Long Game 14: To Shatter a Shard

[A Joe in the Bush]

Fin: Hatred cannot Die, as long as Man Survives.

Maw grasped the Scholar’s hand and shook. “I’ll miss working with you Nyra. You helped cause a lot of chaos.”

 

The woman released his hand and moved both of hers behind her back, standing straight and proud. “Fact. The Chaos served a Purpose. I would not work with you otherwise. I do not believe you hold any loyalty to me. Theory. You wanted all of us Shattered. Not just those aligned against Hal.”

 

Maw still didn’t know what to make of Nyra’s odd way of talking. All logic and Practicality. She would have made a better holder for Survival than him, truth be told. But as long as she held Preservation, he couldn’t give it to her. Nyra wasn’t strong enough to hold two shards at once. “That doesn’t matter, does it Ny? You used me, I used you, we both got further ahead in life. You’ll just get to experience the Second State before I will. Save me a seat will you?”

 

For a moment, a ghost of a grin appeared on her face, but it was gone before he could confirm its existence. “I will Maw. I wish you Luck in surviving when they come for you.”

 

“I’d wish you the same, but I don’t think any amount of Luck can save you know.” Maw took a step back and bowed low to his partner in Chaos. When he straightened, he was already in Shadesmar. Now then, where to next? Leyton and Stick would come for him. But Nyra would delay them long enough that he could find somewhere among the stars to Hide. Autonomy would probably take him in. Their intents matched up pretty well. Or he could go and hunt down Second. The colourless Cremling still deserved death for his crimes.

 

It took only a slight expenditure of power to set off through the sea of beads to Taldain. No matter what happened, Maw would Survive.

 

Fact: Nothing lasted forever.

 

Even with all the Power of Preservation at her hands, she couldn’t stay her own death. It was a cruel Irony that having the power to kill would have let her survive, but holding the power to protect ensured her death.

 

Fact: Leyton was coming for her. He held Endowment and Odium.

Theory: He was coming to kill her.

 

Nyra waited as Leyton, wreathed in Investiture of all colours, landed before her. The Blue of Honour, the Violet of Dominion, Cultivation’s Yellow, Ruin’s Bronze, Endowment’s Green. And the bloodred of Odium. The man before her held nearly half the power that created the Cosmere. All for her. He really knew how to make a lady feel special.

 

“Fact. You have come to kill me. You intend to use my Lord’s own Power to end me.”

 

Leyton grinned before responding. When he did, the colours surrounding him faded, letting the red of Odium fill the space. “It’s only fitting for the last Champion to die to her own Hatred.”

 

“Fact. I have none. All the Hatred among the shards is owned by those gone before us, as well as you and your ally.”

 

“No hatred at all? That does explain how you hid for so long. Still, Hater or not, you’re the enemy.” Odium’s Investiture slithered across his chest, coalescing over his hand and arm into the the shape of a sword. “And unlike the Shards of old, I won’t leave an enemy alive.”

 

Nyra called all the Power of Leras into existence, forging a barrier out of nothing more than the will to remain Unchanged. The sword of Odium struck the Barrier, sending a wave of sparks into the air around them. Leyton pulled back his arm and swung again, striking the barrier harder. Sparks filled the air, but Stability could hold out against Hatred until the Cosmere itself died.

 

Leyton narrowed his eyes, no longer grinning. “Stability is of course, one of the most defensive powers in the cosmere. I should have guessed that wouldn’t work. But don’t get your hopes up yet.”

 

He held his left hand out, and as Nyra watched, the Bronze of Ruin’s Investiture flowed across his body and formed into a second sword. Hatred and Destruction. Odium and Ruin. Leyton clapped his hands together, forcing the shards together, into one. Their colours mixed, becoming darker, angrier. “Decay, Shard of Malicious Destruction. Entropy given will. I’ll bet this can break your barrier.”

 

He lunged forward swinging the newly forged Shard with all his might. It struck the immovable barrier and forced it backwards. Without pause, he followed up with an overhead blow, and another from the side. Each strike chipped away at Preservation’s power. Cracks spread through the shield, forming a spiderweb of damage.

 

Nyra dropped to one knee, consolidating her remaining power into a smaller dome. Leyton grinned once more and struck again at his weakened target. As he did, he let power of Dominion flow into his blade. The strike of three shards sheared through the barrier, taking off Nyra’s upraised arms as well. She fell backwards, her barrier fading away.

 

The pain didn’t reach her mind. Nyra’s thought were untroubled by what should have been a terrible symphony coming from her nerves. Instead she felt a sense of peace, and victory. Finally, it was over. “Fact. I still win.”

 

Her killer’s grin slipped again, replaced by a scowl. “Shut up Nyra. I’ve won.” He forced more power into the blade, making it burst into flames as he stabbed it downwards, through her chest and into the ground beneath her. The sheer power of the blow destroyed her completely, burning away her body it a rush of wind and flame.

 

Leyton panted and leaned on his shards. he slowly caught his breath, before straightening up. He could feel the power of Preservation flowing into him, strengthening him. He grinned at it, and let it out, mixing it with Cultivation to form a suit of armor, a set of Plate to keep him safe. He raised the Sword of Domination high and watched the sunlight reflect off it.

 

7 shards now. Dominion, Ruin and Odium were combined in his Blade, Preservation and Cultivation in his Armor. Honour and Endowment were held back within him. An idle thought crossed his mind. How hard could it be to collect the remaining eight? He grinned at the thought. Endowment was fine, but being Adonalsium? That was something else entirely.

 

He left the world behind and contemplated what to do next. Taldain and Vax were both nearby. Either would serve for his newfound purpose. He would bring an end to the Shards, and reforge God. No one would stand in his way now.

 

RavenRadiant was The Unmade, Holder of Preservation, Last Champion of Odium! (And the new holder of the Title, Bloodthirsty Goddess)

The Seventeenth Shard has Won! Mailliw has Won!

Mailliw is Survival!

Kipper is Odium!

IrulelikeSTINK is Endowment!

 

The Dead Doc

The Spec Doc

The Voidbringer’s Doc

Expect the GM’s final thoughts to appear in the next 48 Hours.

Edited October 18, 2015 by The Only Joe

[Haelbarde he/him]

Thanks everyone for the the game, and thank you Joe for running it. I really enjoyed it!

 

I didn't think we were quite Voidbringers?

Unfortunately, LG14 won't be getting the award for longest eliminator doc...

 

Have another Les Miserable parody:

 

 

What have I done?

God beyond, what have I done?

Become a thief in the night,

Become a dog on the run

And have I fallen so far,

And is the hour so late

That nothing remains but the cry of my hate,

A Shard in my hand that causes all tears,

The start of a fall through the turning of the years?

 

If there's another way to go

I missed it just one week ago

My life was a war that could never be won

Never an eliminator, just murdered again

When they lynched me and left me for dead

Just for posting some words in a thread

 

 

Yet why did I allow that man

To assign me Odium?

He treated me like any other

He rolled me his dice

He made me Hater

But now I start to have some fun

Can such things be?

For I’ve come to hate the world

This world that always hated me

 

Take an eye for an eye!

Turn your heart into stone!

This is all I have lived for!

This is all I have known!

 

Wilson now knows I have Shard

My death now’d not be hard,

My fellows help might stop her

To survive I’ll have to take her life

Will her trust, once gained, now be lost?

How can I know?

Will I be numbered on her list?

Is there another way to go?

 

I am running, but I fall

And the lynch is closing in

As I stare into The Void

Where all my plans did begin

I’ll escape now from this game,

From the Hate of Culivation

This Lord of Hate is now no more

Another story must begin!

 

 

Also, with the eliminator doc, unless Joe merges them, be sure to check the table of contents first, and click the 'Archive' link, which has the 100+ pages of Cycles 1-8

Edited October 18, 2015 by Haelbarde

[A Joe in the Bush]

I merged them.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

First off, yay!! With a slight disappointment that team good won too. But you deserved it. Everyone played this game very well, and I couldn't decide who I'd want to win if I had to pick a side. I'm impressed that the OCs made it this far and impressed with Team Good for finding them all in quick succession(for the most part).

Second, an apology is due. I apologize for any irritation, annoyance, or pissed-off-ness I may have caused. My playstyle this game was very abrasive and I saw that. It did work, I won. But I do apologize for any hard feelings I may have caused and I will not be playing like this in the future. Not likely at least. Anyways, Wilson, Kipper, Joe, and Seonid probably deserve most of this apology, so I'll apologize to you officially, but anyone else who found me to be an annoyance this game, I'm sorry to you too. I hope the hard feelings don't last. If there is an issue, please PM me and I'll try to work it out.

Thirdly, RP.

Maw laughed. The organization, corrupt though it had become, had won. The Seventeenth Shard had vanquished Odium. Liars, all of them. Aili had died to their hands and to the hands of Odium's champions equally. All of them deserved the fires of Braize. But his scythe was bloody enough.

Maw's memories of his time as Odium had come back to him. The Hatred had consumed him and carried over even as the Shard left him. But even as Odium, Lord Hatred himself, he had caused fewer deaths than he had as Survival. He had survived, but at what cost? Battling within him was the side that wanted revenge and survival and the side that wanted it to be over and peace.

Eventually he had been twisted into Chaos. A twisted, mutant form of his old self, Odium, and Survival. Eventually, it led to this form of himself. One he had never foreseen. One he regretted with part of his soul and delighted in with the other. There wasn't reconciliation between the sides except to ignore the internal battle and just go as he felt to do in the moment. And at this moment, he was leaving these burned, scarred planets to find refuge somewhere else.

Edit: do those doc links for anyone else?

Edited October 18, 2015 by Mailliw73

[A Joe in the Bush]

Hmmm. . The doc links aren't working at the moment. And I don't know why. Unfortunately I can't get back on a computer for another 8 hours or so so I can't fix it. Hael or Alv shoild have acess to all the docs though, so if one of them could post the links and see if they work?

[Haelbarde he/him]

They seem to work for me at the moment. (Also, in case people are wondering, the Spec doc and the Dead doc are indeed one and the same.)

[STINK he/him]

Sorry for being so irritating, but the last week being so busy for me coupled with the fact that I forgot to check PM's as much and that I got a bit lost with the rule changes and keeping track of them, made me seem (and I most likely was) really rude to everyone, and I agree that I really was losing things near the end of the game, so thanks to Kipper who actually did some stuff that made it so that we won, as I basically did nothing.

[RavenRadient7 she/her]

Good job, village! It was close, but you guys beat us out in the end.

 

I enjoyed my first game as an eliminator, even if we did lose in the end. Frankly, I never thought I'd make it this far, considering just how inactive I was compared to the other games I've played in.

 

It was fun playing good while using that information to help with the kills, though. I can't wait to read through the dead doc, and see how they reacted to everything that was happening.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

They seem to work for me at the moment. (Also, in case people are wondering, the Spec doc and the Dead doc are indeed one and the same.)

Still not for me. Maybe it's a mobile problem?

[Orlok Tsubodai he/him]

On mobile, you can access them by opening them in a new tab - just clicking on them doesn't work for me.

[Alvron he/him]

They work fine for me but just in case....

 

The Void

Beyond the 5th wall

 

Hopefully these work for everyone.

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

Well, good game everyone(especially Wilson for that great kill streak)!  Even if Kipper and STINK did take forever to kill Raven.   Also, good job Raven for surviving so long!

 

This game was really awesome and fun, so thanks Joe for running it!  Even if you laughed at me while I was being killed.   I almost survived even with you faking out TG with TE's roles. Nice one, BTW. I almost pushed for PK to get lynched a couple times, since even I thought they would have some sort of protection. But, I knew that if he died and turned out to be innocent, I would probably be close behind him. I had Wilson almost convinced I was good, so that was a small victory for me. Also, it didn't really help my team out that much, but I did vote for the remaining Champions with my last two votes, so that's something too. I really wanted to survive this game, but winning is more important to me than surviving so I'm happy!

 

 

Also, Joe, why did you go GAAAAAAAAAAAH(about assumptions being made by TG) in The Void doc? (since you said to remind you at the end of the game)

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Just finished skimming/reading the dead doc. Seonid, I'm glad someone supported me in thinking I should win. But I agree with Wilson about my attitude in this game. And for that, I apologize again, to everyone and to Wilson specifically. Lopen, sorry about your death.

[A Joe in the Bush]

This game was really awesome and fun, so thanks Joe for running it! Even if you laughed at me while I was being killed. I almost survived even with you faking out TG with TE's roles. Nice one, BTW. 

Also, Joe, why did you go GAAAAAAAAAAAH(about assumptions being made by TG) in The Void doc? (since you said to remind you at the end of the game)

Your lynch made me so happy. Never try to predict my role lay outs.

What turn did I go Gaaaah at? Remind me. There were a lot of of assumptions made by both sides that made me go gaaah. EDIT: I think that was her assumption that Honey was guilty.

Edited October 18, 2015 by The Only Joe

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

Your lynch made me so happy. Never try to predict my role lay outs.

What turn did I go Gaaaah at? Remind me. There were a lotf of assumptions made by both sides that mademe go gah.

 

Your not helping me move on. 

 

It was night 7. I just checked. I made a lot of assumptions that cycle I think. Mostly that Raven was good. 

 

@Maill, it was really Phat and Raven that killed me, so I'm okay with how I died. It would've been nice if some of the good guys had voted for Raven and saved me, but they didn't have much reason to suspect Raven over me so....meh.

Edited October 18, 2015 by TheMightyLopen

[little wilson she/her]

It's fine, Maill. I didn't realize until the game ended and you apologized before even seeing the docs that you were still playing the Survival strategy you started with. I thought you were legitimately just being a jerk, simply because you could. But you were simply continuing with that playstyle, and I know the feeling of getting trapped with a playstyle you're not particularly proud of or fond of, but you must continue until death or the end. So you're forgiven.

 

And 612 mentions of Wilson in that doc. About 150 are in the PMs at the end, so that's really only 450 in doc mentions, but still. That's.....a lot.

 

Wilson has a very strong code of ethics and I used it against her.  I feel bad about it but I would do the same thing again if I had to.

 

Hmph. It should be noted that this code of ethics went away the second Joe said that he'd built this game for Shard-passing. Once I knew that, there was no loophole so I wasn't exploiting anything, and I could act to my little heart's content. But geez, Alv. That comment. Wow.

 

I’m at Fiendishly Cunning (below Crouching Badchull) atm.

Wilson didn’t listen to me then when I told her you were very dangerous.  I saw that in the QF7 game.  Been waiting for you to be evil to see just how dangerous.  Now I know.  Welcome to my threat list.

 

I think I might move you up to Holy Batman, Hael. And Alv, I did listen. I was saying the same things (particularly about waiting for him to be evil). Just because I don't have him on the KoS tier doesn't mean I'm not watching him very closely. It just means that I'm letting him work his natural way up the list. Nothing wrong with that.

 

Also....wow. You guys really wanted me dead. 

[Haelbarde he/him]

And 612 mentions of Wilson in that doc. About 150 are in the PMs at the end, so that's really only 450 in doc mentions, but still. That's.....a lot.

Like I said, there were a few reasons why it was particularly high.

 

 

Just finished skimming/reading the dead doc. Seonid, I'm glad someone supported me in thinking I should win.   But I agree with Wilson about my attitude in this game. And for that, I apologize again, to everyone and to Wilson specifically. Lopen, sorry about your death.

Sometimes mobile doesn't cope with big docs, I think? Both docs are 100+ pages.

Edited October 18, 2015 by Haelbarde

[Kipper]

Here's some things:

There was way too much information and role-revealing going on so early...I'm proud of myself for figuring out Wilson, or I was proud until I discovered that she blatantly told everyone else...

 

Mailliw, I'm not offended at all. I kept on telling Wilson not to kill you.

 

About this abuse I'm getting in the Spec Doc...

1.  I did strategize. I also want to strategize. I was looking at actions and roles quite a bit, and my analysis held up to me, at least until I realized that I had made a fundamental misconception about Passing Shards. Joe can attest to how many questions I was asking about mechanics. Everybody makes mistakes, but mine certainly didn't stem from a desire not to strategize.

 

2. A typical exchange in the Spec Doc goes like this. "Kipper is suggesting giving dowanx Odium and killing him." "Haha, Kipper's such an idiot. Doesn't he realize that dowanx already has a Shard?" "Haha no he doesn't. He deserves to die; he's so stupid."

Let me present to you a scenario. Say we have an Odium's Champion (or really anyone), holding an unbroken Shard. Kipper says (in-thread, mind you) that that particular player is going to die on the next Night. What will that player see as the most logical option to avoid dying? Ah yes, passing the Shard to someone else at the end of the day to be immediately disqualified for the Shardbuster. Passing Odium to the player and then killing them ensures that they are able to be killed by the Shardbuster, and also has a side effect of immediately sending Odium back to Endowment. So please don't say I'm stupid without considering all the reasons why I might suggest doing a gift/kill.

 

3. I got attacked for suggesting the "nuclear option," a few pages after other players said that they would use it if needed.

 

4. The only reason I suggested using the "nuclear option" is because I was being told literally nothing. I had no idea what STINK's actions were, because he didn't tell me. All I got was "what if I kill you with Odium," and other things like that. I had no PMs. I had no useful abilities. Nothing. I had no clue about the Dominion redirect. I got fed up with the entire thing, ESPECIALLY after we could have ended the game like two cycles earlier, but just uggghhhh.

 

This sounds like I'm being butthurt, or salty, or something, but really, I'm just irritated at the usual comments in the Dead Doc from players who clearly did not have the whole picture on what was going on. There's no hard feelings, though, because honestly, I'll probably do the same thing sometime if I ever die... Good game guys, and I look forward to playing again soon!

Edited October 19, 2015 by Kipper

[Haelbarde he/him]

...

Apologies for anything I may have said.

 

Re: 1, it was just hard seeing as there wasn't a lot happening in thread. 

 

Re: 2, you guys should have been using Ruin. Every time Stink invested you with Ruin, he could have made a kill which would work on Shard and non-Shard alike, without having to worry about bluffing or anything. You could have then returned the shard during the day turn to repeat next turn. I guess that's more what got me.

 

But I guess it comes down to we assumed you and Stink would have been in communication, planning, when in fact communication lines were down. 

[Kipper]

Apologies for anything I may have said.

 

Re: 1, it was just hard seeing as there wasn't a lot happening in thread. 

 

Re: 2, you guys should have been using Ruin. Every time Stink invested you with Ruin, he could have made a kill which would work on Shard and non-Shard alike, without having to worry about bluffing or anything. You could have then returned the shard during the day turn to repeat next turn. I guess that's more what got me.

 

But I guess it comes down to we assumed you and Stink would have been in communication, planning, when in fact communication lines were down. 

Re: 1, Yeah, I freely admit I'm not good at strategizing. That much is clear. But I do try, and like I said, Joe could tell you how many questions I was asking.

 

Re: 2, The rules were unclear on that; I was under the impression that Endowment could only do that once, similar to how not every new holder of Preservation gets an extra life.

[Haelbarde he/him]

Re: 2, The rules were unclear on that; I was under the impression that Endowment could only do that once, similar to how not every new holder of Preservation gets an extra life.

Oh, I agree that the rules re: Endow were quite unclear. I had thought that once Endow got a Shard, they could use it once, at any point, rather than needing to Invest the same cycle. Though with the repeat kills, I think that was more a matter of things being forgotten (everyone forgot stuff. I forgot stuff, and reading the dead doc, you'll see that lots of us their forgot stuff while spectating too). A couple of people died at Endowment's hand due to Ruin. Araris was the first, but there were a number of others who followed (I think Nicoco was one of the last?). 

 

---

You know something cool that could have happened?

The day that Wilson outed Alvron and I as OC, we could have both put our votes on Wilson early, used Raven (the Dominion Investee at the time) to shift someone's vote onto Wilson, and then got Alvron to use Dominion's action change to activate Ultimate Preservation. Wilson would have had 3 votes on her, and then because of Ultimate Preservation, any further votes and actions would not have worked.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't think of that till the turn after :'(

[Mailliw73 he/him]

And I forgot that I am immune to non-kill actions... Until I saw the dead doc, I forgot that rule existed.

[Haelbarde he/him]

Joe, was there a master spreadsheet or anything? 

[A Joe in the Bush]

Depends on what you count as a master spreadsheet. I'm bad at staying organized, so the closest thing I had was my Writeup Doc, (Not the one you saw) that had most of the actions as notes so that I could see what could be used in the writeup. But even that didn't have everything.

[Haelbarde he/him]

Does that have any draft write-ups that didn't make it?