Chances of Death: Seven Decks Book I

by S Bailey

  Jen clarified a little, “I know the plan was to avoid engagement, but he was closing in on our location too quickly. Once I identified his coms, I pinged his location, stalked, and killed him. That is why I was gone so long. The General was the one with a tracking skill, and the remaining soldiers have no idea how to follow us.”

  Tamako’s eyes narrowed at Jen suspiciously, she knew the Roulette Generals were at least level 25 with years of battle experience. She promised herself to find out the rest of the story later.

  Tamako then changed the subject looking at Sam, “He has woken up, I think he is half awake right now, but he is in a lot of pain from his shoulder stump.”

  As Jen moved over to look at Sam’s shoulder stump, she again cast her minor mend spell on his arm, and the cauterized stump appeared to smooth over a bit more.

  “That helped a little,” Sam mumbled, as the intensity of the pain decreased just enough to allow him to focus his mind better. Sam sat up with Jen’s help and looked down at his remaining arm, inspecting the legacy healing tattoo, and after a few minutes said, “My healing tattoo enchantment was not damaged. I’m going to push a small amount of mana into my healing tattoo and work on my shoulder.” About 10 minutes later, Sam activated his tattoo enchantment and was able to thoroughly heal his shoulder and stump. His remaining tattoo arm only burned a little from the small amount of mana he used casting the spell, but he didn’t want to push it and destroy his remaining arm and the power of the legacy healing enchantment.

  Jen was relieved seeing that Sam was no longer in constant pain, and Tamako was on watch while Jen tended to Sam.

  “How do you feel about Tamako joining us on our travels?” Jen messaged Sam as she was preparing some rations for him to eat.

  “What does she want to do?” Sam messaged back.

  Jen replied as she helped to feed him, “I don’t know. She told me that during the battle she guessed we were from Earth. I then explained your disk enchantment and lightning attack, and my psych ability that I used to help us flee the Roulette Confederation troops. Tamako and I haven’t talked about what happens now.”

  Sam paused for a moment with a smirk on his face before messaging Jen, “Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, Tamako likes Jen, and I’m sure she wants to travel with you too!” and then gave her a kissy face.

  Jen blushed, and “accidently” spilled food all over Sam’s face, while Sam just cackled quietly at her. “Why do I even bother with you,” Jen grumbled.

  Before Jen could say anything, Sam said out loud, “Tamako, we are planning to eventually jump all the way to the seventh Deck, and we would like for you to join us, but you should know, Jen’s the boss around here.”

  Tamako was surprised by Sam’s question. Not about joining them, but the part about travelling to the Seventh Deck. When she took a minute to really think about everything she learned about both of them, she realized she shouldn’t be surprised at their attitude about jumping to the Seventh Deck.

  She liked how straight forward Sam was. There was no one in Casino City that really cared about her. Jen was the only person that ever went out of her way to actually help her. Jen and Sam both had spent countless hours helping her open her mana channels, while expecting nothing in return. She knew she could put her life in Jen’s hands if needed, and Sam, well…he was the kind of guy that would literally burn his arm into oblivion while risking death to save you.

  Tamako didn’t need to be told that Jen was the boss, that was obvious, she then thought to herself “But do I care if she is the boss….? Hell no, let someone else take the responsibility for once. I can just sit back and focus on kicking ass! Hmmm, Sam’s assumption that they would be able to eventually jump all the way to the seventh deck, shows his shear arrogance and stupidity, but did it matter if they made it there or not?”

  Jen wanted to die inside as Tamako appeared to take a while to think Sam’s invitation over.

  Tamako could see the worry in Jen’s eyes, but Tamako wanted to take a minute to be certain she was making the right decision. “No, it doesn’t matter if we make it to the Seventh Deck or not. I will be with people I trust, and that care about me.”

  Tamako decided to try being straight forward like Sam with her answer, and she said, “Yes, I will jump Decks with you both.” But she couldn’t bring herself to make the assumption they would make it to the Seventh.

  Sam was thrilled that Tamako was joining up with them, and he was thrilled for Jen, but…he just couldn’t help himself when he smirked, “Tamako, something might be wrong with Jen, her face is turning a little red, like she’s overheating or something!”

  Tamako turned facing outwards away from their small perimeter, so Sam, and especially Jen, would not see her grin with amusement at Sam’s words, and at the rations that ended up all over Sam again.

  Chapter 66:

  Destination Big Money

  “Have you checked your level and stats yet?” Jen asked Sam as they were breaking camp the next morning.

  “Yes, I’ve made it to level 24. Did you and Tamako get any experience points from the battle?”

  “Yes, the System included both of us as part of your group. Tamako reached level 21 and I reached level 22.”

  Tamako replied, “At these levels we should be jumping to the Third Deck, not the Second.”

  Jen replied mimicking Sam’s voice, “Slow is Fast, Fast is Slow”, “Slow and Steady Wins the Race”, “Hasty Climbers Have Sudden Falls”, “Less Haste More Speed”.

  Instead of laughing as Jen expected, Tamako looked seriously at Sam and said, “Truly wise words.”

  Sam laughed at Jen giving her the finger, “See!”

  Then Tamako continued, “are the more surprising when said from the mouth of a child!”

  “You two keep it up, I’ll get you back,” replied Sam laughing.

  Tamako said, “I agree though, it is a good plan to be powerful before starting a fight.”

  “Jen, did you see the shit-ton of ability points I won from the gambling quest on your escape!”

  Tamako looked at Sam in horror, “You are using euphoria!”

  Jen interjected, “Sam’s luck stat is so high that he gets some gambling quests that don’t include euphoria.”

  “That’s what the luck stat does? Just how high is your luck stat?” Tamako asked.

  “My luck stat is 32, but in addition to winning ability points without euphoria, the System sometimes offers other types of rewards.”

  “What kind of rewards?”

  “For me, the rewards help my enchanting skill.”

  “But what about all the strength or agility you’ve lost by not putting those points in your stats,” replied Tamako.

  “True, but I would never have received the ability points from gambling in the first place if I didn’t increase my luck stat, and we’ve learned ways to grow the other stats.”

  Tamako replied, “I’ve already distributed my ability points from my level increase, but even so, I’m still not sure I would place them in the luck stat.”

  “Each to their own,” replied Sam as he continued to clean up their camp site.

  Sam loved how quickly you could pack up a camp using space rings, but he found it a little frustrating with only one arm. When he finished, he asked Jen, “What’s the plan?”

  She replied, “We’re not returning to Casino City.”

  Sam didn’t disagree with Jen’s decision, but asked “Why not?” out of curiosity.

  “The New City Lord and all the guards think Tamako took off with part of the City Treasury. Additionally, I like the idea of everyone thinking we were either killed in the battle or killed by the retreating Roulette soldiers.”

  “So where are we headed?”

  “The remaining Roulette troops roaming the forest are heading back towards their territory. We are going the other direction towards Big Money, which is a small trading outpost about two weeks travel from our current location, and from there we are going to Rolling Dic
e, a port Deck-City about four weeks travel from Big Money.”

  “What’s the general plan once we get there?”

  “Rolling Dice is the closest city with an established Arc Guild, where we can decide if we want to use a guild’s service to jump to the next deck or wild jump from the untamed lands.”

  Tamako just listened to Jen’s plan and nodded when she finished, and said, “I’m ready to go when you two are.”

  Jen said, “Sam, you just keep healing yourself and be ready to heal us, keep up, and stay out of the way. Tamako, you and I are going to take care of everything else until the one-armed bandit over there recovers.”

  “Ha! Good one Jen. You’re finally learning,” joked Sam.

  “Oh my goodness, your terrible sense of humor is rubbing off!” groaned Jen.

  The trip to Big Money was pretty uneventful. It took them a little longer than expected, but Sam was able to completely re-grow his arm by the time they arrived. “Good times!” Jen thought to herself as she wistfully remembered all the fun she had mocking Sam’s little T-rex arm as it grew to full size.

  Jen and Sam spent quite a bit of time answering all of Tamako’s questions about Earth. Surprisingly, she was not too freaked out. Everyone had heard stories of those in the past that were transported from other worlds and into the Decks.

  Jen struggled with teaching Tamako the psych ability. The concept of using an onboard computer in her mind was so strange and foreign to Tamako that she had very little natural aptitude in learning the skill, but it was paramount that she learned to at least suppress her level and stats. This also caused her to struggle with learning the messaging app that Sam and Jen used to communicate. Finally, the best Tamako could do, was envision a sound wave device in her status screen, and this allowed her to message Jen and Sam mentally.

  Chapter 67:

  Big Money

  Jen, Sam, and Tamako approached the gate guard at Big Money. It was a trading outpost of a few thousand merchants, adventurers, and gamblers. Jen didn’t want them to look so weak they would be a target for bandits in the city, but not so strong to gain the attention of the guards and the Town Mayor, so they forged their levels down to ten.

  “12 copper,” said the board guard. Jen paid the copper and they went to the only descent looking Inn to get some food, clean up, and rest a few days before heading to Rolling Dice.

  Sam didn’t rest much. He spent the entire first day tattooing his lightning enchantment on his arm. Then he said to Jen, “I need your help with my healing enchantment tattoo.”

  The way he said it, made Jen look suspiciously at Sam, and she cautiously said, “Surrrre, what do you need?”

  Sam smiled, as he explained that he wanted Jen to tattoo his healing enchantment on his butt cheek.

  “What the hell is wrong with you, do you really need anything or not?” Jen asked, laughing at him.

  Sam expected this type of response from Jen, and put on as serious a face as he could, and explained, “Jen, think about it, if someone were to cut my arm deep enough to sever the tattoo completely, I would lose the use of my healing spell. No one ever gets stabbed in the ass, the back maybe, but almost never the ass. If I place my healing tattoo on by butt, it will remain hidden, and is much less likely to get damaged in combat. I’m serious!”

  Tamako chimed in, “Sam, for someone that is so woefully inept at close combat, that is a surprisingly good idea.”

  Jen loved that Tamako’s comments on Sam’s lack of combat ability always flustered him. With her dry sense of humor and deadpan delivery, he could never tell when she was serious or messing with him.

  “Whatever, I’ll do it, but Gross!”

  After Sam prepared everything, Jen spent most of the next morning and afternoon tattooing the healing enchantment on Sam’s butt cheek. As much as they worked and travelled together, they had seen each other naked, but tattooing his butt cheek was a little more personal than she was used to.

  When Jen finally finished, Sam inspected all the runes while looking in the mirror, and said to Jen, “Now that is one bad-ass tattoo!”

  Tamako chuckled as Jen groaned at Sam’s pun. Once Sam was satisfied all the runes were correct, he started charging up his butt cheek tattoo and went over and sat in a tub of water as he began using his butt tattoo in the healing and erasing of the legacy healing tattoo on his left arm.

  Tamako looked at the crazy enchanter, and said to Jen, “Let’s go see if there is any descent armor or weapons in this city while Sam does his weird naked in a tub thing.” Jen agreed immediately, and they left laughing at his eccentric antics.

  Sam spent the rest of the afternoon and evening tattooing his simple wind enchantment on his left arm again. He planned on getting a better tattoo enchantment for that arm as soon as possible, but until then, the wind tattoo did have some serious knock-down power.

  He was thinking about Jen and Tamako as he was finishing his wind tattoo, “They think I am being funny do they, just wait till they get back and I tell them, ‘are you ready for me to tattoo your asses’, no…’I’ve been thinking about tattooing your asses all week’, or ‘it’s about time I get to tattoo your assess’,” Sam just kept working and grinning, he may have even been wasting his multi-focus skill on coming up with ways to embarrass Jen, but he didn’t care!

  As Sam was placing the major healing tattoo on Jen’s but cheek, he giggled out yet another stupid joke like a 10-year old, “Don’t worry, we’re all close, and I’m sure Kelly will have no problem with me tattooing your asses.”

  Jen had enough of Sam’s tattoo jokes, he had been telling them non-stop since she and Tamako returned from the market, she turned and fumed at Sam, “One more tattoo joke and I swear, I will not help you with tattoos again.”

  Sam could tell she was serious, so he just said, “I’m sorry about all the tattoo jokes Jen, but this major healing spell is amazing, and when you finally get to cast it, you’re going to have a real hot ass!”

  Tamako, just inwardly laughed at the antics of the two. She didn’t get all of their slang and references, but she knew Sam was getting the better of Jen today. Tamako had longed to be in a family like Jen’s and Sam’s her whole life, and she was having a great time.

  Tamako’s experiences growing up and living as a soldier taught her not to be shy about her body. She instantly agreed to getting the healing tattoo, it was way too practical not to have. Only a very few of the best guild healers had such an amazing ability, and those healers refused to help anyone outside their guilds, unless they were paid massive amounts of gold.

  Tamako expressed how excited she was about the possibility of getting other mana enchantment tattoos.

  Sam promised her, “If you find a spell you want, I will do my best to turn it into a mana enchantment tattoo for you.”

  Tamako thought, “that silly man just doesn’t fully understand the power he is just flippantly offering me.”

  Chapter 68:

  Merchant Mischief

  During dinner at the Inn that night, Jen messaged Sam and Tamako, “Don’t look, but I’ve been intercepting the coms and listening in on the conversations of the group of mercenaries taking up the back half of the room.”

  “What did you hear?” messaged Tamako.

  “They’ve been hired to provide security for five merchant families travelling to Rolling Rock.”

  “Are you wanting to travel with them?” asked Tamako.

  Sam closed his eyes, raised his hands, and buried his face into his palms. Tamako narrowed her eyes at Sam when he did this, and said, “I don’t get it, what’s wrong?”

  Sam messaged back, “I don’t know the details, but I get the feeling we are going to…” he pulled his head out of his palms, opened his eyes and looked around the room, before continuing, “…kill about 18 mercenaries.”

  Jen looked offended and a little angry at Sam, and messaged, “I didn’t say that!”

  Sam replied, “Alright. I apologize for interrupting. Please go ahead a
nd answer’s Tamako’s question if you want us to travel with them.”

  Jen huffed, “No, I don’t want to travel with them. I heard them discussing plans to kill the merchants and enslave the kids after they escort them out of Big Money.”

  Sam just kept quiet giving Jen a “knowing” stare.

  Jen continued, “We don’t have to kill anyone. We can simply tell the merchants they are in danger.”

  Tamako replied, “Why would they believe us without any proof, and wont the mercenaries confront us when they hear we’ve accused them?

  “Good point, but what other options do we have?”

  Tamako said, “We don’t have to do anything, but we could just send the merchants an anonymous note.”

  Sam looked at Tamako with skeptical eyes, “Do you think an anonymous note will change the merchants’ plans?”

  Tamako shook her head, “No, but they might be on the lookout for the mercenaries double cross.”

  “Do you think that will change the end result?”

  Tamako shrugged, “No, but a few more mercenaries might get killed in the process.”

  Sam looked back to Jen, and asked, “Are you O.K. with us just sending an anonymous note to the merchant families?”

  Sam had hit a nerve, and Jen messaged, “You’re an ASSHOLE!” and then she abruptly stood up and headed towards the room.

  Tamako stood up to follow Jen and Sam grabbed her arm, “Just a second before you go.”

  Tamako replied angrily, “times ticking.”

  “She’s right. I handled that like an asshole. We’ll change our plans and leave tonight. While I pack everything up and pay our bill, You and Jen gather information on the mercenaries, including where they are staying. We will sneak back into town tomorrow night and kill them all, unless either of you come up with a better idea.”

  Tamako shook her arm free, but nodded, and left to go after Jen.

  That night they were making camp a few hours out of town, but Sam was getting the silent treatment.