Mid-Range Game 8: Highborn Intrigue

[RavenRadient7 she/her]

I refuse to completely derail this thread. So, how about some thoughts, in the form of extremely long RP?

 

Resha signed as she limped back into camp, her leg still hurting from where the insane executioner had attempted to stop her by breaking her Shardplate. Though she had feared she would need to use the Shardplate before this...adventure was over, she hadn't expected it to be during one of the daily lynches, and she could no longer avoid the camp. Her fate awaited her.

 

"This has been a stormingly uneventful occasion," she grumbled, ducking under the fabric that blocked the entrance to her study. "I've tried to scour the camp while keeping up with the local events, but every time I think I'm getting somewhere, I'm blocked from entering, or a Brightlady wants to talk to me, or Highprince Dalinar himself notes I've been accused by the others. Nothing for the Shardmark quest. Nothing."

 

The book lying on her desk fluttered open, and Ien rose from the pages, quickly taking his form as a crane. "I told you so."

 

"Really? I can't recall." At Ien's wince, Resha sighed, then sat at her desk. "I keep thinking I see someone following me, in the shadows. No one is there when I look, but... And the Shardplate's destroyed. I have no protection."

 

"Run, Resha. There is nothing here for us."

 

"I can't leave them like this. For one thing, there would be questions. For another, I actually like Highprince Dalinar, contrary to expectations. I can't just go."

 

Ien huffed. "Your death."

 

"I've made contingencies." she said absently, rummaging through the papers on the desk. "Resha will die soon, I suspect, but I won't. Ah! Here we go."

 

She smoothed out a piece of blank paper, then grabbed a pencil about to fall off the desk. "A letter. In Alethi, of course. Not all of them will be able to read it, but everyone should have scribes, at the very least. And I can make sure this gets into everyone's hands, after Resha's death. Or even a little before, if I'm lucky."

 

Ien snorted, but he landed on her shoulder to watch as she began to write.

 

 

A few hours later, a letter made it into the studies, or even the hands, of many of the Brightlords and Brightladies who had been called upon to find the conspirers. The envelope bore no seal, gave no explanation of what it said, but said only. "Read me." The letter itself read as follows:

 

I fear for my life.

I have not been unobserved in my movements, nor have I been quiet about my thoughts. One or the other has attracted attention, and now the Brightlords suspect me. My escape has made my guilt look even worse, and I suspect I will not make it through the night. Voices have called for the assassin to track me down, and I see eyes in the shadows, watching. Waiting for me to slip up.

I will not give them the courtesy of taking my voice away, when they finally corner me.

Yet, I have little to add that I have not heard spoken of before, gone over and over again in the expanses of the camp. The attempt on Kipper's life, and the luck he bore in having Shardplate, has caught my attention, and I fear that he may be hoodwinking the camp into believing his innocence. Wannan's own attempts to focus our eyes on the silent have drawn my gaze as well, and I fear he knows that our deceivers hide among the outspoken, not the quiet.

Other suspicions of mine are even less solid than these. Cleo and I had a rough meeting to begin, and that event has clouded my ability to read her as anything other than a deceiver, though perhaps not one who threatens the camp and Highprince Dalinar. Efrihm was one of those who was outspoken against Leyton, whose death showed his innocence. Yet, I believe that some of my own accusers might be innocent, and cannot find myself able to completely condemn one who suspects another. This past day, Mortago has caught my eye, and Arilir before him, yet neither have given me solid reasons to distrust them, only feelings of unease.

There is only one thing that I can speak of in confidence, for few others would be aware of it: my conversations with others through the many couriers of the camp. I have only spoken to Cleo and Kipper throughout these days, and mostly of their reasons for their suspicions against me. Kipper also spoke of a few of his suspicions, but nothing more than what could be found spoken of openly. He trusted me no more than I trusted him, I think.

Perhaps something in this message will be of use to the rest of you. Perhaps not. In either case, I have left my last words behind. I only ask that you take heed of them, and consider them well.

Brightlady Resha

[The Honey Badger he/him]

As a second to A Smart Guy's sentiment, I present a letter to the eliminators.

 

Dear Eliminators, 

        All you want to do is win, no matter what, right? Why don't you kill inactives? You accomplish your goal, and you can even be part of the Contribution Crusade ™ ™ to Herowannabe, The Honey Badger is is no way shape or form affiliated with hero wannabe's labels. Oh yeah, and it helps us, whatever!

Warmest regards,

The Honey Badger

[Renegade he/him]

Just under an hour left!

[Guest]

I wondered when Raven would do a letter that accused me...

[Renegade he/him]

Time's up!  The write-up will be coming a little late, but it should be worth it!

[Renegade he/him]

Day 4: Element of Surprise

Resha delivered the last of her letters to the Brightlords and Brightladies in the warcamp.  “Hopefully, that will get something done,” she huffed to Ien, looking up at the brilliant stars of the night sky.  Out past the Shattered Plains, a few sparse clouds hinted at the highstorm that was supposed to come any day now.  Resha could never get used to those highstorms; terrible things.

“You know,” Resha said to Ien, beginning to walk through Dalinar’s warcamp, “I think the biggest threat here is Kipper.  There’s something… he knows too much, I think.  Dangerously so.”

Ien said nothing, floating in the air beside Resha.

“I think I need to get rid of him,” Resha spoke quickly.

“Are you sure?” Ien asked.  “You have no Plate for protection anymore.”

“If I have to go out, then this will be how it is.  Besides, I’m almost certain that he’s one of those conspirators.  Killing him will be doing everyone a favor.”  With that, Resha glanced around and strode purposefully towards Kipper’s home.

-----

Kipper brought out his grandbow from his closet.  The very same closet in which his Plate used to be, before that conspirator attacked and made a mess of things.  And, of course, made him look like a fool after he accidentally helped to get poor Mallan killed.  At least the conspirator hadn’t had the wit to try to steal the grandbow from him before.  They were rather rare, even on the Shattered Plains, requiring some sort of special fabrial or something.

Kipper took the large bow out of the closet, along with a quiver full of arrows.  This used to be much easier with Plate, but he’d have to make do otherwise.  Of course, Resha didn’t have any Plate anymore either, so killing that conspirator would be much easier.  In theory.  In practice, while the conspirators had lost one of their own, they’d probably be much more prepared after Brightness Kavdar’s death.  He’d just have to outwit them.

-----

“Hmm… What exactly do you intend to use as a weapon?” Ien asked, as Resha approached Kipper’s residence.

“My fists, if I have to,” Resha frowned.  “He doesn’t have Plate, so I doubt that he could so easily overpower me hand-to-hand, especially with surprise on my side.”

An arrow whizzed past Resha’s head, and someone cursed.

“Nevermind,” Resha grumbled, crouching down and rolling behind another building.  “Apparently, Kipper is out to get me.  So that’s one mystery solved.”

“Delightful,” Ien said, floating behind Resha.

Resha frowned, waiting behind the building.  Maybe she could just wait for Kipper to round the corner and… no, that was ridiculous.  He had a bow.  He could just wander around the building, find her, and pick her off from a distance.  The element of surprise was no longer on her side.  Or, actually, it never really was in the first place.

-----

Gah, how did I miss now? Kipper frowned, looking at the arrow that had missed its target.  Storming conspirators… it’d be so much easier to kill you with Plate on right now.

Kipper looked at the building that Resha had hid behind.  She didn’t seem to be carrying a weapon, but Kipper couldn’t be certain.  He slowly rounded around the building, staying in the darkness.  It’d be his ally right now.

Sure enough, Resha was still there, crouching behind the small building, muttering something.  So she does have backup, Kipper thought, worried.  He quickly rolled behind a building of his own, hoping that Resha hadn’t spotted him.

Kipper peered around the corner.  “Do I make the shot?” Kipper whispered to himself.  “It could definitely reveal my location, but…”  It’s worth it, Kipper decided silently.  Even if I die, it’s worth taking down one of Sadeas’ cronies.

Kipper stood up, peering around the corner at Resha.  He took an arrow out of his quiver, putting it up to the strings of the grandbow.  He pulled the string back… and let go.

The arrow whistled through the air, and Resha turned, only to see the arrow that struck her heart.

Kipper smiled to himself, then backpedaled along the side of the building.  He had to get out of here before…

“I’m afraid you were wrong,” a voice said from behind Kipper.  “Resha was not a conspirator.  But, nevertheless, I appreciate you making the job easier for us.”

Kipper turned, seeing a shardblade swinging towards his neck.

The conspirator paused, then grabbed the grandbow from Kipper’s limp form.  “Always wanted one of these,” the conspirator mumbled.  “Sadeas never would trust me with one anyway…”

---

Resha was assassinated!  She was a Noble Brightlady!
Kipper was killed by the Conspirators!  He was a Noble Assassin!
Nobody received an extra vote today.

Day 4 begins now and will end in 23 hours and 17 minutes.  As usual, PMs are open again, and the player list will be updated shortly.  Good luck!

Edited October 28, 2016 by Alvron

[RavenRadient7 she/her]

Achievement Unlocked: First Death!

[Seonid he/him]

Well crap. That's not good.

Alrighty everyone. Now activity is even more important than ever. We need discussion, and badly. My suspicions are still on Hero. What do you have to say for yourself?

[Clanky he/him]

I was suspicious that Heros whole suspicions of Sart was to prevent raven from being killed. But with the knowledge that Raven was actually guilty I think I am inclined to trust Hero on this one. I am not quite ready to put a vote on yet but I am leaning towards Hero side of this. 

[Herowannabe he/him]

Well crap. That's not good.

Alrighty everyone. Now activity is even more important than ever. We need discussion, and badly. My suspicions are still on Hero. What do you have to say for yourself?

What do I have to say for myself? Well first of all, I agree with you completely. We need more discussion, and we need everyone to chip in *coughcoughContributionCrusadecough*

Second, I was told by my boss just a couple hours ago that I have to go into work 3 hours early tomorrow, and I'll be working all day, probably not anywhere near a computer, so this will probably be my last chance to post anything of significance until maybe an hour or so before the end of the cycle.

I'm not sure what else there is to say in my defense that I didn't say already yesterday. Wilson told me that she trusted me more than anybody else- of course she could have been playing mind games me- she's been known to do that, but if felt genuine. She immediately followed that declaration by revealing lots of information to me, all of which has proven true. She told me she suspected Sart, because of how he was behaving in their PM- apparently feeling guilt at how he went after Kipper. I would be more specific about that and why she was suspicious but that was all she told me. Unfortunately this all happened in our PM so you only have my word to go off of.

I have been hoping that she shared these suspicions with someone else, so that they could confirm what I'm saying, but unfortunately I think the eliminators just killed the one person who could have best verified what I'm saying. Please notice that before he died Kipper DID verify everything I said about learning Wilson's role and her efforts to find an artifabrian because she feared she had been corrupted.

I'm still serious about the Contribution Crusade. In fact, situations like this (where the MOST vocal players are the ones getting lynched) are a large part of why I think the Crusads is important. But at a certain point, you're suspicions grow large enough that they have to take precedence. And this is one of those times for me.

I'm still convinced that Sart is an eliminator. Placing one vote- even a key vote- on an eliminator does not in any way clear him. What better way to get people to trust you than to put a deciding vote on a fellow eliminator?

Anyway, it's past midnight here, and I'm tired, and I have to wake up in 5 hours. I don't know what else there is to say that I haven't said already. Except maybe my role. I'm a village brightlord. No Shardplate or anything. So if people decide to lynch me then at least you know that you won't be losing an important role. And when it is shown that I'm innocent, remember what I said.

Edit: I just glanced over yesterday's posts, and would like to point out that not only did Kipper (who we now know to be good) verify many of the things I said in regards to what Wilson and I discussed, he also said that he suspected Sart as well. And it sounded like he had potential information about another eliminator, but unfortunately, now we'll never know what it was.

Anyway, I'm off to bed for real now. The next time I get the chance to post anything of significance it will be too late to change anything this cycle.

Edited August 28, 2015 by Herowannabe

[Adamir he/him]

Well, storming storms, thank you conspirators - the suspicion on Kipper was to the extent that it would take a miracle for him to not get lynched this cycle. Their con artist no longer gets the extra kill. Have we seriously failed to lynch a single Eliminator? Back on topic, rust and ruin, conspirators - we just lost our second kill.

 

Take this as gospel - don't target people with the Scoundrel Vote. We've lost two Brights, and by my estimations the only remaining Brightlord/Brightlady is likely to be an Eliminator. Now that I've said this, they will most likely go for the Wounded Gazelle Gambit and target one of their own, except for the fact that I have now stated that they are likely to go on the Wounded Gazelle Gambit, in which case their target is completely unpredictable.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gb7qjMkAcE

Edited August 28, 2015 by Adamir

[Haelbarde he/him]

Well, I must say, I had thought that I'd probably put a vote on Kipper this turn, because it seemed he had a fair amount of information. If he were not being attacked, it would be suspicious, meaning he'd likely be an eliminator. The other alternative is that he'd be defended, repeatedly, but we've yet to see that happen (and may no longer be, after Wilson's death). The last option would be he'd be dead (and likely a villager). Obviously that's what happened.

Forewarning that we'll still see an extra kill this evening - the Conartist is still at large. 

 

I was suspicious that Heros whole suspicions of Sart was to prevent raven from being killed. But with the knowledge that Raven was actually guilty I think I am inclined to trust Hero on this one. I am not quite ready to put a vote on yet but I am leaning towards Hero side of this. 

Umm... Raven was guilty? Pretty sure she was innocent. But assuming that's what you meant, I'd agree. 

[Adamir he/him]

Forewarning that we'll still see an extra kill this evening - the Conartist is still at large. 

The con artist role applies only to executions; they will either get Raven's role from the earlier lynch, or no role at all, since Raven didn't die until assassinated the next night.

[Haelbarde he/him]

The con artist role applies only to executions; they will either get Raven's role from the earlier lynch, or no role at all, since Raven didn't die until assassinated the next night.

This is true. I should double check these things in future. False alarm everybody!

[Clanky he/him]

 

Umm... Raven was guilty? Pretty sure she was innocent. But assuming that's what you meant, I'd agree. 

 

Oh yeah oops   I believe I meant to say wasn't.

[Sart he/him]

Hero. I'm going to be honest with you, my vote on you last cycle was pretty retaliatory. I didn't understand why you would vote for me, mostly because I had voted for an eliminator. I could understand Wilson suspecting me. She had revealed her role to someone she had no idea if she could trust. That I could understand. I was hesitant on her trusting you. It didn't make sense that she would trust someone who was going after inactives, but maybe she trusted you based on her knowledge of you from past games. I was willing to call off the lynch brigade, and have us search for someone else.

 

But you lied.

 

I'm not sure what else there is to say in my defense that I didn't say already yesterday. Wilson told me that she trusted me more than anybody else- of course she could have been playing mind games me- she's been known to do that, but if felt genuine. She immediately followed that declaration by revealing lots of information to me, all of which has proven true. She told me she suspected Sart, because of how he was behaving in their PM- apparently feeling guilt at how he went after Kipper. I would be more specific about that and why she was suspicious but that was all she told me. Unfortunately this all happened in our PM so you only have my word to go off of.

 

Quick question. Where did I go after Kipper? I never mentioned him in any of my posts. Heck, if I had known that we had an Assassin with freaking Shardplate, I would have virulently supported my follow the Assassin plan. I only backed down because of Wilson's implication of her role. I never said Kipper was evil. I never even brought up that possibility. Therefore, you must be claiming that I secretly PM'ed Wilson my suspicion of Kipper. Except that never happened. She PM'ed me Day 1 about my plan, saying that a guardsman would be in danger. I responded on Day 2 by saying I dropped my plan because of her. I also remarked how people were discussing plans for verifying people during the day, even though I had suggested a nearly fool-proof plan yesterday. I also sent her a code from Kipper. She replied, still in Day 2, that people can only form PMs during the day, and thanked me for the code. That is the entirety of my communication with her. Where in that do I express guilt that I went after Kipper? I literally only messaged her one time!

 

Of course, you can claim I'm lying. Before today's post, I thought that Wilson had become biased against me because she revealed her role very early in the game to me. But now you're claiming that she thought I went after Kipper. It doesn't seem likely that she could make that kind of mistake. It's not like her to get facts like that wrong. Since you have lied about the reason for Wilson's "suspicion" of me, and since you derailed the Day 1 lynch to go after an inactive, I have no choice but to vote for you. If you are truly a village brightlord, I am truly sorry. But frankly, I can't believe that.

[Araris Valerian he/him]

Hmm, this is interesting. We have two people, each claiming something that the other disagrees with. It would be nice if we could hear from Hero again, but he is going to be gone most of this cycle. It might be worth waiting until the next day cycle when Hero is around (hopefully) to pursue that discussion, Sart.

I am going to put a vote on Alvom for now. I find some of the arguments they used in the lynch last cycle a little strange and would like to hear from them again.

[Herowannabe he/him]

Re: _@Sart

Real quick, on my phone.

Just double checked. Wilson said that Sart had just apologized to her for his aggressive behavior towards Kipper the previous night. She then went on to say that it struck her as odd that a villager would feel the need to apologize for that.

That's what she said. If it is untrue, then either Wilson misspoke or she intentionally lied to me.

Edit: just triple checked, and now I think I'm mistaken. Wilson only said "he" after she told me Sart knew her role, but now I think she may have been referring to Stink, who we had been talking about earlier. That makes a lot more sense actually.

My most sincere apologies to Sart . I'm going to have to look things over again very thoroughly when I have time before casting a vote.

Edited August 28, 2015 by Herowannabe

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

Yikes. 2 of our most active people and our assassin. This is bad news.

 

Right now this is the vote count:

 

Hero(2): Seonid, Sart

Alvom(2): Araris, Lopen

Sart(0): Hero

 

Right now I don't feel like any of those 3 are guilty. Hero's accusations on Sart were from Wilsons PM's which he now believes he just misunderstood who Wilson was referring to. So it seems like Hero doesn't have any reason to suspect Sart at the moment. As for Hero, both of the votes on him are for his accusations against Sart, which he just explained and then removed. As for Alvom, well, I'm just not sure about him. I would like to hear from him, as he was very active earlier in the game, but has been quiet for quite some time now. I'm gonna tie the vote as I don't think Hero should be lynched for a mistake that he revealed before the lynch occured. 

 

Also, I'm gonna be gone in about 2 and a half hours and won't be able to be back when the cycle ends. 

 

Edit: vote change

Edited August 29, 2015 by TheMightyLopen

[Sart he/him]

I'm going to retract my vote on Hero. I cannot in good conscience lynch someone who merely made an error based off of pronouns. That being said, we should now find a new lynch candidate. Considering we only have 5 votes this cycle (Yikes!), I'd like to hear from someone who hasn't been active for a while. Bort, what do you have to say about our lynch prospects.

[Adamir he/him]

Grab your pitchforks and torches, and would you kindly join me in lynching Araris Valerian? Our recently deceased assassin shared some suspicions with me via PM, with Raven, Araris and Hero as his prime suspects, in that order.

[Alvron he/him]

There isn't much time.  Norlav approached the grounds that the funerals were being held on.  Under one arm he carried a wooden box and a bonesaw.  Seven bodies were laid out in a row each wrapped from head to toe in silk cloth.  Upon seeing him nearing the bodies one of the argents tried to intercept him.

"I'm sorry my lord but the time for paying your respects has passed.  We need to cast them into stone before the Highstorm tonight."

Norlav pressed a scrap of paper into the argents hand.  "I'm here to collect on a bet, not to pay my respects.  Which one is Katara?"

After reading the piece of paper the argent raised a shaky hand.  "The second one on the right."

Nodding his thanks Norlav approached the cloth wrapped body and after lifting the cloth to make sure it was who he was after, he placed the box on the ground.  Taking the left arm out from beneath the layers of silk cloth, Norlav proceeded to saw the left hand off with his bonesaw.  Once done he removed a glass jar filled with embalming fluid from inside the box and placed the hand inside the jar.

After affixing a lid and replacing the jar into the wooden box Norlav picked the box up and gave a nod to the argent who stood nearby with a nauseated look on her face before heading back towards the war camps.


Sorry Ren, but once again I request an extension of the cycle.

Edited October 28, 2016 by Alvron

[Clanky he/him]

I would like to second that request for an extension!

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

That would be awesome if we could get another extension.

 

Adamir, you say that Kipper told you his prime suspects, but last night cycle Kipper said he had 3 major suspicions after he thought Raven was dead. So, with Raven still being alive until today, wouldn't he have told you 4 suspects? 

 

I'm leaving in about 10 minutes, so I'll remove my vote from Alvom since there is no reason to keep it there with Sart removing his from Hero, and I don't want to get Alvom killed while I'm gone since he hasn't struck me as being overly suspicious.

 

Edti: gramur

 

Edit 2: color

Edited August 28, 2015 by TheMightyLopen

[Renegade he/him]

Alright, the Day will now end in roughly 26 hours.  (Probably easier for me this way anyway.)