Werewolf XXXII: The Lost Age

[Volo]

Total darkness.

Silence.

A scream.

Silence.

A light.

Darkness.

The light growing back: a torch was lit.

A tall and skinny man was holding the torch, he didn’t look that old, but in the little light it was hard to see his age. There were 23 men and women of different ages and origins around him. Some were sulking and some were just sitting quietly, but all of them were equally confused.

Then, again, a young lass in a yellow dress, Lomiella let out a scream and started crying.

A short and stocky man in ragged clothes, Glirdan consoled the girl by patting her on the back and whispering, ”It’s ok, we’re fine. Calm down, nobody’s hurt…”

An another man, Xyzzy came forth to the tall man holding the torch. ”Where are we? Where did you find that?” he said pointing at the torch.

The skinny lad answered shakingly, ”Umm… It was lying here beside me, I stumbled on it”.

”And how did you manage to light it?” asked a clearly annoyed woman in black, Brinniel.

”I, I…”

An older man, Boromir, shocked by the situation, defended the shaken lad, ”Oh leave the poor guy alone, will ya. Don’t you see, he’s just as badly shokked as we all. No good at accusing him of anything right now. There are many more important things we must ask ourselves.”

Some ragged guy in a flat cap, Sleepy shouted from behind the circle, ”Yeah! Where are we? Who are we? Why are we here? How did we manage to get here? That’s the stuff I’d be glad to have an answer to”.

Long silence followed.

A cough and a tall man hiding in his grey cloak, Rune said calmly, as if to the darkness, ”I guess that was the answer. Nobody knows. Or nobody want’s us others to know. From my part, I was carving badgers at home when everything suddenly disappeared”.

Everybody nodded to that and general agreement was present.

Long silence followed.

”So, are we just going to stand here and wait for a miracle to happen. I feel like there won’t be any miracle for a while…” Aganzir, the hefty bearded woman said heavily. And after a short pause continued, ”Hey, you with the torch. What’s your name? Help me find more of those, we need to explore our situation”.

The torch-guy smiled nervously and answered, ”I’m En… Enohl. I think I saw more of these there beside that building”.

Everybody turned to look it the direction Enohl pointed, it was all dark and nobody could see anything.

”Give me that”, a woman in the tatters of rich clothes, Diamond grabbed Enohl’s torch and walked to the wall. It did turn out to be a building of some sort and torches were stacked neatly beside it. The woman smirked, ”You have good sight, my lad”. Diamond lit a second torch and throw it to a man, who stood close by.

The man caught it and spoke loudly, ”Heh, now friends, come and get your torches. We should explore this place before something explores our flesh, I wonder what beasts live in this darkness. Oh, and my name is Gil-Galad by the way”.

”There aren’t any beasts in this cave we should worry about-” Enohl started to shout, but realized that he made a big mistake.

Everyone was staring at Enohl. A sturdy-framed man, Nogrod walked close to him and stuck a finger in Enohl’s chest, ”Now wait a moment, what did you just say? You seem to know more than the rest of us. Would you be so kind to tell! Who the heck are you?”

Enohl backed away looking frightened. ”I, I…”

”What?” The strong man advanced at him again.

Suddenly Legate a man nearly of Nogrod’s size put a hand on Nogrod’s shoulder. ”Leave him be, if you scare him out of his skin, he won’t be of any help. I feel he’s just as innocent as me or you. Or even more than that”.

Nogrod turned quickly getting ready to punch Legate. Luckily for Legate, a small woman with short hair and subtle features, Roa came between the two tall men and Nogrod put his hand down. He said harshly, ”Now don’t you interfere. Where did that boy go”.

And indeed. Enohl was running away.

-~~-----------------------------------------------------------------------~~-

Enhilion was running away, tears were flying into the air. He had made a mistake and now it would probably cost the life of his whole race. And Enhilion only wanted to calm the Men down. He couldn’t understand why the Men were so evil and got angry so quickly. Sure the Vampires imprisoned them, but why would they want to harm even their own friends. Well, in fact that was the whole plan, to get the Men to fight with each other that the Vampires could be left alone. It seemed all wrong, Enhilion didn’t even want to hurt those Men, they are no warriors, they are weak. They were taken from their lives by force… A bit like Enhilion himself. He began crying and cursing again.

In the circle of Men there was also a lot of cursing. Nogrod had been shouting all the while, but didn’t dare go after the kid in this darkness. ”It’s all your fault! Why did you let him flee?”

Boromir, Legate and Roa tried to calm Nogrod down but without much success. The only thing they achieved was more shouts.

In the total confusion nobody noticed Mac, the man who was hiding in his hood and sitting on the ground outside the circle, vanish. He had snached a torch and was now running to the direction Enohl disappeared. Mac followed the boy’s cries. For a while the sobs ended and Mac was lost in the darkness but soon he heared weeping again. Close by, just in front of Mac. He walked slowly toward the sound, it wasn’t moving away anymore, but it stopped before Mac found his target.

Mac had run too far from the rest to either hear or see them, but there in the little light his torch cast he could see that the city or whatever it seemed to be, was going on and on. Fright gripped his. And just a moment later Mac tripped on something soft…

”I’m sorry, I lost control over myself. I didn’t mean it, it’s ok now”. Nogrod had at last come back to sense.

”I understand, we are all afraid and don’t know what to do. But we should try to unite our strength to survive. Whoever that boy was, he’s gone now”, said Morgan, a straw-haired man who was sitting quietly until this.

”No! He hasn’t gone”.

Everybody turned to see who said this. It was Mac and he was holding Enohl by the neck. Mac threw the scared lad in the middle of the crowd with a melancholic smile.

Enohl fell right on his face, but quickly rolled to face the angry crowd. He was panting hard and his nose was bleeding.

Mac explained, ”I ran after him when you were arguing. Found him quite far lying on the ground. It scared me to death, but now I think this fellow is much more scared than I have ever been”.

”Oh, good that someone has sense in the head. So boy, let us know your secrets”, said Kitanna a woman in a white shirt, black riding boots and a smirk on her face.

Enohl opened his mouth and then closed it and his eyes, he took a long breath and said, ”I and three of my friend are Vampires, we just-”

A commotion started. Nogrod backed away from Enohl, ”You, you cursed beast! What have you done to us!” He then grabbed a torch and ran on Enohl. So, fear of Vampires did exist in the outside world.

Enohl sreamed and shouted for his friends, that seemed to have betrayed their young ally. He glanced at them and understood that he was alone. Enohl gathered his knowledge and began chanting the incantation to change into a bat, it wasn’t easy and he had done it only a few times.

Nogrod was nearly on him when a commanding voice came from all around, ”Stop”.

-~~-----------------------------------------------------------------------~~-

Everybody stopped. A darkness darker than any other darkness appeared beside Enohl, who was now gazing at it with his mouth open. Slowly the darkness took the shape of a cloaked man. The cloaked man raised his gloved hand to point Enohl, ”Your time is over. You have been chosen to die”.

Rikae, the beautiful lady with long black hair and gray eyes, gathered the will to ask, ”Who, or what, are you? What will you do to us?”

The cloaked head turned to face Rikae and a chill pierced her. The same toneless voice, seeming older than the world, darker than the darkness, spoke, ”I am the Oracle. I have been summoned here to help you. Like this traitor told you, there are three Vampires among you. It is my mission to destroy them”.

The scared crowd didn’t know which to fear more: the Vampires or this clearly more powerful being, that did seem to be their ally.

A tall and extremely muscular man, Menel, barked at the figure, ”How can we trust you? You can be one of them and take the life of our own three”.

”How indeed? You can either trust me or trust me not. I leave the choice to you. My only advise to you is to choose the former… if you wish to live”.

Esspiem, the lean man with the neatly trimmed moustache and beard, squeaked as the dark figure seemed to look at him.

Everybody slowly gathered around the darkness and a general atmosphere of thinking followed into a tight line around the Oracle.

At last one person dared to stare back at the Oracle. His piercing and unsettling smile offered little comfort to anybody who looked at him, but Eomer didn’t care much. He turned at Esspiem and whispered so that only Esspiem could hear, ”Coward”. Returning his gaze back at the Oracle he said rather loudly, ”I trust you for now. Long time ago, when the Dark Enemy still looked upon the land, my ancestors were slain by Vampires. They came at night, not noticing the watchman, who had fallen alseep in the stable. When they went to steal the horses, the watchman woke. He had enough time to yell for help, when his throat was slit. Only one man survived from that village. I will trust this ”oracle” if that means revenging the Vampires’s evil deeds!”

Durelin, the thin, girly looking young man laughed mockingly. ”You would trust anything that gave you protection, and maybe a less painful death. Well, have it your way. I don’t really care...
” Oracle! If you come too near, don’t think I won’t find your weak spot!”

”I agree that our only hope of surviving is to trust the Oracle and hope for the truth.” Celuien, a woman in a worn dress and just as used cloak spoke, ”Whoever is the Vampire here, look out. Twenty against three is not a wise fight, so I’d just fly away if I were you...”

The Oracle turned it’s head at Celuien and if there had been a face, it would have now smiled, ”Three have spoken, does the rest agree?. Think about it”.

People were looking at their feet and trying to come up with some thought.

After a short while the Oracle announced with a hint of amusement, ”Just like I thought, only three don’t trust me... No... a fourth one.” Its voice had the slightest hint of suprise, so slight that only the most careful ear could pick it.

Nobody had the courage to ask how the dark figure knew this and so it was decided.

”It is now decided! You shall live in any house you wish, there will be food on the table three times a day. A river is flowing in the far end of the city, you can bring fresh water yourself. Wood can be found for different uses in a stack in middle of the city. Feel free to explore the houses for any other equipment you need”.

”What about the Vampires?” Shasta, the man dressed in all possible shades of blue asked. Other people nodded.

The Oracle would have smiled again if there would have been a mouth to smile with, ”There seems to be a misunderstanding. I won’t kill anybody now. How would I know which of you are Vampires? It is your job to find out. Tell me your vote and every 24 hours I’ll come for the person, who has collected the most votes. You can see the remaining time from the giant clock in the middle square.
”Now, what should I do to this Vampire here…”

The Oracle turned back into darkness and disappeared. Enohl was still lying on the ground.

”He seemed to forget this kid, oh botheration”, said Rikae.

Enohl rose up and said, ”I think I will follow your movement after all”. It was the Oracle’s voice. Then he tripped on the ground. ”It is a matter of practise, in a day I will be using this body better than you are using your own”. Enohl, or the Oracle tried to stand, but without much hope.

To the amusement of the crowd, the first day started!

-~~-----------------------------------------------------------------------~~-

The living:

Gil-Galad (Gil)
The Saucepan Man (Esspiem/SPM)
Rikae
Boromir88 (Boro)
Nogrod
Eomer of the Rohirrim (Eomer)
Thinlómien (Lomiella/Lommy)
Brinniel
Legate of Amon Lanc (Legate)
Aganzir
Meneltarmacil (Menel)
Xyzzy
Roa_Aoife (Roa)
Macalaure (Mac)
Diamond18 (Di)
Shastanis Althreduin (Shasta)
Celuien (Cel)
Kitanna
Sleepy Ranger (Sleepy)
Durelin
Glirdan (Glirdy)
Rune Son of Bjarne (Rune)
The Sixth Wizard (Morgan/Sixth)

The dead:

-


DAY 1

You may now start talking. Staying in-character is not a rule but adviceable.

[Gil-Galad]

What maddness this has become... why must the oracle toy with us?... fine so we must play its game then we must if we want to survive... so basically keep our heads up about each other and be careful... then my friends we can see another sunrise!

[Shastanis Althreduin]

Shasta shook his head, clearing it of the cobwebs that had accompanied his teleportation to this place.

"I think it's a good idea if we all stick together..." he said, turning about him to look for a place to set up housekeeping. Picking up a torch, he lit it from the one Diamond held and walked south through the crowd, brushing lightly past Nogrod and Rikae as he headed for one of the larger buildings.

The door opened with a creak as Shasta pushed it open. A shower of dust fell from the lintel; the building had lain in disuse for some time. A flare of fire flashed in the open air as Shasta's torch passed under a silky cobweb. The windows had no glass in them, and he edged through one of the larger rooms, careful of any broken glass on the floor; he was barefoot, after all.

Climbing a set of old, dusty stairs, he came upon a hallway with seven rooms. A cursory inspection of them revealed them all to be bedrooms, with the furniture covered with cloths, as if the owner of the house was just away on vacation and would return any time. Immediately claiming the westernmost room for himself, Shasta leaned out one of the broken windows, looking down on the crowd.

"There's room for six more of us up here," he shouted, his young voice carrying echoingly throughout the cavern.

[The Saucepan Man]

Well that’s just great. Everyone knows that the least developed characters are the ones to die first in these kinds of situation, particularly those portrayed in some negative light. Since I got scant description, no dialogue and have been portrayed as a coward, it looks like I’ll be the first one to be picked off here.

It’s not that I’m a coward, anyway. It’s just that, well I am rather disconcerted by our situation and that Oracle suddenly appearing like that was enough to give anyone the creeps. And if he’s so powerful, why doesn’t he just send us all back where we came from?

Anyway, to business. I may not have great skill in arms, but I hope that my sharp wits may be of assistance to us, or to those of us who are free of any Vampiric or other supernatural tendencies at least.

A few thoughts on how we should approach our unfortunate situation. As I see it, we have little choice the way things stand but to trust the Oracle’s words. And it seems from these that we must each Day nominate secretly who we wish to die and that the person with the most votes at the end of the Day will be taken by the Oracle. Our objective, it seems, is to root out the Vampires among us.

Unfortunately, as matters stand, we are denied a useful source of information which might assist us in this task – the known votes of each person. I therefore suggest that we all agree to state here honestly the name of the person we have voted for at or about the same time that we each cast our vote. Obviously, the words of three (possibly four) among us will be deceptive. But we will at least force them to commit themselves to a name and thereby, perhaps, put them under some pressure. More importantly, we will have as close as possible to a voting record as it is possible to get in the current circumstances, and this will hopefully be useful to us in the Days to come, and perhaps also of use to the Lynch Seer (did the Oracle tell us about the Lynch Seer? – well let’s assume he did. ).

As for the Lynch Seer, we should perhaps reserve discussion of this role until we see how it works out in practice. The only point I would make at this stage is an obvious one, but worth stating nevertheless. An innocent Lynch Seer should carefully think through the possible consequences before posting their riddle. Clearly, it would be preferable to avoid giving the Vampires a free kill.

As for this “fourth person” who may not trust the Oracle, my guess (ably assisted by the Game Rules ) is that they are only interested in preserving their own life. I would only note that their best interests are currently served by siding with the innocents.

Now, I’m off to look for anything which may be of use to us in this place. Only – um – I would rather not go alone. Would anyone like to accompany me? Actually, on second thoughts, would any five wish to accompany me …?

[Boromir88]

My only hope is I survive today...I mean it would be a shame to die on a special day like today. I don't care if the vampires decide to kill me after today, but it would be a shame to die today.

I was a bit nervous about the 'secretive vote' thing, as that takes away part of the ordinary innocents advantage. But the more I think about it, it may work to our advantage. Afterall, the vampires can't vote to save themselves, so we just have to worry about making the right decision (but that's easier said than done), and not have to worry about any vampires sticking their fangs in to save one of their partners.

[Macalaure]

Oh the werewolf has such teeth dear,
And he shows them pearly white.
Just a jack-knife has Macheath here*
but he keeps it out of sight.

*or rather he doesn't, cause he wasn't allowed to bring it. Bah!



I don't have much time and even less to say right now.

As Espiem said, we should simulate the voting process as good as we can. Not only will we have something close to a voting record, but there's even a chance that, missing the non-votes of the vampires, a different person will die than the one everybody expected. If it happens, it will be very helpful, I think.

Though it will be difficult to cope with the secret votes, keep in mind that the vampires aren't allowed to vote at all. They can't mess with the voting outcome like they usually can.

[Meneltarmacil]

Alright people. Listen up and listen good!

I've fought in a lot of wars, so I know how to deal with ruthless enemies. These vampires want us all dead, and that's just what we're gonna be if we don't kill them first! Don't just stand around wondering what happened! Don't give anyone the benefit of the doubt or whatever you call it; we've got a fight to win! The enemy doesn't care about your reputation or your life or how kind you are. All he wants to do is kill you. So you'd do well to show him no mercy.

[Rikae]

Rikae stepped through the doorway carefully, so as not to snare her long silver-gray cloak on the splinters...and broken nails...in the lintel. She went to the window and pushed back the yellowing curtain; a sunbeam pierced the dim interior; bewildered specks of dust danced erratically in the light.
She stood silently, then turned to Mac with a slight smile.
"Thou wenyst I knowe nott thy councell; Butt I warn the; I know itt, every deall."
She turned and addressed the whole room:
"I don't trust this Mac person. He speaks of a knife...then says he doesn't have one! I say we search him.

And what is this talk of "less developed characters" from Esspiem? I never quite trust someone who starts off with a joke about his or her own vulnerability, combined with a long speech reiterating the situation at hand.

But I do agree; we should all state openly for whom we are voting. If the vampires' non-votes sway the results, it may even give us a trail to follow.
There is still hope..."

[Gil-Galad]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

My only hope is I survive today...I mean it would be a shame to die on a special day like today. I don't care if the vampires decide to kill me after today, but it would be a shame to die today.

I was a bit nervous about the 'secretive vote' thing, as that takes away part of the ordinary innocents advantage. But the more I think about it, it may work to our advantage. Afterall, the vampires can't vote to save themselves, so we just have to worry about making the right decision (but that's easier said than done), and not have to worry about any vampires sticking their fangs in to save one of their partners.

i must agree on what master Boro here says... we have a greater chance on the vampires because they will not be able to help sacrifice one of their own to save themselves... i am glad at that fact.

And Rikae... accusing two people right off the bat are we? my what headstrong you are... but you should be careful... or doing the whole double bluff, instead of acting like a confused innocent, you could be pretending to be a vampire and lose the lead off of you early... i do not like that one bit... and now my hunch is moving on to you being very suspicous...

[Shastanis Althreduin]

Having uncovered all the furniture in the rooms, Shasta paced restlessly down the hall. He felt helpless without at least some sort of weapon with which to defend himself... small blades were his forte, and where best to find such weapons than the kitchen? It had to be around here somewhere...

A quick search of the upper floor elicited the answer; a small set of back stairs, probably used by servants, that lead directly to the kitchen. Shasta entered, stifling a sneeze... it was much more dusty in here, for some reason. Looking for anything that could be considered a weapon, he came across the desiccated remains of what used to be a fine meal, halfway through preparation, on one of the counters. Wrinkling his nose in disgust, Shasta crossed the kitchen and began to search through the cabinets and drawers. His search was rewarded with the dull gleam of unpolished metal in the third drawer he checked.

Shasta lifted out a six-inch carving knife. Not a lot against the claws and fangs of a vampire, but better than nothing. He tucked it away in his sash, hilt protruding for easy drawing, and prowled on, searching for anything that might be of use later.... however, he was arrested in his search when he heard voices coming from the main hall.

Shasta entered the larger room from a smaller door, hidden behind an ornate tapestry, now despoiled by the ravages of time and the appetites of vermin. Padding on bare feet over to the small group, he smiled winningly, deftly sliding in between Rikae and Gil-Galad.

"Calm, you two... this early on, I doubt there's much of anything in the way of evidence to go on. There's no real point in accusing each other when there's no proof of guilt or innocence whatsoever."

[The Saucepan Man]

Alas, my circumstances dictate that I shall be unable to speak much more here until close to the end of the Day. I was rather hoping that more would have spoken ere the time came for me to take my leave.

Of those who have spoken already, I would comment as follows:

Gil-Galad said:

so basically keep our heads up about each other and be careful...

… which does not really provide us with much more than we could work out for ourselves, although he was the first to speak toDay. I suspect that this Gil-Galad will prove rather a conundrum, unless he deigns to speak more helpfully concerning his thoughts.

Shasta counselled that we “stick together”, which is not entirely helpful as we know that there are three among us who we cannot trust and one whose assistance is far from guaranteed. Having bid us all stick together, he then proceeded to go off on his own, in search of accommodation rather than items which might be of use.

Boro considers that it would be a shame if he were to die toDay, but does not care if he dies thereafter. Not sure what to make of this. And while I agree that it is beneficial to us that the Vampires (and Shade) are unable to vote, I am far less enthusiastic than he seems to be over the secret voting. Hence my proposal that we all state our votes.

Mac wishes he had his knife. I sympathise with him, as I appear to be without my trusty dagger. I am somewhat concerned that he seeks to compare himself to a Werewolf but, then again, we are dealing here with Vampires here, not Wolves. He supports my proposal on voting, which is encouraging (although I put it no higher than that).

Menel paints himself as a mighty warrior. Fine, but I think that quick wits rather than strength in arms will be more useful to us in our travail. He said:

A bit of in-character banter, but some of it's serious

Maybe I am missing something, but I failed to see anything "serious" in his post. And, while I admire his fighting spirit, I am not so sure that an inflexible refusal to “give anyone the benefit of the doubt” will help us. I do not propose placing my trust in anyone lightly, but I will be trying to weigh all the available evidence before reaching a conclusion on anyone, including points that might seem to point to their possible innocence.

Rikae is suspicious of Mac for talking of his knife. I don’t follow her reasoning here. An innocent would surely rather be armed in a situation such as this. She also dislikes my opening spiel. I, in turn, am suspicious of those who cast suspicion based on “in-character banter”, unless there is good reason to suspect that there might be something sinister in it. And I would venture to suggest that my “long speech” was an attempt to put forward some thoughts that I felt might be useful, particularly as my opportunity to contribute during the remainder of the Day is limited. Still, at least she too agrees with my proposal on voting.

Not a lot to go on, I fear. I trust that there will be much more to consider when I return to cast my vote. In the meantime, I would urge that everyone adopt my suggestion on voting.

Edit: crossed with Gil and Shasta.

[Rikae]

Rikae realises that the light coming through the window is not of the sun, but of a fire someone has already lit outside of the building...it's an awfully bright fire.