Tol-in-Gaurhoth IV (The Saga, erm, Still Continues...)

[the guy who be short]

The villagers awoke after an uneasy slumber, silently gathering in the village square. Each of them had found it hard to sleep, and were convinced that they had heard howls during the night. The memory of the previous night’s unrest seemed strangely reinforced – something felt, well, different. Was it the still air, or the distinct lack of birdsong, or the absence of people walking into the Village Midget?
Suddenly, one of the villagers broke the silence, saying quietly “hang on a minute… where’s the guy who be short?” The whisper echoed around the square.
And indeed, the friendly village Dwarf was missing.
“Perhaps he’s fallen sick?” somebody piped up.
But of course, everybody knew dwarves don’t get sick. Suddenly, all the feelings of unease returned, redoubled.
As one, the rabble rushed to the Dwarf’s humble abode. Somebody knocked on the door, to no reply. Without words, the menfolk rushed the door, which collapsed inward under its weak hinges.
The villagers poured into the single-roomed abode. The books the Dwarf usually pored over were all ripped to shreds, scraps of scrolls littering the ground.
And there, lying next to one of the walls, was sprawled on his stomach the unliving body of the guy who be short. His left side lay in a pool of blood where large chunks of flesh had been hewn out of his carcass, and the open wound seemed to glow crimson. The villagers stood, dumb.
“Bite marks… Werewolves” somebody muttered. And indeed, this was no strange form of leprosy: the marks of wolvish canines were visible for all to see. You didn’t need to be a scholar specializing in lycanthropic lore – incidentally, the guy who be short was - to see that.
“What’s that? somebody else asked, indicating the wall by which the carcass lay. As one, the people looked, for there, scribbled upon the wall in blood, was a thinly etched “3.”
“What could that possibly mean… are the perpetrators saying they want three more lives?”
“No… His fingers are bloody, look. When they attacked him, he must have written that in desperation with his own blood. It’s a final warning from the guy who be short. There are three beasts amongst us…”

Living:

Anguirel
Azaelia of Willowbottom
Celuien
dancing spawn of ungoliant
Eomer of the Rohirrim
Esgallhugwen
Evisse the Blue
Feanor of the Peredhil
Firefoot
Hookbill the Goomba
Kath
Lalaith
littlemanpoet
Nilpaurion Felagund
Oddwen
Saurreg
the phantom

Dead:

the guy who be short (Villager) - partially consumer by werewolves on NIGHT 1.

Score:

Werewolves: 3
Villagers: 14


It is now DAY 1. DAY will end in 24 hours at 4pm GMT, 11am EST, 10am Central, or earlier if a majority is reached before then. May I remind the werewolves that they may no longer PM one another, and the Shirriffs that they may.

To quote Film-Theoden:

So it begins.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

"What a fantastic shade of crimson..." the artist of the crowd breathed, as she stared open-mouthed at the horror before her. "So vivid... I wonder if I could replicate it..."

Well, folks, I propose a beginning. We've got a problem on our hands, and no way to solve it logically... at least not yet. So here is my solution: let's blame the butler. Everything is always the butler's fault, so there's the obvious answer.

Wait... what do you mean, we haven't got a butler? Fine... we'll do the next best thing. Let's all say Dancing Spawn of Ungoliant is at fault. If it wasn't the butler, let's blame the maid.

[Celuien]

Alas for the guy who would be short! His lycanthropic knowledge will be sorely missed - it seems that werewolf lore is what we need most now.

We've a problem on our hands and no mistake. But I'd like to wait a bit before coming to any conclusions about the identities of the monsters among us...

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

What's the point of waiting, Celuien? It's not like the werewolves are going to take two steps forward from a long line of villagers and shout "Hey y'all, you should lynch US!" Our best bet is to randomly pick (although don't do what I did... the first time I closed my eyes and pointed to the list on the screen, I opened my eyes to find that I was preparing to accuse myself!).

My point is that, since we have no way of knowing, at least until our seer shows up, and let's hope we don't misunderstand his or her message , all we can go on is random accusations and observations of people's reactions to said accusations. I still say let's beat on Spawn a little. It's not like we have anyone better to accuse. *no offence, Spawny m'dear* Once we see who allies themselves with who, as well as who accuses who and why, and factoring out old grudges and that sort of thing that could sway a vote... then we can start to really figure things out. Until we've got a lot of useless gibberish being sent back and forth, we can't know who's paws are stained scarlet with TGWBS's blood.

[the phantom]

Fea is somewhat correct. Here on this first day we are pretty much shooting in the dark.

However, I don't believe that we should just pick a target and pull the trigger.

I suggest that someone volunteer to be lynched.

Yes, you read that right.

Besides wolves, this village has special individuals who can help us to find wolves, and we want to be sure and not lynch them today.

We have a 17.6% chance of picking a wolf. It would be nice to get one, but the odds say we won't.

We have a 29.4% chance of picking either the seer, the ranger, the hunter, or one of our two sheriffs. We definitely don't want to lynch one of them.

We have a 52.9% chance of picking an innocent villager.

Since the odds say we will pick an innocent villager, I suggest that one of them step forward and volunteer to be lynched. That will ensure that we do not lynch one of our gifted villagers, and also we just might kill the cursed villager (which would be a blow to the wolves).

So, if you are an innocent villager without any special abilities and you also think you might be in and out of town a bit and thus not able to participate in our werewolf finding endeavor that much- then perhaps the greatest thing you can do for this village is to volunteer to be lynched today.

Anyone?

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

What a fantastic idea, phantom. Here's a better one: if it's the smartest, greatest, most logical, and best thing to sacrifice your innocent self for the good of the village, why don't you volunteer for it yourself?

EDIT: Oh, and now that I think of it more, that's a terrible idea. No offense or anything. Let me explain why your idea sounds wolfish to me:

When we cast our votes today, we have a disturbingly high chance of slaughtering an innocent. As bad as that is... if somebody volunteers to be slain, then we GUARANTEE that we slaughter an innocent! Why in the world would we want to make absolute certain that we are killing a non-wolf villager? What the heck is the point of it? It will leave us back to square one, only tomorrow morning, instead of one villager slain by wolves and one villager maybe lynched, we'll have two dead innocents, and the only new information we'll have is who the werewolves decided to kill. We're going to have that no matter what, so why, I ask, do you think it's a good idea to make absolutely certain that we kill somebody innocent?

[the phantom]

why don't you volunteer for it yourself?

I see that you ignored one of the requirements for someone to volunteer themselves-

...and you also think you might be in and out of town a bit and thus not able to participate in our werewolf finding endeavor that much

I don't meet that requirement. I will be in town and active every day.

It would be much better to lynch an innocent who might be absent a lot because, as you know, if someone is gone too long then they are automatically killed anyway.

More listening and less talking my dear.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Well, well, well. First things first: send for the cleaner!

I always liked the dwarf. Oftentimes we would drink rum into the wee hours. Course! he would always end the occasions; always wanting to study a bit before bedtime. Improves the learning, don't you know? A clever little fellow and no mistake. I'll miss him.

But 'ere we have an idea to flush out these beasts, proposed by the phantom. 'Tis an interesting one and no mistake. Only problem I have is this: no one wants to die! I certainly will not offer myself up to be executed like a common thief. I've dodged that before and I'll do it again. No, no, no sir; we got ourselves werewolves to hang, not our friendly villagers.

If anyone else wants to offer hisself up for sacrifice then go ahead; I'll let you know right now that it ain't going to be me. I guess some among you will take that stance as hard evidence of my wolfish ways, but so be it. I'm selfish; deal with it.

As for the wolves, I have me suspects: that Anguirel for one. He's a trickster and no mistake. Oftentimes I wish I had his certain way with skullduggery. A wicked wordsmith, no doubt. Sure, he has a high place in the village, but what better place to keep silent?

But then, I have a lot of suspects. Oooh, I think I need some rum and fresh air to sort this one out.

Hang on, wouldn't it be a good idea to search the houses of every villager? You never know, we might find some wolf hair tangled on the door, or odd saliva hither and thither. Just a thought.

Forth!

[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

Originally Posted by Fea

If it wasn't the butler, let's blame the maid. ... I still say let's beat on Spawn a little.

Well, that's just nice. I should have listened to my mother and gone to law school. As an innocent, I'm rather disinclined to die in spite of phantom's probability calculation.

It's true that the wolves don't probably care, who is going to get lynced on the first day as long as s/he isn't one of them and therefore we can't point them out by their behaviour. However, the Seer might have something interesting to say. I'd also like to see other residents participating the negotiations before we decide anything drastic.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

*looks abashed*

Yes, sorry about that Spawn. You just happened to be the second person that I randomly picked.

I have to agree with Eomer also... even if we weren't guaranteeing ourselves two dead innocents, nobody really wants to die, so nobody is going to step out and say "Hey, lynch me!" Except me. You can lynch me if you really feel the need to. Means I can get back to my drawing in peace.

PS: just kidding about that lynching thing