Tol-in-Gaurhoth XXI: Dueling Wizards Werewolf

[littlemanpoet]

Day One

Elempi's father had been all the way to Umbar in his day. He had returned with the oldest tome the village had seen, and won renown thereby; and the hand of a fair maiden named, if bargain one could call it. When Elempi was a name of Umbarian origin, and so the babe's father settled on it. Elempi is translated from the Umbarian tongue as bard of little account; or in the slang of that land, two bit poet. Elempi did grow into his name. He gained a reputation for the wittiest doggerel that any had heard, but never a serious line of verse passed his lips. He married Nar and their only child was Diamond. But Nar was drowned in the sea in a sudden gale while her fishing husband was safe off the coast. Elempi grew sad for the loss, but gladness came when Diamond married Nogrod, the village jester who, though not given to verse, took up where his father-in-law had left off for jollity. Nogrod and Diamond gave joy to Elempi's declining years. with three children, though Diamond lost that same number to illness and early death. Yet the three who lived to walk on two feet were lovely girls. Their grandfather loved them and delighted in them.

Until this day. The sun rose over the distant Ered Luin, shedding light upon fragmented, rushing clouds that broke off the sea as if fleeing in fear, chased on crying winds by the gods.

The villagers found a corpse lying at the foot of the Rock of the Watchers, who looked still out to sea. But a single tear slid down the quiet face of each. The corpse was Elempi, and was marred cruelly by wanton maulings that were far more than needed to kill.

"Papa!" cried Diamond, kneeling by the corpse.

"This is murder!" grated her husband, Nogrod. "It is the evil the Watchers warned of! What should we do?"

Lalaith said, "The Watchers said there would be a wizard among us. That one will save us."

"How do we know that is so?" asked Lommy.

"So the Watchers spoke, according to the old tales," said Alcarillo.

"Cursed by the evil one," said a voice they had not heard before, "werewolves three." It was the Lady Watcher.

All the Seal Folk, after a moment of stunned silence, erupted in a chaos of questions. She did not reply, but looked out to Sea.

"One cursed new each Night shall be," said the Man, not taking his eyes from the sea.

Now the stunned silence was not broken, for fear had overcome them all.

"Two remain," the Lady intoned, "for one was turned again."

At last, mormegil the mayor spoke. "The good wizard may help us, but we must do what we may," and this one laid out a plan for the village to talk amongst themselves and choose one each day from their number whose life should end as sundown, in hopes of ending the life a werewolf. Each of the Seal Folk acknowledged that it was a desperate measure, but needed nonetheless.

Suddenly Diamond wailed. "They've taken his heart!" Sure enough: almost surgically, the chest had been opened and the heart removed, carefully cut. What diabolical purposes did the evil wizard have for this? All wondered, but none could say.

So the Day began.

Play Officially Commences for Day One at 6pm EDT.

[Loki]

Loki grumbled, thoroughly annoyed at the events that had taken place the night before. "If you think that this bloke had a rough night," He jerked his head toward the desecrated corpse of Elempi midsentence, "...you ought to have waited until morn' in my bed." The aging leech collector cracked his neck, advanced beyond its years fromt he abuse his work had put him through-- namely infections of the bacteria from the collected creatures, but added upon the stresses of blood loss and forced rapid revitalization.

"By Eru, both of those damned wizards must have been vying for the collection of my soul this night. Visions of fur and claw and tooth dominated my mind; I couldn't catch a wink." He growled in a quiet tone, irritability clearly having become the order of the day. "The wizarding pair of which the Watchers spoke must have lost nearly as much sleep as I in fighting over the reclaimation of my soul." He kicked a nearby puppy that had dared cross his path in the early morning. "Thankfully, perhaps, I neither lost my life in the scrap nor transformed into one of those foul lycanthropes."

OOC: Gee, what does Loki know? He must be some kind of bloomin' idiot, he must. Know what? I fully exercise my right to the "I told you so" clause of the Immaturity Papers.



I told you so.





...MAN, that felt good.

[Nogrod]

What a discrace! What an evil!

My father-in-law killed! You morons will pay for this!

Why didn't the watchers tell us, that this would befall on us? Are they in a league with the evil-doers? And how come the leech-collector makes his predictions already before they were killed?

Loki grumbled, thoroughly annoyed at the events that had taken place the night before. "If you think that this bloke had a rough night," He jerked his head toward the desecrated corpse of Elempi midsentence, "...you ought to have waited until morn' in my bed."

"By Eru, both of those damned wizards must have been vying for the collection of my soul this night. Visions of fur and claw and tooth dominated my mind; I couldn't catch a wink."

So fifteen minutes before he died, this Loki guy was already making his

I told you so.

remark here... and trying to assure us, that he was astonished, why he was not the subject of the death - or scrying!

...MAN, that felt good.

DO I need to comment on this one?


Well, it's the time of grief, and I won't be with you in some hours. We must make preparations for the funerals right now. But believe me, I'll be back, more furious than ever you have seen - to hunt down these horrible mutations that have killed my father-in-law!

[Celuien]

Evil times are upon us, friends. Long have we known that doom would come upon us, yet none us of looked to see it in our time. Yet it seems that fate has chosen us alone of the Seal Folk, and the Reindeer Folk that were our ancestors (may their memory be praised!) to meet this horror. And what a wicked horror it is that would choose to slay Elempi, kind man that he was. I will not forget the many hours he spent, telling me the tales of our folk, when I was but I lass no higher than his knee. May we swiftly avenge his death.

I know not who among us has turned to evil. I will vouch for my own family, though in truth, I cannot be certain if any among them have been brought into the dark. But I find it hard to believe that my own husband, the Man of Many Pans, could possibly slip out of our home to do foul works without somehow alerting me. Nor could my girls, Kitanna and Naria. And don’t any of you go accusing my poor, sweet, quiet Naria for her shyness. Why, it isn’t her fault, what with her father and me always talking at each other. Poor child could never get a word in edgewise. No wonder she doesn’t say much to us anymore. Nor can I believe that my dear sister Jenny or my father (morm) could be werewolves. I’ve known them my whole life and they’ve never been anything but good to me. Except for the whole business of their opposing my marriage, but I’ll not hold that against them.

That Eomer though. Imagine him courting my daughter without so much as a word to her father or mother. ‘Tis most shocking behavior and speaks to some mischief. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he did turn out to have lupine tendencies.

So much uncertainty. I would try to heal the evil that has befallen us, but this foe is beyond my poor skill. Fevers and ill humours - ailments of the body - I can assuage, but the business of Wizards, Good or Evil, is outside my ability.

I rejoice that the Good Wizard in our midst has cured one of our number who had fallen to evil treachery. I doubt, however, that the one was Loki. Though I appreciate his deliveries of leeches for my healing art, he is somewhat less known to the village than some of the others here. The Evil Wizard could strike a sore blow to us by taking those closer to the community; my husband or father, for instance. That crazed adventurer the phantom. Or even, yes, the rascal Eomer. And any of them are as likely to have drawn the notice of our Good Wizard too. All have served our village well, and could aid us greatly in possession of the gifts the Good Wizard is said to be able to bestow. But only the Wizards, and perhaps the saved victim, know who the fortunate one is.

In way of advice, I can only say to try and keep a clear head. Watch for those among us who are changeable, for they might have changed in more ways than their words. Even to the point of seeking our destruction.

[mormegil]

I've never trusted that Eomer and I would suspect him of Lycanthropy at best but more than likely he's the evil wizard. I say we kill him! Plus this will prevent him from marrying into my family.

[Celuien]

Originally Posted by mormegil

I've never trusted that Eomer and I would suspect him of Lycanthropy at best but more than likely he's the evil wizard. I say we kill him! Plus this will prevent him from marrying into my family.

Well, I agree to anything that stops him from marrying Kitanna. But sadly, if he's the evil wizard, we can't kill him, dad. What's this I hear about his being involved in piracy?

Have at thee, battledore maker! I care not about insults to my own character, but where my sister, husband and children are concerned, I will brook no scornful words proffered without good cause. At least no insults were hurled at my poor father, which speaks well of you, but apologies are still owing.

[Loki]

OCC: *rolls eyes* Fine, Nogrod, if it's THAT important to you, I'll delete my post and repost. Is that what you want? I had just happened to be available at that point in time, and making sure I could catch one last meal at my favorite cafe before it closed for the summer happened to be more important to me than some silly internet game. I had to use the money I had on credit there, else I would lose it. So, unless you're willing to cough up $20.00 for my meal next time, I'll be sure to follow the rules a little more closely. If you REALLY want me to delete that post and place it later, you're certainly welcome to ask. I simply did not have the time for wait around for an extra fifteen minutes. Some of us have lives and jobs outside of this forum.

Also, my "I Told You So" statement was directed towards this:

If this game is ever played a second time, I would strongly recommend that: The Good Wizard does not scry on Night One. The plot does function more cleanly that way, as Loki has suggested. But the gameplay was the deciding factor. There you have it.

Not directed towards my being transmogrified and then scryed. That, even I could not predict. I was not wholly suprised by this action; I am, obviously, the best pick(And, being newest to the forums) and least suspicious of the group. Chances are good that I would not have been considered to be anything evil and wrong... just yet.

[Diamond18]

I have the most reason to mourn this day, since it was my very own venerable and beloved father who fell to the beasts. Ai! Foul dwimmerlaiks. *shakes fist*

However, one does not get to be my age without learning to maintain a stiff upper lip and turn sorrow into action. Vengeance! *raises battledore with a mad gleam in eyes* I do not like the idea of losing any more of my family to this menace, but am prepared to avenge each and every loss. I've been preparing all day by knitting together battledores, a pair for each of my daughters to defend themselves with. Noggie dear has a nice collection of juggling knives, also, which will no doubt come to good use.

And so, I now lay out my thoughts about the days ahead:

Well, I do believe I announced my intentions for this earlier, but I will repeat myself for the sake of annoying redundancy.

Today I do not intend to vote for anyone in my family. This includes Nogrod, Lhuna, Zali, Firefoot, and if he's a really good boy, Eonwe. Also, being the loyal battledame that I am, I will vote to save the lives of any of these people should the opportunity present itself.

As the days darken and evil stretches its clammy hand over the village, (i.e. after Day 1) I will break with family ties if I see fit. But not before then, so don't bother trying to talk me out of it.

Now, on to the really serious portion of my opening speech. Here are my thoughts on the various inhabitants of the village and some predictions for how their time amongst the dueling wizards shall go.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Diamond (a.ka. me) ~ I am clearly a wolf. Possibly even a mangy one. With a foaming mouth. In a strange twist of fate, I am also a Seer, a Hunter, and a Ranger, as well as being versed in both Good and Evil Wizardry.

Celuien ~ Evil. Just look at those beady little red eyes. It's not natural.

Caran ~ The eldest child of Roa and Sleepy, obviously prone to bouts of uncontrollable evil, and with parents like that, who can blame her? Still, she's just your ordinary psychopath. Can't find any traces of fur on her.

Roa ~ Seer, of course. Why else do you think she always appears to know everything?

Nogrod ~ My dear long suffering hubby, it's only a matter of time before he snaps. Sure he's okay now, but watch out for that one in the later stages.

Dancing Spawn of Ungoliant ~ Is the Evil Wizard, no doubt about it.

Kath ~ Pure as the driven snow. Possibly Ranger material.

Lommy ~ Another one of them Roa/Sleepy spawn. This one's clearly got hair sprouting in all the wrong places.

Lhuna ~ My eldest child, my pride and joy. Clearly innocent.

Glirdan ~ Owl.

Valier ~ Is the Good Wizard. Naturally.

Sleepy Ranger ~ I'm predicting will die innocent at the hands of a lynch mob headed by his wife.

Kitanna ~ Will eat her beau for midnight snack before the game is over.

Firefoot ~ My youngest, the baby of the family, sadly obviously a wolf.

Alcarillo ~ Is sick. Sick sick SICK.

Cailín ~ Completely innocent of everything but marrying Alc and giving birth to Phantom and Eomer, folly which will surely be punished by a lynching.

Oddwen ~ Will eventually be killed in a struggle between the Wizards.

Mormegil ~ Is completely innocent but will be highly suspect the entire game, until he is lynched at a crucial point.

Fea ~ Wolf.

Azaelia ~ Future Seer. My children are all high achievers.

the phantom ~ Wolf, Seer, Hunter, Ranger, Good and Evil Wizard. Also, Cobbler, Shirrif, and newspaper delivery boy. He gets around.

Naria ~ Inhuman.

JennyHallu ~ Bad to the bone.

The Saucepan Man ~ Must die.

Lalaith ~ An angel incarnate. Also a centerfold. Scary, isn't it?

Eonwe ~ Well, obviously I would never marry my daughter to anyone I thought less than highly of. He's the Good Wizard, too.

Eomer ~ Hunter. He'll kill Kitanna while she's snacking on him. What a narrative that will make.

Nilp ~ Is a freakin' genius. He'll be the first to die, though.

Gurthang ~ Clearly, he's evil.

Loki ~ Smells bad.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And that, ladies and gents, is the word from the battledore shop.

[Diamond18]

Originally Posted by Loki

OCC: *rolls eyes* Fine, Nogrod, if it's THAT important to you, I'll delete my post and repost. Is that what you want? I had just happened to be available at that point in time, and making sure I could catch one last meal at my favorite cafe before it closed for the summer happened to be more important to me than some silly internet game. I had to use the money I had on credit there, else I would lose it. So, unless you're willing to cough up $20.00 for my meal next time, I'll be sure to follow the rules a little more closely. If you REALLY want me to delete that post and place it later, you're certainly welcome to ask. I simply did not have the time for wait around for an extra fifteen minutes. Some of us have lives and jobs outside of this forum.

I was wondering to myself, today, as I was knitting my battledores, "I wonder how many posts it will take for Loki to get insulting and insufferable."

And the answer is two!

Seriously, though, don't blow your stack every time someone calls your posts into question. It happens to everyone.

[Valier]

Now this is truly sad! One of our own villagers, Killed!! Well my sister Fea and I cannot possibly be one of the culprits, you see we were at home, together, eating Mutton and vegetables, yes, lots and lots of vegatables! Now I have often wondered about some of you damn families....always so happy, so wonderfully happy...who needs all that when you have mutton and vegetables? mmmmmmmm mutton and vegetables....

Oh so I was saying...I don't trust these family units. They can cover for a furry family member for quite some time, I am sure. So I for one will be keeping my eyes on all of you...there has to be some family termoil that shall point us towards those fiends!

[Kath]

Mum, Dad? Now where have they disappeared off to?

Well, Day 1 has barely begun and we seem to have arguments already. Going to have to watch this Loki fellow I think, certainly a snapper! And morm already gunning for Eomer's death. It's all go around here!

But it is getting late for me, so I think I'd better pack myself off to bed before I get grounded. Til tomorrow (RL)!

[Alcarillo]

Ah! What woe! Our poor Elempi is dead! What grief! I remember those days we rhymed together in the square, I with my sea chanteys and he with his limericks. But now these days are gone!

Originally Posted by Celuien

That Eomer though. Imagine him courting my daughter without so much as a word to her father or mother. ‘Tis most shocking behavior and speaks to some mischief. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he did turn out to have lupine tendencies.

Though his mother may have raised him to be a lady-killer, I did not raise my son to be a murderer! I will stand by my family.

Originally Posted by morm

I've never trusted that Eomer and I would suspect him of Lycanthropy at best but more than likely he's the evil wizard. I say we kill him! Plus this will prevent him from marrying into my family.

What, my son not good enough for your granddaughter? Is that it?!

I've got my eyes on you, gramps. Your entire family reeks of werewolvery to me.

Originally Posted by Diamond

Alcarillo ~ Is sick. Sick sick SICK.

Cailín ~ Completely innocent of everything but marrying Alc and giving birth to Phantom and Eomer, folly which will surely be punished by a lynching.

And now my wife is threatened! I swear...

[Firefoot]

My grandfather dead? This is an outrage! We must have vengeance on these terrible wolves. I must say that I slept quite soundly last night, with no one in our house going in and out; I do believe that they are quite innocent until I receve clear evidence otherwise. And why would we murder our own kin? Now the question is, who would?

Now, that Loki, he's a pretty shady character.

And Eomer and phantom... can't say I quite trust either of them. They've certainly been known for mischief before now.

That Oddwen has always been a rather strange child as well; can't say I'd quite trust her, nor her aunt, letting her carry on with those antics of hers.

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

Originally Posted by Kath

Mum, Dad? Now where have they disappeared off to?

You naughty, wayward child! Go to your room! *followed by an admirable gesture of command*

Why don't you try to be like your brother, Gurthang. He was the same age as you when he obtained our clan's bloodline ability. Now he's a . . . stable hand?

Wrong universe, bucko.

Right. Enedwaith, what's all these talk about the Good and Evil Wizard? Haven't you heard of the third Wizard? The unsung hero of the ages?

I AM THE WIZARD OF APATHY.

Now, there's no need to thank me or worship me. I just want to read your posts in peace, before I vote for . . .

You think I'd vote for myself, now that I have a family? You must have boulders in your head!!!

Oh, yes, you still will. You can't resist it.

We'll see about that . . .

[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

I rather agree with Gurthang about going after the Wizards, preferably the Evil one.

Originally Posted by phantom

And so, since he cannot be lynched, cannot be killed by wolves, and cannot be cursed by the EW, the Good Wizard fears NOTHING!

Still, the GW is concerned to leave the Village with three Gifteds when the time of the Wizards' battle comes.

The EW may want to make as many wolves as s/he can before the Wizards kill one another, but then again, the more there are Wolves the easier it is to find one. At that point the Wolves already know each other and killing one will hopefully give us clues to catch the rest of them, too.

I think it's a bigger blow to the Village to be left without all three Gifteds and fewer wolves than with a fully functioning trio of gifts and a wolf or two more.

Now, phantom makes the situation sound pretty bright for us, but that's what the Evil Wizard would like to do; to make the Villagers believe that we don't have much to be scared of. I agree that if we accidentally stumble across the GW, it's not a fatal error, but then the EW has the ability to decide when it's time to get back to the basic WW again, and that could be a big advantage.

Originally Posted by Cailín

What is interesting, however, is that the wizards themselves were chosen and chose to be wizards, too. Something worth remembering, perhaps.

Indeed.

[Nogrod]

= Loki
OCC: *rolls eyes* Fine, Nogrod, if it's THAT important to you, I'll delete my post and repost. Is that what you want?

= Diamond
I was wondering to myself, today, as I was knitting my battledores, "I wonder how many posts it will take for Loki to get insulting and insufferable."

I just must second my wife here! *ducks the battledore-sweep* But really, that was not the point... and do not care about it... for awhile at least. Just don't make yourself forcibly made available to that kind of indecent accusations later on...

[QUOTE]Also, my "I Told You So" statement was directed towards this:

=lmp
If this game is ever played a second time, I would strongly recommend that: The Good Wizard does not scry on Night One. The plot does function more cleanly that way, as Loki has suggested. But the gameplay was the deciding factor. There you have it.

I will drink to your favour on this one!
But I will also request you to see the probability of this one happening (and thence kind of ask, whether lmp was a bit overhasty in his judgement - or whether those dry runs didn't take consideration of us WW-gamers being "known enough" to build up some categories that are not the same as neutral dice-rolls - that was one of my concerns before the game)

But anyhow, we all get it right sometimes, and on others not (I got two werecats right from the initials of an original death poem, but can't say, that I could have honestly bragged afterwards, that "I told you so"!).

I am, obviously, the best pick(And, being newest to the forums) and least suspicious of the group. Chances are good that I would not have been considered to be anything evil and wrong... just yet

Anyone making that claim is the most suspicious so far. I'm kind of irritated by the change of the tenor of your voice in the discussion thread. There you were mostly challenging everyone. So why not anymore? Now after just one light suspicion (basic first day stuff anyhow - just picking on some twistable detail), you start defending yourself like a wolf (even appealing to your newbieness - quite unlike in the discussion-thread)?

If you have been picked as a wolf by the EW just because no-one will vote you on the first days as a vocal newbie (and somewhat an arrogant one) - I hope you rot in hell pretty soon - if you are an innocent, well, try to do something for us! "Show your qualities"!

Now the funeral awaits, and I must try to support my wife and children... Sorry, the time of mourning is holy. I hope you see it as such too. See you in the evening..

EDIT: X-posted with Alcarillo, Firefoot & Celuien

[Caranlondien]

Dear me, this is most distressing. Elempi shall be sorely missed!

Caran ~ The eldest child of Roa and Sleepy, obviously prone to bouts of uncontrollable evil, and with parents like that, who can blame her? Still, she's just your ordinary psychopath. Can't find any traces of fur on her.

Indeed, the only fur you'll find on me will be that which naturally gets all over one's clothing when one is a sled-team driver. Speaking of which, my team of dogs is fierce and loyal, so you werewolves out there had best not come near my family!

(Looks around at the villagers.) Alas, I see evidence of neither werewolf nor evil wizard. Perhaps my dogs could sniff out the culprits...

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Checking in so that everyone will know that I'm here. Sort of.