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Tea Lady

If both your alive neighbors are good, they can't die.

If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are too heated, tea will cool you. If you are depressed, tea will cheer you. If you are excited, tea will calm you.

How to run it (Storyteller)

Track the Tea Lady's two alive neighbors at all times — these shift as players die, so re-evaluate neighbor status after every execution and night death. If both alive neighbors are good, block any kill attempts on either of them (nominate, execution, demon attack, all). The nastiest edge case: a Spy sitting next to the Tea Lady may register as good, making that neighbor unkillable even though they are mechanically evil — you must decide Spy registration before resolving any kill on them each night. Watch for the Recluse interaction: if either alive neighbor is the Recluse, the protection can lapse, so you may allow a neighbor to die even when the Tea Lady is healthy.

How to play

  • Identify your alive neighbors immediately and treat them as high-value assets — your ability only fires when both are good, so their survival and alignment is your entire game.
  • Stay alive at all costs: a dead Tea Lady loses her protection entirely, making you a priority target for the demon. Push hard on your own innocence early to disincentivize an easy removal.
  • Seat awareness is critical: as players die, your neighbors shift. Mentally track who your new neighbors will be after each death and communicate urgently if a neighbor change puts a key good player at risk.
  • Reveal selectively: announcing you are the Tea Lady tells the demon exactly who to kill to collapse your protection — consider staying quiet until you have confirmed both neighbors are good and the information will help the town more than it helps evil.
  • The most common mistake is outing yourself too early without first verifying your neighbors' alignments, which hands evil a roadmap for dismantling your protection cheaply.

How to bluff as the Tea Lady

  • Claim Tea Lady once you have scouted your actual alive neighbors and can confidently assert both are good — a vague or hesitant claim about neighbor alignment is a glaring tell.
  • Manufacture a narrative: tell the town your neighbors are confirmed good and therefore protected, which creates false confidence and may discourage the real good team from executing around you.
  • Target a seating position where at least one of your neighbors is genuinely evil or suspect, so if pressed you can let doubt about their alignment muddy the waters rather than fully committing to 'both are definitely good'.
  • The biggest tell for a fake Tea Lady is claiming protection that the demon conveniently never tests — real Tea Ladies attract demon attacks; if your neighbors die or you volunteer too eagerly to name them, town should be suspicious.

Key interactions

Spy

A Spy sitting next to the Tea Lady may register as good, meaning the storyteller can rule both neighbors good and make the Spy unkillable — an enormous advantage for evil. As the Tea Lady, do not assume neighbor protection is reliable without corroborating evidence that your neighbors are genuinely good rather than merely appearing so.

Recluse

The Recluse can register as evil, which allows the storyteller to permit a neighbor's death even when the Tea Lady is alive and healthy. If a neighbor dies unexpectedly, one explanation is that the Recluse is seated adjacent to you, collapsing the protection condition.

Poisoner

A poisoned Tea Lady loses her protection entirely for that night and day, meaning both neighbors become vulnerable without any visible sign to the town. If a neighbor dies in a way that seems inconsistent with your protection, suspect you were poisoned rather than immediately doubting your neighbor's alignment.