First Reply Sabacc on Kwenn Station

[Tilon Quill]

TALLIFAX INN
KWENN STATION
OOTMIAN PABOL

Kwenn Station wasn't the safest fuel depot around but it had the virtue of being the closest. Bone tired and sunburned from a rad shield glitch in the Deep Core last week, Tilon stayed in his grimy shipsuit and went in search of a way to unwind.

Ten minutes of bad decisions put him at a sabacc table in the Tallifax Inn across from someone he didn't recognize. The dealer droid gave Tilon his cards.


Denon Rules

Spoiler

 

[Rel Ahn-Dross]

He'd played Sabacc in the past but he was notoriously bad at it. Nonetheless he'd found himself seated at a table.

Waiting for someone else to join him Rel would eventually watch a grimy shipsuit wearing individual took a seat across from him.

The Droid dealt the newcomer a pair of cards then dealt Rel a pair as well now that a game was finally underway. Reaching for the cards he'd keep the tight against the table, lifting them with his thumb only enough so that he could peer underneath to see the hand he was dealt...

Tilon Quill

 

[Rel Ahn-Dross]

He'd played Sabacc in the past but he was notoriously bad at it. Nonetheless he'd found himself seated at a table.

Waiting for someone else to join him Rel would eventually watch a grimy shipsuit wearing individual took a seat across from him.

The Droid dealt the newcomer a pair of cards then dealt Rel a pair as well now that a game was finally underway. Reaching for the cards he'd keep the tight against the table, lifting them with his thumb only enough so that he could peer underneath to see the hand he was dealt...

Tilon Quill

 

[Tilon Quill]

FLASH ROUND
Core Value: 16
Specials: -26
Net Score: -10

Sheesh. Two Demises put Tilon's total hand at -10, pretty bleak. He tried to keep that off his face and instead decided to go for it. What he had in mind had about a 1/3 chance of good, 1/3 chance of status quo, 1/3 chance of kicking him out of the game entirely.

Eyeing the merc opposite him, but unable to see his cards, Tilon shoved his whole hand into the InterField and asked the droid for another card (d6 for a third Special).

 

[Tilon Quill]

...and the Evil One put Tilon's hand at -25. He bombed out with a curse. Rel Ahn-Dross had just taken Tilon's hundred credits unless he bombed out too.

 

[Rel Ahn-Dross]

FLASH ROUND
Core Value: 12
Specials: -26
Net Score: -14

As implied earlier Rel wasn't incredibly lucky when it came to Sabacc nor did he have the best working understanding of it. He played but it was rare for him to win a high stakes game, especially when more professional players were at the table. Without knowing anything besides what he saw Tilon Quill do he looked between his opponent and his cards.

Eventually he decided on the opposite. He'd leave his entire hand out of the Interfield and tap his index and middle fingers against the table indicating he wanted another card from the dealer. If his reckoning was correct his odds of success were fifty-fifty not counting a potential Sabacc Shift.

When the Droid dealt him his next card Rel reached for it, lifting it so that he could see what he'd been tossed...

 

[Tilon Quill]

Rel Ahn-Dross bombed out on the Flash Round too. House took both their credits. Tilon sucked his teeth and slapped another hundred in the table for a new game.

"Deal it," he told the dealer droid. He met the merc's gaze and raised a purple eyebrow. The droid gave Tilon his new hand.

 

[Rel Ahn-Dross]

The Droid took his credits, a frown touched the corners of his mouth and his brow would knit together momentarily.

It would be hard to tell if Rel considered turning the Droid to scrap but---he did.

When Tilon Quill wagered another hundred credits he matched the bet, laying down his own credits before nodding towards the Droid....

"Deal."

...his jaw set after he spoke, the Droid dealt the cards and he looked at them like the last time.

 

[Tilon Quill]

FLASH ROUND

Core Value: 12
Specials: The Jedi (0), Endurance (-8)
Net Score: 4

Could be worse; could be far worse. For example, the merc might have reacted violently to bombing out. Tilon couldn't really have blamed him. Nobody liked the house winning.

Tilon slid all his cards but Endurance into the InterField. "One more," he said, and the droid gave him a new one.

d6 roll for Core Value

 

[Rel Ahn-Dross]

FLASH ROUND
Core Value: 16
Specials: -25; Endurance (-8) + the Darkwire (-17)
Net Score: -9

His face remained indifferent. Despite not being especially gifted at Sabacc he did possess what many refered to as a stoic 'Poker Face'.

Leaning back in his chair he considered his options then extended his hand so that all of his cards were in the interfield...

"Another special."

...he'd have said, the Droid dealt and Rel waited to see if it would make or break his hand.

Tilon Quill

 

[Rel Ahn-Dross]

A Bomb Out.

He'd make a fist as the Droid threw him the 'Dark One' then slam it against the table as his credits were shifted over to Tilon Quill .

A sharp breath was inhaled. Raising a hand Rel wiped his face before looking over at his opponent...

"Alright, just my luck that I had another bad hand but lets raise the stakes."

...he'd produce a credit stick and put it down on the table, sliding it into the center...

"A Thousand credits on this hand. If you the stones, Rockhopper."

He didn't wait for Tilon to accept or refuse, he'd motion to the Droid with his right hand and wait as cards were dealt to him.

 

[Tilon Quill]

The joy of the win was quick and gone. A thousand was real money. Gas money. The Wake of Balmorra drank fuel much, much faster than the long-range shuttle he'd flown before. Tilon thought about it and ran with it. You had to live a little.

"I'm game."

He put a thousand on the table (a hundred of which had just belonged to the merc) and got dealt a new hand.

"You ever wish you'd taken up another job? A different life?"

Rel Ahn-Dross

 

[Rel Ahn-Dross]

FLASH ROUND
Core Value: 13
Specials: -28; Demise (-13), the Dark One (-15)
Net Score: -15

A thoughtful expression touched Rel's features hearing Tilon Quill ask him if he wished he'd ever taken up a different job, a different profession. His thoughts drifted back to his upbringing among the Clans, learning the Resol'nare and then leaving his family and home behind. He'd been branded Dar'manda for abandoning the creed, it weighed on him occasionally but Rel knew from a young age he didn't belong with the Clans.

As his thoughts came back to the present he'd have replied...

"No."

...his answer was short and to the point though he added after a brief silence...

"I've got more freedom than the Republic or either of the Empires would give me."

There was no mention of the Sith Order, the Diarchy or the Mandalorians.

Glancing back to his hand he decided to play it safe this time. He'd shift his hand over into the interfield then call for another card to add to his core value which the Droid dealt to him.

 

[Tilon Quill]

FLASH ROUND
Core Value: 14
Specials: Endurance (-8), The Evil One (-15)
Net Score: -9

That was a fair answer and not far from Tilon's own preferences, at home here in a dingy cantina on a Black Sun-controlled port station. He grunted agreement.

"Some days I'm two or three things," he said, "and there's plenty of times I wish I was fewer. It's the freedom thing."

He decided to shoot for the -23 again, the same 1/3-1/3-1/3 odds that had sunk him before. Good thing cards had no memory. Gambler's fallacy.

 

[Rel Ahn-Dross]

THUNDER ROUND
Core Value: 13+2=15
Specials: -28; Demise (-13), the Dark One (-15)
Net Score: -13

The Sabacc Shift hit this round but he'd been fortunate, all of his cards were in the interface field. It meant that Rel maintained his hand and lost nothing. Nonetheless a grim expression settled across his features; he was no closer to a winning hand one way or the other.

Eyes would shift back to Tilon Quill , his thoughts turned back to the idea of the freedom that he had and he'd have remarked...

"Freedom."

...he'd say again, muttering the word...

"You either have it or you don't eh?"

Nothing else left to say his attention would shift back to his hand.

In a bold move he'd call for one more special card deciding that it would either make or break him.

The Droid dealt, just like it was instructed to.

 

[Tilon Quill]

THUNDER ROUND
Core Value: 15
Specials: None

The sabacc shift hit every single one of Tilon's cards, including the useful Endurance. He'd debated too long with himself about why The Jedi was worth zero and what to put in the InterField and hadn't actually done it.

This was going to be rough. He'd inherited a skifter, a cheating sabacc card, from a Weequay he'd been close to. A thousand credits was a lot of gas money. He felt uneasy about it at an instinctive level, unresolved moral priorities most likely plus the idea of cracking the merc's goodwill, and decided not to use it.

"Well, there's the freedom to do things and the freedom from things, freedom to, freedom from, both their own kinds of battle. I'm free from hunger, for example, unless this goes up a notch next game."

The game closed. Tilon revealed his cards, a mundane assortment totalling 15.

No rolls.

Rel Ahn-Dross