W2 🛸 PLAYER CYOA: HIGH ROLLERS (LOWE) 🚀 CHARLES, LOVELACE, SHOMA

[dropoffs]

Comments

[riverbeans]

Just looking for a drink. Got anything?

[............. progress is not going well, mayhaps, but he will not say that.]

[solesuccess]

[ oblivious to all of this, he is going to leave obtaining the wishpower to isabel and charles while he continues making his rounds. roulettes, huh? he will at least wander through the first floor checking for roulette wheels to see if this floor's clear or if they should be moving higher officially once they've gotten what they need.

he's also subtly checking his watch again to keep mind for the time. they really cannot be late for the actual bough bet.

it's occurred to me i have no idea if he has his headphones or if the sudden loudness is actually going to kill him. oh well. suffer and whatever.



also i guess he may just slip away and try to wander up to the next floor to scope out the area as best as he can if there are none results down here. ]

[inequals]

Saude

True, true. You shouldn't let a minor loss get you down.
After all, there must always be a light at the end of the tunnel, and things will look up soon.

[ Is she saying this for Isabel's benefit or her own? It's unclear. She wishes you the best. ]

Effie

...Sure. Been working on my cocktail game, so ask me for whatever you want.

[ Give him some money or a drink voucher. He's your ally but he's not your friend, he won't do this for free because he's mean. And also because Charles's non-answer concerns him.

As for Shoma's clothes, uhh. I guess you guys can have arrived with your default clothes on, whatever you would've been ICly wearing on Thursday before you showed up in the CYOA. There's people here and there playing at the various roulette wheels, both the weirdly ginormous upright ones but also the regular table ones. You can see a Tingtanger here and there, but you can see two dudes in a Hawaiian shirt around one of the roulette tables having a great time. One of them is standing, and the other is seated. The seated one, his shirt is green, the best colour.

If you still wanted to take a sneak peek on the second floor, you can. You hear mariachi music from up there. ]

[thematics]

[ lovelace will wander over to join charles and hand him the drink voucher to use! ]

Here, just won this for us.

[ well. she lost. but effie is the only safe person they can actually use the voucher on since it has this suspicious as hell writing on it that they can't let rando npcs see. may as well save the money? ]

[riverbeans]

Oh, thanks.

[because he definitely did not have money i assume. hands effie the drink voucher.]

Surprise me with whatever.

[solesuccess]

[ no he's allergic to maracas bye.

having found the two tingtangers at this wheel, he's going to actually loop back to isabel and charles and effie. ]

Boss is over at the roulette wheel. [ and in a lower tone: ] And he's with another guy. It'd be easiest to subdue him now before he gets too far and somebody notices something's up. So. Suggestions? [ ... ] And what are we going to do about money for the bet?

[inequals]

[ Effie takes the drink voucher and turns it over, reading the writing on the back of it. And then just looks at Isabel and Charles like. Guys.

Well. He'll get Charles this. ]

Effie

Night's still young, but it'll be over before you know it.
Make the most of it, play some games, eh?
Why else come to the casino if not for that.

[ If nothing else, the drink really is pretty good. It tastes refreshing. ]

CHARLES

ISABEL

SHOMA

Effie

Ah, shortie. You talking about the big one?
Syndicates already got that sorted out. The only thing you'll -- your boss'll be losing is the chance to get the Bough.
Granted, that'll be a pretty hefty loss.

[thematics]

Maybe we could challenge him to a game. Do the classic—make him lose all his money and even the shirt off his back.

[ like in movies! ]

[riverbeans]

[sips the drink. to effie:]

Think we could improve our... luck any, if we played some games around here?

[solesuccess]

Good to know. [ but hm.. ] I think I like that plan better than challenging a guy who'll probably eventually notice we aren't part of his gang. At least not yet.

[ but he glances back to the exit leading to the second floor. ]

Think it's worth our while to try different ones? There's only so many down here. [ i.e. move ahead. he figures if they're up there they can at least keep an eye on the boss before he gets too far. ]

[inequals]

Effie

Ay? Well... if you don't have another way... you can always try the roulette near the entrance, the big one.
People who visit the casino try their daily luck usin' that roulette, and take or yield wishpower depending on the outcome.
It's pretty risky though.

[ Said roulette is one of the big upright ones, near the entrance. It's kind of halfway roulette, half-way spin the wheel, half-way a machine with a canister attached to it. Who knew wishpower/luck could be condensed into something material. That's City tech for ya. ]

[thematics]

Sure, let's try that.

[ roulette, roulette, roulette!!! lovelace will wait for the other two and then head over there. ]

[riverbeans]

Thanks for the info, friend.

[unsure about how lucky they are right now but he'll follow isabel if shoma is.]

[solesuccess]

Worth a shot. [ he shrugs and he just follows the other two. he is. wary about what risky means in this case but they don't have an option so who cares.

we are at this game! and he's suddenly looking over this machine because he's a nerd through and through. does anything actually stand out about the machine? also are they. alone. at this game? ]

Probably higher chances if all three of us play once, right?

[inequals]

[ Welcome to the Wishpower Roulette, there's probably a sign on there that says 'CHECK YOUR FORECAST FOR THE DAY!'. As if you getting a bad result on the roulette wheel doesn't literally sap wishpower out of you and therefore become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Or who knows, maybe you'll get lucky and it'll actually be the other way around?

Security guards stand around both sides of it. Menacingly. They seem to be extremely on the lookout for any form of cheating.

The machine itself is pretty sturdy. Nothing comes to mind to point out about it in particular, aside from what I already mentioned -- big ol' machine, got fancy flashing lights, a canister attached to the side. There's a little open slot that probably dispenses something, reminiscent of the usual kinds you'd find at arcade or casino games where they usually dispense coins or whatever, but you don't know what yet.

Well, here goes nothing! Roll that d20 if you're just playing normally! ]

[thematics]

[ WELL she'll go first because of tag order and also who she is as a person.

i have rolled... a 7. ]

[riverbeans]

[...

will wait to see if anything happens to isabel and shoma (also rolling) first?]

[solesuccess]

[ rolls a 13 ]

[inequals]

[ Isabel rolls and... ooh, darn! Looks like your forecast for the day is 区! An Unluck as a treat. You feel rancid. You somehow actually feel like some positivity is being drained out of your life. Your outlook is briefly bleak.

Isabel will take a -2 to her next dice roll and gains +1 NE.

Shoma rolls and... wow, some jaunty music plays! Looks like your forecast for the day is 小吉! Small blessings. The machine spits out a piece of paper with a design on it that looks like your typical Asian talisman, sort of, though somewhat simplistic. Assigns Shoma 'documents-reading-mind-palace' and gives him the info that this is a wishpower sticker, and sticking it to the skin will transfer the design onto him, imbueing him with the talisman's luck temporarily. Be careful though, J Corp's casino is quite picky about when and where you can use it.

Shoma will gain a +1 to whichever dice roll he applies this effect to. You may feel proud about your little blessing.

CHARLES

ISABEL

SHOMA

Charles... does not roll yet. ]

[thematics]

[ i'm sorry but a bleak outlook is truly absolutely nothing new for her. but yes she feels actively very negative. suddenly. :nyeh: ]

Good job, Enda.

[ i mean it's luck but. anyway, she looks at charles? DON'T YOU WANT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS? ]

[riverbeans]

[he just gives isabel a wry smile back but since shoma had some degree of success meaning that they aren't completely screwed yet, he will do a roll......... gets 15]

[solesuccess]

[ small blessings! yay. he's going to carefully take this paper and tuck it away in his pocket after looking at it. ]

Wishpower. Cool. [ he watches charles spin the wheel. ] Sticking it to ourselves will give us the luck we need. So...we should try to keep playing and see if we can earn more of these stickers somehow. Higher blessings, higher luck.

[inequals]

[ Charles rolls and... wow! Even jauntier music plays! The machine lights up in some mild colours. Looks like your forecast for the day is 吉! Blessed. The machine spits out a piece of paper with a design that is marginally more complicated than the one Shoma got.

Charles will gain a +2 to whichever dice roll he applies this effect to.

CHARLES

ISABEL

SHOMA

Anyway I love how this sounds like Shoma is suggesting doing some lvl-grinding at the casino. You got your talismans! If you really want to pursue this as an option, I will say that the rest of the place doesn't regularly offer luck trades, but maybe you can convince some people to bet their own wishpower stickers. That's only if you pursue this option though, which is just hilarious.

What now? ]

[thematics]

And good job to you too.

[ a little pat on the back for charles.

but i'm still hung up on the e.g.o. present thing so lovelace is going to wander off to find a restroom? because presumably using your e.g.o. looks suspicious as hell if you just do it out in the open.

give me a present! i hope the Bad Thing happens because of all my negative energy. look it's worth a shot. right. ]

[riverbeans]

... Captain?

[PRESUMABLY CHARLES AND SHOMA CANNOT FOLLOW ISABEL INTO THE BATHROOM UNLESS IT'S GENDERLESS. WAITS OUTSIDE THE DOOR IG.]