"My question for you is, what you need my help with.”

The words died in Daios’ throat. “See - There’s-” He stared at the leftover pieces from the match.

“No need. You answer after you lose.”

“If I win, what happens then? New question?”

”I tell you if there is something you could do for me.”

“Is… There?”

“If you want to know - win.”

“Right. Easy enough.”

Arratoria cleared the board with ease. They shuffled the cards - every now and again a claw grazed the stone, sending shivers down Daios spine.

Daios cards were a polearm, two archers, two footsoldiers, a strategist and a … trickster?

It’s a simple card, the character dressed as a typical jester would. Carvings imitating the patterned clothes. He determined the strategist as his commander, turned the switch on its back. Both of them set up a bottleneck around the bridge.

They place their units, and Daios gets to act first, being the last round's loser.

“I won’t make it easy for you! Considering, I understand the game now!” Daios smiled under his mask. “Archer 1 and 2 shoot at your archer and then- I’ll uh… Just move this guy up here” He reached and moved the polearm onto the bridge.

Arratoria hardly reacts. This time, they do not wait and ask. They immediately go in for a strike, their own polearm charged past Daios’ units and attack his strategist. They roll well and take it out in one turn. Daios attempts (badly) to mask his shock.

When Arratoria turns the unit over and sees the flipped switch, they look back at Daios. An eyebrow cocked, their face not showing a hint of sympathy.

“So?”

He swallows down the burning in his throat and embarrassed heat in his face. “What?”

“What do you need me to do?”

“Oh- I- Just… So There’s a plague and I- thought you could, maybe, help out? Help me fix things?”

“Mh.”

Daios reached for the units, began to clear off the board, and Arratoria stared, hesitated and then leaned back again. He felt their eyes on him as he shuffled the cards, and handed out 7 and 7 each.

During this round he tried to watch Arratorias reactions. They seemed stonefaced, or Daios was just bad at reading faces. It was when their eyes flicked back up to him that he hurriedly looked down, to witness the board, as Arratoria had set it for themselves.

One of the cards was called an abslaheriot. He held it out to them, "What is this one?"

"Abslaheriot. Death obsessed magician"

"Necromancer?"

"Sort of. They are more obsessive than magical."

"Necromaniac then?"

"Mh."

Daios went first, using one of his footsoldiers to damage one of Arratorias units. Between each of Daios' moves, he paused to look back to how Arratoria reacted.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Their face remained the same. He looked for where they were looking, but eventually it was just them looking back at Daios, confused at his constant pauses.

"Sorry, distracted," He got back to playing, finally done with trying (and failing) to read Arratorias face.

Then - one of Arratorias units died.

"I'll be taking that. It thrashes around-" Daios plays along with his hands, "latches on that other one's neck and rips with its teeth-" Daios rolls the dice- "effectively murdering that soldier!!! Blood splatters everywhere." He chuckled slightly at his own descriptions. Arratoria did not. But, Arratoria was not attacking the necromaniac. Daios couldn't help but feel a warm gratitude creep up on him.

Their thief stabbed a footsoldier in the back, and when in Daios' round, he gets rid of the thief and steals the unit immediately. With glee, he described his necro-thief hopping the line back, and ripping into the opponents again.

"You must roll for madness."

"Madness? Oh... for the maniac?"

"It may switch sides."

Daios thought of praying for the first time, to make the dice fall in his favour. And they do. He escapes his maniacs madness and is free to roam and maim further.

"My dear puppet crunches through the bones here and rips on flesh with its nails and- and - and-"

Breathlessly, Daios described and Arratoria watched. Their shoulders relaxed a bit, their face resting a bit lower, rather than glaring down their nose.

And then it happens - many turns in.

The madness consumed his dearest maniac.

Daios watched in horror as his new favourite unit and all its subordinates turned over to Arratoria.

Arratorias shoulders, which had relaxed in the process, seemed to tense up again. They looked down at the pieces.

Soon after, Arratoria took Daios' commander too. And that round was over. It took Arratoria more time to ask their question this turn. They seemed more interested in running their thumb over the flipped switch on Daios' commander.

"How did you find my Atz'Dinah?"

Daios shot Arratoria a pained smile-

"Give me the piece, I'll shuffle."

He shuffled, ignoring the sinking feeling in his chest, the sensation that everything was doomed. He had lost so much already, and this interaction was sure to spell his end. Surely, he couldn't best an ancient entity in this game it's played thousands of times before. Surely, he couldn't outsmart so much experience and time to have formed plans and strategies.

He felt his face grow hot, his throat tight. He felt like he could cry. There was no way to beat this. In his hubris he doomed himself, and still he lacked time. Time to fix things, time to think of anything good, time to save himself and the rest of Proznia.

And under the close watch of the entity, he was sure even that time was soon to run out. He couldn't shuffle forever.

The next round played quickly. Daios used a thief unit to pierce quickly through Arratorias frontlines. He targetted the bard first, nothing had died yet, but the morale built up quickly and just as he was justifying his choice he noticed the flipped switch on the back.

He won. The first round he's won.

With a sudden glee, he hopped up to his feet. The tight feeling was gone, the heat was gone, and from him radiated glee and a manic laughter.

"I did it! I did it!!" Arratoria watched, their eyes following the quick movements of Daios almost comedically.

"Sorry-Sorry- I- I mean Sorry for your loss but-"

Daios stared back to the blank face of the entity.

His boots clunked as he sat down, folding his legs under himself.

Arratoria waited for him to still.

"To answer the question. I didn't find the Atz'Dinah, I made it. I settled down here before the Lekuan people. I sought for a place far from the rest of it all. I sought out an oasis in the desert. I wanted to rest there. The city was later built around it. Is that sufficient?"

"Yes. Sufficient, yes. Thank you-That is." Daios still felt he had to catch his breath, "Thank you. It's a nice story."

"I enjoyed the way life passed through it. Seeing the animals and plants seek out the water and respite."

Daios felt himself soften to Arratorias words. He had to imagine the tall silhouette among the trees, spiked horns peeking out between leaves. In the dark of night, the gleaming eyes with their thin slits.

They shared a moment, Daios finally quiet and still. Arratoria stopped, looking down at their hands resting on the table. Their face was still unreadable to Daios, but their hands toyed the surface of the table, the details on the board. Daios voice was soft and quiet, when he spoke up again.

"Not much life around anymore, is there?"

And the moment was gone. Arratoria stiffened again, their hands going still. Daios wished he could see a scowl or anything that confirmed his thought, but to no avail.

"I shall set up the next round."