Aww, Craps
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Just inside the Sleazy Back Alley, you encounter a group of shady-looking characters throwing dice against a wall. As you approach, they look up at you expectantly.
"You in?"
| Cheat Just a Little |
You play dice with the gamblers for a while, and each time you get a good roll, you sneakily slide the die up your sleeve and save it for later. After a while, you remember that dice don't work the same way that cards do, and realize that what you've been doing is pretty much completely pointless.
You end up breaking exactly even on Meat, but at least you got some sleight-of-hand practice.
| You gain 4-5 Smarm. |
| Cheat Like Crazy |
You play dice with the gamblers for a while, subtly manipulating the outcome of your throws with fancy fingerwork and some loaded dice. Mostly the loaded dice, to be perfectly honest.
You leave the Alley richer and cooler.
 | You gain 31-40 Meat. |
| You gain 6-8 Chutzpah. |
or
You attempt to cheat the gamblers out of some Meat, but before too long, they catch on to what you're doing and take turns punching you really hard in the face. It hurts a lot.
 | You lose 2 hit points. |
| Bilk 'em, Danno |
You play dice with the gamblers for a while, using every trick in the book. Not the figurative book, but the actual book, How To Cheat at Dice 3rd ed. Seaside Town: Scrumbler and Sons, 17 BCE. It was a very thorough treatment of the subject.
You leave the Alley significantly richer and cooler.
| You gain 40-49 Meat. |
| You gain 6-8 Chutzpah. |
 | You acquire an effect: Smugness (duration: 10 Adventures) |
or
You start playing dice with the gamblers, and you cheat like you've never cheated before. That is to say that you cheat like somebody who hasn't ever cheated before, and you're very, very bad at it.
The gamblers catch on almost immediately, and throw you out of the alley like something they just beat the crap out of. Which they did.
| You lose all hit points. |
- With candy cane sword cane equipped:
| Threaten them with your candy cane sword |
You amble over with your cane, giving your best "I'm helpless" impression. Once you've closed to stabbing range, you whip out your sword and nicely ask for all their meat.
| You gain 72-80 Meat. |
| You gain 18-25 Smarm. |
| Walk Away |
You think back to that time on the train when that gambler gave you some advice. He said that you had to know when to fold 'em, know when to hold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.
Then he drank all of your whiskey, and died without even thanking you. That guy was a jerk.
In any case, this situation seems like one of the third type of situation he described, so you mosey on out of there.
Occurs at The Sleazy Back Alley.
Notes
- Choosing "Walk Away" does not consume an Adventure.
- B.C.E. is a more neutral term for B.C.
References
- "Bilk 'em, Danno" refers to the phrase "Book 'em, Danno" from the television show Hawaii Five-O.
- The text for the fourth choice refers to the song "The Gambler", by Kenny Rogers. In the song, Rogers meets a gambler, who gives him some advice in exchange for all of his whiskey, then dies. The advice starts with, "You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. Know when to walk away, and know when to run."
- "Aww, Craps" is a pun on the interjection "Aww, crap!" and the dice game Craps which is based completely on luck. Unless you cheat.
- Also a reference to the dice game Craps, the adventure image shows a roll of 7, which can win a game on the first roll. Hence cheating is assumed.
