WWJ VIII ~ Things That Go "Quack" In The Night

[Diamond18]

In the little, out-of-the-way village of Ducktapia, situated on the shores of Wereduck Pond, legend and myth are a money making enterprise. Tourists and travelers passing through the quaint little town drop their coin in the kitschy gift shops selling angry looking stuffed ducks and lurid tales of murder and mayhem. There is a sign posted on the edge of town that reads, “Ask Not for Whom the Duck Quacks, It Quacks for Thee.”

No one who lives in Ducktapia truly believes in the old tales of evil that lurk in the pond -- it’s all campfire stories and children’s games. The motley assortment of species that dwell in this most singular of villages -- hobbits, dwarves, men, elves, and the odd reformed orc -- blissfully fish, swim, and occasionally jet ski in the cool waters of Wereduck Pond.

Yet, hark, for from the darkest depths of the deepest puddle comes a quack, quack, quacking. Out from a nest of unspeakable evil waddles a creature so foul even the Ringwraiths fear the flap of its wing. A creeping disease drips from its bill of doom, infecting those who were once fair, turning them fowl like unto itself. Even as it creeps back to the hell from whence it came, it leaves in its wake the spawn of its general unpleasantness.

Beware!

Beware its devil eyes and loathsome down, for they mean death, despair, and doom to all.

Who are these creatures, once upstanding and trustworthy, now twisted and dark? Who now prey on their fellow villagers? Which of them waddles among us?

Sadly, these questions must go unanswered, nay, unasked, until death slaps its clammy, webbed foot down upon the neck of the first victim.

See the Tol-in-Gaurhoth Junior thread for details, sign-up, etc. Please do not post here until the beginning of the game.

[Diamond18]

Welcome to the game of Wereducks. A refresher of the Werewolf rules and a review of my variations are as follows, please read carefully:

Seventeen villagers there shall be
In fair Ducktapia down by the sea

Ten poor Ordos there shall see
That evil Wereducks shall there be three

The fearless Hawk will number one
And a Nightingale will join the fun

One mad Goose a Duck wants to be
One noble Owl looks for truths to See

One secret to discover there shall be
In fair Ducktapia down by the sea

Yes, I am the ill fated Halfling poet so my game intro must be in bad rhyme. Now in plain English:

There will be 10 Ordos, 3 Wereducks, 1 Hawk, 1 Nightingale, 1 Goose, and 1 Owl. PLUS there is a secret aspect to this game the nature of which I will not reveal but if any of you can figure it out before the game ends, the person who does so will get special adulation when I ape Mith’s modding and give out awards.

There are two phases to the game, Night and Day.

During the Night the three Wereducks PM each other and decided on one villager to kill. Each Wereduck must PM me the agreed upon kill separately. Also during the Night the Owl may PM me to learn the guilt or innocence of one villager. The Nightingale must PM me with the name of a villager s/he wishes to protect should the Ducks attempt to kill that player.

During the Day all villagers discuss the situation and must decide who to lynch on suspicion of being a Wereduck. There will be NO double lynchings and NO retraction of votes. If at the end of the Day there is a tie, the first villager to reach the fated number will be the one to die.

The Hawk and the Nightingale may PM each other at any time, Day or Night.

The Hawk may PM me at any time, Day or Night to select one villager to kill should s/he die either by lynching or at the hands of the Wereducks. If they had hands. At any rate, the last name PMed to me at the time of the Hawk’s death shall be the Hawk’s victim.

The Goose wants the Ducks to win and must work toward this goal during the Day, but s/he may not PM anyone at any time. The Ducks do not know who s/he is and s/he does not know who the Ducks are.

Ordos may not PM anyone at anytime.

The game ends when:

The Wereducks bring down the villagers to match their number. This results in a Wereduck Win.

Or

The Villagers kill every last Wereduck. This results in a Village Win.

The game begins NOW with a Night Phase. The Wereducks and the Hawk/Nightingale may PM each other starting now. (There is no need for the Ducks, Hawk, or Nightingale to PM me the first night.) The Owl must PM me within those next 24 hours to learn the identity of one other villager. NOTE: I will only be revealing whether a person is a Duck or Not A Duck. The Owl will not learn whether the Innocents are Gifteds or Ordos. By this same token, when an Innocent dies I will NOT be revealing whether or not s/he was a Gifted.

I think that’s it.

Night 1 has now begun but you may not post in this thread till the Day begins.

[Diamond18]

Late one April night Diamond Took, the Halfling Poet, sat in her cellar scratching out poorly rhyming phrases onto parchment with a quill pen. She lived in the cellar of the local Saggar Maker, for she was a singular hobbit in that she preferred her home to be dank and smelly. She was hard pressed to find any really good nasty, wet, dark holes to live in that were not already taken up by those bothersome reformed Orcs, and the rent for the cellar was cheap. The nice smell of decay often helped inspire her poetry.

On this night, however, even the smell of earthworms waking up was not enough to fuel her creativity. “Oh bother,” she cried, crumpling up the paper and tossing it into the wastebasket. “This will never come out right! I wish I were an Elf! Poetry comes so naturally to them, blast those poncy fools!”

“Quack.”

“What? What was that?” she looked up, but in the long ensuing silence heard nothing more. She gave a shrug and set to scratching out her poetry again, and for a time the rasping of the feather tip was the only sound.

“Quack.”

Diamond looked up, and eyed the door dubiously. “Some kid,” she muttered, “playing a prank.”

That gave her an idea, so she crumpled up the sheet again and started over. “Yes, yes,” she smiled to herself as curling lines of ink poured themselves over the paper, “this is more like it.”

“Quack.”

“All right, young prankster, that’s enough,” the hobbit planted her hairy feet on the earthen floor and stomped over to the cellar door. “It’s hard enough writing poetry without constant interruption.” She flung open the door to let in the night, but something far worse awaited her. “No,” she stumbled backwards, eyes widening in fear at the terrifying sight, “it can’t be...!”

Quoth the Wereducks, “Quack. Quack. Quack.”


~ Day One ~


The villagers found her the next morning, draped over her writing desk, covered in blood and welts. All over the floor were bloody, webbed footprints. Beside her body lay the beginnings of a poem:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many an ill and awkward line of my rhyming chore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, presently there came a quacking,
Someone there was gently quacking, quacking at my cellar door.
“ ’Tis some prankster,” I muttered, “quacking at my cellar door;
Only this, and nothing more.”

“It can’t be,” said the hobbits among them. “It’s just a legend!”

“Look,” said one astute human, “there are three sets of footprints. There are three of them!”

“We shall chop off their heads,” growled the dwarven folk.

“We snapums neuckums!” declared the Orcs, helpfully.

“Oh, will our village ever be the same again?” wondered the Ent.

Quoth the Elven, “Nevermore!”

~~~~~~~~~

~ The Dead ~

Diamond Took, the Halfling Poet ~ Villager ~ Pecked to death on Night 1

~ The Living ~

Anguirel the Baritone Bird Catcher
Mithalwen the Elven Saggar Maker's Bottom Knocker
Saucepan Man the Orcish Scarecrow
Mormegil the Elven Idleman
Valier the Dwarven Millet Spray Picker
Nogrod the Dwarven Personal Fitness Instructor
Kath the Rainbow Catcher
Cailín the Bird-portraitist
Roa Aoife the Batwoman
Nilpaurion Felagund the Elven Pigeon-Summoning Ninja
Glirdan the Entish Tree Herder
Lote22 the Elven Igloo Maker
Lalaith the Halfling Chubb Fuddler
JennyHallu the Halfling Mountaintop Guru
Elu Ancalime the Didgeridoo Dwarf
Sleepy Ranger the Exiled Jedi Master
Dancing Spawn of Ungoliant the Spider Loving Orcish Astronaut

Day 1 starts now.

[Glirdan]

Ho hum...This is a tragedy. I greatly enjoyed that young Halflings poetry. Ho hummmm ho!! I can't believe that someone in this here village (wait, what am I doing living in a village? Oh well, I'll figure that out later...) would be as cruel as this and that the legend is real. But the proof is right in front of us. We must catch these hrrruuuummm ducks before they can strike again!! For our dear Diamond!! I promise you, I will find all these Ducks and get revenge for you my friend!! Hooo huuummmmm!!!

I suggest watching those two evil folk as you Men, Dwarves and Elves would call them. There is a far older name for them in the language of Ents, yet it is to long to say. Anyway, what was I saying? Right...We must watch that Orc and Spider. I'm sure they're up to some mischief. Spiders tend to spin webs of lies, definetly watch that one. As for the Orc...what is he doing living amongst us peacable folk? Definetly watch them I will. Hrrrrrrruuuuuuummmmmm!!!

[Glirdan]

Sorry for the double post, but I must retire to the woods and go herd those trees now. I shall be back later with some thoughts.

[mormegil]

Meh, Diamond really didn't provide me with much by the way of entertainment. Though if this continues I may wind up dead too, which would prove too tragic to imagine. My poor life cut short after only two ages. *sigh* Well I would like to pay somebody to solve this for me. Any takers? I pay well.

[mormegil]

Originally Posted by SpM

Is this the last, desparate ploy of a cornered Duck? I suspect that it might well be.

My dear Saucie, I must say that I am somewhat insulted that you think so poorly of me. If I were a duck I wouldn't give up at this point. Last desperate ploy indeed! Somebody once said something about me, in this village too, that something I did was either very altruistic or very duckish, I wish somebody could view me as an altruist.