The Lowest Odds

Calico Jack looked at the board in front of him incredulously. The ever shifting tiles of terrain and their painted metal figurines gave him pause. He shifted his expression a half moment before his opponent, a half orc named Shrax, looked up from the board at him with a half smile. Jack turned to his benefactor with a look of doubt. Jack knew his employer was good at the game. really good. And his employer knew Jack was too. Jack had a reputation for "beating the odds", but never like this. As the benefactor gave Jack a half smirk and a nod, Jack turned back towards the board and counted his starting resources again. That was always the trouble with hiring yourself out: quirky employers made for harder games.

Jack scanned the board as it shifted, trying not to reveal the panic on his face as he came to the conclusion that he would not only have to bet on a lesser race, but also only a handful of token characters. He caught sight of a mercenary group of goblins and almost reached for it. He suddenly stopped his extended arm halfway. He had been looking at the rest of the board shift even as his hand had gone for the now static tile of hills the 5 goblins were stationed on. Shrax's smirk faded as he realized his rival had sighted another option, another small tile coming to a stop as Jack's focus shifted to a singular figurine. Shrax already knew this Peritinere was going to be long and drawn out, simply because Jack wasn't going to go down without a fight. Shrax expected to win, but if he didn't get paid soon, his objective might slip away. He faked a look of boredom and disinterest. "are we going to begin anytime soon or should I play another game while I wait?"

Jack felt the eyes of his employer, Shrax, and Shrax's employer resting on him. he counted his resources again and looked at how close together the characters he wanted were. "Here goes nothing." he told himself as he moved his hand to pick up a single, one armed human. Jack got a crazed look in his eyes as he slammed down a Favor his employer selected for this game.

Shrax smiled at his luck, his rival had a bizarre-in-a-bad-way employer. He knew the chances of a human winning were slim. not because they were bad, but because there were so many of them and most other races on the same tier had better traits. And even better, he could only afford one with a single arm. Shrax's smile grew. "You're playing the Secret Ally Favor right at the beginning of the game? you really ARE desperate!" he laughed and looked over his shoulder at his rather generous employer, then back at the hundreds of tiled occupied by his own units. "You may as well give up now. I'll reduce the cost of losing by half if you throw in the towel before the game starts."

Jack looked at the 4 Favors left in his hand and gave Shrax a confident smile. "Let's have a nice, loooong match."