River walked up to the warehouse door and took a deep breath and braced for anything.
Practically, they knew that the guildmaster had made a truce with the dungeon and that breaking a truce was a great way to start a major conflict with an entity that had the power to make life a living hell for everyone in this district, but they couldn’t just leave the circlet there.
Not after River had “borrowed” it from their mother.
It’s why they had left their sword back with Edwin at the dorms the two of them were renting from the guild.
“I just hope Mr. House hasn’t done anything with it,” River thought as they slid the door open and stepped inside where they were met with a sudden wall of sound.
Coins rattled and shifted around in the coin cabinets. Roaring laughter came from the back as several people threw back drinks followed shortly by a table letting out a collective groan as someone lost a hand at cards.
“Well time to do some scouting,” River thought before feeling a tug on their sleeve.
“Greetings River, would you like to try your luck in a special room?” asked the Cat-Kin.
***
I know I could have simply turned River away, and I doubt anyone would have blamed me, especially after the last time they showed up.
It wouldn’t have been too difficult either. All I would need to do is pull Carmen or Midnight away from their stations for a minute, but frankly I was curious if things would really turn out the way Mr. Serendipity said they would.
The [cat-kin] lead River to a discrete fountain that had a lion’s head at the top and another [stray cat] lounging next to the fountain.
“So what do I do now?” asked River.
“Just wait a bit and push on the wall next to the fountain when you hear a click,” responded the [cat-kin]
Sure enough the [stray cat] took a moment to size up River before crawling into the lion’s mouth at the top of the fountain and unlocking the secret passage next to the fountain with a click.
“Enjoy your stay and good luck,” the [cat-kin] said before walking off.
River just shook their head and pushed open the door before proceeding into the darkened hallway.
Step by step, they continued until finally they made it to a brightly lit and obscenely luxurious room.
Lights and sounds played invitingly from the slot machines. A small private bar was placed fairly close to the entrance with a selection of actual spirits I had purchased as well as the potions of inebriation and to top it all off, a card table was placed on the far end with a curiously ornate chest next to the table.
As River explored the room, they noticed a sign next to the bar that said “read me first” with a number of pamphlets underneath it.
Hesitantly, they picked up a pamphlet and began to read.
“Greetings newcomer,” the pamphlet read, “if you are reading this pamphlet, you have been selected to participate in this exciting new room! Chances are that you have been recognized as someone who would benefit from health potions, adventuring gear, and most of all, magically enchanted items!”
River’s eyes went wide as they began to put the pieces together.
“Here you can exchange coin, old gear, and your own magically enchanted items for special coins that will allow you to gamble for better gear! Simply place the item or items you wish to exchange in the chest in order to exchange your item,” the pamphlet continued.
“This bastard must be using my circlet as a prize!” River exclaimed as they scoured the room for some sign of their suspicion.
Sure enough, there was a sign that showed several items and the circlet of invisibility was at the very top of the list next to the words ‘1,000 chips, very low odds’.
“Alright, let’s get started,” River sighed before dumping the contents of their coin purse into the chest and closing the lid.
Black smoke snaked out from the seam before popping open to reveal a handful of strange coins that had an emerald green surface that was somehow marbled with gold and backed with what looked like iron to reinforce the delicate craftsmanship.
If one was to look closely at the coin, they would see a picture of a cat on the other side of the translucent material.
“Interesting,” River muttered before marching over to a slot machine and sitting down in the velvet chair.
***
The rest of the evening was going well.
Not too many drunkards.
Nobody was getting too upset at losses.
Security only had to be called once.
River was loosing all of their money.
Okay, that last one wasn’t so great. I was feeling bad for the poor kid.
Surprisingly, they hadn’t lost everything, but every time they managed to claw out some sort of a profit, they would drop back down to barely above what they had started with.
“How’s River doing?” asked Selina.
“Not great,” I replied.
“Maybe you could send a lucky cat in to help?” suggested Selina.
“If people figure out that those cats would literally make them more lucky, then everyone’s going to try and take one home before leaving,” I replied.
“True…” Selina admitted, her ears splaying out slightly.
***
“Hey Midnight, how are things going over here?” I asked.
“Not too bad if I do say so myself,” he replied, “moving the scrap exchange to the back ally is much quieter than inside.”
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“I figured as much. Anything interesting happen yet?” I asked again.
“Just you trying to strike up a conversation when everyone is forming their first impression of the new casino,” Midnight replied bluntly, “things are fine out here. I’ll let you know if something out of the ordinary happens, House.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” I sighed.
***
“Hey Carmen, how’s Southpaw doing?” I asked.
“Southpaw has been doing quite well,” Carmen replied as she lazed on the Blind Hydra table, “he’s gotten pretty good at those trick shuffles you told him about.”
“I just told him that it was possible, Southpaw figured it out all on his own,” I said.
“He might get so good that everyone forgets about little old me,” Carmen sighed with an air of fake dramatics.
“Well his break is coming up after this game, so more people might try their hand at Blind Hydra,” I mentioned.
“That’s true,” Carmen nodded, “has River shown any interest in the card table?”
“Not yet. Do you want to deal in the new area?” I asked.
“Once things pick up in there,” shrugged Carmen, “lounging around is fun and all, but I’d like to be able to show off every now and then.”
“It’ll be a few days, but I’ll let you know before I move you over,” I said.
A cheer erupted from Southpaw’s table followed by several groans.
“Looks like I’m up,” Carmen purred as they gave a big stretch and telekinetically grabbed a stack of cups and a ball.
“See you later then. Try not to thrash them too badly,” I joked.
“No promises, Mr. House,” Carmen grinned.
***
“FUCKING FINALLY!” River swore for not the first time that night in the empty room as chips spilled out of the slot machine.
“All I need to do is dump these weird coins back in the chest and I’ll get my circlet back,” River hummed as they scooped up the chips into a silver bucket and began making their way to the chest.
I winced.
It seemed like River hadn’t read the back of the pamphlet and didn’t know that the coins didn’t directly pay for the circlet, but only gave them a chance at winning it.
Needless to say, I had been in a bit of vindictive mood when I had designed the room.
The number of chips corresponded with the tier of prizes you wanted to go for.
The lowest tier let you attempt to win random amounts of gems, the next tier up let you gamble for potions of various quantities and strengths, the tier above that was for various equipment that I had gotten by breaking down the cadet’s equipment and duplicating the kits with the grand prize of the tier being Rex’s dwarven ax, and finally in a tier all on it’s own, the circlet of invisibility.
What River didn’t know was that these slot machines in particular were specially tuned to string you along as much as possible. If you wanted to try your luck at a high tier prize, you pretty much had to trade in a ton of equipment or dump your chips in as soon as you were able to.
Something else River was unaware of was that the odds of winning back the circlet were one thousand to one.
River dumped their chips into the chest and closed the lid.
Reluctantly, I absorbed the coins and activated the automatic dice roller I had created behind the wall.
This was it. This was the choice.
The odds were stacked so far against River that it might as well have been impossible.
A familiar feeling welled up inside of me as I watched the dice tumble.
I found myself reaching out to stop the dice, to put my finger on the scale, to do anything rather than let fate or luck decide.
I barely managed to stop myself.
The dice landed in the enclosed tray.
It was nowhere close.
I let out a sigh as the feeling passed.
“Well, maybe a consolation prize will help smooth things over,” I thought as I deployed some fresh gear into the chest.
Black smoke snaked out of the seam in the chest once again before popping open to reveal the prize.
River’s expression immediately dropped as they saw the backpack.
Their expression quickly shifted from shock to panic as they pulled out the pamphlet and began scanning the page and finally flipping it over and reading what it said on the other side.
“WHAT!?” River shouted as they began beating the chest with their bare hands.
>Invaders scanned: threat level assessment [blue]
“Well I guess that explains why Duke never got scanned when he showed up. He never tried to attack me,” I sighed, “Midnight, can you remove River from the secret room before they wreck the place?”
“One moment, House,” he replied before teleporting.
River spun around at the sound of Midnight popping into the room.
There was a tense moment as River glared at Midnight with red rimmed eyes and Midnight staring back calmly, his tail swishing back and forth.
Reason won out in the end as River angrily grabbed the backpack and stormed out of the casino.
“Well the only thing to do is see if Mr. Serendipity is right a third time,” I thought as I assigned two [Stalkers] and a [lucky cat] to tail River.
***
River had been sitting in the dark on the ground for quite some time.
The walk hadn’t done much to improve their mood, so they had decided to sit down instead.
Nobody was out at this time of night.
Nobody except the obviously shady group of people escorting a cart a block away from River.
“Damn, this really is like a script,” I thought as I watched the scene play out from the [lucky cat] I had posted up on the roof.
A crate fell out of the back of the wagon.
“Ah shit, everyone stop,” called one of the people escorting the wagon, “the don will have our hides if one of these goes missing.”
“Shut the hell up. What if someone hears you?” hissed one of the other guards.
“It’s the middle of the night. Who’s out here besides us?” asked the first guard as he picked up the crate and put it back into the wagon before the troop continued onward.
River poked their head up with a focused expression and slunk off after them.
“Right on cue,” I thought as I followed River who began following the wagon.
The group of thugs ended up leading us to one of the many seemingly abandoned warehouses in this district, and after a quick exchange of words with someone inside the warehouse, let them and the wagon inside.
As far as I could tell, River hadn't been noticed by the thugs.
There was a tense moment as they looked to be considering something.
“Come on, make the smart choice,” I muttered.
The moment passed and River sighed before turning around and leaving.
I let out a sigh and almost on a whim, I decided to follow River with a stalker just to see if maybe they would lead me back to the delver’s guild.
“Well looks like Mr. Serendipity is three for three,” I thought, “looks like we're going to have a lot to talk about in eleven days.”
***
“[A voice echoing in the valley] [Kneeling before the altar] [Two hundred fifty six] [The smell of lavender] [The concept of creating a perfect crest in sealing wax]”
! Establishing connection……….. !
! Connection Established !
[Beginning conversation log between Username: Selina and Administrator]
“Mr. House managed to dodge the event,” Selina said telepathically into the connection.
“I see,” replied a voice that carried a terrible responsibility and authority with every word.
“What should we do?” asked Selina.
“Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do. Not directly anyway,” replied the voice, “we’ll need to come up with a contingency plan. Stand by for further direction.”
“As you will, Judicator,” Selina acknowledged before terminating the connection.
[Conversation log ended]