Chaos Holdem (Part 1?)
As I stepped off my personal shuttle and onto the cold, metal floor of the Vengeful Spirit, it took every effort not to scream in terror. To be on the flagship of the greatest enemy of the Imperium short of Horus himself was truly a sign of how well and truly ploin-shaped my life had taken me. Still, my survival instinct screamed that showing weakness now would result in my death if I was lucky, so I outwardly projected a face of calm as I greeted the voidsman before me. I took a small pleasure at seeing the shock on his face as I turned on the "intangibility" setting of my helmet (A neat trick from the BORGs, using cameras and screens to look as if I was without a helmet, which tricked many a Nurgilite sorcerer expecting me to succumb to some plague or another).
"Greetings, Ciaphas Cain." Instinctively, I raised my hand to prevent my aide and my bloodward from skewering the poor man. Showing any disrespect now would only give the rest of the ship and the armada that came with it free reign to attack. Fortunately, the voidsman continued as if nothing happened. "We have been expecting you."
Apparently, it seemed my first test aboard this vessel was this disrespectful servant. I brought upon the sincerest smile I could muster. "I am always eager to greet such an esteemed guest at my doorstep, though I would have appreciated a written invitation as unopposed to showing up unannounced." Which was putting it lightly. Discovering the Despoiler on the edge of your system along with nearly two dozen capital ships and numerous more escorts probably took years off my life that I'm not sure even the Panacea could give back. Still, I displayed an air of nonchalance as I spoke, as if this was not the most terrifying thing so far in my ignoble career.
The voidsman frowned but recovered quickly. "Of course, my master would love to discuss more with you aboard the bridge. Will your…entourage be coming?" He spared a disapproving look at Jurgen and Malicia though quickly looked back, no doubt avoiding the harsh stares they were pointing at his direction.
I nodded. "My aide and my bloodward stay with me. My pilot will stay on the ship." The fact that Hektor had taken up new hobbies since no longer needing to kill things in a rage and would be able to handle any sabotage or takeover of the shuttle was a fact I kept to myself.
The voidsman nodded and led us deeper into the ship. Despite my paranoia on high alert, I followed with as much calm as I could muster. The ships interior was sometime cold still, other times fleshly and pulsing. I was grateful of the helmet's functionality, seeing the corruption of the ship was bad enough, I shuddered to imagine how it felt on the other senses.
Eventually, we arrived at a large set of steel doors that signaled the bridge. From my experiences as a Hive Worlder, I deduced that we were around the area a ship's bridge would be so if this was another deception, it went the extra mile. The voidsman punched something into a terminal before falling to his knees as the doors opened. As the interior of the bridge opened to me, my jaw nearly dropped.
The bridge had what I expected in terms of men (or mutants or things I didn't want to think about too hard) running around and orders given place, but it was the area of the captain that shocked me. I had expected some sort of throne of horror and power, representing a Tyrant who led a ten-thousand-year war against everything the good of the Imperium held dear.
I was not expecting a card table.
A nearly occupied card table.
ZAWA…ZAWA…
Nor was I expecting to see the Abaddon, the chosen of Chaos, masterfully shuffling a deck of cards with the same armored gloves he carried his weaponry.
The Despoiler glanced up as he shuffled the cards, and flashed a smile that was both inviting and horrifying. "Ah, it appears our final guest has arrived. Lady and Gentlemen, Esteemed Lords, meet Liberator Ciaphas Cain." With that, the eight other people sitting at the table turned to see me, and my bowels threatened to turn to water. The helmets, faces, and iconography of the other guests were easily recognizable, even with the constant censorship of the Imperium.
From my view to my left, I saw the scarred face of Lucius the Eternal, his sharp teeth in a rictus and terrifying grin.
I saw the unmistakable helmet of Ahzek Ahriman, who nodded in my direction.
I saw the cloak of human skin that belonged to Fabius Bile, who glanced at me as if I was a particularly interesting insect.
I saw the Tyrant of Badab, Huron Blackheart glance at me with indifferent disdain, merely noting the empty seat next to him.
I saw the corrupted Soritas Armour that belonged to Miriael Sabathiel, who overly long tongue smiled at me.
I saw the mess of mechadendrites and steel that made Kelbor-Hal whose ocular lights merely changed from various shades of red.
I saw the helmet of Kharn the Betrayer, his exposed arm twitching impatiently with the desire to kill.
Finally, I saw the rotting, distended armor that belonged to Typhus the Traveler, whose contempt and hatred I could feel even behind his helmet.
Seeing no escape, for any one of these crazed killers would be on me if I ran, I walked forward and sat and the only free seat available to me, between the Tyrant and the fallen Sororitas. With an air of calm I did not feel, I addressed my host. "I must admit, Warmaster, if I had known you were an avid fan of games of chance, I would have come sooner." I then frowned for dramatic effect. "Though I must admit I am unsure of the buy-in nor the stakes."
The Despoiler laughed, a wonderful and terrifying thing. "Oh, Liberator, you already game me your buy-in." He placed a syringe carrying the Panacea on the table. "Such a unique and powerful tool, something that has been both the bane and boon to my forces. With the Great Rift opened, I felt obligated to meet the leader who made such a grand discovery."
"Actually, it was-"
"I see the tales of your modesty are well founded." Abaddon's voice had a jovial tone but I could take then hint and kept my mouth shut. "You all had contributed to the most recent and terrifying blow to the Imperium and such hard work should be rewarded. As such, this game shall be for a prize just as valuable as the Panacea: a favor from me." He glance at me, his countenance turning murderous. "Of course, you are free to refuse."
Judging from the armada waiting to attack us, that was out of the question. Even if we managed to win, the cost of men would not be worth it. I merely tapped the table twice. The Warmaster grinned. "The favour can be anything within my power, be it an artifact in my possession I am willing to part, or aid in fighting a battle." The Despoiler glanced at Typhus's direction, who glared at me. The subtlety of the statement wasn't lost on me, making it more determined to at least make sure the Traveler lost.
The Warmaster distributed a collection of chips to the players. I glanced at mine. They were labeled with numbers and my helmet informed me that I had 50k points. A quick glance surprised me to see that everyone else received the same number. "The game of Chaos Hold 'Em. Here are the cards." He spread the deck he was shuffling across the green for everyone to see.
It was a standard playing deck, though geared towards Chaos. The deck had four suits, each dedicated to one of the four Chaos Gods. Each suit had ten number cards as well as three face cards. Instead of the Imperial standard, the faces consisted of a beast, lesser daemon, and greater daemon associated with that particular God. Abaddon flipped the cards over and I noticed with some surprise that the back were colored according to their god as well. Still, any tool would be necessary if I was to survive this den of vipers. I doubted that anyone here was foolish enough to think this was a game of chance.
"Starting bid is 100/200 points." The table lit up a hololithic display showing Typhus as the small blind with Kharn getting the large blind. The two contributed the cost as Abaddon passed around two cards to everyone at the table.
My armoured glove touched the cards. Despite the armored plasteel, I could steel feel the difference in the two cards. The first one was Slaaneshi and I swore I could feel every part of the card. The second one was Nurglite and the sliminess made me instinctively inject myself with a dose of the Panacea as a precaution. As I lifted the two, I saw I had a Slaaneshi 6 and a Nurglite 7. Typical. Still, no point leaving the first round too early. I paid the ante like everyone else at the table.
Abaddon revealed the flop, showing a Khornate 4, a Tzeentchian 5, and a Khornate 8. Years of practice of being a natural dissembler kept me from reacting from the straight I held. I noted that Typhus increased the bet. Realizing that this could be a decent chance to put the sole Nurlge worshiper on the backfoot, I raised another $100. Fabius and Ahriman both folded, but Typhus raised again. This time I stayed. I glanced at Typhus's cards, both had sickly green backs. Given my seven, it was unlikely that he couldn't beat my straight, but I didn't want to risk it all this early. (Plus, given Abaddon's deft skill at the cards, I couldn't guarantee I wasn't playing against a stacked deck).
The turn revealed a Flesh Hound of Khorne, the lowest value of the face cards. Again Typhus raised, causing me to raise an eyebrow. From where I was standing, he couldn't have any hand. My seven meant that he had no straight hand, nor a flush. I looked at the sickly green helmet but could not find any tell. Still, I raised again, seeing if he would be frightened off. He merely raised again, and by the time the round was done, only the two of us hadn't dropped out. The pot had raised to 5100 points.
Finally, the River revealed a Tzeentchian 6. Again Tyhpus betted. Something was bothering me but with no desire to back down since it was still so early, I merely matched the bet. "As we are on his system, let us have the great Liberator show us the cards he was so confident in."
I stared at Typhus as I flipped my cards over, showing my straight. Though the chuckles from the other players gave me pause. I glanced down and nearly paled. My Slaaneshi 6 was still there…but my Nurglite card was now inexplicably a 3.
"Foolish mortal," Typhus wheezed as he revealed his own cards. Both Nurglite cards revealed a 3 and a 7. "Know that the despair you feel is but a taste of what you will experience when both the might of the Death Guard and the Black Legion falls upon you and your system!"
Despite the circumstances I merely sneered in his direction. "Big talk for only the first round. Let's see if you can keep it up." Quietly I opened up the vox link with Jurgen. Thanks to the technology of the BORGs I could sub-vocalized my voice, meaning no one wiser would see my lips moving. "Jurgen, what was that!?"
"Sir, I can detect a strong presence in each of those cards. Every single one is possessed by a daemon."
"What!?"
"I can only guess from this one experience but it seems that the cards can swap numbers with each other. It seems that the Nurglite ones favour its sole worshipper." With a glance to the other players, I realized to my horror that this was true. The other three Gods were divided amongst the rest leaving Typhus free to take advantage of the situation.
I wanted to take my chances and run but if what Typhus said was true, than a loss would mean the suffering of the planets under my protection which would mean horrible things for my people, but also would ruin my reputation with everyone. Despite the setback, it was still the first round. It was time for me to put one of the few genuine skills I had to the test.
ZAWA...ZAWA
AN: So...yeah, I thought it would be funny to place Ciaphas Cain in the shoes of someone who also was wildly lucky and unlucky. Hopefully if this continues I only keep the high stakes and nervousness of Kaiji and not the horrifically slow pacing otherwise it will take 100k words before the next hand!