The Mystic
The day wears on…
We pass through a thicket of snags — dead trees, withered by some ancient fire. They appear to us now as silent, standing statues, memorials to the verdant glory that once was this valley.
As we pick our way among the tangled roots, we feel a heaviness in the trees around us. The air of this place is thick with death — not just of trees, but of travellers like ourselves, lost souls pushing against the veil of this world. Perhaps their crowding spirits can help us, warn us of the terrors to come, if we can only see them.
Closing our eyes, we attempt to perceive the spirits around us.
The Challenge
Try to perceive the spirits that reach for you.
At random, each traveller draws an unknown Elder Card from the deck and places it facedown in front of them.
Divide the deck roughly in half. Discard one half. Taking the remaining half, spread the cards face-up so that the suit of every card is visible to all.
Clockwise starting with the Reader, travellers then take it in turns to guess the suit of their facedown card, before turning the card face-up.
The game continues until any traveller correctly guesses their card’s suit, or until all travellers have tried and failed.
Success. If any traveller correctly guesses their spirit’s suit, the Challenge is passed.
Failure. If no travellers correctly guess their card’s suit, then the Challenge is failed.
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————If the Challenge is passed, the first traveller who guessed a suit correctly receives the Blessing of the spirit they guessed. The Mystic’s card is discarded back to the deck.
If the Challenge is failed, the Mystic is displeased. All travellers suffer the Curse of the Mystic. Place the Mystic’s card in a designated area reserved for Curses. If this is the party's third Curse, click here.
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Blessings and Bargains symbolise the support of a spirit of the Elder Wood. Both offer protection against death for the traveller who wins them.
Blessings: When a spirit is pleased, it might grant its special protection to a particular traveller. Spirits who have bestowed a member of the party with their Blessing travel invisibly with them and will help to protect them when they reach the Heart of the Wood.
Travellers who win a Blessing should place the Blessing behind their Character Card so that the spirit's name and number are still visible.
Bargains: Sometimes, instead of granting its Blessing to a traveller, a spirit might instead offer a conditional protection called a Bargain. Bargains symbolise a trade between spirit and traveller; the spirit protects the traveller, but its influence affects the traveller's behaviour. The traveller must obey the Bargain rules written on the spirit's card so long as they possess the Bargain. In return, the spirit will convert its Bargain to a Blessing in the Heart of the Wood, thus helping the traveller survive.
Travellers who win a Bargain should place the Bargain card face-up to one side of their Character Card, so that they can read the card's Bargain rules.
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When a spirit is displeased by the party, it will lay its Curse upon them. Curses have dire consequences. The more Curses a party gathers, the more lives will be claimed in the Heart of the Wood. Furthermore, if a party incurs three Curses, the Wood's spirits will reject them and they will be forced to flee for their lives, ending the game.
When you incur a Curse, place it in a designated area of the table so that all travellers are aware of it.
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————The invisible spirits crowd around us, their whispers full of secrets, their moans full of… something else. Platitudes? Warnings?
A moment later, the air brightens, and we are alone once more.
Re-form the deck before continuing.