Patch 08-08

• NEW: three strangers, one word. The Stranger stakes your run on that number around R7–13. Merrit falls in step at R25, asks who your favourite is, and takes them — you walk short-handed for four rounds. And the late hill you already knew now hands out a gift twice the size (×3 → ×6, and the day-after training block is gone). All three wear CROSSROADS: once you have learned what that word can cost, exactly one of them just pays.
• Guessing wrong pays the only once-ever deed in the game. a short road. I wanted losing to her to leave you with something, and for that something to be a joke at your expense.
• NEW: the shop makes offers. 50–80% off, rolled fresh every visit, and only on stock you left standing last time. Holding a card buys another roll, never a promise — the price is gone at the next delivery. Worth about 110 gold across a run, against the duplicate discount's 10.
• NEW: the road asks what it should drop. From your second run: normal, or fire-heavy. Fire gear turns up much more often — and fire resistance does nothing for all fifty rounds, so it is a harder road that seals a card built for the dungeons. The screen tells you that before you pick.
• Run 2's opening chest is a guaranteed Epic (was Rare).

Kept rough on purpose: this build forces all three strangers onto every single run so the tier can be tested at all. Real odds land tomorrow.