“Now can I go?” Aimee said. “Now that I’ve answered all your questions?”
“A moment,” Walt said. He gestured at Richard and they stepped off to the side out of earshot. He looked back at Aimee who was sitting at the table, fiddling with her gauntlet.
“What do you think?” Walt said.
“She held up her end,” Richard said. “Let her go and we can continue to Nashville.”
Walt thought of Janice and his mother, most likely bunkered down at the cabin in Crossville. They’d already been slowed down with this whole ordeal. It was time to get moving soon.
“Are you concerned about running into her again?” Richard said. “Because she doesn’t seem like the type to harbor a feud. Not with us. This matter seems settled.”
Walt replayed her answers and her body language in his head. Unless she was a master manipulator, then Richard was probably right. She just seemed like someone who wanted to survive this whole ordeal. Which didn’t make her too much different from them. But still, he didn’t trust her enough to invite her to their car pool. She was still one of the invaders.
Walt nodded, agreeing. He walked back over to the picnic table and addressed her. “Alright, you’re free to go.”
Relieved, she stood up. A card ejected out of her gauntlet and she tossed it in front of her. A mist swirled out of the grass and soil and filled the rest area. A creature that looked part wraith and part lizard emerged. And it seemed to be made out of the mist and fog.
[Examine]
[Miststalker]
Miststalker. Mount. Set: Adventurer Dio’s Wondrous Mounts. Rarity: Epic. Native to the bogs of Maer Scathan, miststalkers are creatures of the fog and cold.
Stealth.
Cold Talon: 8 Attack, Cooldown: 5 seconds
Health Points: 12
Cost: 3 Vigor Stones
Aimee climbed on top of the creature. It was her mount. Its eyes within its mist-enshrouded face glowed an eerie blue. She turned it but before they rode away, Walt said, “I’m not sure if I need to say this.”
Aimee turned and regarded him.
“But I’m going to say it anyways,” Walt said. “If we see you again, and it’s in such a circumstance where you’re acting like this matter hasn’t been settled, then you might not get the chance to concede again. Do you understand?”
Aimee looked at the ground and nodded. She looked back up at him. Their eyes met. “I understand.”
Then she dug her heels into the miststalker and it carried her into the night. Walt and Richard watched them disappear into the landscape as they both stealthed.
“Well,” Richard said. “I guess that’s that.”
“I guess so,” Walt said.
But if it was, why couldn’t Walt shake the feeling that his business with Aimee Smith wasn’t finished yet?
#
Before they continued their journey, Walt wanted to finish up some housekeeping. There was still the matter of his access to a few new system features now that he was an official duelist. And he still needed to look at the Bloodhound’s deck.
Examine Deck Obtained from Jacob Maseria?
[Y/N?]
Walt accepted and the cards flew out of his gauntlet, arranging themselves in a grid. “Let’s see what other tricks the Bloodhound had up his sleeve.”
Jacob Maseria’s Deck
Bloodhound
22 Cards
Wyvern Stinger (2)
Bog Mist (2)
Twisted Fain
Goblin Beastmaster
Grimscale
Bear Trap
Pit of Snakes
Kill Them All!
Nok’Roshar
Big Game Blaster
Katarina Ragnaress
Horn of Ligeia
Puppy of Cerberus
Crimson Hawk
King of the Rams
Vampra
The Black Lodge
Final Volley
Cerberus
“Looks like Bog Mist is similar to your Fog of War card,” Walt said.
Bog Mist. Spell. Set: Kit of the Bloodhound. Rarity: Common. A mist settles into the battleboard arena to help confuse your opponent as you hunt them.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Conceals the next card you play.
Cost: 2 Vigor Stones
Richard studied it and rubbed his chin. “Was a way for him to set up some traps without you knowing.”
“I wish the dark casters had a card like that. Would make my Blood Mirrors easier to play.”
“I’m sure there is. Out of ten thousand cards I’d be surprised if there wasn’t.”
Walt was curious about the final three cards Jacob had. Those were the most expensive.
The Black Lodge. Object. Set: The Twelve Lords of the Hunt. Rarity: Legendary. The Black Lodge, where the Lords of the Hunt gather every year to hunt the notorious Onyx Stag.
This card disorients opponent and they wander into the sinister Black Lodge, where they wander the cold halls, looking for a way out, but can’t seem to find an exit.
Deals 30 damage to opponent and Roots and Charms them for two turns.
Cost: 8 Vigor Stones
Walt looked at the card in horror, realizing just how close to death he was with the Bloodhound. “I guess I’m lucky the duel never made it to the ninth turn. This card is fucked.”
“Rooted and charmed for two turns?” Richard said. “Why not just put, ‘If opponent plays this card you die instantly?’”
“Because then there’s no suffering.”
Final Volley. Spell. Set: Kit of the Bloodhound. Rarity: Epic. Harness the power of a hundred bows and fire a volley powerful enough to stop an army.
Destroys all opponent’s minions on board.
Cost: 9 Vigor Stones
“That’s some nutty board clear,” Walt said.
“Some late game removal,” Richard said. “We all need removal cards.”
Cerberus. Minion. Set: The Kennel of Hades. Rarity: Legendary. The three-headed sentinel hound who guards the underworld gates of Hades.
Claw: 8 Attack, Cooldown: 5 seconds
Bite: 10 Attack, Cooldown: 2 seconds
Feast: 30 Attack, Cooldown: 1 minute
Health Points: 40
Cost: 10 Vigor Stones
“Jumping Jesus Jehoshaphat!!” Richard said, shocked. “Would you look at the stats on that minion!”
“He’s…a beefy boy.”
“That card is the tactical nuke of minions.”
“The Feast Attack must be when the three heads and their mouths start taking chunks out of you.”
Richard’s mouth was open as he stared at it. “You’re lucky you beat him when you did. If the duel had gone late game any of these cards could have screwed you over.”
Walt didn’t argue that fact. “Take what you can use and then I want to disenchant some of these. I want to combine some cards on the forge.”
“Are you sure? You’re comfortable with letting me take some cards?”
“Yeah, why not? I can’t use any of them, except for dust. And there’s no point in disenchanting them all or keeping them for safekeeping if there’s stuff you can use. I’d say you earned it.”
“Earned it?”
“Yeah, you beat Aimee, which got us the forge.”
Richard scratched the back of his head, seemingly a bit overwhelmed by Walt’s generosity. “Alright, as long as you’re comfortable with that.” He took a deep breath and started studying the cards, mumbling to himself.
While Richard went through the cards, deciding what he wanted to take, Walt pulled up the new system features. Besides the shop, there were:
[Slaynami Leaderboards]
[Psycho Slinger Duelist Profile]
He clicked on the leaderboards but it was met with this message.
We’re sorry, but the Slaynami Leaderboards are not available. The leaderboards will go live on Week 2 of The Tournament. Check back again then to see where you stand!
That was odd. After he had beat Jacob he remembered seeing that he had a numerical rank. Must have been a temporary ranking according to the competitors who had actually dueled.
“Leaderboards aren’t live yet,” Walt said. “They go live in a week.”
“I guess there isn’t enough data yet,” Richard said, who had glanced over at Walt. “Maybe some competitors haven’t even dueled yet.”
“I wonder what criteria they use. Psycho Points?”
“There’s probably other metrics involved. I wouldn’t be surprised if it took into account a duelist’s tournament history and previous rankings.”
That made sense to Walt. Each duelist probably had an MMR, or Matchmaking Rating assigned to them based on their performances. He wondered what variables were used, though.
He looked at his Psycho Slinger Duelist profile.
Walter Frank Harmon. Origin: Earth X 2.9. Age: 20s
A native of this year’s tournament setting, this clever Voidlock has managed to finish his trials in the first twelve hours of Day 1 of the tournament! But now that he’s an official Psycho Slinger, how far will this scrappy duelist advance as the competition progresses?
He has more than a few groupies (or should we say fans?) rooting for him in Winternath, that’s for sure! A favorite of the Slaycast, he’s already amassing a passionate fanbase!
Style of Play: Wombo Combo!
Favorite Drink: Coke Zero
Psycho Points: 6
Record: 3-0-0
Followers: 521,669
Patrons: 1
Well, shit. Was this information available to everyone? He didn’t like that it provided information on his play style. He would have to mix it up in the future if possible.
Next up was the Slaynami Shop. He accessed it and the menu on the opening screen had a motion graphic advertising this year’s tournament. Various Psycho Slingers in slow-mo action poses were shown in various locales. To the left was some more text.
Skins
Gauntlet Skins and Charms
Cards
Chronico Drone Cams and Accessories
Vigor Dust
World Loot
Walt took a few moments to briefly scan through each section and look at the cost of items. Skins was self-explanatory. They were organized by class and they came with different hair styles, tattoos and class-oriented effects. Turned out that Walt’s current Voidlock skin was just a basic skin that came with his Starter Deck.
There were options for Rare, Epic, Legendary and Mythic skins. Curious, he went to look at the cost. They ranged from a few hundred Slaynami credits to thousands of credits for the Legendary skins and to the five digits for the Mythic skins. For twenty thousand Slaynami credits he could have a Voidlock skin that gave him snakes for hair and made him look like a denizen of Hades, with insanely-detailed armor and robes. With insane real-life lighting effects. He could make himself look like a literal god.
Gauntlet skins were more of the same, except there were little charms that he could get to dangle off the device. It was purely cosmetic.
There were too many card offerings, organized by set and class to look at now. But they were all expensive. Same as the skins. Ranging from a few hundred credits to six figures for the cards of high rarity. Vigor Dust was pricey as well. It was a hundred credits for a hundred dust.
The World Loot section was interesting. There was schema, which was used to craft new cards, but there were also maps for forge locations, starter decks, Legendary cards and cocoon evolvers.
The price for a map for cocoon evolvers was a thousand credits. Not too bad. If he was getting a hundred credits per win, he’d have to defeat seven more people to purchase one of the maps.
“How’s the shop?” Richard said.
“All incentive to rack up more wins,” Walt said. “Everything is designed to force more duels out of us.”
“Of course. It’s Slaynami’s pillar of design. Everything to facilitate that the bread and circuses keep coming.”
#
Walt ended up using the card forge to disenchant The Black Lodgecard he got from Jacob. It was from a set where the cards were only compatible with the Bloodhound class.
The Legendary card disenchanted for one hundred dust, which Walt used to combine the Blood Mirror and Hellwell cards to create a new Hell Mirror card. He also disenchanted another Legendary card neither of them could use from the Bloodhound deck, the Horn of Ligeia, and used the dust to combine another Hell Mirror card so that he had two.
Richard ended up taking the Cerberus card for himself.
#
“Richard,” Walt said. “What happened to my van?”
Richard looked at the destroyed van lying on its side. “Oh, that.” He looked sheepish. “It wasn’t my Chaosium Commando’s fault. He was engaged in combat with Aimee’s Aether Ambusher and the van got in the way.”
“The van got in the way, huh?”
“You know how these duels go. It’s impossible to avoid property destruction and collateral damage. Besides, we have a faster way to get to Nashville now.”
Walt knew what he was about to reveal.
Richard pulled out one of the former Bloodhound cards and summoned the minion.
From the sky, there was a reptilian cry and a winged form swooped out of the night. The serpent came into view. Grimscale landed in the parking lot between them, cracking the pavement beneath its claws.
Richard held a hand out towards Walt. “Our chariot awaits, good sir.”
Thanks for reading! If you're liking the story, remember to leave a rating, a fave or a review! It keeps the duelists happy!
Glossary
A WORD ON COMBAT:
*Author Note: Please keep in mind, this story is a rough draft. Also, I’m an author first and game designer of a fictional game second. I will work hard to keep the mechanics and stats in check, especially if they are immersion-breaking. But ultimately, the mechanics and card game rules work to serve the story first.
Battleboard Arena: The three-dimensional designated zone where two Duelists duel.
Battleboard Barrier: Three-dimensional grids of blue energy to that define the limits of the Battleboard Arena. It is impossible to pass through the grids. Trying to traverse a barrier results in death. The barriers disappear once a Duel is finished.
Death Cry: Card effect that triggers when a minion dies.
Health Points: A card duelist’s health. Usually starts at 100 Points. When it’s depleted, the duelist dies.
Hellpriest: A priest of an extra-dimensional Hell ruled by the deity, Leviathan. Summon the creatures and powers of Leviathan to punish your opponent into pain and ecstasy. Hero Ability: Heal. Heal self or a minion for 10 Health Points. Cost: 1 Vigor Stone
Hero Ability (aka Psycho Ability): A power or spell a Duelist can use that’s specific to the Duelist’s class. These increase in cost the more they are used throughout a Duel.
Turn: A 3 minute duration split into two parts wherein Duelists can make their moves and play their cards.
Prio: Priority. 1:30 Duration. Duelist who has Prio means they control the segment of the Turn wherein they can play their cards. They have a minute and a half to play their cards. At the end of the duration, Prio passes to their opponent, whether they play a card or not. A Duelist with Prio has the right to pass their segment of the Turn to their opponent.
Pass: Option to pass the Turn to your opponent.
Slaynami Corporation: The mysterious corporation from another version of Earth who owns the rights to the game Slaystone and funds and organizes tournament.
Slaynami Card Gauntlet: A device of advanced and mysterious tech that holds all of the cards for a Duelist. Allows the Duelist to organize cards, build decks and play their cards. It’s linked to the Slaynami System Interface
Slaynami Chronico: A recording and streaming device made from mysterious tech, provided by the Slaynami Corporation to Psycho Slingers for official Slaynami Corp streams.
Slaynami Interface: The UI that allows an individual to interact with the Slaynami System
Slaynami System: Slaynami Corp’s system that connects to an individual and links their mind, brain and body to the designated Slaynami OS. Enhances an individual in various ways, giving them the power of the system at just a thought.
Vigor Stones: The resource used to play cards.
Voidlock: A Darkened Artist who uses the power of souls to tap into unbelievable power. Hero Ability: Soultap. Trade 10 Health Points for 1 Vigor Point. Cost: 10 Health Points.
War Whoop: Effect that’s triggered when a minion arrives on the Battleboard.
Class Compendium
Slaystone ? Class Compendium
Class is the primary factor of a Duelist’s powers and abilities. Each class represents a unique role and determines a Duelist’s Hero Ability and which card sets they are able to use.
There are ten base starting classes that may evolve into more advanced classes by using Psycho Points, Card Gauntlets and Evolver Cocoons. Information on Advanced Classes and the Ultra Slinger and Apex Slinger forms is included in the Slaynami ? Advanced Form Slinger Compendium.
The ten base classes are:
Bloodhound: Tough and resourceful hunters who can track any beast, man or monster through both the wilds and cities. Hero Ability: Tame Beast. Can tame a nearby animal and turn it into a dangerous minion. Cost: 1 Vigor Stone.
Silentblade: Sneaky and agile assassins who use subterfuge and stealth to get intimate with their opponents. Hero Ability: Stealth. Can blend in with the shadows and their surroundings to disappear from sight. Cost: 1 Vigor Stone.
Steelclad: Warriors and sell-swords who use steel and iron weaponry to control the battlefield and armor to soak up otherwise dangerous attacks. Hero Ability: Battle Frenzy. Gains 10 Armor and Enrages, doubling damage with weapons. Cost: 3 Vigor Stones.
Voidlock: A Darkened Artist who uses the potential of souls to tap into unbelievable depths of power. Hero Ability: Soultap. Trade 10 Health Points for 1 Vigor Stone. Cost: 10 Health Points.
Necromancer:As master of the undead, Necromancers have the power to summon an undead army to overwhelm and consume opponents. Hero Ability: Summon a Skeleton Minion. Cost: 1 Vigor Stone.
Thaumuturgist: Practitioners and masters of the Arcane arts. They wield powerful single-target and area of effect spells to blast down their opponents and arcane trickery to manipulate their opponent’s attacks. Hero Ability: Arcane Blast. Arcane energy blasts out of the mage, dealing 10 damage to nearby opponents. Cost: 2 Vigor Stones. 2 extra Vigor Stones per accumulative use.
Cardcleric: Wielders of the White, who use the healing powers of their benevolent Deity to administer purifications, cleanses and mending during times of conflict. Hero Ability: Battle Blaze. Healing blessing that heals self or target for 6 Health and an additional 6 Health Points the next Turn. Cost: 1 Vigor Stone.
Hellpriest: Supplicants and clergy of Leviathan who rules over the Hell dimension. Use Leviathan’s power for both pain and pleasure. Hero Ability: Heal. Heal self or minions for 10 Health Points. Cost: 1 Vigor Stone.
Greenmage: Protectors of Gaia and the verdant wilds, they wield the powers of nature to establish control of the battlefield. Friends of both the trees and the stones, expect both to aid them during times of need. Hero Ability: Friend of the Forest. Summon three Ygdar Ents and root your opponent for 1 Turn or until freed. Cost: 3 Vigor Stones.
Songslinger: The Bard swordsmen of yore. They use music, poetry and theatrics as weapons. A limerick or a well-aimed verbal barb can be just as dangerous as a blade with these raucous and dramatic performers. Hero Ability: Razor Song. A musical attack that turns musical notes into either razor blades or a personal shield. Deals 10 damage. Or Blocks 10 Damage. Cost: 3 Vigor Stones.
Card Codex - Bloodhound Deck!
JACOB MASERIA'S' DECK
Jacob Maseria, Bloodhound, Psycho Slinger (aka HunterX)
22 Cards
Wyvern Stinger (2)
Bog Mist (2)
Twisted Fain
Goblin Beastmaster
Grimscale
Bear Trap
Pit of Snakes
Kill Them All!
Nok’Roshar
Big Game Blaster
Katarina Ragnaress
Horn of Ligeia
Puppy of Cerberus
Crimson Hawk
King of the Rams
Vampra
The Black Lodge
Final Volley
Cerberus
The following were cards not included in the deck, but were summoned from cards played and the Bloodhound Hero Ability:
