Shit.
His cards were shit.
He peered over his tankard of beer, grinning at the qunari around him. The stoic giants merely peered at him with their dead, scary eyes, forcing the dwarf back to his cards. His shit cards.
They were keeping their eye on him, he had a reputation after all. He was too good at this game. Far too good. Torgin was starting to get the feeling he had outstayed his welcome. Cheating an elfie or a human was one thing, but the qunari were less likely to beat the living crap out of him and more likely to simply slit his throat where he sat.
Shit.
He grinned, his hand pinching the arse of a serving girl as she passed. The qunari watched him like eagles. They didn't watch him close enough though. While their eyes were trained on his antics he dropped two cards from his sleeve into his other hand.
Excellent. He had a winning hand.
He grinned wider and drained the beer from the tankard. He refused a refill which had the suspicious eyes of the horned giants on him again. Eyes narrowed and nostrils flared. Torgin grinned again. This was the way of the Qun. If the Qun let him live then he was supposed to cheat them of their considerable coin.
Or something like that. He didn't really care, his ship was setting sail in an fact he should already be aboard helping pull up anchor but... well, that was the work of sailors and he was a Raider. Not a very good one most of the time, but a no good pirate all the same.
When it was his turn to show his hand he feigned a disappointed look on his face. He hadn't been showing any genuine expressions the entire game, and had not been able to read the Qunari. They were stoic little fuckers so they were! Not even a smile! They were entertaining enough when it came to their drinking games though. The dwarf particularly enjoyed 'Spank the Arishok'. He had gotten into a bit of trouble in that game. It had been worth it though. How had he known he wasn't supposed to put his cock there?
He frowned as he laid his cards down. The qunari were as stoic as ever but Torgin thought he caught a twitch from the big fucker opposite him. His name was 'Sten' apparently. They were all called Sten around here. It was confusing. Torgin had been referring to him as 'Nug Nose'. No one had laughed at that apart from Torgin. He missed Denerim sometimes. They got most of his jokes there. They didn't risk as much coin in their games though, poor fuckers. This table had stakes as high as some Proving's! It was a chance he simply could not pass up.
When it was clear the rest of the table had lost Torgin leaned forward to scoop up his winnings. "Well, been nice playin' with yer, Nug Nose, Stimie, Shagalot." He nodded to them in turn, but as he stretched for a coin furthest away he felt something fall from his sleeve.
The card floated down onto the table, under Torgin's nose while he knelt on all fours on the huge table.
He grinned.
Shit.
He ran.