Wolfe turned Ms. Timo’s old-ass car off and stared out at the city’s card park. It was beautiful, even in the moonlight, the fields of flowers surrounding the various playgrounds still in bloom as if it were day. Two marble fountains girded the formal entrance to the park, each bearing bas relief carvings of the various nature deities in Greek style along the fountains base.
As Wolfe stared at the park, its card appeared.
Modern Municipal Park
Rare Tier-1 Nature/Mortal Building
This park increases the Health of Nature, Plant, Beast, and Life cards within it by 100%, and increases the Health of any Mortals inside by 50%
This park increases the lifespan and disease resistance of all Mortals within 5 miles by .1%
“A city park brings numerous benefits to a city, even without magic. With it…”
Wolfe dismissed the card, noting that it was one of the rare cards that effected non-deckbearers within the Great Game. Nice to see that not every card in the Great Game is for murdering other deckbearers.
He opened the door, stepping out into the cool night air. A fragrant breeze, incongruous to the dark mission Wolfe was about, blew over him.
Wolfe strode into the park, head down and shoulders squared, the gun he had taken from the dead Grimm goons in his pocket. Shel stepped nimbly after him.
They continued to walk the park, glancing around at the various playgrounds. No kids that he could see, anywhere, probably because it was almost ten in the evening.
But he did see a few homeless dudes. He wrestled with himself, figuring it was useless, but he knew from his time in the gangs that the homeless were sometimes missed and just heard things. He took a chance on a slight delay.
He walked over to one man lying on a bench, a thick but ratty blanket on him. As Wolfe approached, a rank smell, of B.O. with a chemical undertone, reached him, powerful enough that it wasn’t overwhelmed by the smell of flowers.
Wolfe gently shoved the man’s shoulder. “Excuse me?”
The man snorted and looked up, blinking at Wolfe with blood-shot eyes. “Who’re you?”
“Doesn’t matter. I need to know something—did you see a pair of girls, about twelve, around here?”
The man nodded his head. “Yeah, I did.” He glanced up at the sky. “About an hour ago, I think. Maybe.”
“Where’d they go?” Wolfe asked.
“What ya gonna give me to tell ya?”
Shel stepped forward, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her wallet. She fished a twenty out and held it to the man.
“That ain’t much,” the man said.
“Please,” Shel said, her voice raw with emotion. “One of them was my sister. I need to find her.”
The man rolled his eyes, but took the twenty. “Fine, whatever. They were here, sitting on the swings over there”—he pointed—“and two cops approached. I was under the playground at the time, and didn’t want to be seen. Was, uh, you know…”
“Hitting your favorite pick-me-up?” Wolfe guessed.
The man nodded. “Yeah. Anyway, the two men approached, and asked the girls about where their families were. One of ‘em said she didn’t have a family anymore.”
Wolfe winced.
“Then the one cop said that the girls needed to come with him. The other girl, who had red hair, said she didn’t go with strangers. But then the policeman said that his name was Anderson, and that the girls had to come with him, because they couldn’t be in the park at night.”
Wolfe winced. Anderson was the one that had been beating Rhett in the back of the van. Corrupt with a capital C.
“The girls didn’t look like they wanted to go, but they got up. The second cop, who never gave his name, called someone. Said they had two late arrivals and were gonna take them to the factory.”
“On his police radio?” Shel asked.
“On his cell phone,” the man said.
Wolfe glanced over at Shel. Her eyes were wide and her lip trembling.
“That’s the place Damian is, where they process the people they ship away, right?” She whispered.
Wolfe gave a single nod, his insides cold. He felt still, in a moment that presaged violence, despite no one being around to attack.
“Thank you,” Wolfe ground out as he stepped away from the man.
Once they were out of earshot of the homeless guy, Shel turned to Wolfe. “What now? We have to rescue her.”
Or avenge her, Wolfe thought to himself but didn’t say.
“First, we fix our decks and I make Level twenty-five. While you were partying, Rhett and I were attacked by corrupt cops and then members of the Grimm family. Downside is I’m wounded, upside is we got some more cards—including a fantastic one for you.”
“One of them was a Divine deckbearer?” Shel asked, surprised.
“No,” Wolfe barked out a single mirthless laugh. “It was weirder than that. Rhett gave it to me for saving his life.”
Shel gave a small smile, although she was twisting her fingers in her hair. “So, are you guys friends now then? I heard him call you by your name. Your real name.”
“I have no idea. He started the whole situation by trying to arrest me, and then said he’s still going to arrest me, but he’s obviously taking his sweet-ass time about it. We’ll see.”
“So what card did he give you?”
Wolfe held out Liurenia.
Shel stared at it for a good ten seconds before she spoke. “He never once mentioned that he had one of the Lantern Angel cards.”
“It was given to him very recently,” Wolfe said.
“Spending those leveling pips now,” Shel said with vacant eyes, then refocused on Wolfe. “Done.”
She took the companion card in trembling fingers. A quick touch her chest, pulling her deck, and suddenly she held a Vengeful Orphan card, and she had two golden cards off to the side—both the companions.
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“That’ll make me wayyy stronger for the fight, if we have one,” Shel murmured. “I’ll put the orphan back in once we’ve resolved everything.”
She glanced at Wolfe. “What did you get? Is your deck stronger?”
“I haven’t checked yet, and a lot will depend on my perks when I make Level twenty-five.”
“Check now—we have to hurry.”
Wolfe pulled the cards he had out—twenty-five new ones, ten that were his half of the Surgeon’s cards, and fifteen that were Castor’s, once.
Wolfe pulled the ten cards that was his share of The Surgeon’s deck first, wondering what kind of nefarious deck he would have.
Wolfe was astounded to see that the first card was a Nature card, a faerie specifically.
Unseelie Court Attendant
Uncommon Tier-1 Nature[Faerie] Creature
1 Nature and 1 Psychic Power
Health: 10
Attack: 0
Magical Attack: 8
Defense: 4
Magical Defense: 8
Special: Higher-rarity Faerie cards gain +2 stats when this card is in play
Special: When this card comes into play, pick any Power type. Cards of that faction cost 1 more power to play.
“They may play by the rules of the court, but even the servants know how to bend those rules to their will.”
“That’s a nasty card,” Shel muttered. “But it means this deck likely doesn’t have anything to crazy good for you in it.”
Wolfe snorted, agreeing. He quickly moved through the deck, seeing a Faerie Whisper-stealer that prevented non-creature cards from coming into play, and a Faerie Scion legendary that had very high magical attack stats and could add temporary rules to a battlefield that had to be obeyed at risk of Psychic damage. It was likely to sell for a ton, but wasn’t useful to Wolfe in the moment. This surgeon had some badass cards.
But then he reached a different card, a beast one.
Dark Owl
Rare Tier-1 Beast/Nature Creature
1 Beast Power
Health: 4
Attack: 2
Magical Attack: 2
Defense: 7
Magical Defense: 7
Special: Any attack must either kill the Owl outright or it takes zero damage
Special: So long as the owl is on the field, any faerie that dies becomes immediately available for recast for the remainder of the fight, as if a companion.
A bit more hopeful, Wolfe turned the next card, and saw another Beast one.
Litter
Uncommon Tier-1 Beast Persistent
3 Beast or 3 Nature or 3 Life Power
This card will create 3 token copies of any 1 or 2 power creature of the Beast, Nature, or Life type that already had two cards on the field. The power used remains spent until all copies are destroyed.
“The Beast faction is considered weak by many, but quantity can have a quality all of its own.”
Wolfe could imagine the monster creature that this would create if two of the Unseelie Attendants were on the field with that crazy powerful Fae Scion. He shuddered. Either Rhett was way stronger than Wolfe had originally figured, or he got fairly lucky in his fight—or perhaps having all of Wolfe’s doggos as well had been too overwhelming for The Surgeon.
But this was a card he could use—if he could put it somewhere. Wolfe could easily put more than two Angry Hellhounds or Lost Hellhounds on the field, and it would benefit him greatly—although the three-power cost was steep.
And he would need to clear a space in his deck.
“Maybe merge three of your Tier three Angry Hellhounds?” Shel asked. “I mean, at Tier four, you get the first merge special—its slightly different for each Deckbearer, depending on their decks and powers. If your tier one, three power card—the Litter card—made three tier four, two power cards, that would be a huge net for you.”
Wolfe gave it some thought. Having a ton of hellhounds out and synergizing was his signature, but he could sell most of the cards he had to buy a ton more, as they were extremely cheap. For now, merging three tier three’s into a tier four was almost certainly the right move.
He knelt on the ground and removed the necessary hellhounds, glancing at them.
Angry Hellhound
Common Tier-Three Beast/Infernal(Canine) Creature
Two Beast or Infernal Power
Health: 13
Attack: 8
Defense: 5
Magical Attack: 5 (bonus)
Magical Defense: 5
Special: When this creature makes a physical attack, it also makes a Magical Attack of either Fire or Infernal typing on the same target.
Special: Immune to all mind-affecting debuffs.
Special: +1 to all attacks for every other canine on the field.
Special: Gains +1 Attack for every Escaped Damned on the field.
“It could be argued that most things in the Infernal realms are angry, but these hellhounds take it to an entirely new level—and this one has torn many a spirit to the point it needs to reform on many an occasion.”
Then he pressed them together and willed them to merge.
Angry Hellhound
Common Tier-Four Beast/Infernal(Canine) Creature
Two Beast or Infernal Power
Health: 14
Attack: 9
Defense: 5
Magical Attack: 5 (bonus)
Magical Defense: 5
Special: When this creature makes a physical attack, it also makes a Magical Attack of either Fire or Infernal typing on the same target.
Special: Immune to all mind-affecting debuffs.
Special: +1 to all attacks for every other canine on the field.
Special: Gains +1 Attack for every Escaped Damned on the field.
Special: Reformed Doggo: This card gains type advantage, and loses type disadvantage, against any Infernal, Undead, or Elder card, and any card with the word ‘criminal’ or ‘villain’ in its title or type.
“It could be argued that most things in the Infernal realms are angry, but these hellhounds take it to an entirely new level—and this one has torn many a spirit to the point it needs to reform on many an occasion.”
“That tracks,” Wolfe muttered. He added the ‘Litter’ card to his deck as well.
Shel briefly kissed Wolfe on the cheek. “Well, it’ll almost certainly help us immensely with what’s to come. Now see if you got anything in Castor’s deck.”
Wolfe flipped through Castor’s deck next. It was Elemental/Infernal. Four of the cards were the stupid fish hook demons. The next three were Third Degree Elemental, which created an Elemental that did Fire damage and could inflict pain—causing a round loss. Two were cards that simply inflicted pain directly on a deckbearer or creature. The real key to the deck came from the next five cards. Three were Flayer Demons. They could also inflict the Pain status, but they got stronger each time any creature on the field suffered pain. Then one was a rare persistent card called ‘Post Traumatic Stress Disorder’ that caused the pain status to repeat, and the last was a mantle that gave the user strength from every pain status inflicted as well. All were moderately low in power cost, relying on the pain synergy to achieve the desired effects.
“How was this not the Surgeon’s deck?” Wolfe muttered.
“The Surgeon?” Shel asked.
Wolfe waved her off before putting the cards away. Some were nice, but they didn’t synergize with his deck. Still, the fourteen cards would probably go for near a million, and he still needed land to place his orphanage on.
Without much hope, Wolfe flipped over the last card.
His eyes nearly popped out of his head.
Hellfire
Unique Tier-5 equivalent Infernal persistent(equipment)
2 Infernal Power
+3 attack to the deckbearer or card equipped with this item.
Special: This card may be equipped with the equipment card ‘Brimstone.’ They empower each other, adding both totals to their wielder’s attack stat.
Special: This equipment ignores ALL type resistances or immunities and causes wounds that are immediately considered injuries for healing purposes.
Special: This card is part of the ‘Banisher’ card set. If both cards are gained, they will create a single rare pack of Infernal cards and give the deckbearer who possesses both 1 additional pip of Infernal power. Both cards were initially sent to members of the Noimoire underworld who are considered assassins.
“The Infernal use weapons of all sorts during both their internal wars, and their wars against other factions. This weapon started its life as a gift from Aesthma to his favorite assassin in hell, and has worked its way into the mortal realm since then.”
“That’s… that’s the other half of your set, Wolfe. You have both, right?”
Wolfe nodded, his own eyes wide. A free Infernal power was huge, as was having an equipment card that added six attack.
“Take it,” Shel whispered.
Wolfe switched out a single Pack Howl, and as soon as the card entered, a massive feeling of power and sense of completion washed over him. A sulferous burst of fire popped in front of him, and Wolfe held his hand out.
A rare card pack, titled “Cycle of the Lost and the Lonely I” dropped into his hand. The picture of a small, demonic child in ratty clothes with a tail and horns, running from police through a modern day alley, was on the cover.
“Open it,” Shel whispered.