Elbereth

Sure. I'm fine with that, because the point of this game is partly to point out that there are other ways to balance a game than through normal distribution, and just because something's unlikely doesn't make it impossible. It's similar to putting an eliminator Coinshot in the game, for instance: not impossible, just unusual. The thing is, that reasoning does significantly contribute to less fun in the game. By that argument, both of them should've been lynched in the first two cycles, and you'd have had a 100% chance of catching an eliminator. Is that fun for them? Decidedly not. Suspecting people based on their experience rather than anything they've done isn't really fun. Moreover, if you use that reasoning in this game, logically it should apply in every game they play (or every game 2-3 high profile players play, which is most games recently), meaning that they never survive past C2. Side note - I'd agree that both of them being village (especially with Lopen being an Elsecaller) is somewhat difficult balance-wise. But by no means does that rule out one of them being Truthless rather than an eliminator, and it's interesting to me that exactly no-one brought that possibility up. I have no qualms about an eliminator team without a high-profile player on it, certainly, and don't view that as a requirement for an elim team at all. Without one such teams are harder to balance, but by no means impossible. A team of yourself, Jondesu, PK, and Bard would have worked just fine this game, for instance. Anyway. It's not fun reasoning, and it's not necessarily correct (particularly when you've just been talking about unusual eliminator distributions, too). Also, well done on successfully ninja'ing me and making me double post.

Not quite, actually - even if the inactives had both been active he would've won with a single riot. One Riot and two passive lives wins against four villagers, which is who would've been left alive.

Interesting. I could see that coming into play if it were something like MR18, where it was made very, very clear that it was a normal game. I don't think that it does so here: it isn't the GM's duty to give the players what the players think is the "right" distribution. As this game shows, there isn't one right distribution. The players should not be able to predict the GM, in my opinion: even when there are not secrets, it is up to the players to consider every possibility. This particularly applies to the Skybreaker Truthless more than Nale, in this game - the Truthless was very, very deliberately under the "roles" section, not the "alignment" one. Just because it's not expected, in my opinion, is no reason something shouldn't be done - and is arguably a reason for it to be done. The other point regarding expectations: that was not my goal for this game. This game was intended to teach players not to expect particular role/eliminator team distributions just because they're used to them, to create a game to be remembered, and also to give Stink the opportunity to show that he's a dangerous player. To be more direct. Did you dislike this game because of the difference between it and what you expected? I certainly don't get the impression that anyone else had less fun because of it (though please speak up if you did, because that's the kind of thing that's very important to know).

Nope. Stink. I'll bring up the reason I agreed to vote for him in the first place when he asked - Stink as a medium is somewhat perfect for this game. Joe and Aonar are both trolls and very fun-oriented players, and I know that Stink will encourage that fun more than... pretty much anyone else in this thread that comes to mind. I think that's a better reason than any other I could think of. EDIT: As Orlok said, we'll be together and travelling until Monday. I expect my activity will increase dramatically after that point.

For me it varies per game. QF25, for instance? Orlok had to be evil because he knew the twist in the game, and Stink was handpicked. For a small team like that, synergy is really important. But roles were done by RNG - I figured out which and how many I wanted and then rolled to see which players had them. LG26 was also done essentially by hand - Nyali made about twenty test distributions, and then I took the last and switched a lot around to make it's as balanced as I could. LG21 was in the middle: it was RNG except a few select roles that had to be active for the game to work properly. Those three or so were chosen from a shortlist of players Seonid and I trusted to be active. But LG25 was a few RNGs for the evil team and I picked the one I liked. LG33 was the same. For normal games, that's the practice I'd recommend: RNG a few times and pick the best of them. It's just for the non-standard games that you have to be more careful.

Post-Game Thoughts Balance There were two balance issues with this game: Orlok’s powers and Lopen. Fortunately, neither ended up coming into play. 1. I’ve already laid out what happened with Orlok’s powers, but here I’ll explain in greater detail, and explain why I balanced it as I did. In order to figure out what he should have, I consulted Alv, Wilson, Joe, and discussed it a great deal with Orlok. The primary model I had to go on, of course, was MR20, in which Mage was a solitary eliminator. The difficulty lies in the fact that Mage was very overpowered, and I had to determine how much of his powers were necessary, and how much was superfluous. At the same time, there were a number of other factors in play: Orlok’s a far more high-profile player who can’t simply hang back in the shadows, because people would notice. He had to (or we thought he had to) lead several mislynches in a row in order to succeed. On the other hand, there would be a Skybreaker Truthless, which could help immensely, depending on how many people could be persuaded to vote on them. (It was going to be Aman or Lopen for a while, though, which is something of a disadvantage to the Truthless’ power.) But there aren’t any other kills in the game - so no villagers taking out villagers. And so on, and so on. The summary that Orlok eventually came up with fits it best, I think: he was a Serial Killer without an eliminator team to distract the village from him. As such, I gave him double powers of everything - two passive lives (although one of those would obviously only prolong the game another turn, since no villager would have two passive lives) brings the number of lives on the team up to 4, which is about the same as a normal eliminator team. Two protects allows him to protect himself every cycle rather than every other, but is only useful for WGGs (on himself, Stink, or anyone else he chose) and protecting from the Truthless attack. And then, since there’s only one of him, one Truthless who will die at some point, and 22 villagers, I gave him vote manipulation to get him closer to the voting power of a normal team. Unfortunately, that part I didn’t calculate properly. Two Riots and two Soothes is way too much. If there are eight villagers left in the game and all vote on him, here’s what happens: Orlok (8): 12345678 1 (1): Orlok Two soothes and two riots goes like this: Orlok (4): 1234 1 (3): Orlok, 56 So even with eight he’s barely outvoted. Seven ties, and six wins. If he has both lives left, and there are no other Elsecallers or vote manip left in the game? The game ends when there are eight villagers left. That’s way too much power. Orlok actually did the math, when he got his PM, and realised it was broken. The two Soothes were immediately taken out of the game, letting him outvote four and win with six. Which is far more similar to a normal team, and more plausible. What we realised later in the game is that two Riots is also somewhat broken - a Riot and a Soothe would have been better. Two Riots goes like this: Orlok (6): 123456 1 (2): Orlok, Stink to Orlok (4): 1234 1 (4): Orlok, Stink, 56 You need seven votes on him to be sure of lynching him. And that’s not total - because if anyone else in this scenario is voting on one, Orlok doesn’t get lynched. It’s a seven vote lead above the number of village votes on any other player. That’s absolutely ridiculous and probably impossible, given the fear of the Truthless in the game. Happily, though, the game wasn’t functionally broken because of this. While that is a broken setup, Orlok deliberately didn’t use his second riot until the last turn because he’d realised it was broken and wanted to ensure that the game was balanced as best he could. Even if he hadn’t, he would have won (which was his intention) - rather than seven villagers dying to the Truthless, it would’ve been six. Orlok’s kill makes seven total village deaths, leaving four villagers alive. Even if all vote on him (and he can’t stop that lynch), he takes a hit to his passive lives while killing one and bringing it 3-1. He does the same thing the next cycle, and with one Riot he wins against two players. (Not to mention that two of the players left alive were inactive anyway.) Therefore, in that aspect I’m satisfied with how the game played out. Two Riots for the elims is broken, but this game didn’t use them, and thus played out in a balanced way. 2. Lopen. The problem with this one is less complicated to explain, and also didn’t come into play, but could have: Lopen was an Elsecaller. This is a massive disadvantage to Orlok for two reasons: First, it somewhat clears Lopen for a turn. Not completely, obviously, but he was at least soft-cleared. Given that he and Orlok are pretty unquestionably the two most high-profile players in the game, that’s very, very dangerous for Orlok. Normally I wouldn’t worry about this for a team, but unlike most teams, this one could not afford to take a hit. Because there were only two of them. Secondly, it takes away a great deal of the use of his passive lives. Rather than taking two hits, he only needs one to be fairly confirmed as an eliminator. Because while it’s somewhat unlikely that Lopen and Orlok are both villagers, from a balance perspective it’s essentially impossible that both of them are village Elsecallers. If Orlok had taken a hit, the most he could’ve done is tried to take Lopen down first, and been lynched constantly once Lopen was revealed as good. These ended up not being an issue. Orlok didn’t take a hit, and Lopen wasn’t cleared from the hit he took, and Orlok ended up just manipulating Lopen instead. Other Distribution - Orlok was an eliminator because he helped me come up with this game and refine it, and so knew the twist of only having one eliminator. Stink was an eliminator because it needed to be someone who synergised well with Orlok, and while Lopen was a consideration for a time, I’m very glad that we went with Stink. Writeups - I really liked that I did them in present tense (and wanted to do them in first person as well, but decided that would be too telling), but it was annoyingly hard. I also wish I could’ve included more studying-so-and-so-Order in them, but sadly didn’t end up doing so. Confirmed Good Is Not Confirmed Right - this got discussed some this game, and I think my thoughts on this are worth bringing up again. Not only are confirmed good players not confirmed right, but you are also confirmed good. If a player has died and turned out to be good, then their opinions were likely not meant to deceive you. But I’ve never understood why people put those opinions over their own, since every villager is equally confirmed good to themselves. Commendations To Orlok and Stink: they made a magnificent plan together. I suggest going to the eliminator doc and reading it (I believe it’s in Cycle 5), but it’s worth pointing out here too. It’s a perfect example of why they were on a team together: Orlok thought of Stink suggesting that he’s Truthless to the thread. It was Stink’s idea to say that Orlok had claimed it rather than merely suggest it, and Orlok’s to do so specifically to Lopen rather than the entire thread. That claim essentially ensured Stink’s death: if Lopen believed Stink, he would go to Orlok (who was claiming to be neutral but in contact with the elim team), and Orlok would give him Stink. (The other option is if Lopen didn’t believe Stink - in which case he’s much more suspicious of Stink anyway.) Lopen and Orlok working together to lynch Stink was practically guaranteed to get a lot of votes. Stink: For playing brilliantly as an eliminator pretending to be Truthless, while actually being a Truthless eliminator. Also, to the people who passed Stink off as village on the logic that “he always does this”: you realise that you were essentially saying that non-alignment indicative things meant that he was village, correct? Orlok: For strategising, remaining mostly out of suspicion despite being in the spotlight alone, and for manipulating Lopen. (In particular, for the efforts to tell Lopen that his best move was actually to out the plan to the thread and have no village deaths for a turn. Unfortunately, Lopen is slightly too kind.) Also, for his strategy in eliminator kills: he made a list of players who were recently returned, new, or had died early in games recently. Everyone not in one of those three categories were the players crossed off first. I greatly approve of this kind of strategy. Also, on a similar note, not killing to stifle discussion. That made this QF much more active than usual for a significantly longer time, and it was wonderful. Jondesu: For being one of the only sensible voices in the last cycle. You refused to vote on Stink because the lynch was ridiculously suspicious, and very rightly. Lopen: For doing really well with the information you had. Sadly, your information was somewhat flawed. But congrats anyway for being suspicious of Orlok. And also, not being evil! For once! DocsThe Halls of JudgementThe End of DaysMaster Spreadsheet I hope you all enjoyed this game, and I look forward to seeing you in the next one.

I am not at all sorry. Sorry, I don't understand why you think that's a bad thing that the way the game played changed from a normal game. Could you explain that? When did I say that? That's a lot of why I did it, and why I'm pleased with how the game turned out - this is going to be a game to remember. And we always need more of those. Post-game thoughts very shortly, but in another post so that they're separated from these responses.

Thank you. I appreciate it. Right. Here's essentially what happened: Orlok initally had two of each power (two passive lives, two protects, two Soothes, two Riots), which he determined very quickly (as in, about a minute after he got his PM) that that was OP and relinquished the two Soothes. In addition, Orlok only used one Riot until the last turn, and even then he could have won with one. This is a very good thing - we realised that it was too strong to give him two Riots sometime in the middle of the game. Lynching him would require a seven-vote lead above any other player, essentially, which is frankly impossible given the fear of a Truthless in the game. But since he never used that Riot (or never needed to - he used it the last turn merely to cause even more death), the game didn't end up broken in his favour as it could have. Anyway. Long answer (and it will be even longer when I go into why I balanced it that way) to a short question: he had enough vote manipulation and lives to guarantee that he would win with only three villagers left alive.

The Last Hour - Dying 1 p.m. This time the circle’s reformation is slower. Squires pause, talking to each other, trying to work out who is evil. The arena is full of whispers that lead in circles, around and around without end or clarity. Finally, though, the thirteen (for even in the few short hours of the morning, their numbers have been nearly halved) join and watch each other. Eyes fall on Ardent Sartal, at first. He has been suspected for a time now, given Ardent Aaliyah’s death. Revali steps forward. “I think that Lazar is evil,” he announces. There’s a strange weight to the proclamation, which most don’t notice, but they trust it. “Agreed,” Belegaer says. “He’s been acting oddly all game.” Lazar grins. John rolls his eyes. “I’m fine with that. I don’t have a clue what’s going on with him, and it’s getting annoying.” Lazar sticks his tongue out at John, and proclaims proudly, “I know what’s going on!” Locke smirks. “Yes, because you’re the one who’s been murdering us. Acting suspicious deliberately, perhaps, to make us think you’re too obvious?” Albion Kerenas is next to nod. “Yes. Lazar would be my choice as well.” Silver smiles. “Let’s kill him.” The six advance on Lazar, who grins at them. They attack, and he roars and draws a sword. Each Squire tries to lay a hand on him, but he fights with a skill and experience that they struggle to match even with six to his one. One by one, each fall. Revali, beheaded for his pains. Albion and John have their legs cut out from under them, and throats slit when Lazar’s blade bothers to flicker down. Lazar stabs Silver in the gut, then whirls to catch Belegaer’s attack and slices down the man’s arm. While still distracted by the pain of his arm, Belegaer falls to a mortal wound in the side. Ardent Sartal and Damond join, now, infuriated by the deaths. They’ve managed to draw weapons, unlike the others. Lazar grins, swinging at Damond and wounding his upper arm, but before Lazar can extricate his sword from the wound, Sartal manages to drive his sword deep into Lazar’s side. Lazar doesn’t fall, though. He grows angrier. Damond falls moments later, and Sartal is disarmed and beheaded in two blows. The arena falls silent. Lazar, still seeming slight and only made fearsome through the blood covering him, stands above the bodies of eight fellow squires. The jeweled hilt of a sword still protrudes from his side, and he grasps it. His attempts to remove it, however, are futile: he is too weak. Slowly, the four remaining watch him slump to the ground and complete the pile of the dead. Locke steps back as the others attack, and watches. He smiles. Tzlim, Ceol, Teralarin, and Sebas are in shock. Teralarin and Sebas have both been somewhat dazed for a while, now. The shock of so many deaths before their eyes simply reduces them to being essentially catatonic, rather than merely stunned. Tzlim, however, has the presence of mind to look around, and sees Locke’s expression of satisfaction. Locke notices his look and turns, stalking towards him. “Well done,” he comments. “You actually noticed.” Tzlim stares at Locke. He opens his mouth, to call out, warn the others. Before he can say a word, though, Locke raises his hand and a Shardblade appears in it. Locke takes one more step, and Tzlim falls. Locke turns to the others. “Well, gentlemen, this has been an interesting morning, but I think it’s time to draw this experiment to its conclusion.” 2 p.m. Locke walks out of the arena casually. Another ordinary soldier, going about his business. He makes his way to a nearby restaurant, where he’d met Lazar for the first time. In the Truthless’ honour, he buys a particular horneater specialty the man had liked: flatbread with sauce and other, less-identifiable pieces. He smiles, content in the knowledge that he has averted the end of the world. Stink was lynched! He was a Skybreaker Truthless! Orlok was attacked, but didn’t die! Lopen has died! He was a Elsecaller! Eternum has died! He was a New Recruit! Winter has died! He was a New Recruit! Roadwalker has died! He was a New Recruit! Darkness Ascendant has died! He was a New Recruit! Sart has died! He was a New Recruit! Magestar has died! He was a New Recruit! Jondesu was killed! He was a Elsecaller! The Skybreakers have won. Vote Count >Stink (8): Orlok, Lopen, Eternum, Winter, Roadwalker, DA, Sart, Magestar >Lopen (1): Jondesu Player List 1. Elithanathile - Sebas New Recruit 2. Drake - Aaliyah New Recruit 3. Mage - Damond New Recruit 4. Eternum - Albion Kerenas New Recruit 5. Jebus - Teralarin New Recruit 6. Flash - Johnny Quick New Recruit 7. Elenion - Albert Vospar New Recruit 8. Orlok - Highprince Locke Tekiel Nale 9. Megasif - Zirconidas New Recruit 10. Winter Devotion - John New Recruit 11. Roadwalker - Silver New Recruit 12. Jondesu - Tzlim Elsecaller 13. Paranoid King - Spiff Dustbringer 14. Stick - Dan New Recruit 15. Sami - Aleta Nebrask New Recruit 16. Stink - Lazar Skybreaker Truthless 17. Arraenae - Malnar Dustbringer 18. Lopen - Revali Elsecaller 19. Darkness - Belegaer New Recruit 20. Bard - Melinon New Recruit 21. Ecthelion - Ceol and Vis New Recruit 22. Yitzi - Brightlord Erethin New Recruit 23. Sart - Ardent Sartal New Recruit 24. Arinian - Alrin Dustbringer More postgame thoughts to come later, but the relevant bit: there were only two eliminators in the game, Orlok/Nale and Stink/Truthless. Nale was the reason for the PAFO - he had multiple powers, rather than just one. Also, docs to come shortly. Congratulations to all on a very amusing game, and go sign up for LG37 if you haven’t already!

Cycle is over! I've been out with Orlok all day and am still not quite back, so the writeup will be somewhat delayed.

The two are interchangeable.

Apologies. Arinian was a Stoneward. I entirely forgot the terminology I was using. >> This has now been fixed in the writeup.

QF25: Hour 7 - Killing Noon The circle is smaller now. Much, much smaller. “What if we were to just wait?” Brightlord Erethin says softly. “Have the others dealt with by other people?” Everyone stares at him. “What if what?” Damond says. “What kind of storming idea is that?” “Uh. A sensible one?” Erethin responds. “You’re just trying to get away, aren’t you,” accused another member of the circle. “You want time to pass so you can get away, run off and kill even more people.” “I just want to survive?” “Of course. Because you’re a storming murderer. The mob had practice now with killings. This one was fast. Almost fast enough, in fact, to prevent Alrin from dying. Instead, they finished just as he hit the floor, eyes black as a void. Yitzi was lynched! He was a New Recruit studying Windrunning! Arinian was killed! He was a Stoneward! Cycle 7 has begun! It will end in 24 hours. Vote Count >Yitzi (4): Lopen, Mage, Eternum, Winter >Sart (4): Arinian, Jondesu, Yitzi, Sart >Lopen (1): DA >Roadwalker (1): Ecth Player List 1. Elithanathile - Sebas 2. Drake - Aaliyah New Recruit 3. Mage - Damond 4. Eternum - Albion Kerenas 5. Jebus - Teralarin 6. Flash - Johnny Quick New Recruit 7. Elenion - Albert Vospar New Recruit 8. Orlok - Highprince Locke Tekiel 9. Megasif - Zirconidas New Recruit 10. Winter Devotion - John 11. Roadwalker - Silver 12. Jondesu - Tzlim 13. Paranoid King - Spiff Dustbringer 14. Stick - Dan New Recruit 15. Sami - Aleta Nebrask New Recruit 16. Stink - Lazar 17. Arraenae - Malnar Dustbringer 18. Lopen - Revali 19. Darkness - Belegaer 20. Bard - Melinon New Recruit 21. Ecthelion - Ceol and Vis 22. Yitzi - Brightlord Erethin New Recruit 23. Sart - Ardent Sartal 24. Arinian - Alrin Stoneward

Cycle is closed! New cycle will be up in perhaps fifteen minutes.

QF25: Hour 6 - Running 11 a.m. Albert stands before the crowd. “I have seen the light!” he proclaims. “This is what we must do.” He proceeds to pull out a chalkboard. “Tzlim, here,” he marks down an X and circles it, “we tried to lynch. Specifically, myself and Revali. Now, the fact that he escaped means that he’s probably not the killer here, so who is?” He muttered to himself, and drew a few lines away from Tzlim’s name. The others watch. “Of course, Tzlim would never have been attacked at all if it weren’t for Revali’s help. But honestly, I could see Revali or Locke being the killer, and can’t figure out which. But anyway, in addition to that, I think there are a few others, and they could be any of these people-” he circles other markings “-but if anyone else has suggestions I’d be totally open to that.” He continues to mutter and draw. Everyone else blinks at each other. “Albert?” says John tentatively. (Normally, but tentatively.) “How does any of that make sense?” “What? Oh, it just does, trust me, okay?” “...um. No.” That isn't John - who is far too ordinary to say such things - but someone else in the crowd. No one knows who, but they break at that sentence, and surge after the insanity that Albert is obviously capable of. Aleta watches Albert dying in horror, his cries echoing in the bright morning sun. She’d never… that wasn’t… she tenses, almost ready to flee at the sight. “Not a pretty sight, is it, death?” a voice says in her ear. She jumps in shock. When she lands, she is already dead. Melinon can't take it anymore. He runs. Out, away, anywhere but there. Lorna watches, smiling. It won't do for this little experiment to end without anyone learning the lesson they need to. The sharpness of an arrow; the splatter of blood. Elenion was lynched! He was a New Recruit studying Truthlessness! Sami was killed! She was a New Recruit! Bard has died of inactivity! He was a New Recruit! Cycle 6 has begun! It will end in 24 hours. Vote Count >Elenion (7): Stink, Arinian, Jondesu, Lopen, Mage, Eternum, Ecth >Eternum (2): Sami, Yitzi >Yitzi (1): Winter >Sart (1): Elenion Player List 1. Elithanathile - Sebas 2. Drake - Aaliyah New Recruit 3. Mage - Damond 4. Eternum - Albion Kerenas 5. Jebus - Teralarin 6. Flash - Johnny Quick New Recruit 7. Elenion - Albert Vospar New Recruit 8. Orlok - Highprince Locke Tekiel 9. Megasif - Zirconidas New Recruit 10. Winter Devotion - John 11. Roadwalker - Silver 12. Jondesu - Tzlim 13. Paranoid King - Spiff Dustbringer 14. Stick - Dan New Recruit 15. Sami - Aleta Nebrask New Recruit 16. Stink - Lazar 17. Arraenae - Malnar Dustbringer 18. Lopen - Revali 19. Darkness - Belegaer 20. Bard - Melinon New Recruit 21. Ecthelion - Ceol and Vis 22. Yitzi - Brightlord Erethin 23. Sart - Ardent Sartal 24. Arinian - Alrin

It's not exactly new. No comment on the consequences, though. PAFO! Cycle is over. New cycle will be posted in a while. (Within the hour, definitely.)

Writeup has been edited in. Due to further consideration of the fact that I'll be in a different timezone all week and don't want to be up at midnight every night, I'm changing the time of rollover to two hours earlier. The cycle will now end in: Apologies for any inconvenience.

Yes - apologies, rushed and in an airport. Edited now.

QF25: Hour 5 - Who knows? 10 a.m. Malnar always loved plants. The image of a fragile blue structure which the Shin man selling it had called a flower is imprinted on his mind forever. Since that day in Kholinar, Malnar started his own collection of plants - more normal, everyday ones at first, and then later special expeditions to find new and different ones. That’s how he met Dalan. They were both in the army, and Dalan had heard the same tale about a particularly unusual herb that attracted spren. Neither of them ever managed to find the plant, but they’d found each other instead. And now Malnar is here, as Dalan is probably running messages around camp - maybe even messages about Kenara’s death - unknowing of Malnar’s peril. To be fair, Malnar is unknowing, too. He never sees the blade at the back of his neck, as he focuses on grasping a particularly oddly-shaped specimen of grass. He chuckles to himself. Dalnar will love this one. The blade lands, and the grass just escapes Malnar’s grasp as he falls. He manages to choke out one last word before he dies. “Dalan…” Meanwhile, not yet having noticed Malnar’s absence, the circle reforms. “Let’s do this logically this time, shall we?” says Tzlim. “How about every person go around and say who’s been most suspicious to you, or anything you think you’ve seen?” “That sounds boring,” Damond comments. “How about you, Tzlim?” says Albert Vospar. “I’m pretty suspicious of you.” “Me too!” chirps Revali, though he doesn't seem quite sure what he's agreeing to. The shock of nearly having died is still quite strong, after all. “But what about Sartal?” counters Alrin. “After all, the only other ardent we’ve had has died. Maybe Spiff got targeted on purpose?” “Yeah!” says Eternum, similarly unsure of what exactly he's agreeing with. “But Tzlim!” says Albert. “Sartal!” cries Alrin. “Tzlim!” “Sartal!” Tzlim!” “Sartal!” This shouting match continues for so ridiculously long that everyone gets bored and starts picking a side and chanting along with it. Unfortunately, they don't choose evenly, and Tzlim’s detractors are louder. Wide-eyed, he runs. “I was just trying to be logical!” he cries, and grabs at the sphere still stored in his belt pouch. If he can only do what had led him here in the first place… He breathes, and something happens. A shower of beads that appears and just as quickly disappears when he loses focus. Sometime, I should really learn what that actually is… He doesn't care for the moment, though. He’s dropped somewhere outside the arena - away from the mob chasing him. He decides to head back, since he’d probably be labeled a murderer and chased down if he doesn't, but he rather hopes that the mob has a new target before he manages to make it back. It’s only 10 o’clock, too. It’s going to be a long day… Arraenae has died! She was a Dustbringer! Jondesu was lynched, but didn’t die! Cycle 5 has begun! It will end in 25 hours, to get back on to the normal time. Vote Count >Jondesu (2): Elenion, Lopen >Sart (2): Arinian, Eternum >Elenion (1): Jondesu >Yitzi (1): Sart Player List 1. Elithanathile - Sebas 2. Drake - Aaliyah New Recruit 3. Mage - Damond 4. Eternum - Albion Kerenas 5. Jebus - Teralarin 6. Flash - Johnny Quick New Recruit 7. Elenion - Albert Vospar 8. Orlok - Highprince Locke Tekiel 9. Megasif - Zirconidas New Recruit 10. Winter Devotion - John 11. Roadwalker - Silver 12. Jondesu - Tzlim 13. Paranoid King - Spiff Dustbringer 14. Stick - Dan New Recruit 15. Sami - Aleta Nebrask 16. Stink - Lazar 17. Arraenae - Malnar Dustbringer 18. Lopen - Revali 19. Darkness - Belegaer 20. Bard - Melinon 21. Ecthelion - Ceol and Vis 22. Yitzi - Brightlord Erethin 23. Sart - Ardent Sartal 24. Arinian - Alrin

Cycle is closed!

No, you will not. Also, vote tally has been updated, because it was slightly wrong. Apologies.

QF25: Hour 4 - Attacking 9 a.m. The assembled crowd approached Spiff. Slowly. Despite his open-door policy, they had a sense that there was more to him than there appeared. He addressed them, still reading over the papers in front of him "Yes? I assume this is serious? You know I don't deal with the other sort of matters." He highlighted his point by flipping a dagger casually in one hand, while viciously penning his signature with the other. "I have a lot of paperwork to do. You see, running an organization isn't all fun and games." He looked up suddenly, catching Ardent Sartal's eye. "You know what I'm talking about, don't you, 'ardent'?" Sartal stared ahead stolidly. There was just something about that commanding voice. Something that would make you do 50 pushups or go on a 10 mile run before breakfast. "I don't know what you're talking about, sir." "No, you wouldn't. Nobody expects an ardent, after all. They're beneath notice. So beneath notice, in fact, that they could murder a squadleader in front of a whole platoon without anybody noticing." The man made no sense. He was clearly in league with the enemy All those songs and group exercises were just a diversion to distract them from the real threat. Ardent Sartal cleared his throat. "We'd like to, I mean, we're going to lynch you now." "Hmm?" "We're going to lynch you now, sir." Spiff's eye glinted. "No, I don't think you will." He leapt to his feet and deftly span through the assembled crowd, tripping half of them in a single movement. Brightlord Erethin narrowed his eyes. "You missed everyone important, Spiff. And you are not my captain. Everyone! He's given us as much as a confession already! Take him down quickly! Before he summons his full potential!" "Too slow!" Spiff spun in the air, the light of a knight radiant glowing around him. He thrust a hand towards Tzlim and the man fell to the ground, wincing at the abrasion of the rough tent floor. Spiff grinned. "Just 4 left." He divided his attention between them, and settled for dashing at Atela. A brick caught him on the side of the head, and he fell to the floor. Sebas stood nervously as Spiff fell to the ground. "That was the right thing to do, right? I mean, he was saying all those things about me, and he tried getting us to do pushups, and-" Sartal patted him on the shoulder. "You did all right, kid. Let's see if we can find some evidence in that mess of his office." He frowned, looking around. "Actually, this is Kenara's office. I don't know how we let him take over that easily." Credit goes to PK for his death RP. Find a post and upvote him for it. Revali stumbled in the chaos of Spiff’s lynching and fell to the floor. He caught a glimpse of a figure above him, though his vision was blurred from the fall. A chill ran through his bones, and he felt a woosh of air rush past him. When he opened his eyes, the figure was gone, and this time no one but Spiff had died. PK was killed! He was a Dustbringer! Lopen was attacked, but didn’t die! Cycle 4 has begun! It will end in 23 hours. This cycle is an hour shorter, because I won’t be around at or after rollover tomorrow. Vote Count >PK (4): Elithanathile, Sami, Yitzi, Sart >Winter (3): Orlok, Jebus, Stink >Jondesu (1): Arinian >Elithanathile (1): Rae Player List 1. Elithanathile - Sebas 2. Drake - Aaliyah New Recruit 3. Mage - Damond 4. Eternum - Albion Kerenas 5. Jebus - Teralarin 6. Flash - Johnny Quick New Recruit 7. Elenion - Albert Vospar 8. Orlok - Highprince Locke Tekiel 9. Megasif - Zirconidas New Recruit 10. Winter Devotion - John 11. Roadwalker - Silver 12. Jondesu - Tzlim 13. Paranoid King - Spiff Dustbringer 14. Stick - Dan New Recruit 15. Sami - Aleta Nebrask 16. Stink - Lazar 17. Arraenae - Malnar 18. Lopen - Revali 19. Darkness - Belegaer 20. Bard - Melinon 21. Ecthelion - Ceol and Vis 22. Yitzi - Brightlord Erethin 23. Sart - Ardent Sartal 24. Arinian - Alrin

Cycle is over! New cycle will be up in half an hour or so.

QF25: Hour 3 - Sticking 8 a.m. The bodies have all finally been removed, but the scent of death hangs in the air. Everyone stands in a circle, looking at each other, afraid to turn their back. And slowly, slowly, it happens again. Naihar and Lorna, still watching, both nod. They’ve seen this before. Suspicion. It was someone in this room. Not me. Wasn’t me. But it had to have been someone. Was it you? Or you? You don’t seem to be acting quite right… you look nervous… well of course I’m nervous four people just died. What about you? Or you? Doesn’t matter who. Just anyone. Anyone but me. If there were someone who could see emotion, the room would be swirling shades of grey paranoia, oily suspicion, and black fear, gathering, gathering, into a great cloud of near-madness. Tension builds. Questions become sharper, less forgiving. What were you doing near Aaliyah in the pile? I thought you were just ahead of me when we were getting spheres from Brightness Kenara? How, exactly, did you get invited here? Why do you look so treelike? How do we know you’re loyal to Alethkar? And there it is. The first “we”. That turns the tide. Everyone thinks that they’re trusted, that they’re in the right and whoever they suspect is wrong. The original perfect circle is a cluster, a mob, a storm of shouts and accusations and- They decide. We decide. And Dan falls, crushed by something that is more than suspicion, now. Crushed by the fear of death. He chokes out four last words as he dies. “I am a stick…” And slowly, everything grows quiet again. The shouting stops. Dan is dead. And so is Zirconidas, killed in the chaos, eyes black. The bodies are taken away. The circle reforms. This time, the storm of suspicion and fear and paranoia is tinged with the orange hint of shame. Megasif has died! He was a New Recruit studying Edgedancing! Stick was lynched! She was a New Recruit! Cycle 3 has begun! It will end in 24 hours. Vote Count >Stick (4): Arinian, Rae, Lopen, Stick >Rae (1): Winter >PK (1): Jondesu >Stink (1): Elithanathile >Arinian (1): Sart >Mage (1): Megasif >Winter (1): Jebus >Sami (1): PK Player List 1. Elithanathile - Sebas 2. Drake - Aaliyah New Recruit 3. Mage - Damond 4. Eternum - Albion Kerenas 5. Jebus - Teralarin 6. Flash - Johnny Quick New Recruit 7. Elenion - Albert Vospar 8. Orlok - Highprince Locke Tekiel 9. Megasif - Zirconidas New Recruit 10. Winter Devotion - John 11. Roadwalker - Silver 12. Jondesu - Tzlim 13. Paranoid King - Spiff 14. Stick - Dan New Recruit 15. Sami - Aleta Nebrask 16. Stink - Lazar 17. Arraenae - Malnar 18. Lopen - Revali 19. Darkness - Belegaer 20. Bard - Melinon 21. Ecthelion - Ceol and Vis 22. Yitzi - Brightlord Erethin 23. Sart - Ardent Sartal 24. Arinian - Alrin

Cycle is over! New cycle will be up in five minutes or so.