The Sacrifice
The day wears on…
We push our way through an oily marsh. Towards noon, a new stench assaults us. There, nailed to the trunk of a black oak, hang the viscera of a sacrificial lamb. Painted above the mouldered organs are the dark sigils of some strange sect.
Though the intention of this ritual is unknown to us, we cannot help but sense its evil intent. We are filled with the conviction that there are two kinds of people in this world: those who would suffer the knife, and those who would wield it. When it comes to it, which of our party will be which?
The Challenge
This is a game of social deduction.
Shuffle and deal the facedown deck equally between the travellers.
Each traveller looks at their hand. For this game, cards of value nine or below are ‘low cards’. Cards of value ten or higher are ‘high cards’.
After surveying their hands, each traveller plays a single card facedown into the centre, choosing whether to play a high or a low card. Choosing which to play is a delicate balancing act. Consider:
If all travellers play low cards, the Challenge is passed but there is no winner.
If one traveller plays a high card, they win the Challenge.
But if multiple travellers play high cards, the Challenge will be failed.
After each playing their single card, travellers then discard the rest of their hands facedown.
The centre pile should now contain a number of cards equal to the number of players.
Without revealing who played which card, reveal the cards in the centre.
All low cards. If all of the cards in the centre have number values of nine or lower, then nobody has won and there are no traitors in your midst. The Challenge is passed.
One high card. If just one of the cards in the centre has a number value of ten or higher, that card acts as a high card. The Challenge is passed but there is a traitor in your midst who will receive the benefit.
More than one high card. If two or more cards are valued ten or higher, the party is riddled with deception. The Challenge is failed.
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If all cards were low, the Challenge is passed but nobody benefits. The Sacrifice escapes into the deck via discard.
If there was a single high card, the ‘traitor’ who dealt it reveals themselves. They receive the high card as a Blessing. The Sacrifice’s card is discarded.
If more than one high card was played, the people who played the high cards do not reveal themselves. The party suffers the Curse of the Sacrifice. 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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————We pass on, trying to put the grisly encounter from our minds. But we cannot put the sight of the dead lamb from our minds — an omen, perhaps, for the road ahead.
Re-form the deck before continuing.