Night one
Disclaimer: Everything written here is for storytelling purposes only and bears no reflection on people's roles. Life had not been kind to DreamlinerFinder.
As a young man he had fallen in love with a young nobleman; it had been the kind of fast and sordid affair to shock even the tabloids – he a filthy member of the underclass, consorting with the most refined of aristocracy. For one glorious summer they had run through fields of wheat together, hand in hand and tumbled around in long grass that blew lazily in the breeze.
That the word love had been uttered so often, in such a carefree manner, made it all the worse when it was ripped so callously and needlessly away. That had been one bitter conversation, filled only with hot anger and regret. Love no longer had a place in the heart or mind of DreamlinerFinder.
It had taken a decade or more to forgive himself and even longer to find his true purpose. It had been after a 10 hour meditation session with Tibetan monks, high in the mountains, that DreamlinderFinder realised that he was ready. Ready for love.
But this time, it would be different. This love was not for him.
The move to Werewood had served two purposes. Firstly, the clear mountain air was good for the lungs and constitution and a particularly rare fruit, good for the bowels, was abundant. Secondly, many previously unacquainted people would be moving there and that provided the opportune moment to try out his love elixir. It had taken years of study, meditation and experimentation to perfect, but Dreamliner was sure that one small dose, delivered by an appropriately themed arrow, would be enough to set two people into a whirlwind of irrevocable love.
The werewolves were an irrelevance really. The work of love bows to no one and Dreamliner was sure that there was no cause to fear for his own safety. He had viewed the previous day's events with mild disinterest, a harmless necessity of living in the village. It was at night that the real, important work would happen.
He had spied them at the aborted barbeque and knew that they would make a most wonderful match. Calculations of body weight, compensations for slightly unfortunate looks and the urine of an unsuspecting Labrador completed the preparations.
Dreamliner stalked out of his house at midnight, perched himself upon a likely looking tree and placed himself in a deep meditative trance. Both arrows flew true, through open windows and landing smartly within the buttocks of the villages two newest lovers. This night was perfect.
You see, the problem with irrelevancies is that they themselves don't always see themselves as one. It was this crucial oversight that led Dreamliner to climb down a tree to come face to face with four snarling werewolves. Doris hadn't been very filling, so there wasn't very much left of DreamlinerFinder to find in the morning.
***
Labrador, the village's newest sheriff, had not been exaggerating their keen sense of smell. While there was much delight to be had in sniffing people's butts, it was the lure of death that really captivated her. Thus it was shortly after 6 when she set out, with the clear scent of blood in the air, sheriff's hat bouncing awkwardly on her head, to find the bloodied remains of DreamlinderFinder smeared on the ground. His bow was bent and broken and a dozen arrows scattered across the ground. Dreamliner was clearly
A crudely written note was pinned into the tree by one of them, it read:
“Arrogance is a sin and it is arrogant to covet more than thy neighbour. Pursuance of such a grand abode within the village will draw the wrath of those that stalk the night.”
Laurawatt, IkeaPanda, Cemsimon, Kholmes and Airmed were the first to arrive, alerted by the high pitch howl of Labrador. Laura immediately burst into tears and began whispering soothing words to the remains of Dreamliner. Cemsimon began scouting the area for clues, whispering hurriedly with Labrador who was busy sniffing a likely blood spatter. The rest of the village was quickly alerted by the commotion with Steljoy forming a separate investigative party, recruiting Kholmes, tmd, Jabba and bizzy.
Reshnya, OGGUS, Shadowdweller and Airmed comforted Laura, who was utterly inconsolable at the death of Dreamliner.
Thatsagoodone and bizzy set upon digging a grave and cleaning up the bow and arrows. Kraggor watched them nervously, occasionally laughing and muttering incoherent words to them both; Cogniton! Brought him some tea first, then worked her way around all the villagers. Ikea had mysteriously disappeared.
It didn't take long before the obvious had to be said.
“The werewolves are amongst us. We have to help ourselves, nay, save ourselves!” Labrador spoke loudly and clearly, drawing the various groups of villagers back to the town hall.
“Amongst us we have some talented people, I urge you to work together to find the werewolves. Then, we kill them!”
Steljoy applauded and proposed that once again, democracy should prevail. It was this moment that Ikea returned with a large, flatpack package, that was labelled DÖRIS.
“Ladies, gentlemen and canines. May I present to you, our new ballot box”.
In usual flatpack tradition, Michiyo had to be summoned to assemble it properly.
Cast your votes villagers, someone has to hang!
Required actions You may vote for a member of the village to by lynched. You do not have to vote and the village may decide not to lynch someone this day. The vote will run for 24 hours, but I will end it early if there is a clear 'winner'