To help your players understand the flow, here is an example of the first three days of a journey in SHRINE OF CORRUPTION.
Character Setup
- Class: Necromancer.
- Starting Stats: 8 Life, 12 Mana.
- Passive: Grim Harvest (On a 6-9 Discovery, can choose +1 Life instead of +1 Mana).
Day 1: The Journey Begins
- Draw: 7 of Hearts.
- Suit Theme: Hearts (Undead)—The physical toll of the crypts and rotted horrors.
- Encounter: Discovery (Rank 6-9).
- Action: I find a rusted locket among the remains of a fallen guard.
- Stat Change: Normally +1 Mana, but I use Grim Harvest to gain +1 Life instead.
- Journal Entry: "The crypts are cold, but the locket I found reminds me of the world before the massacre. I feel a flicker of strength return to my tired limbs."
- Current Stats: 9 Life, 12 Mana.
Day 2: A Brutal Encounter
- Draw: 10 of Spades.
- Suit Theme: Spades (The Abyss)—Arcane ruins and the fraying of sanity.
- Encounter: Hazard/Boss.
- Action: A Unique Demon, a wraith of the Abyss, lunges from the shadows.
- Stat Change: Lose 2 Life and 2 Mana.
- Journal Entry: "A shadow with eyes like dying stars tore through my defenses. My mind reels from the void-touch of the Abyss. I am bleeding, and my magic feels thin."
- Current Stats: 7 Life, 10 Mana.
Day 3: A Glimmer of Hope
- Draw: King of Diamonds.
- Suit Theme: Diamonds (Wilderness)—Harsh terrain and damp caves.
- Encounter: Staff Fragment.
- Action: Hidden within a hollowed-out tree in the freezing wilds, I find a piece of the Horadric Staff.
- Stat Change: No stat change, but I have 1 of 4 Kings needed to escape.
- Journal Entry: "The wind howls through the mountain pass, but my hands are warm. I have found the first fragment. Three more, and the portal will open."
- Current Stats: 7 Life, 10 Mana. (1/4 Staff Fragments Collected).