Written in the Cards Part 18

"Sorry," Abby offered as Ralph walked into the pool area with her grandfather.

"Don't worry about it, but like, maybe next time, you can let me explain before you deck me?" Ralph asked hopefully.

"Yeah, that's fair," Abby admitted sheepishly.

"We have cake," Becky offered.

"You're trying to bribe me with cake?" Ralph asked as they walked over.

"Yes, is it working?" Becky asked hopefully.

Ralph glanced at the delicious looking cake on the table then back to his girlfriend. "Yes, yes it is."

"Good," Becky replied as she hugged him.

"I'm Molly, I own the Hotel and the grumpy guy with his feet in the pool is the person that can give you magic cards," Molly said as she started cutting another piece of cake.

"I'm not grumpy, I'm just annoyed with Becky's cursed card. It's being stubborn…" Mist trailed off as he focused on Ralph's potential cards and realized that his cards were weird. 'Protagonist? Is that because he thinks he's a hero or was he an actual character from the series?'

"Are the cards sentient?" Ralph asked as he took a second to glance around the pool area.

"No, it's taking a lot of effort to get rid of the curse on the card," Mist replied as he checked the details on Ralph's Protagonist card. 'Remarkable boost to physical stats, luck and all combat talents? Excellent boost to magic and all magical talents are unlocked? I'd steal that in a heartbeat if it didn't come with the negative quality of attracting attractive girls and getting stuck in the friend zone. Is that because of Abby and Becky or was the card partially active?'

"What's the curse?" Ralph asked, curious how the cards worked.

"The card gives the user the ability to summon random teachers. They come with a couple of mental issues, including an obsession with spanking their students," Mist explained as he glanced over Ralph's Honor Student card. 'General talent that boosts his ability to learn, that should turn into something useful,' he mused as he checked his last card. 'Orphan Card? Okay, I get the boost to Luck but why does it include the ability to summon a sword and a bike? Some type of modern knight setup?'

"Which is a lot better than the teachers wanting to hurt everyone," Vivian pointed out as she paid the mana to give Ralph another card, resulting in him getting a Cameraman card. She sighed in frustration when she realized that she didn't understand any of the abilities. "What do you think of his new card?" she asked Mist, hoping he'd explain things.

Mist glanced at Vivian then focused on the new card. "The Cameraman card probably counts as a job card."

"Makes sense, he's a great Cameraman," Becky offered as Molly handed Ralph a paper plate with a piece of cake on it and a plastic fork.

"What type of abilities does the card give?" Ralph asked, having asked Evan a bunch of questions about his cards and the process on the drive over.

"The Conjure Memory Stick ability lets you spend mana to permanently conjure various types of memory sticks and the Ghost Camera ability lets you levitate a camera and animate it as if a ghostly cameraman with your skill was holding the camera. The Conjure Random Clips ability basically conjures random video clips or pictures that you could have taken over the last five minutes which might increase the length of time when I boost it," Mist told him, looking forward to seeing what the ability turned into.

Abby smiled as she thought about recording some of her teachers when they were saying stupid crap. "That would be great for spying."

"Memory sticks are pretty cheap and they're reusable but the Ghost Camera ability sounds pretty cool," Ralph offered, wondering if he could use the Random Clip ability after walking through a nude beach to get pictures without getting glared at.

"It's a decent start," Mist assured him as he accepted a piece of cake from Molly and spent the mana to boost his new card, curious what it would turn into.

Vivian opened her interface and added the Crone's Durability quality and the ritual magic boost that included a boost to the person's magic and ritual talents as well as agelessness and gave him a cursed card. "Huh, that's an interesting card."

"What did I get?" Ralph asked, curious what they were starting with.

"The Forgotten Orphan, it gives the user a boost to magic and unlocks all types of magic other than celestial magic," Mist replied as he selected the Cameraman card that boosted his agility by a minor amount, decreased his need for sleep, gave him a small chance to get a magical memory stick and increased the range of time that his Conjure Random Clip ability worked, figuring that was an excellent first step in making the card more useful.

"That's it?" Ralph asked, having been expecting a bit more.

"It also comes with the ability to summon a sword and a bike like your other card but the sword can't hurt anyone and the bike looks like trash," Mist replied as he worked on cutting a bite-sized piece of cake with his plastic fork. "It also comes with a curse that means any images or records of you will fade over time and you'll eventually be forgotten about by everyone you love."

"That's a fucked up curse," Ralph complained, unwilling to trade his friends and remaining family for anything short of cosmic power.

"No shit," Becky agreed, more than a bit horrified by the idea of being forgotten by her loved ones.

"On the bright side, you probably don't have to worry about taxes," Abby teased, trying to stay positive.

"Not worth it," Ralph argued. "So, what other cards did I get?"

"Protagonist, Honor Student and Orphan Cards," Vivian offered when she realized that Mist was in the middle of eating a bite of cake.

"Protagonist?!" Ralph squealed, looking like he'd won the lotto.

Vivian glanced at Mist who looked like he'd just bitten into something sour, wondering if she was missing some context. "It gives you a Remarkable boost to physical stats, all combat talents and luck, an Excellent boost to Magic and all magical talents are unlocked for the small price of attracting cute girls and getting stuck in the friend zone."

Ralph winced as he realized that card might screw things up with Becky, something he didn't want to do. "I'm not sure that's worth it."

Becky snickered as she walked over, leaned down and whispered in Ralph's ear, "I fuck my friends, we'll be fine."

"Point," Ralph admitted, suddenly less worried about being some type of hero.

"Your Honor Student card gives you a boost to learning and your original Orphan card lets you summon a sword and a bike," Mist told him, summing things up since the cards were going to change.

"They're pretty solid cards, especially once Mist boosts them," Vivian assured him.

"Which could take the rest of the weekend," Mist admitted as he spent the mana to boost Ralph's Forgotten Orphan card, trying to see if he could get rid of the worst of the curse.

Evan glanced between his girls and Ralph. "I've got some boats to take apart that I've been putting off, do you want to stick around?"

"We're good," Abby assured him, wanting to stick around and make sure her cards were amazing.

"Thanks for the lift and, you know, not killing me," Ralph told him.

"Have fun, but not too much," Evan told the group of kids then headed for the exit, looking forward to seeing what type of extra parts he could get with his salvage card.

"Where's the best place to get computers?" Molly asked Ralph.

Ralph pulled his attention off Abby's departing grandfather and focused on Molly. "That depends, are you looking for a screaming high end computer for gaming or running AI software or are you just looking for something that will run basic games?"

"I've got the money, I might as well get something nice," Molly replied, happy that she didn't have to worry about money as long as she didn't go overboard.

"What do you think, Jinx's Computer Emporium or Frank's Laptops and Electronics?" Ralph asked his friends.

Becky shook her head. "Frank's shop is a tourist trap, he's also gay so distracting him with a sheer shirt to get a discount doesn't work."

"He has nice cameras," Abby pointed out as Zora, Tangles and Sarah walked back into the pool.

"Point," Becky admitted. "But Jinx's shop is probably better for her actual system and it's only a couple of blocks from the hotel."

"Cool, I'll have to check it out later," Molly replied as she used her Techopathy and one of the local wireless hotspots to check their websites and look at a map of the city.

"So, now what?" Ralph asked.

"Your call, I just have to be close enough to boost everyone's cards," Mist replied as he selected the Forgotten Orphan card that swapped the excellent Durability boost for a poor boost to all of his physical attributes. 'This would be a lot easier if I had something that boosted my luck or would I have to boost their luck?' he mused as he spent a large chunk of his mana to boost Ralph's cursed card again.

Beck glanced at the camera bag that Ralph was wearing slung over his shoulder. "I have a couple of ideas that you might like, but we'd need Molly's permission and someone to hold a camera."

"What are you thinking?" Molly asked, curious where Becky was going with her idea.

Becky gestured at Abby. "Abby does a bunch of naked in the Bayou videos for her channel and our last naked 'haunted house' video was a hit, can we make a video of sneaking through the hotel naked?"

"That depends, do I get a copy?" Molly asked with a grin.

"Absolutely," Becky replied with a grin.

"You should check with Derrick and see if the mirror hotel is cleared out," Mist suggested as he selected the option to increase the physical boost and give him better magic resistance.

Molly turned to look at Mist. "What are you thinking?"

"If they're going for a haunted house style adventure, the goblins probably broke some of the doors in the mirror hotel which would give it a more authentic look for exploring an abandoned hotel and the school certainly has the right look for a horror film."

"Goblins?" Ralph asked.

"One of our friends has a card that lets her summon goblin minions," Molly explained.

"Right look for a horror film?" Abby asked, wondering where they'd found an abandoned school they could use.

Sarah piped up, "It looks abandoned but it has working showers in the gym which gives you a good excuse for a shower scene."

"Especially if some of the ink monsters are still around," Mist agreed as he spent the mana to boost Ralph's Protagonist card since it cost less than the cursed card.

"Mirror hotel?" Abby asked, wondering what they were talking about.

"Ink monsters?" Becky asked.

"One of my abilities lets me create pocket dimensions. The scenery and the monsters reflect the objects I use as seeds to create the pocket dimensions," Mist explained as he looked over the descriptions of the potential cards.

"That sounds awesome!" Ralph said excitedly. "We could do some amazing videos!"

"How dangerous are the monsters?" Abby asked, wanting to make sure the pocket dimensions were actually safe.

"It depends on the mirror," Mist admitted. "The abandoned school was a result of using a pen, the monsters in the mirror hotel were more dangerous but that's why we have goblin minions and bracers of armor."

"Does that mean we can go monster hunting?!" Ralph asked excitedly.

"Not until I'm done boosting your cards and you have a decent set of Bracers of Armor which could take a couple of days and bribery, I don't want to be responsible for a couple of kids getting themselves killed," Mist replied as he selected the Protagonist card that boosted Ralph's physical attributes and spent the mana to boost his normal Orphan card.

"I'm going to want a copy of the videos for the bracers," Sarah piped up before they could argue about waiting.

"Deal," Becky replied without hesitation, not seeing a problem with giving them copies of the videos since they were already providing the locations.

Zora shook her head, knowing how much a pair of steel Bracers of Armor were worth, let alone whatever Sarah was going to pull out of her hat. "It's probably just as well that you aren't greedy."

"Yep," Sarah agreed as she used her metal conjuration ability, creating a finger sized ingot of a strange translucent purple 'metal' that looked like it had amethyst crystals growing out of it. "Huh," she muttered when she scanned the ingot and her card confirmed that it was in fact Celestial Amethyst, something she'd 'heard' legends of because of her blacksmithing card.

"Is that a good huh or a bad huh?" Mist asked as he stood up from where he was sitting by the pool and walked over.

"It's good!" Sarah assured him. "I just wasn't expecting to get something this interesting. I was basically trying for something I could make their bracers out of and I got something completely insane."

"What is it?" Abby asked as she studied the strange material.

"Celestial Amethyst, it's basically a magical translucent metal that I can use to make some fantastic magic boosting gear and no, it's not amethyst, it just sort of looks like it. Which is probably how it got its name," Sarah explained.

"Cool," Becky offered. "What else can you make?"

"Lots of things," Sarah replied then started listing off some of the more interesting things she could make with the materials she had available.

Mist kept part of his attention on Sarah's rambling as he went back to reading the descriptions of the possible Orphan cards that he could pick for Ralph.

0o0o0

Mist looked up from the notebook he was writing in when he heard someone walk into the pool area. "Holy shit, you're alive," he teased when he saw Eric.

"Reports of my death were greatly exaggerated," Eric replied cheerfully.

"How did you get away from the goblins?" Mist asked, surprised that he didn't look worn out.

"I fucked them unconscious," Eric replied smugly as he headed over toward the cake on the table.

"What?" Mist asked, a touch confused since it didn't sound like he was lying despite the fact that he shouldn't have been able to pull it off with their endurance.

"I've got mad skills and that potion of stamina was amazing," Eric explained as he dished up a piece of cake.

"I was sort of expecting to have to send one of the girls to rescue you," Mist admitted.

Eric laughed. "Nah, I'm good. Speaking of fun, Tiffany mentioned the video, how come you aren't watching?"

"I got bored," Mist replied with a straight face.

"Of watching naked girls run around?" Eric asked in disbelief.

Mist chuckled at the look on his face. "Nah, they're basically just wandering around with Derrick making sure everything is safe and planning the route for the video so they don't run into trouble or dwarven hookers that the goblins missed when they shoot the video."

"Dwarven hookers?" Eric asked, wondering how much he'd missed.

"Apparently," Mist agreed. "The mirror version of the hotel was set up a bit like a brothel."

"Does it have cameras already installed?" Eric asked thoughtfully as he cut his cake apart so he could stab bite sized chunks with his plastic fork.

"Probably," Mist admitted. "I haven't checked, I've been a bit more focused on making sure everyone gets insane cards. You could probably have Molly check with her Technopathy. Speaking of cards, what type of cards are you looking for?"

"I'd love a couple of cards that increase my magic and give me the ability to animate my art, maybe some type of enchanting and immortality or at least agelessness and regeneration," Eric suggested.

"Agelessness should be easy, Vivian can stick it on a cursed card and most of the teenagers I've checked have some type of student cards as a job card which means it shouldn't be too hard to give you Agelessness on a decent card, same with magic. Regeneration is a bit harder but I'm sure we'll come up with something once I start wandering around and checking people's cards."

"I'm not in a hurry," Eric assured him as he speared one of the pieces of cake with his fork.

"Same," Mist agreed as Molly stepped out of the mirror to the mirror hotel that was floating next to the wall that surrounded the courtyard. "Ready?"

"Yep," Molly agreed. "I figured you'd want to know and hey, congratulations on surviving the goblins."

"They're great," Eric assured her. "So, can anyone join the hotel adventure?"

"As long as you're willing to strip," Molly replied with a grin.

"Absolutely, not a problem," Eric replied as he dropped his shorts.

Mist laughed. "I really wish I had a couple of illusion spells to turn his dick green or something then ask about it."

Eric laughed as he flipped Mist off.

"That's because you're an asshole," Molly replied with amusement as she checked Eric's equipment. 'Not bad.'

"I'm aware," Mist replied with amusement.

Molly snickered. "Speaking of being an ass, we decided to start with our clothes on and 'lose' them like a bad porn horror movie to various illusionary challenges, so you should probably put your shorts back on."

Eric laughed as he bent down and pulled his shorts back up. "How are we pulling off illusionary monsters?"

"Beth has a minor illusion spell, Zora has a spell that creates sound and Ralph is a wizard with his video editing program," Molly replied, rather impressed by some of the short videos she'd 'watched' on his phone with her Technopathy. "Between the three of them, we should be able to come up with a decent video."

"Sounds good," Eric replied as he headed for the mirror that Molly had walked out of, already coming up with ideas to turn the video into a full movie. "Do you think we can get Zora's tiger to act like a scaredy cat?"

"Why?" Mist asked as he followed Eric.

"Because it's amusing and it explains why she's not eating the monsters," Eric explained.

"Or we just have her stay in her human form," Molly pointed out.

"We have a shape changing tiger, it would be a shame not to have her in the video and if anyone asks, we'll just tell them that she was created with CGI," Eric argued.

"That's fair," Molly agreed then stepped into the mirror, looking forward to having some fun.

0o0o0

"This is bullshit," Sarah complained in a whisper as she watched the rest of the girls taking a shower and washing each other in a way that was more for appearance and sex appeal than actual use.

"Yep," Mist agreed, not taking his eyes off the show that they couldn't be part of for legal reasons, mostly the fact that Sarah wasn't sixteen yet and the fact that he was over twenty five which was the cut off point since Abby and Becky weren't quite eighteen themselves. "At least our characters got to die heroically."

"Technically, I just got dragged into the dark by monsters, my character could come back," Sarah argued, still a bit annoyed that they'd had to get taken out so that they had a reason to not be part of the final shower scene.

Mist glanced over at Tiffany who was recording the show and standing far enough away that the camera wouldn't pick up them talking unless they were talking loudly. "Eric was thinking about turning it into a full movie, you should ask him about coming back as a doppelganger or something," he suggested, fairly sure Eric would love the idea since it would add more drama.

"That could work, especially if I was also playing my actual character," Sarah mused as she watched Victoria run a washcloth over Beth's breasts. "I still think the illusion of glowing 'lust dust' is a bit silly."

"It gives them a justification for being over the top," Mist replied as he glanced at where Becky was giving Ralph a blowjob while being finger fucked by Abby. "It makes more sense than the fade to black bit they pulled to get from the hotel to the shower room."

"It's a shower room with hot naked girls, are you really going to complain?" Sarah asked.

Mist glanced over at where Derrick and Molly were kissing under one of the showers then went back to watching Victoria and Beth when they started kissing Azara. "Nope."

"Exactly," Sarah replied with a grin, looking forward to the 'scene' being done so that she could grab one of the girls and have some fun.

0o0o0