WW LX - Mortal Men, doomed to die

[Thinlómien]

Night1 has now begun.

Sign up is closed and I will start sending out the roles now.

As soon as they know who they are, the ringwraiths may start plotting with each other and the seer may send me a pick.

Thread still closed to posting.

~*~

The guests arrived, mostly one by one, although there was two married couples among the invited as well. Seventeen of the twenty invited appeared, which Lady Lómiel considered a personal victory. She and her father had walked the way to the pier to welcome the guests who were eyeing around suspiciously, clearly expecting a trap from their hosts or fellow guests. But there was none; the bare rocky island made it clear there were no hidden soldiers around and all of the guests came alone, unattended and unguarded.

“I am glad so many of you have arrived,” Lord Thinroz said to his guests. “I am… I am… delighted.” His eyes wandered to the sea, very grey and restless tonight.
“We welcome you to our humble villa, not an ideal place for such noble people as us, but it suits the purpose of a secret council,” Lady Lómiel put in. “Let us go in now, it is needless to tarry here in the cold wind as we can as well make ourselves comfortable inside.”
Captain Nogrod, also known as The Cat O' Nine tails of Ethir Anduin let out a laugh and said: “Ha! Cold wind? This wind is no cold wind at all. Do you want to know what is a cold wind? It really tears the flesh from your bones, like in the far seas where I…”
“The weather may not be coldest imaginable but it is unpleasant enough,” interrupted Lhunardawen, a Haradian queen.
“Yes, let us go in like our hosts suggested,” her husband, King Legate agreed.

So, they all followed their hosts up the stairs on the hillside and to the old, grievous-looking house on the hill. Lady Lómiel showed them their rooms and introduced the housekeeper, a mute old woman who was quickly agreed to be harmless. A little later, all the seventeen guests and Lord Thinroz alongside with his daughter were seated around a round table.

“Lord Thinroz Whiteblade will now introduce the topic of the council,” Lady Lómiel Starbrow announced, casting a meaningful glance at her father.
“Oh yes…” the old man said. “We are here to discuss…”
“With all respect sir, I have a question,” said Lady Isabellkya. “Why is your daughter attending the council? We were not supposed to bring anyone with us, and neither were you.”
“Besides she is known as an Elf-friend!” spat Groin, a Variag warlord.
Lady Lómiel laughed. “Yes, indeed, they even say I’ve had an Elf as a lover. Do you truly believe everything you hear?” She paused. “My father only promised to bring no servants or guards. I am neither. You don’t need to be worried by my presence. I will see that the housekeeper does her duties and act as a secretary of the meeting.”
There were a few grumblings, but no one protested aloud anymore. So, the hosts introduced the topic and the nineteen of them started debating the matter of the East. There were no conclusions reached and they went to sleep undecided and discontent.

After a few hours had passed, four of the guests emerged from their rooms and gathered to an old tearoom to have a private negotiation...

[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.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

I can't say I'm very happy about being forced to spend time with this group. Full of self-important types who couldn't begin to impart upon me knowledge of interesting things, such as Wargs - probably only keen to discuss how large a safe they need for their gold.

I should think, if we are to be slaughtered, that we won't be a great loss.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Ha, and actually somebody has already spoken up! Well, all right...

Originally Posted by Eomer of the Rohirrim

I can't say I'm very happy about being forced to spend time with this group. Full of self-important types who couldn't begin to impart upon me knowledge of interesting things, such as Wargs - probably only keen to discuss how large a safe they need for their gold.

I should think, if we are to be slaughtered, that we won't be a great loss.

Certainly your way of thinking is disrespectful at least, though I guess there are more important matters at hand than taking care of the punishment for slander. Nevertheless, I am sure there are more willing to speak... then we may weigh our worthiness.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

What a distasteful deed, truly! The mere thought of this lady's murder in the house of her own poor father is verily freezing my blood. In my lands, those who have done something like that would have been punished in the most severe way.

But I think there is no need to truly execute such a punishment, when it comes to that... that's our purpose now, I guess.

To start, I know some of you from before - some of you I have met in courts of faraway places, or even on battlefields, either by my side or even against me - but there are quite many of you whom I know very little or not at all. Namely, the one pirate, that strange Black Númenorean artist and the sorceress are ones I have not seen before. Well, I guess it does not matter that much now - at least, I might have a kind of "fresh" view of you, unbiased by any previous encounters. And even with the others, actually - it has been a long time since I have traveled to meetings like this, so let us hope that I will be able to use both my experience with you and the rested mind to determine where the hidden killers are.

I guess there is not much to say for the beginning, but I am looking forward to seeing more of you speak, so then... I shall be listening to you now for some time, so hope you will speak up.

[Shastanis Althreduin]

Could there be a greater mark of dishonor than killing the hostess? Perhaps maybe their next target will be a mere child!

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Shastanis Althreduin

Could there be a greater mark of dishonor than killing the hostess? Perhaps maybe their next target will be a mere child!

Fortunately, there is no child among us, as far as I am aware (though perhaps one might start to ask what age are some of us).

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

I see the mere thought of death makes this Legate lose his wits and reason. Don't mention it anyone, it's too upsetting! He'll be no use if we need some steel so we should probably discount him.

Also this Shasta, for whom an evil child couldn't possibly exist.

Ah, humans...

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Eomer of the Rohirrim

I see the mere thought of death makes this Legate lose his wits and reason. Don't mention it anyone, it's too upsetting! He'll be no use if we need some steel so we should probably discount him.

Also this Shasta, for whom an evil child couldn't possibly exist.

Ah, humans...

*shakes head* Terrible person. Well, I have heard about those wild folks from the inland who are too close with these wild animals. They are half beasts themselves. No real manners.

But whatever. I would like to see who else is here to speak up.