The Trees
The day wears on…
The way is long and dull. To pass the time, we count trees. Birch, pine, oak and spruce, yew, hazel, ash…
At last, we stop to take a breath in a glade. Closing our eyes, we feel the sounds of the Wood settle over us — the silver shimmer of the wind in the leaves, the groan of branches longing for the sun. These trees have grown here, untouched, for centuries. A breath in their language is a whole song in our own.
Without thinking, we breathe with them.
The Challenge
The Trees compel you to breathe in their rhythm. But who can inhale the longest?
Set a stopwatch.
Count to three as a group, exhaling as you do.
On the count of zero, start the stopwatch. All travellers begin to inhale slowly through their mouths, making a faint sound with their lips to show that they are inhaling.
Whoever continues to inhale longest before tapping out wins.
When the final traveller stops inhaling, stop the stopwatch.
Success. If the winning traveller inhales for longer than twenty seconds, the Challenge is passed.
Failure. If the winning traveller inhales for less than twenty seconds, the party fails to understand the Trees, and the Challenge is failed.
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————If the Challenge is passed, the traveller who inhaled the longest receives the Blessing of the Trees.
If the Challenge is failed, all travellers suffer the Curse of the Trees. Place the Trees’ 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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————Finishing our rest, we open our eyes. The glade is as it was, quiet. Peaceful. And yet we feel, somehow, watched…
We walk on.