TOL-IN-GAURHOTH XII, Erbar Telamarth

[the phantom]

The orcs had cut down the lone tree on Bald Hill and turned it into a crude throne. Sauron sat upon it, staring towards the village.

"How are things going down there?" asked Mortakh.

"The first day went well," Sauron answered. "The villagers lynched one of the wisest and noble men they had- a knight, no less. He could've given us quite a bit of trouble."

"He certainly won't now!" cackled the orc captain. "And he- what is it, Lord Sauron?!"

Sauron, who had suddenly stood to his feet, said nothing for quite some time. Finally, he muttered, "Things aren't going quite so well tonight."

[the phantom]

The three wolves emerged from Eomer of the Rohirrim's house. They had gone there intending to kill him, but he wasn't at home for some reason, so they started sniffing around outside trying to pick up his trail.

One of the wolves gave a low grunt- the trail had been found.

It led them first out of the village to the northeast, but then turned south-southeast towards the small river that flowed west to east a bowshot south of the village.

The wolves reached the river at a spot about half a mile from the village. Why in the world would a villager come way out here at night? they thought, standing on the treeless bank under the bright moonlight.

Just then, an arrow came whizzing out of the forest behind them. The wolves had lightning fast reflexes, and threw themselves flat upon hearing the sound. One of the wolves started to get up to rush the attacker, but another arrow came flying out of the dark and forced the wolf back onto its stomach.

As the arrow was being loosed, the other two wolves charged forward, knowing that the assailant would not be able to shoot arrows at them once they were back under the shadows of the trees.

The wolves saw the gleam of steel beneath the trees ahead. The attacker was running from them. The wolves howled, the wild delight of the hunt filling their dark hearts.

A bright patch appeared up ahead- a clearing in the trees. The wolves saw their opponent in good lighting for the first time. It was a sturdy, armor-clad man. When he reached the middle of the clearing he stopped and turned, bow at the ready. The wolves watched him from the cover of the trees, not wanting to show themselves for fear of being shot. They could see his face. It was Eomer.

Realizing that the wolves would hide as long as he had his bow out, Eomer tossed aside his bow and arrows and drew two swords that were strapped across his back. One was his own, and the other was Anguirel's.

Anguirel, the knight errant who was lynched the day before, had sensed a warrior's spirit in Eomer, and had, before his death, requested that his sword be given to Eomer.

The three wolves emerged from the trees, and began to circle Eomer, snarling and snapping their jaws. All at once, the three jumped at him. The collision was violent, and all four combatants fell to the ground. Eomer prepared to strike the dazed wolf on his left, but the wolf to his right leaped up and sunk his teeth into Eomer's right arm. Eomer struck the wolf in the face with the hilt of Anguirel's sword, which he held in his left hand, but the wolf did not release its grip.

Eomer then thrust at the wolf's belly, but as he did the third wolf hit him from behind like a battering ram. As he fell to the ground he felt the beast's teeth sink into his neck, and knew his life was at an end.

He also knew that he had not died in vain, for he was sure that the last sword thrust he had made had found the heart of a wolf.

[the phantom]

The news the search party brought back to the village that morning was both good and bad.

Bad- Eomer had been found dead in a clearing.

Good- The half transformed body of Cailin had been found in the same clearing.

As was the case in another recently attacked village, Eomer and Cailin lived and died as one.

Living-

• Shelob (beggar)
• mormegil (messanger)
• the guy who be short (dwarf)
• Encaitare (jewel smith)
• Boromir88 (insulting man from Dor-Lomin)
• Firefoot (naturalist/herbalist)
• Lhunardawen (healer)
• littlemanpoet (lecherous innkeeper/bartender)
• Feanor of the Peredhil (tavern wench)
• Formendacil (gong farmer)
• Estelyn Telcontar (seamstress)
• Mister Underhill (itinerant drúadan watch-stone maker)

Dead-

• the phantom (Moderator- captured by Sauron and slain by wolves on Night 1)
• Anguirel (Ordinary- beaten to death by villagers on Day 1)
• Eomer of the Rohirrim (Hunter- died bravely battling wolves on Night 2)
• Cailin (Werewolf- slain by Hunter on Night 2)

Score: Villagers- 10, Wolves- 2

The following players have informed me that their participation will be somewhat under their usual today- mormegil, Lhunardawen, and Shelob.

If you have a RL conflict that will limit your posting, let me know via pm so I can add your name to the list above.

[mormegil]

Songs shall be sung for many years of the heroism and foresight of Eomer the Valiant. While a recreant mercenary he served our village well and I am glad he chose so wisely. It seems that he and I had similar suspicions.

This is a critical break for us and our voting yesterday should help being that 3 of us voted for Cailin, it would seem to clear LMP, Firefoot and myself; though not 100% I think the three of us can be trusted. Yesterday's voting also, I think, cast some strong suspicion on the following

Encai gave the second vote to Anguirel to make it 3 for Cailin and 2 for Ang

Mister Underhill tied the vote between Anguirel and Cailin

Feanor cast her vote for Boromir88 making it a three way tie and if left a three way tie both Boromir and Anguirel would die, at least one is innocent and most likely Boromir is innocent too.

Lhuna Broke the tie and essentially put the nail in Anguirel's coffin. Now this was a wise move on her part either as an innocent or a wolf. Innocents don't want double lynching this early and wolves want to look like the prevented it.

So what does this all mean? I think Feanor and Mister Underhill are most suspect in this whole affair. Feanor caused a three way tie and Underhill tied the vote hoping to save Cailin.

What do others think?

[mormegil]

I made a mistake in my analysis that changes things a bit.

I thought that the first person voted for, in the event of a tie so it would have been Boro and then the last person which would have been Boro but the next was Ang. The way it actually is would have Boro and Cailin go if the three way tie remained. I'm sorry for this and I think it cast a bit less suspicion on Fea.

I just thought of something that is not likely but I always come up with crazy ideas so here it goes:

There is a chance that Firefoot or LMP are trying to pull off a double bluff and knew or hoped, at least that the final wolf would not vote until the end thus breaking the possibility of Cailin. While I write this it makes less sense than it did at the beginning so I would think now that this is not probable.

So my new analysis cast a lot more suspicion on Lhuna and does not clear up Boro's name one bit. Mister Underhill is still highly suspicious however.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Alas, poor Anguirel, we did him a grave injustice! His death should be mourned, for he was a valiant and chivalrous knight. Why, he came to my defense when Boromir insulted me - he treated me, a lowly seamstress, like a princess! I wept much late last evening and then decided to pay him tribute in the only way I know how. It cost me some loss of sleep, but here is a rose I embroidered to lay on his grave.

I would like to clear up one misunderstanding that was expressed by several of you concerning me - my vote for Shelob was not on account of her silence. Please do not connect me and my choices with the decisions others make. Mine was a truly random choice and actually made by using a children's rhyme.

And now another valiant man has died, Eomer. This grievous loss is perhaps alleviated somewhat by his bravery in killing one of the wolves. His death may save some of our lives, indeed I fervently hope so! Yet mourn him we must, though we have not much time to do so. The urgency of our situation demands all of our wit and determination, lest we all suffer his fate.

My first thought yesterday was that at least one or two wolves must have been involved in the decision about Anguirel's death. It is plain to see that they would not all expose themselves through obvious unity, and now we see that Cailín, whose vote for Eomer unfortunately gives us no helpful clues for future debating, was herself a werewolf.

Was it a wolf who first suspected and voted for him? Shelob cast the first vote. Yet since it was the first day, the possibility that she chose as randomly as I did is great. The other three who voted for Ang are: Encaitare, Mister Underhill, and Lhunardawen. My suspicion is that at least one of them is a werewolf. I eagerly look forward to discussing the events and our possibilities with the rest of you today. Perhaps together we shall find counsel.

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by mormegil

This is a critical break for us and our voting yesterday should help being that 3 of us voted for Cailin, it would seem to clear LMP, Firefoot & myself; though not 100% I think the three of us can be trusted.

Encai gave the second vote to Anguirel to make it 3 for Cailin and 2 for Ang

Mister Underhill tied the vote between Anguirel and Cailin

Feanor cast her vote for Boromir88 making it a three way tie and if left a three way tie both Boromir and Anguirel would die, at least one is innocent and most likely Boromir is innocent too.

Lhuna Broke the tie and essentially put the nail in Anguirel's coffin. Now this was a wise move on her part either as an innocent or a wolf. Innocents don't want double lynching this early and wolves want to look like the prevented it.

So what does this all mean? I think Feanor and Mister Underhill are most suspect in this whole affair. Feanor caused a three way tie and Underhill tied the vote hoping to save Cailin.

What do others think?

Thanks for your relative confidence in me, Morm; it was your consistency in both suspecting and voting for Cailin, that led to my cautious confidence in you, since I also found something in Cailin's post that was unsettling. Thus my vote; in fact, I was waiting to see which of the 41-51 posters you would vote for, and was pleased to see it was Cailin.

I do find the persons you listed above to be the most suspect, even Feanor, though you realized her error in judgement, confusing Anguirel & Cailin. Nevertheless, though it may be that pain and difficulty breathing may have hampered her judgment, Feanor is clever enough to use such spurious reasoning to look innocent when she is in fact an evil minion of Sauron, if that is the case; so I wouldn't write her off your watch list just yet.

[littlemanpoet]

As with Day One, I'm going to deal with one post at a time, due to time constraints throughout the day. So I may have more posts than most of you, with less said per post. Bear it in mind, please.

Originally Posted by the phantom

The news the search party brought back to the village that morning was both good and bad.

Bad- Eomer had been found dead in a clearing.

Good- The half transformed body of Cailin had been found in the same clearing.

I couldn't make up my mind about Eomer yesterday because I wasn't sure who he was referring to in posts 41-51. I did see something in what Cailin said that made me suspicious, but then Eomer went and voted for Boromir who also had a post inbetween 41 & 51, so I wasn't sure whether Eomer was messing around with innocent, or werewolf minds. I'm glad to see it was the latter. Well done, good hero, sad to see you yet again leave the game so early; at least it wasn't by lynching, and your heroism will not go unremembered. I'll engrave something on a cask so that your name will be remembered even if the village fails. May your spirit find its home beyond the walls of the world.

[mormegil]

Something we seem to have forgotten from yesterday that was never answered is Formendacil's reaction in this post. I just don't want to overlook people that we had some questions of yesterday.

About suspicions on me, I am glad that we are still thinking of everybody but we do need to take advantage of such a big break and I would be surprised if one from my earlier list

Encai
Feanor
Mister Underhill
Lhuna

is not a wolf. I'm reticent to state that the two wolves would be in there and doubt it greatly. As far as Feanor goes I think I'm probably the best one to know how Fea-wolf would operate and I've seen some characteristics I would expect but others that make her seem innocent in my eyes. She's by no means off the top of my list but I don't think I'll go for her today.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by mormegil

Something we seem to have forgotten from yesterday that was never answered is Formendacil's reaction in this post. I just don't want to overlook people that we had some questions of yesterday.

It was Day 1. Everyone was, to quote the famous saying: "innocent until proven guilty". Personally, I found there to be lack of substance behind Boromir's vote for me. True, ALL votes that day were random, but saying that he would vote for me just because I object to LMP's persona was just as bad as me suggesting I vote for LMP for that reason in the first place.

In retrospect, I'll admit I might have overreacted a little- although some other people's overreactions (not going to name names here...) to my overreaction were just as bad.

Unlike some others, my suspicion regarding Mr. Underhill is not waning by his greater, and wiser, notices of today, rather, they are increased by them. He is definitely clever enough to be playing a double game, and that's the sort of thing a Werewolf would do.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I know I've contributed little today except to rag on you all to stop saying "s/he's definately innocenct, s/he's definately guilty", and I'm sorry to say that it's not going to get any better right now.

I've got a load of wenching to do (aka: several hours of psych homework, 100 pages of reading for core, a one hour radio show to go to, a paper to write, my wife to murder, and Guilder to frame for it), so I'm going to vote now and be done for toDay.

++LMP

Because I'm suspicious of all that voted for Cailìn, I was already suspicious of him, and as he voted for Cailìn, surely you'll agree that my logic should fit together well.

Wish me luck on my Psych paper... I need it... more than you can imagine.

My parting words for the night: there's no such thing as being too careful. Don't drop suspicion for any reason besides "s/he's dead and we know for sure because of it." Also, keep an eye on Esty. She's my random accusation for the evening. I like to see bloodlust! And she's just not showing much.

[mormegil]

Unfortunately I haven't had much time today so I haven't been able to read since I last posted. Anyway I will vote today perhaps a bit random, perhaps not as random. Anyway to clear the air about her and I'm not 100% convinced of her yet

++Feanor

[Firefoot]

Originally posted by Esty:
Firefoot defends Shelob, who is one of my top suspects.

I'm not defending Shelob. She's one of my top suspects.

I'm going to try and make some cases against my top suspects, both to clear my own thoughts and to see if that gets anywhere...

Formendacil: He starts out proposing two main theories: either a bandwagon because that would be a true village majority, or an everybody abstain from voting. Both of these strategies would benefit the wolves because there wouldn't be a good voting record to go off of and the wolves could easily hide. When it gets time to vote, he picks out three people he considers suspicious, Morm and Ang for fairly logical reasons, and LMP because of his occupation. But when he votes he doesn't seem to be considering any of these players, voting instead for Mr. U., who he has never mentioned and doesn't even seem to be garnering much village suspicion. Perhaps he cast suspicion on innocents, then voted for a fellow wolf in an underhanded, sly sort of way that doesn't really put attention on his fellow wolf? He is also "deeply insulted" by the vote for him. Wolves do tend to overreact a little more than ordinary villagers. His analysis post on Day 2 does seem fairly logical - that's good right? Villagers are supposed to be reasonable and logical. He could be hiding, though; he didn't bring much new to the table. I'm not extremely convinced of the Formen/Mr. U. alliance, though - Formen seems to be persuing him pretty vehemently today.

Shelob: She spends a good bit of energy being annoyed with the two votes against her because she hadn't said anything. Too defensive? She spends a lot of space discussing wolvish strategy, then follows it up by saying the wolves very likely won't lynch her. Because she is a wolf? Talking about wolvish strategy - and then not following it? Then she pulls a Fea and suggests we lynch her today. She moves me up on her suspicion list, and I'm still not sure I understand her logic after reading it several times - I think because she doesn't want the wolves to be able to double-bluff their way through the game. Yet didn't she just suggest we lynch her? Then she reiterates her point that the wolves won't kill her that night. I don't think much can be drawn from her vote of Lhuna, as she was rushed. But still...

Lhuna: She is very vague in her first post, briefly mentioning suspicions of several people but nothing very solid. She is forced to break the three-way tie; she says she sees no reason to vote for Cailin, and that Boromir is almost too suspcious to be a wolf. So she votes for Ang, claiming no responsibility over the outcome. Day 2, she votes for Mr. U., for "reasons stated above" - but she's never mentioned Mr. U. before at all. Hm...

I'd like to do a couple more, but these take time, y'know... And, in case I didn't make this clear, I'm not convinced about any of these people, Lhuna least of all. I'm just building cases for how they might be werewolves and why I might vote the way I do. My next subjects were going to be Esty, TGWBS, and Encai - and I'm nearly convinced of the innocence of the first and last.

And I believe the current voting standings are

Mr. Underhill – 1 (Lhuna 1)
Lhuna – 1 (Shelob 2)
Shelob – 2 (TGWBS 3, Esty 5)
Formendacil – 1 (Boromir 4)
LMP – 1 (Fea 6)
Fea – 1 (Morm 7)

[Encaitare]

I liked TGWBS's idea of reassessing my opinions from yesterDay, so here goes. Prepare for me to question nearly everyone in one way or another.

Shelob - Silent for most of the day, but as we share a similar predicament, I understand her plight. No suspicion at present.

Her vote seems somewhat groundless. Not saying that Lhuna is innocent, but Shelob does not back up her choice. Also, she's way too quiet. I know I've been quiet with my 2 posts a Day, but I don't see much substance to her posts. I think that if she were a gifted, she would work a little harder. She may get my vote toDay.

the guy who be short - His immediate assertion that he is not a wolf seems a bit iffy to me -- but then again, would a wolf make that kind of slip? It could have been an honest statement, or a wolf's careless mistake. I would credit TGWBS as being too clever to make slips like that, but then again, nobody's perfect.

Nothing he has said toDay makes me feel overly suspicious, so I'm going to leave him alone for now.

Boromir88 - seems very irreverent about the whole thing. Plus, he's rather rude, but that's in character. The whole attitude could be a bold bluff.

He cannot claim to be a "known innocent," although Firefoot addressed that point already.

Lhunardawen - Nothing to go on, really.

Like I said before, I don't like her extremely early vote. I know we all live in different time zones, and Fea and I have gotten some attention for consistently voting late in the Day, since that is also due to where we live. But as I also said before, Lhuna managed to vote later yesterDay. Hrmm...

Feanor of the Peredhil - I'd like to know why she wants me lynched. Could just be that she, out of her silly sense of humor, would find it amusing. She claims to have found "either two known innocent, or two known wolves". For such an outright statement, I doubt she's the Seer. But I have to wonder what she thinks she knows. Perhaps these two are LMP and B88, whom she later said she suspects.

She offers good, sound advice... although the wolves could take advantage of her assertion that wolves will be bold, especially in a game such as this. The wolves might then keep a very low profile and throw everyone off... maybe that's what Fea hopes will happen? Despite how she says we should suspect her, I really don't at the moment, though.

Formendacil - was "deeply insulted" by an accusation. Could just be the traditional first-day response to an accusation, could be a little more defensive. Yet he voted for Mr. Underhill, and although I don't think I'll do the same, I agree with his reasoning.

I feel like I don't have much to go on from him today. He sticks with his initial opinion, which could mean several things.

Estelyn Telcontar - I'm used to seeing Esty taking charge and getting things done. As a new player, I can understand how she's on the quiet side... but even so, I'd like to hear more from her.

She's still maintaining a low profile, although she has now decided more firmly whom to target: those who voted for Anguirel. Even though I am on that list, I'm glad to see that she's not still in newbie mode.

Mister Underhill - Formendacil mentioned before that he is very intelligent and seems to be "playing dumb". Could be lupine behavior.

Like with Esty, it's good to see that he's being more active. I am still a little suspicious of him, though. I shall have to see what the outcome of toDay's lynching is before I can form a stronger opinion on him.

Mormegil, Firefoot, and LMP have been addressed in my previous post (168), and I am sticking to those opinions of them for now.

As I did yesterDay, I shall return in a bit to cast my vote. Right now I am leaning towards Shelob, although if anyone else has some really good arguments I'd be glad to hear them.