Tol-in-Gaurhoth LXIII: The Cottage of Lost Play

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by McCaber

By all means, go right ahead. No one else appears to be interested.

"I will, but that doesn't mean you others shouldn't do the same... Like Mr. Boro here has been suggesting to Inzil.

What do you think yourself Boro? Or you McCaber?"

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

Surely you have some suspicious feelings, even if they simply be gut feelings about someone's strangeness, instead of playing the unbiased commentator role you've been up to..

I have noted something I found odd, and got a response from the other party.

Originally Posted by Boromir88

If you would like a helpful kick start to what I'm waiting to see from you Inzil...what do you think about McCaber? Werewolf? A yes or no based on first appearance reactions will suffice.

As to whether or not he is definitely a wolf, I have no idea. He has been guilty of popping in and out of things with few words other than 'something must be done', and I do find that a bit unnerving.
Other than that, the only one who has really jumped out at me thus far is Shasta. He seemed a bit defensive when I made a remark that I found his behaviour odd, and gave a explanation for it that didn't agree with what I remembered of his original statement.
Fea seems a tad too eager to please, and I have a tendancy to be suspicious of such people as a rule.
Nogrod is back into things now, and it will be interesting to hear his thoughts.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

'Want a cracker?'

Well I guess if you were to count what your passing statements about Fea and Rikae then that would mean you aren't being one of the parrots. But those weren't actual suspicions were they? Because you ended with sharing your suspicions if no one else would.

Nogrod turned to Boro: "Sorry, I didn't quite catch the meaning of the last sentence...

What comes to the things you said before it... If you go back the memory lane toDay you see I have made quite a few suspicions already, probably more than any of you others... so I'm pretty confident I can say I have not only being parrotting the general anguish toDay... Yes, most definitively not. Disagree it if you will and can. What comes to Fea and Rikae there, well I have suspected Fea already earlier and do so still. With Rikae it's harder to say. I need to think about it.

But as I said I'll be back with some thoughts in a short while as I just gather them. And meanwhile I challenge you all to do the same - or giving us even one or two opinions!"

[Boromir88]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

What do you think yourself Boro? Or you McCaber?"

I think I've been quite able to share my suspicions, and I have not done an unbearable amount of talking yet...I'm sure someone out there wrote down what I've said, therefor I do not feel guilty telling you to 'find it yourself'

This might help though, as I really can't stay until the end of this deadline to decide that's been imposed upon us...

++Inziladun

At least no random early votes, eh? I will retire now. Peace.

Edit: crossed with Nogrod and Inziladun

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Nog

"I do dislike the way Fea tries to make herself somehow a priviledged outsider.

"Darling," I smile with the flirtatiousness I reserve for special occasions such as this, "I am privileged because of my awesomeness. If you want me to change my ways, I dare you: try to make me."

I vote

++Nessa

because when I have nothing better to go on, I revert to the ones who leave me no trail to follow later.

I now shall necessarily hold my tongue until Dusk.

[Nessa Telrunya]

I look around at the other residents of the parlor before speaking.

"I think Fea was very quick to start cleaning up the body earlier today, and she seemed quite sure of everything she said."


++Fea

[McCaber]

As for me, I'm inclined to think that Boro is innocent, simply based on thoughts and conduct.

I as well dislike Fea, because I don't have a lot of patience for saying "I'm only watching the proceedings" while denying one's own involvement. And with Nessa, Nerwen, and Rikae only giving us one statement each, perhaps they carry that same feeling. Although Fea's choice of a vote is interesting.

Shasta and Inzil I'm not sold on, but I can see them either way.

EDIT: crossed with Nessa

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

This might help though, as I really can't stay until the end of this deadline to decide that's been imposed upon us...

++Inziladun

I give evidence I have not acted in the way you accuse me of, prove I did not say something you attributed to me, and you still are gunning for me.
There's no pleasing some people.

[Nessa Telrunya]

"I can't see either McCaber of Nogrod in a suspicious light. For one, Nogrod has conducted himself in a very open manner. And McCaber may have been a little quick to want a vote, but he hasn't been unclear in his actions and words. I would be more inclined to suspect someone who nudges others in a certain direction and then enjoys those benefits. But that's just my thoughts on the matter."

[McCaber]

Nessa's vote strikes me as a fast revenge action rather than a thought out advance. Perhaps Fea's in her top 5 or so and she suddenly separated herself from the rest of the suspects.

Now if Boro's vote crossed with Inzil's post there, then he must not have been affected by the content of that last post. Which is strange, because he was one of the ones who asked for it.

EDIT: crossed with Nessa yet again. Way to provide content.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I'm unexpectedly still listening for all that I intended to - er - nap...

And all I can say, really, is retaliatory votes amuse me. Don't vote Nessa. No wolf would do something as silly as that.

Zil, though... I shan't say anything against it if you want to vote for him.

By the by... retractions? I don't remember... If so, I need to get on that...

[McCaber]

No retractions here. Double lynches, though, are quite legal, although I would advise against that right now.

[Nessa Telrunya]

Originally Posted by McCaber

Nessa's vote strikes me as a fast revenge action rather than a thought out advance.

It's true that such an action would seem so, to many others as well. However, does it not occur that one would have thought of everyone's reactions before posting? One would have considered how those words would be recieved.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Well, Nessa's at least gone and done a pretty solid job of cementing my thoughts about her, I'll say that much.

[Nogrod]

"I went down to the cellars and something prevented me from coming back here. I tried to yell and shout but there was no voice in my call… Weird indeed.

But here I am at last. And here’s what I promised.

Fea – A bit too eager to make a show underlining her innocense and then turning into a priviledged outsider trying to make deals with certain others. Creepy.

Rikae – Very much unimpressive, “underwhelming” performance, as her husband sometimes said. Looking for an easy way out from this mess then? Surely we wouldn’t think of her if she just took a posture like that and drank herself off… Quite suspicious.

Shasta – Still seems to be more into explaining what he does when he runs in and out and not making any stance anywhere – and defending his running around with his running around. Suspicious.

McCaber – Basically says we need to do something… like just a moment ago. But to his credit he actually made a list giving us his thoughts on many of us. Suspicious, but with the list earned my confidence of not suggesting to vote for him toDay.

Pitch, Eönwë, Inzil – Talking and that’s good. Those who talk can be listened to for good or bad. Pitch and Inzil have also provided us with some preliminary thoughts of others – which is good. Maybe not toDay but later at least. Even if I suspect each and everyone of you I’d not like to vote anyone of these three toDay.

Autume – Very little to go for. Says interesting things has been said but does not elaborate which ones she thought especially interesting or why. Why? Especially her speech #66 was just ingenious in not saying anything while still talking quite a lot. I don’t like that but could understand it coming from someone not used to be in dire straits before.

Nerwen – Has been really reserved and basicaly said nothing – even if she had used her Day thus far trying to fix her camera. One would have thought she would have smething to say thus far…

Lalaith – She surely is passing under any radars right now. I have always liked her company in the ‘Downs and here in the Real I must say, for a reason – and that wine! But at the same time these lulling thoughts make me wonder if there could be a more sinister background to her gracious behaviour…

Nessa – Very bad indeed. Opening her mouth only once, saying nothing – but defending herself even if no one had actually suspected her. Very suspicious.

Boro – Well, what could I say? He sure is all around like I could have presumed. And he talks as one would wish – even if he didn’t answer my call for making his overall ideas known but only stood on a relatively small square trying more to make others involve than to involve himself. He looks like those who either is your best friend in trouble or the one who stabs you in the back during the Night.

So there. Basically anyone of you can be suspected - and I basically do just that.


Oh an sorry, as I was not able to make my voice heard I neither couldn’t hear anything as something just blocked my ability to communicate with you for a while.

Now there is the "Merchant of Venice" in my PC for some reason I see not why and I'll fall into to it. I'll check in later to vote though."

[Lalaith]

It's funny, isn't it, how speech and actions appear suspicious to some and innocent to others.
I'm feeling unsettled by this cosiness already set up between Fea and Boro...and the way McCaber has try to come between them, trusting one and not the other.
I did enjoy Rikae's characteristically feisty entrance. Welcome, my dear - I hope your loved ones get you home again, in your right mind.

Well, early days. Close to deadline, and I'm really not sure how to vote. It sticks in the craw to vote for a newbie...seems so inhospitable and against Downer tradition.
Nogs - there's plenty more red in the crate. Stick some Sancerre in the fridge for me will you...if there's room....ew.....

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Lalaith

I'm feeling unsettled by this cosiness already set up between Fea and Boro...

Nah, no coziness. Anybody who knows me knows that I'm only friendly so much as it suits my purposes. He hasn't struck me as evil yet, so I don't mind listening to his comments and requests. On my side, the exchange went something like

Boro: "Hey Fea, look at Zil!"

And then I jotted down something along the lines of: "B88 draws my attention to Zil. Review their interactions later."

'I'm on it' in my case rarely means 'I totally agree' but is typically more aligned with 'I'm listening, go ahead.'

[Eönwë]

I'm going with my hunch and voting

++McCaber

He seems a little bit better than before, but something still doesn't sit right with me.

[Inziladun]

Boro was either not paying attention, or was deliberately ignoring what I said, for his own reasons.
Of the two, I find the first option so unlikely I am forced to accept the second.
I am loathe to vote for him at this point, though. I hope he's simply in need of sleep and not going to murder me in mine.
And Nessa? That had the look of a knee-jerk punch back at Fea, which I could understand. Nessa denied that was her motive, though. It's odd that she didn't voice any particular suspicion of Fea before the latter's vote for her.
Nogrod has made a list with observations that appear perfectly valid. Seems a calm voice of reason, at least for now.
I think I'm leaning toward Shasta at the moment, or maybe McCaber.
Now Eönwë's gone for McCaber.
Hmm.

[Lalaith]

I agree that autume and Nessa have not said much of use, but I would not feel right about lynching them now.
Nerwen's late entrance and not terribly helpful contributions make me inclined to suspect her, or at least certainly not feel too bad about voting for her.

Of the unsettling trio I mentioned earlier, the one that currently bothers me most is actually McCaber. Maybe my imagination's going into overdrive but there seem to be shades of Iago about him, bluff and straight-talking on the surface but something going on underneath.
The skittish Shasta and energetic Eonwe are also somewhat troubling.

[McCaber]

Vote Count:
Inzil: 1
Nessa: 1
Fea: 1
McCaber: 1

9 votes left.

[autume98]

No one has really jumped out at me.

But I have to vote and want to make sure it gets in on time. So I'm going to go with my gut feeling. Not sure why I feel this way. I just went through some earlier posts and I got a feeling.

++Eowne

[McCaber]

Well, I might as well vote if no one else is.

++ Feanor of the Peredhil

EDIT: crossed with autume

[Nogrod]

Well then...

Nessa was pretty cool there and earns to live I'd say, just for that boldness were she one of them baddies.

I'd say Shasta has been one of the least helpful and the most avoiding, like Rikae and Nerwen, but he has talked many times systematically saying nothing whereas the two ladies have opened their mouths only once.

[Inziladun]

++ McCaber

Because he's been so unobtrusive and is now backing up Nessa's strange vote, for unknown reasons. A railroad begun by one wolf and continued by their fellow?

[Lalaith]

Ok, I'm going to spread the votes rather than join a bandwaggon.
I'm torn between Nerwen and Shasta, but Nogrod's last post has persuaded me.
++Shasta.

[McCaber]

So I hate to do this this early in the game, but I have no choice.

I am the Seer. For my first Night of strange dreams, I saw Fea engaged in brutal murder and lycanthropy.

I need one more vote for Fea and a ranger protection.

[Pitchwife]

The triangle Boro/Fea/Inzil needs more time to think on. So for the moment I'm hesitating between Shasta and McCaber. Hard choice, but I think it's
++Shasta
because McCaber has two votes already and I don't like bandwagoning.

EDIT: x-ed with Lalaith ff.

[Nogrod]

This will be interesting to read toMorrow indeed!

But alas! No three-way tie I'd say... Anyone out there with thoughts?

EDIT: X'd with two

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Ha.

That's funny, McCaber.

I'm amused.

[Nogrod]

Woops!

++ Fea

Let's check this one for sure!

[McCaber]

Hey, the way I see it, you're going down either way. I need one person to trust me and give me one more dream.

Unless everyone who will vote has already, in which case, I'll take you down.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Hey now, stop that!

I'm not done yet!

[McCaber]

Thank you, Nogrod. Now we should know one more person, and have one wolf down.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

[Inziladun]

McCaber, if you're telling the truth, I apologize for pushing you to this. But if you'd come up with some reason you were voting for Fea before, I likely wouldn't have voted for you.

[Mnemosyne]

The sun was setting.

No one was certain of whom to kill, nor whether to kill at all.

As the last rays of the sun grew longer and longer still, desperate, McCaber claimed that he had had a forbidding dream of Feanor of the Peredhil the previous night. At the last minute Nogrod cast the deciding vote for her.

"You want to kill me?" said Fea. "And I was trying to be so helpful!" Then she smiled, a manic, fey sort of smile that looked almost frightening on her fair features. "Very well, then: make it entertaining." And with that, she sprang up and bounded away from the room.

"After her!" cried Nessa.

The rest of the guests hurried after her, through a hallway that gave way to a wooded path. Ahead of them they could hear distant laughter.

As they ran, Lalaith noticed one shoe lying on the pathway, then another. Flung to the side a few paces ahead were two socks.

When Rikae found a pair of jeans caught in brambles on the side, the guests began to be very, very worried. Just then an eerie, earth-splitting howl floated to their ears from ahead, followed by a wheezing, gasping, sobbing laugh.

"There!" said McCaber. "I told you! Get her!"

The path became clearer ahead, divested garments aside, for claws had ripped through the underbrush. But when it abruptly ended at a cliff overlooking a steep river, all they saw was Fea, looking perfectly human, her bare body turned red by the dying rays of the scarlet sun. She turned her head to look at them, and for a brief moment Eönwë thought he could see the glimmer of a tear in her eye. Then her lips curled up, into a majestic leer.

"O happy to be dead," she whispered, and leapt off the cliff before anyone could stop her.

The guests searched far and wide. Yet the paths they took did not lead to Fea's body, but rather to their rooms. Exhausted and numbed, they fell into slumber.

IT IS NOW NIGHT TWO.

The Living:
Nessa Telrunya
Inziladun
Shastanis Athreduin
Pitchwife
McCaber
Nogrod
autume98
Boromir88
Lalaith
Nerwen
Rikae
Eönwë

The Dead:
Feanor of the Peredhil (werewolf)

[Mnemosyne]

Boromir88 woke up with a start. Looking around him, he switched on his light and sighed with relief. Then he remembered where he was.

Without a warning, the room melted away around him and he was in a forest facing a wolf's snarl. Out of his periphery he saw another wolf. Turning his head, he had only a moment to see the bow drawn at him before a black arrow pierced his side.

"Oh, of all the screennames I could have chosen," he muttered, before the next arrow hit. He fell to the ground.

* * *

When Boromir woke up, the first thing that he noticed was that he was in pain. The second thing he noticed was that he was alive. The third thing was that he could not move.

Sunlight broke over his face. An eternity seemed to pass before he heard shouts from nearby, calling his name.

Then a face--Nessa's face--bent over him. "He's dead," she said.

And they did check to make sure--they clasped his wrist, listened to his heart. Someone even found a shield to hold to his lips to check for mist.

But at last they all, sorrowing, made the inevitable (to everyone's mind but Boro's) conclusion. "Well," said Nerwen, we do seem to have a boat and a river nearby..."

They pulled the arrows from him and combed his hair and laid him in the boat. They shut his eyes, too, and he could not open them.

"Does anyone remember the song they sang?" he heard someone say.

"I could find my copy, if you'd like..."

"No. It's too depressing."

He felt the boat being pushed into the water. "No!" he tried to say, but his lips would not move. The current pushed him along, until it settled and he simply drifted. He wondered faintly if maybe the wolves had not been able to find Parth Galen itself but some other river that opened out into a lake. Then he heard the roar of water, and a tugging at his back. He was pulled, faster and faster to the brink, until he fell...

* * *

"Well," said Nogrod, "at least we were able to send him off in a fitting fashion."

IT IS NOW DAY TWO

The Living:
Nessa Telrunya
Inziladun
Shastanis Athreduin
Pitchwife
McCaber
Nogrod
autume98
Lalaith
Nerwen
Rikae
Eönwë

The Dead:
Feanor of the Peredhil (werewolf)
Boromir88

[Inziladun]

*sighs*
Well, Boro, it seems I was wrong about you.
This completely decimates my main theory. I was pretty well convinced Boro was most likely a wolf. His behaviour earlier on Day 1 had left me with some uneasiness about him, then, when Fea turned out to be a wolf, I recalled their interactions later in the Day and became even more sure.
At least we did get one of the wolves. That bodes well for us, I hope.
Perhaps McCaber will have had another fruitful night's sleep.
I feel the need for a drink, and even wine will do for the moment.

[Nessa Telrunya]

Well, the good thing about having gotten a wolf so early is that those who voted against her couldn't be wolves. If they were, surely they would not have voted to kill one of their own.

And I agree that a drink would be quite nice, however, is there anything that does not contain alchohol?