WW LXXXVIII: What Lies in the Dark (Game Thread)

[wilwarin538]

*glares at Nog*

That was so frustrating! Still totally fun, but totally frustrating. Especially that last Day, because it started with me not being really too sure of who Shelob was, Phantom and I had chatted and we both sorta suspected Nog, but we also sorta suspected some other people. But then by the time I had to leave I was so positive it was him. And then I voted for him, and only later noticed that Lhuna had already voted for Shasta. I had somehow totally missed that post, I don't know how, I thought I was the first vote, though if I had seen it I don't know if I would have voted any differently, because I didn't actually really suspect Shasta at all and really really wanted to get Nog (I also didn't realise that Fea wouldn't be around to vote)

Probably the hardest thing about this was me not being able to say who I was, because my role did provide me with some extra information. I knew Fea wasn't a spiderling, since she couldn't have been stung from the beginning (she wasn't playing yet), and so it would have had to have been Night 3 (except I chose her Day 4 to 'cure'). On Day 1 I had to leave early so I sent Boro in as my pick, but when I got home and read over the Day everyone was saying Lhuna would have been a good choice. I decided to protect her Night 2 since I figured if Shelob thought Sam had already chosen her during the Day, then she would be a safe choice for the Night. But Nog went for me instead (did you know who I was when you did that?). So the next Day with everyone saying "Oh, Lhuna looks more innocent since Sam probably chose her", I couldn't really explain the whole situation, so I tried to make it sound like I didn't protect her at all, and hint that Sam was the one attacked. It was frustrating, haha.

Anyway, it was a pretty awesome game. I wish I could have been around more (especially on that last Day, my participation should have been way better). And Noggins, I still love you, you rock. When we're on different teams this seems to always be the way it goes, we totally clash and both get super frustrated, we should just always be on the same team from now on .

*snuggles Sallycakes for an awesome game* Are you going to spill the beans now about Nog's little wishlist???

Oh, and snuggles to Pie, I feel bad for my random Day 1 vote getting him killed.

[the phantom]

Well well, my sneak attack didn't go off as planned due to participation, but ah well... that's what happens. Not many people feel as duty-bound obligated to post as I do (I will literally call in sick to work if I think it's the difference between winning and losing a game).

The plan was not to show much in the way of hard and just suspicion but rather load Sam up with ammo and have Shelob + Spiderlings think "Where the heck did this come from? I didn't imagine this!" when suddenly the innocent were coming after them on the final day.

I saw the whole Lottie thing as being extremely telling. From my PM to Wilwa-Sam during my final night alive-

Originally Posted by me

I'm so ticked that they lynched Lottie!! She was SO unlikely, for a host of reasons!! Seems like an unlikely Shelob, definitely wasn't the first spider bite (she would've acted different), and she couldn't have been stung Night 2 (that was Sam), could not have been stung Night 4 (that was Frodo), so that only leaves Night 3, in which case she would've acted different to tip us off, not to mention everyone seemed pretty aware that my declaring the two of you innocent was baiting a Shelob failed attack on the assumption that she might be protected.

I mean really- she was as bad a lynch choice as anyone in the game, so merely on those grounds I'm suspicious of anyone involved. And especially I'm suspicious of people like Nog who voted for her on the grounds that he was checking my trustworthiness (her badness would make me look bad or whatever). That's such a ridiculous premise, because-
1) Why not just lynch ME if you are suspecting me? (answer: Because Shelob already knows I'm going to die so might as well kill Lottie too.)
2) So what if she was evil? Would I have picked her? Would I have treated her like that as my minion? Who flippin knows?! In other words, there was no information that could've been gained! NO ONE can predict with any success how I'd act in a given situation, so why pretend that there is some believable test you can do to determine my guilt?!

Anyone who even attempts such a thing is scheming, because in and of itself it's pointless to approach me in such a fashion, and anyone who's played with me ought to know better.
......
The Lottie lynch was poorly conceived, and if it was innocents doing it they ought to be ashamed of themselves. If I was still alive I'd harp on that all day and lynch those people.

As far as my thoughts on individuals, here's my Shasta take from my PM-

Originally Posted by me

Shasta- he's got very little in the way of voting record and such, so really who's to say. I'm the sort that would declare him a non-target on account of him being such a submarine the first few days, and declare that if he's Shelob then screw him, he didn't legitimately fool me, he just skated past due to inactivity.
.......
Also, encourage everyone to reread Day 3 and see if anyone is hinting that they have been stung. Tell them that if no one did anything to hint that they were stung, then the sting victim MUST have been someone that was pretty much absent most of the time.

I did not want to go so far as to outright say that Shasta was the Night 3 sting, but given what I could remember for the day and the people that I actually read for sting-clues, Shasta seemed a good choice, and I wondered if a thorough read-through by the innocents in mass would indeed place him as a likely Spidlering not to be trusted.
The bit pertaining to Nerwen-

Originally Posted by me

Nerwen- She's also been as wrong as anyone in the game, and she misses obvious things that I would think she'd catch (like her comments about me, trying to make my posts sound suspicious when they're instead giving out the Frodo-vibes).

The bit pertaining to Nog-

Originally Posted by me

I mean really- she was as bad a lynch choice as anyone in the game, so merely on those grounds I'm suspicious of anyone involved. And especially I'm suspicious of people like Nog who voted for her on the grounds that he was checking my trustworthiness
........
I'm not certain Shelob would openly try and kill you, as that could be incriminating. Why not give the attack orders to a Spiderling? Or why not be on your side the entire game? As a Baddie I have on multiple occasions won the game with multiple gifteds still alive on the final day, because I got them on my side. Killing isn't always necessary.

And if you'll remember back on Day 2, I said that a strategy that was just as likely was that Shelob and minions would first wish to rid themselves of Sam's supporters giving them an easier shot should they wish to take out Sam. And notice they did bust up the Phantom-Wilwa-Lottie block that I had going. If they hadn't done that I think they would've found themselves in trouble, but instead you're the only one left.
........
Nog- Same thing, only more so (in reference to Nerwen looking guilty). Personally it wouldn't surprise me one bit if he didn't, based upon your identity, take a look at me and figure I was Frodo and then select me for tactical reasons (the Night-death is useful). And then of course kill the other very innocent person I'd been supporting (Lottie) and come away from the ordeal with an avenue to attack you.
.....
The way in which he's wrong and the perfect timing of his wrongness... If he's not evil then he's playing very very off his game and deserves death anyway.

Anyway, after our night talks I figured Wilwa would enter the arena guns blasting and get all the innocents to gang up on a baddie, most likely Nog. She did in fact get Inzil to go with her, and Lhuna went for a baddie independently (thus I imagine Wilwa could've gained Lhuna's help had she began her posting before the final 5 hours or if Lhuna had held her vote until closer to the deadline), and Fea I was confident would help, and well- that would've been the game.

But as the hours ticked by on that day and nothing was in the works, I knew the game was lost. Ugh. Completely my fault. Instead of trying to be surprising just for the sake of drama and making a good story, I should've stuck around until the deadline on that final day I was alive and let loose with everything I had rather than dump the workload in the lap of a busy person.

Heh heh... just goes to show what I've said before- it's a fine line between a slaughter either direction. Something as small as an appointment can swing a game. What's embarrassing this time is given the set up I can't believe the goodies didn't win. If I had been Nog I would have cried upon receiving the Shelob role. "Um, moddess, how exactly am I supposed to win with no team?"

Under those circumstances I would've been tempted to do something extremely high-risk for the low chance of payoff, but Nog's more calculated risks ended up being suited for the flow of this particular game.

[Galadriel55]

Yes, I've been keeping track. For the most part.

Bon apetit, Nerwen and Lhuna!

And Noglob, and Shasta, but you guys are dead.

I had some speculations of my own, the only one being correct is that Wilwa was a goodie. :d

Well, it was an interesting game - thanks Sallymodess! - and it kept me from doing my homework all right. :P

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by the phantom

What's embarrassing this time is given the set up I can't believe the goodies didn't win. If I had been Nog I would have cried upon receiving the Shelob role. "Um, moddess, how exactly am I supposed to win with no team?"

Heh... Sally should know I whined about it a few times, but well, once in a game you have to accept the rules and just fight as hard as you can. But the slowness of the incubation period & the multiple chances of goodies to interfere and postpone it were just a nightmare...

Stinging Sam was pure chance (the reason to pick wilwa was to get a stern spiderling who would not be an easy lynch), but with phantom I had some quite open hunches he was Frodo indeed - and well at that point a risk worth taking.

Having Nerwen on my side it was quite clear that after the Sam-sting I needed a spiderling who would be trustworthy but also one who would team up well with Nerwen... so Shasta was the obvious choice as it minimized the possibility of my two spiderlings going after one another in the thread.

Originally Posted by wilwa

On Day 1 I had to leave early so I sent Boro in as my pick, but when I got home and read over the Day everyone was saying Lhuna would have been a good choice. I decided to protect her Night 2 since I figured if Shelob thought Sam had already chosen her during the Day, then she would be a safe choice for the Night. But Nog went for me instead (did you know who I was when you did that?). So the next Day with everyone saying "Oh, Lhuna looks more innocent since Sam probably chose her", I couldn't really explain the whole situation, so I tried to make it sound like I didn't protect her at all, and hint that Sam was the one attacked. It was frustrating, haha.

That is such fun to hear. As I knew you were Sam I was able to pick your opposition to the general mood of Lhuna being rangered / healed as the reason I believed you to be Sam (and not the correct reason that I stinged you)...

Originally Posted by wilwa

And Noggins, I still love you, you rock. When we're on different teams this seems to always be the way it goes, we totally clash and both get super frustrated, we should just always be on the same team from now on

Love you too, and you do rock as well. And you were our most frightening opponent anyway in this game. But I must say that my "super-frustration" was acted... (I was actually quite surprised Sally came in to call for peace as I thought it was just something our roles dictated us to act)

But I do agree, we should be on the same team.

Originally Posted by Lhuna

I'm sorry, Noggie, I don't think I can stop asking this. Why not Zil or Fea?

You could call it "poetic justice"... You were such strongly after me that it would be so fitting you'd join my side in the end. Also I was so very happy to see you once again in a game making a difference that I thought you'd deserve to end in the winning side... (Add to that, thatFea played so little it was kind of right she would be the one we lynched the next Day)

[wilwarin538]

Originally Posted by Nog

Love you too, and you do rock as well. And you were our most frightening opponent anyway in this game. But I must say that my "super-frustration" was acted... (I was actually quite surprised Sally came in to call for peace as I thought it was just something our roles dictated us to act)

But I do agree, we should be on the same team.

I'm sort of disappointed I was Sam and couldn't get turned, just for the reason that this would have been an awesome evil team to be a part of (and winning would have been a bonus ). Though it was still an awesome role to have, I like being the first to try out a new role and in Cake's last game I got a shiny role that I never ended up getting to use, so this was pretty awesome (would have been more awesone if I could have revealed Day 1 and been invincible, but that would have been unfair for the baddies I think, haha).

I feel bad for Phantom, cause the Night we got to chat I was all like "ya, I'll go in full power and be super awesome and everyone will do what I say and we'll totally win", and then I ended up being busier than I thought and I couldn't get on as much or as soon as I had hoped, and lots of the things he had PMed me I had never had the chance to relay to everyone. I'm sure it was super frustrating for him to watch!

*snuggles Sally again for awesome game*

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

(Add to that, thatFea played so little it was kind of right she would be the one we lynched the next Day)

Couldn't be helped. After the initial kurfuffle of me playing when I'd never intended to, and having to wrangle our way around some related issues, when Life intervened and I had to dash, I very nearly dropped out, but felt that after all of the withdrawals, it would be absolute death for the good guys if they lost yet another of their number. So even though I couldn't participate, I wanted to at least give them an extra body for the final count.

Still, I enjoyed watching you win against the odds. Congrats.

[Lhunardawen]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

You could call it "poetic justice"... You were such strongly after me that it would be so fitting you'd join my side in the end. Also I was so very happy to see you once again in a game making a difference that I thought you'd deserve to end in the winning side...

Come to think of it, I think I've posted the most in this game than in any other game I've played before - and as an ordo at that! I guess I should thank you for turning me; I haven't won a game in the longest time. More importantly, I should thank you for turning me on the last Day, because you know how I feel about having to be evil.

[Galadriel55]

I was just thinking, what game in a row is it that the baddies won? They won the previous two, but I don't remember before that...

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I was just thinking, what game in a row is it that the baddies won? They won the previous two, but I don't remember before that...

Games since the start of 2010:
WW LXXXVIII: What Lies in the Dark. (Wolves won.)
WW LXXXVI - The Halls of Mandos. (Wolves won.)
WW: LXXXV - The Lost Philosophers of Maiar. (Wolves won.)
WW: LXXXIV: Middle-earth in Fifteen Minutes. (Innocents won.)
WW LXXXIII: Nightmare on the East Road. (Wolves won).
WW LXXXII: Return to Tol-in-Gaurhoth. (Wolves won.)
WW LXXXI: Under the Misty Mountains. (Innocents won.)
WW LXXX: It's About Time! (Innocents won.)
WW LXXIX: Fall From Olympus. (Innocents won.)
WW LLXVIII: Yar Har Har and a Bottle o' Rum. (game aborted.)
WW LXXVII: The Metamorphs of Wolf-562-e. (Innocents won.)
WW: LXXVI - At Moria: EXTRA Edition. (Innocents won.)
WW LXXV: It's Always Tea Time Here. (Wolves won.)
WW LXXIV: War of the Wolves. (Wolves won.)
WW LXXIII: Arkham Asylum. (Innocents won.)
WW LXXII: Now There's the Truth of It! (Innocents won.)
WWLXXI: Something in the Night. (Wolves won.)