Vance: You ready yet? Illia: *Nods* Vance: Finally! You took forever. Illia: *Hand motions* Vance: It's just meeting people, there aren't any special rules or whatnot! Watch, I'll show you. Hey, everyone! I'm Vance, and that's Illia. We're about your age, Vanna, so I guess that means we aren't too young, huh? We're what you call Game Masters, so we're pretty awesome. Illia: *Confused hand motions* Vance: Okay, sure. Sparsuna, why do your friends want to kill you? Doesn't sound very friendly to us.
Sparsuna: Oh, well, that's just business. My friends tease me with playful names like thief, bandit, backstabbing opportunist, greedy moneywrencher, desert rat, degenerate scum... When you're the baron of a band of thieves, you have to adjust your definition of friends if you want to have any outside of your gang. And I'm a very sociable person. I can't just hang around with the boys all the time! Actually, that is pretty much all I do. But we seem to have guests over one way or another. One time, we encountered a very charming nobleman. He was alone in the desert with no dragon to carry him away. So we offered to take him home! Then we tied him up and sent a message to the praetors of Romanal. You see, this nobleman was none other than Lord Dalgorax, leader of the Gentathinian warfront, and a warlock to boot! And the Romanali and knight-mages were certainly going to pay a handsome price for him. They sent two knight-mages to collect the ransom, and we tied them up and held all three of them for an even bigger ransom! Kayven and Amaroni, were the knight-mages' names, I remember. I liked those two. I hear Kayven was killed by my friend Randor. Randor, now, he's an assassin. Such a shame. But I never hold it against my friends when they kill my other friends, is something I find myself saying very often these days. But anyway, Kayven and I were good friends, and I think Amaroni actually likes me. Dalgorax, well, he was kind enough to pay us a visit and thank us for our hospitality! Brought his whole army with him. Not very talkative folks, and they completely destroyed the place, but I appreciate the gesture. Our good friends the knight-mages joined the party to stop things from getting too out-of-hand. You know, I would be furious if a stranger did that to my den, but since there is no one but myself to blame for choosing such ungrateful friends, I take it in stride. Things always seem to work out.
Vance: *Giggling* Illia: *Trying not to, but can't. Her laughing is silent, though* Vance: Man, you're one interesting guy. Not sure Big Sis would like ya, but whatever. So, you're a thief then? We haven't had the chance to meet one without having to take 'em down. Hey, Illia, we don't have to fight this guy, right? Illia: *Shakes head, then signs some more* Vance: Great. Hey, Spars, do you play games? We used to want to be fighters, but we like games now. We were kind of forced into it at first, but it's actually really fun to go head-to-head with others in a way that doesn't have much of a chance of causing serious injury.
Sparsuna: Oh! Games! I love games! Especially ones with a chance of causing serious injury! But, I'll settle for a game of drinking knife chess any day. Now how many did I... [pats around knife belt] I'm a few short. Anyone have five extra knives lying around? And, er, five or six gallons of mead?
Vance: That sounds awesome! Illiac: *Frantic signing* Vance: If they aren't here, Illia, they can't tell us what to do. Illia: *Angry signing* Vance: Fine! Can we play the game without alcohol, Spars? My partner's completely stuck up.
Sparsuna: Aw, but— I mean, fine. Fine. You lose half the strategy, but whatever. Fine. Paint a target on the wall and get us a chessboard, somebody.
Jim: Sorry, bossman went AFK. What the hell kinda game involves a bullseye and a chessboard? Janice: I think it's 4d chess? *sips coffee mug* Jim: I play 4d chess, this is not it.
Illia: *Digs through bag and pulls out some paint, then draws a target on the wall. Then she pulls out a chessboard, sets it on the floor, and places the pieces.* Vance: Great! Now we just need knives, which we don't have. Illia: *Pulls out ten solid white knives* Vance: Why do you have those?! Illia: *Signing and a shrug* Vance: Mementos?! Creepy cultist... So, how do you play Knife Chess?
Henrietta: This is terrifying. I'm not sure this is a good idea. Vanna: Not sure? It's clearly a terrible idea, especially if you're drunk. I'm morbidly curious. Elsie: This is the most interesting thing to happen in this chatroom. Ophelia: You really do have quite a disturbing side.
Sparsuna: Well, first, you lay out all the knives on my side of the table. Here. Put it on the pile. Now... are you sure we can’t drink anything? The game really only works with something strong.
Vance: Sorry, Spars, but Reverend Killjoy over here'd never let me, even though there aren't any adults around to tell us no. *glares* Illia: *counter-glares* Vance: We can try one of ours if you really can't do yours without being drunk. Illia: *Signing* Vance: We don't even know where she is, how would we get her here?
V&I: *Quickly signing to each other.* Illia: *Pulls a deck of large cards from her bag, takes out three and puts them on the table.* Vance: Okay, here's how the game is played. *Places the cards in a row, but a fourth card is stuck to the bottom of one.* Sorry 'bout that, we don't need four. *Pockets the fourth card.* On one card, there's a symbol for fire, on the other, an ice symbol. You're looking for a card with the crown symbol. Pick that card, and you win. Pick a wrong one, however... *Both Vance and Illia place a hand on different cards, they glow orange and blue, respectively, but the color fades.* and you might not like what happens. Neither should do any serious damage, though. Now... *Vance waves his hand and a fire wall blocks the cards from view, then he shuffles them around. The fire wall disappears.* choose. *If your character has good eyesight, they'll be able to see that the center card is glowing a faint orange, and the left card is glowing a faint light-blue. If they have good physical senses, they should be able to feel heat and cold coming off of the two cards, respectively.*
Truman: Uh huh. I'll sit this one out, and see how it plays. *makes a squeak sound, as though he's got something stuck between teeth. Alpha-ball turns and sees Truman subtly nod to Vance and flick his eyes to the pocket with the card in it. No one notices Alpha-ball sneak behind Vance. Truman crosses his arms over his chest and watches the game*
Vance: Man... and after all the effort to put the extra flair into it. It's actually pretty hard to make a fire wall without burning anything, y'know. Illia: *Taps shoulder and points at the others.* Vance: Great idea! Hey, girls, wanna have a go? We can even take away the penalty for choosing wrong, if ya want. I just don't want this game to go to waste. Illia: *Picks up the knives and puts them back in her bag.*
Vanna: I don't know. How does it work? Henrietta: And what is the penalty for choosing wrong? How do you play? I may give it a go, I am fond of card games. Jasmine: I'll play! Cis: Just bound right in, why don't you, that's the spirit.
Vance: Okay, about the penalty. Illia and I have trapped two cards. Those cards will either burn you, or be cold enough to feel like a burn. All you have to do is pick the card with the crown on it, then you win. The penalties shouldn't hurt too much, but we'll remove them if you want. Illia: *Reaches for the card in Vance's pocket, but he swats her hand away* Vance: *Whispering* Stop that, you'll give it away.
*As Jim touches the left card, a sharp cold shoots through his arm, but only lasts for a second.* Vance: *Chuckles as he flips over the left card, revealing an ice symbol* Too bad, you chose the wrong card. Illia: *Draws one more card and sets it on the table.* Vance: We'll add another card to change the odds of the game. Illia, if you would. *She touches the card as well as the card Jim chose, and they glow blue for a second before the color fades. This time, an ice wall blocks the cards from view, Vance shuffles the cards, and the wall disappears. Now, the left-most card is faintly orange, the right-most and center-left cards are blue.* Now, let's play again. Illia: *Grabs his attention and signs quickly.* Vance: *Sigh* Fine. Illia wants me to tell you all that, as Game Masters, it's in our nature to lie, exploit vague rules, and otherwise do whatever underhanded trick we have to in order to win. She's so helpful, isn't she? Basically telling you all that I've been tricking you. I will say, however, that I haven't lied once when I explained the rules and placed the cards. Oh, I'll also add a new rule. To choose a card, you have to touch it.
Vanna: So all we do is grab a card? Sounds easy enough, aside from the risk factor. Henrietta: And only one of them is safe? Hmm. *Henrietta looks at the cards for a long time, a thoughtful expression on her face.* Jasmine: Getting burned? Doesn't sound like a fun game. Henrietta: So the glowing cards look suspicious, I shan't touch them. But if you've said anything to mislead us or direct us to a particular card... Or if the glowing cards are a ploy to direct us away from them... Hmm... *There is a long silence as she continues to contemplate the cards.* Elsie: Oh, come on! Just pick a card that isn't glowing, it's not difficult! *Grabs the centre-right card*
*Vance takes the card from Elsie and flips it over, to reveal an ice symbol. There's no freezing or anything.* Vance: Well, I guess that trick is shot, huh? That was the wrong card, Elsie, too bad. This goes back to the 'vague rules' bit that Illia mentioned earlier. I never said that the crown card was the one that wasn't trapped. In order to win this game, you'll have to take the hit. I will say, however, that we took great care to make this version of the game as close to harmless as possible. I mean, the original game we made gave you third-degree burns and frostbite. Illia: *Shakes head.* Vance: In our defense, he deserved it. Anyway, this version should only give you a bit of a shock, I wouldn't want to hurt people in a friendly game. We can remove the penalties if you want, but that would also cause the cards to stop glowing, taking away your advantage. On that note... Illia: *Removes the ice card.* Vance: You've still got two more guesses until you lose! That is, if you still want to play.
Alpha-ball: *An imperceptable tentacle stretches from its tiny hand and whips into the pocket, snatches the card out. It hops as it waves the card* Eee Hee!
Vance: *Takes the card from Alpha-ball.* Sorry, little creature, but you chose wrong. *Reveals the symbol on the card to be a black 'X'.* Also, don't sneak up on me. *Puts the X card back in the deck.* I'm actually really glad that someone fell for that; it took me forever to make it look like I'm trying to hide the card while still making sure people see it. Okay, now there's no more tricks. Only the three cards on the table are in play, and all three are trapped. One and only one of the cards is the crown card. By the way, all of the cards have different symbols than the others. One ice card, one fire card, and one crown card. Who's up for another round or two? Illia: *Pinches Vance's arm.* Vance: No way, your games are unfair.
