Shadows

Grand Admiral Tantis Volrik strides into the room, assuming his normal position at the bar podium. "Esteemed dignitaries and you other people, whoever you may be, we come here today to mourn the passing of..." There is a brief interruption as a grey uniformed Imperial officer passes the Grand Admiral a datapad, which he carefully studies. "Ah, I see, we're not mourning anyone today. That's kind of embarrassing, to be perfectly honest, but no harm." The Grand Admiral reaches out with the force and chokes the correcting officer with a sickening crunch of bones and cartilage. "As I was saying, we come here today to mourn Mr. Know-it-all-I'm-going-to-correct-a-Grand-Admiral and to announce the promotion of those other fellows. Congratulations, you two, I'm sure you earned it!" "Now, I believe someone promised that this little event was going to have an open bar. I'd hate to be disappointed..."

Aw, thanks you bunch of crazy kids!

Technically, the newest addition is the Perpetual Testing Initiative (video below). It really has flooded the game with new with content. I've mostly stuck to playing the best rated collections and so far, I haven't been disappointed, though I think that the one Valve gave 'Employee of the Moment' status to is far from the best one. Absolutely loved "12 Angry Tests," which was clearly made in Hammer as opposed to the new editor and includes a nice little side story that could be inserted into Portal 2 fairly seamlessly. How about everyone post their favourites, as well as any that they make and submit, and we can use this space to discuss them as well as concepts for tests that you'd like to see, etc. Don't know what we're talking about? Educate yourself.

Happy Birthday Amy! I knew there was some reason I liked you, you have a nearly-as-good-as-mine birthday.

I know I've been forgetting to update these... [Favorite Jerk] A high compliment from Hinck [The Root of all Evil] I switched my rank from Scary mAdmin to Root and added a title to match. Nope! I made the comment, but someone else did the virtual tag-by on you.

I thought Draggy was the twit AND the twat. But... no, I'm not even going there.

Yay! Er, boo! Oh well, it isn't like I didn't see it coming. Fight the good fight, lads! Now I need to go, the Queen is waiting for me ... with pie!

What you just quoted backs up exactly what I said, I had an idea that could have worked, but it can't because of a change/clarification to the rules-of-life. I never said I had all of the information, if I did, I wouldn't have asked, and I certainly didn't receive it. A few people sent me their info before today, when I hadn't asked for it at all, and sadly, none of it is contradictory in any way that helps solve our problem. Not even close. All I know is that you've made a claim you can't back up in any way after making a lot of really suspicious comments along the way. For example: Really? You feel so strongly about protecting the Royal Family, but when given the opportunity to simply tell me the truth, you didn't. I was asking for the protector to come forward that day, in private, and instead you make a claim that you're in contact with them and tell me that they will come forward privately after the results of the lynching. Fair enough, I can understand caution there, but it wasn't caution, it was a lie, it didn't happen. Suddenly, you wanted the name of the only confirmed member of the Royal party, and there was no way in hell that you would get that because you didn't need it and hadn't earned that kind of trust. Then, late in the game, you pulled the exact thing I said you would, "oh, it was me all along, and everyone else knows it but you, it's so obvious." Really? Even since all of this discussion of it, I've seen someone who obviously didn't know, and I'd bet that most of the group missed your 'obvious' hint. Plus, if you were so worried about keeping the secret, why make a hint where the scum could see it when you could just do what you said you would and talk to the one person who had been able to show that they were working for the Royal Family? You may be exactly who you claim to be now, but you've managed to make yourself look so suspicious that no one in their right mind would turn over the name of any member of this party to you, and that's what you demanded. You can keep saying how concerned you are for the Royal Family, but in the end, you've done as much for them as Ruben. At least he put up a 'valiant' defense, right? You have never, in the entire time that you kept writing and trying to learn the name of the person I had investigated, ever mentioned day 4 or any plan to help. You never did anything to help! As for anyone following me, many of them suggested you as suspicious before this day even started. Good decoy for who? No one! The only person you've ever spoken up for turned out to be an assassin. Are you even trying to make sense? Don't bother answering that.

Where did I say that, could you please point me to that post? I said I had a plan that I knew wouldn't happen, and then a rule was made to prevent it, how does that mean I have all the info? We may be wrong, I certainly hope we aren't, but if we are it's because from day 1 you've looked like scum. You've played games, contradicted yourself, lied and twisted things to the point that I can't figure out half of what you're even claiming here. I really don't know what game you've been playing, but I do know that nothing you've done has even vaguely helped the Royal party, and in fact, you've done a lot of harm through your scummy or incredibly bad tactics.

And that pretty much shoots my chances at confirming or denying the guilt of Meahan with absolute certainty. It also makes the entire situation more complicated since it removes one potential source of information, the ability to compare identity claims. I understand it, given the game-of-life breaking potential consequences for the scum, but that doesn't make me any more thrilled. So on that note, my vote stands, but to be fair and clear, I will say that it isn't as conclusive as I had hoped it would be. Many of you have been expressing suspicion over his actions for days, so I still think it's a fair case, just not a sure thing like Ruben. I will also repeat that my earlier suggestion, the one that was clearly so good that it required changing the rules, was never intended to happen. I said it then, I'm repeating that now. It was just designed to get us thinking a new way, because far too many of you are still approaching this as a normal game-of-life, and it is far from that. So stop sending me messages saying "I trusted you, and I think I still do, but that idea ..." If you're going to read part of what I say, read all of it. Thank you.

There will always be some number of people, usually very small, who will abuse a system to get what they want. I'm sure that's true here, as well. I doubt it's many, and it's quite possible that measures are in place to prevent it, much as Youtube has measure to prevent view spamming, they allow a certain number of views (around 300), then all views after that must be from a unique IP and view the entire video. I suspect Cuusoo just uses IP, and most people can't change their IP constantly. I guess it could be 1 dialup user with a lot of dedication, connecting and reconnecting and creating many, many accounts, but I doubt it.

Huh? You didn't suggest this idea, I literally came up with it as I was reviewing the various messages I'd gotten from other members of the party, messages in which they claimed to be specific people, etc. How is that giving you any kind of praise? If you ever said anything like this during one of the days, I must have just scanned right past it, and I think I'd have noticed this. I also think others would have and comments would have been made. A quick review also indicates that you never said anything like it in private either. Are you losing your mind now?

I agree, and I hesitated to even present it, I'm just hoping it will trigger some thought about our problem and maybe someone can find a less invasive way to do it. If I was scum, I'd have tried it privately. Three people have revealed themselves to me already (I never asked), but I can't be sure of any of them, naturally. If one of the fake claims was my actual identity, think how amazing that would be.

For a moment, let's step away from the day and just think quietly about our situation. This is so simple that I feel like an idiot for not figuring it out sooner. There are 10 of us left: 2 Royal Family members, 2 assassins and 6 members of the Royal party. Eight of us are good, honest people. Two are green scum. If everyone had to admit their identity right now, no one would admit to being scum. Right? Right! Send me your real identity. You do not need to tell me if you have an action, though I have a pretty good understanding of how most of them work, so it might narrow things down further without complications. To be honest, if you're revealing your identity, revealing your action shouldn't bother you much. Yes, I know what I'm asking here, but here's how it works: Those two scum will be forced to lie and claim to be two of you. At that point, I'll only have 4 suspects (as long as every member of the Royal Court agrees to do this and tells the truth). If they claim to be a member of the Royal Family and then the real one is killed, they reveal themselves automatically. They won't even know if they're claiming that or not, so I'm sure they won't want to agree to this plan. Actually, they might, hoping that some of you won't and they'll be able to claim your identities. It really is vital that the entire Royal Court does this for it to work. If everyone did it, the second I knew the 4 (2 sets of 2 people claiming the same identity), I could investigate 1 and clear 1 automatically for as long as I live. At the same time, they'll be investigating, but we vote one off and it'll take them twice as long to investigate and kill, meaning that no matter how it goes, even if they got lucky every day, they still lose before they can kill both remaining members of the Royal Family. It's so brilliant, no one will want to do it. I don't blame you. It's less a real offer and more designed to get all of you thinking about this situation from a new angle, because someone should have already figured this out, even if it is a bit unusual. I now return you to your usual bickering, already in progress. Oh, and I am following up on some things that might make this easier. No promises. To be fair, the first thing you said when I told you that it was either the seemingly fake scum protector or you, was that you would no longer consider me 'town', so that is a bit of a lie.

I think we did see something that is plain for everyone else to see. It's why I voted the way I did, I know that much. OH! This is that point in the story where you say, "but I'm the protector, I was trying to be subtle" yet contradict yourself by saying it's "plain for everyone else to see", thus meaning that you were trying to avoid directly telling me, but didn't mind hinting at it to the entire group including the scum. That's even lame compared to Ruben's lame defense. Which is it, "suggested that thing to you on a number of occasions" or "Considering how little I've told you", you can't have it both ways. Again, you yourself admit to having told me little, do you really want to contradict your own claim so soon? I see, what you want is for me to do the scum's job and reveal someone who isn't a member of the Royal Family to you, so that saves one investigation. Brilliant. Drop dead. You still have time to come clean about this situation. If you actually care about the Royal Family, you will do so, privately. If you don't, carry on with the way you're behaving and I assure you, the Royal party will see that you are appropriately dealt with. And seriously, if you turn out to be a member of the Royal party, you will only have yourself to blame.

Indeed. If they're a real protector, now is the time for them to act. Meahan: If it's true, give us the name, your 'protector' is scum. If this whole thing has been a lie, burn in hell. Vote: Meahon Doughal (MetroiD)

I think you mean, "may be", don't you? If you're going to tell me that I can't be sure that someone is making a true claim, a fact I openly stated myself, how can you be so sure? How was your 'protector' so sure? Everyone gets a pass on day 1 because no one knows who to trust at that point. No one except the scum. That only begs the question, why would anyone trust you with information concerning a vital town role at that point? They wouldn't unless they were either scum or an idiot. So why would they not come to me? That narrows it down to scum. What info? The ghost 'protector'? The praise and support for Ruben? What? That's exactly what you did. Why? As you say, either scum or stupid. I'd like to be sure which, but if you can't do any better than this, we're not going to have much choice at the end of the day, are we? Of course, your 'protector' could contact me and make an honest case for their claims. I don't see it happening. Because there was no meat to the claim. Scumbag Ruben doing the same thing you're doing now, but in private. He said a lot of the very same things, it's like you're working from the same playbook. I told him that I would actually give his obviously fake theory a chance by asking the protector to step forward. They never did. Big surprise. Did you miss the part where I said the person could be lying? No, you didn't, you're just blindly arguing now. That means this is close to where it was with Ruben, the point where I dismiss it, make my vote, and move on. If they don't step forward at this point, they're insuring your death. Great job, protector. There, does it need to be any clearer? The investigation method is incredibly effective and has been proven to work, you can try making a joke about it, but that doesn't help you, no one is laughing. Oh, and they haven't been making any claims that can't be substantiated. Unlike... you. If you're lynched and come out to be a member of the Royal party, we'll know that you were stupid and protected the assassin to the point of giving up your own life. And we won't know who that is because you were stupid and protected the assassin to the point of giving up your own life. Pretty simple there. I understand completely, Ruben, er, Meahan. I get you two confused now. And I am done for now. We have 48 hours to vote, but we're not going to wait that long for some answers. Seriously.

That's where you've miscalculated. I know that a protector exists, it's obvious that we would have one. I've also spoken to someone who has claimed the role. They've never spoken to you. They had no reason to trust you, but they did have reason to trust and approach me on their own. That is a lot more logical than going to you when you had no reason to be trusted. They have described their role in a way that makes more sense than anything you've told me. They could still be lying, I'd like to be sure. I know that someone here is lying, and that person is an assassin. This is a great opportunity for the Royal party, and I for one, am not going to just sit on my hands and do nothing with it. Do you see why it's important that I speak to them and why your attitude screams scum at this point? And I will add this. There are a number of ways that we can approach this situation. We can sit around and make innuendo laden jokes and take no risks until we're all dead, we can try to defend ourselves hoping to somehow connect a protector with a Royal Family member until we're all dead, or we can attack constantly and mercilessly until the scum are dead and everyone is safe. I like the last approach.

Let's keep it simple, you can't produce them, they won't step forward, they probably don't exist. They would have had no reason to trust you and every reason to trust me, yet you're the only person they've spoken to. This isn't steamship science here. I would ask them to explain themselves and see how truthful it seems. I would weigh that information with what I already know and quite possibly find our next scum. It's a lot more than you've done with this supposed information, aside from trying to defend Ruben and talking about how well he defended himself. Aw, have you been possessed by the slimy spirit of Ruben? I don't even believe he exists. Or is it she? You've switched back and forth on that privately. Whatever it is, it smells like a red herring to me. A red herring with slimy green gills. Have I been clear yet?

And it appears the time is now. On day 2, when it was already known that Ruben was scum, someone stepped forward to try to substantiate his claims by telling us that he had spoken to the protector privately already. Given that he had already looked scummy on day 1, I was not particularly impressed by this revelation. Given that such a protector would have no reason to trust him didn't exactly make it seem particularly believable either. So Ruben dies and is shown for the scum he is, and I expect the protector to contact me. It's only natural, they trusted someone who had absolutely nothing to indicate they were loyal, obviously they would trust me now. Nothing. Not a word. Makes me think there isn't one. Then I hear more interesting things behind the scenes and it becomes more and more obvious that this is the case, or that someone is claiming the role but doesn't actually hold it. Fair enough, I give Meahon a chance to turn over the name of this person. Hell, I didn't ask, I threatened, it's them or you, because honestly, that's the bottom line here. It's so obviously a lie that there's no point being subtle. No less than half of the people who have privately contacted me had put Meahon Doughal on their list of scummy looking suspects. He refused. I know where my vote will be going. How about you?

I wouldn't say that. I think I have something coming together behind the scenes that should at least give us a reasonable lynching target. It won't be like yesterday where we can be absolutely certain, but it would still be an educated guess. If it works out, I'll present the case before lunch.

That's my theory and the facts certainly fit it, though it's impossible to be sure. I think it's also likely that they have a limited total number of kills and can't afford to risk wasting them. If they could kill daily and randomly, especially if we were blindly killing as well, it wouldn't take long to lose this whole thing. I think the theory of one or the other action per night makes a lot of sense.

*looks at your avatar*

No, there hasn't. There are topics that go back to the first day of the forum. What were you specifically looking for and how did you attempt to find it?

*sigh* Why does it always seem like any success is ruined by something? As happy as I am about our success yesterday, we've lost our dear Queen. And her pie. On top of that, last night's result has only helped me identify a member of the Royal party, so while it helps me know one person I can trust, I can't even reveal it or it would help the scum narrow down their next target. There you go, dead scum assassin, there's yet another negative side to balance out this role. Whatever that means. Oh, and burn in hell. So... now what?