WW XCVI - The Fell Winter of 2911

[Kitanna]

In the winter of 2911 the snows fell heavy and they fell frequently. A great white blanket covered the Shire. Hobbits of Bridgefields of the Eastfarthing, huddled inside, avoiding the frigid air, and the bitter wind. They had survived winters like this before, they would survive again.

First the food began to run out. Frustrated and hungry tensions ran high. Threats were made and friendships ruined. But they were resolved to survive. Attempting to work together the Hobbits rationed their food to last out the winter, while sending for help.

Then the Brandywine froze. The wolves began sniffing around. Seeing this as an opportunity to ensure their survival three Hobbits struck a deal with the wolves. They sacrifice a fellow village every night and their own families stay safe. This was an easy road to survival.

Do not post here yet

[Kitanna]

Kitanna grumbled to herself. Waking up in the middle of the night was bad enough. Waking up in the middle of a cold winter's night was even worse. She pulled the blankets over her head and tried to muffle the sounds from outside with a pillow. Who would dream of being out so late? And in this frigid air.

When the hurried whispers outside did not cease Kitanna angrily kicked off the blankets and wrabbed herself in a furlined cloak. She grabbed an umbrella from next to the door. She'd show those good-for-nothings a thing or two about waking someone up in the middle of the night.

She flung the door open, pausing when she caught wind of the conversation. “We had a deal, now come on, Kit's asleep, there's no better time.”

“What if she wakes up?”

“What if indeed!” Kitanna cried brandishing her umbrella. “What are you three up to?” No answer was forth coming. “Come now! Get your butts on home and go to bed!”

One of the night whisperers came up to Kit, hands behind his back. In one quick motion Kitanna felt the pang of defeat. The whisperer dropped his frying pan into the snow, they could come back for it later. “Let's throw her body onto the Brandywine. The wolves are waiting.”

~*~*~

The village was gathered in Inzil's tavern. They'd continue deliberating about the food shortage. Kitanna and Aganzir still hadn't arrived. Everyone was getting impatient.

“We should just start without them!” Nogrod folded his arms across his chest. His foul mood worsened with each passing minute.

“Give them another minute,” Nerwen said. “Kit's always late and I'm sure Aganzir is with her.”

The door to the tavern opened. A snow covered Agan came in. She dropped a bloody cloak onto the nearest table. “We have a problem. The wolves got to Kitanna.”

“How?” Kath nearly jumped from her seat in a panic. Her hands twisting nervously. “We've kept a close watch on the borders. Nothing has gotten through!”

“Well she wouldn't have just wandered out after dark to be attacked.” Shasta snapped. “Someone would have had to drag her out!”

“You fiends!” Glirdan yelled. “Selfish fiends. You got rid of Kit so you could have more food for yourself!”

The fingers were pointed, the accusations thrown. Some Hobbits were dragging their neighbors into the cold and letting the wolves take them.

Day 1 Begins

The Dead
Kitanna – Umbrella wielder

The Living
Shasta - Village Chandler
Menel - Traveling Salesman
Glirdan - Traveling Thespian
G55 - Little Red Riding Hood
Nerwen - Maid at Inzil's
Legate - Local Bard
Pitchwife - Village Shopkeep
Nogrod - Retired Barkeep
Lommy – Local Cooper
Inzil - Village Barkeep
Aganzir - Herbalist
Sally - Town Bicycle
Kath - Woodsmith with the gammy leg

[Galadriel55]

*points fingers* *throws accusations* Who killed Kit? *gives everyone a harsh stare*

No ridiculous suspicion list from me this time.

But I still have the first post!

[Inziladun]

No Hobbit has ever killed another on purpose before! What have we come to!

If you murderers are that savage already, you ought to get on out in the cold with your wolf friends!

There. End obligatory IC.

[Pitchwife]

O tempora, o mores! Only a few days ago a couple of urchins tried to steal my golden dragon claw right from the counter - meaning to sell it for food, no doubt. (Granted, it's really just a cockerel's foot with some gold paint, but still, it makes a nice decoration.) And now this! That any hobbit should sink so low as to make common cause with murdering beasts... [etc.etc., insert verbose IC lament which I won't bore you by typing out]

* * *

With that out of the way, who of us three is most likely to be a wolf? Gal55 for ostentatious hard stares and furious smiley, so furious about Kit's death that she couldn't possibly have had a hand in it? Zil for self-consciously lampshading his IC post (which wasn't even terribly IC)? Me for inventing silly points against the other two (and being a hypocrite to boot)? Discuss.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

With that out of the way, who of us three is most likely to be a wolf?

All?

[Galadriel55]

Shasta - still toiling through the snow, it seems.

Menel - oy vey. Why so concentrated on proving a truth that already has been proven, when he is questioned based on why he posts it rather the content itself? Menel concentrated on this one issue, though he didn't actually comment directly on it, without participating in others. I can't say that an obsession with proving the obvious truth is signalling a wolf, though, and since there's hardly aught else there's not much to go on. I suppose I'll accept what others have said about this being his playing style (since they would know better than me) and letting it go for toDay.

Glirdan - still reading.

G55 - *waves*

Nerwen - hard to tell, which is nothing new.

Legate - makes me alert, but no red light yet. Can't really say where the ill-at-ease feeling is comming from.

Pitchwife - I think he is overly suspicious of Kath's question about the cobbler pick going through. Or, rather, he gives me the vibe that he's expectant of people to side with him, even wanting people to side with him (Mostly referring to #21). However, his vote for Nog is not unreasonable from his perspective.

Nogrod - doesn't look too out-of-character. Says what he would normally say. Except... see note on bottom.

Lommy – sick, therefore excused. I love her for saying that I "mess around" on Day Ones, cause that's what usually ends up happening. Objectively speaking, she looks ok.

Inzil - seems like the same innocent Inzil I've seen in previous games.

Agan - is Agan *sigh*. She's a cobbler whatever her actual role.

Sally - full of migrane, therefore excused.

Kath - Despite the suspicion, I rather like that she brought up the cobbler, since it gave people something to discuss. And the questions she asks (eg about the narration) are something an innocent could ask just as much as a wolf, so in my opinion they don't show any particular wolvishness.



NOTE:

Originally Posted by Nogrod

Now where is your commitment with 40 posts on D1? Or anyone elses'?

This is the one thing about Nog that bothers me, but it's so trivial it's bound to be ridiculous. Somehow, I can't imagine Nog saying that with a "" on his face. I'd expect his expression to be more like "". Was he trying to "be nice" to avoid Pitchie's oncoming vote?

Blargh, this is worse that the "she-cobbler" case. I can't build proper cases on Day1. ><

EDIT: xed since my last. Shasta's here!!!

[Aganzir]

Here are some things that made me concerned about Nerwen.

Originally Posted by Nerwen 94

So, I wonder who and what we're dealing with here. Innocent Nogrod? Nogwolf tossing his comrade under the bus? Nogwolf cackling to himself at the initial success of his frame-up on an innocent? Discuss.

It's similar to sally's later "I wonder if Agan is a baddie. Discuss."

After Lommy and my votes for sally, Nerwen quoted her question about finding the cobbler, called it odd and suggested sally's behaviour might fit her being the cobbler (but then, so might Lommy's).

On day 3, I analysed sally, and Nerwen commented demurely on a minor point (the quote should be mine, not sally's). That was the first thing that alarmed me about her because that's exactly how she tends to react to a fellow wolf getting under suspicion - agreeing but not agreeing, if you know what I mean. She continutes it in a later post:

Originally Posted by Nerwen 203

Agan at #198 makes an excellent analysis of The Sinister Sally, bringisg out some points I don't think anyone else had. Then she winds up with a quite invalid suspicion, based on out-of-context quoting.

However later, in 211, she offers Nog (who had suggested a pack of Shasta, Legate and Nerwen) a compromise - Shasta, Legate and sally. Yes sally had received some suspicion, but then Nerwen had been suspicious of Nog herself. Anyway I'm not quite sure she'd be that willing to bus a fellow because it was by no means certain we'd lynch sally.

So yeah, I'm far more certain of Legate's guilt. It's impossible to ever accuse Nerwen with absolute certainty (except when she starts off by saying that terrible things have happened - this is what you get for reminding me of my slips ), but I don't think her being a wolf is far-fetched. Even though it could of course also be Menel or Kath. The latter was acting weirdly yesterday (actually all of the game to be honest), while we haven't seen much of the former... But then, if Kath was a wolf, wouldn't she have voted for Nogrod with Legate?

[Meneltarmacil]

Nogrod and Shasta don't look like wolves. Their cross-posted votes for Sally put her in the lead to be lynched, and Sally's vote for Nog instead of Agan leads toward that direction as well.

Kath's silence makes her pretty unreadable. Could go either way; there just isn't enough information to tell.

Nerwen voted very late and voted for Sally. She was beyond saving, though, so it could potentially be a wolf-on-wolf.

Yet something really bothers me about yesterday's voting. If even one innocent did vote for another, the three wolves could have banded together to take that number up to four. Even if the other villagers all voted for an alternative lynch, the wolves would still win.

But after Legate voted for Nogrod and Kath voted for Aganzir, no such wolf-pile occurred. Sally did try to add to the Nogrod votes, but the other wolves didn't. Either we've got some rather unintelligent wolves, or either Legate or Kath is a wolf who voted too early.

All in all, I'd really like to see some answers regarding the wolves' actions.

[Nogrod]

Half-time...

Originally Posted by Aganzir

if Kath was a wolf, wouldn't she have voted for Nogrod with Legate?

Exactly.

The wolves knew they could more or less nail it yesterDay so why not use the chance? There had been enough stated suspicions coming my way Kath could have easily picked up and voted with. Being forced to vote that early she could have gotten away with it...

But she didn't. So a reason for me to trust on her toDay at least (well, unless things go very complicated).

I'm also trusting Agan's revelation as long as there are no counter-claims. And even if there is, they must be followed by some exceptionally believable stuff looking at both Agan's vote yesterDay (the same fits to her vote as with Kath's, or even more as it was already the third vote and she herself already had a vote when introducing a new votée) and all the sense she has been making toDay.

I was ready to vote Legate already yesterDay and (unless something unpredictable happens or unforeseen arguments come forwards) and reading through Agan's analysis hasn't exactly weakend my stance on that.

But even if Legate is a wolf (and I hope to delve into that myself as well later on) we still miss the third.

And if I'm right about the three I have been talking about, then it is one from Shasta, Nerwen, Meneltarmacil... and it could be anyone, really.

I hope to go through yesterDay in regards Shasta & Nerwen to look at ther reactions to Sally getting nearer the gallows, but was it Menel, the riddle of why Sally was left alone to die would have been solved.

EDIT: X'd with Menel... back with you after the game...

[Aganzir]

Originally Posted by Meneltarmacil

Either we've got some rather unintelligent wolves, or either Legate or Kath is a wolf who voted too early.

Exactly. And this is one of the reasons I'm really suspicious of Legate.

Originally Posted by Nogrod

I'm also trusting Agan's revelation as long as there are no counter-claims.

Oh come on, I'll be dead tonight anyway so no need to doubt.

I hope to go through yesterDay in regards Shasta & Nerwen to look at ther reactions to Sally getting nearer the gallows, but was it Menel, the riddle of why Sally was left alone to die would have been solved.

Nope. At least one innocent would've had to vote for you, Nog. Even if Nerwen (or Shasta) is a wolf, they couldn't very well just give you a vote and wait for the other (or Menel) to follow suit. There was no chance they could've saved sally, what with the general opinion leaning towards lynching her rather than you.

Nog brought up a good point about Kath. Yes obviously if she was a wolf, she would've voted for Nogrod with Legate instead of me. Shasta looks relatively good, especially after yesterday. Menel looks okay too (I admit it may be because I pretty much agree with him), plus I have a hard time seeing Legate defending a fellow so outrageously obviously. Method of elimination (plus the points I mentioned earlier) leave Nerwen as the remaining wolf.

++LEGATE OF AMON LANC

Because there's no chance he's not a wolf.

I may or may not pop in before work tomorrow depending on how early I get up. Now I'm going to bed with Lovecraft.

Good luck.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Agan

Oh come on, I'll be dead tonight anyway so no need to doubt.

Heh. I did actually continue from where you quoted with this:

Originally Posted by me

And even if there is, they must be followed by some exceptionally believable stuff looking at both Agan's vote yesterDay (the same fits to her vote as with Kath's, or even more as it was already the third vote and she herself already had a vote when introducing a new votée) and all the sense she has been making toDay.

So it takes some game-changing arguments for me to not trust you here Agan. Like let's say Legate is lynched and is not a wolf, and you are alive toMorrow - and there's another ranger-reveal... or something of that scope. I mean never say never, but yeah, thus far I have no reason not to trust your revelation.

I'll check the late part of yesterDay if there is anything worth noticing. And I do encourage others to do that too.

[Kath]

Oy, I have not been silent. I have been struggling with this deadline. Feels like I'm always playing catch up. And I'll be voting within half an hour again.

My vote yesterDay was based on the fact that I thought the wolves must have seen something in Lommy's posts to bother killing her. She was by no means trailless. I had to vote early and I wanted to make sure her posts were looked at in case she was on to something. Don't think I really succeeded but hey.

Agan's ranger reveal I'm willing to take at face value. If she's a wolf it's an impressive ploy but (I think) all the players have turned up now and I would have thought there would have been a counter reveal by now if she wasn't the real one.

So, this leaves me with:
Nog
Nerwen
Shasta
Legate
Menel

As potential wolves. Off to look at the thread.