Metacognition

Tion had stayed up all night. He wouldn't let them come after him while he slept. If he were to die, he would try to take one of them with him. Luckily for him, it seemed that these Ghostbloods had other targets in mind for the evening. When he finally went outside and heard that Pailian was dead, he smiled with true delight. Perhaps I've scared them off, he thought. Their time will come, but at least for now, I have no problems with them killing off commoners who try to rise above their station. He was so happy, he had his servants set up his breakfast outside in front of his palace. As he was eating, that strange Shin fellow with his penchant for stuff animals, Jain, walked by. Tion eyed him and a little of his mood soured. "There is another who needs to learn his place," he mumbled before going back to his breakfast. That's a touch break for us, losing an Emotional Bracelet. Hopefully, he had a heir and that was the item they got. Yes, I'd rather the Ghostbloods didn't have possibly two reversers, but we really need that Emotional Bracelet! Jain, you've been highly inconsistent most of the game so far. First you claim to have a Painrial and then last night, you're looking for protection from the person who actually has the Painrial. Also, if you really have one, then I don't see why they'd go after Sphinx and let you continue to live. I also think that you're confusion about the kills and the different rules is a front. If I'm wrong; I'm sorry, but for now, my vote is for you.

To the Ghostblood who killed the king, I'll bet. Think about it; the silk was likely from what the king was wearing at the time of his death and silk is an expensive fabric. A fabric fit for a king, perhaps?

I think they might have a bit too easy of a time of it, especially if they are capable of converting two people after awhile. That's roughly the same as giving the Cultists double kills. Of course, I haven't taken into account that they won't be able to convert the people in Elantris, but do they need to convert them as well? If not, I'll bet they'll win just by shear ability to convert so quickly. I'll do a reread of the rules and roles to make sure I didn't miss anything, but this is the first area I saw the possibility of being overpowered.

Okay, now I really need the person with the panrial on me! I'll be naming a heir tonight just to be safe and my other action might be just to give one of these items away to someone! That's the only way we can be sure that the Ghostbloods don't get too much from one kill. Also, those that have been trying to cause distrust of me have rocketed up on my suspicion list. For you to believe that, you'd have to believe that the Ghostbloods sacrificed their kill for a night and an item that would keep them alive, all on the chance that everyone would buy me of all people was good beyond doubt. That would be insane, as I don't think anyone in these games would trust me without a doubt until I'd been confirmed by a Spy or something!

As the day wore on, Tion's rage didn't fade. The arrogance of these "Ghostbloods" was great indeed. First they killed the king and then they tried to take out the future King! Though his anger didn't fade, eventually his reasoning and logic pervaded it and he set to work. He spent the rest of the morning having his scribes write out a long-winded missive and then he sent his criers out among his people. It read as follows: (Okay, not exactly as follows since I don't want to try to RP in some of the game mechanics and such, but you get the general gist.) I'm just going to list each of my suspicions and leave you guys to decide whether any of my thoughts have any merit. This way, if I die later, you'll have most of my thoughts laid out. Since this is only day 2, I don't know if they'll be worth anything, but you'll have them all the same. Sprenil - I made this claim because if Tors turned out to be innocent (which he did), then that means that at least two innocent people had voted for him. Now that might not seem like much, but by boiling it down to one or the other, it makes it so the Ghostbloods have to play it safe, just in case (the fact that I have the Shardplate is why I played so aggressively on the first day). If I'm right, they went after me last night because of this. If they hadn't tried to kill me, they knew that I might bring this back up and then they'd have to try to defend one of their own in the voting process without seeming to. Better to just eliminate the problem altogether and hope people just forget it. Plus, I still think that Sprenil's move was a bit over the top for a noble, but not out of range for a risk-taking Ghostblood. Grellin - Basically, Grellin was the only other person I mentioned that I was suspicious of on the first day. If this was an attack due to me being onto something, then one of these two is likely to be a Ghostblood. Cara and Jain - I'm lumping them together because my reasoning for suspecting them is similar, not because both of them could be Ghostbloods! The only people who have clear enough knowledge to state anything definite at this point in the game are the Ghostbloods, so I'd like an explanation for their almost physic level of clairvoyance. Jim Bob Dirt and Fnorf - I'm not going to put quotes of their debate up here, but their entire argument seems like it could be fabricated to me. It's a good way to deflect suspicion; arguing with your teammate. That way, no one will associate you two together. The sooner you do so, the better too. The argument just seemed to drag on a little bit longer than actually need; almost as if they were trying to find ways to fight about it. If one of them turns out to be a Ghostblood, the other one likely is as well. Also, we're pretty sure that the Ghostbloods have a reverser. If that's the case, they'd have no problem voting for one of their own, since they could skew the numbers. Xanas, Jain, and Ace - Basically, for not being targeted last night! This is the main reason that I believe that they might have targeted me for reasons other than just getting rid of experienced players. They had a plethora of options and didn't take them. That's pretty much all of my suspicions right now. Feel free to use them or discard them as you see fit. By the time his criers finished their rounds, they were hoarse and their words came out in a croak at best. They rubbed their throats and looked absolutely miserable. Tion smiled at that and it was the first time he had smiled all day. Evidently, the only thing that could break through his rage and make him smile again was the suffering of others. Xanas: people cannot PM you or me. If they do, they'll be breaking the rules. Only those with Spanreeds can start PMs. Almost forgot. We do have another option for putting a kink in the Ghostbloods' plans. We could make me a full Shardbearer and that way, if they try to take me down, they'll be revealed. If whomever has the Blade would want to do this, I will name that person as my heir so they can likely get the Blade back if the Ghostbloods decide to try to kill me again.

It was fun while it lasted. For those of you wondering what we're talking about; when you hit 666 reputation, you become the TORTURER OF HERALDS. It only lasts while you're at 666 reputation though, so it's easy to miss, but I couldn't help but incorporate it into my post after getting attacked in the night! I've got to get some sleep, but I'll go over my thoughts and suspicions when I wake up. Right now, I'm the closest we have to having a confirmed player, but I'm not going to last long. If the person with the Panrial protects me tonight, I can survive for that long, then I'll be giving up the Plate so the Ghostbloods can't get it if they kill me.

It's the rope that the initial assassin climbed up to kill the king with. Remember? It was cut down and collected by someone else; the person who tried to murder me! At least that's my guess and I'm almost positive I'm right. It's Maill's way of letting us know that it was a Ghostblood that performed the kill.

A loud, thundering sound started emanating from Tion's keep. It sounded like huge footsteps... and they seemed to be growing closer. The main doors to the keep slammed open and there stood Tion, resplendent in his Shardplate. His face was contorted in anger. "You dare attack me?!?" He yelled as he stomped down the path. "I will find you and crush you!" With every step he took, he grew larger and more fearsome. His voice became deeper and it echoed throughout the grounds. Dark, leathery wings materialized on his back. "YOU FOOLISH MORTALS! YOU CANNOT KILL ME, FOR I AM THE TORTURER OF HERALDS! I WILL SEE YOU ALL BURN FOR THIS SLIGHT! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!" SORRY- Errr, sorry. I couldn't resist. I was the one who was attacked, which I think means that the Ghostbloods were worried that I might be onto something. We will have to see. I'll reveal more later.

YES!!! I'M BACK AND YOU WILL ALL FEEL MY WRATH! INCLUDING THOSE OF YOU WHO GAVE ME RED ARROWS OF SORROW TO KEEP ME HERE! YOU FOOLS DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'VE UNLEASHED BY DOING SO! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Don't know whether to upvote you or downvote you, Awesome. I was going to make a whole post in the current game thread as THE TORTURER OF HERALDS if it lasted longer. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted and I have to give Chaos props for giving us something fun like that for 666.

Come back later and do it? Err, I mean: PUNY MORTAL, YOU SHALL DO AS COMMANDED! LET IT BE KNOWN THROUGHOUT THE LANDS, SO THAT EVERYONE CAN COME BACK AND PROVIDE THE TORTURER OF HERALDS WITH GREEN ARROWS OF POWER!

I did. FEAR ME, PEONS! I AM THE TORTURER OF HERALDS AND ALL SHALL BOW BEFORE ME! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!

I was really hoping that the Hallendrens were all just waiting to vote until the last minute and were going to force proposal 2 through. Sure, you might have control of a good chunk of the Lifeless, but that seems acceptable to having to wear rainbow tie-dye shirts!

Tion, not to let a little something like innocence stop him, quickly pulled the lever and smiled slightly at the satisfying snap of Tors' neck. Oh well, he thought. I was never that devote anyways. Afterwards, he approached the waiting crowd. "It seems that this mystery cabal is far more clever than I suspected. We will have to extra diligent to make sure that they are not allowed to fool me again.' 'And that will end the festivities for this evening. Go home and get some rest. Sleep well, knowing that I will be hard at work trying to protect you." Dang it. Sorry Tulir! I really thought that might work to get us one on the first day! I doubt it's any consolation, but I do have quite a few suspicions now, based on your death. I'd rather not share my suspicions at night, just in case it makes me a bigger target than I already am for most people now. And I didn't actually take any pleasure in your death. Again, just RP, so if it's too much, let me know and I'll remove it. We're going to want to figure out another setting for tomorrow, since I doubt too many people are going to want to discuss their plans during the night. Personally, I think Xanas' suggestion of a chasmfeind hunt would be fun, as it would give us an entertaining way to deal with whomever we lynch.

"Ah-ha! My trap is sprung!" Tion leapt to his feet and pointed a wine glass at Tors. "You see, Sprenil is right; this tactic would be foolhardy! At best, it saves his skin, which I look forward to being flayed, for only one more day!' 'You see, I believe that these "Ghostbloods" would never initiate a public killing. They're far too cowardly for that! But they might try force a killing*!" 'I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. You Ardents seem to dislike anything that goes against your religion, but I expected better of you during this time of woe. Now I must, again, take charge and ask my fellow Brightlords to act against this treachery. The Ardent Tors seems to be trying to bring back the Hierocracy!" 'An Ardent flays just as well as a Stormwarden after all." With that, Tion sat back and nodded towards a few of the old king's guards. Now was the time to see if others would follow his lead. If he could get the masses on his side, the throne was halfway his! If you're innocent Tulir, Aspren will likely be joining you shortly. As somewhat stated above, my belief is that the Ghostbloods wouldn't initiate a vote, but they would be more than willing to jump on a vote! I have two reasons for this: They can't really afford to come off as too suspicious. If they initiate a vote, that person will likely end up in the cross hairs eventually. They'll want to get in on every vote possible to maximize their chances of getting items. They can't afford to let us lynch without them, as that just makes one of us more powerful and more likely to be able to stand against them. Since I probably won't be on in time to switch my vote before the end of the day, this is likely where my vote will stay. My suggestion is that we lynch either Aspren or Tulir today. Yes, it would be helpful to give our Spanreed people a night without even the possibility of confusion, but the odds are far more in their favor than against and I don't think we should wait for the difference between 90% and 100%; not with how limited the PMs are anyways. *I'd like to reiterate that I'm not calling the actual Ghostbloods cowardly. That is all in character and I think you've done an amazing job of keeping yourselves hidden so far!

Note to self: make sure I get a chance to play in Herowannabe's Elantris game.

I'm sure you guys will be able to work with the other GMs that either come before you or those that sign up afterwards. After all, Maill moved up in the list after talking to the other GMs, I doubt you two will have much issue either. The GMs we have for these games have been literally amazing so far! As such, I'll add you to the list as a duo team. Should be interesting to say the least! You guys will, of course, want to make sure that you're both agree on rules and roles and such. I'd also suggest making sure you're both included in PMs, just so you're both capable of seeing the rulings the other might make. But I'm sure you'll work it out and I'm probably already telling you things you've already thought of! Joe: you're now officially signed up, with my, and likely the rest of the mod's, thanks.

Well, unless people actually do it, you're basically just asking us to call your bluff. Tion coolly considered the Stormwarden's words. His kind is very good at predicting, he thought. He very well could realize that no one would take such a claim honestly. This could be a brilliant tactical move to express his innocence. Besides, I've been having to play nice at this party for far too long and a little blood and death could hopefully lighten my mood. Tion nodded. "Very well, I will honor your wishes, Stormwarden Sprenil. Please be sure to not die too quickly or you'll ruin all the fun."

If someone is killed, and they had any items, the items will be distributed via the GM to those who voted for them. If we were to lynch someone and they had the Shardblade or the Grandbow or the Soulcaster (as those are the only items that are confirmed good to start), there is a chance that the item could go to a Ghostblood that voted for the person since no one has named a heir. That means that the spies can't be 100% sure that if they scan someone and that person holds one of those items that they are good. The chances of them being good as still high, but there's still a chance that they are not. Because let's face it, the Ghostbloods aren't going to just vote for one person. They're likely going to spread themselves out over those that are being voted for and then whomever does die, they stand at least a chance to get an item. It let's them hide easier and they still reap the benefits.

That's why I don't suspect Wurum yet. He likely posted that either before getting his role or wrote it before checking to see what his role was. That doesn't mean that he's clean, just that he didn't have the possible motivation to do so. Like I said, it's weak reasoning at this point, but until we get more to build off of, it's the only thing I could think of at this point that gives us something to start with.

This everyone. Including the white text. We're going to have to do a lot more of our plotting and planning in here, since we can't even know for certain that the person/people holding the Spanreeds is good or not, but for that to work, we need to get a discussion going! I'm just going to lay out my thoughts and see what you guys think. First, I think we should be voting for people already. Even a random lynch would tell us something and there's always the chance that we'll get lucky and hit a Ghostblood right off the bat. Besides, we'd at least be able to see who comes to the person's aide and who tries to distance themselves, even if they're innocent. If I were to vote for someone, at this point, it would be Grellin. My only evidence for such is that he posted as soon as possible after roles were sent out (possibly trying to cover up his role as a Ghostblood by doing that than hitting the Doc to speak to his compatriots first) and the fact that I'll bet most of the Ghostbloods had already checked in before my post last night. I know, not very strong evidence, but it's only the first day. Notice that I said we should be voting, not exactly lynching though. The second we have our first death, our spy/spies can't be certain of anyone they scan, but if we don't lynch anyone, we'll at least give them one night. They might not be able to come out and start a trust with that person, but they could likely help keep that person from being lynched by us! If we lynch someone, fine. We'll get information out of it. If not, fine, we give our spy/spies a free night. Either way, we need to get started like, yesterday. Anyone who isn't in here, trying to help out should be immediately suspect as we need all the information we can get and we know they likely aren't helping behind the scenes. If you don't have anything new to add, even your approval or disapproval of a plan of action will give us something to work with, so at least add that to the conversation!

The party didn't allow Tion much in the way of privacy with any of the people he planned to talk to, so he had to keep a mask of patience and gentility plastered on his face for most of the night. So far, his efforts had been in vain. He'd talked to most of the Highprinces already. Well, the ones that had bothered to show up. Sebarial was blessedly missing and Roion, being the coward that he was, had taken to holing up in his keep it seemed. Every single on of them were too busy trying to figure out how the king's death would affect them to realize that they were speaking to their future King! He would have to see them punished sufficiently after taking the throne. He, as politely as he could, disengaged from the conversation he was having with Highprince Gavilar and grinding his teeth to keep the smile on his face as the man bemoaned every little thing. I'm surrounded my imbeciles, he thought. How are these people the best of the Alethi if they can't even get their act together enough to find these 'Ghostbloods?' As usual, I will have to do everything for them and then, once I'm King, they will do what I want them to do! The highprinces weren't going to be much help it seemed. He needed to find others then. Others who were capable of taking orders.... If I'm reading the initial post correctly, we can assume that the Grandbow is innocent as well. Those are all items that can only be possessed by a "True Noble" at first.

Tion took a sip of his wine as the criers circled the party with their news. "The King is dead?" He said to himself. "Good. The fool was far too compassionate for his own good. Besides, now the throne is ready for me and I didn't even have to lift a finger against him!" Yes, this could be a very good thing for him, especially since everyone was gathered here at his own party when it happened. He would need to be seen taking charge immediately. If he could get them used to taking his orders, the battle was already half won. So he made his way to the center of the crowd. "Countrymen! I want you all to know that we will not let this atrocity go unpunished. With me at your head, we will find this secret order and avenge the king." It was obvious within his speech that the 'K' was not capitalized. "We now have two vengeance pacts to deal with and we will see them fulfilled.' 'Now, please enjoy the festivities while I talk to each of you and determine what tasks to assign you so that we can see justice done." There, he thought. That should be a good start. Now to find which of these fools have some use and which ones do not. I don't have any special tricks this time that I can think of to get the ball rolling. We're going to have to do this a bit more of the old fashioned way and just start randomly, IMO. The one thing I will say is that whomever has the Spanreed will want to be very careful about who they send PMs to. If I were them, I'd use this day to scout for people that they think are likely to be good. As such, everyone should be trying to talk and discuss enough today to help him make that decision!

Tion hated throwing these parties. It meant he had to mingle with his lessers, which was basically anyone at all. There was nothing to do about it though. He might loath these people, but they still had their uses; some for their abilities and some for mere entertainment. "A bunch of worthless freeloaders, the lot of them," he mumbled to himself as he sent his ambassadors out to let everyone know the time and date. Tion knew the reputation he had; he was well aware that people didn't like him and hadn't since almost the very first day he had arrived on the plains. That was when he had started his parties. Parties that almost rivaled those of the King's himself! It was just another of his intentional little reminders to everyone that he should be King, though he sometimes worried if his audience was intelligent enough to notice them. His purpose for the parties themselves was twofold: One, it's difficult to badmouth the person whose wine and food you were eating without looking bad yourself and two, it would make the change when he finally became King easier. There was also the side benefit of reminding all of the plebeians of their place beneath him, but that went without saying. There, I solved the problem of the meeting place, as least for a day or two. We could always make it a rotating schedule type thing, like on Scadrial, if the other players who are nobles would want to do that. I left it vague as far as the actual time so that Maill can work it in wherever he needs the venue changed. I didn't want to screw up anything he already had written up and this way, if we're stuck in one spot for the duration (locked in the palace or something), it's easy to write off as well!

I have to disagree; especially considering that I started out with a single breath! Personally, I think that those without role or abilities are the most important members in the game. They are more likely to take risks, as I did by faking my giving up of breath, and as such, they're the most likely to see the game without trying to take into account any roles. They're of little use to the evil team and yet they can pull a great deal of influence. Of course, now that I've pointed this out, the next evil team will use that to their advantage, but it still stands. If you don't have a Role or Ability, that doesn't make you useless. It honestly puts you in a prime position! You're capable of doing things that other roles couldn't do just because that might make themselves a target! My point is, that even if you wind up as "normal," that doesn't mean that you're useless. I could recount instances within just the few games we've already have were a "normal" would've made all the difference, but I shouldn't have to. You're still a huge part of the game. You're still a dynamic part of the game! Personally, I think people put too much emphasis on roles. They are important, yes, but if you have someone that can riddle out the evil faction (Shout out to Dyring so far) without any role at all, are they suddenly less useful for not having a role? Don't sell yourself short. Don't determine your value based on roles. At least that's the way I deal with these games.