Looking at the vote counts from yesterday in a bit more detail:
Posted at 1.47AM (or 8.47PM Eastern)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shoveler
Day 2 Vote
Grover [8] - cheekimonk (258), MartinD (259), timmae (310), Raven (387), Vaimes (388), Glengoyne (408), Coffee Warlord (453), path12 (459)
cheekimonk [6] - britrock88 (248), Narcizo (340), Zinto (396), Chief Rum (402), The Jackal (445), Grover (457)
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Posted at 2.01AM (or 9.01PM Eastern)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shoveler
Day 2 Vote (Final)
Grover [7] - cheekimonk (258), MartinD (259), timmae (310), Raven (387), Vaimes (388), Glengoyne (408), Coffee Warlord (453), path12 (459)
cheekimonk [7] - britrock88 (248), Narcizo (340), Zinto (396), Chief Rum (402), The Jackal (445), Grover (457)
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There were no votes/unvotes in the 14 minutes in between.
The list of voters for Grover and cheekimonk are the same in both posts - it's just the totals that are different. As there are 8 people on Grover and 6 on cheekimonk, something unusual is going on here. It doesn't appear to be a multi-counting vote, as the 'revised' count is 7-7 - that suggests that something has caused a vote for Grover to be counted as a vote for cheekimonk.
A few possibilities come to mind:
- the Dark have influenced the vote count in some way (Compulsion is the obvious one (as per how it is described/used in the books - forcing someone to do something against their will, then making them forget what they did), but the Forsaken are capable of many unexpected things)
- Grover has suggested that he is (potentially) the Dragon (post 460) - in the books, the Dragon is ta'veren (as are Perrin and Mat, to a lesser extent), meaning that the Pattern shifts around him (so unlikely/unexpected things happen much more frequently, both good and bad - this isn't something that the ta'veren can control, though). It is possible that this has caused the adjustment to the vote counts, and may be an automatic event rather than a power/item that needs to be activated/used.
- Someone on the side of the Light has influenced the vote count
(It is possible that Grover is the cause of the change to the vote count, but I don't think that this directly leads to being able to place Grover on the side of Dark or Light.)
Taking this line of thinking on to the next stage...
Why would the Dark save Grover? The change in the vote count is very suspicious, so was always likely to end up with Grover being the lead candidate for lynch the following day (as we've already seen). What do the Dark gain from keeping Grover around for one more day? Less info for the village (the 'no lynch' from Day 2 means that we're really no further forward than we were yesterday), one extra night kill - yes, there is some value there. How much value might depend on how the vote count was changed - if it's a one-shot deal, it seems to me that holding back might be more effective (would it not be better to keep that power for the end-game, if possible?), but it might not be, which is something to bear in mind for future votes...)
If Grover is the one with the power to change the vote count, though, it is a different story - it's pretty likely that you can't use your powers after you've been lynched, so why not use that power while you can (although there's an explicit statement in the rules (post 2 - first bullet point under 'Important Additions') that a person may be able to influence the game after they have died - the first thing that comes to mind here is that in the books, several of the Forsaken are reincarnated after being killed, Osan'gar and Aran'gar for example).
Grover having the power to alter the vote count doesn't necessarily lead to being on one side or other, though - it is a power that I could see being given to either Light or Dark.
I think that the third possibility (that a non-Grover person on the side of the Light has saved Grover) is unlikely - am mentioning this more to be sure that I've covered all the bases rather than thinking that it's the likely reason for the 'unusual' vote count.
While I think that it's likely that Grover is on the side of the Dark, the only way that we can be certain (one way or the other) is a lynch, given that we no longer have a seer.