Tol-in-Gaurhoth XIV: Nyárë Nauroron Númenoreva

[Alcarillo]

An empty cart creaked down a dirty road at breakneck speed. Its lone rider sped as fast as he could to the village at its end. The midnight moon lit the path from gaps in the thick evergreens to either side, and more than once a root reaching from the darkness jostled the cart until its driver nearly fell out. A crumbling wall lined one side of the road, signaling that the village was approaching. And soon the forest stopped to make way for buildings, and the road plummeted through the village down towards the harbor. The driver turned along a street running across the slope. Relatively free of trees and houses, it gave a grand view of the harbor. Three piers jutted out into the water, all different lengths and with different sized boats moored at them. Beyond the harbor's black-cliff mouth thick fog masked the northern sea from view. But now the cart reached a tiny home at very end of the road, and its driver leapt from the cart. After unleashing the horse, he unlocked the door and entered the house, where he instantly lit a lamp, gathered pen and paper, and wrote in a hurry:

I have returned from Armenelos, under the guise of bringing the king his taxes. My spying was a success, but we now face grave danger. The king's men know we are here. Already now, three werewolves of Sauron are among the village-folk! I will take the news to Elendil as soon as possible. Meanwhile, you must protect the village from the werewolves. Each night, guard the home of an innocent. We cannot let the werewolves decrease our numbers to the point that they can rise up and slaughter us! This may be difficult, as there is an agent of Ar-Pharazôn in the village also. It was he who alerted the King of our presence. He will try to foil our every move!

But we have help. Our village is home to a seer. Each night, he is visited in his dreams by Ulmo. I do not know his identity, but if you can find out, use his visions to find the werewolves as soon as possible and lynch them!

There is also a mighty hunter in the village. He is strong enough to kill a werewolf with his bare hands! When the werewolves (or villagers, when they discover the werewolves) come for him, we can be sure that he will kill who he thinks is guilty of werewolvery, guilty or innocent they may be.

I am headed off to Andúnië at this very moment, so you'll be the only Elf-friend in the village for some time. I shall return with allies.

-Alcarillo

Alcarillo folded his letter and moved towards the door, but as soon as his hand touched the door knob, the door burst inwards with the force of a battering ram. Three shapes, like furry men, leapt into the home. Shadows concealed their faces from view. Alcarillo drew his sword, but one of the werewolves wrenched it from his hands and stabbed him through the stomach. Alcarillo's life flashed before his eyes: his childhood in Ondosto, meeting Elendil for the first time that winter's day so long ago, and the first time he met the Elf-friend with whom he would take turns spying upon the King. The werewolves fled into the night, leaving the sword embedded in Alcarillo's torso, and he slumped to the floor in the moonlight, still clutching his letter in one hand.

* * * * *

When young Dawn with her rose-red fingers shone once more over the village, the village-folk were already awake and about their daily chores. But something was amiss. Kath was the first to notice that Alcarillo was missing. She said by the docks:

"Hey, Alcarillo isn't nagging me about tax evasion! Where is he?"

This prompted a town meeting. The harbourmaster rang the town gathering bell and everybody in the village gathered at the docks.

"Alcarillo left for Arminalêth a week ago to deliver the taxes," the Saucepan Man said to explain Alcarillo's absence.

"But he should've been back last night!" said Wayne, "I asked him to purchase some more leeches for me while he was in the city."

"He could've ran late, perhaps crashed his cart into a tree," said Mormegil, "His cart was never very sturdy."

"But my horse, which Alcarillo borrowed, returned to his stables last night," said Jack.

"Then we can only go to his house and see if he is sick, perhaps," decided the Saucepan Man, "Follow me!"

All of the villagers climbed the main road up the slope, up from the docks in the harbor and towards the dark forest on the hills, on a pilgrimage to Alcarillo's house. The sky was overcast as usual, with fog in the distance and at the edges of the harbor. Seagulls sat in flocks on rooftops, and would fly into the air at the least provocation. The entire town had a tense aura of anxiety as the group turned from the main road and onto the street along the hillside, where Alcarillo's home sat. They approached the house, and the were surprised to find that the door was ajar; one of the hinges was loose. The group took in unison a giant gulp of anticipation of the horrible. What had happened? Finally the terrible dread was finished as those in the front of the group shouted in utter disbelief, "He's dead!"

The group filed into the tiny house, all gazing at Alcarillo's pale body on the floor. His long, shining sword had stabbed deep into his stomach, so far that the tip of the sword protruded from his back. A few of the ladies swooned at the ghastly sight. Formendacil reached for something in Alcarillo's hand. "A letter." He unfolded the paper, straightened his spectacles, and read in his official, office clerk's voice what Alcarillo had written, during which someone would occasionally murmur an "Oh, my" or a "Good heavens".

He finished reading the paper, and there was a short pause of silence. "So he was an Elf-friend this entire time," said Lhuna, "And the werewolves killed him."

"Then we can only do one thing," Fordim the pearl diver said, "Lynch the werewolves."

* * * * *

Dead
Alcarillo – mod – impaled upon his own sword – NIGHT 1

Living
Aiwendil – retired tutor
Boromir88 – crab farmer
Dancing spawn of ungoliant - embroider
Fordim Hedgethistle – lithesome and non-unionized pearl diver
Formendacil – disgruntled office clerk
Gurthang – (possibly unemployed) dockhand
Holbytlass – butcher
Jack – blacksmith and farrier
Kath – bum
Lhunardawen – polite little shepherd girl
Mormegil - repairman specializing in ships and docks
Rune Son of Bjarne – Union leader
The Saucepan Man - harbormaster
WaynetheGoblin – doctor
Wilwarin538 – fiddler

It is now DAY 1. Villagers, you may now talk. Werewolves, stop PMing. And Hunter, get a name to me by the DAY's end in case you're lynched.

[WaynetheGoblin]

Alcarillo was one of my best friends in the village may we slay the ones who did this.

[The Saucepan Man]

Werewolves you say? Tricksy fellows, Werewolves. Reminds me of the time we was sailing in the South Seas and went ashore on an island to replenish our food 'n water. Well, it took us longer than we had bargained for, so we made camp for the night. Full moon it were. And it were not long before we heard their howls. Chilled us to the bone, they did. Chilled us right to the bone, I tell thee. And then they attacked. Great hairy beasts they were. As like men, but bigger and hairier with claws as like iron and great fanged snouts. Great fanged snouts, I tell thee. And strong they was. Each 'ad the strength of five men. Five men, I tell thee. Only two of us made it back to the boat and escaped from that island with our lives. The rest were seized upon and ripped limb from limb. Limb from limb, I tell thee.

Well, if three of them beasts are loose in the village, no good will come of it, mark my words. Our only hope is to find 'em and lynch 'em by day, for it is during the hours of darkness that they gain their powers.

As to who we should lynch, well I don't like that Rune there misself. Been naught but trouble since 'e came to this village, muttering about minimum wages and working conditions n' all. 'E's up to no good, mark my words. And 'e seems to have some unnatural influence over young Gurthang. Poor lad 'asn't been 'imself since that there union man arrived. 'E used to be such a good lad, but now 'e's naught but trouble.

If we're hunting Wolves, then in my book it's those two we should be looking at first.

[Aiwendil]

I come all the way up here to the farthest coast of the Forostar for a nice quiet retirement and what do I find? Elf-friends and werewolves! And harbourmasters dropping their 'h's! I've half a mind to pack my things and be off in search of some quieter place to settle down, among ordinary folk with proper Adunaic pronunciation.

But I'm afraid that as a tutor and a scholar, I simply can't walk away from an unsolved mystery. I'll stay and do what I can to help you catch these fiends.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Alcarillo was a good person, but not greatly missed as he did helped the Capital exploiding the workers: Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks.

I did tell him that progressive income taxation was the one to prefer.

Allready I am beeing accused by the harbormaster The Saucepan Man, this is obvius a attempt to weaken the union and the workers of this land. We must not let this happen! Know this you will not succed, we will not let the Capitalist expoid us no more!

Wolves he call us, but he has shown no evidence other than those of his own greed, an appetite for profit and power that previous had not been seen in this village. Such an appetite that is only found in the soul of a wolf.

I say lets get rid of The Saucepan Man ! Wolf he is thats for sure, maybe in more than one way.

[Boromir88]

I dun trust nun of ya'lls union folk. Ya'all been workin togedar I surspect.

Poor Alcarillo, but the wulves did 'ave a fine choice on who to kill. I mean...yee was the tax collector. Now, I can save all me 'onest errnings from me crab farm.

Spekkin of the crab farm. Do wolves like, 'ave the power to make animals goes mad? Cuz, I wolked up this mornin' and one of me own crabs wus eatin' anutha one. I 'ad to kill it I did, it wuld of ate 'em all.

My first surspect is Lhuna. Shes says shes sum polite shepard gurl. I wunder 'ow polite she is at night, I do.

[wilwarin538]

(since everyone is talking with the great accents I'll do the same, though it won't be a very good job )

My oh my. A friend of the elves killed by wolves. I would never have thought something like this wouldv 'appened, specially since the most excitin thing this here town has seen was that moose that stayed in my front yard for more then a week. Though I doubt that has anythin to do with the were thins....

Anyway, since many others whove spoke accused someone, I might as well do the same. I'll use my number to choose three suspects, and I'll come up wit the best reasons I can think of.

3. Dancing Spawn of Ungliant - Well she embroiderd' me a case for my fiddle last week. It was red, I hate red, every person that lives within in a mile of the village knows that, plus red is the colour of blood, maybe she 'adn't seen blood for awhile and was missin what it looked like.
5. Formendacil - Disgruntld' aye? Perhaps he's so upset cause he adn't eaten anyone in awhile?
8. Jack - He uses a hammer a lot. Hammers could be used as a weapon I'm sure.

I knows those ain't the best reasons for accusing people, but I'm at a loss. I'm still trying to get over Alcarillo's death and I be expected to be a part o killin someone else. I think I'll just need a littl' time, I'll go play Alcarillo's favorite song for awhile before leavin for time. I'll be back about four hours before the votins closed.

[mormegil]

I'm not sure sure about having werewolves among us. Alcarillo always was a bit touched in the head and let his imagination run a bit wild. Now there is no doubt that he's dead, as I saw for myself but I think we need to see who would benefit from his death.

Originally Posted by Boromir88

Poor Alcarillo, but the wulves did 'ave a fine choice on who to kill. I mean...yee was the tax collector. Now, I can save all me 'onest errnings from me crab farm.

Now I think all business owners had some dislike of this tax man of ours and some had more to benefit than others. I mean really how much profit is there in crabbing and pearl diving? That points to Fordim and Boromir although Jack's business has been slow lately and has to benefit by saving on taxes and on increasing our paranoia so that we buy more weapons and armor.

My sights are set on those three

Jack
Boromir
Fordim

Though Rune is worth watching with his talk of politics at a time of death and tragedy.

[Gurthang]

Eh, I be alright with gettin' rid of old Master Saucepan. I'd enough of his long-winded tales the first day I worked for 'em. That may not be werewolvery, but it drove me to a union, that's for sure. I'll be listenen to those tales, now, I'll promise ye that, just to see if I catch anythin'.

But there ain't near enough talkin' goin' on. So:

++Formendacil

For being a lazy, good-for-nothing desk 'worker'. Puh! How you can work while sittin' on yer butt behind a desk is beyond my knowledge. I know what work is, done it all me life, and that clerk ain't ever done none.

[Boromir88]

It 'as been quiet. I 'ate quiet towns. You jus' aint gonna solve a thing if ya'lls jus' sit 'nd stare at eechother.

Well, we now 'ave a population of fithteen peeple. Six peeple 'ave sed sumthin' so far. So, this means someone whos sed sumthin so far is a wulf, by my own simple logic.

Wayne, just says somethin' about Alcarillo an' makes like a tree and leafs.

The Saucepan over 'ere goes off about sum stories that I aint gonna try to unnerstand. I surspect if he's a wulf, he's trying to distract us frum the real task and thats killin' wulf.

Aiwendil, whines 'bout his own life and cries 'bout how awful our spekkin' is.

Rune fires back against the Panman. Did the Panman 'it the wrong nerve Mista Union, sir?

Wilwarin, just kin' of seems normal if ya's all gonna ask me. I mean, she certainly does whut I surspect an innocent to do. So, I guess jus' fur that I shuld be more carefuwl.

And Gurthang votes. Which, usually I dun find votin' early that suspicious, 'specially on the furst day, when nun of us no what these wulves act like, or whats they try to do.

So, based on my simple logic that a wulf has sed sumthin', and frum whos a sed anything...Gurthang, Rune, and Aiwendil are my surspects.

[Boromir88]

I mus' of cross-posted with uh...mormegil. But, uh, he's not worryin' me right now. He seems like wilwarin, I'd surspect an innocent to do this, so I surspect he's innocent right now.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

I may be naught but a lithesome pearl diver, but even I'm a bit suspicious of the person who would cast the first vote so early in the day! Why, poor Alcarillo's body's still warm and there's Gurthang champing at the bit for more blood already! And he's after one as hasn't even spoken up yet!!

That having been said, it's true that there's precious little to go by on this first day other than paranoia, so in the end I suspect I'll have to cast my vote in pretty much the same way -- with a lot of guesswork and hope. The likelihood of catching a Wolf this day is only 3 in 14 and I don't like those odds.

So it's like the adage says: him as wants to catch a werewolf needs luck or patience....and so since I don't believe in luck....

So how to catch a werewolf? Well, it's mighty tricky and that's for sure as they have that one great advantage as we don't: they know who's human and who isn't. The thing we have to do (and by we I mean us innocents) is to turn that advantage against them. Y'see, when it comes to voting time, everyone casts his or her vote as an individual -- cause, when it comes down to it, the only person you can really know is innocent is yourself. But wolves, y'see, when they vote, they vote as a group. Even if they spread their votes around, they're still going to be spreading those votes around as a group. So the trick here, y'see, is not to focus on individual choices or actions, but on groups of people who seem to be acting more or less alike, or groups of people who are acting different from one another consistently.

So, as I see it, if you try and catch a werewolf, you're doomed. But if you try to catch a group of three werewolves you might just stand a chance.

The first step, then, is to figure out what the groups are in this here village. The second step, is to decide which group it is that's acting the most wolfish and to vote to lynch from within that group. So it's with that in mind that I shall be watching for these kinds of patterns and groupings. So far, early as it is, there's at least one clearly defined group...

The Accusatory:

Sauce
Rune
Boro
Gurthang

...and possibly two...

The Visibly Non-Committal:

Wilwarin
Aiwendil
Wayne

So this is what's I know right now --

The Accusers are drawing a lot of attention to themselves and making a lot of noise, so they are either clumsy innocents or daring wolves.

The VCNs are shadowing the Accusers without going all the way, so they are either nervous innocents or cagey wolves.

In all fairness I suppose I should probably put myself in a group as well...

Self-Appointed Saviours:

Fordim

The SAS is drawing a lot of attention to himself by suggesting a strategy that will only work if lots of people believe it and go along with him, so he is either a daring innocent or an arrogant wolf.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Ach! Cross-posted I did with mormegil whom I see has joined the ranks of...

The Accusatory:

Sauce
Rune
Boro
Gurthang
mormegil

A note to what I said above -- the wolves, if they are smart, will split themselves up between the groups I identify, but that, y'see, ain't no way to hide, since we can spot folk as join in with groups to try and hide -- when it comes down to it, if they're acting as though they're a part of one group, but voting in a way as aligns them with the thinking of other groups...well...that will catch me lithesome eye...

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Gurthang

But there ain't near enough talkin' goin' on. So:

++Formendacil

You are most wise to vote thus, Master Gurthang, for I am a wolf.

So is Fordhim. So is SPM. And tonight we will lynch the seer, Lhuna, and the ranger, Rune, will be helpless to do anything.

Believe me? I hope not, but if you're as paranoid and overanalytical as most villagers tend to be in days of crisis like this, then you just might....

Honestly, there is no way of knowing who or what the wolves are in this village, and I'm not even going to bother presenting theories of guilt or innocence. I rather think that Gurthang's early vote for me is suspicious, but that's just because he picked me. If he had picked, Wilwa, say, then I wouldn't be bothered in the slightest.

You want a random vote?

Then I'll make it:

++Dancing Spawn of Ungoliant, just because we know that Ungoliant is/was evil.