Bo and his allies watched the town for an hour to get a sense of the inhabitants' routines. The only movements they saw from their hill-top position were roaming groups of five to ten humanoid who moved in patrol patterns. Most of the patrols roamed the town's perimeter, but a few groups stayed close to the building where Bo had felt the champion’s presence. That would make things tricky.
"The good news is, we don't really have to worry about friendly fire," Martin said. “I don’t see anyone who looked like what you’d call a civilian.”
"That's something," Bo agreed. "The bad news is, we’re outnumbered. By a lot."
"We don't have to fight them all," Jenny pointed out. "There were probably a hundred of those shadows in the casino, but we only dealt with a dozen or so. We'll sneak past the patrols, get to the champion, and wring his neck. That should be the end of that, right?"
Bo didn't have an honest answer to Jenny’s question. If the champion was like a dungeon boss, then, sure, the fight would be over just as soon as the dog men’s leader bit the dust. But there was no dungeon here, so maybe there was no core powering all these monsters, either. If that was the case, they’d be up to their eyeballs in dog men even after they dealt with the champion.
"I wish I could tell you," Bo said. "I hope the fight ends with the champion. But if it doesn't, we need to be ready to run."
Martin considered that for a moment, then knelt beside the road and drew a quick outline of the city in the dust. "Okay. Let’s say we circle around the town and come in from the East side. That will put us close to where you felt the champion. If we’re fast enough, the patrols will go down before they raise an alarm. After we take out the champion, we’ll go back out the same way came in. There’ll be no patrols left to stop us, so our exit will be a lot faster than our entrance.
“No sense hanging around if chopping the snake’s head off doesn't kill it," Bo agreed.
"It's a good plan," Jenny said. “If we can hit hard, fast, and quiet. Because if we get bogged down in fighting, they’ll overwhelm us with numbers.”
"Let me see what I can do about that," Bo replied. "It’s time to put those upgrade cards I got from the casino to use.”
"Do your thing, boss," Martin said. "We'll keep an eye on the bad guys while you work."
Bo thanked the man, wrapped knuckles with him and Jenny, then moved away from his allies. Because he didn’t know much about the cards, he’d need Barbie’s advice. Bo really didn't want anyone else to overhear that conversation. Telling everyone he had a devil in his head seemed like a recipe for disaster. He hadn’t even figured out how to explain it to Jenny without coming off as an insane person or a monster.
Tell them the truth. I am not leading you down some evil path. We helped each other survive. There's nothing more sinister about our arrangement. Perhaps I could explain it to them.
"You know that's just what a conniving devil would say?" Bo muttered.
Fine. I don't know what I have to do to prove myself to you, but you'll see. Mistrusting me will get you nowhere.
Bo rolled his eyes at the devil's insulted tone. He didn’t have time to worry about the feelings of the creature who’d tricked him into possession. Instead, the pitmaster imagined an upgrade card appearing in his hand, then studied it carefully.
Upgrade
TYPE: System
ACTIVATE: --
GENERATE: --
POWER: --
Choose one of the following permanent upgrades:
Raise a card's POW by 1.
Evolve a card.
Mutate a card.
Duplicate a card."
RARITY: Rare
The pitmaster had expected cards would give him the ability to improve the Power of other cards in his deck, so that was straightforward enough and wouldn’t be any different from what he’d done with the Envenom card. Duplicating cards was also self-explanatory. But evolve all been mutate where terms he wasn't sure how to interpret in the context of magical playing cards.
"Any idea what these do?" Bo asked.
I do, but are you sure you want my advice? far be it from me to influence your thoughts or feelings about anything. People might believe I was guiding you down the road to hell.
"Are we really doing this?" Bo asked. "Sorry your feelings are hurt, but let's be real. You weren’t playing straight with me when we got together."
You tried to kill me!
"Because you were in an invasion force that wanted to take over my world and eat us all," Bo said. "We were never going to be friends, Barbie. But we don’t have to be enemies. You just have to accept that I understand humans better than you. When the time is right, I’ll explain our situation to my friends.”
I do not agree with you, but you are right. Working together is in both our best interests. For now. Let me explain what you need to know. Evolving a card transforms it into a new, but related card. It won't have the same effects as the original card, but they will be similar. Mutating the card is a lot more random. It can end up being almost anything, but it will have the same Power and rarity as the card you mutated.
Bo's deck could hold ten cards. He currently had seven, which left room for three more. He briefly considered raising Hackstorm’s Power from 2 to 3, then duplicating it three times. That would stack his deck with area of effect cards, and let him really tear into the bad guys. And if he only had to fight a few dog men, that’s exactly what Bo would have done.
But he worried about getting overwhelmed by superior numbers. If they ran into an overwhelming force, he’d tell his people to get into the wind. Then he’d give them the time to do just that. But surviving a mob scene would require better defenses or much better healing options.
That pushed Hungry Hungry Devil to the top of the list of cards to upgrade. The problem there was the need for Meat cards to use the healing. Severance would only let him grab one of those per activation. With seven cards in his deck, Bo would have Severance in hand every other turn, which would limit his healing to one wound level on the following turn.
Duplicating Severance would give him an average of one Meat card every round. Assuming all his attacks landed and there was nothing to disrupt his draws, Bo would heal two wound levels every second round. It was a good, steady rate, but a couple of patrols piling onto him would overwhelm that healing in very short order.
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"I should have played more poker," Bo grumbled. "Trying to calculate how these cards will play out is giving me a migraine.”
Perhaps you simply need a new card to give you more options.
“Maybe you’re right,” Bo said.
With four upgrade cards available, the pitmaster could afford to experiment a little. He could boost Hackstorm’s power by 1. Then he’d raise Severance's power by 1, as well. That would use up two cards. The third upgrade card would go to duplicate Severance and he’d mutate the new card with the fourth upgrade. There were risks involved with each of the upgrades, because changing the Power of a card could break it. But if it worked out, he’d have a new tool in his arsenal.
This seems like a solid plan. My mental fingers are crossed that you do not break all your cards.
“Ah, yes,” Bo said. “There you are with your usual helpful input.”
Bo didn’t wait for Barbie’s response. He activated the Upgrade card in his hand with a thought, and it was instantly replaced by a new version of the Hackstorm card. The wording hadn’t changed, but the card’s Power had increased from 2 to 3. From his previous experience with fighting monsters and people like the Knights of the Holy Roast, Bo knew that most creatures only had one or two wound levels. Unless these dogmen, whatever they were, had a lot more power than Bo expected, Hackstorm’s new and improved version would slice straight through them.
For his next trick, Bo pulled up a second Upgrade card and used it to duplicate Severance. Then he burned his last Upgrade card to mutate the copied card, which vanished from his hand in a puff of glittering white smoke.
But no new card appeared.
“Where the hell did my card go?” Bo asked, unsure if Barbie would even have an answer. Before the devil could respond, a new message flashed across the pitmaster’s vision.
CARD MUTATION IN PROGRESS
CARD RANDOMIZATION BEGINS…
CARD TYPE SELECTED…
CARD COMPLETE!
Juice Boxer
TYPE: Power
ACTIVATE: 2C
GENERATE: 2S
POWER: 2
For the rest of your turn, every target you hit is BLOOD MARKED. At the end of your turn, heal 1 wound level for every BLOOD MARKED target. All BLOOD MARKED targets suffer 1 wound level. Mmm. Delicious.
RARITY: Rare
CARD MUTATION COMPLETE!
“This is better than I thought it would be,” Bo said. “I can see a lot of ways this could be useful.”
Then it is time to get to work. Rally your forces, Bo Houston. Prepare yourselves for a glorious battle. Let us hope one that does not end in your vainglorious death.
----------------------------------------
As Bo’s team approached the town, he realized it was not as well-patrolled or as congested as it had looked from the top of the hill. The small town was more spread out, with plenty of space between neighboring buildings. That allowed Bo’s team to see through gaps in the structures quite easily. But it also meant the patrols, scattered as they were, would have far more lines of sight to spot intruders.
The group had hunkered down behind what Bo thought used to be a gas station, but was now an abandoned tavern on the edge of town. The sweet, reeking scent of rot came from inside the building. The horrible stench drew raised eyebrows from Martin and his men, but Bo just shook his head and put a finger to his lips.
There’d be time to investigate what had happened here after they dealt with the other champion. For now, he’d be more than willing to let every sleeping dog on the planet lie.
Jenny, the smallest of their group, had nominated herself for the role of scout. Bo hadn’t liked the idea of his dear friend roaming ahead of the rest of the group, but the look on her face had told him it wasn’t open for discussion. And, so far, the young woman had proven herself to be skilled at the job she’d given herself. Yes, it was risky, but she was small and stealthy, with a wily sense for danger.
The former YouTube star poked her head out from behind a building at the end of the block and waved the rest of them ahead. Martin nodded, bumped fists with Bo, and led his friends down the road. Following Jenny’s advice, the men stopped at the edge of every building, peered around it for any sign of trouble, then hustled to their next cover.
Progress was slow and painful, but Bo didn’t dare hurry any of them along. Every minute they spent out here exposed them to danger, but rushing to reach the champion would undoubtedly tip off a patrol or five. They needed to whittle down the opposition’s numbers before they had to face off against the big bad.
And Bo saw the chance to do just that a few minutes later.
The pitmaster spied a patrol taking a break between two building. They were in an alley that intersected the road Bo and his friends were on. They’d broken out what appeared to be cigars. The glowing cherries illuminated coils of thick, pungent smoke that hung in the air and made it difficult to see any details on the dog men’s faces. Hidden from any potential allies, the patrol was in a perfect position for Bo to take it down in one quick attack.
He hissed to catch Martin’s attention, then pointed out his target. “Catch up with Jenny,” Bo said. “And wait for me.”
“You’re going after that whole pack?” Martin asked.
“Look at them,” Bo said. “All clumped up like that? Piece of cake. They’ll be down before they know what hit them.”
Martin shook Bo’s hand. “Godspeed, man.”
And then Bo was alone.
He took a deep breath to calm his thoughts. Then he stared intently at the dog men and hoped the system would give him some idea of what he was up against.
GRAIL SYSTEM SCAN
Name: Bill Shizarakaranth
Type: Anubite Demon (Human)
Core Level: 2 (0 Base + 2 Demonic Core Bonus)
Role: Expert (Striker)
Deck Size: 2 cards
Deck Composition: Yappy, Savage Bite
NO ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AVAILABLE
“What’s a demonic core?” Bo asked under his breath.
It is an infernal power source. Something like a dungeon core. It provides power to all the demons in its area of influence.
“So if we take down the core, all these things go away?” Bo whispered.
In theory. But, Bo, demons are extremely dangerous. Even the little ones. They are servants of destruction that even devils will not bind into service. Be very, very careful.
“That option’s kind of off the table,” Bo said with a dark chuckle.
He willed his deck to deal him a hand and frowned at what he’d received.
Severance, Juice Boxer, Webspinner, and Danger Spice.
He’d really hoped for a nice Hog’s Hop to carry him into range, but luck was not on his side just then. Bo knew that stealth was not his strong suit, so he’d just have to get in close as fast as he could and deal with the creatures before they could raise the alarm. Given their Yappy card, the pitmaster knew he’d have to be fast once he’d revealed himself.
For the first time in his life, Bo actually felt like a hero. There he was, deep behind enemy lines, up to his eyeballs in monsters who wanted to kill him, and the pitmaster was going toward the bad guys. And this was no smash and grab for personal gain. He was here because the Knights of the Holy Roast needed help, and he was the only one who could give it to them. All of that combined to make Bo feel like Indiana Jones or Luke Skywalker.
A feeling that lasted just long enough to get the pitmaster into deep, deep shit.
Bo equipped the Carnivore’s Cleaver and entered the alley just a couple of yards away from the cluster of demons. Through the dense, foul-smelling smoke he glimpsed short, hunched figures that smelled like burning garbage and a kennel that hadn’t been cleaned in weeks. The pitmaster smirked at his foes, then quipped, “Didn’t you boys know there were leash laws in Texas?”
Bo activated his cards in the next split second and exploded into a flurry of action. His first card was Danger Spice, which blinded the nearest demon. It also raised Bo’s strength, and he used that enhanced ability to fire off Webspinner. That immobilized two more dog men, who Bo stepped past as he activated Juice Boxer. The Anubite’s the pitmaster had blinded and immobilized all yelped in pain as glowing red spots appeared on their chests. That card gave Bo 2 Strength mana, and he immediately put one of those to use activating the Severance card.
He got his first good look at his opponent while raising his cleaver overhead. The Anubite he’d targeted was a wiry humanoid covered in sleek, short fur the color of obsidian. Its hands ended in claws, and its feet were at the end of legs with a reversed knee configuration just like a dog’s. A skirt of linen rags draped around the thing’s hips, but left the rest of its body naked.
A bipedal jackal was scary enough, but that was only the beginning of the dog man’s horror.
Pale flesh clung to the outside of the creature’s arms and legs, glued there by drying blood. Toothless mouths opened and closed across the thing’s torso, and eyes peered from within them. The thing’s head was the worst, though.
The remains of a human face hung down either side of its snout, like a slipping mask. Tufts of gold and red hair erupted in gruesome fountains of color from the chunks of scalp that adhered to the Anubite’s skull.
By the dark god’s ball sack. It’s like they exploded from inside people.
Seeing Bo’s horror, the demon snarled at Bo, grinning through the blood that ran down its fanged snout.
“Gontar sends his love,” the creature snapped.
Then it threw back its head and unleashed an impossibly loud string of yapping barks.
Which were answered from all around Bo, as the other patrols responded.
“Shit,” Bo said.
Run.
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