Previously on… Survivor!
Coming back from Tribal Council, the Oerhaos players recovered from one of the roughest ORG rounds recorded, with not much changed in the dynamic. Blackyoshi took the scare of the vote and decided to learn more about Raz’s alliance and join up with them.
In a deathly quiet Shadowsquid, news came through and was clarified that Bomberman101, one of the loudest and more troublemaking Squids, was officially resigning from the game due to emotional stress, leaving the Squids permanently down a member come the merge.
Competing intensely, both tribes scramble in a Jeopardy trivia challenge that ends in the most inexplicable manner possible: a tie. With no other way in sight to solve it and Bomberman’s quit looming on everyone’s minds, the round ended in not a vote, but a merge.
The Oerhaos alliance mobilizes and gets into gear to take down the helpless Shadowsquid, but at long last, faced with adversity and shedding the insecurities of the past, finally forms its first alliance as they move in with the enemy.
Ten are left. Who will be eliminated… next?
SPOILERS: Avoid the Breakdown if you don’t want spoilers!
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Breakdown:
Episode 6: “Xalos.”
Challenge: Getting to Know You
Description: Players would fill out questionnaires and then guess who answered what.
Winner: Venexis
Voted Out: NanTheDark (4-4-1-1, 6-4)
Other Votes: Raz (4), Yurimaster, Brandobrawl
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What happens when you throw two cats into the same bathwater? We’re about to find out.
The Merge
The merged tribe is created, but not much is happening in it, aside from a vote taken on its name, Xalos. The name was coined by Magnen and approved by a 5-3-1-1 vote over Revered (EmKay), Blaze, or Altonis (both Nan). Xalos doesn’t have a meaning, but to Magnen’s ear sounded very jungle-like and overall cool. I’d agree; it reminds me of Xhakum from Survivor: Guatemala.
Other than that, it’s clear the tension between the two tribes has stayed. Seeing this, NanTheDark tries to create a topic to diffuse it.
“Hi, NanTheDark here, and I've noticed that... people don't get too along around here.
So... I dunno. I'm making a topic where we'll try to... get to know each other better I guess, try to remove some tension... or something like that. We'll all be playing together so we might as well get along. ^_^
So yeah... anyone wanna say anything?”
Representing the other tribe, Emelia Kaylee responds eloquently:
“OK.”
It’s clear that the Squids know they’re on the outs, and they better get in good with the Oerhaos members if they’re going to survive. However, it’s already clear that Oerhaos, largely, does not care. The Squids’ hope lies largely in one aspect of the game: utilizing individual immunity.
Immunity Challenge
The challenge that I planned to use for the last pre-merge challenge is now the first post-merge challenge. I gave each of the 10 confessionals the questionnaire, and only seven responded (Brando, Blackyoshi, and Yurimaster excepted.) Therefore, individual immunity will be given to either Raz, Emelia Kaylee, Harmless, Magnen, NanTheDark, Venexis, or Nin10mode.
Immediately, the tribal bonds are seen… from Oerhaos. Not giving so much care to the “validity” of the competition, the three participating alliance members (Nin10mode, Raz, and Venexis) all collaborate answers. On the other hand, Harmless, Emelia Kaylee, NanTheDark, and Magnen are all off flailing on their own.
During the challenge, the three Oerhaos members talk strategy. Since they’re six strong and they can do whatever they want, they start planning the boot order of the Squids.
Venexis: But an alliance has a number advantage, we can overwhelm any team Squids could come up with with us 3 and MK
Raz (2): Brando and by are in the alliance too
Raz (2): they can stil vote
Venexis: Oh, Lawl, then we definitely hold an advantage
| DBDK | Nin: Man, the answers to the first question couldn't be any more obvious
Venexis: So uh, it would be ideal if one of us won, just so that someone we might vote off doesn't get immunity
Venexis: Lawl yeah.
One name comes to mind a lot: Magnen.
Raz (2): actually no I kinda hope people vote for us because if everyone in our alliance stays faithful we can wipe out all those votes
Venexis: I wonder if they realize that?
Raz (2): No
Raz (2): no one on the other side knows that we even have an alliance I assume
Raz (2): Mega did because he goes on the chat but so much for that
Venexis: They're outnumbered, and haven't really approached anyone on our side
Venexis: Lawl they shouldn't need to know of an alliance, just that Oerhaos is largely intact and that our presence is a threat
| DBDK | Nin: as far as you know. DUN DUN DUN
Raz (2): lawl
Raz (2): Maybe
Raz (2): Still, we need to vote out the last of Shadowsquid before we start voting for eachother
Raz (2): starting with magnen, then nan, then harmless
| DBDK | Nin: poor harmless
Raz (2): he's uh
Raz (2): harmless
Raz (2): to say the least
| DBDK | Nin: lol
Raz (2): doesn't really scare me
Venexis: Magnen first for sure. See who takes charge after that
Nin: I figured Magnen was a sweetheart
Raz (2): Magnen is afraid of me
Raz (2): that's good
Even further, the divide between the Squids and Oerhaos becomes pronounced.
Raz (2): I feel like everyone on shadowsquid was extremely mislead
Raz (2): they blame us for a lot of things like they think no one on their tribe voted for jslayer
Venexis: Did anyone?
Raz (2): I voted for Jslayer
Venexis: On their tribe I mean
Venexis: I did too
Raz (2): pretty sure mega did
Needless to say with scores above 114, the collaboration paid off. Raz and Nin10mode ended
with scores of 114/140, very impressive even despite 60 of those being given to each other. However, a very interesting outcome happened in that two of the answers that Raz and Nin10mode got wrong, Ven got right, stealing the victory by a mere 4 points, with 118/140. With that sharp move, he’s immune tonight at Tribal. Everyone else is fair game… except for the second element of the questionnaires.
In the questionnaires, I had two questions revolving around respect for your fellow tribesmate: Who is the greatest asset to your team, and who do you fear most in the game?
They were really really bad at giving me a remotely specific answer, but the name that came up the most with the most standout mentions (as in, not just part of a large list) happened to be the de-facto leader of the Squids herself, Magnen.
With one prime Squid and one prime Oerhaos off the menu, Tribal was about to get a lot more interesting.
Tribal Council
If anyone thought tribal lines would immediately dissolve with the merge, they’d be sadly mistaken. From the Squids:
“I don't really hold a grudge against anyone on team Oerhaos, but Raz seems to have made some name for himself. Don't forget his alliance. Removing this guy means removing a potential threat.
P.S: These are secret, right? If so, here's another bit for the confessional: The former Shadowsquids have formed an alliance. Raz is our first target.” ~Magnen
Even the outsiders of Oerhaos admit it.
“It's been weird. I'm still fully in the mindset of "us vs. them", even though that probably no longer applies (goodbye, me!), but I still hope that the former Oerhaos vibe is still running.” ~EmKay
In Tribal Council, there’s definitely an air of certainty with, well, certain members.
“2. Will this vote be as simple as it seems?
Yes.” ~Raz
Other past topics are brought up from the two-episode split.
“3. What do you make of Bomberman's sudden quit? Are you frustrated at him or do you understand?
I actually understand him. I really do.” ~NanTheDark
“1. You were one of the two people who did not get a mention in Questions 6 and 18. Will that work for or against you?
I don't know. I'm not the most known person here, nor the less known, but maybe this is just because people don't know me better.” ~Yurimaster
“1. You won the immunity challenge by a hair. What do you accredit to your success?
A good friendship with several of the members we could choose from, the ability to observe and make deductions, and numerous contributions from other participants (whether they were aware of it or not- a big thankyou to you guys). The four point lead was sheer dumb luck, though.” ~Venexis
“1. You were vocal about the usage of terms such as "gay" and "fag" as negative things, yet Raz's spy search goes to show that some members of Shadowsquid were very derogatory towards your tribe. Bomberman, the main culprit, quit the game, but do you still have hard feelings towards the Squids?
a) Anyone advocating such behaviour, whether in or out of this whole thing, is still nonetheless in the wrong. I'm fine with trying to get along in this tribe (but that won't be happening much longer), however.” ~Emelia Kaylee
But, of course, the big topic of discussion is, are the tribes still divided, and will it stay that way? The fate of the Squids depends on it, after all.
“2. How united is your former tribe feeling?
The fact that we are integrated now makes no difference to our original tribe. The group priorities remain unchanged.” ~Nin10mode
“1. How united is your tribe feeling?
At the moment... I dunno. Considering Shadowsquid and Oerhaos were against each other at first, in Xalos you can't help but feel some tension in the air.” ~NanTheDark
“2. How has it been adjusting to four new tenants?
I barely even notice they're there.
They'd probably say the same about me.” ~Brandobrawl
The round seems set from here. The tribes will remain divided. Now it’s time to see if the vote reflects this.
“nanthedark
confirmed
BADABINGBADABOOM” ~Raz
“Raz.” ~NanTheDark
So far so good…
“I'm voting Raz.” ~Harmless
“Name: NanTheDark
Reason: Leader of the ex-opposing tribe, might as well start with him as we leave only people from Oerhaos for the final battles, as we always knew it would happen.” ~Brando
Expected…
“Vote: Raz
Reason: Letting people know you have an alliance, that's a bit worrisome. Best remove a factor in that.” ~Magnen
“With that in mind, I vote NanTheDark. What can I say? If he goes out, then their side of things (still assuming that's how we feel) are shaken up.” ~Emelia Kaylee
Okay. Looks like both tribes are sticking to it.
“I'm voting for nan, this round. Again, I'm not knowing him too well and he'd be another one from that bunch. Also don't feel like voting for any oerhaos members right now.” ~BY
“I vote for Raz. His activity in the Oerhaos Tribe clearly shows the danger he represents.” ~Yurimaster
And I think that’s the game. 4 Oerhaos and 4 Squids have voted for the most prominent member of the opponent tribes. There are two Oerhaos members left, so it appears to me that we will likely be voting out NanTheDark 6-4.
“My vote goes to Yurimaster.” ~Nin10mode
...scusi?
I’m sorry… did someone miss the memo?
“I'm gonna have to go with brando for this one. It seems everyone's targeting high-standing Oerhaos/Shadowsquid members, so I don't think there's any real risk in voting for him. It's more a tactical vote than anything, because I don't want to lose allies from either side just yet.... at least whatever outcome won't be on my hands, and I'll be able to prove it somewhat by pointing to the results. I just hope it works.” ~Venexis
...the fuck?
These two tie votes seem utterly random. For the first and not the last time, an accidental vote for Yurimaster caused a tie, and Ven already draws first blood against Oerhaos, voting Brando.
The problem is, both of these votes are ineffective. There’s a tie between Nan and Raz, and it could very go either way. Hell, even if it ties again, Raz is going home due to his past votes brought on by his cheating in the F12 challenge.
Raz knows it too, after I announce the tied vote results.
“Aw, well bye, guess I got too cocky. I mainly just thought this was a partly roleplay and roleplays aren't really fun to me without a antagonist to spice things up.”
Is the impossible going to happen? Will the Oerhaos tribe be toppled by one of their own?
“Lawl well I had intended to make my vote as close to pointless as possible. Kinda achieved the opposite, ha. Welp, I'll go Nan then, I guess.” ~Ven breaks the tie
“Nan then.” ~Nin10mode breaks the tie.
Not today, I’m afraid. With an adjusted total of 6 votes against Raz’s stagnant 4, the leader of the Shadowsquids is voted, spelling almost certain death for the remaining Squids. It’s time for Nan to join his own memorial.
Nan was a highly interesting character, and really shaped a lot of Shadowsquid’s character. An overwhelmingly strong moral compass, an aversion to a dishonest game, and clear and unquestioned loyalty to his tribe, Nan really did fit a lot of the Gretchen role to a T. And for awhile, I saw the Squids as the heroes, even despite the emotional moments of Faggot-Gate.
But the more the game went on, especially with Nan in Ponderosa, my views began to change. Immediately when Nan got into Ponderosa, he went on a rant about how I was horrible at running the game because I didn’t give them only flash games to play. He would continue to berate me as the game went on, and the entire group of Ponderosa, led by him and Peter, would spend an obsessive time mocking and demeaning Raz, even after the game was over and the masks could come off. The more I watched them interact, the more I realized an entitlement to victory that lay beneath the hero’s cape, as if being the “good guys” meant they deserved to win because of how inhumanely awful Raz (apparently) was. However… if that was the case, the poor sportsmanship of the fallen Squids got to a point where I couldn’t see any of them as the hero’s tribe. In any case, Nan never realized that good guys don’t always win Survivor because Survivor encourages a world without morals.
We’ll just have to see how immoral this game gets from here on out.
Predictions: Not Present
As you might have gathered, it’s been a long time since the recaps have been live with the show due to schoolwork and what have you. My predictions, however, are always made live, right after the vote… if possible. I was stacked with work around this time and thought the next vote to be more or less a predictable Pagonging, so I didn’t bother. My bad.
Next time on… Survivor!
The Survivor auction makes its way into the game, putting up some big items for sale, including one that can’t even be mentioned to the other tribesmates.
A shocking immunity giveaway leads to an unpredictable Tribal Council.
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