Act 1 - Battle on the Bridge

The bridge is a place where two leaders fight for their communities and to keep their self-image intact. The players are caught in the middle of this power struggle and must seek out a cooperative solution. When the lost apartment spirits are afraid to move into a nonresidential area, the dining table spirit Kikimora decides to make the first move and seeks to stabilize the group. Unfortunately she settles right on top of the bridge spirit Gong Gong, who becomes enraged. Gong Gong has fought long and hard for his place in Jackson Park and sees himself as something of a guardian for the less ancient and powerful woodland spirits.

Puzzles

Follow the Leader
Once twelve players gather at the bridge this space starts to challenge the players in whispers using the audio that pervades the space: collect as many followers as you can, give a speech, go east. Or is it west? Are there two whisperers? Two leaders begin to emerge, getting more specific and contradictory instructions, the other players must follow the leader, exactly. And the leader is asked to perform some strange movements. If a player fails to follow, their sound cuts out.

Keep Your Friends Close
Each group now has a challenge of their own, the first group responds to the spirit Edesia and its desire for attention and social performance. Biggs is waiting for them and initiates a game of Simon says, but where the commands are all about improvising conversation about friendship as a power struggle. The players are slowly eliminated, until only one remains, or unless they all join together and ignore Biggs by actually having a conversation.

And Your Enemies Closer
On the other side of the park the players find Wedge taking on the role of Gong Gong. Gong Gong wants to impart some wisdom to the players, and several NPCs step out from the bushes and invite the players to try some trust exercises. However, the players begin to hear whispers that someone is not to be trusted, someone will drop them. As the players rotate partners they are encouraged to accuse each other, and by doing so eliminate the untrustworthy player. If the players realize this and trust each other, they strengthen their spirit.

Drawering the Short Straw
Each winner (or group) now receives a key, which unlocks a drawer in one of two cabinets back at the bridge. Racing back and unlocking the cabinet the player finds another key, now for one of the other drawers. The players uncover secret latches, and doors that must be opened in the right order. The other team is passing through a similar set of hoops, but both teams converge on a small drawer with a balsa wood table inside. Here is a chance for one team or the other to come out victorious, but have their games taught them another path?

Spirits

Edesia
Legend has it that Edesia sailed upon a raft on Marcus Agrippa’s lake. It is often said that she was the belle of the ball at the Medici Wedding in 1600. Many swear that she joined Francois Mitterand for his last meal in 1995. Some say that Edesia is responsible for the spreading of many of these rumors, both factual and fictive, herself. Whether or not that’s true, Edesia undoubtedly loves being the center of attention. She usually is: put her in any room, and all eyes are focused on her at least 90% of the time (even if only superficially.) Her importance has allowed her to take on a dominant role in most households to which she’s belonged; other spirits know that they can count on her constant support. When the apartment that Edesia and her kindred spirits were living in was burned to the ground, she knew that she needed to provide them with the same stability she always had.

Gong Gong
Gong Gong has long been a pillar of the Jackson Park community, but he has not always lived there. He, like Edesia, spent much of his time abroad; he was the first bridge to cross the Rhine River, built by Julius Caesar in the Gallic War. He is relatively new to Jackson Park, having moved there when a gig in Tacoma Narrows did not work out very well for him. He did not, unlike the Furniture Spirits he despises, simply appear in the park one day; it took a few weeks for him to establish residence there, and he followed all of the proper channels. At first, he was looked down upon, splashed with water, smothered with leaves. However, being a strategic mastermind, he was able to rise in the ranks; he knew how to protect the right spirits at the right time. After spending years shielding animals and rocks, he was finally respected by the community as wise and good. He resents Edesia and the other spirits for showing up and taking territory without having to go through the long process and struggle that he did.