Bounder Ch. 02

The card game is something of a religion in the upper, middle and military classes and even the poorer inns and ale houses tend to encourage play. It keeps the punters buying drinks and discourages brawling. I'm partial to the game myself and generally play one evening a week at one of my favorite clubs. While the game relies a great deal upon luck, drawing the right sorts of cards and also dice rolls to determine combat results, a smart (or devious) player has significant advantages and I tend to win steadily more than I lose. Being able (usually) to read my opponents minds to know what their hidden cards is of considerable advantage too!

There are dozens, perhaps a hundred or more distinct strategies for winning, and the game favors the player with a flexible and even devious mind that is capable of abrupt strategy changes. When your original plan doesn't work, have an alternative one ready. The turn of a single friendly card can completely change the potential outcome of a game, or equally often the cards can turn cold and leave you stranded, unable to either properly defend or attack, leaving you in limbo. Naturally military expansion using the Fire (often called the Sword suit) is often a near certain winner, but if the cards don't fall right conquest can come at a heavy cost where victory is often not worth the final expense. Most players seem to depend excessively upon Fire/Sword cards for victory, creating a need to then 'conquer or die' in order to achieve victory, but since these cards comprise less than a quarter of the card deck, they are too dependent upon luck to count upon winning with any regularity... but they keep trying. Like in real life, this occurs far more often than you would expect.

Personally I prefer a slow but complicated growth of my Earth (or Sheaf, sometimes called Staff) cards and trust to luck (or my gift) to find complimentary Air or Water cards or enough Majors to protect and hold what I have, with little or no intention of aggressive expansion into the game center to achieve a direct ultimate victory. Played carefully, a conservative non-winning hand can yield more silver from the player's game bank pot than nearly any win achieved via a bull rush of conquest. It's too complicated to explain due to the large number of variables depending upon card luck, but a rich kingdom full of productive peasants producing food cards and/or traders (and decent defenses) can earn more coins from the player bank pot than most armies of conquest can seize in a long drawn out table battle against multiple opponents. Military victories are flashy, but economic victories are sweeter.

I've usually discovered that the first player to expand too quickly or obviously build up military units for potential conquest will incur the immediate enmity of his other three opponents, who will usually then form an alliance against the perceived aggressor. As no player can fight off everyone at once, this usually fares poorly for his chances of survival and just about guarantees a swift defeat. I love exploiting this sort of situation with my gaming 'partners', as I try to balance my perceived strengths and weaknesses, so that I do not appear to be a threat to other kingdoms but yet also don't display enough weakness to make me appear vulnerable and easy prey either. Instead, I try to encourage my competitors to weaken themselves fatally by attacking each other... not me. In fact, if I have any single one bit of game advice, it would be: 'let's you and him go fight!'

In any case, I've played more than my share of matches during evenings spent at a few of my favorite drinking places like the Silver Fox, and while I'll often play for gold, even playing for small silver table stakes I've never gone home with less money in my pocket than when I started. It helps a great deal that I can read my opponents minds and know (or at least strongly guess) what hidden cards are in play or waiting for an opportunity in the player's hand. Just a few Major cards can entirely turn the luck of a kingdom, for good or ill.

Sir Adrian, as I discovered quickly was an astute and knowledgeable player, unlike our two additional gaming partners. Tarocchet is best played with four players, but works well also for five or six, if either multiple decks are used or a reduced kingdom size is agreed upon. Our other two card players had suitable enough skills but neither appeared to demonstrate much of a long term game plan or showed much ability to think and prepare ahead a few moves in advance. They decided upon their game strategies early and stuck to their original goals long after switching to a different approach would have been much wiser.

When you don't draw the cards that you particularly 'need', don't fight it and play stubborn! This is a common mistake for the novice and even more advanced players, sticking to a plan that just isn't working. I take the opposite approach and form no initial plans at all. I relax and wait for the first few turns and then listen to what my cards are telling me. Build defenses, farms, trade routes, spies, armies or navies? It's up to the cards and the luck of the draw... and hearing the right message. Usually, I do.

For my sake this evening, the table agreed to relatively low stakes with a fifty silver mark initial buy-in, then one silver mark per each additional drawn card. I could have easily handled stakes of small gold royals, which appeared to be the usual table stakes, but Sir Adrian declined. It was all for fun, he insisted and pocket money was just a way to keep score. In most inns and taverns the play was for copper pence but I was used to playing for silver at most of my usual haunts so I was well within my comfort zone.

Sir Adrian kept his thoughts his own and had a poker face of iron that I could have made a small fortune with, had I possessed similar self control. His will was strong enough that I couldn't discern more than the occasional odd overt surface thought without exerting myself and risking detection, so I had the sense to quit while I was behind... and despite the best of my playing ability I kept falling a poor second to his aggressive, but measured game play that night.

I wouldn't say it was all entirely the poor luck of the cards, but when I played one of my rare Majors of the evening, 'The Balloonist', to make him reveal all of the hidden cards of one of his stacks that now threatened one of my own defenses (already revealed) he in turn played from that very stack 'The Squire of Air: The Ballista', which of course with a simple dice roll defeated my balloon. Annoyed, I at once sent over my King of Air (The Dragon) to destroy his Ballista, but the dice roll failed me. Even with my overall +3 advantage (+2 difference in card strength King over Squire +1 for attack bonus) I was defeated by rolling a '1' to his '5'. Later, I played my hidden 'Assassin' (Major Arcana) card to take out his massively powerful 'Field Marshall' card (King of Fire), and it was at once foiled by his hither-to hidden Spymaster card (Major Arcana), played immediately from his reserve hand. To rub salt into the wound, near the end of the game he defeated my last powerful military unit, my Sergeant-at-Arms (Fire VI) with a petty one, 'The Dualist' (Air II) aided by his damned Spymaster and also a clever use of 'Fog of War' (Queen of Air) to protect the two powerful but defensively very vulnerable cards as they were positioned for the final decisive attack that sealed my kingdoms fate.

I earned enough in kingdom expansion and excess peasant food production points to earn a small financial profit for the game (having all four of the Earth face cards did earn a double production bonus), winning as usual much more than I had paid into the player pot, but Sir Adrian handily took the center of the table with an insurmountable military force of mixed Earth, Air and Water cards and seized the remaining players bank pot of coins.

A second game was immediately agreed to and I fared a little better, managing an effective campaign of naval superiority with an abundance of Water cards, both merchant and naval fleet units to starve out with relative ease both of our other opponents, until Sir Adrian played the devastating Ace of Air (called The Whirlwind) that sunk my primary fleet with my own Ace of Water (The Man'o'War) with another unlucky (for me) die roll. His next card play was the Major trump "Zephyr" that sunk most of the rest of my fleet and grounded permanently the rest. With most of my units gone or disabled, my own kingdom soon fell prey to a weak but decisive military assault while my one hope for a successful diversionary attack failed when my Mounted Knights (Fire VIII) attacking his kingdom blindly in desperation encountered in hidden defense both a Keep (Earth V), Guardsmen (Fire III) and also the Major card 'The Engineer', who doubles any existing defenses in his stack. My attacking force was immediately annihilated and my kingdom fell in disarray a few turns later.

I'd again earned a bit more than I'd paid into the player pot, but it was perturbing to be defeated twice in a row with such relative deliberate ease. Perhaps the next time I could penetrate his mind well enough to learn what his hidden cards were to avoid these sorts of surprises in the future, but for tonight I had been entirely on the losing end of the encounter. I could easily understand now why the old general was such a powerful force on the battlefield, always having the necessary men and materiel at hand where he needed it most.

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"You play extraordinarily well, Bounder! The cards were rather against you in both games but you played what you had cleverly. A very worthy opponent indeed, and I hope that on some future night that we'll have the opportunity to play a few more hands together. As a word of advice to you, I see that you know the cards well and how they can best work together, but your overall caution is obvious and can be exploited. You play not to lose, instead of risking everything for a total victory. It earns the coins, I can see that, but sometimes in this game... and in life, just building a strong defense against your enemies is not enough and you must leave your comfort zone to go upon the attack! You play your military cards adequately but you don't plan for the long term with them, as you do your support cards, first creating a food surplus then using the transport cards to support all of your other units within your kingdom boundary. This is quite excellent for defense, but less useful sometimes than if you placed your transports with your army instead. I agree, it doesn't create the same supply benefit or coin profits each turn, or even the dice roll bonuses they give in defense, but it makes you mobile and a constant threat then to all of your enemies. Think about this the next time."

I could see his point. As a young officer he first made his reputation as a quartermaster and by the time he was a general no one in the empire understood the logistics of an army better than he did. Tell him how much hay was in the warehouses and how many horses and wagons could be mustered and he could calculate to within a yard how far his soldiers could march... and how quickly they'd get there.

Sir Adrian was a worthy opponent, in more ways than one. He'd already shown that he knew much more about me than I was comfortable with, and then he clearly demonstrated that he was probably smarter as well. There was a message there to be implicitly understood and once our second game was over and we were once again talking in private at the members bar, I began to better understand the real situation behind our meeting.

"You realize of course that officially my hands are completely tied. The Lord Coroner had declared the death, both deaths or her and her sister actually, to be entirely accidental. In each case quickly and with unusual haste, even for him. Normally for a mundane matter like this, an actual street accident of no particular importance he would show considerably less interest and perhaps even allow us a proper investigation of the relevant facts. Not so in this case. I've even heard a report that some Blackguards were making inquiries near Glitter Alley tonight. They're being rather thorough too, but apparently not asking very many direct questions, if you know what I mean."

Now that was something that no one tended to like very much, the Lord Coroner's own enforcers banging on doors late at night. This was not an investigation but pure intimidation instead. The Blackguards were delivering a message, her death was an 'accident' and if you open your mouth out of place and create any trouble, a similar sort of accident might just happen to you as well!

"That might give the very unfortunate impression and misunderstanding that the exceedingly law abiding members of the Blackguards might be personally involved in the situation in some manner, perhaps covering up for the prior indiscretions of a friend or an unfortunate companion who has blundered into error?" As I've mentioned earlier, friends within the thieves' guild had told me on more than one occasion that the elite soldiers of the Lord Coroner had a more than lucrative established foothold in several criminal occupations, including rumors of murder for hire.

"One could quite understandably come to that misinformed conclusion, heaven forbid!" Sir Adrian laughed. "I see you quite understand some of the deeper political overtones that potentially might be involved, but in a purely innocent and incidental manner, of course."

"Of course."

"Since the Lord Coroner has decreed an accident, then an accident it must become... and must remain! I have no authority, save by a personal petition to the Emperor himself to reopen this investigation. On the other hand, I admit that I'm quite at a loss to understand the cause for this recent streak of reckless driving by certain small hack drivers, and I have in fact given instructions for my officers to locate such a wildly dangerous individual so that he might be removed from causing future perils in the street... or even the sidewalks. I'm sure that you can appreciate this yourself, as will your tailor undoubtedly agree as well!" Sir Adrian seemed to be aware of my recent near accident as well, gesturing at my torn cloak. This was another indication that he had already placed eyes upon me and my current activities.

"And regarding my current entirely incidental personal interest in this matter?"

"Is entirely your own, although I can see no reason why my vigiles couldn't be of some indirect and very unofficial assistance to you, assuming they are purely searching for a habitually reckless driver, and not a potential murderer. I must admit though I am intrigued by your own sudden personal interest and concern over this matter. I do not think that the unfortunate young miss was your client. The silver and relatively few gold coins in her purse were certainly inadequate for the sorts of rates that I've heard you normally charge. No, this is personal for you... I can see it in your eyes. Honestly, this both delights and concerns me greatly! No one who has ever given any sort of report on you considers that you have within you the slightest bit of natural human weakness. Until this evening I had myself regarded you to be nothing but a common sociopath without any sort of conscience or sense of guilt. A well-bred but dangerous creature of the shadows that potentially might need my direct attention someday, but now I perhaps might have to reconsider that assessment."

"So, if I'm just a cad and bounder, then what need do you have of me? And why then should I help you obviously get around your enemies?" I was getting angry. He'd told me in pretty uncertain terms just what sort of variety of shit I was under his riding boots, but still he wanted and expected something from me. Perhaps he now even needed me now more than I needed information from him!

"You're that, a scoundrel through and through, and perhaps worse. But you've got hidden talents and have friends or at least acquaintances in both high and very low places, and that is often useful to any curious and dutiful senior officer of the law. No, I do not like you or what you do, but I can respect the fact that you appear to have some skills for doing it, and ferreting out hidden knowledge along the way. You tend to abuse those talents in rather sordid ways, but it is not in my immediate interest to make these sorts of unfortunate character disclosures common public knowledge."

"Then our cards are all revealed upon the table?"

"They are! Yes, I do want something from you... your help, a way to find justice for those two slain young sisters who deserved so much better. You probably don't understand justice, or even really appreciate what it is, but I can tell that you do understand about revenge and have few if any moral qualms about how it can be arranged. I can accept this, assuming we can agree to some sort of workable arrangement and understanding with each other. I was called to the accident scene myself but I observed from a distance, and I especially observed you! I could see the outrage in your eyes and I saw that you burned with the desire... no, with the need to discover the truth. You're a dangerous but smart man and you do nothing by whim or impulse! I knew that you'd call upon me for answers nearly immediately and I've been waiting for you to visit ever since the incident on the street. Now, can we do business together?"

Ah, now the point of this whole evening was clear. Sir Adrian had his hands officially tied and he was effectively being completely muzzled as well, leaving the Blackguards pretty much free and clear to act however they desired, with little or nothing the Vigiles could do to either protest or counter the growth of their power. That meant that I needed to choose sides in this political struggle, permanently, and make a decision as to which faction I was going support, with neutrality being completely and entirely out of the question. I had no personal or financial interests with the Blackguards; in fact I knew none of them by either name or direct personal experience. Still, I hardly wished to tie my wagon up to the vigiles, for them to now drive me like a meek donkey wherever they might choose in the future. That could prove to become extremely inconvenient.

At least Sir Adrian had the reputation of being honest, so if Ormsford had to choose its next master exerting the real power that the governor held only by name, he would be by far the better choice. As for the Governor himself, he likely couldn't care less about anything that happened below his castle walls as long as the taxes were collected and the coins mostly ended up into his own pockets. Most imperial governors were corrupt, everyone expects that, but ours was already making a reputation for greed and an unusual level of rapacity while creating new untraditional sources of taxation!

"I think we understand each other, Sir Adrian. This is a partnership of convenience, and if I get too far out on a limb finding your justice then it is likely going to get sawed off under my feet and I'll be on my own. This conversation will have never occurred and you would recall no knowledge of my name or activities. I'm expendable, and likely to be used accordingly as such, for as long as you see fit. You've got your boot on my neck and can break me at any time you wish. I need no further reminder of this."

"Got it in one. You're an astute lad and perhaps in time you just might get weaned away from your thirst for sordid entertainments and your tendency towards heinous and appalling deeds of criminality. I've got your measure now. You're not quite as evil and debauched as you like to pretend, but you can keep up that act if it gives you comfort."