Mid-Range Game 57: Helvegen

[Mat he/him]

There’s an hour and a half left in the cycle, right? Feel bad about this if Araris isn’t coming back xD

Araris

I do think we should try to use the Fang today

[StrikerEZ he/him]

Stick (4): TJ, Orlok, Thaid, Araris
Araris (4): Striker, Stick, Archer, Mat
Thaid (2): Bort, Xino

Okay, I think this is accurate now. I was going to potentially switch to Thaid, but now Araris is up for the exe as well and I'm half tempted to secure an exe on Stick. Or just find a way to tie it between Thaid and Stick

EDIT: OH COME ON

Edited March 27, 2022 by StrikerEZ

[Stick. she/her]

Just now, Matrim's Dice said:

There’s an hour and a half left in the cycle, right? Feel bad about this if Araris isn’t coming back xD

Araris

I do think we should try to use the Fang today

I already sent in the order - I wasn’t in favour of using it today but I’ve since changed my mind  

[Kasimir he/him]

4 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

Stick (4): TJ, Orlok, Thaid, Araris
Araris (4): Striker, Stick, Archer, Mat
Thaid (2): Bort, Xino

Okay, I think this is accurate now. I was going to potentially switch to Thaid, but now Araris is up for the exe as well and I'm half tempted to secure an exe on Stick. Or just find a way to tie it between Thaid and Stick

EDIT: OH COME ON

Kas: "Okay, I prewrote the write-up, we're golden."
Kas: "Think I overdid the character development but we're fine, metaplot is going just fine-"
Kas: >reads Striker's post
Kas: >chokes

J/k you do what you have to, I'm used to y'all sending in votes and orders at the last bloody second >>

#MR7 #BridgeBoy #neverforget

[Orlok Tsubodai he/him]

On 25/03/2022 at 5:44 PM, StrikerEZ said:

I want to see the mechanic actually get used. And we have the most villagers alive right now compared to any later point in the game. So may as well use it.

 

On 25/03/2022 at 6:10 PM, StrikerEZ said:

Quote

On 25/03/2022 at 6:02 PM, Illwei said:

I will say that now I'm thinking about it, using the fang now would be useful in the way that the elims wouldn't have to distance as hard, which would make them harder /easier to find depending. and they'd be down one. so that's something to think on as well.

this is basically what I have been thinking for doing the fang early

hmmm

Illwei and I agreeing at the start of a game? more likely than you would think.

 

On 25/03/2022 at 11:57 PM, StrikerEZ said:

Not necessarily? I don't think that's guaranteed, but I think it's a possibility. I honestly hadn't thought of this as a reason. My reasoning was more focused on either losing the Elders before we can use it or losing the majority of active players willing to vote for the Fang and not being able to activate it.

Also, Bort.

@StrikerEZ, I don't see where in your twice stated logic you actually agree with Illwei - what about her argument for an early use of the fang did you actually support?

If you take whether or not the fang goes off as a given, when do you think it would actually be most useful to us?

On 25/03/2022 at 7:27 PM, Thaidakar the Ghostblood said:

HEY! time to be randomly chaotic.

Squishy jello turtles!

@Thaidakar the Ghostblood, in what way does being randomly chaotic help the village at all? I know I fall at one end of the spectrum in how I tend to play SE, but how is being random and chaotic actually playing the game at all? It doesn't allow us to gain any information about you, it doesn't contribute in helping us read other players, and doesn't appear to involve you solving the game yourself.

In the interest of getting solvable information from you, who are the three players you're most suspicious of, and who are you the least suspicious of?

On 25/03/2022 at 8:22 PM, Archer said:

What Bort appears to be suggesting is that an elim kill via the exe is worse than the elim kill we'd get from the fang kill. Since the elims get to choose which one of them dies to the fang kill and will have presumably planned accordingly to mislead us from the death, I disagree with this. In theory, the kill they don't anticipate, the one arrived at through analysis that has readable conversations leading up to it, is more valuable to us than the fang death. Our best case scenario is actually that we exe an elim who is different than the one the elims planned on sacrificing. I don't think he's trying to shift focus from the fact that getting a fang kills requires a mix, given his last line, but I do think it's weird that he doesn't like the implications of an elim exe C1. Bringing up the e!Striker exe implies the elims will distance from teammates they expect to survive than from the one they expect to die. I find that unlikely. 

EDIT: Xino, how strongly do you believe in us having multiple Elders? I'm trying to decide whether or not Kas felt the game would become unbalanced if the solo Elder died C1 to the NK.  

My own reading, @Archer, is that Bort treats the Fang as a "free" reveal of an eliminator. I agree with you entirely that lynching an eliminator is of much greater use to us than one from the fang, but don't think it's a straight up choice between them. If we're going to lynch an eliminator eventually, using the fang before we do gives us two lynched eliminators. If we assume 4 eliminators, as I think we're leaning to in our PM, then lynching randomly gives us a 28% chance of hitting an eliminator this cycle, a 33% chance of an eliminator next cycle (assuming a village lynch and a kill), and a 40% chance of hitting an eliminator C3 (assuming the same). The chances of missing an eliminator by voting randomly in C1, C2, and C3, given the above, are ((1-(4/14)*(1-4/12)*(1-4/10))=29% - meaning around a 70% chance that we don't get the "free" lynch from the fang, on top of the "earned" lynch of an eliminator, if we don't use it before the end of C3. 

I think the key takeaway here is that the fang isn't instead of a lynch.

On 25/03/2022 at 9:22 PM, _Stick_ said:

Being nit-picky here but the use of third person pronouns for the village just sounds off  

Do I want to vote on you for this?

edit:

actually I dont like that entire post  The fang isnt meant to massively help the village?? I definitely disagree. Also I think it's extremely unlikely that there's only one Elder - Elder's are just vanilla after the fang is used, so I dont see why we'd only have one.

Xino

@Kasimir cuz I edited in a vote

Just want to comment on this part. I have mixed feelings on language use for lynching - I remember noticing a trend of eliminators using specific terminology in one game where no one else was, but equally was responsible for the mislynch of Ripplegylf in one of my earliest games, because she confused the elim and village team names in a slightly unintuitive game, causing a great deal of stress. Not really sure what point I'm making here, except to remind the community of that.

On 26/03/2022 at 1:40 AM, xinoehp512 said:

It's eight hours in. It's late at night. I've got nothing better to do.

So... Bucket Reads time!

Good Bucket:

  Hide contents

Mat

Illwei

Orlok

Bort

JNV

 

@xinoehp512, what drove putting Bort and JNV into your Good Bucket?

On 26/03/2022 at 1:47 PM, |TJ| said:

Yeah, I take this more as an argument for 4-player elim team than to Fang D1. Elims do tend to freak out and overestimate the village's ability to catch them, and as you recall, you won the game following a D1 elim flip, so point in my favor? 

Quote

On 25/03/2022 at 7:25 PM, Archer said:

I think the only way the Fang mechanic will really hurt the elim team is if somehow someone they didn't expect to be exed gets pressured and they have to Fang that person instead, which leaves the originally planned target exposed for having had weird posts to that point. Otherwise, I'd pick a designated sacrifice and instruct them to be as confusing or low-info as possible, expecting them to flip within the first three cycles.

Something feels off about this, but I don't know what :P. I think there's too much elim strategizing here, that it looks like it's from an elim perspective?

I'm not sure I agree with you about this bit feeling off, @|TJ| - I think a significant part of the information we get from the fang is who is chosen, in addition to that flip itself, which requires us to model the eliminators' decision making process. 

What are your current views on Archer?

23 hours ago, Thaidakar the Ghostblood said:

*shrugs* I'm a little suspicious of Archer and Bort though.

@Thaidakar the Ghostblood, for what reasons? Why vote on Stick rather than one of Archer or Bort?

23 hours ago, Illwei said:

Xino is probably village.

@Illwei, curious as to whether you can give specifics on where you're getting this read from?

23 hours ago, Thaidakar the Ghostblood said:

I was kind of going on my gut with those reads. Though I do actually think Stick might actually be a little sus for some of the reasons people have said.

oh, lol. 

@Thaidakar the Ghostblood, which reasons, from which players?

21 hours ago, _Stick_ said:

Some reads:

Village

• Mat (initial misinterpretation of rules; thought progression from there on out seems very natural)
• Striker (gut read; just tone I guess - should probably revisit)
• illwei (mainly the paragraph outlining why using the Fang after some elims have died is a bad idea - only slight vill here tho cuz I wouldn't put it past them to fake this for village cred)
• Bort (Just cuz I don't think an elim would phrase a sentence this way:  Bolded mine. Writing this, I think an elim should recognise that just this might be enough to get them exed)

Elim

• Xino (reasons previously given)
• Archer (I think there's a good chance xino/archer are e/e - they've got just the right amount of back-and-forth in-thread and Archer has sussed xino in our PM as well, but says he doesnt want to exe them just yet as they are a returning player. Which is understandable, but I think this is worth considering)
• Thaid (their vote on me and reaction to Mat's vote on them)

Null

• Orlok
• Araris
• JNV
• TJ
• Aman
• TUN

Running out of time to comment, and will work through the rest of the thread after my call, probably after rollover, but get enough of a village gut read from this post to Stick from this to withdraw my initial vote.

[Stick. she/her]

Everyone wait I just had a thought 

Okay so, elims have already ideally picked one person from their team to die in the case that we activate the Fang today, right? If you were an elim, wouldn’t you much rather just orchestrate a BUS on this person publicly in-thread and subsequently gain massive village cred for it instead of just having them die to the Fang??? Cuz it does seem like we’re using the Fang rn.

[Mat he/him]

5 minutes ago, _Stick_ said:

Everyone wait I just had a thought 

Okay so, elims have already ideally picked one person from their team to die in the case that we activate the Fang today, right? If you were an elim, wouldn’t you much rather just orchestrate a BUS on this person publicly in-thread and subsequently gain massive village cred for it instead of just having them die to the Fang??? Cuz it does seem like we’re using the Fang rn.

I mean sure, but afaik more people were in favor of waiting for the Fang :P. What are you implying?

[StrikerEZ he/him]

It's currently a 3-way tie between Araris, Stick, and Thaid. I agree with Stick that the elims might be trying to bus one of their own to basically deny us the Fang, as it seems like a lot of people are voting for it. I can't decide who I think the bus is.

[Stick. she/her]

Just now, Matrim's Dice said:

I mean sure, but afaik more people were in favor of waiting for the Fang :P. What are you implying?

I’m pretty sure most people wanted it used immediately? 

[Mat he/him]

4 minutes ago, _Stick_ said:

I’m pretty sure most people wanted it used immediately? 

Araris wants later, Orlok wants later, Thaid wants later, TJ wants C2, pretty sure Archer wants later, and those are just the ones I remember. I definitely can’t think of seven people who would activate today, but maybe y’all will surprise me :P.

What would your bus theory imply, do you think? Which candidate do you think is being bussed and who are the bussers?

Edited March 27, 2022 by Matrim's Dice

[Archer he/him]

I've got a dnd game to play shortly, but I just want to say that bussing is an option, but you give up the villager mix and potentially look real dumb if the village hadn't planned on using the fang

Orlok retracting reads as village, Stick being desperate does too. Slight concern about Striker wanting to tie for the lols but I feel bad about their VC. XD. 

[Stick. she/her]

2 minutes ago, Matrim's Dice said:

Araris wants later, Orlok wants later, Thaid wants later, TJ wants C2, pretty sure Archer wants later, and those are just the ones I remember. I definitely can’t think of seven people who would activate today, but maybe y’all will surprise me :P.

Off the top of my head, you, Striker, illwei, and Bort wanted it used today. And I've already sent in my order - that makes 4.

3 minutes ago, Matrim's Dice said:

What would your bus theory imply, do you think? Which candidate do you think is being bussed and who are the bussers?

I find it odd that Xino moved from voting on me to voting alongside me, especially because I was also gunning for them. Not that I'm complaining, Xino. I'm grateful for the support :P. My gut also says that Archer is up to something. 

[Mat he/him]

1 minute ago, _Stick_ said:

Off the top of my head, you, Striker, illwei, and Bort wanted it used today. And I've already sent in my order - that makes 4.

I find it odd that Xino moved from voting on me to voting alongside me, especially because I was also gunning for them. Not that I'm complaining, Xino. I'm grateful for the support :P. My gut also says that Archer is up to something. 

Yeah, we need seven  

Huh, surprised those were the two you mentioned. I didn’t notice that xino’s vote pattern being that way, which is a valid point, but Archer I think is one of the most reasonable vote switchers we’ve had :P. I don’t see how either of those relate to your bus theory though?

[Stick. she/her]

Just now, Matrim's Dice said:

I don’t see how either of those relate to your bus theory though?

tbh I dont either - we have to wait for a flip first :P. Think it'll be clearer in hindsight.

16 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

It's currently a 3-way tie between Araris, Stick, and Thaid.

I dont think this is true - doesnt Thaid only have two votes?

[StrikerEZ he/him]

1 minute ago, _Stick_ said:

tbh I dont either - we have to wait for a flip first :P. Think it'll be clearer in hindsight.

I dont think this is true - doesnt Thaid only have two votes?

Mat voted on Thaid just before I posted my VC. And Kas quoted my post before I could edit it.

[Stick. she/her]

1 minute ago, StrikerEZ said:

Mat voted on Thaid just before I posted my VC. And Kas quoted my post before I could edit it.

Wait, Mat voted on Thaid?? I dont-

@Kasimir can we get a GM-approved VC here please  

[Kasimir he/him]

8 minutes ago, _Stick_ said:

I dont think this is true - doesnt Thaid only have two votes?

This is my current votecount. If I've missed someone, @ me and let me know who you voted for because I am trying to re-pre-write a write-up >>

God, why do I even GM you psychopaths... >>

Quote

Araris (4): Mat, Archer, Stick, Striker
Stick (3): Thaid, TJ, Araris
Thaid (2): Bort, xino

4 minutes ago, _Stick_ said:

@Kasimir can we get a GM-approved VC here please  

Tbh I'm kind of going kayana here just trying to track y'all >>

IF I HAVE MISSED ANYONE'S VOTE @ ME. THIS IS TO PREVENT AVERTABLE TRAGEDY IN UNDER FIFTY MINUTES. THANK YOU.

Edit: @xinoehp512's vote has been edited in, no need to @ me over him thank you.

Edited March 27, 2022 by Kasimir

[Stick. she/her]

oh man under 50 minutes, that's right

@Bort would you be down for switching to Araris? @Illwei if I remember correctly, you suspected Araris too?

I am so glad there's no vote manip  

[Kasimir he/him]

Just now, _Stick_ said:

oh man under 50 minutes, that's right

@Bort would you be down for switching to Araris? @Illwei if I remember correctly, you suspected Araris too?

I am so glad there's no vote manip  

IT'S OKAY I MADE A MISTAKE

XINO IS ON THAID PLEASE THANK YOU

[Stick. she/her]

YAYYY

[|TJ| he/him]

1 hour ago, _Stick_ said:

Okay what about Archer?

Partially reasoned suspicion :P. I'm not sure of my suspicion here. 

49 minutes ago, Orlok Tsubodai said:

I'm not sure I agree with you about this bit feeling off, @|TJ| - I think a significant part of the information we get from the fang is who is chosen, in addition to that flip itself, which requires us to model the eliminators' decision making process. 

What are your current views on Archer?

Mmmrghhh, okay I see your point but... that post still reads off to me because it's not just predicting elim behaviour, he's taking about scenarios where elim team are hurt from Fang usage, and that line of thinking is more likely to have come from an elim. It follows a long chain of events - 

How does Fang hurt elims -> (on Negation) ->
How can you avoid Fang from hurting elims -> Pick a designated Fang victim and follow a certain play -> Confuse village ->(cases where this play doesn't work out) ->
Trusted elim gets a suddent train on them

I think it feels a lot more than predicting/anticipating elim moves.

My current views are Archer is that I still feel he's iffy :P. 

46 minutes ago, Matrim's Dice said:

What would your bus theory imply, do you think? Which candidate do you think is being bussed and who are the bussers?

I did not realize Araris had 4 votes. I don't remember anything he posted or any of the reasoning of votes on him. If there's a bus, I think this is likely.

[StrikerEZ he/him]

1 hour ago, Orlok Tsubodai said:

@StrikerEZ, I don't see where in your twice stated logic you actually agree with Illwei - what about her argument for an early use of the fang did you actually support?

If you take whether or not the fang goes off as a given, when do you think it would actually be most useful to us?

I don't understand how you got that I take the fang going off as a given. My argument has basically been this whole time that if we wait too long to use it, it won't go off at all. And I liked what Illwei said. Literally just that whole post I quoted.

[Kasimir he/him]

Cycle has ended. No more talking or I will drown you in the write-up, Light help me >>

[Kasimir he/him]

Cycle Two: In The Woods Somewhere

The loud cry of the goat, abruptly cut off, seemed to reverberate through the empty streets of Helgen.

Not the one that had sickened and died. Tema knew how to dispose of those. There were three others that Zelphia had deemed beyond saving, and Munin had done what was needful, as he always had. Last thing they needed was the sickness spreading through Helgen. Munin wiped his hands on his apron as the blood from the cuts he’d made pooled on the stone.

He’d learned the trade from his father, and his father from his aunt. Sometimes he thought about taking on an apprentice, but not everyone was cut out for the work of the knife. 

Sometimes, you had to harm. You just did it in the most efficient way, and minimised suffering while you were at it. He knew how to set bones, how to splint fractures. And when old Mellar’s leg took the woundrot, and even Dagr’s poultices couldn’t save him, it was Munin who got the saw out and did what had to be done.

Maybe there was some kind of metaphor there.

But Munin wasn’t the man for it. He looked over at Zelphia and Tema, both of whom were watching with grim acceptance.

“Thank you,” said Zelphia. “Payment in the usual manner.”

Munin grunted. He picked up his knife, and cleaned it with a rag. Blood stained his hands but he’d get the worst of it later. He left.

 

 

Kaim at least had been good for his word. Wyden didn’t know how it made him feel, looking at the drying paint on the front door to the Tree. He’d scraped the graffiti off and given the entire door a fresh coat of paint. 

But it didn’t change the knowledge they’d scrawled the Dragon’s Fang on his inn. It didn’t change the fact that people muttered; not just at him, or at Kaim, but at the travellers staying at his inn. Mayor Wilsa had taken him aside and asked him to keep an eye on them.

“You don’t think they did it?” Wyden asked, alarmed.

Mayor Wilsa sighed, and pursed her lips. “I don’t want to,” she said, at last. “But you have to see how it looks, Wyden.”

You have to see how it looks, Wyden.

He realised that his arms were itching again, and he didn’t dare to touch them, didn’t dare—started counting the knots in the wood of the wall behind the mayor, because anything was better than the memory of thorns digging hooks back into him. Anything.

“The murder happened shortly after they entered Helgen. And Darkfriends…” she hesitated. “Who among us could be Darkfriends? Munin? Dagr? Tema? Kai?”

Kai, Wyden thought. There was another one, always running, ever running. Maybe all you ever did was to run away until your ghosts chased you down in the dark and you died.

But there was the bitter realisation again, that the line between ‘us’ and ‘them’ had always been thin where he was concerned. That to old-timers like Munin, or Wilsa, or maybe even Rambler, Wyden was still a stranger, nevermind that he’d lost that accent, smoothed it out over time and buried it in the way Helgen talked.

And yesterday, someone’d tried to pin the blame for Gamen’s death on him for it. Or something like that.

He felt tired, and sick to the stomach. “Yeah,” Wyden said, because fighting it took more energy than he could see himself burning up. “Okay.”

“Good man,” said Mayor Wilsa. “I knew we could count on you. Make sure they don’t leave Helgen.”

Wyden eyed her warily. “And if they do? You seen the way Edler moves?”

“Call for backup,” Mayor Wilsa said, which wasn’t the least reassuring, but Wyden supposed that it was all too understandable from someone who’d never held a sword before in her life. “Lan’s good with a blade, and Strikk’s handy. Stern’s not the sort to lose his head over a fight, either.” She hesitated. “That thief-taker. Kaim. If he’s used to taking someone in…”

He didn’t know how to explain it. Something about Kaim set him off. Sometimes, Wyden wondered if he was the only one who saw, the only one who saw clearly.

“It’s Lin,” Wyden corrected her, instead. “Lin Mindrigurin.” Old, served on the Blightborder, but that didn’t make him the uncrowned king of lost Malkier. Far as he knew, Lin could handle a sword, but Wyden knew that Lin’s glory days were long past him.

Face it, he thought. Yours are, too.

He’d been…something, once. Then the Embrace of Pain had broken him, and he’d run and kept running and all these years later, time hadn’t so much healed the wounds as turned them into scars and made him brittle in all the wrong places.

And someone was using the Embrace in Helgen, which meant work of the Shadow. Which meant Aes Sedai.

And wasn’t that a comfortable thought.

“Lan,” Mayor Wilsa repeated. “Enough of you, and you should be able to stop them from leaving.” Which in Wyden’s judgement, was overly-optimistic, but what was the point in fighting it?

He counted the tasks yet to be done, the tasks that remained until he was done, and merely nodded until the mayor thanked him, and went to see to something else.

 

 

The scholar and the soldier descended the stairs to the tap room below. Wyden could hear them, heard the way the second step from the top creaked beneath the soldier’s weight. He’d always meant to fix it, but then hadn’t gotten around to it. In a way, the squeaky step comforted him. He felt safer knowing he could hear when someone was coming, if only a little.

Locks, creaky steps, a remote mountain village. All the little lies you told yourself, so you could believe you were safe in this world, so you could believe that the Light loved you, and that there weren’t fell things of the Shadow swarming out there in the darkness, ready to tear your guts out.

Maybe they’d given up the pretence of separation. They were too aware of each other; the way the soldier paused when the scholar stumbled, offering her his arm. The way he kept his sword arm free to draw, the way she stood on his non-dominant side, allowing him to draw fast if necessary. It was clear to him, written into the world like patterns of frost on the glass of a windowpane and he didn’t know why he saw these things, why no one else seemed to.

He knew what they were, and that knowledge terrified him, chilled him to the bone.

Thorns pricking his skin, crawling about his wrists like loops of barbed manacles. What do you think will happen, said the Aes Sedai, coldly, if they reach your eyes?

There was a loud crash.

Wyden realised he’d dropped the entire tray of dishes on the floor, though at least the Light was merciful and wooden plates clattered and spun on the ground. Another task, another task, always another task. He fumbled for the plates, and froze as another person grabbed the plate he was reaching for.

“Allow me,” Edler said, quietly.

They stared at each other warily. You knew another swordsman from their walk, from the calluses, from the scars. Years of hiding as an innkeeper couldn’t bury that. And Edler was a sharpened sword, and had never hidden that.

Wyden looked away first. “Thanks,” he said, roughly, and stuffed the plate into his bucket. He’d have to scrub down the whole lot again, but what was work? Work kept him honest. Work kept him together, when the Aes Sedai had taken him apart. Work kept him alive.

Even if sometimes, Wyden didn’t know why he still bothered.

They stacked the plates back into the bucket, one by one. One of the plates was damaged, and a long crack ran through the middle. Wyden tossed it into the bucket anyway. Some tar and resin and maybe it could be mended. Maybe.

There was an art to fixing broken things, to pressing them back into use. To be of some small service to the Light and the world, even if they were only diminished shadows of what they once were.

“Why did you come?” he asked, keeping his voice low.

Edler hesitated. “How many deaths?” he wanted to know.

Wyden blinked. “What?”

“You’re a stranger to Helgen. The whole village talks about it.”

“Haven’t been for years,” Wyden said, stung. Remembered the Fang, the scrawled accusation on his door. Wished he hadn’t—in that moment, he ached so much, and he didn’t know what for. For home, perhaps. But home was the garrison, and well.

You betrayed them all, whispered that dark voice in his head. Face it, Wyden. You get exactly what you deserve.

Maybe he ached for the man he’d been, the one that Commander Bralor had loved as his own son. 

He stared blankly at the bucket of dishes, and no matter how he ran through the tasks in his head, they didn’t seem enough, didn’t seem like reasons to keep together or hold on. And part of him was so, so very tired.

The bucket smacked into his knee and Wyden bit back a curse. Edler had nudged it with a kick.

“Innkeeper. The deaths?”

“Stern finds them,” he found himself saying. “Always does.”

“How?”

 

Two years ago, it’d been Alain Stern who’d found Mailu deep in the woods. Someone’d strung him up from an ancient yew, but that hadn’t killed him. 

“Drowned,” said Dagr, flatly, when they’d cut him down. 

“On dry land?” Locke asked, sceptically. “If there was a creek, I’d understand, but how exactly does a man drown on dry land?”

“Water in his lungs,” Dagr said, clinically. He pressed down on Mailu’s chest; hard, firm, compression strokes. Mailu was pale and dead, his lips faintly blued. “See?”

“The point remains,” said Locke, evidently unimpressed.

“Beats the hell out of me,” said Eaton Strikk. He glared at Mailu’s body, as though Mailu had personally offended him. It was just Strikk, Wyden thought. He had a way with people. “Man doesn’t drown in a creek, and then appear up in a tree. Was murdered.”

“Murder? Here in Helgen? Out in the woods?” Lorum Ipsum said. “There hasn’t been a murder in Helgen in years.” 

But there were bodies. 

There were always bodies.

Travellers who got lost in the woods. Mailu, who’d wandered far and somehow managed to drown on dry land. 

They’d found the one who did it, of course. A wandering minstrel, clearly a Darkfriend. They drowned him in the creek, Lin Mindrigurin holding him under the water as Mayor Wilsa presided over the execution. 

But Helgen was safe.

Helgen was far enough from the Blightborder, and the Shadow did not reach Helgen, did not touch Helgen. Tema’s goats were fat and plentiful, and Daian’s garden flourished, and the trees whispered secrets no one could hear.

Except, perhaps, Alain Stern.

Sometimes a villager went missing. Poor Lukal, who wandered deep into the woods and was found at the foot of Brosca’s Point. Everyone knew better than to attempt the climb in the lashing rain and the dark.

Stern found her, dead on the rocks below. It was Stern who had the stomach to bring her back for burial, where the others might have flinched. Perhaps Munin would have done it, but he did not often wander far from Helgen proper. Said that his wandering days were far behind him and he had work enough to satisfy him.

The woods kept their secrets, but sometimes, they only yielded more questions.

 

 

They came for Stieg at the falling of dusk.

The elderly villager was sitting out on his porch, taking in the evening air. “What’s this now?” Stieg snapped, as the crowd gathered out in front of his house.

“You truck with the Shadow,” Jóhannsson said, grimly. There was no sign of the cheerful composer now, or the man who made such beautiful music on the harp and flute. Only a cold purpose in those eyes. “You’ve been pointing fingers at the various villagers of Helgen, Stieg. As though you long to see them strung up yourself, wouldn’t you?”

“I served with the Children of the Light!” Stieg retorted, glaring at the gathered villagers. All the faces he’d known for so long, had grown up with, and had returned to, after a sojourn with the Children of the Light. Part of him wondered if he should have retired, should have returned to Helgen. But his bones had ached after long enough on the road, and the homesickness had welled up in his heart.

It was the sort of thing you could drown in, and in a moment of weakness, he’d given up and returned to Helgen.

“I can still wield an axe as well as any man,” he warned, eyes narrowed. “You, Xin. I helped you rebuild your shed when the tree smashed it down. Do you really think me a Darkfriend? What about you, Bortington? Do you think my commitment to the Light is any less unwavering?”

“I don’t trust your words,” Jóhannsson called out. “Pretty words, from a man who claims to have served the Light! But we all know where such inquisitions lead, don’t we?”

“You accuse me of working for the Hand of the Light?” Stieg asked, incredulously. He rose to his feet. “Do you think me damned, Jóhannsson? Have those songs of yours driven you mad? The Hand of the Light is—prone to extremes. I served and fought for the Children and bled out in campaigns your songs will never sing of! I nearly died for the cause of the Light thrice over, and I will be damned if I sit here and listen to your accusations any further!”

“Um,” said Buffy.

“Even the ranks of the Children have known Darkfriends,” Jóhannsson said, ominously. “Or there would be no need for the Questioners, would there?”

Buffy said, loudly, “Where is Stern? And where is Wei?”

Jóhannsson and Stieg both stared at him, uncomprehending. 

Buffy said, “They’re missing. Almost the whole of Helgen is here. Someone saw Lin Mindrigurin, said he’d fallen asleep on a hammock. Wyden is repairing half the Tree. So where is Wei? And where is Stern?”

“Maybe they’re Darkfriends,” Stieg said, thunderously. “Maybe they’re off killing, or scheming to murder us in our homes!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jóhannsson said, wearily.

“Should at least check,” said Rambler. “Last we want is a nest of ‘em. Beneath our bloody noses. Light burn them! If this is true.”

 

 

They found Wei and Alain Stern.

Or rather, they found Alain Stern, his hands wrapped around Wei’s throat, calmly holding her beneath the surface of the creek, an eerie echo of how the minstrel had been executed those years ago.

You never knew, Wyden thought, although his mind was strangely calm.

You never knew who the Darkfriends were. Alain Stern had been perfectly accommodating and polite to him, and he’d paid well. As far as Wyden was concerned, he’d have liked more customers like the woodsman.

But Alain Stern had found a lot of bodies.

So many deaths, Edler said, and for some reason, Wyden couldn’t let go of those words. It was as though a veil had been rent before his eyes, as though something he’d just accepted as a fact of life in Helgen had been revealed to be a sham before his eyes.

So very many deaths, and so many bodies that Alain Stern had found.

Who would have thought?

Why hadn’t he questioned it? Why hadn’t anyone?

The woods kept their secrets. Sometimes, the secretive, quiet woodsman leaving to range deep into the woods was a secret unto himself.

Edler’s blade whistled out in a sharp, final arc. Arc of the Moon, Wyden thought, executed perfectly, with a master swordsman’s grace and control.

“May the last embrace of the mother welcome you home,” he said. 

“He was a Darkfriend,” Rambler spat.

“Even one such as him,” said Edler. Folding the Fan flicked the drops of blood from the edge of his blade, and he sheathed the sword with Furled Blossoms. Unusual, part of Wyden was thinking. He hadn’t seen that form used on the Blightborder—men preferred it in the south. “Everyone chooses how to face death. Even a Darkfriend.”

Even one with the dead stacked like stones against his soul, Wyden thought, and tried to look away from Stern’s staring eyes.

He didn’t know if he was thinking of Stern or himself.

 

 

Araris Valerian/Alain Stern was executed! He was a Darkfriend Elder! The Dragon's Fang mechanic has been deactivated! (Am I prophetic, or what?)

Illwei/Wei was killed! She was a Villager!

Quote

Araris (4): Mat, Archer, Stick, Striker
Stick (3): Thaid, TJ, Araris
Thaid (2): Bort, xino

The cycle has begun, and will end on 30th March, 0100hrs SGT (GMT+8)! 

Please be reminded not to post in this thread until I've reserved the second post for the player list and rule clarifications, thank you!

Edited to add: @The Unknown Novel has failed to post for one cycle. Please be reminded that failure to post for this subsequent cycle will get you filter-killed or replaced.

Edited March 27, 2022 by Kasimir

[Kasimir he/him]

Rule Clarifications:

Spoiler

• Are Fang votes public?

No, they are not, but they're also currently about as useful as a trenchcoat on a polar bear, so........

Player List:

Spoiler

1. @Thaidakar the Ghostblood - Daian
2. @The Unknown Novel - Lorum Ipsum, actually Lorumis Ipsimir
3. @xinoehp512
4. @Matrim's Dice - Rambler, disturbed fellow
5. @Orlok Tsubodai - Locke
6. @Amanuensis - Lin Mindrigurin, elderly veteran sometimes mistaken for Lan
7. Araris Valerian - Alain Stern, hardy woodsman Darkfriend Elder
8. Illwei - Wei Villager
9. @Archer - Buffy, who has an intense fear of fangs
10. @JNV - Kai
11. @StrikerEZ - Eaton Strikk, a guy with a headache and worryingly murderous tendencies
12. @_Stick_
13. @Bort - Bortington the Blind
14. @|TJ| - Jóhannsson, local composer

 

Edited March 27, 2022 by Kasimir