Balnazzar grinned as he took another swig of the ale, inspecting the cards he had held up in front of him. One particularly stood out The Gambler was a useful card that could be used to sway a game in the user’s direction in one turn. Unfortunately it also had a chance to devastate its user. His two opponents at the table, Jollyjoker the Lifestealer, and Sindicate the Nerubian Weaver were in stable positions, but neither had a clear advantage. The Nerubian Weaver had trouble sitting and instead chose to give cards to an assistant to place on the table. Jollyjoker seemed to be writhing in his seat, his tongue lolling seductively at Balnazzar although that may have just been his way of dancing to the twisted music that was being played by the band in the tavern. You could never tell with the Lifestealer.
It was Sindicates turn. He drew from his deck, and after afew seconds of thinking gave two cards to the assistant.
“Beat this play Jollyroger” Sindicate said in his distinctive nerubian accent. “I’m playing a Backdoor card and an All your base are belong to me card. That means you outer tower counter and rax counters are gone. You’ve just got your throne counter now.”
JollyJoker hissed. Sindicate had been lucky drawing such good cards and he was now in a very dangerous position. There was no other option.
“Think you’ve got this? I’m going to play my Joker car-“
The Nightstalker spat out his ale abruptly, startling the others at the table.
“Jesus Christ can’t you play a DIFFERENT card from that one?” Balnazzar yelled his manly voice. “Every freaking game it’s joker, joker, joker!”
The Lifestealer simply stared at the Nightstalker, then swiftly gave him the finger and proceeded to play the card.
“Screw this, you’re going down you scrawny freak!” Balnazzar growled, upending his chair in a rage.
“ME EAT YOUR BRAINS!” JollyJoker screamed, his voice breakig as he started to work himself into a frenzy.
“Its night time you fool! You don’t stand a chance!” Balnazzar roared as he voided the Lifestealer. Sindicate quickly made his escape, not wanting to be ncaught in such a confined place. Jollyjoker immediately countered by reached a Raged state. The slow became useless and he began tearing at the Nightstalker with his manicured nails. The battle had at first shifted in the Nightstalkers favour but as the Lifestealer continued to hang on, he started to claw an advantage over the demon.
Balnazzar spat angrily, his attempts to silence the Lifestealer fruitless. His superior speed at night allowed to him to run out of the tavern despite Jollyjokers poison. He didn’t make it far before a giant homing, braying mule fell from the sky and hit him to the ground with an “oomph!” The mule was dead. Balnazzar knew what it meant. It was a message. He should have known better then to fight in the neutral zones. A mule that dropped from the heavens and crashed into the tavern roof had also imparted the message to Jollyjoker by the looks of it. Jollyjoker did not attempt to pursue. The Nightstalker sighed heavily. Jollyjoker needed to die. It wasn’t that he was a threat particularly, it just was that...
Balnazzar contemplated his reasons as he sought out the healing fountain to lick his wounds. The night remained calm, for the moment.