The Stones
The day wears on…
We walk on the shoulders of giants — or at least, among their ruins. As we pass through the cragged highlands, we behold the skeletons of increasingly massive structures: mouldering cathedrals, basilicas and mansions, all built by hands of inhuman size.
At last, we come to a circle of standing stones, each the height of a house. Examining the ancient rock, we find runic pictographs carved into their surfaces; to our unease, they depict a story very similar to our own journey through the Elder Wood. Every toil we have endured — every hardship shouldered — was carved into these stones aeons ago. But as we reach the final stone, we see that it is blank.
Touching the bare rock, we are each seized by a different vision: a different end to our story.
The Challenge
Predict the end of your journey in poetic form.
Set a timer for one minute.
Individually, each traveller must compose a haiku predicting how the travellers’ journey will end. The haiku must be a poem of three lines, with the first line consisting of five syllables, the second of seven syllables, and the third of five syllables.
When the timer sounds, stop.
Starting with the Reader and moving clockwise, travellers take it in turns to recite their haikus. If a traveller breaks the form of the haiku, the Challenge is failed — so be sure the haikus are accurate!
When all haikus have been read, travellers count down from three. On the count of zero, travellers simultaneously vote for the best haiku by pointing at its composer. Travellers may not vote for themselves.
Success. If one haiku wins a majority of the vote, the Challenge is passed.
Failure. If the vote is split or indeterminate, or if any traveller breaks the haiku form, the Challenge is failed.
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HELP FROM AN ITEM
If any traveller carries a HAMMER, they now receive two extra votes.
If the Challenge was passed (before the Item rule was applied) the traveller who won a majority of the votes (after the Item rule is applied) receives the Blessing of the Stones. If the Challenge was passed but the vote is tied after the application of the Item rule, the Reader casts the tiebreaker vote.
If the Challenge was failed (before the Item rule), the party suffers the Curse of the Stones. Place the Stones’ card in the area of your table dedicated to Curses so that all travellers can see it. If this is your third Curse, click here.
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————As we finish our poems, we see the stone’s surface ripple. As if carved by an unseen hand, runes appear, etched on the rock’s surface. It is our true fate, revealed to us through the stone. Our true end.
Fearful of knowledge that we cannot comprehend, we turn quickly away. Our backs to the stones, we flee.