TOL-IN-GAURHOTH XII, Erbar Telamarth

[the phantom]

This post does not mark the beginning of the game. This is just the rules.

If you have a question about the rules, please post it within the next 36 hours.

ROLES

Werewolf- There are three Werewolves in this village. Their goal is to reduce the population of the village until it is even with the number of wolves left in the village.

Seer- There is one Seer, and his goal is to help find Wolves with his nightly dreams.

Ranger- There is one Ranger, and his job is to protect the Villagers from the Werewolves at night.

Hunter- There is one Hunter, and his duty is to take a Wolf with him to the grave when he meets his fate.

Cursed Villager- There is one Cursed Villager, but he does not know he is cursed, and so behaves like an Innocent Villager, unless the Wolves choose to kill him during the night, in which case he joins the Wolf team.

Innocent Villager- There are eight Innocent Villagers, and their job is to lynch Werewolves during the day.

RULES FOR ROLES

Werewolf- Each night the Werewolves must select someone to kill and pm the name to me. When someone is killed, his death and role are announced to the village the next morning (except for the Cursed Villager, if he is "killed" he becomes a Wolf and so no one dies that night). The Wolves can pm amongst themselves at ALL times, night and day, to discuss strategy.

Seer- Each night the Seer must select someone to dream about and pm the name to me. I will then pm the Seer back and reveal the role of whoever the Seer chose. The Cursed Villager will appear to be an Innocent Villager to the Seer, unless he has already become a Wolf. If the Seer dreams of the Cursed on the same night the Cursed is turned into a Wolf or any night after that, the Seer will see a Wolf.

Ranger- Each night the Ranger must select someone to protect from the Wolves and pm the name to me. If he picks the same person that the Wolves pick for their kill, that person survives the night. If he protects the Cursed, the Cursed cannot be turned into a Wolf that night. The Ranger cannot protect himself, and he cannot protect the same person two nights in a row.

Hunter- The Hunter can, at any time, pm me with the name of a person he believes to be a Wolf. The Hunter can change his pick at any time. If the Hunter is lynched during the day or killed at night, the most recent person he pmed to me will die with him. If the Hunter is afraid of killing an innocent, he can choose to kill no one at all when he dies.

Cursed Villager- The Cursed Villager is exactly like an Innocent Villager, except if the Wolves target him at night he doesn't die, but instead joins the Werewolf team.

VOTING RULES

During the day, every member of the village must form theories about who is a wolf based on accusations, defenses, voting record, and seer hints and then vote to lynch someone.

At the end of the day, whoever has the most votes against him is lynched, and his identity is made known (unless he is the Cursed Villager- the Cursed will appear to be an Innocent Villager, unless of course he has been turned into a Wolf).

Votes are cast like this-
+ + the phantom

Votes cannot be taken back.

In the event of a tie, both candidates are lynched.

If three or more people are tied, then the FIRST and LAST people to reach the total are lynched. This should provide some interesting opportunities for the Wolves to sandwich one of their own between two innocents- and also innocents will factor this voting rule into their suspicions if a triple tie occurs.

Each day, I expect EVERYONE to VOTE, and also to POST.

You MUST-

• respond to the accusations and defenses of others OR make your own accusations and defenses OR submit substantial theories on voting patterns and alliances between villagers
• vote

If you fail to meet these requirements two days in a row- YOU WILL BE KILLED.

This rule is to force everyone (including the wolves) to open their mouths, and to ensure a lengthy discussion each day.

The reason you play this game is to bluff, double-bluff, and guess who is bluffing and double-bluffing and why they are doing it. The more people open their mouths, the more you can do this.

I want to leave for work and come home to find that the thread is two or three pages longer than when I left!

I WANT TO SEE THEORIES AND ACCUSATIONS FLYING!!!

Now, I understand that it is just about impossible to form a theory on day one since there is no voting record or kills at that point, but I expect you to discuss a bit of strategy.

ABOUT THE NARRATION

Since I am the moderator, I will be narrating the results of each Night and Day. My narration DOES NOT MEAN ANYTHING!! In my little stories, villagers will be named and they will say and do things, but what they say and do is NOT meant to be used as EVIDENCE!! It is purely entertainment.

Also, during the course of this game, I would appreciate it if you would refer to me as Lord Phantom, Master Phantom, Sir Phantom, or King Phantom.

I am looking forward to a well played game. You will all receive your roles Saturday night or during the day Sunday.

The players-

• Shelob (beggar)
• mormegil (messanger)
• Cailín (love-potion seller)
• the guy who be short (dwarf)
• Anguirel (knight errant)
• Encaitare (jewel smith)
• Boromir88 (insulting man from Dor-Lomin)
• Firefoot (naturalist/herbalist)
• Lhunardawen (healer)
• littlemanpoet (lecherous innkeeper/bartender)
• Feanor of the Peredhil (tavern wench)
• Eomer of the Rohirrim (thieving mercenary)
• Formendacil (gong farmer)
• Estelyn Telcontar (seamstress)
• Mister Underhill (itinerant drúadan watch-stone maker)

If you want a certain job in the village, such as blacksmith or pub owner, post your preference here or pm me.

If I don't get an occupation from you by Sunday I will assign you one.

If you have already stated your preference, then don't worry, I will put it next to your name later today.

EDIT: This fictional village is in Beleriand during the First Age. Keep that in mind when selecting your job.

EDIT: Wolves, Seer, Ranger, and Hunter- I want your nightly picks ONE HOUR BEFORE THE DEADLINE AT THE LATEST. That means I need them by 12:30 AM EST. If your pick is late, I will not count it.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by the phantom

I WANT TO SEE THEORIES AND ACCUSATIONS FLYING!!!

Ave, Phantom! We who are about to die salute you!

Originally Posted by the phantom

If I don't get an occupation from you by Sunday I will assign you one.

Well, this could be fun...

I think I shall be the village Gong Farmer.

(Look it up if you don't know what it is... I assure you it is not someone who grows bronze plates...)

A nice sized-game there, Milord Phantom, and a nice set of rules (excepting the double-lynching... Don't like that. But you ARE the boss...).

This will be fun!

[Anguirel]

Gong farmer...poor chap...

I will be a valiant and true knight-errant...in marked contrast to my previous role

[Firefoot]

This will certainly be an interesting game, looking at both the rules and the players' list! Nice to see some names on there of people whom I haven't played with before.

I shall be a naturalist/herbalist.

Boy, I'm going to have to remember what I'm doing here. I haven't played in a game since August.

[Boromir88]

Wow what a good game we got here Mr. phantom, I tip my hat to you. I look forward to playing for the first time with those like Fea, Mr. Underhill, Estelyn, tgwbs, and Lhuna.


I will be an insulting man from Dor-lomin.

[the guy who be short]

I shall, of course, be a Dwarf. For interest, I shall also be completely bald. And bespectacled. And I live under the village, as opposed to in it.

Profession? Bah! Dwarf.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Begins the game fully in character, which is no problem at all, based on the fact that at the beginning of Day 1, it is rather expected to come in with "hi, I'm here, and I'm talking in character".

In this post, she takes offense to Boromir's slander, saying that either he is foolish, or wolvish. Claims that she has

no knowledge of anyone's secret inner life.

which tells us early that she's no Seer.

In this post, she gently teases LMP about his characterization.

In post 81, she contemplates the pluses and minuses of voting early based on time-zone.

In this post, she discusses the possibilities of voting seriously on the first day and decides that, due to lack of evidence, she will be voting at random.

Post 96 is a reminder to TGWBS that Lhuna's absence puts her on par with Shelob for too quiet for comfort.

Again she tells us that she is no Seer with

I can only hope that my random choice was guided, for I have not the wisdom to make a decision with the necessary foresight.

It is also in this post that she votes for Shelob and goes to bed.

She returns from her beauty sleep in post 148, mourning the deaths of the innocent Anguirel, and the valiant Eomer. She mentions to clear up confusion that her vote for Shelob was not due to silence, but due to random choice. She contemplates wolfish influence on Anguirel's death. She lists in order the voters: Shelob, Encai, Underhill, and Lhuna. She mentions that Shelob's vote may be due to randomness of choice. She suspects that one of the four is a wolf.

In post 158, she tells us that she's been rehashing events. She repeats her suspicion that there is at least one wolf in the group of Shelob, Encai, Underhill, and Lhuna. She discusses Shelob's early vote for Lhuna, wondering if it is wolvish, or random.

She returns to us once more in post 174, trying to piece together evidence. She hesitates to vote Underhill, as he echos her feelings as a new player so well. She examines the Anguirel-lynch group, noting Shelob's vote for Lhuna, Lhuna's vote for Underhill, and mentions that she doesn't have feelings either way about Encai, due to the ambiguous placement of her vote.

She mentions each villager in turn now:

mormegil is an uncertain candidate, with his suspicions that don't quite sound consistent to me.

Boromir's insults alone do not make him a candidate, but there are inconsistencies in his posts that make me pause.

Formendacil's suggestion that all of us not vote is in itself suspicious. His suspects are villagers whom I don't suspect, so he could be a wolf, but I don't have enough evidence yet.

Fea is unpredictable.

Firefoot defends Shelob, who is one of my top suspects.

tgwbs' arguments seem fairly sound to me; so far, I have no reason to suspect him.

LMP hasn't yet given me enough clues to his identity in his input so far.

She comments that her lack of knowledge of the Seer's identity is probably good, as that means the wolves probably don't know either.

In post 178 she votes again for Shelob, even though she mentions hesitation based on a two-day-running vote, in tandem with TGWBS both times. She goes to bed.

Post 205 she gets back. She bemoans the fate of two more dead innocents. She remembers the cursèd villager and contemplates what would happen should the curse be activated. She admits to being part of Shelob's death, and wishes to 'atone' for it. The post has little game-content, and is mostly talking about what a pity it is that we lost Shelob and LMP.

214 she's back again. She contemplates the identity of LMP's protectee the second night. She also mentions that she's still got no clue on who the Seer is. She comments that yes, she voted Shelob twice, but she points out that Weremendacil voted Underhillo twice, and Boro voted Formy twice also.

In post 220, she says that she almost abstained from voting Shelob based on lack of desire to be connected to TGWBS, also voting her twice. She decided to ignore him and vote her conscience.

In post 224, she renews the theory that a wolf voted for Anguirel. She admits her mistake with Shelob, and turns an eye toward Encai. She mentions that Encai voted an innocent twice and broke a tie thereby saving Fea on Day 2. She claims that Encai's vote created a band-wagon effect for Ang, and that Fea may be a wolvish companion. She also comments that all of this is speculation and she's not at all sure of it.

Back again in 235, she responds to the accusations of her overly-dramatic response to Lobby and LMP's deaths, saying that she was just getting into the spirit of it, but if it's asked, she'll gladly stop.

Post 240: She names a list of suspects: Fea, Encai, Formy, Lhuna. Contemplates early versus late votes once more.

In post 243 she decides to sleep on it.

This is where Firefoot's examination of her begins:

All right, I'll see what I can do.

Post 44

While she does not come out and say "I'm innocent," there are strong undertones of this. Strong emotions, phrases like "fellow villagers," etc. As far as words go, the gist of the meaning is "I'm not sure what I'm doing, I'll have to wait and see what happens before making any decisions." As Esty herself has confessed, she has a flair for the dramatic which makes this more difficult as dramatic tends to be something I look for in a wolf. Nothing conclusive here.

Post 51

She starts out defending herself to Boromir, who accused her on the grounds of "horrible sewing." Again, she states that she has no knowledge of what anyone else is and we don't have enough to judge people on, just words. This could be construed to look innocent or guilty, depending on how you look at it, and it comes down to the same Esty question - is she really not sure, an inexperienced wolf, or both?

Post 65

Some in-character response to LMP and a reiteration of the sentiment that she can't trust anyone. Same as 51 - could be made to look innocent or guilty.

Post 81

States that she will have to vote either early or late, and that it seems that her vote will be random as she has no real suspicions. Could be an innocent not sure of what's going on or a wolf not wanting to cast suspicions to soon to loudly.

Post 93

Repeats that her vote will be random as she has no idea how to form some suspicions. Same as above.

Posts 96-97

Votes for Shelob using a completely random method of the eenie meenie minie mo sort, hoping it was a good vote. If this wasn't her first ww game, I would be concerned, as generally it's better to vote for someone you think at least could be suspicious (I'd say). As it is, I'm not sure. This could be an easy way to hide.

Post 148

After some more dramatics (Esty, don't get me wrong. If dramatics and in-character stuff is your style of play, go for it. Look at Fea. ), she states for the first time that she thinks one of the wolves is probably among those who voted for Ang. In itself, this is not very suspicious; however, if she were a wolf, I think it would be safe to say that none of these four (now three) people she is accusing are wolves. From what we've seen so far of Esty, I wouldn't doubt that if she were a wolf in this game, caution would be her preferred style of play, not incriminating her fellow wolves any more than absolutely necessary to keep up appearances. And if her fellow wolf is Fea, as I suggested in my above post, this could work well.

Post 158

Repeats her suspicions of those four who voted for Ang; see above. She also mentions that Shelob's early vote for Lhuna is curious, and wonders what that might tell us about Shelob. She seems to be trying to cast some guilt on her, more deflection of attention.

Post 174

This is her first really substantial post of the game. She starts out repeating her suspicions of those four Ang-voters, though she doesn't seem to be very firm about those. For everyone else she names as being possibly suspicious, she seems to immediately negate that sentiment with a "but I'm not sure" or "there's not enough evidence." The only candidate she names as being wholly unsuspicious is TGBWS because his logic seems sound to her - who both days has voted with her consecutively for Shelob. She also does not identify Fea ("unpredictable") or LMP ("not enough information") as being particularly innocent or guilty. Interesting that she has not commented on at all the voting of me, LMP, and Morm for Cailin, neither to think we're innocent or guilty because of it, which just about everyone else has. It could have been an oversight, but I would think that it would factor in. This phrase, finishing her post, caught my eye just now: "So far I can't recognize the seer, but that's probably good. If I could, I'm sure the experienced wolves would as well!" Something about this turn of a phrase doesn't sit well with me. Now that I try to explain it, it doesn't work, but it made me go "What?"

Post 178

She votes for Shelob, having noticed that TGWBS has also voted for her. She mentions that she is hesitant to do so but goes ahead with it anyway because she is her greatest suspicion. Because of this, I don't think she would be a wolf with TGWBS, but it's possible. They could be bluffing, and with wolves able to talk all day, it would be easy enough for them to plan it. Hm...

Post 205

All dramatics. I don't think anything can be taken out of it.

Post 214

Most suspiciously, that's the post that's had me singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" all day... Seriously though: She defends her position of having voted for Shelob two days in row along with TGBWS. As support she mentions that Formen and Boromir have both voted for the same person as well - deflecting the spotlight off of her and TGWBS. I don't think she would deflect attention onto a fellow wolf like that, so if she is a wolf I dobut Formen or Boromir is as well. She also questions whether the wolves were actually going after the ranger or the person he was guarding. Genuine or an attempt to make it look like she doesn't know what the wolves are doing?

Post 220

She says that her vote for Shelob was made regardless of what TGWBS did because Shelob topped her suspect list, which is true enough. She had been suspicious of Shelob, though I suppose the wolves could have had Shelob targeted. That sounds a little far-fetched though, and it seems more likely that if she is a wolf, TGWBS is not her partner but possibly someone she attached herself to, or even someone with no intended connection at all.

Post 224

She goes back to her theory that one of the wolves voted for Ang, in particular looking at Encai. She also suggests a possible Encai/Fea partnership. Honest, or trying to distance herself from Fea?

Post 235

Here is where she comments on her own enjoyment of getting into a role a bit more and being rather dramatic. Whether she is innocent or guilty, I think this can be taken as written in good intent - meaning that any dramatics are not a sign of guilt.

Post 240

She states that her suspect list hasn't narrowed definitively, though she puts emphasis on Encai, Fea, Formendacil, and Lhuna. This could be starting to push the Fea/Esty theory.

Post 243

Says she will be back early for her, late in voting to cast vote. Nothing indicitive there.

So while a lot she says can be construed to look suspicious, or even flat out just does look suspicious, most of the possibilities for who she could be partnered with get to a far-fetched point. The one thing I have noticed is that she is very good at either staying out of the limelight in the first place or deflecting it once it gets there. I've not made my mind up yet.

Esty comes back in 260 with discomfort on morm's assertion that he and Firefoot are innocent. Not uncomfortable enough to suspect them a lot though. She's amused by the seriousness with which Firefoot analyzes her. "She takes me more seriously than I take myself." She mentions that Boromir's insistence on Formy is either that he's on to something, or he's just being stubborn. She says that Encai's vote for him could be one wolf saving another, meaning that Cai was trying to save Weredacil. She mentions Boromir's theory that Fea has been set up, but is not sold entirely on it. She addresses Fea's comment on her blog amusedly, saying that it's not like she would say anything besides "I'm innocent" on a blog viewed almost entirely by 'Downers.

She returns next post with a vote for Encai based on previous comments.

In 278, she posts spontaneous thoughts before analyzing dead-Firefoot's posts. Though she's sad that Lhuna was innocent, she claims relief that the suspicion of her is now gone. Going once more to her Ang-theory, she looks at Underhill and Encai. Underhill she doesn't suspect much, Encai, she does. She says that if Underhill was a wolf, he'd find a way to be more active. She says that she is inclined to listen to Boromir as he was right about Formendacil, and that Boromir says to suspect Encai. She plans to further examine the Fea-set-up theory.

In post 281, she's back! (note that I'm getting bored at this point and may begin using far more exclaimation points to amuse myself). She says that she thought Boromir was the Seer. She says that the facts can now be interpreted several ways as Boro wasn't. She comments that Boro could have been a gutsy wolf voting all along for Boro to garner trust from the villagers. Though that goes against her suspicion of Encai, she's not willing to rule it out. She wonders how the wolf recognized Firefoot.

In 283, she wonders more about Boromir, and how what if he was maybe pretending to be Seer to draw out the real one.

In 287 she comes out with a list of who she thinks is most likely to be guilty now, based on percentages:

100% innocent - me (The only one of whom I absolutely know)

90% innocent - Underhillo (reasons given above)

80% innocent - tgwbs (for seemingly good reasoning so far)

80% innocent - mormegil (also for seemingly good reasoning so far)

50% innocent/guilty - Fea (just because she's too confusing to get a grasp on)

very suspicious - Encaitare (for the reasons I gave yesterDay)

highly suspicious - Boromir88 (for the reasons given toDay)

She claims a strategy, but wants to wait to reveal it.

Back in 290, Esty credits Boromir with the "chutzpah" to dupe us all, a word that I've only just learned and was greatly amused at seeing. She admonishes him that none of us should be taking his words at face value and he should know better than to expect it. She again mentions her involvement in Shelob's death, saying that at the time, there was reason to suspect her.

In 306, she's back again! She admits to also already thinking of the pluses of double-lynching that Fea had no qualms about suggesting. Her two top suspects are Encai and Boromir. She discusses ways to vote to ensure a double-lynch.

In 310, she admits to the rationality of circle-analyzation and heads off to examine Mister Underhill. Her signature remains amusing.

In 313, she says she plans to get up early to vote late, thereby ensuring the presence of an innocent at the end of the Day to keep funny business from happening.

In 319, she yells at TGWBS for wasting his vote.

We have now reached the point of cross-posting. I have to read to catch up, but this is Esty from the beginning to now.

[mormegil]

Each day, I expect EVERYONE to VOTE, and also to POST.

You MUST-
respond to the accusations and defenses of others OR make your own accusations and defenses OR submit substantial theories on voting patterns and alliances between villagers
vote

Feanor, how quickly you forget, Lhuna died for not voting and now you want all of us not to vote...seems a bit wolfish.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Definitely not a good idea not to vote! If we do decide on a course of action, the votes we don't need can be distributed on others.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

We also have another voting possibility - if we vote Boro and Enca with three votes each, the one for tgwbs is left over, and we have two lynchings.

Or we vote Boro and tgwbs three each and one for Enca.

Basically, aside from going for one of the two suspects left and giving her or him all four votes, there's no way to save Boro now anymore.

[Mister Underhill]

Sorry, catching up on posts -- we could stick with the original plan, which was tgwbs as the definite. Boro maybe wasn't the ideal candidate, but we could take him in a double just to be sure. The odds of a cursed still be around and being killed by the remaining wolf are pretty low.

I know I'm all over the map here. I was leaning toward an innocent Enca before the "mistake". I'd go for a Shorty-B88 double.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Definitely only hypothetical, Fea!

How about Enca? Do you think her vote really was a mistake, and why? I don't understand her reaction, unless it really is that of a wolf cornered and desperate. A wolf alone could react just like that, seemingly giving up and hoping for a wonder...

[Estelyn Telcontar]

OK, I'm willing to go with a Shorty/B88 double if that's what we all agree on. As you've said, if Enca really is the wolf, we can get her on the next day - I hope...

At any rate, I will have to make my decision within the next half hour, as the RL part of my day starts then.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

How about Enca? Do you think her vote really was a mistake, and why?

It might have been. I lean toward it, actually. Wolves aren't that sloppy. Sure, she might be feeling the pressure if she is a wolf, but still, I have confidence in her aplomb in situations like that. I wouldn't expect her to so openly screw up at all.

On the other hand... I know diddly squat for certain, so she could easily be lupine.

[mormegil]

Wolves have a tendency to feel the heat a lot more than we would. It could easily be a reaction to some slight pressure.

I've outline why I think he is a wolf earlier but essentially

• He tried to have the seer give hints
• seemed to try to identify with me by appealing to me on my innocence while claiming his own
• his posts have seemed helpful but didn't really contain much
• seemed to never leave out Formendacil from his suspects by saying his innocent but never put him high on the list and Formendacil did the same to him