A Dungeon’s Survival

Cameron

It had been a long time since I'd played any card games. Ever since the accident years prior, I had largely cut myself off from the outside world, so I hadn't had many opportunities to for quite a while. Still, a certain summer break I had back in high school came to mind. Mel had wiped the floor with all of us. Deprived of our pocket change, our group of friends had been forced to share appetizers while we watched her order a steak from our favorite restaurant. I chuckled at the memory as I struggled to recall the exact rules of the game.

Here's how this will go, I began, Everyone will put one of our twenty coppers into the betting pool to start with. Then, Archie will shuffle the deck and deal.

I briefly paused to explain what that entailed to him before continuing, Everyone will get two cards. For those of us without hands or that are too small to handle them comfortably, which is everyone here besides Archie, I've brought in the Lizard Men and a couple of Trentis to assist us. After looking at your cards, you may choose to increase the bet. Anyone else wanting to play will need to match it. For the sake of keeping this game going for a while, there will be a maximum bet of five coins per round.

Once everyone has either bet or conceded the round, folded, Archie will draw three cards and put them in the center of us. Those cards will be considered to be in all of our hands at once. There will be another round of betting, he will add another card to the community pool, and the process will repeat itself until there are five cards in the center. Our goal is to make the best set of five cards we can with what's available to us. Now, before I get into the scoring of hands, I feel like I'm forgetting something.

I racked my brain for a few moments before figuring it out.

Also, if someone doesn't have enough coins left to match the current bet, they can stay in regardless until the end of the round.

That should have been the basics of it. I could have been forgetting something or have gotten something wrong, but it didn't matter. Aside from Adraugon, we were all just playing for fun after all. We didn't actually have a use for the coins we were betting.

After that, I proceeded to explain the scoring of points. Since it boiled down to more matching cards with higher numbers being better, save for a few exceptions like straights, five cards with consecutive numbers, and flushes, five cards of a matching suit, it didn't take too long. I told them I'd answer any questions they had and clarify things as we played, so without a further ado, we began our game.

Archie placed two cards in front of the herbalist Lizard Man who was acting on my behalf, and she raised them so that I could see. I had a two of spades and a seven of hearts. It was a bad hand, but I felt like I needed to play the first round to completion regardless of what I got as an example to the others.

Anyone want to raise the bet? I asked.

“I do!” cheered Pee.

How much do you want to add to the pot?

“What pot?”

Er, I mean how much do you want to raise the bet by?

“Four is the limit, right?”

Yep.

“I'll raise it by four, then!”

Okay, anyone who wants to keep playing this hand has to bet four, too. I'll match. What about everyone else?

Archie was the first to answer, “I think I will concede this round. I'd like to get a better feel for the game before risking that much on a single hand.”

“I agree with the alchemist,” stated Fabian as he also folded.

“I'll match it,” growled Adraugon

“Me as well,” came Vie's reply.

“Blurb!” Prism agreed excitedly.

I informed the Trenti that was handling the slime's cards that they wanted to match the bet since I was the only one that could understand the easily excited blob. Despite my monsters not seeming to need to be able to speak to communicate with each other, the slime was unable to convey anything through language. I could still understand the general ideas that they wanted to convey through our emotional bond, but that was the limit of their ability to communicate. In all honesty, I wasn't entirely sure the slime was even fully sentient. At times they acted like it, but the verdict was still out on that. Either way, I was content to have my first familiar joining us for game night.

Could you draw our shared cards, Archie?

He did as asked, and if I could have winced, I would have. That was a benefit of not physically being present for the game in a biological body. I didn't have to worry about maintaining a poker face. I did have to intentionally prevent myself from picking up on the other players' emotions, but if I messed up there, I wouldn't be the one suffering for it.

The community cards that had invoked that response from me were about as useless to my hand as it got. There was a six of hearts, a king of spades, and a four of clubs. At this rate, I was going to be lucky if I even got a pair. If we weren't playing with an added rule that stopped up from raising the bet any further, folding would have been the only logical option for me, but since we were already at the maximum bet, there wouldn't have been a point in anyone folding, so the next two cards followed, and I was left with nothing I could work with.

My Lizard Man placed the cards from my hand down for the others to see, and the assistants of my fellow players did the same. Adraugon had a pair of fours, Prism had two sixes, and Pee's hand was equally as useless as my own. Vie had a pair of kings. That was the best out of any of us, so she took the round and all of out bets.

[Achievement gained: A Useless Skill!]

That was unexpected. I immediately brought up the details on it.

[Achievement: A Useless Skill

Description: One of your monsters has learned a leisure skill.

Reward: The monster has gained 1 level in the leisure skill!]

I pulled up their status and found what I was looking for.

[Skill: Gambling

Level: 2

Description: This skill affects your ability to effectively use the tools at your disposal to come out ahead when gambling.]

Well, it looks like someone here's going to have an advantage.

* * *

“I'll bet four!” Pee cheered.

We were on our fourth round, and it was the fourth time Pee had immediately gone for the maximum bet. She had yet to win a round. It seemed that the Gambling skill she shared with her sister was not working to her benefit.

Um, are you sure you want to do that? I tried to talk her out of it, If you lose this hand, you're out. You know that, right?

“I'm sure!”

I'll fold, then.

I was also yet to win a round, and was tied with Adraugon for the fewest remaining coins behind Pee. I didn't like my hand and wasn't going to risk bankrupting myself so early. Archie seemed to agree with my assessment as he did the same. He had only played one round to completion so far, and I got the feeling he was waiting for Pee to go out before he started playing for real. The constant and high bets from her were risky to go against with how small the pools of money we started with were.

“I'll also fold,” came Fabian's voice.

He, too, had only kept up with Pee's betting for a single round, but unlike when Archie had done the same, he had won it. His cautious nature seemed to translate to his overly safe play style well.

“Match!”

“Gurgle!”

The slime and dragon both stayed in. I had yet to get much of a read on either of them. Prism was hard to decipher in general, especially since they didn't have anything resembling a face for me to try to read and didn't use words. In contrast, my problem with reading Adraugon was that he displayed too much emotion, and it was all pride and annoyance, regardless of what was in his hand. If I had to put a label to his play style so far, it would have been erratic, but it was still too early to make that judgment, and besides, it could have just been him getting the hang of the game.

“Hmm,” Vie contemplated, “I, too, will fold.”

Unlike her sister, she also seemed cautious. She was tied with Fabian for first, but her decisions usually took the longest out of any of us. Maybe calculating or opportunistic would have been a better word for the way she played.

That was everyone decided, though, and only Pee, Adraugon, and Prism were in. The extra cards were dealt, and their hands were revealed.

“I've got nines!” the Shadow Viper happily declared as her pair was presented.

“Blur.”

Prism's hand held nothing of value.

“Ha!” Adraugon cried out, “Three fives. I win!”

The Dragon had recovered his lost funds in a single go. That left me in last out of the remaining players.

* * *

Betting stabilized without Pee constantly raising everything to the limit. I had felt bad for her getting out so early at first and had even considered giving her more coins to play with. She seemed perfectly content to just watch the rest of us play, though, so I let it be.

The next four rounds had gone to Prism, Vie, Prism again, and Adraugon. Four distinct tiers of skill level were making themselves apparent within the players. It was either that or just luck, but I was going to assume it was the former for the sole purpose of getting reads on the competition. Whatever advantages be could gained from considering the others, I needed them. I had assigned myself to the second worst skill level along with Archie after all.

Neither of us had won a single hand, and we were one bad round from going out. I only had a single copper left, and the alchemist wasn't doing much better with his two coins. At least I had Pee to make me feel better about myself.

Compared to us, Fabian and Adraugon were decent. The fairy had secured a decent amount of coins early on and had kept hold of them. In contrast, the lizard had fallen into a cycle of losing most of his before winning them back. Both of their holdings sat slightly higher from when we started.

Then, there were Vie and Prism. Neither of them were far from running the metaphorical table. We didn't actually have a table. We were playing on the floor. I made a mental note to have the wood carver make us a table or twenty after this. That would be nice to have.

The musings I was using to distract myself from the current predicament aside, I looked from the seven and jack in my hand to the five, seven, and ten in the middle of us. I was at least guaranteed a pair in this round. With that comfort, I watched as Fabian and Vie folded.

The next card was revealed: an ace of spades.

“I raise a coin,” Adraugon hissed.

It wasn't a smart move as far as I was concerned. Archie and I had already emptied our few remaining coins into the pot, so the only one who the little dragon would be taking an extra coin from if he won would be Prism. The slime matched his bet, and the last card was revealed. It was a five of spades.

Two pairs, I declared as I hoped no one had anything better.

“Blarb.”

Prism also had two pairs. His second pair used the ten from the middle rather than the seven, though, so he beat me.

Ugh! I expressed my annoyance as I lost the game.

I just hoped Archie would lose on this hand too so that we'd at least tie.

“Three fives!” Adraugon shouted, asserting his triumph over the slime.

“I believe a flush should be enough to beat that. That is correct, yes, mistress?” came the Trenti's voice as he revealed two cards with spades on them.

There was an ace, a five, and a seven of spades in the middle. He had five cards of the same suit, and that meant he had won. Adraugon squeaked out a roar of despair. I couldn't help but to agree with the little dragon. That was an unfortunate outcome.

* * *

His winnings of eleven coins didn't keep the alchemist in the game for much longer. He soon lost it, and only four players were left. We had been at it for a while, so we decided the next round would be the last. The players left with coins could keep them and either bolster their starting funds with them the next time we played, or in the case of Adraugon, add them to his hoard.

“I raise three coins,” Vie stated confidently as the fourth card was revealed.

“I'll match!” Adraugon roared out without skipping a beat.

“I'll fold,” came my fairy's voice, “This has been fun, though. Thanks for putting this together for us Cameron.”

No problem. Glad you liked it! Also, thank Archie and the herbalist. They did the real work.

“Well, thank you then.”

“It was no problem at all,” came the Trenti's response.

The Lizard Man, lacking sentience as she was, just nodded.

“Glorb!”

Prism, the player currently with the highest amount of coins, called our attention back to the game as they matched the bet. That was three of the remaining players in at the maximum bet. Archie flipped the final card, and everyone revealed their hands. Vie let out the mental equivalent of a sigh as her hand was revealed and it shown that she had nothing of value. She had been bluffing, but against the stubborn dragon and the slime I had yet to get a read on, it had a been a futile effort.

“Two pairs,” Adraugon revealed next.

“Glurble!” Prism cheered triumphantly.

Um, Prism?

“Glur?”

You know that hand loses, right?

“Blur,” they deflated.

I stared in confusion at the slime's hand. The cards they had were even worse than Vie's.

You understand the scoring system, right? I mean, you've been winning all night.

Prism gurgled a noncommittal answer.

Wait a moment, I quickly pulled for my familiar's status sheet as a grim realization dawned on me.

[Ability: Mana Sense

Description: You can sense the mana around you.

Effect: You can feel the presence and density of mana around you. The range of this ability is dependent on your (SOUL), and its sensitivity is dependent on your (WILL).]

I mentally wailed out a cry of despair. Just like my Crystal Puffers, the slime relied entirely on Mana Sense to perceive the world around it. I had just thoroughly lost in a game of cards to a blind monster without even realizing it. That was the reason I couldn't get a read on them. How could I have when not even they had known what was in their hand? Then, to make things worse somehow, I was left staring at something new in their status sheet while Adraugon cackled over his winnings.

[Skill: Bluffing

Level: 3

Description: This skill affects your ability to fool others through a display of pure confidence alone.]

Prism hadn't even learned the gambling skill.