Long Game 74: You Want It Darker

[Kasimir he/him]

Day Five: Still The Raven Knows

“Hvem skal synge meg
i daudsvevna slynge meg
når eg på Helvegen går
og dei spora eg trår er kalda, så kalda

Årle ell i dagars hell
enn veit ravnen om eg fell”

—’Helvegen’, Wardruna

People expect investigations to be fast.

Mayor Wilson called me in to chat about our progress. I got the sense she was nervous, from the way she was looking out the window at the slightest noise. Guess I’d be jumpy too, if people were whacking other people and getting away with it, in my village. To say nothing about the rumours of koloss, which I’d filed away in my mind keep under ‘Things That Are Not My Problem.’ Figured it was the new militia’s problem, see?

Only it was hard for everyone to put the koloss out of mind completely when the militia were erecting barricades and drilling in the village square. It’s like the old saying: tell someone not to think about a mistwraith, and you bloody well bet that’s the first thing that pops up in their head. People’s minds work in strange ways.

“Look,” I said, trying to be as honest and blunt as I could. I didn’t want to let her down in such a harsh way, but sometimes people expect the impossible for us. I didn’t want it. It felt like she had the expectation I could read a scene, and mystically tell her who the murderer was, and who the militia had to go nick. I didn’t want that at all. Thing is, if you have unrealistic expectations of how an investigation works, you’re bound to be pretty bloody disappointed. 

Sure, she was paying Kast and me to go look through the cases, try to crack them. But we owed her honesty, I felt. And if she didn’t want to retain our services, that was fine too. Kast’d get grouchy about it, but I don’t like it when clients pay us and expect something different. Wastes a lot of my time trying to talk them down, feels like. And there’s something about it that feels a little dishonest, a little like we’re no better than some of the shysters and frauds we used to rustle back in the precinct. So I usually give ‘em the talk about moderating their expectations and how we work at the start, but I figure Wilson had a lot on her mind, maybe it slipped her braincase.

“Investigating takes time, Wilson. And it takes a lot of work, a lot of asking questions, a lot of probing dead ends. I’ve told you about this, before you hired us to look into Leas Fel’s death, and then the other cases that popped up along the way. We’re decently sure they’re all connected and there’s a criminal group—” I left out the bit about how Kast and I’d been referring to them as the Spiked, didn’t want to get her over-excited, now, much less to derail things with talk of Hemalurgy and all that sort of stuff. Kast was the one you wanted for that, really. “—a sort of cult that commits ritualistic murders with spikes. Tesse Mourn confessed to providing them with spikes, but—”

“And you didn’t bring her in?” demanded Wilson, incredulously.

I stared flatly at her. “Mourn was used, and as likely to be whacked to silence her,” I told her. We’d both been dead certain about this, or we wouldn’t have let her off. “If making spikes for money were illegal because the spikes were used by a bunch of cultists to go whack other people, then a lot of knife-makers and what-have-yous in the region are going to find themselves under arrest.”

Mayor Wilson could see the sense in that, I suppose, because she let the point go, however reluctantly. Wish I could’ve said the same for some of the Watch I’ve worked with.

I outlined our main conclusions for her. The targeted killings were the cleanest, in my eyes. Common MO, and almost all the dead had some connection to Tesse Mourn’s shop, according to her ledger. They got their metals from her on the quiet, or they’d put in some recent job with her. All of which, in my eyes, pointed to the fact that either our killers had wanted to set Tesse Mourn up, or they’d kept her store under tight surveillance when looking for vics.

Made some sense too, when I thought about it. If you want to whack Mistings for your spikes, what better way to identify your vics than to stake out a metallurgist’s shop? It interested me if any of the others had gone to Dayle Palladiel, or why they’d set their sights on Tesse Mourn instead, but I supposed it wasn’t illogical either. Palladiel can be...intense, if you’re not used to how she works. And they’d already established contact with Tesse Mourn. Why wouldn’t they kill two birds with one stone and keep her under surveillance? I’d do that, if I were them.

At any rate, the cases that weren’t consistent with what we knew were Tomas, Niru, Pie Roayong, and Shard. I still hadn’t figured out whether Sara had whacked Pie Roayong or Shard, though I figured the other mysterious Coinshot must’ve done for the other one. And then our killers had seen to Thiriel, because it was that same bloody MO all over again.

Sara was the other odd case. Our evidence wasn’t good, given the whole Crow had caught fire. I didn’t like that at all. Kast was stubbornly digging in his heels and claiming it was arson, which made me side-eye him. Maybe he’d gone back to the wreckage because when he came back, there was a hint of smoke about him, and he’d clammed up on me. I don’t know what was eating at him, I just didn’t like it one bit.

My thoughts ran in the opposite direction: I figured someone had tried to whack Sara and then laid the fire to cover the evidence. And cover the evidence it had. Dr. Aliker hadn’t given us much to work with, except to note that she probably hadn’t died from a chest wound. Which I didn’t think was very helpful, but maybe it was just me. This did chalk her death down to a completely different MO though, so that left us back in Who-Sodding-Knows-Anyway? without much of a clue. 

And then there was the Rioter. The firebug. As I said, I guess it’s possible the Rioter could’ve also whacked Sara, or whacked Leas Fel and all those connected cases. Hell, I guess that would be the logical answer, but I dunno. Said before, but it don’t feel right to me. 

I didn’t tell the Mayor of my uncertainties, of course. Sometimes, the politicians, they misunderstand these things. So I just outlined what our current thoughts were, and what leads were were following. I knew Kast had gone to talk to Clanal, and at least we knew now that it hadn’t been someone whacking Sara out of an old grudge. We could also sweep most of the Coinshot cases off our active case desk for the moment, which I considered helpful.

Thing about investigating is, you want to keep your options open, but you don’t want to drown in information overload. Being able to say that the Coinshot cases didn’t seem related to the main cluster of cases was helpful: it let us throw out dead ends and focus on what really mattered to our Spiked killings here.

“Know if Leas Fel got jumpy in his last days?” I asked her, after I’d reassured her that we were doing the best we could on the murders. Wonder if that’s the drek the captain dealt with, back in Tremredare. Couldn’t have paid me enough to take that insignia, that’s for sure. Too much public talking, too much time riding a desk, and not enough solving, in my opinion.

She frowned. “What do you mean?” she asked. Too quickly?

“Come on now,” I said. “Easy question, don’t you think? Guy retires from garrison life, goes back to rural life in village. Only about a week before he dies, he shows up to Edgar’s—” I was grateful I’d checked this, “—and then Tesse Mourn’s shops to get his sword fixed up. You don’t do that unless you’ve got reason to think someone’s about to whack you.”

I was getting to her. I could feel it. Her eyes darted to the side; a little unobtrusive panel in the wall, and then back at me. I pretended I didn’t notice, though.

“Maybe he’d gotten into something deep,” Wilson said. “There’s a lot of gambling in Fallion’s Tears, and Leas Fel liked his gambits.”

I thought she might even have been telling me the truth, there. But it wasn’t the whole truth. Call it investigator’s instincts, but I didn’t like the way Wilson was acting shifty everytime I brought Leas Fel up. Meant she was most likely connected to the cases, somehow.

Thing is, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what her angle was. 

But I figured I wasn’t going to get more out of her this interview. So I thanked her, and headed off to go pay a visit to another of my suspects.

 

 

Maybe it was overdoing it a little, to call Philico a suspect. But the magician had a way of showing up around the village, and Wyl figured it was good to interview him, to see if he had seen anything that might’ve been overlooked. According to Kast’s list, Philico had been lurking in the vicinity of the Steel Crow the night of the fire, which meant that he was immediately in the pool of persons of interest.

He found Philico standing by himself at a side-street.

Took him a couple of hours wandering the streets of Fallion’s Tears, but there you had it. Wyl had learned the value of persistence from years in Tremredare, and eventually, he saw the familiar silhouette of the magician, distorted eerily by the gathering night mists. 

“Waiting for someone?” Wyl asked. Sometimes, it was best to just get directly into things.

Philico started. It seemed he had in fact been waiting for someone, and the disappointment faded from his features and was replaced almost immediately by wariness and then polite interest. “Ah. The investigator.”

“Sharpe. Wyl Sharpe. I don’t think we’ve yet met.”

“Not directly, no. I’m Philico, a magician. Greatest traveling show this side of the river, you may have heard of me.”

Which meant, in Wyl’s book, he was several steps and a little bit of ethics removed from the shysters and frauds and pickpockets that worked festivals and fairs in Tremredare.

“Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure, no.”

“Ah. Unfortunate.”

Wyl took the initiative. “I’ve been meaning to ask you some questions, actually. I’ve been looking into the recent string of murders in this village.”

“And you think it might be me?” Philico spread his hands out, and a card materialised between the fingers of his left hand. He flicked it up in the air, and suddenly plucked it out from behind his ear. “I’m a magician. I’ve stopped in your village for a time, and I’m not interested in your intrigues or murders.” 

“What’ve you been looking for, then?”

Philico looked at him severely. “As any good entertainer does, a good audience. I must say you’re not the coldest crowd I’ve had to work, at least.”

“Probably not,” Wyl said. “Did a bit of stage magic in my misspent youth, actually.” It was a story he didn’t really want to go into, though looking at Philico was almost as though he was looking into a distorted mirror, bringing about a sudden, intense wave of deja vu.

Now Philico’s smile turned a fraction warmer. “Ah, a fellow entertainer.” He made the card and a ball disappear. “No harder audience than performing to one of our profession, really.”

“It was a misspent youth,” Wyl said. “I’m just a busybody now. I stick my nose into things and ask all sorts of questions.”

“I’ve answered them, I think.”

“So you have,” Wyl agreed. “What were you doing in the vicinity of the Steel Crow last night?”

Philico answered, without hesitation, “I told a child a story, and he was supposed to come back tonight to listen to it. You know the old trick?”

“What is it?”

“The best stories,” Philico said, “Never have an ending. You make your own ending. That’s how you make the story live and sing and dance in the listener’s heart.”

“Right,” said Wyl, “And the child was out that late?”

Philico stiffened, turning tense. “Look out!” he shouted.

Wyl was already turning so the blow fell on his shoulder instead. Reflexively, he turned, seeking to throw his attacker, but something heavy went down on his head. Textbook nap tap, he thought, the way they taught you to deliver it at the academy in Tremredare.

The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, and the world was blurring.

Maybe that was why nothing Wyl was looking at in the next few heartbeats made any sense.

Philico was dissolving. Wyl didn’t know how to describe it. One moment, Philico was there, and the next moment, his form wavered and broke apart as a wave of critters scattered all over the street, heading for—Wyl didn’t even bloody know.

Something dropped over his head. It was rough, perhaps, and blocked out most of the light. Burlap sack, maybe.

The world went dark.

 

 

Wyrm was attacked and survived!

Matrim's Dice has fled! He was a Village Smoker! PMs remain open!

The Day has begun and will end on 13th March 2021 at 2300hrs SGT (GMT+8)! 

The Writing on the Walls of the Crow:

Spoiler

A soliloquy of a mindless soul:

 

 

 

 

--

Ad #1:

Gotta admit. Village do be suffering.
Every cycle. The death count rising.
A vain hope, a hopeful vote.
Results tainted with regret.
Lies and deciet from Ruins elite.
Innocent bodies lie dead at their feet.
Night again reaches its end
Gotta hope we didn't lose yet another friend...

-Burnt Spaghetti

and

Spoiler

 He is brave.           brave brave...        Bold. pft. 

Twineye.

Friend  We don't know that .   Marll.   He could be foe.   hello hello! 
 

Twineye with many a friend and foe.  Stared death down twice now. 

First Tesse. And now, who was it? Ah yes. Roko.
Roko!  Roko!          The quiet Soother.       Yes! Roko! I like Roko! He enjoys our messages!    Enjoyed.  Hey. She's a little. Be nice.  Hmph.
Mind you, we did lie to him.            he couldn't know.... look at you actually distrusting. I'm proud of you.

 Do you think he knows now?             Maybe. He seemed. Eccentric.       like us like us!
Yes.  Like us. A pity he is gone.       a pity a pity             Twineye Marll liked him 
 Twineye! Twineye!
Yes, little one.

He made himself known tonight.
I don't trust it.
That he did. Oh!

 

Hello! I forget you hear us in the night.  They hear! they hear!...HE hears...

I must confirm that Marll is my Twineye. I fear he won't survive long. And if he dies I fear even more for myself.

alone.... I don't want to be alone....          

Ha. Alone is something you'll never be. Foolish child

 

There has been so much loss.         loss... Pain....Fear...

Random bystander... Shard... Variel... Obliteration...Niru... Sara...Pie...Thiriel..Tesse... Roko... 

And no doubt we wake to more names. 
Not us not us!
No... Not us. We will be okay. I promise. Trust me okay? 
Trust no one. Not even us, little.  our time comes.

I swear to the Lord Ruler. Be. Nice. To. The. Little.

Sigh.

I am lost for what to do. Marll has ventured into the public eye. 

I will not do so.        Light... attention.... Fear fear fear!
It is circumstantial.
If we must we will. But. Anonymity is vital now more than ever.

I worry for us.

All of us.

 

Survive.

 

 

Edited March 11, 2021 by Kasimir

[Kasimir he/him]

Player List:

Spoiler

1. Matrim's Dice as Philico, the Magician Extraordinaire, a Village Smoker
2. Random Bystander as the village's random bystander and musician, a Regular Villager
3. Gears as Roko the Basilisk, the gambling menace, a Village Soother
4. Quintessential as Tesse Mourn, resident metallurgist, a Village Soother
5. @Fifth Scholar as Iste Confessor, village scholar - I confess I'm interested in this one
6. @Shard of Reading as Joe, gambling duck wrangler who drinks - I'd be driven to drink too if I had to wrangle ducks 
7. @Araris Valerian as Arenta, grumpy landlady - or the unholy conglomeration of AG Araris and Ren, tremble with fear ye tenants!
8. @Dannex as Dr. Aliker - A doctor, just probably not the one you're looking for
9. @Elandera as a confused and overworked metallurgist - Whose order is it anyway?
10. @Ashbringer as Derrick, general madman and secret kandra - Twice the pride, double the fall!
11. @TJ Shade as Fleur Tieste, hopeless romantic and god of cheesy one-liners - Are you a Lurcher? 'Cause I think I'm pulled towards you.
12. @Illwei - definitely not an Elantrian
13. @Devotary of Spontaneity as Sonnah Cojic, alchemist - But probably not full metal
14. Experience as Shard, the crazy 'kid' in town, a Village Rioter
15. @Mailliw73 as Marll, a gambling cobbler who heard of Tyrian Falls - Beware beetles!
16. StrikerEZ as Variel, a fastidious storyteller, a Regular Villager
17. The Unknown Order as Obliteration, a Shard inhabiting one of his followers, a Village Smoker
18. @The Windrunner Supreme as Merritt Cavallo - Pending
19. Ventyl as Niru, a watcher of ashes, a Village Smoker
20. Flyingbooks as Lasalen, a Regular Villager
21. @Burnt Spaghetti as Roseanna Ghetti, an insomniac artist - But what is there to art in this village but an infinity of ducks?
22. @STINK as Smirkai - Smirkai, now that's a name I haven't heard in a very long time...
23. @_Stick_ as Sunny, the intrepid baking worldhopping dolphin - So long and thanks for all the fish!
24. Biplet as Sara, the local tavern-keeper, a Village Coinshot
25. Daisy / @Haelbarde as Hadra the storyteller - We are the stories we live! The tales we tell ourselves!
26. The Young Pyromancer as Pie Roayong, foreigner kid out for blood, a Regular Villager
27. Young Bard as Thiriel, social climber, a Village Lurcher
28. Tani / @Condensation as Daux, duck poacher - The socially-accepted term is 'wrangler'.

Rule Clarifications:

Spoiler

Who reads this anyway? Guess if you do you should type 'quacc' in your post so I can see how many of you do  

 

Edited March 11, 2021 by Kasimir

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Well I’ll start. Maill. 

Jk just figured I should be the first to vote on myself before you do. Maill.

I’ll start on TJ. 

[Burnt Spaghetti she/her]

You know. 

It is nice to have a night cycle where only one villager dies.

[Araris Valerian he/him]

My greatest suspicion is currently Stick. I'll post explanation later when I have more time.

[---]

Maill

back on this, am I?

why yes

[Stick. she/her]

This is very rude  I asked to be NK'd before Mat did, yet they get their wish and I don't? 

 Devotary

Refer to my earlier post as to why devo isnt giving me village vibes, and also PoE agrees 

Edit: I'm doing this so that the thread doesnt just die - at this point I'm okay with exe'ing Maill and I can switch my vote to him later if need be. I am also okay with exe'ing Burnt but between the two I'd prefer Maill because I think elim!Maill means elim!Burnt but elim!Burnt doesnt necessary mean elim!Maill

ed2t: quacc

Edited March 11, 2021 by _Stick_

[STINK he/him]

Wait what has Burnt done now

[Stick. she/her]

6 minutes ago, STINK said:

Wait what has Burnt done now

She tied the vote between Quinn and Maill last-minute remember? Plus she hasn't done anything particularly village as far as I can tell so PoE puts her at a risk for me anyway. 

Edited March 11, 2021 by _Stick_
spellinggg

[Burnt Spaghetti she/her]

5 minutes ago, _Stick_ said:

She tied the vote between Quinn and Maill last-minute remember? Plus she hasn't done anything particular village as far as I can tell so PoE puts her at a risk for me anyway. 

That I did! Though I neglected to do the same with Gears, so hey, not consistent woo! 

And I mean

If I'm village

everything I've done is village! Cause village!  

[---]

Just now, Burnt Spaghetti said:

everything I've done is village! Cause village!  

I buy it

[Stick. she/her]

Quote

Araris is also a good alternative for mechanic reasons- if there is an elim!Smoker there is a pretty good chance Araris is evil.

(from Mat's post last turn)

Am I correct in interpreting this to mean someone scanned Araris as a Regular Villager?  

[Ashbringer he/him]

I think everyone should list three people they suspect. No more, no less.

Still no Seeker action. I would hope that Maill’s at least been scanned, although any Elim Smoker is likely on him as well. But my theory of the only Seeker being compromised seems to be holding... not that I would know otherwise, as I haven’t been contacted and (as you may have guessed) I’m Vanilla. Or, rather, an illegal Nicroburst.

And if a Lurcher wasn’t self-protecting or on a Seeker/Tineye(?) I feel like Mat would have been a likely target.

So I’m worried. Worried that all we have to lean in is our minds.

Never lean on my mind.

Quacc.

[Burnt Spaghetti she/her]

1 minute ago, Ashbringer said:

I think everyone should list three people they suspect. No more, no less.

 

Are we allowed to list Wyrm three times?

[Mailliw73 he/him]

TJ, Devo, Araris? 3 people as per requested. 

[Araris Valerian he/him]

In order, Stick, SoR, TJ.

[Kasimir he/him]

6 minutes ago, Burnt Spaghetti said:

Are we allowed to list Wyrm three times?

I'll allow it  

[Stick. she/her]

12 minutes ago, Ashbringer said:

I think everyone should list three people they suspect. No more, no less.

In this order - Devo, Araris, Maill and Burnt, TWS, TJ, Fifth

edit: @Ashbringer what about your three reads?  

Edited March 11, 2021 by _Stick_

[|TJ| he/him]

@Mailliw73 Mat was like the only player who village read me. Why would I let the elims kill him if I was one of them? Why are you voting for me? And why do you prefer me over Devotary? Cause I remember you grouping us together?

I'm actually worried most of the active players are elims seeing as how they're easily saving Maill cycle after cycle despite us clearly wanting his flip to have a better understanding of the game. Why is he village, other than meta reasons?

@Ashbringer, why did you shift to Gears last cycle?

@Araris Valerian what are your thoughts on Maill? I don't think you've mentioned it. You just said an uncontested elimination on Maill would be bad and it became very much contested. 

Araris Valerian

Maill, Araris, Ash, Devotary + n (not Stick, Illwei and Reading) - current team guess

Edit: I'm on my phone, I don't know why that didn't @Araris Valerian oh look now it's @ing

Edited March 11, 2021 by TJ Shade

[Burnt Spaghetti she/her]

6 minutes ago, Kasimir said:

I'll allow it  

Sweet!

Wyrm, Wyl, and yknow sure, lets add in Wyrmimir!
Aint that just Quacckers. Quacc. Quaccamole? .....Quaccamole....

[Elandera she/her]

17 minutes ago, Burnt Spaghetti said:

Are we allowed to list Wyrm three times?

That survival is pretty sus...

[Ashbringer he/him]

Burnt - er... yes, but seeing as Wyrm's been self-protecting every night (and probably day) turn, we may need to look at other options 

My three reads, of of the top of my head, would probably be Stick, Fifth, and STINK. But I should look more carefully than that, because it's not based on much.

 

Why'd I move to save Maill? Sort of what Derrick said. For one thing, he's one of our two Tineyes unless we've got a third being all sneaky. I know Spiked!Tineye isn't that uncommon (cough) but it gave me pause. Another was Gears' Soothing on Maill D3 which... was something I couldn't decipher the intent behind at all, which has found me Elims before. It felt like something Elim!Gears would do whether or not Maill was a teammate, but then he went out and claimed that he did that Soothing... it felt retroactive, I guess.

And... I just felt strongly that Maill would flip Village. Perhaps I profoundly pocketed myself, but all the early reasons against Maill seemed to be either Gut or the Fallion Four push on Striker, which would be a really big risk for an Elim team to do, especially if an Elim Seeker had just scanned Bard.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

42 minutes ago, TJ Shade said:

Mat was like the only player who village read me. Why would I let the elims kill him if I was one of them? Why are you voting for me? And why do you prefer me over Devotary? Cause I remember you grouping us together?

I don't particularly prefer you over Devo, I'd be okay with that exe too. I'm ambivalent on which of you goes first, you just are more gung ho against me, so a bit of self-preservation, I guess. 

[---]

Mail, Araris, Stick

why does nothing load

Also we basically only have one misgrinch left. it's 10-6 or 9-7 right now, so- wait if it's 9-7 then this is MeLo. so we kinda need to hit an Elim today.

so

keep in mind hm?

[Ashbringer he/him]

@Fifth Scholar, @Shard of Reading, @Dannex, @The Windrunner Supreme, @Haelbarde, @Condensation. Haven't heard from you guys in a while. There's sixteen of us left, and if we've got six inactives we're probably done for.

You too, Burnt and Elandera. I'd like to see if we can get a Three from everyone, and while you're both around I haven't seen much in the way of... er... suspicions. Same for STINK, plus why you were sus on Gears, I suppose.