Tol-in-Gaurhoth XIII: Enter Shamville

[Anguirel]

A frightfully fishy situation, you have to admit.

Ah well. dancing spawn will always have a special plaice in my heart. Cod rest her sole.

[Meneltarmacil]

This is really not looking good for the village. And that's a major understatement.

We are dealing with werewolves here, and werewolves are smart creatures. They'll likely not be the ones in the open acting suspicious. Nor will they likely be really quiet. It's the ones in the middle we ought to watch out for, those who offer their comments every now and then, but just not enough to be useful. Unless we're dealing with extremely stupid or extremely smart wolves, I think those types of people are worth keeping an eye on.

Just be glad they're not were-tyrannosaurs.

[Anguirel]

Ho blimming ho. Watch it mate, I'm the jester in town. Try and take my mantle and who knows what might happen to you...

[Lalaith]

There's a time and place for such punning, Sir Jester. You gabble like some of my more foolish charges.
But now, we must try to react as best we can to the tragedy that has hit our village. These lycans won't stop at this. I don't know when the rest of us will get here, but lets all try to talk as much as we can. Wolves can hide better in silence.

[Anguirel]

Did you hear about the town that got attacked by werewolves?

No? All the inhabitants were devoured.

Not funny? What do you mean? Oh, you thought that one was a joke? By Eru, even fools speak seriously amidst events like these...

For the moment, I will second Little Miss Goosey Goosey Gander. We need to keep ourselves wrapped in earnest debate, lynching each other, while around us our comrades drop like flies. A well-tried and tested strategy, though some have doubted its efficacy...

[Lalaith]

Well if you, or anyone else for that matter, has any better alternative plans, feel free to share....

[Anguirel]

If I had a better plan, dear Goosey, would I recommend such a bad one?

[Celuien]

AHHHHHHHH. Hard times are upon us, villagers of Shamville. Harder times than when you wouldn't buy my fiddles and lutes and I nearly went out of business. My life has been spent in the carving of wood into works of art with voices of their own, not in pursuit of foul beasts. But it seems that is the task Fate has dealt us all.

Here's a plan. Back when I was a small lass, my gaffer had a pet dog. (Patience, patience, there is a point to this story.) Whenever I would sing a high note or squeak out a tune on my fiddle, the dog would howl. Nearly drove me out of my mind. Wolves are pretty close to dogs. Maybe if I let out a high C, the wolves would be like Huan Jr. and howl too, giving away their identities.

Oh, wait. I already sang my high C and the wolves didn't emit a single note. I guess that won't work. So I don't have any better plan for the moment than the previous suggestion to speak out in debate.

[Firefoot]

My, what a horrible village I have come across in these travels of mine! Werewolves! And this place was reputed to be a peaceful sort of village, where one might rest. Apparently not.

I'm not sure that just talking a lot will flush out the werewolves. Talk a lot, but actually say something, I say! It would be extremely easy for wolves to hide in a mass of insubstance and chattiness. Force them to come out with substance; then perhaps we can catch their blunders.

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Anguirel

We need to keep ourselves wrapped in earnest debate, lynching each other, while around us our comrades drop like flies. A well-tried and tested strategy, though some have doubted its efficacy...

And I shall do my part, preparing and burying the dropped flies with due reverence, speaking overwrought Jamesian at times, mayhap, and all the while pondering the words of my fellow villagers for clues to foul villainy whilst talking to and listening to the dead. Not that they speak back to me, but one of my profession must find comfort where one may.

*LMP thoroughly disentangles the corpse, straightening every bent limb, washing tear and blood stained face, molding lips to renewed (and less smelly) comeliness, speaking to the dead.*

Who are the dastardly villains who so mangled you? Is there some sign in the words I've overheard already? Is our jester hiding beneath a string of words? Our fossil hunter preaching to the proverbial choir to hide his misdeeds? Our goosegirl scolding our jester to hide her own laid egg of vehemence?

*The corpse does not respond as LMP continues his careful work.*

[Meneltarmacil]

Speaking of random names, my 20-sided die has just come up with a 3. That happens to be Celuien's number. Celuien does not seem to have said anything extremely helpful yet, but she hasn't acted like a wolf either. Interesting that Lalaith told everybody to talk as much as possible, an idea that I agree would be helpful, however, could she be trying to hint that that's what her fellow wolves should be doing? As yet, however, nobody jumps out at me as being a wolf.

*goes back to chiseling some rock off a Stegosaurus spike*

EDIT: cross-posted with LMP

[Eonwe]

Interesting that Lalaith told everybody to talk as much as possible, an idea that I agree would be helpful, however, could she be trying to hint that that's what her fellow wolves should be doing?

well, as they just had 24 hours to pm about stratgy, either they are very lazy, or the answer is no.

[Lalaith]

No offence taken, Kath my dear. Both Firefoot and I have already spoken, but our daydreamer is not yet with us, it seems. I don't know what else you would like to hear from me at this stage. I can - and will - tell you that I'm not a wolf, but I can't expect you to believe me, any more than I would you.
I will also reveal, as it is useful to announce absences, that it is now goosegirl's bedtime. I will rejoin the debate in around nine hours time.

[Kath]

I don't know what else you would like to hear from me at this stage.

Nothing yet really, just to know you're around I suppose. I have a slight problem now though in the form of Menel, I had forgotten he was here and I believe I did once vow never to trust him again. Well, benefit of the doubt should be given I suppose but it's going against a lot of my beliefs.

[Celuien]

I only wish I had something more helpful say at this point. I'm not really expecting anyone to be amazingly helpful this early, as we have nothing to go on yet. I know that I can't garner enough information to suggest theories this early. But I assure you, once things start moving, I'll analyze to the best of my abilities.

And here's a start. So far, no one really looks suspicious at all. In order of posts:

Anguirel - even though this is a sad day for us, I can't expect a jester to stop jesting. Nothing strange there.
Menel - makes a good general suggestion for whom we should be watching. A suggestion with which I agree.
Lalaith - scolds Ang for punnery and urges everyone to be vocal. A reasonable strategy, as long as innocents are careful not to get into duels with each other and miss wolves as a result.
Me - relates story of my gaffer's dog and agrees with suggested strategy. Admittedly, not particularly helpful at this point. But I prefer to watch, collect information, and deliberate before making drastic moves.
Firefoot - refines strategy with warning against chattiness.
lmp - says that he'll be responding to posts in order. Not all that helpful right off either, seems to be working on gathering data.
Eonwe - request for explanations of theories. Not helpful, but nothing wolvish there.
Kath - randomly selects names. A reasonable way to generate debate.

Still awaiting the arrival of the rest of the village.

EDIT: cross-posted with Kuru, Kath and Eonwe. Slow typing is annoying.

[Kitanna]

I take a break from paper writing to find this sad situation in Shamville. I always liked Spawn. She was so kind to me and my goats.
But I can't dwell on our dearly deceased.

I can see though that something that keeps coming up is Lalaith's suggest for more talking. Firefoot and Kuru both seem against it. They want posts with meaning that will help the village, not just tons of talking and nothing to it. And I agree completely.

What would happen if people said as little as possible on DAY ONE and then just voted. We might be able to pick up a few tells or force the wolves out in the open because they think they could pick off somebody. Unfortunately, this would be at least as open to manipulation as any other opening strategy. They would probably just vote for different people they hoped wouldn't get hung (which is potentially what they will do anyway).

That is quite interesting, but I see a few problems with it. If almost nothing was sad and no hints dropped here or there and at the end of day all the villagers just voted at random, well I think it is possible that no single villager would get more than one vote. And if everyone voted for a completely different villager what would that really tell us? With complete silence on DAY 1, well, I think that could be as bad as too much chatiness. I must say that would be an interesting plan though, but I really can't see it helping the village.

That's really all I have to say right now. Hopefully I can be back in a few hours with more to add.

[Kuruharan]

Hmm...Anguirel is acting strangely.

Good. That's normal. Don't know if there is anything to discern from that.

Eonwe is saying that he will say nothing substantive. At the moment, I can't really blame him. There isn't a whole lot substantive to say.

littlemanpoet is developing some strange habits.

Most everyone else seems interested in running a numbers racket.

That is not so good. We will end up arguing about random assignment and probability and it would be easy for a wolf to avoid detection if we spend our time doing that.

[Kath]

Nah. We're all just picking any old person, doesn't matter how, it's just to generate some conversation. Can't find wolvish slip ups if there's no one talking!

[Eonwe]

the Day One Disorder has always manifested itself in symptoms ranging from lack of conversation, lack of substance, to lack of evidence, and so shall it ever be, unfurtunately. the only treatment that my research has shown to have any amount of effectiveness in correcting teh disorder is that of plunging into random accusations, culminating in a random vote.

edit cross posted with Celuien, and

hmmm, about this helpful business...for myself, i am just putting in time, so to speak. talk of collecting data, forming theories and opinions, and being helpful, not to mention rating helpfulness, seems a little bit useless.

[Kuruharan]

Can't find wolvish slip ups if there's no one talking!

That is something I've wondered about from time to time. What would happen if people said as little as possible on DAY ONE and then just voted. We might be able to pick up a few tells or force the wolves out in the open because they think they could pick off somebody. Unfortunately, this would be at least as open to manipulation as any other opening strategy. They would probably just vote for different people they hoped wouldn't get hung (which is potentially what they will do anyway).

DAY ONEs are just bad all the way around.