“Break down the situation, Walt,” he said. He was finding it hard to concentrate with everything that was happening. He had a gauntlet made of light on his arm, a deck of cards that made magic and monsters real and he had just transformed into a Voidlock.
On his interface, and as well as on a panel on his gauntlet, he saw a reading.
Health Points: 100
Health points? He could not let that number get down to zero. He was certain zero meant death.
Turn 3
Vigor Stones 3/3
So, the Vigor Stones was the resource used to play cards. There was also a digital timer next to Turn 3.
02:30
“Three minutes per turn?” Walt said. “But the minions attack more than once.” He concluded that perhaps the minions attacked on a cooldown system so many times per turn, or until they were defeated, blocked or the turn ended.
The gnoluxes and zombies were running around, attacking people when they were off cool-down every few seconds. They had no opposition from another card player so they were just running rampant within the confines of the Battleboard Barrier.
Interesting. His mind was a jumble of thoughts.
“Calm down, damn you,” he said. He was trembling. “Okay, okay! There’s a Psycho Slinger unleashing minions in this building. It’s only on Turn 3 so these are still pretty low-level. But you tried to shoot some of them with a gun and it did fuck-all. “Which means, the announcer wasn’t lying. Not about this part at least. The most effective weapon against them is in this deck.”
There was an icon flashing on his gauntlet.
Turn 3
Draw?
He mentally clicked on the word Draw on his interface. Before he even finished thinking it, the deck of glowing cards in his gauntlet came to life, shuffling inside.
Five card edges popped out of the panel. He felt a connection to them, as if he could move and interact with them with just a thought. He imagined them popping into the air above the gauntlet so that he could see what his Draw was.
And they did.
The glowing cards flew out of the gauntlet and flew around in a pattern, then settled in front of him, flipping over, revealing their contents.
Mouthy Succubus
Soul Armor
Void Fucker
Wand of Green Skulls
Blood Mirror
Wand of Green Skulls immediately caught his attention.
Wand of Green Skulls. Weapon. Set: Necromanctic. Rarity: Rare. A wand created by the famed Necromancer, Austley Byron. He sacrificed the index finger from his left hand to be a part of the wand. Shoots out skulls enflamed with the green fire from beyond the grave!
Flaming Green Skull: 10 Attack
Uses: 4
Cost: 4 Vigor Stones
Cooldown: 1 minute
Turn 3 meant he had access to three Vigor Stones. The wand seemed good but he didn’t have the resources to equip it yet. He would have to wait until Turn 4, and if he played it, it would be the only card he could play.
Although, he could use his Hero Ability to get an extra Vigor Stone now. It would just cost some health. But he wasn't sure if the wand would be the counter he needed for the zombies. He felt more comfortable with a minion, as the Hero Ability itself sounded like it might be painful.
He looked for a minion that would maximize his Vigor Stone usage this turn but that would also hopefully be a counter to the gnoluxes and the zombies.
Mouthy Succubus. Minion. Set: Darkened Soul Arts. Rarity: Rare. A seductive demon of the void whose tongue causes verbal whiplash.
Claw Attack: 5 Attack, Cooldown: 2 seconds
Barbed Tail: 8 Attack, Cooldown: 5 seconds
Charm: Can randomly Charm another minion, Cooldown: 1 minute
Health: 15
Cost: 3 Vigor Stones
This is the one. It cost three Vigor Stones, which meant it would maximize his cost-efficiency. It seemed beefy and deadly enough to deal with a gnolux and a zombie, maybe both at the same time. Or so Walt hoped.
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On the next Turn, maybe he could use his Hero Ability to both equip the wand and play a Soul Armor card to give him extra defense.
Outside, the zombies snarled, closer this time. It was time to face the music.
#
Walt stepped out of the security closet. The three zombies that were down the hallway to his left turned at the noise. They snarled, baring their yellow and flesh-clotted teeth, and began shambling down the hallway towards him. Eager for fresh meat.
The glowing cards hovered in front of him above his gauntlet. He felt a little clumsy, trying to get the hang of this. He had spent the majority of his youth competing in Mythic tournaments, so these type of card games had once been second nature to him. The stakes then had been cash, clout and pride.
But he never played a card game where everything was real. Where the stakes were life and death.
He focused with his mind on the Mouthy Succubus card. It trembled a little, sensing his thoughts. It didn’t take much focus. The system connecting him and all of this was surprisingly adept. The biofeedback felt natural and on point. To the point where Walt felt connected to the cards and the gauntlet.
Not because he thought it would look cool, but because it just made sense, he gestured as if he was grabbing the card and slamming it to the ground. The Mouthy Succubus card shot into the air, spun near his hand and then flew into the ground in front of his feet.
There was a purple explosion of glowing light and it spun like a mini-cyclone. A humanoid figure formed within the light. The glow dissipated and a female humanoid remained.
Wings were folded across its front, covering its torso and face. A red and black barbed tail curved off its back side. Red legs ended in black leather boots, and Walt could make out the bottom part of a corset covering its waist.
The wings unfolded, revealing the Mouthy Succubus within. She looked like the cross between a human woman and a red and purple demon. Her fingers ended in sharpened nails so it was more claw than hand.
“Greetings, master,” she said in an Irish lilt. The accent threw off Walt.
The four remaining cards from his hand flew back into the gauntlet. The gauntlet shuffled them into the Discard pile within. Which was indicated by the Discard stack icon on one of the panels.
She looked at the zombies coming towards them and grinned.
“The undead are immune to my charms, boyo,” the succubus said. “So I’m thinking they meet my claws and the sharp point of my tail. What thinks you?”
“As long as they die before touching me,” Walt said, “then you do you.”
The succubus blew a kiss at him and then sneered. She turned back towards the zombies. She stepped forward and gyrated her hips in one direction.
Her barbed tail flew out and shot right through the center of a zombie’s head, impaling it. Its face crumpled and there was an explosion of black blood and skull fragments. Then the tail retracted, its barbs ripping the hole in its face even wider as it extracted itself.
Walt flinched in shock, taking a step back. “Holy shit!”
“I wouldn’t piss on a zombie to put out a fire,” the succubus said.
The zombie’s health icon depleted from five to zero and it crumpled to the floor. Dead.
The distance decreased between the succubus and the two remaining zombies. She swiped one across the neck, ripping out its throat with her claws. Its health icon depleted from five to zero and it fell to the side, dying.
The other zombie bit into the succubus’ arm, tearing a piece of her skin off. The succubus shrieked in anger. Walt saw her health icon deplete from fifteen to twelve. Then her claw attack was off cool-down.
She straightened her fingers and used her hand as a blade, plunging it into the zombie’s chest. She ripped out its black, unbeating heart. The zombie looked at its own heart. Its health icon now at zero. Its yellow-filmed eyes rolled into the back of its head and it fell backwards, unalived.
“That was the story of them,” the succubus said.
Now that the zombies were dead, that still left the matter of the gnoluxes.
T3 00:32
Still half a minute left in this turn. Walt wasn’t sure what to do. Should he go searching for his Psycho Slinger opponent? Or should he hunker down and wait for his opponent to find him.
He ran through scenarios in his head. He decided to keep moving with his succubus. That way, in case the Psycho Slinger had any cards that gave them some sort of scouting or reconnaissance ability, he didn’t want to be caught at a disadvantage.
Being static would make him too exploitable. But if he kept moving, his opponent still would be less than likely to predict his next move. Plus, Walt calculated that being the aggressor in this instance would yield a more favorable outcome.
Part of him was scared. But most of him was excited to play out the rest of the match. This Psycho Slinger had just killed a bunch of people with his minions. And for that Walt wouldn’t to punish them.
The challenge called to him. And the fact that these cards were making things of the imagination real, with real consequences, excited him. He could feel the adrenaline surging through his veins.
He used to get this way when he competed. He had once been addicted to defeating his opponents. The promise of a close and challenging match made him feel alive.
But this feeling now was like a distilled and pure version of that feeling. It was intoxicating.
Turn 4
Vigor Stones 4/4
03:00
How many to Draw?
Walt wanted to keep the Wand of Green Skulls and Soul Armor in his hand. “I’ll keep these. Draw three.”
The other three cards whipped back into the gauntlet, the edges disappearing as they entered the Discard pile.
Walt watched the remaining deck shuffle within, then the edges of three more cards popped out of the gauntlet. He commanded them to show themselves and the cards floated into the air above the gauntlet.
In addition to the Wand of Green Skulls and Soul Armor, there were three new cards in his hand.
Life Leech
Blood Mirror
Eldritch Guard
He was curious about the last one.
Eldritch Guard. Minion. Set: Darkened Soul Arts. Rarity: Rare. A demon prince of the Nether Realms. Armed with an Eldritch Axe to sever your foes!
Strike: 8 Attack, Cooldown: 2 seconds
Axe Throw: 10 Attack, Cooldown: 5 seconds
Eldritch Storm: 15 Random Attack, Cooldown: 30 seconds
Health: 20
Cost: 8 Vigor Stones
“Another rare card,” Walt said. “I like the sound of this one.”
But he’d have to wait to at least Turn 8 until he could play this beefy minion. Instead, he opted to maximize his vigor stone usage and decided to equip the wand while there was still no sight of his opponent. Having a weapon in hand would be useful and this was an opportune moment to equip the card.
He flicked the glowing card. This time more confidently. As it left his hand it burst into green light and when it cleared there was a gnarly wand hovering in its place. The Vigor Stones depleted to zero.
Walt grabbed the wand, wrapping his fingers around the magical weapon. It was carved out of gnarled wood and polished to a sheen. The tip was the bone of an index finger. A green aura emanated from the weapon.
It seemed to hum with a dark power. Walt felt confident holding it. It was more than feeling strong or the wonder of the magic. It was like as if he was finally in control of his life again. Something he hadn’t felt in years.
Walt headed for the stairs. He suspected, based upon the noises he had heard earlier, and the fact that the gnoluxes first appeared on the top floor, that his opponent was above him somewhere.
“Where to, master?” the mouthy succubus said.
“Up,” Walt said. “Let’s go destroy a Psycho Slinger.”