The Syndicate

Jacob wrote:Damn. So sorry Isaac.

I don't think Rahab's vote necessarily exonerates her.

Isaac wrote:I'm sorry for not being very helpful this week. I am INSANELY busy at work. I will try to check back in later, but I may just vote for Lazarus with Lot. Any reason I should not?

Lot wrote:

Absalom wrote:I don't think Deborah's Day 1 vote is un-Heathen like. It was early and very few votes had come in. A teammate could safely have voted as she did, knowing there were other teammates ready for a save if necessary. I also think the Day 4 and 5 votes are incriminating. It would have looked bad for her to jump on the Uzziah train at the last minute, so a vote elsewhere makes more sense.

1 could be heathen, 6 is more tricky for me, and do you agree with me that it's unlikely that BOTH rebecca and deborah would fail to vote on day 9 if bad?

I need to reread these people too, because truthfully it's shades of grey - none of them look good after vote analysis.

Back to Samuel.

Lot wrote: @absalom - what do you think gives? (And I would note Isaac did it too) I dunno what to make of it.

Stephen wrote:It's because Samuel isn't bad.

I am voting Deborah.

Samuel wrote:No. You all have already decided to lynch me so do it. Then see how badly you have played this game. The mafia deserve to win frankly. I'm done talking.

Samuel wrote:I feel certain that Jonah is not a heathen. Either he is horseman or he is civ. Bit I think it is extremely unlikely he is heathen. I don't feel any need to vote there ay the moment.

And come on, why would a heathen vote for Ruth? That is the stupidest thing a heathen could have done. It would be an easy vote for her team matters to use to look civ. I voted the way I decided in that split second and I have no regrets about my vote. You are declaring isaac good based on my late vote in part. Consider if I am civ, what does that mean for isaac? I am civ.

Samuel wrote:I am civ.

Samuel wrote: I obviously don't trust isaac. Lot's recent behavior has me questioning him. I realize we have no reason basis to judge Bathsheba on, but I don't want to give someone a pass just because they replaced in. I don't know. If I had a better idea of who bad my voting record wouldn't be so bad now would it?

Lot wrote:It was surely curious wording too, don't you think Absalom?

Samuel wrote:Let me be clear. Lynching me will not get the result you all are hoping for unless you are not a civ. No one good will like the end result. You can present voting records in whatever way you want. Civs can have bad voting records. I am not bad in any way shape or form. Lynching me would be a tactical mistake, plain and simple.

In fact, Samuel never says 'I am a civilian' at all.

If I interpreted it purely at face value, my instinctual read is that Samuel is trying to imply he is a horseman with civ-friendly win conditions.

Samuel wrote:Let me be clear. Lynching me will not get the result you all are hoping for unless you are not a civ. No one good will like the end result. You can present voting records in whatever way you want. Civs can have bad voting records. I am not bad in any way shape or form. Lynching me would be a tactical mistake, plain and simple.

Lot wrote:OK - do whatever... I told you that ages ago. If you have no inclination to change your mind, stop playing a game with me. I don't have any energy to be fighting you in the thread.

I'll be back after the lynch, I can't be bothered being back before then.

Lot wrote: You can't give any reason for voting Ruth other than 'she is heathen'. you don't have any reason why she must die today. You just want to lynch Ruth because you want things the way you want them. What's the urgency? I don't know why you wouldn't think and play it safe.

Esther wrote: Well, this sounds fake:

Isaac wrote:Yeaaah. I'm with you there Absalom.

He was agreeing with Absalom that we should vote for Ruth but then he doesn't vote.

Lot wrote:
I think Ruth is probably Heathen, I just think she either a) won't die and we will waste another day or b) one or more civilians will die instead. We are messing with DEATH here.

Isn't it normal practice that when people are rezzed they cannot be killed or lynch fro a whole phase?

Absalom wrote:
I don't think Lot is a Heathen. I think Lazarus would have been NKed if Lot were a Heathen. But he wanted to protect Belshazzar and now he wants to protect Ruth, both of which are irrational in my opinion. It's very strange.

"Very strange." So what do you take from it?

Lot wrote:

Absalom wrote:

Lot wrote: @absalom - how do we know?

My point exactly.

No... MY point exactly.

That's why I don't want to lynch Ruth right now. And what, she can't wait? If she is heathen and nothing to do with death, she can't keep until tomorrow? I honestly wouldn't be surprised if she goes away by herself. If she is still here tomorrow, I'd be on board with going for it then, but I wouldn't be surprised to see that we were playing straight into Death's hands voting for her today.

Lot wrote: @absalom - how do we know?

Lot wrote:Who wanted to lynch Cain? Jonathan????

You've led SO MANY lynches in this game.... that it's literally impossible to drown your voice out no matter how hard anyone tries. If you say the word, it will be. Don't you think it's time you were a bit careful with that?

I think Belshazzar was probably Samson, and he probably wanted to tie the vote to prevent any lynch from happening that day and mess us around. I think he wants us to fail at lynches.

But mostly, I just want everyone to get out from under the spell of Absalom and realise that just because you say something doesn't mean it doesn't deserve THOUGHT. You still can be wrong, and rushing headlong into things is not a good idea.

And Pilate, by tomorrow or the next day you will have to make a call whether you want me or Lazarus more. Your call. That's just how it's going to be, unless we can get War dead and stop a vicious cycle.

@absalom - when did I want to protect Belshazzar????? In case you haven't noticed, when you've been right (Ruth, Belshazzar) I've been on your side. Did you miss all day yesterday me saying 'I think Belshazzar is a one shot' and being absolutely completely on your side????

Lot wrote:Common sense. The reason she is back is the interference of a horseman. (assuming Belsh had a choice in how his role interferes with us.) Why WOULDN'T we let it playout. (Because leaving Heathens alive results in dead civs while we lynch more civs) Why would a horseman bring a heathen back... (assuming he chose who to bring back.) just to delay us a day? To assist the heathen in winning? That doesn't make any sense. He did it because it's suits HIS purposes. (what are his purposes? I asked Ruth this and she never answered me. A lot of people seem awfully certain about the purposes of secret indies)

I think Ruth is probably Heathen, I just think she either a) won't die and we will waste another day or b) one or more civilians will die instead. (so when do we kill her? How do we know when she can be safely lynched?) We are messing with DEATH here.

Pilate wrote:

Absalom wrote:Wow, people in this game sure like to overthink obvious things. I plan to vote for Ruth, because it's madness to assume she's somehow good now when there is no evidence to indicate that.

It is madness. I think Lot is bad for this "let Ruth live" talk.

And "If he's good, I die, if he's bad, I live"??? That's such baddie talk.

Lot wrote:I am not with you at all Absalom.

You have managed to control this thread day after day after day after day. Well done, by the way. You've been doing it since day 2, and you never stopped.

I bet you are heathen, and you've been throwing teammates under the bus.

But at this point, I think it's game over for the civs anyway.

I'm feeling quite frustrated at how out of hand this is. People like Isaac and Deborah should have died a long time ago yet they haven't. I just don't get it. It's actually a waste of time me even playing, because I just get overruled by Absalom anyway.

You guys walk like fools into Death's trap. I'll be lynched tomorrow anyway by Lazarus, no doubt.

Balaam wrote:Absalom- looking back at the first five or six days of votes, who do you think is looking worse after Belsh flipped Horseman?

Ruth wrote:You think Belsh would rezz anyone not compatible with his win conditions?

interesting POV, Isaac. Interesting indeed.

Belshazzar wrote:So, again, I'm supposedly bad for saving you and lynching my teammate in immediate reaction to her voting to save her skin and get you lynched. The timeline in the posts is actually a bit screwy, too, because both Balaam and I decided to vote Ruth and then she voted within a minute or so and it was further incentive to go ahead with the vote. So yeah, top notch baddie movie there.

Hey everyone, should I end my game at 666 posts?

Belshazzar wrote:

Absalom wrote:Okay, question for all the Belshazzar apologists. Why do you think he is so civvie, specifically?

I get the nervousness about a bandwagon, but what has he done to make you think he is good? I am really really confused by Esther's posts and vote. Has she not been reading at all?

, he asks, whilst not addressing anything else said since his last visit.

Lot wrote:

Absalom wrote:Guys, if we follow Balaam's plan, we WILL get a civ lynch, and everyone who voted for the civ will have cover to say "well, I was just following the plan," including Balaam himself.

I don't think that's quite fair. Did we get a civ lynch yesterday?

If we were to use the plan, I currently think Laz and Samuel would be more likely Belshazzar allies.

Absalom, I want you to answer me a question - is it possible that your strong views today are being clouded by your rate of success? I just want to get a really good measure on your level of certainty.

And remember - Balaam, Belshazzar and I can't all be heathen now. So if Balaam's idea was to save Belshazzar, where do I fit in?

For my part, I tend to agree with Absalom rather than Balaam today. I don't think a split vote is helpful.

Balaam wrote:Thanks Belsh. Unfortunately, I'm just not feeling as strongly as you do about Isaac, Jacob, and Rebecca at the moment. I'll keep mulling them over though.


Here's a crazy idea I thought up on my drive home-

It feels like there is an awful lot of momentum on Belshazzar right now. That makes me nervous of another Jonathan kind of day. It seems to me that we've learned the most in hindsight from the close days. If Belshazzar is indeed a civvie, then the baddies have no problem voting for him in a runaway train. They would rather we waste a day getting rid of another civvie- this one particularly productive and contributive to the game.

Why let the Heathens have their way?

It's getting easier and easier for the Heathens to hide in votes because there are fewer of them. There are, at maximum, two of them left. They lack the numbers to really mess with a stoning unless its really close. Unless the Horsemen decide to be agents of chaos, we can force the Heathens' hand here today.

Simply put, let's keep the lynch close. Belshazzar is already Target A. All we need is a Target B and we can make this a close vote from here on out. If Belshazzar is a civvie, let's leave him dangling out there like a slab of meat. If we get lucky and our Target B is a Heathen (assuming Belsh is civ), then I predict a Belsh stoning. If Belsh is a Heathen, it would take a very cocky, brazen Heathen to vote against and lynch a teammate and think he/she is capable of making it to the end for the win.

Also, since there is so much momentum on Belshazzar right now, there is an air of expectation that he is Heathen. If he survives the lynch, players will be foaming at the mouth to lynch him. That would be a perfect opportunity for the Heathens to deprive us of what we want yet again by NK'ing Belshazzar. There's no way they'd NK him if he's civvie because it hurts their odds. They're desperate at this point because there is no way they are going to wrest control of the analysis side of the game from us. Especially not if they kill one of their own and the final Heathen has no teammates to agree with him/her in the thread. NK'ing Belshazzar would be the perfect way to take the wind out of our sails and make our asses pucker with uncertainty just a little bit.

Now all we need is a Target B. I nominate Deborah!

What do you guys think? Shall we give it a go?

Belshazzar wrote:I have no issue with you taking delight, Absalom, as you well deserve it, but tomorrow, should you lynch me, will only turn bitter.