The Wanderer

**The Wanderer** is a random event where a woman asks for a hero's relic.

## Outcome summary

 50% | **No Ordinary Inebriate**: Corruption increases in a random outer region.

## Start

The Wanderer

With a thundering boom, the great doors of the throne room are thrown open and a clearly inebriated woman stumbles in. "Gree'ings!" she shouts as she makes her way up to you, though she loses her way several times and has to reenter the room twice. Finally, she reaches your throne and leans in close to you. "Give Tessa the... Please to give Tessa the Relic owned by [hero name]? Please?"

* Give her a Relic from [hero name].
* Apologize and tell her that, unfortunately, no Relics can be spared at the moment.
* Send for the doctors. It's clear she needs some kind of medical attention!

The hero is randomly selected from those in the player's retinue that have a relic.

## Giving her the relic

### Outcomes

The player chooses between three possible outcomes to this choice, but the dialogue is the only thing that differs between them. In all cases, the hero loses the relic.

Story Time

As the Relic is brought over, she smiles and tries to steady herself. "Right. Thank you very much for that. Be very useful where I'm headed to next and now I give you something in return now." She takes a deep breath as if she's concentrating on something complex. "I know two stories, both very good, but you can only hear one. Which story you want?"

There are three choices:

* A long, happy story.
* A long, sad story.
* No stories, please.

#### The long, happy story

Story Time

"Long time ago, heaps o'generations, there was The Long Drop. You coulda been broke and bleedin', but there always a seat and warm ale waitin' for you there. One night, we have three peoples: a young lil thief wantin' to prove herself, a brazen fighter too good at killin', and a grey-haired scholar with a wish-death. Eclectic mix as they'd say. This fighter, a Hunter, is sittin' alone at th'bar. Depressed and mopin', but not drinking, right? See, this Hunter was a regular at the Long Drop, but always wit' his fighting mates, until they started dying. All o'them. Meanwhile he keeps fightin' not because he good at it, 'cause he is, but because he REALLY good at it."

"Anyways, sitting right next to'im is a scholar, drinking the daylights out o'himself. Scholar was an Alchemist, then a Sagewright, but got forced out o'the Guild because he fell in lover. Only thing was it took'im leaving the white robes for her to say she didn't love'im back. Oof. Hunter sees this scholar drownin' and says 'Hey. You can stay here and drinky the drink or y'could come wit' me and take down some bandits. I need company an' you need distracting.' Alchemist look at'im all interested-like, but someone else was listenin' too. Our thief."

"A little'un abandoned to pickpockets an' outlaws as a tyke. Grew up with thievin' talents and by 15 she's bartendin' at The Long Drop to find better marks to steal from. Now, she's hearin' these two blokes talking 'bout jewels and a'ventures and she know this is her ticket to somethin' more, so she slaps the ales right outta their hands and demands to go with'em. Remember this a 15 year old girl talkin' and they tells her they need fighters, not thieves, so she pops over the bar, pulls a flaming log outta the fire, and says she's a Caberjack now. And THAT'S how the three greatest fighters this Nation has ever seen came t'gether. I think."

[hero name] has lost the Relic [relic name].

#### The long, sad story

Story Time

The woman nods dramatically. "Okay, so while back there was an Alchemist, yeah? Very esteemed, very smart, and very old. Old enough that his mind-body were going badly, which made him very afraid. He didn't want to die! Then idea comes: what if he didn’t? So he goes all over th'nation to find ingredients for 'dis potion and when owners didn't give, he took. With fury. But this potion so dangerous to mix, he needed somethin' special to contain it all. He needed a massive..."

It takes a second for her to remember where she was. "...cup! And not any cup, one that was strong. So he build it out of special metals, secret metals, powerful metals. And as this happen, Caberjack and Hunter, old friends o'his, hear about his fury. They come to him and try reason and help, but there's no stopping. They fight. He win."

"But he didn't kill, no! He alchemy'd them to cup, bound them, so they live forever knowing failure. Victory! He could finally enjoy potion. He jump in and drank, but something's wrong. It worked... but it turned'im. Changed him somethin' monstrous. As he transform, his friends awaken in cup. The secret metals let them control it! They can still fight! So they do only thing they can. They blow up, destroy monster and them. Sacrifice." Suddenly, she blinks. "Where am I?" Before you can answer, she shows herself out.

[hero name] has lost the Relic [relic name].

#### No stories

An Understanding

Her eyes narrow playfully as she taps her nose. "No stories, indeed." She picks up the Relic with a wink and leaves without elaborating further.

[hero name] has lost the Relic [relic name].

## Keeping the relic

### Outcomes

There are two possible outcomes, each equally likely.

No, Thank You

"Thank you," she replies as she makes her way out of the room without another word or stumble. Once the doors close behind her, you wonder if she wanted the Relic for pawning purposes or because she was just a big fan of [hero name].

The Gazing

You try to give her your reasons, but once she realizes that the Relic is off the table, she refuses to look at you. Instead, she stares eerily at [hero name] until the hero recoils in terror and falls to the ground screaming, "Her eyes! Her eyes!" As doctors rush in to help the hero, you realize that the woman has left and is nowhere to be found!

[hero name] has gained the Unnerved personality.

## Calling the doctors

### Outcomes

There are two possible outcomes, each equally likely.

Unsurprised

She barely acknowledges the doctors heading toward her. "Ah. We shipping off a'ready? Then onward!" As they help her to the medical ward, she reaches under her cloak and... pulls out a Relic! "Jus' wanted to compare souvenirs. Don't think I'll be needin' anymore." She places it on the floor with a wink and quickly rejoins the doctors, leaving you in a state of pure bewilderment.

[hero name] has gained the Relic [relic name].

No Ordinary Inebriate

The instant she sees the doctors, she sprints out of the room with a steadiness that seemed impossible a minute ago. Things quiet down after that until nighttime arrives with multiple messages from [region name]. Somehow the woman has been sighted all over the region telling people about how you tried to "imprison" her and she's so incredibly well-spoken that nobody's questioning her!

Corruption has increased in [region name].