Tol-in-Gaurhoth XIV: Nyárë Nauroron Númenoreva

[The Saucepan Man]

Werewolves you say? Tricksy fellows, Werewolves. Reminds me of the time we was sailing in the South Seas and went ashore on an island to replenish our food 'n water. Well, it took us longer than we had bargained for, so we made camp for the night. Full moon it were. And it were not long before we heard their howls. Chilled us to the bone, they did. Chilled us right to the bone, I tell thee. And then they attacked. Great hairy beasts they were. As like men, but bigger and hairier with claws as like iron and great fanged snouts. Great fanged snouts, I tell thee. And strong they was. Each 'ad the strength of five men. Five men, I tell thee. Only two of us made it back to the boat and escaped from that island with our lives. The rest were seized upon and ripped limb from limb. Limb from limb, I tell thee.

Well, if three of them beasts are loose in the village, no good will come of it, mark my words. Our only hope is to find 'em and lynch 'em by day, for it is during the hours of darkness that they gain their powers.

As to who we should lynch, well I don't like that Rune there misself. Been naught but trouble since 'e came to this village, muttering about minimum wages and working conditions n' all. 'E's up to no good, mark my words. And 'e seems to have some unnatural influence over young Gurthang. Poor lad 'asn't been 'imself since that there union man arrived. 'E used to be such a good lad, but now 'e's naught but trouble.

If we're hunting Wolves, then in my book it's those two we should be looking at first.

[Aiwendil]

I come all the way up here to the farthest coast of the Forostar for a nice quiet retirement and what do I find? Elf-friends and werewolves! And harbourmasters dropping their 'h's! I've half a mind to pack my things and be off in search of some quieter place to settle down, among ordinary folk with proper Adunaic pronunciation.

But I'm afraid that as a tutor and a scholar, I simply can't walk away from an unsolved mystery. I'll stay and do what I can to help you catch these fiends.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Alcarillo was a good person, but not greatly missed as he did helped the Capital exploiding the workers: Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks.

I did tell him that progressive income taxation was the one to prefer.

Allready I am beeing accused by the harbormaster The Saucepan Man, this is obvius a attempt to weaken the union and the workers of this land. We must not let this happen! Know this you will not succed, we will not let the Capitalist expoid us no more!

Wolves he call us, but he has shown no evidence other than those of his own greed, an appetite for profit and power that previous had not been seen in this village. Such an appetite that is only found in the soul of a wolf.

I say lets get rid of The Saucepan Man ! Wolf he is thats for sure, maybe in more than one way.

[Boromir88]

I dun trust nun of ya'lls union folk. Ya'all been workin togedar I surspect.

Poor Alcarillo, but the wulves did 'ave a fine choice on who to kill. I mean...yee was the tax collector. Now, I can save all me 'onest errnings from me crab farm.

Spekkin of the crab farm. Do wolves like, 'ave the power to make animals goes mad? Cuz, I wolked up this mornin' and one of me own crabs wus eatin' anutha one. I 'ad to kill it I did, it wuld of ate 'em all.

My first surspect is Lhuna. Shes says shes sum polite shepard gurl. I wunder 'ow polite she is at night, I do.

[wilwarin538]

(since everyone is talking with the great accents I'll do the same, though it won't be a very good job )

My oh my. A friend of the elves killed by wolves. I would never have thought something like this wouldv 'appened, specially since the most excitin thing this here town has seen was that moose that stayed in my front yard for more then a week. Though I doubt that has anythin to do with the were thins....

Anyway, since many others whove spoke accused someone, I might as well do the same. I'll use my number to choose three suspects, and I'll come up wit the best reasons I can think of.

3. Dancing Spawn of Ungliant - Well she embroiderd' me a case for my fiddle last week. It was red, I hate red, every person that lives within in a mile of the village knows that, plus red is the colour of blood, maybe she 'adn't seen blood for awhile and was missin what it looked like.
5. Formendacil - Disgruntld' aye? Perhaps he's so upset cause he adn't eaten anyone in awhile?
8. Jack - He uses a hammer a lot. Hammers could be used as a weapon I'm sure.

I knows those ain't the best reasons for accusing people, but I'm at a loss. I'm still trying to get over Alcarillo's death and I be expected to be a part o killin someone else. I think I'll just need a littl' time, I'll go play Alcarillo's favorite song for awhile before leavin for time. I'll be back about four hours before the votins closed.

[mormegil]

I'm not sure sure about having werewolves among us. Alcarillo always was a bit touched in the head and let his imagination run a bit wild. Now there is no doubt that he's dead, as I saw for myself but I think we need to see who would benefit from his death.

Originally Posted by Boromir88

Poor Alcarillo, but the wulves did 'ave a fine choice on who to kill. I mean...yee was the tax collector. Now, I can save all me 'onest errnings from me crab farm.

Now I think all business owners had some dislike of this tax man of ours and some had more to benefit than others. I mean really how much profit is there in crabbing and pearl diving? That points to Fordim and Boromir although Jack's business has been slow lately and has to benefit by saving on taxes and on increasing our paranoia so that we buy more weapons and armor.

My sights are set on those three

Jack
Boromir
Fordim

Though Rune is worth watching with his talk of politics at a time of death and tragedy.

[Gurthang]

Eh, I be alright with gettin' rid of old Master Saucepan. I'd enough of his long-winded tales the first day I worked for 'em. That may not be werewolvery, but it drove me to a union, that's for sure. I'll be listenen to those tales, now, I'll promise ye that, just to see if I catch anythin'.

But there ain't near enough talkin' goin' on. So:

++Formendacil

For being a lazy, good-for-nothing desk 'worker'. Puh! How you can work while sittin' on yer butt behind a desk is beyond my knowledge. I know what work is, done it all me life, and that clerk ain't ever done none.

[Boromir88]

It 'as been quiet. I 'ate quiet towns. You jus' aint gonna solve a thing if ya'lls jus' sit 'nd stare at eechother.

Well, we now 'ave a population of fithteen peeple. Six peeple 'ave sed sumthin' so far. So, this means someone whos sed sumthin so far is a wulf, by my own simple logic.

Wayne, just says somethin' about Alcarillo an' makes like a tree and leafs.

The Saucepan over 'ere goes off about sum stories that I aint gonna try to unnerstand. I surspect if he's a wulf, he's trying to distract us frum the real task and thats killin' wulf.

Aiwendil, whines 'bout his own life and cries 'bout how awful our spekkin' is.

Rune fires back against the Panman. Did the Panman 'it the wrong nerve Mista Union, sir?

Wilwarin, just kin' of seems normal if ya's all gonna ask me. I mean, she certainly does whut I surspect an innocent to do. So, I guess jus' fur that I shuld be more carefuwl.

And Gurthang votes. Which, usually I dun find votin' early that suspicious, 'specially on the furst day, when nun of us no what these wulves act like, or whats they try to do.

So, based on my simple logic that a wulf has sed sumthin', and frum whos a sed anything...Gurthang, Rune, and Aiwendil are my surspects.

[Boromir88]

I mus' of cross-posted with uh...mormegil. But, uh, he's not worryin' me right now. He seems like wilwarin, I'd surspect an innocent to do this, so I surspect he's innocent right now.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

I may be naught but a lithesome pearl diver, but even I'm a bit suspicious of the person who would cast the first vote so early in the day! Why, poor Alcarillo's body's still warm and there's Gurthang champing at the bit for more blood already! And he's after one as hasn't even spoken up yet!!

That having been said, it's true that there's precious little to go by on this first day other than paranoia, so in the end I suspect I'll have to cast my vote in pretty much the same way -- with a lot of guesswork and hope. The likelihood of catching a Wolf this day is only 3 in 14 and I don't like those odds.

So it's like the adage says: him as wants to catch a werewolf needs luck or patience....and so since I don't believe in luck....

So how to catch a werewolf? Well, it's mighty tricky and that's for sure as they have that one great advantage as we don't: they know who's human and who isn't. The thing we have to do (and by we I mean us innocents) is to turn that advantage against them. Y'see, when it comes to voting time, everyone casts his or her vote as an individual -- cause, when it comes down to it, the only person you can really know is innocent is yourself. But wolves, y'see, when they vote, they vote as a group. Even if they spread their votes around, they're still going to be spreading those votes around as a group. So the trick here, y'see, is not to focus on individual choices or actions, but on groups of people who seem to be acting more or less alike, or groups of people who are acting different from one another consistently.

So, as I see it, if you try and catch a werewolf, you're doomed. But if you try to catch a group of three werewolves you might just stand a chance.

The first step, then, is to figure out what the groups are in this here village. The second step, is to decide which group it is that's acting the most wolfish and to vote to lynch from within that group. So it's with that in mind that I shall be watching for these kinds of patterns and groupings. So far, early as it is, there's at least one clearly defined group...

The Accusatory:

Sauce
Rune
Boro
Gurthang

...and possibly two...

The Visibly Non-Committal:

Wilwarin
Aiwendil
Wayne

So this is what's I know right now --

The Accusers are drawing a lot of attention to themselves and making a lot of noise, so they are either clumsy innocents or daring wolves.

The VCNs are shadowing the Accusers without going all the way, so they are either nervous innocents or cagey wolves.

In all fairness I suppose I should probably put myself in a group as well...

Self-Appointed Saviours:

Fordim

The SAS is drawing a lot of attention to himself by suggesting a strategy that will only work if lots of people believe it and go along with him, so he is either a daring innocent or an arrogant wolf.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Ach! Cross-posted I did with mormegil whom I see has joined the ranks of...

The Accusatory:

Sauce
Rune
Boro
Gurthang
mormegil

A note to what I said above -- the wolves, if they are smart, will split themselves up between the groups I identify, but that, y'see, ain't no way to hide, since we can spot folk as join in with groups to try and hide -- when it comes down to it, if they're acting as though they're a part of one group, but voting in a way as aligns them with the thinking of other groups...well...that will catch me lithesome eye...

[Aiwendil]

Well, I'll tell you why I'm visibly non-committal - because when I first came around just about everybody else was doing nothing but standing and staring. Didn't have much to go on, you see. But I've got a bit more to go on now.

Fordim suggests that the wolves will endeavour to diversify their approaches. This makes sense to me, though it seems that it'll be difficult in practice to identify such behavior. But building on this idea, it seems likely to me that on the opening day the wolves will split themselves between early posters and late posters. So I'd guess that at least one wolf has posted so far, but also that at least one has not yet posted.

The people who have spoken up are, in order of their first utterance:

WaynetheGoblin
The Saucepan Man
Aiwendil
Rune
Boromir
Wilwarin
Gurthang
Mormegil
Fordim

And those that have not yet said a word:

Dancing spawn of ungoliant
Formendacil
Holbytlass
Jack
Kath
Lhunardawen

. . . all of which leaves me nowhere in terms of definite suspicions. So I guess I'll remain visibly non-committal for the moment.

One further thought - I've heard there's a seer in this village to whom the Valar speak at whiles. It seems to me that this seer is our best chance to catch those beasts, and I think we'd do well to think long and hard about how best to make use of his or her ability. Two important points occur to me:

1. It's vital that the seer not be discovered by the wolves. Therefore, the seer ought not to hint at his or her abilities.

2. Once the seer is killed, we will all, naturally, closely analyze everything he or she said. As I see it, the seer's priority should be to make this eventual analysis as clear as possible. My advice to the seer, then, is to be very, very careful in every reference to another person - so that after the seer's death, it will be immediately apparent whether the seer in fact knew that person's identity.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Gurthang

But there ain't near enough talkin' goin' on. So:

++Formendacil

You are most wise to vote thus, Master Gurthang, for I am a wolf.

So is Fordhim. So is SPM. And tonight we will lynch the seer, Lhuna, and the ranger, Rune, will be helpless to do anything.

Believe me? I hope not, but if you're as paranoid and overanalytical as most villagers tend to be in days of crisis like this, then you just might....

Honestly, there is no way of knowing who or what the wolves are in this village, and I'm not even going to bother presenting theories of guilt or innocence. I rather think that Gurthang's early vote for me is suspicious, but that's just because he picked me. If he had picked, Wilwa, say, then I wouldn't be bothered in the slightest.

You want a random vote?

Then I'll make it:

++Dancing Spawn of Ungoliant, just because we know that Ungoliant is/was evil.