The Cultist
The day wears on…
We push through a wide valley, following a flooded river. The ghostly, sediment-rich water is dark as milk. More than once, we feel the terrifying grasp of something underneath, only to discover that it is passing driftwood.
At last, we pull ourselves from the water onto a gentle knoll — an island, now, in the sluggish current. A lone oak stands on its low summit, indecipherable runes carved into its trunk — icons of some cultic language none of us understand. And yet, when one of our party brushes their fingers across the engraved bark, the runes’ meaning sings within our minds: a command, to drop to our knees and pray.
Without thinking, we prostrate ourselves before the tree. And now we see that it is no tree at all, but a priest in a mask and headdress of gold, bearing a staff of wrinkled yew. More masked figures appear on the knoll around us: worshippers, from some sect long perished.
Together, we and the phantoms have no choice but to obey our leader’s commands.
The Challenge
As they obey the ghostly cult leader’s commands, the party plays a version of Simon Says. The Reader will play the cult leader; they must try to catch the others out quickly and so win the Cultist’s Blessing for themselves. The rest of the party must play against them, trying not to be one that is caught out. It is in the Reader’s interest to catch the party out quickly, and in the party’s interest to never be caught.
Set a timer for two minutes.
The Reader issues instructions while the other travellers obey. The Reader tells the travellers what they must do by issuing commands that begin: “Scripture says...” These commands must be obeyed by the other travellers. For example, the Reader might say: “Scripture says touch your nose.” The travellers must then touch their noses.
Conversely, if the Reader issues a command that is not preceded by “scripture says,” the travellers must not obey. If they do obey a command like this, the game ends immediately and the Reader will benefit.
The game ends when any traveller follows instructions incorrectly or the timer hits two minutes.
Success. If the game ends before the timer reaches one minute OR the timer hits two minutes and no travellers have made a mistake, the Challenge is passed.
Failure. If a traveller makes a mistake after one minute has passed, but before the two-minute timer is up, the Challenge is failed.
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If the Challenge is passed:
If the game ended before the timer reached one minute, the Challenge is passed and the Reader wins. The Reader takes the Blessing of the Cultist.
If the timer hits two minutes and no travellers have made a mistake, the Challenge is passed and the Reader loses. The traveller to the Reader’s right receives the Blessing of the Cultist instead.
If the Challenge is failed, the party suffers the Curse of the Cultist. If this is the party's third Curse, click here. However, the Cultist approves of the Reader’s cunning; the Reader may claim the Blessing or Bargain of another traveller for their own.
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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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————An ecstatic sigh runs through the ghostly crowd. The leader motions towards us, a high laughter whistling from their mask. Then, in a cloud of golden smoke, the phantom cult is gone.