Haf'ta say, that's the funniest post in this entire thread.

I'll give dexexe and Draykon two or three more days before I resort to continuing the battle myself. It'll be more fun if they have a chance to respond.

...I just realized that everyone writing for that fight has a nick starting with a D.

Bump. I need some kind of post by Nathan or Emily to continue.

I think I'll start the poll soon. Draykon, Dragon Fogel, you two are both totally safe. Your writing is just awesome.
The rest of you are also awesome, but Draykon and DF are my picks for the best right now.
Dex's writing has really improved, so I can't just have Lutherion be dead based on his writing and not bother with a poll. While I do think his actually writing isn't the best, he's still got the strongest character skills. So I think I might just put up a poll between all four of you. Would that be alright?

I would rather have people post what they're voting for. I simply don't like polls.

How would you rank everyone in order of best to worst?

It's a really tough call this round - everybody's doing a great job.

Personally, I'm considering narrative effectiveness as a tiebreaker - if it's really close, I'm likely to go with the character whose death would work better in-story at this point. That's just my thoughts, though.

Also, I should probably advance the battle I'm in. I'll get to that soon, but probably not tonight.

Best to worst? Um.

...hey look a distraction!

Yeah, I have no idea. I know that Fogel and Draykon are ruling this, but the rest of you are all also doing pretty great. That's why I like to put this up to majority. I can't decide on my own.

1. Draykon - Draykon's passages have strong style and good character development. My only complaint is that I'd wish he'd post more.
2. Dragon Fogel - Dragon Fogel posts frequently and almost always has something plot relevant and highly entertaining. His passages seem to be fragmented at times, with each paragraph only having a few sentences.
3 & 4 Aryogaton - Pretty good all around, but this round his passages haven't been very entertaining or plot driving.
3 & 4 Dexexe1234 - Dex does an excellent job of making monsters, and Lutherion is right up there with Eximo as far as favorite characters are concerned. His grammar and writing style could still use improvement, but it has improved drastically from the first round.
5. OddGuy - OddGuy's started the round fairly weak, but his recent posts have shown a drastic improvement towards plot and character development.
6. Pawn2D4 - Pawn2D4's posts have been consistent, but mediocre.

Really, I think it's a toss up between OddGuy and Pawn2D4. I really like what everyone has done so far. It's gotten to the point where I feel bad saying a particular player is doing the worst because I've really enjoyed everyone. Plot wise, between Emily and Nathan, either one dying could have good story related consequences. I think the discussion on who should move on should remain focused on style and post quality. Though, personally I like Nathan more than Emily as a character, especially now that he's starting to spiral into madness, but that's just me.

I would prefer a post count over a direct poll, simply because that leaves more room for constructive criticism. If someone has to post to get an opinion out, they're more likely to actually explain why, instead of just "I don't like X."

That being said, I'll agree that we've gotten to the point that you can't really say anyone's been doing 'badly.' The whole story's getting really interesting, and I think everyone's contributed alot to that.

My thoughts on individual writers (In no particular order):
Dragon Fogel - Has done a much better job with Eximo Pulvis than I really thought would be possible. Has generally been able to control other characters very well, and kept the plot interesting.
Aryogaton - Early on had a tendancy to not really 'do' much, but has recently gotten a fair bit better. Aeon could potentially be a very interesting character, but I think he still needs to get more involved.
Dexexe - Still has a few readability issues with his writing (No grammatical errors, but still kinda 'off.' Probably to be expected really. It's still much better English than I hear from most foreigners, and many Americans) But in spite of this has been able to keep the story very interesting. Lutherion is also my favorite character, and I'd hate to see him die now.
OddGuy - Like Aryogaton, had a bit of an issue with 'doing things' towards the beginning, but has gotten much better. I really want to see where this whole 'demonic possession' thing goes before I say much more. o.o
Pawn2D4 - Has kept Emily an interesting character, but also has a few readability issues- though this has also improved a fair bit.

Really, if I had to pick someone- and I really don't want to- I'd say Pawn2D4 is my choice. It's not that he's really done 'bad,' it's largely just because Emily feels like she's been sinking into the background a bit this round.

Also, thanks for the compliments guys. [img]images/smilies/icon_heartbeat.gif[/img] I really would post more, it's just half the time I'm not really sure what to post about. x.x

I have to agree with Drakyon on almost all points. Dragon definately deserves to stay and Luther can't die until the end.
Unfortunately with votes against me I have no choice really but to pick someone as well.
Amethyst is an uninteresting character to me though. She doesn't have mush personality. Her fighting is really fun to read, but she doesn't really have much of a story going on like all the other characters do. Drakyons writing is good, but not much better than anyone else here. (Of course I've never been a really goood judge of that sort of thing.)
Aeon I dislike for the problems pretty well explained by Drakyon.
So my vote is for either Aryogaton or Drakyon.
I'm going to have to choose Amethyst for her lack of real potential here. Aeon has potential to get really involved in fights and story, but as far as I can see Amethyst doesn't look like she's really going to develope very much. I'm sorry Drakyon.

My thoughts.

1. Amethyst

Amethyst doesn't shy away from challenges. She regularly goes after Lutherion, and she's the only character so far to put significant thought into how to escape from the "game" itself. She's also good at magic-related exposition, and it's generally pretty easy to follow. I can kind of see Pawn's point about personality, and Draykon could probably do a better job of letting that show through; I think the basics are getting through, but a little more depth could be useful.

2. Lutherion

Dexexe's writing style could still use a little polish, (mainly he just has a few issues with sticking with the past tense for actions) but the characterization is excellent. Lutherion really comes across as insane, unpredictable, and dangerous. And, dexexe is very good at giving the rest of us something to play off of, as well as reacting to attacks (which happen quite often when he's involved).

3. Nathan

I'm mainly ranking him high for this round, because OddGuy pulled off a great twist by having him deal with the demon in his knife. This has all kinds of potential; but he'd better make good use of that potential, or he's at a high risk of being voted out.

4. Aeon

I would say that Aeon's strong point this round was when he explained his reasons for planting the bomb on Alcarith. We've seen that he can be cold and calculating, but it doesn't seem that he *wants* to be; he's been kind enough to Nathan. And, of course, he was the catalyst for Nathan's big twist, and now he wants to undo that damage. Overall, he's a wildcard; he'd probably be willing to cooperate with any of us, other than Lutherion, but if he saw it as necessary to target someone else, he wouldn't waste an opportunity. He really has potential to shake things up, but we've only seen a few steps in that direction so far. I'd say the more he does with that, the better he'll do in later rounds.

5. Emily

Emily has really been strong this chapter, but unfortunately, she hasn't stood out in any particular way, at least compared to the others. I will say, though, that I was impressed that Pawn went for a direct confrontation with Aeon right after I set the stage for it. Ultimately, Pawn's writing has been strong, but I'd have to put him at the bottom because everyone else's has been even stronger.

By the way, are we approaching the end of the round, or just discussing this to keep us thinking about it? I have a couple of things I'd like to pull off before the round ends.

I actually have quite a bit planned out, including a little loophole I found that might bring me back into the fray if I were to be voted off. I'm really just waiting for the right time.

My votes:

Lutherion - Other than being a pivotal point in the plot (including the aforementioned loophole), as has been said before, Lutherion is really the most well-characterized out of all of us. I'm still thinking Lutherion is going to stay till the end, or at least near the end.

Amethyst - She is quite a mysterious character. I'm looking forward to experimenting a bit with confrontations and whatnot, since she is the most like my own character (other than the magic and er... radioactivity). I'm guessing there will be a battle between the brains soon.

Eximo Pulvis - I have to say, I never expected a vacuum cleaner to be so important. Nevertheless, Dragon Fogel's writing is too good to throw out.

Nathan - Oddguy truly redeemed himself with the demon pact twist, even though he really didn't do much earlier. I honestly have no clue where this is going to go, and that's good.

Emily - As said before, she seems to drift into the background, with the big fight taking place. Her redeeming points is being a perhaps crucial point in Nathan's situation, but if I had to vote someone off, my vote would have to go to her.

Yeah, I'm planning on ending the round sometime soon. I think that from now on I'm going to be using your analysis posts to personally decide who will be out. I mean, you're practically casting votes as it is. Anyway, keep going for a bit to do what you need to do this round and then I'll end the round.

Anybody else is free to decide what the extra lifeform on the scan is. You may have noticed that I foreshadowed this before.

OH F-

I'll wait a post or two before making a move.