MetaTerminal

Does removing the Footprint tile indicate to us that it’s less significant as a clue? The fact that the Oracle replaced that instead of something that seems on the surface less helpful (most notably, Untidy appearance) maybe suggests we should be focusing on those.

Alum stepped in, deep in thought. He appeared to be muttering to himself and writing something on the back of his hand. He slid into a booth opposite Seneca (will edit in your character’s name) and began to signal for a drink, but accidentally slapped Seneca in the face.

You might be late, signups closed yesterday.

Herowannabe has repeatedly confirmed there are no secret alignments, and it wouldn’t be beneficial to assume that our GM is lying. I’m viewing this as a co-conspirator trying to cause confusion and distract everyone from solving the case for now, and will continue to do so unless someone convinced me otherwise. I’d recommend people to focus on the cards and not the roleclaims, as the latter don’t benefit us.

“Unfortunately so,” Alum said to the tall listener. He had been ignoring the ongoing battle with a remaining marine, sunk into the shade of a nearby tree. “But if you go through the Perpendicularity, you might find somewhere that caters to your abilities. A Challenge of Champions.” He tried not to breathe in any Stormlight - his repeated Transportation had drained them quickly. Pyrus sat next to him. Often the spren was consumed in thought, and this time was no exception. “Focus,” said Pyrus. “You lost focus.” Alum nodded. A single drop of sweat gathered below the bottom of his nose. A decision was made. “I think I’ll find someplace quieter to stay,” Alum said, to nobody in particular. He Transported over to the Waystop and grabbed his things, and went back over to the Perpendicularity. A final wave to the combatants, whose faces he had stored, before he stepped into the pool.

Greaaaaaaaaat. A conspirator-looking player roleclaims as witness (who should NEVER roleclaim if they want to win), claims IKYK with the elims, and generally makes everything more confusing. Ignoring all of that: ITIAH is either a co-conspirator seeding confusion, a witness hoping to IKYK his way to victory, or an investigator attempting to cover the actual witness. Their main reason for roleclaiming was to prevent us from guessing them: Snipexe did that before you posted, so your attempt has failed. I think an investigator wouldn’t claim like this unless they were covering a witness as it muddies the waters. Given how ITIAH has been throwing wild guesses to attempt to change our direction without focusing on any particulars, I’m still saying they’re a co-conspirator trying to dodge suspicion (although again, this could be a very unnecessarily complicated gambit). I’ll do an analysis of their posts later to see if that turns anything up.

There’s a wiki. It’s not complete, but I’d recommend the Guild Warfare page as a good starting point if you want to learn the history. There’s also a number of ‘guide’ pages in their own category. Beyond that, you don’t need to know everything to join in. http://alleyverse.wikia.com/wiki/Alleyverse_Wiki Welcome to the Alleyverse!

CadCom, I think if you’re making a spreadsheet you should include your own cards so others can decide that it’s not suspicious, and only eliminate those that don’t fit the evidence. Right now, I think PK’s and Devotary’s spreadsheets fit the bill pretty well, although PK’s is clearer in terms of formatting. We’ve got two guesses, so unless someone has a really good hunch we should hold out until some more evidence comes through. ITIAH’s standing out as a Co-conspirator to me, drawing attention to his own cards, so I’d recommend looking if they’re ignoring any obvious possibilities. That doesn’t mean they didn’t include the right answer, but it might be a start. Another thing to consider is that the co-conspirators and murderer don’t need to guess to get the game to finish according to the rules. So if someone is reluctant to guess, that might mean they’re culpable. And if we’re down to 3 guesses left at the end of the game, chances are that the murderer or co-conspirator is one of those people. And if someone makes a guess that doesn’t help narrow down the options, that also suggests assassin/conspirator.

That doesn’t completely clear Bort, although I find it unlikely that he’d use Booby Trap again when it was already used, and we’d know what to look for. I propose to softclear him for now, and come back to him if more evidence points him this way.

He supposed this might have been a bad idea. Too late now. Appearing among the crowd of soldiers, Alum swept his Shardblade out, cutting through the massive, strange Shardplates. But they didn’t resist like Shardplate. One marine fell, a gaping hole cut across his torso. Another. Another. He summoned a rock wall to block some gunfire and moved, phasing in and out of Shadesmar as he moved across the grassy hill. Alum tried to slice through the artillery as well, but a quick jab at one of the Vindicators showed that the metal coating was aluminium.

Alum pelted along the dirt road, feeling the impact of shells and explosives behind him. Pyrus sprinted alongside him, as if on an invisible running track that swiped across the air. He counted one hundred metres from his steps. More from his heavy breathing. In front, he saw outlines of shapes beginning to move at his presence. “Noticed us,” said Pyrus. A sudden rattle of gunfire, and Alum lurched himself into Shadesmar, still sprinting in the same direction. He came upon the wisps of the attacker’s souls and prepared to transport back and summon Pyrus. He transported, landing between the marines.

Alum will fight anyone. For, um, scholarly reasons. Anyway, I'm up for this.

A Booby Trap / Footprint perhaps? Maybe Bort constructed one of those elaborate Doctor Seuss machines to kick the victim to death. A despicable act indeed. I’ll edit in some more analysis later.

I’m planning to make a deeper read on this later, but a few basic observations: Accident suggests something that is not targeted, where the murderer isn’t intending for a specific person to die. Combined with necessity, it suggests they were discovered doing something illegal and were forced to hide the evidence? Wilderness points very strongly to something from First of the Sun, or some sort of animal. Combined with footprint, and we’re probably looking at some sort of creature or person involved (or the murderer used Kick). Despicable doesn’t point to anything in particular, but fits with Accident (they were uncaring of the target) or might indicate something sinister like a Dakhor Ritual or the use of a particularly savage creature. And finally, the most helpful clue of them all: the victim had untidy clothes. This probably indicates that they were roughed up, but not too severely damaged. All in all, I’m pointing to some sort of animal or creature used in the killing, which should narrow our options somewhat.

The explosives distracted him from his work. In the distance, flashes tumbled through the forest, each punctuated by the bang of an impact and the spray of brown and red. Chunks of stone and something softer slammed into the doorway and chipped the wood of the door. “That,” said Alum, looking through the entrance, “is probably bad.” Pyrus hummed on his shoulder. He felt satisfied, having fulfilled his daily quota of obvious statements. “Those flashes. Near the Perpendicularity,” said his spren. “Mmm. Two hundred?” “Maybe a bit further.” He grabbed his bags and selected two spikes that would be useful: one of his A-Pewters and a small chunk of A-Bendalloy. The latter was one of his most prized possessions, and he rarely dared use it. But this seemed like an emergency. The process of changing spikes was painful, but quick. Hooking two vials of metal onto his belt, Alum began to sprint towards the forest, counting his steps and ignoring the dragon behind him.

I am hyped. Hopefully these changes won’t swing the game too far in the Assassin’s favour. But there’s only one way to find out! EDIT: Here's some RP.

“The Alleyverse has a history, has it not?” Alum said. He got a grunt in reply. “Well, this place seems interesting enough. But I’ve noticed that you don’t have a lot of records. Historical texts. Most people don’t even remember who these people are. I’m a scholar. An Elsecaller. I study things and collate them. And since I appear to be stuck here for the time being, I’d like your permission to view any historical texts or records you have. I’ll be setting up a library/research centre, if at all possible.” He proffered some spheres to sweeten the deal.

Alum waited there as people departed, leaving him alone in this Hall. There were a lot of memories here - a weight of previous lives, events forgotten. This Alleyverse had seen its fair share of events, and it surprised him that there was very little record of any of it. A thought occurred to him. He stood, and addressed the empty room. "Does anyone curate this place?" The sound fell upon empty ears, but Alum felt that his voice would be heard.

FYI I'm changing my name back to MetaTerminal, now that Spren week is over.

*hits signup button* I'll be Selksi's younger (and totally not a murderer) brother, Felksi.

Storms. It came down to Wiritos or King, and we went with King. I agree, I think the Shardworld location tile is too specific. We chose the Slime to misdirect towards the other Elantrian Methods and Evidence, but even then you would have guessed in time. With 17 available guesses and only 15 or so possibilities, it's too easy to narrow it down. Decreasing the number of hint tiles, getting rid of the Shardworld Location, or pushing the number of cards per person up to 5 would all make it harder for the Investigators (although some of these might be overkill). The game is very much in the Investigator's favour - even if Elandera hadn't stuck the improbable guess, I don't think we would have made it to the 3rd Cycle. Elandera, why in particular did you pick Booby Trap? Only PK and wiritos really highlighted it, as opposed to the number of others theorising about the Aons.

@Herowannabe, I accuse Paranoid King of being the Witness.

My character’s sneaky stealing skills (accidental alliteration, I swear) have come in handy, it seems.

I would also like to play, since the QF should have wrapped up by then.