Tol-in-Gaurhoth XXI: Dueling Wizards Werewolf

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

The quarrel between Roa and Diamond yesterday did not strike me as being genuine. Actually, now knowing Roa's evil secret, it now looks pathetically ad hoc. Accusations of name-calling and arrogance, there was no need for it at the time. Agree to disagree, please. I'm naturally suspicious of anyone who feels the need to defend oneself in such an abrasive manner. My family (what's left of it — O Eru! I just realised I'm the only one! ) are well aware of the consequences wrought from the pressure of a dark secret.

So, Diamond, right now I'm thinking that you and Roa constructed that little scenario in order to open a chasm of neutrality, where every villager must choose one or the other and one of you would benefit from the death of t'other.

And the main reason I say this is because it was you who came across as more desperate yesterday, not Roa. Had you nothing to hide you would have taken Roa's alleged taunts less seriously, I am sure. But you really wanted to send a message to the village, this split with Roa had to be underlined. Come to think of it, you also got quite heated with Loki.

Not that I want to push your buttons.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

But Fea, delicate balances? Why not just let them perish?

I speak not of virtue, but of realisation.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Whatever. I doubt he'd do anything that would intentionally warp proceedings.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Me too.

[Kath]

Eomer I would think if we were treating it as a hint that it would mean the opposite, that the two are innocent. Whoever did the stats earlier showed that we are pretty much screwed. There isn't much of a balance right now, the bad guys are winning, even without the EW.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

No, no, no. I'm not saying that this was a hint by intention. I'm saying that it could be read in ways that will give us hints in catching wolves. And Kath, I don't want to see this negative attitude from you! Why on earth shouldn't the village win? Statistics, schmatistics, I say. We have plenty of chances to get this right.

[Kath]

Please explain Eomer, apparently my brain is not with it. And a defeatist attitude worked great for my most recent ancestor!

[Diamond18]

Originally Posted by Eomer of the Rohirrim

Not that I want to push your buttons.

Nah, because it's so fun to watch you be so terribly wrong.

[Sleepy Ranger]

++JennyHallu

Rather obvious that she is someone Roa would pick.

[mormegil]

Originally Posted by Sleepy Ranger

Rather obvious that she is someone Roa would pick.

May I ask why she would be a good pick?

[JennyHallu]

Exactly, thanks Morm!

That's two votes for me with minimal reasons: One an admitted "hunch" and one because "Roa would pick me". Can I see one analysis, please, before I become a lynching candidate? Especially with so few innocent villagers left guys! We need to be careful!

And I expect more thought from Lalaith especially.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Apparently Sleepy wants to look as suspicious as possible.

Kath, perhaps I shouldn't explain what I have got from the change in game mechanics. I'm not sure it's quite fair to speculate on such issues so I'll just shut up and keep playing the game.

I think I shall be voting for Sleepy or Diamond. I shall ponder this deeply (as opposed to, you know, studying for my exam tomorrow. )

[littlemanpoet]

Sleepy Ranger was not born in Sealville. He was of the men of Valandil, King of Arnor, and of the Dúnedain. So when he came to Sealville, calling himself by some odd sounding Elvish name the inhabitants of Sealvilled could not pronounce, they butchered it in their speech, into 'Sleepy'. And he was content. He found himself a wife, Roa, and they had three children, as has been told already: Caranlondien, Glirdan, and Lommy. Sleepy had named that youngest one, and asked what he meant by it, he said that Lommy was to her true name as Sleepy was to his. They raised their brows in confusion, but let it be.

The Ranger household always seemed peaceable enough, though Caranlondien was gone most of the time, and Glirdan was so quietive he might as well have been gone, and Lommy was a little thief, skulking everywhere but home. So the peaceableness may have been accounted to the fact that the Ranger home was usually empty of its children.

What the villagers did not know was that Roa had dug out a special little room that not even her husband knew of, and had decked it according to her wishes, in hopes of one day receiving the benefits of the prophecy. That room was bookshelved floor to ceiling, wall to wall to wall, and lorebooks from far and wide filled those shelves. A single candle lit the little room, standing on a desk big enough for just one book at a time, a single stool before it. Which left plenty of room for the Shadow when it came.

What the villagers did not know was that Sleepy once upon a time discovered this room, and wished that he had not. He loved his wife, though he always feared she did not return his favor, and kept her secret, though he knew he should not.

When the curse came, he refused to know what had happened. He denied himself the knowledge. He cut off such thoughts from his own awareness. And he stayed quiet for most of the days as the curse took its toll. He was greatly saddened by the deaths of his two daughters, and took it upon himself to bury them.

When Gurthang named his wife, Roa, as the evil wizard; worse, when Roa announced it proudly herself, he kept his mouth closed and watched the ensuing battle, betraying little emotion. Truth be told, he had not wholly been able to convince himself that she was not the evil wizard. As he watched the good wizard contort entirely out of human shape, and his wife go up in flames, he felt that his life was done. No, not free; but over. Yes, there was Glirdan who was so taken with mooning over the lass Kath, that Sleepy wondered if he noticed the deaths of all the females in his house.

So when Sleepy cast his vote for Jenny, giving hardly any reason, he supposed that he was perhaps signing his death warrant. And so it turned out to be; by one vote. Three votes to two to two. How fitting, he thought to himself.

Mormegil ordered him to be bound and led to the beech tree. He was trussed up and left there to stand upon the stool, the noose tight around his neck.

"Any last words, Sleepy?" asked Mormegil.

Sleepy Ranger said not a word, but looked upon his son reproachfully.

His son, Glirdan, was ordered to kick the stool out from under him, and Glirdan did so with a flourish, having cast the final vote for his own father.

Sleepy fell, choked, his neck broke, and he died.

"No werewolf there," someone commented.

~ The Tally ~ (6)

Four werewolves
One seer
One hunter

~ The Dead ~ (18)

Elempi, father of Diamond of the Battledore, killed on Night One
Loki the leech collector, lynched on Day One: innocent
The Saucepan Man the barkeep, killed on Night Two: innocent
Nogrod the retired jester, lynched on Day Two: werewolf
the phantom the loud, unpredictable, adventurer: hunter
Naria the servant who empties and cleans chamber pots: werewolf
Celuien the Healer and Cupper, lynched on Day Three: innocent
Lhunardawen the jeweler, committed suicide on Day Three: innocent
Cailín the match maker, mauled by werewolves on Night Four: innocent
Valier the gardener, planted and stoned in her garden on Day Four: werewolf
Firefoot the artist, frenziedly eaten on Night Five: innocent
Nilpaurion the ne'er do well hubby of Dancing Spawn, head almost ripped off by werewolves: innocent
Alcarillo the old retired sea captain, drowned on his boat on Day Five: werewolf
Lommy the little girl who steals other children's candy, broken and consumed on Night Six: innocent
Caranlondien the Sled-Team Driver, skewered and kabobed on Night Six: ranger
Roa Aoife the weaver, burned by fire on Day Six: the evil wizard
Gurthang the stable-hand, contorted by evil magic on Day Six: the good wizard
Sleepy Ranger the former wanderer, lynched on Day Six: innocent

~ The Living ~ (13)

Diamond of the Battledore
Dancing Spawn of Ungoliant the Baker
Kath the minstrel
Glirdan with the giant crush on Kath
Kitanna the beloved of Eomer
Oddwen the filthy, insane street urchin who steals chickens
mormegil the retired mariner and current mayor
Feanor the shepherdess with a love of alliteration
Zali the seamstress and beloved of the phantom
Jenny Hallu the unmarried maiden & aunt
Lalaith the frivolous aunt and guardian of Oddwen
Eonwe the freeloading husband of Lhunardawen
Eomer the adventurer & lover of Kitanna

[littlemanpoet]

Spawn had always wondered how she'd gotten such a name. Dancing Spawn of Ungoliant, to be exact. What had her parents, may they rest in peace, be thinking? She wondered why they had not at least named her Spawning Dance of Ungoliant, for then at least her handy nickname would have been 'Dance' instead of 'Spawn', which was what everybody called her. Actually, though she would not have minded being called 'Dance', she feared that she would have been expected to bear gobs of little spawns to her hubby Nilpaurion, so she was quite glad that she was a Spawn that danced, even if the horrible Ungoliant of legend was her supposed birth-mother. Which of course was precisely why she had the name, for her mother's name had been Ungoliant, and Spawn considered that she'd been the luckier of the two, for her mother Ungoliant was nothing at all like the horrible creature of legend, but a dear, quiet, soft-spoken woman who had unfortunately passed on ... or maybe fortunately, considering the current situation of Sealville.

Spawn had done her part, as had her husband Nilpaurion, and she was proud of him for being innocent, though dead. She had not been entirely pleased when her eldest son, the now revealed, and dead, Gurthang the Good Wizard, had sadly pronounced her doomed - precisely because she had been fearless and devastating in her analysis of other villagers. So things do go. Maybe it was the family tie that had caused him to speak so.

Mormegil, the gaffer, mayor, and retired mariner, was happy in Sealville. He had lived a full life, married, well, and fathered two eccentric and always interesting daughters, Jenny and Celuien. He was proud of his name, for he knew that it came from a tragic hero from the legends of the first age. He always tried to live up to them. He had not liked the marriage of his younger daughter, Celuien, to that beer toting Saucy, but he did admit that he provided well. Better, he thought, was the choice of Jenny, who refused marriage. He liked her independence.

When the Curse came, he as not entirely happy to lose Saucy on the first Day, for his daughter's sake. But when she was lynched, that cut him to the heart. When his eldest granddaughter was revealed to have been one of those cursed by the evil wizard, he was beside himself - on the inside - until the same happened to him.

Kath was one of the most simply named villagers, and for that she was glad. Her parents, she figured, must have named her in reaction to their own overgrown handles, Dancing Spawn of Ungoliant, and Nilpaurion Felagund. They had hinted at simpler times by naming her older brother Gurthang, but the true simplicity had come to the household with little Kath. Now she was pretty much grown up, and made a livelihood of minstrelsy, always sure to have one person in the audience, Glirdan, who listened to her playing and singing much, watched her even more, and tossed in a little bit of coin each day to pay for his gain. She bore this patiently, wondering when he would either lose interest or gain enough to finally meet with rejection, for there was no way she was going to have anything to do with that Ranger family; they were an odd bunch, their father a stranger from Arnor and all.

When the Curse had come to Sealville, Kath had been filled with trepidation and feared for her life. When her father Nilpaurion had turned out to be the seer, she was proud; but sad when he had been killed. When her brother Gurthang had been revealed as the Good Wizard himself, she almost burst with pride, for her family had never before been accounted as much in the village, and here they were the virtual saviors of the living. She hoped for the best.

Two werewolves entered the bedroom of Spawn through the window, and found only the bed empty. They swept the room with their feral gaze and did not find her. They crept back outside. One of them felt a sudden weight on its back, and felt a dagger at its throat, sawing at its throttle. The other werewolf turned and pounced upon the first werewolf's attacker and tore into her. For it was Spawn. She was relentless and even as she felt the pain of new deep scars across her back, she ripped at the throat of the werewolf she had attacked. The werewolf she was attacking died first. Spawn died soon after. The still living werewolf flayed deep, deep into her back, so deep that he reached through her ribcage from behind and wrenched her heart free, to show as a prize to the Shadow in hopes of being made the new evil wizard.

Two werewolves entered the other occupied bedroom in the Felagund house, and found Kath asleep, and dreaming. There was a pleasant look on her face. One of the werewolves tapped her on the shoulder. She woke up. Her eyes went wide with fright. The other werewolf clapped a fanged hand over her mouth before she could scream. The first werewolf ripped through her neck and killed her. Then both werewolves began playing a game of 'splash the walls', leaving bits of flesh and spatters of blood all over all the walls with each rip into the body with their sweeping, flaying arms. It was not long before the heart was visible. They took it, and made sure to pluck out her eyes as well, to bring to the Shadow.

The Shadow was most pleased, for three more villagers had died this night.

Spawn, her back gone and the stones beneath her stained with her blood, sat atop Mormegil, whose throat had been sawn so deep that his head was almost clean off his shoulders.

Next to them lay the flayed and blinded remains of Kath.

~ The Tally ~ (3)

Three werewolves
No Gifteds

~ The Dead ~ (18)

Elempi, father of Diamond of the Battledore, killed on Night One
Loki the leech collector, lynched on Day One: innocent
The Saucepan Man the barkeep, killed on Night Two: innocent
Nogrod the retired jester, lynched on Day Two: werewolf
the phantom the loud, unpredictable, adventurer: hunter
Naria the servant who empties and cleans chamber pots: werewolf
Celuien the Healer and Cupper, lynched on Day Three: innocent
Lhunardawen the jeweler, committed suicide on Day Three: innocent
Cailín the match maker, mauled by werewolves on Night Four: innocent
Valier the gardener, planted and stoned in her garden on Day Four: werewolf
Firefoot the artist, frenziedly eaten on Night Five: innocent
Nilpaurion the ne'er do well hubby of Dancing Spawn, head almost ripped off by werewolves: innocent
Alcarillo the old retired sea captain, drowned on his boat on Day Five: werewolf
Lommy the little girl who steals other children's candy, broken and consumed on Night Six: innocent
Caranlondien the Sled-Team Driver, skewered and kabobed on Night Six: ranger
Roa Aoife the weaver, burned by fire on Day Six: the evil wizard
Gurthang the stable-hand, contorted by evil magic on Day Six: the good wizard
Sleepy Ranger the former wanderer, lynched on Day Six: innocent
Dancing Spawn of Ungoliant the Baker, flayed through the back on Night Seven: hunter
Kath the minstrel: flayed where she lay on Night Seven: seer
mormegil the retired mariner and current mayor: virtually beheaded by the Hunter on Night Seven: werewolf

~ The Living ~ (10)

Diamond of the Battledore
Glirdan with the giant crush on Kath
Kitanna the beloved of Eomer
Oddwen the filthy, insane street urchin who steals chickens
Feanor the shepherdess with a love of alliteration
Zali the seamstress and beloved of the phantom
Jenny Hallu the unmarried maiden & aunt
Lalaith the frivolous aunt and guardian of Oddwen
Eonwe the freeloading husband of Lhunardawen
Eomer the adventurer & lover of Kitanna

[Oddwen]

Originally Posted by Eomer

Does no-one else think that this could be a huge hint? i.e. Azaelia and/or Glirdan is furry and fanged?

I think that's rather close to 'getting clues from the narrative', I don't think LMP would be that forward. So no, really.

Morm's last post yesterDay was really funky, I would probably have jumped on that toDay. Or, poked at it or something.

'kay. ToDay is likely the first day that the Wolves know who each other are. So, this is almost like a Day One, only with more to go on.

Originally Posted by Auntie Lal

Night Six.
Another wolf is created. This I think will be an “alpha wolf.”

I suspect this "alpha wolf" could have been Morm. His posting yesterday was almost, well, I don't know how to say it, "Desperate to take it somewhere"? "Relief at finally knowing something concrete"? Umm, darn.

Originally Posted by MormeWolf

Diamond to answer about my position on Kath, if you wish I have well over 10 lore books with people very similar to us crossing paths multiple times and they always seem to end up suspecting each other. So I've resigned myself to always think her evil though seldom do much about it only when I have a really strong feeling that she is. Kath would agree with me on this point.

Did they kill Kath to make Morm look guilty (not Wolfishly guilty but "oh no, poor Kath I wish I hadn't said that, I'll regret this for the rest of my innocent life" gulty)?



And allow me one silly moment -

Originally Posted by Kitanna

So, I'll return in a few hours with what I've found in Eomer, Eonwe, Glirdan, and Oddwen's post.

Surely, we've been more active than that!

[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

Morm's reaction in his post #889 for Zali's vote for him made me a bit uneasy. I have to go in a minute, so I can't explain that now and therefore I won't vote for him toDay.

As to Lalaith, I find myself agreeing with her on many things. I found her quite suspicious a while ago, but since then the suspicions calmed down, and she speaks much sense. One thing that makes me wonder if she's innocent after all is indeed Roa's analysis, but it might go either way.

Originally Posted by ModGod

Players will not be removed from the game for failure to post in a Day or failure to vote.

That certainly changes things a bit. I wouldn't think that it's a clue, though. There may be silent players on both Good and Bad side. Still, due to the new rule, I shall vote for

++Glirdan

because I find silent players who post mostly in character and don't share their own thoughts suspicious.

Good Night!

[mormegil]

Voting update

Zali for Morm (Morm 1)
Kitanna for Oddwen (Morm 1, Oddwen 1)
Lalaith for Jenny (Morm 1, Oddwen 1, Jenny 1)
Sleepy for Jenny (Morm 1, Oddwen 1, Jenny 2)
Diamond for Lalaith (Morm 1, Oddwen 1, Jenny 2, Lalaith 1)
Eomer for Sleepy (Morm 1, Oddwen 1, Jenny 2, Lalaith 1, Sleepy 1)
Spawn for Glirdan (Morm 1, Oddwen 1, Jenny 2, Lalaith 1, Sleepy 1, Glirdan 1)

*sigh* this is one of those odd days where I really don't know for whom to vote. I have some mild suspicions but nothing concrete. Out of those who have votes Glirdan and Sleepy look guilty and Oddwen to an extent. I'm still not convinced of Diamond's innocence nor of her guilt.

[Diamond18]

Right now I almost feel like voting for Sleepy just because of his continued non-participation and bandwaggony vote there for Jenny. I'm not convinced, personally, that Roa would turn Jenny so soon after Jenny's recent evilness, and the fact that they're familiar with each other doesn't mean diddly squat to me since she's familiar with me, too. And Jenny's posts toDay feel somewhat innocent to me. I've been fooled before, but I can't just ignore my instincts or that will cause even more confusion and hysteria in my posts. So let's please not jump all over Jenny, toDay. I realize that if Jenny turns out to be a wolf and dies before me, this will be a bad stance, but I bloody well don't care anymore. There is no more chance for me to be turned into a wolf and get lynched for stuff I said while innocent, so, do your worst to me.

However, even Sleepy's current uber-Sleepiness won't divert me from my more long term suspicion.

Reasons why I think Lalaith is a good vote.

Roa's analysis of her the other day expressed some suspicions but was overall somewhat neutral, and her final opinion was this:

After all this, there are some things that tweak me about Lal, but not enough for me to consider her guilty. My only concern is that she may be the wolf from last night, since she's intelligent and vocal but hasn't drawn much suspicion as of yet.

I get the feeling this is all to appease my outspoken worries to the effect that Lalaith was being overlooked -- here the EW looks at her wolf, presents a few fairly reasonable suspicions, but soothes the overall view. The comment about her possibly being turned most recently doesn't really encourage anyone to start voting for her. I just got the feeling that we were supposed to look at Lalaith, feel satisfied, then look away for the time being. This just doesn't sit well with me, especially since I do find some of Lal's actions suspicious, especially after reading the overview.

Morm still scares me, just because I can well see him coasting to the end on the argument that you can't lynch him just because you fear what he could be if he were evil. However, I honestly can't find anything wolfish in his actual posts. So I can't vote. Eomer is pointing fingers at Glirdan and Zali for reasons pertaining to the Mod's actions, which is always looked at askance, but frankly I can see his point (if you were the mod and faced with knocking off your wolves, would you?) so I'm prepared to not think it suspicious of him, per se. His view on the Roa/Diamond issue is charmingly inaccurate -- I find the idea that I never overreact when innocent to be the stuff of belly laughs. I find Kath's behavior to be a bit sketchy right now, being angry with the Mod God for sparing lives and claiming her brain hurts -- I've seen that before from her duckish ancestor. But since I've got my eye on Lal for toDay I'll worry about Kath later. The other villagers right now are too quiet or hard to pin down to really comment on.

+ + LALAITH

I'm going to catch a wolf or die trying.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Diamond18

I'm going to catch a wolf or die trying.

But at least you'll go out with the moral highground and whatnot, no?

[Kath]

Ah it wasn't the brain last time Di but the lungs! And to repeat, I wasn't angry because of what the rule was changed to, but because the rule was changed after a post I made which had a fair sized portion on why we were fine to ignore those who would die anyway. I was cross because it meant I had to rethink it.

Ok, Eomer.

Sleepy's vote for Jenny looked barely thought-out. I'd like to see some more reasoning from him though before we do anything drastic about it. If he can come up with something.

Diamond your points on Lalaith are good. I can see how Roa might try to deflect suspicion by analysing her herself. It would also give us a 'middling' wolf. Someone who posts enough and with substance, and has been neither ignored nor persecuted by Roa.

[Diamond18]

Originally Posted by Kath

Ah it wasn't the brain last time Di but the lungs!

The... lungs? *scratches head*

Anyway, I was referring to this:

Please explain Eomer, apparently my brain is not with it.

However, I can understand the frustration with cross posting with the mod and having your post content "outdated" in effect. So on further thought, I suppose the fact that you weren't cautious enough to remain quiet about it speak more in favor than not.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

You answer me well, Diamond; and you understand my point about Azaelia and Glirdan.

Sleepy came crashing into my suspicions with his odd behaviour yesterday. Recall how he accused me of making an evil Freudian slip and then said that it excuses me. Not only was there blatantly no slip from me, but to excuse what he suggested as an evil confession is unacceptable villager behaviour. His vote just there is not explained well and strikes of bandwaggoning (as Diamond points out).

++SLEEPY

[Eonwe]

Originally Posted by Jenny?

Eonwe the freeloading husband of Lhunardawen: Probably innocent. He frustrates me for the same reason Sleepy does, but to a lesser extent, because this is normal for him.

Well, I understand your frustrations, as I share them at least to some extent. But I assure you, quietness in not my style. It is work that interferes here, not my stratagies.

Anyway, I'll do my best to get on as much as possible and with as much savy analysis as possible, but I can't promise anything.

So I guess from here on out, we return to the regular werewolf game. Except with four wolves.

Here's the thing though. Basically, everybody up till last Night can be considered cobblers, of sorts. So just take any evidence (and trust) that you might have picked up along the way with a grain of salt.

Originally Posted by Eomer

Does no-one else think that this could be a huge hint? i.e. Azaelia and/or Glirdan is furry and fanged?

Don't mean to bring the game into disrepute or anything but I'm trying to work with whatever comes my way.

Yes, it struck me that way, certainly. Though, yes, it does feel a bit underhanded.


Anyway, that's all for now. I'll hopefully be back on before the end of toDay.