The Gamblers

"Oh dear, darling, that looks like another win for me~"

Eustace slammed his cards on the table and put his head in his hands. The portly Lisra was shaking behind the table, tapping his booted heel against the floor in a manic rhythm.

His entire morning had been this. Resting from a successful delve and feeling flush from both the reward and the loot, Eustace had ordered his entire party drinks with a portion of his share. After finishing, his three friends had gone off for a day on the town. Eustace, meanwhile, preferred to curl up beside the fire with a mug of mulled wine and a good book.

So, he'd been nursing his second hard cider of the day when a Kinstal woman named Madry sidled up to him, batting her eyes and tenderly touching his arm. Offering companionship, and perhaps more, to such an attractive and talented Lisra as he. Naturally a man on the road got lonely, so he offered her a drink and the two got to talking. And that's when the trouble started.

Madry mentioned offhandedly her love of card games, and offered to teach him a few. Eustace, of course, had skilled hands and was eager to prove it, so he enthusiastically agreed. She played a couple rounds of Book and Apadry Thatch with him, as a warmup, and then introduced him to her favourite game. She called it Lumir's Hands.

The rules were simple. Both players decided on a bet, something of equal value or thereabouts, then drew five cards from the deck. Every turn, either player would turn over three cards from the top of the deck, and then either pass the turn to the next player, or try to guess one card that was in the opponent's hand. If they guessed correctly, the opponent revealed the guessed card and put it on the table in front of them. Whichever player had more cards left in their hand by the time the deck ran out, or had guessed every card in the opponent's hand, won the bet.

A simple numbers game, and since Eustace excelled at mathematics, he was quite excited to give it a try. Sure enough, he won the entire first five rounds hand over fist, and made a tidy profit. Madry hemmed and hawed, and upped the ante, hoping to earn back her losses. And that's when Eustace started to lose.

They played for hours in the dusty tavern's dining room. Slowly, but surely, Madry bled him dry, upping the ante again and again every five hands. At first, Eustace was tickled by her boldness, and was able to look past a minor loss. Besides, as good at this new game as he was, surely he'd be able to recoup his winnings again. But it appeared his luck had run out, as the play continued and he steadily lost not only what he'd won, but nearly his entire share of honest work. It stung at his pride to have lost so much, but his pride was exactly what had gotten him so far down this hole already.

Madry licked her chops as she daintily gathered up the cards and began to shuffle. "So, honey, another?"

Eustace quivered as he took a long gulp from his tankard. Did he try again to get back his due? Or did he cut his losses and withdraw in shame?

"I believe," he started, trying his best not to stammer, "that further play would bankrupt me, my dear."

"Oh! I'm so sorry~" She leaned over the table and smiled, batting those pretty eyelashes once again. "Why don't I buy you a drink? Just give me a moment to freshen up."

Eustace slumped across the table as she swayed off across the floor. The bartender brought him a refill of his drink, which he finished over the course of the next hour.

Somewhere in that time, Eustace got the sense Madry wasn't coming back.

Art Provided by Sony-Shock.