredik Shaw. "Eh, I'll do it," Mesist said with a grin as he strode over and gave Mailu a push away from the palace. "Can't be any harder than rearing horses." At that moment, Mailu drew a knife and jumped upon Mesist, knife aiming at his eyes. Two thuds, followed by a short silence, followed quickly by two more thuds as bodies hit the floor. Half the crowd turned one way, half the other. A metal bolt stuck out of the side of Mailu's head, a line traceable from Ashette's outstretched hand to it. She seemed a lot more confident than she did a mere week ago at the Heron ball, when she had voted for herself. But that wasn't too surprising - Most nobles hid their true selves, after all. "You bastard!" Mesist's shout drew the other half of the nobles in his direction, as he shook Fien by the shoulders, pulling the knife away and tossing it to the side without a second glance. "How dare you go and save me like that! You don't get to sacrifice yourself to save me!" He shook the man harder, heedless of the fact that Fien's eyes were closing. "Sorry," Fien chuckled, his voice becoming weak as his hands found Mesist's. "I guess I just couldn't face another death at their hands..." He coughed a little, lying back down into the ash. "Even yours." His hand dropped to his side. "Curse you, all the way to hell!" Mesist shouted, a tear falling into the ash. Then Fien's eyes opened again, bright and alive. "Haha!" He said, sitting up and pushing Mesist off him onto the floor, before scooping ash up and throwing it over him. He burst out laughing as he pulled the dented metal plate out from under his shirt, the dark orange hiding it perfectly where white would have let it be easily seen. He tossed it to the side and sprang to his feet. "I can't believe you think I'd kill myself just to save your sorry life! Fien Urbain got one over on you all at the end!" Heron groaned a little to himself as he picked up Mailu's body. "Thank the Lord Ruler that I don't have to talk to any of you on a regular basis any more," he muttered under his breath as he walked off to dispose of it. "Dealing with you all wasn't worth the hassle for a few measly Spikes." Kassel Erikell was a Lurcher (and also apparently a Sentry) belonging to House Urbain. Mailu Willen was a Skaa Rioter belonging to House Tormander. My thanks to Gamma for help with his House Ball. The Skaa have been defeated! Houses Tuy, Elariel and Fain win a House Victory! Player List Bloody internet and bloody laptop. At least it wasn't necessary to get this in on time, I guess. I will be posting an analysis of the game this time tomorrow, along with links to the docs. House Urbain's needs fixing rather badly. For those keeping count, yes, there are four Rioters and only one Seeker. Jae Kastner was meant to be a Seeker, but I sent the wrong Role out and didn't notice until much later on. I did the same to Meta, making him a Lurcher, but at least I caught that one >>. But in any case despite its flaws (and the many mistakes I made...), I hope you all enjoyed this game

The Night is over! Writeup coming as soon as my computer decides it wants to work >>

Wurum tapped the firemark on the table, a rhythmic pattern as he thought. The noise of glass on stone resonated gently through the tavern, drawing eyes towards him. As people turned to look towards him, they fell silent at the sight of him and three of his burly enforcers sitting around the table. Each of them had a mug of ale in front of them, though none of it was touched so far. Wurum himself had fruit juice, imported all the way from Shinovar, a casual expression of the lucrative nature of his business. "Skybreakers... Skybreakers are bad for business," he muttered, laying the ruby-embedded bead on the table. "More than that, they're bad for the entire town," he added. Finally he looked over at the tavern's other occupants. "Skybreakers are absolute in their hatred of lawbreakers. It won't take them long to decide to purge this Storm-forsaken place of all who have benefited from 'questionable' business practices. That includes most of the town," he explained, for the dimmer-witted amongst them. He drank a little of his 'imported' juice before continuing, his associates still not touching theirs, but scanning the crowd for danger. "I have seen similarly minded people before. They do not frighten me, though I am... concerned, on behalf of my town. But of course, you should all be too," he added, smirking a little at the thought of them having to help him. "Do you think they might stop at a simple businessman like me? What might happen if this town loses its Stormwarden?" Wurum stood up, nodding to his guards. As one, they drank a gulp of their ale and slammed the mugs back down on the stone table. Their boss gave them a disappointed look, as they each had to take a cloth out of their pockets to clean up the spillage. "In any case, it seems we have plans to form. We can't let the Skybreakers take over, after all, with their outdated idea of the law. Let's teach them how the rules really work in this town."

I really hope they do other worlds. It would be a real shame if they didn't, considering how simple the rules are and how easy it should be to extend them. And of course, a variety of worlds would be very nice, particularly since they kind of work as background information as well. When you say other Mistborn Supplements, what are they considering? And when more books have been released, will they 'fix' the non-canon stuff in the rules? But I think I'll be hones here - I just want my PCs to be Seventeenth Sharders

An extension has been declared! The Night will now end on Friday at 9PM BST (GMT+1)

Allomancer Jak is glorious, and that story is worth buying this on its own The new rules are interesting as well, though I think the best bit is the large amount of extra info about Elendel and how Scadrial changed over the 300 years. It makes for a fun read, particularly when it mentions the effect that the development of electricity has had on society. Do we know if they're going to do rules like this for the other Cosmere worlds, and at what point they'd be written?