so the night before I died, actually before I even confirmed with Vash we could talk outside the thread, I messaged shortkut to lament that the game felt unwinnable as town.
there was no specific game communication, we were just talking about the format.
after the night ended, two things immediately happened.
Zell messaged me and asked to talk about the game, we did, and I didn't fully believe him, but he told me he was a normal civi.
I messaged shortkut saying "Vash said it's okay if we talk, what's your role"
kut told me he was the cleaner and that I would be dying that evening. shortkut had completely forgotten about the cops, but so did I. he made an honest mistake, and he feels bad about it.
after I talked to shortkut is when I messgaed Alu, I told him I knew, and we all laughed at me being dead.
sometime after that, I was rereading the rules, and realized there was potentially a cop still in play, and if I was jailed I would survive.
I began reaching out to people. I reached out to MANY people. people were too honest and trusted me too much, but I found all 3 other townies with roles, and I found the bad cop.
the bad cop informed me they were ALREADY at least considering protecting me. but I offered an exchange, protect me that night, and I will either seer them or NOT seer them at their choice. (if I didn't seer them, they would become fair game for me to lynch in game).
at this point I had a huge web of information.
I messaged Vash and informed him what was happening, what I had "done", he wasn't mad, he understood it was "within the rules" but he was worried it might ruin the game.
around this time, I started feeling a little anxious and was worried about the information shortkut had mistakenly given me.
I messaged him with a proposal after I talked to Vash.
shortkut could ask me to stay dead, Vash would let related roles choose new actions if they were affected, and I'd just die.
alternatively, he could let me stay in the game, let it play out, and I wouldn't use what I knew to directly influence my decisions. I wouldn't use the vigilante to just take them all out, instead I would only try to get them lynched. and I would do it ONLY within the confines of the game.
after shortkut and I had talked, we both agreed our primary goal was not ruining Vashs game and not souring this experience for anyone. I went to Vash with the deal, and gave him final authorization. if he would rather I left the game, he can let people rechoose if necessary and I just die.
but if he wanted to proceed, I told him I believed shortkut and I could "make it look good"
before talking to shortkut, I was still suspicious of Zell, so I continued that suspicion. Tubby had been loosely on my radar since day 1, and FQs snap guilty vote of me looked REALLY guilty in my eyes.
at the time, shortkut was one of my three biggest suspects. the only thing my conversation really did, is I agreed with shortkut that if I stayed in the game, he and I could battle it out. see if I can get shortkut killed WITHOUT saying "I investigated him" or anything of the sort.
meanwhile, I made an arrangement with the vigilante with the consent of shortkut.
I WOULD NOT tell the vigilante who to kill. instead, that person could make their own choice, ask me, and I would basically give them ONE do over. if they said "I wanna target (the judge)" I would have said no, and they could then either choose not to kill, or could submit a DIFFERENT name to Vash without sending it through me first.
shortly and I agreed that I didn't do anything "wrong" per say, that I stretched a rule extremely far, and shortkut "made a mistake", I didn't wanna ruin Vashs game, and just giving the vigilante the list would have done that. this was the most fair solution I could come up with.
I also ended up effectively making the same arrangement with the bad cop.
(ironically the bad cop wanted to target the vigilante, and I did wave that one off, as the vigilante was vital to my plan, and he landed on fire queen instead, much to my chagrin because I had a suspicion FQ couldn't be killed.)
the vigilante chose shortkut, I responded "I have not investigated him, but he's not vital to my plans" and he submitted it.
I want you guys to know, I tried VERY VERY hard to only use information from the game for my suspects. obviously I used the information I had from OTHER sources, but I think that part is well within the rules.
I acknowledge that I may have stretched a rule a little too far, and for that I apologize. I like finding loopholes, I like taking rules to their limit, and I may have gone too far.
if people want to see me not in these games at all or for a while, that is perfectly fine.
but this is not on Vash, and it's not on shortkut.
shortkut made an HONEST mistake, he forgot there was a chance I could be saved, and he trusted that I wouldn't reveal any information once I was dead.
Vashs game is awesome, and it's gonna be even better when you guys see the full picture. he did nothing wrong, he didn't want to interfere, and he let shortkut and I effectively decide how to proceed.
please don't be soured on Vashs game for this, this is not on him.
I truly did try to not let what shortkut told me be the only reason I went after people. as I think Alu pointed out, it's suspicion post named all of them, but I included Zell since "normal game Cole" would have still been suspicious. I included two others who I obviously knew were telling the truth, but to not be completely overt.
I lied about the potential for their being a good cop in hopes the mob would second guess killing me.
I apologize if any one feels the game was ruined by this, and if so, I encourage you to hold it against me and ONLY me.
if anyone has any questions, feel free.
