Chances of Death: Seven Decks Book I
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Chances of Death – The Seven Decks Book 1
By: S. Bailey
Table of Contents
Chapter 1:Lottery Winners
Chapter 2:The System
Chapter 3:The Fate of Lottos
Chapter 4:Needing a Plan
Chapter 5:Staying Put
Chapter 6:Going Wireless
Chapter 7:Returning
Chapter 8:Reasonably Paranoid
Chapter 9:Bovine
Chapter 10: Crunch Time
Chapter 11: Birthday Suit
Chapter 12: Distributing Ability Points
Chapter 13: Taking Inventory
Chapter 14: Aim for the Legs
Chapter 15: Loot and Powering Up
Chapter 16: Raining Skills
Chapter 17: Killer Attitude
Chapter 18: Fart Jokes
Chapter 19: Deck Dropper Chaos
Chapter 20: The More You Know
Chapter 21: Hidden Meaning
Chapter 22: Meet-Cute
Chapter 23: Fan Club
Chapter 24: Singing Sam
Chapter 25: Getting to Work
Chapter 26: Enchantment Code
Chapter 27: Enchantment Breakthroughs
Chapter 28: Getting Moving
Chapter 29: Making Friends
Chapter 30: It’s Like Riding a Bike
Chapter 31: Making Money
Chapter 32: Duke Card
Chapter 33: Leatherwork
Chapter 34: Rods of Gold
Chapter 35: Mana Flow
Chapter 36: Garbage Disposal
Chapter 37: Hot Streak
Chapter 38: Timber
Chapter 39: Slim
Chapter 40: Run Sam Run
Chapter 41: To Loot or Not To Loot? Is that ever a question?
Chapter 42: Paperwork
Chapter 43: Slim
Chapter 44: Sold!
Chapter 45: Let’s Make a Deal
Chapter 46: Guild Head
Chapter 47: Easy Clean Up
Chapter 48: Rotten Luck
Chapter 49: Tamako
Chapter 50: Luck
Chapter 51: Donut Travels
Chapter 52: Pest Control
Chapter 53: Bloody Lizard
Chapter 54: Scar Wars
Chapter 55: Sunburn
Chapter 56: Talk It Out
Chapter 57: Burning Desire
Chapter 58: Ninja
Chapter 59: Penmanship
Chapter 60: Bad Boy Sam
Chapter 61: Journeyman Drool
Chapter 62: Legacy Tattoos
Chapter 63: Surrounded
Chapter 64: Launch Party
Chapter 65: Cocky
Chapter 66: Destination Big Money
Chapter 67: Big Money
Chapter 68: Merchant Mischief
Chapter 69: Merchant Travels
Chapter 70: Bandit Magnets
Chapter 71: Help is Coming
Chapter 72: Odd Mana
Chapter 73: Safe and Sound
Chapter 74: Hydra Dungeon
Chapter 75: Rolling Dice
Chapter 76: Dungeon Deal
Chapter 77: Beers on Lucky
Chapter 1:
Lottery Winners
“Another lottery winner has just been captured and turned over to Suki Corporation for a 10-million-dollar reward,” said the dark-haired social influencer with the China People’s Propaganda Organization (CPPO). Sam and Jen watched the influencer’s video channel passively as they waited for their informant to enter the building across the street. They had been in Piong Yang, China for about 6 months on an intelligence gathering mission. They were supposed to have already left over a month ago, but the Agency kept making excuses for pushing their mission timeline.
“Those poor ‘Lottos,’ calling them ‘winners’ is like some kind of sick joke, but that CPPO lady is pretty hot though, she looks like your type.” Sam said, nodding towards the video, while he continued to work his voice interceptor and crypto decoder.
Jen was monitoring the wireless networks in the area and replied “Yea, I can’t imagine what Suki Corp will do with that poor guy. He’s a dead man walking.” Jen turned from her desk and glanced at the video again, “You’re right, she’s pretty hot, but I bet she’s wayyyy high maintenance.”
Sam and Jen had been teamed up together in the agency for almost 5 years now. After arriving in China, they had rendezvoused with an agency contractor team. The contractors provided them security while they gathered intel on a Chinese company that was suspected of extorting secrets from a U.S. Senator.
Jen looked over at Sam as he was quickly digging through lines of encrypted messages, and said, “Something bothering you?”
“Yea, I think the agency has screwed us!”
Jen Pushed back from the office window and said, “Anything solid you can point to, or is it just that gut feeling of yours?” She respected Sam’s gut; his intuition was part of what made him a legend at breaking encrypted messages.
Sam was clearly frustrated, and said, “I can’t break it out of the encrypted code…yet, but the message to the local police I just intercepted, is giving me serious gut pains. You’re the boss, your call.”
Jen didn’t hesitate, “Chen, come in here!” One of the security contractors stuck his head through the door, and Jen ordered, “Prepare the emergency exfil. We leave in 10!”
“Yes Ma’am” Chen replied as he immediately radioed his team members downstairs to pack up immediately.
Just after Jen and Sam finished packing and started driving away in one direction, and the contractors were splitting off in the other direction, a drone rocketed past overhead, firing multiple missiles into both the building they were just occupying and the buildings they were watching. The concussion and debris from the missiles’ impacts slammed into their car, knocking it over on its side.
Jen was hanging sideways in her seatbelt, and looked over to check on Sam; he had a nasty cut, and it was seeping blood through his graying hair. “Sam! Sam!” Jen hollered, as she unbuckled her seatbelt. Sam was dazed, but he started releasing his seatbelt too.
“What the hell! Are you gaining weight!” he grunted after Jen fell down from her seatbelt landing on him. She reached for the steering wheel to pull herself back up and out of the side window.
Jen inwardly thanked the gods that Sam was OK, even delirious he made stupid jokes. She had been trained on what to do in this kind of scenario, but this was the first time anything like this actually happened to her. Jen’s hands were shaking, but she looked around to get a handle on the situation while forcing herself to calm down, and said “With the whole block on fire, I think we can get away with blowing the car and all the crypto equipment; just grab our bugout bags before you climb out.”
A few minutes later, after she finished setting the charges and started walking down the street, Jen ordered, “Let’s go!”
Sam pulled the bags over his shoulder as he rushed to catch up with her, and while holding his hand to the back of his head he complained, “Damn, my head is ringing like a church tower.”
“You better plug your ears, old man.” Jen said, as she pulled Sam into a small alley and pressed the transmitter. The car rocked up into the air turning into a hunk of flaming metal, but it was just another explosion among the other cars, gas lines, and propane tanks that were cooking off from the fires caused by the drone strike.
“Shit! you’re supposed to actually give me a second to plug my ears,” Sam grumbled.
“You’re just getting slow in your old age,” Jen retorted.
Jen’s phone rang, she looked down at who was calling before raising the phone to her ear, and said
, “Chen, you OK?”
“Yes, and you?”
“We’re good. See you when we see you.”
Sam was walking next to Jen and overheard the conversation. He looked at her and said, “At least those contractors didn’t try to use any code words. Nothing sounds more absurd than someone asking about groceries after an entire block was just blown up. Anyways, what now Boss?”
Jen scowled at Sam. She was technically the boss, but he knew exactly what they needed to do; he just liked to make her take all the responsibility. She glanced back at the collapsed and burning buildings with relief showing on her face. “Thank goodness for your gut!”
They were the best at blending into most environments. Jen was half Chinees and Sam was half Vietnamese, so they could play husband and wife, father and daughter, or just about any other scenario to fit in. They were good-looking people, but didn’t dress or act in a way to draw anyone’s attention. While they were both in great physical condition, neither of them looked the part of some giant body builder.
Then, just as she was about to get into local character for heading to their safe house, while placing her phone in her pocket, Jen felt something strange against her hand, and pulled out a piece of paper. It was a ticket that read, “Congratulations, you have won the lottery. You have been randomly selected for transfer to the Seven Decks, where you have a 98% chance of certain death!” Before she even finished reading the ticket, a giant rainbow with fireworks shot from the sky covering her entire body.
Sam immediately pulled Jen close to him. They were nose to nose, and he growled, “Select me! Select me right now, god damnit! Hurry! Do it Now! You can’t wait, we need to run!”
Jen was in shock, there were words scrolling across her vision, and Sam was acting crazy. She mentally thought towards the strange screen in her vision, “I want Sam to go with me”
Just then, text suddenly covered Sam’s vision: “Jennifer Cho has asked you to join her party and travel to the Seven Decks. With you as a companion, you both have a 95% chance of Death. Mentally select ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to join her party.” Sam immediately thought “Yes, I want to join her party!” and another giant rainbow with fireworks shot from the sky covering him.
The lottery rainbows could be seen from miles away, day or night. Jen’s focus returned to the danger they were in. Before the lotto rainbow that landed on Sam even dissipated, they were moving and blending into the chaos caused by the missile strike, and heading towards their safehouse.
Chapter 2:
The System
“I can’t believe the safe house is also compromised” Jen whispered angrily, as they calmly turned away from the building that was supposed to provide them with safety, and then they started making their way to their “off the books” 2nd safe house.
Sam simply grunted with an “I told you so” look on his face.
This was the first time they had ever needed their back-up safe house, but Sam had always insisted they set one up on every mission. Jen would relentlessly tease him about his conspiracy theories on the very agency he worked for!
They were professionals; they hadn’t spoken much about the Lotto. It went unsaid they would get safe and rested first. In truth, Jen didn’t feel like talking about it right away. She was really mad at Sam for pressuring her to select him as a Lotto companion. There was also another part of her that felt like if they didn’t talk about it, she could pretend it didn’t happen for a little while longer.
It was almost three in the morning, a full day after the drone attack, when they finally arrived at their second safe house. Sam lost the coin toss, so he was on first watch. Jen finally had a little time to think clearly about the Lotto system message she’d received. As crappy as everything was, her inner gamer nerd was excited to see how the system interface worked. She thought, “I wonder what I need to do to bring up the system message? Oh! There it is. Wow! That’s easy, all I have to do is think about what I want to see and there it is.”
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System Message
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Congratulations! You have been randomly selected for transfer to the Seven Decks.
Select up to four team members to be transferred with you. 1 of 4 selected: Sam Nguyen
You have 30 days to train and prepare for transfer.
Abilities and skills will increase 12 times faster for the next 30 days, full implementation in 5 days.
System supplied mana for 30 days
Current odds of death on Earth: 70%
Current odds of death within 24 hours upon arrival in the Seven Decks: 95%
Beat the odds by travelling through all Seven Decks, and you can return to Earth! Number of Lottery winners returned to Earth: 0
Character Sheet
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Name: Jennifer Cho
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Level: 0
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Strength: 6
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Agility: 7
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Stamina: 7
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Mana: 7
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Mana Regeneration: 7 per minute
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Stamina Regeneration: 7 per minute
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Luck: 5
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Jen mentally waved the screen aside; everyone had heard on the news about the stat windows, but it was something amazing to actually experience. Another screen appeared.
Title: Paranoid Survivor
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Your paranoia has kept you alive.
===
+1 to Luck
===
Luck: 6
Jen knew that if anyone found out they were Lottos, they would be relentlessly hunted down and turned over to the highest bidder, and no matter what, at the end of 30 days, another rainbow would be appearing to take them away to the Seven Decks where they had a 95% chance of death within the first 24 hours.
While trying to calm down and fall asleep, her mind turned to Sam as she thought, “I wonder what his stats might be?”
She’d been working for the Agency ever since Sam had recruited her back when she was a nineteen-year-old sophomore in college. Sam was forty-one at the time, and as a cover for his Agency work, he was teaching Mandarin with UCLA’s International China Program over the summer, and Jen was just one of the college students in his class.
After helping Sam gather intel in China that summer, Jen discovered she liked the excitement of working with him and spying for the Agency. He was always professional and boring in public, but sort of a goofy old man when they worked together in private. When he asked her if she would like to continue working with him, she had agreed.
He was just over 50 years old now, but Jen figured his stats would be just as good as most people half his age.
Chapter 3:
The Fate of Lottos
Once Jen finally fell asleep, she slept like the dead, and she felt like she’d just closed her eyes when Sam woke her up.
“Your watch,” he whispered.
“Did we make the news?” she asked.
“The rainbows were reported, but nothing about us. We’re safe for now. Do you mind if we talk about the rest of it after I get some rest,” Sam replied?
“No problem. I know you old guys need your sleep.” She joked.
Sam replied with a tired smile and reassuring wink, collapsed on the bed, and was out like a light.
Jen didn’t know how many YouTube videos she reviewed about Lottos while on watch. In the video she was watching now, a famous YouTuber girl was saying, “It’s believed they are called lottery winners by the rainbow and its system interface because of the power it grants them,”
Jen listened to the girl while trying to comprehend her bad luck. Everyone knew the truth. It was a death sentence. People would get a message about winning the lottery and then get hit with rainbow lights and fireworks. At first, everyone had been excited, because the last rumored lottery had occurred about 200 years ago. No one really knew what would h
appen. The historical records read like fiction, and many people believed it had been a great hoax that seemed to resurface about every 200 years. Initially, governments were trying to keep it quiet, but soon it became public that people were actually being gifted with magical powers.
The YouTuber continued. “Flip Croupier, dean of the University of Gamble is with us today to discuss the Rainbow Lottery. Thank you for joining us, dean Croupier. Let’s get right to the issue. What is the Rainbow Lottery and what rights do Lottos have?”
In a stuffy academic voice, dean Croupier replied, “The lottery references the ticket received by the Lottos when they are chosen. We don’t know who or what is choosing them, but when Lottos are chosen, they are given access to ‘system messages’ that appear in their vision. This System notifies them of their risk of death when they are transported somewhere in 30 days. It then gives them the opportunity to select up to four people to join them, and it also gives them access to something called ‘mana’, which allows them to do magic.”
“Like the magic we read about in fantasy books?” asked the youtuber girl.
“Yes, exactly, and it makes it possible for Lottos to raise their physical traits such as strength and speed 12 times faster than ordinary people, and basically become superhumans.”
“What do you mean, superhuman?”
“Once athletes get to a certain level of physical ability, they can’t make any substantial improvements. That’s why Olympic swimmers and runners all finish within tenths of a second of each other. With the system ‘prize’ from the lottery, there is no limit to the Lottos’ physical abilities so long as they continue to increase the difficulty of their training. One Lotto became strong enough to lift a car before she disappeared! Additionally, like I said, with their ‘mana stat’, Lottos can perform feats of magic.”
The YouTuber nodded with a look of understanding, and said “So, Lottos can become super strong and do magic.”
Dean Croupier grumbled at the youtuber’s over simplified summary, but continued, “That’s all we can find out because governments and mega-corporations around the world have started to put a bounty on the capture of Lottos. They’re taking them away, and the Lottos are never heard from again.”