Werewolf XXXII: The Lost Age

[Volo]

The door to possible freedom was opened.

The survivors creapt up the long staircase. Hope woke in them. At the top was a big square platform, and that was all. As far as they could see it was just a flat platform. In the little light, as they had only one torch with them, no way of getting anywhere was to be seen. The hope they had didn’t last for long.

Most of them sat down tiredly and hurt. Some walked to the edge of the tower to look down. A few logs still burned and the view would have been beautiful from up high if the situation had been different.

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

Still the fight continued. Enhillion was bruised all over. He couldn’t manage to hit Yulnagar a single time, but continued evading desperately.

And then the battle suddenly ended. Yulnagar swung the mighty black blade, Enhillion countered it nimbly with his sword that shattered in the impact.

At last the lad lost hope of winning. Enhillion turned and started running to the tower. Yulnagar stood for a moment and then disappeared.

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

A light appeared! Real light. A ray of the sun. It wasn’t much, but for the eyes of the prisoners is was blindingly bright. After their eyes got used to it they looked for the source. The ray was coming from the roof of the cavern, nearly straight above their heads. Only a shallow gap could be seen from that angle.

They all smiled sadly, even Durelin. They were both relieved to see a light after long imprisonment in the dark and pained by the truth, the endless walls of the cave formed a dome that would be impossible to climb.

Madness gripped Boromir. Seeing no other alternative he ran to the edge and prepared to jump to his death. This was too much for him, he’d rather die fast and be over with the horrors. Luckily before Boromir jumped off, he tripped on a rope nobody noticed before. The rope’s one end was attached to an iron hoop by the edge, the other end seemed to go up into the darkness. ”Torch! Quickly!”

Shasta ran up to Boromir holding their only torch, ”What? What happened?”.

”See this?” The rope was indeed attached to the ceiling, not far from the gap where sunlight entered the cave, but not close enough. ”Come here! I think I found our savior!”

Boromir was congratulated with many laughs and smiles.

Diamond tugged at the rope and found it steady. ”Should we try?”

”I don’t think I’ll be able... And I’m not the only one wounded here”, sighed Morgan, who’s arm was bandaged over a broken body.

”He’s right. I might be able to get there, but can’t leave anybody down here”, Rune confirmed their problem, ”The rope is much too long and nobody knows what is to be found on the other end”.

Durelin, who got quickly bored with the talk, walked a small way to the side and found another rope, a whole coil of it. Other items also lay there, a few clay jars and kettle, but they were of no significance to Durelin. He took the rope and walked back to the gang. ”Found this. Wanna try find out how to use it?”

Everybody looked at him and then turned away their eyes. Boromir sighed and explained, ”Thank you, but this won’t be of any help. First, we can’t get the rope to the other side and don’t know if it is long enough. Secondly, two ropes wouldn’t be of any help, especially to cross such a wide chasm”.

”Yeah, yeah. But couldn’t that Kitanna just help us to get to the other side? Huh?” This time Durelin pointed out the obvious.

Or it would have been obvious if Kitanna had been anywhere in sight. She wasn’t.

They shouted her name and when no answer came, cursed it. The Shade had flown off to her freedom as soon as she saw the light coming from the roof, if you had been imprisoned in the cave from the beginning of the world, you wouldn’t have blamed her.

”That’s how they usually do, when you start trusting them, they aren’t there...” Durelin enforced his logic.

Hope left a few, and a few decided that soon it would be time to care about only your own life and try the rope as it was.

Nobody waited for the genious idea that came from Xyzzy, ”You know, that’s quite a lot of rope you have there. If we cut three bits from it and wind them around yourselves and the rope that leads to freedom, you’ll be able to get to the other side without fear of falling. The angle of the rope isn’t that steep. I think that it wouldn’t need much effort to pull yourself up that using this technique”.

The idea was brilliant indeed, though not everybody understood it. Xyzzy took the rope and explained again. ”If you tie the rope in a circle like this around the rope leading to the opposite side and climb into the circle, you won’t be able to fall... Unless either of the ropes snaps. To make things even easier, you could tie several circles around you. One under your shoulders, one at your belt and one under your knees”.

People started nodding and soon agreement was complete.

Of course, a problem arose. ”And how do you get the ropes back down here. Sure one person can use them, but I doubt they’ll slid here by themselves”, said Rikae with great concern.

”Oh, that too! We’ll just have to hope that the rope Durelin brought will be enough for the circles and to attach them together and to somewhere here that somebody can pull the circles back when needed”, Xyzzy shouted excitedly.

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

It seemed to work. Xyzzy was chosen to go first, as it was his idea, and he was so certain about it working. The knots tied to keep the ropes together seemed to hold, Xyzzy knew what he was doing. The hard part was climbing in and out of the contraption. After practising several times, Xyzzy set off. He pulled at the rope above him and worked with his body to keep the contraption move steadily up and not down. He was suprised of how hard it was, though his only fear was that the ropes would snap.

Xyzzy got to the other side and found out that the rope actually went over onto a ledge and was attached to a similar iron hoop on the wall. The pleased engineer climbed out of the contraption and smiled even wider when he saw that the rope that was attached to the contraption was long enough to reach to the tower. Xyzzy gave the rope a tug that told Boromir to pull the contraption back down.

Grudgenly and successfully Durelin went up next. Then Shasta. Morgan had great problems getting into the contraption, as he felt weak and his arm pained him very badly, but he too managed.

The rest went up without any nasty suprises. Only Mac and Rikae were still on the tower.

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

Enhillion climbed the staircase up the tower, he was hurt and exhausted. He really hoped that Yulnagar would really leave him alone now.

False hope.

”Stop”, said Yulnagar and walked down at Enhillion.

Enhillion didn’t see a choice, he stopped.

”You fought well. And for that I am willing to make a deal with you”.

”Making a deal with you? I’d rather chose death”.

”Really?”

The Vampire looked up at the King, and then down again.

”Even if the death is not only yours?”

This put Enhillion off guard. Indeed, he was now responcible for the life of the Men. He winced at the thought. Biting his lip, he said, ”I’ll hear what you have to say”.

Yulnagar would have smiled, ”Good. Now listen...”

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

Rikae was chosen to go last. She waited nervously while Mac climbed into the contraption over the chasm.

Lomiella watched from the other side and as soon as she saw Mac. When he was in the middle of the rope, she shouted, ”Oh Mac, come quickly, because I could sooner bear to see you fall down into the chasm than in the arms of Rikae”.

Mac turned his head and looked at Lomiella, ”But could you bear to see me fall down the chasm?”

Before Lomiella though of an answer, Rikae interrupted with a shout, ”You! What do you want of Mac?

”Mac, tell that woman to stop talking to me like that!”

Mac didn’t feel very comfortable, hanging over darkness on a few ropes.

”How dare you speak to me like that! Come now, Mac. Let’s leave that crazy woman down there”.

”What?” Rikae grabbed the rope which led to the contraption and pulled at it.

The contraption swayed and Mac shouted in alarm, ”Stop stop stop! Rikae dear, please, don’t make me fall to my death”.

”That you would deserve! But not from her hands!” Lomiella began jumping in annoyance.

Rikae only laughed, ”Hpmh! If you want him, come and claim him!

”Now come down here Mac, and I’ll go first to make sure that that spoled brat won’t touch you”.

Grasping the rope with both arms and legs, Mac was indeed in distress, ”I’m not sure I want to be touched by you either, Rikae dear. Oh, please calm down.

”And you, Lomiella dear, calm down”, Mac said trying to crawl up.

”No you don’t!” yelled Rikae and pulled on the rope harder.

”Enough! I’ll cut the rope and you’ll stay down there if you don’t let me free immediately”, shouted Mac to Rikae and took out the knife he had hidden in his boot.

Rikae gasped, ”You wouldn’t!”

”I will. If you don’t let go of the rope. Now”.

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

”What are you doing? Hurry! Yulnagar is coming!”

Startled, Rikae jumped around to see who stood behind her. It was Enhillion. ”Don’t ever come up to me like that. And can’t you see that we’re rather busy here”.

”No, I don’t. Hurry up, hurry up”, Enhillion said while flailing his hands around.

Rikae gave him a nasty glance, and the same to Mac. Then she let the rope free.

Mac thanked his luck and quickly scrambled up to the platform.

The angry Seer followed hurriedly and soon she was shouting with Lomiella. Mac had sneaked off while the women were cursing.

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

At the hoop on the wall Boromir had found a piece of parchment. It was attached to the wall with a dagger that was driven into a crack. Nobody remembered to bring a torch from below, so they couldn’t see what was written on the parchment.

From the platform led a narrow path to the gap from where sunlight entered the cave. Walking it was a longer and harder task than they expected, but they managed.

Light struck their eyes. Real light from the sun. They had survived. Grass flowed all over the mountain they stood on. A forest could be seen not so far away. The sun shone and a few small clouds passed over them. Further lay a small lake. It was beautiful.

Boromir lifted up the parchment:

I congratulate you, human. When I first saw you, I had no fear of failing, but it seems that you are made of stronger stuff than we Vampires. This is my little parting gift, I’m dead now, as you know, killed by my own Lord. The choice was yours and you chose right.
I could have left you to die in this cave. But why? What would I get for it? It was never my intention to kill you. The reason of this madness for me was only the continuation of the Vampire race, nothing else. And now that we failed, no more Vampires are to be seen, ever. We cannot use you anymore and so you are free. I thank you for your friendship. From here you’ll be able to walk out, on the other side of this note there is a map Ossiriand showing this location.

-Firithhyando

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

Enhillion sat on a stump of a tree. The night was calm, calmer than the endless silent times underground. He watched as the moon moved through the silky clouds. It had rained a moment ago. Everything was so green, nature thrived. He looked sadly at the ripples moving slowly across the lake. Nature thrived. But the Vampires were gone.

During the time when he last sat on the beach, years had past. Everybody he knew had died. Lossenatar. Numundo. Firithhyando. And he lived. He had to live, that the Men would live. The mission Yulnagar had gived him. He had to do it. Anymore there was no choice.

The moon shone bright.

[Volo]

The Innocents win!

The Vampires lose!

The Shade wins!

The Lovers win!
(Especially the Innocent Lover)


Congratulations to all!
I'll come back to discussing the game and writing the narration, but now I have to have a break.


You may now talk openly in this thread!

[Volo]

I'd also very much like to have feedback as I intend on modding The Lost Age II (at least at this moment).

The feedback may be freely given, but here are some questions to which I'd like to have as many answers as possible. I'd prefer that you send the feedback by e-mail, but PMs and posting in the thread will do nearly as fine. Thank you!

What was good/worked in the rules?

What was bad/didn't work in the rules?

What could be changed to make the game better?

Special wishes?

General opinion?

Any thoughts about this game and not the rules?

[Nogrod]

Just plain hilarious!!!

What a spectacle!

And thank's especially to Mac and Eomer for making it possible!


Congrats to all my fellow-villagers for the win and thank's to the vampires for being worthy opponents!


You just think what ran through my mind as I realised that Mac had given our vampire a free kill! And when I saw that Eomer used it on me I was cursing for not being able to take part in that new twist the game would take as it was so obvious Mac had no good intentions... But then again I was pretty confident with my choice of Gil as well so I just bit my nails waiting for the narration...

Btw. Aganzir, the very same fact explains the vote-tallies as well but I think Mac should explain it himself.

I really enjoyed this, thank's to you all!


And last but not least a deep bow to Volo the mastermind! This was really something new and it worked just beautifully.

[Aganzir]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

Btw. Aganzir, the very same fact explains the vote-tallies as well but I think Mac should explain it himself.

Of course. I completely forgot about Mac when I was thinking about the voting.

[Diamond18]

Well well well. That was an eventful closing narration. I have five minutes so I'll have to write a longer post later, but in case anyone is interested, this is who I protected:

Night 2: The Saucepan Man (but they went for Brinniel instead)

Night 3: Eomer (I'll explain later)

Night 4: Rikae

Night 5: Kitanna

[Macalaure]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

Btw. Aganzir, the very same fact explains the vote-tallies as well but I think Mac should explain it himself.

No big mystery behind it. I think I was quite ineffective as a cobbler, except for mixing up the voting records. I feel very sorry for Saucepan's headaches...

No, I don't.


Well, the voting:

The first day I voted Celuien, of course. I had no idea who the wolves were (though I suspected Menel and Nogrod) and Celuien just looked very obviously innocent to me.

The second day I was quite satisfied with the spread voting first. But when it became clear that Menel would be the victim, I joined the waggon, but voted Rikae instead (sorry, my love, but a seer is a seer ). I was happy to see that Menel was innocent.

The third day I was quite sure that either Saucepan or Legate was a wolf, but I gambled the wrong way and really voted Legate.

I didn't vote at all on day four, as there was no point for me. Eomer got 11 votes, by the way.


Maybe Volo should post the real voting records.

[Aganzir]

Huh, it's over then. I have always wanted to die by squashing under my bed.

But what happened with the voting records? The missing vote for Menel, and the lynching of Legate instead of Spm?

Oh yes, my apologies for turning against you without any good reason, Spm. But, well, this was my first game, and I would never have spotted the vampires by myself (I really thought quite long that Nogrod was being our last vampire, and didn't give a thought for those many things that defended his innocence ).

Anyway, this was really nice. Thank you everybody + Volo & Kath.
And special thanks for the one(s) who brainwashed (or bought) me to play this - I'm afraid this won't be my last game.

[Macalaure]

This was a really fun game, though I had less time to participate in it than I had wished I had. I have to admit that, at no time, I had any clue about who the wolves might be. Because of it, I sadly never got a chance to try to manipulate my lover.

In the end, it seems like the wolves were a little under-powered. Once the shade openly took the side of the innocents, they didn't stand a chance.

Kudos to Volo!


~ Mac the Knife, cobbler lover


PS:

Originally Posted by Aganzir

But what happened with the voting records? The missing vote for Menel, and the lynching of Legate instead of Spm?

crossed with Huntgrod.

[Rikae]

What just happened?

Why on earth did Eomer kill Nogrod instead of me?

EDIT: Crossed with everybody since Volo.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Rikae

Why on earth did Eomer kill Nogrod instead of me?

He may tell his reasons but two ideas have occured to me (for some reason I have given this some thought before the Night ended).

So either he was assured that I was going to hunt for Aganzir and not Gil or then he just wished to create some havoc when he exited. I think there was something to hint towards both of these solutions combined in his last post... If that is correct, then happily he was soo wrong about my intentions!

[Volo]

Ok, I'll toss in this document as it might bring some discussion:

Votes: Day 1

Xyzzy –> Lommy 1
Di -> Legate 1
Sleepy -> Rune 1
Menel -> Rikae 1
Celuien -> Kitanna 1
Sixth -> Gil 1
Rikae -> Menel 1
Rune -> Menel 2
Boro -> Legate 2
Lommy -> Celuien 1
Roa -> Celuien 2
Aganzir -> Celuien 3
Mac -> Celuien 4
Nogrod -> Rikae 2
SPM -> Kitanna 2
Brinniel -> Rikae 3

Lynched: Celuien


Night 2

Di -> Protect: The Saucepan Man
Nogrod -> Hunt: Boromir
Rikae -> Dream: Macalaure

Kitanna -> SDream: Eomer

Gil -> VHunt: Nogrod
Eomer -> VDream: Thinlomien
Legate -> VProtect: Legate

Vampires kill: Brinniel

Lynch Seer: Eomer of the Rohirrim


Votes: Day 2

Xyzzy -> Rune 1
Di -> Nogrod 1
Shasta -> Gil 1
Kitanna -> Rikae 1
Sixth -> Rikae 2
Rikae -> Legate 1
Rune -> Menel 1
Durelin -> Boro 1
Mac -> Rikae 3
Lommy -> Menel 2
Aganzir -> Menel 3
Nogrod -> Menel 4
SPM -> Menel 5
Roa -> Nogrod 2

Lynched: Menel


Night 3

Nogrod -> Hunt: Boro
Rikae -> Dream: Boro
Di -> Protect: Eomer

Kitanna -> SKill: Eomer (Protected)

Legate -> VProtect: None
Eomer -> VDream: Durelin
Gil -> VHunt: Roa

Vampires kill: Roa

Lynch Seer: Nogrod


Votes: Day 3

Di -> Glirdan 1
Xyzzy -> Nogrod 1
Sixth -> Durelin 1
Rikae -> SPM 1
SPM -> Legate 1
Shasta -> Legate 2
Lommy -> SPM 2
Boro -> SPM 3
Kitanna -> Eomer 1
Rune -> Legate 3
Aganzir -> SPM 4
Durelin -> Legate 4
Mac -> Legate 5
Nogrod -> SPM 5

Lynched: Legate


Night 4

Rikae -> Dream: Lommy
Di -> Protect: Rikae
Nogrod -> Hunt: Legate

Kitanna -> SProtect: Rikae

Gil-Galad -> VHunt: SPM (2. Rikae, 3. Boromir)
Legate -> VProtect: Eomer
Eomer -> VDream: Aganzir

Vampires kill: Rikea (Twice protected.)

Lynch Seer: Boro


Votes: Day 4

Di -> Eomer 1
Sixth -> Eomer 2
Rikae -> Eomer 3
Kitanna -> Eomer 4
Rune -> Eomer 5
Xyzzy -> Eomer 6
Shasta -> Eomer 7
Lommy -> Eomer 8
Nogrod -> Eomer 9
SPM -> Eomer 10
Boro -> Eomer 11

Lynched: Eomer


Night 5

Nogrod -> Hunt: Gil
Di -> Protect: Kitanna
Rikae -> Dream: Aganzir

Shade -> Kill: Aganzir

Gil-Galad -> VHunt: SPM (2. Rikae, 3. Boromir)

Vampires kill: 1. Kitanna (2. Rikae 3. Nogrod 4. Boromir88)

Lynch Seer: Mac

LKill: Nogrod


EDIT: This might be flawed and in that case the whole game was flawed, but

[Rikae]

Originally Posted by Volo

The Lovers win!
(Especially the Innocent Lover)

Who might that be?

(Just lemmie at her... )

[Kitanna]

For only 4 Days that was quite an intense game. And to think I had plans of killing Gil in the night, luckily Nogrod took him down.

I must say I had some reservations about joining this game, but I'm glad I did. I just wish school hadn't kept me from playing as much as I would have liked. But Volo and Kath that was an excellent game.

Also my apologies Eomer. I felt a bit like a traitor turning on you like that after some of the successes we had as wolves together in the past.

And could someone please explain this:

The Lovers win!
(Especially the Innocent Lover)

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

My brain hurts.

While I ponder, I'll just say that I was pretty certain Macalaure had some absolutely fiendish and brilliant plot to squeeze the remaining vampire's identity from me. I had no idea why he would give me a kill. I killed Nogrod because, well, does it matter? He could theoretically have taken out another innocent and thus increased Gil's chances of winning by a slight percentage.

It was an interesting game but kind of depressing from our point of view because we realised very early that we had little chance of winning. Villagers did well though.

(We said bad things about you, Kitanna. )

[Macalaure]

There were lovers in this game, one of which was of a very sneaky kind.

I was a couple with Lommy, but while she was perfectly innocent, I was a filthy, rotten, vote-record-sabotaging cobbler. I had to lead the village astray while keeping an innocent face to her.

So I couldn't just run mad like many cobblers do. I hoped to survive til late in the game and then try to influence Lommy into doing the wrong things. Sadly, I didn't get the chance to find out whether I would have been able to.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Volo

This might be flawed and in that case the whole game was flawed

I hope not with this...

Night3
Kitanna -> SKill: Eomer (Protected)

Legate -> VProtect: None

Originally Posted by Rikae

Who might that be?

Originally Posted by Mac

I sadly never got a chance to try to manipulate my lover.

Sadly you don't seem to have heard the news yet, but yes Mac had a lover. May they reveal themselves to you if they so wish...

[The Sixth Wizard]

Awesome writing Volo!

[Diamond18]

That was definitely one of the more enjoyable games of Werewolf I've played. Thanks to Volo and Kath for the complicated and interesting rules/roles. I enjoyed the narrations, especially the innovative way of having the Oracle kill each lynch candidate.

Originally Posted by Nogrod

I hope not with this...
Quote:
Night3
Kitanna -> SKill: Eomer (Protected)

Legate -> VProtect: None

Eomer was protected because I protected him, Noggie. That was the Night after the Day that Rikae revealed herself to be the Seer. Everyone assumed that, naturally, the Ranger would protect Rikae. Ha. Ha ha ha ha ha! I was 90% certain the Vampires would no go after Rikae since they would be assuming I was protecting, so I thought to buy her another dream by playing dangerous and waiting to protect the next night. That left me to decide who I thought the Vampires would most like to kill, besides Rikae. I chose Eomer because he'd been the Lynch Seer and I assumed (forgetting that it's Eomer we're talking about, after all) that a Vampire Lynch Seer wouldn't be bold enough to post. Har.

So anyway, at first I thought I was bloody brilliant for protecting Eomer (successfully) and it took a while for it to dawn on me that the reason the Shade wanted to kill him was because she had dreamed of him the previous night and knew him to be a vamp. In the meantime I was a bit confused as to whether or not I should contine with my plan to protect Rikae on Night 4, or trust the Shade. I opted to not trust the Shade and that's why Kitanna and I were both hanging around Rikae on Night 4. This was a bit of a fudge up since that left Rikae unprotected on Night 5, but apparently the vamps wanted to kill Kitanna instead, so in the end it didn't matter.

I have to say, it was extremely tempting for me to respond to Durelin's post where she said that if she were the Shade she would kill Rikae instead of protecting her on Night 4. I practically had to bite my hands to not post "Ha ha ha! You would TRY!"

[The Saucepan Man]

Well that all explains a lot ...

Curse you, Mac, for making my brain hurt like that. Those voting figures were driving me up the wall.

Then again, you had good reason to spread suspicion of me and, in any event, ended up saving me, so no apology required. I should be thanking you!

As Volo and Kath can testify (sorry, folks, for my little rant) I was absolutely fuming when I returned after the end of Day 3 to see that I had apparently been lynched, particularly as the main reason given was that I had come across as "too helpful". Having been the one to first suggest both the open voting (which, of course, became my nemesis) and that it was in the Shade's interests to side with the village, and having devoted reams of spam to actually trying to use such evidence as we had, I was somewhat annoyed to end up apparently lynched, especially as I was enjoying the game so much. I mean, I can understand being suspected, even on the basis of little evidence, but to have all of those who were either known or believed (by me) innocents to suddenly turn against me like that was rather alarming.

It is unlikely to have happened, given that Boro was the Lynch Seer but, had I been given an opportunity to take someone with me, I had resolved that it would be Nogrod. Partially because I still suspected him, and partially because, if he was the true Hunter (as he was), I was pretty sure that he would hunt Legate (as he did, that Night). Hence I was fairly sure that I would be able to take one Vampire down by it.

Oh and Gil. How could you kill me off like that - with the finishing post in sight - after all I said about the new you? Mind you, I probably deserved to die, as I was a pretty disreputable character. I was rather hoping, when I wrote my character, that I might be the Shade.

Originally Posted by Volo

The Lovers win!
(Especially the Innocent Lover)

OK, so I get who were the Lovers, but how come the Lovers win if Mac was the Cobbler? Not that I want to deny he and Lommy their win. Just curious.

I agree that, as matters ended up, the cards were rather stacked against the poor Vamps. But that was down to the Shade's choice and Kitanna could have taken her chances with the Vampires and wreaked havoc among the innocents. The Vampires' hand was also slightly strengthened by the existence of the Cobbler, which went some way toeards nullifying the benefits of the "voting record".

And, had Noggie, chosen to hunt an innocent instead of Gil on the final Night, the Vampires would still have been in with a chance. Although Gil was under suspicion from some quarters, and Kitanna and Rikae would both have had at least one more Night.

Hats off to Noggie for taking out Gil, but hats off also to to Gil, who I never really suspected at all. He was on my "warm fuzzy" list for almost the entire game. Indeed, well done to all three vampires, who managed to remain pretty well hidden for much of the game. You were unlucky to be spotted, Eomer, and I guess that you had no option but to state a vote for Menel, Legate.

Sorry, Rikae, for my determined pursuit of you. But I really was convinced of your Vampirishness at the time. You made some very good dream picks and must have been a real thorn in the Vamps' sides after you had revealed (although I sometimes wished that you had dreamed of me ...).

Good moves from Kitanna and Di too, for keeping Rikae alive, for spotting Eomer (Kitanna) and for taking the punt on not protecting Rikae (Di).

Indeed, well played all round. This was a very enjoyable game, despite the frustration at times. I rather like these games with incomplete information and unknown roles, even if they risk damaging my mental health ...

So well done, Volo and Kath for an exciting set of rules and a compelling storyline. I even felt sorry for the Vamps at times ...

As to balance etc, I rather agree with Nogrod that it is difficult to reach a firm opinion on one game, given all the ways that it could have gone.

I had no idea about the meaning of my own riddle - or any of the others - save that with the benefit of knowing who was likely to be lynched I thought that the 'no cares and worries' might signify Eomer's Snoopy cavalier avatar.

And I too was utterly shocked when Mac posted the riddle. He would have had some interesting questions to answer, had the last Night gone differently ...

[Volo]

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Man

Well that all explains a lot ...

Curse you, Mac, for making my brain hurt like that. Those voting figures were driving me up the wall.

Then again, you had good reason to spread suspicion of me and, in any event, ended up saving me, so no apology required. I should be thanking you!

As Volo and Kath can testify (sorry, folks, for my little rant) I was absolutely fuming when I returned after the end of Day 3 to see that I had apparently been lynched, particularly as the main reason given was that I had come across as "too helpful". Having been the one to first suggest both the open voting (which, of course, became my nemesis) and that it was in the Shade's interests to side with the village, and having devoted reams of spam to actually trying to use such evidence as we had, I was somewhat annoyed to end up apparently lynched, especially as I was enjoying the game so much. I mean, I can understand being suspected, even on the basis of little evidence, but to have all of those who were either known or believed (by me) innocents to suddenly turn against me like that was rather alarming.

And can you believe how I yelled when Mac the Cobbler voted for Legate, two minutes before Nogrod voted for you. You sure have skills in surviving!

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Man

OK, so I get who were the Lovers, but how come the Lovers win if Mac was the Cobbler? Not that I want to deny he and Lommy their win. Just curious.

Lovers win because they survived as a team. Mac lost as a cobbler. Lommy won as an innocent.

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Lommy

I see you were innocent, Saucer.

Aw, and you were on my innocent list throughout ...

Originally Posted by Lommy

Don't worry, Aga, you were not the only one to think so...

I am afraid that, had he and I survived, I would have been gunning for Noggie on Day 5 on the basis of my crazy "Gifteds not revealed" theory. Which was no less crazy, in a way, to there being a Cobbler and his Lover that we had not been told about ...

Originally Posted by Volo

You sure have skills in surviving!

Hey, I need the luck to counter the suspicion that I always seem to be under whatever I do.