WW XXXXI: With a Twist

[Nogrod]

I need to post only once on Day1 from this on...

[the phantom]

Sorry, but no narrative or anything right now. It's past 4 AM- had to set my alarm just for this.

You'll learn Nogrod's role in a few hours. For right now, it's back to sleep for me. For those who have nightly activities, remember that tonight is 36 hours. You have plenty of time.

Living-
Aganzir- hangwoman
Azaelia of Willowbottom- apprentice to Rikae
Boromir88- assistant to the apprentice to Rikae
Eomer of the Rohirrim- gravedigger
Farael- conspiracy theorist
Isabellkya- hen
Kath- milliner
Legate of Amon Lanc- lamp-maker/fiddler
Macalaure- jailer
mormegil- woodsman/carpenter
Nerwen- miller
Rikae- midwife/wise-woman
Shastanis Althreduin- herbalist
The Might- shephard
The Saucepan Man- traveling tinker
Valier- basket weaver

Dead-
Nogrod- reticent lumberjack

IT IS NOW NIGHT 2. YOU MAY NOT POST.

[the phantom]

When the votes were counted, the lumberjack, Nogrod, came out ahead.

"Oh well," he said. "At least I had a bit of fun."

"Grab him!" several villagers shouted. But there was no need. Nogrod placed his hands together behind his back and made no attempt to escape. "I will meet death bravely!" he declared.

As Aganzir, the hangwoman, led Nogrod to the gallows, he espied between a gap in two houses a small boat on the shore of the lake. Due to his cooperation, his captors were gripping him only lightly, and so with a burst of super-human strength he broke both their holds as well as the ropes around his hands and arms and took off towards the boat.

"After him!" shouted Eomer, who was rather looking forward to digging a grave for Nogrod. But it was too late. Nogrod was far too quick, and had already pushed the boat out into the lake and was paddling like mad towards the fog bank that lay some thirty feet off the shore.

"The fog will surely let him pass," said Rikae, the wise-woman, "For it is clear from his physical prowess that he is in fact a Werewolf. His master controls the fog. He will go through."

As Nogrod disappeared into the mist, the villagers were certain that Rikae was correct. But even as they turned to walk back into the village, Nogrod appeared again, his back to the village, paddling with all his might directly towards them. The small vessel ground to a halt on the stony bank, and Nogrod leaped out with a laugh, but his smile died as he turned and found that the fog had betrayed him.

"Welcome back!" said Legate as he seized a broken paddle from the ground and struck Nogrod forcefully in the head.

Nogrod dropped to the ground, dead.

The fog boiled and billowed, and from its depths a voice cursed angrily.

Living-
Aganzir- hangwoman
Azaelia of Willowbottom- apprentice to Rikae
Boromir88- assistant to the apprentice to Rikae
Eomer of the Rohirrim- gravedigger
Farael- conspiracy theorist
Isabellkya- hen
Kath- milliner
Legate of Amon Lanc- lamp-maker/fiddler
Macalaure- jailer
mormegil- woodsman/carpenter
Nerwen- miller
Rikae- midwife/wise-woman
Shastanis Althreduin- herbalist
The Might- shephard
The Saucepan Man- traveling tinker
Valier- basket weaver

Dead-
Nogrod, reticent lumberjack- Day 1 lynch victim (WEREWOLF)

IT IS NIGHT 2. YOU MAY NOT POST.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Of the many laws which govern Middle Earth, some are taken quite for granted. And so it was that the sun which should have risen in the East the next morning caused quite a stir amongst the early risers by appearing just over the northern-most point of the island and calmly striding its slow way low around the horizon, a mere dull glow in the heavy fog.

Perhaps an hour after dawn, as the sun shone from a point which seemed to be a bit west to the west of north, a voice seemed carried to them by the wind, a voice of great beauty and power, of hope and wisdom.

"My children, do not fear, for triumph shall be yours, and you shall be glorified in my name!”

And the villagers cried out with laughter, brave and sure, though three were filled with great terror.

And another voice broke forth from every direction, crashing upon them violently, silencing the first, and cried “Begone, for your power is as nothing compared to mine! Begone, for my three shall destroy you and yours. Spirit, flee at my command, for this village is mine!”

With this, the fog seemed to recede from the shoreline and the villagers gasped as the rent and drained body of Shasta was revealed laying mangled in the gentle wash of waves. His face was pale, serene in his death, though many claw marks had cut his skin, and many plants of the water had tangled themselves through his hair and around his throat.

The first voice cried to the village, "Maintain hope and dread nothing!"

Yet the other voice returned, drowning the other, and said, "My three, together we shall rid this island of the undeserving who walk upon it."

And laughter echoed, causing the island to tremble, and the voice from afar was silenced, and the fog returned, and the village began to speak.

---

Living-
Aganzir- hangwoman
Azaelia of Willowbottom- apprentice to Rikae
Boromir88- assistant to the apprentice to Rikae
Eomer of the Rohirrim- gravedigger
Farael- conspiracy theorist
Isabellkya- hen
Kath- milliner
Legate of Amon Lanc- lamp-maker/fiddler
Macalaure- jailer
mormegil- woodsman/carpenter
Nerwen- miller
Rikae- midwife/wise-woman
The Might- shephard
The Saucepan Man- traveling tinker
Valier- basket weaver

Dead-
Nogrod, reticent lumberjack- Day 1 lynch victim (WEREWOLF)
Shastanis Althreduin- herbalist- Night 2 wolf slaughter (VILLAGER)

IT IS DAY 2. YOU MAY POST.

[mormegil]

Shata? An odd choice indeed. Of course, being a suspect with many people it is a good choice for the wolves in that it causes many of us to wonder as I am now.

I had a look over Nogrod's posts and one thing stuck out to me as I'm sure it did many others and was spoken of yesterday and now we should look at it in a new light, knowing he was a wolf. His little back and forth all day with Mac. What does it mean. Was it Nogrod going after an innocent or wolf going after wolf. That is a question that must be answered before the day is over in my opinion. We have a good chance of bagging another wolf if, as I think it to be, Nogrod was playing the wolf going after wolf strategy thinking it would buy one of them an exemption if the other were lynched.

Sadly, I haven't had time to review Mac's posts but hope to in the next 7 hours or so.

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by mormegil

We have a good chance of bagging another wolf if, as I think it to be, Nogrod was playing the wolf going after wolf strategy thinking it would buy one of them an exemption if the other were lynched.

I wondered about that yesterDay. Their exchanges rang false to me for quite a long time. But then towards the deadline they seemed to be genuinely going after each other. And would Nogrod have been lynched at all if Mac hadn't started on him?

EDIT: X'd with Farael.

[Macalaure]

I've been looking at the way Nogrod has been treated by other villagers. I doubt Nogrod left leads to other wolves in his posts - it was Day 1, after all, and he would have to slip really badly to reveal one of the other wolves. The other wolves, however, seeing that Nogrod was about to be lynched, might have reacted in a telling way.

There is Eomer, who said very little substantial all day and then tried to rescue Nogrod in the last minute.

Boro attempted the same, but I can't read him at all at the moment. I will need to have a closer look at him later today.

However, would Wolf-Nogrod even want to be saved in the last minute? I would guess he's more the type of wolf who would go down for the team instead of telling them to save his skin come what may - especially since they were able to talk during the day. Still, Eomer and Boro are near my center of focus.

Isabellkya tried to defend him in #161

To me Nogrod seems to be his usual self, especially in his attitude towards wanting to lynch the quieter players over the louder ones. Quite understandable.. and I think I've seen such comments in every single game I've played with him. Probably because he always targets me as one of the more quieter players, and it is hard to not notice.
...
Macalure's insistance on lynching Nogrod is a bit worrying. Innocents have the freedom and luxury of debating and retracting votes when possible. Wolves however, when on a lynch-hunt don't have that.

This kind of subtle defense is more worrisome.


But who really stands out to me is, you might be surprised: Aganzir. Let me explain.

In #120, she starts with being inclined to think Noggie innocent, in a list with many others.
In #126, she comes up with the theory of Noggie and me both being wolves. It's interesting that she also picks Shasta, another Nogrod accuser/suspect. While this paints Nogrod in a bad light, it also casts a bad light on those who suspected him.
In #131, she continues exactly that approach by attacking SPM. She also attacks Kath, for taking my side even though only to a small extent.

Then she's away for the night, and comes back like this:
In #159, she calls me her prime suspect, but among the given candidates, she'd prefer Shasta or Noggie.
Then she votes him in #162, while keeping the back door of retracting to Shasta.
#173 is strange. Why does she put so much pressure on Shasta? If this is a campaign to get another vote for Nogrod, then why does she only address him? And what exactly makes her so suspicious of Nogrod that she would start campaigning for votes against him? As far as I understand, he was not her prime suspect, but only a better of two evils.

Maybe I'm over-interpreting, but this is how I see it:
When Wolf-Nogrod first got more heavily suspected, Wolf-Aganzir felt the need to help him. She's too smart to do it obviously, after Nogrod's death that would come back to her, so she does it not by defending, but by attacking all of Nogrod's accusers. She even brings in a wolf-on-wolf theory to make sure people won't suspect her to be on Nogrod's side.
Then she had a few words with her fellow wolves. Nogrod told her not to defend him, but to attack him if necessary. She keeps me as her prime suspect, but votes Nogrod. She can pull it because of the earlier wolf-on-wolf talk. She never gives any more serious reasons for it. But she keeps herself a back door with Shasta. She puts Shasta under pressure, hoping he would falter and give her an unsuspicious way out of her vote for Nogrod. But Shasta retracted, which left her with a dead co-wolf, but at least made her a main contributor to his death.


PS: The first one to give out a Mac-Nogrod-wolf-on-wolf-theory backed with at least a little reason wins a prize, all others who come up with it win a prominent place behind Aganzir on my list of suspects.