Quick Fix Game 4: Conversions

[A Joe in the Bush]

I'll wait until tomorrow night before deciding on an Extension, though it does seem probable.

[Newan he/him]

NuWin handed the darkeyed man a bag of chips.  Not delicious potato chips.  Yucky gem chips.  The man gave a gap-toothed smile and led NuWin out into the hills.  Vines and grass receded before their feet.  After twenty minutes or so, they arrived at their destination.  The man pointed at a tangled mound of vines.  NuWin walked over slowly and reached his hand out.  As soon as he touched one, all of the vines pulled back and revealed a huge whitespine skeleton.  

 

NuWin smiled.  "This is perfect!"  He turned around, but the man was already gone.  Probably thought NuWin was going to steal the gems back.  It wouldn't have happened.  NuWin was just about ready to leave this horribly rainy planet, now that he had found what he was looking for.  But it was a good thing that the man had left.  Humans didn't usually react well to this part.  

 

NuWin detached his muscles from his bones and collapsed onto the whitespine skeleton.  He squirmed in between the plates of carapace, careful not to lose his precious metal spikes.  A human body wouldn't have been enough to fill the body of a fully-grown whitespine, but he was prepared.  He tapped his bendalloymind, absorbing all the extra food he had been stocking up on for the past three weeks.  It would kill a human to tap food energy this quickly, but as a kandra, NuWin's body was special.  It only took a few minutes to grow enough to fill the skeleton, then construct the proper organs.  

 

NuWin, the first kandra to take the form of a whitespine, stood up and tensed his muscles.  He felt strong.  He felt powerful.  He felt ready for a fight.

 

I'm in.

Edited November 13, 2014 by Newan

[Aonar he/him]

Well, with school/sports having already managed to trash any chance I have of finishing NaNoWriMo (only at about seven thousand words... should be at about twenty thousand ) I guess I may as well sign up for this Game. 

 

Aonar is back, and he's not happy. Someone's been messing with his timeline...

 

 

Aonar crouched to inspect the pile of ash that had been a long grey scarf mere moments ago. At first, he'd assumed that the information he had found was simply new. A few deaths in the family he hadn't been aware of. Accidents, assassinations, strange things coming to light as more solid information was being compiled. The Izenry line had quite the history of revolutionaries; men and women with a propensity for getting themselves involved in things they shouldn't. Things of this sort weren't exactly uncommon.

 

That was before he realized that his copperminds were changing. Small things. Death dates, locations, causes. Things he'd dumped into the metal during his youth, assuming they would never be important. Slowly, it had started to fall into place. Something, someone, wanted him dead. Not just dead; erased. Someone, somewhere, somewhen, was making their way through time and space, searching for the link in the Izenry family tree that would end his very existence. 

 

Of course, it wasn't more than a theory, not until Aonar had proof, at least. And this, he believed, was it. An Awakened scarf, on pre-Ascension Scadrial? Hung in his many greats grandfather's closet, and given some variation of the Command, "strangle things?" The probability of that happening innocently was too small to even comprehend. 

 

He stood and brushed off his hands, adjusting the rifle slung over his back. He wore it openly, even though it would be some five hundred and fifty years before Scadrial was sophisticated enough to develop the technology themselves. If one of his higher ups wanted to berate him over it, they could take a nice long look down the end of the barrel, and decide for themselves whether or not their continued existence was worth breaking a few rules over. 

 

It was time to be leaving. Being seen here could cause problems, and there were no doubt he'd have more work to do before the day was done. Or did he? The very fact that he was still extant suggested that his assassin failed. But was that because they simply failed at their task, or that Aonar had stopped them?

 

Rust and Ruin. Time travel is storming annoying. The Shard had figured out how to travel through time literal millennia ago, but still didn't have the slightest clue how it worked.

 

Aonar shook his head and sighed in resignation. There was no way to know if his actions would actually change anything, but when simply choosing not to bother might erase him from existence, it was better to be safe than sorry. I just wish I didn't have quite so many rusting relatives.

 

My reading of late has had a bit of a sci-fi bent, so... time travel/causal weirdness/paradoxes. (Plus an excuse to visit some of my other characters.)

Edited November 13, 2014 by AonarFaileas

[A Joe in the Bush]

Well seeing as one character can be in Elendel, while another one is in Luthadel at the same time, I think time travel Shenanigans will be allowed.

[Metacognition he/him]

It's not like we're going to break time. People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly - time-y wimey... stuff. I suppose you could think of it like a rug, or lace; An Age Lace, if you will. I'm sure the Pattern can handle a little time travel!  
 

[little wilson she/her]

Uh oh. The Doctor has arrived. Things are bound to get crazy now.

[Wyrmhero he/him]

A short reminder - Due to its very nature, time travel was to be discovered everywhen at all the times.

 

And we've also got someone from SA as well, so time shenanigans are somewhat needed, unless people are just secretly very old

 

Edit: With Meta mentioning The Pattern, I want to reread the Amber Chronicles now...

Edited November 13, 2014 by Wyrmhero

[A Joe in the Bush]

If you want. Just post it here. Also, If anyone else wants to have a Previous character make a Write-up Cameo, send me a PM. Same with the Spec Doc Link.

[A Joe in the Bush]

It's going to be hilarious when you get converted by Hoid. Or are Hoid.

[A Joe in the Bush]

Hoid has a Maximum number of Converts. An Unlimited Conversion Killer would be way to Hard to beat.

[A Joe in the Bush]

About 24 Hours until the Game begins.

[luckat she/her]

Lucy was relieved that she had managed to escape Kholinar alive. She was also relieved to no longer have to cover her hand. That entire concept still seemed bizarre to her. Now she was wearing the most colorful clothes she could find, with several bright scarves tucked away. However, no one seemed to notice her. She had awakened several articles of clothing to protect herself and hidden the rest of her breath away so that she could observe without drawing too much attention as long as she was careful. This meeting of the Seventeenth Shard looked important, and she figured it would be best to learn what was going on before getting into the middle of things.

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

Gambles looked on with interest at the growing confusion as more and more people arrived. Some of them seemed to know each other, while managing to remain complete strangers.

Bloody strange people, he thought to himself, unable to shake the strange dialect from his tongue yet again. The memories of where he last went were starting to grow fuzzy, and all he could remember is that it was supposed to be impossible. Back where I belong, he thought, smiling triumphantly.

Although he did miss his prize he had managed to bring back with him. It had been a long time since he thought of Sookie, his precious da'mane. He still couldn't believe he had lost her in a bet.

It was bad gambling days like that that had made him curse his name. But now he was back in the proper Cosmere, he wanted to lay low for a while. And that meeting up ahead did not look like it would fit in the definition of 'laying low'. So he was going to hang back, and watch, for now.

He flipped a coin in the air, catching it deftly in his hand as it came back down. "Who wants to bet that this is a trap?" He muttered to himself, never able to completely break character. It was one of his best, and most tragic, personality traits.

Gambles will be sitting out on this game, but it does look like a lot of fun! Good luck to everybody that is playing!

[Kasimir he/him]

He was supposed to be dead.

 

That he was not, in fact, dead disturbed Khas greatly. People who were killed were supposed to stay dead, he thought. That was the way of things. What, if not that, could a soldier and an assassin rely on? Next thing he knew, he'd find Naladar wandering around. The idea...was not an unpleasant one. He'd never been fond of being tasked to kill the former king of Alethkar.

 

He held out his hand, considering. Ten heartbeats, before the Shardblade coalesced in his hand, dripping. It wasn't supposed to work this way, Khas thought. Dead was dead, and done with. The Blade should've gone to someone else, and he didn't want it, either.

 

So break the bond, you chullhead, said a voice in his head. He let go, willing the Blade to dissolve back into strands of vapour, and pinched the bridge of his nose. Storming chull, he thought, wearily.

 

Of course, there were other disturbing things, if he thought about them. The men in Kholinar had spoken of King Elhokar Kholin and Dalinar Kholin the Blackthorn. There was no Naladar, they had said, looking at him warily as though he was touched in the head. There had never been.

 

"You know what you have to do," the stranger had said, when he opened his eyes. His were a pale grey, like smoke. "You are no longer a Ghostblood."

He knew. He clenched his fingers, forming a fist with his hand. What did you do, without purpose? Every string to his past life had been cut; he wasn't sure if the feeling curling in his stomach was nausea or anticipation, or both. Freedom wasn't so much thrilling as the dizzying fear of standing atop a tall mountain, gazing down into the depths. Did he choose to jump, or to run away?

 

Death had been his choice. He'd gone to it proudly, knowing it could not be helped and he'd chosen that end, and that meant something. To have that choice so suddenly undone and taken back: what did that say of him?

 

Khas went hunting. There was killing, at least.

 

He was good at that.

 

Not playing, but wishing everyone else in the game good luck from the people gathered in the spec doc, and much fun!

Edited November 14, 2014 by Kasimir

[Newan he/him]

Sadly, I will probably not be creating any charts of evilness this game. The computer I use now doesn't have photoshop, and moving the names around would be a pain in the chull on microsoft paint.

Plus, I don't want to be named an honorary eliminator. Again.

Edited November 14, 2014 by Newan

[Renegade he/him]

Rengar, the Worldhopping-Backstabbing-Seventeenth-Shard-Freed-Bridgeman-Skybreaker-of-Kholinar glanced down at the congregation of his fellow Seventeenth Sharders.  Sure, he was one of them, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to attend all of their meetings.  He’d unconsciously betrayed his friends to join this group, so he automatically felt a sort of latent mistrust towards them.  Not that he could just leave the organization.  No, the storming Nightwatcher’s curse prevented that from occurring.  Then again, that curse did save his life, so Rengar wasn’t sure what to make of it.

 

As an alternative to joining the meeting, Rengar simply worldhopped away.  He was still a Seventeenth Sharder; he just didn’t abide by their rules.  He was the real Renegade.  Except that Hoid was the most renowned renegade.  Not to mention that other renegade who was in the Seventeenth Shard… apparently.  Oh well, Rengar didn’t care for names a whole lot anyway.  He was the Renegade in his own mind, and that's what mattered.

 

I will also be watching this one from the Speculation Doc.  Plus, I don’t want Rengar to die!  Yet...   

[A Joe in the Bush]

Cycle one will be posted in One Hour (46 minutes actually). Sign ups are now closed. I am sending out PM's now.

 

If you missed the Sign up, The Spec Doc is still open for sign ups, and always will be. (Fair warning, it's 16 pages long already)

 

Moderator's please lock this thread.

Edited November 15, 2014 by The Only Joe

[A Joe in the Bush]

I’ll again address this to my Old friend, as you seem to have changed Aliases once again. In my last Letter, I pleaded with you to cease intervening, since Rayse was bound away. This is no longer so. He has found a way to escape, and has a plan to end the rest of the shards in one hateful Stroke. As I have sworn an Oath to many other friends, I cannot aid you. But I know you will not be able to do this alone. You’ll have to recruit those who detest you, the members of the Seventeenth Shard. Please Hurry, and don’t let Khriss know what you’re doing. She won’t react well.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Jost Joslin, one time Shardbearer and Soldier, Elsecaller of the Seventeenth Shard, sat uncomfortably as Khriss waved the letter. “It was found in one of our meeting halls! Hoid is back, and this time, he’s trying to corrupt our younger members.” She looked at the letter again, rereading it. “And of course, I was kept out of the loop. Shella! what I wouldn’t give for, well nevermind. I need you to go talk to the newer members, Have them start looking around. This will actually be good for them. If they can find him by themselves, well, hopefully they’ll band together before Hoid causes too much Chaos.”

Jost nodded at this request. Inside though, he didn’t believe it would work. “And what if Hoid gets desperate? fights back?”

“He can’t. He can’t cause violence. Though, some of the Newer ones are fighters. They might. Just be careful. If you find him, Execute him. If he ignores it Again, just contain him somewhere he can’t escape.”

Jost stood up. “Alright. I’ll get him.
_______________________________________________________________________________

The assembled Worldhoppers milled around the meeting house. Most of them were younger members, newly introduced to the Cosmere and Shards, but there were also a few Legends walking amongst the crowd. Like Rengar and Gambles. Experienced Hoppers, who had been through situations just like this in their expanded Life times. Hopefully, they would be up to it again. The Crowd quieted as Jost strode through them. They knew that Hoid was back, but they didn’t know what the response would be.

When Kost reached the Front of the room, he turned, and looked out at the crowd. “Ladies, gentleman, and Other Sentient Beings” He nodded at the Kandra and the Inquisitor. “As you know, Hoid is meddling again. What you don’t know, is that He is in this room somewhere.”

There was a buzz, as people whispered excitedly to each other. “He has decided to corrupt and end us from the inside. He believes that we should intervene. But that is not why we are here. We are here to Observe. Hoid, I speak to you now. The last time we as a group intervened in Politics, Kholinar rioted. 22 people were killed, including 3 of our own. We will not let that happen again.”

“To everyone else, we know around when he took a new face and joined, we have a list of the 14 who joined in that period. Figure out which of them is Hoid. We will be here for them soon.” He stalked out of the room, leaving the doors wide open, and a List behind.

Cycle one has started! It will end, eventually. I won’t actually have Computer access 24 hours from now, So I figured I’d ask you guys when we should end. 4 hours late with a Shorter second Cycle or 24 hours Late?

Player List:

 

1. (Lightsworn Panda) Jain, a Jindo man with a toy Panda.
2. (Alvron)  Second of the Sky, a trapper from the isle of Suluko.
3. (Wrymhero) Heron, a Hemalurgic Scholar
4. (pir2h) Kae, a Steel Inquisitor
5. (Satrams) Sarams, the mercenary
6. (Mailliw73) Aili, a Returned
7. (Metacognition) M, The Death Note Sliver
8.  (Jasnah Damodred) Damon Shan
9. (Araris Valerian) Hadrian Penrod
10. (Ashiok) Ashette Cett, Flamboyant Coinshot
11. (Surgebound Rainspren) Karlin, a Jah Kahved-Purelaker
12. (Newan) NuWin, a Kandra Whitespine
13. (AonarFaileas) Aonar, a chronologically challenged person
14. (Luckat) Lucy, An Awakener

Remember PM’s can only be created by me. Ask me to start one in your main PM, and I'll start one for you.

Edited June 17, 2016 by Alvron

[Newan he/him]

NuWin crept up to a man who was holding a toy bear.  He placed his long, white claws on the man's chest and put his bony head next to the Jindo man's face.  NuWin had slightly altered the whitespine mouth so that he could speak, but he had decided to keep the double windpipes.  

 

With two deep voices in unison, NuWin said, "I don't know much about Yolish Lightweavers.  Do you think they can mask their scent?"  Then he breathed in deeply.  He was having fun already!

 

I'm just voting for Jain because he's the first name on the list, and I don't know what else to do.  Just post, showing that you're here, and I'll change it.  

Also, I vote that you just do the four hour shorter cycle.  

Edited November 15, 2014 by Newan

[Ashiok]

Can't we just not shorten the cycles at all? Hey, Heron, you usually have things to say. Say things for the camera please.

Edited November 15, 2014 by Ashiok

[Metacognition he/him]

M stayed far back from the rest of the crowd, lest they start asking him questions. M had joined the 17th Shard specifically because they hadn't asked him many questions. Once they found out he could world-hop, the only question they asked was, "would you like to join us?" M liked an organization that understood the desires for secrecy. 

 

That didn't mean that M didn't enjoy learning though. In fact, one of the main reasons he didn't like to be known was likely due to his urge to know so much about everyone else! 

 

Before Jost had even finished his speech, M was already hard at work, organizing his thoughts and suspicions so that he could begin the work of tracking down Hoid. 

 

"If this is just being brought to our attention, then Hoid has likely been here longer than they're letting on; thus I suspect that he's had enough time to recruit at least one person to his cause," M mumbled to himself, as he nonchalantly started making diagrams in a notebook (not that notebook!) he had on his lap. "He presumably hasn't had much more time than that. He'll likely be looking for more recruits early, so focus on the mannerisms of those today to match again future behavior."

 

While he looked like he was staring off into the distance, he was was actually scanning the crowd and yet his writing never even faltered. His gaze lasted possibly a fraction of a second longer on Aonar, but he quickly moved on.

 

"Initial analysis of the crowd suggests that there are likely two of each of the following archetypes: Letter-Bearers, Nurses, and Renegades, though there may be more of one and less of another. Probability states at least one Researcher. 

 

"Notes for predictive activity of the archetypes. Renegades will likely be aggressive and look to attack early. Attempts should be made to get them to refrain. They're statistically more likely to attack an innocent at this point in time. Letter-Bearers will likely be hubs of information. They should be protected while they go about their task. Nurses will need to be preemptive. If they can prevent deaths by guessing likely targets for Hoid and his recruits, their utility will be more effective than if they only attempt to stop the bleeding once it has begun.

 

"Final notes before beginning investigation; if there are alterations to the voting, Researchers will be able to be confident with their results, as only Hoid can affect them and that means that he can not use his ability to hide himself at the same time."

 

I always prefer more time to less. Today is the day in which we want as many people talking as possible so that we have a better chance of catching them in faulty logic later on. I would rather just have another full 24 hours and not throw off the schedule any. 

[A Joe in the Bush]

Not shortening the Cycle would require this Cycle to be 28 Hours long.

 

A couple Dozen rule Clarifications.

 

Q. How Exact is Rollover Time? When will Actions and Votes stop being accepted.

A. 9:00 PST. I just realized this Cycle will have an extra Hour. Oh well.

 

Q. How do Hoid's Healing and the Nurse's Protection affect the Renegade Kill? And can they be differentiated in the Writeups?

A. They have to target the player the day the Player would die, not the day that Renegade targeted them. And No.

 

Q. Does the Researcher learn Alignment and Role?
A. Yes. But Conversion happens after Research.

 

Q. If the Letter Bearer Dies, does that mean no more PM's?

A. Yup.

 

Q. When will the LB be told that someone wants to start a Conversation? When will the Conversation start?

A. The LB Will be told Instantaneously, and the Conversation will be started when the LB wants me to.

 

Q. When does Hoid's Seeking take place in the Order of Actions?

A. After The Researcher Seeks

 

Q. How many Converts can Hoid have? 

A.  3.

 

Q. Does the LB starting PM's count as an action? Or does he have to choose between that and making the Hoid kill? (If he's converted)

A. That doesn't count. He can do both.

 

Q. If Hoid attempts a Conversion, but his convert is killed, does that count towards his total?

A. No.

[Aonar he/him]

"...intervened in politics, Kholinar rioted. 22 people were killed, including 3 of our own. We will not let that happen again.”

 

Aonar had meant to leave as soon as he realized that the meeting had no direct import to him, but that remark pulled him up short.

 

"Hey, hey, whoa now, Jost." Aonar said, looking terribly affronted. "I thought the Riots turned out pretty well. They didn't have a clue that I couldn't be killed by shardblades, and, well.... I'm not exactly sure how Heron survived, but he's apparently not dead. We prevented things from going any further out of hand than they were already, and I'd count that as a success. 

 

"I've my own problems to deal with though, regardless. I can't help with this endeavour, and I doubt Hoid would want someone who still needs to ensure his own existence before he can do anything else." Without waiting for Jost to respond, Aonar tapped zinc and steel, and left.

 

 

Not time for much RP right now, but of course, nothing to draw solid suspicions off of either. (Although, Ash, just letting you know, but I'm pretty sure it's 4AM Wyrm's time, so don't expect him to respond for a while. )

 

Assuming I'm reading your analysis correctly, Meta (too tired to be certain of anything) you're assuming two of each role, at least one Researcher and +1 starting convert for Hoid (and some general strategy notes)? Aside from the the bit about the converts (which might have just been part of the RP [once again, too tired to pick things apart right now]), I'd agree. There might be only one of some of the roles, but there are probably duplicates of at least one or two.

 

Erm... let's throw a vote on Vron (Second) for a moment. I know he's busy with LG9, but he is usually on right about now.

Edited November 17, 2014 by AonarFaileas

[Lightsworn Panda he/him]

I was going to rage about how I, yet again, wasn't on Team Evil, but then I remembered that Hoid converts his minions. Yay! There is still hope left for me!   

 

Alv, would you mind popping in today?

 

(RP coming)

 

Edit: Retracted vote. Ninja'd by Aonar.

Edited November 15, 2014 by Lightsworn Panda

[Alvron he/him]

Second of the Sky watched as everyone else talked.  Jost had just left and they talked.  A lot of information had been given and they talked.  Apparently this Hoid person was dangerous to them and they talked.  And talked.

 

If Second Sky had known there would be so much talking he probably wouldn't have joined them.  It was only because Sixth of the Dusk' warning about the Ones from Above that he was here.

 

Soki gave a quiet chirp, warning Second of someone coming up behind him.  Second didn't need to see who it was, he had trained Soki to use a different chirp for each person in the room.

 

"Aonar.  Something I can help you with?"  he spoke in a quiet voice barely above a whisper.

 

"Umm.  Nothing really.  Just wanted to hear your thoughts on the matter."  Aonar stammered as he tried to cover the surprise of being identified before coming into view.

 

"My thoughts are my own.  However I did notice that Kae is normally more vocal than this."

 

Edit: Greened vote.

Edited November 15, 2014 by Alvron