The Mystic

The day wears on…

As we approach a cliff, we encounter a stair of intricate carvings. We climb, switching back and forth until we reach the cliff’s summit: a great shrine, carved from the mountain’s very flank.

At the shrine’s height, upon a throne of slate, sits a veiled priestess. Her robes are a knot of darkness that makes no movement in the dry breeze, her hands heavy with gold. Before her, the bare rock is scattered with dice carved of bone.

“You have come, as I knew you would.” Though she speaks, the face beneath the veil seems not to move. Then — suddenly — the veiled head turns, as if hearing some distant voice. “Do you hear it? Some Greater Spirit calls to you. Draw back the curtain of undeath! Hear its voice and soothe its troubled soul! Quickly, before it is too late!"


The Challenge

The Mystic compels you to channel a Greater Spirit of the Wood.

  • For the purposes of this game, the Reader will act as the party’s medium.

  • The Reader searches the deck. Secretly, they pick out the first card of value 10 or higher that they come across. This is the Greater Spirit. (If there is no card of value 10 or higher, the Challenge automatically fails.)

  • The Reader places the Greater Spirit’s card face-down in front of them, so that only they are aware of its identity.

Through this Challenge, the Reader channels the Greater Spirit. The other travellers, in turn, must identify the Greater Spirit by spelling out its name.

  • Set a timer for four minutes.

  • Clockwise starting with the traveller to the Reader’s left, travellers take it in turns to guess letters in the Greater Spirit’s name. They do this by speaking the following formula: “Is the spirit x?” — where ‘x’ is an adjective beginning with the letter that they wish to guess. For example, a traveller that wishes to guess the letter ‘A’ might ask: “Is the spirit angry?”

    • If the first letter of the adjective matches the first letter of the Greater Spirit’s name, the Reader responds: “Yes, the spirit is x.” The guessing then moves on to the second letter of the Greater Spirit’s name.

    • If the first letter of the adjective does not match the first letter of the spirit’s name, the Reader responds: “No, the spirit is not x.” The next traveller then once again guesses at the first letter of the name.

  • At any time, in place of guessing a letter, a traveller may instead guess the full name of the Greater Spirit. Travellers cannot guess a letter AND THEN guess a full name. If any traveller attempts to do this, they have broken the rules and the Challenge fails.

Success. If a traveller correctly guesses the Greater Spirit’s name before the timer runs out, the Challenge is passed.

Failure. If the timer runs out before any traveller guesses the Greater Spirit’s name, or any traveller tries to guess a letter AND THEN a full name immediately after, then the Challenge is failed. 

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If the Challenge is passed, the traveller who guessed the spirit’s name receives the Blessing of the Mystic. The Reader, haunted by the spirit they summoned, takes on the Bargain of the Greater Spirit.

If the Challenge is failed, the Reader takes on the Bargain of the Mystic. Meanwhile, all travellers suffer the Curse of the Greater Spirit that the Reader chose. Take that spirit's card and place it in a designated area on the table so everyone can see it. If this is the party's third Curse, click here.

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The priestess turns her face towards us. Beneath the cloth of her veil, we see a shadowed face — eyes lit by an ink-dark fire, black and devouring as any night.

“He sees you,” she whispers, though she does not say who. Then, in a moment, she is gone.

  • Re-form the deck before continuing.