SnowFire [1]: Samuel Hargreaves
Samuel Hargreaves [4]: Nathan Greaves, Jack Daniels, Mei-Fan Chen (Bardiche), Martin Andrews
"It's no wonder this Nick fellow wanted to pretend to be me. I'm such a fine person, after all. I do need to work on my singing, though... been practicing a little Portuguese ditty, but it needs some work."
At least one person was happy. The mood was grim, otherwise. Andrews nervously looked left and right, now propounding to everyone his theory that the Order of Caduceus was behind all the world's ills, and all doctors must be stopped. Greaves chewed on his pencil nearly continuously and alternated between a genial smile and a furrowed brow of concern. Mei-Fan refused to go indoors despite the start of the rainfall and showed signs of having slept in an open field the night before. Clearly the traitors among the remaining suspects had been seen as loyal townies for a long time. But with Mei-Fan's accusation, it seemed clear that trusty veterinarian Samuel Hargreaves was hiding even more secrets than he claimed. What was this secret organization he claimed to have worked for after the Great War, anyway?
"I suppose we have no other choice, " Samuel said as he drew an engraved cavalry saber somehow hidden on his person. "You'll find a Knight of Sapientes Gladio is as hard to kill now as last night, madman. Or is it madam? It's obvious to everyone - maybe even you - that it is not safe for you to be allowed to exist around real people." Mei-Fan made a clumsy dodge from Samuel's sudden charge, earning a long gash along the arm - and with a mutter, 'her' movements suddenly changed. Samuel's next brutal slice was parried by a knife Mei-Fan had drawn from her belt lightning-quick - and it was clear that this really was the second round of an epic battle that started last night, and that the real Ronald Dale was now the one in attendance at this meeting.
"Dale's an interesting one," Greaves cheerfully mentioned to the shocked onlookers - the battle was being fought at close-quarters and it was unsafe to fire into it. "Did you know he worked in the Intelligence Service in the Great War? Got that off one of my better contacts. Acquired some interesting tastes while 'interrogating' prisoners, I hear. An unusually large number of 'em disappeared, or were 'shot while trying to escape.' No bodies found, of course. I'm such a fan of his that I even own a rare copy of a book he only published 50 copies of, privately and to his friends. It's... deliciously shocking. Truly Mr. Dale put his soul, his very twisted soul, into Henry And The Lady. Hahaha!"
Samuel leaped backward from another deadly poke of Ronald's knife, barely in time - and this time seemed to decide discretion was the better part of valor? He ran into the nearby Marbury Meeting Hall, an old Congregationalist Church since adapted to serve as a gathering place for many organizations, like the Ladies Christian Knitting Circle. It was, at the moment, empty.
"What are you waiting for?! After him, fool!" shouted Jack Daniels. Yet Dale showed an odd reluctance to cross the threshold into the building - rather similar to Mei-Fan's refusal to enter any building at all lately. What could be causing this? After an agonizing 5 seconds, Dale made up his mind and threw open the door, immediately dodging to the ground as the expected gunshot rang out. Samuel blasted his revolver 5 more times, this time angled downward, but Dale had already moved to the side. The thrill of the hunt in him, and sensing the desperation in Hargreaves, Dale moved back to the doorframe and dashed inside while Hargreaves reloaded -
- and now, the howling which only Mei-Fan had heard before suddenly became audible to everyone. Black, shadowy monsters burst from the 4 corners of the room. Dale reached Hargreaves and triumphantly inserted his dagger into Samuel's stomach, and the monsters leaped out onto the both of them at the same moment with an unearthly wail. They looked vaguely... but only vaguely... as if they were hunting dogs, caught in the thrill of their own quarry. And they had found it. The hounds ripped both Samuel and Ronald to pieces, embraced in the lock of death.... a sight that won't soon leave the eyes of any who saw it.
Then, as mysteriously as they came, they stopped, leaping back through the corners of the room to their own home... wherever that might be.
Shockingly, impossibly, it seemed Sam Hargreaves was still a little bit alive, despite being stabbed repeatedly and seemingly devoured by the mysterious shadow beasts. As Martin Andrews came up next to him, he only mumbled "Beware... he... he's not... human..."
Samuel Hargreaves, Scum Roledoc, was lynched! (Can protect one person other than himself from normal nightkills. Learns protected person's roles.)
(And, while in Mafia terms happening tonight, in plot terms happening now because the game is over anyway...)
Mei-Fan Chen / Ronald Dale, Town Cop / Town Vigilante, went crazy and was ripped apart by the Hounds of Tindalos! (Multiple personalities? Mei-Fan can investigate one person a night and get a result of "Town," "Scum," or "Third-Party." Knows she's not a naive or rando-cop. Ronald then vigs night target regardless of alignment.)
With the rain gathering force, the suspects decided to stay at the church-cum-Meeting Hall. Greaves tipped his hat, saying "I'll be back later. Got a friend of ours I wanted to bring along. Sure he'll be happy to see you."
