[Game thread]Magic The Gathering

[Sooh]

 

Liliana clutched her arms tight together.  She was loathe to admit what she had seen in her mind, what had just played out before her very eyes.  And now he was gone.

 

She had been standing right behind Elspeth when Jace passed his spark to her – right behind her shoulder, in fact.  That Nissa had been unable to heal him had stirred up old feelings in her, and to her surprise she was unsettled by his passing.  She feared the loss, a sentiment she thought long since dealt with in light of their passive-aggressive hostility toward each other in the recent years.

 

It had been worse when he had looked to her, seeing her beyond the soldier.  He had, quite amateurly, reached out to her mind, pressing against the mental wall she had erected to keep out intrusive psyches – a wall erected because of him to begin with.  Letting him in against her better judgment she had been presented with a flood of memories, of the days when they had first met in Ravnica so long ago.  Their long conversations, the endless flirting so rapid it may as well have been dancing.  The misgivings he had about the slimy Tezzeret, even back then.  And then—nothing.  He had no memory of his duel with Tezzeret, of the argument with her afterward, of his reaction to her betrayal and manipulation of him.  It had been wiped clean from his mind; he had wiped it.  He had erased his own memory,

 

:I’m sorry,: he kept repeating to her over and over, the regret in his mental voice echoed in his dying eyes.  :I’m so sorry.  I don’t know what I did to you.  I’m sorry.  Forgive me, please.:

 

The litany looped, growing weaker and weaker until he passed through the veil.  Her senses had twinged when the mote of life snuffed out, activating the small charms she always had on her to let her know when something died.  She had stayed, rooted in place where she was now, until the rest of the group withdrew to a removed location out of earshot.  The dark demons that she served send that she wasn’t going to cry, over him of all people!  She exerted her self-control over her body, taking several steadying breaths as she forced herself to calm.

 

“You always had to be the hero,” she muttered sardonically, fixing in her mind that he could just be sleeping.  “Always had to save the multiverse from the monsters, even if it meant asking help from them.”

 

Silence—not that she had expected there to be a reply, but it drove home the loss like a spike through her heart.  Like the shard of stone that had taken his life.  She wiped away a teardrop, furiously scrubbing her cheek.  “And you got your wish!” she snapped.  “Go and tackle the biggest monster of them all, why don’t you, and drag all of us into the mix!  Let’s all just go on one grand adventure, you and your Gatewatch!  Why save one world, when you can save all of them?  What good does it do you now, Jace Beleren?”

 

The tears were readily falling down her face now, but she was at the height of her rant.  She began pacing in front of him, emotion granting heat and volume to her voice.  “You had to prove your worth to everyone, didn’t you?  You, me, your little gang, we just had to know how wonderful the great mindreader could be when he wasn’t being a moody shut-in with control issues.  You were the source of half the pain in my life!”

 

He looked so peaceful lying there.  Why should he get to be peaceful?  How dare he be granted rest?  She snatched the splinter of metallic rock off the ground, holding it out from her.  The instrument of his death was right here; it wasn’t as if she didn’t know the ritual.  Grasping the largest black leyline she could find she readied the spell for undeath, adding layers and intricacies.  She wouldn’t just bring him back a zombie; she would have for herself a revenant, a lich.  She would have him return and know the full measure of her suffering!

 

His eyes refused to leave her.  She forced herself to look away, tried to shut the world out, but his eyes remained, pleading with her.  :I’m sorry.  Forgive me, please.:  Her teeth ground together, a sneer on her face as she layered on the spells of control and binding.  The world was a blur, but she would not back down now.  :I don’t know what I did to you.:  Her control over the spell wavered, and she forced it back in line with strained effort.  She pulled more mana into herself, readying the activation mechanism.  One way or another, she would animate him and bring him back.

 

And still it wouldn’t be him.

 

Liliana lowered her arm.  Her inner turbulence was reflected in the spell, quivering and shimmering as it threatened to dissipate.  Pursing her lips, she looked down to Jace’s body.  He had been afraid, had died not knowing, and willingly admitted it to her.  For a moment, he had been the Jace she once knew.  She took in a breath, fixing him with a stare.  “Fine,” she whispered, a halfhearted glare taking over.  “But I reserve the right to have days where I’m irritated with you, even if it’s just at your memory.”

 

She altered a piece of the spell – no longer “rise” but “rest,” a modification that dispelled the additional clauses she had tacked on.  It would end up being the closest any of her spells came to consecrating a corpse, the irony of which was not lost on her.  His body withered away, crumbling the clothes and flesh and even his bones and leaving nothing but a pile of ash.  Soon there was nothing left of his physical presence save the soot and the dart that had struck him down.

 

 

 

The notion had just struck her to ask for Chandra’s assistance in making a glass focus from the remnants when the ground in front of her began bubbling.  Between the edges of the hexplates a mass of glistening oil ballooned upward, absorbing both the remains and the residual mana from her spell.  The mass of ichor crawled toward her feet, and she stepped back in revulsion and loathing.  She clenched her fists, letting out a frustrated howl.  “Does nothing on this accursed plane work as it should anymore?!” she howled.

 

She heard the others come running over at the sound of her vexation.  They all stared, dumbfounded, as the oil continued to boil upward.  Liliana filled herself with mana – not to prepare any spells, but to feel the satisfying rush of power that accompanied it – and pointed to Elspeth.  “How long do you think it will take to reach the Annex from here?”

 

The soldier blinked, casting a quick glance back in what must have been the direction of the Phyrexian stronghold.  “If we kept marching through the night, we might reach it soon after dawn.”

 

That was enough for her.  Liliana stormed off in that direction, feeling the runes on her body glow with power.  “Good,” she announced to nobody in particular, not caring if they followed.  “I’m going to march right up to their gates.  I’m going to obliterate their armies and topple their precious clergy.  I will find their praetor, rip off their head, and crush what is left of their heart with my own hands.  They think themselves safe in this world of five suns and twisted mana?  They have yet to see how aggressive the night can be.”

 

•

 

 

 

As the morning sun filled the air with a dull red hue the party moved with increasing ease through the Nayan underbrush, a product of the disappearing vegetation and uncharacteristically arid soil.  To say it disturbed Ajani would be an understatement; now that he had returned, now that he had slept in the bush and immersed in its mana, he could feel the absence of life beneath his paws.  HIs concern made for incredibly brief conversation, even shutting off Garruk when he began asking more questions of the gargantuans.  The beastmaster seemed to take the undivided focus as a personal offense, but Ajani could not afford distractions.  Perhaps Garruk would feel the same as he if this had happened on his home plane.

 

His paw snapped a root underneath, the dry sound suggesting wrongness.  Kneeling down to observe it he saw the wood had succumbed to a dry rot, the grain twisted and warped in unnatural patterns and sporadic patches eaten through as if by an infestation of worms.  He offered the sample to the others for scrutiny, wiping his paw off on a nearby trunk as if it may become tainted otherwise.  In truth it might be.  “We’re getting close to the site,” he said, losing interest as the deadwood passed to Tamiyo and her journal.  “I had thought...I had hoped the contagion to be contained with the destruction of the mycosynth.  Be wary.”

 

 

 

Before long his ears made out the distinct sound of metal and strange squawking creatures, and he dropped to a nearly prone position on the ground.  Inching forward he peeked over the nearest fallen tree, and was horrified by the sight before him.  The trees had become mangled nightmares of foliage, as if a demon had made a parody of the natural order of life.  The smaller creatures he remembered hunting through the underbrush as a youth were now sickly and diseased, great cysts of noxious liquid growing through their hides and impeding their movement.  The vile black goo drained in rivulets from every orifice of their bodies, spilling onto the ground, infecting the plants and likely other animals.

 

 

 

Even more disconcerting was what happened to the dead littered about the space.  The corpses still writhed and squirmed, suggesting nascent life juxtaposed against the sightless white of decaying eyes and thick clouds of corpse flies.  There was no distinction in the spread, small grazers to mighty beasts, with even a fallen gargantuan among the death field.  One of the squirming carrion-wombs bucked and split open, revealing a thing that seemed to borrow bone and sinew from the larger host and grafted it into mechanical organs.  It gave a mangled cry and a Phyrexian attendant came tottering over to pluck it from the liquefying flesh.  Grabbing the thing by the “scruff” of its neck the Phyrexian shook it twice to free it from slop, dropping it carelessly on the ground as it moved to check on the next body.

 

Ajani barely registered the sudden silence of his companions.  Rage clouded his vision, a numbing indignation that drove calm sense from his head.  Bad enough to hear of the corruption of Phyrexian influence, but to see it take his home?  A pulsing desire to shatter and destroy, to crush them and set the ground ablaze for life to return, proper living things.  He didn’t remember drawing his axe but it was suddenly in his paw, and he rose from the ground in open defiance of the blight.

 

 

 

One of the invaders, taller than the rest and seemingly overseeing the lesser minions, looked up to where Ajani stood – or rather, turned toward; the thing had no eyes that he could discern.  It clacked a set of oversized teeth, waving a massive arm at him.  “One of the untouched, yes?” it called out in a nasally voice, its tone a mockery of sincerity.  “Do you come to receive the blessing of compleation?”

 

Ire now completely raised, Ajani flexed his muscles and leapt to a sturdy tree limb.  Drawing in the full measure of his wrath he let out a deafening roar, brandishing his double axe to the sky.  A passing instant of self-awareness brought with it visceral pleasure that the Phyrexian stumbled backward at the force, and that clouds of birds flocked to the sky as it echoed through the jungle.  Repositioning his weapon behind him to allow for greater mobility, he launched off the tree, through the air, and straight for the invading menace.

 

•

 

 

 

They had managed to vent Liliana’s plan of brazen attack by the time they came within sight of the Annex, which took most of the night, and she had promised to focus on infiltration rather than a one-woman siege; even so, Nissa had her doubts that she would remain a reliable member of what left of their party.  The death of someone close affected people strangely, and she had her doubts that the necromancer was entirely stable.  She suppressed the urge to fall into a bout of coughing, leaning on her staff as she paused.  If she was to survive the excursion must finish with their task, and soon.

 

Her connection to the land wasn’t just making her feel sick at this point, it was siphoning what remained of her health.  She had pushed her limits with Koth, and in trying to heal both Elspeth and Jace – not that there was any regret on her part, but they had all been choices that came with consequences.  The gods send that Jace find peace in whatever afterlife he found himself.  She certainly hoped that they would have a kind thought for all of them.

 

Another urge to cough, this one setting upon her before she could stifle it.  Dack shot her a worried glance, hiding it behind a weak chuckle.  “When we’re done with this, I think we deserve a vacation.  Somewhere with a bit of sun, perhaps a beach.”

 

She kept walking, focused on Elspeth’s boots in front of her and fighting a wave of nausea as they passed over a leyline.  He received a terse nod from her.  “Any break would be appreciated at this point.”

 

Dack clasped his gloved hands behind his head, sighing.  “You know, I’ll bet the sea air would be good for your cough.  Do you think you might be convinced into taking in some of that lovely radiance?  Those long sleeves would drag so in the water.”

 

At the moment she made to answer Nissa had a violent urge to heave the contents of her stomach.  She doubled over, gasping for breath and forced to support herself on the fallow ground.  A few seconds later Dack’s hand patted her back, doing his best to provide support in his limited capacity.  “It’s worse than you’re telling them,” he guessed, dropping his voice.  “Has it been worse since the canyon?”

 

The stars in her vision faded, replaced by a pounding headache.  She curled her supporting hand into a fist, nodding slowly.  Dack rubbed her back once more, gently hoisting her up.  “Come on.  Up before they notice.  No, don’t pull away; I’m stronger than I look.”  They walked a ways more in peace, Nissa using the reprieve to focus on moving of her own accord once more.  Her companion shook his head.  “I don't understand.  You didn't get any of the glistening oil on you, and the land is no different here than it was anywhere else we've been.  How are you getting worse, instead of...staying where you were?”

 

Nissa walked a little ways ahead, fixing her staff in place.  “But the land is changing the farther we go, Dack.  Yes, the entire plane has been twisted, tormented, and infected; but it is nothing by comparison to what is directly ahead of us.”  She pointed ahead of them, through the nearby hill.  “Whatever we’re approaching isn't just run through with sickness, it is the heart of it.  It is a thick sludge, and I a dry sponge.  I fear that the journey will only get worse for me.”

 

Dack let her words sink in before shaking his head.  “But if that's the case, if it'll be so bad for you, why are you still here?  Why not run away?”

 

She sighed, picking up her staff.  “Because this is our best chance of stopping them.  Maybe it's our only chance. If they win now, everything is done for.  We have sacrificed so much to get here; I would not give up on this unless we were all slain and the Phyrexians descended upon me, and even then I would still die rather than acquiesce to their uncontested conquest.”

 

The treasure hunter scrubbed the back of his head vigorously.  He shook his head.  “I don’t understand,” he said flatly, turning away.  “I’d think your life would be one of the things you’d value most.”

 

“It is,” she assured him, “and if given the choice I would not have myself put in danger.  But we must be concerned with all of the multiverse, not solely ourselves.  I will sell my life most dearly to quell this tide of nightmares.”

 

 

 

Her answer sat ill with Dack, and he may have protested had they had the chance, but at that moment Elspeth fell to the earth with a heavy thud at the foot of the closest hill.  Nissa thought at first that her injuries had been worse than she knew, but when the motion came for them all to do the same she complied as quickly as she could, Dack helping her down.  “We’re in sight of the gate,” the soldier breathed.  “I don’t know how we’re going to get past it; it looks too heavily fortified for my liking.  We would need an army to even attempt it.”

 

With great care Nissa peeked over the crest.  It was indeed strongly guarded, with a plethora of soldiers and cruel gates wrought from a strange metal foreign to her.  The walls of the Annex were covered in a strange substance, leathery and cracking in places.  It almost seemed as if it had been flayed and stitched, a sort of—

 

She fought to keep her stomach from revolting, this time from the horror of the revelation.  “Is that skin?” she gasped, retching even as the question left her mouth.

 

Elspeth nodded grimly.  “The Phyrexians always took their scripture literally,” she spat, glancing once more at the fortress.  “Still, it’s too strong a position.  I don’t know how we can hope to break through.”

 

A thought occurred to Nissa, one that repulsed her but could be the only way in for them.  “Is there anything behind the….walls?”

 

The question took Elspeth aback.  “No,” she said with trepidation, “I don’t believe so.  Why?  Do you want us to try punching through one?”

 

“In a manner of speaking.”  She did her best to quiet her stomach and steel herself for the task before her.  “Can you get me down to the base of it?  I have an idea.”

 

•

 

 

 

Elspeth hurried along the gently sloping base to the foundation of the Annex wall, supporting Nissa as they ran.  The animist had been casting subtle magics ever since her idea, though she remained reticent on exactly what that idea entailed.  She repositioned her hand beneath Nissa’s arm, stepping quickly over the rusted hexplates and closer toward doom itself.

 

She could feel Jace’s spark within her, giving her an odd sensation of burning heat and freezing chill all at once.  It still flabbergasted her that he had given her his spark; she didn’t even know how such a thing was possible, let alone how to transfer the spark later.  Was she supposed to seek out a worthy heir?  She stifled the questions, though she yearned to know the answers; they could be contemplated after they returned.  If they returned.

 

Their sudden intrusion toward the Phyrexian stronghold had not gone unnoticed.  Nym and bony guardians both had developed a keen interest in their movement, and now came racing toward them.  “You’ll have to stand on your own,” Elspeth warned her companion, releasing her hold on the elf and drawing Godsend.  “I’ll hold off the rabble.”

 

She readied herself, drawing in from one of the leylines carefully and lowering her center of gravity as one of the houndlike monstrosities barreled straight for her.  When it leapt from the dead run to jet towards her she reached for a touch more mana, slamming her foot down in defiance.  A shield of safety snapped into place around the pair, so powerful that it actually ripped pieces of the ground up in its passing.  To her surprise there were thin tendrils of blue mana interlaced with her network of white.  It was a pleasant surprise, for once within this living torture of a plane, but one that would have to be contemplated later.

 

The closest guard dog to her smacked against unforgiving surface of the ferrous earth, a sickening crack indicating the end of its unlife.  The next three met a similar fate, their carcasses coming to rest on the other side of the barrier.  What initial guards remained wary of the sudden protection, but soon began scrabbling on the floating plates and trying to find purchase on the aetherial border between them and their prey.

 

 

 

A screeching noise above heralded the arrival of winged attackers.  Elspeth reinforced the shield as best she could, but a psychic pressure was alerting her to weak points in its integrity.  “Nissa,” she forced out as she used Godsend as a focus, “whatever you’re going to do make it happen.  I can’t hold against two fronts.”

 

There was no reply.  Elspeth feared that the animist had collapsed under the strain, eyeing the rapidly descending scouts on their stretched membranous wings.  The eyeless aberrations were slobbering from great gaping maws, even from this distance.  She readied her sword for the inevitable melee that she knew was to come, zeroing her focus on taking as many with her as possible.

 

“Elspeth!  Reinforce the shield!”

 

Nissa’s sudden outburst belied the relative impossibility of her command.  She was about to comment on the limits to which she had been pushed when she felt a spell release from the animist, a sudden flow of green mana burgeoning her shield’s integrity.  The unexpected twining of the three flows, an unforeseen reminder of her adopted homeland of Bant and its battle mages, wiped away some of the strain, and she found some untapped reserve within herself to put just a little bit more into the barrier.

 

The already cloudy skies above suddenly darkened, and from their umbral form a deluge of rain fell.  It hissed through the air, drops impacting on the ground and exposed necrotic flesh both with an acrid scent.  Where they touched the Phyrexians great gouges of damage appeared, tendrils of smoke rising from their bodies to be immediately snuffed out by the next raindrop.  The septic minions fell where they stood, dissolving away in the deadly burst.  One of the flying creatures impacted the shield with a sickening squelch, sliding down the aether at a lethargic enough pace that Elspeth could see its head melting to join its body.  She turned away, wishing the bubble of safety could repel the stench as well as attackers.

 

Another light spell was cast once the field fell quiet and the rain clouds passed.  The deadly water was cast aside to clear a path on the newly exposed dirt beneath the corroded cover, and Elspeth noticed for the first time that a hole had been eaten into the dermis of the Phyrexians’ stronghold.  The presence of green mana retreated, and she banished the shield, figuring it safe to do so.

 

If it was possible, Nissa looked even worse off than before.  She now hunched over her staff, breathing as heavily as if she had just sprinted five leagues.  The elf swallowed, calming her breath to the point where she could speak.  “I present to you one path into the impenetrable stronghold.”  She fell into a coughing fit, hugging her arms close to her chest as she worked through the bout of consumption.  “We should probably hurry,” she added weakly.  “I doubt that our actions went unnoticed.”

 

As the sound of twisting metal and agony echoed through the sky moments later Elspeth fell into a guardian stance over Nissa, still hunched over the ground.  “I hate to say this, but I think you’re right.  And something tells me we’ve just been noticed.”

 

•

 

[Sooh]

 

Liliana nodded as she surveyed Nissa’s handiwork.  It was very brilliantly conceived, using her tie to the land to summon a storm of acid rain.  One stroke handled the initial resistance and carved them a path into the Annex.  Even the act of the Phyrexians’ deaths helped them – or rather, helped her; though by miniscule amounts, there was still some potency in their destruction that added to the store of mana she had been accumulating over the course of their night’s sojourn.  It was the most power she had felt almost since the Mending that had so greatly reduced her, and she would use it to bring ruin to these things that thought themselves the masters of the dark and twisted annals of magic.

 

The wiry cry emanating from the fortress alerted her to the imminent arrival of more combatants, and neither Nissa nor Elspeth looked ready for open confrontation just yet.  She strode confidently toward them, leaving the whelp Dack behind to cower behind Chandra, and closed the distance between herself and the exposed pair.

 

From one of the now-melted battlements a gangly impersonation of an angel hopped forward, calling out in a voice without words.  It stretched its mangled wings and glided towards them, reaching out with sharp talons and declaring its presence in that wiry voice.  Behind it other angels began appearing, chittering on the rooftops and taking flight, bearing down on them as one malevolent stream.

 

 

 

A laugh leapt from her lips, unbidden and almost unnoticed.  So the Phyrexians had managed to corrupt the incorruptible; she could give them credit for that.  It still wouldn’t save them.  “You know,” she told the angel as it swung closer, “I have an estate on a plane that has a host of angels.”  As it made to grab her she twisted out of its way, yanking upward with a hand imbued with mana and fueled by her spite.  Thick tendrils of darkness latched onto the biomechanical seraph, sending it crashing to the ground where it struggled to free itself.  More dark restraints struck out, pulling it ever downward until the thing itself was completely flattened against the ground, all semblance of life snuffed out.

 

 

 

She kept walking, raising her hand toward the next eager outlier that flew in front of the rest.  More darkness held it in place, and as it screamed Liliana grabbed its head and dissolved it away to nothingness.  “No matter where I go, there’s a few similarities,” she continued, stepping over the spamming shell and blasting another one with baleful energy.  “Always self-righteous, always pushing their beliefs on others, going on and on about salvation and faith and darkness goes what.”

 

 

 

To punctuate her statements she shot two more angels out of the sky, their smoking corpses hitting the ground and sliding into the lingering acid pools.  A third outlier swooped in to charge her with a sword, and she blasted it with a thick blade forged from nothingness itself.  The two pieces of its body fell to either side of her, and she drank in the energy released from the deaths.  She looked to the twisted creature’s face, the light fading from its eyes.  “Do you know what the angels have never figured out, no matter where they are?”

 

The angel made a sluggish grab for her foot, and with a flick of power the hand disintegrated.  She knew it wouldn’t have answered her anyway.  Now the flight was almost upon her, and she found her bloodlust unsated.  The foolish things weren’t even daunted by what they had seen.  It mattered little to her; killing them wouldn’t finish what she felt compelled to do, and it wouldn’t bring Jace back.

 

But it was certainly a good place to start.

 

 

 

She raised her hand, gathering a wave of dark energy in it.  As the flight descended upon her she leveled a baleful stare at the forefront member of the Phyrexian host.  Her hand clasped the rock shard that she kept on her at all times, tightening to a white-knuckled strangle.  Her loathing for these things was a palpable coating, a vileness that permeated her spell and every fiber of her body.  “Not matter where I go, they don’t seem to realize from the greetings I give them: I hate angels.”

 

Malice.  Spite.  Sadistic hatred.  The spell that pulsed outward from her wasn’t just a killing wave; death would be too kind for them.  It atomized their flesh, undid the metallic scarring of their compleation, sucked away the air from their gilded lungs.  It left careening skeletons that, for a passing moment, still housed what was left of their once-proud souls and clouded consciousnesses.  The second wave emanated like rays from a baleful sun, turning the magicked bones to ash, ash to dust, dust to memory.  A wide cone of scorched earth stretched out before her, the cadavers that lay on the dividing line now no more than severed limbs.  The already wide hole in the Annex was now wide enough to march an army through.

 

 

 

Securing the stone from her hand before anyone else could see it Liliana exhaled a pent-up sigh.  “Well, that was a nice warm-up.  Shall we go see who’s at the party now?”  The necromancer marched through the impromptu door into what appeared to be a courtyard, filled though it was with smoke from the recent devastation.  As wafts of air helped to settle the particulate and her vision cleared, she saw what the Phyrexians had been preserving over the many years.  It made her feel like dancing.  She twirled joyfully around, turning to Elspeth behind her.  “You wanted an army?  I just received a gift courtesy from our hosts that will do just nicely.”

 

•

 

 

 

The thing squealed, trying to flee from Ajani’s impending landing.  Tamiyo didn’t know if it could sense the flow of mana, but she learned quickly that it lacked that ability.  Still within the throes of his rage-induced rampage Ajani lashed out with a wicked lightning bolt that all but vaporized the Phyrexian where it stood.  The only thing left where it stood were smoking gears and part of its lopsided arm.

 

She mentally catalogued her observations away for later.  A battlefield may not be the best place for journal entries, but these answers could prove vital to other warriors that had to combat the menace.

 

The other three began following in Ajani’s wake – though what she hoped to do against the Phyrexians, Tamiyo didn’t know; this seemed to be much more of a problem that Garruk and Sarkhan could handle over her.  As they came to the edge of the forest Ajani began laying into the corpses of the fallen animals, stilling any movement within and cutting out any unnatural growths that gestated within.  Garruk drew his axe, stalking up to the treeline.  “What are you doing?!” he demanded.  “Those creatures don’t deserve treatment like that!”

 

Ajani kicked the charred remains of the Phyrexian overseer.  “Exactly,” he said gruffly.  “I’m ending their suffering, however much they may still be in.”  He raised his axe above his head, whirling it above his head to build momentum and dispatch the next creature in front of him.

 

 

 

The trees near Garruk suddenly blackened and withered, and Tamiyo thought there was death-magic being prepared.  Suddenly the beastmaster barreled into Ajani, knocking him off his feet.  The leonin was on his feet almost immediately, grasping for his weapon while shaking his head as if to steady himself.  “Why?” he demanded, outrage now turning toward Garruk.  “Every second we wait here buys the Phyrexians more time to prepare!”

 

Garruk charged for Ajani again, swinging wildly with his axe and missing the leonin by a hairbreadth.  The impact from the weapon sent a localized shock wave through the topsoil, a small geyser of black mana erupting as well.  “These creatures still live!” the beastmaster bellowed in return, knocking Ajani’s weapon open and rushing into his exposed flank.  “Who are you to decide when they die?”

 

Ajani deflected his opponent’s axe with strength of paw alone, elbowing Garruk in the jaw and knocking loose his helmet.  A swift punch to the man’s side and Ajani separated.  He spread his paws defensively.  “This forest is my home, beastmaster, not yours.  Who are you to rule my actions unjust?”

 

 

 

As the pair tussled and the drones behind them scattered deeper into the desolation Sarkhan rolled his eyes.  “We waste time with semantics.  The menace is here; let us end it.”  Tapping into a leyline of mana that ran beneath them he held out an arm, morphing it briefly into the visage of a dragon.  Tamiyo would have been fascinated by the shaman’s ability had she not also been petrified by the horrific turn of events.  Still, she did her best to remember everything, to be put in a journal somewhere – a very, very, very far away somewhere.

 

The dragonfire lanced out and set a dying gargantuan ablaze.  A deep cry of anguish escaped it in its last moments, and the beastmaster noticed.  He bellowed what could only be described as a wordless challenge at Sarkhan, but by that point three more fireballs were arcing through the air and toward the helpless Nayan host animals.  Garruk bull-rushed Ajani, catching him in his midriff and tossing him to the ground.  Standing atop him with a heavy stomp to his arm that Tamiyo could only imagine broke the bone by the way the leonin roared, the demented beastmaster raised an open hand toward the two of them before bringing it downward in a fist.

 

It was only after the first groan of wood that Tamiyo realized he had rotted the tree closest to them.  She reached for Sarkhan’s arm, terrified and ignoring the heat.  “Watch out!” she cried, yanking on him with the full weight of her comparably diminutive body.  She manage to move him, if barely, but the falling tree grazed the shaman’s temple, and with a grunt he fell to the ground unconscious.

 

 

 

Garruk pinned Ajani to the ground, pummeling him with his oversized fist until the leonin gasped.  “No hand of man should decide the fate of the beast!”  he declared.  “It is for the wild and nature to judge!”  He reached to the back of his belt, retrieving what looked to be a brutal gouging tool.  Raising it high above his head, he prepared to slam it down into Ajani.  Now on the verge of hysterics, Tamiyo reached out to Garruk with the simplest spell she knew, the most instinctual, born of the knowledge of the waxing and waning moon, and willed his body to wane.

 

His arm fell flaccid to his side.  In fact, his whole body had gone limp.  Garruk’s eyes filled in amazement, his head lolling toward Tamiyo as he suddenly understood.  Ajani took a breath, grasping one of his attacker’s arms.  “Then allow me to be nature’s arbiter,” he growled.  A bolt of helixed lightning rang out, and the beastmaster fell to the ground dead beside him.  Tamiyo verified that the leonin was still breathing before the world turned to water, and she crumpled backwards to lie beside Sarkhan.

 

 

Dice was lynched. He was Garruk Wildspeaker, Mafia Goon.

 

 

 

 

[E James Todd]

Woo start of day flavor!

 

 

/\

< • >

\/

Liliana had just begun reanimating the Mirran dead when Chandra made out a distinct skittering that could herald unwanted hindrances. Without pause she set herself ablaze, juggling projections of fireballs to calm herself down. “I take it those aren’t exactly battle ready yet?”

 

“Not even close,” she heard the woman call out. “I need more time.”

 

“Right. More time, coming up.” Chandra did a quick survey of the space before her. Some soldiers would likely come from the front gate area, but the bulk of the defenders would be housed within the Annex itself. Time for a bit of tempo control before this battle got out of hand.

 

 

Geomancy didn’t come easy to her, but it was good to mix things up every now and again. Besides, just because she wasn’t good at it didn’t mean she couldn’t; it certainly didn’t stop her from warming the ground directly in front of the main entrance to the Annex. When she heard the first footfalls suggesting an incoming battalion of soldiers she pushed mana into the weak point and forced the site from merely weakened to flowing-red.

 

Some dozen Phyrexians fell into the molten magma, high-pitched yells escaping their artificial lips as metal bones twisted and melted away. The remaining soldiers stepped warily backward, seeking another means of ingress. Knowing that she no longer had to worry about one entry she gorged on the available red mana, filling herself to the point that even her fingertips had sparks dancing between them.

 

 

They were beginning to flood through the front entrance now. She bit back irritation at how slowly the undead took to get out of bed, fragging as many of the gremlins as she could out of the gate. The problem with mindless drones, though, was that no matter what they kept coming; and sooner or later, if they were enough of a nuisance there would be real warriors to deal with. She only hoped she could whittle the numbers down some, and that Liliana would be done taking her sweet time with her zombies.

 

Unfortunately there was only so much she could catch by herself. Elspeth had managed to bring Nissa into their newly-claimed patch of Phyrexian real estate, and Dack was wringing his gloves as the explosions ricocheted around. Liliana was still in the midst of her massive spell – Chandra appreciated their plight and general need for martial support, but did she seriously have to raise every single Mirran she saw? – which left her as the sole aggressor against the defending forces. Measure by measure they began gaining purchase, first in the threshold, then a length beyond, until they made up half the ground to her. The pyromancer grit her teeth. If they were determined to die, she would make certain to grant their wish.

 

 

Glowing claws reached out from behind her, smashing into the front lines and shearing the closest bunch of Phyrexians to giblets. Chandra ducked instinctively until she realized the blows were not meant for her, at which point she let out a whoop and redoubled her assault. Nissa must have managed to find one final defender of Mirrodin. She didn’t want to think of how much it was costing the animist to even reach out to it, though, let alone compel it to fight against a greater force. The summoned elemental passed by her and smashed into the Nym and other compleated soldiers, a satisfactory chunk taken out of the defenders’ numbers.

 

Now they were an evenly matched force. She and the elemental incinerated, lacerated, immolated, and otherwise wreaked havoc. The elemental was halfway through dismantling a barricade when it bucked, the wide halo of control around its head flaring. Seeing this, the Phyrexians shied away before realizing it had stopped attacking. When they realized it wasn’t about to move, they reached in with long spears, catching the creature in its exposed midsection.

 

The elemental roared to life then, changing tactics from a structured attack to a mindless brawl. Its mark of control flickered and went out, disappearing just before it took another blow to its body. Chandra felt a preparatory influx of mana, likely an attempt to rein the elemental back in line. She broke off from her assault, turning to Nissa! “No!” she cried. “It’s already free; let it go!”

 

 

True enough, the elemental had no intention of being placed under anyone’s control once more. It snapped at the ward forming above its head, dissipating it as its jaws closed about it, and conjuring a fireball it launched an attack at the animist. Chandra threw a wild fireball of her own toward it, sending the combined plasmid hurtling into the side of the Annex and blasting open a hole leading into the interior. “Go!” she bellowed at Elspeth, rushing over to Nissa as the elf fell to the ground.

 

She was already dead when Chandra reached her. Black veins had spiderwebbed across her skin, likely the physical manifestation of the corrupted mana she’d had to take in. Chandra bit back a curse, closing her eyes and squeezing her hand gently. She hoped whatever gods watched over her would take pity on her plight. When she looked up Elspeth had vanished, as was Dack. She hoped they could find whatever foul device was helping to spread the Phyrexian sickness to other lands, before both she and Liliana were overrun.

 

 

Shanti was killed.

She was Nissa Revane.

They were vanilla town.

[Sooh]

[Eldrick4221]

Yes! 2 down.

 

BFG is now a non-issue. If we mislynch today and she's alive tomorrow, she lied about her claim and goes down.

 

Shad is town because of dice's interactions with nyn and him D1.

 

Adella is probably town because of nyn confusing her with tigs.

 

Everyone else I will have to look at and decide.

 

Order of town to scum in my mind right now

DPR > Killanos > Cass

 

DPR. Please explain your post to Cass where you called what she was doing tunneling. I don't know how far back you originally said it, but I quoted it yesterday.

 

Cass. Please explain how lynching bfg would have helped scum.

 

Killanos. Please give me a reads list. I haven't worked on your slot yet, and would like a baseline of your thoughts.

[Eldrick4221]

Edit: Alive and still in the game tomorrow.

[Eldrick4221]

And to bed I go.

[Adella]

No one has anything to say? That's interesting. This is the quietest this game has been the whole time...

[Adella]

Going back and reading, Shanti spent most of the last day phase firmly convinced that it was Shad/Dice. I normally would sway away from whoever was being targeted by the person who got NK'd, but in this case Shanti is on a roll and I honestly still don't like Shad's reactions over the last day. I would like to know what people think of the possibility that she was too close for comfort so Shad took her out?

[Shad_]

No one has anything to say? That's interesting. This is the quietest this game has been the whole time...

 

Been busy, I'll be around once my kids fall asleep

[Killashandra]

Going back and reading, Shanti spent most of the last day phase firmly convinced that it was Shad/Dice. I normally would sway away from whoever was being targeted by the person who got NK'd, but in this case Shanti is on a roll and I honestly still don't like Shad's reactions over the last day. I would like to know what people think of the possibility that she was too close for comfort so Shad took her out?

This is pretty much exactly what I was telling Kronos but we went out to eat so I did not have a chance to post.

[Shad_]

You're not lynching me in this game so have fun with that.

[Shad_]

Going to [v]DPR[/v] where I left off and hopefully ISO everyone before DL.

[Shad_]

Doing anything when my kids can't sleep because it's like 90 degrees in my house is.  -_-

[Adella]

I am with Shanti on Shad. Kronos likes dice for the vote though and he was the talking head today so thats cool because I can see both. All of this back and forth with BFG is making my eyes cross but I really dont see the big issue. Seems like she can be dealt with later either way...

 

Also if you read our qt later you will see I started really seeing Shad as scummy around 9pm Saturday. So it is not out of no where.

 

I think Cass or someone had a few questions for me and I will get to them. I skipped them for now while I was catching up on the massive amount of posts I missed.

 

Can you expand on this?

 

 

I am with Shanti on Shad. Kronos likes dice for the vote though and he was the talking head today so thats cool because I can see both. All of this back and forth with BFG is making my eyes cross but I really dont see the big issue. Seems like she can be dealt with later either way...

Also if you read our qt later you will see I started really seeing Shad as scummy around 9pm Saturday. So it is not out of no where.

I think Cass or someone had a few questions for me and I will get to them. I skipped them for now while I was catching up on the massive amount of posts I missed.

Hey killa

 

I agree with your views on bfg and shad as well.

 

What's your opinion on dice and dpr?

 

(Ebwodp thanks to cloudflare)

 

 

Can you also expand here please? I'm noticing as we were getting close to the end of the day phase you seemed to totally change your mind, care to talk about why?

 

Shad over dice. I have them as scum equally, but not as a team. I like the idea of keeping the trains tied.

 

I have dpr as town. Do believe I've already said that. While we don't agree on some points, I get where he's coming from and he seems to be trying to solve.

 

Dice I have as scum because of his treatment of nyn vs his treatment of Shad with the knowledge of nyn being scum.

 

Shad I have as scum because of his attempt to get the doc to reveal, and because of his treatment of cuth's train. He acknowledged that that's where the day was going, but didn't really seem like he wanted it to.

 

I agree on Shanti being town because of the spat between her and nyn. Her mentioning that she's town all over the place and her overly aggressive approach to the game are annoying, but not scummy.

 

I haven't looked too much into Adella. I have her as town because nyn said she was getting tigs and adella mixed up, and that's a weird thing to say about a teammate.

 

Bfg is a non-issue. She's either Survivor like she says or she's scum we'll eventually catch. Like I said, if we mislynch today, she's the lynch tomorrow. Can't risk losing because she pops out at f5 and we are 2/2

 

You i am horrible at reading so I havent tried yet.

 

Killanos I don't have a read on. I'll worry about them if need be later.

 

I'm wondering how you went from this, to Shad is likely town.

 

 

 

 

What are your thoughts in Dice? If people aren't going to agree on DPR, can we agree elsewhere? If DOR is scum, he isn't the only one left in the game. You've got to have another option.

I've had DPR/Dice as most likely scum team all phase. Dice is fairly consensus so that one's getting resolved regardless. DPR needs attention.

I really don't see DPR as scum, but also firmly believe you and Dice aren't teammates.

 

Would be willing to move back to dice. If he does flip scum, I'd take a closer look at DPR

 

 

DPR could insist we need to lynch an Innocent Child and everyone would call him town.  (Wouldn't be surprised if this has actually happened lol.)

 

When you apply a bunch of highly illogical arguments and you're shown why they don't work and your reaction is to double down and use the correction to push the person thinking it through rather than reconsidering, something is wrong.  I don't understand why this always gets a pass from him unless people just don't stop and think through what he's saying.  It would be like if when you first got into the game and said Cuth was revealing as scum because he said Shanti's not bussing him, and I pointed out that you can't bus a villager, and you said "ROFL you're a liar, look everyone Shad is defending the guy with a red cop peek!!!" instead of admitting I'm right and acknowledging that I'm obviously not stupid enough to defend a red peek as any alignment.  Do you follow?  DPR's been pulling that type of stunt all phase, because it appears to work for him.  Everyone just says they don't see him as scum, I haven't heard a reason beyond "gut" or just a blanket statement that he's town.

 

 

This kills me Shad, cause you're a smart guy, and here all you're doing is trying to discredit DPR, and you spent quite some time doing it. Instead of listening and if you disagreed countering with other points consistently, you riled him up, argued, and then tried to make us feel like we would be stupid or sheep to agree with him. It just doesn't make sense to me.

 

 

 

Shad, you may not like it, but I do happen to agree that anyone who isn't town is against us. If we Lynch townie for a couple of days then she could easily swap sides again. We don't know for sure if she is telling the truth, and even if she is that doesn't mean she is being honest about her win conditions or anything else. This is a game full of twisting words and lies, and it's our job to sort through them. Your whole basis on DPR being scum is based in BFG telling the truth and that doesn't make sense to me.

 

My case against DPR has nothing to do with BFG herself.

 

My case against DPR has to do with him exploiting a disagreement to sling dirt, dropping wildly improbable set-up spec to patch his reasoning together, refusing to answer my questions, telling everybody that I was ignoring his questions when I had in detail and was showing him that I had in detail, and continually ramping up this approach the more it seemed that players were buying it.  Town try to solve the game, not adamantly defend the correctness of their stance and spin comments showing its clear fallacy into an excuse to push someone.

 

I've been pretty clear about this.

 

 

Obviously DPR felt he found scum here, but more importantly you were doing exactly what you said DPR was doing in the bold. There was no "hey, there are likely 2 scum left, if it's not DPR I think maybe it's ____" DPR was at least willing to look at someone else, it just happened to be you.

 

 

 

 

 

Shad, you may not like it, but I do happen to agree that anyone who isn't town is against us. If we Lynch townie for a couple of days then she could easily swap sides again. We don't know for sure if she is telling the truth, and even if she is that doesn't mean she is being honest about her win conditions or anything else. This is a game full of twisting words and lies, and it's our job to sort through them. Your whole basis on DPR being scum is based in BFG telling the truth and that doesn't make sense to me.

My case against DPR has nothing to do with BFG herself.

 

My case against DPR has to do with him exploiting a disagreement to sling dirt, dropping wildly improbable set-up spec to patch his reasoning together, refusing to answer my questions, telling everybody that I was ignoring his questions when I had in detail and was showing him that I had in detail, and continually ramping up this approach the more it seemed that players were buying it. Town try to solve the game, not adamantly defend the correctness of their stance and spin comments showing its clear fallacy into an excuse to push someone.

 

I've been pretty clear about this.

Ok, I get that you feel you have been clear, but at least for me this is what has sunk in. So maybe it's not as clear to the rest of us?

 

 

 

Then I'd very much like to see people discuss his play and explain why it is more likely to come from his town game.  "Not feeling it" isn't an engageable statement from which more informed reads can progress, and that's all I'm hearing irt his slot.

 

 

I really hate when 1) people tell other people how they need to play the game, I don't like people who try to lead others like this

and

2) disregarding people's gut feelings. Sometimes it's about reading between the lines, and specifically what people didn't say that matter.

 

 

 

If I am being an idiot and don't know it about the doc aspect someone please explain and stop just telling me I'm wrong.

 

No one died D1.

 

BFG dropped an uncountered claim to explain this.

 

A doc is improbable because of the kill sequence but if real can counter BFG's claim.

 

 

BFG gets killed eventually regardless?

 

Ergo, Doc shouldn't claim if they exist just to speed up her death.

 

 

If we aren't lynching her today then that's fine.  Policy lynching a claimed Survivor who can be countered is stupid rather than just countering and lynching or else there is no counter and we let her slot resolve itself.  With the cop dead doctor is a low value role at this point.

 

 

Re: bold - I'm sorry but I seriously disagree with this, any power role can always be useful, especially when scum don't know about them. If a Doc were to reveal, they would be forced to protect themself, freeing up everyone else as for sure easy targets during night.

 

 

Adella

 

Killanos

 

?

Frankly I've spent so much of this phase getting town to budge and progress a read on DPR/understand my perspective on BFG that I haven't had time to further look at them. Killanos hasn't been much involved this phase in my recollection. Adella has felt a little like she's taking the path of least resistance this phase where D2 she had been going all in. Conflicting feels between the two that I'll explore further as needed.

 

Eldrick seems fine so far. Eldricky but he's doing that thing where he actually considers what people tell him and plays it out in his head.

 

 

I 100% agree with the bold, you did spend way too much time trying to lynch one person when every townie was keeping their options open because we had at least 2 scum left in the game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dice is more than capable of pulling this play off as scum. But my thought here is that he wouldn't stick his neck out quite that far (dustup with Alfred and defense of Nyn) if he thought he'd have to defend it later. It's the same position I'm in, so maybe I can easily see it as a Town mistake. 

 

I do need to RR and ISO and won't have time until tonight. 

 

Shad is different. I don't like Shad or Cass so far. I have notes connecting them with BFG during D1, and now BFG has revealed she's not Town, so it makes me lean more strongly toward scum for at least one of them. 

 

 

IMO this logic is false if he has BFG as 3P.

 

 

That's cute - especially after I moved my vote. But you see, I've had BFG as lying scum the entire time. So there's that. 

 

 

I don't think she can be scum here?

 

 

Why not?

 

Outlandish claim = big win. 

 

 

 

Also, with just under 40% of the players dead and nothing to show but VT's, a Goon and a standard cop, why is everyone so willing to believe her role? There's been plenty of spec that we don't even have a Doc, but somehow we have a F6 Survivor w/ BPV and game removal? 

 

And nobody believes her - that's the kicker - not one person has said "yeah, sounds legit to me". 

 

So you tell me, why can't she be lying? Her claim perfectly addresses all factors needed to keep her alive and what better way to do that than switching her game up? 

 

 

Her claim keeps her alive for a short period of time, and then we lynch her, it's idiotic for scum or town to make that claim, because you're basically dead at a certain point no matter what.

 

The thing that really picks at my resolve for my shad read is his d1 vote switch. I realize it's a personal point, as you don't know I'm town, but I do. I know that all the trains were town.

 

Scum doesn't move from one train to the other to break a tie when they are all town. It's a stupid attention drawing move.

 

Which is why he probably did it, I get tired of hearing "scum would never do this" which frees scum up to do exactly that.

 

Shanti. What you you think about what I said about it being unlikely that the team is dice/shad/nyn

 

How dice would have called out one teammate for the wolf head thing and defended the other. Do you see scum drawing attention to their whole team like that right off the bat?

 

Again, see my last comment on your previous quote.

 

I don't know why this irks me....but when DPR is proving Shad's scumminess, he gives reasons, quotes, etc....

 

When dice is asked about Shad's scumminess, he mentioned the wolf's head once, but the entire ordeal with nyn discredited his take on who would or wouldn't post a wolf's head as scum. He just says... Shad is scum. From what I can see (it may be somewhere in the 93 posts) he doesn't really back up why.

 

Same goes for Shad being asked about Dice....he's just scum and can die... he also keeps pointing to DPR/Dice as the final two scummates, will vote for DPR but not dice...

 

Just as since d1, Dice won't vote Shad although he's had multiple opportunities to do so with support.

 

This is what irks me the most. 

 

DPR seems the most town out of all three with scum hunting.

 

A couple of excellent points.

 

Got a couple of minutes, won't be around long

 

As for the doc part, we have discussed this. It's not about reads. It's the mechanics.

 

If there was a doc, and they believed they had protected someone, they wouldn't know they were the result of no death. It could have easily been scum hitting her vest as it could a doc protect.

 

If there was a doc that targeted bfg, they could assume bfg is lying about the vest. Doesn't make the rest of the claim false.

 

There isn't a single scenario that the doc would benefit from revealing. There is no way the doc would know anything about bfg. All the doc can possibly know is whether or not their target dies. Which is why I read your talk about the doc as fishing. Doc revealing only helps scum.

 

Thanks for responding.

 

I think at some point my head got spun around processing this because I can't see a doc confirming that BFG is scum as I'm parsing it right now.

 

This is the angle I was thinking at regarding confirmation when I first got there:

 

If we were going to lynch BFG today, doc should claim, specifically because if no one claims then we know BFG is telling the truth about a vest and won't need to waste the lynch.

 

Inverse of if claim then lie is not true and at some point I think my head snuck that in the mix.

 

If we aren't lynching her there is no reason to claim.

 

If we are lynching her (before F6) it should only be under the condition that someone counters her claim.  The counter doesn't prove her false but lack of an actual doc proves her true and a wasted lynch.

 

You complained a lot about people not agreeing with your logis... but this all makes no sense to me. It just looks convoluted and like a fishing attempt for the doc.

[Shad_]

This kills me Shad, cause you're a smart guy, and here all you're doing is trying to discredit DPR, and you spent quite some time doing it. Instead of listening and if you disagreed countering with other points consistently, you riled him up, argued, and then tried to make us feel like we would be stupid or sheep to agree with him. It just doesn't make sense to me.

LMAO

[Shad_]

You're so awful at Mafia Adella.

[Shad_]

etc etc

[Shad_]

I don't mean that.

 

I'm making an example.

 

That is what I got from DPR any time I questioned him and he didn't have an answer.

[Shad_]

Spinning and evading and discrediting with insults is not village play. 

[Adella]

I'm going to switch to Dice before I leave if that's where this is headed.  Would prefer DPR but either can die.

 

You literally tunneled on DPR the whole day phase, but suddenly Dice is ok? Why would you vote for someone who you previously had basically no thoughts on? Anyone know if this is normal for Shad?

 

Re: the doc thing suss it if you want but I think my case has at least been heard at this point so I'm going to drop it.

 

Suddenly you're being sussed and you're willing to drop it...

 

 

alright consolidation time cause I won't be anywhere near a computer for the rest of the phase

 

[v]Dice[/v]

 

Nice slipping in just before it's L-1, again on someone who you didn't have any case on.

 

 

No one has anything to say? That's interesting. This is the quietest this game has been the whole time...

 

Been busy, I'll be around once my kids fall asleep

 

 

That's how I live my life!

 

You're not lynching me in this game so have fun with that.

 

Well, last time you said that it was about DPR because somehow you thought he was the cop? 

 

[v]Shad[/v]

[Shad_]

I prodded him at length and in detail for a long time.  He used the same tactic consistently rather than attempting to work with me to discern my alignment.

 

This is what wolves do, and you can be baited into it for eternity and derail the thread all phase at their advantage, or you can eventually stop playing their game and call a wolf a wolf.

 

You don't like that I did either.  What's the villagery option here?

[Adella]

You're so awful at Mafia Adella.

 

 

I don't mean that.

 

I'm making an example.

 

That is what I got from DPR any time I questioned him and he didn't have an answer.

 

 

I really hope you mean that you don't mean I'm awful at mafia... cause I was about to be real pissed.

[Shad_]

 

I'm going to switch to Dice before I leave if that's where this is headed.  Would prefer DPR but either can die.

 

You literally tunneled on DPR the whole day phase, but suddenly Dice is ok? Why would you vote for someone who you previously had basically no thoughts on? Anyone know if this is normal for Shad?

 

Adella why are you voting me you haven't stated any opinion on me all game.

[Shad_]

I TALKED ABOUT DICE 9852897345U3429058934 TIMES IN THIS GAME READ MY POSTS