Araris Valerian

Welcome! Looks like CD will be gathering a few extra votes this game . @The Unknown Order I'll be your IM for the game. If you're doing writeups, my character will be Resolute "Sol" Carver. Local carpenter/handyman/jack-of-all-trades guy. True to his name, he'll stick to a task until he figures it out, but outside of work he tends to avoid interacting much with other folk.

Murder is the highest form of compliment around here . More seriously though, I'm always a bit disappointed when I get hit with the NK (or when Stick balefires me N1), but it's just part of the game. I think I'd feel bad if the elim team lost after a decision to not kill me early since I'd been away for a while. My take (partly as a mod) is that strategy should be the first consideration when making the NK (including during N1), and all the metagame stuff should be secondary (within reason). If Kas hasn't played a game in 2 years but his solving is clearly the highest priority threat, then you kill him. That's part of why we have dead docs; so players who get killed off early don't miss out on everything. I think N1 kills generally have quite a few viable strategic options, so that leaves room to consider first-timers and folks that had short games recently. The thing to keep in mind is that we are a community centered around a game. If we give up the strategic elements of the game too much for the sake of being "nice" to the community, or if we lean too seriously into playing just to win, we'll end up worse off in both regards.

Yeah, the next iteration of these rules will have some restrictions on Rioting a player to targeting themselves so that this isn't quite as obvious of a good play.

I can answer since I'm on the rules committee: not explicitly.

I’ll be either playing or IMing, depending on the availability of the other mods.

TUO has taken the slot, and his rules are approved, so we're just waiting for signups to be posted.

Or maybe I'm too much of an elim at heart to be able to balance a village team.

I'm glad you enjoyed it!Watching you play was one of my favorite parts of this game. It's a shame you weren't able to solve things in the end, but you definitely put in a valiant effort. Definitely looking forward to playing with you in an upcoming game.

I ended up pretty happy with how things turned out. The general thought was to give the village a Coinshot over a Seeker, give the Spiked a Lurcher and a Rioter as countermeasures, and have the game lean mostly on the exe. The village had 3 Smokers, the idea being that maybe one would get in contact with the Coinshot, but in the end that didn’t help. If I could run this playercount again, I’d probably do 4 Spiked, with no Mistborn but a Smoker, and give the village a Seeker. That would take a lot of the volatility out of things; Rioter/Smoker/Lurcher is a pretty good defensive lineup against a Seeker and a Coinshot, and losing any one of those would not spell disaster, mechanically speaking. And a village Seeker would ease some of the analysis burden that gets otherwise increased when all communication is via RP. A less major adjustment would be to give the village either 1-2 Thugs or a Lurcher, but I’m less comfortable with that because of the previously mentioned volatility; stretching the game out would just give more opportunities for the elims to lose a key role.

Aftermath: A Ruinous Wrath Var had been confused ever since he entered Blackkeep. That hadn't stopped him from dutifully working on the city's sanitation, though, and for a while it seemed like he and Madiane had a good working relationship. Even when she'd become mayor, she'd had his back, and even taken some time to work on the latrines now and then. Which was why he found it so confusing when her finger joined the others pointing at him as a Spiked. Surely if I was a killer they'd have picked up my stench at one of the murder sites. Or maybe... they just can't tolerate me stinking up the place any longer. Var backed away from his former companions, but the retreat was half-hearted. He'd given his all to save Blackkeep, and it wasn't enough. Keldorn saw the resolve firm in the faces of the other townsfolk, so he drew his sword and rammed it through Var's heart. This job had gone better than he'd expected. He'd known Blackkeep had it's fair share of allomancers, and his team had been rather small for such an important task. Noticing Teal that night almost made him want to quit work, since surely he'd never be as lucky as that. A strong pull on the boy's emotions at just the right moment, and Blackkeep's only Coinshot had died to his own coin. His only regret was that he'd had to do Aral in before things wrapped up, since the man had been a professional. Easy to work with. But, well, opportunities to silence scouts like that didn't roll around very often. With precise news of the army's arrival silenced, this job should wrap up quite nicely. Distant cries suddenly rang out from the north side of the city, and Madiane's eyes were drawn toward the wall, and the gap that had never been repaired. Giant blue humanoids were climbing over the rubble, each bearing a massively oversized sword. As she looked on in horror, several more showed themselves at the top of the wall, hurling down shapes that looked suspiciously like armored bodies, before jumping inside Blackkeep themselves. The Koloss, noticing the small crowd around Var's corpse, began to lope down the road leading to the town square. The mists began to coalesce between the buildings, but seemed unlikely to provide a way to escape the impending massacre. Josha, still donning his signature blue robes and pointy hat, reveled in the unfolding violence. He burned tin, drinking in the screams that echoed within the now-misty streets of Blackkeep. The he dropped a coin and pushed, launching himself toward the south end, away from where the Koloss had entered. He'd see how many people he could make "disappear" before the troops arrived to finish the job. Mil sat atop a pile of weapons, happy to enjoy his collection while Blackkeep burned. It hadn't been much trouble to make sure some water from the poisoned well got sent up to the various guard stations around the city, and once they'd been incapacitated, he'd begun scavenging. A few of the men had weakly clung to their weapons when he tried to nab them, but a quick flare of iron had overpowered their grips. Now he just had to decide where to hide the treasure of weapons before the Koloss got any funny ideas. The next morning, most of Blackkeep was ash and rubble. The Koloss, calmed from their battle rage, now moved in orderly groups, digging up rubble and searching the ruined buildings. Every now and then a survivor would dart out into the ruined streets, only to be cornered by blue bodies and cut down. The silent search went on for hours, and the Koloss began to grow agitated with each passing minute. Their search was in vain. Mil, Josha, and Keldorn turned from the last room underneath the old Ministry building. Their master wanted atium, and they'd all heard the rumors. But though both Mil and Josha had sense plenty of metal sources, there was no atium to be found in his ruin. "Noooo!" They turned as a voice screamed in frustration behind them, and each recognized the man formed of dark mist that had sent them to Blackkeep. "It's not here! He must have been involved somehow. But he is dead now." The man's face twisted in a satisfied sneer. "He cannot Preserve this town, or this world, and longer." The figure vanished with a sense of finality. At the same moment tremor shook the ground, and from the west a red light began to rise from the peak of Mount Faleast. The shaking grew worse, and the earth itself split, a fissure forming east to west that stretched the length of the city and stretched well into The Black Lake. Water poured into the new channel, the lake The cloud of fiery ash and projectiles of molten rock from the west met the chilly waters of the lake with a roar, and Blackkeep, along with the Spiked, Koloss, and any possible hidden survivors, vanished under the force of ruinous wrath. Var @StrikerEZ was a Village Smoker! Madiane, Fox, and Jox have been slain by Koloss! Everyone else was slain by Ruin! The Spiked have won! Congrats to @Kasimir, @TwinStorm, and @KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren! An additional thanks to everyone for playing my game, and to @little wilson for IMing. I hope y'all enjoyed this and I look forward to playing more SE with everyone! Thoughts on specifics of the game and the distribution I ended up going with to come later. Links to docs: Spiked Doc Dead Doc Master Spreadsheet Player List:

The game is over! I’m not going to be able to get the aftermath up tonight, expect it sometime tomorrow.

Day 5: The Black Wraith Skaa across the empire whispered stories of mistwraiths, creatures of the night that would steal the soul of those who ventured out in the mists. Allomancers and most nobles knew better, but in Blackkeep even they gave some credence to the horror stories about the Black Wraith. It wasn't uncommon for a fisherman's net to be suddenly dragged to the depths, and any foolish enough to try and protect their catch would be pulled below as well. Sometimes partial skeletons of the dead would wash ashore a mere few days after someone had gone missing on the lake; far too quickly for natural decomposition. Of course, Antari Erlington knew that was all nonsense. There was only one mystery in Blackkeep, himself. But, well, a niggling feeling about the stories never really left the back of his mind. So that night, Antari left the town through the eastern gate. He was a familiar face to the guards by now, and though they were slightly concerned about the late hour of his departure, Antari was let out without too much fuss. He held a small lantern, enough to see as far as one could in the mists without totally ruining his night vision, and headed for the docks. The cool mist felt soothing on his skin, which was still damaged in several places from the torturing he'd undergone just a few days back, and Antari reveled in the freedom of being outside and safe. Well, safe relative to where he'd been before. He took a seat on one of the pilings at the end of the dark, watching the mists swirl above the gentle waves of the lake. "Huh. Didn't think anyone would be out here tonight." Antari started to turn at the familiar voice, then felt a *shove* from behind and tumbled into the cool water of the lake. He surfaced, gasping for breath. "Hey! What in the Lord Ruler's..." His voice cut off, both in shock at the face he saw up behind where he'd been perched on the docks, and at the feeling of something alive tugging at his leg. Antari spun about in the water and froze as he saw a creature rising up into the shallows, translucent skin revealing the bones of fish, horses, dogs, and... people. An eerily human-like hand was just barely visible in the lantern-light reaching out of the water toward his throat. Antari thrashed in the water and yelled for help, but the creature tightened its grip on his leg and began to drag him out into the deeper waters of the lake. The only witness on the docks sat and watched until the last ripples in the lake faded, leaving sign of neither Antari nor the creature that had taken him. Then they turned to walk leisurely back toward the town. Antari @ThatOneWorldhopper was a Village Vanilla! Day 5 has begun and will end at 10 PM Pacific Time on Sunday, June 22nd. PMs are Open! Player List:

The Night has ended!

Night 4: Lethal Indecision Aral figured that with only eight of his contacts remaining in Blackkeep, he could get away with a bit of a break, so as evening approached he visited the guard station by the town's southern gate. The room was empty; apparently the guards not on duty were getting instructions from a veteran on how best to fight against Koloss. As Aral turned to leave, a man entirely blackened by ash poked his head inside, then perked up upon seeing Aral. "You are just the person I was looking for. I'm the only scout left from the party sent out earlier this week. We were attacked by a Steel Inquisitor! I managed to hide under an ashdrift, and somehow it didn't notice me. Anyway, that's not important. The Koloss army could be here tomorrow!" Aral froze at the words, then swore softly. "Okay. You rally whomever you can to do a last-ditch repair on the north wall. I'll make sure the poisoned well is boarded up, then inform the others. Did you tell any of the guards at the gate?" The scout shook his head. "No... I know there are traitors in Blackkeep, and didn't want to risk getting stopped by one of them." A third voice spoke up, low and dangerous. "So nobody else knows, do they? Let's keep it that way." Aral was a Village Messenger! An unnamed Village Scout was killed! Night 4 has begun, and will end at 10PM Pacific Time on Friday, June 20th. PMs are Open! Vote Count: Var (3): Madiane, Antari, Kéamen Madianne (3): Var, Jox, Josha Antari (1): Keldorn Kéamen (1): Mil Player List:

The Day is over!

Yes. Just because you have to play the game in RP doesn’t mean that all your RP has to be relevant to the game’s mechanics. I’ve been adding in that flavor stuff just to give folks an option to flesh out their characters and the setting a bit if they wanted to.

We should start working toward getting the next MR sorted out. Kas/Claincy are passing, so the next names are: @xinoehp512 @The Unknown Order @Elandera @The Wandering Wizard @Archer (twice) @Aeoryi The LG will wrap up fairly soon, so priority should go to anyone who can get rules to the committee quickly.

Day 4: Sleep and Never Waken Lipitor came to, and immediately got the sense that something was wrong. He was standing in his room, but the bed was still occupied with... himself. He experimentally reached toward the bedstand, and his fingers passed through it, leaving an impression of the table in his head. Am I... dead? Lipitor sensed a presence behind himself and turned to see a short man with black hair, though much of the person's "body" seemed to be made up of tattered mist. The mysterious figure spoke deliberately, as if he had to exert a great effort to get each word out. "I've come to see you on. It is... my duty. Yes, that's right. My duty to the dead." "No no no. I'm the hero of Blackkeep! They need me to save them!" At the word "save", the unknown person seemed to solidify just a bit, and his eyes focused on Lipitor. "You wish to preserve them? I... but his influence is so strong here." A misty hand reached up to rub at what remained of the fellow's forehead. "I may be able to..." Distracted by the conversation, Lipitor had completely missed that someone else had entered his room through the door. Someone shrouded in a hooded cloak and bearing a knife. He reached an insubstantial hand toward the newcomer, but was unable to stop the killer's weapon from plunging into the heart of his corpse. At the sight of the attack, the focus bled out of the mist-man's eyes and his speech reverted to halting words. "As I said. His influence is... is too much for me to overcome. Even if I could have helped... My other agents... must take up this work now." Lipitor felt his essence stretch toward a distant point, and then everything went blank. Lipitor @KelsierApologist was a Village Vanilla! PMs are open! Day 4 has begun and will end at 10 PM Pacific Time on Thursday, June 19th. Player List:

SE is played exclusively on the forum (at least for now, we've chatted a bit about discord formats).

The night is over!

Night 3: Silently to the Grave Aral had spent half the morning running around trying to let people know what had befallen Teal and Astrid, and as a result wasn't involved much in any response to the well poisoning. Which turned out to be a mistake, since apparently nobody else had spread the news about the well either. He now had confirmed reports that both Lipitor and Josha had fallen victim to the poisoning long after the well should have been blocked up, and the former was doing so poorly that the physician thought there was a chance he'd die. Aral did admire the single-minded focus of the others to hunt out the Spiked, despite his concerns that Blackkeep would struggle to stand against the Koloss in its current state even without traitors and saboteurs running around. In the end, the latrine worker-turned-mayor and her former coworker managed to convince the baker's son to support Fox's execution, and not enough voices spoke out for any of the other options. Fox glanced around at his fellow townsfolk, hoping to see some sympathy, but each face in turn yielded only stony resolve. True to his reputation, Fox voiced not one word of protest as he was lead off to his death. A thorough search of the man's body failed to turn up any spikes, though they did uncover several vials of Brass. Unfortunately the citizens of Blackkeep were a rather straightforward folk, and Soothing wouldn't have done much to save him. Greatly diminished in number, the remaining elite of Blackkeep fled for the safety of their homes as the mists blanketed the world. Fox was a Village Soother! Night 3 has begun, and will end at 10 PM Pacific Time on Tuesday, June 17th! PMs are open! If @KelsierApologist doesn't post by the end of the night turn, they will be removed or replaced! (I have one pinch-hitter lined up for now) Vote Count: Fox (3): Madiane, Var, Jox Mil (2): Keldorn, Fox Jox (1): Mil Var (1): Antari Player List:

The Day has ended!

PAFO Aral hasn't heard any word from the scouts on how close the Koloss are, but that could mean that they were ambushed. The fact that there still hasn't been an effort to fix the north wall or to organize a response to the poisoned well doesn't bode well for Blackkeep. Allomancers are another potential unknown quantity that will make any predictions unreliable.

Roughly 2.5 hours left in the day!

“While it appears that the cause of Teal’s death was the fall, I am quite confident that a Coinshot was involved, though I can’t say whether or not the Coinshot was Spiked.”