Werewolf XLII, Mist in the Barrow Downs

[Farael]

After a lengthy discussion, the mist seemed to return, thicker than ever. There was no sound other than the voices of the participants on this ‘new’ kind of game designed by the Dungeon Master

-“GAME Master” Said Thinlomien. Rikae began to answer “Well, in German it would actually be..” but she was cut-off by a guttural voice that seemed to raise from the soil itself

-“Silence you fools do you not recognize death when you see it?”

-“Well, not to be difficult, but it is hard to see much in this mist. “ said a voice, but no-one seemed to recognize Macalaure speaking.

-“Does anyone have a cookie? I am starving over here” added Farael seemingly oblivious to the supposed dark, threatening ambience that the D/GM was trying to establish.

-“Well” said the voice “You leave me no other choice... It seems you will not be quiet on your own” and began to chant

Stiff be limbs and cold be bone

Dead the heart and flesh of stone

Gather all ‘round my dark throne

Speak no more, light be-gone

And right there and then a deep sleepiness overcame all of them. With one last mighty effort of will, Farael summoned all his remaining and quickly waxing strength to mutter “creepy...” but all the others were fast asleep and did not hear him say so.

Night 1 has started Please, do not post on this thread until the beginning of Day 1

Game information:

Three wolves

One Seer

No other game-relevant roles. No twists. No double-lynches (in case of a tie, the one to be lynched will be chosen by a coin toss).

Should me and Roa fail to be around for the Deadline (3 PM GMT) posting will be allowed, but no late votes (going by the time-stamps on the posts) will be accepted. Announcements (such as “I’m going to miss Day x “ or “Sorry I missed voting on day z, my dog ate... Farael :S We got him out, but now he’s rambling-mad. Well, even more than before) should be made on this thread.

Behaviour that the co-mods decide may affect the enjoyment of the game by other players will not be accepted and the player will be warned first and removed if the behaviour continues. A clear example would be an unexplained, prolonged lack of participation, but any other behaviour that may disrupt the game will be addressed.

If you have not received a PM with a role when you read this, you are an ordo. Please make sure you are set as invisible throughout the duration of the game.

Wolves, you may PM to each other and plot. Half werewolves do not get to PM each other. Being a half-werewolf does not ensure that you cannot be another role (i.e. one can be a half-werewolf and a "werewolf" at the same time... or half-werewolf and Seer.)

Finally, Seer and Wolves, before the end of the Night, send both me and Roa your chosen kills/dreams (the Seer gets a dream tonight, but the wolves do not get a kill)

[Farael]

The day dawned bright and lovely. Grass grew on the barrows and the birds sang. Unfortunately for the players, they were now trapped inside one of those nasty barrows.

"Why are we all dressed like this?" Asked Lommy
"Oh, it must be the curse of the Barrow Wights" Said Farael
"What are you doing here? you are supposed to be dead!" replied the penguin lady.

"Well, that's a nice thing to say... hey Roa... Roa?" Then they noticed that there was someone missing indeed.

They searched the barrow up and down, and all they found was a note. Nogrod picked it up and read "You thought a normal D&D game was too easy for you. Now you shall face the horrors of... werewolves in the barrow downs"

"NouuuuuuuUUUUUU" screamed he. "My half-brethen are here. I must confess to you all, I was sired by a werewolf myself. Fear not, I do not turn murderous every night, but shaving in the mornings is always a pain. However, it seems that some of us have turned into real wolves"

"Fear not! I know the way out of this place" said Farael "Then we can each go our own way and we'll be safe. Or at least, safer than being trapped in a small space with three werewolves"

"How do you know there are three of them?" Replied Rikae.

"eh... uh...."

"That IS fairly odd of you to say" added Gwathagor "Get him!!"

"Wait, wait! I can explain!" And he did. He talked for an hour, then answered fifteen minutes of questions, and at the end of his talk everyone was reassured that Farael was not a Werewolf. Then, due to a structural mishap with the ceiling of the barrow, there was a small cave-in... RIGHT where Farael was standing. Everyone was shocked, and then a voice said

"Deus ex machina, we meet again. Now you should all probably get to work and find yourself someone who IS a werewolf" And no more was heard of Farael.
--------------------------------------------------------
The living:

Aganzir
Legate
Nogrod
Lommy
McCaber
Sally
Gwathagor
A Little Green
Macalaure
Nerwen
Meneltarmacil
Rikae
Shasta

The dead
Roa: Eaten by werewolves, or otherwise gone missing
Farael: Killed by a convenient plot-twist

The tally
Three Werewolves
One Seer

The note

You may all post now. Keep in mind the half-werewolves are not necessarily anything special.

[Aganzir]

"Oh well. If he thought a normal D&D game was too easy, why on earth didn't he try Rolemaster with all those additional rules first?" Aganzir stepped on a stony bed that made a nice stage. She rolled her eyes at the blank-faced spectators who were sitting in a row on the other side of the barrow.

"My mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and even older relatives have always complained about normal day 1 topics, but it's only now that I understand why they exist. Someone always has to be the first one to start discussing and things like the quiet/loud discussion are easy and safe ways to do that.
However, each and every one of us already has some experience about a situation like this, even if it wasn't more than the tales told by ancestors, so our opinions should be known by now..." she was interrupted by the angrily waving Gwathagor, "oh, except Gwathy's! Well, I won't forbid you to share your opinion about whether you think quiet or loud wolves are more dangerous, whether quiet or loud players should be lynched first and so on... But I don't really expect to see you others wasting a day discussing only that."

Aganzir sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Well, not that I have said anything more useful then, either. I'm just trying to get things rolling. It's rather boring to have a monologue if the audience is sleeping."

She rose and walked to a corner. "I must go now for a while and see that my little pets are alright - my squirrel and frog are surely already missing me, and my water buffalo hopefully also. But I hope to hear all your pretty voices when I return."

With that, she disappeared into the shadows. "How rude! She doesn't even bother to practise what she preaches," the others said.

[Rikae]

"Thank you, Agan, for putting words in our mouths" said the lady with the turquoise skin in a voice sweet as honey. "How rude of her..."
She smirked, then went on:
"Mist! Here I thought I overslept, and no one has spoken yet save that Aganzir person! Something has to be done to rouse this village... now what could I do? Oh, I know:

I am the weaver!

No, wait, how about this:
Nogrod is a wolf! I know it! Look at him skulking there in the corner, I can just see his fangs gleaming.

Well, seriously, we have our work cut out for us in this game, with three wolves among thirteen (why couldn't we have a lucky-number burgler in the mix?) I know it's intimidating to start speaking early in the day, but we must if we're going to get anywhere. I believe we can catch a wolf toDay if everyone talks and we use our logic and intuition together (and avoid frivolous bandwaggons) so c'mon, people, wake up and give us your thoughts, hunches, what have you.
I'm going to have to wander off the downs in a couple hours to take my daughter to a birthday party in Buckland, but I'll return well before sundown.

What do you mean I should show you the way out too? You're not invited to the party!"

The turquoise lady sat down with her back against a comfy standing-stone, took a sandwich out of her bag and proceeded to eat her very late breakfast.

[Rikae]

Three hours since dawn and still nothing? Come on, people - this is ridiculous. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

[Nogrod]

Finally Nogrod entered the larger chamber holding a towel to his cheek. There was something red in the towel.

"Sorry being this late fellows but this shaving thing is just becoming a real pain in the... well you know."

But everyone seemed to either just mind their own bussinessess or were sleeping.

"WAKY-WAKYYY!!!", he shouted as loud as he could. Some people turned to look but others just continued not doing whatever it was they were not doing.

"Okay then. Aganzir kind of pre-empted the discussions... hmm... like she clearly tried to pre-empt any actual suspicions towards herself as well. Very careful, veery ceerfull indeed.

And Rikae! How on earth did you manage to expose me already? Dratted... But as they say it takes one to know one. And this Macalaure fellow surely is your friend in crime as he always is...

Gah..."

Nogrod picked his dices and rolled them to the floor: "not the quiet/loud discussion... not the helpful/substantial discussion... not the overall strategy discussion... not the special roles speculation..."

Finally he tucked the dices back to the pouch and sat down looking quite unhappy

"Heck, why bother..."

[Macalaure]

Macalaure lazily woke up and gazed through the room with narrowed eyes. What is this? The day is indeed already several hours old. I expected the general turmoil to wake me. How come there is so little talking? he thought. Defying the heavy burden of a bad conscience, he lifted himself up.

"Strangely, everybody seems reluctant to discuss the useless things and remains quiet because there is yet nothing useful to be said. While it is doubtlessly honorable to focus on what's important, it's not actually helping us today. As contradicting as it may appear, we need to discuss futile topics in order to be productive and make at least an educated guess when twilight comes.

"not the quiet/loud discussion... not the helpful/substantial discussion... not the overall strategy discussion... not the special roles speculation..."

Shall we lynch the helpful or the substantial?? Now if that wasn't a slip, dear Nogrod, if that wasn't a slip.

Anyway, let's try it in a slightly different way. What about this:

Shall we lynch a weird-looking member of our group, or a conventional-looking? I say we go for the latter. My lorebook tells me that in dire situations like ours, the strange have been lynched early on more often than they deserve, and with very poor results usually. Let us go for one who flies under the radar, one who doesn't say anything controversial, one who seems eager to not rub people the wrong way. Sure, those people are difficult to catch since it requires a sharp eye to discern them from someone who says nothing because s/he just has nothing to say. But come on! Let us give effort and lynch one who is most eager not to be pinned down!

And if we can't find one, we can still abide by the first law of werewolf-disposal:"

Originally Posted by The Fundamental Laws of Werewolf-Disposal

§1 - When in doubt, lynch Nogrod.

[satansaloser2005]

Sally was startled by Nogrod's yell, and out of habit threw her pillow at him. Fortunately for Nogrod, she had brought her pillow made of a ton of feathers, rather than the one made of a ton of bricks.
"Why do you feel the need to wake me at such an hour?" she snapped. "Do you realize that it's...." Nogrod shot Sally a look and showed her the time. "....Oh, quite right then. Perhaps I should count myself among the awake. But where are all the others? Alas, you must scurry along to wake them as well. Feel free to take Emily with you. She's very good at biting people....not to mention that she's a bit scary at times." With those words, Sally walked away to freshen up and prepare herself for the heated discussion which would (eventually) ensue.



Now, onto business. Nogrod has made his first blunder, and I shall be the first to call him on it. You see, last night this man, erm, wolf, and his fellows slaughtered our lovely Roa, and yet this morning he happily carries the evidence with him in the form of this bloody towel. He attempts to be clever, to say he has made a mess of his daily shave, but we who are non-hairy know better and thus we must punish him for his oversight.


Sidenote: I may be less of a participant in the game than I originally planned. I was rather ill the last several days, and as a result am far behind in class work, so that'll be taking up a lot of my time. But never fear, Sally will still be here!

[Aganzir]

"Aye, this is ridiculous. Besides, I couldn't find my water buffalo anywhere. I bet she is somewhere drinking beer again." Aganzir appeared from the corner. A faint click was heard, as if a door closing, and then the corner was as dark as it had been.

"I, for one, don't believe this Rikae person. Mainly because Farael said there is no weaver. Or... maybe it was Farael who was lying... Who knows? One can never be sure about these mods nowadays.

"But yes, I agree with you that Nogrod looks very wolfish! When I was little, my ancestors told me stories about those of Nogrod's, and his whole kin is supposed to be extremely loud and aggressive, not of the type to be snoring in the corner for the first part of the day. Oh, good morning Noggins, he-he, a beautiful morning, isn't it!

"And why that blood on your towel? (Good find, sally, by the way!" Aganzir winks at her.) "You know, I wouldn't put it past you to come with a clear evidence here, counting on that we wouldn't believe you did it.

"Good morning, Mac. If I don't have problems with hearing, you are saying it's strange that some people don't want to discuss certain futile things that have been chewed over and over. Well, I think we can discuss about something else this time. When enough people have spoken, we can talk about them instead of futile things. This seems to be 'enough', since we can soon start arguing properly.

"And do you think Nogrod suggested lynching also the overall strategy because he said 'not the overall strategy discussion'?

"I can tell even now that I'm going to lynch the most suspicious-looking, and I don't care if that person is quiet, loud, substantial, conventional or whatever. There are usually better chances that the most suspicious-looking is a wolf than that the quietest is one."

Aganzir sniggered when Shasta fell. "I confess! I did it! Not in the night, though, but in the morning when I was bored.

"But... I wonder why you are saying Nog left his towel in the bathroom as we all can see that he didn't. Maybe it was a part of your original plan and Nog, for some reason, forgot it... Maybe..."

edit: xed with two sallys

[A Little Green]

Lily the Stepmother got to her feet, gracefully hiding a yawn behind one of the famous long-fingered hands. She eyed the awoken ones suspiciously, and those still asleep even more so.

"What have you been doing behind my back, you ill-bred scums? Killing mods, eh?" Her gaze swept to Nogrod's bloody towel. "For heaven's sake, child, get that awful bloody thing out of my sight! What were you thinking, spoiling a good towel? Besides, Nogrod, yelling is certainly not proper behaviour for a boy of your age. I also demand an explanation for this statement:

Originally Posted by Nogrod

not the special roles speculation...

What do you mean by special roles speculation? Speak plainer, or I'll lock you to... to..." She shrugged, trying to remain dignified. "...somewhere."

"And you, Aganzir! Your ancestors hardly matter to us. Stop gloating about your fine grandmothers and concentrate on yourself and your own situation. Silly kid. I don't think you are dangerous, though, only another ill-bred child. On the other hand you are so wicked that I never can be too wary with you. But doing evil things to Shasta was very naughty of you in any case. Though he is as ill-bred as you are, you are to apologise to him. And see that you don't let the buffalo of yours in here. Those creatures smell awful bad."

"Rikae! What was the substance of what you said? Of course I can't expect much more from such silly children in such a silly situation, but your speech seemed nonsensical all the same. I'm watching you..."

"And Macalaure. You look merely ill-bred, not necessarily dangerous. You speak as good sense as you are ever likely to in your statement about the weird-looking people, though generalising is a naughty habit. Your fellow ill-bred kid Agan has a good point about simply lynching the most suspicious-looking of you naughty children."

"Sally... I don't like your easy joining to the suspicion of Nogrod. Also, throwing pillows is a very bad thing to do. Apologise to Nogrod! In addition to this, you are very evil to think Agan's little trick on Shasta a good joke. She did a very naughty thing, and it's nothing to laugh at. You look like an evil child to me. I'll be having a tight eye on you." With that, she gave Sally a taste of her "tight eye".

She glanced around the room with cold, measuring eyes. "Wake up, you lazy bastards. We have work to do."

[Rikae]

Originally Posted by Aganzir

"I can tell even now that I'm going to lynch the most suspicious-looking, and I don't care if that person is quiet, loud, substantial, conventional or whatever. There are usually better chances that the most suspicious-looking is a wolf than that the quietest is one."

I don't like this at all. I don't know about you, Agan, but from what I've seen, more often than not, the person who seems most blatently "suspicious" on day one turns out to be an ordo. That is, the person who attracts the most unanimous suspicion usually does so for acting oddly and being difficult to grasp (I don't see one of those here yet, but there are usually one or two in a village), and that is not behavior that a wolf would generally engage in. Remember, ordos have less to lose, and therefore tend to post more freely.

I find Macalaure's words about "conventional" versus "weird" to be the sort of solid good sense I expect from him - although, of course, being too dogmatic about this or any other theory tends to backfire. I'd actually like to advocate using our gut feelings more, as any theory is easily turned by the wolves to their own advantage, but there is a certain evil "feel" one can detect on a wolf's posts, and I have found that to often be a reliable guide. (Case in point, Greenie in the trials in Volo's game...)

I'm not saying we should refrain from giving reasons for our suspicions, only that we might benefit from allowing our intuition to start the process, and then looking at the evidence to see if it backs up the hunch. I say this because if we simply look for conventional wolves now, everyone (wolf or no) will make themselves more unconventional - but if we're clever, we may catch the wolves doing so more self-consciously than the others (for example).

Now, one thing I would like to ask about - Greenie, do you actually see Sally's "suspicion" of Nogrod as serious? I'm quite sure it isn't, and the fact that you use it as a basis to suspect Sally doesn't look good.