[the phantom]

"You know, I think littlemanpoet and Eomer had the right idea."

Everyone in the tavern turned to look at Estelyn.

"What do you mean, Esty?" asked Encaitare.

"Well, you see," began Estelyn, "Those two both had a talent, and they used it to combat the wolves. Maybe we should try and find ways our skills can be used to combat the wolves!"

"Well, that's a nice thought," said the guy who be short, "But what're you going to do, Esty, sneak up on the wolves and sew them into straightjackets? Ha ha! Or maybe shoot needles at them with a mini-bow?"

The villagers all laughed, though they tried to hold it in to spare Esty's feelings (except Boromir, who guffawed uproariously as he pointed at Esty and slapped his knee).

"No, I'm serious!" shouted Esty. "Maybe I can't do much, but there are some others among you who can! Firefoot for instance- you know all about herbs and plants. You need to look through all your old books and such and see if there isn't some sort of plant-juice or something that can be used to detect wolves."

"Oh, I get what you're saying!" exclaimed Firefoot. "Maybe we're not great warriors like Eomer and littlemanpoet and so we can't take on the wolves physically, but you're right- we can try to use what skills we have to aid the village. I'll get started on some herb-based werewolf strategies immediately!"

The idea caught on with the rest of the village, and everyone got up to go get to work on something that would benefit the village.

"I'm going to go make a special watch stone," said Mister Underhill. "It'll be really useful. I'll make it so whenever werewolves come near, it comes to life and fights them while calling 'Werewolf in the village! Werewolf in the village!'"

"I'm going to analyze everyone's droppings," said Formendacil. "Perhaps the people that are werewolves have slightly different excrement."

(to be continued)