Mid-Range Game 61: Shadows and Dust

[Shining Silhouette he/him]

2 hours ago, Ashbringer said:

Shining. I don't really know what to think. But the exe being one vote further of manip range would be preferred, and Shining has a few reasons between the C2 survival and their votes.

Quote

 

Shining Silhouette (7): DrakeMarshall, Fifth Scholar, Fadran the [Redacted], Mat, Mad, Hael, Ash
Fadran (2): Bookwyrm, Wizard

 

Guys I think I'm dying no matter what 

[The Bookwyrm he/him]

42 minutes ago, Ookla the Debonair said:

Guys I think I'm dying no matter what 

Yup.

Now my only question is do I join the train?

Silhouette, how much would it hurt your feelings if I joined the train?

My reasoning is that if every single other person voting ('cept Wiz) is gunning for you, then there must be something. It can't just be all elims. Even if my gut is reading village, if everyone else is finding enough evidence to assume that you're elim, you probably are.

...I've convinced myself. Sorry, Silhouette.

Fadran

[Shining Silhouette he/him]

53 minutes ago, Ookla the Perpetual said:

Yup.

Now my only question is do I join the train?

Silhouette, how much would it hurt your feelings if I joined the train?

My reasoning is that if every single other person voting ('cept Wiz) is gunning for you, then there must be something. It can't just be all elims. Even if my gut is reading village, if everyone else is finding enough evidence to assume that you're elim, you probably are.

...I've convinced myself. Sorry, Silhouette.

Fadran

I'm not offended, Bookwyrm.

It's not necessarily that they think I'm evil, it's just that knowing whether or not I am evil is a crucial piece of information and context for the village going forward. Either V!Me and E!Me, I'm the best exe.

Shining Silhouette

@Ookla the Myopic, why don't you vote me too? I want a monopoly.

 

[The Wandering Wizard he/him]

35 minutes ago, Ookla the Debonair said:

@Ookla the Myopic, why don't you vote me too? I want a monopoly.

 

...If you really want it.

Fadran

Silhouette

[Shining Silhouette he/him]

 

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Shining Silhouette (9): DrakeMarshall, Fifth Scholar, Fadran the [Redacted], Mat, Mad, Hael, Ash, Bookwyrm,. Wiz

Pretty crazy y'all

[Kasimir he/him]

1 minute ago, Ookla the Debonair said:

Pretty crazy y'all

Thanks for making vote logging easier for me?  

Two and a half hours left in the cycle!

[Shining Silhouette he/him]

Non-voters, are you planning on voting this cycle?

@Devotary of Spontaneity, @ookla the POKE VOTE, @JNV, @Alvron

[The Wandering Wizard he/him]

Just now, Ookla the Debonair said:

Non-voters, are you planning on voting this cycle?

 

They don't have to vote, it would only work if you got five votes shifted to another person, so, so long as no one votes for another train. There is no way for you to be saved if the Jedi don't help. It would take five manips, of which there are only six possible, two of which are Jedi, two of which are possible apprentices, and two of which are Desann. Those parties aren't going to work together to save you. I feel as if I am making a wrong choice, but hopefully the information will help us.

[Shining Silhouette he/him]

4 minutes ago, Ookla the Myopic said:

They don't have to vote, it would only work if you got five votes shifted to another person, so, so long as no one votes for another train. There is no way for you to be saved if the Jedi don't help. It would take five manips, of which there are only six possible, two of which are Jedi, two of which are possible apprentices, and two of which are Desann. Those parties aren't going to work together to save you. I feel as if I am making a wrong choice, but hopefully the information will help us.

Oh I don't want to be saved

I just want everyone to vote me I think that would be really funny

Edit:

Also I just realized.

Isn't this kind of a modified WBG (assuming the elims were the ones who maniped)?

Edited December 2, 2022 by Ookla the Debonair

[Madagascar]

10 hours ago, Alvron said:

Quote

 

(*cough cough* ALVRON). In this particular galaxy unfortunately, to start chopping suspects in half and seeing what color lightsaber falls out, the only mechanic for determining any sort of true information is. Then move on we can to other suspects  (cough cough ALVRON).

I kid Alvron I kid

maybe

*smokes death stick of paranoia*

 

I admit, this has me interested.  It almost sounds like you know of my rep yet in the same post you claim not to be familiar with players styles.  Is someone warning you about me in Doc perhaps?  Maybe we should see what kind of sabre you drop?  

*flexes fingers*

Moff puts smelly sock on his claw and starts talking in a high pitched sock puppet voice*

Buddy this is you ---> *"bOoP boOP, aLvRon iS My nAmE! aT mY bIG BicePS AND MY sHiny sPaCeSHiP, Look! thaT Is THe OnlY ReAsoN mOff CoUlD PossIbly HavE BEen voTinG fOr Me oR the HAIrY EYebALL givING Me, mY Big bICePs And My SHINY SPACeSHIp, nOT THe faCt thAt I'Ve Been BeINg coNSPicUOusLy INconSpICuoUS thiS whoLE TIme, LURkING iN thE ShadOwS WheRE SafE AnD easY to avOid sCRUtIny IT IS, OCcASiOnAllY chatTEriNG aBOuT pazaaK, BUT Not RealLY SaYiNG anYthinG. YES, MOff tHaT meanie just HATes Me BecauSe i'M aWeSOme anD No otHeR reaSOn COuLD PoSSibLy ExPLaIn iT. yEp , thAt's ME, ALvron, wHiCh In sPaCe FrENch MeANs INCREDiBLY aWeSOMe HuMBLE PerSOn"

Hate to break it to you, I do, but how rich your daddy and influential your family on Coruscant is, give a steaming Wookie poo we really don't. (By the Force, who let the Wookkie poo and clog up the only bathroom? It's impossible to get a plumber this time of night.) But hey, at least now talking you are.

[Kasimir he/him]

57 minutes ago, Ookla the Debonair said:

Isn't this kind of a modified WBG (assuming the elims were the ones who maniped)?

No.

*I was going to elaborate, but decided it'd be really funny if I just said no given my epistemic advantage 

**For legal reasons, this should not be taken as anything other than my being persnickety about what WBGs are.

[Shining Silhouette he/him]

33 minutes ago, Kasimir said:

No.

*I was going to elaborate, but decided it'd be really funny if I just said no given my epistemic advantage 

**For legal reasons, this should not be taken as anything other than my being persnickety about what WBGs are.

[Kasimir he/him]

The cycle has ended!

Quote

static *s t*is g*zmo w*rk*ng?*?

Of course it is. Hello, fellow good citizens and countrypersons of Dreshdae!! I have some good news and some bad news.

Normally, you lead with the bad news, then do the good news, but since I am a free thinker who makes my own way, I shall proceed to disclose the good news posthaste! The good news is, I got this radio thingy working! Pretty cool, right?

The bad news is, long-range comms are still shot. Turns out, faster-than-light communication is actually pretty bloody difficult and sophisticated and such. Even my obviously prodigiously capable and also beautifully manicured hands can't make parts appear out of thin air, hah!

Still, you know what they say. A baby step in the right direction is worth two in the bushes. I'm quite sure they say that.

I will keep you apprised of any major updates or developments. In the meantime, enjoy this complementary live performance of Korriban's first ever gizka-operated synth organ! I've been training them to follow my conducti-- where do you think you're going??! Get back in your spot, Waggs! It's about to start!

<an incomprehensibly disharmonious jumble of overlapping synthesizer notes follow>

 

[Kasimir he/him]

Cycle Four: Half A Sith

The mood at the Drunk Side was little improved by the knowledge that the sonic emitters had been sabotaged.

“Someone should go out and fix it,” grumbled Lib Wubum, who was not remotely thrilled that his quarry seemed to be nowhere to be found. He batted away a gizka that was inspecting his electro-spear with annoyance.

Kalabel was sitting with her back to the corner, fiddling with the red triangle puzzle. Immediately, at his words, she warily placed the puzzle back into that hidden compartment of Bar9, for safety. There was something about the puzzle that made her want to shield it from others. Maybe they’d take it from her.

The problem with Darkness, Kalabel thought, was that her mind couldn’t seem to get off it. Sajhe’d gone out on an errand somewhere, she saw him leaving out through the back after receiving some sort of flimsi note he’d washed into the sink.

Where did that leave her, besides being the Chosen One of junction boxes? This clash of Sith cultists of some sort and Jedi supposedly roaming around in Dreshdae, if the Sith were to be believed, if Turtle wasn’t blowing things out of hand…

She didn’t know. She felt as though there wasn’t a place for her, not quite, in that sort of world.

A couple of gizka were hopping about, on and off of Bar9 and the patter of their footsteps made for a comforting rhythm, even if the gizka did get everywhere.

“You’re good with repairs, aren’t you?” Shil-Ou-Te said, looking over at her. “I think old Galtaran swears he’s never taught anyone that good. Reckon you could fix the sonic emitters.”

“Right,” said Kalabel, and tried not to feel as though the room was drawing in on her. And then Darkness, all around, smothering. “Smarts could do it too. But we fix things, we don’t kill tuk’ata. And the way Barles tells it, half the tuk’ata in the Valley have been using that offworlder as a chew toy.”

There was…she had a trick to deal with the tuk’ata. The day she’d found the puzzle. As though it was calling to her, beneath all that dust. But she didn’t want to talk about it, and she didn’t know it’d work, anyway. One thing to venture beyond the emitters to explore the Valley. Another thing to entrust her life to it when she worked repairs.

“But you could,” pressed Shil-Ou-Te. “Right?”

“You’re very interested in the emitters,” Tantyck observed. The man had withdrawn into himself after the death of Nodice, and the ensuing lockdown at the spaceport. He was sitting at an empty table dealing himself sabacc cards, but now he glanced over at Shil-Ou-Te. “Or at least, you’re interested in who might be able to fix them. One might think this raises questions about whether that interest comes from.”

Shil-Ou-Te smiled, and it was that sort of smile that half of Dreshdae would’ve said was too friendly, and the other half of Dreshdae would’ve said that Shil was just that sort of guy, the sort that everything rolled off. “C’mon, Tantyck, the last thing any of us needs is to wake up to a horde of tuk’ata in Dreshdae again. Or a shyrack swarm. Stang, that’s probably how that terentatek got in in the first place!”

“Nodice was talking about you, the night before he died,” Tantyck continued. Shuffled the sabacc cards, fanned them out again. A perfect Idiot’s Array. “Said he thought there was something fishy about you, about the way you weren’t taking any of this seriously.”

“Am I?” Shil laughed. “The way I see it, you’re reaching, Tantyck, you and Nodice both. You haven’t got anything on me, but you just want to find someone to blame for the comms outage and the emitter sabotage.”

“Funny,” said Tantyck, clinically. “Shouldn’t you have said that you’re innocent?”

It was said that the best masters of the game of kozun could see a game-losing move thirty steps before it was made, measured out in the black and white stones of the game board.

Shil saw that move, in that instant, spelled out in the grim faces of his fellow settlers, in the way hands went to stun batons and blasters. Sajhe, after all, wasn’t there to enforce that rule right now.

There was the loud sound of a blaster discharging, and Shil crumpled to the floor.

Moff tossed aside the blaster he’d grabbed, and returned to smoking fifteen death sticks simultaneously. “Nothing against you, I have,” muttered the diminutive alien, who’d claimed to be a Jedi school reject. “Bought death sticks from me with extra death, you did.”

 

 

“Statement: There are holes in my memory core.”

HK-47 said, advancing on the food meatbag. Better things to be done, such as exterminating the gizka who were appearing around the village in large numbers, croaking and cooing away. But there was the food meatbag. And the puzzling gaps in his memory core, as though some things had been deleted. What, HK didn’t know.

And that was the trouble.

“Puzzled Statement: I feel as though I should know you, Master.”

The food meatbag turned dark eyes on HK.

“Say what you called me out here for, HK,” he said.

“Contemplative: I wonder if those holes were deliberate. The last time my assassination protocols engaged, they did so completely, suppressing all memory of the previous masters.”

“I never used you as an assassin droid.”

“Indignation: Then what is the purpose of having an assassin droid, if one won’t use it for targeted elimination?”

“It’s not assassination if it’s the heat of battle, is it?”

“Resignation: I would suppose so. Evaluation: This still brings us back to the heart of the problem.”

“Does it?” asked the food meatbag. He turned his back and began to walk away. Out of the badlands. Back towards the rusting old settlement of Dreshdae.

“Probing Query: If one has information, why would one choose not to share it?”

“Why would one choose, indeed?”

HK-47’s reflexes were still faster than that of a mere meatbag. His sensors registered the minute shift of weight as the food meatbag was about to take another step, and In the millisecond between that shift of weight and the next, servomotors whined and he whipped up the slung blaster rifle and squeezed the trigger, inhumanly fast, inhumanly precise.

The food meatbag jerked about, and the scarlet streaking blaster bolt burned into the palm of his open hand, deflected off-course. A tracery of green slowly pushed upwards about his boots, and the food meatbag knelt to run his fingers through them.

HK-47’s memory banks identified them as wetgrass, which flourished during brief deluges in the rainy season on Korriban.

The wetgrass curled about the food meatbag’s boots, out of season, out of place.

The food meatbag glanced over at HK.

“Don’t try that again,” he said.

This time, HK let him leave.

 

 

Although his equipment had been affected when the local comms infrastructure had been taken down, Myhar Impay had resorted to more mundane methods.

At this point, he was hunkering down in a crop field in the outskirts of Dreshdae. Nalan Dicaeo had been willing to talk anybody’s head off about the latest conditions, but there was something more troubling that Myhar’s latest survey had revealed, before his sensor network had been cut off.

There were too many gizka.

He counted far too many gizka, cooing as they hopped about and frolicked in Dicaeo’s field. It had to be done the old way, tallied on a field-standard datapad, but Myhar was fairly certain that the gizka were not supposed to be a species native to Korriban. Even worse, they were extremely invasive.

Back in the days of the Jedi Civil War, the planets of Kashyyyk, Manaan, Tatooine, and even Dantooine had all suffered localised gizka infestations. It was a lesson to be wary of, and a lesson in the resilience of the gizka. According to reports submitted in the aftermath of the War by Republic soldier Carth Onasi, even the planet Lehon in the Unknown Regions had found its ecosystems taken over by invading gizka.

And now there was Korriban.

Myhar found it troubling.

The local gizka population, by his indicators, had quintupled since he had begun his measurements! Almost as though their growth was being subtly encouraged…

Myhar frowned, and closed his datapad. He had to get back into Dreshdae, and talk to the others. One way or another, the local gizka problem had to be solved.

 

 

The gizka-operated synth organ was a glorious, glorious mess. Gizka, as it turned out, could not quite be trained, though Dacken Humtumb was moderately confident that he’d yet to find the proper incentive.

The gizka milled about the badlands, croaking and cooing as Dacken rubbed Waggs behind his ear nubs. “C’mon,” he coaxed. “Get back to your places!” Note after note, strangely discordant, yet strangely harmonised, sounded as gizka hopped everywhichway without particular care for the swipes of Dacken’s conductor’s stick—a laser screwdriver that’d probably seen better days in Dreshdae’s spaceport. “Biggs, shoo!” The gizka bumped its head against Dacken’s boot and cooed again.

More gizka were gobbling the bait up, or simply chasing tiny dust devils, rather than playing out the piece that Dacken had been trying to teach them.

That was fine, Dacken thought, firmly. You didn’t try to force gizka to do what wasn’t in their nature, just enjoyed the results of the music that the gizka were producing.

The sharp whine of a series of blaster bolts put all of that to a halt as a menacing, rust-plated figure drew up short and opened fire.

The amplified music was abruptly silenced.

“Irritated Statement: That recording was getting on my nerves,” said HK-47, as he shot the recording apparatus that Dacken had cobbled together to boost short-range comms. It screamed with a snarl of feedback, and then crackled into unsteady static-filled white noise. Another shot put everything out of its misery entirely. “Assessment: This makes you the meatbag who managed to restore short-range comms to the settlement for a time. Menacing Observation: You seem to be doing something nefarious with the local gizka population. The same gizka whose numbers I have been hired to control.”

Without any apparent fear, Dacken scrambled to confront the assassin droid, arms outstretched. “Now listen here,” he declared. “The gizka are simply marvellous, marvellous! These beauties are exactly what a world as steeped in gloom and darkness and whatever-have-you as Korrriban needs. A jolt of gizka cuteness to the system, exactly what the doctor ordered.”

He scooped up a gizka, and proferred it to HK as the gizka wriggled about in Dacken’s grasp but was evidently willing to stay put. “See?”

Dacken, at least, was quick enough, or cunning enough to let the gizka drop, and it hopped away quickly as the assassin droid opened dire. “Oi! Watch it with the blaster bolts!”

“Statement: The gizka are taking over. You should know that. There is only one solution now.”

“It’s nothing to do with sixty-six, is it?” Dacken said.

“Utter Bafflement: What?”

“Honestly,” Dacken admitted, “Just wanted to distract you for a second. Scatter!” he shouted to the gizka, as he pressed a button on his comlink and threw down a smoke grenade.

It hissed and thumped to the sand and then burst, letting out a glorious puff of pale smoke.

“...Well,” said Dacken, hesitantly. “That didn’t go to plan.”

Still, the destroyed equipment appeased him by letting out a keening shriek, enough that the gizka were beginning to hop away. 

“Mocking Query: How many fleeing gizka do you think I can kill in one standard second, gizka meatbag? And perhaps I will kill you as well.”

Dacken threw himself down as the assassin droid trained the blaster rifle on him.

“Weary Statement: You have been a constant thorn in my side, a persistent nuisance to the mission of ruthlessly exterminating all the bzzt gizka on this planet. And so you must die.”

Dacken Humtumb still had some survival instincts. But he could not outrun the programmed reflexes nor the accuracy of an assassin droid.

He flopped to the ground.

A hooded figure stood over him, and not a single bolt touched him.

“Unnecessary Observation: Ah. I was beginning to wonder where the local Jedi had gotten off to.” 

Dacken looked up and gaped.

“Stay down,” urged the Jedi, for there was surely no other entity this brown-cloaked figure could be, though a hood masked his features. The last blaster bolt bounced off the upraised length of a verdant lightsaber blade the same vivid green as the sprouting wetgrass, and careened away into the distance.

“Protocol: Jedi meatbags on this world are to be killed.” HK-47 laid down a line of precise fire, but the Jedi advanced, the lightsaber singing as he deflected each bolt—left-right-left-right-right-right when HK-47 altered the pattern, the lightsaber blade spinning about and humming as bright scarlet blaster bolts were battered away into the air or whined harmlessly into the ground.

“Watch out for the gizka!” Dacken yelped, scrambling backwards. The Jedi, at least, had the assassin droid’s full, lethal attention.

HK-47 flung a sticky grenade, and then a thermal detonator, both charges beeping countdowns as they bounced and rolled towards the Jedi, who simply slapped them away with the Force and sent them rolling into the distance.

The Jedi slashed, the green lightsaber curving out in a lethal arc meant to burn through the assassin droid.

HK-47 blocked, with the stock of the rifle, and although the metal of the rifle glowed red, the blade failed to slice through.

“Gloating Observation: If you were planning on hunting Jedi, investing in a cortosis weave is worth your while.” Now, HK-47 counter-attacked, punching at the Jedi. The Jedi caught the assassin droid’s arm, but a two-pronged saberdart popped free from a hatch on HK-47’s arm and sank into the Jedi’s free hand.

The Jedi wavered and he set up a push, shoving HK-47 back several paces.

The assassin droid raised his blaster rifle again. “Unnecessary Statement: Goodbye, Jedi.”

The bolt was precise. HK did not miss.

The Jedi’s lightsaber snapped up to parry, driven by something beyond mere flesh, despite the paralytic poison coursing even then in the Jedi’s veins.

The bolt burned through HK’s memory core.

“Protocol: Initiate emergency shutdown and memory wipe.”

The next sweep of the lightsaber blade burned through HK’s midsection, bisecting the assassin droid in half.

HK’s photoreceptors went dark as every system went offline.

 

 

Silho / Shil-Ou-Te was executed to thunderous applause! Thus democracy lives! He was a Settler!

Hael / HK-47 was killed! He was a Murderous Assassin Droid and Gizka Exterminator! Oh, sorry, that's not the information you were looking for. I'll come in again. He was working for the Desann Reborn!

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Silho (10): Ash, Mat, Drake, Hael, Wiz, Bookwyrm, Fifth, Silho, Mads, Fadran

(Frankly just ask me who didn't vote for Silho, it's easier.)

Ecologist Myhar Impay reports Dreshdae is experiencing an emergency surge in the local gizka population! For the duration of the next cycle, players may send in RP orders about what to do with the horde of gizka and I will accept and process them where possible!

Gizka, gizka everywhere!

The cycle has begun and will end on Monday, 5th December 2022 at 0100hrs SGT (GMT+8)! Please be reminded that PMs are closed.

Edited December 2, 2022 by Kasimir

[Kasimir he/him]

Rule Clarifications:

Spoiler

• Multiple vote manips and multiple redirects on the same target both have the same net effect: they cancel out.
• Anything redirected to an illegal target (the obvious case has to do with protects) will fail. 
• Roleblocked players will be informed they were roleblocked.
• Redirected players will be informed they were redirected, e.g. "You successfully protected Gamma!" when Kas had sent in orders to protect Wyrm.
• In the case of multiple unanswered redirects, e.g. Kas redirects Wyrm who was redirecting Ren who was redirecting Gamma, I will RNG for their order, and then apply them in the following order.
• If you are redirected to yourself, and you are using a redirect, you will be told your action failed.
• Jedi Knights are not included in the Apprentice Doc.
• PMs are closed. Players cannot open PMs with other players for the duration of this game.
• The Apprentice Doc will be pseudonymous: players will be encouraged to stick with an identifier and colour, but not required to use a real player name or RP name.
• Duel challenges are refunded if the player is dead at the point the challenge is issued (challenges are last on OoA.)
• There are no restrictions on Force powers beyond what is written in the rules for that particular Force power, and the action limit. Thus, both Jedi can use Force powers if they do not recruit. The same is true of the Reborn.
• Force Dominate does not require the target to have voted.
• A Desann Reborn using Force Drain can indeed be redirected onto themselves, effectively draining themselves to death. You can thank the Stack for this.
• Force Lightning and Force Sense both cannot be used two cycles in a row, irrespective of target.
• Force Drain and Recruitment are the unique abilities of the Jedi and the Desann Reborn: at most one player on the team can use this power in a cycle.
• If a Desann Reborn is killed, the elevation of a Cultist functionally allows the Cultist only access to Force Drain. There are no significant mechanical implications to this.
• If the successor-Cultist is dead, then the Disciples can appoint another successor for as long as they have Cultists.

Player List:

Spoiler

1. @JNV - Jev, a low end smuggler with multiple secret identities
2. @Ashbringer - Kalabel, a young droid technician who found an absolutely innocent red triangle thingy
3. The Unknown Novel - Krisbaan, a bounty hunter with a capital P Past - Settler
4. @Matrim's Dice - Smarts the droid technician, who is protecting you from his real name
5. @Devotary of Spontaneity - Tania! the Terentatek, awoken from dormancy and ready to feast on Force-sensitives
6. Xino - Nodice the unlucky spacer, who absolutely never cheats and has no gambling problem, you are the problem - Settler
7. @DrakeMarshall - Dr. Dacken Humtumb, the gizka preservationist
8. Haelbarde - HK-47, your friendly neighbourhood non-organic gizka exterminator - Desann Reborn
9. @The Wandering Wizard - Lib Wubum, Gungan bounty hunter, trailing Jede Ratrit
10. @The Bookwyrm - Myhar Impay, ecologist who would like to leave to study a more exotic planet, but feels indebted
11. @Fifth Scholar - Martano Hamartano, an aspiring marksman and swoop ganger
12. Ventyl - Ibonek Naw-ibo, a dude in the wrong place, who totally does not have a Shardblade - Settler
13. Silho - Shil-Ou-Te - Settler
14. Szeth_Pancakes - Seth - Settler
15. @Madagascar - Moff, deadbeat Jedi dropout
16. @Channelknight Fadran - K.D. Tantyck, defected Imperial officer
17. @ookla the POKE VOTE - Turtle the spaceport mechanic
18. @Alvron - Nees Bac, Jawa scavenger stranded on Korriban by Imperial forces

 

Edited December 3, 2022 by Kasimir

[Mat he/him]

Ha! Good redirect, whoever you are. Now I don't have to reread Hael and actually make a read on him :P. Or maybe I should anyway, to get an idea on teammates he might have.

Shining's flip is... bleh. I felt that his joking at the end was e indicative but maybe I just felt it would be neater. No doubt I can glean conclusions from how he was pushed, who pushed him, etc but I have an essay to write so y'all can start without me.

[Fifth Scholar he/him]

I am an idiot and the Jedi are not. Nothing new there I guess >>

I am genuinely sorry, Shining. I did reconsider after your analysis, but should have made that reconsidering more public--I think I fell into the trap myself of trying to seem village, and calling 'halt!' on a wagon I started was not in my self-interest. Probably should have been done anyway, though. First thing I will be doing this cycle when I get a chunk of time is going back through all of what you said. It's suddenly relevant  

So the Sith led us on a merry chase, but given that in total none of the wagons in the last three cycles have been on evil players, I am going to start looking at the non-voting population a little more closely. I think that should begin with Alvron. I also completely understand if people want to look into me as well  

[The Bookwyrm he/him]

Okay.

I probably look suspicious now, but I'll ignore that.

It's nice that we at least got one elim...even if it wasn't the exe. 

Hum....everyone who voted Silhouette now looks roughly equally suspicious...

Time for a sort of half way serious half way poke vote on Wizard.

[Mat he/him]

33 minutes ago, Ookla the Perpetual said:

I probably look suspicious now, but I'll ignore that.

It's nice that we at least got one elim...even if it wasn't the exe. 

Hum....everyone who voted Silhouette now looks roughly equally suspicious...

-Less so than if Shining had flipped elim, imo

-We didn't get Hael, the Jedi got Hael :P. I take no credit. But the elims can have that IKYK.

-This is untrue. More on that later.

I'm pretty busy and probably won't get time to sit down and write a good post until tomorrow morning but I can off and on reply until then.

[The Wandering Wizard he/him]

I've mostly been lurking during class, but I finally have time now to do something other than lurk.

1 hour ago, Ookla the Perpetual said:

Okay.

I probably look suspicious now, but I'll ignore that.

It's nice that we at least got one elim...even if it wasn't the exe. 

Hum....everyone who voted Silhouette now looks roughly equally suspicious...

Time for a sort of half way serious half way poke vote on Wizard.

Everyone looks suspicious if you look at them under the right light. Most of those lights however are the wrong kind of light

But why are you susing me? I don't believe you're evil and I know I'm not evil.

I just had a gut feeling about Shining and I trusted that feeling, and it didn't let me down.

Also good job Jedi!

JNV, you've flown under the radar for a long, long time.

---

Flick, swish, stab, repeat.

Lib Wubum cuts a path through the streaming Gizka.

How anyone can see these things as anything other than a pest is beyond me. Perhaps we could try to tame some Tuk'ata to kill them, but there's the problem of them eating anyone that isn't affiliated with the dark side. 

Oh I know, let's get the Terentatek to go kill them, though there's the same problem there. Perhaps I should tempt the murderous beasts to kill them instead of taming them, though removal would be to hard.

Lib crosses off another plan in his head as he absently carves a path through the village, looking for his prey.

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

4 hours ago, Kasimir said:

Hael / HK-47 was killed! He was a Murderous Assassin Droid and Gizka Exterminator!

It pleases me greatly to know that there is justice in this world.

Although it does not please me quite so much as this does:

4 hours ago, Kasimir said:

Gizka, gizka everywhere!

3 hours ago, Fifth Scholar said:

I am an idiot and the Jedi are not. Nothing new there I guess >>

I am genuinely sorry, Shining. I did reconsider after your analysis, but should have made that reconsidering more public--I think I fell into the trap myself of trying to seem village, and calling 'halt!' on a wagon I started was not in my self-interest. Probably should have been done anyway, though. First thing I will be doing this cycle when I get a chunk of time is going back through all of what you said. It's suddenly relevant  

So the Sith led us on a merry chase, but given that in total none of the wagons in the last three cycles have been on evil players, I am going to start looking at the non-voting population a little more closely. I think that should begin with Alvron. I also completely understand if people want to look into me as well  

Smh what Shining was saying was relevant regardless just for different reasons depending on what the flip was

Well at least this reads like v!Fifth coming out of a tunnel and not something more nefarious

Case in point one of Shining's last analysis posts cast suspicion on Alvron, and I do slightly trust Shining to have formed better analysis than I did last cycle about the likely conclusions that followed from village!Shining, bc the rest of us didn't have as much brainpower to spend on a hypothetical. Then again, you just voted for Alv, so maybe you're thinking along the same lines lines But before I grab a torch to go burn Alvron at the stake I'd like to go reread Hael's posts, which are arguably at least as important as rereading Shining's, and also there are a lot less of them so it it's much less effort

I'm also sorry, but to be honest there were enough if-thens in my head depending on Shining's alignment that I don't know if I could have kept on going without a Shining flip  I realize that isn't necessarily fair but then most exes aren't sadly

[Devotary of Spontaneity]

38 minutes ago, DrakeMarshall said:

Well at least this reads like v!Fifth coming out of a tunnel and not something more nefarious

What about that post reads village to you? C2 you floated the possibility that the Silhouette train popped up to save Fifth but by C3 you were reading him as village and now still are. Possibly I'm misinterpreting your C2 post since Shining got a couple votes, then the Fifth train happened, then Hael started the Xino wagon while you relaunched the Shining push at Mat's suggestion. I think it's likely that at least one of you two and Mat is Sith. Fifth is probably the best choice here since much of this is based on Hael + you + Mat pushing the counterwagons to Fifth's exe D2.

[Madagascar]

Return I will to batting Alvron around the knees with a tiny wooden lightsaber. cuz why change up old habits. Copped a death stick he has, and he NEVER BROUGHT IT BACK. Also, see previous.

Quote

Buddy this is you ---> *"bOoP boOP, aLvRon iS My nAmE! aT mY bIG BicePS AND MY sHiny sPaCeSHiP, Look! thaT Is THe OnlY ReAsoN mOff CoUlD PossIbly HavE BEen voTinG fOr Me oR the HAIrY EYebALL givING Me, mY Big bICePs And My SHINY SPACeSHIp, nOT THe faCt thAt I'Ve Been BeINg coNSPicUOusLy INconSpICuoUS thiS whoLE TIme, LURkING iN thE ShadOwS WheRE SafE AnD easY to avOid sCRUtIny IT IS, OCcASiOnAllY chatTEriNG aBOuT pazaaK, BUT Not RealLY SaYiNG anYthinG. YES, MOff tHaT meanie just HATes Me BecauSe i'M aWeSOme anD No otHeR reaSOn COuLD PoSSibLy ExPLaIn iT. yEp , thAt's ME, ALvron, wHiCh In sPaCe FrENch MeANs INCREDiBLY aWeSOMe HuMBLE PerSOn"

Quote

Tomorrow, suggest I do that everybody vote. Like, right away. Even if for someone not sure you are of or based on pure silly Force intuition. But surely by now, suspicions we all have. Just grab people and dangling over the Sarlacc pit we should. Help it will for us to get the space-ball rolling and always change our minds we can later. Democracy dying to thunderous applause better is than democracy dying with “meh” fart noises.

Moff out!

*Moff makes the peace sign and then collapses in a drunken heap*

[Alvron he/him]

3 minutes ago, Madagascar said:

Copped a death stick he has, and he NEVER BROUGHT IT BACK.

"Nyeta m'tuske. Waa!  Opawi opakwa."

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

20 hours ago, Alvron said:

Because it's not the end of a cycle and I might be able to get a tie if I do nothing til then.

I think last cycle might have been the opposite of a tie

this cycle, on the other hand... it's not too late to try and create a tie this cycle

Quote

My faith is absolute and unwavering.  I'm sure you remember MR29. I have every reason to trust in my Gods.  

I didn't know Tehlu was a member of the pantheon of Random Number Gods :eyes:

 

Ok so

Taking a peek at the relevant interactions involving Hael:

C1

We have Matrim throwing a poke vote D1 and then retracting after Hael posted

Quote

I guess I should poke Hael. Though I can’t tell you why or there wouldn’t be a point to it 

/shrug I dunno maybe its a little more likely that an elim would do this for distancing than a villager would just happen to poke an elim, but it isn't a really big indicator.

Hael pokes Madagascar, which Matrim then doubles up on as the first intentional doubled up vote in the game, but then later switches onto Shining, which at the time wasn't very explained I don't think.

Hael keeps the vote on Madagascar until cycle's end, unclear if Hael was actually online at a time when it would have made sense to change it, but if Hael was I don't think they posted.

C2

Hael casts a vote for Xino, while explicitly citing disagreement with the Fifth train as a reason. Honestly, this makes me village read Fifth. I'm somewhat skeptical that Hael, who as Desann Reborn should want to survive and stay hidden for the evil win condition, would feel the need to overtly defend elim!Fifth that early on in the cycle. Particularly with the strength of eliminator vote manips in this game. If Fifth is a regular cultist, there would be no reason for a Dasann Reborn to stick their neck out like that. On the other hand, if Fifth is also a Dasann Reborn, it feels like distancing would be even more important in that case, most likely.

Matrim votes for Xino

Later in the cycle, Hael does a post tracking the movements of the votes so far, but does not actually provide commentary beyond stating the facts of what happened with the votes so far. The vote on Xino stays until the end of the cycle.

JNV votes for Xino.

I do not think using a vote manipulation from Silhouette to Xino makes sense before JNV's vote, and I think it is overwhelmingly likely that the Sith were responsible for the vote manipulation (RIP Silho), so the people who posted after this point are inherently a little bit more suspicious: JNV, Matrim, Kas, Hael, Fadran, Ashbringer, Me, Fifth, Mad, Wizard, Devotary, Bookwyrm, Wyrmhero ok so that's basically almost all of the players so maybe not that helpful Also, since Hael was one of those people, the vote manipulation could have been Hael's fault, in which case this list is even less helpful  It depends on whether you think Hael was submitting the kills regularly or not. Trimming down the list to people I'd consider genuine suspects though: JNV, Matrim, Fadran, Ashbringer, Fifth, Mad, Wizard, Devotary, Bookwyrm.

Matrim shifts from Xino to shining.

Wizard votes Xino.

Silhouette votes Xino.

If we assume that the eliminator team was keeping their finger on the pulse of the votes enough to know that Silhouette was leading, then the vote manipulation only makes sense after Silhouette's vote. People who posted after that time are: Bookwyrm, Matrim, Fifth, Devotary. This was in the last 35ish minutes of the cycle, though, so an elim viewing the thread to inform their action decision but not posting in such a short timeframe is very conceivable. Again, not really as helpful as I wanted it to be

If Xino was being pushed by other elims than Hael, I'd lean towards either JNV or Wizard, but that's a pretty big if.

C3

Hael responds to a Ashbringer's query to explain the reasoning behind C2 votes. Nothing too crazy here, reads like a Sith wanting to head off any possible suspicion, although this doesn't necessarily tell us anything useful about Ash's alignment.

Hael throws shade at Alvron without voting, which... is very nearly textbook distancing.

Hael posts a vote analysis that again doesn't really do analysis, and then joins the Shining party.

Nothing follows.

Conclusions

• The connections between Matrim and Hael are weird. By sheer dint of the fact that Mat is probably the least distanced player from Hael out of everyone, with a lot of interactions between them on record, I am inclined to slightly village-read Matrim, but I'm also left more than a little paranoid.
• Alv, Wizard, and JNV are are a lil sus. At least one of these three reads is likely wrong, particularly seeing as Wizard is currently voting JNV.

1 hour ago, Devotary of Spontaneity said:

What about that post reads village to you? C2 you floated the possibility that the Silhouette train popped up to save Fifth but by C3 you were reading him as village and now still are. Possibly I'm misinterpreting your C2 post since Shining got a couple votes, then the Fifth train happened, then Hael started the Xino wagon while you relaunched the Shining push at Mat's suggestion. I think it's likely that at least one of you two and Mat is Sith. Fifth is probably the best choice here since much of this is based on Hael + you + Mat pushing the counterwagons to Fifth's exe D2.

I guess I have a hard time seeing how an elim brazenly admits they were ignoring Shining's posts and now intend to look at them. Whereas, no offense to Fifth but that isn't necessarily very out of character for my profile of v!Fifth

 

Vote Tally
Alvron (2): Fifth Scholar, Madagascar
Fifth Scholar (1): Devotary of Spontaneity
JNV (1): Wizard the Myopic
Wizard the Myopic (1): Bookwyrm the Perpetual

...I'm a little tempted to vote Alvron because he keeps on not voting

plus he never actually answered my question on C1

but I think right now at least I'd rather spread the love

JNV

 

Independently of Hael or Shining or anything else, I am also just suspicious of Bookwyrm, but

I don't really have a reasoning and I don't really know Bookwyrm's playstyle that well

I'd be interested in hearing literally anyone else's thoughts on Bookwyrm