Tol-in-Gaurhoth XVIII: The Play’s The Thing…

[Shelob]

Finally, about 4.5 hours after I started (though I did take about half an hour to eat) I have finished this bloody thing. Remind me never to volunteer to explain the references I use again...or just do what Abercrombie and Malkatoj do and tell me to stop existing, it hasn't worked yet but you never know...


Post: The play's the thing

Title The title is taken from Hamlet, Act II scene ii (II.ii), from the line "the play 's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king."

Sub-Title Or Few Lower
I took the idea of a sub title from Twelfth Night or what you will. However “few lower” is actually an anagram of “werewolf” (oddly enough this made me feel really bad during NIGHT 4, after littlemanpoet vanished and I’d calmed down enough to realize that the cause of the problem was anagrams…)

scene i Thunder and lighting….there to meet with MacDeath
I took this almost straight from I.i of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, it’s one of my favourite plays and it dawned on me ages ago that the three wolves were like the three witches. I made a few changes mostly to reflect time (“ere the rise of sun”, rather than “ere the set of sun”) and I couldn’t help playing on “Macbeth” and “MacDeath”, I just couldn’t.

scene ii--final stage direction (Exit chased by a bear)
That whole scene was based around that stage direction from Winter’s Tale by Shakespeare. I even assigned Abercrombie an occupation so that I could use the stage direction (“yeti-spotter” being from the Monty Python skit about a camel spotter, he’d been a yeti-spotter before he began spotting camels)

scene iii

Eaumor
The name of “Eaumor” was taken from the Name “Moreau” (Eaumor=Eau|mor=mor|eau=moreau) from The Island of Dr. Moreau. That had been an alternate idea for the game’s theme, that I (as mad scientist/doctor) had somehow created the wolves through unnatural experiments and they weren’t happy (like the beast-people, in The Island of Dr. Moreau), in reality the play idea was much cooler and gave me more to work with, but I liked the name “Eaumor” so I kept it.

a dark (and very expensive, forest)
If anyone is familiar with Spamalot they might have caught this reference, otherwise it would have made no sense. In Spamalot though “King Arthur and his Knights fled for their lives and were instantly scattered and lost in a dark and very expensive forest”.

Shelob hath murdered sleep and therefore Eaumor shall sleep no more, Death shall sleep no more.
For this I nicked a line from Macbeth, Macbeth had just murdered King Duncan and comments to his wife that he heard a voice crying “sleep no more to all the house… Glamis hath murdered sleep and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more”. Glamis and Cawdor are the two titles before king the witches greet him with, “All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee thane of Glamis” and so on. Macbeth had one of the titles (Glamis) was shortly after their greeting given the second (Cawdor) and killed the true King to secure the third (king). Not that you really care about it to that length, but because I do and because I could go on for much longer, but I’ll stop after I point out how “Cawdor” and “Eaumor” almost, kinda rhyme and how “Macbeth” and “Death” do….deep that.

We’ve come with a message for Shelob, but The sight is dismal; And our affairs come too late: The ears are senseless that should give us hearing.
That’s right, that line was almost directly taken from the line in Hamlet, "The sight is dismal; And our affairs from England come too late: The ears are senseless that should give us hearing," V.ii. About the only thing I did was take out “England” and specify which dead person they were coming with a message for. I think the original thought process behind that line was “Merde! I need something for SPM to say…I know ‘foreign dignitary’ almost equals ‘ambassador’ I’ll steal that thing from Hamlet.”

Excellent, well, I am…[…]…a fishmonger
Also from Hamlet, this time from II.ii and a conversation between Hamlet and Polonius, I just changed punctuation and split it up.
Polonius: do you know me, my lord?
Hamlet: excellent well; you are a fishmonger.

Alms? For an ex-leper?
Another place where I stole a line and switched the punctuation to change it’s meaning. This line wasn’t from Shakespeare though, it was from Monty Python’s Life of Brian, as was the role of ex-leper…

When that I was and a little tiny boy […]For the rain it raineth every day.
Glirdan’s little song here was taken from V.i in Twelfth Night when the fool Feste ends the play, about the only thing I changed was the second to last line. It said ‘thieves’, I changed it to ‘wolves’.



Post Rose the Rants and Gil was dead

Title This title was basically a phonetic play on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, which wasn’t quite Hamlet but was based on it.

Really? […] What about this False Seer?
Also basically from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead this idea is from a game the title characters play in the play and movie (if you’ve seen the movie think of the scene where they’re in the Tennis courts), basically they play to three points and get a point when the other player fails to ask a question, repeats a questions, asks a grunt instead of a question (“huh?”) or asks a non sequitur.

You had it in for me didn't you? Right from the begining
Who am I that so much should converge on my little death
There must have been a moment, at the beginning, where you could have […] but we missed it
Well […] We'll know better next time
All those are lines I modified from the final scene in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. It’s pretty simple really and they’re not anything special, there’s just enough of them to make a little army of references.


Post Beware the Eyes of March

Title The title was taken from what is probably one of the two most famous lines from Julius Ceasar, this particular line was “Beware the ides of March” I.ii and is the Soothsayer’s warning to Caesar. In case you don’t know the “ides of March” refer to the 15th, also there’s a Foxtrot comic where Jason and his friend Marcus make giant Eye-shaped headgear and go up to Jason’s sister Paige to say “Beware the Eyes of March”…just in case you care.

Voice from the well:
I took the idea of a the seer being in a well from Oscar Wilde's Salome, where the prophet Jokaanan was kept in a well. I believe the play actually uses “Voice from the well” but I’m not sure, whether or not it uses that specifically I definitely took the idea from that play.

Sooth…sooth…
Holby was the seer. She was saying ‘sooth’. Therefore Holby was a ‘sooth sayer’ or “soothsayer”…I though it was hysterical, it probably isn’t really…

Look at the moon, how strange the moon seems. She is like a little princess who wears a yellow veil, and has little white doves for feet.
I’m sorry Lhuna, I know you liked these lines, but they were stolen from the beginning of Salome. The play begins with two people (a guard and somebody, I can’t remember) discussing the moon and the princess Salome in turns…I took some of the better moon/princess lines from the very beginning. I think they worked quite well though, especially with the whole well idea from earlier.

Lest she see more, prevent it […] Out, Vile Jelly
These two notes were lines taken from King Lear, when Gloucester has his eyes ripped out. The first note/line was modified slightly, I just had to change the pronoun so Holby wasn’t an ‘it’.

Gloucester-ized
Holby’s death said she’d been “Gloucester-ized”, that’s because my friends and I took the above described scene where Gloucester’s eyes were ripped out and turned it into a verb. Ours is probably the only school where you can hear “I’ll Gloucesterize you!”, and our English room is probably the only one with a sign saying “If you can read this you aren’t Gloucester” in it (and yes, the sign is my fault).


Post Too much of water hast thou, poor Lhunardawen

Title This title is also from Hamlet, and all I did was change the name in the line "too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia" (IV.vii)

The pun conversation
I just have to comment here that this ‘too many puns’ conversation in no way reflected how I felt. In reality I was in glorious awe of the puns, they were glorious. Thank you.

How now, sweet shepherd?
Three guesses, that’s right! It was from Hamlet IV.vii and the line "how now, sweet queen", which is spoken right before the Queen Gertrude tells Laertes that Ophelia has drowned.

One woe doth tread upon another's heel, So fast they follow; dear Lhuna’s drown'd.
Hamlet "One woe doth tread upon another's heel, So fast they follow; your sister's drown'd, Laertes." IV.vii

Everyone Else: Drown'd! O, where?
You guessed it, Hamlet, IV.vii

You see that willow, growing aslant our brook? She must have tried to climb it, you can see where a branch broke…
This line references Queen Gertrude's description of how Ophelia died, esp. the "a willow grows aslant a brook" and "an envious sliver broke" portions of the queen’s spiel…against all odds this is also from Hamlet IV.vii

…there are too many bad puns surrounding this whole, hairy business
Not a reference but I hope you caught the irony of that, it’s another one of those things I find really funny but probably isn’t.

Drown’d a muddy death upon DAY 2
You guessed it, Hamlet IV.vii, " her garments, heavy with their drink, pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay to muddy death."


Post Ang's death

General Statement regarding this Death
Gah, I got a PM from the wolves early in the afternoon, probably around 2...and then promptly fell asleep until 4.30, I then had to leave by 5...we're not going to talk about that death...though I am rather a fan of him having been "killed safely"...


Post To die: to sleep...perchance

Title You don’t want to hear it, but this title was basically from Hamlet,
"To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream:" III.i

To be, or not to be – that is the question; Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to NOT CHEAT
Hamlet, sorry, III.i
“To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,”

Running away, eh? Come back here and take what's coming to you.
From Monty Python and the Holy Grail in the screen play those are the words the Black Knight yells after King Arthur after having both his legs cut off.

It’s like in Clue…
The rules actually say that, and the 'break in the wall' they're referencing really does happen at the window's too...mostly I just like proving that windows are doors, though if you were actually able to play such that you can leave the building and treat the yard as just one other room it’s crazy, there’s only 1 room without a window so you can get from any room other than that to any room other than that in two turns. One turn to leave by the window and one to re-enter the building. It defeats half of the purpose of the game but it’s not against the rules.

Oh dear, I hadn’t thought of that. (and promptly vanishes in a puff of [almost] logic)
I modified this for the play format, and added the “[almost]” because I wasn’t really sure how the argument would stand on a logical basis, but basically it’s from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, in the entry on the bable fish and the proof against god existing.

Fair is foul [...] and foul fair.
From Macbeth, I.i “Fair is foul and foul fair, hover through the fog and filthy air” it’s spoken at the very end of the first scene by the three witches.


Post Here lived and died a Shepherd

Title From As you Like it. I modified the line slightly, the character fully says “for my father's house and all the revenue that was old Sir Rowland's will I
estate upon you, and here live and die a shepherd.” V.ii

Alas poor shepherd, thou art in a perilous state.
Two separate references here, bunched into one reference. Both from As you Like it “Alas, poor shepherd” IV.iii and “Thou art in a parlous state, shepherd.” III.ii. If you don’t know “Parlous” means either “perilous, dangerous” or (obsolete) “Dangerously Cunning”, I just learned this though ‘cause I’d panicked when looking at the original line, in reality I think I’d misread it when look for lines to use and typed out ‘perilous’ instead of ‘parlous’, though ‘parlous’ would have been better.

If these beast be not damned for this, the devil himself…
Taken also from As you Like it the original of this line was “If thou beest not
damned for this, the devil himself will have no shepherds” (III.ii), I decided that “these beasts” would make more sense (and looked close enough) then I just cut it off early since ‘will have no shepherds’ didn’t make much sense whereas leaving it hanging made it seem more plausible.

Thus was the shepherd beaten from their side
From Henry VI, part ii (something new, hurray!), the actual line goes “Thus is the shepherd beaten from thy side, And wolves are gnarling who shall gnaw thee first.” (III.i)


Post For he's inclined as is the ravenous wolf.

Title Taken directly from Henry VI, part ii III.i, nothing much special here.

bickering and arguing about who killed who
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Prince Herbert’s father (the King of Swamp Castle) when he’s coming down the stairs with Lancelot the guests get mad ‘cause Lancelot had just killed/wounded a lot of people and the King of Swamp Castle says “this is supposed to be a happy day, let’s not bicker and argue about ‘oo killed ‘oo”.

We’ve found a wolf, may we burn him?
Also Monty Python and the Holy Grail, perhaps you’d recognize it better if you replaced ‘wolf’ with ‘witch’ and ‘him’ with ‘her’…

why don’t we crush them under a pile of rocks
This refers to the death of Giles Corey during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, but you’ll get more on that later.

Or would I? […] (Thunder crashes [sorry, couldn’t help it]
Yes, this is a reference, and No, I didn’t expect you to get it. Last year our teacher gave us a reading on how to write stereotypical horror stories. Basically the only advice this packet gave you was that you should “always end things with “thunder crashed” or “thunder crashes” it makes things more dramatic”. The packet was hysterical though, it’s still widely quoted in our English classes and I really just couldn’t help it.

Do you really think I am a wolf? […]there are liars and swearers enow to beat the honest men and hang up them.
Macbeth, originally the conversation is about traitors and I’m not sure if I’d had a reason for changing half of the ‘traitors’ to wolves or if I just forgot to change half of them. In any event the conversation can be found in Act IV scene ii.

Best five gold coins I ever spent, given the circumstances
Yep, I referenced Littlemanpoet…and his expensive silver daggers…


PostBefore the Magistrate for trial did come…

Title Alright, here I’m going to direct you to a website for actual information about Giles Corey, http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/proj...scoreypage.HTM . If you don’t wish to actually go read about him though I will say that during the Salem Witch trials in Salem Massachusetts a small part of the world basically went crazy. Three girls in the town accused someone in the village of witchcraft and that woman was given the chance to save herself by accusing others. She did. It goes on like this for a while, if you’re accused you can either admit and accuse another, if you do that you’re not lynched, or you can deny the accusations against you and find yourself being hanged. Giles Corey was accused during this witch-scare of being a warlock (male witch) and since he refused to admit to it he was put to death. His death was unusual however in that a board was put on his chest and heavy rocks were added, the theory being that eventually he’d admit the charges were correct. It didn’t work however, he reportedly said only “More Weight” before dying. The actual title is a modification of a line in an anonymous poem entitled The Man of Iron. If you want more information on the trials as a whole go here: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/proj...alem/salem.htm

Great stones we lay upon his chest until he plead…
I don’t know why I put so much effort into finding my copy of The Crucible since I only ended up using this, and it’s modified from it’s original. Ignoring the uselessness of that though Arthur Miller’s play about the Witch Trials (and it’s more modern parallel of the Communist Hunts, which many argue the play is really about) is a quite good play, I certainly enjoyed reading it.

We have murdered the ranger, therefore the ranger shall protect no more, Eaumor is safe neaumor
As I mentioned in the post is this just another stealing of “Glamis hath murdered sleep…”, to explain that it’s one of my favourite lines in the play. I would like to say however that I’m really, really a fan of “Neaumor”…though the “how is that funny” question is in honour of my friends, who ask me that all the time.

Like Corey, burried under the contents of a Quarry
Using Corey’s name here was my way of giving you some (small) way of searching for Giles Corey by yourselves. You’ll note, however, that I managed to work in a rather fun phonetic joke.


Post: The wood has come against her.

Title This title references Macbeth, specifically one of the warnings the witches give Macbeth in Act V scene i. “Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him.”, it’s not directly referencing but that was the inspiration.

the only thing unusual […] and ate her.
I’m not sure if this was specifically referencing anything, but Macbeth and The Lord of the Rings both have rather vicious forests, as does The Brother’s Grimm. It’s just a common theme and my other ending was rather anticlimactic, so I changed it last minute. Actually, I changed this before I had the title, so if that’s any help…

Post For myself I will hunt this wolf to death

Title This title was taken from Henry VI, part iii II.iv. This line was really fitting for a hunter I thought, the only way it could have been better was if a wolf had died as well, but even so.

He’s got a dagger in his back
I hope you can see where this is going. If not, keep reading.

You two brutes
“Et tu, Brute!” ringing any bells? It’s from III.i in Julius Caesar and is the second really famous line from Caesar I mentioned earlier. If you want to know what this one got me, it got me a fairly well rounded scolding from Abercrombie…something about being too geeky to exist.


Post The Dreadful Story of Aiwendil and the Matches

Title The title is all I speak about for sure in regards to Abercrombie’s post. However I would like to thank her for doing this, it was quite helpful and kept me from panicking. Anyway, this title is from a book which is usually called “Struwwelpeter”. It is a German book by Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann. In English it’s often called “Shockheaded Peter” and was, about 5 years ago, turned into a junk opera. It’s a collection of little rhyming stories telling about children who behave poorly. The story Abercrombie referenced is “The Dreadful Story of Harriet and the Matches” (in English) and “Die gar traurige Geschichte mit dem Feuerzeug” (in German). If you want more information I’d suggest going here: http://www.shockheadedpeter.com/struww.html from there you can get information about either the stories or the junk opera (which, if you ever get a chance to see, is very entertaining)


Post Honesty’s a fool and loses that it works for.

Title This line was taken from Othello, Iago speaks it to the title character during Act III scene iii. I believe the only reason I chose this was that it fit the death of the False Seer/Fool…

beware the sides of March
This was also a reference to “beware the ides of March” from Caesar. I was rather more a fan of this one because the intention was (though I’m not sure how clear it ended up being) that the wolf used edges (sides) of the March page in the calendar to give him the paper cuts. My original plan was that if the False Seer died the next wolf to die would have a paper cut from changing over his calendar, the Fool warned them and it seemed wrong but wasn’t…This worked just as well though.

Well, it looks like there’s only one thing we can do.
I hadn’t meant for this to be a reference, just a statement that the only thing they can do is look for the last wolf. However Abercrombie gave me another “too geeky to exist” lecture because she realized it’s like the Miracle Max line “When they’re all dead there’s only one thing to do […] go through their pockets and look for loose change”. If you’re wondering, I get a lot of those lectures.

Done to death by numerous papercuts
“Done to death by slanderous tongues” V.iii in Much Ado About Nothing. Probably one of the most entertaining comedies Shakespeare wrote, I would highly recommend the 1993 movie version.


Post It wasn’t easy being green…

Title From the Kermit song, It isn’t easy being green. I’m sure you all can see the reasoning behind that.

So long, […] and thanks for all the fish
If you’ve ever read or seen The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams you had a decent chance of getting this reference. It is indeed the dophin’s last message to mankind before they leave because the world is about to be destroyed. The only reason this is in there is because I happened to be watching the movie when I wrote the death, though looking back on it it’s actually rather fitting (other than Celuien not being a dolphin).

Post The End of the Fishy puns.

Looks like he was stabbed [..] And a note saying “For a ducat I am slain”
Sorry, we’re back to Hamlet here, at least I hadn’t used it in a while. This whole scene references Polonius’ death in Act III. Polonius was hiding behind a curtain to listen in on a conversation between Hamlet and the Queen, when Polonius thinks Hamlet is going to hurt the queen he calls out. Hamlet, thinking it’s his Uncle the king, stabs Polonius through the curtain, saying “How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!”. Polonius responds with “O, I am slain!” before dying.

Post Wherein I'll catch your conscience and reign king

Title Harks back to the first post of the game and finishes the quote. Mostly this just seemed fitting, a nice way to round off the ending of the game (and I had no better ideas).

Glirdan takes the silver dagger, still on the ground from when Formendacil used it to kill the first wolf
Referencing a reference, aren’t I good? Actually those daggers were bloody useful, thanks LMP.

Look not so fierce on me! […] (Exaunt all)
This entire part I’d stolen from the Christopher Marlow play Doctor Faustus. Personally I’d recommend reading it, the play’s quite good, but in terms of the game it was by far the best wolf-win death I could find. I’m really a fan of it.

Epilogue Not really a reference, but I like Prospero’s epilogue in The Tempest and Puck’s in A Midsummer Night’s Dream so I stole the style those are in.

[Aiwendil]

Thanks for that list, Shemod! Quite a few I didn't catch. My favourite, though, remains Mormegil's dying words: "You two brutes". I was incapacitated with laughter for a few minutes after reading that.

Tar wrote:

who were pretty suspicious of me in the first place, thanks to Aiwendil mentioning me in every bloody post

Hehe, I would apologize, but I'm not sorry. Ironic that voting for a wolf on the first DAY turned out to be such a stroke of ill fortune for you.

I will have some highlights of the wolvish conversations as soon as I can.

[Lhunardawen]

Originally Posted by Eomer (grr)

Lhuna, I'd apologise a million times! Why do I always stab you in the back in Werewolf?

A million times? Still not enough.

Originally Posted by Shelob

One woe doth tread upon another's heel, So fast they follow; dear Lhuna’s drown'd.
Hamlet "One woe doth tread upon another's heel, So fast they follow; your sister's drown'd, Laertes." IV.vii

If you have had that said to Nilp, Formendacil, or Eomer, you wouldn't have had to change the line.

Anyways, I'm still amazed! Wonderful job, Shelob.

[Aiwendil]

As you might expect, we were a rather talkative pack of wolves, no less during the Night than the Day. What follows has been mercilessly edited, though I fear it's still rather long.

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Wolf

Greetings, fellow Wolves.

My own intention, during the Day, will be to try to post just as I would as an innocent villager. How convincingly I will be able to pull that off I just don’t know. I don’t see any need for a fixed strategy on Day 1, as we will need to react to circumstances as they develop. Best thing is to try to act just as we do when we are innocents (which means lengthy, wordy posts from me). In light of this, we should not be averse to casting suspicion on one another, although not so strongly that it forms the basis of a bandwaggon.

We should try not to be decisive in the lynching of an innocent. That doesn’t mean we should avoid voting for the person who ends up getting lynched, but we should make sure that there are enough other innocents there to cover us. I suppose that we should try to spread our votes, although I don't think it matters too much if two of us occasionally vote for the same person. We just need to avoid giving rise to recognisable patterns. I would also recommend avoiding “throwaway” votes, particularly towards the end of voting, that look like safe Wolfish votes. We should aim not to all vote around the same time, although one of us at least should probably be around towards the end of voting. Perhaps we could try to alternate this, although not obviously so. I will usually have to vote by around 8pm GMT, although there may be days when I can stay around later (not Day 1).

On Nightly killings, there are a lot of respected, experienced players in this game. But the longer the three of us stay alive while other respected players are dying around us, the more suspicious we will look. I would therefore not necessarily advocate killing off the strong players, not all of them anyway, unless we think we have spotted a Gifted. The good thing is that few will expect three experienced and generally vocal players to be the Wolves. We may be able to manipulate the lynching of a few of the quieter ones, though we will want to keep some around.

Keep a look out for the Seer on Day 1. Our reputations are such that the chances are one or more of us will be dreamed of in the first few days. We may be able to spot the Seer early because of this. Luckily, the village has a False Seer, which should work in our favour and mitigate the fact that we are prime dream candidates. The True Seer will not be sure that his or her dreams are correct until the False Seer dies, so we want to try to keep the False Seer around at least until the True Seer is dead. Once the True Seer is out of the way, it may be worth going for the False Seer on the basis that the information he or she has will still be useful to the village.

We need to keep an eye out for the possibility of a Wolf sacrifice at some point, especially if we think that (in the absence of the False Seer) the True Seer has spotted one of us and/or it looks like one of us is going to get lynched anyway. I have no objection to being sacrificed for the good of the pack, should the circumstances indicate that it would be the best thing to do. But that is probably something to consider later in the game. In the meantime, Wolf on Wolf votes are probably worth considering, if we can get away with them. Although, having said that, the more experienced villagers will be alive to that sort of thing.

Originally Posted by Eomer

It will be an honour to wolf with you two.

I can't believe I'm a wolf again...

SPM has it right (why do I think you're extremely excited and nervous about finally being a wolf?) Problem is, there is such a fear among Barrowdowns Werewolf players in general about you being a wolf that many want to lynch you anyway! Your logical posts, however, will assure that you have at least some friends in the village.

Aiwendil, I am not familiar with your style of play. Are you a loudmouth also? What a talkative, irksome Wolf team we shall be!

I get the feeling that no-one will believe that I could possibly be a wolf again and so will give me the benefit of the doubt. The Seers will not bother dreaming about me and I will last 'til the end. (I hope.)

Remember the wise words of that most brilliant wolf, the phantom. Never lie. In the game of werewolf, everything can look suspicious. People will suspect us sooner or later, but when that time comes, play it cool.

Originally Posted by Ngaurondil

If I had been innocent this game, I was going to start out by asking some open-ended general strategy questions in the interest of provoking serious discussion and gauging responses. It occurs to me that it still might be useful to do this, as it would 1. possibly provoke some hints from the Gifteds and 2. allow us to play the 'helpful villager' role right away.

The other matter that needs some thought is just how bold we're willing to be with wolf vs. wolf votes. A sacrifice might well be in order at some point; a decisive vote against a wolf generally gives one a free pass for most of the game. I would be quite willing to be the victim if necessary. Of course, it's a bit early to be thinking about intentional sacrifices. My feeling about wolf vs. wolf votes in general is that we should not be too skittish about them unless there is a severe threat to the potential victim already.

The presence of a false seer allows one tactic that we might want to keep in mind for a moment of desperation. Normally, if one falsely declares oneself to be Gifted, the bluff is rather short-lived, as the real Gifted will simply come forward and announce the fraud. But in this village we have two 'seer's, neither of whom knows the identity of the other. So if one of us is in trouble, a declaration 'I am a Seer; I don't know whether I'm the true Seer or not, but I'd advise not killing me' may well be effective. Just something to keep in mind.

As far as nightly killings go: I for one have never understood the attitude that some wolves take, where they seem to want to do their utmost to 'confuse the villagers'. More often than not, this means killing a villager who is attracting suspicion and is therefore not expected to die. I, for one, see no particular value in confusing the villagers. I say we keep those who are attracting suspicion alive and well and kill off those who are deemed likely innocent or who, for any reason, aren't likely to be lynched during the Day.

Well, those are my thoughts for now.

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Wolf

The “standard” policy is for villagers to decide to keep the more vocal and analytical players around for a while on the basis that, if they are not Wolves, they will benefit the village. So that might stand us in good stead at the beginning. I generally come under serious suspicion on Day 3 or 4, by which time people are starting to wonder why I am still around and I start getting accused of trying to control the village - particularly if I have participated in the lynching of a few innocents by that stage (which I usually have).

I think that you should do that. It will be interesting to see how people react, although be careful that you do not come under suspicion for trying to steer the discussion into an argument over strategy rather than suspects, since that can look Wolfish (although generally, in the past, it has turned out not to have been).

One further point to bear in mind. Remember that the Ranger and the Hunter know who each other are and can communicate during the day. This has its dangers for us, but also its advantages. When one is killed, we may be able to spot the other (or a likely pool of others) from the discussion and voting record).

Well, if we do not speak again before the Day starts, good luck to you both.

And remember … be careful out there.

[Aiwendil]

Night 2

Originally Posted by Ngaurondil

Interesting Day 1.

So, it rather looks to me like Farael is the true Seer. His attack on me is just too random and too insubstantial to be that of a clever villager. On the other hand, I wouldn't have expected a Seer to dream of me the first Night - more likely SPM or some other veteran.

The existence of the false Seer gives us some options, though. We could let Farael live even knowing he's the Seer, as he'll be in doubt about it himself.

The downside to killing him toNight, obviously, is that if he does turn out to be the Seer, it'll pretty much confirm that I'm a Wolf. Which might be well worth it to take out the Seer, but it needs some thought.

As I see it, we have three options:

1. Kill Farael toNight, in which case:
a. He is the Seer; I get lynched tomorrow; one or both of you should vote for me.
b. He isn't the Seer; things are speeding along beautifully.

2. Let him live, hoping he doesn't do much more harm. Of course, we could easily kill him some future Night. The chances of him gathering much more useful information in the next few days are fairly slim.

3. Let him live toNight; then sacrifice (or try to sacrifice) me tomorrow (i.e. one of you accuses/votes for me). Then kill Farael the next Night. The advantage of this is that whichever of you went against me would get some real credit with the villagers, since you would have voted for me before it was obvious that I'm a Wolf.

I was thinking that tomorrow I'd start to go after the crowd that voted for Boromir - so mainly after Form and LMP (though after vouching for LMP toDAY, I would be mild against him). But if I'm going to die tomorrow (i.e. if we kill Farael and he turns out to be the Seer), it would probably be better not to go after them - right?

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Wolf

Greetings fellow Wolves

OK, first off. I think that we have a slight problem. There are two possible True Seers, as I see it, and it seems that whoever is the True Seer spotted a Wolf on the first night.

I agree, Aiwendil, that Farael looks Seerish for his attack on you. His argument was semi-logical, but appeared cobbled together from what was available (and I thought that you dealt with his “misquotes” very well). That suggests to me that he may be the Seer who has spotted you as a Wolf and was looking for reasons to justify his attack and vote. I am sorry, incidentally, if I added to the suspicion of you, but my intention was to put some distance between us, should either of us be spotted, and also to associate you slightly with littlemanpoet (my bane ). You actually did a great job of encouraging Seer talk, which served to confuse and may yet assist us in finding both Seers.

On the other hand, tar-ancalime’s sudden switch from suspecting dancing spawn to voting for Eomer also looks Seerish to me. I wasn’t lying when I said that I found it strange. It is possible that, after some obligatory suspicion of an innocent, she then voted for the Wolf she had dreamed of. She was rather keen to point out that it was random, but there was really no reasoning behind it at all. Then again, it does make her look rather suspicious. I think that you shrugged off her vote wonderfully, Eomer, and happily you attracted no suspicion elsewhere.

Either way, if we kill one of these and they turn out to be the True Seer, the Wolf that they accused will almost certainly be lynched tomorrow.

I agree with your reasoning on each of these options, but they equally apply to tar-ancalime and Eomer, should she be the Seer. My inclination would be to go for the second option, but then I am not a gambler. We would be unlucky indeed if the True Seer was to spot a Wolf two Nights running (although I am a likely target for a Seer dream). So perhaps we should keep them both alive for now and watching them closely tomorrow. We could switch to option 3 during the course of tomorrow, if either of you gets into serious trouble and then kill the suspected Seer tomorrow Night.

So, who are our other candidates for tonight? The possibilities that I see are as follows:

Anguirel - A tricksy player, suspected only by mormegil (and unlikely to attract suspicion for his first vote for Boromir88), but may be the False Seer (because of his aggressive pursuit of Boromir88) and his death could implicate me (as he voiced mild, although unreasoned, suspicion of me)
Boromir88 - He's dangerous and his death would implicate all of those who voted for him (but is the frame-up too obvious?). However, he could also be the False Seer - he said that he would authorise lynchings if evidence be shown (#5) and then said only the Seer should authorise lynchings (#20). His vote to save himself might suggest that he is a Gifted.
dancing spawn - Also dangerous and suspected by few, but her death might implicate Aiwendil (who she mildly suspected) and Eomer (who mildly suspected her).
Holbytlass - Suspected by no one, but is a quiet player so may attract suspicion.
Kath - Leaves no trace, but I think she will attract suspicion for her quietness and her key vote for Gil-Galad.
Nilpaurion Felagund - Suspected by no one, and doesn't leave much of a trail. His death could implicate Farael (but not strongly, as he had already pledged to vote for him).

Any thoughts?

Overall, I think that Day 1 went as well as expected (in circumstances where it looks like the True Seer may have dreamed of one if us). All of our votes were well placed, and are likely to attract little suspicion. None were safe but, as it turns out, none were decisive either. I would have preferred someone other than Gil-Galad to have been lynched, but he was bound to go sooner or later.

Originally Posted by Ngaurondil

Thanks to SPM for pointing out the possible Seerishness of Tar-Ancalime. I had thought her vote for Eomer a random one and the possibility that she was a Seer had not occurred to me. Having said that, I am still tend to think Farael much more likely to be the Seer. For while one could easily explain Tar's vote as a random guess (her suspicion of Spawn having been allayed for whatever reason), I can't come up with any explanation for Farael's behaviour save Seerhood. I was serious when I said that I would suspect him of being the Cobbler if there were one in this village. Of course, there's always the outside chance that one of those two is a lucky true Seer and the other an incredibly lucky false Seer.

I suppose the really gutsy thing to do would be to attack Farael tonight, hoping that 1. the Ranger isn't protecting him and 2. maybe he's not the Seer. But I'm not all that happy about our odds on item 1 and I'm downright morose about our odds on item 2. The trouble is, of course, that if he is the Seer, the longer he's left alive the more trouble he'll be when he finally does get killed.

No need to be sorry. Actually, I don't think there is much suspicion of me aside from Farael; just the occasional "let's keep an eye on him". Largely because I encouraged the Seer discussion, I suppose - which I think did effectively generate some confusion and steer the discussion into useless channels.

As for other candidates for toNight's meal (I am a cook, werewolf or not, mind you), the people I'd definitely not go for are:

Glirdan, Lhuna, Mormegil, Kath, Celuien - all voted for Gil-Galad and will undoubtedly be looked at tomorrow.

Formendacil, Garin, LMP - all voted for Boromir.

The two candidates that look best to me right now are Holbytlass and Nilpaurion Felagund, both of whom are so far completely unsuspected.

So I'd say the first thing to do is to decide whether or not to go after Farael toNight (the more likely True Seer in my opinion). And if not, then either Holbytlass or Nilpaurion will make a fine meal.

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Wolf

I am still inclined to view tar-ancalime as a possible Seer. The only reasoning that she gave for dropping her suspicion of dancing spawn was that she had initially been “gathering thoughts”. The commentary on dancing spawn’s analysis seemed much too detailed to me to simply represent the gathering of thoughts.

Nevertheless, I do not think that we should kill tar. For the same reason that she looks Seerish to me, she will look suspicious to the other villagers. She is a definite possibility for lynching tomorrow, and we (or at least one of us) should consider encouraging that. Aiwendil, you are best placed to do so, given that you voted for her, although we all voiced suspicions.

Another possibility is that she and dancing spawn are the Hunter and Ranger and tar’s post was intended to distance them. Dancing spawn later stuck up for her a bit. Eomer, you mentioned during the Day the possibility of them being linked (albeit to suggest that they might be Wolves), and it’s definitely something to bear in mind.

Now, what to do about Farael?

The advantage of killing him tonight is that, if he is the Seer, we will prevent him communicating any information that he may have gained through his dream tonight. What are the chances of him dreaming of another Wolf? Well, I think that I am a possible target for his dream. But there are many who are under more suspicion than Eomer and me, following the events of Day 1, so I would say that the likelihood is that the Seer will dream of one of them.

The disadvantage of killing Farael tonight is that, if he is the Seer, then Aiwendil is almost certainly toast tomorrow. I would prefer not to lose one of our number so early in the game, if we can avoid it.

On balance, therefore, I think that we should let Farael live another Day. If things go badly for Aiwendil (and I have no reason to think that they will), one of us can pile in and try to gain some credit from his lynching and then we kill Farael tomorrow night. We will just have to act as we see fit at the time. Aiwendil, you have said that you are prepared to be sacrificed if necessary, and I thank you for that. The same goes for me. But I don’t think that we should be looking to sacrifice any of our number unless absolutely necessary.

As matters stand, I will probably continue to pursue my stated suspicions of Lhuna, tar-ancalime and Celuin. I intend questioning the sudden rush of votes for Boromir88, and will probably voice suspicions of Garin, littlemanpoet, and possibly Formendacil, based on that. Anguirel looks less suspicious because his vote for Boro was the first. I may also throw a little suspicion Kath’s way too. Although much will depend on what people say tomorrow.

Finally, who to kill? Aiwendil has suggested Nilp or Holby. I would pefer to keep Nilp alive for now as I have swapped “I am innocent” messages with him by anagram and I think it likely that he will trust me and view me as innocent.

In conclusion, therefore, I would be in favour of killing off Holby. She was suspected by no one, and is unlikely to come under much suspicion tomorrow. She voiced mild suspicion of Lhuna and voted for tar, so that could help in ramping up the suspicion towards those two. If nothing else, it will provoke the usual “frame up?”, “double bluff?” type discussions. There is nothing to connect her with any of us, or indeed, most of the village, which is a good thing. With a bit of luck, she may even turn out to be a Gifted.

Originally Posted by Eomer

Hallo, comrades.

That was probably one of the more interesting Day Ones ever.

Aiwendil, I thought you played Farael perfectly. To most villagers I have no doubt that you're coming across as perfectly exasperated and 'Well, what can I say to you?' to Farael. His attack on you was extremely strange indeed. If a Seer, he doesn't know that he's true or false, so why does he make such a blistering attack on you? I can't tell for sure, but I think leaving him alive is certainly a risk worth taking. There's a slight chance that he's guarded, and a much bigger chance that a dead Farael tomorrow morning means dead Aiwendil tomorrow night. He could be the True Seer, but I think leaving him alive is the right thing to do (especially with the false Seer kicking about). I don't think it's wholly unlikely that he's just a misguided villager. But let us watch him very closely.

Interesting thoughts on who to kill. I'd certainly go along with Holbytlass as a good option. I suspect that Mormegil may be gifted: he was quieter than usual this Day One.

SPM, so that's what that odd exchange with Nilp was about! (I'm very slow on the uptake with such things.) Kudos!

I think we played Day One well; and there are plenty of suspicious characters lurking in this village. So things are looking quite good.

Holbytlass seems a good choice to me.

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Wolf

I know what you mean about mormegil, Eomer. I will be keeping an eye on him, but I don’t think that we should kill him just yet as he is likely to come under some suspicion tomorrow. If, for example, he is the Hunter or Ranger, we might be able to spot his companion trying to protect him.

What is your view on tar’s sudden vote for you, Eomer?

Originally Posted by Ngaurondil

Okay, Holbytlass it shall be.

As for our Day 2 strategy:

I had been hoping that I could more or less align myself with LMP, as he's one of the most vocal and intelligent Villagers. But after his vote for Boromir yesterday, I'm inclined to start voicing some real suspicion of him tomorrow. Also of Formendacil and Garin. I'll probably list my top suspects as Form, Garin, and Tar - Form and Garin for their votes against Boromir; Tar for the same reasons as yesterDay. But I'm inclined to back off a little from Tar since her vote looked rather random and not malicious.

I would say that perhaps one or both of you should put more emphasis on the Gil-Galad-voting crowd than on the Boromir-voting crowd, to try to minimize any apparent relation among us. It might be a good idea to suggest that there was a "wolvish scheme" in operation yesterDay to cause the lynching of Gil, an easy first day victim.

Of course, something similar goes for Tar-Ancalime.

I agree that Morm has been unusually quiet. Perhaps gifted. Not sure what to do about it, though. Perhaps best would be to try to keep his name coming up without accusing him too strongly - see if we can foment some suspicion of him.

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Wolf

I agree with your proposed strategy, Aiwendil.

I shall lay off the Boromir88 voters to an extent and focus instead on the Gil-Galad voters. I propose maintaining my stance that Glirdan’s early vote looks too risky to have been a Wolf's vote and it will be difficult to make much of a case against Boro, as he was forced into his vote, so I shall concentrate on mormegil, Kath and Celuin. As I said, I shall also revisit my Day 1 suspicions of Lhuna and tar. I might lay off elempi a bit – depends how I feel.

Originally Posted by Eomer

SPM, how did I feel when tar-ancalime chose me? I cannot lie: it made me take a deep breath! I'm very hopeful that it was truly random, though. It's likely that she will lay off me today. If she finds new ways of attacking me then rest assured I will know that my days could be numbered.

Anyway, I like your proposed strategies for Day Two. I will find it hard to get on the internet for a while after Days start and a little while before they end. This could help me remain at least slightly inconspicuous as long as I make a fair number of posts around the middle of the day.

I'm going to maintain slight suspicion of the tar-spawn alliance and the sneaky Mormegil, but my main target (though I won't go overboard) will remain Lhuna.

Good luck!

[Aiwendil]

Night 3

Originally Posted by Ngaurondil

Fellow canines -

Well, with two rather intense DAYS of discussion done with, I think we are in pretty good shape.

First of all, we've had far more luck than we've any right to. I refer, of course, to Holbytlass.

There seems to have been a sudden tendency to suspect me toward the end of the DAY. Farael's arguments still seem pretty weak to me. He really is taking what I say out of context and misconstruing me. Form is more worrisome, though he does admit that his suspicion is probably due to my attacks on him. If I can justify those attacks on DAY 3, I think he may ease up on me, or at least take me out of the prime suspect slot. LMP suddenly suspects me at the end of the DAY, after having said earlier that I looked innocent. I think that this can probably be played against him as a move rather similar to his sudden attack on Boromir on DAY 1. I'm in a decent position to make that accusation, considering my suspicion of the Boromir-voting crowd so far. SPM is also in a decent position to plant that idea, given his vote for LMP, but it might be risky for him to come to my defense.

It has occurred to me - and this idea may sound silly - that we might benefit from a code word or two. The particular thought I had went like this. At the moment, it's hard to guess whether I (or perhaps Eomer) will be a serious candidate for lynching tomorrow. We won't know until some way into DAY 3. This makes it hard for us to plan a wolf sacrifice, since we won't know until sometime during the DAY whether such a sacrifice is called for. It would be helpful, then, if I had some way of saying, during the DAY, "Okay, it looks like I'm done for, go ahead and accuse/vote for me" or "I think I can pull out of this; don't add to the fire". So it might be useful to come up with a word - one uncommon enough that we wouldn't use it accidentally, but not so outlandish as to raise eyebrows - as a signal for one of those messages.

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Wolf

To my fellow Wolves, greetings

A day of mixed fortunes. It started off excellently, obviously. Holby being the Seer was an amazing stroke of luck and one that I did not expect. The first half of the Day went well enough with the vocal squad (mormegil, lmp, Boro, Anguirel and others) all getting mired down in suspecting each other. However, it was somewhat soured towards the end with the increasingly voiced suspicions of Aiwendil and, to a lesser degree, Eomer.

And what a noisy village! I was quite busy at work today and really had little chance to catch up until near the end of the day.

I currently plan on going pretty strongly against lmp tomorrow. He looks rather suspicious right now and there may just be enough votes there to get him lynched. I also think that there is a chance that he's a Gifted (Ranger/Hunter). I'll probably keep up my "lmp guilty = mormegil innocent" and vice versa ruse. There is a good case to be made against mormegil on his voting record.

As for possible kills, I am considering the following possibilities:

Nilpaurion Felagund - Pros: Not suspected by anyone; I have declared him all but innocent; looks bad for Anguirel and a few others (including Garin and lmp); he doesn't suspect any of us. Cons: I think that he will continue to view me as innocent; a potential lmp voter.

Tar-ancalime - Pros: Could look bad for Garin and lmp; possible False Seer (Day 1 vote for Eomer). Cons: Aiwendil suspected her.

Farael - Pros: He's a pain in the butt ( ); no one seems to suspect him. Cons: Probably not Gifted; could look bad for Aiwendil (but could be viewed as a frame up); would stymie my tenative Day 3 strategy.

Anguirel - Pros: He's an astute guy, could be a Ranger/Hunter (with Celuin or Glirdan, both of whom he has defended). Cons: He seems to believe in my innocence (but that could change); his vote for Lhuna looks suspicious.

Kath - Pros: Leaves hardly any trail; suspicion in her did not materialise (and probably won't to any great degree tomorrow); she's unlikely to whip up much suspicion of our foes. Cons: She is unlikely to be Gifted - otherwise I'm sure that she would be contributing more.

Boromir88 - Pros: Makes Garin and the other Day 1 Boro voters look bad; he could be dangerous. Cons: he seems to be on my side - for now; could look bad for Aiwendil.

On balance, I think that we should go for Kath, even though she is unlikely to turn out Gifted. The way things have been going, we want to keep as many vocal villagers alive as possible, because they are eminently capable of turning (or being turned) on each other and it gives us a bit of cover (being fairly vocal ourselves).

Are we allowed to do that? If so, any suggestions. Maybe a common Werewolf-type phrase, but none of us would use it unless we thought we were in serious danger of being lynched? The sort of thing someone might say when under severe pressure?

One thing, though. We haven't had much opportunity to cast Wolf-on-Wolf votes yet. And I think that we should continue to avoid them unless we are going for a Wolf sacrifice. A safe (ie non-sacrifical) Wolf-on-Wolf vote will probably end up looking rather obvious as and when one of those involved is lynched and found to be a Wolf. Most players are pretty alive to that sort of thing now, as it has become a regular part of the Werewolves's strategy. In fact, it will probably be expected. So I think that we should avoid it.

Originally Posted by Ngaurondil

I'm going to go through the villagers one by one with thoughts on them, particularly with respect to whether they would make good candidates for tonight.

Farael: His death would result in all the usual frame-up/double bluff discussion. But I think he may actually be of more use alive. His attacks are flimsy and they give me a chance to come off as an exasperated innocent.

Mormegil: He hasn't come under serious suspicion yet. Possible interesting repurcussions for the others who, like him, voted for Lhuna. But as SPM said before DAY 1, it's probably a good idea to let some of the other "loudmouths" survive for a while (though he has been quieter this game).

Dancing Spawn: Her death would have repurcussions for Eomer not unlike those for me if Farael were killed. Probably not worth it at this point.

Glirdan: A possibility for tonight. There was some suspicion of him earlier, but it seems to have died off. The one complication is his vote for Lhunardawen, which might - 1. bring suspicion on him tomorrow; 2. have people looking for some kind of bluff with regard to the other Lhuna-voters, including Eomer.

Nilpaurion: Another possibility, though I expect he still trusts SPM based on the anagrams. His faith in them may have lessened since Mormegil and I followed suit, though. His votes were for Farael and Anguirel, so I don't think any of us would be implicated by his death.

Tar-ancalime: She voted for Garin today, meaning that she may fall under some suspicion tomorrow. Also, killing her would only bring more attention to the other Garin-voters, including me.

Formendacil: His name has come up a few times but it looks unlikely that he'll be lynched. Comments about Mormegil regarding respected loudmouths apply to him as well, to some extent. I would consider him a strong candidate if not for his vote for me, which leads into the frame-up/double bluff discussion.

LMP: Definitely keep him alive. I think that a good case can be made against him tomorrow. Plus, his defensive rants are quite amusing.

Kath: An interesting one. She's come under just about no suspicion so far and didn't even vote today - which would seem to make her an ideal candidate. But the fact that she has been so quiet and almost entirely absent from DAY 2 may make her a suspect tomorrow.

Anguirel: Another Lhuna-voter. He doesn't seem likely to be lynched any time soon, but he may come under heavier attack tomorrow.

Garin: Keep him alive. There's still a fair amount of suspicion of him. Plus, I voted for him.

Celuien: Under some suspicion; doesn't appear to be onto us. Keep her alive.

Boromir88: Could be useful as an instrument to wield against LMP tomorrow. And there's also still a decent amount of suspicion of him.

So to me, the best candidates for toNIGHT look to be Kath, Glirdan, and Nilpaurion.

It occurs to me that we might try the following. SPM could say that I look like I'm playing my normal game and perhaps find fault in Farael's logic. This looks like a good move since it does seem fairly natural. I do think that I'm playing something like my normal game (whatever that might mean, considering I've only once survived longer than a day); and Farael's attacks are indeed flimsy. While appreciating your vote of confidence, I would then make a speculative case against you - along the lines of "It seems to me that one person has so far managed to avoid close scrutiny - SPM. Could he be a very clever wolf?" And so forth.

The advantage here would be that we each get to move beyond the safe "I'm keeping an eye on him" but we do so in a way that runs the least risk of getting one of us killed. We'd both be going against the grain, so to speak - you speaking in favor of my innocence while I'm under suspicion and me speaking against you at a time when that suspicion is unlikely to ignite anything serious.

As for Eomer - I think that it will work to our advantage that you have been a bit quieter than both of us. It's easier to avoid taking a clear-cut position with regard to you. If you do start to come under scrutiny tomorrow, I expect I'll avoid saying much about you yourself but rather warn that "there are others who are much more suspicious".

It hadn't occurred to me that we might not be. I don't see why we wouldn't; it seems to me to be rather in the spirit of the game. But if either of you think it might not be wholly legit, then we can forget it.

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Wolf

I am pretty much set on this course of action now. If I have time, I am going to do a few analyses, focussing on those who attracted more than one vote yesterday. This will enable me to look more closely at lmp and to develop my opinion on you. I am confident that, when I go through your posts, I will be able to end up saying that there is very little there that looks suspicious. That will also enable me to examine Farael’s case in more detail, and it should be easy to pick holes in that. I do think that there is scope to bring Farael into the spotlight tomorrow. His focussing on just one villager can be made to look very Wolfish.

While I am loathe to risk tainting my almost spotless record so far ( ), I think that others will be taking a similar look at me tomorrow. So it would be natural for you to do so. Please feel free to make the usual accusation that I might be manipulating village opinion against innocents. I have a standard response to that.

As for my approach to Eomer, I will play it by ear. Your relative quietness has worked well so far, as it is difficult to say much about you. I may try the tack of challenging one or two of your statements if anything occurs to me, provided that you are OK with that.

Possible Gifteds

The following are possible hints that I picked up on:

As I mentioned before, Anguirel defended Celuin and Glirdan quite early on, when there wasn’t much to go on (#52 and #45).

Celuin has defended Farael two days running (#75 and #163).

Garin’s “Only a fool would vote to lynch me” (#137) could be a bluff or he could be the False Seer. He has seems to be quite preoccupied with the False Seer role.

At the end of his delightful rant (#135), littlemanpoet responded to morm’s:

with:

A possible hint by lmp that he’s a Gifted? If so, it’s very subtle.

I think that he will start to come under serious scrutiny tomorrow, given his Lhuna vote. We need to keep a pool of respected “loudmouths” alive for a while to deflect suspicion of us for still being alive. I also like the “littlemanpoet – mormegil” tension since, if one gets lynched, I am sure the other can be portrayed as very Wolfish.

Agreed, although we need to try to encourage a bit more suspicion of her. I might look into doing this as I traditionally suspect dancing spawn when she looks innocent – it goes back to the game that I modded, where she was an excellent and almost entirely unsuspected Wolf. Eomer is in a position to brief against her too, as long as it doesn’t look too much like a reaction against her vote for him.

His votes are explicable by reference to his real life commitments and I genuinely think they look like unlikely Wolf votes, so I doubt that he will come under much suspicion. The Lhuna voters are bound to be under scrutiny tomorrow, so I am not sure that killing Glirdan would make much difference on that score. I would like to reduce my “possible innocent” list, so a definite possibility.

Yes, I think that he will still trust me. Towards the end of the day, however, I said that I was pretty certain of Nilp’s innocence. His death might therefore be construed as a Wolfish SpM’s attempt to make himself look innocent. Also, he’s a potential lmp voter (and he votes early). I would prefer not to kill Nilp.

My initial preferred choice. However, on further consideration, I am not so sure. Holby was quiet. Kath is very quiet. If we kill all the quiet ones, it points to some noisy Wolves.

I actually think that Anguirel may be a good candidate for tonight’s repast. The longer he says alive, the more likely I think he is to spot one of us. There’s not much to link him with any of us and he is a possible (and dangerous) Gifted.

I am sorely tempted to kill him. But I agree that he is too valuable for now as a potential weapon against lmp.

I would suggest keeping Kath and Nilp alive for now, but would add Anguirel to the list.

Glirdan is very tempting because, as I said, I would like to reduce my “probable innocent” list before adding Aiwendil to it. Glirdan is, however, a potential lmp voter. So far, he has always voted early for the person looking most suspicious at the beginning of the day. That said, as it’s a Saturday, he may be able to vote later on day 3.

I wonder whether the better choice might be Anguirel because he is a respected and experienced player and his death makes it look a little less suspicious that the three of us are still around. At the same time, we still have enough other experienced “loudmouths” for cover. If he’s the Hunter, now would be a good time to kill him.

Originally Posted by Eomer

Greetings comrades!

Holby the Seer, ho ho ho....

Anyway, my pick for tonight's attack was Nilpaurion Felagund, because no-one suspects him (he's also not trying to get lynched—is that in any way weird? Maybe he's a gifted...) however SPM gives good reasons to keep him alive: Nilp and SPM have established a little friendship, and any response SPM makes to Nilp's death could look a bit suspicious—SPM will be linked somehow, someway.

I would prefer to keep Kath alive: I think her quietness is more severe than Holbytlass's, and I think it can definitely be used against her.

An attack on Glirdan would be fine by me. I would have no problems in taking out either Anguirel or Formendacil either. Farael, Dancing Spawn, LMP, Boromir, Mormegil, should all stay definitely.

As to Dancing Spawn's critique of me, I was nervous that I defended myself a bit too vigourously. I will certainly not start a fight with her today; but I will meet her challenge. My defence would have been identical had I been innocent: I don't think the case against me is strong at all.

SPM, perhaps it would be a good idea if you put a bit of suspicion on me. I would urge you to pretty much regurgitate what Spawn said about me, because I have pretty convincing answers to everything she said. On the end of Day 3 you could say something about me like 'Spawn could be right: maybe there is more to Eomer than meets the eye; but I think there are other characters worthy of more suspicion in this village.'

I would be against a wolf-sacrifice, and this is why. There is already suspicion against me and Aiwendil. If SPM were to jump in now with a vote for, say, Aiwendil and Aiwendil is hanged and found to be guilty, that would by no means grant SPM immunity. The village would be kinder to Farael and Morm (I think) because they got there first. Also, the wolf-sacrifice is well-known now. Back in the days of Werewolf VII, when a certain victorious wolf ruthlessly sacrificed his fellows Kitanna and Orominuialwen it was new and shocking; but folks are wise to it now; and when (if) the first wolf dies, we should use this fear and turn it against the innocent villager who discovered our identity (at this stage, likely candidates for this attack would be Farael or Spawn).

Another point about tonight's attack: I think Glirdan will be easier for us to manipulate than Anguirel or Formendacil. Should that count against killing him?

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Wolf

I am now rather regretting my little comment towards the end of the day concerning my belief in his [Nilp's] innocence. His death tonight might look good for me if he is the Hunter or the Ranger. But I tend to think him an Ord, as his anagram declares.

I think that it might. Glirdan can be quite the flip-flopper, while Anguirel is a more difficult proposition.

Aiwendil, any objection to taking out Anguirel?

Originally Posted by Ngaurondil

I agree with Eomer that Anguirel is probably a better target for toNIGHT than Glirdan. I'll PM Shemod as well later.

About wolf sacrifices: I agree that they're probably not of much use to us now. I don't think that they've completely lost their power since the exploits of you famous ancestor, though, Eomer. In particular, I recall that in Alcarillo's game, wolvish Formendacil got a free pass for just about the entire game after his early vote for fellow wolf Spawn. Seems to me the key is that the sacrificial vote must appear decisive. But, anyway, I agree that it's probably not worth considering a sacrifice at this point.

Well, that's about it, I guess. If I don't PM again before DAYbreak, good luck to us!

Originally Posted by Eomer

I have what I believe is a good case against Spawn. Basically, I will argue that she is suspecting me (and voted for me, no less) on such-and-such grounds: grounds that she herself is treading. She's doing pretty much what she's angry that I'm doing. So I'm not going to attack her strongly, but I will certainly meet her challenge and trust that the other innocents will flock to my banner.

So SPM, you must post some suspicion against me in the first half of the day. I will only be able to get onto the internet about early afternoon tomorrow. At that time I hope to see another post by Spawn against me, and one from you saying that Spawn has made good points. Then I will come in, destroy (hopefully!) Spawn's argument, question her motives, then you will be left with no option but to admit that my response was a good 'un. Again, along the lines of 'Eomer still looks pretty suspicious, but my attention is given to others right now.' And talk about LMP again, probably.

Aiwendil, I'm hoping to get a little bit of response to my Farael question. Hopefully, we can drum up some support for you against Farael. I don't think it would hurt to say that he's hiding in his own boldness and stubbornness.

[Aiwendil]

Night 4

Originally Posted by Eomer

Hello comrades!

As thrilling as that was, I must say I'm becoming more pessimistic about our chances of winning. It looks like Aiwendil and I will both be lynched, quite possibly in the next two days.

Still, we have a kill to work out. I suspected Spawn and Nilp are the Guardian and Hunter. In a post earlier today Spawn simply declared 'Nilp is innocent'. Any thoughts?

Originally Posted by Ngaurondil

What a day!

So, Eomer and I have both come under some heavy attacks. The three who voted for me were Farael, Boromir, and Form. Of those three, I'd say only Farael is nearly certain to vote for me again tomorrow. Formendacil has not offered much in the way of a case against me. I expect I might be able to persuade him to give me the benefit of the doubt. Boromir I'm not sure about.

So I think that I can probably survive DAY 4. The attacks against Eomer worry me more. I tried to build on the similarities between Eomer's "shrill" defense and the similar defense offered by LMP earlier to suggest Eomer's innocence, but I don't think anyone bought it. Nonetheless, it looks to me like as decent a strategy as any. But I fear that Eomer may be toast no matter what is said in his defense tomorrow.

I think that our choice for a kill toNIGHT is going to hinge critically upon our intended strategy for tomorrow. It seems to me that this is one case where it might be an effective tactic to take out one of those who looks likely to vote for me or Eomer tomorrow. I'm thinking mainly of those who voted for us other than Farael and Spawn. So first of all, we need to decide whether it's worth doing something as bold as that or whether it would be better to take it for granted that one of us will die tomorrow and try to set things up as nicely as possible for the survivors.

Another option, bolder and perhaps quite foolhardy, would be to take out either Farael or Spawn. It would, obviously, get people into the frame-up/double bluff debate. The obvious downside to such a move - that it puts either me or Eomer right in the spotlight - is somewhat moot now, since we'll be in the spotlight in any case. If we felt more or less sure that, say, Eomer was going to die tomorrow, it would probably be worth killing Spawn, simply because that would throw another (very unpredictable) variable into the mix and would have a chance of changing a few minds.

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Wolf

What a day indeed!

Eomer, I am afraid to say that you are looking in quite bad shape. I thought at one point that you would be lynched today. Not as a result of anyhing that you said or did. I thought that you handled it very well. I am not really sure where all that came from, as dancing spawn's case, however accurate, is not that great. I wonder whether she is a Gifted and her ally is one of those supporting her. Mormegil, perhaps? I am sorry if my own case against you contributed. I was following the strategy we agreed last night of echoing spawn's case. And then lmp's outburst happened. I tried to back off a bit at the end of the day and support your case against spawn, but I had to be careful. Still, you only received two votes out of a possible 13, so it's not certain that you will be lynched tomorrow.

Aiwendil, I actually think that you look in altogether better shape. Farael did not vote, so you only received 2 votes - from Formendacil and Boro. Form's was based on his previous day's vote, as he was otherwise indisposed for most of the day, so didn't have a chance to update his thinking. I think that I have a good rapport with Boromir88, so might be able to persuade him away from you. Anyway, I intend continuing to support you. There is really very little evidence against you.

Surprisingly, I am in great shape. I don't really quite know why. I have been trying to behave as I would an innocent, which normally brings me under severe suspicion by now. And I thought that my cynical attitude to lmp might cause some bad feeling against me. Funnily enough, the whole episode with him probably worked in my favour, as I was able to walk away from my case against him much more easily than if he had been lynched and shown to be innocent. And I really think that your briefing against me helped, Aiwendil, as it helped me get that whole "why is he still here?" thing out of the way.

So who should we kill today?

Dancing spawn is a definite possibility. It could well mean the end of Eomer tomorrow, though, so Aiwendil and I would need to consider how we should react. We could either go against Eomer ourselves or take the position that it looked like overly risky behaviour for a Wolfish Eomer to kill spawn. It would be a delicate balance, and I think that a lot of people would be prepared to believe that Eomer, as a Wolf, would be bold.

Eomer raised the possibility of Nilp and dancing spawn being the Ranger and Hunter. It's possible that Nilp is a Gifted, although that would mean he was lying in his anagram (for shame ). And I am not sure that dancing spawn would have been so bold to have declared her fellow Gifted's innocence in the way that she did. I do, however, believe that spawn could be a Gifted. Along with one of the others who supported her case against Eomer. Which points to mormegil.

Problem 1. If spawn is the Hunter, she will undoubtedly kill Eomer tonight, which would put us a Wolf down going into tomorrow and possibly two Wolves down coming out of it.

Problem 2. If spawn is not Gifted, she seems to me to be a prime candidate for Ranger protection. We don't want to waste a kill if we can possibly avoid it.

Any other possibilities? I don't want to kill Farael, as I don't think that you are in that serious a position, Aiwendil. Besides, he may well start looking suspicious for his plan to lynch lmp and for his non-vote (it could be made to look like lmp had put a spanner in his plans). And Formendacil and Boromir88 are out for the same reason. Kath and Celuin are possibilities. But I think that I would rather keep them. Tar-ancalime might be worth considering. It might reflect badly on spawn, and possibly relieve some of the pressure on Eomer.

So, Glirdan, Nilp, tar-ancalime or spawn?

The main question, I suppose, is to kill spawn or not to kill spawn.

Originally Posted by Eomer

I'd love to kill Spawn. There's a good chance the Guardian protected Spawn last night because that's when she really started going after me. Even if he/she didn't it's quite possible that he/she will leave Spawn well alone, so obviously involved in the discussion as she is. Of course, she could be the Guardian herself.

It would be a risk, certainly a risk; but because no wolf has been caught yet, this game has been too hard to predict Guardian activity.

We need to start killing the Hunter, the Guardian, and the False Seer. We can't have these people ready to declare themselves at the end of the game.

If Spawn is the Hunter then it would be worth losing me to take her out. I will be lynched sooner or later regardless.

I also agree that Farael will look quite bad today, and this might be the best opportunity to go on the attack. How do you think such an attack could be structured?

Tar-Ancalime's a strange one. She was under quite a lot of pressure near the start of the game but it has disappeared somewhat.

So, tentatively, Spawn is my choice for the attack. And don't discount my chances of avoiding the noose tomorrow, even if we get her!

Originally Posted by Wolfy Sauce

An attack on Farael should not be too difficult to pursue. We have laid the groundwork already. He suggested lynching littlemanpoet to get at Aiwendil. I think that he can still be portrayed as a Wolf who is limiting his attacks to a few innocents. He probably will go back to attacking Aiwendil tomorrow, which could work to Aiwendil's advantage. There are still quite a few who believe you likely to be innocent.

I agree that you should go against mormegil tomorrow, Eomer. His approach to littlemanpoet can be viewed as "flip-flopping" (but don't use that word). I was planning on attacking him myself, but I may lay off him a bit. I'll see how things go.

On further consideration, I think that we should not attack tar-ancalime tonight. Suspicion of her was beginning to rise towards the end of the day and she may well come under attack tomorrow, particularly if we kill spawn.

And the more that I think about it, the more I agree that we should kill spawn. I have a feeling that she is a Gifted and, even if she is not, she is dangerous.

I am not sure yet what strategy I will adopt. It will seem strange not to look at the Garin voters, which will involve looking at you both. But, given the way things went yesterday, the voting record can be made to look unreliable. And Garin was definately looking suspicious, so your votes for him do not look unduly strange.

Originally Posted by Ngaurondil

As for the proposed candidates for tonight's kill:

Glirdan is a possibility. He's not under much suspicion and his death wouldn't leave an obvious trail. I'd say that if we don't kill Spawn, we should kill Glirdan.

Nilpaurion - Rather like Glirdan. I'd prefer Glirdan on the off chance that he's Gifted, though (I rather doubt that a Gifted Nilp would lie in an anagram).

Tar-Ancalime - I agree that suspicion of her seems to be on the rise again. I also don't think that her death would put that much pressure on Spawn.

Spawn - The big decision, obviously. If Eomer is willing to go for it, killing her would at least make things interesting tomorrow. Much as I fear she might be the Hunter and that we might go into DAY 4 down a wolf, it also seems to me that if she is the Hunter, she's likely to continue to hunt Eomer. Which would make now as good a time as ever.

So Spawn looks like the best choice for tonight to me as well.

The one further thing we have to decide is how SPM and I should react to the inevitable Eomer situation tomorrow.

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Wolf

Given what I said about Eomer yesterday, and particularly if we kill spawn tonight, I think that I am going to have to maintain my suspicions of him. I will make the usual point about it looking very risky for a Wolfish Eomer to kill spawn. But I cannot back down from my suspicions on that basis alone. Looking back, I actually wish I had voted for you yesterday, Eomer, as you only received 2 votes, whereas Garin received 4. However, at the time I voted it looked quite possible that you would get more than 2 votes. So, for my part, I will maintain my suspicions of Eomer. If it looks likely, from what people are saying, I may even put in an early vote for you to try and gain some credit if you are lynched, if that's OK with you.

As for you Aiwendil, I think that you are in a much better position to try to counter the inevitable suspicion of Eomer. However, it is up to you, as you could be left in a dangerous position if he is lynched. Perhaps best to play it by ear and see if there are any others who are not convinced of Eomer's likely guilt.

Originally Posted by Sauce Wolf

If we think that he is quite likely to be lynched, I wonder whether it might be worth Eomer claiming to be the False Seer? If it comes off, we may be able to get the real False Seer lynched and at the very least we would identify him/her as a kill for tomorrow night (and thereby avoid him/her becoming a known innocent later in the game). Or might it look too transparent?

In any event, it would have to be pre-emptive to look at all credible, ie before the False Seer declares (unless the False Seer declares in a situation where he/she is likely to be lynched).

Originally Posted by Eomer

Anyway, I am very happy to attack Spawn tonight. Even if she is the Hunter, I will remain her target for the whole game, probably. And we can't have the two gifteds and the false Seer hanging around.

The option of me claiming to be the False Seer is intriguing. I think it might be worthwhile. But I'll have to play it by ear.

If I die soon, here's something you should make the most of. It's famously a bad idea for the wolves to defend each other within the game, so much so that my defences could tell quite the story once I'm gone. You may notice that I have given my trust to both of you, Aiwendil and SPM. You should play this for what it's worth. Say that a wolf wouldn't be so obvious to trust his fellow wolves, and that wolf-Eomer was probably trying to set you up (more so SPM because Aiwendil is already under some pressure).

And about tomorrow, if we do manage to kill Spawn and I'm still alive: I'd appreciate it, even though you may have to vote for me, if you accept that my defence against Spawn's accusations is very fair. You never know: that could make Formendacil or Kath or whoever sympathise with me.

Originally Posted by Ngaurondil

Spawn 'tis.

You know, I think that Eomer claiming to be the False Seer is a great idea - if his death looks certain. If it does, I can see no downside to the claim. Yes, it would be transparent, but that would be quite irrelevant if Eomer's dead in any case.

So my advice, Eomer, would be that you wait and see how likely you are to be lynched. If you think don't think you can pull out of it, "come forward" as the False Seer. You could have some fun making up false dreams too . . .

I agree that I'm in a good position to defend Eomer tomorrow. But I think I'll argue that Spawn's accusations are rather specious, rather than trying to build up a case for your innocence in and of itself.

I've been trying to guess who, besides me and Eomer, is likely to emerge as a lynch-candidate tomorrow. We seem to be at a stage where just about everyone is under some vague suspicion but no one has emerged as a clear favorite. I'm interested in trying to figure this out because, while I'd like to cast a vote that might save Eomer, I don't want to look like I'm "bandwagoning". So my hope is that if I pick my target correctly early tomorrow, I can remain fairly consistent all day.

A final thing to consider is how we ought to react if Spawn is indeed the Hunter and takes Eomer down with her tonight. In such a case, we may very well be able to get things rolling against Tar-ancalime on the basis of her DAY 1 "random" vote for him.