Alright, let's get to it. It's not going to be pretty (I've got to leave for a class soon), but I think you'll get the idea.
First things first, Ford is a Cannibal. For reference,
Cannibal (sk; super-rare; 4+ players): You can kill and eat someone, stealing their power (and one of their role abilities) for yourself. Actions: consume He claimed his targets as follows:
N1: Toaster
N2: Urist Imiknorris
N3: Urist Imiknorris
N4: Toaster
N5 (implicit, posts 470 through 479): TheSoldier
He might've ended up at Toaster N1, I don't really know. Most dangerous thing he could've picked up is Dirty Bomber, so not really that big a deal. He probably didn't end up at UI N2 (
I think he killed me?), but neither of these are particularly important. I guess if he turns up with a gas can or santa hat we'll know. The fun doesn't really start until N3.
N3, Ford said he targeted UI. Maybe he actually did, I don't know, he was town at the time, doesn't matter. But I am of the opinion that he ended up targeting Okami (probably via Anarchist), and much more importantly,
Toony's delay hit Ford N3. This likely happened because
there was still an Anarchist alive. Stick with me, I know it might not make much sense yet.
Toony claimed his delay ability D3 (thanks for the link, Toony). Ford is still town at this point, but it's irrelevant. D4 comes and the King gets lynched, and we're going into N4 with a new King. I think that Ford is the king, and here's why. Ford knows that his N3 kill is unaccounted for, that there is a delayer, and that there was an anarchist. It's not a stretch for him to figure out that he probably got delayed. If you were the King there, and you had a pretty good idea that a NK was coming down the pipe, and you have a 1-shot block, what would you do?
I figured it out earlier today.
You build yourself an airtight alibi.Think about it. You've got an action that can be almost 100% confirmed by another player, and there's still a NK. So
obviously the King did the kill, and
obviously it couldn't be you, could it?
It's nearly goddamn bulletproof. That's why Ford shot off the block out of the blue (instead of his NK that makes him more powerful), that's why he
opens up right out of the gate with trying to get his block confirmed, so he can "confirm" himself as town. I thought the oddball block was a little off, but if you look at it this way it makes
absolutely perfect sense. It doesn't require any from-the-hip shooting from Okami or Soldier (who had better moves to do if they had no suspicions), it doesn't require any crazy mental gymnastics (I thought maybe he'd picked up Anarchist from UI or something initially, that's why), and it makes all the actions I thought were a little odd
fit.
I've got to get ready to go. All I can ask of you at this point is that you don't hammer me or hammer nolynch until we've had a chance to talk things over. And I would ask you, Toaster and Toony, even if you think I'm full of shit, to
please go and read Ford's early D5 with the above in mind. It
fits.
Ford: I still wanna know why you ate Soldier last night.
Gotta get ready and hopefully not get ridiculed on my return, lol.