Want to at least post my reads before I get into the workday.
Right now, my strongest townread is BK. I wouldn't have sent him an item if I didn't read him that way by the end of the first DP, and that Millionaire claim sold it. I know Vader was making the case that he might be scum pretending to use an item to get a given result that makes him look townie, and while I might buy that in other circumstances, I don't believe that's likely here. BK could have chosen literally any role gained from the item. He specifically outed that he was the 1X Cop, a role that functions as a partial CC to Vader's claim. So if I didn't believe Vader was scum (and I don't think I have to detail why any more than I already have), I might still question this. But I don't see how Vader's scum partner benefits from doing this. I buy it, so he's pretty solid town to me.
WyIted is next. Since I trust the Cop was used on him, it's hard not to see him as innocent at this point, though manipulated results are possible (e.g. Godfather, Lawyer, Tailor). Vader suggested Electrician could be in the game, though if I recall correctly, that would send back a failed result, not an innocent result. All that being said, I'm not convinced that this is what happened. It would be very strange for Pie to insert a role on the scum side to detail with a 1X Cop obtainable only by selecting the correct item from the Mad Inventor and sending it to a town member. I thought maybe such a role might be in place to deal with the Emissary, but that description says: "Each night, I will give you reliable information towards the identity of one town-aligned player in the game." That doesn't seem like it's something necessarily impacted by any of those roles, since the information isn't the result of an investigation. All that is a long way of saying that I don't buy that he somehow changed the result of his investigation. It's possible, but it's a remote possibility.
My strongest scumread is Vader. If anyone wants me to provide my succinct reason as to why, I can summarize, but I've spent enough time on him these last two DPs and I'd like to put the focus elsewhere.
That just leaves Barney and Austin. The former has come off largely null over most of the game, the latter has had more of a townie bent behaviorally. One of them is probably lying given that Barney claims he used his BG on Austin and didn't say anything about it failing. I say "probably" because it's important to note that, while investigative roles will definitely report a "failed" result if their action is somehow impeded, that is not necessarily true for all non-investigative roles. I heard this last game from Austin in the scum chat - all Barney might get is a "confirmed." So anyone who's claiming he's obviously scum because he claimed he used his role on Austin is jumping the gun a bit.
That being said, I still think the second scum is more likely to be Barney. The Ascetic claim is definitely a little odd, but not necessarily scummy. The BG claim, meanwhile, comes off a little strange. It's the most common role claim beyond Vader's Cop that's currently on the table (note everyone else has a pretty uncommon or even rare role) and it's repetitive with the Lightning Rod role (again, kind of like Vader's Cop with the Emissary). Also, just thought of this as I'm writing, but how would a Lightning Rod and BG interact? If someone was targeted by both and was NK'd, which would die? I feel like Pie would not want to introduce that kind of headache into this game as a factor. And much as the lack of protective roles might initially put me into the camp of expecting more, it does seem like this game is more slanted toward giving town more information (Emissary, Dreamer) rather than protecting individual members, and I suspect the variety of roles my items impart are meant to cover for some balance issues with scum.
Beyond that, I think there has just been some odd behavioral choices from Barney. Like I said in response to his claim, it was not hard to put 2 and 2 together and figure out that his Harry Potter claim was obviously Percy Jackson. He even put a lightning bolt after his name, which made me think of The Lightning Thief, and I've never even read that book. He treats this as a gambit to bait out an NK, though I don't know how that worked. Did he think that scum would believe that he was actually Harry Potter and believe he had some crazy role that had to be eliminated? Is that the "lie" that "worked" when "Earth protected" him? Because it doesn't make sense to me, and it comes off as a means of trying to make himself look townie by trying to make us believe that he was the likeliest target for the NK. Vader does seem to be bussing him pretty hard this DP, but that isn't changing my read.
So, yeah, I'm down to lynch Vader this DP and, after the flip, consider whether we're going ahead with Barney. I'm good with having Austin and Barney vote first and then having known town execute the hammer, as WyIted suggested last night.
