++ Holby

edit: x'd with Lottie on the previous page.

++Holby

I'm suspicious of Holby enough to vote for her to save myself.

I honestly am not sure any more. You've really made me reconsider your guilt/innocence. The problem is that I don't know how bold you are as a wolf.

++ Nerwn

++HOLBY,...!!!!!!!!!!!:mad:

Someone give me a vote count, please.

You need to bold your vote for it to count.

Boro -> Lottie
Nerwen -> Cop
Kath -> Cop (2)
Lommy -> Nerwen
Greenie -> Cop (3)
Lottie -> Holby
McCaber -> Holby (2)
Cop -> Holby (3)
Holby -> Nerwen (2)
Echo -> Holby (4)

Is there anyone else left to vote that's around now? I don't want to vote Cop and cause a tie.

if i dont make it tonight,..green leaves fall on my grave :smokin:

Shasta hasn't voted yet.

Well, it's too late now. I'm just going to leave it as it is.

I took a nap. :o My bad.

++Shasta

After losing both Legate and Dun, tempers had started to flare. Copper and Holby had each received their fair share of suspicion, and as Shasta stumbled from his bedroll, having just recovered from a nap, he heard the rest of the mages arguing, Holby and Copper standing in the middle of the circle with the rest of the group surrounding them.

"Nerwen is clearly at fault for everything," Holby stated flatly, crossing her arms. She could feel an uneven pulsing in her chest and pulled her arms a little tighter, wincing at the discomfort under her robes. "I don't know why some of you think I'm to blame. After all, some of you know me quite well. Am I really capable of such a thing?"

"You may not have been," Lottie offered, "but unfortunately if one or more of us is under the spirit's control, their own nature has been overtaken by another. I'm not saying it's you, but we can't rule you out either. I'm sorry."

Boro sighed, but nodded. "It could be anyone. Even you," he said, pointing at the lass who had just spoken beside him. "Even me. We can't be sure."

"All we can do," McCaber offered solemnly, "is try to purge the spirit from its host."

"Yes, because that's worked so well in the past...."

"Echo, being negative won't help anything," Nerwen said, turning a hesitant gaze to Copper. "You've been acting strangely."

"You're not wrong," Steve noted. "I thought something was wrong with you before, but....Copper, I think you're our best option."

"So you're just going to kill me? On a whim? That's a great idea. Wait. No it's not. It's a horrible idea. I don't want to die."

Steve's expression hardened, and he approached Copper, standing eye to eye with her as she stared at him with a solemn expression. He studied her face, slowly backing away once he'd apparently satisfied himself. "You are not right. I think she needs to go. It's the only way."

"I agree," Greenie chimed in. "If we don't try the ritual again, they'll band together and kill another of us in the night."

"It's the only way," Steve said again, though his voice trembled slightly, and he could no longer meet Copper's eyes.

"Steve, whatever you do, tell me first. I just want to...." Copper sighed, hanging her head. "I need to know what you're going to do. Whatever it is, just please tell me so I'm prepared for....you know. Death. Hopefully not death."

"I just don't know what's going on anymore!" Steve shouted, clutching his head in frustration. "Maybe we shouldn't do anything...."

"Of course you shouldn't do anything," Holby said calmly. "You won't do anything, because I am too powerful for you to touch."

"You know, maybe it's best if we- Excuse me?"

"I....am more powerful than all of you. My arcane might....my might cannot be contained." Holby rubbed at her chest again. The others were staring at her strangely, and she shook her head, her vision clearing as she met the gaze of Cop and then Echo. "What....what's happened?"

Lommy shook her head solemnly. "Well, that makes that decision easy enough, I guess. I'm so sorry, Holby."

"We're going to try to help you," Kath promised. "No one wants to hurt you, but you have to let us try this. We can free you."

"Freedom?" Holby shrieked. "I will have it, and you will not prevent it! You won't touch me! I won't let you!" Suddenly her eyes rolled back in her head and the others stared at her as she began to shake. Her hands pulled apart her robes to reveal a pulsing white mark, the tips of what were clearly fingers visible just above the collar of her dress. "I....will not....be denied!"

"Get down!" Steve shouted, tackling one of the other mages just in time as white bolts from Holby's body shot out in all directions.

When the wizards looked up, Holby's body was gone. All that remained of their sorcerer friend were her robes and her staff, which fell to the ground with a clatter, rolling until it came to rest at the feet of a bewildered Shasta.

"....Someone should explain what just happened."


Casting:
Shasta
Kath
Nerwen
Cop
McCobbler
Lottie
Green
Echo
Boro
Lommy
Steve

Cast aside:
Sally (moddess)
Morsul (collateral damage)
Legate (wizard)
Dun (wizard)
Holby (sorcerer)

Echo tossed and turned, unable to rest for fear that the sorcerers would make tonight's sleep eternal. Such fears were only heightened as the sound of a rock skittering across the land caused Echo to look up. "....Hello?"

"....Hello?"

"Uh....hello. Who's....who's there?"

There was nothing for a moment, and then Echo heard a soft voice from beyond the darkness.

"Uh....hello. Who's....who's there?"

"This isn't funny!" Echo called, glancing around to find the source of the voice.

"This isn't funny!"

"This isn't funny!"

Echo blindly fumbled around until fingers met wand. The implement's tip lit up, but the glow was immediately snuffed out by a cloud of darkness.

"What are you doing?"

"What are you doing?" came the reply. The breath of the speaker warmed Echo's neck, but just as quickly the sensation was gone. "We're here," the voice rasped, "to ensure that we have no problems with repetition."

"Repetition?"

"Repetition...."

"No, really, repetition?" Echo said, hesitantly sliding backward. "What do you mean repetit- Oh. Oh dear."

"Oh dear."

"Oh de- No, stop it. To business. We're here specifically to ensure there is no repetition of last dusk's events. And for that, we'll need to eliminate any, shall we say, remaining echo of suspicion."

"Echo of suspicion."

Echo jumped backward, but the spark from the attackers' weapons lit the area just long enough for Echo to see two robed figures before everything went black.

~~~~

The next morning, as the group awoke to find Echo's bedroll unoccupied, they failed to notice that one of their number had acquired the now silent Echo's wand.

"One more of us down," sighed one of the wizards.

"One more of us down," whispered a sorcerer, dropping Echo's wand into a bush before solemnly joining the others for breakfast.



Casting:
Shasta
Kath
Nerwen
Cop
McCobbler
Lottie
Green
Echo
Boro
Lommy
Steve

Cast aside:
Sally (moddess)
Morsul (collateral damage)
Legate (wizard)
Dun (wizard)
Holby (sorcerer)
Echo (wizard)

Now that one, I definitely think was the sorcerers hoping to get the seer...hehe.

Well, my gut reaction is that Echo was killed as a possible Seer. Especially since I seem to recall that there was something that could be read as a hint. I'll try to find it.

As for the voting, all I can infer right now is that McCaber is probably not a sorcerer. It don't know whether or not it makes Cop look better, though. But if she is a sorcerer, she's pretty brutal (unless Nerwen is also one), though there was little choice by that point.


edit: x-ed with Boro

Ok, I've started rereading Echo's posts, and really, practically every post could be read as a Seer hint if that's what you're looking for.

And the thing is, I think that is the main point behind this. To just make everything more confusing. Between all the people he suspects and people he points at in Holby's list, and possible bluffs and double bluffs from the sorcerers, the waters are really muddied.

I do think it should be addressed though.

If the sorcerers thought Echo was a seer, then Cop and Greenie are the most obvious answers for possible wolves (which funnily enough have topped my suspicion list since D1, but I won't let that cloud this post). Of course, it would also be risky to kill with such links - though Echo was enigmatic, Cop was next to Holby in the suspicious list, and Greenie a step below (and also pointed at in the annotated Holby's list) - though maybe not as risky as being found out. And of course if they're not, the sorcerers could just want to frame them.


On the other hand, it could be a 'let-them-think-we-think-Echo's-a-seer' kill, in which case it points to Kath. If Echo were a Seer, the most likely dreams would either be Kath as innocent or Holby as a sorcerer. Given the sudden sudden change, and lack of Holby suspicion on D1, the former would be more likely, so by killing Echo, Kath makes herself look amazingly innocent (i.e. makes us think the wolves thought her innocent).


I might be overthinking this though... I don't think I've tried such a complex plan as a wolf.

Anyway, that's it for now; hopefully when I wake up there'll be some proper discussion going on.

Steve–

Since the person to whom Echo suddenly switched suspicions at the start of Day Two, and continued to pursue throughout the Day without giving any concrete reason, all the while muttering “I fear lest I be killed for my knowledge...” etc, etc. was, in fact, a wolf– well, it looks pretty straight-forward this time. I don’t think we need any elaborate theories to explain it– it would have been very surprising had they not killed her*.




Or him. We still haven’t cleared that one up, have we?

Basically, this. QFT. :p

I should be back soon with some actual comments, but this just begged for a "^" post. :D

Nerwen: You know what? I'm going to PM them and ask, 'cause I really don't know. :o

One evil sorcerer down, an unknown amount to go.

I'd say this makes both Lottie and I look pretty innocent. I'll do a second readthrough and see if I can glean any hints from the post history soon enough.

And yes, as far as I know I'm on the village's side and I haven't necessarily lost yet. While this makes me innocent, this absolutely does not guarantee I know anything about any situations so please take my opinions with all the lack of credibility they deserve.

You maybe, but I'm not sure how it makes Lottie look good? Maybe as the starter to put Holby as a lynch possibility, but of the 4 votes for Holby, it is the most likely spot for a wolf-on-wolf.

Cop's was for self-preservation, which Cop said herself. So, it doesn't make her look better. But it also doesn't make her look any worse than all the suspicion yesterday.

There may be better trails to follow than the Holby voters, at least for today. As a "job well done" nod for lynching a sorcerer.

I wouldn't put Kath in the no-doubt innocent category, but she's the one I'm going to trust the most for the time being (stop getting so confused! :p). If they had gone after Echo as the seer, then the sorcerers would have to think everything Echo said was right. (That being Holby = sorcerer and suddenly backing off Kath after the Day 1 vote)

But they could hardly have thought “Seer”Echo dreamed them both on the same Night, Boro.

Echoalysis
(Longer posts will be extracts only.)

Day One

#26. [Replying to Zil (#3) and Coppermirror (#5) who both mentioned not having played with Echo or Holbytlass before]
#49. [The infamous vote-post]
#62. [Bolding vote]
#67
Actually... after looking at all this, I’d say it does speak for Kath’s innocence (particularly #62). Not because Echo was killed last Night, but because he/she wasn’t killed the Night before. Er– whatever Night that was– this being an important point. Apparently we began with a Day phase. In that case the Seer may have had no initial dream– if this is so, and the wolves knew it, it somewhat weakens the case for Kath.

Would our moddess be so good as to clarify the matter?:Merisu:

–Meanwhile, as you see the only other person Echo mentions at all on Day One is Holbytlass (wolf), and this is just banter– though it does seem to carry a tone of suspicion.

Ask and ye shall receive....cookies
 

The game began with a Day phase, though those with nightly powers were able to use them (with the obvious exception of the sorcerers' kill) before the thread opened.

Since I got pushed into saying what I did at #196, I think I'd better clear the matter up in case that ends up inhibiting the reasoning of innocents toDay. I'm either the Protector Wizard or the Pact Mage. I'm not the Aura Reader. I'd rather not say which of the other two I am at this point unless it's strictly necessary.

I'll be back later - I've been working on an analysis of Echo, and I intend to do one of Holby too.

Note: I had to leave halfway though composing this, hence the delay. No idea who has posted in the meantime; I am afraid to refresh for fear of Serverman, Lord of the Code.

Echo, Day Two
#105 [First post of the Day]
You see what I was talking about– this post just by itself could well have been enough to get Echo killed!

#108.
More suspicion of Holby.

#109
#114. [Replying to me at #112, when I asked Echo to explain the Day One vote.]
And more. This seems to me more easy to interpret as “Forget Kath, I’ve definitely got a wolf this time,” than as “I dreamed Kath and she was innocent”.

#128.
Re-posts Holby’s Day One suspicion list, pointing out that the names are grouped by number of vowels/syllables.
Yet more.

#129.
And so on...

#161.
And so forth... Note, by the way, how Echo more-or-less admits needing to come up with a case to justify an existing suspicion.

#175.
Very cryptic– I suppose Echo had noticed something about Greenie, but never got around to saying what.

#179.
I think this refers to #170, where Lommy lists Echo and Holby as “unlikely packmates”.

#205.[3rd vote on Holby]
#210
“I’m the Seer, I’ve done my job, farewell... Unless you feel like protecting me, Ranger.” That’s how it would read to the wolves, I imagine. Unless you take “green leaves” to be a supposed “Seer-hint" regarding Greenie (cf #175)– but it’s so weak compared to all the Holby-stuff that it would have to be no more than an intention to dream her next.

Well, that had to be done. Fairly useless, though. As you see, I’ve ended pretty much exactly where I started: I believe they thought Echo was a Seer who had dreamed Holby. There is little else to be got from Echo’s posts, except that, as already mentioned, his/her survival after the first Day is a point in Kath’s favour.

One thing I have noticed is that nearly all Echo’s posts have a white tree icon, while the first has a green leaf. Possibly the wolves thought this meant something. Possibly they were meant to think this– I am leaning now towards the idea that Echo may have been deliberately acting as bait. A very unusual ploy for a complete newbie to try– but I just honestly can’t work out why else an ordo would say half the things Echo did.

EDIT:X’d with Coppermirror & moddess.

Sally, there's one thing I'd like to clarify about that. Does that mean that the wolves were able to PM each other prior to the first Day phase?

And one more thing, for people in general. I've just thought of something which worries me. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there isn't any actual proof that Legate was the other Lover, is there? We know that there's no Night kill the Night after the Lovers reunite, and that means that hasn't happened. But if the other Lover is still alive, they already know who McCaber is because he's come forward, and maybe they could put off reuniting until an opportune time, as long as they were still both alive.

I'm concerned about what it might mean for the village if Legate wasn't the other Lover. Can anyone offer their thoughts here? I'm quite unsure about this topic, having not played in a game with Lovers in it before.

Really? For someone who talks about unnecessary posting, the last two posts were an awfully long way of saying 'a Holby dream was more likely'. And then there's this point: What you're saying here is that the sorcerers would rather kill a new player whose playing style they know nothing about and which gained him/her a lot of suspicion and confusion instead of someone who everyone thought was innocent and was fairly no-trace after the first day? Considering the normal depth of your analysis, this looks like it could be a sneaky way to make it look like you didn't consider the situation fully to look more like an innocent. I'm starting to see where the Nerwen-votes are coming from. And Holby voting for you as she died does not help.

Not to mention that I thought we'd already agreed on the Holby-dream being the most likely. I don't think anyone actually suggest a Kath-dream to be more likely, except for me within the context of a 'make-it-look-like-we-though-Echo-is-a-seer' kill.

edit: x-ed with Cop

It shouldn't worry you, at least not yet. And now that you've said it publicly, it changes everything...

No. I’m saying that if Kath was a wolf, Echo on Day One would have probably looked more like a gifted to the wolves than Inzil. This is a very simple and obvious point, such as I should have expected an experienced player like yourself to grasp quite easily. The fact that you don’t– or at least you claim you don’t... interesting...

I thought I had better do an analysis just to settle the matter, and just in case there was something more to be gleaned. There wasn’t, but how could I know that until I’d done it?

Again, a simple, routine procedure. And yet, according to you, a sign of wickedness. Really.

You mean Holby..., right?

Holbalysis

Holbytlass, Day One.

#18.

#33
Echo believed this list was arranged according to number of syllables in the players’ names. Holby’s next posts tends to support this.

So... one of those Holby “suspects” here is an innocent (Legate). It’s a common enough wolf-ploy to pair one’s fellow’s name with that of an innocent, and that could have been what she did here. Or not. It would be quite a stretch to call it an actual point against Greenie.

This was the third vote for Legate, bringing him to a tie with Kath. Other candidates were Cop (2 votes) and me (1 vote). Note that Holby’s stated intention here is to break the tie (as was Lottie’s in voting for Kath). If we take that at face-value, then their votes crossed and Holby did not realise Kath had just got a third vote. However, Holby’s vote is timestamped two minutes after Lottie’s.

Where am I going with this? Not sure... just looking for signs of our known wolf showing a preference for one candidate over another. Hmmn. Inconclusive, I’d say.

Holbytlass, Day Two
#130. Post consists entirely of the “Stick out tongue” emoticon, in response to a comment of Lottie’s (#101) the Day before. Not very informative, but it does rather sum up Holby’s attitude!

#133.
Um... Holby is an actual flesh-and-blood person, right? Not, say a sock-puppet of Nilp’s, by any chance? :rolleyes:
Anyway, #21 and #30 are two Day one posts of mine. I’m not sure what she’s getting at, though– I think the idea is supposed to be that Lottie and I (and Coppermirror?) are packmates, raising points against each other only to dismiss them, or something like that.

Then Holby vanished for a long while, and voting happened.

When she returned, the tally run thus:

Boro -> Lottie
Nerwen -> Cop
Kath -> Cop (2)
Lommy -> Nerwen
Greenie -> Cop (3)
Lottie -> Holby
McCaber -> Holby (2)
Cop -> Holby (3)

Holby then cast her own, final vote:
Apart from the fact that this “Nerwn”, whoever she may be, is not listed among the players, the vote isn’t even bolded. And yet Cop already had three votes. Had Holby resigned herself to death? But why? With only two players left to vote, she might well have survived if she voted Cop.

Obviously, this looks pretty bad for Coppermirror. This may, however, have been the idea (i.e. Holby thought she hadn’t long regardless, and thought it worth it to implicate an innocent). Or she may have panicked/lost count of the votes. Or just not cared. Very hard to know what Holby’s aims were at any point, really.

Oh yes–

I haven’t finished with you, yet, Mr Eonwe.

This is what you actually said, earlier in the Day (my bolding):

Here it is, plain and clear: you stated that Echo’s death potentially implicated three players (with “Holby as sorcerer” being the least likely “dream”).

I took the (considerable) trouble to examine the evidence in some detail, in the course of this demonstrating why it didn’t actually support your conclusions.

This, according to you, is a highly sinister course of action, not to mention useless, since–
Who’s “we"? You certainly hadn’t.

Such a pity Zil is no longer with us. I’m sure he’d be very eloquent on the subject of What Games with Lovers in them Are Like.

Seriously: if Legate wasn’t the other lover, then McCaber’s lying his head off. Why would the other lover trust him (as in your scenario)?

New players are unpredictable. And with the way Echo was posting, I could definitely see the wolves opting to wait another day. If they went for him/her, it would totally implicate Kath whether or not Echo was actually the Seer. In this scenario, they would have been on the alert for seerishness from Echo yesterDay, and, well, they were definitely given it. And anyway, I find it unlikely that Zil was attempt at a gifted at all.

Ok, I know it was late and my wording was less than clear, but the two paragraphs are obviously separate scenarios. In the first one, Holby being dreamt is implicit- why would they fear Echo otherwise? In the second, it's meant to be how a wolf-Kath would approach it, and obviously for her it would be better to get people to believe the wolves thought it she that was dreamt.

The next sentence of my post holds the answer (i.e. what I just said above):


Ok, I've actually had a bit of a change of heart about this. I don't think you were posting just to look like you were being helpful. With all the confusingness that is Echo, we need as much clarity and certainty as we can get. Sometimes it is better to be safe than sorry.

Sure. You’re under no obligation to agree with my reasoning. That’s not the point, Steve.

I am aware that you were describing two separate scenarios. However, you said:
"If Echo were a Seer, the most likely dreams would either be Kath as innocent or Holby as a sorcerer. Given the sudden change, and lack of Holby suspicion on D1, the former would be more likely”
Here, yes, you’re talking about your double-bluffing scenario (where Kath is a wolf killing Echo in order to look better). But your statement that Kath would have been the supposed Seer-Echo's “most likely dream" is a general one, not specific to that scenario.

Therefore, the contradiction remains.

Now, again, you don’t have to agree with me on why Echo was killed. I could be completely wrong. Despite the evidence, it may be that the wolves killed Echo for some other reason entirely. Who knows– except them, of course. What I do not appreciate is being heavily attacked simply for analysing the posts of a dead player, and especially for examining them in the light of scenarios suggested by you yourself.

Yes, you’re trying to back away from it all now– but you were ready to scream “sorcerer” at me before. On that note, I particularly don’t care for that little bit you threw in about, “Holby voting for you as she died”. No, not just on personal grounds– I'm actually wondering now if that was something cooked up overnight– “I know, let’s try and pass off Holby’s vote as wolf-on-wolf, heh, heh..."

Alright! Quite glad about the recent turns of events as they clarify quite a lot of stuff (not to mention that we're one baddie down). Now, let's go and comment on stuff:


YesterDay

Maybe I'm tired but I totally cracked up at this. :D

I don't like this list at all. It seems lazy and mostly just echoing other people's opinions, especially lumping Holby and Echo in one category of confusion, it feels like Eönwë is trying to fish sympathy or goodwill (maybe not consciously) by joining in OMGing over Holby and Echo's weird behaviour. (Seriously, I think their "weirdness" was greatly exaggerated in this game and I admit taking some part in that too.)

Then we just have different views on the topic. In my experience (admittedly I haven't been a wolf in ages so if you guys have developed new wolving routines in the past couple of years I wouldn't know :p), wolves seldom make grand plans on Night1 anyway, it's mostly chatter and bonding and maybe minor planning plus warning packmates like "I will try to avoid voting for you guys but if you act really weird I'm gonna vote you" so I see no big advantage in them not being able to talk on Night1.

Now if Eönwë is a wolf this is pretty freaking bold and my hats off go to him.

Speaking of the vote count above, it's pretty weird Holby didn't vote for Cop and try to save herself but instead went for Nerwen who only had one vote. Does this mean Cop is guilty, or that Holby was just being a bit careless (which she was before)?


ToDay

Totally agreed.

I agree that Kath looks pretty innocent now. It occured to me already on Day1 that Echo being the seer who dreamt of Kath might explain their weird behaviour and wouldn't consequently have been surprised if they had died already on Night2, so I'm totally ready to follow this logic.

*heads explodes noisily* ARGGH. Since Day1 I've been flip-flopping on whether Cop looks more wolvish or gifted, and yesterDay I abstained from voting her and went for Nerwen instead of her because I thought she was hinting at being gifted. And now this ambiguous and thus uncontestable reveal, which would be pretty darn cunning from a wolf in dire straits. Well, I guess we should just give Cop the benefit of doubt for a Day or two and see what happens...

I'm at loss as for Eönwë and Nerwen's row toDay. I'm always quite careful to label any arguments as two innocents fighting, but I'd be inclined to do it this time. Eönwë looks pretty innocent for his open fishing of support to lynch Cop instead of Holby (a wolf would be quite brazen to do that) and Nerwen is putting effort into this game in a way that suggests innocence to me (I know I voted her yesterDay and my minor suspicions concerning have gone nowhere, I'm just pushing them back at the moment because they don't seem relevant in the big picture) - it looks like she's actually thinking about who the wolves might be, not just hanging around. Still, I'm baffled that Eönwë and Nerwen have both completely ignored Copper's reveal. :confused: