Mid-Range Game 4: The Alethi War of Unification

[Kasimir he/him]

Fair enough, and good luck, then, Ren

 

Kaddar.

[little wilson she/her]

I'm on board with the lighteyes vote plan. Meta today, and then we can choose someone else tomorrow once we have an idea who's on the chopping block. I'll send in that vote right now, but I'll be on a computer the rest of the day, so I'll periodically check back in (as per usual) to see if it's been changed.

[Macen he/him]

Hey guys, I've been sitting back a bit while I get used to the games again since I've been out of the loop for a while. I would have to agree with Meta's plan as well. I feel as if we may be limiting ourselves, but it's better than giving the Spies a chance to swing the vote.

I will also retract my vote on Jost, seeing as how it was more of a vote in jest.

[Wyrmhero he/him]

No more bets please, Brightladies and Brightlords, no more bets.

Edited December 2, 2014 by Wyrmhero

[Wyrmhero he/him]

Week 2

Within Dalinar's tent, only two things could be heard. First, the monotonous ticking of the clever little mechanical timepiece that his Ardents had created, set off to the side of the room. The second was the Blackthorn himself, as he paced up and down, half-walking and half-stomping. None of his Brightlords said anything, none of them wanting to be the one to stop him and risk his wrath for such a minor thing.

Thankfully, Dalinar grew tired of his pacing and turned to them of his own accord. "Nothing?"

"We have our suspicions, sir," Brightlord Jost started, "but nothing particularly useful, admittedly."

"Was anyone at least unhelpful? Did anyone refuse to talk?" At least if that happened, they might have a starting point, weak link in the chain to break.

"Sir, why would a Darkeyed soldier refuse to talk to their superiors? We would have them executed for insubordination."

"That's true," Dalinar nodded. "I suppose I was hoping this would be easier than it is turning out to be." He sighed. "I want to speak with you all alone, after this," he said. "For now, we should go back over Brightlord Jain's plans for the harrying of Prince Vamah's supply chain. Lady Kenara, I believe you have the list of the resistance that we should expect from the bodyguard."

"Yes sir," Kenara replied, as she stood up to relay the scouts' estimations.

*

Horneaters hated war. It wasn't a particularly well-known fact here in the lands of the Alethi, but they had never really concerned themselves with learning about other cultures. Particularly not their lower class, the Darkeyes. They would probably find it rather amusing that they regarded the spear as more honourable than the sword, though still somewhat abhorrent all the same.

Wok would be the first to admit that her status here was somewhat strange, being what they would call Darkeyed, and yet still socially rather high up. It was an alien idea to these people, that eye colour had no bearing on social status, and she'd had to correct people who made assumptions quite a number of times.

Technically, she was a diplomat, in the care of Gavilar until her father recalled her. As the daughter of a king, what else could she be when coming to another country like this? Her father was willing to bet on Gavilar in this war, and so she was his gift to the ferocious Blackthorn. She worked for him as an attendant and scribe, though she was never allowed to see anything in too much detail, just in case.

All this talk of Spies in the army was making her uncomfortable. She was pretty sure she qualified as a spy, though she didn't intend Dalinar or his army any harm. She was just here to report to her father, nothing more. She paused in her writing, listening to the sounds from outside her tent. Poking her head out, she watched for a short while as a small portion of the army headed off.

She thought back to a few weeks previous. Yes, this was the sort of number that Dalinar used in raids. Enough to be quick and do some heavy damage to a lightly defended area, but not enough that they would be easily spotted. Her father would approve, as it reduced the amount of actual fighting that needed to be done.

She retreated back into her tent, and picked up her Spanreed again to continue her message, apologising first of all for her delay. She was distracted enough that the first hint she felt of an intruder was the knife at her neck.

"Horneaters should stay out of our business." There was a brief, sharp moment of pain, and then she couldn't feel any more.

As she lay dying, eyes slowly unfocusing as her life bled away, her assassin knelt down and picked up the Spanreed. She tried to say something, but that just brought the pain back in a flash of white.

"Prince... Dalinar... apologises... for the loss... of your daughter..." the man muttered to himself as he wrote. In her dazed state, for some reason Wok took note of the fact that he seemed to dislike what he was doing. Was it better that her killer didn't want to do it?

She realised a little later that it was because he was writing. She tried to laugh a little at the absurdity of him finding writing to be more immoral than murder, but all that escaped her was a rasp and more blood. It became harder for her to keep her eyes open, and eventually she just stopped trying.

The man took a little longer to finish his writing, and only then did he look to her. He kicked Wok's body over so that she was lying face up. He knelt down once more to check she was dead. Satisfied that she was, he snapped the Spanreed in half, dropped it onto her body, and left the tent.


Wok (1): Jost Joslin
Jain (1): Aonaran Faialen
Eoldren (1): Marand
Damon Shan (1): Odsa
Meller (1): Dalinar

No-one was lynched.
Wok was a Messenger, loyal to Dalinar.

At the end of the week, there will be a Battle against Prince Aladar.

The Cycle will end at 8PM on Thursday, GMT.

 

Player List
Darkeyes:
Damon Shan, Worldhopper [Jasnah Damodred]
Norlav, a mercenary drafted by the Blackthorn [Alvron]
Wok, a Horneater princess serving the Blackthorn [Ashiok]
Reihmer, a bad ketek poet [Renegade]
Newan, a failed (and failing) Envisager [Newan]
Odysa of Shao, a former-assassin turned mercenary [Winter Cloud]
Karlin, a Jah Keved Purelaker [surgebound Rainspren]
Aonaran Faialen, a wannabe musician [Aonar Faileas]
Marand, no further description [Mailliw73]
Mek, a defector from Highprince Yenev's army [mckeedee123]
Alinel Lenia, Horneater exile, second son [Araris Valerian]
Torwel, reluctant conscript, wants ale [twelfthrootoftwo]
Eoldren, guy with a sweet tooth and a grudge [Eolhondras]
Meller, a bridge builder for the Blackthorn [Metacognition]
Tal, an enthusiastic young recruit [luckat]

Lighteyes:
Kaddar, a one-eyed veteran spearman with a fondness for riddles. [Kasimir]
Kenara, a scribe for the Blackthorn [little wilson]
Jain, a possibly-resurrected Shin traveller with a panda [Lightsworn Panda]
Jost Joslin, a soldier who never had a Shardblade [The Only Joe]
Ace, a guy with an oversized mallet and a talisman [Macen]

Another minor clarification: Darkeyes will be informed when they have been roleblocked by an Officer.

Edited June 19, 2016 by Alvron

[Kasimir he/him]

Well, immediate thoughts: a battle will at least give us some suggestion of how many Eliminator teams we're facing. Since all of their sabotages turn into kills during a battle. Sure, protection action might suggest that there's one or two more Eliminator teams than expected, but it'll still be a good place to guess from. We have that going for us, at least. I was going to suggest one other possibility is that we can count the number of Highprinces mentioned--the actual number of Eliminator teams is likely to lie between the Battle Deaths (excluding the lynch--since all Eliminator Teams get their kill in a battle) and the total number of Highprinces that aren't Dalinar, since Spies are, by definition, loyal to another Highprince. It's not exact, but it's a way of looking to see how well our guesses so far are working.

 

And it seems our mobilisation of the Lighteyes vote is going well so far, at least, seeing as the vote went onto Meta.

[Macen he/him]

Ace walked towards the tent muttering under his breath.

"MAce, this is bad news - a foreign dignitary getting killed in our camp under our noses? The Blackthorn is going to want someone's blood for this. Perhaps we should look a little harder into who these spies are... You are worried about me? I'm pretty sure the medallion will protect me if one of those chull-brained spies comes for me anyways."

Ace looked up to see Brightlord Jost step out of the tent with a look of contempt on his face directed towards Ace.

"I know MAce, I don't really like him much either."

Well this is bad news guys. I'm hoping we have more than 1 messenger around to be able to get some conversations going. Great write-up by the way Wyrm, I like how you incorporated her character.

*EDIT* Btw, I'm playing MAce kind of as an awakened hammer? I dunno - just thought it would be fun.

Edited December 2, 2014 by Macen

[little wilson she/her]

Well, the lighteyes vote is working thus far. We'll see how well it works when we lose a few lighteyes.

 

That's a good point about the battle. However, I think we're told if someone's saved by a Surgeon or a Guardsman, though. So we should have a pretty decent guess of how many teams there are almost no matter what happens.

 

I'm confused about something though. Why Ash? He posted once, and he was only asking a bunch of questions (and those questions didn't even immediately point to him being the messenger, although there was a decent chance he was). I don't see what the point was. Even if they thought he was the messenger, PMs are so limited that they're not even really an issue for the eliminators at all, or they shouldn't be. And if they didn't target him for his possible role, then that's even more confusing. He said practically nothing.....which I guess tells us that at least one of the spy teams isn't playing things cautiously. They don't care if they take out other spies.

 

I have three main suspects right now. All three are low to medium suspicion though, so nothing high. Kas, Odysa, and Macen. But I'm not going to vote on any of the three yet. I want to hear chatter first.

[Kasimir he/him]

I have three main suspects right now. All three are low to medium suspicion though, so nothing high. Kas, Odysa, and Macen. But I'm not going to vote on any of the three yet. I want to hear chatter first.

Why, me? I am indeed a Spy. Curses--I have been unmasked! Let thy arrows fly!

 

...After all, would I lie to you? Me?

[Newan he/him]

So is one darkeyes guaranteed to get a shardblade in the upcoming battle?

 

Sorry I haven't been so helpful with the strategizing and stuff.  I had a lot to catch up to and I... skimmed it.  So I don't deeply, truly understand what's going on.  

 

But in my defense, both times I have played a large part in the strategy, I only ended up helping the eliminators.  Does anyone have any suggestions of what I should do, or should I just wait continue to lie low and wait for a balderdash to fall in my lap?

Edited December 2, 2014 by Newan

[Wyrmhero he/him]

So is one darkeyes guaranteed to get a shardblade in the upcoming battle?

 

One player loyal to Dalinar, not necessarily a Darkeyes.

[little wilson she/her]

Why, me? I am indeed a Spy. Curses--I have been unmasked! Let thy arrows fly!

 

...After all, would I lie to you? Me?

 

 

You're trolling me right now. You're not as good as Aonar, though. Sorry.

 

Why you? Mostly because the other day you were talking about some strategy thing--can't remember what specifically--and you said in a parenthetical comment that "obviously I know I'm not a spy," and that statement just struck me as being very similar to when Maill and I were joking in the baron doc about how we're obviously not barons. Additionally, saying outright that you're not a evil seems like a rather heavy-handed way of getting people to believe that you're not evil. Making comments that strongly indicate your innocent alignment is one thing. Stating outright? That's something else. And it strikes me as suspicious. You are the lowest of my suspicions, if it makes you feel any better.

[Macen he/him]

See Kas! I always told you I was higher on Wilsons list than you were!

[Kasimir he/him]

I am hurt, deeply hurt, I tell you, that you would insinuate that I would troll you! Surely not, my honour forfend! Naturally, I would not presume to a level of trolling that you or Aonar achieve. I am not a master, by any means.
 
Well, I just thought it would be fair to note that, since I didn't exactly want someone to jump on that and go 'aha you've included yourself in the suspect pool!' Nothing major--I obviously did that in MR3 too--oh wait, that's not helping, is it? Well, I just like to cover all my bases, really. I suppose it's just a product of training in a discipline where you want to rule out possible uncharitable readings of what you've said. Nothing more to it.
 
I can see why you would be suspicious though. I'm a rather suspicious character. Why, I wouldn't trust me if I met me in a game like this. No, absolutely not.
 
Indeed, good Master Macen, I stand corrected.

Edited December 2, 2014 by Kasimir

[Macen he/him]

Haha, thank you sir.

Wilson, I am curious as to why I'm a suspect. I understand that at this point in the game most suspicions are vague at best, but I'm still curious.

I have my suspicions as well. But, I have no fact to ground them in - just gut feelings.

*EDIT* Color, it never saves as blue... I always have to edit it.

Edited December 2, 2014 by Macen

[Lightsworn Panda he/him]

It puzzles me why the Spy Teams decided to kill Ashiok. There were plenty of more dangerous and targeted players around (*Cough* Meta *Cough*). Of all the players, they chose Ashiok, a Darkeye. It would have been understandable if they had killed a Lighteye, since the Spies would have more control of the Secret Vote, but why would they kill a largely harmless target like Ashiok? The Spies couldn't have known he was a Messenger.

 

I can draw three conclusions from this::

 

a) A/Both member/s in the Spy Team that were responsible for the kill had some kind of grudge against Ash.

 

The two Spies in the Spy Team that were responsible for Ash's death were rather wildcard, if not new to this game.

 

c) The Spy Team that were responsible for Ash's death are trolling us.

 

I'm leaning towards the third possibility, since Ash hasn't gained a rivalry or grudge I know of. 

[Kasimir he/him]

"As far as I can see," said Kaddar, to Nirn, "The way to unravel this riddle is to consider if the spies had believed the King's Wit--whoever he may be--to have been a heterochromic."

 

Nirn cocked his head, waiting.

 

"Think about it," Kaddar continued. "If they believed that the Wit was a heterochromic, then anyone they killed had a 1/18th chance of being Wit." Hulin squawked in protest. "No, I'm not being hasty," Kaddar retorted. "We know the spies have been dispatched in pairs. The only certain information they have then, is that they aren't the Wit. Neither is their partner." He kept at it, sharpening the boot knife with his whetstone. Comforting, he thought, to know that Dalinar hadn't yet decided to kill him. There were whispers he was a spy, which he wasn't even bothering to deny. Obviously, Kaddar thought, I am a spy. He spied on some of the other Brightlords in Dalinar's camp, he was a student of riddles, and many, many other things. "Which basically means that the reason to kill a darkeyes would be because really, they're a far more diverse lot than we are. The only really useful person you could really end up killing among the bunch of us would be a surgeon." He smiled faintly. "After all, I'm sure we both agree that my fellow Brightlords and Brightladies are hardly paragons of human usefulness."

 

Squawk.

 

"Indeed, that is the case. So. But what if our spies had decided that the Wit was one of us? One of the generally useless burdens on Alethkar? Well, then. Far better to kill a darkeyes than a lighteyes and court losing their task for the shame of having killed the Wit. Not having a role in camp would make their task much harder, wouldn't you say, Nirn?" The chicken fluttered off his perch on the chair, and cawed.

 

"Well, then," Kaddar said, and set to devising a riddle.

[little wilson she/her]

Why do I suspect you two? I'll start with Macen, since he asked first. And he's technically the higher of you two (meaning he's my highest suspect, currently). Most of my suspicion of him stems entirely from his last post last cycle. First was the "sitting back a bit" comment, which I can understand, since he's been gone for quite a few months. Playstyles of the players he was familiar with could've changed (assuming those players are even still playing), plus there are a lot of new players. So okay. That's fair. The fact that he was calling attention to his sitting back was like he wanted us to not worry about his silence. Let him slide under the radar. I don't like it when people try to do that. That's an eliminator strategy.

 

Then he mentioned Meta's idea. Meta's idea had issues, and those were brought up very well by Aonar. They were also refuted very well by Meta. The plan, as he laid it out in his second explanation, is solid. It limits the spies very well. And while Macen agreed with the plan, he said "I feel as if we may be limiting ourselves, but it's better than giving the Spies a chance to swing the vote." How are we limiting ourselves? The lighteyes vote is one vote. While it could be of use to Team Good, there's also a larger number of voters at our disposal, since there are more good people than evil. If we work together, that lighteyes vote is unnecessary. But it can work well for Team Evil. One vote can swing something from a lynch to a tie. Or a tie to a lynch. Or, coupled well with a role like the Squad Leader, it could completely change the lynch target. We're not limiting ourselves by carefully directing the lighteyes vote. And yet that's what Macen said, while agreeing to the plan. This is also an eliminator tactic.

 

As for Odysa. At a time when pretty much everyone was placing poke votes on people just to get them to talk, she placed a second vote on Jasnah, ostensibly claiming that it was a poke vote. But that's exactly what mine was. This pushed what was meant to be a poke into a lynch. Then when she made her list, she brought up the fact that there were two votes on Jasnah and said she would normally say it's suspicious, but since she's one of the votes, it's not. That comment almost felt like a subtle manipulation to get people looking at that vote and suspecting me more heavily because of it. And while people should suspect me (they should suspect everyone though), that vote isn't a reason to suspect the person jumping around placing poke votes and then retracting them right after the person responds. It's a reason to suspect the person who was the second voter. Lastly, she tried to throw suspicion onto Jain (using gambler's fallacy), in white text as if she wasn't really trying to get us to suspect him, but she still wanted people to (especially since it was obvious there was white text there, with all the blank space at the end of that post).

 

Those are the reasons. There's not much. Nothing spectacular. Nothing really condemning--that's why I'm not voting. I don't have a good enough reason to. But hopefully, through watching, I'll see something more (whether in one of your three or someone else. I don't really mind. I'm keeping my suspicions open and swayable. ).

[Kasimir he/him]

King: If a Lighteyes elects to skip a week's battle, is it directly reflected in the write-up? Or does it only show if they were slated for death? And because you might remember a certain incident from LG5: if a Lighteyes has been protected, and then skips a battle/skirmish they would die in, what is reflected in the write-up?

Edited December 2, 2014 by Kasimir

[little wilson she/her]

.....I just got trolled by all three of my suspects. I'm not sure what to make of that.... :/

[Macen he/him]

Wilson, I actually understand your reasoning and agree with you on why I'm suspicious. Hopefully I can help alleviate some of it with explinatios on why I said certain things.

When I last played, a popular thing to do was monitor players online times. The reason I stated I was sitting back was because I have been on nearly non stop for the last day (with the exception of date night last night, and sleeping), and wasn't posting anything. I didn't want people to take that as me "lurking" so i just stated that I was trying to get back in the swing of it. I get where you're coming from though in that being suspicious, I honestly just didn't consider it being taken that way.

As far as my comment on meta's plan - you're right. There aren't many (if any) flaws in it. I just don't like using my role as a "non-role". The first two games I was in, I was 100% vanilla and it was boring (still fun, but boring). So, my statement didn't really have anything to do with his plan, just me being stubborn. :/

Hopefully that explains some of my reasoning. Thank you for voicing those though - helps me get my mind back into being extra cautious of how I word things.

[Kasimir he/him]

.....I just got trolled by all three of my suspects. I'm not sure what to make of that.... :/

Sorry, guv, I swear we ent collab'ratin'! Wir sind Wut, hör unseren Brüllen zu!

Well. I did try to give you a fair response, and please be somewhat charitable because it's absurdly late for me >> I'm sure with more sleep, I'd have been less inclined to troll  I guess if I were to say a bit more, it was just to block a criticism I made of Joe in MR3 (yes, I know I was an Eliminator then)--that excluding yourself from the suspect pool in a process of reasoning you use to convince others of something can be a pretty sneaky way of trying to get people to rule you out as a suspect or just not really think of you as being as suspicious as 'those people we're considering'. My argument back then was, well sure, Joe, you could do so because you have privileged access to evidence that we don't--but because of that, you can't appeal to this privileged set of evidence in the process of your argument. It just doesn't work that way. So I was trying to be consistent and fair by noting that well, obviously I wouldn't include myself in the scenario I was sketching out, but I did so anyway because you guys don't have access to my evidence, so it can't be a public ground of reason. That's all.

...I'm just finishing a page of my thesis proposal and I'll try to be a bit more useful by the end of my Thursday exam :/

[little wilson she/her]

Ah. Thank you for those explanations, Macen. You're not completely off that suspect list, but you've dropped below Kas. (Also, just a comment about your joke to Kas about being higher on my list earlier. You don't want to be on my list. And I don't mean suspect list. I mean over-arching lists. Some people here have kill lists--people who they want to kill should they ever be an eliminator. I don't have a kill list (except for people like Barty who play me very handily). I have a Battle of Wits list. Right now, the only people on it are Meta, Gamma, and Aonar (although I know Wyrm really wants to be on it too). Gamma and Aonar should've dropped off after LG9, but they were kind enough to state that they weren't fully paying attention to the game. So now I get to try manipulating them again in the (hopefully) near future. I hear that I'm very good on Team Evil, so believe me when I say that you don't want to be on my list. It's not pretty. )
 
 

Does anyone have any suggestions of what I should do, or should I just wait continue to lie low and wait for a balderdash to fall in my lap?

 
 
If you have more time now, I'd suggest reading through the last cycle a little more thoroughly. If you want, skip the RP, and just read the blue text. That'll give you a lot better idea of what's going on. I mean, you can continue to lie low if you want, but it won't really help us much. Active participants are better than semi-actives who don't really know what's going on so can't weigh in on anything (but even those are better than inactives). I wouldn't worry about the fact that the last times you've been really active you've been manipulated by the eliminators. That's the way we learn. I've had that happen too. I think everyone does at some point. And that's fine. It's what makes the game so much fun. At least, that's a factor for me: seeing if I've learned enough to not get taken in by the eliminators.
 
EDIT so as not to double post:
 

Well. I did try to give you a fair response, and please be somewhat charitable because it's absurdly late for me >> I'm sure with more sleep, I'd have been less inclined to troll  I guess if I were to say a bit more, it was just to block a criticism I made of Joe in MR3 (yes, I know I was an Eliminator then)--that excluding yourself from the suspect pool in a process of reasoning you use to convince others of something can be a pretty sneaky way of trying to get people to rule you out as a suspect or just not really think of you as being as suspicious as 'those people we're considering'. My argument back then was, well sure, Joe, you could do so because you have privileged access to evidence that we don't--but because of that, you can't appeal to this privileged set of evidence in the process of your argument. It just doesn't work that way. So I was trying to be consistent and fair by noting that well, obviously I wouldn't include myself in the scenario I was sketching out, but I did so anyway because you guys don't have access to my evidence, so it can't be a public ground of reason. That's all.

 
Ah. Makes sense. Yeah, those scenarios can be tricky. I always still group myself in it when I make them, because I know others suspect me, but I can see why people don't. Or why people might comment on their lack of guilt if they're still going to include themselves in the scenario....... Hm. Apparently I find people suspicious when they don't do something the way I would do if I were in their position. I should probably stop doing that. (although, at the same time, this is what discussion is for....to clear up those misconceptions)

[twelfthrootoftwo]

I have three main suspects right now. All three are low to medium suspicion though, so nothing high. Kas, Odysa, and Macen. But I'm not going to vote on any of the three yet. I want to hear chatter first.

I'm curious why you decided to name your suspects, but didn't give any reasoning. I thought it may have been lack of time, but you've posted a fair bit since the writeup. Having stated their names, someone was bound to ask for reasons; why not just give them straight away?

[little wilson she/her]

I'm curious why you decided to name your suspects, but didn't give any reasoning. I thought it may have been lack of time, but you've posted a fair bit since the writeup. Having stated their names, someone was bound to ask for reasons; why not just give them straight away?

 

I contemplated it. I was actually going to do a much longer post initially, where I explained all three and then voted for one of them, but then as I was looking over my notes, I knew I didn't have enough suspicion toward any of them to vote. Plus, I was in the middle of something at work at the time. So I figured I'd end it there, and see what they had to say (and yes, I figured they'd ask for my suspicions, but I wanted to see how they asked, since that can be telling too). I figured I'd get around to responding in a few hours, after I was off work. But then the computer program at work went down for the rest of the day, so...yeah. More free time to respond.

 

To be honest, I'm glad I did it the way I did. Two of them have pretty much dropped off the list (back to the middle ground where almost everyone else is) so there's only one left. Odysa. And she'll stay on there until she gives some sort of explanation other than excitement over the fact that she's subtle....