The Warden
As we pass under a great, towering cliff, we behold a terrible sight. High up, carved into the face of the bluff, are hundreds of cells open to the elements. Long ago, this would have been a particularly awful prison, intended only for the most wretched of convicts. Even now, we hear their cries — the horrific, starved yowls of dying men.
Opposite to the cliff, looking up at the cells, a shadowy figure motions to us — truncheon in hand, the prison’s warden stands guard. At her feet, a fresh corpse lies upon the stone, newly-fallen from the cells above.
The figure turns to us, her face a black ink blot against the pale day. When she speaks, it is in a voice deep as dread. “Travellers… Would you grant your aid to a servant of the law? This prisoner perished when he jumped from his cell. But I cannot identify him from our records, and our Examiner is absent. If you can discover the man’s identity, I will spare you the cells yourself…”
We understand the warden’s threat; we must help her, or suffer the same fate as the man at her feet.
The day wears on…
The Challenge
This is a group game of Twenty Questions (albeit with fewer questions.) The Reader will play the Examiner of the corpse, answering questions as accurately as possible, while the rest of the travellers compete to guess the prisoner’s identity first.
Spread all of the cards of the deck face-up on the table.
Set a timer for one minute. During this time, all travellers may SILENTLY examine the cards of the deck. Travellers may not communicate in this time.
When the timer goes off, re-form the deck and shuffle it.
From the shuffled deck, the Reader draws an Elder Card at random, keeping it secret from the rest of the party. This card now represents the prisoner’s corpse. It is the other travellers’ task to try and narrow down which card is held by the Reader using yes/no questions.
Starting with the traveller to the left of the Reader and continuing clockwise, each traveller may try and narrow down the card by asking one question of the Reader. The question must be answerable with ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
On their turn, in place of a question, a traveller may instead guess the identity of the corpse. If the guess is correct, the game is over.
The game is over when the corpse’s name is correctly guessed, or when thirteen turns have been taken.
HELP FROM AN ITEM
If any traveller carries a LETTER, they may ask two questions instead of one on each of their turns. These questions count towards the thirteen-question total.
Success. If the corpse’s identity is correctly guessed by any traveller, the Challenge is passed.
Failure. If the game reaches thirteen turns and the corpse is still unidentified, the Challenge is failed.
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————If the Challenge was passed, the traveller who guessed correctly gains the Blessing of the corpse card. The Reader wins the Blessing of the Warden.
If the Challenge was failed, the party suffers the Curse of the Warden. Place the Warden’s card in an area reserved for Curses, so all the party can see it. If this is the party’s third Curse, click here.
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————On the table, the corpse sits suddenly upright. We see, clear as day, that it is our own face upon the prisoner’s skull.
Terrified, we turn and flee. The prisoner and the warden’s skeletal laughter chases us from the tower, past the bluff and beyond.