WW LXXX: It's About Time!

[Inziladun]

"Would you all like to know why you're here?"
"Ummm....Yes!" answered Boro.
"Well, we know that you all responded to an advertisement I put out. I placed it all over the internet, in places I thought were likely to be visited by my target audience. It read as follows: 'Calling all fans of the written works of J.R.R. Tolkien: you have the opportunity to join in a great project to preserve the artistic integrity and general dignity of Lord of the Rings and other Middle-earth related works. Assist in this matter and your reward will be great. Send replies to...' etc. And one by one you all wrote back to me. And here you are."
"So what's this "great project"?", inquired The Elf-warrior.
"And who are you?", asked Shasta.
"Well, the answer to your second question, is that you may call me "Professor Inzil". "As for the first one....well...who all here has seen the LOTR movies put out in the last ten years?"
Everyone raised a hand.
"Now, how many of you were completely happy with those movies?"
No hands were raised.
"Not I, either", said the Professor. "Any movie based on these books has to be an abysmal failure, at least as far as integrity to the books is concerned. The deeper meaning is lost, in favor of mass-market attraction. Why did they bother making the movies if they were going to fundamentally change so much? Why couldn't Jackson have done an original script and left Tolkien alone? I'll tell you why! MONEY!"
"There's no need to shout", said Greenie quietly.
"Sorry", said the Professor. "Anyway, I decided to do something about it. I'm going to prevent those movies from being made. Prevent anyone from making Tolkien-based movies."
"Slight problem there", said Nerwen. "The movies have already been made for LOTR, and one based on The Hobbit is underway."
"Ah", said the Professor, "but I have a way to undo that. Follow me!"
The group followed him through a door, exchanging uneasy glances. Clearly they had been lured here by a lunatic.
When they emerged into the next room, they were dumfounded. What before had apparently been a large dining room at one time, now contained several computer consoles, surrounding a central, egg-shaped chamber with a door in it. Pipes and cables ran out of the contraption in all directions.
"This", said the Professor, 'is a time machine."
"Of course it is", said Boro, "and I have a fusion reactor in my basement."
There were several laughs.
"I expected no less", said Professor Inzil. "So here's a demonstration". He strode over to the door to the central chamber and pressed a button beside it. It opened. The room inside was quite small, no bigger than a large bathroom. There was nothing inside it, but a half-sphere bulged from the ceiling. There were several foot-long rods jutting from it, and from the walls.
The Professor picked up a small cage from among the general clutter, and withdrew a white rat.
"Here you go, my beastly", said the Professor, and set the creature on the floor in the chamber. He then shut the door, and pointed to a set of buttons on the console, all glowing green.
"This", he said, "is where the action is, so to speak. The number keys allow you to input your destination, which is displayed here." He pushed buttons, and an LED readout above showed that day's date, with a time one minute in the future. He then pressed the largest of the buttons, in the center. "Gzzthktkk!", came a loud noise from the chamber.
"What did you do to it?", cried Sally.
"Sent it into the future. It'll be back in one minute. Have a look in there." He went to the door and opened a cover of a round window like a porthole, covered in safety wire. They all crowded round.
"It's gone!", exclaimed Fea. There were murmurs from the group.
"Ok, let's say you aren't totally insane, and you aren't having us on", said Lottie. "Why do you need us? And what exactly are you going to do?"
"I intend to go back in time to 1969 and buy the movie rights myself", was the reply. That's why I chose this location. Tolkien lived in Poole then, and that isn't all that far from here. I can't do it alone though; I need some assistants to go with me, and some to stay here and monitor the equipment."
"Gzzthktkk!' from the chamber made all but the Professor jump. They looked into the porthole again.
"It's back!", exclaimed Pitchwife.
"Told you so", said the Professor.
"Wow!", said Shasta. "You could do all kinds of things! Like take an I-POD back and sell it for lots of money!" The Professor looked affronted.
"Never!", he said. "I didn't build it for personal gain. Besides, electronic objects don't seem to transport. They, well, break. He picked up an object from the floor. It was burned-looking, but appeared to have been a digital watch.
"I tried to use this while experimenting", he said, "but it didn't do so well. "I'm not sure why."
"You could still do other things", said skip. "Like prevent the Titanic from sinking."
"Or stop the assassination of JFK", said Nerwen.
"Or keep Lady Gaga from having a music career", said Lottie.
"Those are good ideas, especially the last one", said Professor Inzil. "And other things will come. Think of this as a trial run."
"The ad said something about a reward", said Shasta.
"Ah, well, about that, I can't exactly pay you all. Your reward will be the honor of being part of all this!" Seeing the looks on some of their faces, he added, "I'll feed you while you're here, and you have bedrooms prepared upstairs. Nice ones! Go ahead and take your bags and claim one. This used to be a writing school, so there's room to spare. The stairs are through there, and the door
opposite is the kitchen. There's plenty of food here, enough for weeks, so help yourselves! Fair warning, though," he added as they moved to pick up their luggage, "If you brought cell phones and such, they won't work here. Nor internet. It might be something to do with the ionic fields. And there's no phone service. I never had it installed."
Mumbling, the group trudged away.

[Inziladun]

After dinner, everyone was again grouped around the time machine.
"I intend to get seriously cracking on this tommorow", said Professor Inzil. "Anyone have any questions before bed?"
Several hands shot up. "Yes?" he said, pointing at skip.
"I'm not sure about this", said skip. "What if we just leave?" Others nodded in agreement.
"You can't, I'm afraid".
"Why not?", replied skip heatedly, over the sound of many murmurs.
The Professor sighed. "The only way out is the door we entered through. It's on a timer, and it won't open until the time's up."
"When will that be?", demanded Wilwa.
"Only I know", replied the Professor. "Like I said, it's all for security purposes. I've had serious threats because of the way I've been so critical of the movies. There's a lot of money tied up in them, and there are those who think I'm too outspoken. And it doesn't help that I've tried before to destroy the movie industry's ability to exploit Tolkien's work."
"What did you do?", asked Lottie.
"It isn't important. But because of those past incidents, I wanted this project to be as safe and secure as possible. There are lots of safeguards. For instance, any attempt to tamper with or destroy the machine, without first performing a small action, will likely result in a tremendous explosion." He looked at the group's faces, satisfied. "What else would you like to know"?
"What does the machine use for fuel?", asked The Elf-warrior.
Professor Inzil laughed. "Oh, I'm not telling you that just yet! It's actually made from several ingredients that are fairly cheap, and easy to come by. I've got enough for what we need to do. I can make more with no problem when necessary. Anything else? Yes?" He pointed at Nerwen.
"Where did you get the money to do all this?", she asked.
"Well, ummm..."
"And how did you figure out how to build a time machine?", inquired Boro. The Professor looked nonplussed.
"There are perfectly good answers to those questions, but I'm afraid they'll have to wait for another time. Good Night! See you all in the morning!"

IT IS NOW NIGHT 1. Wolves may discuss, Seer may send me a dream-pick.

[Inziladun]

Time To Get Down To Business

It was now very late, so late that it was early.
Professor Inzil was walking around the time machine, checking various things. Every so often he made a note for himself on his micro recorder. He went behind the apparatus and picked up a 5 gallon clear plastic container resting against the wall. Written upon it in black Sharpie marker was the word "FUEL". He carried it to the machine, to a round port curiously also marked "FUEL". He removed the canister's lid and poured the contents into a round aperture in the machine. A reddish-orange liquid flowed out. He poured the entire can into it, thinking that it would be enough for what they needed. That was the entire stock of fuel, but, as he'd told everyone, it wasn't exactly difficult to compound. He closed the Fuel Port and watched as the needle above it swung over from "DEP", which meant "depleted", over to "OPT", which meant "optimal".
He set down the can and once again took out his recorder. "Note to self," he began "Make more fuel."
Before he could press the recorder's "STOP" button, he started as he heard a stealthy sound behind him.

IT IS STILL NIGHT 1

[Inziladun]

The early sun was shining brightly outside, but inside the house it might as well have been midnight. No friendly sunshine pierced the walls and windows of that secret enclave in the countyside.
The "guests" (who at the moment thought of themselves more as conscripts) were walking downstairs, quietly talking of yesterday's strange events. They had seen or heard no sign of Professor Inzil since the previous evening. Some of the party went into the kitchen to find something for breakfast. Others assumed the Professor was probably in the dining room with the time machine, and went there first. Those in the kitchen heard yells from the dining room, and quickly followed their sound. What they found in the dining room was most disturbing.

The Professor lay motionless on the floor beside the machine, with many people huddled closely around him. There was drying blood on the side of his head, and a quantity of it on the floor beside.
Shasta knelt down and checked the Professor's pulse. After a few moments, he shook his head.
"He's dead!" There were several gasps.
"What happened to him?", asked Sally.
"Look! There's more blood on the edge of that console!", exclaimed Aganzir.
"That would explain how he died", said Eomer. "But how did this happen"?
A sliding sound and a "Thump!" made them all jump. They looked down, then were relieved.
"Someone kicked the Professor's little recorder, that's all", said Fea.
The idea seemed to occur to them simultaneously that it might contain clues to what had befallen the Professor, and several hands reached for the device. Greenie came up with it, and pressed "Play". The button immediately popped back up.
"It must be at the end", said Wilwa. "Rewind it." After doing so for a few moments, Greenie pressed "Play" again.
"Note to self", said the Professor's voice. "Make more fuel". Then there was a gasp.
"Oh! You startled me! What are you three doing up? Insomnia? I understand that you're eager to get this going, but you really must get some sleep. I...hey! What are you doing? Let go!"
They heard the sounds of an apparent struggle, then a "Thud" sound, followed by a more final sliding sound which told them the Professor was then going down for the count.
Footsteps could be heard walking away, more than one set. The sound of a door opening and closing, then silence.
As the group stood there, three of their number gazed upon their work with inner satisfaction.
Three others had secret thoughts of their own.

One of them thought of the dream xe'd had last night. Xe had had clairvoyant dreams before, and they'd never led xem wrong. Now, xe felt certain xe had some powerful insight to help find the killers.

A second person was torn with pity and anger. How could xe have let this happen? Xe decided then and there that xe would do whatever was in xyr power to stop whoever it was from killing again.

A third onlooker did not have such benevolent thoughts. Xe had been furious when the Professor informed them they would not be paid, and xe felt wronged. Now, dark words ran through xyr mind.
"Serves him right. He shouldn't have lied to us. Anyway, I did like the movies."
Xe made up xyr mind that even though xe wasn't willing to kill the way this had been done, xe would do what xe could to help whoever was responsible.
"Maybe they'll reward me!", xe thought.

And the rest just wondered what to do next.

IT IS NOW DAY 1. Away we go. Wolves stop PMing.

The Living
Nerwen
Pitch
Wilwa
Shasta
Sally
Lottie
Greenie
skip
Boro
The Elf-warrior
Fea
Eomer
Agan

The Dead
Professor Inzil- Head full of knowledge cracked open Night 1

[Shastanis Althreduin]

Poor Professor... I was looking forward to going back in time. Haha, looking 'forward' to go 'back'.

In any case, let's get the ball rolling, shall we? I'd like to accuse the lovely Fea for no real reason other than that she's pretty. Defend yourself!

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Shastanis Althreduin

I'd like to accuse the lovely Fea for no real reason other than that she's pretty. Defend yourself!

It's not my fault. I haven't even shampooed my hair in like two days. My cuticles are ragged and I'm sure my mascara's probably done that smudge-at-the-corner-of-your-eyes thing because I'm too lazy to wash my face before bed like a good human ought to do.

I'd like to blame Agan for nothing in particular and tell her specifically that I'm a wolf.

[Boromir88]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

I'd like to blame Agan for nothing in particular and tell her specifically that I'm a wolf.

I'm a smelly armpit pickle! At least it's a good smell.

[wilwarin538]

Originally Posted by Shastanis Althreduin

I'd like to accuse the lovely Fea for no real reason other than that she's pretty. Defend yourself!

Ha, it amuses me that this is not the first time I've heard someone use 'she's pretty' as a reason for suspicion.

So than our situation: we're trapped in a house with a bunch of psychos who actually liked the LotR movies, and we can't just put someone in the time machine and send them back so they can see who did this, because the only one who knew how to use the machine is dead. Well....that's not so bad....at least we have food....*whimpers*


Anyway, I'll be back in the morning and should be around a lot.

x'ed with Fea, and I love that we both made Genevamoot references.

[Loslote]

Originally Posted by wilwarin538

we can't just put someone in the time machine and send them back so they can see who did this, because the only one who knew how to use the machine is dead.

Just because it'll almost certainly result in an explosion doesn't mean we can't try! After all, three of us are evil anyway - let's make them try it! So...who wants to confess?

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

People Shasta talks about:

• 'accuses' Fea for "no real reason other than that she's pretty."
• points out that Greenie's the only one to try to get things moving
• points out that Lottie's quietness is very out of character and that he may vote for her
• asks 'she for whom the moon doth shine' what she thinks of Eomer's vote (for Greenie); as a side note, I'm not at all certain who this question was directed to, and I've been wondering if he meant me
• notes that Pitch's suspicion of Fea seems sudden and forced, since he hadn't mentioned any suspicion prior; not sure Pitchwolf would be clumsy enough to bandwagon so shamelessly
• points out that it's odd that Sally agrees with him about Pitch being wolfy and trying to bandwagon Fea

Note: Shasta does not vote

People Who Interact with or mention Shasta:

• Fea: lazily argues that his assessment of her physical beauty is shoddy, since she's not all that, blah blah blah.
• Wilwa: points out that Shasta's suggestion that Fea is pretty is not original
• Agan: 'blames Shasta for [her] own special reasons' (citing that playing is different once you've done it in person with your co-village); jokes that Shasta's first post means he's evil (which is a traditional first Day joke); points out that his banter with Fea is either buttering her up or two wolves playing; says Shasta doesn't seem to want to kill Peter Jackson;
• Boro: says that Shasta butters people up just by looking at them;
• Pitch: says Shasta's guilty of making lame jokes; claims he has no read on Shasta;
• Greenie: says she's lost count of the number of times Shastawolf has totally fooled her; notes that she can understand Shasta's suspicion of Lottie, but that she understands Lottie's lack of participation at that point;
• Sally: corrects Shasta's mistake about DL; says Shasta seems 'strange'; agrees with Shasta that Pitch's suspicion of Fea seems bogus; ranks Shasta in 4th place on her suspicion list
• Lottie: specifically reserves judgment on Shasta

---

Now, it's possible that the wolves killed Shasta for a multitude of reasons.

Either Shasta seemed like the Seer, or he didn't.

If he did, that makes Fea and Pitch look suspicious. Fea because he accused her at all (for being pretty), but mostly Pitch, since Shasta's suspicion of him was based on Pitch's attempts to discredit Fea.

Since it was attempts to discredit Fea that made Pitch look bad to Shasta, that suggests that Shasta didn't actually believe Fea was bad.

If Shasta was killed for looking Seerish, this exonerates Lottie, since Shasta said she might be the cobbler, and the wolves would not know who the cobbler is, nor would Shasta-seer be able to actually tell the difference between cobbler and ordo. Ie: if Lottie was a wolf, she wouldn't think Shasta is seer for claiming she might be cobbler. Ie: If Shasta died because the wolves thought he was seer, it means that Pitch is a wolf and Lottie is not.

If Shasta wasn't killed for looking like the seer:

It means that he was killed either to make somebody look bad, or not to make anybody look bad.

If he was killed to make somebody look bad, it would make Aganzir, Greenie, and Sally look poorly due to their comments about him, and it would make Pitch and Lottie look poorly due to his comments about them. If he was killed to make non-wolves look bad, it means that the remaining wolves are most likely within this group: Nerwen, Wilwa, skip, Boro, or Eomer. There is a corollary here that the wolves may have wished to direct suspicion toward themselves so as to hide in the open. Since those who look bad due to the death of Shasta are Agan, Greenie, Sally, Pitch, and Lottie, one must try to decide if any of them are likely to double bluff (answer: yes).

If he was killed as a trail-less to make nobody look bad, on the other hand, it could be anybody.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Something I think I forgot to add to that last post is what I actually think...

Which is that I'm assuming Shasta was killed to be 'trail-less', since all arguments for or against end up being, "Yeah, it's obvious it was totally this person! (Or that one)."

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Fea

(...)Now, it's possible that the wolves killed Shasta for a multitude of reasons.

Either Shasta seemed like the Seer, or he didn't.

If he did, that makes Fea and Pitch look suspicious. Fea because he accused her at all (for being pretty), but mostly Pitch, since Shasta's suspicion of him was based on Pitch's attempts to discredit Fea.

*applauds Fea's objectivity*

Originally Posted by Fea

...explores various reasons why Shasta might have been killed...

Thing is, the immediate question isn't so much "why was my shining jewel killed?" as, "why wasn't one of the EW voters killed?"


The Elf-Warrior Voters

1. Skip.

Originally Posted by skip spence

Okay, I'm back and as I should have been in bed hours ago I gotta take a quick shot from the hip (and in all fairness any vote at this point is just that).

The Elf-Warrior has only made one post so far but there's just something about the timing and the subject matter and the phrasing of that post that seems a bit sinister to me.

Especially the last part, which I highlighted. There's something potentially euphemistic about that phrase. Possibly veiled wolfish banter. Only one way to find out:

++The Elf-warrior

2. Fea.

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

++Elf

Not because I particularly suspect her (I reserve opinions until Day 2, as everyone knows) but because I have nobody better to vote for and because with a village this small, odds are solid that if I threw a rock I'd hit a wolf. And because she's quiet, and you can't analyze a statue.

3. Lottie.

Originally Posted by Loslote

++Elf

Sorry, TEWie.

Lottie's reasons are given at #71.

Originally Posted by Lottie

The only other people of note were Fea, who got a whopping four "cobbler" checks and one "innocent" check, and Eomer and TEWie, who got nothing. I might vote for one of them for being so quiet.

4. Boro.

Originally Posted by Boromir88

++Elf-Warrior

Edit: crossed with Lottie.

Boro's reasons are given at #84.

Originally Posted by Boro

The votes are spread out enough where surely you could have gone with someone else maybe a little suspicious other than "for self-preservation"

Now you are forcing my hand to you or Fea, and you weren't someone I said "no lynch."

Comments: If Elf had turned out innocent, this would have looked like one blatant, eeevilll bandwagon. Boro's vote is the only one with even a remotely adequate reason behind it. I find it interesting that all four of these people are still alive, actually. You'd think they'd all look like Seers!

Conclusion? I'd say the wolves probably had either a particularly good reason for killing Shasta, or for not killing any EW-voters (the latter reason would likely be "one of them's a wolf"). Of course, it's possible they just couldn't make up their minds who looked the most dangerous, or else wanted to avoid the Ranger.

I have to go out now, but in the meantime, here's yesterDay's votes for your general perusal:

Day One votes

Known wolves in italics, known innocents underlined.

Eomer--> Greenie (1)

Greenie--> Fea (1)

Pitch--> Fea (2)

Agan--> Sally (1)

skip--> The Elf-Warrior (1)

Sally--> Pitch (1)

Fea--> The Elf-Warrior (2)

The Elf-Warrior--> Fea (3)

Wilwa––> Pitch (2)

Lottie––> The Elf-Warrior (3)

Boro--> The Elf-Warrior (4)

Didn't vote: Nerwen, Shasta.

EDIT: X'd since Fea at #101.