Haelbarde

Time passed. The air had been too dry to continue to play for too long, so he had put the flute back into its pouch. As he sat, enjoying the warmth of the nearby hearth, he took the opportunity to appreciate the moment of quiet. Moments like this, while easy to find out while roving about the countryside a short distance from your troupe, were few and far between in town, and particularly in the university itself. Soon enough though, the moment passed, and it was time for his next class. ... An hour later, he had less answers and more homework. Great. Because lots of book work is going to help me outside of this building. This part of the university most certainly had not featured any any poem or song about this place. He supposed he could compose such a thing. Maybe even justify it at homework somehow. Somehow, he didn't think a poem would satisfy the requirements of a paper on the history of written numeracy of the Adem. With a sigh, he sent off for the archives. He really didn't want to fall behind in any of his classes, so starting now was as good a time as any. Surely there'd be something in the archives on the subject. It's not like they'd set impossible homework tasks, would they? The dusty smell of old books meant he drew close. Stepping in to see the masses of books, he looked around. He was going to need someone to help him navigate this place.

Seoras shivered. He didn't know if it was due to the cold, or watching a fellow student be dragged struggling out of Archives, seemingly insane and destined for a place in the crockery. Of all the tales of the university he'd collected, he had thought the ones of students rapidly going insane had to have been fiction. That there was more truth to those tales that he thought was definitely unsettling. He shook his head to clear it, not wanting to dwell on what he'd just seen. He reached into his pouch to find the comforting texture of the wooden flute he kept with him. He had some time before his next class. Perhaps he could find a warm spot to sit, play a few melodies, and perhaps catch up with any classmates who happened to wonder by. Leaving the instrument where it was, he slung his bag back over his shoulder, and went hunting for a place to pass the next hour. After a few minutes, he found himself a nice spot. There were a few other students in the area, though none yet that he'd talked to, he thought. Taking a seat and getting out the flute, he played a few lines. No one seemed to object, so on he played. Thanks again for that great writeup. I think I'd agree with Elkanah. A WGG doesn't seem like a great idea - I haven't checked, but I didn't think that any more than maybe 3 people have broken out of the Crockery across LG18 and LG33, and even if someone breaks out, I don't think they can get elevated so they'd be stuck with out abilities. It also feels like you wouldn't give up having a nobles income unless you had a two of them. I'm pretty happy to consider Headshot as student if he does ever break out. I think the final vote tally was: Vote Tally Elandera(1): DeTess{1}, Elkanah{1} Devotary(1): DeTess{2} Lumgol(1): Zillah{1} Karnage(1): Straw{1}, Headshot{1} Headshot(1): Karnage{1} Rover(1): Xino{1] Araris(1): Xino{2}, Exp{1} Straw(1): Elandera{1} Coda(1): Lopen{1} Lopen(1): Silberfarben{1}, Straw{2} Walin(1): Coda{1} Exp(1): Rover{1} Bard(1): Devotary{1} Rathmaskal(1): Hael{1} Burnt(1): Straw{3} DaTess(1): Burnt{1} Sart(1): Karnage{2} Xino(1): Rathmaskal{1} Silberfarben(1): Araris{1} Zillah(1): Exp{2} Stink(1): Striker{1} So, everyone had a vote on them except the Ruh. Spreading out the votes I think was worth it, but as evidenced by Coda's Conduct Unbecoming, still doesn't avoid harsh consequences. As Devotary points out though, it's probably not helped by there being a number of individuals staying in the Golden Pony. The guess of 5-6 of the 20 players with DP (I think order of actions means that Headshot would have gone insane before DP was assigned) seems reasonable, though I feel like Yllish and Aturans are likely to be the more common commoners and nobles so I wouldn't be too surprised if it were more like 7 or even 8. But short of people volunteering where they were staying and voting accordingly, there's not a lot we can do about that, unless people decide to change accomadation. And I wouldn't recommed people sharing where they were lodging anyway, on top of the fact that potentially double voting on people in the Golden Pony would both get the complaint and a DP from having two complaints on them (I don't know if the Golden Pony affects the 2 complaints = 1 DP thing).

Thanks for pointing that out. Updated tally (including your vote): Vote Tally Elandera(1): DeTess{1}, Elkanah{1} Devotary(1): DeTess{2} Lumgol(1): Zillah{1} Karnage(1): Straw{1}, Headshot{1} Headshot(1): Karnage{1} Rover(1): Xino{1] Araris(1): Xino{2} Straw(1): Elandera{1} Coda(1): Lopen{1} Lopen(2): Silberfarben{1}, Straw{2} Walin(1): Coda{1} Exp(1): Rover{1} Bard(1): Devotary{1} Rathmaskal(1): Hael{1} Burnt(1): Straw{3} DaTess(1): Burnt{1} Sart(1): Karnage{2} Xino(1): Rathmaskal{1} Building on Straw's comment about Ruh - I was a Ruh last game. I moved to the Mews for Term 2, and at the end of month 1 of Term 2 I went insane. But equally keep in mind that going insane still leaves you with a (tiny) chance of breaking out of the crockery and returning to the game. Getting unlucky on the streets is just being dead. Seoras, wearing his best raggedy coat, wound his way toward the university. It was not exactly hard to find. He'd found his way there the week before to enrol. The hard part had been talking his way in, securing a place among the soon to start cohort of students. It wouldn't surprise him to having sweet talk his way back in again this morning. This time, he wouldn't even have the coin he'd paid to enrol to back up his claims. Fortune favoured him however. There were enough other new students trecking through the snow in coats of varying degrees of newness for him to fade into the crowd and walk in as one among many, just another set of wide eyes hoping for knowledge or power to take back home. He heard the sounds of music, notes of a voice ringing out in the distance accompanied by a flute of some kind. He smiled. He knew he'd have time for music later. For now, he needed to orient himself and sift fact from fiction from the tales he had heard of this place. After all, one particular tale had insisted the school featured a tower that reached so far into the sky that it's peak was lost in the clouds. Seoras could already see the tops of all the towers in sight - that was one tale for the fiction column. Watching the movment of the other students, he noticed a notice near the pathway to an introductory session of sorts. Pulled that way by current of students, it seem as good a place as any to begin this journey.

I don't think I truly appreciated how invested in becoming Master Rhetorician you were... I did not, but I think I shan't either. The wiki didn't have any examples of Ruh with last names, so I think it's probably appropriate to leave Seoras without one. Well, I'm finally here with time to write a proper post. I had intended to link my post on the financial hardships of the Ruh from LG33, but I think the other Ruh have already covered that quite well enough. If anything, the only thing I'd add would be to lean back the other way - complaints on Ruh hurt, both just the immediate tuition inflation from the complaint, and then further so by being brought on the horns. But all that means is to be mindful when placing votes on a Ruh. If you're only Complaining to get a tuition reduction, then please don't put a vote on a Ruh. However if you are suspicious of a player being a Skindancer, do not let them being Ruh stop you from putting a complaint on them. And don't let them guilt you out of it by playing the "Oh, but I'm so poor and barely scraping by... D:" card. I know others have already done vote tallies, but I like to keep track of the history of votes throughout a cycle, so I've done my on version: Vote Tally Elandera(1): DeTess{1}, Elkanah{1} Devotary(1): DeTess{2} Lumgol(1): Zillah{1} Karnage(1): Straw{1}, Headshot{1} Headshot(1): Karnage{1} Rover(1): Xino{1] Araris(1): Xino{2} Straw(1): Elandera{1} Coda(1): Lopen{1} Lopen(2): Silberfarben{1}, Straw{2} Exp(1): Rover{1} Bard(1): Devotary{1} Rathmaskal(1): Hael{1} I need to reread thread to see if there were other things I wanted to respond to, but that'll come later, along with some attempts at RP. For the moment, I'll just finish by putting a tuition-decreasing poke complaint on Rathmaskal (@Rathmaskal) for not having posted yet.

Woo! Edema Ruh again! Now to find a last name for Seoras and work out how I'm going to make ends meet this game. Oh, and @Elbereth, @little wilson, the player action spreadsheets are very cool.

[Seòras has entered the lobby]

As much as I'd like to try and RP everything, that'll result in me contributing very little. So I'll try and write analysis, comments, and votes in RP if I have the time, but I'm not going to restrict myself to only doing so. So the current Fellowship Candidates are as follows: Fellowship Candidates Hael(1): Hael Kas(0): Kas{1} Coda(1): Coda Elandera(2): Fifth, Elandera Fifth(2): Wonko, Straw Striker(1): Striker STINK(1): Kas{2} I'm no Alv, so I would probably rather avoid a tie. For that reason I'd probably rather put a vote down on Fifth (Hael), more so from their comments about the state of the lynch than the choice to not vote on themselves. I'd see that as simply for the RP. If I had to elect 7 people now, I'd probably choose Burnt, Kas, Young Bard, Aman, Wonko, and Straw, in addition to myself, though mainly that's because they're the people I've played the most with before. But then I don't have game relevant thoughts on most of them (mostly because of no posts), and Wonko I could see going either way (village or elim) so I'd want to hold of voting on him for the moment anyway.

The closing line of a song sprung to mind. “In Mordor where the shadows are…” Beren cleared his throat. "What we gather here to accomplish was attempted by mighty men of old, yet their great armies fell, and only by chance was victory gained. One does not simply walk into Mordor – armies have tried and failed. Yet where armies fail, a small band mayhap prevail. Those of us with the skills to survive the journey should accompany the ringbearer on their journey, but of equal importance is blinding the shadow to the fellowships movements. We represent the free people's of Middle Earth. The connection we each have are equally of importance, that men might band together with elves and dwarves alike to draw the Eye of Mordor's gaze from the search for its ring, and on to the nations he had thought broken." He looked around at those gathered. "I may not have a lot in the way of influence, but I know my way around a blade, and have lived in places many men fear to stray. I, Beren Adaeldah would offer my services to the Ringbearer."

My interpretation would be that it was just a result of Hobbit culture having absolutely zero interest in anything beyond life in the shire, basically living in paradise. Men had wars to fight, dwarves were already predisposed to avarice, while the elves (and wizards) had the power and understanding to properly wield a ring of power. The hobbits, having none of this, gave the ring very little to work with.

Count me in! Edit 1: I shall be Beren Adaeldah, the Shadow of the Stars in the common tongue . Named from the Lay of Leithian, he wanders the wild places of the north, one of the Rangers that shield the free peoples from the evils that stray from the wastes. Happenstance had him ranging eastward, tracking a band of interlopers, when crossing paths with a band of elves, he heard word of the council called by Elrond Half-elven, Lord of Rivendell, and so a week hence was seated in council with elves and dwarves, a sight rare to behold.

That is cycle 5 done.

...End of Cycle Next one may be delayed, or may not.

Now that my clock is in the correct time zone, it's actually the end of cycle.

Alright, that's time. Standby... EDIT: So my PC's clock is wrong. As you were. You have 23 minutes left!

Aaaand that is end of cycle. Who lives? Who dies? Kas tells that story after the break.

Well strictly the extra vote from DaTess to make 3 votes on Striker is what made the difference. It then no longer mattered if there were 2 votes on Alv, or 1.

Cycle Two A Bolt From The Blue “You there! Nice muscles, hold this,” Shuos KanSeun said. This meeting was beginning to look increasingly like a mistake, but he had found someone with the muscles of a blacksmith, and he shoved the wadded strip of cloth into her hands. “Keep pressure on her wounds.” Marzia raised an eyebrow, but held the blood-soaked makeshift bandage in place. “Aren’t you going to remove the crossbow bolts?” she wanted to know. The Grand had set Herat down on the floorboards of the teahouse and was even now applying pressure to the wounds. “If I want her to die!” he replied. “The bolts are the only thing keeping the bleeding controllable right now—we’d need a bolt extractor and we don’t have one, or a Resealer, and I don’t suppose you’re carrying one in your pocket.” Marzia shook her head. “Then no. Infection risks are there as well. We’re doing her no favours. We have to make her comfortable, at the very least.” “And what are you going to be doing?” asked Kavela, who had taken to securing the door so no one could leave. “I’m going to raid the kitchen,” the Grand replied, smiling at her. Kavela just wondered what his secret was. There was always a secret, and then another secret. The people who were good at uncovering secrets were the ones who got paid well, and Kavela was very good at getting paid. “There might be something we can use.” He turned out to be right. Kavela accompanied him to search the kitchens, less out of trust than a desire to be useful, and to work out what was going on with him. She’d gotten some sense of the others, but she just wasn’t sure about the Grand from how he was behaving. There was dream honey in the kitchen. Kavela found a jar of it, and barely hid her surprise. It seemed new, but then the seal had been cracked open, and a spoonful was missing. What was a reputable teahouse like the Frozen Moon doing with dream honey? It killed pain, but it also sent people into deep sleep. And it was habit-forming. She knew highly-placed Grands within the Empire’s bureaucracy who were dependent on dream honey to be able to sleep. “Someone’s been at the honey,” the Grand said, and she saw a flicker of what might have been surprise on his face. “Either way, it should help ease the pain.” They brought the jar out of the kitchen, and fed a spoonful to Herat. It was all they could do for her. ㄢㄋㄌ It didn’t take long for the arguments to break out. Voices raised, everyone shouting over their neighbour to be heard. It was either that or just try and hide from the noise (or the world in general). Roashina noticed amid the noise that there were two who had been instead talking quietly. He walked over, calling out to Joon. “What’s going on here then. You turn up and don’t even say hello to an old friend?” It just happened that at that moment, Joon ran off. Roashina gave chase, shouting for everyone to stop them when just as suddenly as they had dashed off, Joon stopped to greet Wai ZhierShen. Joon had noticed Wai in the same moment as Roashina had called out to them, and hadn’t heard them. Unfortunately, this brief commotion managed to silent the whole room. Joon blinked, just now registering Roashina’s accusations. “Who, me? You think I’ve got something with that dead body? I noticed Wai was free and needed to talk to her. Why are you being so suspicious?” In an instant, others began to echo Joon, wondering why Roashina was so on edge and paranoid. The mob had no ears for Roashina’s protests, and it was decided that he was the cause of all the shouting. Roashina found themselves being pushed, or really thrown, out the door of the establishment for disrupting the peace. As they scrambled back to their feet to confront their peers, there was a couple of twangs, followed by two thuds. There wasn’t even any time to register the pain of two crossbow bolts pin him tight to the doorframe. ㄢㄋㄌ This had been the hardest piece of the puzzle to plan. Not that any part had been easy, but the tool required had been very hard to get his hands on. It had been obscenely expensive and had come from a long way away. But it had been important. They had to know that the killing wouldn’t be random. He hadn’t forgotten, and soon, neither would they. As Roashina found themselves at the mercy of patrons of the Frozen Moon, and subsequently the Strikers that had surrounded the exterior of the building to prevent any inside from leaving, Ableah made his move. In the guise of a MaiPon server, he found the table in which DaTess had been seated. As he poured a new cup of tea, he counted out the heartbeats. Just shy of a dozen, as he finished pouring the new cup, he slipped the blade through her body effortlessly, before releasing the blade and quickly moving away. He didn’t look back at the lifeless body, and didn’t see the burnt out eyes. But then, he didn’t need to see. He could still remember in vivid detail those eyes burnt out eyes... ㄢㄋㄌ StrikerEZ was lynched! They were from the Heritage Faction and supported the Conspirators. DaTess was killed! They were from the Glory faction and supported the Conspirators. Vote Tally Arraenae(1): StrikerEZ StrikerEZ(3): Arraenae, Elbereth, DaTess Alvron(1): little wilson Butt Ad Venture(1): Elandera DaTess(1): Alvron Devotary of Spontaneity(1): Young Bard Elbereth(1): I think I am here. Stink(1): Butt Ad Venture The cycle has begun! It will end at 9PM, GMT+8, tomorrow - on the 20th October. Player List

Closing Writeup: Fragments of Possibility Too many dead men walking, in a room of people soon to breathe their last. The seed of chaos had been delivered in the form of a sack of meat. It would have been proud. Now he sat sipping tea waiting for the friendships to dissipate like the steam from the brew in his hand. In a few minutes he’d assume a new guise, but for now he would feed off the calm anticipation of a city unravelling. Five years was plenty enough for an emperor. ㄢㄋㄌ The scent of charred wood could still be tasted on the air as he sat with a chipped cup in his hand, gazing blankly at the wreckage of the Frozen Moon around him. All that remained were the empty chairs at empty tables. At his table lay the sign of the once great establishment, now just the Moon covered with soot. It was the only moon in sight too - dark clouds cast deep shadows while the sky hid its face. He had done this every day for the last five years. ㄢㄋㄌ He stood in the entranceway of the Frozen Moon, smiling and greeting each patron as they entered. As he saw the members of normally warring factions coexist peacefully, he could almost forget the dark shadow of that night five years ago where it had all ended. Now he tried to focus on living a simple life, serving simple cups of hot leaf juice. ㄢㄋㄌ He stood observing the patrons of his teahouse. It was the fifth year of Emperor Gamman’s reign and he now owned the Frozen Moon, not that it bore that name any longer. The Jasmine Dragon was opening its doors for the first time, and fourteen important members of governing factions of the Rose Empire graced its floor. He smiled, knowing in his heart of hearts that his teahouse would be here to stay. ㄢㄋㄌ Further chaos erupted when Asterion fell from his seat having been served a tea brewed from the White Jade plant. Roashina had tried to escape the accusations of Urskevan’s murder in the madness of the poisoning. They were not fast enough to escape his blade. He made it quick, a gesture of mercy out of respect for a former friend. He only had a dozen more names to cross of his list. ㄢㄋㄌ To die and be brought back from beyond is to lose a piece of yourself. It fractures the spirit irreparably. Some believe that person to leave isn’t the person that comes back. Dying breaks the spirit in the same manner as every dropped mug in the history of the Empire. Each shatters a different way. For him, death broke his mind, and the mind of madness has unfathomed depths. Realities are born, explored, and destroyed in moments. Infinite variations experienced in each moment. Sometimes he knew that the reality he was experiencing was real. Sometimes he didn’t care. A moment passed, or maybe an eternity. He shook his head and recalled to mind the plan. Its plan. Five years ago an emperor had fallen. Soon an emperor would fall again. This time he would be there, waiting. All it would take was a handful of invitations, delivered to a certain few. A few happy accidents later, and...Well, they would see. They had all arrived at the teahouse now, and the stage was set. The first straw lay unmoving at his feet, his knife still in neck. A few minutes later, the corpse of Arbiter Urskevan lay in a hemp sack. He had a delivery to make... ㄢㄋㄌ StrikerEZ was lynched but didn’t die. Alvron was killed. He was the Embedded Operative. StrikerEZ(3): Elbereth, Elandera, DeTess Rathmaskal(1): I think I am here. DeTess(3): StrikerEZ, Alvron, Young Bard While it might not appear that way to the conspirators, given Striker’s claim in thread, coupled with the Discovery faction already being highly suspicious of Striker enough have chosen to kill him up until late in the cycle, Discovery chose already to put in an assassination order on Striker for cycle 2. Given that the assassination attempt would be successful and thus end the game with Discovery victory, Kasimir and I decided that there would be little point to drawing things out another cycle. We have decided it best to call the game at this point, giving Discovery the victory. We’ll redistribute new roles to everyone, and begin the game again. The new game will begin at 9PM tomorrow as it is late for us, and also to give people a chance to hop in or hop out of the player list, having gotten a taste of what this game might be like. Fifth, the IM for the game, has consented to calling the game in Discovery’s favour and a redistributed re-run tomorrow. Thank you to everyone for playing! So officially: StikerEZ was assassinated. They were the Reform Spy. The agents of the Discovery faction have prevailed! Player List

It's not something we discussed, so for the moment I'm going to say that there is no minimum for the lynch.

@Elandera Honestly, it was fine. A different player would have used the other abilities, and if I had actually been attacked at any point during the game, I'd have immediately followed that up with my own kill. Just for whatever reason the eliminators didn't target me, and the striker unfortunately died. You just got stuck with me who didn't think it was worth sacrificing safety to use the more fun abilities. @Furamirionind Oh, to be clear, you didn't ruin the game for me - I had a lot of fun that last cycle or two trying to work everything out. And while I was angry at you, I didn't have a good reason to be, and I'm certainly not upset about any more The post that got to me was this one, rather than this post the cycle before. Those two posts are both fine, and there's little difference between them. For some reason the first one got to me and caused me change my actions while the second didn't, but that's certainly not your fault. I think the main reason for my reaction was my lack of sleep anyway - I had stayed up all night till 5:30 am to be online for the end of cycle and the posting of results, which is something I never do. My sleep deprived brain then had to react to the game suddenly ending, and a player I had felt sorry for had ended up being an eliminator, so my brain decided to be unreasonable and leap to anger. It's just taken me have a week to actually confront that feeling and realise it was silly because I'd been trying to ignore it. But that's all on me, and not at all your fault. So sorry if I took out any of that on you. Other thoughts - I tried to 'pretend' to be in a US time zone by trying to only post while the east coast would reasonably be awake. I referenced waiting for the west coast to wake up early in the game in hopes of implying I was east coast too. Don't know if that worked though. I tried also to avoid using my signature style of vote tallies. That was annoying because it was annoying not being able to compile the information I would normally include in such things. I mostly gave up with all that in the last cycle though. Thanks everyone for the game, and thanks for running it @Elandera - I really enjoyed all the writeups!

It's honestly taken me this long to respond because I was pretty angry about the conclusion to the game - without the village being active for me to interact with them, it was hard to do much in the last cycle or two (@Elandera - I wasn't given much choice on who I could trust... It's not like trusting inactives would have made things any different - it's not like they would have voted with me) (@Kasimir I would have probably murderised inactives if Elandera had actually given me permanent night kill immunity), and I was pretty angry with Weasel too - I felt emotionally manipulated by their sharing of life being hard for them, which I don't think is okay, particularly for eliminators. Say you will be/have been busy, apologise, then move on. I had otherwise had a kill order in on Weasel for most of that last cycle. @DeTess I'm pretty sure I never said that I was village. You take that back. (I don't actually recall if I did or not, but I'm pretty sure I didn't claim to be village. Not my style) After I was guilt tripped out of killing Weasel, my thoughts were as follows. I wasn't sure if I trusted Swan, probably thought they were evil but they were bascially guaranteed to not have been putting in the kill or the sooth, so low priority. Mouse was probably getting lynched, although they then claimed to have a protect item in the end, so I figured they weren't a good option to kill once the lynch shifted - well done with that. I think I'd actually had the kill on Albatross for most of that, but then the hammer came. I figured if the hammer was happening, it was the eliminators doing it, and my very sleep deprived self (I stayed up until the end of cycle at 3:30 am local time because I knew there'd most likely be a hammer) had to decide in the moment between putting a kill on Falcon or Dingo. In the end, with no time to think about it, I went with Falcon as Penguin and Dragonfly had been suspicious of them and Falcon had been saved from a lynch in the past, while I had more of a non-read on Dingo.

Speaking of deals - I believe I owe you a head. Did you decide on which one?

Ha, yes! I knew Rath had to be a Coinshot. He suspiciously knew the rules for coinshots, but not inquisitors earlier in the game. I honestly got really lucky with the protects. Fifth scanned me first cycle, so I was able to protect him cycle 2 which worked out. Then later I had been suspicious of Doc being evil and thought he might attack Burnt for her stuff in PMs, so happened to protect her that cycle. Sorry Straw for the spamming of PMs. I blame Burnt - I don't PM much otherwise.

I'm sorry I sort of just dropped off the face of the earth... After the three people I had been keen to play with all getting taken out in the first 3 rounds, my plans of actually using a dagger foiled, being encouraged to remove my votes to increase the likelihood of an accurate flip and thus getting no boxings, I sort of just broke, needed 2 or 3 cycles to feel up for it again, but then had little encouragement to actually reengage at that point. Well done Drake for becoming Emperor. I'm glad I didn't last minute vote for you as governor.

Oh happy day! I had missed that. Oops.