11.9

Eve had never seen an Ooze sweat, but that was the current picture of her unfortunate card-playing colleague as he wobbled unsteadily in his stationary bowl chair. The three stone-faced casino guards surrounding him were ignoring his apparently very desperate ooze-speak that declared according to her Polyglot the state of his current finances. A smiling female drow was nodding and listening with an attentive ear until the Ooze finished speaking. Once silence had descended on the wobbly creature the drow’s expression turned into a smiling bright image that somehow gave the impression a knife was about to be used.

”Greeting Mr. Wiggle, I’m Night Shift Manager of the Upper Tables. You can call me, Midnight, I see on our record you’ve been a customer with us for a long time, right? Something in the area of around two thousand years?” Midnight, the drow said in a cheerful voice as she talked to the jiggling Ooze.

Eve watched the poor puddle of animated pudding green wiggle a positive response with enthusiasm like a drowning man being handed a life raft. It was a pitiful sight, made all the more tragic by the casino staff’s next words.

“Mr. Wiggle, on account of our long relationship lasting such a wonderful period of time, I can extend the grace period for repayment!” Midnight said before she continued in a flat monotone, “Two millennia. Two weeks.”

There was frozen silence as the realization that two thousand years of dedicated gambling at Southside Solar Casino of the Sand amounted to only a week’s extension per one thousand years.

As she watched the Ooze helplessly collapse in their bowl against the merciless bloodsucking casino staff, a sparkle appeared in Eve’s eyes. Truly the Ooze, Mr. Wiggles, had lost a great deal, and without the means to earn an astronomical sum in scant weeks, the interest would turn him into alchemical spell components within the month. However, since she was here, this was a good opportunity, perhaps not a divine one!

At least, according to her resident alchemical genius plant ally.

Are you certain, Kudzu? Eve sent. It never hurt to confirm before putting money down.

Yes, Ooze have great value as test subjects. Please acquire this one for tests. I think I can combine the poison from Tiny Ninja Terror with the right amount of chemical suspensions. Kudzu replied.

Soul poisons? Ok, consider it done. Eve sent as she turned to the casino attendant and said with a graceful wave, “Midnight, does the casino sell the debt they own?”

The drow woman’s eyes immediately shifted to Eve taking in her appearance at a glance before a bright smile appeared as she said, “Absolutely, for merely ten percent more we will be happy to provide ownership via the clauses in our ironclad repayment Contract!

Eve waved her card and said, “Fantastic, let’s get this done and back to the game!” It was the work of moments to purchase the Ooze’s debt when Midnight’s eyes saw the metallic glint of a rare orichalcum card in her hands. The sensation of light-speed service was intoxicating and Eve felt a slight understanding of the ultra-rich on Earth.

What was the saying? When a problem can be solved by money, it is no problem at all, right?  Eve thought as a paltry sum was paid before the debt contract on Mr. Wiggles transferred to her. She gave a sharp smile at the Ooze before moving the chair containing their bowl next to her.

Turning to the remaining players Eve looked out at the other players through the intimidating mound of chips before she said, “Shall we continue?” The remaining players glanced among each other before finally nodding at the air elemental dealer to continue the game.

During the course of the recent hands, Eve had learned the names of each player at the table along with a brief synopsis from the casino staff.  Glancing around she took stock and ran through what little she knew about them.

The floating crystal on her left was Amethyst, a prominent enchanted gem specialist. She was no Dungeon Core, but not everyone could be the top-tier in sapient crystal species. Amethyst liked betting big, but never more than half her entire stake. That habit had managed to allow her to survive when Eve first arrived at the table. In subsequent hands, she had played defensively only betting when she had superior hands. It would take time to crack her stake, and unlikely in the time remaining.

The small pixie dragon who now anchored the far left part of the table alone, and looked like someone had tie-dyed them in bright vibrant colors was known as Victoria Drex the Third. Eve had been informed the tiny cute mini-dragon owned almost half of all the warehouses in the city. Victoria was a vicious and sly player, luring victims into a sense of superiority before revealing a winning hand. Tiny puffs of smoke escaped her nostrils, but any attempt to use them as tells was doomed to failure.

The demon lord on far-right, a real, honest-to-goodness demon lord, went by the name Mr. Ash. Eve had watched the demon lord throughout the game as he had attempted to cheat multiple times. It was apparently a regular enough occurrence that no one even blinked an eye. The enchanted gaming table’s enchantments defeated every avenue leaving the demon lord on the losing end of several recent hands. Unfortunately, his luck was demonic, and a few major wins kept the chips stable on his pile. While she was certain it wouldn’t take many rounds to crush the demon lord, Eve knew in her heart she couldn’t finish him off in the remaining hours.

The last player still remaining at the table was the ordinary-looking human man that raised the hackles on Eve’s neck. She had since found out the casino staff had collective amnesia about his existence. As if that wasn’t terrifying enough, she was almost certain when she looked at him out of the corner of her eyes he was eating, constantly. In fact, if she turned away the sounds of crunching, tearing, and other unsavory elements could be heard to slowly grow in volume.

Eve decided if she met the fake human outside the casino, he was dead.

She wasn’t proud of the decision, but he was the only player at the table that felt wrong. Not even the demon had the same vibe. Something was off, and Eve seemed to be the only person who recognized it. Even the air elemental dealer only managed to remember to deal with the fake human every other hand!

Eve was interrupted from her inner monologue by a gentle cough from the side. Midnight, the manager of the Upper Tables, had approached silently. Once the drow had everyone’s attention she announced, “There appears to be a temporary lockdown in place until dawn. A magical plague of unknown origin has erupted in the city, and the lord has requested no one to be about until it is isolated, contained, and remedied.”

As one everyone’s eyes turned to Mr. Ash who found the opulent tapestry on the side to be of particular interest. Finally, unable to resist the combined stares of everyone he said, “Look, it wasn’t me, ok? Do you seriously think Demons just sit around plotting disasters so we can take advantage of them for opportunistic gains?”

Eve nodded along with everyone else causing Mr. Ash’s eyes to glow a molten red before he hung his head and muttered, “No respect, Demon Lords of Fire get no respect, dammit. A tiny plague and everyone loses their minds, but burning down a few houses won’t cause anyone to blink these days. What a cruel world…” As the air elemental ignored the dejected demon lord to deal another hand, Eve turned her full attention on the creepy not-human across from her.

Can we target his stake exclusively? Eve sent towards Felix.

If you insist. It will lower our net gains by almost 70% though. Felix returned.

Do it. Eve sent.

Eve, I’ve found a match in the E. M. L. Nota sent. Eve quickly checked the information page from the Eternal Memory Library causing shivers of fear to shoot up her spine. The page was displayed in her mind in a standardized format created by Nota.

Luck Reaper

Outsider, Aligned to Chaotic Good

Armor Class: Incorporeal

HP: 1.3M

MP: 1.6M

Speed: Beyond Mortal Limitations

Primary Abilities: Shrouded

Damage Resistances: Piercing, Slashing, Bludgeoning

Damage Immunities: All Elemental

Condition Immunities: Poison, Sleep, Charm, Confusion

Languages: All Mortal Tongues

Innate Spellcaster: The Luck Reaper’s innate spellcasting ability is Beyond Mortal Limits. It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components.

Unlimited: Charm, Sleep, Mental Control I

Once per day: Greater Reality Shield, Death Touch

Magic Resistance. The Luck Reaper has the innate ability to resist many spells and other magical effects.

Rejuvenation. If the Luck Reaper is destroyed anywhere other than the Deeps, it reforms in the Deeps in 1 hour.

Available Skills, Spells, and Traits:

Skills:

Luck Scythe. Targets a creature, they must win the gamble or take psychic damage depending on the amount wagered. Cumulative.

Horrifying Visage. Each non-undead creature within 60 feet of the Luck Reaper that can see it must be Immune to Mind-altering effects. Lack of immunity causes the Luck Reaper to be a Phantom Guest at the Banquet. When a target resists the Visage, the target is immune to follow-on effects for the next 24 hours.

Spells:

Luck Reap. Targeted creatures who have low Luck must win ten gambles in a row without assistance, failure allows the Reaper to siphon all Luck away permanently. A successful string of victories will allow the winner to plunder the Luck Reaper’s accumulations.

Traits:

Forced Wager. The Luck Reaper cannot refuse any direct gambling confrontations as a result of being a creature that feeds on Luck!

What the hell are the people guarding the Deeps doing? Eve thought. Something like this can just stroll around without raising alarms because the people on guard duty can’t do their damn jobs!

Now that she understood what she was facing, several things made far more sense. Eve was still creeped out, but at least now she knew why she was creeped out. The Luck Reaper had clearly been casting Charm and Mental Control I, unaware that her Talisman of Dust III prevented the effects. Creatures of the Deeps were varied, powerful, and had abilities that operated outside the boundaries of understanding, true. They were not, however, considered Higher Powers as those beings could not leave their own Omni-Verse. It was a stroke of luck that caused the Luck Reaper to fail against Eve, while also boosting her own success. Certainly, Felix had played a massive part in her victories in gambling. The reaper though easily explained the first hand that had built Eve into the Stake Queen she currently was.

Interesting. Felix sent upon learning about his opponent.

Can you take him? Eve sent as she folded another hand under instruction.

Luck means nothing against the power of Calculation. Felix sent. Both of us are Immune to the creature, there is no better time to strike than now.

Eve nodded imperceptibly in agreement with the Dungeon Core.

We will counterattack in three more hands. The next ten to twelve hands will be slanted to our favor. Felix sent. Eve could feel the Core reaching out to link with Nota. Felix would provide the calculator, Nota the databank, and Eve would be the robotic hand moving cards on command.

Three hands later, the counter-attack commenced with a simple set of words from Eve as she stared at the Luck Reaper and said, “Force Wager.”

There was a sharp shivering noise that expanded into a humming screech that shattered the crystalline lamps, cameras, and chandelier overhead. As three of the four players and the dealer looked bewildered at Eve, the Luck Reaper phased into permanent existence across from her.

“Mortal, we can make a deal. There is no need to do this.” the Luck Reaper said in a hissing whisper. The visage of humanity that had been cast over it was gone like dissipated smoke. Instead, a floating shroud of abyss black lay seated across from Eve. Underneath the creature's hood glowing eyes of pure green blazed in glowing terrible light. The sheer wrongness of the being was no longer disguised causing everyone at the table except for Eve to recoil.

Eve leaned across the table her eyes blazing silver as her mana rose to unveil into existence before she said, “All your Luck is mine, boi.”