Tol-in-Gaurhoth XXV: All Star Crossed With Nowhere to Go

[Diamond18]

After killing Menel, the Elves retreated to their homes and waited warily for Nightfall. Night fell and the moon rose, full and cheeky, above the desert. All was hushed for a while, but then....

An ominous howl split the night, followed by a foreboding flutter of giant wings. Somewhere in the distance came the sound of purring, but evil purring. The night smelt of bear pelt.

Two brave souls crept from their homes, and took up watch before two separate households. They both had a long and uneventful night.

Toward morning, the Watcher began to walk back to his home. Little did he know that from the shadows, a pair of feline eyes were gleaming at him. Evilly.

The Werecat slunk after the Watcher, barely able to silence its purring as it anticipated its kill.

Nogrod, for that is indeed the identity of our valiant hero, stopped at his door. The tiny hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he looked around, wary. His hand reached for his sword, but alas, he was not fast enough. The Werecat leapt upon him and clamped its mighty jaws onto his throat, snarling in exaltation as it snapped his neck. From there it dragged him into the long grass and tore skin and meat from bone. Another figure joined it and reached out to stroke its gleaming fur (evilly). "Nice kitty," breathed an Elven voice. "Such a pretty kitty...."

Naria, the Werecat, turned to her lover, and purred. Arctic Storm was about to say something more about her feline loveliness when he felt a downdraft. He looked up and saw the Werebird swooping down upon him. Naria screeched and leapt up, trying to bat the giant bird away, but it was to no avail. The Werebird snatched Arctic Storm up in its talons and lifted his screaming head to its vicious beak. It devoured him head first.

The Werecat let lose a wild, heartbroken yowl. She ran after the Werebird as it flew away, but the winged creature of doom only cackled as it disappeared into the night sky. With a single last unearthly sound of torment, Naria ran headfirst into the Ringbearer's Stone. Her skull split open upon impact and she fell to the ground.

Elsewhere, the Werebear tore down the door of another unsuspecting Elf. It raided the house for yummy pots of honey, but found only dirty chamberpots filled with offal. Roaring in anger, the Werebear entered the bedroom and clamped its mighty jaws onto Kitanna's leg, attempting to drag her from her bed. Kitanna screamed and grabbed onto her bedpost, resisting. Years of hauling chamberpots around had given her an exceptionally good grip. At first the bear could not dislodge her, but then gave it some extra effort, and tore Kitanna in two. It ran from the house, Kitanna's lower half in tow. "My sweet teddy bear," said an Elf following after. "Don't fret, I have honey for you...."

Meanwhile, in another part of the enclave, Rune was up late working on his fungus. "You will be the most humungous fungus in all of Harad!" he cooed lovingly to his fungus. He was a lonely guy. No family. No pets. No lover.

He was about to retire for the night when he heard a menacing growl from the door. He spun around and saw the nassssssty yellow eyes of the Werewolf sizing him up. "You will not harm the fungus!" Rune cried. The Werewolf just laughed.

The next morning, Rune was nowhere to be found. That is, until the Elves noticed the freshly minced fertilizer packed around the base of the humungous fungus....

~*~*~*~

The Living Elves:

Lommy - Ostrich Chaser
Mac - Builder of Gibbets, unemployed for millennia
Kath - Flower Girl
JennyHallu - Countess
Valier - Arranger
Holby - Oliphaunt Whisperer
Durelin - Lead Tragic Actor
morm - City Street Cleaner
Lhuna - Beautiful Girl with Sleeping Sickness
Farael - Patient suffering from Mad Elf Disease
Rikae - Contortionist
Fintaeph - Mutton Herder and Purveyor of Fine-Quality Undead Prosthetic Limbs

The Dead 'Uns

tgwbs - Tragic Elven Hero and Lover of Diamond - (co-mod) - Stabbed himself eight times and subsequently eaten by the Werebird

Diamond - Elven Maid - (mod) - Crushed in the embrace of the Werebear

Menel - Mad Scientist - (ordo) - Beaten with an undead leg and a chamber pot and stabbed with red hot tongs (Day 1)

Nogrod - a Smith of the Billmarins - (watcher) - Savagely murdered by the Werecat and devoured in the long grass (Night 2)

Arctic Storm - Raving Alcoholic, Resident Moocher, and Lover of Naria (lover) - Devoured head first by the Werebird (Night 2)

Naria - Lemba Baker - (werecat) - Dashed out her brains on the Ringbearer's Rock (Night 2)

Kitanna - One Legged Chambermaid - (ordo) - Ripped in two by the Werebear (Night 2)

Rune - Humungous Fungus Grower - (ordo) - Minced up into fertilizer by the Werewolf (Night 2)

[Valier]

Are you freakin' kidding me? Five dead people. If this happens again we may all be dead really quick. At least a couple got killed as well, but losing our Watcher is devistating. Since we started with a day phase the Watcher only had a dream last night, which doesn't help us any. We still have the Ranger...they should stay hidden as long as possible, they may be our only hope of giving us villagers time to weed out the Werelovers.

So we have 6 Werelovers and 6 Ordos/Ranger.....I have no idea how to work out any odds, but I am sure someone else can. I have reread the days threads and not much of interest has sparked anything in me yet. I only have my weird suspisions about people so far, which are not concrete I know, so I won't share them just yet.
I must say though that I did not think that Menel or Rune were Werecreatures yesterday, that is why I did not vote for them. Farael though, now that I have looked over your posts, you were acting a bit strange and I would like to hear more from you today. Jenny I know I was quick to vote for you yesterday, but I just got a weird feeling and went with it. I would like to hear some more from you as well today. I will be checking in as much as possible tomorrow and will share more of my thoughts then.

[Lhunardawen]

Ohmigoodness. I had this terrible dream. There were five dead bodies lying around the village and, and--

*Lhuna looks around*

What the heck?! Somehow it didn't look this horrible in my nightmare!

Okay, so we lost five people, two of which we are glad to lose, and three otherwise. And the Watcher on the first Night, good grief! If there's anything we can gain from this loss, at least from now on the werecreatures might be distracted in hunting down their fellow baddies, leaving us poor innocents be in the Night, and thus aiding us in our daily lynchings. We'll catch all of them, and thank them before they die yet!

Also, we know more now from all these deaths than we did yesterDay, and I hope this will aid us in searching for the villains. The way I see it now, we could probably trace the individual deaths to potential suspects, and lynch whoever we find most likely responsible for a killing. If anyone has better ideas, though, come out and share it.

Since no sane woman (even women with sleeping problems) would be able to sleep properly with a puzzle like this in mind, I'll be off reminiscing the last Day in the light of new developments. Toodles!

[mormegil]

Lhuna for Farael (Farael 1)
Rune for Farael (Farael 2)
Mormegil for Farael (Farael 3)
Thinlo for Mac (Farael 3, Macalaure 1)
Menel for Farael (Farael 4, Macalaure 1)
Macalaure for Rune (Farael 4, Macalaure 1, Rune 1)
JennyHallu for Valier (Farael 4, Macalaure 1, Rune 1, Valier 1)
Articstorm for Menel (Farael 4, Macalaure 1, Rune 1, Valier 1, Menel 1)
Valier for JennyHallu (Farael 4, Macalaure 1, Rune 1, Valier 1, Menel 1, Jenny 1)
Durelin for Kitanna (Farael 4, Macalaure 1, Rune 1, Valier 1, Menel 1, Jenny 1, Kitanna 1)
Naria for Menel (Farael 4, Macalaure 1, Rune 1, Valier 1, Menel 2, Jenny 1, Kitanna 1)
Nogrod for Menel (Farael 4, Macalaure 1, Rune 1, Valier 1, Menel 3, Jenny 1, Kitanna 1)
Holby for Menel (Farael 4, Macalaure 1, Rune 1, Valier 1, Menel 4, Jenny 1, Kitanna 1)
Kitanna for Menel (Farael 4, Macalaure 1, Rune 1, Valier 1, Menel 5, Jenny 1, Kitanna 1)
Fintaeph for Menel (Farael 4, Macalaure 1, Rune 1, Valier 1, Menel 6, Jenny 1, Kitanna 1)
Farael for Menel (Farael 4, Macalaure 1, Rune 1, Valier 1, Menel 7, Jenny 1, Kitanna 1)

No vote: Kath and Rikae

Voted for a known innocent: Mac, Holby, Fintaeph, Farael.

The most interesting thing is that it looked like Farael was dead at 4 votes with nobody above 1 and then all the sudden a crazy train started for Menel. I take my share of the blame but I still cannot understand why he was so defensive against my seemingly innocuous first post. It was more in jest than anything yet he twice requested/demanded an explanation. I found it odd but not enough to vote for him.

I did vote for Farael and stick behind that vote. The two that look most suspicious in their votes yesterday are Holby and Fintaeph as they cast votes that were pivotal in saving Farael. This game is interesting due to the lover dynamic. I would postulate that generally lovers wouldn't vote the same, yet Naria and Artic did. There is a circumstance where I would believe that they would vote the same and it would generally appear innocent enough and that is exactly what happnened yesterday with Farael. Farael's vote for Menel could easily be explained as self-preservation so if his lover voted with him it wouldn't be seen as a direct connection. This begs the question as to if it's Holby or Fintaeph but it's really irrelevant as we can simply lynch Farael and watch his partner wither in horror and despair...a fitting way to die.

Valier I still hold that your vote yesterday was extremely odd and stuck out to me. I'm not sure what to make of it though. I know that you consistently "go with your gut" but I'm not sure how you could get a gut feeling on Jenny when it seemed more like knee-jerk to me. I don't think you overly suspicious yet but I will watch you closely.

Lommy bears watching, if you catch my drift.

Rikae and Kath any explanations for not voting?

Jenny gave a RL reason yesterday but I expect more substance today...that goes for Lhuna as well. We have one day now and some evidence with us. I expect a more reasoned and sound vote today. While I agree with your candidate from yesterday your reasoning was shoddy at best.

Edit: Cross posted with Lhuna

[Lhunardawen]

morm, you forgot Durelin. Kitanna is innocent.

Which is an interesting vote, actually, as it spread the options to seven people. Her reasoning was that Kitanna seemed to be flying under the radar, and it bothered her. Fly-away? It's a safe vote in that it was well-reasoned, for a Day 1 vote...for now, I'm inclined to trust her.

Right now the person still standing out most to me is Farael. I know by history that he really tends to be...like this. He's speaking too rashly to be a bad guy. But then again, he almost always did, jumping to all sorts of suspicions and all that, but this time it seems more...jumpy. Argh, it's hard to read. My suspicious guess is that he's trying to look ordinary (because really, an ordo has nothing to lose being killed, compared to all the other roles, so he can say all he wants), and should the Watcher suspect him, that's what he'll see. A Lover? That's still the best I can come up with. But for now I'll be keeping as keen an eye on him as my sleepy self could, especially since he voted for Menel when he was already safe - why didn't he stick to his suspicion of Holby and voted for her?

Just a thought...I suppose Nogrod wouldn't be so careless as to leave us a bold hint to his role? Did the werecreatures kill him simply because he's a formidable foe? I'll take another look at all he said.

Look here, this is interesting:

Originally Posted by Nogrod

As I said, I have no objection, on the basis of what I know this far, for Farael to be lynched. I'm not going to die with him. This is a question of basic tactics.

Not that I know what to make of it.

Also, he said to threaten my knights in shining armour and see what happens. I have them? Oooh! I always knew I was a Sleeping Beauty.

Anyways, from what I've read, I think he dreamt of an ordo (or at least ordo-seeming) first Night. Sigh. This is really such a tragic loss.

Valier...her vote was just too something to come from a baddie. Surely she knew of its repercussions...or was she too evil to care? And whatever happened yesterDay to those thoughts she said she was about to post? Right now, though, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt, but she's definitely worth watching.

Fintaeph voted for Menel when Farael was already safe. There's also something strange about her reasoning. On my watch list...

Holby...to save Farael? If so, that was some spectacle from Farael. Who would think they are working together?

So, right now I find Farael, Valier, Fintaeph, and Holby most questionable (note not "suspicious"), and there needs more to be heard from Jenny, Kath, and Rikae. But knowing me, that's likely to change as soon as I post this. Sheesh.

[Lhunardawen]

Why is everyone else asleep? I thought I was the one with sleeping sickness here.

I realised that if we want to trace each death to a killer, we have to consider their motives. Were they trying to kill the Watcher, or their fellow Werecreature/Lover?

The story said:

Nogrod - a Smith of the Billmarins - (watcher) - Savagely murdered by the Werecat and devoured in the long grass

Arctic Storm - Raving Alcoholic, Resident Moocher, and Lover of Naria (lover) - Devoured head first by the Werebird

Naria - Lemba Baker - (werecat) - Dashed out her brains on the Ringbearer's Rock

Kitanna - One Legged Chambermaid - (ordo) - Ripped in two by the Werebear

Rune - Humungous Fungus Grower - (ordo) - Minced up into fertilizer by the Werewolf

Okay, so it was Naria who killed Nogrod. But who would kill arcticstorm, Kitanna, and Rune? And why?

This is too much to think about; I hope I don't fall asleep in the attempt. I'll try to be back with my thoughts on this.

[Lhunardawen]

arcticstorm:
In the weird post #36 he says Lhuna's vote comes of a sleeping disorder, and having such, and so little to go on, she couldn't be expected to give a good vote; Holby's list was unsuspicious; Mac's "what ifs" on werecreatureness could be very helpful in the future, not that he is one; Farael's gung-ho attitude towards Holby could be attributed to panic and confusion and is not necessarily suspicious, but his constant argument that everyone's voting for him because of Lhuna is ridiculous (incidentally, Lhuna also finds this observation ridiculous, because she has seen nothing of the sort); and he wanted Mac to elaborate on why he found Rune a little strange, because he didn't.

Kitanna:
She declared Farael and Holby as not particularly weresomethingy, but both worth close watching (post #24). In post #50 she expands on the issue regarding Farael, saying that if Farael was a Lover he should have had someone defending him by then, and she mentions Mac's example as an un-Loverly (too feeble) attempt of doing that.

Rune:
He found Holby's list humourous and a good read, and shouldn't be used to justify voting for her (post #18). Same post he said that he didn't think Farael was Lhuna's lover just because he didn't retaliate, and that he himself had often defended Lhuna. Seven posts down he voted for Farael because this annoyed him:

Originally Posted by Farael

and those of you who know my playing style should do well in listening to me. It has been proven perilous for the ordos to ignore me.

Hmm. For all we know all of this says nothing. Make of it what you will. I'm tired. Zzz.

[Kath]

Yes morm, there is a reason for my no show yesterDay. Pure stupidity. See the admin thread for details.

But yeesh! 5 dead. Ok that's one lover pair down but losing our Watcher sort of negates that. It seems that morm in particular is keen to lynch the (previously) main candidate from yesterDay. So, who wants to give me a reason why we're assuming Farael is evil? I've only skimmed yesterDay's posts so far so a nice concise explanation would be lovely.

So, let's look at Lhuna's question: Who would kill arcticstorm, Kitanna and Rune?

I think arcticstorm's death was due to the fact that he didn't really have anything concrete to say yesterDay. He asked questions of others to gauge their suspicions but had few of his own. Either someone thought his death wouldn't leave a trail or they did actually see this as being symptomatic of being a Lover. Now he was taken by the WereBird. So with the former explanation we're looking for someone who wants to cover their back and with the latter someone who wants to get rid of the competition.

With Rune I think it's possible that he was killed either by Farael or to set Farael up, because his suspicion lay entirely on him. Having read most of the posts from yesterDay I think the former more likely, as it seems quite a Farael-ish thing to do to kill someone and then claim that it couldn't possibly have been him because how stupid would that have been, it must have been a set up.

I'm not sure why Kitanna would have been killed, unless it was simply that one of the creatures felt threatened by her. Sorry, stuck on this one.

One person I'm not sure on is Lommy. Her first post is very ... sensible would be the best word for it I suppose, and full of what we can and can't do to win. I dislike this kind of post because it attempts to dictate how we do things so it could just be my own opinion coming through, but I'm just not sure it fits Lommy.

And of course we can't forget dear old morm. Amazingly so far he doesn't look all that suspicious. However, there are a couple of points. One is missing out Durelin as Lhuna pointed out, possible Lover pairing though I don't really believe morm would slip up like that. The other is the push on Valier for what he thinks is a 'knee-jerk' reaction. The thing is the Valier always behaves that way. If she's on our side it's good for us, and perhaps we should look at Jenny, but if she isn't then woe betide us, for our resident evil-weeder-outer isn't really present.

So, an explanation for the suspicion over Farael please (though having gone through the posts a few times now I'm certainly beginning to see it) and then I'll try to work out who I'm actually suspicious of so far.

EDIT: Cross posted with Lhuna.

[Macalaure]

So right now there's 6 innocents and 6 baddies. Since we lost our watcher, there now is no difference between the guilty and the innocent lover anymore.

It is a weird thing actually. I know I'm innocent, so there will be more guilty than innocent people reading this. Although the baddies will probably try to lynch other baddies at day like we all do, they have a second thought in saying what they say. So of the arguments that I read there will be less honest ones than crooked ones. Makes you paranoid almost.

I'll have a look at the crazy train.
It was started by the lover pair arctic and Naria. Strange behaviour for a couple. I guess they really thought him guilty and maybe were looking for a lynched were-creature under their belt.
Then the watcher Nogrod joined. Was it really just to put pressure on somebody else? Was his saying "Farael is still most suspicious to me" a feint and in fact he dreamt of him and tried to save him inconspiciously? But even if that is the case, there are three innocent lovers and five real innocents (plus me) now, so it's not reliable anyway.
Holbytlass crossed with both Naria and Nogrod, so she didn't know of the importance of her vote. Her reasoning isn't the best and what she said long before was unsubstantial joking. I'm a little suspicious of her.
Next in line is Kitanna, now known innocent. Thought Farael innocent and wanted to save him. Proof that you can defend somebody without being in love with him.
Then Fintaeph voted short before the deadline. He said Farael might be innocent because nobody came to defend him. He then votes Menel, whom nobody cared to defend either. Hmmmm...
Then finally Farael voted him, but he knew his vote wouldn't change anything anymore. Interesting Farael told us to retaliate if he dies. He knew he was not going to get lynched, so he was talking about being killed at night. This would be of course ridiculous if he turned out a dead lover. It might be a bluff, though.

[Thinlómien]

Knowing that half of the village is evil is certainly not something to calm my mind... Really, instead of a few villagers, a suspicion list should include half of the people. I must say that the baddies are playing quite well since no one really stands out to my evil-detector.

It seems I was wrong about Naria. Well, everyone makes mistakes...

While rereading, a few things caught my attention. First of all, Durelin's long post was very odd. I don't know precisely why, but it makes me wary of her. It's somehow shady and saying nothing while saying a lot, and her vote is more than weird. If somebody is flying under the radar, what does a vote for the person help? (especially if it's a single vote from a person who thinks the lynch is already sealed?)

I'm still suspicious about Mac. Besides that I still think his first post yesterday was a bit strange, I'm used to hear more contribution from him and this time he has been somehow softer than before; I'm used to a bit edgier Mac who is not afraid to accuse or speak.

Morm's theory yesterday about Farael trying to convince us about he being the watcher is a bit far-fetched I think. It would take a very cunning and a very bold baddie to do that, and I'm really thinking such person would be an especially cunning and bold person and (no offense) Farael does not strike me as a person to this. Rather I think morm might be up to something...

I'm not trying to say that I feel Farael innocent, though. On the contrary, he's suspicious. He's over-jumpy and his cases seem to pop up from nowhere. He was the same the last time I played with him and he happened to be a lover that time. I wouldn't be surprised to find Farael guilty, either a werecreature or a lover.

It seems Lhuna is the only one right now I have a quite clear opinion about. She seems quite innocent.

Holby's vote worries me too. She did not voice any suspicion of Menel before voting and she did not seem to be having a strong suspicion of him. Her vote seems joining a bandwagon for the sake of joining a bandwagon and that definately is not very innocent behaviour.

And that post of Nogrod's...

As I said, I have no objection, on the basis of what I know this far, for Farael to be lynched. I'm not going to die with him. This is a question of basic tactics.

I think he just said that he does not have anything special against lynching Farael since he was not Farael's lover.

And I've asked Di, Fin's a he.

EDIT: xed with Mac