The city gates are closed shut due to some emergency or other. The guards only allow through a trickle of people; with the line already waiting, it could well be days before the PCs are allowed inside. Such a wait could be disastrous, as the PCs are on a time-sensitive mission. Perhaps they can convince the guards of the urgency of their quest and be allowed on inside.

This scenario ends in failure if a particular Opponent is defeated. That means the PCs must convince the guards rather than relying entirely on intimidation tactics or otherwise wearing them down.

Merchant Cart  -  Gates  -  Patient Pilgrims

All entities begin at the Gates. The two Actions below are available to the PCs in particular positions; however, each can only be played once (in total, not per PC).

Merchant Cart: Create Distraction (Action)
Range: 1
The target enemy immediately Moves into this position and is Immobilized until the end of its next turn. This Action is non-hostile.

Patient Pilgrims: Join In Prayer (Action)
Advance the Debate Counter one notch toward victory. You and all allies recover 1d4 lost WP and may draw a card. This Action is non-hostile.

• Suspicious Guard
• Petty Official
• Simpleton
• Roused Rabble x2 (Appear at Round 3+ when Counter is positive)

• Organizer
• Suspicious Guard
• Smart-ass
• Roused Rabble x3 (Appear at Round 3+ when Counter is positive)

• Organizer
• Suspicious Guard
• Wordsmith
• Smart-ass
• Roused Rabble x4 (Appear at Round 3+ when Counter is positive)
• (Counter starts at -3)

The Opponents will try to stick together, complementing each other's abilities whenever possible. If they are forced to Move out, they'll Move back into the Gates as soon as they can.

The PCs start to draw the attention of waiting common folk nearby. At the start of round 3, if the Debate Counter is positive, the Roused Rabble appear at the Gates, demanding that if the PCs get special treatment, they should too. If the Counter is not positive at the start of round 3, they'll appear at the start of any round afterward in which it is positive. The Rabble appear only once; do not add another set of Rabble at a later round.

Although the Roused Rabble are yelling at the guards, it's up to the PCs to respond in order to prevent their protests from destroying the PCs' chances. Therefore, the PCs will be the ones targeted by the Actions. The Rabble will not target the same PC when possible, otherwise targeting randomly.

The PCs are permitted to skip to the front of the line and enter the city. They may continue with their mission without further delay. If you want a direct reward, Karma might be appropriate (depending on the PCs' mission and the viability of them having solved the problem with violence instead).

The PCs are denied entry into the city. It's now up to you and your players what happens next. Perhaps they decide to attack, fighting their way in; you'll need to run an appropriate combat scenario. Maybe they look for another way in, such as through a sewer pipe or by scaling the walls at nightfall; run an appropriate exploration scenario. Or maybe there's simply nothing they can do, and the days go by, wasted. This time delay should have a negative impact for the PCs from a story perspective.

The Actions presented above add some situational flavor and roleplay hooks, making them especially appropriate for relatively new roleplayers or players that otherwise just focus on cards and mechanics. However, many groups of RPG veterans like to engage in improvisation as the norm. If that describes your players, don't reveal the Actions directly. Just describe the scene in as much detail as you can / feel is appropriate, then let your players come up with crazy ideas. Use the Actions presented as templates for how you might handle whatever activities beyond the cards that your players try to get up to.

If your group is adept at moving the Counter, consider swapping the Smart-ass for a Cynic or a Lackey to make things a bit more challenging from that angle.

If the PCs are bluffing and don't actually have an urgent reason to get into the city, especially if they're actually up to no good, start the Debate Counter farther back to reflect the greater difficulty of convincing the guards with a lie. However, if the PCs don't really need to get inside particularly fast, you need some other motivation for running a scenario. If the PCs have gained some infamy, maybe they're having to try to pass off a disguise to get inside. In this case, remove the Roused Rabble and the Patient Pilgrims.

More level 2 interaction scenarios