Wolfe wiped his hands on the grass and then stood as well. He was fully healed from the meal, and felt rested and pleasantly full both. The evening air was cool and pleasant around him.
He walked over to the trader, followed by most of his team. The trader was patiently sitting cross-legged with a nice wooden board in front of him. On the board were multiple cards, but when Wolfe tried to look at them, the images swam in his vision.
Wolfe frowned. Cute trick, gods.
“So, what can we trade you?” Wolfe asked.
The trader smiled amiably. “If you have any Loowitlatkla, Pahto, or Wy’east cards, I can exchange them here.”
“Just four cards?” Wolfe asked, assuming that the chieftain’s sons would only have a card each, unlike Loowitlatkla.
“If you have any Loowitlatkla, Pahto, or Wy’east cards, I can exchange them here,” the trader said, his smile unchanging.
“Joy,” Wolfe muttered, then tried something else. “What cards do we get for trading?”
Barely more than an animatronic doll, the trader repeated, “If you have any Loowitlatkla, Pahto, or Wy’east cards, I can exchange them here.”
“Now who’s making the NPCs repeat themselves?” Miriam asked with a laugh.
Wolfe growled out, “I thought that might get an actual answer, but apparently we need to trade and just see.”
“Trade the ‘Face who launched’ version,” Shel said suddenly. “I don’t think it synergizes that well.”
Wolfe held the card out, and the trader reached out. The second he touched the card, it shifted, and he pulled his hand back again with nothing in it.
“Thank you, hero!” the trader said in a cheery voice.
Shel, Miriam, and Derek all crowded around the new card.
Spirit of Mount St. Helens
Unique Legendary equivalent Tier-1 equivalent Fire/Life Enhancer
0 Power
This card adds 1 Fire power to the deckbearer. This person will have their weight doubled for purposes of resisting being moved. +20% lifespan.
If the Spirit of Mount Hood and the Spirit of Mount Adams are also both in the deck, it adds an additional +5 Health, +2 Defense, and an additional +40% lifespan.
“After the destruction, Chief Tyee changed all three participants into mountains. Loowitlatkla became Mount St. Helens, her life-giving fire with her always.”
“That’s solid,” Miriam said. “Very solid. A Fire power, which would make it way easier to use the Arch or other cards. And I need to get some lifespan cards myself for sure. Shit, that’ll probably be worth an extra seventy years, given how old you are, Shel.”
Shel twirled her finger in her hair. “It’s only truly amazing if I also get a point of Life power, really. Or rely on the friendly campfire. I mean, I need ten leveling pips to be able to put Artenia in my deck, so that makes it a bit of a challenge to get all the things we’re looking at in place.”
“Imagine if you did, though,” Miriam said excitedly, putting her arms over Shel’s shoulders and then lightly stroking Shel’s red hair. “You’d have five power types, which all synergize at least a bit—Mortal, Divine, Light, Life, and Fire. You could get some crazy cards with those combinations, rare shit that would be way less expensive since it required such specific things.” Miriam leaned in closer, her mouth inches from Shel’s ear. “You’d become one of the greatest deckbearers ever.”
Shel shrugged her off, slightly red in the face.
Miriam giggled again. “Do you think the other two spirits are the brothers? And that we can get them at the end of the dungeon? I bet they are.”
“Probably,” Wolfe said. “I don’t think we would have seen them if this was a multi-dungeon quest.”
“I really want to get those cards. The spirit mountains, I mean,” Shel said. “Also to see what other cards we could get. This dungeon has been insanely valuable to us. Like insanely.”
“It’s been pretty good to me,” Miram said. “But not insanely good.”
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Wolfe nodded. “Yeah, it’s been good to us all. Although a lot of that came from being over-level and beating the special. We aren’t going to be able to just waltz through the next floor like we did this one.”
Shel laughed. “I saw you get kicked into a wall.”—
Derek interrupted with a shudder. “And I nearly died.”
Shel continued. “It was hardly a waltz.”
“Do you want me to trade the last one in?” Wolfe asked, moving on from the argument he was pretty sure he would lose.
Shel focused inward for a moment, biting her lip in thought. Then she nodded. “Yeah, I don’t think the abilities will be enough to justify keeping it, especially since I won’t use many fire cards that need to worry about losing control of regardless.”
Wolfe handed it over and went through the ritual again.
He got back a new card—a mantle.
Stone Circle Fire Tender
Rare Tier-1 Fire/Life [Civic] Mantle
1 Fire or 1 Life power
All other Civic Cards gain +2 to all non-health stats.
If the Stone Arch Fire is in the deck, all healing powers are doubled and may target any entity.
“Those that tended the Stone Arch Fire were the heart of the numerous Cowlitz tribes.”
“Is that better than the Resilient Martyr?” Wolfe asked, staring at it.
“Maybe?” Shel said. “I mean… it’s very different. No stats, and no self-healing. But it adds stats to my various civic cards, like the Rookie SWAT, and then that will double some day from all the angels and stuff. I could go for it, especially if I do decide on the Stone Arch Fire build.”
Wolfe nodded, then put all the cards down. “Well, we know what cards we have, for the moment… and have some idea of what we’ll get going forward in the dungeon. I think you should pick your perks now.”
Shel nodded.
“But first, can we see your deckbearer stats?”
Shel nodded and pulled up her stats on her phone, showing them to Wolfe and Miriam.
Rachel Lyons Status:
Level 28 Deckbearer (14 Levels pending)
Deckbearer Perks:
Lost and Lonely God-gifted Start: +1 Companion card
Deckbearer Perk 1: Divine Favor: When pulling from a Mortal or Divine pack, one random card will be a rarity higher. If pulling from a mixed deck, at least one card will be either Mortal or Divine.
Deckbearer Perk 2: Guiding Light of the Divine: Gain 1 Light Power. May have one extra card in play so long as it’s a Mortal (Any EMT, Police, or card with the ‘Civic’ subtype).
Deckbearer Flaw: Pacifist: May not gain attack from mantles
Deckbearer Stats:
Cards in Deck: 15 (1 pip)
Cards in Hand: 4 (1 pip)
Cards in Play: 3 (1 pip)
Length of Play: 5 minutes
Specialty Cards: Companion: 2 (5 pips)
Minion: 1 (1 pip)
Enhancer: 1 (1 pip)
Type 1 and Power: 1 Divine
Type 2 and Power: 3 Mortal (3 pips)
Energy 1 and Power: 1 Light
Personal Perks:
Inborn Perk 1: Small: -1 Attack
Acquired Perk 1: Police Training: +1 Attack and Defense. Does not stack with other training.
Acquired Perk 2: Expert Shooter: +3 Attack and Defense only when using firearms. Does not stack with other training.
Personal Stats:
Health: 20
Attack: 5(7)
Magical Attack [None]: 0
Defense: 6(8)
Magical Defense [None]: 5
Wolfe stared for a moment. “So, no matter what, you could either add a companion slot for Artenia, or you could add a Life power if you need.”
Shel smiled up at him. “And I already have the enhancer slot for the mountain, but it’ll take five more leveling pips to add slots for the next two if we—I—go down that route. And a building slot would cost five more pips. It’s a challenge to do everything, regardless of what specific path I choose first.”
Her eyes fussed out for a moment, and then she started reading out loud. Wolfe did his best to focus, and for once, everyone else did as well—even Miriam wasn’t quipping.
Civic Pride: The deckbearer counts as a [Civic] sub-type and [Police] and [City-Guard] keywords herself and gains the legendary ‘Agent Geared’ card, which will create a side deck for civic equipment cards that can be summoned and distributed below power cost. Gain 1 Legendary mortal equipment card pack.
Precious Martyr: The deckbearer gains +10 Health. Every time this person is wounded, all allied cards gain +50% to all non-health stats for the round.
Divine Entourage: Gain one companion slot, and Divine companions don’t count against cards on field.
Master of the Lost and the Lonely: Orphans gain +1 Tier when they switch over, and any card packs or non-orphan cards gained from orphan advancement are gained twice. Any one [evolved orphan] card of no more than 2 power may be treated as if it were a free-slot companion card with a 0-power cost.
Nurse of the Chosen: Gain 1 Life Power, and the first time per week any entity is healed by this deckbearer, they lose 1 injury level as well. Gain 2 Legendary Life packs from any set that is represented in the deckbearers deck.
“Those are some impressive perks,” Wolfe said.
Shel blinked her eyes and then looked at him. “Yeah, some of those are amazing. I can’t believe I got offered the Master of the Lost and the Lonely as well.”
“Probably shouldn’t take it,” Wolfe said. “I mean, I can already work on making sure that the orphans are being raised up when we get them.”
Shel slowly nodded. “I can see builds around all of this… I mean, I was hoping I’d get the companion option. That will save me a good fifteen leveling pips, which is huge.”
“Yeah,” Wolfe said, then reached over and grabbed another cut of cooked goat from the slab. Derek had finished eating, and sat back with a sigh.
Shel was still talking. “But… being able to heal injuries is also huge. And since we just got a lot of cards that could benefit from me having Life power, including a mythic, well, that power is also kinda a big deal. And two Legendary packs is huge… I’d instantly be a powerful Life deckbearer as well.”
Wolfe nodded, his own mind mulling over all the possibilities.
“No, you want power,” Miriam said with certainty, and without her usual banter. “The Civic one gives you that. Plus two, modified by your other stats, and then nearly doubled, is insane.”
“You want that,” Shel said. “I’ve got Wolfe, so nothing bad will happen to me. I can afford to be a healer, or have my angels.”
“Wolfe might not be around to protect you some day,” Miriam said. “And those are some permanent upgrades, even if minor, you can’t normally get. Combined with the new mantle, your civic cards could do insane damage.”
Shel was biting her lip. “Maybe…”
Then she turned to Wolfe. “What do you think I should take?”