Long Game 7: The Annealing of Luthadel

[luckat she/her]

I can't tell if Tonul's actions are more consistent with a noble who has used some faulty reasoning or a skaa who is acting too suspicious. It doesn't look like my vote's going to make any difference at this point, so I just won't vote.

Wandrin, I'm sorry about calling you out for not posting. I'd much rather you read the thread without posting than not read it at all. I and others are worried about inactivity, which has happened in the past to the detriment of their allies, and we are checking for what we remember past inactives doing (like never getting on or ignoring the thread). You're right that we're going about it the wrong way. So, sorry again.

As a heads-up, I'm going to be out of town for the next week. I'll be able to get on, but not much and only on my phone.

[Tulir he/him]

I made a few mistakes and then kept following my logic, as I deemed that to be the less suspicious of the two actions.  I will drop in my suspicions and trust list right now, as I am about to die. I trust Meta mostly, Aonar a bit, and I getting suspicious of Gamma and Jaelre.  At this point I am convinced of Ash's innocence, as well as thinking Hadrian is just a new player, and not a skaa.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Tulir

[Wyrmhero he/him]

Night 3

 

The nobles stood around on the A'lees barges, walking carefully so they did not trip and fall in the river. No doubt this was one of Mesist's plans to make them all seem foolish, but the alternative to appearing cautious was even worse. A few of the lucky nobles had their Terrisman standing beside them, a parasol held over them. The rest were periodically dusting themselves down. No matter how ashen they were becoming though, they were all failing to disguise the glares in their host's direction.

 

Mesist took this in stride. It was what he had intended to do, after all. He flashed a grin back at Fien Urbain. The fool's usual hideous garb was covered completely in ash - His Terrisman seemed more concerned with keeping himself neat than his master - and he didn't even notice. "It's good to see that you've finally grown out of that hideous orange shirt, Lord Urbain. If only outwards."

 

"Lord A'lees," Fien said, a cheerful and slightly manic smile across his face as he held a hand over the top of his glass to keep the ash out, "I must commend you on this party. I doubt anyone else could have pulled this off. Only you have the imagination to copy every other ball you've been to and then leave out all the good bits, such as a roof."

 

"Why, I would have thought that the most important part of a ball was to have guests, Fien," Mesist chuckled. "So I think my 'copying' worked better than your attempt yesterday."

 

Fien just scowled in response and finished his glass of wine in one go. "You are remiss in your duties as a host, A'lees - my glass is empty," he said, holding it out. "But I'm sure that it won't remain that way for long...?"

 

Mesist gritted his teeth and swiped the wineglass from Fien's paw. He opened another bottle and, making sure that some ash fell in the glass first, poured him another before handing it back, spilling half of it in the process. He waited until Fien started drinking, and then sprung his trap. "So they say that Lady Raisaal was seen leaving your room yesterday."

 

Fien coughed and spluttered into his wine and dropped his glass onto the edge of the bar, where it rolled off into the river. "You can't-! Why would-? How dare you-!"

 

"In the Southern Dominance, people tend to finish their sentences, Fien."

 

"I've heard all about what people do in the Southern Dominance, and I have no intention of copying you," Fien muttered, grabbing another glass from the table.

 

"Tell me, was the Mistborn hers as well? Or did you manage to offend more people last night than one might expect even from you? They even rumour that you managed to kill it somehow, though I wouldn't believe that for a second unless you had a drinking contest with it."

 

"Who told you about that?" Fien asked, looking around at each of the other nobles. Which one of them could have told them? Well, anyone, really, considering how fast news spread. If he couldn't keep the fact that Cadri was killed in his Keep from getting out, he wasn't particularly bothered about it becoming known that his Terrisman could kill Mistborn like that. Though he was still curious about that himself, if truth be told.

 

Mesist waved a hand at everyone here. "Oh, a hawk told me," he said dismissively. "But that's all old news, anyway," he added as he watched Tonul Venture climb the podium on the Heron's Hunting Ground barge. "It seems the festivities are about to begun," he clapped his hands in a small display of excitement and wandered off across the barges, leaving Fien there on his own. Though considering he was next to the drinks, maybe that wasn't the best move he could have made.

 

"Fellow nobles," he heard Tonul say as he approached, "we have suffered losses at the hands of this conspiracy that Lord Heron showed us. But let us not forget that we have already rooted out a traitor! Sitting quiet and not discussing things only helps them, so let's get some discussion going." At this, he span on his heels and jabbed a finger out at Cat Lekal.

 

Mesist sighed and shook his head. Was he suspicious of Cat? Of course - you'd have to be a fool to not be suspicious of anyone here at all. And then that slightly not-together girl Ashette joined in, though she didn't give a reasoning with it. It seemed as though things fell apart a little when Lord Heron wasn't there to keep an eye on things.

 

"Tonul, I find it curious that you accuse someone like that. Particularly when you seemed quite eager to offer up information to Racine Morinthe yesterday. In fact, as I recall, you were playing a game with us all right from the start, using emotional allomancy on us at Lord Heron's ball."

 

"You would have done the same if someone in your House was about to be killed for no good reason," Lord Venture replied as he looked over at Mesist. "But it's not as though I was the only one who played around with emotions back then," he said in an accusing but general tone.

 

Mesist waved it away as he climbed up onto the gallows that had been constructed. He was quite pleased with that. A public hanging wasn't exactly something that they were used to here. Maybe it would give them a bit of a scare. It was almost like one of Cadri's favoured blood sports. She would have appreciated this joke. ...He decided to stop there before he started to consider that he might miss her. That was dangerous territory.

 

"I believe that Ashette is acting suspiciously," Alden said, a little hesitance in his voice. He didn't want to speak up, most likely because he thought he might be wrong again. It was understandable; he was certainly still shaken over Racine's betrayal. Was it enough to ignore his suggestions? Probably not. He may have trusted the wrong person, but it was too easy to say that it made his contributions worthless. But he said little more than that.

 

"Sylinia Seeris is being rather quiet," Fien said, looking over at her table. "What's wrong, Syl? Nothing to say? Wait, has anyone seen Wandrin whatshisface around lately? Ha, that's a mystery for him to solve!"

 

Mesist sighed and put a hand over his face. A shame that Cadri didn't manage to finish the job yesterday. Hell, she could have done that and then died, and then he'd be ridden of both these headaches.

 

A shape descended onto the barge and landed on the gallows in a crouch. His landing unbalanced the barge, and threatened to trip them all up - Fien was already legless enough to trip and land in a pile of ash. That alone was worth holding this event outside

 

"Well, it seems that we need to come to a decision for the day," Mesist said, leaning against the vertical beam of the gallows that Inquisitor Belmark had just landed on. That was rather impressive, he had to admit - the only metals in the thing were the nails that kept it together. To balance on the crossbeam without unbalancing... Well, Inquisitors certainly deserved their fearsome reputation, it seemed. He was rather glad that he'd never met one in the Southern Dominance.

 

"Already?" Tonul asked, a hint of fear rising into his voice since he was one of the few whose guilt had been discussed so far. "We need more time! We could even wait until tomorrow, one day won't matter too much..."

 

"Do you really want to be the one to tell an Inquisitor to wait?" Fien said, shrugging a little. "Might as well kill you now, it'd be kinder."

 

Tonul paled. "You- you can't just kill me like this! You don't get to kill people based on a popular vote! The Lord Ruler would never allow such a thing! It's never happened like this in the entire history of the Empire! What would he say if everyone started doing things like this?"

 

"I believe that's called a House War," Mesist said dryly. "As I understand it, they're quite popular here in Luthadel. You might have read about them in your books."

 

"But that's different!" Tonul said, tripping over the gallow base slightly as he paced around, trying to speak to each of his attackers. He caught himself before he fell, but that didn't make the situation much better. "That's just politics! This is... This is completely different. What would The Lord Ruler say if he saw us all just picking people at random like this?"

 

From his perch up above, Belmark finally spoke. "He would say that he found your lack of enthusiasm for rooting out the Skaa to be... disappointing."

 

Tonul shivered as the Inquisitor's raspy tone of voice cut right through him, straight to the fear deep inside of him. "I'm enthusiastic! I was the first person to accuse someone today! They wouldn't even have started if it wasn't for me!"

 

He sighed and took a deep breath. Then he took a few more. "Oh, rust..." he muttered, as he slowly started to build up the courage he needed. If only he could Riot his own emotions.

 

But even if he couldn't, it seemed that someone else had the same idea as him. A calmness came over him as someone Soothed away his trepidation and left only contented peace. It could have been a kindness, or it could have been to ensure he didn't escape his fate. He couldn't say, but at this point he didn't really care.  

 

"I apologize if I've wasted precious time through my Allomancy. The skaa have shown themselves to be more intelligent than we have given them credit for, and they have sown chaos throughout this group.  Mesist, I think that you have done a great job in trying to root out the skaa, and as such, I trust you will do a good job further. I wish the rest of you good luck in finding these Skaa, and then killing them mercilessly."

 

"Well, that's nice of you to say so," Mesist nodded. No need to be uncivil about things to a dying man (who wasn't named Fien Urbain), after all.

 

Belmark shook his head at their antics. "I have heard enough," he declared, dropping down on Tonul from above. The Venture Lord gave a brief shriek as the Soothing stopped before there was the heavy sound of his head colliding with the wooden deck of the gallows base. Tonul wasn't dead though - he was still breathing. Perhaps he was just that unlucky.

 

The Inquisitor then picked up his body and slung Tonul over his shoulder. "I will return in a few hours," he said to the quiet crowd, before Steelpushing away.

 

"...That bastard!" Mesist shouted, after he was certain that Belmark couldn't hear him. "I go and build him a lovely set of gallows and for what? So he can splinter the boards and then never use it! That ungrateful bastard!" He kicked the supporting beam for added emphasis. It didn't do anything, except maybe make him look a little silly and hurt his foot a bit, but he felt better for it.

 

*

 

Belmark dropped back in an hour and a half later, in very much the same way as before, a thud of something metalling hitting the deck and him descending shortly afterwards. His hands were bloody, and he did not bring Tonul - or his body - back with him. "An example has been made of Tonul for his failure to sufficiently root out the Skaa amongst you." That was all he said on the subject. "Where is the next ball going to be held?"

 

"House Gadre," Ren offered, a little nervously. Like Mesist, he'd never seen an Inquisitor before, and the sight of one was rather terrifying. The extra height provided by the gallows stand didn't help either.

 

The Inquisitor nodded. "Lord Heron will be there, if he can." Then he Steelpushed back into the mists. Nobody went to follow his lead and leave, at least not immediately - they were too busy staring at what he had used for transport: a bloody metal spike.

 

Night 3 has begun! It will last 48 hours, because I am requesting an extension and my vote counts for three people. It will therefore end at 9PM BST (GMT+1) on Sunday.

 

Tonul Venture was a Noble Rioter belonging to House Venture!

 

Cat Lekal has stepped down as Lady of House Elariel in favour of Hadrian Penrod.

 

Tulir (5): Mesist A'lees, Jae Kastner, Hadrian Penrod, Asyr Tuy, Ashette Cett

Ashiok (1): Alden Izenry

Wandrin Nuvidas (1): Ren Garde

Sylinia Seeris (1): Fien Urbain

 

Player List

House Tuy

Asyr Tuy (a smart guy) [House Lord]

 

House Elariel

Quitania Elariel (QuiteContrary) - Unknown Rioter

Cat Lekal (luckat)

Hadrian Penrod (Araris Valerian) [House Lord]

 

House Seeris:

Sylina Serris (Theorymaker) [House Lord]

Cadri Raisaal (Shivertongue) - Unknown Coinshot

 

House Urbain:

Fien Urbain (Gamma Fiend) [House Lord]

 

House Morinthe:

Racine Morinthe (twelthrootoftwo) - Skaa Tineye

 

House Venture:

Tonul Venture (Tulir) - Noble Rioter

 

Unknown Affiliation:

1. Kassel Erikell (Kasimir)
2. Alden Izenry (Aonar Faileas)
3. Jain Phantomhive (Lightsworn Panda)
4. Hyrun Tormander (The Only Joe)
5. Ashette Cett (Ashiok)
6. Hadrian Penrod (Araris Valerian)
7. Kaldin Fathvell (Kal Dell)
8. Finch Fain (QuiteLeftInch)
9. Wandrin Nuvidas (New One)
10. Mesist A'lees (Metacognition)
11. Mailu Willen (Mailliw73)
12. Ren Gardre (Renegade)
13. Jae Kastner (jaelre)
14. TelZaan (Kandra NPC)

Edited August 1, 2014 by Wyrmhero

[Ashiok]

Good move cat... Well played. That's actually better than my idea. I actually thought that Tonul was skaa for a bit when Jae hopped on it, but once I figured it out, it was too late... Sory Tulir...

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

Fien sniggered to himself as he watched Mesist rampage around at the backhanded insult given from the Inquisitor. Show's the fool for trying to suck up to the Steel Ministry, Fien laughed to himself, wondering whether he should ask Mesist what the Inquisitor's rear end had tasted like. He drained the glass of wine in his hand, and shaking his head to ignore the grizzly ending of the ball. Towards the end he had never really truly suspected Tonul's guilt, figuring them just another victim of the cutthroat atmosphere of Luthadel Politics.

 

Fien went to take a step forward and lost his balance as the boat violently swayed and he staggered over to the edge of the barge, and when wildly flailing to grab ahold of the railing, he remembered what barge he was standing on..... the gallows barge didn't have any railings!

With a cry Fien stumbled over the edge and fell into the river headfirst, the  cold, ask-laden waters instantly soaking his clothes and weighing him, chilling him to the bone down as he thrashed about in panic, causing himself to become even more disoriented. 

 

Rough hands suddenly grabbed him and heaved him up to the surface of the water, and in the flickering glow of the bonfires from the barges above, Fien could see the smoldering anger behind Gamad's eyes as he swam towards the rope ladder that had been lowered down by the laughing nobles up above.

Lord Ruler, I'm never going to live this one down, he thought with dread as he hefted himself back up onto the barge.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Gamma Fiend

[Araris Valerian he/him]

Hadrian sighed. He had never wanted to be the lord of a Great House, especially now when 2 had died in less than half a week. Moving into Keep Elariel was another issue; there were FAR too many people around for his own liking and most of them skaa. He respected the skaa, in a way, for being as hardy as they were. However, he also knew firsthand how ruthless they could be, especially with the power of the mists and Allomancy behind them.

Well Tonul, good game. We really need to spend more time discussing and doing analysis and avoid early votes so that we don't have to scramble at the last minute to avoid a tie. I feel that with an extra 24 hours or even another couple of people contributing to the conversation, somebody could have brought something up to defend him. We should look at who avoided this last day IMO since Tonul ha already given us enough rope to hang him with.

Edited August 2, 2014 by Araris Valerian

[Metacognition he/him]

Mesist kicked the support beam again after Belmark left for the second time. 

 

"You win some and you lose some. The trick is to win more than you lose," he muttered to himself. He'd been wrong, but he wouldn't let that be the end of the world to him. He had to keep on. The Skaa rebellion was still out there and now that he was in the thick of it, he'd see his House through. 

 

He was so distracted, thinking about what had gone wrong, that he almost missed Fien take a nose-dive off the side of the barge. 

 

As the buffoon was hauled up out of the Channerel, covered in flakes of wet ash and spluttering, the look of straight up bafflement on his face made it so Mesist just couldn't hold it in anymore. Even with a Noble death on their hands, Fien's inability to do to anything right, evidently could still bring a smile to his face and Mesist burst out laughing. 

[A Joe in the Bush]

I'm back. Give me an Hour or 7 to get up to speed on What happened While I was gone, and I'll start posting stuff.

 

Thanks for not killing me.

[Ashiok]

Soooo... We are very quiet this night cycle... Should we be coordinating stuff? Isolation in the house docs supposedly helps the skaa, but really I feel left out becuse I'm the only one in my house since my lord died...

[Mailliw73 he/him]

I just got back, and now I'm catching up on everything. I can't decide who I think is the most suspicious. When I have more time to think about it during the day cycle, I'll share my suspicions.

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

Heh, looks like the whole lot of us took advantage of the inactive-night cycle trend. XD It really is starting to help the skaa just sit back and avoid any suspicion if we're not constantly putting pressure on them. I'm of course guilty of this right now, and real life stuff still always take precedence over this game, I'm sure all of us agree on.

Of course, I still don't have much to add as of right now for anything new, but during the day cycle we should definitely start to take a closer look at those who are still reluctant to come forward and participate in open discussion. Also, I do want to give some caution as to what seems to be a trend of waiting for Information before any discussion starts to heavily happen, and while the Informant is definitely useful and will help catch lies and inconsistencies, I just am wary of reliance on it to find the skaa this game. Finding Raccine was a great Day 1 lynch, and I really hope we carry the momentum going forward. But if everyone is putting truths in, the skaa now know they can't really hide behind lies as well because it could leave them exposed like it did with Raccine, so I would bet that they are feeding truths into the pool now to help as a buffer for them, so if we get the same truths at the rate they're putting them in at this point, we won't be as lucky as starting to get straight GM Facts. I fear the skaa may be actually starting to look forward to all of the truths and implications that come out during the Day Turn as much as we are, just so they can learn that much more about people.

Of course I'm not saying we shouldn't use the Informant, it's a tool that must be utilized for sure, but I just want to give caution against relying on it to find the skaa, we should still use the old-school tricks of open debate and discussion as well, including the Night Turn. I will try and follow through with this myself as best I can. Sorry again I don't have much to actually add right now suspicion or discussion wise, but I do have my eye on at least a few people. No reason to alert them just yet.

[Kasimir he/him]

Just to check in:

 

I haven't actually died or something, even if I'm coughing a bit of blood, so while I am somewhat unhappy (no longer miserable!) I am alive and will be contributing once again. So see you on the other side of the rollover!

[Wyrmhero he/him]

Your time is up. The Night has ended.

Edited August 3, 2014 by Wyrmhero

[Wyrmhero he/him]

Day 4

 

Sylinia took a carriage back to House Seeris, mindful of what had happened just two days ago to Quitania. She wasn't too worried about her carriage being highjacked - Her driver had been working for the House for many years, and she had a few guards following behind in case anything did happen. Caution was important, after all, and considering that there were two high-profile deaths from the Skaa, she was willing to appear a little more foolish until it all blew over. No House survived long by being reckless in Luthadel.

 

Whether because she was being overly careful or because the guards deterred an attack, Sylinia had an uneventful trip back to Keep Seeris.  She stepped out of the carriage, aided as ever by her Terrisman. It was best to present the image of a dainty creature outwardly. It meant that people underestimated you.

 

Jain was waiting for her. Or was it actually Jain? She shook her head. She'd never been able to tell the two apart. Even their Allomancy was the same. It was honestly rather disturbing, and something she'd prefer not to think about. It gave her headaches whenever she tried to figure these two out.

 

"Are all the guards ready?" Sylinia asked.

 

Jain nodded a little. "Raisaal are charging us more for their Hazekillers though. Cadri's death hit them hard."

 

Sylinia sighed. "I'll talk to them tomorrow. Return to your Keep. I will see you at Garde's ball tomorrow."

 

Jain nodded and climbed into the coach that Sylinia had just exited, before heading off with the guards. Sylinia herself headed into her Keep, a set of Hazekillers watching her. Raisaal might be attempting to bleed Seeris dry in compensation for Cadri's death at their shared enemy's hands, but even with the price hike it was still worth keeping them on-staff in these dangerous times.

 

Sylinia took a glass of wine with her up to her study. She had contracts that needed signing, and after that she also needed to re-evaluate a few things, with Tonul's death. She grimaced a little as she remembered the bloody spike left behind. It seemed that no-one was safe from the Inquisitors' arm here. Probably not even herself, even as the head of a Great House.

 

She sat down and lit a candle at her desk, before rifling through the many reports she needed to read though. It would be difficult to finish them all tonight, even if she stayed up all night. She took a vial of metal out from her desk, removed the stopper and dropped the shavings into the wine. She swirled the glass around a little and then drank it, scowling somewhat at the taste. It was never nice to have to drink metal filings like that, but it had to be done. She had so much work to do these days that it was a necessity in order to stay awake.

 

A headache came over her an hour or so later. It felt like the sort that one had from burning a poor alloy, but she knew that her metals were as Allomantically accurate as they could be. She looked at the glass. Considering that Cadri had died due to her habits, perhaps it wasn't such a great idea to be predictable at the moment. She stopped burning her pewter, and instead of dying off, the headache increased and she started sweating. Immediately she started to use her metal again.

 

So, it was poison. Probably not too much, or else it would have changed the taste enough for her to immediately notice - though the pewter sediment would have stopped her from noticing as well. She laughed a little. The Skaa probably had no idea how tough pewter made your body. This was so little that she could practically ignore it, given enough water. She reached over to the side of her desk and rang the bell for a servant.

 

A Terrisman entered the room. "What can I do for you, My Lady?"

 

Sylinia held up her wine glass for him to take. "Someone tried to poison me, Vorun. Bring me a large glass of water and something to eat to counteract it."

 

Vorun waited a short while as he processed all the information. "Yes, My Lady," he said, bowing before leaving to attend to his task.

 

Sylinia returned to her writing as she waited for her servants to bring her food and drink. It wasn't just that it would help dilute the poison, she was somewhat hungry after the A'lees ball. That was a host who didn't really know how to feed his guests. He probably had no idea, considering his background in the Southern Dominance. It wouldn't lead to people visiting very often, particularly since his House was supposedly failing like that.

 

The door opened again, and another servant, this one a Skaa, wheeled in a covered tray. "Put it on my desk," Sylinia ordered, not looking around as she continued to sign a new contract. The servant walked over and started unloading it onto the desk. "You are dismissed," she continued. The servant wheeled the tray away again, closing the door.

 

Sylinia stopped her writing and picked up a fork to start on her food. She paused as she heard something from behind her. She pushed herself out of where she was sitting at the same moment that her supposed-servant brought down a duelling cane on the chair.

 

She landed on her feet on the floor next to the 'servant' and reached out, grabbing the duelling cane and using her enhanced strength to grab it off them. She brought it up and around, flaring pewter and smashing it into her attacker's head. They crumpled onto the floor as the cane smashed and splintered with the collision.

 

Sylinia calmly tossed the fractured staff aside and pulled on the bell rope. She'd need to have this cleared up, but then she could return to her work. She was fast running out of pewter though with that brief exertion, and she took another vial out from her desk.

 

Another Skaa servant appeared a few seconds later, flinching upon sight of her attacker. "If they're alive, send them to Lord Heron, with my compliments," Sylinia said to him. "But in either case, tidy up the mess."

 

The Skaa nodded and bowed. "Yes, My Lady."

 

Sylinia stepped out of her study onto the balcony as she waited for him to finish with his duties. She wouldn't be able to work while that was going on, and she really needed to clear her head a bit before delving back into it anyway. Really, sending one person to attack a pewterarm? If they made that mistake, perhaps the nobles didn't have to worry about this at all.

 

She saw a glint of metal in the distance, but she was no Tineye. She couldn't make it out properly in the darkness. She moved forwards a little to get a better look, leaning on the handrail of the balcony. Then the arrow struck her arm. She bit back a wordless shout of pain and ducked down, pulling the arrow out of the wound carefully and examining it. The blood on the arrow, and in her wound, was a sticky black-red colour. Were they really trying to kill her with poison? Well, they were failing with actual attacks.

 

She heard a shout from the Keep grounds, roughly in the direction of her attacker. It seems that they'd got them. Certainly no more arrows were coming in her direction, but that didn't mean that they were gone. They could just be biding their time.

 

Sylinia carefully stood up, holding one of the balcony chairs in front to defend herself against any more arrows, and straining her eyes to see out onto the grounds. There were no more sparkles of light reflected off metal out on the grounds again, but a group of torches seemed to be clustered in one place. It seemed as though the guards using them were examining something. Maybe they'd got her attacker. She stood up properly to have a better look over the balcony.

 

Then someone put their hands on her shoulders and pushed.

 

*

 

The House of Gardre weren't exactly well known in Luthadel. They had to leave around a decade ago due to making a few too many enemies, and it was only now that one of them had returned. Even Ren hadn't spent too much time in the Keep, and it really wasn't prepared properly. There was just too much of it to clean and prepare in time.

 

And so, Ren decided that the best place to hold the ball was outside, where an army of gardeners had been at work hacking away at the jungle that had formed there over the last ten years. For the most part, it had worked, and a uniform lawn had been designated for the ball.

 

A large, octagonal fountain took pride of place in the centre of the area. The fountain was illuminated from below the water surface, with small fires set behind glass around the edge of the octagon. A statue of The Lord Ruler adorned the top of it, staring down at everyone with a stern but benevolent gaze.

 

Around the fountain, paths lead away in each of the eight directions to a tent where seats were placed for socialising. On each of the tent poles, a torch blazed, lending an ethereal light to the mists that swirled around.

 

The Keep itself was mostly off-limits, but the ground floor study was left open. All of the letters of correspondence had been removed, and instead the large desk was covered with various foods and drinks that the nobles could help themselves to, or get a servant to bring to them. A fire blazed there, contrasting the heat of the study with the cool and refreshing air of outdoors.

 

Lord Heron was there in one of the tents, though he seemed somewhat paler than the last time he had been seen, back at the Raisaal ball. "It seems that you didn't quite manage to get things right, yesterday," he said, breaking briefly to cough into a handkerchief. He stowed it away in his pocket and continued. "Sylinia Seeris died last night. Jain Phantomhive is now head of House Seeris, may The Lord Ruler help them," he added the last part in a mumble.

 

"Who would like to begin today's proceedings?"

 

This writeup does not suggest whether the attacker was either injured or not by Sylinia. Or for that matter that Sylinia was at full health before this attack and required this many hits to die (four, I think. Pewterarms just won't die though, will they?).

 

Day 4 has begun. It will end on Tuesday at 9PM BST (GMT+1). Thanks to Renegade for the description of his House's ball.

 

Sylinia Seeris was a Pewterarm belonging to House Seeris!

 

Jain is now Lord of House Seeris.

 

Player List

House Tuy

Asyr Tuy (a smart guy) [House Lord]

 

House Elariel

Quitania Elariel (QuiteContrary) - Unknown Rioter

Cat Lekal (luckat)

Hadrian Penrod (Araris Valerian) [House Lord]

 

House Seeris:

Sylina Serris (Theorymaker) - Unknown Pewterarm

Cadri Raisaal (Shivertongue) - Unknown Coinshot

Jain Phantomhive (Lightsworn Panda) [House Lord]

 

House Urbain:

Fien Urbain (Gamma Fiend) [House Lord]

 

House Morinthe:

Racine Morinthe (twelthrootoftwo) - Skaa Tineye

 

House Venture:

Tonul Venture (Tulir) - Noble Rioter

 

Unknown Affiliation:

1. Kassel Erikell (Kasimir)
2. Alden Izenry (Aonar Faileas)
3. Hyrun Tormander (The Only Joe)
4. Ashette Cett (Ashiok)
5. Kaldin Fathvell (Kal Dell)
6. Finch Fain (LeftInch)
7. Wandrin Nuvidas (New One)
8. Mesist A'lees (Metacognition)
9. Mailu Willen (Mailliw73)
10. Ren Gardre (Renegade)
11. Jae Kastner (jaelre)
12. TelZaan (Kandra NPC)

 

[Lightsworn Panda he/him]

Huh. My house is suffering serious attrition. And on that note, I will now hand the reins over to my diabolical and erratic brother (I'll probably die before the day is out, now).   

[Ashiok]

Questions:

What the storms is with British timezones?

Why has nobody besides Jain posted this cycle?

Did sylinia actually get hit four times this cycle?

[Renegade he/him]

First, because not everyone lives in the United States.

Second, I’m getting to it.

Third, no, I asked, that’s just GM awesomeness.

 

Ren rode in the carriage back towards Keep Gardre.  He arrived late, but was surprised to see that nobody, save the Jain brothers and that pompous Lady Cett, had shown up.  Where is everyone?

 

Well, I don’t want this cycle to be as discussion-light as the last one.  Unfortunately, by the amount of discussion so far, that looks like where we’re headed.  So, time to get the ball rolling.  Right now, based on yesterday’s voting patterns, I’m suspicious of a few people.  Jae, mostly, since I feel he was the first one to get the Bandwagon Train heading out of the station.

 

The other person I feel we should be careful with is Mesist, due to his desire to get Tonul lynched.  It’s not really the fact that Tonul turned out to be a Noble, but more of the fact that he kept trying to put suspicion on one target.  He should know better than to do that.  The only real evidence I saw given to Tonul's suspiciousness was his vote alteration on Day One.  I can't say that I find Mesist really suspicious, but we shouldn't go ahead and trust every word he says, which seems to be one of the causes of yesterday's lynch.

 

Right now, I’d really like to know what Ashette’s “plan” was, why Cat stepped down from House Lord, and what Jae’s exonerating information on Cat is.  I'd also like lots of discussion in general.  Honestly, the lack of discussion in here is getting so bad, that I had to start running my own game so I wouldn't get bored to death.  

Edited August 4, 2014 by Renegade

[Sart he/him]

Thanks for the clarification Rengar. Still, it is odd. Especially since I never targeted her. That can only mean one thing: there is a third coinshot, and for whatever reason, he/she targeted Theorymaker.

 

However, right now I'm most suspicious of Jain. He voted for Tonul on Day 3, and he tried to distract us with music on Day 2, so we wouldn't vote for his teammate.

[Araris Valerian he/him]

Hadrian noticed a man walk into the keep and find a seat quietly in a corner, red: Wandrin. He asked a nearby skaa servant to fetch one of the sacks he'd had filled a previous night, then waited patiently for the boy to return. When the servant returned, Hadrian hefted the bag in his hand, then chucked it with all of his strength at Wandrin's head. "You have been as silent as a skaa! Well, now you look like one too!" The sack collided directly with Wandrin's head and exploded into a cloud of ash, while Wandrin's expression morphed into one of rage and he stood to address the accusation.

@Ren, several of your questions will be answered if you ask the informant about me, but I would prefer you only spend time on that if it is really important to you. Suffice it to say that Cat stepping down dealt with what Ashette was worried about.

Even if Mesist and others are suspicious in chat, we need to focus on inactivity right now, since part of the reason behind Tonul dying was that nobody gave any info that could validate what he said or help explain why he did what he did.

[Ashiok]

I didn't actually mean to post that

Edited August 4, 2014 by Ashiok

[Metacognition he/him]

"Drat," Mesist said when he heard the news. "This city just isn't safe for the womenfolk anymore.

"Suppose I'm not surprised the Skaa would go after them first though. Bunch of cowards is what they are."

 

He chuckled when he saw that Penrod fellow coat Wandrin in ash though. That was move after his own heart. It also drew Mesist's attention to Wandrin. The man was far more quiet than he should be, given the circumstances, and after what he'd learned about the man, it was time he spoke up.  "More than likely, they're a bunch of silent cowards as well."

 

-------------------

 

While I understand your concern over yesterday, Ren, I did have reason behind that lynch. If he wasn't Skaa, then he was playing House Games, which inhibited our ability to learn anything off of the first day. That first day, we said that we didn't want anyone other than Skaa messing with the votes. You don't just go messing with the votes after we all agreed that it would be a bad idea and then not expect any suspicion placed on you for it. Considering the information that we had, it was a good bet; far better than flailing around wildly at least. It just happened to be an incorrect one. It happens. It's not like we can always just lynch the Skaa after all! That would mean the game wouldn't be challenging!

[Ashiok]

So... There are either four coinshots, or the Skaa have access to Superior weaponry, or some idiot Mistborn decided to hit her with coins... Grr.

Odds are that it was a Mistborn, but idk.

Oh yeah... Btw, I'm a coinshot. How else would I have known that Racine was injured for day 2? I haven't used my metal since then...

I've decided that the more information everybody has, the more banding together we can do, so I'll give y'all my role.

Question for Hadrian: Are all your house powers intact?

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

Just a heads up, Ash, I think this situation is fine, but under the "Fair Play" Rules in the Etiquette section, it is technically discouraged to change the nature of your post like that. (i.e., removing it's content completely). Obviously a mistake post is a different situation, but in the "flavour" of the Mafia Games, if we're all standing around openly discussing things, then anything that gets said can't be completely redacted. Editing is just for grammar fixes, and maybe adding a little bit to the content of your post without wanting to make a whole new post.

 

With that said, in regards to what's been discussed about "Ash's Plan" and Cat stepping down like that, I'm still not entirely sure what the full implications of that was supposed to be. To see if the House Power was still in tact when Hadrian took over as House Lord? Because all it would take is a Skaa to NOT destroy a House Power like that, especially when they know people will be potentially using that as a check for skaa-house lords. There could of course be other things going on, but I don't see how Cat stepping down like that could have been automatic clearance for either her or Hadrian.

And Mesist, I am really curious as to why you placed a second vote on Wandrin so quickly like that. Definitely calling out inactives is a good strategy right now, especially if we don't have other prime suspicions to work out at the moment, but shouldn't you at least give them a chance to speak up before you run the risk of a bandwagon vote? I do of course find Newan's continual absence suspicious, but I just don't see what the point of putting a second vote on them so soon will accomplish more than the initial vote was aiming for.

Also, I am slightly unconvinced about your reasoning behind the Tonul vote you insisted on. Yes, Day 1, when they used emotional allomancy, it definitely wasn't helpful, especially after it was agreed that Emotional Allomancers shouldn't interfere. But honestly, it was Day One, and there was a three way tie. I obviously would not want my teammate running the risk of being randomly lynched like that, myself, if I were an emotional allomancer, and I would probably have tried something similar. While yes, it would be nice to get any possible information from the lynch if just the skaa were left to manipulate it, but I think losing an ally so soon (especially now that we know it was a Lesser House), does make a lot of sense.
Of course this is all known information now, that we couldn't have acted on before the lynch, but you were quite adamant that Tonul "must have" been either a Skaa or playing strictly along "House Game" lines. While trying to defend a team mate does seem to go against the whole hunting the skaa mission, why couldn't Tonul have just possibly been not wanting to lose someone to talk/plan with so early on, for such a random chance? Especially after Day 2 when they were actually being helpful at that point.

I'm not saying that this makes you automatically skaa, of course, but it does seem to me that you were rather devoted in going solely after Tonul for those couple of cycles, and not really as focused on other possible suspects at the time. Of course, you could have just made an error, as the lynch revealed, but I just wanted to mention my suspicions about the whole ordeal. 

 

For right now, I'm still not sure of who I'll actually place a vote for, though. It's probably down to either Ash or Asyr, though, if Ash is telling the truth in coming forward as a Coinshot. Because with Cadri, that means we have 3 so far, and 3 coinshots on a villager team seems quite unbalanced to me, so one of them has a really good chance at being skaa. Add that with both Asyr and Ash added votes in on Tonul to ensure the lynch (or a bandwagon) gives equal red flags on both of them, in my opinion.

 

Edit: I am actually now placing a vote on Ash. They claim that they must be a coinshot because how else would they have known Raccine was hit on Day 2, when in fact it was Aonar who first mentioned that Raccine was hit, and then after a prompting question from Ash, Raccine came forward and admitted as much. While it is nice to know Raccine wasn't exactly lying about that (because I did have my doubts), I don't see how that automatically exonerates you from anything.

Edited August 4, 2014 by Gamma Fiend
added vote

[Newan he/him]

Meta, what thing are you talking about?  What did you learn about me?  It's so blasted hard to keep up.  Once I have my own laptop again in the fall, I will be much better at this stuff, but that won't be until September.  I have no explanation I can give other than what I have already said.  I haven't voted because all this hoity toity political jibber jabber is going right over my head.

"Ooh!  I found out that so-and-so used _____ on a person who may or may not be the house lord of whatever!  Unless he was lying."

uhhh... cool?  I guess that means that somebody is like, guilty or something?

edit:color

i du no META i ges im jus nat smart lik yu

Edited August 4, 2014 by New One

[Kasimir he/him]

Point of order: If Cat had destroyed her House powers on Night 2, the rules state that Hadrian would've received a PM about that fact (but not what the power was), and unless both Hadrian and Cat are skaa, it would kind of defeat the point as he'd yell her out in thread yesterday (Day Three).

Kassel coughed into his pocket handkerchief, and winced as he saw traces of blood. Scraped my own throat raw, he thought. The ache was a distant one.

Edited August 4, 2014 by Kasimir