Tol-in-Gaurhoth XXII: Hic Monstrae Trucidant

[Kath]

“Oh you fools!” Cried The Saucepan Man, having witnessed the flurry of voting that had eventually led to this situation. “First you lynch the one person I thought to be innocent and now you lynch the one person I know to be innocent!”

“Would you please shut up? We’ve had enough of your chatter!” Cried the villagers. “It doesn’t matter if you’re innocent, we had to save the Hunter.”

“Yes.” Interjected Cailín. “Sorry for the deciding vote thing and all, but those useless men just couldn’t make up their minds. Why, I’ll bet they can’t even think of a decent way to kill you now.”

“Oh yes we can!” Cried the two in question, outraged at the accusation. Everyone stood in expectant silence waiting for the ideas to spew forth, but none were forthcoming.

“Well.” Nogrod mumbled. “I can’t do it while everyone’s watching.”

Smirking, Cailín turned to the rest of the villagers.

“Anyone got any ideas? I happen to know that his favourite animal is the duck-billed platypus, but I can’t think of a way to use that in his death so . . .”

Her words were interrupted by the arrival of a member of the village who had been missing for much of the day, Nilpaurion Felagund. A simple arrival would not have had such a dramatic effect on the proceedings, except that he turned up bearing the platypus previously mentioned.

Sauce cried out in alarm. He’d been banking on the fact that no such creatures could be found in these parts, but now here was one staring straight him in the face. Well, the general stomach area really but that didn’t make for a very frightening image in anyone’s imagination.

He began to struggle, his pans hitting some of his captors, but rather than causing them to let go, this simply reinforced their desire to keep him still, so they tied him to the flagpole in the village square, before spitefully hitting over the head with his own pans in retaliation.

A few members of the village were crowded around Nilp and his platypus. They were having difficulty getting a straight answer out of him as to where he’d been all Day and what he was doing with this creature, as Adam kept trying to surface and show them something. Eventually deciding that they would get nowhere until they allowed him to give his little demonstration they stepped back.

“Thank you. Now, watch.”

He turned the platypus round and squeezed it hard. The creature gave out a strange squawking sound, and suddenly a egg shot out of it, heading directly for Sauce. The tied man tried to avoid the missile heading his way but the villagers had attached him so firmly to the pole that he could do nothing but shake his head. They watched as the egg crashed into his throat, and heard the gasping attempts at breathing before he finally realised that his windpipe had been crushed.

They slowly moved closer, waiting for his transformation, but yet again they were disappointed. As the final wisp of air left his throat, Sauce collapsed in his bonds, very definitely an ordinary villager.

As if this wasn’t enough, they jumped at the scream emanating from behind them. Turning they saw Nilp lying on the ground, caught in what looked like death throes.

“Help me!” He screamed. “He’s getting out!”

Confused the villagers looked to each other hoping someone else would have some idea of what he was talking about.

“What can he mean?” Was the question being passed round. They soon got their answer. Nilp gave one final scream and then gave up, closing his eyes to let death take him. From his body there rose a silvery, translucent mist, which formed the shape of a man.

“He means me!” It whispered. “I am Adam, and I am finally free!”

dancing spawn stepped forward.

“Free? Maybe. But you have killed Nilp, your host, the only thing tying you to this mortal realm. Now that he is gone, so are you.”

The apparition scoffed, but then paused at the certain look on spawn’s face. As he began to protest, his ‘body’ started to disintegrate.

“No!” He cried. “This cannot be! Noooooo!”

And then he was gone. The villagers looked at the two bodies, both decidedly innocent of wolvery, and left lmp to his unfortunate job.


Dead:
Night 1 ~ Kath, killed by a turtle in an aerial attack ~ Innocent.
Day 1 ~ Boromir, lynched by the villagers by means of lions ~ Innocent.
Night 2 ~ Formendacil, killed by a coyote and it's trickery ~ Innocent.
Day 2 ~ Saucepan Man, lynched by the villagers by means of a platypus catapault ~ Innocent.
Day 2 ~ Nilpaurion Felagund, killed by an emerging alter-ego ~ Innocent.

Living:
Lhuna - traveller with absolutely no sense of direction
Cailín - tragedienne
Fea - confectionist
Celuien - ketchup grower
TGWBS - Pokémaster
Lommy - AA-adviser
Nogrod - owner of ME's first hamburger restaurant
lmp - gravedigger
Tom - tree surgeon
Caran - town poet
Findëasëa (from now called Fin) - alpaca herder
spawn - lumberjackess
Mith - aura consultant
morm - butcher
Durelin - ninja


Night 3 has now begun.
Wolves, Seer, Ranger, Hunter and Changeling please PM me your choices.

[Kath]

Dancing spawn of ungoliant headed out towards the woods. She knew the warnings about the wolves and their animal helpers, but staying safe from them wasn’t going to do her any good if she died from cold in the meantime. Swinging her axe up onto her shoulder she kept a sharp eye out for anything moving.

Reaching the first line of trees without incident, spawn now faced a dilemma. If she turned her back on the town she would be caught unawares if the wolves came for her from there, but if she turned her back on the woods any number of animals could creep up on her from that direction. Caught between a rock and hard place, spawn gave up on any kind of lookout, and simply attempted to cut down the wood she needed for her fire as quickly as possible.

Slamming her axe into the tree spawn soon had a healthy pile of branches lying next to her and gathered them up in her arms, ready to return home. Walking out from behind the tree she set off towards the village, pleased that there seemed to be no wolves in sight. She was halfway home before she remembered about the animals.

Stopping in her tracks she heard a faint thud behind her. Glancing round she saw nothing and began walking again, a little faster now than before. Every time her feet hit the ground she was sure she could hear it echo, but she was walking through an open space with nothing to reflect the noise. She turned again to look behind, and this time saw a faint flash of something light in colour amidst the trees.

Dropping all but two of the branches to lighten the load, spawn began to run, but this time her eyes were so fixed on the possible danger behind that she didn’t see the approach of the definite danger in front. Her eyes flicked forward to ensure she wouldn’t trip over anything, and immediately focused on the wolves sitting a little way off, right in between her and the village. Whirling round she saw a horse emerge from the woods and make its way toward her.

Holding the branches so she had one in each hand, spawn pointed one toward the wolves and one toward the horse, trying to look menacing. It didn’t work. The nearest wolf leapt and snatched the branch from her hand. Using her distraction to the advantage the horse reared up and kicked her in the stomach, sending her crashing down to the ground, and the stick flew out of her hand.

Moving over her, the horse reared up again. Staring down at spawn with its gleaming red eyes it made a triumphant noise, and brought its front hooves down onto her head, crushing it in one violent motion. Satisfied with its work, the horse galloped back to the forest, leaving the wolves to their feast.

The villagers awoke the next morning and soon noticed that spawn was no longer among them. Cautiously they looked for evidence of what the wolves had done with her. Remembering her occupation, they made their way out of the village and toward the woods.

“There!” Someone cried, pointing. The villagers followed the finger, and saw spawn. One leg had been planted in the ground and she was balancing precariously on one arm. The other two limbs had been torn off and were strewn around her. Her axe was propped up next to her.

“Well.” Said one villager faintly, after recovering from the bout of nausea that had followed the sight. “At least we know the wolves have a sense of humour.”

Day 3 how now begun. Wolves stop PMing, villagers start talking.

Dead:
Night 1 ~ Kath, killed by a turtle in an aerial attack ~ Innocent.
Day 1 ~ Boromir, lynched by the villagers by means of lions ~ Innocent.
Night 2 ~ Formendacil, killed by a coyote and it's trickery ~ Innocent.
Day 2 ~ Saucepan Man, lynched by the villagers by means of a platypus catapault ~ Innocent.
Day 2 ~ Nilpaurion Felagund, killed by an emerging alter-ego ~ Innocent.
Night 3 ~ dancing spawn of ungoliant ~ Innocent.

Living:
Lhuna - traveller with absolutely no sense of direction
Cailín - tragedienne
Fea - confectionist
Celuien - ketchup grower
TGWBS - Pokémaster
Lommy - AA-adviser
Nogrod - owner of ME's first hamburger restaurant
lmp - gravedigger
Tom - tree surgeon
Caran - town poet
Findëasëa (from now called Fin) - alpaca herder
Mith - aura consultant
morm - butcher
Durelin - ninja

[Findëasëa]

We are down two more valuable players, after both SPM and Spawn's deaths. Today we need to catch a wolf. I went back yesterday and started analyzing some of the actions of people who I am very unsure of at this point. As evidenced from the fact that the two greatest suspects yesterday have both been revealed as innocents, it seems likely that the wolves may be trying to hide in obscurity. The person I started with first was Lhuna. I did not find much mention of her, or any sort of analysis whatsoever so here is what I have:
Lhuna:
Day 1
#35
Nothing of interest- in character, random etc…
#36
Reiterates Nogrod’s comments on usefulness of the changeling. She voices a fear that the changeling can also bring about the victory for the wolves. She says that she hates it when someone has that much power.
#38
Votes for TGWBS, no real justification is given.

Day 1 Analysis:
On the first day Lhuna was extremely careful. All of her posts seem very safe. She talks about abstract concepts, such as the role of the changeling, without giving any solid opinions. She then votes for TGWBS without supplying any reasoning. This does not stick out as particularly wolfish. It was a day one, and she may have been pressed for time. It does seem like she was being careful not to do anything suspicious, but this alone is not enough to warrant suspicion.

Day 2
#142
Comments that the lynching of Boro on day one was odd, and cites an example of a similar situation that occurred with Gurthang. “Why can't we all learn that when people do this they're usually innocent? Just usually, mind.” She then goes on to say that she mostly agrees with SPM’s analysis of the people who voted Boromir. Although she is not suspicious of Spawn, she would fear her if she were a wolf. She does not think that the wolves would have contributed to an innocent’s death on the first day. She goes on to discuss Form’s death. She thinks that it was because he ‘left no trails yesterDay’ as well as it would cause confusion. She does not think that Caran is guilty, instead she fears one of her voters might be a wolf (LMP, SPM, or Cailin), but says that she does not think that it is a strong enough basis to suspect them.
#143
Lhuna says that she finds the behavior of Morm and LMP unusual. She lists a few things that she thinks might have contributed to their strangeness. Next, she notes that a case has been made against Durelin. She suggests that suspicion of Durelin should not be dismissed, as this reasoning might cause us to ignore bold wolves. Finally she is wary of Fea because of her randomness.
#145
She says that despite her unease about Fea, she thinks that her unwillingness to use retractable votes in her favor. Lhuna says that she will not retract votes, unless it proves necessary, and plans to keep an eye on those who do use the retractable votes a lot.
She then votes for Durelin, as she thinks she might be a bold wolf.

Day Two Analysis:
Today Lhuna’s playing style shifted. She gave a lot of opinions about specific individuals. She still seems very cautious to me. This is evident in statements like “Why can't we all learn that when people do this they're usually innocent? Just usually, mind.” Statements like this leave the option of the player to not give a definite opinion, so they can be more flexible later. The only person who she directly accused as wolf-like was Durelin. This is interesting, as other people have voiced this similar fears of Durelin as well (SPM in 73, Celuien 123, LMP 132). At this point, I am cautious of Lhuna, because she is playing the game very safely and the reasoning of her second vote seemed to just echo other player's opinions, but I see no real reason to suspect her. If anyone knows if this kind of behavior is consistant with how she usually acts, it would be useful.

[Caranlondien]

First of all, apologies for waiting so long to reveal myself yesterDay, thus forcing the un-thought-out lynching of SpM. I thought I could make it another Day, and I almost did, but at the end there I had to, and there wasn't much time for a reasoned debate about whom to lynch.

Now, my record with wolf-spotting so far isn't that great, but for what it's worth, I'll give my thoughts on the village. So far, I've been kind of ignoring my suspicions of the quiet villagers, because I didn't feel we had enough to go on there. But I think at this point, it's time to start looking at them more closely.

My thoughts in this post are all without any real analysis, just general observations. I'll do more detailed stuff a bit later.

So, here's the village:

Lhuna
Cailín
Fea
Celuien
TGWBS
Lommy
Nogrod
lmp
Tom
Fin
Mith
morm
Durelin

So far the ones I've been most suspicious of are Fea, Mith, morm, and Durelin. lmp could be up there, too, though my suspicions of him have dwindled.

I'm glad Fin has taken a look at Lhuna, one of the quieter villagers who could be a wolf flying under the radar. Tom is another I'd like to look at, and hear a bit more from. And then there's Fin herself. So far she's been enormously helpful and sensible. That makes me nervous Her defense of me yesterDay (though much appreciated ) reminded me a bit of how I played as a wolf (erm, I mean orc) - when it looked like an innocent was going to be lynched, I tried to convince the village they were innocent, to make myself look good after they died. All I'm saying is, keep an eye on her. I don't want to lynch her yet, as if she's innocent, she'll be very useful.

[Celuien]

Apologies to Caran. I was convinced that she was a wolf yesterday. The hunter revelation, which I saw after day ended, came as shock to me.

At least I was right about one thing. SPaM was innocent. I told you not to lynch him.

I suddenly find myself very wary of Mithalwen for her switch to SPaM after LMP's attack on him. Not so much that she did vote for him as much as this qualifier:

This strategy makes you so vulnerable if it backfires that I will chance trusting you

I'd like to hear an explanation of that comment. Why point out that the vote is made because LMP would be vulnerable for attacking SPM? And I don't see why it's risky to trust LMP because he's vulnerable. He bears the risk, not those whom he convinces by his arguments. Indeed, I'd say that his attack on SPM was too aggressive and risky to be a likely Poetic Wolf move. Which makes voting with probably-innocent LMP against an innocent Panman possible cover for a wolf. Had that comment not been included, I wouldn't be as inclined to suspect Mith.

Durelin remains high on my suspect list for voting SPM after making this statement:

He's been acting rather like SPM, seeming to get irritated with people as he normally does, and ranting quite a lot. That's normal for him. But he's a bit more aggressive than I've experienced him being...though subtlely. I may be waaaayyy off, but he is not sticking to his votes or his statements. This might be proof of his innocence, but it might not be. He doesn't even seem to be headed in a certain direction, as far as I can tell, and there is nothing wrong with that, except that it's Saucie. I feel compelled to 'wait and see,' and yet I must vote. I'd like to see if I get killed tonight...then I think everyone should keep a closer eye on Saucie, as I would be the second person he defended and then 'offed.' I do think he's a lote smarter than that, though. But I'm not sure if that necessarily has anything to do with it. A wolf victory can come in many forms.

Back and forth, wants to wait and see, says his behavior is normal and may or may not be proof of his innocence. That's not the best reason to vote for him. Or anyone. Odd.

Findëasëa - I always find Lhuna difficult to read, but she seems pretty normal to me right now.

EDIT: Crossposted with Caran.

[mormegil]

Okay I'm back and I've now officially read the entire thread! Up to this point I have not been able to ergo my weak posts and strange behavior. A lot of my posts came when I had read portions and needed to comment on something that I saw, which wasn't much I admit. WW weariness is indeed what I suffer from currently; after the most taxing game I've been in we were forced to immediately begin here and I played mainly because it was Kath modding and we have a long BD and WW history together.

That being said I would like to give my general impression of all players. I don't have many quotes currently but I hope that I will be able to give some later on.

Lhuna - Far too quiet and not nearly loony enough. I'm uncomfortable with her though not convinced of guilt yet.

Cailín - I find highly suspicious. She seems good and cute but I think she may be hiding a secret and saw yesterday's chance to save Caran as a great ploy. If I am wrong forgive my skepticism. Mentioning that when I got back yesterday and made my quick post I didn't see that Caran had declared herself even though I noticed that I quoted TGWBS telling me she is the hunter. I was briefly scanning the thread for the mention of my name to see if I was going to be killed and missed that.

Fea - I'm fairly certain is innocent. I believe her story and will give her the requested benefit of the doubt.

Celuien - Markedly more quiet than I am use to. Though she is never too vocal but I don't really suspect her.

TGWBS - I find highly suspicious and many good cases have been brought against him by SpM, Spawn, and others. To be fair I tend to find him suspicious all the time, he's kind of like a mini-kath to me.

Lommy - Seems extremely suspicious to me. I hope to do more of an analysis on her but many good cases against her too. She seems to be moving a lot of opinion in an attempted subtle manner. She twists words and takes things out of context far too much for my liking.

Nogrod - Feels likely innocent to me.

lmp - Uncertain but I think innocent.

Tom - Moderately suspicious and would keep my eye on him.

Findëasëa - Entirely unsure and no real opinion.

Mith - Innocent!!!! Trust me on this one.

Durelin - Bold wolf or silly villager. Sadly she could be either rather well.

My top suspects remain

Lommy
TGWBS
Cailin
Durelin

in that order.

[Caranlondien]

As to morm's list of suspects:
Lommy - I always find her behavior suspicious. I've never known her as a wolf, so I don't have much insight.
TGWBS - He played a key role in saving me yesterDay. But that's the position a wolf would want to be in. The only game I've been in with him, I was a strong proponent of lynching him, and he turned out to be innocent.
Cailin - Same as TGWBS; as morm points out, saving me yesterDay would make an excellent wolf ploy. And she's another one slipping under the radar. But her behavior so far has seemed like normal to me.
Durelin - No idea about her... She's certainly worth watching, but I don't have a strong gut reaction to her.

I suppose that's not very helpful, as it's pretty much just me saying "I don't know anything about them, so I can't help you". I do have at least some experience with the first three on the list, so I'll take a closer look at them and see what I can come up with.

[Durelin]

I don't feel a real need to overly defend myself. If my vote for SPM seems incredibly suspicious, than...oh well. So SPM ended up being innocent. We almost killed, at least as far as we can tell, our Hunter. Yes, there were others to vote for, but...well, I didn't vote for them. And I suppose the placing of my post seems to stick me on a bandwagon, but all the votes for SPM before mine were obviously cast before I posted, and I was not aware of them when I posted, except for LMP's vote. Unfortunately, though, I did not get the chance to go over what he had to say, as I was coming the end of my post and the end of the time I had.

Originally Posted by Celuien

That's not the best reason to vote for him. Or anyone. Odd.

Sorry if it seems that way to you.

And trust me, finding out the SPM was innocent was a real blow for me.

Originally Posted by Caran

un-thought-out lynching of SpM

I disagree on the 'un-thought-out' bit, at least on my part. I assure you, my vote for him was not purely out of a rush to save you. Sorry, but it wasn't. (considering you hadn't revealed yourself yet when I voted).

I really want to look at Celuien further (and no, not because she's suspicious of me...it's not like she's the only one, anyway), particularly since she keeps going for the very obvious choices. On day one, she initially just votes for Nilp. He by nature is obvious. But that's a day one vote, so it's always hard to tell.

Then, everyone starts getting suspicious of me, cause I somehow land myself in a SPM bandwagon (sounds familiar, heh) because of my ninja foolishness. Up pops Celuien with a vote for me.

Next day, she is of course still suspicious of me, and analyzes me. But then she quickly moves on the Caran, after comments from SPM garner some suspicion about her and tom bombarrific agrees that she is suspicious.

After her analysis of Caran, there is only one other brief post (posted very shortly after the analysis, in response to a post from the analyzed suspect herself) from her until she shows up to vote for Caran after four people already have.

After Caran reveals that she is the Hunter (and as far as we know she is), we do not hear from Celuien at all. It was nearing the end of the day, though, so 'tis understandable.

And today, she's back to me, now that everyone is looking at me again, particularly since my vote for SPM that is apparently 'odd.' I think poorly timed, rather. And obviously, I was wrong. Shock of shocks. Perhaps her suspicion of me is understandable, but she seems to be avoiding looking at suspects other than those that are getting the most attention. And she's really been staying under the radar. The problem is, she seems to go with the tide.

I'm sure some could accuse me that I am being hypocritical, but I really feel that I am not.

And this makes me feel a bit odd:

Originally Posted by Celuien

At least I was right about one thing. SPaM was innocent. I told you not to lynch him.

Seems to me like a 'told you so' that screams 'look at me, I'm so innocent!' Doesn't sit well with me.

Unfortunately that's all I have time for right now. I'll be back to look at other people when I can.

[Celuien]

Originally Posted by Durelin

Seems to me like a 'told you so' that screams 'look at me, I'm so innocent!' Doesn't sit well with me.

Fine with me. I've been wrong about enough things so far that I just feel like celebrating being right about one thing. Even if it doesn't do him any good, it means that I wasn't fooled by a Wolfman Sauce again. *shrugs*

As for going back and forth between you and Caran, I quite simply found you both suspicious. And if it's obvious, well, why not suspect the obvious? Awfully embarrassing to miss what's staring you in the face, isn't it? I can't help it if I'm thinking the same way as others. And I can't cobble together a case against someone I don't suspect merely to pick a less obvious player so that I won't be accused of going with the tide. That, my friend, would be wolvish. *shrugs again*

Oh, and yes, I'm so innocent it hurts.