Long Game 13: Traitors on the Plains

[Aonar]

You've got an hour left to lynch somebody, if you feel like doing that. Just letting you know.

[Peng the Just]

I'll vote for macen. I haven't had time to do analysis, but I don't want to die just yet. I'm hoping ill be able to get into it more next week.

[Aonar]

And the day is over. Write-up isn't quite ready (did a recount and realized I didn't have the result right, so I had to scrap what I'd started) but it should be up soon.

[Aonar]

LG13 Night Two: The Terror of Knowing

Conversations were hushed with Etam's disappearance. He had been one of the few truly competent refugees, without him, defending themselves from the traitors was going to be that much more difficult. 

 

Even with the pressure mounting, the refugees were indecisive. Little was said, and what was said came to even less. A few names were brought up; Ace, obviously unstable and more than a little fond of his hammer, Justin, the slave who seemed just a little too quick to challenge his fellows, Adamir, a man about whom little was known, a stranger to the group, and Cla, the horneater who seemed just a little too upbeat when traitors were about. No one, however, was willing to cast the first stone.

 

They were paralyzed by the confirmation that they were being hunted, terrified by the knowledge that if they were wrong, they would be that much closer to destruction.

 

And so the refugees slowly frittered away the day, waiting, watching, allowing their fear to force them into inaction despite the pressure, and ultimately, failing to achieve anything.
 

 

No one was lynched!

 

Votes:

Ace (2): The Ronzo, Justin

Justin (2): Wol, Smeagol

Adamir (1): Torren

Cla (1): Seixa

 

Sorry for the lackluster write-up. It's hard when you guys don't give me much material. Anyways, you've got 24 hours to get your night actions in, unless and extension is called.

 

 

I'd like to remind people to try to get around to giving me song suggestions for their characters. I'll do my best to come up with good ones, but a guy can only be so creative. (If you don't, no guarantees I won't just give up and give you Rebecca Black's Friday. )

 

Ditto on spren names.

[Bort]

My song request: "There’s Just Nothing Better Than A Beard" by The Beards (yes, apparently this band and song do actually exist - I'm as shocked as you are).

 

I'm too tired to do much in the way of analysis right now, not to mention supposed to be working, but I think our lack of lynch votes for people last day cycle was because of the sheer number of people who said they would be away, or barely on over the weekend. I just hope it's a trend that does not continue, otherwise this is going to be a very long and boring game.

 

I'm still slightly suspicious of Hero, although his post at the end of last cycle does shed some more light onto his plan, and explains my fears about it.

 

I also have reservations about Renegade, although that may just be because he is away this weekend, and may not be back at a computer yet. We'll see how that plays out.

[Macen]

I am also suspicious of Renegade. I have my reasons, but I don't have enough evidence at the moment. I'm just pretty sure I'm going to die tonight.

*EDIT* Added blue.

Edited July 20, 2015 by Macen

[Renegade]

Macen, I already explained my suspicion of you (assuming that is why you are suspicious of me).  I'll admit that it might not be the strongest piece of evidence, but the fact that we still have no lynches so far means that the information at our disposal is at a minimum.  I used the one piece of information that we did have (that the Diagramists almost certainly have the surge of Gravitation), and that immediately pointed to you, as I explained on Day 1.  I went to sleep afterwards, so pretty much everything that happened after that was out of my control.

 

Anyway, I counted, and 12 out of the 26 remaining players failed to post this last day turn.  I'll admit that I was originally against killing inactives just for the sake of it, but with almost half of the players silent, and only 6 placing votes, that leaves us with roughly... a lot of people that we have practically no information on.  With that in mind, I'll definitely be more aggressive to those who aren't talking at all, as odds are that several of them are Diagramists.  And even if they aren't, it's useful to get more minds to weigh in.  After all, if we only have these 14 people talking for the rest of the game, then, unless we find the Diagramists pretty quickly, we're pretty much doomed, because we won't have anyone active enough to figure out who the Diagramists are at the end of the game.  (The end of LG 2 is a perfect example of this, in which the last 2 Eliminators were pretty much revealed, but only 1 of the 3 remaining Villagers was actually active and voted, so the Villagers ended up losing.)

Edited July 20, 2015 by Renegade

[Herowannabe]

Anyway, I counted, and 12 out of the 26 remaining players failed to post this last day turn. I'll admit that I was originally against killing inactives just for the sake of it, but with almost half of the players silent, and only 6 placing votes, that leaves us with roughly... a lot of people that we have practically no information on. With that in mind, I'll definitely be more aggressive to those who aren't talking at all, as odds are that several of them are Diagramists.

I agree. I mean, what are the eliminators thinking? Twice now we've had two tie vote with very few people voting. It wouldn't be hard at all for them to have nudged things and gotten somebody lynched. Yeah it might have earned them a little suspicion, but surely they could stir up enough controversy to ensure a lynch without coming under fire themselves, right? Eliminators have had plenty of success doing that in past games.

Anyway, after the past two cycles I'm inclined to think that the eliminators are either lurking or feigning inactivity, trying to do as little as possible so that they don't draw attention to themselves. Renegade, can you post the list of people who did NOT post dying day 2? You said you counted sink would love to see that list (and I'm too lazy to want to duplicate your work).

[Macen]

Macen, I already explained my suspicion of you (assuming that is why you are suspicious of me).  I'll admit that it might not be the strongest piece of evidence, but the fact that we still have no lynches so far means that the information at our disposal is at a minimum.  I used the one piece of information that we did have (that the Diagramists almost certainly have the surge of Gravitation), and that immediately pointed to you, as I explained on Day 1.  I went to sleep afterwards, so pretty much everything that happened after that was out of my control.

 

I suppose I can accept your reasoning. I might just be biased in the fact that you voted for me for because I didn't realize how much of an impact gravitation would have (especially for the Diagramists). I can get that looking fishy though especially considering how short on information we are at the moment.

[Renegade]

Renegade, can you post the list of people who did NOT post dying day 2? You said you counted sink would love to see that list (and I'm too lazy to want to duplicate your work).

 

Sure.  The following did not post on Day 2:

• Sani (The Only Joe)
• Madon (Mailliw73)
• Adamir (Adamir)
• Kip Sturm (Kipper)
• Findilti Findilt (idolevy)
• Orlok (OrlokTsobodai)
• Dow (dowanx)
• Eo (Spooky Eowyn)
• Akirsefatafesrika (Bridge Boy)
• Kazaaakplethkilik (Paranoid King)
• Alvonoha (Alvron)
• Cla (Clanky)

(Pretty sure that's correct.)

 

I suppose I can accept your reasoning. I might just be biased in the fact that you voted for me for because I didn't realize how much of an impact gravitation would have (especially for the Diagramists). I can get that looking fishy though especially considering how short on information we are at the moment.

 

Fair enough.  I didn't actually get a chance to see your response yesterday, so if I had, I probably would've retracted my vote.  Plus, I suppose that it is contributing more than the majority of those I listed above.

[Kipper]

I'm still a bit focused on the MR, but I will do my best to actually start playing this game.

Unfortunately, I will be doing a straight through drive from D.C. to Mobile, Alabama, tomorrow, so I will be gone for some of tomorrow and some of the next day.

[Mailliw73]

Sorry for not getting on yesterday, guys. I've been busy this weekend, but I should be moderately active from now on.

[Emerald101]

I agree. I mean, what are the eliminators thinking? Twice now we've had two tie vote with very few people voting. It wouldn't be hard at all for them to have nudged things and gotten somebody lynched. Yeah it might have earned them a little suspicion, but surely they could stir up enough controversy to ensure a lynch without coming under fire themselves, right? Eliminators have had plenty of success doing that in past games.

 

I'm wondering If the Eliminators might've done just the opposite - tied the lynch votes - in order to keep us from the information we would learn from the lynch.

 

Since you were the one who tied the vote, what do you say to that, Peng?

 

Edit: clarity

Edited July 20, 2015 by Emerald101

[Macen]

I'm wondering If the Eliminators might've done just the opposite - tied the lynch votes - in order to keep us from the information we would learn from the lynch.

 

Since you were the one who tied the vote, what do you say to that, Peng?

 

Edit: clarity

 

I get where you're going with this thought emerald and I back it up - except for the fact that Peng tied the vote to prevent himself from dying. If anyone else had done it I would be curious as to why They had tied it away from Peng being lynched. 

You can make the argument that he should have fallen on his dagger for the team though.

[Emerald101]

I get where you're going with this thought emerald and I back it up - except for the fact that Peng tied the vote to prevent himself from dying. If anyone else had done it I would be curious as to why They had tied it away from Peng being lynched. 

You can make the argument that he should have fallen on his dagger for the team though.

 

I really should've looked at the vote tally a little more closely before I posted that, but I find it really frustrating when people use RP names that bear no similarity to their actual names. It gets me really confused sometimes.

[Aonar]

The night is over! Stay tuned for the the write up, which should hopefully be a little more timely than last night.

[Aonar]

Day Three: Nothing Better

 

“Can I come out now?”

 

A soft glow emanated from somewhere within Botholomew's tent. 

 

The short man sighed, laying out his bedroll. "I suppose."

 

"Thank the Almighty." The glow collapsed, becoming more definite. It came from the balding man's voluminous beard. A figure slowly resolved itself, seemingly made from points of white light, and moved to sit atop the Radiant's head. "I don't understand why you insist I hide myself in there."

 

"And I don't understand why you seem to take offence to it, Luma," Bortholomew said, still busying himself with preparing for the night. "A good beard is one of the few places I'd consider worthy of hiding a being of your noble stature."

 

The spren said nothing, but Bortholomew could almost feel it's look of disbelief. Unperturbed, he went on. "Nothing's better than a good beard, I always say. Speaking of, why have you never bothered to grow one?"

 

Luma sighed. "I am a spren. An embodiment of the very forces of nature. We do not concern ourselves with things like facial hair. And, I must say, we are all the better for it." The spren thought for a moment. "Additionally, the form I prefer of the physical plane would probably be identified as female by members of your species. And as I understand it, they are incapable of growing facial hair."

 

Botholomew shrugged. "Your loss, my friend." 

 

The glowing figure refused to dignify that with a response, obviously wondering to herself why she was stuck with a crazy one.

 

A sudden crash sounded, as something glowing brightly and moving impossibly fast tore through the tent, missing Bortholomew by a hair. Breathing in deeply on reflex, the tent was suffused with light as he felt stormlight's power wash through him. Storms. I wasn't expecting them to act so quickly.

 

Diving out the door of his tent, Bortholomew hurriedly veiled himself in an illusion. Turning back towards the tent, he wasted precious seconds throwing together an image of his own body, broken and bleeding in the tent.

 

Then he turned and ran, heading straight for the plateau's edge.

 

---

 

"I think you got him." Someone said.

 

"No..." The other, their hands still rimed with frost, was squinting in the night. "I'm sure I saw something. We need to take a closer look."

 

"Fine. If you say so. I just don't want to be caught in the camp with this thing," the first speaker said, gesturing to the shardblade they held.

 

Botholomew's tent was in ruins. The stone that had punched through it had taken down the majority of it's support structure, too. Clearly visible however, was Bortholomew's shattered body. It looked like he'd taken the stone right in the chest.

 

"There. You satisfied?"

 

"Not yet." The surgebinder kicked through the old man's belongings, spilling a pouch filled with spheres across the ground. Every singe one was dun. Picking one up, he tossed it towards the body. It disappeared with a sharp clack, like it was striking stone.

 

The shardbearer cursed. "An illusionist. I guess you were right."

 

"He must be somewhere close by. He can't have enough stormlight to maintain a good illusion for long, judging from what's here. Let's go."

 

---

 

Huddled in a small crevice in the chasm wall, Bortholomew was keenly aware of just how little stormlight he had left. He'd altered his illusion to just a mere shadow on the rock face, but even that he wouldn't be able to keep up long. 

 

"Alright Luma. I'm going to need you to check the tent and see if they fell for my illusion." Bortholomew's previous air of joviality was forgotten. He was deadly serious. "I need to know how far I have to run."

 

The spren nodded and streaked off in the direction they had come.

 

Unbeknownst to them, their pursuers had already arrived. Rock groaned above Bortholomew, as a shelf of stone fell free from the chasm wall, severed by the impossibly sharp edge of a shardblade. That sound would become the last Bortholomew ever heard.

 

---

 

The crash of stone the heralded Bortholomew's death resounded across the plateau, startling the refugees awake.

 

Stumbling from their tent, one person slipped and gashed their foot upon a piece of sharp stone. Inhaling sharply on reflex, they reached down to check their injury. Only frost met their fingers, and a faint wisp of light curled up from their hands. Stormfather...

 

---

 

Botholomew has died! He was a Refugee Truthwatcher!

 

You have roughly 47 hours to decide on a lynch. (Sorry about the late write-up again. This one sort of got away from me.)

[leiftinspace]

No precious, no! The beardnuts is lost! Cursed Diagramists! WE HATES THEM FOREVER!!!!!!!!

[Herowannabe]

"You said it, Smeagol," Wannan said somberly, striding to stand next to the hunched over creature. "Poor bloke. Should have chosen to be immortal, like me. Then they wouldn't have been able to do this to him."

---

But seriously, losing a truthwatcher this early sucks. The ability to protect people from being killed combined with the ability to create PMs for coordination was one of our most valuable combinations. And what makes it worse is that Aonar didn't even honor his request of using "There’s Just Nothing Better Than A Beard" by The Beards for Bort's death song. :,(

Edit: never mind, I'm just dumb. Note to self. Don't comment on the songs before following the links. Also, posting when it's 12:30 at night and you're sleep deprived is a bad idea in general.

Edited July 21, 2015 by Herowannabe

[Clanky]

Sorry for not being around for the past few days. I should be active for the rest of the game now. Unfortunately I still don't have much to go on for suspicions at the moment so I will forgo from voting for now. One thought I did have was about why the eliminators allowed the vote to stay tied. One potential reason I could think of could be that one of the people in danger of being lynched (Peng or macen) and they perhaps didn't want to be seen protecting one of their own so early. 

[twelfthrootoftwo]

Bort opened a PM with me in night 1 (so we had a bit of a discussion through the day cycle). He said he'd opened other PMs with Ren, Leif, and PK. We discussed Hero's thoughts on Gravitation a bit (nothing that didn't end up in thread anyway). I brought up general wariness of Ren, though Bort didn't respond to that in the PM. (If you're looking to get a read on me based on this, note I was suspicious of Bort for most of the cycle.) It's certainly possible there's a Diagrammist among those he PMed, though that would create a small pool of potential suspects to be scanned by Transformation. They could also have gone after him for being an active voice in the thread.

 

Ren, Leif, PK, can you confirm the PMs?

 

Macen, this post:

 

I am also suspicious of Renegade. I have my reasons, but I don't have enough evidence at the moment. I'm just pretty sure I'm going to die tonight. 

You were suspicious of Ren, and thought you were going to die...so you gave a name, but not the reasons behind it? That would have been of minimal help if you had been killed. What are your reasons?

Edit: formatting

Edited July 21, 2015 by twelfthrootoftwo

[Macen]

My reasons were already more or less brought up by Ren. I had been targeted for making points about things that went against the Diagramists (with the exception of me missing the Use of Gravitation with the Diagramist kill ability).

I still think it's odd that he took everything I had said as points to help our Radiants and singled out the one oversight I had, but he stated that he was more or less doing it due to lack of information on any other front. I just had a feeling I was going to die and wanted to make sure the person I thought was the most suspicious was out there. Him being part of the Bort PM ring does back up my suspicions though. Due to this I am going to vote Renegade.

I do think Bort went a little wrong on reaching out to more than 2 people though. with each additional person you reach out to you are increasing the chance of speaking to a Diagramist, letting them know you're a radiant. I don't think it was a bad idea reaching out, but with 4 possible options now we only have a 25% chance of figuring out who the diagramist was (hoping there was only 1).

On a side note, I am glad that they got our Truthwatcher and not our Lightweaver. Losing a protection is bad, but losing the scan would have been worse.

You will be missed my bearded friend.

[emilylime]

Hey all- I won't be able to be very active this week. I haven't been posting because I've been getting ready for college, and I leave tomorrow, driving- so there, again, won't be much opportunity for me to post. Hopefully, once things settle down I'll have more time (and more internet) to post.

[leiftinspace]

We can confirm, yes, yes! Bort PMs us, yes he did. He felt that one of us four would hurts him though. Poor Bort. And poor Smeagol. No more beardnutses.

We weren't able to discuss a whole lot though. He was somewhat active toward the start of the cycle then just kinda fizzled out. 

Edited July 22, 2015 by leiftinspace

[Herowannabe]

Hmm... While it is possible that the Eliminators got lucky when they targeted Bort, it does raise suspicions of the people he was in contact with. Leftinspace, Paranoid King, Renegade, and Twelfth now at the top of my suspect list. It does seem odd that if one (or more) of them was an eliminator that they would kill Bort off right away. A Truthwatcher wouldn't be that threatening to them, especially if they can blast through his progressions with gravitation, and killing him this early would just raise our suspicions on one (or more) of their members. It seems like a rookie move on the eliminators part. That, or none of Bort's contacts were eliminators and the real eliminators just got lucky. Bort was certainly speaking out enough in the thread to attract their ire.

Nevertheless, it's still the best lead we've got. Since Twelfth and Leftinspace have already spoken up, and Renegade is already being called out, I'm going to put some pressure on Paranoid King.