The Corrupted Borough

*"They hope walls can keep the sickness away, yet the sickness is in the land itself."*

This is an Encounter in The Moon that can always be found on the third level. It has four potential conspirators:

* Lenna the Bal Maiden
* Feran the Silversmith
* Jannis the Twin
* Tolan the Weaver

## Event

*You arrive at a walled off section in the city. The makeshift barriers are taller than three men.*

*Somebody bangs on the wall from the other side, startling you. A desperate wailing pierces through. "Maker, please, Maker please, let us out."*

*Passersby are pointedly ignoring the wails and screams.*

*Only a lonely man kneels against the barrier, head in his hands, weeping.*

*The man notices your approach and trips over himself, babbling. "Golden hair, short, she always wears her yellow scarf. My Lenna, please. Please get her out of there."*

1) Agree to go into the corrupted borough.

*With a running leap, you mantle the makeshift barrier. You land in a borough much like the others, except it is deserted, and there is a body at your feet.*
*The body does not wear a yellow scarf, this poor soul is not Lenna.*
*There is a groaning noise coming from somewhere ahead of you.*
A) Explore the borough.
B) Head to the source of the groaning.
*In the centre of the borough squats a pulsating mass of corruption. Crystallised growths sprout from its surface. Inside, infected horrors gestate.*
*With a shudder the crystals crack apart, and the infected creatures emerge from their cocoons to defend the cluster.*
**The Dealer draws 2 Blight Monster Cards.**
*The pack swarms to protect a grotesque obsidian pillar, blanketed in an otherworldly miasma.*
**The Dealer draws a Spire of Blight.**
*They block the way forward.*
1) Attack them!
**The player enters Combat.**
*With the pillar broken, the mass of corruption quivers and erupts, spilling black ooze across the cobblestones.*
*As the dust settles, you notice a crowd of townsfolk staring in astonishment from a nearby house.*
*You approach the ragged bunch. Among them you spy a golden-haired woman with a dirty yellow scarf.*
*You tell her of the weeping man. She pulls you close and whispers desperately, "If you have a way out, please get me out of here."*
*She looks guiltily towards the others. "We must leave them. A group this size will attract too much attention."*
**Lenna the Bal Maiden pledges her services to the cause.**
*You hear the happy bustle of the city just over the barricade, but the mood is decidedly more apocalyptic on this side of the wall.*
*A crow pecks at a body covered with festering corrupted boils.*
A) Explore the borough.
*You wander the streets of the forsaken borough, past bodies and barred doors. The stillness is disquieting.*
**Pendulum Gambit** (1 small Huge Success, 2 large Huge Failure, all moving)
Huge Success 1
*Through the dusty window of a tailor shop, you spy a tweedy little man with anxious eyes. You gesture comfortingly, and the man scurries out to join you.*
**Feran the Silversmith pledges his services to the cause.**
The Gambit may be repeated.
Huge Success 2
*Most of the buildings in this desecrated neighbourhood are nailed shut, so you are surprised to stumble upon an abandoned schoolhouse, its doors wide open.*
*It is a small place - chairs are knocked over, books strewn onto the floor, as if its occupants exited hastily.*
*In the gloom, you hear the tinkling laughter of a child.*
*Instinctively you unsheathe your weapon, but the room is empty.*
*Light filters in weakly from the broken windows.*
1) Look for supplies.
**Precision Gambit** (1 tiny Huge Success, 2 small Success, 2 medium Huge Failure, all moving)
Huge Success
*A glint from behind an upturned desk catches your eye.*
*It's a small glass bottle filled with amber liquid.*
*The yellowing label reads "Corruption abate, take all with water".*
*You pocket the cure.*
Success
*You find a few coins in the teacher's abandoned desk.*
**The player draws 1 Gold Gain Card.**
Failure
**The player draws 1 Health Pain card.**
*A stone bounces painfully off your temple. You turn to face the source and find a glaring, mad-eyed urchin peering at you from a rooftop.*
*The child lifts another stone overhead and you duck down an alley to escape the second volley.*
*The sound of groaning persists, grating your nerves.*
*You hear the happy bustle of the city just over the barricade, but the mood is decidedly more apocalyptic on the side of the wall.*
*A crow pecks at a body covered with festering corrupted boils.*
Huge Failure
(insert text here)
2) Find the source of the laughter.
*You search the darkened corners of the schoolhouse and unearth a hole in the wall, hidden behind a fallen desk. The giggles are coming from somewhere within.*
*You lean in to get a closer look...*
**Precision Gambit** (1 tiny Huge Success, 2 small Success, 2 medium Huge Failure, all moving)
Huge Success
*You find a bundle of coloured rags. Something has been buried under the pile*
**The Dealer draws an Equipment Card** (unknown if it is armor or any Equipment Card)
Success
*You gasp - there's a body in here. A teacher? A father? You cannot tell if he ultimately succumbed to infestation or to violence.*
**The Dealer reveals a Weapon Card.**
*His hands are clasped around a weapon. He does not look like a warrior - was he defending the children?*
A) Take the weapon.
*You pull the weapon from his hands.*
**The player acquires the revealed Weapon.**
B) Leave the body be.
(insert text here)
Failure
*You peer into the darkness and spy a pair of beady red eyes. Without warning, a tiny animal - warped unrecognisably by the corruption - leaps out at you!*
*The mad little bundle of scabs and fur hisses at you and scurries out the door.*
*You pick through the creature's nest but find nothing of value.*
Huge Failure
(insert text here)
3) Leave.
*As you turn to leave you run straight into a thin, bird-like woman standing in the way of the door.*
*"Hello," she nods curtly. "I am Jannis, my twin is Jorhelm. I have heard that you want to destroy the Empire and now that I see that you are crooked of brow and strong of nose, I believe in your quest."*
**Jannis the Twin pledges her services to the cause.**
*Jannis wanders off into the borough. You ask her if she needs help escaping, but she merely waves her hand and smiles.*
Failure
Huge Failure
B) Escape the borough.
*You look for a section of wall suitable for scaling.*
1) Sneak Lenna and Feran over the wall.
*Your investigation is interrupted by a bloodcurdling scream. You turn in time to observe a corrupted creature gnawing out a man's throat.*
**The Dealer draws a Juggernaut of Blight.**
A) Fight the corrupted.
*You point out the wall in the distance and tell Lenna and Feran to hurry.*
*The corrupted are swarming this area - you must finish them off and get back to Lenna and Feran before it's too late!"*
**The player enters Combat with a 2 minute timer.**
*You rush back to Lenna and Feran. They are in the middle of pulling themselves over the wall using a combination of footholds and piled debris.*
*You push them over and follow before it's too late.*
*You climb down the wall to the gasps from onlookers and hear an astonished cry of joy as Lenna and her beloved are reunited.*
**Tolan the Weaver pledges his services to the cause.**
*Feran bids you a nervous farewell and re-affirms his pledge to your cause, before hurrying away into the city, glancing nervously around at the townsfolk.*
*As you push past the whispering crowd and disappear back into the city, you know that your actions here will place the Empire closer on your trail.*
**The player gains 4 Fame.**
B) Run away.
2) Batter the wall down.
*You cobble together a makeshift battering ram.*
*Disheveled townsfolk, wide-eyed and starving, trickle out of the buildings with hope.*
*You and the desperate throng hurl the ram against the wall until it collapses with a mighty thud.*
*The residents, the feeble and the infected pour out of the borough into the waiting city.*
**The player gains 8 Fame.**

*You have released the corruption into the city - this will not go unnoticed.*

*A large troop of soldiers rounds the corner to confront the throng.*
**The Dealer draws 3 Steel Monster Cards**
*Their captain spies you and orders his troops to unleash a volley of arrows into the crowd. You take shelter behind an upturned cart, but Lenna and Feran are less lucky. Lenna falls with an arrow piercing her neck, while Feran's tiny body is crushed in the chaos.*
**The player enters combat.**
*You leave the area before the Empire catches up with you.*
**The player gains 4 Fame.**
2) Leave quietly.
2) Leave the man and his Lenna to their fate.

*You have to pry the man's hands from your arm as you walk away.*