Tol-in-Gaurhoth IV (The Saga, erm, Still Continues...) - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

the guy who be short · 06-25-2005, 11:06 AM

The villagers woke bright and early, eager to witness more morbid and gruesome killings. A quick scan seemed to show that the ego of the village square was half of what it should have been – the phantom was missing!

The villagers rushed to his home. The healer was dead, they knew, but they were curious anyway. They gathered in a small room where the phantom liked to make his potions, to find him stretched on the floor under his bench. A shattered vial was by his side, and his face showed peace rather than fear. It was clear that, hearing the wolves coming upon him, he had chosen to poison himself rather than die at their paws. Indeed, his body was unmolested by the werewolves, and this seemed to be the case.

The villagers looked crestfallen at the lack of blood and gore.

They looked around the phantom's home, to see if any secrets were hidden away. Forcing a dark cupboard, they found a well made set of drawers. They opened one of these, and stood gobsmacked. It contained file after file after file. What could be in them?

The villagers rifled through the papers, amazed to find documents concerning absolutely everything about them – their likes, their dislikes, all their little moves. It was clear the the phantom was a Shirriff, one of the Secret Police of King Orodreth who spied on his citizens to keep them orderly. (This is a little known story, actually. Orodreth was actually a fearsome dictator, who kept careful tabs on the doings of all his followers. His mass censorship managed to keep this out of the history books).

In the confusion, the villagers did not notice one of their members slip a small envelope from under a corner of carpet into their pocket.

Usually the people would have been thrilled to rid themselves of one of the Secret Police – but in these perilous times, it was most damaging…

Living:

Anguirel
Celuien
dancing spawn of ungoliant
Esgallhugwen
Evisse the Blue
Feanor of the Peredhil
Firefoot
Hookbill the Goomba
Lalaith
littlemanpoet
Nilpaurion Felagund
Saurreg

Dead:

the guy who be short (Villager) - partially consumer by werewolves on NIGHT 1.
Kath (Ranger) - lynched by villagers on DAY 1.
Azaelia of Willowbottom (Villager) - turned into a pincushion on NIGHT 2.
Oddwen (Villager) - lynched with kitchen utensils on DAY 2.
Eomer of the Rohirrim (Villager) - lynched and drowned on DAY 2.
the phantom (Shirriff) - poisoned himself on NIGHT 3.

Score:

Werewolves: 3
Villagers: 9

It is now DAY. DAY will tomorrow in 24 hours at 6pm BST, 1pm EDT, 12:00 noon CDT, or earlier if a majority is reached before then.

Edit: The following villagers have given notice of their potential absence on this thread and will be exempt from the auto-kill rule: Celuien, Feanor of the Peredhil.

Anguirel · 06-25-2005, 11:29 AM

Ironic indeed. the phantom was correct about his innocence, but the late heroic seaman Eomer was even more wise about his survivability.

It seems to me that we must examine the village records, and see who fanned the flames to destroy Eomer-in particular those who committed themselves late, but decisively.

The healer-shirriff's demise has assured one thing for me-as I said earlier, the furrier Saurreg is unlikely to be a werewolf and to be acting alone. Indeed, his defence of the phantom, effective and well-timed, makes me suspect he is the other shirriff (as the phantom claimed that Eomer had guessed). I feel free to suggest this as, alone, a shirriff is of limited use to the village, and I do not feel this possible exposure will increase the chances of his murder by wolves. Despite Eomer's parting words to us, I believe we can absolve Saurreg of guilt, whether to conspiracy or murder.

As for my own exhortation that the phantom be hanged, I am unapologetic. His divisive tactics and feudings, in any case, did not befit his lawful rank and harmed the village more than they benefitted. But I will add that he was undoubtedly a brave, if misguided, man, utterly true to his own convictions; the convictions that the wolves among us exploited. Eru keep his soul.

Lalaith · 06-25-2005, 11:40 AM

So we are nine.

And the souls of two of those already dead lie heavy on my conscience, our poor Guardian and innocent Oddwen, slaughtered by my numerical idiocy. And poor phantom, I was so wrong about him, as he was so wrong about Eomer.

I have thought however of one slight silver lining. At least, if we wake up with no-one dead, we will know for sure that the wolves' ranks have been swelled by the cursed villager - there will be no optimistic pondering about Guardian success. Of course, among our many lynching blunders, the cursed villager may already lie dead.
Among our nine innocents, we still have our Seer and the Guardian, and one lonely Shirriff.
It is ironic to think that of those five who were nominated on our first day, three are now dead and all were innocent. Esgalhugwen and Saurreg are remaining nominees surviving from that first day. No-one stepped forward to save them, either, so can we deduce from that, that both are innocent? (Phantom could not save Saurreg, if Saurreg was in truth the other shirriff, as he had already voted).
Or was perhaps one a werewolf, and his two partners in evil ready to let him die for the sake of taking four innocents with him in a mass lynching?
Will the other shirriff now step forward and declare himself, I wonder?

the guy who be short · 06-25-2005, 11:42 AM

Guardian = Ranger = Kath = Dead.

The Hunter is still alive.

Lalaith · 06-25-2005, 11:49 AM

Sorry, I just keep getting those two mixed up. I think I must be in denial about the whole Kath thing, I felt so bad about it.

Lalaith · 06-25-2005, 12:07 PM

Anguirel, I know what you are saying, but if a wolf was to pit himself against the true shirriff, it would have to be a wolf with a convincing case, one who has made posts supporting the phantom?
But of those gifted who are still left, will the wolves at this stage be so keen to kill any of them?
The Seer, once dead and thus with his/her identity revealed, leaves a meaningful trail of posts behind him/her, which could help the survivors.
The Hunter might on his death kill one of the werewolves.
The remaining Shirriff is no more use than an ordinary villager.
No, I think that the werewolves will be looking to kill the Cursed villager. If of course we have not already killed him.
I tried to save Eomer because I thought he might be the Seer, as he seemed to know my innocence. But that was when I thought the phantom guilty. I thought Eomer had also dreamt about the phantom, you see.
The Seer has now had three dreams. Can we find his or her hints?

Anguirel · 06-25-2005, 12:23 PM

For their sake, I hope not. We want this putative trail to be rather longer...

Now, to the main matter at hand. Who helped put the nail in Eomer and Oddwen's coffins, especially when there was little left to lose, but also in cases of particularly skilled prosecution? Supporters of lynching the phantom-among whom I am numbered-should be impartially examined as well. But most of all-beware the bandwagon.

Oddwen's innocence was clear to me the moment she wasted her vote on a tit for tat against Celuien-a candidate unlikely to attract support, who all evidence of her argument suggests she is genuinely trying to work things out for the village. That was not the action of a wolf.

On the other hand, Evisse's much earlier denunciation of the luckless Lalaith strikes me as rather more sinister; this could have developed into a strong case due to Lalaith's earlier apparent misfortune with our Ranger. Note also Evisse's insistence on her vote's tactical nature-an attempt to duck blame if Lalaith is found to be innocent. It seems slightly lupine, though this only occurred to me ten minutes ago, and is far from a developed or reinforced case...

Firefoot · 06-25-2005, 12:33 PM

Quote:

I recommend taking a closer look at Firefoot, unless in my skimmings I missed something important (such as her not actually being alive any more). Either she's bad enough at this that she's been wrong about all of her suspects, or she's trying to frame them up because people think she's trustworthy. Either way, it's not reassuring.

But I was right about both Eomer and phantom, wasn't I?

I am not having a very good time choosing my suspects right now (obviously). Towards the end of voting I was feeling irritated with Saurreg for his comments such as "at least someone here knows what he's talking about." (Note: I said irritation, not suspicion. I'm not ready to blame anybody yet today.)

For what it's worth, yesterday's voting was:

Eomer - 5 (*Saurreg*, Hookbill, phantom, dancing spawn, lmp)
Oddwen - 5 (Nilp, *Celuien*, Firefoot, Esga, Lalaith)
Phantom - 2 (Anguirel, Eomer)
LMP - 1 (Fea)
Lalaith - 1 (Evisse)
Celuien - 1 (Oddwen)

Day 1's voting with newly proven innocents filled in.

Anyway, I'm going to review the thread more closely before making more accusations. Hopefully we can bag a werewolf today.

Anguirel · 06-25-2005, 11:47 AM

I also wonder if the Shirriff will come into the open. More interestingly, will wolves, or simple rogues and tricksters who love to sow confusion, claim shirriffdom; a risky tactic, but potentially a rewarding one? We must be on our guard. In the end, I believe the direct unmasking of the shirriff will only help the wolves; however, we may indirectly unmask the shirriff by defending villagers on the grounds that we believe they are the shirriff, as I did with Saurreg. This shows the clarity of our thought processes and helps back up our rhetoric and theories with appropriate rationale.

Feanor of the Peredhil · 06-25-2005, 11:36 AM

Why in the world did he have to be so arrogant, self-assured, and most of all, willing to kill people "for the good of the village"? I was convinced that the fool was a wolf. Now I have to go and ruin all my partying this afternoon by coming up with new suspects since you all went and lynched my old one, and then the one I most wanted to lynch went and got suicidal on me. Do you know what a damper this puts on my afternoon?

I recommend taking a closer look at Firefoot, unless in my skimmings I missed something important (such as her not actually being alive any more). Either she's bad enough at this that she's been wrong about all of her suspects, or she's trying to frame them up because people think she's trustworthy. Either way, it's not reassuring.

06-25-2005, 11:06 AM	#1
the guy who be short Shadowed Prince Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Thulcandra Posts: 2,343	Shame... The villagers woke bright and early, eager to witness more morbid and gruesome killings. A quick scan seemed to show that the ego of the village square was half of what it should have been – the phantom was missing! The villagers rushed to his home. The healer was dead, they knew, but they were curious anyway. They gathered in a small room where the phantom liked to make his potions, to find him stretched on the floor under his bench. A shattered vial was by his side, and his face showed peace rather than fear. It was clear that, hearing the wolves coming upon him, he had chosen to poison himself rather than die at their paws. Indeed, his body was unmolested by the werewolves, and this seemed to be the case. The villagers looked crestfallen at the lack of blood and gore. They looked around the phantom's home, to see if any secrets were hidden away. Forcing a dark cupboard, they found a well made set of drawers. They opened one of these, and stood gobsmacked. It contained file after file after file. What could be in them? The villagers rifled through the papers, amazed to find documents concerning absolutely everything about them – their likes, their dislikes, all their little moves. It was clear the the phantom was a Shirriff, one of the Secret Police of King Orodreth who spied on his citizens to keep them orderly. (This is a little known story, actually. Orodreth was actually a fearsome dictator, who kept careful tabs on the doings of all his followers. His mass censorship managed to keep this out of the history books). In the confusion, the villagers did not notice one of their members slip a small envelope from under a corner of carpet into their pocket. Usually the people would have been thrilled to rid themselves of one of the Secret Police – but in these perilous times, it was most damaging… Living: Anguirel Celuien dancing spawn of ungoliant Esgallhugwen Evisse the Blue Feanor of the Peredhil Firefoot Hookbill the Goomba Lalaith littlemanpoet Nilpaurion Felagund Saurreg Dead: the guy who be short (Villager) - partially consumer by werewolves on NIGHT 1. Kath (Ranger) - lynched by villagers on DAY 1. Azaelia of Willowbottom (Villager) - turned into a pincushion on NIGHT 2. Oddwen (Villager) - lynched with kitchen utensils on DAY 2. Eomer of the Rohirrim (Villager) - lynched and drowned on DAY 2. the phantom (Shirriff) - poisoned himself on NIGHT 3. Score: Werewolves: 3 Villagers: 9 It is now DAY. DAY will tomorrow in 24 hours at 6pm BST, 1pm EDT, 12:00 noon CDT, or earlier if a majority is reached before then. Edit: The following villagers have given notice of their potential absence on this thread and will be exempt from the auto-kill rule: Celuien, Feanor of the Peredhil. Last edited by the guy who be short; 06-26-2005 at 09:16 AM.

06-25-2005, 11:29 AM	#2
Anguirel Byronic Brand Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: The 1590s Posts: 2,778	Ironic indeed. the phantom was correct about his innocence, but the late heroic seaman Eomer was even more wise about his survivability. It seems to me that we must examine the village records, and see who fanned the flames to destroy Eomer-in particular those who committed themselves late, but decisively. The healer-shirriff's demise has assured one thing for me-as I said earlier, the furrier Saurreg is unlikely to be a werewolf and to be acting alone. Indeed, his defence of the phantom, effective and well-timed, makes me suspect he is the other shirriff (as the phantom claimed that Eomer had guessed). I feel free to suggest this as, alone, a shirriff is of limited use to the village, and I do not feel this possible exposure will increase the chances of his murder by wolves. Despite Eomer's parting words to us, I believe we can absolve Saurreg of guilt, whether to conspiracy or murder. As for my own exhortation that the phantom be hanged, I am unapologetic. His divisive tactics and feudings, in any case, did not befit his lawful rank and harmed the village more than they benefitted. But I will add that he was undoubtedly a brave, if misguided, man, utterly true to his own convictions; the convictions that the wolves among us exploited. Eru keep his soul. __________________ Among the friendly dead, being bad at games did not seem to matter -Il Lupo Fenriso Last edited by Anguirel; 06-25-2005 at 11:37 AM.

06-25-2005, 11:40 AM	#3
Lalaith Blithe Spirit Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 2,779	So we are nine. And the souls of two of those already dead lie heavy on my conscience, our poor Guardian and innocent Oddwen, slaughtered by my numerical idiocy. And poor phantom, I was so wrong about him, as he was so wrong about Eomer. I have thought however of one slight silver lining. At least, if we wake up with no-one dead, we will know for sure that the wolves' ranks have been swelled by the cursed villager - there will be no optimistic pondering about Guardian success. Of course, among our many lynching blunders, the cursed villager may already lie dead. Among our nine innocents, we still have our Seer and the Guardian, and one lonely Shirriff. It is ironic to think that of those five who were nominated on our first day, three are now dead and all were innocent. Esgalhugwen and Saurreg are remaining nominees surviving from that first day. No-one stepped forward to save them, either, so can we deduce from that, that both are innocent? (Phantom could not save Saurreg, if Saurreg was in truth the other shirriff, as he had already voted). Or was perhaps one a werewolf, and his two partners in evil ready to let him die for the sake of taking four innocents with him in a mass lynching? Will the other shirriff now step forward and declare himself, I wonder? __________________ Out went the candle, and we were left darkling

06-25-2005, 11:49 AM	#5
Lalaith Blithe Spirit Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 2,779	Sorry, I just keep getting those two mixed up. I think I must be in denial about the whole Kath thing, I felt so bad about it. __________________ Out went the candle, and we were left darkling

06-25-2005, 12:07 PM	#6
Lalaith Blithe Spirit Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 2,779	Anguirel, I know what you are saying, but if a wolf was to pit himself against the true shirriff, it would have to be a wolf with a convincing case, one who has made posts supporting the phantom? But of those gifted who are still left, will the wolves at this stage be so keen to kill any of them? The Seer, once dead and thus with his/her identity revealed, leaves a meaningful trail of posts behind him/her, which could help the survivors. The Hunter might on his death kill one of the werewolves. The remaining Shirriff is no more use than an ordinary villager. No, I think that the werewolves will be looking to kill the Cursed villager. If of course we have not already killed him. I tried to save Eomer because I thought he might be the Seer, as he seemed to know my innocence. But that was when I thought the phantom guilty. I thought Eomer had also dreamt about the phantom, you see. The Seer has now had three dreams. Can we find his or her hints? __________________ Out went the candle, and we were left darkling Last edited by Lalaith; 06-25-2005 at 12:14 PM. Reason: didn't explaing reasoning properly!

06-25-2005, 11:42 AM	#4
the guy who be short Shadowed Prince Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Thulcandra Posts: 2,343	Guardian = Ranger = Kath = Dead. The Hunter is still alive.

06-25-2005, 12:23 PM	#7
Anguirel Byronic Brand Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: The 1590s Posts: 2,778	For their sake, I hope not. We want this putative trail to be rather longer... Now, to the main matter at hand. Who helped put the nail in Eomer and Oddwen's coffins, especially when there was little left to lose, but also in cases of particularly skilled prosecution? Supporters of lynching the phantom-among whom I am numbered-should be impartially examined as well. But most of all-beware the bandwagon. Oddwen's innocence was clear to me the moment she wasted her vote on a tit for tat against Celuien-a candidate unlikely to attract support, who all evidence of her argument suggests she is genuinely trying to work things out for the village. That was not the action of a wolf. On the other hand, Evisse's much earlier denunciation of the luckless Lalaith strikes me as rather more sinister; this could have developed into a strong case due to Lalaith's earlier apparent misfortune with our Ranger. Note also Evisse's insistence on her vote's tactical nature-an attempt to duck blame if Lalaith is found to be innocent. It seems slightly lupine, though this only occurred to me ten minutes ago, and is far from a developed or reinforced case... __________________ Among the friendly dead, being bad at games did not seem to matter -Il Lupo Fenriso

06-25-2005, 11:47 AM	#9
Anguirel Byronic Brand Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: The 1590s Posts: 2,778	I also wonder if the Shirriff will come into the open. More interestingly, will wolves, or simple rogues and tricksters who love to sow confusion, claim shirriffdom; a risky tactic, but potentially a rewarding one? We must be on our guard. In the end, I believe the direct unmasking of the shirriff will only help the wolves; however, we may indirectly unmask the shirriff by defending villagers on the grounds that we believe they are the shirriff, as I did with Saurreg. This shows the clarity of our thought processes and helps back up our rhetoric and theories with appropriate rationale. __________________ Among the friendly dead, being bad at games did not seem to matter -Il Lupo Fenriso

06-25-2005, 11:36 AM	#10
Feanor of the Peredhil La Belle Dame sans Merci Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: perpetual uncertainty Posts: 5,517	*sneaking in before I leave* Why in the world did he have to be so arrogant, self-assured, and most of all, willing to kill people "for the good of the village"? I was convinced that the fool was a wolf. Now I have to go and ruin all my partying this afternoon by coming up with new suspects since you all went and lynched my old one, and then the one I most wanted to lynch went and got suicidal on me. Do you know what a damper this puts on my afternoon? I recommend taking a closer look at Firefoot, unless in my skimmings I missed something important (such as her not actually being alive any more). Either she's bad enough at this that she's been wrong about all of her suspects, or she's trying to frame them up because people think she's trustworthy. Either way, it's not reassuring. __________________ peace