Tol-in-Gaurhoth LXIII: The Cottage of Lost Play

[Lalaith]

I've just gone and checked and it seems I misremembered, it wasn't quite early, it was only six minutes before deadline that I voted. Sorry about that.

[Nogrod]

Now don't make me suspect you Lalaith. I've already argued why you are an innocent...

You should remember when you voted. Even if it was I think as you said it was before McCaber's revealment - but just at the same minute or something...

[Lalaith]

Oh, don't worry, it was definitely before McCaber's reveal - I just got muddled between yesterday (when I did vote early) and the day before.

[Nogrod]

Too many Martinis?

[Lalaith]

Probably....but I thought these were Mojitos? I know, the mint really is not what it could be...

But anyway, there seems little to go on as yet today and between those of us who are here, I think we have said it all...I will go up the stairs to my room now - as steadily as I can - to rest as best I can. Strange that somewhere so familiar should also feel so sinister. I am haunted by the memories of our departed friends, blending into shades of Nienor, of Beren, of Carcaroth...*shudder*....still, I will have to make my decision quickly when I emerge, and then, as stated elsewhere, I will not be amongst you until after the final die is cast.

[Nogrod]

Nogrod tried to answer Lalaith pointing towards the earlier Days with the Martinis but felt too dizzy to do that in the end... too many Mojitos today... with bad mint. But he was aware of everything that went by... or should we say: aware of nothing that happened. It was silent. Too silent for him to stay awake.

He tried to stay alert but sleep was crawling up on him. He fought against it but finally it did overcome him.

"Nessa's suspicion of Rikae seems like an easy one, fishing for a case others might bite into that is...? I'd give Rikae a Day at least to really prove her qualities..." Nogrod mumbled just before falling asleep.

[Rikae]

Hm, yes, to be honest this is probably the only way anyone who knew me could be quite sure of my innocence. I would be ashamed to be such a lazy wolf, and even more so to use it as a strategy. It probably makes it unfairly easy for those who know me at all to tell what my role is (but perhaps by saying all this in the open, I've complicated things a bit).

I feel very uncertain about any judgments I might try to make, though, because so many of our companions here aren't familiar to me from the 'downs at all. Well, to go back over what I remember...

[Rikae]

autume: refers to following Fea's lead in cleaning up. Yes, this is meaningless, but everything else she said was (no offense, it's to be expected to some extent from a newbie) Captain Obvious commentary.
Lalaith: Has been serving alcohol and acting pleasant – which is in itself suspicious.
Eonwe: was actually the one who said this about Shasta: “Maybe he's running away because he's afraid of the blood. Or maybe he's afraid of getting caught. Or maybe he's trying to cover up his Night bloodlust with the feigned fear of blood. Either way, he seemed in a hurry to go, wouldn't you say? Mighty suspicious if you ask me.” to which Inzil replied “I'd say either of the above could be correct. A wolf faking a fear of blood would be a cunning tactic this early on.”


Such utter silliness on both their parts I was tempted to ignore it, but they both seem to take it quite seriously. Not that Inzil's taking Eonwe's silly accusation seriously makes them co-conspirators automatically, but the easier (and more reasonable looking) thing for wolf-Inzil to do with an innocent Eonwe's weird comment would be to turn it against Eonwe, not agree with it.


Eonwe also made the faux-seer comment “Maybe something will come to me in my sleep.”. Not that this could not have been done innocently, too (I did something similar myself, figuring it might get the wolves off the trail, before McCaber's reveal), but this is also part of a post where Eonwe doges Pitchwife's criticism and, basically, excuses himself from the discussion – the sort of thing a wolf under pressure might be quite tempted to do.
Eonwe's attempts to understand Fea's supposed “hint” about Inzil look genuine and innocent,though.


Nogrod: Did quite a bit of rambling-and-ranting-without-offering-real-suspicions on Day 1. Then again, that does suit what I know of his personality. Did some arguing with Inzil on Day 1 (and vice versa), but nothing very intense, could well be wolf-on-wolf. On Day one, called Fea creepy and lumped Inzil with Eonwe and Pitchwife as “talking, and that's good”


Nessa and Nerwen were suggested by Fea as “solid options” for lynching on Day 1, but I doubt she would have thought, were one of them a wolf, that she was putting them in any serious danger with it. Quite the contrary, actually – really mentioned in passing.
Nessa, like Autume, has done quite a bit of stating the obvious, and Nerwen (like yours truly) has been largely MIA. If one of them is a wolf, there is really nothing to go on – it's a shot in the dark (which isn't really a fair way to win, if such a wolf does). Nessa and Fea's votes for each other on Day 1 – well, I've discussed it before, really, it could be anything.


...back with thoughts on Day 2...

[Rikae]

After thinking it over a bit, I find myself agreeing with Nog on the choices for toDay's vote (excepting myself, believe it or not) - meh, this just sounds like I'm going along for the ride, but others have at least partial alibis of some kind by now - Nessa, Eonwe and Autume. I have my doubts regarding Eonwe's hesitation to kill Inzil looking innocentish. Autume, at one point, referred to "the wolf" when there were three, and I don't know her well enough to judge whether she's feign ignorance like that... must think some more...

[Rikae]

I am the secret cobbler. That is to say, I ate the cursed apple cobbler for dessert, and I am supposed to help the wolves to win, for the amusement of our hostess - who is, incidentally, undead.

Lynch me. Please.

[Rikae]

Lynch. Me.

++Rikae

Like that.

[autume98]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Hmm. While I agree that the wolves were seemingly justified in taking revenge on the one who afflicted them, if a blood lust has indeed taken them, sitting quiet would seem very dangerous to the rest of us.

I found this interesting. This is from day 1. Could Inzil have been trying to tell one of the fellow wolves to speak up more. At this point Nerwen hadn't been around and neither had Nessa.

Edit: x-ed with Rikae

[Rikae]

Hm, I don't know, it looks like a stretch.

[autume98]

I just found it interesting. I'm not sure if it means anything or not.

[Rikae]

Who are you, really?

[autume98]

*Hiccup* According to the bottle in my hand *hiccup* I'm Jack Daniels. *Hiccup*

[Lalaith]

This house is getting stranger and stranger. *points up*
Rikae, are you feeling ok? Maybe mint doesn't agree with you...

Well, it seems so early to be making decisions but needs must....

Nerwen is I think unlikely to be a wolf because of her vote yesterday.
Eonwe made a mess yesterday but I don't think it was a wolf-mess, if you see what I mean.
Nogrod I have felt to be trustworthy through his behaviour - I could be wrong, but as I said before, this is one to wait on.
Rikae - I gave my reasons earlier, that wolf-Rikae would not be so quiet.
Nessa - well, one interpretation of her day one vote leaves her looking quite good, although I'm not convinced.
autume As we have all said, there is so little to go on. But I have thought about this and I have found grounds to suspect her, partly based on her failure to vote yesterday.
Let us say our last transformed guest is a quiet person, a newcomer. Nervous perhaps, and ill at ease. This guest sees, after day one, that votes leave trails, and are picked over by the other guests, interpreted this way and that...but that those who did not vote are not actually being overly criticised or picked on by the others. Perhaps better not to vote at all...better to lie low and stay quiet....
Well, it makes as much sense as anything else.
++autume98

[autume98]

After drinking some coffee and sobering up a bit, I decide to go over the vote count for those of us who have been fortunate enough to survive so far.

On Day 1
Nessa votes for Fea.
Eonwe votes for McCaber.
Autume votes for Eonwe.
Lalaith votes for Shasta.
Nogrod votes for Fea.
Those that didn't vote: Nerwen and Rikae

On Day 2
Lalaith votes for Pitchwife.
Nessa votes for Pitchwife.
Nogrod votes for Shasta.
Nerwen votes for Inzil.
Those that didn't vote: Eonwe, Autume, and Rikae

After looking at these lists this is what I've come up with. Those that I believe to be innocent at this time and why:
1. Nogrod because he had no reason to vote for Fea. Yet he did thus getting rid of the first werewolf.
2. Nerwen voted for Inzil yesterDay which helped get rid of the second werewolf.

That leaves Lalaith, Nessa, Eonwe, and Rikae on my list of people of whom I'm suspicious.

I look down at my coffee mug and realize I'm out of coffee. So I get up and head to the kitchen to get more coffee.

[Nerwen]

Nerwen walked in, looking pleased with herself, and holding a notebook covered in scribble.

"What I didn't see fit to mention earlier," she said, "was that whatever evil spell has put my camera out of action hasn't affected my field recorder." She showed the company the small electronic device. "I've recorded everything that's been said from the first day. This morning I've been hard at work transcribing Inzilawolf's statements."

After waiting to see that she had everyone's attention, she cleared her thoat and began, a little self-consciously,

"Inziladun, Day One.

Well, the first three cmments are just banter,

Then, replying to Eönwë, who said of Shasta that his going upstairs might be a sign of guilt, he says,

Originally Posted by Eönwë

Maybe he's running away because he's afraid of the blood. Or maybe he's afraid of getting caught. Or maybe he's trying to cover up his Night bloodlust with the feigned fear of blood. Either way, he seemed in a hurry to go, wouldn't you say? Mighty suspicious if you ask me.

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I'd say either of the above could be correct. A wolf faking a fear of blood would be a cunning tactic this early on.

And that's where the suspicion on Shasta started.

Then more banter; then he replies to Nogrod's charge of making empty, obvious statements,

Originally Posted by Inziladun

It's rather hard to 'get involved' when others won't.

Nerwen cleared her throat again and flipped over the page.

"That apparently goaded him into trying to seem more helpful. He makes a list:

Originally Posted by Inziladun

If anyone's listening, I'll offer a few preliminary thoughts about the situation.
Our hostess brought us all here for what we believed to be a fun, innocent gathering where we could all discuss one of our favourite subjects in a comfortable atmosphere. She then revealed a more sinister motive for it all, claimed to have made three of us into killers, and was apparently killed herself in an unpleasant manner. I say 'apparently' because she obviously intended to sit back and watch the mayhem she'd created. With the amount of planning she'd put into this, I find it most difficult to believe that her 'death' is as it appears. But what is really going on?
Fea and Pitchwife immediately got to work on cleaning the crime scene. Did anyone look for any clues? autume98 said she would help, but did not follow up. Lalaith suggested taking photos, and Fea says she did.
Boro mentioned an aversion to the blood of others, but not his own.
Shasta disappeared and explained himself by saying he went upstairs in the hope of catching one of the wolves in the midst of transformation. I found that statement rather odd.
Eönwë was giving suggestions of body disposal, and said Shasta could be afraid of the blood when he left, or was pretending to be.
McCaber has said only that we must discuss the matter. I agree, but no one seems inclined to do so at the moment.
Nogrod has been offering some quiet, carefully considered remarks while smoking a pipe. Interesting tobacco blend. Had a bit of a Turkish aroma.
It would be nice to have some more information before we have to make our decision. Perhaps some others will speak up soon.

More banter, then he replies to Shasta:

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I wasn't necessarily accusing you of anything. It appeared you had said you were hoping to surprise them in the act of transforming, and I failed to see the logic there.

Replying to Boro, who didn't like his theory about Shasta:

Originally Posted by Inziladun

If you'll recall, my friend, that was no theory of mine. Eönwë had brought it up, and I was responding to him.

By the way, a little before this Boro made a gesture of pointing out Inzi to Fea. Seems he'd picked Inzi as a likely wolf and didn't suspect Fea herself, but that's odd– she seemed a lot more evil, if you ask me." Nerwen sighed, "Ah well, I guess we'll never know quite what was in his mind now...

Anyway, then Boro said that Inzi's comments on Shasta were the only thing he'd really said all day, the rest being "chatter".

To which Inzi replied,

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Well, what more do you want? There doesn't seem to be a great deal to work with just yet. Would it be more comfort to you if I remained silent?

At Boro's urging he gave his thoughts on McCaber, Shasta, Fea and Nogrod:

Originally Posted by Inziladun

As to whether or not he is definitely a wolf, I have no idea. He has been guilty of popping in and out of things with few words other than 'something must be done', and I do find that a bit unnerving.
Other than that, the only one who has really jumped out at me thus far is Shasta. He seemed a bit defensive when I made a remark that I found his behaviour odd, and gave a explanation for it that didn't agree with what I remembered of his original statement.
Fea seems a tad too eager to please, and I have a tendancy to be suspicious of such people as a rule.
Nogrod is back into things now, and it will be interesting to hear his thoughts.

Then... let's see.. he protests about Boro's vote for him, then:

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Boro was either not paying attention, or was deliberately ignoring what I said, for his own reasons.
Of the two, I find the first option so unlikely I am forced to accept the second.
I am loathe to vote for him at this point, though. I hope he's simply in need of sleep and not going to murder me in mine.
And Nessa? That had the look of a knee-jerk punch back at Fea, which I could understand. Nessa denied that was her motive, though. It's odd that she didn't voice any particular suspicion of Fea before the latter's vote for her.
Nogrod has made a list with observations that appear perfectly valid. Seems a calm voice of reason, at least for now.
I think I'm leaning toward Shasta at the moment, or maybe McCaber.
Now Eönwë's gone for McCaber.
Hmm.

And then, of course, he votes McCaber.

Originally Posted by Inziladun

++ McCaber

Because he's been so unobtrusive and is now backing up Nessa's strange vote, for unknown reasons. A railroad begun by one wolf and continued by their fellow?

Hmmn... he didn't actually say much about any of the living. The things that stand out are: he's rather careful to be non-commital about Nogrod, at times appears to be working in tandem with Eönwë (but could be taking advantage of him instead), and somewhat "suspects" Nessa.

What is clear is that the Shasta-suspicion was started by Eönwë but Zil was the one fanning the flames. However, the following day, as far I recall, it was mostly Nogrod carrying it on... might be interesting to check out his relations with Zil that day.

...Anything to drink? My throat's parched."

EDIT: fixed quotes and bolding.
EDIT2: words left out.

[Eönwë]

A few comments...

Originally Posted by Nessa Telrunya

Eonwe doesn't look too good right now. On day one, he tied up the vote for Fea by voting McCaber.

You put that crazily out of context and I don't like it. First of all, he hadn't yet revealed. Secondly, at that time, as well as Fea, Nessa and Inziladun also had one vote, so I don't really get how I'd be helping Fea there. I don't like your twisting of the facts at all.

Originally Posted by Rikae

Such utter silliness on both their parts I was tempted to ignore it, but they both seem to take it quite seriously. Not that Inzil's taking Eonwe's silly accusation seriously makes them co-conspirators automatically, but the easier (and more reasonable looking) thing for wolf-Inzil to do with an innocent Eonwe's weird comment would be to turn it against Eonwe, not agree with it.

What? First we're both taking it seriously, then Inzil's taking it seriously? That's a little bit of a contradiction. And yes, in that instance, Inziladun was taking my joking suspicion and turned it into a real suspicion. I think he probably used me as a starting point here because he knew that when Shasta turned out to be innocent, it could be traced back to me rather than him (Inzil).

[Rikae]

Originally Posted by Eonwe

What? First we're both taking it seriously, then Inzil's taking it seriously? That's a little bit of a contradiction.

No, it isn't, and your grasping at straws to paint me as suspicious doesn't make you look any better.

So, it was a joke now? You certainly waited long enough to say so. And yes, you both appeared to take it seriously, and Inzil is one of the "both" - he could have gone after you for casting weakly reasoned suspicions around, but instead he chose to act as though they were strong arguments.

[Rikae]

In other words, I'm not saying "Inzil took seriously what you meant as a joke" but "Inzil took seriously what is absurd whether you meant it as a joke or not".

[Rikae]

I'm torn between Eönwë and Autume, but I think I'd better vote early, lest i miss the deadline again. Never done this before, but there is so little discussion ... heads, Eönwë, tails, Autume.
*digs a coin out of her purse - it happens to be an English penny. Flips it...*

Heads.

++Eönwë

[Nerwen]

Nerwen, who had gone back to her eerily familiar room to complete the transcription of the Inziladun Files, returned looking even more pleased with herself.

"Ready for the next installment?" she asked.

"Inziladun began Day Two by feigning dismay at Boro's death.

Replying to Nessa's naive (or perhaps pseudo-naive) statement that the people who voted for Fea couldn't be wolves, he said:

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Well, I can conceive of scenarios when they might vote for a fellow who is caught with no hope of escape, just to deflect some suspicion from themselves. But I don't think that's a concern in this case.

Then he tried to butter up McCaber.

Then Pitchwife asked him why he thought the innocent Boro had voted him, and he said:

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I can't say what his thoughts were, of course. But he asked things of me which I complied with, then he immediately voted and left the room before hearing my response. Why? I don't know.

Which of course, sounds like an explanation, but isn't when you look at it closely. A lot of what he said was like that. I'll tell you what," Nerwen added, with real admiration, "he may have been evil, but he was good at it!

Well then, after that he's clever enough to defend McCaber against Eönwë's semi-suspicion.

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I can see no logical reason a Wolfcaber would have given up his fellow on the first Day. If this is a ruse devised by the wolves, it's insanely risky for them.

He explains (at Nogrod's request) why he voted McCaber after suspecting Fea, and denies that he has shown the "trust" in Nogrod that the latter says makes him uneasy.

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I did say I found her a bit unnerving, but I didn't think it enough to induce me to vote for her. I certainly never said she was innocent.

'Overwhelming trust for you'? I'm afraid not, good sir. You've been making sense, and I don't see in you anything in particular at the moment that gives me chills, but you are certainly not beyond suspicion.

Now Nogrod flip-flopped on Inzi, saying that he was "considerate and reasonable" and "made good points", but also that his vote the day before looked bad, and that he made him uneasy.

This could be a wolf deliberately throwing out a weak suspicion of a comrade.. or an innocent disarmed by Zil's move in defending McCaber.

Inzi also denied Pitchwife's accusation that he was twisting Shasta's words. Then he went to bed, saying he "eagerly awaited" Shasta's case against him.

That's all he'd said about Shasta by that point– by this time Nogrod was after Shasta pretty strongly; I suppose Inzi thought he could sit back and relax.

On his return he finally made a definite accusation, against Nessa:

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I don't know Nessa well, as she hasn't been a part of our Downs community terribly long. However, such an adamant statement, that the Fea voters could not be wolves, and Fea saying no one should vote for Nessa makes me uneasy. Again, my suspicion of her (and McCaber in turn) the previous Day was based upon the fact that she voted for Fea immediately after Fea voted for her, and, after it was posited that Nessa's was a revenge vote, she denied it. Her 'explanation' of the vote never rang true to me. Couple that with her urging McCaber to reveal his dream after he's already said he wished to keep it to himself for the moment, and Nessa is highly suspect to me.

I think this looks like a genuine attack, which makes Nessa look more innocent.

He then casts suspicion on Pitchwife,

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Another one wanting McCaber to divulge information about his dream. And for credibility? He gave us the name of a wolf on the First Day! What more do you need?

Eönwë (sort of– at least he castigates him for apparently continuing to doubt McCaber), and throws some more fuel on Shasta's pyre:

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Shasta I still don't trust. He seems to have pretty well continued his previous pattern of popping in and out without saying anything to help our cause.
I have yet to see his case against four of us, of which one was me.

Then he voted Shasta.

Conclusion? Well, I'm inclined to leave Nessa out. Nogrod's attitude is... odd: he made some telling points against Zil, and yet was full of praise for him. Finally, there continues to be a sort of link between Zil and Eönwë. Whether this because Zil is using him, or because they're in it together, I couldn't say at this point."

EDIT:X'd with three Rikaes.
EDIT2: fixed quotes,

[Nogrod]

"Well done Nerwen. We probably should leave Nessa in peace toDay indeed. Which would then leave me Autume and Eönwë... I try to make a closer look at both of them before the DL - but before that I need a dinner.

Oh and as you asked about my attitudes towards Inzil. Well, plain and simple: I backed the wrong horse there. As you Nerwen said he looked intelligent, productive, taking actively part in the discussions - and he shared some of my worries - so it was easy to think he'd deserve to live and contribute, whether to his own doom or relegation - as you said I had my suspicions of him as well but the scales were not that down yesterDay for me. Sorry Shasta, I was wrong with you, and I do feel bad about helping to kill you, but sure Inzil tried to participate in the discussions so I thought he would be more of help to us, whatever his alignment."

Nogrod went to the fridge and looked at the ingredients available for a while and then smiled wide. "Chantarelles! Wow! How about stuffed bell-peppers filled with rice, chantarelles, onion, herbs, pineseed...? How many portions?"

[Nerwen]

"Are you sure they're real chantarelles?" said Nerwen dubiously. "Knowing our late hostess, I wouldn't be surprised if they're some kind of poisonous toadstool. Just another little surprise for her guests..." She shuddered.

"I sort of made the case on Eönwë while analysing Zil: they sometimes seemed to be working together both days.

Now about autumne: I didn't bother transcribing what she said the first day, because, basically, she didn't say anything. I mean, she talked, but it was just about how dreadful our situation was and how hard it was going to be to spot "the werewolf". (Her use of the singular there is strange, but I don't know about guilty-strange.)

The next day she said she believed "McAbre" "for now". Then she said:

Originally Posted by autume98

I'd like to address me being quiet. I'm just a quiet person by nature. I tend to take things in. However I see that I'm going to have to speak up more and let my thoughts be known. I appreciate what you have to say Nogrod. Your thoughts help me out quite a bit.

I also had some doubts about Inzil for the reasons you listed Nogrod, however I'm not sure where I stand with him now.

I really haven't heard enough from some to know enough about them.

I'm looking forward to read what Shasta has to say about Inzil, Nogrod, Lalaith, and Pitchwife.

I'm not sure where I stand with Nessa. Was the vote a knee-jerk reaction?

And then she came up with a suspicion-list of sorts:

Originally Posted by autume98

As people have been making their cases, I'm taking it all in. I've been quietly sipping my coffee and enjoying my muffin. I put my coffee mug on the table and decide to throw in my two cents worth.
Nessa voted for Fea. Could be a wolf on wolf vote. If that were the case it would be pretty risky. So for now I'm going to go with a knee jerk reaction. The vote also did help us get rid of one werewolf.
Inzil voted for McCaber when Fea needed it. Nessa brought this point up. Does seem a little suspicous. I'm keeping it in mind.
Shasta didn't vote on yesterDay.
Not sure what to think of Pitchwife at the moment. It seems that people are finding Pitchwife suspicious.
Nogrod seems ok so far. Great insight and good commentary. However no one is beyond suspicion. Could be good cover. At this time though I'm good with Nogrod.
Lalaith voted for Shasta. However there's not much to go on with Lalaith at the moment. I did find her findings about Pitchwife and Eonwe interesting.
Nerwen makes a good point that Inzil did vote for McCaber which tied the votes withFea.
I don't know enough about Rikae.
I'm not sure what to make of Eonwe. Eonwe voted for McCaber however at the time McCaber was coming across as suspicious. So could be genuine. At this time I'm ok with Eonwe.
I pick up my coffee once again and observe what is going around me.

In other words, she goes through the motions of analysing and talking about people, but doesn't really say anything.

Then she finds Eönwë suspicious because of his vote on McCaber (yes, this is an about-face).

And... that's it. A whole lot of nothing. She could be an innocent feeling her way; she could be a wolf trying to keep out of the limelight. She never voted; neither wolf mentioned her.

autume: struggling newbie or cautious wolf? Discuss."

[Nerwen]

Nerwen waited for a while.

"Nothing to say, any of you?

Then– since I have to vote early (I hardly slept last night, you know), I'll make it,

++autume98.

Good luck."

And Nerwen went upstairs. The bedroom's resemblance to her room at home- even down to the pattern of the curtains– was anything but reassuring, but she was so exhausted that it was not long before she fell asleep.

[autume98]

I've taken a closer look at the people I have thought to be suspicious.

I believe for the time that Nessa is innocent. She did vote for Fea. However what I really thought to be interesting is what McCaber had to say. Could the following have been his way of letting us know what he saw when he dreamt?

Originally Posted by McCaber

First of all, people I don't think are wolves:
Nessa voted for Fea, and vice versa. I have a hard time thinking that the wolves would have spent two of their votes against each other as the first votes of the day.

With that thought in mind I started taking a look at Lalaith. She's one of the reasons that I started to suspect Nessa. Could this just be a ploy to put us on the scent of someone else?

Originally Posted by Lalaith

The other interesting interaction was with Nessa. She votes for her, having already said that she will vote for either Nessa and Nerwen. Then, when Nessa immediately retaliates with a vote, she responds by telling the rest of us that Nessa is clearly not a wolf.
Now, at this point, of course, Fea-wolf does not know she has been scried. Why does she make this defence of Nessa? My first thought was that such a comment was primarily intended to make her (Fea) look good...proclaiming someone else's innocence like that is not a wolfish thing to do. Could Fea also be defending a fellow-wolf? It is certainly a high-risk strategy for two wolves to vote for each other like this on the first day...but not inconceivable, particularly when followed up by Fea's comment, which could have been expert damage limitation.
Well, that's my Fea analysis. More soon.

Now we have Lalaith's comments on the voting yesterday. I found what Lalaith had to say about Inzil interesting.

Originally Posted by Lalaith

So, here's my impression of my fellow houseguests.
Inziladun – active, raising good points – dismissing the ‘McCaber is a fake’ argument briskly - so again, inclined to trust for now.

Lastly I've taken a look at her vote for yesterday and her explanation. I'm not sure if this makes me think Lalaith is trying to arouse suspicion elsewhere or if this just makes Eonwe look more guilty.

Originally Posted by Lalaith

I need to vote now (as stated elsewhere). I appear to have four main suspects and clearly they can't all be wolves. So my process of elimination involves asking myself - could there be an innocent explanation?

....

Then, Eonwe and Pitchwife. I may be being dense, but I can't really think of a likely innocent explanation for their double-act. It is however possible that one of them is an unwitting stooge. Which? Actually I think it is more likely to be Eonwe - he is being defensive, and Pitchwife might be taking advantage of this and fostering him as an ally. So, my conclusion is...
++Pitchwife

Edit: Crossed with Nerwen

[Nogrod]

"Well, if these chantarelles were poisonous the poison is taking it's time to make an effect... I feel just fine and it was delicious... Try some, I made a few extra portions if some of you changed your minds."

Nogrod went back to the chair he had taken as his habitual one and pulled out the pipe and the tobacco - as usual. "Nothing crowns a meal like a good pipeful..." he sighed and concentrated in filling his pipe carefully and with precision.

"I see what you mean Nerwen - and that's the whole thing that unnerves me about Autume indeed: you can read her both ways. It would be sad to lynch her just because she was struggling to get into grips with the situation, but it would be terrible to let her live as a baddie because of her laying low. Btw. thank's for the recordings, saved my trouble to go back the memory lane all the way.

This I find a bit botherg toDay though:

Originally Posted by Nessa

Rikae has a wolfish feel to her. She was a non-voter on Day 1, and I've already stated how that looks to me. She didn't vote on Day 2 either, so I'm a little dubious about that. All she's really done so far is give opinions.

Eonwe doesn't look too good right now. On day one, he tied up the vote for Fea by voting McCaber. If he were a wolf, that would be a reasonable move, saving one of his fellows. YesterDay his vote came after the deadline, but he was going to vote for Inzil. If he were innocent, easy enough to interpret, but if he weren't, could voting right at the deadline be a ruse? I can't remember if his post were particularly long or not.

Why then? Because it looks like she is trying to get the two most lynchable people under suspicion... We all know how much Eönwë has been suspected thus far - and looking at Rikae's quite rare show-ups & two missed votings she could be an easy target as well.

I mean it could be interpreted in the way that she didn't want to try an open suspicion against Nerwen or Lalaith because she realises your votes at crucial times makes you two look pretty good at this point - or against me because of, well possibly a majority of the people looking at me as mostly useful person around at least for now or then just out of fear of retaliation (or whatever - I don't think I'm especially a retaliatory type though). And maybe she saw that we tend to look sympatethically at Autume - and there would have been very little to make a case against her anyway?

So she had to try something to divert the discussion from herself as a candidate? We should remember that the few comments thinking her more innocent than not were made after her post if I remember it right.

But her point on Rikae I find bad - although I must admit that I have known Rikae a lot longer and my view if her might be biased in a sense that I do trust she can deliver - or get into a mess eventually - just when she has time to concentrate. But yes, she probably doesn't know her that well so that could be overlooked.

But what she said of Eönwë is just downright bad - as Eönwë himself already proclaimed.

Nessa's first suspicion looks like a fabricated one. Voting McCaber while three others had been receiving votes (Fea included) doesn't look like "saving Fea" to me. And the thing yesterDay was just to odd from a wolf: why would he wish to garner such scrutiny and publicity with what he did were he a wolf?

But interestingly though, I must add here looking at the votes on Day1 the situation was indeed an interesting one. Inzil-wolf had a vote, Nessa had one and Fea-wolf had one. If Eönwë is a wolf he was facing some really hard choices indeed - and picking McCaber might have been a good choice indeed - looking back how he was suspected at that time.

Hmm... This is interesting indeed.

Eönwë, Autume, Nessa?

Let me hear answers to two questions if you please.

Nessa: Was your vote on Fea on Day1 a retaliatory one or was it based on something else?

Eönwë: Why did you voted for Inzil yesterDay and why did you decide to rather let a triple-lynch to take place?"

With that Nogrod fell towards his laptop that was showing the movie "Easy Rider" he had seen the last time when something like 18 years old.

"I'll be back but there's this movie you know..."

[Eönwë]

Originally Posted by Rikae

No, it isn't, and your grasping at straws to paint me as suspicious doesn't make you look any better.

I was not saying you're suspicious, just that it seemed like a contradiction and I was wondering which one you were going to go with. The contradiction makes you look more innocent, because I think a wolf would be much more careful with what they wrote.

Originally Posted by Nogrod

Eönwë: Why did you voted for Inzil yesterDay and why did you decide to rather let a triple-lynch to take place?"

Haven't I explained this? I thought that the votes had already been counted, as it was already one minute after the deadline for voting, so then I just removed my vote (as is the procedure for votes after the deadline). I did not realise that it could have counted until it was too late.

[Nogrod]

"As you seem to be awake Eönwë, what is your take on Autume and Nessa?"

[Nogrod]

"And..." Nogrod continued, "what would you say to those who say you were having something going on with Inzil back there?"

[Nogrod]

"I don't know if this is for good or bad to Autume, but I do think her last speech was a bit awkward indeed - well it doesn't help me to decide anyway.

I mean she decided to pick from McCaber's posting the thing considering Nessa as the "revealement" of a seer while I'd say Nerwen or I would be much more logical outcomes - and neither of us being actually released by his comments in any believable fashion either (there was this "which group do you think you belong Nerwen" -stuff and that "I'd say he's clean" for me. But as I said that's not something we could count for as a seer dream revealed).

Then her jumping on Lalaith seems like a desperate attempt as I have argued already that Lalaith's vote on Day1 most clearly shows she's not in a team with Fea. I may be wrong and she might be that cunning - but the place for that kind of arguments is toMorrow or the Day after that. Not now.

Also the odd way she tried in the end to bring also Eönwë into the suspicious-list looks quite far-fetched.

But if she's just trying to get herself into this then it might be undertandable. Bah, I don't know..."


Votes thus far...

Lalaith -> Autume
Rikae -> Eönwë
Nerwen -> Autume 2

I would like to hear your thoughts on Nessa especially, but of everyone you who have not yet voted - and to hear from Nessa as well - before voting.

[Nessa Telrunya]

Well, my vote against Fea wasn't necessarily a retaliation. Like many others had already said, Fea had a wolfish feel to her, so I was going on that. Hope that clears things up.

And, due to earlier conclusions, I'm not too trusting of Eonwe. soo...


++Eonwe

[autume98]

What do you make of McCaber thinking Nessa was innocent?

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by autume98

What do you make of McCaber thinking Nessa was innocent?

Well that was circumstantial, not "reveal"-like. Seers have their opinions based on the actions and they have their knowledge based on the dreams they have. We need to be able to make a difference between the two as the first is just as fallible as our thoughts are, but the second is fact.

Sadly McCaber never left us a clear trail as to what he actually knew...

[autume98]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

Well that was circumstantial, not "reveal"-like. Seers have their opinions based on the actions and they have their knowledge based on the dreams they have. We need to be able to make a difference between the two as the first is just as fallible as our thoughts are, but the second is fact.

Sadly McCaber never left us a clear trail as to what he actually knew...

Which means that Nessa could've done a wolf on wolf vote...

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by autume98

Which means that Nessa could've done a wolf on wolf vote...

Exactly... And that's what I've been afraid for the last hours...

[autume98]

++Nessa

[Nogrod]

Darn... two minutes...