[Thinlómien]

Moonlight came to the salon through a high window. If someone had been there to see the four cloaked figures, he’d have wondered at how they looked. Very human, but slightly transparent and there was a darkness around them.

“Well met, friends,” the tallest of them said. “I guess you all know what we’re here for.”
“Yes…” hissed another. “We are here for this.” He drew a long, faintly glowing blade from its sheath.
The one whose cloak was lighter than the others’ laughed. “Yes, that is what he asked us to do. Get rid of these people before they pose a threat to him.”
“Or to us,” added the fourth, whose hands looked unnaturally thin and pale in the light of the moon and the stars.
“So, who do you reckon we should kill first? Who is the one who causes the most harm?” the first speaker asked.
“Lómiel Starbrow,” he with the pale hands replied immediately.
“The woman who manages the household and makes notes about our meetings?” the one who had drawn his sword asked in disbelief.
The light-cloak laughed again. “You are truly blind, my friend. Whatever the façade was, she was the one to truly led the council. She led us all as she willed – us kings, sorcerers, warlords and pirates… Don’t underestimate her. She is dangerous for us.”
“Besides, whatever she says, there is the possibility that she has had dealings with Elves, which is most undesirable from our point of view,” the tall one added.
“And if we kill her, her father will be out of the game too… He’s no more than her puppet, whatever they try to make us believe,” the light-cloak grinned.
“You win, you win,” said the swordsman. “Let us go.”

Moving as one, the four stood up and walked out of the room. When they strode through the corridor, there was hardly any sound of footsteps, just the soft rustle of their cloaks. They paused at Lady Lómiel’s doorstep, drew their swords, and entered.

~*~

Meanwhile, three other guests remained awake. They were more careful than the rest. Whatever Lord Thinroz had tried to make them believe, they knew they would not be safe here.

One of them knew evil was afoot, she could feel it in her bones. Therefore she made herself a potion of herbs she had brought with herself and drank it before going to sleep. Before she closed her eyes, she summoned the face of one of the guests to her mind and held to the image. If her potion would work as it should, she would know the alignment of the person she had chosen when she woke up in the morning.

The second one was scouring her sword. She had a bad feeling this would come down to killing people, and she did not want anyone innocent to be killed. She would protect the innocent with her sword, so it would have to look deadly enough to ward off any attacker.

The third one was sharpening her knives. She had not been allowed to take guards, so she would have to take care of herself. She hid the sharpened knives in her clothes and in her bed. If anyone dared to attack her, she would have a knife to stab him with.

~*~

In the morning, the guests were woken by the bewildered housekeeper. She tugged at their clothes and made pleading gestures with her hands. When all the guests had woken up and gathered to the corridor, the housekeeper led them downstairs.

“I wonder what’s up,” the courtier Nilpaurion wondered aloud.
“I demand to know what’s going on!” said Shasta who styled himself The King of Sea.
“Yes, that idiotic housekeeper can’t even talk,” his wife Nerwen agreed.
“I think we…” started Lady Sally, but her comment was cut out by a terrible wail.
“Lord Thinroz…” Nienna whispered.

As if by a common decision, the guests ran down the stairs. In the hall where they had been holding their council, Lady Lómiel was lying on the table. Her face looked pale and the elaborate nightgown she was wearing was all stained with blood. There was a neat cut across her throat, and her right arm was adorned by four ritual cuts. There were four long, slender swords leaning against the table, blood on the blades.

“Lommy… my daughter…” Lord Thinroz sobbed. He was standing by the table, holding his daughter’s unharmed arm. “They feared her, so they killed her.”
“They?” asked Wilwarin, the sorceress.
“The four evil ones,” Lord Thinroz replied, gesturing at the swords, and broke in tears again.
“Well, they were pretty silly to leave the swords here,” said Lady Brinniel and picked all the four blades up. “Confiscate those,” she told the housekeeper.
“And let’s move her, shall we?” asked Rune, also known as Tivo the Sorceror. He waved his hand and the body floated away from the table to a divan far at the other end of the room. Lord Thinroz followed it immediately and sat down on the floor next to the divan. He started crying again.
“Housekeeper!” shouted Lady Kath. “As soon as you are finished with the swords, see to your mistress’s burial.”
“We are busy with other stuff,” Lord Eönwë agreed.
“We need to find out who it was that killed her,” said Eomer who was known for his mysterious experiments with wolves.
“I think we can rule out Lord Thinroz himself and the housekeeper,” the scam artist named Kent said. The others agreed quickly – it seemed unlikely that those two would be involved in a conspiracy like this. But that was no comfort… that still left seventeen options.

~*~

Dead
Lommy (mod) - Lady Lómiel Starbrow, the hostess – killed on Night1

Alive
Kath
Nienna - pirate
Kent2010 - Black Númenórean scam artist
Legate of Amon Lanc - rebelling Haradian King
Nogrod - Corsair Captain "The Cat O' Nine tails of Ethir Anduin"
Shastanis Althreduin - King of the Sea
Isabellkya
wilwarin538 - sorceress
Nerwen - Queen of the Sea
Nilpaurion Felagund - fussy courtier
Rune Son of Bjarne - Tivo the Sorceror
Lhunardawen - rebelling Haradian Queen
Eomer of the Rohirrim
Groin Redbeard - Variag Warlord of Khand
satansaloser2005
Eönwë
Brinniel

Day1 has begun! Everybody, start discussing. Hunter, you may send me your first pick whenever you wish.