[Nogrod]

Celuien the Innkeeper was astonished to meet her customer up that early. The weird man who called himself Nogrod came to the breakfast at the usual time and had awaken her, like nothing had happened last night!

“Oh ya mate? How onearth did ya sleep last nite?” she asked him puzzledly, trying to get awake.

“In fact I didn’t, but anyhow I need a decent breakfast before a long ride”, Nogrod answered and sat down to the table that had become his regular one during the week he had stayed in the village, the one beside the windows facing east from where the sun was shining. The dawn was already turning into a full day and all the nature was already up and awake around the village that still felt like being in a dream.

“Hey Mith, get on with it, Noggie here wishes his breakfast!” Celuien shouted to the kitchen and then turned to the man again. “So you’re leavin, aye? Now whassup, stranger?”

Nogrod looked out from the window and only slowly turned his head to meet the questioning eyes of the innkeeper.

“Well, my task is done and I need to follow the tracks. My humble assistance may be needed in the next village”, he fell silent for a while looking like he was insecure about something. The Innkeeper waited for him partly from politeness but also because she had nothing to say to this awkward stranger she barely knew.

“Maybe we should wait for the others to come in? They will come here anyhow, now don’t they?” he said and turned away from the Innkeeper, gazing again out of the window like deep in thought.

“I su’pose...” Celuien answered hesitatingly and went to the kitchen to help her Frivolous Serving-Wench with the bacon, eggs and tomatoes.

..............................

Slowly people started to gather to the Inn. The stranger had his breakfast at his table as the villagers milled around the serving desk. The air was thick with questions. What had happened last night? Was everyone safe and sound? Was someone missing? What was this all about? What were those noises? The shrieks? The howling? What was that bone-freezing fear they had experienced? Who had had the worst experiences? Were there any tidings from the war? Did this relate to it in any way?

“Maybe we’ll ask the stranger?” said Eiliniel’s younger brother Macalaure suddenly as the debate was getting heated. All turned to look at the lonely table by the window and everyone noticed Nogrod’s poorly acted detachedness as he forked the last piece of bacon into his mouth and then wiped his mouth clean with the cotton cloth, still chewing. He had clearly been waiting for that suggestion to come his way. Macalaure had been right again.

“Maybe you should”, he said calmly as he had swallowed. “I don’t have much time as I need to be on my way anyhow. So before I go I need to tell you all that I know of this”. With that he laid the cloth to the table and coughed to clear his throat.

“The war is everywhere. The struggle between the good and the evil... It’s not only in the actual battlefield. Morgoth has many ways.” He glanced at the villagers calmingly after the harsh name he had just uttered. “One of them is his puppet who creates a lots of sorrow, his servant called Sauron. A Gaur of his visited this village last night. That was the evil you sensed.” Nogrod said slowly, eying the villagers.

“I am a humble servant of the order of Thorondor and my task is to abide in villages around the area of threat, before anything happens. The milk has been spilled already here and my presence would be of no further use to you anyhow. I admit I have failed you as I couldn’t do more. I should have.” He looked at the villagers gathered around the desk this time with pity in his eyes. “I’m sorry”.

“But the Eagles made it almost in time and have now armed you. That was part of the hassle last night. Some of you know very well how they helped you. Trust me, you are well armed against the dark forces here. Just lynch the baddies and everything will be allright”. He tried hard to sound confident.

Rune the Moonshiner asked him the thought most of the villagers were going through in their minds. “What’s it we’re supposed to deal with here then, stranger?”

Nogrod rose up from his chair and pushed it forwards. “There are three werewolves among you. Two of them may be a bit weaker than the third... I don’t know. That was all the great Eagle could tell me before they left”. He looked at the villagers with a professional compassion in his eyes. “But three of you have been armed with swords that make those beasts back away. And one of you possesses a golden dagger. As I said, I believe you’re well armed to face this evil by yourselves now.”

With that he wiped his hands clean with the cloth and started to the door. But the villagers were not going to let him slip away that easily, all calling for answers to things they had been thinking.

“There may be things I don’t know of and they may help you or get you into deeper trouble, that seems to be the order of things ”, he said as he tried to get to the doorway “Sorry, my masters command me to get off from here. There are other villages too...” But the villagers were pressing on him, not allowing him to leave that easily. He looked at the villagers once more, now clearly concerned.

Gil-Galad, the Confused Philosopher opened his mouth for all of them. “You claim to know that you don’t know something but still you rush into telling us that it might harm us, or not. Now be square, logical and argumentative, stranger. What d’ya mean? What are we to do?”

Nogrod looked at the philosopher and frowned “Well, I thought I would hear that question. I was coming to it.” he said, pushing towards the door as he spoke.

“I have not been here only to tell you what happened last night. I have been observing you as a village the week I’ve spent with you”, he said, concentrating on his words now.

“So think of it yourselves first. Who is it among you that you’re afraid of now as you know that three of you have been changed into monsters?” That sentence was like unleashing a beast in the small inn. Everyone started looking around concernedly. It was clear that most pairs of fearful eyes were nailed on Anguirel the Merry, the Town Fletcher Roa and the Tall Doctor Mormegil. It looked like a space was opening around the three of them.

Nogrod looked at the anguished villagers from the doorway where he had managed to slip himself in the overall confusion and continued: “Think also, if there are some people you would really wish to be on your side then?” Quite a many still looked half-frighteningly at the trio but most were soon changing their gazes towards the Serious Jester Boromir and Eomer the Beekeeper who were leaning on the other end of the desk together.

Macalaure, Eiliniel’s Younger Brother and Lommy the Ugly Little Shepherdess also realised to be surrounded by people who felt themselves more safe around them. It seemed that people weren’t afraid of them and wished them to be on their side.

“You see? You have pretty strong ideas about you others, now don’t you? I guess you all have your history in here to carry with you, but think for a moment before you go on lynching each other on the basis of old feuds or mishaps. You’re dealing with werewolves here, not with your old misgivings.” With that Nogrod let his eyes wander around the Inn until they spotted Farael, the Moose Tamer. “Now what has he done to you my good people to earn only distrust from you others? Or how about Kath, your Weaver then? Or this Confused Philosopher? Do you think these people will automatically turn into werewolves just because you don’t trust them in the first place?”

Oddly enough, when the word distrust was mentioned, a lot of the villagers turned to look at the Beekeeper again. The Tall Doctor had his fair share of the glances too.

“I would also like to remind you my friends,” Nogrod continued “that as I have followed your life and discussed with most of you here at the Inn, I must say that you’re quick to let some of you just slip away from your thoughts. The perfect case being that of Volo, your Cryptic Lense Grinder here, or somewhat also the Augur Durelin, or Rikae the Superstitious Mathematician. You barely mention them in your discussions, not to back them nor to suspect them. Don’t forget anyone. You can’t afford it. Not even not checking this mostly pleasent character of your Innkeeper Celuien or others like her, I mean Eiliniel the Village Idiot, the Homeless Waif, the Page Girl, the Moonshiner... What I mean is, there are more of those you don’t suspect or remember to look at to begin with than those who are on everyone’s minds from the very beginning.”

The people looked baffled and distressed.

“Okay. I’ll make an auguration myself. You’ll lynch the Moose Tamer, the Philosopher and the Weaver first, then you brave yourselves to lynch those you’re really afraid of; Gorlim's Lighthearted Brother, the Fletcher and the Tall Doctor. That is unless the wolves won’t aid you in these, of course. And in the end, if the wolves won’t destroy this unconscious plan of your shared sentiments, there will be the Mathematician, the Ugly Shepherdess, the Cryptic Lense Grinder, Eiliniel’s brother and this Frivolous Serving Wench making the last stand. Whether that will save you I can’t tell. But anyhow, good luck to you and hold the forces of evil back!”

With that he turned around and took out from the door, leaving the villagers into the Inn. Some of them were smiling inwardly, some of them were understanding more than the others, and the rest were being just even more confused.

.......................

The Village:
Durelin - The Village Augur
Rikae - A Superstitious Mathematician
Thinlómien - An Ugly Little Shepherdess
Volo – A Cryptic Lense Grinder
Kath - A Weawer
Macalaure- Eiliniel's Witty Younger Brother Who's Always Right
Rune son of Bjarne - A Moonshiner
Boromir88 - The Serious Jester
Mithalwen - A Frivolous Serving-Wench
Lalwendë - Eiliniel, A Retired Village Idiot
Farael – A Moose Tamer
Anguirel - Gorlim's Lighthearted Brother, Anguirel the Merry
Mormegil – The Tall Doctor
Celuien - The Innkeeper
Firefoot - A Homeless Waif
Eomer of the Rohirrim - A Beekeeper
Gil-Galad - A Confused Philosopher
Roa_Aoife - The Town Fletcher

DAY1 has started.

Wolves, please stop PM'ing. All villagers, get on to it.