rpg

The Hut in the Snow

Alex Ward

Jun 9, 2023 • 2 min read

This is part of a series of Ten Candles Settings we're sharing every Friday and Monday. Sign up for more!

"Go on a back country ski trip", they said. "It'll be fun!" they said. And it was, at least for a while. The plan was to head out into the back country of Siberia and stay in a fully furnished luxury cabin on the shores of Lake Baikal. Eat some good food, have some nice wine, and maybe get in a little ice fishing.

Things were going well, until a freak snowstorm rolled in. There wasn't any precipitation in the forecast, and yet you found yourselves in white-out conditions. You were starting to get worried you'd be lost out in the woods until you saw a small cottage amidst the flurries. Without much choice you stumbled up to the door and knocked. Banged, really. You must have knocked much harder than you thought, because the door creaked open - opening up to a room with a fireplace with a small cooking fire, crackling wood and inviting warmth.

With the storm growing worse and more dangerous by the minute you decided to go in and warm yourselves by the fire. You called out to see if anyone was inside, but you received no answer but the howl of the wind outside. In any case, the scent of spiced chicken and dumplings wafting from the cooking pot made you feel at ease even though the storm outside was whistling and raging.

It took a while, but you first noticed something was wrong when one of your group realized the door was missing and that exits to several more rooms had appeared at some point when you weren't looking. The panic began to set in when you noticed that the room was much larger than the hut could have possibly contained. The sheer terror began when you heard the voice cry out from all around - an elderly woman, kind but sinister: "You've partaken of my hospitality, I see. Perhaps you'd like to stay a bit longer? If you can navigate my home, perhaps I'll let you leave. Oh, but don't linger, things tend to get a bit...dangerous... if you stay in one place for too long." As her voice faded behind the still-howling wind, the fireplace suddenly went out - sending the room into utter darkness.

It's clear that you can't stay here, but what awaits you in the next room?

Play Notes: You're in a hut that can change its shape at any moment, shifting and adding rooms - changing its interior shape while the outside stays the same. Rooms can take literally any shape, and can show exterior scenes just as well as interior ones. This scenario subverts the normal Ten Candles pattern, "they" are still present, but they can take the form of anything that could manifest in the house - have the player who defines the "Them" brink take this into consideration and be creative describing how they interact with the house, or have them be the embodiment of the witch herself.

Areas of Note: The Kitchen, The Bedroom, The Safe, The Desert, The Waterfall, The Void

Goal: Explore the house, find a way out. Above all, survive.