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               Nametag:rook

               BATTLE DECK 

               "I have never seen this shop before and yet I know I have
               passed by this way dozens of times." The young man paused
               before the odd building. It was a wooden structure built in a
               very old world style and highly out of place from the shinny
               glass and steel and chrome buildings of downtown Delta City
               that hustle and bustled obliviously all about it.

               The ancient structure had several wooden shop signs upon its
               front sticking out like gnarled stunted fingers; 'the cat and
               caldron', 'the burning skull', 'the unblinking fingers', 'the
               cloven hoof', and so forth. The signs had carved painted
               images upon them and swung creaking this way and that upon
               breezes he could not feel.

               The shop wall it's self was covered in a sort of painted and
               carved graffiti. Strange little phrases such as; 'potions and
               spellcraft', and 'expert troll eradicator', 'dragon tails
               mounted', and 'werewolves neutered' were free hand sprawled
               here and there in tight curlicue spiral script. The young man
               spent several moments looking for the entrance until
               inexplicably just as he was about to give up he found himself
               standing directly before it.

               He reached for the handle but fond none. Instead a large
               wooden carved face upon the door opened its eyes and began to
               talk to him, "You want something?"

               "Er, yeah. I am looking for someone called Hexanna. I was
               told she had a shop around here." After what the young man
               had recently been through the notion of a talking door did
               not seem odd in the slightest. "Is one of these shops hers?"
               He gestured vaguely at the many wooden signs that stuck out
               from the shop front on their bronze supports screeching and
               creaking each apparently blowing to a slightly different
               unfelt wind.

               "They are ALL her's. That is to say she has had the shop for
               a very, very long time. She just packs it up now and then and
               relocates it. Which usually means a new name of sorts." The
               face seemed to be eyeing him with some disdain. 

               "I see, well ah, what is the shop called now?" It suddenly
               occurred to him that the wooden head might not let him in and
               a wave of fresh panic washed over him.

               "Let me think... currently I believe we are being called,
               'piss off!'" The head leered at him grinning widely but then
               its mouth dropped and its eyes rolled to the side as the door
               creaked open. "Well I guess you're going in after all?!" The
               door muttered somewhat amused and puzzled.

               The young man entered the shop and the door; which pivoted
               upon its center so the face followed him, snapped shut
               quickly behind him where it immediately blended in with the
               wall so seamlessly as to vanish leaving only a wall lined
               with carved faces.

               Before he could even begin to take in his surroundings he
               recoiled back from a very large black cat that slinkily
               slipped out of the shadows of the stacks laden with occult
               paraphernalia. Cats as a rule did not usually cause him to
               startle and shrink back but this one was knee high and had a
               pair of large black wings upon its back and it was speaking
               to him in a woman's voice.

               "Normally we don't let those carrying magical items enter the
               shop but of course yours is an interesting case," the cat
               purred and then outdid its self by standing up on its hind
               legs causing him to stumble back yet again and smack into the
               wall directly behind him.

               A muffled 'ouch!' revealed that though the door could not be
               seen it was most certainly still there as the recognizable
               voice of the door he had just entered cursed him and told him
               to watch where he was going.

               "Each mask is a door leading out but out to a different place
               and often in a different time," the cat purred and walked
               upon its hind legs along the stacks stopping a short distance
               away at a beaded curtain which it parted and motioned him to
               enter.

               The young man swallowed hard and ducked in through the parted
               beaded curtain. It opened upon a small room where a very
               busty young woman wearing a strange leather bikini and
               wielding a skull topped staff turned from a table littered in
               large open books to greet him.

               The young man started to speak but she abruptly interrupted
               him, "SILENCE!" The women who now as his eyes adjusted to the
               candle light of the room he decided could be no more than a
               teenager and was very skinny despite her overabundance of
               firm large breasts.

               "You need not speak. Hexanna knows all!" The young girl
               pointed her staff at him and the skull eyes glowed as she
               passed the twin points over his body. "I am much older than
               you think," she smirked. "Much older." Suddenly the deck of
               oversized cards in his jacket pocket exploded out and hung
               fanned in the air before the young teen witch.

               "Hmm, what's this? I see you have brought the mighty and
               powerful Hexanna a very perplexing problem." Her wide eyes
               shimmered as a smile played upon her beautiful exotic face.
               Then her eyes darted back to his body which was still bathed
               in the skull eyes glowing beams, "but no payment for my
               services!" The face grew angry and then the skull beam played
               over his lower body and the eyes widened. "Well now, quiet
               the stud." The young witch licked her lips. "And you came
               just during my rejuvenation cycle. Well, well, a girl has her
               needs and it has been a very long time since I made a trade
               like that. Very well."

               The young witch pulled her staff back and paced before the
               floating cards tapping her small chin in thought. With the
               light of the skull eyes off of him the young man realized for
               the first time that he had been frozen in place and unable to
               speak though he did not realize this until AFTER the spell
               had been broken.

               "I-I am a bit, confused," the young man began running a hand
               through his sweating scalp of short brown hair.

               "Understatement of the year," the cat hissed and chuckled as
               it walked past him with a tea cup and saucer in its paws as
               it sipped and winked at him.

               "I suggest you start at the beginning and yes my tits are
               real. Now focus!" Hexanna snapped her fingers and the young
               man's mind seemed to clear.

               "Well, you see I collect battle cards. That is since I was a
               kid I have collected card games that primarily involve either
               playing solo or against another. The cards are printed with
               art work and are highly collectable. There are many different
               kinds of battle card games, 'magic the gathering' seems to be
               the one most people have heard of-"

               "What's the hardest part of playing Magic? Telling your
               parents you're gay," the cat deadpanned and dunked a live
               gold fish into its tea several times before tossing the
               wiggling creature into its mouth. Several rows of small sharp
               milky white needle teeth made short work of the hapless fish.
               She winked at him again and he shuddered despite himself.

               "Er, yeah, well I have tended to go to this comic book store
               called Jet's on tenth street and Mulberry. Run by a guy named
               Jet. Real nice guy. It was more than a comic book store it
               was HIS store. He stocked it whatever he thought was cool.
               Like Godard films next to the Seven Samurai and books by
               William S. Boroughs next to Edgar Rice Boroughs and art
               supplies and posters. I mean he built this huge model of
               Kandar, the city under glass from the Super Man comics. Had
               little ships flying around in there and lighted buildings and
               such."

               Hexanna seemed to be puzzled over the floating cards and the
               cat seemed bored and kept yawning despite its tail now
               snaking about his upper thigh.

               "Ah, anyway Jet held weekly card tournaments. And I would go
               there and compete. You know cheaper than cigarettes and booze
               and a lot healthier than keeling over from a heart attack in
               a gym. But then a few weeks back Jet just disappeared. His
               shop just locked up and was empty. No one knew anything. Then
               last Thursday the shop re-opened. But now its run by this
               Chinese guy. And I mean not to be raciest but this guy is
               like seventeenth centaury Chinese. He wears a gilded robe and
               the brimless round skull cap and the long braided pony tail
               and has the long mustache the whole Fu Man-Chu nine yards.
               Anyway now he sells all these bizarre knickknacks very Far
               Eastern occult stuff. Like stuffed monkey heads sort of
               stuff. But he also sells these collector cards. Never seen
               anything like them. Very beautiful."

               "And you bought these from him," Hexanna looked past the
               cards to glance at the young man. "It would explain the magic
               being used here. It is very ancient and very Eastern. Hexes
               and curses of immense power."

               "Well that's just it. I didn't buy the cards or anything from
               the guy. He showed them to me and then said he would give me
               a set of the cards and let me practice with them for a day
               and then I was to come back and we would play a game. Winner
               take all. That means if I won I would keep my deck of cards
               as well as any he lost to me in the game play."

               "Hmmmm," Hexanna straightened up from studying the fanned
               deck floating in the air before her, "and so who are these
               girls trapped in your deck of cards?"

               "That would be my younger sister and her friends." The young
               man gulped. 

               Hexanna tapped her chin, "and why are they in just their bras
               and panties?"

               "Slumber party. I was at work pulling a night shift and
               somehow they found the cards and were playing with them and
               when I got home. Well you can see what happened. Some how
               they got sucked inside the cards!"

               "Yes," Hexanna frowned. "It would seem that the cards have
               set images upon them. But that they are designed for a living
               person to replace that set pattern. Winner takes all indeed!"

               "I went to the police and all they said was, 'get a lawyer.'
               Not very helpful." The young man moaned.

               "Yes, they seldom are, but in this case I seriously doubt
               there is anything they could have realistically done. I mean
               teenage girls trapped in a card game... it's delightfully
               perverse!" Hexanna threw back her head and laughed loudly but
               then caught herself and cleared her throat. "So how much time
               do we have until your match with the Chinese wizard?"

               "Tonight. At midnight. I am to meet him at Jet's old shop and
               we are to have our match there and as you said winner take
               all. And as you can see that would mean him taking my sister
               if he wins!" The young man wrung his hands, "can you help
               me?"

               "Do you understand the rules of the game?" Hexanna looked
               down and tucked a wayward nipple that had slipped out of her
               skin tight small top as she offhandedly spoke.

               "Yes, I think so. Most of the rules are scattered in the lore
               on each individual card. But it plays a lot like an old card
               game I used to play called, WITCHES AND WARLOCKS' though with
               some odd differences."

               "Actually on here it says," Hexanna narrowed her eyes and
               leaned her face into the cards in front of her. "WHORES AND
               WIZARDS."

               "Like I said it has a lot of strange twisted bits here and
               there to it. But the basic rules are the same." The young man
               bit his thumbnail as he waited for the young teen witch to
               say something.

               "I can't break these hexes. The portal magic is too
               ingrained. The only way to free your sister and her friends
               from the cards is for you to play this match against this
               wizard. Once the game is done; win or lose the magic binding
               the girls inside the cards can be dispelled." Hexanna stood
               back from the cards and sighed.

               "But what if I lose!" The young man shrieked.

               "Don't' Hexanna said in a stern face. "Stop worrying I
               believe I the mighty Hexanna can help you in winning this
               bout. Of course I need to be paid..." Hexanna raised and
               lowered her eyebrows quickly and then fumed when she saw that
               the cat had wrapped its tail around the young man's thigh and
               was flicking it's tail tip against his crotch. "Chimera!
               That's MY payment! Bad pussy!"

               "You understand now. Most fully. How the game is to be
               played." The man in the oriental brocaded robe motioned him
               to a small burnished wooden table.
               The shop was closed and the only light seemed to come from a
               bronze dragon shaped lamp hanging above the table.

               "Yes," the young man said grimly. "I believe I know
               understand the stakes at least of the game." 

               "Good, good. I do not think your friend Jet understood them.
               But the game is the game and it now must be played for our
               situation to be resolved. Such is life."

               The two men stood on either side of the table staring
               unblinking into each others eyes. "Good. Yes you do
               understand. Your cards are not empty. They will have power
               now. Jet did not understand. He played with an empty deck and
               well he lost. But you have built your deck. I can feel the
               cards are full." The tall Chinese man smiled grimly. 

               "I too shall play with a full deck as well. This shall I hope
               be a better match than I have had in many, many years." The
               man held out his long arm and bony fingers snaked out of his
               robes wide cuffs. He tapped the middle of the table. Two rows
               of gold snakes with their tails in their mouths appeared
               before each man.

               "I am sure you understand the rules but as some of the rules
               may in turn be slightly different than you are accustomed to
               I will cover some of the basic elements." The tall man turned
               his palm up and passed it over the empty table.

               "As you can see I have given us each an equal measure of...
               let us call them 'life tokens.' As I am sure you are aware of
               when one or both of us use up the last of our tokens we
               lose." The long mustached man smiled warmly.

               "We shall begin the game by placing all our cards face down
               upon the table in three rows." The man produced his deck of
               cards from his robe sleeve and began to quickly place them on
               the table in front of him. "You may not look at your cards
               and in fact I would fail to see why one would want to as it
               destroys so much of the surprise and strategy. Please shuffle
               your cards and place them as you will."

               The young man began to place his cards face down on the
               table. Carefully placing each card in two horizontal rows
               face down. The young man noted most of his cards were in the
               back row while the man in the robes had placed almost all of
               his cards in his front row.

               When the cards were placed the men both straightened back up
               and looked into one another's face again.

               "There is much at stake here. So please take your time.
               Because this is a match of my instigation I insist you go
               first." The man in the long robe gave a short bow.

               The young man licked his dry lips and with sweat beading off
               his brow reached out a shaking hand and turned over his first
               card.

               In the game WITCHES AND WARLOCKS two players who take on the
               guise of master conjurers have a match of magic against each
               other. The magic battle takes the form of prearranged cards
               placed face down upon the surface between them. They take
               turns turning over cards and putting them into play against
               one another. Both players start with a set number of counters
               and these counters are spent to put cards into play or to
               change the nature of an already played card. The purpose is
               to attack the opponent and deal damage to him that takes away
               counters. Since counters are also spent in putting cards into
               play one can defeat ones self by using up their own counters
               during the course of play. The first person to use up or have
               their counters taken from them by damage is the loser.

               The young man had turned over his sisters card. The card had
               originally been a beautiful shrine maiden with a large flute
               from which she was pulling out a long straight sword. Now it
               was his sister in her bra and panties holding the flute sword
               and looking very confused and frightened.

               In both WITCHES AND WARLOCKS and this game called WHORES AND
               WIZARDS each card has an offensive capability and a defensive
               capability and a special of each of those as well as the
               ability to play the card as a buff or ward upon another card.
               Turning the card over dose not bring a card into play on its
               own. One has to make a decisions as to what that cards
               characteristics is going to be and then pay the acquired
               'life tokens' to put that card into play.

               The initial cost for putting the card into play is always
               very low but to change the nature of a card to have it
               perform a different task can be very expensive. Hence
               shifting ones strategy too much can cost one a match very
               rapidly.

               Since one has no idea what card one may turn up of ones own
               deck or what the opponent's cards may be or how they may be
               used in their initial play or how they may be re-used or
               changed latter the game can become very challenging.

               The young man set his sisters card to defensive. Thus turning
               the card sideways and paying the one life token required.
               Placing the spent token to his left side of the table.

               "Hmm, very cautious. But that is to be expected." The man in
               the robes sagely nodded. He picked up a card and with out
               looking at it placed it face down in the open area between
               their rows of cards.

               The combat area is the open space between the players set
               cards. Only cards set in this area can attack. If a card is
               placed face down in the area it costs no life token and its
               price latter to be put in play on another turn is half its
               stated cost. But the turn is over and no effect has been
               made. A defense can be made from any rank or file of ones row
               of cards but cards in the back row get extra boosts to
               defense and cards set out in the battle area get extra boosts
               to attack without having to spend life tokens to do so
               providing the card is already in play and has been previously
               played as a boost or buff. 

               The young man eyed the card suspiciously. The man in the
               robes could have spent a life token and put the card into
               play in the combat area and then attacked him with it on the
               next turn. It was an odd gambit not to do that. The only
               reason someone would move a card into the combat area without
               putting it into play was that they intended to use its
               special attack at half the token cost on a following turn.

               The young man turned over another card this one containing
               one of his sisters friends. A very busty brunette who was now
               a healer. He put the card at the base of his sisters card
               reversed image turned signifying that it was being placed
               into play as a buff on his sisters defensive play card. And
               paid the one token to do so.

               "Very methodical," the man in the robe noted and produced an
               already lit pipe from his robe sleeve and began to puff on
               it. The pipe was of metal and in the image of a great
               serpent. He carefully turned over one of his cards in his
               front row it was a naked woman in chains and played the card
               upon the young man's sisters card. He turned it to show he
               was playing its special ability and then placed four tokens
               upon the card its self to show this further. He then placed
               three tokens to his left side of the table to cover the cost.

               The young man blinked. The chained woman in the robed man's
               card turned into a leather hooded warden and entered his
               sisters card and grabbed her and dragged her back into the
               robed man's card where she quickly chained the struggling
               girl to the dungeon walls.

               Each turn now a token would be taken off the card and placed
               to the side of the table and until they were all removed his
               sister would remain in chains and the shrine maiden card
               would be useless to him. The buff card could be re-played at
               some cost but he decided to just leave it on his sisters
               card. Right now he had no defense against attack in play and
               that lone face down card in the battle area was looking very
               menacing indeed.

               The young man turned over another card in the back row; this
               one containing another of his younger sisters friends and
               turned it sideways. He paid the extra tokens to amp up her
               defense on top of the defense buff she got from being in the
               back row of the two rows of placement cards.

               "OH! A succubus! And buffed too! Haven't seen one of those in
               years and never one used in quiet such a way before.
               Intriguing." The robed man grinned behind clouds of smoke. He
               took one of the tokens off the chained shrine maiden placing
               it to the side and then picked up another card. "Let's see
               what she can do with this." He dropped the card upon the
               succubus card and then paid the astronomical cost to do that
               special ability which was that it could attack any card upon
               the table upon being put into play.

               "A monster card?!" The young man recoiled back as he watched
               the purple tentacle monster start to do some rather
               unspeakable things to the succubus. The moans and groans
               coming up from the card were quiet loud and had the young man
               nervously sweating.

               The young man looked at the robed man's life tokens. He had
               spent almost two thirds of them already and had yet to attack
               or defend?! But the young man had yet again no viable defence
               against an attack and nothing to attack with in turn. 

               The tentacle rape continued and would continue unless he used
               his shrine maiden's dispel ability costing four tokens but
               she would not be available for him to use in any way for
               three more turns yet. He had other cards that could attack
               the monster directly that was molesting the succubus card and
               his hand hovered over them shaking slightly. 

               At this rate he would end up with all his defense spent cards
               bound and gagged and yet the tall man was spending his tokens
               so freely that the young man was surely in the better shape
               for victory. 

               The young man turned over a card from his front row. Front
               row cards get an attack bonus. Just as back row cards get a
               defensive bonus. Each card has its strengths and weakness.
               Some have very damaging attacks some have strong defense. But
               beyond all that there is a rock, paper, scissors, pencil set
               of class abilities on each card. So giant class cards are
               strong against humane, humane strong against beast, beast
               strong against summoned, summoned strong against giant, etc.
               Since one never knows what the card is until you turn it over
               it is common to find a highly defensive card with a very weak
               attack in the front row and a very strong attack card with
               weak defense in the back row.

               The card the young man turned over was another of his sisters
               friends.
               And of course the one who he was head over heals in
               unrequited love with. A very beautiful girl with long blonde
               hair and blue eyes wearing a helmet with wings and very
               little else and carrying a spear upon a winged horse. The
               young man placed the card down in the combat area upon the
               card that remained face down and paid the four tokens for a
               first strike attack.

               "Oh!" The Chinese man exclaimed and smiled. "A direct attack
               against another card in the combat area. Not going to attack
               me then? What about your friends? Not going to come to their
               aid? Very well. Hmmm, a valkyrie! Nice."

               The man in the robe slipped his card out from under the
               Valkyrie and turned it over. He did not have to pay any
               tokens to put it into play because it had been attacked
               directly. Only cards in the combat area can be attacked
               directly.

               It was a suit of black armor wielding a tower shield and a
               black chain mace bathed in blue flame. High defense but
               decent blunt damage attack. Since it had been placed in the
               combat area from a front row it had a buff to attack. But so
               too did the Valkyrie which had high attack and low defense.

               The two cards began to fight. The Valkyrie got first strike
               and a healing buff as part of its special attack and soon
               prevailed. 

               "Well done," the man in the robe nodded and took the suit of
               living armor card placed it on the side of the table. "Winner
               take all." He then turned over a card from his front row as
               it was his turn and placed it in the combat area face up.

               It was another monster card. A huge scaled worm. The young
               man watched with some trepidation as the man in the robe paid
               both its cost to be an attack card and then paid its special
               ability to attack on being first put into play. 

               "That's a direct attack against you," the man in the robe
               pointed his pipe at the young man and smiled. "Please remove
               four life tokens unless you can defend."

               The young man looked over his defenses. He had the valkyrie
               in the combat area but cards in the combat area can not be
               used to defend. He had three more cards face up in play in
               his two card rows but his sister still had two tokens left
               until she would be free from the prisoner card. His healer
               card was still attached to his sisters card preventing any
               damage up to four from effecting her he could remove it at a
               rather high cost and use it to defend. His last upturned card
               was his succubus which was currently being sodomized by the
               purple tentacle monster and thus out of play until the
               monster was dealt with. 

               "I will take the hit," the man said and removed four of his
               life tokens and placed them to the side of the table.

               "Excuse me but half of those go to me," the man in the robe
               chuckled and placed two tokens in his rather anemic life
               token area.

               "What?!"

               "Half of any damage done directly to an opponent is converted
               into life tokens for the attacker. House rules." 

               "I did not know that! I have never heard of such a thing."
               The young man fumed.

               "Please its your turn now," the man in the robe seemed giddy
               as he gestured behind his smoke screen.

               The young man gave his opponent a hard look and then scanned
               the table again. He could attack the robed man directly with
               his valkyrie or bring another card into play.

               Each cards attack when made against another player only does
               half its normal damage and uses no buff. Buffs only work
               against attacks on another card.

               The 'new house rule' certainly made any direct attack against
               the robed man very enticing. The valkyrie card was very
               powerful against monsters and giants it would only do a base
               damage of two against his opponent in a direct attack. He
               would only claim one token.

               Neither of them had any defense. The young man squirmed the
               constant sounds of teen orgasms wafting up from the succubus
               and the purple tentacle monster was making it hard to
               concentrate. 

               The young man turned over another card in his back row and
               turned it sideways to show it was a defensive card and paid
               its cost.

               "Ah. You did not attack. Let's see 'bikini warrior' a red
               headed girl in chain mail with an axe. Not much defense even
               with the back row buff. Let us see what I can do?" The robed
               man turned over a card and placed it face up in the combat
               zone. He could only pay the base pay in tokens for he being
               down to his last few so the card could not attack on this
               turn.

               It was another monster card. Drunken cyclops. The young man
               frowned. It had a massive raw blunt damage attack. His bikini
               warrior would only absorb a fraction of that and the
               remainder would go against his life tokens. Half of which
               would go to the man in the robe.
               He would also lose the bikini warrior to the pile with the
               living armor. Winner take all.

               It was a tough call. His valkyrie had a bonus against monster
               class cards and he could pay to buff her again in life tokens
               and she had a buff from coming from the front row. He could
               take the card. He was sure of it. 

               Or he could turn over another card. The more cards face up
               the more options to be had. Of course one never knew what the
               card may be.

               The young man looked at his sisters card. Just one more token
               and she would be free and the warden card would revert to a
               prisoner card and go into the discard pile with the living
               suit of armor. Using the special ability on some cards means
               the card is discarded when the ability ends. 

               So on his next turn he could have the shrine maiden and his
               bikini warrior ready to defend.

               But the man in the robe had both the drunken cyclops and the
               scaled worm from which to choose to attack with. Some cards
               had a special dual attack ability and could attack along side
               certain other cards if the class was right. But neither of
               these did. The cyclops was a giant class and the scaled worm
               was a monster class. His valkyrie could take on either and
               win. But that would leave one to strike him on his next turn. 

               It was simply too risky to leave two very powerful monster
               cards like that sitting there in the combat area. The young
               man placed his valkyrie card upon the drunken cyclops and
               paid tokens to re-buff her for the fight.

               "Well done," the robed man smiled and took the defeated
               drunken cyclops and placed it in the pile with the living
               armor and then removed the last token off the warden card and
               placed the prisoner card into the discard pile with the
               others. They both watched the young man's sister return to
               her shrine maiden card.

               "I will attack you with my scaled worm again," the robed man
               smiled and went back to puffing his pipe.

               "I will defend with my shrine maiden," the young man declared
               and then watched the battle ensue.

               His shrine maiden absorbed all of the damage with her buffed
               defense and healer card attached. But a successful defense
               dose not mean the attacker card is removed. Cards could only
               be removed from play if defeated. The scaled worm remained
               ready to strike again upon the robed man's next turn. 

               It was now the young man's turn. He seemed to be doing very
               well now. His shrine maiden had lost her buffs but still had
               her healer attached he could spend life tokens and buff her
               again but he thought his tokens were getting a little low
               even though he had significantly more than the robed man had.

               He thought it odd that the robed man would have wasted an
               attack that he must have know would be blocked. The young man
               shrugged and winced at his succubus which was being forced to
               do some very nasty things.

               He could use his shrine maiden special ability and remove the
               monster that would free up his succubus for defense but it
               would mean his shrine maiden would have to skip the next turn
               as a defender. 

               He could use his valkyrie and pay to re-buff her and have her
               take out that scaled worm. In either case it would be nice to
               have one of those monsters off the playing field and in his
               growing win pile!

               Or he could put another card into play. He only had six cards
               left upon the table face down.

               He decided to free up his succubus. The poor teen girl had
               been through an orgy of tentacles and looked utterly done in.

               He paid to use his shrine maidens special power and removed
               the tentacle summons and put it in the discard pile thus
               ending his turn.

               "Ah, you are a creature of mercy after all." The robed man
               nodded sternly. "Let's see what I can do," he turned over
               another card and placed it upon the valkyrie and paid the
               cost which brought him to his last three tokens.

               The young man leaned forward and read the card. It was a
               summon card but not some spectre rather an enchantment.

               "Your Valkyrie has been lured into the mists of a far away
               land and will not return for four turns, but when she dose
               return you may select one card from my deck that has not been
               put into play and pay the cost to put it into play at its
               base level. If I have no cards left upon the playing field
               that are not turned over you may select one from the discard
               pile and place that face down upon your playing field at no
               cost or pay to put it in play at once." The man in the robe
               smiled, "a rather charming card really."

               The young man blinked. He had just lost his heavy hitter and
               only combat card in the combat area for four turns.
               He looked at the scaled worm that was still in the combat
               area and at his shrine maiden, with healer attached, who had
               just reverted back to use after disenchanting the tentacle
               summons and his bikini warrior and his succubus. All defense.
               He could pay to put one of them into the combat area at a
               rather heavy cost. The bikini warrior was all offense based
               it made sense to pay the life tokens to change her to combat
               and move her to the combat area.

               Or he could turn over another card. He still had six of those
               remaining as did his opponent. The difference was all his
               other cards were still on the table playing field and he had
               a lot more life tokens left. And yet the robe man did not
               seemed concerned in the slightest.

               The more cards in play was always better and in this case
               cheaper. He turned over a card and placed it into the combat
               area. 

               The robed man leaned forward. "Ah, the lone wanderer card.
               Beautiful. No special abilities but good solid attack and
               some defense and good against humane, beast, and monster.
               Nice. And the girl has quiet the set of knockers, eh?"

               The robed man re-lit his pipe and as he did so silently
               turned over another card and dropped it on the table.

               The young man leaned forward and frowned, "death?"

               "Death," the robed man sighed. "I lose all my tokens except
               my last one and you lose all yours except your last one and
               all our cards already in play are removed from the board and
               placed in the discard pile."

               "What the hell?! That's ridiculous!" The young man fumed as
               he snatched up the card and read it. The robed man plucked up
               all the turned over cards except the valkyrie and the
               enchantment card on her (as technically that card was not in
               play but suspended) and placed them into the discard pile. He
               then tossed his tokens except one to the side of the table. 

               The young man tossed the death card into the discard pile and
               then fumed as he set his tokens to the side.

               "Ah-ah, I get half of those remember? House rules." The robed
               man gleefully picked up the tokens he had won and set them on
               his side. "Your turn."

               "This is insanely unfair," the young man's face was red with
               rage and he crossed his arms in perplexity.

               "Are you forfeiting your turn? Most cards cost only one token
               to put into play. And you have one token left.
               Of course if you spend that you lose. And well," he tapped
               the large discard pile with the steam of his pipe, "winner
               take all."

               "Obviously I can not play any cards."

               "My turn then. Don't worry you still have your valkyrie on
               the playing field so your inability to play upon your turn
               dose not mean an automatic loss; and she will return to your
               control in three more turns AND with one of my un-played
               cards. Of course that's three more turns and well..." the
               robed man turned over a card and placed it in the combat
               area.

               "No special immediate attack on that one. How unfair as that
               could have been the end of me right there," the young man
               hissed and stared over at the pile of cards where his sister
               and her friends lay helpless.

               "Oh there is a special and immediate attack. I just don't
               want to waste my precious life tokens on it." The robed man
               giggled. "Your turn, I believe."

               "You know I can't do anything."

               "Are you sure? Perhaps I failed to point out that when your
               Valkyrie returns in... two more turns and you select one of
               my unplayed cards you have to PAY the life token to put it
               into play. And since you only have the one. Well." 

               "All right. I will go out swinging. What choice do I have?"
               The young man held his hand over his face down cards and then
               abruptly grabbed one and turned it over.

               "How pathetic. You just used up your last token and for
               what," the man in the robe sneered. "Not much of a game after
               all. I was expecting so much more from you."

               "That card goes into play at no cost," the young man said
               simply and turned it sideways.

               "What?! Let me see that!" The man in the robe snatched up the
               card and read it. "Chimera; when chimera comes into play it
               costs no tokens. Chimera can only be used for defense.
               Chimera negates all damage for one attack and afterwards must
               be discarded." The robe man looked over the card at they
               young man, his eyes burning red, "someone has helped you to
               build your deck... and that someone will pay!"

               "You gave me only humane cards and three summon cards," the
               young man took back his card and set it back on the table.
               "Meanwhile your decks is composed of all monster or giant
               cards and summon cards. Hardly fair."

               "A naked cat-girl with wings. Where on this Earth did you
               find that? Never mind I will enjoy adding it to my
               collection." The man in the robe puffed excitedly on his
               pipe. "I wonder what other lovely cards you have brought me?
               You still die as soon as your Valkyrie returns. It changes
               nothing. My turn I believe." 

               The man in the robe turned over another card instead of
               attacking with his previously turned over hell hound. "Ah, a
               pure defensive card of my own. Fetid swamp, all attack cards
               that due direct damage are removed from the game after they
               do a direct damage attack. And that direct damage attack is
               reduced by half! Well well, a bit more useful than your cat
               girl card. Wouldn't you say? Your turn. And only one more
               turn until your valkyrie returns, boy."

               The young man reached for another card as the man in the robe
               puzzled over this action and watched him turn over a card and
               put it in play in the combat area.

               "Don't tell me you whipped up another altered card that dose
               not cost any tokens to play?" The man in the robe gave a dour
               face before gingerly plucking up the card and looking it
               over. "Ah, the paladin. hmm, very pretty girl too. Well looks
               like she costs one token to put into play. So she just killed
               you, boy."

               "Not entirely. The paladin has a special ability; self
               sacrifice. It costs nothing to use it and can be used at
               anytime. When invoked she passes straight to the discard pile
               and I gain instantly four life tokens. So I spend one and get
               three."

               "Hmmm, it is questionable if you can die and then continue
               playing the game but," he took his pipe out of his mouth and
               looked down at his horde of life tokens and the remaining
               cards and smiled, "I shall allow it. MY, my you have brought
               me such fresh young beautiful girls to play with." He tossed
               the card onto the discard pile. "I can barely contain myself.
               My turn I believe?"

               The man in the robe tapped his hell hound card. "I shall
               attack and that means your chimera card goes to the discard
               pile."

               "But I take no damage and it is my turn."

               "But you can do nothing," the robe man smiled. "For next turn
               your valkyrie returns and turns over one of my cards. So you
               have to save those precious tokens of yours. Some cards cost
               only one to put into play at a base level but others cost
               more."

               "Nonsense. It is my turn and I shall play a card." The young
               man flipped over a card. And paid one token. He placed it
               sideways making it a defense card.

               "Hmmm, may I?" The robed man gestured at the card and then
               picked it up and looked it over. "Ah, the mage card. And a
               very busty young girl on it! Quiet lovely. Well it would
               appear you only somehow altered the one card. Very well, my
               turn now is it?"

               "Hmmm, well my hell hound is no match for your mage card so
               little point in an attack there, but I can pay to use his
               special ability; drag them down to hell!"

               The man in the robe smiled as he paid the token cost and set
               both the hell hound card and the mage card into the discard
               pile.

               "Just a second." The young man raised a hand. "You did not
               look at that card closely enough. True it was the mage card
               you gave me but it was altered slightly. The card is now
               called the Hexanna card and it has a special ability. When
               the Hexanna card is placed into the discard pile she
               automatically summons Xera into play at no token cost."

               "What? What is a Xera?" The robed man dropped the card in his
               fit of anger and as soon as it touched the discard pile the
               room was filled with a flash of light and a tall busty woman
               with long red hair stood straddle stance with a razor sharp
               long sword held to the robed man's neck. "This is cheating!"

               "I am Xera!" The red head spoke with a thick accent, "Oh and
               there will be no cheating! I have come to stop your vile
               cheating." With that she grabbed the sleeve of the robed man
               and began to shake it as over a dozen hidden cards fell out.
               "And as I understand it there can be no duplicate cards in
               play!" With lightning speed she started flipping over and
               tossing to the floor hell hound cards that were on the table
               face down. 

               "As far as cheating," the young man pointed to the table.
               Xera was my bikini warrior card. You can see where the card
               has disappeared from the discard pile. So she was a real card
               in play within the game."

               "Now it is my turn and my valkyrie returns. And since you
               have no unplayed cards left faced down I select this death
               card from the discard pile and I pay the one token cost to
               put it into play. So all our face up cards go into the
               discard pile and we are both reduced to one token but as your
               house rule stipulated; I receive half of all your tokens that
               you loss. And now. It is your turn.
               Alas you have no cards left to turn over and only one life
               token left and the only card in play you have remaining is
               fetid swamp, which being an enchantment non-living card was
               not removed by the death card and which cuts all direct
               attack damage by half. But as you know the rules say there
               can be no half token damage so it rounds up to the nearest
               whole amount... since you can not make a play it is now my
               turn and with my Valkyrie I strike directly at you. Doing two
               damage which made half by your defense card is one but you
               only have the one token left. So... you lose."

               The man in the robe screamed bug eyed and then erupted in a
               gout of green flame and vanished.

               The young man recoiled back at this and looked at Xera who
               shrugged and said, "winner take all."

               "I want to thank you again Hexanna for saving my sister and
               her friends and I guess me as well." The young man gushed at
               the young busty witch.

               "Think nothing of it. And as for as my payment I will take
               the contents of this shop for there are many dangerous
               magical items here that our robed fiend collected over the
               years and I shall take the deck of cards as it is too
               dangerous to be allowed to remain in the hands of man. As for
               your sister and her friends they are even now waking up from
               their slumber party with some interesting dreams to discuss."

               Hexanna moved past the young man with a shove and strode up
               to Xera, "and once again my buxom lass you have helped the
               mighty Hexanna and for that you will be rewarded as such that
               all do wish and long for," and the two began to kiss and then
               grapple and then sword and staff fell to the floor and then
               they fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs and sweaty moans.

               "That is going to last for hours," chimera sighed. She was
               still in her cat-girl form. "So. You want to play cat and
               mouse with me?!" She slapped the young man hard on the ass.
               "Guess who gets to be the mouse." She whispered and licked
               his ear; her long tongue like sandpaper and her rows of sharp
               small needle milky white teeth gleaming as they nibbled at
               his ear lobe.

               The young man gulped and began to run. 
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