Tol-in-Gaurhoth XXVI - Úcenite Valto

[the phantom]

Okay, let's put this out of reach. I don't really want to see a coin flip.

--Kath
++Ang

[the phantom]

Where is Ang, by the way? Did he say he was leaving?

It seems like the worst possible time to leave.

[the phantom]

And that vote for you Ang. That's for trying to lynch me on Day 1!

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

In the village ther was dwellynge a poure scoler, hadde lerned art, but al his fantasye was turned for to lerne a thyng most literarye, and koude a certeyn of conclusiouns to demen by interrogaciouns if that men asked hym in certein houres what he wit of tales, and he could say.

And he knew great things, and spoke with great clarity, and he made those around him smile, and during his time in the village, the Dark Lady cared most specifically to speak with him, but she did not, for she could not. A power of will she did not know possessed her kept her from him, but at his final moment, when the village had spoken, and his fate had been sealed, she could say to him many things, and she could ask him many things, and she delighted in his answers in a way she had never known before. And so bifel bidene opon a somers day Anguirel and the Quen spoke within her play.

"What is bettre than Gold?” he responded to her, “Jaspre. What is bettre than Jaspre? Wisdom. And what is bettre than Wisdom? Womman. And what is bettre than a good Womman? No thyng."

And she told him with a laugh, “The first vertue, sone, if thou wilt lerne, is to restreyne and kepen wel thy tonge.”

And for a time, her Darkness seemed more light. And she told him something: “A few miles from here a frost-stiffened wood waits and keeps watch above a mere; the overhanging bank is a maze of tree-roots mirrored in its surface. At night there, something uncanny happen: the water burns.”

And he did not shiver with fear or wonder, but was curious, as all scholars are, and as they spoke, he forgot his death, and no longer saw the villagers around him, though they spoke to him, and about him, and with him. In his mind, he spoke with the Lady, and they shared many things, and he asked her about the wood and the mere, and the burning water and her Tower, and she told him of her past, and of her present, and for a long time they spoke, but never, she thought, long enough, and she regretted that the village would end his life this evening, now, in moments, in seconds, because he had not been cruel, had not been evil, but had been a scholar, one who delighted in learning what he could, of himself, of her, and of them.

For the first time in this dark, fogged time, the Dark Lady felt a hint of remorse for the cruelty she had thrust upon the village. He did not deserve to die…

And yet… he did.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

"They were right." he murmured, looking deep into her eyes.

"And what is it," she whispered, "that they were so right about?"

Her breath was poison on the wind; her laughter was gone from midnight and moonlight, and her presence was nothing more than mist. She was beginning to fade. He responded with strength.

"They say if you stare long enough into an abyss, it begins to stare back."

She laughed hollowly. "And you have stared, O Philosophical One, into this abyss?"

"Your eyes are categorically empty of all humanity." he said, acid on his tongue. "You understand that it is imperative this game of yours end?"

"You speak bravely, for a man about to die."

"I will die with honor and with virtue, and be called a good man, if it be for the good of the many."

"We shall see with what honor and virtue you die, when death does call you, and if it is for the better of those you love." And he stared again, into her eyes across moonlight, for though she was in her Tower and he in his chamber, time did not matter, and the miles did not matter, and he heard claws on his door, and it was said ever after of him that nothing in his life became him like the leaving it; he died as one that had been studied in his death, and when it was done, it was said after, that his life had been good.

[the phantom]

THE LIVING-

Diamond18
Kath
Mithalwen
the phantom
The Saucepan Man

THE DEAD-

Boromir88 (innocent)- bravely faced the gallows on Day 1
mormegil (innocent)- bled by the WWs on Night 2
Eomer of the Rohirrim (Werewolf)- outed by shrewd villagers on Day 2
littlemanpoet (innocent)- lain carefully in grave on Night 3
Estelyn Telcontar (innocent)- kicked the bucket on Day 3
Roa_Aoife (innocent)- dreams invaded by a WW on Night 4
Anguirel (innocent)- lynched by silly villagers on Day 4
Nogrod (innocent)- removed from lynch list by WWs on Night 5

Yesterday's voting-

Ang for Fea (1)
SPM for tp (1)
Mith for Kath (1)
Kath for Ang (1)
Nog for Ang (2)
tp for Kath (2)
Di for tp (2)
SPM take back tp (1)
SPM for Ang (3)
Di take back tp (0)
Di for Ang (4)
tp take back Kath (1)
tp for Ang (5)

[the phantom]

No more logic from me. From now on it's all going to be whimsical emotions. There is no logic in this game. Everyone is on his own team and is free to act however he wants to act and is interested first and foremost in self preservation as his knowledge of himself is the only sure thing he has to hold onto.

Therefore logically there is no rational way of telling anyone apart. You will see that from Day 1 all the way until the beginning of yesterday I had Ang listed as my most innocent person. Why? Because of feelings. And my feelings were correct, weren't they? But I allowed myself to be swayed with logic and moved Ang down my list a bit.

But even then, late in the day I still didn't want Ang killed and made an offer to him to vote with him against Kath to save his skin, but he never showed up. Instead, SPM showed up and tacked his vote onto Ang, and then Di followed, and it was all over.

I should've fought for Ang's life and put my foot down. I should've trusted the gut feeling that I had the whole game. But I pushed my feelings aside and told myself they were silly.

I was a fool to allow logic to influence me, for logically there is no logic present in this village. Look no further than the nightly kills. Three nights in a row, perfectly good lynch targets have been murdered. If the WW is not playing rationally why in the world are we trying to pick him/her out with rational thinking? We must be buffoons.

So anyway, here's what I've decided.

At the end of the day I'm going to vote for exactly who I feel like voting for, and I refuse to be swayed by extravagant cases and eloquent accusations. I will post my feelings on things like voting and behavior and then I will vote with my gut. It's been right more often. It was right about Ang, Boro, and Eomer. My head hasn't been right once.

And for my first statement of feelings...

I feel like I want SPM to live till the end. I certainly don't feel him to be innocent the way I did Boro and most of the game Ang- Sauce could very well be the WW. But really, there's only a 1 in 4 chance that it's him, so that's a pretty safe bet. Plus, I can't think of a better WW to win than SPM. I like the way he's been playing and I'd love to hear him do a "Mwu ha ha! Here's how I executed my master plan..." at the end.

So, there you have it. I will only vote for SPM to save my own life.

That leaves Di, Kath, and Mith for targets.

Kath has been super quiet this game. I wish we wouldn't have been talked out of bumping her off a couple days ago. If it comes down to the final day and Kath is still around I'm going to vote for her even if I think the other person looks to be the more likely WW, simply because I refuse to allow a WW to win using Kath's ultra-quiet strategy.

I'll talk about Di and Mith later. Tonight if I get the chance, but maybe not till tomorrow after my morning classes.

Oh, and I also plan to embark on a wild goose chase involving a statement made by Fea on her blog. This village is all about her, after all. It would be rude to ignore her.

[The Saucepan Man]

Oh law, thou art a cruel mistress!

You would compel me solemnly to weigh words spoken in innocence. You would have me judge falsely the motives of those by whom they were spoken. And you would drive me to use those very words in the prosecution of those no more guilty than I.

The wisdom of the gravekeeper. The soft voice of the milkmaid. The brazen wit of the scholar. All misjudged in my ramblings and presented in a grotesque distortion of their true intent, as if spoken by the blood-thirsty murderer that ever skulks among us. Innocents all! Yet condemned by my accusations, voiced in a cloud of ignorance and self-doubt.

All I have done, I have done to serve thee my Lady. And yet the beast stalks us still.

Will you not take this blindfold from the eyes of thy poor servant and grant me the satisfaction of knowing my tormentor?

Nay, you will not. For my Lady Justice is blind, and pure hearts are brutally struck down while chaos and cruelty reign supreme.

Well, I will serve thee no more. This prosecutor is no longer in business.

********************************
I have little clue as to the identity of the remaining Wolf and, since all that I have said to date has been amiss and has achieved little but the condemnation of innocent villagers, I have little confidence left in my own judgement.

Any one of you may be a Wolf, and yet three are not. A wrong choice toDay, and we have but one chance left. The fiddler may have finished his tune, but the village burns still.

Originally Posted by the phantom

I should've fought for Ang's life and put my foot down. I should've trusted the gut feeling that I had the whole game. But I pushed my feelings aside and told myself they were silly.

Yet another self-serving comment about a lynch victim.

You seem to have a habit of portraying yourself in a good light. Although that is of little use to me, since you would no doubt do so whether guilty or innocent. Might I remind you, though, that you were all for lynching Nogrod yesterDay. Here’s a self-serving comment from me. I never had the feeling that Nogrod was anything but innocent.

Originally Posted by the phantom

At the end of the day I'm going to vote for exactly who I feel like voting for, and I refuse to be swayed by extravagant cases and eloquent accusations. I will post my feelings on things like voting and behavior and then I will vote with my gut. It's been right more often. It was right about Ang, Boro, and Eomer. My head hasn't been right once.

As my somewhat melodramatic introduction to this post indicates, I feel much the same way. Every time that I have tried logically to analyse my fellow villagers, my thoughts have missed their mark.

Originally Posted by the phantom

I feel like I want SPM to live till the end. I certainly don't feel him to be innocent the way I did Boro and most of the game Ang- Sauce could very well be the WW. But really, there's only a 1 in 4 chance that it's him, so that's a pretty safe bet. Plus, I can't think of a better WW to win than SPM. I like the way he's been playing and I'd love to hear him do a "Mwu ha ha! Here's how I executed my master plan..." at the end.

You wouldn't be trying to flatter me to divert me, by any chance, would you?

Funny, though. I feel much the same way about you. Except that I am not so sure that I want you to live to the end. If for no other reason than to put my mind at rest and ensure that, should I survive until tomorrow and the Wolf remains, I am no longer plagued by the paranoia that has beset me throughout the game as far as you are concerned.

It might assist, however, were you to explain now precisely what you meant by that first post of yours, why it establishes your innocence and why, were you a Wolf, you would not say much the same thing to give yourself a cloak of innocence. You indicated yesterDay that you might explain, if your life were in danger. It would be helpful if you were to do so now.

Some further thoughts before I go.

Would it have served the Wolf’s interests to have played this game recklessly (which would implicate Diamond/Mithalwen), quietly (which would implicate Kath) or loudly and analytically (which would implicate the phantom/myself)?

And what’s with Diamond and this constant obsession with trying to tie up the votes at the end of the Day?

I will be back later (though probably not until much later, as I am busy today) with further thoughts.