Werewolf XLIV: In the House of Tom Bombadil

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by Durelin

Actually it was a question, Lommy. I'm not keen on attacking flip-flopping too much, because I'm just as confused. I just really wonder what you meant by that - how she's acting so blatantly wolfish she can't be a wolf, if that's what you meant?

I actually took it as a serious question but when Greenie appeared behind my shoulder, saw your post and said "quite evil" of that, it occured to me it might be a sarcastic joke as well. But no, I didn't mean that. I simply meant all her innocent-looking reasonableness and helpfulness (mainly the floods of analysis). When I'm a wolf, I'm reluctant to write long analyses because it feels pointless and it always takes a lot of time and effort. It is probably a very stupid tactic and I don't claim Rikae would play similarily, but there is still something very unwolfy in her helpfulness.

Currently I feel like my head could explode. I'm quite sure there is at least one wolf among the experienced village loudmouths - Nogrod, Boro, Mac and Rikae - and they all keep bringing up good points that contradict each other and seeming innocent at one moment and suspicious at the next. Truth be told it's quite frustrating. I think I need to have a pause and think about things wthout taking anything they say into account, but it's quite difficult as one of the things I want to think about is what they're actually saying. I don't know, I just have a bad feeling that four gifted rehtorics (rhetoriciens? what?) are trying to talk me over to their side and not all of them are innocent. Argh.

edit: xed with Nogrod and just realised my word formation looks suspiciously French... that's what you get from French-lessons, I guess...

[Nogrod]

The tally:

Menel -> McCaber
Nerwen -> Volo
Boro -> Mac

And 45 minutes to go.

I'll come forwards with what I think after I've had a cigarette and hopefully collected my thoughts.

[Durelin]

Thanks, Lommy...I understand now and am glad I asked because obviously I wasn't reading it that way. And I'm sorry A Little Green already thinks I'm so nasty.

Blarghity...I need to get working on homework...

++Macalaure

Of the random voters for Gwathagor he worries me the most. Of course I don't feel good voting for the same person as Boro, but I can't say I trust any of you sneaky lot, so what's the use spending another 40ish minutes on this...

Edit: Crossed with Volo

[Nogrod]

Here's the list of characters...

Nogrod the Agreeable, the leader of the beggars

his wife, Nerwen - I never seem to be able to suspect her but after Volo's point about her over-carefulness I'd say she needs to be looked at.

Gwathagor, their child - R.I.P. dear son.

elderly couple; Rikae the Kind - a bit touchy when suspected even a little but otherwise looks good and sensible.

and Durelin - no idea.

Boromir88 the Silent One, an ex-pickpocket - looks more like an innocent.

his wife, Mithalwen the Perpetually Sane and Serene - I'm really torn between her guilt and innocence, sometimes more the first, sometimes more the latter. Lommy said a wolf wouldn't go to such extremes defending her innocence - but remember Rikae last time...

their children Macalaure the Guileless - feels better all the time but I must say I'm a bit uneasy with him as I know what he's capable of.

and Meneltarmacil - screams wolf but then it's Menel who more often than not ends up lynched as an innocent. That said one of my candidates still.

satansaloser2005, a slightly mad crippled woman - dead duckmaster...

Volo, a young widowed man - I'm not too easy with him as I've pointed out already but doesn't top my list either.

his child, the Right Honourable McCaber - if he doesn't show up I'm quite ready to lynch a timebomb that doesn't look too innocent.

THE Ka, a blind old woman - no idea.

orphaned little Thinlómien - felt very innocent yersterDay and mainly toDay as well.

and her little sister A Little Green - I'm a bit worried about with her conscise low-flying and if I can borrow the hip-phrase around here toDay: there's something that bothers me with her even if I can't quite say what.

EDIT: X'd after Lommy onwards

[Nogrod]

Menel -> McCaber
Nerwen -> Volo
Boro -> Mac
Dury -> Mac 2
Rikae -> Boro
Mith -> Rikae
McCaber -> Volo 2
Greenie -> Mac 3

Sorry aboput the shorthand tally...

This is getting crazy with all the candidates!

EDIT: update

[Volo]

I really don't know what to, which means that I'm waiting.

I don't want to get lynched, but neither do I want to vote Mac.
Voting Boro might be too dangerous at this point, because he's quite clearly not going to be lynched.
McCaber? That's one alternative...

[Nogrod]

I could go for McCaber as he hasn't come back to his words another Day in a row and has just stood back and watched.

Greenie's vote doesn't look too good to me either.

I could see Menel but I'm afraid it would go wrong in the end.

Volo I'm a bit baffled about...

EDIT: X'd from Mac...

[Nogrod]

Let's not lynch Mac.

He can be very helpful indeed and if he's a wolf the Day will come when he is caught acting contradictory or talking himself into a corner...

EDIT: X'd with Mac & Rikae & kind of agree with Rikae... though my point stands... even heightened...

[Volo]

I'll add Lily to the Innocent-list, for now. Either she has greatly improved as a Wolf, or she really is Innocent. Her cases look honest.
Ok, not all things make sense to me, but she reacts in a genuine way.

I'd like Lommy to make way for her sister to update her Mac-case.


I'm quite inclined to vote for Nerwen, but I'll do such a nasty deed as to see if there's any sense to vote for her. Otherwise, my targets are Boro and Ka - Ka slightly more. I'm falling for Boro's frustration, it looks a bit like SPM's in the first game I modded. But I won't vote in a such way that Boro is left alive, in a case that neither [b]Ka[b] nor Nerwen is on the way to be lynched.


I'll check Nogrod next.

[Thinlómien]

What? Only 35 minutes to go?! And I thought we had ages and I have no clue who to vote... *faints*

edit: xed with Durey

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by Volo

I'd like Lommy to make way for her sister to update her Mac-case.

Now tsk tsk, it is her own choice that she has not been around for a while and she left to buy cookie ingredients a moment ago... I hope she realises how late it is...

[Rikae]

I think I'm decided enough at this point, so:

++Boro

Smooth on the surface, but the overall pattern of his behavior looks like there's a nasty undercurrent. Look over his posts, and think about the intention behind them.

[Thinlómien]

I feel like using a certain German swear word. Agh. This is just too confusing. Ok, of the loudmouths I complained about Nogrod and Mac seem more innocent, Rikae and Boro seem more guilty. I'm perfectly aware this is quite opposite to many things I've said before, but there is something overall innocently laid-back in Nogrod's manner and innocentish uncertainity in Mac's while Rikae and Boro look a tad too confident. Now I'm not actually suspecting them very much and I refuse to vote them before I've had a closer look at them - and I will do that toMorrow, if I'm still alive.

Who to vote then? I'd be inclined to go against Volo, Menel or McCaber... The latter two are quite suspicious and I confess I'd like to get rid of them so that I needn't to wonder about them any more. The totally baffling Volo is another case; he feels both far more guilty and a little more innocent than the two others. Ouch.

Now Greenie came home. She'll come to post now.

edit: xed with Rik and Cab

[A Little Green]

I'm back with my vote.

++ Mac

And if you start accusing me of joining a bandwaggon then I suggest you go and reread my posts from toDay. (Sorry - just had to say that.)

No further babblings then.


EDIT: x-ed with everyone since Lommie

[Macalaure]

*takes A Little Green off his list of innocents*

[Rikae]

Indeed.
I rather wish I'd voted for Greenie...

[THE Ka]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

So please McCaber at last do what you have promised all the time and talk - or convince me that that's only your tactics to make boots of us at Nights with not talking your mouth.

Third that agreement. McCaber I don't suspect directly considering the events of yesterDay, but I do think it would clear his name if he gave more of an explanation and overall opinion on his views, or at least break himself away from Mac's suspicion that he was tied to yesterDay as well.

I suspect Mac far more than McCab, but I really wish he'd speak up so that we'd stop wringing his neck then patting him on the head in confusion.

++Macalaure

(Sorry if this is after deadline, if it is feel free not to count it, since it probably has no weight anyway...).

~ Ka

[Aganzir]

The beggars weren't terrified by sally's fate at all, quite the contrary – among the other nasty things Mac did today, he even realised that there was also a positive side to sally's death. Now, he thought, he and Menel could finally play snow war for hours on end without getting a cold. This was enough to upset his parents, but only when Mac started teasing his mother did he get a beating.

”Remember that I'm one of those parents who believe also in the efficacy of capital punishment!” exclaimed Mithalwen to her crying son, a large wooden spoon in her hand.

”Mith, aren't you being a bit too strict, strict and strict with him?” asked Nogrod. ”Bear in mind that he's but a boy, boy and boy.”

”Why are you repeating everything thrice?” asked Durelin.

”I want to make sure everyone understands what I say. Sometimes it takes some repeating.”

”Ah.”

”I'm definitely not too strict, Nogrod. That boy speaks so nastily that he deserves a good beating every now and then.”

”Did you hear that?” cried Boro. ”No ordinary mother constantly beats her own child. I'm saying Mith is a wolf!”

”I think Mith is right. And if the wolves were good, they'd kill Mac for speaking like that to his mother,” said McCaber kindly.

”But they kill silent people instead... Like the poor sally,” sighed Nerwen.

”Why sally? Why not McCaber or Aganzir, for example? They didn't speak much either,” asked Mith.

”I wonder indeed,” said Death.

”Did you hear that?” cried Boro. ”She's trying to confuse us. I'm saying Mith is a wolf!”

”I actually quite agree with you, Boro,” said Rikae. ”She's clearly lying.”

”I never tell any blatant lies... Well... Except...” Mith paused, looking guilty.

”Except what?” inquired Ka.

”Well... I think I've sometimes said 'What a beautiful baby' without really meaning it... But that's all.”

”Like when Menel was born? (I'm saying Mith is a wolf!)”

”Eh... Well... Maybe we shall not speak about that now, darling, shall we?”

The argument was interrupted by a loud wailing sound.

”Ai! Ai!” cried Lommy, ”my eyes!”

”What is it?” asked Greenie.

”Volo looks so foul it hurts! Take him away! I can't bear to look at him!”

”Hey... Do you really think I'm that ugly?” asked Volo in a confused voice.

”Bunnies... May I remind you that you have work to do and time is flying?” said Death.

”Oh, we completely forgot,” said the beggars, ”this is so much fun.”

”What shall we do to the lynchee today?” asked Menel.

”We need some more drinking water anyway,” said Durelin. ”What about breaking a hole in the ice of that river in the forest?”

”Sounds nice. We could drown someone there,” said Greenie.

**

The beggars left the house with picks and shovels. It took them some time to find the frozen river and shovel the snow away, and some more time to break a hole in the ice. Eventually they saw the black water, calm and threatening.

”Are there any volunteers?” asked Rikae.

”Well, if it was up to me and Boro, I think you should take me rather than him...” said McCaber.

”What?” asked the beggars who stood a little farther from the river.

”He said he volunteers!” shouted Rikae.

”Let's try if he is a real submarine!” cried Lommy.

The mob came and grabbed McCaber by his yellow coat sleeve. While Rikae and Durelin held his legs, Volo pushed his head under the water and held it there until no more bubbles came up.

McCaber had drowned, but his body was still that of a little boy's, not a wolf's. As the beggars stood watching, the last rays of the sun vanished below the mountains. They rushed back, towards the twinkling lights of the house.

**

Alive:
Nogrod the Agreeable, the leader of the beggars
his wife, Nerwen
elderly couple; Rikae the Kind
and Durelin
Boromir88 the Silent One, an ex-pickpocket
his wife, Mithalwen the Perpetually Sane and Serene
their children Macalaure the Guileless
and Meneltarmacil
Volo, a young widowed man
THE Ka, a blind old woman
orphaned little Thinlómien
and her little sister A Little Green

Dead:
Tom Bombadil (ranger) - killed on Night 1
Goldberry (seer) - killed on Night 1
The Barrow-wight (hunter) - killed on Night 1
Gwathagor, the child of Nogrod and Nerwen (ordo) - used as a battering ram on Day 1
Sally the Insufferable, a slightly mad crippled woman (ordo) - skinned, scalped and made to clothes on Night 2
the Right Honourable McCaber, Volo's child (ordo) - drowned in the Withywindle on Day 2

It is now Night 3. Wolves may kill. No posting here.

And sorry Ka, but your vote doesn't count.

[Aganzir]

That night, it was snowing again. The wolves were sitting in the passage and chatting merrily. Death was studying a map of the Old Forest and the Shire.

”Would you guys mind getting me some ink tonight? A piece of charcoal is definitely not the best choice of medium for making accurate plans.”

”Sure,” said a wolf.

”That is no problem,” said another. ”Who, do you think, could provide us with the brightest colour?”

”I think I have an idea. But first I must ask you something... I have always wondered why we can only kill one person a night,” said the third.

”Me too. I mean, they are all asleep and we could easily kill them without making too much noise. Why not take them all at once? Why do we have to wait and risk getting ourselves killed by them first?”

Death seemed to be almost offended by the question. She lifted her eyes from the map. ”It is art! It takes time to make a masterpiece. You can't make several of them in just one night. I thought that was obvious.”

”Yes, now that I think it, it makes sense. Thank you.”

”Poor cubs – I know all too well how bloodlust feels. But don't worry. If everything goes as I have planned, you will soon have a plenty of kills for every night...”

**

”She wanted bright red ink.”

”Do you know how to turn blood bright red?”

”It takes a carbon monoxide poisoning.”

”Indeed.”

The wolves crept into the living room and took some charcoal from the fireplace.

”It always makes me feel so practical when I do something like this... We need to get proper-coloured ink instead of charcoal, and the easiest way to get it is to burn charcoal. This is so handy!”

They took the pieces to Tom and Goldberry's room and lit them. They returned to the living room, picked a sleeper and carried her away. She woke up in the passage. They bound and gagged her, pushed her into the room and closed the door. When they opened it again after a while, THE Ka was unconscious.

One wolf took a knife and another a basin while the third held her body. The wolf with the knife slit her throat open gravely. Bright red blood poured into the basin.

”What a beautiful hue!” exclaimed the third wolf delightedly.

**

The beggars were naturally very upset to discover Ka's limp and drained body and some bottled blood, but there was also another concern: it had snowed so much in the night that it was practically impossible to get about the house. Therefore Boro promised to go and shovel snow. When the yard was more or less passable again, he and Volo decided to go and see if McCaber's body was still where they had left it and if anything could be done for it anymore.

On their way there, a tree bumped into Boro.

”Oh my,” the tree said in a squeaky and smug voice, ”don't you have any manners? See, I hurt myself!” He pointed at the withered leaf that had fell on the snow.

”Sorry,” said Boro, ”but it was definitely not my fault. You came from the behind and were walking too fast for the weather conditions. You should have been more careful.”

”How very dare you?” asked the tree furiously, ”it was your fault indeed! I'll tell Old Man Willow what you did and he'll kill you!”

”Go away and stop bothering us,” said Boro.

”Well, well!” Volo said. ”These trees do shift.”

**

It took them a while to find McCaber's snow-covered body. They had almost dug it out when the tree returned.

”Old Man Willow tells you to come. Immediately!”

”Nah, I don't think so,” said Boro. ”I have a lovely wife and two sweet children, and wolf-hunting to do. I cannot possibly come.”

But even he couldn't resist the power of the Willow-man whose song and thought ran through the woods on both sides of the river. He tried to make it back to the house, but the trees barred his way. Roots and branches emerged from nowhere and took hold on him. It was the last time Boro was seen.

**

Alive:
Nogrod the Agreeable, the leader of the beggars
his wife, Nerwen
elderly couple; Rikae the Kind
and Durelin
Mithalwen the Perpetually Sane and Serene, Boro's widow
their children Macalaure the Guileless
and Meneltarmacil
Volo, a young widowed man
orphaned little Thinlómien
and her little sister A Little Green

Dead:
Tom Bombadil (ranger) - killed on Night 1
Goldberry (seer) - killed on Night 1
The Barrow-wight (hunter) - killed on Night 1
Gwathagor, the child of Nogrod and Nerwen (ordo) - used as a battering ram on Day 1
Sally the Insufferable, a slightly mad crippled woman (ordo) - skinned, scalped and made to clothes on Night 2
the Right Honourable McCaber, Volo's child (ordo) - drowned in the Withywindle on Day 2
THE Ka, a blind old woman (ordo) - poisoned with carbon monoxide & throat slit open on Night 3
Boromir88 the Silent One, Mith's husband, Mac & Menel's father, an ex-pickpocket (ordo) - accused unjustly and carried away against his will by annoying trees at the beginning of Day 3

It is now Day 3. Wolves stop PMing. Start talking.

Boro had to pull out because of work things.