The Wet Nurse
The day wears on…
Lightning bugs skip across the waters of the marsh like stones. We wade among them, ducking the sagging boughs of trees and dispersing throngs of close-knit cattails.
We are passing through one of these when we see, sat cross-legged atop the water as if solid ground, a group of toddler-aged children. They are watching a nurse at their head, who sings nursery rhymes in a gay, high voice. Seeing us, the nurse stops and smiles. “I spy with my little eye… new faces!”
As she speaks, the children turn. We see their faces as clear as day: they are our own, reflected back at us from our earliest years. “Well, children?” cries the nurse. “What else do you spy?”
We watch in confused horror as our younger selves answer.
The Challenge
This is a modified game of I Spy. You, as the travellers, play your younger selves as they answer the nurse’s question.
Take a little time to visualise the marsh around you. What grows here? What lives here? What does the weather look like today?
Clockwise starting the Reader, travellers take it in turns to ‘spot’ something in the marsh. They do so by saying: “I spot…” and then simply naming the thing they see. For instance, the Reader might begin: “I spot water.”
If a traveller hesitates at all while answering, they are eliminated.
If an answering traveller names something that wouldn’t be seen in a marsh, another traveller can challenge them by saying: “I don’t spot that!” The party discusses. If the majority agree with the challenging traveller, then the answering traveller is eliminated. If the majority side with the answering traveller, the challenging traveller is eliminated.
The game ends if only one traveller remains, or if a traveller says something that another traveller has already said.
Success. If the game ends with one traveller remaining, the Challenge is passed.
Failure. If a traveller ‘spots’ something that has already been said, the Challenge is failed.
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If the Challenge is passed, the last remaining traveller wins the Blessing of the Wet Nurse.
If the Challenge is failed, the party suffers the Curse of the Wet Nurse. If this is the party's third Curse, click here.
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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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————Frozen in our submerged boots, we watch the children who are ourselves giggle with delight. The nurse smiles warmly at us. “See? Now you can play on your own!”
Then, in a splash of water, the phantoms are gone.