You gotta know when to hold 'em

 

Ricmo chomped down  on his cigar and looked at his hand. He'd had better hands. He carefully laid the cards down and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. They'd been at this eight hours straight at this point, and it was the darkest part of the night.

He considered for a moment and pulled out the pouch of leaves that Lil had given him. Whisperleaf had said they weren't magic exactly, but that chewing them would keep sleep at bay and keep his mind sharp. It would come at a cost though, tomorrow would be rough, and the druid had said there were risks if he used them often. 

He tentatively placed some of the leaves in his mouth and chewed. They tasted bitter, but not unpleasant and indeed after a few moments he felt energy flooding back into him. His eyes brightened, he felt GOOD. "Hell yes" he thought to himself. "Let's play."

The finals of Skull River Bay's Grand Tournament of Cards had begun with 25 finalists, each packing all the gold they could carry. They were now down to eight. The pile of gold pieces in front of Ricmo had only grown over the night, but the competition had grown more and more intense and now he was starting to feel the heat. 

This Mark Jamieson character was GOOD. And lucky as hell, at least he'd been drawing consistently stellar cards, especially when he needed them. From beneath his wide brimmed hat, his coal black eyes, half in shadow, never gave up a thing, but he never missed someone else's tell, and he played his hands almost perfectly. If the other two gentlemen at Ricmo's table hadn't been a bit weak, Ricmo would have been worried.  He and Mark were both gradually whittling them away, and while Ricmo wasn't exactly getting an even share of the gold coins those two had entered play with, he was getting some of them. 

The large room Sally Brown had offered up was more then half empty now. No spectators were allowed at the finals, too much chance of them being part of some con or other. The room was relatively quiet, the contestants intent on their play. Only the clink of coins and the occasional muttered comment broke the silence. 

"Ding!" as a bell broke the mood, signaling the end of the round. Ricmo was both happy and sad to hear it. Happy because he really needed that break, sad because it meant the ante had just increased again, and the ante was getting significant. They quickly finished the round and Ricmo stood up and cracked his back. 

Sara Lavender, their waitress came over to see if he wanted anything. He had to admit, she was the prettiest halfling he'd yet seen on this island, especially those striking green eyes. He smiled at her and ordered some water. 

"Only water, my lovely?" she looked up at him, moving close with a winsome smile on her face. "You sure you don't want anything a might stronger?" She leaned in, placed a hand on his knee and then, in a lower voice she whispered "he's cheating you know. He's using magic."

"Ricmo raised a quizzically eyebrow and then put an arm around Sara, drawing her close. He whispered in her ear "Really? I haven't noticed anything."

"It's subtle, but my ma was a witch and I have a bit of the sight. I can see how he is doing it."

"Do tell!" Ricmo replied, nibbling on her ear to keep up appearnces.

"What's in it for me?" she countered.

Ricmo considered his options quickly. So far everyone around seemed to be writing off the conversation as Halfling lechery. But that wouldn't last. 

"If you provide me useful information, one third share." 

"Done." said Sara .

"It's a coin. It's enchanted. I've been watching him, he always wins when he bets that coin. Old gold piece, you will notice if you look. That coin reeks of enchantment"

"Interesting" replied Ricmo. 

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Meanwhile, back on the Lady Jezebel, Marus was, as usual, high up in the mainmast rigging. She loved it up here, the solitude, quiet and wide open spaces suited her, not to mention her magical eyes made her the best lookout on the ship. Sometimes she stayed up here for days at a time, communing with the sea and the sky, as an elf she didn't need much sleep and as a ranger she was used to spending days in the open air.

And a good thing too because any eye not as keen as Marus would never have seen the three small boats silently slipping through the night. It was the darkest part of the night, a few hours before dawn. The moon had set, and while the town a few miles away glowed brightly, the ocean was the deepest dark.

The three boats, two longboats and a piragua, showed no lights nor sails, and were moving silent as the dead, rowing with muffled oars no doubt. Despite the fact they were packed with armed men, they made barely a sound as they crept up on the sleeping Lady Jezebel.

"Foes! Foes approach over the port bow!" Marus thundered down at the night watch. "They mean to cut us out! Beat to quarters!!!!!

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 "The Halfling lass was on to something. " Ricmo decided as the game recommenced. Now that he knew what to look for, it was pretty clear that Jameson was treating that coin as something special. Nothing he would have noticed if he hadn't been tipped off, it was subtle, but that coin definitely saw more play then it should, and it tended to come out when Jameson really needed his luck to run hot.  

Soon enough though, Ricmo's observations were cut short. The bell rang again, indicated that enough contestants had tapped out to require another table consolidation.

"Only five of us left now, final table" Ricmo thought. It was himself, Jameson, Cantrell, the other professional gambler, and two locals. 

The final table upped the ante to 100 gold pieces and and had no limit on the bets. Ricmo was going in with a pretty strong purse, but his stack of gold coins was still smaller then either Cantrel or Jameson.

The play commenced and Ricmo immediately was under pressure. His first couple hands were mediocre and the play his opponents were displaying was clearly top notch. He started loosing money,

His plan had been to palm the coin Jameson used during a raise, replace it with one he had picked out that looked somewhat similar, but Jameson kept the coin close to his side of the table. And while Jameson appeared relaxed, he never took his attention off the game, even for an instant. Those cold black eyes didn't miss a thing either. 

The cards kept going against Ricmo and he started to sweat. He was going to have to try to palm the coin anyway. He would likely be seen. It probably wasn't going to work.

"Crack". As Jameson shifted his weight in his chair, one of the legs let go and he slid over sideways to the floor. Quick as a snake, taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Ricmo made his move.  Leaping to his feet, as if to help the fallen opponent, his hand naturally swept over the pot, only for an instance. But as Jameson brushed off the aid with an easy smile and grabbed a replacement chair, the coin was gone. 

As Jameson resumed his position, his eyes widened slightly registering it's absence, then swept over the table, zeroing in on where the coin now resided. On the top of Ricmo's stack of gold.

That was the only indication the gambler gave that anything was wrong.

Ricmo grinned at him

"Shall we continue"

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The Sturg, Dakhir, and Whisperleaf were relaxing on a seaside table at Sally Brown's, immediately  outside the gambling hall where Ricmo dueled. Freddy and Ozraeline had chosen to go back to Bella Bell's, though Sally had always been nothing but polite to Freddy, it was well known that Bella and Sally were mortal enemies. Given that it was also well known that Freddy and Bella were some kind of item, Freddy was always a little uncomfortable spending time in what amounted to enemy territory. Also, he had claimed he needed to rehearse for the upcoming Challenge of Song.

As was common when the two spellcasters were alone with one another, the topic turned to the supernatural. In this case gods. 

"They are both gods of luck" Whisperleaf insisted. "The Lady, and The Gentleman". Just different kinds of luck. It's not clear which one favors Ricmo but one of them certainly does. Did you see him hit that bullseye blindfolded?"

"Par for the course too" agreed Dakhir "Seems more likely to be The Gentleman to me. He's the trickster one isn't he? Seems more Ricmo's speed. The Lady is more like Fate and Destiny and The Lost Scion Finding the Magical Sword of Power in some random sea cave and that jazz. Don't see Ricmo as The Chosen One."

"Well, yes through Valorian eyes, sure, The Lady might be better described as 'Fate' but current thinking is these two originally come from Mbo. They think differently there, 'Fate' and 'Luck' are much more tightly linked and neither of our words really apply to their concepts. That civilization grew up around great rivers and they tend to think in terms of currents, Their word for the Lady's Luck, is better translated as 'with-the-current' and the Gentleman they would call 'against-the-current'.  Those concepts are core to Mbo's religion and philosophy, almost as much as 'Trim' is. Now THAT is a fascinating concept...

"Though I've never heard Ricmo mentioning he worshipped any gods at all" remarked Dakhir trying to keep Whisperleaf from going off on a tangent. 

"Oh you don't worship either of them." corrected Whisperleaf hastily. "At least you don't worship them for LONG. They have many believers but no worshippers.  Neither like the clicking of rosaries much, though they are said to be attracted to the sound of dice. I heard a rumor once of some members of a thieves guild that tried to worship The Lady, they were all dead by the next morning. Random accidents, fast acting diseases, sometimes just plain old death"

They both considered that silently for a second.

"They are known to not get along" remarked Dakhir. "Overlapping domains. That might bode ill for us in the long run. No good comes from the attention of gods."

"Well it's more complicated then that, more of a love/hate relationship" Whisperleaf replied. "Some philosophers think they are consorts. Though they often do go to great lengths to torment one another."

"I remember Rufus the Well Travelled mentioned that he thought he had met The Gentleman once" mused Dakhir..''This is the god you are most likely to unknowingly have a drink with in some disreputable dive bar. I think that actually happened to me once. Or maybe it didn’t, who knows?' is what he told me. He said they tend to travel the world incognito, looking just like mortals, but they can't hide their eyes. Bright green for The Lady and coal black for the Gentleman. "  

Whisperleaf cocked his head

"Do those sound like cannons to you?" he asked Dakhir.

"Sure, but we've been hearing cannon and gunfire all night. That's background noise in Skull River Bay.

"yes but those sound like OUR cannons" Whisperleaf corrected.

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Three small boats might not seem like much of a threat to a large ship like the Lady Jezebel, but Marus knew better. Those boats were stuffed to the gills with fighting men, and the Lady Jezebel had a small crew under the best of occasions, even when half her manpower wasn't away on shore leave. 

If those boats managed to reach her and board, they might well take the ship. 

The Ranger considered her options. The wind was light today, and unfavorable to escape, doubtlessly the raiders had planned their angle of attack to ensure that. 

They would have to fight.

"Run out the waist cannons, fire on the center vessel, I go above to harry them" she commanded the Jack Tar's.

She turned to the Exiles. While the Jack Tars were excellent  seaman and cannoners, the Amazonian woman were mostly trained in close quarters fighting. They had recently started learning cannonry, and were just starting to build up a competence.

"Exiles, take the forward guns" she ordered. Fire until they get ready to board, then come above deck and stand by to repel them.

In prefect unison the seven woman sharply rapped their spear butts on the deck three times, then went below to the forward gun deck.

"BOOM" the mighty waist guns rang out and off in the distance the middle boat began to burn.

 ----------------------------------------------------

"I'm out gents" announced a despondent Cantrell. "The Lady does not favor me tonight."

Ricmo nodded as the lanky gambler got up and left the table. That left just himself and Jameson.

Ricmo's luck had certainly changed since he acquired the coin. The pile of gold in front of him still wasn't as big as Jamenson's but he'd narrowed the gap considerably. It was uncanny, whenever that coin went into the pot, Ricmo got the cards he needed. 

Of course Jamenson had a tendency to fold as soon as that happened but the others at the table hadn't known what to look for and had turned into easy meat.

Jamenson still kept his easy smile and nonchalant demeneour but somehow Ricmo knew he was fuming. 

Casually Ricmo picked up The Coin, made it dance across his knuckles and into his left palm. He closed his hand over it and then opened his right hand, displaying it.  

He then carefully set the coin aside, well away from his stack.

"Shall we play?" he suggested brightly.

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Dakhir and The Sturg hurdled across the night sky. The Sturg loved to fly. Carrying Dakhir didn't meaningfully detract from his enjoyment either, the Tiefling wasn't very heavy, at least not to The Sturg. 

"No more barrel rolls Sturg, I'm serious" Dakhir commanded. "I'm going to throw up if you do another"

Of course The Sturg didn't answer, and no expression was visible behind his full helm, but Dakhir got the distinct feeling he was disappointed.

Below a battle raged

The Lady Jezebel's cannons had taken a murderous toll on the three boats attempting to storm her. The center and largest of the three, after receiving multiple blasts from the waist and forward cannon, was burning merrily, all it's occupants either dead or fled into the uncertain sanctuary of the ocean. Even as Dakhir watched the second, stern facing boat took a full broadside at close range and exploded into splinters, killing all aboard.

But as the boats got closer, they had split up, maneuvering to avoid the Lady J's cannon.  The Jack Tar's had managed to somewhat counter this by using the anchors to warp her around, pivoting the great ship in place, but there was still no way to cover all the approaches at once, and the boat aimed at Lady Jezebel's bow was now unchallenged.

"It's take her or die for that lot" Dakhir thought grimly. "If they try to retreat they will never make it, the cannons will pick them off at leisure. And me still a good ten minutes out"

The last boat had evidentially come to the same conclusion and with a roar redoubled it's rowing, surging forward. As Dakhir watched helplessly, he saw the pirate at the tiller go down with one of Marus arrows through his throat but the man next to him took his spot and the boat reached the mighty ship.

With a cry, the dozen or so occupants clambered on to the foredeck, where the found the Exiles waiting for them.

With an answering warcry, the Exiles in unison dropped into a half crouch and a tight formation, shields interlocking and spears presented in an orderly row. It was a fearsome sight, Dakhir thought,. even from up in the air, and the invaders quailed for a moment. But it was win or die, and they rallied and attacked. 

----------------------------------------------------------------

Ricmo frowned. Roughly half his gold was in the pot and Jamenson had just raised.

"He's trying to buy the pot" thought Ricmo. It wasn't technically possible since by the rules of the game, and all-in would always check even if it didn't match the amount of a raise. But it meant this was Ricmo's last hand if he went down.

His cards were good, but not that good. 

He briefly considered throwing the magic coin in, but somehow that didn't seem right after he had signalled he wasn't going to use it.

"Fuck it" Ricmo thought. "Check".

And somehow even through Jamenson's  perfect poker face he caught just a glimpse of despair.

"Fucker was bluffing me" he thought and began to grin as he laid down his cards.

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Dakhir landed on the deck of the Lady Jezebel and looked at the dozen or so prisoners that were bound around the mainmast. 

"What do we do with them?" Marus asked.

The prisoners looked terrified. Several were wounded, some had nearly died when their boat had exploded out from under them. Others had learned of the martial prowess of The Exiles first hand as the Amazonians had torn them to shreds on the foredeck. 

They clearly expected to be killed on the spot. 

"So, you boys have a choice" said Dakhir coldly. "It's the briny deep for you, or you join the crew of the Lady Jezebel, the best damn Reaver in the Northern Reach. What will it be?  

The prisoners considered briefly, and then a ragged cheer emerged.

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Back at Skull River Bay, Ricmo raked in more gold then he had ever seen in one place, more gold then he could carry. Jamenson stood up wearily, and then offered his hand.

"You played a good game" he said.

"Ricmo smiled back "So did you, it was an honor" and he popped a small bow. 

As Jamenson turned to leave, Ricmo called out

"Wait" 

As, Jamenson turned, Ricmo flipped him the Coin,

"You'll be needing that"

Then he turned to Sara, who was smiling triumphantly and a little savagely at Jamenson. "And my dear here is your share..."

--------------------------------------------

Outside, Ricmo emerged to a huge cheer. Despite the lateness of the hour, half the town had money riding on who would win the tournament, and had waited it out in the courtyard, money changing hands as each failed contestant emerged from the gambling hell.  

Whisperleaf rushed up.

"Congrats and all and thanks for all the money I just won but I think we have a problem out at the ship" he said urgently. 

"Oh shit" said Ricmo. 

As the two turned to leave, a small boy ran up to them. Ricmo vaguely recognized him as someone who did the occasional odd job around Bella Bell's

"Ricmo, Freddy says come quick! There's been a fight, some people are dead, Freddy's got blood all over him"

"Oh shit" said Ricmo.