[Diamond18]

Moderator note: Only posts and votes before the deadline count. Posting after the deadline potentially skews the game and is unfair to the other players so please do not do it. If you've missed it, you've missed it.

--

The villagers turned on Holbytlass, determining to kill her. Farael wisely leapt to fasten a gag over her mouth so that she could not whisper for the Oliphaunts to come to her rescue. Just before she was silenced Holby protested that Valier should be the one to die instead. Mac and Fintaeph agreed, but it was not enough. Jenny, Durelin, and Valier ignored the suggestion and joined Farael's cause.

"One, two, three, four votes for Holby," counted Jenny. "Eh eh eh eh."

Durelin struck a tragic pose, then struck Holby across the cheek with a pair of leather gauntlets. "I say we burn, burn, burn! the evildoer at the stake!" she cried, shaking one fist dramatically.

Valier agreed and proceeded to arrange the logs for the fire as the others lashed Holby to a pole.

Fintaeph, meanwhile, began to pace nervously and gnaw on his fingernails. From time to time he ventured, "Wouldn't you rather kill Valier instead?" But the others ignored him and went about their work, till finally the bonfire was ready.

"Fare thee well," said Durelin, lighting a match with thespian flare. She dropped it on the tinder and stepped back as the pile of wood burst into flame.

Holby made stressful noises from behind her gag, flailing as the fire snaked its way towards her. Just as it caught the hem of her dress and began to singe her flesh, Fintaeph gave a sudden cry of anguish that turned midway into a rageful screech. He leapt forward and took flight, rushing to snatch Holby up in his talons.

She was well-tied to the poll, however, and he was delayed for a few crucial moments as he sought to gnaw her bonds free with his beak. He got her free, but not before the hungry flames had raced up her body to catch hold of the Werebird's feathers.

The Elves watched in mingled horror and fascination as the Werebird rose from the flames, phoenix-like, and flew off into the desert with the still burning Holby in tow. Alas for the lovers, neither of them were the actual phoenix and instead of rising to new lives, they crashed and burned into a sand dune on the outskirts of the oasis.

~*~*~*~

The Living Elves:

Lommy - Ostrich Chaser
Mac - Builder of Gibbets, unemployed for millennia
Kath - Flower Girl
JennyHallu - Countess
Valier - Arranger
Durelin - Lead Tragic Actor
morm - City Street Cleaner
Lhuna - Beautiful Girl with Sleeping Sickness
Farael - Patient suffering from Mad Elf Disease
Rikae - Contortionist

The Dead 'Uns

tgwbs - Tragic Elven Hero and Lover of Diamond - (co-mod) - Stabbed himself eight times and subsequently eaten by the Werebird

Diamond - Elven Maid - (mod) - Crushed in the embrace of the Werebear

Menel - Mad Scientist - (ordo) - Beaten with an undead leg and a chamber pot and stabbed with red hot tongs (Day 1)

Nogrod - a Smith of the Billmarins - (watcher) - Savagely murdered by the Werecat and devoured in the long grass (Night 2)

Arctic Storm - Raving Alcoholic, Resident Moocher, and Lover of Naria - (lover) - Devoured head first by the Werebird (Night 2)

Naria - Lemba Baker - (werecat) - Dashed out her brains on the Ringbearer's Rock (Night 2)

Kitanna - One Legged Chambermaid - (ordo) - Ripped in two by the Werebear (Night 2)

Rune - Humungous Fungus Grower - (ordo) - Minced up into fertilizer by the Werewolf (Night 2)

Holbytlass - Oliphaunt Whisperer and Lover of Fintaeph - (lover) - Burned at the stake (Day 2)

Fintaeph - Mutton Herder and Purveyor of Fine-Quality Undead Prosthetic Limbs - (werebird) - Died a fiery death trying to save his lover from the flames