In the darkness there was a light and Giles walked, staring into something unknown, feeling like every footfall's echoed into a long unending night. He felt alone, and truth be told, scared of the vastness of the place and the singularity that stood infront of him. But just for a moment.

It came then, as the light undulated. It pulsed like a heartbeat. One. Two. Three. But somehow Giles lost count and it became irrelevant as time's passage dispersed into meaningless concepts. "What are you?" he called out, feeling consciousness's focus upon him. As its attention fell there were shocks of agony through his body, through his back and into his heart they pulsed out into his hands to the rhythm of the pulse. Tearing and rending his spirit with its appraisal. Giles could feel the overwhelming power of that whose domain he had entered and questioned. The response came soon after, it was laughter. With each reverberating thrum of the laughter Giles could feel explosions of pain inside him feeling his spirit diminish with every guttural laugh that followed. The laugh felt to be filled with pure malice and an unsatable hunger. It went on for days, or perhaps years, Giles couldn't tell. He just endured and felt his very being diminishing while the echoing laughter permeated him.

He wasn't sure how, but Giles somehow managed to pull his essence back together into a form that he could recognise again. In that moment of clarity he could feel the mind of the vast and eternal presence, its mind and its intent. He felt an overwhelming hunger, his stomach ached and he could feel it's visceral need to devour as he viewed through its mind.

"Whyyyyy?" he called out into the light in between gasps that were between choking and agony.

"You are mine!" It spoke, and with that the full darkness came again.
This message was last updated by the GM at 16:07, Sat 23 May 2020.

"What the fuck do you mean they were building artillery!"  The sound of Brashear's enraged voice woke Giles with a start.  His head was hanging off the edge of a bed, though he did not recognize it as his own.  Somewhere just next to him was another bed, with another of the soldiers laying asleep, his whole arm bandaged and propped upwards with a makeshift high table.

"There's not a goddamn tree between here and Al-Wazif!  Where the hell did they get the wood to build it?"

Giles attempted to roll over, though the immediate fire in his back made him stop, ceasing all motion in the hope that the pain would ebb away.  Only vaguely did he remember being struck on the hill...

"I don't know sir."  The second voice was Lieutenant Hetrick's, seeming somewhat resigned and defeated.  "The whole thing was abandoned... There's no sign of how the pieces got there, but they weren't finished building it.  The good news is that they don't seem interested in trying to reclaim it."

"Ugh."  Brashear groans.  "We'll have to take it down and get rid of it.  Lord knows we could probably use some of the wood here for repairs...  Still, this shows they were much more serious than we had thought.  If we hadn't sent the counter attack...  We're going to have to find out how they got it here... if they come back we do not want them to be able to start over again."

"It's going to have to wait, sir."  Hetrick sighs.  "We're down over thirty men, at least fifteen killed.  Almost half the horses are lame or dead.  The patrols have been cut for the time being, we've got a duty caring for the injured, and we're disassembling the machine and somehow we have to keep a watch that's capable of repelling an assault if our neighbors come back.  We are prioritizing the things that have to happen now."

"I know..."  Brashear admits, his voice low as Giles hears the strain of creaking wood on a bed somewhere near him.  "You're right, it'll have to wait."

His mind too encompassed in pain to do much more than listen, Giles hears Hetrick's footsteps retreat as the world swirls around him, carrying him back off into a state of sleep.

---

Giles tossed and turned, his mind shackled somewhere between sleep and wakefulness.  His head felt like a furnace, his body spewing out heat and sweat as he threw off whatever sheets burdened him.  His upper back throbbed in pain, sending spasms of hurt through his body with only the slightest touch... sensations which seemed nearly impossible to avoid as the wound had seemed to expand to fill a space twice its normal size.

"It's not good."  Giles wasn't sure if he was dreaming.  Disembodied voices floated around him like water, brushing his awareness when they drifted close enough.  "The infection's spreading.  We've got to keep the fever down..."

Giles felt a wet cloth press against his forehead.  The cool sensation made him shudder with pleasure, though the feeling was only momentary as everything sunk back into a state of hazy grey.

---

"Hey there."  Lieutenant Hetrick pulls a seat up next to Giles as he moves a small table over between the two of them, plopping down a small piece of cloth down on top of it.  "How are you feeling?"

It was a loaded question.  It had been four weeks since the fort had been sieged and Giles was still bedridden, his bandage still changed every few days.  In fact, he was the only one still in the infirmary.  From the more than dozen who had started off there with Giles, most had been discharged back to service, some with broken bones that they were still nursing - though at least they were able to care for themselves.  Some however, had been discharged from the service to return home, permanently scarred or missing limbs from the battle.  Some four or five had died in the infirmary.  It could always be worse.

Still, Giles had a difficult time that his body was not healing faster.  Only a few days into his stay, Giles had been gripped by infection, coming as close to death as he had ever been, though the dedicated care of the fort nurse had managed to pull him back from the brink.  The infection had made his wound much worse and had lasted for over a week, leaving his shoulder swollen and puss-filled... a difficult place to start his recovery.

Still, the recovery had progressed, and though he was not yet allowed to move around much walk than around the infirmary, he was able to sit up in bed with a few pillows propping him up comfortably.

"Found this in your room too."  Hetrick places a small statue, one of five wolves, down on the table as well.  "Figured you might like some of your things here.  Nurse says you'll be a few days here yet."

Giles recognizes the statue as the one he found in the harpy cave, the place where he had realized at the first that there were forces conspiring to attack the fort from the South.  He had not thought of the statue for some time.  It had merely taken up a corner of his own desk, forgotten.

OOC:  It is 1200 on the 16th of August.  I made several healing rolls for you, and while you stayed alive, you earned a particularly nasty infection that delayed your healing significantly.  You are hovering somewhere around 1/4 HP, and thus are at half move, dodge, and ST, though that shouldn't significantly affect the thread.  You will heal eventually, you are just weak now.  Feel free to take the conversation where you want to.
This message was last updated by the GM at 16:08, Sat 23 May 2020.

Giles nodded at Hetrick as way of thanks and took the statue to inspect it. The effort of leaning to reach it sent shocks of burning pain through his back, but having suffered weeks of torment and delirium, Giles was unaffected by the sensation, or perhaps slightly happy that the pain meant he was alive and on the mend.

"Thanks" he said simply, feeling the words catch in his dry throat, and send little sharp pains through his lips where they'd dried and split.

Taking the time to turn the object in his hand, Giles looked at the wolf and felt some form of kinship to it. These people were like the pack and he was one of them, but despite his relative joviality at being awake and conscious once again he felt dismayed at how much punishment he had taken. It had affected him greatly, more in his mind than body; deep down he could feel a rock of obsidian, that spoke of anger and fury and the more his mind lingered on it the more it seemed to pulse with dark promise. Through his mind's eye he could see the faces of Wazifi reflecting in its glassy surface.

"They had catapults?" he asked Hetrick

"One."  Hetrick answers Giles question.  "One of the guys who was in the engineers before took a look at it and said it wasn't balanced enough to work right, couldn't have thrown anything straight if it wanted to, and probably would have completely broken after a few tries...  Still, it doesn't sit well.  They were definitely in it to break the fort.  They had the manpower and they were working on the firepower.  We've still got no clue where they got the wood from, though there is some evidence they dragged the heavy lumber up from the river.  Brashear wants someone to look into it, but we just don't have the manpower."

Hetrick takes the small cloth and spreads it out over the table.  Giles peers forward and sees a small game board with a dragon scrawled in black across the top with a depiction of a man in a bottom corner.  Spread over the board are various boxes marked two through twelve.

"Up for a game of Dragon and the Thief?"  Hetrick asks, smoothing out the bit of cloth.  "I'm not keeping you company for free."  He smirks.  "How about a farthing per roll?  Or if you are feeling frisky we can up the ante to a penny."



OOC:  As a reminder, a farthing is $1 and a penny is $4.

Giles smiled "anything to take my mind off lying here in pain... lets go for a penny per pop. When I win, will you fetch my book, it's one of the ones written in Wazifi language, the thicker one I think. It's called "The Masters". he asked before nodding to Hetrick to start the game.

As they began to play Giles asked "what do you think of this life? Why'd you choose it?" the depth of his injury and the weariness he could still feel, bone-deep from his very near end had left the spirit of Giles shaken and his resolve to continue the soldier life weakened.

"I also do wonder where they might have gotten the extra lumber. Perhaps  my other book ''Raphael and the Surrounding Environs' might provide some insight

Hetrick nods, a wide smile lighting up his face.  "Good to see you're making this worth my time."  He jokes, taking up the two dice in his hand, which he rolls across the table.  A five and three show, and Hetrick places a small silver penny down on the eight square of the board, before pushing the dice across at Giles.

"I don't know, I suppose I got into this for the same reason as most of the young officers.  My dad was titled, but didn't have enough money or land to split among the three boys.  So he brought my older brother up to take his place, pushed me into the service, and pushed my younger brother Alec into the clergy."  Hetrick suppresses a laugh with his fist.  "I can't wait until that blows up.  I can't think of anyone less cut out for feigning piety.  Alec has been a playboy his whole life.  Something about being the youngest."  Hetrick shakes his head.  "Suppose it's worked out well enough for me.  Brashear has been a boon to work for.  Man knows his shit."

Hetrick leans back in his chair, thinking as Giles ponders on the location of the lumber.  "Yeah.  I mean, none of us can think of anywhere that would support trees that thick between here and the great forest.  And I can't even imagine having the gall to go and fell trees there.  All sorts of beast are supposed to live there, not to mention the elves which don't take kindly to woodsmen.  It's a hell of a question."

OOC:  Roll 2d6.

"Aye, and if you decide to play a game that's not just chance, then we'll see who can really shine! he said, taunting in response with good humour that belief his internal angst.

"Much the same as me, in fact. My family is from the area near Kethalos… funny how I seemed to end up in the furthest part of the empire from my home. he said, chuckling at the description of Hetrick's brother. "Mine were on the wilder side too, caused my family no end of headache. I suppose all the fire had gone out of the blood by the time it got to me, I was far more studious than the rest of them. I suppose it's why I was sent to The Academy he said continuing the conversation while musing through his own thoughts.

He rolled the wolf statue in his hands and looked at it, having played his hand at the game and continued without raising his eyes "Yes, Brashear I think is the only thing stopping the south of West Megalos from getting overrun by Wazifi. I'll admit I am surprised he's still only a captain and still commanding this fort at all. While it's important, we just sit here most of the time and act as deterrent. he said, and then gestured for Hetrick to make his game move.

"While Al Wazif doesn't have many trees, and is mostly arid, I'm sure there are areas with enough trees to make one catapult. They probably got it from nearby a city, or in the mountains where it's cooler and trees can grow more easily.  I can't imagine them going to the Great Forest, aside from being filled with all kinds of things, it's also three hundred miles out of the way. If they were so committed to taking this fort, why would they only bring one device after venturing so far to the Great Forest? It also could have been a wizard, to have conjured the wood... Giles elucidated, before adding his final thought more offhandedly.

<edited out the spell>


11:56, Today: Giles 'J'naeth' Hind rolled 6 using 2d6.  Roll for the game.
12:19, Today: Giles 'J'naeth' Hind rolled 10 using 3d6.  illusion (probably simple).

I edited out the spell - Hetrick didn't react to it anyway, so I suppose it's not a big deal if it happens.

This message was last edited by the player at 09:15, Wed 27 May 2020.

When Giles motions for Hetrick to move, the other gets a confused look on his face before pointing down on his silver penny on the eight square.  "I did.  You ever played Dragon and the Thief?  There's nothing to it.  Most rolls all you have to do is put a coin down if the square is empty, or pick the coin up if there's a coin there already.  Only exceptions are two, seven, and twelve.  Seven is the hoard, if you roll a seven, you put a coin down, regardless of how many there are yet.  Two is the thief.  If you roll a two, you pick up everything on the board with the exception of the hoard.  And the twelve is the dragon.  If you roll a twelve, you pick up everything and the game is over."

Hetrick waits on Giles to put his penny down on the six tile before picking up the dice and rattling them around in his hand.

"Yeah, you've got something to that.  Certainly there are places that grow trees to the South, though there's not much between here and the Pillars of Heaven.  Even if it's not three hundred miles to the great forest, it's at least a hundred, and that's a hell of a river ride for a ton of timber.  Still, it had to come from upstream if it was pulled out of the water, so we're fairly certain at least they're harvesting it from the west... unless there is some serious deception going on here."

Hetrick throws the dice and turns up a six, grinning wickedly as he picks up Giles's penny from the board.  "Already winning!  I told you I'd make this worth my time!"

OOC:  Penny on 8.

Giles frowned "There's this type of game all around the Empire, sometimes the rules are a little different.. he said, defending himself from the accusation. "Though I'll admit I've not played much of it, I try my best not to leave my fate up to chance Giles added with a chuckle.

He picked up the dice, and held them in one finger, before gesturing the throwing of them, a the same time Giles spoke a few words under his breath and then cursed when his spell didn't work. Instead he just threw the dice and hoped.

"What if we had a carpenter look at the wood? Maybe he'd be able to tell what type of tree it was from, it could give us some indication where it came from? If it did come from up river though, It'd be easy enough to float it down the water, rather than carry it...

I suppose it makes more sense to come from that way than to come from the east though. So perhaps the guess is right. Though if they're starting to build siege weapons then I'd be concerned that our little skirmish was the first of many - and perhaps only a first attempt.

We are well positioned, but not the only potential target along the border. From what I remember of the battle, their emissary spoke of Raphael. He continued before stopping to let the meaning sink in.



OOC:

DO you have an available map of the area? (which I would guess upstream is to the west, if I recall the map correctly - the sea is off to the east of Raphael, right?)

10:19, Today: Giles 'J'naeth' Hind rolled 14 using 3d6.  Complex illusion (roll dice).// damn

10:21, Today: Giles 'J'naeth' Hind rolled 9 using 2d6.  Game.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:11, Sat 30 May 2020.

Hetrick looks at Giles somewhat skeptically as he suggests the rules for the game vary across the land, though he does not put up any counter to the argument.

Then Giles attempts a little slight of hand, trying to cast a spell to make it appear as if he had thrown the dice.  However, the attempt fails, and luckily Hetrick does not seem to recognize Giles's attempt to cheat, though he looks thoroughly confused at the sequence.  Giles recovers naturally however, rolling the dice and placing another penny down on the nine.

"Yeah." Hetrick muses, picking up the dice.  "We could have somebody look at it.  Though I'm not sure we'll get much more than places where that particular tree grows normally.  It'd be hard to rule out anything..."

Hetrick throws the dice, rolling a 6 again, and he places his penny back on the board with a shrug.  "Right back down I suppose."

He looks back over at Giles, taking in the last words the man spoke.  "Yeah, Brashear was saying the same thing.  He's worried they are going to try and use their loss as the impetus to drive a bigger army together, with bigger goals.  I think either way, they're probably going to stop back here again first, from what Magnus was saying, their emissary was a real dick.  Seemed like they had a grudge or something.  I think that's why cap wants the artillery situation cleared up."

OOC: Penny on the 6, 8, 9.

 I updated the Maps thread to include Caithness, which is where the Great Forest lies.  Depends on which map you look, but it's somewhere between a 100-150 miles from where you are (near the tri-border of Caithness, Al-Wazif, and Megalos) and the edge of the forest, though perhaps there are thickets of woods in between.
link to a message in this game

Giles rolled the dice and looked down at the number. When I win all this, I'll be having a nice long drink in Raphael... he taunted.

Then what do we do about it? We barely seemed to win the last fight - granted we had no support from Raphael - but a bigger force we'd be unable to deny without a swelling of our numbers.

If they are intent on invading, or causing some serious conflict, we'd need a legion here to deal with the issue. Our current numbers are a skeleton crew at best, when put in contest to a serious army. Even the Wazifis that were here a month ago seemed like irregulars more than a dedicated army.

My suggestion is that we petition the lord of Raphael to deploy a legion in the area. Though it's hard to justify without some proper intelligence.


OOC:

Penny on 6, 8, 9, 10
11:33, Today: Giles 'J'naeth' Hind rolled 10 using 2d6.  Game.

From the maps, the one that focuses on Al Wazif, that's the one I looked at. I was roughly assuming the fort was at the fork in the river between Raphael and Quazr As Sawh - which looked to be 300miles from the scale.

However, I guess maybe the fort is a bit further up river. Fair enough 150-miles, just assume he said that I suppose (as I guess he'd roughly know)
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:10, Sat 30 May 2020.

"Yeah,"  Hetrick agrees.  "I think that the Captain has already redoubled his efforts to try and reinforce the fort with some extra people.  It's been really odd.  Normally we get some new blood every month, but I think that you were the last person we've picked up, and that was most of a year ago.  It's like someone in the system is trying to deliberately short us.  I think it's plain that even if we saw the same attack again we'd probably be in a tight spot to repel it.  There was a good bit of luck and surprise in the outcome..."

Though Hetrick starts to disagree when Giles starts talking about bringing an entire legion.  "I think if they were serious about invading, they would probably skip us all together.  The roads out to the east are much better for movement, and there's nothing of much value this far West until you get to New Jerusalem.  Brashear seems to think it's more likely that they are using us as an excuse to drum up support for a real assault towards the bigger cities.  That's why he was so keen on defeating the siege without making a massacre of it.  Didn't want to stoke the fire."

Hetrick throws the dice, coming up with another eight and smiling as he takes the penny off the board.

"In any case, he wants to know where they are getting the support for the artillery so that maybe we can cut off that avenue.  He thinks if they saw themselves as close to breaking us, they might try again."

Penny on 6, 9, 10

He rolled the dice again and then grinned when he leaned over to take the coin, grimacing at the inside sensation of tugging he felt. "Aye, we'd need to find out who is supplying such things... I do have the sense that this may only be the earliest stages of something bigger but maybe I'll be wrong. Lets hope so. he said.

"Do you have an idea how we'll get that information?


OOC:

16:39, Today: Giles 'J'naeth' Hind rolled 9 using 2d6.  Game.

Penny on 6, 10

Hetrick shakes his head as he takes the dice, throwing them on the board and turning up a one and a four.  He places a penny on the five square.

"No."  He adds, passing the dice back to Giles.  "I think that Brashear wants to send a party to look, but we just don't have the manpower at the moment.  He sort of mentioned you were our local expert," he winks in Giles direction.  "So I expect he'll want you to get better soon."

OOC:  Penny on 5, 6, 10.

We can continue the game a post at a time, or if you want to speed things up, you can roll your next ten rolls individually labeled by round (1, 2, 3, etc.)
 Just note that if you roll 10 rounds, don't act out any but your first one (as Hetrick may pick up or put down coins inbetween your turns).  The game ends when someone rolls a 12, so it may take quite a while to happen with only a 1/36 chance each time the dice are thrown.  I think the big picture stuff has been gleaned from the conversation, though you are free to continue it if you wish.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:51, Mon 01 June 2020.

Giles looked at Herick, and then resolved himself, leaning forward and pushing himself slowly up, before pulling his feet from the bed.
"Well, I better start walking then, hadn't I

Giles struggled to sit up on the edge of the bed, then leaned over to the dice and rolled another roll.

"Ill sit like this for a while, then i'll go walk around the fort


OOC: // it starts from the bottom
08:20, Today: Giles 'J'naeth' Hind rolled 12 using 2d6.  Game.
08:20, Today: Giles 'J'naeth' Hind rolled 8 using 2d6.  Game.
08:20, Today: Giles 'J'naeth' Hind rolled 6 using 2d6.  Game.
08:20, Today: Giles 'J'naeth' Hind rolled 5 using 2d6.  Game.
08:20, Today: Giles 'J'naeth' Hind rolled 4 using 2d6.  Game.
08:20, Today: Giles 'J'naeth' Hind rolled 11 using 2d6.  Game.
.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:21, Tue 02 June 2020.

Giles sits up in his bed, his back and shoulder lancing with pain at the movement, though he manages to get himself upright.  Hetrick for a moment looks like he is going to protest, though he holds himself off, letting Giles settle back into a strained comfort.

"Take it easy alright?  I already said we aren't expecting anything to happen any time soon."  Hetrick protests mildly, though he smirks at Giles's enthusiasm.

And then Giles mentions that he'll take a walk around the fort... and that's when it happens.  First he thinks that it is the board that is moving, some coy trick by Hetrick to slink away with whatever is left on the board, though that impression lasts only a moment.  For the swelling is happening just to the side of the board, his wolf statue is growing like an inflated balloon.  In another moment, the whole table clatters over, the silver coins and the cloth board spilling off to the side as Hetrick stands up in surprise.

And in another moment, five wolves, full grown are standing off to the side of Giles's bed.  One of them lolls the tongue out of its mouth, looking up at Giles before all of them bound off out the door.  The nurse gives a cry of surprise, though he does not have the wherewithal to do anything more than step back as they pass.

In another moment, they are gone.  Hetrick stares at Giles in complete shock.  Though after a little time passes he does the only thing that seems left and picks up the board.  The two finish their game, with Giles rolling the dragon and cleaning the five coins off the board.

"Oddest game I think I've ever had."  Hetrick murmurs as he puts the cloth back in his pocket, nodding to Giles as he heads out of the room.

OOC:  In fifteen minutes or so, the wolves will come back in the infirmary and return to a small, handheld statue of five wolves.  I've been sitting on this one since you went into the Harpy cave...  You missed your initial roll to recognize that the item was magic and haven't thought twice about it, neither have you sold it.  I figured I'd give you a shot to see if we could get out a 'command word' here, and "go for a walk around the fort" was close enough for me.  You also won the game of Dragon and the Thief, which netted you about $12.  None of you rolled a 7 through the whole game...  makes me wish that I could have been that lucky at a craps table.  I decided to stop things here to give you a reaction rather than keep moving forward.  No need for anything specific though.

The lances of pain shot through Giles and caused him to grimace and be forced to stifle a guttural growl of frustration. He managed to keep silent enough through the struggle though. The next few rounds passed in a blur, with relatively little said. Most of the man's focus was on keeping his torso positioned in a manner that would cause as little discomfort as possible.

"Remind me to never let another bastard put a spear through me..." he grimaced through clenched teeth as he readjusted. The shock of it was followed up by the momentary bulging of the world around him, the movement of the board and the desk and the wolf statue made Hind think that the pain was causing him to dizzy and sway, but he was wrong.

A moment had passed and there were a pack of wolves infront of him. Giles locked his eyes on them and frowned in confusion more to do with his own lack of fear - though a man having come so close to death so recently could perhaps be forgiven for such an omission - and interest in how this situation had unravelled.

He stood mute as the wolves dashed out the room, and then glanced over at Hetrick. The man picked up the board, and began to play again, so GIles, with nothing better to do continued also; though, truth be told, his mind was on the wolves.

"Odd indeed..." was all he could muster as the other Lieutenant left the room.

---

After some time the wolves returned and Giles again had time to see them. He tried to burn the picture of them into his mind, and eventually gestured a wave "Hi, welcome back..." though he wasn't sure to what end it would come.




OOC: Honestly, I had suspected that it was magical of some sort - but honestly in all my efforts to come uyp with a justification to 'meta-game' that I thought it was magic, I never could quite convince myself.

I figured he might have sensed the magic, and that could have prompted him - if he had an appropriate spell he'd have used that too, but alas. He was ignorant.

I think i'll buy 'eidetic memory' if possible. There are a bunch of ways he could contrive having just 'acquired it' - maybe he always had it, and just never paid attention, or it could have developed from the shock of nearly dying etc. I would save the points for something else - but I actually think that Eidetic memory kind of fits the character concept AND might serve to be good use during the game.

The only game I play in Vegas is poker for 2 main reasons:
1) not playing against the house
2) you can play favourable odds. (t's not really gambling tbh)

"Already told you that did they?"  Brashear grimaces somewhat slightly leaning back at his chair in thought.

It had been close to exactly what Hetrick had predicted.  Once Giles had managed to get back into a state of working health, Brashear had asked him into his office, inquired on his recovery, and then mentioned the looming problem of the artillery piece and where it had come from.  Rather than make force Brashear to weave the story on his own, Giles quickly mentioned that he had heard he might be the top choice for going on an expedition, looking for wherever they might have been importing the lumber from.

"Well, I suppose they aren't wrong.  We need to find out where it was coming from, and more importantly, whether they are still using it to build.  We think they were just floating the timber down the river, which at least gives you something to follow until you find a likely place they could have done it.  Who knows if they are still there...  I just can't shake the feeling that they are building up a whole unit of artillery pieces to bring back here."

"So if you are willing to do it, we need someone to find out where the wood came from, whether they are still gathering it, and if they are, where the hell it is going now.  You think you are up to it Giles?"

OOC:  It is 1400 on the 28th of August.  You are almost entirely recovered, and have spent the last two weeks out of the clinic.  You still have some issues with tiring quickly and breathing deeply, though you think you are as fit as you are going to be anytime soon.

Poker is a fun game, but it's an enormous time investment.  I like putting taking out a small bit of money and just playing the tables.  Blackjack, craps - those are both fun because normally, the table all wins together.  Poker is a very solo game where it's hard to make casual conversation.  I don't mind losing, the way I see it, it's all lost once it's out of the ATM anyway.  Anything I take home is just bonus.

Eidetic Memory added to your character sheet.