TOL-IN-GAURHOTH XII, Erbar Telamarth

[the phantom]

it is good to see that the mantle of despotic moderation has been assumed

I try my best.

Okay everyone- as morm said earlier, make sure you are all in INVISIBLE MODE.

Also, starting now, all questions should be posted on the original Werewolf thread, or pmed to me.

NIGHT 1 will begin shortly.

The only person I need to hear from on NIGHT 1 is the Seer.

DAY 1, when everyone can begin posting, will begin Tuesday at 1:30 AM EST- less than 25 hours from now.

Talk up a storm every day. Come up with all the theories you can. Analyze every vote and Werewolf kill and think of every possible implication, and then post it- no matter how unlikely it is.

Prove that you are worthy to be in the phantom's village!

And have fun, too.

[the phantom]

NIGHT 1

The region south of the River Teiglin was all but deserted.

One by one, each settlement in that land had been pulled down from within by Sauron's werewolves.

Even the villages that managed to slay his wolves lost so many of their people in the process that the village could not continue to exist, and so the survivors would move to another village, which would inevitably be invaded by werewolves.

Sauron smiled as he stood atop a hill, which was bareheaded except for one tree, two miles from the small village known as Erbar Telamarth. Sauron had been assigned to clear the region of all settlements, and this was the last one.

Erbar Telamarth was populated entirely with survivors of other villages. Sauron knew that the experience of the villagers would make them much harder to defeat, but he did not mind. If the next group of wolves he sent into the village failed, he would simply send another.

"But why use werewolves at all? Why not take an army of orcs and wipe them out?" Gothmog had asked Sauron during their last meeting in Angband.

If Gothmog weren't such a barbaric simpleton, he could've answered his own question thought Sauron. He just has no appreciation for the finer points of evil. Using werewolves is a perfect design. It causes every person in a village to distrust everyone else- even their own spouse and children. And during the day, in an attempt to find my wolves, the villagers cruelly kill their own fellow innocents. Sauron laughed quietly to himself as he fondly remembered all of the innocents who had been lynched at the hands of their friends and family.

The arrival of his orc captain, Mortakh, brought Sauron back to the present. "We have him, Lord Sauron!"

"Excellent. Bring him to me."

Mortakh turned and ran down the slope and soon vanished into the trees surrounding the hill, eager to carry out his master's order.

And so, the final chapter is ready to begin thought Sauron.

For the past eleven days, Sauron and his small company of orcs had been patrolling the area surrounding Erbar Telamarth, waiting for a chance to capture Phantom. Now, they had finally caught him.

Sauron had tried to slip wolves into the village twice during the previous month, but Phantom found the wolves both times and had them executed immediately. Sauron knew he had to get rid of Phantom or his wolves would never get the chance to destroy the village.

Three years before, Sauron had turned Phantom into a werewolf. Usually, Sauron would go to the outskirts of a village and draw the three villagers with the darkest hearts to him and put into them a foul werewolf spirit, but he had gone out of his way to make Phantom a wolf. Phantom did not come to him- he pursued and captured Phantom. Phantom was a young, intelligent, persuasive man, and Sauron knew he would make a perfect werewolf- and he did.

Phantom destroyed countless villages over the next two years, but, suddenly and unexpectedly, the man inside triumphed over the werewolf and Phantom cast the evil spirit from his own body- something no werewolf had ever done.

After that, Phantom journeyed to Erbar Telamarth and had been living there ever since. Because he had once been a wolf, Phantom could immediately sense a werewolf, and so he was able to protect the village from them. Every evening the villagers would line up outside Phantom's house and he would inspect all of them to make sure no one had been possessed.

Sauron discovered this after his second wolf attack failed, and realized that Phantom had to be dealt with before the village could be attacked.

"Here he is, Lord!" shouted Mortakh as he came trotting up out of the trees. Behind him were six orcs carrying a man, bound and gagged.

"Set him there."

The orcs leaned the man against the lone tree on the hill top and went back to stand beside Sauron with Mortakh.

The man turned his head to the left and looked towards the village, but night had come and he could not see it, though he could see the glow of fires through windows, which from so far away appeared to be orange stars.

"Don't worry Phantom- they will all be dead soon," said Sauron.

(to be continued)

[the phantom]

Sauron threw up his hands in disgust. For the third time that night, his attempt to turn Phantom back into a werewolf had failed.

Phantom was sitting propped up against the tree. He looked exhausted, and somewhat older, but his eyes were shining with defiance. "Looks like your plan to destroy Erbar Telamarth is going extremely well," he said mockingly.

"You are a fool!" returned Sauron. "If I cannot make you a wolf, I will just find other wolves, and kill you! Your village will be destroyed either way! Why not give in and become a wolf again? At least that way you will get to live. Also, I know you must have enjoyed being a werewolf on some level."

Phantom rolled his eyes and sighed. "I'm getting tired of your arguments, Sauron. I've heard them all at least ten times tonight. Go away." Sauron stared silently at Phantom for a moment until Mortakh broke the silence.

"Lord Sauron, it's getting late. If you're going to recruit some wolves you need to do it now, or we'll have to wait another night."

Sauron turned towards Mortakh. "Yes, it is getting late. Take the others back to the camp, get the wolves, and bring them back as quickly as possible. I will call some villagers to meet us."

"Yes, Lord Sauron!" answered Mortakh. "C'mon boys, we're going back to camp to get the wolves!"

The orcs immediately loped towards the trees on the Northern side of the hill, but before entering the forest Mortakh stopped and looked back up at Sauron.

Sauron's hands were stretched to the southeast, towards the village, and he was chanting quietly in some language unknown to Mortakh. Mortakh turned and followed his squad towards the camp. He knew that when he got back he would find three villagers on the hill with Sauron- three villagers whose dark hearts, though hidden from their fellow villagers, could not be hid from the powerful call of Sauron.

(to be continued)

[the phantom]

It was finished.

Sauron ordered Mortakh and his squad to carry the three lifeless wolves away and dispose of them. The wolves' spirits now dwelt within the three beasts sitting at Sauron's feet.

They were human in form, but larger and more muscular, and covered with hair from head to toe. Their heads looked exactly like the head of a very large wolf. They still had human hands, but the hands had sharp claws instead of nails.

Sauron turned to face Phantom. "I really wish you would have let yourself become a werewolf again. We had such merry times together. I loved watching you make your kills. But- since you have refused my offer, you will be the first to die at the hands of your replacements."

Phantom looked up and met Sauron's gaze and said, "At least when men speak of my death, they will say 'They had to tie him up and send three werewolves at him to kill him'. You on the other hand- I foresee that you will be killed by a lone, unarmed midget! Ha ha ha!"

"Kill him!" Sauron shouted to his werewolves.

As the three beasts closed in, Phantom looked towards his village.

"May the Valar protect them."

(to be continued)

[the phantom]

"Something bad happened to him- I just know it!" said littlemanpoet, the bartender, to Estelyn, who was seated at a table a short distance from the bar.

"Shush! Keep your voice down. You don't want to go and upset everyone," cautioned Esty.

"Why not?" asked Formendacil, who was seated at the bar. "They're going to be upset eventually."

"You're right, Formy," agreed Mister Underhill, as he sat down next to him. "You mark my words- the searchers aren't going to find him anything but dead. It's not like him to go missing without telling anyone. Even Fea doesn't know where he is. Phantom's been keeping the wolves from getting into this town, so you know that they're out for his blood- and I know I'm not the only one who heard all of that howling last night."

Even as he finished speaking, mormegil, the messenger, burst in the door. He delivered his message between gasps. "They... they found him... up on... Bald Hill!"

"Dead?" asked Cailin.

Mormegil nodded.

"Were there werewolf tracks, Mormegil?" asked Feanor.

Once again, Mormegil nodded.

IT IS NOW DAY ONE

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by the phantom

It's not like him to go missing without telling anyone. Even Fea doesn't know where he is.

Well, I can remember several comments along the lines of "You know... when I decide to go missing for several days, I tell people so that they aren't left wondering."

I also remember generally knowing what you're up to before other people do. So there. Perhaps that?

[the phantom]

Fea got another one.

[mormegil]

Alas, I have arrived too late for my message to do any good. I was sent by Lord Thingol to warn of Sauron's designs to overrun this region by the use of wolves. It seems that his goal is nearly accomplished and he has now set his eye upon us.

Since I am already here however, I will stay and risk my own life in helping to capture these foul lycans. Our objective can be accomplished by working in concert with each other and being open and examining everyone with precision and accuracy only then can we root these demons out from us.

Although I do have my preconceptions about the cur Eomer. I have lived in Doriath long enough to know his reputation there. I could turn him in for the bounty upon him, but for the sake of this village I will let him live and pray that he is at least innocent of being a werewolf.

[Cailín]

Phantom... dead...? I still refuse to believe it. I came here, hoping for safety, but it seems there is no escaping from Sauron and his horrible wolves. It is sad we did not get your message sooner, dear Morm, but as you say, we are here now and can only do our best and pray we will not face the same fate as so many villages before us.

We have one, clear advantage, though. We have all seen it happen before, and we know what it is like. We may not be as adept at picking out the wolves at a single glance, like Sir Phantom was, but we are no helpless newbies either. Therefore, let us do the obvious thing . Let’s all discuss this, question each other, debate, point out suspicious behavior and argue till the wolves are so weary they cannot even tell one loud villager from the next. They are bound to slip up in time. And if that doesn’t work, we can always force feed some suspicious folk one of my excellent love potions and see if they rush into a passionate confession.

[Anguirel]

Alas. Though I was once a famed pursuer and slayer of werewolves, I was sorely wounded in rescuing a village some time ago, and only narrowly saved from the werecurse by a passing healer; my sword will be of little use.

However, I shall put the benefit of twelve years in the saddle against Sauron's minions at your disposal.

Since there is no doubt that to dispatch this last village, Gorthaur will have sent the finest wolves in his arsenal, we are unlikely to catch one on this, the first day. The question is, should we give up hope and fall upon a volunteered innocent?

I think not-the problem being that such a lynching would leave no trail. Though we may in the rage of our loss, manipulated by wolves, rend apart one of our guardians, at least we will be able to cast cold, analytical eyes as to why we did so...who was directing us...

Wolves will rarely be bold enough to start bandwagons-though having said that, that statement may encourage them to. They will use subtle sophistry, malign influence, that appears to make the situation clearer but in fact obfuscates it. Beware of those who seem too confindent-"Well, if X is innocent, Y is certainly guilty."

We do have one Seer dream; but I would advise the Seer not to hint about it yet in any way, even if an innocent is about to be lynched. Worse things happen at sea, frankly; Seer, we need you to be undetected, to last, survive, and dream...

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Cailín

...we can always force feed some suspicious folk one of my excellent love potions and see if they rush into a passionate confession.

I'll take one now. As they say, 'eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow someone will have been found dead' at the claws of werewolves. Well, I know how to be merry, and I'd be quite willing, Cailín, to help you be merry too.

Don't doubt that I'll be quite serious in the discussion, but we can't have discussion all day and not relieve ourselves of the stress in one way or another.

I'll have to be away doing inventory of my casks, so I'll just trust to my handy Elven Loremaster Ears (ELE) to record the discussion while I'm gone.

[the guy who be short]

I appear to have come under a little fire for my former conclusions. I shall therefore re-assess everything I previously stated. Like most reassessments, the vast majority of people will finish worse off.

Mormegil, Firefoot and LMP are now certain innocents. Nobody would vote for a fellow wolf when the votes were so close. Unfortunately, this means they will certainly be dying in the Night - goodbye, fellows. At least the Ranger has a one in three chance of saving one.

Hmm. Morm voted when two other people had two votes each, so it looked unlikely Cailin would die. He could still be a wolf, I guess, but looks neutral to me at the moment.
Firefoot and LMP are not wolves. Definite. There is simply no reason a wolf would willingly vote for one of their own on the first day when there was a serious chance of that wolf being voted off, no matter what Feanor claims.

After Cailin got her third vote, Enca and Mr U both voted for Ang in succession. However, Boromir and Shelob already had two votes at this point, so it would have made more sense, if Enca were a wolf, for her to vote for one of these. Enca therefore makes my innocent list, Mr U makes my wolf list.

I stand by this. Though the evidence seems less strong now, it would still have made more sense for a wolf-Enca to vote Shelob or B88. Enca seems innocent.
I am now far less sure about Mr U's lycanthropy than I was before. He could potentially be a wolf; however, maybe I'm just sentimental, but his plea seemed genuine to me. I put him on my "wolfy" list. His tie could have been an attempt to save Cailin though.

At the time of Feanor's vote, Ang and Cailin were tied. A wolf would have voted Ang. Fea therefore appears innocent. However, she could have counted on somebody breaking the tied afterwards, as voting for Ang would make her look suspicious afterwards.

Feanor still looks innocent to me. No reaon to cause a triple tie, including at least one fellow wolf, when she could have just voted Ang and be done with it.

Lhuna now appears quite wolfy, though her vote could just be down to chance.

Lhuna was forced to break a tie. This is never easy. I'm ust not sure.

After this, it will appear that I have contracted extreme schizophrenia. Such is life. Here is a list of votes for those who would like another look:

Shelob - 2 (Esty 2, TGWBS 3)
Eomer - 1 (Cailin 4)
Boromir - 3 (Anguirel 1, Eomer 5, Feanor 14)
Formendacil - 1 (Boromir 6)
Mr. Underhill - 1 (Formendacil 7)
Anguirel - 4 (Shelob 8, Encaitarë 12, Mister Underhill 13, Lhuna 15)
Cailin - 3 (Mormegil 9, Firefoot 10, LMP 11)

Wolfy:
Mr U
Lhuna

Neutral:
Morm

Innocent Looking:
Enca
Fea

Innocent:
LMP
Firefoot

Now, there are several people who have been left off my list. I have absolutely no confidence in my Wolfy list, though I'm certain of my conclusions concerning people's innocence. I will most likely vote for somebody who has not yet been mentioned, somebody flying under the radar, to use a cliché.

[Firefoot]

All right, I'll see what I can do.

Post 44

While she does not come out and say "I'm innocent," there are strong undertones of this. Strong emotions, phrases like "fellow villagers," etc. As far as words go, the gist of the meaning is "I'm not sure what I'm doing, I'll have to wait and see what happens before making any decisions." As Esty herself has confessed, she has a flair for the dramatic which makes this more difficult as dramatic tends to be something I look for in a wolf. Nothing conclusive here.

Post 51

She starts out defending herself to Boromir, who accused her on the grounds of "horrible sewing." Again, she states that she has no knowledge of what anyone else is and we don't have enough to judge people on, just words. This could be construed to look innocent or guilty, depending on how you look at it, and it comes down to the same Esty question - is she really not sure, an inexperienced wolf, or both?

Post 65

Some in-character response to LMP and a reiteration of the sentiment that she can't trust anyone. Same as 51 - could be made to look innocent or guilty.

Post 81

States that she will have to vote either early or late, and that it seems that her vote will be random as she has no real suspicions. Could be an innocent not sure of what's going on or a wolf not wanting to cast suspicions to soon to loudly.

Post 93

Repeats that her vote will be random as she has no idea how to form some suspicions. Same as above.

Posts 96-97

Votes for Shelob using a completely random method of the eenie meenie minie mo sort, hoping it was a good vote. If this wasn't her first ww game, I would be concerned, as generally it's better to vote for someone you think at least could be suspicious (I'd say). As it is, I'm not sure. This could be an easy way to hide.

Post 148

After some more dramatics (Esty, don't get me wrong. If dramatics and in-character stuff is your style of play, go for it. Look at Fea. ), she states for the first time that she thinks one of the wolves is probably among those who voted for Ang. In itself, this is not very suspicious; however, if she were a wolf, I think it would be safe to say that none of these four (now three) people she is accusing are wolves. From what we've seen so far of Esty, I wouldn't doubt that if she were a wolf in this game, caution would be her preferred style of play, not incriminating her fellow wolves any more than absolutely necessary to keep up appearances. And if her fellow wolf is Fea, as I suggested in my above post, this could work well.

Post 158

Repeats her suspicions of those four who voted for Ang; see above. She also mentions that Shelob's early vote for Lhuna is curious, and wonders what that might tell us about Shelob. She seems to be trying to cast some guilt on her, more deflection of attention.

Post 174

This is her first really substantial post of the game. She starts out repeating her suspicions of those four Ang-voters, though she doesn't seem to be very firm about those. For everyone else she names as being possibly suspicious, she seems to immediately negate that sentiment with a "but I'm not sure" or "there's not enough evidence." The only candidate she names as being wholly unsuspicious is TGBWS because his logic seems sound to her - who both days has voted with her consecutively for Shelob. She also does not identify Fea ("unpredictable") or LMP ("not enough information") as being particularly innocent or guilty. Interesting that she has not commented on at all the voting of me, LMP, and Morm for Cailin, neither to think we're innocent or guilty because of it, which just about everyone else has. It could have been an oversight, but I would think that it would factor in. This phrase, finishing her post, caught my eye just now: "So far I can't recognize the seer, but that's probably good. If I could, I'm sure the experienced wolves would as well!" Something about this turn of a phrase doesn't sit well with me. Now that I try to explain it, it doesn't work, but it made me go "What?"

Post 178

She votes for Shelob, having noticed that TGWBS has also voted for her. She mentions that she is hesitant to do so but goes ahead with it anyway because she is her greatest suspicion. Because of this, I don't think she would be a wolf with TGWBS, but it's possible. They could be bluffing, and with wolves able to talk all day, it would be easy enough for them to plan it. Hm...

Post 205

All dramatics. I don't think anything can be taken out of it.

Post 214

Most suspiciously, that's the post that's had me singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" all day... Seriously though: She defends her position of having voted for Shelob two days in row along with TGBWS. As support she mentions that Formen and Boromir have both voted for the same person as well - deflecting the spotlight off of her and TGWBS. I don't think she would deflect attention onto a fellow wolf like that, so if she is a wolf I dobut Formen or Boromir is as well. She also questions whether the wolves were actually going after the ranger or the person he was guarding. Genuine or an attempt to make it look like she doesn't know what the wolves are doing?

Post 220

She says that her vote for Shelob was made regardless of what TGWBS did because Shelob topped her suspect list, which is true enough. She had been suspicious of Shelob, though I suppose the wolves could have had Shelob targeted. That sounds a little far-fetched though, and it seems more likely that if she is a wolf, TGWBS is not her partner but possibly someone she attached herself to, or even someone with no intended connection at all.

Post 224

She goes back to her theory that one of the wolves voted for Ang, in particular looking at Encai. She also suggests a possible Encai/Fea partnership. Honest, or trying to distance herself from Fea?

Post 235

Here is where she comments on her own enjoyment of getting into a role a bit more and being rather dramatic. Whether she is innocent or guilty, I think this can be taken as written in good intent - meaning that any dramatics are not a sign of guilt.

Post 240

She states that her suspect list hasn't narrowed definitively, though she puts emphasis on Encai, Fea, Formendacil, and Lhuna. This could be starting to push the Fea/Esty theory.

Post 243

Says she will be back early for her, late in voting to cast vote. Nothing indicitive there.

So while a lot she says can be construed to look suspicious, or even flat out just does look suspicious, most of the possibilities for who she could be partnered with get to a far-fetched point. The one thing I have noticed is that she is very good at either staying out of the limelight in the first place or deflecting it once it gets there. I've not made my mind up yet.

That sure took long enough! And, now that I look at it, it is rather lengthy. Sorry about that.

Cross-posting with Boromir, Morm, and Formendacil.

[Firefoot]

In response to Morm: I'll try to hold my vote for a while, but staying up that late doesn't agree with my body. Also, I have to be up fairly early tomorrow. So I'll see what I can do.

Lhuna – 1 (TGWBS 1)
Formendacil 1 – (Boromir 2)
Fea – 1 (Formendacil 3)

If this and the day's discussions have been any indication, the voting will be close again. I could (at least theoretically) see myself voting for any of those three (or others) at this point.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by the phantom

It causes every person in a village to distrust everyone else- even their own spouse and children.

I'm sure I could be wrong, but this reminds me of that time that m'dear Lord Phantom played the part of my husband, the Innkeeper. I'd have killed him in a heartbeat.

Three years before, Sauron had turned Phantom into a werewolf. Usually, Sauron would go to the outskirts of a village and draw the three villagers with the darkest hearts to him and put into them a foul werewolf spirit, but he had gone out of his way to make Phantom a wolf. Phantom did not come to him- he pursued and captured Phantom. Phantom was a young, intelligent, persuasive man, and Sauron knew he would make a perfect werewolf- and he did.

Was it WWIX where tp was the one of those mwahahahahaing wolves?

I foresee that you will be killed by a lone, unarmed midget!

I laughed on this one.

For the joke on a village occupation, I see morm saying "don't kill the messenger" and I see the lecherous innkeeper commencing the game of spin-the-bottle.

So, you think Feanor of the Peredhil is our thin feral feeder? Pooh!

Anagram.

[the phantom]

Congrats, Fea- you've spotted some easter eggs.

Egg #2 concerns history here on the Downs- the fact that I have been a wolf in other villages (II and X).

I foresee that you will be killed by a lone, unarmed midget!

Yes, that was the reference to Middle Earth history I was looking for in egg #4.

So, you think Feanor of the Peredhil is our thin feral feeder? Pooh!

Anagram

Yes, indeed. Feanor of the Peredhil was rearranged to make "thin feral feeder? Pooh!".

Good eye. That was egg #15.

I see morm saying "don't kill the messenger"

Yes, that was egg #6.

So, we still have numbers 3, 5, 8, 9, and 12.

Nine is extremely easy to spot.

3 and 8 go hand in hand, you might say. If you figure one out, you will figure the other one out fairly quickly I should think.

[the phantom]

Also, I just have to ask- those of you who were reading my game-ending posts as I was making them, especially those still "alive" (Underhill, Esty, Fea), did I succeed in temporarily making you believe someone other than Enca was the wolf?

I wanted you to think at first it was Underhill or Esty, and then when Fea crashed into them I wanted you to think it was her, and then finally learn it was Enca. Did it work?

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by the phantom

Also, I just have to ask- those of you who were reading my game-ending posts as I was making them, especially those still "alive" (Underhill, Esty, Fea), did I succeed in temporarily making you believe someone other than Enca was the wolf?

I wanted you to think at first it was Underhill or Esty, and then when Fea crashed into them I wanted you to think it was her, and then finally learn it was Enca. Did it work?

Not for me...

I was eagerly watching despite the relatively late hour, and you had me thoroughly annoyed at dragging it out for so long.

And I knew the truth of the matter!

[the phantom]

Of course it didn't work on you, Formy- you were a wolf!

you had me thoroughly annoyed at dragging it out for so long

Hey, now, if it worked on at least one or two people then you have to admit it was worth it.

And don't tell me not to drag things out. If you continue to complain, next time you're in one of my games, I will make you the seer and really drag out revealing your dream every night. As a matter of fact, I'll drag it out throughout the day and only tell you after voting has begun.

Never get annoyed with me- for I can always do far worse.

Mwu ha ha ha!