Werewolf XXXII: The Lost Age

[Volo]

Numundo dared to ask, ”What exactly do we need to do behind the Wall? You keep saying how important it is and that there will be a fight and all, but what is the reason of this madness?”

”Let’s not call it madness, for that is the will of the King. This is our only way to survive, you must see it by now. We’re dying! Another hundred years and we’ll be gone. Completely!” Lossenatar said rapidly.

Firithhyando asked again calmly, ”Yes, dear Los, what is the goal of our mission? It seems you know much more than us. And all I thought was that we go and fight a bit and come back”.

”You’ll know tomorrow, the King-” started Lossenatar, to be interupted by Numundo, ”Start talking sense! Or me and Fir won’t be going anywhere”.
”Oh, calm down”.

But the two younger Vampires didn’t seem to be content with that. Lossenatar gave up, ”I’ll tell. If you don’t tell Enhilion… He won’t like that”.

[Volo]

The two nodded. Enhilion was starting to panic, his heart was beating so loudly that he feared the elders would notice him.

But nothing happened, Lossenatar continued, ”The King says that we’ll die. He told me some knowledge lost long ago. We Vampires became a great nation by converting Men to Vampires. It is true that our power faded with the death of the Dark Lord, we were originally made by him. Our King… he is The King. King Yulnagar is the First King, Melkor’s Maia…”

Enhilion couldn’t believe it, this was against anything he has been taught, it couldn’t be true. Was all his life just a lie? Yes… Oh hell, Enhilion wouldn’t go anywhere after this. He decided that he’ll say straight that he won’t fight for a liar. Never!

”Our King Yulnagar rebelled against Melkor and fled to Ossiriand. In fear he hid in this cave, all by himself. For a long time he never left this place. But during the centuries his hunger grew and he couldn’t bear it anymore. He fled back outside and attacked Men. Then he found his skill! He could convert the weak Men into us, Vampires. Though the Vampires of that time were far greater than us. And so we lived here and hunted at night, converting more and more and our number growing larger and larger. Yulnagar thought that by being just a simple king he could have more power over us, that’s why he chose the same role as us”.

Firithhyando looked at Numundo, Numundo looked amazed. Firithhyando’s voice shook but soon regained it’s calmness, ”So it was like this, interesting. I feared that this was the case. But I understand your motives now”.

”What! You knew? How?” Numundo was shocked. Lossenatar seemed to be rather surprised.

Firithhyando said quietly, ”I had a vision once…

”No, nothing. Forget it… But Los, tell me, why was the gate closed?”

”I was coming to that. Yulnagar, being a Maia of Melkor lost his power to convert Men into Vampires as the Dark Lord fell. He was scared of the other Valar. That would be the reason”.

There was a silence which was broken by Numundo, ”And what is the meaning of our mission? Get back to the point!”

Lossenatar thought for a while and answered, ”I know that this might sound like Yulnagar betrayed us… He doesn’t know if we can succeed in this, or can he succeed in it. He told me that he might be able to turn a few Men into Vampires with his last strength, it takes a lot to do such a deed. But he’s thinking about us, this is the only way to continue our race…”

Lossenatar had a short pause, but before the old warrior continued, Firithhyando killed all Enhilion’s hopes, ”Yes dear Numundo, our mission seems to be the capturing of Men.”

Capturing Men, Enhilion understood that this was for the greater good of the Vampire’s race, but he never wanted to capture anyone, it felt much worse than killing, not that he had ever done either.

Lossenatar exclaimed, ”Yes, exactly! Though I am sorry to say this, but there is also another thing that makes our job difficult. You see, King Yulnagar has forgotten the spell to turn Men into Vampires… We have to bring him many Men just in case he casts a wrong spell on them. And this is where my own plan comes to life!”




Night 1 Begins

Vampires may chat


The living:

Gil-Galad
The Saucepan Man
Rikae
Boromir88
Nogrod
Eomer of the Rohirrim
Thinlómien
Brinniel
Legate of Amon Lanc
Aganzir
Meneltarmacil
Xyzzy
Roa_Aoife
Macalaure
Diamond18
Shastanis Althreduin
Celuien
Kitanna
Sleepy Ranger
Durelin
Glirdan
Rune Son of Bjarne
The Sixth Wizard


Notice:
I'll start the day a half an hour earlier tomorrow.

[Volo]

Total darkness.

Silence.

A scream.

Silence.

A light.

Darkness.

The light growing back: a torch was lit.

A tall and skinny man was holding the torch, he didn’t look that old, but in the little light it was hard to see his age. There were 23 men and women of different ages and origins around him. Some were sulking and some were just sitting quietly, but all of them were equally confused.

Then, again, a young lass in a yellow dress, Lomiella let out a scream and started crying.

A short and stocky man in ragged clothes, Glirdan consoled the girl by patting her on the back and whispering, ”It’s ok, we’re fine. Calm down, nobody’s hurt…”

An another man, Xyzzy came forth to the tall man holding the torch. ”Where are we? Where did you find that?” he said pointing at the torch.

The skinny lad answered shakingly, ”Umm… It was lying here beside me, I stumbled on it”.

”And how did you manage to light it?” asked a clearly annoyed woman in black, Brinniel.

”I, I…”

An older man, Boromir, shocked by the situation, defended the shaken lad, ”Oh leave the poor guy alone, will ya. Don’t you see, he’s just as badly shokked as we all. No good at accusing him of anything right now. There are many more important things we must ask ourselves.”

Some ragged guy in a flat cap, Sleepy shouted from behind the circle, ”Yeah! Where are we? Who are we? Why are we here? How did we manage to get here? That’s the stuff I’d be glad to have an answer to”.

Long silence followed.

A cough and a tall man hiding in his grey cloak, Rune said calmly, as if to the darkness, ”I guess that was the answer. Nobody knows. Or nobody want’s us others to know. From my part, I was carving badgers at home when everything suddenly disappeared”.

Everybody nodded to that and general agreement was present.

Long silence followed.

”So, are we just going to stand here and wait for a miracle to happen. I feel like there won’t be any miracle for a while…” Aganzir, the hefty bearded woman said heavily. And after a short pause continued, ”Hey, you with the torch. What’s your name? Help me find more of those, we need to explore our situation”.

The torch-guy smiled nervously and answered, ”I’m En… Enohl. I think I saw more of these there beside that building”.

Everybody turned to look it the direction Enohl pointed, it was all dark and nobody could see anything.

”Give me that”, a woman in the tatters of rich clothes, Diamond grabbed Enohl’s torch and walked to the wall. It did turn out to be a building of some sort and torches were stacked neatly beside it. The woman smirked, ”You have good sight, my lad”. Diamond lit a second torch and throw it to a man, who stood close by.

The man caught it and spoke loudly, ”Heh, now friends, come and get your torches. We should explore this place before something explores our flesh, I wonder what beasts live in this darkness. Oh, and my name is Gil-Galad by the way”.

”There aren’t any beasts in this cave we should worry about-” Enohl started to shout, but realized that he made a big mistake.

Everyone was staring at Enohl. A sturdy-framed man, Nogrod walked close to him and stuck a finger in Enohl’s chest, ”Now wait a moment, what did you just say? You seem to know more than the rest of us. Would you be so kind to tell! Who the heck are you?”

Enohl backed away looking frightened. ”I, I…”

”What?” The strong man advanced at him again.

Suddenly Legate a man nearly of Nogrod’s size put a hand on Nogrod’s shoulder. ”Leave him be, if you scare him out of his skin, he won’t be of any help. I feel he’s just as innocent as me or you. Or even more than that”.

Nogrod turned quickly getting ready to punch Legate. Luckily for Legate, a small woman with short hair and subtle features, Roa came between the two tall men and Nogrod put his hand down. He said harshly, ”Now don’t you interfere. Where did that boy go”.

And indeed. Enohl was running away.

-~~-----------------------------------------------------------------------~~-

Enhilion was running away, tears were flying into the air. He had made a mistake and now it would probably cost the life of his whole race. And Enhilion only wanted to calm the Men down. He couldn’t understand why the Men were so evil and got angry so quickly. Sure the Vampires imprisoned them, but why would they want to harm even their own friends. Well, in fact that was the whole plan, to get the Men to fight with each other that the Vampires could be left alone. It seemed all wrong, Enhilion didn’t even want to hurt those Men, they are no warriors, they are weak. They were taken from their lives by force… A bit like Enhilion himself. He began crying and cursing again.

In the circle of Men there was also a lot of cursing. Nogrod had been shouting all the while, but didn’t dare go after the kid in this darkness. ”It’s all your fault! Why did you let him flee?”

Boromir, Legate and Roa tried to calm Nogrod down but without much success. The only thing they achieved was more shouts.

In the total confusion nobody noticed Mac, the man who was hiding in his hood and sitting on the ground outside the circle, vanish. He had snached a torch and was now running to the direction Enohl disappeared. Mac followed the boy’s cries. For a while the sobs ended and Mac was lost in the darkness but soon he heared weeping again. Close by, just in front of Mac. He walked slowly toward the sound, it wasn’t moving away anymore, but it stopped before Mac found his target.

Mac had run too far from the rest to either hear or see them, but there in the little light his torch cast he could see that the city or whatever it seemed to be, was going on and on. Fright gripped his. And just a moment later Mac tripped on something soft…

”I’m sorry, I lost control over myself. I didn’t mean it, it’s ok now”. Nogrod had at last come back to sense.

”I understand, we are all afraid and don’t know what to do. But we should try to unite our strength to survive. Whoever that boy was, he’s gone now”, said Morgan, a straw-haired man who was sitting quietly until this.

”No! He hasn’t gone”.

Everybody turned to see who said this. It was Mac and he was holding Enohl by the neck. Mac threw the scared lad in the middle of the crowd with a melancholic smile.

Enohl fell right on his face, but quickly rolled to face the angry crowd. He was panting hard and his nose was bleeding.

Mac explained, ”I ran after him when you were arguing. Found him quite far lying on the ground. It scared me to death, but now I think this fellow is much more scared than I have ever been”.

”Oh, good that someone has sense in the head. So boy, let us know your secrets”, said Kitanna a woman in a white shirt, black riding boots and a smirk on her face.

Enohl opened his mouth and then closed it and his eyes, he took a long breath and said, ”I and three of my friend are Vampires, we just-”

A commotion started. Nogrod backed away from Enohl, ”You, you cursed beast! What have you done to us!” He then grabbed a torch and ran on Enohl. So, fear of Vampires did exist in the outside world.

Enohl sreamed and shouted for his friends, that seemed to have betrayed their young ally. He glanced at them and understood that he was alone. Enohl gathered his knowledge and began chanting the incantation to change into a bat, it wasn’t easy and he had done it only a few times.

Nogrod was nearly on him when a commanding voice came from all around, ”Stop”.

-~~-----------------------------------------------------------------------~~-

Everybody stopped. A darkness darker than any other darkness appeared beside Enohl, who was now gazing at it with his mouth open. Slowly the darkness took the shape of a cloaked man. The cloaked man raised his gloved hand to point Enohl, ”Your time is over. You have been chosen to die”.

Rikae, the beautiful lady with long black hair and gray eyes, gathered the will to ask, ”Who, or what, are you? What will you do to us?”

The cloaked head turned to face Rikae and a chill pierced her. The same toneless voice, seeming older than the world, darker than the darkness, spoke, ”I am the Oracle. I have been summoned here to help you. Like this traitor told you, there are three Vampires among you. It is my mission to destroy them”.

The scared crowd didn’t know which to fear more: the Vampires or this clearly more powerful being, that did seem to be their ally.

A tall and extremely muscular man, Menel, barked at the figure, ”How can we trust you? You can be one of them and take the life of our own three”.

”How indeed? You can either trust me or trust me not. I leave the choice to you. My only advise to you is to choose the former… if you wish to live”.

Esspiem, the lean man with the neatly trimmed moustache and beard, squeaked as the dark figure seemed to look at him.

Everybody slowly gathered around the darkness and a general atmosphere of thinking followed into a tight line around the Oracle.

At last one person dared to stare back at the Oracle. His piercing and unsettling smile offered little comfort to anybody who looked at him, but Eomer didn’t care much. He turned at Esspiem and whispered so that only Esspiem could hear, ”Coward”. Returning his gaze back at the Oracle he said rather loudly, ”I trust you for now. Long time ago, when the Dark Enemy still looked upon the land, my ancestors were slain by Vampires. They came at night, not noticing the watchman, who had fallen alseep in the stable. When they went to steal the horses, the watchman woke. He had enough time to yell for help, when his throat was slit. Only one man survived from that village. I will trust this ”oracle” if that means revenging the Vampires’s evil deeds!”

Durelin, the thin, girly looking young man laughed mockingly. ”You would trust anything that gave you protection, and maybe a less painful death. Well, have it your way. I don’t really care...
” Oracle! If you come too near, don’t think I won’t find your weak spot!”

”I agree that our only hope of surviving is to trust the Oracle and hope for the truth.” Celuien, a woman in a worn dress and just as used cloak spoke, ”Whoever is the Vampire here, look out. Twenty against three is not a wise fight, so I’d just fly away if I were you...”

The Oracle turned it’s head at Celuien and if there had been a face, it would have now smiled, ”Three have spoken, does the rest agree?. Think about it”.

People were looking at their feet and trying to come up with some thought.

After a short while the Oracle announced with a hint of amusement, ”Just like I thought, only three don’t trust me... No... a fourth one.” Its voice had the slightest hint of suprise, so slight that only the most careful ear could pick it.

Nobody had the courage to ask how the dark figure knew this and so it was decided.

”It is now decided! You shall live in any house you wish, there will be food on the table three times a day. A river is flowing in the far end of the city, you can bring fresh water yourself. Wood can be found for different uses in a stack in middle of the city. Feel free to explore the houses for any other equipment you need”.

”What about the Vampires?” Shasta, the man dressed in all possible shades of blue asked. Other people nodded.

The Oracle would have smiled again if there would have been a mouth to smile with, ”There seems to be a misunderstanding. I won’t kill anybody now. How would I know which of you are Vampires? It is your job to find out. Tell me your vote and every 24 hours I’ll come for the person, who has collected the most votes. You can see the remaining time from the giant clock in the middle square.
”Now, what should I do to this Vampire here…”

The Oracle turned back into darkness and disappeared. Enohl was still lying on the ground.

”He seemed to forget this kid, oh botheration”, said Rikae.

Enohl rose up and said, ”I think I will follow your movement after all”. It was the Oracle’s voice. Then he tripped on the ground. ”It is a matter of practise, in a day I will be using this body better than you are using your own”. Enohl, or the Oracle tried to stand, but without much hope.

To the amusement of the crowd, the first day started!

-~~-----------------------------------------------------------------------~~-

The living:

Gil-Galad (Gil)
The Saucepan Man (Esspiem/SPM)
Rikae
Boromir88 (Boro)
Nogrod
Eomer of the Rohirrim (Eomer)
Thinlómien (Lomiella/Lommy)
Brinniel
Legate of Amon Lanc (Legate)
Aganzir
Meneltarmacil (Menel)
Xyzzy
Roa_Aoife (Roa)
Macalaure (Mac)
Diamond18 (Di)
Shastanis Althreduin (Shasta)
Celuien (Cel)
Kitanna
Sleepy Ranger (Sleepy)
Durelin
Glirdan (Glirdy)
Rune Son of Bjarne (Rune)
The Sixth Wizard (Morgan/Sixth)

The dead:

-


DAY 1

You may now start talking. Staying in-character is not a rule but adviceable.

[Gil-Galad]

What maddness this has become... why must the oracle toy with us?... fine so we must play its game then we must if we want to survive... so basically keep our heads up about each other and be careful... then my friends we can see another sunrise!

[Shastanis Althreduin]

Shasta shook his head, clearing it of the cobwebs that had accompanied his teleportation to this place.

"I think it's a good idea if we all stick together..." he said, turning about him to look for a place to set up housekeeping. Picking up a torch, he lit it from the one Diamond held and walked south through the crowd, brushing lightly past Nogrod and Rikae as he headed for one of the larger buildings.

The door opened with a creak as Shasta pushed it open. A shower of dust fell from the lintel; the building had lain in disuse for some time. A flare of fire flashed in the open air as Shasta's torch passed under a silky cobweb. The windows had no glass in them, and he edged through one of the larger rooms, careful of any broken glass on the floor; he was barefoot, after all.

Climbing a set of old, dusty stairs, he came upon a hallway with seven rooms. A cursory inspection of them revealed them all to be bedrooms, with the furniture covered with cloths, as if the owner of the house was just away on vacation and would return any time. Immediately claiming the westernmost room for himself, Shasta leaned out one of the broken windows, looking down on the crowd.

"There's room for six more of us up here," he shouted, his young voice carrying echoingly throughout the cavern.

[The Saucepan Man]

Well that’s just great. Everyone knows that the least developed characters are the ones to die first in these kinds of situation, particularly those portrayed in some negative light. Since I got scant description, no dialogue and have been portrayed as a coward, it looks like I’ll be the first one to be picked off here.

It’s not that I’m a coward, anyway. It’s just that, well I am rather disconcerted by our situation and that Oracle suddenly appearing like that was enough to give anyone the creeps. And if he’s so powerful, why doesn’t he just send us all back where we came from?

Anyway, to business. I may not have great skill in arms, but I hope that my sharp wits may be of assistance to us, or to those of us who are free of any Vampiric or other supernatural tendencies at least.

A few thoughts on how we should approach our unfortunate situation. As I see it, we have little choice the way things stand but to trust the Oracle’s words. And it seems from these that we must each Day nominate secretly who we wish to die and that the person with the most votes at the end of the Day will be taken by the Oracle. Our objective, it seems, is to root out the Vampires among us.

Unfortunately, as matters stand, we are denied a useful source of information which might assist us in this task – the known votes of each person. I therefore suggest that we all agree to state here honestly the name of the person we have voted for at or about the same time that we each cast our vote. Obviously, the words of three (possibly four) among us will be deceptive. But we will at least force them to commit themselves to a name and thereby, perhaps, put them under some pressure. More importantly, we will have as close as possible to a voting record as it is possible to get in the current circumstances, and this will hopefully be useful to us in the Days to come, and perhaps also of use to the Lynch Seer (did the Oracle tell us about the Lynch Seer? – well let’s assume he did. ).

As for the Lynch Seer, we should perhaps reserve discussion of this role until we see how it works out in practice. The only point I would make at this stage is an obvious one, but worth stating nevertheless. An innocent Lynch Seer should carefully think through the possible consequences before posting their riddle. Clearly, it would be preferable to avoid giving the Vampires a free kill.

As for this “fourth person” who may not trust the Oracle, my guess (ably assisted by the Game Rules ) is that they are only interested in preserving their own life. I would only note that their best interests are currently served by siding with the innocents.

Now, I’m off to look for anything which may be of use to us in this place. Only – um – I would rather not go alone. Would anyone like to accompany me? Actually, on second thoughts, would any five wish to accompany me …?

[Boromir88]

My only hope is I survive today...I mean it would be a shame to die on a special day like today. I don't care if the vampires decide to kill me after today, but it would be a shame to die today.

I was a bit nervous about the 'secretive vote' thing, as that takes away part of the ordinary innocents advantage. But the more I think about it, it may work to our advantage. Afterall, the vampires can't vote to save themselves, so we just have to worry about making the right decision (but that's easier said than done), and not have to worry about any vampires sticking their fangs in to save one of their partners.